Walking Shadowed Paths

Ex Libris Nocturnis
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Walking Shadowed Paths

by Mike Vides (unknown) Summary: New Necromancy powers. This article originally appeared on Ex Libris Nocturnis at the URL: http://www.nocturnis.net/articles/vampire/default /2004/April/430/page1.html Have the gates of death been opened unto thee? Or hast thou seen the doors of the shadow of death? -Job 38:17 Vampires have an intimate relationship with death. They are death reborn into livingor at least, semi-living bodies, but a few remember glimpses of the time before their first awakening, the time in which their souls dangled over the pit of oblivion. Many undead have sought to return to this underworld to seek knowledge and gain power over its denizens. Necromancy was born in this primeval desire to know the secrets of Death, and like a child freed from the womb, it has grown and changed with every passing night. From its infancy in the Dark Ages, musings of the dust-skinned Kindred who dwelled in catacombs and unearthed graves, Necromancy has matured into a full-blown system of Blood Magic, complete with numerous Paths and accompanying Rituals. While the Discipline lacks the sheer volume of accumulated lore and application that is characteristic of Thaumaturgy, it is not impossible for new Paths to arise. There is an entire underworld out there for intrepid Necromancers to explore, and the only restriction they face is their command of death magic Authors Note: With the introduction of Orpheus, many may feel that the proverbial last nail has been hammered into the coffin of Wraith: The Oblivion. That means, of course, that many of the following paths are built upon story elements that may not be applicable if you are following the official metaplot and including elements of the Reckoning in your chronicle. Keep in mind that these Paths were devised with Wraith in mind, and do not follow the rules-structure of Orpheus. If you are using Orpheus in place of Wraith, consider replacing mention of "Pathos" and "Corpus" with "Vitality", and mention of "Angst" with "Spite." That may not give a perfect translation, but its better than nothing. Also, Ive tried to present these Necromancy Paths in Vampire terms, drawing a great deal from the Wraith mechanics, but simplifying them in order to keep the focus on Vampire. Where necessary, Ive tried to explain the Wraith side of things, as many of these paths manipulate or draw upon elements of that game that simply dont usually show up in Vampire chronicles. Its the kind of stuff only a necromancer would know, and then only the most dedicated (and dare I say fool-hearty) of the breed.
Path Structure
The discipline of Necromancy is arranged in paths, like all Blood Magic. Certain bloodlines will learn certain paths naturally, but a few necromancers learn to devise new routes to the secrets of the underworld. Necromancy paths, while not as rigidly structured as the Thaumaturgy of the Tremere, tend to rely heavily on certain basic capabilities, such as the ability to summon and control ghosts (the Sepulcher Path) or see into and interact with the underworld (the Ash Path). Hence, while a thaumaturgist can begin to study new paths of Thaumaturgy soon after mastering the basic principles of his primary Path, a necromancer must comprehend his primary path more fully before he can begin to branch out into other areas of study.
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Almost universally, a necromancer will learn the Sepulcher Path before any others. Certain bloodlines may practice different paths as their primary one, but a storyteller is perfectly justified in requiring that the Sepulcher Path be primary. Once the vampire raises his rating in the Sepulcher path to 3 or higher, he may begin study in a secondary path. When the primary path reaches 5, then he may acquire the third and subsequent paths. The Paths Bone Path and the Ash Path will usually be secondary and tertiary, but necromancers who have access to other paths (and suitable instructors) may learn one of those paths instead, with the Storytellers permission. The most likely candidates for an alternate secondary or tertiary path are the Harvester Path, the Path of the Pyre, the Requiem Path and the Skull Path. The Chthonic Path, the Nocturnal Path and the Void Path are viable options, but finding an instructor (or indeed, even learning of their existence) may require a story in and of itself. After attaining level 5 in his primary path, the necromancer can continue to learn new paths without restrictions.
The Shroud
A number of Necromancy powers presented below call for rolls with a difficulty dependant on the Shroud rating. For those unfamiliar with Wraith, the Shroud is the spiritual barrier that separates the living world and the land of the dead. The strength of the Shroud can affect a number of ghostly powers that influence the Skinlands (the living world), and can also dictate how difficult it is for a necromancer to use certain effects. In general, the Shroud rating should be at its highest during the day (not a problem for most practitioners of this Discipline), close to places where death holds little sway (such as a clean park in a community-watch zone) and lowest where the fear and lingering touch of death is most prevalent (morgues, graveyards, abandoned farm houses or buildings where grisly murders have taken place). On average, the Shroud lingers around 7 (or lower, following the events of the Reckoning, at the storytellers discretion). Hence, a storyteller might choose to default to 7 when the Shroud rating is cited as the difficulty of a Necromancy power. Areas where the Shroud is weaker should have their ratings decreased by 1 or 2 points (but never below 4), while areas of strong disbelief or decidedly non-gloomy locales might have their rating increased by 1 or 2 points (but never above 10). Vampires (and other supernatural creatures) seem to inhibit the shroud by their very presence. As such, the presence of a supernatural creature can (at the storytellers discretion) lower the shroud even further by 1 point (this is already factored into the "standard" rating of 7 used for most Necromancy difficulties involving the shroud). This is, of course, wonderful news for the Giovanni and other practitioners of Necromancy. Shroud Mastery (Ash Path 5) allows a vampire to raise or lower the shroud through force of will, and Tread Upon the Grave (Cenotaph Path 3, see Clanbook Giovanni, pg. 69) allows the necromancer to precisely determine the level of the local shroud. Convergence (Chthonic Path 5) can have dramatic and long lasting effects on the Shroud as well.
The Chthonic Path

Many myths have arisen from the sojourns of the living into the world of the dead, and those myths become reality with proficiency in the Ash Path of necromancy. While the power to step between worlds is remarkable in and of itself, many vampires who practice the Ash path find that once on the other side, they are dreadfully ill equipped to traverse the strange dimension of the dead lands. When the necromancer remains closest to the physical world, it is a relatively simple task to travel about unhindered, but once the vampire begins to explore deeper into the underworld, things change very quickly. The relationship between space and time is no longer a constant in some deeper reaches of the underworld, and the cardinal directions of the compass are all but meaningless in the raging turmoil of the Tempest. The Chthonic Path deals in part with entering and exiting the underworld, but its primary function is the navigation of the underworlds less accessible regions. Whether the necromancer is traveling bodily through the dead lands via the Ash Path, or projecting spiritually through the Nocturnal Path, he may benefit greatly from the abilities granted by this avenue of necromantic insight.
Virgils Guidance
A necromancer who spends a great deal of time exploring the underworld through the Ash, Chthonic or Nocturnal Paths will eventually find his travels stymied by the Tempestthe roiling storm that surrounds the Void itself. The Tempest is chaos
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made manifest, and the erratic currents of the storm can make travel through the Tempest all but impossible. There exist a number of reliable paths through the Tempest, known to ghosts as Byways, but finding these travel routs can be difficult. Most necromancers who find need of trans-Tempest travel consult wraiths with the know-how to navigate the storm (i.e. practitioners of the Argos Arcanos), either to inform them of the location of viable byways, or to act as guides on the vampires journey. Unfortunately, relying on a wraith to see the necromancer safely through the Tempest is an extremely risky proposition. Most spirits are wary of physical travelers in the underworld, especially those with the power to command them into subservience. Necromancers who rely too heavily on the "kindness of strangers," so to speak, will usually end up stranded in the Tempest or worse. A necromancer with even a rudimentary knowledge of the Chthonic Path understands the Tempest in an instinctual manner, allowing him to traverse the storm without fear of becoming lost or stranded. The necromancer gains an intuitive, directional sense for the safe travel routes that criss-cross the tempest, and hence can navigate in the senseless turmoil. He can sense the proximity and direction of byways, and can use this knowledge as a way of judging his direction in the Tempest. While in the Skinlands, a necromancer cannot, of course, sense byways in the Tempest. He can, however, detect the presence of the Nihil portals between the Tempest and the Shadowlands. System: The necromancer simply rolls Perception + Empathy, difficulty of the local shroud to discover a Nihil (if one is nearby). If the necromancer passes through the exact space in which the Nihil overlaps the Skinlands, he may make a reflexive roll as above to sense the Nihil by a distinctive chill that creeps through his body. The difficulty of any shroudrelated Necromancy roll is considered 1 lower when performed at the site of a Nihil. If the necromancer finds himself in the Tempest, either through Judgment of Minos, Ex Nihilo, or Crossing Styx, he will be able to locate the nearest stable pathway through the storm by rolling Wits + Survival, difficulty 7 (or difficulty 8 in particularly harsh or confusing conditions). 1 success gives a vague sense of "that-a-way," where as five successes gives the necromancer exact information concerning the distance, direction and destination points of the nearest byway. Just because the vampire can sense the byway doesnt necessarily mean that he can reach it, however. He can only drift on the current of the Tempests winds, although he can alter his vector by expending a point of Willpower. He may also double his speed along the current by expending a Willpower point.
Judgment of Minos
Like the fourth level of the Ash Path, Ex Nihilo, the necromancer who utilizes Judgment of Minos is able to travel directly and bodily to the Shadowlands. Unlike Ex Nihilo, however, this power can only be employed in a place where a Nihil overlaps with the Skinlands. When employing the Judgment of Minos, the necromancer steps into the Nihil from the living world and traverses the Tempest to appear in the Shadowlands. This is quite risky, as the necromancer could find himself stuck in the Tempest if he is not carefulsuch is the gamble that necromancers accept when they try to enter the underworld through such "back door" methods. Luckily, by the time he has reached this level of the Chthonic Path, the vampire is able to more easily navigate the storm. The necromancer is also capable of returning to the physical world through Nihils. Skillful necromancers may use Judgment of Minos to enter a Nihil from the Skinlands into the Shadowlands, and then reemerge in the Skinlands from another nearby Nihil. System: To step into a Nihil from the Skinlands, a necromancer must expend a point of Willpower and roll Stamina + Occult, difficulty of the Shroud 1 (as the Shroud is thinner at the site of a Nihil, default to 6). 3 successes are required to fully transmigrate to the Shadowlands; fewer successes dump the necromancer into the Tempest. A necromancer who does find himself in the Tempest is not helpless, however. He is now capable of moving at his normal speeds through the tempest without having to expend willpower to alter his vector (although he can still expend a Willpower point to double his movement speed), and he need not follow the wind-currents. If the Nihil that the necromancer utilized to enter the Tempest is still open, he may re-initiate Judgment of Minos in order to make a second roll to appear in the Shadowlands at his desired destination. The difficulty remains the same (default to 6), and the necromancer may continue to attempt to exit the Tempest as long as he still has Willpower to spend (or until the Nihil closes). The reverse is also possible: the necromancer can exit the Shadowlands through a Nihil that overlaps with a suitable area in
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the Skinlands by rolling in the same manner as above (this also costs a Willpower). Indeed, if the necromancer manages five successes on his initial roll, then he may step into the Nihil, enter the Tempest, and exit from the nearest Nihil. For each 20 yards between the Nihils, it takes 1 turn for the necromancer to re-emerge. If he scores fewer than 5 successes on his Stamina + Occult roll when entering the Nihil, then he may not re-emerge without expending another Willpower and making a second roll. Nihils are notoriously unstablehere one minute, closing over you the next. Because of this the storyteller may roll 1 die each turn: if the roll is a 1, the Nihil moves its position or fades altogether at the beginning of the next turn.
Descent of Ishtar
The Babylonian goddess Ishtar was said in legend to have descended into the underworld by demanding admittance through the gates of death. At each gate, the goddess removed an article of clothing or a piece of jewelry, and when later escaping the land of the dead, the goddess is said to have reclaimed all of her garments and trinkets. A necromancer who has progressed this far in the Chthonic path is capable of bringing objects from the Shadowlands into the Skinlands, or vice versa, mimicking the descent and return of Ishtar into the land of the living. Unlike the ritual, Grasp of the Ghostly, however, Descent of Ishtar utilizes the Tempest itself to form the raw materials of the objects to be removed from the Shadowlands. Thus, the necromancer need not actually find a relic to bring back, but may simply draw the emotional "memory" of an object from the roiling winds of the tempest. Such items do not last for very long outside of the underworld, but the necromancer may infuse the objects with a measure of his own emotional strength in order to keep them solidified. The necromancer may also place objects from the living world into a Nihil, thus transporting the item into the corresponding area of the Tempest. The object will generally stay where it is placed, as the necromancer emotionally tethers the item to his soul, but if he leaves the area of the Nihil for more than a few hours, or if he leaves the item in the Tempest too long, it will begin to drift and may become lost. System: To place an object in the Tempest requires a blood point and a roll of Dexterity + Empathy, difficulty of the Shroud 1. The item will immediately begin to drift through the tempest unless the necromancer utilizes the third level Nocturnal Path power, Tether the Soul to make the item into a Fetter. A tethered item may be retrieved at any time by making another Dexterity + Empathy roll (and spending another blood point) at the same Nihil. If the necromancer is away from the Nihil for more than 1 scene per success while the item remains in the Tempest, then a temporary tether is lost (a permanently tethered item will instead move through the Tempest, following the necromancer, who may then reach into any nearby Nihil to retrieve it). To "manifest" an item from the Tempest requires a Willpower point and a roll of Manipulation + Crafts, at a difficulty determined by the size and complexity of the item. A knife or key would be difficulty 6, where as a working flashlight (powered by emotional energy) would be a difficulty of 1. Functional firearms and complex machines like kitchen appliances would require a roll at a difficulty of 9. If the vampire wishes to remove these items from the spirit world and bring them into the physical world, he must make a Dexterity + Empathy roll as above (this requires a blood point to be spent as well). Such items will fade from existence after a number of sunrises equal to the successes rolled on the Dexterity + Empathy roll, although the necromancer may either expend a Willpower point to add another day to the objects lifespan. Objects that are fueled by Pathos in the underworld (such as the aforementioned flashlight) would require roughly a blood point for every Pathos Point it would normally need to operate.
Tears of Acheron
The Nagaraja bloodline unearthed a method of feasting on the Corpus of wraiths to gain power and replenish spent energy with their Vitreous Path, and the fourth level Nocturnal Path power Feast of the Dead allows the vampire to store ectoplasmic blood for later use. Neither path is very useful when a necromancer is lost, deep in the underworlds labyrinthine landscape. Tears of Acheron grants the necromancer the ability to sustain himself with the emotional energies that compose the roiling Tempest for a short time at least. By spending time floating in the Tempest, the vampire may absorb some of the dark
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energies of the storm into himself. While far from "healthy," sometimes there really isnt a choice, but too much reliance on Tears of Acheron may threaten the necromancers sanity. System: To gain sustenance from the Tempest, a vampire must spend roughly an hour hovering relatively motionless and drifting in the tempest. He must then roll his Willpower at a difficulty of 8, although the difficulty can be lower in areas where the storm winds are strongest. Each success counts as one "Sustenance Point" that the vampire regains; these are not actual blood points, and no blood enters the vampires body. This is raw emotional energy that can be used to infuse the vampires undead flesh with vitality while in the underworld. Each of these "Sustenance Points" spent can count for the vampires nightly blood point expenditure to remain animate, or can heal one health level of normal damage, while 3 Sustenance Points can be spent each hour to heal an Aggravated health level of damage (this also requires a Stamina + Survival roll at difficulty 8, requiring one success). These points may not be used for any other function of normal blood points (increasing attributes, embracing or ghouling, etc.). If the vampire possesses even one Tempest-siphoned Sustenance Point in his Blood Pool, then he suffers a +1 difficulty on all Virtue rolls as his emotions become heightened to almost an uncontrollable extent. The Beast becomes blood-starved and ravenous, feeding on only emotional turmoil. Additionally, the vampire must make a Willpower roll (at difficulty 7) each night that he retains any Sustenance points or he gains a Derangement that lasts until all such points are expended from his Blood Pool. A botched Willpower roll causes the Derangement to remain even after the points are gone form the vampires pool, although such a Derangement may be overcome normally. Only one Derangement can be suffered at a time in this way. If the necromancer returns to the living world while he still has Sustenance Points in his Blood Pool, he suffers one health level of unsoakable Bashing damage for each point so retained, and the points vanish from his pool instantly. Note that this damage is still halved by vampiresit is simply unsoakable. Elder necromancers may well enter torpor, however, if they possess too much emotional sustenance in their undead frames when they exit the underworld.
Convergence
Shroud Mastery is a powerful ability for a vampire to employ, but it pales in comparison to this effect. Through Convergence the necromancer is capable of temporarily tearing a hole in the shroud that essentially merges the land of the dead with that of the living. Ghosts and physical beings may touch and interact physically while Convergence is in effect. Additionally, this power has the interesting side effect of permanently reducing the shroud rating nearby. System: The most obvious drawback to Convergence is that the necromancer must evoke the power at the location of a Nihil. The necromancer expends 3 willpower points over the course of three turns and rolls his Willpower at a difficulty 8. If even one success is scored, then the Nihil implodes in a tumultuous whirlwind that temporarily merges the lands of the living and the lands of the dead in an area roughly equal to 10 yards per success surrounding the former Nihils event horizon. Convergence lasts for one minute per success scored. In this area, ghosts find that they are visible, audible and tangible to those in the Skinlands and vice versa. The vampire could touch a long dead lover as if she were flesh and blood, or trounce a hated enemy who was "fortunate" enough to linger on as a Spectre. Ghosts are still composed of plasm, however, and thus they cannot be affected by powers such as vicissitude, while Skinland residents in the area of Convergence are immune to the effects of Molliate. Convergence does have its drawbacks, and they are extreme. First, no powers, ghostly, vampiric, magical, psychic or otherwise that use the Shroud as the difficulty for their rolls will function at all. This also includes powers with static difficulties that rely on reaching across the shroud: The Sepulcher Path, the Ash Path, and higher levels of the Bone Path are all useless in the area of Convergence. Additionally, the fifth level of the Nocturnal Path, the fifth level of the Void Path, and all levels of the Chthonic Path cannot be invoked in the area of Convergence. The exception is the Path of the Pyre, which will function at the default difficulty of 7: barrow flames will harm both ghosts and mortals when generated in a Convergence zone. While necromancers suffer greatly from the Convergence, ghosts are also restricted in their applications of Arcanoi. Argos, Embody, Inhabit, Outrage, and Puppetry cannot be used at all not even their basic abilities will function. Castigate cannot be used to create bulwarks, and all Pandemonium effects impose an additional point of Angst when utilized in an area of Convergence. Of the Dark Arcanoi, Tempestos, Tempest Weaving, and any other powers that are tailored specifically on the underworld or the Tempest do not function. It is certainly possible to invoke this power through the Nihil opened by the fifth level Void Path power Night Cry, but doing so is not advisable, as the vampire acting as the Nihil suffers one level of non-soakable, Aggravated damage for each success on the necromancers Convergence roll (this might be a crafty way of disposing of a rival necromancer, but its hardly a
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bright idea to perform Convergence on ones self). Any ghost who loses all its Corpus in the area of Convergence is destroyed utterly, and any resident of the living lands who is killed or suffers Final Death in the radius of Convergence cannot become a wraith, even if they have been Marked for Death through the Harvester Path. Once the duration ends, the shroud "heals" over the gap created through Convergence, but the Nihil that spawned it is eradicated completely, and the local shroud of the area is permanently reduced by 1 point for every 2 successes scored on the roll, to a minimum rating of 4. Convergence can never again be used in that area unless the Shroud is strengthened through years of mortal disbelief, or through applications of Shroud Master (Ash Path 5).
The Harvester Path

