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The Scouring Flame
Ash Dogs, Erinyes, Yuan Gui
The Scouring Flame are bloody-handed avengers, balancing the scales of karma through carnage and fire. They're ash-smeared, wide-eyed, bared-teeth tornadoes set on the trail of their victims by the pleas and petitions of those seeking retribution, and the Erinyes embrace the role whole-heartedly. For adherents of this Lodge, there's a form of purification to be found in perpetrating justice on behalf of another; the act of serving as a vessel for the vengeance cleanses their spirit, refines their soul, and grants them a sense of peace.
Most Erinyes are in dire need of that serenity. Adherents are drawn to the Lodge through their own drive for vengeance; almost every ash dog has a story of loss and rage that demanded a balancing of the scales. The Scouring Flame provides them with a place to do more than just sate their hunger for revenge; its doctrines of flame and passion teach that the act of vengeance is one of the purest channels of self-balance and the release of harmful spiritual energies. Taking on the vengeful drives of others allows the ash dogs to thus experience this purification far beyond the scope of whatever litany of wrongs and injustices they might have personally collected.
The problem is that the dogs see vengeance restrained as vengeance denied; as far as the Lodge is concerned, there's no such thing as overkill, and the best form of revenge is a scorched-earth policy that leaves the prey with their life reduced to nothing but ashes before the killing blow finally drops. Everyone associated with the prey is a valid target - which, in turn, triggers a greater cycle of revenge as the acts of vendetta and retribution tear through society in a widening gyre. That suits the Erinyes just fine. They do not perpetrate vengeance because it is right, but because it is holy.
Other werewolves fear the Scouring Flame because they are driven by passion and their notion of just retribution lurches heavily towards the excessive; even if it's not directed at other Uratha, the extreme violence and collateral damage that the ash dogs consider as not only acceptable but required of their calling tends to be a magnet for trouble. On the other hand, at their best the Flame serve a valuable role as reckoners within Uratha society, and there's no-one the cult considers untouchable. Desperate werewolves can turn to the Scouring Flame for justice when no-one else will help - as long as they don't mind the blazing fires of retribution consuming more than just those who directly wronged them.
Obviously, not every ash dog is engaged in the constant brutal excesses of vengeance in their every waking hour. Erinyes don't necessarily step up to slap down every injustice or wrong they see - it's not their place to do so. Instead, adherents make themselves known amongst the communities that might desire to unleash their judgment; some pursue roles in law enforcement and the judiciary specifically so that they can connect to those who the machinery of state fails to protect. Erinyes also commonly practice crafts and sciences that focus on refinement or purification, such as smelting and forging, as they see a symbolic representation of the spiritual fire through which their own souls are honed.
Totem: The Ashen Grin
The Ashen Grin is a spirit tormented by its own inner turmoil, rendered almost magath from the chaotic energies that seethe through its sentience. It is a leering, looming thing of charred flesh, wisps of smoke, crackling embers, and many grinning mouths of soot-stained ivory teeth. Its every step is shrieking pain, leaving scoured spirit-flesh cracking and welling up with ichor. Yet its pain is renewal; as it burns and rages, its ruined form sheds the seared skin to reveal porcelain, insectile limbs beneath. After the pain and fire has burned most intensely, it unfolds from its blackened, ruined self like a fragile butterfly and, briefly, knows peace. Then the porcelain begins to fracture, the fires are stoked, and it is consumed by pain once more.
The Ashen Grin is a spirit of the burning flames of vengeance, and of the calm that comes once such passions are spent and quenched. It is fury and peace, all at once. It lives in the mad grin of the killer watching the flames take hold of his enemies, and in the quiet breath of the dying vigilante who knows she has done all she can to settle her scores. The adherents of the Scouring Flame seek to perfect themselves through serving as the vessels of others' vengeance, but there is no perfection awaiting the Grin - it is simply the spirit's nature to constantly hunger for vengeance, and to constantly rest in the peace of deeds concluded.
