Welcome to Gaia! ::

The Garou (werewolves) were made to defend the earth from the cosmic forces that threaten to tear it apart. The Garou fight against the Wyrm, the destroyer. It is a struggle against nearly insurmountable odds, especially considering the rivalry between many tribes. These rivalries make it almost impossible for the werewolves to present a unified front against a cosmic force that pervades reality.

From this morass of hatred and mutual betrayal, there is little hope that the Garou can emerge triumphant against a foe so well-armed as the Wyrm. The Wyrm promises money, power, sex, and whatever else the heart desires to its followers, while the Garou receive no reward for their striving. It drives them deeper and deeper into despair or into betrayal so deep that they choose to serve the Wyrm instead.

Spiritual Forces of the Garou world:

The three main spiritual forces are the Wyrm, Weaver, and Wyld.

The Wyld is raw unbridled creation.
The Weaver spins reality into patterns.
The Wyrm is supposed to destroy the excess order or the excess chaos.

However, the Weaver went insane and tried to spin all of reality into its web, including the Wyrm. This drove the Wyrm mad so that it now seeks not to balance, but to destroy everything. The Wyrm has many agents and many faces, all bent on the utter destruction of Gaia, the Earth. The Garou are fighting to keep the Apocalypse from coming, but they are dying out and losing the war. Some tribes believe that the coming Apocalypse will be the end of everything, and fight desperately for even the smallest victory. Other tribes believe the side that wins at the final battle will be able to reshape the world in its own ideal. Some Garou blame the Wyrm for all evils and some blame the Weaver for spinning the world into stasis. Thus the Garou can agree on nothing and will not provide a unified front in the coming End Times.

The Garou

The Garou (werewolves) believe themselves to have been created by Gaia as her defense against the Wyrm and Weaver. They are the ultimate predators in the World of Darkness. They revere the Wyld but are also steeped in millennia old traditions. They are fighting to survive in the modern world, but cling to the old ways. Adding to their troubles is the fact that only one in ten offspring of a Garou turns out to be Garou themselves.

Worse still, their kin, the wolves, have been nearly hunted to extinction, leaving them with very few wolf mates. Thus they have had to make do with humans, thinning the primal instincts of the Garou so that a Homid Garou may never have seen a forest until after his First Change. There is one way to guarantee Garou offspring, and this is to mate with another Garou. However, due to an ancient curse laid on the Garou, any offspring produced this way are deformed and sterile, marking them as obviously different. Their birth can put the life of their mother in jeopardy. Thus the Garou need to take their chances with humans and wolves to continue the line.

The Garou are a divided people, separated along lines of breed, auspice, and tribe. Each Garou has a breed, auspice, and tribe and this means that they are not even uniform along a single trait. A Lupus Ahroun Child of Gaia is a far different creature than a Lupus Ahroun Shadow Lord even though they share two traits in common. The most severe divisions are between tribes, but breeds and auspices hold different values as well, which can contribute to conflicts in ideals.

The Breeds:

Homid: These are Garou who were raised in human society, and often never know their heritage until their First Change. They often have trouble dealing with the wilderness and the spirit world. They are, however, deeply knowledgeable of human society and understand most technology. Homids are the most common breed.

Metis: These are the deformed and sterile offspring of two Garou. They are perhaps the best balanced of the breeds being equally likely to understand the wilderness or human technology. Additionally, their natural form is Crinos, the man-wolf form, granting them great battle prowess. If accepted into the pack, they have the advantage of being raised in Garou society and thus know its often quirky ins and outs. Once they were the rarest of the breeds. It's a sign of how desperate things have become that in some tribes, they are more common than Lupus.

Lupus: These are born of wolves and have a deep primal connection to Gaia. However, they are sadly out of place in the human world, having little understanding of human society. Some never even learn to speak a human language. Most hate technology and often blame humans for all that is wrong in the world.

Auspices:

Ragabash: Those born beneath the new moon are the tricksters and fools of Garou society. They challenge the Garou's traditional ways in order to help discard traditions that are outdated. Their tricks and pranks teach wisdom and humility to those who would listen. However, most Garou have little respect for the role of the Ragabash and consider them little more than pranksters. In addition, they also tend to be the assassins of the Garou, using Gifts to help them remain undetected.

Theurge: Those born beneath the crescent moon are the mystics and seers of the Garou. They have a natural affinity with the spirits and can speak with them, either persuading them to join their cause or forcing them to do their bidding like sorcerers. They are often associated with healing as well.

Philodox: Those born under the half moon are the arbitrators and judges of the Garou. They are charged with keeping the traditions of the Garou. However, they also strive for balance and harmony amidst the hot tempers of Garou. They are often jacks of all trades and can speak with the spirits almost as well as a Theurge, yet fight just as well as an Ahroun. The Philodox are the traditional leaders of the Garou.

Galliard: Those born beneath the gibbous moon are filled with passion that bursts forth in glorious song and hot tempers. They are the warrior-bards of legend taking time out from their art to fight and from their fighting to sing rousing tales or weave intricate stories. They are often joyous and make good company.

Ahroun: Those born beneath the full moon are the natural warriors of the Garou. No Garou is incompetent at fighting, but the Ahrouns excel at it. They often lead the Garou during times of war or when there are no Philodox in the pack.

Basic Abilities:
(All Tribe Werewolves possess unless otherwise stated)

Garou have several special abilities. They heal damage incredibly fast, and can be killed by little but silver or the claws and fangs of other supernaturals. They can change shapes at will and step into the Umbra, the spirit world. They are granted Gifts by the spirits; these are special magical abilities or spells. They are generally instantaneous effects. This can be anything from being untrackable to conjuring a fireball to the ability to speak with animals. Each Breed, Auspice, and Tribe has its own set of Gifts. Common to all Garou are Rites, magic that requires specific things to be done to invoke them and have oft-bizarre effects. A common Rite is that which allows you to change form without shredding your clothing, while a rare and potent rite allows a group of Garou to build a caern, a gate between the physical and spirit world. Rites take time to learn and to enact.

Rage:

It is a gift of madness from Luna (the Moon) that allows the Garou to do truly spectacular things. Too much Rage is extremely dangerous and will result in frenzy, a maddened state where the Garou can lose all control. There are two forms of Frenzy that commonly occur: Berserk and Fox. In a Berserk frenzy, the Garou will attack everything in sight regardless of allegiance, if their spiritual side, Gnosis, is weak. In a Fox Frenzy, the Garou will flee in terror and will do anything to get away. Truly horrible frenzies are known as going into the Thrall of the Wyrm. The details surrounding as to what will happen when a Garou enters the Thrall of the Wyrm frenzy is dictated by a Garou's Breed. Thralled Homids will cannibalize fallen enemies (or packmates), Metis will do perverse and twisted sexual things to enemies and packmates (regardless of whether they are alive or dead), and Lupus will attack and destroy anything and anyone who can't defend themselves, particularly packmates. The Thrall of the Wyrm is one of the most dangerous, destructive, and twisted forms of frenzy known amongst the Garou, which may be the reason why some Garou vent their Rage regularly, lest they endanger their allies.

Gnosis:

Gnosis is similar to the Polynesian concept of mana, or the Eastern concept of chi. While all creatures have some spiritual component, Garou can consciously control and use it. Garou are quite literally half-spirit already and Gnosis reflects how connected they are to their other half. Gnosis can't be precisely measured, but if you think of it like water, it makes comprehending the difference between a Garou and a human easier. A human has a cupful to last a lifetime, a Garou has access to an endlessly replenishing river.

Gnosis can be used to bribe spirits, activate fetishes (magical artifacts) and Gifts, and to enter the Umbra. Creatures without enough Gnosis generally cannot perceive or enter the Umbra.

Gnosis is a renewable, but dwindling, resource. Garou can regain it at sacred sites, by meditating, or bargaining with spirits. Sacred sites provide Gnosis, but if they become defiled, it can corrupt the Garou, or there simply may be no more available. The water analogy works well here. They need water, but they need to protect their sources because drinking tainted water may make them sick, and if they aren't careful, their well may go dry.

The Umbra:

The Umbra is the spirit world, a land filled with spirits, sometimes friendly, but more often hostile in these dark days. It is divided into several layers around the earth (frequently called The Realm, or the Gaia Realm), like an onion. Closest is the Penumbra, the reflection of the real world. In the Penumbra, things are revealed as they are in spirit. Technological items such a computers, or even buildings, are covered in the webbing of the Weaver, while objects of the Wyrm are covered in a thin film of slime and foulness.

Gifts:
(Similar to Vampire Disciplines)

Gifts generally reflect the facet represented by the spirit that granted it. A spirit associated with learning might be able to teach a Garou to read any language. A spirit associated with war might be able to teach a Garou to strike so hard she can cut through armor like butter.

Gifts taught by spirits are learned virtually instantaneously. The spirit simply grants the ability to the Garou and gives it some instruction in how this new power works. Spirits generally will ask for chiminage for teaching a gift. The greater the gift, the greater the chiminage. A minor gift may require simple chiminage like planting a tree or killing a minor Bane. A truly powerful gift may require the Garou to swear to cleanse an entire toxic waste dump or swearing that he will never set foot in a city again.

Sometimes Garou can teach gifts to other Garou, but this process generally takes several weeks (or months) and is fraught with danger as the student practices with his new power. Some kinfolk can learn gifts, but these are exceptionally rare individuals. Most kinfolk know no gifts. Even the most adept kinfolk probably only knows one or two.

Mechanically, gifts range in level from one to six. Garou cannot learn a gift if its level is greater than the Garou's current rank. Garou have access to them based based on their breed, auspice, and tribe. While they can learn gifts not of their breed, auspice, or tribe, it is less likely. Storywise, spirits are less likely to teach those gifts to Garou from the wrong group and will demand heavier chiminage (A chiminage is the ritual payment that follows the interaction with spirits.).

Bone Gnawers: The Gnawers are mangy dog-like Garou who live in the poorest, burnt out parts of the cities. They live literally paw to mouth. However, the Gnawers are supremely informed about anything and everything that goes on within their cities. The other Garou consider them mange-ridden dogs however and have no respect for their urban skills. They are known for taking excellent care of their families, both human and Garou, and in times past were considered to be the most loyal friend one could have.

Gifts of the Bone Gnawers:

Rank 1:

Trash is Treasure:
The refuse of humanity provides all the canny Bone Gnawer needs. Through the use of this Gift, any broken object can be temporarily restored to full functionality and usefulness. A raccoon-spirit teaches this Gift.

Scent of Sweet Honey:
A target the Garou touched at some point during the last hour begins to exude a wonderfully sweet aroma, and becomes slightly sticky to the touch. All manner of vermin quickly appear and coat the victim. The resulting coat of gnats, flies, bees and beetles crawls, stings, and generally impairs vision and hearing. Insect-spirits teach this Gift.

Stench and the City:
Many city Garou use this Gift when facing off against just about anything with a particularly sensitive nose: this can include other Garou, Black Spiral Dancers, and a host of normal animals or Wyrm-creatures. The Gift incapacitates its target by overwhelming its sense of smell with the stink of the city: sweat, blood, human waste, rot, smoke and car exhaust.

Garou have been known to use this Gift to pull one of their own out of the thrall of frenzy, or to incapacitate a crazed wolf without permanent injury. The Black Spiral Dancers are said to be quite familiar with Stench and the City as well, and are perfectly willing to use it on Gaian Garou.

Kitchen Chemistry:
With ten minutes, a bit of rage, and everyday household chemicals, you can unleash a firestorm of vengeance against an uncaring world. You have a deep and instinctive understanding of the principles of modern chemistry, one that allows you to scratch-build and detonate explosives. (This Gift exists to cancel out the need for any sort of “realistic” explosive rules in the game.) Rat-spirits teach this Gift, occasionally with the help of a few furtive cranks on the internet.

The Mark:
The Garou can mark a person or place with a scent only other werewolves can sense. The mark is subtle; placing it isn’t. This Gift is taught by lost-dog-spirits.

Desperate Strength:
In times of great trauma, desperate people have displayed amazing feats of strength and endurance. With a burst of adrenaline, a mother can lift a truck off a pinned child, or a father may smash through a wall to save his family. Through strength of will, a Bone Gnawer may channel that same desperate energy. If another packmate has fallen or been captured, the Garou may use this hideous strength in a desperate effort to help his pack.

Declamation:
By spending at least an hour studying a written text, the Garou can memorize vast passages of information word for word. The effects work like a cross between speed-reading and eidetic memory. Actually understanding or accessing the information is difficult, but repeating it by rote is simple. Lupus Garou cannot learn this Gift, but remarkably enough, illiterate homids can; for the Gift’s duration, they can decipher all sorts of “funny little squiggles” on paper. The Garou must be fluent in speaking the language he is reading.
This Gift is often taught by Rat Finks and Frankweilers. Rat Finks use this Gift to transfer sensitive information in a format that’s difficult to steal. Frankweiler Galliards use this Gift repeatedly on their favorite plays and novels. This Gift is taught by a bookworm-spirit, a favorite Gaffling of Frankweilers.

Urban Ward:
If your home has no walls, sleeping can be a nightmare. There’s no guarantee that someone won’t sneak up on you to steal your stuff… or even take your life. Some werewolves solve this problem by sleeping in packs, but it never hurts to take extra precautions. Rural Garou set twigs and branches that easily snap underfoot; Bone Gnawers rig the same warnings with tin cans, tripwires, or even broken glass. With a little mystical aid, a werewolf can enlist spirits in similar defenses. The werewolf can never be sure exactly where the boundary of the urban ward is set but he may be paranoid enough to spend more time setting multiple layers of trash around his encampment. This Gift is taught by a Rat-spirit, who usually warns its student to always collect trash and shy things for just this purpose.

Smell of Success:
You’re good at sizing people up. With a few sniffs, you can smell how successful someone really is. Even on a bad day, you can sense whether he’s got money in his pocket, a steady job, or a place to stay. When passing by street folk begging for change, some people claim they don’t have anything to give. By repeatedly sizing up people on the street, Bone Gnawers learn to distinguish a real bad-luck case from a cheap b*****d who doesn’t give a damn. After mastering this elemental talent, the Garou can then sniff out deeper secrets from passers-by.

This insight can also be used on people who beg for food, money, or assistance from the Garou; for instance, Hoods use this ability to distinguish someone who really needs help from a scam artist. Either way, this Gift is taught by a rat-spirit, usually while the student sits on a street corner asking for help over and over again; the rat gets a cut of any handouts during the time of training.

The Hungry Hound / Nose of the Hungry Hound:
A Garou with this Gift can hunt down the closest source of discarded, safe, edible food. The user might find a bag of nacho puffs dropped out of a passing car window or the one perfect warm slice of cheese pizza buried at the bottom of a dumpster. The Gift may also reveal people who are willing to give a handout or spare some munchies. The Hungry Hound reveals food that’s available for free. For instance, it won’t automatically detect the hot dogs in a vendor’s cart, but if the man selling them would be happy to give one away to a hungry-looking wolf-dog, the chance of finding them improves considerably. This Gift is taught by a raccoon-spirit, often in exchange for liberating a few choice treasures the spirit really wants.

Cardboard Mansion:
A Bone Gnawer with this Gift can create a perfectly functional shelter for herself. That Garou can fashion any ordinary cardboard box into a waterproof, noise-resistant and insulated home. Despite conditions outside the box, the “mansion” remains dry, warm and quiet. A home or hearth-spirit can teach this Gift.

Tagalong:
Gommonly used by Bone Gnawers residing in a sept controlled by other tribes, this Gift ingratiates the Bone Gnawer to a pack’s or caern’s totem for a short time. While the Gift is in effect, the Gnawer is treated as a member of a pack with regards to using the totem’s blessings and any pack tactics the pack knows. If used on a caern toem, the totem looks favorably upon the Bone Gnawer. The Gnawer may then perform the Rite of the Opened Caern, if he knows it, without fear of retribution. A lost-dog-spirit, a spirit servant of Rat, teaches this Gift.

Resist Toxin:
Many Bone Gnawers learn a preternatural resistance to poisons and toxins of all kinds, doubtless due to their diet of refuse and American beer. A trash-spirit teaches this Gift.

Cooking:
The Garou must have a small pot (a coffee can will doe) and a ladle or spoon to use this Gift. He places whatever he can find into the pot — trash, beer cans, old newspapers, etc. — adds water (spit counts) and stirs. The result is a pasty, bland-tasting mush that is nevertheless edible and filling.

Rank 2:

Guise of the Hound:
The Bone Gnawer masks herself so that she blends into the urban landscape, disguising her Lupus form so that it appears as a large dog rather than a wolf. Despite its enormous utility, most other tribes spurn this Gift as degrading to the dignity of the Garou. A dog-spirit teaches this Gift.

Cornered Rat:
When backed into a corner with nowhere to run, there are only two options — beg for mercy or turn and fight. Rat-spirits teach Bone Gnawers to excel at the latter.

