Territory Gifts

Uratha instinctively know that they must claim territory as their own. These Gifts aid werewolves in protecting their own territory and assessing the strength of rivals who control territory nearby. These Gifts are open to Pure Ones as well as the Forsaken. Territory is critical to a werewolf: this is an open list, and any werewolf can possess these Gifts as if they had tribal or auspice affinity for them. Each of these Gifts relates to a pack’s territory in some fashion. Generally speaking, a section of territory is considered “claimed” by a pack only if the packmembers have taken some pains to make it so; packmembers who say they control a street they haven’t ever set foot on doesn’t “claim” that street for purposes of this Gift. Only land that’s been patrolled, fought over, laid stake to via the Howl of Ownership (see p. 50) or otherwise seen a genuine werewolf presence counts.

Contents 1 Gift List 1.1 Lay of the Land (•) 1.2 Minor Sending (••) 1.3 Sense of the Territory (•••) 1.4 Animate the Land (••••) 1.5 Disrupt Essence (•••••)

Gift List

Lay of the Land (•)

This Gift gives the werewolf who uses it an instant sense of how many people and spirits are in the immediate area, as well as which werewolf pack (if any) claims it. For purposes of this Gift, “the immediate area” means “the territory feature,” as described in this book.

• Cost: None
• Dice Pool:Wits + Politics Skill + Purity
• Action: Instant

Roll Results

• Dramatic Failure:The werewolf receives faulty or misleading information about the local area. The exact nature of the character’s mistake is up to the Storyteller — the werewolf should learn half-truths so that it is not obvious what she is wrong about.
• Failure:The werewolf gains no information. She cannot use this Gift again in this immediate area, until the next moonrise or moonset.
• Success:The werewolf gets a rough impression of what the total population of the area is, though the Gift does not differentiate among humans, werewolves, spirits or other supernatural beings. The character also sees the symbol and totem spirit of the pack that claims the area — if she has encountered the pack in the past she recognizes them immediately.
• Exceptional Success:The werewolf gets a more precise impression of the territory feature’s overall population. She also sees the symbol and totem spirit of the pack (if any) that claims the area, and if she does not know them, she hears the pack’s name as a howl.

Minor Sending (••)

Minor Essence flows crisscross every werewolf pack’s territory. With this Gift, the werewolf may infuse one or more Essence onto one of these minor Essence flows and whisper a message for a packmate. The packmate can be any distance away, so long as both are within the pack’s territory, and will still hear the Gift user’s message as if whispered directly into her ear. This message cannot be tapped or intercepted.

• Cost: 1 Essence
• Dice Pool:Presence + Expression Skill + Cunning
• Action: Instant

Roll Results

• Dramatic Failure:The message fails to arrive at all.
• Failure:The message arrives, but is garbled beyond understanding.
• Success:The Gift user is able to transmit a whispered message up to 30 seconds in length. The message travels at about 200 miles per hour, or about half a mile per turn, so if the packmate is two miles away, the message needs four turns to arrive.
• Exceptional Success: As with an ordinary success, but the Gift’s recipient actually receives the spent point of Essence as it chases the message.

Sense of the Territory (•••)

A werewolf can use this Gift to read the local Essence currents, instantly gaining an idea of where all noteworthy disturbances are. He can learn the location of any loci in the territory, as well as the presence of any spirits of Rank 3 or higher or werewolves. This Gift only works within the werewolf’s own territory.

• Cost: 1 Essence
• Dice Pool:Wits + Politics Skill + Wisdom
• Action: Instant

Roll Results

• Dramatic Failure:Every werewolf and spirit in the pack’s territory instantly learns the Gift user’s location. The Gift user receives no information in return.
• Failure:No effect; the Essence spent is lost.
• Success:The werewolf learns the location of all loci higher than • in rating and all werewolves and all spirits of Rank 3 or higher within his pack’s territory. The Gift reveals only the presence of potential intruders on the same side of the Gauntlet as the user; if the Gift user is in the Shadow, the Gift will reveal only the location of spirits and werewolves who are likewise in the spirit world.
• Exceptional Success: The Gift reveals the presence of significant intruders on both sides of the Gauntlet.

Animate the Land (••••)

At the werewolf’s command, the land of his pack’s territory itself rises up in defense of the pack and its power.

• Cost: 2 Essence
• Dice Pool:Manipulation + Intimidation Skill + Glory
• Action: Instant

Roll Results

• Dramatic Failure:The land rises up in rage against the Gift user; the werewolf suffers a –2 to all Physical dice pools for the next three turns.
• Failure: No effect; the Essence spent is lost.
• Success: Within the immediate area (the present territory feature), the player may apply the successes rolled as either bonus dice to the character and his packmates or penalties to his opponents’ dice pools, for the next four turns. The player defines the way that the local terrain rises up to assist the werewolf; shopping carts may hurl themselves into the path of onrushing foes, or a peaceful stream may become a roiling river. At that time, the player must also define which Skill will be affected by the dice — for example, the pack may receive bonus dice to Athletics as the ground tilts and eases to help them, or the pack’s enemies suffer a penalty to Firearms as barriers spring up in their way. The Storyteller has final judgment over whether a particular Skill use is appropriate; a pack cannot expect to gain bonuses to Politics rolls in the middle of a forest, for instance. Once the Gift user has defined the specific bonus or penalty that the terrain will impose, the modifier continues to work in that fashion throughout the duration of this Gift. This Gift can naturally be used only within the werewolf’s own territory. The local area cannot benefit from more than one use of this Gift at the same time. This Gift may be used only once per scene.
• Exceptional Success:The duration of the Gift is extended to six turns.

Disrupt Essence (•••••)

Within your pack’s territory, you can cause spirits and werewolves to waste Essence in powering their supernatural abilities. This may make them resort to physical tactics, or stay out of your territory entirely.

• Cost: 3 Essence
• Dice Pool: Presence + Occult Skill + Honor
• Action: Instant

Roll Results

• Dramatic Failure:The Gift effects rebound on the user. The user cannot use any more Territory Gifts until a day and a night has passed.
• Failure:No effect; the Essence spent is lost.
• Success:For a number of turns equal to the number of successes rolled, any creature that is not a member of the Gift user’s pack must spend twice as much Essence as would normally be indicated to power a given ability for as long as the creature remains within the Gift user’s territory. For purposes of this Gift, a pack totem is considered to be part of a pack (and therefore does not suffer that penalty).
• Exceptional Success:The Gift user may also designate up to five entities that are not members of his pack who do not suffer this penalty.