The True Dead

Part One

By Michael Brown

The True Dead Breeds

The True Dead hide in the World of Darkness, away from prying eyes. They do not like to mix. The others are too infused with life or are laughable pretenders to Death's service, such as the Vampires and Wraiths. The Mortiane, as they call themselves, are grouped into 5 distinct castes that divide how they come to serve Death: the Revenants, the Liches, the Ghuls, the Golemim and the Zombi. What follows is a description of these breeds, the powers they wield, their weaknesses and their places in the Society of the Dead.

The Revenants

"Oh, what a dust is this, a dust both living and dead!"
-- Louis Grudin, Dust on Spring St.

Standing apart from the families of so-called ghouls who claim the name, the Revenants are those who through sheer force of will have pulled themselves back from death. The Revenants, it is said, have looked on the face of Death and feared what they saw. Eager to avoid Her disapproving frown, they have clambered back into their mortal flesh and replicate the living through will alone.

Revenants make up most of the numbers of the Mortiane. As such their standing begins at Children. It can rise as far as Acolyte.

A Derangement may be taken instead of the Weakness below.

Because the Revenants are usually quite unbalanced from their experience of Death they have a +1 difficulty on all social rolls. The Revenant may choose instead or as well, to construct a personal 'code' that dictates her mode of behaviour, much the same as a Wraith's Passions guide them.

Admirance, Facade, Fates Vision, Reform.

The Liches

"Darkling I listen; and for many a time
I have been half in love with easeful Death..."
-- Keats, Ode to a Nightingale

There are those who choose not to succumb to the eternal cycle of Death and Rebirth, but instead enslave it through magic. These beings are often the most powerful of the True Dead and perhaps most closely serve Lady Death as Her acolytes. Liches often become insubstantial shades that carry the very presence of Death about them.

The Liches are the most favoured figures of La Societ. They are often leaders of the Mortvilles. They begin at Prelate and may progress as far as Acolyte.

The Lich may opt to take a Derangement instead of the following Weakness.

Because of the sheer aura of death surrounding Liches, they often make dangerous actions even more risky just by their presence. All living beings near the Lich suffer a +1 difficulty on all rolls.

Absconce, Admirance, Facade, Reanima, Reform, Vue De Morte.

"We're tapers too, and at our own cost die"
-- John Donne

Those who refuse to die often do so at a terrible cost. Though their bodies die as all things must, to maintain a semblance of life, life itself must be consumed. The flesh of the living becomes the necessary fuel of the dead and many Ghuls without insight into their nature quickly descend into madness.

The Ghuls, though depraved, are quite powerful in Mortiane society. They may begin at Children and progress as far as Acolyte.

The Ghuls must either take three Derangements , two Derangements and a compulsion to consume blood, or one Derangement and a need to eat human flesh. This is a mandatory weakness; it cannot be substituted for a single Derangement.

Absconce, Admirance, Consumptia, Reanima, Reform.

The Golemim

"There will be time, there will be time
To prepare a face to meet the faces that you meet;
There will be a time to murder and create..."
-- T.S. Eliot, The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock

These are the more tightly reined cousins of the Zombi. Oftentimes a Wraith is summoned back into an inanimate object. These can be figures sculpted from clay or stone or even human-like forms such as scarecrows or mannequins. Though they are to a degree more able to communicate than the Zombi, they are often more deeply under the control of their summoners.

The Golemim, though technically little more than Zombi, are afforded a degree of latitude the Zombi are not. They begin at Thrall, but can progress to Prelate, and under exceptional circumstances, can even attain the rank of Magister.

The Golemim simply do not look human. Except under extreme circumstances, they automatically fail all social rolls with humans.

Note: If you are playing a freed Zombi or Golemim you retain a +2 difficulty on all Willpower rolls, as a leftover from your life of magical slavery.

This Weakness may not be substituted for a Derangement.

Absconce, Facade, Lifesong, Plusfort.

