General World of Darkness Discussion Thread QQ Edition

Maragas · Apr 7, 2021

Let's talk about Cain! The one who murdered his brother. The First Murderer. The taxi driver Cain.

You could say he is the central reason why World of Darkness is...World of Darkness. All murder and killing can be blamed on him. And more of course. He is the reason why Vampires exist, he is the reason why Wraith's and the universe itself suffers from the Oblivion and the Entropy, he is the reason why once The Silent War between Angels turned into bloodshed and caused the murder to exists as a concept in the universe. He is the reason why most Humans don't awaken and be a proper Awakened Mage.

And in modern days he spends his days as a Taxi Driver. Anticlimactic to be honest.

So here some book quotes to fill you and to make you curious about the book it's from and the settings. Let's start with Demon the Fallen!
Here is the moment Cain decided he liked to spill some blood, preferably of his brother.

Now that murder is in fashion for all of the creation thanks to Cain, let's see what happened to once peaceful "fight" and debate between Angels.

Too bad for the mortals. What about the normal angels? How do they fare?

Well, they expected a discourse, a debate but they only saw brutal murder. So, how does God feel about this?

Yeah, not fun. So this is basically all the direct consequences of Cain's actions. Well, I doubt I need to speak about the Vampires.
You know his curses and the mark of God on him, but does he ever die? Yes actually! He dies in all Gehenna scenarios. But well, God isn't merciful against Cain, not at all. From VTM, Time of Judgement.

So, how do you feel about Cain? The guy who messed up so bad that he can be pointed as the reason why World of Darkness is such a shitty place.

By the way, here is an Easter egg from me. In Mage Apocalypse, the weapon Voormas used to kill Death, the weapon of Shiva, is a fragment of the stone Cain used to murder his brother Abel. He is also, like I said, the reason why most Humans don't awaken. From Mage, Time of Judgement.

Yeah, what a fun legacy.

Maragas · Apr 7, 2021

I said I was going to talk about Ascension, so let's talk about it.

Ascension is everyone's dream. From the newest apprentice mage to Archmasters of Technocracy. It's the enlightenment, the purification, the chase for the unimaginable amount of wisdom and understanding of both yourself and reality. And of course, the ultimate power. The problem is, how do we do it? Is it personal enlightenment where everyone Ascends differently? Do you need to gather all of the knowledge and the power in the world? Or do you help others and even turn the world into a Utopia to universally Ascend? Maybe you go all the way into one of the Spheres and master it completely?

Or maybe you don't want Ascension but just power and mastery? Being a God or Exemplar is much easier after all. Or maybe they are all just tempting you away from the Ascension.

So really, it's a complicated topic and the primary reason why the Technocracy and the Traditions are fighting the Ascension War.

First, let's outline the general idea of Ascension for the Traditions and the Technocracy. This can also be seen as a basic introduction to the Traditions.

The Traditions pursue personal Ascension. They rightly think that the Ascension is either unique for the individual or their way of getting to the Ascension is different. Their problem is that they focus too much on magical comprehension and power. Their ranks are determined by this. Their other flaw is that they are too arrogant and believe in their superiority or at least their way of Magic being better. Keeping them from comprehending the viewpoint of others.
Technocracy on the other hand is all about the united effort of the group, the masses. The safety and the protection of themselves and humanity. They want to create a Utopia so that the whole world can Ascend, not just the individual. Their flaw on the other hand, they are too united. They can't see the Ascension requirements for the self clearly.

But let's get to the faction level and explain which faction wants what kind of Ascension and starting with...

TheBlueHour said:
I can't decide between the Scions of Ether, Sahajiya, Hollow Ones or Taftani for my favorite faction.

Let's start with Sons of Ether and the Cult of Ecstasy. I can't really talk about Hollow Ones idea of Ascensions because they are basically outcasts of all other factions and they don't have a united view of it, even compared to the Traditions. Taftani is simple, they view magical comprehension as the Ascension. They are very likely likely to become an Exemplar after they become an Archmage rather than pursue Ascension.

They are the mad scientists, the ones who left the Technocracy after Ether got removed from the Science. They have several advantages, most of their base views and technology is based on the Technocratic Science. They are also very imaginative and full of wonder. But their main problem is that they are more likely to fight each other than accept other Paradigms and not very unified on what is their own Paradigm, Sons of Ether's, is other than it contains Ether.

What can I say? They are the ones who chase the high. Their biggest problem is that they may very well go the Dark Eldar way of getting high. Renegade Cults of Ecstasy aren't fun to be near.

Order of Hermes.*They are the best, the strongest and the most Wizardly faction in the Mage The Ascension. Not to mention united. They have a robust system of mysticism, great practices of learning, greatest Nodes on Earth and in the Solar System. Their chantries are the best out there and don't even get me started on their Horizon Realm assets and the shit ton of Archmages they have.
So what's the downside? They are arrogant, dogmatic, focus on power and politics. They are also Harry Potter Wizards taken up to 11, if you aren't a Mage you are nobody. This is why they helped to create the Traditions against the Order of Reason. They really hate how consensus limits their cosmic power.
By the way, don't mention Clan Tremere to them.**
*Yes, that Hermes.
**Fucking bloodsuckers.

Usually described as the Jedi or the Sith if you are playing as a renegade. The way of Do! They are usually Buddhist or Taoist but you can be wild and even believe in the Force as an Akashic Brotherhood. You can also play them like you are in an xianxia, it's a very adaptable faction. Their Ascension is being one with the universe.

Do you have time for Jesus? If so, you may be perfect for Celestial Chorus. Very valid choice, especially since God does exist and you may meet angels. My favorite faction alongside of Order of Hermes. Their renegades are usually fast-tracked to becoming Nephandi, to make everyone fall as they did.

Do you want to be Avatar? If so, welcome to the Dreamspeakers. you are going to have many encounters with Werewolfs. Pursue the balance between the physical and the spiritual. They have a decent chance of getting Mentors out of spirits. If you are lucky, even a Celestine. They are honestly very cool, especially if you want to explore the universe like Void Engineers. Their renegades are usually Nephandi but Wyrm flavored. *wink

Want to lessen the worlds suffering by purging it? Do you wish that the world didn't need your services but they do? Are you brave enough to take the world's suffering to ease the suffering? Then this is perfect for you. They make surprisingly good combat mages, on par with Order of Hermes but a bit depressive. Don't become too depressed though, we don't need another Voormas to decide that the world doesn't need Death.

The hippies, the druids, the ones who get killed by Werewolfs because they want the same Node. They are like the physical part of the Dreamspeakers but without most of the spirituality. I personally don't like them so I am biased. But seeing as White Wolf was biased for them, I think we are even.

The Internet Magicians. Do you want to live in Tron? In the Digital Web? Use the internet highway for car chases? This is for you. Hack the computers like in the movies!
Though they are about to become a second Order of Hermes in the Tradition seeing as they don't even consider you something if you don't have magic. Yeah, they might have a valid reason for leaving the Technocratic Union but there are many reasons why they aren't missed.

And this is the Traditions view on the Ascension. Straight out of the Masters of the Art.
I was going to go on about ascension, especially about alternatives to it like Godhood or being an Oracle or Exemplar but I hit the image limit. So this is the place to end it. Next time I am planning to talk about either alternatives to Ascension or about Mage apocalypses scenarios. Maybe Werewolfs, I do need to give them some love.

So, what's your favorite view on ascension? Which faction do you like most and which one do you like the least? If you were a mage, which one would suit you the best?
I am as always, a Technocrat. But I also like and play Order of Hermes and Dreamspeakers the most. My least favorite is Verbena and the second least is Cult of Ecstasy. Though if I was a mage, I would probably be the part of Celestial Chorus.

Maragas · Apr 7, 2021

Werewolfs! Howl at the moon and kick some ass in a Captain Planet episode! Just make sure the ass you are kicking is actually a bad guy.
You could say this is the essence of Werewolf The Apocalypse.

You are the Warriors of Gaia! Protectors of the world and the purifiers of corruption! Even the youngest Werewolf can rend apart a pack of young Vampires. The murdermachines of World of Darkness.
If only I could continue with the positives.

I want to make something clear. Playing Werewolves is fun, hell, playing any Were breed is fun. Compared to Vampires and Mages you have a lot more freedom for action and glory. In fact, you have Glory and Honor as stats! I could honestly say that Werewolf is more fun to play on average than any other splat

But there are things players should know about, the bad parts of being a Werewolf, being on the losing side. It's named Werewolf: The Apocalypse for a reason. Many people think being a Werewolf is just getting up and killing some vampires, destroying factories and supporting Environmentalism. On the surface, this is true but it's much, much more.
Being a Werewolf is being a failed protector, it's being afraid of getting enslaved by the Rage that fuels your every action, it's a story of dangers of extremism and paranoia, it's a story of trying to do the right thing with wrong ways. It's the story of being a member of a dying breed, in a world at the edge of Apocalypse, without anyway of fixing it as you only have a hammer in your hand and the world's problems aren't nails.

Don't get me wrong, you will fight, you will Rage and you will kick some ass. Hell, you could even play as another breed of Weres rather than just Werewolf!
But don't forget the tragedy of ~~Darth Plagueis~~ Werewolfs.

So let's start small and start with how Werewolves see humans cities. And...well let's rip the bandage fast, Delirium and Impergium.

Wow, thanks a lot Werewolfs. Please talk more shit about my home.

As you can see, it really wasn't fun to be a normal human in the olden days. Raided, killed and terrorized by the Werewolfs. At least some Were breeds opposed them and helped humans...more about their fate later.

Yep, they fucked Humanity so hard that our subconscious still remembers the millennia of terror. I hope you can see why Technocracy hunts down Werewolfs. My favorite Delirium reaction is Berserk and Bloodlust, shows how much their actions screwed with our subconscious. "This human refuses to take anymore"
Not even Vampires get this reaction.
But it gets worse.

They went and slaughtered and genocide their fellow Weres! Children of Gaia just like them!
Do you remember Fera? Some Were Breeds other than Werewolfs? The ones who helped Humans against the Impergium? Most of them got extinct or vastly reduced thanks to this War of Rage

So know this while asskicking. You have a vast, tragic and eventful history behind you. Try to be better than your past and make sure to keep that Rage in check.
Next time when I talk about Werewolfs, I will be talking about the Tribes of Werewolfs.

Man, I didn't want to start explaining Werewolf the Apocalypse like this but I had to. Hopefully next time it will be much more positive.
So, what do you guys think? About the folly of Werewolfs? If you were a Were, what kind of Were creature would you be? A standard Werewolf or more exotic creature? I would choose to be a Werecrocodile or Werebear.

Maragas · Apr 8, 2021

The Technocracy, the biggest secret order in the World of Darkness. Builders of civilization, runners of the economy, the source of paradigm of Science and the reason why anything resembling a modern society exists in the World of Darkness.
They also did many terrible things, protecting the masses caused the worth of the individual to drop. In a world where belief is reality, they had to become the belief police.

In a standard Mage game, they are the antagonist. In fact, in the first editions they were the Villains!
But what about their side? This is about them.

Welcome to the Technocracy.

The good guys, the ones who are holding humanity together through the dark seas that is World of Darkness. Around the world, around the universe there are countless fires to be put out and every time you manage to do so, two more will pop up. Good luck, you will need it.

The basic benefits of being a Technocrat, the biggest of which is being on the Winners side. To keep it like that you are going to work your ass. At least you have the money to wipe your sweat and the hypertech to wipe out your enemies.

Forget the stereotypical agent without imagination, vision or humanity. They are a liability. A good agent of Technocratic Union is sharp as razor blades and provides forethought, skill, and intuition. A good agent knows when to break the rules, what to break, and why to break.

They are seen as arrogant, willing to sabotage reality as we know it for personal gain. They see them isolated, too busy with pursuing personal Ascension and not even having a belief to hold them together.

What about the internal problems? They must have some right?

Yes, there is a conflict. Conflict of philosophies, conflicts between superiors and agents, ones who are fighting in the frontlines, and the ones ordering them from safe bunkers and offices.

But this is just the most generalist view. Let's see how Conventions in the Technocracy see it.

Let's start with...the Syndicate. Yes, the guys who once worked with Pentex without realizing it. Usually seen as the worst Convention.

They are born from the Masses demands and they will do whatever it takes to support it. They want the Masses to have families, to have children, for them to go to school, for them to survive. Unfortunately, the Technocracy as a whole in the black.

What about the New World Order?

They see the current events and the happening as the positive and the victory is at hand. They are the ones who had to some hard stuff, horrible stuff but they admit it, they are only human. They don't believe in control for control's sake, they do it to shepherd humanity.

Unfortunately, I hit the image limit once again and no amount of picture splicing can help me. So I will continue with other Conventions later. This may be for the best, it's 3:40 am here and I need some sleep.

I did the Syndicate and the NWO first because they are the ones usually seen as the worst. So, what do you guys think? Did this change your view on the Technocracy so far? Or what about the Conventions we covered, do you like them more? Or maybe you hate them more, somehow.

Maragas · Apr 10, 2021

The most popular splat of the World of Darkness, attracting countless players by being D&Ds darky, edgy, and more social counterpart. You play a Kindred, a vampire, the inheritor of Cain's curse.
In a usual game, you play a newly sired neonate, trying to keep your humanity while being inhuman. Facing the tragedies, the drama and the tension of slowly losing what is left of your humanity as you "live" your now cursed existence.
Or you are just "Supers with fangs" and having fun with your new existence. 50/50 I say, depends on the ST and the campaign.

There is an image that describes VTM perfectly.

Yeah, this does match my experience with VTM. It's honestly very fun to experience being a member of a coterie or a pack with so many different cultures, clans, abilities, and ages.

So let's talk about them! Unfortunately, I have limited image slots and thus I will be talking about the main clans that reside in the Camarilla. Not the Sabbat or the Independents or the bloodlines. (I know, I also wanted to talk about Tzimisce or Baron Samedi's bloodline or True Brujah with their Time based Discipline.)
Let's start with the Camarilla. While they may have members in the Sabbat or in the Anarchs, the whole clan is usually Camarilla aligned. Well, expect Gangrel but I will be including them here too.

The vampire society, they are the ones who make the laws that the majority of the kindred obeys. The Elders sitting in their Ivory Tower, ordering the masses of younger kindred. It's an organization for Kindred, by Kindred.

Once they were the philosophers, the thinkers of the among the Kindred, those dreams and aspirations mostly died with the fall of Carthage (long story).
These days most of them bar the eldest (who are Inner Circle members) are angry, passionate rebels. Activists and protestors usually find themselves home in Brujah.
Their weakness and some Princes nightmare's are that their passion fuels their Frenzy and they have difficulty resisting it.

They are honestly the easiest clan to play and a favorite among new players. Unlike their bloodline True Brujah.
Don't underestimate them, they may have little pull in the Camarilla but they rule the streets and funny enough, academies and universities. If you are anindependent loner, support of the Brujah clan is more important than Camarilla.

Malkavians, insane but enlightened vampires, a favorite of players for different reasons. Frankly, I know some STs that don't even allow Malkavians in their game or require you to prove yourself you can play them.
They are a hard clan to roleplay and their types range from obsessed professors to insane asylum escapees. But one thing is true, they are insane even if it might not be obvious.

And just like Tzimisce, once you are one of them there is no escape. Malkavian Madness Network consumes all.

Straight out of the films. Their looks may be monstrous but under that flesh lies the most secretive and manipulative clan. They may pledge their alliance to the Camarilla but know this, for them the Clan is the first. Sabbat and Camarilla aligned Nosferatu known to exchange information.
If there is one clan to not make enemies out of, it's clan Nosferatu. They may not hold positions of power in the Camarilla like the position of Prince but they are vital to the Camarilla and the secrets they hold are priceless.

Funny enough, they are not that hard to play as long as you have Obfuscate 2. Practically all the public concerns are handled as long as you stay away from cameras and phones. Even that may be changed if you have one of the merits that makes your Obfuscate effect machines.

The seductive vampires, the club leaches, masters of art, would be Slaanesh cultists.

You could say that after Ventrue they are the ones most involved in the Camarilla and in the mortal world. They are the ones that seek excellence in both beauty and skill. Their artists and the warriors are equally skilled in their respective fields and all of them are experts in social situations. Stand in awe against the millennia-old Toreadors, those who refined their crafts to their respective limits, beyond human comprehension. (Not joking, they are known for making arts that require Auxpex or it's equivalent to even manage to comprehend.)
Their influence is vast, they could make or break one Kindreds reputation, a Prince's days are numbered if they make enemies out of the Toreador clan. After all, Harpies are mostly made out of Toreador members.
Their Sabbat members are...well like Dark Eldar, they prefer art made out of bodies and suffering and pain.

I can recommend them for new players, especially if they like Social play.

Once a house under the Order of Hermes, they sacrificed their mortality and their Awakened magic for immortality and Blood magic. They are the most organized clan out of all the vampiric clans. They have a strict hierarchy, powerful Blood Magic and glories but bloody plans. They have a strong presence in the Camarilla but they aren't liked. They are mostly known for their BS Blood Magic.

As for their enemies? They have a lot of them and most of them are justified. First the whole clan Tzimisce, especially the old. After all, they basically slaughtered a bunch of Tzimisce and used their blood while making their Vampire Potion. Then after becoming a vampire clan, they needed help against fighting Tzimisce who wanted to kill them all so they slaughtered a bunch of Nosferatu, Gangrel, and Tzimisce to make Gargoyles. Which caused the other two clans to hate them too and join Tzimisce. Then they realized they needed an Antediluvian to actually have a say in the Kindred world so they went and diablerized Salubri while he was sleeping, the best and the good vampire Antediluvian, and killed most of the Salubri clan, the good vampire clan. The remaining Salubri hates Tremere to the core and turned from peaceful paladins to blood fueled maniacs, joining the other three clans in hating them. Then, they went and cursed Assamites, the third semi-good vampire clan!*

So let's tally, Gangrel, Tzimisce, Nosferatu, Assamites and Salubri remnants hates Tremere. With passion.

As for playing Tremere characters, I wouldn't recommend it to first time players. Not only they have a strict hierarchy all of them are also blood bounded together. You will be blood bounded to your sire, who will be bounded to their superior/sire, who will be bounded to their superior/sire, who will be... all the way up to now Antediluvian Daddy Tremere, controlling every Tremere. (They are also blood bounded to the Council of Seven)
Plus you are actually expected to study and learn the art of Blood Magic for a few decades rather than go out and play when you are newly sired.

