Che txiled Ratkin of Antarctica

Che txiled Ratkin of Antarctica

**of Note**

Ratkin: Antarctica, of course, is one of the few places on Earth that rats do not frequent. Nonetheless, the so-called “Arcadian Ratkin” have claimed one of the most inhospitable realms on the planet as their own. Howard Phillip Gallomo, a delusional would-be bard, rules over an Umbral city in the ice.

Munchmausen undertake at least one quest in their lifetime to deliver an “ultimate legend” in his honor. Many of his descendants trace their ancestry back to the De La Poers, a cursed New England family prone to outbreaks of insanity.

I Chapter Two: Infesting the World ‘Zhe Ways of Spirit Shapechangers are creatures oftwo worlds: spirit and flesh.

Keeping a balance between sympathy for the spiritual world and an understanding for the physical world is an arduous task, and spending too much time in either dimension can be perilous. Two of Gaia’s children - the werewolves and the wererats - serve as excellent examples of this concept. The Garou have become overly concerned with the ways of flesh, while the Ratkin have been forced to extremes by prolonged isolation in the spirit world.

If a shapechanger fails to maintain regular contact with the Umbra, his heart hardens, and the rage of the physical world consumes him. Werewolves, for instance, are finding it increasingly difficult to maintain regular contact with the spirit world.

Crossing the Gauntlet between this world and the Umbra is far more perilous than it once was. As such, the Garou are increasingly becoming creatures of flesh, consumed by rage and the pain of a dying world.

If a shapechanger spends too much time in the Umbra, he loses all understanding of the ways of flesh, and becomes an ephemeral spirit. Wererats have hidden legions of their brethren in the spirit world. The Middle Umbra is infested with spirit tunnels that only the Ratkin can access. Lost breeding grounds are occulted in the farthest depths of the Deep Umbra, where generations of spirits pass on ancient secrets. Too much time in the spirit world will typically drive a Ratkin insane. As a result, the Umbra’s nooks and crannies are now flooded with wererat visionaries.

Since the days of the War of Rage, many descendants of the original Ratkin have fled into the furthest depths of the Umbra.

Becoming ephemeral creatures of pure spirit, they have lost touch with the world they left behind. If the Garou wanted to take responsibility for the fate of d i d , they reasoned, they were welcome to it - none of the other shapechangers could challenge theirtyrannicalsupremacy. Nonetheless, evenDeepUmbralRatkin believe that one day, the werewolves will learn the error of the ways. (zlhe Unearthly Unearthly Ratkin have typically spent too much n the spirit world, and as such, and have sometime lost touch with the so-called “logic” of the physical world.

The ones who claim to hail from Paradise Realms are often exiles; usually, the Rat Incarna won’t show one of these lost souls the way home until she performs an epic task for the good of her people. Unearthly wererat characters from the Deep Umbra are rare; this is part of the reason they start out the game at Freak Factor Five.

“Arcadian Ratkin,” or Munchmausen, are eternally delusional, and have an addiction for questing and adventure, no doubt to prove their worth to the plague that abandoned them. Unearthly Tunnel Runners are sometimes scouts for lost realms deep in the Umbra, or wanderers who cannot return until they gather evidenc Apocalyptic prophecies coming true. As aliens lost dying world, the Unearthly are among the most c and unusual wererats on the planet.

That day has come. The werewolves now watch over a dying world. From the fringes of reality, these distant kin are returning to the dimension they left behind. The realms of the Ratkin are vast and treacherous. And in the physical world, the nine major Ratkin plagues are ready to offer the lost Children of Rat a place in the destiny of their race. Their spawn have only just begun to quest in the spirit world for other lost brethren.

Legends continue of Paradise Realms, mythical places where exiled Ratkin yearn to return to the world of flesh. Stranger dimensions exist beyond the velvet shadow, leading even the most experienced Umbral travelers astray. Watch your step; from here on out, things get a little strange ....

Purabise Realms Munchmausen often have elaborate stories of spirit realms that defy all logical explanation. Their lost realms are often imaginary, or at least mythical. Rodent storytellers repeat fantastical stories of these realms again and again. The most common tale of this type is told by an Unearthly Ratkin who has lost his kingdom in the depths of the Umbra. Sadly, a few of these legends have at least some basis in fact.

