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Beast: The Primordial

2019-09-15T23:51:10Z

2601:843:C202:F33C:3011:1348:AB18:A10B:

{{Game Infobox
|name = Beast: The Primordial
|picture = [[File:Beast_the_Primordial.png|200px]]
|type = [[RPG]]
|publisher = [[White Wolf]] / Onyx Path
|system = [[Storytelling System]]
|authors = Matt McFarland
|year = 2016
}}
{{Fail}}
{{WoD-stub}}

'''Beast: The Primordal''' is one of the newer games to come out for the New [[World of Darkness]], and probably the one most scorned on [[/tg/]]. You are a Beast, a living embodiment of humanity's deepest and darkest fears, driven by an inescapable need to sate your Hunger, a manifestation of fear. You may be driven by the urge to Ruin or Dominate, but you cannot help but Feed. Of course, where a Beast lurks, Heroes inevitably arise, driven to slay the Thing lurking in the Dark...

Sounds awesome, right? A chance to both completely blow off the supernatural wangst that bedevils almost all of the other WoD lines (except [[Geist: The Sin-Eaters]] and maybe [[Demon: The Descent]]) and revel in being the bad guy you truly are: what could possibly wreck that idea?

Then the preview edition came out, and the problems began to show themselves.

For a start, you don't get ''any'' shapeshifting powers at all. That's right, you have a "Beast's soul", but not a Beast's '''body''' - even your Atavisms are ''completely invisible'' to normalfags, even when you're squeezing through a too-tight space, ripping them apart with claws or breathing fire (unless you decided to drop your Lair (the fancy domain thing that is tied to you) on top of their asses. Though, if that happens, subtlety has gone right out the window). This fact alone got /tg/ mocking the game as appealing to Otherkin: one of the mercifully rare, but not non-existent, branches of nutjob that heavily overlaps with the [[furry]] fandom, except that even ''other furries'' think they're out of their minds. It would have been bad enough, but coming in the wake of [[Demon: The Descent]], which gave excellent modular rules for building a demonic form, fans were expecting a similar level of cool shapeshifting powers in a game that was advertised as "be the beast that haunts humanity's soul".

Next, though the intended flavor of the game was "screw the Heroes, they're really nothing but nutjobs who think they're the Good Guys and insist you're the Bad Guys", the writing of it came off as so sneering and condescending that not only did hordes of people start defending the Heroes (no thanks to that screwy "if you Critical Fail on your Rampage check, you spawn a Hero" rule), but /tg/ began writing Beasts off as otherkin fodder. The "special people with the souls of mythical creatures, picked on and bullied by the normies who just don't understand" (with the latter part going so far as to equate them with persecuted minority groups): that's what /tg/ saw and derided, in a repeat of [[Changeling: The Dreaming]], mixed with an alarming amount of juvenile revenge fantasies. It didn't help that the author openly mocked the people who argued in favor of making Heroes less unsympathetic.

But, in a surprising show of self-awareness, Onyx Path actually took the time to respond to the criticisms and began an immediate rewrite of the book to address them, rewriting large portions of the book to be relatively more neutral in tone, though in many cases these rewrites either failed to address the original issues or were exactly the same as the original. And in at least a few cases, "optional interpretations" trying to shoehorn in the original depiction of Beasts were added in an attempt to circumvent the rewrite.

In some cases, the rewrite actually made the issues with Beast '''worse''' by attempting to give the Beasts the moral high ground. "They're merely teaching people important lessons through fear, honestly!" is a common refrain through the book, because apparently the only way for someone to become wise is to be constantly scared shitless by nightmare monsters. That that's almost the exact same justification the [[Night Lords]] used, it didn't give them the moral high ground either. And Jigsaw, of the iconic Saw franchise - which looks like one of the foremost Beast's inspirations - may be liked by many a maniac admirers but hardly anyone sane argues him not a villain.

The methods of dealing with Hunger suggested by the book ranged from the ludicrously petty to the outright murderous, and the addition of the "Family Dinner" mechanic in which a Beast could sate its hunger just by watching another supernatural being hunt or feed made the double-edged sword that Hunger could have been completely irrelevant.

Combined with openly dismissing all non-asshole Heroes as too boring to be of interest (despite sympathetic villains being a good thing), compelling all other supernaturals (except Demons for some reason) to be friendly towards Beasts despite several in-character reasons for them to oppose each other, and generally trivializing any harm a Beast might cause to others in fulfilling its Hunger, /tg/ has quickly come to the conclusion that it is by far the worst of the Chronicles of Darkness books.

There are supplement rules released such as the "antagonists" book that features such wonderful ideas as a giant snakeman who totally sunk the Titanic, a "scary" unattractive gamer girl/Internet troll named "Null Snyper," and The Blind Man, who must be read about to be believed:

<blockquote>''"The Blind Man's blotted clothing is as result of a thick trail of what resemble fish eggs progressively leaking from his navel, urethra, and anus. Particularly around his navel area, a coagulated mass of pink and black eggs comes forth when the Blind Man strains his abdominal muscles. Horrifyingly, the Blind Man has from time to time passed these eggs off as salmon roe or sturgeon caviar, as they bear a sour, fishy odor. Those who consume his “produce” have their fertility dramatically increased, and gradually produce their own eggs in a similar fashion to the Blind Man, the only difference being that mortal-produced eggs possess a coat of thin white fur. This invariably drives the afflicted unfortunates insane, as they cannot stop the egg production, resulting in self-destructive harm. The Blind Man believes that by participating in the birthing, they increase the speed at which the Primogenitor will be reborn."'' --Night Horrors: Conquering Heroes</blockquote>

Yes, it's basically saying that he pisses, shits, and cums fish eggs, and tricks people into eating them so they also piss, shit, and cum fish eggs. Truly a creation even [[/d/]] would be hard-pressed to appreciate.

Later on, it was discovered that author Matt McFarland was accused of sexually assaulting a teenage girl and was quietly let go from Onyx Path. Following further accusations of sexual harassment in 2019 involving the abuse of his position as a senior writer, Onyx Path stripped McFarland of his remaining assignments with them and publically condemned his actions.

When you look at all the above stuff about Beasts being entitled to indulging their Hungers and that they're actually doing their victims a favor in the light of said accusation...well, it starts sounding an awful lot like the sort of thing a [[FATAL|registered sex offender]] would say in an attempt to justify his actions.

==Family==
To condense down what each family group of beast "souls" are, there are seven different families of monsters (which again are each an abstract conceptual basis to come up with your own style of monsters). Each beast is the nightmare manifested, a primal fear given shape, and the Beast is always the first inflicted upon by this nightmare, and are no longer troubled by it.
These families are then mixed with seven hungers to help build your own monster.

===[[FATAL|Anakim]]===
[[Giant]]s, [[ogre]]s, and the powerful [[primordials]] of an earthy disposition. The fear that makes up your soul is the fear of powerlessness. Something that you will likely never allow to happen to you again. These are not your BFG friends, because even the nicest ones feed on the fear of powerlessness and dominate their opponents. As for their powers, expect strength, presence and for a fight in their lairs to become a titanic struggle. Like [[Anime|Attack on Titan]] where you're the Titan and your enemy forgot their jet pack and cables.

===Eshmaki===
Lurkers, dwellers in the dark places, and sometimes capable of breathing fire or shredding opponents. Eshmaki are the beasts of the fear of darkness and the things that go bump in the night. Because they have conquered their fear, they never feel alone, though they might be. Did I mention you can be a [[dragon]] with this? Maybe one day you can use your incarnate powers to rule the world as force of change... Or just make a really, really good thief and/or killer. After all, what's to stop a dragon except a [[knight]]? And knights are just more tinned food.

===Inguma===
Nightmares of the Other. The youngest Family, "only" dating back to the dawn of civilization and the xenophobia it fostered. This is where you find stuff like [[Doppelganger]]s, the Pod People, The Thing (from the John Carpenter film), and various other monsters that can be called almost but not quite human. Ironically, they're the most humanlike of the Families despite their schtick of being the perpeutal outsiders.

===Makara===
For those wanting to say they are the Kraken, Leviathan, or any other sea monster. The Makara are the beasts of the fear of the depths. At its simplest this translates to a fear of drowning, but can easily be extrapolated further into overwhelming knowledge or circumstance. They tend to have the more lethal kinds of lairs. Drop one into reality and watch the world face a natural disaster level threat.

===Namtaru===
Those that believe in beauty being skin deep might have been referring to these things. Probably before being horribly fossilised. Namtaru are the fear of revulsion, and have Gorgons, insectoid terrors, and various other fuck-ugly things in their background. They can inflict a single condition once per scene, but they also are potentially some of the easiest people to hide evidence. After all, a statue can't expose you if you're simply a talented stone carver.