Between the Cracks:
Urban blight is the very underbelly of the Wyrm, and the Bone Gnawers know it better than any other tribe. The werewolf’s instincts guide him to the nearest barren spot within an urban area — a place where no human has set foot in at least a week, one which is not only isolated and currently unoccupied, but also likely to remain so for the rest of the night. This may be a boarded-up, abandoned building, a vacant apartment, or even a dead subway station. Bone Gnawers find this Gift useful for securing ritual spaces, setting up ambushes while preserving the Litany, and finding a place to sleep for the night. Any urban spirit can teach this Gift.

Find the Prize:
The Garou employing this Gift closes her eyes and thinks about finding a thing of great value, either a specific item or a general class of things. She then spends a Gnosis point and rolls Perception + Enigmas (the difficulty depends on the rarity/uniqueness of the item being sought). Each success on the roll gives one clue concerning the whereabouts of this item. The clue is decided by the Storyteller and must be worked into the story: “Turning the corner, you see an ad for the Hound Dog Cafe… perhaps the Elvis plate could be there?” Note that just because an item has been located does not mean it can be easily gotten.

Hootenanny:
Bone Gnawer Hillfolk invented this Gift, and they’ve been teaching it to Galliards everywhere. A good old-fashioned hootenanny involves music plaed really fast and incredibly well – “Dueling Banjos” is currently the most common song used with it.

While a Garou enacts this performance, every werewolf in his pack finds it easier to run, fight, jump, or perform any other rapid, strenuous physical activity. Unfortunately, everyone who hears the performance feels like dancing-they might stomp their feet, clap to the music, and even dance around if the music’s good enough. This gives the pack a decided edge in combat. With this Gift, a pack of Hillfolk and a Galliard with a banjo can tear up a whole room full of fomori and Black Spirals with one hell of a square dance. This Gift is taught by an ancestor-spirit, usually one that looks and acts like a Galliard. Some Galliards claim this Gift is taught by the ghost of Elvis, but no one believes them.

On Patrol:
This Gift extends the duration and rang of Scent of the True Form or Sense the Unnatural; the Garou needn’t have either one of those Gifts before learning this one, but this Gift is useless without them. Bone Gnawers who hang out on strategically chosen street corners have a chance to sniff out supernatural creatures in the neighborhood. Using the Gift takes about an hour. During that time, if a Wyrm-tainted creature passes within about a city block, there’s a chance the werewolf will pick up his scent. Galliards use this Gift while performing on street corners; Ragabash do the same thing while begging for change. Lost-dog spirits teach this Gift.

I Got a Rock:
Instead of throwing a weapon to cause greater injury, the werewolf throws projectiles with greater accuracy. This Gift is taught by an air-spirit.

Stone-Throwing Devil:
Anything you can throw as a weapon becomes dedlier. If your Garou is the sort of b*****d that throws rocks during city riots, dumps garbage on policemen from a fire escape or tosses around furniture in bar brawls, then this Gift is for you.

Road Ward / Ward of the Road:
You’ve been tossed out of just about everywhere. Now the spirits help you survive falls that would cripple just about anyone else. Leaping out of a car on the freeway is a minor inconvenience. Getting pushed off a building is a b***h. Either way, this Gift can still reduce the damage from the fall. As a side effect, for one scene after you activate the Road Ward, you’ll always land on your feet. Wanderlust-spirits teach this Gift.

Dead End:
Through a bit of graffiti and casual sabotage, the Garou can discourage anyone who wants to track him, follow him, or even take interest in his affairs. The werewolf can alter a sign, spray-paint directional information, or perhaps just simply turn street signs the wrong way to misdirect people who find it. This Gift works far better on humans than supernatural creatures. Some urban werewolves attempt this Gift two or three times a week to keep their stomping grounds hidden (rather like a lesser version of the Rite of the Signpost, listed below).

Trash Magnet:
Ordinary street garbage becomes the Bone Gnawer’s ally as it swirls about his opponent or engulfs his rival. All the trash nearby assails the target of this Gift, making life difficult. Older Bone Gnawers can completely immobilize smart-mouth, upstart Garou in heaps of trash and piles of garbage. Trash-spirits teach this Gift, although Rat-spirits teach a version that animates sewer flotsam.

Odious Aroma:
The Bone Gnawer can amplify his (probably already formidable) body odor to the point that it debilitates any who can smell it. A stinkbug-spirit teaches this Gift.

Blissful Ignorance:
The Garou can become completely invisible to all senses, spirits or monitoring devices by remaining still. A chameleon-spirit teaches this Gift.

Rank 3:

Gift of the Skunk:
With this Gift, the Garou can swell his musk glands, allowing him to spray musk like a skunk. It is, of course, taught by a skunk-spirit.

Call the Rust:
By whistling softly through his teeth, the werewolf can summon sudden and destructive rust onto any metal within his immediate vicinity. Guns corrode and jam, knives crumble, and cars become flaking hunks of junk. This Gift is taught by a water elemental.

Dumpster Diving:
One of the less sanitary tribal totems, the Great Trash Heap, has dissipated its consciousness throughout the dumping grounds, landfills, and trash piles of the world. Bone Gnawers who follow this totem commune with the Incarna by defending, protecting and even obeying these festering heaps. When a Garou has reached this rank of renown, he may be called upon to travel between festering sacred sates to carry out the totem’s demands.

Just as entering a Moon Bridge helps Garou travel between caerns, dumpster diving allows Bone Gnawers and thier packs to venture from one shrine of the Great Trash Heap to another. The werewolf burrows down into the trash, tunnels around in it, and then resurfaces inside another Heap on another part of the planet. Obviously this Gift is taught by a totem-spirit of the Great Trash Heap. A Garou termporarily servin the totem through the Level One Gift: Tagalong can learn this gift, but the werewolf must still petition the totem each time he uses it.

Cooter’s Revenge:
Any Bone Gnawer who watches too much television knows about Cooter. He’s got a tow truck parked down the street from the Dukes of Hazzard, and he always has the right tool for the right job. Followers of the tribe’s automotive totem (described under “Totems”) train extensively with automotive tools, and wouldn’t be caught dead without them. This Gift not only makes proper repairs much easier, but can also save your life if you’re caught unaware while changing a tire by the side of the freeway.

Rant and Rave:
Suffused with the pure energy of the Wyld, the user of this Gift rants and raves in a torrent of nonsensical language. Only others who are properly attuned to his magic silver-hammer disco ball dimension can penetrate his tinfoil hat. More precisely, any member of his pack or the Bone Gnawer tribe can decode whaterver nonsense he is saying. He can also project these thoughts at a distance to one listener; the ranting Garou chooses which individual receives his psychic transmission.

The listener does not have to actually hear the ranting Garou. As long as he’s within the same city, or even the same state or province, there’s a chance he’ll receive the message. (Unlike teh Gift: Mindspeak, line of sight is not always required.) Ranting Bone Gnawers have been known to hold entire conversations from opposite sides of the same city, taking turns shouting violent imprecations to no one in particular. A Wyldling-spirit teaches this Gift.

Laugh of the Hyena:
Hyena follows no one; instead, he laughs and mocks anyone who tries to command him. In the same fashion, a Garou who can actually convince a Hyena-spirit to teach him such defiance can steal the spirit’s mocking laughter. The Garou can learn to resist any attempt to command, cajole, force, or demand him to do something he doesn’t want to do. This is never subtle. The Garou (and the player) must cackle like a hyena-spirit when calling upon this Gift.

Streets Tell Stories:
You’ve got an ear to the sidewalk… literally. By touching a road, sidewalk, or path of some kind, you recieve a flash of impressions about what has transpired there during the last twenty-four hours. Urban spirits whisper words, waft scents, and even give a taste of events in the neighborhood. This Gift is bestowed by a City Mother or City Father Totem, usually as a reward for acting in defense of the city.

Lucky b*****d:
By performing an epic feat to please the spirits, you’ve found a way to overcome the curse of your jackal’s blood. This Gift is taught by a jackal-spirit, usually as an act of forgiveness after an appropriate Umbral quest lasting at least one game session.

Gift of the Termite:
The Bone Gnawer can cause wood and appear to rot with astonishing speed. Furniture falls apart, documents disintegrate and even building collapse. Obviously, the best instructor of this Gift is a termite-spirit.

Beg:
Playing upon the compassion of others, Bone Gnawers can generate an amazing amount of pity. By exaggerating her miserable state, a clever Bone Gnawer can gain favor with people who have too much anyway. By groveling or telling her particular sob story, she ;might get a handout, a favor or at least a good meal. A pigeon-spirit teaches this Gift, which is one reason only Bone Gnawers ever learn it.

Friend In Need:
It takes a lot for a pack to accept a Bone Gnawer as an equal, but once they do, the Bone Gnawer’s loyalty is unshakable. This Gift allows a Bone Gnawer to risk all, even his own life, to aid a packmate or tribemate. A dog-spirit teaches this Gift.

Reshape Object:
The werewolf can shape once-living material (but not undead!) into a variety of objects instantly. Trees may become shelter, buck antlers become spears, animal hides become armor, and flowers become perfumes. The item will resemble the object from which it was shaped (e.g., the aforementioned spear is made of antler, not wood). A Pattern Spider — one of the Weaver’s spirits — teaches this Gift.

Rank 4:

Blink:
The Bone Gnawer can duck into a shaded area (an open dumpster, a dark alley, beneath a parked car) and pop out in another shaded area some distance away. A rat-spirit teaches this Gift.

Cliché Curse:
From Roger Ebert’s Little Bigger Movie Glossary, “Clichéphobia. Condition affecting people raised on movies. Symptoms occur when real life situations echo movie clichés, and the sufferers must take action to avoid what would be the inevitable denouement in a movie.”

What is a humorous anecdote in the hands of humans becomes a deadly weapon in the claws of a Bone Gnawer. Most often employed with an appropriately dramatic curse (although this isn’t necessary), the target of this Gift becomes certain to suffer an unfavorable fate in a cliché-related way. Anyone reaching for something high in a cupboard will inevitably have the entire contents fall on top of him. Riding a bicycle on a sunny day invites being hit by a truck. While it is possible to avoid the effects of this curse, doing so requires virtually shutting yourself from the world, and not in a dark room, either. It is taught by a dog spirit or by a spirit from a television realm.

Trust Me:
Once each game session, a Bone Gnawer with this Gift can tell an outrageous lie so well that ordinary humans accept it as truth. The story must at least be vaguely possible and end with the words, “Trust me.” What the human does with this knowledge is entirely a matter of roleplaying. Munchmausen Ratkin teach this Gift.

Face in the Crowd:
You thrive in the midst of riots, angry mobs, lynchings, civil disturbances or any other situation where a crowd of humans rebels, revolts, or resists authority. The Gift doesn’t actually enrage a crowd; it just adds direction to a riot already in progress. Wyldlings and Ratkin Twitchers teach this Gift

Shadow of the Rat:
Rats are known for their resilience, persistence, and ruthlessness. Since Rat serves as the Bone Gnawer’s tribal totem, Garou of this tribe may learn a great deal about survival under the tutelage of rat-spirits.

Infest:
The Garou can summon a horde of vermin to invade a structure (no bigger than a large building). The Gift summons any kind of vermin common to the area, which usually includes a lively variety of insect, slugs, and rodents, and it may also include carrion birds and snakes. These creatures will not attack humans mindlessly. They will act according to their natures, which often means fleeing to dark places and hiding out. Any vermin spirit can teach this Gift.

Attunement / Lay of the Land:
The Garou may commune with the spirits of a city or town and gain information about the area from them, including rough population, enclaves of Garou or other being and secret tunnels. This Gift does not function in the wilderness, since the Bone Gnawers have lost the knack for conversing with such spirits easily. A rat-spirit teaches this Gift.

Rank 5:

Gluttony:
The Bone Gnawer can open his jaws far wider than is normally physically possible, and can swallow things or beings whole. A werewolf with this Gift is even capable of gulping down an entire buffalo, or a whole pack of Black Spiral Dancers, only to regurgitate the creatures later This Gift is taught by a catfish-spirit.

Help Me:
Once each game session, a Bone Gnawer with this Gift can tell a tale of suffering so pitiful that he can elicit the help of an average human. With enough successes, he may convince the human to go out of his way to help the poor suffering b*****d get on his feet. Masters of this Gift have managed to walk with a mark to the ATM for a sizable donation, borrow the keys to a car for an evening, or sleep on someone’s floor. The tribe has spent millennia watching over the human race; after realizing on some subconscious level this great service, the human pays his protector back with a grand favor. Great Bone Gnawer heroes use this Gift when they need help protecting humans from the evils around them.

Piping:
In times of great need, an elder can issue a call to his tribe that echoes through the Umbra of an entire city. First, hordes of spirits appear before him in the spirit world. They then swarm out to find everyone of the same tribe. Bone Gnawers use this Gift more than any other tribe, usually relying on hordes of rat-spirits to find all their hidden brothers and sisters. The tribalists don’t need to answer the call, but the spirit can relay a brief message exhorting the Garou to aid her brothers and sisters. Using this Gift for a trivial purpose may cost the Garou temporary Honor.

Survivor:
This Gift confers temporary immunity to many environmental factors. The Garou has no need of food, water or sleep, and she does not suffer from temperature extremes. She is also immune to natural diseases and poisons. Wyrm toxins will still affect her, but at half their normal potency.

Riot:
This Gift summons a horde of malevolent spirits to provoke the inhabitants of a city into violent rioting. The Gift plays on the hatred and fear of the down-and-outs of the city: the homeless, the poor and even stray animals. The Gnawer can direct the riot to a degree, but such things tend to escalate, and the Garou has no power to stop the riot from doing so. A rat-spirit teaches this Gift.

Fianna: Traditionally from the Ireland, these Celtic Garou are fond of song and strong drink. They are often seen as drunken fools, but take their fighting just as seriously as their partying. They know much forgotten Garou lore and are considered the lost cousins of the Fair Folk.

Gifts of the Fianna:

Rank 1:

Two Tongues:
The glib words and clever schemes of the Fianna are wasted on a single mark. This Gift teaches the werewolf to talk out of both sides of her face, literally carrying on two conversations simultaneously, and to decide who hears what. An ancestor-spirit teaches this Gift.

Salmon Leap / Hare’s Leap / Leap of the Kangaroo:
The old legends relate of Fianna warriors leaping over enemies and crossing rivers without getting their feet wet; this Gift is one way they did it. Taught by a salmon-spirit or ancestor-spirit, this Gift is functionally identical to the Lupus Gift: Hare’s Leap.

Hare’s Leap: By invoking this Gift, the werewolf may leap incredible distances. Hare-, frog- and cat-spirits usually teach this Gift. The lost Bunyip knew this Gift as Leap of the Kangaroo, however marsupial-spirits seem loath to aid werewolves these days. Today, many werewolves call this Gift “Leap of the Kangaroo” in their fallen cousins’ honor.

Faerie Light:
The Garou can conjure a small, bobbing sphere of light. The sphere illuminates only a three-foot area, but that is usually enough to provide the necessary light — or to lead foes into ambush. A marsh-spirit or faerie teaches this Gift.

Resist Toxin:
Many Bone Gnawers learn a preternatural resistance to poisons and toxins of all kinds, doubtless due to their diet of refuse and American beer. A trash-spirit teaches this Gift.

Persuasion:
This Gift allows a homid to become more persuasive when dealing with others, in such a way that his statements and arguments are imbued with added meaning or credibility. An ancestor-spirit teaches this Gift.

Rank 2:

Flame Dance:
Pushing the fire in his heart into his limbs, the Fianna hurls himself unharmed through the ranks of Gaia’s foes. A mongoose-spirit teaches this Gift.

Form Mastery:
This Gift empowers the Wyld spark that resides in all Garou, granting the character greater control over her shapeshifting abilities. A wolf-spirit teaches this Gift.

St. Herve’s Folly:
According to an old folktale, St. Herve once preached to a wolf that had eaten the ox he used to plow with, and the wolf was so ashamed that he agreed to plough in the ox’s place. If the Fianna didn’t murder St. Herve for this, they wanted to. But they also learned a lesson from it, and mischief-minded Fianna now use this carnivalesque Gift to create similar, though more pleasing, results. It convinces a leader of any sort that his status is incorrect and rather that he should serve those whom he rules. It can convince a town mayor to clean the shoes of a homeless person, or an alpha to bow to the will of his omega. The Gift is taught, unfortunately, by an ox-spirit.

Ceridwen’s Blood:
Blood has a power within it. With this Gift, a Fianna can tap the life-force within her own blood to restore a fallen ally. However, by doing so, she must suffer the wounds she heals. This Gift is taught by spirits allied to Stag.

Fire in the Belly:
Anger and inner turmoil does wonders for creativity. Some Fianna use this principle in new and potentially dangerous ways, directing some of their inner Rage to fuel their creative urges. While the work is more intense, it is also colored by the Rage, reflecting the redirected fury of the Fiann’s soul. “Sublime” and “peaceful” are not words associated with works produced using this Gift. On the other hand, forged weapons take on the new resonance quite readily, attracting War and Rage spirits (-1 difficulty for Rite of the Fetish). Brigid herself teaches this Gift.

