ANIMALISM

World of Darkness -- Medieval

Introduction

The Cainite Beast is a primal, animalistic force. While most Cainites will never know their Beasts on a fundamental, such a creature speaks to his own. The vampire with Animalism pushes that to extremes, commanding legions of beasts to do his bidding.

Without the Animal Ken Skill or the Animalism Discipline, animals become uncomfortable in a vampire’s presence. Some attack, some run, some cause commotion. Vampires with Animalism present a dominant air, attracting such creatures and cowing them.

● WHISPERS TO THE WILD

Whispers to the Wild establishes a foundation upon which all other Animalism powers build. The vampire’s Beast reaches out and touches an animal’s mind, facilitating communication between the Cainite and the lesser creature. The vampire speaks or imitates the animal’s native sounds, and the animal understands. The vampire understands ideas the animal expresses. Additionally, the animal may follow the vampire’s wishes, if the vampire makes a compelling command.

System: No roll is necessary to talk with an animal. However, the vampire must make eye contact to initiate Whispers to the Wild. Once she’s established the power, she does not need to maintain eye contact for the current scene.

Commanding an animal requires a Manipulation + Animal Ken roll. The difficulty depends on the creature; more complex creatures, particularly predators, are more prone to the vampire’s whims. Taking the animal’s shape with Protean or Animalism or speaking to the animal using familiar sounds makes such commands easier. Highly dangerous commands are much more difficult. Use the following chart to determine the difficulty.

Situation	Difficulty
Predatory mammal (wolves, cats, bats)	5
Other mammals and predatory birds (rats, owls)	6
Other birds and reptiles (doves, snakes)	7
No current eye contact	+1
Using animal sounds	-1
Currently taking the animal’s shape	-2
Dangerous command	+1
Deadly command	+2

While animals may do dangerous or even potentially deadly tasks for the Cainite, they will not commit directly suicidal tasks, nor will they violate their base biological natures. Cowardly animals tasked with guard duty will not engage and combat an invader, for example. They might run to their master and report the threat, however.

Successes determine the animal’s dedication to the cause. A single success will ensure the animal’s compliance for the current scene. Three successes will guarantee a regular task for a week or more. Five successes will command indefinite loyalty.

●● CALL THE WILD

With this power, the Beast instills the vampire’s voice with a deep affinity for a given animal. She howls, shrieks, caws, or otherwise imitates an animal noise. Any animal of the chosen species within earshot are summoned to the vampire, and some will come, depending on the vampire’s raw ability.

Call the Wild only calls animals and makes them favorably disposed to the Cainite who performs it. They will not attack, but will not inherently obey without application of Whispers to the Wild. If the vampire was particularly successful in calling the beasts, Whispers to the Wild may benefit from a decreased difficulty, at Storyteller discretion.

System: Name a type of animal. This can be highly specific or general; the Cainite can call a species, a specific group (male wolves, for example), or a single, named animal (the rat with which I spoke two nights ago). Roll Charisma + Survival (difficulty 6). Consult the chart below for results.

Successes	Result
1 success	A single animal responds
2 successes	One quarter of the animals respond
3 successes	Half the animals respond
4 successes	Most of the animals respond
5 successes	All of the animals respond

●●● SONG OF SERENITY

As Animalism uses the Beast to communicate with animals, this extension of Animalism allows the Beast to express influence over another Cainite’s Beast, or a mortal’s very will to fight.

Song of Serenity washes away all strong emotions, turning a victim apathetic and listless.

System: Roll Manipulation + Intimidation if asserting dominance through fear, or Manipulation + Empathy to sooth the victim into complacency. Both rolls are difficulty 7. This is an extended action, requiring successes equal to the victim’s Willpower dots. Failure negates all previously accumulated successes, and the vampire must start from scratch. A botch renders the victim immune to the vampire’s Animalism for the scene.

When a mortal is cowed, he cannot gain or use Willpower. He will not act proactively. He won’t even defend himself, unless his life is clearly threatened. In a life and death situation, he can spend a point of Willpower in order to take actions in self-defense. To recover, the player rolls Willpower (difficulty 6) daily until he’s rolled successes equal to the vampire’s Willpower.

On vampires, the roll to shake the effects occurs every scene. Additionally, effective use of this power allows a frenzying Cainite an additional roll to resist frenzy, identical to their initial resistance roll. Vampires under Song of Serenity cannot be provoked to frenzy.

●●●● SUBSUME THE SPIRIT

By making eye contact, the vampire may force an animal’s higher functions aside and possess the beast. The vampire’s body falls to a motionless state not unlike torpor, while her consciousness becomes one with the animal’s husk.

System: The vampire must make eye contact with the animal. Roll Manipulation + Animal Ken (difficulty 8). The successes allow the vampire access to some of her mental Disciplines in the animal’s form.

Successes	Result
1 success	Cannot use Disciplines
2 successes	Can use Auspex and sensory powers
3 successes	Can use Presence and other emotional manipulation
4 successes	Can use Dementation, Dominate, and mental manipulation
5 successes	Can use Chimerstry, Necromancy, Thaumaturgy, and other mystical powers.

After the effect ends, the vampire will display nervous ticks and other behaviors like the animal for a number of nights equal to her activation successes. She may shake this early with a point of Willpower.

At any time, the vampire can snap back to her own body from any distance, ending the power. The power does not end on its own. This allows the vampire limited ability to act during the day. However, the vampire must still roll to remain awake (see p. 360). If the vampire falls to slumber, the power ends. If the animal dies before the vampire can end the power, she snaps back to her body and enters torpor.

●●●●● UNLEASH THE BEAST

With this mastery of Animalism, the vampire’s Beast forces outward, forcing a violent rampage in a mortal or Cainite victim. The vampire’s Beast rages within the victim, thrusting him into a potent frenzy.

System: The vampire must establish eye contact to eject her Beast. Roll Manipulation + Self-Control/Instinct (difficulty 8). Refer to the table for results:

Successes	Result
Failure	The vampire enters frenzy herself.
1 success	The Beast flees the vampire, instead infecting a random bystander.
2 successes	The vampire is stunned by the effort, and cannot act for the next turn unless she spends a point of Willpower. She transfers her Beast successfully.
3+ successes	The character transfers her Beast successfully.

If successful, the vampire’s Beast leaves her body and enters the victim. This is an actual transference of the vampire’s Beast; if the victim leaves the vampire’s presence before this unnatural frenzy ends, the vampire loses her Beast. While detached from her Beast, she cannot use or regain Willpower. She cannot frenzy. If the victim is a Cainite, his difficulty to resist frenzy increases by two. If the victim is mortal, he becomes prone to frenzy as if he were Cainite.

If the Cainite finds the victim, she may be able to coax the Beast back by behaving in ways that show her the superior host. This doesn’t inherently require a roll, but may at Storyteller discretion. Favor roleplaying here, over rules. The character must convince the Beast she’s a suitable host. Alternatively, she can kill the current host.

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