Vampire

*"I have seen the birth of myths and the death of nations, I have died a thousand deaths and more, with naught but fitful slumber betwixt fall and rising, I have loved with the passion of youth and murdered that love within the same moment and you, with not even a score of years behind you and fear soaking your skin, think to threaten me? Put your sword away, boy, and humour me. Because all that is keeping your head on your shoulders right now IS my sense of humour!"* - Caligula.

## INTRODUCTION

*"We began with Caine, the First Murderer, the First Cursed, the first vampire! Exiled from God's sight, his spiteful wanderings led to remaking others in his likeness, immortal, forever tainted by his own hateful nature and the curses he bore. They too, in time, yearned for the company and solace of others and begat their own Childer, and so on to this night. Our kind have spread across the earth, repeating in infinite cycles his crime of kin-slaying as love twists with time, or petty slights become obsessions with the eons."*

*"We Cainites are reflections of our forebears, lessening in power with each new generation, but even the least of us is as a god to the stumbling, ignorant Kine! We ever hide ourselves from our prey's sight, shepherding their cultures and steering their course through subtle influence, for where they to become aware of us as a whole then not even the Elders would be able to stand against the tide of humanity. This is a necessity, for would not all penned cattle stampede if they could understand their fate?"*

*"No, it is our own that are our greatest threat, the most Ancient of us who slumber still, and come the time of Gehenna will rise to devour their offspring! As the Blood thins, as the plans of the Eldest reach fruition, the great Jyhad will end and, finally,so shall we..."*

## Gameplay

Players interested in portraying a Vampire (they more often refer to themselves as Kindred or Cainites) usually know about their place in the World of Darkness already, and if not then I again recommend reading any relevant material first to make sure you can pass any required interviews and write an appropriate background. That aside, lets see how Cainites work in the Dark Lair...

Mortals who Class as Cainites gain many benefits. Firstly, you require only Blood to survive rather than food and drink, which you can no longer consume. Secondly, time spent playing will slowly advance your Generation, allowing access to higher levels of innate Clan Disciplines and increasing your personal power, with RP allowing more exotic Non-Clan Disciplines to be learned from others.

Factors for all Cainites are the maintenance of both Blood and Humanity. Humanity loss may affect those who are severely injured, very hungry, overly aggressive or utilising certain vampiric magical effects and this can be mitigated by periods of rest and calm. Frenzy may also occur due to low Humanity and/or the previous conditions, which will grant you some damage bonuses, lower your damage resistance and cause you to lash out at all around you until you calm down! Vampires losing all their Humanity will start to increase their True Beast rating, and eventually will be reduced to a state of permanent Frenzy and eventual Torpor!

As Cainites are undead they do not need to eat or drink normal food and liquids, nor breath, and require only Blood for sustenance. Your maximum Health and Mana remain the same as before, but the Mana algorithm now divides by 400! This means that your maximum natural Mana is now effectively 25 for most purposes.

## Commands

The following Commands are important for all Cainites...

* Announce: State your Generation or Diablerie history to all in a room, or lie about it!
* Boost: Temporarily raise your Natural Str, Dex and/or Sta, by a maximum of 1, for an equal amount of Blood.
* Discipline: Improve an innate Clan Discipline (or a non-innate if it is at least level 5!).
* Embrace: Feed your Blood to someone.
* Fangs: Extend your fangs in order to feed or to gain an Aggravated Midround attack.
* Feed: Attempt to drain Blood from someone or something.
* Info: Gives detailed information on your known Disciplines and their individual powers.
* Intro: Introduce yourself to all in a room by announcing your name, rank, Generation, Clan and lineage!
* Learn: Accept an offer of Discipline teaching.
* Lowergen: Decrease your Generation by one step, assuming you have spent enough time online.
* Powers: Lists all the Discipline commands available to you.
* Regenerate: Heal non-Agg damage by spending Blood, add a number to heal for longer (regen 5).
* Researchdisipline: Attempt to improve a known, non-innate, Discipline without a teacher. Costs are great and increase rapidly.
* Slit: Cut open your wrist in order to feed domeone your Blood, close it with "lick".
* Smother: Attempt to put out any flames on someone dumb enough to walk around during the day...
* Teach: Attempt to teach a Discipline to another vampire.
* Upkeep: Shows what Discipline powers you currently have activated.
* Vamptalk: A global chat channel for vampires only.
* Vclan: Display information about other Clan members who are online.
* Yoke: Claim ownership of a Ghoul!