As for Sabbat Antitribu Tremere, they have a lot more freedom and not blood bound but they are extremely rare. Plus you will have a mark on your forehead that is visible to all Tremere that brands you as a traitor, making your life hard if you are known to be Antitribu Tremere.
By the way, if your ST has Mages in the game. Stay away from Order of Hermes mages, you might not like the results otherwise.

*Second good vampire clan, Cappadocians got murdered by Giovanni who they embraced. They were friendly humble scholars before their demise. You might be wondering why all but one of the good clans got murdered, it's because this is World of Darkness and good vampires don't make it here.

The makers and leaders of the Camarilla. These once Knights turned Kings.
Each and every Ventrue are groomed for their embrace. Usually have their own companies and businesses even before they are embraced. Even the worst of Ventrue will have plenty of resources, influence, and clout, both in the Camarilla and in the mortal world.
And if that's not enough, they are known for Dominate and Fortitude. Dominate makes higher generation vampires your pawns and Fortitude is one of few ways of soaking Aggravated. Not to mention turning a hail of bullets into nothing but annoyances.

They value success over all other criteria, be successful enough as a Ventrue and you will be dining with the Board of Directors and Fortune 500 elites. Probably by becoming a Fortune 500 CEO. Their ties in the mortal world may be their strongest strength. A call from an established Ventrue may end a pack of Werewolfs as mercenaries and ghoul squads armed with Silver weapons begin their hunt.

Their Antitribu is known for going back to their roots, usually being Blood Knights, noble and deadly who prefer to use force and might rather than political or social power. Lasombra, Ventrue's Sabbat counterpart, doesn't like them very much but tolerates them.

They are honestly fun to play. Even for new players. Just know that you will have harder Hunting rolls if you don't have a herd. Don't take Methuselah's Thirst flaw.

Mostly solitary loner vampires. They may be confused with Werewolves but they are not. And no, they aren't friendly with Werewolfs. Though Gangrel is known to move in packs too if they prefer the company of each other.
They are mostly aloof, preferring animals to humans and to vampires. They dislike socializing if unnecessary. They prefer to let bygones be bygones and stick to their basic needs rather than politics. All of them have a savage side and a frenzy that causes them to gain animal traits, permanently.

In V20, it's up to ST if they left Camarilla, they are leaving or they didn't. If they left, don't expect much support in Camarilla other than your fellow Camarilla-aligned Gangrel. In Sabbat, only your pack will support you fully and if you are solitary...well, you are a Gangrel so it's normal to get no support.

They are easy for new players but I heavily recommend being a Camarilla or Sabbat Gangrel than being Independent unless you are playing a Gangrel only game.

And this is Camarilla! Now they have Tzimisce, Lasombra, Ravnos, Giovanni, and other clans members but they are very small and their main clan is either Independent or Sabbat aligned. I will be covering them in their own post.

So what do you think? Which clan sounds the most fun? Which clan was your first? I had the most fun with Antitribu Ventrue, being a master swordsman at that campaign, so obsessed with the swordsmanship that I got my skill as a separate ability rather than just using Melee and had all of my Sword related rolls have -2 difficulty. My first VTM character was a Brujah, it was exciting as I didn't know about VTM that much and had to learn my discipline abilities by testing them as my character was days old Kindred whose sire left him to himself.

Maragas · Apr 10, 2021

It's been a while since I said I will post some things about Werewolfs and here I am, to post about Werewolfs though a bit late. I had little time to work on this.

Now, Werewolfs. You might say "Maragas, what could be so complicated about Werewolfs?" Well, not much actually. In fact, most of the time it's pretty simple rip and tear work. But a Werewolf that only knows how to rip and tear his enemies is a...very successful Werewolf. I mean, what do you expect? Wisdom is important but Glory and Honor alone will take you far. But before ripping and tearing, let's see the tribes of Werewolfs that make up the Garou Nation. So that you can Rip and Tear with the style you like.

Though don't worry if you don't like the whole Werewolf business, there are many changing breeds around the world even after Werewolfs Raged them to death. Like Wereravens, they are fine with Silver but weak against Gold.

I will get to them...in the future. Maybe.

All female, Amazonian and a spiritual tribe of the Garou with traditions, sisterhood, and defending women in its core...That's it really. I can't really list more aspects because this is their whole deal. Well, that and I once had a Silver Fang Werewolf who was sent to the Silver Fangs when he was born because he was a male and never knew his actual parents. That was interesting.
Their most interesting aspect, in my opinion, is their closeness to Luna and the whole Greek Mythology.

I can't say much because I never played them.

Bone Gnawers! These guys are the survivors, not in a sense of combat but through adaptability, survival, and pragmatism. Well, as much as they can afford to, they are still Honorable Werewolves after all. Many other tribes look down on them because of their ways but there is no doubt if there is a tribe that would survive the Apocalypse, it would be Bone Gnawers first. Usually, they are the ones who interact with the other Were breeds and even other supernatural creatures like Vampires. Especially the Nosferatu. Though this comes with a cost, they may be the most populous tribe but their blood is weak and growing weaker. On the plus side, they adopt the outcasts and loners of the other tribes and even Metis of the other tribes if they were exiled. In fact, they are a really close-knit community at heart, even more than the others. Guests and Hospitality are very important for them and they consider themselves a big family.

They are also one of the two Werewolf tribes that are fine with the Cities, the second one being the Glass Walkers.
Playing them is perfect for those who want more Urban campaigns with guerilla attacks, dealing with another splat aka Supernaturals, and if you want to play with a diverse pack that includes other Were breeds or even a vampire.

Children of Gaia! They are originally founded by the Werewolves who said "Can we stop regularly culling humans? I feel bad." and could be said the real reason why Impergium ended. They are usually the wisest of the clans and have a "Talk first, tear later" approach to their problems. A Children of Gaia may not be known for their martial might but they are always welcome in a pack. Though this doesn't mean they aren't capable of fighting, they are Werewolves after all.

Playing them is perfect for playing meditators, spirit seekers, making alliances and trying to keep the powder keg that is Garau Nation from exploding.

Irish Werewolves! They are the ones that party hard, live hard, fight hard and funny enough, keep records hard. If your campaign is based in Europe, you will encounter one of them very soon. Hell, most likely one of your pack members is a Fianna. They can be considered the record keepers of the Garou and they appreciate art immensely, though usually songs and howls. They are passionate about everything they do but this is a double-ended sword, they can make or break a pack they are in if there is an internal conflict going on.

They can be considered Fae blooded and have connections to the Changelings and the Fae. You will be dealing with them if the ST knows about them.

Lastly, being a Metis among them isn't recommended, they believe being disfigured like Metis reflects the state of the soul and thus...it's not very easy being a Fianna Metis.
On the plus side, WTA: Earthblood's MC is a Fianna! They are getting some representation even if it's not a very good one.

Perfect tribe to play if you want some character like Cu Chulainn. Or even just want to sing some songs while murdering some abomination against nature. Who says Bards can't fight?

Get of Fenris! Take Space Wolves from 40k, add the Viking stereotypes and sprinkle rage and the survival of the fittest. You will get Get of Fenris. It can be said that they are the primary murder machines of Werewolves. Cunning, Wisdom or Breeding may be valuable but only Strength comes first. Even a Metis will be happily accepted if they prove their strength.
They may use nuclear bombs for every problem but they are incredibly effective. Any pack would gain a valuable ally if they can recruit a Get of Fenris. If the pack leader and the members prove their strength to them.
Their Totem is the Great Fenris, a badass, one of the mightiest war spirits that you should never face. Even its War Avatar is strong enough to body most Methuselahs. I am speaking from experience.

As a side note, they also take care of their Kinfolk very well and care for them. But only if they prove to be up to the high standards.

All in all, there is no better ally if one's goal is to defeat a monstrosity or an army. Too bad for every problem they could kill, two more problems they can't kill pops up. Playing them is like playing a Berserker surrounded by problems he could kill and problems he can't. But he needs to do it or otherwise, there will be no future for the world.

Glass Walkers! They are the ones who lived in the cities ever since the first cities. Fascinated with Humanity, they could be said to be the closest Werewolves to humans. They are the ones that deal with Technology, work with Technological spirits, and even Weaver spirits. They are the best tribe to fight Pentex and the only tribe that fully realizes the scope of Pentex and the background details.
The downside is that they are looked down upon, they don't have any pure breeds left, and even their forms are frequently mottled, multicolored, or brindled. Their Totem is Cockroach or even more exotic spirits, like Money Spiders.

If you like to experience the difficulty of living two separate worlds fully and more espionage/sabotage based games, this clan is for you. They are a bit less combat-focused, even more than Children of Gaia in my opinion but really, that depends on the campaign.

This is it for me, I am sorry for the short post and the time it took to post this but well, I was busy.
So, which tribe sounds most interesting so far? Which one would you like to play? Did you play any of them before and if you did, how was it?

Maragas · Apr 12, 2021

All good things must come to an end. It has many names, Ragnarok, Apocalypse, Gehenna, Time of Judgement, End of the Cycle. And it's coming for World of Darkness.

Well...not really, the world hasn't ended and World of Darkness is continuing even with the release of Chronicles of Darkness. 20th Anniversary editions are proof of that and we will have many more updated books, such as the Technocracy Reloaded.
But we have old Apocalypse scenarios in our hands and they can be used. Plus most of them are things that could happen to the modern editions as well, so it's always good to remember it. They range from being amazing to not so amazing so it would be a shame to not take a look at them.
For your information, I will be skipping most of the player-centric parts* as I don't want to spoil all things. Because it's a very interesting and fun scenario. I will be also skipping several backstories because it will just bloat the thread. Not to mention I can only have 10 images in a post.

*Mostly the player-centric parts like the Tradition and the Technocracy war, how to get them involved and surprised, things they will face, etc. I don't want to give all the spoilers.

Let's start, I bring you the first scenario we would be going through, Judgement from Mage the Ascension: Time of Judgement.

Our primary villain in the scenario is Voormas. This old Euthanatos mage's goal is to remove the Gauntlet between Life and Death, overthrow Death, destroy the Wheel of Ages, and recreate the universe into a deathless, static world. He started his plan by corrupting and twisting the necromantic legacies and cults all around the world when he was just a Master of Entropy. This includes everyone from Vampiric Giovanni to his own, former, Tradition Euthanatos and his own house. In the Week of Nightmares, everything he planned was ready to start even with the Traditions hunting him. The combined effects of numerous cults and the Week of Nightmares own special brand of bullshit combined and rent the Shroud. Causing the Avatar Storm and as the Technocratic Unions call it, the Dimensional Anomaly.

The end of the world is near. Reality is broken. The Gauntlet is entirely gone in some places and even lead straight to the Labyrinth of the Unmaking aka the Oblivion. The Red Star is a manifestation of Anthelios, also known as the Jewel of Shiva which Nephandi changed their rites to include its worship as it's the sign of the upcoming Descension they were eagerly waiting for. The Wheel of Ages is about to turn.
Unless Voormas breaks it. Which he may very well accomplish even with the entire Euthanatos going against him. They are bringing everything they have available to the Realm of Entropy to keep control of it.

As a side note, I hope you can see the irony. The world is about to end, just like it did before and will in the future. It can be called cruel even. But Voormas wants to break it, to make a world without the Wheel. It will make Ascension impossible but it will also make Descension impossible too.

Let's see the scope of the battle.

Realm of Entropy is currently a hellish battlefield between Voormas and Senex. Voormas armed with Pashupatastra, the weapon of Shiva which he took after he murdered Kali and used her to murder him, attacks the walls of the Realm of Entropy from his walking Castle Helekar. His army consisting of Specters (from the Wraith the Oblivion), Walking Dead and Pretas are led by the ancient Liches called Yamasattvas. Senex meanwhile leads Euthanatoi he called from all over the world but he is still outnumbered. Their clashes causing the reality to wither and form Hive Realms

By the third month, Senex is forced to destroy the gate to the Realm of Entropy to slow down Voormas and dismisses any remain surviving Euthanatoi before facing Voormas for the last time. The Realm of Entropy has fallen to the hands of Voormas

But what happened at the final battle between Senex and Voormas?

The Psychopomp known as the Phoenix shows up in the middle of the battle. It explains that either Senex should use the Realm of Entropy to destroy the world which will make the Wheel of Ages turn early and end the spread of corruption that is Voormas or allow Voormas to pass. Otherwise, the Wheel of Ages will be doomed.
Senex will not destroy the Earth and thus he kills himself.

I have to say, Senex is a boss. Euthanatos are primarily known for the "Good Death", ending things for the good of others. But Senex, practically the leader of Eothanatos turns away from it. Destroying the world would have guaranteed that the Wheel of Ages would have been preserved and when it's time it would be reborn but he still didn't do it. He and Voormas are more similar than most think in my opinion.

But while their battle happens, in the universe the Gauntlet falls apart.

First, while the fight between Voormas and Senex happens, the Gauntlet weakens by 1 every month. Causing every Umbral being to have an easier time entering our world, haunting and possing. This also makes magic for the Tradition easier as the Consensus weakens and the superstitions take hold.
By the fourth month, the Astral Layer of the Gauntlet completely fails, causing Avatar Storm to spill to Earth in waves called Avatar Fronts. Thanks to the fall of the Astral Layer orderly constructs of thought like mathematics, science, machines etc. merge with their physical counterparts. This is helpful for the Technocrats and the Technomancers, similar to how the Traditions benefitted from previously
By the sixth month. the Middle Gauntlet disappears. Now Spirits merge with our world, even the Wyrm Banes or the Weaver Pattern Spiders enter our world. Animals all over the world gain intelligence and do things like "Wolves use their intelligence to feast on human meat and "correct" the natural order." Worst of all, the Red Star blazes across the sky for all to see.
Finally, after seven months the Gauntlet is completely gone. The Underworld and the Living World merge together. Skies rain bones and blood. The Tempest, the weather of the Underworld merges with the Living Worlds Weather. Dead returns in mass and graves empty. Only the major cities have any sort of protection thanks to the Consensus but even that's weak.

But what about the Marauders? Or more importantly, the Nephandi?

Marauders are simple, they are just waiting for everyone to exhaust themselves, and then they will sweep the field and claim the world.
Nephandi on the other hand is in terror. Every single Nephandi from the weakest to strongest are throwing themselves to the Realm of Entropy to fight Voormas. Just like the players and the good guys. The irony.
If Voormas succeeds it will destroy their Masters, it will destroy the concept of Desencison and the Entropy they crave. Now they are like ants trying to defend the queen.

This is the irony of Voormas, of this scenario in fact. So, let's see our final battlefield.

Solar System is officially fucked. Nephandi annoyed Voormas enough that he killed them all, too bad the reality was already strained so much thanks to the fight between Senex and Voormas that it just just broke. Matter, Time, Mind, and Spirit are mixing together and planets are just hanging in a broken plane of reality.
Pluto is even more fucked. The moon Charon was already reduced to a mist while Voormas and Senex were fighting. Only thing that appears is Umbral Pluto aka Realm of Entropy, the Tenth Sphere Anthelios and Cerberus, Senex's Chantry, and the former gatehouse of the Realm of Entropy.

Here comes Voormas!

Shivasakti, thou are the Divine Father and Mother.
Grant me thy devotion, destroy the evildoer
and the withering of the Wheel of Ages from whence evil issues.
Wear the garb of Maya; conceal the truth in thee
Let our desires become ultimate wisdom
Let our accomplishments lie eternally.
Fix form out of formlessness with thy miraculous power
Conquer all death and fate beneath the heel
and let the stillness be the eternal law.

I hope the player characters are accomplished Archmages, this is going to be hard. Good luck.

And that's it!.. What? You are wondering what happens afterward? What will happen if players win or Voormas win? Well, if Voormas wins it's up to ST to determine what happens. If players win, Ascension happens universally and everyone is happy. Even Nephandi. Even Marauders.

Now it's time for my thoughts on it. This scenario, in my opinion, is the best scenario. And it's not only because everyone gets a good ending if you win. It's because it gives lots of player agency and things to do. Both for the Tradition and the Technocracy side. Though there are some hick-ups. Things like, Where are the Celestines? Gods of the Planet? What about other Archmages? We only have like, 3 or 4 Archmages at most in this scenario. And many more but they can be ignored. Overall, it's a fun scenario.

What about your thoughts? How is it? What do you feel about Voormas and his goals? Would you support him or not? What do you like most and the least about the scenario and how would you improve it? I just hope you guys liked this post, it took me like 4+ hours to make it.

Maragas · Apr 12, 2021

Did you guys ever look through some of the abilities the splat has and said...damn, is this balanced? I am excluding Plot Level abilities from this.
Here some I picked out for you guys to look through. I am also ignoring Mages because they as a whole are BS, especially at high levels and outside of Earth.

Some say Blood Magic is the most BS thing in the VTM, I disagree. First, let's look at Hindu Mystics

All of us are bound by Karma, and the Master of Karma can be considered Master of All. He who can look through your past and the future, change your destiny for better or worse, manifest your past selves or future selves, choose whatever you will become after you die and even make sure their own reincarnation will be perfect for them. A Master of Samrasa is one of the most feared and sought-out beings on Earth. They can be a great boon or a great curse for whoever comes across them. Making an enemy out of them is probably one of the most dangerous and stupid things you can do in the World of Darkness. Because even if you killed them, they already made sure their next incarnation will get revenge if they care. Like becoming an Archmage in their next life.

One of the deadliest rituals in the World of Darkness. If this ritual is used on you and you aren't a powerful Archmage, an Antediluvian, or a God, you will most likely get erased from existence. Thankfully, the modern world makes it much harder for Mahakala to annihilate people but if your chronicle isn't set in the Modern World. Like in the Dark Ages. You will be erased without even rolling.

Now let's move to the most classical example. Ravnos Chimerstry.

Erase things from existence, change their properties at will, create life. Nearly anything and everything is possible with this power. Especially when any character using this will at least have 10+ Dice pool for their attempt, most like 8-8 Manipulation + Subterfuge pool of 16. Plus Legendary Attribute bonuses, Trait bonuses, and anything else thousands of years old Methuselahs would have.
But in my opinion, this power is secondary to the next power Ravnos could have. Because the next one is batshit insane.

