Mystic Rites

[Storyteller]

Mystic Rites
These rites bring the Garou into direct contact with the Umbra and its denizens. Unlike most other rites, mystic rites are generally performed alone.

System: When performing a mystic rite, the ritemaster must make a Wits + Rituals roll (difficulty 7 unless otherwise stated).

Level One
Baptism of Fire
Level One
Most tribes attempt to track down all children born to their Kinfolk within one a month of the child’s birth to see if they “share the blood.” (Most commonly, this inquiry involves the Gift: Scent of the True Form.) Those who are Garou are “baptized” in the light of their auspice moon, beside a ritual fire. Such a baptism most commonly involves mingling ashes with a few drops of Garou blood; the mixture is then touched to the child’s ears, nose, eyelids and tongue.
In the presence of a lesser tribal spirit known as a Kin-Fetch, the babe is then held up to the moonlight while the baptizing Garou howls Gaia’s greeting to the newborn. The ritemaster then has the Kin-Fetch kiss the infant. The spirit’s fiery kiss inscribes a spiritual brand upon the babe in the form of the newborn’s tribal glyph. This mark is invisible — a thing of pure spirit — and impossible to remove. It can be traced and recognized by all Garou (including Black Spiral Dancers, who target such cubs and capture them in order to swell their own vile ranks).
The participating Kin-Fetch spirit is assigned to watch over the young Garou as she grows to maturity, so that the tribe may always know the child’s location and whether she is endangered. When the First Change is imminent, the spirit alerts the tribe. Unfortunately, such minor spirits are notoriously weak-willed and easily distracted.
System: The ritemaster makes a Charisma + Rituals roll. Only one success is required, but additional successes improve the chance that the Kin-Fetch will keep track of the child. The rite must be performed at night under the child’s auspice moon. Although generally performed within a month of birth, it remains effective at any time before the First Change. The brand vanishes after the cub’s Rite of Passage.
Source: W20 p. 210

Rite of Binding
Level One
This rite binds a spirit to a werewolf, making it his servant. The more powerful the spirit is, the more difficult the process is. Although any encountered spirit is subject to binding, the Garou generally feel that spirits should be bound only when needed. Binding spirits for excessive lengths of time is generally viewed as callous abuse of those who should be the allies of the Garou. This point doesn’t go uncontested, however, particularly by the mystics of the Older Brother tribe.
Spirits trapped through this rite may be bound into temporary service or into objects to create talens (see here). No spirit allows itself to be bound unless it is friendly to the binding character’s patron. Spirits can be bound into objects, places, and people, although the Garou generally don’t perform the last feat unless the need is great. Failing this rite can be dangerous, for the spirit is very likely to become hostile and attempt to harm the mystic.
System: A Garou can attempt this rite only in the presence of a spirit, and it is usually performed in the Umbra. When attempting to bind a spirit, a Garou must first spend a number of Gnosis points (minimum of one). Each point of Gnosis spent reduces the spirit’s Gnosis rating by one. The Garou’s player must then roll Willpower (difficulty equals the spirit’s adjusted Gnosis). The number of successes indicates how long the spirit may be forced into service, with each success binding the spirit for one week.
Source: W20 p. 210

Rite of Birth Time
Level One
This rite allows a Garou to detect when a female will give birth. This is used by lupus to determine when they should return to their pack to check on the newborn and see if they are Garou. Homids find this rite disgusting.
System:This requires a Perception + Rituals roll against a 7 difficulty. One success will tell the Garou the week of the birth, two successes will give a three-day period, three successes will give the day, and five successes the hour. Note that this prediction is the time of natural birth if all factors remain the same. Obviously things like trauma and additional rituals can change this.
Source: Ways of the Wolf p. 51

Rite of Growth
Level One
This favorite of urban Garou, particularly Glass Walkers, allows plants to grow in strange locations. The plants don’t grow unusually quickly, but can grow in plastic, concrete, or other unusual places, drawing nutrients from the source. Three Garou are needed to make this rite work.
The ritemaster makes an indentation in the surface using a claw, and plants the seed of the plant into it. The three then hold hands in a triangle around it, kneeling, and request the spirit of the material that it nurture and care for the plant. If the spirit agrees, a small green shoot will appear immediately.
System: The ritemaster rolls Wits + Rituals. The difficulty depends on the surface and area. An abandoned lot is 5, a typical city building is 7, and an oil spill would be 9. Each success guarantees the plant’s survival for one month. After that, as much regular watering and care as for any other plant is required.
Source: W20 p. 210

Rite of Heritage
Level One
Galliards and Philodox alike favor this genealogical rite, albeit for slightly different reasons. Some Garou use it to verify the identity of a hero’s descendants before passing on an inheritance; others use it to identify the father of a Crinos-born cub if none is forthcoming. The ritemaster draws the blood of the subject with a silver knife and sings a long paean to the ancestor-spirits of his tribe and any others that might be watching over the subject. As he completes the song, the ancestor-spirits whisper the subject’s heritage into his ears.
System: Standard roll. Success reveals the subject’s true heritage for one generation back per success (for example, two successes would reveal the subject’s heritage as far back as his grandparents). In addition, the ritemaster receives the answer to one specific question about the subject’s heritage per success; e.g., “What was this cub’s paternal grandfather’s profession?” or “Does the blood of any other tribe run in this cub’s veins?” The answer will be accurate, as long as the answer can be found within the number of generations revealed; if the ritemaster gained four successes, for example, he could not ask “Is this child descended from Frode,” but he could accurately tell if the child’s great-great-grandfather claimed descent from Frode or not.
The Rite of Heritage works just as well with humans or wolves (although wolves, lacking names, are harder to accurately identify), even non-Kin or mages. It does not, however, work on the undead or on fae.
Source: W20 p. 211

