Werewolf: The Forsaken - Blank It

A “rural” area really can be one of two things:
cultivated farmland or true wilderness. Most rural packs’
territories comprise both. Humans have been farming for
the better part of 5,000 years, so Uratha don’t find farming
itself to be unnatural. Some spirits (particularly spirits
of livestock and the land itself) do find it to be criminal.
Rural werewolves are more likely to face open challenges
from neighboring packs or Pure than urban Uratha are,
even though urban Uratha have more werewolves for
neighbors than rural ones do. Urban werewolves settle
into a truce with their neighbors, knowing that human
police and observers (as well as more alien enemies) are
everywhere. Rural Uratha know that they can get away
with sneaking a few acres of a neighbor’s territory without
any repercussions.
Rural packs can claim whole counties (or county-sized
areas) as their territory. A space 20 to 40 miles on a side
is not unreasonable for werewolves with modern vehicles
and communications equipment, though things can still
slip through. Werewolves in cities claim much smaller territories.
The average large coastal city in the United States
is just 50 or 60 square miles, but it might have several
packs of Uratha who claim their entire territories within
its boundaries. Cities in the center of the country sprawl
considerably more, but they still have more werewolf packs
than a rural area of the same size.
A pack chooses a territory that suits its members, its
goals and its totem — if such a perfect territory is available.
Most of the time, though, the werewolves in the pack
must decide whether they’d rather live in a location they
dislike in order to appease their totem or a location they
like but which makes their totem uncomfortable.
A pack’s territory grows with its advancement in
renown, power and influence. A pack of fledglings might
be able to patrol only a few small, relatively safe towns,
but as they grow in strength and experience, they become
able to manage a territory 50 miles across. Technology and
spirits can both play a part. Cooperative spirits make a
territory easier to manage, while cell phones can have the
same effect.
LOCI
Few things are more valuable to werewolves than loci
— places where the Gauntlet isn’t as powerful and Essence
flows more freely. It’s only in the presence of a locus that a
werewolf can overcome the great burden of being Forsaken
and enter the spirit world once more.
Loci are focal points of spiritual energy in the physical
world with particular flavors, or resonances. They’re like
fountains or wellsprings, arising as Essence of a particular
resonance flows strongly enough to erode the Gauntlet, or
created by a sudden and powerful spike of resonance. A locus
always has some physical form. The cornerstone of an
old sturdy building might become a locus of urban energy,
while a mass grave might become a locus of death energy.
Loci attract spirits of allied types. They exist both
in the spirit world and the physical world, and thus allow
spirits comfortable with their resonance to manifest in the
physical world much more easily than otherwise — they
represent a kind of window through the Gauntlet through
which only allied spirits can peer. A locus can be destroyed;
the easiest place to do that is usually the physical
world rather than the spirit world.
A pack can use loci within its territory to “tune” the
local spirit world in harmonious ways. A locus isn’t an independent
entity like a spirit is. It’s just a patch of ground,
a creature, a person or an object that has an affinity for a
particular kind of spiritual energy. A broken window in
the town’s asylum might be a locus for chaos or madness
energy, while a patch of deep old stream might serve as a
locus for elemental water energy. An enterprising pack can
refine loci, weaken them or even use them to reshape the
local Shadow.
Most packs try to claim at least one locus for their
own, in order to have a steady source of Essence. Vicious
fights can break out over the larger loci in an area, particularly
between Forsaken and Pure. Once a strong locus
has been taken, a werewolf pack can transfer a portion of
its Essence into touchstones. By such means werewolves
have access to very small canteens of Essence. If they find
themselves in a dire situation, they can drink in the power
of the touchstone and use it just as they would use the
Essence gathered by other means. By use of particularly
powerful rites, a werewolf pack can even strengthen the
power of a locus, increasing the amount of Essence they’re
able to harvest.
Of course, a pack probably doesn’t want to leave
their font unguarded. Many packs leave their pack totem
spirit behind when they plan to range afield, setting the
spirit to guard the locus so they don’t have to worry about
it. Others summon and bind spirits to act as temporary
guardians, granting these shadow watchdogs a tithe of the
locus’ Essence to ensure their loyalty. While most spirits
still hate the Forsaken and are loath to do them favors, the
combination of werewolf binding and a guaranteed source
of Essence is a hard combination to resist. Still other
packs manage to strike bargains with other supernatural
beings so that they are free to make raids against their enemies.
A coterie of vampires would probably be more than
willing to guard a locus for a night (particularly as they’re
seldom tempted to steal the Essence for themselves) in
exchange for having the brute force of a werewolf pack on
their side later on.
OTHER TERRITORY ASSET S
A territory can have dozens of different bits that the
pack can use to perform its duties or make its collective
life easier.
• Wolf-Blooded: Wolf-blooded kin are assets for
a few reasons. They are safer to spend time with than
humans with no measure of wolf blood. As mates, they
Pack Territory
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