FROM CHAPTER TWO OF ANCIENT MYSTERIES,

A CHARACTER SOURCEBOOK FOR VAMPIRE: THE REQUIEM.

 The immortality of the vampire is an oddly conditional sort of thing. The undead convince others to join them — when they don’t just give the Embrace regardless of consent — with the promise of immortality. The sire often omits the unpleasant truth of that immortality; yes, you’re going to exist forever, but you may spend centuries sleeping, and then you’ll have to deal with the way the world has changed when you wake up.

This chapter deals with precisely that issue — how do vampires deal with a world unknown to them when they come to themselves after decades or centuries of torpor? How do they hold on to their memories and their sense of self? And how can you play the part of a monster trapped in the future, a relic eternally separated from the only existence he truly knows?

~ Waking Up to the Future ~

Imagine a monster. Once human, she slips through the cracks and exploits the gaps of human society, both high and low. She has human agents who will kill and die for a taste of her precious blood. She knows her world back-to-front, and if she does not have the same freedom of movement she did when she was alive, if she does not have the variable interests she once had, what of it? The power she now commands more than makes up for what she sees as only the slightest narrowing of her horizons.

And then disaster: she falls foul of a monster more dangerous and ruthless than herself, and he beats her into torpor. Or, by some freak accident, she becomes trapped somewhere confined and dark, where she can only starve, and, having gone mad with hunger, having fed upon herself all she can, loses consciousness. Or maybe one night she simply feels terribly, terribly weary, and falls asleep.

She sleeps for decades or centuries. She dreams. And one night she wakes up. Everything is different. Carts are made of shiny painted metal, and roar, and move at a terrible speed without any animal to pull them. People watch moving pictures on glowing glass boxes, and talk into or intently manipulate tiny devices, staring into small windows which display all manner of pictures and symbols.

The city is so loud now. The buildings loom down from above and go up forever. The night sky is a different color. The air smells acrid, foul. The perfume worn by women has an artificial flavor to it. Dogs and cats look somehow different, bred into distinctive and strange shapes (but they still bark, and hiss and run away — that part doesn’t change). Women dress like the men, and the men wear odd materials and colors, with little concession to our vampire’s sense of decency. A metal carriage roars past, and strange music blares from nowhere; it offends her every aesthetic sensibility. All of her human slaves are dead. She finds the local of the Elysium she remembers, but it is gone. In its place is a vast, hideous building, and behind its glass doors are dozens of gaudy boutiques — she recognizes a shop when she sees one, at least — and flocks of slack-jawed, hostile children in immodest clothes, who stare in open contempt at this woman in her archaic, dusty outfit.

She commands some luckless passer-by to stop. She takes him to one side, and bids him tell her the location of a half-dozen landmarks she knows. He has never heard of most of them. One that he recognizes was knocked down when he was a small child. She leaves his corpse drained behind and seeks out the Kindred of the region. In the end, they find her. This has not been her territory for a very long time, and when the current owners of this hunting ground find her she does not understand why she is not welcome here.

She thinks she is going mad. She cannot recognize this world — but worst of all, she has a vague, terrible feeling that she is not sure about the world she came from, either. She remembers faces and names, but she recalls the same individuals being both friends and enemies. She remembers watching someone be destroyed in three different ways. She dreamed for so long, longer than she was alive, longer than she was awake and walking; and now she does not know what was real and what was a dream.

How can she adjust?

~ New Traits, Flaws, and Devotions ~

Below, you’ll find a sampling of new traits available to historical vampire characters. It isn’t that a skilled ancilla or even neonate wouldn’t be capable of learning these powers, or being subject to the drawbacks - it’s just that they are more easily discovered and developed by Kindred of particularly potent blood.

• Distant Sympathy (••)
• Prerequisite: Blood Potency 6
• Effect: The normal limits of distance do not apply to the vampire with this Merit when determining what she is able to sense through Blood Sympathy (Vampire: The Requiem, p. 163). While a vampire is normally limited to the metropolitan area, or roughly 50 miles, a vampire with this Merit has extended this range to virtually any place in the world. This Merit does not allow a vampire to “transmit” across vast distances; for that, she is still limited to the normal distance limitations.

