Lodge of the Spoken Word
The Lodge of the Spoken Word is a Lodge of the Cahalith.
The spirit patron of the Lodge of the Spoken Word is Heart of the City.
Overview
In the late 1970s, an African-American Uratha by the name of Jasmine B publicly rejected poetic verse and epic poems as the means by which Cahalith should share their stories. She said, in essence, that the bardic poem was dead, and there was no reason to keep digging up Shakespeare in the hopes he'd start smelling better. To Jasmine, there was a new age of spoken word and rhythm was the only way to live up to the glories of the past.
She began a formal war against traditional storytelling. As she followed the roots of ethic Africans as it grew and changed in the US, she witnessed the birth of hip-hop and rap. Being a Visionary, she could see the potential in hip-hop as it was bound to the heartbeat of the city. She reasoned that, since some Uratha were destined to be children of the cities, it followed that they would need to adapt to the language and culture of the streets.
As Jasmine promoted her views in as many public forms as she could manage, some older and more established Uratha found her youthful demands for attention to be annoyances at best. Over time, as she started to develop a following, they began to see her and her pack as a threat, both because she was regularly on the scene to challenge the talent and value of traditional Cahalith, and because she had a strong and unsettling tie to the spirits of the city.
No one can say for sure what pack of elders first reached out to try and silence her rabble rousing, but whoever struck first failed dramatically. Jasmine knew things because the city told her. The city streets seemed to bend and and twist so that assassins could not find her easily. When they finally did, she was always prepared; spirits warned her of anyone passing through the urban sprawl with bad intentions meant for her.
This relationship with the city that Jasmine and her followers cultivated grew into a formal lodge when they finally struck a deal with a spirit named Heart of the City. The totem agreed to provide its patronage for the lodge, so long as they never remained static in their message, and that they would evolve along with the music and art in which they lived. Many members of the lodge follow this deal by keeping at the very edge of modern hip-hop and rap, living the lifestyle to the hilt for better or worse. Others seek the small pockets of artistic obscurity, seeking out methods of communication that might evolve into the next big progression. The totem seems no less interested in either extreme.
Membership
Prospective members of the lodge are expected "make their bones." With traditions in civil disobedience and activism, most mainstream members of the lodge made a name for themselves by... well, fucking with elders. Tagging an elder's territory with violent or prophetic hip-hop lyrics or embarrassing them by publicly airing their dirty laundry in rap performances did the trick, though creativity was always rewarded. In more extremist packs, actual violence or even hits against enemies of the street have happened. The lodge has no racial requirements, contrary to popular rumor, though it is home to a larger-then-normal African-American membership.
Game Mechanics
The following are an overview of the game mechanics.
Prerequisites
In order to be able to understand and converse with their peers, all members have both Streetwise and Expression at three dots.
Benefits
Because of their intimate connection to the streets, members of the lodge can purchase Allies: Urban Spirits at half coast. In addition, members of the lodge have access to a Standard of Station fetish.
Standard of Station (•••)
The Standard of Station is a piece of jewelry (any piece will do; gold necklace, silver watch, capped tooth, diamond nose ring). They're usually showy, flashy items in an effort to draw attention. Lodge members infuse the trinket with a spirit of pride, usually awarded to a member as he's made a particularly impressive accomplishment. When the fetish is visible, the Cahalith can activate it. If successful, for the remainder of the scene, the Cahalith's reputation bears down on those who would oppose him. In order to attack, insult, or otherwise oppose him, an assailant must spend a point of Willpower and make a Resolve + Primal Urge roll. If the successes scored do not meet or exceed the Cahalith's own Glory score, the would-be assailant acts with deference and refrains from disrespectful behavior.
Action: Reflexive.
References
- WTF: Signs of the Moon, p. 139-140
