Notez bien que nous limitons la plupars des backgrounds à 3. Seul quelques exceptions existent : Pure Breed, Spirit Heritage et Totem.BackgroundsAlliesIls peuvent faire des actions pour vous. Leur utilité est surtout dans les passe-play de semaines. Plus le niveau est haut plus l'action peut-être de haute sphère, ou de grande efficacité.
ContactsSert à chercher des informations. Une information pour chaque points de contact.
KinfolkIls peuvent faire des actions pour vous. Leur utilité est surtout dans les passe-play de semaines. Plus le niveau est haut plus l'action peut impliquer la présence de plusieurs Kinfolks. Donc, plus efficace.
ResourcesThe Resources Background describes your character’s access to and control over a range of valuable assets. These assets may be actual cash, but as this Background increases, they’re more likely to be investments, property, or earning capital such as stocks and bonds. A character’s Resources depend upon the standard of living she’s comfortable with — a lupus in the Yukon isn’t likely to get a wire transfer from her broker each month. A character with no dots in Resources can have enough clothing and supplies to get by, or she may be homeless, sleeping in a den in her lupus form. You receive a basic allowance each month based on your rating, so make sure to detail where this money comes from. The Storyteller will determine how much this is based on the area your game takes part in and the cultures you’re in contact with. A werewolf’s fortune can run out if she’s fighting in the Amazon rather than managing her stock portfolio. You can also sell your less liquid resources if you need the cash, but this can take weeks or even months, depending on what exactly you’re trying to sell. Art buyers don’t just pop out of the woodwork, after all. Resources can be pooled among a pack.
• Sufficient. You don’t get many spending sprees, but you’ve got a decent place to live, a car that doesn’t crap out every week, and a decent standard of living for the working class.
•• Moderate. You’re thoroughly middle-class in income, and can afford the odd indulgence. You can hire specific help as necessary. You have enough available cash, portable property, and valuables that you can maintain a one-dot standard of living wherever you are for up to six months.
••• Comfortable. You own a house and some land outright, which you may let the sept use or keep for your pack, and you’ve a reputation that gives you easy access to credit at good terms. More of your assets are tied up in property than in cash, and if needs be you can maintain a one-dot standard of living wherever you are for as long as you like.
•••• Wealthy. You have serious financial power, and are one of the richest people in your country. You don’t deal much with actual cash, using more valuable and stable assets to pay off debts as they arise. When you can’t focus on maintaining your level of Resources, you can live at the three-dot level for up to a year, or a two-dot life indefinitely.
••••• Extremely Wealthy. You’re one of the richest people on Earth. You have multiple homes, many forms of luxury transport, and frequently show up in glossy magazines and on gossip websites. You have assets
everywhere, and can hobble the Wyrm’s activities with a ten-minute phone call. You can live at the three-dot level indefinitely if you ignore your fortune; higher if you put a little effort in to it.
RitesRituals are an important part of Garou life. This Trait denotes how many rites the character knows at the beginning of the game. The rating represents levels of rites, so a character with four dots in this Background may have a Level Four rite, one Level One and one Level Three rites or any other combination. Remember that to learn a rite the character needs a Rituals Knowledge rating at least equal to the level of a given rite. While Rank is not necessarily a factor, many Theurges would need a pretty convincing reason to teach a Level Five rite to a Rank 1 Garou. Note that two minor rites can be purchased in place of one Level One rite.
• You know one level of rites.
•• You know two levels of rites.
••• You know three levels of rites.
•••• You know four levels of rites.
••••• You know five levels of rites.
Spirit HeritageThe Garou are creatures of duality — torn between man and wolf, and between flesh and spirit. The Garou share a kinship with inhabitants of the spirit world, but some have a stronger connection than others. For some reason, perhaps an ancestral tie to a household of spirits, certain types of spirits react more positively to you than others. This doesn’t need to be a friendly relationship — spirits may be fearful and respectful of you, in awe of you, or feel a sense of duty to you. No matter what the relationship, one group of spirits is more likely to cooperate with you. When you select this background, choose one type of spirits. Examples of possible groups are animal spirits, plant spirits, elementals, urban spirits, and even Banes. When dealing with spirits of this type, the player may add his Spirit Heritage rating to any Social rolls, or rolls involved in challenges. Spirits whom you are attuned to view you, to some degree, as one of their own — a daunting prospect for those attuned to Banes, when other Garou discover their heritage. If you act against such spirits or ignore their plights, you may be seen as betraying them.
