It is thus that self-love for ever creeps out,

like a snake,

to sting anything which happens,

even accidentally,

to stumble upon it.

- Lord Byron
 Credits
Authors: Kelly J Clark, Astra Crompton, Chris Handley, Roman
Lanzarotta, Mike Massiah, Jacob Waskow, Sam Young
Developer and Editor: Sam Young
Consulting Editor: Megan Robinson
Artists: Saoirse “Fish” Coogan, Astra Crompton, Alexander
Meza, Scott Paisley
Art Direction: Sam Young and Kelly J Clark
Design and Layout: Sam Young
Front Cover Artist: Scott Paisley

Special Thanks
Michele “Oh no, he’s hot!” Masala, for injecting some much-
needed humor into a longer than expected development cycle.
Our alluring test readers: Grace Eccleston, Robin Holford, Jen
Peters, and Christine Rattray
The team behind Kiss of the Succubus: Daeva, for making sex
and murder such an appealing combination.

© 2021 Paradox Interactive AB. All rights reserved. Vampire: The Requiem, Werewolf:
The Forsaken, Mage: The Awakening, Promethean: The Created, Changeling: The
Lost, Hunter: The Vigil, Geist: The Sin-Eaters, Mummy: The Curse, Demon: The
Descent, Beast: The Primordial, Deviant: The Renegades, Chronicles of Darkness,
Storytelling System™, Storytellers Vault™, and their respective logos, icons, and symbols
are trademarks or registered trademarks of Paradox Interactive AB. All rights reserved.
This work contains material that is the copyright of Paradox Interactive AB. Such material is used with permission under
the Community Content Agreement for the Storytellers Vault.
Check out NMD at: facebook.com/nonedarker. Visit www.storytellersvault.com for more on the Chronicles of Darkness.

2 Sin Again: Daeva

 Table of Contents
Last Night (Part I) 6 Bloodline Origins 48
In the Covenants 48
Rumors 49
Introduction 11 Luca 49
Theme: Want vs. Need 11 Bloodline Gift: The Lessons 50
Mood: Conspicuous Consumption 11 Star-Crossed 52
Body Count 11 Bloodline Origins 53
What’s in This Book 12 In the Covenants 54
Daeva in the Media 13 Rumors 54
Thaddeus Quill 55
Last Night (Part II) 14 Bloodline Gift: Purification 55
New Merits 56
Chapter One: Cousins 19 Xiao 57
Bloodline Origins 58
Children of Judas 20 In the Covenants 58
Bloodline Origins 21 Rumors 59
In the Covenants 22 Master Quinn 59
Rumors 22 New Merits 60
Trish Vasquez 23 New Devotions 61
Bloodline Gift: A Taste of Grief 23
New Devotions 24 Last Night (Part III) 64
Duchagne 26
Bloodline Origins 27
In the Covenants 28 Chapter Two: Blowouts 69
Rumors 28 Dead Men’s Parties 69
Jacques Elmalik 29 Serpentine Talents 69
Bloodline Gift: The Spice of Life 29 Gatecrashers 70
New Devotions 29 Parties of the Centuries 72
Erzsébet 31 Genres 75
Bloodline Origins 32 The Bacchanal 75
In the Covenants 33 The Ball 75
Rumors 33 The Banquet 76
Ji-su Moretti 34 The Bar 76
Bloodline Gift: Almost Human 34 The Bash 77
New Merits 34 The Block Party 77
New Devotions 35 The Bonding 78
Gulikan 36 Inspirational Media 79
Bloodline Origins 37 Up All Night: Blowout Systems 80
In the Covenants 38 Stage One: Planning 80
Rumors 38 Stage Two: Hosting 81
Yusuf Cakir 38 Stage Three: Aftermath 82
Ortam 39 Example of Social Tilt Resolution 82
Ortam Recipes 40 Cheap, Fast, Good Tilts 84
Moda Mortale 42 Social Tilts 85
Bloodline Origins 43
In the Covenants 44 Last Night (Part IV) 88
Rumors 44
Ginevra 45 Chapter Three: Accessories 93
Bloodline Gift: Finishing School 46 The Serpent’s Hoard 93
New Merits 46 Archetypes 93
New Devotions 46 Devotions 94
Nelapsi 47 Merits 99

