So yah. I gots a home nowz. So I can plug my laptop into the internets and shit. I'll try to figure out which things I wrote during the last two weeks while I was homeless.
Demons
“
Match wits with a creature older than time? Match wits with a prince of the dark dominions?”
The Demons were seemingly around a lot longer than other supernatural creatures: the oldest records left by vampires or the recollections of the Returned allow for the civilization of the Demons as having been around for unfathomable years even then. This makes their predicament something of a puzzle, because every Demon is imprisoned in Limbo to a greater degree than any of its other inhabitants. Who or
what imprisoned the Demons there is not particularly clear, and individual Demons advance distinct theories when asked. All Demons live forever, and many of them
are frightfully old. Many of them claim to have been around during “The Great Banishment” – but in almost all cases this is certainly a lie. It's not even clear where the banishment was
from. Some claim that it was the Material World, while others claim that the original Demonic home world was Maya. Still others claim that it was some as yet unnamed world that they cannot return to. What is clear is that Demons have a tremendous difficulty leaving the Dark Reflection: their Potencies are considered four higher for purposes of overcoming the Gauntlet.
Akuma
“
I always get what I want because I take it.”
The Akuma were never human and this fact cannot easily escape onlookers. Standing about a meter taller than a man, Akuma are also blessed with extra... parts. Rows of teeth, third eyes, sometimes even extra arms or mouths. Many come equipped with extra part that are not analogous to any found in normal people such as horn, pincers, and tentacles. They come in colors like red and blue rather than the tan and slightly darker tan that humans are familiar with. Even the white ones are
white, rather than merely a slightly paler shade of tan. These are the demons you imagine when your imagination has a bottomless budget for costuming.
Akuma need to feed on sapients in order to restore their powers. Left on their own in the Dark Reflection they foist mirror goblins into their maws with wild abandon, but they prefer the flesh of humans. While Akuma do not strictly speaking
need to eat, they love doing so and their gluttonous appetites cannot be sated easily or long. Akuma are a huge social problem for mortals and supernaturals alike when they appear in the material world, for they lack subtlety in any of their dealings. Akuma are lazy bullies whose only redeeming feature is that at least their short sighted avarice makes them easy to manipulate by those with sufficient power to not be devoured right off. An Akuma has no driving passions, and is dominated by Master Passions of Rage, Hunger, and Fear.
While it is
possible for an Akuma to gain power nonfatally from a victim, their love of livers and poor discipline ensure that this almost never happens. An Akuma cannot turn their Giant Size off. An Akuma's claws, horns, teeth, or whatever constitute a damage 3 weapon. Akuma have a nonstandard attribute array because they were never humans. Before their Potency modifier and their constant Giant Size, their attribute ranges are:
S: 6/11 A: 1/5 I: 1/3 L: 1/3 W: 2/7 C: 1/4
An Akuma has an Infernal power source and a Feeding power schedule.
- Akuma Starting Disciplines
- Core Discipline: Potence -
- Vigor (Basic Potence)
- Feat of Strength (Basic Potence)
- Basic Disciplines -
- Command (Basic Dominate)
- Patience of the Mountains (Basic Fortitude)
-Advanced Disciplines -
- Giant Size (Advanced Potence)
- Devastation (Advanced Potence)
Story Inspiration: Where the Wild Things Are, Legend, Urotsukidoji,
Sidhe
“
And for revenge thou hast created this demon. Her domain is darkness - her purpose is wickedness”
The Sidhe appear as relatively attractive, if distant and cruel humans. As the only type of Demon that is not constitutively required to eat or torture people to death, they are the most likely to have neutral or positive relations with residents of the mortal world. Nevertheless, Sidhe very rarely behave in any manner that could be even generously described as less than unnecessarily dickish. While they gain no literal sustenance from harming people, they are often pressed into the service of powerful Ifrit to do so and just plain seem to like doing it. Despite the subtleties of their abilities, most Sidhe have a master passion of Rage.
Some Sidhe have wings that resemble those of swans or bats growing from their backs. The ones that don't have either wheels of fire or tiny clouds appear under their feet when they fly. While technically a Sidhe was never a human, they are close enough in appearance and capabilities that their attribute ranges before Potency modifiers are human standard.
