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Pack Totems

One of the first and strongest ties that binds a group of werewolves into a pack is the association with a totem spirit. Although the pack members may choose the totem that they feel best represents them, it's really more a case of the totem adopting the pack. Totems often refer to those Garou it chooses as its "children."
Totem spirits are generally Incarnae. They are typically animal spirits, but many packs have mythological beings, elemental forces, or other spirits as totems. When a totem chooses the pack, it sends a Jaggling representative known as a totem avatar to attend the pack. The devotion of the Garou gives the totem and its avatar power, and their actions further the totem's goals. In return, the totem bestows some of its powers upon the pack.
Most totems fall into one of the four following categories: respect, war, wisdom and cunning. The first three are roughly associated with Garou renown; the last is rather less popular among Garou, as the cunning warrior is not always quite so honorable or wise.

Background Costs and Traits
The Totem Background allows characters to "buy" a totem spirit to be affiliated with their pack. Obviously, only one totem can be affiliated with a pack. Unless stated otherwise, all bonuses and penalties apply immediately upon being accepted by the totem.
Traits are given on a per-turn basis, and they are available to one pack member at a time. The pack member with the power designates who can use it the following rum, in effect, handing it off to another packmate. Attribute and Ability bonuses add to the pack member's dice pool for that Trait, even if the member has no dots in the Trait. Ordinarily, renown awards are temporary Renown, and they are given once when the pack is accepted by the totem (unless stated otherwise).
For example, everyone in Falcon's pack gains a point of temporary Renown upon being accepted by Falcon. Every scene, one member of the pack receives three additional dots in her Leadership dice pool for as long as she wishes, until she "gives" it to another packmate. Four Willpower points are available during the story as well, and anyone in the pack can use them until they've been expended.
By spending more experience points, the totem can become more powerful and give the pack greater access to its powers. In addition, pack totems may teach Gifts relating to their affiliation and powers. Unicorn may teach healing Gifts, for instance. The totem may also allow its children to use a particular Gift without teaching it to them properly. An example is Bear, who allows his packs to use the Gift: Mother's Touch without requiring them to learn it themselves.
In addition to the benefits, a totem also has some restric-tions that its children must follow to stay in the totem's favor. These restrictions are called Bans. Garou who don't follow the Ban will be cut off from their pack totem, and they must undertake a Rite of Contrition to get back in its good graces. As such, they lose all benefits of the totem, including extra Traits and access to unlearned Gifts. Packs that violate the totem's wishes repeatedly may find themselves abandoned completely.
Some of the most common totems and their affiliations follow. Several totems are also affiliated with tribes, but members of the tribe don't gain the Traits listed with each totem. Only packs allied with avatars of these totems (who are the ones responsible for channeling the granted powers) gain the bonus.
Tribes benefit from the patronage and wisdom of the tribal totem. It is often the spirit that cubs meet during their Rite of Passage and teaches them their tribal Gifts.


These grand spirits represent virtue and honor, and werewolves look to them when in need of advice in leadership and diplomacy. Some of the greatest Garou leaders have been followers of totems of respect.

Falcon
Background Cost: 5
Like the Silver Fangs he serves, Falcon is a most noble spirit. His keen eyes look deep into the Garou heart, rewarding and inspiring the valorous and honorable. A respected totem, Falcon brings unity to the Fangs and thus to the Garou. Rumors of the Silver Fang's less-than-sterling performance of late has tarnished Falcon's reputation only slightly.
Traits: Packs chosen by Falcon gain three dice to Leader-ship as well as an extra four Willpower points per story. Each pack member also gains two points of Honor Renown.
Ban: To Falcon's children, dishonor is worse than death; they can never allow themselves to lose permanent Honor. If they do, they must either put right the wrong or perform a Rite of Contrition and further atone for their offense by hurling themselves at a powerful minion of the Wyrm. While essentially a suicide run, their blood will wash away the stain on their names.

Grandfather Thunder
Background Cost: 7
Like his Shadow Lord children, Grandfather Thunder is more feared than respected by other Garou. Thunder is patient and subtle, and he seldom sends his own avatar to packs. Instead, he commands one of his Stormcrows to tend them.
Traits: Thunder's packs can call upon five extra Willpower points per story, and they gain three dice to Etiquette. All pack members can also gain two extra Intimidation dice when they invoke Thunder. Many Shadow Lords see little difference between respect and fear. Each pack member also gains one point of Honor Renown. Shadow Lords will follow the pack's activities with keen interest.
Ban: Grandfather Thunder commands his children to give their peers and their rivals no more respect than they deserve.