In addition Golemim feel no pain as their bodies have no nerve endings. Health penalties should only occur where an injury would seriously impair the ability of the Golem. More Information on Golemim can be found in Merits & Flaws.

The Zombi

"We intend to break the Life Death cycle..."
-- William Burroughs, The Ticket That Exploded

For a time, Wraiths are freed from the shackles of life and flesh, but sometimes this respite is all too brief and their souls are dragged back into the manacles of a strangers' flesh. These slaves to a necromancers' will struggle to scream within this strangers' body, but no sounds issue forth until they learn to control the alien corpse. On that day let their petty magical masters beware.

The Zombi are not regarded as important figures in La Societ. They must begin at Thrall and can not progress further than Children.

Because the Zombi are trapped in a body they are unfamiliar with, each time they wish to perform an action they must make a Willpower roll to be able to use the Attribute involved (difficulty 8, unmodifiable). Once you have gained 10 successes over time on a particular trait, you no longer need to make a Willpower roll to use it. In addition, you can also then use your own traits. This is a mandatory weakness; it cannot be substituted for a Derangement.

Absconce, Fates Vision, Lifesong, Plusfort, Vue De Morte.

Touches of Death: The Abilities of Death's Favoured Children

"The Eyes glaze once-and that is Death
Impossible to feign
The Beads upon the Forehead
By homely Anguish strung."
-- Emily Dickinson

Note: Unless specified elsewhere all Touches require 1 point of Vivae to use. Additionally, all Mortiane can spend Vivae at a rate of 2 per Wound level to heal wounds. Note that this benefit does not apply to Mortiane in non-human bodies.

All Mortiane may put points in any of their beginning Touches at character creation; all other abilities must be learned with experience points.

Absconce

The ability to drain Vivae from a living being and absorb it into yourself. At level 3 you can begin to transfer captured Vivae to another True Dead. Physical contact must be made to absorb Vivae.

System: Manipulation + Absconce (difficulty 8), successes = the number of health levels drained from the victim as Vivae or amount of Vivae transferred to another Mortiane.

Note: A high amount of Vivae not only fuels many of the Touches but also makes you look more like one of the living. Every two points of Vivae you possess subtracts 1 success from a Perception roll against you to detect what you really are. Note that this does not affect Mortiane whose body is non-human. There is no Vivae cost for this Touch.

Admirance

The otherworldly commanding voice and gaze only one of the True Dead could possess.

System: Manipulation + Admirance (difficulty 8), versus the targets Willpower (difficulty 7). If the victim fails, it will obey any one suggestion you make; if the victim botches it is vulnerable to any future suggestions you make (+2 difficulty to resist suggestion).

The ability to enslave another being through force of will.

System: Manipulation + Admirance (difficulty 6, 7 against Mages); 10 successes are needed to totally enslave a being. If the Mortiane's concentration is broken the process must begin again with the difficulty increased by one.

Consumptia

The ability to gain knowledge or wisdom from a being by devouring it. To gain knowledge or information you do not possess the brain must be consumed. To gain strength or physical prowess you do not possess the heart must be consumed, and to gain attributes of the spirit or appearance the eyes and tongue must be consumed. You may only absorb a trait if its owner had it at level 4 or higher, as only these traits are truly infused through its being.

System: Level in Consumptia times 2 versus the following difficulties:

Type of trait	Difficulty
Body	6
Mind	7
Spirit/Social	8

Successes indicate:

• the number of pieces of information you receive relating to a specific question, or
• the number of points you can spend with experience points to increase a specific attribute or ability up to your victim's maximum level, or
• the number of points you can spend with experience points to develop any Numina, Gifts, Disciplines, Spheres, or Blood Affinities, etc, possessed by the consumed individual.

