The Eigner Lodge and Fredrik Eigner
The Eigner Lodge is a Lodge of the Cahalith.
The spirit patron of the Eigner Lodge is Gezu.
Overview[]
In the late 1920s, the studies of Freud's "talking therapy" and his dream analysis were just beginning to take hold and blossom into science. It was this analysis of dreams that drew the attention of science-minded Cahalith in Austria, Forsaken who had kept in contact with one another through letters and meetings.
It was the interpretation of dreams - a real effort for clinical understanding of the symbolism in dreams, particularly - that piqued the Cahalith interest. What a thing, they thought, if somehow these analytical techniques could be used to better understand the visions that Cahalith so frequently got and so rarely understood.
After heated exchanges through letters, the group decided to hold a sort of salon in Vienna. During the day they debated and discussed, at night they would exchange tales and partake in various drugs and substances (the coca plant, opium) as a means to stimulate prophetic dreams that might be interpreted the next day. Strangely, most of the participants experienced the same dream, where they all saw a barbaric monster wolf with eyes on all sides of its head. It warned them that it would make itself known to them in three year's time, but only if the gathering presented a wider collection of Gibbous Moon werewolves.
So, three years later, the salon reconvened with representatives from all over Europe, gathering under the steady hand of nascent leader, Fredrik Eigner. The first night of the gathering, with most participants lost in drug-infused sleep, the wolf-spirit introduced itself as Gezu, and offered itself as a totem to the would-be lodge in exchange for their continued work studying dreams. (Members of the lodge speculated among themselves as to the meaning of the name, Gezu. While some point to the First Tongue and suggest it's a reference to the Jungian concept of the self as God in analysis, others argue that it is unlikely that the spirit had read Jung or understood it enough to rename itself in such a fitting manner. To this day, some members of the lodge argue there was no Gezu before they collected their dreams together, that Gexu is in fact, them.)
Whatever the interpretation of their totem may be, the members of the lodge offer their services as both interpreters of dreams and therapists to those tragic Visionaries who cannot cope with their ability to divine the future. As interpreters, the lodge has been very successful. As therapists, their efforts have been... less successful.
Membership[]
Any Cahalith able to show their usefulness in research are welcome to join the Eigner Clinic. Since the inception of the information age, it is no longer necessary for inductees to travel to the clinic itself in Vienna, as they can do most of their mentorship and study via the Internet and telephone.
Today, a Cahalith must approach the clinic with a written application and three essays describing the talents and abilities they would add to the lodge through membership. Once the hopeful's application is accepted, that Cahalith is considered a research assistant. At that point, he may spend a year or more working with a tenured member writing his dissertation (dots in the Mentor Merit are not uncommon). Previous work with a tenured member may be considered as a part of this probationary period for outstanding or well-connected students. Once the research assistant had proven his worth either through written work or by unraveling a particularly intricate vision for an important member of the auspice, he is considered a full lodge member and given an honorary degree in dream analysis.
Game Mechanics[]
The following are an overview of the game mechanics.
Prerequisites[]
Formal members of the lodge are usually accomplished scientist or doctors in their own right. Academics as well as three dots in either Science or Medicine. Gezu favors Cahalith with intuition and an ability to understand others of a gut level. To reflect this, members must have a point of Wisdom before joining.
Benefits[]
Doctors of the clinic have, through years of study and research, mastered many of the fine details of understanding dreams and visions. The members of this lodge can help other Cahalith interpret their dreams as per their auspice ability. The Prophetic Dreams ability becomes a teamwork roll - each lodge member present (as secondary actors) working on the interpretation must succeed on an Intelligence + Medicine roll. Successes are added as a dice bonus on the subject's Wits + Occult roll made to interpret omens or solve riddles conjured by her dreams. Additionally, members of the lodge enjoy a bonus Medicine specialty in Psychoanalysis as a result of their research.
The Clinic in Austria[]
Background[]
From Fredrik's notes, the Clinic was built to the very specific specifications outlined by the lodge's collective visions. The best and brightest Cahalith psychoanalysts and sleeping disorder specialist have operated the clinic since the late 1930s, and most of the services provided are totally mundane in nature. The means yes, they do treat normal humans - those patients actually form the bulk of their clientele. However, not only do they help Cahalith of any age interpret their dreams, their work with humans allows them to occasionally identify those Forsaken who have not yet undergone the First Change, Forsaken who are quite often destined to walk the path of the Visionary.
