Werewolf: The Forsaken - Blank It

area and can’t mark it. She grows impatient and angry if
someone questions this behavior.
Harmony 3: If a werewolf crosses into this character’s
territory, the intruder should die. Werewolves at this level
don’t tend to work for anything except their own self-betterment,
or occasionally their packs’ goals. A werewolf
who’s fallen this far into degradation lives by her own
Vice. She might be lustful enough to bed anyone who
strikes her fancy, werewolf or otherwise, or she might be
so caught up in her own Rage that even her packmates
aren’t safe from her tantrums. Werewolves who’ve fallen so
far usually receive gruff advice from elders to shape up or
ship out. Sometimes totems give similar advice, but some
totems might not even see a werewolf’s behavior as a problem.
The werewolf receives a –1 modifier to all Social and
Mental rolls involving spirits. Compulsions grow obvious
and typically vicious at this stage. The Bone Shadow in
the example now feels the need to mark anyone she meets
with her blood. She sees the behavior as perfectly natural.
Harmony 2: Neither werewolves nor humans should
take joy in injuring and causing pain to others. While killing
is sometimes necessary, it should be done cleanly, out
of respect to the enemy or prey’s spirit. A werewolf at this
depth of morality, however, takes great pleasure in causing
as much pain as possible to her foes. She probably doesn’t
bother to hunt. When violence is necessary, she leaps in,
claws flashing, hoping to spill as much blood and viscera as
possible. The werewolf is drunk on her own power, but by
acting so far out of accordance with Harmony, she denies
herself much of the power that she might have. She suffers
a –2 penalty to all Social and Mental rolls involving spirits.
Compulsions take a turn for the worse here. The Bone
Shadow is no longer content with using her own blood as
a marker. Now she “bloods” anyone she meets, biting them
to taste their blood. Resisting compulsions at this stage
requires a Composure + Resolve roll.
Harmony 1: The werewolf teeters on the brink of
becoming one of the Zi’ir, the Broken Souls. Spirits shun her,
not fleeing from her or raging at her, but simply ignoring her.
Some Uratha notice this and grudgingly admit they need
to change their ways. Most simply state that they get along
just fine without spirits. Even at this advanced level of moral
decay, werewolves feel some remnants of a pack bond, and
may fight viciously to protect their packs. Unfortunately, they
also lose perspective on what is and isn’t a threat, so the elder
who bullies a packmate at a gathering might get the same
treatment as the vampire who attacks with fang and claw.
The werewolf suffers a –2 modifier to all Social and Mental
rolls involving spirits. An additional Essence point must also
be spent to activate any Gift. A Gift that normally costs a
single point of Essence now costs two, a Gift with no cost
associated with it now costs an Essence point, and one that
normally requires Willpower also requires a point of Essence.
Compulsions are now almost impossible to resist. If a character
is unable to fulfill her urge, a Resolve + Composure roll
must be made to resist Death Rage. The Bone Shadow in the
previous examples finds that she must collect a piece of every
being she meets and every place she visits. A tiny piece of
flesh is quite sufficient, and she can’t understand why anyone
would balk at giving it up. She might even begin to offer her
own flesh first, just to be polite.
Harmony 0: As discussed in the sidebar on p. 181,
werewolves at this level are called Broken Souls or Zi’ir.
While they might be capable of functioning socially
among humans (or even werewolves), during their auspice
moons, their souls are driven far out of balance, making
them ravening beasts living only to eat, mate and destroy.
Such monsters are incapable of using Gifts or fetishes or of
entering the Shadow Realm. Spirits refuse to speak with
them at all. Their compulsions become uncomplicated
and brutal at this level. Any semi-rational motivation for
them disappears behind sheer hunger. The Bone Shadow
now knows that she needs to remove a finger from anyone
she meets (and is willing to wait until a good time to do it,
if necessary), but she can’t remember why.
DEGENERATION AND REDEMPTION
In many ways, the loss of Harmony works like the
loss of Morality as described in the World of Darkness
Rulebook (p. 91). Werewolves can gain derangements as
a result of Harmony dropping below 7 as usual, and their
Virtues may help forestall the loss of Harmony.
The Forsaken look on the derangements of a fallen
werewolf not as illnesses, but as symptoms of the subject’s
spirit and flesh being at odds. According to common
belief, a werewolf’s soul is old, carrying a fragment of lost
Pangaea within itself. Over the centuries, such an old soul
develops many desires and burdens of its own. When a
werewolf loses Harmony, the damage to her sense of self
unlocks strange obsessions and fears.
Though the rules mechanics for derangements remain
the same, they take an oddly symbolic, even supernatural
bent. A werewolf who develops a fixation or obsessive
compulsion might be compelled to live out a version of his
tribal totem’s ban, or even the ban of an entirely different
spirit. Depression might manifest as a longing for lost Pangaea,
and phobias might reflect fears of things that local
spirits dread. (A werewolf might develop a fear of cats that
is somehow “inherited” from the bird-spirits he allied with
some time ago.)
BANS AND COMPULSIONS
The compulsions that manifest as a werewolf loses
Harmony are separate symptoms from derangements. A
werewolf could drop to Harmony 2 without gaining a
single derangement, but would still be subject to a given
compulsion, akin to a spirit’s ban. These compulsions
are always symbolic, though the symbolism might not be
clear to the afflicted character. Most compulsions have
their root in an unconscious need to fulfill some aspect
of the Uratha’s relationship with spirits. Potential compulsions
might involve:
Morality — Harmony
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