This ancient ritual, like many other common Uratha rites, is attributed to the time of Father Wolf. It allows a werewolf to bind a spirit to a single location or to prevent a particular spirit from entering a single location. Bind Spirit is very common; most experienced Ithaeur know a variation of it. This same rite can be used to bind a spirit into a particular part of the Shadow or the physical world. As a result, the spirit cannot leave its immediate area, not even to cross the Gauntlet. Werewolves who know this rite can use it in a preparatory fashion for a spirit they haven’t yet summoned into the physical world, or against a spirit already manifest in the real world or against a spirit in the Shadow if the ritualist is already in the spirit world. The ritualist must provide for a single means of escape from the bond, and he must express that means to at least two others — neither of whom have to be the bound spirit. The means of escape can be all but impossible, but it cannot be a true logical impossibility. Frequently, the means of escape is phrased as, “Once you perform the following task to the best of your ability, you will be free…” (e.g., “Once you successfully teach me the following Gift…”).
Performing the Rite
Werewolves know dozens of variations on this rite, and most experienced Ithaeur create their own versions, which they then pass on to students. The most common version — not an ancient one, but one that has become quite popular in the last few decades — requires the ritualist to draw a chalk circle around the fringes of a room or glade before summoning the spirit. Creating the circle requires 20 successes on an extended Intelligence + Occult roll. Each roll represents one minute of work. The circle is marked with dozens of Uratha claw-sigils, and a complex half-howling chant is performed before the spirit is summoned. Once the spirit has been summoned into the circle (via an appropriate rite, such as Summon Gaffling), the werewolf must complete the last notes of the howl before the spirit realizes what is going on and escapes.
To bind a spirit that is already present, the ritualist may be able to complete the aforementioned circle in secret. For example, a particularly clever werewolf might be able to convince a night-spirit that the circle he is drawing represents the spirit’s “star chart.” If that cannot be done — it isn’t likely, Luna knows — he must somehow wrap the rite’s subject three times in silvered thread (which is impossible to do in the material world) and then perform the aforementioned chant. That silvered thread can easily be broken until the third loop is complete. After that, it cannot be broken at all unless the ritualist makes a mistake in the chant. In the physical world, a spirit may be encircled by physically holding its host on the spot. This rite doesn’t work on ghosts.