The Ashen Grin lives vicariously through its Lodge. Every act of vengeance carried out by an ash dog hits the Grin with a high more powerful than any drug, a blissed-out state of serenity and peace that briefly quells its flame and leaves it free of pain. The Grin figures that, if the dogs keep killing and the fires keep burning, it will be able to maintain enough of a state of tranquillity to avoid coming apart at the seams entirely. It doesn't want to be a magath - it didn't end up this way through its own uncontrolled predation, but naturally formed from the brutal events of entirely mundane revenge. It doesn't care at all about the damage the Lodge does in pursuing their febrile tasks of retribution; it's an addict in need of its medicine, and all that matters is where the next dose is coming from.
The totem is not entirely selfish; it grants some of that gleaned serenity to its adherents, a dripfeed of sacral bliss that rewards them for their brutality. The problem is that it doesn't have an end-game or an agenda beyond its own indulgence, and so the ash dogs are stoked to greater and greater excess, encouraged to never reign in the cycle of revenge and retaliation but just to spin the wheel ever faster. It's a journey going no-where fast, a fire spreading hot and white and consuming all the fuel it touches. Eventually the Ashen Grin will be left alone with nothing but ashes for its achievements; that, or its destructive behaviour will invite its own end.
Bonds
Blessing: The Lodge member gains the Vice of Vengeance. This is in addition to her Blood and Bone, and she can regain Willpower through indulging the Vice just as a human can.
Aspiration: To achieve inner tranquillity, and the annihilation of the self.
Ban: When wronged, always balance the scales.
The Sacred Hunt
The Lodge Sacred Hunt grants your character the ability to sense whether a character or group are part of the Allies, Contacts, Retainer, Staff, or Status merits of the hunt's chosen prey. Successfully completing the hunt after killing or destroying such a character or group grants your character the Inspired Condition for a skill of your choosing.
Secrets Of The Ash Dogs
The Scouring Flame has access to the Lodge Sorcery merit, and may choose Influences from Fire, Peace, and Vengeance.
Name-Killer (Fetish •••••)
Sometimes, the demands of vengeance leave mere death as only the first step in the total expurgation of the prey. This fetish weapon carves far deeper scars than those in flesh and blood.
Effect: The name of a victim slain with a Name-Killer weapon is erased from every record in existence. It remains in peoples' immediate memories, but it is scoured from stone tablets, vanishes from written script and digital records, is struck from the Akashic records, and cannot be divined through any supernatural means; furthermore, the slain victim cannot be returned to any form of existence, whether as an undead creature or other post-death state.
Ash Dogs, Erinyes, Yuan Gui
The Scouring Flame are bloody-handed avengers, balancing the scales of karma through carnage and fire. They're ash-smeared, wide-eyed, bared-teeth tornadoes set on the trail of their victims by the pleas and petitions of those seeking retribution, and the Erinyes embrace the role whole-heartedly. For adherents of this Lodge, there's a form of purification to be found in perpetrating justice on behalf of another; the act of serving as a vessel for the vengeance cleanses their spirit, refines their soul, and grants them a sense of peace.
Most Erinyes are in dire need of that serenity. Adherents are drawn to the Lodge through their own drive for vengeance; almost every ash dog has a story of loss and rage that demanded a balancing of the scales. The Scouring Flame provides them with a place to do more than just sate their hunger for revenge; its doctrines of flame and passion teach that the act of vengeance is one of the purest channels of self-balance and the release of harmful spiritual energies. Taking on the vengeful drives of others allows the ash dogs to thus experience this purification far beyond the scope of whatever litany of wrongs and injustices they might have personally collected.
The problem is that the dogs see vengeance restrained as vengeance denied; as far as the Lodge is concerned, there's no such thing as overkill, and the best form of revenge is a scorched-earth policy that leaves the prey with their life reduced to nothing but ashes before the killing blow finally drops. Everyone associated with the prey is a valid target - which, in turn, triggers a greater cycle of revenge as the acts of vendetta and retribution tear through society in a widening gyre. That suits the Erinyes just fine. They do not perpetrate vengeance because it is right, but because it is holy.
