Koldunic Sorcery

The actual casting of Koldunic sorcery requires more than a clumsy exertion of will. Such magic demands perfection of form and mastery of the appropriate lore. The caster’s player spends one blood point and rolls (Attribute) + Occult against a difficulty of the power’s level + 3, with the specific Attribute listed for each path or “way.” Vampires always use the base Attribute, ignoring any bonuses gained from blood expenditure or other Disciplines. All kolduns must select one of the ways listed below as their primary path.

# **Koldunism**

Life is predatory, feasting on itself to endure indefinitely. Life and death are one, as the land and the Tzimisce are one. This is the meaning of the ouroboros, the dragon devouring its tail that serves as the symbol of Clan Tzimisce. Life obtains its nourishment from death, just as death derives its banquet from life, the two eternally encircling each other. The Tzimisce are the personification of life and death, and so they are true gods of flesh, bone, land, and the blood that sustains it.

Life and death, the land, and all beholden to it, are their dominion. The Kindred who fill their gullets with the blood of mortals, who work the earth to produce the seeds that ripen the cattle they dine upon for their own sustenance to extract their fruit from the land. All life is beholden to the land; when the land is feeble, no spring comes to life. When Tzimisce childer resurrect to deathless everlasting vitality, it is the land itself that fills them.

Tzimisce fuse to the land that claims them. From branch to stem, the two are wedded inseparably. In ancient times, the vows of this wedding were expressed through the kraina (the sorcerous Path) that would arise and mature within the Tzimisce who cultivated koldunism. In those ancient days, the Genius Loci was a tool attainable by all koldun to enhance their kraina, and for the butter it glazed on their bread most koldun labored to know it. The chaos that beset the Clan during the formation of the Sabbat made entrance for the demon Kupala to entreat promises of tremendous might to those desperate enough to listen. And many did, soliciting the demon for assistance to defeat their enemies.

By defiling the Genius Loci (known to the modern koldun as the Way of Spirit), the demon spread its primal, dark, elemental, and depraved sorcery throughout the Clan to any who agreed to divorce themselves from their ancient kraina, trading their godhood to bow and pledge themselves in veneration to the new demon-god. But some in the Old Clan did not dessert their kraina or betray their land to the whims of Kupala and still practice these hidden arts (which they zealously protect from those outside of their kind in the modern nights).

These Old Clan koldun set free the raw energy of the land that claims them, nourishing it with their blood to mingle their spirit with that of the land. Each kraina is unique to the land and the Old Clan Tzimisce that births and nurtures it, evolving within the koldun as the land takes hold of him. The spirit of Detroit’s decaying cityscape will not manifest its witchcraft in the same way as the koldun claimed by the Ganges River or the unspoiled peak of Mount Kilimanjaro.

Koldunism is always learned as an out-of-Clan Discipline. Koldun may acquire the power of multiple lands by learning the kraina of other koldun, but their primary kraina will forever be that of the land whose soil they must rest in each day to replenish their strength. The maximum level a koldun may attain in any secondary kraina is limited to the highest level they have achieved in their primary kraina, and may not surpass it.

The koldun unlocks the skill of their primary kraina through trial and error, one power at a time. Primary kraina are unreliable and unwieldy during their development, sometimes displaying powers so extreme their potential burns out almost immediately and fails to stabilize, or the sorcery is so weakas to prove unworthy of pursuit. When designing primary kraina, players and Storytellers should work together testing each new power thoroughly in play before graduating the kraina to a more advanced state. Powers of primary kraina always serve to either bend or twist aspects of the environment directly or embody them within the koldun herself.

To animate their magic, all kraina usually involve the koldun spilling her blood in tribute to the earth, river, or sky (usually 1 blood point), followed by an Attribute + Occult roll against a difficulty of the power’s level + 4 — the flexibility of the kraina make it more difficult to control than “normal” Koldunic Sorcery. The difficulty is reduced by two if the power is within the koldun’s primary kraina. The Attribute rolled is indicated in the power’s description; koldun always use their unaltered Attribute score, ignoring enhancements by blood, Disciplines, or anything else. With exception to Kraina of the Well (see below), if the power is within the region associated with the kraina, no tribute of blood expenditure is asked for by the spirit of the land, allowing the koldun to trigger the power if succeeding at the activation roll without spending blood to fuel it.

Below are a pair of kraina, as well as the Genius Loci. Players are encouraged to create their own kraina to reflect the unique qualities of their homelands, using the following kraina to guide them.

The following are two secondary kraina: the Kraina of Enoch and the Kraina of the Well. The Kraina of Enoch is accessible to any Old Clan koldun initiated in the Tal’Mahe’Ra, while Kraina of the Well is reserved for those Old Clan belonging to the Order of Moloch.

## **Koldunic Sorcery, Dark Ages**

The Tzimisce claim kingship not from heavenly mandate, but from the land itself; they are the lords of their realms and all who dwell in it. Since the First Days they have shared their blood with the earth, intermingling their spirits with those of their voivodes until they are one and the same. Those who study the ways of koldunism, that most ancient of Cainite blood magic, elevate this mastery yet further, binding the spirits of their homelands to themselves. These koldun, as they are known, manifest the raw power of the natural world through their physical forms, as if their flesh were the land itself.

No vampire is Embraced into Koldunism. Koldunic sorcery is always learned as an out-of-clan Discipline. Similar to Thaumaturgical Paths, koldunic sorcery is divided into kraina, which are as varied as the demesnes the Tzimisce rule over. A sorcerer from the windswept peaks of the Tatras will practice different magic than those dwelling amid the hills and pine forests of Samogitia, or their coastal brethren who feel the tides of the Black Sea rippling through their veins. A koldun may learn the magic of many krainas, but they will always have one greater than the rest — that of their homeland, the place whose native soil they rest most comfortably in. Upon earning their first dot in Koldunic Sorcery, the koldun learns the first power associated with their primary kraina. With each new dot, they may take the next power in a kraina they already know, or learn the first power in a new kraina. Regardless, it will always be easier for them to use magic from their primary kraina. There is also a spirit kraina, known as the Genius Loci; many koldun learn this kraina, for it greatly expands their power, but none have it as their primary.

To cast their magic, the koldunic sorcerer must offer up a point of blood to the land and then roll Attribute + Occult against a difficulty of the power’s level + 4. If the power is within their primary kraina, the difficulty is reduced by two. The Attribute to be rolled is specified by the power itself; koldun always use their raw Attribute, unmodified by the expenditure of blood, Disciplines, or other vampiric magic.

Below are a pair of kraina, as well as the Genius Loci. Players are encouraged to create their own kraina to reflect the unique qualities of their homelands, using the following kraina to guide them.

### **Genius Loci**

The koldun extends his awareness through the land upon which he treads, becoming the Genius Loci of legend.

**System:** The player spends one point of Willpower in addition to the traditional expenditure of blood, then rolls to activate the power. Charisma is the governing Attribute. For each success, Genius Loci remains in effect for one scene. While in effect, the koldun is aware of everything that transpires around him, out to a distance determined by dots in Genius Loci (see below). Even Obfuscate cannot deceive the Tzimisce who has established himself as a Genius Loci. Furthermore, the koldun may invoke any koldunic power he possesses anywhere he can perceive, so long as the level of that power is equal to or less than dots in his Genius Loci ability.

• Perceive everything within a fifty-foot/fifteen-meter radius.

•• Perceive everything within a hundred-yard/meter radius.

••• Perceive everything within a quarter-mile/half kilometer radius.

•••• Perceive everything within a one-mile/1.5-kilometer radius.

••••• Perceive everything within a five-mile/eight-kilometer radius.

### **The Kraina of Enoch**

Old Clan Tzimisce Embraced within the Underworld who claimed Enoch
for their territory pioneered this kraina. The Kraina of Enoch is as
unique in methodology as the land that birthed it. Koldun and their land
 are one; all kraina awaken the nature of that land. Whereas most kraina
 require that the koldun grant an offering of blood to the land, the
Kraina of Enoch reflects the heart of the Underworld itself.

The koldun seeking to rouse it must first become one with the
lands of the dead by sacrificing a portion of their body. In the
Underworld, koldun with this kraina always have an intuitive sense of
Enoch’s exact location within the Tempest.

**• Shroud of Oblivion**

Existence in the Underworld grants Cainites certain advantages
not available on the Earth; the koldun tears out a piece of the
Underworld’s fabric to saturate the area around him with its attributes.

System: The koldun spends a Willpower point, then makes the
activation roll (Attribute: Stamina). With a success, the koldun’s skin
turns to ash and crumbles to nothing, exposing his meat to the elements.
 He plunges his hands into the earth, parting any impediment as if it
were fresh tilled soil, and wrenches forth an insubstantial sheet of
inky night, yanking out a piece of the Underworld with which to wrap
himself. Once donned, the appearance of anything blanketed by the shroud
 becomes visibly muted; in the physical world, all beneath its shield
resembles black-and-white television images in a full color world, while
 in the Underworld, things take on a more ghastly hue of deeper darkness
 and decay.

Shroud of Oblivion centers on and follows the koldun. The power
has a radius of five feet/two meters per success scored on the
activation roll, and a duration (in turns) equal to the successes. All
those within the radius benefit from the shroud’s effects. The effects
of this power differ according to what land the koldun is currently
located: while in the mortal world, damage from sunlight lessens to
bashing. If anywhere in the Underworld, the faint sun deals no damage.

When the duration of the power expires, the koldun bleeds out,
losing one point of blood each turn until he expends a blood point to
rejuvenate his skin (unless in the Underworld, in which case no blood is
 lost).

