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Extra Information (Gifts, Renown, Ect)
Oct. 10th, 2009 09:39 pmRokea Gifts:
• Killing Bite (Level One) — Fighting Jaws is the preferred form for combat beneath the waves, but sometimes the need to attack swiftly or fighting in a confined area (a Grotto, perhaps), disallows this form. This Gift, taught by a shark-spirit, allows the Rokea to use a powerful bite in any form.
System: The player spends one Rage point to activate the Gift. The character's next bite attack, if successful, inflicts 2 additional health levels (not dice) of damage.
• Sense Threat (Level One) — A race charged only with survival needs to know how to recognize danger, preferably early in life. The Rokea with this Gift can discern whether she is swimming into a dangerous situation, or to know if a being is a threat to her. This Gift, taught by an avatar of Sea, does not reveal a being's intentions, only whether or not said being is dangerous. (For example, a raging Brightwater might have no real desire to hurt the user, but is dangerous nonetheless.)
System: The Rokea focuses for a turn; the player rolls Perception + Primal-Urge. The difficulty varies — lower (6) for immediate and palpable threats and higher (8) for subtle, more roundabout threats.
• Gulp (Level Two)—The Rokea can swallow any object she can fit through her jaws, and regurgitate it later, completely unharmed. Many Rokea use this Gift to transport clothing (so they don't have to steal clothing every time they go ashore). Living beings are not protected by this Gift. This Gift is taught by a tiger shark-spirit.
System: The player spends one Gnosis to activate the Gift. Items can be stored in the Rokea's gullet indefinitely; the item is considered part of the Rokea's body like a dedicated item. When the Rokea swallows her "cargo," she must, of course, be in a form large enough to do so, and she must assume the same form to reclaim the items.
• Consume Taint (Level Three)— Marine garbage dumps often attract sharks looking for easy meals, but they also attract angry Rokea. With this Gift, the wereshark can eat refuse, be it waste oil, garbage, or even barrels full of chemicals, thus rendering them harmless to Sea. This Gift is taught by a tiger shark-spirit.
System: The player rolls Stamina + Survival (difficulty 7). Each success allows the wereshark to eat one pound of waste without harm. It is possible to consume nuclear waste or even Wyrm toxins with this Gift, but the difficulty is increased by two. A botch on this roll inflicts three levels of unsoakable aggravated damage.
Brightwater Gifts:
• Eyes of the Wound (Level One) — All sharks' eyes reflect light in much the same way as a cat's, allowing them to see in dim water. A Rokea with this Gift, however, can see in much darker areas. Also, the Rokea's eyes are protected from glaring light and sudden flashes of light. This Gift is taught by a shark-spirit.
System: Once learned, this Gift is always active. The character can see in the dark subject to normal rules for Rokea sight as long as some light is present, no matter how dim. Also, his eyes immediately compensate for bright light and sudden glare: walking from a dark room into the sunlight, for example. He receives no penalty on initiative and the like from such occurrences.
• Restraint (Level One) — A common problem among the Rokea (and especially the fierce Brightwaters) is attacking one's allies in frenzy, particularly when in Kunmind. This Gift allows the Rokea to be selective, even when lost in Rage. A spiritservant of Sea teaches this Gift.
System: The Rokea must activate this Gift before entering frenzy. To do so, the player spends one Gnosis point and rolls Willpower (difficulty 6). For each success, the player chooses one character present. If the Rokea frenzies during the scene, she will ignore the characters so named, not attacking or even acknowledging them (which means that slew tactics cannot be used, either). Keep in mind, however, that Rokea cannot use Rage and Gnosis in the same turn. That plus the fact that the Gift must be activated before the Rokea enters frenzy, means that a wereshark wishing to reap the benefits of the this Gift must think ahead.
• Undertow (Level Two) — The Brightwater calls up a vicious current that sweeps a target in a direction of the Rokea's choice. This Gift can be used to drag a human out to sea, to force a (small) ship to run aground, or even to sweep a foe — or meal — towards the Brightwater's waiting maw. This Gift is taught by a spirit-servant of Sea.
