Daimoinon
"You have been suckered by the illusion of 'good' and 'evil'. I assure, you, there's no such thing." -- Cybele
Subtle, potent, and wholly evil, the powers of Daimoinon are the signature discipline of the Baali. This discipline was perfected in the deepest sacrificial pits and the more torturous dungeons of the Dark Ages, and carries forward those horrors into the modern age. These are the black gifts of evil, torn from the tongues of sorcerer-kings and unlocked within the vicious, corrupted hearts of betrayers. Characters who learn Daimoinon open themselves to the whispers and subconscious persuasion of infernal entities. Every thought and ambition becomes suspect, and it is difficult even for that individual to judge whether she is acting of her own free will. Each dot of Daimoinon that a character learns corrupts the individual's soul. Whenever a Daimoinon power is used, infernal taint washes over the user's aura and then disappears.
Learning the first 4 dots of Daimoinon indicates that the character is corrupted by the infernal, and it is unquestionable that she is utilizing a wholly and unarguably demonic power. A character must make a deliberate pact with an infernal creature to learn the 5th dot of Daimoinon: either by conquering that entity and becoming its master or by revering it and joining its cause as a willing ally. Regardless of how this pact is achieved, the character is wholly and irredeemably an infernalist. Only those who complete such a pact may acquire the 5th dot of Daimoinon.
Daimoinon Test Pool: The Daimoinon initiator uses her Mental attribute + Academics versus the target's Mental attribute + Willpower.
Contents
• Sense the Sin
The most dangerous enemy is, of course, the one within your own spirit. By speaking with an individual, the user of this power can discover her deepest vices, revealing her spiritual weaknesses to the user's keen perception.
System: Spend 1 Blood and use your standard action to gaze into your target's soul. You must make an opposed challenge against your target, using the Daimoinon test pool. If you are successful, you discover how many Beast traits the target currently possesses, as well as the current level of her Morality. Additionally, you discover exactly how your target gained each Beast trait she possesses: specifically, when, where, under what circumstances, and for what reason.
Exceptional Success: You can read your target¡¦s spirit for the rest of the night, without further challenge. Anytime you see her, you may reexamine her soul and discover if anything you learned initially has changed. If so, you discover the nature of that new alteration, as per a standard use of Sense the Sin.
Focus [Perception]: If your target currently has no Beast traits, you instead learn the approximate date of the last time your target gained Beast traits, and why those traits were earned.
•• Fear the Void Below
Those who learn the powers of Daimoinon soon begin to see the souls as of others as items to be chained, traded, and utilized for their own ambition or amusement. With this power, the user binds a target's given word or promise to her primitive terror of ultimate destruction. Those who make such a compact know instinctively and utterly that breaking a promise bound by this power means sacrificing a part of their souls to the void below.
System: When another character makes a promise to you, you can spend 1 Blood and use a standard action to bind that promise with Fear the Void Below. If your target then breaks the promise bound by this power, she must contest against the infernal entities of Hell or be punished by their retribution. Activating this power requires an opposed challenge using the Daimoinon test pool. The target must make the promise of her own free will, and she cannot be coerced through threat or by use of supernatural powers. Further, breaches of this promise must be willing and cannot be similarly coerced. If an individual bound by Fear the Void Below is Dominated (or otherwise supernaturally forced) to break her promise, Fear the Void Below is not triggered. If the target thereafter breaks the promise of her own volition, Fear the Void Below will still take its toll, as per the normal effects of this power. Further, if an individual bound by your Fear the Void Below is supernaturally forced to break the promise, you are immediately aware of the circumstances under which the target has been forced to break their word.
An individual who willingly breaks a promise bound by Fear the Void Below must make a static challenge using her Mental attribute + Survival against a difficulty equal to your Mental attribute + Academics. Because this is a static challenge and your character is not directly involved, you cannot use retests. Your victim may retest, as per a normal static challenge. If your victim fails this challenge, she loses a point of Willpower and must immediately repeat the challenge. Losing again incurs another lost point of Willpower and another static challenge. This chain of static challenges continues until the target wins a challenge (either by tying or winning the appropriate tests) or until the target runs out of Willpower. If the effects of Fear the Void Below cause a character to lose Willpower when she has no remaining Willpower, infernal spirits descend. The target's soul is drawn out of her body and dragged forever into hell. The character immediately dies. Such a character can never be resurrected (not even temporarily), nor can any supernatural power or ability make contact with the damned soul.
A promise bound by Fear the Void Below must be explicit. The target must speak out loud, saying something as direct and clear-cut as 'I promise to never tell anyone your name', or, 'I swear never to attack you', or, 'On my word of honor, I will always tell you the truth'. Fear the Void Below cannot be used to enforce vague statements, confirmatory assertions, or general agreements such as, 'Sure', 'I agree', or, 'Whatever you say'.
