Gurahl Rites

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Sources: PGttCB 96, Gurahl 104-107

Type	Roll	Difficulty
Mystic	Wits + Rituals (unless otherwise stated)	7 (unless otherwise stated)

Corax Rites

Level 1 Rites of Greeting/Leave-taking Rite of Rending the Gauntlet

Level 2 Rite of the Changing Moon Rite of the Healing Winds Rite of the River Portent Rite of True Mating

Level 3 Rite of Finding the Ancient Cache Rite of the Pure Land

Level 4 Rite of Ban Rite of the Freed Spirit

Level 5 Rite of the Long Sleep Rite of Fighting the Death Bear

Rank 1

Rites of Greeting and Leave-Taking - These simple rites involve a formal acknowledgement of the presence of another Gurahl. The basic rite used when one Gurahl meets another involves the use of language and body gestures that render mutual respect. Variations on the basic rite allow for meeting groups of Gurahl, encountering a werebear of higher or lower rank, entering or leaving the territory of another Gurahl, and other kinds of meetings.

System: No roll is necessary unless there is some question as to whether or not one or both of the Gurahl involved in the rite have hostile or unfriendly intentions towards the other. If this is the case, the Gurahl who wishes to keep the greeting on a friendly basis rolls Charisma + Rituals (difficulty of the target's Willpower) to ensure that the rite succeeds in averting trouble.

(Gurahl BB, p104)

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Rite of Rending the Gauntlet - Gurahl have such close ties to the Earth itself that entering the Umbra requires a special rite. Unlike the Garou who can simply "step sideways", the Gurahl must physically rip a hole in the Gauntlet before they can travel beyond the confines of the physical world. In order to accomplish this feat, the Gurahl transforms into Bjornen, tears an opening into the Umbra, and steps through. The tear immediately seals itself behind the Gurahl. This action invokes the Delirium in normal humans who inadvertently come upon a Gurahl in the process of passing between worlds.

System: The player spends a point of Gnosis and rolls Charisma+Rituals versus the difficulty of the local Gauntlet. The time it takes to open the hole in the Gauntlet and pass through depends on the number of successes gained in the roll. One success means that it takes the Gurahl five minutes to enter the Umbra. Two successes shortens the time to 30 seconds, while three or more successes indicates an almost instantaneous ripping and crossing. No successes means that the Gurahl fails to tear the fabric of the Gauntlet, and he may not make another attempt until an hour has passed. A botch strands the Gurahl halfway between the two worlds. The Gurahl's affinity for the Earth makes returning from the Umbra a simple process, requiring no roll.

(Gurahl BB, p104)

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Level 2

Rite of Becoming - As the Garou Mystic Rite: Rite of Becoming. - This rite can only be cast from an Anchorhead domain, and requires the casting Corax to make a braid frin three hairs (or feathers) off her head, three pieces of copper wire, and three pieces of ivory. The Corax ties the braid around a wrist or ankle, then invokes three words of power. Henceforth, the Corax can fly into the Deep Umbra.

If the braid is destroyed, the Corax takes a health level of Damage and must make a Wits roll, (difficulty 6) to return to the Near Umbra. The Sun-Lost ceremonially destroy their braids as soon as they reach the Deep Umbra, symbolizing their acceptance of their new state. Corax who intend to head home tend to be a bit more careful of theirs, but getting lost in the Deep Umbra isn't quite as unpleasant for Corax as it is for Garou.

The Background: Umbral Maps eliminates the need for any sort of roll to find one's way home, even if the braid is destroyed.

(Werewolf: Revised p161, PGttCB p82, Corax BB p83)

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Rite of the Fetish Egg - The Rite of the Fetish Egg is about the birds and the bees - well, no bees - and where new Corax come from. You see, when two Corax love each other very much, you know what happens?

Nothing. Absolutely nothing. We cant breed with one another. That's why there are no Corax metis. Hell, a new Corax doesn't even have to be the kid of an old Corax. This is a matter of spirit, not genetics, boyo. Spirit's a lot more important. What it can mean, though, is that you can have real parents, and spiritual ones. Your flesh-and-blood folks as well as the Corax who gave you your spirit egg.

Making a spirit egg requires some hefty investment. There's got to be one spiritual parent from each breed, plus someone's got to plunk some serious spiritual gas in order to create the egg and bind it to its other half. The binding is done with a feather or human hair from the "parent" and ensures that the egg and the kid/chick stay linked until such time as the kid can handle getting a double dose of soul. If the binding breaks, it devastates the poor kid - autism is the usual response. The parent usually just goes into depression: many lose the Sun right after that sort of thing.

System: The Rite of the Fetish Egg is never taken lightly. For one thing, it costs 3 permanent Gnosis from the parent Corax, and that price is paid regardless of whether the rite succeeds or fails.

The Rite of the Fetish Egg can only be preformed in the Umbra, and requires one witness of the breed opposite that of the Corax performing the rite. Creating a fetish egg takes three hours; binding it to the soul for which it is intended takes another one. If the rite is interrrupted at any point during this time, the Gnosis is lost and the rite fails.

The rite requires a roll against the parent Corax's permanent Gnosis (before the donation) at difficulty 6.