Penalties sustained to activate this power are tallied after the
duration ends. Healing prior to that time suspends the power’s effects.

**•• Spectral Cloak**

By harnessing the sight of the dead, the koldun aggrieves those
in the vicinity with a glimpse of the world beyond that of the living.
Spectral Cloak conceals the koldun from unfriendly eyes and drives away
unwanted observers in terror.

System: The koldun plucks out her eyes, crushes them in her
hands, and extends her palms to the sky, then makes the activation roll
(Attribute: Perception). With a success, the pulp turns to dust and
takes flight on an eerie howl of wind that pours from a fathomless
darkness within her empty sockets. Shadows drawn from the surroundings
engulf the koldun who vanishes, rendering her invisible to standard
vision (for those with Auspex, see the sidebar “Seeing the Unseen”,
 using the koldun’s rating in this kraina). Though the koldun sees
normally inside the radius of the power’s effect, she is blind to
anything outside of this area. Others within the radius must succeed on a
 Willpower roll (difficulty equal to the koldun’s rating in the kraina
plus successes scored on the activation roll, maximum 9), or be
afflicted with the Deathsight Flaw and attempt to flee in fright for a
number of turns equal to the successes scored on the activation roll.

The power’s radius centers on and follows the koldun, allowing
her to move about and act on others, even violently, without being
revealed. Spectral Cloak has a radius of ten feet/three meters per
success scored on the activation roll and a duration (in turns) equal to
 the successes. When the duration of the power expires, the koldun is
abandoned to blindness until she expends one blood point to heal (unless
 in the Underworld, where the koldun may continue to see indefinitely,
despite the loss of her eyes). Penalties sustained to activate this
power are tallied after the duration ends. Healing prior to that time
suspends the power’s effects.

**••• Pond of Malevolent Dread**

Nestled just above the abyss in the Underworld, no place is more
frigid, devoid of light, tenebrous, or bleak than the Sea of Shadows, an
 ocean of souls on the precipice of total annihilation. The koldun forms
 a shaft to sup from the doom of this sea and release its flow.

System: The koldun spends a turn eviscerating himself, thrusting
his hands deep in his abdomen to expel his entrails onto the ground,
then makes the activation roll (Attribute: Stamina). With a success, his
 bowels bore through the earth past any obstruction blocking their path,
 then cross over the threshold which separates the vibrant lands of the
living from the desiccated lands of the dead.

His entrails touch the very depths of the Underworld’s bottom
layer, taking root in the Sea of Shadows. The vampire drains its essence
 into himself and discharges it outward in pulsating waves of despair
that bubble up through the earth to ring him in a liquid pool of
seething, writhing spectres. Ghostly arms stretch out to clutch and
feast upon those walking through the circle’s radius. The rippling pool
centers below the koldun, who remains locked in place from the waist
down until the power ends.

The power has a radius of fifteen feet/five meters per success
scored on the activation roll and a duration (in turns) equal to the
successes. All those within the radius have their speed slowed to ¼ and
must succeed at a Willpower roll each turn (difficulty equal to the
koldun’s rating in the kraina plus successes scored on the activation
roll, maximum 9) or lose 1 point of permanent Willpower.

When the duration of the power expires, the koldun severs his
viscera buried in the earth and incurs two levels of unsoakable lethal
damage. This damage cannot be healed by any other means other than by
spending blood. Additionally, the koldun loses an amount of blood points
 equal to half the successes scored on the activation roll, rounded up
(unless in the Underworld, in which case no blood is lost). Wounds
sustained to activate this power are tallied after the duration ends.

Healing prior to that time suspends the power’s effects.

**•••• Wrath of the Tempest**

Permeating most of the Underworld is the Tempest: a roiling,
limitless typhoon made of fractured memories, broken dreams, nightmares,
 fear, and misery.

The koldun summons the death rattles of all whom she has
vanquished, pricking a hole in the barrier between worlds to let bleed
the metaphysical storm.

System: The koldun spends one Willpower point and lifts her head
to the sky, then makes the activation roll (Attribute: Strength). With a
 success, she opens her mouth and a choir of voices not her own issue a
deafening cry that blends into thunder as storm clouds gather above her
for the remainder of the turn. A still silence follows as the koldun
stands frozen, her expression transfixed, echoing the call. Moments
later, a roaring hurricane explodes around her, breaching forth from the
 land of the dead with all the fury of the Underworld. Its eye, a
focused funnel, descends into the koldun’s mouth, causing her to
convulse and writhe as she rises thirty feet into the air.

The tempest has a radius of twenty feet/seven meters per success
scored on the activation roll and a duration (in turns) equal to the
successes. All those within the radius must succeed on a Willpower roll
(difficulty 8) each turn or gain a derangement and enter a strange fugue
 state (described on Derangements)
 called a “Harrowing” as the storm warps memories, trapping those within
 in an internal labyrinth of regret, depression, and hopelessness for
the rest of the scene. While the storm rages, the koldun is mindless and
 completely unaware of her surroundings; she sustains one level of
unsoakable bashing damage each turn as the tempest pounds her from
within (unless in the Underworld, in which case the bashing damage may
be soaked normally). Penalties sustained to activate this power are
tallied after the duration ends.

Healing prior to that time suspends the power’s effects.

**••••• Hunger of the Void**

The koldun embodies the distortions of the Tempest, torturing his soul to cleave a pit of perfect destruction into reality.

System: The koldun spends a Willpower point, reaches down his
throat, and pulls out his own soul. He spends a turn tormenting and
stretching the spirit’s mouth ever wider as it mutely protests, clawing
impotently at its violator in shocked disbelief. He tosses the contorted
 soul to the earth at his feet, then makes the activation roll
(Attribute: Strength) before diving into it. With a success, the giant
maw transforms into a cavity five feet in circumference that begins
sucking in all it can to appease its insatiable appetite.

The power has a radius of twenty five feet/eight meters per
success scored on the activation roll and a duration (in turns) equal to
 the successes. All those within the radius are dragged ten feet/three
meters per turn toward the Nihil, and have their speed slowed by half
every five feet/two meters nearer they are to it. If consumed by the
maw, they disappear and must make a Willpower roll (difficulty 9). After
 the power ends, the Nihil implodes, leaving an enormous crater in its
wake. At the base of the crater lies the koldun with all the maw has
consumed resting on top of him. Characters who have failed the roll are
turned into mindless creatures, their virtues and morality stripped from
 them completely and reduced to zero. Vampires succeeding on the roll
enter a Harrowing (see Wrath of the Tempest) for the rest of the scene
and gain a derangement. Regardless of success or failure, any mortal
consumed by the pit has its soul obliterated and enters a permanent
coma.

A vampire’s undead stasis cannot incarnate this otherworldly
energy. Upon the power’s conclusion, fissures of unfiltered nothingness
shred the koldun’s soul from within as searing chars erupt to split the
flesh across hisentire frame (inflicting two levels of aggravated
damage).

### T**he Black Sea Kraina**

Koldun of the Black Sea region practice these rites.

**• Danubian Voices**

Originating in the Black Forest and passing through a dozen
nations en route to emptying into the Black Sea, the mighty Danube has
been the sustaining artery of countless empires for as long as people
have dwelt upon its banks. And through all of them, the Tzimisce kept
watch. The koldun know its true value, for the spirits of the river
speak to them, passing on what they know or carrying messages for them
in exchange for a taste of the vampiric sorcerers’ vitae.

**System:** The koldun drips the requisite blood into a river,
 stream, or other flowing waterway. Even the runoff from thawing snow or
 a heavy rain is enough to make use of this power. If it is the Danube
itself, or one of its tributaries, no initial expenditure of blood is necessary at all. They then make the activation roll (Attribute: Charisma); if they
 succeed, a spirit of the water appears to them and will serve them
(such as they can) for a number of days equal to successes rolled. This
duration may be extended any time before it expires by splashing the water with more blood; one blood point extends the spirit’s thralldom by
 an additional day.

What the spirit can do is quite limited; they can converse with
the koldun, sharing whatever they know, or they can give it a message to carry to someone or someplace else. The spirit will be more than happy to talk of what it knows; river spirits can be quite garrulous and the Tzimisce is advised to help lead the spirit to the topics they’re most
interested in lest they be regaled for hours with prosaic descriptions
of surrounding countryside. The spirit is only capable of moving up and
down their waterway (and upstream is much slower than down), so the
recipient of the message must be someone it can encounter in its
journey. Another method involves instructing the spirit to go to a place
along its path and delivering the message to the first person it meets,
though this obviously has its drawbacks as well. A koldun may also
beseech a water spirit to remain in one place and watch for trespassers
or other threats, then to move quickly along the riverbed to warn her of danger should any present itself.

**•• Grave of the Marea Neagra**

The Scythians of old had their own name for the great sea around
which they dwelt: axšaina, which translates to “unlit” to our ears.
Their description is apt; sunlight fails to penetrate much beyond the
surface and in the deepest portions, even air ceases to exist. It is, in
 many ways, the perfect sanctuary for a corpse, as attested to by the
many ships and their crews preserved for eternity along its bottom, many
 of them put there by koldun who dwell beneath the waves.

**System:** The koldun may always descend safely into the
lowest depths of the Black Sea, where she may rest comfortably,
protected from the sun and the outside world. By splashing her blood
into a body of water large enough to contain her mass and making her activation roll (Attribute: Wits), she imbues that water with all the
protective properties of the Black Sea. She cannot be harmed by
sunlight, her body is perfectly preserved for as long as she remains
interred within, and she becomes extremely difficult to detect. To spot the koldun, a character must roll Perception + Alertness
(difficulty 8) and achieve more successes than the koldun rolled on her
activation roll. Those who engage the submerged Tzimisce take two levels of lethal damage each turn they remain in the freezing cold water.