Spear of Dancing:
The old tales tell of Fianna throwing spears while balanced on the beam of a chariot at full gallop, or even crossing an army by leaping from spearpoint to spearpoint. This Gift gives the Fianna the ability to balance on the smallest surfaces, whether tightrope, post or even a spearpoint. If successful, the Garou takes no damage from stepping or handstanding on sharp objects, but may otherwise be wounded normally. A bird-spirit or an ancestor-spirit may teach this Gift.

Fair Fortune / Luck of the Irish:
A Fianna with this Gift has a streak of luck a mile wide. She’s dealt a great hand, her prey is extra-clumsy today, or the wind shifts just in time to scent an ambush. A faerie or fortunespirit teaches this Gift.

Howl of the Unseen:
Just as then ancient peoples had power in the connections between two halves (day/night, light half/dark half, etc),
so do the Fianna draw on their connection of spirit world and physical realm to bridge the Gauntlet. This Gift allows a howl from one side of the Gauntlet to echo across to the other. It is taught by a Bean Si, as well as by the spirits of animals that make loud noise without being seen, such as frogs or insects.

Reverie:
This Gift makes the victim’s mind wander down memory lane. While it may occasionally dredge up useful remembrances, it mainly serves to makes someone less observant or less focused on the task at hand. An ancestor-spirit teaches this Gift.

Brew:
The Fianna are renowned for their ability to drink liquor. Part of this legend stems from their ability to make it. With Brew the Garou can mystically transform a pitcher of any liquid into an alcoholic substance. This Gift can surreptitiously inebriate unsuspecting targets. A grain-spirit, and in some cases a worm-spirit, teaches this Gift.

Howl of the Banshee:
The werewolf emits a fearful howl that causes those who hear it to run in terror. A Banshee — a mournful spirit of the dead — teaches this Gift.

Glib Tongue:
Gift makes listeners hear whatever they wish to hear. The Fianna can say anything, even total gibberish, but anyone listening will agree heartily. While this Gift is not a way to talk a millionaire into signing over all his goods, it is a superb method of talking one’s way into a party, making fast friends or avoiding being caught in a lie. A rabbit-spirit teaches this Gift.

Rank 3:

Cairbre’s Tongue:
This Gift was used by the ancient songmaster Galliard Cairbre to show his people the corruption of Breas the Beautiful. By speaking out harshly against or satirize someone who is Wyrm-tainted, the possessor of this Gift will cause the Wyrm-taint to appear as splotches on his target’s face, lowering the target’s Appearance. This Gift is taught by faeries and Fianna ancestor spirits.

Pin the Eagle’s Wing:
Known as Lleu’s Spear by the Welsh Fianna (who claim to have discovered it), a Fianna with this Gift can throw a spear as far as an arrow and sink it deep into its target. Spirited Fianna can even pierce heavy doors or strike a foe on a high rooftop — or pierce a Leech’s putrid heart. Ancestor-spirits teach this Gift.

Woadling:
The ancient Celts would paint their skin with woad — the components of which caused a frenzy-like state — before marching off to battle. The Fianna carry on this tradition and take it even further. After painting the woad on their bodies, they can bring the paintings to life to harry an opponent. A stag-spirit can teach this Gift.

Ley Lines:
By manipulating ley lines — part of an energy web that crisscrosses the planet — the Fianna can disorient would-be trackers or hunters. The victims of this Gift find themselves following false trails, making wrong turns or walking in circles. The user’s trail simply disappears! The secrets of this Gift can be learned from an earth-spirit.

Song of the Siren:
The sound of the Garou’s voice can entrance anyone who hears it. Typically, the Garou sings or howls while using this Gift, although some modern Glass Walkers have taken to poetry recital. This Gift can make an opponent pause before a fight but can rarely stop a heated combat already in progress. A songbird-spirit teaches this Gift.

Faerie Kin:
The Fianna can call upon ancient pacts between her people and the fae. By emitting a special howl, the Garou can call whatever fae are in the area to help. They will obey the Fianna, but not without question. A dream-spirit teaches this Gift, and the teaching normally involves a quest of some kind.

Sense the Unnatural:
The werewolf can sense any unnatural presence and determine its approximate strength and type. Supernatural presences can include magic, spirits, the Wyrm, wraiths and vampires, although it won’t pick them out specifically as such. The werewolf may sense a person plagued by hauntings as easily as a ghost. Any spirit servant of Gaia can teach this gift.

Reshape Object:
The werewolf can shape once-living material (but not undead!) into a variety of objects instantly. Trees may become shelter, buck antlers become spears, animal hides become armor, and flowers become perfumes. The item will resemble the object from which it was shaped (e.g., the aforementioned spear is made of antler, not wood). A Pattern Spider — one of the Weaver’s spirits — teaches this Gift.

Rank 4:

Faerie Blood:
The Garou can temporarily transform his blood into that of a Faerie. This Gift is taught by a Faerie Lord.

Airitech’s Daughters:
Airitech, a creature of the Otherworld in Celtic lore, had three daughters who took on the shape of werewolves. In the end, they were slain. This Gift allows the Fianna to play the part of Airitech, by forcing the visage of a Crinos werewolf onto (at most) three humans. It doesn’t make them stronger, or give them the instincts that Garou have, but they make fine decoys when being hunted by the Wyrm. Like Airitech’s Daughters, these werewolves exist to be murdered. The Gift is taught by an ancestor spirit.

Warp Spasm:
Many tales of Cuchulain state he would glow in combat, radiating a great heat. At the end of a battle, women would dump water over his body to cool him down. This Gift causes the user to radiate a tremendous heat, igniting nearby flammable items and melting metal. The aura only works while the Fianna is in a berserk frenzy. At the end of the frenzy, the Fianna cools off. This Gift is taught by Fianna ancestor spirits.

Fog of War:
No matter how disciplined the army and ordered the plan, a battlefield is chaos. Smoke, noise, hidden enemies and fear can all lead to disorganization. Even in the modern age, mistaken identity leads to “friendly fire” casualties. This Gift exacerbates this problem to often devastating effect. A commander might not see advancing foes, or see foes that aren’t there; a team may fire upon allies, or mistake a command to “advance” for a call to “retreat.” This Gift is taught by a raven- or other trickster-spirit.

Song of the Dire:
The Fianna sings a battle song to empower her comrades as she enters a fray. Driven by their packmate, the embattled Garou double their efforts to defeat the foe. The Black Spiral Dancers have learned to turn tail and flee upon hearing the lyrics of this dread Gift.

Phantasm:
The Garou creates an unmoving illusion that contains visual, auditory, olfactory and even tactile elements. A grain-spirit — the so-called “spirit of spirits” — teaches this gift.

Balor’s Gaze:
This Gift emulates the power of one of the Fianna’s legendary enemies. One of the Garou’s eyes glows a livid red color, and all enemies caught in his gaze are stricken with pain. A pain-spirit teaches this Gift.

Rank 5:

Fog on the Moor:
This Gift transforms the Fianna into a ghostly outline of himself, allowing him to pass through anything except silver as though he were incorporeal. He may communicate and strike opponents normally. He cannot be harmed by anything except silver; all incoming attacks pass through him. A fog-spirit teaches this Gift.

Havgan’s Healing:
Named after the foe Pwyll dueled with in the Otherworld, this powerful Gift lets wounds alternately harm and heal the Garou, giving the Fianna a critical edge in a sustained battle. A death-spirit teaches this Gift.

Forms of Cernunnos:
Celtic legends abound with heroes transforming into animals, whether to escape, to hunt, or to spy. Cernunnos the Horned God was the master of animals; with this Gift the Garou is able to master the form of any animal. A Wyld spirit or a faerie spirit teaches this Gift.

Gift of the Spriggan:
The Fianna may grow up to three times her usual size or shrink to the size of a small puppy. A faerie or a Chimerling teaches this Gift.

Call the Hunt:
The werewolf may use this Gift only once per month, and only if there is an overwhelming need for it (such as discovering that a truly great evil infests and area). This Gift calls the Huntsman of Celtic mythology to harry and slay the evil. The Huntsman himself teaches this Gift.

Rank 6:

Sleep of the Hero:
This powerful Gift has been invoked many times in Fianna history. When a great hero (Rank 5 or higher) ides in battle, the Fianna take the body and dedicate it to the land. This Gift forms a bond between the Fianna and the land and the spirit of the hero. The champion’s life returns, but he remains in a deep sleep, not to awaken until the Apocalypse. The target must be placed somewhere in the earth, such as a cave, or within a burial mound. During this sleep, the hero is unaffected by the elements and does not need to breathe. This Gift is taught by Fianna ancestor spirits.

Glass Walkers: The lords of the cities, the Walkers are always on the cutting edge of technology. They are deeply involved in human society and control much of the human business world as well as the Mafia. They love the toys of the Weaver and are often associated with computers and guns. Some are even partially cybernetic. Many Garou hold the opinion that Walkers serve the Weaver, which is considered just one step above serving the Wyrm. However, this is not the case; Walkers do maintain unusually good relations with Weaver spirits, but serve only Gaia and police themselves against Weaver corruption. The tribe has changed names many times, the most well known prior names being the Warders of Men (Dark Ages and Renaissance) and the Iron Riders (Industrial Revolution and Wild West).

Gifts of the Glass Walkers:

Rank 1:

Sheng-Nong’s Eyes:
The Boli Zouhisze can see from the perspective of his tools and draw on their concentration for the task at hand, allowing him to perform multiple actions with ease. While this was originally used to wield two swords with equal dexterity, any tools can be used; even the werewolf’s own hands count as a “tool.” Either a monkey-spirit or a spirit of war teaches this Gift.

Tommy’s New Trick:
While one of the Wise Guys favorite gun Gifts (Trick Shot, rediscovered from the Iron Riders by Gianluigi Lucci) eventually leaked to the whole tribe, this one may well go with them to their grave. This Gift ensures that when spraying bullets from an automatic gun, not a single bullet misses its target. A bird spirit (though never a pigeon) teaches this Gift.

Network Terminal:
Computers have grown more and more connected in recent years, most prominently via the Internet. Meanwhile, no matter how good your computer is, there’s probably someone with a better computer and you’re likely connected to it. This Gift connects the Random Interrupt to the theoretical better computer, making all work much easier. A Pattern Spider teaches this Gift.

Plug and Play:
All of the Weaver’s works are connected through the same web, the same song. The Glass Walkers exploit this truth to draw more power from the modern profusion of technology, making their devices compatible with almost everything. A Net Spider teaches this Gift.

Weaver’s Eyes:
Garou with this Gift gain an insight into the Weaver’s deep and subtle patterns for hiding information inside of other information and to the invisible patterns buried in large prime numbers. Encryption algorithms mean nothing to these Glass Walkers; using Weaver’s Eyes, they can even pierce magical shrouding of data. The Garou must have the data to be decrypted in some form — generally, residing on a local computer. Weaver’s Eyes cannot be directly used to break open the encryption on a live connection between two computers, but it will help the Garou use his own abilities to break through that encryption.

Agro Culture:
The Garou can cause plants to take root and grow in places where it is usually impossible for plants to grow. This Gift does not make plants grow supernaturally fast; it simply gives them a chance for life where none existed before. The plants must still be tended to and watered. However, the plants can use artificial substances such as concrete and plastic for soil. They dig their roots in and grow. Plants can even be coaxed to grow out of walls, as long as they are nurtured during the process. This Gift is taught by plant spirits.

Well-Oiled Running:
The greatest toll a Soldier has is her equipment. The worst enemy she has is the possibility of it failing. This Gift greatly reduces those chances by safeguarding machinery against environmental factors. It is taught by a dust, war, or water-spirit.

Last Ditch:
When the chips are down and your back’s to the wall, risks need to be taken. This Gift makes those last choices a little less risky by allowing for some instinctual co-ordination to be taken. A bee or ant-spirit teaches this Gift

Cool Mind:
Too many Garou are afraid of advancing beyond the limits of their bodies. To counter this, the Cyber Dogs have a Gift that banishes fear, anxiety or any other emotion. People targeted by this Gift lose their emotion temporarily, able to think perfectly logically. A Pattern Spider teaches this Gift

Budget Approval Process:
As any underpaid and underprivileged office worker will tell you, getting any budget approved involves knowing whom to ask. Those types would find this Gift a blessing, as would many other types. This Gift lets you find the weak point of any social group, which person can be leaned on to get results. It is taught by either an ant- or bee-spirit

Skyscraper Vision:
Whilst the urban jungle offers many new possibilities for the hunter, it also presents its share of difficulties. One of the most troublesome of these is the possibility of their prey slipping into a crowd and simply disappearing. With this Gift, the Glass Walker can see through the eyes of a glass spirit in a skyscraper window to pick out their prey from above. The City Father or a glass-spirit teaches this Gift.

Trick Shot:
This Gift, once an acquired taste, has undergone a recent surge in popularity. It allows the Garou to execute brilliant feats of sharpshooting, such as shooting a weapon from an opponent’s hand or firing down the barrel of an enemy’s gun. The Garou cannot use this Gift to harm an opponent directly, however, and he can use Trick Shot only with rifles or pistols. Air-spirits teach this Gift.

Diagnostics:
At a glance, the Glass Walker can tell what is wrong with a machine. He can then enlist the aid of the machine’s spirit in repairing the faulty device. Any technological spirit can teach this Gift.

Control Simple Machine:
The Garou may command the spirits of the simplest machines, causing levers to flip, doors to unbolt, pulleys to roll and so on. Any technological spirit can teach this Gift.

Mother’s Touch:
The Garou is able to heal the wounds of any living creature, aggravated or otherwise, simply by laying hands over the afflicted area. The Garou may not heal herself, spirits or the undead with this Gift. A bear- or unicorn-spirit teaches this Gift.

Persuasion:
This Gift allows a homid to become more persuasive when dealing with others, in such a way that his statements and arguments are imbued with added meaning or credibility. An ancestor-spirit teaches this Gift.

Rank 2:

Fu Xi’s Honor:
When confronted with a threat to a helpless member of the werewolf’s family or pack, the Boli Zouhisze can rise above her normal limits to defend them. The spirit of any animal that mates for life may teach this Gift.

Image of the Saints:
God or Gaia (take your pick) has His/Her touch on everyone. This Gift allows the Wise Guy to sense the spiritual or supernatural ties another individual possesses within the context of Catholic saints. A dove-spirit teaches this Gift.

Mind Partition:
A favorite among Random Interrupts who discover they can’t multitask nearly as well as their computers, this Gift allows the Garou to break their own mind into segments, quickly switching their concentration to a new task while never losing their place on the old task. One Cruncher described the Gift by saying, “It’s not true multitasking, but it fakes it well.” A Pattern Spider teaches this Gift.

Hands Full of Thunder:
Many Glass Walkers regard the gun as the ultimate sign of the power of the modern age, and make pacts with the spirits to assure that their firearms do not become useless, primitive clubs in the midst of battle. A technological spirit or war-spirit teaches this Gift.

Garafena’s Crown:
Garafena was a mythical serpent in Russian folklore that sat upon a golden crown and was called upon to give blessing to his followers. A recent Gift that has only been known since 1998, Garafena now offers his blessings to any Garou who wears his mark. This Gift is taught by a snake-spirit.

Overclock:
In the world of computers, your equipment is outdated by the time it’s out of the box. This Gift allows the Garou to make a piece of computer equipment perform beyond its specifications. This includes speeding up a processor to render a 3D image quicker, improving video cards to display more polygons than usual or adding more memory to hold larger amounts of information. Any technological spirit can teach this Gift.

Encrypt:
Paranoid Glass Walkers — which is to say, most of them — use the best encryption technologies available on the open market when they send data through the Internet or Digital Web. If a Glass Walker suspects that a Netspider is watching her Net activity, she may even choose to use this Gift, which magically protects data against snooping. Encrypt doesn’t ordinarily hide itself from magical observers — anyone with the ability to see into the spirit world will notice that the message has been enshrouded, unless the Glass Walker takes special care to hide that.

Steel Made Flesh:
Sometimes it’s useful to take a step back in order to facilitate many steps forward. An example would be in airports or other places with metal detectors. This Gift allows the Garou to change all cybernetics in his body back into flesh. While flesh, cybernetics do not operate. A snake or cicada-spirit teaches this Gift.

Buzzword Language:
The Glass Walkers have always needed the ability to hide in plain sight more than other tribes by virtue of being in plain sight so much more often. As a result, they’ve developed many Gifts for communicating unnoticed, but very few have been so successful as this. The Corporate Wolf simply begins to babble in the incoherent – yet entirely accepted – toungue of modern business and the person he’s talking to will completely comprehend his message, which can be totally unrelated to a single word in the conversation.

Pennies from Heaven:
The Glass Walker convinces money spirits to change their denomination. the coin or note simply metamorphoses into the appropriate denomintation. Money spirits teach the Gift.