Table of Contents 3
 Never Let Me Go: The Wanton Curse 102 New Merits 128
Needful Things 102 New Crúac Rites 128
The Craving 103 Alu 130
Bloody Fixations: Playing the Bane 103 Background 130
Common Banes 104 Rumors 131
Player Care and the Vampire Card 105 Elizabeth Giffard 132
Systems 132
Last Night (Part V) 106 Twists of the Blood: The Imperial Line 133
Flowers of Inanna 134
Chapter Four: Haters 111 Background 134
Rumors 135
Brigman 112 Isabel Cisne 135
Where we came from 112 Systems 136
Who we are tonight 113 The Scorned 138
Three Elect 113 Background 138
Children of Nirriti 115 Rumors 138
Where we came from 115 Jerry Wilkes 139
Who we are tonight 115 Systems 140
Three Chosen 116 New Dread Powers 140
New Crúac Rite 117 Solace 141
Histrion 118 Background 141
Where we came from 118 Rumors 142
Who we are tonight 118 Three Users 142
Three Patsies 119 Systems 143
The Tribute Society 121 VLAD 144
Where we came from 121 Background 144
Who we are tonight 121 Rumors 144
Three Seekers 122 Three Infected 145
The Nemites 124 Systems 145
Sample Tree Surgeon: Gail Aido 127
Initiation 127 Last Night (Epilogue) 148

Index of Conditions and Tilts

Delicate Timing (Social Tilt) 84 Half Dead (Persistent Condition) 137
Depressed (Condition) 24 High Stress (Social Tilt) 85
Expensive (Social Tilt) 84 Inflamed (Persistent Condition) 30
Fired Up! (Condition) 41 Self-Loathing (Persistent Condition) 25
Gifts of the Alu (Persistent Condition) 133 VLAD (Persistent Condition) 146

