
King of Invisible Webs and a Sheepskin
The Lodge of the Hidden Hunt is a Lodge of the Iron Masters.
The spirit patron of the Lodge of the Hidden Hunt is King of Invisible Webs.
Overview[]
An effective hunter's targets never see him coming. He walks the same streets as his prey. He buys groceries in the same stores, drinks coffee in the same place. The Farsil Luhal all appreciate the benefits of the long hunt, stalking one particular target through the city for days on end, but only members of the Lodge of the Hidden Hunt give themselves over to the art of stalking the city streets, focusing on one target above all.
Members of the lodge (sometimes called "Sheepskins" by other Iron Masters) work hard to maintain a human identify. They have to hold down regular jobs, live in regular apartments, and be in all ways normal humans. When they identify a target, either through their own work, or a tip-off from a fellow Sheepskin, they gather intelligence. A lodge member gets to know his target well, all while cementing his cover. Only when he has identified the perfect time to eliminate the target does the hunt begin. Then, the werewolf can use all of the abilities he has denied himself for so long to eliminate the target, and dispose of the evidence.
Living the life of a Hidden Hunter is very stressful for a werewolf, and often leads to Harmony loss. Some members join the lodge for a time and then leave when they start forgetting the glory and power of being a werewolf. Others mire themselves in the undercover life, building truly bulletproof cover identities, at a cost of their Harmony and sanity. Living lives as humans gives members of the lodge more than just powerful alibis and a lack of suspicion - humans aren't as scared of Sheepskins as they are of other werewolves, and other supernatural creatures will pass over members of the lodge when other werewolves are nearby.
The Lodge of the Hidden Hunt reveres Red Wolf, but also take spiritual patronage from the King of Invisible Webs, a powerful spider-spirit that embodies precision and subterfuge in hunting. Other Farsil Luhal worry that the Sheepskins' totem deliberately pushes them toward actions that cause them to violate Harmony, but nobody can argue that they have an incredible information network.
Membership[]
The lodge of the Hidden Hunt is an open secret within the Iron Masters. Some outsiders suspect the lodge's existence, but the consensus is that Sheepskins are lone nuts rather than an organized group. The lodge would never accept a member who is not an Iron Master already, and one who was originally a member of another tribe has an even harder time of things.
Initiation starts with the werewolf having to build a new human identity from the ground up in a month. He must build his identity from scratch, using only what he can get his hands on. At the end of the month, other members of the lodge investigate the the identity as thoroughly as they can. If they find any cracks, they kick the prospective werewolf out. If the initiators can't find any holes, they give the werewolf his first target. Often the target is one of the Hosts, or a Spirit-Claimed who still works within human society. Some members instead must take out a vampire or a Pure werewolf to prove their dedication. Once a werewolf kills his target, he's in.
Game Mechanics[]
The following are an overview of the game mechanics.
Prerequisites[]
All potential members of the lodge must have demonstrated their adaptability (Cunning ) and ability to blend in to human situations (Persuasion
, Subterfuge
). They must also be able to support a human cover identity at a reasonable level (Resources
). While it's never stated, no werewolf with Harmony 8 or above has ever become a Sheepskin, and those with Harmony 7 often have a hard time maintaining that level.
Benefits[]
The King of Invisible Webs grants Skeepskins a powerful boon: they ignore up to three dice of social penalties from Primal Urge when dealing with humans. Members of the lodge also gain three dice to resist any supernatural powers that would identify them as anything other than normal humans. Sheepskins bury their werewolf nature so deep that they cannot raise their Harmony while they remain members of the lodge.
References[]
- WTF: Tribes of the Moon, p. 139-140