Nuwisha Fetishes

A Coyote's Fang. Art by Steve Prescott.

Nuwisha Fetishes are fetishes unique to the Nuwisha.

Overview

Walkers of Umbral trails and keepers of the stars, the Nuwisha often come across items of power, and many more are liberated from the clutches of those deemed too ignorant or greedy to handle them properly. The most potent fetishes (especially stolen ones) are usually taken to the Umbral Dansers for safekeeping - the corruptive touch of such truly powerful items is well known to the Nuwisha - but most other ones are fair game for whatever coyote happens to come across them. A particularly worthy Nuwisha may even be "loaned" a fetish or two in order to perform some great service, though such loans are usually temporary and closely monitored. As such, many Nuwisha come across a good number of fetishes in their time, and while their somewhat fluid concept of property means that they don't always hold on to them for long, clever coyotes know that it never hurts to keep an ace up your sleeve.

Most Nuwisha-created fetishes are defensive by nature, but even their most aggressive ones typically show a heavy touch of Nuwisha humor in their operation. Magic is nothing without style, after all!

List of Nuwisha Fetishes

• Mouthpiece - Level 1, Gnosis 5 - A classic Nuwisha fetish that has seen plenty of reinvention over the years, the Mouthpiece can be any object that is associated with speech. The oldest of these are speaking sticks of the type associated with certain Native American cultures, a few have been made from old loudspeakers, and the most recent tend to be wireless microphones. Once bound with a frog-spirit and activated, the fetish allows the Nuwisha to project her voice from any place she can see. In addition, the voice will be about three times louder than her normal voice. The only catch with this fetish is that the Nuwisha does actually have to speak, so if she is visible, she can be seen to be moving. Even if the coyote is hidden, those hearing the projected voice can attempt an Intelligence + Alertness (difficulty 9) roll to find where the real voice is coming from.
• Bad Medicine Bag - Level 2, Gnosis 6 - This fetish is a small bag containing the bones of a small creature that died of disease and bound with a Rat-spirit. The Nuwisha use it to teach the strongest individuals lessons about the pain and torment of severe illness.
• Coyote's Fang - Level 3, Gnosis 4 - Spirit Affinity: Coyote (only) - Coyote has died many times, normally as a result of trying to prove himself better at something than anyone else. In the process, he lost several teeth, which he grew back when he rose from the dead. Some of those canines were used to create daggers called Coyote's Fangs. Coyote's Fangs, in addition to inflicting Strength + 2 aggravated damage, also allow the bearers to attack both in and out of the Umbra simultaneously. No spirit is immune to the power of a Fang, regardless of what Realm it is n. Coyote is a selfish one, though; his Fangs only work in the hands of a Nuwisha.
• Powder of Kishijoten - Level 3, Gnosis 4 - Spirit Affinity: Healing, Calm - This fine green powder, when mixed with blood and consumed, automatically heals any wound that is not fatal. Even aggravated wounds disappear without leaving a scar. While the powder cannot heal a mortal wound, it can significantly slow the loss of blood from the wound, and even slow poisons before they can cause any more damage. A bag typically contains enough powder for three uses.
• The Ball of Death - Level 4, Gnosis 6 - Spirit Affinity: Coyote, Raven, Desire - At first glance, this infamous fetish is a little off but really nothing special, just a black rubber sphere about the size of a soccer ball, decorated in dull white paint with a large skull and crossbones and the name of the fetish. When activated, however, it becomes a subtle but powerful tool for causing dissension - those other than the Nuwisha who actually touch the ball must immediately make a Willpower Test against the ball's Gnosis rating or desire nothing else but to possess it, bounce it and play with it for the rest of the scene. They resist having it taken away with any means at their disposal, including violence if necessary. To make it even more interesting, as soon as the ball is activated, all nearby characters (same building, or same floor in large buildings) with supernatural senses of any kind - Heightened Senses, Kenning, Sense Magic, etc. - immediately detect a surge of powerful, mysterious magic emanating from the ball, which grows stronger as they approach. This almost always prompts a desire to examine it, which likely leads to one or more other characters triggering the magic of the ball, which leads to a struggle as the first owner's possessiveness turns to anger. At present, only one of these fetishes is known to exist, but rumors of new varieties of such balls have begun to emerge.
• Mirror of Ti Malice - Level 4, Gnosis 5 - Spirit Affinity: Fear, Rage, Ancestor - The Mirror of Ti Malice is a small flat disk of silver. When employed by the Nuwisha, it causes all enemies of the werecoyote, even the supernatural and other skinchangers, to suffer from the effects of the Delirium as if they were human. There is only one Mirror of Ti Malice in existence, and it has not been seen by anyone but the Nuwisha since the second War of Rage. Activating the Mirror of Ti Malice costs one Gnosis and requires a successful Gnosis roll (difficulty 6).
• Pipes of Kokopelli - Level 4, Gnosis 6 - Spirit Affinity: Illusion, Trickery, Rat - These simple wooden flutes are rare, but very useful. Legends say that Kokopelli used a great set of these pipes while leading many monsters from the Pure Lands. Only the werecoyotes may use these remaining fragments of Kokopelli's pipes. A Nuwisha using one of these pipes may lead Banes and spirits into or out the Umbra. The player rolls Wits + Performance against a difficulty equal to the Willpower of the Bane. The affected Banes may attempt to resist the piper's influence by rolling Willpower against a difficulty equal to the total number of successes rolled by the player.
• Portable Door - Level 4, Gnosis 7 - Made by binding an Epiphling into a simple piece of chalk, a magic marker or some other writing implement that can mark any surface, a Portable Door offers a trapped Nuwisha the chance to make a few new exits of her own.
• Eye of Ptah - Level 5, Gnosis 7 - Spirit Affinity: Ptah (only) - The Eye of Path is a black crystal, roughly five inches in diameter. A Nuwisha may hold this fetish to her eye and expend one Gnosis in order to know the truth about anything in the surrounding area. Any disguises turn instantly transparent, and concealed weapons are partially revealed. While the Eye of Ptah is capable of revealing the truth, it doesn't always explain all the secrets behind that truth. If a bomb is planted in a building, the Nuwisha viewing the building with the Eye will immediately understand that the building will explode, and what will cause it, but not necessarily where the bomb is located. The Eye of Ptah does not expose hidden items; it only lets the Nuwisha know what the results of the hidden item will be.