Rite of the Cardboard Palace
Level One
A Bone Gnawer favorite, this rite allows the Garou to transform any flimsy structure into a decent place to sleep. This often involves a lot of cardboard and newspaper, but this rite can be invoked just about anywhere a werewolf needs to call home for the night — a few torndown branches arranged into a messy lean-to in the woods functions as well as a pile of converted trash in an alley. The “walls” of the dwelling become water-resistant and insulated, keeping everyone inside warm and dry. The rite can even be performed in full view of humans without breaking the Veil.
For powerful Theurges, the cardboard palace is even a place of healing, as well.
System: The ritemaster’s player rolls Intelligence + Survival (difficulty 6). One success is all that’s needed to create a comfortable place to sleep. If a point of Gnosis is spent before making the roll, the shelter is more than just comfortable — the Garou (and any other Fera) living inside the cardboard palace can roll Stamina after a full day of rest within; three successes heals one aggravated health level. A cardboard palace lasts for one full day per success on the activation roll.
Source: W20 p. 211

Preserving the Fetish
Level One
This rite is designed to honor and preserve a spirit within a fetish, or other spirit-imbued object. Each Garou who practices this rite introduces small variations, depending on the type of spirit and fetish involved. The rite generally includes cleaning the fetish, and perhaps even re-coating damaged layers of paint or making other such similar repairs, though many Garou (and spirits) prefer fetishes that appear to be veterans, not brand-new. This rite is often assigned to cubs, who are subsequently given the task of maintaining the fetishes of the sept. This is usually also the only time cubs are allowed near the arsenal of the sept.
System: The player rolls Wits + Rituals, difficulty 8. Good roleplaying and clever ideas for honor the spirit (emphasis on honoring here) could warrant bonus decreases in difficulty level. this ritual should be performed at least once a month, but most garou are encouraged to use it as often as possible, especially after having used the fetish.
Source: Players Guide Revised p. 199

Rite of the Questing Stone
Level One
This rite allows the werewolf to find a person or object (but not a location). She must know the name of the object or individual, and must dangle a stone or needle from a thread while concentrating on the item or person sought. Glass Walkers often use maps and substitute a compass for the traditional stone and thread.
System: Standard roll. If the Garou has a piece of the item or individual (a clipping of hair, a piece of cloth) the difficulty drops by one. The werewolf gains only a sense of the object’s general location, not its exact position.
Source: W20 p. 211

Rite of Silence
Level One
Garou who need to be silent use this rite to make up for any lack in natural ability. For the duration of this rite, the Garou are incapable of making any noise even if they bang on a drum or shatter glass. With the assistance of Ravenspirits, the Garou can sneak through dry underbrush or over a gravel road without making a sound.
System: The Garou invoking this rite confines herself in a dark room or cave. She whispers her darkest secret and then utters an oath of silence. Raven-spirits, attracted by her secret, carry any sound she makes into the Umbra once she leaves her confinement. If the werewolf chooses to speak for any reason, the rite ends immediately. The Raven-spirits, disappointed that the Garou did not reveal any more secrets, return the sounds they carried. For several minutes, the Garou is surrounded by a cacophony she created earlier.
This rite silences only those sounds the Garou would have made directly. If she were to throw a rock at a window, for instance, the whistle of the rock through the air would be silent, but the shattering glass would not. If she punched the glass with her bare hand, the breaking window would not make a sound.
Source: Player's Guide 2nd Ed p. 45

Rite of Talisman Dedication
Level One
This common rite allows a werewolf to bind objects to her body, allowing them to fit her various forms (jeans will grow to accommodate the Crinos form rather than splitting at the seams, for example) and accompany the Garou into the Umbra. Such talismans are most commonly mundane items, for spiritual items such as fetishes and talens remain with the werewolf in all forms and in the Umbra automatically. A werewolf most often performs this rite during the phase of the moon under which she was born. Each auspice has its own peculiar ritual.
System: The cost is one Gnosis point per object dedicated, and a character may never have more objects bound to himself than his Gnosis score. Conceptually linked groups of objects may count as a single object as the Storyteller’s discretion. For example, as a set of clothing would be considered one object rather than one shirt, one pair of pants, two socks, and so on; or a box of ammunition might be dedicated to the character, rather than requiring one dedication per bullet.
Objects will generally resize themselves to accommodate the character’s various forms (such as a backpack’s straps lengthening to accommodate Crinos form), but may simply meld with the character in forms where they can be of no use — for example, a knife may become a knife-shaped tattoo in Hispo. Others must spend a point of Willpower to attempt to steal dedicated objects from the werewolf.
Source: W20 p. 211