The Harvester Path concerns itself with detecting and capturing the energies of death, and therefore allowing the necromancer to "reap" the souls of the recently departed for her own purposes. This path also gives the Necromancer the power to sever the life-strands of a victim prematurely, inflicting death before its appointed time. Like the Nocturnal Path, the Harverster Path works upon the premise that a vampire, having crossed the shroud of death and been "reborn" in the land of the living, enjoys a special connection to the lands of the dead. Where as the Nocturnal Path seeks to bridge the gap between vampire and wraith, the Harvester Path uses the vampires undead state to affect the life energy of others. The powers of the Harvester Path enhance the natural capabilities of the vampire: the ability to bestow immortality by creating ghouls becomes the capacity to bestow everlasting death by ensuring that a specific person returns as a wraith in the afterlife, where as the embrace is transmuted into the hideous power to trap the soul. Even the forbidden power of diablerie is enhanced, allowing the necromancer to subsume his victims memories and traits permanently.
Doomsayer
When a mortals time of death approaches, the weight of destiny imprints its mark on that individual in the form of deathmarksghostly manifestations of future wounds that will prove fatal to the target. Most of these marks appear in the days or weeks before the mortals death, but a few rare individuals who are touched with especially tragic destinies may wear their deathmarks for months or even years prior to their demise. A necromancer may detect these deathmarks through Doomsayer, and further, he may turn his scrutiny on an already dead soul in an attempt to discern its cause of death. This use of the power resembles the first level of the Sepulcher Path, Insight, but the necromancer need not look into the eyes of a corpse to glean this information, he need only view the spirit he wishes to study for death markings. This use of the power on mortals is quite unreliable, as the future is never concrete. The most that can usually be gleaned is the imminence of the targets death, and possibly the cause of death, although some necromancers have divined the date, time, or even the way the target will feel at the moment of death. Most necromancers use this ability to find prospective servants before they even cross the shroud. A small number actually work to alter the targets fate out of a rare sense of remorse. A few even claim to have been able to see the deathmarks on their enemies before combat had even begun, boosting the necromancers confidence in their chances of survival. System: By spending a turn scrutinizing a mortal and rolling Perception + Occult against a difficulty of 8, the necromancer may gain insight into the way in which the target of Doomsayer is most likely to expire. This information is discerned by the various phantom wounds that will appear on the target to the vampires fatalistic sight. If attempted on a vampire, the difficulty of this roll is 10. The vampire may also see the death wounds on any Ghost that is visible to her (through Auspex or other Necromancy paths). These markings will reveal information on the death of the ghost. The necromancer knows if the target possesses Death Marks, although he cannot make them out clearly enough 1 success to interpret their meaning. If the target possesses (or possessed) the Dark Fate flaw, this will be readily apparent with even a single success. The vampire gains a momentary glimpse of the wound that will kill (or has killed) the target. A gunshot wound to 2 the head is a pretty straight-foreword example, where as the dual pin-prick holes created by vampire fangs might successes indicate diablerie if seen on a vampire. Targets who are fated to become vampires may actually be detected by their bloodstained lips. The vampire can tell roughly how long it will take for the target to die from his wound; whether his death will be 3 quick, clean, slow, painful, or torturously long and grueling. When viewing ghosts, the necromancer learns how successes long and painful the death of a given wraith was.
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The necromancer can determine roughly how long the target has left to live (or how long ago a ghost died), the accuracy depending on how close the event is. The death of a target who is fated to die months in the future (or 4 who died months in the past) could be dated to the week of the occurrence. The time of death for a target who is successes weeks from the event could be discerned down to the day of the week. Lastly, the deathmarks of a person who will die within a few days (or only recently passed away) will reveal the time of death down to the hour of the happening. The necromancer gets an indication of the emotional state of the target at the time of death: depressed (which 5 may indicate suicide), surprised (which would indicate a situation where the character "never knew what hit successes him"), terrified (possibly an indication of murder), or any other emotional response the storyteller deems appropriate. This power, while a basic function of the Harvester Path can also be quite difficult for the Storyteller to handle if the player decides to use this power on key players in the storys plotlineit would be pretty hard to give much of the information gained through Doomsayer in a case where the Storyteller doesnt know any more than the player how a certain character will perish. This shouldnt be a problem when it comes to vampires (the difficulty is 10), but the strangest things can happen where dice are concerned. The Storyteller has a few options in a situation where hes not prepared to answer a highly successful roll. Firstly, he can just wing it. Make it up; tell the necromancers player whatever is convenient, and then weave it into the plot. If story events would dictate that the target couldnt meet his doom in the proscribed way, then some outside force must have altered the progression of fate (and discovering this unknown influence may lead to new subplots). The necromancer may even attempt to prevent the incident. Secondly, the Storyteller can simply decide that there are no deathmarks on that particular character. This might mean that that particular character will not die during the course of the story (though perhaps later on in the chronicle), or it may mean that the character doesnt develop deathmarks until a very short time before his demise, or it could simply mean that the target is not fated to die any time soon but the necromancer may always attempt to alter that fate.
Marked for Death

One of the most trying limitations of Necromancy is that it can be very difficult to determine exactly who will become a wraith after death. All the preparation in the world will be pointless if the prospective ghost doesnt show up in the underworld. The Egyptians were said to have known spells that would ensure a place for a spirit (or rather, the multifaceted spirit) in the underworld, and through Marked for Death, a necromancer can accomplish the same task, effectively assuring that the target will become a Wraith upon death. When the necromancer invokes the Mark, he touches the target, leaving a ghostly, stain-like marking somewhere upon the targets body. This blotch cannot be seen by normal sight, only through Aura Perception or Doomsayer, or the Deathsight of wraiths (and hence, through the Vitreous Path as well). Even if an observer can see this mark, he will not necessarily be aware of its meaning. The mark only remains for a short time, unless the necromancer invests a great deal of emotional energy into this power. Once the target becomes a wraith, however, the mark remains permanently. The target will only return as a wraith if he dies while the mark remains on his spirit. The mark itself may be placed on any living mortal, or even on a person who has died within the last five minutes. It cannot be used to ensure the wraithlike survival of a vampire or other supernatural creature, however, nor of any individual who possesses True Faith. System: The necromancer must expend 1 point of Blood when he touches the target, and must roll Manipulation + Occult, difficulty 8. Even one success ensures that the mark will hold to the mortals spirit, while more successes ensure a longer duration. A necromancer who wishes to ensure that the mark remains permanently can instead expend a permanent point of Willpower. 1 success One night 2 successes One week 3 successes One month 4 successes One year 5 successes Ten years
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While still living, the target of the mark is subject to sudden, uncontrolled cold flashes and will hear strange noises in the night. The target will generally be affected at random times (determined by the storyteller) as if by Level 2 Dementation. The mark of death also draws ghosts to the bearer like a lantern draws moths, so the person bearing the mark will most likely be the target of numerous hauntings before he expires. It is not unknown for long-term targets to develop the Necro-Psi psychic ability (see Demon Hunter X) or the Medium merit. In addition, the necromancer may utilize Doomsayer at any time upon those whom he has marked, even if the target in question is not within sight, but the difficulty rises to 9 in this case. When the subject of the mark perishes, his soul is guaranteed to return as a wraith, provided that his soul is still "under warranty," so to speak. The target may, if he desires peace in death, make a Humanity roll (difficulty 10), with one success negating the mark and allowing him to pass on to his just rewards. If the duration of Marked for Death expires before he dies, then the target is no more likely to become a wraith than he normally would be. The necromancer in question acts as a 1-point Fetter for the newly awakened wraith, which does not take up any of the wraiths starting points for Fetters. The necromancer is able to utilize the second level Sepulcher power, Summon Soul on any wraith who he had marked in life without needing an object of importance to that wraith: his connection to the wraith through the mark is sufficient, although the necromancer may still benefit from the difficulty reduction that applies with the use of the ghosts other Fetters.
Scythe of the Reaper

