Rising in Rank

In this section we will discuss the process of advancing your character to the next level. Levels in Werewolf: The Apocalypse are referred to as Ranks. For each Rank there is a corresponding name to a number. In the case of Garou, a rank one would be called a Cliath, for Mokole a Son, for Bastet a Tekhmet and so on. All beginning characters in Ahadi: East Africa will start as a rank one character with 3 beginning points corresponding to their role which have been gained pre-character approval and are given typically due to the events of your first year, or years, as a Shifter Breed.

Gaining Rank is another of one of the most widely debated topics among online gamers. Because of the relatively fast advancement of characters, players never have time to proverbially ‘stop and smell the roses’. When gaining rank on Ahadi: East Africa several aspects should be considered, including the following:

Deeds: What your character has done in order to gain status in their community and nation? Have they earned it?
Three Tenets: Each character has three goals they much reach in order to gain rank. These numbers correspond to those located in Werewolf: The Apocalypse and Players Guide to the Changing Breeds books.
Are You Ready?: Is your character physically, mentally and emotionally ready to take the next step in their duty to Gaia? Are you ready to take on the responsibility of your next rank? Can you learn the lessons this challenges will give you?
Status: Does the person you are challenging believe you are ready to take the next step? Do your Elders believe you are worthy to move forward? Can you learn the lessons their challenges will give you?

Among other things, the four you see above are the most important. If you have completed the first two, you’re on your way to advancing in rank! However, your reputation and status in the community is everything. For example: Joe, a Ragabash of the Garou has earned all the points necessary in the books that correspond to advancing in to his second rank. However Joe has a problem, over the course of the year it has taken Joe to advance to second rank he’s gotten a bad wrap for pulling pranks on the local occupants, often in succession to his duties to Gaia. Joe has received negative renown to this in the past, but fortunately Joe has moved past that and is now ready to challenge for his second rank. Unfortunately Joe is challenging Mercy, a Fostern Theurge who was once the victim of one of Joe’s more malicious pranks and she hasn’t taken kindly to the trickster. Though she recognizes that Joe has made up for his past mistakes, she gives Joe a challenge that he just can’t seem to wrap his head around. Joe eventually gives up on the challenge and Mercy is the victor, having sought to teach Joe a lesson that he wasn’t ready to learn. Though Joe has not lost any renown, he has accepted that he is simply not ready to join ranks with the Fosterns and returns to his training and meditation so that he might be ready in the future.

Gaining rank is a challenge. Challenges in Shifter society are never easy, and you’ll never know if the person you are challenging believes that you are worthy of rank or not. Perhaps they just don’t think you’re ready to play with the big kids, perhaps the lesson of the challenge they have given you is one you are not ready to learn. Whatever the case, you will not pass every challenge that is given to you just because you have the corresponding dots on your sheet. Those dots indicate that you can challenge, not that you are worthy of that rank.

In closing, rank advancement is not and never has been a ‘gimme’. Though rank challenges are not always hard or grueling, they are always challenges. You must accept, before challenging for rank, that there is always a 50% chance that you will fail. This doesn’t mean you have not gained enough renown to take your character to the next level, it means that your character was not ready to move forward and may challenge in the future to prove their worth. Players should never take this as discouragement and try to look at it in a similar way that the character must; it’s a challenge, one that you must work for and one that you will eventually achieve when ready.