Nuwisha Talens

• Ghost Charm - Gnosis 4 - The Nuwisha who spend the most time in the physical realms are those who are still very young, not yet ready to undertake the Rite of Dansing. And since Nuwisha have a reputation as "spirit coyotes," well, sometimes you have to live up to expectations to do your work well. For these moments, the Ghost Charm talen works wonders. It works simply enough. A small charm necklace bound with a light-spirit, the talen activates to render the wearer translucent. Not that a real Nuwisha Ghost Danser would ever look like this, but that bothers few Nuwisha. Generally the sort of people they deal with couldn't identify a real Nuwisha if they had a field guide. The Charm also helps with hiding and stealth, reducing the difficulty of all Stealth rolls by 1.
• Dead Stuff - Gnosis 6 - The Nuwisha's sense of humor is unquestionably skewed toward "black." Dead Stuff is a cardinal example of how the werecoyotes meld laughter with strange, disturbing lessons. This talen is made from any rotting material, preferably something that used to be an animal rather than something that used to be a plant, and bound with a minor spirit of death. When activated, the talen stays dormant until someone sniffs it. (Most Nuwisha carefully plant it to ensure their intended victim is the one who has the honor.) When this happens, the trap twists a few circuits in the victim's brain (rolling its Gnosis, contested by Willpower). If successful, the victim is suddenly convinced that she is quite dead. Admittedly, she is still mobile, can still walk around, can still talk, and in all physical respects seems to be herself. But she is also quite certainly dead. The experience is understandably unpleasant. All rolls made while this effect continues are made at +2 difficulty. Many who suffer from this trick find themselves unwilling to venture into sunlight. The general assumption is that the trick is designed to tach particularly bloodthirsty victims a lesson, and indeed most who are affected have some time to reflect over their lives and the worth of life. For the Nuwisha's part, they remain silent as to their intentions. The talen's effect lasts for three hours, after which it ends at the first ray of sunlight the victim sees. The victim feels an intense pain as it seems that the sunlight burns her, but after this she feels alive once more. The entire experience is generally remembered as a strange hallucination or even an out-of-body experience, and not always easily dismissed.

Trivia

• It's odd that there is no unique name given to Nuwisha Fetishes. Something like tricks, pranks or gags would've worked.

References

• WTA: Nuwisha, p. 53
• WTA/cMET: Laws of the Wild: Changing Breeds 1, p. 47-49
• WTA: Hammer & Klaive, p. 106
• W20: Changing Breeds, p. 176