BadMoon Wereraven Lore Research

Wereraven Lore (Main Topic)

Skill: Occult

Wereraven Lore, Basic

Obscurity: Occult ••
Progress: Elaine 22 successes, 4 rolls

• 1 successes: Though rare, werewolves know the most about wereravens than any other kind of shapeshifter, due to an ages-long close association between the two shifter breeds.
• 3 successes: Wereravens have left their mark on a number of cultures: they have been valkyries in Old Norse times, various European raven-goddesses are thought to have been wereravens (so much so that one of the given names for a wereraven is a "morrigan"), the valravens of Danish folklore, primordial tricksters in Native American culture, and the tengu bird-devils of Japanese myth. In every culture they appear, they seem to have associations with trickster natures, death, war, battle, and sword-play.
• 5 successes: Corvithropy is wholly hereditary, although even those with the right genetics do not necessarily inherit the curse. A triggering event - or a "hatching event" - is necessary to trigger the curse. This may be a near-death experience, exposure to werewolves, or exposure to something called a "Great Queen." They may also come about as an omen warning of a great deal of death, such as that caused by wars or natural disasters. Nascent morrigans are referred to as "unfledged," and some morrigans can sense if someone is unfledged.
  • Wereravens: Great Queen (•••)
• 7 successes: Wereravens believe their hearts act as "cages" for something called a Rookery - a strange ephemeral entity or group of entities who occasionally manifest as a murder of corvids.
  • Wereravens: The Rookery (••)
• 10 successes: A wereraven has a broad spectrum of special abilities, including enhanced senses, regeneration, and a bevy of mental enhancements.
  • Wereraven Abilities (••)
• 12 successes: Wereravens have a number of banes, as well - strange substances or situations that can be their undoing.
  • Wereraven Banes (••)
• 16 successes: Wereravens are known to also have strange powers, which werewolves frequently refer to as magic.
  • Wereraven Occult Phenomena (•••)
• 20 successes: Wereravens have an ancient connection to werewolf packs. Historical precedent shows that not only do some werewolves welcome a wereraven into their pack, but that some claim a true pack must have such a member to be complete in some spirituall relevant fashion.
  • Werewolf & Wereraven Relations (•••)

Obscurity •• Topics

Banes

Skill: Occult
Obscurity: ••
Progress: Elaine 18 successes, 7 rolls

• 5 successes: Gold is anathema to wereravens, for different reasons based on the mythology in question. Its touch is variously said to sicken, agonize, weaken or injure them.
  • Wereraven Bane: Gold (••)
• 7 successes: Gold is also used in folk practices to ward away ravens or repel them through a variety of folkloric techniques.
  • Atropopaic Warding (•)
  • Atropopaic Abjuration (••)
• 10 successes: Crowpoison is distantly related to garlic, and is a deadly poison to wereravens. It is not the only substance that affects them, either, as there is a selection of substances that cause wereravens problems without (normally) being lethal.
  • Wereraven Bane: Crowpoison (••)
  • Wereraven Bane: Simple Banes (••)
• 4 successes: Wereravens are known to be obsessed with riddles and puzzles, frequently eschewing all other interests and obligations in order to solve them.
• 16 successes: Wereravens' hearts are somehow connected to their Rookeries. A blow that punctures a wereraven's heart will not necessarily automatically kill her, but it does disrupt her Rookery, robbing her of supernatural ability for a short time. A heart-strike with a gold weapon is almost always fatal, however.

Ephemeral Manifestation

Skill: Occult
Obscurity: ••
Progress: Elaine 24 successes, 5 rolls

• 7 successes: Wereravens are capable of unleashing their Rookeries into the environment around them. This is called the Ephemeral Manifestation.
• 10 successes: This manifests as a strange black smoke, which is very cold to the touch, but which fades quickly, blending into the environment. For this reason, it is sometimes called the "raven smoke."
• 15 successes: Each type of Rookery Archetype unleashes a different effect on the environment: Death Crow allows the wereraven to see who is likely to die, and warns her of ambushes. Raucous Jackdaw deepens the shadows and muffles sound in the favor of the morrigan. Battle Rook confuses and distacts enemies, and obscures her form, and the Wise Raven grants omens of the future.
• 18 successes: Unleashing the raven smoke also releases a great cloud of corvid spirits into the morrigan's vicinity in Shadow, sometimes drawing the attention of other spirits.
• 21 successes: There are some techniques that allow a wereraven to manifest the raven smoke of other Rookery Archetypes, but this is an advanced discipline known by few.