Often overlooked, I have no idea what the writers were smoking when they wrote this power. This is one of few powers Vampires can have that can makes them a threat to Archmages outside of Earth or Gods on Earth! Without even becoming an Antediluvian! Do you want to kill the unkillable? Sure. Do you want to break the unbreakable? Sure. Do you want a weapon that shatters Space-Time, retroactively attacks the target, and deals 100+ Aggravated Damage every hit? Sure. Did you ever wish you had your perfect waifu? You got it!

There is a reason why many, many people believed Zapathasura, the Antediluvian of Ravnos who have 10 Dots in it rather than these 9 Dot powers, was thought that he was just faking everything. The only reason why he even died in the Week of Nightmares to just some measly Bodhisattvas, some spirit nukes, and Solar Bombardment is that he was insane from hunger and drowsy from waking up from his extremely long torpor.

Now there are more OP things I can list for VTM, such as how Giovanni Elders eat Wraiths for their power and has legions of Wraiths for minions but I want to look at other splats.

So let's look at how Werewolf Legends can be BS.

Did you ever wish your Werewolf also had the power to erase things from existence? Did you ever encounter a situation where if your Werewolf had the "Presence", they could easily end this Pentex subsidiary by turning the city against them? What about Mages? Did you ever get envious of how they turn Vampires into lawnchairs? Well now if you are a Ragabash Legend, you can steal it and turn it into a Gift that could be learned by every Werewolf! Hell, you don't even have to survive after you survive the first hit! Just like how Prometheus was bound and eaten by Eagles, you may suffer or perish but with your death, you will bring new power to the whole Garou Nation.

This fucking thing, I still remember nearly dying to his claws. We were playing a World War scenario in our campaign and all of us were Methuselahs. Sabbat Methuselah's to be specific and were tasked with wiping out a major caern of Fenris. We lost one of the players and one was reduced to torpor but we finally managed to beat this fricking Avatar. Never, ever underestimate Werewolfs, especially the Get of Fenris. They might be muscle-bound Barbarian murder machines, but they are always dangerous.

OP as fuck but just as likely to fuck you over. At the cost of one permanent Gnosis you, the player character, will get a say as a Storyteller. And once it's done, the actual Storyteller will fuck you over. It's probably the strongest Garau gift but the one that will most likely cause the ST to fuck you over harder than that asteroid fucked Earth.

Lastly, a gift particularly effective against Mage's and magic users.

It doesn't matter if your character is a Wraith, a Vampire, a Mage, a Mummy. If your character is weaker than Luna aka Artemis aka Diana aka the Celestine of the Moon and her Lunar Court, which is most likely as I give even Antediluvians a draw at best which means your character needs to be accomplished Archmage, you will be fighting a Werewolf Legend one on one in a physical duel, without any preparation, contingencies, mental effects or aura's or even a chance of retreat. Good luck, you will need it.

As a bonus, here is a Wraith power, just because.

As long as you have enough success stored, you can literally be Batman or Aizen! As in, you can retroactively be prepared for any situation!

What do you guys think? Balanced or not? Which one is your favorite?

Maragas · Apr 12, 2021

Wraiths! They are one of the lesser splats of the World of Darkness like Demons, Changelings, Mummies and Hunters! But they can be said to be present in every splat in a major way. Vampires and their half dead, half alive nature. Werewolfs and how they sometimes accidentally travel to the underworld rather than to the moon. Mages and their entire BS. Mummies that somehow managed the grand feat of something known as Dying and now stuck in the Underworld as indestructible ghosts.

I am going to tell you guys all about Wraiths in this post! And you know what? What's a better way to start it other than with a bang!

The Sixth Great Maelstrom is optional to have in Wraith 20th Edition games but you should still hear it. It happened when Xerxes, an incredibly lucky and unlucky Void Engineer, finally gets permission to perform a live-fire experiment with fusion devices in the Labyrinth, at the mouth of the Void, just near the Oblivion. Too bad when he is doing this, the Jade Kingdom aka an Asian Underworld Kingdom is invading Stygia. While this happens, someone has a bright idea to nuke the Enoch, which was the city of Cain, his firstborn childe, and the Antediluvians before getting destroyed which means it appears in the Underworld as a Ghost City, with the ghost relic nuke of the Little Boy used in Hiroshima.

The ghost nuke destroyed Enoch, wiping it out along with Old Clan Tzimisce who are residing in. Then the shockwaves managed to prematurely detonate the fusion nuke that Xerxes got permission to test with which combined together aggravated the Oblivion and the whole Underworld and brought forth endless waves of Specters and other eldritch abominations. Also, the Sixth Great Maelstrom started, bringing desolation to the Underworld as the super supernatural hurricane wrecked shit.

By the way, thanks to this, The Abyss got cracks in it for the Fallen aka Demons to escape.

This isn't even the end of it, there are a lot more awesome things that involve beings like Osiris, Malfeans etc. but regardless. It's awesome! This should show you the potential of the Wraith games.

But what are Wraiths?

They are those who die without resolution and have the will and drive to trap themselves in the haunted existence known as being a Wraith. They all have something that anchors them to this pitiful existence. Be it hating someone, wanting to protect your son, cowardice against the unknown that is the actual afterlife, not being able to finish your final work...possibilities are endless.
Funny enough, the strongest Wraiths are those who made or done something great in their lives. The exact people who rarely become Wraiths.

I digress, so let's see what could happen to a newborn Wraith.

If you are very lucky, you will get recruited to one of the Legions of the Dead.
If you are just lucky, you will be helped, get out of your Caul, and probably "asked" to work for whatever faction they belong to.
If you are unlucky, you will become a Thrall. A slave laborer.
If you are very unlucky, you will get captured and get melted into raw material to make stuff.

The worst part is, escaping from the Reapers is hard. You can't even use your special Wraith powers nor even dare to face your Harrowing and voluntarily go towards the Oblivion.

"Wait, what is a Harrowing?"

Harrowing is what happens when a Wraiths is too damaged, loses one of the Passions or Fetters that binds her to existence or simply runs out of Willpower to sustain his existence.
When that happens, he is immediately pulled by the Oblivion to the Labyrinth surrounding it. He must face whatever scenarios his Shadow and the Oblivion could conjure or fall to the mouth of the Void!

Wraith, if they want, could also voluntarily enter the Harrowing. Very few rarely do and most would consider it suicidal.

"Shadow? What's a Shadow?"

They are your darkest desires, the self-harming thoughts, the nihilistic part of you that craves nothingness, and all the vices empowered by the Oblivion's call. They are comparable in strength to the Wraith that is in control and always planning something that would end both of their existence. When a Wraith loses control of his body to the Shadow permanently, they become Specters. Servants of the Oblivion and the Entropy.

"But wait, I thought some people would choose the risk of this to getting captured by the Reapers or Harvesters? Why?" Well...

...just read it for yourself. Fate isn't kind for those who suffer the application of Soulforging.

But on the bright side, there is a way out.

All Wraith's, even those who fear or renounce Transcendence, wish for it. Becoming just like normal, perfected souls that went on to the great beyond.

The greatest irony of this is the fact that those who become Wraiths by wanting to remain, is now wanting to just continue to whatever it is in the great beyond rather than continue this painful existence.

And these are the fundamentals of the Wraiths! Now I didn't go over the Kingdom of Stygia or Charon or the Guilds or the Powers of Wraiths or the Legions of the Dead. For reasons, mostly because of the image limit but also because a fundamental part of the Wraith, in my opinion, is discovering it yourself. It's a very enjoyable experience. Especially if the ST is kind to the new players.

What do you think about Wraiths? What about the Underworld? Which is more like a Purgatory than an actual Underworld. Would you dare to become a Wraith if it means you can finish your business or protect/kill someone?

Maragas · May 1, 2021

"Mother Nature ought to be hung, drawn and quarterly diced up and torn to pieces, export and reset, our big spreadsheet says more for me!"

This video and quote sum up Pentex perfectly! Well, maybe a bit eviler and with a deliberate attempt at corrupting the world.

They are the werewolves' biggest enemies and the ones they are least equipped to fight back. Their influence is vast, their presence is everywhere and if you were living in World of Darkness you definitely used one of their products.

But let's dive deep, see Pentex from the inside and the outside!

A Pentex employee's biggest responsibility is to do whatever it takes to achieve the company's goals. Using money, natural resources, people, supernatural assets, etc. you name it.

But what benefits you get from being a Pentex employee? Well, their Health Care plan is off the charts!

Look at those benefits! Even your family members can be included!
You even have a free professional therapist service! In their Harold Zettler Mental Health Annex! Wow, what a deal! Not many people get to have a service provided by a 5th Gen Malkavian Methuselah! You have to be insane to refuse it, right?

On top of all of this, they have a strong Anti-Discrimination Policy!

It doesn't matter if you a minority or an unnatural abomination bent on destroying the world! Pentex is there for you! Don't mind the 3 eyes, 10 limbs Greg over there, he is perfectly fine. And no, it's not his fault that his voice makes your ears bleed.

But what if you can't get into Pentex itself? Don't worry! They have numerous, worldwide subsidiaries that can certainly find you useful! Here is a list of some of them!

Beautiful isn't it? A chance of working with them? Many people would kill for it.

And you will still be protected by our very respected First Teams no matter which part of the Pentex family you belong to! They are the first to get in to defend you, and the last ones to leave! Because they eat the corpses of course!

Yes, your safety against all of those nasty Werewolves is perfectly assured! Though not against incorporate fighting, which is quite lethal. That's why we have a great Health Plan though!

But what happens if you feel...rebellious?

Let's say you disobeyed and did some...bad things. It's fine, everyone does it. Just some small-time penalties and punishments.
But you continue to do them? Well...your supervisor will be very disappointed and you may even end up as a Fomori but don't worry! You will come back to the light!
But still, you continue your silly antics? Well, we are glad to say that you will be helping the company after your termination too! Don't worry, your family will get your severance package. If they remain alive that is.

What about...ugh, enough with the pretending to be a Pentex Employee.

At the core of the Pentex and to be honest, Werewolf, lies the fact that they are literally a Captain Planet villain...taken seriously!
For God's sake, they literally have live on interviews with Wyrm Banes! Worldwide!

Anyway, I could go on and on about Pentex and all of their subsidiaries but it would take too long. They have many, Endron, Black Wolf, Red News... the list goes on and the things they have ties to is even longer.
But here is a VTM Fact:

If I could point one vampire as 100% totally evil with no redeeming qualities, it would be Harold Zettler. He is a 5th Gen Malkavian Methuselah that secretly works for the Wyrm. Even Sabbat, which respects Zettler, doesn't know. He is thinking of trying to spread the influence of the Wyrm among the Sabbat but if it's discovered, repercussions would be enormous. As in a Vampiric Purge that would put Baali's Purge to shame would start with even Camarilla and Sabbat allying.

In fact, there is a Giovanni, Enzo Giovanni, in the Board of Directors but recently he seems to have died and come back as a Wraith.

Anyway, I wanted to keep going about Pentex and all of their devilish actions but...I feel like a crackpot theorist every time I delve deep into Pentex. Like, look at this image from Guide to the Pentex!

What even I could say about this? That Pentex is literally corrupting children with their knock of DnD made by the Black Dog subsidiary which is a parody of White Wolf that makes the World of Darkness?

So yeah, this is Pentex in general terms. If you are interested I can recommend delving into the details but believe me, you will be rolling your eyes many, many times.

So, what do you guys think about Pentex? Their Board of Directors? Their Health Plan? Their subsidiaries? In fact, if you are working for Pentex, which company would you choose to work for?

Maragas · Jul 13, 2021

The Marauders, the so-called Mad Ones. They can be said to be the purest expression of a Mage. The individuality to the point of disregarding all others, a madness for others but a bastion of truth and individuality for themselves.
They are also one of the scariest beings in the World of Darkness. Not because of their thirst for destruction like Nephandi, though those variants exist, or preying on Humans like Vampires or Werewolves but because they themselves are walking, talking reality zones that live in their own world disregarding others.

So let's learn about them. But before that, I want to say something about them.
Some may think Marauders are madmen, trapped in their own little world. The ultimate prison.
But on the other hand, it's the ultimate freedom, because the reality is what they think it is even if they don't realize it. The higher your Quiet, the closer you get to your ultimate freedom.

They are the living forces of Dynamism. There are no "standard" Marauders, only how different, how deep is their belief, their Quiet.

Personally, I like to think of Marauders as the Mages that get influenced by the Wyld a bit too much. Just like how the Technocracy is influenced by the Weaver and how some Nephandi is literally the Wyrm's servants. The Traditions usually range between them. (Like how Verbana is usually between the Wyld and the Wyrm)
Of course, this is only in some campaigns and if it makes sense in them. It's just fluff you can headcanon based on some vague connections, just like how Sidereals(?) from Exalted could be using Pattern Spiders as helpers.

Just like I said before, Marauders are walking, talking reality zones where reality is just like what Marauder thinks it's like. And not even Paradox can do anything about it unless it's Massive, because Paradox is born from Consensus defined Reality trying to correct itself but Marauders live in their own reality which doesn't need correcting.
And worst of all, for non-Marauders anyway, is that anybody within this radius becomes its resident, most don't even realize it. It doesn't matter if they are a Human, Werewolf, Vampire, Mage, they will become their analogs in the Quiet. Mages can resist it, because of their own reality-bending powers, but even they can be overcome by the Quiet.

But what about Quiet? What's the difference between a low one and a high one? Well...

At 1 Quiet, you are basically sane. In fact, most Mages usually have this level of Quiet after some time, even the Technocratic ones. I don't think there are Marauders at this level and not even the chart references one.
At 2, you look sane but if questioned you will most likely be sent to a mental hospital. Like how Robert believes his wife and daughter are alive. Very few Marauders stay at this level for long and most just start at 3.
At 3 you are downright loony, like Don Quixote. Things like believing yourself as someone else, living in a different time period, or always living in someplace, like your Castle, and never leaving. Funny enough Scarlet Witch in Wanda Vision fits this perfectly.
At 4, you are nearly disconnected from the Consensual Reality. You are basically living in alternate fiction based on real life.
At 5, you might as well be living in real fiction. Everything a human imagination can imagine can and will happen in your Quiet.
At 6 and above, you can consider yourself an Alien because not even Reality itself can contain you any longer. Your Quiet is supreme and you are no longer even present in Reality as it ejects you in hopes of you going away. You will most likely form your own Realm in the Deep Umbra. You can consider yourself an "Archmage of Marauders". You can give Cthulhu creeps and anything at this level of Quiet and beyond is beyond human imagination.

What about Marauder Ascension? At the highest levels of Quiet? The grand prize? Well, here is the answer from the Time of Judgement when every Mage Ascended.

But let's dial back and learn about Marauder types.

The first and the most common Marauder is the actualizing Marauder. They are the ones that change the reality around them, they are the ones that wildly proclaim their challenge in the middle of New York on the back of a War Elephant while swinging a claymore. They are almost impossible to deal with.
The second type is the perceptual Marauder, the one's perception is different but not really affecting the reality around them. They are dangerous because they are subtle and they are still incredibly resistant to Paradox but they are much easier to deal with if they are found.

But really, all of this I just explained is secondary to the Golden Rule of playing Marauders, which is...

Marauders are all wildly different beings, and the fun factor of playing a Marauder is the madness that comes from it. ST is also much freer to explore the things they want to just like the players. For example, one of my friends told me that their ST doesn't even use Arete and the Spheres for Marauders, instead, they used their Quiet rating for Arete and Sphere rolls and just wanted them to describe why their Madness allows X thing they wanted to do. This sounds to me like a great example of this rule.

And this is it, the broad strokes of what it means to be a Marauder. I hope you guys liked it.

Maragas · Jul 13, 2021

Ah Sabbat, brutal, cruel, full of bloodthirsty inhuman monsters. But also a place of comradeship, interesting moral debates, wacky fun-time adventures and the place to debate arguably the biggest point of VTM, should Vampires try to keep their humanity however little or just embrace their inner nature. They have a special place in my heart so I want to introduce you to the Sabbat! With all of their glory and problems!

Being one of the two biggest faces of Kindred in World of Darkness, their ideology stems from the fact that the Camarilla are cowards who not only fear the Antediluvians, they even deny their existence. Following the masquerade to keep their tiny bit of Humanity and pretend they are still somewhat a Human.
While everyone fears the Gehenna and the coming of the Antediluvians, they are looking forward to it. To consume their Progenitors like how Antediluvians consumed their own sires.

Basically, they are polar opposites. Not very surprising, right? I personally admire their courage even if they have no hope of ever defeating the Antediluvians.
You are wondering why I am saying this? Well, there are many factors, some that I will mention in a bit but the primary reason for it is the fact that Antediluvians are the most powerful beings that can function on Earth unhindered outside of Angels and Gods. No Mummy can judge them, no Archmage can kill them without sacrificing their life to Paradox, no Werewolf can face them, no Wraith would dare to be near them. Let's go back to the Time of Judgement apocalypse scenarios for a moment.

A starved, mindless Ravnos Antediluvian Zapathasura easily withstands spirit nukes and battled Ancient Cathayans for three days and nights before getting destroyed by sunlight. Everything else did nada. Remember, point-blank nukes are one of the few ways to permanently kill the body of a Mummy and it didn't do anything to Ravnos.
Without the Withering Curse, all Antediluvians are like this even at their weakest.

So in the end, I admire Sabbat's goals and the fact that they are all eagerly awaiting for the day of Judgement to basically become an open buffet for the Antediluvians. I hope they give them the cramps at least.

Now we know Sabbat's goal and ideology in general terms but what about the very beginning of Sabbat? How did they start?

When the Anarch Revolt failed and The Convention of Thorns happened, not every anarch gave up. The ones who didn't just stormed out of the town and continued their actions and eventually come under the banner we know as the Sabbat. ( By the way, Lasombra and Tzimisce Antediluvians didn't die of course)

But the Old World Europe is full of Elders and the center of Camarilla. How could they thrive in such an environment? Then the Age of Exploration happened.

There comes the New World, ripe for taking. Mostly full of mortal natives who got killed, an ancient Baali Methuselah Huitzilopochtli that no one knows and native Werewolf community, primary Wendigoes. Oh, what's that about Baali? Don't worry, I will mention him in a bit.

But let's forward a bit to the present day, we don't have the time nor image slots for history lessons.