Other werewolves fear the Scouring Flame because they are driven by passion and their notion of just retribution lurches heavily towards the excessive; even if it's not directed at other Uratha, the extreme violence and collateral damage that the ash dogs consider as not only acceptable but required of their calling tends to be a magnet for trouble. On the other hand, at their best the Flame serve a valuable role as reckoners within Uratha society, and there's no-one the cult considers untouchable. Desperate werewolves can turn to the Scouring Flame for justice when no-one else will help - as long as they don't mind the blazing fires of retribution consuming more than just those who directly wronged them.
Obviously, not every ash dog is engaged in the constant brutal excesses of vengeance in their every waking hour. Erinyes don't necessarily step up to slap down every injustice or wrong they see - it's not their place to do so. Instead, adherents make themselves known amongst the communities that might desire to unleash their judgment; some pursue roles in law enforcement and the judiciary specifically so that they can connect to those who the machinery of state fails to protect. Erinyes also commonly practice crafts and sciences that focus on refinement or purification, such as smelting and forging, as they see a symbolic representation of the spiritual fire through which their own souls are honed.
Totem: The Ashen Grin
The Ashen Grin is a spirit tormented by its own inner turmoil, rendered almost magath from the chaotic energies that seethe through its sentience. It is a leering, looming thing of charred flesh, wisps of smoke, crackling embers, and many grinning mouths of soot-stained ivory teeth. Its every step is shrieking pain, leaving scoured spirit-flesh cracking and welling up with ichor. Yet its pain is renewal; as it burns and rages, its ruined form sheds the seared skin to reveal porcelain, insectile limbs beneath. After the pain and fire has burned most intensely, it unfolds from its blackened, ruined self like a fragile butterfly and, briefly, knows peace. Then the porcelain begins to fracture, the fires are stoked, and it is consumed by pain once more.
The Ashen Grin is a spirit of the burning flames of vengeance, and of the calm that comes once such passions are spent and quenched. It is fury and peace, all at once. It lives in the mad grin of the killer watching the flames take hold of his enemies, and in the quiet breath of the dying vigilante who knows she has done all she can to settle her scores. The adherents of the Scouring Flame seek to perfect themselves through serving as the vessels of others' vengeance, but there is no perfection awaiting the Grin - it is simply the spirit's nature to constantly hunger for vengeance, and to constantly rest in the peace of deeds concluded.
The Ashen Grin lives vicariously through its Lodge. Every act of vengeance carried out by an ash dog hits the Grin with a high more powerful than any drug, a blissed-out state of serenity and peace that briefly quells its flame and leaves it free of pain. The Grin figures that, if the dogs keep killing and the fires keep burning, it will be able to maintain enough of a state of tranquillity to avoid coming apart at the seams entirely. It doesn't want to be a magath - it didn't end up this way through its own uncontrolled predation, but naturally formed from the brutal events of entirely mundane revenge. It doesn't care at all about the damage the Lodge does in pursuing their febrile tasks of retribution; it's an addict in need of its medicine, and all that matters is where the next dose is coming from.
The totem is not entirely selfish; it grants some of that gleaned serenity to its adherents, a dripfeed of sacral bliss that rewards them for their brutality. The problem is that it doesn't have an end-game or an agenda beyond its own indulgence, and so the ash dogs are stoked to greater and greater excess, encouraged to never reign in the cycle of revenge and retaliation but just to spin the wheel ever faster. It's a journey going no-where fast, a fire spreading hot and white and consuming all the fuel it touches. Eventually the Ashen Grin will be left alone with nothing but ashes for its achievements; that, or its destructive behaviour will invite its own end.
