The post that was supposed to be about strip clubs

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so I am supposed to blog about my recent strip club experience. However, I figured it would be wisest to wait until after the guest of honor has been solidly married and its too late.
So now, Ventrue Theater courtesy of www.biggercheese.com
http://www.biggercheese.com/index.php?comic=815

Wraith

 Wraith

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Wraith Intro!

You are dead. whatever you were expecting, white lights, angels, demons, a pat on the back, life as a kitten. Those aren't happening. You instead are walking around with all the other dead things in a grey and washed out echo of existence with other dead things. Some people don't end up here, when they die they disappear in a flash of light, or fall into a yawning oily pit. Some instead form a cyst. A big red bubble of crap just lying on the ground here in the afterlife, full of deep red fluid and other dead bastards pull them out of it. Wraiths, that's what the other dead people are called, some prefer differently alive, undead, post senior citizens, what have you but they're dead too. They talk about a time back in the mists of memory, around ninteen-nintey-something or so when there were nations of the dead that fought. Legions, teeming thousands of the dead fought each other in eternal struggle, their weapons and even their clothes made of pieces of their fallen enemies and betrayed friends. But, this has got to be a crock. If that were true, there would be some trace, some ruins or something. They say it happened on other worlds through the mists, but there's no mist here except when it rains and the rain can apparently kill you. But there are no legions, there's you and maybe 50 guys in this building, scavenging what you can to build walls to keep out these things called nephwracks that are like h.r. gegiger's wet dreams crossed with the 28 days later zombies on pcp. Apparently they can eat your head and shit in your soul so you become one of their special infiltrator friends so half the time inside the walls you're fighting just to stay sane. But ultimately this all doesn't matter. One thing you all have in common is you all are here for a reason, maybe its a family member you want to see grow up or a painting you never finished but you all have unfinished business, something so important as to keep you from the light, something so special it keeps you out of the dark and plopped you in this grey hellhole. Best to try to get it done quickly.

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Key terms

Spirit - entity with a power level in the umbra

Wraith - dead human with a Psyche, a SHadow and a Flesh type Corpus

Spectre - (also knows as Shadow-eaten)a Wraith with their Shadow soul currently ascendant.

Nephwrack - A spirit who serves the Neverborn with an Abyssos, a Shadow and a flesh type corpus.

Grave Goods - items buried with a spirit or provided by the sacrifices of mortals. 

Soulsteel - magical material made by mixing the material of the labrynth with a spirit, almost always against their will, in such a way as it prevents lethe and the oblivion.

Lethe - The reportedly blissful release of soul into the wheel of reincarnation, or heaven, or whatever comes next. Those who attain lethe are never heard from again but what divinations have managed to snatch whispers from the next world largely report a satisfactory existence, although who is to say the diviner's aren't lying. Any creature with a psyche 5 higher than their shadow can at any time decide to enter lethe and be re-incarnated so long as they are not held back against their will by some magic or another. Any wraith who has resolved their fetters and have no passions whose psyche is stronger than their shadow enters lethe by dawn the next day.

Oblivion- The Blackened dreams of the Neverborn. The faces of those who fall to oblivion's seductive coils are often seen again, they are the faces the doppelgangers take, their voices fuel the wailing of the Labrynth, theirs bodies and broken souls go into the creation of the nephwracks. Those who chose oblivion surrender themselves wholly to the task of ending all of creation. Any creature with a shadow 5 higher than their psyche can at any time decide to enter Oblivion and be utterly destroyed so long as they are not held back against their will by some magic or another. Any wraith who has resolved their fetters and have no passions whose shadow is five points stronger than their psyche enters oblivion by dawn the next day. 

Risen - A spirit with a psyche, shadow, a third, different soul shard (for staff notes, a Ren) and  and flesh corpus. basically a wraith or spectre that has somehow gotten ahold of a specific kind of powerful shard of nonhuman, non-abyssal soulstuff (ren) and bound it to itself in some fashion, usually with a physical focus (phylactery, raven, sarcophagus, something).

Arcanoi - the powers of a wraith, or nephwrack

Stygia -  the eternal city that is said to sit above the labrynth, and indeed has several entrances to the labrynth, but as the wheel of ages turns and after the recent bombings, what stygia is moslt build on top of is more stygia. 

