Founding a Krewe

Krewes range from small cells of Sin-Eaters to legendary global conspiracies. Word on the Twilight
Network is that the grand cults are gone, though there are always rumors to the contrary. If there will
ever be great conspiracies again it’s up to the current generation of Sin-Eaters to build them. The
largest known krewes envelop entire cities but even then, smaller gangs and independents live outside
their rules. A krewe runs on a mix of convenience, superstition, and occult power. It represents the
world of the living: growing, changing and, in time, dying.

This makes Geist different from many other World of Darkness games. Even though a ceremonially
bonded krewe is connected to the deep mysteries of death, it’s a mortal organization at heart. No
supernatural laws compel Sin-Eaters to join krewes. They’re all built on the blood, sweat, and
necromancy of founding Sin-Eaters. That’s why this section exists: it contains rules for building your
own krewes.

These systems are designed to bring players and Storytellers together in the spirit of cooperation. In
the story, Sin- Eaters ritually discover an occult channel for the krewe; their geists commune with
secret powers in the Underworld, reconcile them with founding Sin-Eaters’ desires, and create a
mythology and ethos for the organization. The founders share the revelation and if they choose, spread
it.

Out of the story, the situation is a bit different. Even though the geists create the channel, the players
(though not their characters) design the channel according to the type of krewe they want to play in.
One or more of their characters may come into conflict with the channel, but only because their
players want to play through stories about this troubled relationship.

The Storyteller is there to moderate the design process in three ways. First of all, she helps build
consensus between players who have divergent ideas about the krewe-to-be. She finds common
interests, resolves disagreements and, naturally, observes the proceedings to mine for story ideas.
Since krewe design is a situation where players speak frankly about what kind of game they want to
play, this is a fantastic opportunity to draw inspiration from the group. Second, she minds the krewe
design rules and exercises a veto on decisions that could create problems. The krewe system is
designed to favor story opportunities over play balance, and every group has a slightly different
definition of balance anyway. Third, the Storyteller injects her own ideas for group consideration.
Theoretically, she can mandate certain things about the krewe, but we recommend that you exercise a
light touch. Suggest elements to foreshadow upcoming storylines and the desired mood, but remember
that the players’ characters are the center of your story, and that the chronicle’s mood is ultimately a
balance between player and Storyteller interests.

As the Storyteller, it’s your job to keep the chronicle interesting without letting it descend to collective
narcissism. With krewes and everything else, plug player desires into inspirations above and beyond
what they can predict. You know what’s happening in the secret world, beyond what the players
know. Use that advantage to help them.

Names and Style

Long standing tradition demands that every krewe distinguish itself with a name and a signature sign
or style.These are practical customs. Without them, how can Sin-Eaters identify members, or figure
out who owns theturf they’re on? Some regions take it further. They want chanted lineages, formal
heraldry, and carved stele. That’smore common in the Old World. In the Americas it’s enough to have
a color, a tag, and maybe a few secrethandshakes and hand signs to get by.

The cultural demand for a krewe to share a common style sometimes butts heads with a player’s
natural inclinationto have as distinctive a character as possible, so you may wish to talk about style
before anything else, just sothat everyone has a choice they can live with. Names are often harder than
you’d think, too, so set aside sometime for brainstorming. Above all, unless you’re going for comedy,
don’t choose anything that seems funny orstupid from the get start. Dumb names and customs lose
their novelty pretty damn fast. Then again, silliness isin the eye of the beholder. Styles and ideas you
enjoy will probably look stupid in about 10 years, so don’t worryabout making choices that will be
immune to mockery for all time. That’s an impossible

From Convenience to Commitment

Danger, need, and raw fate drive Sin-Eaters together. If they hang out for long enough, word spreads
across the Twilight Network that they’re a krewe, but there’s a difference between these alliances and
a true, ceremonially consecrated krewe. A “proper krewe” changes its members psychologically and
mystically. Emotional changes are often difficult to pin down and don’t necessarily interfere with free
will, but combined with the occult aspects of the krewe they tend to make members better at acquiring
everyday influence and supernatural power. Where does the social effect end and mystical power
begin? Sin-Eaters aren’t sure. They just know that a consecrated krewe is a powerful tool.

Beyond the story, the exact nature of the krewe bond is up to the group. Some effects are obviously
supernatural but we’re not going to come up with a rationale for every factor. That’s up to you when
you design the krewe. You don’t need to settle on detailed explanations at all; the system works just as
well without them.

Prerequisites

To found a krewe you need at least three Bound, a Haunt and the Krewe Binding ceremony.
Furthermore, no Sin-Eater can be supernaturally compelled to found a krewe. You can threaten,
torture, or seduce prospective founders, but supernatural mind control disqualifies a Sin-Eater from
participating.