They have the greatest influence in poor, undeveloped countries. Where they own private empires, feed and kill without hesitation and live the life of their unlife. On the other hand, they have a hard time increasing their presence in modern countries. They have to resort to the subtler method, which they are frankly shit at. Plus the Camarilla is easily beating them back.

But this doesn't mean they don't have a capital, oh no. Here is the Sabbat Capital.

Where the Camarilla's Heart rests in Europe, the heart of the Sabbat lies in Central America. They have everything in control here, industry, trade, media, mortal or supernatural politics, criminal underworld like Cartels. Here they can feed openly, battle openly and flout their power with none wiser. Packs battle openly for turf, entertainment or just simply for the hell of it.
Now you might be wondering, why "Diseased"? Well...

Mexico City is beyond fucked. The Wyrm, The Nephandi, Antitribu Nosferatu, A Vile Haunting, all combined with the presence of Infernal Huitzilopochtli at the center of the former capital of Aztec's is one of the biggest time bombs in the World of Darkness. Oh, who is Huitzilopochtli? Well, his other name is Shaitan.

This is one of the scariest beings in the World of Darkness, if you thought Harold Zettler from Pentex was an evil piece of shit devoted to the Wyrm, think again. This guy is Harold Zettler x100, he is the foremost herald of the Wyrm and Demons. He makes Zhyzhak look like a noob.
And he is beneath Mexico City.

...Well, after such good news let's continue with the Sabbat.

The Black Hand can be said to be one of the primary reasons why Sabbat is still a thing and somewhat stable. They are the private army of the Sabbat Leaders, chosen from the best of the best and skilled in all manners of warfare. Best of all, they are all completely loyal to the Sabbat...right?
Right... Man, I sometimes feel bad for the Sabbat before remembering all the shit they do.

Let me tell you about the truth.

They are all manipulated by the even deeper vampiric conspiracy called Tal'Mahe'Ra. Whose agenda is the opposite of the Sabbat, serving the Antediluvians. Mr.Bones Wild Ride never ends in the World of Darkness.

So yeah, this is the general overview of the Sabbat. Next time I talk about the Sabbat, I will talk about their packs, their ranks, their clans and their rites. I hope this was a fun ride. If you have any questions, well this is the thread for it.

Maragas · Jul 13, 2021

TheBlueHour said:
Speaking of which, @Maragas, what even are the things the Nephandi serve/worship/whatever? I haven't been able to figure that out.

It depends, Nephandi's motivation is as varied as the Traditions and the Technocracy.

Hmm, you know what. Let's do a quick Nephandi Round.

World of Darkness is a complex place. It's a world of greys with shades of white and black. But if there is one faction that is without a doubt evil, it's the Nephandi.
And they come in several flavors for your everyday needs!

Let's start with The K'llasshaa!

Worshippers of the Howling Void/Hungry Void. For those who read the Demon the Fallen yes that Void that was the nothingness outside of God before he created the universe and most likely the Abyss Lasombra uses willy nilly for their disciplines.
They are among the most hardcore and similarly batshit insane of the Nephandi. They are the folks who would flay you piece by piece and fed it to your family as their only sustenance until you murder your family for the torment to end. They are the ones who will do everything and anything unspeakable to creatures of this universe because for them Light and Life as we know it is blasphemy and any act against them is a holy act.
Even other types of Nephandi are weary of these guys.

They are usually Celestial Chorus members who fall from grace. Turning against the One, the Creator and the Universe he created.

The Wyrm flavored Nephandi! They are the ones who worship or at least believe in the Wyrm and what it represents. Aka Entropy aka Natural Death of the Universe. Don't confuse it with the Hungry Void because they are different things.
They are usually the most physically corrupt Nephandi and the ones who have direct access to their Patrons, the Wyrm and Wyrm spirits. They work for the end of everything because they want everything to end, not because Light and Life is blasphemy.

Dreamspeakers and Verbena who fall from grace usually become Malfean Nephandi.

Demon flavored Nephandi. Unlike the previous two, they don't want to end everything. They just want to be on the winning side if/when Apocolypse happens and the Earthbound/Umbral Lords they serve arrives.
Do not underestimate them. Lords they serve, whatever it be Earthbound Demons or Umbral Sprits or whatever, are powerful and may even be the source of their Awakening.

Celestial Chorus, Akashic Brotherhood, Order of Hermes
Many Traditions can become one. (Especially Order of Hermes)

Now, these are the classic and the most numerous of the Nephandi. But 20th Edition added a few more types but they are mostly some versions of these. Here they are briefly.

Cthulhu cult. Basically Infernalist but more Lovecraftian. (Though they are most likely Antediluvian worshippers from the time of Enoch. Like a Nephandic Cult of Mithras)

Threat Null. Also, the Nephandi in charge of Technocracy that eats babies and smokes poor people if you decide to make Technocracy corrupted.

...the most stupid form of Nephandi. Don't bother.

You know what, just forget about the rest of the Nephandi. They are shit.

Maragas · Jul 13, 2021

Sorry for the wait Werewolf fans but here is the second part of the introduction to the tribes!

You know about Get of Fenris right? How they are the survival of fittest berserkers? They are very abrasive toward other tribes. But Red Talons, oh man, they are beyond that. You also know how Children of Gaia and Glasswakers basically lead the vote to end the Impergium because it was just genociding humans and was senseless? Red Talons are the exact opposite of them.
Red Talons are nearly all wolf, no human Werewolves. I am not even joking about that, they are a tribe mostly made out of wolf-born Werewolves rather than human-born. They want nothing to do with humans, even the most radical among them would at most allow Humans to survive in Medival Era population numbers. They even heavily dislike Human born Werewolf and Kinfolk and in latters case may even try to kill them like any other human.

They are very interesting to play but well, they are not very popular for obvious reasons. Even WTA: Earthblood video game had you guys fight a pack of them and their Totem.

Take Nosferatu and Ventrue, mix them together then add some Gaia juice and bam, you get Shadow Lords. You can even say they are the mental counterpart of Get of Fenris' physicality. They learn manipulation, politics, cunning and more the moment they can talk. They are the most organized and hierarchical tribe among the Garou.
They are also a meritocracy. Add all of this and you will find every ranking member of the tribe to be a force to be reckoned with, whatever on the battlefield or in a shadowy board meeting.

On the downside, the tribe itself is constantly in a struggle for domination. Your lessers will fight for your position, your boss knows you want their position etc. They are also not very honorable, cruel, and can and will make alliances where they will betray their allies in the end.
They are also the tribe that makes contact with supernatural creatures like Vampires the most.

In my opinion, they are very fun to play if you want more political or at least a more mentally challenging campaign than being a murdermachine.

They are wanderers and the most well-traveled of the Garou. Why you ask? Well mostly because they fucked with Set (Antediluvian and God, they are the same and separate at the same time, it's complicated) and he cursed them so they can never rest in their homeland Egypt and then devoured their ancestors. By ancestors, I mean every single Silent Strider that existed and died before they fought Set got eaten or destroyed or whatever in the Umbral realms. This basically means millions of years of Silent Strider history, achievement and glory went poof as they can't contact their ancestors.

They are probably the most tragic Garou tribe and honestly, they are very right to hate every vampire, which they do. Don't even mention the leeches among them.
On the bright side, they are basically friends with every Osiris-aligned supernatural creature in the universe. Be it Mummies, Children of Osiris, Mages etc. Their contacts run deep through the supernatural world and even through the underworld.

They are Ventrue but much more humane. Can't really say much about them because well, they are a classic for a reason.
The best among them really try to lead the Garou right and balance the shitshow that is the Garou Nation but the worst of them are just Tyrants. They had glorious heroes and petty tyrants among them in the past but they do try to live up to expectations. It's a hard thing to do and some even break under it.

You can say they are the thinkers of the Garou Nation. Compared to the Children of Gaia, they pursue Enlightenment and balance. I must say, they probably get along with Mummies well. Not to mention they can also incarnate to keep living different lives.
They are philosophers, thinkers and probably the most patient of all Garou. Even the most spiritual in my opinion, even compared to Uktena

If you want to play a chill Werewolf, this is the best tribe for it.

American Werewolfs and part of the American Garou group. They are keepers of forbidden knowledge and magic. If you ever wanted to play Werewolf Shaman, this is for you.
They are also very cross with every other Werewolf tribe except Wendigoes and Croatan. Because you know, the whole Europe and America...business. (Though sometimes I wonder why they were so surprised. War of Rage and genocide of other Changling breeds and all that jazz happened before.)

Their biggest downside is that keeping forbidden knowledge is forbidden for reasons. They can get corrupted and begin to free the evils they once sealed away. They can be also blind because they think they know. See Mexico and Central America being the playground of Huitzilopochtli for thousands of years.

No, they do not eat human flesh, even though it would be the most reasonable tribe to do it.

They are the guys you go to if you want to kick Wyrms ass. They are hardcore for purity and killing things efficiently and pragmatically. If they didn't hate European werewolves they probably get along with Get of Fenris pretty well because two of them are basically the best murdermachines among the Garou.
They are very fun to play, especially if you want to be a cold killer rather than a raging berserker. But know that you will not get along with any other Werewolf tribe. Try not to be Metis though.

And this is it, the most common tribes of Garou. I know this is not my best work but my finals are like, a week later and if I didn't do this before that it would be at least a month before I could write this.

Maragas · Jul 13, 2021

Now I am going to give you various Void Craft (or Universal Craft) from various books. It shouldn't be a problem as it's not like they are more than examples.

One of my favorites, you can go wild with it.

They are fun, I always imagine Stargate Atlantis shuttles.
If after Avatar Storm, newer Shuttles usually aren't as good as the previous ones and don't have interstellar travel capacity as resources are tight.

This satellite was many of its kind are the ones who make up the bulk of the Earth Defense Network. The majority are around Earth but there considerable number across the border of the Solar System, around Technocratic constructs and colonies. These babies are the ones who bombed the Ravnos Antediluvian with Spirit Nukes aka "Polydimensional Neutron Devices" and later with concentrated Sunlight.
Unfortunately, if you are using Avatar Storm aka Dimensional Anomaly in your campaign, the entire network is destroyed along with the majority of fleets of Void Engineers. There is a new one but it's a pale shadow of what it was before.

They are incredibly formidable but they are more suited to Interstellar travel and patroling colonies than watching over Earth. Unfortunately, Void Engineers had to downgrade to Raptor after the Dimensional Anomaly (if you use it in your campaign) as resources are tight.
Speaking of defending Earth, let's take a look at Vaders.

These beasts are what would you can encounter in the Solar System, patroling through Umbra between realms. They lack Deep Universe travel capacity because their primary purpose is to basically secure the homeworld. (x160 are equipped with Voidcast because well, different editions and it may be because they need to use every ship they have on hand after Avatar Storm)
If using the Dimensional Anomaly, there are no Vaders or x156s left but the middle version x160 which was luckily left in the dry docks as they went unused and thus didn't get destroyed. (If mechanics feel like they don't match up, it's because these are from different editions. Just remember Vaders are bigger and stronger than x160 and even an Archmage would vary of facing it in a straight fight)

Basically, take Cortana and Master Chief and send them to depts of space for exploration and research. They are the buddy cop flick of Void Engineers.

Now these are just examples. You are encouraged to create your own ships and procedures for Void Craft.
Go wild, Void Engineers are crazy good at their field. You can create any kind of ship and it would still fit. These guys are the ones who constructed a Dyson Sphere in 30 years when motivated. (Though when you have Archmasters aka Archmages, it's not that hard.)

Now for sample techs used in these ships. You are encouraged to invent more, just like any Mage spell.

While Dimensional Anomaly may have destroyed the fleet, Void Engineers continue to advance. Their current interdimensional and universal travel method is Voidcast, a drive if pushed to its limits can transport you to anywhere in the known universe. Its processor Gateway Transport is still a great piece of technology but much more limited.

The lifeblood of the Void Engineers. It can convert everything from Astroids to Stars into Tass for material and energy. Big ships usually have 1 but the greatest STAR units are in the Cop, the Dyson Sphere.

Basically, normally ships use Tass Propulsion for travel. When they need to travel interstellar or really, any kind of transdimensional travel they use Voidcast and when they want to travel through Time, they use Singularity Drives or Temporal Transit Converters.

Basically shipless interstellar travel between points. All Void Engineer labs, colonies, and even ships are connected to the network but Earth-based teleportation is forbidden outside of emergencies.

There are a few more but I really need to go and this is not only longer than I expected, it also took longer than I expected to compose. I hope it was helpful. Sorry about the images but I had to get creative to get under 10 image limit and I really didn't want to split this.
In fact, I am going to threadmark it.

Maragas · Jul 30, 2021

You know what, let's forget about that disappointment and learn about some Monsters! Specifically Dragons! Why Dragons you ask? Because I started writing a general Bygones post but it turned into Dragons. I don't know how to be honest.

Now Bygones, they are your ye old monsters and beings from legends and myths. Similar to Changelings they also got basically decimated by Humans not believing in them and actively disbelieving in them. But unlike Changelings, they weren't able to circumvent it and just died or got banished to the Umbra. Those who got banished to Umbra are usually the most powerful Bygones, like Dragons.

But first what are Bygones exactly?

They are mythological beings from legends. Depending on your campaign, they could be dying, dead or doing just fine. They may not even exist if you don't want to crowd your game.

But why are they Bygones?

Basically, they are dying because they can't survive in the modern world. Apparently, they are even more sensitive to this kind of thing than even Werewolfs. Even if humans believed in them they are basically unable to adapt to the modern world by large (There is an exception, I will show it at the end)
In fact, one of their main problems is that humans basically become their hunters. Whatever it be Magi, Vampire, Hunters, etc.

Though in the end, what will happen to Bygones?

If the Age of Reason continues, they will just die out. If not, they will continue to live and a new breed of monsters born from the desperation and nurtured by human fear might rise from the ashes of the Age of Reason.
Once again, I can't tell if we are supposed to feel bad for Bygones or just shrug our shoulders. Like Werewolves I suppose.

By the way, I pranked you guys, this is from the perspective of a 12th-15th century observer. They are already extinct on Earth by modern times.

Really though, let's learn about Dragons!

They are the greatest enforces of Gaia's order. Even more than Werewolves. Fitting that they are a reflection of humanity, be it on our desires or our phenomenal cosmic power.
They are the storm, the hurricane, the blight and the famine, the fire and the flood. They are quite literally walking disasters. (Yes, you could have a Godzilla as a Dragon in a modern setting, nuclear breath can be a thing. If you are curious ask me)

There are three types of dragons.

Celestial Dragons; the power incarnate. They are usually powerful enough to face a minor god and are servants of Gods. No joke, unless you have a cabal of Master Mages (or you are an Archmage), a powerful Voidcraft from Void Engineers, a high torment powerful Demon or an Antediluvian don't even try facing one. I would rather face a Space Behemoth than face a Celestial Dragon because the former at least lacks numerous magical abilities. Imagine Shenron from Dragon Ball.

Greater Wyrms: They are your classic dragons. They are much smaller and powerful than the Celestials but they are still a force to be reckoned with. No really, look at their stats, and Health Levels, when they mature. Oh yeah, the X/X/X/X format in their Attributes shows their stats in their different stages of maturity. Which is in order; Hatchling, Young, Mature, Elder. Everything else is for Mature dragons.

The Lesser Dragons: They are sad dragons. No really, I feel bad for them. They are still scary in combat and hard as fuck to put down but they are the weakest type of dragon for a reason. (I only included Lindworm here because I am tired of splicing images)

Lastly, before we end this I said I was going to show you an exception to the whole "not being able to adapt to the modern world" thing. My favorite Dragon;

My boi here is a Dragon of Technology! You can see the bias against him even while they were writing this. (Nature good, technology bad) He isn't even a Malfean Wyrm.

I have to end this here because I hit the image limit and if I continue without images it wouldn't fit the purpose of this thread, citation with sources. But generally, they are about where dragons live, their interaction with the Umbra and how the modern world changed them (They mostly went to the Umbra with some remaining in Africa and the Americas but it's still painful to live on Earth. Some become willing servants of the Wyrm, the Malfean Wyrm I mean, and getting ready to destroy the modern world.)
So how did you guys find the Dragons? Would you play as one? Though you are heavily encouraged to play a Lesser Dragon rather than a Greater Wyrm.

Maragas · Jul 30, 2021

I said I was going to do Changing Breeds and so I will.

Let's learn about all the Weres other than Werewolfs!

First thing you should know that Gaia created each of her children with different purposes. Garou the Warriors, Corax the Messengers, Bastet, Kitsune and Camazotz the Spies, Gurahl and Grondr the Guardians and the Purifiers, Nagah the Assassins, Apis the Caretakers and Matchmakers, Mokole are the Lore Keepers and lastly Rokea to survive as they are ageless beings.
Later Gaia even created Ratkin for the purposes of culling the Human population. They each had a specific duty to the world.

On a smaller note, Ananasi aren't children of Gaia. They are the children of Ananasa, the daughter of the Weaver. And thus they are Granddaughters of the Weaver. When the War of Rage started and Garou accused them of Wyrm-taint, like they always do when they want to slaughter someone or genocide, they slipped away using the secrets of the Weaver.

All of this changed when ~~The Fire Nation~~ Garou Nation attacked. It was a slaughter, every Fera, shapeshifting species other than Garou, was the target of Garou's Rage and it was thus called War of Rage. It caused the total extinction of Apis and Grondr, caused the extinction of Camazotz in Europe, reduced the numbers of every other shapeshifter species, and caused Rokea to retreat from land entirely. (Except Kitsune, they were fine as they just escaped.)
Then when America was discovered and the Garou Nation found the remaining Camazotz they declared another but smaller War of Rage and finished the job, totally killing Camazotz.

Especially tragic ones are the Apis and Grondr. Apis were the caretakers of all, including being one of the most peaceful Changing Breeds. Grondr on the other than was Gaia's primary answer for corruption and taint. Able to cleanse huge chunks of land from any corruption and come back unchanged.

But let's see what remains one by one.

Ajaba, they are the werehyenas. Once they ruled all of Africa by their ideals, cull the weak, sickly, old, misshapen and warped. They were a Matriarchy and lived in packs of at least a dozen up to 100.
But after Simba, the Werelions subtribe of Bastet, kicked their shit in, killed the majority of them and showed what happens when they are the ones weak and now they are mostly on the run in Africa. Their numbers are low, they even abandoned thousands of years of tradition and duty like culling the weak and even their Matriarchy as there aren't enough females to fill all the spots.

