Gilded Cage

**Prerequisite: Bloodline**: Architects of the Monolith

**Linked Themes**: Divination and Transmutation

**Motifs**: Urban, Geometric, Deliberate

**Cost**: A Willpower point, and Ways and Means.

*"The lessons drawn from dérives enable us to draw up the first surveys of the psychogeographical articulations of a modern city. Beyond the discovery of unities of ambiance, of their main components and their spatial localization, one comes to perceive their principal axes of passage, their exits and their defenses. One arrives at the central hypothesis of the existence of psychogeographical pivotal points. One measures the distances that actually separate two regions of a city, distances that may have little relation with the physical distance between them. With the aid of old maps, aerial photographs and experimental dérives, one can draw up hitherto lacking maps of influences, maps whose inevitable imprecision at this early stage is no worse than that of the first navigational charts. The only difference is that it is no longer a matter of precisely delineating stable continents, but of changing architecture and urbanism." **(Formulary for a New Urbanism, Ivan Chtcheglov)***

## Motifs

Gilded Cage is **Urban** – Masons think of the City with a capital “C”. Just like the Crones who entreat the Goddess to perform their bloody deeds, or the Theban Sorcerers who call upon the Angels to smite their enemies, the Masons call upon the City to work their magic in more subtle ways. The Mason's rituals are not the ecstatic prayers or loud chanting full of sights and sounds of the other covenants. For a Mason, drafting out a blueprint, founding a construction project, or lobbying to influence urban planning can be a part of the ritual in and of itself.

Gilded Cage is **Geometric** – Ritualists favour harsh, clean designs drawn with absolute precision. Power can come from the precise angle where two streets intersect or how the layout of a neighbourhood conforms to the Fibonacci sequence. The lines and shapes are used to direct energy and aid in completion of a ritual. Conversely, Architects feel disrupted when the geometric neatness of a neighbourhood is broken. Natural disasters, wars, lack of public works or even haphazard zoning can put an Architect off his stride.

Gilded Cage is **Deliberate** – An odd mix of mysticism and scientific precision. Ritualists often learn their rituals from their mentors, who emphasize the importance of accurate cartography and aligning their theodolites just right. Gilded Cage does not lend itself easily to improvisation. For their rituals, Masons use a myriad of apparatuses and every one has its purpose. Some ritualist even go so far as to say the power of Gilded Cage lies in its method. Topography, statistics and pseudo-mathematical theorems pop up occasionally. A cold and analytical mind is essential to the successful completion of a ritual.

## Themes

**Creation**

With the power of genesis at his control the Mason crafts the intersections of power in the city and aligns them to gift new expansion. Gilded Cage can summon urban pests like rats, cockroaches, pigeons, and crows. Physical objects produced with Gilded Cage cannot help but be urban in their very nature – even trees and natural phenomena are grey and polluted as if exposed to the city centre too long. Creation excels in truth at the creation of buildings – with enough power a mason can erect a monolith in a single night.

**Destruction**

Masons rarely embrace destruction but sometimes an area must be cleared before construction might begin. Those targeted are not struck down directly, but by the city – hit by a truck as they cross the road, or electrocuted by a faulty pylon. When the target is a physical object then matters usually arrange themselves swiftly to destroy it – a building catches ablaze, a statue crumbles due to acid rain, or knife simply rusts away. Urban decay reigns supreme when the mason embrace destruction, and they are loathe to do so for that very reason.

**Divination**

No Architect of the Monolith would fall to low as to fail to hear what the city says. The roar of car engines, the hum of electricity, and the screams of the human mob speaks to them in a language clearer than words. Masons often use this theme to locate individuals and objects within their domains, and to gain insight to events that have occurred within. It is also learned in order to combine it with other themes so that their powers can target the correct individuals across the urban landscape.

