Child of Gaia Rites

# Rites of the Children of Gaia

This rite is known only to metis. No one else would ever want to learn it. It honors Father Mule, patron of the middle breed. It enables metis to adopt other metis as their children. Since most metis are abandoned or worse by their biological parents, older metis see these Crinos pups as a personal responsibility. And who better to raise a troublesome and often differently abled metis pup?

System: The adoptive parent asks the consent of the child’s biological parents, if they can be found; if not, she asks the sept elders. (They may refuse.) She then takes the cub to the sept’s caern and calls Garou, Kin and spirits (especially Mule, whose coming is taken as a blessing on the cub) as witnesses. The cub is put on the earth and allowed to crawl between the adoptive parent’s legs as if being born again. The adoptive parents are then counted as the true parents of the child in every way (including Renown). Metis of rank 5 or greater are very rarely allowed to adopt an orphaned homid or lupus cub; the rite is the same.

### Rite of Comfort

Level Two

This rite is a healing ritual for Harano. It does not cure the condition, although the rite of Asklepios (see below) can indicate possible cures. The ritemaster can, however, prevent the afflicted one from passing any deeper into Harano.

The ritemaster chants, burns mystic incense and engages the sufferer in breathing exercises. The dispirited one may leave before the rite begins, but not after it has started. This ritemaster may perform this rite more than once for each werewolf suffering from Harano.

System: The ritemaster chants, leads the sick one in breathing rituals, and makes a Charisma + Rituals roll. The recipient takes the number of successes as extra Willpower, which she may spend to resist Harano. She may not harm herself (such as through self-mutilation or suicide) until all the bonus points of Willpower are gone.

### Rite of the Clouds and Rain

Level Two

This rite is kept a careful secret by Children of Gaia, and all who so much as know of it must swear never to mention it among non-initiates — if revealed, anyone involved would likely be ostracized by the rest of the Garou Nation. It allows the partial control of Rage at the price of violating a basic Garou law: the first precept of the Litany.

The rite involves channeling the force of Rage by having sex in Crinos form. To avoid injury or death to the partners, both must be Garou. Because the fear of producing a metis is so great, metis are often asked to perform the rite, as they are sterile. Some Garou actually enjoy multiple partners while performing this rite, although having more than one sexual partner during the rite can be somewhat confusing. Some say that the more Garou are involved, the more powerful the rite becomes. The truth of this is unknown.

System: The sexual partners invoke the spirits of peace and of desire, spending a point of Gnosis. They must demonstrate genuine affection for each other, or the rite will not work. If it works, the Garou can control the tendency to frenzy for the rest of the story. The Storyteller must determine the chance of pregnancy, if it is possible at all. Everyone involved in the rite loses a temporary point of Honor; the spirits who empower the rite, permissive though they may be, are still witnesses to the participants’ transgression.

### Rite of Anger’s Purge

Level Three

Rage makes a shapeshifter what they are. But it is a curse as well as a blessing. Some Garou can contain their Rage sufficiently to live with a Kinfolk family or enjoy a quiet dinner at a restaurant. But some are so out of balance that they can barely function without exploding. Others require punishment. For whatever reason, a Garou occasionally needs to have his potential for Rage lowered. In this rite, the subject changes into Crinos and is encircled by the participants who all wield whips, clubs, and other instruments of punishment (the “gauntlet”). They then proceed to beat the subject into submission, until he lies unconscious on the ground. A Garou can have the Beast beaten out of him in this way if such a punishment is required.

System: Each participant in the rite must expend at least one point of Rage. The subject loses one point of permanent Rage for each point spent in this way. If he frenzies shortly thereafter, the Storyteller may decide that the loss of Rage is not permanent, although few Garou have enough Rage to endure this rite and still be capable of frenzy in any but the most extenuating circumstances.

## Mystic Rites

### Rite of Asklepios

Level Three

The ancient Greek healer Asklepios was the greatest physician of the ancient world, and the Children and their Kin aided his cult for a thousand years. This rite allows the ritemaster and his patient(s) to see the correct cure for diseases and wounds untreatable normally. Only a few Children of Gaia still know it.

System: The ritemaster prays over the patient, who then sleeps all night in an underground shrine, either a small room (hence, “incubation”) or a burrow for lupus. The ritemaster then rolls Wits + Rituals, difficulty 7, or 8 for illnesses of unknown origin. In the night, a spirit such as Asklepios, Clara Maas or Carlos Finley (the discoverer of yellow fever vaccine) will appear to the patient and explain how to cure the disease. The patient will then awaken and perform the steps described. For each success of the ritemaster, one level of damage will be cured. The patient and the ritemaster will then perform a sacrifice to Gaia. This can be a gift of goods or treasures, but can also be a service or quest to aid the ritemaster.