Rat Kingdoms are similar to Paradise Realms, but typically created around the dementia of a single wererat. Through enough storytelling, an Unearthly wererat can attempt to make even the most imaginative realms become real. Many Munchmausen quest to recover these lost realms; some will typically bring a rat pack along to confirm its existence and speak it back into the spirit world. A few have rapturous visions of their lost realms, or can return to their personal paradises only in dreams. The details of these realm always correspond to the psychological “embellishment” of the wererats who speak of them. Whether they actually exist is another matter entirely.

Rat Alleys A fair is a weritable Smorgasbord, borgasbord, orgasburd, After the day is done.. .

Templeton, the movie version of Charlotte’s Web The Ratkin have always had legends of Paradise, places in the spirit world where the Dreams of a Thousand Rats can be realized. Paradise was once just a legend, but the myth has become truth. Deep Umbral Ratkin are rarely seen in the physical world, but when rat packs encounter them, they’re eager to hear fanciful tales of Paradise Realms, lost pseudohomelands that exist in dreams more than reality.

In isolated dimensions of the spirit world, Paradise Realms are breeding grounds for ancient plagues of Ratkii. Each typically holds between a hundred and a hundred thowand rats, wererats, Kmfolk and Rat-spirits. Thus, each expresses a living dream of what “rodent heaven” is like. No two concepts of Paradise are exactly the same, especially where rodents are concerned.

The tunnels leading to these realms are treacherous enough that only a Rat has the patience to travel there. Reaching one can take years of questing. Boltholes through the farthest realms of the Umbra are overwhelmed with the raw force of the Wyld, driving even the calmest Shadow Seer into epic bouts of feral rage and madness. These far-flung dimensions are usually so consumed by the Wyld that the paths leading to them are always changing.

A few of the more unusual Deep Umbral plagues staunchly believe that the Apocalypse will only determine the fate of Earth itself.. . and if that one planet is lost, Gaia will find a home for them somewhere else. Until that time, legends of a few exotic Paradise Realms have become increasingly common, especially among Tunnel Runners who have gathered far-flung rumors.

Rat Alleys are a recurrent, and dangerous, spiritual phenomenon Umbral travelers can use to their own advantage. A Ratkin can gain access to these spirit realms through any of the seediest, most dangerous alleyways on Earth. Pools of rainwater and less identifiable fluids -reflect the illumination street lamps and neon lights, providing the focus required for any shapechanger to step sideways. Particularly mystical Ratkin can lead other supernatural creatures, or even humans, into the spirit world for a short while. This provides one of the deadliest traps the wererats can devise.

Rat Alleys are always found accidentally; a Storyteller may ask a character to roll Gnosis (difficulty 9!) if there’s a chance of an alley forming nearby. Some mystics believe that all manifestations of Rat Alleys are connected somehow, and that if a welltraveled mystic can find out how to leap between them, that rat can travel around the world in a heartbeat. Unfortunately, the few Shadow Seers who have managed to make any progress in this research have all mysteriously disappeared while trying.

Stairway Realms The Coliseum is a dimension of Bacchanalian debauchery that provides limitless intoxicants for its inhabitants. The local Ratkin fervently believe that their race should take credit for the fall of the Roman Empire.

In Camivale, time is frozen at the moment before the local carnival leaves town; it’s heaven for an ambitious pack of rats.

Buboe is a legendary medieval realm where Plague Lords rule with absolute authority; they consider the Bubonic Plague to be the pinnacle of Ratkin achievement.

Ever hear odd noises in an old house late at night? You don’t believe it’s the “house settling,” do you? Do you really think it’s just “hot air expanding in the walls?” Of course not.

All too often, the strange sounds made in a huge, empty house in the night are the result of the rats in the walls, people under the stairs, or Rat-spirits in the Umbra messing with the limits Munchmausenspeak highly ofthe Copse of aThousand Teeth, aforest in the ArcadianGatewaycompletely overrunby wererats and their Kin.