Facade

The ability to look normal, alive and above all not at all terrifying. However each time you use, lose or gain Vivae your true face appears. Lady Death is especially impressed with those who hover through mortal life, disguising their true nature, so impressed they adopt more and more of Her appearance until finally they embody the visage of Death Herself. This functions slightly different for Golemim, as it instead draws attention away from them. People just think they are human without really noticing the blatant differences. The following levels do not really apply to the Golemim, but players and Storytellers are encouraged to come up with similar effects. System: Appearance + Facade for any situation where your appearance is important. This will include avoiding Vampiric Auspex, the Garou gift Sense the Unnatural, and even any True Magick effects. Lady Death protects her own.

Your skin adopts the eerie luminescence of the recent dead and you exude a frightening glow in the dark. You also suffer a +2 difficulty on all rolls involving stealth or hiding.

Your eyes become black pits that evoke fear in the living. You gain a +1 difficulty on all social rolls.

Your skin pulls back from your face, casting a ghoulish grin. You gain a further +1 difficulty on all social rolls.

Your organs decay and all that is left is rotting flesh. You automatically fail all social rolls, you have an appearance of 0 in this form and you also give off an odour of rotting flesh.

Your appearance takes on more and more the very image of Death. You have become a black shadow with only skeletal hands and face visible. All your body hair has fallen out and your teeth have yellowed and shrunk. Your eyes glow a red gleam and all who encounter you must make a Willpower roll not to flee.

Fate's Vision

The ability to look at the dead and discover how they died, or to look at the living and discern how they will die.

System: Perception + Fates Vision (difficulty 5 for Wraiths, 6 for mortals, Mages and all shapechangers, and 7 for Vampires). Raise all difficulties by 2 to discern how a being will die. This information may not prove true in time, however. Successes indicate the complexity of information discovered about the body in question, generally 1 piece of information for every success.

Lifesong

The ability to communicate with all living animals on an empathic level. You will understand their pain, as they do yours.

System: Each level grants you a level of complexity of communication exponential to the last. The roll is Wits + Lifesong to communicate.

*	The dominant feeling may be communicated to the creature, e.g. happy or sad.
**	1 word may be communicated, e.g. hurt or friend.
***	An entire sentence may be communicated.
****	An entire paragraph of information may be conveyed.
*****	You may convey an unlimited amount of information, and even place your consciousness in that creature for a number of hours equal to your current Vivae.

Plusfort

The unearthly strength and endurance of the dead.

System: This trait is added directly to the Strength attribute for feats of strength and to the Stamina attribute for rolls to soak damage.

Reanima

The ability to animate dead flesh through sheer force of will. This does not grant the animated beings any sentience, merely enough intelligence to understand and follow orders. It does not inhabit a body with a wraith; a body is simply made animate through force of will.

System: To animate a body the Mortiane must expend 2 Vivae and 1 Willpower per level used. To create a Companionis Luxmortis, 5 Willpower must be expended as well as a number of Vivae equal to the amount by which you wish to increase the companions' traits. All reanimated beings may be Œcashed in' for the Vivae used to create them with a Reanima roll (difficulty 6).

Note: All physical traits are at 2, all social traits are at 0 and Wits and Perception are at 0.

You can raise a single dead body to perform simple tasks (Int. 1).

You can animate two beings at once (as for *), or animate one being that is slightly smarter (Int. 2).

You have a pool of 3 points of intelligence to allot to a maximum of three bodies.

You have a pool of 4 points of intelligence to allot to a maximum of four bodies.

You have a pool of 5 points of intelligence to allot to a maximum of five bodies.

You may imbue an already animated body with thoughts, feelings and emotions, thereby making it a person.

Reform

You can not kill what does not live. This ability allows you to mend broken flesh and reknit splintered bone.

System: Each level lets you restore that number of wounds each turn on a successful Stamina roll (difficulty 6). Costs 1 Vivae per successful roll, not per success.

Vue de Morte

The ability to interact with the Wraiths in the Shadowlands.

System: The levels in this skill are added to attributes for rolls.

Note: Although all Mortiane can see the inhabitants of the Shadowlands with a Willpower roll, current Gauntlet rating as difficulty, it is only this touch which allows them to physically interact and communicate with its inhabitants and even travel to the Underworld, Stygia, and all the other Dark Kingdoms.

