Caern Rites
Posted: Thu Dec 09, 2021 3:20 pm
Caern Rites
These rites are of vital importance to Gaia, for they aid in the opening, protection, and renewal of her most sacred spaces. Without such rites, the mystical flow of Gaia’s spiritual essence might cease, bringing spiritual barrenness and eventually death to even the most ferocious of werewolves.
System: These rites can be performed only within a caern. The test pool required varies with each particular rite, but the maximum number of dice used cannot exceed the ritemaster’s permanent Gnosis.
Level One
Moot Rite
Level One
A moot cannot open until this rite is completed, recharging the caern with Gnosis. The rite always includes a prolonged howl led by a werewolf known as the Master of the Howl. This howl varies by tribe and sept, but always expresses the unique nature of the sept. All werewolves present must form a circle within the caern itself before they commence howling. Numerous variations on the basic requirements exist: The Red Talons often bite their paws and scratch blood into the earth, while White Howlers pass their most powerful fetish from one to another as each in turn adds her voice to the howl. However it is done, the howl must echo forth and the eternal circle must form.
System: The rite must be performed at least once per month to keep the caern consecrated. During the course of a moot, the participants must empower the caern with a combined total of five Gnosis points per caern level in order to replenish it fully. Once a month you may spend a downtime to lead the rite for the month (generally Caller of the Wyld or whoever they nominate). If you do so you start the next game down 2 Gnosis; however, you gain 1 free Renown card of your choice to represent your participation and gift of Gnosis to the totem. If you don't specify your Renown preference, it will be assumed to be Wisdom.
Rite of the Opened Caern
Level One
Each caern has a specific power associated with it, generally of a beneficial nature. Thus, there are caerns of Rage, caerns of Gnosis, Strength, Enigmas, and so on. If a character is knowledgeable enough, she may tap into the caern’s power and use it herself. Doing so is commonly known as “opening” a caern. Such a feat shouldn’t be attempted lightly — Gaia’s sacred places don’t give up their power easily, and failure to harness such power can seriously harm the Garou.
Each caern has its own requirements of the ritemaster. In order to open a caern of Enigmas, a Garou might walk a spiral path while calling out the Greek myth of Persephone; to open a caern of Rage, the Garou might change into Crinos and chant the litany of his ancestors who have fallen in battle against the Wyrm. The key is forging a connection to the particular spirit of the caern.
System: To open a caern, the character connects with the caern's spirit, binding their will and mind to that of the sept totem for a time and succeeding on a Wits + Rituals Test (difficulty 7 + the level of the caern). This can allow the ritemaster to take on a number of the sept totem's narrative abilities: communicating with spirits, nurturing a sense of the bawn's occurrences, opening moon bridges, etc.
Communing with the sept totem can also confer a mechanical advantage to aid the spirit's chosen: the garou must win a number of simple tests equal to the caern’s level (and spending Gnosis for retests as necessary). If the character wins the requisite number of tests, she can add the caern’s rating to her test pool when performing actions appropriate to the caern’s focus that night. If she loses, she takes lethal damage equal to the level of the caern.
Level Two
Rite of Adoration
Level Two
This particular rite is a way in which the Garou can celebrate and honor Gaia, or other subjects important to him. It generally involves putting up a small shrine where the local Garou and visitors pay their respects and leave tokens and sanctified symbols as they perform this rite. The Rite of Adoration has countless ways of being performed, however the practitioner often burns incense, chants, meditates and prays. It always includes leaving an item of personal value, which as some relevance to the subject of adoration.
System: It costs one point of Gnosis to perform this rite. It is completed by erecting a shrine, performing this rite, and leaving behind an item of personal value. After completing this ritual, you gain one retest on the simple tests required to open the caern (see Rite of the Opened Caern, above). This effect lasts until the shrine is removed or destroyed. This rite is usually performed alone, and is thereby subject to some divergence even among the most conservative of the caern.
