Lodge of Luna's Tears Member
The Lodge of Luna's Tears is a Lodge of the Irraka.
Overview[]
As the Uratha tell it, this is an old story: the Pure push and the Forsaken fight back. The Pure come with murder in their hearts and the Forsaken try to wound without killing, to drive back the enemy while still honoring the Oath of the Moon. And, slowly but surely, the Forsaken lose ground. A pack falls to the predation of the Pure Tribes. A territory is overrun. Wolf-blooded kin are kidnapped and locked away, and spend the rest of their short, miserable lives as receptacles for the lust and hatred of the Pure.
It is an old story, to be sure, and one that must end.
The Irraka of the Lodge of Luna's tears tell many legends of their origins, but the most persistent - the one believed by most of them to be true - is of a Stalker whose name and tribe have been lost to history. His pack upheld the Oath as sacred, loyal to the Mother in all her splendor and madness and, when the Pure came, they fought hard and well, sparing the lives of their foes as the Oath demanded. But the Pure had no such scruples. They slew without compunction and laid waste to the pack, one by one, until only he Irraka remained.
This lone New Moon went under the shadow of Luna and begged for understanding. "We held to your Oath, Amahan Iduth," he cried out, "and death was our reward. We loved you above all others and you turned away from us. Why?"
In response, Mother Moon descended to the nameless Irraka with tears in her eyes. She beheld the torn bodies of his packmates and knew that they had all died to honor her commands. Sorrow and anger warred within her immortal heart and she gathered up her tears in her hands and ran her fingertips across the New Moon's skin, and her touch burned like fire, like the killing caress of silver. She smiled, then, upon the Irraka - a mother's sad smile - and said to him, "Bring them my hatred, son. Punish them in my name and in the names of all who die to uphold my Oath. Steal their fury and destroy them utterly. This is my gift to you."
The Irraka sought out those who had killed his brothers and sisters and slaughtered them to the last, whereupon Luna descended to him once more and guided his hand as he ripped the brands of spirit from their cooling corpses, claiming their power for his own and transforming it into an instrument of endless revenge.
Since that time, the Irraka of the Lodge of Luna's Tears have carried out Amahan Iduth's merciless commandment, walking beyond the edge of Luna's Oath by the Mother's mandate.
Membership[]
The lodge is open to any Irraka possessed of an all-consuming hatred for the Pure Tribes, any Stalker willing to accept the heavy burden of Mother Moon's vengeance. Those who fail to grasp the enormity of that obligation are only rarely permitted to join. Those of the Assassin Aspect (see p. 35) are common within this lodge. Its members gather in whatever numbers they can muster whenever an induction takes place, to offer words of advice and encouragement to their new sister, for they know well the lifelong struggle that awaits her.
Game Mechanics[]
The following are an overview of the game mechanics.
Prerequisites[]
All applicants must be Irraka with Cunning •••• or higher, and must have a Stealth Skill of •••• or better, and a Brawl or Weaponry Skill of ••• or better.
Benefits[]
Members of the Lodge of Luna's Tears are branded with marks of Mother Moon's wrath, becoming extensions of her hatred for the so-called "Pure" who spurn her and who slaughter the Forsaken that cleave to her laws. They receive the Tears of Luna scar fetish.
Scar Fetish:[]
Tears of Luna: The boundless rage of Luna herself is etched into the very flesh of those Irraka who submit themselves to her tears. By activating this fetish, the New Moon can "harvest" the spirit brands of werewolves identifying themselves as members of the Pure Tribes, literally ripping them out of both the werewolf's physical and metaphysical substance. This process is lengthy and most easily performed on a dead werewolf (deceased for no more than an hour), though one somehow incapacitated or continuously restrained could also be a viable victim (though he would almost certainly die as a result of this torturous process). After the victim's brands are taken, the Irraka's player may reflexively "expend" dots of the Pure werewolf's Renown for a variety of effects:
- Add extra dice, on a one-for-one basis, to any roll involved in killing a member of the Pure Tribes, including fetish activation or checks to resist Harmony degeneration.
- Add points of armor, on a one-for-one basis, with respect to attacks made by members of the Pure Tribes or the totems of their packs, for a scene.
- Add to the effective dot rating of a specific Resistance Attribute, on a one-for-one basis, for the purposes of resisting or contesting a single instance of a Gift used by a Pure werewolf or a Numen used by the totem of a Pure pack.
Once dots of the Pure victim's Renown are "spent," they are permanently gone. A member of the Lodge of Luna's Tears can only "store" the Renown of one Pure werewolf within his scar fetish at a time, though he may flush his system of any remaining dots of Pure Renown as part of the process of harvesting new brands. A persistent side effect of the Tears of Luna scar fetish renders the Irraka immune to gaining derangements from acts related to the killing of Pure: while he may lose Harmony for doing so, the Mother carries the burden of his madness for the act.
This fetish always takes the form of a scar fetish. It is empowered by one of the Irralunim, who carries down Luna's tears from the celestial sphere with which to scar the Irraka's skin and so inscribe the fetish.
Action: Extended (the character requires a number of successes equal to the victim's single highest Renown category; each roll represents 10 minutes of effort)
References[]
- WTF: Signs of the Moon, p. 28-29