**••• Pontos Euxeinos**

The Greeks once called the Black Sea Pontos Euxeinos, the
Hospitable Sea. For the koldun of the Black Sea kraina, it truly can be,
 holding them in its embrace and healing them of even their worst
injuries.

**System:** The koldun must have access to a large enough body
 of water to submerge herself in. Once submerged in the comforting
water, she releases the requisite blood into it (though if it is
actually the Black Sea, no blood point expenditure is necessary), then
make her activation roll (Attribute: Stamina). Each success may be
allocated to healing just as if it were a blood point (one success heals
 one level of bashing or lethal damage, while five successes will heal a
 level of aggravated damage). This does not reduce the limitation of
time upon healing; to heal aggravated damage, the koldun must remain
submerged and at rest for a day per level healed.

**•••• Minions of Deep Marmora**

Legend says that the koldun Cyzicus, who ruled openly as king of
the Dollonians in days of antiquity, discovered if he spilled his blood
into the Sea of Marmora, strange beasts from its depths would emerge to
do his bidding. Other koldun have found that any body of water serves
the same, although the creatures that dwell in the deeps of Marmora are
the strongest.

**System:** The koldun splashes his blood upon the surface of
the water — at least one blood point, but as many as he chooses to spend
 — then makes the activation roll (Attribute: Manipulation). For each
success, up to the total number of blood points spent, one minion
emerges from the water. The Minions of Deep Marmora are strange humanoid
 creatures, combining the features of frog and fish. They will perform
one task for the koldun, after which they are free to return to their
watery abodes. Each minion may be given a different task to perform.

Minions use the following stats (stats in parentheses are for those minions summoned from the Black Sea itself):

Minion of the Deep
 Willpower
 Health Levels
 Abilities
 Attacks
 Abilities

**••••• Pontos Axeinos**

Before the Greeks settled its southern shoreline, they called the Black Sea Pontos Axeinos, the Inhospitable Sea. For the enemies of the koldun, it can be very inhospitable, birthing storms, whirlpools, fog, and rocky barricades where there were none moments before.

**System:** The koldun drips his blood into a body of water
(unless it is the Black Sea, in which case no blood need be expended)
and makes the activation roll (Attribute: Intelligence). She may
allocate their successes to manifest any number of dangerous waterborne
hazards for her opponents to deal with; some examples of what each
success can accomplish: a whirlpool or undertow with a Strength rating
equal to the koldun’s Strength that may seize or drag others, increase
the current’s Strength multiplier by one, reveal jagged rocks that do
Strength + 3 lethal damage when smashed upon, fog that increases all
sight-based Perception difficulties by 2, driving winds and rain with
gales up to 50 miles per hour/75 km per hour, a precipitous drop in
water temperature to near freezing levels, and so on. This power lasts a
 scene, and then dissipates.

### **The Kraina of the Well**

Legend holds that this kraina is the very first kraina, developed by
the Eldest upon its discovery of the original Well of Sacrifice. Unlike
others of its ilk, the Kraina of the Well is not harbored in exclusivity
 by the Old Clan alone. The Old Clan also instructs those Baali on Via
Hyron dedicated to the Order of Moloch’s mission to conquer or slay the
demonic with zero tolerance for all who’ve fallen into its infernal maw.
 Baali students do not cultivate a primary kraina and cannot learn other
 kraina other than the Well.

In order to enact the power of this kraina, the koldun is
obligated to establish a sympathetic bond to the original Well of
Sacrifice by building a duplicate for her own use and anointing it with
her blood. Wells of Sacrifice are often constructed in secluded areas
hidden from potential disturbance (see Wells of Sacrifice), and their
spiraling pattern is reminiscent of (and pays homage to) the symbol of
Clan Tzimisce. In the wilderness, the “roots” of a mountain, in a cave,
or the base of a tree are traditionally favored locations. A koldun
abiding in the sprawl of a modern city might choose a deserted rooftop
water reservoir, the remnants of a retired or never completed subway
system, or an abandoned building or elevator shaft open to the sky.

The construction of a Well requires six hours of uninterrupted
work every night for one full week, followed by enchantment and a mortal
 sacrifice each month thereafter to maintain. During construction, the
koldun gives six blood points per night to the Well and makes an
extended Manipulation + Occult roll (difficulty 7). If a night’s work is
 missed or if the seven rolls do not accumulate at least 25 net
successes, the Well remains dormant and the koldun must begin anew from
scratch. To maintain a Well, the koldun prepares her sacrifice and again
 makes a gift of six blood points, then rolls Manipulation + Occult
(difficulty 7, needing a minimum of three successes). A sympathetic Well
 constructed in this manner lasts indefinitely unless its structure is
ruined. Should a koldun’s Well be destroyed, she loses access to all
powers in this kraina until a new Well is erected.

**• Call the Children**

In order to command a thing, one should venture to know it.
Demons, much like dogs, always endeavor to come when called by their
masters. The technique of conjuring forth Hell’s dwellers has ever been a
 staple at the table of infernal practice.

System: Necessitating a full scene of uninterrupted focus and the
 expenditure of one blood point to enact, the koldun performs a long
series of incantations while tracing glyphs surrounding a circle in his
own blood around the entrance to his Well of Sacrifice. The power and
strength of a demon the koldun is capable of summoning rises
proportionate to the level of his advancement in the kraina.

As the koldun’s skill in the kraina rises, so, too, does his
ability to invoke demons of increasing power. Over the course of the
scene he makes an extended invocation roll (Attribute: Wits), requiring
an amount of successes equal to the difficulty level of the demon
summoned.

 Kraina Level 2
 Kraina Level 3
 Kraina Level 4
 Kraina Level 5

Demons use the statistics presented on pp. 386-387 of V20.
Storytellers should freely exchange specific Abilities and Disciplines
for others and vary Attribute scores to suit the needs of their game.
Demons invoked through Call the Children are not in possession of a
mortal host, retaining the countenance of their Apocalyptic Form
described under Powers and Weaknesses. Without being bound, a demon
cannot exit the confines of the summoning circle within and will be
ripped back into Hell after a number of turns equal to the difficulty
level of its conjuration have expired. The demon can communicate, but
generally demand an exchange of goods or services (sometimes even a
contract) for any information asked of them, and even then, there’s no
guarantee they need answer truthfully. The player may choose to summon
the same demon again at a later date if a bargain was struck but
unfulfilled before the conclusion of the power’s duration.

Two or more koldun with this power may elect a primary summoner
and work in concert to invoke an entity. The difficulty level is reduced
 by one (minimum 4) for each koldun assisting in the invocation.

**•• Heed the Hell-bound Heart**

Whether by blessing or familiarity, a koldun who drinks from her
Well gains a supernatural sense that alerts her when demonic influence
is near, wielding the ability to scan places, objects, or beings
corrupted by the stamp of infernal company.

System: By sipping a blood point directly from her Well, the
koldun adds her levels attained in Kraina of the Well to her Awareness
Ability for detecting demonic influence in areas tainted by its presence
 or souls stained by its touch. This effect last for as long as the
blood point remains in her system. Blood is always consumed in the order
 it was ingested.

**••• Aegis Alighieri**

Named in the modern nights for the famed Venetian poet, Aegis
Alighieri shields the koldun from violating onslaughts, predations, and
defilement by demonic forces.

System: The koldun lacerates a vein, spending one turn and a
blood point to coat an amulet in her blood, then makes the activation
roll (Attribute: Charisma). For the remainder of the scene, the koldun
adds successes scored on the activation roll to the difficulty rating
for supernatural attacks and influences of infernal origin used to
target her (such as infernally blessed objects, Investments and Gifts,
or any Disciplines and blood sorcery powers wielded by infernalists and
demons). She also gains an amount of extra dice on rolls to resist those
 same effects equal to the amount of successes scored. Any mundane or
mystical object may be consecrated as an amulet; popular choices include
 ceremonial daggers, shamed crucifixes, or decapitated heads that
animate to scream endlessly in silence. However, only the koldun
benefits from the protection granted through Aegis Alighieri and must
have the amulet on her person for this power to function. Prior to
activating this power, the koldun is required to have dipped the amulet
in her Well, letting it soak therein for one full night. Two or more
koldun working together in close proximity (within 50 feet/15 meters)
grant each other one extra success on resistance rolls and increase the
difficulty to target by one (maximum 9) for all koldun present with this
 power activated.

**•••• Heave the Host of Hell**

After learning to call, to sense, and then to defend against infernal marring, the koldun now may erase its scars entirely.

System: The koldun creates a link to his Well by molding or
digging a bowl-shaped impression (minimum one foot/30 cm in diameter)
into the earth and christening it with one blood point. He chants a
litany of admonishments and curses while sprinkling the blood on the
area or baptizing the subject he intends to exorcize, then makes the
activation roll (Attribute: Manipulation).

To cleanse an area, being, or thing of infernal imprint or evict a
 demonic entity, an amount of successes are required relative to the
degree of corruption infused (1 to 2 for minor blemishes, 3 for subtle
infections of noticeable evil, 4 or more for objects and spaces
radiating a palpably potent malevolence). Infernalists imbued with the
diabolical and demonic spirits disgracing an area with their presence
(or directly in possession of beings, locations, or things) may resist
by spending a Willpower point, then rolling Willpower (difficulty equal
to the koldun’s permanent Willpower rating). Demons failing the roll are
 dismissed and banished back to Hell. Cleansed infernalists do not
regain their damned souls, but any infernal mark that once permeated
there being is permanently expelled.