Basically, if you want to play as Hyenas from the Lion King, they are your jam. Plus who doesn't love an underdog story? (Remember, they might become strong warriors or shamans but they still start with Willpower 3. They aren't exceptional.)

Ananasi, the werespiders. Unlike anything in this list, they aren't a child of Gaia. They are actually granddaughters of the Weaver. They are usually very focused on their to free their Mother, Queen Anansi. They are easily one of the most numerous breeds and no one knows their exact numbers as spiders breed fast. But they are solitary in nature. They possess no weakness and brag about it. They are incredibly connected to The Great Web aka Tellurian aka the Universe and they are expert manipulators of the Gauntlet. (They are best at it when they are in a City or better yet, near a computer. They are basically best friends with Technocracy and it isn't surprising if you get a creepy stalker when playing a Technocratic character*)
Their emotions are muted compared to Humans and they are downright emotionless compared to Werewolfs.

They also use Blood rather than Rage, unlike any other breeds. They are quite shittier at it than Vampires unless they specialize and it's usually weaker than Rage but it can be handier and replenish faster than Rage as long as they have prey in sight.
If you want to play a loner or mixed packs with multiple different breeds this is for you. Ananasi usually don't play together.

*I am not joking, if you are playing with an ST who knows his stuff about WTA in a Technocracy campaign, you may get a stalker. Like how some Tradition Mages find Bubasti stalking them.

Bastet, the werecats. The most important thing to know about them is that they are vain. No joke, half the reason why they are included in the War of Rage by Garuo is that they annoyed them so much that they were pretty much added to the list of races to genocide because of their vanity.
Other than that they are awesome. Do you want to play a Werelion? A Werepanther? A Weretiger? Here is your breed. They are like Ananasi very solitary hunters except for Simba with their prides. But they have very strong Master-Student relationships. Plus all cubs get trained before they are let go.

Important tip, if you are going to play Bubasti, they are an Egyptian-bound subtribe that can never leave Egypt or they will go extinct. You can thank Set for that. Set cursed Bubasti with the opposite of the Silent Striders, they can never leave Egypt unless they are willing to test it.
Another tip, if you want to play Bastet but you are new to the whole "Fera" thing. Go play Simba. Werelions are exactly like Werewolfs but better. (Fight me

)

They are a great Fera to play.

I will continue this later but for now, my room is too hot and I am tired of sitting on a chair. I hope you guys like it.

What are your thoughts about Fera? About War of Rage? Which one would you play as? Which one sounds coolest?

Maragas · Jul 30, 2021

Wyrm, the big bad of the Werewolfs.

Originally he was the Keeper of Balance. The Wyld creates, the Weaver directs and gives form and the Wyrm destroys the excess and the broken.
Then the Weaver become conscious enough to realize "WTF am I doing with my life" and decided that she doesn't want her creations getting destroyed so she trapped the Wyrm. The Wyrm went mad and decided that if he can't destroy as much as before, he will corrupt others so they could destroy themselves.

Now before we continue. Why no one managed to free the Wyrm? It is possible after all, hell you only need 160 Garou for a ritual powerful enough to free the Wyrm. (Though if you want most of them to survive, a few thousand would be better)
Easy, no one who could actually do it really wants to do it. Malfeans actually want Wyrm to be imprisoned because they will have no job*, any human-based help doesn't want to help because it will result in Humans getting reduced to the stone-age** which means no Archmages or Gods and Demons definitely don't want humans getting reduced to the stone age.
*

**Pff "If they have competent guides in the form of the spirits of the Garou" yeah right.

Anyway, fast forward to modern times and we have the familiar corruption of the Wyrm. From Pentex to Black Spiral Dancers to Malfean Nephandi. Let's start with the Hydra, defacto leader of the Wyrm's forces.

The Three-Headed Hydra, the dread beast. They are the mockery of the original Triat. Respectively they are;
Beast-of-War: The Calamity Wyrm: It's the mockery of the Wyld. . It's a beast of absolute destruction and it's been known by many names, like Jourmungandr or Apophis.
Eater-of-Souls: The Consuming Wyrm: If the Beast of War is the mockery of the Wyld, this is the mockery of the Weaver. Greed, obsession and all-consuming desire to consume.
The Defiler Wyrm: It has no name because this is Wyrm's reflection of itself. The most powerful of them, the force of corruption we are all familiar with. What an irony is that this is basically Wyrm's self-hatred.

They are incredibly powerful, requiring entire tribes to defeat just a single manifestation. Thankfully they are extremely hard to manifest.
Another fortunate thing for the world is that each of the heads is against each other and barely manages to cooperate.

Aside from this, we have Urge Wyrms and Maeljin Incarna. They can be considered one step below leaders of the Wyrm forces. Usually under one of the heads.

You could say that Urge Wyrms are the original Banes born from the Wyrm's desperation and panic to escape its prison. They are the twisted reflections of emotions and usually the most extreme variety.
When one of them possesses someone, they become a Maeljin Incarna. Similar to how banes turn people into Fomari. Their numbers are few compared to the endless amounts of Banes and their possessed Fomari but each of them is much more powerful. Requiring at least 100 Garou to face off.

On the flips side, if the Wyrm Heads are against each other, all Maeljin Incarna are bitter rivals and they backstab each other*. In fact, Pentex and the Maeljin Incarna are rivals and of similar rank under the Three Heads of the Wyrm.

*No really, even when all Wyrm Triat agrees on something Maeljin Incarna is more likely to disturb others' plans than actually do the thing.

Speaking of Pentex, let's look at them for a moment. I will not go into details because I already went through them in "Pentex "Captain Planet, we met again I see!"

"Capitalism is bad, money is evil, they euthanize healthy animals and experiment on them, they build orphanages to poison children, capitalism is bad." in short.

Just imagine a cartoonishly evil megacorp that wants to corrupt the world while profiting from it.

Let's get back to the spiritual Wyrm.

They are Elemental counterparts of the Urge Wyrm. They are the corrupted version of the elements. Their Maeljin Incarna is the strongest elemental of their type.

Lastly, before we end this, let's see where they reside when they aren't on Earth.

The place where the Wyrm resides because this is the place where the Weaver imprisoned the Wyrm in her web. It's basically a hellhole of eldritch geometry and spending any time here will slowly corrupt you.
A perfect place for the Wyrm Triat, Urges, and Elementals along with all sorts of Banes and corrupted spirits.

It's also in the Deep Universe/Umbra.

I would continue as there are many, many things I could talk about the Wyrm but we have an image limit and I just met it.
So, which part of the Wyrm you guys like most? The mockeries of the Triat? The extreme emotions turned Urges? The corrupted Elements? Cartoonishly Evil Pentex?
As always I am open to suggestions and questions. Happy discussing.

Maragas · Aug 14, 2021

So, I am back to my computer so let me share the parts I found most interesting in Technocracy Reloaded.

Let's start with some Void Engineer stuff. Because honestly, they got the best treatment out of all the Conventions. Though there are some weird parts. (Syndicate got the worst treatment if you are wondering)

First off, Deep Universe colonies and bases are doing just fine if there is no Dimensional Anomaly. The Copernicus Research Station for example is still a shining beacon of light in the darkest places. Always vigilant against all sorts of threats.

In fact, if Dimensional Anomaly didn't happen Pan Dimensional Corps is basically the strongest arm of the Void Engineers but they are mostly focusing on the Deep Universe than Earth. Though I doubt it will truly leave the Technocracy as long as Tychoides is their leader. (Plus what are they going to do after separating from the larger Void Engineer support? Without R&D Corps of VE? Without the support of the most important place in the universe aka Earth?)

Speaking of Dimensional Anomaly, if that didn't happen Technocracy is basically the same as always and powerful as ever. Not losing like, half of your assets and forces does that to you. Which is the default assumption if you want to play Wraith 20th and also like, 90% of the World of Darkness rather than being stuck on Earth.

Also not getting fucked by Dimensional Anomaly are the Archmasters of the Technocracy! They are as always, similar to Tradition Archmages, keep themselves busy with, you know, phenomenal cosmic power rather than wallow in mud like us plebs. And the lower management of Technocracy better sends glowing reports or God help them.

Hmm on that note, let's take one look at one New World Order experiment.

Experiments are still continuing to make Utopia possible but it's slow. Entire dimensions are used to simulate dystopias and would-be Utopias.

Getting back to the management of Technocracy. Who runs the yearly operation on Earth if Archmasters are not involved and Grand Old Men are even more distant? The answer is the Shadow Parliament! Which is made out of one member from each Symposium on Earth.

They are basically leaders of every Symposium coming together to make decisions. Then they announce/communicate it through their own Avatar named Management. What are Symposiums?

They are basically the highest-ranking lower management of Technocracy. Represented by each convention, they oversee large geographic areas like say "South Africa" or "Eastern Europe" and when large/important enough, cities like "New York" or "London".

Now on some miscellaneous stuff I liked.

You know how with a certain Gift Werewolves can cause Delirium on every human, formerly Human and part Human creature?
Well now you should know that you can also Mind Fuck them back! If they can put the fear of past culling to us, you can put the fear of Authority to right to their faces with your badge. Or the fact that we tamed the wolves to dogs if you want to humiliate them.

This is "Designated Target Force Thresholds" and "Acceptable Force Escalation Thresholds"

As long as you are below DTFT 3 (you are either neutral and avoid violating Consensus or beneficial in a small way like running Charity or helping the poor), even if you are a Reality Deviant, no Technocratic Agent is authorized to use lethal force nor weapons on you unless special circumstances exist.
And AFET 1 and 2 are legal for Technocracy agents to oppose each other. So you basically have the same "Authorized Force Use" as the conflicting Technocracy Agents and with the Masses.

Basically, as long as you aren't a risk and even beneficial, you ain't gonna get killed.

Maragas · Oct 16, 2021

Mummies! If there is one force of good I have to name in World of Darkness it would be the Mummies. They are the only splat that is 99% good. (Fallen mummies are so pitiful that they barely last more than a few weeks and even then, much weaker than non-fallen Mummies)

No really, they are so full of Life and Balance that any vampire who drinks their blood gains a temporary point of Humanity for every Blood point they ate. Even if they have another path.

So, how do you become a Mummy?
Well, it really depends. If you aren't using Dimensional Anomaly/Avatar Storm then you have to be lucky enough to be a follower of Isis and Osiris in Egypt and then get chosen to become a Mummy. You then go through Mummification ceremony and get the Spell of Life used on you.

But if you are using Dimensional Anomaly/Avatar Storm, things get tricky. You have to be a fucked up soul who looks for a chance for a good life or redemption, get chosen by a tem-ahk, survive a trip to Egypt with your now half alive, half dead body and find followers of Isis and Osiris in Egypt for them to Mummificate you and then use Spell of Life.

Yeah, things got complicated. Keep in mind that if Dimensional Anomaly didn't happen, all mummies are the first type and many are thousands of years old while if Avatar Storm happened the majority of Mummies are the second type and young. Though there are a few ancient Mummies who managed to endure or simply escape the Avatar Storm

Now into Mummy types, depending on which type of tem-ahk become a Mummy. These are based on the second, Avatar Storm Mummies. Old Mummies are usually even more diverse and can be anything that is not fucked up. Old Mummies are also straight-up chosen for this sacred position and can be as old as 5000 Years.

Do you know what it means to self-destruct hard? Do you know the temptations of the vices? When mortal these Mummies died from them, so Ka tem-ahk choose them to give them a second chance. They now know the beauty of life and how precious it is and they are the best damn guardians of life you can think of. For themselves and for others.

If you ever feel like you need a shoulder to lean on, these guys will happily lend you a shoulder.
They are also great at creating protective artifacts and magic.

They usually have the strongest Ka Background, incredibly incorruptible bodies and the strongest "Mummy Curse" basically. Keeping their bodies imprisoned is nearly impossible and acting against them downright lethal. And I mean it when I mean they have incredible bodies, high Balance Tomb Guardians have Physical Attributes similar to Methuselahs. There is a reason why I say they are the Pillar Men.

They are basically the thinkers and nerds of the Mummies. Ba tem-ahk finds people who just went with the flow or even barely considered sapient and turns them into thinkers, philosophers and intellectuals. They are also considered the favorite of Osiris, seen by the fact that they basically rule over the Dark Kingdom of Sand as priests of Osiris.

They usually have the strongest Ba trait among the mummies. (Which means even if you kill them, they will be back to the land of the living in a day. Yes, even if you destroy their souls. Oblivion is not permanent for Mummies)
They are also great Alchemists.

They are the reformers. Sahu tem-ahk finds people who were corrupt pieces of shit who have a chance of redemption and turn them into good people. They are the mummies who get involved with their past life most, fixing the wrongdoings of their former self. They are also inspired by the Sahu to the Celestial matters and they are usually the most spiritual and magical of the mummies.

They usually have the strongest magic aka Hekau but specialize in Celestial.

Khu tem-ahk find people who failed creatively or reached a dead end in their inspirations and turns them into boundless forces of creation. They are the artists, they are the spirit guides and they are basically Toreadors but actually healthy and good. Tomb Guardians might have the best protective artifacts but Sakhmu are all-around better crafters.

They are also great architects and are incredibly perspective. Along with the fact that if you have any problem related to Dead, they got you covered.

Khaibit tem-ahk finds people who were unconfident, timid and unassertive and gives them limitless drive along with animalistic urges and anger. They are usually the best fighters among Mummies. If you find one, they are either a beacon of calm because they are keeping their emotions in check and reserving them for a fight or they are spending their boundless energy on something constructive.

They are basically Werewolf Mummies. If you need a hammer, they are the hammer.
They are also eunuchs.

Judged Ones are born when the tem-ahk chooses a soul who is deemed corrupt without a chance of redemption by the Judges but also not enough for destruction. So they gauge the corrupt parts of the soul, use the failed tem-akh to fill it. Resulting Mummy is a confused, pained mess and lacks any guidance from his tem-ahk because it's currently a mindless bandaid to Mummys soul.

They are extremely rare and some don't survive past a few years. Either giving up their Mummy-hood by asking Osiris or falling to Apophis and then regretting it before dying.
If they last long enough, they basically stabilize and realize that just because the start was rocky doesn't mean it needs to be rocky all the way to eternity.

And this is the basic overview of Mummies! Hope it was informative. I had a lot of fun reading Mummy for this post.

Maragas · Oct 16, 2021

Now the only splats I haven't covered are Demon, Hunter and Changeling. (Geist...well Geist can wait.)
I don't like Changeling and D.D. Spectator already covered Hunter pretty well I think.

Now Demons...well Demons are tricky business. I will mostly go over why, and show some very...interesting bits here. Along with the dreaded Earthbound. You can say this is simply...Demon: The Musing post. The actual Demon info post will come later.

The Former Angels aren't all bad, half the Demons are no worse than your average Vampire, some are so saintly that they are nearly their Angelic self while some are straight up the Devil. But what they are is being fucking terrifying.
The only reason why Mummy edges out over Demon when it comes to starting power and relative safety is that Mummies are immortal and can come back the same. Demons are similar but they either need to find a host to possess, which can be much weaker, choose to become Earthbound or go back to the Abyss. They are similarly impossible to kill without using their True Name or getting eaten by another Demon.

As for why Demon is so good, well, benefits are endless. Just the starting advantages are great. Impossible to Mind Control, Impossible to Possess, Impossible to Impose Supernatural Fear

But more importantly, Power they have access to are bonkers. Especially at high levels.
This is doubly true for Earthbound. They are terrifying. They might pale compared to their former power when they were Angels but my god they put even Antediluvians to shame in some ways. With only Archmages beating them in their range. (Even then consider that Earthbound can do it again and again while Archmages have to suffer paradox)

Let me tell you what I mean.

Earthbound are Masters of Lore. They can increase the effects of any Lore they have up to 100.000 except for Damage.

Here is an example. Let's take Decay.

This is an incredible ability. At high torment levels it Auto Hits around you and deals Aggravated damage equal to your success.
If an Earthbound with Mastery 5 uses this, they will kill and destroy everything in a 91km radius around them. 100.000 yards around them basically.
And Earthbound are always Torment 10.

Another example, You think Malkavian the Antediluvian is the shit? Try Masters of Chaos

Let's say Faith 10 Earthbound, Mastery 5 casts this. 9144km radius of reality breaks down. This basically means the whole Earth is now basically in Warp and every mortal, hell EVERYONE is fucked.

Hell, just the books example is fucking insane.

Belial here just murdered everyone in Los Angeles. Each turn every single person will have a 1 in 5 chance to suffer a 10 Lethal lighting bolt. Which if you read the example, means it will happen to every single person in 80.000 yards 80.000 times.
Mortals can't soak Lethal by the way. And this is a hurricane with 9 Strength, so no building will remain.

So yes, if you are looking to make an Earthbound villain for your campaign. Think very carefully.
Angels are even more BS by the way.

Maragas · Oct 16, 2021

It's been a while since I did a Vampire-themed info post, so might as well continue with Vampire Clans! This time for the main members of the Sabbat!

When you talk about Sabbat, you can't forget about two clans. Lasombra and Tzimisce. They are a vital part of Sabbat since they basically created the central foundation of Sabbat. The main reason why Sabbat's rankings are from Bishops to Archbishops to Cardinals is because they are directly taken from Lasombra who basically dominates Spanish Catholicism.

Hell, Lasombra created the Spanish Inquisition. (And the general Inquisition but they are centered in Spain)

Anyway, let's start with Lasombra.

You could say they are the dark shadow of Ventrue. When Ventrue was ruling over cities, Lasombra was ruling the waves, being pirates and conquerors.

When Ventrue ruled over Rome, Lasombra turned to Religion, Christianity, and helped to make it the religion of the empire to build their power base.

And when Ventrue created Camarilla, Lasombra moved to create Sabbat. (As you can see, they are ever humble and understanding. I swear they are the most egoist clan, even more than Ventrue.) ((They also think they killed their Antediluvian, cute.))
They are Sabbat's beating heart, at the center of every level of organization.

And how are they these days? Well, the book tells it perfectly.

If you think normal vampire politics are deadly and complicated, you haven't seen what Lasombra do to each other. That's what you get for being social darwinists, power hungry murderers, thieves and selfish bastards.

Now, this doesn't mean they don't have any "good" factions inside them but the majority are bastards. Being a Faithfull among Lasombra requires balls of steel.