Windows of the Soul

The ability of the True Dead to look into the soul of a living being (not Wraiths or Vampires), and treat their will as an open book. Any Mortiane may learn this ability, but only after Character Creation.

System: All rolls are Man. + Windows of the Soul, difficulty 6. Honesty's Tongue (level ***) and Mortis' Eyes (level ****) are resisted rolls with the victim rolling her Willpower, diff. 6.

You can tell if the being is lying or not.

You can discern what emotion the being is currently feeling the strongest.

You can convince the being that you are telling the truth, even if you're not.

You can recognise the beings deepest fears.

You can force the being to experience your death first hand.

Sects of the Dead

The True Dead are an old race, and over time, like other sentient creatures, they form ideals and beliefs. Not all of these groups agree however, and some are even labelled heretics. All's not well in the Garden of Bones.

The Dead are like any other society. They form organisations, cliques and revolutionary cells. The following are some of the more noteworthy Earthbound groups. It should be noted that joining any one of these Groups is not mandatory.

Group Touches

Some Touches have two abilities within one level. They must be learned separately. The cost for each ability is the cost to raise the Touch to that level. Only an actual group member may be taught the Touch of that group. Unless stated otherwise, or if the Touch enables the acquisition of Vivae, all Touches cost 1 point of Vivae to use.

The Bone Gang

More than a gang, but somewhere less than a movement, the Bone Gang exists to free enslaved dead. All Mortiane must be free and all are equal in the eyes of Bone Gang vengeance. From the worst Giovanni slaver to the most respected Lich, no-one is above reproach.

Mostly Zombi and Golemim; there are also a few Puppets and Revenants.

The Bonegangers espouse the equality of Death. All beings die and so, in death no being should be enslaved. Shatterbinding is a Touch used to break any bonds, mental or physical.

* Detect Bond: With a successful Per. + Shatterbinding roll, diff. 7, a Boneganger may sense any kind of restraint in her immediate surroundings.

** Shatter Vision's Bond: With a successful Per. + Shatterbinding roll against a difficulty of 8 you may destroy any illusions you look upon, including Vampiric Obfuscate and Chimerstry.

*** Shatter Minds Bonding: With a successful Wits + Shatterbinding roll against a difficulty of 8, any holds over you or another's mind are broken, including Mage Mind effects.

*** Shatter Body's Constraint: With a successful Str. + Shatterbinding roll against a difficulty of 7, bonds such as ropes or handcuffs will fall away from your wrists.

**** Shatter Souls Bondage: With a successful Man. + Shatterbinding roll against a difficulty of 8, things such as Vampire Blood Bonds and Mortiane thralldom can be broken completely.

***** Break Life's Grip: With a successful Wits + Shatterbinding roll, diff. 10, a body's soul can be released from that body. This is not a natural death and the body continues to operate. These empty beings are called Greylings. They can be made into Vampires or Wraiths, but they are neither human nor alive anymore, and have no will of their own (Willpower 0).

The Bone Gang are distrusted by the Acolytes, though they are at least tolerated, because of their heritage. Membership in the Bone Gang reduces your standing by one ranking.

The Ravensons

The Sons of the Raven are the faction of the Mortiane who have the closest ties with the Corax wereravens. They are a secretive, though not secret, society. Eaters of the dead and bearers of secrets, the Ravensons are the seekers and codifiers of the mysteries of Life and Death. Ravensons, it is said though not often believed, know all that is and strive to know what shall be.

Predominantly Ghuls, some Liches, fewer Revenants.

The Ravensons share a close relationship with the Ravens. They are two of a kind in the court of Death.

* Call to Kind: With a successful Cha. + Song of the Raven roll, diff. 6, you may call a Raven to you.

** Hear Ravens' Call: You can hear a raven's call (which you are obligated to respond to) and understand the meaning of what it says.

