VII - RoseRed

More documents

Recommendations

Info

unlife in the ordo dracul “YOU’RE NOT SEEING IT BECAUSE YOU’RE NOT LISTENING TO ME. GIVE ME A SHORT WHILE — GIVE ME A DECADE — AND I’LL SHOW YOU. YOU ARE THE GREAT WORK.” — THE SECOND SHINING PHILOSOPHER OF SANGUINE TERROR 29 chapter two 6
chapter two 30 The Ordo Dracul is perhaps the most difficult of the covenants for players to understand, because its main concerns are entirely vampiric. The other covenants focus on religious faith, temporal power or political ideology — all concepts that players can identify with and understand in abstract terms, at least, if not in the specific ways that their characters see them. But the Ordo Dracul formed because of one vampire’s desire to move beyond his unliving state, not for redemption or revenge, but because he believed it was his right to do so. Understanding the members of the Ordo Dracul, therefore, can take a bit of work. unlife in the ordo dracul The will to overcome an effect is ultimately only the will ✻✯✬✂✷✯✰✳✶✺✶✷✯❀ ✶✭✂✪✯★✵✮✬ As stated in Vampire: The Requiem, the central tenet of the Ordo Dracul is that nothing is permanent. Everything changes, vampires included, and understanding that change is necessary for transcendence. This precept is so basic that many Dragons initially take it for granted. Of course everything changes. After all, they themselves have changed from mortal to Kindred in the space of one night, trading everything that they knew for an existence in the shadows of humanity. This kind of reasoning tends to lead to maudlin poetry if allowed to continue, and Dragon mentors are quite willing to step in and correct a pupil before she reaches this stage. ✼✵✫✬✹✺✻★✵✫✰✵✮✂✪✯★✵✮✬ Change must be observable to be of any use. Waving one’s hand through the air changes the environment but not with any easily measurable effect (with the right instruments, even such subtle change can be observed, but more on this in a moment). When a new Dragon is given her first lessons, the focus is not on the Coils of the Dragon, not on the history of the covenant, but on simple, mundane observation. Dragons must be perceptive, and must be able to think outside normal strictures. This takes some effort. The human mind works in a set fashion, and breaking those patterns (or at least learning to recognize and subvert them) is the first thing a nascent Dragon must learn. Different mentors have different ways of hammering this point home. Some take their charges to Elysium of another, or of several other, effects. — Friedrich Nietzsche, Beyond Good and Evil and ask them to record how a given vampire changes over the course of the night. Does her clothing appear rumpled when she leaves? Is her skin tone the same? The mentor cautions the Dragon against making assumptions. If the subject ventures into a private room with a mortal associate for a time and emerges looking disheveled, that could mean that the two of them were indulging in sex behind closed doors. But what other possibilities exist, and what evidence exists to support them? Does the mortal look pale and disoriented, or is he flushed and warm? Did others in the room begin whispering or react when they left, or appear to be listening? What was happening while the two of them were away? Some mentors encourage their charges to shun Kindred society altogether, and join the nightlife of mortal society instead. After all, vampires are creatures of routine and stagnation, meaning their changes are so slow and subtle that they make for poor beginner’s lessons. Mortals can change so quickly as to be unrecognizable from one night to the next, and so make for easier study subjects than Kindred. A Dragon might take her student(s) to a nightclub, an opera, a party (of any social stratum) or a church service and instruct them to note changes in behavior, appearance and bearing of a few select people during the course of the night. She instructs her pupils to keep themselves unobtrusive, but if they are noticed, to take special note of changes they elicit in their subjects. She also instructs them to note not only what changes take place but also any obvious causes for those changes. If a man who has been the life of the party suddenly grows withdrawn and sullen, there must be a reason. Often, it’s as simple as having too much to drink or having his advances rejected by a woman, but sometimes a more sinister cause is at work. Did he fall prey to another vampire while no one was looking? Is he suddenly ill, perhaps from the food (meaning that other patrons will soon feel the effects as well)? The point here is that even the most minute changes might signal events that the Dragon would do well to acknowledge. Some Dragons scoff at the wisdom of watching mortals, saying that while mortals might change quickly, they are ultimately nothing more than food and cover. The Dragon mentors often respond 6
Page 2 and 3: y Will Hindmarch and Christopher Ko
Page 4 and 5: Ï Ï Ï The attorney was a second-
Page 6 and 7: Ï Ï Ï Scratch arrived at the cha
Page 8 and 9: Ï Ï Ï Scratch waggled the bottle
Page 10 and 11: ✩❀✂✴★✻✻✂✴✪✭
Page 12 and 13: ✻★✩✳✬✂✶✭✂✪✶
Page 14 and 15: one else. Arcane rituals thought lo
Page 16 and 17: Chapter Three: The Ordo Dracul and
Page 18 and 19: typically develop their own lingo t
Page 20 and 21: a history of the ordo dracul “STO
