Arboria

By Axle Steele (rogal@students.uiuc.edu)

Description:

Many vampires who are of a more natural bent have felt a kinship to plants much more so than animals or their fellow man. Arboria is a discipline that builds on this relationship. Only one vampire is known to possess this discipline, and he has not tought any others, but it is more than conceivable that other vampires could of learned it separately.

* Blood Growth

By making skin to "skin" contact with a plant, the vampire can accelerate its growth, and heal it of contagion and disease.

System: Spend one blood point; there is no roll. The plant will be healed, and grow one year's growth for every blood point spent.

** Tongues of Wood

The vampire now understands the languge of the plants, and can communicate with their unawakened spirits. These spirits can tell the vampire of past events, and give him information on the terrain etc.

System: None, information given is up to the storyteller.

*** Form of the Tree

The Vampire can assume a tree-like form at will. While only dimly aware of his surroundings, the vampire is rendered immune to sun-light in this form, and is totally immobile.

System: Spending one bloodpoint completes the transformation in three rounds; spending three allows the transformation in one round. In the tree form the vampire is roughly mansized (6-10ft) and looks excactly like a dead tree. The vampire is almost undetectable, however; his aura will still be that of a vampire, if cut the tree will bleed real blood.

**** Attunement

The vampire is one with the forest; it his domain.

System: There is no roll as this power is always considered "up." Once this level has been attained the vampire gains a permanent -3 difficulty to all perception rolls when in a forest setting. Also he is aware of all that transpires within 100 yard radius of his current position while in the forest, making him very difficult if not immpossible to surprise.

***** Nourishment of the Sun

The vampire's form of the tree now is alive, and he can harness the power of the sun and soil to give him the nourishment that he needs.

System: When in the form of the tree the vampire gains two bloodpoints every day he remains in that form in an area where real trees could grow. Since he loses one point a day, this gives him a net gain of one blood point per day. Masters of this discipline, can forgo feeding on humans, and animals at the expense of spending much of their lives in their tree form. This blood gained is treated as real blood, and will give nourishment to other vampires although it will taste funny. The vampire is still completely vulnerable to the sun when not in his tree form.