One or more koldun with Heave the Host of Hell may assist a
primary exorcist to negate an infernal blight. The difficulty level to
cleanse or evict is reduced by one (minimum 4) for each koldun aiding in
 the exorcism.

**••••• Reap the Well**

Kolduns who attain full mastery in Kraina of the Well earn the sobriquet of “Hellreaper” by their peers, and for good reason.

System: Upon summoning a demon or discovering an escapee
unfettered and loose outside the prison of Hell, the koldun may attempt
to bind and enslave the creature to her will. The koldun cuts her
wrists, taking a turn to pool one blood point in her cupped hands in
order to fabricate a connection to her Well. When ready, she spends a
Willpower point and makes the activation roll (Attribute: Strength). The
 blood leaps from her hands in the form of six interlocking hooked
chains anchored beneath her slit wrists which lunge toward the target
with unerring precision (maximum 100 feet/30 meters). If the roll is a
success, the blood-hooks painfully latch into the entity, creating gory
wounds (no damage) regardless of whether the creature possesses a
physical form. An ensnared creature may struggle to break one chain per
turn by spending a Willpower point, then rolling Willpower (difficulty
equal to the koldun’s permanent Willpower rating).

For as long as the hooks penetrate the entity’s body, once per
turn the koldun may demand its True Name, tormenting the demon by
rolling Intelligence + Intimidation against the target’s current
Willpower points to wrack its soul with excruciating pain. With a
success, the victim cries out the answer in supplication. The koldun has
 two choices: she may unshackle and dismiss the demon through Heave the
Host of Hell, or absorb it into herself.

A koldun that has acquired a demon’s True Name reduces the
difficulty level by two when evoking it at a later date through Call the
 Children. Demons bound by their True Name may exit the confines of a
circle they’ve been invoked within, and can be commanded by a koldun to
complete a number of tasks for a number of days equal to the successes
scored on the in vocation roll. The demon will answer any of the
koldun’s questions, and the koldun does not need to offer an exchange of
 services for questions or tasks.

If choosing to absorb a chained demon, the koldun may spend a
blood point to instantly call it forth again. Chained demons are wholly
compliant and serve the will of the koldun in whatever capacity she
demands, but must remain in bondage (maximum 100 feet/30 meters) to the
koldun. A koldun can control up to six chained demonic thralls; each
chain divided decreases the amount of chains available for future
binding and increases the difficulty to torment untamed demons by one.

A demon who disobeys or lies to a summoner who knows its True
Name when conjuring it causes a demon crippling agony. Should Reap the
Well be used to perform a violent exorcism on a living host possessed by
 a demon, the host rolls Stamina against a difficulty equal to the
amount of turns taken to tame the demon into revealing its True Name. A
failure results in the host dying of shock.

Multiple koldun may Reap the Well together, collectively
decreasing the difficulty to torment a demon by one per chain (minimum
4). The Hellreaper who successfully extracts the demon’s True Name on
their turn may choose to bind it or dismiss it. All koldun present hear
the demon howl its True Name, and if dismissed, may individually conjure
 it. A demon in thrall to a Hellreaper cannot be evoked until released
from service.

### **The Krania of Transylvanian**

Koldun of the Transylvania region practice the following magics.

**• Burebista’s Throne**

Legend has it that King Burebista, who terrorized the Greeks for centuries — first as the mortal king of Dacia, and later as a mighty
koldun — built a great throne atop a mountain peak from which he could
survey all his lands and track the movements of all his enemies. The
legend is true, though in time Burebista no longer needed the throne to
observe his kingdom. He passed on this secret to his childer, and today
most every koldun of the Transylvanian kraina can sit upon his throne.

System: The koldun spends a blood point and makes the activation
roll (Attribute: Perception). If atop any mountain in Carpathia, there
is no need to expend blood. On a success, the koldun can send his senses
 soaring high into the air, or extend them beyond their body; how far
depends on how many successes are rolled (see below). A koldun using this krania can target creatures he sees as if he were in that place.

This effect lasts until the koldun pulls back his senses or the end of the scene, whichever comes first.

Successes Area

1 success A 50 yard/meter radius

2 successes A 100 yard/meter radius

3 successes A 500 yard/ meter radius

4 successes A mile/1.5 kilometer radius

5 successes A three mile/ten kilometer radius

**•• Pietrosu’s Hospitality**

Mount Pietrosu is the highest, and most dangerous, peak in the
Carpathians, where the biting winds and frigid temperatures will kill an
 unprotected man in mere moments.

A perfect setting to destroy one’s enemies. Getting an unprepared
 foe up Pietrosu is quite difficult, however; much easier, the kolduns
reason, to take the mountain with them.

System: The koldun must toss the requisite blood into the air
(unless they are standing within sight of the Carpathians, in which case
 no blood expenditure is required) and make the activation roll
(Attribute: Dexterity). If they succeed, a powerful, frigid wind arises
all around the koldun for a number of turns equal to successes rolled.
This wind causes one level of bashing damage each turn and numbs the
bodies of anyone except the koldun caught within, reducing their
movement by half and Dexterity pools by two. On the turn after this
power expires, the Dexterity penalty is reduced to one and movement is
three-quarters, and the turn after that the victim regains full
Dexterity and mobility. A useful side effect of this power is that the
koldun is immune to the cold and force of wind while this is active; when trekking in mountains or other environs where wind may be a hazard,
 they need only activate Pietrosu’s Hospitality to ward themselves from danger.

**••• The Banks of the Basca**

When the rains come in the Carpathians, the Bâsca leaps its banks
 and whole villages are swept away, along with any person, living or
dead, unwise enough not to seek higher ground. The koldun wielding this
power carries with her the surging might of the Bâsca wherever she goes.

System: The koldun releases her blood into running water - a
river or stream is most common, though a rivulet or even just runoff
from thawing snow is enough — and rolls to activate this power
(Attribute: Strength). On a success, the blood bolsters the flow,
causing it to swell and surge forward, a flash flood given magical life.
 Anyone, as well as most anything not secured to the ground, caught in
its path will be swept away towards the point of lowest elevation at a
rate of a hundred yards a turn, and must soak five dice of bashing
damage per turn. Any subject somehow prevented from being carried
downstream — wedged against a wall or other immoveable object, for
instance — takes twice the normal amount of damage. Additionally,
mortals must make a swimming roll (difficulty 8) each turn to avoid
swallowing great mouthfuls of water; failure inflicts one additional
level of lethal damage which cannot be soaked. These rushing waters last
 for a number of turns equal to successes rolled to activate the power,
or twice that number if the source of the flooding is any Carpathian
river.

**•••• Kupala’s Exhalation**

In the Berca basin, near the Eastern Orthodox monastery of
Ratesti, vegetation ceases to grow and the strange gasses of the
underworld bubble up into our world, forming tiny cones of mud that
quickly harden while they exhale their frigid breaths. Some koldun have
learned to summon these deadly gasses for themselves; they claim it’s
the breath of Kupala himself. They may be right.

**System:** The koldun expends blood, at least one point’s
worth but as much as she wants, and rolls to activate this power
(Attribute: Stamina). Once per turn, for a number of turns equal to the
successes she rolled, to a limit of however much blood was spent, she
may cause the gasses beneath the ground to erupt upward, forming a tiny
volcanic crater. These gasses are bitingly cold; anyone caught within a
ten-foot radius of the cone is subject to the same damage and penalties
as Pietrosu’s Hospitality. Even worse, the bubbling gas is highly
flammable; any nearby flame will ignite the gas in a terrible explosion,
 inflicting five dice of lethal damage (aggravated to vampires) to all
those within range of the cone. If this power is activated within the
Berca basin, each blood point spent counts for double.

**••••• Restless Medias**

From time to time, the ground beneath the village of Medias will
shake and roil, tearing buildings from their moorings and sometimes even
 killing the unwary. The locals blame the gods, but the koldun know it
is Kupala, restlessly stirring within his earthen tomb. Those with the
greatest skill know how to rouse his agitations.

**System:** The koldun spends a Willpower point in addition to
 the usual blood point and activation roll (Attribute: Strength). If
used within sight of the Carpathians, no blood point expenditure is
necessary. Each success allows the koldun to either affect a larger area
 (see below) or prolong the earthquake’s duration. Anyone and anything
caught within range of the quake is subject to ten dice of lethal damage
 each turn they remain in its area of effect, and must make a Dexterity +
 Athletics roll (difficulty 8) or else be knocked off their feet. Most
homes and simple structures will collapse after a turn or two;
structures of sturdier construction, such as castles, remain standing
four or five turns before they are utterly destroyed.

Successes Area

1 success One home or a small building

2 successes Several buildings, as many as five

3 successes An entire street in a town or village

4 successes A large structure, such as a castle

5 successes An entire village, or a portion of a city

## **Standard Paths and Abilities**

The actual casting of Koldunic sorcery requires more than a clumsy exertion of will. Such magic demands perfection of form and mastery of the appropriate lore.

The caster’s player spends one blood point and rolls (Attribute) + Occult against a difficulty of the power’s level + 3, with the specific Attribute listed for each path or “way.” Vampires always use the base Attribute, ignoring any bonuses gained from blood expenditure or other Disciplines. All kolduns must select one of the ways listed below as their primary path.

Koldunic Sorcery
Dice Mechanics
In addition, the default assumption is that Koldunic Sorcery is almost universal among Old Clan Tzimisce, fairly common among Sabbat Tzimisce, and nearly unheard of among all other Clans. The school’s metaphysical connections to Kupala and to the lands permeated by that spirit increase the difficulty by +1 on all Koldunic Sorcery rolls made on behalf of kolduns who work their magic outside the territories of Eastern Europe.