Pegasus
Background Cost: 4
Like the Black Furies it holds under its wings, Pegasus is chiefly concerned with protecting sacred places. It comes to its packs as a winged horse with tire in its eyes, and it teaches them Gifts associated with travel and air. Because of the rivalry between the Black Furies and the Get of Fenris, Pegasus will never accept a pack with even one Get member.
Traits: The Children of Pegasus can call upon an extra three Willpower points per story, and gain three dice in an Animal Ken dice pool. Each pack member gains two points of Honor Renown. Black Furies are well disposed toward the pack.
Ban: Garou chosen by Pegasus must always aid females of all species, young females in particular.

Stag
Background Cost: 6
Great Stag is an ancient spirit, older than the Fianna who claim him as totem. He is associated with masculinity, virility and the wild raw power of nature. Light and dark are both in Stag. He gave the Garou their affinity with nature, and he teaches responsibility toward humans, but he is also the master of the Wild Hunt. An avatar of Stag occasionally appears to lost Garou, leading them to safety or otherwise aiding them.
Traits: Stag's packs can call upon an extra three Willpower points per story, gain three dice to a Survival dice pool, and one die to Stamina dice pools for long-distance running. Each member gains three points of Honor Renown. Fianna will always be well disposed toward them, and faeries, spirits and changelings honor them as well.
Ban: Children of Stag must always show respect toward prey, including performing a Prayer for the Prey after a successful hunt. Children of Stag must always aid the fae.

Totems of War

These totems are spirits of battle, tactics and Rage. Ancestral warriors or predator spirits are the most common war totems. Naturally, warriors are the chief followers of these totems, although, scouts and even healers (in the case of Bear) ally themselves with these bloodthirsty spirits. While they don't garner the same sort of respect among Garou as other totems, their assistance is invaluable on the battlefield.

Bear
Background Cost: 5
Great Bear is wise in peace and fierce in war. He is renowned as a master of healing and mystical rites. Garou don't favor this totem because of a mistrust for his true children, the Gurahl werebears.
Traits: Bear's children gain three dots of Medicine. Each pack member's Strength increases by one permanently, and each pack member may use the Gift: Mother's Touch once per day. The pack also gains the ability to hibernate for up to three months at a time without food or water.
Garou with this totem are well regarded by werebears as well as pertain animistic peoples. Such is not the case with other Garou, however. All pack members lose five points of temporary Honor Renown if they have that many. Further-more, they must subtract one from any temporary Honor Renown awards they receive. The pack members must work harder to prove that they are honorable.
Ban: Bear asks nothing of his Garou children. Asking for his favor has already cost them much standing among their own people.

Boar
Background Cost: 5
Boar is feared by hunters, and with good reason. He is too angry to pass up a challenge, too fierce to concede a fight and too ornery to die with good grace. Many combative young packs, particularly of the Get of Fenris and Fianna, choose Boar as their totem.
Traits: A hearty scrapper, Boar grants his packs two dots of Brawl; each pack member also receives an additional dot of Stamina.
Ban: Children of Boar must never hunt or eat boars.

Fenris
Background Cost: 5
Over a thousand years ago, the Norse spoke of the raven¬ing Wolf-God Fenris a beast even the other gods feared. He is powerful, bloodthirsty, and he neither gives nor expects quar-ter. The patron of the Get of Fenris is a warrior's totem who disdains weakness and chooses only packs that soak their blades and claws in the blood of foes frequently,
Traits: Fenris' packs gets an additional point in a Physical Attribute (Dexterity, Strength or Stamina, at the individual's choice), even if it increases the rating over 5. Each pack member gains two points of Glory Renown. Get of Fenris respect the followers of their tribal totem a little more than other "outsiders," and they test them often by inviting them on Wild Hunts and battles against powerful enemies.
Ban: Fenris requires that his followers never pass up an opportunity for a worthy fight.

Griffin
Background Cost: 4
Griffin mourns those species lost to extinction, and his rage against humans—so often the killers of entire species — makes him one with his Red Talon children. Always hungry, always hunting, Griffin strikes like lightning and kills without hesitation.
Traits: A swift, watchful hunter, Griffin grants three dice to an Alertness dice pool. In a token of Griffin's avian aspect, each pack member can communicate with birds of prey without resorting to a Gift. Each pack member gains two points of Glory. Red Talons respect the followers of Griffin.
Ban: Griffin's children may not associate with humans. Griffin almost never accepts a homid Garou as his child.

