Songs of Distant Vitae

Quietus 8

Many Assamite scholars believe this ancient power to have been in use as early as the Assamite judges' inception in the Second City, originally used as a powerful technique for punishing Cainites who fed improperly or with excessive cruelty. Blood magic practitioners and individuals skilled at Auspex have long known that vitae can carry residual impressions of emotion and personality. This power invokes those impressions to overwhelm its victim with "remembered" images and sensations drawn from the vessels who held that blood before the vampire fed from them. Particularly strong-willed or hardened subjects may shrug off these visions as daydreams, but those who are less self-possessed can be permanently changed by the experience. A side effect of the use of this power is the partial destruction of the vitae from which the images are drawn. Some viziers theorize that this is the result of motes of the vessel's consciousness making an effort to escape their usurper.

System: The character touches his target and spends a turn in concentration. The player spends four blood points and rolls Wits + Intimidation in a contested roll against the victim's permanent Willpower (difficulty 7). If the target has committed diablerie within a number of nights equal tot he character's Perception, the attacker gains one automatic success. The result depends on the number of net successes the attacker rolls. Note that in all invocations of this power, the sensations that the subject relives are expressly negative and terrifying - for example, he experiences none of the pleasure that would normally accompany the Kiss when he flashes back to such an event.

In addition to the successes listed below, the subject of a successful attack loses a number of blood points equal to the number of successes rolled. This vitae erupts from his body in warm red trickles that do no damage but are certain to terrify onlookers.

Successes	Effect
Botch	The attacker enters a flashback sequence in which he relives his last feeding from the vessel's point of view. If the player rolled three or more 1's, the character acquires a permanent derangement related to feeding.
1 Success	The target experiences a brief (10 second/three turn) flashback sequence in which he relives his last feeding from the vessel's point of view. During this time, he is at +2 difficulty to all rolls.
2	The target experiences a brief montage (15 seconds/5 turns) of flashbacks during which his view point flashes between various feedings from the vessels' points of view. During this time, he is at +3 difficulty to all rolls. ONce the initial rush of sensation passes, he is unsettled and at +1 difficulty to all rolls until he succeeds on a Self-Control roll (difficulty 8), which he may attempt once per scene.
3	The target experiences a composite memory, assembled by his own subconscious, of the terror that various vessels felt while being staked and fed upon. He must succeed in a Courage roll (difficulty 8) or instantly enter Rotschreck. If he succeeds in this roll, he is still at +3 difficulty on all actions for the rest of the scene due to the distraction that his visions impose.
4	The target is stunned and completely unable to act for a number of turns equal to 8 - his Self Control/Instinct as he is bombarded by a sequence of the most terrifying memories of his various vessels. Once this initial onslaught subsides, he must roll Courage (difficulty 9) or enter Rotschreck. If he fails this roll, he must roll Self-Control (difficulty 8) or gain the Sanguinary Animism derangement.
5	The target is thrown into a nightmarish reenactment of the greatest fears of every individual upon whom he has ever fed. He must roll Self-Control or Instinct (difficulty 9) or fall into torpor for (10 - Stamina) nights, at the end of which he loses half his permanent Willpower (round down) and gains the derangement Sanguinary Animism. If he succeeds on the Self-Control roll, he enters Rotschreck for the rest of the night, during which time his greatest fear is of his own image. At the end of the night, he must roll Willpower (difficulty 9) or lose a permanent Willpower point and gain the derangement Sanguinary Animism.