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✺✬✬✲✰✵✮✂✻✯✬✂✪✯✹❀✺★✳✰✺<br />
What does a vampire do in order to prepare herself for<br />
the Coils? Over the centuries, Dragons from across the<br />
world have developed techniques for changing themselves<br />
based on various mortal religious and secular practices,<br />
but a few points remain constant. The first step is<br />
to understand and enact change upon the world, and<br />
these topics have already been discussed in this chapter.<br />
With enacting change, however, comes internalizing that<br />
change, altering one’s self. This, to the physically inert<br />
Kindred, is the first and hardest hurdle to overcome.<br />
Changing one’s self is difficult for mortals, especially<br />
adults. Once a mortal becomes set in his ways, changing<br />
even everyday routines becomes difficult. It isn’t impossible<br />
by any means, but it does require constant concentration,<br />
at least at first, until whichever new patterns he<br />
wants become habitual (and even then, he must often<br />
watch to make sure he doesn’t slip back into previous<br />
behaviors). This kind of change applies to “simple”<br />
things like giving up addictions or improving work habits,<br />
neither of which are endemic to the condition of<br />
being human.<br />
Vampires attempting to learn the Coils of the Dragon<br />
are trying to change some of the physical realities of their<br />
existence. Put another way, a vampire learning, for instance,<br />
the first tier of the Coil of Blood (Blood Seeps<br />
Slowly) is comparable to a human being learning to go<br />
a week at a time without food. It’s not impossible, but it<br />
flies in the face of the way the human (or vampiric)<br />
body is designed.<br />
So how does a Dragon go about this? Where can she start?<br />
✪✯★✵✮✰✵✮✂✻✯✬✂✩✶✫❀<br />
Ordinarily, the Kindred body does not retain change<br />
after the Embrace. A haircut, tattoo, piercing or scar fades<br />
during the day as the vampire’s body “resets” itself to the<br />
moment of death. With effort, though, a Kindred can keep<br />
such changes. A Dragon preparing for a chrysalis is encouraged<br />
to make and keep small changes to her body,<br />
and high-ranking members of the covenant (especially<br />
the Sworn) often have many tattoos and scars on their<br />
bodies, marking their control over their own forms.<br />
Sampling different kinds of blood is another way to<br />
loosen the tight grip that the curse of vampirism exerts<br />
upon the Dragon. Mortal blood laced with various kinds<br />
of drugs or even the blood of mortals of different heritages<br />
provide subtle differences in “flavor” (the former<br />
can provide considerably more than that). Truly daring<br />
Kindred seek out more exotic sources of Vitae, sampling<br />
the blood of mages or even werewolves in an attempt to<br />
shake their undead bodies from stasis.<br />
Learning certain Disciplines can also help. If a<br />
Dragon is having trouble with the notion of changing<br />
herself on a physical level, a mentor can instruct her<br />
unlife in the ordo dracul<br />
47<br />
chapter two<br />
6
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