Rat
Background Cost: 5
Silent and quick, Rat is adept at hit-and-run warfare. Rat fights to weaken, cripple and finally overwhelm, but he can be as vicious as any other when cornered.
Traits: Rat's children can call upon five Willpower points per story. Rat teaches how to bite to best advantage, subtracting one from the difficulty of all biting rolls. The pack also subtracts one from the difficulties of all rolls involving stealth or quiet. Bone Gnawers respect Rat's children and will aid them (al-though not at the risk of their own lives). Ratkin will be more tolerant of the pack than of most Garou.
Ban: Rat's children must never kill vermin.

Wendigo
Background Cost: 7
Cloaked in ice, roaring like the wind, eating the hearts of foes — that is Wendigo, cannibal spirit of the frozen north. He teaches the Garou to be as relentless as the storm, harnessing the cold bitterness of their hearts and converting it to a lethal rage.
Traits: Each pack member gains five Rage points per story, regardless of his actual Rage rating. Each pack member also gains two points of Glory Renown. While the Wendigo tribe respects Wendigo's children, they don't trust them easily, for Wendigo is unpredictable.
Ban: Wendigo's children must always aid animistic peoples in need.

Totems of Wisdom

These spirits are the keepers of mystical secrets. Garou who ally with them learn to uncover hidden truths and rare Gifts. More straightforward Garou don't trusted them, but those who seek answers in the unknown find friends among the totems of wisdom.

Chimera
Background Cost: 7
The totem of the Stargazers, Chimera is an enigmatic spirit, mysterious She of Many Faces, who invites one to find the inner wisdom beneath layers of puzzles and deceptions.
Traits: Chimera's children are granted the ability to dis-guise themselves or something else when in the Umbra (Gnosis roll, difficulty 7). Chimera also teaches how to find the truth behind a tangle of deceptions; the pack gains three dice to Enigmas and one to Perception. Each pack member subtracts two from all difficulties involving riddles, dream interpretation or enigmas. Each pack member also gains two points of Wisdom Renown. While Stargazers will notice the pack's affiliation, that affiliation won't necessarily influence their opinion of the pack.
Ban: The pack must seek enlightenment, but otherwise Chimera places no restrictions.

Cockroach
Background Cost: 6
Cockroach, say the cockier Glass Walkers, is the totem of the modern age. To be sure, Cockroach is quick, hardy and persistent. Hardly a nook exists in the city in which its kin can't be found.
Traits: Each pack member subtracts two to difficulties involving computers, electricity and science. The pack gains three dice on tolls to activate Gifts affecting technology. Also, Cockroach's pack has the ability to enter the Umbra and view data stored on media or streaming through data cables (with a successful Gnosis roll).
Ban: Pack members must take pains not to kill cockroaches.

Owl
Background Cost: 6
Silent watcher, Owl strikes without warning in the dark-ness. Like the Silent Striders who claim the totem's protection, Owl holds hidden wisdom; The totem is also associated with secrets of death and the shadowy Dark Umbra. Some believe that owls are vengeful spirits of the dead.
Traits: Owl's children are often gifted with premonitions of danger and of the location of mystic places long forgotten. Upon entering the Umbra, each of Owl's children gains wings, allowing them to fly from place to place. Owl's children subtract two from all difficulties involving stealth, silence or quiet. The pack gains three dice when using any Gift involving air, travel, movement or darkness. Each pack member gains two points of Wisdom. Silent Striders may appear mysteriously to aid the pack when it is in danger. Ratkin and children of Rat do not get along well at all with Owl's children, considering Owl's predatory nature.
Ban: Owl asks that the pack leave small tired or helpless rodents in the woods for him and his kind.

Raven
Background Cost: 5
Raven is perhaps the cleverest bird. He likes to play, baiting wolves and then flying out of range when they lunge for him. Raven is wise, for he feeds without hunting, by following wolves and picking over their kills. If he finds an animal dead in the snow he summons the wolf to tear open the carcass for him. For time out of mind Raven has been companion to the wolf, finding food and feasting with the hunters, teaching him wisdom through his games. (After all, who wants to look foolish by trying to catch the uncatchable bird?) Raven is also a totem of wealth, making sure the wolves want for nothing, although he himself is always hungry.
Traits: Raven grants his packs three extra dice in Survival, one in Subterfuge and one in Enigmas. Each pack member gains one Wisdom point. Wereravens are sympathetic to Raven's Garou followers.
Ban: Raven expects his Children to carry no wealth, instead trusting to him to provide.