Sidhe are superficially similar to Daeva, and it is primarily for this reason that Daeva were often subject to persecution by Sabbat forces about 400 years ago. More extensive investigations recognize many key differences. For example, while a Daeva is born as a human luminary and is converted into a Vampire upon death at another's hands, a Sidhe comes into being by coalescing out of ash in Limbo, already fully grown. Blood flows in the veins of a Daeva only when they have recently fed, while blood does not actually exist inside a Sidhe at all – when their skin is broken it cracks like porcelain and a fine ash drifts out.
Sidhe easily insinuate themselves in leadership positions in the mortal world because of their tremendous and magically augmented presence. These qualities are held in no esteem whatsoever in Demonic culture, and mere likability is treated with extreme contempt. Virtually all Sidhe have been made to swear total vassalage to a more powerful Sidhe or Djinn. Domination, whether magical in nature or simple brute force is the currency of Demonic relationships.
A Sidhe has an Infernal power source and a Ritual power schedule.
- Sidhe Starting Disciplines
- Core Discipline: Presence -
- Awe (Basic Presence)
- Dread Gaze (Basic Presence)
- Basic Disciplines -
- Supernatural Senses (Basic Auspex)
- Patience of the Mountains (Basic Fortitude)
- Feat of Strength (Basic Potence)
- Advanced Disciplines -
- Flight (Potence / Presence Devotion)
- Majesty (Advanced Presence)
- Summoning (Advanced Presence)
Story Inspiration: Succubus, Disgaea, Hell Bent
Ifrit
“
I don't need you dead, just for you to wish you were.”
By far the rarest and mos terrifying denizens of Limbo are the Ifrit. They are not especially powerful physically, and indeed they are normally intangible when encountered. But they have incredible mystical powers, almost unmatched amongst supernatural creatures. Not a few of them have taken to passing themselves off as gods when they reach the material world, and yet they have never achieved much status within any of the major Earthly covenants. This is primarily because as a group they do not normally join supernatural covenants – even the King With Three Shadows counts few Ifrit under his dominion.
An Ifrit can look like anything and they do. But in their truest form they seem to be hideous humanoids of approximately 2 meters with craggy skin of vivid primary and secondary colors. Their vibrant hues appear like something more at home in a crayon box than a living being.
In order to feed, an Ifrit must be within a meter of someone in wracking agony. They do not have to actually consume any blood or viscera and indeed they generally cannot because they are incorporeal anywhere but the Depths of Limbo. While Irit were probably never living mortals, their attributes are normal for their Potency. It's not entirely clear if Ifrit ever
were anything before being magical beings, no one knows of any of them coming into being, and the lowest Potency of any Ifrit seems to be 4.
An Ifrit has an Infernal power source and a Feeding power schedule.
- Ifrit Starting Disciplines
- Core Disciplines: Progress of Glass and Trail of Tears-
- Distant Reflection (Basic Progress of Glass)
- Deny the Gauntlet (Basic Progress of Glass)
- Curse of Failure (Basic Trail of Tears)
- Pain Drops (Basic Trail of Tears)
- Basic Disciplines -
- Aura Perception (Basic Auspex)
- Patience of the Mountains (Basic Fortitude)
- Feat of Strength (Basic Potence)
- Learn the Heart's Pain (Basic Names of the Blasphemies)
- Mesmerism (Basic Dominate)
- Mask of a Thousand Faces (Basic Obfuscate)
- Advanced Disciplines -
- Empty Body (Auspex / Fortitude Devotion)
- Telekinesis (Auspex / Potence Devotion)
- Mirror Pocket (Advanced Progress of Glass)
- Dark Night of the Soul (Advanced Trail of Tears)
- Conditioning (Advanced Dominate)
- Elder Disciplines -
- The Smoking Mirror (Elder Progress of Glass)
- Object of Envy (Elder Trail of Tears)
Story Inspiration: Wishmaster
Evil Plants
“
There's no sense in getting killed by a plant.”
The lands of Maya are filled with strange foliage. But strangest of all is the foliage that harbors a deep hatred for people and animals. Possessed of an intelligence that is so wholly unlike those of humanity’s that they are difficult to measure, these plants are condemned universally as being “Evil” even by the jaded standards of supernatural society. Completely emotionless, Evil Plants are not motivated by passions and cannot be induced to frenzy nor convinced against a course of action with emotional argument of any kind.
