Hel's Will

By Ben Buckner, for the Helsdottir bloodline.

Dottir practice an unusual discipline, termed variously cryurgy, cryomancy, or thermostasis by outsiders, though they themselves usually just call it Hel's Will.

* Whiteskin: This most basic element of the discipline allows the Dottir to transform her skin into a near-perfect thermal insulator. It becomes completely reflective such that the skin is totally white and smoother surfaces such as the eyes and hair are almost mirrorlike. The eyes still admit sufficient light to see by, particularly when using Auspex or Protean, but night vision is really not as good as in most Kindred in this state, being no better than a mortal's. Tactile sensation is also somewhat hindered and sense of temperature is completely cut off.

In this form their appearance is shocking, to say the least. It makes them totally resistant to cold as well as making them nearly impossible to spot against a snowfield. In addition, it provides limited protection from sunlight and heat sources such as fire, although such things erode the vampiric power which produces the effect so that this protection is no more effective than the Fortitude discipline, providing as many soak dice as the level in the discipline. This heat resistance has come as an unpleasant surprise to those who have simplistically assumed that fire must be a particularly effective weapon against such frigid entities; water boils quicker than ice. Note that it does not provide other Fortitude benefits such as extra soak dice for other types of damage or any protection against aggravated damage. It's not that powerful. An odd side effect that may rarely be significant is that the skin is as effective an electrical insulator as it is a thermal insulator.

However, as they are normally quite cold resistant, even without the discipline, they tend only use it at lower temperatures, such as under -10 Fahrenheit or when other circumstances may make it useful. Temperatures over 50 Fahrenheit tend to be rather uncomfortable to them, so they are likely to use it in such environs as well.

** Winterwalk: This is a relatively simple ability. The Dottir will never slip on ice or break through it and can walk on the surface of snow without ever sinking in. They can essentially glide effortlessly along all manner of frozen surfaces at the approximate running speed of a mortal, like a ghost.

*** Mask of Hel: This power is at the core of their reputation for inscrutability. The Dottir with this level of the discipline becomes supernaturally impassive, unreadable. Mundane uses of subterfuge and perceptive skills will never reveal anything about the emotional state of the user based on tone of voice, expression, posture, or other such cues. Use of abilities of the vampiric Auspex discipline such as Aura Perception can penetrate it if the perceiver has more discipline dots that the perceived. This operates in the same manner as the Obfuscate-Auspex opposition, potentially blocking Spirit Touch and Telepathy as well. It also adds dice to Frenzy and Rotschreck rolls at one die per dot in the discipline. For affect-altering disciplines such as Presence it adds one die per dot to the resistance roll if one is allowed, and actually permits an opposition roll based on the Hel's Will score if no resistance roll is normally possible (e.g. Presence - Possession). Successes on this roll subtract from successes on the aggressor's roll. In short, the more powerful Dottir are practically emotional and spiritual blanks. Note that the mental effects of Dominate are NOT resisted by this ability. On the down side, however, the Dottir cannot use the Empathy skill while in this state. Any action involving the Empathy score will go as if the Empathy rating were 0.

**** Hospitality: This ability allows the user to extend the benefits of the first three levels of Hel's Will (most definitely not the higher ones) to a group of companions, the number of which is equal to the number of dots in the discipline. It requires the expenditure of a blood point and functions only within the range of sight.

***** Wind of Niflheim: This is the first ability which actually has a direct effect on the Dottir's environment. She gains the ability to summon a freezing blast of wind from the wastes of Niflheim. As one might imagine, this is not an easy thing to do and costs a blood point. The gust blows through her immediate vicinity, lowering temperatures by 50 degrees Fahrenheit. Just to make things simple, say that water will freeze if this drops the temperature below 10 F, naturally modified by the quantity. This is one of those "do what seems reasonable for a gust from the land of death" things. It can make things quite chilly on a cold night. It effectively stuns all cold-susceptible creatures (including vampires who will stiffen a bit) for a round and puts them on the road to frostbite, often even leaving a thin layer of frost on exposed surfaces. It's not just cold, it's a deathly chill. The wind may be directed at specific targets using Dexterity + Occult as per combat with firearms.

****** Ice Dominion: This awesome (just like Cloak the Gathering) power gives them command over ice and snow. Legend tells of elder Dottir using whole icebergs as conveyances. This may explain occasional evidence of their presence in Antarctica and in temperate areas during particularly severe winters. In addition to pushing floating mountains of ice (albeit slowly) this power may be used to draw ice and snow storms, assuming the weather is suitable, and possibly even to direct them. A roll of Manipulation+Occult is required for this as with the Thaumaturgy path Weather Control. Certain effects such as rain and lightning strikes are not possible through this means, which merely affects frozen forms of water.

Yet another possible use, and by far the most difficult, is the movement of small individual pieces of ice, such as throwing snowballs -- or 4-foot-long icicles. The attack roll for this is based on Occult + Dexterity. The maximum total damage per round is as the Dottir's strength. Difficulties and modifiers are as a melee weapon of similar form to the object (snowballs are difficulty 4 with a -1 damage modifier). The Dottir can manipulate one extra object in this manner for every dot over 5. Thus a 5th Generation Helsdottir might project 3 snowballs, really hard.

A popular trick is to open ice cracks under particularly obnoxious interlopers. This is also useful for concealing oneself, slowly disappearing into the ice in a manner reminiscent of the Protean Earth Meld ability.

Some of these may seem especially powerful, but it should be noted that the majority are totally useless on a warm summer night in Chicago.

"We tried to catch her, Master, but she pelted us with sno-cones!"

******* Freeze: The Dottir can spend blood points to instantly freeze something, @ 1 BP per 60 lbs. of water, roughly a cubic foot (7 1/2 gallons or 30 liters.) A man-sized creature would require 2 to 4 blood points to freeze completely, although partial freezing tends to be sufficient to disable or kill mortals. To affect animate beings, Wits + Occult must be rolled vs. the target's WIllpower. Success indicates that the target freezes. Kindred may counter every blood point spent by the Dottir with two blood points spent to thaw out, if they think of it. Frozen Garou will remain alive until thawed if they are frozen in a regenerating form, but if in Homid form, they will die.

The power operates within sight and can be directed with some flexibility, to freeze 12 square feet of a pond one inch deep, for instance.

******** Cloak of Winter: The Dottir envelops herself in a cloak of bitter cold. The area within 5 feet of her drops to -100 Fahrenheit and an icy swirl of wind whips around adding a substantial wind chill factor. All freezable substances within this ring almost instantly freeze, water vapor and carbon dioxide precipitating from the air.

In truth, no known Dottir has ever risen above this niveau, but here's what they might be:

********* Glaciation: Blizzard conditions, sub-zero temperatures, hundred MPH winds. 10 foot snowfalls in a hundred mile radius. If this is used in an already bitterly cold area, the carbon dioxide starts coming down in flakes.

********** Fimbulvetr: You don't want to know about this one, so let's just say it makes global warming a moot point.