Bone Gnawers Tribe Rites

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xxxxxTraditional Theurges insist on performing rites exactly at custom dictates. Many tribes have variants of these rites, since the exact "ingredients" are not strictly essential. Performing rites correctly is an honorable observance of tradition. Many Garou are careful to perform them exactly as they were taught, not only to ensure their success, but also to encourage their elders to award them renown for succeeding. xxxxxBone Gnawers, as with so many other aspects of their culture, break many of these rules. Of all the tribes, they perform the most spontaneous and disorganized rites. Traditional Theurges may speak of their rituals as disrespectful, or even blasphemous. Yet the urrah have reworked these ancient traditions with good reason: many ancient rites cannot be performed formally and correctly in a city. If you're performing the Rite of Cleansing, for instance, then finding a willow branch or a clear spring can take a bit of work. xxxxxA clever Theurge learns to substitute urban elements, usually scavenged from whatever refuse can be found. An Uktena might be shocked to see someone purifying spiritual taint with a bottle of Perrier or a six-pack of soda. Nonetheless, Bone Gnawers encourage such creativity and improvisation. Substituting weird "ingredients" may decrease the chance of a traditional rite working, but it gains the admiration of Bone Gnawer elders. It may not garner as much renown, but it gets the job done.

Tribe Rites

Level 1 Rite of the Cardboard Palace Rite of the Pizza

Level 2 Rite of Crash Space Rite of the Shopping Cart

Level 3 Rite of the Cardboard Fortress Rite of Man-Taint Rite of the Leash

Level 4 Rite of the Signpost

Level 5 Rite of No Trespassing

Level One

Rite of the Cardboard Palace (Mystic)

Source: WW3852 - Bone Gnawers Revised p. 74

Description: Through this rite, a Garou can transform any flimsy structure into a decent place to sleep. This often involves a lot of cardboard and newspaper, but the rite can be invoked just about anywhere you want to call home for the night. The new "walls" of your home become water-resistant and insulated, keeping everyone inside warm and dry. Not surprisingly, you can perform this rite in full view of the mundane populace without breaking the Veil. For some travelers, performing this ritual is just a matter of habit. It may simply involve making a few personal touches to make your space feel secure and safe. For powerful Theurges, the cardboard palace of healing as well.

System: When performing this rite, roll Intelligence + Survival (difficulty 6); with at least one success, you can turn an ordinary shelter into a comfortable place to sleep. If you spend a point of Gnosis before the roll, the shelter is more than just comfortable. The Garou (or other shapeshifter) living in the cardboard palace can roll Stamina for every day of rest; three successes heals an additional aggravated wound. Whether the space is dedicated or not, it can be cast on anyone's structure — not just the ritualist's.

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Rite of the Pizza (Accord)

Source: WW3852 - Bone Gnawers Revised p. 75

Description: Rabble-rousers sometimes try to bring Garou together for a quick, temporary enterprise. Buying them food (or beer) is one way to encourage them to work together, but this minor rite formally acknowledges the alliance and calls upon urban spirits for a quick blessing.

This rite requires a public telephone and enough spare change for a call. The goal is to gather enough food to feed everyone for one meal. This may seem like a simple task, but because of a wide variety of urban traditions, it's actually fraught with peril. Take, for instance, its most common application: Ordering a pizza. The Garou must decide where to order from, what toppings to get, what the tip should be, and most distressing, who gets which slices. If they can overcome this Herculean task, there's a chance the may work together to achieve greater goals.

At the culmination of the ritual, the highest-ranking Theurge "gives thanks." This must be done very, very quickly, since many Bone Gnawers are ravenously hungry for warm pizza. The highest-ranking Philodox then declares the reason why the temporary pack has been formed. (The Storyteller should demand a more specific explanation if the definition is too broad. "Breaking into Warehouse #8 to recover a Croatan fetish" is a specific goal; "killing the Wyrm" is not.) While wolfing down hot morsels of food, the group then coordinates its plan.