Mantraps
“
Feed Me!”
Mantraps are essentially Aubrey the monster from Little Shop of Horrors or the carnivorous plants from Mario Brothers. They are able to move their giant mouth quite quickly, but they are rooted to the ground and cannot effectively give chase. Brutally effective ambush hunters, Mantraps try to eat animals whenever the opportunities arise.
Mantraps can't readily transport themselves across the land, let alone the borders between the dreamlands and the material world. Nevertheless, they do appear on Earth, because there are those who for whatever reason dig them up and transplant them. They often appear as guard plants in Marduk Society compounds. Mantraps can learn to speak, and their muppet like countenance creates alien voices.
The huge woody maw of a Mantrap is a damage 3 weapon. Mantraps have a nonstandard attribute array because they were never humans. Before their Potency modifier their attribute ranges are:
S: 3/8 A: 1/4 I: 1/6 L: 1/3 W: 2/7 C: 1/4
A Mantrap has an Astral power source and a Feeding power schedule.
- Mantrap Starting Disciplines
- Core Discipline: Potence -
- Vigor (Basic Potence)
- Feat of Strength (Basic Potence)
- Basic Disciplines -
- Revive the Flesh (Basic Fortitude)
- Hide From Notice (Basic Obfuscate)
Triffids
“
I dunno what the hell's in there, but it's weird and pissed off, whatever it is.”
The Triffids are mobile plant monsters that are only vaguely describable as humanoid in shape. Like other Evil Plants, they need meat in their diet, but unlike the others they can get up and walk at a normal speed. As such, Triffids are not relegated to ambush hunting, they can seriously chase their prey down and eat them. And they do.
A Triffid has a poison barb on the end of each meter long tendril that extends from their maw. Some of them sprout leaves and/or flowers from various parts of their body. Some of them are instead smooth like an ivy vine or wrinkled like a redwood tree. It's not entirely clear what the significance of that distinction is.
The vicious barbed tendrils of a Triffid constitute a damage 3 weapon that can deliver the poison of the Triffid's “bite.” Triffids have a nonstandard attribute array because they were never humans. Before their Potency modifier their attribute ranges are:
S: 3/8 A: 1/4 I: 1/6 L: 1/3 W: 2/7 C: 1/4
A Triffid has an Astral power source and a Lunar power schedule.
- Triffid Starting Disciplines
- Core Discipline: Coil of Thorns -
- Bitter Fruit (Basic Coil of Thorns)
- Grass Rope (Basic Coil of Thorns)
- Basic Disciplines -
- Bite of the Serpent (Basic Lure of Destruction)
- Revive the Flesh (Basic Fortitude)
-Advanced Disciplines -
- Puppetry (Advanced Coil of Thorns)
Story Inspiration: The Thing, Night of the Triffids, Dryad, The Creeping Terror
Pods
“
There are others... they'll stop you!”
“
In an hour, you won't want them to.”
The Pods are psychic hazards that take over people and use them to make more pods and take more people over. It's a rather disturbing pyramid scheme, and it is not uncommon for even the Marduk Society and the Carthians to work together in order to unravel Pod cults. It's not especially clear what it is that Pods
want, but whatever it is, they have appear to have no intention of discussing it with any political structures from the material world.
Each pod is roughly the size and shape of a large watermelon with some milk white tendrils growing out of what is most probably the bottom. These look similar to the rootlets that grow out of a potato if you leave it in water for a long period of time. There are slight depressions all over the Pod that appear to be its “eyes” – they are able to see things through them and Dominate victims who look at them. The tendrils of a Pod can only move by growing over the course of minutes and hours, so for any practical purposes they are essentially immobile. Pods have a nonstandard attribute array because they were never humans. Before their Potency modifier their attribute ranges are:
S: 1/4 A: 0/0 I: 2/7 L: 2/7 W: 2/7 C: 1/6
A Pod has an Astral power source and a Lunar power schedule.