===Talassii===
Nightmares of Confinement. They embody fears of being kidnapped, imprisoned, and otherwise held against one's will. After an especially unwise brood attempted to re-enact the Rape of the Sabine Women on a band of Heroes, the entire Family got saddled with an Anathema which causes them to be followed with an air of menace that makes people think any Captor they encounter is "out to get them". Naturally, they try to avoid brutalizing or raping their "prisoners" now. Most of the time, anyway. Don't really end up mapping easily to a popular monster archetype like the others, so they mostly end up being giant spiders. Could probably work folks wanting to be Jigsaw or Leatherface-style slashers.

===Ugallu===
Monsters of the air that represent everything from harpies to dragons (again), to great birds like the majestic [[Phoenix]] or Roc. They are the fear of exposure, and too few people ever look up. Flight is something that falls among the realms of ease for these creatures. What's terrifying is their birthright ability to breach through facades. That means no glamour or special obfuscation can escape these eyes. It only inflicts a condition, but sometimes that's all it takes.

==Hunger==
Your Beast's Hunger is what defines the kind of dark monstrous things you need to do to keep your Horror happy and full. There is always the feeding on flesh and blood but sometimes a beast can satisfy their craving in other ways. Feeding your Beast is what gives you power, and how full your beast is is the satiety stat. High satiety gives you a lot of power to fuel your awesome abilities like unleashing your dragon breath or using your titanic strength to kick a vampire through a skyscraper, and also passively enhances your Nightmares. However, high satiety has risks attached. Your soul could become gluttonous or picky, refusing to feed on anything other than rare and high quality heists or stimulations. A collector might not be satisfied until you have Fort Knox gold, for example. At maximum Satiety, the Horror goes into a food coma, leaving the mortal body kind of helpless in the mortal world (and since it takes some pretty heinous shit to reach that point, the now-mortal Beast will have a lot of enemies waiting to take advantage of his weakness).

By contrast, not feeding your beast enough means your Horror rampages through the dreamscape more often. At its minimum, you take lethal damage every day you don't feed and your Horror starts attacking the same dreams more than once. This leads to Heroes showing up and cause extreme problems, especially since you're probably not equipped to deal with the murderous glory hounds after the kill of their lives- but on the other hand it makes your Atavisms stronger, among other stuff. Walking the middle road between keeping your beast from rampaging and not having it become a glutton is manageable, but also has risks of its own. You gain none of the benefits for being at either extreme, and Heroes will find it easy to saddle you with Anathemas.

In practice, it's best to rapidly ping-pong between high and low satiety without hitting either the minimum or maximum so you gain the benefits of either extreme without needing to suffer the drawbacks for long.

There are seven Hungers. When combined with the seven families this creates 49 types of Beasts, so even Beasts of the same Family can be widely different (but in practice, several Hungers and Families overlap with each other or aren't well-defined enough to be distinguishable). These Hungers are:

===Collectors===
The Hunger [[Warcraft|for the Hoard]]. Simply put, the Collectors like to obtain all sorts of stuff. Not because of what it's worth to them, but for what it's worth to others. Anakim Collectors prefer trophies that show off their own strength such as things taken from Heroes or mementos from worthy enemies, Eshmaki Collectors like to terrify the owner before taking things, Makara Collectors prefer ancient relics for their worth and to learn more about the world, Namtaru Collectors collect what seem to be items of great beauty, but look too close and the horror sets in like the stench, insects everywhere or the ground being filthy; other Natamu like to vandalize valuable things. Ugallu Collectors are dragons. Or at least close to them: they look down at the world looking for something they like, mainly hidden objects. If they find something like that they swoop down, grab it and fly up to their out-of-reach lairs.

===Enablers===
Hunger for Transgression. The tempters to the Nemeses' punishers, they push people to break their own moral codes, then gain Satiety when the transgressor feels guilty or ashamed about giving into their vices. They can't take the easy way out of using mind control though, the victim has to make the choice to transgress of their own will.

===Nemeses===
The Hunger for Punishment. The boogeymen of the Beasts, delivering retribution upon transgressors big and small. Anakim Nemeses solve violence with more violence, going after violent criminals and serving the dish best served cold. Eshmaki Nemeses work by reminding the perpetrator of a crime long forgotten of what they did, stalk them and drive the criminal to paranoia by (reasonably) making them think that there's a monster out to get them. Makara Nemeses protect certain places. Those who break these codes (transgressing somewhere where they shouldn't or killing animals somewhere) will face the wrath of such a Beast, but because of the nature of their Hunger these Beasts will require support from broodmates to help them feed regularly. Namtaru Nemeses tend to be scorned, and repay those who pick on those like them. Bullies, abusive spouses and other cruelty coming from hate will face one of them sooner or later. The Ugallu Nemeses punish secret crimes and other transgressions that are difficult to prove: hypocrisy, deceiving romantic partners, falsely professing belief in a religion and so on. These Beasts too like to torment their prey days or weeks before striking, making the retribution all the better.

===Predators===
The Hunger for Prey. Not as straightforward as you'd think: while some Beasts do kill their prey it's more about besting the prey than to outright eat it. Anakim Predators prefer to chase their prey down, uncaring about who sees them. Eshmaki like to hurt their prey in subtle ways: either physically or psychologically: for them it's about stalking rather than hurting. Makara Predators prefer to use traps, tricks and bait to lure others to their doom, when the prey falls for it the Beast considers it a job well done. Namtaru Predators tend to do bizarre (and often violent) things with their prey: drink blood from various cuts on their body, lap the sweat from their foreheads or leave a nasty, but not lasting, mark. Ugallu Predators prefer to plan, plot and scheme, picking their prey carefully. But when that's done the Beast strikes swiftly, brutally and efficiently.

===Ravagers===
The Hunger for Ruin. The most destructive of the Hungers, these Beasts live to destroy, pure and simple. They only go for non-living targets though, because those who target people Hunger for Prey, not Ruin. Anakim Ravagers like to smash first and think later, forcing them to live lives on the road lest they be found out quickly. Eshmaki Ravagers like to break things in the most guarded of places, ruining only their target and nothing else to prove their skill and scare people. Makara Ravagers make the damage they do look like forces of nature, reminding people they are not safe from the fury of nature. Namtaru Ravagers prefer to pollute instead of destroying. Their horror sets in the moment people think themselves to be safe only for them to realize the depth of the damage. These Beasts don't just burn the fields, they also salt the earth. Ugallu Ravagers strike suddenly and precisely, destroying what they need to feed and move on. They are like the drone strikes of the Beasts, terrifying people of the open sky.

===Tyrants===
The Hunger for Power. Tyrants want to assert their power over others, making people feel small and helpless. Anakim Tyrants like to see people be defeated, Eshmaki Tyrants relish the hunt and give their prey a sporting chance, Makara Tyrants prefer to make people feel like the malevolent forces they face are being guided by some kind of intelligence, Namtaru Tyrants scare people by being impossibly monstrous looking and Ugallu Tyrants make people feel they're being watched all the time, driving them to paranoia.

===Whispers===
Hunger for Secrets. These Beasts like nothing more than to expose or uncover the secrets that others want to keep hidden. Depending on Satiety, this can mean anything from catching a coworker who got out of work by feigning illness to exposing a vast conspiracy.

==Powers==

===Atavisms===
The powers granted by your Horror and the most conventional of powers. All Atavisms are linked to a particular Family: the core five have five each and the two new ones each have three. Any Beast can learn any Atavism, as long as it matches with their Horror's identity. Atavisms become more powerful when used in a locations that resonates with the Beast's Lair, allowing the use of a more powerful version of the Atavism by spending a point of Willpower instead of Satiety (but this can be done only once a turn). Aside from this optional effect all Atavisms have a more potent variant that is used if the Beast has low Satiety. A starting character starts with two Atavisms, one of which has to be from a Beast's own Family. It can learn all the others too: all non-Family Atavisms are simply one XP more expensive.

===Nightmares===
Nightmares invoke the fears commonly found in nightmares: "nobody likes you", "something's chasing you", "you're covered in bugs", and so on. (A notable exception is "Behold, My True Form!", in which you can scare people to death with your presence alone).

They require either eye contact or physical contact, followed by the Beast speaking a few words. Lasting for one Scene, Nightmares provide powerful negative modifiers on targets that give the Beast an edge when dealing with them. Nightmares come in three forms: the regular one, an additional effect gained if the Beast has 7 or more Satiety, and one that is activated by spending Satiety (if your Satiety drops to 6 or lower because of this you still get the high Satiety effect). Because all Nightmare rolls involve rolling a Beast's current Satiety, this means that at high Satiety you're easily looking at dice pools of 10+.

