Fenrir Rites

# Rites of the Fenrir

The rites of the Get of Fenris are bloody, savage affairs; few are ever performed without retribution or punishment in mind. Fenrir are prone to shed their own blood in rites as a sacrifice to the spirits and an example of their duty (and willingness) to shed blood in the Mother’s defense. Undoubtedly much of the “Get as masochist” stereotype has arisen from visitors at Fenrir moots mistaking the Fenrir’s devotion for pleasure.

## Mystic Rites

### Rite of Rune Carving

Level One

Get of Fenris Crescent Moons learn early on to respect and appreciate the power of the written rune, whether it takes the form of Garou glyphs or of runes of human origin. This rite is a prerequisite to the Rite of Rune Casting (belowmay take whatever form is most spiritually relevant to the ritemaster. Most Fenrir choose Garou glyphs or the Futhark runes of the Norse, but a few Get have been able to make rune-bones carved with the Cherokee alphabet and even I Ching trigrams function.

System: Standard roll; the rite lasts for eight hours of carving and ritual empowerment. At the rite’s completion, the Garou must spend a Gnosis point to “charge” the runes. The runes are commonly stored in a bag, and drawn forth just one to three at a time); it is with this rite that the rune-seer creates her talismans. The runes must be carved into the bones of enemies slain in battle, but

### Rite of the Lodge House

Level Three

The Fenrir are well aware of the dangers of letting their tempers get out of hand. Although a visitor or rival might deserve to be ripped limb from limb, it is neither honorable nor prudent to slay other Gaian werewolves in a fit of frenzy. Fenrir often bolster their self-control at formal moots with this rite, which soothes the Rage of participants so that they can avoid “diplomatic events.”

To enact this rite, the Get must be inside a house pleasing to the spirits in some respect; the lodge-houses, longhalls or other structures within a Get caern are ideal, but any building that has been marked as open to the spirits of Gaia will suffice. The ritemaster opens each door and window in turn, inviting in the spirits of wisdom and granting the spirits of Rage permission to leave if they see fit. If the rite is performed correctly, those within the lodge are much less likely to lose control of their Rage until the meeting ends.

System: Standard roll; if successful, the rite’s effects last until the first person leaves the lodge. While the rite’s effects are in place, any shapeshifters within the lodge are calmer than usual; the difficulty of any Rage roll made within the lodge has a difficulty of 9 (although Rage may be spent without restriction).

### Rite of Rune Casting

Level Three

This prophetic rite enables the rune-caster to see hints of the future in the patterns the runes form as they fall. At the climax of the rite, the ritemaster casts a few runes from her personal rune-bag onto a hide skin or other sacred cloth, studying the patterns there to see what the spirits mean to tell her.

System: The rune-caster must use her personal set of runes, created by the Rite of Rune Carving (above); the roll is Wits + Rituals, difficulty 8. Success reveals an accurate, but vague prophecy; the ritemaster may roll Intelligence + Enigmas (difficulty 8) to make more sense of the casting, but prophecy is by nature never crystal-clear. The Storyteller is encouraged to use symbolic language to create the runes’ warnings; “you will encounter an obstacle” is rather bland, but “warrior-rune reversed, against icerune — Ymir’s prison walls may sap your strength” is considerably more interesting.

## Rites of Punishment

### The Coward’s Brand

Level Three

The Get of Fenris have very little use for cowards. Where other tribes are content to use punishment rites to punish cowards socially, the Get often do so physically. This rite is used to punish those whose cowardice endangered their packmates or Kin without actually causing their deaths (those cravens whose cowardice killed a packmate are more often subject to the Hunt, or worse). Although the Get primarily use this rite to punish other Fenrir — werewolves of other tribes are not expected to live up to the Fenrir’s high standards — they have been known to give the Coward’s Brand to Garou of other tribes whose cowardice endangered several Get of Fenris.

As the rite begins, the ritemaster repeats a litany of names, names of Garou who lost their lives from being abandoned by cowardly packmates. She then ritually names each packmate or Kinfolk that the accused werewolf abandoned, and anoints the accused with blood drawn from each. At the conclusion of the rite, the ritemaster brands the sole of the offender’s foot with a heated silver brand. The brand is permanent, an encouragement for the offender to never show his heels to his loved ones again.

