By VANDYCEA@SCOBVA.COBLESKILL.EDU
Werewolf: For the Werewolf game, creation requires the Rite of Fetish see pg. 192-193 (1st ed) (a Rite of Binding could come in handy for some spirits, especially hostile ones) It is as simple as finding a spirit, or summoning one that corasponds with the power you want the fetish to have and performing the rite, after you have wittled it's power down...(as if this were a simple matter!)
Mage: For the Mage game, the maker must have a rating of spirit **** and simply create the "spirit feild" within the tattoo or ritual scar. (diff 7, quintessence, time taken, and nearness to a node can bring this down to as low as a 3!) The mage has successfuly made a "house" for the spirit that he is going to bind. (I had posted a rote before for draining a spirit of it's power, this can be used to weaken the spirit enough to easily bind it into the tattoo/ritual scar fetish.)
Rote: Draining the Spirit (Spirit **** Prime ***)
Basically, this rote allows the spirit adept to drain off some of the spirits Quintessense, thus weakening it enough to either dissipate it, destroy it, or bind it into a fetish. (game mechanics: diff: 7, as before, quintessence, time taken, or nearness to a node can lower this to as low as 3!, each success above 2 drains off 2 points of Quintessence from the spirit and channels it into the mage, another mage, a talisman, or back into the pool of free Quintessence.)
Level of Fetish:
(Werewolf): The level of the fetish is = to the 1/2 the spirit's gnosis.
(Mage): The level of the fetish is = to the Arete of the spirit.
Gnosis Rating:
(Werewolf only): The Gnosis of the spirit that is bound into the fetish is the Gnosis of the fetish itself.
Although there are endless possibilities as to the different types of fetishes that can be created, I have listed a few as examples:
These were created by a famous shaman/Dreamspeaker of the African homelands, named Calls-The-Spirits. He basically bound animal spirits that were friendly to his totem into ritual scars and tribal tattoos. When activated the Tattoo seemed to flow over his body, as the "ink" swirled about his body he took the form of the animal spirit that was held within.
Mage: level (3-4) because it mimics the life 5 power of transformation
Werewolf: level (2-3) Gnosis (5-8) because the closeness of the animal spirits to Gaia.
These are primarily bound to ritual scars and are widely used by the Get of Fenris, Red Talons, and Wendigo tribes of the Garou, as well as the Mokole(Were-alligators/dinosaurs) and the Rokea(Were-sharks). Basically a spirit of rage is bound into a painfully slow cut ritual scar that could take hours to complete, while the blood still runs the bound spirit is bound to the flesh.
Effects (Werewolf): 1 rage point per activation succuss, and allows the garou to "store" up to 10 points of rage for him without affecting his rage rating. (AKA he doesn't get as pissed off as he would if he were toting that much rage)
Effects (Mage): 3 combat die per Arete that the spirit has, for the duration of 1 scene, combat dice can be added to dodge, melee, brawl, firearms, or athletics rolls these dice make up a pool of dice, once spent, they are gone until the next activation.
Level (Werewolf): 3-5 depending on the gnosis of the spirit
Level (Mage): 4
Gnosis (Werewolf): minimum of 5, note the spirit within will have a rage of 10, at all times, if released it will move to attack the holder of the fetish, until near dissipation, and then will flee.
These tattoos usually take the form of eyes on the forehead (in the case of the wisdom fetishes) or visual puzzles (The Uktena favor Esher's work) for the fetishes of enigmas. These fetishes, when activated impart the wisdom of the spirit inside upon the user. These tattoos are favored by the Dreamspeakers, and the Uktena and Silent Strider tribes of Garou.
Effects (Werewolf): Each activation success above 2 adds +1 to either perception, alertness, or enigmas score of the user for the duration of one scene.
Effects (Mage): For each Arete point above 2 that the spirit has, and for each 2 Quintessence points channeled into the fetish, the user gains +1 die in either perception, enigmas, alertness, awareness, or cosmology for the duration of one scene.
Level (Werewolf): 4-5
Level (Mage): 4-5
Gnosis: 5+
For every 10 levels of these fetishes a Mage/Werewolf has, her difficulty to enter the Umbra is -1 as they are more attuned to the spirit world due to the amount of spirit "stuff" they carry in their skin. Also on the same note, the difficulty to shift from the umbra to the "real" world is +1, as that which helps also must hinder.
As I sat down to write this up it became apparent that the mage system is lacking in the info for fetishes, so as a service to all Dreamspeakers (my favorite tradition) I came up with a fast little system that allows the mages to use and create Garou fetishes.
Rote: Spirit **** Prime **
This rote lets the Mage do the Rite of the Fetish, as the garou do it. Note: Gnosis = Arete x 2 (in the Mage book in the section of converting spirits pg. 293-294 they say that Gnosis = Arete, but this to me is a bit bogus, think about it, Wrinkle, the most powerful time spirit has an Arete of 5 (aka Gnosis of 5 in the author's perspective, a 10 in mine) where as an air elemental has a gnosis of 7 (an Arete of 7 in the authors perspective, a 4 in mine) now how did that air elemental get more enlightened than the most powerful time spirit?) so treat the mages Arete x 2 as his gnosis rate.
The mage uses Arete x 2 or his Gnosis rating for activation just as it is in the Werewolf game, pg. 153 Werewolf the Apocalypse tm This allows the Mage to use Garou fetishes in a Mage game.