### Rite of Blood Kin

Level Three

The Children of Gaia have perhaps more and better-organized Kin than any other tribe, but even they are sometimes outside the Kinfolk network. This rite seeks Kin that the ritemaster does not know. The Garou will entrance himself and then whisper the names of all the ancestors whom he knows. (Some homids write the names, use a computer, etc.) At the end of the rite the names of previously unknown Kin will be added to the list. This rite does not tell the Garou anything at all about the Kin; more than one Child has run afoul of Skin-Dancers this way….

System: The Garou rolls Wits + Empathy, difficulty 5. For each success, one new Kinfolk is added to the list.

### Sin-Eating

Level Three

This rite allows the ritemaster to end the suffering of others by taking their Wyrm-taint onto himself. It can cleanse both the living and the dead. The rite is reflected in a few rural communities in the Appalachians and elsewhere, where humans attempt to take the sins of others onto themselves to release a dead soul from Hell.

System: The Garou lays out a meal on the body of the person (usually on their chest or in their hands) and eats it. As he does so, he makes a Wits + Rituals roll, with the difficulty being the sinner’s Willpower. Success transfers the subject’s Wyrm-taint into him; the Storyteller may require extra successes to transfer larger amounts of Wyrm-taint. This rite is said to be able to cleanse even Black Spirals (if huge numbers of successes could be achieved), but no such attempt has succeeded in living memory; Banes and fomori cannot be cleansed in this method, as they are, at least in part, Wyrm-taint itself.

### Sing the Many Shapes

Level Three

The Garou are warriors, even the Children of Gaia. But the Garou have warred not only on the enemies of Gaia but on the Fera, and even on their own kin among the Bunyip. This rite mourns the lost and brings understanding of the reasons and results connected to the long-ago battles. The Speakers for the Dead often perform it in Australia in Bunyip bora rings or in the Camazotz caves of Mexico.

System: The ritemaster seeks a place associated with one of the long-lost Changers and enters into meditation on the vanished race. She must plead with the dead to hear her apologies or elegies for them (this should be roleplayed). The greater her knowledge of the lost ones, the greater her chance of success. For the following year, the dead will not haunt any that take part in this rite. At the Storyteller’s discretion, the dead may communicate with the ritemaster; one or two who have partaken in this rite claim to have gained new knowledge or insights thereby.

### Rite of Talisman Adaptation

Level Three

This is similar to the Rite of Talisman Dedication but is more powerful. Talismans under this rite actually shapeshift into forms which are usable by the Garou, instead of “disappearing.” Each counts for triple the Gnosis of a dedicated item: a Garou with a 7 Gnosis can have only two items adapted to her. For example, a Garou’s clothes would adapt to the new body shape: a Garou might have a vest for tools in her Homid form, which would change into a Crinos-sized vest, and then shapeshift to Lupus, when it would become fitted to the wolf-body. A backpack would become a dog-pack, and so on. Note that frivolous items, such as high heels, stereos or coffee mugs, will not work and will cause loss of 3 permanent Gnosis if adapted.

System: The ritemaster recites the rite and places the item on the Garou’s body. If extra items are attached, they will be torn or crushed when the Garou shapeshifts.

### Rite of Resolution

Level Four

This rite is also called the Rite of the Harena (or the Rite of the Sands). It prevents Garou who combat one another ritually from frenzying during the combat, whether it is wrestling, klaivaskar, Iskakku or kailindo. Other tribes often ask the Children to perform this rite lest their warriors slay one another over a minor dispute.

System: The combatants approach one another, shake hands or sniff one another, and howl out their respect for one another. The ritemaster stands as referee and rolls Charisma + Rituals against the highest Rage score of any combatant. For each success, one failed Rage roll for Frenzy may be ignored.

### Rite of the Sacred Peace

Level Five

Only the most brazen would violate a sacred peace. The entire sept, including Kin and representatives of the community, must gather at the caern and each participant must declare himself dedicated to the peace of the land. The strength of the peace equals the number of Garou plus half the number of Kin who join in the rite. Anyone deciding to make war on such a community must make a Willpower roll, difficulty 8, with as many successes as the strength of the peace. If ever this peace is broken, the leader of the community may utter a destructive curse upon the violator, using as many dice to curse as the strength of the peace. Treat this as the Flaw: Dark Fate with a strength equal to the strength of the broken peace.

