Some cultures claimed that the wolf was the messenger between life and death, the one who walked between both worlds. In part, these legends reflect the legend of Father Wolf. In part, though, they are also real. They reflect the secrets of mortality uncovered by Death Wolf, and later passed onto her Bone Shadow children. Gifts of Death allow a werewolf to manipulate the border between this world and the next in subtle but effective ways. They are usually taught by death-spirits or by spirits of animals associated with death (such as vultures, serpents, ravens or jackals).
Gift List
Death Sight (•)
To understand something, one must first be able to perceive it. The werewolf with this Gift is able to adjust his sight to see the impressions left by death. He can see ghosts and perceive the spiritual imprint left where a person or higher animal died, though the knowledge could bring him grief. While this Gift is in effect, a character’s eyes turn a milky white, as if covered with cataracts, but he can still perceive what’s going on around him.
Ghost Knife (••)
Not all ghosts are harmless, and this Gift allows a werewolf to deal with one who isn’t in a particularly expedient fashion. By imbuing a weapon with a portion of his own Essence, a werewolf can enchant it so that it strikes an immaterial ghost as readily as it would strike a living target.
Corpse Witness (•••)
Many occultists believe that a corpse retains some memory of the moments just before its death. The Bone Shadows, however, know that a corpse can sometimes know more. With this Gift, a corpse can be ordered to give up the secrets of all that it has “seen” since its death. This Gift works only on corpses that still have some flesh to them, and only the head is necessary. The werewolf opens the jaws of the corpse and breathes into the corpse’s mouth. If the Gift works, the breath returns with the corpse’s words.
Some Bone Shadows have historically exploited this Gift in gruesome fashion, setting up the severed heads of their foes (or victims) as sentinels on the boundaries of their territory. In the modern era, it’s hard — but not impossible — to set such morbid guardians in place without attracting the wrong sort of attention.
Word of Quiet (••••)
One of the greater secrets of the Bone Shadows is the Word of Quiet, a complicated word in the First Tongue that bears great power. The sound was allegedly spoken by the first Incarna of Death, and a portion of that great spirit’s authority lingers in its twisted syllables. When spoken, the word tugs at the hearts of all living beings that hear it, brushing them with the stillness of the grave. And yet, the word’s true power comes when it is spoken against the undead, for it compels them to lie down in their graves and rest again.
Vengeance of the Slain (•••••)
A werewolf armed with this powerful Gift can defy Death itself, at least for a short time. This capability allows a werewolf to return a soul to its body briefly. This Gift cannot prevent death; it can only deny it for a few seconds. The Gift works on Uratha only, not on ordinary people or other supernatural beings.
