By Keith S Kaczmarek (pheonix@cats.ucsc.edu)
"Every man has a devil... and you can't rest until you meet him."
McKoy: "You should talk to him. He can take your pain away."
Kirk: "No! I need my pain!
Main Bad Guy: "I've stolen your power!"
Ash, the Crow: "My pain IS MY POWER!"
This is the story of the Blackened. They are the few strange souls that -- through chance or design -- have unleashed the bane of every living, dead and undead soul, the Shadow, and lived to tell the tale. Each is unique, but all evoke a power born from death, forged in the fires of chained passions, and cooled in the blood of their very souls.
In the 18th century, a small Spanish town fell under the depredations of a pack of Sabbat vampires. From the ashes of his family's ancestral home, a man, known only as Rinaldo, began a personal quest to slay all vampires, starting with the ones who destroyed all that he loved. That was the beginning of his quest to destroy the undead. With the heirloom sword of his dead bloodline, he stalked Europe's nights, bringing death to the undead.
He finally met his match one hot summer night in a secret catacomb in Italy. An undead necromancer, of Clan Giovanni, met his sword strokes with unholy spells meant to wrench Rinaldo's soul from his mortal frame. As his final blow severed his accursed enemy's head, the foul vampire unleashed a spell of terrible might, unleashing searing agony into Rinaldo's soul. As Rinaldo's lifeless body fell to the ground, a gout of his enemy's unclean blood fell onto his unfeeling lips. In that instant, he was damned forever. Feeling returned to his torn flesh with infernal force even as it cooled in undeath.
So wounded from his battle with the fiend and his exile from the living, he fell headlong into the slumber of the undead. In that secluded catacomb, his sleeping mind dreamed the dreams of the unliving. Unknown to him, the necromancer's last spell had done more than slay his flesh. He had been riven into two. One was a self that he exposed to the daylight, and the other was a self he had hidden in the dark corners of his soul all those long years. While he slept, the darkness awoke to a life of its own, trapped in the lands of the dead, exiled from the flesh that had parented it, and yet inexorably connected to it.
When Rinaldo awoke half a century later, he knew his damned fate. Studying the texts of his necromantic nemesis, he mastered black arts to better destroy his enemies. All the while his darkness waited for the night when it would gain the power to seize control of his cold flesh. The day came when his true nemesis confronted him. And it was himself. It was that starved, lonely piece of his soul that craved to be free. He knew then that he could never defeat the darkness of his enemies until he could harness the devilish power within his own darkness, a darkness that sought to corrupt and consume him. The Hunger of the undead was as a candle flame to the dark sun of Rinaldo's Shadow.
His trials are unrecorded, but when next he was seen, he was a Devil in his own right. The undead world feared his name, for he brought the Final Death with him like a sweeping cloak. Those few who saw him and escaped his wrath said that the very fires of Hell burned in his eyes, and that he wielded powers wrested from the very heart of Darkness. He was finally burned to ash in a battle of titanic proportions and cost in unlives. And yet, the rumors of his acts did not die with his body. The stories say Rinaldo cannot die, for he is Death waiting for all the Unresting Dead. Stories continue to filter through the undead world of singular men and women -- some mortal, some vampires, some which are something else entirely -- who partake of the same dark wellspring of raw, unholy power. Sometimes the stories even speak of a few working together. And all called themselves the Blackened, dubbed for the ebon taint of the soul they bore with pride. And yet, that is all that is known. Perhaps they have walked the earth for far longer than any have imagined? Perhaps they are a new phenomenon? The darkness seems to swallow its own. The Blackened remain a dark fable, a myth to pass from elder to neonate.
They hunt supernaturals with a vengeance that only the dead can understand. Blackened are only created in only a few ways:
1. When a wraith discovers and Resolves his Dark Passions. Spectres cannot become Blackened.
2. When the Ritual of the Dark Heart is performed on a mortal.
3. When the Ritual of the Dark Heart is performed during an Embrace.
When a Blackened comes upon a mortal with drive, a purpose to destroy supernaturals, and an understanding of their own inner darkness, but not the skills or strength to compete with the supernaturals, he then uses the Ritual of the Dark Heart to unleash the Shadow of the recipient. Once the Shadow is released and pulled from the soul of the mortal, the Blackened, if mortal, then uses spells to bind the Shadow to the flesh of the subject. If the Blackened is a vampire, then the subject is Embraced. The Ritual of the Dark Heart then opens up the recipient to the full force of his inner Darkness. Those who cannot handle this deluge are driven mad by the experience and are destroyed by the Blackened. Those who survive the experience then begin a quest to Resolve their Dark Passions. Those who find Resolution fuse their Psyche with their Shadow, becoming one being: the Blackened. Those that fail are consumed by their own Darkness. For the Blackened, they no longer in a struggle with their Shadow. They are the Shadow and the Psyche. They chose to retain their Angst, the pain that prevents them from Transcending. This pain is their greatest power.
For wraiths the process is different, but the end result is the same. They must first learn and then Resolve their Dark Passions. The Arcanos Castigate will most likely need to be used.
Create the Blackeneds Shadow as you would a wraith. Ignore the Dark Passions, as they have been Resolved for the character to become Blackened.
1. The Blackened has use of his Angst. Permanent Angst cannot exceed 10. Permanent Angst can also be burned for 9 temporary Angst. The only way to gain Angst is through intense, Angst-filled role-playing or taking Angst from others with an appropriate Thorn or other power.
