Werewolf The Eater Of Names

Werewolf: the Forsaken - The Eater of Names

A Werewolf: the Forsaken game set in Hong Kong.

Hong Kong

Werewolf Oddities of Hong Kong

• Something steals the First Change of the majority of nusuzul. At the moment of the Change, they have their newfound nature torn out of them by an unknown force, leaving them as normal humans suffering a psychotic break – even former Wolf-Blooded have their inheritance stripped from them at this moment.
• The territories of Hong Kong are a complete patchwork between the different factions. There are no solid battle lines between Pure and Forsaken, and the vertical nature of the urban landscape means that even a small scrap of land can be more than enough to patrol for most packs. The Shadow reflection of the city sees a spiritual ecosystem that is just as confused and turbulent.
• Due to the sheer population density and the patchwork nature of the territories, Hong Kong packs have strong traditions about hospitality and allowances for crossing another pack's turf – even between Pure and Forsaken.
• There are no Protectorates in Hong Kong. The closest to any sort of formal structure are the Five Great Packs – the Wen, Hou, Peng, Tang and Liao, formed from amongst the Uratha of the mortal clans of the area in 1899. The Great Packs are probably the largest and most influential of the city, but with respect comes responsibility, and they are expected to provide aid and guidance to other werewolves. These expectations, again, cross factional lines.
• Tribes and allegiances to Pure and Forsaken are important, but Hong Kong also plays host to a number of strange packs allied to neither faction, packs amongst foreign immigrant populations with odd practices and traditions, and a focus on Lodges. The sheer density of the city can make the patchwork of territories confusing and Tribes rarely organise on a wide scale, but Lodge connections matter and underpin much of the social fabric of Hong Kong.
• With so much movement in and out of Hong Kong, its transitional position in the world (geographically, politically and symbolically) and its possession of so many layers and shadows that even the werewolves cannot plumb them all, the city is a hotbed for weirdness and occult conspiracies. Yao guai and jiang shi slither through the darkness, hungry ghosts and watery shades prowl at the fringes, and now the forces of the dreaded Cull are preparing to assault the borders of the territory – something that has both Pure and Forsaken alike on edge.
• Local Uratha lore has it that, in some past age, Hong Kong was the site of a meeting between the Nine Dragons – held to be the eight Firstborn of the Pure and the Forsaken, and a last figure of disputed nature. Some believe it was one of the first Chinese emperors. It was this gathering of beings of incredible power that, it is claimed, is responsible for the strong currents of Essence that pour through the region's Shadow even today.
• The chenghuanshen, the city-spirit of Hong Kong, definitely exists – but its nature is not entirely clear. It may actually be a consciousness split across a number of powerful urban spirits, and seems quite capable of fighting with itself as much as any other spirit nobles of the region. Furthermore, it has a long-running feud with the spirits of the mountains and the peaks.

The Blossom Society Pack

History is important to the packs of Hong Kong, although knowledge of the past of the Forsaken is usually rather patchy:

• Most Kowloon Forsaken hark back to the Salt Eaters, a pack that controlled much of the area in the middle of the second millenium.
• In the late 1800s, the third bubonic plague wracked China; as a result the Yellow-Feathered Owls, a pack of Bone Shadows and Hunters in Darkness, controlled what is now Sham Shui Po.
• In 1899, territorial unrest with the five Chinese clans in the area resulted in the creation of the Five Great Packs; the original Cherry Gardens themselves were held by a daughter pack of the Wen, the White Jade pack.
• After the Japanese occupation, the predecessors of the Blossom Society took over the area. They were not opposed in doing so; the sheer damage done by the occupation had resulted in the deportation or deaths of most of the White Jade and their extended pack.

Of the pack's previous Uratha, the existing pack members may know of the following:

• 'Red Shroud' – Bone Shadow, formed pack in aftermath of Japanese occupation – famous for dealing with a terrifying plague of restless ghosts and widely venerated by Uratha across Hong Kong for her accomplishments.
• Wen Liang – Iron Master, powerful figure amongst the packs in the 60's and 70's, infamous for his involvement in the 1967 riots and his killing of a number of communist ringleaders. A name both respected and feared.
• Melissa Tsang – Blood Talon, took control of the Cherry Garden Night Market in the 80s by driving out the Sung-Ti, a vicious yao guai and its Fire-Touched Pure followers.

The recent losses the pack has suffered are:

• James 'Steeljaw Trap' Liu – Hunter in Darkness Cahalith and member of the Lodge of Seven Venoms. Died five years ago fighting beshilu in the typhoon shelter; he sank a floating crane raft infested with Rat Hosts while he was still onboard.
• Gwok Mei – Bone Shadow Rahu and member of the Lodge of Death. Left two years ago in response to the Lodge calling a pilgrimage against the Cull in northern China. She has not been heard from since.
• Mark Callahan-Cheung – Iron Master shaman, local landlord and member of the Yau Tsim Mong district council. Died under strange circumstances one month before the game's beginning, which the pack had difficulties investigating due to Mark's public position as a councilman and the police and press interest in the case.