System: The Theurge rolls Charisma + Rituals (difficulty 8); increase the difficulty by 1 for every ten Garou participating in the ceremony. Each success yields one temporary die; for the sake of convenience, we'll call this dice pool the "pizza pool." This temporary dice pool lasts until the temporary pack achieves its temporary goal. On any dice roll that directly relates to the goal at hand, a Garou can burn off one of the temporary dice for the pizza pool. The whole group shares the pizza pool. This rite can't be performed more than once a day by anyone in the alliance, and the pizza pool can't last for more than 24 hours. Additionally, Garou who are already in a pack can't perform this rite. At the Storyteller's discretion, if the players actually RolePlay this further by ordering a pizza during the game session, paying for it, and offering up a slice or two to the Storyteller, he may lower the difficulty to 6.

Level Two

Rite of Crash Space (Mystic)

Source: WW3852 - Bone Gnawers Revised p. 74

Description: Ratkin developed this rite initially, and then traded it to a handful of Bone Gnawer Theurges for a big pile of shiny Loot. This rite is much like that of the Cardboard Palace, but further "dedicates" the space for a peaceful reflection and meditation.

System: This rite works differently than the one with the same name for the Ratkin. The ritemaster must spend one Gnosis and make a Wits + Rituals roll (difficulty 7). Recovering Gnosis becomes easier in the "crash space"; reduce the difficulty of any rolls tor ecover Gnosis while inside the structure by 2. if the ritualist scores three successes on the roll for casting this rite, any Garou meditating in the crash space can regain Gnosis by meditating for an hour; the amount of Gnosis regains equals the number of successes he scores on a Wits + Enigmas roll after an hour of meditation. Outside the crash space, the number of points regained depends on the number of hours spent meditating.

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Rite of the Shopping Cart (Mystic)

Source: WW3852 - Bone Gnawers Revised p. 75

Description: When the ritual is performed on any carrying space or cargo-carrying device, it can be expanded to hold more stuff, loot, or junk. In a sense, the inside becomes slightly larger than the outside. The container doesn't bulge or distort; even bulky items become easy to carry.

System: Roll Wits + Rituals (difficulty 7) and spend one Gnosis. For each success, you can place another ten pounds in the container. The rite must be renewed each week or the contents will spill out of the container (and possibly into the street). On a botched roll, the container breaks or tears and is rendered useless.

Level Three

Rite of the Cardboard Fortress (Mystic)

Source: WW3852 - Bone Gnawers Revised p. 76

Description: This rite, an amalgam of Rite of the Shopping Cart and Rite of the Cardboard Box, requires thinking "outside the box." The results would look something like this: using duct tape and at least one cardboard box, the ritemaster dedicates the box so that it's much larger on the inside than it is on the outside. This involves creating a "pocket realm" of the Umbra accessible to anyone with the Gnosis Trait. The box must at least be large enough for the ritemaster to crawl inside, along with a flap that can open and close. Depending on the success of the ritual, once the proper rites have been finished, up to five Garou can fit inside with enough room to barely move around without bumping into each other. In theory, they could square dance or do calisthenics, but couldn't play tackle football. If the box is opened or destroyed, there's nothing inside it, at least in the physical world. Instead, the Garou may exit their secret cardboard fortress through the Umbra. Multiple cardboard boxes can be taped together to hold multiple shapechangers.

System: Spend one Gnosis and roll Wits + Rituals (difficulty 7). Each success allows one shapechanger to move about freely inside, even if it's in the equivalent of Crinos form. The Gift doesn't work on Corax or Mokolé, perhaps for reasons involving Helios. The effects last for one full day or until the cardboard is destroyed. Fighting in the Cardboard Fortress inevitably destroys the cardboard box.

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Rite of Man-Taint (Punishment)

Source: WW3852 - Bone Gnawers Revised p. 76

Description: Bone Gnawer ritualists can reveal when a werewolf has eaten human flesh. The furtive activities of Man-Eaters have made this something of a necessity. As the Litany states, "Ye Shall Not Eat the Flesh of Humans." If enacted within seven days of a transgression against this dictum of the Litany, the rite forcefully expels every chunk of human flesh consumed from the suspect's body. if the werewolf can't vomit up incriminating evidence through his mouth, the meat may ooze up out of the skin or surge out of another orifice.