• Remnant of Clarity (• to •••)
• Prerequisite: Blood Potency 4
• Effect: The character has one year in his Requiem that he remembers with perfect clarity. He may look back over that year in his mind and recall moments with alarming ease. The reason for this may be unclear to the character, or it may be that something happened during that year to focus the character’s mind (performed diablerie, Embraced another, awoke from torpor, or some other Requiem-changing event). The result is that when attempting to remember any event or element of that year, the character gains a number of bonus dice to that roll equal to the dots spent in this Merit. (See “Memorizing and Remembering,” p. 44, World of Darkness Rulebook.) The player can also add this Merit, in the form of bonus dice, to the character’s attempt to resist indoctrination upon awakening, if the brainwasher is attempting to alter beliefs or memories relevant to that year. A player can purchase this Merit a number of times for her character, with each instance representing one year. Those years needn’t be consecutive.

• Zeal (••)
• Prerequisite: Resolve •••
• Effect: Your character believes. He’s experienced something in his unlife that allows him great faith in something — a god, a cause, or a goal. His zeal is obvious to anyone he encounters, and this can work for or against him. This Merit provides two effects, one public and one personal. The public effect is that your character can influence those around him. The player gains a +1 to Social rolls where the character’s zeal would be helpful. If the character is a fervent Christian, for instance, the player could apply this bonus to whip up church support for the character’s cause. The personal effect is that your character can substitute his Resolve rating for a lesser Attribute score once per chapter. For instance, in a fight, the character might substitute his Resolve rating for his Strength in order to strike down an unbeliever. In a debate, he might substitute his Resolve for his Manipulation to doggedly cling to his points, even in the face of opposing logic.
• Drawback: Zeal is often mistaken for (or equated with) fanaticism, which instantly turns off some people. Depending upon the group that your character is attempting to influence, this Merit could lead to either admiration or contempt. The player applies a -1 penalty when dealing with people who do not share the character’s convictions. In addition, if the player fails a Social roll (other than an Intimidation roll) using this Merit, all further attempts to deal with the same targets suffer a -3 modifier, as the vampire appears over zealous.

~ Flaws ~

• Lost Love: Sometime in the vampire’s past, he experienced true love on one level or another. From being a proud parent to falling for an adolescent crush, he has a true connection in his past. Unfortunately, the years as a vampire and the ravages of torpor’s mental degeneration have eroded those sharp experiences into dull memories. From time to time, aspects of those memories return and cause tremendous distraction. Triggers may include women with a certain color of hair, men with a certain name, or even a snatch of music that both the vampire and his love once enjoyed. Once triggered, apply a -2 penalty on all rolls until the vampire can separate himself from the situation. In addition, the player may not spend any Willpower for Heroic Effort in actions that directly confront that stimulus (though he can still spend Willpower as required for Disciplines and the like).

 ~ Derangements ~

• Aeons’ Languor (severe): Only Kindred who have succumbed to torpor(voluntarily or involuntarily) can have this derangement. Emerging from the deepest slumber, Kindred awaken with a varying degree of hesitance and fear of return trips to torpor. Those who have this derangement possess a completely defeatist attitude regarding their possible return to torpor. Not only do they accept the eventuality of their return, but they expect it to happen at any time. When presented with a situation that threatens such a state, the Kindred finds it difficult to resist or fight back. Similarly, he finds little cause to emerge from torpor when an outside stimulus begins to awaken him. If a vampire is confronted with a situation that could result in entering or emerging from torpor, apply a -3 penalty on any rolls to resist or confront that stimulus. This translates into having difficulty feeding when he is starving, rolls to awaken from torpor, and even participating in a particularly lethal fight. In the event of possibly lethal combat, the vampire does not suffer this penalty until he has taken more points of lethal damage than he has Willpower dots. A similar -3 penalty is applied to rolls made for feeding when the vampire is hungry (when he has no more than four Vitae in his system). Finally, periodic Resolve + Composure rolls may need to be made as the vampire resists urges to prepare his associates, holdings and himself for his eventual return to torpor.

• Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (severe): At some point during the character’s mortal life or undead Requiem, he experienced a horrible trauma, and he’s never quite gotten over it. Often, such trauma is born of war-time violence or brutal assault, but the Embrace itself might qualify. A loud scream or a firecracker exploding nearby, or perhaps even the taste of blood not intentionally ingested, can cause your character to shut down physically and mentally. Roll Resolve + Composure when something triggers this derangement, or your character succumbs to a powerful panic attack, wherein he cannot move except to hide. He suffers a -2 penalty on all rolls for the remainder of the scene as well and Willpower points cannot be spent to bolster any rolls during that period.

