Post by Skir on Jan 4, 2013 14:05:51 GMT -8
Necromancy
The Giovanni art of Necromancy and the Cappadocian art of Mortis are the same Discipline. Necromancy is the modern usage of the death magics pioneered by both clans, and thus while incredibly rare, the paths and rituals of Mortis are usable by those characters that possess Necromancy, provided they meet the necessary prerequisites, if any.
Necromancy and other forms of blood magic are Disciplines but also require arcane knowledge to function. If a vampire has the discipline in-clan, they may learn that Discipline without a teacher, so long as they aren’t being denied the necessary rudimentary understanding to grasp the powers. This means that such vampires raised and tutored alongside their clanmates may raise these powers without concern, but fledglings of these clans stolen and raised in secret cannot be used to develop and spread the powers of their magics to others. A vampire existing under these conditions must at least be taught the first 2 levels of the discipline by a teacher with the power (though at in-clan costs) to begin to advance their in-clan power on their own. To reiterate, this only applies to secret outsiders like Tremere with the "Embraced without the Cup" merit living on their own, not normal Tremere or Giovanni living amongst their clan normally.
For those vampires who somehow secure instruction in a blood magic that they do not have as an in clan, the learning time for the first dot is 8 minus your Intelligence in months, and in which time they can raise no other Disciplines as if “purchasing” one during that period. After that time, the discipline can be advanced at the normal rate of one per week. The Thaumaturgical ritual “Inherited Affinity” bypasses this restriction for the Thaumaturgy discipline.
Sepulchre Path is always the Primary path of Necromancy, except for Harbingers of Skulls, who use Ash Path as their primary and do not normally have access to Sepulchre Path.
For powers with which it is a concern, a vampire will decay into ash, or its respective amount of decay to its true age, over the course of 15 minutes.
When determining whether a character becomes a Wraith, a WoD test is used. Certain factors make becoming a Wraith more or less likely, modifying success. Starting at zero "successes", minus one for each negative and adding one for each positive, a PC or NPC must test up twice to survive death itself and become a Wraith.
+Deceased had True Love merit
+Deceased had 9 or 10 Willpower.
+Deceased was on Path of Bones or Death and the Soul
+Deceased was killed failing to accomplish something important to their Nature.
+Deceased had the Nature Survivor, Rebel, Penitent, Deviant, Masochist, or Fanatic.
-Deceased was a supernatural creature.
-Deceased was a vampire (in addition to above).
-Deceased had a morality rating of 4 or lower.
-Deceased died willingly or upon the completion of a personal goal.
-Deceased had the Nature Martyr, Sadist, Rogue, Loner, Conformist, or Thrill-Seeker.
Wraiths who lose all of their Health Levels do not die, they enter a Harrowing. They cannot return to play for one month, and after that time, the owner (or Storyteller, for NPCs) should make a World of Darkness test. Testing down indicates that the Wraith loses a point of Humanity, which substitutes for Permanent Angst in ECC, getting one step closer to Oblivion.
Shadowlands Primer for Vampire Players:
Shadowlands: The Shadowlands sits right on top of the real world and looks like a decayed, blasted, rusted and cracked version of our world, with an unpleasant and stormy sky. Wraiths exist here, separated by a barrier called the Shroud. The geography of the Shadowlands is sometimes slightly different than the real world because of Relics.
Wraiths: The spiritual remainder of a person who refuses to die, even though they are dead. Wraiths are fueled by emotions, which ones are specific to the Wraith. This grants them Pathos which they use as power. They also accumulate negative emotional power called Angst. This makes their spiritual dark side, their Shadow, stronger. The Shadow is the Wraith’s dark passions, the true id of the personality and it is real and powerful enough that the Wraith and Shadow can converse verbally. Wraiths also usually have one or more Fetters, symbols of their unresolved conflicts that keep them anchored to the real world.
Spectres: Wraiths who’s Shadows have become stronger than their Psyche (their good, sane side) become Spectres, the Shadow Eaten. Utterly corrupt and evil, they seek out and feed on wickedness and dark passions. They communicate psychically with all other Spectres in a Hive Mind, and are controlled by the strongest among a group. Ultimately, they all serve enormous and ageless Malfeans, god-like Spectres that are as old as time, or older. It is possible to recover from this state, but it is so rare as to be unheard of.