The Emerald Dawn/ The 6th Great Maelstrom - Stygia, enoch and a number of other cities of the dead were bombed into ash by relic weapons of fabulous power. When Stygia was burnt away under her structure there was revealed a great mechanism of jewels, soulsteel and brass. Whereas before the shadowlands had been held in perpetual twilight, in the radiation shadow of Stygia's fall, the sun began for the first time in millenia to rise and the alien stars to move. Pale and wan though it may be, but a sun nonetheless.

Relic -  Magical or otherwise special item crafted by spirits, usually made of grave goods or soulsteel.

Labrynth -  A maze of twisting passages filled with the echoing dreams of the neverborn, it lies beneath the shadowlands and connects everywhere.

Necropolis - Literally city of the dead. This is usually the reflection in the deadlands of a normal city. In some cases like Stygia, the city has a real world reflection that is decidedly non-urban. (The physical reflection of Stygia is empty water). While no two Necropoli are identical all have some things in common. First they have a Soul Forge or some other way of pulling pathos from the land and making permanent goods. Second they have a wall, although it may be a metaphorical wall of alert guards or tripwires to keep the nephwracks and doppelgangers and other beasties out. Third they have someplace to get out of the elements, Temples, houses, caves, something. Fourth they have someone or a group of someones that are vaguely responsible for the upkeep of the other three things. They are usually in charge.

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Navigating the deadlands

The sixth Malestrom did more then kill a lot of wraiths, everything past the old 'tempest barrier' was annihilated or fell into the border shadowlands. Stygia itself is on a large island in the shadowlands, roughly the size of india in the Atlantic Ocean. The island itself is variously known as Atlantis, Lemuria, Mu or Meru. Atlantis is still tangent to the physical world, it is just that crossing over leads one to be directly over a great deal of water. Stygia as we now know it is a city of canals and rivers, navogated by gondola and boat as much as by foot. Other places in the shadowlands, the direct reflections of physcial cities, suffered far less in the Maelstrom. Some windows were rattled and some people died but the cities themselves remained largely untouched. All of the little afterlives and sub-realms and pocket realms in the middle and deep deadlands were annihilated in 2001 or found themselves crashing into an appropriate border realm. All travel to the deeper realms of the deadlands must now be done through the labrynth which lurks about a mile below any land mass in the shadowlands. When its tunnels occasionally breech the surface, nephwrakcs and their minions pour out to devour and convert all who are in their fell presence. It is to this end that wraiths have taken to the seas and rivers to hold back the tide of oblivion's forces.

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Harrowing

When a character's health levels drop below incapacitated they go into a harrowing in which they have a scene with a staff member similar to a seeking. this decides whether they will lose a point of Psyche or a point of Corpus permanently.

The Character then awakens either at one of their fetters if they lost a point of psyche or at the nearest entrance to the labrynth if they lost corpus and must get to safety.

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Fetters, Horrors and Passions

A character has a number of fetters equal to their corpus and a number of passions equal to their Psyche and a number of Horrors equal to their Shadow.

A fetter is a concrete noun that could theoretically fit into a box that the wraith cares so deeply about that they are holding back the tide of death to be near, either to protect that fetter or to destroy it. some examples include a family member, a favorite childhood toy or a the person who murdered the wraith. When a fetter is destroyed a wraith loses a point of corpus. Objects in the deadlands cannot be fetters unless they are specially made soulsteel restraints.

A Passion is a concrete, explicable driving goal that urges a character on beyond death. Some examples include, find my murderer, see my daughter married, or find a cure for breast cancer. When a passion is achieved a wraith may lose if they so desire a point of Shadow as they prove their will to change the world over their desire for death. a passion need not be possible or sensical beyond it being a definite defined goal. As to why one would want to lose a point of Shadow, Please see Horror Erosion or Virtue Challenges.

An Horror is a concrete explicable series of events a Wraith cannot tolerate, some example include, A wraith's daughter being raped, their homeland being invaded, or their religion of choice being dissolved and forgotten, that they cannot abide. If a Horror occurs, the character immediately loses a point of psyche as the world overwhelms their determination. Horrors chosen must be possible and capable of being achieved by another character with your same capacities and approved by staff.

Remember Psyche+shadow+corpus cannot exceed power level.

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Creation and Traits

Psyche: mental traits can be no more than 3x Psyche, willpower can be no more than Psyche+2

Corpus: Physical traits can be no more than 3x Corpus, health levels can be no more than Corpus +2,

Shadow: Social traits can be no more than 3x Shadow, any virtue can be no more than Shadow +2

All wraiths have a maximum rating in any individual skill equal to Psyche+Corpus+Shadow divided by 3 round up.