### **The Way of Earth**

Capable of great destruction and great healing, the earth is the womb of life and the sepulcher of death. It drinks all blood violently spilled upon its soil, and so mirrors the vampire. It is by association with the earth as a source of strength that a koldun enacts his will.

Attribute: Stamina

**• Grasping Soil**

A koldun invoking this power may command earth to rise in a spray of dirt and crawl up a victim’s legs. This power can only command soil, not stone, and may only target victims standing on the earth.

System: The koldun may direct any patch of earth within a 100-foot/30-meter radius to ensnare a target for two turns per success rolled. Animated dirt ascends and constricts midway between the victim’s knees and hips, holding her fast unless her player scores five successes on Strength + Survival roll (difficulty 6). It is also possible to use this power as an attack, in which case the grasping earth crushes once and then releases.

Used in this manner, each success on the casting inflicts one level of lethal damage. Such damage manifests as broken legs and crushed feet.

**•• Endurance of Stone**

Drawing the essence of earth into himself, a koldun may gain a measure of its preternatural resilience. Under the effects of this power, a vampire’s skin resembles a horrid fusion of flesh and stone that cracks and flows impossibly with every movement.

System: A successful activation roll grants the koldun two extra dots of Stamina for the rest of the scene. These dots are considered part of the character’s natural Stamina and may aid in any uses of that Attribute, including soak.

**••• Hungry Earth**

Expanding on the power of Grasping Soil, a koldun may use this power to drag a victim into the earth. He need only gesture and the soil beneath his victim opens like the maw of a great beast. This power may ensnare any victim who stands upon the earth within 100 feet/30 meters of the koldun.

System: Like Grasping Soil, every success on the activation roll leaves the victim immobile for one turn. However, the difficulty of the Strength + Survival roll to break free increases to 8 and doing so still requires five successes. As the earth continues to shift and grasp while the power remains active, this roll must be made as a single (though repeatable) attempt rather than an extended test. In addition, beings trapped in the crushing pit suffer one level of lethal damage each turn. Beings capable of soaking this damage may do so, but at difficulty 7. At the end of the power’s duration, the earth yawns once more to release the victim.

**•••• Root of Vitality**

As with Hungry Earth, the koldun may direct the land to bury any target standing on the earth within a 100-foot/30-meter radius. Yet this power is far more benevolent in its intent, if no less disturbing in its manifestation. The soil ripples, parting and closing like some obscene womb as it draws the target a full yard beneath the surface. Living beings entombed in this fashion do not suffocate, as the enchanted soil pumps air from above in undulating breaths. Better still, the fertile essence of the earth presses upon her flesh and restores it to new health. Still, the process is highly disturbing and unnatural, especially as targets remain wholly aware in silent, helpless immobility for the full duration. It is possible for a koldun to heal himself with this power.

System: The player spends as many blood points as desired (which may require multiple turns depending on Generation) and makes the activation roll. Each success permits the earth to heal two levels of bashing damage or one level of lethal damage. Healing aggravated damage requires two successes per level. The total number of health levels that may be restored with each use of this power is the number of blood points invested or the number of successes on the activation roll, whichever is lower. Any blood points spent beyond the number of successes drain away to no effect.

The actual healing process takes one turn per bashing level, one minute per lethal level, and one hour per aggravated level. Once the healing is complete or the power is interrupted through determined excavation, the earth expels the target back to the surface.

**••••• Kupala’s Fury**

Mortals pray in fear when the mountains shake. They fear the wrath of the Old Gods, and rightfully so. This is not a power used lightly or capriciously, because it represents one of the greatest weapons available to Koldunic Sorcery.

System: This power requires a Willpower point in addition to the usual cost and activation roll. The koldun smites the earth with his fist, and his anger flows through the soil to any target in his line of sight. The quake erupts outward from that point, inflicting 10 dice of lethal damage on everything and everyone in the area of effect. Most wooden structures collapse entirely and even buildings of concrete and steel may grow cracked and pitted with superficial damage from the shaking earth. This tremor lasts one turn and affects an area determined by the number of successes rolled. It is not possible to apply fewer successes than those rolled.

Successes Area

1 success One house or single storefront

2 successes Five lesser structures or a small city block

3 successes An entire side street or a large city block

4 successes Multiple square blocks or a large structure (like a stadium)

5 successes An entire neighborhood or massive industrial complex

### **The Way of Wind**

Subtler than mastery over earth, this way evokes the air in the breath of the living and last rattle of a dying man. In stillness or motion, koldun turn all aspects of air to their unliving design.

Attribute: Perception

**• Breath of Whispers**

Even in their absence, koldun instill deep fear in their servants. This power carries the vampire’s words on a light breeze and returns with the target’s reply. The vampire need only address the target by name and forcibly mimic a deep exhalation of breath as he speaks his message.

System: Every time the koldun wishes to send a new message via this power, his player makes the usual activation roll. However, the player need only spend blood the first time the power is used during a given scene. Each success permits one turn of speech. After the vampire concludes the message, swift winds carry it to its destination. Within a minute, the target hears the koldun as if the vampire whispered in his ear. He may reply or remain silent, but anything he says within a number of turns equal to the koldun’s successes flies back to the koldun. This power may bring words to anyone within a mile (one and a half kilometers) who is not in a sealed room. While using this power, a koldun must concentrate fully. Any disturbance breaks the communication.

**•• Biting Gale**

Vengeful koldun sought to invoke a wind as chill as air atop the Carpathian Mountains. This power achieves that end, unleashing a cutting wind that can freeze a man’s blood in his veins as it swirls through an area of his choosing. Besides its obvious combat applications, this power also facilitates a dramatic entrance for those so inclined.

System: With a successful activation roll, the koldun summons a freezing wind within a maximum of a 100-yard/meter radius. Anyone caught in this frigid blast suffers one die of bashing damage each turn (which may be soaked normally), loses two dice from all Dexterity pools, and moves at half normal speed. The winds last as long as the koldun wills, provided he maintains concentration. Any non-reflexive actions on the part of the vampire cause the winds to still and dissipate. This includes any movement.

**••• Breeze of Lethargy**

Although they cannot induce immediate sleep, the winds evoked by this power bring growing exhaustion and numbing weariness through every muscle. Victims of this power often smell a hint of bittersweet smoke before they fall entranced.

System: For two turns per success, the koldun creates a wind inflicting extreme lethargy within a 200-foot/60-meter radius. Players of characters caught in this wind must roll Stamina + Survival (difficulty 8).

This roll is made once every ten minutes of exposure. Failure means the character halves all dice pools involving physical actions for the remaining duration of the wind and halves all movement rates for the scene. A botch puts the character to sleep (or a state of light torpor for vampires) for the scene. Sleeping characters awaken if prodded, shaken, or otherwise manhandled, though they move slowly and may suffer halved dice pools if the wind persists.

**•••• Ride the Tempest**

A koldun employing this power moves at incredible speeds as he rides along the winds. While traveling with this power, a vampire assumes a blurred form that coalesces as he reaches his destination.

System: With a successful activation roll, the koldun fades into the wind and flies at 250 mph/400 kph to his destination. This power cannot effectively function in caves, buildings, or other enclosed areas. Outside, the vampire’s flight navigates all obstacles. Once the koldun arrives at his destination or the scene ends, the vampire descends to earth and solidifies.

**••••• Tempest**

Applying fury magnified by blood and will, a koldun may project the full measure of his anger into the night sky. Churning gray clouds blot out stars and moon, unleashing spiraling gusts and a driving downpour of freezing rain. Lightning arcs overhead, with each thunderous flash casting jagged shadows.

System: With a successful activation roll and a point of Willpower (in addition to the usual blood), a koldun may conjure a terrible storm. It takes six hours for the clouds to gather and thicken overhead, minus one hour for every success rolled. If this results in a duration of less than one hour, the clouds blossom outward from directly overhead like a black canopy, filling the sky in mere minutes. Once the clouds form, the rain begins to fall in torrents and the lightning begins. The storm persists at full strength for one hour per success rolled. It gradually dissipates over the hour following that. During the peak of its fury, the storm may cause flooding and certainly chills any exposed mortal to the bone (1 die of unsoakable bashing damage every five minutes of full exposure). Lightning strikes regularly, far more than a usual storm. Indeed, for a cost of one Willpower point, a koldun may direct lightning at a foe using his Perception + Occult (difficulty 6). A successful strike inflicts 10 dice of lethal damage (which can be soaked normally).

Only one such attack may be made each turn.

### **The Way of Water**

Largely practiced by koldun with havens near a large water source, this way can raise watery spirit slaves and dash a ship to splinters. More subtly, the vampire may lurk in the depths or conjure illusions to confound and dazzle his foes.

Attribute: Wits

**• Pool of Lies**

This versatile power creates three-dimensional illusions along the surface of a water source. How a koldun uses such illusions depends on his temperament and will. It is just as easy to feign a divine visitation as a cunning seduction.

System: With a successful activation roll, the koldun may project an illusion on any water surface in line of sight. The illusion may speak and move however the vampire wishes, though it has no substance and cannot step beyond the bounds of the water. The phantom lasts one turn per success rolled, after which it slowly dissipates into fine mist. It is possible to extend this lifespan with subsequent activations of the power, each of which stack in determining final duration. Rolls to extend an illusion’s duration add one to the base difficulty, but require no blood. Once an illusion fades away, it must be cast anew.

**•• Watery Haven**

Just as the Gangrel meld with the earth, so may a koldun with this power sink beneath the water to escape the sun. The vampire does not so much submerge as merge with the water. Though his slumbering form may be visible at odd angles from above, only the most determined splashing can disturb his rest.