It is recommended for new Cainites to change their old Mortal prompts to these instead...

* prompt #G<%x:XP#G/%h#W:#RHP#G/%m#W:#CMP#G/%B#W:#rB#G/#c%c:#WAC#G/%p#W:Hit#G/%P#W:Dam#G>
* cprompt #G<%f#G/%h#W:#RHP#G/%m#W:#CMP#G/%B#W:#rB#G/#c%c:#WAC#G/%p#W:Hit#G/%P#W:Dam#G>

## Generation

Cainites normally start as members of the 13th Generation, which dictates their maximum ratings in Stats, Disciplines and Blood Pool. They can increase the potency of their Blood over time, spending an hour online in each 24 hour period will lower the days needed (shown below) by 1, and typing "soulpoints" will show you how long you have to go before you can "lowergen". Yes, currently his means that you'll need to have logged in, for an hour, for 135 days to reach 8th Generation! You can sit idle for that time and do nothing and the timer will keep counting down, but be sure to "lowergen" once it's ready as the timer will not resume counting until you do!

## Humanity

Humanity is the mark of how much control, awareness and emotional balance you have against the curse of all Cainites, the Beast. This shard of Caine's murderous urges resides within all of the Blood and can corrupt them over time, which is represented by your Humanity, Beast and True Beast ratings. Whilst True Beast caps your Humanity (e.g True Beast at 20 means max Humanity of 80), many factors can cause your basic Beast rating to rise, lowering your Humanity rating, and vice versa.

The rumoured state of spiritual, mental and possibly physical being known as Golconda has been said to allow for calming of the Beast in its entirety, relief from the Curse of the Sun, removal of the need to expend Blood each night, expansion of ones Discipline potential and a thousand other things. It is said to require vast knowledge and potent Blood before even attempting to reach it, and that some lineages find its attainment far easier than others. Its existence or lack thereof will NOT be detailed here in any way to preserve both mystery and RP potential.

## **CLANS**

Vampires are divided into Clans, lineages descended from an individual vampire, most often an Antediluvian. These Clans share common Disciplines and often personality traits, though whether this is due to the Embrace changing the person, lineages favouring certain kinds of people, cultural adaption or all of the above is a matter of debate.

Some lines of Vampires have descended from mutant progenitors, been the result of magical experimentation or other oddities. These are generally referred to as Bloodlines instead of Clans but this is really just semantics. A Clan losing its Founder to Final Death would then be considered a Bloodline or a Bloodlines Founder could Diablerise a powerful enough Vampire to ascend to Clan status, but in the end all these terms really mean is "a bunch of Vampires with Disciplines in common and a shared ancestry", whether they originate from Caine's Childer or not.

Given the sheer number of permutations of the Blood, it is recommended to use the in-game "help" system for more detailed information than can be sensibly provided here...

Available Clans: Brujah, Brujah Antitribu, Caitiff, Followers of Set, Serpents of the Light, Gangrel, Country Gangrel Antitribu, City Gangrel Antitribu, Lasombra, Lasombra Antitribu, Nosferatu, Nosferatu Antitribu, Old Clan Tzimisce, Panders, Ravnos, Ravnos Antitribu, Toreador, Toreador Antitribu, Ventrue, Ventrue Antitribu.

Background Required: Malkavian, Malkavian Antitribu, Samedi.

Interview Required: Assamite, Assamite Antitribu, Baali, Giovanni, Nagaraja, Salubri, Tremere, Tremere Antitribu, True Brujah, Tzimisce.

Incomplete Code: Daughters of Cacophony, Kiasyd.

Unknown Status: Cappadocian, Ahrimane.

## Ahrimane

Disciplines: Animalism, Presence, Spiritus.

Description to come...

## Assamite

Disciplines: Celerity, Quietus, Obfuscate.

Description to come...

* You may opt to Class as Assamite Antitribu instead.
* Interview required before Classing.

## Brujah

Disciplines: Celerity, Potence, Presence.

Description to come...