Level Two
Rite of Becoming
Level Two
Werewolves must perform this rite at an Anchorhead Domain. Once completed, it enables them to travel into the Deep Umbra. The most common version of this rite requires the Garou to make a braid from three of her hairs, three pieces of fine copper wire,
and three tendrils of ivy or other vine. Lengths of silk thread are sometimes substituted for the hair or wire. When the braid has been constructed, the Garou ties it around his own wrist and howls three words of power.
System: If the braid is destroyed while the Garou is in the Deep Umbra, the werewolf takes one level of aggravated damage and risks becoming lost forever if she doesn’t return quickly to the Near Umbra.
Source: W20 p. 211

Call to the Lost
Level Two
Traveling from the material world into the Umbra and back is not only a werewolf's birthright, but a necessity for maintaining the balance of self that Gaia intended for her defenders. Doing so can be dangerous, though, especially in times such as these. Sometimes things go wrong. A packmate becomes caught in the Gauntlet itself, trapped between worlds. A werewolf is injured and alone in a Realm far from home, unable to return on her own. A comrade suffers the burden of Harano and walks among the spirits for too long, becoming disconnected from the physical world, forgetting who she is. A pack strays too far from the path given to them by their spirit guide and can't find their way back. In cases like these, this rite can be used to call the wandering soul back to where it belongs.
The ritemaster builds a fire scattered with fragrant herbs, burns incense, smokes a large pipe of tobacco and herbs, or otherwise creates a great amount of strong-smelling smoke. Once the fire is lit, he drums and howls, beating the mother rhythm and calling out long and loud. The searching call echoes out across the Umbra, seeking the wandering one by name. In time, if she doesn't fight the call, the lost soul will arrive at the site of the rite, though she may need the ritemaster's help to cross over the Gauntlet. This rite can also be used to return a Stargazer's mind to her body if she becomes lost while traveling the Astral Umbra; in this case, it must be performed over her body, which is painted with glyphs in a combination of ochre and blood.
System: The difficulty of the roll is equal to the target's Gnosis rating; the stronger her connection to the spirit world, the harder it is to call her away from it. This rite can be performed on either side of the Gauntlet, but if it's done from the physical world, the ritemaster must make the roll to pierce the Gauntlet and let the target through. It takes a number of hours equal to the target's Gnosis rating to complete the rite, so if the character is trying to call back a highly spiritual Garou, he should settle in for a test of endurance. The werewolf being called experiences a series of visions that symbolize the call and the journey, perhaps encountering dream-beings that resemble those performing the ritual.
Source: Changing Ways p. 157

Read All About It
Level Two
When the Glass Walkers and their urrah brethren need to spread the word about something important to all Garou in the city, but don't want to draw direct attention to themselves as they might with a howl, they might use the rite Read All About It. This rite is most appropriate when the message that needs to be disseminated is important but not urgent — "Be aware that the Chief of Police is in league with a Wyrm-Cult" might work, while "We're under attack by Black Spiral Dancers" is not a good choice for this rite.
The Garou picks out a message of 100 words or fewer and uses Read All About It to insert that message into printed media, concealing it such that only Garou and kinfolk can read it. Anyone subject to the Delirium simply will not see the message, instead glossing over it as uninteresting. Garou and kinfolk can easily identify such messages as being special, however, and their eyes are drawn to them, making it quite likely that any werewolf who reads the paper will realize that it contains a special message for Garou only.
Unfortunately, the Glass Walker who developed this rite didn't consider that Black Spiral Dancers, being Garou, could also see the messages; however, other creatures in the thrall of the Wyrm cannot see it. It is rumored that the Glass Walkers have developed a similar ritual for use over the internet, concealing important information in other nonsensical spam e-mail or message-board posts.
System: To perform the rite, the ritemaster must write the message out by hand, in block printing, on newsprint. He uses a ball of toy putty to pull the message text off of the paper, and imprint it onto the most recent version of the printed media that he wishes to send the message through. He must spend one Willpower and roll Wits + Rituals, difficulty 7. Creatures immune to the Delirium who are not Kinfolk, such as mages or vampires, cannot read the message; even undead who were Kin in life are unable to detect the hidden communication. The message will appear in the next version of the printed press; its placement depends on the number of successes rolled.
Source: Book of the City p. 116

Renewing the Talen
Level Two
As a form of lesser fetishes almost, talens are spirit-imbued items that have a limited number of uses: one. Some talens can be "refueled," however, with this rite. This rite charms and seduces the spirit involved to return to the talen, and it must be performed through singing and enticing and other forms of beguiling.
System: By performing this rite prior to the Rite of Binding, the character effectively lowers her difficulty to perform that rite by one. In addition, 5+ successes on this rite ensures that every talen created with a successive casting of Rite of Binding can be used twice.
Source: Players Guide Revised p. 199

