The origins of this rite are lost in prehistory. However, lore states that it was learned after the murder of Father Wolf and the rise of the Gauntlet, as a desperate measure learned to keep the physical and spirit from drifting too far apart.
This powerful mystical rite allows werewolves to pour Essence into an object and create a locus, a place where the spirit world is close to the physical. The rite is difficult to master and never performed lightly, for the consequences are potentially very dangerous. A new locus can be a valuable resource, or it can be a gateway through which new threats bleed into the world from the Shadow.
This rite requires a significant amount of Essence to enact; the object must be saturated with spiritual energy before the peak of the rite’s power can forge it into a beacon of Essence in its own rite. As few packs are able to muster the amount of Essence required from their personal reserves — and fewer still would willingly leave themselves so vulnerable by doing so — the rite incorporates the use of touchstones. The spirits invoked vary from place to place - a wise ritemaster will call on spirits that are strong locally, yet will not call the names of spirits that might prove powerful rivals for the new locus.
Performing the Rite
The ritemaster must select an appropriate object to be the focus of the rite; an object that might over time have become a locus in its own right is ideal. The pack piles their collection of touchstones around the object to be empowered in something of a loose cairn. Then, each werewolf participating in the rite cuts their palm and lets a measure of their blood run onto the assembled touchstones. The ritemaster dips a claw into the blood, and paints a series of glyphs surrounding the locus to better channel the Essence.
Surrounding the core of the ritual is an exhausting and time-consuming series of chants, dances, howls and even impromptu ritual combat meant to increase the flow of emotional energy in the area. The rite is half-improvised. The ritualist knows the common themes that must be included in the pack’s efforts, and leads the group through them. The culmination of the rite is a great howl that lances across the Gauntlet into the Shadow, and binds flesh together with spirit in the form of a new locus.
This rite cannot succeed in the area of influence of a Barren.
