Humankind learned of Lake Vostok’s existence in 1996, but the werewolves have known of it for far longer. The lake — the largest of Antarctica’s 70+ subglacial lakes — is a 5,400-square-mile region of uncontaminated, untouched freshwater sitting miles beneath a massive shelf of ice. Human researchers believe that the lake represents the biggest reservoir of unspoiled water still available in the world. The lake has never been disturbed. Scientists believe that alien life — so-called extremophiles, or microscopic creatures living in supposedly unlivable extremes — dwell in the deep darkness of the underground lake.
The Forsaken believe that something lives there, as well; except it is by far not the same thing that human researchers expect to find. For hundreds of years, packs of werewolves have committed themselves to watching over the hidden lake, accepting that what lies beneath is something that should remain removed from the world. The Uratha could not name what was hiding beneath the ice, they only knew that the spirits seemed to consider the lake’s “inhabitant” to be utterly sublime. The spirits had no name for it, but trembled in fear and awe of whatever it was that lay sleeping. Those Forsaken who spent more than a few nights in the frigid, uninhabitable region were also subject to strange and terrible dreams: nightmares of fire and ice, hypnagogic hallucinations of fat, chittering insects crawling from the snow and waking visions of shadows that had no physical counterpart.
Prerequisites
Harmony 6 or below
While this is not universal, most Forsaken within the Lodge of the Lake either begin with the Vice of Pride, or develop it over time. Second most likely Vice is Envy, which is easily correlated with the nature of being overly self-confident, as the Lady demands.
Benefits
Ironically, the Lady of the Lake grants her children with social benefits: they can purchase Social Attributes at new dots x 4 and Social Skills at new dots x 2 instead of their normal experience point costs. The irony is that members exist in one of the most desolate, unpopulated places in the world. Any social wizardry purchased in this way can go toward dazzling the rare local researcher or one another, but otherwise the benefit goes largely unused. That said, the easily improved Attributes and Skills go a long way toward making a Forsaken feel powerful — they gifts her with stronger confidence, however artificially. The patroness also grants her children one free Gift from the Dominance list. This Gift must have the appropriate Renown to match the Gift taken (from either Honor or Purity). If for some reason the character already has all the Dominance Gifts, this freebie is lost.
