Werewolf: The Forsaken - Blank It

CONTRACTING
A young pack typically works to keep its territory as
large as possible, seeing its reputation as being wrapped up
in the expanse it controls. And indeed, younger Uratha
give one another more respect based on the relative size of
their holdings.
Older werewolves understand that a pack can claim
only so much territory. “You can’t own Wyoming,” one
saying goes. Conservative Uratha believe that no pack
should claim more territory than it can circumnavigate in
a night. Others think that a few square miles per werewolf
is about the right number.
Regardless of the proper size, as a pack ages and loses
members to death, it cannot claim as large a territory as it
once did. Packs led by wise old dogs release some territory
to their most trustworthy neighbors or bequeath it
to younger packs. Cranky or paranoid packs, by contrast,
hold on to every square inch until challenged for it.
And challenges, even outright seizures, do take place.
Packs that respect one another usually start with an open
challenge over control. The challenged pack chooses
the form of the challenge, which could range from ritual
combat between two members to a judgment by a respected
local third party. If the challenge isn’t respected,
or if the two packs are already hostile, a bit of combat is
likely, as the interlopers attempt to seize and defend the
new territory and all the rest of their old territory from
the neighboring pack. Low-level guerilla fighting between
the two packs can go on for weeks, even months. In many
cases, struggles go back and forth between the two packs
as they seize one another’s loci along the border.
Eventually such battles must end, either with the
death of a werewolf or with a peace covenant. The murder
of a werewolf is a violation of the Oath, and such a death
during a struggle for relatively minor chunks of land is a
bad omen. The pack responsible for the death is expected
to atone to Amahan Iduth and her servants, though it is
not expected to provide any sort of compensation to the
pack that lost a member.
A curious relationship arises between packs that
have exchanged bits of land in this fashion. The older
pack knows the territory better than the new one does,
so smart newcomers turn to the land’s previous claimants
for advice and assistance if problems arise. The older pack
might know something the newer pack might need weeks
to learn when it doesn’t have weeks to spare. This kind of
relationship is much tenser when the older pack lost its
territory to a challenge or combat, but it’s still viable if the
older pack has a sense of duty to the Oath.
GATHERINGS
Werewolves are too territorial to live as closely packed
as humans do without turning on one another in anger.
Packs normally keep their distance to avoid such explosions
of frayed temper. Yet from time to time, it’s necessary
for packs to meet on neutral ground. Most often, these
meetings take place between two packs to settle a bit of
mutual business, but more important affairs — such as the
initiation of new werewolves into the People — can draw
all the packs in a given area.
Most packs schedule their meetings in terms of moon
phases. It’s most common to meet on nights of the half
moon, due to superstitions stating that Luna’s Judge aspect
grants the blessing of fairness and justice to arrangements
struck under the half moon. Violence between werewolves
is usually strictly forbidden, unless the gathering is specifically
called for two packs to settle their differences in fair
combat — such duels are more frequently called on nights
of the full moon. The Oath forbids the Forsaken to murder
one another; at most gatherings, the assembled werewolves
(or at least their alphas) share a mutual vow to see the
gathering through without bloodshed. At particularly
contentious gatherings — such as those intended to forge
peace between violent rival packs — attendees might
swear a spirit-bound oath of peace that includes unpleasant
magical consequences for violating it. Any werewolf
who engages in violence at a peaceful gathering must be
swiftly bound and ejected — and punished after the fact.
Werewolves don’t gather without a specific reason —
one serious enough that every pack involved is willing to
briefly abandon its territory. It’s important to keep abreast
of news that affects the People, which makes socialization
an important function of a gathering, but most werewolves
demand a subtext for the socialization. The larger gatherings
may be held to gather new packs, to strike peace
accords between rival packs or to share information about
looming threats. Some meets aren’t held between packs
at all, but rather among the members of a specific tribe,
usually to share information relevant to a tribe’s goals or
to initiate a new werewolf into the tribe. A few packs even
gather for ritual celebrations, particularly after a great
threat to the area has been overthrown — but these are
all too rare.
The neutral territory that serves as the site is called
the tur, and is considered sacred ground. Usually the
pack that calls for the meeting negotiates with the other
packs to determine an acceptable patch of ground. Some
territories have an established tur that has served as a
place of gathering for werewolf packs for generations. It’s
hardly surprising that the local humans often have many
superstitions about these places, and tell each other not to
go there when the moon’s in the sky.
A gathering intended to forge newly Changed
werewolves into a single pack usually consists of the
following steps:
• The formal introduction of all newly Changed to
the entire assembly, performed by the newcomers’ mentor
or mentoring pack.
• Informal personal introductions of the newcomers
to one another and to the most renowned elders of
the area.
Gatherings
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