Renown is an attempt to give Garou a way to measure status within pack, sept and nation. Much like MET Vampire Status Traits, Renown can be mercucial - which is just a fancy way of saying that it can change on nearly a day to day basis. Renown is accumilated by all of the Changing Breeds, but we will focus on Garou in this article.
Renown has several pratical applications which make the Traits much more intrinstic to play than Vampire Status. Renown can be used to increase odds of winning a Social Challenge, learn new Gifts, and challenge for a higher rank.
How Renown is Earned
Renown is earned in two ways - the other Garou mentioning your deeds in a Moot or other gathering, or by way of spiritual intervention.
Moots are the polical arena of the Garou. During the Cracking of the Bone, a Garou is allowed to make mention of anything they feel needs to be mentioned to the Sept. In most septs, the order of speaking is determined by Renown (or to a lesser extent, position - and sometimes both factor into the occasion). This is done to maintain a sense of social order. How Renown is earned during Moots is actually quite simple. Most often, Galliards sing songs during the appropriate point of the Moot, which in turn could earn themselves Renown for their tale, and additional Renown for the subject of their song or story. Songs and stories that are epic, worthy of being entered into the Silver Record will sometimes earn both the talesinger and the song's subject a full Renown Trait.
Spiritual intervention occurs when Garou do things that are not witnessed by other Garou. When the Galliard cannot sing glory and the Ragabash cannot call Scandal, the spirit's every-watchful eyes still bear witness. Spirits award or penalize Renown in the same manner as the Garou do, and they adhere to the Litany sometimes even more strongly than a Philodox might. So don't think your deeds go unwitnessed - the spirits will award you if they see fit... or punish you if you deserve it.
Using Renown In-Game
Renown isn't static - it is a game mechanic used to simulate the ever-changing nature of the social structure of a real-world wolf pack, and should be thought of in much the same vein. Leadership in a wolf pack goes to the strong only as long as they maintain that visage of strength - weakness has no place in a pack. The same should hold for all Garou, though this is not always the case...
Social Challenges and Renown
Renown Traits can be used in place of Social Traits within the confinds of certain Social Challenges, but only Challenges with other Garou or (some)Kinfolk. The Renown Trait must have bearing and application to the Challenge in order to be used as a valid Triat. For example, when intimidating another Garou the Trait Dutiful doesn't hold water better than a paper bag, but Feared or even Respected both have validity. In most cases, only one Renown Trait can be used per Challenge (though some Galliards and Philodoxes can bend or even break this rule under the right circumstances). If the Challenge is lost, the the Trait is considered "lost" for the duration of the evening. This lost Trait does not effect Rank whatsoever, but if a Moot hinges on how much Renown a speaker has, the lost Trait does "come into play".
Renown and Learning Gifts
Theurges and Spirits are very particular about Garou when they clamor about trying to impress everyone for a new Gift. The process of learning Gifts includes earning a new Renown Trait. Without this "new" Renown Trait, a Theurge will rarely consider contacting a spirit for the Garou, as the spirits tend to have the same answers all the time....
All Garou come into play with 3 Renown Traits (cubs are exempt from this of course, and none of the following applies to them). Each of these Traits affords the character to begin play with a single Gift. In order to learn a fourth Gift, a fourth Trait must be earned in game play. Characters beginning at a higher rank often receive a Gift or two without point cost, but should they desire extra Gifts beyond what is listed for their rank, they must keep in miond they cannot get Gifts unless they have the Renown for it.
In order to learn a new Gift within your own Tribe, Breed, or Auspice the Garou must have earned a "new" Renown Trait. For Gifts outside one's Tribe, Breed, or Auspice a Garou must have two (2) "new" Renown Traits. Note that if Renown is lost due to actions and behavior in-game, this Renown loss does not cause the Garou to "lose" the Gift.
Rank Challenges and Renown
Garou society has a definate oder to it. The Rank System attempts to illustrate this by giving a mechanical basis for such concepts as wolven alphas and omegas. Rank, since it is based on Renown, can be quite mercucial in its own right. However, it tends to be a bit more stable. The Master of the Challenge oversees all facilitation of a Rank Challenge and has final authority over all details.
In order to challenge for a higher rank, a Garou must earn a number of Renown Traits dependant upon their Auspice (see these tables here for specifics). Once the proper Renown has been earned (by whatever means), they must find a patron for their rank challenge. This patron first decides if they feel the Garou in question is indeed worthy of going up in rank. This can be harder than earning the rank itself. Some older Garou horde over Rank Challenges, allowing only their favored the right to issue a challenge. Younger Garou would be wise to watch out for such behavoir and beware of who they ask for their Rank.
Should the patron agree to the petitioner's right for Rank, then the patron will issue a challenge and the criteria to which the challenge must adhere to. These challenges often depend on the petitioner's Auspice, but not always. Some elder Garou feel it is a good idea to challenge a younger Garou in areas they might not be comfortable, or in one where they completely lack experience. For example, an Elder Galliard might tell his petitioner (who is a Galliard as well) that he must create a new Gift to honor a fallen hero. Creating new Gifts is a long and dangerous process that only Theurges usually undertake. However, the elder feels that creating the Gift to honor a fallen hero makes this a perfect opprotunity to not only serve his own Auspice, but to learn new skills as well. Petitioners can refuse a Challenge given to them by their patron, but the Master of the Challenge might deem this as Scandalous and go to a Ragabash and ask for Scandal to be called. But, like all else, such instances depend heavily on the situation.
Rank Challenges have time limitations generally set up by the patron within the details of the Challenge itself. The above example of Gift creation had no set limit, and therefore could (theoretically) take as little 3 months (the shortest time required to create a new Basic Gift) and their is no upper limit to this time (it could very well take years). By having no time limit set upon the Challenge, the patron allows the Garou to prove worth in some respects. Should the Garou quickly complete the task, then obviously they were worthy of the rank. If it takes months or years to accomplish the task, then the Garou was obviously not ready when the Challenge was initially given.... Such are the thoughts of some elders.
Once a Rank Challenge is completed, the Garou attains the new rank. Later on, if Renown is lost and it lowers the Garou's Trait totals below what is required for Rank, then the Rank itself is lowered to the new level. This could cause a Garou to lose access to certain Gifts, powers, and even Traits. These Traits and Gifts are restored (with no XP cost) immediately once the Rank is attained again.
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