Oh yeah, they also specialize in Obtenebration, a power they draw from the Abyss which is most likely the Void Nephandi worships. Here is my favorite ritual from it. (Also my favorite ritual in the whole VTM)

They are pretty fun if you want to play Game of Thrones. Political campaigns and even some Dark Ages Pirate campaigns are recommended for Lasombra players. What can I say, they are Edgy Ventrue. The barbarians to Roma's civilization.
In fact, considering the Game of Thrones reference I made, I can confidently say that you can recreate Euron Greyjoy perfectly with Lasombra.
...
...
The book version, not the show. If you want the show one try a Malkavian. I will even throw Guardian Angel and Nine Lives merit for plot armor. ( I swear if I hear one more "Finger in the bum" I will shove my fist to their "bum")

Now into the Tzimisce. They are usually the most gentlemanly and eloquent vampires but beneath their manners and hospitality lies the most alien vampire clan. Hell, even an Archmage said this for the Tzimisce clan.

And what's their specialty? Viccisitude or Fleshcrafting or Biological Manipulation. Whatever you want to call it. It's also most likely [Tzimisce] himself, spreading through it.
This even caused the clan to split, Eldest Tzimisce usually never use Viccisitude because they know for a fact that they will be the first ones to be consumed by the Antediluvian. (Which they bragged about killing, like Lasombra. Cute.)

And what is Modern Night for Tzimisce? Well, it's their enlightened road to their alien Transcendence and while Lasombra might be the Heart of the Sabbat, Tzimisce is the soul of the Sabbat. They are the ones who made Sabbat culture, the packs and the bonds that keep them together, Vaulderie.

They are honestly incredibly fun to play. RP alone will be great if you enjoy playing polite but alien abomination. I once spared a lowlife neonate because it was tea time with biscuits. (Made out of 90% Blood and I had "Eat Food" merit) And even offered some to now confused, half-broken neonate. They are Intellectual, Spiritual The Thing Aliens. How can you say no to that?

So, which one would you play as?

Maragas · Oct 16, 2021

Crafts or Disparates! In my opinion, they are one of the most overlooked things in Mage the Ascension though it's not surprising

What are Crafts? Well, they are all sorts of smaller magical orders and sects that didn't join the Grand Convocation that formed The Traditions. Whatever it be because they refused outright, left during the negotiations or simply was too small or isolated to even get invited or even hear the news.

Now, there is one important thing to stress, they are not Dead Magic. They are in a strange place between The Traditions/The Technocracy and being a Dead Magic. They may have small numbers, a dying paradigm or culture or even be hunted down by others but they are still in use in World of Darkness. Dead Magic on the other hand you would need to do Umbral travels to even learn and maybe has one or two people alive in the world that actively uses it if you are lucky. Things like Aztec Blood Magic or Norse Rune Magic. (Norse Rune Magic got even harder to learn if you are using Revised and leading into Time of Judgement as Ragnarok is happening. I might get into it if I ever do Dead Magic posts)

The thing that makes Crafts Crafts is that they are incredibly proud loners that even when the Ascension War was incredibly heated didn't join one of the factions. They will live and die by their culture and paradigm rather than compromise with others like the Traditions if it means they can keep their way.

In M20, they somehow got together to make the Disparate Alliance against the Traditions and the Technocracy. How so many different and even hostile to each other Crafts came together to even agree upon it I have no idea. (And it definitely missed the fundamentals of Crafts in my opinion. By turning them into a mini Traditions)

The most important thing to know about them is that most of them are extremely low profile and most don't even know they exist. If they are revealed to the four factions they will most likely get destroyed. (Especially if you are using M20 where even the Traditions are actively gunning them down because Hollow Ones betrayed them or you are using Fallen Technocracy)
The only notable exception to this is Taftani because they are incredibly proud show-offs that don't even care about Paradox.

So, let's start examining several Crafts. Starting with the Templars;

The defenders of Christianity, from infidels, unholy supernatural creatures or Infidel Sorcerers of Ahl-i Batin. They were heavily involved with the Celestial Chorus and Cabal of Pure Thought (Predecessors of the New World Order) but they were originally their own thing. They later entirely joined the Cabal of Pure Thought when they themselves were declared heretics and Cabal offered them the deal. How was it for the Templars?

It was pretty great at the start, especially for the first few centuries. Incredible resources, finest weapons and armor made from the forerunners of modern Primium (especially the power armor variety). It was honestly a great alliance, it even changed the Templars for the better. Rather than Fire and Blade and they turned into Religious Humanism for converting people. Templars burning fewer heretics? What kind of heresy is this?

Then it all broke. With the Reformation, The Cabal of Pure Thought, which will later become the New World Order, had internal strife. No more they could argue for One Faith, One Church, One World because even their Faith become splintered. This is most likely the main reason why The Technocracy removed God or really, any religious or spiritual belief from their paradigm. The old "None other but God may stand in Our way in this Great Mission." turned into " None may stand in Our way in this Great Mission"

What happened to the Templars? When in the Cabal "No Religion" faction won the debates they were ordered to abandon their faith and even turn on it. They were given the Judas Edict and they refused it.
As a result, they got slaughtered in mass. Especially because Artifecers aka future Iteration X revealed Hyper Intelligence Mark IIIs in this siege. Only a handful survived.

Nowadays they are alone but keep their way. Especially because they still have some of their famous wealth, funding sympathetic universities, think tanks, and political candidates/causes. Weapons of old still had some use but in modern times modern weapons were required so they become expert manipulators and leaders.
As a side note, they thought about joining the Celestial Chorus but it had too much pagan and infidel for them.

While I never personally played them they look like they are pretty fun, a mix of Hunters and the New World Order.

So, what's next? Well, we talked about the Templars so might as well talk about the infidel Ahl-i Batin.

You could say they are a mix of Akashic Brotherhood and Celestial Chorus, not surprising since they are partly created by an Akashic faction. Their founders created the Ahl-i Batin when they accidentally become One with each other while dancing under the moonlit night. When they split apart, they understood the Unity.

They were the ones who gathered all the Traditions in the name of the Unity for who else but Seekers of Unity could do the nearly impossible task of gathering several completely different magical societies together?
But ironically, they left the Tradition after feeling abandoned by the Traditions to defend their homelands against the Technocracy forces.

They are also the creators of the Web of Faith, one of their few remaining achievements.

But what are their Beliefs?

Unity, The One. Unity of People, Energy, Physical and Spiritual, Thoughts and Ideas.

These are the founding principles of Batini. We are all of the same cloth so why are we so focused on our differences? A Batini Ascension is becoming one with the Tellurian, the One, God, Allah.
And to be fair, they are actually pretty close to the Truth. So props for that.

(Now, I want to explain something. The main book of Ahl-i Batin and Taftani, the Lost Paths is shit. It includes things like how Taftania are sexually abused sexual abusers that disdain civilization, and how Ahl-i Batin created Islam with Quran being their inspiration, which as a Muslim...well offensive might as well be an understatement. (They even got the wrong Muhammad rather than the Prophet Muhammad.) Not surprising since it's been published in 2003. Moving on)

They are also the only mages I know of that can't use a Sphere without getting corrupted by Nephandi. As in they can't even use an alternative version of it like Void Engineers.

So, now I gave examples both from the Tradition and The Order of Reason, let's examine a Craft that is incredibly small and has nearly no connections with either side.

Local mages of the Hawai'i, they were formerly royals and priest elites that governed the island for not only benefit of the people but also for the benefit of the land and spirits. And of course, to maintain their social positions as well.
They refused the invitation to the Traditions, thinking they have nothing to fear. Well...these days there are only a few handfuls of them left.

Their paradigm is very interesting. They don't see Spheres as Spheres and can't use Technological Foci. Their foci is usually a natural item or tool along with prayers to Deities and Nature.
They are all about bending and diverting the natural channels of the world but never create or destroy. For example, they can't create fire from nowhere.

I wish I could go on and on but I am once again at the image limit. (Man at this rate I will subscribe to Spacebattles for that 20 Image limit rather than 10)
I couldn't cover everything but the essentials but I hope this gave you a decent idea of what Crafts are supposed to be and how diverse and intriguing they could be. They might not be big players and hell, they might be near extinct but they are an interesting part of Mage the Ascension.

(Though good luck finding a Craft game. I never did.)

Maragas · Nov 15, 2021

You know what, I also want to celebrate the release of Mummy 2E with my own Mummy post. In fact, I will do a humorous post because I am in a humorous mood. Double In fact, I am also in a writing mood so this will be long too!

Let's learn about Mummy History!

Our tale beings in a far far away land called...Egypt. But this ain't your Modern Egypt nor Medieval Egypt or even Ancient Egypt.

It's Ancient Ancient Egypt, also known as Khem. So ancient that everywhere you look there was a God relaxing, some Antediluvians or even Second Generation chilling and Mages being Mages.
In this far away ancient ancient land, there was a Magical Kingdom! Ruled by Great King Osiris after Ra decided he will pull an Ozai aka becoming a God and thus not needing something as insignificant as a kingdom and thus left it to Osiris.
But there was a darkness watching from the side, Set who is Osiris' younger brother. He coveted the throne from Osiris and his sister-queen Isis.
...maybe it was because he also thought incest was yucky but probably not seeing as he is also fucking his sister too. Anyway, I digress. Seeing that Set was brooding in the corner and murmuring something about wanting the throne. Osiris banished Set into the desert, dooming our brave ~~hero~~ villain to a cruel and certain death because have you seen how harsh a desert is?

Now free to bang his sister-queen in peace, Osiris unknowingly set up his own death...multiple times...and Mummyhood...and Godhood.

After enjoying the benefits of not having a goth like Set in his court, an even bigger goth arrived at his court. Someone he should have learned not to trust seeing as his name was Typhon and as pale and cold as marble. Probably dressed in all black too. Not to mention possibly a Second Generation Vampire.
But this time, Osiris was intrigued by this stranger and thus he allowed this stranger to visit him privately every night, making Isis jealous. After four months of visiting, Osiris decided to take the plunge. He wanted to become a goth like Typhon. Because Typhon convinced him that there were dire threats and dangers lurking in the shadows and the only way to understand and defeat them was to become one with the darkness!

The next day he regretted it and become a loner. Not wanting anyone, especially Ra to see him because how else he could explain to his dad that he went behind his back and used his credit card for the hot topic clothes and piercings (Also not to burn but eh)
This was a lesson to not let strangers, especially those who only visit at night and talk about the power of darkness, convince you to change your whole lifestyle.

Then a Wizard arrives! Just like Gandalf said, a Wizard arrives precisely when he means to and this time Thoth came to rescue!

Thoth, the Master Wizard, The Bird Face, Psychopomp, Hermes, and possibly the most competent guy in the entire World of Darkness seeing that Egypt was about to get fucked arrived just in time to do some damage control.
Seeing Osiris silently brooding in the corner in the shadows and shaking his head in disappointment, he turned to the worried sister-queen Isis and asked her if she wanted to learn some real, powerful magic.

Just like any rational person would do in this situation, Isis agreed because who wouldn't? Oh and Nephthys was also there. (Who is Set's wife by the way. Why didn't she go along with Set I have no idea. It would have been a nice contrast against Osiris-Isis power couple)
After rolling the big magic wheel on which type of magic to invent and teach, it settled on Nomenclature and thus Thoth taught them the true names of all things and how to understand/use them. Not to mention he was giving freebies on other magics so he taught some of them as well.

After months of teaching while bashing his head and saying "It's LeviOsa, Not LevioSA!" he gave them their Bachelor's Degree in Nomenclature along with some honorary awards for some other types of magic before leaving while murmuring about some "Order" or something
Possibly because Osiris was glaring at him from the shadows seeing as spending lots of time with someone else's wife is pretty suspicious.

After seeing Thoth leave, Osiris sighs in relief and relaxes. Seeing their king is in the mood, his servants brings him a golden ~~coffin~~ casket with a "Lay in me! Totally not a trap!" sign on it.
Just like any rational being would do when presented with a ~~coffin~~ casket, Osiris lays in it. Unsurprisingly, it's a TRAP! Unfortunately Thoth wasn't there to slap Osiris silly.

Servants close the casket and before Osiris could escape Set dramatically steps out of the shadows because he is a tryhard at being cool and seals the casket shut with his goth powers. He also become a high goth with even more expensive clothes than Osiris while in exile. Not to mention he joined a cool ass gang named "Wyrm Rules! Apophis Branch"

He then hurls the coffin to the Nile while cackling "You merely adopted the dark; I was born in it, molded by it!" with dramatic lighting in the background.

Thus The Throne of Egypt was his.

Set: 1 - Osiris: 0

Seeing this Isis and her merry band of adventurers go on an epic adventure to bring separate factions together to face the great darkness that is ~~Sauron~~ Set in the background. Sobek and his Werelizards, Bubasti the Werecats, Silent Striders the Werewolfs primarily.

After getting their help, she uses her magic to find Osiris and his gaudy prison in the river. After digging around in the mud for a few hours she finally finds it.
Unfortunately, another dramatic reveal happens, Set steps out from...the mud I suppose, and cackles in glee while ripping Osiris to 14 different pieces and yeeting them away in front of Isis and her son Horus. (He personally made sure to yeet Osiris's dick into the mouth of a fish by the way, this will be relevant later.)

Osiris's blood and most likely dark makeup seep into the Nile that day. Antediluvian' death forever staining Egypt and tying it to the Land of the Dead.

Set: 2- Osiris: 0

Traumatizing the wife and son pair, Set imprisons them and starts torturing them nightly to get his kicks (Oh and he fucks up Sobek and his Werelizards and even turning Sobek into an Abomination but that's a different book)
After particularly fucking up Horus while plucking his eye he goes to have his beauty sleep. Seeing the big bad is sleeping, the allies of Isis and Horus comes to save them. Which is good because Horus is barely alive and only thanks to Isis and her magical powers.

Crushed by Set both mentally and physically, they are crashing in the home of Mestha, a humble and probably the bravest farmer in the world. Dejected they eat some cold pizza while trying to come up with a plan to deal with the big bully Set. They basically need a miracle to happen.

And a miracle happens as the mega chad Thoth senses their overwhelming defeat from across the world and gets frustrated enough to give them even more help through a dream sequence. This time in the form known as the proto Spell of Live.
In order to bring back Osiris to life, they need to get all the pieces of ~~Exodia~~ Osiris together. After assembling the jigsaw puzzle that is Osiris, they realize just like always 1 piece is missing. His phallus. Though it is solved when Isis places a replacement...object with a blush.

Finally Osiris rises! But he is not the same as before.

After dying he met a chill guy named Anubis and shared a beer with him. Who in turn invited other ancient spirits and gods to their table to get their ass drunk. Listening to their drunk wisdom (and probably some background nudging from dearest daddy Ra) he becomes a normal person again..
Combined with the proto Spell of Life, he comes back to life fully. Becoming the first Mummy.

After coming back to life, Osiris realizes the potential of this cheat bestowed by Thoth and develops the Spell of Life V1. May have bugs like not having fertility. Possibly intentional because Osiris wants to feel good by having every mummy dickless like him.
Because he is brave to a fault, the humble farmer Mestha volunteered to be the second official Mummy after Osiris. It worked.
Now it was time to use it on Horus because he was in huge amounts of pain and was only kept from dying thanks to Isis's magic.

Unfortunately, while it worked Horus was still in a coma. Because Set also stole a portion of his soul along with his eye. Maybe for collection purposes, maybe to eat it or maybe just to fuck with him. Who knows.
Now at this moment Set made his move. He ain't going to let the Heroes power up even more.

Laughing maniacally Set led his army of darkness to the resting place of Osiris and his Osirian League. It was one-sided.

In order, Set first slaughtered his sister-wife Nephthys by tearing out her heart with his bare hands and crushing it as her magic was not enough to even slow him down. Then he clashed with Osiris which ended up with Osiris biting the dust by turning to dust. (As in Set literally used a force similar to the heart of the sun or ground zero of a Nuclear Explosion to destroy Osiris' body permanently) Then he laughed at the magic of Isis while soaking through all of her magical abilities and basically one-shotted her. (While this was happening he also slaughtered his way through Bubasti Werecats and Silent Strider Werewolfs and cursed them.)

Set: 5 - Osiris: 0

Just before Set could deliver the killing blow to Isis and end the very last threat to his rule, Horus wakes up from the coma and attacks. Basically castrates Set with a sneak attack. While Set is down, clutching his groin. Horus destroys his eye which was in the possession of Set to release that part of his soul. Apparently, Set ripped Horus' eye to collect it, and apparently, he takes it along with everywhere he goes? Even a battle like this? I don't want to judge but that's weird Set.

Set: 5 - Osiris: 0 - Horus: 0.5? (Only because he castrated his opponent. Though Set was already sterile since he was a vampire and could continue to create children with his embrace)

Anyway, seeing as Set was still alive and already healing and another sneak attack is unlikely to succeed, they bravely advance away from Set. To lay the foundations of Set's defeat with Osirian Leauge. Set on the other than slew his followers that were in the battle because he was a sore loser and couldn't let anyone spread the tales of his defeat. (Though why would he be considered to be defeated when he only got wounded by a sneak attack and continued to rule Egypt for a long ass time while destroying 80-90% of the opposition is my question)
And that's how Mummies and Osirian Leauge were first created! (And how Sobek turned into an abomination along with how Bubasti and Silent Striders were cursed by Set)

I hope you liked this humorous overview of the beginning of Mummy history. Because I certainly had fun writing this.

Maragas · Nov 15, 2021

It's been a while since I gave Werewolfs some love so let's continue talking about Fera.
...now thinking about it, that's kinda ironic.

Anyway, last time we ended with Bastet aka Werecats (and Werelions, Jaguars, Panthers but you get the gist). Might as well continue with Corax, the Wereravens!

They are the scouts, spies and of course, the newspaper boy of Gaia. Just like how Werewolfs were created to be the hunters and warriors, the Wereravens were born to wander the earth and uncover the secrets of it. And talk about it...a lot. As in they probably share your dirty secret about how you ate 40 cakes in one sitting with everyone in under an hour.
They are mostly loners, where every Raven is for themselves but once a while they gather in Parlements, a meeting of a large amount of Wereravens. For what? To tell each other their stories, gossip and mostly brag about who got the best tale and secret. The Parlements of Ravens are where a Corax gets their Renown, Glory and Wisdom awarded..or stripped away. Especially the foolish ones.
Funny enough, they are least likely Weres to change into their Crinos warform unless it's life and death. Because talking is hard, they feel like they look awkward and they need to flap their wings to walk upright if they don't want to fly. Though mostly because they can't talk well.

