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Rite of Caern Building[]

This powerful rite creates a caern, a permanent area where the spirit world and the physical world touch. Simply reciting the rite draws the attention of the Wyrm's servitors, and actually performing the rite has been known to prove fatal. Only the most powerful and wise mystics dare lead such an undertaking.

A power Theurge is almost always selected to perform this most sacred of rites. Many Garou must channel their energy through a powerful leader to have even a hope of success. Whole packs have been known to die in agony should the attempt fail.

Once the physical focus for the heart of the caern is chosen, the area must be cleansed of all taint in preparation for its transformation. All Garou participating in the rite must undergo a Rite of Cleansing. The ritemaster performs a series of minor rituals, meditation, and other physical preliminaries to prepare for her awesome tasks.

Sentries must by posted (very often the players' characters), for servants of the Wyrm almost invariably attempt to disrupt such a great rite. Only the mightiest warriors are chosen for such an assignment, and their protection is critical to the success of the rite. The leader of the rite is helpless while he chants a long litany of verses designed to draw a great spirit into the prepared caern. Although it is possible to create a specific type of caern, most leaders leave this to Gaia and accept whatever caern she grants the sept.

Because an enormous amount of Gnosis is needed to create a new caern, a minimum of 13 Garou, one for each moon of the year, must participate in this rite. Regardless of the number of Garou aiding her, the ritemaster can only channel such a power stream of Gnosis through her system once per hour. The rite must performed at night. This means that in most places and at most times of the year, the ritemaster has only eight rolls (one per hour) to accomplish her task. This makes success fairly unlikely. If, indeed, the rite does fail, all involved suffer five wounds. These are not aggravated, but are very painful and always leave small teardrop-shaped scars scattered across the Garou's body. Such scars are considered marks of bravery , and these "Tears of Gaia" are often highlighted by tattoos or paint and worn with pride by the Garou. The Garou say the scars are the result of Gaia crying out for her children's pain.

Time: The rite must be performed between the hours of sunset and sunrise during the waxing of the moon. Only the Black Spiral Dancers create caerns during the moon's waning.

System[]

The rite requires an extended roll of Wits + Rituals, though the leader may only use as many dice as she Gnosis. The difficulty is always 8, and 40 successes are needed. Only one roll can be attempted per hour of the ritual.

Once the leader scores the required number of successes, all those involved in the rite must contribute Gnosis points - 100 are needed. If the total Gnosis available is not 100, all those participating in the rite begin to suffer aggravated wounds. Each wound counts as three more Gnosis points toward the total.

Botches during this rite are particularly deadly. All characters involved suffer seven Health Levels of damage, which means that even a Garou previously at full health becomes Incapacitated. Those Garou reduced to below Incapacitated must roll on the Battle Scars table, adding one die to the roll.

If the minimum number of success is rolled (40), the caern is ranked Level One. The Gauntlet of such an area is 4, and the spirits bound into the caern will grant powers approximately equal to Level One Gifts. Every five additional successes raises the level of the caern by one, correspondingly raising the magnitude of the powers the caern grants. At Level Three the Gauntlet of the area is 3, while at Level Five it is but 2. Immediately upon the rite's successful completion, the ritemaster must sacrifice a number of permanent Gnosis points equal to the level of the caern.

If a player's character should somehow assume the role of ritemaster and succeed, she receives three points of Glory, five points of Honor and seven points of Wisdom. Anyone else participating in the rite receives five points of Glory and three points of Honor. This is a legendary task and should be suitably rewarded.

Source: Werewolf the Apocalypse

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