- Pod Starting Disciplines
- Core Discipline: Dominate and Auspex -
- Supernatural Senses (Basic Auspex)
- Aura Perception (Basic Auspex)
- Command (Basic Dominate)
- Mesmerism (Basic Dominate)
- Basic Disciplines -
- Enchanted Slumber (Basic Veil of Morpheus)
- Grass Rope (Basic Coil of Thorns)
-Advanced Disciplines -
- Telepathy (Advanced Auspex)
- Conditioning (Advanced Dominate)
-Elder Disciplines -
- Possession (Elder Dominate)
Story Inspiration: Invasion of the Body Snatchers, Pod People
Names of the Blasphemies
It is hubris of the first order to name that which is not known.
There are words that should not be spoken. Mostly, these are the names of ancient unspeakable evils. And the
reason these evils are unspeakable is because they will hear you if you speak about them. Upon learning each ability from this discipline, the character is able to choose for themselves a True Name. Abilities that function based upon the character's name only respond to that name, no matter what they refer to themselves as. With Advanced, the character knows the name of anyone they see an accurate picture of, and with Elder they know the name of anyone they see (regardless of disguises).
Basic Disciplines
- Learn the Heart's Pain By concentrating for a Simple Action, the character can know the limits of a person's psyche. The character makes a Charisma + Empathy or Intuition + Larceny test, gaining knowledge of the subject as follows:
| Hits | Knowledge Gained
|
| 1 | The target's Master Passion, if any (humans usually have no Master Passion)
|
| 2 | The target's Driving Passion
|
| 3 | General details of the target (such as career and name)
|
| 4 | Specific details of the target's hopes and dreams
|
| 5 | Intimate details of the target's life that the target barely even cares about. |
Using this power is covert.
- Poison Heart The character fills the target's heart with a litany of lies. By spending a Complex action, the character makes an opposed Charisma + Empathy or Intuition + Larceny test against the target's Willpower and if successful causes the target to feel intense feelings of betrayal and disappointment. If the character knows the target's Master Passion, they can incite a Frenzy. If the character knows the target's Driving Passion, they can make them bitterly sullen and full of the feelings of failure (suffering a morale penalty to skill tests until the end of the scene). And if the names of any of the target's friends and loved ones are known, the target can be made to distrust them. Strength of any frenzies, depressions, or misgivings are the number of net hits. This ability is covert.
Advanced Disciplines
- Bind the Name By knowing a creature's name, the character can bind them in Limbo, making it even more improbable that they could escape. This binding costs a Power point and takes a Complex action, but can work at any distance. The character makes an Intuition + Empathy or Charisma + Bureaucracy test and the threshold to escape the Dark Reflection is increased for the target by the number of hits. Only the most powerful Name Bindings applies to a target if more than one are applied.
- Banishment The character hurls a victim they can see into the Dark Reflection. The character spends a Complex Action and a power point, and makes an opposed Intuition + Larceny or Charisma + Bureaucracy test against the target's Intuition to send them into the Dark Reflection. If three net hits are made, the target can be sent into the Deep Limbo. If the character has Elder Names of the Blasphemies, this ability can be used on several targets at once, targeting up to one creature per point of Charisma.
Elder Disciplines
- The Truest Name Any time any creature speaks the character's name anywhere in the world, the character hears it and the next snippet of conversation the creature utters (usually amounting to a twitter feed, more or less). If the name is spoken three times in succession, the nearest mirror in the material world to the speaking creature becomes a portal to the nearest mirror in the dark reflection to the character. The character can make a Intuition + Stealth or Charisma + Bureaucracy test to reduce the threshold to cross that portal by the number of hits. This ability is covert and continuous.
- Unleash the Dark Soul The character summons a Demon. It is a professional grade task to summon one of the Sidhe (threshold 2), it is totally extreme to summon an Akuma (threshold 4), and it is flat super human to summon one of the Ifrit (threshold 6). If the character knows the name of a specific entity, they may attempt to summon that one in particular to the material world, and the threshold is reduced by 1. If a proposed target's escape threshold is higher than the summoning threshold, use that threshold instead of the base (although still reduce it by 1 for a known name). Unleash the Dark Soul uses Intuition + Empathy or Charisma + Bureaucracy. It takes an hour, and can also be used to spring any specific creature whose name is known from the shallow or deep Dark Reflection.
Coil of Thorns
Leaves drop in Autumn not because of the shortening of the day, bu because of the lengthening of the night.