2. Temporary Angst can be used to heal normal wounds on a one-for-one basis. Aggravated wounds may be healed by spending 3 Angst points and one day of rest.
3. Thorns are now used by the Blackened. Thorns can be gained at the costs in the Wraith 2nd Edition. Those Thorns that would normally be used by a Shadow to effect its wraith, such as Devil's Dare, may be used on others. Certain Thorns may not be used in the Skinlands, such as Tainted Relic or Spectral Allies. Certain Thorns that grant benefits to the wraith in exchange for Angst instead cost Angst instead of granting it(i.e. Pact of Doom).
4. Permanent Willpower is no longer lost due to botches or other reasons. This is because Willpower loss was once due to the Shadow. Angst may be spent when Willpower is to be lost due to other, role-playing reasons (such as a Spectre's Rapacity or the fifth level of Dominate).
5. Permanent Angst can now be added to all Willpower rolls.
6. One point of Temporary Angst can be spent to gain five Shadow Dice for any roll. This is because the character is now pulling on the untapped capabilities of the Shadow. (think of the Crow movies of how a mild mannered rocker and mechanic can become martial artists and master gymnasts.)
7. The Heightened Senses, Deathsight, and Lifesight of the wraith are gained.
8. Supernatural effects that would increase a Blackeneds Dark Passions (such as the Dark Arcanos Larceny, or demonic Investments), thus having a corruptive effect, will not work on the Blackened, as he has learned and accepted his dark side.
Mortal Blackened who are Embraced become vampiric Blackened.
Some exceptionally rare mortals who have learned to master and accept their own darkness without becoming Blackened can gain abilities #4, #5, #6 or even Deathsight or Lifesight. Consider the numbered abilities to be worth 4 pt Supernatural Merits, and the Lifesight to be a 2 pt Merit, and Deathsight to be a 1 pt. Merit. Angst is only gained through role-playing. Since mortal cannot gain #1, the mortal must immediately use his Angst or it will be put toward permanent Angst. Mages, Garou, and Fae can gain these merits and flaws, as well as #2 as a 4 pt Merit. (Remember Raistlin from the Dragonlance novels? Part of his inclination for evil was an unconscious urge to produce Angst and feed #2 to temporarily stave off the effects of his illness. How else would he be able to become healthy when he took the Black Robes? Of course, his Shadow was created by his human evil, not the other way around. Other characters that had a more "good" bent, but possessed these Merits are Batman: The Dark Knight, and the main character from the FOX TV show Millennium)
One point of Temporary Angst is always gained through Humanity checks and Frenzy checks, successful or not.
As long as a vampire is a Blackened he cannot reach Golconda. If he loses all Permanent Angst, then this blessed state may be attained. but when the first point of Permanent Angst is regained, he falls from Golconda. The Blackened can roll Willpower after Diablerie is completed to counter successes of the victim to remain as a soul fragment (black veins). See Dirty Secret's of the Black Hand for the rules for soul fragments.
An unusual Discipline, called Cathari, can be gained by spending one Permanent Angst per level. See the magazine Virtual Lore #3 for this Discipline.
If a Blackened vampire is diablerized, he gets one automatic success for each Permanent Angst pt. on the Willpower role to become a soul fragment inside the diablerizing vampire. Should a soul fragment be created (an almost sure chance if the diablerized Blackened had a high permanent Angst), it will contain the conscious and mind of the Blackened. The only supernatural powers that can be used are Thorns. In effect, the Blackened, in soul fragment form, has become the Shadow of the diablerizing vampire. Unless the diablerizng vampire was of higher Generation, the soul of the vampire will eventually purge the soul fragment in a number of months (see Awakening: Diablerie Mexico). The only chance a life beyond being someone's Shadow, or True Death by being consumed, is to gain 10 Permanent Angst and replace the consciousness of the vampire, in effect taking over the body and becoming the vampire. The consciousness of the original vampire will be eliminated, leaving behind all of his power and knowledge. In game effect, compare all the Traits of the two, and leave the highest scores remaining. This costs the Blackened all 10 pts. of Permanent Angst.
Angst may be used in place of Pathos, but not the other way around.
Any Arcanos which would give Angst to a wraith no longer does so.
Dark Arcanos may be learned, but only Angst may be used to power them, and Composure gains are ignored.
Blackened Wraiths can no longer be Harrowed. Their Shadow no longer calls to the Spectres or gives the Spectres information necessary to destroy the Psyche. They reform in the Tempest as per the house rules for a successful Harrowing.
A wraith with any Angst cannot Transcend.
While the stored Angst is in the Conduit, the Risen can Transcend. (I keep thinking of The Crow from the two movies. They were definitely inspiration for this article.) If the Blackened is destroyed or Transcends while the Conduit survives, then the Conduit becomes something very powerful. It becomes a font of dark power that serves as a catalyst for others that match the Angst of the original Blackened owner. These Conduits will serve as Blackened Conduits for any wraith and grant them the ability to become Blackened Risen. Blackened Conduits have only the barest of sentience, just the Resonance of the original owner that drives them to complete their Passions. (Basically the crows from both Crow movies. They were old Conduits that created other Blackened from Enfants with similar Passions, both Dark and Bright, of Resolution and Revenge. The Passions of the Enfants would perfectly match the previous Risen who would have Transcended or been destroyed)