A Sourcebook for Werewolf: The Apocalypse

Changing Breed Book 11

 Moldwarps
Laying the Fallen Low

By Ben Allsop and Sam Myatt

2 Moldwarps
Credits Special Thanks to:
Author: Ben Allsop and Sam Myatt Steve Prescott and Aileen E. Miles, for cover design
inspiration.
Developer and Editor: Sam Myatt
Art Director: Ben Allsop Henrik Kraft, for friendly support.

Art: Naomi Cornock, Luis Miguez, Ben Allsop, Storytellers

Vault Art Packs.

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CREDITS 3
 Moldwarps Contents

Tunnels 34 Galemy and the Pure-Breed

Introduction: Fresh Tunnels 40 Background 73
Duty and Kin 7
Chambers 43 Merits and Flaws 73
Children of Mole 11
Lost Tunnels 46 Chapter Four:
Themes and Moods 12
Lexicon 12
The Lord of the Run 49 Means of Mending 75
The Three Orders 50 Gifts 75
How to Use this Book 13
Setts 52 Rites 101
Selected Bibliography 13
Labours 52 Tools 106
Chapter One: Hills 52
Appendix One:
Confessions 15 Things 53
The Wyrm’s Turning 15
Mole's Grandchildren 111
Underand, Overland 54
Sample Moldwarp Characters 111
The Time of Anarchy 16 The Triat 56
Labour of Note 117
The Time of Exile 17
Chapter Three: Moldwarps of Note 118
The Time of Emergence 19
Of Moles and Men 57 Burrows of Note 119
The First Time of Pestilence 21
The Second Time of Pestilence 22
Character Creation 57
Appendix Two:
Forms 61
The Time of War 25
Traits 63
Going Underground 123

Chapter Two: On Renown 65

Plot Hooks 123
Guardians of Otherland 125
the Nature of Moles 29 Rank 66
Denizens of Overland 130
Breeds 30 Totems 68
Spirits of Underland 133
Warrens 31 New Background - Burrow 72

4 MOLDWARPS
 There was a whispering in my hearth,
A sigh of the coal.
Grown whistful of a former earth
It might recall.
I listened for a tale of leaves
And smothered ferns,
Frond-forests; and the low sly lives
Before the fauns.
My fire might show steam-phantoms simmer
From Time’s old cauldron,
Before the birds made nests in summer,
Or men had children.
But the coals were murmuring of their mine,
And moans down there
Of boys that slept wry sleep, and men
Writhing for air.
And I saw white bones in the cinder-shard,
Bones without number.
Many the muscled bodies charred,
And few remember.
I thought of all that worked dark pits
Of war, and died
Digging the rock where Death reputes
Peace lies indeed.
Comforted years will sit soft-chaired,
In rooms of amber;
The years will stretch their hands, well-cheered
By our life’s ember;

— Wilfred Owen, ‘Miners:

How the future will forget the dead in war.’
 Introduction:
Duty and Kin
“Berthold Ibsen Beholder-of-Ratatosk’s-Wisdom,
First to Call Wights, and Skald of the Sept of Sleipnir’s
Thunderous Approach, your trial shall now begin. I,
Jakob Falk Tames-the-Sea-Storm, Shield of the Coast,
and Jarl of the Sept of Sleipnir’s Thunderous Approach,
demand that you retell the tale of why you are in these
shackles before this hall of Fenrir.”
The young Garou glanced up to his Jarl from
beneath the weight of the silver-inlaid granite stocks
keeping him from shifting either form or position. His
eyes were red and raw, for he had been left in a heap
under these stone restraints for three days and nights,
awaiting the full face of Luna to bear witness to his
disgrace. He rasped a response, inaudible to the kinfolk
present at the perimeter of the hall.
“We were ambushed, Jarl.”
The gathered wolf-men, who surrounded Berthold
in a near-complete circle, voiced an echoing roar of
mocking howl-laughter. Jakob remained silent but
allowed the outburst to quieten itself before putting the
question.
“A mighty Einherjar such as yourself allowed your
Introduction: Duty and Kin
pack to be ambushed, while hunting but a single fomor?
You, who made a boast to perform the deed in a single
day before this hall? You, who had been given rule over
his pack at the behest of all this Sept’s Elders?”
Berthold dared to glance over at his Elders at the
mention of them, only to see their cold eyes pointed
back at him. Jakob continued with a subtle growl in
his voice; unconscious as it was, it showed Berthold his
distinct lack of amusement. “Explain yourself, boy.”
With a deep breath, the defendant heaved his body
upwards to gaze his Jarl in the eye, mustering all the
resolve he could. “Fine. Myself, Paw-Maiden-of-Sif,
Rider-of-Yggdrasil...” Berthold swallowed and braced
himself for any number of reactions. “...Bow-of-the-Fjord-
Cutter and Jottun’s-Bane...” Again, bestial mockery rang
through Seaham Town Park, buffered by the treeline
standing metres away. “...had stalked the beast,” he
persisted, “along the Glass Beach and watched as it ate
its breakfast at Tonia’s. From there, it continued along
Byron’s Walk. We had planned on letting it lead us to a
shop on Neasham Road, where we expected more of its
kind to be; once they showed themselves, we were going
to strike.”
7
 The Jarl hadn’t moved a muscle. He had heard
this tale half a dozen times before, not only from
Berthold but also from his surviving pack-mates, Hilde
and Anthony. The great wolf said nothing but stared
implacably at Berthold, awaiting the rest of a tale Jakob
could recount himself, though he was no Skald. “It
walked down Byron’s, playing with its phone, oblivious
to its surroundings and completely ignorant of our
pursuit. Then...” He left another pause in his speech,
not for fear of what those listening might do, but for the
memory itself playing out in his mind.
“The fomor stopped outside Byron’s Walk Cemetery
as if it had heard something, but we hadn’t heard
anything. We thought little of this at the time; we all
know how demented Wyrmspawn can be. It moved onto
the cemetery grounds, clearly engaged because it had
pocketed its phone and taken one of its headphones
out.” He sighed raggedly, knowing full well what would
happen as he spoke the next few words aloud to his
audience. “As the creature stepped off of the path
leading through the cemetery, it began screaming. On
the ground beneath it, claws - almost as long as its own
body - burst out of the earth and began to drag the
fomor down.”
The Jarl momentarily put his head in his hand,
exhausted by the tale, before lifting it to unveil furious
eyes. “These claws, what did they belong to? Where did
it come from? Why have we scoured that corpse-fjord
and not found any hint of Jormungandr or even any
disturbance to the grounds? Answer me, pup.”
“We ran over and grabbed the fomor’s arms, but
they were torn off in moments. Nattalie and Tom
chose to try and pull one of these things up from the
ground; we believed they were more fomori rescuing
the one we were hunting. They had pulled it up to the
shoulder when it seemed to choose to exhume itself and
dug itself up to the surface. It was Gaian, I swear it by
Great Fenris, but it was a hideous thing. It resembled
a bjergtrol, as large as Jottun’s-Bane in her wolf-shirt.
The creature effortlessly pushed her to the ground and
sniffed at her face with its pointed snout, showing the
blank space where eyes should have been, and grasped
her with a single claw.”
“You let this happen to your packmate - your
shieldmaiden, no less - and chose to save Wyrmspawn?”
“We let go of it, my Jarl, to try and save Jottun’s-
Bane, but two more of the creatures clawed themselves
up and stood between us and her. They didn’t seem
shocked by us; they knew what we were. One of them
managed to restrain me while the other turned its
attention to Bow-of-the-Fjord-Cutter, distracting him
8 Moldwarps
long enough to be pulled under by those that had taken
the fomor from us.”
“You were restrained by these bjergtrolden, as you
name them, rather than meeting Gaia’s expectations
and sending them to Hel?”
“I had swung at it, but though it couldn’t see it
evaded my claws as though it knew what I was doing
before I moved. Tom was already waist-deep in the hole
they had made while Hilde and Anthony ripped at the
arm of the bjergtrol holding me, though I told them
to help Bow-of-the-Fjord-Cutter over me. It threw me
at Anthony and simply melted back into the ground,
digging quicker than anything I’ve seen before. By
the time we had gotten to our feet, the bjergtrolden
vanished, taking the fomor, Jottun’s-Bane, and Bow-of-
the-Fjord-Cutter. The earth didn’t even look trodden
on, let alone churned up as it had been. We tried to dig
but we got nowhere. That is when we had to turn back
and return to the Caern since our battle had attracted
human attention.”
“Is that all you have?” The Jarl looked away after this
final question, to regard the crowd.
“Yes, Jarl. I did all I could.”
“You have disgraced yourself. You have allowed
the enemy to be free, you have caused the deaths of
two Einherjar with your shortsighted leadership, and
you have lied to us to receive an easier judgement. You
shamelessly call your lost packmates by their human
names alone before your Jarl and Elders, dishonouring
them in word as well as deed. In the heart of this Caern,
you insult your Fylja’s wisdom in watching over you by
claiming that this was all that you could have done?”
Jakob turned his back on the disgraced pup and laid
his judgement. “You have no Rank, no title, no place
in this Sept other than serving the kin and tending the
ground to make sure these bjergtrolden don’t reappear.
But if I hear your claims that Gaian trolls are living
beneath Dalton-le-Dale again, the winds of mighty Thor
will not amount to my rage. We shall leave you, but you
shall remain here another day and night.”
The gathered Einherjar left the assembly,
abandoning the shackled one in his state of disgrace.
Berthold gazed at a small pile of earth, standing in the
middle of the park’s turf to the side of him, as a shiver
climbed along his spine.
***
A grubby weremole strode into his Earl’s candlelit
chamber, a mask of prideful confidence hiding his
sheepish anxiety, and placed a small stone disk on the
desk at which the Earl sat. Without speaking, the two of
them shared one another’s company in the silent near-
dark for a few moments. The Earl ran a finger over the
disk before clearing his throat and asking with his usual
politeness, “Pardon my asking, Foreman, but why are
there two wolves in my Burrow?”
Taken aback by the Earl’s perceptiveness, By-a-Heavy-
Hand stood awkwardly unmoving while assembling
an answer to the one question he had most dreaded
facing. The young Moldwarp had been hard at work
in the cleansing chambers for three days, during which
time he hadn’t let anyone see the two heavily-sedated
werewolves, had passed no one on the way here, and
had said nothing about them to a single soul. “It was
an oversight, Earl. The plan to reclaim the Sceatha was
successful, aside from some damage to his arms which
is being treated as we speak, He should be cleansed not
long after Luna’s full majesty.”
“Splendid - but I find you’ve rather avoided the
question. So, why are there two wolves in my Burrow,
and why, By-a-Heavy-Hand, is their presence not noted
on this tablet?” The seated weremole did not display
anger or disappointment as he leant back and folded
his arms; the facts as he knew them were unchangeable
now, and it was not his way to berate and bluster. His
Foreman’s inability to admit failure, however, hung in
the stale air.
By-a-Heavy-Hand remained motionless. Few enough
metis such as he had been given the title of Foreman
before their fourth Rank and the thought alone of
losing that recognition was enough to strike fear into
his heart. “The Garou were also hunting the Sceatha we
had tracked. Unfortunately, they made their advance
at the same time as we. You could say we were shrewd
in striking first before the wolves could just kill him.”
Even he hadn’t expected to make a bold outburst like
that - during a grilling by his superior, no less - and he
lost his stomach for it partway through. His palpable
embarrassment only grew as every word became quieter,
though he managed to finish saying his piece.
Digs-Through-Dirt-and-Diamond, his Underland
Earl and elder in both Rank and years, leant forward
ominously, punctuating the gradual movement with a
short, sharp sniff. He let things linger for a few more
uncomfortable moments before breaking into a gentle
chuckle. “The Sceatha is alive, your Labourmates are
safe, and you are well. Learn to take in Overland’s
surroundings just as much as those of Underland. This
time it has been a simple mistake, but next time it may
escalate to something direr.”
The Foreman almost fell to his knees, the wave of
relief surging through him was so powerful. The voice
Introduction: Duty and Kin
in the back of his head telling him that he’d lost, that it
was all over, had been mercifully silenced. Unable to put
his gratitude into words, he bowed deeply and began to
back out of the chamber, but his Earl was not finished
with him as he had hoped.
“But, By-a-Heavy-Hand, you do have to deal with the
wolves. They can’t stay here, and we don’t want anyone
from their kennel finding out how to get here, do we?”
As he spoke, Digs-Through-Dirt-and-Diamond fitted
the stone disc into a small slot in the wall, one of the
hundreds reaching up to the chamber’s ceiling from the
floor. “Fix your mistake, and only then will I give you
your next assignment.”
Heavy-Hand as good as skipped out of the dirt
chamber, but it quickly sunk in that he had Garou to
deal with. “Now you’ve lost. It’s really over this time,
kid,” came that niggling voice. Taking a moment to get
his bearings, he reminded himself he knew the right
Gifts, and that his half-brother had just come back from
the Malfean Breach. Uncovers-Our-Wyrm’s-Salvation
wouldn’t let a couple of scared, mad dogs harm him.
The metis busied himself around the Burrow, retrieving
various cleansing Tools from the vault. He then tracked
down his step-brother, who really didn’t want to have
to deal with temperamental Garou during his leave of
duty but promised to help just this once, before finally
heading back to the cleansing chambers.
The werewolves could be heard from the opening of
the passage, even with nearly fifty metres’ worth of other
chambers containing incarcerated Sceatha standing
between them. Quite clearly, the powerful sedative herbs
Heavy-Hand had been feeding them had worn off again,
and their constant howls, screams, and threats unnerved
him. At the sight of his brother’s fear, Uncovers-Our-
Wyrm’s-Salvation stepped forwards and took one of the
Tools from the metis’ paws. “Don’t worry, they all bark
like that. Just watch how I do it, and you might learn a
thing or two.” The weremole was in homid form, but
even then he was still an intimidating figure, with his
treasured war-mattock Seax in a sheath at his waist and
his long, braided hair resting across his broad shoulders.
As the two reached the chamber gate, the two enraged
werewolves immediately threw themselves against it,
talons outstretched, slashing at the air less than a metre
from Wyrm’s-Salvation’s throat.
“Garou of Overland, I am Uncovers-Our-Wyrm’s-
Salvation,” he intoned with rehearsed flatness and
clarity of speech. “You have been mistaken for Sceatha
because of your violent and destructive natures, and
treated according to that assumption. When you
return to your pack, consider how you should conduct
yourselves towards other servants of Gaia in the future,
9
especially those who would freely release you from
captivity as we shall shortly do.. Remember, Our-” he
broke off, wincing in irritation, “rather, the Wyrm
destroys, but Gaia heals all things.” The Garou were
uncharacteristically calmed by his halting speech.
Turning back to his brother, he said: “Hand, you take it
from here.”
The Metis stepped forward, his appearance clearly
stifling the Gift his brother had just performed and
spoke up trying to match his brother’s authority. “Forget
that we are here. I will lead you to your pack and you
will tell them that you became lost, or maybe that you
wanted a holiday. Is that acceptable?” The werewolves
were silent, but nodded as though trained to do so.
Wyrm’s-Salvation made his way along the passage,
clearing away the Moldwarps and kinfolk attending their
own duties. “Make way, everyone, we’re taking these ill-
mannered dogs for a walk!”
The two led the Garou along almost three miles
of passageways, with Heavy-Hand leading and Wyrm’s-
Salvation taking up the rear just in case their prisoners
slipped the leash, finally reaching a small hole in the
roof. Once the two of them shifted into their talpid
forms, Wyrm’s-Salvation placed his paws either side of
the small tributary and pulled it aside like a curtain,
widening the dirt passage to be able to encompass the
werewolves in lupus. Heavy-Hand looked back as the
pair of Garou assumed the shape of wolves and began
the slow, difficult ascent.
***
10 Moldwarps
Berthold lay in his bed of disgrace under a heavy
downpour, shackled and defenceless like Fenris
before Tyr. He thought of nothing but the sight of
those monstrous claws reaching up and ripping at his
packmates. Was it a sign that Ragnarok was upon the
world at last? He shook his head and chastened himself
for such a thought, for seeking such a grand explanation
of his failure which only lessened his own responsibility.
The Jarl had made it all too clear that it was his
negligence alone which had killed Bow-of-the-Fjord-
Cutter and Jottun’s-Bane.
While starvation addled his thoughts and sorrow
weighed heavy on him, he dimly felt that the dreaded
state of Harano was surely soon upon him, that his
service to Gaia was coming to a premature and shameful
end. As these poisonous thoughts circulated his mind,
he was alerted to a deep scratching noise that only grew
louder and louder, then two more similar sounds joined
it, eventually turning into the only thing he could hear.
Shaking uncontrollably, he couldn’t know whether
madness was taking root or if it was truly happening
again. Suddenly, the small hill of dirt he had noticed
during his trial grew larger as drenched soil splattered
from its peak, but it wasn’t being excavated by some
burrower; it was opening of its own accord. Perhaps this
was Gaia’s righteous punishment for his weakness, and
the earth would swallow him up. The turf surrounding
this small furrow swelled like a balloon until it expelled
two large wolves - his lost packmates, he recognised with
astonishment - and two much smaller animals, barely
visible in the low light.
 Nattalie and Thomas paced towards him as if the
situation were the most natural in the world, curled up
beside him, and soon fell asleep. The others, which he
could just about tell were moles, remained briefly where
they were before one clambered back into the hill, which
had somehow been restored to its previous size, leaving
no evidence of their passing. The second mole, slightly
smaller than the other, paused at the hill’s base and
turned back to the reunited Garou.
Berthold never gave his Jarl the full story of the
night of his trial, he knew if he did the great Garou
would slay him where he stood without a second
thought, but he thought about it each night from then
on. Whether it was the hunger twisting his perception
or the impending Harano corrupting his mind didn’t
matter, but he knew with absolute certainty that he saw
the final mole wave at him before it returned to the
earth.
Children of Mole
In the world of Werewolf: The Apocalypse,
werewolves are by far not the only species of shapeshifter
defending Gaia against the tyrannical forces of the
Wyrm. Werebears, wereravens, and weresnakes all
perform their own select duties to Gaia, to name but
a few. Moldwarps aims to introduce another group
of Gaia’s children to the game. Weremoles, at first
glance an unassuming, even comical Breed, are easily
overlooked due to their living environment and their
specific spiritual calling. These Moldwarps work as
Gaia’s Jailers, tasked with tracking down agents and
artefacts of the fallen Triat, containing them in their
vast Burrows, and ultimately cleansing and rehabilitating
them, all in order to return the entity or object to its
rightful position in Gaia’s tapestry.
Due to their limited and shortsighted response
during the War of Rage, and their subsequent absence
from the Skinlands, Garou and the Fera at large have all
but forgotten that Moldwarps even exist. In the last days,
they have stepped up their efforts and believe that their
way of dealing with Wyld, Weaver, and Wyrm can still
yield a victory for Gaia and the restoration of universal
purity.
Sceatha
Unlike many shapeshifters, Moldwarps do not see
the Wyrm as the overarching threat to existence. Fat
as it may have grown on its evil work, they regard all
things specifically aligned to one of the Triat, rather
than to balance between the three, as equally offensive
to Gaia. Were the Garou to succeed in destroying the
Introduction: Duty and Kin
Wyrm, they hold, the Wyld and Weaver would be
no less broken and fill the vacuum left behind, not
only upending cosmic order but creating two foes far
stronger than any of the Triat previously were. The
Breed treats things corrupted by the Triat similarly to
the way a doctor would a highly contagious patient, or a
responsible warden a particularly disturbed inmate. They
do not kill or destroy it, dismissing neither the threat it
poses nor its potential to be saved.
A Moldwarp’s duty is to find such tainted things,
which they term Sceatha, and inter them within a
Burrow to undergo rehabilitative cleansing rituals, which
alter the Triatic energies of the Sceatha in order to bring
it back into balance (or as close to it possible). In the
case of a fomor, for instance, Moldwarps would not revel
in executing it as Garou generally do, but expose it to
controlled essences of the Wyld and Weaver in equal
parts, within a consecrated Gaian environment, in order
to balance out the Wyrmish aspect of the possessed
being. To break is Wyrmish, but to mend is Gaia’s work.
Many supernatural creatures of the World of
Darkness are classified as Sceatha by Moldwarps.
Vampires, changelings, and Kuei-jin are all Sceatha.
Hunters, mages, and even wraiths are all balanced
enough to be overlooked, though the obvious exceptions
within these groups - Technocrats, Marauders,
Nephandi, Spectres, and the rare demonically-Imbued
- are themselves all specifically influenced by the Triat,
and as such, are deemed to be Sceatha.
Our Wyrm
Before the Wyrm was driven into its throes of
insanity by the Weaver, Mole served as an undertaker
to both it and Gaia, but turned from the Wyrm’s face
when it was corrupted. The Moldwarps followed in their
totem’s role, but this duty changed following the War of
Rage. No longer could they keep their heads down and
bury the bodies of those the Garou chose to slay without
reason. The Breed was shown through trials of their own
that an alternative to the Garou’s fire and fury must be
upheld.
The Breed colloquially refers to the Wyrm as ‘Our
Wyrm’, partially in honour to their past and their fallen
patron, but also to remind their young that the Wyrm
is not an enemy to defeat, but a sick being in need
of mending. Obviously, referring to the Wyrm with
such regard makes any Moldwarp stand out to other
shapeshifters as questionable at best, or fallen to the
Destroyer at worst.
11
Themes and Moods
• Duty: Weremoles have been shown the error of
their ways in the past, and have suffered for their actions
time and again. Now, in the time of the Apocalypse, they
know their duty with keen certainty. A Moldwarp’s life
is strictly regimented, their Burrows by the book, and
they are rarely allowed to step out of line. To witness the
irresponsible actions of many other Fera in the face of
Sceatha activity brings Moldwarps deep disgust.
• Insufficiency: The reach of a Moldwarp is only
so long, and with the resistance shown to them by other
Fera, weremoles are only held back even further. No
matter how great an achievement it is to cleanse one
fomor of its Wyrm-taint, and to then return him safely
to his wife and children, the Garou will have slaughtered
ten times that number that very night, to say nothing
of his entire course of cleansing. Some other solution
is needed, but none has presented itself thus far. The
Moldwarps push on undaunted by their mammoth task,
opting to try and potentially fail than to relent and invite
the Apocalypse for certain.
• Isolation: Burrows are physically cut off from
the world above, with only a few passages in and out,
but the isolation of Moldwarps goes deeper than
architecture. Weremoles are incapable of aligning with
many supernaturals due to their status as Sceatha, they
largely refuse partnership with the murderous Garou,
and are ignored by Fera who would have once called
them cousins. As a result, Moldwarps are stuck with only
themselves for company, and one wrong move outside or
underneath a Burrow and most weremoles are left with
no one to turn to.
Lexicon
Body of Death: A huge temple-complex built of
obsidian and located in Run’s End, which serves as the
spiritual home of all Moldwarps.
Burrow: The physical surroundings of a Den,
controlled by the associated Sett; equivalent to Bawn.
Chamber: Lesser Tunnels exclusively reared from
subspecies of the Tunnel the Chamber is connected to.
Den: A subterranean place of Gaian energies similar
to a surface Caern, surrounded by a Burrow and held by
a Sett.
Earl: A senior Moldwarp who leads a Sett and
oversees and protects its Burrow.
Foreman: The leading member of a Labour, which
may change depending on circumstances and the
12 Moldwarps
Labour’s needs.
High Sanctus: The Breed’s highest authority in
the Sanctii Order, typically a high-Rank Cleanser or
Architect.
High Scrivein: The Breed’s highest authority in
the Scrivein Order, typically a high-Rank Tracker or
Cleanser.
High Thegn: The Breed’s highest authority in the
Thegn Order, typically a high-Rank Warden or Digger.
Hill: A broad political grouping of Moldwarps
which transcends other divisions, similar to camps.
Labour: A small group of Moldwarps sharing a
Totem and who perform a particular task.
Lord of the Run: The highest authority in
Moldwarp society, as nominated by Earls and tested by
the High Sanctus, Scrivein, and Thegn.
Mole: 1) The subterranean mammal from which
Moldwarps share Kinship. 2) The Totem to which all
Moldwarps are devoted. 3) The common informal term
used to refer to Moldwarps.
Order of Sanctii: Martyrs of the Breed who embody
what they once were, living immaterial lives and dealing
solely with the task of undertaking for the Wyrm,
they act as reminders of what Moldwarps must aim to
become once the Triat has been cleansed. Singular,
Sanctus.
Order of Scriveins: The Breed’s administrative
authority, governing the progression of new Rites and
the cleansing performance of each Burrow.
Order of Thegns: The warrior forces of the Breed,
those tasked with stemming Sceatha uprisings in a
Burrow, Defending Burrows from Overland attack, and
resisting breaches from Malfeas into Run’s End. Thegns
are the only weremoles granted the right to slay enemies
outright.
Otherland: The Umbra.
‘Our Wyrm’: An honorific referring to both the
concept of the Balance Wyrm and the Wyrm in general.
If Moldwarps want to highlight the Wyrm’s fallen state
specifically, they speak of the ‘fallen’ or ‘mad’ Wyrm.
Overland: The parts of Earth above the surface,
including the sea and sky.
Passage: An Umbral tunnel leading from one Den
to another; equivalent to a Moon Bridge.
Run: An Umbral Passage similar to a Moon-
Bridge leading specifically to otherwise inaccessible the
Moldwarp Homeland, Run’s End.
Run’s End: The weremole’s spiritual Homeland,
claimed to be one half of the Wyrm’s heart.
Sceatha: A being or object (or sometimes a place
or organisation) corrupted by or in service to the fallen
Triat. The cleansing of Sceatha is the Moldwarps’
primary charge.
Sett: The organisation of the Moldwarps living in a
Burrow and keeping a Den; equivalent to Sept.
Tool: Any object used by Moldwarps that has been
infused with an unbalanced spirit, both for its utility
and to cleanse the spirit itself; equivalent to a Talen or
Fetish.
Tunnel: A group of Moldwarps across a large
geographic region; equivalent to Tribe.
Underland: The parts of Earth beneath its surface,
where Burrows and Dens are located.
Unland: Any space above the earth or in the sea.
Vision-Crawl: The journey underground taken by
weremoles immediately before their first change.
Warren: The role a Moldwarp plays in the Breed’s
affairs; equivalent to Auspice.
How to Use this Book
Chapter One: Confessions recounts the oral history
of the Breed: their creation, the War of Rage, the
Umbral exile suffered by the Breed due to their inaction
- or unworthy actions - during the War, and the centuries
following their release when the Breed expanded to
reclaim their lost lands and to discover their new, Gaia-
given destiny.
Chapter Two: On the Nature of Moles is a
complete surface-down look at Moldwarp culture,
describing their intertwining system of Tunnels,
Chambers, Hills, Warrens, and Setts. It follows the
entire existence of a weremole, from the Vision-Crawl,
earning Renown, and advancing in Rank, and how they
deal with the various other denizens of the World of
Darkness.
Chapter Three: Of Moles and Men provides the
means to create weremole characters, discussing the
mechanical representation of the phenomena in the
previous chapter as well as their non-Gift Advantages,
Forms, and Merits and Flaws.
Chapter Four: Means of Mending covers the
supernatural armaments the Moldwarps use in dealing
with Sceatha: their Gifts, both unique and borrowed,
Breed-specific Fetishes and Talons named Tools, and
their range of Rites.
Appendix One: Grandchildren of Mole includes
Introduction: Duty and Kin
sample player characters, plus notable Labours,
individual Moldwarps, and Burrows.
Appendix Two: Going Underground encompasses
the Breed’s interactions and relationships with the
World of Darkness’ other inhabitants, and provides a
plot hook themed for each Tunnel.
Selected Bibliography
Putting yourself in the mindset of a part-mole
character (or many, in a Storytellers’ case) may be
difficult at first, more so than members of other
Changing Breeds. Not only are they creatures who
live entirely different lives to us, but they are generally
unobserved in their behaviour - unlike the more
charismatic wolves, bears, or great cats, who have been
studied extensively and feature regularly in popular
culture. There are, however, several sources regarding
burrowing things, duty as jailers, and subterranean life
that can be mined for inspiration for your Moldwarp
characters and chronicles.
Books
The Burrow by Franz Kafka. This short story
from the master of claustrophobia is narrated from the
perspective of a mole or something much like one, and
illustrates well several of the harder aspects of Moldwarp
existence: isolation from the wider world above,
paranoia, and the constant need to collect, organise,
maintain, and protect what is yours.
The Wombles by Elisabeth Beresford. Though very
much a children’s series, its environmentalist ethos fits
well with Werewolf, and more specifically the Wombles’
motto - Make Good Use of Bad Rubbish - encapsulates
the Moldwarps’ preference to convert corrupted things
into pure ones than to destructively waste them. These
themes added to their living conditions, their ability to
sense pure natural environments, their reclusiveness,
and their anthropomorphic burrowing mammal forms
combine to make the books and television series a
grounding for the Breed.
Film and Television
The Descent. Though the main protagonist of The
Descent is trapped underground, alongside post-human
creatures hunting her, her vulnerability and fear are
highly representative of the worst ordeals of the most
subterranean Warrens, the Diggers and Architects.
Many of their weremoles must delve deep underground
and into the Umbra to hunt and build new cleansing
chambers. Occasionally they are cut off from their Sett
and suffer much the same fate as Sarah and her friends,
13
forced to find a way back without guidance. Conversely,
the creatures might themselves serve as inspiration, such
as for the degenerate Buried Moldwarps who have fallen
to the Wyrm’s service.
Prison Break. By their very nature, any seriously
approached prison drama can be used for inspiration for
a Moldwarp chronicle. The way a prison’s staff behave
both around its prisoners and during downtime, and
the layout and structure of the prison itself, align with
a Burrow, and its occupying Sett. Furthermore, not
all Sceatha who manage to break free of their bonds
would necessarily run amok and cause a full breakdown
of a Burrow’s security. Many would plan their escape
carefully long after they notice their opportunity, study
the weaknesses of younger weremoles, and when the
time comes, make no moves to free others since a large
number would be their enemies also. The most insidious
might try to bring corruption into the Burrow itself,
ideally causing the entire Sett fall to whichever Triatic
master the Sceatha serves.
The Exorcist. Though Moldwarps does not use
the language of Christian exorcism - the birth of that
religion having passed by the weremoles during their
Umbral exile - the Breed’s practice of cleansing is a form
of exorcism, dispelling the Triatic imbalance within
Sceatha and allowing Gaian balance to flourish in its
absence. Cleansers and Trackers particularly would
experience scenarios thematically similar to many
scenes found in The Exorcist and similar works, from
confronting evil in others to contending with the seed of
corruption within oneself.

14 Moldwarps
 Chapter One:
Confessions

They are beings within the depths of the earth; not even legend can describe them, even
those who become their legends have scarcely seen them; they come; you can hear their claws
scratching just below you in the earth, which is their element, and already you are lost.
— Franz Kafka, The Burrow

The Wyrm’s Turning

Good day, my Earl of Overland, and congratulations
on your election. My name is Paints-the-Ages, and I
serve the Order of Scriveins as a keeper of our history.
I recognise that you are far younger than I, and current
circumstances have robbed you of the chance to
receive historical education befitting your new office.
The Underland Earl has brought me in to give you
an overview and provide materials for more detailed
research in your own time.
As you shall learn well, we have known dark times
before indeed; now is not our first crisis. We inherit
a legacy of failures and sorrows, but also endurance,
recovery from adversity, and excellence. I counsel you
to take heart from this as I do and use it to bolster your
resolve for the trials ahead.
Chapter One: Confessions
I suppose you want me to start before all things.
We know that, long ago before the Eruption, before the
Collapse, and before the children of Mole dug their way
through the earth in service of Our Wyrm, there was the
Time of Order. Back then, all things obeyed Gaia’s law
without question or contention. Like Bat and Uktena,
Mole was a totem sworn to the Wyrm, the sustainer of
Balance between Wyld and Weaver. The harmony could
not last, of course, and the Weaver’s jealousy led it to
constrain Our Wyrm, in turn driving its corruption
and upsetting Balance. While Mole had no wish to turn
from her great patron spirit, neither could she abide
what it had twisted into, and she joined other totems in
rejecting it for Gaia’s embrace alone.
Grandmother Mole, always a diligent and clever
spirit, saw that she could salvage something of Our
Wyrm. Burrowing a small, unnoticeable tunnel through
the Weaver’s web, she entered the Wyrm’s prison and
began recovering parts of its body which had been shed
in its pained and terrified thrashing. She could only
15
stay for a short time since the Weaver’s pattern spiders
moved quickly to repair the damage she had done once
the tunnel was found. Carrying portions of Our Wyrm
in her burden basket, she escaped at the last moment
and made for Gaia’s court, presenting what she had
recovered as a tribute. She was given a place in the
distant Umbra and commanded to fashion the Wyrm’s
parts, purified by Gaia’s own tears, into the Body of
Death - the great temple where we rule to this day. With
the help of her brood, she built Run’s End around it,
ensuring she and her kind had a safe home.
The First Moldwarps
Back in the First Times, mankind was just another
animal in the wilds, wolves killed only to feed and
maintain herd sizes, sharks stayed in the water, ravens
stuck to the skies, and we ruled Underland. Mole was
one of the last totems to be gifted children by Gaia.
She had seen that in order to mitigate the catastrophic
unbalancing of the natural order, the cycle of death and
rebirth needed to be overseen by a loyal and unassuming
creature such as Mole. At Gaia’s urging, Mole chose the
most dutiful and hard-working among her own kind
and with them produced four strong pups of the same
character, each more than capable of performing their
duty as Gaia’s Undertakers and each destined to sire one
of the four Tunnels.
As with the other Fera, Mole’s four pups were
granted the power to take human form, though they
rarely did at this time. They coupled the greatest traits
of both species to satisfy their sombre but necessary duty
of interring the dead in the earth which was their true
home, maintaining what could be recovered of Balance.
It is said that this troubled but burgeoning Time of
Order should have always been and that Gaia’s laws
determining what would be made, what could continue,
and what needed to end, were absolute. In time, even,
the unruly Triat could be brought back to their pure
state forevermore, and creation would be stronger for
this harsh test - but it was not to be. In their fallibility,
Fera who had been completely content with following
Gaia’s commands began taking matters into their own
hands.
Hunting was no longer a sacred duty to attend to
out of necessity, but a frivolous exhibition of power at
the expense of other life. No more were the Fera satisfied
with their kind’s traditions, so awash were they with
the heady thrills of newfound innovation and progress.
Never again would new life burst forth to fill a need felt
by Gaia; those needs would simply go ignored. The Time
of Anarchy was drawing near, and all the while our kind
remained virtually unnoticed, our work overlooked but
16 Moldwarps
never unneeded. Our heads would rear in the wake of
destruction left behind by wolves, snakes, bears, and
cats, but for the most part, our task was simple: we
buried the dead, the pestilent, and the toxic, allowing it
to return to the cycle without causing disruption to any
other part of Gaia’s rich tapestry.
Our closest allies, the Grondr and Gurahl,
nonetheless lived on Overland, limiting our command
of events and our contact with important conclaves.
Likely due to our dissociation from Her other children,
we failed to appreciate the radical shift taking place
above us. Moldwarps the world over became trapped in
a vicious cycle all our own, working ever harder to bury
the remains of those claimed by the Wyrm. With the
growth of death occurring on Overland, so much more
of our time was taken up dutifully digging beneath that
we failed to truly recognise the brutality being played
out, let alone spare the effort to investigate its cause.
The Time of Anarchy
In my humble opinion, m’lord, the ancestors
overlooked the increased number of deaths because
they were primarily human casualties. Humanity had
flourished from, as far as we knew them to be, a small
subspecies of great apes to become the dominative force
in several continents. Using Weaver’s control of the
natural world to break free of Gaia’s will and determine
their own fate, as they did, broke Gaia’s law. Naturally,
then, the ancestors expected humanity to suffer at the
claws of the Garou and be brought back into line; a
regretful necessity, but a temporary one.
It was only when they noticed other Fera falling to
the same fate as humanity, condemned by the Garou
Nation, that the ancients’ attention was aroused. The
great ones met in the Body of Death to decide how
they should respond to the maddened werewolves’
rapacity. They were accompanied, it is said, by legendary
representatives of other Breeds given the honour of
entering not only Run’s End but the Body of Death
itself, which had never happened before (and nor has it
since). The powerful rituals of obeisance to the spirits
of that place - necessary just to allow the other Fera to
survive the meeting - make for tales of their own, but are
not relevant to our greater history.
Many proposals were thrown back and forth.
Join the war, some proclaimed, and die fighting if
need be; beseech the spirits to abandon the Garou as
punishment, said others. Surely slaying Weaver-tainted
mankind once and for all would satiate the wolves’ fury,
other voices spoke. Finally came a quiet suggestion,
made at first only by a small number, but which grew in
popularity by the minute and was finally approved. Setts
across the world were ordered to excavate silver en masse,
creating weapons, armour, and jewellery to hand over to
leaders of the largest human settlements, and to teach
them of its hidden power over the Garou who ruled over
them. Humanity would be used as overwhelming pawns
in the War of Rage, to push the werewolves back to
their dens and teach them not to claim a greater insight
than Gaia’s own teachings. It was further hoped that by
aiding humanity, new bridges could be erected between
Fera and Man, to unify all under Gaia’s glory. For a
third time, and not the last, hope was a bright but false
promise.
Dozens of small Labours were chosen to carry
out the decisions made by the Lord of the Run. They
crafted weapons to be wielded by humanity, inscribed
with enchanted glyphs to foster the idea of further
cooperation. Gradually, hundreds of human settlements
were broached with the idea of taking back control over
where they roamed, and in a few generations humanity
turned their fury against their foes. Unfortunately for
our ancestors, not to mention the other Changing
Breeds, humans came to see any creatures who shifted
form and burned at the kiss of silver as their enemy.
Moldwarp intervention during the heat of the War
of Rage did nothing to mitigate the dire loss of life
being suffered by all parties; in fact, the death toll was
exacerbated and now included far more Fera than
ever before, not only Garou. What’s more, we had not
foreseen the unwillingness of the Garou to admit defeat
at the hands of lesser enemies. They fought on only
harder, responding to the use of baneful metal in kind.
Swathes of shapeshifters and entire human cultures fell
to wolfen claws and teeth. It is unknown what caused
the following cataclysm, but many Tunnels’ legends lay
the blame at the feet of those who gave humanity the key
to the Garou’s destruction.
The First Collapse
In giving mankind a weapon to turn against Gaia’s
children, we had betrayed our own kind, but not only
that, the ancestors had driven the Garou further into
their blood-frenzy, and the deaths of entire species - not
to mention countless Setts - were our dire rewards. The
emergence of a weakening of the Umbra came about
at the same time as this shortsighted act, but with the
ruination of so many Dens, it went wholly overlooked.
Today, we Scriveins link the two events indisputably.
The Run, the only route in and out of the pure
heart of the Wyrm, the place we call Run’s End, began
failing us at an alarming rate just when it was most
needed. Burrows across the world were suddenly shut
Chapter One: Confessions
off from one another as their great Passages, connecting
them to both the Run and to other Burrows, collapsed
without warning and without time to act.
Many Moldwarps died attempting to excavate new
Passages between the Burrows in Garou assaults, and
even greater numbers died while attempting to re-dig the
Run. It was by running back to the Body of Death and
calling another great meeting that Burier-of-Brothers,
then Lord of the Run, failed us entirely. As many
Sett-leaders - we would not call them Earls for many
hundreds of years - as could make the journey gathered
to try and discern what was happening to the fabric of
reality, why Gaia had forsaken them and the Garou, and
how so many Breeds could be allowed to die so callously.
It is said that their debate went so far as to affront the
mourning Grandmother Mole, and Her wrath was plain
for all to see.
At the culmination of Burier-of-Brother’s meeting,
the Run collapsed entirely, the spirit routes through
Underland caved in, and innumerable Burrows were
reduced to naught more than sinkholes. Almost all
evidence of our earthly existence was dragged beneath
in one violent shift; even the great Umbral highways
constructed by our numbers in Asia to aid Fera during
the War, a work of generations, were devastated in an
instant. Some say that the Celestines were so offended
by the debate that they saw Moldwarps as just another
Breed in need of extinction. Some blamed the Garou
for creating pacts with Banes or torturing earth Spirits
in order to cause the collapse; though they went too far,
it is a testament to how catastrophic these events proved
for us.
The Time of Exile
Time became meaningless in Run’s End, for death
is timeless and so too is its heart. The Moldwarps there
were trapped inside a realm of decay only for a few
generations, though the Time of Exile spanned across
over two millennia on Gaia, long enough to see three
Lords of the Run serve their terms. The procession of
these Lords is the only reliable means to track the time
spent in Umbral imprisonment. The first weremole
to be elected Lord of the Run was desperately chosen
during a time of fire and suffering, and it was he who
was burdened with saving our kind.
Claws-of-the-Abyss
Immediately after the Collapse, Run’s End was
thrown into utter turmoil and our entire Breed was
trapped inside the Body of Death itself. The lives of
kinfolk were maintained only through the continued
17
use of potent Gifts and adornment in the last few
Tools retained from before the Collapse, meaning their
population had to be kept small. In this time, vast
changes occurred in Moldwarp culture as Elders were
belittled by their resentful young and Hills grasped for
power in the atmosphere of total uncertainty. Burier-of-
Brothers was lost in circumstances not well understood,
for his name has been all but struck from our history.
Some tales hold that he was taken in by the Mad Wyrm
as one of its pawns; the most popular story tells us he
lay down in the fungal forests to become one with the
goddess he had besmirched.
The Umbral landscape surrounding the Body of
Death was immediately plagued by hellspawn flooding
in from nearby Malfeas to claw and batter at its obsidian
walls, forcing the greatest Moldwarp warriors to form
the first Battle Labours. These fighters ventured into
the darkness wielding great weapons of silver, bone,
and obsidian, often never to be seen again. One young
Warden named Claws-of-the-Abyss served in one such
Battle Labour and returned home a legend, for he
managed to fight his way into Malfeas itself, where
he sealed the wound linking the two realms. He was
honoured and given the name we know him by upon
returning. He single-handedly led our forces to clear the
remaining Wyrmspawn from Run’s End, and on his
appointment to Lord many years later he declared that
the time for Moldwarps to hide had ended.
Claws-of-the-Abyss helped raise the Orders from
their status as obscure Hills to unique stations in
Moldwarp culture. They were to henceforth watch over
our society itself, ensuring that no more self-serving
decisions like those that led to our Umbral incarceration
would be made in the future. The Foreman of Claws’
Battle Labour, Stalks-the-Endless-Worm, was appointed
as the first of what we would now call the High Thegns,
and made sentry of the furthest reaches of Run’s End.
Following this, the precursors to the Orders of Sanctii
and Scriveins were founded - the first to remind us what
we once were, and the second to determine what we
must become.
Wyrm-Tender
From the Scriveins came the next Lord of the Run,
a young woman who didn’t seek greatness in war as
her predecessor did, but rather found it through an act
of compassion. Wyrm-Tender had seen to the spiritual
wellbeing of her fellow Moldwarps and the physical
health of the unfortunate kinfolk trapped in the Umbra
alongside them. The young mole mastered the Rite of
Cleansing barely moments after her Vision Crawl and
worked tirelessly to push kinfolk out of the Body of
18 Moldwarps
Death to create small settlements on the outskirts of the
Fungal Forest. At this time, the breach separating the
Wyrm’s two worlds were guarded permanently, prone
as they were to Malfean incursions breaking through to
run amok in Run’s End. Defending the breach was the
main priority aside from settling small-scale camps about
the region for long-term habitation. During a routine
cleansing visitation to one such camp, the presence of a
fomor living amongst the kinfolk was discovered.
Rather than slaying the abomination as her peers
would have done, and before reporting the creature to
the Order of Thegns, Wyrm-Tender attempted the Rite
of Cleansing on the Wyrm-Tainted being. Her toils
lasted hours, during which numerous other compiled
Rites were used in conjunction with one another. Even
terrified kinfolk received orders to aid with chanting,
drum work, lighting incense, and anointing the
possessed man until at last he was freed and the Bane
controlling his body removed. After great scrutiny of
her work and her subject, vicious interrogation, and a
lengthy debate between the Claws-of-the-Abyss and the
Order heads, Wyrm-Tender’s new Rite was approved
and her Rank increased. She went on to teach her
subordinates the ritual she had now perfected and
instituted a body of Scriveins to be present as the breach
between worlds alongside the Battle Labours, their
duty to cleanse those who could be captured and saved.
Eventually, she was elevated to the position of Lady of
the Run for her service to Gaia. She gave us our long-
sought hope, and her practices form the basis for our
entire purpose today.
Paws-to-Shake-the-Earth
Working off the back of Wyrm-Tender’s scarcely
fathomable advances, the next Lord would truly change
our way of life forever. He was politically-minded from a
pup’s age, learned our history inside and out, and strove
to better our people during their exile. Perhaps in these
efforts, he believed, Gaia would embrace us once more.
Following his First Change, Paws-to-Shake-the-Earth
battled tirelessly to change the ways in which Moldwarp
society was run. He was one of the few Adren weremoles
to be allowed to debate alongside Wyrm-Tender and
the Orders’ heads. His ascent wasn’t gained through an
ordeal or achievement of great notoriety, but the gradual
establishment of Cleansing Labours to work alongside
Battle Labours turned enough heads while he cemented
his position as an influential figure in Run’s End.
Eventually, when Wyrm-Tender died in successfully
cleansing a Maeljin she had dragged from its Duchy
deep in the heart of Malfeas, Paws-to-Shake-the-Earth
was the first to put his name forward as a candidate
for her successor. Various stories account this event
differently, but the one thing which unifies them is
his quiet confidence. While there were rivals who had
excelled in certain things far more than he, they each
had personal failings that gave the Elders pause. At
the same time, Paws-to-Shake-the-Earth’s influence
was indisputable, and he had no true enemies, but his
practical abilities were deemed unexceptional. As the
voting Moldwarps were about to make their decision, he
was personally given a gift by Grandmother Mole as she
arose from her long doldrums.
The Time of
Emergence
Ahead of them, weremoles faced an unexpected
period of flux, everything was about to change and the
lives they had learned to cope with would fade while
whole new challenges. The prison they now called home
was destined to crack wide open to thrust Moldwarps
into a world they were not prepared for.
The Eruption
Paws-to-Shake-the-Earth was undertaking the various
trials set by the High Orders to test his competency for
the role of Lord. He had already surpassed the Sanctus’
challenge - single-handedly cultivating a new region
of the Fungal Forest, which at the time was under a
constant torrent of the essence of death falling from
above, the force of which had never been seen. Next
came the Thegn’s challenge. The breach between worlds
had been well-maintained for some time now, while the
efforts to retrieve spirits from within Malfeas and cleanse
them had met great success, lending more allies to our
efforts. From this position of strength, it was decided
that Passages into other tainted realms, noticed during
hunts through Malfeas, should be excavated. Paws-to-
Shake-the-Earth was challenged to breach such a place
in order to spread the purifying touch of Gaia further
across the Umbra.
Paws entered the Forest and set out on his journey
to find the perfect space to dig, equipped with a
dousing-Tool inhabited by a toxin Bane. Paws-to-Shake-
the-Earth later claimed that Mole herself appeared to
him personally from beneath Run’s End’s soil to guide
him to his destiny. He twisted Gaia’s tapestry to carve a
tunnel from one death-realm to another, but instead of
arriving at his intended destination, he dug through the
layers of the Umbra itself and passed into Underland.
He appeared directly into a mass grave in what is now
Putney, southwest of London, but the pestilence and
viscera of the plague pit did not phase the great mole
Chapter One: Confessions
and he continued upwards. Having been born in the
Umbra and not ever being given a chance to feel the
lifting of its pressure on his spirit, he did not know what
was happening, but it felt ordained and auspicious.
Finally, he tore through the charred earth above the
mass grave and into what we call Wimbledon Common,
near the end of the fifth century.
After exploring a short distance beyond his
emergence point, he made his way back and found it
quite effortless. What was more, the Passage was stable,
quick, and capable of allowing many of us to travel it at
once. Naturally, Paws-to-Shake-the-Earth was hailed as
one of the greatest weremoles to have existed. Though
he was tested in turn by the High Scrivein, it was largely
a formality since all other candidates had withdrawn.
He was immediately given the title of Lord of the Run
and presided over our return to Gaia - an event which
came to be known as the Eruption - for several decades
to come.
It took some years for us to completely establish
ourselves at the Common. At first, local Garou moved
against what they thought were Fallen Wyrmish
creatures rising up from below; we soon learned
firsthand of the Black Spiral Dancers, their corrupt kin
who in those days lurked beneath Britain. After a great
debate was called following initial exchanged blows, our
numbers were so great that they begrudgingly gave in
and allowed us to make a Burrow under the Common.
We unquestioningly resumed our undertakers’ role from
that moment on, at first only clearing eastern England
We found mates among the burgeoning Saxon
people, from whom so many of our titles are drawn,
and of course among the native moles. As a generation
passed, our flourishing kin travelled the length of the
British Isles and into Europe, following trends of death
as they arose to fulfil our duty to Gaia, whilst also
hoping to reclaim our lost position in the world. For the
time, however, we largely kept our noses to the ground,
thinking that all this was the only upheaval we would
know.
The Buried
We had a good few decades of security to establish
ourselves and rebuild what we had lost thousands of
years before. This could never last, of course, for the
Mad Wyrm never rests. Our conflicts with the Black
Spiral Dancers were largely victorious, but there were
casualties here and there. Many were fatal, revealing
something we had previously been ignorant of: our
weakness to obsidian and similar minerals.
Living underground and having no advanced crafts,
the Dancers would occasionally fashion weapons from
19
it and soon discovered its effectiveness. Some of our
numbers survived obsidian wounds, but we remained
ignorant to more sinister threats - the mark left upon the
soul by such wounds, and the lure of Tommyknocker.
Where this terrible spirit came from, none know; some
maintain that he was a part of Mole somehow left
behind in the Wyrm’s prison, or even what remained
of Burier-of-Brothers, and the Eruption allowed him
to escape. The source of our susceptibility has itself
drawn much debate, but no solid answers. Perhaps the
influence of the Mad Wyrm has always been present in
the Body of Death through its parts, and took root deep
in us, opening our spirits to darkness when our bodies
are harmed with the material.
What became clear, all too slowly, was that
Tommyknocker exerted influence over the obsidian-
wounded, calling them into Wyrmish Pits deep below
ground and there changing them into what we call the
Buried, the fallen amongst our kind. Before it could be
stopped, a small group of these Buried had gathered
together and joined the Black Spiral Dancers, turning
our own knowledge and twisted forms of our Gifts
against us and our sometimes Garou allies. Over the
course of a decade, we noticed the numbers of both
enemies slowly shrinking as they appeared to retreat east,
not far north of our new homeland. Unbeknownst to
us, they began to leave the most wretched and broken
of their number as bait, making them appear weak and
on an inexorably rapid decline. Their ultimate defeat
seemed a foregone conclusion, and so we did not spare
enough Moldwarps to make it a quick finish.
By the time we realised their plan, it was once again
too late. The strongest and most capable had been kept
away from the frontlines, their jobs being to dig a vast
tunnel beneath the sea itself, all the way to what is now
Denmark. So it was that the Black Spiral Dancers spread
into Europe and the wider world, and the Buried with
them. There, where their threat was little-known and less
understood, their small numbers could grow and fester
like scabs in Underland, until they became the dire
threats they are today.
The Chambers
As years passed, new Lords of the Run managed to
dig further branches of the Run, through hard personal
effort and at great cost. They reclaimed the greatest of
the lost Burrows or at least the territories they once held,
by creating new Passages and forcing local Fera to make
sacrifices for Gaia. The first of these Passages was a link
between Run’s End and North America and the former
home of the New Worlders. The Tunnel wished to take
back their place there but couldn’t do it alone, and so
20 Moldwarps
called upon ancient legends surrounding the marriage
of the Mound Digger and Coyote to form a pact with
local Nuwisha. The werecoyotes were already passing
themselves off as Garou to avoid further conflicts with
the native Croatan, Uktena, and Wendigo, so it was
only a small addition to lie that the Burrows being built
around abandoned Caerns belonged to them, in order
to hide the actions of Moldwarps from aggressors for as
long as was possible.
This deception went without any problems, and
the charade was finally lifted when the New Worlders
revealed Mole Hill in what was named Rockingham
County, Virginia, by mankind. The colossal monument
of finest Architect construction served as a signal to Fera
across the east coast that Moldwarps were there to stay.
Moldwarps from Mole Hill set out into the American
wilds to begin the continent’s repopulation and the
resummation of their duty in the New World. In doing
so, they inadvertently brought about the Gazers of the
Deep by breeding with star-nosed moles. The Chamber
quickly spread along the east coast and up into Canada,
finally becoming almost half as plentiful as its parent
Tunnel was in those lands, and quickly gained a strong
presence in Setts there.
On the opposite side of the world, another branch
of the Run was under construction at the behest of the
Eastern Tunnel to reclaim their own lost territories,
though this task was far more delicate an undertaking.
The vast Passage network created by the Tunnel to aid
countless Caerns - most lost during the Beast Courts’
War of Shame - existed still, deep beneath the earth and
far from mankind and the other Breeds. These made
for prime territory and could have proved to be a way
for the Eastern Tunnel to claim its position in the Beat
Courts, or at least provide a little leverage. The Run was
dug into one of the Tunnel’s larger Burrows, Er Wang
Dong, located in central China, with the hopes of it
being vacant and ready for Moldwarp occupation. When
the Lady of the Run emerged there, she was immediately
set upon by Banes in an onslaught reminiscent of
legends of early attacks during the Time of Exile. Inside
lived a powerful Bane of isolation, bent on corrupting
anything that happened to stumble into the colossal cave
system. From that point on the Tunnel was solely tasked
with clearing the tainted Burrow, hundreds of miles
of Underland territory colonised by the Mad Wyrm’s
servants.
As it happened, several families of Hengeyokai
were fully aware of Er Wang Dong, and some had even
had to clear sections themselves to secure their own
Caerns. When the Eastern Tunnel moved in, these
families were quick to exact vengeance upon those who
had so harmed their land, seeing the intruders as little
different from the Wyrmspawn infesting the place.
Some members of the Eastern Tunnel came to take a
minor group of native mole species - which humans
call shrew moles - as their mates, requiring to breed
more of their kind for what appeared to be a protracted
struggle for dominance. It is from these Moldwarps that
the curious Investigator Chamber descends, though I
confess to knowing little about them. I do know that,
perhaps according to one of their idiosyncratic codes
of etiquette, this small act caused all aggression on the
Beast Courts’ part to melt away. They met with the
Eastern Tunnels’ leaders and pointed to the successful
breeding as evidence that Gaia had consecrated their
presence there. The Hengeyokai’s intimate knowledge of
their operations was alarming, but the cessation of war
was such a relief that an alliance was readily agreed, and
great progress was made against the Mad Wyrm in short
order.
MOLES ON THE INSIDE
Our narrator’s confessed ignorance regarding the
Investigators Chamber and the Beast Courts runs
deeper than she could guess. The truth of the matter
is not so pretty and harmonious; the Investigators very
existence is the result of deception and inducement,
and they truly serve the Beast Courts while appearing
as loyal followers of Mole and the Lord of the Run. See
page 44 for more details.
The First Time of
Pestilence
We had grown used to our new role as purifiers, but
our time as undertakers was not to be simply over. Our
arrival in large numbers to southern Europe coincided
with the outbreak of an awful sickness. This was the
First Time of Pestilence, the first of three epidemics
of bubonic plague in Europe, known to history as the
Plague of Justinian for the human emperor of the time.
Death stalked the streets of the great cities and marched
through the countryside, putting us in our element.
Techniques scarcely known since before the War of
Rage came back into use, revealed to us by Mole in this
time of need. While we were too few to stop the plague
entirely ourselves, and while the Wyld-mad Ratkin
Chapter One: Confessions
doubtless had more than a small hand in it, we did our
part to safely inter the dead and limit the affliction of
the healthy.
The Galemy Appear
One Tunnel had been lucky enough to avoid the
Time of Exile entirely and remained in Underland
for that entire period. The leaders of the Desmana,
Moldwarps inhabiting Europe and Asia, neglected to
attend Claws-of-the-Abyss’ gathering - so dedicated were
they to continuing their role as Gaia’s Undertakers
- and so were never stranded in the Body of Death.
While you might imagine they would make the best
of the other Moldwarps’ absence, spreading out to
reclaim and repopulate Underland, this was not the
case. Denied access to Run’s End and communion with
Grandmother Mole, they simply lapsed into doggedly
performing the same tasks they always had, shutting
their eyes to the change of circumstances even as they
were viciously hunted by marauding Garou, embittered
Fera, and fearful human tribes.
The Desmana’s overall passivity would seem to have
spurred a small number of them to radical action. A
Hill arose in far western Europe with the aim of creating
new Rites - similar to those Wyrm-Tender devised,
but different in crucial ways - to cure death entirely,
somehow preventing the Wyrm’s destructive influence
from acting upon an individual in any way. After much
practice away from the prying eyes of their Tunnel-
mates, they perfected these profane Rites with the help
of tainted Wyldlings. They were successful in their
goal but had failed themselves and Gaia in the process,
for the Rites were no less an affront to Her cycle than
anything the Mad Wyrm could spawn. In pursuing this
dangerous and irresponsible path, the Hill had instead
willingly fallen to the Wyld.
Gradually, the Galemy indoctrinated more and
more of their desperate fellow Desmana, in madness or
duplicity passing their new purpose off as ordained by
Gaia. While the Tunnel suffered under the predations
of its enemies and the incompetence of its leadership,
few were able or even willing to resist. The Hill
transformed its entire Tunnel into what we now know
as the Galemy, little better than the Buried and a dire
enemy to many Setts. They first made their enduring
existence known to other Moldwarps during the First
Time of Pestilence, where they initially approached us
as friends and proposed they aid our efforts against
the plague. Our rejoicing ended when we found their
solutions to be unnatural and Wyld-tainted, denying
death without renewing true life and creating warped
monstrosities from their victims.
21
Creation of the Baoganes
Sadly, we were not the only things vying for a place
in the dredges of human cities, waiting for corpses to
appear. We shared these places with far more corrupted
beings than the average weak-willed fomori or maddened
Ratkin we usually encountered and quickly despatched.
Vampires had managed to worm their way into every
facet of humanity, even nesting amidst refuse and
gravesites, which naturally brought them into frequent
contact with us. The cleansing had no effect upon these
undead creatures and some of these leeches, shameful to
admit, valued Moldwarp occupation in their territories.
Some strove to maintain normal human lives in spite of
their affliction, so having our kind ready and willing to
clear away evidence of their hunting, alongside the rest
of the filth produced by human violence, was nothing if
not a boon to them. A strange, dissatisfied peace existed
between us; while we were on opposite sides, neither
gained much by battling the other.
Conflict inevitably arose, though, when one of their
more degenerate kind made attempts to infect us with
their Wyrm-taint. Much like our obsidian vulnerability,
perhaps because of our former allegiance to Our
Wyrm, the vampires found beneath the growing cities
discovered that feeding from us in Underland facilitated
the transformation, whereas attacks on Overland
resulted in our return to Gaia’s embrace. Our ancestors
soon took up the defence against these murderous
creatures when half-living Moldwarps began appearing
on the coasts of the Irish Sea, drained of lifeblood yet
still active. These wretches, which came to be known as
Baoganes, crawled through our newly-crafted Passages
connecting Britain and Ireland, which used the Isle of
Mann as an anchoring point. It was later found that
the island was the source of the outbreak, though the
vampire responsible was never found; the Order of
Thegns hunts it still. It is said that the Baoganes took a
perverse pleasure in being in the company of corpses,
rather than simply wishing to bury them with dignity,
and made a mockery of the traditions we and humanity
held dear. Some Setts hold beloved ancestors who have
succumbed to the Baogane curse in cleansing chambers,
maintaining their existence while yearning to bring
them back to Gaia, and it is certain that many more
have in turn become Buried along the way. I have never
witnessed a thing of such tragic corruption, and we
should all pray never to.
22 Moldwarps
The Second Time of
Pestilence
Our strength and numbers quickly began to rise
following the Eruption and the need for purifiers and
undertakers on Overland were there for all to see, so we
spread out further and further across Gaia, taking up
residence beneath most of mankind’s major settlements.
It was not for several decades following the First Time of
Pestilence that we managed to make headway in opening
channels of communication with the other Breeds.
Sadly, our re-established contact brought into question
the loyalty of the Ratkin in their service to Gaia.
As the fourteenth century progressed, the Black
Death arose in the east and travelled along human trade
routes to affect the majority of Europe, encouraged by
the wererats and their hateful obsession with disease.
Coming on the back of widespread famine, the plague
far outstripped our ability to combat it, killing tens of
millions. Human rulers attempted, largely ineffectually,
to stem the spread of the plague, which would reoccur
across the world for centuries further attacks on life
arose on further reaching areas of humanity, and we
were overstretched in attempting to see to the dead.
Cremation and mass burial of the disease,
Adding to this grim tally were the many wars
which tore across towns and villages: the conflicts of
the Ottoman Empire, the Hundred Years’ War, the
conquests of Timur, to name just three. The number of
active human settlements around Europe were reduced
by half and its population reduced in kind, and similar
devastation was known in Asia and Africa. The Wyrm
was officially running rampant across Overland and
needed to be put to rest more keenly than ever before.
The Reign of Brings-Out-
the-Dead
Amongst this turmoil, a new Lord of the Run was
elected who would take on a Breed workload the likes
of which had never been seen before. Brings-Out-the-
Dead was raised in filth and destruction, cleansing and
burying tirelessly and without stopping to engage in
politics or extend pleasantries to the Earls of Setts she
was assigned to. Her task was clear, and nothing would
hinder her. When the position of Lord opened up, she
knew that all Moldwarps needed to be brought together
to face the growing crisis, so she stepped forwards to
be that uniting figure. In accomplishing her final test,
issued by the High Sanctus - single-handedly cleansing
an immense H’ruggling living beneath a mass grave of

