Who else did their Rite of Passage locally and within the last year or so?

  The politics of that are going to be fun if we ever have the (mis)fortune to become tangled up in them. Good thing that we don't have any urban garou among us... oh, wait.

  Ghost would've had her RoP way up north, and probably not within the last year either.

Valgard's Rite of Passage was in Norway.

I can always lean on "Fury-ness" and have Jimena's take place at some isolated Fury-controlled sept, but I kind of liked the idea of perhaps having a Fury "ambassador" help shape something local. (It's also entirely possible, of course, that the Furies have enough presence in the Barton Preserve Sept to shape a local Rite accordingly.)

  I'm pretty sure that Big Sister is local, though obviously not a Fury.

  Given the size of the 'big' pack and the fact that it either is currently or started out as part of some other sept(s), it shouldn't be too hard to have Fury connections across the wider area if Jimena was to go for an all-Fury rite.

  It wouldn't even need a lot of them around - just one or two would enough to introduce her to tribal lore and arrange a solo trial (not all RoPs are group affairs).

  Or she was part of a larger RoP group, some or all of whom joined the 'big' pack afterward but didn't necessarily stay together when it began to spin off smaller ones. (This would also be a good reason to have Ally/Contact/Mentor backgrounds.)

Out of curiosity, what are the general ages people are thinking of going with? I was assuming 16-19 based on us all being new cliaths, but want to make sure I'm on the same page with the rest of you.

Being Metis, Big Sister is likely 10 or so.

Jimena's 19, having experienced her First Change on the "late side of normal."

Sounds good, Valgard is going to be 18.

  Ghost would look a little older than that, though not by much, but being lupus she has different relative aging.
This message was last edited by the player at 01:46, Mon 25 Nov 2019.

I was thinking 21-22, myself

  Where's White Shadow from? A local or an arrival?

Local

in reply to Jimena & Ghost-of-Silver (msgs #62-63)

There are plenty enough local Furies in this area to make a proper Rite, and I'm not averse to having a dedicated Fury pack in proximity if it suits your backstory.

It feels like the pack is gelling pretty well. Do you guys feel like you're about ready to start?
Did we ever decide whether to have a separate pack or have you guys be part of the sept? --because so far, my impression is that we'll just have you in the sept and you can always branch off later if you prefer.

It may just be a terminology thing, but my thought was we were going to be our own pack within the Sept. With the Sept having x number of other packs.

If not, I have a couple of points in Totem I may want to rearrange.

  My take on it is that the mega-pack was in the process of spinning off into smaller packs, so we're technically separate but still closely connected. That gives some balance between independence and mutual support.

  Whether that mega-pack is in the process of establishing a new caern/sept or was just operating within the bounds of an existing one was left open though.

I'm good with being part of the Sept, but the whole starting situation is a bit vague to me so far. seeing as we don't really know each other's characters, being an existing pack is a bit awkward to me.

  If they've been part of the mega-pack that is now breaking down into smaller ones then the characters would know one another at least somewhat, even if the players don't have a clue. They wouldn't necessarily have been configured as a pack until now though.


  GM, if we're operating as an independent-but-close pack in that vein, what's the call on the Totem?

Big Sister, I completely agree with you that trying to build up that rapport that an existing pack would have is difficult if not impossible.

But what if we are a newly formed pack, perhaps not even gone on our Totem quest yet (so not even actually a pack yet...)? My thought is the elders of the Sept/Mega-Pack dictated the formation of our pack for reasons best left to our ST. We were each chosen/selected for one reason or another (maybe the Furies, who we now know have a healthy presence, wanted skin in the game and nominated Jimena, Valgard's father wants him to earn glory so nominated him, the Silver Fangs want to make sure a Fang leads the pack, etc.).

Given that scenario, some of us could know each other based on shared backgrounds, but we don't have to know each other or have any rapport built up. In this case we're not an organically formed pack, but rather told, "you're a pack now, deal with it."

The 'newly formed pack' is a bit of a cliche though, isn't it? And with my background, there would be some odd circumstances for BS joining it.

  We were supposed to come up with connections to at least two others based on that list a few posts back. That gives enough common ground that everyone doesn't have to know everyone right away.

  I'm skeptical about totem quests, mainly because my experience is that games don't survive them for one reason or another. :P

The connections aren't so much the problem as Big Sister's 3 Metis cubs she has to take care of. Before anything, the question needs to be answered why the 4 of them are sent away to a different sept, and then why Big Sister would then join a pack while she also has to care of the Metis. That's why the 'Large Pack' idea fit me a lot better. That's more of a Sept situation where a large group of Garou already live and work together and have all sorts of different roles. In that context, it's a lot easier to have such an established role.

  If the cubs are going to keep the character in the city pretty much all the time then the character probably isn't going to work very well as a PC. Moving them out of the city won't really help if the character is STILL stuck in one spot because they can't get around to do things - not just geographically, but umbral expeditions become a no-go.

  Maybe with the extra 7 points you could drop them as wards and make them into Contacts (or a collective Ally)? That keeps the character connection around without the tie-down, and with the three having (presumably) made it through their RoP, Big Sister is due for a new assignment.

'Caring of Metis' is at the core of Big sister's character, not a side job. It's not even voluntary, this duty got assigned to her if she wanted it or not in the ever present 'dump unwanted shit on the metis' Garou mentality (another key part of her character). That's why it's a Ward flaw. Even if some cubs move on and complete their Rite of Passage, new Metis keep getting dumped on her. By now, word is spreading of the Bone Gnawer metis nanny. Now I get this is inconvenient if you want to join a pack, but that's the fun of this character; nothing is ever easy for Big Sister, and Garou society is very unfair, but she has no way out and has to find her way through it. Even if her pack members call into question why she has to spend so much time away from them on her other duties. It's like trying to have steady RP sessions with a single parent of 3 young children. ^^