* You may opt to Class as Brujah Antitribu instead..

## Ba'ali

Disciplines: Daimoinon, Obfuscate, Presence.

Description to come...

* Interview required before Classing.
* Ba'ali sart with a True Beast of 70!

## Caitiff

Disciplines: Animalism, Auspex, Celerity, Dominate, Fortitude, Obfuscate, Potence, Presence.

Description to come...

* You may opt to Class as a Pander instead.
* Caitiff and Pander pay Non-Clan exp costs for their Disciplines.

## Cappadocian

Disciplines: Auspex, Fortitude, Mortis.

Description to come...

* DEFUNCT CLAN, no longer playable without EXCEPTIONAL Background, Interview and luck!
* Their Discipline of Mortis MAY have been changed to the new Necromancy.

## Daughters of Cacophony

Disciplines: Fortitude, Melpominee, Presence.

Description to come...

## Followers of Set

Disciplines: Obfuscate, Presence, Serpentis.

Description to come...

* You may opt to Class as a Serpent of the Light instead.

## Gangrel

Disciplines: Animalism, Fortitude, Protean.

Description to come...

* You may opt to Class as Gangrel Antitribu City (Disciplines: Celerity, Obfuscate, Protean) or Gangrel Antitribu Country instead.

## Giovanni

Disciplines: Dominate, Necromancy, Potence.

Description to come...

* Interview required before Classing.

## Kiasyd

Disciplines: Dominate, Mytherceria, Obtenebration.

Description to come...

## Lasombra

Disciplines: Dominate, Obtenebration, Potence.

Description to come...

* You may opt to Class as Lasombra Antitribu instead.

## Malkavian

Disciplines: Auspex, Dominate, Obfuscate.

Description to come...

* You may opt to Class as Malkavian Antitribu instead.
* Background required before Classing.

## Nagaraja

Disciplines: Auspex, Dominate, Necromancy.

Description to come...

* Interview required before Classing.
* Nagaraja must eat body-parts to gain any Blood!

## Nosferatu

Disciplines: Animalism, Obfuscate, Potence.

Description to come...

* You may opt to Class as Nosferatu Antitribu (Disciplines: Auspex, Dominate, Obfuscate) instead.

## Ravnos

Disciplines: Animalism, Chimerstry, Fortitude.

Description to come...

* You may opt to Class as Ravnos Antitribu instead.

## Salubri

Disciplines: Auspex, Fortitude, Obeah.

Description to come...

* Interview required before Classing.

## Samedi

Disciplines: Fortitude, Obfuscate, Thanatosis.

Description to come...

* Background required before Classing.
* Samedi MAY have the innate ability to research the Mortuus Path of Necromancy, and possibly others!
* Samedi cannot currently teach Thanatosis (and possibly any Necromancy Paths) to others!

## Toreador

Disciplines: Auspex, Celerity, Presence.

Description to come...

* You may opt to Class as Toreador Antitribu instead.

## Tremere

Disciplines: Auspex, Dominate, Thaumaturgy.

Description to come...

* You may opt to Class as Tremere Antitribu instead.
* Interview required before Classing.

## True Brujah

Disciplines: Potence, Presence, Temporis.

Description to come...

* Interview required before Classing.

## Tzimisce

Disciplines: Animalism, Auspex, Vicissitude.

Description to come...

* You may opt to Class as Old Clan Tzimisce (Disciplines: Animalism, Auspex, Dominate) instead.
* Interview required before Classing.

## Ventrue

Disciplines: Dominate, Fortitude, Presence.

Description to come...

* You may opt to Class as Ventrue Antitribu (Disciplines: Auspex, Dominate, Presence) instead.

## **DISCIPLINES**

Some partially coded Disciplines exist but lack help files, including Abombwe, Bardo, Deimos, Dementation, Grotesquous, Maleficia, Valeren and Visceratika. these will be added below if they are ever developed further.

## Melpominee

This Discipline appeared simultaneously with the Daughters of Cacophony and is intrinsically linked to that bloodline. It allows for both speech and song to induce a variety of supernatural effects.

## Mortis

Developed by the Cappadocians to uncover the secrets of death, practitioners were allegedly able to defy even Final Death, yet became obsessed with all aspects of Entropy and the afterlife.

