Ameba Ownd

アプリで簡単、無料ホームページ作成

Vampire tome of secrets pdf download

2021.12.20 17:13






















Alise, I trusted you and you lied to me! What else are you keeping from me? You were right. Your just like your mother! Product Details : Genre : Author : D. All Rights Reserved.


At any time the caster would be ambushed or surprised, the eye will expend one point of the blood so invested. When this happens, the caster automatically succeeds on the roll. Millions discover their favorite reads on issuu every month. Give your content the digital home it deserves.


Get it to any device in seconds. Previous page Next page. Publish for free today. Worse, we see the end; and like Cassandra, none will hear our tale. Some of our number no longer sup on the fruit of the living.


I need to tell this story, these portents, to one not of our blood, but one not necessarily mortal. You travel. You observe. You bear wisdom. You speak for a legacy thousands of years old. I will be as unto an open book. You know my kind enough to know how rare this opportunity is. Take this story to your kind.


I am a woman who has lost everything. I cannot lose any more. But, maybe, just maybe, you can carry our story forward. If we cannot have immortality in the blood, perhaps we can have immortality as a tale, as a piece of wisdom to carry on.


He says you speak with the wisdom and free fickleness of a fox. That, I appreciate. I grow curious of what I may learn from you, if only from reverse observations. I want you to hear our tale. I want you to protect our tale.


I want you to share our tale. You are not of our blood, and thus, you may be able to preserve this message. If you can find out how to connect back with me, to find me, I will tell you my tale. Great tidings, Teagan Watcher of Zao-Lat. Verdiana, Forget your name. Forget your family. For I will, and I wish to. The pilgrims march soon through your lands. Your second death, as you faked your first in Tuscany.


Walk away from it all. Here is my offer. Come to me. To the Courts of Love. I have the necessary blessing. The night grows short on the followers of Set. Other clans will follow in this race for purity. My sire tells me that perhaps only six or seven clans are safe in the long term. You can practice in the shadows, the way your clan has for aeons. These pilgrims, they are the second in a series of signs.


The first came just over a decade ago, when the sun was consumed by night. The third has the Clan of Death birthing their own destruction. We know not how long that will take. Then we see a serpent beheaded. I wish not for that serpent to be you. Consider my proposal. Even if you do not, please write.


Each night, I worry your time has come and I was so very far away as to be ignorant of it. December, Initiate Ambrus Kelemen, I apologize for the shortness of this message. I hope you understand the lack of proper formalities, and for having it appear on your person, invading your privacy. You said you saw their troops gather. We will win or lose this coming battle on your strength. I also need the best inventory you can provide.


You said they bring great forces. My best informant tells me one of their soldiers fled the Bloodless Crusade, and feeds not on the blood of the living. If you can verify this, we need to understand this phenomenon, since it could transform our entire operation at Ceoris. Any advice you have will be taken to heart. Understand that this is your chance, Initiate. Demonstrate greatness.


Let us show the world that our place in this world of Cainites is destined and immutable. I can only presume their attack will occur before the next moon. Alacrity is the utmost virtue in this endeavor. Place your report in the container in which you found this letter to deliver it to me.


I believe you need this opportunity, that it could change your existence forever. My group, my fellow pilgrims, we have gone a month without blood. I cannot explain this in more certain terms: We have not fed, nor have we wanted for feeding. My fellows believe this is our one true chance for redemption.


I know of your plight, of your wife-to-be. I understand the tragedy of your story; I understand the devastation it must have caused. I want to see you helped. I see you as a beacon. I see you as hope. As his adherence to the Via Regalis falters, I wish to help catch him. I need something. I need a net.


Each night, I hear more and more rumors that Hardestadt looks to see him destroyed. I owe him. Walk with me, please. Help me find this net. I know you share my hope for better things. Be my walking companion. My talking companion. Help me to sort this out and make something of it. Help me to bring it to the world. When you come to London, and I am confident you will, walk the riverside.


Understand that we may never have this chance again. You can be part of that. I reach out to another of Tzimisce blood. I reach out for aid, for philosophy, and to teach and learn with the clan.


Unfortunately, thus far my experiments have granted me no conclusions. And thus, I am calling a summit of sorts, a convocation of experts willing to put forth the rigor necessary to understand this oddity of the blood. I understand the problems with urgency; however, time may be of the essence if we wish to grasp whatever was lost. I will be providing sustenance, and fulfilling any other needs.


