Lore of Portals

Neberu Lores

Description: The Lore of Portals allows the Divine to travel easily between places by making access easy and altering dimensions. They can also use their powers to hamper the travels of others.

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● OPEN/CLOSE PORTALS

This evocation gives a Fiend complete control of the portals she encounters. Doors and windows unlock, open or close at her command.

System: Roll Manipulation + Intuition. The number of successes required is determined by the complexity of the portal and its attendant locking mechanisms. A simple residence requires one success, while a prison cell door might require as many as three. If successful, the portal unlocks and opens or closes and locks at the character's touch.

Torment: Monstrous demons do not open or close portals so much as they smash them open or jam them shut. When a high-Torment demon affects a portal with this evocation, the number of successes rolled is also applied as Strength points to the portal in question, doing damage to its materials as if performing a feat of Strength.

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●● CREATE WARD

This evocation allows the Fiend to seal off the portals in an area, making it inviolable to outside forces.

System: The character must be inside the area she wishes to seal with this evocation. Roll Charisma + Intuition. If successful, all the entrances to a given area become impassable. Even open doorways become clouded with wisps of fog, and what feels like a solid barrier of air prevents anything from passing through. Once sealed, the area cannot be entered, even through the use of another lore (such as Paths or Realms). To penetrate the ward, an intruder must exceed the number of successes you achieved, rolling against a difficulty equal to your character's Willpower. The area remains sealed for the remainder of the scene.

Torment: Monstrous demons are capable of creating wards, but their energies do not restrict invaders so much as they inflict pain on those who attempt to enter a protected space. When an intruder crosses a warded portal, he suffers a number of bashing levels of damage equal to the successes you achieved on your roll. This damage may be soaked, but the difficulty of the Stamina roll is equal to your character's Torment.

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●●● TELEPORT

This evocation allows a Fiend to use an existing portal to transport herself instantly to a similar portal at another location, potentially hundreds of miles away.

System: Roll Intelligence + Intuition, The number of successes required depends on your character's familiarity with her destination. If it is somewhere with which she is intimately familiar, such as a doorway in her own home, only one success is required. If it is somewhere she has visited frequently, two successes are necessary. If the destination is somewhere that the Fiend has only recently visited for the first time, three successes are required. The demon must have visited her destination at least once before to be able to travel there with this evocation, and there must be a portal there identical to the type she enters. If she steps through a doorway, there must be a doorway at her destination. The Fiend can travel up to 100 miles for each point of Faith she has. Therefore, a Fiend with 10 Faith could travel up to a thousand miles away.

Torment: Monstrous demons performing this evocation are severely hampered by their lack of focus. If the evocation is successful, a Willpower roll must be made with a difficulty equal to the Fiend's Torment. If the roll fails, the Fiend is transported to a random (but familiar) location as determined by the Storyteller.

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●●●● CO-LOCATE

Akin to Teleport, this evocation allows a Fiend to use a doorway to tie two locations together for a short time, allowing others to pass through from one place to another.

System: Spend one Faith point and roll Stamina + Intuition. The difficulty is determined by your character's familiarity with the location she wishes to reach. If she is intimately familiar with the location, the difficulty is 6. If it's a location she has visited numerous times, the difficulty is 7. If she's been there only once, it's 8. If she's never been there before and goes merely by the guidance of another, the difficulty is 9. The doorway remains open for one turn per success achieved. Like Teleport, the demon must use an existing portal (doorway, window, manhole) to cross between the two locations. As many others can cross through (or back again) as may walk through the portal in the time that is available. The Fiend can travel up to 100 miles for each point of Faith she has.

Torment: Monstrous demons can create co-locations, but those passing through are momentarily exposed to the demon's Torment, and risk severe psychological trauma or madness as a result. A Willpower roll must be made for individuals passing through the portal, the difficulty of which equals the Fiend's Torment. If a roll fails, a victim gains a temporary derangement.

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●●●●● DOORWAY INTO DARKNESS

This powerful evocation allows a demon to create a doorway into the shadowy space between the physical and spirit realms — a dark, lifeless reflection of the world. Demons can cross over into this bleak realm for a short time or hide items from prying eyes and then retrieve them later.

System: Spend one Faith point and roll Stamina + Awareness. The evocation requires a portal — door or window — to form the threshold between realms, and the opening remains for only one turn. Individuals who pass bodily through find themselves in a bleak, desolate mirror image of the physical world, one wracked by howling winds that wear away at living minds. Mortals who cross over into this realm lose one Willpower point for each turn that they are there. Once their Willpower is gone, they gain a temporary derangement and suffer one level of bashing damage per turn that may not be soaked. Demons can remain in this shadow realm for a number of turns equal to their Faith score without ill effects. After that point, they begin to surfer bashing damage as well. This evocation must be performed again to open a doorway that allows a Fiend or another to return to the physical realm. Such a "return" opening can be created on either side.

Torment: When a monstrous demon opens a portal to the shadow lands, she risks losing focus and allowing some of the energies from beyond to slip into the physical realm. If the evocation succeeds, make a Willpower roll with the difficulty equal to the Fiend's Torment. If the roll fails, the winds of the cosmic storm seep through, causing all mortals in the immediate area to make a Willpower roll ( difficulty 8 ). If their rolls fail, they flee in terror. If a botch results, the victims suffer a temporary derangement.

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NEDU, THE VISAGE OF PORTALS

The angels of the threshold are tall, ethereal figures, their long limbs and lean bodies wreathed in a veil of shifting shadow. Their movements are as fluid as they are soundless, and their feet leave no impression to mark their passing. When they pass into deep shadow, their eyes shine with a cold, blue light.

The Visage of Portals confers the following special capabilities:

• Pass Without Trace: The difficulties of the character's Stealth rolls decrease by two, and her passage does not disturb the surrounding environment in any way. She leaves no footprints and disturbs no foliage.

• Enhanced Perception: The difficulties of all Perception rolls decrease by two.

• Increased Awareness: The fallen is especially attuned to the fabric of reality, lowering the difficulties of all Awareness rolls by two.

• Wings: A pair of swan's wings extends from the character's shoulders. At full extension, each wing is a third again as long as the character is tall. The character can glide up to three times her running speed per turn.

Torment: Monstrous Nedu are like living shadows, ebon and ephemeral. Their voices are like the keening of wind over jagged stones, and their touch is colder than ice.

The Visage of Portals confers the following high-Torment special capabilities:

• Cloak of Shadows: The demon is shrouded in a pall of darkness, making her features difficult to see in the best of light and rendering her near-invisible at night. The difficulties of all Stealth rolls decrease by two whenever the demon stands in a pool of shadow or moves in darkness. If the character is attacked, the rules for Blind Fighting apply to the attacker.

• Improved Initiative: Add two to the character's initiative.

• Enhanced Dodge: The difficulties of all Dodge rolls decrease by two.

• Casts No Reflection: The demon's image does not appear in a mirror, nor can it be captured in a photograph or by a video camera.

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