**Protection**

The masons use rituals of Protection to ensure their works are not disturbed, and to defend themselves against persecution for their practices. Few powers of the Gilded Cage allow an Architect to ward of banes, but many allow them to gain the protection of the city. They are cloaked by crowds and confusion, hidden by rumour and urban legend, and defended by birds and feral beasts. They bend the power of the city, the power of the sacred patterns, to ward themselves against the intrusions of others, and to defend against magics that do not understand the true power of the God of all Gods.

**Transmutation**

Though the Architects of the Monolith could twist their power to change water into wine or a bat into a bird, such things generally do not interest them, and they concentrate more on ephemeral and conceptual transmutation. With this power a Mason changes a traffic jam to an open road, an abandoned building to a shining palace, and a red light, green. They can twist the habits and souls of mortals, change their forms and their needs, and make them ever-more dependent on the bosom of the city.

## **Rolls and Mechanics**

Extended.

 **Transmutation** | Intelligence + Academics + Transmutation

### **Modifiers**

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

 2 Dt
 3 Dt

**Other Modifiers**

 +2
 +1
 0
 0
 -1
 -1 to -3
 -2
 –3
 0 to +3

### **Target number of Successes**

Calculated by:

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

Click here for the chart. It is not necessary to factor in every component in your roll.

### Area of Effect

Gilded Cage calculates Area of Effect differently due to the sizes of the areas affected.

 Large building, size 4 and 5 Haven
 4km radius or diameter, 64km2 | +6 successes

* Note: If the ritualist is standing in the middle of his Area of Effect, the radius is used. If he is outside of his Area of Effect, the diameter is used.

## **Rituals**

### **Level 1**

#### **Paths of the Prey**

**Themes**: Divination 1

**Activation roll**: Intelligence + Streetwise + Divination

**Ways and Means**: A detailed city-planning map of the area to be hunted.

Add bonus dice to a vampire's hunting roll equal to the ritual's Potency.

#### **Rat in a Maze**

**Themes**: Divination 1

**Activation roll**: Intelligence + Streetwise + Divination

**Ways and Means**: A system of surveillance, such as tapped phone lines, CCTV cameras, guard booths and road blocks. Access to census data and utility records.

The private lives of the Kine are never as private as they think. Using a mixture of surveillance, statistics, and bureaucratic know-how, and enhanced by a basic level of Divination, the Architect can predict the behaviour of groups or specific members of the Herd. The ritual does not work on Kindred because the Kindred do not follow mortal patterns of behaviour. This ritual may work on ghouls if the ghoul leads a relatively mundane life; it does not work if the ghoul in question spends the majority of their time interacting with Kindred society.

The sorcerer asks a question about the mortals in a certain area. He gets as many answers as he has in ritual Potency. If he gets all the answers but still has ritual Potency 'left over', he may ask another question.

***Example questions***:

* Who in this block is most likely to commit a crime?
* Where does Mr. Smith of 15A, 3rd Avenue, go every day at 5 o' clock in the evening?
* Who in this neighbourhood is most likely to know about the Strix?
* Who in this neighbourhood will be useful to me?
* What secret does the Mayor not want me to know?
* Where in this territory am I most likely to run into Mrs. Jones this evening?
* Who in this territory has black market connections?
* Who in this territory is a masquerade breach?

### **Level 2**

#### **Aura of the Monolith**

**Themes**: Transmutation 2

**Activation roll**: Intelligence + Academics + Transmutation

**Ways and Means**: Line of sight to the structure in mind

Gain bonus dice to a social roll equal to the ritual's Potency. The nature of the building must be related to the social skill involved.

#### **Broken Window Theory**

**Themes**: Transmutation 2

**Activation roll**: Intelligence + Academics + Transmutation

**Ways and Means**: An public object associated with the Trait, such as road blocks with Access, broken windows with Safety, public signage with Information, street lamps with Awareness, crack houses with Prestige, and community centres with stability. The object must be kept within the subject's line of sight.

Architects have long known that mortals are sheep. It doesn't take a paper published by a Harvard social psychology professor to tell them that. Mortals take subconscious cues from the environment, causing them to behave in certain ways. Graffiti and broken windows tell them it is okay to riot and loot. Red lights and loud music lower their inhibitions; they want to spend money, get drunk, and are more open to social advances.