System: The player spends one Gnosis point and rolls Strength + Primal-Urge (difficulty 7). The number of successes determines the strength of the undertow; anyone caught in the current must roll Strength + Athletics (difficulty 8) and exceed the Rokea's successes to escape it.
• School's Fear (Level Three)—The Brightwater can cause a group of beings — be it a school of fish, a crowd of people, or even a pack of Garou—to be seized with the fear that something is coming to eat them. Those gripped with the fear will panic and run (or swim) for their lives. This Gift is taught by the spirit of any small, schooling fish.
System: The targets need not actually see the Rokea for the Gift to work. The player simply rolls Charisma + Intimidation. The difficulty depends on the targets. Used against a school of normal fish or a group of humans, the difficulty is 6. Against active predators —a school of sharks or a pack of wolves, or even a group of soldiers or policemen — the difficulty rises to 8. Used against any group that includes supernatural beings, the difficulty is 9. If the roll succeeds, the group panics and runs for one turn per success (humans and fish usually keep fleeing until they reach safety).
• Wriggling Teeth (Level Three) — Sharks have many rows of teeth, and commonly lose several in a single bite. A Brightwater blessed with this Gift, however, can cause his teeth to burrow into his victim's flesh even after he releases the bite. The teeth continue to drive themselves deeper until removed, at which point they become inert. A shark-spirit teaches this Gift.
System: The Rokea must first successfully bite a target. Then, the player spends a Willpower point and rolls Strength (difficulty 8). One tooth detaches for each success and continues driving itself into the victim's body. This has several effects. First, the victim adds a die to wound penalties for every two teeth (a Wounded victim with two teeth stuck in him would lose 3 dice from his dice pools, not two). Second, the wounds from the bite cannot be healed, naturally or magically, until the teeth are removed (a bloody process which will likely inflict further wounds). Finally, the teeth continue to injure the target. One tooth will inflict an unsoakable aggravated health level of damage every five turns. Two teeth inflict the same damage once every four turns, and so on, to a maximum of one health level per turn (with five or more teeth).
Betweener Gifts:
• Spirit Speech (Level One)—As the Level One Theurge Gift. While all Rokea can speak with pelagic spirits naturally, terrestrial spirits present a bit of a challenge, and this Gift is often one of the first a betweener learns.
• Find Sea (Level One) —The Rokea with this Gift can always find the fastest route to the ocean, regardless of how far inland she is. The fastest route might not be the most direct, of course, especially if the Rokea is in a vehicle of some kind. Any bird-spirit can teach this Gift.
System: The player rolls Perception + Primal- Urge (difficulty 6). Success means the character knows how far and in which direction the sea lies.
Learned Gifts:
• Strange Blood (Level One) — The Rokea can smell the blood of a target and identify them as a supernatural being. Rokea often use this Gift to identify other Rokea at a distance, which helps to prevent embarrassing mishaps (like eating a fellow wereshark) . A shark-spirit teaches this Gift.
System: The player rolls Perception + Primal-Urge (difficulty 7). Success identifies the target as either a Rokea, a mundane being (be it fish, human, or whatever) or a supernatural being. The Rokea doesn't automatically know what the being is — that is, the Storyteller should not say "He's a vampire," rather, she should describe what the Rokea smells ("His blood smells thick and clotted, as though all clumped together instead of flowing"). The Rokea can learn to recognize different beings by their scents.
• Drown (Level Three) — The Rokea can cause an air-breather to grow gills to breathe, so that she must take oxygen from the water like a fish. While this Gift can be used to allow air-breathers to more comfortably visit Sea, the Dimwaters rarely use it for this purpose. Rather, they use it — as the name implies — to drown enemies, or, worse yet, force them to seal their own fates by leaping into the waters with the waiting Rokea. Rokea may learn this Gift from any fish-spirit.
System: The player spends a Willpower point and rolls Willpower (difficulty of the opponent's Stamina + 4). Success forces the target to breathe water (salt and fresh are both viable) to survive, but in no other way protects him from the ocean (temperature and pressure still have their normal effects). The effects last for one hour.
Renown:
Rokea refer to their ranks not by specific titles but by levels of the ocean. For example, a rank one Rokea would call herself "a Brightwater on the surface," while an Elder Rokea would say "a Brightwater in the Deeps."