The totem of the pack is the Eight Lanterns Minister, spirit of the Cherry Gardens Night Market. The minister appears in the form of a set of grandiose mandarin ministerial garb, threaded with lines of neon and jangling talismans of commerce, wrapped around a withered but strong frame. Its face is concealed behind a veil, but seems to emanate a gentle glow. Lanterns hang from a frame of lacquered wood that floats behind its shoulders; the colours of the lanterns often indicate the spirit's mood.

The Eight Lanterns Minister has served the pack as totem since the 1980s, its fortunes waxing and waning over that time. It is devious, smart and opportunistic. The Minister is a very lowly spirit noble, with a paltry court of lesser spirits of the market at its beck and call; it in turn is the vassal of the spirit noble of Temple Street Night Market, which has caused some friction with the Wen over the years.

Werewolves

• Red Lantern Widow, Bone Shadow Elodoth, formerly wife of an up and coming politician until she killed him during her First Change. She uses his skull as a focus in her rites.
• Lucky Rat, Hunter in Darkness Rahu, whose pest control company gives him an overwatch on Beshilu activity in the area. Possesses some anger issues.
• Wang Lee, Bone Shadow Irraka, the youngest of the pack members and something of a street rat. Son of Wang Jing.
• Lao Min, newly-Changed Ithaeur, straight-A's university student whose First Change was triggered by a manifestation of Death Wolf. Despite appearing as an embodiment of that Firstborn, she's leaning towards Red Wolf's Tribe.

Wolf-Blooded

• Zhongli Hu – 'Auntie' Hu is an elderly fortune-teller and seller of offerings and incense in the night market. She is also a Wolf-Blooded with the Piercing Eyes Tell. Hu was a little girl when Red Shroud ran these streets, claims to have been Wen Liang's mistress, and has certainly lived a storied life.
• Ko Lei runs the market's security, a sturdy man with a pock-marked face and a quick temper. Lei is a Wolf-Blooded with the Wolf's Meat Tell. He used to be a member of the 14K triad.
• Wang Jing – She owns and runs the Hive Bar, just outside the night market. She has the Skinner Tell, and has obviously been mentally scarred by some of what she has seen and done. The older pack members would only reference her past activities obliquely and refuse to give details. Some tension between her and her son.
• Zhao Bo – Widow's sister, who took a very different career path; she is a low-ranking financial auditor in Hong Kong's financial investigative body. Plagued by what she thought were psychiatric problems through her life, it was only since her sister Changed that she discovered the truth – the voices in her head were spirits. She is a Wolf-Blooded with the Waystone Tell.

Humans

• The exterminators of Yellow Kowloon Pest Control are the employees and associates of Arran's character. Working out of an office and storehouse in the territory, they're perhaps the most 'in the know' of all the humans about the supernatural, and they'd probably be hunters if they hadn't been brought under the wing of the pack. The company was briefly used as a front by a Rat Host, which is what drew the pack's attention.
• Several of the market's security guards, Ko Lei's colleagues, are pack members. They know enough to understand that the pack have their back in keeping control of the Night Market, and they like to hang out with pack members to absorb some of the respect and fear that the werewolves are accorded.
• A half-dozen of the stall vendors are, like the security guards, pack members; they form the Mutual Activity Committee of the market, and the other shopkeepers know they're an 'inner circle' separate from the actual management (who are not pack members).
• Zhongli Zhuang, or 'Uncle' Zhuang, is an old former Sun Yee On triad member and the husband of Auntie Hu. Despite his age, he still possesses a heavy frame; these days he sells occult tat and the like alongside his wife, but he also keeps an eye on the black market dealers in the area for the pack.
• Yi Kun, owner of the Yi Healthy Wu Kwan (martial club), is a martial artist trainer who knows enough about the Uratha to understand their role as guardians of the area; he's had a few unpleasant run-ins over the years.

Others

• Michael Jin – a former manager of the Night Market, Michael died in the early 2000s in a horrific murder; a business rival with schemes on the property's future arranged for a construction 'accident' when a large block of concrete fell from scaffolding onto the man. Mister Jin was a client of the pack at the time, who were surprised by the lucidity his ghost retained after death. Michael is odd, fussy and obsessive, the broken remains of a personality clinging on to existence through his ties to the Night Market.

The Totem - Eight Lanterns Minister (Usufunsugal in the First Tongue)

Rank 2 night market spirit
Attributes: Power 2 Finesse 5 Resistance 2
Willpower: 7
Essence: 15
Initiative: 7
Defence: 2
Speed: 10
Size: 5
Corpus: 7
Influences: Wealth 1, Light 1
Numina: Awe, Coin Curse*, Sign
Coin Curse – New Numina: The spirit may use this power on anyone it witnesses cheating in a trade, making a false deal or forcing a grievously unfair exchange, as long as money of some sort is involved. Coin Curse costs 1 Essence to use, and affects a coin, bank note, cheque or even money existing only as an electronic transfer. For as long as the character possesses that money in any way, they are affected by an increasingly unpleasant withering disease and the moderate Sick Tilt persistently; even if treated, it will return. Throwing or giving away the money ends the effect.
Manifestations: Twilight Form, Gauntlet Breach, Materialise
Ban: While the Cherry Gardens shrine of prosperity is damaged or desecrated, the Eight Lanterns Minister cannot leave the night market; if outside the market when the shrine is damaged, it is immediately called back.
Bane: Glass from broken lights.