*** Ravens' Tongue: You can caw in Raven, communicating as they do.

**** Ravens' Flight: You may soar through the sky as your Raven brethren do.

***** Walking with Murder: You may be accompanied by a murder of Ravens with a successful Call to Kind.

Ravensons are hailed as the oracles and mystics of La Societ, and as such are afforded rare respect. Being a Son of the Raven gives you an increase of one ranking.

If there is a goal of the faction known as the Bogeymen, it is inscrutable to a maddening degree. The Bogeymen, it is rumoured, exist only to scare , and some say brag about it later. It is said by some that the living have blocked out of their memories the nightmares they used to live with side by side, the nightmares that gave their brief lives a tang to savour.

Some Golemim and even some Familiaris Maleficari, beyond that, unknown.

* Smell Fear: The Bogeyman can detect fear. To the Bogeyman it is a rich, sweet aroma. The system is a Per. + Phobae roll, diff. 6.

** Frighten: With a normal Intimidation roll the Bogeyman may swell the Intimidation up to a nervous terror.

*** Taste: At this point the Bogeyman can taste and devour fear as a substance and convert it into Vivae. System: Man. + Phobae, diff. 8, successes = amount of Vivae consumed.

**** Souls Scream: This allows the Bogeyman to emit a blood-curdling scream. All those within earshot must make a Willpower roll to avoid running or hiding in terror.

***** Lingering Terror: With a successful Man. + Intimidation roll, diff. 8, you can give a person a recurring nightmare of you. Successes = both the number of weeks the nightmare lasts and the amount of Vivae leeched to the Bogeyman each week.

The Bogeymen are not understood by La Societ, so they have no particular modification in their standing.

The Slayers

Death is a blessing and many mortals are deserving of Lady Deaths' graces. The Slayers were revered by the death cult which later became the Euthanatos Tradition of Mages. The Slayers kill those who abuse Life's Gift. Perhaps their soul being remoulded in the arms of Lady Death will teach them to appreciate it.

Revenants and Liches, mostly.

Grace is a Touch used to find those who have wasted the Gift of Life, reveal this fact to them and, if necessary end their lives.

* Sense Wastage: This level grants the ability to see the Ebb of Vivae. This is a state where the body retains little Vivae and the mortal is content to let it drain away. System: Per. + Grace, diff. 5.

** Sense Vivae: This level allows the Slayer to see the amount of Vivae in a body. System: Per. + Grace, diff. 6. The average human has 10 Vivae; very happy and healthy ones have as many as 15. Couch potatoes usually have 5. Blood Dolls and other dead wannabes usually have no more than 3.

*** Incisive Tongue: This level allows you to speak into a persons very nature and lets him know how full or empty his life has been. The roll is Man. + Grace. If the person chooses to refuse what you are saying he must make a Willpower roll, with your successes subtracted from his. The difficulty for both rolls is 7.

**** Forced Vision: This level allows you to show the Ebb in a person's Vivae to her. This is a life-altering vision and those who see it can no longer be the people they were. People are given a choice; continue on your path and be released from life or repent now. The roll is the same as for ** Sense Vivae.

**** Gift of Hope: This ability lets you give a person of low Vivae some of your own. This is usually done for people who have had the hope within them crushed by another, and can be done on both living and dead beings. System: Cha. + Grace, diff. 8, each success = 1 point of Vivae transferred. Effects: restores all temporary Willpower and raises permanent Willpower by 1. This can only be done to a person once in his life.

***** Commend to the Lady: After judging whether a life has been wasted, the Slayer may take all of the Vivae left in a person, leaving her to the Lady's Mercy. System: Man. + Grace, diff. 8, 1 success = a complete drain of Vivae.

The Slayers are a necessary function of La Societ; however because their group neither advances nor detracts from the rule of the Acolytes they have no particular standing modification.

The Terrorartists

The Artists believe that the works of Death are as beautiful as the mortals believe the works of Life are. With this in mind, they pursue the skirting around and toying with of Death. Driving down the road the wrong way, juggling grenades in shopping malls, rolling prams down steep hills, these things and more are works of beauty to the Terrorartists.