plague dead - she discovered the treachery of wererats
actively spreading the plague she had fought so hard
to keep under control. After this find, her election was
assured.
Though we had long suspected it, Ratkin now
had a clear paw in how quickly the Wyrm had gained
ground, their mad crusade having caused unprecedented
levels of devastation, and they had to answer for what
they had done. Emissaries of Brings-Out-the-Dead
were dispatched to beseech Fera leaders to enforce
sanctions upon the Breed, limiting their freedom
to travel, evicting them from areas with particularly
high human populations, and calling on the spirits
to curtail their access to Gnosis. These requests met
mixed responses; some noble servants of Gaia saw that
Ratkin depopulation efforts were getting out of hand
and enacted the sanctions suggested by Brings-Out-the-
Dead to a greater or lesser extent, while others simply
turned their faces away and objected to our attempts to
‘manipulate’ them.
Generally speaking, ruling members of most Breeds
placed sanctions upon the wererats; Garou in particular
acted with their swift, if rough, sense of Gaian justice.
Brings-Out-the-Dead’s initiative was hailed as a success,
but this victory would be overshadowed by impending
catastrophe.
The Second Collapse
While it is our part only to put the dead to rest,
and up to Gaia what becomes of their spirits, our duties
inevitably brought us into contact with the Restless.
Their realm became so glutted at this time that its death-
energies overflowed, wreaking havoc across Otherland
as had happened, we learned from them, during the
Eruption. Once again, Run’s End was separated from
Gaia, though most of our number remained outside it,
including Brings-Out-the-Dead; she spent as little time as
possible in the Body of Death and rarely called Althings,
preferring her work among humanity.
This Second Collapse was not the existential threat
that the First represented, for we no longer had to
house kinfolk in Otherland, the defences between Run’s
End and Malfeas held firm, and Grandmother Mole
remained active. Work immediately began reconnecting
Burrows in anticipation of the Collapse correcting itself,
but it nonetheless strained our ability to coordinate
amongst ourselves. It was this limitation, perhaps, that
allowed another shame to fall upon us.
Chapter One: Confessions
Harbingers of Destruction
In response to our opposition, one of the accursed
Ratkin committed an act of utter violation, conducting a
bizarre Rite which allowed her to couple with one of our
mole kinfolk. The product of this blasphemous union
was a creature not bound by either Breed’s rules, dubbed
by some a ‘weremolerat’.
The abomination’s birth was apparently ordained
by the Rat Mother, so very few Fera outside of our two
Breeds actually felt the right to intervene, but we could
not let the disgrace against Grandmother Mole stand.
A Battle Labour was formed at Brings-Out-the-Dead’s
behest comprised of the most hardened Thegns the
Order had to offer, its- charge to find and eliminate the
creature. This was the first time in centuries that a Lord
of the Run had ordered such a thing.
The hunt was swift and vengeance was quickly
realised, with the Ratkin culprit and her child slain.
None of our number took pleasure in the knowledge
that their kin had taken such measures, but to our
disgust, this act of violence earned us more respect
with the Fera (and especially the Garou) than they had
given us during long centuries of steadfast duty. This
revelation caused many Earls to reflect on their views
of the Changing Breeds’ purity, and consider whether
it was worth even seeking their respect if it meant
inflicting needless death, and in so doing betraying Our
Wyrm even further.
March of the Plague
Doctors
Recognising the need for treatment of the plague
where it could be administered, a new Hill arose to
face it head-on, naming themselves simply the Plague
Doctors. At the time, the prevailing theory of infection
was that it was passed through foul smells, called
miasma. The Plague Doctors decided to play on this idea
to more easily remain amongst mankind whilst fighting
the infection. They guided the design of the distinctive
mask and robe of the profession they emulated,
encouraging physicians to fill the mask with sweet herbs
in order to keep miasma away. In truth, the costume was
perfectly designed to hide the pointed snout and hairy
bulk of the Moleman form, in which they would be
fortified against sickness.
Hidden in plain sight, Plague Doctors could
respond to each major outbreak instantly and maintain
a presence amongst the local populace without arousing
suspicion. Certain werebears, their active numbers very
few at that time, joined the Hill’s efforts and made equal
23
use of the disguise to offer their Breed’s unique healing
Gifts. Though some warned that they were mere steps
away from Galemy’s twisted ideology, Plague Doctors
became renowned, with most recognising that their acts
were proportional to the Collapse’s severity, and might
have offered defence against future ones.
In cooperation with the Plague Doctors, physical
passages were built through the Underland regions
beneath London and similarly large cities across
Europe, in order to create quick response networks
similar to those of the Eastern Tunnel, but on a much
smaller scale. They were primarily intended for safely
transporting large quantities of plague-ridden corpses
at once, without fear of infecting healthy humans in
the process. These passages were a resounding success
and went a long way to mitigating casualties across the
seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. Much later, they
were adapted to improve human living conditions in
the creation of London’s sewage and underground rail
systems.
The Third Collapse
The Run collapsed for a third time during western
expansion into the New World, as the Tunnel worked
tirelessly to stem the sudden influx of Sceatha from each
member of the Triat, leaving them momentarily cut off
from Run’s End. Just when times in the west were at
their toughest, the Mad Wyrm itself managed to break
through from Otherland to bring destruction upon
Overland, appearing as Eater-of-Souls. This may well
have been the moment that the Apocalypse was realised,
if not for the sacrifice of the Garou Tribe named
Croatan. The New Worlders were given a glimpse at
what the Wyrm had truly become and knew that had
they attempted to cleanse that great beast then their
Tunnel would surely have been taken, and our entire
Breed with them if it had reached Mole through their
Rites.
Focus turned to America for several decades
following the brief but traumatic Third Collapse,
initially to rebuild the Run, then to aid the efforts of
the New Worlders, and finally because of the Bane
called the Storm-Eater. American Moldwarps had long
been aware that the Uktena Garou bound particularly
troublesome Banes to areas of the earth, which would
have made for perfect places to cleanse them. The New
Worlders, though, were incapable of cleansing these
Sceatha because the native Garou restricted access to
them, fearing that their cleansing works would risk
unleashing the captive spirits.
Once the Run had been rebuilt for the third time,
a job which took less time because more Earls knew
24 Moldwarps
the Gift to aid in the process, America was plagued
again by one such imprisoned Bane. The Storm-Eater
ripped free and tore up the umbral landscape, shattering
moon-bridges and Passages alike, and glutting itself on
the Wyldish energies that plagued the American Umbra
at the time. The New Worlders’ cleansing rites were
offered freely to help stem the destruction caused by
the Storm-Eater, but yet still they were declined at every
turn. The great Bane added the Weaver’s power to its
essence, requiring the Garou to initiate some form of
suicide pact amongst their most senior heroes to put
it to sleep once more, three centuries after an entire
Tribe had done much the same. Do they believe that
simply overfeeding the Wyrm is enough to pacify it? My
apologies, but the wolves’ ways often leave me searching
for a reason. Ultimately, they subdued the Storm Eater
and we continued to clear away the corpses left behind
by indigenous and settler humans alike.
The Fresh Tunnels
Without any forewarning from the spirits, new
Tunnels were discovered far from the hub of Moldwarp
life and away from the ongoing pestilence and war. The
few weremoles who decided to fraternise with European
colonists in Africa and Australia soon discovered new
groups of Fera we had rarely encountered beforehand.
Mokolé and Ananasi inhabited great regions of both
continents, joined by Ajaba and Bastet in Africa and by
strange Garou and our estranged brothers and sisters of
the Camazotz in Australia. Amongst these unfamiliar
Breeds, we also found animal species very similar to us
in spirit, though not tied by blood; indeed, humans call
them golden and marsupial moles, since their Weaverish
science classifies us differently.
To our joyous surprise, Grandmother Mole
manifested in both these places - at precisely the same
time, some tales say - and put her mark upon them,
rendering the worthiest of them similar to kinfolk. It
took several generations for either to breed true in large
numbers, but their blood remained strong and in time
they had a large enough number of full Moldwarps to be
counted as small but distinct Tunnels. We Old Worlders
were their caretakers for a time, but once each were
suitably self-sufficient, we were told by Mole to leave
them be.
The Kruipmolle thrived in desert regions of
Africa and were created to embody the classic ideal
of our Breed. They immediately took to the duty of
undertaking, but with a grander design in mind. To
them, revitalizing the barren land they called home by
burying nutrient-rich decay beneath the sand was the
only way to enact Gaia’s will, spreading lush rainforests

across Africa in abundance by burying its dead. Sadly
they fell victim to the vicious talons of Simba as time
passed, just as the Ajaba have in more recent times.
Being seen as Wyrmspawn, the Kruipmolle were
restricted in where they could go and who they could
aid. With other Tunnels all but absent, there was little
to be done which would not expose us to real danger
and defy Mole’s command.
The Australian Itjaritjari, too, were forced to hide
from other local Fera, but not through persecution from
outside. For some reason, they clashed with the local
weresaurians far more than might normally be expected;
after all, the Gumagan had given sanctuary to the
Camazotz and Bunyip before them. It must be admitted
that the Mokolé did not spark these conflicts. The
Itjarjari still attended their service to Gaia, but seemed
to cultivate hatred and even revel in it. Our ancestors
quickly saw a warrior spirit in the Tunnel, but as they
had only just been ordained by Grandmother Mole
personally, they saw no cause for action.
Both the Kruipmolle and Itjaritjari were given new
branches of the Run and were allowed to represent their
kind in Althings thereafter, but neither have wholly
immersed in our culture as both Tunnels seem to prefer
to keep to themselves, for their own reasons. Perhaps
those not truly born of Mole shall always be apart, and I
trust in Gaia that they should remain so.
The Architect
Over in London, a homid Architect named William
Haywood had, unusually, embedded himself into
human society, so well in fact that he could set into
motion the construction of an automatic waste removal
system in the capital’s sewers. A civil engineer named
Joseph Bazalgette was aided by Haywood in converting
the underlying passages beneath London’s streets, used
previously for depositing plague dead and ultimately
created by our Plague Doctors centuries before, into
modern sewage systems. Haywood had a promising
early career, guiding the sewers’ construction while
encouraging kinfolk to enact similar changes in cities
around the world, founding the Geologist’s Association
to coordinate and cover their activities. He went on
to contribute to the formation of the underground
rail system, also developed using old Passages, and
eventually reformed the city’s cemetery land to be more
accommodating and pleasing to Gaia. Soon, the greater
London area was honeycombed with transportation and
disposal systems for people, corpses, and waste, cleaning
the city and improving the standard of living for all its
residents.
Chapter One: Confessions
The Time of War
Until just over a century ago, we had rarely been
wronged by humanity directly. Of course, as a species
they had done much to pollute Gaia and champion the
Mad Wyrm and Weaver, but rarely had they offended
us personally. As their societies ‘advanced’, especially in
the west, this all changed. Having long regarded them
as cowardly pests - in older times even associating them
with sinfulness - they began to use vile poisons to cripple
and slaughter our mole kin for the sin of disturbing
precious lawns and gardens. One of their vaunted rulers
clad herself in their pelts, inspiring the elite to have
hundreds of them killed for decoration and comfort.
We protected those we could, but we have never been
ones to risk tearing the Veil, and so we were largely able
only to look on. Most mourned briefly before returning
to work, but more and more of us grew hateful of
mankind.
All at once, war arrived in the world, the likes of
which Gaia had never seen. The twentieth century
saw men fighting men, and Fera fighting Fera, on an
unprecedented scale, and the Wyrm was plunged even
deeper into its throes of madness. When the world
went to war for the first time, we followed naturally. If
ever there was a need to tend to the dead and cleanse
the corrupt amongst humanity, it was then. Even our
worst expectations fell short of the reality, and when the
Third Time of Pestilence began and the Fourth Collapse
was brought on by the piling dead, it was commonly
assumed that the Apocalypse was truly nigh.
Many were forced into isolated operations and
nomadic lifestyles; with no Run to and new forms of
warfare churning up the earth, they had to go wherever
death chose. Some lost all hope, even our robust
dedication crumbling in the face of insurmountable
defeat. Those who already resented humanity began to
rail openly against them, advocating that they should
be abandoned to whatever doom they would inevitably
create for themselves. The Elders said to look to history.
We had known other Collapses and recovered from
them, with long centuries to rebuild between them.
They urged that we would only avert the Apocalypse -
which had not yet come, by Gaia’s grace - if we did as
before and carried on through whatever befell us.
Tragically, the Elders’ sound-seeming reasoning
proved horribly wrong, and messages of fury and
defeatism were only vindicated. We did not have time to
even rebuild the Run before the next war came, scoured
the world and all its inhabitants, and there followed
another Collapse, undoing what we had recovered
25
and rendering Run’s End the most distant from Gaia
since the First. Voices of hope and restraint were few,
quiet, and unheeded, and the growing numbers of the
resentful worsened, completely turning their faces from
the human suffering around them.
Cleaves-the-Weaver’s-
Pawns
To make matters all the worse, we had lost the Lord
of the Run, named Hands-Weathered-by-Duty, to the
claws of the Black Spiral Dancers who cravenly served
the maniac leaders of Europe, killing and despoiling
in the name of their Wyrmish creeds. His predecessor,
too, had died in war, choking on the gas with which
humanity winnowed its own number as they fought
above the Burrow she was visiting. The way was thus
clear for a new Lord of the Run, one who would risk
losing everything for vengeance. His acceptance as Lord
stands as a testament to the depth of Grandmother
Mole’s anger, for none with full command of themselves
would have allowed him power.
Cleaves-the-Weaver’s-Pawns was the name by
which this madman was known. An able but little-
known Tracker born to a pairing of mole kinfolk, he
won the position on the back of personal charisma,
desperation for a way forward, and a lack of credible
opponents. No sooner had he been elected in a grim
and undignified Althing - the first not to be performed
within the Body of Death, instead being conducted
under Wimbledon Common - than he unveiled the
existence of a burgeoning Hill, the Ape’s Redeemers,
which he had formed and taken leadership of. With
the so-called Redeemers at his back - powerful Earls and
mighty Thegns amongst them - he declared that in light
of the atrocities done to Gaia and Mole’s children by
humanity, they were all to be counted as Sceatha from
that moment on. Some Setts agreed without question,
some didn’t give judgement, and only a small few had
both the will and the power to object. All at once,
particularly tainted-seeming members of human society
were being taken in for what the Redeemers referred
to as cleansing, though the practice was more akin to
mental and physical torture with no clear aim. Through
the Redeemers’ vile arts, these humans were reduced
to what could only be described as Neanderthals; the
changes to their minds and bodies were irreparable.
For twenty years, Cleaves-the-Weaver’s-Pawns’ regime
brought shame upon our Breed, making allies with the
worst of Fera: the extremist Garou of the Dying Cubs
and Swords of Heimdall, and above all Black Tooth
of the Simba. It is not true to say he served the Wyrm
in name or intent, though. Recent suggestions that he
26 Moldwarps
was secretly Buried or even a Baogane are ludicrous,
though he may have dealt deeper hurt to us than either
of them. The abuse of humans was an offence against
Gaia in itself, but so much time was dedicated to it that
precious little progress was made in repairing the Run.
It would surprise me not at all if Cleaves never wished
to reconnect with Run’s End, contenting himself to
rule over the petty empire he had claimed rather than
confront the high-placed Moldwarps trapped in the
Body of Death.
As we have always found, though, even the darkest
times pass, and Cleaves-the-Weaver’s-Pawns was not to
endure forever. For the first time in history, the Lord of
the Run was deposed through trial.
Holds-the-Wyrm-Close
A young, unknown New Worlder Warden - a metis,
no less - surprised all in attendance when she stepped
up at an Althing held by Cleaves during the early
seventies, which she attended as her Earl’s understudy.
The Lord revealed his plan to eradicate the incursion
of Wyld Sceatha which had emerged across the world
a few years earlier, making much of their apparent but
false resemblance to humans. The measures he proposed
contravened the Rules of the Run directly, laying out a
fully-fledged hunt more suitable to Garou than children
of Mole. So demoralised was our Breed, only this one
young soul dared speak up.
The dissenter, named Holds-the-Wyrm-Close,
protested strongly and steadfastly, even as Cleaves’ own
Labour advanced upon her. Before she was removed
from the Common, she declared that he had never been
formally tested for his position, and laid a challenge
before the Lord based on the long precedent of that
tradition. By the terms of Holds’ challenge, they would
both enter self-imposed exile in Malfeas, cleansing what
they could, battling what they could not, and rebuilding
the damaged Run from the Wyrm’s heart outwards. The
mole who emerged alive would sit as the unquestioned
Lord of the Run. She spoke with disarming conviction,
and none present were willing to side either party for
fear of their position should the other win out. Though
Cleaves-the-Weaver’s-Pawns made a show of scowling
and scoffing at his insolent challenger, it was plain to
all that he was forced to accept; declining, or having her
punished for making her bold declaration, would be a
sign that he feared being defeated.
Holds-the-Wyrm-Close emerged barely an hour
after digging into the blighted realm, coated in ash
and blood and rotting viscera, her body shaking and
heaving and her gaze distant. She offered nothing about
what had occurred in Otherland and she was never
questioned, nor was Cleaves-the-Weaver’s-Pawns again
mentioned amongst our highest-Ranked kin. Those who
had followed him renounced their beliefs by omission,
remaining silent for fear of retribution, and those who
reviled him didn’t care to speak his name further. The
most dedicated Redeemers slunk away, unwilling to
comply with the sudden upheaval but unable to change
what had happened. To ask another where they fell
with regard to him became an awful insult, as it remains
today.
The past brushed away in barely more than an
instant, Holds-the-Wyrm-Close began to rebuild our
Breed, starting with the Run and then turning to our
shattered global community.
Lady of the Run
Holds-the-Wyrm-Close proved - and continues to
prove - to be a paragon of Moldwarp ideals and those of
her New World Tunnel in particular. She spent the next
thirty years reconstructing what was a shattered Breed,
which proved no easy task. Some Moldwarps were still
trapped in Run’s End following the Collapse, a few
continued to target influential humans for ‘redemption’,
and others still battled on alone. The struggle was a
long, quiet, and patient one. We were regrettably forced
to hole up in Underland and cut back on cleansing to
ensure our Breed’s continued health, but the alternative
was decline and death.
Holds refused to rest on her laurels in the Body of
Death following the Run’s painstaking reconstruction,
though she had won Renown enough that only her
harshest critics would hold it against her. She made a
point of progressing from Sett to Sett to show her people
her vision of the way forward, granted by Grandmother
Mole herself. At the head of a growing loyal coalition,
she dug new Burrows by hand, buried the dead
made during human conflicts around the world, and
cleansed countless powerful Sceatha growing fat on the
corruption of the modern world.
Bloodshed in the South
Unfortunately, Holds-the-Wyrm-Close was not
afforded a smooth path even then. The two youngest
members of the Breed, the Itjaritjari and Kruipmolle,
went to war simultaneously for different reasons. The
minions of Black Tooth, the Endless Storm, targeted
our Kruipmolle cousins for harbouring Ajaba refugees
in their formerly-secret desert Burrows. The attacks were
disorganised and ill-suited to Underland fighting, but
were enough to thin the Tunnel’s numbers and threaten
an end to their great and elusive work. At the same time,
the Itjarijari were caught up in a much deadlier conflict
Chapter One: Confessions
against the Gumagan, having pushed the werelizards to
the edge by moving into their territories and consuming
their animal kinfolk.
Many deaths were suffered on all sides in these
conflicts, but Holds managed to bring an end to them.
She first lent her voice to the Kruipmolle so that they
could make common cause with the Ahadi, and go on
to help bring down Black Tooth. Her response to the
crisis in Australia showed she did not play favourites.
She placed heavy sanctions on the overstepping
Tunnel, rescinding their place at Run’s End and
turning spirits against them until they relented, and
personally presented humble apologies to Gumagan
leaders. Tensions remained after the Itjarijari ended
their warring, but lives were no longer thrown away. To
hear them speak today, the Mokolé hold no resentment
towards us, but no Clutch has forgotten what was done
to their kin. Setts in Oceania and South Asia brace
themselves for a resurgence in the conflicts, but we can
be thankful that peace holds for now.
Discord Beneath
In Underland, the efforts of our greatest Diggers
and Architects are proving not to be enough to keep
Malfeas and Run’s End separated. Since the Fifth
Collapse, the Breach has gradually grown larger than
ever since the First despite every effort to repair it,
flooding the borders of Run’s End with Banes in far
greater numbers than we can control. Compounding
the problem, the Obsidian Reach has recently begun
to spread into the nearby Fungal Forests, turning its
bountiful growths into blackened perversions of their
former glory. On top of it all, large skeletal entities
have been sighted in the depths of the corrupted areas,
turning Consumer Worms into twisted, lamprey-like
Banes. The Thegns are stretched to capacity holding
Run’s End together, and the Order always needs new
recruits.
Victory in the East
On a more promising note, a major milestone was
achieved by the Eastern Tunnel during the previous
decade. They have all but reclaimed their passages from
the droves of subterranean Sceatha infesting them.
Connections to Burrows across Asia have been reopened
and their ability to provide assistance and safe travel
has been reinstated. Now, only a few Pits fester in the
furthest and deepest reaches of this network, clinging
on to existence with what little strength they have left.
By all accounts, some Easterners are sceptical that the
Beast Courts will grant the respect they have fought
for, or forgive past failures. Instead, they conject that
27
there exist Moldwarps working to give the Hengeyokai That all brings us to now, my Earl. While we cannot
everything, forsaking the Breed for some small offering change the past - and any who would seek to do so
of power. Holds-the-Wyrm-Close denounces these claims surely defy Gaia - it is our responsibility to affect our
as not only baseless but against our interests by harming present and alter the future. From the Lord of the Run,
relations with the Beast Courts. to Earls such as yourself, to newly-changed pups, we
Persecution in the West must all take up the mantle of our past heroes and learn
not to repeat our ancestors’ mistakes. I leave you now to
Five years ago, a reactionary Camp of Garou formed meditate on this.
in response to mistaken actions on the part of one of
our own. Members of the Fianna and Get of Fenris
gained undeniable proof of our existence and presence
in their territories, specifically in Seaham, England.
An encounter between a local Labour - in the process
of retrieving a fomor - and a Garou pack resulted in
a pair of Garou being rashly captured themselves.
Despite their return and the Earls’ efforts to maintain
peace, the pack leader - named Beholder-of-Ratatosk’s-
Wisdom - issued a call to arms against us. His followers
called themselves the Tunnel Hunters and began their
campaign by spreading lies and misconceptions about us
being worshippers of the Mad Wyrm.
They pointed to the existence of Baoganes and
the Buried - one of which they captured and paraded
between British Caerns as a display of our ‘true nature’
- and violently lashed out against those werewolves
Grandmother Mole had patronised through her face as
one of the Earth Burrowers. Further battles ensued as
Burrows were systematically cut off from one another
and attacked one by one. The Camp employed a
method of releasing the Sceatha from their cleansing
chambers to cause a mass breakout within the Burrow,
before heading in to kill anyone and anything that
remained alive.
We have been forced out of the northern areas of
the British Isles as the Camp’s success and popularity
has only grown. At the dawn of a new war, Holds-the-
Wyrm-Close chose to take unprecedented action to end
the fighting before it could spread further. She bridged
the gulf between our Breeds, contacting packs in service
to Jonas Albrecht, High King of the Garou Nation, to
set up a delegation on neutral territory. A Den offered
by a werebear known to be of the highest honour,
Bellows-River-Songs, was opened up to Holds-the-Wyrm-
Close, Jonas, and the two leaders’ confidants.
To this day, no Moldwarp has learned what
happened during that meeting and spoken of it. The
two met and the two parted, and the Camp has since
held back, though it has not disbanded and remains
a vocal opponent. Some reports from those close to
Hold’s Labour claim that she and the High King have
met multiple times since that date, but discussions
between them remain secret.
28 Moldwarps
 Chapter Two:
On the Nature
of Moles
The generality of men are hard-handed, hard-headed miners, dogged,
loutish, ugly... coarse, ungainly, strong, ‘unfatiguable’, unlovely…
Saxons to the bone.
—Wilfred Owen
Before the War of Rage, Moldwarps held an Wyrm-things behind them, are then followed up by
esteemed position in Fera society. Alongside the Grondr Cleansers for collection and guards for rehabilitation.
and Gurahl, they were unafraid to take a personal The importance of Breed and Auspice are far more
approach to the Wyrm, guiding fallen spirits and tainted crucial amongst Moldwarps than Garou, with each
creatures back to Gaia’s embrace. This unique duty individual’s place very specifically delineated in
gave them a special place in Her court, but this was not accordance with these two factors. Monstrous Metis
to last. As the War began, Moldwarps took themselves Diggers, for example, would never be called upon to
deep below, regrouping far within the Umbra rather stalk city-dwelling fomori, and likewise, Homid Hunters
than facing the mad, corrupt Garou in battle. Some are near unheard of in the freezing darkness of a
regarded them as cowards, but they were never among Burrow’s depths.
the Mother’s foremost warriors and did not see that Out of desire to fulfil their appointed tasks for
remaining to be killed would serve the cause of Gaia. Gaia, many Fera believe Moldwarps to be utterly Wyrm
They took the long view, vowing to resume their role tainted, failing to see past the grim nature of their duty
once it was safe enough to return. and appreciate the pure purpose behind it. Certainly,
In modern times, Moldwarps do not enjoy the Burrows are foreboding, unwholesome places at first
luxuries of indulging in a wild rage, conspiring at the sight - far from the light of Helios and Luna, thoroughly
centre of webs of misdirection, or foregoing duty in corrupted beings are held in captivity, with abominable,
favour of Umbral misadventure. Moldwarp society sightless mole-human hybrids as their guardians.
is now one of hidden but no less earnest obligation, Moldwarps themselves remain largely unconcerned
in which a mole’s actions are always felt but rarely with correcting these misconceptions, for they simply
seen. Surface hunters work from the shadows to track perform the tasks they were given aeons ago, and see no
potential signs of Wyrmish corruption, often using need to justify themselves.
the efforts of other Fera as leads. These leads, and the
Chapter Two: On the Nature of Moles 29