### Alternation of Generations

Level Five

The ancient lupus among the Children of Gaia beheld the “eternal heat” of humankind and realized that this ability could vastly increase their breeding capability as well as enhancing the pleasures of mating. In the present, as the blood thins more and more, homid women have employed it to increase the measure of wolf blood in the tribe. It allows a homid to bear lupus offspring and vice versa.

System: At the conclusion of the rite, the Garou spends a permanent Gnosis point, shapeshifts to match the form of the beloved one and approaches their intended. A homid mating in Lupus form must wait until the mating season, of course, but in all cases conception is guaranteed. The mother’s breed form temporarily changes to that of her partner; the change lasts from conception to delivery, in order to prevent miscarriages.

Metis, of course, cannot use this rite — and none would teach it to them.

### End Time Rite

Level Five

This ritual gives insight into the nature of the Apocalypse. As such, enacting it is frightening, and many septs either forbid ritemasters to perform it or forbid them to speak publicly on what the rite reveals. Ritemasters who are able to speak on the rite say many different things about their visions.

The ritemaster must lead a group of Garou (and often Kin) in three days of chanting, dancing and meditating. If they manage to last through the lengthy and tiring rite, the ritemaster and others will see visions of the Apocalypse and of their own actions which are related to it. They will also see glimpses of how the actions of the Garou Nation have affected the Apocalypse. Some ritemasters have emerged hopeful, saying that the Children’s peacemaking can change the world into a new and better form. Others predict extinction in a great battle, and still others some bizarre Weaver “singularity” involving giant computers. Other tribes are always invited to participate in this rite, and Stargazers always seemed eager to do so, speaking of a new and transformed reality beyond the Apocalypse.

System: This rite requires the invocation of spirits of prophecy and time, which are by nature a cryptic lot. The ritemaster then leads three days of dancing and chanting and rolls Wits + Rituals, difficulty 7. The Storyteller may use the enactment of this rite as a story device; how “true” the visions are will be up to her.

### Rite of the Parted Veil

Level Five

This rite is the Children of Gaia’s ultimate gift to Gaia-cherishing humans. When it is performed, the Veil is not pierced (as in the deadly Rite of Rending the Veil) but parts seamlessly to admit one or more humans (or wolves!). The person on whom the rite is performed thus becomes Kinfolk. Two Children unrelated to the human must witness that he loves Gaia and would aid the Children’s cause. Most often this rite is done for mates of Garou or Kin. Some of the Patient Deed say that they hope to extend the rite to whole nations.

The rite consists of the Garou dancing round the subject, while the ritemaster chants from the Songs of Welcome. As the rite progresses, the Garou slowly shapeshift, until finally they assume the Crinos form without frightening the human.

System: The ritemaster makes an extended Wits + Rituals roll, difficulty of the human’s Willpower. He must accumulate successes equal to the human’s age before the rite succeeds; children are easier to “adopt” than adults.

## Minor Rites

### Rite of the Teachers

This rite involves using the teacher plants of Gaia (hallucinogenic plants) which have had their spirits Awakened (using the Rite of Spirit Awakening). The ritemaster must prepare the plants carefully and then use them in the appropriate manner (such as smoking jimson weed or eating sacred mushrooms). Note that the use of the plants is forbidden in some cases by human law.

System: For each level of bashing damage that the Garou takes from exposure to the drugs in question, the Gauntlet is effectively lowered by one for the purposes of using Gifts or rites or stepping sideways. The reduced difficulty lasts for five minutes after the completion of this rite.

### The Bowels of the Mother

This simple rite enables other rites to be performed in less than ideal circumstances. The Ragabash Soldier-of-Paradise developed it while serving in the US military. Rites requiring Gaia’s physical presence (that is, that natural earth, air, water or fire be present) are difficult to perform while the ritemaster is in a setting where they do not exist, such as a ship at sea. The clever No-Moon reasoned that “there’s wind in your lungs, water in your veins, fire in your heart and soil in your bowels.”

System: When a ritemaster performs this rite, she may substitute the body of any living creature for the required earth, wind, etc. for a rite that immediately follows. For example, when a rite requires the ritemaster to touch earth, she may hold another’s hand instead; a fetish may be held over the heart instead of over a fire. No roll is necessary, although the difficulty of the rite for which the substitution is made is increased by one. It has sadly been shown that even the rite of Gaia’s Vengeful Teeth can be cast this way. Soldier-of-Paradise was not successful in his attempts to perform the Rite of Spirit Awakening on his intestinal bacteria, but perseveres nevertheless.