===Lairs===
Your home sweet home in the Primordial Dream, this is where your Horror "lives" when it's not out terrifying the shit out of people. Lair is also the name of your power stat: it's your supernatural tolerance trait, once you have more than five dots in Lair you can increase your traits beyond the normal maximum, etc. Lairs are composed of '''chambers''' (the dream-mirrors of places where somebody got scared so bad it left an impression on the Primordial Dream; you can open a gateway from a chamber to the place the chamber is based on to enter and and exit the Lair) and '''burrows''' (connections between chambers). The first and most important part of your Lair is the '''Heart'''. Your heart can't be used to warp to the real world as it's based on you and not a physical location, but that's a good thing on account of if somebody destroys your heart you get instakilled. From there you add chambers, connect them with burrows, and choose your '''Lair Traits''', the shit that makes your lair deadly to anyone who isn't you. Lair traits are environmental Tilts divided into minor (a raging blizzard, poor lighting, a sticky floor) and major (anyone who stays for too long becomes a pillar of salt, bottomless pits) categories; at least one of your lair traits has to be minor. If one of the tilts is already present in the real world, you can bring up to (Lair) other traits along for the ride for free. (Every WoD splat has its super-murder cheese combo, and this is the one for Beast: turn off the lights, then activate all your major traits and sit in the dark while your enemies die horribly in your magical pocket universe which kills in minutes and leaves no evidence.)

All the chambers in an area are called the '''Hive''', which is where your Horror goes when it ''is'' out scarring people for life and whatnot. Generally, the nature of the Hive is influenced by its Apex- the meanest, scariest thing in the area, which need not be a Beast or even a supernatural. Their sway over the fears of humanity creates an additional trait in every chamber connected to the Hive, but unlike other Traits you ''don't'' get free immunity to it. Depending on the trait, this can be either mildly annoying or a good reason to move your brood somewhere else.

You can cut your Lair and its Chambers off from the Hive if you like, but that means your Horror is going to keep fucking up the same people again and again, which will either attract or create a Hero to bust your ass.

===Kinship===
Beasts consider themselves to be part of an extended family originating from the being they call "The Dark Mother", and claim that all other supernatural beings are basically their distant cousins who just don't know where they ''really'' come from. The only exception is the [[Demon: The Descent|Unchained]]; not only do Beasts not claim kinship with the scions of the God-Machine, they actively hate them.

Naturally, some supernatural beings like the [[Werewolf: The Forsaken|Uratha]] and the [[Mummy: The Curse|Arisen]] who already have their own origin stories don't buy it, but even then they're not normally the type to pass up free allies. As for when they come to blows...well, Beasts know that family members can still end up in fights with one another and see nothing wrong with making such fights lethal.

In crunch terms, this means that Beasts can detect other supernatural beings, disguise themselves as other supernaturals, gain Satiety by watching said supernatural beings "feed" (the aforementioned Family Dinner mechanic that torpedoes the whole issue of managing Hungers), empower other supernaturals to make their powers work better, create new Nightmares based on their kin's abilities, and even open Primordial Pathways from their Lairs to other spiritual dimensions (e.g. the Shadow and the Hedge).

It should be noted that the True Fae, Centimani, Slashers, and other fucked-up sorts are also recognized as Kin by Beasts. That...is probably not a good sign.

===Others===
Birthrights, Obcasus Rites etc.

==Allies==

===Cults===

===Horrorspawn===

==Heroes==
The designated antagonists of Beast: The Primordial. We say "designated" because despite the game's best efforts to make them look as terrible as possible, they are actually not that evil as CoD antagonists go. Far less so than the writers intended them to be, if their statements complaining about how people weren't supposed to sympathize with them are any indication.

The basic premise is that while Beasts "dream deep", Heroes "dream wide" and skim the surface of the Primordial Dream, where they can detect the distubances caused by Beast activity. Back in ancient times, they supposedly helped Beasts teach the lessons they embodied, but because of modern cultural narratives they're only concerned with killing Beasts now.

Given that the average Beast is a shameless monster that literally feeds on terror, you might assume that this technically makes them the good guys. But since Beasts can do no wrong as far as the writers are concerned, Heroes are instead murderous sociopaths who would gladly send a thousand people to their deaths as long as they can claim the glory of killing a Beast. The very idea of Heroes not being assholes is brought up only in a sidebar, where they are dismissed as being too dull to be worth discussing.

One of the example heroes provided is basically a nerdy, selfish neckbeard with delusions of grandeur, complete with trenchcoat, trilby, and unironically referring to people as "milady". Let that set the tone for how Beast views Heroes.

Anyway, Heroes can instinctively track Beasts (an ability that the book has no crunch for, instead suggesting that the Storyteller just say it happens when the plot calls for it) and impose Anathemas in combat, which are weaknesses that the Hero "discovers" that either constrain a Beast's behavior or make them easier to hurt in some way. Stuff like the single scale Smaug was missing on his belly, or taking bonus damage from the Hero's "Chosen Blade". As a Hero kills Beasts, they get more powers like built-in armor against attacks from a Beast or placing an Anathema by denouncing a Beast as evil to the Beast's face (and since the only way to interrupt it is to physically attack the Hero, it creates ''interesting'' challenges for Beasts if there are witnesses present).

===Hero-Bashing===
Amazingly, the Heroes were portrayed as being even worse than they are in the old Kickstarter version despite their being explicitly created as the result of Beasts fucking with their dreams. They're described as having the personality of "a high school bully crossed with a rabid dog", and an entire section of their chapter is dedicated to a slang lexicon that sounds like it was invented by stereotypical frat boys. Several other chapters discussing them can similarly be boiled down to "Heroes are all evil lunatics because we say they are, never mind the fact that their only crime was being victimized by a Beast".

Between this and the Heroes' final depiction, the implications should speak for themselves.

==Inheritances==
Inheritances are the "endgame" for a Beast, the result of how they reconcile their mortal lives with their Horror's Legend, the metaphysical framework that provides context to their existence.

===Merger===
This Inheritance happens when a Beast's lair is destroyed, either intentionally by the Beast or by someone else's actions. The Horror merges with the Beast, destroying any trace of self-awareness or humanity and devolving the Beast into a monster that exists only to feed.

===Retreat===
Normally if a Beast dies, the Horror dies with it. But when a Beast dies while its Horror is slumbering, the Horror survives and continues to exist as an ephemeral being that continues to fuck with human dreams.

===Divergence===
A more obscure form of Inheritance, where the Beast deliberately starves himself nearly to death while keeping the Horror cooped up in its Lair until the Horror tries to eat him out of desperation and fury. The Beast responds in kind, and after enough time eating each other the Beast and Horror both become half dream and half flesh. They remain connected to one another to some degree, but the Beast no longer has to appease the Horror's Hunger for it. However, both halves are also somewhat less powerful for it- the Beast can't use most Atavisms, the Horror can't use most Nightmares, and both of them draw from the same pool of Satiety. More importantly, the Horror gets to manifest outside of the Primordial Dream at will, and the Beast can't control what it does. And it'll probably be pissed at the Beast for trying to starve it.

===Erasure===
Some Beasts really want to be human again, but since the Horror eats your soul when you become a Beast they need to get creative. To do this, they need both a new soul and some way to kill their Horror (most likely involving another supernatural or even a Hero). If they're successful, they become more or less human but can still use Nightmares and Birthrights. The catch? They can only regain Satiety by eating the flesh of other Beasts and can never become another type of supernatural due to pissing off the Dark Mother.

===Inversion===
Some Beasts look at themselves and realize that they hate what they've become, but don't just commit suicide or seek Divergence or Erasure. Instead, they go a step further and seek revenge against the Dark Mother directly: they travel to the Bright Dream (better known as the Temenos to mages), study their effects on the world around them until they can craft an Anathema weapon against their Horror, and use said Anathema to bring it to a state of near-death. When this happens, they lose the ability to gain or use Satiety in any way but retain most of their powers and gain the ability to place Anathemas on other Beasts. From there they quickly go on to begin hunting other Beasts in the hope of hurting the Dark Mother as much as possible before they die.

===Incarnate===
The most complex Inheritance and the one that the game pushes as the "best" one. After reaching a certain amount of Lair, an aspiring Beast must do one of the following things:
*Subvert a Hero's narrative by thoroughly destroying the Hero before he/she can even retaliate
*Become the Apex of the local Hive and visit their hunger on other Beasts
*Spawn a Legend by feeding their Horror in a spectacularly grandiose manner.

