Innocent are the result of Metis in Mokolé Breed.
Mokolé have no metis and never will. While a Garou wears a war form that has been the same since the Last Times, every Mokolé's battle form is different and must be dreamt into being. A Mokolé with two Mokolé parents would have to dream her Archid form in the shell, which is impossible. The result of Mokolé-Mokolé mating is a deformed fetus (or a clutch of horror-eggs with monstrous embryos inside) constantly shifting shape. The Mokolé mother usually has to shapeshift to Archid form to avoid being ripped apart by her freakish offspring, who sometimes claw their way to Sun's light through her body.
Should the offspring survive hatching or birth, they appear in the mother's breed form, but soon die. No such child has ever reached maturity. The child dies, unable to maintain a stable shape, and becomes an Innocent. It is said that No-Face, child of Night's-Fire, was the first. These hungry ghosts prowl from the Shadowlands to the Near Umbra and back, without memory of who and what they really are.
Innocents are treated as spirits, with statistics of the Storyteller's discretion; some are; little more than Gaffling-level strength, while others have transcended the upper limits ofa Jaggling's power. Istead of the usual Charms , the Innocents have dark powers of their own. These can include the following.
- Dark Whispers: The Innocent can speak to the living.
- Umbra Passage: The Innocent can use a weak spot, or Depression, in the Dark Umbra to enter the Middle or Deep Umbra, usually in pursuit of prey.
- Mnesis Travel: The Innocent can enter the Mnesis of other Mokolé to haunt them.
- Materialize: As per the spirit rules.
- Take Homid Form: The Innocent can take Homid shape, effectively passing as an ordinary wraith.
- Take Suchid Form: The Innocent can appear as the wraith of a crocodile.
- Give Power: Can give Gnosis to another spirit.
- Take Power: Cansteal the power ofanother spirit. The difficulty is the target's Willpower.
- Steal Mnesis: The Innocent can take Mnesis away from its owner. She comes into contact with the target's mind and rolls Power vs. a difficulty of the target's Willpower. The effect depends on the number of successes:
- One success: a memory within Mnesis becomes confused.
- Three successes: A minor memory is gone.
- Five successes: An ordinary memory is gone, or a great memory is blurred.
- Seven+ successes: À great memory is destroyed.
- Corrupt Mnesis: The Innocent can change Mnesis into Bad Mnesis, warping the dreams of the Mokolé. The system is as above, save that instead of being gone, the memories are altered — a kind friend becomes an enemy, or a skill learned is guaranteed to backfire. The damage done can be healed by Gifts, by a Mnesis quest, or by pilgrimage to the Deep Umbra.
- Arcanos: the Innocent can use the powers of the Restless Dead, called Arcanos. These resemble Gifts but have somber effects. A Storyteller can use appropriately nasty Gifts, or can use the rulebook for Wraith: The Oblivion, equating Pathos to Gnosis.
Mokolé do not normally like to travel the Middle Umbra. It is the realm which the Garou prowl. Indeed, it requires the Gift: Walk Between Worlds, for a Mokolé to be able to step sideways, as well as a body of water to serve as a gate. Few of the children of Dragon risk the trip. The Garou are just as hostile to the Mokolé in the Umbra as anywhere else. In addition, the Innocents attack any Mokolé they see.
References[]
- WTA: Mokolé, p. 101
- WTA/cMET: Laws of the Wild: Changing Breeds 2, p. 184-186