The Coil of Thorns is the Astral Sorcery dedicated to understanding and manipulating plant life. Characters who practice this magic are able to do much with practically any plant matter. The character's Artisan and Expression skills gain a +2 bonus when working in primarily plant matter media. This bonus increases to +4 with knowledge of Advanced Col of Thorns, and to +6 with Elder Coil of Thorns. Characters with Coil of Thorns can also make something edible and even delicious out of literally any plant matter. It's not at all obvious how it's done, but their redwood pasta is not bad at all. This magic is inextricably linked in the minds of many supernaturals with the Evil Plants, and indeed any practitioner can speak with Evil Plants of any kind. It has even been suggested that Verbena Witches are actually Pod spies. Most Coil spells are quite powerful but quite time consuming to use. A Coil of Thorns laboratory is called a “Kitchen” and can indeed be created with materials purchasable at a farmer's market.
Basic Disciplines
- Bitter Fruit The character can make powerful medicines and poisons out of ordinary fruits and roots. By spending a power point and an hour working in a kitchen, the character's result can be a balm or a curse to those who consume it with a strength equal to the number of hits on a Logic + Medicine or Intuition + Survival test. Such products can be made into clearly medicinal pastes and the like, or covertly disguised as fresh foods. Doses with other effects can also be produced, but if the requisite number of hits is not achieved the resulting product is merely a standard damaging poison with a strength equal to the actual hits achieved.
| Hits | Poison | Effect
|
| 1 | Anti-toxin | Reduces the power of toxins by its hits.
|
| 3 | Sleep Drought | Consuming victim falls into a deep sleep.
|
| 5 | Hypnotic | Consuming victim enters a highly suggestible state for an hour. |
With Advanced and Elder Coil of Thorns comes the learning of additional recipes such as making powerful acids, paralytics, or explosives. The seed that transforms a Luminary into a Verbena has a threshold of 6 to brew.
- Grass Rope The character can have plant matter grow at tremendous speed according to their will and grasp their enemies with wooden fastness. The character spends a Complex Action and makes a Logic + Rigging or Intuition + Survival test, and the leafy strands lash out with a Strength and Agility equal to the number of hits.
Advanced Disciplines
- Mind Root The character plants a seed in a victim that slowly roots into the unfortunate's brain and leaves them an emotionless pawn. Creating the Mind Root takes a power point and an hour in the kitchen, and it takes an hour or two for the tendrils to work their way into the victim (making it essentially worthless against a target that is not willing, bound, or sleeping). The Mind Root uses the character's Logic + Medicine or Intuition + Survival against the victim's Strength.
- Puppetry The character can command plants to perform actions and have the plants actually perform them at a reasonable speed. By spending a Complex action, the character's plant minions will move about with distinctly non-plantlike mobility for one round – attaining an effective Agility equal to the character's Intuition or Logic. The character can also give long term commands to plants, which they will go about performing at their normal speeds (often centimeters a day). Commanding sapient (and presumably evil) plants is more difficult, and requires the character to best them in Logic + Medcine or Logic + Rigging against their Willpower to control one of them for a number of rounds equal to the number of net hits. Otherwise Puppetry extends to any number of plants within 10 meters of the character per point of Potency.
Elder Disciplines
- Abomination The character can work in a kitchen for an hour and grow an evil plan from inert plant material and evil magic. The product is a harmless if strange looking potted plant that will grow into a horror over the following night. The character makes a Logic + Medicine or Intuition + Survival test to get the process started. Making a Man Trap is threshold 3, making a Triffid is threshold 5, and making a Pod is threshold 7. Creating these abominations bestows no special ability to control them.
- Seeds of Destruction Time destroys all things according to mortals, but even amongst supernaturals it is known that the work of your hands will eventually be claimed by the legacy of nature. Using this ability, the character accelerates this process, causing the progression of seasons and flora to rip things to shreds. Roots shatter stone and flesh alike and tiny pieces blow away in pollen laden dust. This is a damage 3 attack that assaults each target in a cone that is up to 100 meters in length per point of Potency. No inanimate object is treated as larger than small, as bigger things are torn apart from every direction and even the inside. The character must spend a Complex Action and a power point, and uses Logic + Rigging or Intuition + Survival. This power can be used on a much smaller scale without spending a Power Point, but it only projects 2 meters per point of Potency.
I worked on some other things, but I'll have to reread things to figure out what's missing. I am on mushrooms right now, so that may take a bit to compare.
-Username17