(PGttCB p82, Corax BB, p82)

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Rite of the Sun's Bright Ray - This one's proof positive Helios is our buddy. When you do this rite, you get a heaping dose of sunshine that brightens up wherever you are. Doesn't matter if you're underground, in a bank vault, in the middle of Club Whiny Vampire - do this rite ant it's "Here Comes the Sun". And you know what the best thing about the sunlight that you can conjur up with this one? Well, yes, you can tan to it, but that's not the issue. What matter is that this sunlight hits vampires like the real thing baby. You've just gotta see the look on the face of Vlad Pretentious, Dark Prince of Mount Laurel, New Jersey when you drop a "73 degrees and sunny" grenade in his lap. It's priceless.

System: This rite has no cost, as it is a symbol of Helios' special favor toward his adopted children. All that is required is the proper steps and chants, and then a Gnosis roll (difficulty 7). The borrowed sunlight fills a volume 20 feet on a side, give or take a few, and lasts one hour for each success on the Gnosis roll. The glow remains beind even after the Corax leaves the area, which can lead to all sorts of awkward situations.

(PGttCB p82, Corax BB p82)

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Level 3

Rite of the Lowered Sky - As one of the most important functions the Corax fill is that of aerial surveillance, it only seems natural that their mirror opposites have learned a rite designed specifically to confound them. The Rite of the Lowered Sky, when performed properly, makes tracking from above impossible. In some cases, it even restricts or eliminates the possibility of flight. The Lowered Sky in question is actually a heavy bank of foul-smelling fog, exhaled from sewers, marshes, or whatever other miasmic sources are handy, a low hanging mass of slightly greenish fumes that obscures sight, fouls scent and muffles sound. When the Lowered Sky descends on a city, wise Corax fold their wings and lock their doors. It's a sure sign that there are Buzzards in the vicinity, and they're out in force.

System: The Rite of the Lowered Sky takes three full hours and the work of four Buzzards to enact. Each must spend at least a point of Gnosis; every additional point after that allows the Lowered Sky to persist for an hour. While the fog remains, all Perception rolls made by non-Wyrm creatures are at +2 difficulty. Furthermore, the stink of the fog will linger on anyone foolish enough to be out in it for a period of two to four days, making it hard to hide from anyone with a good sense of smell.

The Lowered Sky takes an hour to coalesce, starting from the time the rite ends. During that hour, sewers, pools of standing water and other likely sources breathe forth visible vapors, which can be observed thickening into choking clouds of fog.

(BotW, p138)

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Level 4

Rite of Battle Blessing - The Rite of Battle Blessing is one of the big 'uns, but don't expect to learn it any time soon. The only three who know this one are the members of the Morrigan, and they don't exactly go around spouting off trade secrets. I only know a little bit about how this one works, but that's scary enough for me.

It seems that if the Morrigan decide they want to help one side in battle out (usually the Fianna, in case you were wondering), they haul this golden oldie out. All three fly over the battle, croaking out battle-song, and it puts the fear of Morrigu into whichever side the three ladies don't like. It's astonishing to watch - entire armies have broken and fled after hearing the chants of this rite. Mind you, this one's tough to do, and the Morrigan don't use it lightly. However, when they do uncork it, the effects are devistating.

System: All three of the Morrigan must be present to perform this rite. To enact the rite, each member of the Morrigan can spend Gnosis up to her Occult rating. For each point of Gnosis spent, the victims of the rite lose one die from their dice pools so long as they remain on the field of battle. Targets can literally be reduced to zero dice by this rite.

(Corax BB, p83)

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Rite of Memory Theft - If a fellow Corax has repeatedly acted dumber than a box of rocks, there comes a time when you've just got to scrub out the inside of his head and hope that the next pile of garbage he accumulates between his ears is more useful. If someone does something really, really, really dumb, a bunch of the old-timers can pull this rite out of mothballs and wipe his mental hard drive - downloading all the good bits first. Whoever leads the ritual gets the core dump from the sucker, err, target, err, object of the rite. Meanwhile, the victim has his head pretty much wiped of anything more complex than "Gee, pretty flowers."

Actually, I'm exaggerating a little bit. The rite takes the victim back to right after First Change, meaning that there's a chance that he'll learn things properly the second time. Basic motor skills, language abilities, things like that - they generally tend to stay in place even when the rite goes really well.

By the way, it's a good thing this rite's only available to grand poobahs of the breed. Can you imagine the hell that would break loose if Murder's Daughters got a hold of it?

System: This rite requires a small, empty wooden box, preferably painted with scenes from the target's life. At least three Corax, including the one performing the rite, must surrounding the target (who, hopefully, has been subdued or at least restrained). The box is then opened and a litany of the victim's deeds is chanted. As each event is named, the memories of that moment fly from the Corax into the box. Associated memories flee as well, until such time as the Corax mind is emptied of everything post-First Change. Note that the rite is an all or nothing proposition; one cannot use this to excise only certain memories.

The Corax performing the rite must must then seal and crush the box, at which point, all the memories contained enter his mind. This is not a burden to be undertaken lightly - the Rite of Memory Theft is only performed when a Corax has done something truly horrendous, and no Corax carries around the memories of another breed's failure or crime lightly. It's one thing to know of another raven's missteps, another thing entirely to make them your own.

This rite costs a point of each Gnosis, Willpower, and Rage, and lasts as long as it takes to sing all the deeds of the victim. The rite also calls for a contested Willpower roll between the Corax casting the rite and the target, though each additional Corax present lower the ritemaster's difficulty by 1.

This rite can only be used on other Corax.

(PGttCB p82, Corax BB p83)

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