Level Three
Rite of the Glorious Past
Level Three
A caern has its own history and heritage, regardless of the Garou that currently inhabit it. Learning the history of a caern is a fascinating undertaking that can take years. However, this rite allows the Garou to experience the nuances of the caern’s development as a fever dream, causing those years to seem to pass in a few short moments.
To enact this rite, the ritemaster must draw up a map of the caern as it was when it was first founded (which may require some research). This map is then burnt at the center of the caern. As the map burns, all Garou present growl quietly as the ritemaster recites the history of the caern. All werewolves present see the caern’s formation and any other important details in its history as though in a dream.
System: The player makes a Test of their Intelligence + Rituals (difficulty 12 minus the ritemaster’s Ancestors rating). If performed successfully, each participant receives an additional dot of Ancestors until the next dawn (this can grant a dot above 5). This occurs even if the character is normally incapable of possessing this Background (as the ancestors thus contacted are former guardians of the caern rather than a given character’s personal forebears).This ritual also “primes” the caern; the next caern rite performed therein receives a –1 difficulty.
Level Four
The Badger's Burrow
Level Four
The guardians of the caerns become so connected to their bawn that they can sense all that goes on within its boundaries. The ritemaster enacting this rite gazes intently into a bowl of water, pool of ink, mirror, or some similar focus. At the same time, the werewolf pours a small amount of witch hazel or other strongly scented astringent (even urine) on the ground in front of her. Any other Garou watching or participating encircle the ritemaster and growl softly in the backs of their throats. Some of the younger Garou enhance the ritual through the use of mild psychotropic drugs, although many werewolves frown upon this practice.
System: Spend 1 point of Gnosis and succeed in a Wits + Rituals test (difficult 7). Use your standard action to ask the sept totem to grace you with its attention. After succeeding in the required challenge, you may ask and receive an answer to one of the following questions:
Rite of the Opened Bridge
Level Four
This rite creates a moon bridge, a shimmering portal serving as a mystical means of transportation between two caerns. Such moon bridges are vital links among the sacred spaces of Gaia. Once per year, a caern must renew its connection with other caerns to which it wishes to maintain moon bridges. This rite is always held during a moot, and it must be enacted simultaneously by both participating caerns.
The primary requirement to open a moon bridge is a pathstone. Pathstones are found in the Umbra, and they are often the objects of quests. These extraordinarily rare stones resemble flat pearls with the imprint of a wolf’s paw on one side. It is possible to steal a pathstone from a caern, but such a theft is considered blasphemous, and it may well result in war between two septs.
The rite establishes (or reestablishes) a spiritual connection between the pathstones of two separate caerns by way of the caerns’ totem spirits. At the rite’s culmination, a moon bridge opens between the two participating caerns. During this time, Garou from both septs can travel between the caerns to join in a wild revel. Moon bridges allow Garou to traverse distances in 1/1000th the normal time required. This rite must be renewed once every 13 moons (roughly a year).
System: The Test is Wits + Rituals (difficulty 8 minus the level of the ritemaster’s caern). If the rite was unsuccessful previously, the difficulty level of the rite increases by one (this effect stacks). If the rite succeeds, the moon bridge opens immediately, and the spirit-bond between the two pathstones is established. Moon bridges may now be opened at any time between the two caerns. The bridges may be opened with the Rite of the Opened Caern or the Ragabash Gift: Open Moon Bridge (if performed at the caern). If the rite fails, no moon bridge opens, and the rite must be tried again next year. Moon bridges to the caern may still be opened, but they aren’t as safe as they might be.
Rite of the Shrouded Glen
Level Four
This rite causes an area within the Umbra to become invisible, so that it cannot be seen from any other part of the spirit world. At least five people must participate in this ritual, and they must fast for at least three days to purify themselves. Some traditionalists maintain that all participants must come to the rite with their bodies clad only in painted symbols representing earth, air, water, fire, and (for the ritemaster) the spirit world.