Fetters: Fetters are objects of acute symbolic value that represent a Wraith’s unresolved life. Wedding rings, car keys, their murder weapon, a locket – these objects are extremely important to a Wraith, and if they are destroyed, the Wraith loses the ability to be in the Shadowlands, consigned instead to the Underworld kingdoms like Stygia. Not everything that was important to a Wraith is a true Fetter – only things that embody their personal conflict.
Harrowings: If a Wraith “dies” by losing all of its health levels, it is not destroyed. Instead it enters a Harrowing, a psychic trial that determines its fate. The ghost is out of play for 1 month, afterward the Storyteller (if an NPC) or the player who controls the Wraith makes a Conscience check, difficulty 8, to see if the Wraith loses a point of Humanity, which ECC substitutes for Permanent Angst. If it loses all of its Humanity this way, it Obliviates and is permanently destroyed.
The Rule of “Ouch”: Wraiths in the Shadowlands can, to a point, be hurt by events in the real world. Any object in the real world” that hits the Wraith hard enough that he would naturally go “Ouch!” causes them to lose 1 health level and go incorporeal for a number of rounds equal to their Stamina. This one point of damage is the only and maximum damage that can be dealt to them by things in the real world, with the exception of the Necromancy power “Torment.” This includes objects which are warded against Wraiths and the necromancy created “Bastone Diabolico.” If a Wraith uses the power “Embody” they are no longer in the Shadowlands and this rule is moot. This does not include damage dealt to them by a Ward vs Ghosts ritual or the Torment power, which does hit them and applies separately, however, neither of these powers can deal levels of damage to the Wraith while they are incorporeal.
Manifesting: With the exception of using powers like Shroudsight, or the Wraith using the specific power “Embody” to physically cross the Shroud into the real world, Wraiths are always invisible. To use their powers, they must first “manifest” but that never means that the Wraith comes forth visibly. A cold wind blowing through the room, the sound of chains, a blast of heat, the vomit inducing smell of rotten meat, all of the doors and windows slamming shut, or some other impersonal effect signals their arrival, but even Auspex does not allow you to see a Wraith as they appear, only their rough location and to sense their presence. Only Shroudsight and similar powers allow you to look at a Wraith and see them normally.
Underworld and Tempest: One layer “past” the Shadowlands lies the Tempest, a storm-wracked ocean of furious emotion. It is possible to traverse it, but it is the Domain of Spectres and worse things. Existing as sort of “islands” within the Tempest are the Dark Kingdoms like Stygia, the place that the dead in western culture go. Today, Stygia lies ruined and destroyed, the Nameless City where no wraiths reside.
Relics: When people die with a lot of pent up emotional unfinished business, they become Wraiths, but so do objects of great emotional content that get destroyed. These “wraith objects” are uncommon in the Shadowlands, but very valuable to Wraiths who use them as equipment. No other objects of any kind exist in the Shadowlands except Relics and Soul Forged items.
Shroud: The Shroud is the barrier between here and the Shadowlands. How heavy the Shroud is determines the Difficulty of Wraith actions that affect the real world. The Shroud rating is lower in places or times that are naturally creepy, or where bad, emotionally charged things have happened. Any place you would naturally describe as “creepy” has a low Shroud rating. Places frequented by Vampires (or other monsters) tend to have a lower Shroud rating than other places, and the Shroud is lower at night than in the day. Certain Holidays, like Halloween and Dias de los Muertos, also lower the Shroud significantly. The Shroud should be considered 2 on those days. For general use:
Shroud somewhere vampires frequent: 4
Shroud during the day in a normal place: 8
Shroud where necromancers do their rituals, a gruesome murder site, or a wraith Haunt: 2
Disciplines and the Shroud: Except for Necromancy, the Shroud blocks all other Disciplines from being used upon the denizens of the Shadowlands (including Necromancers who might be there.) All uses of Necromancy Paths and rituals may cross the Shroud freely from the real world into the Shadowlands (not the other way around). Obfuscate does work to a point, but Wraiths have an easier time seeing through it with their natural abilities. They roll Perception + Occult, Difficulty of the level of Obfuscate + 3, per the Storyteller’s Handook Revised.
