Bone Gnawer Rites

# Rites of the Bone Gnawers

Traditional Theurges insist on performing rites exactly as custom dictates. If the Rite of Cleansing requires a willow wand, clear water, and widdershin perambulation, then each of these requirements must be dutifully incorporated. Of course, many tribes have variants of these rites, since the exact “ingredients” are not strictly essential. Wendigo, for example, sometimes use consecrated tobacco instead of clear spring water for their cleansing rites, while Fianna consider atonal howling to be the most vital component. Performing rites correctly is an honorable observance of tradition. Many Garou are careful to perform them exactly as they were taught, not only to ensure their success, but also to encourage their elders to award them renown for succeeding

Bone Gnawers, as with so many other aspects of their culture, break many of these rules. Of all the tribes, they perform the most spontaneous and disorganized rites. Traditional Theurges may speak of their rituals as disrespectful, or even blasphemous. Yet the urrah have reworked these ancient traditions with good reason: many ancient rites cannot be performed formally and correctly in a city. If you’re performing the Rite of Cleansing, for instance, then finding a willow branch or a clear spring can take a bit of work.

A clever Theurge learns to substitute urban elements, usually scavenged from whatever refuse can be found. An Uktena might be shocked to see someone purifying spiritual taint with a bottle of Perrier or a six-pack of soda. Nonetheless, Bone Gnawers encourage such creativity and improvisation. Substituting weird “ingredients” may decrease the chance of a traditional rite working, but it gains the admiration of Bone Gnawer elders. It may not garner as much renown, but it gets the job done.

Reckless cubs and cliath have also been known to spontaneously invent their own rites, even when they know they won’t get renown for them. Rites do more than summon up supernatural effects — they help hold a pack together and recognize what’s important to them. By a definition, if a ritual is something you always do at a certain time or at a certain place, then it should be part of the Theurge’s job to formally recognize activities that are important to the pack and bring them together.

Amazingly enough, when a spontaneous rite is performed often enough, urban spirits actually take notice and begin to respond to the call. Through creativity and innovation, Bone Gnawers repeatedly invent new rituals to adapt to their ever-changing environment. They may appear strange and involve whatever junk they’ve picked up in their travels, but they’re an integral part of urban spirituality.

## Accord Rites

### Rite of the Pizza

Level One

Rabble-rousers sometimes try to bring Garou together for a quick, temporary enterprise. Buying them food (or beer) is one way to encourage them to work together, but this minor rite formally acknowledges the alliance and calls upon urban spirits for a quick blessing.

This rite requires a public telephone and enough spare change for a call. The goal is to gather enough food to feed everyone for one meal. This may seem like a simple task, but because of a wide variety of urban traditions, it’s actually fraught with peril. Take, for instance, its most common application: ordering a pizza. The Garou must decide where to order from, what toppings to get, what the tip should be, and most distressing, who gets which slices. If they can overcome this Herculean task, there is a chance they may work together to achieve greater goals.

At the culmination of the ritual, the highest-ranking Theurge “gives thanks” (or “says grace”). This must be done very, very quickly, since many Bone Gnawers are ravenously hungry for warm pizza. The highest-ranking Philodox then declares the reason why the temporary pack has been formed. (The Storyteller should demand a more specific explanation if the definition is too broad. “Breaking into Warehouse #8 to recover a Croatan fetish” is a specific goal; “killing the Wyrm” or just “killing shit” is not.) While wolfing down hot morsels of food, the group then coordinates its plan.

System: The Theurge rolls Charisma + Rituals (difficulty 8); increase the difficulty by 1 for every ten Garou participating in the ceremony. Each success yields one temporary die; for the sake of convenience, we’ll call this dice pool the “pizza pool.” These temporary dice pool lasts until the temporary pack achieves its temporary goal. On any dice roll that directly relates to the goal at hand, a Garou can burn off one of the temporary dice for the pizza pool. The whole group shares the pizza pool. This rite cannot be performed more than once a day by anyone in the alliance, and the pizza pool can’t last for more than 24 hours. Additionally, Garou who are already in a pack cannot perform this rite.

At the Storyteller’s discretion, if the players actually roleplay this further by ordering a pizza during the game session, paying for it, and offering up a slice or two to the Storyteller, he may lower the difficulty to 6.

## Mystic Rites

### Rite of Crash Space

Level Two

Ratkin developed this rite initially, then traded it to a handful of Bone Gnawer Theurges for a big pile of shiny Loot. This rite is much like that of the Cardboard Palace, but further “dedicates” the space for peaceful reflection and meditation.

System: This rite works differently for Bone Gnawers than it does for Ratkin. The ritemaster must spend one Gnosis and make a Wits + Rituals roll (difficulty 7). Recovering Gnosis becomes easier in the “crash space”; reduce the difficulty of any rolls to recover Gnosis while inside the structure by 2. If the ritualist scores three successes on the roll for casting this rite, any Garou meditating in the crash space can regain Gnosis by meditating for an hour; the amount of Gnosis regained equals the number of successes he scores on a Wits + Enigmas roll after an hour of meditation. (Outside the crash space, the number of points regained depends on the number of hours spent meditating.)

### Rite of the Shopping Cart

Level Two

When the ritual is performed on any carrying space or cargo-carrying device, it can be expanded to hold more stuff, loot, or junk. In a sense, the inside becomes slightly larger than the outside. The container doesn’t bulge or distort; even bulky items become easy to carry.

System: Roll Wits + Rituals (difficulty 7) and spend one Gnosis. For each success, you can place another ten pounds in the container. The rite must be renewed each week or the contents will spill out of the container (and possibly into the street). On a botched roll, the container breaks or tears and is rendered useless.

