Eighth Level

Deadly Blade †

Making this blade requires ten points of the caster's own blood and a roll against Intelligence + Blacksmithing against an 8. The result is a weapon that inflicts aggravated wounds.

Otherworldly Haven †§

This requires one year to complete, and when finished, the Kindred's home can be moved beyond the reach of Mortals. It is, in fact, present in the Near Umbra.

[The Haven exists as a Sub-Realm of the Near Umbra, and could only be discovered accidentally by wandering Garou - who in any case would see it as Wyrm tainted and frightening. The size of the Haven capable of being transported depends on the Willpower of the Caster.

System: During the initial night-long ritual, the Caster walks the boundary of the area to be transported, and set up ward-stones for every 10 feet along the boundary. Just before sunrise every day for a year, the Caster must walk the boundary, infusing each of the wards with one point of Vitae. Although theoretically an area of any size can be transported, this is limited by Blood Pool and the enormous expenditure of blood required. After 365 nights of this, the Closing Rite is performed, and at the following sunrise, the Haven disappears into the Umbra. Previously to this, the Haven becomes increasingly shadowy, and is eventually Obfuscated entirely. What is left is a blank space of earth which mortals ignore, until it is redeveloped.

Access: Like Umbral Vault, the Haven is accessed by a seal in two halfs. One half must be placed on something forming a doorway, in an Opening ritual lasting 30 minutes. This must be a flat surface with some sort of solid frame - a door, window, mirror, picture, box etc. When connected with the other half, the doorway to the Haven opens. It can be closed behind the owner, but the door seal stays on the portal. If the seal is removed, the owner cannot re-open the portal from inside, until the seal is again set with the Opening ritual. If the seal is destroyed, the portal is permanently closed, and the owner must find some other way out through the Umbra!

(Note: Physical laws are somewhat tractable within the Realm. For example, conjured objects and illusions remain real, without use of Vis, although they cannot exist outside the Haven.)]

Revenance of True Humanitas §

This ritual recovers true, human mortality for a period of time, and perhaps even permanently. It can only be achieved with the aid of a mortal who freely gives his love, despite full knowledge of the vampiric state of their lover. It involves a lengthy, night-long ritual of meditation with the mortal, which ends at the first rays of dawn. (The kindred must honestly and convincingly explain to her their kindred nature and why they must regain their mortality. ST should decide on how well this has been roleplayed.)

System: The mortal then rolls Charisma+Empathy, the Difficulty depending on the strength of her feelings for the subject. (Pure Love 5, 10 for mild affection.) Kindred rolls Humanity, difficulty being 11-(number of mortal's successes). Three successes are needed to survive the dawn, and one Humanity point is then gained. Each additional success thereafter gives one more day of human life. With ten successes in total, the kindred may permanently regain their humanity, although if they are mortally wounded, or lose Humanity during those seven days, they returned to a torpored vampire state once they have lost consciousness.

Whilst alive, the mortal cannot use any Disciplines or rituals, or use Vitae to heal. Their aura is strong, but has a pale fringe, similar to that during mortal illness. If the vampire is not successful in becoming permanently human, she begins to die seven hours before the last dawn. The mortal kindred loses one health level each hour (not aggravated), and slips into a vampiric torpor at the dawn, when she becomes a vampire again.

(Note: Hereafter when the vampire meets her Final Death, from now onwards her body decays at a rate from the time of this second death, rather than from the time of her first death, at Embrace. Therefore, if she is exposed to the sun on this first day of torpor, she dies a Final Death, but her body does not decay more than a human's would in the same time.)

Being of the Ninethe Level

Escape From the True Death †

This takes a week to cast, and requires a roll of Stamina + Occult against a six. Each success counts as a 'free' Health level that can be used to heal aggravated wounds at any time, even the point of dying. The ritual lasts until the next Solstice.

Weaving of the Nether Realm §

This ritual is the apex of skills aquired in Umbral Vault and Otherwordly Haven, allowing the Pontifex to create an entirely new Realm within the Umbra. Because of the malleable properties of time and space within the realm, its internal size, nature, appearance and even the physical laws which apply within it (including the passage of time relative to the Gaia realm) are entirely determined by the imagination of the Creator.

Security is very important, as Realms are subject to attack and infiltration by denizens of the Umbra, as well as others. Realms are normally totally sealed except to the Creator, and it is only Portals that create a security threat. However, even a closed Realm may not be protected against the force of marauding creatures of the Deep Umbra; Celestines and Antideluvians.

Creation: The Pontifex must have spent at least one year intensively studying the properties and nature of the Umbra, to gain Umbral Knowledge. She must first chalk a pictographic circle including symbols of her own name [requiring Int+Umbral Knowledge diff 6]. To begin creation, she must enter the Penumbra using a Moon-Path or the ritual Blood Walk (level 5), or any other means. The Pontifex must then take a step into the Umbra, to an area beyond well-travelled routes [Wits+Umbr Knowl to travel]. On completion, she must make a Willpower roll to return to the cirle she drew in the Gaia realm, diff 8. Three successes must be gained, otherwise she is trapped in the Realm and must try again the next day. (At this stage, time passes at the same rate as in Gaia. Here she cannot gain blood or willpower, remember.) If a botch occurs, the Realm collapses and the Pontifex is left lost within the Deep Umbra, and may never find her way back.

Customising: Realms start with properties identical to the Umbra - a formless, grey/black nothingness. To change universal properties (time flow, temperature, creating/removing ground and sky, light etc), she must roll Wits+Leadership, and spend one willpower point (not included in the scoring). Difficulty and successes are determined by the Storyteller. Adding complex features such as buildings, weather, topographic features, an ecosystem, sun and star-filled skies follow similar rolls determined by the ST, and are generated using Willpower. There are also complex methods of creating Homunculi or Automata who can perform simple tasks - such as collecting information, carrying out simple actions or simply providing the illusion of populating the Realm. Such creations are determined by the ST. Note that only objects brought in from outside, or created using blood or vis (see Path of Conjuring) have any solidity or value outside the Realm. The Creator also cannot create energy within the Realm, only bring it in from outside. Hence, humans gorging on heavenly fruits within the Realm, or vampires bathing in rivers of blood, will both unknowingly starve to death within the Realm if they only consume these. However, the Creator may populate the Realm with real people, or with real vegetation either solidly Conjured or brought from Gaia. Creation of a world is a very complex business, and the ST must consider all permutations too complex to consider here.

Portals: The Realm is normally closed except to the Creator, who must make the same roll to enter it as she does to leave. However, she can create tailored rituals (Level 5) which will allow herself or others to temporarily or permanently create portals into the Realm, which are more certain than a Willpower roll. Portals follow the rules of Umbral Vault, in that they must be in portal-like objects with a defined frame - doors, windows, framed pictures or mirrors, hinge-lidded boxes etc. For security, such rituals (if the Realm is opened to other people) are kept secret and often complex, including particular ritual wordings, symbols or even devices. How arcane these rituals become is entirely dependant on the designer, who may make them as simple or bizarre as they wish.

Exits: Only the Creator can normally the Willpower roll to return to the Gaia Realm. Anyone else who gains access to the Realm is normally trapped. However the Creator can create exit-portals to specific points in Gaia, being either simple doors, or requiring more elaborate procedures requiring Automata or rituals similar to creating Portals in Gaia. However, Portals here are not restricted by the rules which determine the physical world.

 

§ - Order of Draco Ritual, by (c) Robert D How, 1998

† - by Deird're Brookes

* - by Cameron Blackwood