Blut Alchemie

**Prerequisite**: Bloodline: Geheim

**Linked Themes**: Divination and Transmutation

**Motifs**: Sanguinary, Chemical, Philosophical

**Cost**: 1 Vitae. Must have Merit: Haven 1+ or Status: Ordo Dracul 1+.

*"Take the blood of a ruddy man and the blood of a red owl, burning saffron, Roman vitriol, resin well pounded, natural alum, Roman alum, sugared alum, alum of Castile, red tartar, marcasite, golden alum of Tunis which is red and salt. These ingredients are to be pounded in a mortar, passed through sieves, treated with urine of an animal called taxo, or with the juice of wild cucumber, then dried, brayed again and put in a crucible with the copper." **(Thorndike, Michael Scot p113)***

## Motifs

Blut Alchemie is **Sanguinary**—Blood is the be all and end all for practitioners of the craft. The Geheim believe that blood is the seat of the soul. Through blood, alchemists can divine information, master mind and matter, and transform themselves from their base nature to noble, transcendent beings. For all of unlife's questions, the answer inevitably coloured in crimson and dripping from a pair of protruded fangs.

Blut Alchemie is **Chemical**—The altar of a Dilettante can be indistinguishable from a modern chemistry lab. Or, more often, a Dilettante employs an old-school alchemy set-up, popular since the time of Newton. The ritual is performed using chemical processes, like precipitation, distillation, sublimation, and others; through this the alchemist imparts a kind of rational will onto the substance to be transformed. The methodology is bordering on scientific; jealously guarded and passed down from sire to child.

Blut Alchemie is **Philosophical**—Blut Alchemie has a metaphysical component that is inseparable from its scientific approach. Did alchemy arise from philosophy or was philosophy used to make sense of the process of alchemy? To a Dilettante, this question is akin to the chicken or egg. Or as Carl Jung would say, “...Like a dragon biting its own tail. For this reason the opus was often called circulare (circular) or else rota (the wheel). Mercurius stands at the beginning and end of the work: he is the prima materia, the caput corvi, the nigredo; as dragon he devours himself and as dragon he dies, to rise again in the lapis."

## Themes

**Creation**

Creation is not valued by Dilettantes as they seek to transform instead of create. Geheims generally do not have dots in Creation. Individual ritualists typically learn Creation in the study of another Discipline.

**Destruction**

The steps of the Great Work (in alchemy) are outlined as such: nigredo (blackening), albedo (whitening), citrinitas (yellowing), and finally rubedo (reddening). Nigredo is putrefaction, decomposition, despair, chaos, melancholia. A subject must be broken down in order to be built back up, and so the Geheim typically learn Destruction to supplement their knowledge of Transmutation. An object destroyed by a Geheim sizzles away as if dissolved by acid. The ruined blood of a Kindred turns into a black, congealed mess, smelling of burnt sulphur.

**Divination**

With their bloodline gift, the Geheim pick up this theme intuitively. Experienced Dilettantes can learn more from blood than what is initially offered by Sanguine Analysis. Other than advancing their station, the Dilettantes enjoy using this trick to further their hedonistic desires. They say that nothing spoils a dinner party more than a prude, and when the blood dolls come out, the Dilettantes want to make sure everyone has their pants down and their fangs at ready.

**Protection**

The Dilettantes have a very limited use for Protection. They usually use it to save their own skins, or to survive the assaults of their enemies. And there have been many. Some might call the Dilettantes selfish, but ultimately, the Lords look out for number one. The ritual usually calls for a solution or a crystal to be distilled out of a bubbling beaker, to be ingested or swallowed.

**Transmutation**

Transmutation is by far the mainstay of rituals taught to blood alchemists. Through blood, a mortal is embraced into the dark night. And through blood, a Kindred transcends existence, achieving the fabled state of Golconda. The transformations may follow the philosophical nature of a Kindred's Great Work. Vitae crystallises into dendritic patterns following the Tree of Diana. Gold, venom, thermite, heroin—nothing is out of a Dilettante's reach.

## The Roll

Extended.

 **Transmutation** | Intelligence + Science + Transmutation

### **Modifiers**

Downtime can be converted to modifiers for this roll. It represents the ritualist spending time to prepare for the ritual.

 2 Dt
 3 Dt

**Other Modifiers**

 0
 -1 to -3
 0 to +3

### **Target number of Successes**

Calculated by:

Theme dots + Area of Effect + Duration + Number of Targets + Potency + Range + Size of Target

Click here for the chart.

## **Rituals**

### **Level 1**

#### **Sanguine Connoisseur**

Themes: Divination 1

Activation roll: Intelligence + Investigation + Divination

The Dilettante can gain more information from Sanguine Analysis. They gain one piece of information per success:

* The subject’s Vice or Virtue, Mask or Dirge (one per success)
* The subject’s Blood Potency
* The subject’s bloodsong
* A mortal subject’s blood type.
* Any drugs or chemicals in the blood.
* If mortal, any strong emotions during the time the blood was spilled (due to adrenaline, cortisol, dopamine, serotonin etc.)
* Whether the subject is under the influence of a Discipline or Ritual that is activated by vitae (if the Geheim has studied said Discipline or Ritual, he may be able to identify it).
* Whether the subject’s vitae was changed by Coils, Cruac (corruption from Cruac), or other Blood Sorcery.

