Bastet Yava


Changing Breed: Bastet presents Tribal weaknesses in the form of Yava for each of the nine Tribes. However, they speak of them in ambiguities, quoting that some may or may not apply, and giving few if any game systems for how they work. While a certain amount of vagueness is important for what are incredibly dangerous secrets, the Storyteller needs to know how they work…or if they apply at all! Thus, the following Yava and rules apply to the CoLA game and all related Bastet characters.

Bagheera


  • Bagheera sleep deeply during the New Moon. Once they slumber, nothing short of violence can awaken them.

    -- Every New Moon (once per month), a Bagheera sleeps soundly all night long. Nothing short of an attack on her person will awaken her. If she's awakened before dawn, she suffers a +1 difficulty to all rolls.

  • Make a trail of salt; a panther will follow it from beginning to end without stopping.

    -- A Bagheera will track a trail of salt out of ingrained curiosity, but if he knows it leads to serious danger, he can resist the compulsion with a Willpower roll (difficulty 8).

  • Blessing a leopard's prey with Aabhaya (a hand gesture meaning "protection") will force the cat to flee unless his rage is just.

    -- Knowing about the Aabhaya requires a Wits+Occult roll (difficulty 6 for Asians, difficulty 8 for Westerners). The Storyteller decides if the Bagheera's rage is just, and if it is not, there is no resistance roll. The werepanther flees for the duration of the scene.

Balam


  • Demons feed the wrath of the Balam; send one against him, and he will rage into madness.

    -- Balam must make Rage checks (base difficulty 7) anytime they are confronted with the true, demonic form of a Bane.

  • Burn the heart of the jaguar and you destroy its soul forever.

    -- Obviously, this action would be post-mortem. A Balam who suffers this fate is indeed annihilated, neither reincarnating as Balam nor becoming an Ancestor-spirit.

  • Jaguar feathers hold great power. If you find one, burn it by the great cat's face. Once it is ashes, the Balam will die.

    -- Jaguar feathers aren't easy to come by. The Ancestral Wings Gift is the sole means of obtaining one. There is no resistance roll against this; if someone is really bold enough to stand in front of a Balam and hold a burning feather in its face, then that's that.

Bubasti


  • When all immortals of the tribe are slain, the tribe itself will die with them.

    -- This will probably not happen anytime soon. Perhaps their doom will be known upon the Apocalypse, but the old Rank 6 immortals' sense of self-preservation means this Yava will not be the end of the Tribe anytime soon.

  • The Black Soil of Khem is forever tied to the tribe; if all Bubasti in a generation flee the land, they will be the last of their kind.

    -- Because of this Yava, the Bubasti Elders demand and entice that a few younger Shadowcats stay in Egypt. Again, this is nothing the average (player character) Bubasti need worry her fur about it.

  • Bubasti are always hungry. Though no amount of food or drink will ease their craving, they will always eat what's put before them.

    -- This is a dangerous Yava, of course. At the very least, a Bubasti risks digestive illnesses from eating too much, or drunkenness from too much alcohol. If the food and drink presented to the Shadowcat is known to be really dangerous (poisoned, laced with cocaine, etc.), the Bubasti can make a Willpower roll (difficulty 8) to resist this compulsion.

Ceilican


  • The faerie cats fear the touch of cold iron. It burns them like a brand.

    -- Treat cold (wrought) iron exactly as silver for Ceilican. It is not as common as it used to be, but can still be found in unlikely places.

  • Reciting a Ceilican's name backwards three times causes him discomfort; recite it six times thus, and he will die.

    -- Actually, a person must recite a Ceilican's True Name to effect this Yava. Of course, the person must first know the Ceilican's True Name. Considering the Ceilican herself rarely knows her own True Name, since her whole life changes year to year, this isn't easy to come by. But the Sidhe clearly had a way…

  • The sound of a silver bell or church hymn strikes a faerie cat deaf for three days after.

    -- The silver bell must be used in conjunction with religious use. Furthermore, both the bell and/or hymn must be played or sung by a congregation with True Faith (whether that be leading members of the host, or the church grounds itself). Without True Faith backing it up, hearing a holy bell or hymn just annoys a faerie cat.

  • The race's passion undoes them. Each year, they must forget who they are and become someone else. Some cats must do this often, and by their landless ways, you shall know them.

    -- On the dawning of each New Year, a Ceilican must change his name, Nature, and Demeanor, and invent a new history. The second part about "some doing it often" refers to the proclivity for members of this Tribe to develop Multiple Personalities (as per the 5-point Flaw).

Khan


  • The Khan belong to the tribe of the sun; when he sleeps, they sleep also. During an eclipse, all Khan slumber for one day, then awaken hungry.