Rutkin Some Ratkin from the Deep Umbra include the name of a lost realm in their names. Famous examples include Typhus of Buboe; Chitter-Tooth, Charioteer of the Coliseum; or Johnny Three-Paws, the Carney-of-Carnivale. Now that signs of the End Times have become more frequent, waves of Ratkin are beginning to find their way back to the Tellurian, like immigrants from an exotic land. In any major city, a handful of Ratkin may seek their fortune, preparing for the arrival of thousands and thousands of cousins, uncles, aunts, brothers and sisters. @at Kingboms ofreality again. WhenTunnel Runners use their Bolthole Rites a little too often, sometime the walls take a little time to adjust.

If a Ratkin seriously botches an attempt to step sideways, the result is an alternate dimension known as a Stairway Realm.

If too many Umbral travelers pass through the same human habitation, it’s not unusual for the dimensions of hidden parts of the house to get a little distorted. Unseen ventilation shah shift, stretching larger and larger until humans can crawl through them. Crawlspaces become labyrinths. The boundaries between Ratkin spirit tunnels and mundane architecture become blurred, allowing the house’s dimensions to get as twisted as Alice’s trip down the rabbit hole. Although Ratkin can eventually find their way out of them, other supernatural creatures have been known to get lost in their Wyld perambulations. A few exiles adopt them as permanent homes.

If enough Rat-spirits swarm into a Stairway Realm, they may even take up residence there. Lost Ratkin may join them, setting up an otherworldly nest not far from where ordinary humans reside. As long as no one goes poking around under the stairs, or gets trapped in the crawlspace under the house, everyone stays happy. On the rare occasions where humans like to muck about with such things, the Delirium kicks in, making the experience even more traumatic for everyone involved. Children have been known to get lost in Stairway Realms; a fortunate few are captured and raised by rats afterward. The next time you hear a strange groan from the wood under your stairs, say a little prayer, and hope the nearest Bolthole is working properly.

The Teleuision Zone They fight, and fight, and fight and fight and fight.. .

“Itchy and Scratchy Show” theme song, The Simpsm One of the more unusual realms beyond the velvet shadow is a dimension devoted entirely to human memories of television programs: the Television Zone. Since memories of TV programs have thoroughly infiltrated the collective unconscious of the human race, the various rooms of this zone contain elements of many popular programs, past and present. Ratspirits travel freely in the walls between dimensions, and this zone is no different. Full details of this unearthly space are detailed in Umbra: The Velvet Shadow. One particular section has become a site of pilgrimage for many Rat-spirits.

Wererats know it as the Itchy Zone. In thii violent arena, cartoon characters are locked in eternal conflict. Cats and rats fight epic battles for animated houses, using everything from kitchenknives tocatapults to fight their skirmishes. Rat-spiritsand Ratkin alike have begun to make regular trips to this realm, learning ingenious new tricks to use in the war against order.

Rodentia ephemera who make their home here have even learned ways to alter their spirit forms to help them wage warfare in this dimension. (See Appendix One for more details on Itchy Form.) Some demented rodentia ephemera have even started to infest areas associated with other television shows. A few Shadow Seers believe that if enough Rat-spirits invade an area associated with a program currently on the air, the show will either mutate terribly or suffer from horrible ratings until it dies.

One legion of Rat-spirits, led by a precocious young rodens Chapter Two: Infesting the World rugrat, has begun to corrupt several current children’s shows: tormenting Teletubbies and purple dinosaurs rank among their favorite pastimes. Another swarm has developed an affinity for ’50s family shows, infesting the spiritual reflections of places like the Cleaver household or Mr. Ed’s barn. Though this may sound strange, it may be hard to find a better explanation of the final episodes of many television programs.. ..

Spirits If you haven’t already been dissuaded from risking your life in one of these otherworldly dimensions, you’d best study up on the spirits who live there. A few of them are massively useful for wererats who need to ask for further directions.. . . qat-spirits Rage 6, Gnosis 7, Willpower 8, Power 30 Charms: Airt Sense, Materialize, Tracking Rat-spirits are the best friends you can find in the spirit world. Whether created as offspring of the Rat Incarna, resurrected from the spirits of fallen Ratkin heroes, or distantly related to the survivors of the War of Rage, they all have sympathy for the Children of Rat. They can be summoned in battle to attack in swarms, enlisted in business arrangements to steal small items, or just enticed to sleep in a pocket or hat as a traveling companion. Ratkin know of many unusual cousins to the city-bred Rat-spirit; all of them share the same basic traits.