Now being Wereravens, they are different from Werewolfs. That's obvious. But they have some hilarious traits.

First, they are even more athletic than Werewolves, having a reduced difficulty in Athletics rolls. This comes with the drawback that they are probably the most vulnerable Werecreatures to Bashing damage.

Second, after creating them Gaia handed the rest of the work to Helios rather than Luna, and thus they are vulnerable to Gold rather than Silver.

Third, a Wereraven can get info from a dead being by eating their eye. It's honestly a bit disturbing so don't let Werewolves see it. They are already gunning for your bird meat and it will just add to the fire.

Fourth, when I said you talk a lot, I meant it. Wereravens are infamous for their inability to shut their beak, especially at the wrong moment. I am willing to bet that half the reason why Werewolfs hunted them down is because of all the embarrassing, probably Glory, Wisdom and Honour lowering, secrets they randomly blurted out. (The example they gave is hilarious too, a kinfolk having a secret relationship with your mate would bring great, and I mean great shame to that Werewolf. )
Last but not least, their biggest weakness. They love shiny things. A lot. As in you can most likely pursue whatever topic you want from a Wereraven with some shiny stuff. Doesn't even need to be silver. You see a shiny thing, you need that shiny thing. It could be a coin, silver, diamonds, aluminum cans, bronze. If you fail the willpower roll, you will single-mindedly focus on it.

Now, they have different groups among them, but my favorite is the Sun Lost. They are probably the most daring explorers in WTA. They are the guys who dare to explore Deep Umbra aka Deep Universe. Teeming with Alien Races, eldritch creatures, space monsters, Nephandi and their nephandic fortress worlds and much more.
The Sun Lost are rarely seen on Earth and when they return they usually bring very important news.

Speaking of rare, let's talk about Werebears.

When Gaia created Werebears, she created them as the guides, parents and the sages of the Fera. Gurahl knew about the balance and the cycle of life and death innately and were granted one of the most potent gifts by Gaia. The ability to bring the dead to life. Though their other gifts are nothing to scoff at, like calming the rage of a Werecreature, easing the negative emotions, healing the nature you name it.
At first, everything was perfect. The Fera worked together in harmony for Gaia just like Gaia intended. Then the Garou grew jealous and demanded that Gurahl give their Gifts and Rituals, especially the secret of Rebirth, to them. Gurahl being wise enough to realize that Werewolfs only wanted it to bring back every dead warrior to continue to fight and basically ignore the cycle of life and death, declined.

The result? Well...Werewolfs destroyed entire tribes of Gurahl and torturing anyone they captured alive for their secrets. They succeed in killing most Gurahl but they never got the Gift of Rebirth. Not one Gurahl gave it to them even under the threat of torture and death.
These days their numbers are incredibly low and they are barely hanging there but they are still present in WoD.

They are made to be the guides and parents of the Fera but that doesn't mean they don't have incredible fighting skills. They are even better than Garou one on one. They are slow to anger and Rage but when they do Rage, they RAGE! They are especially hard to put down. (I think they are the only humanoid that can have more than 15 Health Levels. Using Rage of course)
Be careful of Mama Bears.

Other than this, they have the same traits as Werewolfs. Oh, and they start with Willpower 6.

As a side note, they have one of the best names for a gathering. Powwows, held during summer to gather different tribes of Gurahl together and share stories, art and information. It's a vital event for the cubs of Gurahl who needs to learn about the world.

(Also, some werewolves have a really low opinion of them, especially the Red Talons. Let me quote one for example; "The bears died, but they did not really, and they hid, and now they seek to lecture us? Sanctimonious creatures who do not deserve our support.")

Lastly, at least for this post, let's see the Kitsunes.

The youngest children of Gaia aka The First Goddess and perhaps because of that, the most rebellious one. In fact, their tale begins with how they tried everything and every trick to get their freedom from Gaia. They didn't want to serve Gaia nor do her bidding, nearly getting smited by angry Gaia before Luna aka the Silver Lady interfered on their behalf.
But in return for serving Gaia with the best of their ability, Gaia promised that she would make them best at something, make sure that Kitsune would survive through the Sixth Age aka the Modern Times and lastly, after the Sixth Age, they would have their freedom.

As anyone who knows about Werewolf: The Apocalypse probably guessed, Gaia basically hoodwinked them. Kitsune are incredibly confident that they will survive with Gaia's promise and even looking forward to its ending. They are mostly seen in Asia and majorly involved with the Beast Courts rather than all the European/American shenanigans.

Anyway, they are masters of manipulation and incredibly skilled in matters of Intrigue. Wereravens, Wererats and Werecats might be the best spies but Werefoxes are the best spymasters.

Speaking of Traits, they are incredibly different from other Weres.

The first major difference; Kitsunes don't cause Delirium. Why? Because they are the youngest and thus didn't have any part in controlling humanity nor in culling humans. Thus we as Humans don't have Kitsune PTSD.

The second major difference; Kitsunes are like Hunters. They don't have regeneration. So they treat non-bashing damage as Lethal. There is no Agg damage for them. Only Bashing and Lethal. But unlike Hunters they have entire communities and Gifts dedicated to healing, they have +1 Free Dexterity at character creation and Kitsunes can't botch Athletics rolls to dodge! AND they can soak all types of damage! So they are not pity-inducing like Hunters.

The third major difference; Kitsunes pretty much never die of old age. Even the least powerful one can live up to 200. And each time they rank up they double their lifespan as they get additional tails. Just a Rank 3 Kitsune with 3 Tails, if we say their base lifespan was 100 years, can live up to 800 Years.

That's it for this post. I think this will be a 4 Part series so don't worry Werewolf fans, there are more to come. Next will be Mokole aka the Werelizards!
So, which one is your favorite? Which one would you play as? Which one would you rather make a mortal enemy out of?

Maragas · Jan 10, 2022

It's time to revisit Nephandi basics. Mostly because I feel like I did a bad job with the Nephandi info post I made in the past. So, time for a redux!

Nephandi, they are one of the most repulsive, pure evil beings in the World of Darkness. Only old Earthbound rivals their evil. Even Lasombra Abyss Mystics who basically worship the same thing with Nephandi can change their ways.
But not Nephandi, becoming a Nephandi will permanently change you on a fundamental level. It's crossing the Horizon of a Black Hole, it's getting sucked into a whirlpool, a spiral. There are only two choices, either you die and face Eternal Damnation or achieve the final Descent through the inverse Tree of Knowledge. (Well, with a caveat)

So, let's start our descent into Nephandic knowledge. Or at least, what they believe in even if they are not truths.

The start of our descent is the Caul. A dark passageway straight to the Abyss which will transform you into a Nephandi through agony and forbidden knowledge. It is a transformation with no take-backs, your Avatar will be shredded, transformed and infused by Qlippothic energies, turned inside out. It's now not a divine seed from the Creator but a living vessel of the Void. After timeless eternities you will be spat out of Caul, still in agony but now enlightened from a cosmic unholy pleasure and sublime wisdom.

For some Nephandi, these are Forbidden Fruits of Hell, for some these are Extraterrestrial portals and for some, they are Anti-Nodes, living holes in the fabric of Creation. While they can be created with most forbidden rituals of titanic scale, most grow from nothing and Nephandi build their lairs, Labyrinths and Havens around them.

The most important thing to remember, no unwilling person can become a Nephandi. For an initiate, this is the final chance they have for saving themselves. If you are unwilling, when you enter the Caul into the Abyss it can not transform you. You will be tortured and then slowly shredded into cosmic waste but you will not be a Nephandi. Your Avatar will even survive and reincarnate after escaping the Abyss.

Lastly, the first time you descent through a Caul you will encounter Daath, the Abyssal Door to Knowledge where Enlightenment and Knowledge die. It's the Flaws in the Creation, in the Tree of Life, from the fall from Eden. The Oblivions gaping maw. When a willing participant enters a Caul, they go through it and become a Nephandi by getting cut from the Highest Principles of Divine Creation.

There is no comeback from this. You are a Nephandi. You are metaphysically and physically degraded. If you die and somehow no one destroys your Avatar and somehow escape Eternal Damnation, when it reincarnates it will still be a Nephandi, now trapped in an innocent mind to corrupt. If you have children they will also carry your degradation so even if for some reason you are not perverting them, they will be naturally (or perhaps unnaturally) inclined to become a Nephandi.

But there is a caveat;

Bordering impossible in fact. Not even Archmages or Oracles can do it.
But a God can. Being rulers of their domain in the Creation gives them unique abilities none other has. They can save someone who entered the descending spiral that is the Tree of Knowledge. But the task to prove yourself that you are deserving of it would put even Twelve Labors of Hercules to shame. He only killed his family in a fit of rage after all, you are literally an Anti-Christ who has done unspeakable things, who willing become that way.

After all of this, the living vessel of the Void Nephandi has two paths towards the Absolute, the Primordial Void. With the hate they hold for Humanity, for the Light and the Creation, they either pursue Personal Descent, the Road to Leviathan, The Path of the Primordial Beast or the Global Descent, Extinction of Reality, Humanity and of the Light. This does not mean someone who pursues Personal Descent doesn't pursue a Global Descent but rather what's your priority. If only because it's fun forsaking your humanity or ruining the world.

The jagged and selfish road to Leviathan is a cruel one, a parasitic one and ultimately shedding of the human skin for the primordial godhood. There is no place for sympathy, pity or empathy. Destroy your weaknesses, feed on the suffering of the world while forsaking virtues for it is your right and your descent into godhood.
The Global Descent is what all Nephandi is known for, The Ruination of the Creation. Whatever it be letting the Void in, turning it into a living Hell, destroying the Universe. ALL Nephandi wishes this, even the ones fully devoted to the Road of the Leviathan will gladly do it, if only because it's their right as an Initiate of the Leviathan and a glorious achievement.

Whatever you are pursuing, there is a big chance that you were turned into a Nephandi by the big three factions of Nephandi. There are others of course but The Unholy Trinity, The Old Three-Headed Dragon are the leading factions of Nephandi.

The Infernalist; The most traditional Nephandi faction. They are what you think when you think of Nephandi. Their Black Arts second to none, their mastery of Qlippoth, Ancient Rituals, Goetia and Demonology is mindboggling and their collections and Litanies to Darkness is unmatched. Unfortunately (or fortunately for us), they lost most of their ancient influence, numbers and power. They are simply not enticing enough these days, their traditions turned into a mockery in the eyes of the masses. But that doesn't mean they are gone, oh no, they are the most patient, organized and methodical Nephandi. Which is a feat when you consider what Nephandi are. Combined with their ancient power, they are still one of the heads of the dragon. Hell, they have a named Arch Nephandus unlike the other two.

The K'llashaa; the mad prophets among the Nephandi. They are an unique blend of Nephandi and Marauders. And the most fucked up in the head which is saying something. Unlike Marauders who can't realize what is true or not, K'llashaa simply sees the world as insane and themselves as sane. Why wouldn't you sacrifice your children and eat each other at the vastness of the cosmos? Thankfully one of the good things the Inquisition did in the old days was hunting these fucks. Still, they are the prophets of the Things Man Was Not Meant to Know. They and Infernalists are polar opposites and usually not very friendly with each other. Infernalists usually at least have a pretense of civility and a dark charisma, the Mad Prophets on the other hand animalistic, primordial and well...mad.

The Malfeans: The Wyrm Worshippers who see it as the manifestation of the Void. They are among the most passionate among the Nephandi. While Infernalists want to bring their Lords to the creation and rule under them as their servants, they usually want to enjoy the benefits first and later bring them and K'llashaa are always watching over for unknowable beings outside of creation and being mad, the Malfeans are passionate about bringing the Global Descent, the extinction of Reality. Yes, they like having a lot of fun while doing it but all that matters is the End. Personal Descent is a distraction and a waste of time compared to the World's End. Not to mention the beings they follow, the Urges, the Banes, the Wyrm, is in the Creation and alongside them already. And considering Pentex, they replaced the Infernalists place in modern times. (They also have the Nephandi I hate most in the book.* A Master of Time)

What lies at the end of the road for Nephandi? What's the final Descent?
Well, no one knows. No Nephandi accomplished Descension. But what is possible?

At the end of the Road of the Leviathan for Personal Descent you either consume the Leviathan and become the Leviathan, achieving Self-Divinity and birth a new universe where you are the Demiurge, the Creator and the Tormentor of it or become one with the Absolute, the Void.
Global Descent is ruining the creation, simple enough I suppose. It ranges from destroying it to turning it into a Hell.

The only being in WoD who achieved one of them, both even, is the Unnamed in Time of Judgement which isn't a thing in the M20.

And that's it. I wanted to go over the Nephandi basics because I felt like I didn't manage to show you guys what Nephandi truly are. I will be keeping the old Nephandi post threadmarked but this is, in my opinion, better at clarifying what a horrific fucks Nephandi are.
Normally I would ask what kind of Nephandi would you play but even the book itself doesn't recommend playing as Nephandi.

*

Maragas · Jan 10, 2022

I decided to make an addendum post because I didn't have the image space remaining to fully get into it in the main post.

Here is a Nephandi's descent into the Abyss and how it affects them.

While a Nephandi makes their way into the Abyss and beyond for the Nephandic Path, they always start from Qlipha of Lilith, the highest point of the Tree of Knowledge, and down to the Thaumiel, the Annihilation.
Tree of Knowledge grows downwards compared to the Tree of Life, which grows upwards to God/Divinity/The One from Earth.
In mechanical terms, every Qlipha a Nephandi manages to go through and overcome is equal to their Arete. Someone who managed to reach The Annihilation and overcome it can Descend fully through the Abyss. Which is their Ascension equivalent.

Qlipha of Lilith, the moonlit garden of Lilith that is governed by Naamah, Fallen Angel of Carnal Pleasures — daughter of Cain and Lilith (Naamah is also sister and lover of Lilith...yeah), and Gamaliel, governed by Lilith who literally has orgies in the center of the realm, provides the foundation of Nephandic Path and temperament, almost every Nephandi has been through them. They shatter the inhibitions of Nephandi while magnifying all the sensations they experience. Including their desire and cravings. Everything from Greed to Lust to Pride to Need is amplified and runs amock.

Further down the tree are the realms of Samael, representing doubt, decay and governed by Samael, "the Poison of God", and A'arab Zaraq, representing war and the death that comes with it. They influence a Nephandi's personality even deeply. They become more corruptive, advocative, and full of cynicism, sarcasm, and a need to debate, to prove themselves. Mostly because these realms also boost Nephandi's internal doubts and insecurities. Nearly all Nephandi who experience them have self-confidence issues. Not to mention high levels of paranoia, the need to be secretive while seeking forbidden secrets with a passion. This also causes Nephandi to become aware of their mortality and their fear of it. Which turns into an obsession with Death. Whatever it be causing it or escaping it.

Thagirion, ruled by Sorath, the Sun Demon and Belphegor, the Goetic Lord of the Dead, takes the need to be secretive and obsessive to the next levels. Even the most extroverted Nephandi turn into an obsessive loner and their temperament turn from criticizing others to aggressively focusing on their own weaknesses. This eventually causes them to crack and they become desperate with the need to connect with others until they once again retreat into solitude.
On the other hand, progressing into Golchab, the Dominion of Asmodeus, reverses this. No longer are they solitary, obsessive loners but rather the polar opposite. The Nephandi who goes through it successfully explode into their passions even if it might cause their cover to be blown. Their weaknesses burnt away, their passions ignited by Golchab, they are better than ever. If they survive it of course.

Gha'ag Sehblah, ruled by Ishtar, turns the Nephandic Passions into iron confidence. They have no need to prove anything and their fiery passions cool into a hard edge. No longer do they have a need for lovers, comrades, children or even a mission and thus can discard them at will. This includes their focus and all but the most vital instruments they use to cast their magic. Everything is discardable, everything is temporary and only slows him down while they prepare for the Abyss so he forsakes them. At this point Nephandi, most likely being an Archmage, retreats from Earth into Horizon or Deep Umbra/Universe.

Now that they discarded everything, Satariel, The Throne of the Spider Goddess ruled by...aspects of Gods? Lucifage brother of Lucifer? Who knows? The realm itself is elusive and secret maybe the Weaver rules it.
It increases the Nephandi's need for secrecy into the extremes. They never reveal anything unless it is a part of their plan. They become unnaturally calm and still and when they act, they act with finality and lethality.

Ghagiel, the pinnacle of Aggression ruled by Beelzebub, is the final realm before Thaumiel, the final step towards godhood. It inspires dominance within the Nephandi. They start to behave like Gods, disdaining everything and wanting to be the first in everything, toppling and destroying accomplishments of other people, even other Nephandi. They become consumed with the urge to defile, to destroy. Not to mention considering everybody weak.

Fun fact, the Unnamed from MTAs: Time of Judgement was most likely at this level. Especially if you consider he stopped other Nephandi from winning because he didn't want to be upstaged.

Thaumiel, the Final Descent, the Pinnacle of the Tree of Knowledge, the Throne of Lucifer. "To reach it is to triumph over every internal and external obstacle, to grind each taboo to dust, to prove one's self superior to mere humanity."
This is the final realm. If you reached it and faced the demonic hordes and survived you are now one of the Dark Oracles and if you somehow seize the Throne, you have a chance to finish the Road of the Leviathan by consuming the Leviathan. Ruling over your own universe. Or becoming one with the Abyss, the Void.

And that's it. While I don't think it's going to be useful to anyone as I never even heard of someone playing a Nephandic campaign, it's nonetheless useful. At least it was for me while planing a campaign this week.
(Once again, if you are confused by this. Refer to my "there are multiple entities with the same name" explanation. For example, this Lucifer isn't the actual Lucifer from DTF unless you make him to be. Nor is it Celestine Lucifer/Satan from Umbral Realms)

Maragas · Jan 10, 2022

So, I was doing a Wraith post but well...I wasn't in the mood for it so I shelved it. Instead, let's look at one of the Werewolf apocalypses, particularly The Last Battleground because it's simple but fun.
I will be skipping some major bits like Tribes, some Realms and tactics because if you ever play it, not everything would be known to you. (Plus my image limit is limited)

It all starts simple, the Wyrm wants to kill Gaia for once and all and this time he ain't going to leave it to his minions. No, this time he will be personally burst into Gaia's realm and kill her. So he decides to start the Apocalypse.

