Gurahl Rites
Sources: PGttCB 96, Gurahl 104-107
| Type | Roll | Difficulty |
|---|---|---|
| Mystic | Wits + Rituals (unless otherwise stated) | 7 (unless otherwise stated) |
Corax Rites
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Level 1
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Level 2
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Level 3
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Level 4
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Level 5
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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)
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)
Level 2
Rite of the Changing Moon - These rites mark a Gurahl's passage from one auspice to another. The subject of the rite first undergoes a ritual cleansing, including a day-long fast and a ceremonial bath. At the end of her purification, she burns an item symbolic of her old auspice (i.e., a child's toy for Arcas, or a wooden spear for Uzmati). Next she adorns herself in clothing and face paint suitable to her new auspice. Finally, she presents herself before the other participants in the rite and formally states her name and (new) auspice. The other Gurahl greet her in return, again using her name and new auspice title. A celebration usually follows the formal portion of the rite.
System: No roll is necessary, but all the proper steps must be followed for the rite to "succeed".
(Gurahl BB, p105)
Rite of the Healing Winds - The Gurahl use this ceremony to cleanse the land of noxious poisons, whether in the form of gasses, liquids (such as chemical spills) or airborne virsuses and biological agents. To enact this rite, the Gurahl enters the Umbra (using Rend the Gauntlet), then summons and binds a Chinook spirit. The Gurahl then sends that spirit to the place that needs cleansing. The Chinook's purifying cold scours the land, water and air as well as creatures and vegetation, ridding them of toxins. The spirit's presence causes the temperature in the vicinity to drop up to 10 degrees, an effect which lasts for no more than 24 hours and causes no significant damage to the local flora and fauna.
This rite is a favorite of the Ice Stalkers, who regularly gather in groups to summon Chinook spirts to send to other Gurahl whose lands need purifying.
System: The Gural enters the umbra, and rolls Manipulation+Rituals to locate and summon a Chinook spirit. The difficulty of the roll depends on the level of pollition in the targeted region. A badly poisoned area, for instance, may require difficulty of 8 or higher (to a maximum of 10 for sites of nuclear waste or strong chemical toxins). No successes can mean that the rite simply fails, while a botch indicates that the performance of the rite has angered the Chinook spirit.
(Gurahl BB, p105)
Rite of the River-Portent - Gurahl use this rite as a means of foretelling the future. The Gurahl enacting the rite snags a fish with his claw from a stream, splits open the fish's belly and reads the omens contained within. The information gained from this rite usually pertains to the Gurahl who reads the omens and has to do with the immediate future.
System: After catching the fish (which should be accomplished without the use of the Fiddlefish Gift), the Gurahl rolls Intelligence + Enigmas (difficulty 8). The number of successes determines how clear and intelligible the omens and portents are.
(Gurahl BB, p105)
Rite of True Mating - This rite, when performed, allows the Gurahl to find a suitable mate from among her kinfolk. Only Gurahl who have reached full adulthood (i.e., are no longer considered Arcas) may learn this rite, since the werebears do not believe in casual acts of procreation. To enact the rite, the Gurahl fashions a small bag into which she places a drop of her blood and a cutting of her hair. She wears this bag around her neck for three days and nights, after which the empowered bag acts as a homing beacon, pulling the Gurahl in the direction of a Kinfolk suitable for mating. (Of course, the Gurahl must woo the targeted Kinfolk naturally.)
System: The Gurahl performs the actions described above, then her player spends a point of Gnosis and rolls Charisma + Empathy (difficulty 7). Only one success is enough to ensure the proper functioning of the rite; more successes indicate that the Gurahl has found several suitable Kinfolk.
(Gurahl BB, p105)
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)
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)
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)
