By Kelevor40@aol.com
Inhauhaten,
I hope this letter finds you well, and that it finds only you. To those who do not go by the name Inhuahaten and read this, know that the wrath of the curse in this paper is great, and only Inhauhaten or myself can read this.
There, now that unpleasentary is over with, let me get done to my report. I apologize about the lateness of my this paper, but the adventures I had to go through to obtain this information were lengthy and grueling.
Below is the list of the Anteduliveans to represented clans and their dominant powers. I do not know if this is correct or not, but these were the best answers I could cook up:
| Ventrue | Kingship | Presence | Veddartha (May also be known as Nergal) |
| Tremere | Sorcerers | Thaumaturgy | Tremere |
| Toreador | Beauty | Auspex | Arikel |
| Nosferatu | Hidden | Obsfucate | Absimiliard |
| Malkavian | Madness | Dementation | Malkav |
| Gangrel | Wilds | Protean | Gangrel (or Ennoia, or Lilith) |
| Brujah | Rebels | Celerity | Troile |
| Lasombra | Power | Obtenebration | Lasombra |
| Tzimisce | Shape | Vicissitude | Andeleon |
| Setites | Corruption | serpents | Set |
| Ravnos | Tricks | Chimestry | Ravnos |
| Giovanni | Money | Necromancy | Augustus |
| Assamite | Assasination | Quietus | Haqim |
| Baali | Demon | Daimoinon | Shaitan |
| Nagaraja | Entropy | Nihilistics | ?? |
| Cappadocians | Death | Mortis | Ashur |
| Salubri | Healing | Obeah | Saulot |
| True Brujah | Knowledge | Temporis | Brujah |
| Old Tzimisce | Manipulations | Dominate | Tzimisce |
| Niktuku | Horror? | ?? | Absmiliard??? |
This was the best I could do, hope it is any help in your research.
Now as far as I understand it, the Nuwisha are divided into three major sects, the Nuwisha Proper (what everyone thinks of the Nuwisha, runaways to the Umbra), the Lartans (Nuwisha who have stayed on this Realm, did not flee to the Umbra, and masquerade as Garou) and the Others (Nuwisha Lartans who truly think they are garou, or have turned to the wyrm). In each sect, there are smaller cultures. Cultures mean nothing as far as tribe gifts and the like, and most Nuwisha do not care one way or another what culture they are classified into.
The history of the Nuwisha sects and cultures goes as follows. During the War of Rage, the Garou badly reduced the Nuwisha population. The Nuwisha held a Council of the Coyotes and had a vote. Some thought that they should flee into the Umbra to try to find a new home. Others wished to stay, and use their gifts to hide from the Garou. And so they divided. The Nuwisha who stayed became known as Lartans. Cultures of Nuwisha have been around forever, except for the Umbral Dancers and the Ennoya. Asking a Nuwisha what culture she belongs to is just as pointless as asking a high schooler if she is a "jock" or a "nerd" or a "prep" etc. They have no real meaning other than most Nuwisha of the same sect have the same mannerisms. Only the Acropoli take any sort of meaning in cultures, and they are the ones who named and classified most of them. Here is a basic list of the Nuwisha cultures, along with what actions to expect from them as well as what sect.
Lartan Scarlet Thorns are rare, but usually hide amongst the Red Talons until they turn on them. There are a few more Scarlet Thorns with the Proper Nuwisha, but the sum of all Scarlet Thorns is small.
I have uncovered information on a race of shape shifters that became extinct long ago. These sad cases are called the Crocuta, or were-hyena. I wouldn't have discovered their existence if I hadn't attack and steal all the information out of a certain Arcanum Chantry. I am sure, however, that the records in that Chantry were the only records of the Crocuta.
Like the other bete, Gaia supposedly gave the Crocuta a certain job when they were first conceived. The Garou were the protector/warriors, the Bastet were the watchers, the Corax were the messengers, Gurahl the healers, Nuwisha entertainers. And the Crocuta made sure the job was done. After the warriors destroyed a Wyrm in some sort of battle, the Crocuta came by and finished it, if it needed to be. They were the scavengers of the Bete, and perhaps, the least liked. The Garou were too proud to admit that they made mistakes, and felt that the Crocuta didn't have a reason to exist.
However, it wasn't the Garou who first initiated the decline of the Crocuta, it was the Wyrm. The Wyrm had a small dilemma. During a confrontation with Gaia's chosen, the Wyrm had two choices in its best defense. One was to attack, which would result in its surely being killed. The other was to pretend to be dead, to play possum. This was offset by the Crocuta, who made sure something was dead if it looked dead. So the Wyrm quietly and slowly began killing off the Crocuta, one by one. The Wyrm also then realized that none of the other bete would come to the Crocuta's aid, so it started a full-scale war on the Crocuta. At about that time the Garou did something that even startled the Wyrm; they began the War of Rage. The Wyrm hissed with delight.