All wraiths have a number of Fetters, equal to their Corpus, a number of Passions equal to their Psyche, and a number of Horrors equal to their Shadow.

All Starting wraiths have a 4, a 3 and a 2, to place in psyche, corpus, or shadow as they see fit. 15 traits to put into attributes as they desire, 10 points of abilities, 3 arcanoi, 5 backgrounds, (4 + shadow) virtues to distribute amongst, Compassion, Courage, Conviction, and Temperence, with a free dot of each. health levels equal to their corpus, additional health levels can be purchased with freebies and exp, see chart, willpower equal to psyche, Pathos equal to Psyche plus the sum of the highest and lowest virtue. Wraiths receive no freebie points and may receive additional freebies upon completion of a character background at staff discretion. It is encouraged that particularly excellently played harrowings or the resolution of a Passion may result in additional freebie points but do not expect such gifts. 

Psyche, Shadow and Corpus each cost 10 freebies to increase or 8 times desired rating in experience and must have staff permission to increase.

Wraiths and healing. 

wraiths heal 1 bashing per hour on the hour, one lethal at dawn each day, one aggravated wound on the first night of the dark of the moon. 

A wraith starts with a minimum of 2 health levels.  1 healthy, 1 incapacitated. They can purchase additional health levels up to their corpus+2  at the following cost: All health levels cost current number of health levels in experience points. Health levels are added to the sheet in the following order 1 wounded, 1 bruised, 1 wounded, 1 bruised, and so on. a character that buys 2 health levels has 1 healthy, 1 bruised 1 wounded 1 incap. if he buys 3, 1 h 1 b 2 w, 1 i. and so on. Health levels cost 3 freebie points.

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Wraith's interaction with the physical

wraiths can see and touch inanimate objects but cannot affect them without the use of powers. if a living object passes through a wraith they take a bashing health level of damage per round interposed. the wraith cannot see the living creature or object. wraiths using seeking 2 aura percept can see a hazy outline indicating the presence of a living being and what 5 foot square it is in but no other data. Objects held or carried by living beings are also invisible as per the ruels regarding obfuscate and carried objects. wraiths can always see their fetters. this does not in any way help them affect their fetters beyond targeting.

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Objects in the Deadlands

Things taken from the physical world can only stay in the Deadlands on a shallowing, haunt, or node. when taken off of the premises, they fall back through into the physical world unless magics like giovanni necromancy. Magic that brings things across the shroud cast by non-wraiths unless otherwise noted cause the object to stay in the deadlands until dawn the next day. 

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Arcanoi

Psyche

    Inhabit - controls technology and machines uses Science as retest

        lvl 1 - Puzzle Box - mental challenge vs 5 traits with 1 retest. caster inhabits an inanimate object for an hour and can sense 1 foot per level of Inhabit around said object but you cannot control the object in any way without the use of other powers, futhermore you cannot use any other arcanoi besides Inhabit. You cannot be seen by those in the shadowlands without the use of supernatural powers but can be perceived by effects that see auras.

        lvl 2 - Willful Disobedience- spend a pathos, Mental challenge vs 10 mentals with 2 retests. caster causes a device they touch or inhabit to cease to function for 1 minute. The power is dismissable by the wraith.

        lvl 3 - Thirsty Blade - spend up to 3 pathos, The object the wraith inhabits does an additional level of damage per pathos spent up to 3 for one action. The wraith can choose to not do this damage. The object need not be a weapon but is not animate. a blender or a car could be made with this property but the Inhabitant would need someone else to turn the blender or car on and touch someone with it. This power can not be used on any object which already possesses magical properties.

        lvl 4 - Gremlinize - Caster spends two pathos and touches a inanimate object, for as long as he concentrates caster can utilize any capacity the device posses even passworded systems. This does not however render any alarms or notification systems inoperative. Alarms will still go off if in place, firewalls can be breached, but will still notify users of breaches, etc

        lvl 5 - Claim - Spend 1 willpower, you can control an object you inhabit completely as if it were your own body, this does not grant any extra supernatural powers to the object, doors can be made to open and close, alarms can be turned off and on, but an inhabited sword cannot make itself strike, an inhabited car can drive itself but an inhabited table couldn't walk. The Wraith can now use any arcanoi through the object (Argos, Mistcraft, etc)