Rite of Spirit Awakening
Level Two
This rite is used to awaken a sleeping (inactive) spirit. To perform this rite, a Garou must play a rhythm on some form of instrument (drums are the most common). While the Garou plays, any other participating werewolves pace around the ritemaster, howling and growling in counterpoint to the beat.
When performed on a mundane item, this rite enlivens the object’s spirit, causing it to awaken and appear in the Umbra. For example, if the rite is performed on a VW bus, any Garou stepping sideways could see the bus as a true part of the landscape. However, it would appear as a stationary object in the Penumbra unless someone on the physical plane began to drive it, in which case it would appear as a driverless vehicle to anyone in the Umbra.
When performed on plants, this rite is known as sanctification. Plant-spirits are generally benevolent, and an awakened plant spirit will lend its powers as though it were a talen (one use). Different plants grant different abilities when sanctified. For example, sanctified foxglove protects against faerie magic (adding two to the difficulty of any faerie spell).
System: The ritemaster must play a musical instrument or sing a song (talent doesn’t matter). The difficulty of the roll is the spirit’s Rage. Failure means that the spirit remains dormant. The Storyteller must decide whether the spirit is hostile or friendly to its awakener. Awakening a spirit doesn’t allow any control over it. Commanding an awakened spirit requires either a Rite of Binding or a Gift. This rite doesn’t work on sentient beings such as humans. Such individuals are already as “awakened” as they’re going to get.
Source: W20 p. 212

Rite of the Spirit Brew
Level Two
With this rite, a Garou imbues a small volume of water with Gnosis. The most time-consuming aspect of the rite involves actually creating the container. It must be sturdy enough to survive long journeys but ready mystically to hold the spiritual energies. This process allows the Garou to store a reserve of Gnosis for use during a particularly grueling conflict or extended journey.
System: After several hours of meditation and prayers to Gaia, the Garou buries the receptacle in purified earth for three days. At the end of that period, the Garou recovers her prize. The water now holds three Gnosis points that can be consumed by anyone. Should a creature incapable of using Gnosis drink the liquid, nothing happens and the Gnosis is lost. The nature of the container depends purely on the Garou and the circumstances in which she finds herself. Many Get of Fenris use army canteens, whereas the Pure Ones remain fond of buffalo-hide waterskins. A Garou may only imbue a number of Spirit Brew containers equal to her permanent Gnosis. In the event a new one is made, the oldest will lose its ability to retain Gnosis.
Source: Player's Guide 2nd Ed p. 45

Rite of Summoning
Level Two
Garou mystics are adept at calling spirits, be they minor Gafflings, patron spirits, or even Incarna. Summoning spirits involves complex rituals, long periods of meditation, and tribal mantra chanting. Within the Umbra, this process is far easier. This rite compels spirits to seek those who call them. Furthermore, the spirit cannot escape its caller once the summoning is completed successfully, and it must attend the mystic. Many spirits, particularly minor ones, are too weak to resist a powerful summoning. Powerful ones come out of curiosity. The chance of a successful summoning depends upon the skill of the mystic, the power of the spirit, and the strength of the area’s Gauntlet.
System: The ritemaster must pierce the Gauntlet just as if he were entering the Umbra (Gnosis roll against the local Gauntlet level). A mystic already within the Umbra is not required to pierce the Gauntlet. The power level of the spirit determines the difficulty level of a successful summoning. The Storyteller can determine difficulty from the following chart:
Spirit Type / Difficulty
Gaffling / 4
Jaggling / 5
Patron avatar / 7
Incarna / 8–9
Celestine avatar / 10
For each hour the Garou spends invoking the spirit, his difficulty drops by one. No difficulty may fall below 3. The player must then make a Gnosis roll and achieve as many successes as possible, with the following results:
Successes / Effect
1 / Spirit comes eventually and is initially hostile
2 / Spirit manifests quickly, but it is still initially hostile
3 / Spirit comes immediately and is neutral
4 / Spirit comes immediately and is passively benign
5 / Spirit comes immediately and is friendly
A botched roll is likely to have disastrous results. Often a botch summons the wrong type of spirit — or even Banes — in great numbers or with great hostility.
The Storyteller should feel free to adjust the previous tables as she wishes, particularly as appropriate to patrons. In certain cases, a Garou who attempts to summon a specific spirit will have no chance of success. At other times, he will have almost no chance of failure. The Storyteller is advised to treat each use of this rite individually and to use common sense in her decisions.
A Garou who summons an Incarna or Celestine avatar may absolutely use that to claim Wisdom Renown for the month, unless the summons is done frivolously.
Source: W20 p. 212

Rite of Tying the Snare
Level Two
Snare-spirits are subtle and persistent entities of the City's Umbrascape, trapping humans, other spirits and Banes in the city. This rite invokes their power to bind a specific enemy to a particular location, even if only for a while. Calling on these Weaver-spirits is a potentially dangerous endeavor; if the rite is performed improperly, the snare-spirits will likely try to bind the ritemaster into the Pattern Web. But success can leave an enemy right where the ritemaster wants him; several vampires have gone up in four-alarm building fires thanks to this rite.
Using this rite, a ritemaster must first walk, run, or otherwise move round the area to be bound. She must name that which she wishes to bind, and the name must be sufficiently accurate — "the vampire who works in this building" is not precise enough, whereas "the vampire who works in this building under the alias of Mr. Vincenzo" will suffice. She then invokes the trapping spirit, and "ties a knot" round the area. If the rite is successful, the target of the rite will find it difficult to leave the area — barricades are harder to shift, doors lock themselves, and so on.
System: The ritemaster rolls Wits + Rituals as usual. Each success on the rite locks one door, jams one elevator or otherwise seals one particular avenue of escape for the target. In addition, the difficulty of any rolls or feats of strength made to leave the area (such as Athletics check to jump from roof to roof) is increased by 1 or each of the ritemaster's successes, to a maximum difficulty of 10. This rite is at its most potent when combined with more mundane means of blocking exits, such as barricading doors and cutting phone lines.
Note that this rite cannot restrict any other activities of the target that aren't directly related to leaving, nor can it prevent other people from assisting the trapped target; a phone call for help will not be affected, and neither will the firemen arriving to break down the doors.
Source: Book of the City p. 117