Page 22 and 23: a history of the ordo dracul in the
Page 24 and 25: than a dozen Kindred all told, desp
Page 26 and 27: stemmed from other factors as well.
Page 28 and 29: in Europe, carefully safeguarding W
Page 32 and 33: to this sort of arrogance by assign
Page 34 and 35: Because so many ways of measuring t
Page 36 and 37: ✻✯✬✂✷✼✹✷✶✺✬
Page 38 and 39: God is transformed into something w
Page 40 and 41: no longer have any need for “figh
Page 42 and 43: energy that they give off, a resona
Page 44 and 45: to be holy, the Ordo Dracul makes i
Page 46 and 47: lines slowly shifting like the beds
Page 48 and 49: ✺✬✬✲✰✵✮✂✻✯✬
Page 50 and 51: Coil of the Soul: Shunning contact
Page 52 and 53: ✻✯✬✂✭✰✹✺✻✂✪
Page 54 and 55: unlife in the ordo dracul PLOT DEVI
Page 56 and 57: instead chooses to honor her mentor
Page 58 and 59: of the office, she can be removed b
Page 60 and 61: has learned. This is usually interp
Page 62 and 63: who often see themselves as incarna
Page 64 and 65: pursuits only when and if the studi
Page 66 and 67: Demonstrations showcasing a Dragon
Page 68 and 69: Oracle: The upper ranks of the Myst
Page 70 and 71: an ally — the Architect had more
Page 72 and 73: ✷✯✰✳★✫✬✳✷✯✰
Page 74 and 75: advisor of sorts — enough status
Page 76 and 77: likely to have heard wild and impro
Page 78 and 79: unlife in the ordo dracul THE LANCE
Page 80 and 81:
Dracul disputes (though their infor
Page 82 and 83:
they are dead, while others have be
Page 84 and 85:
ordo dracul and the danse macabre L
Page 86 and 87:
The Paths of Fate are an exercise d
Page 88 and 89:
If you lend her money, with little
Page 90 and 91:
choices are for the character. By p
Page 92 and 93:
good counterbalance to a Magician.)
Page 94 and 95:
ambition well — and your ambition
Page 96 and 97:
is the tide which raises all studen
Page 98 and 99:
to be utterly unique) and while som
Page 100 and 101:
and only if the court was convened
Page 102 and 103:
too long to let rivalries ferment.
Page 104 and 105:
✴✬✵✻✶✹✬✫✂✺✼
Page 106 and 107:
✶✷✷✶✹✻✼✵✰✻✰
Page 108 and 109:
✫✼✻✰✬✺✂★✵✫✂
Page 110 and 111:
see to formalities like recognizing
Page 112 and 113:
to necessarily be involved with dec
Page 114 and 115:
eason) or if a Juris Draconis is co
Page 116 and 117:
mystical prowess) but strangely, th
Page 118 and 119:
loodlines and factions “Nicholas
Page 120 and 121:
series about a hospital emergency r
Page 122 and 123:
that mortals avoid her in a very ob
Page 124 and 125:
will require tools that are highly
Page 126 and 127:
them seem somewhat preoccupied at t
Page 128 and 129:
loodlines and factions Part psychia
Page 130 and 131:
easts, gems, swordsmithing and, of
Page 132 and 133:
purge themselves of that corruption
Page 134 and 135:
convinced of their destiny and find
Page 136 and 137:
kin struggling to slide their bodie
Page 138 and 139:
etched with tattoos and ritual scar
Page 140 and 141:
create the Way of the Locust, a set
Page 142 and 143:
and escape His curse of vampirism.
Page 144 and 145:
one’s own choices requires extens
Page 146 and 147:
Azerkatil This is the last night fo
Page 148 and 149:
know what terrible forces the Drago
Page 150 and 151:
Weakness: Azerkatil exude a similar
Page 152 and 153:
the Invictus both researched his cl
Page 154 and 155:
”Is it possible to return? Does a
Page 156 and 157:
loodlines and libitinarius factions
Page 158 and 159:
facts are unearthed. One night, if
Page 160 and 161:
Moroi You didn’t say you needed h
Page 162 and 163:
inscription on the wall, written in
Page 164 and 165:
Background: As the bloodline encomp
Page 166 and 167:
Though one Tismanu taught another,
Page 168 and 169:
its secret cellar. By day, a Tisman
Page 170 and 171:
Not all of the secrets of vampirism
Page 172 and 173:
doesn’t like to feel is caged. A
Page 174 and 175:
coils and disiplines “I don’t k
Page 176 and 177:
✻✯✬✂✪✶✰✳✂✶✭
Page 178 and 179:
and not some other mystic aspect of
Page 180 and 181:
“activated” so much as they hav
Page 182 and 183:
Ectoplasm amounts to roughly two ou
Page 184 and 185:
For every success, the vampire gain
Page 186 and 187:
than one Willpower point per turn,
Page 188 and 189:
Academics + Theban Sorcery roll to
Page 190 and 191:
the Morticians could lose the uniqu
Page 192 and 193:
Cost: 1 Willpower Dice Pool: Stamin
Page 194 and 195:
✂✺✬✹✬✵✬✂✭✬✹
Page 196 and 197:
Success: The character starts a ter
Page 198 and 199:
Roll Results Dramatic Failure: The
Page 200 and 201:
covenant and its subcultures. Devot
Page 202 and 203:
however, to spend additional Vitae
Page 204 and 205:
••• A small warehouse, a chur
Page 206 and 207:
its of potable power have created a
Page 208 and 209:
the character is infusing a one-wor
Page 210 and 211:
dots. A character who purchases thi
Page 212 and 213:
such as grass, dirt or shavings of
Page 214 and 215:
allies and antagonists “WE WERE H
Page 216 and 217:
Disciplines: Animalism 3, Coil of B
Page 218 and 219:
Blood Potency: 1 Disciplines: Anima
Page 220 and 221:
a conspiracy to lie better and get
Page 222 and 223:
Mental Attributes: Intelligence 2,
Page 224 and 225:
ing for her. Because the damnable t
Page 226 and 227:
Disciplines: Majesty 3, Celerity 3,
Page 228 and 229:
aced and horrified by her sire, her
Page 230 and 231:
impale a thousand mortals, given th
Page 232 and 233:
allies and antagonists 231 appendix
show all

VII - RoseRed

Create successful ePaper yourself

Delete template?

Save as template?