Quietus

The signature power of Clan Assamite actually comprises two distinct Disciplines, both known colloquially as Quietus by not only those practicing the arts, but by those merely aware of them. Scholars of Alamut recite that their founder Haqim developed the twin Disciplines of Quietus to harmoniously complement one another when he first divided the Warriors and Viziers and assigned them duties within the tripartite society of his clan. Though traditional Assamites generally prefer to utilize the original Phoenician name of “Abed Dume” or “destroy blood,” its Latin name “Quietus,” or “settling of debts” (especially as relates to death) is most common in discussion – in no doubt due to the epithet evoked by coupling the name with either of its branches.

The children of Haqim have ever seen themselves as pure and fierce judges of the righteous use of blood, separate from Caine’s other get. The Warrior Discipline Cruscitus (translated from the Phoenician “Hikmat Dume” or “blood wisdom,” defined in Latin as “the science of murder through blood”) revolves largely around the use of blood poisoning to kill. Whereas, the Vizier Discipline Hematus (translated from the Phoenician “Minhit Dume” or “blood offering,” defined in Latin as “an offering of blood”) makes use of subtle ways to manipulate vitae in aid to the tasks of mystic exploration and governance. When paired with their parent name, both Disciplines delineate their respective craft: Quietus Cruscitus as “the settling of debts by the science of murder through blood” and Quietus Hematus as “the settling of debts by an offering of blood.”

If your character already has one form of Quietus, the other type costs new rating x4 XP to learn. It requires a teacher with that style of the power.

Quietus Cruscitus (Warriors)

• Blood Essence

This power provides definitive proof of a vanquished foe. Terrifying to behold, Blood Essence demonstrates one of the most frightening aspects of this Discipline: the ability to distill the essence of what Cainites refer to as the “heart’s blood,” the holy or unholy life force that contains a being’s soul.

Functioning even on mortals, the character must exsanguinate his victim of all but one blood point (or drain all blood points entirely if the victim is a Cainite). He then pricks his finger and marks the victim’s bare chest, near the heart, with a speck of his vitae.

The player spends one blood point, spurring the speck of vitae to seep into the target’s skin. Then make an extended roll imposing a level of unsoakable aggravated damage to the victim per success. As in diablerie, if the victim remains alert during process, she can fight back. Should a vampire fail on the roll, he must pause, but can continue again next turn. With a botched roll, the effort fails (however, the vampire can still attempt traditional diablerie if the victim is a Cainite).

Cost: 1 Vitae

Dice Pool: Intelligence + Medicine + Quietus - Stamina + Supernatural Tolerance

Action: Extended

Duration: —

Once all health levels have been exhausted, the vampire tears open the victim’s breast, moving past the rib cage to extract the heart. The vampire’s own blood has calcifed the heart into a semi-translucent grayish-white flask known as a “Debitum.” The Debitum enshrouds the spiritual essence (the “heart’s-blood”) of the victim – which, if examined in detail, can be seen encased within, swimming in despair. Heart’s-blood preserved in this way endures indefinitely.

If vampiric fangs pierce it, the heart reanimates, pumping a cupful of celadon-colored, aqueous, non-burning flame vaguely resembling the victim into the vampire’s maw. If the victim is a Cainite, upon devouring the essence, the vampire reaps all benefits and potential pitfalls of successfully diablerizing the victim, without risking the blood oath. A Debitum crumbles to ash if left vulnerable to fre or sunlight, or when emptied of its contents.

•• Scorpions Touch

By changing the properties of her blood, an Assamite may create powerful venom that strips her prey of his resilience. This power is greatly feared by other Kindred, and all manner of hideous tales concerning methods of delivery circulate among trembling coteries. Assamites are known to deliver the poison by coating their weapons with it, blighting their opponents with a touch, or spitting it like a cobra. An apocryphal account speaks of a proud prince who discovered an Assamite plotting her exsanguination and began to diablerize her would-be assassin. Halfway through the act, she learned that she had ingested a dire quantity of tainted blood and was then unable to resist the weakened hashashiyyin's renewed attack.

Cost: 1 (or more) Vitae

Dice Pool: Intelligence + Medicine + Quietus (Vs Stamina + Supernatural Tolerance)

Action: Instant

Duration: The converted blood remains potent for the night.

To convert a bit of her blood to poison, the Assamite's player spends at least one blood point and rolls. If this roll is successful, and the Assamite successfully hits (see below) her opponent, the target loses a number of Stamina points equal to the number of blood points converted into poison. The victim may resist the poison with a Stamina + Supernatural Tolerance rolls; successes achieved on the resistance roll subtract from the Assamite's successes to affect the target.

The maximum number of blood points an Assamite may convert at any one time equals her Quitus. The total number of successes scored after the resistance roll indicates the duration of the Stamina loss.

