The Forsaken Are Coming

[Beecham]

Not an anime, not a video game, but a roleplaying game nonetheless. The second game in White Wolf's Storytelling series is only a few weeks away. Werewolf: the Forsaken is the follow up to last year's Vampire: the Requiem, and is the successor to their original Werewolf: the Apocalypse.

The game allows you to take on the role of a an Uratha, a werewolf very much unlike what you are used to in movies and popular fiction. For those who are familiar with Apocalypse, the Uratha are not Garou either. Gone is the struggle against the ephemeral insane force of the Wyrm, gone is the global war for the Earth Mother, Gaia. The focus of Forsaken is much more on the individual unit of werewolf society, the wolf pack, and that pack's territory and their struggle to keep it free of dark spirit influence, unwitting human interlopers and even incursions of other werewolves - including the Forsaken's dark cousins, the so called Pure Tribes.



The Forsaken have a duty, one which they risked everything to uphold. Risked everything, and lost. Father Wolf, the great primeval spiritual father of the Uratha, had been the Guardian of the Border Marches, the great divide between the physical and spiritual worlds. He sired the Uratha with Mother Luna, a great Celestine - one of the highest caste of spirit - governing the concept of the moon. But in siring children, he weakened his own powers, and soon spirits began to slip past his notice, setting up tyranical kingdoms in the physical plain, enslaving humanity bit by bit. The Firstborn, Father Wolf's children with other spirits, saw what was coming. The Uratha saw what was coming. Father Wolf was failing in his duties. But Father Wolf could never rest until someone could replace him in his role. Not all the Uratha agreed, but enough did. It is in their nature, after all; when a wolf pack's alpha grows old, one of his pups is bound to challenge him and take control of the pack. So, too, must Father Wolf's pups challenge him. But even as Father Wolf could not stop until he had a replacement, so too was he bound not to raise his claws or fangs against any who truly intended to replace him.

And so they killed him.

They killed him, as any wolf would do, but the death of no other wolf would have the same effect as Father Wolf's did. His death cry utterly destroyed the one who landed the final blow, and tore a wound in the Border Marches. Pangaea, the primeval paradise where spirit and matter existed in harmony, was shattered in that terrible cry.

Mother Luna, in her rage and in her grief, cursed all her children. Forsaken of their mother, forsaken of the spirits, the Uratha who embraced the need to slay their own father knew there was a job to do. For too long, though, they squabbled over to whom the rank of true alpha would fall. Their cousins, who were too cowardly to realize what needed to be done - or who were all to happy letting Father Wolf's efforts falter - had no part of it, but instead began to call themselves the "Pure," and swore vengeance on their Forsaken kin.

And then descended the Lunes. Mother Luna in her ever changing nature could not remain forever unforgiving. To those who asked it of her, she granted forgiveness in the form of auspices, the blessings of the moon, and the Lunar Choirs. Five auspices and five Choirs, to represent each of her faces: warrior, storyteller, diplomat, mystic and stealthy predator. Whether she could not or would not entirely rescind her Curse, no one knows, but the Forsaken feel its touch far less than do their so-called Pure cousins. The Pure scoffed such forgiveness, saying Mother Luna was but one of many spirits; they called the Forsaken heretics for venerating Mother Luna when they should have done the same for Father Wolf.

The violent struggle for true alpha was over with Luna's blessings bestowed; the entire of the Forsaken became Father Wolf's true successors. The Uratha split then into five Tribes, extended families of choice based on the methods by which they fulfilled their duties.

Fierce warriors, not only of the warrior Rahu auspice but of -all- auspices, tracked down Fenris-Ur the Destroyer Wolf, and finally besting him in battle earned the right to become the Suthar Anzuth, the Blood Talons Tribe.

Still others sought out Kamduis-Ur the Death Wolf, to become students of her expansive knowledge, just as she had been the student of her sire Father Wolf, becoming the Hirfathra Hissu, the Bone Shadows Tribe.

The stealthiest trackers hunted and found Hikaon-Ur the Black Wolf, proving themselves worthy of following the greatest stalker of the night, and thus formed the Meninna, the Hunters in Darkness Tribe.

The most cunning of the Uratha found patronage in Sagrim-Ur the Red Wolf, proving themselves in empassioned speach and in besting his riddles, forging the Farsil Luhal, the Iron Masters Tribe.

The most honorable and the most devious of the Uratha found Skolis-Ur the Winter Wolf, second born son of Father Wolf whose task had been to watch over his brothers and sisters, and earned his respect by demanding he show the same responsibility to his half-flesh cousins, backing their claim with strength of both will and muscle, crafting the Iminir, the Storm Lords.

Today, the Border Marches are gone, shrunken and hardened into more of a gauntlet than a border between the increasingly disparate spirit and material worlds. Blind human folly and malicious spirit intent make their job all the more difficult, but the Uratha still hold to their duty. The Pure would like nothing more than to see the Forsaken dead and the return of Pangaea. But the Forsaken know that nothing will bring Pangaea back; without them, the only thing of old that will return is the tyranny of dark spirits over the material world.

You were never human. You were always something more, something greater. Discover your birthright, your heritage, your blessing and your curse. Howl to the moon and join us, pup, there is work to do.

[Trevoke]

Gah.. I want to read it so bad but he doesn't want me to know anything about it!
Must.. Roll... Willpower...
Damn. Saved.
_________________
There are weapons you cannot hold in your hand.
You can only hold them in your mind.
-- Bene Gesserit Teaching

[Beecham]

I'm just shocked no one else here seems to be interested. Just because tabletopping is a different creature than playing console RPGs, I'm surprised as all hell that there isn't so much as a peep from people into both. Ah well.