Soul Forging: A special technique and horrible punishment inflicted upon Wraiths by other Wraiths who possess the rare special skill to do it, this pounds a soul into a hard substance until it becomes the various “stuff” of the Shadowlands: bricks to build with, furniture to sit upon, weapons to wield, etc. Soul forging is permanent, and no known method can undo it. Supposedly it destroys the wraith’s personality, but in truth, it simply makes them unable to express their eternal anguish. These souls are not useful to the Giovanni for the Tithe.
Factions: Until recently, the Shadowlands was home to various factions of Wraiths. Most notably, the cruel, Romanesque slaver culture, the Hierarchy, the Anarch-like Renegades and the religious pariahs searching for forgiveness and transcendence, the Heretics. All of these factions were annihilated soundly in the 1999 Sixth Great Maelstrom. Seattle has its own faction of Wraiths, the mysterious Brotherhood.
Maelstrom: A Maelstrom is like a global hurricane in the Shadowlands that occurs when an enormous amount of death or spiritual destruction occurs, such as during the World Wars. The Sixth (and greatest) Great Maelstrom destroyed all of the existing Wraith culture and hardened the Shroud into an impenetrable “Stormwall”. By now, the Maelstrom has abated, and the Stormwall softened back into the Shroud, but the carnage means there are fewer Wraiths and no factions among them.
The Brotherhood: A mysterious band of Wraiths in Seattle that wear special masks that give them strange powers. These masks grant them anonymity by shrouding them in a cascade of smoky black shadows, and also give them a Spectre-like Hive Mind with one another. The Brotherhood has demonstrated an ability to use some sort of magic to enhance their Arcanoi (the Discipline-like powers of Wraiths) and combine their powers, supposedly gained from raiding Giovanni knowledges of Necromancy, but no one knows for sure. They have had an on-again off-again treaty with the Giovanni, which both sides have broken several times.
The Giovanni art of Necromancy and the Cappadocian art of Mortis are the same Discipline. Necromancy is the modern usage of the death magics pioneered by both clans, and thus while incredibly rare, the paths and rituals of Mortis are usable by those characters that possess Necromancy, provided they meet the necessary prerequisites, if any.
Necromancy and other forms of blood magic are Disciplines but also require arcane knowledge to function. If a vampire has the discipline in-clan, they may learn that Discipline without a teacher, so long as they aren’t being denied the necessary rudimentary understanding to grasp the powers. This means that such vampires raised and tutored alongside their clanmates may raise these powers without concern, but fledglings of these clans stolen and raised in secret cannot be used to develop and spread the powers of their magics to others. A vampire existing under these conditions must at least be taught the first 2 levels of the discipline by a teacher with the power (though at in-clan costs) to begin to advance their in-clan power on their own. To reiterate, this only applies to secret outsiders like Tremere with the "Embraced without the Cup" merit living on their own, not normal Tremere or Giovanni living amongst their clan normally.
For those vampires who somehow secure instruction in a blood magic that they do not have as an in clan, the learning time for the first dot is 8 minus your Intelligence in months, and in which time they can raise no other Disciplines as if “purchasing” one during that period. After that time, the discipline can be advanced at the normal rate of one per week. The Thaumaturgical ritual “Inherited Affinity” bypasses this restriction for the Thaumaturgy discipline.
Sepulchre Path is always the Primary path of Necromancy, except for Harbingers of Skulls, who use Ash Path as their primary and do not normally have access to Sepulchre Path.
For powers with which it is a concern, a vampire will decay into ash, or its respective amount of decay to its true age, over the course of 15 minutes.
When determining whether a character becomes a Wraith, a WoD test is used. Certain factors make becoming a Wraith more or less likely, modifying success. Starting at zero "successes", minus one for each negative and adding one for each positive, a PC or NPC must test up twice to survive death itself and become a Wraith.
+Deceased had True Love merit
+Deceased had 9 or 10 Willpower.