    Seeking - an auspex like uses investigate as a retest

        lvl 1 - Clear Thought - as per heightened senses

        lvl 2 - Kirilian Lens - As per Aura Percept

        lvl 3 - Focus - spend one investigate, lasts 1 hour. By muttering soothing words to himself or another, the caster can influence a person's psyche. While experiencing this serenity, the target is better able to focus on tasks and problems ahead of her, even ignoring pain and the threat of bodily harm. Three Trait penalties to trait totals are negated for the subject of this power, who must be within line-of-sight.

        lvl 4 - Read Thoughts - Cost 0 sometimes 1 willpower if target is supernatural, Duration concentration. By piercing the mind of a target who you can see, you gain the ability to sift through their memories and consciousness and pluck out information from their very mind. Engage in a Mental Challenge with your target and spend a Willpower Trait if she is a supernatural. If you succeed, you establish a brief link that allows you to scan their thoughts. While plucking thoughts from a victim, you may ask a single question and have it answered truthfully to the best of their knowledge. In addition to the list of questions available with Kirilian Lens, you could ask about the appearance of a person, place or thing that the subject has mentioned, what that person, place or thing's name is, what details the target has omitted from a previously answered question, if any, what the true answer is to something the target has lied about, what memories the target has of a particular conversation, or anything of the sort. If you are probing an unwilling target, you must make a separate Mental Challenge for each question you ask.

With effort, you can delve deeper into the mind to uncover hidden secrets, motives or buried memories. Doing so allows you to ask more detailed questions than with a surface scan. You may ask about flaws or Derangements. This will root out uses of Mists of Memory with a successful mentals vs socials if seeker and the mistcrafter have the same level of mastery, if the seeker has more levels of seeking than the mistcrafter had mists of memory at the time the false memories were implanted, the seeker automatically succeeds. Likewise if the mistcrafter has more mistscraft than the seeker has seeking the seeker fails. You may only target one subject at a time.

        lvl 5 - Perfection of Mind - This degree of mental perfection permits the Seeker to concentrate on two completely different tasks and perform them both with equal acumen. By spending a Pathos, the caster may take an extra action during her turn so long as that action is Mental in nature (Auspex, Thaumaturgy, Dominate, Insight, Necrology, thinking about things, etc.) The extra turn takes place during the first round of actions when the Seeker would not get an action in combat. If the caster is using Argos at the same time, the extra Mental action takes place in the round of actions after her last Argos action. This ability lasts for one minute. Pathos expenditures for Perfection of mind must be declared at the beginning of the round when Argos, Celerity, blood, etc expenditures are declared.

    Necrology - Wraith sorcery

        All uses of necrology are mental challenges with occult retests unles otherwise specified, the caster must have a hand free to use necrology. all uses of necrology cost one pathos in addition to any other cost imposed by the power. every level of necrology learned gives a free ritual. You cannot take a second path of necrology until you have completed your first, you cannot take a third path until you have completed your second and any paths you take after completing your second but before completing your third costs double the experience points. after completing the third you may study what you will.

The Raven's Talon Path

        lvl 1 Sense the Quickening Flow - a part of the subjects body no smaller than a human thumb. the body part need not be attatched. make a mental challenge vs difficulty 10 and ask 3 questions. the questions can reveal the following, one of the subjects Fetters, one of the subjects Passions, on of the subjects Horrors, their Psyche rating, their SHadow rating, their Corpus rating.

        lvl 2 rendering pathos - the caster spends an occult retest and cries a number of tears of joy or pain, caster's choice, each drop contains a point of their pathos and may be drunk by another. These tears are good for 1 hour.

        lvl 3 Rend pathos - costs 1 pathos caster's hands glow with an unearthly green fire for one minute. Any unarmed attacks the caster makes destroy a number of pathos (blood, glamour, etc) in the target equal to the number of health levels the attack successfully inflicts.

        lvl 4 Drink deeply - cost 1 willpower. for one hour the caster talons and claws that either do an additional level of lethal damage or allow the caster to drain one pathos (blood, glamour etc) instead of each level of damage the attack would normally do. This decision (drain pathos or do damage) must be made before the attack is resolved (as it is declared)

        lvl 5 Raven Claw Grip - Cost 1 willpower caster must successfully grapple opponent. Opponent is denied the use of skill retests to escape grappling.

Rituals of Necrology

all rituals take 15 minutes to cast per level and are a challenge of 5x traits with x retests where x is the level of the ritual. 