The Necromancer may literally stop the targets heart by touching her chest. A mortal suffers a sudden, severe cardiac arrest, and will die if she is not attended to swiftly. This power also works against Vampires, but as a vampires heart does not normally beat, the effect is less dramatic. System: The Necromancer must expend a Willpower point and roll Dexterity + Medicine, difficulty of the targets Stamina +4. The targets heart will stop if the necromancer scores 3 successesfewer successes mean that the target is gripped by intense, clenching pain in her chest, shoulder and arm for one turn per success, during which time she is considered Crippled for the purposes of wound-penalties, and must make a Stamina roll or pass out for the remainder of the scene. Vampires may not use blood points for one turn per success; mortals are in serious trouble. Ghouls may roll Fortitude, difficulty 8 in order to resist the Scythe of the Reaper, although Kindred do not gain this resistance roll (as they are not actually damaged by the power, and hence Fortitude does not apply). A mortal whos heart is stopped is immediately Incapacitated, and must be revived with a successful, extended Wits + Medicine roll at difficulty 9 (or a roll of Professional Skill: First Aid at 1 difficulty) although this difficulty can be reduced by 1 if the target is rushed to an emergency room or if portable medical equipment is readily available. Two attempts can be made per minute, and the paramedic must score as many successes on the extended roll as the number of minutes that the target has been clinically dead. If the mortal is not revived within (Stamina x5) minutes, she will die, and may not be revived through mundane medicine.
Prison of the Flesh

The moment of death marks the severance of the soul from the mortal shell, and as the spirit flees the body it moves on to the hereafter. Some spirits "transcend" worldly existence and find peace in death, while others are caught in the grip of nihilism and dragged into the darkest recesses of the underworld. A great many become wraiths, chained as they are to the living world by unfinished business or matters of immense personal importance. A necromancer who understands the intricacies of the souls transmigration can interrupt the process, halting the spirits exile from the body. Unlike higher-level powers of the Bone Path, however, Prison of the Flesh does not animate the corpse of the deceased individualit simply prevents the victims spirit from leaving and going to Heaven, Hell or Purgatory. This is anything but a pleasant experience for the victim, who remains in a conscious (if confused) state during his incarceration in his own rotting corpse. And rot it will, for this power makes no provisions for the corpses decomposition (although the necromancer may rely on rituals or mundane embalming techniques to ensure a stable container for the soul if it is necessary). This imprisonment is truly a hellish existence for a soul. Still subtly connected to the flesh of its former body, the spirit can feel everything that happens to its flesh. Vermin crawling over its chest, a surgical knife making an incision, and sexual
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violation are but a few of the horrible experiences the spirit can look forward to during its "sentence." While the soul can feel what is happening to its body, and even see and hear in some instances, it cannot move: it must lay motionless as its flesh rots and its bones slowly turn to dust. Most necromancers who possess this power use it to store spirits for the purposes of later interrogation through the Sepulcher path, although it is possible to trap the soul of a vampire who has suffered final death in order to later commit diablerie upon it (or to utilize Consume the Soul). System: Prison of the Flesh must be utilized on a victim not more than 5 minutes dead. So long as the majority of the corpse remains after deathno matter how gruesome a statethe soul may be trapped. Bodies that have been cremated, ground into pulp or dissolved in acid may not be used to contain their spirit: there must be some vestiges of the former body for this power to function (it is thought that some elder Giovanni are capable of locking souls into very small portions of the corpse, such as a skull or leg bone, for ease of storage). For this reason, the soul of an Elder vampire cannot be trapped in the Prison of Flesh if his body crumbles to dust, nor can any vampire whos body is destroyed by fire, sunlight, acid, or dismemberment. Likewise, a vampire who has been diablerized cannot have his soul retained in his corpse: it has been subsumed into the body of another being. To trap the soul inside of its body, the necromancer must first force a drop of his blood past the corpses lips. This begins the process of the embrace in mortals: the necromancer then expends a point of Willpower and roll Manipulation + Occult, difficulty of the deceased individuals Willpower rating. Success means that he has been able to halt the embrace before the soul fully reconnects to its corpse. The spirit is called back to its body through the curse of the blood but finds itself trapped inside of its own cadaver instead of being awakened as one of the undead. If the roll fails, then the spirit is not fooled by the necromancers ploy, and cannot be locked into its corpse. A botch on this roll means that too much of the necromancers vampiric essence has seeped into the corpse, and the process of the embrace cannot be haltedthe necromancer loses a blood point in the process and the target arises as one of the Kindred, as if he had been embraced normally and he is most likely very hungry. The number of successes rolled determines how long the soul is trapped inside of the corpse. 1 success Two weeks 2 successes Three months 3 successes A year and a day 4 successes A decade 5+ successes A century per success above 4 The soul gains one chance to escape this fate: it may roll Willpower, difficulty of the necromancers Willpower, and must score more successes than the necromancer did on his Manipulation + Occult roll. Succeeding in this roll allows the spirit to resist the false call of the blood and flee its entrapment, while failure indicates that the soul returns to the body. If the soul fails to exceed the necromancers successes with its Willpower roll, then none of the necromancers successes are removed: this is an all-or-nothing roll. For example, if the necromancer scored 3 successes on his Manipulation + Occult roll, then the soul would have to score 4 successes on its roll to avoid being imprisoned. If the soul only scored 2 successes, then it would be imprisoned for a year and a day, and not three months, since its two successes would not subtract from the necromancers successes. Failing its attempt to extradite itself to the afterlife, the soul becomes imprisoned. The soul retains its Mental and Social attributes, as well as its Willpower (although it can no longer expend Willpower points), and continues to suffer from any derangements that affected it in life (so souls who suffer from a fear of enclosed spaces or of death and dead things would quickly go mad inside of its Prison of Flesh). It can still feel everything that occurs to its body, although it may only hear through its rotting ears or see through dead eyes in any scene in which it succeeds on a Willpower roll at difficulty 9. Hence, the soul may through force of will be able to observe what is happening around its body, although it will be unable to move its eyes, and if its eyelids are shut, then it will only be dimly aware of light and darkness. Once the bodys sensory organs have deteriorated, the spirit can no longer access those senses. When the skin has finally dried out, even the sense of touch becomes muted, and only physical damage will cause the soul to feel any physical sensation at all. Because the soul can still feel pain, it can be affected through mundane torture methods. This can strip the spirit of its willpower points, making it easier to affect through certain necromancy powers. Because the spirit is readily available (the necromancer need only access the corpse), he need not possess an object that is of significance to the soul in order to
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Summon or Compel it. Summoning the spirit is always at a 2 difficulty as well. If the necromancer also possesses the Bone Path or Skull Path, he may animate the corpse of the individual. Unless the necromancer utilizes Daemonic Possession to allow the soul inside of the corpse to fully bind to it, however, the soul will only be able to control the zombies movements by rolling Willpower (difficulty 8). Each success is one turn that the soul can direct the movements of the corpseotherwise, it follows the commands of the necromancer (or stands idle if no orders are forthcoming). Botching this roll causes the corpse to take some unexpected action; such as dropping what it is carrying or falling into a seizure. Trapping a vampires soul is extremely difficult, as all but the youngest vampires undergo rapid decay upon suffering the Final Death. If the target is old enough to instantly turn to ashes, then the soul may not be trapped through Prison of Flesh. Age of Kindred Difficulty Penalty 1 night to 50 years No penalty 51 to 100 years +1 difficulty 101 to 250 years +2 difficulty 251 years or more +3 difficulty Committing diablerie upon a vampires trapped soul requires only a single success on the Strength roll.
Consume the Soul

The act of Diablerie is an innate capacity of all vampires, but the ultimate aspect of the Harvester Path allows the necromancer to enhance the benefits gained when he consumes the soul of his victimbut at a terrible risk to his sanity and his soul. While normal diablerie imparts an increase of the vampires blood potency, Consume the Soul allows the necromancer to draw out memories and capabilities from his victim. Additionally, while the Amaranth is only effective on the souls of those cursed to undeath, the necromancer learns to draw out the souls of the living or ingest the souls of the dead, and thereby devour the targets very essence. System: Activating this power requires that the necromancer commit diablerie. To Consume the Soul of a mortal, the vampire must drain all of the blood from the mortals body (who must either be living, or must have died not longer than 5 minutes prior unless treated with Prison of the Flesh), and must continue to drink. Ingesting the essence of a ghost requires that the necromancer possess the fifth level of the Vitreous Path in addition to this power. As the target loses the last of his health levels, the necromancer invokes Consume the Soul by rolling Willpower, difficulty of the targets Permanent Willpower. Each success drains one point of Permanent Willpower from the target, and every point so drained grants one Freebie point to the Necromancer, who may spend these points as desired to raise existing traits or buy new traits. The Freebie points are kept in a separate pool from the necromancers actual experience points: he may use these points only to purchase traits which the target possessed, including Abilities, Disciplines (in the case of Vampires, Ghouls or Revenants), and, with the Storytellers approval, even Merits. Attributes, Virtues, Willpower and Backgrounds may not be transferred in this way, with two notable exceptions: if the target was of a lower Generation than the diabolist, then the necromancer gains a single dot in the Generation background, free of cost. The necromancer might also use his Freebie points to buy up the memories of his victim (see the new background, Memories in the sidebar). This act destroys the spirit irrevocably: the target will never become a wraith or a Spectre, and can never be summoned through Necromancy powers. This act automatically reduces the offending necromancers Humanity score by 1. Practitioners of certain Paths of Enlightenment (Blood, Power and the Inner Voice, Death and The Soul, The Path of Bones, etc.) may actually spend the Freebies gained from Consume the Soul to raise their Path rating (with the Storytellers approval). If the roll fails, then the targets soul dissipates immediately, robbing the necromancer of any of the benefits of Diablerie, although he may still have to roll to resist frenzy and Humanity loss. A botched attempt to Consume the Soul exacts a terrible price from the necromancer: he gains none of the benefits of Diablerie save the lowering in generation, and additionally the target can immediately roll his Willpower (difficulty of 8). For each success, the player of the diablerized target (or the Storyteller in the case of an NPC victim) can decide to inflict one of the following penalties on the
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necromancer: Leave a soul-fragment: For each success devoted to a soul-fragment, one of the targets Willpower points lingers on as a separate, if fractured personality inside the necromancers body. Once per story, the soul-fragment may roll its accumulated Willpower against a difficulty of the necromancers current Willpower points. If successful, the soul-fragment may influence the diabolists next action. This essentially acts as the Dominate power, Mesmerize, save that the target cannot resist the influence in any way, and he can be prodded to do anything that the soul- fragments successes would dictateeven send himself to Final Death if enough successes are scored, regardless of the characters actual nature. Numerous soul-fragments from multiple diableries can "gang up," adding all their lingering Willpower points to this roll. Inflict a Derangement: For each success devoted to this penalty, the victim of the Amaranth can inflict one Derangement on the target. These are usually Derangements that the target himself possessed, but it could also be Multiple Personalities, with one of the personalities being that of the victim. Such Derangements can never be bought off, though they may be resisted temporarily with Willpower points. Inflict a Clan Weakness: For one success the victim can impose his clan-weakness on his murderer. If it is the same weakness (i.e. the victim was of the same bloodline as the diabolist), then the effects of the weakness are pronounced in some way: the difficulty to resist the effects of the weakness could be raised by 2, or the penalties incurred by the weakness could be two higher. For the Giovanni, this increases any damage they inflict on mortals through feeding on a mortal by 2, making their Kiss almost certainly deadly, even with the lightest of feedings. Some cases will require storytellers discretion: for example, a Ventrue might have to make a Willpower roll simply to feed at all from his chosen victims, where as a Gangrel may immediately gain another animal feature. A Nosferatu might become barely recognizable as human, and thus his Charisma might fall by 2 points, permanently (and he could never regain those points). Malkavians would not be able to resist their Derangements with Willpower. Inflict 1 point worth of Flaws: For each success devoted to this curse, the victim of the Diablerie may "purchase" 1 point worth of Flaws, preferably ones that he possessed before his demise, and inflict them on the Diabolist. The storyteller might allow certain flaws (such as Beacon of the Unholy, Cursed, or Touch of Frost) to be inflicted regardless of whether the target possessed them. Social flaws are not usually transferable unless they deal with the necromancers personality (as opposed to his social standing among his peers). Remove 1 point of Humanity or a Virtue: Each success the victim devotes to this penalty will strip the target of 1 point of Humanity or one of her Virtue points. This can actually push more bestial vampires into Wassail.
New Background: Memories

You have consumed the soul of another, and from that vicious act you have gained a wellspring of foreign memories. This mountain of experience could be from a single, potent soul, or from a number of lesser spirits that you have culled. Memories resembles the Mentor background in that it offers the vampire information, but this interaction is completely internal. Remembering a specific event or fact in the foreign memory might require an Intelligence + Memory roll (difficulty 7). The vampire might need to make a Wits + Self Control roll (difficulty of the level of the background +4) in order to sort these foreign memories from his owna failed roll means that while he remembers the information, he believes that the memories are truly his own recollection and not the bastard remnants of a devoured soul. Recent memories (from the last few days) were gained. Memories from months prior were assimilated. Years of memories were garnered from the consumed soul. A mortal lifetime was "ingested". Memories from centuries of existence were stolen from an Elder Cainite.
The Nocturnal Path