These appellations are, from rank one to rank five: Surface, Shallows, Open Sea, Cold Sea, and Deeps.
As stated in Chapter Two, Rokea acknowledge three forms of Renown: Valor, Harmony, and Innovation. Each auspice has one type that they follow primarily.
Rokean attitudes on Renown vary widely. Some Rokea couldn't care less about making the seas safe for others; they simply eat, swim, and breed, like the Law says. Others are fastidious in pursuit of their auspice's Renown, and chastise others who "don't do enough for Sea." However, on the whole, Rokea take action to gain Renown because they feel it's a duty, not because they wish to become famous among their kind.
One unique fact about the Rokea Renown system is that the Rokea themselves are only responsible for one-third of it (Valor). Sea judges Harmony Renown, and Kun judges Innovation. As such, gaining either of these two types of Renown is simply a matter of swimming the seas and being acknowledged by the spirits who acts as messengers for Sea and Kun (accomplished by a Wits + Rituals rolls, difficulty 6).
Gaining Valor is a bit trickier. Since Rokea judge the bravery and justness of each other's actions, a wereshark who aspires to gain Valor must find another wereshark and petition to be recognized for her deeds. This communication is usually done via remora, as Rokea have little reason to lie (especially since remora are notoriously good at spotting a false, Renowngrubbing story and distorting it to make the liar look like a total fool). If the aspirant wishes to gain a permanent dot of Valor, however, she must seek out another Rokea in person and ask to be recognized. The Rokea so petitioned is within her rights to challenge the aspirant in some way before acknowledging her claim, should she so desire.
For ocean-dwelling Rokea, gaining Valor is as easy or as difficult as finding a remora. For betweeners, it's next to impossible. Sending word to other Rokea through a remora reveals the betweener's location and his recent deeds (which can be used to track him), and many ocean dwellers refuse to acknowledge the deeds of a betweener. Therefore, the wereshark must either find another betweener to recognize his actions, or find an ocean-dweller that won't judge him based on his living preferences.
Valor:
Bravery and valor are two different things. To be "brave," that is, to be strong in the face of fear, doesn't impress the Rokea. They don't believe in feeling afraid to begin with. Valor means taking on a challenge, be it a fight, a hunt, a mate, and so forth secure in the knowledge that you are doing what you are meant to do. Valorous Rokea also don't lie if they can help it — they feel it implies insecurity in who and what they are, and insecurity is unthinkable among the Rokea.
Valor's Principles
• Lie to others, you lie to yourself.
• Do not take on a challenge you cannot complete.
• If someone wrongs you, do not seek him out. Simply remember him.
Harmony:
The Rokean Law is deceptively simple, and abuses are possible. For example, humans have a right to sail the seas and even to eat of the bounty found there, but slaughtering hundreds of millions of fish each year is unacceptable. Likewise, a Rokea has the right to eat what he chooses, but consuming humans is unwise in that it frightens them and spurs them to kill more sharks. Sea views the Rokea as her watchdogs and police force. Anything in the oceans that threatens the delicate balance of life — an oil spill, a diver group upsetting a coral reef, and especially abominations like Deepwater — needs rectifying. Doing so gains the Rokea Harmony.
Harmony's Laws
• Everything has a place — including you. Stay in it.
• What happens in one part of Sea affects it all. There are no isolated occurrences. Remember this when you decide whether or not to act.
• If Sea makes a request of you, it is disharmonious to refuse.
Innovation:
Each new Gift, rite, fetish, and idea that the Rokea have dreamt up over the years is recognized by Kun. Kun, the mother of fishes and spirit of creativity, takes great pride in the fact that her favored children are not automatons. Kun does not create drones — she leaves that to her sister, C'et. Ridding sea of a threat by tearing it to pieces is fine, perfectly within the parameters set by Sea and Valorous by any Rokea's standards — but it won't impress Kun too much. Innovation is the easiest form of Renown to understand, but can be difficult to obtain. Most Rokea accept the predictability of their lives, and this attitude doesn't allow for creativity. However, the Rokea who strive to reach places never before seen, who bargain with spirits for new Gifts, and who venture on land to stop threats before they reach Sea are the Rokea who receive Innovation.