Bonds
Blessing: The Lodge member gains the Vice of Vengeance. This is in addition to her Blood and Bone, and she can regain Willpower through indulging the Vice just as a human can.
Aspiration: To achieve inner tranquillity, and the annihilation of the self.
Ban: When wronged, always balance the scales.
The Sacred Hunt
The Lodge Sacred Hunt grants your character the ability to sense whether a character or group are part of the Allies, Contacts, Retainer, Staff, or Status merits of the hunt's chosen prey. Successfully completing the hunt after killing or destroying such a character or group grants your character the Inspired Condition for a skill of your choosing.
Secrets Of The Ash Dogs
- Erinyes leave signs so that vengeance-seekers can find them and plead their case - candles with a few drops of blood smeared at their base signify a shrine or dropbox to contact the Lodge. But the ash dogs are wary of being used as tools by the insincere; a Lodge member can sprinkle their own blood onto an open flame then hold the petitioner's hand in the fire. If the petitioners story is true, the flame will not burn them. Those whose stories are false must be ceremonially eaten.
- The cult believes that the ideal end-state for the Uratha is perfect tranquility, every edge of rage worn away by the satisfaction and release of vengeance fulfilled over and over again. Some adherents attempt to short-cut the process, seeking ways to actively excise the fury from the very Uratha soul. Obviously they don't experiment with imperfect techniques on themselves; instead, some Uratha prey suffer a far worse fate than death in vengeance for their crimes, dragged away to Scoured Flame shrines to be subjected to what is essentially spiritual lobotomisation.
- Adherents prefer to work in threes, and consider that number to have particular sacred significance. This belief is so strong that no ash dog will take on a petition for vengeance on the third day of the month, which they reserve instead for contemplation, meditation, and the ritual devouring of human beings who have crossed the Lodge.
- Some ash dogs walk amongst humanity under the first night of the new moon, intentionally waiting to hear words of anger and bitterness spoken with the desire to harm another for what they have done. Then, the werewolf seeks to enact vengeance that night - unasked for, unbidden, and with only the few hours until morning to perpetrate the violent revenge. The humans whose rash words have sparked the slaughter are often distraught to find their heedless comments made real come the morning hours, but that doesn't matter to the ash dogs; there's something about this darkness-cloaked, unrestrained violence that resonates with sacred power, granting the werewolf a point of Essence and a brief, hallucinogenic vision of a lone flame in the night. A few adherents have begun to delve into what this might mean; they suspect it is a spiritual force other than their totem, something reaching out to them in resonance with their actions.
- The Ashen Grin is trying to maintain an impossible status quo; its own Essence fights to tear it apart from within. A splinter of the cult plan to induce a split within their totem via turning the Lodge inwards on itself - seeking out the wrongs that other adherents have committed, then hunting them down and killing them in vengeance. Such an internal purge will not just overload the totem with spiritual power and force its transformation; the splinter believes it will leave the newly born spirits all the purer and more powerful.
- There are particular patterns of ash that, when an adherent paints them on her body, invoke old rites of flame and freedom. Any open flame in the presence of an adherent painted thus is not only Resonant to spirits of fire, but automatically Open, and it costs such a spirit only 1 Essence to use the Materialize Manifestation. Any failures on rolls to bind or control spirits of fire in the presence of the adherent automatically become dramatic failures.
The Scouring Flame has access to the Lodge Sorcery merit, and may choose Influences from Fire, Peace, and Vengeance.
Name-Killer (Fetish •••••)
Sometimes, the demands of vengeance leave mere death as only the first step in the total expurgation of the prey. This fetish weapon carves far deeper scars than those in flesh and blood.
Effect: The name of a victim slain with a Name-Killer weapon is erased from every record in existence. It remains in peoples' immediate memories, but it is scoured from stone tablets, vanishes from written script and digital records, is struck from the Akashic records, and cannot be divined through any supernatural means; furthermore, the slain victim cannot be returned to any form of existence, whether as an undead creature or other post-death state.
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