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Review by: Prax
Rating: 7/10
Heresy. Spirit Cults. Bale Hounds. If any of those appeal to you, you will not be disappointed with this book. Those who want a safe little world of neatly packaged truths should look elsewhere.
Blasphemies by Aaron Dembski-Bowden, Wayne Peacock and Chuck Wendig is about a number of things, but in general it can all fall under the heading of heresies and uncomfortable truths. The book opens with a piece of fiction titled Down Among the Dead, which I found somewhat disappointing. As could be expected for a book of this sort it features a Bale Hound, but the plot and depiction of the Bale Hound felt more then a little lacking. It felt more like a showcase of what other information was to come rather then a proper piece of fiction. Luckily the book only improves after that.
After the usual Introduction we move on to Chapter 1: Heresies, which discusses alternate creation myths for the Uratha. The chapter discusses some of the purposes heresies can serve in a Chronicle as well as the consequences and rewards of casting doubt upon the core creation myth. Also discussed are the basic structure of creation myths and the major components of the accepted story of Father Wolf. The Chapter closes out with a look at four quite varied alternate creation myths and how they change the outlook of the Uratha who put stock in them. Of the four my favorite was probably the myth titled “Curse of the Werewolf,” but then I’ve always had a thing for the myth of Arkadia and King Lykaon.
Chapter 2: Brotherhoods is more expansive and concerns cults as the specifically pertain to the Forsaken and their antagonists. Appropriately enough spirits are covered in quite a bit of depth from exactly what a spirit gains from a cult of mortal followers to how it can gather these hypothetical followers. Several new Numina are introduced specifically for that purpose. Cults centering around the Urged, Claimed and even the Spirit-Thieves are also covered along with short descriptions of several example cults of all sorts. Blasphemies does not merely stick with spirits though, cults centered around the Hosts, Pure, Forsaken and even Zi’ir are also discussed. The chapter ends with two more developed example cults one centered around the remaining servants of a fallen idigam and one centered around a nest of Beshilu. A full trait write-up is provided for each cult’s “leader.”
Chapter 3: Hidden Lodges provides full write-ups for seven new Lodges exactly as you would find them written up in Lodges: The Faithful. The Lodge of Arkadia is based around the Curse of the Werewolf creation myth presented in Chapter 1, while the Lodge of Mania believes that madness is one of Luna’s gifts to the Forsaken. The Lodge of Fevered Light is a Fire-Touched lodge based around a human cult. The Lodge of the Crossroads is probably my favorite. It is based not around heresy so much as pursuing the truths behind American folklore, charting and controlling the way things like urban legends and rumors affect America’s spiritual landscape. The Brotherhood of Crossed Swords and the Lodge of Quetzal are two South American based lodges that are linked by mutual antagonism. Also introduced with them are a new type of shape-shifting jaguar monster known as the Balam-Colop whose image the Lodge of Quetzal attempts to capitalize on in its war against the Brotherhood of Crossed Swords. The chapter ends out with a new type of lodge culture known as Mots. Their myths and folklore draw heavily from Teutonic mythology and they place a lot of stock in the swearing of oaths, to the point that two new rites are introduced specifically for swearing oaths between individuals and between packs. The two example Mots are the Valkyrja Mot, an all female lodge that purports to be responsible for the human myths of the Valkyries and the Eiwaz Mot a tight knit and dangerous group of werewolves out for power who empower their members with the belief in the innate superiority of werewolves over all others.
Chapter 4: The Bale Hounds ends out the book. Within this chapter you will not so much find answers as all the tools necessary to use Bale Hounds as antagonists within your own chronicle. Methodologies are suggested and explanations for their existence are provided. If you want them to simply be a bunch of individuals working at their own twisted goals, so be it. If you want them to be some twisted religious faith centered around the Maeljin Incarna, that’s covered as well. If you want them to be a formal, secretive and cancerous lodge nestled amongst the Pure and Forsaken; that is covered as well. You will even find the tools necessary to make the Bale Hounds the hidden ninth Tribe of werewolves with their own dark Firstborn totem. Three new Gift Lists, one new Merit, three new Rites and a new Talen and Fetish are also introduced to give your Bale Hound antagonists a unique and disturbing edge.
Blasphemies is at its most useful as a Storyteller resource. There is very little within it that I personally consider useful to your average player. However, for Storytellers it is the perfect book for twisting your own Chronicles up to 180 degrees away from your average Forsaken chronicle. If you want to make your characters question their beliefs, tear the setting apart revealing dark and disturbing truths that your players never even suspected or simply work in a quirky group of cultists who kill in the name of Abraham Lincoln, well this is the book for you. As typical for a well written, but primarily storyteller resource I give this book a 7 out of 10. Be forewarned though someone in the editing department was lazier then usual with this book.
