Lodge of the Einherjar Member, Ghost Howl's daughter.
The Lodge of the Einherjar is a Lodge of the Blood Talons that investigates mysterious unexplained disappearances of Uratha packs.
The spirit patron of the Lodge of the Einherjar is the Glorious Dead.
Overview[]
The lodge was founded 20 years ago, by a Cahalith named Ghost Howl. An historian before his Change, Ghost Howl was fascinated by stories by stories such as Roanoke, the Mary Celeste and other unexplained disappearances. After he joined the Blood Talons, he turned his studies to the disappearances of Uratha packs in northern Canada. The Lodge of the Einherjar (named for the souls of fallen Viking warriors who feasted in Valhalla) followed as a natural outgrowth. A spirit called the Glorious Dead serves as the lodge's totem: once, the spirit was the pack totem of a pack of Bone Shadows up in the northern Rockies. Ghost Howl and his pack, the first members of the lodge, swore to spread the story of the Bone Shadows' last stand against an idigam in return for the spirit's patronage. It is partly due to this bargain that the Lodge of the Einherjar has a global presence today.
Membership[]
While the Lodge of the Einherjar isn't an exclusively Blood Talon lodge, to date all but a handful of members belong to the tribe. A Bone Shadow Cahalith named Ivan Grave-Eyes runs a chapter of the lodge in San Diego, and a Storm Lord Rahu in Tennessee joined to honor a pack that died containing a dangerous spirit plague, but the vast majority of members are Blood Talons.
Lodge members usually join nomadic packs, or form packs with other lodge members. The lodge's mandate after all, is to uncover the mysteries behind the destruction of werewolf packs. Unless the lodge member is unfortunate enough to hold territory in the middle of a war zone, such total decimation of packs isn't likely to happen in the vicinity of the member's territory - at least not often enough to justify membership in the lodge. The Lodge of the Einherjar is proactive. The lodge members get out there and search for the stories of lost packs; they don't just wait for some unspeakable evil to rise up and wipe out the pack next door.
The actual process of joining the lodge is surprisingly painless. One need only demonstrate a reverence for the dead and a knack for investigation and historical research; the lodge is small enough that new blood is almost always welcomed. Whenever possible, the lodge arranges a field test for a prospective applicant. A senior lodge member, or better yet, an entire pack, will take the initiate with them as they go to discover the fate of a missing pack. Throughout the investigation, they test and question the initiate and task him with providing explanations for the facts the lodge uncovers. If the initiate's reconstruction of the saga of the slain is astute and agrees with the senior members', the prospective member is almost assured a place in the lodge.
There are, however, two "hidden" qualifiers that must be met before the initiate earns a final acceptance. First, the initiate must present his version of the story to the lodge. Ideally, the audience for this tale is not the same group that participated in the investigation, but sometimes it's unavoidable. If the prospective member tells the tale in a way that honors the dead and glorifies their final hours, he passes. He isn't expected to lie, or sugarcoat the actual facts, but the purpose of the Lodge of the Einherjar is to honor the fallen warriors, not drag their names through the mud by exposing their every fault or tactical mistake.
Finally, the initiate must travel to northern Canada, to the former territory of the Glorious Dead's deceased pack (the territory is now claimed by the lodge; Ghost Howl's daughter leads the pack there). There, under the light of the gibbous moon, the assembled members of the lodge, however many are present, recount the tale of the deaths of the pack that once held the territory. The Glorious Dead manifests in the form of a nebulous, spectral horde of dead warriors from every period of history, and the initiate swears too carry the tale with him until his death, and share it with any pack that will listen. The assembled werewolves join in a howl of remembrance, and the initiate is fully and formally welcomed into the Lodge of the Einherjar.
Game Mechanics[]
The following are an overview of the game mechanics.
Prerequisites[]
Glory ••, Honor •, Investigation 2
Benefits[]
Members of the Lodge of the Einherjar can learn Insight Gifts as though they were tribal Gifts. Members may substitute their Glory Renown for their Honor Renown when using the Gift: Echo Dream or their Purity Renown when using the Gift: Soul Read (provided their Glory Renown is higher). Finally, all members of the Lodge receive a free Occult Specialty in Uratha Lore.
Second Edition[]
Between the secrecy and the danger that come with being a werewolf, it's no surprise that entire packs are frequently wiped out in battle. The Blood Talons are never ones to shrink from a glorious death in combat, but when all the witnesses die alongside you, who will sing the songs of your Glory? The Lodge of the Einherjar, based in northern Colorado, devotes itself to uncovering the stories of these "lost packs" and sharing them with the Forsaken at large. Using a combination of Insight Gifts, spirit bargains, and good-old fashioned detective work, the Lodge of the Einherjar hunt down forgotten tales and honor the Glorious dead.
The Lodge of the Einherjar doesn't restrict its efforts to Blood Talon packs, either. All of the People deserve to be remembered for their deeds. Even when werewolves of other tribes don't fully appreciate the Glory of a final stand, they value the lodge for bringing them news of their brothers' fates. Of course, sometimes what the Einherjar uncover isn't a tale of Glory at all, but one of cowardice or betrayal. Those stories need to be told as well, even if some would prefer they stayed silent.
References[]
- WTF: Tribes of the Moon, p. 32-34
- WTF: Werewolf: The Forsaken Second Edition, p. 51
