Sometimes, a werewolf discovers that she simply cannot consider herself a member of her tribe any longer. Perhaps she chose poorly during her initiation; perhaps her ideology changed under the pressures of Forsaken life. In such cases, it’s better to formally renounce one’s tribe to begin a new life than to crack under the strain. The rite doesn’t actually create the ability to leave the tribe at all. A werewolf who doesn’t perform this rite is not mystically bound to be a member of her tribe forever.
Rather, this rite allows a werewolf to leave her current tribe formally while causing the least amount of offense to the tribe’s patron totem and the other werewolves of the tribe. Once the Rite of Renunciation is performed, the werewolf is free to undergo a second Rite of Initiation and join another tribe, or to simply walk as a Ghost Wolf.
Performing the Rite
The werewolf who wishes to renounce her tribe must be the one to perform this rite. The rite is usually performed in the presence of an elder of the tribe, but if none are able (or willing) to attend, the supplicant usually substitutes a summoned spirit of the tribal totem’s brood or an effigy of the tribal totem. The rite begins with a low howl begging leniency. The ritemaster then begins the ritual speech of renunciation, praising the virtues of the tribe even as she admits her inability to hold to them. In most variations of the rite, the supplicant symbolically sheds some token of tribal membership. (A Bone Shadow might divest herself of all garments and fetishes in ceremonial fashion, while a Blood Talon might slice away the scar gained from his Rite of Initiation.) At the close of the rite, the ritualist kneels, bows or exposes her belly before the elder, spirit or effigy as a final gesture of appeasement.