Revenants mostly, smatterings of the others.

When all is said and done, the Dodge rolls have failed, the soak rolls didn't, and it looks as if you may have gone just a bit too far, Terrorartists may roll their dice in this Touch to get off completely and utterly scot free. This is a last resort Touch, to be used when everything else has failed. System: Roll your dicepool in Ladys' Mercy against a difficulty of 7. One success = survival.

The Artists are regarded as an inherent contradiction, the loyal anarchists of their society. Their standing is not overtly modified but may swing up or down by one depending on their circumstances.

The Knifedancers

These Dead are a heretical sect who believe in revealing Deaths' Mysteries to the living, and letting them keep them. Only close experiences with Death reveal Her secrets. Therefore, mortals must be exposed to death often and repeatedly. Starvation, torture these are merely initiations into Her mysteries. Most Mortiane regard the introduction of any of Deaths' Mysteries to the living as blasphemy of the highest order.

Any.

This Touch can bring humans into death and back again. It is also used to create the Death-touched mortals called Necroids.

* Cause Pain: With physical contact and a Wits + Dark Dance roll, difficulty 7, you can inflict a sharp pain on someone. The damage is taken from Wits, not Strength, as the pain is more psychic than physical. If your first roll netted 5 or more successes, the pain is aggravated. Constant Willpower rolls are required to endure the pain. This only affects living beings.

** Deaths' Reflection: Whenever the Mortiane see a being die, they feel its pain and absorb some of its Vivae. System: Make a straight Perception roll, difficulty 5. If you succeed you feel her pain and see her last moment through her eyes. This is very traumatic and the Mortiane needs to make a Willpower roll to avoid gaining a Derangement. Nonetheless the Mortiane gains 1D10 Vivae. The Mortiane makes a Necrot roll to see if its Necrot advances by one point. The difficulty for this is 9.

*** Near Bliss Experience: With a successful Per. + Dark Dance roll, difficulty 8, you can grant a living person the temporary ability to see into the Shadowlands for successes = hours.

**** Flatline: If a person is at Incapacitated, the level one ability can be used to automatically plunge the person into death. With another Wits + Dark Dance roll, diff. 9, the person may be bought back. For every success on this roll the mortal may gain 1 point of Necrot, i.e, an understanding of what it means to be dead.

***** Necroid: By accumulating 10 successes on a Wits + Dark Dance roll, diff. 8, a living person may be made into an initiate of the ways of the dead: a Necroid. Necroids are still alive but may learn Touches and have Necrot ratings. This is different from the level 4 ability as level 4 only conveys an understanding of Necrot, not the ability to learn Touches. Nonetheless, if the Necroid has already had the level 4 ability done to him, the diff. is 6, not 8.

Note: Necroids can only learn the Touches of their instructor up to level 3; any further requires the Necroid to die.

All Knife Dancers are automatically Outcasts.

The Bonesingers

The Bonesingers are curious, even among the Dead. They dwell on the dusty remains of long dead mortals, sifting among them for lost talents and skills. According to the Bonesingers, the remains of the dead have small, but effective traces of power in them. Bones are the very symbol of the dead, and their Touch reflects the true wealth of knowledge held by the dead.

Any.

* Psychometria: With a Per. + Bonesinging roll, difficulty equal to the number of years dead the mortals' bones are, the Bonesinger can read these bones for traces of who the person was and what she did. Each success equals 1 piece of information read from the bone.

** Sing the Song Within: The Bonesinger begins to hear the melody of memory held by the bone, and can draw it out a little. With a Per. + Music roll, difficulty 8, the Bonesinger may be able to extract the one greatest talent the mortal had from the bone. A single success is all that is needed. This essentially means that by holding the bone the Mortiane could say 'This person was a great fighter (eg, had Brawl 5)'.