    -- This has been mistakenly interpreted to mean Khan are completely diurnal. That's ridiculous; if for no other reason, it'd cut them off from Seline, and they'd suffer aggravated damage from gold, not silver. Since that is not the case, it makes no sense to make them be wholly diurnal. The first line of the Yava refers to the second line. During any full eclipse, whether solar or lunar, the Khan grows too weary to do anything to sleep. The character would use what little listless energy remains to go home and pass out. He would awaken 24 hours later, and must immediately hunt (requiring another 4 hours or more) to answer primal urges (so having a big breakfast ready for him in the morning doesn't cut it).

  • Khan cannot resist the meat of an innocent child, though it violates their laws to eat it.

    -- This means if an innocent child (which means most children) flees in fright from the Khan, the weretiger cannot resist the primal urge to chase and pounce the poor kid. There is no resistance roll to this; wise Khan avoid children or do their best to befriend those they must live near. Embittered Khan scare kids off before they get the urge to eat 'em.

  • A tiger cannot resist a direct challenge. To turn away costs him his rage for a fortnight.

    -- This is pretty straightforward. A Khan who refuses a direct challenge "loses the tiger": he cannot Rage or shapeshift for two weeks.

Pumonca


  • A Pumonca is one with her land; if she leaves it for more than a full moon cycle, she will die.

    -- By "her land", this refers to all of North America (including Central America).

  • The essence of the poisoned land (toxic waste, radiation, sewage) is deadly to a puma. Immerse him in its toxins and he will quickly perish.

    -- Most shapeshifters already suffer unsoakable aggravated damage from toxic waste and radiation. But a Pumonca suffers that kind of damage from all such pollution sources; drop one into a sump pool and watch it die a horrible death.

  • All beasts fear the puma. No horse will bear him, no dog will follow him. The great cats are his Kin and they befriend him, but no other animal can approach without terror.

    -- All Animal Ken rolls made on any animals besides wild cats automatically fail. This Yava can also tee a Pumonca off to hunters; it's well-known that "greater predators" freak out common beasts.

Qualmi


  • The power of a lynx lies in her riddles; to unravel them is to undo her magic.

    -- Qualmi are unique in that their Gifts require riddles to enthrall their victims. If their victims can puzzle their way past the riddles, the Gifts don't work. The rolls victims may get to figure out a Lynx's riddles per Gift are discussed in the Bastet book.

  • The Qualmi share a soul with the salmon; poison the salmon and you harm the tribe.

    -- Anytime the salmon population of North America is endangered by pollutants, all Qualmi suffer +1 difficulty to all rolls. This increases by +2 after one month, then +3 after the next month, and then by the next month the entire Tribe is incapacitated until the situation is remedied.

  • No lynx can speak the truth about her parents. Confront her with their names and faces, and she will be confused for days.

    -- A Qualmi can be rendered incapacitated with confusion for a week with the presentation of their parents' names and faces. There is no resistance roll to this; Homid-breed Qualmi are more at risk from this Yava than other Lynxes.

Simba


  • A rope made of lion's mane will bind a Simba fast.

    -- The rope needn't be made from the mane of a Simba. Normal lions will do. All attempts to escape such a rope automatically fail, regardless of the Simba's current form.

  • To defeat a lion, steal his roar. In it, you may find a bit of his soul. He will not harm one who holds that soul until he finds his roar again.

    -- This is not a common occurrence, obviously. A few witch doctors (Dreamspeakers) discovered how to "bottle" up a victim's voice. Simba actually (reluctantly and angrily) submit to anyone who holds such a "bottle", though they will always seek a way to get their voice released.

  • No male Simba will kill his wife, or allow another to do the same.

    -- Even a frenzied Simba abides by this Yava; if no one but his wife (or dear mate) is present to attack when frenzied, the male Simba will actually turn on himself instead and tear himself to shreds until he passes out. Conversely, anyone trying to harm his wife provokes an immediate Rage check (base difficulty 5) in the husband Simba. Female Simba are gratefully more levelheaded than this and do not suffer this Yava.

Swara


  • The Swara are very protective of their mother's good name. By telling tales of Damaa's cowardice, you can reduce a cheetah to madness.

    -- Swara hearing such lies must make immediate Rage checks (base difficulty 4).

  • The soil of the moon intoxicates the Swara. Mix it into his drink, and he will dance and laugh for days.

    -- The soil of the moon could also be soil taken from the Umbral face of Seline, not necessarily literal moon rocks. A Swara so drugged will caper for a week, stopping only to sleep.

  • The Unmaker has his hand deep in all Bastet's souls. A frenzy will herald his approach. A Swara fears such frenzy, and must avoid its taint at all costs.

    -- So high-strung are Swara that the fear they have of frenzies ironically makes it easier to suffer them. Any situation that would normally prompt a fox frenzy is harder to resist: the Rage roll's difficulty is one less.