By changing their Legend into a Myth, an Incarnate gains the following powers:
*They can transform into their Horror in the physical world, gaining a bunch of stuff like extra limbs, natural armor, and so on when they do so.
*They become immune to Anathemas and can in fact de-power Heroes just by touching them.
*They can enter the Primordial Dream at will.
*They can never become Ravenous or Slumbering, though they still retain the ability to use Satiety and can gain the benefits/drawbacks of high and low Satiety.
*Their Life and Legend is replaced by a Myth. However, if they lose control of their Myth, they lose all their Incarnate powers and anybody can place Anathemas on them. Good fucking luck with that when you remember all the shit they can pull.

== Attempts to fix ==

Strangely enough, players have tried tying the splat with the "Inferno" blue book, since the splat shares a lot of terminology with said-book. This begs the weird comparison where Demon: the Descent v. Beasts is like the Demons vs Devils Blood War in D&D. Does it fix the splat? Depends on who you ask.

Another, less malefic option is that you play as a guardian protector Beast who stays his darker nature by being around those less villainous kin. This is done by abusing the shit out of the "Family Dinner" mechanic, which essentially allows a Beast to never go hungry so long as they watch kin feed, eg. Changeling's harvesting glamour, mage's doing oblations, Promethean's fucking power outlets, etc. And, to be honest, it's not a half-bad metaphor, that we are all of us more vulnerable to our darker impulses when we try going at life alone. But, when surrounded by friends who care about you, who will stick by you through thick and thin, you can become something truly indomitable.

= In short =

The ''real'' NWoD/CoD equivalent of [[Changeling: The Dreaming]], without the few redeeming values and written by a pervert who probably got beat up in school a lot.

==See Also==
*[http://projects.inklesspen.com/fatal-and-friends/kurieg/beast-the-primordial/ FATAL and Friends' scathing review, which sums up everything wrong with Beast]
*[http://projects.inklesspen.com/fatal-and-friends/kurieg/beast-night-horrors-conquering-heroes/ The review for Conquering Heroes, which brought us The Blind Man up there]

{{WoD-Games}}

Vampire: The Requiem

2019-09-15T20:36:29Z

2601:843:C202:F33C:3011:1348:AB18:A10B:

{{Game Infobox
|name = Vampire: the Requiem
|picture = [[File:VampireRequiem2eLogo.png|300px]]
|type = [[RPG]]
|publisher = [[White Wolf]]/Onyx Path
|system = [[Storytelling System]]
|authors = Justin Achilli ''et al''
|year = 2004
}}
{{WoD-stub}}
'''Vampire: The Requiem''' is the flagship title of [[White Wolf]]'s New [[World of Darkness]] line, and, as its name suggests, the counterpart to the Old World of Darkness's [[Vampire: The Masquerade]]. The changes include the following (naturally, both oWoD and nWoD fans believe their way to be the true way):

* Five clans replace the thirteen, each embodying broad vampire archetypes. Whereas Masquerade's clans had well-researched histories and tracked their lineages to the first vampire, the five clans' true histories are shrouded in myth, legend, and falsehood. Each clan also hosts numerous bloodlines, which are mechanically similar to Masquerade bloodlines.
* Seven covenants replace the Camarilla and Sabbat (five of which are intended for player characters) and are significantly more important to a vampire's nightly existence than clan. Some covenants have goals and outlooks that put them at odds with others (most notably the Invictus, representing the status quo, clash with the Carthian Movement, representing progress).
* Embracing a new vampire costs a ''dot'' of Willpower. Gone are the nights of the Sabbat's "mass Embrace" tactics in normal circumstances; while the Ordo Dracula has discovered a means for performing a mass Embrace, the vampires created during said mass Embrace often turn out...wrong. as in "you had better be prepared to run the fuck away as soon as it's done" wrong.
* Blood Potency replaces Generation. Kindred can increase their Blood Potency easier than they could Generation, but as a vampire's blood strengthens, they lose the ability to draw Vitae from lesser creatures; at the highest levels, a vampire can only gain Vitae from other vampires. Eventually, their blood overpowers them and they must enter torpor, during which time their blood thins and they tend to lose their memories (a phenomenon dubbed the Fog of Eternity). Because of this, nobody knows vampiric history for sure, even though some Kindred keep Requiem diaries of what they remembered (which can easily be in code or deliberately falsified, which is bad when the source vampire forgets the code or the truth).
* A new group of antagonists called the Strix are added. They aren't exactly vampires, but instead are shadowy, demonic owl-like beings that despise all forms of life and Humanity (to the point where they consider a Humanity 0 vampire ''too human'') and claim to be a physical manifestation of the Beast. While they don't normally possess physical forms, they can possess corpses and unfortunate vampires to use as meat-puppets.
* Humanity is tweaked; in addition to the typical sins as breaking points, events that remind a vampire how inhuman he/she is can also cause a roll for "detachment", as it's now known. Reading your own obituary in the newspaper, existing longer than a century, seeing a culture that wasn't around while you were mortal- that sort of stuff.

There are all sorts of splats and expansions, including one for playing in the Roman Empire, one for various other historical settings (Ancient Egypt to WW1), one for playing as a ghoul, and one for the Eighties (seriously).

Now into its second edition (originally released under the title of "Blood & Smoke"), which gave vampires a fairly big boost. For example, they no longer only downgrade bullets to bashing; they downgrade all lethal damage to bashing unless they're full of bashing damage.

== Vampire Necrology ==
*First of all being turned to a vampire doesn't change your personality; at least, not right away. You're still the same dude you were before you get embraced, but chances are you're not gonna remain the same for long. The kind of shit freshly turned vampires go through tends to leave emotional scarring, but if nothing else you can still remember what it was like to be a human.
*That said, you're not alone in your head either; vampires call it "The Beast", a sort of super-savage Id that is pure predatory instincts. It's not ''evil'' so much as animalistic; it wants to eat when it's hungry, get away from things that scare it, and fillet things that piss it off. Whether doing any of the above is appropriate in any given situation is irrelevant to it, which can cause problems if the Beast feels the need to kill something in a public area. The Beast mostly makes its presence felt in the form of Frenzies, which are triggered by being exposed to fire/sunlight/banes, getting angry enough to lose control, or letting yourself starve. When this happens, the Beast tries to take control of you in order to get what it wants (e.g. kill the thing pissing it off, flee from fire/sunlight, or feed until it's not hungry anymore). The risk of provoking an anger-induced frenzy is one of the reasons why vampiric society values politeness as strongly as it does- the Beast is highly sensitive to competition.
**Hit Humanity 0, and you devolve into a Draugr- a barely sentient predator completely lost to the influence of the Beast. Anything resembling human thought or personality ceases, and all that's left is the basic urge to hunt and kill. As they are incapable of understanding the Masquerade, draugr have to be put down before they bring any unwanted attention to other vampires.
*Your body is a corpse. It doesn't rot, but it's obviously dead if anyone pays close attention- pale coloration, skin that's cold and clammy to the touch, no heartbeat, that sort of thing. You can burn precious Vitae to create "the Blush of Life", which warms you up and makes you look like one of the living. This is a luxury, not a necessity, but it can help with blending in. (If you have to eat with it on, try to find somewhere out of the way where you can puke it all up when the Blush wears off- the end result feels as unpleasant as it looks.)
*Incidentally, you can have sex, but only whilst using the Blush of Life. That said, it doesn't really compare to the visceral pleasure you get from drinking blood. The Kiss, as it's called, feels like a super-orgasm for both the vampire and the person they're feeding on.
*Speaking of which, that's a thing you need to do. Animal blood can feed you... but only for a short amount of time. Blood from other supernaturals can also feed you, but may have negative side effects, at least before your own blood thickens up.
*Unlike in [[Vampire: The Masquerade| that other vampire RPG]], your power isn't set in stone based on how far removed you are from some mystical progenitor. Instead, it's tied into how old you are and how strong the Blood has become in you. You start out as with a Blood Potency of 1 (usually), and you grow stronger with experience, time (1 dot every 50 years) or [[diablerie]]. This Blood Potency grants you greater access to your supernatural powers and augments many traits about you... but, as your blood gets more potent, your diet becomes rarified. Very soon, animal blood just won't cut it for you. And at Blood Potency 6, even human blood isn't strong enough; only vampire Vitae will do, although you can take a Merit to let you get your fix from other supernaturals. Obviously, this means a lot of vampires learn to be cautious when dealing with their elders least they end up as a snack.
*And needing vampire Vitae isn't a good thing even if you ignore the fact most vampires won't be willing to give theirs up; see, Vitae is addictive to anyone who drinks it. Worse, if you swig too many times from the same vamp you're subjected to the Vinculum, which is a sort of extreme artificial love that creates an all-consuming urge to serve that vampire. Think of it as an uber-crush crossed with an addiction and you won't be far off. Even if the thrall (the one bound by the Vinculum) hates his regnant's guts, he will find it nearly impossible to actually harm the regnant even through indirect means. Mercifully, this state only lasts for a year or so...but another feeding of Vitae from the regnant while it's in effect will renew it.
*Luckily, you can lower your Blood Potency by deliberately going into Torpor, a death-like sleeping state that can last anywhere from a day to a century depending on Blood Potency. However, the bizarre dream-like state that occurs with it had been known to cause memory loss, a phenomenon known as the "Fog of Eternity". Torpor can also be triggered by a stake through the heart or taking a large amount of damage.