Hoarding

Obscurity: Occult ••
Progress: Elaine 6 successes, 2 rolls

• 1 successes: The Rookery manifests a desire to collect around it a gathering of things that pleases its innate nature. The exact nature of this collection varies based on the Rookery type.
  • Death Crows: Archaeological grave goods, human remains, graverobbed jewelry, rubbings of rare tombstones
  • Raucous Jackdaws: Stolen jewelry, trophies from really good pranks or cons, news clippings reporting criminal activities
  • Battle Rooks: Trophies of battle of all kinds, from weapons taken from fallen enemies to rewards given by grateful people they've protected
  • Wise Ravens: Expansive libraries, tokens from world travel
• 3 successes: Wereravens gain a great deal of psychological stability and control over their Rookeries by spending time interacting with, curating and admiring their collections. They may also sometimes feel compelled to steal when they encounter objects that would make particularly fine additions to their Hoards.
• 5 successes: If a Hoard is destroyed or lost, it can unhinge a wereraven's control over their Rookery, and possibly send them into the Rook-Craze.
  • The Rook-Craze (••)

The Rook-Craze

Skill: Occult
Obscurity: ••
Progress: None

The Rookery

Obscurity: Occult ••
Progress: Elaine 10 successes, 2 rolls

• 5 successes: Each Rookery has what is called an Archetype - a form of behavior that is given a symbolic corvid association. The flavor of the Rookery determines a great deal about a wereraven's abilities and inclinations. Wereravens who lose control over their Rookeries enter what is called the Rook-Craze.
  • Rookery Archetypes (••)
  • The Rook-Craze (••)
• 7 successes: In order to avoid being taken over by the Rookery, every wereraven develops a Hoard - a collection of objects of some sort that allows the wereraven's human side to keep control by "distracting" the corvid essence of the Rookery.
  • Hoarding (••)
• 10 successes: Wereravens can perform limited shapeshifting by a method they call "Visceral Manifestation," or "breathing in."
  • Visceral Manifestation (••)

Rookery Archetypes

Obscurity: Occult ••
Progress: Elaine 7 successes, 2 rolls

• 3 successes: There are four primarily identified archetypes of Rookery. Though there are rumors of other, rarer flavors, these main four are nearly universal among wereravens:
  • Death Crows are obsessed with death and the dying, eternally fascinated by mortaility in all its forms. Their Rookeries gain sustenance when they are in the presence of someone who dies, or by spending time around someone who is dying or at deaths door, or in the company of those who are mourning the recently-deceased.
  • Raucous Jackdaws are flighty and capricious, embodying the corvid-as-trickster. Their mischief has a cruel edge, though, and while they can be frequently funny or poignant, they are also often harmful. Their Rookeries are fed when their lies or tricks lead to injury or danger for others, or when they make someone fear for their lives.
  • Battle Rooks are quick to fight and skilled at it. They always remember their enemies, and fight to defend against them. Their Rookeries are fed by physical confrontation that draws blood.
  • Wise Ravens are masters of thought and memory, sages, scholars and seers among wereraven-kind. They embody the corvid-as-wisdom archetype, and their Rookeries are fed by the discovery of new and important information, or by solving mysteries that have vexed them.
• 5 successes: While in Visceral Manifestation, a wereraven gains a strong affinity for certain actions to which she bends her intent. Death Crows gain keen insight into the emotions of others, and the techniques of healing and medicine. Raucous Jackdaws demonstrate incredible physical prowess and larcenous talent. Battle Rooks channel their skill into feats of battle, armed and unarmed alike. Wise Ravens demonstrate a keen perception and insight.
  • Visceral Manifestations (••)
• 7 successes: The effects of an Ephemeral Manifestation are based wholly on the wereraven's Rookery Archetype. Death Crows create the awareness of death, their Rookery alighting on the shoulders of those near death, and warning them of ambushes. Raucous Jackdaws deepen the shadows and muffle sound. Battle Rooks confuse and distract their enemies, obscuring her form with smoke and shadow. Wise Ravens draw the attention of the wereraven to omens of the future.
  • Ephemeral Manifestations (••)