The Wyrm was not idle during the War of Rage; it passed itself even into the garou packs, and bade the Galliards and other tale-keepers to forget about the other bete, especially the Crocuta. The Garou did so. The Wyrm did the same with the other bete, and soon the Crocuta were nearly forgotten. Few Crocuta were left to remembered about anyway. Those who were still alive were mistaken for Black Spiral Dancers, with their slaver-jawed maws and hooping laughs. They were killed on sight. No Crocuta presence has been recorded ever since.
A short history. After the first Garou was captured by DNA about four years ago, the labs immediately began research on two aspects of a Bete's nature: shape-shifting and fast healing. Fortunately, they have not managed to uncover the secrets of the rapid healing of the Bete, but they have learned about shape-shifting. They combined the genes of a bear and a human using the rudimentary techniques that they know, and came up with a short-lived, mentally retarded but physically powerful were-bear. From what my contact tells me, the Lumberjacks have a life-span of about three months, maturing in two weeks. They have created a total of thirty-five of these monstrosities, but only seven are alive currently. They are used primarily for manual labor, but make fine guards and warriors when DNA is hunting more garou.
I was on a road in northern Wisconsin, with my friends and allies Darverlio (an Ennoya Nuwisha, the first Nuwisha I had met), Jim Scout (a human researcher), and Robert (a vampire with a unique story that I will tell you later in this report). We were following a lead about odd occurrences in the area, and I believing them to be supernatural. The farms we passed were abandoned, or destroyed. Everywhere we looked dead cattle and farmers littered the area.
That is, all but this one herd of cattle on the side of the highway. They looked like strays, and we wondered how they'd survived and the other herds hadn't. We stopped and got out of the car to investigate. Great Ra how I wish we didn't. One of the cows stood up. Yes, stood up, on hind legs and began walking to us, like a human would. We all stopped in our tracks. As it got closer, we could see that it looked much like a garou would in crinos form, only as a cow instead of a wolf. It had the head, hair, hands and feet of a cow, but it moved like a man. As it got closer, we could see sharp teeth glaring out of its mouth, and the hooves at the ends of it's appendages were razor sharp. It grinned at us, and we could see madness in its eyes. The cows behind it also underwent some kind of change. Some stayed as cows, others transformed into something more human looking than the one approaching us. It stopped about ten yards away, and looked back at the herd. With a startling shout of "for the Great Grass Man," the entire herd rushed us. We ran back to the car for safety, locking the doors and rolling up the windows. The herd surrounding us began pushing at the car, trying to squeeze us inside. Jim pulled out his shot gun and fired out of the closed windows. It should be noted that the shots were not silver, but they did the normal amount of damage a shot gun would, and the cow-people did not seem to heal it. Finally, after fully half the herd was killed, the fled. We got out of the car, Jim still shooting and Darverlio, in Manbazahoo form (coyote crinos), chased after them. When they had finally gotten out of site, Robert fainted and Jim got sick on the ground. I didn't blame them.
Later I discovered that similar sightings had occurred, centered around Pentex farms and DNA laboratories. The researchers at DNA believe that a renegade scientist from their ranks created them, using them to exact revenge on the two companies. What I learned about their biology and culture is this: they do not heal at the rapid rate that other bete do, but they do not take aggravated damage from silver; they are all hopelessly insane, and are used by the "great grass man" to attack farms that are owned by servants of the Wyrm; they are planted in various herds in farms, and then left to destroy everything. Note that I said that they are used to attack the Wyrm, this does not mean that they attack only the Wyrm. They will attack and kill anything. I have named them Angi and their forms Glabro, Crinos, and Angus. Breeds that I have identified are the Stud and the Steer. Studs are the Angi created in the labs, and breed with normal cattle. Steers are an Angi born to a Stud and a cow. I have not found any metis Angi. I would assume that they have a life span of about a year, being killed far before then. I am basing this off the fact that I have not found any immature Angi, and they have only showed themselves in the past three years. I am unsure what to do about the Angi. They are servants of a warrior against the Wyrm, but they only hate the wyrm second-handedly. I think I will not take any direct action against them as long as they serve this "Great Grass Man," but after they lose allegiance to him. . .
