Eaters of the Dead Lodge Member
The Eaters of the Dead is a Lodge of the Ghost Wolves seeking to become a sixth tribe to the Tribes of the Moon.
Overview[]
Second Edition[]
Not all Ghost Wolves are ignorant wretches, fearful of their natures and hiding behind their human faces. Some simply seek a different truth than those offered by the tribes of the Moon. The Eaters of the Dead - Ki Anagh - are such wolves. Their leader, a Mongolian Rahu named Dorj Tserendjav, believes that somewhere in the Shadow of the vast steppes of Central Asia, he will find the lair of a forgotten Firstborn, Isim-Ur, Ravening Wolf. If he can bind her as a totem, the Eaters of the Dead will become a sixth tribe, equal in the eyes of the Firstborn. Where Fenris-Ur destroys, Isim-Ur consumers, and in consuming gains the knowledge and power of the prey. Tserendjav hasn't produced any evidence of Isim-Urs presence, or even existence, but his core of followers remains faithful.
Despite the "tribe's" lack of a totem, Tserendjav holds his followers to an oath, "Leave No Kill to Rot." They don't literally eat everything they hunt - especially not humans - but they are obliged to utilize every kill to maximum advantage. They claim as their sacred prey the hungry dead: As Isim-Ur consumes her prey to gain its power, vampires and their ilk steal the power from the living.
The Pack[]
Aliases: Carrion Hounds, Ki Anagh, Erboru
The Eaters of the Dead are a young Lodge of Ghost Wolves that has erupted into prominence over the last decade. The Lodge has many adherents across Central Asia, but as the years pass its call spread far afield. The Eaters of the Dead promise Ghost Wolves a new brotherhood, a new Tribe, one that will embrace the werewolves cast off or ignored or spat upon by the eight elder Tribes. The Eaters of the Dead are both proud and humble, believing in their sacred and ordained role beneath Asena and Ay Ata - Mother Wolf and Father Moon.
The Eaters of the Dead gain shamanic power through transgressing against their sacred nature as predators, consuming carrion and carcasses; the Lodge emphasizes making the most of every kill, leaving nothing to waste. Yet the Eaters of the Dead are still hunters at heart, and take as their sacred prey the hungry dead that would defy the cycle of life and death. The Lodge chase down cannibal horrors, blood-drinking vampires, and other such necromantic fiends, purifying the world of their taint. An Eater of the Dead also hunts prey that other werewolves would feel more comfortable with, but tries to avoid killing humans lest she be forced to eat the prey to meet her Ban. This perversely has given the Lodge a reputation for cruelty, because the erboru maim and cripple human prey to ensure they are no longer a threat.
The Lodge was founded by an elder Mongolian Rahu named Dorj Tserendjav, who stumbled upon a trove of ancient relics that he claimed dated back to Pangaea and held evidence of other Firstborn, children of the Great Predator now forgotten. According to Dorj, traces of one of these lost Firstborn existed somewhere on the steppes, a ravening wolf-spirit that would welcome followers. For a long time, the 'Lodge' was nothing more than a loose collection of like-minded Ghost Wolves under the guidance of Dorj, but in 2004 an excavation in a remote area of Mongolia unearthed what the Lodge had been searching for - what the Eaters of the Dead claim to be Ravening Wolf. Now, the Lodge is bound under the spirit's totemic patronage, and it welcomes all Ghost Wolves to its banner.
Totem: Isim-Ur[]
Isim-Ur, Ravening Wolf, has returned to the world. She says she is the child of Mother Wolf, and who of the Eaters of the Dead would gainsay her? Isim-Ur is every-hungry but also ever-humble. Once, she was proud but monstrous, consuming all that she could and causing misery and horror wherever she went. She made deserts where once there had been verdant life, and was left alone with only her endless appetite. Isim-Ur learned and grew wise, for she wished to love and be loved as well, and swore binding oaths before her mother that she would thereafter master her hunger and make the most of everything that came before her, rather than falling to gluttonous excess.
Dorj Tserendjav is dead, but Ravening Wolf and Dorj Tserendjav may be one and the same. When he descended into the ancient, buried lair that the excavators had revealed, he found there the unthinkable - the corpse of the Firstborn he had been seeking. Colossal and crumbling, the remains seemed to be as much flesh as spirit. Seized by uncontrollable hunger, Dorj fell upon the carcass and devoured it over a day and a night; his primal spirit fused with his carrion mean, and the dead godling was reborn through him.
Ravening Wolf is still weak from millennia of dormancy; the sacrifice of Dorj's power is not enough to return her to her former strength. She utterly loathes the undead, for she believes they stole her divine power and brought her low all those years ago, draining her dry and sealing her in a dusty tomb. By consuming the undead, the Eaters of the Dead take back their stolen power. With every kill, Ravening Wolf grows stronger. Surely soon her brothers and sisters will acknowledge her again. She wants her family back.
Bonds[]
- Blessing: The Lodge member can purge the Sick and Poisoned Tilts from her body by spending a Willpower point; she can also throw off similar supernatural effects in the same way, such as a vampire's blood-vinculum or the corruption from consuming a Wound-tainted aberration.
- Aspiration: To have a family, and to protect and provide for them.
- Ban: Leave no kill to rot. This requires Eaters of the Dead to either consume the kill or to use parts of it to craft something. Simply disposing of prey without making any use of the remains is a breach of the ban.
Game Mechanics[]
The following are an overview of the game mechanics.
The Sacred Hunt[]
The Lodge Sacred Hunt grants your character the ability to destroy the animating energy of an undead prey upon striking him with a bite attack. As well as dealing damage, any such hit also destroys a single point of Essence, Vitae, Plasm, Pillar or whatever other source of energy the undead is drawing on to fuel itself. A victim that has all of its energy drained by such means suffers a single point of aggravated damage instead. Prey include ghosts, vampires, Sin-Eaters, mummies, and other reanimated entities. It does not include Prometheans, as Ravening Wolf's mad logic seems to see them as putting dead body parts to good use.
Tools[]
The Eaters of the Dead have access to the Lodge Sorcery Merit, and may choose Influences from Hunger and Death.
Carrion Feast (Wolf Rite 
)[]
The carrion feast draws upon laws and pacts that Ravening Wolf half-remembers, granting power to those who would eat of the dead.
Symbols: Hunger, wisdom, drums, horses
Sample Rite: The ritemaster rattles out the drumbeat on a crude little thing of taught horse-skin, the mane-hair of a dozen fine stallions hanging from its rims. He calls on the names of ancestors who died in times of famine; he calls upon shamans before him who won great boons from spirits of hunger. As the slow, grim rite continues, the supplicant kneels before the carcass and partakes, cracking bones and rending rancid meat with her teeth. (Intelligence + Occult)
Action: Extended (5 successes: 1 roll per five minutes)
Success: This rite requires the subject to consume most of a carcass or corpse of at least Size 2 during its performance. The carcass must not have been killed by the ritemaster, the ritemaster's pack, or the supplicant's pack, and cannot have been given as a gift. If successful, the consumed meat will not cause the werewolf to sicken regardless of how rotten it was, and furthermore she gains a single point of Essence that is rich with the resonance of hunger and death. Additionally, she can draw upon the dead creature's power three times before the next full moon, adding three dice to a roll that uses the attribute most symbolically associated with the creature. A swift-footed deer might enhance Dexterity; a ferocious bear would enhance Strength. A werewolf can only benefit from one Carrion Feast at a time. Consuming a human does not offer this benefit, but restores all expended Willpower points.
References[]
- WTF: Werewolf: The Forsaken Second Edition, p. 52-53
- WTF: The Pack, p. 90-91