+Deceased was on Path of Bones or Death and the Soul
+Deceased was killed failing to accomplish something important to their Nature.
+Deceased had the Nature Survivor, Rebel, Penitent, Deviant, Masochist, or Fanatic.
-Deceased was a supernatural creature.
-Deceased was a vampire (in addition to above).
-Deceased had a morality rating of 4 or lower.
-Deceased died willingly or upon the completion of a personal goal.
-Deceased had the Nature Martyr, Sadist, Rogue, Loner, Conformist, or Thrill-Seeker.
Wraiths who lose all of their Health Levels do not die, they enter a Harrowing. They cannot return to play for one month, and after that time, the owner (or Storyteller, for NPCs) should make a World of Darkness test. Testing down indicates that the Wraith loses a point of Humanity, which substitutes for Permanent Angst in ECC, getting one step closer to Oblivion.
Shadowlands Primer for Vampire Players:
Shadowlands: The Shadowlands sits right on top of the real world and looks like a decayed, blasted, rusted and cracked version of our world, with an unpleasant and stormy sky. Wraiths exist here, separated by a barrier called the Shroud. The geography of the Shadowlands is sometimes slightly different than the real world because of Relics.
Wraiths: The spiritual remainder of a person who refuses to die, even though they are dead. Wraiths are fueled by emotions, which ones are specific to the Wraith. This grants them Pathos which they use as power. They also accumulate negative emotional power called Angst. This makes their spiritual dark side, their Shadow, stronger. The Shadow is the Wraith’s dark passions, the true id of the personality and it is real and powerful enough that the Wraith and Shadow can converse verbally. Wraiths also usually have one or more Fetters, symbols of their unresolved conflicts that keep them anchored to the real world.
Spectres: Wraiths who’s Shadows have become stronger than their Psyche (their good, sane side) become Spectres, the Shadow Eaten. Utterly corrupt and evil, they seek out and feed on wickedness and dark passions. They communicate psychically with all other Spectres in a Hive Mind, and are controlled by the strongest among a group. Ultimately, they all serve enormous and ageless Malfeans, god-like Spectres that are as old as time, or older. It is possible to recover from this state, but it is so rare as to be unheard of.
Fetters: Fetters are objects of acute symbolic value that represent a Wraith’s unresolved life. Wedding rings, car keys, their murder weapon, a locket – these objects are extremely important to a Wraith, and if they are destroyed, the Wraith loses the ability to be in the Shadowlands, consigned instead to the Underworld kingdoms like Stygia. Not everything that was important to a Wraith is a true Fetter – only things that embody their personal conflict.
Harrowings: If a Wraith “dies” by losing all of its health levels, it is not destroyed. Instead it enters a Harrowing, a psychic trial that determines its fate. The ghost is out of play for 1 month, afterward the Storyteller (if an NPC) or the player who controls the Wraith makes a Conscience check, difficulty 8, to see if the Wraith loses a point of Humanity, which ECC substitutes for Permanent Angst. If it loses all of its Humanity this way, it Obliviates and is permanently destroyed.
The Rule of “Ouch”: Wraiths in the Shadowlands can, to a point, be hurt by events in the real world. Any object in the real world” that hits the Wraith hard enough that he would naturally go “Ouch!” causes them to lose 1 health level and go incorporeal for a number of rounds equal to their Stamina. This one point of damage is the only and maximum damage that can be dealt to them by things in the real world, with the exception of the Necromancy power “Torment.” This includes objects which are warded against Wraiths and the necromancy created “Bastone Diabolico.” If a Wraith uses the power “Embody” they are no longer in the Shadowlands and this rule is moot. This does not include damage dealt to them by a Ward vs Ghosts ritual or the Torment power, which does hit them and applies separately, however, neither of these powers can deal levels of damage to the Wraith while they are incorporeal.