 

    lvl 1 Darklight Lantern

    Non Dismissable

    Spend an occult retest and 15 minutes of chanting over a candle, lantern, flashlight or other portable illumination source then snuff it. Until the next dark of the moon, only the caster and those named in the casting will be able to see the light it sheds, allowing dark rooms to be illuminated to a select few.

    lvl 2 Spiderweb Echoes

    instantaneous

    prepare an altar, strap a subject to it win a 10 trait 2 retest occult challenge and you know the location of one of their fetters.

    lvl 3 Skeleton Keys

    instantaneous

    Spend a pathos and a willpower, this ritual must be cast on a shallowing, haunt or node, make a 15 trait 3 retest occult challenge, an object present in the physical world at an analagous point no bigger than a breadbox weighing no more than 50 lbs crosses over into the lands of the dead from the lands of the living.

    lvl 4 Labyrinth Gateway

    Non Dismissable

    Prepare an altar and strap a creature to it who is capable of harrowing. then induce a harrowing in the creature, they will vomit up a black oil into a puddle below the altar 6 feet in diameter, for the next 15 minutes anyone who wishes may step through the oil into the labrynth. why they would do this is an exercise for the reader. This portal is one way, good news for those who don't want a room full of nephwracks, bad news for whoever steps in the portal.

    lvl 5 Charon's Coin

    Non Dismissable

    Strap subject to altar, chain one of their fetters to the altar with soulsteel chains, in the event that the fetter is too big, place th altar in or on the fetter. Succeed in 25 trait, 5 retest challenge. if you succeed the wraith becomes an obol. 

Shadow

    Pandemonium - a haunting power, uses intimidation as retest

        lvl 1 - The Weirdness costs 1 pathos social challenge with target, target feels briefly freaked out, suffers a moment of forgetting what they were doing, feels a cold breeze at an inopportune moment etc. subject expends one retest from whatever skill they are currently using, if they are not using a skill, the target expends a retest from a skill of their choice. this power works across the shroud, however it does not provide any way to sense a target across the shroud.

        lvl 2 Bewilder - costs 1 pathos, social challenge with target(s), the targets are anyone in the room, lights dim and brighten, air swirls and dust clouds choke. if target fails the social test they are blinded (-2 traits, blindness retest)until they leave the room. 

        lvl 3 Damning curse- costs 1 pathos. Social challenge with target, if target fails they suffer - 2 to non intimidate social challenges for an hour as they are covered from head to toe in one of the following:blood,, spiders, boils, frogs, biting insects, verminous mammals, pustules, locusts, or their face and flesh appear to melt and run like wax.  this effect works across the shroud but provides no means of targeting, in fact missing and causing a wall or other object to run with blood instead is a common mistake.

        lvl 4 Dreadful Mein - The true face of Oblivion is a frightening thing, indeed -- made all the more terrifying by the assistance of the art of Pandemonium. Engage in a Social Challenge with a target. If you win, the target flees the room in which it was cast and and tries to avoid it for the rest of the scene or an hour. If trapped in the room, the victim will attempt to destroy the walls and do his best to escape. This power works across the shroud. 

        lvl 5 Unholy Terror - social challenge with multiple targets. affects all targets in the room. This power works across the shroud. Subjects are met with visions of  their greatest fears, driving them mad and forcing them to flee in terror away from the building. By spending one Willpower Trait total and a pathos per subject, you force everyone in the Room with you to flee. Each person affected may spend a Willpower Trait to gain a single retest against you. If they fail, they have no option but to flee for one hour or until clear of the building.

    Puppetry - posession of people uses leadership as a retest. Target must have a psyche and that psyche must be dominant (does not work on frenzying creatures, animals, objects etc.