System: This power requires no blood. If the player gains two or more successes on the activation roll, the vampire sinks into the water as per the Protean power Earth Meld. A body of water must be at least two feet deep and as large in other dimensions as the vampire’s body to contain him. Catching a glimpse of a hidden koldun in the water requires a successful Perception + Alertness roll (difficulty 8).

**••• Fog Over Sea**

Moving with the unnatural grace of a ghost, a koldun employing this power may stride across water as readily as land, leaving nary a ripple to mark his passing. Some vampires delight in using this power in conjunction with Pool of Lies to conjure phantasms to attend them.

System: For every success on the activation roll, the koldun may walk on water for one scene or one hour, whichever is longer. A koldun may choose to drop the effects of this power in order to submerge or swim; however, the vampire may not walk on water again unless he reactivates the power.

**•••• Minions of the Deep**

By dripping his blood into a body of water, a koldun may summon or rouse embodied water elementals to serve him for a night. Such minions are infallibly loyal, if not especially clever. Despite their liquid form, they are solid enough to grab a man and drag him to a watery grave or pummel him like the crashing surf.

System: The player spends one Willpower point and makes the standard activation roll. With success, the player may spend blood to summon elemental minions. This blood must be dripped or flung into a body of water, which may require multiple turns depending on generational limits for blood expenditure.

Once the last drop of blood falls, the water rises into whatever form the koldun desires. The caster may create as many minions as blood points spent, though not more than the total number of successes rolled. Regardless of their form, the spirits have a rating equal to the vampire’s Wits in all Traits. These beings have no Knowledges and no Skills apart from Stealth. Further more, their Mental and Social Attributes are considered to have a rating of 1 except in passive or defensive situations (such as to resist persuasion or mind-control).

Water elementals soak and otherwise suffer damage as vampires, including from sunlight. Fire harms them less, inflicting bashing damage only. Moreover, the watery creatures may extinguish flames with their liquid bodies, though not without suffering injury. An elemental who leaves the body of water that spawned it suffers one level of aggravated damage per hour. Minions regenerate one level of damage of any kind (including aggravated) each turn they remain in contact with a large body of water, but do not otherwise heal. Unless destroyed, summoned minions last until the next dawn before collapsing into inanimate puddles.

**••••• Doom Tide**

Many ships lie at the bottom of the Black Sea, shattered by the whirlpools of the koldun. Victims of this power must fight with every ounce of their strength or fall into the whirling, airless depths below.

System: The player spends a Willpower point in addition to the usual blood. For every success on the activation roll, the resulting whirlpool has a radius of five feet/1.5 meters, centered anywhere in the vampire’s line of sight. Whirlpools have a base Strength of 15, increasing by 5 dots per success after the first. Victims must successfully oppose this Strength with their own Strength + Survival (difficulty 8) in order to break free. Those who fail are sucked into the depths and pounded with crushing currents. Living beings drown normally, while vampires and other non-breathing creatures simply remain trapped helplessly in the vortex. This power lasts for one scene.

### **The Way of Fire**

The ancient anathema of vampires, the element of fire offers the most powerful and dangerous tool available to koldun. The Way of Fire shares aspects with the Way of Earth, in that it focuses more on magma and fiery rock than pure, naked flame.

Attribute: Manipulation

**• Fiery Courage**

No vampire can master an element he fears, so this power dims that fear to a mere ember of its former intensity.

System: Once learned, this power is permanent and requires no activation roll or blood. The koldun subtracts his rating in the Way of Fire from the difficulty of Courage rolls to resist Rötschreck from exposure or proximity to flame. This power does not aid in resisting the panic that accompanies sunlight or any other causes apart from actual fire. If this reduces the difficulty of a Courage roll below two, the koldun simply does not succumb to the Red Fear. Koldun never risk Rötschrek from fire and magma they conjure.

**•• Combust**

The Cainite’s eyes flash vivid orange with sorcerous power as superheated air coils around the target. In moments, the target bursts into spontaneous flame.

System: For every success on the activation roll, the target suffers one level of aggravated damage. This attack may be dodged, but not blocked, and can affect living (or unliving) beings at +2 difficulty. It is only possible to make one fiery attack per turn.

**••• Wall of Magma**

The koldun raises his hand and the earth splits, spraying a wall of glowing magma 10 feet/3 meters high. Normally, this wall forms a 10-foot/3-meter radius circle around the vampire, although the sorcerer can raise other shapes with practice and skill. System: The wall of magma summoned with this power has a lifespan of two turns per success rolled. If the koldun wishes to release the magma along a shape other than a protective circle, increase the base difficulty by one. Characters cannot approach a wall of molten rock without a Courage roll (difficulty 8), and even then, the close blistering heat inflicts a level of aggravated damage. Actual contact with the lava increases the damage to three levels and raises the soak difficulty to 9, assuming any sort of soak is possible. The koldun takes no damage from his proximity to the summoned magma (although contact with it still damages him as normal).

**•••• Heat Wave**

The koldun acts as a conduit for steam geysers and channels a blast of desiccating air at a victim within line of sight. This fiery wind appears as a rippling heat wave enveloping the victim. Individuals slain with this gruesome power appear as withered, mummified husks.

System: On a successful activation roll, the victim suffers five levels of lethal damage that may be soaked by beings capable of such. Vampire targets also lose five blood points, regardless of the damage inflicted.

**••••• Volcanic Blast**

At the final mastery of Way of Fire, a koldun commands lava to explode from the ground in a huge geyser. The molten rock spews across a wide swath before crashing to earth and flowing in all directions. Anything in the path of the molten rock burns, melts, or vaporizes within moments. The caster may direct the lava to erupt anywhere in his line of sight.

System: This power costs one Willpower point in addition to a blood point. For every success on the activation roll, the initial lava burst lasts one turn. The rivers of burning liquid rock then flow sluggishly for twice this duration before suddenly cooling and hardening.

Even if an object survives the heat, it now lies trapped beneath the rock. Anything that makes contact with lava (including the koldun) suffers a minimum of three levels of aggravated damage. For objects that don’t have health levels, the Storyteller must decide how many turns they last before melting or erupting into their own inferno. A botch on this power opens the lava geyser under an unintended target, possibly the koldun himself.

### **The Way of the Spirit**

This Path is rarely found outside of Old Clan Tzimisce, whose members still stalk the same ancestral lands as their sires and their sires’ sires. But it has utility even for Sabbat Tzimisce, and so its knowledge spreads even to more cosmopolitan Clan-mates. The path allows the koldun to diffuse his perceptions across an increasingly large area. If the magic is performed correctly, the koldun will be able to perceive potentially everything that takes place in the affected area (which might be many square miles), though opening one’s self up fully to such awareness is dangerous for all but the most strong-willed kolduns. Instead, most reflexively limit their perceptions to “all intruders” or “all potential feeding vessels” as they desire, and even the most perceptive koldun might miss something important if she has inadvertently excluded it from her gaze. While the power is active, the koldun may also target any location or person he can perceive with any other Koldunic Path power or ritual, provided that the rating of the Path power or ritual does not exceed that of the koldun’s rating in The Way of the Spirit. This power also defeats the use of Obfuscate by any Kindred within the area of effect.

Attribute: Perception

• The koldun can perceive everything within a 50-foot/20-meter radius.

•• ... within a 100-yard/meter radius.

••• ... within a quarter-mile/half-kilometer radius.

•••• ... within a mile/1.5 kilometer radius.

••••• ... within a five mile/eight kilometer radius.

The number of successes on the activation roll determines how many successive scenes the effect lasts. If activated before the sun rises, the koldun’s awareness can extend into the daylight hours, and the koldun suffers no negative effects from monitoring his lands during the day. He does still suffer the usual dice penalties for taking any other actions during the day.

### **The Way of Sorrows**

While a part of the broader Koldunic school, this Path does not overtly rely upon a direct connection to Kupala. Rather, it invokes a number of curses in the name of various pre-Christian Slavic deities. Then again, some Tzimisce scholars speculate that at least some of those deities are themselves merely aspects of the being which calls itself Kupala. All of these effects require the koldun to be able to directly perceive the target. They cannot generally be used at range through sympathetic magic, but they can be used against a distant target whom the koldun can perceive through powers such as The Way of the Spirit or Scry(Rituals).

**• The Frustrations of Nestrecha**

The koldun may destroy her enemy’s resolve, instilling feelings of pessimism and hopelessness.

System: For one turn per success, the target may not spend Willpower for any purpose.

**•• The Insults of Krivda**

The koldun unleashes a hateful insult towards his foe, thereby provoking her to mindless anger.

System: In response to the insult, the target must immediately roll Self-Control to resist frenzy against a difficulty of 5 + the number of successes on the activation roll, maximum difficulty 9.

**••• The Weeping of Kruchina**

The koldun may instill a crushing despair or nighsuicidal depression in her enemy.

System: For one turn per success, the target is overwhelmed by intense misery and weeps uncontrollably. She cannot engage in any action that requires concentration, and a Kindred loses one blood point each turn as vitae streams from her eyes.

**•••• The Misfortune of Chernogolov**

The koldun taunts his enemy with a prediction of certain doom, which then comes to pass.

System: The target automatically loses two successes on every roll she attempts. The effect lasts for a number of consecutive rolls equal to the successes rolled.

**••••• The Starvation of Marena**

The koldun may now inflict direct damage on her enemy in the form of bitter cold and starving hunger.

System: For each success, the target suffers two levels of bashing damage that can be soaked normally. In addition, a vampire targeted with this power loses one blood point per success.

