In a multi-splat game, how much you know about the other supernaturals is an important thing. As such we have created the lore knowledge system to cover how much your PC knows.

Each PC begins with 1 dot in their own Lore for free (unless they're 'Orphans', Caitiff,…). It is added after all other character creation completes.

The cross-system knowledge Occult is used for strictly Mundane occult issues or practices (since infernalism is included, Occult is also the knowledge you need to know about demons and pacts, see below). For specialized knowledge on the various supernaturals running the world, a character need the Knowledge ability Lore. Every faction has its own dedicated Lore. A member of that faction gains the first dot of its own faction for free. This simulates general knowledge of “what am I?”, but do note that most supernaturals aren't experts in their own existence. Just like most humans don't' really know how the various organs work, the many various belief systems and paradigms around the world, so do most supernaturals are ignorant to their own kind.

That is, while a werewolf will very generally know that there are other shapeshifters, he won't know to name and point them all, and he may know the tribes, but only very generally.

If a character continuously demonstrates specialized knowledge in-game or claims to have it, we will require the player to invest XP in the appropriate Lore.

Yes, EVEN WHEN LEARNED IC.

That being said, we don't want to penalise social characters. Talk freely to each other, but take into account you don't remember most of it without some XP invested. If you really put in the IC effort and can point to scenes in which you learned crucial information, with ST approval, you can get an XP discount for gaining Lore. This is reserved for real quality roleplay, not copy-pasting the books.

But what about information learned in-character, you may ask? Do I really need to roll or have the Lore Knowledge for something I was told IC?

Let's answer with an RL example: Imagine sitting at a lunch table as a graduate student. Everyone is eager to speak about his or her own field. Maybe one or two of those people will work in the same field as you. The average person would remember maybe 0.5% of it. To actually remember some of the info you just hear in passing, you'd need to go read about it in RL or to make a conscious effort to remember it: in game terms, you’d need some XP dropped on it.

Yes, even for people with the Eidetic Memory merit. Being able to remember certain terms doesn’t translate to actually understanding their significance, though we will grant that this would allow you to 'recognize' a word you've already heard or repeat it flawlessly. It doesn't mean you grasped the full meaning of it. Again, for that second part, you'd need some XP dropped on it.

Lore: The Undead: Covering Vampires, Kuei-jin, Laibon and other undead. This includes gargoyles, ghouls and the power of Vitae.

Lore: Shapechangers: Covering Garou, Fera, Hengeyokai and other innate shape-changers. This includes the BSD and Skin dancers.

Lore: Reborn: Covering Amenti, Wu-Ti'an, Teomallki and others who innately reborn.

Lore: Awakened: Covering Tradition Mages, Enlightened Technocrats, Disparate Crafts and other awakened will-workers. This includes Nephandi and Marauders.

Lore: Gallain: Covering the Fae, Changling, Nunnehi, Menehune, Hsien and the Inanimae. This includes the Dauntain, Autumn People, Thallain and Dark Kin.

Lore: Spirits: Covering Wraiths, nature spirits, some realms, Fomori and what a dedicated shaman or necromancer would know. This lore is not splat-specific, as everything interacts and can enter the umbra, and as such can be taken with less justification than the others.

Lore: The Hunt: Covers the Imbued, as well as clandestine Hunter organizations such as Strike Force Zero and the Society of Leopold. Keep in mind that even Hunters don't know much about Hunters, as they're (with few exceptions) intentionally decentralized and try to know as little about each other as possible as a way to prevent their enemies from rooting them out, so justification for this will be hard to come by.

Occult: It covers such things as True Faith, Numina, Sorcerers, static magic, infernalism (demons as beings, pacts,… but not specific information related to the history of the Fallen, the War, etc, that's 'Legacy' which is a Fallen background), etc. It has very very rare and few titbits regarding the other supernaturals. For Mechanics purpose, assume Occult is limited to the 1st level of each Lore, and requires 3 more successes to gain the same level of knowledge. So only once you're hitting Occult 4 can you start knowing other supernaturals. Lore: Fallen is not a thing.

