The Curse
Rage has other effects on a werewolf beyond frenzy. Other animals, especially humans, can sense the predator that lurks just under a werewolf’s skin. When a human’s Willpower is less than a werewolf’s Rage, that human will avoid contact with the Garou if at all possible. He might cross the street to avoid “that weirdo,” decide to hail a cab rather than sticking around, or even run in fear. Most humans have a Willpower score of between 2 and 4, so the Curse is no laughing matter. Humans aren’t the only creatures affected by the Curse: wolves and other animals avoid the Garou whenever possible.
This Curse makes normal relationships with humans and wolves very hard, and maintaining a family next to impossible. The Rage within a werewolf makes even their own Kinfolk uncomfortable, albeit to a lesser degree. Only other werewolves can offer a Garou true companionship.
The Litany commands against the logical result of such close companionship.
The Delirium
For over three thousand years, werewolves preyed on humans. Even though most humans have no idea that werewolves exist, some part of the collective unconscious remembers those millennia of terror. The Crinos hybrid form, an avatar of bloody death, incites a kind of madness
in humans that Garou call the Delirium. Stronger-willed people can deal better with seeing a werewolf than most. The majority of humans panic and run, or collapse into a catatonic fear. Even those who can control themselves will forget the encounter later, either by rationalizing what they saw (“It was a bear! No shit!”) or by forgetting the whole incident. This subconscious denial is a supernatural force that the Garou dub the Veil, and they look at it as one of their greatest assets.
How a human acts when faced with a Crinos werewolf depends on his Willpower score. The chart below indicates how a human will react, to what degree the human will remember his encounter, and what percentage of the populace will react in this way. A few humans may be desensitized to the worst of the horror of seeing a Crinos werewolf through their studies of the occult. The Storyteller may decide that such
humans can roll Wits + Occult (difficulty 9), with each success increasing the human’s effective Willpower by one on this chart. Members of cultures that didn’t suffer the Impergium to a great degree (such as Native Americans and Aboriginal Australians) might also be granted a bonus, at the Storyteller’s discretion — though only if they’ve been raised without contact with other cultures.
The Delirium only affects people who can see the werewolf in person. Photographs, video (live or recorded), or other such evidence won’t trigger any fear reaction. Human witnesses will rationalize the evidence away as a Photoshopped image or a publicity stunt, unless their
Willpower is 8 or higher. Kinfolk are entirely immune to the Delirium.
