chapter five

The Storyteller decides that if the kids can be lured into the farmhouse with a few suspiciously opening and closing doors from the abandoned old farmhouse — or even just by leaving a radio on inside — then they’re sure to hurt themselves on something.

Dorian’s player rolls the hunting dice pool and nets four successes. One of the neighborhood boys is hurt pretty bad, having gashed open his leg on some broken glass. His blood runs down the dirty jagged edge into the dirt, where the haven stores it for Dorian. Later, the boy’s doctor is amazed that he lost so much blood from such a relatively minor injury.

Even stranger, when the kids return the following weekend, they find the window their friend cut himself on is still old and still filthy, but is in one piece again, with no blood to be found anywhere.

Action: Varies

Perfidy

Perfidy is the art of social destruction raised to the level of a vampiric Discipline. It undermines trust, dissolves interpersonal connections and shatters the bonds that hold society together. This Discipline’s techniques are relentlessly, insidiously destructive, and its practitioners — at least those who use Perfidy blatantly or with any frequency — are loathed by their own kind. Still, there are Invictus Princes who like using experienced members of the Kallisti bloodline as resistance breakers when unfriendly covenants or coteries act out of line, and Perfidy is certainly well suited to that.

• Sweeten Sin

This most basic application of Perfidy is key to making subjects vulnerable to its more advanced powers. A Kallisti with this power can draw a mortal, ghoul or Kindred out of her normal mores into the unclean thrill of life on the edge. Those who hear the Kallisti’s voice find themselves craving the illicit rush of a forbidden act, even if it might hurt their loved ones.

Cost: 1 Vitae

Dice Pool: Manipulation + Empathy + Perfidy versus subject’s Composure + Blood Potency

Action: Instant. The Kallisti must only invite or encourage the subject to “let loose,” “be bad,” “enjoy yourself,” or something similar.

Roll Results

Dramatic Failure: The Kallisti stirs his own Vice before he can bring his subject’s to the surface. The Kallisti must either earn a Willpower point from his Vice during the scene or lose one, instead.

Failure: The Kallisti simply fails to stir the subject to action.

Success: The Kallisti compels the subject to act in accordance with her Vice for the rest of the scene. The actions the character takes are always more base, more immoral, than the actions she would normally consider. For the rest of the scene, the subject’s Morality (or Humanity) is lowered by one. When the scene ends, the subject’s Morality returns to its original level, but the subject must still make a degeneration check to come to terms with her actions in the previous scene.

A lustful mortal might begin an affair, while a greedy vampire might drain a vessel dry. The specific actions taken are up to the player of the affected character, though the Kallisti almost certainly has something in mind already. If a player is unwilling or unable to make the appropriately irresponsible choices for a character under the influence of Sweeten Sin, the Storyteller should guide the characters actions for the scene.

A subject who indulges her Vice for the scene regains a Willpower point as normal, despite the compulsion.

Exceptional Success: Per an ordinary success, but the sinful impulses last for the rest of the night.

Suggested Modifiers:

A variant of the Majesty power of Revelation, this application of Perfidy causes a vampire to betray, through words only, an individual she is (otherwise) loyal to. She reveals every secret she knows about that individual, including that individual’s fears, hopes, failures, plans and any other intimate knowledge she has of that individual. The character simply mentions that individual’s name in the course of conversation, activates this power and listens along as the subject casually proceeds to rattle off everything that comes to mind about that individual. For her part, the subject of this power feels relieved and enthusiastic about sharing this information, and the more loyal she is (or has been otherwise) to the individual whose secrets she’s sharing, the more eager she is to unburden herself of these secrets. Only after the power has been used will the subject realize the enormity of what she’s done.

Cost: 1 Vitae

Dice Pool: Manipulation + Socialize + Perfidy versus subject’s Composure + Blood Potency

Action: Contested; resistance is reflexive.

Roll Results

Dramatic Failure: The character’s clumsy attempt to draw secrets from the subject is blatantly obvious and offensive. The subject senses exactly what the Ravager was trying to do, refuses to talk to the character any more that evening and likely reports the attempt to the individual the character wanted her to betray.

Failure: The character loses or ties the contested roll. She gains no information, but she may try again.

Success: The vampire wins the contested roll by getting the greater number of successes, and the subject betrays the object of the character’s inquiry by rattling off every secret the person in question has ever shared with her (or even hinted at).

Exceptional Success: The character wins the contested roll with five or more successes. The subject betrays every secret that she knows regarding the object of questioning, beginning with the most damning. Not only does she reveal the betrayed individual’s every secret in painful, unflinching detail, but she engages in lengthy speculation of the most damning sort about why the betrayed individual might have done (or might be attempting to do) certain things.