The Souleaters are probably the Wyrm's most effective tool. Both the Garou and the Black hand are warriors against them, and the Nephandi, Pentex, and the Tzimsice are their pawns. In short, Souleaters are the Wyrm. The Wyrm represents corruption and decay; original job was to destroy excess Law or Chaos, and at first I thought that this meant simple annihilation. This was not so. The Wyrm did not destroy the excess existence; it changed it to some of its own. It slowly gathered up an army of matter, all of it corrupted creation. For this reason I think the Wyrm was always against Gaia; it was just biding its time for it to release its creations/corruptions. Wyrm destroys excess creation, but what exactly is excess, it thought. So, destroy everything. Another thought, if creation turned to him, it would no longer be creation, hence it would be destroyed. The Wyrm is not mad as the Garou think; it is only doing what it was told to do. I am not defending it mind you, I am only presenting its side of the story. What I just said does not mean to stop the Shadow Crusade or the Apocalypse war. . .
The Souleaters were first brought to Earth from the Umbra by a Tzimisce named Andeleon. I think that this was not a random occurrence, but intervention by the Wyrm loving bastard mages, the Nephandi (ever notice the resemblance in names between the Nephandi and a certain organ in a worm's body involved in the excretion of liquid waste?). The disease spread to almost all of the Tzimisce, except those in the Black Hand. From there it spread to all creatures, and was eventually harnessed by Pentex. Pentex mages and scientists have learned the ritual required to call a Souleater spirit from the Umbra, and began infecting their own workers.
I am still unsure how this disease is spread. I know it is transmitted through blood, and possibly by air. Vicissitude can infect anything, Vampire, human, Garou, insect, tree, stone, anything. However, it only has the abilities and powers of whatever it's current host is. A Souleater tree would still resemble a tree, albeit mutated and deranged.
Souleaters in their purest forms are called Banes. When one first starts to infect a host, the host develops the discipline vicissitude, which needless to say isn't a discipline. When the transformation is complete, the original creature is long tortured and dead, and the Souleater has full power and control over the host's identity. It has access to the host's powers, her thoughts, her memories, and personality. In short, the bane is the host, with the exception that now its heart and soul belongs to the Wyrm. The Souleater has a choice; stay in the form it is in and wreak havoc, or mutate into a fleshy blob (called fomori) and wreak havoc. Pentex created Souleaters usually assume fomori form.
The Shadow Crusade fought by the Black Hand and the Garou is a hard battle, especially when the two warriors in it are not allies. I ask you, try to get the Black Hand to make some sort of an alliance with the Garou, and I will do the same with my garou contacts. If we could fight together against the Souleaters, the battle might not be so hard. I have instructed all of my followers to destroy anything that shows any resemblance to Vicissitude, and I hope you do the same.
Disciplines I have learned more than enough about. No vampire that I have contacted seems to know the true nature of disciplines, and obviously even the Black Hand elders do not know, else you wouldn't have asked me to investigate the subject. Vampires do seem to know this though; disciplines do derive from blood. They are correct for what I know. Vampiric blood does not seem to be a curse, as some believe. Rather it is just blood fueled with a minor variety of Quintessence. A vampire is given mental control over her blood. Caine supposedly had the most Quintessence in his blood, and the amount seems to have decreased through the generations of vampires. It is the variety of Quickening in the blood that prevents true Magic from being cast, as the Tremere regrettably (in their mind) learned.
Disciplines are highly misunderstood. They do not come in different forms, such as Dominate or Thaumaturgy. Those aspects are only derived from the vampires mind. If one could open one's mind to the powers of blood, they would have full mastery of disciplines, regardless of Clan or Generation. I learned this from Robert. After he had mistakenly tried to gain sustenance from me when I first met him, he agreed to be my research tool, my guinea pig.
I had been working on a hekau/necromancy spell for some time, one that allowed the recipient to open his/her mind to full awareness of the body. I did not expect it to have the results it did; it did not turn out to what I expected. I cast it on two subjects, a vampire (Robert) and a human. The human was killed. Robert, on the other hand, was. . . words fail me. After my casting of the ritual was complete, both glowed instantly with a blinding light. When it cleared, my human assistant was dead, and Robert was about fifty feet up in the air. His body was limp, and a look of raw power was on his face. He stayed in the air for about five minutes, then fell to the ground and fell asleep. He didn't awake until seven nights later. Fortunately, my researchers and I were out of the building when it exploded upon his awakening. He came to us immediately. He did not take his time to physically come to us; he just appeared the moment of the explosion. I could see that he was changed. He started showing off his new powers, and he would have probably killed me (yes, I do think that I was in mortal danger as impossible as it may seem for a mummy) and destroyed my laboratories. Fortunately, he didn't. He did seem to have full control over his blood though, and had access to almost all known disciplines and a few that I had never seen before. Some of the disciplines that did not show were Vicissitude, Chimestry, Daimoinon, and a few others. I would guess that this means that those disciplines are not true Vampiric powers, and derive from something else. He bade me to destroy my notes on the ritual, which I did. He then left me. Where he went, I don't know, the Umbra or back in time, as far as I know. I only had a moment to contemplate it, for Robert returned about a minute later.