Innovation's Guidelines
• Never assume you know everything, or even enough, about a situation.
• Humans are not destroying the world because they are strong, but simply because they put their minds to it. Speed and strength do not always win battles.
• You are not alone in Sea. There are other beings with knowledge to share.
Remora:
Remora, the odd little messengers for the sharkfolk, soon learn which Rokea are polite to them. They naturally tend to gravitate to these weresharks to give them a "first look" at what news they have found. This Background indicates that the character has made friends with a number of remora and that they will reliably deliver his messages and return with answers quickly.
The other advantage to staying friendly with remora is that it speeds up the process of Renown gathering. Whenever the Rokea dispatches her remora to deliver a message, the Storyteller may choose to allow the player roll her Remora rating. The difficulty varies by how significant the Rokea's actions have been—the more impressively the Rokea behaves, the more closely she follows the Rokean Law and the precepts of Renown, the lower the difficulty. For each success, the character receives one point of temporary Renown (Storyteller's discretion as to which type). This Renown gain is not "extra" Renown; it's merely an advance payment of sorts against what the Rokea will eventually formally receive. Remora will not deliver false messages designed to inflate the Rokea's status artificially, and a Rokea who tries to use the remora this way will surely lose both Valor and Harmony Renown.
Technically speaking, remora are like Rorqual or Kami — Gaian spirits in animal shells. It's possible (Storyteller's option) that the Rite of Spirit Awakening might awaken an ordinary remora into the supernatural version, although the Rokea must work to educate the remora to its new role as well as gain its trust. (A Rokea with said rite can't just jack up his Background Trait that easily!) Note, by the way, thatremora act only as messengers. They have no ability to fight, distract, or run interference for Rokea, and asking them to do so violates the agreement that the remora made with the shark-folk.
None If you find a remora, they will probably carry word for you, but Sea is vast.
• One remora who visits you before taking care of other business.
• • 2-3 remora who visit you often.
• • • 4-7 remora, all loyal to you.
• • • • As many as 10 remora, at least one of whom remains by your side.
• • • • • With a nod, you could send a full school of remora to deliver word, warning, or a cry for help to any Rokea in the area.
• Killing Bite (Level One) — Fighting Jaws is the preferred form for combat beneath the waves, but sometimes the need to attack swiftly or fighting in a confined area (a Grotto, perhaps), disallows this form. This Gift, taught by a shark-spirit, allows the Rokea to use a powerful bite in any form.
System: The player spends one Rage point to activate the Gift. The character's next bite attack, if successful, inflicts 2 additional health levels (not dice) of damage.
• Sense Threat (Level One) — A race charged only with survival needs to know how to recognize danger, preferably early in life. The Rokea with this Gift can discern whether she is swimming into a dangerous situation, or to know if a being is a threat to her. This Gift, taught by an avatar of Sea, does not reveal a being's intentions, only whether or not said being is dangerous. (For example, a raging Brightwater might have no real desire to hurt the user, but is dangerous nonetheless.)
System: The Rokea focuses for a turn; the player rolls Perception + Primal-Urge. The difficulty varies — lower (6) for immediate and palpable threats and higher (8) for subtle, more roundabout threats.
• Gulp (Level Two)—The Rokea can swallow any object she can fit through her jaws, and regurgitate it later, completely unharmed. Many Rokea use this Gift to transport clothing (so they don't have to steal clothing every time they go ashore). Living beings are not protected by this Gift. This Gift is taught by a tiger shark-spirit.
System: The player spends one Gnosis to activate the Gift. Items can be stored in the Rokea's gullet indefinitely; the item is considered part of the Rokea's body like a dedicated item. When the Rokea swallows her "cargo," she must, of course, be in a form large enough to do so, and she must assume the same form to reclaim the items.
• Consume Taint (Level Three)— Marine garbage dumps often attract sharks looking for easy meals, but they also attract angry Rokea. With this Gift, the wereshark can eat refuse, be it waste oil, garbage, or even barrels full of chemicals, thus rendering them harmless to Sea. This Gift is taught by a tiger shark-spirit.