System: The ritemaster rolls Charisma + Rituals (difficulty 7). If the ritemaster wins the contest by at least one success, the transgression against the Litany is revealed.

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Rite of the Leash (Punishment)

Source: WW3852 - Bone Gnawers Revised p. 76

Description: Bone Gnawers hate being treated like dogs. Every Garou is a wolf at heart; even the lowest among them finds some dignity in that fact. Treating them like mangy curs infuriates and shames them to no end. This Punishment Rite is reserved for Gnawers who've acted so shamefully that even the Bone Gnawer tribe is repulsed. The criminal is bound in Lupus form, usually within the bawn of a sept.

System: The ritemaster spends one Gnosis while holding a rope, chain, or leash of some kind. He then states the crime and makes a Manipulation + Law roll (difficulty 7). If the number of successes is higher than the offender's Gnosis, the offender can be trapped by the "leash." Once bound, the Garou can't be moved or handed off to someone else without freeing him. Through Gaia's grace, only one of her Philodox can hold the "leash." However, if the offender is later found innocent, the Garou who cast this rite loses 5 temporary Wisdom. Casting the rite over trivial offenses also results in a loss of Wisdom.

Level Four

Rite of the Signpost (Caern)

Source: WW3852 - Bone Gnawers Revised p. 77

Description: Bone Gnawers often surround their urban homes with wards and rituals to discourage passers-by from wanting to notice what's really going on there. Through the Rite of the Signpost, a ritemaster slowly works his way around a stomping ground or urban caern, leaving signs or markings to intimidate, misdirect, or confuse ordinary people from wandering into the bawn. Trash, graffiti, dead animals, and general signs of squalor can all convince the average human that there are some darkened streets you just don't want to go down. Participating Theurges and Galliards stomp about the area as part of this rite. As shameful as it may seem, this also involves marking a few sidewalks and walls with urine and stink.

As an added effect to a successful rite, humans may get lost in the area surrounding the warded area, even a few blocks away. Garou must inhabit this area at least overnight; you can't cast this on a random neighborhood just to confuse people. The rite can't be performed on an area largest than a single building or alleyway. If the warded area ever approaches the size of a city block, the wards will begin to fail. The ward must be renewed each month (for a caern) or each week (for stomping grounds).

System: Enacting this rite requires one hour of activity, the expenditure of ten Gnosis (any participants may contribute to this total), and a Wits + Rituals roll (difficulty 7). Record the number of successes. A human that consciously decides to go against his better judgment and enter the area must beat the number of successes on a Willpower roll (difficulty 7). This rite can't be performed on an area where the Gauntlet is higher than 8.

Level Five

Rite of No Trespassing (Caern)

Source: WW3852 - Bone Gnawers Revised p. 77

Description: Performed on rural caerns, this ritual keeps the Bone Gnawers' most sacred places hidden from humanity. The ritemaster enacts the help of a pack to slowly working their way around the bawn of a caern. By scratching on trees and stones, marking locations with urine and scent, calling on the steadfast power of the Earth, and even hanging faded "Beware of Dogs" and "Trespassers will be shot" signs, they actively discourage humans from finding their way into the heart of the caern if its inhabitants aren't careful, but the rite forces them to take a bit of effort to actually work their way to a caern's spiritual center.

System: The system is much the same as that of the Rite of the Signpost, even to requiring the expenditure of ten Gnosis. Only one ritemaster makes the final Wits + Rituals roll, but any participating Garou may spend one Willpower to grant an automatic success to the roll. Anyone within the bawn of a caern who passes the Caern Ward must make a Willpower roll (difficulty 6); if he can't score as many successes as the Garou did on this rite, he gets lost and can't find his way to the spiritual heart of the caern. If he succeeds, he can only find it by searching the area — an activity that's sure to draw the attention of nearby Garou. Because of the strength of the Weaver, this rite can only be performed in the wilderness, and even then, only in a place where the Gauntlet is below 6.