Rite Of Binding

RITE OF BINDING: (Level 1)

This is a rite to bind a spirit to yourself or an object, thereby making it your servant for a short time. The more powerful the spirit, the more difficult the process and the longer it will take.

Most bindings take a long time to accomplish (one scene minimum); some could take months or even years, though these are exceptionally rare and fantastically dangerous to undertake, and would likely be the centerpiece of a major story.

All attempts at binding or talen-making must be run past a spirit wizard prior to beginning the process. If your talen was not approved, it doesn't work.

Talens are not made lightly nor for frivolous purposes. Imagine that a spirit materialized in the realm, walked over to your Garou PC, and said this:

Hi! I'd like you to help me out. I need you to get into this inescapable box here that has holes so people can stab inside it with silver spears or swords, but you can't stab back. Then I'll lock you in there for some vague period of time, and you'll just have to trust me when I say that I promise to let you out later. After you're all snug in your box, where you can do absolultely nothing but sit, not talk, or carry out your other daily duties, I'll cart you over into the strange and inhospitable umbra. Then, at a later date, probably in the middle of a really big fight, I'll release you from your confinement and you must leap out and use one of your gifts at whatever I point at, regardless of whether you want to or not. Then you're free to go--assuming I don't actually get killed in the battle, in which case you'll likely be picked up, totally helpless, by our mutual enemy, who will very likely torment you, keep you imprisoned as long as possible, or corrupt you so you become one of them. Sound like fun?

Every time a Garou attempts to enlist a spirit to be bound into a talen, this is basically what is being asked of that spirit. Spirits therefore do not like to be bound into talens, and will often ask favors of Garou who wish to make a talen--generally carrying out deeds for these spirits in the realm (where it's hard for them to reach), gifts of Gnosis, furthering a cause of the spirit, or maybe enlisting the garou temporarily as personal thugs in going off to thump some other spirit. Creating a talen is generally equivalent to running an ONS (hence another reason why wizardly approval is important).

The reason that many spirits will even agree to a binding at all is because a talen allows a spirit that otherwise could not cross over to the realm--or would have to spend a great deal of energy crossing over--to perform a single attack/effect in the realm once released. Unlike the Garou, who can all travel between worlds, the majority of spirits cannot.

Garou do not make talens for use in the umbra except in very rare instances. Why? It's less costly and time consume and far more effective to simply ask an Umbral spirit for aid or assistance. A free spirit is capable of far more than a bound one, so binding a talen for use in the umbra is simply very, very inefficient use of both the Garou's time and the spirits. This is also why spirits are generally bound in the umbra--it's rare (and a huge waste of a spirit's power reserves) to manifest in the realm to be bound by a Garou.

The process for making a talen, on an IC and OOC level, is as follows:

1. IC: Come up with the desired effect a talen will have.
2. IC: Determine what kind of spirit is likely to be able to make that desired effect, how easy said spirit will be able to find, and what kind of bribe/barter/exchange will lbe offered. (Having Spirit Speech in addition to Rite of Binding is highly useful.)
3. IC: Determine what an appropriate and respectful vessel for binding that spirit would be. (These are often hand-made artifacts by the garou or rare or unusual objects found in nature that will take some time to discover--i.e. for binding a glass elemental, a piece of glass obtained from a lightning strike onto sand.)
4. IC: Estimate how long it will likely take to do all of the above as well as how long the spirit is to be bound ("expiration date"). Generally, two weeks is about as long as most spirits are willing to be bound. Longer periods of time will cost the Garou more time, efforts, and favors--or risk the emnity of the bound spirit once it is released.
5. IC: Come up with a plan of action for doing steps 1-4 above. Generally, a person creating a talen will want additional garou assisting in the rite--if for nothing other than helping to protect the theurge during the lengthy binding process taking place in the umbra.
6. OOC: @mail the spirit wizards with all of the above and wait for approval before starting things IC. Wizards may modify the effects of the talen or better clarify its effects.
7. IC: After gaining approval, roleplay the talen making process.
8. OOC: After the process is completed, alert the spirit wizards with a @mail and a reminder of the agreed upon effect and expiration date for the talen. Wait for a @mailed response from a wizard. Like +learns, talen making attempts might fail at the wizards' whim, and sometimes they don't work quite like intended. The more effort put into making the talen, the more experienced the garou, and the more the talen-making contributes to RP for people assisting in the process, the less likely this is to happen.
9. IC: Go enjoy your talen!

If a spirit is kept bound in a talen past its expiration date--the date the spirit was promised to be let go--the spirit inside rapidly begins to distrust the Garou as a whole--and the garou that bound it and lied to it in particular. Don't be too surprised if the Garou PC gets attacked or ambushed or tricked by the spirit at a later date. And if multiple spirits are mistreated in this fashion, word of this particular Garou's offenses spread and it becomes more and more difficult for the offending Garou to bind any kind of spirit.

Some garou, particularly those that are in a hurry, may bind spirits in a short period of time--perhaps half a day. This involves obtaining almost any object--even an inappropriate one--to serve as a binding object, locating an appropriate spirit to get the desired effect, then beating the spirit until it is helpless and can be bound to the talen using a 10-minute ritual. This process is typically only used in times of war or in utmost emergencies, as the bound spirit will most assuredly be very angered by this blatent mistreatment and disrespect. While one or three low-powered angered spirits are not too much of a concern for a capable Garou, and they may be able to make up for the transgression afterwards, this practice becomes very dangerous over time or if the ritual involves more powerful or respected spirits.

[Type: Mystic Rite / Theurge] (Source: Werewolf: The Apocalypse, 2nd Ed)