Steel Fur:
Focusing in on their own being, the Glass Walker wraps his own spirit with those of steel, turning his fur into hardened metal. Metal or Earth elementals teach this Gift.

Heat Metal:
Glass Walkers — who understand the workings of science and spirits alike — can mystically excite the molecules within metal. Metal heated in such a way can be forged, molded or used to sear flesh. A red-hot crowbar can be a very effective weapon, and heating the exterior of a gasoline tanker can have explosive results. Glass Walkers learn this Gift from fire, earth, or metal elementals.

Power Surge:
By speaking with electricity spirits, the Garou causes a blackout over a widespread area. An electricity elemental teaches this Gift.

Cybersenses:
By studying both his natural senses and the sensory capabilities of machines, the Garou may exchange the former for the latter. He may choose to exchange normal hearing for radar, or ordinary sight for infrared or UV sight. Any technological spirit can teach this Gift.

Jam Technology:
The werewolf can cause technological devices to cease functioning, albeit temporarily. Even the simplest of shaped objects will refuse to perform its function. A Gremlin — a type of Wyld-spirit that enjoys breaking things — teaches this Gift

Rank 3:

Whispers on the Street:
Walkers’ enemies have historically been non-werewolves for the most part, since even the Black Spiral Dancers used to avoid the city. It’s no surprise that Gianluigi Lucci invented a Gift that allows communication exclusively between Garou. By picking up an object and whispering to the spirits surrounding it, the Garou can imbue it with a message that can be heard subconsciously by every werewolf picking it up. Sadly, this includes Black Spiral Dancers and, some argue, non-Wise Guy Glass Walkers. A Pattern Spider or insect spirit teaches this Gift.

Universal Interface:
Most Random Interrupts use two methods for dealing with computers. Some use mundane computers and techniques, others leap into the Umbra and deal with the technological spirits driving computers directly. This Gift allows a Random Interrupt to strike a balance between these two techniques, using the Umbra itself as a computer. He can simply type on air and visualize a screen in his own mind. A Pattern Spider teaches this Gift.

Web Walker:
The Garou may move across the Pattern Web through the Umbra, ignored and unmolested by any Weaver-spirits in the area. This Gift is taught by any Weaver-spirit.

Steel Blowfish:
One of the stranger Dies Ultimae Gifts, this trick comes as an extension of the Steel Fur Gift. Like it, the Soldier’s fur becomes metallic, however the metal is much harder with this version, and the Garou puffs up to three times his normal size! However, this also makes him so heavy that he becomes utterly immobile. But he makes excellent cover, and it is to this purpose that the Gift is usually employed. The Gift can only be taught by a Pattern Spider found in a car wreck in which at least one person died, and the airbag failed to deploy. Somewhat depressingly, the Gift is widely known.

Intrusion:
It’s impossible to keep a cockroach out of a house, and it’s equally impossible to keep a Glass Walker out, provided she has this Gift. Once this Gift is activated, the Glass Walker can easily break almost any barrier that is presented to her. Doors mysteriously unlock upon her approach; padlocks fall open with no explanation. The Gift has, however, a very short and specific time limit. A cockroach-spirit teaches the Gift.

Electroshock:
The Glass Walkers are the tribe of glass, steel and electricity. This last element can be used to directly damage opponents that the Glass Walker can either touch, or who are touching a conductive material such as metal or water. An electricity-spirit teaches this Gift.

Data Flow:
The Glass Walkers originally developed this Gift as a “remote control” for new electronic devices. As the computer gained importance, this Gift gained a whole new utility. Glass Walkers now use this ability to take control of the data resources that are so important to the world’s economy and to society in general. By focusing her attention on a single computer, a Glass Walker can take control of that machine from across the room. She can order it to erase its memory, alter security clearances, transmit false data or simply print a document. An electrical spirit or the even more complex computer spirits can teach this Gift.

Tongues:
This Gift allows the user to read or write any human language encountered, no matter how ancient or obscure. Galliards often use this Gift when translating ancient texts to revive old legends or compose new songs for moots. This Gift is taught by a Raven-spirit.

Elemental Favor / Yao’s Commands:
By begging, threatening or cajoling an urban elemental, a Garou can convince the spirit to do her a favor by manipulating or even destroying her earthly shell. Thus, a glass sheet might explode at the Garou’s foes; a door might refuse to open, even if unlocked, or a car’s brakes might fail. An urban elemental teaches this Gift.

Control Complex Machine:
Similar to Control Simple Machine, the Garou may now converse with and command the spirits of electronic devices such as computers, video games, and cars. One learns (or steals) this Gift from a Net-Spider.

Reshape Object:
The werewolf can shape once-living material (but not undead!) into a variety of objects instantly. Trees may become shelter, buck antlers become spears, animal hides become armor, and flowers become perfumes. The item will resemble the object from which it was shaped (e.g., the aforementioned spear is made of antler, not wood). A Pattern Spider — one of the Weaver’s spirits — teaches this Gift.

Rank 4:

Umbral Motorcade:
A “motorcade murder” was the Mafia equivalent of a drive-by killing. The idea was to be gone the moment after the deed was done. Gianluigi Lucci always felt this never went far enough, and came up with the trick of never being there in the first place. This Gift allows the Wise Guy to shoot a victim in the physical world from the Umbra. A rat spirit teaches this Gift, a fact that made the Gift unpopular in some quarters.

Corner Shot:
A feared Gift, this allows the Wise Guy to shoot around corners. Packs were fond of timing this Gift with multiple guns, creating hails of gunfire through open doorways before entering a room. A bird spirit (again, never a pigeon) teaches the Gift.

Cooling System:
As per the Wendigo Level Four Gift: Chill of Early Frost. This Gift was originally copied from the Wendigo by the Iron Riders, who employed it to preserve food by freezing it, and was rediscovered by the Random Interrupts, who use it both in combat and to keep server rooms cool. The Random Interrupts often favor spending a point of Willpower in addition to the point of Gnosis to control the temperate and keep it just above freezing. Since Great Wendigo would usually rather murder a Glass Walker than teach them, a Penguin spirit or a Pattern Spider teaches this Gift.

Signal Rider:
From the telegraph to the cell phone, the Glass Walkers have always kept up good relations with spirits of cutting-edge communication. This Gift allows the Garou to open a moon bridge that rides the back of a telephone signal, transporting her instantly to the location of whoever is on the other end of the line. A Pattern Spider teaches this Gift.

Heart of the Mountain / Yu’s Endurance:
The werewolf becomes as untiring and eternal as the mountains, and cannot be defeated in a test of endurance. A mountain goat-spirit teaches this Gift.

Call the City’s Wolves:
The city is a rich and complex ecosystem, and humans, animals and machines fill the roles that natural creatures fill in the wilderness. The Glass Walkers cannot often get wild wolves to aid them, but the city has its own predators. With this Gift, the Glass Walker can make a phone call, send an email or fax and expect some sort of backup; some master Theurges simply knock on the nearest door and wait to see who emerges. A City Mother or Father teaches this Gift.

Tractor Beam:
The Garou can transport non-dedicated objects with her to the Umbra when she steps sideways. She may not take living creatures, only objects. This Gift is taught by Weaver spirits.

Virtual Umbra:
This Gift enables a Garou to transport himself into the CyberRealm’s Computer Web (Umbra page 61) from any part of the Pattern Web. Any spirit affiliated with computers can teach this Gift.

Tech Speak:
This Gift allows the Glass Walker to contact others through any technological device. The Garou speaks to a Pattern Spider in or near a technological device and tells them the message to be delivered and whom it should be delivered to. The Pattern Spider then finds the receiver and uses any communications technology near them to deliver the message; Telephones yell it out, (without picking up the handset), electronic billboards display it, computer printers print it out as text. If no communications technology is present, any other technology will activate, though no message will be imparted. If no technology whatsoever is present near the receiver, the Gift fails. A Pattern Spider teaches this Gift.

Doppelganger:
The Garou may take the exact likeness of any other human, wolf or Garou. A chameleon-spirit teaches this Gift.

Attunement / Lay of the Land:
The Garou may commune with the spirits of a city or town and gain information about the area from them, including rough population, enclaves of Garou or other being and secret tunnels. This Gift does not function in the wilderness, since the Bone Gnawers have lost the knack for conversing with such spirits easily. A cockroach-spirit teaches this Gift.

Rank 5:

Huang Di’s Sacrifice:
Whilst Huang Di was known for his inventions, he was also the Yellow Lord and a great leader. Normally used by the pack’s alpha, this Gift allows a leader to revitalize his followers in moments of darkness. This Gift is taught by only one spirit, who lives at the foot of Bull Mountain and cries eternally. The spirit resembles nothing, and only teaches the Gift at sunrise.

Phone Travel:
The Random Interrupt can effectively reach into a telephone line and emerge on the other end. She must first dial the number of where she wishes to arrive and someone must answer. A Patter Spider teaches this Gift.

Calm the Flock:
With this power, the Garou may walk among humans without accidentally evoking the Curse or the Delirium. This allows her to live among humans and maintain a family. The effects, however, do not last for long. This Gift is taught by a homid Ancestor spirit.

Technotheocratic Apocalyptica:
They say the Glass Walkers worship their technology. That’s foolishness. Worshipping mere tools confuses the master with the servant. Worshipping monsters, now, that has some more flair. This Gift allows the Glass Walker to turn all machines in the room into possessed monsters; mobile phones suddenly beginning ringing at their loudest volume and hurl themselves at the person nearest to them, televisions deliberately explode, and electrical wires whip around, tripping and strangling whomever they can see. This Gift is taught by a Pattern Spider.

Song of the City-Beast:
The lupus of many tribes know the Songs of the Great Beast, which can summon semi-legendary monsters such as giant sharks, apemen and dinosaurs. While skunk-apes, Jersey Devils and mothmen are not common in cities, the knowledgeable Glass Walker can call forces of equal power with this Gift. This Gift is usually taught by a City Father or Mother, often in return for the accomplishment of a great deed.

Family Debt:
(Only Dons of the Central House may learn this Gift, for they are the caretakers of the tribal debt and favors pool.)

The Garou can call upon the past lives of other Garou to return a favor owed to the Glass Walker tribe, even if the debt was made centuries ago. Using this Gift will cause another Garou with the Past Life Background to become possessed by the ancestor whom the Glass Walker summons. The living Garou must be of the same tribe as the ancestor who is called (a Glass Walker cannot make a Bone Gnawer summon a Silver Fang ancestor). The Gift is taught by any long-lived spirit, such as a turtle or an elephant, and the Glass Walker often have such spirits witness any business transactions they make with other Garou.

Takeover:
Whate you wear determines your worth as a human being in the modern corporate world. If you live outside the business, you are a number with a dollar sign in front of it, representing what you own and how much it, and you, are worth. For a business, you are your possessions, and this Gift makes it literally true. With this Gift, the Corporate Wolf can attack and physically destroy another person by destroying their possesions. A money spirit teaches this Gift.

Custom Built:
Initially a Random Interruption invention but now spread throughout the tribe, this Gift is both revered and reviled. Treating spirits as data, the Glass Walker can manipulate the spirit of a tool to turn it into any other tool. The actual object doesn’t change, but its properties and use does. A PDA can become razor sharp, or a knife could be tapped on to hack into a system. Once the object has been used once, though, the spirit dies and the object breaks beyond repair. A Pattern Spider can teach this Gift, but they never do so willingly and must be coerced. More commonly, other Garou teach it.

Summon Net-Spider:
The Garou can summon a Net-Spider, a Weaver spirit that gives its summoner near-absolute control over any computer system. The Spider can disrupt, erase or destroy whatever system it is sent into (the exact effects are left to the Storyteller, but are typically destructive). An avatar of Cockroach teaches this Gift.

Chaos Mechanics:
Werewolves pulse with the Wyld’s energy, of course, but all creatures with form and nature have something of the Weaver in them, or so the Glass Walkers argue. Upon learning this Gift, the Glass Walker reconciles these two sides of his being, and he can summon primal energy and mystical form at the same time.

Shadow Lords: The Lords consider themselves to be the only tribe fit to lead the Garou in these dark times. They openly despise the Silver Fangs and seek to overthrow them at every turn. They are seen as ruthless, backstabbing, and manipulative, which is very often the case. However, they have great tribal unity. The Lords are not often respected but are almost always feared.

Gifts of the Shadow Lords:

Rank 1:

Paranoia:
Lords of the Summit don’t remain such for long unless they can see their enemies coming. This Gift gives the Lord a heightened sense of awareness, and also reveals a few details about the enemies he’s about to face. A Stormcrow teaches this Gift.

Ears of the Bat:
This Gift allows the Shadow Lord to use sonar like a bat. He may act in complete darkness without impairment. Shadow Lords with this Gift have large, bat-like ears. Even in Homid form, they have abnormally large ears. Bat-spirits teach this Gift.

Fair Path:
The Hakken appears at formal ceremonies clean and dressed in proper attire, even if he has just returned from battle. A water-spirit teaches this Gift.

Dreams of a Thousand Cranes:
By folding an origami crane, the Hakken enjoys good luck for a short period of time. An ancestor-spirit teaches this Gift.

Shadow Weaving:
Slightly flexing her fingers or claws, the Garou pulls and weaves shadows as she desires — lengthening or shortening them, lightening or darkening, or even twisting them into grotesque and frightening shapes. A shadow-spirit teaches this Gift.

Rains of Mercy:
Though this Gift surprises many non-Shadow Lord Garou, it is only because they forget the Shadow Lords follow a god affiliated with rain, and they come from a harsh land. Even the Darwinist Shadow Lords known that their Kin need to be fed, and the rain summoned with this Gift made sure those favored by the Lords never went hungry. A Stormcrow teaches this Gift

Purify Scent:
If another supernatural creature attempts to determine the breed, tribe or auspice of a Bringer of Light, the target may use this Gift to retain her secrets. A Night-spirit teaches this Gift.

Perceptive Servant:
Children of Crow are consummate eavesdroppers, and combined with the perceptiveness one gains by serving Crow, this Gift can be extremely useful. It is taught by a Crow-sprit.

Whisper Catching:
Secrets are an important commodity, and those who strive to keep their secrets may very well be hiding something dangerous. This Gift was developed to root out potential traitors or plotters against the Garou, but has been open to… certain abuses ever since. The Shadow Lord may supernaturally eavesdrop on whispered conversations nearby, giving her an edge over those with something to hide. This Gift is taught by a crow-spirit.

Seizing the Edge:
To the Shadow Lords, there is no possible way for a contest to be even. If neither competitor wins, they both lose. This Gift allows the Garou to swing the balance, ever so slightly, in her favor. A spirit servant of Grandfather Thunder teaches this Gift.

Fatal Flaw:
The Shadow Lord can discern a target’s weakness, granting an advantage in combat. A Stormcrow teaches this Gift.

Aura of Confidence:
The Garou projects a demeanor of control and superiority, preventing attempt to find flaws or read auras. This Gift does not prevent supernatural attempt to read the Garou’s thoughts, although it may make doing so difficult (Storyteller’s discretion). An ancestor-spirit teaches this Gift.

Rank 2:

Hidden Secrets:
Children of Crow are terribly fond of blackmail, and this Gift does a lot to help their natural tendencies along. The Corax know this Gift as Dark Truths; the Shadow Lords learned the Gift from the raven-folk, and improved on it a bit. The Gift is taught by a fly-spirit.

Storm Winds Slash:
Hakken may use their blades to injure Wyrm creatures at a distance. This Gift is taught by a metal or wind-spirit.

Song of the Earth Mother:
A more powerful version of Sense Wyrm, this Gift allows the user to sense the presence of Wyrm activity within a broad area. Essentially, the Garou communes with the earth and listens to what it says. The Gift is taught by an earth-spirit.

Howls in the Night:
The werewolf sends a full-throated howl shivering into the night sky, evoking primal terror in Gaia’s enemies. Creatures of the Wyrm who hear the howl find themselves troubled and unable to rest easily while their enemies are on the prowl. A wolf-spirit teaches this Gift.

Pure Identity:
A Bringer of Light can alter his appearance to suggest he belongs to another race. If he remains in homid form, he can appear as pallid as a vampire or as glamorous as an Unseelie changeling. If he desires to keep his “scent” as a Garou, he can affect cosmetic changes and appear as a Black Spiral. This Gift is taught by a Chameleon-spirit.

Cold Voice of Reason:
Shadow Lords are skilled manipulators, and are renowned for their ability to both stall for time and talk their opponents into going about their business. This Gift gives that character trait supernatural force, holding assailants at bay while the Lord himself either escapes or calls on others for support. It must be used strategically to be effective, but it can be powerful when used in this fashion. This Gift is taught by a crow-spirit.

Disfigurement:
The Shadow Lord can place a nasty boil or dishonorable scar on the target. She can disfigure her rival in embarrassing ways that rob him of prestige in the presence of other Garou. Although the lesion isn’t physically handicapping, it certainly limits the victim’s social grace. A baboon-spirit or toad-spirit teaches this Gift.

