Ratkin Renown

Fera Renown Garou Renown Kinfolk Renown

A Guide to submitting Renown Requests. A Renown FAQ if you have questions about the system

Ratkin General Page All Ratkin Gifts All Ratkin Rites

Litany of Survival

• Preserve The Veil, Which Ensures Your Survival

The Rats only have one dictum that's enforced as law: maintaining secrecy about the existence of our kind. If you disobey, it'll do far more than endanger your pack; it threatens everyone's existence. Of course, if the humans find out the truth about what you did, the Delirium might distort all of their memories of what happened, but other supernatural creatures who prey on humans are not so easily fooled. Our race has little regard for human law, but if a wererat breaks the laws flagrantly enough that the authorities investigate, a colony has every rite to contract a Knife-Skulker to silence him... Permanently.

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• Shred The Wyrm's Tentacles Whenever They Constrict You

We fight the Wyrm, but only in the interest of our own self-defense. Unlike the Garou, we don't launch into self-serving crusades to purify the world from corruption - fighting to survive is difficult enough. The Garou whip themselves into religious fervor because they are trying to prevent the apocalypse, but we want the End Times to come. What else could heal the world? My Warriors rejoice when the Wyrm kills off Garou or destroys a few humans. Why not? As long as the Wyrm isn't directly threatening your tribe, leave it be. Don't destroy the enemy of your enemy... until it turns on you. The Wyrm is destined to destroy itself, and if it tears down human civilization in the process, my pack's got no problem with that.

A rat's got to be watchful of the Wyrm. You cannot ignore its presence - learning from its minions is essential to survival. The servitors of the Wyrm corrupt our kind as well, more often than most would care to admit. Wererats corrupted by the Wyrm become monstrous, taking on many of the same deformities and afflictions as Fomori - I've seen it first hand. Believe me, any Ratkin infected with Wyrm-taint must be found and killed before it infiltrates one of our breeding grounds. If Black Spirals or Wyrm spirits came sniffing around our territoru, we're honor-bound to protect our young. And, of course, the most valiant of Rat's aspects, the Plague Lords, feels duty-bound to infiltrate the ranks of our enemies and investigate first-hand...

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• Sever the Weaver's Threads Wherever They Calcify Chaos

Hey, I don't think we're ever going to tear down all the cities in the world. Why bother? They're doomed to self-destruct. The day that the buildings come crashing down, I'll dance in the streets. Then again, there's nothing wrong with giving them a little push. One rat cant change the world, but a thousand rats can, right? If you want to know what the Weaver's spirits are really up to, take a peach into the spirit world. That'll tell you where to strike.

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• Survive So That You May Breed

Survival cocmes first. Mankind's days are numbered. The end of the Age of Man is coming! You might believe it's going to happen during your lifetime or years from now, but if you die in some pointless fight for honor and glory, you wont be ready for the Final Battle against the Wyrm. If you waste your life, you'll end up as some dumb-ass spirit in the Umbra. If, however, you can develop your skills as a Warrior, you'll be able to pass on what you learn to the generations that follow you. Let the werewolves fight to the death, I intend to live.

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• Respect Strength. Exploit Weakness

The strong breed. The weak die. Does that sound harsh? That's evolution. We must be stronger than our enemies, especially with the Final Days so close. If we let the weakest rats survive, they'll breed thousands and thousands of even weaker rats. Instinct will tell you when to kill, so follow it. You'll also feel an overriding need to breed - do it. We need an army to overwhelm our enemies. Too many of the other Changing Breeds have given up, but we must outnumber and overwhelm anything that gets in our way. Then, when the time is right, the force of the Wyld will overwhelm everything, returning us to the ideals of the Impergium.

Some Ratkin have taken their obligation to breed a bit too far, spawning with materialized spirits and the like. I still do not know if this is wise. Does it strengthen the race by bringing more lost aspects to the world, or is it a way for "weaker" Ratkin to breed more children? Other wererats use similar excuses to destroy our metis. After all, Ratkin bred from incestuous relationships are rarely "strong"; instead, such children are usually more susceptible to disease. I firmly believe we need all the warriors we can get, but don't waste too much time on the metis. They are little more than shock troops, and that is the way it should be.