Come alone, or come with assistants if you must; mortal food needs will be of no consequence. My library is not what it could be, as the fires of crusade devastated it but decades ago. Bring Theresa and Tara, they will be accommodated. I anticipate answers, as should you. Existence without vitae? Imagine, if you will, what advancements we could make with that additional time, without that overwhelming drive pressing our every action.


For many of us, this means centuries locked away, working toward our true passions. We stand on the precipice of greatness. Even outside the scope of best-cases, simply understanding our condition on a greater level is a boon.


Your mind is valued. Bring it. When tomorrow comes, let us stand at the forefront. Myca Vykos. Alexus Comnenus, I write to inform you of affairs at home. From a political standpoint, though, we work to distance ourselves from the filth called Baali. We need them to understand that our opposition to the Dream was separate from the Baali claim for power.


I believe our best course of action is to phrase this as an inevitability that we are working toward. Constancia, one of the Cappadocian prophets, spoke of the Dream, and stated that it falls hard.


In this narrative, we can act as agents of inevitability, of fate. This not only absolves us of some responsibility, but it helps us to find a place in their mythology.


Their mythology seems to have no good answers for the Cainites who travel from city to city without blood. Some blame the spirits who commune with the Lupines. I take it for weakness. Their very fangs come from serpents, but they call us heretical? In their stories, serpents play maleficent roles. But we can present ourselves as an undesirable necessity, and that will at least make us look like actors in the script, instead of outsiders.


This will help bring us in. I have news about Nicaea, and in particular about Anna Comnena. If you have aims toward Comnena, I can assist. I must admit, I know you have aims toward Comnena. Alfonzo will not simply work with our kind, but I have a favor owed that I can call in. Speak to me in the old ways if you wish to work with me on this. True demigods exploit the Abyss within.


Lasombra demolish their enemies with no quarter given or mercy shown. Such is their reputation for terror on the battlefield and manipulation of the court, and they must maintain it. Their arts of shadow manipulation and drawing forth the primordial darkness rightly infect their foes with fear. Yet, even those who face Lasombra in war, duels of words, or as victims at the ends of their writhing, twilight whips, only know the visible face of the clan.


There exist Magisters who study the darkness. They spend nights staring into the starlit sea, gazing at a pitchblack sky, or examining the shadowed corners of a tomb. To the unenlightened, these Lasombra may be mistaken for Toreador captivated by some dark beauty. The Lasombra know differently; these Abyss Mystics are searching the dark for secrets, slaves, and gods worthy of their worship.


Mystics speak to the blackness, and hear its many voices in response. They make offerings to entropy, and in return gain powers to bewilder, horrify, and destroy. Occupying a hidden role in the clan, Abyss Mystics are accorded both respect and distance by their Lasombra cousins. While Lasombra of all creeds exhibit adeptness with gifts of darkness, the Mystics take their powers a step further. It is a path few Lasombra wish to take. The Abyss — a plane of absolute oblivion and nothingness — occupies a part of every Magister.


It is the curse passed down from their founder, who in the earliest nights sought the quickest route to power. To Cainites, the dark is supposed to be an ally. Abyss Mysticism ensures no vampire may find sanctuary in the shadows. The Oubliettes Let it enter you. Let it use you. Make love to the dark! The Mystics come in many stripes, with the only unifying feature being an impossible lust for secrets, and willingness to do whatever it takes to acquire them.


Mystics are responsible for the Lasombra fashion of constructing Oubliettes deep beneath their domains. These impenetrably dark prisons serve a double-duty for the clan, inducing terror in their captured inhabitants, and creating bastions of absolute lightlessness for meditation and study by the Mystics. Within the Oubliettes, claustrophobia becomes a tangible enemy for those unlucky enough to be there against their wills. Some Oubliettes are one-room cells, with walls so tight the inhabitant must remain standing.


Others are squat cages, rendering the inmate impossible to do anything other than squat, or bend painfully for as long as she remains incarcerated. Each of these Oubliettes — no matter the size, shape, or scale — is unlit. The inhabitants must become one with the darkness, or be crushed by its dominance.