System: The difficulty of this challenge is the caern’s Gauntlet + 4. Any participating Garou can contribute Gnosis to this rite. The participants must spend a total of 10 Gnosis points to make the effect permanent. At bare minimum, the ritemaster must spend 1 Gnosis and use five standard actions to identify the caern’s territorial boundaries. When this ritual is successfully performed, the umbral reflection of the caern heart its bawn are rendered invisible for the next month. It also penalizes any attempt to pierce the supernatural concealment through a penalty equal to the number of dots of the ritemaster's Rituals skill.
Level Five
Rite of Caern Building (WIP)
Level Five
This powerful rite creates a new caern by drawing the spirit world and the physical world closer together. Simply reciting the rite draws the attention of the Wyrm’s servants, and actually performing the rite has been known to prove fatal. Only the most powerful and wise mystics dare lead such an undertaking.
A powerful Theurge is almost always selected to perform this most sacred of rites. Many Garou must channel their energy through a powerful leader to have even a hope of success. Whole packs have been known to die in the agony of failed attempts.
Once the physical focus for the heart of the caern is chosen, the area must be cleansed of all taints in preparation for its transformation. All Garou participating in the rite must undergo a Rite of Cleansing, at minimum. The ritemaster performs a series of minor rituals, meditations, and other physical preliminaries to prepare for her awesome task.
The sept must post sentries, for servants of the Wyrm almost invariably attempt to disrupt such a great rite. Only the mightiest warriors are chosen for such an assignment, and their protection is critical to the success of the rite. The leader of the rite is helpless while he chants a long litany of verses designed to draw a great spirit into the prepared caern. Although it is possible to create a specific type of caern, most leaders leave this choice to Gaia and accept whatever caern she grants the sept.
The rite must be performed between the hours of sunset and sunrise during the waxing of the moon. Only Fallen Garou create caerns during the moon’s waning.
System: Because an enormous amount of Gnosis is needed to break through the Gauntlet and empower the new caern, a minimum of 5 Garou, one for each Auspice, must participate in the rite. The rite may only start after the sun has set, typically lasts several hours, and must be finished before the sun rises.
When ritemaster begins, they will start to make a series of Extended Static Wits + Rituals Challenges against a difficulty of 8, minus one difficulty for every five extra Garou participating in the rite (who also spend Gnosis over and above the 5 necessary participants) to a minimum of difficulty 4). It takes 40 successes to create the caern, and the ritemaster can accumulate a maximum of one success per permanent Gnosis Trait each hour. Yes, this makes success difficult: this is not a rite to undertake frivolously or with inexperienced leadership.
At the end of the rite, the participating Garou channel Gnosis into the nascent caern — a total of 100 points of Gnosis is necessary to awaken the sacred site. The Storyteller overseeing the rite will speak privately with each participating player rather than having them call out Gnosis spent, to preserve the element of uncertainty. If an insufficient amount of Gnosis is offered, the rite’s participants begin to suffer aggravated wounds as their life-force is sacrificed to create the caern. Each wound counts as three more Gnosis points toward the total.
The complete the ritual, at least one of the 5 core participants must sacrifice a dot of permanent Gnosis. Every additional permanent Gnosis sacrificed raises the Caern level by one, to a maximum of level three.
The dangers of the rite are many. Failure scours the bodies and spirits of all Garou involved in the rite, both those donating Gnosis and those protecting them, inflicting five levels of lethal damage and suffer distinct teardrop-shaped scars. (These scars are a mark of bravery, for noble effort on Gaia's behalf, and are often called "tears of Gaia.")
Minions of the Wyrm ultimately pose the greatest threat to the rite. As soon as it begins, all Wyrm-corrupted beings (Banes, Fomori, Fallen Garou, even particularly degenerate vampires or depraved ghosts) for miles around become aware of the rite; many will stop at nothing to prevent its completion. The Garou can expect a siege lasting at least until dawn, and likely longer.
Ritemasters gain a permanent Wisdom. Anyone else participating in the rite gains a permanent Wisdom, Honor, or Glory, depending on their role. This task is a legendary one that deserves a suitable reward.