### Rite of the Cardboard Fortress

Level Three

This rite, an amalgam of Rite of the Shopping Cart and Rite of the Cardboard Palace, requires thinking “outside the box.” The results would look something like this: Using duct tape and at least one cardboard box, the ritemaster dedicates the box so that it’s much larger on the inside than it is on the outside. This involves creating a “pocket realm” of the Umbra accessible to anyone with the Gnosis Trait. The box must at least be large enough for the ritemaster to crawl inside, along with a flap that can open and close.

Depending on the success of the ritual, once the proper rites have been finished, up to five Garou can fit inside with enough room to barely move around without bumping into each other. (In theory, they could square dance or do calisthenics, but couldn’t play tackle football.) If the box is opened or destroyed, there is nothing inside it, at least in the physical world. Instead, the Garou may exit their secret cardboard fortress through the Umbra. Multiple cardboard boxes can be taped together to hold multiple shapechangers.

System: Spend one Gnosis and roll Wits + Rituals (difficulty 7). Each success allows one shapechanger to move about freely inside, even if it’s in the equivalent of Crinos form. The Gift does not work on Corax or Mokolé, perhaps for reasons involving Helios. The effects last for one full day or until the cardboard box is destroyed. Fighting in the Cardboard Fortress inevitably destroys the cardboard box.

## Punishment Rites

### Rite of Man-Taint

Level Three

Bone Gnawer ritualists can reveal when a werewolf has eaten human flesh. The furtive activities of Man-Eaters (see Chapter Two) have made this something of a necessity. As the Litany states, “Ye Shall Not Eat the Flesh of Humans.” If enacted within seven days of a transgression against this dictum of the Litany, the rite forcefully expels every chunk of human flesh consumed from the suspect’s body. If the werewolf can’t vomit up incriminating evidence through his mouth, the meat may ooze up out of the skin or surge out of another orifice.

System: The ritemaster rolls Charisma + Rituals (difficulty 7); the subject can resist the rite with a Willpower roll (difficulty 7). If the ritemaster wins the contest by at least one success, the transgression against the Litany is revealed.

### Rite of the Leash

Level Three

Bone Gnawers hate being treated like dogs. Every Garou is a wolf at heart; even the lowest among them finds some dignity in that fact. Treating them like mangy curs infuriates and shames them no end. This Punishment Rite is reserved for Gnawers who have acted so shamefully that even the Bone Gnawer tribe is repulsed. The criminal is bound in Lupus form, usually within the bawn of a sept.

System: The ritemaster spends one Gnosis while holding a rope, chain, or leash of some kind. He then states the crime and makes a Manipulation + Law roll (difficulty 7). If the number of successes is higher than the offender’s Gnosis, the offender can be trapped by the “leash.” Once bound, the Garou cannot be moved or handed off to someone else without freeing him. Through Gaia’s grace, only one of her Philodox can hold the “leash.” However, if the offender is later found innocent, the Garou who cast this rite loses 5 temporary Wisdom. Casting the rite over trivial offenses also results in a loss of Wisdom.

## Caern Rites

### Rite of the Signpost

Level Four

Bone Gnawers often surround their urban homes with wards and rituals to discourage passers-by from wanting to notice what’s really going on there. Through the Rite of the Signpost, a ritemaster slowly works his way around a stomping ground or urban caern, leaving signs or markings to intimidate, misdirect, or confuse ordinary people from wandering into the bawn. Trash, graffiti, dead animals, and general signs of squalor can all convince the average human that there are some darkened streets you just don’t want to go down. Participating Theurges and Galliards stomp about the area as part of this rite. As shameful as it may seem, this also involves marking a few sidewalks and walls with urine and stink.

As an added effect to a successful rite, humans may get lost in the area surrounding the warded area, even a few blocks away. Garou must inhabit this area at least overnight; you can’t cast this on a random neighborhood just to confuse people. The rite cannot be performed on an area larger than a single building or alleyway. If the warded area ever approaches the size of a city block, the wards will begin to fail. The ward must be renewed each month (for a caern) or each week (for stomping grounds).

System: Enacting this rite requires one hour of activity, the expenditure of ten Gnosis (any participants may contribute to this total), and a Wits + Rituals roll (difficulty 7). Record the number of successes. A human that consciously decides to go against his better judgment and enter the area must beat the number of successes on a Willpower roll (difficulty 7). This rite cannot be performed on an area where the Gauntlet is higher than 8.

### Rite of No Trespassing

Level Five

Performed on rural caerns, this ritual keeps the Bone Gnawers’ most sacred places hidden from humanity. The ritemaster enacts the help of a pack to slowly working their way around the bawn of a caern. By scratching on trees and stones, marking locations with urine and scent, calling on the steadfast power of the Earth and even hanging faded “BEWARE OF DOGS” and “TRESPASSERS WILL BE SHOT” sign, they actively discourage humans from finding their way into the heart of the caern. This doesn’t act like an absolute “Ward Against Humans.” Humans can still uncover the caern if its inhabitants aren’t careful, but the rite forces them to take a bit of effort to actually work their way to a caern’s spiritual center.

System: The system is much the same as that of the Rite of the Signpost, even to requiring the expenditure of ten Gnosis. Only one ritemaster makes the final Wits + Rituals roll, but any participating Garou may spend one Willpower to grant an automatic success to the roll. Anyone within the bawn of a caern who passes the Caern Ward must make a Willpower roll (difficulty 6); if he can’t score as many successes as the Garou did on this rite, he gets lost and cannot find his way to the spiritual heart of the caern. If he succeeds, he can only find it by searching the area — an activity that’s sure to draw the attention of nearby Garou. Because of the strength of the Weaver, this rite can only be performed in the wilderness, and even then, only in a place where the Gauntlet is below 6.