*** Infusing the Gift: With a successful Man. + Bonesinging roll, difficulty 7, the mortal's greatest talent (as deciphered in **) may be infused into the bone, giving it the ability to use the gift. For example the above bone, if used in a fight would effectively have a potential Brawl pool of 5, which could be added to your own Attribute. If the Mortiane attempts to use the bone, its pool will always initially be 1, no matter how high the reading of it is, and the difficulty is always 1 higher to use it.

**** Bonecrafting: With a successful Dex. + Bonesinging roll, difficulty 6, the bone may be sculpted into its' true shape. The true shape varies. An alcoholics skull becomes a cup; a warriors leg bone becomes a razor sharp sword; a writers finger becomes a pen. The successes on this roll are critical, as the number of successes equals the dicepool you can use with this item in related tasks. E.g. if you used a warrior's leg bone as a weapon it grants you the successes as points in Melee, regardless of whether you possess that skill or not. These points may not exceed the level deduced from *** Infusing the Gift. Also the previous levels difficulty increase, and dice pool limitation are no longer in evidence.

***** Freeing the Bone: Any Bonecrafted item may be freed, in that it develops a certain kind of independence. It can only use its dicepool, however in tasks related to its nature.

Although the Bonesingers are regarded as unusual, they do not have any modification to their initial standing.

The Daughters of Death

The Daughters are a small sect of Mortiane who directly serve the Priestess of Mysteries, Lady Death. They claim to be witness to Her most sacred mysteries. They say that as Death manifests as a feminine identity, only women can truly represent the forces of Life and Death.

Any, as long as their soul is feminine.

The Touch of the Daughters of Death, Di Bellis Mysteris, is represented as a deeper understanding of the nature of Life and Death. This, in essence, means that their points in Di Bellis Mysteris are added directly to their Necrot trait, to represent the comprehensive depth of their theories and wisdom on the ways of Death. There is no Vivae cost.

Though many Acolytes regard the Daughters as bordering on heresy, for all are equal in Death, the truth is they are more than a little wary of them. So, despite the fact that they are sometimes rudely treated, they do not suffer any overt standing modification.

The Black Guard

The Guard is a group who directly serve the Acolytes. They roam throughout the World of Darkness, passing judgement. They take no action once their judgement is made; they merely relay data back to their masters. The Guard are the eyes and ears of the Acolytes. Many paranoid Mortiane distrust the Guard, fearing they could doom any of the Dead with a word.

Any, except traditionally the Zombi and Golemim are excluded.

In Egyptian mythology the heart is weighed against the Feather of Truth, to ascertain the virtue of the soul entering the Underworld. For the Guard, however, the Touch Feathers Balance is a way of looking into a Mortiane and drawing truth from them. System: Roll Feathers Balance, difficulty 6, each success = 1 piece of information the Mortiane must tell the Guardsman or 1 question the Guardsman can ask and get an immediate response.

The Guard are highly regarded, if not a little feared, and automatically begin at Prelate.

The Plague Lords

Death is decay and all things wither and rot. The Plague Lords are a small sect and their beliefs are atypical. Nothing should be saved from Death, nothing should be rescued. Chosen as Deaths' Children, the Mortiane have a duty to spread the contagion of Death among the living.

All, except the Golemim.

For each point in this Touch, the Plague Lord must adopt a sign. A sign is a mark of decay. Each sign subtracts one point of Appearance until level 3 when Appearance automatically drops to 0. The Plague Lords wear these afflictions as badges of merit, proud in their role as the physical personifications of ever-consuming Death. The Plague Lords develop this ability, not in order to exert a power, but to display their faith. Each level does make the Plague Lord more contagious, however, and the levels should be used by the Storyteller to add to the difficulty of Stamina rolls to withstand disease, and to determine damage from the disease.

Example Signs

• Leprous skin: the skin begins to peel and drop off.
• Fetid stench: you give off a revolting odour.
• Boils: the skin wells up in purple pus-filled boils.
• Fly-blown: flies buzz around you incessantly.

While they are not so openly reviled as the Knifedancers, they are certainly far from favoured. The Plague Lords suffer a -1 in their starting rank.