4 Sin Again: Daeva

Last Night
By Kelly J Clark
 Part One: Ghost in the Machine
Two decades working as a contractor for some of the worst people on the planet had provided
Darrell with a sixth sense for danger. He’d reinforced tiger cages for exotic pets, soundproofed and
stain-guarded BDSM dungeons, constructed hidden passages to disposal chutes, and dug out panic
rooms for CEOs and drug cartels alike. He’d worked with junkies, killers, and monsters, and the
moment he looked into his new client’s eyes, he knew the man was all three.
It was supposed to be a simple job in the white-flight suburbs of Chicago, a skylight installation
for a classy (if dated) mid-century modern in Winnetka. Among the neighboring Georgians and
Mediterraneans, leering over hedge walls and wrought iron gates, the house stood as a quaint relic
of 1960s architecture, just waiting to be reborn some day as something that would better reflect
the local HOA’s standards.
The client had been vouched for by a regular, one “Littlejohn” Roach. Bona fides were a require-
ment for any project with immediate turnaround, and LJ was a straight shooter. It should’ve been
fine. And yet, there Darrell stood, six-foot-six, black, and built like William “The Refrigerator”
Perry, paralyzed with fear on the doorstep of a man less than half his size. The client stood about
five-nine and had pale, freckled skin. He was handsome, even pretty, with a sharp nose, bright
ivory teeth, and curly auburn hair that hung down to his shoulders.
Darrell had never wanted to run from someone so much in his entire life.
But then the man smiled with those dazzling teeth, and all Darrell’s anxiety melted away like
snow under a July sun. He liked this guy. He liked him a lot lot.. And, more than that, he wanted to
help him out. So, he allowed himself to be happily led across the threshold.
Littlejohn said the job was for an eccentric model with a particular time-frame — not unusual
for rich folk, and a constraint Darrell had worked within many times before. But this house was
less eccentric and more time capsule. It retained its 1960s open-concept design, complete with
wood paneling and wall-to-wall shag carpeting. Even the air felt vintage, ripe with the scent of
polyester, nylon, and viscose, which mingled unpleasantly with the grout between the natural
rock of the fireplace. Beneath it all was the cloying odor of uncirculated dust from an old central
air unit — as if it had been turned on for the first time in decades just for him. Goosebumps rode
his flesh as the client led him to the bedroom, and he felt as though he were trapped behind the
glass in a museum.
The interior was built for optimal flow and social gatherings, with wide, doorless spaces and a
professionally stocked bar. Despite its anachronisms, it was obvious the place had seen its share
legendary ragers, and Darrell expected the bedroom to be the creamy center of an orgy palace.
Instead, he felt embarrassed by a surge of disappointment when he finally saw it: No trap doors or
secret labs or torture suites or sexcapades in progress. It was just a bedroom.
A big one, sure, with a California king opposite a cavernous walk-in closet. The bed’s silk sheets
lay piled up on the floor, as if awaiting housekeeping, and its headboard had seen more than its
fair share of wear, the finish stripped in a way Darrell recognized as rope damage. His imagination
momentarily summoned up carnal ghosts, writhing against handcuffs and strap-ons and flesh — but
the room refused to “yes, and…” The feeling faded.
Beyond the bed, a black leather recliner faced an older-model flatscreen, with a DVD player tucked
in the stand below. No movies, though, and no cable setup by the look of it.

6 Sin Again: Daeva

 Did this guy even live here? The room was tired and pathetic, like a retirement home. Darrell
tried to give him the benefit of the doubt; maybe he was just a pervert who came by to jerk it to
avant garde snuff films.
“Darrell?” The client smiled up at him.
“Sorry.” He gave his brain a mental shake. “I was just running some numbers in my head for the
skylight.”
The client nodded and continued. “I want it remote controlled and with an alarm. But I don’t
want a Snooze button. I’ll hit it. Once it’s done, I want it to stay done. Time?”
Darrell looked up from his notes and checked his watch. “Quarter to… oh, the job. Three days
max. Do you have the permits for—”
“No permits. Three days.” The man paused. “Yes. That’ll do.”
Darrell took a few more notes. “Do you have any measurements for the skylight or…?”
“That.” The client pointed at the bed and then the ceiling. “Except bigger. So it overlaps. Can
you make it fast?”
“Three days?”
“No, the skylight. I want it to open fast.”
“Oh! Yeah, I can do that.”
“Really fast.”
“Not a problem.”
“Good. Good. I don’t want to have any warning when it goes off. Just… bam — sunlight, and no
way to escape it.” The man nodded to himself, then paused as if an invisible third party had made
a suggestion. “Better soundproof it to be safe.”
“Sure. Linked to your smart home?”
The client looked up, his green eyes shining with a hint of mania. “Don’t have one. Something
simple. I don’t want technology getting in my way. Don’t trust it.”
“Yeah, I got the sense you dig the classics. I noticed that beauty by the TV. Does it still work?”
Darrell nodded at a yellowing plastic box next to the television stand, monopolizing one of the
room’s few outlets. A solitary floor lamp was plugged into it.
“Oh, that. Yeah. I think so. Be my guest.”
Darrell grinned, allowing a sliver of his inner tech geek to peek past the professional exterior. He
clapped his hands twice in quick succession and the old lamp flickered to life, as if waking from a
particularly deep sleep. Its incandescent bulb sizzled beneath years of dust, then popped.
“Sorry, I’m a total nerd for vintage equipment like that.”
“Nothing wrong with appreciating the classics. So, we good?”
Darrell put his inner tech geek back its the box. “Absolutely. Three days, soundproof. Don’t worry
about a thing: Once this bad boy’s open, it’ll be nothing but fun in the sun in here.”
“Yeah,” the client said with an odd tone. “Once for sure.”