These rites are of vital importance to Gaia, for they aid in the opening, protection, and renewal of her most sacred spaces. Without such rites, the mystical flow of Gaia’s spiritual essence might cease, bringing spiritual barrenness and eventually death to even the most ferocious of werewolves.
System: These rites can be performed only within a caern. The test pool required varies with each particular rite, but the maximum number of dice used cannot exceed the ritemaster’s permanent Gnosis.
Level One
Moot Rite
Level One
A moot cannot open until this rite is completed, recharging the caern with Gnosis. The rite always includes a prolonged howl led by a werewolf known as the Master of the Howl. This howl varies by tribe and sept, but always expresses the unique nature of the sept. All werewolves present must form a circle within the caern itself before they commence howling. Numerous variations on the basic requirements exist: The Red Talons often bite their paws and scratch blood into the earth, while White Howlers pass their most powerful fetish from one to another as each in turn adds her voice to the howl. However it is done, the howl must echo forth and the eternal circle must form.
System: The rite must be performed at least once per month to keep the caern consecrated. During the course of a moot, the participants must empower the caern with a combined total of five Gnosis points per caern level in order to replenish it fully. Once a month you may spend a downtime to lead the rite for the month (generally Caller of the Wyld or whoever they nominate). If you do so you start the next game down 2 Gnosis; however, you gain 1 free Renown card of your choice to represent your participation and gift of Gnosis to the totem. If you don't specify your Renown preference, it will be assumed to be Wisdom.
Rite of the Opened Caern
Level One
Each caern has a specific power associated with it, generally of a beneficial nature. Thus, there are caerns of Rage, caerns of Gnosis, Strength, Enigmas, and so on. If a character is knowledgeable enough, she may tap into the caern’s power and use it herself. Doing so is commonly known as “opening” a caern. Such a feat shouldn’t be attempted lightly — Gaia’s sacred places don’t give up their power easily, and failure to harness such power can seriously harm the Garou.
Each caern has its own requirements of the ritemaster. In order to open a caern of Enigmas, a Garou might walk a spiral path while calling out the Greek myth of Persephone; to open a caern of Rage, the Garou might change into Crinos and chant the litany of his ancestors who have fallen in battle against the Wyrm. The key is forging a connection to the particular spirit of the caern.
System: To open a caern, the character connects with the caern's spirit, binding their will and mind to that of the sept totem for a time and succeeding on a Wits + Rituals Test (difficulty 7 + the level of the caern). This can allow the ritemaster to take on a number of the sept totem's narrative abilities: communicating with spirits, nurturing a sense of the bawn's occurrences, opening moon bridges, etc.
Communing with the sept totem can also confer a mechanical advantage to aid the spirit's chosen: the garou must win a number of simple tests equal to the caern’s level (and spending Gnosis for retests as necessary). If the character wins the requisite number of tests, she can add the caern’s rating to her test pool when performing actions appropriate to the caern’s focus that night. If she loses, she takes lethal damage equal to the level of the caern.
Level Two
Rite of Adoration
Level Two
This particular rite is a way in which the Garou can celebrate and honor Gaia, or other subjects important to him. It generally involves putting up a small shrine where the local Garou and visitors pay their respects and leave tokens and sanctified symbols as they perform this rite. The Rite of Adoration has countless ways of being performed, however the practitioner often burns incense, chants, meditates and prays. It always includes leaving an item of personal value, which as some relevance to the subject of adoration.
System: It costs one point of Gnosis to perform this rite. It is completed by erecting a shrine, performing this rite, and leaving behind an item of personal value. After completing this ritual, you gain one retest on the simple tests required to open the caern (see Rite of the Opened Caern, above). This effect lasts until the shrine is removed or destroyed. This rite is usually performed alone, and is thereby subject to some divergence even among the most conservative of the caern.
Level Three
Rite of the Glorious Past
Level Three
A caern has its own history and heritage, regardless of the Garou that currently inhabit it. Learning the history of a caern is a fascinating undertaking that can take years. However, this rite allows the Garou to experience the nuances of the caern’s development as a fever dream, causing those years to seem to pass in a few short moments.