• Spirits can smell their scent on you, though no one else can
•• The spirits note your arrival. You bring your chosen spirits to mind in others when they look at you, though few understand why.
••• In the Umbra, you emanate an intangible, though noticeable, sense of your aligned spirit type.
•••• In the Umbra, you have visible hints of your aligned spirit type. Those attuned to nature spirits may have tiny twigs emerge from their fur, for example.
••••• Some question if you really are only
half spirit.
SecretsThe character possesses information that would be considered desirable — or damaging — by someone else. While such knowledge can sometimes place the character in danger, mostly it gives her leverage and advantages. What the character does with these secrets (bartering them for favors or cash, using them to take down minions of the Wyrm, or something else entirely) is up to her. The player and Storyteller should work together to determine what sort of secrets the character possesses. The Background’s rating determines the value and number of secrets the character knows. This Background is normally the province of Corax and Bastet, though other Changing Breeds (and even the odd Shadow Lord!) occasionally pick it up as well.
• A small but noteworthy secret — a secret affair, a hidden sexual orientation, a minor crime.
•• A moderate secret. The human identities of a Garou pack, the whereabouts of a criminal on the run, a significant crime, or evidence of two Garou sleeping together. Alternately, a few minor secrets.
••• A substantial secret, or equivalent amount of lesser secrets. A matter of life and death or utter ruination for someone. The location of a lost fetish that someone needs to stay lost. The identity of a murderer of one or more Fera.
•••• A heavy secret, or equivalent amount of lesser secrets. The location of a national fugitive, a vampire’s “little black book” of contacts, the location of a Gurahl.
••••• An enormous secret, or equivalent amount of lesser secrets. A high-level Pentex plot. The location of a legendary cursed fetish. The secret weakness of an Incarna.
Umbral MapsThe character possesses a wealth of experience and received information about Umbral navigation. These “Umbral maps” are not physical objects, but rather the collected lore of symbolic navigation among spirit paths, the entry methods for safe havens and refuges, the cycles of natural spirit paths, and reliable methods to bypass various obstacles along the way.
This Background is normally the province of Corax and Nuwisha, though other Changing Breeds occasionally pick it up as well.
• A few safe paths and refuges. The character enjoys –1 difficulty to rolls to navigate the Umbra.
•• Several routes to common destinations. As Level One, plus once per story the character can re-roll a failed attempt to navigate through the Umbra.
••• Safe zones, routes to virtually any place, and knowledge of where
not to go. –2 difficulty to rolls to navigate the Umbra, plus one re-roll per story.
•••• Several safe places and refuges, extensive knowledge of Umbral paths and dwellers in those areas. –2 difficulty to rolls to navigate the Umbra, plus two re-rolls per story.
••••• No one knows the Near Umbra like the character. –3 difficulty to rolls to navigate the Umbra, plus three re-rolls per story.
FinanceManipulating markets, stock reports and investments are a hobby of many people, especially those who use their knowledge to keep hidden wealth. Though your actual available money is a function of your Resources, you can use Finance to start or smother businesses, crush or support banking institutions and alter credit records. Clearly, such power over money is not to be trifled with - fortunes are made and destroyed with this sort of pull. CEOs, bankers, stockbrokers, bank tellers, yes-men, financiers and loan agents are found among such work.
Cost | Effect |
1 | • Learn about major transactions and financial events • Raise capital ($1,000) • Learn about general economic trends • Learn real motivations for many financial actions of others |
2 | • Trace an unsecured small account • Raise capital to purchase a small business (single, small store) |
3 | • Purchase a large business (a few small branches or a single large store or service) |
4 | • Manipulate local banking (delay deposits, some credit rating alterations) • Ruin a small business |
5 | • Control an aspect of city-wide banking (shut off ATMs, arrange a bank “holiday”) • Ruin a large business • Purchase a major company |
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HealthIt might seem odd that Garou, who can heal all but the most catastrophic injuries in a few hours, would need Health Influence, but for repairing the Veil or to help human Kinfolk this resource can be invaluable. You might also acquire a couple of veterinarians to assist with lupus Garou or Kinfolk. Most medical research and development falls under the purview of Health Influence. Coroners, doctors, lab workers, therapists, pharmacists and specialists are just a few of the folks found in this field.