***
Last Night 7
 True to his word, the contractor finished on schedule and with spectacular craftsmanship. During
its test run, the newly installed skylight filled the room with the bluish chill of night, illuminated
by a hangnail crescent moon gleaming from behind billowing clouds, like an errant Christmas
ornament. Darrell had kept the technology as simple as possible, and he’d even added an extra:
The unit was wired into the Clapper, just in case the remote ever went missing.
It was a cute touch, and as Robert Darcy thanked the contractor and showed him out for the final
time, he couldn’t help but feel a bit charmed. He was loath to take Littlejohn’s recommendation
on, well, anything, but his man did good work in half the time expected. Darcy had barely needed
to use his own considerable charms after their first meeting, when he thought the poor guy was
about to bludgeon him and run screaming into the night.
As he flipped the deadbolts on the front door, he shuddered at the thought of what had been
going through the man’s mind.
But it didn’t matter, did it? It would be over soon, and that was for the best. That was right. Each
second of delay was a cruelty, and he’d be glad to have it all done. The exhaustion of everything had
crept into Darcy’s body deeper than his bones, and with each step, he could feel cold worms burrowing
into his heart. He wandered the house like a ghost, haunting its halls until he finally retired to the
bedroom, where the recliner accepted his burden like an old friend.
Was it supposed to be like this? How did others handle it? Without the Embrace, there was a good
chance he’d still be alive tonight, wrinkled, liver-spotted, and about to celebrate his 72nd birthday.
How did the long-lived monsters survive any longer? Maybe that was the trick: be a monster. But
Darcy had been a better monster alive than dead. In life, he’d fucked, snorted, and backstabbed his
way through the world of 1970s modeling. In death, he’d become a public servant: Herald of Chicago
and upstanding member of the Carthian Movement. The Embrace brought perspective, contempla-
tion, and, worst of all, a conscience. And best of all… her. Which was also the worst, in its own way.
The television’s blank screen loomed before him like an open grave. As he ruminated, his fin-
gers spidered across the chair’s worn arm and wrapped around the TV’s remote. The action was
instinctual at this point.
The screen crackled to life like a thunderclap in the silence, and the DVD slowly spun up in the
drive. The screen showed an immense, round bed in the middle of an expansive room, painted like
a black box theater with no discernible corners or walls. It was bare, bereft of pillows or blankets,
or any other adornment save for a dark red sheet. This bed was not for sleep.
A woman stepped in front of the camera and Darcy groaned. Carmelita
Carmelita..
She was his first and only childe, and the sight of her filled his chest with a raw void. It felt the
same way every time he watched the video. Every night for the last decade.
She was wearing a black kimono with a crimson trim, and she seemed to vanish against the bed
and walls. She gave a performative bow to the camera and shrugged the robe off. No living woman
had ever been more visible. A lifetime of dance had sculpted her into a peerless beauty; every motion
radiated power, grace, and control. She ran her hands along her shoulders to her breasts, and then
down her firm stomach, trailing her manicured nails across the trim patch of hair below.
“Robert,” she purred into the camera; a decade in the future, he shivered. “Did you think I’d
forget your birthday?”
She started toward the bed, swaying her hips with a hypnotic rhythm. When she arrived, she
bent and paused to give the camera a show, then turned on the ball of her foot and lowered herself
to sit on the edge.

