Lodge of the Modernist

Daniel Leon, Bone Shadow Rahu member of the Lodge of the Modernist

The Lodge of the Modernists is a lodge dedicated to the study of words and the power of words.

Overview

Words do not merely reflect reality, but influence and even create it, particularly in the Shadow. The exact wording of oaths and rituals matters, and their command over language gives humans with no other supernatural ability some sway over the spirit world. The Modernists were founded by a werewolf named Sir Reginald Arcbright who went on a lengthy quest for a particular word and found Alephebeth, the spirit of the written word. In exchange for the word he sought, Sir Reginald promised service to the spirit, a pledge that quickly grew into an entire lodge as each answer begat more questions. The lodge maintains its headquarters, such as they are, in Toulouse, France, where this meeting originally took place.

One of the Modernists' enduring mysteries is the First Tongue. How can a language go unchanged for millenia? More importantly, how can some words (including the word that Sir Reginald sought out) exist outside the First Tongue, which is supposed to be the basic language of the cosmos? Many other Uratha who know of the lodge find these and other questions pointless, though the Modernists are happy to demonstrate the concept of "fighting words" to such detractors. After all, they are still werewolves.

Their patron spirit, Alephebeth, represents all books (and other written media) written and unwritten. On one hand, this means Alephebeth can answer any question; on the other, it means there is no guarantee that its answers are accurate. Modernists take their totem's words at face value at their own peril. To join the lodge, prospective members must debate a committee of existing members to demonstrate their intellectual capabilities, then complete some kind of quest related to the lodge's mission, before meeting privately with Alephebeth. While the lodge is theoretically open to all tribes, the majority of its members tend to be Bone Shadows.

Game Mechanics

Prerequisites

Academics ••• or Occult •••

Benefits

Modernists gain +3 to all checks involving words or language, such as solving riddles, remembering the exact wording someone used, or noticing that a spirit never utters a particular word.

Rites

Power in Words (••••): The user invokes a verb by writing it out in blood and then swallowing the paper. For the remainder of the scene, they gain a bonus to that active or related activities, though how closely related they are determines the size of the bonus. The same word cannot be invoked multiple times in a row.