To enact this rite, the ritemaster must draw up a map of the caern as it was when it was first founded (which may require some research). This map is then burnt at the center of the caern. As the map burns, all Garou present growl quietly as the ritemaster recites the history of the caern. All werewolves present see the caern’s formation and any other important details in its history as though in a dream.
System: The player makes a Test of their Intelligence + Rituals (difficulty 12 minus the ritemaster’s Ancestors rating). If performed successfully, each participant receives an additional dot of Ancestors until the next dawn (this can grant a dot above 5). This occurs even if the character is normally incapable of possessing this Background (as the ancestors thus contacted are former guardians of the caern rather than a given character’s personal forebears).This ritual also “primes” the caern; the next caern rite performed therein receives a –1 difficulty.
Level Four
The Badger's Burrow
Level Four
The guardians of the caerns become so connected to their bawn that they can sense all that goes on within its boundaries. The ritemaster enacting this rite gazes intently into a bowl of water, pool of ink, mirror, or some similar focus. At the same time, the werewolf pours a small amount of witch hazel or other strongly scented astringent (even urine) on the ground in front of her. Any other Garou watching or participating encircle the ritemaster and growl softly in the backs of their throats. Some of the younger Garou enhance the ritual through the use of mild psychotropic drugs, although many werewolves frown upon this practice.
System: Spend 1 point of Gnosis and succeed in a Wits + Rituals test (difficult 7). Use your standard action to ask the sept totem to grace you with its attention. After succeeding in the required challenge, you may ask and receive an answer to one of the following questions:
- Are there any sources of Wyrm Taint within the boundaries of the bawn?
- Has any shapeshifter who hasn’t been accepted by the sept totem crossed the boundaries of the sept territory in the last month?
- Are there any spirits within the boundary of the bawn who feel negatively towards recognized members of the sept?
Rite of the Opened Bridge
Level Four
This rite creates a moon bridge, a shimmering portal serving as a mystical means of transportation between two caerns. Such moon bridges are vital links among the sacred spaces of Gaia. Once per year, a caern must renew its connection with other caerns to which it wishes to maintain moon bridges. This rite is always held during a moot, and it must be enacted simultaneously by both participating caerns.
The primary requirement to open a moon bridge is a pathstone. Pathstones are found in the Umbra, and they are often the objects of quests. These extraordinarily rare stones resemble flat pearls with the imprint of a wolf’s paw on one side. It is possible to steal a pathstone from a caern, but such a theft is considered blasphemous, and it may well result in war between two septs.
The rite establishes (or reestablishes) a spiritual connection between the pathstones of two separate caerns by way of the caerns’ totem spirits. At the rite’s culmination, a moon bridge opens between the two participating caerns. During this time, Garou from both septs can travel between the caerns to join in a wild revel. Moon bridges allow Garou to traverse distances in 1/1000th the normal time required. This rite must be renewed once every 13 moons (roughly a year).
System: The Test is Wits + Rituals (difficulty 8 minus the level of the ritemaster’s caern). If the rite was unsuccessful previously, the difficulty level of the rite increases by one (this effect stacks). If the rite succeeds, the moon bridge opens immediately, and the spirit-bond between the two pathstones is established. Moon bridges may now be opened at any time between the two caerns. The bridges may be opened with the Rite of the Opened Caern or the Ragabash Gift: Open Moon Bridge (if performed at the caern). If the rite fails, no moon bridge opens, and the rite must be tried again next year. Moon bridges to the caern may still be opened, but they aren’t as safe as they might be.
Rite of the Shrouded Glen
Level Four
This rite causes an area within the Umbra to become invisible, so that it cannot be seen from any other part of the spirit world. At least five people must participate in this ritual, and they must fast for at least three days to purify themselves. Some traditionalists maintain that all participants must come to the rite with their bodies clad only in painted symbols representing earth, air, water, fire, and (for the ritemaster) the spirit world.