Fear the Void Below cannot be used to enforce promises made to multiple people, such as those made in a public speech, only promises that are made directly and individually to you. For example, if a politician announced her campaign promise to 'put a chicken in every pot', you cannot enforce that pledge. You could, of course, meet with the politician later and ask her to make you that promise personally, and then use Fear the Void Below on that personally-made obligation.
Once used, this power will persist for two games or one month, whichever is longer. After that duration ends, the subject is free to break her promise without any fear of reprisal, and the instinctive fear of doing so will dissipate and no longer haunt her.
Focus [Intelligence]: If your target breaks her promise, she loses 1 point of Willpower before making her first test against Fear the Void Below.
••• Conflagration
Not all of the powers of Daimoinon are subtle. Some are intended to strike fear into the innocent, and to fulfill the threat of pain and destruction against those who defy your will. By invoking this power, the user calls up searing green fire from the realms of her infernal patrons, exulting in the cruelty of the damned.
System: Spend 1 Blood and use your standard action to launch a bolt of hideous green flame at your target. This fire is clearly infernal in origin. To strike your foe with fire, you must win an opposed challenge using your Mental attribute + Academics versus the target's Physical attribute + Dodge. If you are successful, your target takes 2 points of aggravated damage as she is consumed by the damned flame.
Conflagration is a Mental power and, as such, cannot be used during Celerity rounds.
You may repeatedly activate Conflagration against a target; this is an exception to the rule that prohibits a character from using a Mental power on the same target immediately after failing. If you fail a Conflagration challenge against an opponent, you may try again against that same opponent (or someone else) during the next turn.
The infernal flames of Conflagration are fleeting, and fires ignited by the use of this power dissipate within three rounds.
Exceptional Success: The target takes 3 points of aggravated damage instead of the standard 2.
Focus [Intelligence]: You can use Conflagration during Celerity rounds.
•••• Psychomachia
With this frightening power, the Daimoinon user combines her ability to read the spiritual faults of a victim with her ability to summon up the energy of the infernal planes. Psychomachia gives life to an individual's deepest psychological wounds, pitting their target against the most dangerous, shameful parts of her own subconscious.
System: Spend 1 Blood and use your standard action to make an opposed challenge against your target, using the Daimoinon test pool. If successful, an illusory manifestation of your target's anguish and sin appears within arm's reach of the subject of your power. This incarnation may be the subject's abusive father, a long-dead lover, a childhood bogeyman, or some other manifestation of her inner wounds. Whatever its form, the malefic anima immediately turns upon your target and seeks to do her harm.
The target of Psychomachia can interact with and be wounded by her malefic anima as if it were a normal creature. You can also see the Psychomachia manifestation, but you cannot interact with it. Other individuals cannot see or interact with this spiritual incarnation and have no means of determining if it is there or targeting it with attacks or powers.
A malefic incarnation created by Psychomachia is a 5-point Stock NPC with 10 points of Blood. It possesses the powers Feral Claws and Heightened Senses, but does not have access to other Auspex or Protean powers. It has skill specializations in your choice of two of the three standard Physical disciplines (Potence, Celerity, and Fortitude). Additionally, you may select three other skill focuses for the manifestation to possess. Psychomachia cannot be activated during Celerity rounds, but a malefic incarnation that possesses the Celerity focus can take Physical actions during Celerity rounds.
When Psychomachia ends, the manifestation dissipates into foul-smelling, sulfurous smoke, which only you and the target can sense. This occurs after five minutes, when the malefic incarnation takes 5 points of damage, or if your target is torpored or rendered unconscious.
You can only have one Psychomachia manifestation in existence at any one time. Using the power a second time, even if on another target, dissipates the first incarnation of this power.
Exceptional Success: Your Psychomachia has two additional Stock NPC focuses. These may be used to purchase disciplines or skills.
Focus [Perception]: When you create a Psychomachia, your manifestation additionally possesses 1 point of Willpower, which it can spend normally. Further, you may give your creation up to 3 more points of Willpower by spending an equal amount of Willpower when you create the malefic anima. This is an exception to the rule that prevents stock NPCs from having or using Willpower.
••••• Condemnation
The user of this power levies a curse upon a victim, invoking the name of her demonic ally to invest the curse with infernal authority. Legend states that some Baali wield curses so foul that the victim is willing to commit suicide rather than face inevitable doom.
System: Spend 1 Blood and use your standard action to loudly curse your target. Make an opposed challenge against your target, using the Daimoinon test pool. If successful, you curse the subject with one of the following rebukes:
- The victim cannot spend Blood to boost her Physical attribute.
- The target suffers a -2 penalty to one attribute of your choice.
- The target suffers a -5 penalty to test pools involving a skill of your choice.
- Anytime the target fails a static challenge, she automatically suffers the results of a critical failure.
Curses levied by Condemnation last for the rest of the night. No character can be under more than one use of Condemnation at a time. If a new curse is applied, the old one fades.
Characters who possess Condemnation are infernalists.
Focus [Perception]: When you successfully use Condemnation, choose and apply two of the above effects rather than one.
