Werewolf: The Forsaken - Blank It

mit sins of betrayal against family and pack during their
initiation. But most of all, they demand cunning.
Members of the Lodge of Crows are encouraged to
work toward the Storm Lords’ goal of strong leadership,
but Crow asks that they build their power in invisible,
unassuming ways. A Crow might be the beta of the pack,
the power behind a throne, a journalist who writes inflammatory
pieces under a pen name or anyone else who holds
power indirectly. While all Crows report to a superior
within the lodge, those superiors send word in the form of
crow-spirits, rather than meeting directly. “If ever anyone
claims openly to be a Crow,” recruits are taught, “kill him.
He’s either lying or has broken his vow of secrecy, and
either means death.”
The biggest problem the Crows have is that their
relationships with spirits are strained even for Forsaken.
Their Harmony tends to flag as they follow their ruthless
agendas, so to compensate, they attempt to make a point
of doing all they do in the spirit of Purity Renown. All the
power they accrue is for the good of the People, they say.
The instant a Crow begins accumulating power for her
own glory, she breaks with the ideology of the lodge and
can expect a fatal visit… if the lodge discovers her new
agenda, of course.
Prerequisites: Cunning or Purity ••••
Membership: Some knowledgeable werewolves are
aware that the Lodge of Crows exists, but that’s all. The
lodge is open to Storm Lords only, and its members are
handpicked. When an Iminir does something to gain
Cunning or Purity Renown of great measure, word spreads
quickly through the Lunar choirs, and crow-spirits listen
carefully. They then deliver word to high-ranked members
of the lodge, who watch the Storm Lord carefully for
a period of months, trying to discern if she’s sufficiently
ruthless and loyal to join the lodge. If so, she’s approached
(always by spirits) and told of the lodge. If she refuses
membership, she’s warned to keep her mouth shut or she
will die. Few Storm Lords refuse this chance, however.
New recruits are watched constantly for the first year
and are given assignments designed to test their resourcefulness
and loyalty. If they’re found wanting at the end of
that year, they’re given no further assignments but aren’t
told anything has changed. They live out the rest of their
lives as nominal members of the lodge, never gaining its
benefits, always waiting to hear the lodge’s decision. Those
who acquit themselves well are granted further information
and assignments… but are under random supervision
forever. A Crow is never truly alone.
Benefits: The greatest benefit a Crow has is the
knowledge that if anyone takes direct action against her,
that foe can expect unpleasant attention from the lodge.
Most lodges are loyal to their fellows, but the Crows pursue
vengeance as if it were a sacred virtue. This usually takes
the form of incidental misfortune or attackers from other
tribes or packs, but the Crow knows the truth. Also, players
pay one less experience point per dot purchased (new dots
x2 instead of new dots x3) for all purchases of the Larceny,
Stealth, Politics, Persuasion and Subterfuge Skills.
THE LODGE OF THE HUNT
The Lodge of the Hunt is a true oddity among the
Uratha in that any werewolf can join — even,if the most
far-flung rumors are true, the Pure. Each pack of the Lodge
of the Hunt comprises werewolves who’ve come together
to hunt down a particular foe or group of foes. Each
member of the pack is so consumed by his need to kill a
quarry that he’ll ally with werewolves of other tribes or
philosophies, break the Oath and even betray the precepts
of Harmony to see that enemy die. Needless to say, this
kind of bloody-minded devotion is rare, and it’s even rarer
to find several Uratha who share the same tenacity regarding
the same enemy. Yet it happens often enough that the
lodge endures.
The Brethren, as members of this lodge call themselves,
look to a spirit that claims to be a lesser child of
Father Wolf, not quite Firstborn. This wolf-spirit, Ortuz-Ur
the Blood Wolf, calls his children from the Shadow Realm
with mournful howls and feral snarls. These cries grow
louder as the Brethren approach their prey.
Central to each pack of Brethren is, of course, their
quarry. Most often, this quarry is another werewolf or a
pack of them, but packs of Brethren have also formed to
hunt vampires, mages, spirits and even individual humans.
Members of the Lodge of the Hunt always know their
quarry’s name, and normally know a great deal more. To
hate someone so much as to set aside all other personal
beliefs in pursuit of his heart’s blood, an Uratha must
have a very intimate attachment to that enemy. Whoever
the quarry is, he isn’t simply a rival or a political enemy.
He’s someone who has wounded each of the Brethren
on a deep, personal level. Sometimes, the quarry doesn’t
even realize what he’s done (this is especially common for
beings such as vampires, who don’t know enough about
werewolves to know why the beasts track them down so
viciously). This doesn’t matter to the Brethren. If they’ve
joined the Lodge of the Hunt, they’ve long since passed
the time of forgiveness and explanation.
Once the hunt is complete and the quarry lies dead,
the pack of Brethren separates, agreeing never to speak to
each other again and never to enter each other’s territory.
Blood Wolf enforces this vow. Former Brethren packmates
instinctively know if their paths are about to cross so that
they can avoid each other. Once the hunt is complete,
they have nothing more to say to each other.
Prerequisites: None except the burning hatred
required to move a character to join the lodge.
Membership: Most members of the Lodge of the
Hunt are Brethren, committed to hunting their quarry
and nothing else. Some members, however, are full-time
members and spend their time making offerings to Ortuz
and aiding other would-be Brethren in finding potential
packmates. These werewolves were all Brethren at one
Lodges
203