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King Snorlax
- Posts:
- 396
- Group:
- Roleplay Titans
- Member
- #3
- Joined:
- Nov 1, 2013
- Habboon Username:
- Bowser
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| Animalism |
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A vampire’s Beast is not just a facet of their predatory nature, but a predator in and of itself — and it’s at the top of the food chain. A vampire can slip the leash of their Beast just a little to overpower weaker animals, forcing their will on them. Most Animalism powers affect predators and scavenging animals. In a city, the Kindred can call on feral cats and dogs, pigeons and crows, foxes, and more rats than anyone wants to think about. Rural vampires can summon bats, wolves, mountain lions, and even bears — any animal that feasts on the flesh of another.
Official Abilities
Standard Abilities
- Level One - Feral Whispers: To those they would command, a vampire must first make themselves understood. So it is with beasts as well as men. A vampire using Feral Whispers overpowers the animal’s instinctive reactions and forces it to understand. They can ask questions of a creature and it must respond as best it can, and with a further slight nudge, they can compel it to obey them. A canny vampire can use magpies and crows to spy on their victims from above, or command a gangster’s mastiffs to savage their owner.
The vampire can communicate with an animal, asking it what it has perceived. Most animals can remember what has happened over the last night. Animals relate what they have encountered through the lens of their own perceptions — dogs answer in terms of smell and hearing, while birds relate what they could see. The vampire can also give the victim a simple command, equivalent to what the animal could do on its own, such as “attack him,” “follow her then return here,” “chew through these cables.” The command doesn’t normally persist for more than a night, but the vampire can add simple contingencies such as forcing the beast to go to ground if noticed, or to return once the command is complete.
- Level Two - Raise the Familiar: True beasts cannot be Embraced. They have never had the necessary Humanity. With this power, though, the vampire can complete the process halfway. By feeding a drained animal some of their Vitae, a vampire can infuse it with a fragment of the Kindred’s twilight life. It looks as it did when it died, though if appropriate, it might gain retractable fangs like a vampire. But the fangs are a lie — its true tragedy is that it cannot transubstantiate blood into Vitae. If it was wounded in death, it retains signs of the injuries, but its body functions fully. A coyote crushed by an SUV has a tire track running across it but no crushed bones, and a crow with a busted wing has bone jutting out of the wound but can still fly. It doesn’t act like a normal animal — it doesn’t hunt for food, nor is it spooked by loud noises. It sleeps throughout the day, but becomes active at night. A human observing such an animal might be able to tell something’s wrong, but only the most grievous wounds usually make them take the time to look.
The vampire feeds Vitae to the animal’s corpse. The animal returns to a semblance of life for a number of nights. Once they have raised a beast, a vampire can feed it more Vitae; which ensures the animal’s continued existence as though the vampire had just raised it. The raised creature gains a semblance of intelligence and a certain low cunning, enough to follow complex orders that most animals could not understand, and to interpret the spirit of commands rather than the letter. Infused with Vitae, the familiar takes damage from attacks like a vampire, and does not fall unconscious or bleed out. The animal does not decompose. The Vitae burning within the animal’s dead veins forges a sympathetic link between it and the vampire. The vampire can use Feral Whispers on their familiar at any time, over any distance, communicating silently or issuing commands at any range. Though they must still see if their familiar interpreted their command, the animal does not resist.
- Level Three - Summon the Hunt: The vampire infuses some of her Vitae with the essence of her prey, making it irresistible to other predators and scavenging beasts. Wherever she spills her blood — on the ground, over an object, or even splashing it on another person — the animals she calls will try to consume it. Her blood only loses potency once the summoned animals destroy whatever she poured it over or once the sun rises, at which point the Vitae burns away as though it were never present. She can focus her Beast’s call on one kind of creature, for example summoning just birds or rats. Prey animals in the affected area rightly shy away, afraid of the power of a vampire’s Beast.
The vampire chooses when spilling the Vitae whether to summon all predators and scavengers, or whether to restrict herself to one kind of animal. All animals that match her request within two city blocks in the city, or 100 yards in the country respond to her call. Once they taste the spilled Vitae, the vampire can imprint a command as though she had used Feral Whispers on the animal. All animals receive the same command, but it persists even while the vampire slumbers; the animals follow her command for one night.