== The Clans ==
Nobody knows exactly how the clans came into being or if they even have a common ancestor at all. In fact, the fluff strongly suggests that each clan is effectively its own species of vampire, with their common traits being a byproduct of convergent evolution rather than being a sign of any direct relation.

Regardless of their origins, each one reflects one aspect of vampirism in some way or another. Additionally, each clan possess a staggering number of bloodlines, each with their own unique abilities and weaknesses added onto the original clan's own. Most of the V:tM clans which didn't make the jump to V:tR have been reclassified as bloodlines if they haven't been removed (e.g. the Malkavian clan is now the Malkovian bloodline, as well as a peculiar mind-virus called Malkavia that drives any vampire that catches it hopelessly insane).

===The Core Five===
====Daeva====
[[File:Requiem Daeva.png|90px|right]]
''The Serpents''
*Notable Bloodlines: Toreador, Erzsébet
*Favored Disciplines: Celerity, Majesty, Vigor
*Favored Attributes: Dexterity and Manipulation

The Daeva are beautiful, but the adage "beauty is only skin deep" is very much in effect for them. For all their lustful attitudes, superficial charm, and espoused love of beauty, they're emotionally dead even by the standards of other vampires. This emotional deadening in turn leads many of their number to grow jaded and hedonistic, seeking ever-greater ways of indulging their vices in a desperate attempt to remember what it means to feel again. At the same time, they are more than willing to exploit their beauty and charm to manipulate both Kindred and kine alike.

In 2e, their weakness was modified somewhat - now they have a tendency to grow addicted to a given person's blood if they feed on him/her more than once. The only way to break this addiction is via the death of the mortal in question.

They represent the vampire as a seducer and tempter.

====[[Gangrel]]====
[[File:Requiem Gangrel.png|150px|right]]
''The Savages''
*Notable Bloodlines: Bruja, Dead Wolves
*Favored Disciplines: Animalism, Protean, Resilience
*Favored Attributes: Composure and Stamina

The Gangrel are still the same nature-vampires they were in VtM, but in spite of their close connection to the Beast (or perhaps ''because'' of it) they have established themselves as scholars and philosophers of the Kindred's unique condition. That doesn't mean they won't tear you limb from limb if you piss one off, though.

While they've lost their vulnerability to Frenzying, they do have trouble thinking rationally at times as their minds become more bestial and they don't function very well in human or Kindred society.

They represent the vampire as a bestial hunter.

====Mekhet====
[[File:Requiem Mekhet.png|150px||right]]
''The Shadows''
*Notable Bloodlines: Morbus, Sangiovanni
*Favored Disciplines: Auspex, Celerity, Obfuscate
*Favored Attributes: Intelligence and Wits

The Mekhet are particularly attuned to shadows and darkness and translate this attunement into a degree of finesse regardless of what they set their minds to. They're particularly adept at scholarly pursuits and infiltration but in many cases can branch out to do a little bit of everything. However, their connection to darkness also exacerbates the typical vampiric weaknesses to fire and sunlight, and with no natural talent for controlling animals or people they have to make extra effort to keep their interference in mortal affairs as shadowy as themselves.

Complicating this further is a tendency to develop banes more easily- esoteric weaknesses like growing confused when approaching a crossroads, or not being able to enter a house without being invited.

They represent the vampire as a creature of darkness.

====Nosferatu====
[[File:Requiem Nosferatu.png|140px|right]]
''The Haunts''
*Notable Bloodlines: Baddacelli, Usiri
*Favored Disciplines: Nightmare, Obfuscate, Vigor
*Favored Attributes: Composure and Strength

Like in VtM, the Nosferatu are monstrous (usually this means they're ugly as hell, but in some Nosferatu it may take more subtle forms like an unnerving voice, a gaze that makes people feel violated, or a shadow that seems to move on its own), but compensate for it with a knack for stealth and an alarming amount of strength when provoked. They're also good record-keepers and many Nosferatu are capable of communicating with ghosts. Of course, they are also experts at using the fear that they generate in others as a weapon.

In 2e, their Touchstones, mortal people they're close to that keep them tethered to their humanity, are now immune to their evil appearances, so there's that at least.

They represent the vampire as an inhuman monster.

====Ventrue====
[[File:Requiem Ventrue.png|140px||right]]
''The Lords''
*Notable Bloodlines: Malkovians, Gorgons
*Favored Disciplines: Animalism, Dominate, Resilience
*Favored Attributes: Presence and Resolve

Still the same stuck-up egotistical assholes that they were in VtM, and also the clan whose members are most likely to be either in positions of power or actively scheming to attain those positions of power. Their mind-control powers are just as good at helping them fulfill their ambitions as they were in VtM, but it also tends to make them particularly vulnerable to acquiring derangements. After all, power corrupts, even among the undead.

2e changes their weakness slightly to a greater risk of losing their Touchstones - the people or things that remind vampires what it was like to be humans. Losing these Touchstones weakens a vampire's ability to resist detachment, and if they're all lost the vampire feels a sudden and overwhelming urge to enter Torpor.

They represent the vampire as an aristocratic lord of the undead.

===Extinct Clans===

====Julii====
[[File:Requiem Julii.png|150px|right]]
''The Founders''
*Notable Bloodlines: Ventrue (rumored)
*Favored Disciplines: Animalism, Dominate, Resilience
*Favored Attributes: Presence or Resolve

The Julii ruled the Camarilla in the age of the Roman Empire. They invented the modern Masquerade, a derivation of the Mekhet concept, but merely hid the fact of their existence as creatures of the night, rather than completely disappearing from mortal view. They claim descent from Aulus Julius, childe of Remus, the twin brother of Romulus. Remus was never Embraced but had become a vampire in a pact with the Strix in exchange for serving them after Romulus left him for dead after their dispute over where to found the city that would go on to become Rome.

This clan disappeared over time, and by the time when the Visigoths sacked Rome in 418 AD they had been wiped out with the Camarilla. Their tenuous grip on their humanity (a side effect of the pact Remus made) probably contributed to their decline, as did their unwise decision to betray the Birds of Dis.

The specific similarities between the Julii and Ventrue and the fact that the Ventrue didn't seem to exist during the Camarilla's reign lead many to believe that the Ventrue are descended from the Julii, but anything that might hint at the truth has long since vanished to the Fog of Eternity. Some of the Strix might know, but they have no intention of revealing the truth of the matter.

====Mikhaili====
''The Winter Kings''
*Notable Bloodlines: None
*Favored Disciplines: Animalism, Fortitude, Bereschligost
*Favored Attributes: Stamina or Manipulation

Once, the Mikhaili were the most powerful clan in Siberia. They were rare, but they boasted many elders and were said to have possessed very potent blood. But when the Gangrel arrived from the south and east, they began Embracing en masse in a desperate attempt to drive out the invaders- only to dilute their blood so badly that even diablerie could not restore its potency. Now the clan exists only as a cautionary tale warning against Embracing too frequently, though some say that Revenants created by Gangrel whose ancestors diablerized the Mikhaili show lingering traces of their power.

The original Mikhaili weakness was an uncontrollable urge to enter torpor from the spring to the fall; when they woke up from it, they were invariably starved for blood. On the off-chance any Mikhaili have survived their presumed extinction, their blood has thinned to the point that their Embraces can only create Revenants, meaning that it's still only a matter of time before the clan ceases to exist.

{{NWoD Clans}}

==Covenants & Conspiracies==
With no Camarilla to give the Kindred a unifying organization to rally around anymore, Kindred instead identify with different Covenants, organizations that are in effect a cross between a political party, a nation-state, and a religion. While the Covenants' goals and ideologies are often greatly divergent if not mutually irreconcilable, their unwillingness to threaten the Masquerade keeps their conflicts bloodless and infrequent more often than not. On the other hand, internal strife within covenants is not unheard of either and can in some cases be more intense than conflicts between different Covenants.