Breeds
Unlike most other Fera, with the exception of
Rokea, the Breed of a Moldwarp can greatly limit their
exposure to certain aspects of their society. Homids
born in the great wide world find a subterranean life
of claustrophobic tunnels and chambers difficult to
adapt to, while those born Talpid are disoriented by the
dizzying expanse that is the surface world. A weremole’s
connections with the earth and with Gaia are truly one,
and this truth is reflected in the nature of the Gnosis
and Gifts commanded by the three Breeds.
Homid
Born to at least one human parent, you were
raised human, likely with an education and a social
upbringing, though you always longed for the earth. As a
child, you would always be found digging in the sandbox
or pulling up worms from the dirt, and as you grew,
this fascination led you to explore cave entrances and
abandoned sewer tunnels. Because of this upbringing,
you are naturally more adept at the work of Trackers
than Diggers. To you, Overland is not a vast and
intimidating expanse, but rather a welcome reminder of
your past and a crucial part of the world you are sworn
to protect.
Possessed of a surprisingly creative streak, Homid
Moldwarps find themselves constantly expanding
their knowledge in order to take up new roles, careers,
and hobbies. These individuals find employment as
city planners, prison guards and wardens, subway
and sewer maintenance operatives, and similar jobs
focused around organisation, rehabilitation, and the
conservation of resources both material and human.
It’s a rare occurrence that an up-and-coming track
athlete or singer enters the Vision Crawl. Many Homid
Moldwarps demonstrate traits such as short-sightedness,
agoraphobia, and upwardly stocky frames due to their
bestial kinship.
Sobriquets:: Shovellers, Apes.
Sobriquets
Beginning Gnosis:
Gnosis: 1.
Beginning Gifts:
Gifts: Apecraft’s Blessing, Escape Route,
Making Do, Mole Paws, Worker’s Musk.
Metis
They marry the human spirit of pioneering and
exploration with Talpid adaptation to the subterranean
world, while concerning themselves largely with
carrying out and supporting the Breed’s efforts far
from mortal eyes. The greatest Moldwarp experts on
30 Moldwarps
Wyrmish matters, fighters of Banes, fomori, Buried, and
Baoganes, and Umbral explorers are often metis. Being
of this Breed carries with it relatively little stigma; the
Moldwarps look the Wyrm’s minions in the face and do
not recognise the same taint in their children.
Moldwarps moderately discourage the conception
of Metis on quite practical grounds that they cannot
contribute to the Breed’s continued population, but
they don’t uphold any laws prohibiting their creation
or chastise the parents or child after the fact. Due to
this fairly lax nature of Moldwarp breeding, and the
close-quarters work weremoles are forced to undertake
for Gaia, children sired Metis are not uncommon, and
you are the fruit of one such affair. As a Metis, you have
been raised communally by your Sett; some weremoles
took to you while others did not, but generally speaking
you have been gifted with a large extended family. In
stark contrast to Garou society, you are more likely to
have been given small but important duties to tend and
care for the Sett’s kinfolk, raising new pups and aiding
human kin with their chores. Afflicted with much the
same divergence that besets Metis of many other Breeds,
you are a creature of Gaia’s true depths.
Sobriquets:: Grubs, Lifeless.
Sobriquets
Beginning Gnosis:
Gnosis: 3.
Beginning Gifts:
Gifts: Create Element, Mineralist, Rat
Head, Soil Supper, What Lies Beneath.
Deformities
Those born of neither man or mole demonstrate
mutations of mind and body. As well as the Deformities
listed on page 74 of W20
W20,, a weremole Metis might also
suffer from:
• Agoraphobia: Whenever you find yourself in
Overland, you are struck by an overwhelming sense
of dread. Because of this phobia, you suffer a -1 dice
pool penalty to all rolls whenever you are above
ground and without some form of covering close
above you.
• Hyperfixation: You are easily preoccupied with
small and interesting things, particularly while you
dig. Because of this, you must occasionally make
a Willpower roll (difficulty 7) in order to ignore
interesting features while you travel underground.
Failure results in fascination and an inability to
move until you pass another Willpower roll (1 made
each turn) or someone nudges you out of it.
• Long Snout: In all forms except Homid, and most
pronouncedly in Crinos, your snout is far longer
than it should be, such that it hangs off your face
 like a fur-lined trunk. It is thick and cartilaginous,
its airways blocked, and its sensory direction
unpredictable. You receive a -1 to the dice pool of all
scent-based perception rolls.
• Oblivion’s Eyes: The small pits that once housed a
mole’s eyes are usually too small to see. Your eyes,
however, are swollen and bulbous, creating what
resemble two large black marbles poking from your
face. These eyes swirl with blackened intraocular
fluid which, though it does nothing to improve or
worsen your eyesight, it does provide a +1 to the
difficulty of all Social rolls.
• Soft Flesh: Your skin and underlying muscle have
little to no resistance when pressed upon, like that
of a partially-rotted corpse. Any roll you make to
escape a grapple receives a +2 difficulty penalty as
your flesh moulds to the grasp of your attacker.
• Worm Tail: Most weremoles have tails, short as
they may be, but yours is all too clearly different,
resembling more that of a rat and stretching to
several meters long in Crinos form. The tail slows
the speed of any digging by half.
Talpid
You were born to at least one natural mole (‘true’
or otherwise), and have spent your entire life digging
through Underland. Moles are solitary and territorial,
so your upbringing was fairly distanced from others
once you left your mother’s side. You learned everything
you needed to know about how to dig, hunt, and build
below the surface in your early days, and since then
only honed these talents, though you were always dimly
conscious of something more to existence than mere
survival. Following the Vision Crawl, which to you was
little different from another day of digging, you struggled
to connect with your fellow weremoles until you shed
the mindset of a mole and took on the higher thoughts
of humanity.
Moldwarps who are born of moles are almost always
the hardest-working and most committed members of a
Burrow. They possess the natural instinct of gathering
and storing worms for later use, and carry it over to
their higher Gaian duty. The humble but necessary
jobs of patrolling, physical upkeep of the Burrows,
and administration are where they excel. Despite their
generally greater performance within the Burrow, these
individuals come across as detached and lonerish,
preferring to stick doggedly to the task at hand over
seeking diversion.
Sobriquets:: Scurriers, Keepers.
Sobriquets
Chapter Two: On the Nature of Moles
Beginning Gnosis:
Gnosis: 5.
Beginning Gifts:
Gifts: Mountain Out of a Molehill,
Shovelling Paws, Shroud, Substituted Senses, Taste of
Rotten Meat.
Restricted Abilities: Naturally, after the Vision
crawl, a Talpid weremole is capable of picking up any
abilities their Homid cousins may have, but prior to
that point they entirely lack them. Beginning Talpid
characters may not purchase the following Skills and
Knowledges using their initial dots. You could, however,
spend freebie points on them, perhaps as a result of your
character’s Vision Crawl or experiences since. Similarly,
you can use experience points to gain dots in these
Abilities after being taught them or through life lessons
over the course of the chronicle.
Skills:: Crafts, Drive, Etiquette, Firearms, Larceny.
Skills
Knowledges:: Academics, Computer, Law, Science,
Knowledges
Technology.
Warrens
The Moldwarp’s Warren is derived from the degree
of Umbral pressure experienced at whichever depth
of the Run she reached during her Vision Crawl, as
decided by Grandmother Mole. The spiritual impression
created in this way brings about several physical, mental,
and spiritual changes in order for her to better fit her
new purpose, and continues to shape her personality
and behaviour for the rest of her life. All Moldwarps
develop their innate Rage immediately after joining their
Warren, and their worth is evident to any spirits from
whom they would learn fitting Gifts.
The Vision Crawl
A Moldwarp reaches a moment in her life - around
puberty or young adulthood - where her senses heighten
(including gaining 20-20 vision), she begins witnessing
future visions, and she feels a primal urge towards
exploring dark and isolated places, which grows to the
point of interrupting her daily life. Elder Moldwarps
know this as a sign that the child will soon transform,
likely when she next enters the Run. The young mole
is sent - or takes the initiative to set out - on the Vision
Crawl at this time.
A Homid Moldwarp finds herself exploring local
sewer and cave systems almost unwittingly. These
physical tunnels - be they natural or manmade - are
temporarily connected to the Run by Mole so that she
can direct the burrowing child towards her new family.
Metis spend their youths deep within the Burrow,
occasionally surfacing to add muscle to hunting parties.
31
When one experiences her First Change, she is usually
already on the Run at one depth or another, and
instinctively crawls deeper down - or occasionally higher
up - just before she transforms.
Talpid Moldwarps almost always simply dig their
own way into the Run at the right time; whether their
sense of direction is innate or a Gift from Gaia is hard
to determine. They find the Vision Crawl the easiest of
all Breeds, adapting smoothly to their destiny.
However she arrived there, a prospective Moldwarp
is directed by Mole to a pre-ordained depth of the Run.
Here she undergoes the First Change and joins her
Warren, receiving instruction from Mole regarding her
particular duties to Gaia.
Tracker
The Overlander, The Finder of Sceatha
“I was digging through some files and I found records
linking him to Endron - something about ‘extraordinary
services’. Gather the Wardens at sunset. I have his home
address, phone number, and the name of the restaurant where
he’s spending the evening.”
The Trackers are those Moles who transform at the
Run’s highest extent, just below the surface. Owing to
their task of ferreting out cleansable things of the Wyrm,
they have more developed senses - even sight - and thus
find amalgamation with humanity far easier. By the
nature of their work, the Finders of Sceatha are usually
the first and only aspect of a Sett’s presence that an
outsider sees.
Trackers seek out places for themselves on or just
beneath Overland, always away from the Burrow, and
lie in wait for Sceatha to show themselves. When this
happens, a Tracker investigates the quarry until its
nature is ascertained; in the case of living (or near-living)
Sceatha, this includes the creature’s home, contacts,
and activities. Once all this information is acquired, the
Tracker rallies a Labour of Wardens - and occasionally
Diggers, for larger hauls - and brings the Sceatha in for
cleansing.
Place in the Sett:
Sett: Trackers make perfect hunters,
passing information to and from the Sett regarding
prospective Sceatha. They are the most flexible of
Moldwarps, with little of the single-mindedness that
marks the rest of the Breed. It is rare to see a Tracker
making a permanent life within a Burrow; many simply
pass by to supply information and leave again to resume
the hunt.
Beginning Rage:
Rage: 3.
Beginning Gifts:
Gifts: Pliny’s Observation, Scent of
32 Moldwarps
Running Water, Sense Primal Nature, Triatic Kinship,
Wyrm Spit.
Stereotype: Trackers often exhibit a range of
Stereotype:
personalities: the inflated egos of those particularly
accomplished in their perilous duty; the paranoia and
limited attention spans of those who see signs of Sceatha
everywhere and want to investigate further; and timidity
and anxiety around Underland brethren, isolated as they
are from life there.
Cleanser
The Upper Underlander, The Triatic Redeemer
“How are you holding up? Our Wyrm’s angry with you,
is it? Well, I’ll just put this necklace over you and it will clear
that up nicely.”
Cleansers experience their change near the surface,
beyond the sun’s rays but close enough to feel its
warmth. Their role is to keep Sceatha safely in the
Burrow and prosecute their purification. The Cleansers
behave like a medical priesthood, attentively cleansing
Sceatha as is their sacred Gaian duty, but also carry
this devotion on to performing treatment on other
Moldwarps. They act as their communities’ confidants
and carers, conduits for the worries, stresses, and strains
which would otherwise hinder important work.
Place in the Sett:
Sett: Passionate and creative both in
conflict and at peace, Cleansers tend to the Burrows’
feeding, nursing, and childrearing tasks outside of their
main duties. They do sometimes leave the Burrow,
usually to attend meetings with other Fera and provide
a more mild-mannered face for the Sett, but they prefer
never to leave their Sceatha wards.
Beginning Rage:
Rage: 1.
Beginning Gifts:
Gifts: Cleansing Balm, Mother’s Touch,
Spirit Speech, Summon Consumer Worm, The Straight
and Narrow.
Stereotype:: Most Cleansers adopt a calm and
Stereotype
measured persona following their Vision Crawl, and are
incredibly difficult to infuriate. The Triatic Redeemers
pleasantly pass through a Burrow greeting each and
every Moldwarp who passes them, maintaining close
personal relationships.
Warden
The Middle Underlander, The Den Guardian
“Congratulations, you cleansed one Gorgon and released it
back to the wild. We have three more Sceatha coming in today
alone. There is no time to celebrate.”
Changing just beyond any hint of the surface world,
these Moles are tough, courageous, and stoic. These
qualities are much called upon, for it is their burden to
contain, monitor, and protect Sceatha held in captivity.
A Warden represents the scrutiny of Moldwarps over
the Triat, and maintains a balanced and pure state
in himself, in the burrow and within Gaia with their
duties.
Place in the Sett:
Sett: Den Guardians must endure long
periods spent looking foulness in the face, though at
a distance save when necessary. Wardens can be seen
all throughout a Burrow acting in defence and support
capacities, though they are most often found in the halls
surrounding cleansing chambers, guarding the inmates.
Beginning Rage:
Rage: 2.
Beginning Gifts:
Gifts: Burrow Guard, Enemy Ways, Give
them an Inch, Mercy, Stand Strong.
Stereotype:: Wardens embody intimidation,
Stereotype
conviction, and authority in every action they take.
This can sometimes be expressed with the exciting
encouragement of an elder sibling, the sternness of a
loving parent, or the detached professional attitudes of
their human namesakes.
Architect
The Lower Underlander, The Burrow Builder
“If you want, Earl, I could build a Passageway connecting
the one end of the cleansing hall straight to the other, in an
Escher Relativity kinda rig. Give me a week and I’ll get back
to you.”
Chapter Two: On the Nature of Moles
Members of this Warren change deep within the
Run, and exhibit an instinctively organised nature,
capable of building and leading with little effort. They
are the most gentle and humble of all Moldwarps and
those with the least direct contact with Sceatha. It is also
a very common practice for Architects to add unique
traps and tricks to the layout of their Burrow, aiding in
preventing breakouts and raids.
Place in the Sett:
Sett: Architects’ place is in the
background, for they maintain and fortify Dens,
assemble and repair Tools, and mediate amongst the
Sett and between spirits and other Moldwarps.
Beginning Rage:
Rage: 2.
Beginning Gifts:
Gifts: Conserve Resources, Integrity,
Intercom, Site Scouting, Stonesight.
Stereotype: The Burrow Builders are committed
Stereotype:
to and near-obsessed with crafting and creation, due to
which they are often missing from Things and other Sett
gatherings due to their love of crafting. Many Architects
take pride in the structure of their Burrows, from
cleansing chambers to pantries. The nuances set into
their personalised work are discussed by Architects of
Burrows across the world, if sufficiently remarkable.
Digger
The Otherlander, The Umbral Excavator
“Passage secure. Going further to find signs of Sceatha.
For Gaia and the Grandmother!”
These Moldwarps tear up earth and Umbra in equal
33
measure, expanding the Den while slaying the Wyrm-
tainted beasts - too corrupt for even the Run’s End to
cure - that dwell in the lowest depths of both. Sometimes
Diggers even rip through the membrane between
Umbral realms and emerge in Malfeas itself, where they
continue to wrestle with blighted creatures that most
Fera have never even dreamt of. Many Metis become
Diggers; being already housed within the Burrow, they
seem more likely to be called deeper into the Run than
up towards Overland.
Place in the Sett:
Sett: Diggers command the least
influence within a Sett and have the least to do with its
operation, though their Warren is no less needed. They
spend great amounts of time in Otherland, or at least
further underground than most humans can reach, and
as such grow to value silence above social fraternization.
Beginning Rage:
Rage: 4.
Beginning Gifts:
Gifts: Balance, Cave Dweller, Helping
Hands, Root, Stony Ground.
Stereotype: Operating on different senses of time
Stereotype:
than most, the Umbral Excavators often appear slow
and lumbering, with little to say to anyone they don’t
expressly wish to talk to. At the same time, they are
temperamental, quick to anger and just as quick to lose
interest in situations and leave the area. Despite this,
they have a strong sense of priority, and although they
may not see eye-to-eye with their Settmates on minor
issues, they are the first into the fray to protect them.
Tunnels
Before human migration set in motion the
unprecedented exchange of species across the globe,
Moldwarps had already settled themselves into four
large collectives named Tunnels. Each hailed from one
of Mole’s children - the desman, the shrew-mole, the
Old World mole, and New World mole - and worked to
clear away the carnage left behind by the other Breeds
in their goal of defeating the corrupt aspects of the Triat
and restoring them to purity. Throughout prehistory,
all four of these mighty Tunnels worked as one unified
force, using the still young and malleable Run to aid one
another’s Setts in their collective Gaian duty.
When the War of Rage came, this great machine of
labour was cast asunder, with most Moldwarps fleeing
to Run’s End to hold it fast as the Run itself crumbled.
Stranded on Overland to fend for themselves, the
Desmana Tunnel sought their own way in the world, but
were overthrown by the Galemy, formerly a Chamber
(see page 43)
43) who found a new benefactor in the Wyld
and became warped by its sickness.
34 Moldwarps
Once the Run was re-dug by Paws-to-Shake-the-
Earth, the other three Tunnels - Old World, New World,
and Eastern - reunited at length and remain united to
this day. The Tunnels were never truly formed equal,
though no one could honestly claim to be superior
to another; where one falters, another stands strong,
following Gaia’s great plan of the Breed’s strength being
found in unity. Each Tunnel is watched over by a patron
Totem and suffers from one or more Faults in their
spiritual, physical, or social makeup which reflect their
collective shortcomings and affect their day-to-day lives.
Old World Tunnel
Old Worlders see themselves as Mole’s first and
closest grandchildren. The Tunnel has operated out of
Europe since before the War of Rage, and have struggled
to keep their hold over the Breed since then. During the
Time of Exile, they directed the Breed and maintained
the Rules of the Run. It was one of their number,
Paws-to-Shake-the-Earth, who dug his way out of Run’s
End and initiated the Eruption, and as such many still
see themselves as blessed above their fellow Tunnels.
The highest number of Lords of the Run, High Sanctii,
and High Scriveins have been Old Worlders - though,
naturally, the Eastern Tunnel can boast the highest
number of Thegns. All Runs of the Old World pass
through Wimbledon Common, reaching through the
entirety of Europe before heading into Run’s End, all to
be better secured by the Grandparents’ watchful eyes.
With the coming of the Second and Third Times
of Pestilence, Old Worlders found that they could not
maintain their vaunted superiority for long before the
other Tunnels sought power and influence, citing the
Creed of Innovation as just cause to break with their
dogmatic implementation of the Rules of the Run. Old
Worlders are convinced that restoring the Run to its
former majestic efficiency and order is paramount to
cleansing the Triat and will make the purposes of all
righteous Fera infinitely more achievable.
Counterintuitively, their elders believe that they
should be the figureheads of this momentous shift
rather than their juniors, growing more stubborn in
their old age. While the Tunnel’s senior Earls uniformly
reflect this attitude, the Hill of the Young Worlders do
what they can to undermine it, yearning for a future that
embraces cooperation and rejects supremacism in any
form.
Perplexingly, Old Worlders were never given
a Chamber by Grandmother Mole to bolster their
numbers, while the other Tunnels were so graciously
aided by her. The Tunnel themselves profess that they
did not need aid, that their ways are truly pure and
cannot be diluted, and that their youths’ emerging
dynamism shows that the Tunnel is destined for
greatness once again. Some among the Breed who were
granted a Chamber see this discrepancy as evidence that
the Old Worlders are a thing of the past, marked for
retirement by Gaia Herself and unworthy of serving Her
in the Final Battle to come. While this view is extreme,
the recently-dwindling number of Old World Earls and
kinfolk may show some truth to it.
Sobriquets:: Grandparents, Curmudgeons.
Sobriquets
Appearance:: Weremoles of the Old Tunnel are
Appearance
always overweight by virtue of genetics, and most
bear short-sightedness in Homid form. Their Crinos,
Eulipotyphla, and Talpid forms have dark black fur
and long, thick claws. The whiskers of a Grandparent
weremole are often long and sagging and transfer
between forms, giving their Homid forms naturally long
facial hair, lengthening beards, moustaches, eyebrows,
and nose and ear hair.
Kinfolk & Territory:
Territory: Curmudgeons claim all
Burrows as their property, but maintain their own
Setts in the British Isles, mainland Europe, and the
Mediterranean coast. Old Worlders have recently seen
a decline in their rate of true breedings and thus in the
numbers of their kinfolk, though they haven’t yet shared
these facts with others of the Breed. An Old Worlder
now faces the very real possibility that he may not sire
further Moldwarps at all without making the task one of
his major life goals.
Tunnel Totem:
Totem: Grandmother Mole. All other
Tunnel Totems are seen as faces of Grandmother Mole,
embodying as she does the rigorous commitment to
duty that the Moldwarps cling to. All Old Worlders
speak of Mole as both a loving maternal figure and a
stern overseer; despite the fact that they are her chosen
Tunnel, they are given no leniency.
Character Creation:
Creation: Grandparents adopt Mental
Attributes far more commonly than Physical or
Social. They pride themselves on Knowledges such as
Academics, Law, and Science. An Old World Moldwarp
may never take the Kinfolk Background above two dots.
Faults
Infallibility:: No Old Worlder accepts defeat lightly.
Infallibility
The player must make a Willpower roll (difficulty 7) in
order to admit failure, wrongdoing, or weakness.
Traditionalism:: Rewards of new Rank are harder
Traditionalism
to earn for Old Worlders than they are for the other
Tunnels; Mole demands more from her prime children,
or else insists on grounds for their arrogant boasts. The
weremole must complete a Rite of Passage not only for
Chapter Two: On the Nature of Moles
the desired Rank, but also for every previous Rank he
has earned, before he can advance.
Beginning Gifts:
Gifts: Call to Duty, Detectorist’s
Intuition, Fissure, The Secret Ingredient, Still of the
Grave.
Stereotypes
New Worlders:
Worlders: “They have the right attitude, but they
fall down dallying with strange beliefs, even when the old ways
have served us perfectly at every turn.”
Eastern Tunnel:
Tunnel: “Once their trials are over and they
can earn us sway in the Beast Courts, they will be our equals
once again.”
Gazers of the Deep:
Deep: “Heads-in-the-clouds, starry-eyed
dreamers. Their wandering provides little to our Breed, and
they need to grow up and get to work.”
Investigators:: “They show loyalty and diligence, and
Investigators
clearly yearn to achieve our greatness. We shall watch over
them while their own Tunnel clears up its past mistakes.”
Kruipmolle:: “They think that they are as good as any
Kruipmolle
other Tunnel, that their work is of paramount importance, and
that they are perfectly pure. We will see, given time...”
Itjaritjari:: “They showed perseverance in surviving when
Itjaritjari
Garou drove us from Australia. If they have been told to do
what they do, if Grandmother Mole has accepted them and
the spirits work with them, we shall not presume to intervene
further.”
Galemy: “Those of us who have fallen to the Wyrm can
Galemy:
at least be considered stupid and gullible. Galemy took the
Wyld into their Burrows with open arms at the time of our
greatest need. Why our Grandmother allows them to ‘cleanse’
false Sceatha is beyond me.”
Buried and Baoganes:
Baoganes: “Failures and wasted efforts to
the worst degree. One has fallen in spirit and one in body and
neither represent our Breed any longer. We, of course, must
attempt to cleanse them, but it is not our task to accept them
afterwards.”
New World Tunnel
Though only slightly junior to its Old World
counterpart, this Tunnel has always had a contrasting
character of radicalism. From the Breed’s earliest days,
the New and Old world Tunnels have begrudgingly
relied on one another, the Old Worlders providing
restraint and wisdom where the New Worlders bring
passion and ingenuity. Most of the New World Tunnel
were trapped in Run’s End alongside the Old and
Eastern Tunnels; those who weren’t are presumed to
have perished or disembodied whilst seeking their lost
kin in Otherland.
35
 Following the Eruption, the Arbiters pledged
themselves to bring peace to the Breeds, starting with
Nuwisha. Coyote and the Tunnel’s Totem, Pul’-Laqu-
Whu the Mound Digger, were once mates, a fact that
neither Breed had forgotten. The werecoyotes sided
with the New Worlders, hiding them in false Caerns to
avoid Garou condemnation, and lent their various lines
of contact with native Bastet, Corax, Gurahl, Mokolé,
and Ratkin to re-open dialogue. Distanced cooperation
was the fruit of these meetings, and the New Worlders
commemorated their advancement by digging a new
capital Burrow, boldly dubbing the monument Mole
Hill, which retains that name to this day in Rockingham
County, Virginia.
New Worlders remained open to new ways, whether
developed by Moldwarps or cribbed from other Breeds.
As such, the Tunnel’s nature has been allowed and
encouraged to change over time, from the mysticism of
the pre-colonial ‘Pure Lands’ (a term most find to be a
laughable symptom of werewolf hubris) to the forward-
looking modernism of today’s American Moldwarps.
Old Worlder scrutiny and dogma have long chafed the
New Worlders, prompting dissent and resistance. While
much would have to happen for this tension to escalate
to outright conflict, let alone war, it remains a barrier to
the Breed’s smooth functioning that is likely to worsen
before it is alleviated.
The largest number of Homids of any one Tunnel
hail from the New World, and while their Burrows may
be relatively shallow, they have both a consistently high
intake of Sceatha and successful output of cleansed
subjects. The Tunnel’s current approach to cleansing
begins before someone or something fully becomes
Sceatha. Its members seek to address the conditions
which create them rather than only administering the
difficult, uncertain aid required once they manifest.
They therefore engage in efforts to improve human
welfare and the conditions in which people live all across
the Americas.
Most recently, the Tunnel has raged its own
battle against Endron’s fracking division SETT, often
preventing the company from creating Hoglings,
H’rugglings, and Wakshaani in their exploitation of
dirty energy. Not many weremoles agree with this pre-
emptive action against corruption, seeing it as falling
into the realms of the Garou or the Gurahl, but very
few are willing to confront those who combat Pentex so
directly for fear of being seen as siding with the Wyrm.
Sobriquets:: Arbiters, Innocents.
Sobriquets
Appearance:: New Worlders are a varied lot,
Appearance
but often have dark hair and eyes. Their bodies are
36 Moldwarps
surprisingly lean for Moldwarps, while their fur grows
far longer and they allow it to become scruffier than
their fellow Tunnels.
Kinfolk & Territory:
Territory: Initially, the Arbiters only
held the east coast of North America tightly in their
claws, but their territory has spread west and south
since then. Some have even attempted to occupy the
Grand Canyon and claim its mighty Gnosis, but strange,
winged Sceatha of uncertain alignment have managed to
keep it in their tainted grasp (see Clanbook: Gargoyles
and The Final Revolt). The kinfolk of the New Worlders
range across the social spectrum, though they are rarely
found among the wealthy, more often emerging from
modest-living rural folk.
Tunnel Totem:
Totem: Pul’-Laqu-Whu, the Mound Digger.
A nurturer of all, she instructs her children to house
and feed any mole who enters their Burrow. They have
taken this loving nature to heart, and strive to treat all
Fera with the same attitude.
Character Creation:
Creation: Much like their Galemy
siblings, the New Worlders value Social Attributes, but
their Abilities focus more on genuine care rather than
emotional manipulation, with high levels of Animal
Ken, Empathy, and Etiquette.
Faults
Trusting by Nature:
Nature: New Worlders cannot detect
lies nearly as easily as other Fera, receiving a -2 dice pool
penalty on all rolls relating to misdirection, falsehoods,
and lies - even through omission.
Wyrmish Despair:
Despair: Physical contact with Wyrm-taint
runs the risk of causing New Worlders great sorrow. The
weremole counts as having the Harano-Prone Flaw (see
W20 page 484) during any turn in which he touches
Wyrm-tainted material or scene spent in contact with
Wyrm-touched sources.
Beginning Gifts:
Gifts: Accurate Accounting, Brother’s
Scent, Micro-Movements, Mound Digger’s Protection,
Wanderer’s Boon.
Stereotypes
Old Worlders:
Worlders: “Until you become less stubborn and
set in your ways, we can work together but not live together.
Let’s keep the Atlantic between us, and meet again at the next
Althing, shall we?”
Eastern Tunnel:
Tunnel: “They always wanted to be the best,
thinking they had a guaranteed place with their Underland
transport. Now they’re trapped clearing up the mess of their
own hubris. Pity, that.”
Gazers of the Deep:
Deep: “Our enigmatic but dedicated little
Chamber have the future in mind, and if they’re convinced
they can heal the Wyrm, who are we to tell them differently?”
Investigators:: “They try to attend many of our Things,
Investigators
many that they don’t have business at. Maybe they do simply
have inquisitive natures, but surely they have stuff to be doing
at home.”
Kruipmolle:: “They are always invited to our gatherings
Kruipmolle
and we are sometimes honoured enough to guest at their lush
Burrows. Grandmother Mole clearly has a good judge of
character.”
Itjaritjari:: “Maybe Gaia has seen it fit to do away
Itjaritjari
with the Mokolé entirely, but I doubt it. At least they’ve been
reigned in for now, but how long until they threaten peace
again?”
Galemy: “We cleanse the Wyld as much as the rest of the
Galemy:
Triat, but they have turned their backs on Our Wyrm. Until
they change their ways, we must do the same to them.”
Buried:: “The Mad Wyrm will say and do anything to get
Buried
its way, like an addict who can’t stop. The Buried have become
enablers rather than rehabilitators.”
Baoganes: “To become the very thing we wish to save - I
Baoganes:
can’t imagine much worse. No self-respecting Burrow would
turn such a poor weremole away.”
Eastern Tunnel
In ancient Asia, Moldwarps spread as far and wide
as they could, creating strong and lasting connections
with local Fera and humans alike. They used these
close ties to root out any growing source of death and
used their Gaian cousins’ various Gifts to prevent
its escalation. This approach proved to be a winning
strategy for the early Eastern Tunnel, and in time, it
managed to develop a tight-knit network of Underland
and Otherland Passages for the sole use of Fera or
kinfolk in service to Gaia, particularly their then-allies
among the Ratkin.
When the First Collapse came, these Passages fell
silent and unguarded, freeing them up for Wyrmish
infestation. Unbeknownst to the Moldwarps trapped in
Run’s End, Wyrmish beasts and their accursed spawn
quickly spread through the passageways like aggressive
cancers, laying siege to countless Burrows and connected
Dragon Nests. The attacks, which only grew in
magnitude, were ultimately blamed on the Moldwarps’
reluctance to fight and eventual withdrawal during the
War of Rage - rank cowardice, as the other Breeds saw it.
When the Breed emerged once more, the inheritors
of the Eastern Tunnel were faced with what seemed to
be a straightforward task: to cleanse the ancient Passages,
mile by mile, but this proved to be an incalculably
difficult operation. The Passages’ geography was chaotic
Chapter Two: On the Nature of Moles
and did not resemble the complex maps still held by
Eastern Elders. Some opened onto the Battlefield or
the Atrocity Realm; others somehow turned back on
themselves to emerge through the entrance they had
headed; even more had swelled to become blighted
Calumns of their own, leading to realms near Malfeas or
even directly into it.
From the sixth century onwards, the Reclaimers
were continually engaged in intense subterranean
warfare with the Wyrm’s legions. Occasionally mighty
Nexus Crawlers would be repelled, or a Pit or Blight
entirely cleansed, but these small victories were met with
harrowing losses more often than not. The Tunnel’s
primary Burrow, the Er Wang Dong cave system, capable
of supporting entire tribes of healthy Kinfolk (see page
127),
127 ), may well have been the only reason the Tunnel
survived long enough to see modern times. Their task
is at long last nearing completion with the generous
assistance of the Beast Courts.
Sobriquets:: Brawlers, Reclaimers.
Sobriquets
Appearance: In appropriate forms, members of the
Appearance:
Eastern Tunnel possess black fur dotted with ashen-grey
flecks, longer snouts and tails than most other Tunnels,
pointed external ears, and small arms and forelegs
particularly unspecialised for digging, owing to their
Fault.
Kinfolk & Territory:
Territory: While the Tunnel isn’t elitist
when it comes to choosing mates, they are limited both
socially and geographically. Their Talpid kinfolk live
exclusively around the areas of their Passages which,
because of their lifelong endeavour, means that human
kinfolk are also only usually taken from the region
housing southern China, Myanmar, Laos, and Vietnam.
Tunnel Totem:
Totem: Shrew Mole. The face of
Grandmother Mole given to the Eastern Tunnel is
one of vicious, determined independence, born of the
necessity for generations of Moldwarps to live locked in
bloody conflict.
Character Creation:
Creation: The Eastern Tunnel prioritises
Physical Attributes and combative Abilities, such as
Brawl, Melee, and Athletics. There are no restrictions on
which Backgrounds a weremole from the Eastern Tunnel
may take.
Faults
Diminutive Paws:
Paws: Forward digging is difficult for
the Eastern Tunnel. The difficulty reduction for digging
given to the Eulipotyphla and Talpid forms is not
provided to members of this Tunnel.
Nocturnal:: Bright light disorientates weremoles of
Nocturnal
the Eastern Tunnel. As such, the presence of sunlight,
37
strong floodlights, or point-blank torchlight inflicts a -1
dice pool penalty on all Dexterity, Perception, and Wits
rolls.
Beginning Gifts:
Gifts: Claustrophobic Clawing, Danger
Echoes, Martial Law, Non-Lethal, Spur Claws.
Stereotypes
Old Worlders:
Worlders: “Their steadfast resistance to change
has seen them endure, but without fighting for a place in the
modern age, they will be left behind.”
New Worlders:
Worlders: “They have taken on much of what
we were before the First Collapse. They do not hesitate when
making allies, but must learn to be equally as brave when
making enemies.”
Galemy:: “One short step away from the monsters we
Galemy
battle daily. They may be keeping up with Gaia’s expectations
for the moment, but a reckoning shall come soon.”
Kruipmolle:: “Some of our purest kin, they do not flaunt
Kruipmolle
a pleasing creation myth or the fruits of their labours, but
simply undertake their duties with diligence and pride.”
Itjaritjari:: “We fight not for pleasure but for our future,
Itjaritjari
against Sceatha but not Fera, and to restore Gaian justice.
What are they fighting for?”
Gazers of the Deep:
Deep: “Bile rises in the throat to think of
their folly, chasing delusions across Otherland while our world
is torn apart, leaving us to hold back the tide.”
Investigators: “A reflection of what we once were. The
Investigators:
union they form between Breeds, and their ability to pass
from place to place effortlessly, makes them paragons in the
making.”
Buried:: “Tommyknocker’s
Buried “Tommyknocker’s beating is heard throughout
our domain louder than anywhere else. He knows we are
pushing the Wyrm back, yet he fails to pull us in.”
Baoganes: “We have rarely seen such things, but they do
Baoganes:
well to avoid our Passages; we would not dither in sending them
to the next world.”
Galemy
Never before had a single Tunnel of Moldwarps
excelled so much as those formerly known as Desmana
in removing death, so much so that before the War of
Rage, single moles were known to keep vast regions
free of unnecessary decay or pestilence. Their Desmana
forebears were pure of spirit and committed to Mole
to a fault. Their duty came before their own lives, and
sometimes even the safety of the Run. When the First
Collapse struck, the Tunnel was utterly abandoned on
Overland, and with nowhere to run and no kin to rely
on, the Desmana were forced to work alone.
38 Moldwarps
The Tunnel fell into disarray, with Labour fighting
Labour and Sett rejecting Sett, until finally a Hill
stepped forward to promise an answer to not only the
Tunnel’s problems, but those of all Moldwarps and
Fera as a whole. Calling themselves Galemy, these
Moldwarps proposed the complete elimination of death,
thus starving the Wyrm until it was weak enough to be
brought to heel. Most rejected this idea as Wyldish and
grossly irresponsible. Unperturbed, Galemy devised new
and profane Rites with the aid of demented spirits, away
from the attentions of the wider Tunnel, which they
enacted without approval or assistance to a harrowing
result: they cured death.
The Desmana turned against this subversive Hill
far too late, distracted as they were with Triatic spirits,
Garou, and vampires striking their Setts at every
opportunity. However, the Galemy seemingly could not
die, even their kinfolk were near-indestructible, and they
were determined to bring their former Tunnelmates
into the fold. One by one, Burrows submitted to the
Galemy’s way, the Gaian residents converted to the
Wyld’s cause until nothing of the Desmana remained.
Once Moldwarp society had reformed following
the Second Time of Pestilence, it was faced with the
question of what to do with Galemy. While the Tunnel
continued to perform the Gaia-given tasks their siblings
did, they had also taken up their own goals which
sided squarely with one of the Triat, no less warped
than Weaver or Wyrm. An Althing followed which
resulted in the conclusion that the Tunnel could not be
rejected wholesale, as the face of Mole named Desman
still patronised it. They were nonetheless still kept at a
distance, granted only limited rights within Burrows,
and were permitted token involvement in Althings, so
long as they upheld their Gaian activities.
Today, the Galemy range from being some of the
Breeds most diligent cleansers to as present a threat as
any Sceatha. Learning to cleanse them of Wyld taint is
a high priority, but In truth, they have only abandoned
Gaia for the Wyld to the same extent as Ratkin, so they
remain in Her service to this day.
Sobriquets:: Mutants, Swimmers.
Sobriquets
Appearance:: The fur of Crinos, Eulipotyphla, and
Appearance
Talpid Galemy is short, light brown, and perpetually
slick, and these forms have long tails and wide snouts.
In all forms, the Tunnel sport webbed feet and
hands, giving away their aquatic natures, occasionally
accompanied by the bizarre growths and mutations
endemic to their practice of resurrection.
Kinfolk & Territory:
Territory: The Galemy stick to riverways
across central and eastern Europe, as well as western
Eurasia. They care very little whom they take as mates;
they wish to spread the essence of unending life to as
many as they can. Because of their limited freedom
amongst Moldwarps, they have not spread as far as they
would have liked, but their influence has surfaced in far
more places than the Breed would believe possible.
Tunnel Totem:
Totem: Desman. The persona of the only
male face of Grandmother Mole, Desman remains solely
concerned with burying corpses with great respect and
dignity, and has not turned his attention towards curing
death with his children. They look to his steadfast
diligence and attempt to emulate it as they follow their
new duty.
Character Creation:
Creation: Mutants invest heavily in their
Social Attributes and Abilities such as Intimidation,
Leadership, and Performance to disseminate their
message. Galemy characters are not required to take
any dots in Pure Breed, but neglecting to do so changes
them from Wyld-Touched to fully Wyld-Tainted (see
Galemy and the Pure Breed Background on page 73). 73).
Faults
Waterborne:: Galemy infants born anywhere
Waterborne
other than within a free-flowing river are incapable
of receiving the Vision Crawl and in turn their First
Change. This inherent dependence means Galemy may
only regain lost Gnosis while meditating in such a river.
Wyld Bearing:
Bearing: All Galemy are considered Wyld-
Chapter Two: On the Nature of Moles
touched, which is detectable through supernatural
senses (particularly the Gift: Sense Wyld). Any otherwise
successful attempt to cleanse them of this results in
automatic failure.
Beginning Gifts:
Gifts: Death Flowers, Desman’s
Endurance, Etheric Transplant, Visions of Run’s End,
Weightless Flesh.
Stereotypes
Old Worlders:
Worlders: “How is it that we can be so similar, but
still have such differences? When a death occurs, we both bury
what remains; when corruption arises, we both cleanse it. We
just try to avoid it getting to that point in the first place.”
New Worlders:
Worlders: “Their embracing of new ideas is a
positive sign. If they come by our rivers, we will show them a
thing or two about change.”
Eastern Tunnel:
Tunnel: “So many of their kin have died in
vain. How do they not see our wisdom yet?”
Gazers of the Deep:
Deep: “If they find their Wyrm, they can
keep it to themselves, we have no need of it.”
Investigators:: “Their naive belief that they can become
Investigators
what our Breed once was is a lost cause. If they ignore Gaia’s
decline, they will die, and we will remain.”
Kruipmolle:: “They are bringing new life to a dead land.
Kruipmolle
It is a beautiful thing and we must honour them even if they
do not respect our ways.”
Itjaritjari:: “Their lands still have the touch of the Wyld
Itjaritjari
39
about them, but they waste this gift in their bloodlust.”
Buried:: “These advocates of death are the only ones truly
Buried
deserving of it. I fear that this is where all of Mole’s children
are heading if we fail.”
Baoganes:: “They failed to avoid destruction and have
Baoganes
been thrown back to tell their sorry tale. Perhaps we can learn
from them before eliminating the problem they pose.”
Fresh Tunnels
Decades after their reappearance, members of
the Old World Tunnel spread across the world. In
distant lands, they found uncannily similar creatures to
their own animal kin: the golden moles of Africa and
marsupial moles of Australia. Though neither of these
species shared a direct genetic relation to true moles,
Grandmother Mole made it so that they could breed as
Moldwarps. The emergent kinfolk and Fera belonged to
entirely new Tunnels, with abilities, Gifts, and patron
Totems all their own.
None know precisely how or why these ‘Fresh
Tunnels’ were created, and they remain shrouded in
misunderstanding and controversy to this day, but Mole
herself indisputably saw fit to elevate both to stand by
her side. Already fraught with their own dilemmas, the
Kruipmolle suffer the same plight as the depleted Ajaba,
while the Itjaritjari find constant confrontation with the
Gumagan, the Mokolé of Australia, for their unusual
feeding habits.
Itjaritjari
Itjaritjari claim the marsupial moles of Australia
as their animal kin. As British colonists penetrated
the shores and headed into the mainland of Australia,
Old Worlder explorers joined them. Initially, they were
met by the Gumagan Mokolé who called the continent
home long before Europeans arrived. These meetings
were amicable and little conflict arose, but soon the
Moldwarps began forming Setts, and found that the
native ‘moles’ were neither biologically nor spiritually
capable of serving as mates. Grandmother Mole
manifested there and ventured into the Dreamtime. The
stories from that time claim that she held court with the
Totem which reigned over these burrowing marsupials
and won her loyalty. Emerging from that strange Umbral
phenomenon, she enacted a Rite which made the moles
part of her wider brood, but did not place them under
her personal rule. Thus, the settling Moldwarps could
not breed with them, but they would produce new
weremoles of their own volition.
Vision Crawls were awarded to those marsupial
40
kinfolk who bred true, and soon the Itjaritjari were
born. The duty given to them by Mole is unclear and
heavily distorted by the perceptions of other Tunnels.
In truth, there are disputes that they were even created
with Gaia’s blessing at all. During the War of Tears - the
conflict which saw the Bunyip tribe die under the claws
of their estranged Garou cousins - the remaining Old
World Moldwarps were either slain or fled Australia as
the ravaging werewolves threw them together with the
Itjarijari, who battled on to bury the dead left behind.
During this struggle, the Tunnel began receiving unique
quests during their Vision Crawls, which they neglected
to share with the fleeing Moldwarps, including one dark
directive above all that the rest of the Breed would never
understand.
Soon after the War of Tears had ended, the
Gumagan were forced to declare the Tunnel
abominations as the Itjaritjari continued to push deeper
and deeper into the lands of their former weresaurian
allies. As Mokolé gradually went missing and whole
Wallows fell silent, all signs pointed to the aggressive
landgrabs of the Itjaritjari, leading to accusations that
they had been appointed by the Dissolver to eliminate
the Mokolé.
The first proof of this was that the Warmongers, as
they came to be called, inherited a diet of reptiles which
forced them to prey upon - wittingly or otherwise - an
unsustainable number of Gumagan kinfolk. Secondly,
the Tunnel’s ability to reproduce with marsupials was
said to have been stolen from the Mokolé, similar to
the Bunyip’s fertility in thylacines. Finally and most
damningly of all, the fur of Itjaritjari possesses trace
amounts of both silver and gold, giving them a subtle,
eerie iridescence and making their touch painful to
weresaurians.
Even today, the Jindabyne Council and Gumagan
Elders debate whether raising additional conflicts against
the Itjaritjari would be a suitable measure. The Tunnel,
however, holds no express disdain for Mokolé or any
other Breed. Their actual purposes are obscured beneath
their elusive natures and scant contact with other
Tunnels; no senior Moldwarp would truly say they trust
the Itjaritjari, but would not discount their effectiveness
when the need is dire.
Sobriquets:: Dreamers, Warmongers.
Sobriquets
Appearance: The hair and fur of any Dreamer’s
Appearance:
form is either silvery or extremely pale gold; even in
human and Talpid forms their body hair is anathema
to other Fera, and they generally dye it to blend in
with humans and moles. Their noses in Crinos,
Eulipotyphla, and Talpid forms are large and bulbous,
Moldwarps
and their claws are far wider than those of other
Tunnels.
Kinfolk & Territory:
Territory: Moldwarps of Australia
behave far more like a clandestine mystery cult than
according to the industrial or quasi-military organisation
of other Tunnels. For an Itjaritjari, advancing in Rank
involves passing through barriers of secrecy to unveil
the Tunnel’s true nature. Where other Moldwarps have
an overarching goal to aim for, young Dreamers simply
act out of aspiration and an ingrained sense of honour.
The way Elders command their underlings to perform
the duty given to them by Gaia - which they cannot truly
understand until they have proven their value, due to
their Fault - is to emphasise the revelations that await as
they send their Fosterns and Cliath on obscure missions
which ultimately contribute to the greater goal.
Tunnel Totem:
Totem: Marsupial Mole. Itjaritjari confide
in their Totem more than they rely on one another
and far more than they rely on other Moldwarps. Due
to their duty requiring them to target their Mokolé
neighbours, the Tunnel seeks the secure company of
spirits more than their Breedmates.
Character Creation:
Creation: Warmongers possess high
Physical Attributes but utilize them for stealth and
discretion over raw power. Their Abilities equally value
covert duty with Stealth, Survival, and Streetwise. There
are no restrictions on Itjaritjari Backgrounds.
Faults
Amnesis:: Itjaritjari do not personally suffer memory
Amnesis
loss themselves, but do fall victim to a Tunnel-wide
mental block on learning information about their kind’s
origins or purpose, even that transmitted through the
oral tradition. Only by rising in Rank are their minds
freed to learn their true purpose from the scarce sources
retained from the early days.
• Pup.
Pup. You are not human; you have the blood of
monsters running through your veins.
• Cliath.
Cliath. You are a weremole, a creature of death
who must purify the world.
• Fostern.
Fostern. Moldwarps are a superior reflection of
Fera from before the War of Rage.
• Athro.
Athro. Fera as a collective cannot save the
Wyrm in their current state; the Moldwarps
must pick up the slack.
• Elder. Itjarijari are at once bound to the duty
of all Moldwarps and also to the purification of
Gaia’s own children.
• Paragon. Grandmother Mole told Marsupial
Mole that she was to eliminate the Mokolé;
Chapter Two: On the Nature of Moles
their attachment to the remembrance of the
past has proved ineffective.
Saurovore: Warmongers may only consume reptiles
Saurovore:
for nourishment and lizard-spirits in order to gain
Gnosis; even Consumer Worms do not provide Gnosis
during a Rite of Deliverance. Additionally, consuming
the flesh of a freshly-killed, full-blooded Mokolé
provides the Moldwarp with an amount of Gnosis equal
to the victim’s Rank, but doing so sends a wave of pain
through the Mnesis which alerts all other Mokolé of
the victim’s Wallow to this atrocity (but not its precise
location or perpetrator).
Beginning Gifts:
Gifts: Aura of Confidence, Crawling
Order.
Stereotypes
Old Worlders:
Worlders: “Haughty and opinionated. Do they even
dig anymore, do they bury, do they defend Burrows?”
New Worlders:
Worlders: “Their work is good for Gaia, but they
couldn’t survive in our lands. We will respect them so long as
they respect us.”
Eastern Tunnel:
Tunnel: “We both live for conflict, but we were
made for it where they seek it out.”
Gazers of the Deep:
Deep: “Like us, they have received true
guidance from the spirit world; if only they could understand
our dreams.”
Investigators:: “They keep to themselves, and we keep
Investigators
to ourselves. We know nothing about them, and they know
nothing about us. I see no reason to change these things.”
Kruipmolle:: “They look like us, but we do not tend to
Kruipmolle
gardens or hide from our enemies behind others.”
Galemy: “There are few things more disgusting than
Galemy:
unnatural life.”
Buried:: “Our siblings may think we are chaotic and a
Buried
risk to progress, but at least we are in service to Gaia’s edicts.”
Baoganes:: “They are lost to us; cleanse them, let them
Baoganes
die, mourn who they were, move on.”
Kruipmolle
Kruipmolle claim the golden moles of Africa as
their animal kin. Sadly, their emergence resulted from
the exploration, exploitation, and colonisation of the
continent as Old World Moldwarps followed to clear
away corpses resulting from various conflicts there,
in which they took no knowing part. In southern
Africa, near the Namibian Desert, the Old Worlders
trailing a party of Portuguese merchant-explorers
discovered the golden mole species and remarked on
their familiar nature. To their even greater surprise,
41
they also discovered Grandmother Mole at an oasis,
surrounded by an enthralled throng of the animals. At
their head was a large but insubstantial spirit resembling
the humble, blind creatures, which Mole was providing
water from the oasis. As she drank it grew more solid
and vivid, until she fully awoke as the Golden Mole
Incarna, and brought the animals under her power,
making them kinfolk - the first breeding population of
the Tunnel which would come to be called Kruipmolle.
Much like the Itjaritjari, the children of Golden
Mole were given a far more specific duty to follow
than other Tunnels. Rather than simply transporting
the dead below the ground to decay naturally and fuel
the life above, they were to deliver bodies from far
and wide specifically beneath the Namibian Desert,
surrounding the oasis where their kind began. This task,
Grandmother Mole told them, would create a ‘water
table’ of nutrients for a lush forest to one day reclaim
the desert land and bring new life to the world.
The Kruipmolle took immediately to an isolationist
lifestyle; seeing what was happening to their African
kin set in an aversion to humanity entirely, and cast the
Tunnel into a life spent almost solely underground.
For several generations, the Kruipmolle stuck to
their duty and quickly saw results. The heart of their
desert sprung to life - huge trees, thick underbrush,
and even new species of animals sprung up about the
Kruipmolle’s oasis. Through their Gifts, the Gardeners
kept the place hidden from humans and free of their
presence, and soon sprouted further oases like it.
In the late twentieth century, these growing
reservoirs of death-into-life drew the attention of
the rampaging Simba of the Endless Storm, who
quickly surmised that the odd-looking, long-forgotten
Moldwarps were Wyrm-tainted and declared their race
a threat to Gaia. In response to this clear insult against
Grandmother Mole, the Tunnel opened its oases to the
Simba’s other target, the Ajaba, following the Massacre
which saw their king murdered and their numbers
scattered.
For decades, Clans of werehyenas were put to work
tending the gardens sprouting from the Kruipmolle’s
efforts, and to enact subversion tactics to keep their
sanctuaries secret. The grateful Ajaba forever swore
allegiance to the Sandmoles for this act, a promise they
made ready use of whenever Black Tooth’s minions
would pass their way. Following the Dark Lord’s defeat
they joined the Ahadi, but have otherwise resumed their
reclusive lifestyles, free from distraction beneath their
hidden gardens in the desert.
Sobriquets:: Gardeners, Sandmoles.
Sobriquets
42 Moldwarps
Appearance:: Kruipmolle are surprisingly tall for the
Appearance
Breed, equal to many Garou in height. Despite this, they
are also unusually lithe, with fur that remains slick and
smooth in all but the harshest conditions.
Kinfolk & Territory:
Territory: Gardeners have Passages that
run all across southern and central Africa, but their
Burrows are only found in the Namibian Desert. Their
human kinfolk, by contrast, live across the length and
breadth of sub-Saharan Africa, where they report major
instances of death and destruction, enabling the Tunnel
to maintain their tasks without having to scout vast
tracts of land.
Tunnel Totem:
Totem: Golden Mole. It is rare for the
Kruipmolle to contact or rely on Golden Mole at all
throughout their lifetimes, not because they do not
respect her, but because they know that she is always
busy and that they should be too. The Tunnel only
brings Golden Mole to Overland in times of great need
or celebration, primarily when new oases are made.
Character Creation:
Creation: Kruipmolle use high levels of
Strength and Stamina to take on their demanding tasks.
They use Knowledges and Crafts in equal measure to
maintain their hidden gardens. There are no limits to
Kruipmolle Backgrounds, but they rarely have many dots
in Status.
Faults
Necrotic Senses:
Senses: To Kruipmolle, the scent of death
is an overbearing presence that cannot be ignored. If
unpreserved dead flesh - which has not been salted,
pickled, embalmed, frozen, or refrigerated - is within one
mile per Rank of the Moldwarp, he suffers a -2 dice pool
penalty until it has been thoroughly investigated.
Servant of the Wyrm:
Wyrm: Moldwarps are expected
to keep Sceatha alive at all costs, but Kruipmolle must
do so lest they suffer Gaia’s personal censure. If one or
more Wyrm-fallen Sceatha dies due to the actions or
inaction of a Kruipmolle, he is cut off from his Gnosis
as though in contact with obsidian for a number of days
equal to the number of dead Sceatha.
Beginning Gifts:
Gifts: Scent of the True Form, Spirit
Snare.
Stereotypes
Old Worlders:
Worlders: “Close to being a great Tunnel, but they
fall short of perfection with their inflated egos.”
New Worlders:
Worlders: “An admirable goal it may be, but we
are not Gaia’s diplomats. We are her undertakers, we build
Burrows, not bridges.”
Eastern Tunnel:
Tunnel: “So absorbed by their own prestige
and power. They must forget the past or they will not be
remembered in the future.”
Gazers of the Deep:
Deep: “Ours is not to know if their task
is worthy. So long as they cleanse and bury, they are still Mole’s
grandchildren.”
Investigators:: “They try all too hard to find our Dens.
Investigators
When the Great Mother decides we need their aid, they will be
welcome.”
Itjaritjari:: “Rabblerousers at best and warmongers at
Itjaritjari
worst. They would have served the tyrant Black Tooth well.”
Galemy: “In seeking an easy way out of what’s required
Galemy:
of them, they have betrayed Gaia’s plan. They are not
Moldwarp.”
Buried:: “Working with the dead, it is easy to fall to the
Buried
Wyrm’s call as they have, but nothing worth doing is easy or
without risk.”
Baoganes:: “We bring the dead deserts to life, where they
Baoganes
spread everlasting death. We judge each one on merit, but most
are too far gone to be tolerated.”
Chambers
Still smaller groups have formed, tied to the
older Tunnels yet functionally independent from
their ancestors. Members of these ‘Chambers’ can
only produce kinfolk when paired outside the group;
breeding true exclusively requires their closest kind. For
example, Gazers of the Deep can only create further
Chambermates with star-nosed moles and humans born
where those animals naturally appear. How the first of
these Chambers came to be is little understood, but they
are seen as a gift from Mole given to help keep the Breed
afloat, which Moldwarps generally regard with a mix of
gratitude and shame.
Gazers of the Deep
The New World Tunnel is built around social unity
and proactive development, clinging to ideals of coming
together and making as many allies as they can. The
same can’t be said for their wandering Chamber. Once
Mole Hill was revealed to the world, the New Worlders
spread across the east coast and began breeding at an
advanced rate, including with the strange star-nosed
moles. The first Moldwarps born to these pairings were
blind and confused, but in time received Vision Crawls
that would shape a new Chamber and form an almost
cultish commitment to restoring the Wyrm to its once-
mighty power.
Each Gazer digs deep into the earth prior to her
First Change, whereupon she is exposed to what is
claimed to be a call from the Wyrm’s soul. The wisest
Chapter Two: On the Nature of Moles
amongst the Chamber claim that the Weaver bound
the Wyrm so tightly in its strands that, even after
Grandmother Mole retrieved the severed portions of its
body before it could be corrupted, it was further sliced
in two, with one half still caught in the Weaver’s web
and the other living on separately. It is the Gazers’ duty
to find that dormant, pure half and give it the power to
destroy the Mad Wyrm.
Gazers of the Deep are born with senses far beyond
anything possessed by other Moldwarps or even most
other Fera; high-ranking individuals can personally sense
the Wyrm throughout Gaia and across the length and
breadth of Otherland. Every Gazer engages in annual
Vision Crawls through Passages and even into virgin
areas of Otherland to find the spiritual holy grail of the
Wyrm’s soul. Though this unorthodox ideology - which
has little founding in conventional Fera cosmology - is
baffling to most Earls, it leads the Gazers to earn no
shortage of Renown. After all, constantly braving such
benighted places as the Atrocity Realm, Abyss, Scar, and
Erebus creates some of the hardiest weremoles a Labour
could ask for.
Because of their desire to seek out the Wyrm’s soul,
the Chamber has adopted a uniquely nomadic take
on Moldwarp life. Their Setts travel across Otherland
with caravans of mobile cleansing chambers, taking
their Gaian duty into corrupt realms to purify on the
move. Trackers take advanced positions plotting courses
through Otherland, following the sound of the Wyrm’s
soul alongside Diggers who clear their Setts path,
Wardens and Cleansers who trap local spirits to cleanse
them as they travel, and Architects who maintain their
various transports. The Gazers will not rest until they
discover what is calling to them across reality.
Sobriquets:: Listeners, Stars.
Sobriquets
Appearance: In all forms, the Gazers appear almost
Appearance:
identical to members of the New World Tunnel, save
for a lack of any eyes at all in Crinos form (though they
do have small, pointed ears) and a large star-shaped
rhinarium formed from several tentacles writhing across
the nose, visible in Crinos, Eulipotyphla, and Talpid.
Kinfolk & Territory:
Territory: Star mole kinfolk are
primarily found along the East Coast of North America
and Canada, as are their human equivalents, though
they may be found in small communities all across
North America. The Listeners hold no true territories as
their own and defend no Dens. Their mobile cleansing
chambers do require Gnosis to remain powered, which
they extract from the environment wherever they go.
Tunnel Totem:
Totem: Star-Nosed Mole. The Mound
Digger’s eldest child, this Incarna was forced to develop
43
extraordinary senses to hunt for worms to feed her
siblings. Her children believe that their senses too are
meant to uniquely hunt the Wyrm, so to provide a new
spiritual patron for all Moldwarps to serve. The Totem
plays an incredibly active role in Listener activities,
frequently accompanying them on their journeys.
Character Creation:
Creation: Stars make use of all Attributes
- Physical for their unceasing treks, Social to interact
with Setts across the globe, and Mental to maintain
a sure heading and comprehend Otherland dangers
and mysteries. With Enigmas and Occult as the most
important, their Abilities are quite varied, though
Computers, Larceny, and Leadership rarely see much
use. Gazers never settle in a single Burrow, instead,
keeping ties with many across the world. Because of this
nomadic lifestyle, they may not take Resources above
level 2 or have any dots in the Burrow Background.
Faults
Our Wyrm Calls:
Calls: Members of the Chamber all hear
the call of the Wyrm’s soul during times of inactivity,
similar to the drone of tinnitus, albeit inviting as well as
distracting. The call requires a Willpower roll (difficulty
7) to resist, rolled once during each story at a time when
the Gazer is unoccupied. Failure forces the Gazer to
Dig Downwards at the nearest opportunity, heading
erratically into an unknown Umbral realm.
Sightless Gaze:
Gaze: All Gazers are blind and may never
physically see, even with the use of Gifts; they may not
learn any Gift that would grant them mundane vision,
though supernatural ‘sight’ is unaffected.
Beginning Gifts:
Gifts: Echoed Message, Umbral Tether.
Stereotypes
Old Worlders:
Worlders: “They clearly need to look upon Gaia’s
wonders outside their usual bounds; that will loosen them up a
bit.”
New Worlders:
Worlders: “Our parents do their best; we don’t
expect much more from them.”
Eastern Tunnel:
Tunnel: “Such blind fury and commitment to
their mistakes make for a terrible waste.”
Investigators: “They make good company, and we are
Investigators:
blessed that many choose to travel with us.”
Kruipmolle:: “We respect what they are hoping to
Kruipmolle
achieve, but we could never hide away in this world.”
Itjaritjari:: “They seem to admire our ‘walkabouts’ and
Itjaritjari
give us a helping hand negotiating with spirits, but curiously,
they have never travelled with us long.”
Galemy:: “We do not seek to avoid them, warped as they
Galemy
are. Some realms can only be explored alongside those with
44 Moldwarps
different points of view.”
Buried:: “We listen out for the Wyrm, but we still heed
Buried
Gaia. What has led them so astray?”
Baoganes: “It is possible to delve too deep into the dark.
Baoganes:
You must watch out for yourself while you’re out there.”
Investigators
This Chamber is all but unknown to Moldwarps as
a whole; even older members of the Eastern Tunnel to
which it is tied are often left in the dark. Investigators
hail from the Yunnan province of China and take
great pains to bridge the gap between the Beast
Courts and their Breed. The Chamber works towards
bettering cleansing rites, but shares the results solely
with members of the Courts, rather than their fellow
Moldwarps. In fact, Investigators study Sceatha both in
their own custody and those residing in other Burrows,
to surreptitiously practice altered rites upon them - often
at the behest of Hengeyokai handlers - while never
divulging this allegiance.
This Chamber-come-secret-police do not allow their
young to make personal ties with other Moldwarps
before their Vision Crawl, while their handlers restrict
their ownership of Tools to better keep them in line.
Investigators carry out their activities at the whim of
representatives of the Beast Courts and commit many
acts which their Breed-Mates would sharply question.
Young Labours are loaned to ruling members of the
Courts for use as bastardised versions of their Warren.
Cleansers minister to disruptive spirits found in places
so corrupt that most Fera wouldn’t deign to enter - most
recently the site of the Fukushima nuclear disaster.
Wardens act as bodyguards, courtly enforcers, and
lookouts. Architects toil away to maintain the Dragon
Nests of other Fera, and Trackers act as advanced scouts
sent to ferret out potential Wyrm-lairs with little outside
support or intelligence. Diggers are forced into combat
situations their Breed was never intended to take part
in, serving as shock troops against the darkest enemies
of the Hengeyokai.
Once an Investigator has scraped together enough
Renown to advance in Rank to a position of authority,
she delves into further contrary ways of life. Elder
Investigators personally initiate their young into
subservience to the Beast Courts, whilst covertly stealing
knowledge and secrets from other Tunnels. They are
even willing to use the lost Eastern Passages for travel by
harming themselves with obsidian, courting corruption
to pass through the throngs of Wyrmspawn undetected,
just to evade the notice of their Breed. Investigator
hierarchy predicts itself to be the next phase of
Moldwarp society, shedding the Rules of the Run, and
with them the reservations and inhibitions of the wider
Breed, and once more gain a place as equals amongst the
Emerald Mother’s children.
Sobriquets:: Skulkers, Spies.
Sobriquets
Appearance:: Investigators appear taller than
Appearance
other Moldwarps due to the length of their smooth,
short-haired tails and hairless, pointed noses which
continually twitch as they survey their surroundings.
In Homid form, they are largely indistinguishable from
members of the Eastern Tunnel, though they are almost
entirely of southeast Asian descent.
Kinfolk & Territory:
Territory: The Chamber’s kinfolk come
from five distinct Client Families and the moles in their
care, each yoked to another Changing Breed: the Same-
Bito, Khan, Tengu, Nezumi, and Zhong Lung. These
families are watched over vigilantly, forced to act as spies
amongst other Tunnels, and rigorously governed by their
Elders. Every Investigator possesses a brand of the glyph
of their Client Family somewhere on their person in all
forms from birth.
Tunnel Totem:
Totem: Worm. Though very few would
even bother speaking to Worm, it is a humble and
circumspect spirit which offers sound, reliable wisdom.
Spies find solace in Worm, reassured that their lowly
duty is the right path to take and that they can see it
through to the end.
Character Creation:
Creation: The Attributes and Abilities
mastered by the Skulkers are indicative of the tasks given
to them by their masters. Diggers are trained in Strength
and combat Abilities, where Cleansers conversely learn
Stealth and Survival. Wardens are expected to possess
high Social Attributes and high standards of Etiquette,
Trackers learn Law and Subterfuge to manipulate other
Hengeyokai groups, and Architects require great levels
of Stamina and Athletics to survive the toil expected
of them. Investigators may not start with Moldwarp
Mentors or Allies outside of their Chamber, or possess
the Fetish Background above level two.
Faults
Client Families:
Families: From birth, an Investigator is
bound spiritually to a specific Hengeyokai Breed
which has been granted his family for its own. Younger
weremoles are indoctrinated into believing that this is
their Chamber’s true task, eventually becoming Elders
of their own right with, at once, a comfortable place in
the Beast Courts and a conviction to see an end to this
durance. To act against their master Breed’s interests
(see below), including defying any but the most obscene
orders, requires a Willpower roll (difficulty 8).
Chapter Two: On the Nature of Moles
• Bai, Clients of the Same-Bito.
Same-Bito. The Bai family
are the only Moldwarps unfortunate enough
to have encountered Rokea in anything besides
freak circumstances, and thus are forced to
comprehend the ocean as a separate realm;
even the semi-aquatic Galemy do not stray far
downstream of their shallow birthing rivers.
The weresharks have Investigators to dig and
maintain vast underground lakes, forming
chambers below the ocean and ultimately
flooding them for the Same-Bito to thrive in.
These projects risk the lives of the weremoles
who work to complete them on a regular basis.
Sadly, these flooded chambers often turn Dens
into Grottos, cutting the Moldwarps off from
one of Gaia’s hearts rightfully meant for their
kind.
• Dan’ha, Clients of the Zhong Lung:
Lung: The
weredragons are often more respectful, if
disinterested, towards their indentured
Moldwarps. The Zhong Lung recollect the
pacts made between the ancestors of their two
people, and do what they can to honour it. The
extent of duties for the Zhong Lung consists of
messenger service and courier work via Passages.
• Hanying, Clients of the Khan:
Khan: The
Bright Lords have taken on somewhat of
a responsibility for their Client Family.
Outside of using them for combat practice
and reinforcements both against the Wyrm
and within the weretigers’ personal Dens,
Investigators are encouraged to take on the
mantle of Thegn, which is otherwise unknown
within the Chamber. By training their Clients
as Thegns the Kahn cultivate respect for the
Hanying amongst Moldwarp Setts and also gain
ears inside their secretive, insular Order.
• Motachoo, Clients of the Nezumi:
Nezumi: Motachoo
treat the Investigators as a far lower class
than themselves, expecting them to perform
degrading duties such as sewer cleaning, petty
theft, and humiliating entertainment for their
many young. If any uprising of Investigators is
to take place - a slim possibility at best - it will
almost certainly begin among the Motachoo.
• Xieren, Clients of the Tengu:
Tengu: The Asian
wereravens regard the idea of Moldwarp service
with glee, and have the Xieren perform acts of
espionage amongst Sceatha prisoners, other
Court Breeds, and above all the Eastern Tunnel
itself.
45
 Ridges:: Like their Tunnel-brethren, Investigators
Ridges
suffer with difficulties digging, though not specifically in
the actual task. For this Chamber, the earth left behind
in their wake is so frantically churned up and spiritually
disjointed from the added effort that a mound always
remains for the world to see. Any attempt at digging
naturally or Digging Downwards leaves behind an
earthen or spirit-stuff mound twice the height of the
form used to create it. These mounds remain for 1
day when made in Talpid form, 1 week in Homid or
Moleman form, and 1 month in Crinos or Eulipotyphla
form. To remove the mound, a further digging roll
must be made, with 2 successes needed to clear the
mound left from Talpid form, 4 successes from Homid
or Moleman form, and 8 successes from Crinos or
Eulipotyphla form.
Beginning Gifts:
Gifts: Common Tools, Fatal Flaw.
Stereotypes
Old Worlders:
Worlders: “They have failed to move with the times,
and the wisdom of the past is failing them. There is little left of
value to be found inside their Burrows.”
New Worlders:
Worlders: “Perhaps the greatest promise for
our Breed. We will watch them closely, and mould them as
necessary.”
Eastern Tunnel:
Tunnel: “We must acknowledge that we came
from them, and that they have made great sacrifices, but if they
do not fall in behind the cause of harmony, they must be made
to submit.”
Gazers of the Deep:
Deep: “We share curiosity and versatility,
and they show some promise, but in time they must be directed
away from the strange cause that drives them.”
Kruipmolle:: “Someday we will extract the secrets from
Kruipmolle
their hideaways; maybe that will show our worth?”
Itjaritjari:: “Their deeds are meaningless to us. The
Itjaritjari
Dan’ha intervene when necessary, but otherwise the Itjaritjari
are irrelevant.”
Galemy:: “Other Tunnels may despise and distrust them,
Galemy
but we see the use they may serve in restoring the Wyld’s
power.”
Buried:: “Hollow creatures, lacking honour or inner
Buried
strength. Let the Wyrm have them!”
Baoganes:: “Used sparingly, they make for great shock
Baoganes
forces, and they’re easy to replace. Unseemly things must be
done in the Emerald Mother’s name.”
46 Moldwarps
Lost Tunnels
The ‘Lost Tunnels’ are not truly Tunnels at all; they
are not linked to particular species of mole and do not
occupy specific regions of the world. Instead, they are
members of the Breed who have fallen to Wyrmish
influences. Just as the White Howlers became the
Black Spiral Dancers, Moldwarps who fall to the Wyrm
become Buried (though this requires a process distinct
from walking the Shattered Labyrinth). Meanwhile,
Moldwarps are one of the unfortunate Fera Breeds
who may be Embraced by vampires and converted into
viable members of their unliving number, becoming the
Abominations known as Baoganes.
The Buried
Moldwarps believe themselves to be avatars of the
true Wyrm, helping the natural processing of the body
and soul at the end of one life to fuel a new one. This
self-image is contrary to other Fera, who have felt the
hardship of brothers and sisters falling into the Wyrm’s
madness as something not only undeserved but utterly
baseless. Moldwarps are quite difficult to corrupt,
it is true, but only due to their rigorous social order
and close knit communities, rather than an inherent
supernatural resistance.
In actuality, weremoles may be corrupted far easier
than other Fera in one particular circumstance: being
afflicted with the weakening effects of obsidian and
similar stones. If a Moldwarp remains in continuous
close proximity to such minerals, maintaining her
weakened state for weeks at a time - or has been injured
with them enough to leave scarring - a bridge between
the essence of the Wyrm and her own spirit is inevitably
formed. From there it is a simple matter for the Wyrm
to send Tommyknocker to claim the victim as a true
servant, luring the Moldwarp deep underground and
forcing her spirit to be utterly corrupted, making her
into one of the Buried.
Unless Buried Moldwarps are quickly reclaimed
and cleansed, they are often repatriated into Black
Spiral Hives to perform twisted forms of their Warrens’
duties for their once-and-future master. Most Fera
of other Breeds often miss the distinction between a
Buried Moldwarp and a Black Spiral Dancer due to
the extensive malformations and living habits of both.
This is much to the relief of the Moldwarp hierarchy,
as otherwise it would multiply many times over the
ammunition for the claims made against the Breed.
Buried Moldwarps are spiritual ‘contractors’ for
the Wyrm and its various heads, being redirected as
and where they are most needed, willingly or otherwise.
Trackers seek out those with weak wills whose spirits
may be easily infiltrated, scout potential sites for new
Pits, and establish the scope of Gaian forces in Dens and
Caerns alike. Cleansers (who, in their delusion, retain
their old name despite their fallen state) work to debase
and infect victims with Wyrm-taint and even Banes,
to convert pawns and create fomori, and to encourage
full-scale Wyrm corruption in locations already on
the brink of it. Diggers connect Pits for Black Spiral
Dancers and other Fallen to take root and grow like
cancers, linking them all with vile, stinking Passages to
one another, to various Umbral realms of depravity, and
ultimately to Malfeas itself. Wardens change perhaps
the least, keeping converts to the Wyrm within Pits
and enemies without from a stern and unyielding
tyranny that they must fight to maintain. Architects
fall perhaps the furthest of the Warrens, for they thrive
within Pits, Malfeas, and the Shattered Labyrinth itself,
reconstructing and building new branches of these
places the world over, slowly forming a tainted caricature
of the Run.
Sobriquets:: Pests; Wounded.
Sobriquets
Appearance:: Buried possess large, swollen eyes,
Appearance
protruding slightly outside of their sockets. In their
animal forms they have pallid skin visible between
patches of short, wiry hair. In all forms, they resemble
emancipated versions of their former Tunnelmates.
Kinfolk & Territory:
Territory: Generally speaking, Buried
Moldwarps forcefully breed with the kinfolk of their
former Tunnel, with the resultant offspring being
offered to the Wyrm at birth or even conception.
Due to their nomadic existence dragging them from
one Pit to another at a moment’s notice, very few
long-lasting stocks of Buried kinfolk have ever been
established. Those which have tend to devolve into grim
subterranean abominations of their former selves. Talpid
kinfolk grow to a full Eulipotyphla state, albeit without
the enhanced capabilities to support their huge frame,
and the tortured few humans raised in this state mutate
into a scarcely-functional Moleman form as they age.
Tunnel Totem:
Totem: Tommyknocker. This obscure
Incarna - a face of Kirijama, the Hidden Foe (see W20
Book of the Wyrm)
Wyrm) - appears to any prospective Buried,
staging a reenactment of the Vision Crawl. She is led
away from the Run along Passages revealed to her by
Tommyknocker’s inviting but ever-distant gold eyes and
rhythmic wall-tapping, eventually emerging near Malfeas
itself. At this juncture, she finally catches up with him,
and he becomes her Totem while ‘enlightening’ the
Moldwarp that the Wyrm truly didn’t change, but Gaia
and the rest of the Triat did, and that it is the real victim
Chapter Two: On the Nature of Moles
of the grand cosmic tragedy.
Character Creation:
Creation: Buried can be taken from
any Tunnel, and as such possess the full spectrum of
Attributes and Abilities. Obviously, once a Moldwarp
has been Buried, she likely loses many Backgrounds such
as Allies, Mentors, Contacts, and Status, but she is not
restricted in gaining new versions of these Backgrounds
under the Wyrm’s service.
Faults
All buried Moldwarps retain their Tunnels’ original
Faults while also gaining the following one.
Buried Tunnels:
Tunnels: If a Buried Moldwarp successfully
Digs Downwards, the Storyteller must roll one D10,
reduce the result by the Moldwarp’s permanent Gnosis
rating, and consult the list below to determine where the
Moldwarp turns up. In all cases, her personal Passage
immediately closes behind her, leaving her unable to
travel back without repeating the attempt.
• 0 or lower:
lower: Exactly where the weremole had
intended to go.
• 1: The epicentre of the closest place of Wyrmish
power to her desired location, such as a Blight
or Hellhole.
• 2: The Balefire of a minor Pit.
• 3: The Balefire of a powerful Pit.
• 4: One of the many Pits of the Er Wang Dong
Passageways (see page 127),
127), surrounded by
horrific breeds of Bane and fomori clawing their
way towards the surface.
• 5: One of the Duchies of Malfeas.
• 6: The Shattered Labyrinth.
• 7: The Dark Umbra, where the Restless Dead of
humanity reside.
• 8: The Atrocity Realm.
• 9: The walls of the Chasm in the realm of
Abyss, within the caverns leading from Malfeas.
Beginning Gifts:
Gifts: Acid Talons, Bane Protector.
Stereotypes
Old Worlders:
Worlders: “So unwilling to take on new truths, they
abandon the Wyrm which created us - but we have returned to
it.”
New Worlders:
Worlders: “We build bridges as well as any of
them. Without us, the Black Spirals would have gone extinct
centuries ago.”
Eastern Tunnel:
Tunnel: “If they think they’re making progress
against the Wyrm, then all goes as intended.”
47
 Gazers of the Deep:
Deep: “Keep looking for the Wyrm, little
ones, and when you hear a knocking against the cavern walls
beneath his cry, you will have found him.”
Investigators: “Not many of their kind join our Tunnel,
Investigators:
their masters see to that sure enough. Not much lost, if you ask
me.”
Kruipmolle: “Their diligence is admirable, but that
Kruipmolle:
much decay hidden in their land will be easy to exploit; we just
need to find them.”
Itjaritjari:: “You think what you do is in service of Gaia
Itjaritjari Gaia?”
?”
Galemy:: “The Wyld is a broken shadow of its former self.
Galemy
To take on its ways is to betray the world to endless suffering.”
Baoganes: “Why do they not all join us? Those pitiful few
Baoganes:
who try to cling to their former lives are doomed without the
Wyrm’s embrace.”
Baoganes
Possibly the most horrific thing for a Moldwarp to
come across is a Baogane, a weremole who has suffered
the wretched fate of succumbing to the ‘Embrace’ of a
vampire. Only compounding the horror and shame is
the knowledge that many Breeds are ordinarily resistant
to transformation into the undead, whereas Moldwarps
seem vulnerable. It is purely due to the presence of
their Wyrm still within their spirits that allows for these
Abominations to exist with such relative ease. Baoganes
often spend their unlives trapped within cleansing
chambers, awaiting rehabilitation that may never come
without their much-sought-after destruction. Many are
granted the Thing of Salvation, though some willing
penitents are denied even that.
Their kind first appeared to Moldwarps from the
Passages between England and Ireland which cross
through the Isle of Mann. They crawled out onto the
coasts and were quickly accosted by Moldwarps and
Fianna alike. Naturally, those taken by Moldwarps
were placed in cleansing chambers, whereas the Fianna
immediately slew any they found. Records from these
cleansing attempts say that, as living Moldwarps, the
original Bugbears were murdered by ‘the Pard’ - believed
to be a mythical creature featured in medieval bestiaries
- and subsequently became what they were, and
furthermore could not be cleansed without fully dying.
The existence of a Baogane poses burning questions
to her Sett. Should she receive an honourable Final
Death and be given over to Gaia? Should she be put
through arduous cleansing in the small hope it works?
Or, more dubiously, should she be allowed to serve the
Burrow eternally? Setts who are unfortunate enough
to lose one of their own to a Leech make their own
48 Moldwarps
decisions on what to do with their fallen kin. Thegns
offer their services to perform a Thing of Salvation, but
some Setts have openly allowed their Abominations to
try and serve out their time in duty to Gaia, to great
protest from Earls outside them.
Sobriquets:: Bugbears, Wyrstan-Sceatha.
Sobriquets
Appearance:: Baoganes look similar to how they
Appearance
did in life, save for their fangs being unnaturally long
even for vampires. In Crinos form, these fangs splay out
either side of their face to resemble the curved tusks of
a boar, and sometimes punch through the flesh of their
gums and lips. The fur of all forms - even Homid hair -
becomes permanently sharp, coarse, and patchy, again
similar to that of a boar.
Kinfolk & Territory:
Territory: Baoganes do not return to
their Burrows and Setts following the Embrace for two
reasons, the first being that bringing a Burrow and all its
Sceatha to the attention of certain vampires can easily
lead to its complete and utter destruction. Secondly, the
corruption of the human aspect of the weremole’s mind
creates an uncontrollable instinct for self-preservation,
which holds the creature back from her Labour,
inevitable cleansing, and certain death.
Because of this, the majority of Baoganes - which
number a handful at any time - fall to Tommyknocker’s
lure, often knowingly, finding some form of kinship
amongst the Buried and Black Spirals. Others either
quickly find destruction or live lonely, feral unlives
beneath the earth, never again seeing the light of the
moon, let alone the sun.
Tunnel Totem:
Totem: Bugbears are not a Tunnel even
in the loose sense that the Buried are, and lose their
Tunnel Totems during the Embrace. Because of this
abandonment, it is far easier for Tommyknocker to
manipulate a Baogane’s mind than that of a Gaian
Moldwarp.
Character Creation:
Creation: There is little rhyme or reason
for the creation of a Baogane; to Moldwarp eyes, at least,
the vampire bites without purpose. The Moldwarp’s
Breed, Warren, and former Tunnel all dictate her past.
Faults
Like the Buried, Baoganes retain their former Faults
and gain two additional Faults. If a Baogane is adopted
by Tommyknocker, she also gains the Buried Tunnels
Fault as normal.
Clan Curse:
Curse: As a vampire, Baoganes are subject to
the various weaknesses of their tainted blood. These
fall outside the scope of Faults and this book, and may
be drawn from Vampire: The Masquerade or invented
by the Storyteller if rules from that game are not in use.
The Endless Death: Volume One also expands and
further details these Curses.
Creatures of the Dark:
Dark: Soil does not merely cling
to the fur and skin of a Bugbear as it would to any other
subterranean creature, but latches on with supernatural
power, reflecting the earth’s desire to see such a monster
dead and buried. Over the space of but a few nights, the
Moldwarp may become so covered in filth and earthen
debris that her size and shape cannot be discerned.
System:: Each night spent underground for any
System
significant time, the Baogane loses one point of
Appearance due to the gathering detritus. When the
Attribute drops below 0 it rises again to its previous level
but as Abhorrence, a replacement Attribute used only
for intimidation purposes. Each level of which subtracts
dice from any non-intimidating Social rolls on a one-for-
one basis. If the Storyteller owns Clanbook: Gargoyles
or The Endless Death: Volume One, One, expanded rules for
Abhorrence can be found in those books.
As the Baogane becomes caked in dirt, she
can spend an hour performing intense cleaning to
remove one level of Abhorrence or regain one level
of Appearance, up to the original maximum of
Appearance.
Beginning Gifts and Disciplines:
Disciplines: The undead
weremole holds on to any Gifts she had in life. If using
Vampire: The Masquerade,
Masquerade, she also has access to the
Disciplines of her Sire’s Clan or Bloodline; otherwise
she has access to Gifts appropriate to vampires.
Stereotypes
Old Worlders:
Worlders: “They hate us, pure and simple. We see
no kinship here, but at least we know where we stand.”
New Worlders:
Worlders: “Some of their kind see past the divide
between us, but only enough to lock us away rather than calling
the Thegns.”
Eastern Tunnel:
Tunnel: “Officially they oppose us, but they
surely look away if we are willing to side-by-side with them.”
Gazers of the Deep:
Deep: “The greatest chances for
acceptance are amongst the Gazers. Some even allow us to
travel with them.”
Investigators: “Fear them, for they care little for
Investigators:
Moldwarps of Fera, and they certainly care even less for us.”
Kruipmolle: “Black Tooth has dragged our kind through
Kruipmolle:
the mud by associating with corrupt Laibon. The Gardeners
will never trust us now.”
Itjaritjari: “They treat us all as worse than Sceatha, even
Itjaritjari:
when we seek redemption. Who are they to judge us for a fate
we never chose?”
Chapter Two: On the Nature of Moles
Galemy: “How are we so different? If these Wyld-taken
Galemy:
are given representation by Moldwarps, why aren’t we?”
Buried:: “Is that what we are all destined to become? I
Buried
pray to Gaia it is not so.”
Ronin Moldwarps
Unlike werewolves, who may have any number
of reasons for being cast out from their Tribe and
wander alone, Moldwarps are staunchly duty-bound
once a Tunnel’s Totem accepts them. Occasionally a
weremole seeks to forge his own path through life, to
find unorthodox methods of cleansing, or to work on
the burial of those who die far from any Burrow. Even
in these circumstances, they are not rejected as Garou
so easily are, and if their elders see their adventures as
judicious, they are happily repatriated with the Rite of
Reunion.
The exception to this rule are Ronin Moldwarps
who have broken the Rules of the Run far too often
to learn from their actions. Such profligate souls are
shamed, forced to denounce their old life entirely
(name and all), and be cast from Moldwarp society
forever. Most simply head out into Otherland to cleanse
and bury in the most dire conditions they can find,
eventually dying with some scrap of honour remaining
to them in death.
Mechanically, Ronin Moldwarps possess no Renown
and may not learn any Tunnel Gifts unless barters and
bargains are made with willing teachers, though they do
not suffer any Faults. Naturally, if they are repatriated,
this state of being ends.
The Lord of the Run
The Lord of the Run is the supreme title granted
to the only Moldwarp physically and spiritually capable
of reaching the sixth Rank. For any to ascend this high
is for her to be granted the highest honour imaginable,
as it is the paramount position in Moldwarp society,
gained only through Mole’s direct blessing. The Lord
is given undying respect by children of Mole the world
over as the Totem’s representative, whether they be
Moldwarp, Kinfolk, or simply natural moles; even other
Fera of amenable stances naturally defer to the Lord of
the Run.
Becoming Lord of the Run comes with several
important responsibilities: defending Run’s End against
any incursions with her life; overseeing each and every
Renown Ritual undertaken within Run’s End, making
her personally known to almost all higher ranking
Moldwarps on Earth; maintaining a constant check
49
on the duties of her subordinate Sanctii, Scriveins,
and Thegns, to ensure the safety and wellbeing of the
Moldwarp Breed as a whole; and keeping account of
important Setts’ effectiveness and needs, coordinating
with the Orders and other local Setts if certain ones
require additional support.

The Three Orders

Aside from the central hierarchy of Lord of the
Run, Earl, and Foreman, Moldwarp society includes
three Orders with highly specialised roles which
exempt their members from ordinary authority and
responsibilities. These are the Orders of Sanctii,
Scriveins, and Thegns. Each major Sett has one of
each Order in residence, though they do not answer
solely to the Earls. A large minority of Order-belonging
Moldwarps remain stationed at Run’s End, awaiting an
assignment whether temporary or permanent. Many
say that the Orders arose as Hills prior to the Eruption.
Though this does hold some weight, the direction of
a weremole towards one of the Orders is commonly
ordained by Mole herself, whereas Hills are purely a
personal choice of political association.
At the head of the Orders, working in direct service
of the Lord of the Run, are the High Sanctus, Scrivein,
and Thegn. They are appointed by their predecessors
from among those holding the offices beneath them,
on commendation for consistently high achievement
and great dedication. If they should prove as talented
in all areas as they are in just one, they would likely
be headed for the Lord’s position, but as it is they are
solely masters of their particular fields. In addition to
overseeing and coordinating their subordinates, it is
perhaps the chief duty of the heads of each Order to test
would-be new Lords of the Run for eligibility during the
Althing, though they may cast no votes once the worthy
candidates are found.

Sanctii
The High Sanctus is usually a very old weremole of
the Tracker or Architect Warren, who contrarily forsakes
the relatively new path set out by her Breed in favour of
their original duty to Gaia - or even the Balance Wyrm
- of maintaining the world’s cycle of life and death
through the processing and proper burial of the dead.
She acts as a direct emissary to Mole, a questioner to the
Lord, and a figurehead to all Moldwarps.
As repositories of the living history of their Breed,
the Sanctii of Run’s End serve to remind those in
attendance of what Moldwarps once were and should
strive to someday be again, once the current mess that
50 Moldwarps
the world finds itself in is sorted out.
Outside Run’s End, Sanctii live similarly to Bone
Gnawer Garou, surviving on the streets in the mess and
filth while processing human waste and worldly death
with joyous songs in their hearts. They take regular
pilgrimages into the Fungal Forest of Run’s End, for the
representation of the eternal cycle found in them is a
pure and holy sight to behold and contemplate.
Scriveins
The High Scrivein is the master of spiritual matters,
often drawn from the Breed’s greatest Trackers and
Cleansers, and has free reign to pursue any means of
purifying Sceatha available to them. This frequently
leads the High Scrivein to study and practice the magics
of other Fera, and even the sorcery of humans and
other beings on occasion. Whenever she makes a new
discovery in the field of purification, she must share it
with the Lord and issue waiting Scriveins to downline
what has been found to as many Setts as possible.
Sett-based Scrivens, meanwhile, watch over the
spiritual sanctity of the Sett and particularly the Earls
themselves. If instances of Triatic corruption occur
within, the Scrivein must report it to both the High
Scrivein and the Sett’s Thegn. Given a large enough
body of evidence, contingents of both Orders descend
on the Burrow and cleanse it.
Thegns
The High Thegn is sadly necessary in Run’s End
due to the frequent breaches in the furthest points of
the realm on the part of Malfean entities. She must be a
master of combat with the ability to seal Umbral access
points accidentally or maliciously excavated between
Run’s End and Malfeas or other corrupted realms.
All Thegns train to skilfully wield War Mattocks,
Tools designed to cleanse a struck target in death. The
Thegns stationed in Run’s End are in constant contact
with Earls in an ‘on-call’ arrangement. Any Burrow
that has been overwhelmed by fomori, Garou, or any
other enemies receives a relief force of Thegns, usually
including a Labour of Diggers. Once inside the Burrow,
they destroy each and every non-Moldwarp being found
there until the Burrow is either lost or saved.
As a precaution against such extreme measures
being necessary, many Setts have a resident Thegn,
who bears the distinction of being the only weremole
allowed to kill Sceatha without acting in defiance of the
Earls, regardless of their wishes or her precise Rank;
of course, she is still accountable to the High Thegn,
though strictly speaking not to the Lord of the Run.
Chapter Two: On the Nature of Moles
Even then, this solemn duty must be performed with a
War Mattock; using claws or non-sanctified weapons is
frowned upon among the Order, though not proscribed.
RULES OF THE RUN
All Moldwarps, irrespective of which Tunnel or
Chamber they belong to, are expected to follow the
Rules of the Run laid down by Mole herself after she
led the Breed away from the Wyrm’s service. Any that
continuously choose to flout the Rules may never be
allowed to return to their Burrow as they will be marked
as a traitor.
• Keep the Run Secure.
Secure. A Moldwarp must never
bring those outside of the Warp onto the Run.
A Sett Leader can allow any being from non-
Moldwarp or Warpkin societies to enter their Dens
or Burrows, but only Moldwarps and Warpkin are
physically allowed onto the Run. Those who do
deliberately or negligently bring an outsider in are
banished from the Burrow, while the outsider might
be sent with them, imprisoned, or occasionally
destroyed depending on their nature.
• Protect Sceatha from Harm.
Harm. Never harm a
Triatically-tainted individual or item inside a
Burrow, above ground or below, and keep those
who would wish to harm it away. Sceatha are not
of sound mind and so do not deserve unnecessary
harm, irrespective of their most vile actions;
only once they are cured are they to be judged as
independent beings by the rest of the world. If that
judgment is death, then they must be returned
to Gaia without delay. Destroying befouled
artefacts out of hand, meanwhile, is wasteful and
disrespectful of their already-violated spirits. Any
mole who destroys a Sceatha without her life or that
of another being directly threatened is likely to be
found wanting.
• Aid the Cousins.
Cousins. Never forget the duties of other
Fera and aid them whenever possible and to every
extent which does not break the other Rules. Killing
Sceatha with the Garou, allowing Ratkin to travel
to Run’s End, or showing the Moldwarp Burrows to
other Breeds’ Kinfolk all fall outside of the realms
of acceptable aid.
51
Setts
As the duty of Gaia’s jailers suggests, Moldwarp
Setts operate with prison-like routine, security, and
efficiency. Each Moldwarp knows her duty and more
often than not is quietly fulfilled by it. The Earls who
stand at the head of each Sett are usually very stern with
individual Moldwarps, though rarely unfair, since their
Breed’s belief in correction and reform over draconian
punishment applies just as much to their own. They
also keep a firm eye on the Sceatha in their custody
while making sure those weremoles and Kinfolk under
their supervision are safe, content, and productive. The
average Sett has around thirty members and accepts
members of any Tunnel with open arms, though it is
up to the individual to bring members of her Tunnel’s
kinfolk species into the Burrow if needed.
Earls
These powerful Moldwarps have risen to co-lead
their respective Burrows by showing high levels of skill
in all relevant areas. While they both maintain morale
within a Sett, settle disputes between weremoles, and
issue and supervise the work undertaken by their
subjects, the two Earls of each Sett are distinguished by
ruling over either Underland or Overland.
Underland Earls, naturally, have remit over a Sett’s
Burrow and all that occurs there. They have as much
responsibility to the wellbeing of Sceatha as they do the
Moldwarps within their Sett, and if one is destroyed
without due cause within the Burrow, the Underland
Earl must investigate. Overland Earls, who in almost all
cases are Trackers or Wardens, have the responsibilities
of keeping surface-operating Moldwarps safe and
accounted for, watching over human Kinfolk, keeping
the Burrow from being detected, and reintroducing
cleansed Sceatha back to Gaia.
Aside from the heads of the three Orders, the Earls
are second only to the Lord of the Run. When the office
of Lord falls vacant for whatever reason, all available
Earls meet at a grand gathering at Run’s End called the
Althing. There, they elect an individual amongst their
number who stands down as Earl and becomes the new
Lord of the Run. If any two Earls fall into a dispute -
more often than not the Overland and Underland Earls
of a particular Sett - the Lord of the Run has the final
say on the issue.
52 Moldwarps
Labours
Labours, small groups of Moldwarps dedicated to
a particular occupation, are usually solely dedicated
to one or two Warrens, unlike the Garou who ideally
prefer their Packs to encompass an example of all of
their Auspices. For example, there might be a Digging
Labour of Architects and Diggers which dedicates its
working time to expanding the Burrow; a Hunting
Labour of Trackers and Cleansers that spends more time
above ground rooting out Sceatha; a Battle Labour of
Wardens and Diggers charged to engage and invaders of
a Burrow, or more rarely to prosecute aggression against
enemies; or a Purification Labour of Cleansers and
Wardens which never leaves its blighted captives’ sides,
continually ensuring their containment, survival, and
cleansing.
Foremen
These are the Moldwarps in charge of an entire
Labour, which they oversee and keep in check. The
Underland or Overland Earl, as appropriate, regularly
receives updates regarding the progress of each Labour
through its Foreman, be it solely in charge of extending
the Burrow below ground, cleansing specific Sceatha, or
political engagement with the surface world. Progressing
from her first Foreman post, a Moldwarp may attempt
to take command of other, more influential Labours of
the Sett, eventually aiming for the position of Earl or
joining one of the Orders.
Hills
As the Garou seek companionship with one another
not only by Sept and Auspice, but under the unifying
organisation of their tribal Camps, so too do Moldwarps
often seek camaraderie in global collectives they refer
to as Hills. Due to the nature of Moldwarp society,
and the precise place for each weremole within a Sett,
involvement within a Hill is rare on an individual level.
It is far more common to find an entire Sett who largely
belong to the same Hill, rather than an eclectic mix of
contrasting points of view. Hills commonly focus on
one primary aspect of the Breed’s duty to Gaia above
the others. This can produce tension when a Moldwarp
follows a Hill foreign to her Settmates, making her
somewhat of a pariah at best or harshly disciplined at
worst, depending on how well she balances her loyalties.