Clap of Thunder:
The Garou slams her hands together and creates a mighty thunderclap that stuns those who hear it. A Stormcrow teaches this Gift.

Halt the Coward’s Flight / Executioner’s Privilege:
The Garou may slow a fleeing (not charging) foe, making him easier to catch. A wolf-spirit teaches this Gift.

Luna’s Armor:
The Child of Gaia may call for Luna’s protection in battle. This Gift even allows limited resistance to silver. A Lune teaches this Gift.

True Fear:
The Ahroun can display the true extent of her power, scaring one chosen foe into quiescence for a number of turns. Spirits of fear teach this Gift.

Rank 3:

A Thousand Eyes:
The Child of Bat melds his consciousness with that of a swarm of bats, and may see and hear all that they see and hear for the duration of the night. Using this Gift requires a swarm of at least a thousand bats (easily found in most temperate or tropical areas). It is taught by a bat-spirit.

Patagia:
The Shadow Lord can extrude large flaps of skin under her arms, resembling a flying squirrel’s membranes. When not in use, the flaps usually shrink into the Lord’s arms and sides, where they are not detectable. This Gift is taught by a bat-spirit or a squirrel-spirit.

Dark of Night:
A Hakken can cause an opponent to become temporarily blinded. Hakken reserve such underhanded tactics for use against minions of the Wyrm. This Gift comes from a raven-spirit.

Under the Gun:
The Shadow Lord lays a curse on her foe, ensuring certain death by bullets. While the curse is in effect, bullets (as well as arrows, hurled knives, and any other missile weapons) are strangely attracted to the target. Although this Gift is useful in battle, most Shadow Lords prefer to use it secretly on a chosen foe before a fight begins, ensuring an “unfortunate accident.” A raven-spirit teaches this Gift.

Interrogator:
This Gift was originally discovered by a cult of Shadow Lords known as the Judges of Doom. A Garou may use this Gift to terrify his victim into a confession. This Gift is taught by a Fear-spirit.

Shadow Cutting:
One of the more cunning tactics of the Shadow Lords, this Gift allows a Lord to maim or kill her opponent by attacking the shadow he casts. This tactic makes her attacks difficult to dodge, and can provide a great advantage in situations where the shadow is a larger or more accessible target than the opponent himself. A night-spirit teaches this Gift

Raven’s Wings:
A lord with this gift is especially close to Raven, and may manifest a spirit avatar in the form of a raven to spy for him. The raven may see and hear, but may not affect the physical world or, in turn, be affected by attacks of any sort.

Icy Chill of Despair:
The Shadow Lord with this Gift can appear to grow larger and more imposing, becoming a terrible, shadowy version of herself. This change in aspect can severely intimidate any onlookers. A Stormcrow teaches this Gift.

Summon Stormcrow:
The Judges of Doom learned this blessing from Grandfather Thunder himself. The Stormcrows, some of Grandfather Thunder’s servants, come to the aid of those Garou who activate this Gift. Acting as spies, the Stormcrows follow anybody the Judge chooses and report back all they learn. Rumors speak of networks of Stormcrows that pass information back and forth like a telephone line.

Curse of Corruption:
The Shadow Lords, never a tribe to play fair, designed this Gift to discredit their rivals. Victims of this curse find themselves doubted by even their staunchest allies. Despite a target’s most noble exertions, no one believes anything he has to say until the curse fades. A jackal-spirit teaches this Gift.

Spirit of the Bird / Dark Aerie:
Few enemies would expect a werewolf to attack from above, which is precisely why the Uktena developed the means to do so. The Garou may hover, fly or float. Any bird spirit can teach this Gift. In the Shadowlord version of this Gift, the servant of Crow is enveloped by shadows as he escapes.

Paralyzing Stare:
The Shadow Lord directs a terrifying glare at a target, causing her to freeze in terror. A Stormcrow teaches this Gift.

Direct the Storm:
Having a packmate who is prone to frenzy isn’t safe for anyone. With this Gift, the Shadow Lord can direct the primal instincts of a frenzied Garou — friend or foe — causing him to attack targets of the Lord’s choice. A Stormcrow teaches this Gift.

Rank 4:

Assassin’s Strike:
Like the Ratkin and the Nagah before them, the Judges of Doom have learned to quickly slip into and out of the Umbra so that they may surprise their prey. When using this Gift, the Judge disappears for a moment and reappears behind his victim, whereupon he may attack his victim with complete surprise. This Gift is taught by a cobra-spirit.

Living Treasure:
A Hakken can convince the spirit of a treasure in his possession to relate its history and lore. An ancestor-spirit imparts this Gift.

Durance:
The werewolf dominates a talen-bound spirit, spinning webs of metaphysical authority to forcibly lengthen its service to her. Some consider this Gift disrespectful, but the Shadow Lords find it ridiculous to discard a weapon that might serve Gaia, just for the sake of politeness. This Gift is taught by a spider-spirit.

Ubiquitous Presence:
Paranoia is a wonderful weapon. It keeps enemies from resting, from thinking properly, and, done right, from ever attacking you. And if you can’t be everywhere at once, at least you can appear to be. The Shadow Lord can curse an enemy with paranoia, giving the victim an unflinching suspicion that the Garou is watching her, even when that belief would otherwise be entirely illogical. Shadow or night-spirits teach this Gift.

Seeds of Doubt:
Talented tricksters, Shadow Lords with this Gift may convince a listener of one false idea, no matter how absurd. The Gift only works if the lie told is not obviously harmful to the listener. It is taught by a Raven-spirit.

Invoke the Spirits of the Storm / Call the Storm:
The Garou can summon nearly any weather effect she desires, be it a tornado, fog, blizzard or thunderstorms. An avatar of Digo teaches this Gift. An avatar of Rainbow Serpent teaches the Bunyip version.

Strength of the Dominator:
The Garou draws on a target’s anger to feed his own. A Stormcrow teaches this Gift.

Open Wounds:
The Garou may cause the next wound he inflicts to bleed profusely, weakening the target further. A pain-sprit teaches this Gift.

Rank 5:

Find the Transgressor:
With this potent Gift, the Judge calls upon the might of Gaia Herself to determine the exact location of any one named individual that has violated the Litany in some fashion. Use of this Gift is never a trivial undertaking, and those that abuse its power usually suffer dire consequences. An avatar of Gaia Herself teaches this Gift.

Divine Wind:
The Hakken can call forth a powerful storm in a designated area. The storm uproots trees and overturns cars in its fury. An ancestor-spirit or a servant of Narukami, Lord of Thunder, teaches this Gift.

Purity of Blood:
The disciple has become so resistant to the Wyrm that she may overcome the Blood Bond of vampires. This Gift is taught by an avatar of Grandfather Thunder himself.

Mask Taint:
A Garou with this Gift may completely hide his Wyrm-taint from all senses, including Gifts that detect such taint. This Gift is taught by a Puppeteer Bane.

Wounding Lies:
For all their ability to prevaricate or misdirect when the need is there, few Shadow Lords – particularly elders – like being lied to. This Gift is the ultimate expression of that conceit; it forces those whom the Lord is interrogating to speak the truth or suffer the consequences. A person that lies to the elder suffers great wounds that mystically appear across his body with each untruth. A pain-spirit teaches this Gift.

Shadow Pack:
The Garou summons up shadowy duplicates of himself to stand by him in battle. These shadow-wolves resemble the Shadow Lord and have some of the same capabilities. A night-spirit teaches this Gift.

Obedience:
With the power of this Gift, the Shadow Lord becomes the ultimate alpha, compelling all others to follow her orders. A Stormcrow teaches this Gift.

Silver Fangs: The ancestral leaders of the Garou, the Fangs are slowly rotting from within. By breeding with only the noblest of humans and by breeding with their own family members, they have bred weakness into their house. Many have mental disorders of some sort and more than one Metis has come about from a Silver Fang's incestuous habits. The rest of the Garou consider the Fangs doddering kings who should be overthrown. The Fangs will not let such a thing happen. Younger Fangs have been trying to fix what's wrong with the tribe and bring in fresh blood, though they haven't had much success as of yet.

Gifts of the Silver Fangs:

Rank 1:

Full Moon Cleansing:
This Gift allows a Garou to turn her own Rage against her Harano, thereby defeating it like any other enemy. The werewolf learns this Gift in ritual combat with a blood-warrior spirit, who must be defeated and burnt in an Umbral fire. The Garou then marks himself with the glyph for her own auspice and the Ahroun glyph. Thus, she learns how the anger of the Full Moon may be made part of herself.

New Moon’s Laughter:
This Gift allows a werewolf to make others around her more receptive to criticism and less obsessed with their own pride, thus showing them the wisdom of the New Moon. To learn this Gift, the werewolf must trick a Lune into revealing the Gift.

Harrier’s View:
The Gift allows a pack alpha to have a perfect sense of where his packmates are, relative to his own position. This allows him to howl or shout orders more effectively and plan the tactics of the group better. A barrier-spirit teaches this Gift.

Osprey’s Eye:
Osprey can spot his prey in the water from high in the air above, despite the distorting effect of the water itself. She gives her children the same ability, so they may hunt the enemies of Gaia as easily in the water as in the air. This Gift is taught by an osprey spirit, or by her ally, Salmon.

Ice Dance:
This Gift is a legacy of the tribe’s deep roots in Russia and the frozen north. The Wyrm often chooses its battlegrounds with cunning, using Gaia’s own snow and ice against Her defenders. This Gift allows the Fangs to face the Wyrm on equal terms, or even turn Gaia’s own beauty to their advantage by moving freely across snow and ice, as if it was a flat plain of green grass. An ice elemental teaches this Gift.

Eye of the Falcon:
Falcon is a great predator, with keen eyes and a sharp beak. As he soars in the sky, he can spot the tiny movement in the grass that betrays the location of his prey at great distances. He shares this Gift freely with his children so they may spot their foes easily and lead the Garou into battle with confidence. Any Falcon’s brood may teach this Gift.

Call the Breeze / Wind of Buzzard’s Wings:
The Garou calls up a strong (20 mpg), cold breeze and directs it at whim. This breeze chills anyone not prepared for it, and it disperses (or redirects) clouds of vapor (including tear gas or airborne toxins) or swarms of insects. A wind-spirit teaches this Gift.

Lambent Flame:
The Garou causes her body to ignite with silver light. A Lune teaches this Gift.

Falcon’s Grasp / Implacable Grip:
A leader must keep a tight grip on his power, and this Gift allows the Garou to do so literally. The Garou’s hands or jaws tighten in a mighty death-grip, making it nearly impossible to escape. A falcon-spirit teaches this Gift.

Inspiration / Grim Resolve:
Other werewolves look to the Ahroun for leadership in combat. The Gift of Inspiration is one reason. The Garou with this Gift lends new resolve and righteous anger to his brethren. Either a lion- or wolf-spirit teaches this Gift.

Sense Wyrm:
The werewolf can sense manifestations of the Wyrm in the nearby area. This Gift involves a mystical sense, not a visual or olfactory image, although werewolves using the Gift sometimes say things like, “This place stinks of the Wyrm” (with a few more colorful adjectives). Garou should remember that the Wyrm’s taint can cling to relatively blameless souls. Werewolves may sense an innocent person who happens to work in a Wyrm-controlled factory or w

Rank 2:

Unity of the Pack:
It is only natural for those guided by canny leaders to excel. This Gift allows the Silver Fang’s pack to enjoy the benefits of her unifying aura, making them deadlier warriors against the Wyrm’s minions. A wolf-spirit teaches this Gift.

Awe:
The Garou, simply by her bearing and strength, proves to others her mastery and right to rule other tribes. This Gift is taught by a Falcon spirit.

Gibbous Moon Song:
The Gift allows a Garou to learn the benefits of a smooth tongue and social awareness. It makes the werewolf talkative, interesting and likable, the very life and soul of any gathering. The moon’s own light seems to make her more interesting and attractive than she normally seems. A Great Green Cheese spirit, a lively and somewhat aromatic member of Luna’s brood, best known to the Bone Gnawers, teaches this Gift. Arrogant Silver Fangs who will not deign to deal with such a spirit will struggle to progress on this cycle. The werewolf and the spirit engage in a battle of wits, to see who can come up with the cleverest word play. If the Garou wins, the spirit happily teaches the Gift. Thus, she makes the persuasiveness of the Gibbous Moon part of herself.

Crescent Moon’s Awareness:
This Gift allows the character to make other around her more aware of the spirits of the place. Garou catch glimpses and hear incomprehensible whispers of the spirits in the Penumbra, while Kinfolk and other humans feel an unsettling awareness of an alien world that they are normally oblivious to and have no means of understanding. This teaches them the power of the Crescent Moon. To learn this Gift, the Fang must track down any one of Falcon’s brood and perform one, simple service for him.

Truce of Helios:
Helios brings reason and tact to the werewolves who honor him. He teaches the Garou to temper their instinct and Rage with thought and logic. Thus, those who follow him often become skilled diplomats and negotiators. Often the biggest problem in achieving a truce, treaty or alliance is getting the other side to listen to the argument that the character is putting forward. This Gift forces them to listen to what the Silver Fang has to say. However, Helios values truth and justice. He does not force the listener to accept what is said. Neither does he allow his followers to use this Gift to gain a combat advantage over another by using it to delay the listener while an ambush or attack is organized. Any werewolf using the Gift in that way will find that it doesn’t’ work, and may find it never working for them again. Helios sends a Child of Kamak or a Firebird spirit to teach this Gift to those he finds worthy.

Hand Blade:
Many Silver Fangs specialize in klaive dueling and swordplay. On occasions, they are disarmed or attacked when they are unarmed. This Gift allows them to rely on their skill in swordplay by turning their arm into a razor-sharp blade that slices and cuts like the best-forged sword. An ancestor spirit, usually a former klaive dueling master, teaches this Gift.

Eagle’s Beak:
The eagle’s beak is a sharp, tearing weapon that can tear its prey apart in seconds. An eagle spirit can teach a Silver Fang the secret of eviscerating his enemy swiftly through this Gift.

Deep Roots:
This Gift allows the steadfast members of House Wise Heart to stand their ground against their foes. Nothing can move a werewolf rooted with this Gift, although he is as vulnerable to other forms of attack as ever. Any forest-dwelling spirit can teach this Gift.

Locate Spirit Tutor:
The werewolves of House Wise Heart are renowned for their skill as tutors and mentors. However, they know that the spirits themselves are the best tutors for Gifts. This Gift allows a Silver Fang in the Umbra to locate the nearest spirit that can teach a particular Gift that he wishes his student to learn. From that point onwards, it is all up to the student and the spirit. A peregrine falcon-spirit teaches this Gift.

Hidden Meaning:
Sometimes what someone doesn’t say is just as revealing as what they do say. This Gift allows a listener a sense of exactly what a speaker is concealing or avoiding saying. A heron-spirit teaches this Gift.

Merlin’s Call:
This Gift allows the alpha of a pack to call out to her fellows, letting them know exactly where she is and allowing them to rally around her, even in complete darkness or other situations in which the werewolves are effectively blinded like heavy fog, or intervening walls. However, the sound that the alpha makes cannot be used by other creatures to locate the Garou. A merlin-spirit teaches this Gift.

Austere Mind:
The Silver Fangs of House Austere Howl have always valued self-control. To this end, they successfully petitioned a stone elemental to teach them this Gift that grant s them the emotional stoicism of a rock.

Osprey’s Flight:
When Osprey hunts, she can hover over the water. She wishes her children to hunt over rivers just as easily, so she teaches this Gift to those who prove themselves worthy enough.

Reason’s Grasp / Reason:
The Silver Fangs took up many burdens when they accepted the leadership role for the Garou Nation. One of the hardest of these to bear is the propensity towards Harano and the mental disabilities that beset members of the Tribe. However, the spirits took pity upon the tribe members who were suffering and failing at a time of need, so they sent a Firebird spirit to teach them this Gift. Reason’s Grasp allows a Silver Fang to free herself temporarily from Harano or mental illness. It can also protect against any sanity-altering attack, be it from a spirit, Wyrm creature, vampire, mage or demon.

Word of Honor:
To a Silver Fang, honor is everything. This Gift imbues a Garou’s words with his honorable bearing. As long as the Silver Fang speaks the truth, others believe him. An eagle-spirit teaches the Silver Fangs how to speak clear and true.

Empathy / Claw-to-Thumb:
To be a leader among wolves is largely a matter of physical dominance, but a human leader must understand his charges and follow their will to a degree. With this Gift, a Silver Fang can understand those around him and live up to their expectations. A falcon-spirit teaches this Gift.

Luna’s Armor:
The Child of Gaia may call for Luna’s protection in battle. This Gift even allows limited resistance to silver. A Lune teaches this Gift.

Sense Silver:
As consummate warriors, Ahroun must be prepared for every eventuality — including silver weaponry. This Gift, taught by Lunes, allows the Ahroun to detect the presence of silver.