Night is the time of haunting, when the worlds of the living and the dead are at their closest. People are afraid of the dark, and that natural trepidation thins the barrier between life and death. It is only natural, then, that ghosts are at their strongest when the sun goes down and the shadows grow deep.
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The Nocturnal Path of Necromancy taps into the primordial fear of death and darkness that separates the living world from the dead lands. The path functions on the premise that, having crossed the threshold of death in the moments prior to their embrace, and being creatures who exist in the sunless night, vampires are capable of invoking the death inside their corpse-like bodies to become more like wraiths. Like the Void Path, the Nocturnal path represents a specific line of thanatological study undertaken by the Nagaraja bloodline. The Giovanni only recently uncovered the Nocturnal Path.
Death Shroud
Mortal minds are not equipped to deal with some aspects of the supernatural. While a human who recognizes a vampire will often be frightened, the Kindred are close enough to humanity, at least in appearance, that their presence alone is not usual sufficient to strike absolute terror in normal mortals. A vampire must make an awesome display of his unnatural curse (through the Dread Gaze) to instill such fright in those nearby. Ghosts, however, seem to offend the rationality of the human mind to such an extent that the mere sight of a manifesting wraith has been known to send weak willed mortals screaming in fear. A necromancer who begins his studies of the Nocturnal Path learns to enshroud himself in the aura of dread that clings to the souls of the deceased. While under the effects of Death Shroud, the necromancer becomes gaunt and corpselike; his skin takes on a pale, bluish tint, his eyes sink faintly and become rimmed by dark circles, and his flesh becomes cold to the touch, regardless of how recently he has fed. His fangs extend, and his skin pulls tighter on his bones. These physical changes are only a byproduct of the vampires acceptance of the death-energies within his animate corpse: in and of itself, the change in the vampires appearance is only startling. The real power of the Death Shroud comes from the almost palpable aura of death and decay that surrounds the necromancer. A mortal who gazes upon a necromancer under the Death Shrouds effects will react as if he had just seen a ghost. Stronger willed individuals will only be subtly frightened, while weaker willed mortals will run shrieking in terror. Supernatural creatures are unaffected by the Death Shroud, although the necromancer may still become more menacing toward such beings. System: The necromancer must spend a blood point and allow a turn for the death- energies to coalesce in his aura. Any mortals who view the necromancer automatically fall into a state of panic, the extent of which depends on their Willpower score. Those with scores of only 1 or 2 will either enter a stupefied state of disbelief or flee from the necromancer, screaming in panic. Those with 3 or 4 Willpower either rationalize what they see and forget the event afterwards, or, failing that, enter into a blind, panicked frenzy, possibly attacking the necromancer, but more likely simply howling and smashing whatever is nearby. Individuals with Willpower scores of 5 or 6 are reserved enough to maintain their sanity when confronted with a necromancer exhibiting the Death Shroud, although they will still be extremely frightened. A mortal with Willpower 7 would be able to retain his composure enough to stay in the vampires presence if there is a pressing need to do so. A character with a Willpower score of 8, 9 or 10 is able to overcome the fear to an extent. She might be intrigued by the vampire, offended by him, or simply unimpressed, but the target isnt forced to take any action in particular. In all cases, however, the vampire gains 1 die to his Intimidation die pools. Storytellers implementing Wraith: the Oblivion in their Vampire chronicles may wish to use the Fog Chart on page 241 of Wraith to determine the reaction of a mortal to a necromancer assuming the Death Shroud. If any mortals are frightened by the Death Shroud, then the barrier between the living lands and the world of the dead is lowered, temporarily, in the nearby locale. So long as at least one mortal has been influenced by the Death Shroud, all ghosts enjoy a 1 difficulty to utilizing their supernatural abilities when in the vicinity of both the necromancer and the target. Against supernatural creatures, the necromancer adds 1 die to his intimidation rolls for the rest of the scenevampires, werewolves, and the like are not as easily frightened as mundane mortals. Ghouls are counted among these supernatural creatures, as are any mortals immune to the Fog (merit-based mediums, or a mortal with any Numina rated at 3 or higher). Note that the Kinfolk of werewolves are considered mundane mortals for the purposes of this power.
Shadows Strength
A wraiths shadow is more than the instinctual, savage beast that dwells in a vampires soulit is something much more intricate and refined. Whereas a vampires beast drives the Cainite through base urges and physical needs such as anger, frustration, and the lust for blood, a wraiths Shadow subtly manipulates the ghosts thoughts by insinuating, casting doubts,
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or outright deceit. Most Shadows have a few minor tricks that they can play on their better half to sow the seeds of Oblivion, but perhaps the most insidious is a sort of Devils deal that the shadow can offer to the wraiths psyche. At a mere whim, the Shadow may grant the ghost power directly from its dark emotions, making it stronger or more capable at the cost of its moral conviction. A necromancer with this level of the Nocturnal path may converse for a moment with his own, latent Shadow, and convince it to offer him some of its spectral power. System: The necromancer must expend a Willpower point and roll Charisma + Occult, difficulty of his own Self Control +3. If successful, then the vampire gains a number of bonus dice equal to his own Humanity/Path subtracted from 10. Thus, a vampire with a Humanity of 4 would receive 6 bonus dice. These dice can be allotted to a single roll (up to a maximum of 5 dice to any one roll), or split up among a number of rolls during the scene. The dice may be allocated to any roll that the necromancer attempts during the scene, save for Virtue or Humanity/Path rolls. If the dice are unused at the end of the scene, they are lost. The necromancer may only utilize Shadow Strength once per scene. Vampires following Paths of Enlightenment use the rules above unless their Path focuses on the Instinct virtue over Self Control. In that case, the roll is made against a difficulty of (9 - Instinct), and the vampire gains a number of dice equal to his Path Rating. -1. Thus a vampire on the Path of Cathari with a rating of 7 would receive 6 dice from a successful roll. Calling upon one's dark side is a risky business, though. If any roll involving the bonus dice afforded by the vampire's dark emotions is botched, the vampire immediately flies into Frenzy (he cannot resist this Frenzy). If the necromancer's Charisma + Occult roll is botched, the vampire loses a point of Humanity (or of whatever Path he follows) and his dark side takes over for the duration of the scene: in this state, the vampire's Nature and Demeanor shift to a dark parody of the character's actual Nature archetype. For a list of common Shadow Natures, see "When Shadows Come Out to Play."
Tether the Soul

Ghosts are connected to the living world via the objects that held significance to them in their living days. These tethers, or Fetters, remind a ghost of who and what she once was, and offer her an anchor against the constant assaults of her Shadow and Oblivion. Many ghosts learn to use their Fetters as lifelines or beacons, returning to them if they become lost in the underworld, or if they suffer tremendous damage and dissipate from the Shadowlands. Through Tether the Soul, the necromancer learns to tie his soul to an object of great personal importance. This can be something that reminds him of his former mortality (such as a pocket watch gifted to him by his grandfather) or something that commemorates a great deed (such as the Bone of Lies stolen from a diablerized enemys haven); all that matters is that the object be important to the necromancer, to the point where it would be irreplaceable if lost. The necromancer might even designate his own corpse as a Fetter. Tether the Soul creates a temporary bond with the object in question that resembles the connection between a wraith and one of its Fetters. System: The necromancer must allow the object in question to be in her constant possession for a full week before she can create the tether (very easy for an object such as a bed, or the necromancers own body, rather difficult for an item such as a motorcycle or a pet ghoul). After this time, she must expend a blood point, which is mystically drawn into the item, and a point of Willpower, which solidifies her connection to the object, and roll Stamina + Empathy, difficulty 7. If she gains even one success, then she is considered to possess a weak Fetter (1 point, in Wraith terms). The object remains bound to the necromancer for one month, after which time she may repay the casting cost and remake the roll, provided she spends at least 24 hours in constant contact with the item the night prior to the end of the duration. If the necromancer expends a Permanent Willpower point in the casting, then the object is semi-permanently bound to her: neglect or disinterest in the item can void the tether, but should the item remain of value and importance to the necromancer, it will always be a Fetter. The necromancer can sense what is happening around the Fetter by closing her eyes and rolling Perception + Empathy, difficulty 7. The more successes she gains, the stronger the impression of what is transpiring around the object. She can also attempt to use certain disciplines around the Fetter, depending on her successes 1 success Cannot use Disciplines 2 successes Can use Auspex 3 successes Can also use Presence 4 successes Can also use Dementation, Dominate (if eye-contact is possible)
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5 successes Can also use Chimerstry, Necromancy, Thaumaturgy She may also sense the location of her Fetter, relative to her current location. The more successes on the Perception + Empathy roll, the more exact the information. If the necromancer is traveling the underworld through Ex Nihilo, and becomes lost, she may use her Fetter as a beacon to guide her back to the Skinlands. A Tether also makes using Crossing Styx (Nocturnal Path 5) much safer, allowing the necromancer to return to her Fetter if he should be severely injured in the underworld. A necromancer may only have 1 temporary Tether at any time. She may expend as many Permanent Willpower points as she desires to create permanent Fetters, however.
Feast of the Dead

Through Feast of the Dead, the necromancer may transmute the half-living fluid in his veins into emotion-rich plasm. This transubstantiated vitae loses its physicality (and hence potency) in the living lands, but becomes a viable source of nourishment in the underworld. While the most obvious use of Feast of the Dead is to convert vitae into ghostly form, which is then stored for replenishing the necromancers Blood Pool when traversing the underworld through Ex Nihilo, the necromancer can also feed his spectral blood to ghosts and doing so carries all of the usual side effects of consuming vampire blood: ghosts who partake of the plasm/blood actually become ghouls, and are subject to blood bonds as usual. System: The necromancer must expend a Willpower point and roll Stamina + Occult, difficulty 8. For each success rolled, one of the necromancers blood points may be converted into ectoplasm. The spectral blood points remain in the vampires system, however. The blood is useless in the land of the living, and can only be expended in the underworld or fed to an embodied wraith unless the necromancer also activates the level 3 Ash Path power, Dead Hand (in which case he may utilize his spectral blood as usual while still half-way in the physical world). If the vampire drinks in the Corpus of a ghost through Soul Feasting (Vitreous Path 5), he may convert the energy gained through that power into ectoplasmic blood at a rate of one energy point per success. This vastly increases the vampires ability to use that energy, and in fact allows her to subsist completely on the Corpus of dead souls. It is rumored that that power, in conjunction with Soul Feasting, allowed the Nagaraja vampires to exist for long periods of time in the underworld. The vampire may store such blood in specially prepared containers in the underworld (which usually must be "soul forged" by the necromancers ghostly servants, or which may be crafted after distilling a wraiths corpus through the level 5 power of the Pyre Path, Forge the Soul). In this way, a necromancer traveling through the underworld can bring along additional blood reserves that will function exactly like blood points do in the physical world. As an optional rule, the vampire may feed his blood to ghosts, thereby creating wraithly ghouls. Such ghouled ghosts gain the usual free dot in Potence, may learn Disciplines as per the rules for mortal ghouls, and are subject to blood bonds. Unlike mortals, a ghost can ingest up to 10 points of plasmic vitae in a single sitting (taking the place of normal Pathos, up to the wraiths maximum Pathos pool). The entropy rich blood empowers the spirits darker half, however, and possessing any Vitae in their Corpus causes the wraith to suffer a +1 difficulty to any rolls made to resist its Shadows influence. Ghoulwraiths lose one blood point every 2 weeks, rather than every month: the spectral blood infused in them through Feast of the Dead is ephemeral and rapidly dissipates. If the storyteller is running a Wraith crossover, then each blood point fed to a ghost also gives its Shadow one temporary point of Angst, which remains even after the spectral blood is expended. Also, the Wraiths Eidolon Background lowers temporarily by 1 point for each blood point it has ingested, wearing away at the spirits higher conscience while simultaneously strengthening its self-destructive urges. While the wraith is also a ghoul, it is incapable of willfully resolving its Passions and Fetters: it is bound to the Underworld as a mortal ghoul is bound to the Skinlands, and until all of the cursed Pathos is purged from the wraiths system, it will be unable to Transcend (although Oblivion, patient as always, awaits). For further information on the subject of wraith ghouls, see the "Ghouling the Dead" Appendix at the end of this manual.
Crossing Styx
While Ex Nihilo (Ash Path 4) allows the necromancer to travel bodily into the underworld, there are many dangers in traveling the spirit realm with ones physical body in tow, not the least of which being the utter annihilation that awaits any necromancer careless enough to allow himself to be slain while in the deadlands. Crossing Styx resembles the level 5 Auspex
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power Psychic Projection in that the vampire is capable of leaving her body for a time and traveling as pure spirit. A vampire who uses Crossing Styx separates her soul from her undead flesh and projects her ghostly aspect into the underworld. There is no silver cord connecting her soul to her body, so unless the necromancer is careful, she may well find herself lost in the underworld with no way to return. System: The necromancer must roll Willpower, difficulty 8. She must also spend a number of turns in concentration equal to the local Shroud rating (assume this require 7 turns in most places, or roughly 20 to 25 seconds). If successful, and if undisturbed for the requisite amount of time, the necromancers spirit slips free of her body. Like a vampire walking the Astral plane through Auspex, the necromancer in the ghost-form uses Willpower points to track her spiritual "health"every time the necromancer would suffer a Health level of damage, she instead loses a point of Willpower, becoming more and more insubstantial. There is no silver cord binding her to her body, however, and unless the vampire utilizes the third level of the Nocturnal Path (Tether the Soul) to anchor her spirit to her body (or an object near her body), the she will have to travel back to her corpse at normal speed in order to reawaken in the living lands. A vampire who is reduced to 0 willpower while in the underworld dies the final death unless she has tethered her soul to an object (or her corpse) in the living world. In the event that she has tethered herself to something, she will reappear in her ghostly form in the Shadowlands near her "Fetter" the scene after being "slain" in the underworld. Also unlike Psychic Projection, the necromancer retains her physical attributes while in the underworldthe ghostly form is an idealized version of her actual, physical body as her soul remembers it. The only blood points that the necromancer may retain while in her ghostly form are those that have been converted to ectoplasm via Feast of the Dead. If she does not have any spectral blood in her system when she invokes this power, then she will be unable to access many of her disciplines while in the underworld (although those who possess the level five power of the Vitreous Path may convert wraithly ectoplasm into "blood" through Feast of the Dead, and thus may sustain themselves, heal, and power disciplines as usual). While employing this power, the vampires body enters into a state resembling torpor, and unless the necromancer has tethered himself to the corpse through the third level of this path, he will be unable to sense what is occurring around his physical body. Without the necromancers soul, the vampires body decays, appearing as it would if the vampire were truly dead. The vampires body never disintegrates, however, so the worst that will happen (in the case of a particularly ancient Methuselah) is that her body becomes a mummified skeleton while her soul is out to play. The body is not harmed by sunlight, faith, or other traditional banes of vampirism (save fire, which will burn the corpse readily). If the vampires body meets final death while her soul is in the underworld, then the vampire becomes a full-fledged wraith, losing her disciplines but gaining ghostly Arcanoi. A necromancer who travels the underworld during the daylight need not roll to remain awake, but each evening at dusk on any day that the necromancer remains in the underworld, she must expend an ectoplasmic blood point (gained through Feast of the Dead) or, should she have no spectral blood in her system, a point of Willpower. Running out of blood and willpower has the usual effect: final death or banishment to a Fetter.
The Path of the Pyre

