Skinless Garou used in ritual
The Ritual of Sacred Rebirth is a mystic ritual known to be capable of turning Kinfolk into full werewolves. Garou created in this way are known as Skin Dancers.
Overview[]
The Ritual of Sacred Rebirth was first developed by Aztec Kinfolk of the Balam in Mexico. Princess Ichtaca gathered multiple resentful Kin around her, making dark pacts with entities she barely understood. Ichtaca flayed her own Balam father as well as all of her werejaguar brothers and stitched their skins together, transforming herself into a Balam.[1]
The ritual was rediscovered by Samuel Haight from a cult in India. His version takes the pelts of five Garou and uses their skins to induce the First Change in a Kinfolk. To perform this ritual, one must slay five different Garou, all within the same lunar auspice, and completed within that same auspice as well. The Kinfolk rolls Wits and Rituals against a difficulty of 9, and only one success is needed. The process is irreversible and the Kinfolk becomes, for all intents and purposes, Garou.[2]
Unless all five pelts were given to the Kinfolk willingly, the Skin Dancer is Wyrm-tainted and will be revealed as such to Gifts like Sense Wyrm. Spirits are also loath to bargain with Skin Dancers, and usually must be fought in order to bind them to fetishes, Talens, or to teach Gifts, but the Totem of the Skin Dancer, Minotaur, can help the Skin Dancer find spirits. Gifts are all learned at six times the experience cost, except for Gifts specific to Skin Dancers, which are learned at the normal rate.
Trivia[]
- In The Apocalyptic Record, a Glass Walker Kinfolk, Dr. Alia Chukwuka's research notices the connection between the Skin-Walkers and their totem Minotaur. In that the Rite of Sacred Rebirth seems to be a corrupted version of the Gumagan Rite, Rite of Spirit-Skin-Blessing. She concludes that the vengeful spirit of the last Apis - filled with hatred and seeking revenge upon its Black Fury tormentors and Pegasus - would know how to create such a rite due to the Apis' role as matchmakers.[3]
References[]
- ↑ W20: Shattered Dreams, p. 111 (This information is considered non-canonical)
- ↑ WTA: Valkenburg Foundation, p. 56-57
- ↑ W20: W20 The Apocalyptic Record, p. 134-135
- WOD: Outcasts: A Players Guide to Pariahs, p. 63 - Level Five Mystical Rite
- WTA: Rage Across the Amazon, p. 95-96
- WTA: Rage Across the World Volume 3, p. RAtA: 95-96
- VTM/WTA/MTAs: The Chaos Factor, p. 121-122, 127
- VTM/WTA/MTAs: Mage Chronicles Volume 3, p. CF: 121-122, 127
- WTA: Werewolf Chronicles Volume 1, p. VF: 56-57
- WTA: Players Guide to Garou, p. 213 - Level Five Rite
- WTA/cMET: Laws of the Wild, p. 232-233
- WTA: Tribebook: Children of Gaia, p. 95
- W20: Werewolf: The Apocalypse 20th Anniversary Edition, p. 212
- W20: Skinner, p. 5, 8-10, 18, 33, 43