Rank 3:

Claim of Authority:
There are times when a Silver Fang cannot be present at important moots or meetings, and must send another Garou in her place. To make sure that any advantages to be gained aren’t neglected, a Silver Fang with this Gift can grant her messenger some of her own natural authority. It is taught by an ancestor-spirit.

Dominance Blow:
Smart Garou know to pay the Silver Fangs their due. Stupid ones openly challenge them, and force the Silver Fangs to assert their dominance. This Gift allows a Silver Fang to easily knock down would-be rebels by connecting physical dominance with rightful leadership. When this Gift is working, might does make right. Lupus Silver Fangs are fond of this Gift, which resembles wolf understandings of alpha standing. A wolf-spirit teaches this Gift

Half Moon Mnemonics:
This Gift allows a Garou to remember a moment with perfect clarity, fixing it forever within their mind. They may recall that moment at any time, and examine the memory from any angle they wish. The memory does not dim with age, and the recall is always perfect and total. A sea spirit teaches this Gift. The werewolf must seek an Umbral sea and meditate on the sound of its wave, until she can hear the sea spirit calling to her. She must then focus on those instructions while at the same time keeping total awareness of the moment to learn this Gift. Thus, she makes the wisdom and reflection of the Half Moon part of herself.

Half Moon’s Diplomacy:
Sometimes the first step to resolving a dispute is to prevent yourself saying anything to make the situation worse. This Gift allows a werewolf to try to calm an explosive moment by preventing everyone present from saying anything inflammatory, thus bringing them all the Half Moon’s wisdom. To learn this Gift, the werewolf must follow a harrier-spirit for an hour, matching her flight path from the ground, until she tries and consents to share this Gift.

Honor Pact:
This is another of Helios’ Gifts that allows diplomacy between even the most intransigent of opponents. For the Gift to work, though, all parties involved in the negotiation must agree to its use willingly, even if they consider their position fixed and room for debate to be minimal. Participants must show their willingness by spilling their own blood and mingling it with that of the other participants, usually by slicing open their palms and shaking hands. Helios does not consider those creatures without blood or with toxic or damaging blood worthy of his Gift and they cannot participate. Each participant then swears an oath to both Falcon and Helios to work with her fellow participants to find a solution. This forges spiritual bonds between all involved, preventing them from acting against one anther’s interests and hopefully allowing a conclusion to the negotiations that suits and benefits all.

On occasions, a pack with a Sun Lodge member will use this Gift to prevent minions of the Defiler Wyrm turning one packmate against another. Helios allows a Child of Kamak to teach this Gift.

Burning Blade:
This Gift causes a Garou’s weapon, be it a sword, klaive or axe, to burn with a deadly fire that burns her enemy even as it bites into their flesh. A firebird spirit teaches this Gift.

Talons of Falcon:
Falcon’s talons are sharp, allowing him to grasp and impale his prey, before it even realizes that he has swooped. He grants these same talons to the most worthy of his children, so that they may impale their foes upon their claws. This Gift turns a werewolf’s claws into wickedly sharp impaling weapons, able to slice through skin and muscle and deep into the entrails of the Fang’s foe. A falcon spirit of the Great Flock imparts the secret of this Gift.

Wrath of Gaia:
The Garou shows himself in full, terrible, glory as Gaia’s chosen warrior. His splendor overwhelms minions of the Wyrm, driving them before him in terror unless they can master their instinctive fear of this predator. An avatar of Gaia herself teaches this Gift.

Silver Claws:
The Ahroun can establish her battlefield primacy against other werebeasts by transforming her own claws into silver. A Lune teaches this Gift.

Rank 4:

Crescent Moon Fata:
This Gift allows a Garou to perceive the very threads of fate and destiny that direct the world. By studying a person or object, she can learn a little about its past, or its possible future. To learn this Gift, the werewolf must find a spider or firefly Jaggling of Moria, one of Luna’s Incarna, and challenge it to a contest of gamecraft. Should the Garou win, the Jaggling opens her eye to the play of fate upon the world. Thus, she makes the spiritual awareness of the Crescent Moon part of herself.

Gibbous Moon’s Understanding:
The greatest of the Silver Fangs’ Galliards have sometimes also been some of the tribe’s most successful battlefield leaders. This Gift can take some of the credit for this. It allows the werewolf to howl out general or specific instructions to her allies, and have them heard and understood even over the noise of battle, thus showing everyone the Gibbous Moon’s wisdom. To learn this Gift, the werewolf must persuade three different Lunes to spend a whole night in the character’s company. Just before dawn, one of them will teach the Gift.

Leshii’s Boon:
This Gift allows the Fang to turn the very plants and trees of the forest against her enemies. Tree branches lash against them and roots trip them up, animals n** at their heels and insects swarm around them. A leshii spirit teaches this Gift.

Ignore Death Blow / Sidestep Death:
Old legends say that when the first Silver Fang died, he was reborn with this Gift. A Fang with this Gift simply sidesteps what would have become his deathblow. A lion-spirit teaches this Gift.

Mindblock:
Upon learning this Gift, the Garou’s mental defenses are strengthened to the utmost. A falcon-spirit teaches this Gift.

Mastery:
With the power of this Gift, the Fang can command other Garou, including Black Spiral Dancers, to do her bidding. A falcon-spirit teaches this Gift.

Rank 5:

New Moon Legerdemain:
This Gift allows the werewolf to summon and command a group of small trickster spirits. This last step in the Cycle brings the werewolf to an understanding of Luna’s need for the tricksters and the madness that she welcomes. The spirits, once summoned, dance around the Garou in the Penumbra, protecting her from harm but disturbing and unsettling all those around her. They play tricks on everyone in the vicinity; harmless and amusing ones on the werewolf’s allies and destructive ones on her enemies. An avatar of Luna herself teaches this Gift, which puts the Garou in her debt — and service — forever. To learn the Gift, the Garou must undertake a great quest in Luna’s name, one that may take several game sessions to play out. Once the werewolf succeeds, Luna gifts her loyal subject an understanding of the true nature of madness. Thus, the werewolf makes the New Moon’s twisted wisdom part of herself.

Full Moon’s Wrath:
Sometimes Luna’s wrath waxes so great that her enemies fall before her chosen like corn before a scythe. This Gift allows a hard-pressed werewolf to summon war-spirits to her aid, striking at her enemies and giving her respite. Their power teaches the werewolf and her allies, not to mention her enemies, the wisdom and strength of the Full Moon. The werewolf must find and defeat nine of Falcon’s brood of Jagglings in succession on a night of the full moon to learn this Gift. At the end of the night, an Avatar of Luna appears and binds the defeated spirits to the Fang’s service ever more. However, she demands that the Garou be at her disposal on nights of the full moon in exchange.

The Secret of Gaia:
Some Silver Fang legends tell of a Great White Wolf who gave his own life to save Mother Gaia. He was the ancestor of the Silver Fangs, and of all the werewolves. Those werewolves who rise to the highest rank amongst the tribe sometimes learn the secret that Gaia imparted to the Great White Wolf after his sacrifice, one that deepens their connection to Her and allows them to be completely aware of their surroundings.

Everything about her environment suddenly becomes part of the werewolf’s awareness. She can sense the lay of the land, the type and nature of the plants growing on it and what forms of animal life live there. She can sense what spirits are at work in the area’s Penumbra. The werewolf also gains some sense of the health of Gaia in that area. In an urban area, she might feel constricted or restrained, while in an area under attack by the Wyrm, she might feel itchy or in pain, depending on how successful the Wyrm minions are.

Any Silver Fang of sufficient rank may learn this Gift, but the majority of those who learn it are Theurges. For some reason, members of House Wise Heart receive this Gift more frequently than to those of any other House. It is technically possible for a Garou of another tribe to learn this Gift, but it has not happened in living memory, and no song records such an event occurring. Those werewolves who do learn this Gift are often changed as a result. Many choose to walk barefoot on the earth whenever they can, and show a greater than usual aversion to cities. None of them can actually articulate what the secret is, saying that it is either something you understand, or you don’t.

Paws of the Newborn Cub:
With a glare and snarl, the Silver Fang strips her foe of any supernatural power. Many servants of the Wrym have tried to employ their putrescent magic against the Fangs, only to realize that they face a mighty foe with only mundane methods of defense. A falcon-spirit teaches this Gift.

Luna’s Avenger:
The Garou’s entire body, regardless of her current form, is changed to living silver. She becomes a nearly unstoppable warrior. A Lune teaches this Gift.

Rank 6:

Renew the Cycle:
One of the most potent powers available to the Garou, this Gift allows the correction of a grievous wrong to the natural cycle of Gaia. The undead, whose very existence is an affront to the natural order of things, wither and crumble to dust when struck by the power of this Gift. Whether the undead is a shambling, month-old animated corpse or an ancient vampire, the Fang can destroy it with but a glance.

Only an avatar of Helios of Gaia Herself can teach this Gift.

Uktena: Originally Native American, the Uktena have taken in every minority that has come to the Americas. The Uktena delve into dark secrets, from vampires to ghosts to things that go bump in the night. These dark mystics are often feared by other Garou who think they walk too close to the Wyrm.

Gifts of the Utkena:

Rank 1:

Spirit of the Lizard:
The werewolf’s hands and feet spout hundreds of tiny hooks, allowing her to climb across or cling to any surface — even sheer horizontal surfaces and ceilings. A gecko-spirit teaches this Gift.

Pull Water:
Using a forked stick or a smooth stone, a Garou can locate water hidden underground or within a succulent plant and pull it to the surface to be used. This Gift may tap into underground wells, water locked within loamy ground, moisture held within cacti or deep streams far beneath the desert floor. Some Uktena have used this Gift to help their Kinfolk in desert nations irrigate their fields, while others have kept a pack from dying of thirst when crossing badlands and open desert. Spirit servants of Uktena teach this Gift.

Moonstruck Path:
Garou are well versed in hunting and tracking prey, yet there are times when they have no idea where such a trail starts or which journey to undertake first when a choice presents itself. The Gift of the Moonstruck Path allows the Garou to perceive the beginning of the path he must take in a given situation, even if she herself is not sure of its ultimate purpose. When the Gift is utilized, a ghostly pale blue-white beam of moonlight points to the correct direction for one scene. Sometimes, as when the Garou doesn’t know why she needs to move in a certain direction or what to do once she reaches her destination, it becomes a leap of faith, with the werewolf starting on an unknown path and only later discovering why. This Gift is taught by one of Uktena’s spirit brood.

Fast Track:
This Gift strengthens the Garou’s stamina and allows her to travel much more quickly than would normally be possible. Using the Gift allows the Garou to determine the path of least resistance, so she can move from one place to another with great speed and less interference. While not a replacement for a Moon Bridge, Fast Track lets the Garou continue traveling long past the time she would normally become exhausted. She can effectively make a forced march that covers three times the distance she would normally cover in the same amount of time and arrive no more tired than usual. This Gift is taught by a bear-spirit.

Strut:
This Gift, taught by a crane- or turkey-spirit, allows a Garou to appear physically grander and more impressive than he truly is.

Shroud:
The Garou can create a field of inky blackness through which only she can see. A night-spirit teaches this Gift.

Sense Magic:
The Uktena can discern magical energies, whether they emanate from Garou Gifts, vampiric wizardry or even human magic. A spirit servant of Uktena teaches this Gift.

Falcon’s Grasp / Implacable Grip:
A leader must keep a tight grip on his power, and this Gift allows the Garou to do so literally. The Garou’s hands or jaws tighten in a mighty death-grip, making it nearly impossible to escape. A falcon-spirit teaches this Gift.

Spirit Speech:
This Gift allows the Garou to communicate with encountered spirits. The Garou is thus able to address them whether they wish to be adddressed or not. Of course, nothing (usually) prevents the spirit from ignoring the Theurge or leaving. Any spirit can teach this Gift.

Sense Wyrm:
The werewolf can sense manifestations of the Wyrm in the nearby area. This Gift involves a mystical sense, not a visual or olfactory image, although werewolves using the Gift sometimes say things like, “This place stinks of the Wyrm” (with a few more colorful adjectives). Garou should remember that the Wyrm’s taint can cling to relatively blameless souls. Werewolves may sense an innocent person who happens to work in a Wyrm-controlled factory or who has eated tainted food. This power requires active concentration. Any spirit of Gaia may teach this Gift.

Rank 2:

Shadows at Dawn:
Sometimes, one must give information to get information. However, Uktena are notoriously tightfisted with secrets. With this Gift, the werewolf can share a bit of knowledge that later vanishes from the subject’s memory. An ancestor-spirit teaches this Gift.

Sight of Hidden Places:
As the Uktena seek all things hidden, they may be gifted with the ability to find and see within unseen hollows such as caves, hollow trees, underwater caverns and hidden spaces. Objects and beings within the hidden area are seen as though lit by normal daylight and may even be examined utilizing other Gifts such as Sense Wyrm. Spirits of burrowing animals teach this Gift.

Fetish Fetch:
The Uktena need not carry her fetishes with her at all. She may draw them from a hidden cache whenever she needs them, no matter the distance. A packrat-spirit teaches this Gift.

Medicine Dreams:
When the humans began hunting animals, the animals retaliated by sending disease amongst the humans to kill them. Once they saw that their diseases killed good people as well as bad, they relented and herb-spirits came to medicine men in dreams to tell them how to heal the sick. Wise Uktena still know that medicine comes from these spirits in dreams, and this Gift allows them to call forth the herbs for wisdom. It is taught by the spirit of an aloe plant.

Call Forth the Wyld:
Using this Gift, a Garou can summon the Wyld in its raw essence to disrupt the manifestations of the Weaver. This energy must be concentrated to interfere with the working of machinery or technological items to be effective. Unlike the Homid Gift of Jam Technology, Call Forth the Wyld permanently disrupts the devices it affects. Barring costly repairs and replacement of fizzled parts, the item will never work properly again. Not that the items cease to function; they just work in an odd and unforeseen manner. Rather than merely creating a glitch, this Gift actually disrupts the Weaver energy by overpowering it with the chaos of the Wyld. Devices may function in reverse of normal (clocks run backward, cars only drive in reverse, computers print out information upside down) or may function in some totally random manner (guns explode when used; missiles reprogram themselves to hit a random target after initiating their own countdown and firing sequence; cars only function underwater). Creative anarchy should reign. Obviously, this Gift can be highly dangerous.

Umbral Compass:
This Gift helps Garou cross the Gauntlet and traverse the Umbra more easily. Once in the Umbra, the Gift helps the Garou orient herself so she has less chance of becoming lost or confused as to where she is. Further, it seems to urge the Garou toward a direction she needs to travel. Thus, if something terrible is happening in the Umbra, use of this Gift will point the Garou right toward it. This could be a good thing or very inconvenient and potentially deadly, depending on the Garou’s point of view and her ability to talk or fight her way out of difficult situations. This Gift is taught by any bird-spirit.

Uktena’s Freezing Stare:
The Uktena can use this Gift to mesmerize an opponent by making direct eye contact. If the Gift is successful, the target freezes dead in his tracks. A spirit of Uktena teaches the Gift.

Indian Giver:
Sometimes, one must give information to get information. Perhaps an explanation is necessary to get the curious to go away. However, Uktena are notoriously tightfisted with secrets. With this Gift, the Uktena can share a bit of knowledge that later vanishes from the subject’s memory. An ancestor-spirit teaches this Gift. Both Raiders and Pathdancers commonly learn this Gift, through it can be found throughout the tribe.

Coils of the Serpent:
Using this Gift, an Uktena can call forth dark tentacles of mist or fog that wrap around enemies and hold them in a viselike grip. Each coil is four feet long and possesses the same Physical characteristics as the werewolf who summons the coils. Any snake-spirit can teach this Gift.

Reveal the Hidden:
This Gift allows an Uktena to find non-supernatural items that may be eluding his search. This is a perfect tool to locate hidden passageways, concealed tomes of lore or a normal foe that may be successfully hiding from the werewolves. A Crow spirit teaches the Gift. Scouts (and their darker campmates, the Raiders) consider this Gift practically a requisite.

Another’s Moccasins:
The human cultures of Uktena Kinfolk are too-frequently ignored or derided by the mainstream; their wolf Kin are persecuted as a matter of course. This Gift opens the eyes of the ignorant to life on the other side, showing them a new and (for a while, at least) fascinating perspective. By speaking briefly with the subject about the culture of species in question, the Garou can instill curiosity or appreciation for the culture — or if particularly successful, an obsession with learning about and aiding the Kinfolk’s people. The Earth Guides in particular use this Gift to nudge adversaries (usually in government or the media) into the role of allies. An ancestor-spirit teaches this Gift.

Overlook:
It can be quite useful to be ignored at times. You can overhear what was not meant for your ears, or see armed guards look right past you. As long as the Uktena keeps a low profile, a supervisor will assume he’s just another tech, or the cowboys will see only “some tame Injun asleep by the hitchin’ post.” Some Ragabash call this the “Tonto goes to town” Gift; members of the Scouts also favor it. A cuckoo-spirit teaches this Gift.