Apes’ Redeemers
Believing that most Garou are Wyrm-tainted and
somehow hiding this fact from even the greatest of
Moldwarp senses may be an extreme viewpoint, but
far from a rare one; believing that humanity itself is
so Weaver-tainted that all of mankind is in need of
cleansing is a whole further level. Apes’ Redeemers hold
both of these as gospel truths, amongst other radical
views, and act upon them with every breath. Redeemers
take humans in direct service to the Weaver, or with
strong behavioural traits in its favour, and attempt to
cleanse them through a mixture of psychological abuse,
isolation, and repurposed rites. Freethinking Moldwarps
shun this Hill’s ideals as quite beyond the pale, but
Redeemers hold up examples of humans who have been
forced into bestial states of primitive regression, the
Weaver’s hold utterly stripped away, as evidence that
their methods are in fact effective.
Plague Doctors
Moldwarps who learn their Breed’s history well
are reviled by the actions of Ratkin, at the sheer weight
of death caused by their plagues across the world.
Only a few, however, are galvanised to rid the world
of such catastrophic swathes of death forever. The
Hill naming themselves the Plague Doctors have long
braved pestilent areas, treating rampant disease before it
claims too many victims. Some elder weremoles worry
that these actions reflect the Galemy, but the Doctors
highlight the cooperation between themselves and
certain open-minded Gurahl as proof that they are in
fact only there to help.
Young Worlders
The Hill of Young Worlders has always been one
of idealists and visionaries, emerging in the late 17th
century England as a response to the second great
plague. A single, small Labour learned of the existence
of not only fallen Fera such as Black Spiral Dancers,
but of the remnants of extinct Breeds still hanging
onto life as Wyrmish pawns, notably the Skull Pigs.
From these discoveries they set about resurrecting fallen
Breeds by cleansing examples of their Fera and Kinfolk,
subsequently setting up endangered breeding programs.
Down the centuries, numerous close failures and
false successes have rocked the Hill, but the Young
Worlders have never lost faith. Most recently, their focus
has shifted to capturing Skull Pigs and their Kinfolk
and attempting to cleanse them in multiple separate
Burrows. If this should prove successful it will be a
Chapter Two: On the Nature of Moles
momentous event for Fera the world over, and likely
redeem the Moldwarps in the eyes of many.
Things
In Moldwarp society, times of great ceremony
and celebration are called Things. A Thing is called to
mark significant occasions and usually all Moldwarps
and Kinfolk are gathered to celebrate as one, usually
followed by contests, merry making, feasting, and most
importantly the granting of Renown. Tales tell that
before the War of Rage, Things used to be held in
honour of the achievements of other Breeds’ members
too, with all Fera being welcomed to a Burrow, but those
days are past. Even if an Earl were confident enough in
the integrity of her guests, most Fera wouldn’t pay such
an invitation any heed.
The Althing
At the time when a new Lord is to be elected, an
Althing is called at Run’s End. Though grander and
longer, the Althing is a more solemn affair than a typical
Thing. During this time the prospective new Lord is
set a task by each Order head while being studied by an
assembly of Earls from around the world and numerous
other guest attendees. If these tests are passed, the Lord
is crowned and given his place in the Body of Death to
serve his term. This is followed by a feast of Consumer
Worms and a journey through the Fungal Forest, at the
end of which the new Lord delivers her first decrees.
Thing of Deliverance
More akin to the Garou’s Sacred Hunt than the
orderly Things ordinarily performed by weremoles. All
Moldwarps present tap their claws quickly against the
earth to symbolise the patter of rain while the ritemaster
sprinkles fresh stream water at the centre of the circle. A
Consumer Worm spirit bursts up from the earth, its size
is directly related to the collection of Moldwarps, and
it starts writing through the earth, lashing at dirt and
seeking corrupt Essence to consume. This is where the
Moldwarps consume the creature whole, gaining Gaia’s
power in the sacrifice of its spirit.
Thing of the Hill
Meetings of Hills are undertaken in clandestine
settings - unique areas of Otherland, caverns deep in
the earth, and subway and sewer networks. This isn’t
primarily for privacy, but because Things of the Hill
are usually highly involved, complex, and susceptible to
interruption. In many ways like the meetings of human
secret societies, members of a Hill from across vast
53
distances gather at these events to discuss matters of
import for their particular goals.
Thing of Release
Once a Sceatha is successfully cleansed, it becomes
the focal figure of a Thing of Release. The Foreman
responsible for its rehabilitation performs the Rite
of Release, while her Labour each lay hands on the
subject in turn, chanting amongst one another. The
Thing honours the figure or object and prepares it for
the world, while also celebrating the achievement of
cleansing.
Thing of Salvation
The final hope for Sceatha who wish to return to
Gaia’s cycle is the Thing of Salvation, which necessitates
what humans would call ritualistic suicide. Usually, only
Thegns perform Things of Salvation, though some Earls
prefer to conduct them personally. The Sceatha must be
willing to succumb to Gaia’s influence, at which point
they are taken into a Den and guided into meditation.
At the peak of this meditation the Sceatha becomes
surrounded by a manifestation of Gaian power - a mist,
a glow, or the gentle resounding heartbeat of the world.
When this essence appears, the ritemaster executes the
Sceatha and returns it to Gaia’s final embrace.
Thing of Station
When a Moldwarp has developed her skills well
enough to be taken into an Order and has interest
in joining it, the Order descends upon the Burrow
to arrange the Thing of Station. The Thing involves
differing actions depending on the Order: decoration in
ancient ceremonial garments for a Sanctus, the creation
of a fresh War Mattock for a Thegn, or recitation of the
Moldwarps’ living history for a Scrivein. All of these
ceremonies are performed before a shrine of Mole in
whatever face suits the inductee’s Tunnel.
Underland, Overland
Moldwarps see and feel the Umbral pressure of
reality in a way no other Fera do, to which end they
have a clear distinction between the surface world of the
Skinlands, the subterranean Skinlands, and the various
realms hidden within the Umbra. The surface is referred
to as Overland, the domain of other Fera and mankind,
an area generally avoided by weremoles outside of
hunting for Sceatha. Underland refers to any area below
ground though still within the Skinlands, primarily
Burrows and the many miles of mundane passages
created to ease travel through it. Finally, Otherland
54 Moldwarps
refers to any region of the Umbra, from the Penumbra to
Malfeas (though it is typically used in the former sense).
Run’s End
None alive today truly know what Run’s End is.
Prevailing theories claim that it was the original heart
of the Wyrm before the Destroyer fell; some hold that it
is a section of Malfeas itself, separated and cleansed in
the name of Gaia; and others still state that it is the site
of a fourth member of the so-called Triat, gestating in
preparation to usurp the Wyrm, Weaver, and Wyld, and
create balance in one final act of cosmic assumption.
Regardless of the realm’s ancient origins or
true purpose, it is evidently a place of the Balance
Wyrm where death and decay occur, but peacefully
and purely. This peace, however, is maintained only
by the avid cleansing of its space by high-ranking
Moldwarps, making it a nigh-impenetrable refuge
of solemn deathliness suspended between zones of
total corruption. Only by travelling along the Run, or
traversing the turbulent dimensions held up by Run’s
End to eventually find a border between worlds, may
a being enter this place of pure, tranquil death. All is
not quite as it should be, of course, for vicious battles
constantly rage at the borders of Run’s End - borders
that lead directly to such benighted places as Malfeas,
the Atrocity Realm, and the Low Umbra.
The geography of Run’s End is reminiscent of an
ancient Mayan jungle, at the heart of which stands a
colossal obsidian temple to the Balance Wyrm, the
structure in which the Lord of the Run resides beside
his High Scrivein, Sanctus, and Thegn. This temple,
the Body of Death, plays host to any great debate waged
by high-Ranking Moldwarps, including each and every
Althing. Around the Body of Death stretches the Fungal
Forest, with mycelial growths a hundred metres tall
stretching as far as the eye can see, generating natural
luminescences of deep purple, dark red, and ochre
green.
From the unseen roof of the realm slowly descend
all manner of remains - of humans, animals, plants, and
even concepts, hopes, and dreams long forgotten - like
snowflakes, landing gently atop the fungal canopy to
be slowly digested. A fine film of red, brown, and green
covers the undergrowth, having seeped down from the
mushroom caps high above. Amongst these fungi are
found equally decomposed but animate carrion beasts
of all varieties lapping up the rotting fluids: insects,
corvids, and Consumer Worms as long and thick as oak
trunks winding amongst the mushroom stumps, soaking
in the decay.
 Despite its dire aspect, the fear of death for any
being present in the Fungal Forest is simply absent;
the fact that death comes for all is readily apparent,
but comes as a comfort. Though not part of the
Underworld proper, the Forest is a manifestation of
final rest. From the gentle dripping of corpse-fluid to the
slow undulation of the Consumer Worms, there is no
violation or undue destruction in this Forest, only the
equalising end of all things.
Indeed, all beings who enter Run’s End begin
decaying almost immediately; only those with some
form of supernatural regeneration, or whose protection
has been specifically petitioned for, may withstand it.
Equally, the Body of Death allows only full-blooded
Moldwarps to enter, with instant death and rapid
decomposition coming to all others.
The furthest edge of the Fungal Forest presents a
visitor with one of two sights - either a border onto a
tainted realm, meticulously maintained by a regiment of
hardened Wardens and Diggers, or the Obsidian Reach.
At the Obsidian Reach, young and old Moldwarps
alike dig to find something that they believe will bring
them renown and acclaim, with no actual promise
that anything lies beneath. The Obsidian Reach was
actually discovered by the Gazers of the Deep during
their very first visit. The Reach is infinitely high and
wide and consists of solid obsidian, which naturally is
almost unbreakable by Moldwarp standards. The stone
itself bears the scratch marks and gouges of generations
of claws trying to breach its shell. Beyond the stone’s
infinite blackness, it has been told, are beings swept
up in a storm mocking those who try to reach them,
lands of shining cyclopean architecture, and even the
resting bodies of mighty but unborn giants. Such claims
are overlooked by all but the Gazers, but this does not
prevent adventurers from ceaselessly trying to breach
this inky vault.
Burrows and Dens
For the most part, Moldwarps dwell in Underland
constructions called Burrows, the equivalent to a
Caern’s Bawn in the sense of a sacred and secure
physical space. The core of any Burrow is its Den, the
heart of Gnosis by which its Totem is sustained and
cleansing facilitated, which more closely matches the
true definition of a Caern. From this central hub lead
the Burrow’s range of Passages, lined with shrines to the
ancestors and totems, and a plethora of Tools to ensure
safe travel. The most sacred of these is the Passage which
opens onto the Run, the only method of entering Run’s
End or returning from there, though not all Burrows are
blessed with one.
Chapter Two: On the Nature of Moles
At the highest levels of a Burrow are the natural
subterranean routes leading to locations of interest in
both Overland and Underland. Kinfolk and Fera invited
into the Burrow are free to use the various subterranean
routes and even the less important Passages. Especially
innovative Moldwarps have been known to lay spirit-
stuff tracks for specially-built carts to travel, transporting
Moldwarps to where they are needed at even greater
speed. Experiments in Umbral trains and monorails
have so far failed due to the prohibitively high quantities
of Gnosis needed to run them and the suspicious nature
of many spirits towards such unconventional modes of
travel.
The Run
At their core, the branches of the Run are no
different from Passages and in turn Moon Bridges. This
said, the sheer Gnosis reserves needed to create a branch
of the Run means that generally only fifth- or sixth-Rank
Moldwarps may even attempt it. Due to its very nature,
it is impossible to simply enter Run’s End by accident or
through little effort, and thus any Passages which do lead
there are both highly prized and vehemently defended
and maintained. Generally speaking, all powerful Dens
have a branch of the Run connecting to them, while
minor Setts must prove their worth and responsibility
before their Burrow and its Den may be linked to the
Run. Other Fera are almost never given a chance to
enter the Run, with exclusions such as the fabled Great-
Grandfather of the Gurahl, who has been given leave
to hibernate within the Moldwarps’ vast but enclosed
Umbral domain.
Otherland is as important to Moldwarps as the
Umbra is to any other shapeshifters save the Nuwisha.
Weremoles see the barriers between worlds in quite
a literal sense, such that all travel between here and
there must be facilitated by clawing through the earth
itself whilst also ripping Otherland asunder, creating
Passages as they do. To Moldwarps, the idea of ‘stepping
sideways’ with the simple touch of a glistening pool
makes little sense; it is to cheat reality itself at best and
to wound the earth at worst. Many Setts have their own
world maps which clearly define the Passages which need
to be travelled in order to pass from Overland to the
Spirit Wilds, or straight onto the Run itself. As such,
Moldwarps do not use Moon Bridges to travel between
Caerns. Though still respecting her as the Mother’s
Sister, Luna has little role in their existence. Instead,
they use permanent Passages which provide access
through Otherland just as Moon Bridges do.
55

The Triat
Moldwarps know the Triat in much the same way
other Fera do, though their perspective deviates sharply
from most. They know that the Weaver corrupted the
Wyrm and forced it into a maddened state like her
own, and that only by rehabilitating the Wyrm from
this madness can the desired nature of the world be
restored. Despite this, Moldwarps still hold dearly to the
notion that they are yet in service to ‘their Wyrm’ - the
true Balance Wyrm. They strive to aid corrupted beings
and to bring any instance of Triatic madness back into
line with Gaia’s will, rather than destroy it out of hand,
wasting Her sacred work and losing out on potential
allies. Such a bold aim, however, makes them mistrusted
or hated by many.
it belongs, since each of the three may corrupt with
its influence. Changelings, creatures of dream made
manifest, are truly fallen to the Wyld and are easily
identified as Sceatha even by inexperienced Trackers,
even though many Fera would regard them favourably
as remnants (however twisted and reduced) of a better
time. Conversely, Ananasi are typically seen as subject
to the Weaver, the Wyrm, of a terrible marriage of
both, but the only ones who have known time in a
cleansing chamber are the truly fallen Antara and
those who have succumbed to Dronedom.
Moldwarps who sense anything other than a
moderately Gaian essence in something may declare
it Sceatha. From there, if the target is being reported
to a Sett, the specific Triat member responsible for
the target’s fall must be determined. Finally, the
target’s description and the severity of its fall must

Totems be defined. For example, a changeling would be

identified as a Wyld-touched human Sceatha, whereas
Moldwarps acknowledge a hierarchy of great spirits a fomor is Wyrm-fallen but still human (or possibly
to which they give service. First and foremost is Gaia, animal). Moldwarps always attempt to cleanse Sceatha
followed shortly by the Balance Wyrm, whom they still regardless of which member of the Triat has tainted
praise as their greatest guide, and finally there is Mole, them. Even if a Sceatha is destroyed as a result of
the Totem Incarna one who bore the first Moldwarp being cleansed, it is still returned to the natural cycle,
litter and risked herself to redeem what she could of the which it would not be if given destruction alone; an
Wyrm before it was totally lost. Mole does not give her exception to this is the Thing of Salvation, which
patronage to other Fera in any of her many faces; she achieves purification through the willing acceptance of
simply sends for the Earth Burrowers, a collection of death (see page 54).
54).
personae which act in her stead. To Mole, Moldwarps
are the one true Breed who can redeem the Wyrm, and
no other will do.
Other subterranean Totems such as Groundhog,
Meerkat, and even Worm provide support to Labours in
their efforts. Some Totems, however, will never be taken
by Moldwarps due to their particular appetites, such as
Owl, Snake, and Weasel. Mother Bear and Ursa Minor
still show weremoles favour from time to time, but their
Bans are often far more demanding than those placed
on the shoulders of their own.

Sceatha
The term ‘Sceatha’ is unique to Moldwarps
among the Fera, one derived from the Anglo-Saxon
with as broad meanings as ‘criminal’ and ‘wound’. It
stands as a catch-all term for tangible things subject to
the unbalanced Triat’s touch. A Sceatha may be any
individual or object corrupted by any of the Wyld,
Weaver, or Wyrm. Many beings which other Breeds
would not expect to fall into such a classification are
counted, and yet others that would be presumed to
be firmly within it are discounted entirely. Classifying
Sceatha begins with the specific Triatic force to which
56 Moldwarps
 Chapter Three:
Of Moles
and Men
I’m always beneath you, but nothing is beneath me!
—The Underminer, The Incredibles

The creation of a Moldwarp, as with any

shapeshifter, begins long before conception. The Tunnel
where a weremole hails from dictates greatly how his
Character Creation
life is shaped. He may live a life of bloody struggle more Below are the points that each Rank of Moldwarp
akin to Garou than most, among the Eastern Tunnel; is given to use during initial character creation, as
discussed in W20 from page 112. Note that Talpids
or he may be destined for the gentler but less settled life
above the Rank of Cliath must spend base Ability points
of a New Worlder, frequently rubbing shoulders with
on only permitted Abilities (see page 31)
31) equal to 13 in
humans and other Fera. From there, Breed - ultimately their Primary category, 9 in their Secondary category,
decided, naturally, by the weremole’s parents - goes on to and 5 in their Tertiary category. Pup and Cliath Talpids
decide fundamental aspects of his spirit and behaviour. may not use these points to purchase non-permitted
Finally, the Moldwarp is given his Warren by Mole Abilities at all. Freebie Point spending is unaffected.
to determine how best the young Pup might serve his
Sett. A weremole’s Warren may be as varied as their Rank
Tunnel; he might be taken in deep below ground, where
competition, exploration, and brutal strength are key, Pup
or barely step onto the Run at all before undergoing the Attributes:: 6/4/3
Attributes
First Change, binding him to the surface world. Abilities: 9/5/3 (may not raise any above 3 with
Abilities:
these points)
Backgrounds:: 3
Backgrounds
Gifts:: 0
Gifts
Willpower:: 4
Willpower
Chapter Three: Of Moles and Men 57
 Rage:: 0
Rage Rage:: According to Warren +3
Rage
Gnosis:: According to Breed
Gnosis Gnosis:: According to Breed +3
Gnosis
Freebie Points:
Points: 10 (may not spend on Gifts or Rage) Freebie Points:
Points: 30

Cliath Paragon
Attributes:: 7/5/3
Attributes Attributes:: 12/9/6
Attributes
Abilities: 13/9/5 (may not raise any above 3 with
Abilities: Abilities:: 25/17/13
Abilities
these points) Backgrounds:: 20
Backgrounds
Backgrounds:: 5
Backgrounds Gifts:: 12 (including starting Gift choices)
Gifts
Gifts:: 3 (from starting Gift choices)
Gifts Willpower:: 9
Willpower
Willpower:: 5
Willpower Rage:: According to Warren +4
Rage
Rage:: According to Warren
Rage Gnosis:: According to Breed +4
Gnosis
Gnosis:: According to Breed
Gnosis Freebie Points:
Points: 35

Breed
Freebie Points:
Points: 15

Fostern
Attributes:: 8/6/4
Attributes Homid
Abilities: 15/11/7 (may not raise any above 4 with
Abilities: Human-born Moldwarps have a subtle and delicate
these points) connection to the world’s natural cycles and greatly
lack Gnosis. Nonetheless, they are the most capable of
Backgrounds:: 8
Backgrounds representing Moldwarp interests in human society and
Gifts:: 5 (including starting Gift choices)
Gifts on the surface generally They also have particular Gifts
which do not come easily to the other Breeds, Gifts
Willpower:: 6
Willpower
which aid greatly in construction, tactical planning, and
Rage:: According to Warren +1
Rage social espionage.
Gnosis:: According to Breed +1
Gnosis Beginning Gnosis:
Gnosis: 1
Freebie Points:
Points: 20 Beginning Gifts:
Gifts: Apecraft’s Blessing, Escape Route,
Athro Making Do, Mole Paws, Worker’s Musk.

Attributes:: 9/7/5
Attributes Metis
Abilities: 18/13/9 (may not raise any above 4 with
Abilities: Suspended precariously between man and mole,
these points) Metis may draw on more Gnosis than their Homid
siblings, and often enjoy strange Gifts. Their roles are
Backgrounds:: 12
Backgrounds
usually best served in the main body of a Den, where
Gifts:: 7 (including starting Gift choices)
Gifts surface and subterranean concerns mingle. Metis wield
Willpower:: 7
Willpower Gifts designed to alter the world around them on a
physical level, spending their formative years raised in
Rage:: According to Warren +2
Rage
a Burrow leads them to helping out with maintenance
Gnosis:: According to Breed +2
Gnosis and domestic chores.
Freebie Points:
Points: 25 Beginning Gnosis:
Gnosis: 3

Elder Beginning Gifts:

Gifts: Create Element, Mineralist, Rat
Head, Soil Supper, What Lies Beneath.
Attributes:: 10/8/6
Attributes
Abilities:: 21/15/11
Abilities Talpid
Backgrounds:: 16
Backgrounds Those born of moles spend their lives burrowing
through Gaia, thus gaining an innately deep link to the
Gifts:: 9 (including starting Gift choices)
Gifts Great Mother. As suits their origins, the underground
Willpower:: 8
Willpower world is their natural and most familiar arena. Even
58 Moldwarps
before their Vision Crawl, mole-born Moldwarps find
themselves digging into Passages laid down by their Fera
siblings seemingly by accident.
Beginning Gnosis:
Gnosis: 5
Beginning Gifts:
Gifts: Mountain Out of a Molehill,
Shovelling Paws, Shroud, Substituted Senses, Taste of
Rotten Meat.
Warren
Tracker
The most pleasing face of Moldwarp culture is the
Tracker Warren. Unparalleled hunters by any other
name, the Trackers scour Overland in search of people,
objects, and beasts, touched by the Triat. A Burrow’s
Trackers are expected to be as skilled in social matters as
they are at stalking through thick underbrush or dimly-
lit car parks, and know subtle Gifts to aid them in these
duties.
Advantages:: +1 to Streetwise, Stealth, and Enigmas.
Advantages
Beginning Rage:
Rage: 3
Beginning Renown:
Renown: 3 points in any arrangement.
Beginning Gifts:
Gifts: Pliny’s Observation, Scent of
Running Water, Sense Primal Nature, Triatic Kinship,
Wyrm Spit.
Cleanser
Those of the Cleanser Warren strive to emulate the
motherly aspect of Gaia in all that they do. Calm and
considerate, their lot is to cure the fallen, correcting
their spiritual bearing and keeping them healthy during
their stay in the Den. Sadly, despite their caring natures,
Cleansers make for arguably the worst weremoles to act
as the face of a Sett while interacting with other Fera.
Speaking of tainted beings as patients needing treatment
wins few friends in the wider shapeshifter community,
and Cleansers find it difficult to adjust to the more
punitive mindset broadly shared by most Fera.
Advantages: +1 to Primal-Urge, Animal-Ken, and
Advantages:
Medicine.
Beginning Rage:
Rage: 1
Beginning Renown:
Renown: Innovation 3.
Beginning Gifts:
Gifts: Cleansing Balm, Mother’s Touch,
Spirit Speech, Summon Consumer Worm, The Straight
and Narrow.
Warden
The closest thing a Burrow has to a standing force of
warriors, Wardens are the least empathic of all Warrens.
Chapter Three: Of Moles and Men
Where Cleansers are the good cops, the Wardens are
their counterparts, expected to keep Sceatha in line
by any means necessary for them to be successfully
rehabilitated. They embody force, conviction, and
authority, and are granted Gifts which reflect such
qualities in order to contain and recover the corrupted.
Advantages:: +1 to Leadership, Etiquette, and
Advantages
Rituals.
Beginning Rage: 2
Beginning Renown: Ferocity 1, Innovation 1, and
Obligation 1.
Beginning Gifts:
Gifts: Burrow Guard, Enemy Ways, Give
them an Inch, Mercy, Stand Strong.
Architect
The further down through Otherland a weremole
digs during their Vision Crawl, the less familiar with
the surface he becomes, and so the Architects are born.
The Burrow itself is an Architects’ sole focus, such that
they care little for Sceatha or burying the dead. Instead,
devising and constructing unique cleansing chambers
and Passages makes members of this Warren tick. They
have analytical minds overlaid with boundless creativity,
all channelled through Gifts used to reshape Underland
and Otherland around them.
Advantages: +1 to Alertness, Crafts, and
Advantages:
Technology.
Beginning Rage:
Rage: 2
Beginning Renown:
Renown: Obligation 3.
Beginning Gifts:
Gifts: Conserve Resources, Integrity,
Intercom, Site Scouting, Stonesight.
Digger
Only a handful of Overland-dwellers are
unfortunate enough to witness a Moldwarp Digger
in the flesh. Powerful, fearless, and unrestrained by
concerns of subtlety, a Digger’s role is to expand the
Burrow as needed, discover new Dens to expand into,
and hunt the strange beings that dwell throughout the
lowest places of Underland and Otherland. Diggers
have a wide range of Gifts, granting them greater
sensory capacities, indomitable strength, and innate
orienteering.
Advantages:: +1 to Athletics, Survival, and Occult.
Advantages
Beginning Rage:
Rage: 4
Beginning Renown:
Renown: Ferocity 3.
Beginning Gifts:
Gifts: Balance, Cave Dweller, Helping
Hands, Root, Stony Ground.
59

Tunnel
Old World Tunnel
Old Worlders still hold it to be true that theirs is
the dominant and superior Tunnel, the true scions of
Mole whom all others should strive to emulate. This
is far from an unquestioned truth, and only remains
propagated by the Tunnel’s refusal to change, which
holds many Moldwarps back from their true potential.
The Old Worlds’ ways are tried and tested, however, a
number of their Gifts dating back to the first days,
Beginning Gifts:
Gifts: Call to Duty, Detectorist’s
Intuition, Fissure, The Secret Ingredient, Still of the
Grave.
New World Tunnel
The Tunnel of American weremoles are often
considered immature and naive by most, including
the Fera they have regular contact with, not only their
fellow Moldwarps. This common point of view is
made all the more evident by their Faults but despite
these limitations, their kind flourish where the old
often fall short. Their Gifts serve to ease and dispel
the social barriers and misunderstanding that obstruct
cooperation between both individuals and groups.
Beginning Gifts:
Gifts: Accurate Accounting, Brother’s
Scent, Micro-Movements, Mound Digger’s Protection,
Wanderer’s Boon.
Eastern Tunnel
The Eastern Tunnel is comprised of committed
soldiers, who seem to come from a bygone age when
the Triat could be best opposed through direct conflict.
Elders and more pacifistic members of the Tunnel
seek to reclaim their lost Passages, in order to someday
regain the Tunnel’s lost seat of power within Moldwarp
culture and remove it from the shadow of the Old and
New Worlders. Younger weremoles of the East take on
a brutal aspect similar to Garou, seeking out violence in
the hubris of youth. Naturally, their Gifts are centred
around combat and purification through force.
Beginning Gifts:
Gifts: Claustrophobic Clawing, Danger
Echoes, Martial Law, Non-Lethal, Spur Claws.
Galemy
To the untrained eye, a Galemy can easily pass for a
natural Moldwarp, but soon the truth worms its way to
the surface. Through supernatural senses, the Galemy
show themselves to be utterly fallen to the Wyld, though
they hide it well. Death has lost its natural grasp upon
the former Chamber, but it retains an aspect of its lost
60
progenitor Tunnel: an aquatic nature which binds its
members to the fast-flowing, everchanging rivers which
reflect their protean inner selves perfectly.
Beginning Gifts:
Gifts: Death Flowers, Desman’s
Endurance, Etheric Transplant, Visions of Run’s End,
Weightless Flesh.
Kruipmolle
As a fresh Tunnel, Kruipmolle have a battle on
their hands to prove their worth amongst the more
established ones. They have been conceived as the
new undertakers of Gaia, and their task is abundantly
clear: to inter the mass of the dead, so that new life may
flourish. Death shines out to the Kruipmolle as a flame
to a moth, ever-alluring to them, and yet it is a force
none may wield.
Beginning Gifts:
Gifts: Scent of the True Form, Spirit
Snare.
Itjaritjari
The Itjarijari would appear to be an experiment on
Mole’s part - a fresh Tunnel given a glimpse of power
with no strict guidelines or direction to follow, but an
apparently destructive purpose against other Fera. This
makes life inside the Tunnel more like being part of a
clandestine organisation, being fed cryptic information
at arm’s length. Without being taught what is right or
wrong by higher spiritual authorities, they are entrusted
to find the right path using their own judgement. They
are vicious fighters and seekers of personal truth, with
Gifts to match.
Beginning Gifts:
Gifts: Aura of Confidence, Crawling
Order.
The Buried
The Buried are Moldwarps who have followed the
Wyrm into madness rather than trying to draw it away
from that state, and it uses them as support troops in its
battle against reality. By manipulating the ebb and flow
of Umbral Pressure, it redirects the fallen weremoles to
locations of its choosing, possibly to act in concert with
other Wyrm servants, or merely out of its own caprice.
With the Tunnel’s fate being utterly in the Wyrm’s
hands, its duties are inverted. They take things of Gaia
and twist them into creatures of the Wyrm by use of a
Defilement Chamber, their specific targets usually being
other Fera, with the addition of the occasional Kami.
Beginning Gifts:
Gifts: Acid Talons, Bane Protector.
Moldwarps
Chamber
Gazers of the Deep
This Chamber’s Totem - Star-Nosed Mole - instils
its members with a starry-eyed longing to seek out all
that Gaia has to offer, regardless of their innate lack
of vision. The Gazers rarely settle in one place or keep
static Burrows, instead taking a nomadic approach to
their duty as they follow the song of the Wyrm’s soul in
and out of Otherland at will. They bring Sceatha into
custody as and when they are found, either keeping
them sedated and shackled until they can be handed
over to another Sett, or constructing mobile cleansing
chambers that perform the job within their chosen
mode of transport. Because of this behaviour, the
Gazers have been incorporated as the bounty hunters of
the Breed, with no sense of restraint or borders holding
them back in their quest to find their Wyrm. Their
unparalleled perceptive Gifts serve them well in this
regard, though their ultimate purpose is to uncover the
hidden location of the Wyrm’s pure soul.
Beginning Gifts:
Gifts: Echoed Message, Umbral Tether.
Investigators
The Investigators are a Tunnel bound by the
concessions of their Ancestors, yoked to the servitude
of ruling members of the Beast Courts in the hope of
eventually superseding their Breed and becoming an
equal force within the Courts. In exchange, they receive
protection and patronage in their efforts to discover
whatever means exist to return Moldwarps to their
lost place of importance in the world. Though rejected
as heretics by Mole, they receive Gifts of disguise and
discovery from other, more amenable spirits.
Beginning Gifts:
Gifts: Common Tools, Fatal Flaw.
Forms
Like all shapeshifters, Moldwarps can shift between
forms at will, though it is harder when they are too far
from natural soil. Because their Crinos forms do not
inflict the Delirium at its full strength - as they did not
take part in the Impergium or other offences against
humankind - weremoles have to use stealth tactics and
the environment around them while taking it. For
example, the Moleman form is usually only assumed
amongst disfigured or highly dishevelled people, such
as medical patients and homeless populations, while
Eulipotyphla form is only taken in deep forest areas
so that they have the chance of being passed off as a
cryptids or other species.
Chapter Three: Of Moles and Men
Homid
The human form of a Moldwarp is usually naturally
heavy, with excessive body hair and poor eyesight.
Their hands and feet are often disproportionately large
compared to their small stature and otherwise short
limbs, but for these physical shortfalls they make up
with greater levels of strength, health, smell, hearing,
and directional coordination. Moldwarps are known
everywhere that moles naturally live - Asia, Europe,
and North America - so they remain an ethnically
diverse Breed, though there remains a large minority of
Caucasians, owing to their spiritual heartland being in
Western Europe.
Features:: None.
Features
Moleman
The human body becomes much wider than
normal, and gains a pointed muzzle, whisker-like facial
hair, pointed fingertips ending in sharp claws, and
shrunken eyes. In this form, Moldwarps may terrify
most people who see them up close and are also
generally more wary, even resentful, of other beings’
presence. Moldwarps often fall back on this form
when they need to retrieve tainted beings from cities,
since it provides them increased physical and sensory
capabilities (ignoring sight, which worsens further)
than in homid, while not being as easily identified as
supernatural as other forms would be. In this form, they
might be overlooked from a distance or in darkness, but
approaching humans sorely risks damaging the Veil.
Features: The Moldwarp gains the Short-Sighted
Features:
Flaw but enjoys a -2 difficulty modifier to Stealth rolls in
crowded environments.
Crinos
This form raises the already stocky Moldwarp into
a large amalgamation of mole and human standing at 7
feet tall and over 80 stone in weight, a hunched monster
which could never exist in the natural order of the
surface world. Moldwarps in this form have long, lumpy,
and roughly conical heads, ending in twisted faces and
sightless eyes (though their enhanced mundane senses
and array of supernatural ones make near-blindness
irrelevant). Knife-like teeth protrude along the length
of their muzzles and shovelling claws grow from each
clubbed hand. Their thick fur - the colour of which
varies by Tunnel and region - provides warmth in Gaia’s
frozen reaches and added defence in battle.
Delirium:: Affects humans as though they have +2
Delirium
higher Willpower, to a maximum of 10.
61
 Features:: The Moldwarp gains the Short-Sighted
Features
Flaw but his bite and claw attacks deal aggravated
damage and he gains a +1 bonus to the damage of his
Talpid
In Talpid form, the Moldwarp appears to be a
claw attacks.
slightly larger version of her Tunnel’s related species.
Eulipotyphla Humans quickly notice a lack of wariness from
Moldwarps in this form, but easily pass them off as
This form is a colossal, primaeval mole around the
normal animals. Deceptively quick and perceptive,
size of a large boar. Its incredible stamina makes it the
perfect form to hunt for Wyrm-taint deep below the Talpid forms allow a Moldwarp to scout far more
ground and building work alike. It is the chosen form efficiently.
of the bulk of construction Labours, which create the Features:: The Moldwarp gains the Blind Flaw but
Features
cleansing, birthing, and social chambers by troughing enjoys a -2 difficulty modifier on Athletics rolls made
the earth with the Eulipotyphla’s immense, brutal claws. in tight spaces (such as when using the Rat Head Gift),
While this form is clearly an unusual beast, humans who
plus a -1 difficulty modifier to rolls made when using
witness it do not automatically assume a supernatural
his claws to dig.
explanation but rather seek out the strange ‘Monster
Mole’ for a few months before the story passes.
In a bold but currently successful tactic, Surface
Earls sometimes use this form as a diversion to spread
the impression that the area around the Burrow is the
habitat of a rare and elusive species of mole, and thus
cannot be developed upon or even intruded upon by Moleman Crinos Eulipotyphla Talpid
humans and then rely on well-placed Kinfolk to ensure Str +2 Str +3 Str +2 -
that these stipulations are kept current. Dex +3 Dex +1 Dex +1 Dex +2
Delirium:: Affects humans as though they have +3
Delirium Per +2 Per +1 Per +2 Per +2
Willpower higher, to a maximum of 10. Stam +1 Stam +3 Stam +2 -
Features:: The Moldwarp gains the Blind Flaw but
Features Man -2 Man -3 Man -3 Man -3
enjoys a -2 difficulty modifier on rolls made when using App -2 App 0 App 0 App 0
his claws to dig.

62 Moldwarps

Traits
Despite their origin as Wyrm-servants, the
stigma Moldwarps bear amongst other Fera for their
abandonment of the War of Rage, and the even greater
derision reserved for them by Garou out of their narrow-
minded view of the Wyrm, Moldwarps are Gaian to
the core. They possess the same inherent physical and
supernatural dimensions to them as other Fera do,
though some differ slightly due to their various dubious
allegiances and behavioural traits.
Frenzy
Moldwarps have the capacity to suffer both a violent
Frenzy and a Fox Frenzy in equal measure, though for
weremoles the risk of falling to Frenzy is far less likely
than that of their lupine cousins.
The Thrall of the Wyrm, however, takes on a greater
significance for the children of the Balance Wyrm,
motivating them to orchestrate debased mockeries of
their true purposes. Homids feel an insatiable urge to do
what humans do best - invent - but this involves making
rudimentary tools, clothes, and trinkets from the
remains of the unfortunates who get in their way. Metis
carefully dissect their victims, starting with a delicate
flaying, followed by the removal of soft organs, muscle
tissue, and finally the separation of the skeletal structure,
all laid before them in a mad but orderly design. Talpid
weremoles revolt against the inborn commandment to
bury the dead by digging through the bodies of the slain,
usually in breed form, launching viscera in all directions
and leaving nothing but molehills of piled gore in their
wake.
System:: Moldwarps require six successes on a Rage
System
roll to frenzy, and seven to succumb to the Thrall of
the Wyrm. The difficulty of a Moldwarp’s frenzy roll
is tied to the Umbral pressure he is currently under,
rather than the phase of the moon as with Garou, and
is likewise reduced by -1 if the Moldwarp’s Warren
corresponds with the current Umbral Pressure.
• Unland (over 1 mile above Earth’s surface or
below it underwater) - 10.
• Overland [Tracker] (Earth’s surface) - 9.
• Upper Underland [Cleanser] (up to 1 mile
beneath the surface) - 8.
• Middle Underland [Warden] (1-2 miles beneath
the surface, above Dens) - 7.
• Lower Underland [Architect] (2-3 miles beneath
the surface, at Den Level) - 6.
Chapter Three: Of Moles and Men
• Otherland [Digger] (3-4 miles beneath the
surface, beneath Dens) - 5.
• The Body of Death (Run’s End) - 4.
Weakness
One less obvious reason why many Fera believe that
Moldwarps are actually a Fallen Breed is their aversion
not to silver or even gold, but to obsidian. Shut away
from the twin lights of Overland at most times, they do
not serve Helios or Luna in any way besides granting
customary respect to Gaia’s siblings. On the other hand,
they do still serve the Balance Wyrm in all regards, and
this becomes clear in their weakness. Obsidian, as well
as other stones of total darkness such as jet and onyx,
weaken and harm Moldwarps just as silver would Garou
or gold Corax. Even pitch-black examples of other
minerals such as diamond and opal have been shown, in
pure quantities, to produce the exact same effect.
Additionally, when a Moldwarp wears such a
mineral and is thus cut off from Gnosis (in much
the same manner as a Garou wearing silver), she
also loses any essence of being Gaian. To those with
the appropriate senses, he possesses the bearing of a
Wyrmish thing, similar to that of an average Leech or
mortal particularly exposed to Wyrm taint (but certainly
not to the extent of a Bane or Black Spiral Dancer).
When a Moldwarp is harmed by these minerals, his aura
falls to that of a fully-tainted being until such damage is
healed.
System:: While a weremole is in contact with a
System
purely black mineral such as obsidian, his aura appears
to be Wyrm-touched, causing him to appear to Gifts
such as Sense Wyrm. While he is suffering damage
from such a mineral, or has worn something made of
it for longer than a lunar cycle, he is considered Wyrm
tainted until he takes measures to heal the damage
suffered or refrain from contact with the material. While
a Moldwarp is considered Wyrm tainted, he suffers the
Thrall of the Wyrm when he would normally succumb
to natural Frenzy and is prone to contact with the totem
Tommyknocker (see page 72).72).
Healing
Moldwarps heal the exact same way as Garou.
The only exception to this is that while a Moldwarp
resides within the Fungal Forest of Run’s End, they heal
aggravated damage as if it were Lethal Damage, whereas
other Fera do not.
63

Gnosis
Moldwarps have a range of methods of regaining
Gnosis, differing from the ways of other shapeshifters.
Meditation
Moldwarps may meditate in places of peaceful,
natural death, such as graveyards or Dens. Meditation in
places unconnected to their Wyrm’s legacy, such as car
parks or a Homid’s urban home, yields no Gnosis. To
align themselves with the Balance Wyrm, they follow the
same rules for meditation as given in W20
W20,, page 146.
Deliverance
The Breed’s solemn equivalent of the Garou’s
Sacred Hunt, performed by summoning and devouring
a Consumer Worm; this follows the same fundamental
process, again discussed on the same page as above.
Digging Downwards
Digging Downwards, a technique which even Pups
soon learn, is the process of tearing up Underland and
Otherland in one action so as to enter the Penumbra.
As Garou require a reflective surface to Step Sideways
and Ratkin must be totally alone, Moldwarps must
physically dig into natural Gain earth. Attempts to dig
through completely man-made environments - such
as ornate gardens, well-kept public parks, or sports
stadiums - thickens the skin between worlds, presenting
even greater challenges. By contrast, some describe
the feeling of Digging Downwards through an ancient
woodland as like slipping on an old, familiar glove.
System: The player rolls Primal-Urge while her
System:
character physically claws into the earth. If successful, he
quickly sinks beneath and into Otherland.
• Difficulty 7:
7: Ornate gardens, farmlands, canal
beds.
• Difficulty 9:
9: The bed of a potted plant in an
office building, the turf of a football stadium,
the cobbled stone of a subway system.
Extended Digging Rules
Naturally, the most important activity in a
weremole’s life is digging. For humans, digging by hand
is difficult, and impossible with many types of material,
whereas moles have evolved for that exact purpose but
have far less strength and endurance. For weremoles,
however, these contrasting limitations are eliminated
by the twinning of powerful claws with overwhelming
stamina.
System: To dig, the player must simply make an
extended Strength + Athletics roll with a variable
difficulty (see below). The successes of this roll are
then spent to achieve desired results, as per the chart
below. For each success spent in a category - distance,
width, stability, or the time taken - that category’s value
improves by one step, going down the chart.
Difficulties
• Difficulty 6:
6: Soil or sand
• Difficulty 7:
7: Clay or gravel
• Difficulty 8:
8: Sedimentary Rock
• Difficulty 9:
9: Metamorphic Rock
• Difficulty 10:
10: Igneous Rock
Modifiers
• Shovel (-1 to soil, sand, clay, or gravel
difficulties)

• Difficulty 3:
3: Ancient woodlands, vast deserts, • Sledgehammer or pickaxe (-1 to all types of rock
deep cavern systems difficulties)

• Difficulty 5:
5: Public parks, dilapidated sewer • Jackhammer (-2 to all types of rock difficulties)
systems, abandoned buildings.

Cost Distance Width Stability Time

Free 1 Foot ½ Feet Collapses after one Scene 1 hour
1 3 Feet 1 Foot Collapses after one day. 50 Minutes
2 9 Feet 3 Feet Permanent, Resists Strength 1 40 Minutes
3 18 Feet 5 Feet Permanent, Resists Strength 3 30 Minutes
4 30 fee 7 Feet Permanent, Resists Strength 6 20 Minutes
5 45 feet 9 Feet Permanent, Resists Strength 10 10 Minutes

64 Moldwarps
Renown
Moldwarps (not to mention Grandmother Mole
herself) hold scant regard for the Garou’s ideals of
Glory, Honour, and Wisdom, which they see as only
ever leading to personal aggrandisement and not the
true goal of all Fera - healing the Wyrm and saving
Gaia. Instead, they adhere to Ferocity, Innovation, and
Obligation. Ferocity is earned through fearless, decisive
action against minions of the corrupt Wyrm. Innovation
represents making effective steps towards objectives and
unconventional solutions to problems, both preferably
with a sense of subtlety. Obligation centres around
determined, diligent effort in service to one’s Sett and
Tunnel, to Mole, and to Gaia.
Ferocity
Ferocity demands that Moldwarps be strong,
resilient, and courageous. For all their preference for
reform over destruction, there are times when direct
conflict is necessary, and at those times there can be
no pause or commiseration. It is better than a dozen
Sceatha be lost than one of Mole’s own. Even outside of
these extremes, Ferocity is needed to lend Trackers and
Cleansers the drive to carry out their dangerous work.
Delving the deepest, most dangerous parts of the earth
in order to expand Dens and hunt the Wyrmspawn
found there is one way of gaining Ferocity, as is brazenly
infiltrating a Pentex facility to kidnap a yet-human
executive so that he might be brought back from the
brink.
Creed of Ferocity
• I shall be unflinching before corruption.
• I shall not hesitate to destroy when it is the only
choice.
• I shall continue until the task is done, or I am.
• I shall surrender nothing without a fight.
• I shall aid the Sett to the full, whenever it is
needed of me.
Ferocity Renown Awards
Sample Behaviour Award
Winning in combat, either formally or by 1 Showing personal initiative in successfully 1
utter dominance.
Resisting frenzy when it is not called for. 2 Seeing fault in or a favourable alternative 2
Creating a powerful Bane Fetish or 3 to a given instruction.
bringing formidable Sceatha to heel.
Removing a great blight from Gaia. 5 methods or traditions within a Burrow.
Chapter Three: Of Moles and Men
Returning from one of the Umbra’s most 7
dreaded places victorious.
Fleeing from an opponent in a Fox Frenzy. -1
Neglecting to handle a Sceatha out of fear -3
for one’s own safety or purity.
Willingly fleeing from a weaker opponent. -5
Innovation
Despite their dedication to duty, Moldwarps are as a
rule pragmatic over traditionalist, and value Innovation
as a means for finding whatever means work to their
end. Creative and effective methods of hunting and
capture often supply Innovation Renown. Trackers
satisfy this, for example, by knitting themselves into
human society, making strong connections with as
many mundane and supernatural parties as possible
in order to locate Sceatha. Diggers are more direct in
their hunting methods, scratching through the earth
until a breach into subterranean Pits can be found -
occasionally breaking into such places as the Atrocity
Realm, Abyss, or Malfeas by sheer accident - at which
point they dive in, using the element of surprise to drag
anything they can from the hellscape before it closes. Of
course, there must be somewhere to safely keep these
things, and construction efforts equally grant Innovation
Renown. Architects follow Diggers as they tear chasms
through the earth, from the chaos of which they carve
out, all manner of habitats, communal rooms, storage
areas, cleansing chambers are formed for other moles to
make use of.
Creed of Innovation
• I shall be judicious in my actions.
• I shall follow the most effective method, not the
highest.
• I shall not be misguided by convention.
• I shall keep the tradition alive, and encourage it
to grow.
• I shall serve the Grandmother as she requires,
not as elders demand.
Innovation Renown Awards
Sample Behaviour Award
completing a significant task.
Proposing or putting in place new rules, 3
65
 Creating a new Rite or powerful Fetish in 5 Shouldering a significant burden and even
the service of Mole.
Helping cleanse a Sceatha through a new 7 done.
method after many other ways have failed.
Sticking doggedly to rules and procedure -1
to the detriment of a plan or mission.
Imposing your opinions, preferences, or -3
standards upon others, regardless of their
circumstances.
Causing harm to a Den or the Run by -5
keeping to or reviving old ideals.
Obligation
While some - traditionalist Garou among them -
might argue that Obligation and Innovation cannot be
held as equally important, the Moldwarps unreservedly
disagree. To abandon duty for one’s own ideas is as
abhorrent as allowing tradition to stifle them, and they
see no contradiction in this; indeed, this paradigm has
allowed the Breed to survive where others have fallen.
Obligation forms the solid base from which Ferocity
and Innovation can spring. It is granted for seeing to
the regular, necessary tasks even if they win no personal
glory. Cleansing duties, wherein Moldwarps gradually
remove any influence of or connection to the corrupt
Wyrm - or any of the Triat - from Sceatha, often supply
Obligation Renown. Removing corpses from the surface
(which would otherwise decompose, rot, and spread
corruption) and giving them back to Gaia through
burial in soil is another, more commonplace means of
accruing it.
Creed of Obligation
• I shall show dedication in my deeds.
• I shall maintain a pure world.
• I shall protect the Run’s End and the true
Wyrm,
• I shall always see the wisdom in the words of my
ancestors.
• I shall bury the dead, and never burn them.
Obligation Renown Awards
Sample Behaviour Award
Regularly seeing to minor but necessary 1
tasks.
Going above the call of duty to achieve 2 sheer contrast between life in Underland to that of the
something meaningful.
66 Moldwarps
3
suffering harm to ensure something is
Interpreting the Sett’s needs before they 5
arise.
Performing a great duty at Mole’s direct 7
command.
Shirking one’s given responsibilities. -1
Abandoning one’s Labour or Sett. -3
Defying the Rules of the Run or another -5
commandment from Mole.
Rank
While Moldwarps do not decorate themselves
with a profundity of titles as do some Breeds, they
do have practical use for hierarchy and thus, Rank.
Advancement up the Ranks is rewarded more for
long-term diligence than occasions of great heroism
or cleverness, though tangible proofs of skill and
dedication are nonetheless required to mark the Rites of
Passage. For instance, a Cleanser who achieves little for
a year besides the impressive feat of restoring an entire
Pit to purity is certainly recognised and celebrated,
but stands less chance of advancement than one who
demonstrates the capacity to cleanse several lesser
Sceatha each month, then makes her mark with the
completion of a greater goal.
The structure of Ranks within a homid-dominated
Sett is no different to the management structure of a
large business, so much so that even Rites of Passage
are often referred to as ‘promotions’. Some Burrows go
so far as to have leaderboards, similar in principle to
Garou displaying fomori skulls on pikes to boast of their
prowess, though Moldwarps invest far more time and
effort creating displays of their performance. Superiors
set brisk challenges for potential promotees, occasionally
without their knowledge, to test not only their worth
of a higher Rank, but their ability to adapt and cope in
uncertain situations.
Pup
It is a rare eventuality that a fresh Moldwarp enters
the Run without anyone witnessing their Vision Crawl,
and as such Foremen and Earls alike are expected to
remain everready to provide a Pup with her Rite of
Passage. Challenges for Pups are often intensely stressful
in body and mind by human standards, yet no actual
risk or danger is ever truly present. Because of the
Overland, Homid Pups must be made ready for the
shift in lifestyle far faster than Gurahl Cubs or Bastet
Kits, while Metis and Talpids are held to the exact same
standard.
• Architect Challenges:
Challenges: Singlehandedly find and
repair a deliberately-placed fault in a cleansing
chamber.
• Cleanser Challenges:
Challenges: Safely dispose of a body
with no prior warning.
• Digger Challenges:
Challenges: Traverse utterly dark parts
of Underland alone and unaided, eventually
returning to the Den.
• Tracker Challenges:
Challenges: Locate a particular
individual or item in a large Overland space
such as a city district or area of woodland.
• Warden Challenges:
Challenges: Break up a staged fight
between a pair of Moldwarps.
Cliath
Once a Pup is officially acknowledged as a full
Moldwarp, following her Vision Crawl and first Rite
of Passage, she can be considered Cliath. The primary
occupation of Cliath is aiding high-ranking weremoles
in a variety of affairs relevant to her Warren, such
as maintaining the integrity of cleansing chambers,
learning signs of Sceatha in human society, or simply
performing hard labour hundreds of metres down
Underland.
• Architect Challenges:
Challenges: Aid in a reconstruction
of the Burrow.
• Cleanser Challenges:
Challenges: Create a batch of
purifying Tools.
• Digger Challenges:
Challenges: Dig a significant ‘distance’
through the Umbra.
• Tracker Challenges:
Challenges: Locate and study a Sceatha
alone.
• Warden Challenges:
Challenges: Restrain an escaping
Sceatha or recover a stolen one.
Fostern
It is here that Moldwarps take on major duties in
a Burrow, when they are already being groomed for
titles such as Foreman, Sanctus, Scrivein, or Thegn. A
Moldwarp of Fostern Rank still has a while to go before
she may reach such positions of authority, but has
nonetheless shown her quality in the eyes of the Sett
and Mole herself.
• Architect Challenges:
Challenges: Innovatively expand a
Burrow or create a new variety of chamber.
Chapter Three: Of Moles and Men
• Cleanser Challenges:
Challenges: Prepare a cleansing
chamber which surpasses its purpose.
• Digger Challenges:
Challenges: Defend the Den from deep-
dwelling Wyrm creatures.
• Tracker Challenges:
Challenges: Lure a significant Sceatha
from its territory to somewhere it may be
contained.
• Warden Challenges:
Challenges: Be able to account for
every Sceatha held in the Burrow.
Adren
Most Adren are either currently Foremen, or
previously have been but now serve in a more prestigious
Labour, or else are included among one Order or
another. Very minor Setts might have an Adren as an
Earl, but the challenges and pressures of this position
soon lead either to failure or ascension to Athro.
• Architect Challenges:
Challenges: Remodel a large section
of a Burrow, greatly improving its efficiency and
security.
• Cleanser Challenges:
Challenges: Fully but efficiently
cleanse a Sceatha, allowing it to be released or
repurposed in the shortest possible time.
• Digger Challenges:
Challenges: Lead the effort to clear
subterranean foes from a potential area of
expansion.
• Tracker Challenges:
Challenges: Identify the Sceatha
responsible for a range of seemingly
disconnected large scale acts.
• Warden Challenges:
Challenges: Safely escort a Sceatha to
the Burrow alone through perilous ground.
Athro
Only accomplished Moldwarps ever reach this
Rank, and invariably hold positions of seniority:
Earls, Foremen of premier Labours, renowned Sanctii,
Scriveins, and Thegns - even at times the leaders of
those Orders. By virtue of Rank alone, an Athro also
commands significant informal power outside her
specific remit, and may be entrusted with some of the
Breed’s most difficult work.
• Architect Challenges:
Challenges: Oversee constructing the
Burrow of a new Den.
• Cleanser Challenges:
Challenges: Cleanse a fallen Fera.
• Digger Challenges:
Challenges: Discover a new area of
Otherland.
• Tracker Challenges:
Challenges: Uncover a wider network
of multiple Sceatha, so that they might be
67
 individually targeted for cleansing.
• Warden Challenges:
Challenges: Quickly return a Burrow
of escaped Sceatha to their cleansing cells.
Elder
The truly honoured weremoles of Elder status are
almost always Earls of their respective Setts or in line
for that position, and often go on to become candidates
for Lord of the Run if they continue along the path of
leadership. The heads of the three Orders are almost
always Elders, except in the most difficult times, and
the Lord of the Run invariably so; if nothing else, the
challenges set to a prospective Lord would more than
fully entitle any Moldwarp to this Rank.
• Architect Challenges:
Challenges: Repair or improve a
Den’s connection to Run’s End.
• Cleanser Challenges:
Challenges: Purify a highly powerful
Bane.
• Digger Challenges:
Challenges: Seal a breach between Run’s
End and Malfeas.
• Tracker Challenges:
Challenges: Locate a Hive of Black
Spiral Dancers, a changeling Trod, or Weaverish
Web.
• Warden Challenges:
Challenges: Take charge in preventing
a major breakout of Sceatha.
Paragon
Only a pawful of Moldwarps have ever reached
the title of Paragon, weremoles whose names and
achievements are retold in legend. Paragons transcend
even the title of Lord of the Run, often holding the
position for a brief time only to move into yet grander
duties to Gaia in the worst and strangest corners of
reality, the likes of which common Moldwarps could
scarcely even dream of.
• Architect Challenges:
Challenges: Reconstruct the Run.
• Cleanser Challenges:
Challenges: Purify the uncleansable.
• Digger Challenges:
Challenges: Reclaim a Wyrmish realm of
Otherland.
• Tracker Challenges:
Challenges: Take a Maeljin Incarna into
custody.
• Warden Challenges:
Challenges: Bring peace to Fera kind.
Totems
Faces of Mole
Mole spans a spectrum of personalities, from the
curmudgeonly old woman who expects respect and
68 Moldwarps
order, to the young pup who wishes to see the world.
She does not show her true faces to other Fera, save for
a few right-minded Gurahl and, in times long past, some
Grondr; instead, she simply sends the Burrowers - a
collection of her brood-spirits - in her place.
Grandmother Mole
Background Cost:
Cost: 6
Grandmother Mole is the crone-like reflection of
Mole which portrays her hardened ideals, her stubborn
will, and her self-determinism. She is the least likely face
of Mole to be turned on other Fera, and even unlikely
to patronise other Tunnels aside from the Old Worlders,
seeing all others as simply unworthy of her wisdom.
Grandmother Mole still holds that cleaning the world
of death is the true course for Moldwarps, and only
inventive developments towards that end satisfy her.
She appears before her children as a child-sized bipedal
mole, adorned with spectacles, a darkened shall, and a
hand-carved walking stick.
Individual Trait:
Trait: Followers of Grandmother Mole
gain +2 Etiquette and +1 Leadership.
Labour Trait:
Trait: Other Labours must make a
Willpower roll (difficulty 8) in order to refuse requests or
commands issued by Grandmother Mole’s Labours.
Ban:: Disrespect of elders, authority, and orders
Ban
given in service to her and in turn Mole herself. Even
flagrant disrespect of Mole’s other faces runs the risk of
insulting Grandmother Mole.
Pul’-Laqu-Whu, the Mound Digger
Background Cost:
Cost: 5
Pul’-Laqu-Whu displays the nurturing motherly side
of Mole, loving her children as just that. Legends of the
Salish people - Moldwarp Kinfolk from the New World
- account how the Mound Digger was once married to
Coyote, her balanced compassion offsetting his wild
mischief. The marriage ended as Coyote’s laziness
and vanity led him to strike out at the Mound Digger,
ending their partnership and causing her to flee, while
staying close enough to watch over their children. She
makes sure her larder is stocked full, that her children
might never starve, and that her Burrows are eternally
warm and inviting for all to feel welcome.
Individual Trait - Children of the Mound Digger feel
her compassion in all things, gaining +2 Empathy.
Labour Trait:
Trait: Labours of Pul’-Laqu-Whu may roll
Intelligence + Empathy (difficulty 8) before collectively
playing host to any individual, in order to determine the
exact comforts needed to make that individual feel safe
and at home.
 Ban:: The mistreatment of any of a lower Rank - or
Ban
any weaker individual who seeks the weremole’s aid -
upsets Pul’-Laqu-Whu. Only by teaching the offended
party a Gift, Rite, or knowledge of great value to the
recipient may she be satisfied once again.
Desman
Background Cost:
Cost: 6
The children of Desman are not extinct, but have
fallen utterly to an unexpected foe in the Wyld, and in
turn, so has the totem. Before this, she was diligent
beyond compare, a face of Mole committed to the single
task of redeeming the Wyrm. That was an age ago, and
the forces of the Wyld have crept into Desman’s spirit,
changing her entirely beyond recognition. Her children
are expected never to stop short of any means in this
cause, including performing profane magics - both of
Fera making and otherwise - and suppressing the very
concept of death. She appears to those unfortunate
enough to bear witness to her as an amorphous entity
comprised of endless mammalian features, ever-
growing from within one another. Only those devoted
to Desman can perceive her words; to devotees of
Mole’s healthier faces, her words are merely screeched
incoherences.
Individual Trait:
Trait: Desman’s brood are given a
profane power; by spending 1 point of Gnosis and
having their target roll Stamina (difficulty 7), the child
may replace lost health levels with a Physical Flaw with
an equivalent cost to the amount of damage removed.
These Flaws may be healed as though they were amounts
of aggravated damage equal to their costs.
Labour Trait:
Trait: Weremoles in a Labour dedicated to
Desman may perform their profane rite on one another
collectively, in which case the recipient adds a number
of additional dice to their Stamina rating equal to the
number of Labourmates (to a maximum of +5). The
Foreman of the Labour always pays this Gnosis cost, or
the Moldwarp of the next highest Rank if the Foreman
is the recipient.
Ban:: Killing any individual or overlooking the
Ban
welfare of someone close to death.
Star-Nosed Mole
Background Cost:
Cost: 5
Once Coyote had struck out against his wife, Pul’-
Laqu-Whu, he left in search of food with their children,
the eldest of which was Star-Nosed Mole. The young
pup searched for worms for she and her siblings to eat in
the desolate winter months, while Coyote sat back and
sang Valiant war songs. She kept her siblings alive by
Chapter Three: Of Moles and Men
rooting out the fattest worms for their supper and thus
learned to survive alone. Following the Eruption, Gaia
approached this face of Mother Mole and gave her a
Chamber of her own, with the commandment to “teach
your children to find the Wyrm”. Star-Nosed Mole’s
naivety got the best of her, however; rather than hunting
Wyrm taint she thought the Wyrm was in fact physically
lost somewhere.
Star-Nosed Mole appears as a megalithic mole whose
nasal tendrils look more like a conflagration of writhing
tentacles than a natural sensory organ. She leads her
children on a wild hunt through every corner of the
world, hunting for something that may not even truly
exist - the lost Balance Wyrm.
Individual Trait:
Trait: Star-Nosed Mole’s children gain +1
to all Perception rolls.
Labour Trait:
Trait: By rolling Gnosis (difficulty 8) a child
of Star-Nosed Mole may share a single sensation with
a number of members of her Labour for each success
rolled, regardless of the physical distance between them.
Ban: The weremole may never ignore evidence of
Ban:
the Wyrm near him. If he detects Wyrmish presence or
activity in any form, it must be investigated to its fullest.
Shrew Mole
Background Cost:
Cost: 7
Shrew Mole was once the industrious face of
Mother Mole, the one to seek out new methods of
cleansing, the one to create allegiances to last, the one
to drive the Breed forward in their duty. This was
before the War of Rage when her children were proud
members of the Fera in a time where every Breed was
indebted to her brood. The War changed all of that;
the Totem and her children were disgraced, through
their actions the children of many Totems were left
undefended, and many Totem’s Caerns fell to Garou
predation or the assaults of the Wyrm.
The Shrew Mole of the modern-day is a warrior
figure, the only such Totem known to the Breed, for she
is determined to redeem her children in the eyes of all
Fera-kind and of Gaia Herself. Even though she more
commonly patronises her blood-children of the Eastern
Tunnel, it is not uncommon for Labours of Thegns
across the world to adopt her for spiritual support in
their many vicious battles. She appears as an oversized
Moldwarp in Crinos form, slicing her foes with long,
slender talons and a slim but lengthy fur-lined tail.
Individual Trait:
Trait: Shrew Mole’s children are fearless,
for they must brave anything the Wyrm can muster to
redeem her and the Breed’s honour. They gain a +2
difficulty modifier while rolling for Fox Frenzy.
69
 Labour Trait:
Trait: While together, Labours of Shrew
Mole use the highest Rage and Gnosis ratings between
them all for Frenzy-related rolls.
Ban:: Shrew Mole retains the level head from her
Ban
former state of being, and her children are above all
else still Moldwarps. Any weremole who harms a non-
Sceatha, except in self-defence or the defence of another,
is cut off from Shrew Mole’s gifts.
Golden Mole
Background Cost:
Cost: 4
Gaia elevated Golden Mole to her family along
with Marsupial Mole following the Second Collapse,
a spiritual promotion of great significance. In truth,
Golden Mole has been made a stand-in for Desman,
the great undertaker who has since fallen along with
her children. Golden Mole keeps herself busy and apart
from other spirits; she has been given a rare chance and
doesn’t deviate from making good on her end. She drags
the spiritual remains of creatures fallen in great hunts
to Runs End, to fall upon the fungal forests and back
into the cycle. She has no eyes (nor any sockets), a large
and extremely keen nose of darkest black, and a smooth
coat of fur shining with inner golden light. She can be
joyously diligent in her duty, or quietly introspective in
her communications with Moldwarps.
Individual Trait:
Trait: Dead bodies are half their natural
weight to children of Golden Mole, the average human
body weighing only 30 kilograms.
Labour Trait:
Trait: Golden Mole has been given great
responsibility, and she passes it on to Labours devoted
to her. Shared burial grounds of Golden Mole Labours
gradually become surface-level Caerns of the Balance
Wyrm.
The sense of the Balanced Wyrm is akin to the
soil of a damp forest, the cooling fur of a freshly-killed
rabbit, or the close silence following a violent storm. It is
palpable but unrecognisable to the supernatural senses
of all but Moldwarps and the most learned scholars of
the Wyrm’s pure state. Such Caerns gain additional
qualities based on how many corpses of sapient beings
have been ritually interred at the site.
1 Corpse - Moldwarps may meditate here to connect
with Mole and Gaia, though no noticeable effects come
about.
10 Corpses - Regardless of the location, plant life
begins to grow in the Caern’s Bawn.
100 Corpses - The burial ground becomes a true
Caern, the sense of the Balance Wyrm is plain for all
to experience. Even mortal spiritualists will feel the
70 Moldwarps
presence of ‘energy’ in this location for years to come.
1,000 Corpses - Plants grow and mature quickly,
taking half of their regular time to grow, while the soil
beneath fills with many fattened worms and maggots.
The scent of the Balance Wyrm may be scented for
nearly a thousand metres, though other Fera feel the
Gaian purity when inside the Bawn.
10,000 Corpses - Verdant growth comes quickly in
these Caerns and carrion creatures thrive, worms and
beetles grow fat while fungi sprouts across the floor like
cobble paving. Things of Deliverance may be performed
on Overland in these Caerns. The scent of the true
Wyrm can be smelt for up to a mile by supernatural
senses.
Ban: Golden Mole’s children must respectfully bury
Ban:
a sapient corpse every month, or an animal corpse every
week, lest she loses interest in them.
Marsupial Mole
Background Cost:
Cost: 6
Marsupial Mole had lived separated from any
Moldwarps for many ages before the Second Eruption
and his subsequent ascension to Grandmother Mole’s
brood. He is a dedicated digger and hunter who, having
lived in sandy climates where passages collapse in
moments, has learned to never look back. Likewise, his
children are led to take on such convictions in their own
lives, keeping the mission ahead squarely in their vision
- no matter how small it may be - and putting their all
into it.
Individual Trait:
Trait: Children of Marsupial Mole can
lower their body temperature, allowing them to survive
the glaring heat of a desert or rainforest without any
difficulty or dice pool penalties applied.
Labour Trait:
Trait: All Labours of Marsupial Mole gain
+2 to their Stamina, for they need all the help they
can get to survive the extremes of Australia and the
inevitable confrontations with the Mokolé.
Ban: Marsupial Mole expects his children to
Ban:
proceed like sure-aimed arrows towards their next
target. Double guessing or physically turning tail from
their chosen course, save in the face of certain death or
mortal injury, deeply disappoints Marsupial Mole.
Companions of Mole
There are many Totems who, while not actually
being an aspect of Mole, have seen her cause as just
and taken it upon themselves to serve her children as
part of her Brood. Such totems were once avatars of the
Balance Wyrm and have since assumed loyalty to Gaia,
these include the living embodiment of death from
human culture and the spirit protecting the worms who
consume all dead.
The Dead Man
Background Cost:
Cost: 6
Humanity has always proliferated its faiths with
death deities, from Baron Cimitière to Maasaw, from
Yama to Veles. The Dead Man is hard but lively; he
jokes and drinks, but his sense of humour bears a
distinctly morbid tone. To the Dead Man, death is but
another stage in life to be enjoyed just as a birth or
wedding is celebrated. He encourages his children to
explore the concept of death fearlessly, and seek solace
and even joy in its inevitability. The Dead Man chooses
who is deserving of his patronage carefully, but when
he does appear - dressed to impress in perfectly-tailored,
dark attire - he brings with him an icy chill and a dulling
of his surroundings, as all liveliness is drawn into him.
Individual Trait:
Trait: All children of The Dead Man
gain Deathsight, the ability to see when individuals are
close to death (equivalent to the Silent Strider Gift:
Visions of Duat; see W20 pages 191-192).
Labour Trait:
Trait: Any Rage roll made to defy death of
members of the Dead Man’s Labours gain a - 2 difficulty
modifier if the fellow Labour members provide the
promise of a sufficient sacrifice to the Totem (in his
opinion; he favours fine food, drink, and drugs). Failing
to make this sacrifice within the next lunar month
counts as breaking the Ban.
Ban:: Showing any fear of death loses the Dead
Ban
Man’s respect instantly. To regain his favour, something
far more death-defying than the cause of the original
slight must be undertaken.
The Precious Ones
Background Cost:
Cost: 6
Luna and Helios are not limited to blessing Gaia’s
children from on high, for as all Fera know their power
is channelled through the precious metals of silver and
gold, respectively. These metals play host to the avatars
of these two Celestines; when found buried deep
underground, they burn with the passion and rage felt
by their heavenly patrons.
The Precious Ones, the embodiments of these
metals as a gestalt Totem, are intense in their emotions,
quick to anger and quicker to rush to their children’s
protection when they need and deserve it. When The
Precious Ones manifest, they flow and swell like living
rivers of either silver or gold. Frequent crystalline
growths form and dissipate within the flow, taking
Chapter Three: Of Moles and Men
the shape of lumpen shards, processed ingots, and
masterfully worked items seemingly at random.
Individual Trait:
Trait: All followers of The Precious Ones
gain one free dot of Rage.
Labour Trait:
Trait: The Labour must choose either to
follow gold or silver. Gold means the Labour never
falls into complete darkness, for the glow of sunlight
illuminates their immediate surroundings when there
is no other Illumination to see well by. Silver means the
Labour may work for a week straight without requiring
sleep at any point.
Ban:: The Precious Ones demand loyalty and
Ban
devotion, not flippant disrespect, neglect; misuse. Their
children may never forge or own anything besides ornate
pieces of craftsmanship decorated with silver or gold;
sub-par work offends the avatars of Gaia’s siblings.
Earth
Background Cost:
Cost: 4
Gaia includes the physical planet itself and the many
biological cycles enacted upon it. Earth is but an aspect
of Her - the soil, sand, and clay which makes up terra
firma. Loving and gentle, she revels in nursing gentle
seeds to reach their true potential and gives safe haven
to the many creatures of the world.
Individual Trait - All rolls made to dig into or
through soil or similar substances gain a -1 difficulty
modifier as Earth makes way for her children’s passing.
Labour Trait:
Trait: Sodden, rocky, or loose earth is
never difficult going for Earth’s Labours, who never
suffer increased difficulty for rolls of Athletics or similar
Abilities while in these environments.
Ban:: To Earth, the idea of sleeping on an artificial
Ban
bed seems preposterous. She expects her children to lay
on or within a safe earthen bed each and every night.
The Moldwarp must either sleep in a Burrow, out in a
natural environment or even on a dirt pile in his human
dwelling.
Worm
Background Cost:
Cost: 5
Ever steadfast and devoted to its simple lot in the
world, Worm serves Gaia as one of the representatives
of the Balance Wyrm in her care. Worm consumes
the dead and converts them into nourishment for the
next generation to thrive on. He is pure, honest, and
performs his tasks with no expectation of reward or
honour.
It is Worm who allows the Thing of Deliverance
to take place; with his approval alone, Gnosis may be
71
gained from his Otherland servants. When he graces
his children with his presence, he is often mistaken for
a mere Consumer Worm, giving the would-be hunter a
nasty surprise as he wriggles unharmed from his spirit -
but leaving the sought-for Gnosis behind, for he is not a
jealous spirit.
Individual Trait:
Trait: If a child of Worm loses
an appendage, that limb or digit still functions
independently as it would normally. Additionally, the
limb will reattach if it is secured in place within the
same scene, and become entirely functional again by the
end of the scene.
Labour Trait:
Trait: No one recognises Worm’s efforts
in maintaining Gaia’s great work. He is all too often
overlooked and taken for granted, as are his children.
Labours of Worm gain -2 difficulty modifier to any
roll to pass unnoticed be it using Stealth, Subterfuge,
Etiquette, or any other appropriate Ability.
Ban:: Worm despises the cooking of food; a
Ban
seared steak or stewed apple is utterly repulsive to
him. Any food eaten by a child of Worm must be raw,
unprocessed, and untreated in any way.
Other Totems
At the Storyteller’s discretion, other Totems may
deign to provide patronage to Moldwarps, knowing that
they are still Gaian regardless of their ancestors’ past
failings. Generally, these would not be Totems of War,
as Moldwarps have a certain reticence towards combat,
and any trials involved in adopting the Totem should be
made far more gruelling than they would be for other
Breeds.
Tommyknocker
Background Cost:
Cost: 5
There is one Totem feared by Moldwarps as much
as it has been by the few mortals unfortunate enough
to have known its menace. Gaian weremoles know very
little about this Totem, some see it as a face of Mole
that has followed the Wyrm into madness, while others
believe it is an entity which simply takes advantage of
the weakness at the heart of all Moldwarps. It is not
even known if Tommyknocker was originally Gaian,
though many weremoles believe that rehabilitating
this great Wyrm Totem would cleanse the Breed of its
vulnerability to obsidian. While a Moldwarp is tainted
by contact with obsidian, Tommyknocker does his best
to lure him towards the Wyrm; at this point, it is often
already too late. The totem opens spiralling Passages
from wherever the weremole is through Otherworld,
ultimately ending at an entrance to the Labyrinth. He
72 Moldwarps
knocks from the other side, cries like a babe, or bays like
a dying animal to lure the Moldwarp in. If the weremole
travels too far, he is taken by Tommyknocker and enters
the Labyrinth, shedding his old Totem and taking him
anew and falling to the mad Wyrm in kind.
Tommyknocker creeps through caverns and tunnels
alike, lacking any true form, appearing as half-glimpsed
shadowy figures with no clear source, which draw
victims deeper beneath the ground and ever closer to
death. These creep along the walls of mine shafts as they
follow their victims, enjoying their pain until the very
end. This Totem has no true form, His Buried children
likewise lure careless innocents into travelling deep
underground quite unwittingly, eventually leading them
to their ultimate demise or, far worse, a mouth to the
Shattered Labyrinth.
Individual Trait: All followers of Tommyknocker
have the ability to inherently sense fractures in
cavernous structures that would lead to cave-ins with
incautious movement - or the right encouragement.
Labour Trait:
Trait: Branded with obsidian or one of
Tommyknocker’s other favoured minerals, his bastards
bear an indelible mark of allegiance to the Wyrm. Other
Wyrm followers recognise this inherently, and must
make a Willpower roll (difficulty 8) in order to initiate
violence or aggression.
Ban: While beneath the ground, Tommy’s Buried
must never help any other individual - not Labourmates,
not Black Spiral Dancers, and certainly not humans,
unless Tommy ordains it.
New Background -
Burrow
Few hold as much reverence and personal
connection to their Caerns as Moldwarps; the majority
of a Moldwarp’s time may well be spent in a Burrow,
with little exposure to Overland. A Burrow is a place
dedicated to the Balance Wyrm, Gaian tranquillity, and
Grandmother Mole herself. Each Burrow is occupied
by a group of Moldwarps known as a Sett, and if the
Burrow falls, so too does the Sett. Those kinfolk soon
to become Moldwarps more than likely spend time
inside a Burrow before their transformation; only a
small number of homids begin their Vision Crawls in
Overland.
The Burrow Background dictates how large, secure,
and well-connected the Burrow the character lives in can
potentially be.
* Ditch.
Ditch. This Burrow is small and unassuming,
possibly freshly dug or under reconstruction following
a breakout. There is no connection to the Run, no
more than a single Labour managing it, and only one
functioning cleansing chamber at most.
** Trench.
Trench. Though rarely recognised, the Burrow is
a respectable size, with two or three Labours and up to
five cleansing chambers. Trenches are looked down upon
by some Moldwarps, and do not possess a branch of the
Run, but are no less useful sites to Grandmother Mole’s
children.
*** Mound.
Mound. The majority of the world’s Burrows are
Mounds like this one. Around ten cleansing chambers
are found here, tended by three or four Labours, and
the Burrow can maintain a steady turnover of cleansed
Sceatha. Mounds are connected to the Run, but not by
as great a branch as more founded Burrows. Earls of
Mound-based Setts are often invited to Althings but are
equally as likely to be overlooked.
**** Ridge.
Ridge. Some Burrows outgrow the basic
structure and expand their capacity for cleansing. With
expert digging and architecture, this Burrow has grown
to accommodate at least five Labours working with
between fifteen and twenty cleansing chambers at a
time.
***** Peak.
Peak. You are part of one of the few major
Burrows, one with a strong and stable connection to the
Run. The Burrow may have more than twenty cleansing
chambers, and a contingent of as many as ten Labours at
any given time.
Galemy and the Pure-
Breed Background
Galemy do not have to take dots in the Pure
Breed Background, but the level at which they take the
Background determines how other Moldwarps view
them.
X - Gorgon.
Gorgon. You are utterly Wyld-tainted, as fallen
to it as any Gorgon, though you are not truly possessed
by a Wyldling. Weremoles and other Fera do not
acknowledge you as their own kind; only other Galemy,
the most far-gone Ratkin, and other Wyldish fanatics
may even associate with you.
* Tainted.
Tainted. You are scarcely a step away from being
totally corrupted by the Wyld. Though other Moldwarps
won’t try to cleanse you on sight, you are still not
allowed to enter other Burrows and especially not the
Run or Run’s End.
** Infected.
Infected. Some Burrows may allow you to enter
and interact with their Sett, but generally speaking,
Chapter Three: Of Moles and Men
Moldwarps the world over find you to be an insult to the
Breed.
*** Marked.
Marked. Other Burrows may put up with your
corruption, but you and your Sett are utterly rejected by
Run’s End.
**** Brushed.
Brushed. You have luckily avoided most of
the Wyld’s influence, bearing a minimal level of taint.
Therefore, you are allowed to enter any other Burrows
and even Run’s End under supervision.
***** Desman.
Desman. A throwback to the lost Desmana,
you are entirely pure and stable, with no Wyldish touch
at all beyond the natural. You do not suffer from the
Wyld Bearing Fault (see page 39),
39), but equally cannot
take any Gifts associated solely with the Galemy.
Merits and Flaws
Moldwarps may take any Merits or Flaws used by
other Fera - including Garou - so long as they make
thematic sense for the Breed to do so. They also possess
a small range all of their own which cover nuances of
their own, for better or worse.
Rejected by Fetishes
(3-pt Supernatural Flaw)
For some reason, you struggle to use Fetishes
without the worst outcome arising: the release of the
spirit powering it. Whenever you attempt to use a
Fetish, the spirit rears up within its material prison and
attempts an all-out break for freedom.
System:: The difficulty of all rolls made by spirits
System
within Fetishes used by yourself are lowered by -2 to a
minimum of 4.
Flouted Durance (4-pt Investigator
Social Flaw)
Investigators are forced to submit to servitude to
one Breed within the Beast Courts following their
Vision Crawl. You, however, have so flagrantly shirked
this duty that they have rejected you and any who
interact with you.
System:: You may not take Allies, Contacts, or
System
Mentors who are fellow Investigators. Additionally,
you suffer a -2 dice pool penalty to Social rolls when
interacting with members of your Tunnel.
Buried Kinfolk (3-pt Buried or 6-pt
General Physical Flaw)
By some strange defiance of Gaia’s will, you are one
of the wretched creatures spawned by members of the
Buried Tunnel. Because of this degraded existence and
73
constant exposure to ambient Wyrmish influence, your System:: For both point costs, your Breed Form
System
Breed Form has been corrupted, making it impossible is naturally either Moleman (if you are Homid) or
for you to seek safety with mankind or natural moles. Eulipotyphla (if you are Talpid), and you may not
assume your ordinary Breed form.
For 3 points, you are already part of a Buried
community prior to your Vision Crawl, making the
mutation less damaging to your social life and your
inclusion in that Tunnel unavoidable.
For 6 points, your Vision Crawl led you straight to
a Gaian Burrow. Because of your form defect, you are
doomed to a life of neglect and suspicion as a member
of a still Gain Tunnel and you cannot hide the fact that
your ancestors are Buried; only diligence and duty can
offer you a chance at equality.