Rite of Unsalting the Earth
Level Two
Perhaps the gentlest Wyld rite, this serves to reconsecrate barren ground to the service of life and growth. Originally used to restore cropland salted by the Romans, the rite is used more frequently these days to reclaim lands that have been tainted with pollution or paved over and subsequently abandoned.
The rite itself is rather lengthy, beginning with chanting as two Garou stride the perimeter of the area to be affected. One carries a bowl of water, the other a bowl of blood (chicken blood is usually sufficient), and they sprinkle this on the ground as they walk. Ideally, the water and blood will run out as the Garou meet back at their starting point. According to tradition, if they run out beforehand, the rite is doomed to failure.
Any other Garou then cross the boundary of blood and water and make the a ritual furrow from one end of the field to the other. No tools can be used in this labor, or else the entire effect is spoiled.
System: If the rite is performed properly, the site becomes much more Wyld-friendly and fertile, and may well actually produce life come springtime. In addition, Wyrm- and Weaver-creatures find themselves at a +1 difficulty on all rolls while in the newly consecrated area, and this effect lasts for a year and a day.
Source: Book of the Wyld p. 118

Rite of the Ziggurat
Level Two
The Glass Walkers and Children of Gaia learned long ago that just as nature combines functions in a forest, Garou can "stack" rites atop one another for more powerful magic. Originally, urban septs performed rites atop ziggurats, in cathedral towers, or even on top of pyramids, but the skyscraper caerns of Glass Walkers make this much easier now than it was earlier. The city Farmers even take advantage of this principle to grow trees and vines up through lightwells, creating open, Gaian spaces within huge buildings.
The Rite of the Ziggurat unites and strengthens other rites. It is useful when two or more rites (even minor rites) are being performed atop one another in a multilevel structure. The use of intercoms, cell phones, and even closed-circuit TV and webcams makes this much easier. For example, a group of Garou Greeting the Moon could synchronize their actions with another pack consecrating a fetish two floors up and a Rite of Renown one floor up.
System: The ritemaster rolls Wits + Rituals as usual. The Storyteller counts the number of rites being performed and may allow the total number of rites as a number of extra dice for the dice pool of the topmost rite. In addition, the background count of spirits may rise in relation to all the rites, with potentially interesting effects.
Source: Book of the City p. 117

Level Three
Rite of the Blackened Moon
Level Three
This rarely used rite creates a spiritually dead zone, essentially closing off a small space to Umbral access The space can be no larger than a small hut or large room. Garou feel distinctly uncomfortable in this dead zone, and spirits trapped there can wither away to nothingness.
System: The bounds of the space are inscribed with glyphs, and an herbal smudge or incense is burned to banish spirits and spiritual influences from the room. Each success (Wits + Rituals, difficulty 7) increases the Gauntlet by 1, to a maximum of 10. In addition, no Gnosis can be regained in any way within the warded space, and materialized spirits trapped within begin to unravel at the rate of 1 Essence/hour. The ritual's effect lasts a number of days equal to the ritemaster's successes, fading at sundown of the first day. This takes half an hour to perform, and can be continued as often as necessary.
Source: Book of Auspices p. 81

Calling the Spirit Guide
Level Three
This rite serves as a quicker way to summon spirits while in the Umbra, but only spirits that can guide the summoner to a location. The spirits summoned with this rite will not teach the character anything or assist in the usual ways, but can be asked to help find a place, person or item in the Umbra. The rite involves calling out through a specialized dance and chant taught to the Garou as she learned this rite.
System: Standard roll for performing this rite, but lower the difficulty by one if the character seeks a particular spirit whose name she knows. As usual, failed or botched rolls often involve angered or hostile spirits appearing (see charts under Rite of Summoning). When the spirit appears, it can lead the character or her pack to a Near Realm without difficulty. There is no further roll required here, but as customary it will want something in return for its services. It can also help search for a place or a person. The spirit is not omniscient, and can only help locate the target. The ritemaster gains five bonus dice to his Perception + Investigation rolls throughout the quest, as long as the spirit assists him. The spirit can also attempt to lead the characters to the Deep Umbra. In this case, stakes are much higher, and the characters may need to haggle a great deal (but not so much as to offend the spirit) to get a reasonable price. Also, the characters must locate an anchorhead themselves, and they travel into the Deep Umbra at their own risk. I the characters manage to persuade the spirit to accompany them on their entire journey, they will be able to return safely to the anchorhead.
Source: Players Guide Revised p. 199