In this ritual, the Territory takes on an almost human persona. They can persuade, bribe and intimidate, they can make people feel secure or threaten their safety. They can discourage would-be criminals, cause bouts of road rage (and potential frenzy), or cause a recovering addict to succumb to her former habits. Besides mortals and ghouls, this ritual affects Kindred who are Humanity 3 or higher, who still respond to mortal social cues.

This ritual can have two effects. When casting it, select either one.

**Effect 1**:

The Territory can make a social roll on your behalf, using two of their Traits. The two Traits selected will be what is appropriate for the situation. If only one Trait is suitable, that Trait is rolled twice. For example, to persuade someone to reveal their secrets, the Territory rolls Information + Information. To persuade a group of rival vampires to turn back and leave the sorcerer's Haven alone, the Territory rolls Safety + Awareness.

**Effect 2**:

The Territory's Trait acts as a positive or negative modifier to a roll. Again, the Trait used is what is appropriate for the situation. As a general rule of thumb, Physical Traits modify Physical actions, Mental Traits modify Mental actions, and so on. For example, the sorcerer can use a Territory's low Stability to add a bonus to his own seduction roll. He can penalise his rival's perception check with Awareness, making them less likely to detect an ambush.

The Territory can make or modify one roll per ritual Potency. The roll or trait(s) is selected at the start of the ritual, and remains the same throughout. The ritual ends when all of its rolls are used up or when its Duration ends, whichever comes first. A Territory can be under multiple instances of this ritual if the rolls or traits invoked are not the same. Bonuses from the same trait do not stack.

It is very rare for the subjects of this ritual to know that this power has been turned on them. The rival vampires may just know that something “doesn't feel right”, causing them abandon their plans. Alternatively, the Territory conjures up elements of the cityscape, such as billboards or images on shop windows, random traffic congestions, a patrolling cop, roadworks crew, or a census taker with a clipboard–whatever it takes to achieve their aim.

### **Level 3**

#### **Eye of the Pyramid**

**Themes**: Divination 3

**Activation roll**: Intelligence + Streetwise + Divination

**Ways and Means**: A whole brick from the building.

The ritualist can see and hear everything that happens inside a building. Uses of Auspex gain +2 bonus. Increasing ritual Potency allows the ritualist to cast Eye of the Pyramid on multiple buildings, but she can only focus on one building at a time.

#### **Gather the Herd**

**Themes**: Transmutation 3

**Activation roll**: Intelligence + Academics + Transmutation

**Ways and Means**: A park, parking lot, stadium or other structure/area where people might normally gather. A formal invitation to the “event” written in the caster’s blood (invokes no Vitae cost).

Create an area with a Feeding Pool stat equal to the ritual's Potency. The Duration of this ritual is always one night.

### **Level 4**

#### **Empty the Cistern**

**Themes**: Destruction 4

**Activation roll**: Intelligence + Science + Destruction

**Ways and Means**: 1 Vitae spilled into the drains, gutters or sewers of the affected area.

Also called “I Drink Your Milkshake” by younger, more cosmopolitan Kindred, this ritual allows a Mason to empty a Feeding Pool of Vitae. The Mason can deduct a number of blood points equal to Potency from any location with a Feeding Pool stat, including whole territories. The Duration of this ritual is always one night.

After the night, the Feeding Pool replenishes as normal, but the lost blood points do not get returned to the pool.

#### **Lock the Gilded Cage**

**Themes**: Transmutation 4

**Activation roll**: Intelligence + Academics + Transmutation vs. Resolve + Blood Potency

**Ways and Means**: Access to a legal building such as a courthouse or police station, and a picture or belonging of the victim

Prevents a target from leaving a territory, a collection of territories (such as a zone or a borough), or a city. It can block one supernatural attempt to travel out of the city per Potency.