System: The player rolls Stamina + Survival (difficulty 7). Each success allows the wereshark to eat one pound of waste without harm. It is possible to consume nuclear waste or even Wyrm toxins with this Gift, but the difficulty is increased by two. A botch on this roll inflicts three levels of unsoakable aggravated damage.
Brightwater Gifts:
• Eyes of the Wound (Level One) — All sharks' eyes reflect light in much the same way as a cat's, allowing them to see in dim water. A Rokea with this Gift, however, can see in much darker areas. Also, the Rokea's eyes are protected from glaring light and sudden flashes of light. This Gift is taught by a shark-spirit.
System: Once learned, this Gift is always active. The character can see in the dark subject to normal rules for Rokea sight as long as some light is present, no matter how dim. Also, his eyes immediately compensate for bright light and sudden glare: walking from a dark room into the sunlight, for example. He receives no penalty on initiative and the like from such occurrences.
• Restraint (Level One) — A common problem among the Rokea (and especially the fierce Brightwaters) is attacking one's allies in frenzy, particularly when in Kunmind. This Gift allows the Rokea to be selective, even when lost in Rage. A spiritservant of Sea teaches this Gift.
System: The Rokea must activate this Gift before entering frenzy. To do so, the player spends one Gnosis point and rolls Willpower (difficulty 6). For each success, the player chooses one character present. If the Rokea frenzies during the scene, she will ignore the characters so named, not attacking or even acknowledging them (which means that slew tactics cannot be used, either). Keep in mind, however, that Rokea cannot use Rage and Gnosis in the same turn. That plus the fact that the Gift must be activated before the Rokea enters frenzy, means that a wereshark wishing to reap the benefits of the this Gift must think ahead.
• Undertow (Level Two) — The Brightwater calls up a vicious current that sweeps a target in a direction of the Rokea's choice. This Gift can be used to drag a human out to sea, to force a (small) ship to run aground, or even to sweep a foe — or meal — towards the Brightwater's waiting maw. This Gift is taught by a spirit-servant of Sea.
System: The player spends one Gnosis point and rolls Strength + Primal-Urge (difficulty 7). The number of successes determines the strength of the undertow; anyone caught in the current must roll Strength + Athletics (difficulty 8) and exceed the Rokea's successes to escape it.
• School's Fear (Level Three)—The Brightwater can cause a group of beings — be it a school of fish, a crowd of people, or even a pack of Garou—to be seized with the fear that something is coming to eat them. Those gripped with the fear will panic and run (or swim) for their lives. This Gift is taught by the spirit of any small, schooling fish.
System: The targets need not actually see the Rokea for the Gift to work. The player simply rolls Charisma + Intimidation. The difficulty depends on the targets. Used against a school of normal fish or a group of humans, the difficulty is 6. Against active predators —a school of sharks or a pack of wolves, or even a group of soldiers or policemen — the difficulty rises to 8. Used against any group that includes supernatural beings, the difficulty is 9. If the roll succeeds, the group panics and runs for one turn per success (humans and fish usually keep fleeing until they reach safety).
• Wriggling Teeth (Level Three) — Sharks have many rows of teeth, and commonly lose several in a single bite. A Brightwater blessed with this Gift, however, can cause his teeth to burrow into his victim's flesh even after he releases the bite. The teeth continue to drive themselves deeper until removed, at which point they become inert. A shark-spirit teaches this Gift.
System: The Rokea must first successfully bite a target. Then, the player spends a Willpower point and rolls Strength (difficulty 8). One tooth detaches for each success and continues driving itself into the victim's body. This has several effects. First, the victim adds a die to wound penalties for every two teeth (a Wounded victim with two teeth stuck in him would lose 3 dice from his dice pools, not two). Second, the wounds from the bite cannot be healed, naturally or magically, until the teeth are removed (a bloody process which will likely inflict further wounds). Finally, the teeth continue to injure the target. One tooth will inflict an unsoakable aggravated health level of damage every five turns. Two teeth inflict the same damage once every four turns, and so on, to a maximum of one health level per turn (with five or more teeth).
Betweener Gifts:
• Spirit Speech (Level One)—As the Level One Theurge Gift. While all Rokea can speak with pelagic spirits naturally, terrestrial spirits present a bit of a challenge, and this Gift is often one of the first a betweener learns.