Abyss Mystics occasionally study Oubliette-bound prisoners in seclusion, but prefer to run field tests in which they release up to a dozen Cainites in an underground maze and watch their actions from the safety of their ever-present friend; the oppressive dark. If a vampire let loose in an Oubliette shows tenacity, or embraces the lack of light, Mystics will offer the Cainite their respect and an opportunity to study the dark a little closer.


Few survive with their sanity intact. Those who endure the rite of passage open themselves to Abyss Mysticism.


A rare few even hail from other clans and bloodlines. Mystics react poorly to accusations of connection to that group, but their knowledge of the sect is telling.


New Background: Oubliette Vampires who possess at least three dots in Obtenebration and one Abyss Mysticism ritual can construct an Oubliette within a subterranean structure. The darkness within the Oubliette drains Intelligence from mortals immersed within it, at a rate of one dot per night. This Intelligence is not recoverable. Nightmarish visions constantly beset vampires within the Oubliette, often leading to the swift arrival of Derangements. A vampire embarking on a mission to build himself an Oubliette, acquire Resources, or recruit Allies is bound to lead to interesting interactions and challenges.


Another method is to purchase Backgrounds with experience points. In the downtime period between chapters of a story, Backgrounds are purchasable for an experience cost of three points per level of Background. As always, consult with the Storyteller before spending hard-earned experience on something, and ensure it contributes to the upcoming narrative.


Failure reduces the current Willpower by two points, inducing a Derangement in the vampire once the rating reaches zero.


Vampires who enter the Oubliette willingly, and those on the Road of the Abyss or Road of Sin, lose one Willpower point per night.


The darkness within the Oubliette is unnatural and therefore impossible to see through unless the vampire possesses the Darksight Merit. Entities summoned with Obtenebration or Abyss Mysticism within the Oubliette remain permanently, and cannot be dismissed unless they, or their summoners, are destroyed. The greater the Oubliette Background rating, the greater the volume of the underground structure that is filled with foul darkness. Points in Oubliette are bought at character creation, or earned through roleplay.


Denizens of the Abyss Immersing oneself in an Oubliette is akin to crossing into another dimension. According to some Abyss Mystics, that is exactly what it is. Shapes warp in the darkness of Obtenebration, objects gain life, angles possess motion, and creatures not supposed to exist in our world manifest.


After a certain point, the inmate of the Oubliette believes light has returned to her eyes, and she looks upon a nightmare-land populated by monstrous denizens, humanoid tricksters, and sucking vortices.


This vision may be illusory, as Darksight enables vampires to see their mundane surroundings. A chronicle set in the darkness of an Oubliette will be a harrowing experience filled with nightmarish entities, riddles, tricks, and a fight for survival. The rewards are great — the danger more so. Impossible alien structures exist within the Oubliette, along with creatures never seen in the world above.


Lore is hidden here, the secrets of Obtenebration and Abyss Mysticism rich in sunken sepulchers and bloody mires. Few native inhabitants of the Abyss are by nature charitable, but some will consort and converse with Cainites within the Oubliette, providing they have something to gain from such an interaction. Blatherskite An entity comprised entirely of limbs, dragging lengthy fingers and toes along the ground in its wake: the blatherskite is no creature born of human gods.


This whip-thin entity has no torso or head, instead bearing a trunk made of tangled shadows and a flailing array of arms and digits from stumps all around its body. The blatherskite communicates only in chirrups and belches, the origins of which are unknown, as it appears to possess no orifices. The noises it produces increase in frequency and volume the closer the blatherskite gets to any creature bearing blood.


When in close proximity, it lashes out fiercely with its many appendages, attempting to choke and strangle its victim. The blatherskite continues to squeeze its victim until blood emerges.


Once it obtains several blood points, it languorously flops to the ground and dissolves into liquid shadow. An infantile bezoar is a living growth that occasions to manifest on the insides of any entity who consumes food or liquid in the Abyss.


The bezoar starts insignificantly enough; a vampire foolish enough to drink from one of the rancid pools of blood or pillars of obsidian flesh stacked high in the Abyss may notice a tiny weight on her heart as the tumor grows. As each night passes, the bezoar gets larger.


Abyss Mystics have studied the bezoar in attempts to find out what happens after it escapes its host, but are still to discover its adult form. Vampires in the know are sure to carve Bezoars from their hearts before succumbing to torpor.