        Lvl 1 Alien Hand Syndrome - spend a pathos, social challenge, if you succeed you control the target's non-dominant hand for a single action (if they are ambidextrous pick a hand), you can draw or drop a weapon, push a button etc, but cannot make attacks effectively nor do you use up the target's action. does not work across the shroud. target must be in the same room, the caster must perfomr the same action with their hand that they wish the target to perform, this power will work on a body you inhabit but otherwise does not cross the shroud unless posession is used. 

        lvl 2 Spirit Horse - social challenge vs target, spend a pathos, you can hide inside a mortal human for an hour and use their senses but you cannot control them in any way without the use of other powers, futhermore you cannot use any other arcanoi besides puppetry. You cannot be seen by those in the shadowlands without the use of supernatural powers but can be perceived by effects that see auras.

        lvl 3 Dead Tongues - social challenge vs target, spend a pathos. you control your host's voice and may make them say whatever you like for 15 minutes. 

        lvl 4 Whisperd orders - social challenge with target that you must be touching or Puppeting, spend a pathos, express your will with a single entire simple sentence which is followed by a condition. When the condition occurs the command goes off for 10 minutes. A common condition is right now. Others include, when you get home, the next time you are struck, when I say 'antiquing'. Each use of whispered orders is good for one and only one command. Once the program has run it must be re-inserted. the command is subject to the usual restrictions on mental compulsions, see dominate.

        lvl 5 Posession - Spend a willpower and a pathos per hour, Social challenge with subject. the wraith fully inhabits the body of the target using their physicals and supernatural powers if any, but is still retains their own skills, mentals and social traits. The wraith can only use the Puppetry arcanos and whatever powers the victim might have. victim's actions are still subject to the rules regarding mental compulsions. 

      

    Mistcraft - social challenge, uses subterfuge as a retest, cancelled by auspex/seeker  of higher level as per auspex/obfuscate rules. Note All challenges are SOCIAL not mental challenges as with obfuscate.

        lvl 1 - Hide - social challenge, otherwise as per Obfuscate: Cloak of shadows

        lvl 2 - Evade -social challenge, otherwise as per Obfuscate: Unseen Presence

        lvl 3 - Mists of Memory - The Wraith locks gaze with the victim and can edit their memories, replacing them with false recollections or wiping them out all together with a successful social challenge. Mists of Memory can also be used to spot such false memories with an opposed social challenge against the previous Mistcrafter. Each use of this power can only erase or alter up to 15 minutes of memories.

        lvl 4 - Mist Cloak - social challenge, otherwise as per Obfuscate: Vanish From Mind's Eye

        Lvl 5 - Veil of Mist - Social challenge, otherwise as per Obfuscate: Cloak the Gathering

Corpus

    Argos - travel power, uses Survival as retest

        lvl 1 Orienteering - spend a survival and know your exact location. n.b. does not work in labrynth.

        lvl 2 Phantom stride - spend 1 pathos lasts 1 hour, add your argos level in steps per round also take no penalties from moving additional steps.

        lvl 3 Flickering Strike - costs 1 pathos, pathos expenditure must be declared at the beginning of the round, By virtue of speed a wraith with Flickering Strike gains an additional action per turn. Any additional actions granted by Argos occur after the first round of actions have been completed.

        lvl 4 Tempest Hardened - cost 1 survival per person protected, the caster and all they protect are immune to environmental hazzards and damage imposed by the surroundings,  this does not discourage or protect against the inhabitants or wildlife, just pyre flame, acid gouts, winds, rains of acid, drowning and the like. This power does work in the labrynth but does not give immunity to the denizens nor does it cause orienteering to function. in the event that rules for soulstorms and weather hazzards are worked out it protects against up to the users level in argos worth of category of hazard. 

        lvl 5 Phantom Wings - cost 1 pathos per pair of wings, lasts 1 hour , the caster or a person touched by the caster grows a pair of wings that allow flight under the caster's control at the caster's movement rate, the wings cannot grow upon the unwilling, however once the wings are grown they are at the caster's mercy. Ascending costs 2 steps per step, diving grants 2 steps per step. Your passengers do not suffer step penalties.

    Manifestation - strengthen's the wraith's form, allows crossing of shroud, uses athletics as retest

        lvl 1 Poltergeist - Spend an athletics and a pathos lift an object in the same room, no more than 5 lbs and move it no more than three steps.user can manipulate the object as if they were wearing mittens, no fine motor manipulation. note this power does not grant the ability to see objects on the other side of the shroud although it can effect things across the shroud.   

      lvl 2 Stone Hand Punch-  no cost wraith has an additional physical trait and attacks do lethal damage. this trait applies even if it takes them above their maximum.

        lvl 3 Grasp The Unseen-  costs one athletics and 1 pathos, allows the wraith to lift and manipulate an object in the same room no more than 50 lbs. The object is maneuvered as if with one hand wearing a thick glove. Half the user's physical traits apply.This power works across the shroud but provides no means of sensing across the shroud.

