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Review by: Prax
Rating: 7/10
A useful supplement for the spiritual side of Uratha culture.
Lore of the Forsaken written by James Comer, Aaron Dembski-Bowden, Wayne Peacock and Stewart Wilson is basically the Forsaken primer for animism in the World of Darkness as it pertains to the Uratha. Answers and overviews are provided for such things as the Firstborn, the nature of Gifts and Rites, Loci, Fetishes and even the Maeljin.
The book opens as always with a piece of fiction, though this one is rather unique. Instead of an entire story The Tarot of Eight Packs provides us with eight rather short vignettes that offer a glimpse into life as a werewolf from a number of different angles. I can’t say I was particularly impressed with the format, but it was an interesting change. After that we get the typical introduction explaining what the book is about as well as a short discussion on animism in the World of Darkness in general.
Chapter 1: Lords of the Hidden World is where things truly begin. This chapter discusses the bonds between werewolves and spirits, specifically the bonds of pack, tribe and moon. Answers are provided for questions about why a spirit would bond itself to a group of werewolves, what it gets out of that bond and what it takes to convince a spirit to agree to such a bond. After this there is a discussion of Luna, her aspects and the nature of her bond to werewolves. There is very little concrete about this discussion, but there is definitely a lot more information provided about the Uratha’s spiritual mother then you will find in the corebook. The following section discussing the Firstborn is one of my favorite parts of the book. It discusses each of the Firstborn, the legend of that totem’s binding and what it means to be accepted into one of their Tribes. Also discussed are the various rites of initiation as well as what kind of relationship an individual member of the Tribe can expect to have with her Tribal Totem. Information is even provided for Rabid Wolf, Silver Wolf and Dire Wolf. However, their write-ups are framed more in terms of what kind of way these dark gods can serve as antagonists to the Forsaken.
The chapter ends with a discussion of the Maeljin. Each of the nine is given a short write-up, but the majority of this section is devoted to their servants the Maeltinet, avatars of the dark spirits they serve and the most likely form in which the Uratha will encounter opposition from the Maeljin. In total nine example Maeltinet are provided with full trait write-ups and suggested bans. At the very end expanded rules for Wounds, spiritually blighted areas of the Shadow, are provided. Overall a sound chapter filled with lots of useful details to enhance any chronicle either as a player or a storyteller.
Chapter 2: Pull of the Moon answers all the questions either a player or storyteller could have about Auspices. Each Auspice is discussed in depth with regards to tribe, role in the pack, renown and the all important facet of werewolf existence: the hunt. Several potential archetypes for each Auspice are then discussed that serve as a nice starting point for any player or storyteller having difficulty in coming up with a character concept. The chapter ends with five new Auspice specific Gift Lists providing members of every Auspice with a few new tricks to use in performing the duties Mother Luna has ordained for them.
Chapter 3: Spirit Magic is a comprehensive discussion of Gifts and Rites. Have you ever wondered how Gifts are learned or even work from the stand point of the story? What about the true nature of the Rites that Uratha call upon? This chapter answers those questions and a few more in quite a bit of depth. I found this chapter highly informative especially with regards to rites and how best to incorporate them into a Chronicle. The chapter ends out with three new Gift Lists specific to no tribe or auspice and follows up with five new Rites of varying utility. I enjoyed the new Gift lists, but the rites at least to me left something to be desired.
Chapter 4: The Living World begins with a discussion of Loci. I’m not quite sure what I was looking for in a write-up about loci, but I know that despite being nicely written I didn’t find it in this chapter. What I did find was a discussion of the basic composition, suggested resonances and some nice pointers on how to describe loci in game so that each one is unique. Also answered are questions about non-standard Loci such as mobile and living loci. While such options are not recommended the ramifications of making such a choice are discussed sensibly. After the discussion about Loci the chapter moves on to discussing Awakened Spirits. This was one of the most interesting parts of this chapter and quite informative in explaining the differences between an awakened object and a fetish. It is also the only place I’ve seen that discussed the differences between awakened objects, ephemeral reflections, fetishes and spirits in the Shadow.
The chapter then ends with a discussion of Fetishes. A number of new things I learned in this chapter were that each Fetish has a lifespan, what it takes to keep one happy and why it’s a good idea to keep your fetishes happy. There is also a very nice system provided for creating your own unique fetishes that I have since used successfully many times. Finally the book finishes up with a collection of about forty new fetishes ranging from the useful to the strange. Unfortunately a few of the write-ups fell short of providing complete explanations for how the individual fetishes worked mechanically, but if nothing else there are plenty of examples showing off the numerous possibilities for spiritually empowered objects.
Overall Lore of the Forsaken is a very useful supplement for anyone curious about the spiritual side of Uratha culture. I give it a rating of 7 out of 10 since you will find yourself coming back to the book again and again, but mostly for the mechanics on awakened items and the fetish creation system. The rest of the information is nice to go over now and again if you’re a Storyteller, but the average player will probably give it the once over and be done with it.