Kangaroo Rat-spirits: Far from the madness of the cities, Kangaroo Rat-spirits are a welcome sight to wererats traveling in the calm tranquillity of the desert. They are eager to teach travelers useful spirit knowledge, including the Gifts: Survival and Leap of the Kangaroo Rat.

Packrat-spirits: Though some Ratkin eschew the collecting of material possessions, the North American Packrat-spirit helps out those who need to accumulate as much stuff as necessary. They may choose to help wererats find extremely esoteric items, but never without a price.

Infection: A Pain-spirit who learns the Charm: Infection mutates into a Disease-spirit. These ephemera grow stronger by possessing anyone inflicted by a debilitating illness, and thus are naturally drawn to Plague Lords. By spending 3 points of Power, they can use the Infection Charm to inflict the symptoms of their favorite disease on a victim they possess. If the victim fails a Stamina roll (difficulty 8), the result is a hlLblown infection of the chosen disease (for whatever that’s worth against certain supernatural creatures like Garou or vampires).

Only a follower of Grandfather Thunder or a Plague Lord would dare invoke these foul ephemera. The Rat Incama sometimes makes use of such spirits, but never for long - they have a habit of following urges no sentient can understand, not even those of their masters. Spirits of Pain and Disease communicate in shufflings, groans, moans, whispers and chitterings, and insane languages of suffering only a Ratkin or a madman could interpret.

Pain-spirits seek out places of suffering, whether it’s inflicted by torture, torment or infection. They can’t materialize in the physical world, but they can manifest themselves in the Shadowlands, where sites of suffering are easily found. They hover near humans who are plagued by their physical affinities.

Spirits of Pain love to be bound to implements of torture.

It breeds in complex electronic systems, and takes on many of the characteristics of a virtual pet gone bad. Anyone who owns an electronic device inhabited by this spirit becomes its owner.. . or its victim, depending on your point of view. Freakachus (or “Freakas,” as they’re colloquially known) are notoriously hard to kill, even in the spirit world, since they can hide in the smallest computer networks.

Unlike its more sedate, mundane counterparts, the Freakachu has a repertoire of tactics for conditioning its owners. To the mundane, this manifests as amusing technical glitches that can only be solved by unusual methods. (“Really, the cmputer likes it when I sing. ’I) For the spiritual aware, the critter will appear on a television or computer screen, taunting its owner. As the name suggests, it will “Freak-at-You” until it gets what it wants.

Freakachus have a love-hate relationship with Ratkin Engineers; their mood can make them boons or banes. A clever Ratkin, however, can nurture one of these little bastards into an electronic ally. When released in a computer network, the Freaka can carry out viral terrorism on command. Truly proficient owners will train their Freakas to battle each other as they develop, releasing them into contained computer networks surrounded by elaborate firewalls. Ratkm Engineers sometimes incorporate Freakachu events into their most popular aspect moots.

The Others “Okay, pup, the Rat King says I gotta teach you about the different Changing Breeds. Apparently, you want to learn all about the different ’Changers of the world. No problem! My name’s Frankie, and I’ve been studying this mystical crap for a long time, so I’m up for it. Let me tell you what we generally know about the other guys.

“I’ve never understood why we have this tradition, though. I mean, it’s not like we really know all these guys. And it’s not like all Ratkin have the same opinions abut them. I’ve been from one side of thi planet to the other but, I haven’t actually seen every one of them. I hear stories, though. I guess this is a way to hand down the same stereotypes from one generation to the next. What, do I sound a little cynical? Go ahead. Give me a difficult one.” sokea “What the hell? Why’d you start off with that one? You’re asking me about wereshks? All right, I’ll tell you what I know, but do you really think you’re ever going to meet one? I guess if you join a pack with a bunch of Ratkin Ronin, infest a big tramp steamer with some wave rats, maybe you’ll run into one. C‘mon, ask me about someone you’ll really have problems with.”

Muwisha “Okay, okay, thisone’s alittle easier. Um.. . shapechanging coyotes with a funky sense of humor. They like to play pranks on people. Uh.. . they don’t take anything seriously. Does that help? Next.”