## **Advanced Koldunism**

As the koldun progresses in her study of Koldunism, she learns that there is more in the world than her and the spirits of the land. She learns of the natural evolution of the world from something primordial and basic to a world of infinite knowledge and possibilities. She learns that there is something greater than the basic elements and paths of Koldunism and sees that power, evolution, and knowledge can come from the plants and natural world around her to the patterns of the weather and even from the very blood that courses through her veins to the thoughts that allow her to be.

This further understanding allows for expanded control over these elements and also teaches that as a man evolved into a vampire so to can the vampire evolve into something else. This does not teach that being evolved is reason for arrogance as there are things that are evolved beyond the koldun, but like the human to a dog, it is a reason to take care over those that she watches. This philosophy strengthened the purpose and control the koldun had over his land in the ancient days. One would be wary to approach a koldun with this level of mastery, if any so powerful exist.

The evolution that is taught through Koldunism mimics the theories of Darwin but applies to the evolution of kindred. Through knowledge, control, and evolution, it is said to be possible to invoke an evolution into something more. Legends say that the ancient kindred Mekhet started the original philosophies of Kolduism, which Koldunic Sorcery eventually evolved from. He also started the original paths towards evolution. It is whispered among some of the most ancient of Tzimisce that he has evolved, that he has become something more. It is these stories that caused the modem Tzimisce to create the Path of Metamorphosis though the advanced philosophies of Koldunism are something far different.

System: Until the koldun reaches level six in both Koldunism and Koldunic Sorcery, she is generally only taught the first five paths as listed above. Usually only after reaching mastery of Koldunism and Koldunic Sorcery is she then taught the advanced paths outlined below. Once the koldun reaches level six Koldunic Sorcery, she automatically gains the first level of one of the advanced paths below. She may learn a second advanced path at level seven Koldunic Sorcery, a third at level eight and the final path at level nine. Koldun's usually learn the Way of Nature first, followed by the Way of Weather, then the Way of Blood and finally the Way of Awareness though this often differs depending on who is instructing the koldun. Only once a character reaches level ten in both Koldunism and Koldunic Sorcery, does she have the knowledge necessary to evolve.

The rules for this "evolution" will not be included and are totally up to the Storyteller providing a Storyteller wants to allow a vampire of the 3rd Generation to be running around his World of Darkness. To put it simply though, at this stage, the koldun has the capability to release himself of the restrictions of disciplines and can Awaken fully as Caine had done under to tutelage of Lillith. The Way of Nature This is usually the first way taught to kolduns as they are taught the more advanced philosophies of Koldunism. Like Nature itself, this way combines the different elements of the previous ways into a single power. It was not usually used for the outward effects that it has, it was used as a learning tool to see how the elements react together to become more in whole than part. When invoking this path, the eyes of the koldun turn forest green.

Note: Potence may not be used to grant the koldun additional successes in these rolls.

### **The Way of Nature**

**• Awaken the Forest's Life**

Invoking this power awakens the vegetation of the area to assist the koldun. This can be anything from awakening trees to use their roots and branches to defend the koldun from attackers or cause smaller vegetation to uproot itself and help he koldun with simple tasks.

System: The character touches the plant to be animated, rolls, and spends a Willpower point. If the vegetationis larger than the koldun such as a tree, it will not be able to uproot itself, but will use its branches and roots to follow very basic verbal commands from the koldun to the best of its ability. If the object is the size of the koldun or smaller, it can uproot itself and move about freely to assist the koldun though it can only follow very basic verbal commands. Very basic commands can include no more than one sentence and may not contain triggers, conditions, etc. The Storyteller has final say as to what commands the awakened plant has the capability to follow. Plants remain animated for one scene per success gained in activation.

While animated, anything larger than the koldun has a Strength and Stamina equal to the koldun's level in Koldunic Sorcery. Anything of equal size or smaller than the koldun has a Strength and Stamina equal to half the koldun's level in Koldunic Sorcery rounded up. All plants have a Dexterity of 2 and a Brawl rating equal to the koldun's. They are also immune to bashing damage, and trees may half lethal damage due to their size though all plants take aggravated damage normally. It may have other abilities at the Storytellers discretion.

**•• Will of Nature**

At this level, the koldun may borrow from the elements of nature to give herself internal strength. The koldun must hold one of the four basic elements in her hand. She must have a handful of dirt for Earth, cup her hands and hold Water, hold her hands to the Wind, or hold something that is burning or has been burnt by Fire.

System: The character does not need to spend a point of Willpower but must gain two successes on a activation roll (difficulty 6) and hold one of the four elements in her hand to activate this power. If she has a handful of earth, the character gains a temporary dot in Conscience or Conviction. If she has a handful of water, the character gains a temporary dot in Self-Control or Instinct. If she holds something that is burning or has been burnt, she gains a temporary dot in Courage. If she holds her hands to the wind (there just be at least a breeze), she gains two temporary dots (not points) in Willpower. These temporary dots will last until the next sunrise though only one of the enhancements can be active at a time. The dots may also go above 5, or 10 in the case of Willpower, though the extra dots in Willpower may not be spent.

**••• Elemental Strength**

When first learning the Way of Nature, seeing the inherent strength in the elements is key and being able to use them is a natural progression. Invoking this power lends the koldun some of the strength inherent in nature.

System: The player spends a Willpower point and succeeds in a Strength + Occult roll (difficulty 7). For the duration of one scene, the koldun may add two dice to all Strength dice pools and can reroll tens on any dice pool where Strength is a required Attribute.

**•••• Create Element**

Invoking this power allows the koldun to create earth, fire, wind or water out of nothing. This power is a certain breach of the Masquerade to kindred of the modern night, but in days before the Inquisition it was used freely to strike fear in the hearts of those who saw it or prove the koldun's godhood to mortals.

System: The character spends a Willpower point and rolls Strength + Occult (difficulty 8). For every success gained, the koldun can create one cubic foot of the element of her choice anywhere within line of sight. The power Awareness of the Spirit may be used to place the element anywhere within the koldun's perception.

**••••• Summon the Spirit of Nature**

A koldun can now summon one of the spirits of nature. This can be the spirit of a plant or animal usually known as an Incarna or summon the spirit of one of the four basic elements of nature known as an Elemental.

System: The character must be near some quantity of the element or spirit to be summoned and spend a Willpower point. For example, if she is summoning a Fire Elemental, she must be near fire or if she is summoning a Fox Incarna she must be near a fox. The spirit invoked may or may not actually follow the koldun's instructions once summoned, but generally will at least pay rough attention to what it's being told. The number of successes gained in a Strength + Occult roll (difficulty 9) determines the power level of the spirit.

For information on different spirits, refer to the Axis Mundi or follow the rules for Summon Elemental in the Guide to the Camarilla on pages 99 and 100 to create the traits for the spirit.

### **The Way of Weather**

This way combines the principles of Nature with further understanding of elemental properties. This power allows a koldun to affect the weather of any area that she can perceive. The exact uses of this power have never been fully documented though the possibilities are endless. Some younger koldun believe that the weather can be used to manipulate the outcomes of gatherings, meetings, etc. and that the more ancient koldun are using this power in the Jyhad. When invoking this path, the koldun's eyes become completely white and a wind swirls around her.

**• Control Temperature**

This power allows the koldun to make minute and even drastic changes to the Temperature of an area.

System: Unlike most paths, this way does not have a set difficulty. The difficulty of the roll is the based on the result desired. The player spends a Willpower point and rolls Dexterity + Occult (variable difficulty). The temperature takes about 15 minutes to change to the desired temperature. It can affect an area the size of small town and continues for one hour per success scored.

 Temperature +/- 15° F.
 Temperature +/- 20° F.
 Temperature +/- 25° F.
 Temperature +/- 30° F.

**•• Control Weather**

This power allows the koldun to make minute and even drastic changes to the direction and force of wind.

System: Unlike most paths, this way does not have a set difficulty. The difficulty of the roll is based on the result desired. The player spends a Willpower point and rolls Dexterity + Occult (variable difficulty). The wind takes anywhere from 5 to 10 minutes to change to the desired effect. This power and all previous levels of Way of Weather can now affect an area the size of a small city. Only the direction of the wind or the force may be affected at one time. The effect lasts for one hour per success scored.

 Wind Direction +/- 15º
 Stiff Breeze (10-15 mph)
 Wind Direction +/- 30º
 Steady Wind (15-30 mph)
 Wind Direction +/- 60º
 Storm-force Wind (30-50 mph)
 Wind Direction +/- 90º

**••• Control Rain**

This power allows a koldun to affect the rains of an area.

System: Unlike most paths, this way does not have a set difficulty. The difficulty of the roll is the based on the result desired. The player spends a Willpower point and rolls Dexterity + Occult (variable difficulty). The weather takes about 15 minutes to change. This power and all previous levels of Way of Weather can now affect an area the size of large city. The effect lasts for one hour per success scored.

 Start / Stop Light Rain
 Start / Stop Heavy Rain
 Start / Stop Torrential Down Poor

**•••• Zeus' Arrow**

This power allows the koldun to summon a lightning bolt from the sky to strike a desired target.

System: One Willpower point must be spent to summon the lightning bolt and then the character must succeed in a Dexterity + Occult roll in order to hit the target. A botch means that the koldun gets hit. The base difficulty for the roll is 8 assuming there are clouds in the sky. If there are no clouds, it is difficulty 9. If it is raining it is difficulty 7 and if there is a storm of any sort in the area the difficulty drops to 6. If the intended target knows that the bolt is coming, she may make a Dexterity + Dodge roll (difficulty 8) to dodge the lightning. What ever the lightning bolt hits takes 10 dice of lethal damage that can be soaked normally.