Uktena
Background Cost: 7
Uktena is an ancient water spirit with the features of a serpent, cougar and deer. He is a spun of riverbeds and dark places, and he knows many hidden secrets.
Traits: Uktena places a protective ward on each of its children while they are in the Umbra, adding three dice to all soak rolls. Uktena teaches secret lore to its children, so each member gains two extra experience points per story that may be applied only to improving Enigmas, Occult, Rituals, Gifts or other mystical knowledge. In addition, each member gains two points of Wisdom when accepted by their new totem.
More straightforward Garou distrust Uktena's mysterious ways. Social roll difficulties increase by one when interacting with werewolves of tribes other than Uktena or Wendigo. Garou of the Uktena tribe treat the pack like brothers.
Ban: Uktena asks that its Children recover mystical lore, objects, places and animals from the minions of the Wyrm.

Unicorn
Background Cost: 7
The totem of the Children of Gaia, Unicorn is a wise totem of peace, purity, healing and harmony. She is the embodiment of the blissful and encompassing love of Gaia.
Traits: Unicorn's children gain her swiftness in the Umbra, moving at twice the normal speed. They subtract two from all difficulties involving healing and empathy, although they add two to all difficulties to harm other Garou not of the Wyrm. T he pack gains three dice when using Gifts of healing, strength and protection. Each pack member gains three points of Wisdom Renown. Children of Gaia will always aid and usually side with the pack in disputes.
Bans: Unicorn's children must aid and protect the weak and exploited (as long as doing so doesn't aid the Wyrm).


As a rule, Garou don't look kindly on trickery and stealth, so pack totems of cunning are fairly rare. These days, however, more and more young Garou look to new ways of thinking to combat the threats they face. Should they choose to ally with these clever spirits, however, they will find they are little trusted by more "respectable" traditionalist Garou.

Coyote
Background Cost: 7
Coyote is the consummate trickster. He's an outlaw, more Ragabash than Ragabash. Utterly unpredictable, remarkably lusty and sometimes even foolish, Coyote is a clever warrior and a master of deception.
Traits: Coyote gives his packs three extra Stealth dice, three extra dots of Streetwise, one dot of Subterfuge and one dot of Survival. He always has the ability to find his children wherever they are (i.e., this ability doesn't have to be purchased with extra Background points).
Although Coyote is cunning, he isn't considered particularly wise. Each member of the pack subtracts one from any temporary Wisdom received. If something goes wrong, everyone blames the pack regardless of culpability. Coyote's children have more than their share of difficulties, but at least they never get bored.
Ban: Coyote wouldn't think of limiting his children.

Cuckoo
Background Cost: 6
The cuckoo lays her egg in the nests of other birds. The chick then pushes the other squabs out of the nest, and the unsuspecting foster parents raise it. Likewise, the children of Cuckoo are master infiltrators, able to enter caerns, Pentex offices and even Black Spiral Hives without being challenged. Exceptional spies and manipulators, packs aligned with Cuckoo often win prize fetishes and choice quarters in septs, earning the resentment of more "deserving" Garou.
Traits: Cuckoo grants her packs an additional dot of Manipulation and two dots of Subterfuge. In addition, it grants the power to be overlooked. The player of the pack member granted this power rolls Manipulation + Subterfuge (difficulty 6 or higher depending on how well the Garou blends in to begin with). Anyone who notices her must get more successes on a Perception + Alertness roll than the Garou's player rolled. Guards will assume that the pack member is "one of us," and even a ranking officer won't think twice about the "tech" or servant in the corner. Should the character draw attention to herself (by attacking someone or speaking loudly, for instance) the player must roll again immediately with a +2 difficulty penalty, lest the character lose the effect.
Ban: Cuckoo's children are opportunists who often seek to improve their pack's situation at the expense of others. Garou aware of the pack's affiliation will be very wary. Pack members lose two temporary points from any Honor Renown award.

