Gifts

If mastering Gifts begins with a desire, it ends with a revelation. No training montage is needed to show long weeks of arduous work or hours of painstaking practice — “learning” power from a spirit is more akin to a blind man suddenly being granted sight. Merely-human understanding might compare it to the mind forming subconscious con­ nections after stepping away from a frustrating problem, such that the next day it presents no challenge. But even this is inadequate to describe the instantaneous expansion of horizons a werewolf enjoys when a spirit bestows its power upon him.

The experience of learning a Gift is different for every­ one, and different each time. The type of Gift, the nature of the spirit and even the werewolf's own preconceptions and expectations color the encounter. A Stargazer who seeks the arcane mysteries of spirit-hunting in the frozen north meets an owl-spirit who values insight over words. The result is a vivid hallucination that puts the Garou in

the mindset of the bird-of-prey, translating the concept of “being an owl that hunts by snaring its food in its talons” into the concept of “trapping spirits in a mystical net” through direct understanding. The same Gift might be taught to a Get of Fenris by forcing her to actually hunt down the owl-spirit itself, gaining the same experience through a more familiar lens. Or, if a spirit likes to show werewolves what it's like to step outside their comfort zones, it might reverse those tactics, making the Stargazer get her paws dirty and giving the Get a new perspective.

Another age-old favorite is the symbolic vision. A homid looking to protect himself from the dangers of raging fire might experience a waking dream in which everywhere he turns, his enemies fling bitter insults at him, tearing him down and pissing on everything he loves. Before he can end the vision and learn the Gift, he must overcome his urge to fly into a Rage and instead feel the insults roll off his back as he laughs in the faces of those who would hurt him.

But many spirits don't bother walking the werewolf through the experience this way, preferring to simply get the job done without catering to her human side by giving her little narratives to latch onto. In the spirit world, things can be simple. The strong survive, the weak perish, and power is power regardless of the shape it takes. In cases like this, the spirit temporarily possesses the Garou and writes the Gift directly into her mind, searing it into the recipient like a brand. From the werewolf's perspective, she is shunted to the back of her own mind and feels the change happening second by second. Some describe this as pain, as though a hot poker were scrawling the power into her flesh. Others describe it as a shapeshifting of the soul, mimicking the feeling of the First Change. Still others say stranger things: the impression that they grow larger than their own skin, a high akin to an adrenaline rush or being stoned, ecstasy not unlike a spiritual orgasm, or the sensation of things crawling around inside them. Again, it all depends on the spirit and the Gift. The Wendigo temporarily possessed by an avatar of her tribe's bloody patron is unlikely to have a pleasant experience, but the Child of Gaia who gives herself to a servant of Helios to learn how to shine like the sun feels warm and fulfilled, like a baking cookie.

To some spirits, the Garou who can dish it out but can't take it isn't worth their time. Teaching the Gift itself is as much a test as the demand for chiminage was. These spirits insist that the werewolf bear the full brunt of the Gift's effects as a brute force transfer of power. Many an Ahroun bears the scars of learning to transform her claws into silver, and many a Shadow Lord knows the sting of shame at being spooked into complacency. Some Garou who learn this way occasionally express sympathy, or at least empathy, for their prey. Others use these Gifts with even more ferocity and ruthlessness than their fellows do, lashing out in retribution against the memory every time.