Descent Into the Underworld
Level Three
Most Garou think of the Umbra, the Gaian spirit world, as the only spirit realm that sits close to the physical world. Most Garou are wrong. The Underworld — the Land of the Dead, the Dark Umbra — sits astride the physical realm just as the Umbra does. Within it are trapped the ghosts of countless humans who died unable to let go of their lives and pass on into the cycle of souls, as Gaia intended.
The Underworld is a bleak landscape mirroring all that is decayed or departed in the living world, as the Penumbra is a reflection expressing the world’s spiritual nature. Terrible, unstable portals lead deeper yet into the Underworld, a land of spirit-storms and nightmare mazes where few Garou have ever ventured and from which fewer still have ever returned.
This rite is primarily known and used by the Silent Striders, but a few other tribes and camps make use of it as well (most notably the Black Furies and Older Brothers).
System: This rite takes five minutes to perform. The ritemaster must sacrifice a living mammal and touch every character to be affected by the rite with at least a fingerprint of its blood. He then draws sigils on the ground nearby with the remaining blood. The player should roll Intelligence + Occult (difficulty equals the local Gauntlet). Success on this roll takes the ritemaster to the Underworld; each additional success takes one of the other characters marked (if there aren’t enough successes to go around, those with the highest Gnosis are transported first).
Source: W20 p. 213

Rite of the Fertile Season
Level Three
Performed on the day the last snow melts, the Rite of the Fertile Season exists to ensure fertility for all things — plants, animals, and those humans and Garou indulging in hanky-panky. Kinfolk are welcomed, nay, demanded at the performance of this rite, which generally grows carnal before much time has passed. A bacchanal of wine, carnality and passion, the Rite of the Fertile Season has been described as a party with occasional bits of chanting, and that's fairly close to the truth.
The Rite, however, is not outsider-friendly. Anyone accidentally intruding has an equal chance of being swept up in the madness or being torn limb from limb. Resisting the ambiance is a sure way to meet an untimely fate, while giving in to it can have unexpected consequences.
System: The Rite of the Fertile Season makes anything exposed to it more fertile — almost. (Crinos-born remain as sterile as ever; a simple rite isn't good enough to undo one of Gaia's heaviest decrees — or curses. Most sept won't allow Crinos-born anywhere near the rite, anyway, feeling that their sterility might offend the Wyld-spirits that empower it.) Enterprising young Garou have begun experimenting with bringing everything from window boxes full of cannabis to crystal growth experiments to the rite, to see how far its power extends. The traditional use of this rite, however, is to ensure the next generation of the Garou Nation. With the Apocalypse straining at het seams, however, some septs have set this rite aside, concerned that there won't be time for the next generation to reach childhood before the war reaches its peak.

Rite of the Fetish
Level Three
This rite allows a werewolf to create a fetish (an object with a spirit bound into it). To do so, the Garou must first cleanse the potential fetish by placing it under running water (sufficiently drinkable flowing tap water counts), burying it in pure earth, exposing the object to constant breezes, or suspending it above flame for three consecutive nights. The Garou must then force or persuade a spirit to enter the prepared object. The Fianna claim that cajoling or flattering a spirit produces the best results, while the Bone Gnawers and Silent Striders claim that bribery (expending Gnosis) works best.
System: The ritemaster rolls Wits + Rituals (difficulty 10). Each point of permanent Gnosis that the character spends during the rite reduces the difficulty by two. The difficulty can also be lowered by roleplaying, if the ritemaster does a good job persuading the spirit to enter the fetish (by providing chiminage, undergoing a quest to prove her sincerity or worthiness, flattery, etc). If the Garou attempts to force a spirit into the fetish, she must first attack the spirit and reduce it to zero Essence before attempting to bind it into the fetish.
An easier summary of Fetish Creation can be found here: viewtopic.php?f=14&t=49
Source: W20 p. 213

Rite of the Shadow Play
Level Three
While most Garou are familiar with the friendly spirits known as Lunes, fewer know their more secretive cousins. This rite calls on the Blood Lunes, spirits of lunar eclipses and the far side of the moon. These elusive Jagglings see all but say little, lurking just beyond sight wherever moonlight shines. A werewolf who coaxes them out properly can draw on their abundance of ancient observations from unseen corners of the world, asking questions about the history of an elusive subject and receiving a cryptic shadow play in answer. Blood Lunes don't usually care about knowledge that's known by many, and they tend to forget it. They only retain secrets, and so only secrets can be learned from them. This rite doesn't actually summon the Blood Lunes into the material world, if performed there; it only draws them close to the Gauntlet to pass on their hints.
This rite must be performed during the full moon, when its light shines fully on a surface. The Garou must have some physical representation of the subject of her inquiry on hand. This could include a lock of hair or a severed finger, a carved bone resembling a spirit, sand from a particular beach, or even a photograph. She sacrifices a nocturnal animal — usually a bat — then takes awakened psilocybin or peyote. Having done so, she places the token on the ground, lets her shadow fall upon the bright surface, and dances. As she does, her shadow acts out her questions in symbolic gestures. She must repeat these motions until her shadow separates from her and acts out its own story. Other shadows join it, presenting an enigmatic tale that she must interpret for clues that answer the questions. The tale may not even obviously reference the subject of the query, but with the proper interpretation, she can still glean.
System: The player rolls Wits + Enigmas with a difficulty based on the obscurity or specificity of her subject. Well-known or broad subjects such as the Garou Nation, World War I, or the Weaver are difficulty (7 - Rituals). Slightly narrower or more obscure subjects such as a particular mountain range, the Silver Fangs’ tribal lore, or a corporate merger are difficulty (8 - Rituals). Coaxing out Blood Lunes who know about very narrow or arcane subjects such as a particular lost tome of wisdom, an individual not widely-known, or an agreement made between two spirits is difficulty (9 - Rituals). For each success on the roll, the werewolf learns one secret about the subject's past, couched in mystery and symbolism. The more successes the player rolls, the easier to interpret these hints should be.
Source: Changing Ways p. 157