Cost | Effect |
1 | • Access to a person’s health records • Fake vaccination records and the like • Use public functions of health centers at your leisure |
2 | • Access some medical research records • Have a minor lab work done • Get a copy of a coroner’s report • Instigate minor quarantines |
3 | • Corrupt results of tests or inspections • Alter medical records |
4 | • Completely rewrite medical records • Abuse grants for personal use ($250) • Have minor medical research performed on a subject • Institute 1arge.scale quarantines • Shut down businesses for “health code violations” |
5 | • Have special research projects performed • Have people institutionalized or released |
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High SocietyThe glitterati at the top of society move in circles of wealth and elegance. Though many Garou do not find such positions appealing, there is the rare exception that indulges in the passions of the famous and wealthy. Access to famous actors, celebrities and the elite rich grants a certain sway over fashion trends. A modicum of High Society Influence turns a werewolf into a debonair darling of the most exclusive social circles. Among these circles, one finds dilettantes, artists of almost any stripe, old-money families, models, rocks stars, sports figures and jetsetters.
Cost | Effect |
1 | • Learn what is trendy • Obtain hard-to-get tickets for shows • Learn about concerts, shows or plays well before they are made public |
2 | • Track most celebrities and luminaries • Be a local voice in the entertainment field • “Borrow” idle cash from rich friends ($1000) |
3 | • Crush promising careers • Hobnob well above your station |
4 | • Minor celebrity status |
5 | • Get a brief appearance on a talk show that’s not about to be cancelled • Ruin a new club, gallery, festival or other posh gathering |
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InbustryThe grinding wheels of labor fuel the economies and markets of the world. Machines, factories and blue-collar workers line up in endless drudgery, churning out the staples of everyday living. Control over Industry Influence sways the formation of unions, the movements of work projects, locations for factories and the product of manufacturing concerns. Union workers, foremen, engineers, construction workers, manual laborers and all manner of blue-collar workers exist among these ranks.
Cost | Effect |
1 | • Learn about industrial projects and movements |
2 | • Have minor projects performed • Dip into union funds or embezzle petty cash ($500) • Arrange small accidents or sabotage |
3 | • Organize minor strikes • Appropriate machinery for a short time |
4 | • Close down a small plant • Revitalize a small plant |
5 | • Manipulate large local industry |
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LegalThis Influence, like many others, is not directly related to a Garou’s daily life, unless you are a Glass Walker or Bone Gnawer. Even the smallest bit of legalese can keep a werewolf out of trouble in mortal society, though, and there’s no arguing Legal’s benefits for repairing the Veil. Of course, a bit of Legal Influence is also excellent for harassing an enemy’s assets, too. Such Influence ranges from law schools and firms, to lawyers, judges, DAs, clerks and public defenders.
Cost | Effect |
1 | • Get free representation for minor cases |
2 | • Avoid bail for some charge • Have minor charges dropped |
3 | • Manipulate legal procedures (minor wills and trusts, court dates) • Access public or court funds ($250) • Get representation in most court cases |
4 | • Issue subpoenas • Tie up court cases • Have most legal charges dropped • Cancel or arrange parole |
5 | • Close down all but the most serious investigations • Have deportation proceedings held against someone |
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MediaDirecting media attention away from werewolf activities, save for those that would preserve forests and other natural habitats, is a key component of the Veil. Putting specific emphasis on certain events can place an enemy in an uncomfortable spotlight or discredit a rival. With Media, you can crush or alter news stories, control the operations of news stations and reporters and sway public opinion, with DJs, editors of all varieties, reporters, camera operators, photographers and broadcasters at your disposal. At Storyteller discretion, Media may also allow access to the more technical areas of television, radio or movies.
Cost | Effect |
1 | • Learn about breaking stories early • Submit small articles (within reason) |
2 | • Suppress (but not stop) small articles or reports • Get hold of investigative reporting information |
3 | • Initiate news investigations and reports • Get project funding and waste it ($250) |
4 | • Ground stories and projects • Broadcast fake stories (local only) |
5 | • Kill small local articles or reports completely |
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OccultThe hidden world of the supernatural teems with secrets, conspiracies and unusual factions. Obviously, a Garou is aware that there are strange things out there by dint of his very existence (after all, if werewolves exist...), but hard knowledge of such things is a function of Abilities. By using Occult Influence, you can dig up information to improve your knowledge, get inside the occult community and find rare components for rituals. Cult leaders, alternative religious groups, charlatans, occultists, New Agers and a few more dangerous elements can be found here.