Blending / Natural Camouflage:
Intruder legends tell of the uncanny ability of native peoples to hide in plain sight, even only yards away. This Gift allows the user to blend into the landscape simply by crouching and keeping still. It isn’t invisibility; rather, the Garou draws the landscape into himself to appear to the unwary as a natural part of the terrain. This Gift is especially common among caern guardians. Any stealthy spirit, such as chameleon, teaches this Gift.

Spirit of the Fish:
The werewolf blessed with this Gift can breathe underwater and swim as fast as he can run in Hispo form. Unsurprisingly, a fish-spirit teaches this Gift.

Spirit of the Bird / Dark Aerie:
Few enemies would expect a werewolf to attack from above, which is precisely why the Uktena developed the means to do so. The Garou may hover, fly or float. Any bird spirit can teach this Gift.

Rank 3:

Uktena’s Passage:
This Gift allows the Garou to calm or agitate water, whether in the form of a river, stream or lake. She may calm rapids or endow a placid lake with waves to help speed along a canoe or wash a swimmer to shore. The power to shorten a trip or thwart enemy craft is yet another advantage of this Gift. The spirits of the river trout and salmon teach this Gift.

Rending the Craft:
The werewolf’s claws burn with mystic force, rending apart the delicate workings of magic. An ancestor-spirit teaches this Gift.

Chains of Mist:
Silvery filaments spin out from the Garou’s claws, becoming streamers of mist that enwrap and confound nearby spirits, sapping their strength. A fog-spirit teaches this Gift.

Strength of the Guardian:
This Gift provides Bane Tenders with extra power when attempting to bind or destroy a Bane (or other troublesome spirit) or keep it locked within its bindings. This is usually used against a Bane that the Garou is responsible for overseeing. Occasionally, another Bane Tender will be overcome, and the Garou must use this to regain control of the newly loosed Bane. Even more rare are those instances when the Garou is asked to locate and bind a particular Bane. This Gift is never used simply to overcome a Bane met by chance. It is too costly. The power gained lasts for the duration of the battle or scene. The Gift is taught by a wolf-spirit.

Ancestral Recall:
By accustoming themselves to a particular area or tribal group, the Earth Guides can “recall” pertinent information about tribal practices or traditions that may have been lost over time. This might uncover hidden lore of the tribe or simply reveal everyday information not generally known by outsiders. The Gift is taught by an Uktena ancestor-spirit. Garou using this Gift need not have Background: Ancestors.

Sing Down the Rain:
This Gift is used to bring rain from the heavens, either to nourish crops and cleanse the land, or to cause damage through mudslides and flooding. This Gift is common among Ghost Dancers. A frog-spirit teaches the Gift.

Death Trance:
Sometimes, death is the only way out. But that doesn’t mean you want to stay that way. With this Gift, the Uktena may appear dead, following the expected progression (lividity, rigor, etc.) well enough to fool a forensics team. While “dead,” the Uktena is in a muted state, unable to move; his senses are still active but dulled and dreamlike. The danger is reviving, as the effort required to return to the living increases with time, and eventually the character is no longer feigning. An opossum-spirit teaches this Gift.

Secrets:
Uktena are said to possess more hidden knowledge than any other tribe. This Gift may be one reason it is so. With Secrets, an Uktena can have one specific question answered simply by touching somebody who knows the answer. The answer to any question — such as “Where is the vampire’s lair?” — leaps into the Garou’s mind if, in fact, the target knows the answer in the first place. A dream-spirit can teach this Gift after being caught.

Scrying:
By staring into a mirror or other reflective surface, the Uktena can witness distant events or spy on rivals. She can follow a comrade’s progress into a dangerous ambush or sneak a peek into the Tremere chantry house. Other supernaturals, especially ones with similar abilities, may have defenses against this Gift, which is taught by a fly-spirit.

Umbral Sight:
Although all Garou can Peek from the Penumbra into the Realm, the Theurge is capable of shifting his sight into the Penumbra from the physical world. This Gift is taught by an owl-spirit.

Invisibility:
The Garou can vanish from sight. When this Gift is in use, the Garou must concentrate on staying invisible. He cannot move faster than half normal walking speed, and he cannot draw attention to himself. A spirit servant of Uktena teaches this Gift.

Banish Totem:
By speaking words of forbiddance, the Uktena can bar pack or personal totems from giving their children aid. Doing so also disrupts the spiritual rapport between packmates, making it difficult for them to execute pack tactics or act in concert. An ancestor-spirit teaches this Gift.

Wisdom of the Ancient Ways:
All werewolves have an innate connection to their ancestors, a form of racial unconscious accessible through intense meditation. The Philodox can tap into these deep memories to remember ancient facts and lore. An ancestor-spirit teaches this Gift.

Rank 4:

Durance:
The werewolf dominates a talent-bound spirit, spinning webs of metaphysical authority to forcibly lengthen its service to her. Some consider this Gift disrespectful, but the Shadow Lords find it ridiculous to discard a weapon that might serve Gaia, just for the sake of politeness. This Gift is taught by a spider-spirit.

Curse of Corruption:
This Gift allows a Bane Tender to take part of the taint from the Bane he is guarding and infuse the one cursed with it. This takes the form of some physical loss or mental instability that makes functioning much more difficult; it may wither limbs, inflict the target with a permanent nausea, make her bones brittle and likely to shatter or cause paralysis. It can also cause unstable personality quirks (foolish risk-taking, being insulting to those of greater rank, refusing to obey orders or cooperate with one’s pack, complete unreasoning cowardice) or reduce the target to idiocy. Effects last for one full lunar cycle (i.e., one month) from the time the curse is inflicted. This Gift is taught by an Incarna avatar.

Bare the Heart:
This Gift utilizes the Uktena’s noted penchant for delving into the deepest secrets. The Earth Guides use this Gift to examine Bane Tenders for signs of Wyrm-taint. Using the clear sight granted him by this Gift, an Uktena can look beyond outward manifestations, internal manipulations and even magical disguises that might mask Wyrm-taint, corruption or evil intent and pierce straight to the heart of the truth. Thus, the Garou might note that an otherwise normal-looking person is really a fomor or a Black Spiral Dancer by use of this Gift. Garou using the Gift could also determine that someone is disguised (via cosmetic means or magical change), but only if that person has evil intent (i.e., intends to commit some evil — as defined by the Garou’s concept of evil — while so disguised. Thus, if a bank-robbery was in the offing, the Garou might not see through the mask unless he cares about that bank, but he would unmask someone intending to clear-cut a virgin forest.) This Gift is taught by an Incarna avatar.

Guardian’s Fortitude:
In desperate times the Uktena must call upon their endurance reserves to be vigilant, whether it is a Theurge locked in a multi-day rite, a Bane-Tender waiting vainly for reinforcements, or a lone warrior holding a mountain pass with no hope of retreat. This Gift gives them the strength to stave off the needs of the body in order to focus on the daunting task at hand. Those needs are not erased but merely deferred, however, so this ancestor-spirit-taught Gift is used only at great need. Many Bane-Tenders learn this Gift.

Spirit’s Horse:
A potent Gift, Spirit’s Horse allows an Uktena to turn his body into a temporary home for an ancestor-spirit or other important creature from the time of legends. The Gift provides more than the memories and abilities associated with the Ancestors Background because for a brief time, the Uktena actually becomes the spirit who inhabits his body. The intent of the Gift is to honor an ancestor by allowing her to physically take part in a ceremony or moot, meet her descendents and share in the joys of the physical world. The Rite of Invitation to the Ancestors is often used in conjunction with this Gift, and these events almost never take place outside a tribal moot or council. An ancestor-spirit teaches the Gift.

Sideways Attack:
The Uktena, ever delving into spirit matters, have learned the secrets of attacking Banes in the spirit world without ever leaving the physical realm. The Uktena’s arms seem to blur and vanish as she strikes into the Penumbra. This Gift is taught by a spirit servant of Uktena.

Pointing the Bone:
The Garou can inflict ranged damage by simply pointing a bone at an opponent. After gathering the bone from some corpse herself, the Uktena can change it into a devastating weapon. A vulture-spirit can teach this Gift in exchange for a few scraps.

Hand of the Earth Lords:
By drawing on the land’s energies, the Uktena can move any one object weighing up to 1000 pounds telekinetically. An air elemental and an earth elemental must teach this Gift in concert.

Call Elemental:
The Garou is able to call one of the four classic elementals to his aid (earth, air, fire or water). An elemental teaches this Gift.

Attunement / Lay of the Land:
The Garou may commune with the spirits of a city or town and gain information about the area from them, including rough population, enclaves of Garou or other being and secret tunnels. This Gift does not function in the wilderness, since the Bone Gnawers have lost the knack for conversing with such spirits easily. Any animal spirit teaches this Gift. Works in rural or wilderness rather than urban areas.

Rank 5:

Uktena’s Glare:
Just as the anger within Great Uktena burns those who dare to face him, so can the follower of Uktena sear foes with his own Rage. To one who is worthy, Uktena may teach this Gift.

Fetish Doll:
Sympathetic magic is the oldest form of sorcery, and it is still effective. Although many cultures find this sort of magic repellent, the Uktena believe that the ends well justify the means. The Garou can harm his victim from afar using a specially created doll. He must have a piece of his victim or an object belonging to him, and he must then construct the doll. An ancestor-spirit teaches this Gift.

Fabric of the Mind:
The highest-ranked Galliards can bring the products of their imagination to very solid live, crafting creatures from the spiritual essence of dreams. Chimerlings teach this Gift.

Rank 6:

Becoming Uktena:
The legends of the Cherokee say that a man was transformed into the Great Uktena to try to kill the sun. Great Uktena was around long before the Cherokee, but Garou have taken the form of his children on two or three occasions. Great Uktena teaches this Gift only to the most worthy of his Uktena followers; with it, the hero may transform into a creature even a Thunderwyrm would fear. After the crisis is resolved (assuming he lives), the new uktena slips into the nearest body of water and into the umbra, forever parting with his Garou brethren to join his father in Galunlati. Such a glorious end to an already legendary career is worthy of fireside retellings for generations.

Black Spiral Dancers: BSD are known as the Lost Tribe, the dreaded Black Spiral Dancers are the Garou who turned to the Wyrm.

Gifts of the Black Spiral Dancers:

Rank 1:

Bale Aura:
Twisted from the grandeur of Lambent Flame, a Dancer can shroud herself in the green light of balefire. The light causes no physical damage, but shadows cast by the light seem to move of their own accord and the whispers of the Wyrm crackle within the green flames, stoking the Rage within the Garou. Furmlings and Harpies teach this Gift.

Repress Taint:
In order to infiltrate the Gaian Garou, a Black Spiral must be able to hide the touch of the Wyrm. This Gift allows him to repress his taint, hiding it from the prying eyes of the suspicious. The werewolf must still take care, however, as more talented Garou might sniff him out. Scryers teach this Gift.

Spiral-Shadow Dance:
The Black Spiral Dancer learns to twine herself through the darkness, becoming swift as a scream. A variety of Banes teach this Gift.

Bale Armor:
The Black Spiral Dancer’s body is limned in a terrible green-black radiance that saps the strength from her enemies’ blows and inflicts toxic burns upon their flesh. A Furmling teaches this Gift.

Acid Talons:
The Black Spiral Dancer’s claws become a vibrant mixture of black, red, and yellow, and burn anything they cut. A Wakashaani teaches this Gift.

Bestowing the Predator’s Shadow:
It would be fair to say that Black Spiral Dancers have even less tolerance for being tricked or mocked than other werewolves. This valuable Gift helps Dancer Ragabash survive the fallout of their Auspice’s duties by passing their identity onto someone else. Phantasmi teach this Gift.

Ways of the Urban Wolf:
The Black Spiral Dancers are free to indulge in those natural urges that Gaia bids her defenders to restrain: to hunt man through the streets of the cities, to revel in his fear-stench, to drink his blood and eat his flesh. This Gift, taught by Wyrm elementals, makes the Dancer a master of such urban hunts.

Bleed:
The metis can leak phantasmal blood, manifesting false injuries if she is unwounded, or producing enormous quantities of blood from minor wounds. Many Spirals use this Gift to ‘play dead’ when a battle is going poorly, or to frame innocents for vicious attacks. A Crimson Pestilent teaches this Gift.

Aura of Poison:
The Black Spiral Dancer surrounds herself in a toxic miasma strong enough to cause even a human’s dull sense of smell to pick up the reek of a lethal stew of mercury, sulfuric acid, formaldehyde, and countless other chemicals. The message is clear: the Dancer is death, and should not be trifled with. A Halassh teaches this Gift.

Resist Pain:
Through force of will, the Philodox is able to ignore the pain of his wounds and continue acting normally. A bear-spirit teaches this Gift.

Shroud / Cloud of Night:
The Garou can create a field of inky blackness through which only she can see. A night-spirit teaches this Gift.

Resist Toxin:
Learns a preternatural resistance to poisons and toxins of all kinds, doubtless due to their diet of refuse and American beer. A trash-spirit teaches this Gift.


Smell Fear:
A Philodox employing this Gift can tell if anyone nearby is threatened by her, as well as the degree of her victim’s fear.

In any area of the Shattered Labyrinth, and initiate can experience the many subtle flavors and variations of fear. If Spirits serving Hakaken and Sykora also know this Gift intimately… and teach it that way.

Bane Protector:
The Black Spiral can summon Banes to aid her. Before these servitors can act, the Black Spiral must convince them of her intent. Her actions must be in the best interest of the Wyrm. The servitors can fight for her, but will not allow themselves to be bound or destroyed. The spirits will also try to arrange a bargain, agreeing to help the summoner if she performs a service (or sacrifice) for them afterward.

This Gift is taught in the first circle of the Spiral Labyrinth. The dancer may find a way to deceive the Banes that torment her, convincing them to aid her instead. Alternatively, a Black Spiral who performs an especially difficult task for a Bane-totem might receive this knowledge in return.

Toxic Claws:
The Dancer can cause toxic waste to ooze from her claws, coating them with an unhealthy greenish-gray slime. Wounds left by these claws tend to leave unhealthy-looking scars.

Sense Wyrm:
The werewolf can sense manifestations of the Wyrm in the nearby area. This Gift involves a mystical sense, not a visual or olfactory image, although werewolves using the Gift sometimes say things like, “This place stinks of the Wyrm” (with a few more colorful adjectives). Garou should remember that the Wyrm’s taint can cling to relatively blameless souls. Werewolves may sense an innocent person who happens to work in a Wyrm-controlled factory or who has eated tainted food. This power requires active concentration. Any spirit of Gaia may teach this Gift.

Rathead:
The Dancer can squeeze her body through any opening no smaller than a quarter in diameter. This Gift looks very disturbing to the unsuspecting onlookers. Corrupted rat-spirits teach this Gift.

Rank 2:
Submit:
Stolen from the Black Furies, with a snarl, a Black Spiral Dancer can force a target to kneel before him, agony coursing through her body until she submits. Spirals with this gift delight in forcing a proud Garou to the ground just to kill her while she’s on her knees. Raptors teach this Gift.

Hidden Killer:
The werewolf can also choose to alter the evidence to match another Garou so long as she has a piece of the target, such as hair or blood. Abliphets teach this Gift.

Grave Claws:
The werewolf’s claws and fangs become obsidian daggers, capable of tearing the soul loose from Gaia’s cycle and pinning it to the Dark Umbra. Any creature slain by this Gift is guaranteed to leave behind a ghost, which is anchored by dark magic to its killer. Outside of risky Umbral quests, only killing the Black Spiral Dancer who used this Gift can return a victim’s soul to Gaia. A Nihilach teaches this Gift.

Tar Shadow:
The Ahroun’s shadow becomes solid and sticky, trapping unwary foes and making them easy prey. A H’ruggling teaches this Gift.

Shadows of the Impergium:
The Red Talon becomes the embodiment of all of humanity’s primal fears of the wolf, carrying a heavy miasma of ancient terror about her. A fear-spirit teaches this Gift.

Howl of the Hunter:
Setting a particular quarry in her mind, the Black Spiral Dancer crafts a howl specifically designed to elicit terror in her prey. If her victim can hear the howl, it strikes terror into his heart, haunting him whenever he tries to find rest. A Nocturna teaches this Gift.

Poisoned Gauntlet:
The Black Spiral Dancer can breathe spiritual toxins into the wall between worlds, turning the Gauntlet into a deadly trap. A Rust Spider teaches this Gift.

Power Surge:
By speaking with electricity spirits, the Garou causes a blackout over a widespread area. An electricity elemental teaches this Gift.

Howl of the Banshee:
The werewolf emits a fearful howl that causes those who hear it to run in terror. A Banshee — a mournful spirit of the dead — teaches this Gift.

