Interred in the Earth

Protean 3

Many Gangrel claim to be descended from an ancient warrior-goddess called Ennoia, and some even purport to be pagan subterranean gods themselves. This ability is one of the reasons they can do such a thing. The vampire using it takes advantage of the Cainite affinity for the grave by sliding his body into the earth itself, as though stepping into a tomb for the day.

The Gangrel cannot move around once he is entombed in the earth; in fact, she cannot even be dug up. She is immaterial and merged with the soil around her. An attempt to dig her up will eventually fail, as the roughly man-sized blob of earth the vampire inhabits cannot be moved or pierced without powerful magic. However, the ground above her resting place is disturbed and overturned, as though a mortal were considering planting a garden there, so those who are knowledgeable in such things can uncover the place of entombment.

The vampire must have direct contact with the ground itself in order to use this power. A wooden or stone floor blocks her melding into the dirt. She also cannot use this power while standing on a large piece of rock. She can inter herself in earth, not stone. The power provides perfect protection against the sun's rays and the heat of ordinary fire above. The character can be considered to be six feet under the earth for such purposes. The Animal may choose to remain conscious while interred, though when the sun rises this becomes more difficult, as always.

The very existence of this power sets paranoid Cainites to thinking. If powerful vampires remain in torpor for centuries, and many of the eldest Cainites are assumed to be able to inter themselves, then there could be hundreds of elders buried in the earth, and they could emerge from torpor nearly anywhere at any time. Surely the emergence of a multitude of such creatures would be a harbinger of Gehenna. The ancient masters of the Roman nights are said to have known a ritual to lock such slumbering ancients in their earthly prisons. The secret apparently involved salting the earth with a special mixture of alchemical powders. It was used to greatest effect after the destruction of Carthage, when Brujah and other elders were locked under the soil of North Africa.

System: The player spends one blood point, and the character concentrates for a full turn, taking no other action. Once activated, the character is essentially immune to all attacks. The character can use Auspex and other purely mental abilities while interred, but he may not activate any Discipline with a physical effect.