Rite of the Patron
Level Three
This rite binds a patron to a group of Garou, joining them together as a pack. During the rite, all werewolves who wish to bind their destinies to a particular patron spirit must coat their eyes with an infusion of saliva and mugwort, tobacco, or a similar substance holy to Gaia and step sideways into the Umbra. In the spirit world, the ritemaster leads the Garou in a hunt for the spiritual spoor left by a patron spirit. Such evidence varies with the spirit, but Garou worthy of the patron’s attention can always find it. Even tracking down the spirit doesn’t guarantee success, for the patron must decide whether the Garou are worthy to become its fosterlings. An undecided patron may require a quest of the supplicants, although one is almost never required if the pack has just completed a Rite of Passage successfully.
System: Characters must purchase the Patron Background to benefit from this rite. Otherwise, the rite is simply not performed. The roll is standard.
Details on gaining a Patron and forming a Pack can be found here: viewtopic.php?f=14&t=59
Source: W20 p. 213

Rite of Weeping for a Vision
Level Three
The native tribes adopted this rite from their Sioux brethren. After preparing a sacred pipe of tobacco and entering meditation on a hilltop, the Garou receives visions. Unlike the Sioux ritual, however, the Garou's spirit actually leaves her body and travels into the Umbra. Once there, spirits assail her with visions of her possible futures or memories of her past.
System: The ritualist prepares all the necessary implements prior to the vision seeker's journey and succeeds in a standard roll. Once secluded, the Garou smokes the sacred pipe and meditates throughout the night. With a successful Gnosis roll (difficulty 7), her spirit leaves her body and enters the Umbra. If anyone disturbs her physical form, the visions ends immediately. In the Umbra, the Garou experiences visions and delusions created by spirits who wish to frighten the stranger out of their realm. Among these images, fortunes of the future and reflections of the past can be discerned. Interpreting these visions should never be easy, and the Storyteller should do her best to conceal their true meanings.
Source: Player's Guide 2nd Ed p. 46

Level Four
Rite of the 13th Floor
Level Four
The Garou keep many secrets, something that becomes tricky in the enclosed and overpopulated realm of the city. This rite draws upon the power of local superstition, allowing either the 13th floor of a tall building or room #1 in a hotel to go unnoticed. The performance of the rite involves placing unlucky symbols such as pictures of black cats or the number "13" by the entrance of the place to be hidden. Some ritemasters trying to conceal a hotel room perform a fake ritual murder in the bathroom; those with a captive loyal to the Wyrm may go the extra distance to make the ritual real.
System: The resulting successes from the performance of the rite represent the number of successes needed on a Willpower check (difficulty 6) for any observer to actually see the button or entrance to the hidden region. If an actual captive is sacrificed in a genuine murder, the difficulty for the Willpower check rises to 9. This rite affects the perceptions of anyone, supernatural or mortal, who isn't present at the ritual. The effects last for one day per success, but may become permanent if the ritemaster spends a permanent Gnosis.
Source: Book of the City p. 117

Rite of Excoriation
Level Four
This dreadful rite forcibly strips the patron bond from a werewolf (or a pack). To perform this rite, the ritemaster must paint glyphs representing both the patron bond in general and the specific patron in question on the subject's body. The higher the number of patron dots the patron possesses, the more of the subject must be covered. The ritemaster then carefully flenses the skin beneath the glyphs off and waits until the subject's regeneration heals the wounds. Finally, the bloody, painted scraps are burned to ash (in the oldest forms of this rite, they are cast into a vat of molten silver).
System: The Rite of Excoriation requires the normal roll of Wits + Rituals. The difficulty is equal to the total number of points invested in the patron; for each point above 9, the rite requires an extra success — excoriating a pack that had spent 12 points on their patron requires three successes on a difficulty 9 roll. If the ritemaster performs it on an individual werewolf, it strips that werewolf from the pack. See Old Blood, Changing Ways p. 121, for how to adjudicate lost patron points. If, however, the rite is performed on a pack's patron directly, it dissolves the pack bond completely. Patron points in this instance are not lost, but held "in trust" until the pack either reforms the bond or finds a new patron.
Source: CW p. 122

Rite of The Guardian Spirit
Level Four
This rite binds a spirit to a sept, making it into the sept’s patron. The details of this rite vary depending on the spirit. However, the rite always begins with a lavish sacrifice to attract the spirit’s attention. Then, one or more champions acting on the sept’s behalf proves their worth with a display of strength or skill. A sept hoping to attract the attention of a Patron of War might pit its champion against a captured Bane in ritual combat, while a sept attempting to woo a Patron of Respect might perform a play commemorating an ancient Garou victory. A Patron of Wisdom or Cunning, on the other hand, might be impressed by a ritualized debate on arcane details of the Litany. Finally, if the rite is successful, it ends with a second, even larger thanksgiving sacrifice and a celebration honoring the sept’s new patron.
System: Although the champions and the sacrifice are necessary components, only the ritemaster needs to roll. This ritual must be performed in the presence of an opened caern (see above). A sept can only have one patron at a time; this ritual automatically fails if the caern is already occupied.
Source: Rage Across the World p. 30