Belief Systems: Requires a Specialization (ex: Christianity, Islam, Judaism, Hinduism, etc.) from the first dot. This covers mainstream religions, and may also bleed over into certain other Knowledges such as certain demons, but only within the context of that belief system. For example, rolling Belief System for 'Lucifer' could tell you the story about the time Satan tried to tempt Jesus in the desert in the New Testament, or about Shaitan as he's depicted in the Quran, but would provide no 'historical' information about the war in heaven. After all, history is written by the victors…

Lore: Wyrm, Lore: Weaver, and Lore: Wyld: Not to be confused with Lore: Spirits or Lore: Shapechangers. These Knowledges contain the secrets of the Triat, and often require conversing with spirits created by the Triat themselves. Warning: Knowing too much is dangerous. Taking any dot of these Knowledges at 3 or higher exposes your character to the risk of becoming tainted. Learn these Knowledges at your own risk!

RD Data: Technocrats only. A sort of 'catch-all' Lore for all of the above, but one that is heavily tainted by Technocratic propaganda and filtered through a Consensus-friendly lens. As such, any information gleaned through an RD Data roll will never be as useful as information gleaned from the respective Lore, and you will never, ever get the full story on anything with the use of this Knowledge.

Conspiracy Theory: You know… certain things that ‘they,’ whomever they may be, do not want you to know. Sure, a lot of it is nonsense, but just like any real-life conspiracy theory, it usually sprouts from some kind of grain of truth. Much like RD Data, this can act as a ‘catch-all’ lore, but also like RD Data, any knowledge gained from Conspiracy Theory rolls will never be as accurate as an equivalent roll from the actual Lore or Occult knowledge, and most of it will sound like paranoid tinfoil rambling and may even be downright misleading. However, there may just be one nugget of truth in there… the question is where the conspiracy theory ends and the truth begins, which your character won’t know. STs are the final arbiter on whether or not Conspiracy Theory can be used for these purposes on any given topic.

Naturally, some Lores overlap. A student of the the Lore: Awakened would naturally also gain *some* understanding of sorcerers and the dreaded vampiric magic of Thaumaturgy and necromancy, as can Lore: Spirits overlap a lot with Shifters lore and Occult. This is always up to ST discretion. The knowledge of Demons requires specialized knowledge. All rolls in these topics are at +2 difficulties, and require 1 more successes. Keep in mind, even most actual Infernalists couldn't tell you the difference between one of the Fallen and, say, a Wyrm Bane… nor would they care to know the difference, themselves.

Please note that the number of dots required in a knowledge to know more advanced knowledge (e.g. Hengeyokai for a Garou) or the difficulty at which you roll to know a piece of knowledge is always up to the STs.

(Here a list of topics that we made a previous ruling as to where they fit. When in doubt - contact an ST)

1. Religion is not Occult. END OF DISCUSSION. Religions are, in their very nature, not hidden and secretive. Religions have occult parts, which are covered by Occult. But the study of religions themselves is covered by Academics Knowledge or the Secondary Knowledge Belief Systems. (The difference between the two is that Academics would cover things related to actual history (i.e. 'Where was Jesus born?' or 'Where did Moses lead the Israelites?'), whereas Belief Systems would cover things like Bible verses or giving a sermon when used in conjunction with the Expression skill.)
2. Fomori are covered by Lore: Spirits, just like wraiths. Alternatively, Lore: The Wyrm will tell you a bit. These are not shapechangers, these are possesed humans, twisted by the Wyrm. Lore: Shapechangers will only tell you that they're associated with the Wyrm and therefore should be killed as per the Litany.
3. The Four Celestials (Gaia, Wyld, Weaver, Wyrm) - Human Occultists, Mages and Shapechangers all study these enigmatic cosmic forces. As such, Occult, Lore: Spirits, Lore: Awakened and Lore: Shapechangers all cover these topics, all bit coloured by the group's particular take on them.
4. Lore: Gallain also includes study of the Wyld, the celestial who is the birther of the Dreaming.
5. Demons, as well as any other splat or character type who do not have their own dedicated lore start with either a free dot in their lore of choice (with a bit of justification) or a dot in occult (yes, this, AND ONLY THIS, can push you to 4 on char creation on an ability without the use of Freebies, as you have not only studied that aspect, but also experienced it).