===The Core Five===
The five core Covenants from the core rulebook.

[[File:IconCarthianMovement.png|75px|right]]
====Carthian Movement====
The wide-eyed idealists of the vampire world, the Carthian Movement see no reason why the status quo should remain unchallenged and are intent on challenging its concentration of power within the hands of a small number of elders. Needless to say, ideas like "democratic rule" and "acceptance of change" has made them bitter rivals of the Invictus, who see them as little more than rabble-rousers. The fact that they themselves can't agree on what the status quo should be replaced with doesn't help. But on the bright side, their affinity towards mortal laws and ordinances somehow allows them to gain special boons via their own "laws".

[[File:IconCircleoftheCrone.png|75px|right]]
====Circle of the Crone====
A quasi-pagan Covenant that pledges its loyalty to a goddess-like figure they refer to as the Crone. While the specifics of their beliefs vary widely between its different sects (as do the other deities and spirits they venerate), they all agree that vampirism is a natural state of existence and that any vampire who wishes to seek enlightenment can do so if they are willing to suffer for it. That said, their practice of Crúac - a form of ritual blood magic that occasionally requires sacrificial victims to work - has raised more than a few eyebrows in vampire society for its tendency to rouse the Beast, and the fact the Strix can use it too can only be described as suspicious.

[[File:IconInvictus.png|75px|right]]
====Invictus====
The closest thing to the Camarilla of VtM, they consider themselves the rightful leaders of vampiric society, while everyone else considers them to be a bunch of insufferable pricks. While they give lip service to the idea that they're a meritocracy, in practice the elders of the covenant hold all the power and have a vested interest in making sure that if the younger members try to advance in position it'll only happen on their terms. They may be oppressive and tyrannical, but even their rivals begrudgingly admit that they do a good job of keeping the Masquerade going. Plus, they've got a ton of cash and influence built up over the ages, which the vampires on top get to enjoy for all it's worth. They were descended from the remnants of the Senex, the leadership wing of the old Camarilla, and even in those nights their main interest was in keeping as much power for themselves as possible.

====Lancea et Sanctum====
[[File:IconLanceaEtSanctum.png|75px|right]]
Christianity for vampires. According to their traditions, they descend from Longinus, the Roman centurion who pierced Christ's side with a spear as He was dying on the cross (see the Gospel of John); when His blood dripped upon him, Longinius was cursed with vampirism for his faithlessness and cruelty. Being religiously inclined doesn't mean that the Sanctified are pacifists or averse to their nature as vampires; on the contrary, they see their damnation as a necessary part of their role as a way of putting the fear of God into mortals and are notoriously zealous in their drive to convert unbelievers within vampiric society. This is made much easier for them by virtue of their practice of Theban Sorcery, which is best described as a blend of magic and miracles. The Lancea first came to prominence within the Camarilla during the Roman Empire, though for much of the Camarilla's history it was as distrusted among Roman Kindred as Christianity itself was among the kine.

====Ordo Dracul====
[[File:IconOrdoDracul.png|75px|right]]
If you hadn't guessed by the name, Dracula himself founded this Covenant. Compared to the more religious or political bent of the others, its focus is more on the relatively scientific aspects of vampirism- more specifically, its search for a way to transcend the natural limitations of vampirism. Towards this end, it has developed a set of esoteric teachings called the Coils of the Dragon; while they have yet to fully transcend their vampiric state, the Coils are indisputably effective at mitigating many of the typical vampire weaknesses (e.g. a greater ability to resist Frenzy, reducing the damaging effects of sunlight during dawn and dusk, reducing the consequences of high Blood Potency, etc.) They're absolutely obsessed with furthering their studies of the vampiric condition and don't particularly care about who they hurt if it means another step closer to perfecting themselves. Ironically, this means the vampire splat best able to make themselves into something that's less dangerous to ordinary, innocent people is also the least interested in doing so- their goal is to become better monsters, not regain their mortality.

===Enemy Covenants===
[[File:IconBelialsBrood.png|75px|right]]
====Belial's Brood====
The Infernalists of VtM without the organization, Belial's Brood is little more than a pack of devil-worshipping madmen that have voluntarily given themselves up to the Beast. Although they are divided into numerous factions with their own competing ideologies, they are all crudely united in their disregard for everyone besides themselves and their single-minded thirst for destruction. Imagine Sabbat with a Baali streak.

In 2e, their nature is expanded on somewhat; to become a member of the Brood, a potential member must be Claimed. This is an extremely dangerous process in which the member becomes a draugr but has a Beast strong enough to control their conscious minds without the typical side effects of causing them to degenerate into mindless predators. This process also prevents the new Brood member from performing the Embrace successfully- any attempts to do so will either fail or create draugr.

The organization of Belial's Brood can generously be described as loose, with the
strongest member of a given clutch taking the role of the clutch's leader (or Apex). Unlike the other covenants, they have no place for politicking, eschewing it in favor of the simpler principles of [[Ork|"whatever the strongest vampire says goes" and "anyone can be the Apex if they can kill the current Apex unaided in a challenge"]].

====VII====
[[File:IconVII.png|75px|right]]
Next to nothing is known about them; even their name is a presumed one based only on the image of the Roman numeral they leave behind after their attacks on other Kindred. All that's confirmed about them is that they seek to destroy all other Kindred, which they can sense through the presence of what they call a "Mark of the Betrayer." Bizarrely, their members never run the risk of Frenzy when meeting other Kindred, and even when forced to speak the truth through supernatural compulsion its members can't explain what VII really is. Even mind-reading attempts reveal nothing but an image of the Roman numeral "VII." They may have some kind of connection to the Strix, but nobody knows if they're allies or enemies to the Owls.

===Extinct===
====Camarilla====
[[File:IconCamarilla.png|75px|right]]
The Camarilla was the ruling covenant of Roman Kindred during the time of the Republic and Empire until it fell to ruin during the Visigoths' sacking of Rome in AD 418. It was divided into four wings: the Senex (the government and nobility), the Legio Mortuum (the police and military), the Cult of Augurs (the priests and soothsayers in theory, but in practice they were mostly con artists and false prophets), and the Peregrine Collegia (immigrants, felons, slaves, and other such outcasts and undesirables), with an offshoot of the Peregrine Collegia barely recognized as the Lance et Sanctum (what would later become the Lancea Sanctum). They maintained three Traditions, which have survived in a heavily modified form into modern vampiric society: Dominion (the Camarilla rules the world and divides it into domains as they see fit), Destruction (only the Camarilla's Senex can sentence Kindred to Final Death), and Amaranth (no Kindred may commit [[diablerie]]).

==Disciplines==
{|align=right border=0 cellspacing=0 cellpadding=1 style="margin: 1em; border: 2px solid black;"
|- align=center
| colspan=14 | '''Disciplines of the Clans'''
|- align=center
| || [[File:Requiem Daeva.png|50px]] || [[File:Requiem Gangrel.png|50px]] || [[File:Requiem Mekhet.png|50px]] || [[File:Requiem Nosferatu.png|50px]] || [[File:Requiem Ventrue.png|50px]]
|- align=center
! '''Animalism''' || || X || || || X
|- align=center
! '''Auspex''' || || || X || ||
|- align=center
! '''Celerity''' || X || || X || ||
|- align=center
! '''Dominate''' || || || || || X
|- align=center
! '''Majesty''' || X || || || ||
|- align=center
! '''Nightmare''' || || || || X ||
|- align=center
! '''Obfuscate''' || || || X || X ||
|- align=center
! '''Protean''' || || X || || ||
|- align=center
! '''Resilience''' || || X || || || X
|- align=center
! '''Vigor''' || X || || || X ||
|}

Disciplines are the main powers used by the Kindred to impose their will upon the night. Many of these are based on powers taken from [[Vampire: The Masquerade]], if not in name then certainly in theme. Something that Requiem does explore further is that certain Disciplines are more common than others. These five common Disciplines (Animalism, Celerity, Obfuscate, Resilience and Vigor) can be learned by just about every vampire without the need for a teacher. The only difference is that the three out-of-clan common Disciplines cost an additional dot of [[Experience]] to buy. Each Clan has their own unique Discipline that reinforces their theme. These can also be self-taught by vampires of that Clan, but out of Clan training not only requires a willing teacher of that Clan, it also requires the Vitae of a vampire who possesses this Discipline of at least the level the student wants to learn (note that this does not require the vampire to be of that Clan). And yes, this carries the usual risks of ingesting Vitae.