Fox
Background Cost: 7
Fox likes to confound both prey and enemy, be it a rabbit who doesn't see danger approaching or a pack of hounds who follow him into a hornet's nest. He loves to trick opponents into trusting him, then ensnare them in a cunning trap. He loves it even better if the trap also teaches the foe a lesson.
Traits: Fox teaches his followers Stealth 2, Subterfuge 3 and Streetwise 2, the better to confuse opponents (who, it should be noted, are not always enemies). He also grants each pack member a dot of Manipulation.
Ban: Fox asks only that his children not participate in fox hunts, and that they always help foxes subjected to such hunts. Most other Garou view Fox's children as untrustworthy; pack members receive one less temporary point from any Honor Renown award.

Resonance

As a mage creates magical Effects, she invests them with her own wills, desires and drives. Naturally, the results reflect such strong emotions as the mage imprints her own vision of reality over the cosmos. Each mage has a few Resonance Traits, a set of adjectives that describe the sorts of Resonance that the mage normally builds. A mage normally starts with one dot in one Resonance Trait: a Dynamic Trait, an Entropic Trait or a Static Trait. Through further actions, the mage may develop additional Traits of the different sorts or garner additional dots.
During character creation, you need to select the Resonance characteristics for each Trait. Your character's Dynamic Resonance might be Energetic, Violent or Fiery; Entropic Resonance could be Destructive, Languorous or Seething; Static Resonance might manifest as Accurate, Geometric or Smothering.
These Traits describe how your character's magic rends to change according to her emotions. Every magical Effect that the mage does is affected in some way by Resonance; the more dots the mage has in a Trait, the stronger its manifestation.
Dynamic Resonance reflects the pure creative force of the universe, the drive to make new and different things, action without thought to consequences and continuous motion and evolution. Such Resonance Traits are fast, moving and mutating, though the Trait itself tends to stay the same for any given mage, Entropic Resonance reflects the mage's tie to primordial energy, the bubbling morass that melts Creation back down into fluid emptiness and makes room for new birth. Entropic Traits show decay, destruction and death, though not always in a wholly negative way. Jhor is a special kind of Entropic Resonance, garnered from too much interaction with death energy.
Static Resonance shows up in patterns, constants and the solidification of Creation into permanent or semi-permanent forms and repeatable ideas. Such Traits are often intellectual, heavily patterned or highly organized.
X|Negligible Resonance
•|Quirky
••|Odd
•••|Noticeable
••••|Influential
•••••|Overwhelming
• Each dot in a Resonance Trait indicates a certain level of Resonance that appears in the mage's magic. With high levels of Resonance, the mage is likely to have every Effect twisted in a noticeable way to reflect his personal Resonance. A mage with low levels of Resonance might show only subtle changes, and he might not manifest any noticeable Resonance in very small Effects.
• Resonance is traceable to those who know what to look for. A mage can often determine if a particular Resonance fits a certain mage's style. With a Perception + Awareness roll (difficulty of 10 minus the Resonance score), a mage can determine the type of Resonance present in an Effect if it's not otherwise immediately noticeable. ("Aha! My old nemesis Dr. Lugan always used Vindictive magic, and this Effect fits his style perfectly.")
• A mage who builds an Effect that works with her Resonance often finds it easier to work such magic. A mage with the Fiery Dynamic Resonance has an easier time with fire magic, a mage with the Static Resonance of Perspicacious is better with insightful Mind magic and so on. This effect translates as a reduction in difficulty (by one) to Effects that play on the mage's specific Resonance, as long as the player describes a specific way to make the spell use his Resonance Trait. It's not enough just to say "I have Static Resonance for Thinking so I get a bonus on all Mind Effects." The player must make some part of the Effect reflect the appropriate Resonance deliberately.
• A mage's Resonance usually changes only when she's heavily influenced by strong magical powers. This change can occur during a Seeking, after botching an Effect in a spectacular fashion or when visiting a strange Horizon Realm.

Fetters

Fetters are the physical things that tie you to your former existence. A Fetter is a person, place or thing that has special importance to you, and that will continue to anchor you to the Shadowlands until either it is destroyed by outside forces, or it loses its meaning to you.
You have 10 points to assign to your Fetters, which can have ratings from one to five. The more important the Fetter is the higher its rating, and vice versa. Fetters can have some mystery to them — you may not remember why they are so important to you, and whole chronicles can be built around the quest to uncover a Fetter's significance.
Your Passions and Fetters can work together. For example, you can have the Passion Finish My Novel (Determination) 5, and the Fetter Incomplete Manuscript: 4.