System: Standard roll. At the culmination of the rite, the offender takes two levels of aggravated damage, and loses five Glory and five Honor Renown. The brand cannot be removed by healing Gifts, even those that remove Battle Scars. Legend holds that a Fenrir who received the Coward’s Brand managed later to atone with deeds of great valor. His reward came when Great Fenris appeared and bit off the branded foot, leaving him crippled but his honor fully restored.

## Rites of Renown

### Rite of War

Level Two

Although the Get are not, as some werewolves joke, “a tribe of Ahroun,” it’s true that the Get’s Full Moons are held to an exacting standard. This rite is a clear illustration of the Fenrir’s lofty expectations. After a Modi has successfully challenged for Rank Two, but before she has been formally awarded that rank, she must undergo ritual combat with two fellow Ahroun. She may use no weapons but her natural body, while her attackers are allowed to use weapons if they choose (die-hard traditionalist septs always arm the attackers with silver). If for some reason, there aren’t two Get Ahroun available to fight with the aspiring Fostern, the ritemaster may substitute Get of other auspices, or Ahroun of other tribes if no other Get are available. (If no other Ahroun or Get can be found, the rite is waived; combat against nonAhroun of other tribes is simply not considered sufficiently impressive.)

The young Ahroun need not win against her two combatants (if the other two are of higher rank, she’s not even expected to stand a chance); she must merely put up a good fight. The ritemaster paints the wounds achieved during the rite with dyes made from various plants, and the scars become permanent reminders of the Ahroun’s success.

System: Standard roll. If the challenger actually wins against two Get Ahroun, even if they are both Rank One, she gains three Glory for her outstanding performance.

### Rite of Challenge

Level Three

This rite is the most formal of challenges, most often the challenge for leadership of an entire sept. Although a would-be Jarl need not know this rite to challenge the current sept leader, this rite is accepted as the most formal and proper way to do so. Proper performance of this rite marks the challenger as one well-versed in Fenrir ways and worthy of facing the Jarl in challenge, and therefore adds extra weight to his claim to the position. Get of Fenris may also perform this rite to formally challenge rivals of other tribes or positions; the rite has less binding power in such occasions, but still (if performed properly) carries great weight.

The challenger must be the one to perform this rite. He must confront his opponent and formally recite his lineage, deeds and strengths, each one a ritual declaration of his worthiness. He then calls out each of the reasons for his challenge — which must be carefully done, as the accusations must be strong enough to win the onlookers’ support, yet not so bold as to provoke the challenged party to frenzy. With the final accusation, he formalizes the challenge. If the rite is performed properly, the challenged party must accept or lose significant Renown.

System: Standard roll of Charisma + Rituals. If the rite is failed, the challenged party may refuse to meet the challenger (and if both were Fenrir, it would be a disgrace to acknowledge a challenge so poorly made). If the rite is successful, the challenged party cannot refuse the challenge without losing Renown (1 Glory for non-Fenrir, 2 Glory for Get of Fenris, 5 Glory if a Jarl).

The ensuing combat may be to first blood, submission, or even to the death, at the Master of the Challenge’s decision; the more successes, the more likely the Master of the Challenge is to choose duel terms in keeping with the challenger’s wishes. No weapons may be used during the combat.

If the Fenrir uses this rite to challenge someone who is clearly not his equal in battle, he promptly loses 1 Glory and 2 Honor, and the challenged party may decline without fear of Renown loss no matter the result of the roll. The only exception is if the challenged party is a Jarl; a Jarl who is clearly inferior to his challenger is an affront, and should be replaced as quickly as possible.

### Rite of Conquest

Level Five

This is one of the rarest of Fenrir rites, performed whenever a Jarl has gained his rank by slaying his predecessor in fair combat. The rite was more popular in olden times, but in these days the Get of Fenris don’t have the numbers to permit many lethal challenges for the post of Jarl.

The rite acknowledges the history of both the fallen sept leader and the new Jarl. The ritemaster guides the new Jarl through the steps of establishing his new rank. The new Jarl must devour the heart of his predecessor, thus symbolically gaining the wisdom to rule his sept properly. The fallen leader’s possessions are turned over to the new Jarl in accordance with the Litany, but relatives with a claim on weapons or fetishes are allowed to challenge the new Jarl for their possession.

System: Standard roll. If successful, the new Jarl gains instant knowledge of one of the fallen leader’s Gifts (Storyteller’s choice; higher-level Gifts are more likely, even if the new Jarl is still not yet of the rank to use them).