Cost | Effect |
1 | • Contact a make use of common occult groups and their practices • Know some of the more visible occult figures |
2 | • Know and contact some of the more obscure occult figures • Access resources for most rituals and rites |
3 | • Know the general vicinity of certain supernatural entities and (possibly) contact them • Access vital or rare material components • Milk impressionable wannabes for bucks ($250) • Access occult tomes and writings • Research a Basic rite |
4 | • Research an Intermediate rite |
5 | • Unearth Advanced rites |
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Police“To protect and serve” is the motto of the police, but these days, Garou and mortals alike may have cause to wonder who is being protected and served. That said, Police Influence can be very handy to assist with the Veil, to protect one’s holdings or to raid the assets of another. After all, attitude won’t save the Glass Walker whose townhouse is the target of a police raid. Police of all ranks, detectives, clerical staff, dispatchers, prison guards, special divisions (such as SWAT or homicide) and local highway patrol make up these ranks.
Cost | Effect |
1 | • Learn police procedures • Hear police information and rumors • Avoid traffic tickets |
2 | • Have license plates checked • Avoid minor violations (first conviction) • Get “inside information” |
3 | • Get copies of an investigation report • Have police hassle, detain or harass someone • Find bureau secrets |
4 | • Access confiscated weapons or contraband • Have some serious charges dropped • Start an investigation • Get money, either from the evidence room or as an appropriation ($1000) |
5 | • Institute major investigations • Arrange setups • Instigate bureau investigations • Have officers fired |
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PoliticalGarou don’t do well in deals with bloodsucking leeches; they tend not to work with vampires, either. Altering party platforms, controlling local elections, changing appointed offices and calling in favors all falls under the purview of Political Influence. Well-timed blackmail, bribery, spin doctoring or any sundry tricks are stock in trade on both sides of this fence. Some of the likely contacts and allies include pollsters, lobbyists, activists, party members, spin doctors and politicians from rural zoning committees to the mayors of major cities or Congressional representatives.
Cost | Effect |
1 | • Minor lobbying • Identify real platforms of politicians and parties • Be “in the know” |
2 | • Meet small-time politicians • Gamer inside information on process, laws and the like • Use a slush fund or fundraiser ($1000) |
3 | • Sway or alter political projects (local parks, renovations, small construction) |
4 | • Enact minor legislation • Dash careers of minor politicians |
5 | • Get your candidate in a minor office • Enact encompassing legislation |
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StreetIgnored and often spat on by their “betters,” those in the dark alleys and slums have created their own culture to deal with life and any outsiders who might come calling. When calling on Street Influence, you use your connections on the underside of the city to find the homeless, gang members of all sorts, street buskers, petty criminals, prostitutes, residents of the slums or barrios and fringe elements of so-called “deviant” cultures.
Cost | Effect |
1 | • Open an ear for the word on the street • Identify most gangs and know their turfs and habits |
2 | • Live mostly without fear on the underside of the city • Keep a contact or two in most aspects of street life • Access small-time contraband |
3 | • Get insight into other areas of Influence • Arrange some services from street people or gangs • Get pistols or uncommon melee weapons |
4 | • Mobilize groups of homeless • Panhandle or hold a “collection” ($250) • Get hold of a shotgun, rifle or SMG • Have a word in almost all aspects of gang operations |
5 | • Control a single medium-sized gang • Arrange impressive protests by street people |
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TransportationMost Garou have very little need for any sort of transportation other than their own two feet or four paws. However, when traveling across metropolises and other highly populated areas where Leeches have control, Transportation can mean the difference between a major skirmish and riding through town unmolested. Getting access to special supplies and services can also take measure of Transportation. Most all of these things can be controlled with a bit of sway over truckers, harbors, railroads, airports, taxis, border guards, pilots and untold hundreds.
Cost | Effect |
1 | • Know what goes where, when and why • Travel locally, quickly and freely |
2 | • Track an unwary target if he uses public transportation • Arrange passage safe (or at least concealed) from mundane • threats (robbery, terrorism, hunters, etc.) |
3 | • Seriously hamper an individual’s ability to travel • Avoid most supernaturaldangers when traveling (such as Leeches) |
4 | • Shut down one form of transportation (bus lines, ships, planes, trains, etc.) temporarily • Route money your way ($500) |
5 | • Reroute major modes of travel • Smuggle with impunity |
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UnderworldThe world of crime offers lucrative possibilities to strong-willed or subtle leaders. Guns, money, drugs and vice -such delicious pastimes can be led by anyone talented or simply vicious enough to take them. Underworld Influence lets you call on such favors for all manner of illegal dealings, and the Mafia, La Cosa Nostra, and drug dealers, bookies, Yakuza, tongs, hit men, fences and criminal gangs fill its ranks.
