Rites of the Kitsune

Rites of the Kitsune are a type of Rite from Werewolf: The Apocalypse. They were first introduced in Hengeyokai: Shapeshifters of the East and are exclusive to the Kitsune. The Opening of the Eyes and Rite of the Crossroads are also considered Mystic Rites.

Overview

There are relatively few Kitsune-created rites. Not only have they had less time to come up with them, they haven't needed to invent as many. The foxes are only too happy to adopt or adapt rites from other hengeyokai, and borrow most of what they need.

Kitsune, as a rule, express tremendously flattering (and often sincere) respect and admiration of the customs of other shen. Thought this will not, naturally, gain them access to the most secret or most sacred rites of others, they have learned many lesser rituals this way. For general purposes, consider that the Nine-Tails have access to beginning (first and second level) rites of the less reclusive hengeyokai. Characters with good reason (Clan, sentai members, a Batsu or Sempai of another breed) may pick up more advanced ceremonies appropriate to their ally's race, area, and the relationship between them. Elders who get around might know almost anything. These rites will work as usual, unless there is some reason that the spirits would simply not heed a Kitsune's call (such as the Baptism of Fire, which relies on Garou tribal spirits).

Rites of the Kitsune List

• The Opening of the Eyes - Level One - This simple rite is used after a Kitsune kit first manifests his powers - which may not always be in the form of a First Change. It isn't the exclusive province of Kitsune; the Foxes teach this rite to many other hengeyokai and even a few other shen, in case a young kit needs awakening and instruction before a Kitsune can arrive. The Opening of the Eyes takes only five minutes to perform, and requires that a shen touch the kit's eyelids and speak a few brief words of purpose, telling the kit of his heritage and what role he will soon play.
• Rite of the Crossroads - Level Three - The Kitsune's Rite of the Crossroads serves much the same purpose as the Beast Courts' Rite of the Opened Way. In it, the Foxes use the power of the four directions to celebrate a kit's first - and only - choice of path. The rite is always performed in a transitional place - although a crossroads is of course most auspicious, bridges over running streams or even doorways also work well. The ritemaster properly purifies the young kit (the rite's subject), then brings her to the site of the rite. There, after proper obeisance to the Emerald Mother, the Silver Lady, Bai-Mianxi and Prince Inari, the ritemaster asks all four to bless their newest child's arrival into adulthood. The ritemaster then lays out four bowls before the kit, one at each direction. The kit sees each bowl as filled with one of the four Paths' elements - clay, lightning, lava and mist. The kit must then reach into the proper bowl, thus choosing her path. Although this can be a painful experience for fledgling Eji or Doshi, the kit suffers no permanent damage. Once her choice is made, and her paws drip with the symbol of her path, the ritemaster ends the rite and takes the new Yakan to her training.

References

• WTA: Hengeyokai: Shapeshifters of the East, p. 173
• WTA/cMET: Hengeyokai: Way of the Beast Courts, p. 223-224
• WTA: Players Guide to the Changing Breeds, p. 109-110