Description[]
The building built might seem uninspired and dull: a simple square building, tall and narrow with a pleasant stone façade and cheerful "homey" landscaping. Bright sunlight falls through the plethora of windows that set the design of the clinic aside from other architecture of its era.
Within, the clinic is set up similarly to a boarding house: a series of one-bedroom suites with observation minilabs attached. The occupants have the option of sleeping in their suites normally, or with staff observing their sleeping habits through one-way glass. Any equipment needed for the studies are hidden with the furniture when not in use, to give the suites a more comfortable feel. The basement is furnished with more structurally solid suites, and it is here where members of the lodge cater to visiting Cahalith in need, with doors that can be automatically locked in case anyone was to lose control. Even these basement rooms have small windows at ground level so that no suite is without light from outside.
The architecture of each room is unique, with walls and half walls at the occasional strange angle to one another. In the clinic's brochures, it says that the odd wall placements create simple puzzles for the sleeping mind to focus on and dream about when the patients fall asleep.
Mechanics[]
The clinic's careful design is no accident. Indeed, all parts of the suites, from the window placements to the structure of the rooms themselves, are part of an overall design meant to increase the potential of the dreamer in sleep.
For the most part, patients don't really grasp the significance (as most patients are normal mortals). However, when the gibbous moon is in a clear sky, and falls through the windows of the facility in just the right way onto someone sleeping within, strange things may happen.
- Luna infuses those sleeping in the facility with Essence. The moonlight must be able to touch the sleeper, but with at least six hours of sleep, an Uratha gains two points of Essence. Humans sleeping within still absorb Essence, but they are unable to use it, it simply dissipates into the world around them. Spirits can anchor themselves to objects touched by the moonlight to gain the same benefit.
- Dreams are much more vivid. Cahalith sleeping within have for more detail to their dreams. Once a Cahalith successfully interprets her own dreams (likely with help from lodge members, as per the lodge benefit), she gains +1 dice to any rolls meant to put the dream's messages and visions into action (For example, if she dreamy of a spirit whose ban must be deciphered, she would gain +1 to rolls made in support of uncovering that particular spirit's ban.)
- Nightmares while sleeping under the moonlight are similarly vivid, and thus much more terrifying. Any individual sleeping at the clinic must succeed on an Intelligence + Resolve roll at the start of the night. Success means that the character is cognizant enough within the "dreamspace" to avoid stirring terrible nightmares. Failure on this roll means a truly terrible nightmare takes hold. Humans will likely awaken at some point, suffering one point of lethal damage due to thrashing or seizing. Uratha suffer the damage, too, but are likely to heal it. Any who suffer a nightmare fail to gain a Willower point upon waking, and the remnants of the night terrors remain - any Mental rolls the character makes during this time suffer -3 dice until eight hours of uninterrupted nightmare-free sleep can be achieved.
- All rolls to resist Death Rage by a werewolf having slept in the facility gain +2 for the next day.
- The dreams evoked by the facility are engaging, be they frightening, enchanting, or mysterious. Any Wits + Composure rolls made to awaken, even if physically threatened, suffer a -3 penalty.
Characters[]
Fredrik Eigner is still alive and mostly well. He's pushing a hundred years old, and seems to live in a state similar to lucid dreaming even when wide awake. Some attribute his odd way of speaking and strange way of seeing the world to the drug use of his youth. Others blame his advanced age. Members of the lodge and his pack specifically say he's found a way to dream consciously. EEG readings of his brainwaves show he never leaves the Delta wavelength as if he were always asleep or even in a coma. His role at the clinic and within the lodge is largely a ceremonial one, since he mostly keeps to himself and out of the day-to-day work. Still, many speak to him in private, approaching him for the vast knowledge hidden in his riddle-speak and rambling.
Dr. Uli Knauss is the acting alpha of the Eignar Research Team, Fredrik's pack. She is also chief of staff at the clinic and oversees all operations at the clinic. She is a deeply caring woman, but maintains a cold clinical exterior to ensure all patients get equal treatment. She is notoriously hard to work for because she demands the best from her inferiors (and she often feels she's not getting it). This proves doubly true for the rest of her pack: three Cahalith studying with the lodge, an Ithaeur studying the spiritual side of the clinic, and a pair of large Rahu brothers who provide security. Her focus on the pseudoscientific endeavors of the lodge often distract her from the practical side of life as a werewolf, a trait that has put her pack and the clinic in danger more than a few times. Still, her analytical abilities are second to none, and her ability to unravel the meanings of dreams has made her quite a name the whole world over.
References[]
- WTF: Signs of the Moon, p. 134-136
