Kallikantzaros

Across Greek and New Roman lands, the kine fear the kallikantzaroi as malevolent goblinoid creatures who appear during the winter season to trick and terrorize people. Those who pay close attention see more in these devious beasts. A kallikantzaros spends most of its time holed up in its subterranean sanctum, fading from the memories of surface-dwellers until it emerges on the winter’s first holy day, according to any faith the people of the region practice. It feeds on worship and knows whenever prayer or sacrifice to any deity is offered nearby. By masquerading as gods, prophets, devils, and saints, they steals the worship of the pious from their lips and then round them up to drag them back to their sanctums.
Because the kallikantzaroi are talented illusionists, few know what they truly look like. Sketches of them in occult tomes usually depict them as various types of devils and demons, but one could just as easily appear as Apollo or Jesus Christ. Those who study these creatures find an eerie correlation between habitually-practiced religions in an area and a kallikantzaros’ habits — not just its appearance and the timing of its visits, but its general desires and longterm behavioral patterns. When an empire is conquered and converted to a new faith, the kallikantzaroi subtly shift their tactics and even personalities to reflect the religion’s themes and values. A kallikantzaros forces those it kidnaps to worship it throughout the rest of the year once the winter ends, or else die abandoned and lost in labyrinthine tunnels miles below the surface.
Every winter in Constantinople, a rumor circulates that some Cainite or other has seen a kallikantzaros masquerading as Michael the Archangel, or the Dracon. Such rumors remain unsubstantiated, but they’ve spawned the theory that the kallikantzaroi began as some kind of egregore born from the Cainite Trinity’s own usurpation of Christianity for itself. Smart vampires don’t mention this theory in front of New Rome’s Nosferatu.
Powers and Weaknesses
• The kallikantzaros replenishes spent “blood points” by feeding on worship. It recoups one point per minute of worship directed toward it, regardless of what identity it presents at the time.
• A kallikantzaros can only work its unholy magic on holy days, depending on the religions the people in its area practice, and only during the winter season.
• The kallikantzaros’ effective Appearance depends on the form it projects at any given time. Characters with the ability to pierce its illusions, such as those with the Auspex Discipline, see a monstrous, vaguely humanoid creature with mismatched animalistic and demonic body parts, which has Appearance 1.
Attributes: Strength 4, Dexterity 3, Stamina 3, Charisma 3, Manipulation 5, Appearance (varies), Perception 3, Intelligence 2, Wits 4 
Abilities: Alertness 4, Athletics 2, Awareness 5, Brawl 3, Empathy 4, Etiquette 3, Expression 4, Intimidation 3, Melee 2, Occult 3, Subterfuge 5, Theology 3
Equivalent Disciplines: Auspex 6, Chimerstry 6, Dominate 1, Obtenebration 2
Road: 4, Willpower: 9; Blood Pool: 9
Category:Creatures
Category:Setting