1 success One turn

2 successes One hour

3 successes One day

4 successes One month

5 successes Permanently (though Stamina may be bought back up with experience)

If a mortal's Stamina falls to zero through use of Scorpion's Touch, she becomes terminally ill and loses immunity to diseases, her body succumbing to sickness within the year unless she somehow manages to increase her Stamina again. If a Kindred's Stamina falls to zero, the vampire enters torpor and remains that way until one of her Stamina points returns. If a Kindred is permanently reduced to zero Stamina, she may recover from torpor only through mystical means.

To afflict her target with the poison, the Assamite must touch her target's flesh or hit that target with something that carries the venom. Many Assamites lubricate their weapons with the excretion, while others pool the toxin in their hands (or fleck their lips with the poison, for a "kiss of death") and press it to their opponents. Weapons so envenomed must be of the melee variety - arrows, sling stones, bullets and the like cannot carry enough of the stuff to do damage, and it drips off in flight. One point of the poison will always drip off during a swing, reducing its effectiveness by one.

Players whose Assamites wish to spit at their targets must make a Dexterity + Athletics (Minus the targets defense). No more than two blood points' worth of poison may be expectorated in this way, and a Kindred may spit a distance of 10 feet for each point of Strength the character possesses. Assamites are immune to their own poison, but not the blood-venom of other Assamites.

••• Dragon's Call

This terrible and recently rediscovered power allows an Assamite to drown her target in his own blood. By concentrating, the Assamite bursts her target's blood vessels and fills his lungs with vitae that proceeds to strangle him from within. The blood actually constricts the target's body from the inside as it floods through his system; thus, it works even on unbreathing Kindred. Until the target collapses in agony or death throes, this power has no visible effect, and many Assamites prefer it because it leaves no trace of their presence.

Cost: 1 Vitae + 1 Willpower

Dice Pool: Presence + Intimidation + Quietus - Stamina + Supernatural Tolerance

Action: Instant

Duration: An hour.

The Assamite must touch her target prior to using Dagon's Call. Within an hour thereafter, the Assamite may issue the call, though she need not be in the presence or even in the line of sight other target.

The number of successes the Assamite achieves is the amount of damage, in health levels, the victim suffers. For an additional point of Vitae + Willpower spent in the next turn, the Assamite may continue using Dagon's Call by engaging in roll. Damage from Dagon's Call is considered lethal. So long as the Assamite's player continues to spend Willpower, the character may continue rending her opponent from within.

•••• Baal's Caress

The penultimate use of blood as a weapon (short of diablerie itself), Baal's Caress allows the Assamite to transmute her blood into a virulent ichor that destroys any living or undead flesh it touches. In nights of yore, when Assamites led the charges of Saracen legions, the Assassins were often seen licking their blades, slicing open their tongues and lubricating their weapons with this foul secretion. Baal's Caress may be used to augment any bladed weapon; everything from poisoned knives and swords to tainted fingernails and claws has been reported.

Baal's Caress does not increase the damage done by a given weapon, but that weapon inflicts aggravated damage rather than normal. No roll is necessary to activate this power, but one blood point is consumed per hit. For example, if an Assamite poisons his knife and strikes his opponent (even if he inflicts no damage), one blood point's worth of lubrication disappears. For this reason, many Assamites choose to coat their weapons with a significant quantity of blood. If the Assamite misses, no tainted blood is consumed.

••••• Quicken the Mortal Blood

To maximize the amount of nourishment possible from a mortal’s blood, those developing Cruscitus eventually evolve exceptional control over how they process the vitae they imbibe.

Cost: —

Dice Pool: Wits + Occult + Quietus

Action: —

Duration: —

After quenching his thirst with mortal blood, the vampire can double the effectiveness of each blood point he just drank. Each success converts one blood point into two.

Quietus Hematus (Viziers)

• Blood Tempering

A Cainite may instill vampiric vitality into an item drenched in her blood. Since antiquity, Viziers have made use of this power to conserve both common materials and the ancient relics of the clan.

Cost: 1 Vitae per size by cubic foot that an object occupies

Dice Pool: Intelligence + Crafts + Quietus

Action: Instant

Duration: See Below

A book or scroll may require as little as one blood point, the average sword may need three, while a door might consume as many as 12 blood points and turns to lightly coat it. The item acquires a vampire’s susceptibility to fire and sunlight, but it gains an amount of durability equal to the character’s in Stamina. It also gains immunity to erosion by time or elements, such as wind and water, for a period of time based on the successes rolled.

1 success up to one day

2 successes up to three days

3 successes up to a week

4 successes up to two weeks

5 successes up to a month

6+ successes indefinitely

•• Truth of Blood

As a means to assure that their judgments are firmly grounded in truth, this power allows a vampire to use the blood of an individual being questioned to divine not only the truth of the subject’s words, but the truth

behind those words.

To use this power, the Cainite must have one point of the target’s blood, which she pours into an open container capable of holding the fluid indefinitely, such as a basin or goblet. The container must have dimensions that permit her to, at the least, dip one finger into the vitae for the duration of the questioning. This power lasts for one scene or until the questioner stops touching the blood. The blood reduces until spent, gradually smoldering into a thin red mist that dissipates entirely to vapor by the scene’s conclusion.