Manifesting: With the exception of using powers like Shroudsight, or the Wraith using the specific power “Embody” to physically cross the Shroud into the real world, Wraiths are always invisible. To use their powers, they must first “manifest” but that never means that the Wraith comes forth visibly. A cold wind blowing through the room, the sound of chains, a blast of heat, the vomit inducing smell of rotten meat, all of the doors and windows slamming shut, or some other impersonal effect signals their arrival, but even Auspex does not allow you to see a Wraith as they appear, only their rough location and to sense their presence. Only Shroudsight and similar powers allow you to look at a Wraith and see them normally.
Underworld and Tempest: One layer “past” the Shadowlands lies the Tempest, a storm-wracked ocean of furious emotion. It is possible to traverse it, but it is the Domain of Spectres and worse things. Existing as sort of “islands” within the Tempest are the Dark Kingdoms like Stygia, the place that the dead in western culture go. Today, Stygia lies ruined and destroyed, the Nameless City where no wraiths reside.
Relics: When people die with a lot of pent up emotional unfinished business, they become Wraiths, but so do objects of great emotional content that get destroyed. These “wraith objects” are uncommon in the Shadowlands, but very valuable to Wraiths who use them as equipment. No other objects of any kind exist in the Shadowlands except Relics and Soul Forged items.
Shroud: The Shroud is the barrier between here and the Shadowlands. How heavy the Shroud is determines the Difficulty of Wraith actions that affect the real world. The Shroud rating is lower in places or times that are naturally creepy, or where bad, emotionally charged things have happened. Any place you would naturally describe as “creepy” has a low Shroud rating. Places frequented by Vampires (or other monsters) tend to have a lower Shroud rating than other places, and the Shroud is lower at night than in the day. Certain Holidays, like Halloween and Dias de los Muertos, also lower the Shroud significantly. The Shroud should be considered 2 on those days. For general use:
Shroud somewhere vampires frequent: 4
Shroud during the day in a normal place: 8
Shroud where necromancers do their rituals, a gruesome murder site, or a wraith Haunt: 2
Disciplines and the Shroud: Except for Necromancy, the Shroud blocks all other Disciplines from being used upon the denizens of the Shadowlands (including Necromancers who might be there.) All uses of Necromancy Paths and rituals may cross the Shroud freely from the real world into the Shadowlands (not the other way around). Obfuscate does work to a point, but Wraiths have an easier time seeing through it with their natural abilities. They roll Perception + Occult, Difficulty of the level of Obfuscate + 3, per the Storyteller’s Handook Revised.
Soul Forging: A special technique and horrible punishment inflicted upon Wraiths by other Wraiths who possess the rare special skill to do it, this pounds a soul into a hard substance until it becomes the various “stuff” of the Shadowlands: bricks to build with, furniture to sit upon, weapons to wield, etc. Soul forging is permanent, and no known method can undo it. Supposedly it destroys the wraith’s personality, but in truth, it simply makes them unable to express their eternal anguish. These souls are not useful to the Giovanni for the Tithe.
Factions: Until recently, the Shadowlands was home to various factions of Wraiths. Most notably, the cruel, Romanesque slaver culture, the Hierarchy, the Anarch-like Renegades and the religious pariahs searching for forgiveness and transcendence, the Heretics. All of these factions were annihilated soundly in the 1999 Sixth Great Maelstrom. Seattle has its own faction of Wraiths, the mysterious Brotherhood.
Maelstrom: A Maelstrom is like a global hurricane in the Shadowlands that occurs when an enormous amount of death or spiritual destruction occurs, such as during the World Wars. The Sixth (and greatest) Great Maelstrom destroyed all of the existing Wraith culture and hardened the Shroud into an impenetrable “Stormwall”. By now, the Maelstrom has abated, and the Stormwall softened back into the Shroud, but the carnage means there are fewer Wraiths and no factions among them.
The Brotherhood: A mysterious band of Wraiths in Seattle that wear special masks that give them strange powers. These masks grant them anonymity by shrouding them in a cascade of smoky black shadows, and also give them a Spectre-like Hive Mind with one another. The Brotherhood has demonstrated an ability to use some sort of magic to enhance their Arcanoi (the Discipline-like powers of Wraiths) and combine their powers, supposedly gained from raiding Giovanni knowledges of Necromancy, but no one knows for sure. They have had an on-again off-again treaty with the Giovanni, which both sides have broken several times.