MlOkOlk “Crap, you studied for this, didn’t you? The Mokol6 probably know the truth about the Impergium almost as much as we do, if not moreso. The few that are left in the world have to stay hidden real well. I know you might think they’re just giant shapechanging dinosaurs, but that ain’t right. They’re giant pissed off shapechanging dinosaurs.”

Kifsunc “Werefoxes? They’re.. . um.. . also like tricksters, see?

They live in Japan! And they’ve got seven tails. Tell you what, go find a Nezumi first, I’m sure a Japanese Ratkin would know what the hell these things are.”

Gurahl “An easy one. You want my opinion? It’s a damn shame what happened to the Gurahl. They had the potential to help fix the Earth, heal up all the sacred places, but they just couldn’t get their shit together. If they don’t wake up soon, they’re probably going to sleep through the Apocalypse and miss all the fun.”

Garou “You already know about these bastards. The werewolves are the biggest hypocrites on the planet. All the suffering and misery you see in the world is the result of their ill-conceived “Concord,” but they keep acting like they’re the saviors of the planet. Killing Garou is an act of vengeance, and an easy way to get infamous. Don’t tell the boss I told you that, though.”

Corax “These guys are great. Born thieves and deceivers. Like the ravens they live with, they like shiny things, and love secrets even more. You gotta watch ’em, ’cause they’ll set themselves up in a perch somewhere and spy on everything they can. Unfortunately, they’ve also got a habit ofbetrayingother shapeshifters to Chapter Two: Infesting the World get what they want, so I wouldn’t trust ’em if I were you. Make sure you betray them before they betray you. Next?” d a d e f “Here, kitty, kitty, kitty! Heh, heh. The Bastet are even more stuck-up than the Garou are. Pretentious, egotistical assholes. Someone needs to put a few kinks in their tails, take ’em down a few pegs. They’ve also got this habit of claiming portions of the spirit world for themselves. That’s the main reason we started hating them. That and their damn aloof attitude. And their tight sphincters. And their uppity attitude about “magick” and all that crap. I think messing up a Bastet is a cheap way to get infamous at the next revel. Give me another one.”

Ananasi “Uh, I think they’re some kinda werespiders. They’re Weaver creatures.. . or are they Wyrm creatures? I can never remember. I think they eat children and drink blood. There’s something about them sharing their minds with big swarms of little spiders. Creepy, huh? Rats can hide in some pretty small places, but I don’t want to think of the places a spider can hide.”

Ajaba “Jeez! You’re asking me about the Ajaba? Where’d you hear that word? I think they’re some kinda hyena creature that lives off carrion and filth. Sounds like decent folk to me. I never met one; don’t think I ever will.

“Okay, are we done with thii? Homina, homina, spmru~ s m t i , bam! You know about the Changing Breeds. Now go on, kid, you’re botherin’ me. What? Oh, cheese and crackers, you need to hear about the tribes, too? Hey! Johnny! Help me out with thii, willya?”

Frankie ana Iohnnu Versus the Chirteen ‘Crib& Johnniesez: “Jeez, Frankie, foraTunnelRunner, youdon’t get out much, do ya? That was pitiful. Let me do this. Kid, there used to be sixteen tribes; now there’s thirteen. Then there’s this big society they’ve got called the Garou Nation, the Western Concordiat. Just to confuse you even more, there are werewolves in the Eastern Concordiat, too, and apparently, they don’t thlnk the Wyrm is dangerous, and they team up with Nezumi. I don’t understand them; they’re still Garou, and I’d just as soon eat them.

Then Frankie sez: “I’d watch this guy if I were you, kid. It’s not like every rat feels the same way about the tribes. Forget the EastemConcordiat, Johnnie; you don’t know shit about them.” &lack Furies Johnnie sez: “Okay, first there’s the Furies. Lilith Fair with a moshpit. Allof themarewomen. They’re all, like,radicalfeminists and lesbians and stuff. Yeah, that’s right, they’re females who have weird ideas about breeding. They tend to have trouble controlling their anger, so I’d think twice about starting a fight with one.”

Frankie sez: “Damn, Johnny, you’ve got issues, don’t you?

Kid, the Black Furies are all female, but that’s about the only