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

people who confront him with trauma such as accusations, disturbing truths or heated arguments.
Make a Resolve + Composure draw for your character to avoid escaping or attacking
the source of trauma. The player and Storyteller should also designate a set of conditions that
trigger the character’s mood swings and delusions. Under these conditions, a -2 penalty applies
to resist frenzy and Rötschreck as the vampire’s mind is racked by imaginary horrors.
Your character must experience a life-altering trauma or supernatural tragedy to acquire
this extreme derangement. It cannot normally be acquired by failing a Humanity draw unless
the sin performed is truly gut wrenching or horrifi c.
Golconda and Transcendence
The burden of undeath weighs heavily on most Kindred. Not only are they denied the
sun, food and all the other simple pleasures of true life. Not only are they trapped in a Danse
Macabre with no beginning or end, but in the eyes of many, God Himself has cursed them.
But why? Why punish thousands of mortals for an individual’s crimes or bad luck? This bitter
mystery forms the crowning injustice of their damnation.
The Lancea Sanctum gives the orthodox answer: original sin. Every son of Adam and
daughter of Eve is born in sin, and what is mortal history but a tapestry of violence, greed,
lust and deceit? Every man and woman deserves damnation a thousand times over for the
crimes of their ancestors, and the crimes they did not oppose when they lived. It is not for
mortals or Kindred to question the Almighty’s will. The Kindred should bow their heads
and accept their fate as sinners in the hands of an angry God. They have earned Hell, be
it the fi res of the afterlife, the torments of the Beast or the hunger and the sheer ennui of
centuries of existence.
Not all Kindred can accept this grim catechism. A few dare to hope that they can escape
damnation. Some Kindred believe that they can win a pardon from God. Others hope for
a more secular salvation, achieved through mysticism, self-discipline, drugs or alternative
philosophy. Tantalizing rumors slowly spread through the Kindred race of vampires who
became mortal again or who master the Beast. Elder Kindred scoff at such tales… but they
still listen.
Of all these tales and legends, the most common theme is a mystical state called Golconda.
The term’s derivation is both simple and mysterious. Golconda is a town in India where
diamonds were mined in ancient times. Its name became associated with anything distant
and diffi cult to reach, but of immense value — a fi tting name for the mystical transcendence
that legend describes.
THE COVENANTS ON GOLCONDA
Individual views about Golconda vary widely, but Storytellers can take the following
opinions as typical of the various covenants.
The Carthians: Fairy tales like Golconda serve only to distract the Kindred from
political action.
The Circle of the Crone: Golconda may be real. We do not, however, pretend to
know the secret ourselves.
The Invictus: Golconda is a childish fable for the weak-willed and weak-minded.
Such a blessed state could not exist. Anyone who gives credence to such tales deserves
mockery.
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mind’s chapter eye three: theatre: special requiem rules and systems