Burrow:
Those who learn this Gift gain the ability to burrow through the earth. They make a real tunnel, and others can follow them through it. The digger creates a burrow just large enough for her to go through. Others may follow, but they are limited by the size of the hole. The werewolf must be in Crinos, Hispo or Lupus form to use this Gift as she needs her claws for digging (although even metis without claws can use this Gift). The tunnel is not structurally sound, and it will collapse over time. Mole kindly teaches this Gift to all metis who seek him.

Horns of the Impaler:
This talent endows the Black Spiral with a pair of spiraling, chitinous black-and-green horns. Usually, they’re worn as antlers, although some Dancers have learned to protrude them from other parts of their bodies.
This Gift is usually taught by a Dratossi. A Bane inside a physiologically freakish fomor might also bless an ally with this talent.

A Thousand Voices:
The Black Spiral Philodox can distort the sound of his own footsteps, creating a series of illusory noises. Instead of one werewolf, enemies will hear an entire pack. Howls, shadowy apparitions, footfalls and even illusory scents are all possible.
During the Dance of Rage, a dancer may learn this Gift as his anger multiplies many times over. Kirijama’s servants also offer mastery of this talent.

Wyrm Hide:
The Black Spiral hardens his skin into a leathery hide, covering himself with pustulent, discolored flesh. If he’s actually wounded, the skin around the wound takes on a bluish tinge.

The second circle of the labyrinth requires a Dance of Rage. Sometimes the initiate is wounded repeatedly until he is forced into an unrelenting fury. If he survives, he may then discover how to harden his spirit against such assaults, developing his Wyrm Hide in the process. This Gift may also be taught by a Dratossi.

Sprint in Shadow:
The Black Spiral Dancers live beneath the surface of the Earth, down in the chthonic darkness and close to the inhuman gibbering monsters that they worship as incarnations of their god. A Garou’s long run is difficult through the tunnels, as it depends on having plenty of room to run in straight lines and periodic sustenance. The Black Spirals turned in their earliest days to the spirits that cavort in the wake of Thunderwyrms, hoping that such spirits could teach them magics to increase their speed when traveling under the earth.

Plague Child:
The favored children of the Plague Rats (Apocalypse, p. 90) may choose to learn this Gift to represent their fallen totem’s favor. The fallen werewolf who knows this Gift finds that ordinary diseases just can’t take hold in his system. He does act as a carrier, though, and can inadvertently (or deliberately) infect passersby with a cough or sneeze. Plague Child does not especially protect against supernatural plagues.

Wyrm Hide:
A Dancer may use this Gift to transform her skin into a lumpy, leather, odious sickly hide that grants her additional protection from harm. Once the Wyrm Hide wears off, it slides oozing and bubbling off the Black Spiral Dancer, leaving a congealing, smelly mess where she stood.

Terrify:
The Dancer with this Gift is more intimidating and terrifying than normal. A sneer from her is as effective as a full-throated grown from another.

Patagia:
The Dancer can extrude large flaps of skin under her arms, resembling a flying squirrel’s membranes. When not in use, the flaps usually shrink into the Dancer’s arms and sides, where they are not detectable.

Ears of the Bat:
This Gift allows the Black Spiral Dancer to use sonar like a bat. He may act in complete darkness without impairment. Black Spiral Dancers with this Gift have large, bat-like ears. Even in Homid form, they have abnormally large ears. Corrupted bat-spirits teach this Gift.


Rank 3:

Gift of the Tainted Totem:
A twisted version of an Uktena Gift, a Dancer can not only bar a pack totem from aiding its children, she can temporarily replace the totem with her own pack or personal totem. The horror of having a Wyrm spirit binding a Gaian pack, even temporarily, is disorienting, and the taint left behind might be difficult to explain. Nexus Crawlers teach this Gift.

Ichor Blade:
The Spiral’s arm changes into a black blade dripping with dark green poison. The ichor poisons the blood of anyone injured by the blade, causing crippling agony. Harpies and Wakshaani teach this Gift.

Claws of Corrosion:
One of the greatest Black Spiral Gifts, this wicked magic allows the werewolf to poison a spirit with mystical toxins that slowly corrupt it into a servant of the Wyrm. A variety of Banes teach this Gift.

Feast of Essence:
The Black Spiral Dancer’s claws are covered with barbed hooks, which catch and absorb the tattered power of slain spirits, refreshing the werewolf. A Thinbones teaches this Gift.

Thousand Teeth:
Sharp teeth are the hallmarks of the ultimate predator, and the ways of the Wyrm’s wolves celebrate nothing if not excess. The muzzle of a werewolf using this Gift erupts with dozens of extra teeth. Black Spiral Dancers learn this Gift from Scrags, while Gaian Garou occasionally learn it from shark-spirits.

Visceral Agony:
The werewolf’s claws change to barbed, wicked talons dripping with black venom. While wounds caused by these claws cause no extra damage, the pain alone they inflict is crippling. A pain-spirit teaches this Gift.

Nobody’s b*****d:
Nobody wants to recognize a metis, and with this Gift, nobody will. A metis using this Gift is unrecognizable to all who see her. A Bane of abandonment teaches this Gift.

Call the Rust:
By whistling softly through his teeth, the werewolf can summon sudden and destructive rust onto any metal within his immediate vicinity. Guns corrode and jam, knives crumble, and cars become flaking hunks of junk. This Gift is taught by a water elemental.

Icy Chill of Despair:
The Shadow Lord with this Gift can appear to grow larger and more imposing, becoming a terrible, shadowy version of herself. This change in aspect can severely intimidate any onlookers. A Stormcrow teaches this Gift.

Blue Breath:
This Gift enables the Dancer to exhale asbestos fibers in a deadly cloud of dust. This Gift is taught by Shush’thull, the Bane spirit of asbestos.

Allies Below:
Howl, you crazy b*****d! If you let forth a rousing yawp, the spirits of the Earth will answer you. Wyrm creatures far beneath the Earth’s crust will cause minor tremors in the ground above them.
Although the terrible quakes caused by this Gift seem awful, they merely reflect the sort of test the Galliard must endure in the Shattered Labyrinth to learn it. The worst scenario is one in which the labyrinth collapses in on itself.

Blood Omen:
By examining the entrails of a freshly-killed creature, a Black Spiral Theurge can gain insights into a possible future. As expected, the vision is almost always tragic or violent.
A Theurge can receive this Gift during the Dance of Cunning. Sometimes this visionquest involves the dismemberment of the mystic, who watches the violation of her own body. This grants her insights into her true nature by an examination of her own internal organs.

Touch of the Eel:
The Black Spiral Ragabash releases a current of electricity through conductive materials nearby. If he is touched in any way during the use of this talent, the assailant receives an even greater shock.
Only a Ragabash has the patience and deviance to learn this Gift. With the assistance of a servitor of its Bane-totem, the Black Spiral must capture an electricity elemental. In most urban environments, this may take several hours. The dancer then torments, taunts and tortures the spirit until it offers him this Gift. Alternatively, the Ragabash might have to survive a Dance of Endurance involving electricity.

Unseelie Faerie Kin:
The Black Spiral can call upon changelings, just as Fianna do, but his fae allies will be members of the Unseelie Court.
This Gift cannot be learned in the Shattered Labyrinth. However, an Unseelie noble or Shadow Court instigator may offer to teach the proper rituals of this Gift in return for a quest or geas. In some instances, the changeling may also learn to summon the Black Spiral’s pack!

Dagger of the Mind:
The Black Spiral can command a Bane to seed a particularly dark emotion in the mind of his prey. The emotion is chosen when the Gift is learned (e.g., paranoia, despair, remorse, lust; “rage” is not an option, for obvious reasons). The Black Spiral calls upon the proper Urge Wyrm; one of its servitors then evokes the proper emotion from the victim.
Within the Shattered Labyrinth, the Dance of Endurance tests the limits of a dancer’s self-control. If the initiate survives, one of the Urge Wyrms will show him how to inflict similar tortures on his enemies. Curiously enough, Stormcrows have learned this Gift; they guard their knowledge carefully. Theurges often use this rite to weaken their enemies before battle; Philodox use it to give themselves an edge in negotiations.

Landwaster:
This Wyrm Gift allows the fallen tribe to steal life in order to gain Gnosis. Relshab the Faceless Eater (see Book of the Wyrm) teaches this Gift.

Foaming Fury:
The Dancer’s mouth bubbles and foams with a noxious, greenish fluid. His eyes widen and roll in their sockets, showing the whites. The Dancer yips, barks and howls madly (and uncontrollably) as if in the grip of a rabid madness — a contagious one.

Burning Scars:
Black Spiral Dancers often carve stylized scars representing their devotion to the Wyrm into their bodies. With this Gift, a Dancer can draw upon that devotion to inflict horrible injuries on her foes. When invoked, this Gift causes the Dancer’s scars to glow with an unwholesome brilliance that almost seems to crawl into the victim’s body through his eyes, nose, mouth and ears, burning him from the inside out and leaving horrible burns that mimic the Dancer’s own scars.

Rank 4:

Howl of the Bane:
The Dancers have their own fearsome spirits to call, and in a blatant mockery of the Wendigo, a Spiral dances in a Blight or Hellhole, hooting, laughing, and slashing profane glyphs into the air. A bane of the user’s choosing coils from the darkness, taking a description of the target before it leaves on its murderous quest. Any powerful Bane can teach this gift.

Stolen Hide:
The Black Spiral Dancer can don tormented spirits like a cloak, consigning them to oblivion to protect himself. A Nihilach teaches this Gift, but only to those who have already mastered Grave Claws.

Hungry Rust:
The werewolf summons a Bane and invests it into a mechanical device. The Bane awakens when someone next uses the device, spewing corruption throughout. The tool rusts and twists, both degrading and attempting to bond with its user. A gun might fuse to a person’s hand, coating her arm in plates of stamped metal and loops of corroded casings, while a vehicle might partially absorb its driver into the seat and seal his hands to the steering column. A Nexus Crawler teaches this Gift.

Howl of Death:
A Talon blessed with this Gift may infuse her howl with Rage and pain, causing grievous wounds to one target. The werewolf must be able to see her target clearly, and the target must be able to hear the howl. Only the intended target is affected by the Gift, though anyone else who hears it is disquieted and frightened.

Silver Reprisal:
Luna’s servants only rarely extend her blessing to those who have danced the Black Spiral, but some Banes can add their own retributive curse to the Garou’s vulnerability to silver. Rather than protecting the Dancer, as Luna’s Blessing does to Gaian Garou, this Gift causes silver to burn its wielder in the same moment it harms the werewolf. A Furmling teaches this Gift.

Cassandra’s Blessing:
The Wyrm’s tricksters use division and isolation as instructive tools, particularly against their many enemies. The victim of this Gift’s ‘blessing’ will find that nobody will believe anything she has to say, no matter how much evidence she has to back it up. A Nocturnae teaches this Gift.

Feast of Man-Flesh:
The Black Spiral Dancers know of the power locked away in the flesh of men. By eating the uncooked flesh of a human being, the werewolf may temporarily borrow that person’s knowledge and skills. A cannibal spirit teaches this Gift.

Open Wounds:
The Garou may cause the next wound he inflicts to bleed profusely, weakening the target further. A pain spirit teaches this Gift.

Summon Wyrm Elemental:
The Dancer performs a short dance around a piece of a pure element. The dance corrupts the element and summons forth a Wyrm Elemental (Hogling, Furmling, H’ruggling, or Wakshaani). A Wyrm elemental teaches this gift.

Beautiful Lie:
When the Veil is endangered, Gaia protects the minds of the innocent with the Delirium, granting false memories and delusions. Since Black Spirals commit particularly grisly crimes, they can use this Gift to channel the Delirium, producing further misdirection or even summoning false evidence to cover up their activities.
Spirits serving Kirijama and Hakaken are both proficient in this sort of activity. They typically employ subterfuge to deceive those they wish to suborn. If a werewolf recruits enough servants for their scheme, this Gift may be taught in exchange. A Black Spiral with a particularly ingenious Dance of Cunning may also learn this Gift in the Shattered Labyrinth, especially if he exposes (or perpetuates) a particularly brilliant lie.

Doppelganger:
The Garou may take the exact likeness of any other human, wolf or Garou. A chameleon-spirit teaches this Gift.

Crawling Poison:
When the Dancer calls upon this Gift, his fangs turn black with venom, and his breath grows more foul than is normal. The venom kills humans and animals slowly, and, the victim suffers terrible agony as the venom spreads through his body. A Garou’s regeneration will protect her from the pain and eventual death, but only at the cost of her normal rapid healing.

Rank 5:

Cloak of Anthelios:
Sculpted from Halo of the Sun, the character speaks the sacred word of Helios while drawing on his own Wyrm-tainted powers. The character is wreathed in violent red flame that drapes about him as a cloak. A servant of Helios who breaks under torture can teach this Gift, as can fallen Children of Gaia who know the sacred word of Helios. The gift is exceedingly rare, if even acquired as of yet.

Mask Taint:
As the Skin Dancer Gift. Scryers also teach this Gift.
[Skin Dancer Gift]:
A Skin Dancer possessing this Gift may completely camouflage Wyrm-taint from all senses, including Gifts that detect such taint. This Gift is taught by a servant of Minotaur.

The White Howl:
Once the most sacred blessing of the White Howlers, this mighty Gift is still passed down among the ranks of the Black Spiral Dancers as a reminder of the past to their Garou enemies. The sound of the White Howl is sufficient to rend both the workings of the Wyrm, and the hearts of Garou who hear it and realize how much Gaia has lost. It was once taught by an avatar of Lion, but no spirit teaches this Gift in the modern age; it survives entirely through a history of Black Spiral Dancers handing it down from warlord to warlord.

Strength Without Limit:
Wyrmish power suffuses the flesh and bones of the warrior who uses this Gift, exaggerating his power beyond the limits of his body. His muscles bulk up until they tear through his skin, and his flesh peels back from wildly elongated teeth and claws; even his nerves thicken until they pulse like veins.

Madness:
The metis struggles his whole life to find a place, a purpose and a sense of stability in his horrifying existence. With this Gift, he can force others to face their inner demons, including insanity and madness. The nature of the derangement varies among individuals, but it will always be severe, making it impossible for the victim to function normally. Lunes, along with spirits of trickery and madness teach this Gift.

Omen Claws:
The Black Spiral Dancer’s claws become blades of anti-light, the area surrounding them suffused with a false glow as a contrast to their nullity. Anyone struck by these terrible claws suffers visions of the Apocalypse. An avatar of the Maeljin teaches this Gift.

Patience of the Wyrm:
This Gift allows incredibly elaborate acts of sabotage and revenge by allowing the Spiral Dancer to dictate the moment her curses strike her foes. A Black Spiral Dancer must petition a Nexus Crawler to teach this Gift.

Instincts Unbound:
Gaia’s warriors must explain the behavior of their fallen cousins as madness – why else would a wolf seek to despoil the world? the greatest among Black Spiral lupus use this Gift to teach the Garou the folly of their thinking by showing them the joys of unbound freedom. Psychomachia teach this Gift.

Totem Form:
This powerful Gift allows a Black Spiral to take on the appearance — and much of the power — of her pack’s Bane totem. For instance, a Dancer sword to the Dark Fungus might sprout slime molds and toadstools in place of fur, radiating a cloud of halluciongenic spores, while a b*****d of the Green Dragon might swell into a draconian war form the equal of any Mokolé.
This Gift is only taught by the pack’s totem spirit, and only to the Dancer who shows the most promise. Some packmates have been known to horribly maim one another in the process of proving who is worthy to learn this Gift.

Mask Taint:
A Dancer with this Gift can hide his Wyrm-taint from all senses or Gifts that may detect it.

Balefire:
The Dancer can hurl balls of sickly green flame at her enemies. Balefire, as the very lifeblood of the Wyrm, is very dangerous to werewolves. It often inflicts hideous and life-threatening mutations, as well as tainting the victim heavily. It’s impossible to dodge Balefire — it moves with a malicious intelligence. It can only be resisted.

Avatar of the Wyrm:
The Dancer assumes an awful and horrific visage, perhaps even a facet of the Wyrm itself (albeit a small one). The Dancer increases in size, it skin becomes scaly and greenish-gray, and his claws increase in length to jagged, vicious knives dripping with venom. His howl becomes a terrifying roar. Only a Maeljin Incarna, one of the Wyrm’s most powerful avatars, can teach this Gift.

Rank 6:

Prelude to Apocalypse:
As the Gaian Gift As In the Beginning, this version might be learned by a Black Spiral Theurge and summons Wyrm-spirits of all kinds. No Black Spiral Theurge has yet learned this Gift, but it might be taught by a Maeljin Incarna.
The Theurge can tear away aeons of the Weaver’s works for a short while. This Gift rips down the Gauntlet entirely, merging the worlds of flesh and spirit as they were in the days of legend. Moreover, this mended region acts as a shining beacon to Gaian spirits, calling a flood of nature-spirits and other allies to assist the Theurge. An avatar of Gaia Herself teaches this Gift.