
Helena the Inquisitor, Lodge of Praetors Member
The Lodge of Praetors is a lodge of Forsaken in Britain.
The spirit patron of the Lodge of Praetors is the Scion.
Overview[]
People are worthy of Luna's forgiveness. In a world in which packs fight for themselves and rarely venture far from their own hunting grounds, this is a group of werewolves who often travel from territory to territory, passing their own judgments on their brethren. It is said by most of those who encounter the Praetors that the lodge has no right to do this, and that Forsaken society (such as it is) needs no internal policing beyond packmates watching out for each other and obeying the Oath of the Moon.
Though the lodge has roots in a noble ideal, the fact remains that the Praetors have no mandate of authority over other werewolves beyond the lodge members' own strength and insistence. This means that a Praetor attempting to pass judgment on another Uratha had better be incredibly skilled in battle, or quick-witted and wise enough to prove to a pack that one of its members has violated the Oath of the Moon and deserves to die for doing so. Unsurprisingly, most werewolves of this lodge are both, and care nothing that the other Forsaken resent being judged. These Uratha have appointed themselves as the guardians of the Oath, ensuring through their diligence that Luna never withdraws her forgiveness from the Forsaken. If individual sinners and their accomplices seek to thwart the coming of justice, well, the Oath says The People Do Not Murder the People. Righteous execution for grave transgressions is another thing entirely, especially when such punishment is in the name of a Goddess' justice.
As least, so the lodge members say. The truth of the matter is that such execution is still a sin - it is just that the Praetors fervently believe that it's a necessary one.
The Praetors reason that if Luna sees the Uratha sinning against the Oath of the Moon and going unpunished for their crimes, then Mother Moon might withdraw the gift of auspices and the partial forgiveness she has offered so far. And so the Lodge of the Praetor was founded in an effort to bring any sinners among the Forsaken to justice and prove to Luna that her children value her love and obey her laws.
But thing are never so straightforward among werewolves, and the Oath of the Moon has some tenets that can easily be considered "open to interpretation." To the Praetors, the only interpretations that matter are their own - and even those can vary from member to member.
Generally, Praetors work in one of three ways. Some live as lone wolves, wandering Britain or remaining local and investigating the actions, personalities and pasts of the packs they encounter. A lone wolf will usually go to ground rather than announce his presence, and seek to investigate without drawing attention to himself and risking the Forsaken packs altering their behavior. Other Praetors will state their intentions upfront, telling those they meet that the Lodge of the Praetor has come to render judgment on those the lodge members deem unworthy.
Secondly, there is sometimes fearful talk of all-Praetor packs that roam the country, seeking out renowned offenders and executing them according to some arcane code of justice. Most Praetors know little of such packs and their whereabouts - or at least claim to know nothing.
The final (and the most common) modus operandi is for packs to function as normal, but with a single member claiming membership in the Lodge of the Praetor. This werewolf often works as a chaplain or spiritual guide for the pack, and though he will throw down in any fight and act with the pack in all actions as any other werewolf, the guide sees it as his personal duty to make sure his own packmates never violate the Oath of the Moon. Rather than focus on punishment, these Praetors focus on preventing, and support their packmates to never break the Oath. In the times when a werewolf does violate the Oath of the Moon, it falls to the Praetor to seek out a way for his packmate to make amends. After all, few werewolves want to see their packmates die for breaking the Oath, and there might be some way, some apt sacrifice or duty, that the Praetor feels would be sufficient to make up for the betrayal of Luna.
These Praetors might be primarily concerned with the crimes and atonements of their own packmates, but the Praetors are also obligated by their own personal promise to Luna to hunt down transgressors within other packs. On nights when the pack doesn't meet, the werewolf of the Lodge of the Praetor might stalk the members of other packs in neighboring hunting grounds, checking up on their actions and questioning the local spirits regarding the werewolves' behavior. It almost goes without saying that when two packs meet, if a member is known for violating the Oath of the Moon at some point in the past, the Praetor will stop at nothing to kill the sinner.