• Find Sea (Level One) —The Rokea with this Gift can always find the fastest route to the ocean, regardless of how far inland she is. The fastest route might not be the most direct, of course, especially if the Rokea is in a vehicle of some kind. Any bird-spirit can teach this Gift.
System: The player rolls Perception + Primal- Urge (difficulty 6). Success means the character knows how far and in which direction the sea lies.
Learned Gifts:
• Strange Blood (Level One) — The Rokea can smell the blood of a target and identify them as a supernatural being. Rokea often use this Gift to identify other Rokea at a distance, which helps to prevent embarrassing mishaps (like eating a fellow wereshark) . A shark-spirit teaches this Gift.
System: The player rolls Perception + Primal-Urge (difficulty 7). Success identifies the target as either a Rokea, a mundane being (be it fish, human, or whatever) or a supernatural being. The Rokea doesn't automatically know what the being is — that is, the Storyteller should not say "He's a vampire," rather, she should describe what the Rokea smells ("His blood smells thick and clotted, as though all clumped together instead of flowing"). The Rokea can learn to recognize different beings by their scents.
• Drown (Level Three) — The Rokea can cause an air-breather to grow gills to breathe, so that she must take oxygen from the water like a fish. While this Gift can be used to allow air-breathers to more comfortably visit Sea, the Dimwaters rarely use it for this purpose. Rather, they use it — as the name implies — to drown enemies, or, worse yet, force them to seal their own fates by leaping into the waters with the waiting Rokea. Rokea may learn this Gift from any fish-spirit.
System: The player spends a Willpower point and rolls Willpower (difficulty of the opponent's Stamina + 4). Success forces the target to breathe water (salt and fresh are both viable) to survive, but in no other way protects him from the ocean (temperature and pressure still have their normal effects). The effects last for one hour.
Renown:
Rokea refer to their ranks not by specific titles but by levels of the ocean. For example, a rank one Rokea would call herself "a Brightwater on the surface," while an Elder Rokea would say "a Brightwater in the Deeps."
These appellations are, from rank one to rank five: Surface, Shallows, Open Sea, Cold Sea, and Deeps.
As stated in Chapter Two, Rokea acknowledge three forms of Renown: Valor, Harmony, and Innovation. Each auspice has one type that they follow primarily.
Rokean attitudes on Renown vary widely. Some Rokea couldn't care less about making the seas safe for others; they simply eat, swim, and breed, like the Law says. Others are fastidious in pursuit of their auspice's Renown, and chastise others who "don't do enough for Sea." However, on the whole, Rokea take action to gain Renown because they feel it's a duty, not because they wish to become famous among their kind.
One unique fact about the Rokea Renown system is that the Rokea themselves are only responsible for one-third of it (Valor). Sea judges Harmony Renown, and Kun judges Innovation. As such, gaining either of these two types of Renown is simply a matter of swimming the seas and being acknowledged by the spirits who acts as messengers for Sea and Kun (accomplished by a Wits + Rituals rolls, difficulty 6).
Gaining Valor is a bit trickier. Since Rokea judge the bravery and justness of each other's actions, a wereshark who aspires to gain Valor must find another wereshark and petition to be recognized for her deeds. This communication is usually done via remora, as Rokea have little reason to lie (especially since remora are notoriously good at spotting a false, Renowngrubbing story and distorting it to make the liar look like a total fool). If the aspirant wishes to gain a permanent dot of Valor, however, she must seek out another Rokea in person and ask to be recognized. The Rokea so petitioned is within her rights to challenge the aspirant in some way before acknowledging her claim, should she so desire.
For ocean-dwelling Rokea, gaining Valor is as easy or as difficult as finding a remora. For betweeners, it's next to impossible. Sending word to other Rokea through a remora reveals the betweener's location and his recent deeds (which can be used to track him), and many ocean dwellers refuse to acknowledge the deeds of a betweener. Therefore, the wereshark must either find another betweener to recognize his actions, or find an ocean-dweller that won't judge him based on his living preferences.
