Renown

We will be handling renown in an unusual way with this game. Renown will be handled entirely by the PCs themselves. The Alpha Ahroun will propose/nominate Glory renown for all Sept members, the Alpha Theurge will propose Wisdom, and the Alpha Philodox will propose Honor. The Alpha Galliard will sing and make official that renown - renown doesn't count until the Alpha Galliard makes it so. The Alpha Ragabash then is able to scandalize (decry) any renown s/he deems it to be unworthy (AKA, a load of crap), and therefore bring down renown that is either too high or that has been lost through scadalous actions. Neither the Alpha Galliard nor the Alpha Ragabash get to determine renown independently, just control how much of the renown given becomes official and sticks.

There are a few questions everyone has upon hearing this concept of player-run renown:

1) The Alpha Ahroun (for example) is giving glory renown to only his packmates and the rest of us are getting jipped! This isn't fair, how do I stop this? Must the STs intervene?

No. Because each of the Alphas has a sway over the renown of everyone in the sept, there is a balance inherent in the system. Say the Alpha Ahroun is giving renown only to his packmates and not giving enough to other Sept members. The rest of the sept has a variety of options via the other Alphas. The Alpha Theurge or Philodox can refuse to grant him or his packmates wisdom or honor renown so long as the unfair treatment persists. The Alpha Galliard can refuse to sing the glory he and his pack have earned. The Alpha Ragabash can scandalize their renown and bring it down.

2) What if all the Alphas are in the same pack? Doesn't that mean that pack has a monopoly on renown?

No one pack should ever hold all the alpha positions. In a game such as ours where all characters will have approximately equal power levels to start, it should be possible or even easy for challenges to be made that result in diversification of Alpha leadership. If monopolization (or near-monopolization) ever happens, power has become extremely imbalanced in game and a member of another pack should challenge for one of the alpha positions.

3) Q. Wouldn't the spirits pick up on stories of my renown and spread tales of my glory/wisdom/honor, without having to go through the Sept Alphas?

While you can certainly earn respect in the eyes of spirits, Renown is your standing within the Nation. If the Nation doesn't know about it, then it can't be sung and known about you. So you must tell other Garou of your glorious/wise/honorable actions. Of course, you can always ask a spirit that witnessed your actions and respects you to vouch for you, but you must still take the necessary steps. You will not earn renown by sitting around and saying nothing. Part of being a member of the Garou Nation is singing your renown. You can also ask your pack alpha to speak to the Sept Alphas on your behalf. Otherwise, you cannot advance in rank.

If you have any further questions, contact the Garou STs at garou-litm-st@googlegroups.com. Be sure to get approval from the HST, Kasi.