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• Conflict Breeds Strength

If only the strong breed, then you must prove your strength before you can reproduce. Don't be some addle-witted warf rat who breeds with any half-dead body in the sewers. You, soldier, are the paragon of your race. You have the option of breeding with common rats, desperately trying to diversify our gene pool, but it's fairly likely that all you'll do is create a lot of common baby rats who vaguely look like you. Such egotism! If you want the glory of breeding strong kits, remember: The strongest children come from the purest Kinfolk. Our purest Kin are kept under the watchful gaze of the Rat Mothers, so you'd best have proof of your prowess before trying to reproduce. It's that simple.

Regardless of what we do, the population of any nest eventually reaches a sort of 'critical mass', when all of the wererats who come of age must victimize each other until the balance is restored. That is nature's way. If the population of creatures in any one area is too high, a few can be killed or a great number will starve. Now that the Age of Man is drawing to a close, of course, humans and rats are competing for the same resources in the largest cities. You can see where I'm going with this, cant you? When the Age of Man ends, the law demands the elimination of the weakest creatures... just like in the Impergium, before the Wolves intervened. Only then will the balance be restored.

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• Build, Steal, and Suborn To Strengthen Your Breeding Grounds

Property is relative. If I can take it, it's mine. If you cant defend it, you don't deserve to have it. Humans don't seem to understand. They buy far more than they need, go to great lengths to defend what they have, and insist that they have the right to determine who owns what. Not very practical, is it? If you own more than you can carry, you're wasting what others can use. The humans are wasting what they've got, so we've got every right to take it.

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• Trust Your Own Kind Before Outsiders

Here's a word of advice before you go out into the world. Trust your Kin before you trust strangers. Betray others before you betray your own kind. If someone's going to be betrayed, choose a human as the victim before you choose a Ratkin. If that doesn't work, find some other shapechanger to frame. If that doesn't work, then remember there's a straggler in your pack. We're running into the world together kid, so we've got to stick together. You ready to go? Um... You first...

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• When Someone Is Responsible For Injustice, Make Sure Someone Pays

When a rat pack fails, someone's got to take the consequences. Hopefully, it will be someone weak; preferably, it'll be someone who isn't Ratkin. Some of us like to take this argument a bit further. The Twitchers, for instance, are really quick to place all blame on the humans, so punishing them at random is seen as justice. The term "race war" isn't really appropriate, since Twitchers don't discriminate based on the color of someone's skin, his religion, or his ancestry. White, black, yellow or red - humans bleed the same. I just feel this rage in my blood that's been there since the dawn of time. And I just feel like acting on it. Show me your true face, and it's my call whether I want to slash it off.

Creeds

Infamy I will defend our breeding grounds against all threats, physical and spiritual. I shall seek revenge against those who prey upon my kind. I must shred the tentacles of the Wyrm wherever they constrict us. I must sever the Weaver's webs wherever they calcify chaos.

Cunning I will survive so that I may breed. I must respect strength and exploit weakness. I shall grow stronger through conflict. I will learn from the mysteries of the spirit world. I will revel in the visions the spirits grant me.

Obligation I shall preserve the Veil, which ensures our survival. I will build, steal, and suborn to strengthen my breeding grounds. I shall nurture, instruct, and aid the young. I will trust my own kind before I trust outsiders. When someone is responsible for injustice, I will make sure someone pays.

Rank Requirements

Rank	Any Combination
1 (Rakka)	3
2 (Voto)	7
3 (Tava)	15
4 (Teppen)	23
5 (Rrrrr't)	30

Ratkin are allowed to go above 10 permanent Renown in a category, as otherwise reaching Rrrrr't would be excessively difficult compared to other breeds.

If a player is approved at Rank 0, goes through their Birthing Plague, and their Rite of Passage for to Rank 1, then they gain gifts and renown as usual for Rank 1.

• These gifts don't cost XP.
• Any previous renown unconnected to the Rite of Passage is retained on top of the rank baseline.

Sample Renown Awards

Note: These are not uniformly objective. They may be rejected/reduced/increased based on circumstances.