8 Sin Again: Daeva

 “Remember that summer before you Embraced me? Those long nights, the searching passion, the
rush of my blood over your tongue? Just the thought of it…” she sighed, exaggerating the motion
to swell her chest out, “...makes me retch. You already took my life… so what do you get the sire
who has everything?”
Her fingers beckoned to someone beyond the camera’s view. With hesitant obedience, six nude
men approached her and took their places along the bed.
“Consider this a forget-me-not.”
She snapped her fingers and the men crawled toward her across the crimson sheet. Each one
dwarfed her with his massive physique, but she held every ounce of their strength with gesture
alone. All the while, she kept her eyes locked on the camera, her smile full of malice.
“Are you watching, Robert?”
Darcy lowered his head into his hands and shuddered until the tears flowed over his fingers in
bloody rivers. She’d been gone almost six years. Vanished without a trace.
“Are you watching?” she asked. The bodies on the screen writhed and moaned. Sweat glistening.
Muscles pulled taut against tanned, too-tight flesh.
Darcy was watching. He was always watching. This hateful goodbye was his final memento of the
woman who’d been his childe, lover, and dearest friend.
To the Daeva, it was a cliché: The Embrace inverting a beloved’s passion to hate. The stuff of
trite screenplays passed around the Cacophony, which had earned him patronizing condolences
and behind-the-back mockery from his cousins. Who Embraces for love in the 21st century anyway?
Perhaps it would’ve been different if he’d been different, or tried harder, or had waited a bit longer,
but such thoughts were pointless now. He thought their love was stronger than superstition and
lost the wager. Now it was too late — for her, for them, and soon, for him.
Darcy leaned back in his chair and stared behind the television at the skylight controls. It would
all be over in a few hours. All the impotent sadness washed away in a flash of midday light.
He could feel it coming now. Across the horizon, the sun was beginning its ascent. The stolen life
that animated him demanded he rest, return to death, if only until nightfall. Darcy rose from the
chair with effort and made his way to the control box. He programmed his Final Death for noon
with numb, trembling fingers. He’d be long asleep by then and unable to stop it.
The alarm’s digital readout requested confirmation, and he was about to press it when her voice
came again. “Are you watching, Robert? Don’t stop now.”
He hesitated. Whether it was cowardice or the Beast, he would never know, but he hesitated all
the same, and amidst the liquid noises of the bacchanal, a thought came unbidden to his lips:
“One last time.”
Yes. One last night. He owed it to himself. He owed it to all the people whose lives he’d stolen,
ended, or otherwise ruined. He owed it to Carmelita, wherever she was. One last hurrah.
Darcy abandoned the switch, blinking its unanswered question, and returned to his chair. As the
sun rose, the daysleep claimed him and left him no more than a beautiful corpse, waiting to rise
for his swan song. And all the while, the video played on, beckoning to him in whatever dreams
the dead may dwell.
“Don’t look away, Robert. Don’t look away.”

