Gifts 

 

The inhabitants of the spirit world share their secrets with werewolves and other shapechangers. In accordance with pacts struck long ago, the spirits teach Gifts, magical abilities of many sorts, to all of the shifting breeds. Tribe, breed and auspice all influence a spirit’s willingness to teach a particular Gift to merefolk; every community within the merefolk has its own secrets and connections.There’s a story behind each Gift: A spirit bound itself to a pact to teach that Gift to all of Gaia's shifters who meet a particular qualification. Storytellers and players should keep this in mind when characters use Gifts in play.

Gifts do not come automatically or mechanically. Living spirits teach them, and when a shifter fails particularly impressively in his fundamental duties, the spirits can and will revoke their Gifts. The Gifts come to allow merefolk to accomplish their assigned roles and tasks more thoroughly, not to do whatever seems like fun. Gifts are divided into three levels. Basic Gifts are available to the youngest of the merefolk, the Surface from the moment of their First Change, while Advanced Gifts are granted to those merefolk who have done great deeds. A new merefolk begins with one Basic Gift each from the lists for her breed, auspice and tribe. The player can spend freebie points to acquire more starting Gifts during character creation and can buy others after play begins with experience points and suitable roleplay.

 

 

Learning Gifts

The quickest and most reliable way for merefolk to learn a Gift is through dealing with spirits of the sea. Either the merefolk petitions a suitable spirit himself, or he requests an elder merefolk to do so on his behalf. No spirit teaches a Gift to a shifter who hasn’t earned the proper rank, and only spirits allied with the merefolk willingly teach Gifts at all. The usual way to learn a Gift is to travel to the deepest waters a merefolk can reach, where the power of the ocean is at it's greatest. The traveling merefolk then petitions the sea spirits directly. It is considered unwise and disrespectful to summon a powerful sea spirit in the shallows.Unfortunately, the world is sadly lacking in powerful sea spirits as the Apocalrpse approaches, so it’s often necessary to seek compromises. The next best course of action is for the Gift-seeking merefolk to ask a powerful Darkwater of the merefolk's tribe to petition the spirit on the seeker’s behalf. The Darkwater's rank and expertise in rites can offset some of the penalty from calling a spirit in any but the deepest waters.

A merefolk may choose to enter the Umbra and seek out a spirit teacher directly.This is generally a bad idea. Inexperienced merefolk can easily offend a spirit, and doing that in the spirit’s home realm leads to reprisals that may insure the merefolk never gets home. Even a well-behaved merefolk arouses spirits’ suspicion by making a request without proper support from Darkwater and ritual.

Storytellers and players alike should keep in mind that spirits aren’t vending machines for Gifts. Every spirit has its own personality, history, concerns and agenda. Merefolk who spend time cultivating the spirit’s company may win an ally as well as a source of Gifts, and spirits do sometimes return (without advance notice) to see how merefolk use their Gifts. Those who fulfill the general mission of the merefolk and the more specific callings of their auspice, breed and tribe earn favor and may have an easier time dealing with pleased spirits in the future. Roleplaying the experience around the challenges to learn Gifts can strengthen a chronicle and help guide it away from cliche'.

Merefolk can teach Gifts to each other. This is inefficient, and when spirits find out that merefolk have been doing it, some sort of atonement must almost always follow to restore spiritual harmony, this is never a light price. When a spirit teaches a Gift, it merges with the merefolk’s soul and, in a period ranging from an hour (for Basic Gifts) up to a single night (for the most complex Advanced Gifts), the spirit shows the merefolk what to do and how it feels when the Gift works properly. When one merefolk teaches another, on the other hand, it takes at least a full lunar month and often more. Practice requires a great deal of experimentation and often painful failure. Merefolk teach Gifts this way because they must, thanks to the shortage of elders as well as of powerful spirits, nevertheless this practice is frowned upon both by surviving spirits and elders. A merefolk teaching a Gift to another merefolk must be of the same Rank or above (or only one level less, if they’re packmates). Unless otherwise stated, Gifts may retest with the Occult Ability.

 

The Consequences

Once he leams a Gift, a shifter does not forget it. Once a spirit teaches a Gift, that spirit cannot remove it : It’s now part of the merefolk’s own nature, an innate ability to call upon like the reflexes for walking. Merefolk who use their Gifts in disregard for the sea, their society or The Law and fundamental tenets of merefolk society face social sanction, even as their Gifts continue to work. In the gravest extreme, Incarnae and Celestines can block a merefolk’s access to the Gifts their spirit broods teach. This is usually a temporary matter, Lasting until the merefolk atones; blocking Gifts permanently is far more shameful than a mere death sentence. Most merefolk live their lives without ever seeing a great spirit’s sanction imposed, though tales circulate about the unfortunates who suffer the consequences. The vast majority of packs and pools intervene to discipline or expel their rebellious members long before one of the kings of the spirit world can take offense.Social sanctions can punish careless or inappropriate use of Gifts. Gifts are aids to the merefolk and very seldom the only solution to a given problem. Players are discouraged from a hack 'n slash mentality, especially where gifts are concerned. Likewise with other Gifts, which merefolk might attempt to justify with appealing to just one of the taboos that define merefolk norm. There’s seldom just one relevant principle, and Poseidon gave His children judgment as well as strength. Storytellers and players alike should feel free to ask “Was this agood idea?“ as well as to reward innovation and ingenuity. Merefolk who use their Gifts intelligently as well as courageously should earn favor for it.