Centuries had passed for him, seconds for me. He told me of his travels, of the times he had seen and then told me almost all I now know of the Umbra (I am sure you know more about the Umbra than I do, so I will not speak of it now). He then proceeded to instruct some of my other vampire helpers new disciplines. I managed to write the affects down. I am sure you know of Fortitude, Celerity, and Potence. They are all just supernatural physical attributes. He told of how to do the same to ones mental, social, and spiritual powers. He also seemed to have gained Garou gifts, and Magics, but he would not say how he acquired these. He then left us again, never to be seen again. Even though he is my close friend, I sincerely hope he is killed or stopped, or at least never shows up in this dimension. He is far too powerful for this world to handle, I think he can take the lords of hell, all the mummies in the world, and even Caine on in battle at the same time and win. I regret ever creating this ritual.
I guess that is all I have to say. I await your next assignment, as I am bored without research. I hope to have more information about Bete and the Umbra by the time you give me more jobs, and I will send you what I learn when I learn it. For now, I bid you fare well
If a Nuwisha wishes to learn magic, he must first look for a master who already knows the secrets. Once doing so, he begins his tutelage. At rank one, a Nuwisha can learn level one disciplines of Chimestry, Thuamaturgy, Auspex, and Obteneration. He can also learn Hedge magics described in the Inquisition: Via Ignis, Via Medicamenti, and Via Oraculi. All other paths are of the Wyrm, and are banned from Nuwisha. Rituals are the same. A Nuwisha who learns Magic instead of Gifts cannot practice the normal rituals. Instead, these are replaced by Thaumaurgical Rituals. Though some of these powers may not be of much use to a Nuwisha, it is what they have.
There is a penalty to using magic. Every time a discipline or a Magic is cast, it costs one Gnosis, no matter what rank or level the power is. Gnosis can be regained in the normal way. However, should the Gnosis of a spell-casting Nuwisha be dropped to zero, it can never be regained. Magic is then drawn from willpower, which is also regained normally. Should both Gnosis and Willpower be dropped to zero for any reason, the Nuwisha is no longer a Nuwisha. He loses his sanity and memories, and turns to the wyrm. Such a being is called a Coy-hounds by Nuwisha. Coy-hounds are solitary and murderous, and tend to be killed by frightened victims before long, albeit with difficulty. Stats for a Coy-hound are the same for a normal Nuwisha, except they have no Gnosis or Willpower, and practice any kind of hedge magic, even the devil-dealing ones. They are forever trapped in Crinos form.
| Homid | Glabro | Crinos | Hispo | Ursine | |
| Strength | 2 | 7 | 9 | 6 | 4 |
| Stamina | 2 | 4 | 6 | 4 | |
| Dexterity | 2 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| Appearance | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 2 |
| Manipulation | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Charisma | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Intelligence | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Wits | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 |
| Perception | 3 | 3 | 2 | 3 | 3 |
Abilities: Brawl:4, Dodge:1, Athletics:1, Survival:2 Primal-urge:1
Gnosis: 0
Willpower:10
Rage:10
Lumberjacks have no Gifts and follow orders of DNA technicians without question. They do not have rapid healing, nor are they affected by silver. They cannot enter the Umbra.
Beginning rage: 10, beginning Gnosis: 0
Steers: Born to an Angi and a normal Cow Beginning rage: 8, beginning Gnosis: 2
Glabro (near human): They are hairier, fatter, and have small horns. str: +2, sta +2, app 1, dex -1, manip 1
Crinos: (cow-man): Appears as a large cow standing upright. Carnivorous teeth (2 dice dmg), razor-sharp hooves (str+3 dmg), and large horns (str +2 dmg). str +5, sta +3, app 0, dex -1, manip 0.
Cow: Normal cow in all respects, mental and physical.
str 4, dex 1, stam 4, app: 2, manip 0, cha 0, int 0, obs 2, wits 0
Angi are at constant rage in Glabro and Crinos forms. They cannot enter the umbra, are not affected by silver, and do not heal at rapid rate. They have a totem of sorts, the Great Grass Man, though he gives no special powers. Angi have no gifts per se.
Note, this discipline should not be utilized by Player Characters. It is only an excuse should the ST wish to bring in a super powerful Cainite antagonist with none-vampiric powers.