Werewolf: The Forsaken - Blank It

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Appendix I: The Spirit World
THE SHADOW REALM
This is not the only world. A thin barrier separates
us from another one, a world of spirit where every action
taken in this world finds its truest expression. For spiritblind
humanity, this shadow is a myth at best, a hazy
netherworld out of legend. For the Uratha, it’s a hunting
ground now all but lost to them.
The World of Darkness is a world very much like
ours, at least on the surface. It’s somewhat bleaker, even
in mundane ways. A few more cops go bad every year. A
few more people are born into a world that has no room
for them, and a few more die, alone and forgotten. A few
more jobs dry up, a few more children grow up bad, a few
more accidents make the air and water just a little less
safe. The differences are slight wherever you look, but they
all add up. And they all taint the shadowy reflection of
the physical world — the Hisil.
Uratha legend holds that the progenitor of all werewolves,
Father Wolf, once trod the paths of the Shadow.
It was his self-appointed duty to keep the spirit world in
order and each spirit in its place. His merciless hunts did
much to defend each world against the incursions of the
other. Now those who call themselves his descendants
do their best to fill his role, but it’s not enough. The spirit
world has been gathering new strength, humans have been
inadvertently weakening the walls, and the Uratha are too
few and too ignorant to turn back the tide. The physical
world’s spirit Shadow is clearly touched by this alien
anarchy, as fugitive spirits from its depths and shallows vie
for supremacy over the places closest to the material world.
A few even make the leap across the Gauntlet, anchoring
themselves in living beings and creating Hithimu. What
hope does a pack of werewolves have against the endless
hordes of these creatures?
The Uratha are forsaken, but they aren’t utterly
alone. Five choirs of moon-spirits bring aid in the name
of their distant Mother Luna. Bound by pacts of blood,
those great wolf-spirits called Firstborn guide the Uratha
as tribal totems. The denizens of the Shadow have no
choice but to acknowledge the ancient status and power
of the werewolves as those who walk between the worlds.
These spirits can be persuaded or compelled to grant the
children of Wolf and Moon the power they need to bring
a semblance of stability to the spirit world. There is hope
for the Forsaken, if only they can uncover all the secrets of
this spirit realm that were lost in the mists of prehistory.
Yet, deep in the spirit wilds are said to lie doors to
strange places that seem to have no relationship to the
world we know. These places hint at dark fates and dangerous
menaces that creep into the physical world, bleed-
ANY LANDSCAPE IS A CONDITION OF THE SPIRIT.
—HENRI-FREDERIC AMIEL, FRAGMENT S D’UN JOURNAL INTIME
ing through the barrier between flesh and shadow. Some
werewolves tell unreal legends of unnatural spirits pursuing
incomprehensible goals over alien landscapes, like distant
echoes of a forgotten world.
THE GAUNTLET
Once, it’s said, werewolves could walk freely between
the worlds. They had only to concentrate for a moment
and bring the spirit part of their natures to the fore, and
they were treading the paths of the spirit wilds. It was as if
the physical world were just one more aspect of the spirit
world, a different level within it that the werewolves could
reach easily. Conversely, spirits could slip across the Border
Marches and into the physical world, taking their leisure
and alien pleasures among the creatures of flesh.
Now, though, the spirit world resists that transition.
The wall that has risen between the worlds is virtually
impassible in most places, and it takes considerable effort
and energy to move through even in those places where it
is weak. This wall is called the Gauntlet, or Zathu. Some
Ithaeur talk of the Gauntlet as a scar, a barrier formed as
the wound of Father Wolf’s murder healed. Others say it’s
a natural defense, formed by the spirit of the world itself.
The spirit world, while still tied to the material world,
seems to shun anything that comes from there. Most
people cannot travel between the worlds or even perceive
that anything apart from the material world exists. The
resistance runs both ways. Spirits attempting to pass into
the physical world, perhaps to avoid the constant decay
that threatens the Shadow, must find a place where the
Gauntlet is weak before making the crossing.
These loci, areas where the Gauntlet is shallow, have
thus become shadow battlefields. Spirits seek to enter the
physical world to carry out their unearthly imperatives,
the Azlu and Beshilu strive to either seal off these weak
spots or tear them wide open, and the Uratha fight among
themselves for control of the most valuable crossings.
Even other supernatural entities — vampires, warlocks or
stranger things — have been known to vie for control of a
spirit locus in order to tap the power for their own reasons.
RULES: STEPPING SIDEWAYS
For a character to step from one world to the next,
the player rolls Intelligence + Presence + Primal Urge.
The werewolf must be in the area influenced by a locus
to even attempt stepping sideways, unless he’s using the
Rending the Gauntlet rite (p. 165). The following factors
affect the roll:
• The werewolf stares into a reflective surface (+1)
• Near a locus with a rating of •• or ••• (+1)