Attributes: Strength 4, Dexterity 1, Stamina 3, Charisma 1, Manipulation 0, Appearance 0, Perception 3, Intelligence 2, Wits 3 Abilities: Alertness 3, Athletics 1, Awareness 2, Brawl 1, Intimidation 2, Subterfuge 1, Stealth 4, Survival 4, Occult 3 Disciplines: Fortitude 3, Obtenebration 2, Potence 1 Willpower: 3 Health: 4 Notes: An infantile bezoar drains and immediately expends one blood point on the first night it attaches to a host, and a cumulative blood point for every night thereafter.


It can drain a maximum of six blood points in one night; thus achieving this full amount on the sixth night. Umbriferous Man The Umbriferous Man is a source of much conjecture among Abyss Mystics — the main questions being whether it is a humanoid or shadows coalescing to form one , or whether there are many Umbriferous Men.


To select visitors, the Umbriferous Man will speak in a hundred languages at once, and pose riddles with splendid rewards for those who solve them. Failing to solve such a riddle has no immediate aftermath, contrary to Lasombra tales. Yet, all who fail know the Umbriferous Man will — one night — claim them from the shadows of the world above.


Cainites disappear from their havens, no evidence of their passing remaining. That is, except for shadows permanently imprinted in corners of the room.


The Umbriferous Man is a tall figure clad in multiple swirling rags and cloaks, his yellow eyes barely visible through layers of swaddling. Despite the coverage, his voices ring clearly from his mouth, and he treats all visitors to the Abyss kindly. If attacked, the Umbriferous Man attempts to fight back, but he is no adept combatant. Any who take the coins disappear soon after. The Minacious Legion Throughout the Abyss reside entities resembling knights riding upon steeds.


They are clad in thick, black, spined armor, and wield swords and lances of nebulous shadow. This Legion of knights never dismount their coursers, causing some Mystics to assume they are one with the beasts they apparently ride. The Minacious Legion are watchdogs and hunters within the Abyss. They speak several dead languages, but rarely find time to converse with their victims — it benefits them more to harry and torment prey, inflicting wounds and instilling terror.


Each night pursuing a victim rewards knights of the Legion with increased power, drained directly from those they hunt. The mounts used by the Minacious Legion are headless things with flicking shadow tendrils for legs and ropy tentacles of black for bodies. These creatures resemble horse-sized woodlice, and smell strongly of urine. This starts with the highest Discipline dots, and prioritizes in-clan Disciplines first. Conflicts are resolved by the Storyteller.


Once the knight has all the Disciplines of his victim, he attempts to make the kill. Ingurgitant Vortex Inhabitants of the Abyss are terrifying and varied, yet Mystics fear nothing more than consumption by an ingurgitant vortex. These churning windows of ingestion can appear in anything solid — floors and walls being the most common, coffins and beds being the most dreaded. The vortex is a concave depression, slowly grinding in an anti-clockwise spiral.


From within the vortex pours a mass of thin, grasping tongues, attempting to pull victims inside. None consumed have ever emerged, and their souls have proved impossible to locate.


The ingurgitant vortex strikes without warning. Deterring the ingurgitant takes application of a natural light, or fire — no mean feat in its domain of the Abyss. Most horrifying of all is the sweet, singing voice emerging from inside the vortex, beckoning victims inside in the voice of someone once dear to them. Once the vortex has a taste of its victim, it will continue to manifest in proximity to the vampire night after night.


It can only change locations three times a night. Abyss Mysticism Rituals The Abyss is a weapon for those sturdy enough to brandish it. Members of other groups may not access their Rituals without first dedicating their existences to the Abyss. Some attempt to make such a dedication of words without speaking truthfully, but the Abyss knows.


Through rites practiced by the Abyss Mystics, sacrifices of liars are commonplace. They must open all their secrets to intrusion by the darkness. The pledge is only words, but those who do not make it, or state it without conviction in their hearts, are visibly liars to practitioners of The Abyss Knows. Failure has no effect; a botch means the Abyss Mystic misreads the result. Among their own, it becomes useful to know the nearest entry-point to the Abyss.


Despite the dangers within that plane, Inquisition or Lupine hunters often drive a Mystic to hide within the darkness, or even lure her pursuers inside to face perils far worse than Cainites. System: The Cainite must cut herself and expend at least one blood point. On a failure, nothing happens; a botch leads the Cainite to the nearest location bearing True Faith, regardless of distance. The ritual enables the blade to cut through armor as if it were immaterial, and inflict wounds impossible for mortals to heal.