Last Night 9
 Introduction
To me, the only sin is mediocrity.
Martha Graham

The Daeva are irresistible. at something real? The Daeva walk a tightrope between
Real vampires are curled toes and shuddering sighs, warm the Masquerade’s needs and the Requiem’s desires, and few
flesh caressed with icy hands. Do you feel wanted? You are. survive the fall.
They watch with starving eyes and smiles too full of teeth.
They cut with sharp knives and sharper words, dripping with
the sweetest poisons. And with your last breath, you’ll thank Mood: Conspicuous Consumption
them for it. It’s your night, just like every other night. You’re the center
Succubi, incubi, rakes, whores, and a thousand other dirty of attention before you walk through the door, as conversations
words, the Daeva bear many names but blossom from a single die their little deaths and the crowd parts like the sea before a
idea: sin. The Serpents use temptation and taboo to bind prophet. This evening’s costume is bleeding edge runway, from
their prey with puppet strings. They don’t need to conquer or the immaculate makeup to the heels that cost as much as a
control. No, they own us because they make us want to drop family minivan. Their covetous eyes sparkle like the diamonds
to our knees, mouths wide open for that glorious sanguine on your throat, and so you play your favorite game: laugh, and
sacrament. Just remember to smile as you swallow. watch them laugh along; gossip, and watch the rumors spread
Sin Again is the definitive sourcebook for every filthy fact like wildfire; victimize, and watch old friends turn and strike.
about the Daeva you didn’t know you needed. In addition to They stare because they’re desperate to be you, to have you — to
new Serpent fiction, systems, and bloodlines, it includes a belong to you. And you let them, because when they stare at
complete update of the mechanics in their original sourcebook, the clothes, they never see the bloodstains. When they stare at
Kiss of the Succubus, ready for prime time in Vampire: The the smile, they never note the fangs. They stare because people
Requiem Second Edition. have always stared up at stars.
This book arrives fashionably late as the fourth entry in a
series that began with Strange Shades: Mekhet, followed by
Better Feared: Nosferatu, and finally, False Gods: Ventrue. It Body Count
might not be Clanbook: Daeva Revised, but it doesn’t need to Clan Daeva was born of an unholy threesome between
be. Instead, it’s a chance to get back in bed with the Serpents the Brujah, Followers of Set, and Toreador from Vampire:
to try out some new positions, and maybe dust off a few old The Masquerade. They’re the Degenerates’ bon vivant
moves. Join us, won’t you? There’s always room for one more. vibe cranked up to the Rabble’s volume, with a touch of
the Setites’ love for sinful excess. Indeed, in Vampire: The
Requiem First Edition, the Daeva had great difficulty keeping
Theme: Want vs. Need their corruptions in check. The “Succubi” were a group of
The Serpents are addicts. Mortal affection is manna and compulsive hedonists, and their weakness reflected this by
prana and barakah, a spiritual high that few other Kindred depriving them of Willpower whenever they failed to indulge
understand. The pull of life and the anchor of death define their baser instincts. Later on in First Edition, Kiss of the
a Daeva’s Requiem, and it’s a tension she struggles with every Succubus tweaked this presentation, recasting the Daeva as
night she walks the streets. Is she going to play pretend one the Kindred most attached to humanity: no less epicurean,
more time after a thousand other lies, or is she going to share but more inclined to use mortal means to get their fix, from
the horrible truth with her beloved, just for a slim chance fashion to fanzines to film deals.

Introduction 11
 Of the five clans, the Daeva might’ve had the most ink spilled Really, they’d like nothing better than to bottle you up.
over them in the transition to Vampire: The Requiem Second (Bloodlines: The Legendary)
Edition. Their nickname shifted from Succubi to Serpents, Fashion is a cutthroat business, but the Moda Mortale are
which not only de-gendered the term, but better reflected how ready to erase the competition with their bespoke garottes.
the clan operates: Snakes are beautiful creatures, but deadly The Nelapsi have a story to tell, and you’ll devour it with
if you get too close. Second Edition also reworked their bane, a boundless hunger. All the better to fatten you up for the
transforming their complicated relationship with vice into an monster at the end of the book. (Bloodlines: The Hidden)
endless cycle of obsession and heartbreak.
Death shall have no dominion with the Star-Crossed, even
if it means their precious collections dearly wish it would.
What’s in This Book As the Xiao spread their cults across the Golden State,
the sting of regret only fades, but the absence in their hearts
Sin Again: Daeva is for players and Storytellers alike.
grows ever wider. (Bloodlines: The Chosen)
Inside, you’ll find all the materials you need to zhuzh up your
Serpent characters for a night out, from bloodlines, Merits, and
Devotions to a brand-new system for running Kindred parties. Chapter Two: Blowouts
Throughout, you’ll also hit the town with Robert Darcy, a Here we RSVP to the Serpents’ greatest secret, revealing
Daeva who’s reached the very end of his rope. It’s his last night how they organize and execute the wildest parties in the All
on earth, and he plans to make the best of it — if only the lure Night Society. In addition to a complete system for creating
of romance (and a very angry vampire) would let him… and hosting your own Blowouts, you’ll also be treated to some
of the clan’s most notorious gatherings throughout history, as
Chapter One: Cousins well as genres and story seeds to inspire your own.
This chapter revisits six classic Serpent bloodlines and intro-
duces two new ones to invite to all your intimate gatherings. Chapter Three: Accessories
If you’ve been bad — really bad — the Children of Judas can This chapter provides a peak into the Serpents’ vast wardrobe.
taste it in your tears, and they crave your guilt like a junkie In addition to new Archetypes, Devotions, and Merits, we
craves the needle. (Bloodlines: The Legendary) include Second Edition updates for the mechanics in Kiss of
the Succubus. You’ll also find an in-depth look at the Wanton
The human body is a playground, but for the
Curse, as well as safety tips for including romantic (and not so
Duchagne, it’s the only thing worth getting worked
romantic) themes in your chronicles.
up for anymore. (Bloodlines: The Chosen)
The Erzsébet wear their sins upon their aging
faces, but before time has its way with their Chapter Four: Haters
flesh, they’ll dance on all our graves. (Kiss of Finally, we review the blacklist. Beyond four
the Succubus) greedy new ghoul families and a covenant
The Gulikan would love to capture bearing pamphlets, you’ll meet a posse of
that je ne sais quoi of yours. horrors ready to crash the party. Let’s just
hope they all play nice.