The underworld is a place where emotions literally carry weight; where as in the Skinlands, matter and energy are expressions of the same primordial forces, the land of the dead is composed of emotions and plasm. In the physical world, fire is the great purifier: it consumes matter and generates energy in the form of heat. In the underworld, plasm can "burn" as well, smoldering into pure, emotional energy. This effect is known to wraiths as "Soul Fire," but most necromancers speak of these ghostly flames as the "Fire of Hades." The Path of the Pyre allows the necromancer to call forth the passion-fire of the underworld, burning his foes, be they physical or spectral in form. There have been reports that the Asian vampires possess blood magic similar to this path, allowing them to summon forth strange, blue fire. Whether the Giovanni learned these secrets from clandestine dealings with the Chinese Ching Shi necromancers is unknown, although this theory is exceedingly unlikely.
Nether Light
This spell allows the necromancer to view nearby ectoplasm by faintly kindling a small bit of emotional energy into a soft radiance from beyond the shroud of death. When the necromancer evokes the Nether Light, any entity or object in the
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underworld that is composed of plasm will begin to glow visibly within the underworld and the Skinlands alike. System: To invoke Nether Light, the vampire must expend a blood point and roll Perception + Occult (difficulty 7). All ectoplasm becomes visible within a radius of 3 yards for one turn per success. Ghosts with special stealth powers (Enshroud, for instance) may confound the Nether Light: the Ghost receives a Wits + Stealth roll, opposed by the Necromancers Perception + Occult roll. If the ghost succeeds, it remains invisible to the Nether Light effect.
Corpse Candle
Corpse Candle infuses emotional energy into some bit of inanimate "matter" in the underworld, causing it to burn away and shed visible light. The light emitted is visible in the land of the dead as well as in the living world. Unless the necromancer also has some means of seeing into the underworld, however, he will only gain the benefit of momentary illumination in the land of the living. System: Spend a blood point. If the necromancer already has some means of seeing ectoplasmic objects (i.e. he is using Nether Light, or another necromantic power that allows him to see into the underworld), then no roll is necessary. If the necromancer cannot see the object he is attempting to enflame, then he must score 3 successes on a roll of Perception + Alertness. For one minute per point of Perception the vampire possesses, a bit of the physical "stuff" of the underworld burns and illuminates the Skinlands and the spirit world like a torch. The torch-fire is very real to ghosts and other spectral beings in the underworld (including necromancers traversing the underworld). Such creatures suffer 1 health level of aggravated damage each time they pass through the ghostly fire. The flames do not burn individuals in the living world, however, unless they are coexisting in the Underworld via Dead Hand (Ash Path 3) or similar arts when they pass through the fire.
Spirit Burn
Spirit Burn allows the Necromancer to invoke the Fire of Hades, summoning the bluish white flames of the underworld (called Barrow Flames by many ghosts who have been interrogated on the matter). By focusing her emotional outrage and infusing it into the plasm of nearby ghosts (or the transubstantiated flesh of physical travelers in the underworld), she may cause them to burst into unholy flames, their plasm burning away like dry wood. System: Spend a blood point and roll Wits + Empathy, difficulty 7. If 1 success is scored, then one spirit within visual range of the necromancer suffers 1 aggravated health level (i.e. 1 level of Corpus damage). With 3 successes, 2 health levels are inflicted. 5 successes invokes 3 levels of damage. The damage continues to burn on successive turns, losing 1 health level from the total damage each turn that the flames continue to burn. To properly aim the Spirit Burn attack, the necromancer must be able to see the target (such as through Nether Light or a different necromantic path).
Soulfire
Like Spirit Burn, Soulfire summons the Barrow Flames as an offensive weapon. What separates this power is that the flames may manifest in the living world. Those struck by the bluish-white fire are burned spiritually, rather than physically. While ghosts will burn visibly, those in the Skinlands will simply appear to double over in pain, as if suffering a heart attack. Individuals capable of seeing into the underworld (or possibly vampires with a high enough Auspex rating) will see a mortal target of Soulfire surrounded in a wreath of burning, ghostly fire. The Fire of Hades burns the targets very soul into Oblivion, and those killed (or brought to final death) by Soulfire never return as wraiths. System: Summoning these flames costs a blood point, and requires a roll of Wits + Occult (difficulty of the local shroud, or default to 7). Once summoned, the Necromancer may place the flames with a successful Dexterity + Alertness roll (difficulty 8). These flames deal aggravated damage to ghosts, as well as to those in the living world. On the first turn, the full damage is inflicted based on the successes on the Wits + Occult roll as shown on the following chart. On subsequent turns, the target suffers half of the damage that he suffered the previous turn (round down). Successes Damage 1 success 2 dice 2 successes 3 dice 3 successes 4 dice
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4 successes 5 dice 5 successes 6 dice All damage is Aggravated, and not even Fortitude can resist the scorching fire. Only a Willpower roll (difficulty 8) can reduce the damage: each success on the targets Willpower roll reduces the damage inflicted by 1 health level. A target brought below Incapacitated by Soulfire will never become a ghost: his soul has been eradicated by the hellish fire.
Forge the Soul

The last power on the Path of the Pyre is also the power that requires the greatest precision. Rather than crudely burning away a targets soul, the necromancer may focus the Barrow Flames on a spirits personality and consciousness alone, leaving the ectoplasm intact. The result is far from pretty: what remains are essentially the raw materials for crafting objects in the underworld: mindless soul-stuff ripe for forging. When assaulting a spirit through Forge the Soul, the necromancer reaches out, as if to grab the wraith. In the Shadowlands, the necromancers hands seem to be wreathed in bluish flames. When the vampires hands "touch" the spectral plasm of the ghost, the flames engulf the spirit for a moment, causing excruciating pain and burning the ghost right to the core of his being. Forge the Soul does not cause spectral objects to spontaneously appear: the necromancer must have some way of physically manipulating the ectoplasm in order to shape it into the desired form. What this power does is reduce a ghost to the basic building blocks of the underworldplasm. This, of course, destroys the ghost, sending its consciousness straight into Oblivion. System: To invoke this power, the necromancer must force his hands into the physical space in the Skinlands that corresponds to the area occupied by the spirit in the underworld. He then expends 2 Willpower points and roll Strength + Occult, difficulty of the Shroud (default to 7). A single ghost may be targeted by this power each turn, and the necromancer must be able to see the spirit in order to strike it. The spirit receives a straight Stamina roll (difficulty 6) to resist, with each success countering one of the vampires successes. For each success the vampire scores, the ghost loses 1 permanent point of Willpower. A spirit reduced to 0 Willpower in this way becomes a mindless husk of ectoplasm, resembling a roughly sculpted, slightly scorched statue. The most disturbing feature of such husks is the vacant pits where the wraiths eyes once rested. Successes beyond those required to burn the spirits Willpower spill over, affecting the ghosts Corpus (their ectoplasmic "body"). For each success beyond the targets Willpower, one of the spirits health-levels is burned away. A spirit with no Willpower or Health Levels left (a standard ghost has 10 "health levels" worth of ectoplasm) is reduced to a pool of sludge that is completely unworkable. For each Health Level that remains after the "tempering," the necromancer has roughly a square foot of material to work with (plasm can be stretched or contracted very easily). If the necromancer can physically touch the ectoplasm (such as when traversing the underworld through Ex Nihilo, or by using Dead Hand), he can work the leftover corpus with a standard Dexterity + Crafts roll (difficulty 6 if the appropriate tools are also available, difficulty 8 if he must improvise tools, 9 if the necromancer has to hand-craft the plasm).
The Requiem Path

Memories are the lifeblood of the dead; the psychic remnants of their breathing days leave an indelible legacy upon their afterlives that flows through their plasmic veins. Ghosts draw strength from the memories of people and places significant to them in life, and those who remember the departed continue to feed the spirits in the hereafter. A necromancer with the Requiem Path may delve into these fading threads of memory and manipulate them in order to force spirits to act at his behest. A few less mercenary individuals might use the Requiem Path to give final rest to lingering spirits, and it is speculated that perhaps such was the original purpose of the path. Unfortunately, final rest for the spirits does not play into the Giovannis grand scheme.
Memoriam
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Spirits are fueled by passion, and the primary source of their emotional strength is the memories that bind them to the world of the living. Knowing the passions that a spirit clings to can give the necromancer a great deal of sway over the ghost. For example: knowing that a spirit lingers on so that he can protect his living daughter gives the necromancer a valuable bargaining chip. More noble vampires might offer to help protect the ghosts child, while more ruthless individuals might threaten the childs life unless the ghost cooperates... System: The vampire must have either summoned the ghost, or be able to see the ghost in question (either through Aura Perception or other Necromancy powers), and must roll Perception + Empathy, difficulty of the spirits Wits + Subterfuge. For each success, the necromancer learns one of the following details about the spirits psyche: *One emotional link to the land of the living, such as love or hate for a living person, or the desire to finish some important task. *The relative strength of a given emotional link (weak, moderate, or intense). *Whether the passion is attuned to the wraiths normal personality (the psyche) or the darker- half of his soul (the shadow). *One detail concerning an emotional link: the person, object or task that the ghost is linked to. Storytellers who are implementing elements of Wraith might give more detailed information concerning the ghosts Passions: for instance, 3 successes might reveal the Passion "Destroy the relationship of my wife and best friend" (Envy 4). If the storyteller does not wish to use Wraith terms, he might simply say that the ghost has a strong emotional need to break up the relationship between his wife and his former best friend, and that the driving emotion is Envy.
Eulogy of the Dead