- Level Four - Feral Infection: The vampire floods the area with her predatory aura, infecting everything around her with the ravings of her Beast. The scent of her blood inspires rage in animals, and can drive men mad, especially those who have recently touched her blood. Other Kindred witnessing the effects of Feral Infection recognize the Beast unchained, likening the victims’ actions to their own moments of frenzy. The vampire using this Discipline can exert a measure of control over her victims’ madness, focusing her own Beast against some victim she wants to crush, or a goal she wants to conquer.
Any animal that can smell the vampire’s blood enters a state of feral rage. It lashes out, attacking the nearest victim without a thought for its own safety. Once the victim is unconscious or dead, the animal feeds on his flesh. If the vampire wishes, she can direct the mob of frenzied creatures towards a single target or goal. She can’t give complex instructions or a direct command, but can point out targets to attack or the direction to move in. Supernatural creatures must be above the blood potency ( or equiv. ) of the Vampire to resist the vampire’s predatory Aura. If the victim has touched or imbibed the vampire’s blood within the last night, they immediately fall under the vampire’s command, Humans are unable to resist and follow suit with the supernatural creatures around them. Vampires and werewolves frenzy, their victims dictated by the Kindred who provoked them. Humans and other supernatural creatures fall into an atavistic state where they must attack the target, or move towards it if they can’t reach it. If the vampire does not set a command, her victims turn upon one another. A supernatural creature of the same blood potency ( or equiv.) can attempt to ignore the vampire’s commands, though she remains frenzied.
- Level Five - Lord of the Land: The vampire marks her territory with Vitae, in much the same way that animals use urine or feces. She must encircle her territory in a ring of Vitae, claiming it as her own — assuming she has driven off any prior residents. When encircling the territory, she must walk the whole border. Some Kindred open wounds on their hands and arms and walk at a stately pace, dripping a slow stream of thick blood behind them. Others run wild, smearing blood and bodily fluids on surfaces like a feral beast. Once she has established her territory, the vampire is privy to everything that happens within it. She can command animals, summon or banish people, and provoke other vampires to leave her lair. Most vampires establish their territory in small places, like a brownstone or small public garden. A powerful vampire might claim a whole public park or castle, but he must make sure that nothing interrupts his claim — more than one vampire has discovered that his territory is already claimed by an angry pack of werewolves halfway through claiming it.
The vampire must walk a circuit around his new territory while marking it with Vitae. A blood potency of three is enough to secure a small house or garden, six can secure a city block, while nine is enough to claim a castle. She must make sure that the area contains no other vampires; many Kindred prefer to evict all supernatural denizens. While the Discipline will still function if her territory contains werewolves or other monsters, they will suffer the effects — and will deduce that the vampire is to blame. The vampire marks her territory. It remains empowered for at least one week per point of Blood Potency, though the effects of this Discipline only end when the vampire leaves her territory after the duration. Rumors speak of ancient vampires lying in torpor whose territories remain active to this day. A vampire’s territory scares off most creatures. Animals and wild beasts won’t enter, and will fight to escape if forced inside, unless otherwise affected by the vampire’s powers. Humans and supernatural creatures, including other vampires, have to fight with their willpower to stay in the area once it is created, those of a lesser blood potency often flee, those that do manage to stay are struck with the feeling of overwhelming dread which influences all their actions. For Kindred, simply being in another vampire’s territory is provocation to frenzy. If a vampire explicitly invites someone into his territory — or uses Feral Whispers or Summon the Hunt in the case of animals — they do not suffer these penalties. Ghoul animals are also exempt. When the vampire is within her territory, she can feel when a person or animal crosses into her territory; if an invader is a vampire, she knows his general Blood Potency. She always has a rough idea of where everyone is within her domain, and only supernatural means such as Disciplines can cut through her awareness — triggering a clash of willpower. As the undisputed master of her territory, a frenzying creature cannot attack the vampire, nor may they attempt to resist her commands delivered through Feral Infection. Any commands given by Feral Whispers last indefinitely, or until the animal leaves the vampire’s territory. Finally, the vampire can snatch the senses of any animal she has raised with Raise the Familiar within her territory, and use that animal to deliver commands using Feral Whispers to other creatures.
If you wish to know more about Animalism, please click here to visit White Wolf Wikia. |
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