        lvl 4 Stalwart Form - no cost, the wraith gains their corpus in additional bruised health levels. Even if this takes them above their maximum.

        lvl 5 Crossing The Eastern River - costs 1 willpower, 1 athletics, and 1 pathos. caster is fully manifest in the physical world for one round. Cannot use any powers besides Manifestation. (this power crosses the shroud)

    Mastery of Form - fleshcraft like, usury like, uses medicine as retest

        lvl 1  False Face : cost 1 pathos and 10 minutes lasts 1 night Allows the caster to change the shape of their surface skin. It is a mental challenge vs. the target's social traits to disguise yourself as a specific person. this craft cannot give the caster more social traits than they already possess but can temporarily lower them if they so desire.

        Lvl 2 Quicken the Flow of Life : cost x pathos, heal x heal x bashing wound levels or 1/2 x rounded down lethal wound levels, or 1/4 x aggravated wound levels.

        Lvl 3 Moleate : Costs medicine retest and one pathos per trait altered takes 1 minute per trait exchanged, or one action per trait removed, Duration 1 month. This power can smack someone ugly. the wielder can chose to forgo damage on a successful brawl strike and instead inflict a -1 penalty to their opponent's social traits (up to -3) or -1 to their opponent's physical traits (up to -2) They can also with a prolonged action move one of a subject's physical traits and turn it into an additional health level or remove one of a subject's health levels and turn it into a physical trait. Additionally with a prolonged action they can temporarily increase a victim's social traits (to a maximum of +3) up to their trait max any of these increases only lasts one night unless paid for by the victim with exp. None of these changes can take a Wraith above the maximums indicated by their psyche, shadow or corpus.

        Lvl 4 Flesh Arsenal : Cost 1 to 5 pathos duration one hour. used in combat time this power allows the wielder to warp a person's flesh unrecognisably, theirs or others. upon a successful barehanded attack on a victim the wielder does a level of lethal damage to their subject. Alternately the wielder can create weapons from their flesh or the flesh of others. These weapons have one trait per Pathos spent up to a maximum 3. these weapons do either 1 level of damage (bashing or lethal depending on weapon) if no pathos is spent on damage plus one level of damage per pathos spent up to a maximum of 2 pathos (3 damage). The wielder can make other objects, any of the objects made by this power require a crafts challenge of a difficulty category equal to the traits given by the item once per month to maintain or else the item loses a trait per month. 

        lvl 5 Plasmic Aura : Spend one willpower and 5 Pathos. strands of muscle and bone dust spew forth from the caster's pores. Everything in the room with the caster including the caster himself, friend or foe, for good or ill, is cleansed of toxins and diseases and regains one bashing health level, if they have no bashing a lethal is downgraded to bashing, if they have no lethal an ag is downgraded to lethal. this effect costs 2 Pathos per round to maintain.

     

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The Deadlands and What that's like then

Wraiths in the deadlands cannot move or affect objects in the physical world without the use of arcanoi. the physical world, however affects them just fine. wraiths take one health level of damage for every round they spend interposed with an object or person, the buildings and objects of the world are real to them. Wraiths live in the houses of the living but unable to use the items they find around themselves everyday. they can still get shelter from the rain in a human house, sleep comfortably on a bed, but they cannot lift the blankets for warmth. Objects that wraiths can touch and move around come from many sources, Soulforging, Grave Goods, Soul Steel and altered native life forms.

Grave goods are anything on a person at time of death, plus anything interred with someone upon their death or sacrificed in their memory. Catholic wraiths for example have a lot of candles, many others have flowers from graves. These grave goods refresh themselves for their owners each day at dawn. i.e. Satoshi the wraith has a family who leaves bowls of rice on his grave, that bowl of rice will refill every day that Satoshi owns it. If Kasumi the wraith steals the bowl or kills Satoshi, she has the bowl of rice, this bowl however does not refill, its still a bowl for her and not for Satoshi though. As such many wraith goods are made of innappropriate or bizzare materials like braided flowers or wax, lots of wax.

Soul Forging goes a step further, through Necrology, Mastery of Form, and other powers, wraiths can actually be made into the most versatile of tools. Much of what the average wraith uses in a given day used to be someone. sometimes their tiny shards of mad suffering sentience can even be fanned into a fire and bring them back to wraithdom, usually not though. For example a Form Master can make any number of things out of people they dislike or even their own bodies so long as they have the pathos and time to maintain it.