Suggested Modifiers

••• Familiarity Fear

At this level of power, a Kallisti can twist an emotional connection into a potent but imprecise experience of terror. The Familiarity Fear is a blunt instrument, useful for its purpose — and certainly powerful — but it is seldom the favorite tool in the Kallisti repertoire. By affecting a mortal, ghoul or vampire with this fearsome power, the Ravager plants a bomb of awesome terror into her subject’s mind. When an appropriate loved one or cohort draws near, the bomb goes off.

Cost: 1 Willpower

Dice Pool: Presence + Intimidation + Perfidy versus subject’s Resolve + Blood Potency

Action: Instant

Roll Results

Dramatic Failure: The Kallisti unintentionally stirs up her own Beast with traces of fear. The vampire suffers a –2

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•••• Passion Fugue

With this power, the vampire nullifies all emotional ties her target has to his own social network or even his own life in general. Memories of home, friends and family — including Allies, Mentors and the like — are washed away by a tide of numbing amnesia. Moreover, covenant loyalties, job responsibilities and similar obligations all fall away, as the target rips himself from any social pattern he was a part of, letting the Ravager play the part of the Pied Piper, calling her target away from the existence he once knew.

The Invictus loves targeting key members of other covenants (particularly subversive Carthians) with this power, as it makes them forget their “cause” along with all their social connections, allowing the subject to be reprogrammed with a more Invictus-friendly mentality.

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Some Kallisti even use this power on themselves if they feel they’re becoming too hampered by social obligations.

Cost: 1 Vitae + 1 Willpower

Dice Pool: Manipulation + Subterfuge + Perfidy versus subject’s Composure + Blood Potency

Action: Instant and contested; resistance is reflexive.

Roll Results

Dramatic Failure: The attempt results in a backlash of numbing, emotional coldness that penalizes all of the user’s Social dice pools by –2 for the rest of the night. The subject knows exactly what the character just tried to do and responds accordingly. (Though in some cases, the subject may welcome the opportunity to forget his past).

Failure: The character fails to invoke the emotional numbing effect. Vitae and Willpower spent to activate the power are lost. The character may try again in a later scene.

Success: The subject is cut off from all emotional connections to his past and current social network and anything he has an emotional connection to (home, church, hobbies, social causes, even addictions). For the rest of the night, the subject is unable to tap into his emotional background; he cannot muster a desire to return home, affection for his loved ones or any fears for their safety or well-being. They become merely “people he knows.” The character instinctually seeks out other means to satisfy his whims, such as new friends, old lovers and dangerous thrill-seeking events, depending on her Vice.

The character suffers a –3 penalty on all Resolve or Composure rolls to resist compulsions, pressure and impulses. When the opportunity arises to act in accordance with his Vice, he must succeed on a penalized, reflexive Resolve + Composure roll to resist his impulses. He cannot spend Willpower to augment actions involving his old friends or family.

Exceptional Success: As a success, but the subject outright forgets everything that has a strong emotional pull for him, including the location of his home (or haven), or the fact that such a place even exists. The subject forgets everyone to whom he has any emotional connection for a number of nights equal to the number of successes rolled by the Ravager’s player. He may vaguely recognize their faces, but they are strangers to him in all other ways. He has no memories of them or emotional connection with them whatsoever. A target with an addiction forgets about it, to the point that even if he begins suffering delirium tremens from going cold turkey he won’t know why or what it is he needs to make them stop. Even the power of the Vinculum is severely weakened, although in the case of such a powerful bond, the subject knows that there’s someone out there to whom he is powerfully bound, he just won’t remember who it is, even if he encounters that individual face-to-face. If he drinks from that Kindred again, he’ll remember her

— and the Vinculum — perfectly.

Suggested Modifiers

••••• Animus

This Discipline turns its target’s loyalties and affections inside out, transforming friendship into loathing, respect into disgust, trust into suspicion, loyalty into resentment and love into hate. Animus undermines every feeling that ties an individual into his social environment, and poisons his mind against anyone toward whom he was previously on amicable terms, transforming even a well-connected, law-abiding individual into a nearly sociopathic rebel and loner.

This power turns brother against brother, husband against wife, parents against children and childe against sire. This is the power that earns the Ravager bloodline its infamous and terrible reputation (where it has any reputation at all). Animus is rare enough that only old or experienced Kindred are likely to have heard tales of it.

