Silver Fang Rites

# Rites of the Silver Fangs

As one might expect from a tribe that values both tradition and heritage so highly, rites are an important part of the tribe’s social structure. As one Bone Gnawer Ragabash once commented, not only do the Fangs conduct rites at the drop of a hat, they have rites for the dropping of a hat. To be fair, the rite in question is actually a symbolic removal of the crown of leadership that bars the werewolf from ever acting as a pack alpha, but the point is a good one. The Silver Fangs don’t actually have any more rites than the other tribes do, they’re just more committed to using them. Thus, most Silver Fangs end up learning some rites at some point in their lives. Conversely, though, very few young Silver Fangs know any. It is something no one expects them to learn until they have some experience under their belts.

## Rites of Accord

### Rite of the Honorable Oath

Level One

The Silver Fangs take their oaths of service very seriously indeed. When anyone wishes to swear service to a Silver Fang Lord who follows the old traditions of the tribe, the Lord may ask them to undergo this rite, but will never press the point. Many Silver Fangs voluntarily undergo it if offering service to another werewolf, but are offended if others demand it of them. To swear the oath, the character swears to undertake a single task, which is outlined by the recipient of the oath and repeated by the character undergoing it. The character offering service then gives a small object of value to himself to the recipient of the oath.

Should the oath taker stay true to their word, he will receive Renown whether or not the mission is successful. The recipient of the oath should return the gifted item at the conclusion of the service.

System: The player of the oath giver spends one Gnosis to activate the rite. If the character keeps her word and attempts the mission to the best of her abilities, she gains four points of Honor, irrespective of the quest’s outcome — if she does not do so, she loses four points of Honor. The recipient of the oath is under no compulsion to return the object gifted to them, but may lose two points of Honor if she does not do so.

### Rite of the Loyal Pack

Level Three

The Silver Fangs do, despite claims to the contrary, understand that leadership is a two-way street. A leader needs respect from those that follow him if he (and they) wish to succeed. Usually, only packs that have been working together for some time and who trust each other enough to further cement those bonds perform this rite.

The rite makes the whole pack’s focus and commitment dependent on the pack alpha. In effect, they submit completely to him, in the hope of gaining an advantage from it if he is committed to working for the benefit of all. Each member of the pack must take a small item of personal significance and a length of his or her own hair and give it to the ritemaster. She then binds together all the objects using the hairs and buries the bundle within the pack’s home caern.

System: The player of the werewolf enacting the Rite rolls Charisma + Rituals (difficulty 9 - the pack alpha’s Leadership). If the roll succeeds, the entire pack gains two extra points of Willpower per chapter as long as the pack alpha is acting in the best interests of the whole pack. However, if the alpha has not been doing so, the entire pack loses two points of Willpower for the chapter. The gain or loss is entirely at the Storyteller’s discretion. Should the pack alpha change, the rite’s effects immediately end.

### Rite of Kingship

Level Four

We practice many of the same rites as do the other tribes, but we have a prime rite that they do not: the Rite of Kingship. They may have similar rites whereby they recognize new leaders, but they are not the same. The Rite of Kingship recognizes a king before the Sun and the Moon, ordained with an ancient privilege from the Dawn of Time, untarnished by the ages.

The rite takes an entire day and night to perform, as you well know, my lord. The time chosen for the rite is usually the first waxing phase of the new king’s auspice. It is a bad omen if, during the day portion of the rite, the sun does not appear. Custom then usually demands that the new king perform some penance for Helios, to gain his favor.

If there are two or more claimants to the throne, the Lodges of the Sun and Moon gather with the seneschal and discuss the merits of all applicants. If any applicant is found unworthy by those in attendance, he is removed from candidacy. Those remaining must determine who is to be king by challenge. It is usually a game of cat and mouse to see who will lose his temper first and challenge the other, allowing the challenged the choice of terms. Those kingly applicants who choose gamecraft — and win — are often seen as weak kings, unless they can prove themselves strong during their rule.

Needless to say, the winner of the challenge is given the title and participates in the Rite of Kingship performed for him by the shamans of the lodges, with his sept’s Ritemaster also in attendance, if he or she is not also one of the shamans.