Each success results in the weapon remaining imbued for a night. Once the power runs out, the weapon corrodes and becomes useless. The ritual can be enacted more than once on the same weapon, prior to corrosion. Failure leads to no result; a botch causes the weapon to corrode immediately, and prevents the ritual from being incanted again that night.


Among the smallest creatures in the Abyss, windows of darkness give up these tumorous parasites. Many a foe has fallen to torpor without even knowing she bore a Bezoar clamped to her dried-out heart. System: The Abyss Mystic must have access to an Oubliette, or stand in a lake during the new moon, and cut off a finger to produce a blood point. An Infantile Bezoar heads for the vitae, and attempts to enter the Abyss Mystic, unless she is prepared with an existing bowl of separate blood.


The Bezoar will remain in the bowl for a night as it drinks its fill, during which time the Mystic can exit the Oubliette — if she knows the way out — carrying the bowl and the feeding parasite. The Bezoar will continue to feed until dawn, at which point it will travel to the nearest sleeping Cainite and crawl inside its mouth to avoid the daytime. It dissolves into a puddle of shadow after exiting its victim. You know this is possible.


Sincerely, Vronique dOrlans. Mister Jonathan Crowley, I know you watch our kind. My friend Anatole spoke of you, and told me where I could connect with you. I need to make this connection, and I hope you understand the gravity of why. My family faces eradication. Further, my race faces eradication. My family, my kind, we know. We find, interpret, and we teach the secrets of the world when we can. Unfortunately, weve been painted as devils, and each night, we grow fewer in number. Worse, we see the end; and like Cassandra, none will hear our tale.


Some of our number no longer sup on the fruit of the living. While this appears an interesting blessing, and perhaps a new stage in our very identity, its a sign of our ultimate downfall.


Its the first rung in a ladder down to a thousand hells, a ladder which we cannot climb back up. I need to tell this story, these portents, to one not of our blood, but one not necessarily mortal. You travel. You observe. You bear wisdom. You speak for a legacy thousands of years old. Youre a candidate for this burden. From me, youll learn more of my kind in a night than youve learned in a decades research.


I will be as unto an open book. If youll listen, Ill be open with you. You know my kind enough to know how rare this opportunity is. Im not afraid of you. Take this story to your kind. I am a woman who has lost everything. I cannot lose any more.


My kind is doomed; theres nothing you can do with this tale to make our situation worse. But, maybe, just maybe, you can carry our story forward. If we cannot have immortality in the blood, perhaps we can have immortality as a tale, as a piece of wisdom to carry on. He says you speak with the wisdom and free fickleness of a fox.


That, I appreciate. I grow curious of what I may learn from you, if only from reverse observations. I want you to hear our tale. I want you to protect our tale.


I want you to share our tale. You are not of our blood, and thus, you may be able to preserve this message. If you can find out how to connect back with me, to find me, I will tell you my tale. Great tidings, Teagan Watcher of Zao-Lat. Verdiana, Forget your name. Forget your family. For I will, and I wish to. The pilgrims march soon through your lands.


Well fake your death. Your second death, as you faked your first in Tuscany. Youre not established in Regensburg yet. Walk away from it all. Here is my offer.


Come to me. To the Courts of Love. Well repeat our moment together, a million times over. Ill take you as my childe. I have the necessary blessing. To the world, youd be but a clever Tuscan girl I took a fancy to. To the world, youd be Toreador no serpent, no disciple of Echidna. The night grows short on the followers of Set. As our courts grow in power, I hear rumors that well soon be eradicating problem elements, low clans.


Weve watched the Salubri fall. Other clans will follow in this race for purity. My sire tells me that perhaps only six or seven clans are safe in the long term. I dont begrudge you your faith, if that still drives you. You can practice in the shadows, the way your clan has for aeons.


These pilgrims, they are the second in a series of signs. The first came just over a decade ago, when the sun was consumed by night. The third has the Clan of Death birthing their own de- struction. We know not how long that will take. Then we see a serpent beheaded. I wish not for that serpent to be you. Consider my proposal. Even if you do not, please write. Each night, I worry your time has come and I was so very far away as to be ignorant of it. I hope you understand the lack of proper formalities, and for having it appear on your person, invading your privacy.