The five common Disciplines all appear twice amongst the five Clans. Given that there are ten different combinations of two possible, with the third Discipline being unique to the Clan. While this would give ample opportunity to pick a set of five of these combinations so that each Discipline appears twice, White Wolf made the mistake of picking two identical combinations (Animalism and Resilience) for both the Gangrel and the Ventrue. Way to go, guys. The five common Disciplines are:

*'''Animalism:''' Control over animals and at higher levels humans and Kindred alike. Animals can be talked to, summoned or raised as a familiar, while kin and kine an be cast into a frenzy. At the highest level a vampire can mark a territory as their own, granting them bonuses and penalties to their enemies.
*'''Obfuscate:''' Allows a vampire to fade from view and memory alike. At higher levels this can also extend to objects, make themselves utterly disappear, or fill in the blanks with something else. At the highest a vampire can infuse an area with shadows and illusions, making everything in it vanish or not appear for what it is.
*A trio of Disciplines form the Physical Disciplines: each of them enhancing the vampire's physical abilities in some way. They all have some sort of persistent, always on bonus and a couple of effects that require the expenditure of Vitae. These Disciplines are:
**'''Celerity:''' The power of GOES FAST. Adds your Celerity to your defense against attacks that you can see coming, and can spend Vitae to perform great feats of speed (but can't attack twice).
**'''Resilience:''' This lets you be so dead that it increases your Stamina for the purpose of damage soaking, and it lets you soak everything that's not sunlight. Spend Vitae to subtract Resilience from all incoming damage not dealt by your Bane or the sun.
**'''Vigor:''' Super strength! Add your Vigor to your Strength for extra lifting and super jumps. By spending vitae you can increase your damage output (but can damage your weapon) and juggle dumpsters and cars like a champ.

Then there are the five Disciplines of the Clans:

*'''Auspex:''' The Beast's senses cranked up to 11, this lets you read a room for emotions and intent, figure out someone's secrets, employ psychometry, read minds and astrally project. This suits the purposes of the sneaky Mekhet just fine.
*'''Dominate:''' Via eye contact (and it works if the victim sees the vampire's eyes, even through sunglasses and tinted windows) a vampire can impose their will upon a victim. From here a vampire can issue orders, implant a command, alter memories or even outright possess the victim. Perfect for the demanding attitudes common amongst the Ventrue.
*'''Majesty:''' The one-dot power, Awe, lets you shine a spotlight on yourself and from there charm people, play with their emotions and enthrall them, with other powers in this Discipline enhancing the core power. Very useful but not very subtle, just like the diva-like Daeva themselves.
*'''Nightmare:''' Starts with the casting of an aura of dread around the vampire and lets them cause small terrifying illusions. From there it all goes up: directly cause fear, fill a person's mind with terrors visible only to them, inflict powerful hallucinations or cause terror so strong it can potentially kill. A natural power to have for the revolting Nosferatu.
*'''Protean:''' The power of nature itself. This lets a vampire hide in the ground (or any earth-like material), grow natural weapons or armor and at the apex become a cloud of Vitae-devouring smoke, pierced only by a pair of bright yellow eyes. This comes naturally for the wild, predatory Gangrel.

Various other minor Disciplines exist, but most if not all of them are exclusive to specific Bloodlines or have been forgotten over the ages.

==Ghouls==
As in ''Masquerade'', a [[Ghoul]] is a human who's been fed vampire blood to turn them into an unaging toady. '''Unlike''' in ''Masquerade'', being a ghoul is a whole lot less fun, and far less of a free power-up for humans.

See, vampire blood - Vitae - is incredibly addictive. It's like cocaine mixed with liquid orgasm. But more than that, it carries a mystical compulsion, making you increasingly enthralled to the vampire you drunk it from (known as the regnant). Drink three times from one vampire, and you're addicted to it. And this blood bond, this Viniculum, is all but impossible to break on your own - it'll go away on its own if you don't drink that vampire's vitae for a year, but the Vinculum creates an artificial but intense love for your regnant that compels you to do whatever they command you to, whether you want to or not. Mortals are most susceptible to this, but other supernatural beings are vulnerable as well. In vampiric society, it's commonly imposed on other vampires as a form of punishment.

To turn somebody into a ghoul, a vampire feeds them a point's worth of Vitae and spends a point of Willpower - naturally, they tend to wait until their future ghoul has a full-blown Viniculum developed in order to ensure their loyalty. Once that happens, bam, they're a ghoul. They immediately stop aging and gain a single dot in Celerity, Vigor or Resilience - exactly which Discipline is chosen by their vampiric creator. They can learn further Disciplines, but at double the cost of a vampire learning them, although they're considered Blood Potency 0, can only spend 1 point of Vitae per turn, and their "Vitae Pool" is equal to their Stamina dots. They can also burn Vitae to augment their physical prowess and to heal wounds, just like a vampire.

Ghouls need to feed regularly, as only the presence of vitae in their system sustains their existence; this requires drinking a point's worth of Vitae from a vampire, with either the vampire or the ghoul spending a Willpower point to "charge" the Vitae, once per month. They can technically "fast" by simply not using their Powers - so long as a ghoul has at least 1 unspent point of Vitae in their system, they still count as a ghoul, no matter how long it's been since they last fed - but if they ever have to spend their last Vitae point, then they immediately lose the powers of the ghoul. The state itself isn't lost permanently; a fresh drink of Vitae will bring them back to the eternal night, but they can't use any of their Disciplines, and time starts catching up on them. As in, they age a year for each ''day'' they go without feeding. And if they do manage to find fresh Vitae, they don't reset the clock, they just pause it at a new point.

Needless to say, the longer a ghoul has been around, the more dependent they are on drinking Vitae - age will turn them into dust if they've been alive long enough.

That's not to say that rogue ghouls don't happen. Usually, it's because somebody else killed a ghoul's master and left the ghoul alive, or a vampire wasn't able to renew the Vinculum on his ghoul and the ghoul ended up defecting to another vampire's service. But any Hunter cell stupid enough to try turning themselves into ghouls to become better vampire hunters, a la [[Hunter: The Reckoning|the Society of Leopold]]? They're up shit creek without a paddle. Or even a boat.

Ghouls who lack a vampiric master will take desperate measures to get their fix, up to and including killing vampires for their Vitae. While these cases are uncommon, they happen enough for most vampires to realize that they should never underestimate what their servants can do if left to their own devices.

In 2nd edition, these rules are tweaked slightly. For starters, that monthly feeding of preservative Vitae no longer requires either party spending a Willpower point after the initial ghoul creation, and they can't be knocked unconscious by Bashing damage. That's the good news. The bad news? A ghoul whose failed to upkeep themselves can't halt the decay by taking just one sip of precious Vitae anymore. Nope, now they keep aging until they've ingested Vitae equal to the Blood Potency of the last vampire they drank from before they missed their monthly dose.

The 1e "Ghouls" sourcebook also covers things like Ghoul Families - akin to Masquerade's Revenants, animal ghouls, and plant ghouls. These were re-introduced in the 2e "Half-Damned" sourcebook.

==Larvae, Revenants, and Dhampir==
'''Larvae''' appeared in 1e and are basically a nod to the Sabbat's love of Mass Embrace as a weapon in ''Masquerade''. A larva was only partially embraced (Willpower point insted of Willpower dot), and as such rises from its grave as a Blood Potency 0, Humanity 0 monster - more of a blood-drinking, sun-fearing "rage [[zombie]]" than a vampire proper. They can mature into proper vampires if they diablerize one or manage to survive 50 years. Until then... they're basically extremely dangerous to everybody, and very hard to control.

'''Revenants''' are a 2e invention who arguably have replaced Larvae. Less of a clan and more of a mistake, Revenants are "spontaneous vampires", occasionally created when someone with vitae in their system dies or is exasanguinated by a low Humanity Kindred. They are a miserable lot, constantly bleeding out their vitae during daysleep and in a nearly permanent state of Hunger Frenzy because of it. They have all the weaknesses of vampirism and very little of the strengths, and they are often forced to become walking Masquerade breaches out of necessity. Unless, of course, some other vampire decides to fully Embrace them, giving them a clan and with it, some degree of ability to use their lemons to make lemonade. A small handful of revenant "dynasties" exist on the fringes of vampiric society, but they often struggle to stay afloat due to the difficulty many of them have in performing their version of the Embrace. Their only compensation is Chary, a crude Discipline that allows them to hold onto Vitae slightly better.

