Bestiary

Crimson Pestilents are Banes of sickness, parasites, disease, and dysfunction. Their deepest delight is to witness flesh in revolt against itself, and so they congregate where humans breathe in toxic chemicals, re-use needles,

drink from parasite- or mercury-tainted waters, and drink irradiated water. They revel in sudden flare-ups of Ebola and evangelize cancers. Moreover, when they find a human afflicted with the marks of the Wyrm, one whose flesh is sick and fighting against itself, they set the terrible red tendrils of their power upon that person, and empower the sickness.

Rage

6, Gnosis 3, Willpower 8, Essence 17

* Awaken the Blight: A Crimson Pestilent may spend two Essence to use this Charm on a person afflicted with some manner of disease. The Bane makes a contested roll of its Rage against the target’s Stamina; if the Bane wins, whatever ailment the target suffers from flares up, and their next roll to resist or recover from the effects of the ailment suffers a penalty equal to the Bane’s Gnosis. A fever might spike to life-threatening temperatures, while a cancer metastasizes and spreads like wildfire throughout the body.

Image: Crimson Pestilents appear as winding red fogs from a distance; upon closer inspection, one sees them as composed of millions of hair-fine blood vessels, all twisting and writhing around one another.

Background

Crimson Pestilents are a new menace, first sighted in the 1960s. They were extremely rare until the AIDS epidemic of the 1980s, when their numbers swelled, now they fester throughout the world. Black Spiral Theurges believe they are the breath of the Wyrm, exhaled into the world.

Storytelling Notes: Crimson Pestilents are particularly loathsome Banes, striking as they do at the weak and the wounded. They’re best used as a reminder that the Garou must remain vigilant, and that in the final days, even a hospital or medicine lodge may be part of the battlefield.