And thank you for not reading, but the point will become moot soon as most of this post will be emailed to you as Daren's Storyttime (tm). The majority of this text will be the explanation he gives you. I'll prolly taylor it to each player, but otherwise this is what I was talking about sending at the game.

[Trevoke]

Yes but this is a matter of Honor(tm) and Pride(tm) and I-want-my-story-time ... ;-)
_________________
There are weapons you cannot hold in your hand.
You can only hold them in your mind.
-- Bene Gesserit Teaching

[iscalio]

[Beecham]

Well, I'm a huge fan of Apocalypse too, which actually is how I got the position at Shadownessence which led to my advance copy of Forsaken.

I can't say now which backstory I like better, though I'm really beginning to lean towards Forsaken. I had such a grand idea about how to run the Apocalypse itself though, I'm really sad about that game falling apart. And I've got so many people wanting to try out Forsaken, I don't know if I'll ever get the time to revive my Apocalypse game. I'm sad, but I'm also excited, because I've never run a session so well as my first session of Forsaken.

Tell me more about that all-human WoD game though, that sounds interesting.

[Trevoke]

All-mortal WoD.. That's gotta be cool, I can just imagine it from here. It's a little like Hunter 'cause you can die easily but you're not fighting vampires.. Necessarily.. Just trying to survive through WoD ? With of course a plot otherwise it's boring. So.. Yeah.. Please elaborate :)
_________________
There are weapons you cannot hold in your hand.
You can only hold them in your mind.
-- Bene Gesserit Teaching

[Beecham]

It's good now that you didn't read it, Trevoke, since I decided you're getting a different story than this, to some degree or another. I'll write it in the morning. I just got to write the first official review for the book on White Wolf's online catalog, but in doing so somehow find myself still awake at 3am. So, morning it will be.

*still eagerly awaits hearing about iscalio's mortal WoD game*

[Reideen]

Naaa....the Forsaken maybe really good in terms of "Werewolfs vs. Werewolfs" but I prefer the old W:tA because "fight for our mother Gaia" was the phrase that made me play Werewolf : the Apocalypse.
...Times must go on but...for the time being , I stay at the apocalypse for a bit until I have enough of it and try out to play one of the forsaken...


---> loyal Silverfang-player , Reideen
_________________
"Do not shoot until I give the command !"

[Beecham]

And there's absolutely no reason you can't continue with loyalty to the Apocalypse. I myself would love to finish telling the story I began in my Apocalypse chronicle. Unfortunately, two of my players were my now-ex-girlfriend and her best friend, neither of whom I talk to anymore; and the best friend was the most important character to tell the story I needed to tell. So it's unlikely I'll ever finish it, unless I make her an NPC.

So far my Forsaken chronicle seems to be... well, it's sort of neutral right now. I'm a bit of a novice storyteller still, but I'm learning a lot with each session. I also have one very, very advanced roleplayer in my troupe, who continually challenges my abilities. Not like he tries to throw the game off - if he did, I would ask him to leave - but just by playing his character, he often takes the game in unexpected directions. The bulk of my learning experience comes from keeping the story flowing and reacting to my players when they come up with ideas I never expected.

As for the whole Mother Gaia thing, there's really no reason not to include her in Forsaken. I am slowly building ideas for another group of shifter like beings. They will be analogs of a sort to the Gurahl, who revere Gaia - not sure if I'm going to call her Gaia or not, but the idea will be the same. They, unlike the Uratha, will be very concerned with the life of the planet itself. I've yet to decide how to handle whether they can access the Shadow or when they can access it, but I'm working on the details. It's a slow process, since I'm also working on wereowls. I hope to release both of those publically at some point in the future. If they sound at all interesting, drop me a PM, there's a site I can tell you about that you might like. Even if you're not interested in Forsaken, there's a fairly good Apocalypse community going that you can join.

[Reideen]

I have more of this players in my group who're just playing there characters and throw everything over.
example :

ST :" Fine...your inside now , and every single Endron-worker is sleeping"
Me :" I use 'Wyrm-Sense' "
ST :" It stinks of wyrm ... "
Me :" Scent of the true form "
ST :" Fomori...every single one"
CoG :" I take away the sheet of one ..."
ST :" A snow-man ...but the snow is black..."
CoG :" Even with carrot ?"
ST :" Yes , even with a carrot-nose"
CoG :" 'kay...i eat the carrot "
Everone else :" YOU DO WHAT ????"
ST :" A Black oily liquid is flowing over her body"
Me :" AAARGH !!!"
CoG :" Grandmothers Touch !!! Grandmothers Touch !!! 5 success !"
ST :" It stops...but don't vanish "
Me :" phew...where could he be ?"
CoG :"...I ask the wall with 'Oaksong' "
Me :" ...fine..."
ST :" the wall says 'yes ?'"
CoG :" Can you tell me where my packmate 'calm-spirit' is ?"
ST :" 'Yeah...you just have to touch me...'"
CoG :" Why ?"
ST :" 'I'll show you if you touch me...' "
Me :" Hint :' Don't do it !!! ' "
CoG :" Fine ...I'll touch it "
Everone else :" YOU DO WHAT ???"
ST :" The oily liquid is starting to grow again "
CoG :" GRANDMOTHERS TOUCH !!! GRANDMOTHERS TOUCH !!!"
Me :" IDIOT !!!"

Well..thats what happens almost everytime we are playing -.-"
Being an Alpha is not easy *sigh*
Well...when I have a bit more time to spent I'll come back to you offer...thanks
_________________
"Do not shoot until I give the command !"