Patron: The Scion[]
The Scion is a strange spirit. She is a Lune, and as such, her touch and presence should drive her adopted children insane over time. Curiously, this doesn't seem to be the case. Some Praetors can rightly be considered fanatical zealots and executioners, but individual fervor and belief drive these werewolves - not a derangement born of their bond with the lodge's patron. It's also possible that the more distant relationship with a lodge isn't as maddening as it would be for her to take a more personal interest in a pack.
The Scion is an active patron, and manifests often around members of her lodge. Mostly, she is content to watch, often appearing in the moments before a Praetor renders his judgment or goes to battle. When she appears, the Scion seems to be a ghostly figure of a beautiful but cold-hearted young girl - an infant Luna, perhaps. When she speaks to her werewolves, she speaks in the voice of a child, and with the simple questions of the innocently curious. When asked for advice of lore, she replies in twisting riddles and seems overjoyed when the werewolves are confused by her enigmatic thymes. Her curiosity sated and her riddles told, the Scion will nod and discorporate, leaving echoes of ghostly, childish laughter in the air.
Joining the Lodge[]
To become a Praetor, a werewolf must uncover, on his own, evidence of another Uratha's crimes against Luna in the past. The crime must be a significant violation of the Oath of the Moon, such as the creation of a Ghost Child, or the calculated killing of another werewolf. Once the character has gathered enough evidence to satisfy his convictions, he must take what he has learned to an established member of the lodge, and present his case.
Tracking down a Praetor is not always the easiest of tasks to begin with, and not all are easily impressed by potential members coming to them with the evidence the applicants have gathered. On the whole, most werewolves of the lodge are keen to recruit new judges so that the Oath can be safeguarded with ever-increasing devotion, but the evidence brought by the applicant has to be exceptionally compelling and beyond reasonable doubt to win him a place in the Lodge of the Praetor. Britain's courts are complicated places with arcane pomp and ceremony, as well as complicated legal systems. The same applies to the werewolves who appoint themselves judges over their brethren, and an applicant with less-than-sterling evidence can expect to be dismissed and ordered never to make the attempt again.
If the case is out to the Praetor and the werewolf agrees that justice is deserved, then the applicant must carry it out in the manner she see fit, returning only when she brings confirmation of appeasing the affront to Luna. Some werewolves return with a sworn promise and an apology of penance to earn Luna's forgiveness. Others never return at all. The truly skilled, however, return with the head of the criminal and walk right into a place within the Lodge of the Praetor. A surprising number of the most judgmental (and line wolf) praetors are Ghost Wolves, and the Lodge of the Praetor has a significant and growing minority of the Thihirtha Numea as members.
Game Mechanics[]
Prerequisites[]
Applicants must have Purity ••• and Honor ••, as well as maintain Harmony 4 or more.
Benefits[]
Members gain experience in several areas as they adhere to the tenets of the lodge. Insight and Knowledge Gifts are treated as affinity Gifts, and the skills Empathy, Intimidation and Persuasion become new dots x2 instead of new dots x3 when purchased with experience points.
Fetish[]
Luna's Mercy: Luna's Mercy is the name given to the traditional fetish daggers of the Lodge of the Praetor. Not all Praetors carry Luna's Mercy, but many of the more zealous members of the lodge pride themselves on owning such a weapon. To create Luna's Mercy, a werewolf must bind a spirit of pain or sorrow into a klaive dagger that bears the symbol of Mother Moon on both sides of the blade.
These are vicious weapons, and when activated, they have two abilities that the Praetors use to full advantage. The first is that the dagger adds +4 to attack rolls against anyone the wielder is certain has broken the Oath of the Moon. The Praetor must have solid evidence, such as eyewitness accounts or a confession, for this power to work, but it will function even if the target has never truly sinned - all it requires is the wielder's belief. The second power the weapon bears is the ability to sense when a lie is spoken in the bearer's presence. The weapon must be activated and touching the Praetor's skin to use this power, but any falsehood spoken to the Praetor will cause Luna's Mercy to tingle against his flesh.
Action: Reflexive
References[]
- CofD: Shadows of the UK, p. 84-87