Werewolf: The Forsaken - Blank It

mostly he has other things going on of which the kids are
vaguely aware and never a part. Yet such behavior teaches
resilience. They develop some self-reliance and learn who
they can really count on — one another, for most things,
and the Uratha parent if violence is ever called for.
Some Uratha give their kids up to foster parents
— whether friends, distant relatives or even state agencies.
Werewolf mothers, for instance, have a hard time raising
children. They possess maternal instincts, but they also
have their predatory instincts, and those two paradigms
don’t always mesh. Legends say it was not always so, but after
the Sundering, the Uratha became a race that couldn’t
breed normally, which fractured the connection between
motherhood and being a werewolf. Some Uratha mothers
manage to raise their own children successfully, but this
is rare. Few can reconcile the ferocious beast’s heart and a
gentle approach to parenting.
It’s anybody’s guess whether foster parents of werewolves’
kids know what they’re getting into. A quarter of
those children are Uratha themselves. Every story one
hears about devil foster kids — the worst behaved with
terrible tempers and destructive tendencies — just might
be about a misplaced child. Some Uratha parents do keep
half an eye on their kids, though, since some enemies try
to get at them through their children.
The luckiest Uratha have pristine home lives before
the First Change. Maybe they’re foster kids, they’re
adopted, or both of their parents are wolf-blooded. Odds
are that the parents didn’t know what was in store for the
children. Uratha don’t tell their wolf-blooded relatives an
awful lot, mostly to protect them from knowledge that
only draws them deeper into a more dangerous world.
Many don’t even realize that they can have Uratha children.
That leads to werewolves who grow up ignorant of
what they are, but there are worse fates.
Wolf-blooded children and Uratha kids have two
noteworthy differences from human kids of the same age.
The first is anger. The wolf-blooded don’t possess the
Uratha’s potential for Rage, but they do inherit a fraction
of it without the exhilarating power that comes with a
werewolf’s fury. Pre-Change Uratha — called nuzusul in
the First Tongue — are in much the same boat. They’re all
too often simply petulant or irritable, like their brothers
and cousins.
The other real difference is the spirit world. Most
spirits don’t consciously recognize nuzusul, but they do pay
a little more spiteful attention to them than they do to the
wolf-blooded. Strange, unlikely things happen more often
around pre-Change werewolves than around anybody
else. Every time an illness makes the rounds of his class,
he remains unaffected — but he falls sick when nobody
else does. Major holidays have weird weather — snow on
Easter, a sweltering Halloween, rain on Christmas. Each
potential omen is a hint that could draw the attention of
a werewolf pack — hopefully, a pack of Forsaken rather
than the Pure.
RENOWN
Uratha have an instinctive understanding of hierarchy
and desire for status. Relative status is a nearly reflexive
thing among werewolves; only after the status of two
werewolves has been determined can true communication
occur. Werewolves keep a running tally of the various deeds
they have achieved, burning a series of mystical brands into
their coats that are visible to spirits, or that shine with silver
light when a werewolf stands in the spirit world.
Werewolf Renown stresses the direct and simple
virtues of Purity, Glory, Honor, Wisdom and Cunning.
The five virtues of Renown correspond to the tasks of
the five auspices and the five choirs of Lunes that watch
over them. Glory follows in the wake of a Cahalith who
lives up to the ideals of his auspice, while the Ithaeur
who excels at his tasks bears the brands of Wisdom. Each
of the five Tribes of the Moon also chooses an aspect of
Renown to honor. The Hunters in Darkness walk the path
of Purity, while the Iron Masters equate their creed of
adaptation and versatility with Cunning.
While Renown is a useful system for establishing
a rough hierarchy without undue bloodshed, it also has
ramifications in the spirit world. The more Renown a
werewolf has, the more likely it is that the more common
spirits he encounters will recognize him as a superior
power. They won’t love him for it, and they won’t obey
him unless he forces them to, but they will respect his
power and standing.
TRIBAL AND REGIONAL ELDERS
The pack is the fundamental unit of Uratha society,
but it isn’t the only unit. Uratha with enough Renown become
known across an entire region or beyond. The most
famous Uratha may serve as detached advisors to the
werewolves of their auspice within a few hundred miles of
their homes, or as keepers of the most ancient and vital
lore. These Uratha often attain mystical lore that few others
know, and they grant access to these secrets sparingly.
The tribes don’t have tight structures, though the
lodges within those tribes often do. Werewolves with exceptionally
high Renown are often treated as though they
speak for their tribe (save for Ghost Wolves, of course),
even though they have no real authority to command the
rest of their tribemates. The Uratha generally find that to
be for the best. What does an elder who lives many days’
travel to the north know about the concerns confronting
a pack’s territory? The pack must answer to the pack.
PACK TERRITORY
The most important possession any pack has is its
territory. A pack bleeds for the lands it claims. A pack’s
territory is more than just its home — it’s an oath of responsibility
for everything that goes on within it, in both
the physical and spiritual realms.
The Tribes of the Moon are united by a blood
oath to their totems and to Luna, that they will uphold
Pack Territory
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