'''[[Dhampir]]''' are the rare result of a vampire-human pairing. As vampires are naturally sterile, a dhampir can only be created either via powerful blood sorcery or in the extremely unlikely event that a human with an unborn child is turned (male or female, though it happens somewhat more often in the latter case) without the baby being stillborn. Dhampir have limited forms of supernatural abilities known as Twists and Malisons, but the former can't be controlled consciously and the latter requires the blood of the dhampir performing it to work. Furthermore, the vampiric parent's Clan influence frequently leaves permanent psychological scars even if the dhampir is wholly ignorant of his half-damned heritage:
*Daeva dhampir struggle to form social bonds with others, and even when one is forged they are prone to sabotaging those relationships in a form of social self-harm.
*Gangrel dhampir are restless and prone to wanderlust. They have little patience for niceties and obligations, and can grow shockingly violent if they feel like they're being tied down.
*Mekhet dhampir are paranoid, and they try to fight it by gathering information about everyone around them. In many cases, this turns into a sick form of voyeurism based on stealing people's secrets and breaching their privacy.
*The disgust that the Nosferatu generate is turned inward in their dhampir offspring, leaving even the most well-adjusted Nosferatu dhampir wracked with self-loathing. The inferiority complexes thus produced often push others away from the dhampir, leaving him even more entrenched in his hatred of himself.
*Ventrue dhampir go through life with a sense of thwarted entitlement; the world ought to be their oyster, but for whatever reason their goals are always ever so slightly out of reach. Naturally, this tends to make them domineering and arrogant as they try to force others to bend to their will without the easy out of Dominate.

Unusually, dhampir also have an innate connection to the workings of fate and possess an uncanny ability to sense the supernatural above and beyond that which pertains to the Kindred. Because of this, it is not unheard of for a dhampir to end up making allies with other supernatural beings, especially when destiny ends up nudging them in that direction. Though it's a stereotype that many dhampir become vampire hunters, this is less of a result of their cursed blood and more of a byproduct of the average vampire being a ''really shitty'' parent.

==Blood-Drinking Kin==
Vampires who aren't Kindred, brought-up in the book Wicked Dead. Their Blood Potency is 0, so each time they meet a "true" vampire, they cower in fear.

===Ghûls===
Arabian mages who have gained immortality, as well as alchemy and a few other powers, at the expense of cannibalism. They're also... not undead. In fact, they probably have it better than Kindred.

===Jiang Shi===
Chinese "hopping vampires", formerly human mages as well. They only have access to Celerity, Resilience, and Vigor, but in return they're not destroyed by anything other than fire (upon "death," they teleport to their graves, torpid, at full health). They are like ghosts in that they cannot stray too far from their anchors, otherwise they'd teleport back. Of course, they can use living beings as anchors.

There's actually two varieties of them, one from Wicked Dead (aforementioned), and one from Blood & Smoke/2e, who are more like a clan of true Kindred, not being as invulnerable to everything but far more mobile and better adjusted to vampiric society.

They'd be a sixth great clan, were it not for the fact that (A), they need two deaths, one of a person that is completely pure of heart, to raise another of their number, and (B), the Kiss of the Vampire is denied to them (it feels more like a particularly painless frostbite when they chow down), so they have to be really clever and subtle about feeding, and (C), when low on Vitae they appear more visibly corpselike (mold begins growing on their flesh and they become cold to the touch). On the bright side, they can still do the grave teleporting thing, and can change the location of their "grave" if needed (although that requires the death of another pure-hearted person to do so). They specialize in the Animalism, Obfuscate, and Celerity Disciplines.

Despite their weaknesses compared to more traditional Clans, there's cities where the Jiang Shi have thrived and even joined with the other Kindred - it's not like the whole "two deaths to do an Embrace" thing is anywhere near the worst thing Kindred in general have to do to keep living.

===Fomorsae===
Emotion eaters who feed on self-loathing and body issues. Getting fed on by them causes a person to look more and more beautiful... at the cost of their life force, leading as many times as not to a beautifully preserved corpse. Ironically, the Vitae so gained is stored in fatty deposits, meaning that the Fomorsae are, to the last vamp, horrendously obese and ugly themselves. They are extremely touchy about this.

They're also the exception that proves the rule of Blood Potency 0, since they do have one or higher points in it... and they know Dominate.

===Aswang===
Actually several kinds of blood-drinking shapechanging supernatural beastie from the Phillipines, with one variety from World of Darkness: Antagonists and three from Night Horrors: The Wicked Dead. All share the common trait of being Technically Living Vampires, and thus suffering no effect from sunlight other than reverting to their human form during the day. The "vanilla" Aswang is a One-Gender Race of Always Female blood-suckers who never smile with their teeth because they have four pairs of canine teeth instead of the human two pairs. At night, they revert to the forms of ugly, haggish versions of themselves with Femme Fatalons and elongated, fang-like teeth, who use their hypnotically beautiful voices to lure prey into their reach, as they must feed regularly or be trapped in their monstrous form even during the day. The Halimaw assumes the form of a demonic Winged Humanoid at night and feeds with its mawful of jagged fangs and ripping claws, as well as being prone to suffering from a split personality that makes it actually delude itself about being human during the day. The Tik-Tik becomes a monstrous blood-sucking bat/mosquito hybrid. The Sigbin becomes a fang-mouthed hornless goat that lulls people into a trance by clapping its oversized ears together. All forms of Aswang are hated by the Kindred, as they don't make any attempt to uphold The Masquerade and so "real" vampires have to work harder to cover up for them.

===Baykosh===
A (mercifully) unique ghost who hunts down and murders people who have survived conflict in order to feed on their cut-short lifespan.

===Bhuta===
Ghosts so desperate to experience life once more that they possess human beings, even knowing that this will A: damn them to an incessant craving for human blood and flesh whilst they are so incarnated, and B: result in the inevitable destruction of their host body.

===Penanggalan===
A Malaysian variety of vampire that can exist as a relatively normal human during the day. At night, its head lifts up from its body, dragging along its internal organs and leaving its hollowed-out body behind as it goes hunting. To keep the body from rotting whilst the head and guts are away, it has to pickle it, and so even in human form it tends to stink of vinegar (or sometimes booze). It loves the blood of pregnant women and children, and so it prefers to go after these prey. It can be killed by burning it, exposing its head-and-guts form to sunlight, or stuffing its hollowed torso full of blades, broken glass, thorns, etc. so that it tears its entrails apart when it squeezes inside at dawn.

A sadistic end, perhaps, but unfortunately perhaps the best; the bite of the Penanggalan contains a vicious wasting illness that often kills people the vampire would much rather leave alive (and in particularly bad cases, even Embraces them spontaneously as new Penanggalan). The only known cure is the initial vector's liver-something they are understandably reluctant to part with, even given the Healing Factor.

===Chihuateteo===
An ancient cult composed of witch-priestesses of the Aztec god Tezcatlipoca in his aspect as a god of malice and discord. Each one is a woman who has suffered a stillbirth (which, ironically, makes them the opposite of the honored-if-dangerous ghosts of women who died giving birth that they take their name from) and was found by the other Chihuateteo and offered a way to give the tragedy meaning and never have to face the spectre of death personally again. Should she accept (and destroy something dear to her to show her willingness), they initiate her into the order and she becomes a claw-fingered spectre that looks like the unholy lovechild of a human and the world's largest owl. With her new vocation, she gains the ability to turn into one or gain an owl's talons as well, the secret Rites of the Crossroads they use to cause their god's holy strife, Age Without Youth, and the Disciplines of Majesty and Obsfucate, as well as a Beast of her own. She can't generate Vitae herself despite being fully alive (she has to steal breath instead), and her Beast is a tame one (it only risks frenzy in response to anger and is easy to bring to heel before it gets that far), but Kindred wise in the ways of Strix look at the Chihuateteo and wonder. Also, they're Mexican ultranationalists (rather fitting, since their benefactor was one of the most revered members of the Aztec pantheon and was said to be the patron deity of the Aztec kings).

===Rizzetti Apparatus===
The odd one out, since it's a machine that was never alive in the first place. The Rizzetti Apparatus is an old clockwork device from the heyday of Victorian Science, one of the first blood transfusion devices ever created (if not the first). It never went into full production, though; besides its titular inventor being murdered by his first patient, there's a very rare vital component of coral (and the bacteria that live in it) that only grows in one very specific lagoon. Worse, the impurity filtering process invariably puts said impurities in the blood donor, killing them. As for the patient, not so much-in fact, the bacteria-filtered and infused blood is not only never rejected, but supernaturally potent. The patient ceases to age, and for a while, is effectively in the prime of youth. Then the bacteria invariably reproduce faster than the body can keep under control, becoming an impurity themselves, one that consumes the patient's blood. To survive, they need another transfusion. And another. And another...

== See Also ==
* [[Vampire the Requiem Homebrew Bloodlines]]
* [[Vampire Steroids]]

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