Mind's Eye Theatre - Vampire The Requiem.pdf - RoseRed

torpor chapter • frenzy, one: wassail society and of the rötschreck
damned 253
Frenzy, Wassail and Rötschreck
Vampires work hard to hide the Beast Within. The politics of the Invictus and Carthians,
the mysticism of the Ordo Dracul, Lancea Sanctum and the Circle of the Crone, even the
bravado of the unbound — all are masks that vampires wear to hide the rage and bloodlust of
the Beast, most of all from themselves. Hunger, wrath or fear, however, can weaken the Man
enough that the Beast escapes restraint. Then a vampire becomes a monster and menace to
every creature that crosses its path. The Kindred call this awful state frenzy.
THE NATURE OF FRENZY
During frenzy, a vampire no longer acts according to any rational plan. The Beast doesn’t
think. It acts based on raw instinct, with no thought for the future or memory of the past.
The Kindred no longer recognizes friends, foes or family. Any creature with blood in its veins
is reduced to obstacle or prey. While in frenzy, hungry vampires try to feed without restraint
from whoever is nearest. Angry vampires do anything possible to destroy the cause of their
anger. Frightened vampires fl ee the source of their fear and kill anyone who gets in the way.
They care nothing for the consequences of their actions, only for the immediate satisfaction
of a primal drive.
When the Kindred refer to “frenzy,” without any qualifi er, they usually mean an outburst
caused by anger. Kindred give special names to frenzies caused by hunger and fear. The former,
they call Wassail; the latter, Rötschreck. Young Kindred who think it’s pretentious to assign
fancy names to ugly rampages simply speak of “hunger frenzy” and “fear frenzy.”
All these forms of frenzy have certain aspects in common. A vampire who succumbs to the
Beast no longer pays attention to wound penalties, except perhaps to rage even more fi ercely.
Injuries that would leave a sane vampire crawling on the ground don’t bother a frenzying
vampire a bit — the Kindred keeps fi ghting until he is forced into torpor or is destroyed.
The vampire also becomes resistant to mental infl uences such as Dominate and Majesty. A
frenzying Kindred routinely pushes his physical abilities to the limit, performing extraordinary
feats of strength, agility and toughness. Kindred can employ their Disciplines while in
frenzy, but only for the most rudimentary ends. For instance, a vampire can grow Claws of
the Wild to attack prey, or use Nightmare to drive people away who interfere with her fl ight,
but she cannot command anyone using Dominate because that Discipline requires speech
and a focused mind.
A vampire can slide from some kinds of frenzy to others. Yet, some forms of frenzy protect
the vampire from others. Hunger frenzy is the weakest. A Wassailing vampire can be
driven into a rage frenzy if he is kept from his prey, or a suffi cient threat can drive him into
Rötschreck. Self-preservation takes precedence over hunger, but sheer rage can overpower
self-preservation if someone fi ghts too hard to stop a fl eeing vampire. While in a rage frenzy,
a Kindred becomes immune to Rötschreck, but she can slide into a hunger frenzy as she
guzzles the blood of a victim.
SYSTEMS FOR FRENZY
The Storyteller decides when a character runs the risk of frenzy. Anger can cause frenzy, but
not every moment of irritation stirs the Beast. Hunger provokes the Beast, but most of the
time characters can feed without going berserk and killing their vessels. Rötschreck — the “Red
Fear” — usually occurs only when Kindred face the two forces most able to destroy them, fi re