Blood Talon Rites
Blood Talon Rites are rites that are only available to the Blood Talons.
The Blood Talons have a reputation, one not entirely deserved, for being without mystical inclination. Although their rites tend to have a more martial bend than other tribes, Blood Talons ritualists are no less adept at their art. The following rites were developed or discovered by the Suthar Anzuth, and for the most part are exclusive to the tribe. There's no particular reason members of other tribes couldn't use them, but the Talons don't teach these rites to outsiders often, either because they deal with specific tribal rituals (Rite of First Blood) or because they are embarrassing secrets the tribe would rather not share with outsiders (Courage of the Fallen).
Initiation Rites
The Blood Talons are infamous for their simple and yet brutal initiation ceremonies.
- Jumping In: In order to find a place in the tribe, a prospective member must survive a savage beating by the established members of the tribe.
- The Lady or the Tiger: This ordeal is designed to test the initiate's cunning and ability to think and plan more than her ability to destroy an enemy or survive a beating. The prospective Talon is given the names and locations of two individuals: one is a Ridden (or a Host, or a vampire, mage or other threat to the territory), while the other is an ordinary mortal. The initiate's task is to observe both, determine which is the threat and eliminate it.
- Running the Gauntlet: Seldom invoked; a group of between three or five initiates run through a planned course through the Shadow.
First Edition Rite List
New Rites
Rite of First Blood: When a cub takes his first wound in battle, the Blood Talons celebrate. To face death and survive, to be wounded in service to the memory of Father Wolf, is a glorious thing. Blood Talons perform this rite the first time a cub newly initiated into the tribe is severely injured in battle. The Rite of First Blood commemorates the event, which is considered a major milestone in a blood Talon's life and a truly Glorious event.- Rite of the Blademaster: The Blood Talons expect every member of the tribe to be a warrior. Even the less martially-inclined auspices are expected to be competent in a fight. The tribe's more established members know, however, that competence in battle doesn't just spring up overnight. Training takes time, and the unfortunate truth is that a battle rarely waits around until all the recruits are fully trained and prepared. The tribe developed this rite for emergencies when even the most raw, untested cubs must be pressed into service to defend a territory.
- This rite is a popular one, especially in dangerous territories that see a high rate of turnover among packs. While use of the rite carries no stigma on its own, many Talons consider it lazy or disrespectful to invoke the rite casually. A warrior should earn his skill at arms through effort, not simply magic them into existence with tattoos.
- Courage of the Fallen: Some small sects of the Blood Talon tribe, mostly in isolated corners of the world, perform a bizarre and borderline blasphemous practice known as ghu-ghabhasughar. When a warrior of the Suthar Anzuth defeats an enemy, he ritually consumes the flesh of his vanquished foe to take in its courage and ferocity. Certainly, the act of eating one's kills is not inherently bad, but many followers of this practice simply do not discriminate based on Harmony. Packs deep in the practice of ghu-ghabhasughar will devour slain humans, Pure Tribe werewolves and even Forsaken rivals.
- Because of this rite's association with cannibal cults, the Courage of the Fallen rite has a dark reputation in the tribe. The rite itself is innocuous, and can be used on any sort of prey without causing a Harmony violation except humans, wolves or werewolves. Nevertheless, few ritualists will teach this rite, and merely knowing it is enough to get a Blood Talon run out of a territory or even killed in certain parts of the world.
- Rite of the Battle Brand: A pack of howling, snarling Uratha wearing the war form and charging out of the darkness with Rage in their eyes is an intimidating sight. Most any human, and more than a few of the supernatural denizens of the World of Darkness, would flee in abject terror at such a vision of death bearing down on them. But when the natural intimidation factor of a werewolf's Rage isn't enough, the Blood Talons employ this rite, to pump themselves up before a battle and to intimidate their foes.
- Although many Blood Talon ritualist agree that the Rite of the Battle Brand is an original creation of their tribe, this rite has a bad reputation in some areas contested by the Pure. The imagery of the ritual is undeniably similar to that used in the rites of the Fire-Touched, and the Izidakh are known to employ similar pre-battle rituals. Whether this is a case of parallel evolution or one tribe appropriating the rituals of their enemies, ritualists are advised to step lightly when performing this rite in territories where war against the Anshega is common.
- Rite of the Last Stand: Hoaratius at the bridge over the Tiber. Leonidas and hos 300 at Thermopylae. The Swiss Guard during the sack of Rome. The Five Lizards pack at Cherry Tree. The story of the last, epic stand is a powerful one for humans and Uratha alike. The Blood Talons in particular admire the glory of a life given in unwinnable battle so that others may live, and the Talons' greatest ritualists have devised a rite to aid their warriors in their final battles. Only the most skilled ritualists can perform this rite, and only the greatest warriors of the tribe are blessed with its power. To use this rite in any but the most dire of need is considered a grave insult to the Destroyer Wolf and Urfarah himself.
- Down through the ages, dozens of tales have been told about the use of this rite. During the Brethren War, a pack of veteran Blood Talons in Detroit invoked the Rite of the Last Stand on Devil's Night in 1984 as seven packs of Anshega rolled over their territory. During the First World War, a pack trapped in the Ardennes made a last stand against a phantom army conjured up by an enormous Wound in the heart of the forest. Those who face the final battle with courage and honor are glorified in song by the tribe's Moon-Dancers; the Lodge of the Einherjar is especially interested in these stories.
Second Edition Rite List
Wolf Rites
- Kindle Fury: This rite draws on the ancient pact between Fenris-Ur and the Blood Talons, granting the Suthar Anzuth the power of their patron.
- This rite is only taught to Blood Talons.
References
- WTF: Tribes of the Moon, p. 20-23, 39-43
- WTF: Werewolf: The Forsaken Second Edition, p. 140
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