Rite of the Wyld Machines
Level Four
All urban Garou know that machines have spirits, and the potential to awaken. But buried deep, deep within the machine's Weaver-self is the Wyld seed from which it grew. Every bulldozer was factory-made form iron ore; each vibra-lounger comes from wood and fiber of Gaia. This more specialized version of the Rite of Spirit Awakening awakens the Wyld within any machine, stirring it to behave in ways no ordinary machine-spirit would dream of.
System: The Garou must howl and dance wildly to awaken the spirit, rolling Wits + Rituals. In some cases, such as a crazy pagan's motorcycle or a lathe used by generations of blacksmith Kin, the machine is already a little bit wild, and the difficulty would be 6. For machines used by unthinking humans, it's 8, and for machines of the Wyrm (such as a Black Spiral's torture chair) it is 10.
With one success, the machine will work normally but will aid the Garou. This might include an enemy's car agreeing to stop (although it's hard to perform this rite for the requisite ten minutes during a car chase). Three successes cause the machine to act abnormally: radios might bring oracular messages or the voices of ancestors, and vending machines turn out to have surprising contents such as boiled skulls, useful business cards or taser refills. Five successes mean that the machine will acquire mobility and a touch of wit. The Garou who scores seven successes can ask the machine to follow her into any danger (it can also speak), and further successes lead to machines shapeshifting, stepping sideways and so on. This rite can lead to stories so bizarre that elders refuse to award Glory for them.
Source: Book of the City p. 118

Level Five
Rite of Spirit Union
Level Five
This ancient rite was lost to time for centuries before it was rediscovered recently by a pack that ventured far into the Deep Umbra on a quest to find allies in their fight. Once, long ago, brave Garou heroes ready to risk everything to uphold their sacred duty to Gaia made pacts with spirits to merge with them, creating divine warrior beings with a werewolf's mind and prowess, and a spirit's power and nature. The union represents a serious imbalance, however, and is not sustainable. If the Garou becomes drunk on the power, or his need is so great that he cannot afford to let the spirit go before his task is done, he courts disaster.
The petitioner must fast for one day and one night before the rite begins, readying his body to be filled with spiritual energy. He scribes glyphs on his body with his own claws, symbols of his dedication drawn in blood, and opened flesh hat offers a gateway to the spirit. Then, he must go to the spirit he wishes to petition and make his case. The Rite of Spirit Union doesn't work if the spirit was summoned or commanded with Gifts; it must agree to the union of its own free will. Alternatively, the petitioner can bring along a ritemaster to perform the ritual for him, acting as a mediator. If the Garou (or his ritemaster) persuades the spirit to accede, the pact is made: the spirit agrees to inhabit the body of the petitioner and lend its strength to his cause, and in return the werewolf agrees to take no actions that would go against the spirit's own nature. Once the rite is complete, the two beings merge to become one. The werewolf retains full autonomy, and can only faintly sense the spirit's thoughts and emotions. The merged being takes on the appearance of a fantastical mix between the two.
System: To petition a spirit at all for this rite, the Garou must have a Rank that corresponds to the relative importance of the spirit. At Rank 1 or 2, he could only merge with Gafflings, while at Rank 3 or 4 he could merge with Jagglings and at Rank 5 he could petition even the Incarnae.
At the time of the rite, the petitioner takes aggravated damage appropriate to the spirit: 1 level for a Gaffling, 3 for a Jaggling, and 5 for an Incarna. The ritemaster’s player makes an extended and resisted roll of Charisma + Rituals (difficulty 7) against the spirit's Gnosis (difficulty equal to the werewolf's Gnosis rating). If the player accumulates successes equal to the spirit's Willpower before the spirit accumulates successes equal to the werewolf's Willpower, the rite is successful and the two beings merge.
The werewolf's player distributes the spirit's Gnosis rating as dots among his Attributes in any combination, though no Attribute can be increased to more than double its Homid-form rating. The Garou gains access to all the spirit's Charms, spending Gnosis in place of Essence where appropriate. The player can spend the spirit's Gnosis, Rage, and Willpower points as though they were the Garou's own. The Storyteller chooses an appropriate Ban, similar to those imposed by patron spirits, by which the werewolf must abide; if he violates the Ban, the spirit immediately rips free of the union, deeply offended, and the werewolf suffers unsoakable dice of aggravated damage equal to the spirit’s Rage. The werewolf can end the union safely at any time by spending one Willpower point and taking a level of lethal damage.
The instability of the union means that the werewolf risks burning himself out from the inside if he keeps it going for too long. For every scene after the first that the rite is in effect, the player rolls Rage, with a cumulative +1 difficulty each time. If the Garou frenzies as a result, then after the frenzy ends, he suffers unsoakable dice of aggravated damage equal to his own Rage and expels the spirit forcibly. If this happens, he's likely to lose Renown and the goodwill of the spirit both.
Source: Changing Ways p. 158