Soul Steel should technically be part of soul forging but deserves some mention in its own right. Where grave goods and other Soul Forged goods dissolve into nothingness (or a harrowing) after a day in the skinlands, soulsteel when placed in the physical world slides back into the deadlands unhurt if taken off of a shallowing etc. just as physical object are attracted to the physical world unless special effort is made. Soul Steel is made from pieces cut out of the walls of the labyrinth, Necrologically mixed with the souls of the dead to create an enduring abomination. 

Some creatures are native to the deadlands, Behemoths, Hecatontire, plasmids, pyre flame, bone flowers and other horrible things. many of these horrible things are cut and harvested at great risk to make objects through Form Mastery, Necrology, or just plain old craft's skill. For Example one Necropolis is actually built into the spine of a giant beast in the Carpathian mountains, its steel nerves are used to make wire, and its bones are quarried. from time to time it quakes and drugged souls must be fed into its mouth to ensure its continued slumber and the prosperity of the town. Each day the beast heals the amount alloted by the Calendar of Sutek and every day the quarriers go to work. careful not to take so much as a stone too much lest the beast not regenerate properly.

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Wraith Political Factions

    There aren't any After the sixth Maelstrom. Everyone in Stygia and in the Jade Empire's Capitol died. All of the little islands of afterlives and other things in the tempest were unceremoneously shunted into the shadowlands. The organization of the ferrymen has gone to crap due to their main medium of transportation (the tempest) now being Inside the labyrinth. The mechanical beauty of the bizzare calendar thing in the heart of Stygia is walled off, no one goes in. From time to time robed and masked figures will place baskets of goods outside the gates and four figures two in black, two in white of incredible beauty have been seen chanting atop the towers at moments of celestial alignment. What few soul forges still operate need the power of nodes and shallowings to fuel them. The far shores are gone, fallen into the Oblivion for all time. Flights of ghost white owls have been seen flying silently in flocks as great beasts lope beneath them, devouring all in their path. Each Necropolis is an island unto itself with its own factions and problems and society with some few things in common. Someone keeps the soul forge burning, someone watches the people for signs of doppelgangers, and someone keeps the walls guarded from the nephwracks and their creatures. Beyond that, who can say.

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a note to staff there are things called doppelgangers, they will be taking the roll the shadow narrator used to excepting that they are actual npc infiltraitors, they function as wraiths who have sold out to the nephwracks/succomb to oblivion/worships the ahrimaines, they have a power, social challenge w/ subject a success reveals one of the targets horrors, uses subterfuge as retest, contested with willpower, suffers normal rules for social challenges (can only be used every 5 minutes) etc. the rest of the tools in their arsenal will be fleshed out later.

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Pathos and how to get it

regain 1 pathos every night from sleeping

a wraith can regain a point of pathos per level of the haunt for sleeping in a haunt for 12 hours. 

a wraith can regain a point of pathos by feeding on any mortal who is actively working towards the wraith's passion. feeding is accomplished with a mental challenge vs the target. Empathy is the retest. each person has their willpower in pathos, however they do not lose willpower when pathos is taken. 

wraiths heal damage and regain pathos at double the rate when in their fetter.

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Virtue Challenges and Horror Erosion

Broadly phrased all horrors should be in the format. I cannot abide when someone verbs my/the noun.  Whether this is Kills the Jews, Desecrates my Grave, musses my hair or something like that. whenever the character witnesses someone performing the verb of one of their horrors there is a virtue challenge of the appropriate virtue, difficulty 2, the character may spend willpower on this challenge and no other skills or traits besides overbid. i.e. if someone's horror is Trespass on my grave, if they see some kids on Halloween trespassing in someone'e yard they should intervene or else risk a virtue. if Someone does something inappropriate to the noun. i.e. lets say the horror is Steals my Car, then if someone keys their car or harms their car it is a test of the appropriate virtue,  the category is chosen by the player although the staff may chose to state a difficulty. 

When a virtue drops to 0 a wraith enters a harrowing, if they succeed the virtue remains at 1. if they fail the harrowing, that virtue remains at 0 and that virtue is tainted. When that virtue is challenged the wraith enters staff control. If 3 of a wraith's virtues fall to 0 they become a doppelganger, the virtues that have fallen to 0 are tainted and replaced at levels decided by staff and their motivations and actions are under staff control. If a character loses a permanent point of Shadow, they can reapportion and reassign their virtues, allowing the taint to be removed. 

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faction data so far