This power makes it very easy for Kallisti to extract mortals from their lives and goes a long way to explaining strange disappearances. (“She’s been acting hateful to us all week, and finally on Friday she just left, and thank God for that. I couldn’t have taken any more.”). Some Kallisti have been known to turn this power to ends that are, in the larger picture, constructive — freeing an individual from an abusive relationship, for example.

Cost: 1 Vitae plus 1 Willpower

Dice Pool: Manipulation + Socialize + Perfidy – subject’s Resolve

Action: Extended. The user must accrue a number of successes equal to twice the subject’s Willpower. Each roll represents about 20 to 30 minutes of conversation.

The Ravager can use this power on anyone he can make eye contact with, or on himself. To activate this power, the Ravager and his subject must be able to communicate without severe distractions such as fighting, pounding music or interruptions. Most subjects think they’re doing all the talking, when in fact the Ravagers are leading their conversations down dark and twisted paths.

Roll Results

Dramatic Failure: The Kallisti utterly fails to twist the subject’s loyalties. The subject senses keenly exactly what the character just tried to do, and is overwhelmed with a sense of rage at the user that could become a fullfledged frenzy, if the subject is a vampire.

Failure: The Kallisti makes no progress in turning his subject’s loyalties.

Success: The character slowly bends the subject’s heart through an insidious dialogue.

Exceptional Success: The Kallisti rapidly twists the subject’s heart.

After several hours of talking and listening, a successful Kallisti leads his subject to a terrible epiphany. The subject’s every loyalty turns inside out. The more love that existed, the more powerful the hatred that takes its place. This effect works onall bonds, including the Vinculum, which this power transforms into a malevolent animosity. This power usually affects all of the subject’s loyalties or emotional bonds, but the Ravager may be more tactical in his approach and sever some bonds while leaving others intact.

As with Fugue, this affects the subject’s feelings toward anything he’s addicted to, transforming that addiction into a fiery loathing for (and possibly a zealous crusade against) the object of his former addiction. Any ghoul affected by this power is almost certain to become a threat to his regnant, and a dangerously knowledgeable one at that.

When used on an individual under the effects of any Majesty power, this power turns the Majesty effect inside out, replacing adoration with contempt and repulsion: Awe and Entrancement become dislike and disdain, and Revelation is brought to a complete halt as the target suddenly waxes hateful toward the Kindred using that power. This power has been seen to have two different affects on Kindred affected by the Summon Discipline. It either makes the individual flee the Kindred doing the Summoning, or it fans flames of resentment in the Summoned vampire into a white hot rage, turning him into something of a search and destroy weapon targeting the Summoning vampire. Used on a Kindred under the effects of Sovereignty, Animus sends the target directly into an anger frenzy directed at the Kindred using that Majesty power (a mortal would simply lose his temper).

Because of his new, hateful attitude toward everyone who was once loyal to him, a Kindred afflicted with Animus loses one dot from one appropriate Social Merit each night that he’s afflicted by this power: Contacts, Mentor, Allies, Retainer and Herd all find themselves alienated by their former associate. The subject’s Status also inevitably suffers as the subject alienates those his Status depends on, but the speed at which it dwindles is left to the Storyteller’s discretion and the nature of the story.

Dots of these Merits may be purchased again with experience points once the character is freed from the effects of Animus, but if the character wants to re-acquire the same Contacts, Mentor, Allies, Retainer and Herd members, he may have to make amends with them first. Entirely new Contacts, Allies, Retainers, Herd members or a new Mentor can be acquired at the standard cost.

A person twisted by Animus suffers a –5 penalty on all dice pools to support old friends or interact positively

Kamen

Face is very important to the Sotoha. The state of one’s true feelings is held to be of little concern to others, but the way that things appear is very important. This has cultural reflections; in particular, the impact of hinomi on the Kindred’s lord is a result of the lord’s serious loss of face.

It also has supernatural consequences. Kamen (“the Mask”), the Sotoha bloodline’s unique Discipline, is devoted to keeping the Kindred’s outward image intact. This Discipline has little effect on his inner state, but with a mastery of this mystic art, it becomes all but impossible for others to know what that inner state is. At the highest levels, a Sotoha vampire can even present a calm face when his soul is in the throes of frenzy.

• Tatemae

Tatemae (ta-TEH-my) is the Japanese term for the emotions that one presents to the world, as opposed to what one truly feels. The first Kamen power allows a Kindred to hide his emotions perfectly.

This power only truly allows a Kindred to suggest that his true thoughts match the ones he is displaying. He cannot choose to look like a loyal servant pretending to be discontent; he must either look like a loyal servant who is displaying his loyalty or a discontent servant displaying his discontent. This limits the subtlety of the deceptions a Kindred with this Discipline can practice.