Visceral Manifestation

Skill: Occult
Obscurity: ••
Progress: Elaine 23 successes, 6 rolls

• 5 successes: Referred to as the "Indrawn Breath" by wereravens, visceral manifestation is a means of manifesting the power of the Rookery in the very flesh of the wereraven.
• 7 successes: This task is accomplished through breathing exercises, involving slowly faster breaths to excite the Rookery, then suddenly holding one's breath and pushing as though trying to shove the Rookery out of the heart and through every pore in the body.
• 10 successes: This shape alters the eyes of the wereraven, making them wholly black and reflective, causing her to sprout talons and an increase in lithe thin muscle throughout the torso. Her facial bones become sharper, and her joints alter, granting increased speed and toughness, as well as claws that inflict grievous wounds. The wereraven also gains an increased ability to perform leaps and jumps.
• 14 successes: In this form, a wereraven gains limited foresight, of sufficient power to allow her to dodge gunshots. Wereravens in visceral manifestation also gain an increased affinity with certain actions in alignment with their Rookery Archetype: Death Crows become more sensitive to emotions and pain, Raucous Jackdaws show marked increase in their athletic and larcenous talents, Battle Rooks improve their combat prowess, and Wise Ravens increase their already-prodigious perceptive talents.
• 18 successes: A wereraven in visceral manifestation is also capable of seeing the movements of spirits. She can see entities present in Twilight generally, and can see into Shadow at the site of a Locus.
  • Spirit Lore (•)
  • Twilight (•)
  • Loci (•)
  • Shadow (••)

Wereraven Abilities

Skill: Occult
Obscurity: ••
Progress: Elaine 21 successes, 7 rolls

• 5 successes: Wereravens seem to mostly be human, albeit with supernatural healing and heightened senses.
  • Wereraven Senses (••)
• 7 successes: Wereravens also have a supernatural degree of subtlety, as well as strange mental abilities thanks to their corvid methods of thinking
  • Wereraven Cunning (••)
• 10 successes: Wereravens can engage in limited shapeshifting, altering their physical form to a slightly more corvid shape, though still recognizeably themselves
  • Visceral Manifestation (••)
• 14 successes: It is said that wereravens contain within their hearts a murder of corvids. These sometimes manifest in odd ways, empowering the wereraven's efforts when released into the environment, or sometimes escaping the wereraven's control entirely.
  • The Rookery (••)
• 17 successes: Stories of strange, distinctly supernatural phenomena follow stories of wereravens, from associations with the dead and prophecy, to interaction with witchcraft and spirits.
  • Wereraven Occult Phenomena (•••)

Wereraven Bane: Gold

Skill: Occult
Obscurity: ••
Progress: None

Wereraven Bane: Crowpoison

Skill: Occult
Obscurity: ••
Progress: None

Wereraven Bane: Simple Banes

Skill: Occult
Obscurity: ••
Progress: None

Wereraven Cunning

Skill: Occult
Obscurity: ••
Progress: Elaine 10 successes, 5 rolls

• 2 successes: Like many corvids, wereravens have almost perfect recollection of things they see, hear, and experience.
• 5 successes: Wereravens are also notably skilled communicators, with a profound talent with languages. They can learn languages very quickly, and become skilled polyglots rapidly.
• 8 successes: Wereravens are master planners, and tend to be hyper-focused in tasks that demand time, dedication, and attention. They are also talented at organizing the efforts of others.
• 10 successes: A limitation of the corvid-esque mind is the fact that wereravens frequently begin to obsess on puzzles and riddles that they encounter, often incapable of turning their attention to other things until they've solved it.

Wereraven Senses

Skill: Occult
Obscurity: ••
Progress: Elaine 13 successes, 3 rolls

• 2 successes: Wereraven eyesight is uncannily acute, allowing them to pick out details others miss. They can also see in low-light situations.
• 5 successes: Wereravens also have strong olfactory senses, although not quite to the degree that werewolves do. They are able to track by scent, however.
• 9 successes: Wereravens intuitively understand microexpressions and chem-tags in body scent, granting them deeper insights into another person's emotions and state of mind.
• 12 successes: Wereravens have a strange affinity for the supernatural, often able to intuit when something supernatural has happened in an area.

Obscurity ••• Topics

Wereravens: Great Queen

Skill: Occult
Obscurity: •••
Progress: None

Wereraven Occult Phenomena

Skill: Occult
Obscurity: •••
Progress: None

Werewolf & Wereraven Relations

Skill: Occult
Obscurity: •••
Progress: None