By Carl Patane (kilroy@interport.net)
After careful "study" and preparation, not to mention many months of deliberating, the Council had decided to go ahead with the plan. They permitted the originator of this innovative task, a Tremere of the 6th generation by the name of Nicodemus deLaurent, and his small, unobtrusive coterie, to travel to Japan in hopes of making a great find and advancement, not only in knowledge of the Cathayans and their powers, but in the Tremere's own power.
With the Council's best wishes, Nicodemus and his coterie, comprised of Nicodemus' own childe Justin Brisbin, Nicodemus' second, a rabbi by the name of David, and two exceptional Thaumaturgical theorists by the names Xavier and Alexi respectively, set off on this outrageous and heretofore unheard of quest.
The specifics of what occurred in the far reaches of the east are kept confidential and for the eyes of the Council only. We do know that Nicodemus, having already been an avid study of the ways of eastern mortals, their beliefs and traditions, set up a temporary chantry base of operations somewhere in the outskirts of Tokyo. Using the reports of Olivier Thrace and Preston Varrick as skeleton guidelines, they did succeed in identifying a 'Kuei-jin', as the Cathayans seem to refer to themselves.
After months of quiet study and experimentation, the test subject finally entered into Final Death. Luckily, by that point the band had acquired enough information to return home with their findings, a new path and a new ritual. Unfortunately, exiting the country did not turn out to be as easy as getting in. As the Kuei-jin ambushed and attacked the chantry, much data and blood samples were lost, as well as a sole member, Alexi.
The coterie's brave actions, insight, and sacrifice are what make this new path available to us today. Nicodemus, already a master of the original Lure of Flame, built upon what he knew while adapting newly found eastern power. Behold, Lure of Ghost-Flame and the Rite of the Dual Energies.
Note: The rite and path are still young and in the experimental stage. Use sparingly and at one's own risk. Please make a record of any and all usage, new findings and side-effects and have them sent immediately to the Council in Vienna.
The rite requires an hour of silent, undisturbed meditation. To fuel Lure of Ghost-Flame one needs to use blood highly enriched with either Yin or Yang energies. This rite allows one to focus and attune the blood to such energies so as to be able to utilize the new path.
It has been noted that some Kindred have fallen to various side-effects, not the least of which has been of the emotional and psychological nature. Further studies are being tended to.
System: The vampire spends one hour in contemplation, spends a Willpower point and rolls Intelligence + Meditation (difficulty 8; 9 if the vampire has no knowledge concerning the concepts of Yin and Yang). For each success, one blood point may be aspected to Yin or Yang, noted on the character sheet.
In case of a botch, one blood point will boil and then become inert. The vampire loses one blood point, takes one health level of normal damage and spends a minute in extreme pain. The rite may be performed multiple times in one night. Aspected blood may be used to heal and fuel other blood powered disciplines. Whether the affects are normal or varied is left to the Storyteller. Any unused aspected blood will revert to its normal, neutral state come the next night.
Also, once the Kindred has some aspected blood already within her she may attempt to gain more through feeding (player rolls Willpower, each success allows her to aspect blood upon intake on a one for one basis). The difficulty is six, unless the person is excited (difficulty 4 for Yang blood and difficulty 8 for Yin blood) or dead (difficulty 8 for Yang blood and difficulty 4 for Yin blood).
Optional complication rules: Kindred dabbling in this art may fall prey to Chi imbalance a la the Kuei-jin. Treat all non-aspected blood points as neutral and only take into account blood that has been altered via this rite. Imbalance rules can be found at the end of this document.
Lure of Ghost-Flame is still an experimental path, so side-effects may be common from failures or excessive use (botches go without saying), Storyteller discretion. Side-effects can include backfiring, Rötschreck, misfiring, Derangements, harassment by spirits, banes, wraiths, spectres, or infernal forces, or other more inventive Storyteller trauma. My personal favorite is after excessive use the Beast begins to show signs of sentience and evolves into a P'o of my choosing. Enjoy!
To invoke a power, unless otherwise noted, one spends a blood point aspected to the energy of their desire and rolls Willpower against a difficulty of the power's level +3. Only one success is needed for activation.
Yang-flame is blazing hot and inflicts fairly straightforward fire damage. This damage is aggravated.
Yin-flame is icy and "burns" a victim's soul. Yin-flame inflicts damage against spirits and wraiths provided the vampire can see them. Against material beings, Yin-flame destroys temporary Willpower (the victim may use permanent Willpower, difficulty 6, to soak).
See "Soul Flaying" at the end of this document for details on what happens when a soul has been "scorched" below zero Willpower.