Youve warned us that the Ruthven Tzimisce line shall attack soon. You said you saw their troops gather. We will win or lose this coming battle on your strength.


Here is what you are to do: Draw or procure a tactical map of the path between the place where the enemy musters and Ceoris. Highlight natural vantage points for our combat sorcerers. Highlight large clay deposits for quick gargoyle creation. Show advantageous spots for landslides and natural disasters we might influence. I also need the best inventory you can provide.


You said they bring great forces. My best informant tells me one of their soldiers fled the Bloodless Crusade, and feeds not on the blood of the living. If you can verify this, we need to understand this phenomenon, since it could transform our entire operation at Ceoris. My informant called this one Umbri. I dont know if thats a constant name, or simply an alias for the crusaders.


Any advice you have will be taken to heart. Understand that this is your chance, Initiate. Demonstrate greatness. Let us show the world that our place in this world of Cainites is destined and immutable. I can only presume their attack will occur before the next moon. Alacrity is the utmost virtue in this en- deavor. Place your report in the container in which you found this letter to deliver it to me.


To the one called Leinad Carter, I have been invited on a great pilgrimage, and with permission, I seek to invite you to London, and immediately. I believe you need this opportunity, that it could change your existence forever. My group, my fellow pilgrims, we have gone a month without blood.


I cannot explain this in more certain terms: We have not fed, nor have we wanted for feeding. Weve wanted only for the pilgrimage. My fellows believe this is our one true chance for redemption. I know of your plight, of your wife-to-be. I understand the tragedy of your story; I un- derstand the devastation it must have caused.


I want to see you helped. I see you as a beacon. I see you as hope. I dont speak for my sire, Jrgen von Verden, but I know he has hope for greater things. As his adherence to the Via Regalis falters, I wish to help catch him.


I need something. I need a net. I dont think I can find it alone. Each night, I hear more and more rumors that Hardestadt looks to see him destroyed. I owe him. Walk with me, please. Help me find this net. I know you share my hope for better things. Be my walking companion. My talking companion. Help me to sort this out and make something of it. Help me to bring it to the world. When you come to London, and I am confident you will, walk the riverside.


Ill look each night when the moon is at its apex. Understand that we may never have this chance again. Everythings changing. You can be part of that. In hope, Magda. I reach out to another of Tzimisce blood. I reach out for aid, for philosophy, and to teach and learn with the clan.


You see, I have witnessed or to be blunt, experienced something reminiscent of the phenomenon weve been calling The Bloodless Crusade. Its over now, but I took extensive notes, and conducted extensive experiments. Unfortunately, thus far my experiments have granted me no conclusions.


And thus, I am calling a summit of sorts, a convocation of experts willing to put forth the rigor necessary to under- stand this oddity of the blood. If you are so inclined, this shall be a month-long summit, held in a months time. I understand the problems with urgency; however, time may be of the essence if we wish to grasp whatever was lost.


I will be providing sustenance, and fulfilling any other needs. Come alone, or come with assistants if you must; mortal food needs will be of no consequence. I advise you bring texts and other research materials; Ive yet to fully settle in my new home in these Balkans. My library is not what it could be, as the fires of crusade devas- tated it but decades ago. I rebuild, but not as rapidly as Id like. Bring your Boy if youd like.


Bring Theresa and Tara, they will be accommodated. I anticipate answers, as should you. Existence without vitae? Imagine, if you will, what advancements we could make with that additional time, without that over- whelming drive pressing our every action.


For many of us, this means centuries locked away, working toward our true passions. I dont speak to others priorities, but I can nary imagine a Cainite this could not benefit. We stand on the precipice of greatness.


Even outside the scope of best-cases, simply understanding our condition on a greater level is a boon. Your mind is valued. Bring it. When tomorrow comes, let us stand at the forefront.


Unlike many of the Cainites, we seem rather relaxed. Were redoubling our efforts, and work to erode whats left of the Dream. From a political standpoint, though, we work to distance ourselves from the filth called Baali.


Forces work to weave us with them; as Beshter fell at the hands of the Baali, were associated in our opposition to his utopia. We speak to the public, attempting to wash our image clean. We need them to understand that our opposition to the Dream was separate from the Baali claim for power.