#### **The Cursus**

**Themes**: Transmutation 4

**Activation roll**: Intelligence + Academics + Transmutation

**Ways and Means**: A physical throughfare between the two territories to be connected.

The Architect builds a highway, a canal, a bridge, or anything else that can be used to connect a large volume of traffic from Territory A to Territory B. These two territories do not have to be adjacent, although the further they are apart, the larger your Area of Effect will have to be. If a highway, canal, or bridge is already existing, this pathway can be designated as “The Cursus”.

The Cursus gives the Architect a number of benefits.

1. The Architect negates the penalty for non-adjacent territories.
2. If the Cursus connects to a non-adjacent territory owned by an Ally, the Ally will be able to contribute the usual +1 bonus to the Architect, and the territory is counted as part of the “bloc”.
3. The Architect can modify the stats of his territory using the stats of the other territory. The lower stat (absolute value) of the two territories is modified. The new value becomes the average of the two stats, rounded down.

For example, an Architect connects the territory of Charlottenburg to the territory of Spandau. The values are as follows:

 Spandau

The new values become:

 Spandau

In IC terms, the prosperity of Charlottenburg leads to more of the wealthy visiting Spandau, increasing its Prestige. A large number of miscreants also move from Charlottenburg to Spandau, decreasing its Safety and Stability. Spandau is too plain to have any effect on Charlottenburg, as the later territory's traits are more dominant.

### **Level 5**

#### **Tomb of the Dragon**

**Themes**: Transmutation 5, Divination 4

**Activation roll**: Intelligence + Academics + Transmutation

**Ways and Means**: A burial site, or an “Empty Nest”. The body of a torpid vampire.

The Book of Burial, written by a Taoist mystic from the Jin Dynasty, is the inspiration for this ritual. It came to the attention of Western Kindred from an Orientalist translation cobbled from second and third hand accounts. Some Architects drew inspiration from Stonehenge and the way the ancient druids buried their dead. From studying the geometric patterns created by the ancient mounds and barrows, they were able to plot the so-called “death roads” and predict the best location as to lay down their own unliving dead.

The Architect begins the ritual by studying the ley lines of his territory. He will find a location where the ley lines converge, where energy comes in from all directions and then flows in to all the major waypoints in the territory. Typically, he might locate a loci, or a Dragon's Nest. Sometimes he gets lucky and finds an “Empty Nest”. Certain mountain forms and geographical features improve the suitability of the terrain. After finding a suitable location, the Architect will now have to acquire the body of a torpid vampire. The vampire will be laid to rest in the Empty Nest, preferably staked and restrained, so that he may remain immobile and allow the very earth to consume his energy.

The torpid vampire can enhance the Territory he is interred in by as many points as he has in Blood Potency. The Architect can choose to change any of these attributes: feeding pool, influence rating, access, safety, information, awareness, prestige, and stability. A torpid vampire with a Blood Potency of 6 will need a ritual of 6 Potency to distribute all six of his dots to the Territory. When the Duration of the ritual ends, the sorcerer can simply renew the ritual without having to disturb the body. Of course, when Blood Potency decreases due to torpor, the power of the ritual decreases. If the body is removed or destroyed, all effects of the ritual cease.

This ritual is prized by Architects because it allows them to increase the stats of the Territory beyond the traditional 5. If the torpid elder has a Blood Potency of more than 5, the traits of the Territory become capped by his Blood Potency instead. Territories affected by the ritual become almost supernaturally auspicious. Businesses flourish and real estate prices skyrocket. Or if the sorcerer wills it, they can become urban wastelands, home to only the dregs of society.

#### **Metropolis of the United Diagram**

**Themes**:Transmutation 5

**Activation roll**: Intelligence + Academics + Transmutation

**Ways and Means**: A map of the city and a diamond of at least two carats

The ritualist travels instantaneously from one spot to another within the same city. He must have visited the new site previously. Only items worn and that can be held in hand go with the ritualist. No one can be brought along.

The Area of Effect is the distance between the old location and the new location. The Range of the ritual is 'touch', as the Mason can only cast the ritual on himself. The 'held object' that he brings with him has a Size that is limited to the ritual's Potency.