System: It requires one turn of concentration to evoke the power. The vampire can see in pitch darkness, and her bite inflicts an extra die of damage. There is no difference between Yin- or Yang-flame aside from the cosmetic.
System: All hand-to-hand attacks change per the Yin or Yang rules stated above, depending on which blood you use to fuel the power. Flammable foes or objects struck with Yang-flame may ignite (Storyteller's discretion).
System: This functions exactly like a ranged weapon. Again, effects vary depending upon usage of Yin or Yang blood. Every two successes deals one point of respective damage to the target (halves round up). Other trivial (no roll needed) uses of this power include lighting cigarettes and candles at range or destroying light cloth and paper items (strictly Yang-flame). More resilient items may require a roll, Storyteller discretion.
System: If the casting is successful, the subject suffers two of the appropriate wounds (Yang yields two aggravated wounds; Yin yields the loss of two temporary Willpower). For each turn or every full five seconds (whichever is greater) that passes, the victim may attempt to extinguish the flames. Failing or engaging in alternative actions results in an additional two wounds of the chosen type and continued burning. Success indicates that the flames are out and no further damage is inflicted.
System: The vampire faces her target, then may spend more than one aspected blood point in the standard Thaumaturgical roll. For each point spent (of the same aspected type, of course), the attack inflicts three dice of its respective type of damage.
Examples: Yin 0, Yang 2; Yin 3, Yang 1; etc.
Yin Imbalance: The vampire's flesh becomes even more cold and corpse-like -- wound penalties are reduced by half (drop any fractions). Kindred with the Baby Face merit now find they appear like normal Kindred.
The vampire begins to become more and more icy and detached -- the difficulty to resist frenzy is decreased by one.
The vampire's skin becomes clammy and suffused with cold, black ichor -- he may now use his Stamina to resist fire damage.
The vampire begins to crave cold blood and dead flesh, the acquiring of which can wreak havoc on a vampire's Humanity.
The vampire exudes an eerie aura. That combined with the incredibly corpse-like pallor increases the difficulties of all social roles by one -- although there are the rare few who may find the character fascinating or even welcome him in this state, Storyteller discretion.
The vampire begins to become increasingly callous and indifferent to his actions -- the difficulties of all Conscience and Conviction roles are increased by one.
Lastly, the vampire becomes more and more corpse-like the longer the imbalance remains -- each time the vampire botches a roll involving any expenditure of blood, Yin, Yang, or neutral, or is burned by sunlight, Appearance drops by one, permanently.
Should these kinds of actions persist without rectification, stories have been heard circulating among the chantries of Tremere experimenting with this new rite who are now easily mistaken for Samedi.
Yang Imbalance: A vampire who is Yang imbalanced becomes very attuned to his human side. His flesh is warm and of normal hue, and he appears to breathe -- the vampire gains the merit Baby Face for as long as the imbalance lasts.
Most importantly, he is far less affected by sunlight: Indirect sunlight can be borne for up to an hour with no ill effects, and even direct sunlight can be borne for (Stamina x 5) minutes. This in no way affects the vampire's ability to remain awake during the day.
However, the passions of life stir much more readily in such a creature's flesh -- the difficulty of rolls to resist frenzy are increased by one.
In this highly emotional, unstable state a frenzy may be induced by lust for sex or even mortal food.
The vampire also suffers an extra die of damage from fire attacks (the surplus of Yang in the flesh is flammable!).
The vampire also becomes vulnerable to human and vampiric diseases -- each night of imbalance the vampire must make a Stamina roll to see if he contracts a disease (difficulty variable, depending on the environment in which the Kindred finds himself).
The vampire becomes hungry much more quickly -- he is considered ravenous if he has five or fewer blood points in his body, and uncontrollable at two or fewer.
Rumors are also circulating of a Tremere regent who, while under the influence of this new rite, became so frenzied with lust and the memory of sex that he raped a mortal woman and actually managed to impregnate her! These rumors are unconfirmed....
What is known is that one should be very cautious when dealing with this new magick. Many a Tremere has written off the talk of balance being an integral part in nature as superstitious nonsense and, while intoxicated with the obvious benefits of imbalance, soon fell prey to its more sinister aspects.
Storyteller Note Concerning Imbalance: I say use the rules complications. It's not too hard to remember and there's nothing more priceless than seeing the face of a player who is so pleased with the benefits of Yin imbalance change when his nose falls off. ;)
And always remember that knowledge concerning this new rite and path is limited, so drop information scarcely and selectively so as to maintain the air of it having an experimental nature.