**••••• Wrath of the Storm**

The ultimate form of control over weather allows a koldun to bring about a tornado. Although no control over the tornado is gained, it is still an awesome feat to send a tornado crashing through a town on a warm and sunny day. Because the tornado cannot be controlled, this power is very seldom used.

System: The character spends a variable number Willpower points up to 5 and rolls Dexterity + Occult (difficulty 9). The tornado starts in the general area of where ever the koldun wishes to place it within his line of site. The tornado will move in generally a North Easterly direction though they are known to change direction without notice. The koldun may try to steer the tornado by spending an additional Willpower point and rolling Dexterity + Occult (difficulty 9), each success will turn it 5 deg in a direction the koldun chooses. Tornados summoned with this power are an Fx tornado where x is the number of Willpower points spent during activation and F refers to the Fujita-Pearson scale for tornados.

### **The Way of the Blood**

As the koldun's knowledge and practice of the philosophy expands, the idea of strength from within and strength from self starts to become more and more prevalent. This way encompasses strength from within through the blood. It is thought that the knowledge of this path was stolen by a group of Hermetic Magi that later used this knowledge to embrace themselves and become clan Tremere. It is becoming common in modern day that the Sabbat kindred learn the advanced ways of Koldunic Sorcery without learning of the philosophy in order to combat the Tremere of the Camarilla. This is sometimes the first path taught mimicking the training of the Tremere antitribu before their sudden demise. When invoking this path, the eyes and hair of the koldun turn to a blood red.

**• A taste of Blood**

This ability allows the koldun to gauge the strength of their enemy and gain some information. By tasting the blood of a subject, the koldun may determine how much blood is left in the individual. It can also tell creature type (mortal, vampire, werewolf, etc.), and some of the basic statistics of that subject like clan, generation, tribe, rank, etc. as applicable to the type of creature.

System: The koldun must consume one blood point of the subjects blood and succeed in an Intelligence + Occult roll (difficulty 5). The blood point is destroyed in the process and thus does not affect the koldun. The number of successes determines how much information is received and how accurate it is.

**•• Blood Strength**

Blood becomes precious in the heat of battle or even for healing. With this power, a koldun can enhance the effectiveness of her blood to better manage her precious resource when she needs it.

System: The character spends a Willpower point and rolls Intelligence + Occult (difficulty 6). For one scene per success on activation, every blood point counts as two for the purpose of raising physical traits and healing. This power cannot be used to take a character above her generational maximum for Traits.

**••• Awaken the Body**

With the advent of the Inquisition and sudden appearance of a group of Hunters, hiding among kine has become more and more important and the usefulness of this power has become greater and greater. While this power is activated, the body of the koldun regains life. The heart begins to beat, hair and fingernails grow, complexion becomes normal, and food can be eaten without the usual side effects (though no sustenance is gained).

System: The koldun spends one blood point and must gain at least one success in an Intelligence + Occult roll (difficulty 7). The koldun's body regains all of the life functions of a mortal human body. The transformation takes 5 minutes. At the end of the transformation, her hair and eye color return to normal. The koldun's blood and soul, however, remain the same. This means that she can still ghoul, create blood bonds, embrace, use all disciplines, and even heal as a vampire. This also means that fire and sunlight still do aggravated damage. Gaining blood for a koldun becomes difficult, though, as she can no longer grow fangs.

The effect lasts until sunrise at which point the body returns to being kindred. This transformation again takes 5 minutes. When the koldun's body returns to being vampiric, what ever physical shape her body is in at that time becomes permanent including getting ones hair cut, shaved, tattoos, damage, or any other sort of body alteration including Viscissitude, Form of the Beast , etc.. Any food the koldun has ingested must be excreted as the body resumes its undead state. This means the koldun will either vomit up what is left of the food, or have an instant bowel movement.

Note: Yes, a koldun can procreate while in this form. If the koldun is female, the embryo dies as the body returns to its undead state. If the koldun is male, he may well have an offspring that then basically becomes a revenant ghoul.

**•••• Water to Blood**

Much like Jesus' acclaimed miracle of Water to Wine to feed the starving masses, this power allows a koldun to change Water into Vitae to feed the hungry Beast. Many koldun owe their unlives to this power.

System: The character spends a Willpower Point and rolls Intelligence + Occult (difficulty 8). Every success allows the koldun to change one gallon of water to one gallon of blood. Even though it is one gallon, it only counts as one blood point as the blood has the potency of an animal.

**••••• Element of the Blood**

This horrid power is the beginning of nightmares and the ending of battles. The creature is something created of the koldun's own blood and mixed with her memories. The result is a creature that stands over 8 feet tall and is made entirely of blood. It has the powers of ancient mythologies and the toughness of the earthen spirits.

System: The koldun must open an artery and drop two or more of her blood points onto open earth and succeed in an Intelligence + Occult roll (difficulty 9). For every blood point spent beyond the first two during activation, the player can increase any of the Physical Attributes or its Health Level by one. From the ground where the blood was dripped, a humanoid monster emerges made completely of blood. The resulting being has Strength 3, Dexterity 3, Stamina 3, Perception 1, Intelligence 1, Wits 2 and 7 Health Levels. It has no eyes, no mouth, no ears, no nose, yet is completely aware of its surroundings.

It is immune to all Bashing damage due to its quasi-liquid state, can roll Stamina to soak any other kind of damage, and does not feel pain. It also has ten blood points that it can spend at one point per round to heal any type of damage. If this blood is consumed through any means, it does two levels of aggravated damage per blood point to anyone but the creature. The creature can replenish its blood pool by spending one full round and touching a subject. Every success it gets on a Strength + 3 roll (difficulty 6) is the number of blood points it can leach out of its subject to replenish its pool. This roll can only be resisted with Fortitude.

Abilities and Powers of the creature are up to the Storyteller but it generally has 3 dots in any physically related Ability like Alertness, Brawl, Dodge, Melee, etc. For ideas on Powers, consult Freak Legion: Players Guide to the Formori. It is the Storytellers discretion as to what powers the thing may or may not have.

One of the more common powers is the ability to grow weapons from itself. This power takes one full round to accomplish and a variable amount of blood points. It can grow any brawl or melee weapon from itself, which does Strength, + (number of blood spent into the weapon) aggravated damage and is difficulty 7 to wield. Some weapons it can grow include claws, swords, etc. The creature lasts for one night and is loyal to the koldun as if it were under a blood bond. It is immune to any mental Discipline including Dominate, Presence, and any others the Storyteller deems appropriate. At the end of the night, or upon its death, the creature evaporates into nothing. A koldun may only have one active creature of this nature under its control at a time.

### **The Way of Self**

This is the culmination of all other knowledge that has been gained and the final lesson in Advanced Koldunism. This way centers around using all the knowledge a koldun has gained to strengthen herself.

This power has no physical effect, no external display to show it is working, it is merely the koldun having the ability to affect her self. It allows her to train the thoughts that allow her to be so that she may some day be something else.

Note: All powers of Way of Self last until the next sunrise.

**• Focused Mind**

The koldun has the ability to focus her mind to the job at hand. When activated, she can shut out any distractions or annoyances.

System: The character must spend a Willpower point and roll Appearance + Occult (difficulty 5). Any penalty to a difficulty or Dice Pool arising from a distraction is decreased by two points or dice. If the character has the Merit Concentration, it is decreased by four points or dice and the Merit is canceled for the duration of this power.

**•• Unwavering Emotion**

The koldun is no longer easily impressed or swayed by others. It is easier for her to shrug off people's attempts to get an emotional response from her and she is almost totally immune to Presence.

System: With this power activated, the koldun is almost completely immune to Presence and other spells, magic, etc. that affects the koldun emotionally. Whenever someone attempts to affect the koldun emotionally, the koldun may make a Willpower roll difficulty her opponents Willpower. Only one success is necessary to cancel the effects no matter how many successes her opponent got. This power can only be used on levels of Presence equal to or lower than the koldun's level in Koldunic Sorcery. To activate it, the koldun spends one point of Willpower and rolls Appearance + Occult (difficulty 6). If the koldun has the Merit Blaise', she does not have to spend the Willpower point as she already instinctively has the foundation for this power.

**••• Sleep the Beast**

The koldun becomes very calm, composed, and in complete control. It is almost impossible for her to lose her temper.

System: The character spends one Willpower point and rolls Appearance + Occult (difficulty 7). Every two successes gained allow the koldun to add one die to all Self Control rolls. If the character has the Merit Calm Heart, she does not have to spend the Willpower point, as calmness is instinctive for her.

**•••• Will of Stone**

Determination is now the koldun's weapon when her mind is set. With this power, the koldun becomes impossible to Dominate and very head strong. If her mind is made up, there is no changing it.

System: With this power active, the koldun is immune to all powers of Dominate at an equal or lower level than the koldun's level in Koldunic Sorcery. In addition, the koldun receives three extra dice to resist any other mind effects. This does not work against Presence or anything that attempts to alter emotions. See Unwavering Emotion. To activate this power, the koldun spends one Willpower point and rolls Appearance + Occult (difficulty 8). If she has the Merit Iron Will, she does not need to spend the Willpower point.

**••••• Confidence of Alexander**

In all of history, Alexander the Great is the most known for his vulgar declarations of his soon to be coming rulership of the world. At this final level of mastery, the koldun can have that confidence as her own.

System: To activate this power the koldun rolls Appearance + Occult (difficulty 9) and spends a Willpower point. If it is successfully activated, every roll for the rest of the night automatically has one success. If there are botches in the roll, it automatically cancels one of them.