The emotion displayed is normally quite general, so that the mask remains useful for the whole of a conversation. Thus, it would be normal to fake loyalty, friendliness or sympathy but not amusement at a particular joke. However, faking amusement at a comedy performance would be reasonable.

It is not uncommon for Sotoha Kindred to use this power all the time.

Cost: —

Dice Pool: Manipulation + Expression + Kamen

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Action: Instant, normally. Characters may contest attempts to use supernatural abilities to see through the Kindred’s mask with Composure + Expression + Kamen.

Mundane attempts to assess what the Kindred is feeling always conclude that the facade he is projecting is wholly genuine. Supernatural attempts may also be fooled, unless they can overcome the Discipline in an opposed roll. In addition, the Kindred must attempt to keep the deception up. Actions that clearly break the image also end the effect of the power. Thus, a Kindred faking interest in a lecture would not continue to appear interested if he started reading a book instead. However, the power of the Discipline does mean that the Kindred does not need to make a great effort to maintain the façade.

The Kindred using this power need not be faking his displayed emotion. Even when a Kindred is sincere, it may be to his advantage to definitely appear so. If a supernatural attempt to pierce the Discipline succeeds, the user knows that it has, even if the emotion revealed is the same as the one the Discipline was displaying.

Roll Results

Dramatic Failure: The character’s true feelings, and the fact that he is trying to hide them, are obvious to everyone. The character does not, however, realize that he is so transparent. He suffers a –2 penalty on all Social dice pools for the remainder of the scene.

Failure: The character must rely on his mundane acting abilities to hide his true feelings. He is aware that his attempt to activate the Discipline failed.

Success: The character can maintain one poise perfectly. That is, he can choose to have one emotion look entirely genuine for the duration of a scene. To change the emotion, however, he must activate the power (and the player must roll) again. For example, a character makes his act of friendliness towards a Carthian troublemaker appear genuine. Later, the Prince’s enforcers descend, and the character needs to make his show of loyalty to the Prince seem genuine. This requires a new roll.

Exceptional Success: The character can change his mask at will for the duration of the scene. Thus, in the example above, a new roll would not be required to make his loyalty appear genuine.

•• The Fitting Time

The first stage of control over the Beast allows a Kindred to delay entering a frenzy. Ideally, this gives her enough time to get somewhere out of sight of others before relinquishing control, but low levels of success may grant her merely a moment to take some action to lessen the likely impact. For example, a Kindred who delays a hunger frenzy might run from her friends, so that she does not feed on them.

Cost: —

Dice Pool: Resolve + Composure + Kamen

Action: Reflexive. The roll is made immediately after failing to resist frenzy, to delay the onset of that frenzy.

Roll Results

Dramatic Failure: The frenzy starts immediately, and is less amenable to control than even a normal failure. The Kindred may not spend Willpower to direct the frenzy in any way.

Failure: The frenzy starts immediately, as normal.

Success: The Kindred can delay entering the frenzy for a certain period of time determined by the successes rolled. She may choose to enter frenzy at any point within that time, but if she has not done so earlier, she automatically goes into frenzy when the time period expires.

Exceptional Success: No benefit beyond being able to delay the frenzy until the following night, as indicated on the table below.

ter frenzy before laying down to sleep at dawn, she wakes in frenzy the following evening.

When the Kindred does enter frenzy, it is the same as any other involuntary frenzy.

••• The Wave Is the Man

When a Kindred with this power “rides the wave” of frenzy, she has much more control over her actions and appearance than normal. She may appear as calm as she wishes, and take actions that require thought and deliberate decision, including the use of Disciplines such as Dominate. The benefits of being in frenzy still apply, however: the vampire ignores wound penalties, gets a bonus die to all physical dice pools and gets a bonus to resist attempts at mental domination.

From the outside, it is almost impossible to determine that the vampire is in frenzy. Supernatural abilities such as Auspex can do so by examining the vampire’s aura, but to mundane observation she appears no different from normal. While the Kindred may choose to behave in a wild manner, she need not, and virtually all Sotoha choose to remain icily calm even while they frenzy.

However, she is still in frenzy, and observers may be able to deduce that from her behavior. The frenzying kindred has an absolute focus on the target of her frenzy. She can do nothing that she does not judge to be the fastest and most effective way to achieve her end. As the frenzy was invoked voluntarily, the vampire no doubt has an end in mind.

While the frenzying vampire cannot do anything she does not judge to be the fastest and most effective means to her end, that does not mean she should spend a long time contemplating options. On the contrary, she must decide