They can also gain the information available through Sanguine Analysis without testing yes/no per success, as written on Ancient Bloodlines pg 84.

### **Level 2**

#### **Nigredo**

Themes: Destruction 2

Activation roll: Wits + Science + Destruction

The “black work”. Destroys blood or Vitae, whether spilled, contained in an inanimate vessel, or contained in the Geheim’s own body. If targeted against a live subject, the subject must be strapped down and rendered “inanimate”, their veins and arteries accessible to the Geheim. Some Geheim will use this ritual on themselves, to purge their own body of vitae before a big feast so that they may further debase themselves in pursuit of hedonistic desires.

***Modifiers***

-3 Character uses this ritual on mortal or Kindred subject.

-1 Character uses this ritual on blood/vitae contained in a supernatural vessel.

0 Character uses this ritual on blood/vitae contained in a mundane vessel.

0 Character uses this ritual on spilled blood or vitae.

+5 Character uses this ritual on self.

#### **Vitae Distillation**

Themes: Transmutation 2

Activation roll: Intelligence + Science + Transmutation

Change blood or vitae to liquid. Amount of blood needed depends on resource value.

* 1 Vitae or 2 Blood points converts to 1 pint of gasoline.
* 5 Vitae or 10 Blood points converts to 1 pint of a fantastically rare wine.
* 3 Blood points convert to 1 Vitae.

***Modifier***

+3 The character attempts to create purified water.

+1 The character utilizes Kindred Vitae in the work. Some Geheim claim that the blood of other supernatural creatures grants a similar (or greater) benefit, and it may indeed do so at the Storyteller’s discretion (the blood of creatures full of living energy such as werewolves, mages and changelings are more likely to provide a higher bonus, while that of undead
creatures such as zombies may inflict a penalty on the roll).

— The character attempts to create a substance with a Resources value of 1.

-1 The character attempts to create a substance with a Resources value of 2.

-2 The character attempts to create a substance with a Resources value of 3.

-3 The character attempts to create a substance with a Resources value of 4.

-4 The character attempts to create a substance with a Resources value of 5.

### **Level 3**

#### **Albedo**

Requirements: *Nigredo*

Themes: Transmutation 3

Activation roll: Intelligence + Science + Transmutation

“Whitening” or “purification” is the second stage of the Great Work. Vitae is a distillation of all that is the Kindred existence, and the Kindred are often torn between two aspects, “Man” and “Beast”. Through this ritual, the alchemist unites the two opposing principles to create a coincidentia oppositorum, and by doing so, his soul is opened up to its original pure and receptive state.

This ritual is enacted on the practitioner’s own blood. It has two effects; choose one when activating:

***Sublimation of the Ego***

When riding the wave, the Man is in control. Replace the higher of Resolve or Composure with Humanity in your rolls to ride the wave.

***Assimilation of the Id***

The Man acknowledges the shadow, and learns to redirect its destructive effects. When you gain a “Tempted” Condition, remove it by Lashing Out, inflicting some hapless victim with your urges instead. Each use removes one instance of the Tempted Condition. You must spend Willpower to lash out against Kindred with higher Blood Potency.

#### **Internal Athanor**

Themes: Transmutation 3

Activation roll: Intelligence + Science + Transmutation

Increase own Blood Potency. Increase one dot per Potency of the Ritual.

***Modifier***

+1 Per success garnered through the use of Sanguine Analysis prior to activating
Internal Athanor.
-1 Each dot of Blood Potency the character possesses above 1.
-2 Character has rolled to resist frenzy (from any source save the Predator’s Taint) during the chapter in which she uses this power. Not cumulative with the penalty below.
-5 Character has succumbed to frenzy (of any sort, including the Predator’s Taint)
during the chapter in which she uses this power.

### **Level 4**

#### **Citrinitas**

Requirements: *Albedo*

Themes: Transmutation 4

Activation roll: Intelligence + Science + Transmutation

Known as “Yellowing” or “Xanthosis”. The Kindred’s soul is transformed to its “sun state”, ready for enlightenment. Gain a bonus to Intelligence equal to the Potency of the ritual. This bonus can be used to augment Discipline rolls with the exception of Blut Alchemie rolls.

#### **Vitae Transmutation**

Themes: Transmutation 4

Activation roll: Intelligence + Science + Transmutation

Transmute vitae into a solid substance. Costs number of vitae equal to resource value of a pound of the produced substance.

***Modifier***

— The character attempts to create a substance with a Resources value of 1.

-1 The character attempts to create a substance with a Resources value of 2.

-2 The character attempts to create a substance with a Resources value of 3.

-3 The character attempts to create a substance with a Resources value of 4.

-4 The character attempts to create a substance with a Resources value of 5.

-5 The character attempts to create a substance with unusual properties such as Radioactivity.

### **Level 5**

#### **Bloody Bezoar a.k.a. “Rubedo”**

Themes: Transmutation 5

Activation roll: Intelligence + Science + Transmutation

Cost: 5 Vitae

Create a bezoar which has the following properties:

* One time +5 bonus to a single Blut Alchemie roll
* Turns the Kindred’s blood into a poison, which causes 1 Aggravated damage per vitae consumed.
* Negate the effects of a poison if consumed during the same turn.
* Causes loss of vitae and the same amount of Aggravated damage in another Kindred. The number of vitae lost is equal to ritual Potency.

Source: House Rules. *Ancient Bloodlines p.*