Mask Fetishes

Mask Fetishes are a type of fetish in where a spirit is bound to a mask(s).

Overview

• Level and Gnosis Variable

Fetish masks have traditionally been a common element in many rituals of the Uktena, Wendigo and Croatan, but many tribes have embraced the concept of the fetish mask to some extent. They can be a fearsome visage in war, painting savage hatred and anger upon a face while showing horrifying blankness in their eyes. Or they can be of tremendous use in talking with the spirits by taking upon the aspect of the spirit in question, building a sense of sympathy and empathy between the two. Although particularly popular among Theurges, Garou of all sorts - and many Fera as well - have embraced these admittedly striking fetishes.

List of Mask Fetishes

• Firemasks - Level 2, Gnosis 6 - Made from wood, designed to fit over the front of the face, and bound with a sunlight-spirit. (Attempts to bind a fire-spirit into anything wooden tend to end in failure.) The mask has a large round disc extruding from the face with a stylized looping red line around it, designed to simulate fire. While worn and activated, the wearer and the mask both become immune to damage from fire. Many wearers deliberately soak themselves in alcohol or even gasoline and set themselves alight wearing this mask, before heading into battle, becoming terrifying humanoid blazes. Finally, the wearer makes any Social rolls involving fire-spirits at -1 difficulty, as long as the mask is activated.
• Predator Masks - Level 3, Gnosis 8 - A peculiar type of mask that has been around at least since the War of Rage. They are made from hide and take the form of a stylized animal head of a type associated with one of the Changing Breeds - thus, a Wolf Mask, Bear Mask, Shark Mask, and so on. (There are indeed Raven Masks, despite ravens not being predators per se.) Each mask is empowered with a spirit of the animal it represents. When activated, the mask immediately forces the wearer to spend one Rage and shift to Crinos (or the equivalent, for Fera) if not already in Crinos. However, this Crinos form is not the wearer's standard war form. Instead, the wearer changes fur, shape and all other features to look considerably like the war form of the shapeshifter suggested by the mask. However, the illusion is imperfect. Gaia created each Changing Breed separately and did not intend for each to have the means to copy the others perfectly. (The Nuwisha remain an exception for reasons unknown.) Instead, the form produced can best be described as that of the wearer's Crinos form, interpreted in the context of the animal being imitated. As the most instructive example, a Nagah does not possess legs in his Azhi Dahaka "Crinos" form, but instead his body tapers into a long tail. A Garou who had somehow heard of the Nagah and attempted to imitate one with a Serpent Mask will instead produce a creature with a snakelike head, barrel chest, massive arms and legs, and possibly a long snakelike tail extending from the back. Anyone familiar with how Nagah really look will almost certainly not be fooled, but others might be. (Conversely, a Nagah wearing a Wolf Mask would lack the legs of a Crinos in his "false Crinos form"; needless to say, the Nagah find most Predator Masks essentially useless.) Detecting the use of a Predator Mask requires a Perception + Alertness roll. Difficulty depends on the Changing Breed imitated. Garou, Bastet, Gurahl, Nuwisha, Ratkin and Rokea can all appropriately imitate one another with these masks, as their war forms are very similar in construction. Even someone familiar with the Breed is fooled if they fail the roll at difficulty 8; a member of the Breed in question makes the roll at difficulty 6. Mokolé and Ananasi are slightly easier to tell apart; while some of their number have similar Crinos forms, most do not. Likewise, whit the Kitsune form is similar in shape, it is much smaller than a Garou. For these three Breeds, those familiar with them make the roll at difficulty 6, those unfamiliar difficulty 8, and actual members of the Breed at difficulty 4. Finally, the Nagah and Corax have war forms markedly different from those of the Garou and anyone familiar with either Breed at all does not even need to roll - they are clearly shaped wrong. Those unfamiliar still make the roll at difficulty 8. In no case does the mask confer different attribute adjustments than that of the wearer's standard war form; this mask only creates cosmetic differences.
• Wyrm Masks - Level 5, Gnosis 8 - Quite rare outside the ranks of the Uktena, with only the Bubasti and Hatar using them almost as often. Made from stone and hundreds of tiny tiles, and stretching well below the chin and above the forehead, this mask is bound with a Bane. The Bane is nearly always threatened into becoming part of this fetish but despite this, the very existence of these masks would be considered scandalous among most Garou. (Those that aren't the product of threats are scandalous even within the Uktena and Bubasti - although not, of course, the Hatar.) When worn and activated, the Wyrm Mask creates a sense of dread and horror that even other Wyrm creatures feel. They do not see the wearer as "one of them," but instead as an enemy imbued with the horror and power that the army of the Wyrm possesses, a terrifying and unholy sight. Wyrm creatures facing such a foe suffer -3 to all rolls save Stamina rolls to soak damage. To those not of the Wyrm, the mask's effects are even more powerful, and they suffer -4 to all rolls as fear and violation strike their soul at the sight of it. But despite these quite powerful effects, few dare to employ it against those not of the Wyrm. Few Uktena doubt it would be an unforgivable sin.

References

• WTA: Hammer & Klaive, p. 71-72