Cost: 1 Vitae

Dice Pool: Wits + Subterfuge + Quietus - Composure + Supernatural Tolerance

Action: Instant

Duration: See Below

Successes on the roll indicate the degree of truth or falsehood that the questioner becomes aware of. Each level of success builds upon the last. For example, if you roll four successes, you receive all the results up to four successes.

1 success Intuitively know whether the target believes their statement is a lie, partial truth, or the whole truth.

2 successes Intuitively know whether the statement is genuinely accurate and unadulterated, only partially so, or completely false.

3 successes Intuitively sense the emotional reason (ennui, jealousy, anger) behind the target’s statement.

4 successes Intuitively understand the whole truth as the target consciously knows it, including information the target remembers, but does not understand.

5 successes Experience hazy visions of and receive veiled hints at information that the target himself does not have.

6+ successes Intuitively know information that the target is not consciously aware of, or has lost due to supernatural influence like Dominate.

••• Cleansed in Blood

By using the power of vitae to cleanse and restore, the vampire releases her blood, allowing it to wash over another and carry away spiritual impurities from outside influences. This power cleanses the target’s soul, purging his mind of externally imposed supernatural taints and stains.

Cost: 2 (Or more) Vitae

Dice Pool: —

Action: Instant (takes an hour)

Duration: See Below

The character baptizes the forehead of the intended subject with one blood point (included in cost), then places her hands on his head. Both parties spend a minimum of one hour in deep concentration per power that the subject wishes to eliminate.

The subject spends a number of blood points equal to the level of an individual supernatural mind influencing power he wishes to nullify and rolls,. If the roll is a success, it removes the effects of that power. A failure wastes the blood spent and requires another attempt.

Cleansed in Blood can erase current and ongoing influences from Dominate, Dementation, Presence, Thaumaturgy or similar effects, but does not shield the subject from or ward him against those powers in the future. This power does not remove non-supernatural techniques of persuasion, hypnosis, brainwashing, or genuine emotional states, and cannot dispel dispositions imparted by the subject’s clan or bloodline or influences transmitted by blood, such as a blood bond. A character cannot use Cleansed in Blood on herself.

•••• Ripples of the Heart

With this power, a vampire can leave an emotional echo that resonates in her own blood or the blood of those from whom she feeds.

Cost: —

Dice Pool: —

Action: Instant

Duration: See Below

The vampire drinks one blood point from a subject and spends a minute concentrating on the emotion he wishes to imprint on her blood. A subject’s blood can only carry one emotion at a time; efforts to overlap multiple Ripples of the Heart on the same subject have no effect. The vampire and the subject are immune to the emotional effects they generate through this power, but not the effects of others who use it. A vampire may induce this power upon a living being, another Cainite (incurring a one-point blood bond to do so), or himself as a defensive measure. The subject’s blood carries the imprinted emotion for a number of days equal to the successes rolled.

Anyone who swallows the subject’s vitae rolls Composure with a one dice penalty for each blood point injested.

The emotion overtakes the drinker to a degree and for a number of hours dependent on how many blood points ingested: one blood point results in a noticeable mood swing that lingers for an hour. Ingesting three or more enthralls the drinker for the better part of an evening, overwhelming faculties to supplant all other thoughts and feelings. The effects of five or more blood points may be spectacular or catastrophic.

A draught of fear paralyzes the drinker, causing her to panic and flee screaming in trembling terror if shaken by any sudden sound or movement. One overcome with hate might eviscerate an object unlucky enough to capture the attention of her wrath, while a romantically impassioned vampire could quite conceivably fall in love with her supper (or other hapless bystander). Ripples of the Heart can embolden allies before battle, invigorating them with bravery or steadying their nerves by calming restless anxiety with determination and courage. Strategic applications include protecting herds or offensively deploying “tainted” kine and animals into enemy territory to weaken an adversary’s defenses.

••••• Blood Sweat

If a victim harbors a shred of remorse or pride for actions he has undertaken, a master of Blood Sweat can induce a torrential outpouring of vitae as a sudden rush of sanguinary perspiration soaks the victim’s clothes and puddles at his feet.

Cost: 1 Vitae

Dice Pool: Presence + Intimidation + Quietus - Composure

Action: Three Turns

Duration: —

The Cainite must be in contact with at least a drop of the target’s fresh vitae. The character spends three turns concentrating on the victim, who must be within the character’s line of sight. The victim loses one blood point per success, which he perspires. Blood lost through this process is considered dead and inert, providing no sustenance to a vampire. It could, however, inspire frenzy in hungry Cainites.

Additionally, the target is emotionally compromised by feelings of guilt and remorse for past transgressions, or a spiteful compulsion to boast. Storytellers should suit the effect to the victim’s Paths, Vice, Virtue, and Nature. The number of successes rolled denotes the gravity of this impulse: with one success, the target receives a slight twinge of conscience, while five or more successes results in an excited exaltation of his crimes.