White Wolf Online

Lords of Summer Preview
An excerpt from the upcoming character book
Posted: 2008-05-29

Lords of Summer offers Changeling players a detailed look at freeholds and how they operate, allowing them to create particularly vivid settings for their chronicles. It contains information on the four seasonal Great Courts, from their rituals and customs to their magical arsenal of powers. Finally, it boasts a host of new Entitlements, one of which we would like to share with you.

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The Hound Tribunal
Write a name on this slip of paper, my liege. Then worry no more. This, I swear to you.

The Romans called the latter days of Summer the “dog days”, a reference to the star Sirius, the brightest light in the season’s nighttime sky. Sirius — also known as the “Dog Star” — was thought to be an angry god, embodied by the star’s occasional red hue. During its time in the sky, during these so-called dog days, Summer’s heat grows punishing. The air becomes feverish. Food spoils. Grass dies. The strongest of beasts and the weakest of men became mad or indolent, giving in to their worst inclinations.

And it is during these days that the Hound Tribunal haunts the freehold in the name of the Court of Wrath and the Summer King. Those that stand in the way of the Court’s interests become targets. Those that dare to oppose the King or Queen — or worse, dare to bring harm to the monarch — are found to be enemies of the freehold, as judged by the members of this secret “noble” council. What happens to those branded as traitors, obstructionists, enemies? It depends on the thirst for blood possessed by the local Hounds. The line between “justice” and “wrath” is often blurred, like the lines on a hot road warped by vapors of heat. Some are more inclined to mete out a measure of compassion with their justice; those that fall in their crosshairs are often banished from the freehold, made to swear the Turncoat’s Assurance (see below), a pledge ensuring exile. More vicious Hounds may not bother with the troubles and indiscretions of exile, preferring instead to wear the mask of wrath and murder the chosen enemies. The Hounds who give in to such lynch mob “justice” rarely recognize the depths to which they’ve sank, believing that they are a necessary evil — or nary an evil at all.

Pledge: Turncoat’s Assurance

— I vow on my treacherous heart that I shall go beyond the borders of this domain and shall never again let my iniquitous flesh cross the threshold now denied. Should I betray this pledge, my watcher shall become my hunter and all my fortunes are forfeit.

— Jesus! Fuck! Get that gun out of my ear! I swear, I swear I’ll leave! I’ll fuckin’ leave, and I won’t come back. Goddamnit don’t cock that gun! Please! I’ll go.

Type: Corporal, Nemesis Pledge

Tasks: Forbiddance, Greater (-3, the “turncoat” promises to never again return to the city from whence he is banished); Alliance, Lesser (+0, the two parties agree to a “peace pact”)

Boons: Blessing, Medial (+2, the “turncoat” is allowed to increase the Resources Merit by one dot to pay for “moving expenses”), Blessing, Lesser (+1, the turncoat gains one dot in the “Fleet of Foot” Merit so he can run his ass out of town as fast as possible)

Sanction: Curse, Greater (-3)

Duration: Lifelong (+3)

Invocation: 1 Willpower point, 1 Willpower dot

The Hound Tribunal wants to be clear about this point: an offer to commit to the Turncoat’s Assurance is a mercy. They’ve got a knife to the traitor’s throat and they’re only a few feet from the line marking the city limits. They want the traitor to know that a quick slip of the knife is the easiest thing to do, but they’re bringing an unexpected kindness to the table. Not buying into the pledge, well, that makes their job easy. That’s why most, when given the chance, gladly take the pledge. It’s better than bleeding out on the highway shoulder.

The Turncoat’s Assurance actually manifests as a written document: it can be penned on any kind of paper, and the exact text written is variable (though obviously must clearly state the pledge and the ramifications of enacting and breaking said pledge). The Hound must write up the document in the juice of a fruit or vegetable: ink of blackberry, pomegranate syrup, tomato juice, whatever. The “turncoat” must sign his name to the pledge in the blood of some animal or insect that normally consumes that fruit or vegetable (the squeezed guts of a tomato hornworm caterpillar, the blood of a berry-nipping sparrow). Therein suggests an implicit relationship that the Summer Courtier is clearly the fruit on the vine, whereas the turncoat is the vile parasite who might consume the health of the harvest.