12 Sin Again: Daeva

 momentary pleasure. For the Serpents, there’s no better example
Daeva in the Media of how far a monster will go to get her kicks, and how quickly
The Daeva connection to sex and romance is at the core of those new passions become mundane.
almost every vampire in the popular imagination. Of course, Perfect Blue, directed by Satoshi Kon: Mima Kirigoe is a
that means a lot of bloodsuckers have been co-opted by all those member of a mid-tier Japanese idol group who dreams of pur-
other clans. That’s okay, though. We know who they’re really suing a career in acting. When she leaves the band, stalkers and
going home with at the end of the night. online harassers attempt to sabotage her new career, but her
trolls soon turn up dead, with Mima the prime suspect. Perfect
Vampire Media Blue is a painful meditation on what it means to be desired,
and exemplifies the true power Daeva hold over the hearts and
Carmilla, by Sheridan Le Fanu: While Count Dracula is
minds of their herds — whether they want it or not.
credited for introducing vampires to Victorian readers with
his scandalous (for the era) sexuality, Countess Karnstein had You, created by Greg Berlanti and Sera Gamble: This
beat him to the punch 26 years prior. Laura is the daughter television psychological-thriller concerns one Joe Goldberg, a
of a wealthy English landowner who wants for nothing save charming, sincere romantic who manages a bookstore in New
companionship. When a carriage accident brings a lovely York City. He’s also a ruthless stalker and — soon enough —
young woman of her age to stay with her, the two bond over serial killer, one who’ll do anything to possess the woman of
a shared dream from their youths. What follows is a charged his dreams. Make no mistake: Joe is human garbage, but he’s
tale of erotic horror that stands out as one of the first popular a fantastic Daeva. For an even less charitable interpretation of
examples of queer literature. Joe, try the original novel by Caroline Kepnes.
The Hunger, directed by Tony Scott: Possibly the platonic
Daeva movie — which isn’t to say it’s the best Daeva movie, but Requiem Books
it’s got mood for nights, and its aesthetic influence on vampire The Marriage of Virtue and Viciousness, by Greg Stolze: The
cinema can’t be overstated. David Bowie’s haunting performance final novel in Requiem’s Chicago Trilogy, Marriage concerns
as a doomed not-quite-vampire inspired the Erzsébet bloodline (in part) the unholy trials and travails of Solomon Birch, a
and other elements of Kiss of the Succubus, while Catherine Sanctified Serpent preparing to settle some long-overdue
Deneuve made utter monstrosity seem utterly alluring. If nothing scores. As the signature Daeva character for Vampire: The
else, take in this film’s iconic opening minutes as a live Bauhaus Requiem First Edition (the rather fit fellow on p. 105), Birch
soundtrack drones over scenes of two beautiful predators playing is a go-to example of how Serpent passions drive them both to
among their herd. greatness and to ruin. The Black Bishop corrupts humanity
Interview with the Vampire, by Anne Rice: The first of Rice’s even as he lusts for it to punish his pride, and he’ll break
Vampire Chronicles follows the personal account of Louis, a 200- every one of God’s commandments to get what he really
years dead plantation owner, as confessed to an ambitious cub wants. (White Wolf)
reporter. Louis’s Requiem begins when he meets the vampire Invite Only came near the end of First Edition’s life cycle,
Lestat, who takes advantage of the young man’s grief over the but it’s essential for anyone who plans on throwing a vampire
loss of his brother to bring him into the night. Sire and childe party. This book’s focus on Kindred socializing includes a
thus begin a turbulent relationship that will span centuries, number of new mechanics and tools, but its real gems are its
leaving untold broken hearts and bodies in its wake. The plug-and-play gatherings, characters, and story hooks. It’s not
Neil Jordan film adaptation is a classic in its own right, and easy to maintain the vibe of a cutthroat meeting of dead mean
noteworthy for its ringer cast, but both versions are brooding girls without repeating the same sophisticated balls, trendy
works of gothic romance. nightclubs, and warehouse raves, so check it out if you need
some fresh perspectives on vampire soirées. (White Wolf)
Non-Vampire Media Finally, Kiss of the Succubus: Daeva is the ultimate Serpent
Crash, directed by David Cronenberg: Film producer James tell-all. Second of the celebrated clan book series, Kiss not only
Ballard and his wife Catherine are in a joyless open marriage, but redefined the Daeva Requiem, but introduced concepts like
when James is injured in a head-on collision, an erotic encounter the Cacophony, the hidden gossip network of the Damned. It
with the other car’s survivor changes everything. What follows also takes a deep dive into the mortal side of the predator/prey
is a deeply disturbing film that examines the fetishization of equation, offering a detailed view of the damage Serpents can
near-death experiences and the weight of human life versus leave in their wakes.