I believe our best course of action is to phrase this as an inevitability that we are working toward. Constancia, one of the Cappadocian prophets, spoke of the Dream, and stated that it falls hard. In this narrative, we can act as agents of inevitability, of fate. This not only absolves us of some responsibility, but it helps us to find a place in their mythology.


Their mythology seems to have no good answers for the Cainites who travel from city to city without blood. Some say its the work of an angel. Some blame the spirits who commune with the Lupines.


I take it for weakness. I blame these thin bloods. These Cainites deny Set, and grow further and further from the blood. Their very fangs come from serpents, but they call us heretical? The Cainites do not trust those they call Laibon. They do not trust anyone who balks at their Abrahamic mythology. Like it or not, I do believe we must use that my- thology if were to progress.


In their stories, serpents play maleficent roles. I think we can embrace this though, if were willing to accept that part in their society. Right now, we dont need a war. But we can present ourselves as an undesirable necessity, and that will at least make us look like actors in the script, instead of outsiders. This will help bring us in. I have news about Nicaea, and in particular about Anna Comnena. I dont want to be too specific, but Bishop Alfonzo of Venice shall be making moves soon.


If you have aims toward Comnena, I can assist. I must admit, I know you have aims toward Comnena. Alfonzo will not simply work with our kind, but I have a favor owed that I can call in. Speak to me in the old ways if you wish to work with me on this. While Lasombra of all creeds exhibit adeptness with gifts. Abyss Mysticism of darkness, the Mystics take their powers a step further.


It is a path few Lasombra wish to take. The Abyss a plane of absolute oblivion and nothingness occupies a part of every Mere amateurs harness the Abyss without. True demigods Magister. It is the curse passed down from their founder, who in exploit the Abyss within. Lasombra Boukephos are at home in pitch black, but in a rare act of benevolence,. T hose who spar with Magisters may expect honor and grace, but they receive neither.


Lasombra demolish their enemies with no quarter given or mercy shown. Such is their reputation even the most callous sires urge their childer to keep the Abyss at arms length. They advise childer of the clans tradition: Use the Abyss, but beware, as it attempts to use you. The childer who for terror on the battlefield and manipulation of the court, ignore such convention find themselves pulled by the desire to and they must maintain it.


Their arts of shadow manipulation research, be used by, and succumb to the dark. Abyss foes with fear. Yet, even those who face Lasombra in war, duels Mysticism ensures no vampire may find sanctuary in the of words, or as victims at the ends of their writhing, twilight shadows. There exist Magisters who study the darkness. They spend nights staring into the starlit sea, gazing at a pitch- The Oubliettes black sky, or examining the shadowed corners of a tomb.


Let it enter you. Let it use you. Make love to the dark! To the unenlightened, these Lasombra may be mistaken for Common chant from the Mystics dungeons Toreador captivated by some dark beauty. The Lasombra Within the courts of Clan Lasombra, Abyss Mystics know differently; these Abyss Mystics are searching the occupy roles as seers, counselors, spies, and secret weapons dark for secrets, slaves, and gods worthy of their worship.


The Mystics speak to the blackness, and hear its many voices in Mystics come in many stripes, with the only unifying feature response.


They make offerings to entropy, and in return gain being an impossible lust for secrets, and willingness to do powers to bewilder, horrify, and destroy. Within the Oubliettes, claustrophobia becomes a tangible enemy for those unlucky enough to be there against B ackgrounds are generally bought at character cre- ation or developed during the course of a chronicle. A vampire embarking on a mission to build himself an their wills. Some Oubliettes are one-room cells, with walls so tight the inhabitant must remain standing.


Others are Oubliette, acquire Resources, or recruit Allies is bound squat cages, rendering the inmate impossible to do anything to lead to interesting interactions and challenges. The Abyss Mystics favored Oubliettes are with experience points. Each of these Oubliettes no matter the Backgrounds are purchasable for an experience cost of size, shape, or scale is unlit. The inhabitants must become three points per level of Background. As always, con- one with the darkness, or be crushed by its dominance.


If a vampire let loose in an Oubliette shows tenacity, or embraces the lack of light, points while within the dark. Failure reduces the current Mystics will offer the Cainite their respect and an oppor- Willpower by two points, inducing a Derangement in the tunity to study the dark a little closer. Few survive with vampire once the rating reaches zero. Willpower then resets, their sanity intact. Those who endure the rite of passage and the procedure begins again until the vampires extract- open themselves to Abyss Mysticism.