Note: This Discipline is defunct, the powers being redistributed to the Mortuus Path

## Temporis

They say that when Troile stole the Blood of Ilyes she snatched a mere shard of his secrets, the control over Time itself!

Note: Learning this Discipline will delete any levels of Celerity known, and vice versa.

## **MAGICAL DISCIPLINES**

Currently on the Lair, both the Magical Disciplines of Necromancy and Thaumaturgy conflict, which means you can only ever learn one of them and doing so will prevent you from ever learning the other. in addition the code is a little esoteric so you may encounter odd responses to "researchdiscipline" or "info" and similar commands. This is the case even if you have an odd rename of Necromancy or Thaumaturgy like Nahuallotl, Koldunic Sorcery et al.

You CAN learn both via tutelage from one of the very oldest players with legacy code in their files (good luck!), but this will also prevent you learning any Paths from the "new" setup, essentially meaning that only those older characters would ever be able to teach you anything, and any further additions to the new system would be impossible for you to learn!

Learning these Disciplines is one thing, but Paths are where their powers lie. Once you have a Magical Discipline you can "research" Paths that are innate to your lineage (details below) or those that have been taught to you, and remember that you may only ever learn a maximum number of Paths equal to your Magical Discipline's level -1 (e.g Thaumaturgy 10 means you may know up to 9 Paths of Thaumaturgy).

The following Commands are important for Cainites with Magical Disciplines...

* Pathpowers: Displays powers gained from Paths.
* Paths: Raise the level of an unlocked Path.
* Pteach: Attempt to teach a Path.
* PLearn: Accept an offer of Path teaching.
* Research: Unlock an innate or taught Path, which takes some time spent in study.
* Researchritual <ritual>: Attempts to learn a Ritual of a certain level (first, second etc.).
* Ritualpowers: Displays known Rituals.
* Ritual: Cast a Ritual.

## Ash Path

The proprietary Path of the Giovanni is a pale echo of their ancestors Magicks, but still allows for great power over both the Shadowlands and its denizens.

 Shroudsight
 N/A
 Ex Nihilo
 N/A

## Bone Path

A Path innate to the Giovanni, Nagaraja and Cappadocians, practitioners sympathetically manipulate the tiny sparks of vitality that linger within all physical remains.

 N/A
 Shambling Hordes
 N/A
 N/A

## Mortuus Path

The proprietary Path of the Cappadocians developed from the defunct Disipline of Mortis. Samedi MAY be able to research this.

## Sepulchre Path

A Path innate to the Giovanni, Nagaraja and Cappadocians, practitioners become ever suffused with the resonance of death, deepening their connection to the departed.

 N/A
 Spirit Guardian
 N/A
 N/A

## Vitreous Path

The proprietary Path of the Nagaraja allows a practitioner to channel Oblivion itself, consuming and destroying as they see fit!

 N/A
 N/A
 Breath of Thanatos

## Necromantic Rituals

There are currently 0 known Necromantic Rituals.

## Path of Conjuring

Innate to Followers of Set, Tremere and Ventrue.

 N/A
 Major Creation
 N/A
 Permanency

## Path of the Flames

Innate to both Tremere and Tzimisce.

 Engulf
 Flame Bolt
 Wall of Flames
 Inferno

## Path of Pain

The Primary Path of, and innate only to, the vile Baali..

## Path of Spirits

The Primary Path of Followers of Set, Tzimisce and Ventrue Thaumaturges, but also available to Tremere.

 Spirit Eyes
 N/A
 N/A
 Journey

## Path of Vitae

The Primary Path of Tremere, but also available to Tzimisce.

 Blood Rage
 Blood Potency
 Theft of Vitae
 Cauldron of Blood

## Path of Water

Innate to Tremere and Tzimisce.

 Jail of Water
 Dehydrate
 Wall of Water
 Blood to Water

## Path of Weather Control

Innate to Followers of Set and Tremere.

 Control Rain
 N/A
 Lightning Strike
 Eclipse

## Thaumaturgic Rituals

There are currently 5 confirmed Thaumaturgic Rituals.

 Ward vs Ghouls
 Ward vs Lupines
 Ward vs Kindred
 Ward vs Spirits