System: The difficulty of this challenge is the caern’s Gauntlet + 4. Any participating Garou can contribute Gnosis to this rite. The participants must spend a total of 10 Gnosis points to make the effect permanent. At bare minimum, the ritemaster must spend 1 Gnosis and use five standard actions to identify the caern’s territorial boundaries. When this ritual is successfully performed, the umbral reflection of the caern heart its bawn are rendered invisible for the next month. It also penalizes any attempt to pierce the supernatural concealment through a penalty equal to the number of dots of the ritemaster's Rituals skill.
Level Five
Rite of Caern Building (WIP)
Level Five
This powerful rite creates a new caern by drawing the spirit world and the physical world closer together. Simply reciting the rite draws the attention of the Wyrm’s servants, and actually performing the rite has been known to prove fatal. Only the most powerful and wise mystics dare lead such an undertaking.
A powerful Theurge is almost always selected to perform this most sacred of rites. Many Garou must channel their energy through a powerful leader to have even a hope of success. Whole packs have been known to die in the agony of failed attempts.
Once the physical focus for the heart of the caern is chosen, the area must be cleansed of all taints in preparation for its transformation. All Garou participating in the rite must undergo a Rite of Cleansing, at minimum. The ritemaster performs a series of minor rituals, meditations, and other physical preliminaries to prepare for her awesome task.
The sept must post sentries, for servants of the Wyrm almost invariably attempt to disrupt such a great rite. Only the mightiest warriors are chosen for such an assignment, and their protection is critical to the success of the rite. The leader of the rite is helpless while he chants a long litany of verses designed to draw a great spirit into the prepared caern. Although it is possible to create a specific type of caern, most leaders leave this choice to Gaia and accept whatever caern she grants the sept.
The rite must be performed between the hours of sunset and sunrise during the waxing of the moon. Only Fallen Garou create caerns during the moon’s waning.
System: Because an enormous amount of Gnosis is needed to break through the Gauntlet and empower the new caern, a minimum of 5 Garou, one for each Auspice, must participate in the rite. The rite may only start after the sun has set, typically lasts several hours, and must be finished before the sun rises.
When ritemaster begins, they will start to make a series of Extended Static Wits + Rituals Challenges against a difficulty of 8, minus one difficulty for every five extra Garou participating in the rite (who also spend Gnosis over and above the 5 necessary participants) to a minimum of difficulty 4). It takes 40 successes to create the caern, and the ritemaster can accumulate a maximum of one success per permanent Gnosis Trait each hour. Yes, this makes success difficult: this is not a rite to undertake frivolously or with inexperienced leadership.
At the end of the rite, the participating Garou channel Gnosis into the nascent caern — a total of 100 points of Gnosis is necessary to awaken the sacred site. The Storyteller overseeing the rite will speak privately with each participating player rather than having them call out Gnosis spent, to preserve the element of uncertainty. If an insufficient amount of Gnosis is offered, the rite’s participants begin to suffer aggravated wounds as their life-force is sacrificed to create the caern. Each wound counts as three more Gnosis points toward the total.
The complete the ritual, at least one of the 5 core participants must sacrifice a dot of permanent Gnosis. Every additional permanent Gnosis sacrificed raises the Caern level by one, to a maximum of level three.
The dangers of the rite are many. Failure scours the bodies and spirits of all Garou involved in the rite, both those donating Gnosis and those protecting them, inflicting five levels of lethal damage and suffer distinct teardrop-shaped scars. (These scars are a mark of bravery, for noble effort on Gaia's behalf, and are often called "tears of Gaia.")
Minions of the Wyrm ultimately pose the greatest threat to the rite. As soon as it begins, all Wyrm-corrupted beings (Banes, Fomori, Fallen Garou, even particularly degenerate vampires or depraved ghosts) for miles around become aware of the rite; many will stop at nothing to prevent its completion. The Garou can expect a siege lasting at least until dawn, and likely longer.
Ritemasters gain a permanent Wisdom. Anyone else participating in the rite gains a permanent Wisdom, Honor, or Glory, depending on their role. This task is a legendary one that deserves a suitable reward.