There are times when confusions arise and the outcome is unclear. I have been told the full tale of your rise to the throne by your septmates, and know that Arkady won the challenge against you, but could not win the Silver Crown, which proved him ultimately unworthy to rule. You see, rare spiritual artifacts like the Crown, or spiritual events, such as a sudden solar or lunar eclipse during the Rite of Kingship, can throw the results into turmoil, calling the legitimacy of the king-to-be into question. We adhere to tradition and custom but recognize that it can be overturned by the will of the spirits.

This rite is used to crown the true kings of the tribe. The rite is rarely used for obvious reasons, but the shamans of the Silver Fangs traditionally teach it to multiple promising students, so that it will never be lost through a shaman’s untimely death. To be taught the Rite of Kingship is a distinct honor, and many Theurges vie to be recognized as worthy of the rite.

System: Standard roll. Success indicates that the recipient has been properly marked as a Silver Fang king, and that all spirits that owe allegiance to Gaia, Luna or Helios will automatically recognize him as such (as may some Banes). As noted, certain omens may overturn this result, depending on circumstances.

## Mystic Rites

### Rite of Breeding

Level One

The rite is one of the secrets behind the Silver Fang’s unusually high levels of Pure Breed. When a Fang feels that it is time for her to start a family, she enacts this rite and asks her house’s totem to guide her to her best-matched mate. The werewolf meditates on her ancestry, using pictures, stories, photos or keepsakes and then calls to the totem for guidance. If the rite is successful, the totem grants her a vision of herself carried aloft in the talons of the totem to the home of the best prospect for a strong, worthy child. The rite does not guarantee that the prospective mate will welcome the werewolf’s advances; just that he is a good genetic and spiritual match.

System: Standard roll. This rite normally takes place within the boundaries of the home caern, and shows the Kinfolk most likely to prove a good mate within a few days’ travel. The more successes achieved the more details the vision gives about the prospective mate and his location. This ritual does not help with seducing or winning the heart of the Kinfolk in any way.

### Walking With the Dead

Level Three

Only the members of the secretive Ivory Priesthood learn this rite. To perform the rite, the priest must first spend a day ritually purifying herself of all sins, according to the Priesthood’s creed, and any negative thoughts. She must also spend a few hours mediating on the idea of her own death and her attitude towards it. A priest who is not reconciled to her own mortality can find the Dark Umbra a disturbing and unsettling place, especially in recent years when a terrible spirit storm has rendered it even more dangerous than usual.

Once the purification is complete, the Garou faces a Death’s Breath spirit in the early twilight of that evening. She must let it breathe into her mouth, which sends a chill like a rod of solid ice through her body. She may then step sideways into the Dark Umbra. She may remain there until dawn the following morning.

System: The player spends a point of Gnosis and rolls Willpower (difficulty 7). If the roll fails, the rite ends and the character is plunged into a terrible Haranolike depression that costs her two dice from every dice pool for the next 24 hours. If it succeeds, the character may make a normal stepping sideways roll to enter the Dark Umbra, as described above. Once in the Dark Umbra, the priest appears as a dark patch in the normal Penumbra. If she fails to return to the material world by dawn the next morning, she is trapped in the Dark Umbra unless another Ivory Priest or a kindly Silent Strider helps her back across into the material world.

## Rites of Punishment

### Rite of the Omega Wolf

Level Three

The tribe takes the failure of a pack alpha very seriously indeed. If all the members of a pack agree that their alpha has failed them catastrophically, then they may enact this rite to prevent him ever becoming a pack alpha again. The pack takes their fallen alpha and sits him on a rock. They then crown him with a mock crown and bow down in pretend obeisance to him. They then stand up and commence mocking him one by one, before tearing the crown from his head and casting him to the ground. When each member of the pack has spat or urinated on the fallen alpha, the rite is done.

System: Standard Roll. The fallen alpha loses four points of Honor Renown and two points of Wisdom Renown. If he ever becomes a pack alpha again, he will lose two points of Gnosis every time the moon rises and will be unable to regain Gnosis until he relinquishes the position.