Note: These are not exhaustive. If something doesn't seem to fit here, or isn't found in this list, but still serves one of these types and the Ratkin's purpose, then go ahead and submit a request.

The following types have been tinted for ease of reading and browsing:

• These awards and penalties are directly from the established renown lists, with changes limited to specifying the Corax breed.

Items in Black are positive renown awards.

Items in Red are negative renown penalties

• These awards and penalties have been either created from scratch, or taken from lists and more heavily reworded for the Corax breed.

Items in Blue are positive home-brew renown awards

Items in Purple are negative home-brew renown penalties

Sources: Players Guide to the Changing Breeds pages 170-173, WtA 2nd ed pages 190-193, Ratkin Breedbook

Combat and Encounters

Activity	Infamy	Obligation	Cunning	Comments
Award given once per combat, not per enemy
Showing restraint in the face of certain death	1		3
Ending a threat without serious harm to any Ratkin			5
Surviving an Incapacitating wound			2
Surviving any toxic waste/flux attack	2
Attacking a much more powerful force without aid			-3
Wounding a foe and prudently retreating			3
Attacking an enemy without regard to personal safety	1		2	Actions above and beyond attacking like a lunatic
Losing to an enemy without even harming it	-3
Conscious cowardice that results in the death of a Ratkin	-5	-5	-7
Summoning help when there is no real danger present		-5
Dying in service to Rat/Wyld (Posthumous)	7	7
Threats associated with the unbalanced Triat (typically Weaver)
Threats determined by actual threat posed, not rank
Defeating a minor threat	2			Below your strength level
Defeating an average threat	3			An even match
Defeating a strong threat	5			Stronger than your strength level
Defeating a very powerful threat	7			Much more powerful than you
Other supernatural threats
Defeating a strong threat	2
Defeating a very powerful threat	3
Killing a Bone Gnawer	-3			Without a very good reason
Killing a follower of Rat (non-Bone Gnawer)		-1 to -3		Depends on reason and type of follower
Bonuses for either type of threat
...drawing first blood in combat	+1			Given to the FIRST person to draw blood in combat. Exception: If two people acted on the same turn and inflicted damage on the enemy.
...permanently destroying or killing the threat in question	+1
...without a single other Ratkin being hurt			+1
...without personally being hurt			+1
...when the threats were armed with silver			+1
...defeating a Garou	+3			A group counts as 'one'
...utterly destroying an enemy stronghold	+7
...being captured by an enemy	-1	-1	-1
Earning a Battle Scar			1	See WW:tA Revised, p189
Earning a Battle Scar and immediately healing it (on purpose)			-2	Minor/cosmetic only, ignore penalty if Battle Scar endangered survival or battle prowess

Frenzy

Activity	Infamy	Obedience	Cunning	Comments
Succumbing to a berserk frenzy			-1	If it endangers the Veil
Injuring a fellow Ratkin during a berserk frenzy			-3
Succumbing to a fox frenzy	-1		-1
Succumbing to a fox frenzy and abandoning your pack		-2	-2

Detecting Threats of the Wyrm/Weaver/Wyld

Activity	Infamy	Obligation	Cunning	Comments
Revealing, with certain proof, that a human or kinfolk is tainted			2
Falsely accusing a Kinfolk of being tainted		-2	-3
Revealing, with certain proof, that an area or object is tainted			3
Revealing, with certain proof, that a Ratkin is tainted			6
Falsely accusing a Ratkin of being tainted		-5	-4
Purifying a tainted object, person, or place		2

Mystical

Activity	Infamy	Obligation	Cunning	Comments
Summoning an Incarna avatar			2
Summoning an Incarna avatar for no good reason			-3
Dealing with a spirit rather than Binding it			1
Knowing and offering the correct Chiminage without being asked			1
...Dealing generously		+1	+1
...Dealing extravagantly			-1
Helping another fulfill an agreement with a spirit		1
Breaking an agreement with a spirit		-2	-3
Completing a Chiminage quest		1	2
Successfully completing a spirit quest in the umbra			3
Releasing a spirit from a taboo-induced Slumber		1
Causing a spirit to fall into Slumber		-1
Releasing a spirit from unjust bondage		1	2	Including fetishes
Traveling to any of the Umbral Realms and surviving			3
Failing to succeed in a spirit quest in the Umbra			-3
Having and properly following a prophetic dream of great import			5
Following another's prophetic dream			2
Consulting an oracle and successfully interpreting its advice			2
Giving a prophetic warning that later comes true			5
Giving a prophetic warning that does not come true			-4
Ignoring omens, dreams, and the like for no good reason			-3
Besting someone (including a spirit) in a riddle contest			3

After following mystic signs and advice...