A rare few even hail ed or discovers an exit. Vampires who enter the Oubliette from other clans and bloodlines. Its not so Sin, lose one Willpower point per night. Not all possesses the Darksight Merit. Entities summoned with Lasombra appreciate the Mystics influence within their Obtenebration or Abyss Mysticism within the Oubliette clan.


Those feeling particularly chafed spread tales of the remain permanently, and cannot be dismissed unless they, Oubliette rites being bastardized from those enforced by a or their summoners, are destroyed. Mystics Any Cainite who braves and survives 20 consecutive react poorly to accusations of connection to that group, but nights within the Oubliette and doesnt succumb to torpor their knowledge of the sect is telling.


New Background: Oubliette The greater the Oubliette Background rating, the greater Vampires who possess at least three dots in Obtene- the volume of the underground structure that is filled with bration and one Abyss Mysticism ritual can construct an foul darkness.


Points in Oubliette are bought at character Oubliette within a subterranean structure. The darkness creation, or earned through roleplay. This Intelligence is not recoverable. Single-room chamber Nightmarish visions constantly beset vampires within the Dungeon containing up to five rooms Oubliette, often leading to the swift arrival of Derangements. The player of any vampire immersed in an Oubliette must Multi-level structure, containing up to 15 rooms roll against the characters current Willpower each night; Labyrinthine complex, containing multiple the character may not recover any temporary Willpower structures.


According to some Abyss Mystics, Notes: Blatherskites commonly have a reserve of five blood points. Shapes warp in the darkness of Obtenebration, objects gain life, angles possess motion, and Infantile Bezoar creatures not supposed to exist in our world manifest. After a certain point, the inmate of the Oubliette believes light has Abyss Mystics claim, the Abyss exists within those who returned to her eyes, and she looks upon a nightmare-land enter it.


Theyre not just being poetic. An infantile bezoar populated by monstrous denizens, humanoid tricksters, and is a living growth that occasions to manifest on the insides sucking vortices.


This vision may be illusory, as Darksight of any entity who consumes food or liquid in the Abyss. The bezoar starts insignificantly enough; a vampire foolish A chronicle set in the darkness of an Oubliette will be a enough to drink from one of the rancid pools of blood or harrowing experience filled with nightmarish entities, riddles, pillars of obsidian flesh stacked high in the Abyss may notice tricks, and a fight for survival.


The rewards are great the a tiny weight on her heart as the tumor grows. As each night danger more so. Impossible alien structures exist within the passes, the bezoar gets larger. It continues to grow until it Oubliette, along with creatures never seen in the world above. Mysticism rich in sunken sepulchers and bloody mires. Few Abyss Mystics have studied the bezoar in attempts to native inhabitants of the Abyss are by nature charitable, find out what happens after it escapes its host, but are still but some will consort and converse with Cainites within to discover its adult form.


Vampires in the know are sure to the Oubliette, providing they have something to gain from carve Bezoars from their hearts before succumbing to torpor. Attributes: Strength 4, Dexterity 1, Stamina 3, Charisma 1, Manipulation 0, Appearance 0, Blatherskite Perception 3, Intelligence 2, Wits 3 An entity comprised entirely of limbs, dragging lengthy Abilities: Alertness 3, Athletics 1, Awareness 2, fingers and toes along the ground in its wake: the blatherskite Brawl 1, Intimidation 2, Subterfuge 1, Stealth 4, is no creature born of human gods.


This whip-thin entity has Survival 4, Occult 3 no torso or head, instead bearing a trunk made of tangled Disciplines: Fortitude 3, Obtenebration 2, shadows and a flailing array of arms and digits from stumps Potence 1 all around its body. Willpower: 3 The blatherskite communicates only in chirrups and belches, the origins of which are unknown, as it appears to Health: 4 possess no orifices.


The noises it produces increase in fre- Notes: An infantile bezoar drains and immedi- quency and volume the closer the blatherskite gets to any ately expends one blood point on the first night it creature bearing blood. When in close proximity, it lashes attaches to a host, and a cumulative blood point for every night thereafter.


It can drain a maximum out fiercely with its many appendages, attempting to choke of six blood points in one night; thus achieving and strangle its victim.