By speaking to a ghost and reminding her of her past deeds and memorable events in her life, the necromancer may either bolster or weaken the spirit. Reminding the ghost of her finer qualities and exploits will grant the spirit sustenance, while expounding upon the ghosts vices or mistakes will send the creature into a blind, frenzy-like rage. System: The Necromancer must know a spirits name, and at least one event in the ghosts life that he can relate (such memories may be gained through the Memoriam power). Barring this, the necromancer can instead speak of the ghosts personality, reminding the spirit of emotions and feelings it held in life. This can take the form of a short, informal eulogy, such as "Richard was a charitable, kind hearted man..." or the necromancer may be straight foreword and to the point, such as reminding a spirit directly of the time during its living youth that it accidentally set fire to the old barn down the road. It is not necessary for the necromancer to actually see the ghost, he must only know that the ghost is present and can hear his words. In all, such reminders generally take a full turn or two to relate. The necromancer spends a Willpower Point and must roll Manipulation + Empathy. If speaking a positive eulogy with the intent of bolstering the ghosts passion for existence, then the difficulty of the roll is 8, and every success restores one point of Pathos to the spirits pool. This aspect is most often used to empower a ghost that is in service to the necromancer. Alternately, the necromancer may turn his eulogy into a fire and brimstone sermon focusing on the past indiscretions of the spirit in question. In this case, the difficulty of the roll is the ghosts Willpower rating, and every success scored by the necromancer forces the spirit into a frenzy-like state for one turn, during which time its darkest thoughts, urges and desires come to the fore and motivate the ghost toward performing terrible deeds. If the storyteller is employing elements of Wraith in his chronicle, than each success instead grants the wraiths shadow a point of temporary Angst. This may cause the ghost to enter Catharsis... Eulogy of the Dead may only be attempted on a given spirit once per scene, regardless of the success of the attempt. A botch means that the necromancer cannot use this power on that particular spirit for the remainder of the story.
Slumber in Death
Ghosts no longer possess bodies, but their spiritual forms still require rest to replenish. When a wraiths corpus is disrupted it is sometimes necessary to reconstitute his ectoplasmic form, and to do so he enters into a Torpor-like state called Slumber. A necromancer who has progressed this far along the Requiem Path learns to lull a spirit into this healing sleep. While affected by Slumber in Death, a wraith dreams of his Passions: positive emotions tied to her passions will instill peaceful rest, while negative feelings will induce terrible nightmares. System: The necromancer must see the desired target in order to invoke Slumber in Death, and he must use Memoriam in order to learn of one of the wraiths passions. Once this is done, the necromancer must roll Wits + Subterfuge, difficulty of the wraiths Stamina + Empathy. If the necromancer succeeds, then the spirit enters into the Slumber in Death for one hour per success.
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If the necromancer is focusing on a passion attuned to the ghosts psyche, then the slumber is pleasant and refreshing. A spirit undergoing a beneficial slumber is less likely to succumb to a personality shift or harrowing: the spirit regains a Health Level for every success gained on a roll of its own Willpower (Difficulty 8). (If implementing Wraith elements, roll the Wraiths rating in the Passion uncovered through Memoriam at difficulty 6: every success restores 1 Corpus level). A nightmarish slumber instead leaves the spirit drained, agitated and prone to fits of frenzy. For each success that the necromancer scores the spirit loses one Willpower point. The spirit must also roll permanent Willpower (difficulty 7) or suffer a personality shift to his dark nature upon awakening from the slumber. (In Wraith terms, the wraiths Shadow automatically gains a chance to check for Catharsis, even if its Angst has not exceeded the Psyches Willpower).
Lamentation
A spirits Passions are mutable, rising and falling in much the same way that a vampires humanitas ebbs and swells in response to his moral conduct. A necromancer skilled in the Requiem Path may quell or enflame those emotions that drive a spirit to remain in the land of the dead. The necromancer may also alter the parameters of a ghosts passions. The focus of a passion could be changed, and in addition to manipulating a ghosts existing emotional bonds, the vampire may forge new Passions. In this way, the necromancer is able to mold dead souls into willing servants who actually become stronger by fulfilling the vampires agenda. System: If attempting to alter an existing Passion, the necromancer must first employ Memoriam in order to codify one of the ghosts Passions, and he must score enough successes to know the general emotion of the Passion and its strength (and hence, 2 successes are required on the Memoriam roll). Once the vampire has this information, he can decide to either quash or bolster the spirits Passion. In either case, a Willpower point is required to infuse the ghost with a specific emotion either an emotion concurrent with the spirits Passion, or counter to it. If a temporary Willpower point is expended, any manipulation of the spirit's Passions will remain in effect for 1 week per success that the necromancer rolls (see below). If a permanent Willpower point is expended, however, the alteration is permanent. He must also either be in the presence of the ghost (which may require that the spirit be Summoned), or must be touching one of its Fetters. The necromancer rolls Manipulation + Empathy, difficulty 8. If the necromancer is attempting to bolster the Passion, then a successful roll raises the Passion one level (from weak to moderate, and from moderate to intense, and from intense to overwhelming). If implementing elements of Wraith, then the Passion is raised by 1 dot. The ghost may choose to resist this effect with a Willpower roll (difficulty of the necromancers Willpower), and each success scored cancels one of the necromancers casting successes. Few wraiths choose to do thisonly those who wish to resolve their Passions would desire to keep such ties from strengthening. If the necromancer is instead attempting to quell the Passion, then the wraith may resist as above: if the wraith fails to score more successes than the necromancer, then the Passion lowers by one level (or 1 dot), while a successful roll keeps the Passion at its current level. If all of the spirits Passions are negated through Lamentation, then the ghost dissipates into nothingness, permanently destroyed. Creating a new Passion requires that the necromancer detail a suitable emotional tie for the wraith. This involves deciding on the behavior that the necromancer wants the ghost to act out (such as haunting the necromancers haven and scaring any trespassers away), and the necromancer must also tie an emotion to that behavior, such as "Scare away trespassers (Scorn)." Once the player and storyteller have decided on a suitable Passion, the necromancer rolls Manipulation + Empathy at difficulty 5 if the Passion is concurrent with the ghosts normal desires and behavior, difficulty 7 if the new Passion is counter to or directly opposing the wraiths normal behavior, and difficulty 9 if the wraith has no vested interest at all in the behavior. The ghost can resist by rolling Willpower (difficulty 6). If the necromancer scores more successes, then the ghost gains the new Passion at a weak level (1 dot). Newly forged Passions are generally weak, and so some necromancers prefer to revise existing Passions to suit their needs. Altering the parameters of an existing Passion is accomplished with the same Manipulation + Empathy roll as the necromancer makes to alter the intensity of a Passion (and allows the same resistance roll), but each success on the Necromancers part allows the necromancer to change one aspect of the Passion in question. Examples of the extent to which the necromancer may change a ghosts Passions are as follows: *Switch the emotion tied to a Passion to another, appropriate emotion. Example: changing "Protect my daughter from her abusive husband (Devotion 3)" to "Protect my daughter from her abusive husband (Wrath 3)." *Alter one aspect of the
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Passions "focus". The new focus can diverge somewhat from the original focus of the Passion, but it should remain consistent with the general theme of the Passion in question. Example: changing "Protect my daughter from her abusive husband (Wrath 3)" to "Protect my daughter from abusive vampires (Wrath 3)". A second success might further alter the Passion to "Protect my daughter from vampires of the Brujah clan (Wrath 3)." A third success on this could modify the Passion to read "Protect the necromancer from vampires of the Brujah clan (Wrath 3)." *_Change the emotional "polarity" of the Passion. Rather than changing the emotion itself, the necromancer may devote a success to attune the Passion itself to the opposite half of the wraiths soul. A normal Passion can be converted into a Dark Passion that feeds the wraiths Shadow (and most likely perverts the Passion in some way, turning Love to Lust, Pride to Hubris, etc.). Likewise, a Dark Passion may be "purified" so that it feeds Pathos to the Psyche, rather than channeling Angst to the Shadow. In any event, Lamentation may only be utilized once per scene on any particular wraith.
Inhume the Departed

The most potent expression of the Requiem Path, the necromancer gains the ultimate power over the emotional ties of ghosts. The necromancer may literally destroy all that holds a spirit to this world and the next. Inhume the Departed is either a ritual of last rites or the utter destruction of a soul, depending on the necromancer you ask. Some claim that this power offers a spirit an early reprieve from the sorrows of the afterlife, while others claim that it is nothing more than consignment to oblivion. What is certain is that only the most tenacious spirits return from an application of this spell. System: The necromancer must stand over the remains of the deceased individual ashes will suffice, as will the true burial site of the ghosts body, but at least a majority of the matter that once composed the target ghosts body must be gathered in a single place for this power to be effective. The necromancer then speaks a blessing, a curse, a hymn or simply a "goodbye"; all that is needed is that the necromancer bring a sense of closure to the ritual. She expends 2 Willpower points and makes an extended, contested roll of Permanent Willpower (difficulty 7) against the ghosts Willpower (same difficulty). The first character to accumulate 10 successes wins the contested roll. If the ghost overcomes the necromancer in the contest of wills, then it cannot be affected by any Necromancy powers or Rituals invoked by that particular necromancer for a year and a day. If the necromancer prevails, then the spirit fades from this world and the next. Some believe that the spirit Transcends to a heavenly realm, while others are convinced that the spirit is actually nullified and consumed by Oblivion. Use of this power always calls for a Conscience roll to resist Humanity loss, although practitioners of certain Paths may not need to check for degeneration. Occasionally, a particularly strong-willed spirit may actually reform somewhere in the underworld and find his or her way back to the Shadowlands, often seeking revenge upon the necromancer who banished him or her. More frightening, it seems as if the primal force of Oblivion sees fit to "cough" some of the spirits dispersed through Inhume the Departed back up into the underworld as twisted parodies of their former souls: such ghosts return as malevolent Spectres who may possess strange powers previously unseen by the necromancer. In Wraith terms, success on the necromancers part sends the wraith directly into a Destruction Harrowing. The vampire who invoked Inhume the Departed (or rather, a Spectre who takes on the guise of this vampire) often plays a key roll in the events of the Harrowing.
The Skull Path

The Skull Path of Necromancy (sometimes referred to as the Deaths Head Path by older Necromancers) is a variant upon the more widely practiced Bone Path, thought to be a holdover from the unrefined death-magic of the original Death Clan from which the Giovanni usurped their status as one of the 13 major bloodlines. This avenue of corporeal animation allows the Necromancer to channel dark energies through bones and skeletons. She may animate skeletal servants of various sorts, and may even become a walking skeletal thing herself. While most necromancers learn the Bone Path in order to animate undead servants, the Skull Path grants the blood magician a number of abilities unavailable to practitioners of the Bone Path. In addition, Skeletons are easier to create and maintain: the bones are much more resistant to decay. The strange and ineffable Harbingers of Skulls are known to practice this path with surprising frequency, seeming to prefer it to the more common Bone Path, although the Giovanni also retain records of the Skull Paths workings, and it occasionally finds its way into the hands of a young Necromancer looking for an interesting diversion from the standard zombie-making curriculum.
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The Mortis Question

The Skull Path is indeed a holdover from the days of Mortis when vampiric death-powers were almost completely physical in nature (before the induction of the Venetian Giovanni into the Cappadocian clan). Storytellers who are running Dark Ages chronicles may wish to make the Skull Path (previously known as the "Deaths Head Path") available to Cappadocian and Lamia characters. With the rise of the Bone Path of Necromancy, the Deaths Head Path becomes more of a novelty, as the zombies created through the Bone Path tend to be sturdier and more resilient. During the dark ages, however, the Mortis Path of Cadaverous Animation is still unrefined, and the Deaths Head Path offers something of a quick-but-limited alternative method of animating corpses. While spying skulls are immobile, and the skeletons are more fragile than zombu, the necromancer can animate skeletal servants more quickly in the paths progression.
Skeleton Statistics
Skeletons animated through The Skull Path have the following statistics: Strength 2, Dexterity 3, Stamina 2, Brawl 2, Dodge 2. Skeletons possess an Initiative rating of 5. They have 0 willpower, but resist mental control and other attacks as if they had Willpower 10. All Mental and Social attributes are 0. Skeletons dice pools are not affected by damage, except wounds caused by fire or the teeth and claws of supernatural creatures. They may soak Bashing and Lethal damage with their Stamina, but not Aggravated damage. Lethal damage (including that from Bullets and aggravated damage from the claws and teeth of supernatural beings) is halved after soak (much as vampires halve Bashing damage). Most skeletons have 5 health levels but are incapable of healing the damage they suffer unless their master utilizes the fifth level power of the Skull Path, Osseous Construct, for that purpose
Empty Sockets
The Necromancer may drip her own Vitae into the eye sockets of a human or animal skull, thereby creating a sympathetic bond between herself and the head-bone. Once done, the skull becomes a sort of spy or security camera. Anytime after enchanting the skull, the Necromancer may close her eyes and shift her perceptions to the skulls point of view. The vampire may choose to utilize the skulls of small animals when secrecy is necessary, but doing so is problematic. Her sensory information is somewhat distorted with human skulls, and the smaller the bone, the more distortion occurs. System: A blood point must be spentthis point is dripped into the eye sockets of the skull. The Necromancer then rolls Perception + Occult (difficulty 6) each success the vampire gains increases the duration of the spell by 1 day. The vampire may leave the skull wherever she desires. Anytime there after, up to the rolled duration, the player may roll Perception + Alertness, difficulty 8. If successful, the vampire may shift her senses into the skull. The amount of sensory information gained depends on the successes rolled on the Perception + Alertness roll. The storyteller must determine how much distortion occurs, depending on how small of a skull the vampire uses. This power may be used on Skeletons created via the higher levels of the Skull Path, thus allowing the necromancer to view through the skeletons empty eye sockets. 1 Success 3 Successes 5 Successes The vampire may see through the skulls eye sockets, but her vision is tinted red. The vampire may hear through the skull, although the sound is often distorted slightly. The vampire may even speak through the skull if a Willpower point is spent (this allows 1 brief message or response per point of willpower spent to do so).
Bone Dance
The character may animate skeletons, causing them to move as if they still possessed flesh and muscle. They may perform tasks or even attack, but their existence is quite limited. The Skeletons must either be visible to the Necromancer, or she must know that they are present (such as when standing over a graveyard). If this spell is cast upon a more fleshy corpse, the skin immediate rots and withers away. In addition to creating temporary servants, this power is ideal for ridding ones self of undesirable corpses (and only a Necromancer would find corpses desirable) as the bones fall to dust once the magic has
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expired. System: A blood point and a Willpower point must be spent, and a roll of Wits + Occult, difficulty 6 must succeed. Each success on this roll animates 1 skeleton. These skeletons may perform one task, although this may include conditional orders (such as "Follow me, and attack on my signal"). If erected for Combat, the skeletons last for one scene. Otherwise, they last until their task is completed, at which point they crumble to dust.
Death Guard
The vampire may now animate a permanent regiment of skeletal warriors to stand guard or fight beside her. System: The vampire spends a Willpower point and then rolls Wits + Occult, difficulty 6. Each success on this roll can animate 1 skeleton, up to the maximum determined by how much blood points are expended; for each skeleton raised, the vampire must expend one blood point. These skeletons remain animate until destroyed.
Assume the Aspect of Death