74 Moldwarps
 Chapter Four:
Tools
of Mending
Moles have very keen hearing; even buried in the earth they can overhear
people talking, and will run away if they hear people talking about them.
— Pliny the Elder, Natural History

Gifts Breed Gifts

As with all Moldwarp conventions, the learning
of Gifts is often undertaken with great efficiency
and following strict guidelines. More often than not
a weremole or entire Labour is required to know
certain Gifts, and must request permission to learn
additional Gifts from their superiors, typically an
Earl. The appropriate spirits or Moldwarp teachers are
then brought in to provide formal education inside
a ‘teaching cavern’. The majority of Moldwarp Gifts
revolve around the earth, determining the nature and
severity of Triatic taint, travel through the various lands,
and fulfilling the purpose of one’s Warren and Tunnel.
Note: Any Gift which specifically targets corpses or
dead bodies also affects the undead - vampires, Kuei-jin,
Embodied wraiths, and Risen - in the same way. If such
a living dead creature is targeted, it may negate the Gift’s
effects with a successful Stamina roll (difficulty equal to
5 + the Moldwarp’s Rank).
In Moldwarp society, Breed holds little sway in
terms of the rights and responsibilities of an individual,
by contrast with many Garou tribes who see the power
of the wolf as superior to the Weaverishness of man
(or vice versa). Naturally, Talpid Gifts display their
inherent industriousness, Homid Gifts cultivate a sense
of belonging and strength below ground which would
otherwise be lacking, and Metis embodies the core of
what it is to be Moldwarp.
Homid Gifts
Despite being Moldwarp, Homids are at a handicap
beneath the ground; Talpids may be small and puny in
their Breed Forms, but their bodies are streamlined and
their senses honed for burrowing. With that in mind, it
is no surprise that Homid Gifts toughen the Moldwarp,
change themselves and their surroundings to better suit
their sheltered sensibilities, and bring to Underland
the innovation they have grown accustomed to above
ground.