Activity	Infamy	Obligation	Cunning	Comments
Discovering a talen			1
Discovering a fetish			2
Discovering ancient Ratkin lore			3
Discovering mystic lore			2
Discovering a Pathstone			4
Discovering an ancient Nest that was lost			7

Rites and Gifts

Activity	Infamy	Obligation	Cunning	Comments
Fulfilling a Contract Rite	2
Breaking a Contract Rite			-2
Bestowing the Birthing Plague on a Kinfolk		2	2	A group counts as 'one'
Performing a Rite of Passage		2	1	This refers to conducting the rite; going through the rite is covered above
Performing a successful new Rite of Warding		5	3
Participating in a successful Rite of Warding		3	1
Giggling, joking, or otherwise being disrespectful during a rite			-1 to -5
Learning a new rite			1
Binding ‘inappropriate’ items to oneself with the Rite of Artifice Dedication			-2	e.g. excessive or advanced tech; Exception: Engineers

Fetishes

Activity	Infamy	Obligation	Cunning	Comments
Successfully creating talens			1
Stealing a talen		1		This is a penalty if you're caught.
Using a fetish for the good of Nest or Breed			2	May depend on cleverly bringing and/or using an appropriate fetish, not just e.g. using the same Fang Dagger you always use
Creating a fetish			4	Limited to 2 rewards/month (or equivalent with talens)
Stealing a fetish		4		This is a penalty if you're caught.
Sacrificing a fetish for the good of Nest or Breed			4
Accidentally breaking a fetish or talen			-1 to -5

Nest Activities

Activity	Infamy	Obligation	Cunning	Comments
Performing chores and helping to guard a Nest		2		Routinely approved monthly if requested in a timely fashion
Staying on your guard post, even when tempted not to		2	1
Not staying on your guard post		-3
Not helping guard a Nest, even when asked		-3
Keeping a Nest safe from humans through trickery or negotiation		4
Helping to prevent a Nest from being overrun by the unbalanced Triat	3	4
Not preventing a Nest from being overrun by the unbalanced Triat	-3	-7
Single-handedly preventing a Nest from being taken by the unbalanced Triat	5	8
Deliberately allowing/enabling a Nest to be violated	-8	-10	-5	Most likely your death is the outcome
Accidentally allowing a Nest to be violated	-2	-5	-4
Dying while defending a Nest (Posthumous)	5	8

Ratkin Relations and Society

Activity	Infamy	Obligation	Cunning	Comments
Teaching other Ratkin (depends on the depth of study)		3 to 5	1 to 5	Teaching rites: 3O, 1C per month, regardless of number of rites or students
Disobeying a Colony elder without good reason		-1 to -2
Refusing any Colony position	-1	-2	-1
Serving in any Colony position	1/year	3/year	1/year	Routinely approved if requested in a timely fashion
Maintaining loyal service to the Nest	1/year	2/year	1/year	Routinely approved if requested in a timely fashion
Maintaining loyal service to the Ratkin breed	1/year	3/year	1/year	Routinely approved if requested in a timely fashion
Creating something that helps the Nest or Colony		2
Exacting vengeance on someone who has harmed the Nest or Colony		5
Performing a deed that affects all ('local') Ratkin		7		Can be a penalty if the affect is negative
Becoming famous among the Ratkin	7
For a Homid Ratkin, surviving to the age of 75	8	10	5
For a Rodens Ratkin, surviving to the age of 65	8	10	5