The vampires skin melts and evaporates, leaving behind only a skeleton. Such a transformation is not only shocking, but grants the vampire an increased resistance to many forms of damage. She is fully capable of movement, even though she possesses no musculature to speak of, and the divested body weight even grants additional ease of motion. System: The vampire must expend 2 blood points and roll Stamina + Occult, difficulty 8. The transformation takes 2 turns, during which time the vampires flesh boils and sheds from her bones. Any mortals viewing this spectacle must roll Courage, difficulty 8, or flee in panic. If fewer than 3 successes are scored, then the target can take no action save stand, watching in horror, until the vampire completes her transformation. After two turns, the vampire remains only as a Skeleton with sharp fangs protruding from its jaw. While the vampire is in this form, she may see as though she possessed Level 1 Protean, although she actually has no eyeballs. Her fingers sport bony talons with which she may attack for Strength +1 Lethal damage, and her bite causes Aggravated damage as usual. The necromancer loses the normal vampiric ability to halve damage from Bashing attacks (although she may still soak them normally), but instead gains the ability to halve Lethal damage after soak (round down). She may also use her Stamina to soak damage from the Claws and Fangs of supernatural creatures and magical weapons. Additionally, while in this form, the vampire is immune to staking (as her heart dissolves with her flesh), and any firearms or archery attacks (save for shotguns or rapid fire submachineguns and pistols) suffer a +2 difficulty to their attack roll. Because the vampires body has been reduced in weight as a result of the dissolved flesh, her Dexterity increase by 2 for the purposes of movement and initiative only (she does not gain any dice to her Dexterity dice pools, but her Dexterity rating is considered 2 higher when calculating these traits or any difficulty for an opposing roll based on her Dexterity). Fleshcraft becomes useless when attempted on her, although all difficulties to use Bonecraft on the skeletal vampire are at -2 difficulty (the bones can be manipulated directly, rather than having to wade through sloughs of flesh). While the vampire is no longer buoyant as a result of lost flesh, she need not worry about the intense pressures deep below water. The vampire retains her normal blood pool... the blood is simply crammed into her bones instead of her flesh. When she feeds, the bones grow a dark shade of red for a few moments before returning to their stark white color. If she needs to bleed for any reason to activate powers or to feed another vampire, she simply scratches her bones, and the blood bubbles forth. Unfortunately, the vampires tongue disappears along with the rest of her flesh, and therefore she is unable to close the wounds she causes with her fangs and claws via a healing lick. Oddly, she may still speak...
Osseous Construct
The necromancer may piece together various bits of bone and cartilage from humans, animals, and even vampires, to form a larger, more menacing skeletal creation. System: The vampire must expend 1 Willpower point and 1 Blood point, and roll Intelligence + Occult, difficulty 8. Each success allows the vampire to expend 1 more point of blood and willpower. The initial construct has the base statistics of a Skeleton as presented above, but each additional point of blood and willpower grants one of the following: 2 Extra Health levels 2 Dots in physical attributes 2 Extra soak dice Claws, Fangs, Bone Spurs or Spikes, or other weapons (+1 Lethal Damage per success, or 1 additional feature per
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success) 2 additional limbs (+2 dice to grappling maneuvers, and may take actions while sustaining a hold) The Osseous Construct can follow simple commands, as per levels 2 and 3 of the Skull Path. Indeed, this power may be utilized to augment existing skeletons and zombies (doing so does not require the initial expenditure of blood and Willpower). An Osseous Construct lasts until it is destroyed. Note that Osseous Construct can be used to repair the damage inflicted upon existing skeletal minions or zombies created through the Bone Path (although repeated use of this power on a zombieenough to completely replace the zombies original health levels may eventually alter it to such an extent that it should be considered skeletons from there on in). In this case, each success on the roll "heals" two health levels of damage, although Aggravated damage cannot be repaired in this way.
The Void Path

Ghosts cling to existence tenaciously, tied as they are by emotional connections to the living world. Astute necromancers know that the reasons spirits hold fast to their passions and Fetters is that without these "life-lines" ghosts would be dragged into the void of nothingness. At best, a spirit consigned to Oblivion never returns. At worst, it rises from the darkest recesses of the Underworld as something else something malignant. The Giovanni know such spirits as spettri, or Spectres. The Void Path of Necromancy gives the vampire control over the dark energies of Oblivion, allowing him to use his vitae as a conduit for entropic energy. It is believed that the Void Path originated with the Nagaraja, but that the Giovanni managed at some point to pry an incomplete understanding of the basic principles of "Nihilistics" through ghostly spies. More likely, necromancers seeking to emulate the rumored powers of the Nagaraja assembled the path independently. Thus, there is a certain measure of similarity between the Void Path and the Vitreous Path, as both deal directly with the entropic energies of nothingness that the dead almost universally fear. The Void Path is not widely practiced: a few elder and ancilla Giovanni have been taught this form of Necromancy, often as a reward for exceptional work toward the agendas of la familia.
Gaze into the Abyss

The primary ability of the Void path is the capability to sense the currents of entropy that flow throughout the underworld. The taint of Oblivion clings to all things that it touches, eroding passion and fostering angst. Ghosts who have succumbed to their darker halves completely are discernable by this taint, and even those who possess strong Shadows can be detected. The taint of Oblivion is visible as an inverse radiancea sort of aura of blackness that clings to and emanates from the wraith that the necromancer is observing. The necromancer is also capable of detecting the touch of the Void in the living world, and thus may sense when a person has been affected by spectral powers, gifted with supernatural abilities by a Spectre, or when an individual is emotionally tinged with Oblivions taint, enough so that she would join the ranks of the Spectres upon death. System: The primary function of Gaze into the Abyss is to sense if Spectres are about. By concentrating for two turns and rolling Perception + Empathy (difficulty of the 7), the necromancer can detect the aura of entropic energy that Spectres emit. Even one success will alert the necromancer to the presence of Spectres in his vicinity, while three will tell him if a Spectre has passed through the area within the past few minutes. The necromancer may detect any emanations of Oblivion through Gaze into the Abyss, but the most common source of entropic energy is the presence of the Shadow-eaten. He will be able to tell if a person has been in contact with a Spectre, or been the subject of a Spectres powers, and to what extent he or she has been influenced. He may also determine if a given individual has been gifted with any supernatural abilities by a Spectre. Three or more successes will reveal if the individual being observed is tainted with Oblivion to the extent that, upon death, she would become a Spectre herself. If used in conjunction with Shroudsight (Ash Path 1) or other Necromancy powers that allow a glimpse of the underworld, the necromancer can determine if a given wraith that he can see is a Spectre or not or if a wraith that he observes has a weak or strong Shadow, relative to the ghosts Psyche (the wraiths "better half"). The difficulty is 6, but there are certain Spectres (known as Doppelgangers) that specialize in masquerading as benign spirits. If the target of Gaze into the Abyss is one of these Doppelgangers, then the necromancer must score three successes, or he believes the Spectre to be a normal ghost.
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Necromancers utilizing Gaze into the Abyss may also detect pockets of nothingness in the Shadowlands, which ghosts refer to as Nihils. Spectres often emerge from these dark portals, and the necromancer can sense the proximity of such Nihils. The difficulty is 7, as above, and a successful roll allows the necromancer to determine the direction, rough distance, and relative size of the Nihil. If a wraith or Spectre opens up a Nihil in the Shadowlands near the necromancer (even if the necromancer is in the Skinlands at the time) through the use of a ghostly power (as some are capable of doing), then the necromancer can sense this with a successful roll.
Oblivions Caress
All things decay with time, but a necromancer who has reached this plateau of thanatological insight understands the intricacies of the process of deterioration and its relation to the flow of entropic energy. By focusing these dark emanations into the physical form of an inanimate object, the necromancer may accelerate the normal rate of decay. Metal will rust and flake away, wood will rot and crumble, glass will sag and distort, and even synthetic materials like plastic will become brittle and age-worn. If an object targeted in the Skinlands is a Fetter to a ghost in the underworld, then Oblivions Caress can literally shatter the soul-chain that binds a wraith to the afterlife. Oblivions Caress can also be used to target ectoplasm in the underworld, if the necromancer has the means to touch ghostly plasm. Only soulless ectoplasm can be decayed: objects that have been soulforged, for instance, or the relics of objects that have crossed over the shroud, or even the empty shells of once-ghosts called Drones. Such plasmic "objects" dissipate rapidly when attacked by Oblivions Caress. System: The necromancer must expend a blood point. For the next 3 turns, a dark cloud of entropic energy, visible only to those who can see ghostly manifestations, will shroud his hand. Any object that the necromancer touches during those turns will be infused with the essence of decay. Wood and other formerly organic materials (such as corpses) will rapidly putrefy, generally decaying within one turn for every 20lbs of material, while more resilient materials will take longer to deteriorate. A square foot of metal (up to an inch deep) becomes rusted for each turn that the necromancer continues to touch it with Oblivions Caress. After three turns of focusing entropic energy on the same square foot of metal, the necromancer may erode a hole roughly a foot in diameter into the material. stainless steel may require twice as long to erode, while iron may require only 1 or 2 turns for the same effect. Relatively pure gold is very difficult to affect through this power, with only a few square inches being affected each turn. Objects in the underworld can be affected through the Dead Hand power of the Ash Path, or if the vampire is traversing the underworld at the time the power is used. A single turn destroys most "mundane" ghostly objects, or inflicts 2 health levels of unsoakable damage on plasmic creatures such as Drones (excluding wraiths and Spectres). If a Relic is targeted, then every turn reduces the relics background rating by 1 dot (and thus making it less useful or functional: a relic sword would do less damage, a relic mirror would become cracked or permanently tarnished, etc). If a relic is reduced to 0 dots, it dissipates completely. A Fetter that is attacked by Oblivions Caress resists most of the decaying effects of the power because of the infusion of emotional energy that binds it to its wraith, although the Fetter will show sings of wear and tear. Each turn that the Fetter is exposed to Oblivions Caress, the Fetters rating is permanently reduced by 1 point.
Awaken the Shadow

The dual nature of ghosts seems to reflect the Man/Beast dichotomy of vampires: when a ghost becomes angered, fearful or otherwise filled with negative emotions, it enters a frenzy-like state where its darkest urges become paramount. Knowledgeable necromancers understand that the "beast" of a ghost is actually sentient in a way that is alien to the Beasts of the Kindred. When a ghost "frenzies," it does not simply become a ravenous monster, but rather its personality receives a direct injection of negative emotions from the blackest recesses of its soul. This can be both a benefit and a drawback with regards to a necromancers wraithly servants. A ghost whos Shadow (his dark personality) takes over will often lose any moral compunctions against performing the necromancers dirty deeds, but simultaneously, Shadow-driven wraiths become difficult to control. A necromancer who has reached this level in the Void Path is able to awaken the negative aspect of a ghosts personality. Where as practitioners of the Requiem Path may, with effort, push a ghost into a personality shift by manipulating its passions, those who utilize the Void Path accomplish the same by overwhelming the spirit directly with negative energy.
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The necromancer awakens a ghosts Shadow by first infusing his own vampiric vitae with entropic energy, and then emitting that energy in the form of an ectoplasmic cloud that steams from his pores. As the necromancer burns the entropy-laden blood, it manifests as wisps of black, smoke-like mist that is visible only to those capable of seeing across the Shroud. The mist explodes outwards and envelops the target ghost, forcing its dark nature to the fore. If the ghost in question is a Spectre-a ghost who has already submitted completely to his darker halfthen the necromancer is able to command the spirits Shadow for a few moments, forcing the entity to act as the vampire wishes. While Awaken the Shadow is most useful against ghosts, it is also possible to infuse negative energy into living (or unliving) creatures, thereby awakening their latent "dark sides." System: The necromancer must spend one turn focusing his negative emotions into one point of blood, which he then expends to initiate the effect. Holding this negative energy requires a roll to resist frenzy (difficulty 6), but even one success is sufficient to avoid the frenzy (as the entropy-laden blood will be expended at the beginning of the next turn). A spectral black mist pours out from his skin and blasts in the direction of the necromancers intended target, requiring a Dexterity + Empathy roll (difficulty 7) to aim properly. A spirit may attempt a dodge (Also difficulty 7, since the cloud is rather large and difficult to avoid), but if the black cloud strikes the ghost, it must immediately roll Willpower against a difficulty of 8. The number of successes that the vampire gains on his Dexterity + Empathy roll indicates the amount of negative energy that saturates the ghost: the spirit must score as many successes on its Willpower roll as the vampire has remaining successes (after the ghosts Dodge roll). Failing this roll forces a personality shift, in which the spirits Shadow gains dominance. (Storytellers using Wraith in their chronicles should allow a wraiths Shadow to check for Catharsis instead of requiring a Willpower roll to resist the personality shift: in this case, add 1 point of Angst to the ghosts Shadow for each success the Necromancer scores on the Dexterity + Empathy roll. These extra points dissipate once the roll for Catharsis is made, regardless of which side of the ghosts personality won out). A Spectre struck by Awaken the Shadow falls under the necromancers sway for one turn per success scored on the Dexterity + Empathy roll (the Spectre may resist as usual). It must obey the necromancers orders for that duration, although once the time elapses, the spirit is free to exact revenge on the necromancer (so most necromancers command the Spectres to leave their presence before the time elapses on their control). If the necromancer expends a point of Willpower, then the Spectre remains under her control for the entire night. Mortals and Vampires may also be affected by Awaken the Shadow. The Shadow of a mortal is still integrated into her personality, and as such the living are more difficult to influence through this power. The black cloud of entropic energy created by the necromancer is invisible to most humans: only Mediums, Psychics, or other mortals capable of seeing ectoplasm can attempt to dodge the effect, although their difficulty to resist with their Willpower roll is only 5. If they fail, however, they are overwhelmed with their darkest, most destructive urges. They may seek to harm the people they most love, tear down years of their most important work, or, in the case of those with extremely weak wills (those who botch their resistance roll), possibly even commit suicide. Giving oneself over to ones darker impulses can be empowering, however. The awakened Shadow can unlock a mortals latent emotional energy, much like the second level power of the Nocturnal Path (Shadows Strength), giving the mortal capabilities beyond her normal ken. At any point during the scene, the mortal may expend a Willpower point to add an extra die to any one action for every dot by which his Humanity is lower than 10. He may add all of the dice to a single roll (to a maximum of 5 dice on any single roll), or may split these dice among a number of separate rolls. For example, a mortal with a Humanity of 6 whos Shadow is awakened can split 4 bonus dice between any actions during the scene, or may drop all of the dice on a single roll. The personality shift in a mortal lasts for one scene, and the mortal may only call upon the extra bonus dice once during that scene. Vampires targeted by Awaken the Shadow can attempt to dodge the effect if they succeed on a roll of Auspex (difficulty 7), or if they have some way of seeing the black, entropy laced ectoplasm: Necromancy powers such as Shroudsight, Eyes of the Dead or Nether Light, or active Aura Perception directed at the necromancer at the time that this power is activated are all viable options. A vampire struck by the black cloud makes the Willpower roll to resist Awaken the Shadow at difficulty 7, as the vampires Beast (the first rumblings of the Shadow) has manifested following her death and Embrace. If the vampire fails, then she immediately enters frenzy. However, the frenzying vampire should have a bit more control over her actions when her Shadow is awakened: each turn she must take some violent, destructive action (unless a Willpower point is spent), but she will attack those with whom she has the strongest emotional bonds, either valued friends or bitter enemies, above all other targets. Vampires also receive the benefits granted to mortals: by expending a point of Willpower, they gain a number of bonus dice equal to their Humanity subtracted from 10. Vampires on Paths of Enlightenment that stress submission to
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ones urges (such as the Path of the Feral Heart) instead gain a number of bonus dice equal to their Path rating 1. A character who is affected by Awaken the Shadow is still incapable of directly harming those to whom she is blood bound, or to whom she holds a Vinculum rating of 8 or higher. However, the bonus dice afforded by the Shadow can be used to bolster the characters Willpower roll when attempting to momentarily resist the bond (the Willpower point must still be expended; the player simply receives additional dice to the Willpower roll, which gives her character a better chance of meeting the requisite number of successes).
When Shadows Come Out to Play

