Glass Walker Rites

# Rites of the Glass Walkers

Glass Walkers tend to focus on rites dealing with material things; the Rite of Talisman Dedication is almost more widely known among the tribe than the Rite of Cleansing, and the Rite of the Fetish remains very popular. Many Glass Walker rites substitute the finest manmade materials instead of natural materials — excellent and rare vintage wines instead of spring water, silver batons instead of tree branches, and so on. Such substitutions don’t affect the results of the rite much, although a Glass Walker in the wild might find it harder to get the nature-spirits to respond to a Dolby recording of Chopin than to the piping of a bamboo flute.

## Seasonal Rites

### The Little Rite

Level Three

Another way we keep our ties to Cockroach is through the ironically named “Little Rite,” which is held on the 15th of March every year. Why the Ides of March? Maybe to remind ourselves not to get above our station like the Roman conspirators, since this rite honors all the things that we forget, but can’t live without. Whether it’s Cockroach and his tiny children, the machines that make us coffee and keep our juice cold, or the paperboy who never gets a word of thanks; we dedicate this day to keeping our relationships with others pure. To that end, we give gifts. We dump whole sacks of powdered sugar onto our kitchen floor overnight for the cockroaches, or spend time listening to the binary chatter of Net-spiders, or tip the boy a few hundred bucks. Septs often celebrate the Little Rite together as well with a massive gift to the minimum wage workers in the mail room below the caern, or with an all-out assault on the Banes in a Netspider nest so that the thing is entirely clean.

However we do it, the Little Rite makes sure that we don’t forget anything or anyone. The city is made up of details, and forgetting any one of them is dangerous.

System: After a full day of gift-giving, the ritemaster engages in a private ritual of prayer, frequently before an icon of the sept totem. This is a rare ritual that can only be performed by a single Garou, no more Garou may gather to assist. The player rolls Charisma + Politics (difficulty 9). Every success will grant a -1 difficulty bonus to all dealings with all spirits associated with the Gifts given during the day. This can be flexible; tipping the news paperboy $100 will make money-spirits easier to deal with. This bonus applies to all Garou in the caern for the rest of the year. A failure represents cordial acceptance of the rite for no bonus. A botch here insults the caern totem; all dealings with all spirits in this caern will be at +1 difficulty for the rest of the year.

### Memorial Day

Level Two

Though we belong to many nations, the only one that counts in our hearts (for most of us) is the nation of Gaia and the Garou. Every nation has a day to honor its fallen in war, and on that day, we honor ours.

At dawn on Memorial Day (which, by the way, varies from country to country; we observe similar holidays in every land), every Glass Walker in the city gathers in the Hall of Honor. It’s similar to the Grave of the Hallowed Heroes, but is kept within a caern only if that’s our only caern within the city. In the Hall is a record of the name of every Glass Walker in the city that died serving Gaia or Cockroach. Sometimes it’s a dedicated computer with a touch screen monitor, other times a more dignified statue or engraved marble wall serves. During the rite, we add any new names to the record and then call a spirit of the city into the Hall. In exchange for a favor, the spirit agrees to keep the Hall, and by symbolic extension the souls of the fallen, safe for another year. May they rest in peace.

System: The ritemaster rolls Wits + Rituals (difficulty 6). If the roll is successful the spirit agrees to guard the Memorial Hall for a year. If the roll is botched, the spirit attacks all those gathered.

### Promethean Daze

Level Two

At first glance, this rite appears almost generic. A week of feasting and cleansing isn’t unique to the Glass Walkers. But look at when we hold it, and the reason behind the rite becomes clearer. The Promethean Daze happens right at the end of the year, along with human celebrations like Christmas, Kwanzaa, Chanukah, and, of course, the New Year. We’re often called the “tribe of Man” and this rite certainly gives some weight to the moniker.

This rite breaks down into two parts. The first part is marked by gluttony, and as a result tends to take up most of the week. We eat, drink, fight and make love (to Kinfolk, in theory) to our hearts’ content. During that time, we supposedly work to throw off our limitations. It all happens through conversations, old grudges break down over wine and dinnertime conversations find an informality that lets us find simpler ways of operating. But as our Elizabeth proved, it can also happen in grander ways. Thanks to GWnet and video conferencing, this rite is becoming more global every year, and thus it can make a great platform for political moves.

This aspect of the rite refers to the second portion of the week. (All that is necessary to ensure the success of the first portion is good food, wine and company.) The ritemaster supervises the assembled Garou in their predictions and closes the week with a toast to the sept’s good fortune for the oncoming year. Afterwards, everyone gathered bows their head in a moment’s silence. Sometimes this aspect of the rite is performed after other seasonal rites, but delaying the rite so is rare.

System: The ritemaster rolls Wits + Rituals, difficulty 7. If a simple success is achieved, all participating Garou recover all Willpower to face the new year. If three successes are gained, one Garou also has a vision of a minor event in the oncoming year. If five are gained, several Garou might have minor visions, or one may have a vision of a very major event indeed. This is left to Storyteller discretion.

## Camp Rites

### Dies Ultimae Rites

#### **Bonding Rite**

Level One

This literally named rite is quite simple, but is absolutely crucial to the entire camp’s understanding of modern Garou war tactics. The rite temporarily binds a number of Kinfolk into a pack, asking the pack totem to accept them.

To perform this rite a length of surgical thread is passed through the knuckles of one hand of each pack member and prospective Kinfolk. Every Kinfolk must stand next to at least one Garou, which means at least a third of the expanded pack must be werewolves. In the gaps between each hand a steel charm in the shape of a glyph is hung from the surgical thread. The two ends of the thread are tied together to form a circle. Following this the ritemaster recites a prayer to the pack totem three times, speaking more incoherently each time. At the conclusion of the last prayer, each member rips their hand away, causing the surgical thread to rip through their skin. The thread will remain embedded in the ritemaster’s knuckles. She then wears the ring of thread like a necklace. From now, she is the lynchpin of the pack. If she dies, the effects of the rite vanish.

System: The ritemaster rolls Charisma + Leadership, difficulty 6. All Kinfolk involved in the rite receive the blessings of the pack totem exactly as the Garou do and may take part in pack tactics with them. The Gift lasts for one scene per success on the initial roll.