Chapter Four: Means of Mending 75

 • Apecraft’s Blessing (Level One) - As the Garou
Homid Gift (see W20 page 152).
• Escape Route (Level One) - It is one
thing taking the shape of a small and flexible mole
underground, being able to fit through tight cracks and
low places, but Homids often find themselves with only
one entrance and one exit in their Passages. By focusing
his intuition, the Moldwarp feels a push towards a viable
exit he otherwise wouldn't have known. Cockroach or
rat spirits teach this Gift.
System: The Moldwarp spends one point of Rage
while underground. He suddenly feels a pull in a specific
direction which, after following it for a short time, will
lead him to a direct exit from his surroundings. The
route cannot be followed or even found again by the
Moldwarp, unless another instance of this Gift is used.
• Making Do (Level One) - Without this Gift,
Setts would struggle to supply their kinfolk with
protective equipment - work boots, high-visibility jackets,
or hard hats - in sufficient numbers for everyone to do
their part. Making Do allows a Moldwarp to provide
equipment of whatever specifications only to have it
resize and reshape to suit its recipient. Spirits of industry
teach this efficient Gift.
System: The Moldwarp must pass a piece of
equipment to another - usually Kinfolk, but potentially
weremole - and roll Wits + Crafts. The base difficulty is
6, used when adjusting equipment for small differences
in shape and size which would merely cause discomfort.
For each significant difference in size - from a short
height to a tall one, and/or from a slight frame to an
ample one - increase the difficulty by 1. When adjusting
equipment for different Moldwarp Forms, the difficulty
increases by 1 for each ‘step’ away the desired Form
is. For example, altering from Homid to Moleman
is difficulty 7, to Crinos is 8, and so on; adjusting
from a Crinos base is difficulty 7 for Moleman and
Eulipotyphla, and difficulty 8 for Homid and Talpid.
With a successful roll, the equipment fits perfectly until
it is taken off for any longer than an hour, at which
point it reverts to its original state.
• Mole Paws (Level One) - As the Bastet Homid
Gift: Cat Claws (see W20 Changing Breeds page 86).
• Worker's Musk (Level One) - As the Garou
Homid Gift: Smell of Man (see W20 page 153).
• Breach (Level Two) - As the Decorated Sun
Gift: Dragon Drill (see W20 Changing Breeds page
150).
• Panning for Gnosis (Level Two) - Subterranean
streams running through Dens erode Gnosis piece by
76 Moldwarps
piece from the rock forming the Moldwarp Caerns.
By plunging their paws into any stream headed away
from the location of a mountainside or cave mouth,
the weremole may scoop up Gnosis in physical form.
This substance, called Molestone, resembles smoky
quartz bathed in an effervescent haze. Despite its solid
appearance it is soft and malleable like clay, and is used
by Fera in many ways. Spirits in service to the Precious
Ones (see page 72) teach this Gift.
System: The Moldwarp places his claws in the
stream and rolls Gnosis (difficulty 8), retrieving one
Molestone for every two successes rolled. If the roll is
Botched, the stream's spirit rejects the weremole and will
never supply him with Molestones again. The same spot
can not be panned again until after the following full
cycle of the moon.
Molestones may be kept on a Fera's person to
draw temporary Gnosis from on a one-for-one basis.
Additionally, other Fera may craft Fetishes from
Molestones to permanently fuel them without using
spirits, requiring a number of Molestones equal to the
Fetish’s Gnosis rating; Moldwarps, however, may never
use them to construct Tools.
Dens, Caerns, Glades, Wallows, and similar earthly
manifestations of Gaia may be created using collections
of Molestones, combining and consecrating ten stones
per level of Caern's rating (see Caerns creation on W20
pages 310-311) and piling the stones into a menhir in
the centre of the area and performing the Rite of Caern
Creation.
• Tunnel-Talk (Level Two) - As the Homid Gift:
Speech of the World (see W20 page 154).
• Whack-a-Mole (Level Two) - Weremoles do not
fight to kill, but fighting is often unavoidable regardless,
and Gifts must be made to ease the process. Whack-
a-Mole lets a Moldwarp keep not only his stability in
combat but that of his Labourmates too. Each time a
weremole affected by this Gift would be knocked to the
ground, he simply rebounds back to his feet. Groundhog
or mole spirits teach this Gift.
System: The Moldwarp rolls Charisma + Brawl
(difficulty 7) before combat while spending a point
of Rage. A number of fellow weremoles equal to the
successes rolled may get back to their feet automatically,
without using an action, if they are knocked prone. The
Gift lasts for the remainder of the scene.
• Stifle the Creator (Level Three) - Though the
Wyld is a far weaker threat to Gaia than the Wyrm or
Weaver currently are, it is still out of balance and cannot
help but create dangerously tainted things. With this
Gift, a Moldwarp may stem the Wyld’s creative force by
permanently opening a small space within his spirit for
it to flow and absorb into himself, rather than continue
to flow out again. Gaian spider spirits teach this Gift
using their unique perspectives on the Weaver’s ways.
System: This Gift is permanent once Learned. It
is equivalent to the Metis Gift: Still the Consumer (see
page 78), but causes the Moldwarp to appear Wyldish
and affects Wyld-based powers.
• Ears of the Mole (Level Three) - As the Lupus
Gift: Eyes of the Cat (see W20 page 157).
• Made Like Clay (Level Three) - As the Garou
Homid Gift: Reshape Object (see W20 page 154).
• All Things Great and Small (Level Four) - As
the Garou Homid Gift: Body Shift (see W20 page 154).
• Spirit Ward (Level Four) - As the Garou Homid
Gift (see W20 page 155).
• The Sternness of Grandmother Mole (Level
Five) - Mole is a stern protector of her grandchildren;
she loves them, yes, but she cares for them more like
a headmistress than a doting grandmother. She finds
Homids the most appropriate Breed to exercise such
vigilant authority over Moles and encourage the more
respectable aspects of the Breed to shine through. An
avatar of Grandmother Mole herself, or one of her faces,
teaches this Gift.
System: The Moldwarp's voice becomes permanently
irresistible to other weremoles. Human and mole
Kinfolk must obey what he says unless it goes strongly
against the Rules of the Run, the ethos of their Tunnel,
Burrow, Labour, Hill, or other group. Other Moldwarps
must roll dice equal to their Rank at difficulty 6, plus
1 for each Rank below the user they are, to ignore the
Moldwarp’s instructions.
Metis Gifts
The propensity for Metis Gifts to manipulate form
and environment is not lost in Moldwarps by any means,
but even more present. Their Gifts adapt them to life
alongside both Talpids and Homids while also giving
them an upper paw over both Breeds through greater
control of the earth around them.
• Create Element (Level One) - As the Metis Gift
(see W20 page 155).
• Mineralist (Level One) - Metis of various
Warrens who are otherwise unoccupied are often put
to work by Architects to help clear Digger debris and
prepare areas of Underland for construction, and this
Gift is the reason why. With it, the weremole makes
himself more useful by sending exactly the minerals
required without having to examine them too intently.
Chapter Four: Means of Mending
An earth elemental teaches this Gift.
System: The Metis spends a point of Gnosis. With
a successful roll he can guess at the composition of any
mineral he lays his hands or paws on with a Perception
+ Science roll (difficulty 6). The weremole does not need
to have experienced the substance beforehand, and may,
for instance, determine the difference between diamond
and cubic zirconium as easily as between dirt and stone.
• Rat Head (Level One) - As the Metis Gift (see
W20 page 156).
• Soil Supper (Level One) - Though Moldwarps
usually accept Metis with open arms, this can't be taken
for granted. Some Burrows and Setts see the infertility
of Metis as a sign of the Wyrm’s influence, or at least a
weakness in terms of contributing to the Breed’s long-
term future. With this, Mole Metis have managed to
derive sustenance from the soil of their homes when
overlooked by their fellow kin or otherwise isolated from
food for short periods. A beetle or worm spirit teaches
this Gift.
System: In times of starvation, the weremole can
spend a point of Rage to force down enough rocks and
earth to fill his stomach. This is then digested as though
it were a nutritional meal and sustains him. The Gift
may not be used repeatedly without actual food between
uses.
• What Lies Beneath (Level One) - The
weremole is bestowed with the ability to defend the
many entrances to his Burrow, from sewage tunnels to
forgotten church catacombs, by instilling a deep fear of
Underland in human targets. A rattlesnake spirit teaches
this Gift.
System: The weremole must release a low growl
audible to the target, but can be in any form when
he does so. The player then makes an opposed roll of
Charisma + Primal-Urge against the highest Willpower
out of a number of humans who hear him up to his
permanent Rage (both at difficulty 6). This Gift can
be used on Kinfolk and other ‘supernatural’ humans,
but the difficulty increases by two. What Lies Beneath
lasts for one day per success, during which time affected
humans must roll Willpower to enter any Underland
environment. If the human does go underground, she
loses three dice from all Mental and Social dice pools.
• Burrow (Level Two) - As the Metis Gift (see
W20 page 156).
• Gas Leak (Level Two) - As the Bone Gnawers
Gift: Odious Aroma (see W20 page 175).
• Sense Obsidian (Level Two) - As the Metis
Gift: Sense Silver (see W20 page 156), except that the
77
weremole can sense the presence of Obsidian and other
blackened minerals in place of silver.
• Mantle (Level Two) - As the Get of Fenris Gift:
Troll Skin (see W20 page 181).
• Reverberation (Level Three) - As the Metis
Gift: Mental Speech (see W20 page 157).
• Strength of Gaia (Level Three) - As the Lupus
Gift (see W20 page 160).
• Still the Consumer (Level Three) - By sacrificing
a portion of the weremole's mind and spirit, this Gift
imparts upon the Wyrm a modicum of clarity in its
death throes. Moldwarps who take on this responsibility,
usually only the High Sanctus or those looking to claim
the position, are considered to be the highest inspiration
for all to bear witness to and protect with their lives.
Spirits of seeds, grains, and shoots impart this Gift.
System: This Gift is permanent once learned. The
Moldwarp takes on one incurable Derangement and
the essence of Wyrm taint, causing him to show up to
Sense Wyrm and similar Gifts and powers (though this
does not attract Tommyknocker). In exchange for this
martyrdom, the difficulty of performing any Wyrmish
powers or abilities by any Sceatha (such as Black Spiral
Dancer Gifts, Fomori powers, and Bane Charms) is
increased by +2 while in the Moldwarp's presence.
• Heart of the Mountain (Level Four) - As the
Get of Fenris Gift (see W20 page 181).
• Turn Away the Masses (Level Four) - After
finding Sceatha territory out in the open, Moldwarps are
faced with the difficult task of keeping the area isolated
and preventing others from accessing it, lest the taint
spread further and grow out of control. By placing a
field of Delirium over a tainted area, this Gift forces
humans not to enter it at all costs while the cleansing
commences. Skunk spirits teach this Gift.
System: The Moldwarp must sacrifice one
permanent point of Rage to impart his own Delirium
effects upon the land in question. Once this is done,
his Crinos form does not cause Delirium, but the
affected area does. Anything susceptible to Delirium
who perceived the land directly suffers the effects that
the weremole would otherwise cause in Crinos form.
The effect lasts for a number of weeks equal to his
permanent Rage rating, or until he allows it to end.
• Sisterhood of Mole (Level Five) - Grandmother
Mole, her many daughters, and her erstwhile son feel
that Metis are their purest descendants, the ones who
carry most of their divine essence. Because of this, the
Incarna gives those who learn this Gift her personal
protection when it is most needed. She always sends
78 Moldwarps
multiple Labours of Moldwarps to aid her child, but
what type of mole she sends varies. If the Metis needs
martial support, she may send Itjarijari or Eastern
Moldwarps to fight his enemies; if he is trapped or lost
she may send New or Old Worlders; and if he needs
assistance in his duty she may send Kruipmolle or, most
rarely, the remnants of the Desmana. When they arrive,
the swarm of moles industriously complete the task for
their ward with no delay. An avatar of any of Mole’s
faces can teach this Gift.
System: The player spends two points of Gnosis
and rolls Charisma + Rituals (difficulty 7). The greater
the number of successes, the more Labours appear.
Each summoned Moldwarp receives a vision from
Mole detailing what is required of them, and are
inherently motivated to meet that requirement. This
Gift automatically fails if used frivolously, but still costs
Gnosis, and even attempting to do so counts as breaking
the Ban of the Moldwarp’s Totem.
Talpid Gifts
Talpids, above the other Breeds, are one with the
earth. They are born in it, hunt through it, rest safely
in its heart, and ultimately become one with it when
their time comes. Digging, along with general activities
beneath the ground, are inherently easier for Talpids,
but through the use of their Gifts such activities become
trivial.
Note: Many of these Gifts involve the digging rules
given on page 64.
• Mountain Out of a Molehill (Level One) - Mole
spirits possess a Charm of their own whereby they may
instantly create small molehills to unbalance or even to
trap aggressors in their place. Talpid Moldwarps learned
this Charm without even giving it much thought, and
brought it to their efforts against Sceatha. Mole spirits
teach this Gift.
System: The weremole places his paws on the
earth and rolls his Rage (difficulty 7). A molehill bursts
up around a specific target within his reach, quickly
enveloping her in the freshly exhumed ground one
metre/three feet high and wide per success. To leave the
mound, the Sceatha must dig her way out.
• Shovelling Paws (Level One) - Some Moldwarps
become jealous of their cousins' digging capabilities, and
rather than spending precious time practising the art of
digging, they seek out this easy way to excel. With this
Gift, the weremole's paws become shovel-shaped, greatly
increasing his digging capabilities. A mole spirit teaches
this gift.
 System: The weremole rolls Dexterity + Primal-
Urge (difficulty 7) while near a diggable substance. If
successful, he may add a number of dice equal to the
successes rolled to the dice pools of his digging rolls for
the remainder of the scene.
• Shroud (Level One) - As the Uktena Gift (see
W20 page 197).
• Substituted Senses (Level One) - As the Lupus
Gift: Heightened Senses (see W20 page 158).
• Taste of Rotten Meat (Level One) - Being tied
with death, the weremole may force a target whom he
has touched in the last hour to emulate the vile stench
of rot. Carrion flies from miles around flock to her to
lay maggots on her skin and bathe in the sweet stench.
Carnivorous plant spirits teach this Gift.
System: The weremole rolls Gnosis (difficulty 6
for nearby targets, 7 for targets in other districts of a
city, 8 for targets in other cities, 9 for targets in nearby
countries, and 10 for targets anywhere on Overland). If
successful, the target begins to stink of rot like a mobile
carrion flower. This draws flies to the victim in great
numbers, and effectively reduces all social attributes to
0. The effect lasts for one hour for each success rolled.
• Agoraphobia (Level Two) - Many Talpids suffer
from agoraphobia due to their natural lot in life, making
exposure to the wide-open world a nerve-wracking
ordeal. With a bite, the Moldwarp may instil that fear -
whether he truly suffers from it or not - to a victim. It is
often used on Sceatha to better escort them down below.
A snail or hermit crab spirit teaches this Gift.
System: The Moldwarp must cause at least one
point of damage to his target with a bite and roll
Rage (difficulty equal to 5 + the victim's Stamina
rating) to impart the phobia. If successful, the victim
gains a Phobia Derangement of the open surface and
strives to seek enclosed safety, taking the quickest
route underground if convenient. This differs from
conventional agoraphobia in that a large underground
space, such as a grand chamber within a Burrow, does
not affect its sufferers.
• Delicate Furrows (Level Two) - Entering the
earth is easy for any weremole, but not discrete by any
means. With this Gift the Mole can cut through the
earth’s flesh and enter Underland completely silently,
vanishing from an area as quietly as a mouse. A mouse
spirit teaches this Gift.
System: This Gift is permanent once learnt. The
digging rules (given on page 64) gain the following
additional category to spend successes on:
Chapter Four: Means of Mending
Cost Discretion
Free Sound only travels for four metres dis-
tance before fading unless the digging is
observed.
1 Sound only travels for three metres dis-
tance before fading unless the digging is
observed.
2 Sound only travels for two metres dis-
tance before fading unless the digging is
observed.
3 Silent to all but a square metre/three foot
radius unless the digging is observed.
4 Silent to all but those who know the dig-
ging is happening.
5 Silent to even those who view the act.
• Name the Spirit (Level Two) - As the Lupus
Gift (see W20 page 159).
• Scamper (Level Two) - As the Rodens Gift (see
W20 Changing Breeds pages 187-188).
• Blind (Level Three) - As the Roko Gift (see
W20 Changing Breeds page 131).
• Constrict the Controller (Level Three) -
Scholars of the Weaver's efforts within Moldwarp society
have learned to confuse the great spirit, albeit at a severe
cost. By becoming a knot in the Weaver's great Web, the
weremole draws the power of stasis into his soul and
thus starves her servants of it. The spirit of magnets
teach this Gift.
System: This Gift is permanent once learned. It
is equivalent to Still the Consumer (see page 78), but
causes the Moldwarp to appear Weaverish and affects
Weaver-based powers.
• Silence the Weaver (Level Three) - As the
Lupus Gift (see W20 page 160).
• Collapse the Barrow (Level Four) - As the
White Howlers Gift (see Tribebook: White Howlers
page 66).
• Lawn Care Menace (Level Four) - The ornately
kept and rigidly organised presence of a suburban lawn
is often befallen by molehills, but not by accident, say
the Moldwarps; the humble builders of these mounds
are hitting back, in their small way, at the Weavers' work.
Emulating their little cousins' efforts, Moldwarps with
this Gift tear the Weaver's webs asunder whenever they
dig through lands dominated by her. Grasshopper and
locust spirits teach this Gift.
System: By digging up the earth in a Weaver-tainted
79
area, spending a point of Gnosis, and rolling Gnosis
(difficulty 6), a Moldwarp can reduce the difficulty of
rolls made to Dig Downwards in that area by -1 for one
day per success rolled. The action must leave behind
debris, destruction, and earthly depressions to work.
• Tunnels Beneath the Tides (Level Five) -
Learned Moldwarps develop keen claws for digging their
way to destinations in a fraction of the time it would
take to travel across Overland. The Moldwarp may pass
between great expanses through a well-dug Passage which
drifts effortlessly in and out of Otherland, leading him
to his destination, regardless of land or water barriers, in
days rather than months. Lugworm or sandworm spirits
teach this Gift.
System: By spending two points each of temporary
Gnosis and Rage, the weremole may dig a hundred
miles in as much time as it would take to dig through
a single one, and automatically enters the Near Umbra
when obstacles in the Skinlands would impede his
progress, changing back again seamlessly. He may appear
anywhere on Earth which he is reasonably certain about
the location of relative to his starting point.
Warren Gifts
Umbral Pressure moulds the very core of a
Moldwarp, inculcating talents and behavioural traits
appropriate to their Warren. Aligning with this
modulation of spirit, Gaia sees it fit to give her children
unique Gifts, not only to ease them into their new lives
but to push them towards true greatness.
Tracker Gifts
The only surface-bound Warren, and one
unsurprisingly weighted in favour of Homids, Trackers
require Gifts of wider spatial awareness, near-predatory
stalking, and higher thought to navigate the human-
dominated Overland in search of Sceatha.
• Pliny's Observation (Level One) - While in
Underland, a weremole with this Gift employs hyper-
focused hearing to eavesdrop on a single specific
conversation occurring on Overland with perfect clarity.
However, this stifles all other senses, reducing his senses
to one area. Ostrich spirits teach this Gift.
System: The Moldwarp rolls Perception + Stealth
(difficulty 7) while beneath his targets. If successful,
he may hear a single conversation occurring within a
number of metres/yards cubed upwards equal to his
permanent Gnosis rating, as though he were standing
next to the conversants. This Gift could allow a
weremole to hear a target speaking on the phone, but
not necessarily the response was given by the other
80 Moldwarps
speaker (depending on its volume).
• Scent of Running Water (Level One) - As the
Ragabash Gift (see W20 page 161).
• Sense Primal Nature (Level One) - As the
Garou Metis Gift: Sense Wyrm (see W20 page 156), save
that its difficulty is one higher and it can simultaneously
sense and discern emanations of the Weaver, Wyrm,
and Wyld.
• Triatic Kinship (Level One) - As the Hatar Gift:
Wyrmling Kinship (see W20 Changing Breeds page 66),
except that the Tracker may ingratiate himself to spirits
in service to any one of the Triat for each use of the
Gift.
• Wyrm Spit (Level One) - As moles travel
underground hunting earthworms, they bite their prey
in order to stun them with a unique paralytic in their
saliva, dragging them back to a unique larder built into
the small beast’s burrow. Moldwarps have emulated this
ability perfectly with a Gift that paralyses tainted beings,
allowing them to drag the Sceatha back to a Cleansing
Chamber. Worm spirits teach this Gift.
System: This Gift is permanent once learned.
Each time a weremole bites a creature tainted by one of
the Triat - discounting the undead - it must succeed a
Stamina roll (difficulty 5 + the Moldwarp’s Rank) or be
paralyzed until they successfully pass the roll, making
another roll every turn.
• Blissful Ignorance (Level Two) - As the
Ragabash Gift (see W20 page 161).
• Grating Maggots (Level Two) - As the Corax
Gift: Carrion's Call (see W20 Changing Breeds page
100).
• Pulse of the Prey (Level Two) - As the Ragabash
Gift (see W20 page 161).
• Sceatha’s Trail (Level Two) - As the Roko Gift:
Sense Imbalance (see W20 Changing Breeds page 131).
• Scent of Sight (Level Three) - As the Lupus Gift
(see W20 page 159).
• Burial Bed (Level Three) - As the Ursine Gift:
Shelter of the Earth (see W20 Changing Breeds page
116).
• Moles Sweet Serenade (Level Three) - As the
Shadow Lords Gift: Song of the Earth Mother (see W20
page 190).
• Barrowlands (Level Four) - Moldwarps are
ultimately Wyrmish beings; it is only by Gaia's grace that
the Breed managed to remain pure while their patron
fell into its pit of madness. As such, Trackers can still tap
this well of destruction to transform the appearance of
an area of land into a desolate deathscape, if only to lull
Wyrm-fallen creatures into a false sense of security. A
mist, fog, or cloud spirit teaches this Gift.
System: The Moldwarp must spend a point of
Gnosis per hundred cubic metres/three hundred cubic
feet of affected space and roll Manipulation + Primal-
Urge (difficulty 8). If successful, the environment
is blanketed in a guise of ruination, hiding the true
landscape from view. Rainforests appear to be empty,
barren deserts; vibrant cities transform into post-nuclear
warzones; and lush countryside resembles nothing more
than stinking, deathly marshes. This appearance lasts
for a number of nights equal to the number of successes
rolled, though it is only illusory; engaging with the
environment in any significant way lifts the disguise for
an individual, as does being informed of the illusion.
• Remember Our Wyrm (Level Four) -
Occasionally, the foolishness ruins efforts made to fulfil
the Moldwarps’ duty of hunting Sceatha. With this
powerful Gift, the weremole can impart the emotions
felt by Grandmother Mole herself into the Fera’s heart,
overwhelming any feelings of hate with pity and love.
Moldwarps may learn this Gift from Ancestor spirits.
System: The weremole rolls Charisma + Empathy
(difficulty 7) while addressing another Fera. He
must gain successes equal to her Rank to succeed. If
successful, the target must succeed a Willpower roll
(difficulty 8) to act aggressively towards, use offensive
Gifts against, or perform Rites upon a Wyrmish target;
should such a target initiate violence, these restrictions
are waived. The effects last for the remainder of the
scene but may be extended to the remainder of the day
at the cost of one point of Rage.
• Vision of Gaia (Level Five) - Eventually, the
greatest Trackers learn to see the world in black, white,
green, and grey, the presence of tainted Triatic energy
so clear to them that they may see it for miles around
without effort. An avatar of Helios teaches this Gift.
System: This Gift is permanent once learned. The
presence of any Triatic taint on an individual, place, or
object appears to the Tracker as though reaching down
from the sky as an appendage of the force itself. Wyldish
taint appears as green vines, ever-changing and writhing
with new growth; Weaverish taint attaches itself with
plaits of silk thread like marionette strings; Wyrmish
taint snakes its way down as a black and red tentacles
constricting its bearers.
Chapter Four: Means of Mending
Cleanser Gifts
Though Cleansers’ true dominion is over Rites,
particularly Cleansing Rites, they do know a great many
pacifistic and supportive Gifts to make sure their Sett
and their Sceatha are as well looked after as possible.
• Cleansing Balm (Level One) - The Cleanser
may keep his subjects alive even in the most trying
circumstances by gathering worms, grubs, beetles, and
other Wyrmish insects, and applying them to an open
wound. The cleaning is painful, and doesn't completely
close the wound, but ensures the Sceatha will live long
enough for cleansing to begin. Spirits of the grubs,
worms, and beetles who aid with this Gift also teach it.
System: The Cleanser rolls Wits + Medicine
(difficulty 6), healing one health level of lethal or
bashing damage suffered by the target, but without
removing wound penalties. At the end of the scene,
each penalty that was not also removed (such as with
Mother’s Touch) returns one level of lethal or bashing
damage, as appropriate to the original damage removed.
• Mother’s Touch (Level One) - As the Theurge
Gift (see W20 page 164).
• Spirit Speech (Level One) - As the Theurge Gift
(see W20 page 164).
• Summon Consumer Worm (Level One) - As
the Grondr Gift: Taint Eating (see W20 Changing
Breeds page 246), except that only a single snake-sized
Consumer Worm manifests and continues to devour the
source of corruption. The Worm undertakes no other
action than consuming the target of the Gift, at which
point it burrows back through Underland and into
Otherland. Rain spirits teach this Gift.
• The Straight and Narrow (Level One) -
Occasionally all a fallen being needs is a taste of true
Gaian purity to set them on the right path This Gift
provides this, granting temporary relief from their
Triatic urges. Plant spirits with deep constricting roots
teach this Gift, such as knotweed and ivy.
System: The player rolls Charisma + Empathy
(difficulty equal to the target's Willpower rating).
If successful, the Sceatha feels Gaia’s grace for the
remainder of the scene. This temporarily relieves any
Triat-related Derangements or physical ailments suffered
by the victim, and encourages a positive and open-
minded outlook which makes any rolls made to cleanse
them easier by 1.
• Command Spirit (Level Two) - As the Theurge
Gift (see W20 page 164).
• Rehab (Level Two) - By severing a Sceatha’s
81
ability to take in sources of non-Gaian essences, the
Cleanser comes once crucial step closer to purifying her
spirit. River and stream spirits teach this Gift.
System: The Moldwarp rolls Wits + Occult
(difficulty 7) while focusing on her target. For the
Sceatha to take on sources of tainted magical energy
(Triatic Gnosis, Blood Points, Glamour, etc.) they must
make a Willpower roll with more successes than the
Cleanser’s roll. If they fail, the power source is lost as
they take it into themselves; if they succeed, they may
gain it as normal. This power lasts for a number of days
equal to the Cleanser’s Rank.
• Resist Temptation (Level Two) - As the
Stargazers Gift (see W20 page 195).
• Scavenge (Level Two) - As the Midnight Gift (see
W20 Changing Breeds page 53).
• Cleansing Claws (Level Three) - As the Grondr
Gift: Cleansing Tusks (see W20 Changing Breeds page
246).
• Merciful Blow (Level Three) - As the Stargazers
Gift (see W20 page 196).
• Sense the Unnatural (Level Three) - As the
Lupus Gift (see W20 page 159).
• Detox (Level Four) - As the Grondr Gift: Taint
Evaporation (see W20 Changing Breeds page 247),
except that the spirit is not evaporated in of itself but
replaced by a highly weakened Gaian spirit comparative
to the cleansed spirit.
• Retreat (Level Four) - With this Gift, a Cleanser
may send a subject’s consciousness to the place they
most wish to be, interacting with the people they value
most. This hallucinatory world exists as a filter over
reality, so that they may be given instructions they would
otherwise refuse or have Rites performed on them, all
while believing that they are engaging in their idealised
fantasy. In this way, uncooperative Sceatha are made
into willing (if deceived) participants in their own
redemption. Sand spirits teach this Gift.
System: The weremole spends one point of Gnosis
and rolls Manipulation + Empathy (difficulty 6). The
target is then plunged into a world of her greatest
desires. Anything others say or do is perceived as a
reasonable event within the fantasy. For the Sceatha
to realise what is happening to her, she must roll
Perception + Enigmas (difficulty 8) and beat the number
of successes rolled by the Moldwarp. Once the illusion is
seen through, the Gift automatically ends.
• Aversion Therapy (Level Five) - As the Kojubat
Gift (see W20 Changing Breeds page 118).
82 Moldwarps
Warden Gifts
Since they are often called in to claim surface
Sceatha, Wardens have the same need for greater
forethought and self-preservation as Trackers do, though
their sociability and surreptitiousness are very much
absent. Wardens’ Gifts help them to be thorough and
convicted in their duty to protect both Sceatha and the
Burrow which houses them.
• Burrow Guard (Level One) - Talpid kinfolk
loyalty is usually absolute, for they see weremoles as
their superiors, protectors, and surest allies; many live in
Moldwarp Burrows for their entire lives. Wardens make
the most of this close relationship through this Gift,
allowing them to keep watch over Sceatha and any Tools
of value by seeing through their primal siblings’ eyes.
Dog spirits teach this Gift.
System: The Moldwarp rolls Perception + Empathy
or Animal Ken (difficulty 7, for human and mole
kinfolk, respectively) For each success, he may use the
senses of one of his Tunnel’s kinfolk within the same
Burrow; only one may be seen through (and heard, and
so on) at once, though the Moldwarp may cycle through
them at will. This power is active until he returns his
senses to his own body or receives damage, before which
he does not sense anything personally.
• Enemy Ways (Level One) - As the Corax Gift
(see W20 Changing Breeds page 99).
• Give them an Inch (Level One) - Weremole
Wardens must be on an ever-vigilant guard against
Sceatha attempting to escape a Burrow. With great
focus, the Moldwarp can utilize his Rage to the best of
his abilities to speed reactions and heighten his power,
overcoming any prisoner outbreak. Viper and tarantula
spirits teach this Gift.
System: Rather than spending one point of Rage
per point of a Physical attribute, the Moldwarp may
roll Rage to determine how much of an increase he
gains while still only spending one point. The number
of successes rolled at difficulty 8 may be added to the
attribute of his choice. This roll may only be made once
per scene, after which he boosts as normal, and as with
any Rage roll can cause the Moldwarp to enter frenzy or
Thrall of the Wyrm if he gets enough successes.
• Mercy (Level One) - As the Children of Gaia
Gift (see W20 page 177).
• Stand Strong (Level One) - To resist the pleas
of incarcerated Sceatha can be hard for young Wardens,
and there is always the chance of one being seduced by
their pleas for clemency. One way of overcoming such
emotional weakness is this temporarily heart-hardening
Gift. Spirits of rock and stone teach this Gift.
System: When called upon to roll to resist another’s
Social Attribute roll, the Moldwarp may choose to
spend one point of temporary Rage and suspend his roll
for the remainder of the scene. In the next scene the
roll must be made as normal, with the usual results for
failure (though it is likely that, circumstantially, it no
longer has the intended effect).
• Compel Truth (Level Two) - As the Rishi Gift
(see W20 Changing Breeds page 118).
• Non-disclosure (Level Two) - Words and ideas
make up the bulk of the corruptive ammunition of
many Sceatha. This Gift exists to remove their ability to
infect the minds of others with their manipulations. Bat
and dolphin spirits teach this Gift.
System: The Moldwarp meets the gaze of his victim
and makes an opposed Willpower roll (difficulty 7).
If the Moldwarp is successful, his victim is rendered
speechless (including telepathic speech) for a number of
nights equal to the greater number of successes rolled by
the weremole. If his target botches the roll, this becomes
weeks rather than nights. If the Moldwarp botches, he is
the one left unable to speak for the same duration.
• Kneel (Level Two) - As the Black Furies Gift
(see W20 page 173).
• Loyal Defender (Level Two) - As the Ahroun
Gift (see Changing Ways page 155).
• Rally the Troops (Level Three) - As the Garou
Homid Gift (see Changing Ways page 150).
• The Best Policy (Level Three) - Inmates must
learn quickly that resistance is futile before Cleansing
can be efficiently applied. This Gift causes the target
to lose her strength of will with each outright lie, and
regain it with each truth told whilst under no other
duress. Sheep spirits teach this Gift.
System: The Moldwarp must inform his target
that she is hereby sworn on the authority of Gaia to
speak only truth, and roll Charisma + Expression. For a
number of days equal to the successes rolled, the target
may not tell a lie. Each time the Sceatha lies, she loses
one Willpower point whereas each time she tells a direct
truth - though not if under duress or coercion - she
gains one (up to her maximum permanent rating).
• House Arrest (Level Three) - Sometimes
Sceatha do not respond well to restraint or the
ministrations of Cleansers, and must be broken before
they can be fixed again. This Gift psychologically traps
another within a specific room or similar confine,
making it difficult for her to resist. The spirits of large
caves and caverns may teach this Gift.
Chapter Four: Means of Mending 83
 System: The Moldwarp spends a point of Gnosis
while throwing his victim into a single holding chamber,
warning the Sceatha that it cannot leave and rolling
Manipulation + Intimidation (difficulty equal to the
Sceatha's permanent Willpower, minimum 3). Any
attempt to leave the room by the victim requires a
successful Willpower roll (difficulty 5, plus the number
of successes rolled by the Moldwarp, to a maximum
of 10) until the Sceatha manages to leave the place or
is taken from it. Failure results in a fox frenzy, with
the victim fleeing from the exit back into its place of
confinement, and no roll can be made again for 24
hours.
• Spirit Drain (Level Four) - As the Theurge Gift
(see W20 page 165).
• Tunnel Vision (Level Four) - As the Silver Fangs
Gift: Mindblock (see W20 page 194).
• Manifestation of Kalma (Level Five) - Crinos is
not the highest form a Warden can hope to adopt, for
he may seek to emulate a long-forgotten face of mother
Mole: Kalma. This lost Totem drifts back and forth from
the underworld on clouds of rotten vapour, claiming
the lost lives of humanity. Taking on Kalma’s essence,
the weremole’s claws lengthen and sharpen to resemble
reaping scythes, while he grows to nearly ten feet tall and
loses all his body hair. The avatar incarnate is capable
of sending the soul of any being straight to Run’s End.
This act is a dire one with solemn consequences.
A weremole typically enacts this Gift before entering
a Black Spiral Hive or vampire group, where the nuclear
option is the only way; it stands to reason that it is
better to slaughter Sceatha in a balanced manner than
under the wild mindset of Garou. The embodiment
of Kalma travels surrounded by a thick green cloud
of death, choking those around it. Hazy images of the
Body of Death appear to all those who gaze upon it.
Kalma teaches this Gift, she exists deep in humanity's
underworld fighting corruption most moles will never
have the misfortune to see.
System: The Moldwarp spends two points each of
Gnosis and Rage while in a Den or Run’s End to stir
the deceased aspect of Mole, then rolls Rage (difficulty
7) to bring her into his spirit. He immediately enters
a hulking, ten-foot-tall version of his Crinos form. He
becomes completely hairless, with long, thin arms, and
scythe-like claws as long as the average human is tall.
The weremole loses the ability to enter fox frenzy and
does not suffer damage dice pool penalties, while his
attacks deal +2 aggravated damage and his body releases
a continuous toxic haze. The haze deals one level of
soakable lethal damage to everything breathing it in,
84 Moldwarps
including other Moldwarps. The power ends when the
killing stops; the body of anything slain by users of this
Gift appears instantly in the fungal forests of Run’s End
to further rot and rejoin Gaia.
Architect Gifts
Analytical and industrious, occasionally to the point
of Weaverish creations, Architects pledge themselves to
developing their Dens. They employ Gifts of technical
design, effective construction, and structural control.
• Conserve Resources (Level One) - When aiding
in the construction of a new chamber, an Architect’s
speed and efficiency are key. He may enlist this Gift to
better make use of the materials he has at his disposal.
The spirit of fossil fuels teach this Gift.
System: The Moldwarp spends one point
of Willpower while either aiding in or leading a
construction effort underground. All materials needed
for its construction are halved.
• Integrity (Level One) - This Gift allows the
Moldwarp to shore up the structural integrity of a
structure at a touch, preventing it from collapsing
without mundane maintenance. Earth, sand, and soil
spirits teach this Gift.
System: The Moldwarp rolls Dexterity + Technology
(difficulty 7) while adjusting the structure’s weak points.
For each success, the structure gains one soak dice and
does not require any maintenance against wear and tear
for an equal number of months.
• Intercom (Level One) - As the Corax Gift:
Morse (see W20 Changing Breeds page 99), except
that the Moldwarp may tap out his message inside the
Burrow and have the nearest Moldwarp in his Burrow
(or an adjoining Passage) hears the message. By spending
one point of Gnosis, all Moldwarps in his Burrow and
its Passages hear his message. Squirrel spirits teach this
Gift.
• Site Scouting (Level One) - Planning is the most
crucial stage of architecture. By analysing the raw earth
and stone left behind by a Digger, the Architect may
determine the best structure to place in that location.
The spirits of many nest building birds teach this Gift.
System: When presented with an area of fresh
excavation, the weremole rolls Intelligence + Science
(difficulty 6). If successful, he can intuitively determine
what sort of chamber would be most suitable and
effective there. When building the appropriate chamber,
build time is halved. See Craft Chamber for information
on types of chambers.
• Stonesight (Level One) - As the Kojubat Gift
(see W20 Changing Breeds page 117).
• Climate Control (Level Two) - As the Gurahl
homid Gift (see W20 Changing Breeds page 116).
• Gnostic Engine (Level Two) - Particularly
industrious Architects have learned how to blend the
purified works of the Weaver with Gaian forces to bring
such mechanisms into Otherland, unaffected by its
sometimes hostile response to earthly technology. The
Moldwarp connects with the post-organic substance
fuelling the machine - coal, oil, or gas - and infuses it
with Gnosis to stimulate its former lively nature. The
spirit of fossil fuels teach this Gift.
System: The weremole spends one point of Gnosis
while touching the desired machine, which must be
stocked with appropriate fuel. The machine may then
be transported into the Umbra unaffected and work as
efficiently as it ever would do in the Skinlands, so long
as it works off of the Gnostic fuel.
• Down the Mole Hole (Level Two) - An entrance
or Passage into a Burrow grows or shrinks to safely and
(somewhat) comfortably accommodate an individual to
enter it, from a tiny infant mole to a hulking Crinos-
form Gurahl. Rabbit spirits teach this Gift.
System: At the entrance of the Burrow, the
Moldwarp rolls Gnosis (difficulty 6 for changes up to
ten centimetres/one inch, 7 for up to one metre/three
feet, 8 for changes up to five metres/fifteen feet, and 9
for changes up to ten metres/thirty feet. If successful the
Passage into the central Burrow alters to allow the target
to effortlessly pass into it, without risk of slipping or
getting stuck. The change remains until the scene ends
or the Architect chooses to reverse it.
• Furrow (Level Two) - As the Grondr Gift (see
W20 Changing Breeds page 246).
• Call Earth Spirit (Level Three) - As the Croatan
Gift (see W20 page 395).
• Create Chamber (Level Three) - The core focus
of the Architect Warren is to continually expand and
upgrade Burrows. This Gift is crucial to this purpose,
for it reduces what would otherwise take many weeks or
more of labour into a matter of days. Termite, mole, and
bee spirits teach this Gift.
System: By spending a point of Gnosis and rolling
Dexterity + Crafts (difficulty 8), the Moldwarp may
make any of the following chambers. Multiple Architects
who know this Gift may use it in concert as per the
normal rules for teamwork on page 239 of W20, with
different types of chamber requiring different numbers
of successes, times to build, and required resources.
The most commonly created types are given below in
Chapter Four: Means of Mending
their ‘standard’ forms; for larger or smaller chambers,
the Storyteller may reduce or increase these figures as
desired.
Corridor (2 Successes): A simple tunnel of earth
between two chambers or which provides access to
Overland. A corridor takes one day and half a tonne of
earth to form.
Burial Chamber (3 Successes): A large
honeycombed room with holes covering the floor, in
which bodies are buried for roots hanging from the
ceiling to consume for nutrients. These chambers are
very frequent but temporary constructions which fill
quickly and are closed up soon afterwards. This cycling
of rooms leads a Burrow to constantly move and expand,
the same spots reserved for reuse as burial chambers
every few years. A burial chamber takes two days and
one tonne of earth to create.
Living Chamber (4 Successes): A swollen, spherical
chamber with outcropped bunks, workstations, and
platforms for sleeping and recreational activities. A
living chamber takes three days and one tonne of earth
to create.
Teaching Chamber (5 successes): An expansive,
hallowed room for the teaching of Gifts and Rites.
The chamber is adorned with countless shrines and
devotional frescoes to channel any number of spirits.
A teaching chamber takes one week and two tonnes of
earth to create.
Ceremonial Chamber (6 successes): Most Rites and
Things take place in a sanctified ceremonial chamber,
created to reflect the Body of Death itself, with shafts
leading straight into the Burrow’s Den. A ceremonial
chamber takes one week and three tonnes of earth to
create.
Cleansing Chamber (7 successes): The cleansing
chamber is a place wherein Sceatha are brought back to
Gaia's grace. Cleansing chambers take four days, one
tonne of earth, and one mole spirit to create, though
they remain powerless without the required Rite; see
page 106.
• Burrow Shuffle (Level Three) - Jailbreaks are
a truly terrifying concept for Moldwarps living in a
Sett. Sceatha running amok through a Burrow can
spell the end to that Sett's mission and the deaths
of many unsuspecting weremoles and kinfolk alike.
Architects take it upon themselves to defend the
structure of a Burrow, and never more so than with
this Gift. Following a moment of deep contemplation,
the Moldwarp may seemingly rearrange the layout of
Burrow’s chambers and Passages for specific individuals,
cutting off escape routes and redirecting opponents into
85
waiting Wardens and Thegns. Beaver and termite spirits
teach this Gift.
System: The Moldwarp must spend one point of
Rage while remaining inactive and making a Wits +
Primal-Urge roll (difficulty 8). For each success, he may
lead one individual astray through the Burrow, forcing
her to back track, enter rooms she does not intend, and
take lengthy routes which lead only to dead ends. This
Gift remains active for one scene, and cannot be used
again until the next one.
• Dark of the Tunnel (Level Four) - As the
Hakken Gift: Dark of Night (see W20 page 189), except
that the Moldwarp may blind his victim for the full
duration of her visit to his Burrow; she regains her sight
when she leaves. Each success after the first allows the
Architect to blind another target.
• Quicksand (Level Four) - As the Red Talon Gift
(see W20 page 187).
• Wall of Granite (Level Five) - As the Philodox
Gift (see W20 page 168).
Digger Gifts
In the deepest depths of Underland and the
hitherto-unknown outskirts of Otherland, the Diggers
balance practical Gifts with their sheer physical might.
No Digger is without Gifts to shift great earth and battle
unknowable entities, but no Digger solely relies on
them, either.
• Balance (Level One) - As the Stargazer Gift (see
W20 page 195).
• Cave Dweller (Level One) - As the Uktena Gift:
Spirit of the Lizard (see W20 page 197).
• Helping Hands (Level One) - Young Diggers
are far from masters at their craft, so with this Gift they
learn to enlist the help of nearby burrowing creatures to
cut through the earth at their side. Any Earth Burrower
spirit teaches this Gift.
System: This Gift is instantly activated if a Digger
botches his digging roll. All small creatures with any
form of digging capabilities (predominantly mammals)
come to his aid to provide a number of instant successes
for a digging roll equal to his temporary Gnosis rating,
potentially turning the roll into a non-botch failure or
even a success. Note that ordinary failures do not trigger
this Gift.
• Root (Level One) - As the Grondr Gift (see
W20 Changing Breeds page 246).
• Stony Ground (Level One) - The strength and
resistance of stone would be no different for Moldwarp
miners than it is for their human counterparts, were it
86 Moldwarps
not for this Gift. For a brief moment, the Digger may
shift this handicap and turn the strength of stone to
that of soil and vice versa. Rock and stone spirits teach
this Gift, including those of man-made stone such as
cement and tarmac.
System: The Moldwarp rolls Strength + Science
(difficulty 7). For a number of rounds equal to his
successes, all soil, clay, and sand he touches (with any
part of his body, not only hands or paws) becomes as
structurally strong as stone for the remainder of the
scene. The reverse is also true for hard minerals of all
varieties, which becomes as weak and breakable as soil.
• Ambush (Level Two) - As the Dusk Gift (see
W20 Changing Breeds page 54)
• Night's Passage (Level Two) - As the Bastet Gift
(see W20 Changing Breeds page 86).
• Seal Tunnel (Level Two) - Weremoles, and
more importantly the signs of their digging, are far from
inconspicuous. The sheer volume of soil exhumed while
a Crinos Moldwarp tears into the Underland does little
to disguise their operation from human eyes, frequently
causing disturbance above ground. By simply reversing
the digging process, reflecting the Gaia’s cycle of creation
and destruction, a Digger’s tracks are unmade behind
him. Limestone spirits teach this Gift.
System: While using the digging rules on page
64, the Moldwarp rolls his permanent Gnosis rating
(difficulty 6). For each success, he may completely reverse
the effects of one success on the digging roll once he has
moved beyond its area of effect. This is usually enough
to seal the entrance of any tunnel, potentially collapsing
the entire thing.
• Soil Swimmer (Level Two) - The solidity of the
earth is rarely a problem to the children of Mole, but at
times an emergency entrance into the earth is necessary,
whether for a quick escape from potential predators or
as a saving grace from a potentially deadly fall. With
Soil Swimmer, the Digger momentarily transforms any
natural material beneath her - man-made surfaces such
as turf and asphalt do not count for the purposes of
this Gift - into an almost liquid state. He may dive into
and through it as it seals back to its original state behind
him. Earth, sand, and soil spirits teach this Gift.
System: The Moldwarp rolls Gnosis (the difficulty
for soil or sand is 6; clay or gravel is 7; and for rock is 8).
If successful, he passes into the substance as if it were
a pool of water, finding himself in a personally sized
space within it, from which he must re-emerge or dig out
of if he wishes to continue in the same direction. The
substance remains as solid as it naturally should be for
all but the user of this Gift.
 • True Fear (Level Two) - As the Ahroun Gift (see
W20 page 171).
• Open Passage (Level Three) - As the Ragabash
Gift: Open Moon-Bridge (see W20 page 162).
• Pathfinder (Level Three) - As the Ragabash Gift
(see W20 page 162).
• Supporting Role (Level Three) - When cave-ins
strike, as they all-too-often do, it is vital for a Digger to
have a way out of the situation, or at least to hold it at
bay for a while until an Architect can come to repair the
damage. Redwood spirits teach this Gift.
System: The Moldwarp rolls Willpower (difficulty 8)
at the moment of structural collapse. If he is successful,
he may hold up one hundred tonnes of falling earth for
each point of Strength he possesses. For a house collapse
he would need a minimum of two Strength; for shallow
Underland collapses or the fall of a tower block he
would need five; and for deep Underland collapses he
would need eight. He may hold this weight indefinitely,
but when he moves the power rapidly fades and his
Strength returns to its normal capacity.
• Mole over Mountain (Level Four) - For Diggers,
ripping through the earth soon becomes muscle
memory, allowing them to dig with reliably perfect
precision and results. Many Diggers take on this Gift
to simply save themselves time, as it allows them to dig
once to determine how effective their digging will be
for the next week. Many mountain spirits will teach this
Gift.
System: The weremole spends three points of Rage
and makes a digging roll (see page 64), multiplying
the number of successes rolled by his Rank. This final
result can be used each time he attempts to dig, rather
than making frequent digging rolls, for a number
of subsequent digging rolls equal to his permanent
Willpower.
• Passage Crawler (Level Four) - As the Galliard
Gift: Bridge Walker (see W20 page 170).
• Strength Without Limit (Level Five) - As the
Black Spiral Dancers Ahroun Gift (see Book of the
Wyrm page 121).
Tunnel Gifts
The geographic divisions between Grandmother
Mole’s children have greatly altered the Gifts they need
to fulfil their duty, not to mention the differences in
human cultures in those regions. Some, like the Old
World Tunnel, have firmly set themselves as Gaia’s
Jailers, while others, such as the New World Tunnel,
have taken a more personal route to the rehabilitation
Chapter Four: Means of Mending
of Sceatha. Above all, the Moldwarps’ main duty is
transforming the corrupt and the toxic into Gaian
essence, whether it be burying decaying and petulant
matter or cleansing the spiritual makeup of supernatural
beings.
Old World Tunnel Gifts
The Tunnel of the Old World holds themselves
as archetypes of what Moldwarps are supposed to be
- above wanton violence, above distraction from duty,
above weakness. Their Gifts, they say, only accentuate
their innate ability, but others claim they merely use
Gifts which create grandeur, to hide their own declining
relevance.
• Call to Duty (Level One) - As the Philodox Gift
(see W20 page 166).
• Detectorist’s Intuition (Level One) - By
listening to the earth beneath him, a weremole can
detect artificial objects and structures lying below the
surface with surprising clarity. These may be anything
from undetonated bombs, to abandoned sewer lines, to
thriving Black Spiral Pits. Bat spirits teach this Gift.
System: While in contact with soft earth, the
Moldwarp rolls Perception + Technology (difficulty 7)
to determine what lies beneath him within a range of
100 feet/35 metres cubed. Successes beyond the first
grant the Moldwarp a clearer conception of what he has
detected, to the Storyteller’s discretion.
• Fissure (Level One) - Clever Moldwarps learn to
take advantage of their surroundings when digging, such
as with this Gift which rapidly opens existing cracks in
both natural rock faces and artificial structures. The
spirits of underground rivers and streams teach this
Gift.
System: If the Moldwarp finds a crack in a wall, be
it in a cave system, sewer line, or building’s wall, he rolls
Strength + Crafts (difficulty 7) while wiggling a claw into
it. If successful, the crack splinters wide open, turning
a crack barely a few millimetres wide into one a mole or
Talpid-form Moldwarp can scurry through.
• The Secret Ingredient (Level One) -
Grandmother Mole cares for all those under her, and
so too must her grandchildren. When the Moldwarp
gives their Burrow’s guests (Sceatha or otherwise) food,
he may instil it with spiritual sustenance in addition to
physical nutrition. Raccoon spirits teach this Gift.
System: The Moldwarp makes a Wits + Crafts
roll (difficulty 6) while making food within a Burrow
possessing a Den. If successful, the food not only
nourishes the target but restores one point of either
Gnosis, Rage, or Willpower, whichever is lowest and
87
applicable; this may only happen once per day per
consumer.
• Still of the Grave (Level One) - Graveyards are
places of utter peace to a Moldwarp, but in the World of
Darkness as a whole they often foster sinister purposes:
corrupt creatures make their havens in mausoleums,
fallen beasts terrify and hunt innocents between the
stones, and necromancers exhume corpses for their foul
practices. Old Worlders have learned to channel their
serenity in order to disrupt activities which so disrespect
the rest of the dead. Mist and fog spirits teach this Gift.
System: This Gift is permanent once learned. If
the Moldwarp successfully meditates in a graveyard in
order to gain Gnosis, individuals attempting to assault
the innocent, remain hidden from the righteous,
or interfere with the interred dead suffer dice pool
penalties equal to the amount of Gnosis gained. This
remains in place until the next sunset.
• Behind Bars (Level Two) - With a wave of
his paw, the Moldwarp can summon a set of strong
earthen bars to jut up from the floor and surround a
target. Some Sceatha may be utterly incapacitated by
this barrier while others may simply be infuriated by it,
but regardless of the opposition, the Gift gives a young
weremole a little time to think. Hermit crab spirits teach
this Gift.
System: The weremole rolls Strength + Law whilst
his target is standing on solid, natural ground (difficulty
6 on soil and 7 on stone or stone like surfaces). The bars
rise to completely surround the target who has a chance
to dodge with a Wits + Athletics roll (difficulty 6 for
soil and 7 for stone). Soil bars have 7 wound levels and
a soak pool of 3, whilst stone ones have 10 health levels
and a soak pool of 5.
• Black Skies (Level Two) - As the Black Furies
Gift: Curse of Aeolus (see W20 page 173).
• Old World Rhinarium (Level Two) - The Old
World Rhinarium reflects the ethos of the Tunnel,
stretching the already conical snout to an upturned
point which forces them, quite literally, to look down
their noses at others. Old world mole spirits teach this
Gift.
System: The Gift is always active and physically
present once learned, adding one automatic success to
all digging rolls.
• You’re in My World Now (Level Two) -
Grandmother Mole commands the earth's respect more
than any other Totem. She tears it up, shapes it, and
makes it her home; burrowing is her supreme right. Her
grandchildren have since discovered a Gift to emulate
88 Moldwarps
her dominion. Old Worlders may command any earth
- stone, soil, and everything in between - to adhere to
their will and no others’. Old world mole spirits teach
this Gift.
System: When another supernatural being uses
a power which manipulates the earth, the Moldwarp
may make a Charisma + Leadership roll (difficulty
6) to command the earth not to obey. His opponent
must roll more successes in performing her power than
the Moldwarp in order for it to actually be activated
properly; in the case of powers that do not require a
roll, the opponent must make a Willpower roll for the
purposes of this Gift.
• Census of Fatality (Level Three) - A ripple of
Wyrmish energy spreads through Otherland when a
living being approaches death, fading at the moment of
expiry. Usually, this ripple is so minute that only wraiths
and the most Wyrm-attuned entities can perceive it,
but when a significant quantity of death looms all at
once, it can be detected by less predatory parties. This
Gift provides the senses to apprehend these influxes of
death-energy. A Banshee, a mournful spirit of the dead,
teaches this Gift.
System: The Moldwarp may roll Perception +
Primal-Urge (difficulty 7) to detect impending instances
of death within a number of miles and days equal to
his permanent Gnosis. The successes achieved allow
the Moldwarp to know differing levels of information
regarding the scale of death he has detected.
1-2 Successes: The Moldwarp knows whether or not
death approaches, but to what extent is unknown.
3-4 Successes: The Moldwarp receives a sense of
whether the scale of death is relatively small (involving
a handful of individuals) or large (involving dozens or
more).
5 Successes: The Moldwarp knows the most likely
approximate death toll.
• Dead Talk (Level Three) - As the Corax Gift
(see W20 Changing Breeds page 100).
• Gift of the Termite (Level Three) - As the Bone
Gnawers Gift (see W20 page 175).
• Black Mark (Level Four) - As the Silent Striders
Gift (see W20 page 193).
• Nourishing Necrosis (Level Four) - Particularly
traditionalist Moldwarps love death in the manner a
sow loves her pups. With this Gift, thriving upon death
becomes a fundamental part of a weremole’s existence,
removing the need for other sources of nourishment
entirely. Carrion fly spirits teach this Gift.
 System: The Moldwarp must consume at least
one pound of dead organic material no older than
seventy-two hours since expiry. He then spends a point
of Gnosis and rolls Stamina + Primal-Urge (difficulty
10 for plant and fungal matter; 9 for fish, insect, and
amphibian matter; 8 for avian and reptilian matter; 7 for
mammalian matter; and 6 for human or Fera matter). If
successful, the Moldwarp does not need to eat anything
else for a day and still feels as fit and active as he had
before the Gift’s use.
• The Great Worm Cometh (Level Five) - For
true servants of the Balance Wyrm, a divine Gift exists
to bring forth its former children into Overland in
the flesh. The resulting semi-spiritual being - closest
to a Kami in terms of classification - is created from a
natural worm, which grows rapidly when the spirit of
a Consumer Worm is bound to it from Run’s End’s
fungal forest. It then consumes anything unbalanced
in its vicinity, returning them to Gaia’s balance in a
baptism of consumption. Particularly ancient Consumer
Worms teach this Gift, and provide themselves for its
use.
System: The Moldwarp spends one point of Gnosis
and Rage while reverently holding a natural earthworm,
rolling Charisma + Survival (difficulty 8) to mutate the
creature into a physical Consumer Worm. This creature
derives all its Attributes from the spirit’s equivalent
levels of Rage, Gnosis, and Willpower (see W20 page
365), retains its Charms (again replacing Rage, Gnosis,
and Willpower for their purposes), and has a number of
Health Levels equal to its Willpower.
• Eruption (Level Six) - Striving towards the
example of Paws-to-Shake-the-Earth, the Moldwarp
stands at the boundary of Run’s End and calls forth
a shockwave through Otherland, creating in its wake
an ironclad Passage to a chosen location on Overland.
The instantaneous infusion of huge quantities of
Gnosis cultivates a Den beneath the destination, but
comes partly from the Moldwarp himself, requiring a
permanent sacrifice of some of his connection to Gaia.
Grandmother Mole teaches this Gift herself.
System: This Gift can only be performed within
Run’s End, and only at a point along its Pericarp (the
very edge of the Realm in the arcane terminology of the
Umbra). The Moldwarp spends a point of permanent
Gnosis, meaning that his maximum potential Gnosis
is reduced by one and cannot be raised again. He then
selects a precise location on Overland; the means
for knowing it can be in the form of geographical
coordinates, its accurate relationship to multiple
landmarks, strong memories of personally travelling
there, or others at the Storyteller’s discretion. Once this
Chapter Four: Means of Mending
is done, he rolls Gnosis at a difficulty of 10 minus one
for each Rank Five or Six Moldwarp in his presence, to a
minimum of 6.
A successful roll immediately transports the
Moldwarp from Run’s End to the chosen place (not
requiring him to attempt to pierce the Gauntlet). This
also causes a gigantic eruption to shoot into the air
and settle on the ground, leaves a permanent Passage
leading there behind him (which serves as a branch
of the Run), and creates a Level One Den beneath his
emergence point. Each success beyond the first allows
one Moldwarp to join him in appearing there; others
may follow the Passage, which is protected from all
incursions from spirits such as Tunnelweb Spiders (see
page 143) until the next full cycle of the moon.
If the roll is failed, nothing happens, though the
Moldwarp still loses permanent Gnosis. If it is botched,
he is instead transported to a location in one of the
Triat’s home Realms as determined by the Storyteller
- CyberRealm for the Weaver, Flux for the Wyld, or
Malfeas for the Wyrm - and a breach is opened between
there and Run’s End.
New World Tunnel Gifts
Despite preferring to keep their heads in the soil
when it comes to other Fera, Moldwarps do keep a
social side to their Breed in the form of the New World
Tunnel. Their Gifts encourage cooperation, empathy,
and companionship amongst the Breeds, both to help
negotiate for Sceatha salvation and to redeem the
Moldwarp name.
• Accurate Accounting (Level One) - Moldwarp’s
role as Gaia’s Jailers involves receiving information from
her other children regarding Sceatha activity. However,
most Fera refuse to interact with Moldwarps, and if they
do, the exchange is tentative at best. This Gift allows the
weremole to instantly receive all information a particular
shapeshifter has about the target while in conversation
with her on the subject, regardless of whether she
wishes to share it or not. The information comes not
as words or distinct images, but is given away in small
unconscious tells. Bee spirits teach this Gift.
System: This Gift may only be used on other
shapeshifters, not including Kinfolk, while discussing a
specific Sceatha; the target must provide at least one fact
or opinion. The Moldwarp rolls Perception + Expression
(difficulty equal to the target’s Rage, to a minimum 3). If
successful, he instantly learns every detail regarding the
subject which his target knows.
• Brother’s Scent (Level One) - As the Children
of Gaia Gift (see W20 page 177).
89
 • Micro-Movements (Level One) - The Moldwarp
may have them alter his mannerisms and vocabulary to
better suit one target, making them more likely to be
receptive to what he has to say. Parrot and lyrebird spirits
teach this Gift.
System: The Moldwarp rolls Wits + Primal-Urge
(difficulty 5 plus the target's Subterfuge, to a maximum
of 10). He may add points to his Social Attributes, in
any arrangement, equal to the number of successes
rolled. These additional levels only apply to rolls made
against the target, reverting to their original levels whilst
interacting with anyone else. The Gift remains active for
a full scene.
• Mound Digger’s Protection (Level One) - After
becoming victim to a hunt at the claws of Coyote, the
New Worlders’ totem knows what it is to be abused.
With this Gift, her children may lend their bodies to
those in need to save them from Triatic harm, if only
temporarily. New world mole spirits teach this Gift.
System: While in contact with another being who
is at risk of Triat-related harm, the Moldwarp rolls
Stamina + Empathy (difficulty 7); this roll may be made
reflexively. From that point on, if she is harmed by
anything entirely fallen to one of the Triat, the damage is
automatically passed over to the Moldwarp instead; the
victim receives no damage or other deleterious effects,
while the Moldwarp takes it all on. The Gift lasts for
a number of days equal to the weremole’s permanent
Rage, until he uses it on another target, or until he
chooses to end it.
• Wanderer's Boon (Level One) - As the
Pumonca Gift (see W20 Changing Breeds page 89).
• Command the Gathering (Level Two) - As the
Philodox Gift (see W20 page 167).
• Empathy (Level Two) - As the Silver Fangs Gift
(see W20 page 193).
• New World Rhinarium (Level Two) - With
this Gift, a weremole’s nose divides at the base into five
thick tentacles, each around half a foot in length. With
this star-like protrusion, the Moldwarp's sense of smell
is heightened so much that he may detect the subtlest of
smells, highlighting where individuals have previously
been and who they have been in contact with. New
World mole spirits teach this Gift.
System: The Gift is always active and physically
present in all forms besides Homid once learned. The
Rhinarium adds five dice to all smell-based Alertness
tests.
Chamber Adaption: The Rhinariums possessed by
Gazers of the Deep with this Gift consist of tentacles
90 Moldwarps
which grow in both number and size with Rank; there
are three tentacles per Rank level, each of a length equal
to half a foot also per Rank level. Each tentacle adds one
dice to the same rolls as the base Gift.
• Song of Terra (Level Two) - As the Kojubat Gift
(see W20 Changing Breeds page 118).
• Call of the Chasm (Level Three) - As the
Galliard Gift: Song of the Siren (see W20 page 170).
• Community Burrow (Level Three) - Long ago,
New Worlders were the Breed’s coordinators amongst
Gaia's other children, to which purpose they would
make fresh Dens beneath Caerns, Wallows, Nests, and
other nodes of power held by Fera in order to foster
cooperation as best as possible. While this has become
less tenable in the years since, the Gift remains and
continues to see use. Beaver spirits teach this Gift.
System: The weremole must beseech the Caern’s
Totem and ask for permission to create a Den there.
If he feels that it has been approved, he rolls Gnosis
(difficulty 5 plus the Caern’s rating). The area beneath
the Caern becomes a site suitable for making into a Den
using the appropriate Rite (see page 110). If at any point
the Totem believes that the Moldwarps are no longer
worthy, the Den fades and any Burrow built around it
soon collapses as Mole concedes to her fellow Incarna’s
wishes.
• Exorcism (Level Three) - As the Theurge Gift
(see W20 page 165).
• Take the True Form (Level Four) - As the
Philodox Gift (see W20 page 168).
• Divine Shaming (Level Four) - With this Gift
a Sceatha’s body may be forced to put on the most
obvious demonstration of its Triatic alignment, while
its consciousness, freed of anti-Gaian bias and Triatic
mental influence or control, views its own actions in an
out-of-body experience. With this perspective irrevocably
gained, at least a small part of it cannot deny its own
wrongness, and a new opportunity for cleansing is
opened up. Epiphs of judgement teach this Gift.
System: The Moldwarp lambastes the Sceatha for
its wrongdoing against Gaia whilst spending one point
of Rage and making an opposed roll of Charisma +
Expression (difficulty 8) against the victim’s Willpower
(difficulty 7). If the Moldwarp is successful, the time
required to pass for another Cleansing Rite to be used
on the victim is reduced by a number of sunsets equal
to successes, to a minimum of one; if the victim also
botches, the time is removed entirely, generally resulting
in urgent calls for a Cleanser if one is not already
present. If the Moldwarp fails, nothing happens, but if
he botches the time is doubled.
• Shaken to the Core (Level Five) - From the
Body of Death, the Lord of the Run and her most
trusted advisors must keep a constant ear out for
disasters that could befall the Dens above. Using the
Run to channel the entropic essence of death, high-
Ranking New Worlders (such as the current Lord,
Holds-the-Wyrm-Close) may feel disasters as they arise.
Earthquake spirits teach this Gift.
System: This Gift is permanently active but only
in the Body of Death. If a Den is attacked anywhere
in Underland, the weremole makes a Perception +
Primal-Urge roll (difficulty 10 minus the Den's rating).
If successful, he knows instinctively that trouble is
occurring in that Den.
• Pacification (Level Six) - The greatest New
Worlders may balm the Rage inherent to many
supernatural souls. They may sanctify an area of Gaia to
utterly suppress aggression of all kinds, from the deepest
and most tainted killing frenzies to harsh words spoken
to a rival, neutralising the volatility which all too often
threatens efforts at harmony amongst Fera. Pul'-Laqu-
Whu herself teaches this Gift.
System: While smoking a redrock pipe, the
Moldwarp must repeatedly walk across the area he
wishes to sanctify; though not necessary for it to
work, the ritualistic nature of this Gift lends to its
combination with various appropriate Rites. At the
end of his ramble, he makes a Strength + Empathy roll
(difficulty 8). Each success grows the area of effect by 150
feet/50 metres cubed. While inside this zone, frenzies
of any type become impossible, regardless of the nature
of the individual at risk of frenzy or the stimulus which
prompts it. At the Storyteller’s discretion, aggressive
actions of any kind are virtually impossible in this place
- except, of course, against Gaia’s enemies on the part of
Gaia’s children.
Eastern Tunnel Gifts
Formerly known as the greatest excavators and
architects of the Breed, the Eastern Tunnel have now
been plunged into eternal conflict with the spawn of
their toil. They use Gifts of combat and defence to
constantly work at clearing their ancient Passages of
Wyrmish ruination.
• Claustrophobic Clawing (Level One) -
Combating Sceatha in a Burrow is the one of the
most precarious fights a Moldwarp can be involved in,
requiring them to leave the Sceatha unharmed while
also protecting the sanctity of the Den from its taint at
all costs. To ease the strain of combat and to circumvent
Chapter Four: Means of Mending
unwanted casualties on either side, this Gift allows a
Moldwarp to inflict crippling claustrophobia through
the slightest nick of a claw. Gaian spider spirits teach
this Gift.
System: This Gift only works in enclosed spaces.
The Moldwarp spends one point of Rage, and for the
remainder of the scene, anything which takes damage
from his claws suffers from a additional -2 dice pool
penalty to all rolls as they feel the walls closing in
around them and a fear of the cramped conditions
overtakes them. If the enemies manage to reach an open
environment, the penalty is lifted.
• Danger Echoes (Level One) - Traipsing through
a cave in the dark is far less dangerous for Moldwarps
than for humans, but it can still pose a range of
terrifying pitfalls, especially to Homids who let their
newfound talents go to their heads. Eastern Moldwarps
must quickly learn to notice signs of danger ahead while
hunting through deep Passages, lest they fall prey to such
pitfalls themselves. Cave-dwelling earth elementals teach
this Gift.
System: The Moldwarp rolls Perception + Primal-
Urge (difficulty 7) while in Underland. If successful,
he can hear upcoming dangers for 150 feet/50 metres
ahead of him per success. Such dangers include
conferring Sceatha, the creaking of weakened wall
supports, or the death-silence of long-buried cyclopean
structures.
• Martial Law (Level One) - To teach Sceatha a
lesson away from the Burrow, or to punish particularly
invasive Sceatha, Moldwarps apply a harsh form of
discipline to guide the target away from the tainted path.
Epiphs of justice teach this Gift.
System: The Gift may only be used while the
Sceatha is actively acting in alignment with their
particular Triatic master: Wyldish Sceatha manipulating
time, creativity, or physical forces; Weaverish Sceatha
controlling and ordering things; and Wyrmish Sceatha
spreading corruption and destruction. The weremole
rolls Manipulation + Primal-Urge (difficulty 7) while
witnessing the act, and if he succeeds, each time the
Sceatha performs further acts of alignment, she receives
one level of unsoakable lethal damage immediately.
The Gift remains for a number of days equal to the
Moldwarp’s successes.
• Non-Lethal (Level One) - Even Eastern Tunnel
Moldwarps try their hardest not to kill their Sceatha, for
to cleanse one corrupted being is worth the potential
cost - or so most Elders say. This Gift floods the minds
of those the Moldwarp strikes with stupor, allowing him
to knock his target unconscious with safe knowledge
91
that she will not be killed. Bear spirits teach this Gift.
System: The weremole selects a target, spends a
point of Rage, and rolls Rage (difficulty 8). If successful,
then for the remainder of the scene, once he has dealt
that target 7 points of damage minus his successes, to a
minimum of 3, she is rendered unconscious unless she
succeeds a Stamina roll (difficulty 5 plus the amount of
damage the Moldwarp has inflicted).
• Spur Claws (Level One) - As the Ahroun Gift
(see W20 page 171).
• Axis Mundi (Level Two) - As the Lupus Gift
(see W20 page 159).
• Dig in (Level Two) - Many Moldwarps pride
themselves on their stamina and stoicism, traits which
are physically exemplified with this Gift, which makes
the weremole immovable where he stands. Glade
Children of oak trees teach this Gift.
System: The Moldwarp rolls Stamina + Primal Urge
(difficulty 7). For the rest of the scene, each time he is
forced to make an opposed Strength roll or is threatened
with being pushed back, he may add any success rolled
to the results of all necessary rolls.
• Shield of Rage (Level Two) - As the Ahroun
Gift (see W20 page 171).
• Shrew Mole’s Rhinarium (Level Two) - The
Eastern Tunnel’s Rhinarium comes with hard, slender,
bristly whiskers which point in all directions for one
and a half feet/half a metre from the nose. So sensitive
are these whiskers that they pick up environmental
vibrations that only the most advanced human
technology could detect. Shrew mole spirits teach this
Gift.
System: The Gift is always active and physically
present in all forms besides Homid once learned. By
making a Perception + Alertness roll (difficulty 6) the
weremole gains an innate feeling for all sources of
movement within three feet/one metre per success
rolled. These include enemies ahead, structural fissures,
water or lava flows, sources of incoming wind, and so
on.
Chamber Adaption: Investigators who take on this
Gift develop far more orderly and presentable whiskers,
stretching straight forward from their nose in two long,
thin strands. They instead use it to detect changes in
heartbeats and other functions, highlighting fear, lies, or
excitement, by rolling Perception + Empathy rather than
Alertness.
• Combat Healing (Level Three) - As the Ahroun
Gift (see W20 page 171).
92 Moldwarps
• Territory (Level Three) - As the Red Talons
Gift (see W20 page 187).
• Tunnel Shift (Level Three) - As the Ragabash
Gift: Terrain Shift (see Changing Ways page 152).
• Clenched Jaw (Level Four) - As the Ahroun Gift
(see W20 page 172).
• Stronger on Stone (Level Four) - As the
Croatan Gift (see W20 page 396).
• Kami of the Cave (Level Five) - The earth
itself does not want to suffer under the agony of Triatic
corruption, and with a little Moldwarp encouragement,
the spirit of the land itself may possess an entire cave
and slowly consume any corruption therein, converting
it to topsoil above to nourish new life. Shrew Mole
herself teaches this Gift.
System: The weremole must meditate on the spot
in the cave he occupies for a number of turns equal to
eleven minus his permanent Gnosis. Once the time
has completed, the cave bursts into life, its entrances
and exits undulate like intestinal valves, stomach acids
pour from the ceiling and walls, and the floor becomes
perforated by suction pores.
Only Gaian weremoles may leave the cave
(discounting Galemy with no Pure Breed Background,
Baoganes, and Buried) without having to roll Strength
+ Brawl (difficulty 8). Anything inside the cave runs the
risk of being caught in one of the Kami’s suction pores,
movement of any kind requiring a Dexterity + Athletics
(difficulty 6) to avoid them, and a further roll to escape
once more. If anything remains stationary inside the
cave, it receives one level of aggravated damage per turn.
The spirit leaves the cave and all surfaces return to
normal once there is nothing left inside.
• Light Through the Darkness (Level Six) - This
Gift is a modern discovery of the Eastern Tunnel, and
one that may yet turn the tide of their war to their
favour. By clasping onto the mouth of a Passage or
corridor reaching through the earth, the Moldwarp
may cause it to emit a burst of pure Gaian illumination
accompanied by a deafening scream, cutting through
the mind of anything creeping therein to clear the way
permanently. An avatar of Helios himself teaches this
Gift.
System: The Moldwarp gazes into the darkness of
a tunnel and screams, sacrificing a dot of permanent
Rage as he does so, reducing his potential maximum
Rage by one. Passages and corridors in all directions for
a number of miles equal to his Willpower rating become
permanently illuminated with Helios’ light. Anything
non-Gaian occupying or subsequently entering the
affected area feels compelled to immediately leave; if not,
they lose one Willpower point per hour they remain
until they reach zero and collapse into a catatonic state -
ready for cleansing.
Galemy Gifts
Since detaching from their true calling, the Galemy
have become ever more concerned with the revival of
the dead than their subsumation. Their Gifts pertain to
burial, aquatic life, longevity, and reanimation. Because
of their tainted alignment with the Wyld, they have
become some of the more adaptive and well-equipped of
Mole’s grandchildren.
Note: Due to the rare resistance of some Galemy
to the Wyld, the occasional pure Desmana may arise
from a Galemy pairing (see Galemy and the Pure Breed
Background on page 75). In these instances, they
may only use the Gifts labelled as Desmana only or
Desmana/Galemy Gifts, rather than Galemy only.
• Death Flowers (Level One Desmana/Galemy
Gift) - If a Galemy manages to find ample sources of
death, decay, and corruption at the end of a Passage, he
may use this Gift to leave beautiful red ‘death flowers’
growing around the Passage’s mouth to both warn those
who may travel it. Poppy spirits teach this Gift.
System: Upon leaving a specific Passage which leads
to a site of death, the Moldwarp may roll Appearance
+ Primal-Urge (difficulty 6) to coax the surrounding
environment to show what lies ahead. The earth
(regardless of if the Passage mouth lies underground)
sprouts a ring of faintly bioluminescent red flowers,
which remain living for as long as the Passage’s exit is
tainted.
• Desman’s Endurance (Level One Desmana/
Galemy Gift) - Like their Desmana predecessors, Galemy
are naturally aquatic. This simple and ubiquitous Gift
allows them to hold one's breath far above the natural
length of time. Beaver spirits teach this Gift.
System: This gift is permanent once learned and
always active. The Moldwarp doubles the given times for
holding breath given on W20 page 259.
• Etheric Transplant (Level One Galemy Gift)
- Galemy physiology is warped by the Wyld to such a
degree that any form of destruction caused against it
triggers a surge of Gnosis thought to come from Flux
itself, to which it quickly returns. By channelling this
force through this Gift before it dissipates, the user can
transfer the damage dealt to one part of his body to
other, less vital ones as it is dealt. Axolotl and starfish
spirits teach this Gift.
System: Whenever the Moldwarp receives damage,
Chapter Four: Means of Mending
he may spend a point of Rage in order to roll Stamina +
Medicine to soak that damage.
• Visions of Run’s End (Level One Desmana/
Galemy Gift) - As the Silent Striders Gift: Visions of
Duat (see W20 page 191).
• Weightless Flesh (Level One Desmana/Galemy
Gift) - One of the Desmana’s primary methods in
corpse burial was to transport them via their waterway
habitats/ In ancient times they cultivated a Gift which
causes a corpse to lighten to a fraction of its normal
weight, freeing them to carry multiple bodies at once
or to leave them to flow easily downstream to waiting
Moldwarps. Otter spirits teach this Gift.
System: The Moldwarp rolls Dexterity + Science
(difficulty 7). A number of corpses equal to his successes
lighten to only ten percent of their natural weight. This
effect lasts for the remainder of the day.
• Crocodile’s Cunning (Level Two Desmana/
Galemy Gift) - As the Bunyip Gift (see W20 page 394).
• Desman's Rhinarium (Level Two Desmana/
Galemy Gift) - Knowledge of what Desman's Rhinarium
looked like before his children’s fall to the Wyld has
been lost to time. Today, the Galemy’s manifestation of
this Gift is long, flat, and chitinous, which they use to
detect forms of life beneath the earth and waters alike.
Desman spirits teach this Gift.
System: This Gift is always active and physically
present in all forms besides Homid once learned. The
Galemy can sense the micro-electrical currents inside
organic living beings, detecting them even through
obstructions, by making a Perception + Alertness roll
(difficulty 6 through air, 7 through water, 8 through
the soil, and 9 through solid rock). Unliving creatures
cannot be detected with this Gift.
• Streamlined (Level Two Desmana/Galemy
Gift) - Desmans are aquatic by nature, but unlike their
mole kinfolk the Galemy can use this Gift to force
themselves through the water while barely moving a
muscle. Fish spirits teach this Gift.
System: This Gift is permanent once learned. The
Galemy moves twice as fast in still water and swims at
his regular speed swimming upstream with no added
penalties.
• Wyld Side (Level Two Galemy Gift) - Galemy
hunt fast and hard for anything corrupted by the
Weaver or Wyrm, ‘rejuvenating’ them in their unique
chambers. To achieve such fast-paced conversion, the
Galemy have learned to channel the Wyld to mould
their personalities to match those of their prey, making
it easier to win their trust and lure them in. Chimerlings
93
teach this Gift.
System: The Moldwarp rolls Manipulation +
Etiquette (difficulty 7) while interacting with his
prey. With a successful roll, the Moldwarp adopts a
Demeanour befitting the target’s sensibilities, reducing
the difficulty of appropriate Social rolls against her by -1,
and may revert back at any time he wishes. If the roll is
botched, he adopts an identical Nature also and forgets
his past, knowing only that he must draw the target away
to a private area; this change remains until he spends
a number of days equal to 11 minus his Gnosis rating
meditating in a Den.
• Lover’s Touch (Level Three Galemy Gift) - As
the Children of Gaia Gift (see W20 page 178).
• Mamma Mole Rat (Level Three Galemy Gift)
- No one knows where this Gift originated from, or why
either Breed it concerns - Moldwarps or Ratkin - would
wish to employ it, but it nonetheless exists and has been
used to sire what most regard as utter abominations. In
times of hardship, a Moldwarp who knows this Gift may
mate with Ratkin kinfolk and vice versa, creating darkly
Gaian monstrosities more akin to Kami than Fera.
As neither moles nor rats, these misbegotten children
resemble the naked mole-rat in manner and appearance.
Lesser avatars of both Desman and Mother Rat teach
this Gift.
Note: Though it appears on no Ratkin Gift lists,
this Gift may be learned as an in-Breed Gift by a Ratkin
with a Moldwarp teacher.
System: This Gift is permanent once learned. The
Fera may breed with Kinfolk of the opposing Breed as
though they were of his Breed, though even if both have
the Gift, a Moldwarp and a Ratkin may not conceive
with each other. The resulting creature is always a metis-
like blend of both Breeds, with two mutations, one of
which is always complete hairlessness. These creatures
are incapable of shifting into Homid, Talpid, or Rodent
forms, but may assume the Crinos forms of both. They
do not belong to any Tunnel or Plague, but do possess
a Warren (if a Moldwarp used this Gift) or Aspect (if a
Ratkin did), and may pick from both Breeds' Metis Gift
lists as well as the Warren or Aspect they are part of.
These 'weremolerats' live far longer and more
energetic lives than even most Fera, tripling the lifespan
of an average member of their Breed and barely showing
their age until well into triple figures. They are subject to
obsidian and silver weaknesses simultaneously, though
they may not become Buried due to obsidian exposure.
• Claws of the Dead (Level Three Desmana/
Galemy Gift) - Mass graves are an effective means of
disposing of an entire plagues’ worth of dead, or for
94 Moldwarps
clearing up a battlefield in short order. With this Gift,
corpses gain a modicum of animacy and aid in burying
others, to the point that the Moldwarp barely has to lift
a claw. Ordinarily, banshee spirits teach this Gift; it may
also be learned within a Threshold by simply listening to
the Wyld at work.
System: The Moldwarp must push his paw into
the earth and drag up a pawful of dirt while spending a
point of Gnosis. Bodies lying beneath the earth in his
vicinity begin to reach up and drag down other corpses
lain on the ground, push them deeper, then continue
to reach for more. The Gift remains active for the
remainder of the scene.
• Sideswim Death (Level Four Desmana/Galemy
Gift) - As the Silver Fangs Gift: Sidestep Death (see W20
page 194), except that this gift only requires a Willpower
roll (difficulty 7) rather than any point cost, but can only
be performed in water.
• Rebirth (Level Four Galemy Gift) - As the
Philodox Gift (see Changing Ways page 154).
• Mine Grave (Level Five Galemy Gift) - This
Gift used to be taught by Desman to his pure children
to give them a second wind in digging and burying.
In the hardest times following the First Collapse they
would otherwise degrade as they toiled on, losing parts
of themselves in the process, before finally falling to
become one with the earth. Now that he has fallen to
the Wyld, the Gift instead forces one chosen by the user
to continue on even after she has passed beyond life.
Wyld fallen anscestor spirits teach this Gift.
System: If the Galemy witnesses any Fera become
Incapacitated, he may pool his permanent Rage with
hers when she rolls to Remain Active (as detailed on
page 145 of W20). Though their results contribute to
the roll equal, the dice derived from each Fera’s Rage
must be rolled separately. For each of the Galemy’s
successes, the Fera gains one Battle Scar in addition to
the usual one. She also becomes permanently Wyld-
tainted, gaining one Derangement and an instinctive
desire to serve the Wyld in whatever way she can. This
typically results in a change of Nature and Demeanour,
according to the Storyteller’s discretion.
• Upswell (Level Six Desmana Gift) - Floods
are endemic to the mythology of humanity the world
over, sweeping away the old, corrupt, and fallen to
make way for the new. The Desmana knew well that the
Great Flood was in fact caused by the little-understood
Rokea to eradicate a landbound Bane. Perhaps the only
significant contact between Moldwarp and wereshark
occurred with the development of this Gift, which
allows the user to, instead of simply eradicating Sceatha,
drag them from the land and strand them in the realm
of the water-moles. Only the spirits of the most ancient
and mighty rivers teach this Gift, and it has not been
used in millennia but remains waiting to be unlocked.
System: With haste, the weremole swims up onto
land from beneath the water of a large river while
spending three points of Rage. In doing so, a great
tsunami rises behind him, far larger than the river
could have held. The water stretches for miles and slams
through nearby wilderness and settlements, then quickly
retracts back to the bank. The water drags anything
with the taint of the Triat back to the river, be it animal,
vegetable, or mineral. Anything with the ability to resist
may make an opposed Strength roll (difficulty 9) against
the Moldwarp’s permanent Rage (difficulty 6) to fight
against the tide or end up back at the riverbank, stunned
into unconsciousness for the remainder of the scene.
Kruipmolle Gifts
The Golden Moles have been compared to as a
renewed form of the Old World Tunnel, and the powers
bestowed on them by the spirits reflect this. They
bury the dead, avidly and ceaselessly, just as the first
Moldwarps did many ages ago. Amongst other things,
their Gifts allow them to reduce dead matter to a base
state, to kickstart Gaia’s cycle as fast as possible.
• Scent of the True Form (Level One) - As the
Philodox Gift (see W20 page 166).
• Spirit Snare (Level One) - As the Theurge Gift
(see W20 page 164).
• Golden Rhinarium (Level Two) - A Kruipmolle
with this Gift possesses a thick leathery Rhinarium
growing between where the eyes would be located on
similar animals and across the ridge of its brow. This
organ bears gill-like skin which filters the air he breathes,
blocking out debris and noxious gases alike. Golden
mole spirits teach this Gift.
System: This Gift is always active and physically
present in all forms besides Homid once learned,
granting the weremole a dice pool bonus to Stamina
rolls made to resist the effects of toxic gases and similar
airborne hazards equal to his Perception rating.
• Proper Burial (Level Two) - The efficient
disposal of corpses in large numbers is a difficult task for
all but the strongest of Moldwarps. With this Gift, the
Kruipmolle may bury a body with a single touch. Worm
spirits teach this Gift.
System: The Moldwarp rolls Gnosis (difficulty 4 for
small animals such as dogs, 6 for human-sized creatures,
and 8 for large animals such as horses) while placing his
hand on a chosen body. If successful, the body quickly
Chapter Four: Means of Mending
sinks below the ground to an appropriate depth (4
feet for small animals, 6 for humans, and 12 for large
animals). If the roll is botched, the corpse implodes,
raining viscera across the surrounding area.
• Restore True Death (Level Three) - Though
it isn't a foremost duty of their Breed, Kruipmolle
take it upon themselves as a Tunnel to counteract
the unnatural maintenance of bodies once they have
expired, for all dead things must decay to allow new
life. This Gift is indispensable in this aim, for it reverses
processes of any kind which would preserve organic
matter beyond its point of death, even extending to
those greatest of abhorrences: the undead who sustain
themselves on the living. Cicada spirits teach this Gift.
System: The Moldwarp touches his subject, spends a
point of Gnosis, and rolls Gnosis (difficulty 7 for frozen,
taxidermied, or otherwise preserved organisms, 8 for
embalmed humans, and 9 for supernaturally-preserved
entities). If successful, the target is converted to the
state it would be in if no preservative measures had
been employed. Corporeal undead creatures - vampires,
Risen, Kuei-jin, mummies, and similar - may oppose this
roll with their Stamina at difficulty 8; if the Moldwarp
wins, they are rendered immobile for a number of nights
equal to the weremole’s final successes, during which
time they experience nothing, which vampires treat as
torpor.
• Uproot (Level Three) - As the Grondr Gift (see
W20 Changing Breeds page 247).
• Sense Balance (Level Four) - As the Philodox
Gift (see W20 page 167).
• Touch of Restoration (Level Four) - As the
Grondr Gift (see W20 Changing Breeds page 247).
• Phoenix Seed (Level Five) - In more and more
places, Gaia's cycle is simply too slow to repair the
horrors wrought by the Wyrm’s madness. This Gift
hastens the natural ways of death and life in a controlled
manner. Rather than simply burying a body and
allowing the seeds nesting within the surrounding soil to
make use of its nutrients, the Moldwarp transmutes the
body itself into a healthy and fast-growing microcosm
of new life. Within minutes a barren landscape may
be turned into one coated in lush foliage, abuzz with
pollinating insects, and peppered with swelling fungi
and lichens. Mighty phoenix spirits teach this Gift.
System: The weremole touches a fresh corpse,
spends two points of Gnosis, and rolls Stamina +
Primal Urge (difficulty 7). The body then bursts into a
haze of pollen, seeds, and spores. These reproductive
elements settle on every surface for thirty square feet/
ten square metres per success and quickly germinate into
95
new life. In these areas, the Otherlandscape becomes
one of perfect Gaian tranquillity, shredding any Triatic
influence.
Itjaritjari Gifts
The Itjarijari are secretive, not only in wider
Moldwarp society but amongst their kin also. Their
Gifts provide ease of social manipulation blended
with impressive martial capabilities. With these they
violate the safety of other Breeds for their unguessable
purposes.
• Aura of Confidence (Level One) - As the
Shadow Lords Gift (see W20 page 188).
• Crawling Order (Level One) - Foremen and
Earls alike need to know who has come and gone
between Burrows, and others’ reports may not always be
reliable. This Gift reveals where their subordinates have
been through their footprints. Any earth burrowing
spirit teaches this Gift.
System: With a successful Perception + Survival
roll (difficulty 7), the Moldwarp may determine where
another weremole has been over a number of previous
days equal to his successes, though he discerns no
information as to who he may have been with or what
he may have done there.
• Talkabout (Level Two) - As the Fianna Gift:
Glib Tongue (see W20 page 179).
• Marsupial Rhinarium (Level Two) - The
Rhinariums of Itjarijari have far greater physical
application than most, stretching up between the
weremoles eyes with a thick bulge of black leathery skin.
Marsupial mole spirits teach this Gift.
System: The Gift is always active and physically
present in all forms besides Homid once learned. The
weremole gains +4 soak dice against attacks made to his
face which deal bashing and lethal damage, and +2 soak
dice against ones dealing aggravated damage.
• Claws of Gold (Level Three) - As the Ahroun
Gift: Silver Claws (see W20 page 171), except that the
claws obviously transform into gold rather than silver.
• Battle Mandala (Level Three) - As the Theurge
Gift (see W20 page 164).
• Clash of Kingdoms (Level Four) - Itjaritjari
thrive on a continent filled with a spectrum of
dangerous life from all of the animal kingdoms -
venomous insects, toxic amphibians, gigantic birds,
and armoured reptiles. To survive in this land they
convinced spirits of the animal world of their devotion
to Gaia, reflected in this Gift which mitigates the
dangers presented by these beasts. Mongoose spirits
96 Moldwarps
teach this Gift.
System: This Gift is permanently active once
learned. All damage received from non-mammalian
aggressors (including Ananasi, Corax, Mokolé, Nagah,
and Rokea) is reduced by -1. Additionally, Stamina
rolls made to resist toxins or poisons imparted by such
creatures receive a -1 difficulty modifier.
• Wither Limb (Level Four) - As the Metis Gift
(see W20 page 157).
• Prison Break (Level Five) - As the Bone
Gnawers Gift: Riot (see W20 page 176).
Chamber Gifts
As well as choosing from the Breed, Warren, and
Tunnel Gifts, Moldwarps belonging to Chambers or
those who have been Buried may also choose from
their parental Tunnel as well as the given lists for their
respective group.
Gazers of the Deep Gifts
Dynamic and creative, the Gazers predominantly
focus on Gifts that aid them in their nomadic lifestyles,
secure safe passage, ease communion with spirits, and
perfect the navigation of Otherland.
Note: As well as using the Gifts listed here, Gazers
may also choose from the New World Tunnel’s Gift list.
• Echoed Message (Level One) - Conversing with
weremoles from other Burrows whilst also attending to
Gaia’s duties often proves difficult in the Underland.
Verbal messages left with others are easily forgotten, or
distorted before they can be imparted. By leaving his
message in the hands of spirits of popularly-traversed
passages, the weremole may be certain that it will be
passed on exactly as he wishes it to be. The spirit of deep
caves teach this Gift.
System: The weremole rolls Wits + Expression
(difficulty 7) while spending one point of Gnosis. If
successful, he can leave a message as long as three
words per success dormant inside a Passage or natural
underground space. Each time creatures make noise
inside the cave, instead of the sound they create echoing
back to them, the Moldwarp's message rings out. The
Gift remains for as long as the user wishes though no
longer than one month.
• Umbral Tether (Level One) - As the Theurge
Gift (see W20 page 164).
• Hear the Wyrm's Song (Level Two) - With this
Gift, the Moldwarp establishes a limited connection
to the Wyrm, enabling him to hear its emanations in
the poisoned words spoken by its servants, infallibly
identifying its presence and influence. Crow spirits teach
this Gift.
System: This Gift is permanent and always active
once learned. Whenever Wyrmishly-influenced speech,
media, or references are heard by the weremole he
rolls Perception + Primal-Urge (difficulty 6). If the roll
is successful, alongside the words spoken he hears the
chittering, squirming, and tearing sounds of corruption
and destruction resonating all around him.
This Gift is used to detect broadcasts from tainted
media stations, retellings of Wyrmish activity, or the
words coming directly from a Wyrm-touched individual.
• Call of the Wyrm (Level Two) - As the Galliard
Gift (see W20 page 169).
• Pulse of the Invisible (Level Three) - As the
Theurge Gift (see W20 page 165).
• Sense of the Deep (Level Three) - As the White
Howlers Gift (see W20 page 397).
• Grasp the Beyond (Level Four) - As the
Theurge Gift (see W20 page 165).
• Blind Leading the Blind (Level Four) - Gazers
are blind, but their senses - both their innate ones and
those gifted to them by the spirits they meet in their
journeys - are superior to those felt by almost every other
Fera Breed. This Gift grants the Gazer a permanent
sense of how to return to the nearest friendly Burrow,
whether it's a mile away, a continent away, or through
the endless tracks of Otherland. Any migratory bird
spirit may teach this Gift.
System: This Gift is permanent when learned.
The Gazer knows immediately and instinctively how
to return safely to a friendly Burrow, no matter where
he is or whatever his circumstances. This could be as
innocuous as a trail through a forest to avoid a local Red
Talon Sept, to the fastest and clearest track leading them
straight from the Atrocity Realm to a branch of the Run.
• Mimic the Wyrm’s Call (Level Five) - As the
Kojin Gift: Call to Allies (see W20 Changing Breeds
page 132).
Investigators Gifts
Investigators' intentions are ever twofold: they wish
both to appease their handlers in Beast Courts and
wish to place themselves as successors to Moldwarp
leadership, ultimately once again becoming equal to
every other Fera Breed. They have a wide range of Gifts
to provide utility in service and hidden power for when
the time comes that they must show themselves to be
truly powerful.
Chapter Four: Means of Mending
Note: As well as using the Gifts listed here,
Investigators may also choose from the Eastern Tunnel’s
Gift list.
• Common Tools (Level One) - As the Ragabash
Gift: Disguise Fetish (see Changing Ways page 152).
• Fatal Flaw (Level One) - As the Shadow Lords
Gift (see W20 page 188).
• Hidden Agenda (Level Two) - With merely
a quick scratch on a wall or other hard surface, an
Investigator may leave behind a drove of information for
his handlers to pick up at a later date, which none other
could hope to decipher. Any mollusc spirit may teach
this Gift.
System: The Investigator makes a Dexterity +
Expression roll (difficulty 7) while scratching an
otherwise meaningless glyph into any surface. He may
express any new information he has learned that day in
the glyph ready for one specific target to come and read
by running their claws back through it. If anyone other
than the target designated by the Investigator attempts to
read the Glyph, they fail automatically. Additionally, the
Moldwarp may not impart information learned more
than a day beforehand.
• Play Dead (Level Two) - As the Ragabash Gift
(see Changing Ways page 152).
• Read Between the Lines (Level Three) - When
the Investigator suspects he is being lied to, he may focus
on the words being said and hear the truth behind them
rather than the falsehoods presented to him. A lesser
spirit of Coyote teaches this Gift.
System: He must make an opposed roll with his
target of Perception + Subterfuge and his opponent must
roll Manipulation + Subterfuge (both difficulty 7). If the
Investigator wins, his opponent speaks the truth behind
what he is truly saying out loud without ever realising or
remembering that he had said it.
• Stony Exterior (Level Three) - Sometimes
Moldwarps are not the unshakable children of Gaia
needed to combat the horrific entities spawned by
the Triat, especially when compared to their Cousins
the Gurahl and Garou. Sometimes cowardice allows
a weremole to serve Gaia another day, and this Gift
provides the means for an Investigator to camouflage
himself from those who would do him harm. Granite
spirits teach Moldwarps this Gift.
System: The weremole must remain still for a whole
turn out of sight of his enemy and roll Appearance
+ Stealth (difficulty 6). If successful the Moldwarp’s
fur twists and calcifies to resemble the earth around
it, effectively causing him to resemble a large boulder.
97
The power remains active for as long as he stays still, it
may not, however, be used to emulate man-made stone
substances such as tarmac, concrete, or stone.
• Leying Lines (Level Four) - This Gift represents
the Investigator’s manipulative perversion of their
parent Tunnel’s ambition to create a network of passages
between all Fera Dens to strengthen the power of Gaia’s
children. Investigators may link one Den to another
(including any other Gaian place, such as a Caern,
Wallow, Dragon Nest, and so on), tethering the two
and making one victim to the other. Spirits of ancient
human structures teach this Gift such as Stonehenge or
Edzná.
System: The weremole must know the two Dens
fairly intimately, one usually being that of his own Sett
and the other a frequently visited one. He rolls Strength
+ Primal-Urge (difficulty 7) while spending two points of
Gnosis and meditating on the Den he is not occupying.
Once he commences digging, he progresses to the other
Den regardless of the distance, only stopping for food,
water, or sleep. Once he reaches his destination the link
has been made. At any moment, the Moldwarp may
facilitate the first Den in draining the second of Gnosis.
The opposing Den reduces its rating by one level per
month until it is eventually rendered powerless. The
recipient Den may increase in Den Rating by one level
from this process, so long as it targets a Den above its
own level.
If the Den is ever to fall to a member of the Triat, its
conjoined Den instantly falls too, and if the link is ever
abruptly broken, both Dens are reduced to the lowest of
the two levels originally.
• We Have a Mole (Level Four) - Yet another
way for other Fera to besmirch the Moldwarp name
comes with this useful Gift, which grants the ability
to temporarily shed Gaia’s love. While in his Breed
Form, the Investigator renounces all Fera capabilities
and Gaian spiritual bearing to become a fully mundane
version of that form for a short time. Snake spirits teach
this Gift.
System: The Moldwarp spends one point of Gnosis
and rolls Stamina + Primal-Urge (difficulty 7) to shed
any trace of supernatural Gaian essence from himself.
This state lasts for one night per success rolled, or until
the weremole cancels the power himself. While non-
supernatural he cannot use or roll Gnosis, Primal-Urge,
or Rage, cannot transform, and cannot use Gifts, Rites,
or Tools. By the same token, no senses on earth can pick
up a trace of supernatural spirit or Gaian energy; for
all intents and purposes, he is either a natural human,
natural mole, or an inexplicable but non-empowered
98 Moldwarps
hybrid of the two in the case of Metis.
• Perfect Passage (Level Five) - As the General
Bastet Gift (see W20 Changing Breeds page 86).
Buried Gifts
Moldwarps lost to the fallen Wyrm are sick
individuals held in slavery to not only the Wyrm and
its spiritual minions, but often in a place beneath Black
Spiral Dancers, who use them as grunts and workers.
Note: A Buried may take Gifts of his former Tunnel
at character creation if he has one. Buried cannot learn
Gifts from any Tunnel other than their own once they
have been taken by Tommyknocker.
• Acid Talons (Level One) - As the Black Spiral
Dancers Philodox Gift (see Book of the Wyrm page
120).
• Bane Protector (Level One) - As the Black
Spiral Dancers Gift (see W20 page 426).
• Allies Below (Level Two) - As the Black Spiral
Dancers Galliard Gift (see W20 page 426).
• Grave Claws (Level Two) - As the Black Spiral
Dancers Gift (see Book of the Wyrm page 121).
• Banish Totem (Level Three) - As the Uktena
Gift (see W20 page 198).
• Claws of Corrosion (Level Three) - As the Black
Spiral Dancers Gift (see Book of the Wyrm page 121).
• Obsidian Reprisal (Level Four) - As the Black
Spiral Dancers Ragabash Gift: Silver Reprisal (see Book
of the Wyrm page 120), except that the Gift obviously
deals with obsidian rather than silver.
• Magmatic Excavation (Level Four) - A Buried
can forcefully ‘melt’ a Passage, causing earthquakes
above and turning the Passage walls into obsidian
(meaning it's incredibly resistant but Wyrmishly affects
Moldwarp). Volcano spirits teach this Gift, though only
once they have been awakened by the Buried.
System: The Moldwarp spends two points of Rage
to gain 10 automatic successes on a single digging roll
(see page 64) and can spend further points for further
lots of 10 successes. In doing this, the integrity category
may be ignored as the Passage made is permanent
and formed from pure, hard obsidian. If the power is
directed at an individual, it deals 10 levels of Aggravated
damage and leaves any resulting wounds (or the entire
corpse) converted into obsidian; such a target may
attempt to dodge the attack at difficulty of 6, reducing
the damage dealt by one per success.
• Sinking Cities (Level Five) - The Moldwarp
summons a mouth of the great Wyrm to swallow up
a patch of the Overland itself. In an explosive bite of
negative energy, an infinite sinkhole appears in a chosen
location and destroys anything and everything occupying
the area. Limestone spirits teach this Gift.
System: The Moldwarp spends any number of
points of Gnosis and focuses on the same location for a
number of turns equal to eleven minus his permanent
Rage rating. Once this period is over, the area explodes
as the visible mouth of a colossal Wyrmish avatar tears
up into an area of Overland a number of cubic metres
in size equal to ten times the Gnosis points spent.
Anything standing in the way of this consuming Wyrm
must roll Wits + Athletics (difficulty 5 + the amount of
Gnosis being spent) to dive out of the way or be utterly
consumed by it. Any objects or structures in the area are
destroyed. Following the bite, the Wyrm sinks back into
Otherland.
Hill Gifts
By contrast with the numerous Camps of the Garou
Nation, there are only a small handful of Moldwarp
Hills; in their busy lives, weremoles have little room for
or inclination towards involvement with social groups
than Labour and Sett. The few that have arisen, due
either to peculiar situations in human settlements or
radical strains of thought, operate purely as a secondary
objective to the Moldwarp following their core duty and
transcend Tunnel boundaries. These Hills have each
managed to develop a suite of Gifts to help them in
their various causes, some of which are pure and go to
aiding Moldwarp duty as a whole, while others are far
more malicious or deviate from orthodoxy.
Note: Moldwarps who belong to a Hill may select
Gifts from Breed, Warren, Tunnel, Hill, and potentially
also the Chamber lists.
Ape’s Redeemers
The Redeemers do their duty just as any other
Moldwarp does; in truth, they go above and beyond
what Grandmother Mole asks of them, albeit to ends
at odds with most of their Breedmates. Above all else,
they yearn to show the Fera world that humanity is
and always has been the cause of virtually all Gaia's
problems. Their Gifts simply bring this truth to the fore
and aims to begin fixing the issue once and for all.
• Undermine (Level One) - The many frailties
of human beings are quite disgusting to any right-
minded Redeemer, and how they hide these frailties
can be even worse. This simple Gift came about to shed
these falsehoods and show the ape's thinly-veiled true
behaviour in full. Snake spirits teach this Gift.
Chapter Four: Means of Mending
System: The Moldwarp rolls Manipulation +
Etiquette (difficulty 6) while engaged in conversation
with his victim, enquiring as to her worst character
traits in a manner which is at first acceptable if a
little prurient, then increasingly explicit. If the roll
is successful, she very begins openly and intensely
expressing her most selfish and destructive habits and
tendencies - though she is not compelled to confess any
particular deeds - and subsequent rolls made to urge her
to act on them receive a -2 difficulty bonus.
• Beastmind (Level Two) - As the Red Talons Gift
(see W20 page 186).
• True Colours (Level Three) - To truly uncover
the unbridled corruption in the heart of man, a
Redeemer can force the ape's mouth to confess every
single Triatically-influenced act she has ever performed.
Chameleon spirits teach Moldwarps this Gift.
System: The Moldwarp spends one point of Gnosis
and rolls Manipulation + Intimidation (difficulty 6). The
number of successes generally indicates how extensive
and personal the admissions go, and all relate to at least
one of the Triat. The confessions may range anywhere
from habitual littering (indicating the Wyld and possibly
also the Wyrm), to manipulating workplace rules to get
disfavoured fellow employees fired (in alignment with
the Weaver), to a series of premeditated rapes - a sin of
deeply Wyrmish nature.
• Spider's True Visage (Level Four) - Humans
rely on technology more than the natural world; worse,
many in the developed world spurn Gaia’s beauty in
favour of the glaring little lights they carry. This harsh,
ugly Gift brings out the Weaver inherent to them by
transforming tech-dependent humans into delicate
reflections of the Weaver’s form. Any spider spirit may
tech this Gift.
System: The Moldwarp makes an opposed roll
of his Gnosis against the victim’s Willpower (both
difficulty 7). If the Moldwarp wins, his victim gains
arachnoid features in direct relation to how dependent
on technology she is for a number of hours equal to
his number of successes over hers, all of which are
unpleasant and potentially debilitating.
For example, the country shepherd who ventures
into her village once a week for groceries and still uses
a phone from the nineties may simply suffer from a
thin, easily-removed web coating on her fingers. At the
other end of the spectrum, the tech mogul with an
interactive smart home, activity trackers, and augmented
reality glasses would sprout four vestigial arms and six
more eyes, become coated in a thick hairy exoskeleton,
or develop great chittering mandibles; with this extra
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demand on his body’s stores and stability, such a human
would degrade physically and die long before the Gift
wears off.
• Feral Lobotomy (Level Five) - As the Theurge
Gift (see W20 page 165).
Plague Doctors Gifts
The Plague Doctors marched forth in the Second
Time of Pestilence, becoming one of humanity’s
foremost defences against the diseases wrought upon
them by the Ratkin. Similar in some ways to the Galemy,
Plague Doctors set their minds to cutting off death at
its source, but rather than countermanding the natural
order of Gaia, they see themselves as warriors against
pestilence and fight it at every opportunity.
• Banish Sickness (Level One) - As the Bastet Gift
(see W20 Changing Breeds page 85).
• Refresh (Level Two) - As the Kieh Gift (see
W20 Changing Breeds page 118).
• Viral Purity (Level Three) - Plague Doctors
have learned to change the spirit of a virus to a Gaian
ailment. The virus attacks only those afflicted by Triatic
taint, highlighting them as individuals in need of
treatment and cleansing. Frog and leech spirits teach
this Gift.
System: The Moldwarp simply gifts a point
of Gnosis to an individual infected by a non-life-
threatening virus. That individual is relieved from
the condition but becomes a carrier for a benign,
symptomless virus which bears Gaian influence. This
lasts for a number of days equal to the Moldwarp’s Rank
before it changes back to its previous state. The virus is
transmitted by contact with infected material, much like
the common cold, but is only viable in other humans
who have become or are tainted by one or more of the
Triat, lasting one fewer day for each other person in the
chain of transmission. All carriers of this virus grant +1
dice to rolls made to cleanse them.
• Send out your Dead (Level Four) - Heaving
corpses for burial by hand is time-consuming and
laborious, not to mention conspicuous. As a solution,
the Plague Doctors discovered a method of flooding a
body with Gnosis to temporarily reanimate it, sending
it autonomously towards a set target without disturbing
the spirit of the deceased. Flatworm spirits teach this
Gift to the truly worthy, as do representatives of the
Dead Man.
System: The weremole simply places his hand on the
head of a corpse and spends one point of Gnosis. The
body stands and follows directions relating to interring
itself, such as "get on the cart", "head to the cemetery", or
100 Moldwarps
"dig a grave". The corpse fulfils the task before collapsing
back to its original position; if interfered with it will
simply collapse again. By spending another point of
Gnosis and rolling Charisma + Medicine (difficulty 6),
the Moldwarp may pass the effects to one other corpse
within sight who died of a similar cause per success.
• Doctor’s Orders (Level Five) - As the Red
Talons Gift: Scabwalker Curse (see W20 page 187),
except that this Gift suffuses the victim with both
Wyldish and Weaverish energies, forcing her to avoid
Wyrmish contact in the same way as those marked
as Scabwalkers avoid Weaverish contact. The Gift is
normally performed to keep victims away from pestilent,
dying, and rotting hosts of contagion, the reasoning
being that a little hurt now is better than a true need for
healing later. Gaian spirits of health and medicine teach
this Gift.
Young Worlders Gifts
The Young World Hill is as close to the Weaver as
Moldwarps have ever come, save perhaps for freak cases
of those who have wholly served her. Having taken to
heart the frequent waves of death that have emerged
from within human society through plague, famine,
and war, their common aim has become to dispose of
elements of human society that cause these catastrophes,
thus limiting the Triat's madness and coming one
step closer to curing them. They use Gifts to help free
human society of Triatic influence, rather than blindly
cleansing the world at large.
• Corruption Analysis (Level One) - Young
Worlders learn to see the Triat in human society
far deeper than in people's simple surface actions.
While travelling Overland, a Moldwarp may recognise
human structures and devices on a course to falling
to imbalance long before it happens. The spirit of
telephones teach this rare Gift.
System: In a city, the Moldwarp must roll
Intelligence + Occult (difficulty 7) to determine whether
specific technology, architecture, or even more abstract
social structures may fall victim to the Triat. The
successes rolled determine how deep and insightful the
observation is, from a binge drinking trend pointing
towards industry corruption to the installation of
coordinated wireless transmitters by a mysterious almost
certainly intent on transforming the populace into
Drones.
1-2 Successes: Lots of independent galleries opening
recently; A park is planned to be cleared for yet another
office building; How are kids in this town getting so
much King’s beer?
 3-4 Successes: Has that street art changed positions
since I last saw it?; That new high-tech compound sure
has a lot of power cables running to it; A nightclub
called Fangtasia - seriously?
5 Successes: This live-action roleplaying league will
likely be taken over by Wyld creatures to harvest its
patrons’ boundless passion; That new signal technology
will probably destroy humanity’s critical thinking;
That ‘neighbourhood improvement’ action group will
probably start sacrificing the homeless to the Wyrm
soon.
• Ear to the Ground (Level Two) - Humans have
used subterranean cables for information transfer for a
century in ever-growing abundance. With an ear pressed
to the ground, a Moldwarp may hear the transition of
signals bearing Triatic influence passing through any
nearby cables or wiring. Rabbit and hare spirits teach
this Gift.
System: The weremole must place his ear against
the earth and roll Perception + Primal-Urge (difficulty
7). He may hear anything being discussed which might
have been directly touched by the Triat help. Promotions
for highly experimental avant-garde art projects travel
with the frantic reverberations of the Wyld; orders
from Meditech research facilities may be peppered with
the crackling, Weaverish static; and intoxicated threats
between lovers may be drowned out by the Wyrm’s
low, distorted drone. With enough successes (according
to the Storyteller's discretion but generally requiring
more for weaker influences), the Moldwarp may follow
these broadcasts to their destination to gather further
information on their fallen topic.
• Ghost of the Machine (Level Three) - As the
Bone Gnawers Gift: Call the Rust (see W20 page 175).
• Attunement (Level Four) - As the Bone
Gnawers Gift (see W20 page 176).
• Malleable Spirit (Level Five) - As the Theurge
Gift (see W20 page 166).
Rites
Moldwarps are easily seen as a traditionalist Breed.
While it is true that they have entered a state of flux
in the twentieth century, as a whole they have stuck
closely to particular behaviours throughout their history.
Because of this, Rites play a significant part in their
culture, and not a single pup rises in Rank without
learning at least one. The central focus of observing
time-honoured Rites is the Breeds’ range of cleansing
rituals. Weremoles have prided themselves on their
ability to cleanse individuals of Triatic taint and to allow
Chapter Four: Means of Mending
them to take up Gaian lives afterwards. They quietly
note the fact that they have devised far more complex
and effective forms of the Rite of Cleansing known to
the Garou, all to the disdain of most werewolves in the
know.
Note: Moldwarps may learn almost any Fera Rite as
well as those listed here. Some, such as the Winter Wolf,
are far more common since Moldwarps are not expected
to die in battle but rather live on to very old age. Others,
like the Long Run, are not exactly befitting of a mole.
Cleansing Rites
Rites of Cleansing are not entirely unique to
Moldwarps, but their innovation and dedication to
performing them, and their separation of such Rites
as a category of their own, are characteristic of the
Breed. Naturally, Cleansing Rites are usually the sole
purview of the Cleanser Warren, though occasionally
other Warrens learn them. Aside from those listed
below, Moldwarps occasionally learn the Garou Rite of
Cleansing, more as a training tool for young pups or as
a means of understanding werewolves, than a practical
means of curing taint.
System: The standard roll for a Cleansing Rite is
Stamina + Rituals (difficulty 7).
Rite of the Sanctified Spirit
Level One
The cleansing of spirits is the first and foremost
Ritual any Cleanser learns. This Rite is reminiscent of
the Rite of Cleansing known to Garou; this is, as all
Elder Moldwarps will hold true, because the werewolves
were taught it by - or stole it from - Moldwarp Cleansers.
Inside a Cleansing Chamber, the ritemaster must
walk around the Sceatha in a clockwise direction, with
one of each other Triant’s Rehabilitation Trinkets
(Weaverish and Wyrmish for Wyld Sceatha, and so
on). As he begins his circle, he activates one Trinket
by making the usual roll, then upon beginning his
second lap does so with the other corresponding
Trinket. Once both Trinkets have been activated in the
Sceatha's presence, the Moldwarp makes one final lap
while scratching marks in the ground pointed towards
the Sceatha (typically with his own claws, though a
sharp implement may also be used)., each symbolising
a cutting of the bonds tying the Sceatha and its master
Triant; Once the full circle is made, the Sceatha is
cleansed to one degree or another, and after multiple
performances or a particularly well-executed one against
a weak spirit, the subject becomes fully Gaian.
This Rite is performed exclusively on spirits, though
101
this includes both those explicitly in service to one of
the Triat and those who do not fit so neatly beneath any,
such as Plasmic creatures of the Underworld (usually
Wyrmish in nature) and Chimera of the Dreaming
(typically Wyldish); wraiths and changelings are
unaffected by this Rite.
System: The Moldwarp makes the two necessary
Tool activation rolls for Rehabilitation Trinkets (see page
114), totalling two rolls representing the two opposing
forces of the Triat to the spirit’s allegiance. Following
this, he makes the final standard roll while he scratches
the earth. Each success permanently cleanses one
point of Essence from the spirit being cleansed; these
cleansed points are ignored, making the spirit weak and
vulnerable. If the spirit still possesses any non-cleansed
Essence, the ritual must be re-performed on the same
Sceatha after one week has passed.
For Plasmics and Chimera, multiply the Sceatha's
Corpus or Glamour by 10 to gain an approximate
Essence. Once all of the Sceatha's Essence has been
cleansed, it becomes an Umbral spirit closely mirroring
its previous self, only now in service to Gaia.
Restitution
Level Two
In the case of individuals who have been touched
by one of the Triat, and may consider taking their
involvement further, Moldwarps can use a Restitution
Rite in order to extort a spiritual toll from them.
Correctly performed, it weakens the potential Sceatha,
making them associate tainted activity with suffering.
The Rite was originally used against Fera who became
too involved with the Wyld, Weaver, or Wyrm to
unseemly degrees, but now it has been employed against
many different types of Triatically-touched individuals.
Any number of Moldwarps stand before an
individual who carries the mark of taint on her,
arranged in an arrowhead formation with the ritemaster
at its point. All attendees then begin rhythmically
beating on the ground while the ritemaster stares into
the subject’s eyes. Though multiple applications of the
Rite may be necessary, the tainted one eventually feels
her will fade and a feeling of weakness wash over her as
her ‘fine’ is exacted.
System: The ritemaster adds one to the dice pool of
a standard Cleansing Rite roll for each other Moldwarp
participating in the Rite, to a maximum of five. The
base difficulty is 7, increased to 8 for those who have
sworn themselves to a Triant - such as knowing Pentex
executives, Black Furies who venerate the Wyld, or
Technocrats who have a grasp on the Weaver’s existence
102 Moldwarps
- and to 9 for soul-deep followers such as Black Spiral
Dancers, Drones, and Galemy without any Pure Breed
(see page 73). The victim loses a number of temporary
Willpower points equal to the successes rolled. The
Restitution Rite can only be performed once every 24
hours.
If the subject loses all her temporary Willpower
points due to this Rite (or has it performed on her
while she has none), she falls unconscious. Upon
awakening, she remembers very little of the Rite
or any former interest in or loyalty to the Triant in
question. If she encounters its manifestations once
again she instinctively responds negatively, requiring
the expenditure of a temporary Willpower point and
a successful Willpower roll (difficulty 8) to engage
with it on positive terms; if this roll is successful, the
Restitution Rite’s effects are lost.
Rite of the Cleansed Mind
Level Three
When a living creature has been overtaken by
spiritual Sceatha, and become Sceatha themselves,
the cleansing is a far more involved process than for
removing mere contact with Triatic forces. The purpose
of this Rite is to force the spirit from its host, separating
the two to ultimately perform the Rite of the Cleansed
Spirit on the possessor. The host more often than not
requires extensive healing Gifts following this Rite, as
the changes wrought by possession can cause large-scale
damage to her body which, with the influence of the
spirit which caused them removed, threaten to kill her.
The Sceatha is restrained at the centre of a
Cleansing Chamber, around whom stand the
participants in a semi-circle, each clutching a single
Rehabilitation Trinket. Each one activates their Trinket
while the ritemaster physically pushes the Sceatha
towards them. The force of the push does not need to
have much of a physical effect, but once it is applied at
the correct time, the spirit within is caught between the
ritemaster’s will and the repulsing Trinkets, and forcibly
propelled from its host.
System: This Rite is used on any Sceatha that comes
about from possession, including Fomori, Gorgons,
Drones, changelings, demons, and those inhabited
by the consciousness of a vampire; though classed as
‘possessed’, Kami are Gaian and thus not considered
Sceatha, making them immune to the Rite. Fomori,
Gorgons, and Drones require a number of Trinkets
from each other Triant equal to the possessing spirit’s
Gnosis (for example, a Scrag-made Fomor would need a
collection of four Gnosis’s worth of both Wyldish and
Weaverish Trinkets).
 Changelings (if using C20) need specifically-
measured collections of Trinkets: Weaverish ones with
Gnosis equal to the Sceatha’s Glamour plus corrupted
Willpower points (if any), and Wyrmish Trinkets with
Gnosis equal to her Banality.
Those affected by vampiric Discipline powers
such as Subsume the Spirit, Possession, or Daemonic
Possession (see V20 pages 131, 155, and 165), including
others with similar effects, require both Weaver and
Wyldish Trinkets with Gnosis both equal to the
vampire’s permanent Willpower rating.
Once the required Trinkets are acquired and
present, the ritemaster makes the standard roll and
reduces the subject’s temporary Willpower by his
successes; in the case of a possessing vampire, this
happens to the vampire rather than the victim of his
power. The Rite cannot be reattempted until a full week
has passed. The Rite is complete once the Sceatha’s
Willpower reaches 0, at which point the host and spirit
are detached.
Changelings who are subject to this Rite are
Undone (see C20) and a Chimera is created reflecting
their fae mien. A possessing vampires removed from a
victim with this Rite has her consciousness return to her
body, whereupon she suffers a -1 dice pool penalty to all
rolls for the remainder of the night as she struggles to
regain her awareness.
Chapter Four: Means of Mending
At the Storyteller’s discretion it is also very possible
to perform this Rite on Fallen demons, by using
Trinkets with Gnosis equal to the target’s Faith rating
from each Triant, though if the Rite is botched the
demon becomes an Earthbound occupying the former
Cleansing Chamber (see Demon: The Fallen and
Earthbound).
Rite of Release
Level Four
If a human Sceatha is brought back into Gaia’s
grace, they are very prone to simply fall back into their
old Triatic habits. With this Rite, the cleansed human
is let out back into their world with a touch of Gaia
remaining, so as to better fend off agents or influences of
the Triat.
After being successfully cleansed with another Rite,
the human subject is dressed in robes tailored for her,
made exclusively from natural fibres and embroidered
with glyphs countervailing her former alignment. She is
then given a slice of Consumer Worm flesh, which she
must eat. After this, she is released into Overland and
gradually forgets the existence of Moldwarps, the Triat,
and related supernatural matters; she typically appears to
have been abducted and quickly released by a mysterious
cult to any who question her.
103
 System: The Moldwarp and the ex-Sceatha subject
both make a standard roll difficulty 8. If both rolls are
successful, the subject takes on one permanent point
of Gnosis from the Consumer Worm’s flesh. This lasts
until she is next in contact with taint that could lead
to corruption and Sceathahood, during which time she
appears distinctly Gaian to those able to perceive such
things. The Gnosis is then automatically spent, and the
subject is repulsed by the taint rather than invited to
it. If she happens to ever perform Gaian meditation or
spends a long rest in a Den or other Caern, the Gnosis
is refilled, but more often than not it remains spent.
Rite of the Cleansed Body
Level Five
For those creatures who have been created with the
taint of the Triat in every fibre of their being, cleansing
is more intense, more unpredictable, and rarely leaves
a healthy specimen behind. Creatures such as fallen
Fera, ghouls, Inanimae, Chulorviah infectees, and other
physical manifestations of the Triat must be invasively
cleansed with this Rite.
System: This level of cleansing doesn’t have
a specific rule set for a Moldwarp to learn, as the
techniques involved vary so much that it would be
impossible to account for every variation. Not only does
each Cleanser work in his own way, but each Sceatha’s
Triatic humours must be assessed and counteracted in
ever-evolving ways. Certainly, they are too unique to be
represented with the standard roll for Cleansing Rite.
Three examples are given below.
Fallen Fera and physical manifestations of the Triat
should have what it means to be what they are taken
away from them, only to be restored with Gaia’s grace.
This can come about with a series of opposed Gnosis
and Rage rolls to reduce the Sceatha’s own respective
permanent ratings. They then must replenish those
ratings, first Rage through degrading and infuriating
treatment under moonlight, then Gnosis through
willing redemption and difficult meditation in Gaia’s
name. Only if all of this is successful will the Sceatha be
returned to Her way.
For Inanimae (see Changeling: The Dreaming
20th Anniversary Edition), the Moldwarp may have
to craft a Cleansing Chamber around the its Anchor,
then assault its Glamour with Weaverish Gnosis. A
number of successful opposed Willpower rolls equal to
the Inanimae’s permanent Glamour rating while using
Weaverish Trinkets would transform her Anchor into
a mundane natural substance and leave the Inanimae
Undone.
104 Moldwarps
For ghouls - humans, animals, and potentially
other forms of life which have imbibed vampiric blood
- the Moldwarp makes the standard Cleansing Rite
roll against the permanent Willpower of the primary
controlling vampire (that is, the one the ghoul currently
holds the most blood points from), both at difficulty 7.
If the Moldwarp wins, the subject loses all the benefits
of drawbacks of ghouldom, no longer has an attachment
to its domitor, and resumes ageing normally (though age
does not ‘catch up’ to them, which would cause very old
ghouls to instantly die).
Ultimately, the player and the Storyteller should
come together and devise a Rite which is befitting the
chronicle and the character, one that is both taxing on
the Moldwarp and engaging for all involved.
Den Rites
Dens are as important to Moldwarps as Caerns are
to a Garou - if not more so, since they spend far more
time within them. The Rites created for the Den are
primarily learned by the Architects of a Sett, blending
them with Gifts to keep a Burrow functioning in orderly
fashion.
System: Den Rites require a Charisma + Rituals roll
(difficulty 7).
Rite of Passage-Making
Level Two
Digging a Passage is unlike digging through
terrestrial soil; in some ways it is easier, but in many
others far harder. The first step is to carve the Glyph
of Safe Passage at the intended entrance. From there,
small labours of mole spirits dig the Passage in service to
Grandmother Mole and the ritemaster, clearing away the
barrier between Underland and Otherland in intervals,
waiting for the Glyph to be reinscribed. Eventually, the
Moldwarp is led through to his destination and a new
Passage is made.
System: The ritemaster must make a number of rolls
equal roughly to one every ten miles, representing times
when the Glyph must be inscribed. If any of these rolls
are botched, the Passage collapses and all involved must
roll Wits + Athletics to escape in time or be buried in
the earth and suffer six levels of bashing damage.
Each Glyph remains for a number of lunar months
equal to the number of successes rolled, at which time
they must either be maintained or the Passage will
collapse.