Behavior

Activity	Infamy	Obligation	Cunning	Comments
Participating in a just challenge	1	2
Giving good advice for important matters			2
Giving bad advice for important matters			-2
Mediating a dispute in favor of your own people/pack		3
Failing to mediate a dispute in favor of your own people/pack		-4
Keeping an important promise to your own people		2
Failing to keep a promise to your own people		-3
Being truthful to other Ratkin in the face of extreme adversity		5
Being deceptive to other Ratkin in the face of extreme adversity		-1
Getting caught trying to foil elders			-5
Having your trickery backfire			-2
Attempting to openly act outside one’s Aspect		-1 to -5
Taking the word of an outside over one of your own		-3
Earning the respect of another Ratkin		5
Hurting other Ratkin through recklessness or conniving		-3	-2
Getting even	2

Deceit (Pack)

Activity	Infamy	Obligation	Cunning	Comments
Gaining the position of deceit leader	3
Gaining the position of deceit runt		3	-3
Living alone, without one’s deceit, except for ritual reasons		-3
Establishing and maintaining a deceit territory	1	1	1	May also be requested yearly if the deceit is still active and still has the same territory
Expanding existing deceit territory	1	1	1	RP or PRP required (provide a log)
Losing control of deceit territory	-2	-2	-2
Speaking poorly of one’s deceit		-6
Dying while defending your deceit (Posthumous)	4	6
Settling disputes/leadership/Rage-building issues with Rite of the Shiny Thing	1	1	1	RP or PRP required (provide a log) Award for all involved

Law of Survival

Activity	Infamy	Obligation	Cunning	Comments
Upholding the Laws of Survival (in the face of adversity, extreme measures, etc.)		1 to 5	1 to 3	Above and beyond the usual, e.g. "blowing up a Weaver site" vs "blowing up a Weaver site that massively affects local humans or industry"
Breaking the Laws of Survival	-2 to -4	-5 to -8	-2 to -4	Depends on severity of transgression, could be less for lesser offenses

Chaos and Whispers

Activity	Infamy	Obligation	Cunning	Comments
Performing a successful monkey-wrenching operation	1		2
Fooling a human	1
Creating a successful diversion	2		1
Hatching a plot of Machiavellian proportions that succeeds			5
Discovering a useful secret			1
Discovering a major secret			5
Discovering flaws in an enemy that will benefit the Ratkin	2		2
Please restrict to closed PrP's, or get (and log) OOC owner consent. Destroy responsibly.
Inciting panic in humans	1 to 3		1 to 3	Depends on extent of panic and damage caused; eg. 'panicking a restaurant' vs 'starting a local riot'
Becoming the target of an angry mob	1 to 3		1 to 3	Botching/bad planning for an attempt to incite panic in humans
Destroying an icon of the Weaver	1 to 5		1 to 3	Depends on the scale: eg. 'Defacing a Starbucks' vs 'Collapsing a regional Visa HQ'
Stopping the expansion of the Weaver	1 to 5		1 to 3	Depends on the scale: eg. 'Ruining a construction site' vs 'Completely ruining plans for a new suburb'
Drawing the Weaver's forces through reckless terrorism		-3 to -5	-1 to -3	e.g. Leaving appropriate evidence/trails that lead to your Nest or territory.

Protection and Defense

Activity	Infamy	Obligation	Cunning	Comments
Healing a fellow Ratkin (non-pack member) unselfishly		1
Protecting a helpless Ratkin		4
Not protecting a helpless Ratkin		-5
Ignoring strong feelings of vengeance and hatred for the greater good		5
Protecting the Veil		4
Harming or rending the Veil		-5
Repairing the Veil		3	1

Human and Kinfolk

Activity	Infamy	Obligation	Cunning	Comments
Maintaining good relations with nearby Kinfolk		2
Having poor relations with nearby Kinfolk		-3
Protecting a helpless homid-kinfolk		2		Does not include regular humans Must not undermine 'survival of the fittest'
Not protecting a helpless homid-kinfolk		-1
Protecting a helpless rat(s)		5		Includes rat kinfolk Must not undermine 'survival of the fittest'
Not protecting a helpless rat(s)		-6
Breeding		3		Awarded when child/litter is born
Not breeding		-3
Monogamy		-3/year