Werewolf: The Forsaken - Blank It

The only way to truly destroy such a locus is to remove
the object, and to overcome the spiritual resonance
that taints the place as well. The pack seeking to destroy
the locus would not only have to destroy the statue, but
replace it with something that would negate the mourning
it evoked in others. A statue to a beloved local musician,
complete with a concert in the square by the musician to
celebrate might just suffice, along with plenty of culling
of unwanted spirit tourists. Truly destroying an inanimate
locus is not just an act of violence, it’s an extended act of
social and physical engineering as well.
In effect, the process is the reverse of the process used
to create a locus. An equal amount of resonant Essence
that contrasts the natural resonance of the locus effectively
destroys it. For example, if it took 150 points of miserytainted
Essence to turn a desk into a one-dot spirit locus,
150 points of joy-tainted Essence will neutralize it.
CHANGES IN THE FLESH?
It seems a safe assumption that pouring vast quantities
of resonant Essence into an object or into a person
would change them, twist them in some obvious way.
That assumption is wrong — at least physically. Becoming
a locus doesn’t change the appearance or nature
of the locus’ host in any way. It’s as if the locus exists
mainly in the Shadow, with a small spiritual hook reaching
out and anchoring itself in the host body across the
Gauntlet. As a result, loci themselves cannot be detected
with physical senses alone. An observant werewolf can
spot their influence — the slow resonant distortion of
the Shadow and the inevitable groups of spirits harvesting
its Essence — but finding the locus itself often
requires a measure of investigative work.
SHOALS AND GLADES
Shoals and glades are actually naturally forming
examples of spirit loci. Rather than being anchored to specific
objects, they’re anchored to the whole location, with
positive or negative effects for both sides of the Gauntlet.
It’s possible to engineer such places, but the effort required
would be the stuff that great legends are made of, to
compete with the very greatest songs sung by the Cahalith.
By compare, a Wound almost always has at least one
locus within its area of effect — they are a phenomenon of
much greater strength than shoals or glades, and are not
in themselves loci.
FOUNT S OF ESSENCE
Loci can be as much trouble and danger as they are
beneficial — but to werewolves, they are very beneficial
indeed. Essence can be hard to come by, at least for those
werewolves who don’t want to risk their sanity by devouring
human flesh. It’s difficult to reap the Essence generated
by a potent locus, given the number of spirits in competition
to drink from the same resource. A five-dot locus
might continually be surrounded by a swarm of spirits,
none of which are willing to share with a werewolf. As a
result, only a foolhardy pack moves about freely, expecting
to be able to replenish their spiritual energy at any locus
they happen upon.
Most packs take control of a locus, which may be
at the heart of what they claim as their particular territory.
While the spirits may hunger for the Essence a
pack’s locus generates, an entire werewolf pack is more
than threatening enough to convince most spirits to go
elsewhere. A flock of spirits may try to drive away (or even
kill) interloping werewolves who make a bid for a contested
locus, but once a pack manages to establish that a
given locus belongs to them, it’s a brave spirit that tries to
contest that claim.
As noted before, a locus generates three points of
Essence per rank each day. If this Essence isn’t consumed
immediately, it can pool in the area. A locus can usually
hold up to 10 points of Essence per rank at a given time;
thus, a four-dot locus would generate 12 points of Essence
each day, and could have up to 40 points of Essence stored
at any given time. Essence in excess of this maximum is
counted toward the amount necessary to raise the locus
in level (see above). Most loci are far from full, however;
the average locus will generally have less than a quarter
of its maximum Essence stored at any time, thanks to the
hungry spirits that visit it.
To draw Essence from a locus, a werewolf must be
in contact with the locus’ physical form, either in the
physical world or in the Shadow. The player then rolls
Harmony; the werewolf may take up to one Essence point
per success from the locus’ reserve. It takes one minute for
each point of Essence to transfer.
Spirits may draw Essence in a slightly different fashion,
as detailed on p. 275.
RUNNING DRY
Loci aren’t utterly limitless. It’s possible to drain one
of Essence so thoroughly that the wellspring dries up, and
the locus vanishes. This can happen naturally, as spirits
devour as much Essence as they can without thinking of
the future. Some spirits, generally those of higher Rank,
will cultivate a locus more carefully to avoid draining it to
the last, but others simply don’t think in those terms.
If all the Essence is drained from a locus’ reserve pool,
the drinker can attempt to glean even more by attempting
to drain the locus at its source. This is entailed by making
a Harmony (or Power) roll as usual, although the die roll
is penalized by one die for each dot of the locus’ rating.
Each success draws out one more point of Essence; for
every five points of Essence withdrawn in this fashion, the
locus drops in rating by one. Some werewolf packs who are
forced to flee their territories will often drain a locus dry
in this fashion out of spite, ensuring that their pursuers
will be denied the resource. A pack might also use this
method to drain a problematic locus by way of destroying
The Spirit and the Flesh
263