Mokole Rites
Sources: PGttCB 119, Mokole 89-95
| Type | Roll | Difficulty |
|---|---|---|
| Accord | Cha + Rituals | 7 |
| Caern | Varies (max. Gnosis) | 7 |
| Death | Cha + Rituals | 8 minus Rank |
| Mystic | Wits + Rituals | 7 |
| Punishment | Cha + Rituals | 7 |
| Renown | Cha + Rituals | 6 |
| Seasonal | Sta + Rituals | 8 minus Caern Level |
| Astrological | See System | |
| Minor | None | None |
Contents
Mokole 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
Rite of Rokea Blood - This rite has uses for both the ocean-dwelling and betweener Rokea. Pelagic weresharks use it to search out members of their own breed for mating (a Rokea born of tiger shark stock would use it to find tiger sharks, for example). Betweeners use it to find Rokea Kinfolk, the direct offspring of a Rokea/human mating. However, either type of Rokea can use the rite to find either type of partner, allowing betweeners to breed with sharks, should they so desire, and ocean-dwellers to find human 'kadugo' - usually to devour them.
System: In shark form, the Rokea leaps from the water towards the sky. On land, the Rokea need only stretch her arms heavenward. The player rolls Perception + Rituals (difficulty 8). Success allows the Rokea to sense the direction of any suitable partners within 10 miles (in the ocean) and 5 miles (on land).
(PGttCB p157, Rokea BB p77)
Level 2
Level 3
Level 4
Level 5
Gumagan Rites
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Level 1
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Level 2
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Level 3 |
Level 4
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Level 5 |
Level 1
Djunggawon - This rite of Renown is a rite of passage for Kinfolk and Gumagan. It takes place when they are young. The mob will assemble at a waterhole or sacred site. The men (for a boy) or women (for a girl) go off together. They then tell the child about the Gumagan and the spirits of the Dreamtime. The rite involves body art: painting, circumcision, or the removal of one tooth. For Kinfolk, this is the moment at which the adolescents become adults. The Gumagan usually pass from the ceremony to their great trance in which they dream their Archid form.
System: Men and women who bear the scars of this rite will be recognized by anyone else who is also initiated this way, and receive an extra die on Social rolls with any native people of Bandaiyan. Thereacter, they may learn the rituals and songs that they are in line to inherit from uncles, aunts, and other elders.
Suchids perform this rite as well, but the Mokole themselves initiate the young one by biting them.
(Mokole BB, p94)
The Oknanikilla - The Gumagan, Australia's native Mokole, originated this rite and allowed their allies, the Bunyip, to share it. It is performed alone. The ritemaster, who must be a gravid female, makes a long journey along the "paths of the ancestors" (songlines) to an oknanikilla, a place where a totem has manifested. Usually this place will be a wallow, or it once was one. (Of course, many oknanikilla are now wallows of the egg-smashers). The totems give special favor to anyone born in their sacred sites.
System: After performing the rite, the mother-to-be spends one or more Gnosis points, and lays her eggs or gives birth on the site. She remains there until the eggs hatch (if suchid) or until she is able to walk after the birth (if homid). The number of Gnosis spent is the number of additional dice that the child may roll, when an adult, when trying to call the totem of the sacred place.
(Mokole BB, p94)
Songs of the Dreamtime - This rite is associated with spirit songs. The ritemaster must sing the song for a place (such as a songline) or a thing (such as a tjurunga; see below). He is then able to use the songline to travel or read the memories of the ancestor, usually via the Gifts of the Gumagan.
System: The roll is Manipulation + Rituals, difficulty 6. However, to learn the rite, you must inherit the rite.
(Mokole BB, p94)
Rank 2
Into the Waterhole (Death) - This rite allows the soul of a dead person to be free. The body is disposed of by exposure, cremation or burial. The ritemaster then sings and dances and burns the dead person's possessions while calling their name. The soul passes on into a waterhole to be reborn, and does not haunt the living any more. Most souls welcome this rite. Some, frighteningly, do not...
System: Like other Rites of Death, the roll is Charisma + Rituals.
(Mokole BB, p94)
Rank 4
Tjurunga - This Rite enables a Gumagan to put some of their Mnesis into a carved and painted board, a tjurunga. The Mnesis can be accessed by anyone who knows the spirit songs.
Gumagan mobs often trade tjurunga. This is a common way to establish alliances and unify the people. The hereditary owners of tjurunga are very choosy about whom they exchange them with, or at least they used to be. Tjurunga are exchanged across thousands of miles among mobs who know each other well.
There are said to be three tjurunga left which were made by the Bunyip before they perished. No one knows where these mystic spirit boards are located, but the Gumagan are looking for them. They hope to find them before the European Garou do.
System: The ritemaster must sacrifice a point of permanent Gnosis and carve and paint the board during the rite. The tjurunga is then stored in a sacred cave or other such place. Anyone seeking to read it must sing and make an Expression + Rituals roll, difficulty 7. The number of successes is the number of memories that emerge.
(Mokole BB, p94)
Zhong Lung Rites
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Level 1 |
Level 2 |
Level 3 |
Level 4 |
Level 5
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Level 5
Shedding Bones - This powerful rite allows the Zhong Lung to prolong his life. He must first prepare a medicinal potion of herbs to restore the balance of yin and yang. This takes some time. He may also engage an herbalist to make it for him. He will then identify his weakest and oldest bones, and push them out through his skin. As he does so, his youth returns to him.
System: As the rite is performed, the Zhong Lung must sacrifice a permanent point of Gnosis to grow a new bone for each bone expelled. For each point of Gnosis thus sacrificed (and each bone renewed), five years of physical age return to the ritemaster. The cast-off bones are valued by wu-magicians, herbalists, and paleontologists.
(Mokole BB, p95)
