
Mercy Addams, Cahalith member of the Lodge of Mania
The Lodge of Mania is a heretical lodge that glorifies the madness inherent in the Uratha condition. It may be related to the Lodge of Prophecy, but that lodge firmly denies this.
Overview[]
The patron of the Lodge is referred to as Assinnu-Ur, "The wolf who leads our cult," or the Wolf of the Dark Woods. According to their legends, the lodge was founded by a maenad who encountered the Wolf of the Dark Woods during her First Change. He granted her a powerful fetish in the form of a thyrsus, as well as a wolf skull with silver-coated fangs and a rite that allowed her to predict the future. [1]
The lodge has a reputation for paranoia and insanity, and are dogged by rumors that their secretive rites include cannibalism and other abominations. Their tendency to violently hunt down any outsiders who glimpse these rites does nothing to dispel these rumors. However, they are nevertheless tolerated due to their prophetic abilities, which others ignore at their own peril.[1]
Members of the lodge, called maenads or bacchae, believe that insanity is one of Mother Luna's gifts, and a tool that should be embraced.[2]
Membership[]
Bone Shadows and Cahalith are the most likely to join the lodge, but they accept any werewolf who meets their entry requirements. Rumor has it that the Pure and even Bale Hounds are accepted into membership.[1] Prospective members must have experienced a form of madness, and be willing to speak frankly about it to the lodge. If chosen, they undergo an initiation ritual that requires them to pierce their own hand with the silvered fangs of a wolf skull, whereupon the Wolf in the Dark Woods shows the candidate his favor or disfavor.[3]
Game Mechanics[]
Prerequisites[]
Cunning ••, Glory ••. The applicant must have gained a derangement due to Harmony loss at some point.[3]
Benefits[]
The Wolf of the Dark Wood gifts his followers with special insight into the universal id, the primordial urges that fill Uratha hearts and loins. This feral charisma gives them +1 to all Animal Ken and Persuasion rolls. Their ceremonies also give Bacchae special insight into the madness of Kuruth. By spending a standard action to try talking a packmate in Death Rage down, the werewolf can grant a +2 bonus to the target’s Resolve + Composure roll to regain control. [3]
Rites[]
Rite of the Maenads (•••): This ritual allows the Uratha to make a prophecy regarding the likely result of a specific course of action. This rite must be performed in a natural setting during the night of the ritualist’s auspice moon. A sacrificial animal is required, normally a bird or four-footed mammal. The ritualist poses the question in Dalu form, then shifts to Gauru, eviscerates the sacrifice with its claws, then shifts back to Dalu to read the results in the creature’s entrails, the patterns of blood, or even its flavor.
The Lodge of Mania is rumored to practice human sacrifice for this rite, though normally only during lodge meetings and for especially important auguries.[3]
Talen[]
The Gift of Madness: This small bone tube is filled with a powder made from blood gathered at an augury and dried upon flower petals. When blown in the face of a victim, she must make a Resolve + Primal Urge roll versus the spirit's Power (5-7 dice) or be affected by a Phobia (wolves) for the scene (see World of Darkness Rulebook, p. 97).
A greater Gaffling fear-spirit is used for the talen's creation.
Durability 1, Size 0, Structure 1
Action: Contested; resistance is reflexive.
References[]
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 WTF: Blasphemies, p. 77
- ↑ WTF: Blasphemies, p. 78
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 WTF: Blasphemies, p. 79