Cost | Effect |
1 | • Locate minor contraband (knives, small-time drugs, petty gambling, scalped tickets) |
2 | • Obtain pistols, serious drugs, stolen cars • Hire muscle to rough someone up • Fence stolen loot • Prove that crime pays (and score $1,000) |
3 | • Obtain a rifle, shotgun or SMG • Arrange a minor “hit” • Meet someone in “the Family” |
4 | • Make white-collar crime connections |
5 | • Arrange gangland assassinations • Hire a demolition man or firebug • Supply local drug needs |
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UniversityInstitutions of learning and research are the purview of the University Influence. Access to the halls of learning can help you with any number of resources, from ancient languages to research assistance to many impressionable young minds. School boards, students from kindergarten through college, graduate students, professors, teachers, deans, Greek orders and a variety of staff fill the ivy-covered halls.
Cost | Effect |
1 | • Know layout and policy of local schools • Have access to low-level university resources • Get records up to the high school level |
2 | • Know a contract or two with useful knowledge or Abilities • Have minor access to facilities • Fake high school records • Obtain college records |
3 | • Call in faculty favors • Cancel a class • Fix grades • Discredit a student |
4 | • Organize student protests and rallies • Discredit faculty members |
5 | • Falsify an undergraduate degree |
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Rituel Corax(Pour la liste complète de Rites, cliquez
ici.)
Eyes of the FlockLevel Two, Mystic
The Corax using this rite can use the eyes of other corvids to see everything.
System: When the rite is successfully performed, the rite-master and any other participants can see through the yes of every raven, crow, rook, and other corvid within (Gnosis) miles. The sensory load is enormous but can be shared among the participants. The Corax leading the rite rolls Perception + Enigmas (difficulty 9, -1 for every two additional participants) to sift through the overwhelming visual input to find what she is looking for.
Rite of the Sun’s Bright RayLevel Two, Mystic
After twenty minutes of somber dancing and chanting prayers to Helios, the Corax brings the light of the sun into the world. Helios’s warm radiance blooms into life around the Corax — even in the dead of night, deep underground, or in the middle of a vampire-owned nightclub.
System: This rite has no cost. The player makes a standard Wits + Rituals roll (difficulty 7). The borrowed sunlight shines out from the point where the Corax stands at the conclusion of the rite, illuminating everything within a 20 yard (20 meter) radius. It lasts for one hour per success on the activation roll, and persists even if the Corax leaves the area.
Rite of the Fetish EggLevel Two, Mystic
The most important of all Corax rites, the Rite of the Fetish Egg births a new wereraven into the world. The binding requires a feather or hair from the “parent” with which to bind the spirit egg to the Corax-to-be. If anything happens to the egg or the binding before the First Change, the results are spiritually and psychologically devastating.
System: This rite can only be performed in the Umbra, and requires a witness of the breed opposite that of the Corax “parent.” The Corax spends three hours and three permanent Gnosis creating the spirit egg, then another hour binding it to the soul for which it is intended. If the rite is interrupted at any point, the Gnosis is lost and the rite fails.
Rite of Memory TheftLevel Four, Punishment
This rite is reserved for only the greatest of all Corax screw-ups. It requires a small, empty wooden box, preferably painted with scenes from the target’s life. At least three Corax, including the one performing the rite, must surround the target (who is generally bound or subdued). The box is then opened and a litany of the victim’s deeds is sung. As each event is named, the memories of that moment fly from the victim into the box, along with all associated memories, until the victim’s mind is emptied of everything beyond his First Change. The rite is all-or-nothing — it cannot be used to excise only specific memories. The ritemaster must then seal and crush the box, at which point all of the memories contained within become his.
System: This rite costs a point each of Gnosis, Willpower, and Rage, and lasts for as long as it takes to sing away the deeds of the victim. It also requires a contested Willpower roll (difficulty
between the ritemaster and the victim, though each additional Corax present lowers the ritemaster’s difficulty by 1, to a minimum of 3. This rite may only be used on other Corax.
Of all Gaia’s children, none are more attuned to the cycle of life, death, and rebirth than her ursine brood, and they alone were trusted with Her greatest gift — the power over life and death itself.