Storytellers who choose not to implement aspects of Wraith in their chronicles should use the following guidelines for ghosts who are Shadow-dominated. When the Shadow takes control, the ghosts Passion (Pathos) Pool (not to be confused with a ghosts Passions, see the Requiem Path) should return to its maximum level: the Shadow has its own reserves of emotional energy to draw from, but this energy (Angst) is negatively "charged" and is replenished when the ghost feasts on destructive emotions, such as Anger, Rage, Envy, Hatred, and the like. Any Passion traits that the ghost has (See the Requiem Path for details on Passion traits) should change to reflect the new, darker personality that has supplanted the ghosts Psyche: generally, the focus of such passions may remain constant, but the emotions tied to them alter, becoming violent or resentful. When Shadow-dominated, a ghost loses anything resembling a conscience, and she may even become self-destructive, although usually in a passive sense (such as attacking relentlessly without regard for her own safety). Her Nature and Demeanor should change to reflect this, with Bravo, Conniver, Curmudgeon, Cynic, Eye of the Storm, Masochist, Monster, Judge, Sadist and Sociopath being likely candidates. This does not usually turn a ghost into a slavering monster, however: she still retains her intellect, she simply has no compunctions about saying (or doing) what she wants, when she wants, and to whomever she wants. A minor slight might be met with a vicious verbal or even physical response. Sometimes, Shadowdominated wraiths manifest strange powers that the ghost is not usually capable of calling upon. Generally, a ghost will remain Shadow-dominated for the rest of the scene.
Reap the Whirlwind

A vampire invoking Reap the Whirlwind focuses the very energy of Oblivion into his outstretched hand (though sometimes the energy is emitted from the necromancers lips), opening a small rift in the fabric of the shroud and allowing a portion of the tempestuous Underworld storm into the Skinlands. In the physical world, the only perceivable effect is that an ice-cold wind issues forth from the vampires hand or mouth. In the Underworld, the necromancer emits a black nimbus that seems to swirl with raging winds. Whomever the vampire strikes with this blackened mist is wracked by unbelievable agony as their very soul is eaten away by the entropic forces of total annihilation. While Torment is an effective tool for punishing unruly spirits, Reap the Whirlwind is the ultimate form of retribution, sending the spirit screaming into the darkness of nothingness. The vortex opened through this power is actually a conduit for the mighty currents of the great storm in the underworldsouls touched by the harsh wind of Oblivion are literally torn to pieces. System: The vampire must expend a blood point and roll Dexterity + Occult (difficulty 6, use Firearms complications) to strike a resisting target, who may be physical or in the underworld. Each success inflicts one Health Level (or Corpus Level) to any spirit targeted by the effect. The damage is considered Aggravated, although targets in the living world may attempt to soak the damage at a difficulty of 8the flesh insulates the spirit from the raw power of oblivion, so Reap the Whirlwind is more effective on naked ectoplasm. Of course, a target whos soul is removed from their body via the Bone Path does not have such protection... A character slain through Reap the Whirlwind will rarely return as a wraith if he does, it will be as a Spectre. Most souls shattered by this power are completely engulfed by the Void.
The Night Cry

By channeling the dark emotions fostered by his beast into a violent bellow that resounds in the living world and the deepest recesses of the lands of the dead, the necromancer may call to the agents of Oblivion, enticing them to enter the physical world and tear down his enemies. The Night Cry is a chilling call that reverberates in multiple tones as it leaves the necromancers throat. Those with Auspex or the second level of the Ash Path have claimed to hear other, roiling voices overlapping the Night Cry, sometimes speaking in whispers, other times seeming to roar with bitter rage. These voices are
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always unintelligible: whatever language they speak is not of this world. The Night Cry summons Spectres to the necromancer, much like the Breath of Thanatos (Vitreous Path level 4), but where as the Vitreous Path lures the Spectres with entropic energy, Night Cry opens up a small rift directly into the Tempest, allowing Spectres to come through. The vampires body becomes a portal through which the Spectres may manifest in the living lands: those capable of viewing events in the Shadowlands will see a Nihil opening in the vampires abdomen, swelling as the pitch of the vampires cry reaches its crescendo. System: The necromancer must issue a blood-curdling scream and spends a blood point and a point of Willpower. He then rolls Charisma + Occult, difficulty 8. A successful roll attracts the attention of Spectres in the roiling Tempest of the underworld and creates a conduit within the necromancers body through which those Spectres enter the physical world (although if the necromancer has discovered a Nihil through Gaze into the Abyss, he may instead summon the Spectres through that portal, avoiding the negative effects described below). Additionally, if the necromancer is aware of the presence of Spectres in the Shadowlands (through Gaze into the Abyss), then the difficulty of the Night Cry drops to 6 (it requires much left effort to open a portal to the Shadowlands than it does to the Tempest). One Spectre comes through at the beginning of the turn following the Night Cry, and another comes through, one per turn, for a number of turns equal to the number of additional successes the necromancer gained beyond the first. Thus, one Spectre is summoned for each success, and each success allows the Nihil to remain open for one turn. Spectres channeled through the Night Cry are not under the Necromancers control unless he attempts to use Awaken the Shadow on each of them (he may do this as they emerge from the Nihil). They will generally attack or otherwise torment whoever is standing in front of the necromancer when he issues the night-cry, but it is not unknown for them to turn on the vampire immediately after exiting the Nihil (especially if the necromancer is alone when he bellows the Night Cry, and does not adequately control the Spectres). The Spectres are intangible to those in the physical world, but they are visible as transparent, shadowy entities. Much like the ritual Elisio (Clanbook Giovanni, pg. 76), however, acting as a conduit for the Void is an extremely dangerous undertaking. For each turn that the Nihil remains open, the necromancer receives a Health Level of unsoakable Lethal damage (which may be healed as normal). The Nihil closes at the end of the last turn in which a Spectre emerges, but the Spectres may remain in the Skinlands for the remainder of the scene, unless the necromancer utilizes Compel Soul (Sepulcher path 3) or Awaken the Shadow in order to force the ghosts to leave his presence. Once the scene ends, the Spectres must either be bound to an object through the Haunting (level 4 Sepulcher path) or they begin to fade, suffering one Health Level of unsoakable Lethal damage each scene they remain in the Skinlands beyond their allotted time. Those that lose all of their Health levels are destroyed utterly. Some Spectres are capable of rending the Shroud between the worlds, and so may be able to return to the Shadowlands on their own.
Appendix: Ghouling the Dead

Some may feel that allowing wraiths to become ghouls through Feast of the Dead smacks of powergaming or crossover butchery. There are two major concerns with allowing such a creature to exist in the World of Darkness: stylistic and game balance issues. While this section is meant to address those concerns, remember that in the end you, the Storyteller, are the sole authority on what is and is not possible within your chronicle. If for any reason you decide that ghouled wraiths are unecessary, unbalancing or even outright silly, simply disregard them entirely. Stylistically, some Storytellers may feel that the idea of a ghouled wraith is simply ludicrous. Wraiths are the disembodied souls of the dead, and as such they have no biology to speak of. They are psychological and spiritual entities, but no longer physical beings, so there is no immediately apparent reason as to why vampire blood, even blood transmuted to ectoplasm through Necromancy, should have any effect on them whatsoever. However, the Nocturnal Path is, thematically, the process of becoming more like a wraith. As such, the fourth level power allow a necromancer to transmute his vitae into an ectoplasmic state, and while no longer technically blood, this emotion-rich ether is still infused with the Curse of Caine. It resembles the Pathos possessed by wraiths to such an extend that the vampire may actually transfer such energy directly to wraiths in a manner similar to the creation of a ghoul (or empowerment through the Usury Arcanos). With cursed Pathos in its system, a wraith reacts in much the same way that a mortal does when ingesting vitae: the ghost is infused with strength and vitality, but is also easily agitated and quickly becomes addicted to the vampires blood. So while the blood may have been converted into emotional energy, it still retains the mystical qualities of vampiric vitae,
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including the ability to ghoul and blood bond. This is not possible through the Vitreous Path directly, because the energy taken straight from ghosts cannot be processed in the usual fashion by the vampiric system: it can still be used in a number of ways similar to blood points (in terms of fueling powers, for instance), but the energy does not carry the bonding or transmutational properties of vitae. The Nocturnal Path, however, can convert ghostly Corpus into spectral vitae in the same way that it can convert human blood. In terms of game balance, it may seem as if allowing wraiths to access Disciplines and a vampiric Blood Pool on top of their Pathos and Arcanoi is an overpowering combination. However, when the situation is examined a little more carefully, it should be apparent that game balance is much less of an issue than it appears at first. For starters, the spectral blood points gifted through the Nocturnal Path take up space in a wraiths Pathos Pool, rather than forming a new point pool for the ghost to tap. Hence, a wraith will still have a maximum of 10 Pathos. These spectral blood points act exactly like Pathos, meaning that they offer no inherent benefits to the ghoul-wraith beyond the ability to learn Vampiric Disciplines (a capacity already open to the Risen in at least a limited capacity). Secondly, while all ghoul-wraiths receive a free dot in Potence, thats where the benefits stop. They are, of course, capable of learning Disciplines like any ghoul, which means that they are most likely restricted to first level powers possessed by their Domitor. In a few rare cases, a ghoul wraith may be able to learn second, or even third level disciplines, but the Domitor would have to be of a sufficient Generation to allow this. Even in these cases, a new Discipline costs 20 experience points to purchase for the first level, and Current Rating x25 points for each additional level: these are experience points that the wraith could have spent to purchase additional Arcanoi which can mimic many low-level Discipline powers at a fraction of the cost. Next, consider the significant penalties to becoming a ghoul. A wraith recieves an additional point of Angst for each spectral blood point it ingrests from a necromancer, and these points do not ablate when the spectral Vitae is expended by the wraith, so frequent feeders will quickly succumb to their shadows. On top of this rapid accumulation of Angst, a wraiths Psyche receives a +1 difficulty to all rolls made to resist its Shadows manipulation (including Catharsis rolls), as the vampiric curse makes the ghost much more prone to its dark impulses, and the ghosts Eidolon rating is reduced. Lastly, wraiths are still subject to the blood bond, and as such they will quickly fall under the command of the vampire who supplies them with their spectral Vitae. So the most likely outcome of such a blasphemous union of dead plasm and the undead curse is a blood-craving Spectre. Note that if a ghoul-wraith does become a Spectre, any blood bonds it may have formed immediately dissipate, although it is likely that the bond may linger in the form of a Dark Passion focusing on bringing the necromancer to Final Death. As such, the situation is hardly beneficial from the vampires perspective, either. All Content and Art is copyright 1998-2004 Katherine Burress and Christopher Simmons unless otherwise Specified. Applicable information, books and products are 1997 White Wolf Publishing, Inc. All rights reserved, any reproduced artwork or text are for review purposes only.
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Walking Shadowed Paths

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Ex Libris Nocturnis

Walking Shadowed Paths

The Chthonic Path

The Harvester Path

Marked for Death

Scythe of the Reaper

Prison of the Flesh

Consume the Soul

New Background: Memories

The Nocturnal Path

Tether the Soul

Feast of the Dead

The Path of the Pyre

Forge the Soul

The Requiem Path

Eulogy of the Dead

Inhume the Departed

The Skull Path

The Mortis Question

Assume the Aspect of Death

The Void Path

Gaze into the Abyss

Awaken the Shadow

When Shadows Come Out to Play

Reap the Whirlwind

The Night Cry

Appendix: Ghouling the Dead

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