• Waking Nightmare (severe): Your character physically awakens and brings his nightmares with him. Upon encountering a specific trigger (agreed upon by player and Storyteller when the character acquires this derangement), the character finds himself facing the creatures or situation from his nightmares. The player must roll Resolve + Composure, with failure indicating that the character is lost in his nightmare vision. He passes out, unconscious, for the remainder of the scene. A dramatic failure is much the same, except that the character doesn’t simply lose consciousness. He begins attacking anything and anyone around him, believing he is fighting off the creatures or enemies from his dreams. During this state, he is fully capable of using whatever abilities and Disciplines he possesses, but he is also susceptible to frenzy or Rötschreck, depending on the events of his dream.

~ Devotions ~

The experience costs for these Devotions are slightly higher than usual. For every dot of Blood Potency over five that a Kindred possesses, however, he subtracts three points from the experience cost of the Devotion. Therefore, a vampire of Blood Potency 8 who wishes to learn Fooling the Sleeping Beast would pay 12 experience points, while a vampire with Blood Potency 6 would pay 18, and a character with Blood Potency 1 would pay the full, listed cost.

Blood Shield (Celerity ••, Resilience •••••, Vigor •••)

This Devotion is rumored to have survived for millennia as a way for vampires in ancient times to stand beneath the light of the Sun, even if for just a few seconds. In modern nights, there are other useful ways to employ this Devotion for vampires unwilling to take that leap of faith.

Surviving a major conflagration is one such use. When a Kindred activates this Devotion, he literally forces his Vitae out the pores of his skin, creating a thick, coagulated blood shield that begins smoldering almost immediately. Obviously, use of this Devotion depends upon the amount of Vitae in the Kindred’s body and/or the amount of Willpower he can expend.

• Cost: 1 Vitae per turn + 2 Willpower
• Dice Pool: Composure + Athletics + Resilience
• Action: Instant
• Roll Results:
• *Dramatic Failure: A dramatic failure results in absolutely no protection for the Kindred from the flames. Damage is aggravated (per Vampire: the Requiem, p. 172). Rötschreck automatically occurs.
• *Failure: Not enough Vitae covers the Kindred to protect him from harm. He still receives aggravated damage, but Resilience functions normally.
• *Success: The flames surround the vampire and attempt to consume him, but his blood absorbs the damage. As long as the vampire can continue replenishing the Blood Shield, he suffers bashing damage from fire rather than aggravated. He is still susceptible to Rötschreck, however.
• *Exceptional Success: The vampire’s blood creates a barrier against which the heat and fire cannot penetrate. As long as he can replenish the Blood Shield, he suffers no damage from fire, nor does he need to worry about Rötschreck
• Duration: One turn per point of Vitae spent. This power costs 39 experience points to learn.

• Languor’s Denial (Resilience •••, Vigor •••)
• Torpor is cruel, and often unexpected. A vampire is cast into the deathly sleep with little warning, and can do nothing to ensure protection for her body, her allies, her childer. But what if that wasn’t true? What if she could, for a time, stave off torpor long enough to accomplish what needs to be accomplished?
• Cost: 1 Vitae
• Dice Pool: Stamina + Survival + Resilience
• Action: Reflexive
• Use of this Devotion allows the vampire to put off torpor for a number of nights equal to the vampire’s dots in Resolve. Any effect that would normally send the vampire into torpor— rightmost Health box filled with lethal damage, a stake in the heart, starvation — does not do so. The vampire may continue to operate until either she’s reached the number of nights equal to her Resolve score or until she takes one more point of lethal or aggravated damage. During this time forestalling torpor, the vampire appears sickly (often with jaundiced skin and a faint crust of blood around the nose, mouth, eyes and ears) and trembles. What she does with this time is up to her — orchestrate revenge on enemies? Get affairs in order? Ensure that her body will be protected during torpor’s duration?Triggering this Devotion is not without its downsides. A vampire who enters torpor due to a stake or to starvation cannot then remove the stake or fill up on blood to avoid torpor entirely. Use of this Devotion means that torpor is now inevitable, even if the stake is pried from the breastbone (although without the stake in her heart, at least she knows she’ll wake up!). In addition, the vampire spends time in torpor as if her Blood Potency were one higher (so, a vampire of Humanity 5, Blood Potency 7 would normally spend seven months in torpor, but using this Discipline, she’ll spend eight months lost to that ancient sleep). This Devotion costs 24 experience points to learn.

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