Valor:
Bravery and valor are two different things. To be "brave," that is, to be strong in the face of fear, doesn't impress the Rokea. They don't believe in feeling afraid to begin with. Valor means taking on a challenge, be it a fight, a hunt, a mate, and so forth secure in the knowledge that you are doing what you are meant to do. Valorous Rokea also don't lie if they can help it — they feel it implies insecurity in who and what they are, and insecurity is unthinkable among the Rokea.
Valor's Principles
• Lie to others, you lie to yourself.
• Do not take on a challenge you cannot complete.
• If someone wrongs you, do not seek him out. Simply remember him.
Harmony:
The Rokean Law is deceptively simple, and abuses are possible. For example, humans have a right to sail the seas and even to eat of the bounty found there, but slaughtering hundreds of millions of fish each year is unacceptable. Likewise, a Rokea has the right to eat what he chooses, but consuming humans is unwise in that it frightens them and spurs them to kill more sharks. Sea views the Rokea as her watchdogs and police force. Anything in the oceans that threatens the delicate balance of life — an oil spill, a diver group upsetting a coral reef, and especially abominations like Deepwater — needs rectifying. Doing so gains the Rokea Harmony.
Harmony's Laws
• Everything has a place — including you. Stay in it.
• What happens in one part of Sea affects it all. There are no isolated occurrences. Remember this when you decide whether or not to act.
• If Sea makes a request of you, it is disharmonious to refuse.
Innovation:
Each new Gift, rite, fetish, and idea that the Rokea have dreamt up over the years is recognized by Kun. Kun, the mother of fishes and spirit of creativity, takes great pride in the fact that her favored children are not automatons. Kun does not create drones — she leaves that to her sister, C'et. Ridding sea of a threat by tearing it to pieces is fine, perfectly within the parameters set by Sea and Valorous by any Rokea's standards — but it won't impress Kun too much. Innovation is the easiest form of Renown to understand, but can be difficult to obtain. Most Rokea accept the predictability of their lives, and this attitude doesn't allow for creativity. However, the Rokea who strive to reach places never before seen, who bargain with spirits for new Gifts, and who venture on land to stop threats before they reach Sea are the Rokea who receive Innovation.
Innovation's Guidelines
• Never assume you know everything, or even enough, about a situation.
• Humans are not destroying the world because they are strong, but simply because they put their minds to it. Speed and strength do not always win battles.
• You are not alone in Sea. There are other beings with knowledge to share.
Remora:
Remora, the odd little messengers for the sharkfolk, soon learn which Rokea are polite to them. They naturally tend to gravitate to these weresharks to give them a "first look" at what news they have found. This Background indicates that the character has made friends with a number of remora and that they will reliably deliver his messages and return with answers quickly.
The other advantage to staying friendly with remora is that it speeds up the process of Renown gathering. Whenever the Rokea dispatches her remora to deliver a message, the Storyteller may choose to allow the player roll her Remora rating. The difficulty varies by how significant the Rokea's actions have been—the more impressively the Rokea behaves, the more closely she follows the Rokean Law and the precepts of Renown, the lower the difficulty. For each success, the character receives one point of temporary Renown (Storyteller's discretion as to which type). This Renown gain is not "extra" Renown; it's merely an advance payment of sorts against what the Rokea will eventually formally receive. Remora will not deliver false messages designed to inflate the Rokea's status artificially, and a Rokea who tries to use the remora this way will surely lose both Valor and Harmony Renown.
Technically speaking, remora are like Rorqual or Kami — Gaian spirits in animal shells. It's possible (Storyteller's option) that the Rite of Spirit Awakening might awaken an ordinary remora into the supernatural version, although the Rokea must work to educate the remora to its new role as well as gain its trust. (A Rokea with said rite can't just jack up his Background Trait that easily!) Note, by the way, thatremora act only as messengers. They have no ability to fight, distract, or run interference for Rokea, and asking them to do so violates the agreement that the remora made with the shark-folk.
None If you find a remora, they will probably carry word for you, but Sea is vast.
• One remora who visits you before taking care of other business.
• • 2-3 remora who visit you often.
• • • 4-7 remora, all loyal to you.
• • • • As many as 10 remora, at least one of whom remains by your side.
• • • • • With a nod, you could send a full school of remora to deliver word, warning, or a cry for help to any Rokea in the area.