Labour Day
Level Three
The creation of a new Labour is a critical moment
in any Sett’s proceedings. Every Labour possesses a
unique section of the Burrow, maintaining its various
chambers and ensuring the wellbeing of all Moldwarps,
kinfolk, and Sceatha therein, so the camaraderie of a
Labour must be absolute. The prospective members
come together and each scoop a pawful of earth into
one mound, on which the ritemaster inscribes their
names. This mound becomes the power of their Labour
and even shines with a Gnostic glow through Otherland.
System: Once the scooping is complete, the
ritemaster makes his roll as he inscribes his fellow’s
names into the mound. If successful, the Labour gains a
+1 dice pool bonus to any Gnosis rolls made while they
work together. Additionally, members of a Labour which
has performed this Rite may deposit points of Gnosis in
the mound which members of the Labour may extract
and make use of for themselves. If a new member joins
the Labour, this Rite must be repeated for him to gain
its benefits.
Rite of the Run
Level Five
To most weremoles, the Run is nothing more or
less than the foremost Passage, but to those who have
reached greatness it is far more. It facilitates travel
between Underland and Run’s End, an otherwise
impossible feat as Moldwarps cannot simply Dig
Downwards to reach their death-realm. The Run also
forms spiritual supports for the Tellurian - when the
Run first fell the world saw utter chaos, and since then
each instance of a branch being destroyed has seen
catastrophic Overland consequences. Any weremole
who performs this legendary Rite digs a new branch of
the Run and immediately meets with more acclaim than
ever before.
Starting in Run’s End, the weremole digs from
inside the colossal obsidian structure of the Body of
Death. He is quickly joined by Grandmother Mole and
must compete with her to dig through Otherland to his
destination. If she is suitably impressed, the two of them
burst through into Underland and the Run branch will
be formed forever.
System: The Moldwarp must first make a digging
roll, requiring ten successes while spending one point
of Gnosis. He enters the fabric of Otherland and is met
by the Totem Grandmother Mole. She then tests him
as the two of them dig on, perhaps pulling a corpse
from the walls, summoning a horrific Sceatha (rather
alarmingly plucked from an in-use Cleansing Chamber),
or lead him towards particularly hazardous regions of
Chapter Four: Means of Mending
Underland. Each of these tests require the Moldwarp to
make reasonably challenging rolls in response to them.
If he is successful through Mole’s tests, he digs through
to the desired Den and a new branch of the Run is
permanently laid.
Death Rites
Moldwarps toil in death all day and night, and see
‘their Wyrm’ as their true spiritual guardian. To that
end, weremoles undertake almost every Death Rite
commonly known to Fera kind devoutly, as well as a few
unique to them.
Rite of the Great Return
Level Three
No Moldwarp is mourned or cried over when their
death comes, for they have simply been chosen by Gaia
to become something new. His body is given to the soil
once more, and under the Rite of the Great Return it
is quickly reduced to its base components, while those
who handed him over receive his essence. The body
is laid down in the centre of a Burial Chamber and
the deceased’s handlers, usually those of his former
Labour, scoop nearby earth up to his sides so that only
his face and chest remain exposed. His body then slowly
transmutes into the soil, releasing a light blue vapour as
it does.
System: As an exception to the normal roll for a
Death Rite, each participant rolls a number of dice
equal to their Rank. As they bury their fallen comrade,
his temporary Gnosis, Rage, and Willpower are
distributed amongst the surrounding Moldwarps. Each
receives a number of points equal to the successes they
rolled collectively between the three ratings, so long as
no individual gains more points than the Moldwarp had
at the time of his death.
Rite of Salvation
Level Five
Occasionally, Sceatha see the error of their ways and
wish to rejoin Gaia permanently, through death. The
Sceatha is taken to the Body of Death and surrounded
by Moldwarps as they regale her with tales and songs
regarding Gaia, the Three Lands, and the future
salvation of the Triat. As the Sceatha naturally perishes
from the Body of Death’s aura, her body and soul
return to a state of purity with no blemish of the Triat’s
corruption.
System: The lead Moldwarp guiding the Sceatha
towards Gaia’s grace makes his roll while speaking of
Her nature. If he succeeds, the Sceatha dies and returns
105
to a natural state. If he fails, the Sceatha dies horribly
in a fit of bleeding, vomiting, and seizures. If the roll is
botched, the Sceatha enters a frenzied and tries at all
costs to reach a place suited to her Triatic alignment.
Tools
To weremoles, there are no clear distinctions
between a Talen and a Fetish, primarily due to their
unique method of and purpose for creating such
spiritually-charged objects. Moldwarps create ‘Tools’ -
their prosaic nomenclature for anything considered to
be a Fetish, Talen, or similar items by other Breeds - the
exact same way as most others, by binding spirits into
the desired object. However, they only ever use Sceatha
spirits of the Triat, never Gaian ones. While inside such
material prisons, these spirits are gradually cleansed in a
similar manner to being held within cleansing chambers,
which in fact represent the Breed’s sole use of Gaian
spirits in this way. What other Breeds would call a
Talen is made using only a weak Sceatha, the essence of
which is not strong enough to require invasive cleansing,
and thus the Tool itself cleanses the spirit after one or
two uses. Hardier Tools act more like holding cells for
the Sceatha, preserving a potent spirit battled into a
weakened state in a position of inactivity, siphoning
its Essence as and when it recovers for the activation
of the Tool. Thus, each Tool has a set number of uses,
and when these uses are through the spirit is released
without harm, rehabilitated into a balanced member of
the spirit world.
System: To create a Tool, Moldwarps undertake the
exact same process used by most other Breeds in creating
their Fetishes, differing only in that they use tainted
and fallen spirits in place of pure Gaian ones (for these
rules, see the Rite of the Fetish in W20, page 213). The
obvious exceptions to this rule are that the Buried don’t
use Wyrmish spirits, but rather corrupt Gaian, Wyldish,
and Weaverish ones into Banes, and that Galemy do
not use Wyldlings, instead infecting all others with the
Wyld.
All Tools have a number of uses equal to the Gnosis
rating of the spirit used to make them. As the Moldwarp
activates a particular Tool, she attempts to impose
Gaian Gnosis upon the spirit and reduce the potency
of its corruption, thus reducing the number of uses
she can extort from it. Once the spirit has been utterly
oppressed by Gaian Gnosis, it is permanently cleansed
and released from the Tool, which becomes no more
than a mundane object, though it can be reused and
once again be made a true Tool.
To activate a Tool, the Moldwarp makes an opposed
106 Moldwarps
Gnosis roll against the Tool’s Gnosis, both at difficulty
6. If the Moldwarp succeeds, the power is activated
as intended and the Tool’s Gnosis rating (and thus
the number of uses left in it) is reduced by 1. If the
Tool botches, it is not only activated as above, but the
difficulty of the following activation roll is increased
to 7 for the Tool but remains at 6 for the Moldwarp
(though the Gnosis rating may still only be reduced by
1). If the Tool succeeds, its power is not activated at all
and its Gnosis rating remains the same. If the Moldwarp
botches, the Tool’s Gnosis rating is increased by 1 and,
at the Storyteller’s discretion, the Tool may create some
effect contrary to its purpose, related to the Charms and
behaviours of the spirit within it.
Once a Tool has had all its uses expended, the spirit
is released again in a Gaian form, losing any Charms
unique to Banes, Wyldlings, or Weaver spirits, and
possibly gaining new ones to represent their conversion.
Note that despite the reduction of the Tool’s Gnosis
rating to 0, the spirit’s own Gnosis remains at its
original level.
Note: For a Moldwarp player to create a Tool
mimicking the Fetishes or Talens of other Breeds, he
must simply agree with the Storyteller what Sceatha
spirit is most relevant to the Tool and then continue
in the usual creation method. For example, to make a
Spirit Tracer, the Moldwarp could use a Scryer Bane,
a Spark Wyldling, or a Hunter Spider Weaver spirit,
to achieve the same effect as a Garou would by using a
predatory animal spirit.
For the purposes of using the Fetish Background for
Moldwarps, the level rating of each Tool has been given
and should be used in conjunction with the Background
in the same way Fetishes are.
Golden Lantern
Very few Diggers are found without a Golden
Lantern hanging from a belt loop or affixed to a hard
hat as they spelunk their way through the deepest depths
of Underland, treated as they are as both useful tools
and status symbols in equal measure. The Lantern, at its
core is nothing more than simply that: a lantern of one
design from a vast an array - many Architects devise their
own designs of lantern and supply their Sett with them
as a kind of trademark for their work - with a round
plate of gold attached to the object's foremost face,
covered by a glyph-inscribed seal. Young Moldwarps are
quick to point out that, with the advancement of electric
lighting, Golden Lanterns aren't really the most efficient
method of lighting your way as you head through
darkened passageways. In return, Elders scoff and crawl
onwards when the pup is left stranded in the darkness
once his batteries have died.
System: To activate a Golden Lantern, the
Moldwarp must simply lift the seal and expose the
spirit within to the world. The Lantern illuminates
an area of space equal to half a cubic metre/one foot
per level of the captured spirit’s Rage in all directions
from the Lantern, piercing even supernatural darkness
which ordinary light cannot. Illumination using this
Tool lasts for one scene per use, after which time the
seal automatically slides back to its original position,
enclosing the golden plate behind it.
Level: 1
Suggested Sceatha: Furmlings (Rage 10, Gnosis 5,
Willpower 5, Essence 20-40) or Vectors (Rage 3, Gnosis
6, Willpower 9, Essence 17-30).
Poison Pipe
The Poison Pipe is a roughly-carved pipe formed
from the ribbed and undulated column of a stalagmite,
hollowed out with a rounded dish-like mouth at its
furthest end. When a Moldwarp lights the pipe to
smoke tobacco or teaching herbs - only in their natural,
unadulterated form - and expresses a large cloud
with his exhalations, he is shown the presence of any
contaminants, mundane or supernatural, in his local
vicinity. The cloud then gradually drifts along as the
weremole makes his way, gradually dissipating as it does
so before fading completely.
System: To activate the Fetish, a Moldwarp need
only take a deep drag of his pipe and blow the dense
smoke out into the space around him. Assuming it was
successfully activated, he must make a Perception +
Alertness roll (difficulty 6 for well-lit environments, 7
for gloomy areas, and 8 for almost total darkness) to see
the presence of toxic contaminants in the air (including
Wyrm taint and some Wyldish substances) as bright
auroras when in contact with the smoke. The smoke
remains for around one minute per level of permanent
Gnosis possessed by the Moldwarp.
Note: Gazers of the Deep cannot make effective
use of this Tool due to their Chamber’s Sightless Gaze
Fault; though it reveals things supernaturally, it relies on
mundane sight.
Level: 2
Suggested Sceatha: Hoglings (Rage 8, Gnosis 7,
Willpower 3, Essence 18-40), Mites and Tites (Rage 2,
Gnosis 3, Willpower 9, Essence 10-20; see page 143), or
Twisters (Rage 8, Gnosis 9, Willpower 8, Essence 27-50).
Chapter Four: Means of Mending
Moleskine
Named this more recently after modern Moldwarps
got their paws on a human writing set, the Moleskine
is a self-writing map used in an array of different ways.
Architects use them to map out the different rooms,
passages, and traps placed by their Labours within a
Burrow; Diggers simply use them to map out the vast
sprawl of Underland passages deep beneath the ground,
heading both in and out of Otherland at random;
Wardens and Cleansers keep an intimate track of the
cleansing chambers within their Burrow, adding the
various procedures needed to keep them secure; and
Trackers use them on Overland to keep track of its
disorienting geography.
System: The Moldwarp needs only activate this
Tool at the start of the day, following which it keeps an
ongoing map of his travels, reducing or increasing in
scale as needed. Only the user may understand the map;
to anyone other than him, it reads as a maddened sprawl
of lines and shapes. The Tool deactivates at sunset of the
same day.
Level: 2
Suggested Sceatha: Scryers (Rage 2, Gnosis 7,
Willpower 4, Essence 13-30), Pattern Spiders (Rage 4,
Gnosis 6, Willpower 6, Essence 16), Net Spiders (Rage
4, Gnosis 8, Willpower 7, Essence 19), or Vectors (Rage
2, Gnosis 6, Willpower 9, Essence 17-30).
Claw Pick
The Claw Pick is a thing of minor sacrifice to the
Moldwarp crafter, in exchange for major personal gain.
It is formed from one of the future wielder's Crinos
claws, pulled from the paw and bored through the core
of the Pick with a shaft of fresh green wood, and sealed
with pitch. The claw - which naturally makes up the
Claw Pick's head - does not return to a talon or nail
of any other form when the user shifts, or due to any
changes in Umbral pressure, though it will transform
back if the creator dies. A Claw Pick is conventionally
used to excavate large masses of stone and dirt in short
order, and is often employed by the Eastern Tunnel to
brutishly overcome their Tunnel’s Fault.
System: The Claw Pick is a short-lived Tool in the
hands of a foolhardy Moldwarp, for each swing is a use
of its ability. The swing adds an automatic ten successes
to a single digging roll made by the wielder. The Pick
also deals Strength +5 Lethal damage if used in a
combative manner, though each attack counts as a full
use.
Level: 3
107
 Suggested Sceatha: Ooralath (Rage 5, Gnosis 3,
Willpower 7, Essence 15-50), H’rugglings (Rage 3,
Gnosis 5, Willpower 9, Essence 17-40), or Structural
Geomids (Rage 5, Gnosis 10, Willpower 8, Essence 30).
Shackles of the Fallen
The core duty of Trackers is to seek out agents of
the fallen Triat and lure them closer to the Burrow, or
preferably restrain them and drag them back themselves.
To aid in this the perfect tool was created: a set of
manacles which stem the use of non-Gaian magic while
also acting as a sturdy set of restraints in their own right.
The Shackles of the Fallen are a noticeably unwieldy set
of stocks cut from a single sheet of slate, with at least
two holes for arms - or other appendages - to fit through.
When a non-Gaian entity is restrained by the Shackles,
the sheer slate edges tighten to fasten the being's limbs
in a vice-like grip, cutting off their connection to
whichever member of the fallen Triat they derive their
power in the process.
System: After activating the Tool and successfully
securing the victim's appendages in the boreholes, the
Shackles can restrain creatures with up to 6 dots in
Strength (including powers or other bonuses which
increase Strength). Once restrained, all powers the
subject derives from any source other than Gaia suffer a
+2 difficulty penalty to activate.
Level: 4
Suggested Sceatha: Psychomachiae (Rage 10, Gnosis
4, Willpower 6, Essence 20), Pattern Spiders (Rage 4,
Gnosis 6, Willpower 6, Essence 16), or Stasis Vectors
(Rage 6, Gnosis 10, Willpower 10, Essence 26).
108 Moldwarps
Rehabilitation Trinkets
The Rehabilitation Trinkets required to cleanse
tainted beings are numerous, multifaceted, and often
contradictory in nature. As with Tools, Moldwarps
never use Gaian spirits in Rehabilitation Trinkets,
instead rebalancing Sceatha’s spirits using spirits of
the tainted Triat which have not yet themselves been
cleansed within a Tool.
Most Burrows aim to create Trinkets far in advance
and in surplus to requirement, and keep a stock of them
on reserve for almost any eventuality. These assortments
of Trinkets are curated and requisitioned by an Elder
Cleanser - or, lacking a true Elder, the most experienced
Cleanser - and crafted by those Architects beneath him
in Rank. Because of their many applications, the specific
Sceatha used in each Trinket covers the whole menagerie
of Otherland, with all manner of Gnosis levels to boot.
Generally speaking, Wyld Sceatha are bound into
Wyld reflections of Overland such as dried seeds and
shoots, greenwood carvings of clouds and waterfall
mist, or complexly and yet randomly cobbled-together
mixture of fresh materials. Weaver-bound Trinkets come
as woven silk lace, circuit board sections, and precisely-
dimensioned strips of metal. Finally, Wyrmish Trinkets
are created from rotten bones, effigies of monstrous
beings, and arrangements of weapons which have been
used to kill.
System: Trinkets are made just the same as any
other Tool, though they conventionally serve no purpose
outside their use in a cleansing chamber. The Spirit’s
Attributes should be noted for each and every Trinket a
Moldwarp creates, for use in cleansing Rites. For more
on these Rites, see page 107.
War-Mattock
The Order of Thegns are the only class of Moldwarp
allowed to actually kill Sceatha, and only unleashed
when a situation in the field, or more worryingly
within a Burrow, reaches the point of no return and
risks the spread of Triatic taint by the Breed's own
mishandling. For this purpose, Architects devised a
Tool that performs the Rite of Release with every use.
The War-Mattock, a two-pronged battle pick with vines
of ivy and bindweed growing from a hollow in the
shaft, despatches Sceatha too troublesome to cleanse
whilst simultaneously performing the far easier task of
cleansing the creature's dying essence. Using a War-
Mattock ensures that, even in death, the opponent
is incapable of polluting the ever-flowing cycle of life
around it. Despite the far easier method of killing
enemies with the Moldwarps' gargantuan claws, the use
of a War-Mattock is highly sought-after, and is seen as
Portable Cleansing Chamber
one of the greatest honours a martial-minded weremole
could hope to receive. Despite the fact that portable Cleansing Chambers
System: The War-Mattock deals Strength +3 are not situated above a Den, they work nonetheless due
aggravated damage; one use constitutes unsheathing to the Molestones used to power them. They are usually
the Mattock and lasts for the remainder of the scene. formed from light materials and rigged up on basic
Any entity slain by the use of a War-Mattock is instantly transport such as a wooden cart. Due to their mobility,
purified, the body and any remaining spiritual essence cleansing in a portable chamber becomes a much more
is rendered Gaian. Vampire, Kuei-jin and fomori bodies involved situation for the whole Labour, with Wardens
return to their natural human states and gradually maintaining the Sceatha, Architects maintaining the
decay. Wraiths may not be created with the use of this
chamber itself, and Cleansers performing the Rites,
Tool, and any organic remains of an enemy are entirely
while Trackers and Diggers keep the whole group
Gaian to spiritual senses.
coordinated and secure.
Level: 5
Suggested Sceatha: Scrags (Rage 10, Gnosis 4, Defilement Chamber
Willpower 6, Essence 20), Hunter Spider (Rage 10, The Buried make use of a Cleansing Chamber
Gnosis 6, Willpower 8, Essence 24), or Sands of Time to corrupt rather than purify. The cage-like structure
(Rage 8, Gnosis 9, Willpower 8, Essence 27-50).
necessary for this is constructed from Wyrmish materials
Cleansing Chambers such as dismembered flesh, rotten wood, and toxic
waste. These chambers are solely designed to taint a
The Cleansing Chamber is perhaps the most
important creation of the Moldwarp Breed following the being in favour of the Wyrm in a similar manner to
Eruption, and remains in as much use today as it was the Labyrinth though over a far longer course of time,
initially. These structures come in two parts: the main and without the same risk of it being destroyed or
room, used to house the Sceatha; and the ensemble of psychologically devastated. To this end, they are adorned
Rehabilitation Trinkets adorning the floor, walls, and with Wyrmish Trinkets and behave in the exact same
ceiling, all focusing their Gnosis towards the inmate. way as a normal Chamber.
The room is often a simple dug out hollow along a hall
of the Burrow, located directly above the Den itself, Rejuvenation Chamber
but never too close to it. Some Burrows make far more
Much like the Buried, Galemy focus their death-
elaborate cleansing chambers, with depictions of former
relieving Rituals inside a specialised chamber which
inmates and Totems often called upon for aid.
aligns its interments to the Wyld. These Rejuvenation
The Cleansing Chamber is the only tangible
Chambers are always situated in one of their sacred
thing Moldwarps create using Gaian spirits; in fact,
rivers, crafted from maddened weaves of reeds and other
they use pure mole spirits in their construction. Mole
allowed the use of her spirit-brood in this one instance river flora, tethered to the river bank, and spiritually
as a show of fealty to Gaia. The mole spirit is bound house the to-be-Wyldish subject like a fish in a net,
for the cleansing of one Sceatha, after which point it is awaiting the aquatic weremoles' attention.
released. If any Sett breaks this arrangement and entraps
the mole spirit permanently, all faces of Mole reject the
Sett until the spirit is freed and restitutory chiminage is
made. It is for this reason that the Investigator Tunnel
has been abandoned by Shrew Mole and repatriated by
Worm, eager as they are to devise more efficient and less
traditional methods of cleansing for their masters.
Note: For cleansing by use of a cleansing chamber,
see the range of cleansing Rites known to Moldwarps
from page 107 onwards.

Chapter Four: Means of Mending 109

 Appendix One:
Mole’s
Grandchildren

Sample Moldwarp
.

Characters
Despite common assumptions, weremoles are not
merely two-dimensional homely curmudgeons, collecting
the dead and corrupted and keeping to themselves, as
many outsiders have been led to believe. Moldwarps
span a full spectrum of personalities and perspectives;
even within a single Burrow of a single Tunnel, it's rare
to find two weremoles who share identical opinions.

Appendix One: Mole’s Grandchildren 111

Spelunker
“You can run, but you definitely can’t hide.”

Prelude
As a child growing up in California, you became enamoured with the outskirts of the Mojave desert, where your
mother would take you every weekend. Soon enough, your interests turned from gentle walks along tourist routes
- with occasional deviations into rougher terrain of course - to an exploration of the canyons and crags endemic to
the region. As you neared maturity, these sojourns into cave systems and gorges - some of which were known only to
you - went from childhood play, to a beloved hobby, and finally to a full-blown obsession in your late teens.
On one such trip, the kind that you would stretch out to a full weekend of cave camping and solo orienteering,
something made you decide to go deeper than you ever had before. It was an extremely dangerous choice, but
somehow you knew everything would be alright. The crawling took hours, through tight spaces, across cave rivers,
and over sheer drops. You didn't even notice your body swell and your nails turn into claws, but soon enough you
were in Otherland, being curiously stared at by four of your new kin - the Labour which would adopt you.

Concept
From the moment you emerged onto the deepest part of the Run you realised that you just couldn't stop. As
a New World Digger, you know an unending compulsion to expand your Burrow deeper and deeper, to journey
into Otherland just to see what - or who - you find there, and above all to dig through Gaia’s hidden ways to prove
yourself to Grandmother Mole. No Passage is too narrow, no drop too steep, and no rockface too sheer to stop you
traversing Underland.

Roleplaying Hints
While you have time for all of your Settmates, especially the Diggers who accompany you on your treks, your
attention span is quite limited where it concerns anything besides digging and exploring. Whenever you are forced
to attend surface Things or other superterranean activities, you struggle to show any genuine interest at all.

Equipment
You carry with you some rope, a small knife, a pencil, and a series of hand-drawn maps of the local shallow
Otherland. Nothing else helps you much in your journeys, so it isn’t needed.

112 Moldwarps
City Planner
"Medical waste, eh? I have the perfect place to bury that!"

Prelude
Never one for heights, despite being raised amongst the high-reaching towers of London, you made sure to
remain in small suburbs and the older boroughs of the city. As you aged, you found a suitable place for yourself in
the local small councils, taking positions of transport liaising, community service organisation, and ultimately local
city planning. For you, the minutiae of council administration and design strategy came effortlessly, so when you
were given the opportunity to direct the construction of a new Underground route, you jumped at the chance.
You approached this opportunity eagerly and took a frontline position, personally seeing to the land transfers
and contracts, duties that were quite a bit above your pay grade. During a structural survey in a drilled tunnel route
- which you demanded to be part of - you felt the urge to explore your own areas of the dig, only to initiate your First
Change the moment you broke away from the survey crew.
Following the sudden disorientation of your Vision Crawl, and your urgent shift back to Homid form to avoid
crewmates seeing what you had become, you tried to keep your place in human society. The Surface Earl of the
Burrow you had briefly intruded upon has since approached you and eased you into Moldwarp life and your new
duty, which you have come to know like the back of your paw.

Concept
You are, above all else, organised and efficient. You see the minions of the Triat as simultaneously blights on
Gaia and creatures in dire need of help, and have therefore committed yourself to foster community projects and
societies which highlight and prevent Triatic corruption. Most of your day is spent organising members of your Sett
and the citizens running your community projects. All of your efforts go towards finding Sceatha and getting them
the help they need.

Roleplaying Hints
You come off on face-value as a workaholic yuppie capable of finding quick solutions to emerging problems,
but this isn't all there is to you. Away from the public light, you put your all into finding Sceatha, working at soup
kitchens, aiding abuse support groups, and litter picking near waste dumps.

Equipment
As a successful rising star in your field, you have access to a decent car and house, regular high income, and
fairly high-end technology.

Appendix One: Mole’s Grandchildren 113

Handyman
"Nothing’s so broke that it can't get fixed."

Prelude
You grew up as an only child in Coventry, England - no siblings, few friends, and only your father and
grandfather for household company. Your grandmother had died in the German bombings which ravaged your
hometown; you never knew your mother, and she wasn’t spoken of. Even then, your dad was always out working
construction on local sites to keep you warm and fed, so it fell to your grandpa to raise you mostly on his own.
Growing up wasn't so bad despite these humble beginnings. You spent much of your time out of school on your
grandpa's allotment, learning about gardening and engineering, which you took to from an early age.
It was in grandpa's Anderson shelter, during your early teens, that Grandmother Mole finally called to you.
Late one afternoon, while you were helping to dig out rotten foundations underneath the shelter, your shovel
went straight through into a foxhole, which crumbled into a sinkhole, and ended up with you digging half a mile
down in a fresh Passage. As though in a fever dream, you dug through the soft soil with your hands at first, which
then grew to colossal mole paws, finally pulling you into a small chamber set up like something from Wind in the
Willows. Small chairs were set about a table laden with drinks, occupied by a group of moles sat about making light
conversation with one another - until they were interrupted as you fell into their living chamber.
Though you were initially terrified, the creatures took you in and explained your true nature over tea, and in
short order what had happened to your mother: she was like you and they, and had tragically died defending you
from ‘monsters’ as a baby.

Concept
You turned to all the life lessons grandpa taught you to find your place in the Sett. You shore up the defences,
fix the fixtures, and when possible design unique cleansing chambers for each and every Sceatha you are shown. Just
like grandpa did for you, you love taking in young pups and teaching them every aspect of design and construction.

Roleplaying Hints
You are competitive yet modest, relishing challenges in the knowledge they might benefit the Burrow. You are
a teacher as much as a builder, making things to last with both design and inspiration, and hold others to the same
standards, brooking no laziness.

Equipment
You equip yourself with a range of Tools, mallets, picks, and trowels in order to someday produce architectural
miracles.

114 Moldwarps
Mother Superior
“How are we today, dear? Still got those worms behind our eyes, have we? Let's go back down to the chamber and see what we
can do about those, shall we?”

Prelude
From your earliest days, the nunnery was all you knew, the sisters providing for you and giving you a place of
safety and security - but you were no orphan child abandoned at the gate, nor even a human one. The sisters of the
Convent of the Three Angels found you, a young mole rummaging through their cabbage patch and ruining their
flower beds, but luckily they worshipped Gaia as the Virgin Mary and supported the efforts of the local Burrow, and
recognised you as talpid kinfolk. Sure enough, your Vision Crawl came and you dug your way onto the Run without
difficulty, ultimately being redirected by your new Burrow back to the convent for protection.
The small community raised you as their own, teaching you to venerate the ‘Holy Mother’ in all that you do.
The convent taught you to respect God's creation by working the land for the sisterhood's food, to maintain the
nunnery’s grounds, and to minister and provide healing to locals in need of care and grace. Soon you blended the
medical care provided by the convent with your cleansing duties, tempered with a stern and convicted manner, to
become the weremole you are today.

Concept
You have continued to carry the faith you were taught during your upbringing, though it is shared by none of
your Settmates. You see Sceatha as in need of the same salvation you give to the stricken and sinful. It is all that you
can do to care for them like a firm parent, a clinical doctor, and a pious nun in equal measure.

Roleplaying Hints
Unlike many more soft-hearted Cleansers, you take a hard and unwavering approach to your calling. Sceatha
will say anything to avoid the Holy Mother's salvation, but you will stop at nothing to deliver it - and actions speak
louder than words.

Equipment
At all times you carry with you a crucifix of an unusual floral design, a Bible annotated with coded references to
Gaian cosmology, and your cat-o-nine-tails Tool that excoriates the taint from your wards for a time.

Appendix One: Mole’s Grandchildren 115

Prison Guard
“If you're in my Burrow you're under my protection. I'll defend you from everything while you're down here - including yourself!”

Prelude
Bullying was a big problem in your Burrow; with their parents and minders busy with important projects, the
kinfolk kids ran rampant and took their various petty disputes out on one another. Given an ungainly hybrid shape
and afflicted with hairlessness by your metis birth but yet lacking the power of Crinos form, you were by far the
most unusual child in your group, but not the most physically capable, making you easy pickings for the bigger kids.
Despite this harrying from an early age, or possibly because of it, you developed a deep desire to defend those
who were going through the same ordeals. If you couldn’t defend yourself, you would certainly strive to be there
for others in greater need. As the years wore on, you got somewhat of a reputation for being in fights, but everyone
knew that you did it for a reason. You became something of an enforcer of order amongst your peers, though your
prowess only marginally improved.
During one intervention, a child was being beaten when you passed by, and you couldn’t stop yourself from
intervening. You managed to give the victim enough time to get away, but the bullies turned their attention
towards you and wrestled you to the ground. They dragged you off to the local well and pushed you down it, before
immediately raising an alarm and claiming that you had fallen in, but you were sure it was too late for you. As you
sank, however, you felt your body contorting into a smaller and smaller form, and eventually you managed to haul
yourself into a tiny hole leading out of the well into your Burrow, during which time you underwent the Vision
Crawl.
You were found by a surprised Architect in the shivering, soaking-wet form of a natural mole. After a while you
fit into your Warren with ease, carrying over the sense of bloody-minded obligation you showed those in need to the
Sceatha you became Warden over.

Concept
You show true devotion to the Sceatha in your care; you would even give your life to save one, if the need arose.
With this grim acceptance of duty that very few around you seem to possess, you are set to quickly pass through the
Ranks, and already have your eye set on becoming Foreman of your own Labour.

Roleplaying Hints
You are circumspect, open, and non-judgemental, always having time to listen to people and cater to their
needs. Even when Sceatha say the most heart-wrenching or violently malicious things, it is difficult for them to get
a rise out of you. At times where your Rage is aroused, however, you seek to end things with a directness at once
brutal and merciful.

Equipment
You have a handcrafted nightstick Seax, a hard hat, and sturdy boots. You only need the bare necessities, plus a
warming drink, to see you through the long hours of guard duty and the occasional battle.

116 Moldwarps

Labour of Note
The Clean-Up Crew
“There’s no Bane too blighted, no Gorgon too gross, and
no Drone too dangerous. We’re the moles for you!”
Prelude
At the height of the Summer of Love, immediately
following the Moon Landing, there came an inexplicable
overflow of Wyldish Sceatha across the world - those
now known to be the returned fae, or changelings. In
direct response, the Sett of the Soothing Touch - an
Umbra-roaming group made up primarily of Gazers of
the Deep and a few curious fellow-travellers - investigated
and quickly discovered the means to enter the strange
Otherland shallows from which these creatures
came. They learned much while there, but were soon
forced out by bands of unicorn-mounted knights
wielding blades and bows of starlight to continue their
wanderings.
One Labour, however, took an even keener interest
than most in that strange place and its marvellous but
perilous inhabitants. They knew that the fae threat to
Gaia's purity would not be solved by one conflict and
a round of cleansings. Instead, they needed to pass
from place to place, confronting each Wyld Sceatha as
and when it arose in the body of a human. Few Fera
had any understanding of these emergent Sceatha,
and were alarmed to discover that some had long been
present on Gaia and now seemed reinvigorated by the
arrival of their kin from beyond - and yet, it was found,
they fought amongst themselves. There was therefore
incentive for Moldwarp Earls and other leaders to take
on the services of a group who did understand (or at
least better understood) the fae.
Full of entrepreneurial spirit, the Labour therefore
split from their Sett and rebranded themselves as
the Clean-Up Crew. Under this name, they began
exchanging the removal and cleansing of these elusive
Sceatha for secrets, Tools, and indeed large sums of
cash from the occasional Glass Walker or other well-to-
do shapeshifter. To many Moldwarps, this behaviour
seemed degrading, a trade of duty for profit. However,
the Clean-Up Crew were seen as a preferable alternative
to the brutality of the Apes’ Redeemers, who at that
time controlled the Breed across the world for the
most part. At the same time they were a small enough
nuisance not to fall much afoul of Cleaves-the-Weaver’s-
Pawns‘ regime, and smoothly reintegrated with the
Moldwarp community after his overthrow. The old
Appendix One: Mole’s Grandchildren
criticisms didn’t go away, but they also didn’t prevent the
Clean-Up Crew from raking in profits of various kinds.
The original Labour was made up of five up-and-
coming young weremoles of the Sett of the Soothing
Touch, the brave few who really wanted to make a
difference. Opting not to follow the call of the Wyrm's
soul with their Chambermates, the Labour travelled
across Overland, quickly making names for themselves.
While most Labours efficiently tend to several Sceatha
at once, each process takes time, The Clean-Up Crew
have eked out a niche by focusing their efforts solely on
individual, powerful, difficult Sceatha, and by no means
all of the Wyldish kind.
Decades have passed since the Clean-Up Crew
formed, and while the membership has changed
completely - no longer are all or even most of them
Gazers - the brand holds strong. There are very few Dens
across North America who haven't at least heard of the
Clean-Up Crew, for they have become the go-to Labour
to call in when particularly resistant Sceatha rear their
heads. Rumour has it that the Crew are even practicing
and mastering vampire-cleansing, so as to add another
speciality to their repertoire and possibly solve the
fraught question of what to do with Baoganes - though,
as ever, at a fair price.
Concept
Efficient, businesslike, and almost coldly clinical in
how they operate, once the Clean-Up Crew are called,
they will not rest or fraternize until their ‘project’ is
cleansed. Despite their high status as contract cleansers,
they have very few actual allies. A deep sense of
pride and even vanity follows them wherever they go,
though their Labour has nonetheless become a highly
prestigious group to be inducted into.
Chronicle Uses
The Clean-up-Crew could make a good chronicle
catalyst, with them being called to the player characters’
Burrow. The players may wish to join, compete with, or
even expel them. Additionally, their being in the player’s
Burrow could also bring with it fans, hangers-on, and
wannabe members of the Labour, vengeful Sceatha
attention, or higher standards of performance for the
Sett during their stay.
Equipment: The Clean-Up Crew bring with them
their own custom, mobile cleansing chamber, complete
with a full range of high-tech Tools.
117

Moldwarps of Note
Garou would argue that gaining prestige in a
Moldwarp community is far easier than in one of their
own, and almost without honour to boot. It is true
that a weremole could theoretically manage to go its
entire life without seeing significant conflict or strife,
but these are rare instances, and not measures by which
Moldwarps aspire to prove themselves. A Digger could
easily keep its head down and excavate tirelessly, a
Tracker could employ networks of spies to track Sceatha,
and for Architects building a Burrow is often quite safe
work, but most renowned weremoles achieve their status
though earnest, quiet diligence in the face of adversity.
Lifts-the-Falling-Passage,
‘the Grey Earl’
Also known as the ‘Pillar of the Run’, Lifts-the-
Falling-Passage is something of a legend amongst
modern weremoles, and none even know if he still lives.
He was said to have been born talpid not long after
the First World War, and received his Vision Crawl
during the one that followed. He grew to fame during
the Collapse of that time for physically holding the Run
aloft to allow his Labour to escape Run’s End before it
was too late. Though he wasn’t physically digging a new
branch of the Run - something that would take power
far beyond his understanding - he still managed to stall
the branch he was on from falling in long enough to
save himself, his allies, and many kinfolk. The sheer
force of the Gnosis present during the act affected the
young weremole’s mind, and not long after the war
was over, he vanished from his Sett for good. Perhaps
strangest of all, even his lifelong Labourmates could
not recall his previous name or describe him with any
great clarity, only (and independently) finding Lifts-the-
Falling-Passage a fitting moniker.
From that day on, reports of the ‘Grey Earl’ sprang
up in Passages all across the three Lands, which have
been linked to the erstwhile weremole. These reports
describe how a large, grey-furred visitor accosts travelling
Labours, posing them riddles that they must pass in
order to proceed. Others tell of being followed by a
small, grey Talpid-form Moldwarp who fled whenever
they approached, while others still swear to Gaia that
he opened entirely new Passages for them, leading them
from - or occasionally into - great danger.
In the last few decades, the Grey Earl hasn't emerged
to impose himself onto other Labours, or at least none
have reported his activities. The Lord of the Run herself
has attempted to find the powerful weremole to bring
118 Moldwarps
him back into the loop, but his whereabouts still remain
unknown to her.
Frank Williamsen,
‘Uncovers-Our-Wyrm’s-
Salvation’
Reared in Dalton-le-Dale - a small town in the south
of Sunderland, England - Frank was a born-and-bred
Digger. His kinfolk mother raised him alone, with the
occasional input of the local Surface Earl and other
homid kinfolk she had ties to. With his childhood
home facing nearby Chemical Beach, it was natural for
his Vision Crawl to lead him into one of the deeper sea
coves and down onto the Run. Frank crawled and dug
his way to Otherland, highlighting his place as a Digger,
and soon proved to be an exemplary one.
Time passed and Frank made his way into the
Order of Thegns as a young recruit, just around the
same time as his half-brother - a metis who would go by
the name of By-a-Heavy-Hand due to his motor control
impairment, which made his manual dexterity stiff and
jilted - was born. Frank took Hand under his wing and
defended his brother whenever he was in their Seaham
Burrow. He pursued what he considered a noble way
of life, but one that led him to his current, less-than-
desirable circumstances.
Following a Garou altercation involving Frank’s
brother (see Duty and Kin on page number 7), a small
Camp - the Conquerors of Svartalfheim - formed in
the nearby Sept of Sleipnir’s Thunderous Approach,
its aim solely to hunt Moldwarps (or bjergtrolden, as
the Get of Fenris have come to call them). Frank has
begrudgingly shouldered the duty of coming to a mutual
understanding with the Sept, which has proved no easy
task.
The powerful weremole has been involved in several
violent encounters with the Conquerors over the last
year or two, but still strives to broker peace with the
Sept’s Jarl - only to have all such pleas ignored. Now, he
hopes that the negotiations between Holds-the-Wyrm-
Close and the Garou High King will reduce tensions in
the area. He has been forced to bury too many members
of his Burrow felled by the extremist Camp and their
leader, Berthold Ibsen, Beholder-of-Ratatosk’s-Wisdom;
he cannot countenance further unnecessary loss of
Moldwarp life.
‘Des’
Des's story is a lonely one from start to finish.
His Moldwarp mother sired him with a mole father
and raised him quickly, brooking no contact with her
Galemy kin. Her Wyld taint was negligible despite
her Tunnel - she could barely perform the simplest of
resurrection Gifts and Rites - so she managed to pass
amongst less discerning Setts without question by
posing herself as just another Old Worlder. She knew
that the Galemy would stop at nothing to recover them,
but also that without her nearby they would never find
him. She finally chose to abandon Des at the entrance to
a Burrow in central Germany, leaving him with tears in
her eyes just as he began his Vision Crawl.
The budding Moldwarp reached the shallow reaches
of Underland, becoming a Cleanser, and was adopted
into the local Sett under the protection of its eldest
member of his Warren, Inters-Sceatha-Beneath. As the
years passed, Inters realised what his ward truly was:
an untainted Galemy - in fact, a genetic and spiritual
throwback to the Desmana, the lost Tunnel which the
Galemy had overtaken long ago. Unlike most of his rare
kind, he chose to take pride in his true heritage, even
giving himself the nickname Des and refusing to take a
traditional deed-name even at the cost of formally losing
Renown. Such unusual births weren't unheard of, but
most simply lived lives away from prying eyes, as they
soon became prime targets for their tainted kin’s Rites.
Des did not choose isolation, however. Once he had
developed a comprehension of human culture and his
place in the world, he travelled along the Baltic coast
hunting for Galemy Burrows. Boldly residing at their
borders, he hunted for more of his fellow Desmana,
those whom the Wyld had overlooked, to join him in
reclaiming a Gaian path.
Now, Des stands as the young Underland Earl of
his own Burrow, founded beneath the Curonian Spit
in Lithuania. There, the Sett of the Restored Tunnel
- made up of pure-bred Desmana with Old Worlder
supporters - work with local spirits to bring their Tunnel
back from the dead, redeem Desman and recover his lost
Gifts, and create a new future for their kind.
Cassandra Guiterrez, ‘Run-
Shaper’
Cassandra Guiterrez was born in Cusco, Peru, not
long after Holds-the-Wyrm-Close rose to power, and
adapted to her role as an Architect with no hesitation
whatsoever, serving her Burrow well and without
incident. It was only in the late nineties that Cassandra
became noteworthy, first only to Moldwarps of South
America, then across the world.
During the routine digging of a new cleansing
chamber, Cassandra received visions of destruction
untold and of an end to all things: an Apocalypse
Appendix One: Mole’s Grandchildren
presaged by a Sixth Collapse of the Run which would
block Moldwarps from Otherland for what little
remained of all time. With this vision in mind, she
convinced her Labour to break away from the Sett of the
Blood-Stained Land Redeemed and make preparations.
Her fears were only exacerbated by tales she picked
up from Sceatha of dark times to come, and the
millennialism which was rife among humans.
Bearing down on her fifth Rank as she and
her Labourmates were, she aimed above designing
Passages and chambers in local Burrows to examine
the structures of the Run and Run’s End themselves.
Over the course of 1998, Cassandra’s Labour frantically
constructed new branches of the Run leading to obscure
regions of Otherland rather than to Underland. Her
thinking was that if the Collapse did occur, it may only
take with it those Passages which lead to Underland
and leave the Otherlandscape intact. With these new
branches of the Run, Moldwarps could quickly access
less damaged regions of Otherland and continue their
duties away from the disasters taking place in the Gaian
realm.
Unfortunately for Cassandra’s status, but fortunately
for the rest of the world, the Apocalypse did not strike
and Gaia’s Cycle kept on turning. As her visions faded
away, Cassandra knew she should be overjoyed, but
she could not tolerate the notion that she had been
misguided by Gaia. The once-famed Run-Shaper stepped
down as Foreman of her Labour and took herself into
self-exile where she remains, keeping herself to Run’s
End, crafting supports at the breach between there and
Malfeas, and trying to forget the apparent misdirection.
Her branches of the Run did not go to waste, however,
allowing Cleansers to operate further into Otherland
more safely than ever before; indeed, many have noted
that they glow with a golden luminescence unknown
in any other Passages, and somehow resound with the
recognition of a great deed performed.
Burrows of Note
Wimbledon Common
(London, England)
When the great Moldwarp Paws-to-Shake-the-Earth
initiated the eruption, he first burst forth near the
heart of London, from an area of ground now known
as Wimbledon Common. It was here which served
as the starting point for the Moldwarps who entered
Gaia from Run’s End. Despite the Garou’s immediate
urge to slay the subterranean monstrosities crawling
from beneath the earth, no true Wyrm-scent could be
119
found on them and no corruptive behaviour could be
accounted for. With enough to deal with otherwise, and
at the command of a level-headed Philodox following
a dialogue, the local werewolves begrudgingly let the
Moldwarps be, and they soon got to work excavating
their first new Burrow in West London.
Though held by the Old Worlders in continuation,
the Burrow has acted as a hub for Moldwarps of all
Tunnels from that night on, maintaining the Breed’s
public and private safety in the face of multiple opposing
fronts. Due to the influence of the Young World Hill,
Wimbledon Common has long been a centre for change
around London, with representatives of the Burrow
(some true Moldwarps, but most Kinfolk) aiding in the
construction of both the vast London sewer system and
its Underground rail networks. These massive leaps
in infrastructure have not only aided in making the
local human society less prone to Wyrmish corruption,
but has also made the Gaian tasks performed by all
Moldwarps far easier, with expedient Passages to local
and distant Dens made available for all weremoles.
120 Moldwarps
Mole Hill (Virginia, United
States)
Unlike Wimbledon Common, the Sett of Mole
Hill - initially created in secret with the aid of Nuwisha
- was not content with keeping itself ‘underground’.
Weremoles from this Burrow set about making contacts
across the continent and beyond it. Mole Hill serves
as a meeting ground between Moldwarps and other
trustworthy Fera, encouraging shapeshifters to come to
the aid of one another in performing their Gaian duties.
Many outsiders, however, have come to disapprove
of such a high-profile Burrow - after all, it has retained
the name even among humans. This pressure is
worsened by the overall decline of Moldwarp-Fera
relations as the Apocalypse nears and tempers become
frayed. Fewer and fewer shapeshifters petition Mole Hill
for aid, or likewise aid its members in times of hardship.
The future command of the Burrow has since fallen
into question and its future is unlikely to reflect its
bright past unless something can be done to reinvigorate
it soon.
Er Wang Dong and San
Wang Dong (Chongqing,
China)
As two of the world’s largest cave systems, Er
Wang Dong and San Wang Dong may appear to the
human eye to be nothing more or less than sightseeing
destinations or areas of scientific interest. In truth, these
beautiful caves - and the many passages and adjoining
caverns which connect them, unbeknownst to mankind
- are to Moldwarps what the Amazon Rainforest is to
the Garou Nation. This cyclopean Burrow has become
the central hub of the Eastern Tunnel. Leading on from
the human-known sections are hundreds more miles of
Moldwarp-dug routes which snake deep into Underland.
Traversing these reaches would soon expose a
spelunker to the horrors of bloody battles fought
between Fera and Wyrm creatures the likes of which
no human could bear witness to and remain sane. So
desperate is the continuous war that its residents have,
by Gaia’s grace, developed unique weather and river
systems throughout the caverns to support live-in tribes
of human Kinfolk, all of whom are bred for damage
control. Budding Thegns often cut their teeth here, and
it is deep within that the High Thegn is most often seen
outside Run’s End.