Joining an established krewe is a little different. Anyone can become an associate of the krewe with its
members’ permission (or without, if she wants to fraudulently claim membership). She can even claim
the krewe’s Temporal Benefits (see below). To really become a part of the krewe, however, she needs
to claim its channel. The initiate participates in the Krewe Binding. From that point, she can use the
krewe’s Supernatural benefits according to their respective systems.

Many Souls, One Channel

The Krewe Binding establishes a channel: a supernatural revelation delivered by the founders’ geists.
The channel has two parts: a mythology and an ethos. These are tailored to the founders’ natures,
including their interests, values, belief systems, special talents, Manifestations, Keys, and associated
geists. Nevertheless, Sin-Eaters don’t choose the channel’s revelation. It’s given to them. A krewe of
devout Christians might get a channel based on prayer, charity, and spiritual warfare — but they might
get one with Satanic associations instead. Sin-Eaters don’t always like their channels, but no channel
is ever created without their influence.

Geists have contributed various explanations for how the channel manifests. Some of them say that
they’ve communed with the deathlords, but in the modern age quite a few say it’s a put-on: a
psychodrama designed to bind the krewe into a cohesive unit. Then again, even the most benevolent
geists have been known to lie when they felt it justified, and as experienced Sin-Eaters know, founding
a krewe changes the contributing geists. They assume roles consistent with the channel’s mythos:
mother goddess, scholar-ancestor, angel of death. Some say that just as Sin-Eaters are mediums
between the living and dead, geists are a bridge between the death-touched Sin-Eaters and the deep,
secret powers of the Underworld. Geists are sorcerers and priests of the dead who keep their ultimate
mysteries to themselves.
Mythology

A channel’s mythology can be thought of as the secret language of death, the programming code of the
afterlife, the will of the gods, or secret meditations that connect a Sin-Eater to the deeper powers of the
Underworld. The mythology is revealed during the ceremony as a flash of insight that transforms
everything the Sin-Eater knows, though a full understanding of the experience may be days, weeks, or
months in coming. Over time she sees signs of the krewe’s lore everywhere. Mythic symbols crackle
with secrets beneath their mundane forms. Mementos tuned to it positively glow with hints of their
potential.

The mythology is a special system of symbols that the ceremony draws from all participating Sin-
Eaters, transforms into a cohesive whole, and then forces into the minds of all who attend. Many
experience it as spiritual inspiration, but a few are horrified — often, by signs and ideas they have
trouble admitting they believe. The priest is initiated into a world ruled by the Devil, because he
always secretly believed that Satan was the strong king of mortal nations. A Satanist’s devotion to
dark symbols and self-will crumble beneath the realization that he really believes in nothing but
empirical reasoning. Elegant mathematics and sketches of experiments invade his mind.

Furthermore, the mythology is one entity, created from the combined beliefs of the krewe’s first
initiates. Higher mathematics, the Devil, reincarnation, rogue Loa — they all spiral out of the Sin-
Eaters’ minds to transform and return as the krewe’s central mystery. The geists in each ceremony add
their own obsessions to the mix, and elements of their inscrutable death-sorcery. The resulting system
includes the following concepts:

Creation Myth: First, the mythology begins with the creation of life…and death. It explains the dawn
of the world, the rise of death, and the creation of the Underworld. Most krewes draw the creation
myth from their members’ cultural traditions, though they rarely conform closely to the legends
outsiders know. Some systems leave the living world to science or popular faith, but tell a special
story about the origins of ghosts and the Great Below. The ceremony merges stories from several
belief systems and adds legends known only to the dead. If the krewe expands, it often presents a more
conventional front of well-known creation stories, reserving the true heart of the mythology for its
inner circle.

Metaphysics: The creation myth leads to assertions about the nature of life and death. What is a soul?
What is a ghost, really? Who are the deathlords? What are geists? The conclusions never contradict
what most Sin-Eaters know about the supernatural world, particularly geists, the Underworld, and the
secrets of the afterlife (or in other words, everything in this core book). This mandates some deviations
from classic myths, though in some cases, surprising things can still be true from a more “creative”
point of view.

Aspects: Who are the mythology’s personalities? The ceremony exalts the founders’ geists, giving
them mystic Aspects: elaborations of the archetypes they uphold. In many cases, the names and
natures of the powers develop from the creation myth, but the geists are not literal gods — or probably
aren’t. Rather, the geist is an aspect of a god, archangel, or culture hero.

Players must choose one Aspect identity for each geist possessed by one of the krewe’s founding Sin-
Eaters, but remember: their characters aren’t making this choice. It’s part of the revelation.

Symbols: At each stage of the mythology’s design, note symbols associated with its tenets. There
should be at least one representing the entire mythology and one for each founding Aspect.