To do this he needs to manifest in Umbra but for that to happen The Triatic Wyrm needs to manifest together and fuse. All three beasts, The Beast of War, The Eater of Souls and The Defiler finally work together to accomplish this.
And Garou has no idea because they are, funny enough, too focused on the material world. Pentex is just a means on the end, weakening of Gaia and all the nature spirits.

So let's start this Apocalypse, first, we need Sacrifices! To manifest each head of the Wyrm, incredible sacrifices must be made.

Ever wondered why Ravnos Antediluvian Zapathasure wake up? (Beyond the actual answer I mean) After all many vampires dying usually don't wake up the Antediluvians but Ravnos still woke up. In this scenario, a possible answer is given, Eater of Souls disturbed him awake as Ravnos himself was the perfect representation of Eater of Souls and its death would bring forth the Eater of Souls.
With the death of Ravnos, the first head of the Wyrm manifested as the Red Star.

Following the manifestation of Eater of Souls, the Beast of War starts his part. His chosen Zhyzhak gets a prophecy from him and starts working on it. By that I mean she takes her pack, goes to the nearest town and starts slaughtering the entire town with no regard for subtlety.
This was to get the attention of the last Gaian King, Silver Fang Albrecht who immediately gathered three battle-hardened veteran packs and went to face her to end her for once and all.

In the end, the prophecy was fulfilled, which was the Last Gaian King dying at the hands of the chosen of the Beast of War but the King took Zhyzhak with him, drowning her in the blood of her own victims.

With the death of Zhyzhak, the second sacrifice was complete. Beast of War manifested alongside Eater of Souls.

Lastly, the Defiler needed to manifest for the Wyrm to be complete. So what better sacrifice is there for it than the Perfect Metis? Supposedly savior or destroyer of the Garou?
It was captured and tortured over three weeks with every torture and horror Black Spiral Dancers knew and in the end, the only thing left was a twisted and agonized, bloodied, stained and defiled corpse. The Perfect Sacrifice for the Defiler.

With a roar, The Triatic Wyrm fuses together and the universe notices. Planets shake in fear as their defenses are swept away but Rorg, the Incarna of the Asteroid Belt, the Hunter gathers his courage and faces him.
With a single breath the Wyrm burns Rorg's face, along with the Realm of the Asteroids as Rorg's arrows fail to penetrate the hide of the Wyrm and bounce off it. (Which are meteors by the way, the same as the meteor that devastated Earth in "Ragnarok" ToJ scenario)
After that, the Wyrm devastates Rorg, so much that parts of him fall down to Earth from his bloodied body.

Finished with Rorg, the Wyrm gleefully enters the Realm of Eshtarra, an Avatar of Gaia and tortures her.

Now, as a side note, let's go over several significant side events.

Remember how Set cursed the Silent Striders and destroyed all of their Ancestors? How tens of thousands if not hundreds of thousands of years of history went puff?
Well, the Wyrm basically genocided the Garou's ancestors. The Greatest Heroes of Garou fell one by one until all that was left were ruins, dust and corpses. They were systematically abused, tortured, debased, defiled and humiliated.

Yeah.

Well with life is dying on a mass scale not even Nightmares are able to find strength. Fantasy and Dreams require life and as dreams fade away, so do Fae. Even the strongest trolls lose their strength, the siren's songs are just very pretty songs and slowly nothing but mundane objects remain in Arcadia.

Now, you might be asking "What the hell Gaia is doing to counteract this?" Well...

Pangaea is a pure expression of Gaia and it's a significant part of Her. In fact, the defender of the realm, the Elder Serpent has her mind.
She is currently not available for help because apparently the Wyrm is channeling Aizen and is 100 steps ahead of everybody and poisoned her soul, heart and mind. Right now she is slowly losing her mind and if the Elder Serpent dies, she will be comatose forever.

But what about Gaia Herself? Where is she? At this rate, we will have to go and look for other Celestines to beg for help.

...yep, we should have gone with Helios or maybe Gods, Zeus has a great track record with many-headed beasts of apocalypse. Or Shiva, he is an even better option than Helios or Zeus.

Anyway, Summer Realm is the most secret and secure realm of Gaia and within it, Gaia sleeps. It should have been impossible for anyone, let alone the Wyrm to find it but well, the Abyss is nothing if persistent with the attempts to exterminate life, creation and light and so it's hunters, Midnight Shadows, are capable of finding anything in existence. Which includes the Summer Realm and Gaia. Now that's some cooperation between Bad Guys.

Gaia herself is too wounded and weak to help the players against the Wyrm, even if the player can even save her from the dozens of Midnight Shadows. Which is incredibly funny if you consider that her Avatar Pangaea* is strong enough to nearly match the Wyrm if you manage to cure her.

So, what do you do as the players? What does Fera do in this scenario?
Gather allies, fix the problems you could fix and in the end, use everything you complied together in the Last Battlefield. If it isn't enough you die, the world dies and the Wyrm wins. If it is enough, you will still most likely die and Gaia will be in shambles but at least will survive. Or it might be both and everybody dies, the Wyrm and Gaia.
But in the end, it will be a fricking awesome battle to top all other battles as you rage across for one last time. I especially like this speech.

And that is a general overview of The Last Battleground of WTA Time of Judgement. It was a fun ride. It was particularly laugh-worthy how the Wyrm was hilariously ahead of everybody.

*
Yes, I know everything is optional but I at least expect coherency inside the scenario itself, especially when even MTA and VTM managed to do it. Not to mention if we don't take these as answers to what happened to those realms, then what happened to those realms?

Maragas · Jan 27, 2022

Ah Kuei-jin. Despite the name of their book, "Kindred of the East", they are not really Cain's Vampires. They are undead creatures, yes. They share similarities, yes. But those are only surface-level similarities these two beings have.
So let's delve into their book, shall we? It's a very interesting book to be honest. It's also one of the first places where the Wheel of Ages* is mentioned if I remember correctly but I might be wrong.

I will be mainly going over What is a Kuei-Jin in this. There are many, many things I will not get into in this post as the book is full of interesting things. And also it can be confusing at first and is best to make a separate posts for each subject.

Kuei-jin, the common name of Chinese and Japanese vampire communities. Also known as "Ten Thousand Demons" or "Demon People"
They are, by their nature, close to the Wraiths and Wraith Risen. Corpses possessed by dead mortals. They sustain themselves with "Chi" and while blood, and vitae, is a common way of gaining Chi, they can use flesh, blood, breathe and many other things to acquire Chi.
In fact, Kuei-jin can be said to be a mix of Wraiths, Mummies, Vampires and incredible enough, Nephandi.

Why does Kuei-jin exist though?

Because they were either horrible people while alive and awakened their P'o, the dark and animalistic part of their soul, or died so messily and terrifyingly that their P'o awakens in desperation. Either way, they all had great Willpower, similar to Wraiths.
Normally, souls like this immediately end up as Spectre or become a source of Bane or even manifest as Umbral Demon. But their fate isn't that. Maybe because Gods are kind and give the curse of becoming a Kuei-jin to save the person or maybe it's just how Karma works but their journey just starts.

The soul, weighted by the bestial urges, basically sinks into the deepest parts of the world. There are many names for it. Some think it's the Thousand Hells, some think it's the Abyss and some think it's the Labyrinth. (My bet is on the Abyss) Whatever it is, the soul goes through endless tortures, unlucky souls get devoured or enslaved by demons while others get destroyed outright. For these souls, this is the end and only the Gods know if there is any reprieve from it.

But the future Kuei-jin is different. His soul splits into two. The Hun and the P'o separate. The Hun is the rational, higher, part of the soul while P'o is the lower bestial part. Hun separates from P'o before they enter Yomi and gets stuck in Shadowlands in their former body. Later, P'o either escapes the Yomi World or is released by it and tracks the Hun to their former body. After this, they either get stuck in the body until they fade or get destroyed by other spirits or they become Kuei-jin by reuniting in the body.

The Hun and The P'o somewhat combine in the body. P'o slashes open the Gauntlet, the Shroud for the duo to enter the body. the Hun then revitalizes the body and reconstructs it if needed. The results are, however...are ugly.

The tortured soul wakes up in their undead body and they are officially a Kuei-jin. But starved for life, mindless from their torture in Yami and unable to breathe, they are called Chih-mei. They are little better than animals that hunt humans for their Chi, Many starve to death, get put down by mortals or are enslaved by other Kuei-jin as attack dogs. The rare few are taken by Kuei-jin to test their Hun, to determine if they can become civilized or should they be put down or enslaved.

Kuei-jin that start their training to be a proper Kuei-jin is called "Hin"
They have no right, they are not a person. They can and will be killed if any proper Kuei-jin feels like it. Normally this would last for 24 whole years but in the 5th Age time is running short and 5 years are the norm these days. Instructors are harsh and have little tolerance for mistakes.
At the end of their training, they go through the Fire and Water Test. Where they must demonstrate their mastery of the supernatural and mundane worlds. Each Kuei-jin should demonstrate their best skills and show that they can meet the minimum requirements of the ancestors in front of the mixed mortal and supernatural court. If not, they will not be seen again.

So what now?

Live your life, accomplish your Dharma and achieve enlightenment, Golconda. This will be a long road and might not even be possible in the Fifth Age as the Apocalypse may happen in a single lifetime but it is the proper way of Kuei-jin. Not battling Western Kindred, politics, hedonism or bloodlust.

But to end this on a funny note, have the funniest Kuei-jin fact.

Kuei-jin are heavily jealous of Mages. Forget the Cainites, don't put a Mage and a Kuei-jin in the same room. How dare fricking humans can achieve enlightenment better than Kuei-jin, whose whole existence is dedicated to it!

So yeah, this is how Kuei-jin came to be and how "fledgling" Kuei-jin become "neonate".

Any opinions on Kuei-jin so far? I find them interesting, especially when it involves other splats.

*Yep, the very same Wheel of Ages that Voormas tried to break and end the endless cycle of Life and Death, the same Ages that even W20 Changling Breeds use where Kitsunes mentioned Gaia promised them that she will guarantee their survival through 6th Age and give their freedom in 7th Age.
See "Time of Judgement: Mage Scenario Judgement "This Entropy business seems sketchy, let's remove it." and "Changing Breeds or "Bears, Cats, Lizards oh my!" Part 2" for their details respectively.

Maragas · Jan 27, 2022

Independent Vampire Clans, the Giovanni, the Assamites, the Followers of Sect and the Ravnos.

They have what the Anarch Revolution dreams about, full independence. They are each powerful enough to make even Sabbat and Camarilla hesitate. Giovanni, the soul merchants and slavers. Assamites, vampire hunting assassins and mercenaries. Ravnos, the masters of illusions and the Followers of Set, worshippers of Set and masters of intrigue.
So let's learn about them.

Let's start with Giovanni, the incestual vampire mafia. The enslaver of souls and destroyers of the old Cappadocians. They are honestly one of my favorite clans to play.

They are an extremely self-sufficient clan of Necromancers. They were a family of Necromancers for nearly a thousand years even before they were embraced. They are masters of unearthing secrets long forgotten and have an incredible amount of forbidden knowledge. Their Antediluvian Augustus diablerized Cappadocius to reach his status and while he might be the youngest and weakest of the Antediluvians he is still the most active among the Antediluvians, still awake even. They amass massive amounts of resources, from mortal wealth and millions of souls, to ultimately destroy the Shroud and merge the realms of the living and the dead. Oh and their bite causes pain rather than pleasure unlike others kindred.

They also have hilarious family dynamics and I am not even talking about incest.

The mortal side of Giovanni is mostly ignorant of their vampiric side but you know what, they want to be in on the joke. So most Giovanni grows up in an ultra-competitive environment, pursuing something they don't know but suspect.

From my personal experience, they are a great clan if you are a new player. Your "Fledgling" and "Neonate" phase will be smooth, you will have extensive support and be, in my opinion, one of the best-supporting characters in VTM. Your utility is incredibly high, your methods of information gathering and detective work is OOC for most situations.
(Of course, half of your utility will depend on the ST actually allowing it to happen. I had shitty experiences where in the entire campaign there were no Wraiths, "the family branch doesn't have anything to lend to you" and when I had a few souls (not Wraiths) under control the enemies had "Wards against spirits"...we were tailing a Brujah gang where the strongest was 100 years old and an 11th gen.)

They are also great for advanced players too. That's when you become one-man Umbrella Corp and have armies of superhuman zombies and Wraiths. I am talking about Potence, Celerity and Fortitude wielding* Zombies with effective Strength/Dexterity/Stamina of 7-8. Nevermind the Wraiths who have an entire splat dedicated to creating them.

Now, into the Assamites. The murderous vampire hunters and mercenaries for hire. But the best vampires you could meet if you are a mortal.

They are the children of Haqim, probably the Antediluvian second only to Saulot in terms of behavior towards humans. They are an independent clan of vampires that will do most jobs for Blood. (Small things can be settled for large amounts of cash). Like Giovanni most Assamite is dedicated to their clan and works under numerous cells across the world for the good of the clan.

Now, one of the things you should know about is how the clan got cursed by the Tremere clan. You see, when tensions between Camarilla and Assamites were high, the Old Men of the Mountain declared there will be peace between them. Because a few day earlier they found Nosferatu spies lurking near Alamut, the capital of Assamites and one of the most secretive places in the world. Which is incredible because Alamut is one of the most warded places in the world, layers upon layers of magic hide the place.
Anyway, they signed the peace treaty named "Treaty of Tyre". Unfortunately, no one realized that Tremere would use it as a sympathetic link and curse every Assamite using it. What does it do? Assamites can't drink kindred blood, if they do they get unsoakable Lethal damage. If they try to diablerize someone they get unsoakable Aggravated damage and Assamites get no benefit from normal diablerie if they survive.

But in the end while Giovanni makes people nervous, Ravnos makes people cautious and Followers of Set makes people suspicious, Assamites strike fear into most Kindred. And for a good reason.

Laws, especially the Law of Judgement "Judge those of Caine's blood and punish them should they be found wanting" combined with the Law of Protection "Ward the mortals from Caine's descendants and treat them with honor in all things." makes most Kindred sweat blood in the presence of Assamites.

They have three different castes, Warrior, Vizier, and Sorcerer. Right now Warriors hold the most influence.

Warriors are led by the Caliph, the most powerful of the warriors and any warrior can challenge for that position anytime they want. The Sorcerers are led by the Amr, who is Al-Ashrad, the most powerful Sorcerer in the clan. In fact, Al Ashrad is so powerful and old that he is the Amr and has been the Amr for nearly 2000 years. Being 500 years old Mage even before you are embraced makes you quite powerful. Though these days Ur-Shulgi, one of the most powerful Methuselahs in the world, is expected to challenge Al Ashrad for the position of Amr. Lastly, the Viziers are led by the...well the Vizier. Unlike the other two, they are democratically elected by other viziers and serve for 63 years before a new election which they cannot enter. Though they can enter the next election.

And above all of them is the Old Man of the Mountain. The Eldest Assamite that is currently in the clan and active. They are the ultimate authority and basically the symbol of Haqim himself when he is not around.

In my experience, they are fun to play around. A full Assamite coterie even more so. You could be sent around the world wildly different missions and mercenary contracts. One day you might be trying to assassinate an Old Tzimisce in order to get a low gen blood while the other night you pursue a group of rogue Sabbat pack while the next week you are having Camarilla Harpies for a few million dollars. Perfect for episodic campaigns.

What about Followers of Set? Serpents of..."Light"

Worshippers of Set. They are basically devils of Kindred society. You might not want to get it, you might know the consequences and you would definitely know they are going to bite you but you will still get the help of these snakes. Their ultimate goal is the resurrection of Set. Not surprisingly, being followers of a Dark God/Antediluvian/Avatar of the Wyrm/Whatever, they are even more vulnerable to sunlight. Similar to Lasombra in fact.

But the most important fact to know about Followers of Set, in my opinion, is that it is a religion.

There are all kinds of Follower, some mortal, some kindred, some Ventrue, some not even vampire but some other kind of supernatural. Yes, technically you could say, play as a Werewolf who embraced the faith. Their temples are everywhere in the world and they will continue to expand for the glorious resurrection of Set.

Lastly, have a fun fact most kindred doesn't know about Followers.

When I meant that the snakes WILL bite, I meant it. They are one of the many reasons why the Inquisition had so much success. They literally sold out every Kindred they could. Even while the fires of the Inquisition also burned them.

I can't give personal experience because I never played them but my friend always had a kick playing them. Bloody snake loves scamming us.

Lastly, Ravnos. Wanderers, tricksters and possessing what is probably the most OP discipline.

Ravnos, they are probably the most widespread clan of Vampires. You could find them everywhere in the world. This is because of their wanderlust which is said to be inherited from the antediluvian Zapathasura. They are probably the freest vampires in the world, going wherever they want and paying little attention to the antics of others, including other sects. They have little inside politics or a goal. The only thing that can change this is Zapathasura awakening, which they believe will happen and destroy all other Antediluvians.

Before they were wanderers but after Zapathasure fell to torpor they were basically the shadow rulers of India, similar to Ventrue and Rome. Ravnos still use the caste system from those times very loosely. After all, if your sire is an expert merchant and organizer you are probably similar to him.
Most importantly, older Ravnos doesn't like Embracing. Because they hate taking mortals out of Karmic Cycle. Very similar in beliefs to Kuei-jin in this way.

I never played a Ravnos but I can see that they basically have Brujah/Gangrel level of ease in justifying why your character is in a coterie. Any kind of campaign is fine with them. Sabbat, Ravnos, European, American, Eastern. Plus Chimerstry is pretty useful and basically the strongest discipline at the highest levels.

I would love to talk about Ravnos more but well, image limit and all. At least I talked about Ravnos a lot in this thread before.
So, what're your opinions on them? Did you play any of them before? If so, what was your experience? If you have any questions ask them because I know that I didn't cover anything but the basics.

*Let me remind you that Zombies last forever until destroyed. Elder Necromancers and god forbid, Methuselah Necromancers are one of the most dangerous things you could face just with their zombie armies, nevermind their other abilities.

General World of Darkness Discussion Thread QQ Edition

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