Appendix One: Mole’s Grandchildren 121

122 Moldwarps
 Appendix Two:
Going
Underground
Plot Hooks
In a world predominantly concerned with surface
life, little is known about what happens below ground.
What conflicts arise, what challenges present themselves,
and what day-to-day struggles Moldwarp characters
must undertake are harder to conceive of than those
concerning surface-dwelling Fera. Below is a list of plot
hooks to use to start a Moldwarps chronicle, divided
into Tunnels since certain events trouble some Tunnels
more than others. We suggest using these to ease a
Labour into play, before unveiling the greater plot which
may then use other elements of this chapter, such as
Endron planning a drill site near the Labour’s Den or a
swarm of Tunnelweb Spiders infesting local Passages.
Appendix Two: Going Underground
Old World Tunnel
A new pesticide, produced and marketed by
Magadon Pharmaceuticals, proves to uniquely target
Moldwarps, and not merely due to harmful effects on
their kinfolk. The chemical being trialled across farms
near a Burrow housed in an ancient woodland contains
obsidian crystals in trace amounts, but pure enough
to temporarily cut off local Moldwarps’ connection to
Gaia. Even worse, it has the added effect of summoning
Tommyknocker to plague the ground underneath. The
Labour must disrupt the supply of this chemical and
ultimately destroy it to protect the Burrow.
New World Tunnel
An infestation of Tunnelweb Spiders (see page 143)
cuts off access to nearby Dens. The Labour is expected
to repel and cleanse as many of the spirits as possible,
while the Sett’s Underland Earl tries to contact a
neighbouring Burrow under attack by indoctrinated
human agents of the Weaver (or even the Technocratic
Union, if the Storyteller is happy to incorporate Mage:
The Ascension).
123

Eastern Tunnel
The Labour is part of a delegation sent to a Khan
sultan’s court, offering safe Umbral travel between
India and south-east Asia through a series of Passages,
direct routes to hundreds of vital locations for the high-
Ranking weretiger to use. All that remains to be done
is to remove the strange Wyrm-creatures that languish
there, for which they’ll need the werecat ruler’s help.
The sultan is interested but reserved, not wishing
to commit too soon to a plan which may open his
realm to unknown threats. It is up to them to convince
him to accept their aid, while those around him raise
questions about weremole integrity and honour. Further
complicating matters is the Hanying Investigator (see
page 44) who suddenly appears and takes great interest
in the Labour’s actions.
Galemy
A party of Thegns and Sanctii arrive at the Burrow,
demanding to inspect the work being undertaken.
Naturally, Moldwarps from outside the Burrow will see
overtly Wyld activity as just cause to take action against
the Sett. Because of this, the Labour are asked to secretly
cure a minor Sceatha of death while avoiding the prying
eyes of the inspectors, balancing their righteous task
with their Breed’s expectations. The players may simply
124 Moldwarps
be placed on look out or distraction duties while aiding
a more experienced Moldwarp in their ritual work.
Itjaritjari
The Labour is tasked with gathering intelligence
regarding a local Wallow of Mokolé, primarily its
weaknesses and vulnerabilities, whilst avoiding detection
by the weresaurians. Unbeknownst to them, the Wallow
currently plays host to a gang of Dreamtime fae, with
little-understood powers and an uncanny sense for the
bush (see the Spirit Beings in the C20 Player’s Guide).
Death is far from certain unless major mistakes are
made, but detection is likely and could threaten the
security of the Labour's Burrow.
Kruipmolle
Following the destruction of numerous Passages
spanning the Namibian Desert, the Labour has to
transport a number of corpses while digging new
Passages into their great, hidden Burrow. Along the way,
they discover the antithesis of their work - a blight in the
sand, home to Banes of dehydration and balefire. The
Labour must work to get past the site with their lives
intact, with their haul in hand, and with proof of the
threat to give to their Overland Earl.

Gazers of the Deep
The Gazers all receive an especially plaintive call
of the Wyrm, summoning all who are able to make the
journey to a unique area of Otherland. In this obscure
realm, bizarre Glade Children, apparently the spirits of
alien fungi, are caught in the middle of a cosmic battle
between mighty Wyld and Weaver spirits that need
subduing and cleansing to restore balance. The Labour
is specifically assigned to rescue as many of the Glade
Children as possible, and if possible learn their nature.
Investigators
As an allied effort between the Chamber's ruling
families to take advantage of the crippled state of a
Burrow recently attacked by Garou, the Labour are sent
in to carry out covert reconnaissance. The Burrow may
be holding a particularly powerful fomor that drew the
attention of the attacking werewolf Pack, soon to be
cleansed, that the Investigators must examine and report
back on - possibly even kidnapping it.
Guardians of Otherland
Occasionally, Moldwarp activities draw the
attention of other beings, most often other Changing
Breeds and primarily the Garou. Each Breed has its
own stance towards the weremoles, with some seeing
promise in their efforts to redeem themselves through
service; others are utterly unwilling to forgive their
apparent cowardice. In truth, very few are entirely
certain that Moldwarps even exist, so the opinions
given below are primarily what they would think if they
were to learn of the weremoles. Other Fera Breeds, like
other supernaturals, should be used sparingly in purely
Moldwarp chronicles and take background or secondary
roles in the game.
Garou
The Garou know little of Moldwarps as a whole,
but what stories they do tell lead most to scorn and
hate them with a passion. The very idea of collecting
Wyrmspawn or other dangerous spirits and 'curing'
them within a Caern stokes the Rage of warrior-
minded werewolves. This antipathy is mutual, for many
Moldwarps believe that the Garou were the true cause of
the Wyrm's rise to power, even if most do not serve it in
name. Curiously, this feeling is intensified since all save
one tribe are not Sceatha at all, but simply misguided
and bloody-minded.
This said, a select handful of tribal camps do have
cordial relations with Moldwarps formed through shared
Appendix Two: Going Underground
concerns. Other werewolves make for even fiercer foes
than normal, singling out Moldwarps as targets or
simply acting towards totally opposing ends.
Black Furies: “Hiding away from Artemis’ light,
they are fine ones to question our allegiance. They
are no threat, but there is little to be gained by their
companionship.”
Moldwarps have a conflicted relationship with
the tribe of Pegasus. On the one hand, both venerate
mother-figures aside from the ubiquitous Gaia - all of
Mole’s faces save one are female, after all - and both
are more accepting of metis than many Fera. On the
other hand, Moldwarps cannot overlook the Furies’
unquestioning dedication to the Wyld, while the fierce,
amazonian Garou look down on weremoles as furtive
and craven.
Black Spiral Dancers
“The Wyrm has blessed us with our own little workers. All
we must do is introduce them to the Hidden Foe."
To the Spirals, Moldwarps are considered to be
little more than a slave race, sent to them by their
Dark Father to carry out their more degrading and
demanding tasks. The distinction between the Buried -
who do frequently serve Spiral Hives - and the Breed as a
whole is nonexistent; any weremole not in service to the
Wyrm simply needs a hard push in the right direction,
usually with a shard of black stone in the gut.
Though the matter is seldom discussed even among
their own kind, attentive and persistent Moldwarps have
gleaned from loose-tongued Garou a picture of what the
White Howlers Tribe was like. This lore has met with
a combination of admiration, criticism, and sorrow.
While their belligerence was typical of Garou failings,
the underlying philosophy of Lion’s children was in
many ways not so different; they even shared a penchant
for underground spaces and Gaia’s darker, more deathly
elements.
That the Tribe’s inevitable fall preceded the
Eruption by scarcely a century by most accounts makes
it all the more lamentable; had things been but slightly
different, Paws-to-Shake-the-Earth and his followers
might have answered their call for aid and led them not
only to a more reasonable end than slaying the Wyrm,
but down a surer root to Malfeas.
Bone Gnawers
“They crop up in far more places than the other tribes
realise. They don't question how we live, and they can set you
up with high-quality Stuff. Some of them even join us in the
muck, and we try to make nice on occasion."
125
 Generally speaking, Gnawers and Moldwarp
Trackers work very well together, rooting out tainted
beings across cityscapes with a mutual desire for Gaian
restitution. The Hillfolk camp make natural allies in
the rural environments Burrows are often located, as do
the Deserters in the Breed's excavations of the Umbra's
lower, stranger parts.
Children of Gaia
“Where we tend the world above, they work where we
cannot reach. The restoration of Gaia cannot be only surface-
deep.”
If the Lord of the Run had her way, the Children
of Gaia would run the Garou Nation; that way, at least,
something productive might get done. Striving for peace
over war and favouring none of the Triat are core tenets
of Unicorn’s followers, winning them warm regards
from those of Grandmother Mole, and the feeling is
mutual. The Anointed Ones and Seekers of the Lost
Tribes in particular see common cause with Mole's
children in using less violent methods against the Wyrm
and in reforming Black Spiral Dancers, respectively.
Fianna
“They can stay underground for all I care. Better that
than them coming to the surface to look over our shoulders,
tutting and sighing every time we let our hair down. They’ll
work themselves to death long before the Apocalypse, mark my
words.”
There are many reasons why Moldwarps do not
see eye-to-eye with Fianna werewolves: their unseemly
fraternisation with Wyldish things; their often violent
discrimination against metis; and most of all their
wayward, flighty natures. Ultimately, Moldwarps rarely
even bother trying to interact with Fianna, let alone
allying with them in a cooperative effort. Experience
has taught them that they lack the wherewithal to see
things through to the end if they do not involve fighting,
feasting, or fornicating.
Get of Fenris
“The bjergtrolden lie when they tell you they wish to
cleanse our enemies. They are amassing vile armies in their
squalid holds, and when Ragnarok comes they shall pour up in
a great tide.”
Perhaps above all tribes, the Get despise the
Moldwarps wholesale, failing to even recognise them
as true Fera or refer to them by their chosen name. To
the typical Fenrir, their differing view of Gaia and the
Triat and their deviant practices are merely evidence of
madness, deception, or both. Moldwarps return this
strong disregard, seeing in the Get of Fenris everything
126 Moldwarps
that makes Garou unreliable allies at best, and deadly
enemies at worst.
Several camps serve as roadblocks to any
improvement in Moldwarp-Get relations, chiefly
the Conquerors of Svartalfheim, formed recently in
England and specifically dedicated to the eradication of
Moldwarps across the British Isles (see Duty and Kin on
page 7). On a grander scale, the Glorious Fist of Wotan
thrive on wanton conflict rooted in bloody-minded
‘tradition’, a worldview which runs entirely against the
Moldwarp grain.
Glass Walkers
“Hey, it’s nothing personal, but you stay down there and
we’ll stay up here. I doubt you even get signal underground.”
Where some other tribes are, to one extent or
another, virtually vassals to the Wyld, the Glass Walkers
are alarmingly close to the Weaver. Though few, if any,
might be classed as Sceatha, their incorporation into her
Web is clear in their spirits, words, and actions. More
than one Walker development project has thoughtlessly
intruded upon a Burrow they did not even bother
to check for, though in all cases so far the tribe has
retracted and made amends. More promisingly, Glass
Walkers and Moldwarps have combined forces to shut
down S.E.T.T. operations, but some weremoles express
concern that, in these instances, they have abetted the
Weaver in weakening the Wyrm.
Red Talons
“I speak enough apetongue to know the difference between
saying ‘the Wyrm’ and ‘our Wyrm’. I do not need to listen any
longer than that."
Unsurprisingly, the Red Talons have no love for
Moldwarp kind. They are far too close to humanity - in
that they do not wish for a new Impergium, for the most
part - and entirely too tolerant of the Weaver and Wyrm
not to destroy things of them on sight. For their part,
Moldwarps regard Griffon’s children as sad evidence
of how fallen the world has become, not so much
subject to the Wyld but more to their own hatred and
bitterness.
Perhaps worst of all are the Dying Cubs, the anti-
human extremists whom weremoles frequently mistake
for Wyrmish Sceatha - and don't lose any sleep when
they must execute them as failed cleansing projects.
The only point of unity between the two groups are the
Ape’s Redeemers Hill (see page 53) and the ‘moderate’
segment of the Red Talons dismissed by their tribemates
as the Whelp’s Compromise. In great secrecy, members
of both gather to share in their detestation of mankind,
and make plans to redress the wrongs done to them.

New Breeding Stock
The most radical result of collaboration between
Ape’s Redeemers and Red Talon moderates, if the
Storyteller wishes, could be that the Redeemers offer
their Weaver-cleansed pre-human subjects as kinfolk
to a scant number of sympathetic Red Talons. Thus,
the tribe of Griffin may breed an entirely unknown,
otherwise inconceivable population of Homid Red
Talons, a darker secret even than the isolated Winter
Packs. Able to operate in human society but set entirely
against it, these Garou infiltrators would secrete
themselves in crucial places, ready to commit large-scale
sabotage and bring ruin to civilisation on the day of
Gaia’s vengeful reckoning.
Shadow Lords
“My advice? If nothing else works, pass on to them any
associates or treasures you don’t want the rest of the Nation to
connect you to. You’ll never see them again as they were, if at
all, but neither will the others.”
The Shadow Lords have proved themselves far
too manipulative and untrustworthy for long-term
allegiances to be formed between them and Moldwarps,
who strongly value honesty and straightforwardness.
Their tendency to choose, put mildly, questionable allies
also presents a major barrier, though they can make for
good Sceatha.
Grandfather Thunder’s tribe regard the Moldwarps
as they do everything else: with an eye to what expedient
purposes they might serve. These are few, but their
eagerness to take ‘corrupt’ things off one’s hands, no
questions asked, is one the Shadow Lords make use of
from time to time.
The Children of Bat are a notable exception to the
norm, their goal to redeem Bat - who, as an Incarna
originally tied to the Balance Wyrm, is a brother to
Mole - being deemed a noble one. Such camps as the
Society of Nidhogg, though, are no better than most
Sceatha.
Between these extremes, the Bringers of Light
are the most divisively controversial group of Garou
in Moldwarp eyes. These unorthodox, monklike
Shadow Lords follow a creed of subjecting themselves
to Wyrmish temptation and living among the Wyrm's
servants and strongholds. Younger, more radical
Moldwarps regard this with apprehensive curiosity,
Appendix Two: Going Underground
with a fringe few championing it as an approach the
Breed should embrace. Naturally, their Elders and
traditionalist opponents recoil in horror at the very
idea, and harshly admonish any who would advocate it.
Silent Striders
“Next time you see one of their star-nosed kin, give them
this. Oh, it's just a map, they’ll know what it’s for.”
There is no particular friction between Silent
Striders and Moldwarps, for while the two live fairly
distinct lives, they share common concerns in the
matters of death and the dead. Indeed, it has been
known for Moldwarps to quiz Owl’s children on the
finer points of vampire hunting, the better to find and
recover Baoganes; they rarely let on that their interest is
anything other than academic, however, for fear of what
may happen to their erstwhile kin. The strongest points
of connection to build upon are those between the
Seekers camp and the Gazers of the Deep. In fact, it is as
common to find a Gazer Sett accompanied by a Seeker
on its Otherland rambles as it is to find one without.
Silver Fangs: “We both have fangs, claws, and fur
don't we? Do not second-guess Gaia in choosing them,
my son, and maybe you won’t end up in one of their
chambers.”
Due to their most recent parley with High King
Jonas, the Silver Fangs have learned a great deal more
about Moldwarps and the sacred duty which they take
so admirably seriously. The consensus is that Gaia’s
undertakers-turned-jailers should be left alone, not
confronted or questioned, for their duty is simply not
that of the Garou. Naturally, some do not see this
stance as reasonable and lash out against the weremoles
whenever the two find themselves at cross purposes,
but the Tribe as a whole have honoured this cryptic
command, trusting in the wisdom of their righteous
king.
The Ivory Priesthood is particularly favourable,
and occasionally lends Moldwarps quiet assistance in
putting the dead to their deserved rest, but those of
House Crescent Moon take a dimmer view, since they
are primarily familiar with the strange, Wyld-touched
Galemy of their native Russia, and occasionally have
need to put an end to their meddling.
Stargazers
“Humility is a heavenly virtue, there is no doubt about
that, but so often they mistake it for blind dedication to earthly
tasks.”
Even the stolid, thought-before-action Moldwarps
find Stargazers exasperatingly restrained and ponderous.
127
They recognise the virtue in controlling Rage, but the
time when contemplation must give way to deeds seems
to come rather sooner to weremoles than it does these
meditative Garou. The Eastern Tunnel often complains
that their vaunted martial arts would have been keenly
useful centuries ago, let alone now.
The Stargazers themselves look upon Moldwarps
as yet another lesson to be learned, and hold their
attachment to material things - above all, their great
reliance on Tools - to be a failing, but not an inexcusable
one. For reasons unknown to most, the Investigators
Chamber (see page 44) seems somehow subtly tied to
Chimera’s tribe; in truth, a pack of Stargazers aligned
to the Beast Courts were ultimately responsible for their
spiritual brands, lesser adaptations of the tribe’s own
tattoo-Fetishes.
Uktena
“It’s no wonder this one’s proving difficult to cleanse -
it’s no mere Bane, but carries the Weaver in it also, hidden
beneath the stink. Let me show you how to see.”
In times past, the Uktena worked closely with the
New World Tunnel following their unveiling to the Pure
Lands, uncovering secrets of the Triat and devising new
methods of purification. Together they perfected the
creation of Fetishes safely imbued with Sceatha spirits.
Since the Wyrmcomers arrived, however, much
of this closeness has been lost, since both groups have
changed from what they once were. Overeager to learn
unwholesome lore in most Moldwarps’ minds, the
Uktena have shown themselves to be compromised by
curiosity for its own sake; weremoles would remind
them that there are things that Fera have no business
knowing
Uktena typically dismiss such concerns as weakness
of conviction, opining that Moldwarps would much
rather work away in the cleansing chambers than
uncover the universe’s truths (and, indeed, that they are
more suitable to that task). The Bane Tenders of the
Uktena are the closest thing the Garou Nation has to
the Moldwarps' current role, though the weremoles see
these Garou's methods as pale imitations of their own.
Wendigo
“The Mound Digger does not travel through our territories
without paying respect to our totem; her children would do well
to learn her example.”
In general, the Wendigo dismiss Moldwarps as relics
of a better era irrelevant to this dark time. As the Final
War comes to a head, they reason that it is warriors’
courage that is needed, not the kindness of healers.
128
While they do not regard weremoles as fallen like the
Get do - as children of a predatory cannibal-spirit, they
know better than most that Gaia’s face is not always a
pleasing one - but also do not count them as worthwhile
allies. Conversely, Moldwarps deem Wendigo perfectly
suitable for the task Garou are intended to perform, if
rather unsavoury in their practices, but regret that they
have seen fit to try and exceed this purpose in a manner
typical of their Breed.
Dark legends, known separately to the Wendigo and
New World Tunnel but never discussed between them,
tell of a territorial dispute that set the two at each other’s
throats. The Wendigo and their kinfolk used knives and
arrowheads of black flint as secondary armaments to
Gifts, teeth, and claws, but soon found them incredibly
effective. They took some of the injured as hostages,
hoping to sue for their demands, but the camp holding
these prisoners was later found a ruin, the ground rent
with great fissures and deeply tainted by the Wyrm, with
no sign of the captives. The Garou took this as an omen
they had done wrong and relented, never knowing that
their kin had unleashed Buried upon the Pure Lands for
the first time.
Ajaba
“Whatever the rest of them may be, those of golden fur
kept us alive during our most trying time. We shall never turn
our backs on them.”
Ajaba and Moldwarps mostly stay clear of each other
out of respectful distance, only banding together when
a threat is levelled equally at them both. Weremoles
sympathise with their current plight and see them as
good 'choosers of the slain', but in many cases would
rather prefer that the choice be made after rehabilitation
is attempted. The Kruipmolle of Africa buck this trend
to a certain extent, for they are fellow members of the
Ahadi and sheltered Ajaba refugees in their times of
need.
Ananasi
“So quick to raise questions about our allegiances, just as
quick as we are to question them. Put a paw out of line, and
we will soon see once and for all how deep your Burrows run.”
The werespiders keep many watchful eyes over
Moldwarp Burrows, watching for signs of taint or
potentially valuable inmates. Some of the few successful
Sceatha breakouts have been at the hands of Ananasi,
inculcating Moldwarps with a healthy scepticism at best,
and foaming Rage at worst. Sometimes a Foreman or
even an Earl receives an anonymous tipoff or unlooked-
for aid which is both suspect and helpful - accompanied
Moldwarps
by a subconscious itching across her skin.
Bastet
“Vermin who consort with tainted monstrosities and spout
blasphemies to Nala, Rajah, and Cahlash. Nothing they say
could inspire trust in any right-minded Folk.”
Moldwarp relationships with Bastet vary widely by
tribe. Bubasti see something close to kindred spirits
in the weremoles and Bagheera actively support their
efforts as another front against the Unmaker; both are
sometimes granted a chance to study the most unusual
Sceatha, the process of cleansing, and the weremoles'
simple but effective magic. Ceilican and Qualmi find
their ways fascinatingly unorthodox and observe
whenever possible, but only lend a hand when the need
is dire or the fancy takes them.
Balam and Pumonca scarcely comprehend taking
the enemy alive, less trying to heal them of the spirit-
sickness which should condemn them. Swara regard
Moldwarps with a quizzical eye before moving on their
own concerns, considering for the space of a shudder
how unpleasant life in the claustrophobic Burrows
must be. More out of contempt than trepidation, the
righteous Khan do not wish to sully themselves by
descending to work alongside them in lightless pits.
Finally, Simba fear the moles ever reaching a level of
organisation and power to match their prides, and so
every cub is taught to despise and distrust the 'Wyrm-
loving vermin' from birth.
Corax
“We’ve helped them, they’ve helped us, but at the end of
the day we live in different worlds. What is it they say, they're
from Underland and we’re from Unland? Funny way of looking
at things, but we’ve nothing much against them; can you give
me a reason we should? Genuine question.”
The Corax do not limit their messaging to specific
Breeds of Fera, and provide much intelligence to the
weremoles. A wise Surface Earl keeps close contact
with any local Corax while searching for Sceatha, and
Moldwarps greatly respect their helpfulness, as many
of their kind hate leaving the Burrow. Moreover, they
are awed (and a tad unsettled) by the ‘magic’ that the
wereravens must use to travel from the surface into
Unland.
Gurahl
“Such noble and hard-working creatures, it pains my heart
to think of them as foolish and misguided. If their work is true,
they have our support, no matter what their ancestors decided.”
Before the War of Rage, only the lost Grondr
Appendix Two: Going Underground
were closer to the Moldwarps than Bear's children.
The Gurahl aided Moldwarps without needing to be
asked, for they saw great honour in their earthy, dutiful
natures, even if they were not the finest things to look
upon. In turn, werebears were granted great privilege
in standing permission to hibernate in the safety and
hospitality of any Burrow. The faces of Grandmother
Mole and Bear were close allies and consecrated their
servants' bonds, sharing Gifts and Caerns alike.
Today, though, the legacy of the War of Rage is
the one major sticking point in what would otherwise
be a rekindling of bosom companionship. Where the
Gurahl fought bitterly hard, nearly losing everything, the
Moldwarps fled the Garou’s wrath almost immediately.
This decision deeply aggrieved the werebears, and with
many returning to Earth with this relatively fresh in their
minds, it ensures they cannot trust again. Individuals of
both Breeds yearn to bridge the divide, but the Gurahl
Council of Elders and especially the Great-Grandfather
are set against it, a reality which the Lords of the Run
have shouldered along with so much else.
Kitsune
“At last - a creature I cannot trick! Something so blind and
dull cannot even glean the illusions weaved over truth. Perhaps
there is wisdom in that.”
Kitsune and Moldwarp relations are highly
inconsistent due to the two Breeds’ opposing natures.
Where werefoxes are fluid and full of levity, weremoles
are solid and forthright in their ways. Sometimes
opposites do attract, and the Eastern Tunnel counts
a handful of Kitsune fighters on its roster of valued
companions, but for the most part the two prefer to
remain distant.
Mokolé
“There should be no reason for us to object to their ways,
but they put up so many barriers against true kinship. If the
Itjarijari do not end their mad crusade for good and all, we will
remind the world how they armed mankind against us and fled
the resulting butchery like cowards.”
The Mokolé remember better than any the humble
grandchildren of Mole, and though both have changed
greatly over the aeons, still look upon them with
sympathy and mild interest, though the majority of
weresaurians deem the Moldwarps’ cause to be doomed.
Weremoles consider the Mokolé overly absorbed - by
both themselves and their dubious inherited 'memories'
- and unwilling to get themselves dirty with the work
that really needs doing, where they themselves change
with the times and think practically in the here and
129
now.
This is no better reflected in any other Tunnel than
the Itjaritjari, who engaged in systematic attacks against
the Gumagan, the Australian Stream of Mokolé. For
now, the fighting has ceased, but the Tunnel still hunts
their Varna for food with little in the way of compassion
or remorse.
Nagah
“It is a simple thing to drag a mole from its Burrow, and
one bite is all it takes to end its life. Best that they stay in the
dark, ignorant of us - for their sakes.”
The Nagah distrust Moldwarps as much as the
Garou. A handful of Nests are kept on constant alert,
ready to destroy entire Setts if they should be seen to
be amassing captured forces of the Triat for their own
use, rather than cleansing them. So far this has not
happened, but the weresnakes remain as patient and
vigilant as ever. Amongst the Beast Courts, the Nagah
take a more active - but scarcely less clandestine - role
as monitors of the Investigator Chamber, ensuring that
their fealty holds strong and that the truth of their
loyalty remains secret.
Nuwisha
“Coyote courted one of the faces of their Grandmother,
they have proved accommodating and not as humourless as
they would have you think. The wanderers may even make
good companions.”
The Nuwisha do not care for the rigidity and self-
seriousness of a Moldwarp Sett. They typically avoid
the tiresome Labours, only taking interest when a
humorous (and often deadly) scenario may arise - or be
created. Due to the aforementioned spiritual kinship the
Nuwisha share with Pul'-Laqu-Whu, Totem of the New
World Tunnel, werecoyotes have always looked kindly
upon them, sparing them their more malicious pranks.
They also marvel at the Gazers of the Deep, and take
great joy how much frustration the Chamber causes
older, more closed-minded Moldwarps.
Ratkin
“Claiming to be so much better than us while they
accompany us in the mud and filth - they shall be counted
when the Apocalypse comes! Burying their heads in the dirt
makes them overlook what Gaia really needs.”
Ratkin and Moldwarps can sometimes form strong
social bonds, formed through cooperative digging,
hunting, and Den-building. Inevitably, though, the
Ratkin always break this trust by attempting to enter the
Run, causing disease amongst humanity, or assaulting
130
Sceatha with the potential of being cleansed. Ultimately
the weremoles recognise Ratkin as highly imbalanced
towards the Wyld, but in spite of the bitter history
between the two Breeds, hardly see this as the most
pressing concern when there is so much else to be
corrected.
Rokea
“They swim through Unsea? Take this madness from my
ears!”
The Rokea do not know of the Moldwarps' existence
except through the scattered tales of other shapeshifters,
and vice versa. They regard one another's way of life
with neither understanding nor curiosity. As with so
much else, the Same-Bito are a marked exception to
this rule, secretly calling an entire family of Investigator
Moldwarps (see Chapter Two) their servants.
Denizens of Overland
Moldwarp Kinfolk
Homid Kinfolk are generally reclusive but hard-
working and forward-thinking individuals, with curiosity
about and love for both nature and industry. Humans
carrying the Moldwarp lineage are relatively few and
far between, due to their late emergence into the world
and the divide between the environments they prefer to
dwell in; human Kinfolk have never been as much of a
staple for the Breed as mole Kinfolk. Despite this, small
conclaves have formed, each solely bred for a major
Burrow and their offshoots, which surreptitiously watch
over and guard these groups.
Talpid Kinfolk, on the other hand, are so plentiful
that it is believed that perhaps half of the world’s
population of true moles are Kinfolk (though the Old
World Tunnel does not carry such a high population)
to some degree; whether this is due to circumstantially
perfect breeding or to the aid of Mole during the
Eruption, none can say. Regardless, moles flock to
Burrows in an almost unconscious manner, visiting the
nearest ones out of instinct; depending on the strength
of a Burrow’s Den, these visits may be once during a
lifetime or near-nightly.
Humans
Moldwarps as a Breed do not disapprove of human-
Fera relations, with some Setts choosing to remain
reclusive yet amicable, while others throw their arms
wide and aid humanity any way they can. The Apes’
Redeemers have recently made relations with humanity
Moldwarps
harder to bear, with forced cleansing being enacted
on seemingly untainted sections of human society.
Despite the rarity of these acts, they have raised human
suspicions on multiple occasions and made Mole’s
children more enemies than friends.
Hunters
Generally speaking, hunters seek the destruction,
suppression, or explication of supernatural entities, with
Moldwarps being no exception. They generally have no
inherent corruption themselves and are easily avoided
by weremoles as a matter of course, though tales of these
individuals leaving Sceatha in places for Moldwarp
collection are told in almost every Burrow but rarely
given serious attention. Stranger still are the rare
stories of humans with abilities which appear somehow
neither Triatic or Gaian in origin; these are dismissed
as nonsense, and of minor concern even if they are
true. Some hunters regard the cleansing practices of
Moldwarps as some form of unspoken cooperation
between they and their Sceatha, while most conceive of
it as the corrupt and inhuman simply turning on one
another.
Vampires and Kuei-jin
To Moldwarps, leeches are no more than yet
another form of Sceatha to be cleansed, little distinct
from fomori in all but one way: the monumental effort
needed to achieve this. To this day, none understand
why the curing of vampires is such an undertaking,
though it is almost unheard of for a Sett not to try;
even when successful at great pains, cleansing causes
the former bloodsucker to experience a brief euphoria
before passing peacefully on. The existence of Baoganes
(see Chapter Two) stands as a shameful testament to the
crossing of blood-drinker and weremole.
The Eastern Tunnel has never managed to cleanse
the perverse undead native to its lands, with death
coming long before purity, while no other Tunnel has
been presented with the opportunity to capture one.
The Scriveins tell legends of a race of prideful, immortal
humans who so offended Gaia that she tore down their
sacred mountain and cursed them with a state very
similar to that of the ‘Thousand Demons’.
Mages
Despite the shock and awe created in young
weremoles by the existence of mages, Earls know
that most are rarely a threat on any Triatic level.
Personally, a mage can be as vile as any human but
spiritual intervention is not required for any but the
very worst, most chaotic, and most Weaver-touched of
Appendix Two: Going Underground
their number; all but the last of these prove tragically
impossible to cleanse, their spirits too fundamentally
warped to even get a hold on.
Sympathetic druids and shamans, with whom the
grandchildren of Mole have made pacts since time
immemorial, sometimes serve as invaluable assets on
Overland for well-connected Trackers. In Underland,
Moldwarps occasionally face off against humans wielding
sleek, impossibly advanced technology, apparently
set on infiltrating, mapping, colonising, and even
conquering their subterranean empire. Strangest of all
are those occasions when Diggers have breached into the
‘Hollow Earth’ - an Otherland realm resembling a vast
underground world with its own sun - and encountered
eccentric human explorers equipped with all manner of
antiquated and yet highly effective inventions.
Wraiths
Moldwarps hold an attitude of sorrowful curiosity
towards the Restless Dead. In an ideal existence, where
the Breed would perform its original task of interring
the dead unimpeded, wraiths would not exist since all
souls would pass into Gaia's care, and thereafter receive
the mysterious fate She has set aside for all that dies.
As things stand, they are regarded as close to Sceatha
but not quite, more victims of the world's sickness than
symptoms of it.
The curing of these trapped spirits is a complex task
undertaken by only the most adept Cleansers, involving
the resolution of each individual’s standing emotional
ties rather than internment in a cleansing chamber. Out
of this reticent pity, wraiths receive guidance and even
safe haven from weremoles at any opportunity. Spectres
are very occasionally captured, but they are only rarely
happened upon, and never sought out over Sceatha
more directly tied to the Triat.
Changelings
Moldwarps scarcely understand the very concept
of the fae. The two places exist so far from one another
that digging a breach between Otherland and the
Dreaming is next to unheard of. Still, weremoles see the
corruption of an unbalanced Triat in the hearts of these
creatures, a manifestation of the out-of-control Wyld
unusual both in its relative subtlety and the humanlike
forms it takes. They sometimes produce balanced mortal
humans from attempts to cleanse them, but just as often
send changelings' minds and souls hurtling further into
Flux.
Some of their kind show signs of additional Taint
from both the Wyld and Wyrm, these creatures stand
131
out far more to Moldwarps than their more ‘balanced’
kin. Cleansing Overland of Thallain is at the forefront
of many Sett’s agendas, for they often cultivate lairs of
vileness below the earth’s surface; whether these are of
the Wyrm or the Wyld’s darkest side matters little. Most
elusive and hardest to understand are those fae who are
nonetheless of the Weaver, and seem to delight in the
degradation of all things magical.
Demons
Rarely encountered but greatly feared, demons are
given as wide a berth as possible. Their darkness is too
deep for Moldwarps to approach without succumbing
to hysterical dread and rage, and their spirits reach so
far into Otherland, even beyond it, that Mole herself
shudders at the thought.
While it is the Breed's duty to cleanse first and
despatch only as needed, an unprecedented and rueful
decree was given at Holds-the-Wyrm-Close’s most recent
Althing that such creatures were not deemed Sceatha in
the normal sense. Instead, they are to be left to Gaia's
Warriors and others better armed to fight them, until
such a time that the world is harmonious enough for
them to be restored in turn.
S.E.T.T.
In the years following World War II, an inventor
named Floyd Farris devised a method for removing
shale gas and petroleum by drilling into bedrock
formations and injecting solutions of water, sand, and
chemical components to open fissures and free up
the flow of fuel. Naturally, Pentex quickly invested in
this technology for use by their subsidiary, Endron
International, and Farris was made comfortable from
their funding. Endron in turn formed a subsidiary
company of its own, dubbed S.E.T.T. (Shale Extraction
and Transportation Technologies) to research, develop,
and implement the method known as hydraulic
fracturing - or fracking, as it is more commonly known -
to the full extent of its possibilities.
S.E.T.T. has since formed ties with major oil
corporations across and beyond North America, in
particular fellow Pentex holding Harold and Harold
Mining, and provides for a modest but significant
percentage of the energy demands of several prosperous
countries.
Beneath the surface of this already environmentally-
questionable company lies the quintessentially toxic
touch of Endron. S.E.T.T. erects fracking stations on
sites specifically highlighted by Endron Exploratory
Personnel Squads. The exact chemical composition
132 Moldwarps
of the suspension liquid used in their fracking goes
undisclosed to all except S.E.T.T.’s leading engineers.
Similarly, the reasons why the EEPS choose the sites
they do - in spite of other, seemingly more lucrative ones
in more receptive countries being readily available - is
known only to its senior operational managers. The
primary reason for this is that S.E.T.T. is a vehicle for
the corruption of Dens and other underground places
of power, through the use of specially-produced Bloating
Water Banes (see page 143).
Historically, S.E.T.T. hasn’t earned much prestige
within Pentex, standing as it does in the vast shadow
of their most important subsidiary. The only tactical
use it has so far served, other than its contributions
to violating Gaia's purity, has been in defence of the
Pretanic Order under the remains of Phelegma Abbey,
New York. The company was employed to create a
Hellhole upon the abbey’s remains with their fracking
activity to protect the Order, its spiritual leader the
Laird of Demborough, and the Wyrmish rituals
they performed, from local Garou Septs. S.E.T.T.
corporate agents followed this directive unfailingly and
still prevail to this day. Day-to-day, S.E.T.T. bases its
successes on remaining largely unknown to the general
public. It keeps its operations as discreet as possible
to avoid confrontation with environmental welfare
groups, government agencies, or its most dire foes - the
mysterious ‘mole-men’ whom most executives believe to
be escaped, aberrant test subjects of Project Lycaon.
Policy and Structure
To anyone who happens to go looking, S.E.T.T. is
a transparent company with an open employee roster,
publicly available financial reports, and operation
plans - though their precise sites of operation are
never broadcast. Employees are elevated through the
remarkably simple company structure - one not overly
bogged down with regulations and red tape - based on
their ability to formulate diversionary tactics, survey
land for sites which are both rich in resources and
ecologically fragile, and blend engineering know-how
with a callous scrupulousness towards how they source
their fuels.
Practices
S.E.T.T. undertakes relatively clean and efficient
'frack jobs' to reach predetermined quotas of various
gases and liquid fuels, fully in accordance with
international and local law. Indeed, if their wells were
actually deconstructed once their fuel retrieval quotas
were met, S.E.T.T. would stand tall as an ecological
paragon compared to its competitors.
 Once a well site’s quota is satisfied, however,
mundane employees are relocated to other branches or
to Endron research facilities for training or bolstering
staff numbers following the ‘industrial accidents’ and
‘ecoterrorist attacks’ that seem to dog them. Those who
remain behind at the site are all ensured to be Bane-
possessed individuals committed to the next three
phases of the operation; this often constitutes a ‘special
promotion’ for those who have performed especially well
during the conventional fracking operation.
Away from uninitiated eyes, these company diehards
begin a rapid and far-reaching expansion of the project
into surrounding land, which becomes more polluting
and geologically destructive as it grows. Eventually,
the well is abandoned under a range of diversionary
measures, such as sandstone subsidence, industrial and
political espionage, extreme weather conditions, or
simply fake news.
Where other Changing Breeds face off against
many of Pentex's other subsidiaries, Moldwarps are
uniquely positioned to be affected by S.E.T.T. and to
combat their operations. Since the fifties, the number
of Dens to fall prey to S.E.T.T.’s tainted chemical
injections and bedrock destabilisation has increased
exponentially, seeing a handful of Setts - still all too
many - exterminated almost overnight.
Phase One
First comes the expanded drilling protocol that
extends the well’s reach for thousands of metres in
random directions. Conventional drill heads are
replaced with slimline ‘Magic-Seekers’, which are infused
with spiritual matter from minor H’rugglings. These
drill channels unnaturally hunt for sources of Gnosis,
though they are easily baffled by elementary occlusion
of the earth, such as through the Gifts of Moldwarps.
Once the drill teams have discovered an acceptable
number of trapped Banes, Dens, lost Fetishes, or stray
veins of Gnosis, they move on to the second phase.
Phase Two
Through freshly-drilled channels, the team funnels
many gallons of fracking fluids, containing Bloating
Waters, in one final injection. These Banes are
infinitesimally small but populate the fluids in large
quantities. Once the Bloating Waters reach a source of
Gnosis they are violently activated, driving them into
feeding frenzies towards the Gnosis stored in whatever
recess they have found. They consume any trapped
spirits nearby like swarming locusts, and eventually turn
on one another in a similar fashion. This feast expands
the body of water, breaking earthen supports, explosively
ripping gorges in the land, and collapsing nearby cave
Appendix Two: Going Underground
systems under the sheer pressure.
Phase Three
Finally, the air toxification phase begins. The fatted
Banes use all their essence - as the increased capacity
burns them from within, causing excruciating pain - on
the generation of methane. This gas further poisons
the stagnant water filling the drill tunnels, the land
surrounding the well, and the local surface air for miles
around.
On rare occasions, usually when directly targeting
Moldwarps or other high-value targets, the methane
is also ignited using another, highly specialised drill
head - a ‘Kernite Detonator’, infused with a single,
highly potent Furmling - which causes a massive
spiritual explosion. The inferno spreads a fallout of
Wyrmish taint for miles around, whilst also conveniently
destroying on-site evidence under the masquerade of a
freak accident or criminal sabotage.
This phase is the most critical for Moldwarps
attempting to stop the process, for if a fully-activated
Bloating Water Bane can be cleansed in time, the
injector fluids are converted into pure fresh water, which
then merges with Gaia seamlessly and harmlessly. The
rate of consumption, however, and the subsequent
release of methane, are so rapid that many Burrows lack
the resources to react in time and are consumed as the
Bane gorges itself on their Den's Gnosis. Any Burrows
caught up in this consumption are instantly turned
into Hellholes, and any Moldwarps unfortunate to
survive become easy pickings for Tommyknocker and his
servants.
Spirits of Underland
Garou Theurges believe that they know everything
there is to know about the spirit world, save the deepest
mysteries kept by the Celestines. They have met with
a dizzying breadth of Overland spirits and Otherland
denizens, yet know little of what Underland has to offer.
The only Breed besides Moldwarps who even come
close to experiencing the spirits who dwell deep beneath
Gaia’s surface are the Ratkin, but their claws are too
small and attention spans too fleeting to ever reach the
depths that even Moldwarp pups regularly dig down to.
Naturae
Consumer Worms
Even the greatest Scriveins have struggled to
understand how the Consumer Worms have not yet
fallen to tainted Wyrmish influence, embodiments
133
of the long-lost Balance Wyrm as they are. Consumer
Worms go about their business wherever they manifest,
consuming all non-Gaian essence and energy from
the bodies of the dead and the ground around them,
purifying Gaia as they go. Though they live primarily in
Run’s End, they occasionally manifest in sites of large-
scale death - warzones, plague outbreaks, and sites of
famine - to absorb and nullify the ample supplies of fear,
pain, anger, sickness, and suffering. Once the Consumer
Worms have wiggled their way through a landscape, only
pure and natural material is left behind for the Wyld
side of Gaia to make use of once again.
Rage: 4
Willpower: 7
Gnosis: 4 - 6
Essence: 15 - 25
Charms: Cleanse the Blight.
Image: There are very few thrills and frills to the
appearance of a Consumer Worm. They simply resemble
earthworms of varying but always exaggerated size,
some as small as pythons, others as large as double-
decker buses and twice as long. A Consumer Worm
keeps growing as it consumes until it is finally caught
by a flock of Corpse Birds in Run’s End or a Labour of
Moldwarps, at which point its work has reached its end,
yet it continues to further Gaia’s work.
Corpse Birds
Whenever life focuses too much in one area of Gaia,
living and dying in place and leaving nearby areas to
become starved, Corpse Birds form. Spirits who appear
to be deceased avians sprout from prospering areas of
land which border far harsher climates, such as great
forests situated on the edges of deserts. The spirits
lift their skeletal remains into the air to wait on the
penumbral edges of their former habitat.
The Corpse Birds then opportunistically steal the
spirits of the freshest corpses they can find and eat
them, swelling their exposed stomachs and intestines
to bursting point. Once their grisly feast is through, the
Corpse Birds fly over the neighbouring desolate terrain,
hunting for a prime nesting place. They burrow into
the burning sand or barren earth to dig their own grave
nests, wherein they settle down to rest and allow their
swollen innards to explode, delivering Gain essence to
bring the deadlands back to life.
Currently, the Dens of the Kruipmolle are swarming
with Corpse Birds, sent by Gaia to help distribute the
Tunnel’s deposit of remains across their desert home.
To see these oases in the Penumbra is to see blackened
134 Moldwarps
forests encircled by skeletal vultures and ravens, rotting
viscera draping from their frames. This grisly appearance
leads many to assume them to be Wyrmish in allegiance,
though those sensitive to the Wyrm’s presence cannot
find it upon them.
Rage: 5
Willpower: 3
Gnosis: 7
Essence: 15 - 20
Charms: Nourish*, Swift Flight.
*Nourish: A Corpse Bird may end its own spiritual
existence, infusing its own Gnosis into a six foot Square
area of Otherland. This Gnosis remains and encourages
new life to emerge in its Overland counterpart by
creating a place of Gaian balance.
Image: Corpse Birds are constructs shaped after
the carcasses of carrion birds which can grow as tall as
five feet, with a wingspan of up to ten. The organs of
a Corpse Bird swell to excess and can carry a banquet
of Essence. Flocks of Corpse Birds roost in Run’s End
waiting for Consumer Worms to fatten, only to descend
upon them and eat them whole. From there they fly
into the shallow Otherland of a barren area of Gaia to
fertilize it with the Worms’ flesh.
Mole Spirits
Mole spirits are simple Gafflings who virtually swim
through Otherland soil, churning the land to prevent
worms from becoming too fat and to give seeds fresh
beds to sprout from.
Rage: 2
Willpower: 3
Gnosis: 5
Essence: 10-25
Charms: Eruption - The mole spirit can call
upon Overland itself to create a sudden undulation,
knocking enemies over with the force or trapping their
feet in the resultant molehill. The Storyteller rolls the
spirit's Gnosis (difficulty 6). Success pushes the enemy
off-balance forcing her to make a Wits + Athletics roll
(difficulty 5 + the spirit’s successes) to retain their
stance. With 5 successes, the enemy is incapacitated for
a turn as her foot gets strategically caught in the mole
hole. A botch buries the mole spirit itself head first,
incapacitating it for a turn as its stumpy legs waggle in
distress.
Wyldlings
Flow
Few weremoles are well-travelled enough to have
witnessed a Flow-spirit, but those who have tell tales of
wonder and worry. Flows run along one surface, only to
suddenly shift direction and crash down like waterfalls
onto an opposite surface, from ceiling to floor, then wall
to wall, as they journey endlessly underground. When
a Flow meets a dead end, it forms a funnel-like sphere
against one of the walls, constantly crashing against it
and receding in order to ultimately bore its way into a
new tunnel.
Gaffling Flows are nothing more than brief
curiosities, thin streams of water defying gravity through
the Passage, scarcely noticed by experienced Diggers.
Some even exploit them as brief opportunities for
expedient travel, hitching rides by holding tightly to
their barely-substantial forms, though this wears the
spirits to nothing in quick time. Greater Flows, however,
act as the birthing spirits of new streams, sometimes
only creating a simple brook no deeper than a single
inch, but occasionally bringing forth great underground
rivers. In these instances, the Flow travels as it normally
would, bounding from wall to wall, but spreading
behind it is a large body of water, stretching from an
unknown source, destined to settle and become a
mighty river that would appear to untrained eyes to have
always been there.
Though in no way malicious, and largely mindless,
Flows present a great potential risk to the stability and
security of Burrows they are drawn towards. A single
Jaggling, or even a large number of Gafflings, can
penetrate into a cleansing chamber or other important
area if not discovered and dealt with.
Rage: 5-9
Willpower: 2-3
Gnosis: 3-5
Essence: 15-30
Charms: Break Reality, Flood.
Image: A Flow takes the form of a constant fall
of multicoloured water, from deep blue to vibrant sea
green, then to muddy brown. They crash from surface
to surface as they move, creating a great deal of noise
for such relatively small spirits. Greater Flows are large
enough to fill entire Passages at their greatest extent, and
constantly shift in colour and shape.
Appendix Two: Going Underground
Mites and Tites
Stalactites and stalagmites seem like strange, alien
growths to the uninitiated tunneller, but in truth, some
really are mutated versions of their former selves. As
with many Wyldlings, Mites and Tites form almost at
random. At the birth of such a formation, the Wyld
chooses to make it home to pure creative energy. Once
a Mite or Tite is born, it grows at an accelerated rate
- Mites growing up from cave floors and Tites down
from ceilings - in all directions, filling Passages and
even entire cave systems if left to their own devices.
Generally, a Mite or Tite can grow at a rate of three feet/
one metre per day, though by splitting into branches
and contorting themselves into knots, this expansion
becomes exponential and can result in great distances
being filled by the swelling stones in no time at all.
Rage: 2
Willpower: 9
Gnosis: 3
Essence: 10-20
Charms: Armour, Swell*.
* Swell: As the Tires and Mites grow, they may
expand their counterpart subterranean stalagmites or
stalactites. The Storyteller rolls their Gnosis rating, if she
rolls successes equal to the local Gauntlet the spirit may
permanently enlarge such a geological growth by one
foot or half a metre.
Image: All Tites and Mites look like unnatural
blendings between trees and rock formations. They
grow, twist, and divide just as a sapling would as it
reaches maturity, but bear the sulphuric green colour
of their mineral namesakes along with the ribbed
undulation resulting from years of gradual formation.
Pattern Spiders
Tunnelweb Spider
Tunnelweb Spiders find their way into tunnel
systems - sewers, underground rail networks, and mine
shafts, or even the Passages of weremoles - and begin
making their nests. They then construct tightly-bound
Otherland webs along the floor, walls, and ceiling,
which send signals when something disturbs them
in either world. Using these, the spirits monitor the
flow and direction of movement through the tunnels.
For mortals, the effects of this activity can be fairly
mundane, from disruption to train schedules, blockages
in sewer networks, and even becoming lost due to routes
being rearranged by particularly powerful spirits, all
determined by the Weaver’s great plan and constant
135
need to adjust.
Moldwarps are far more at risk from Tunnelweb
Spiders, and as many as ten may occupy a single
Passage, binding the route with their constricting silk.
The Spiders’ nests siphon Gnosis from the Dens at
either end of a Passage, feeding the spirits and giving
them room to grow. The webs they create also slow
travel between Burrows dramatically, and if the spirits
have grown too large on the Gnosis of Dens, Fera may
become trapped within the Passages and be slowly
consumed by the swarm.
Rage: 3
Willpower: 6
Gnosis: 8
Essence: 15-25
Charms: Calcify, Control Electrical Systems.
Image: Tunnelweb Spiders are small and fairly
inoffensive. When discovered inside mortal tunnel
systems they are generally as small as house cats and
flee any particularly aggressive Fera or rival spirits. In
Passages, they can grow to the size of wolves if their
habitat leads to and from powerful Dens; when working
together, a group of these bloated spirits can trap even
the strongest Moldwarp in their silk. They possess twelve
limbs, each coated in a white chitinous shell, the tips of
which each hold a spinneret constantly laying webbing
wherever they crawl.
Steel Spinnerets
These spirits have been birthed from mankind's
desire to connect the world with wires and cables for the
sake of easy communication and stronger security. They
emerge in areas of the world where telecommunications
abound, such as industrial sites, mobile relay masts, and
strong wifi hotspots.
Steel Spinnerets have no purpose of their own,
but they make the existences of other Weaver spirits
far easier. Totally immobile, they remain in place,
unspooling endless lengths of steel cabling which head
off in every direction, burrowing into stone and soil
alike and connecting with any man-made cable, wire,
or emitter, be it fibre-optic, electrical, or telephonic.
Any Weaver spirit may use the cables to relay messages
to one another or receive communication from greater
Weaver Incarnae, while additionally absorbing any
mundane information passed along them. Bot-Nets, Net
Spiders, and Chaos Monitors make particular use of the
Spinnerets’ cables.
Rage: 2
Willpower: 5
136 Moldwarps
Gnosis: 2
Essence: 8
Charms: Control Electrical Systems, Solidify
Reality.
Image: The body of a Spinneret is a car-sized fleshy
gland, with countless wires knitting in and out of its
flesh like exposed veins. Inside the puckered orifice
on the front of a Spinneret can be seen a mechanical
spool constantly unwinding cable, causing the body
rhythmically undulate. The cable itself is thick, steel, and
shot through with fleshy blue cords.
Banes
Bloating Water
The sole innovation of S.E.T.T., a subsidiary of
Endron, Bloating Waters are used to violate the earth
following successful fracking operations. They begin
existence as ‘ordinary’ Wakshaani Banes, captured and
isolated by S.E.T.T. operatives for the express purpose of
conversion. They are collected in huge techno-sorcerous
vats by the dozens, starved and inert in otherwise
mundane fracking fluids. So contained, their already
flimsy individual identities are rapidly subsumed into a
single Bloating Water, which at first is far less than the
sum of its parts, but has the potential to grow into a
highly dangerous spirit.
When the fluids containing them are used in the
process of fracking, the Banes naturally gravitate towards
pre-drilled sources of Gnosis - trapped spirits, Dens, or
the energy of leylines. If a Bloating Water then comes
in contact with Gnosis of any form, it feasts upon the
energy, finally turning on any nearby spirits, including
other nearby Bloating Water, until only one spirit exists.
Overwhelmed by Gnosis for which it hungers
but lacks the capacity to hold, this lone Bane suffers
excruciating pain, forcing it to violently expel the
Gnosis. This release destroys the Bloating Water and
manifests in the physical world as a large pocket of
high-pressure methane, causing atmospheric poisoning,
ground bleaching, bedrock erosion, and even powerful
explosions.
Rage: 1
Willpower: 1
Gnosis: 1
Essence: 1-30
Note: The spirit begins small and meek, with only
one dot in Rage, Willpower, and Gnosis. As it consumes
Gnosis, it grows to reach a maximum of seven in each
attribute and thirty Essence, before it is finally forced to
destroy itself (see below). Willpower: 3
Charms: Gas Release - By spending one point of Gnosis: 6
Essence, the spirit may manifest three cubic feet/one Essence: 15
cubic metre of pure methane gas in the Skinlands.
Large scale uses of this Charm acidulates nearby terrain, Charms: Armour, Blighted Touch, Dark Materials*,
poisons air and water ways, and may be ignited. Peek.

Image: A Bloating Water Bane is identical in *Dark Materials: By spending two points of Essence,
the Coblynau may manipulate a palm sized patch of
appearance and texture to clear syrup, gently growing
Skinland stone and transform it into thin needle-like
and contracting in any container, though always
obsidian spines which remain in place for one lunar
seeming to try and reach beyond its bounds. In its
month before disappearing.
active state, the fluid of Bloating Water bubbles and
swells as if it were boiling. Once it has gorged and Image: Coblynau are hunched, child-sized, goblinoid
begins destroying itself, it turns to a sickly green colour creatures. They coat their green skin in obsidian dust
and creates a tumultuous tempest in its own fluids and coal soot to darken themselves and thus more
before dissipating. closely resemble their master, Tommyknocker. Their
eyes are large and golden, with long, cat-like pupils, and
Coblynau bloodshot veins throughout. They wear rags made from
To weremole eyes, the Coblynau are a facet of the the hides of unfortunate burrowing spirits, and possess a
Wyrm’s madness clearly cultivated to target their kind. long talon on each thumb which they use to carve stone;
As such they are singled out for cleansing whenever the rest of their fingers are similar to the frail digits of an
sighted, lest other Moldwarps fall prey to their insidious elderly miner.
ways. Coblynau are the source of mortal legends
pertaining to Tommyknocker, birthed as they are by
Kirijama through poorly-understood means. Coblynau
are relatively infantile in their behaviour, infesting caves
and Passages and diligently scraping away at the floor,
hardening earth and carving the stone into small, sharp
spikes. Once this has been achieved, they decorate the
points with tiny shards of obsidian, jutting out of the
ground in wait for Moldwarps to stroll through and get
splinters on the hidden black needles.
With their constructions completed, Coblynau
return to their nests in the darkness, reporting back
to Tommyknocker and receiving his gift of Gnosis.
Besides this primary purpose, Coblynau simply dig away
at the earth to create small caverns in which to extend
their stone-and-mud shantytowns. The more obsidian
needles they plant, the more Gnosis Tommyknocker
shares amongst them, and the more populated their
tribes become.
While discovering Coblynau nests is difficult and
time-consuming, the act of cleansing them is remarkably
easy. Cleansers who work with Coblynau - largely those
of low Rank, since they make ideal training subjects
- note that they generally only require a redirecting of
purpose, and hold little of the deep ill-will towards
things of Gaia that most other Banes do. It is theorised
that they were once a benign brood of spirits aligned to
the Balance Wyrm, rather than mere symptoms of the
Wyrm’s sickness.
Rage: 5
Appendix Two: Going Underground 137
 The centuries will burn rich loads
With which we groaned,
Whose warmth shall lull their dreaming lids,
While songs are crooned;
But they will not dream of us poor lads,
Left in the ground.

Moldwarps Includes:
• The industrious history of a deep dwelling Changing Breed.
• Moldwarp culture and hierarchy, including details on their nine
Tribes (named Tunnels).
• Complete rules for running Moldwarps: Gifts, Rites, Tools, Forms,
Totems, sample characters, and more.