Bad Moon Research

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Werewolf Lore (Main Topic)

Skill: Occult

Werewolf Lore, Basic

Obscurity: Occult 0 (General Knowledge Test applies)
Progress: Elaine 16 successes, 6 rolls

  • 1 success: Simple awareness of the concept - dudes who turn into wolfy monsters. The province of Halloween costumes and scary movies.
  • 2 successes: Pop culture knowledge of werewolves, covering the contents of movies, fiction and television shows of the last decade or so.
  • 4 successes: Wikipedia-level information, including use of terms like "lycanthrope" and some of its folklore.
  • 7 successes: Rarer anthropology-level information, including some of the legends of specific cultures.
    • Pre-Christian European Werewolf Legends (•, Academics)
    • Post-Christian European Werewolf Legends (•, Academics)
    • Non-European Werewolf Legends (•, Academics)
    • Werewolf Origins (••)
    • Other Shapeshifters (••)

Werewolf Banes, Traditional

Obscurity: Occult •
Progress: Elaine 15 successes, 6 rolls

  • 1 successes: There is a huge body of lore discussing the kinds of things that injure or repel werewolves, most of it very different depending on the culture.
  • 5 successes: Silver seems to be a universally indicated bane for them. Its touch is variously said to sicken, agonize, weaken or injure them.
    • An Intelligence + Academics -2 test reveals that the main areas that don't corroborate that tend to be from areas without large native silver deposits.
    • Werewolf Bane: Silver (•)
  • 7 successes: Rowan, or the mountain ash, seems to be play an important role in folk practices to repel or protect a dwelling from werewolves.
  • 10 successes: Aconite, or wolfsbane or monkshood, is another weakness attributed to werewolves. It is a poison that is said to be even more deadly to wolves and foxes than it is to humans.
    • Werewolf Bane: Aconite (••)
    • Werewolf Banes: Scientific (••, Occult + Medicine)
  • 12 successes: Certain texts seem to indicate that mercury is a useful poison against werewolves as well, as a substance with lunar associations in the occult.
    • Werewolf Bane: Mercury (••)
  • 14 successes: Belladonna, or deadly nightshade, is given as a protection against werewolves in some legends, supposedly operating on them as a soporific.
    • Werewolf Bane: Belladonna (••)

Werewolf Abilities

Obscurity: Occult •
Progress: Elaine 11 successes, 6 rolls

  • 5 successes: Werewolves are first and foremost known for their various forms of shapeshifting. Different legends attribute different degrees and kind of shapeshifting to them.
  • 7 successes: Werewolf legends also seem to attribute strong senses to them, including strong eyesight, hearing and olfactory senses.
    • Werewolf Senses (••)
  • 10 successes: It is said that a werewolf possesses within himself an "inner wolf" from which he draws some of his power, and that those who bear the curse of lycanthropy must fight against.
    • Werewolf Inner Beast (••)

Atropopaic Warding

Obscurity: Occult •
Progress: Elaine 13 successes, 6 rolls

  • 3 successes: Nearly every culture features techniques for keeping monsters and spirits at bay. There seems to be little agreement in methods, ingredients and philosophy, however.
  • 7 successes: With sufficient study, a pattern has come to the fore. Supernatural creatures seem to have elements which ban them from entering an area or passing a barrier. These substances must be used or prepared in certain ways, however.
  • 13 successes: The character learns the technique for Warding (GMCUpdate p232), as long as he knows the appropriate bane to use.

Werewolf Shapeshifting

Obscurity: Occult •
Progress: Elaine 5 successes, 2 rolls

  • No Milestones

Other Shapeshifters

Obscurity: Occult ••
Progress: Elaine 28 successes, 6 rolls

  • 2 successes: Legends across the world discuss the "cousins" of werewolves, from the werecoyotes of the Americas to the north African werehyenas.
    • Werecoyotes (••)
    • Werehyena (•••)
  • 5 successes: Some of the most common non-werewolf therianthropes said to exist are werebears and werecats. There are plenty of legends about Norse bearsarks (warriors who don bear-skins and shapechange thusly), as well as Native American legends of bears who doff their skins and become human. Likewise, European folklore discusses witches who can take cat shape, African, Asian and indigenous American legends discuss giant predatory cats that can take human shape.
    • Werebears (••)
    • Werecats (•••)
  • 9 successes: There are some legends of less predatory therianthropes, such as wererats throughout the world, and werefoxes in Asia and ancient Rome.
    • Wererats (••)
    • Werefoxes (•••)
  • 14 successes: Legends of therianthropes of flying creatures have existed for a while, as well. Valkyries were said to take the form of ravens in Norse myth, and raven-men hid in the mountains of feudal Japan. In contrast, ancient Roman, north African, and Mesoamerican myth talks about the witches who could become owls.
  • 18 successes: Ancient Malaysian and Indian folklore discuss serpents who can take the form of men, and vice versa. They are attributed with divine powers and origins.
    • Wereserpents (•••)

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.
  • 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 (•••)

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.
  • 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.
  • 10 successes: Wereravens can perform limited shapeshifting by a method they call "Visceral Manifestation," or "breathing in."
    • Wereravens: 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.
    • Wereravens: 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.
    • Wereravens: Ephemeral Manifestations (••)

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.
    • Wereravens: The Rook-Craze (••)
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