Introduction 13
 Part Two: Station to Station
The bar was better when it was called Century.
Century. Carmelita changed the name to Station back
in 2006, a stupid dig at Darcy’s status as a “lowly” Carthian versus her newfound prestige in the
Invictus. It was a petty insult, but it stung and continued to do so. It’s the small things that kill,
and Serpents are masters of death by a thousand paper cuts.
What hurt more was that Century had been special to them. It had been their place, where he’d
found her, fallen in love with her, and decided to keep her forever. She’d loved the club as much
as he had… until he killed her, and everything changed.
As Herald, Darcy was expected to make the rounds at various Kindred nightspots, but he’d
worked hard to avoid this one ever since Carmelita got her hooks in it. Now that he’d returned,
he couldn’t deny the renovations were well-appointed — everything modernized and sleek, rede-
signed with dozens of hidden pockets for indiscretions and feedings — but being here again felt
like sneaking into a graveyard. Then the bass hit, and the smell of the crowd washed over him:
sweat, vanilla, cherry, and blood. Something in the air sparked a sensation buried deep within
him, forcing the ghosts to release their hold, and it was as if he was seeing everything for the first
time again.
Nothing ever changes in night clubs, and that’s why people love them. Darcy cut his teeth and
his coke in joints like Studio 54, back when disco was king and so was he. The glitzy pageantry
had given way to the chic minimalism of the modern era, but it had always been (and always would
be) a meat market. A jolt of hunger compressed his ribs and brought him back to the present,
and once again the specter of ennui seized his useless heart, along with the thrum of the sound
system. The music was overproduced, discordant dubstep mated with TikTok mumble-rap; in
his daze, he’d stumbled onto the dance floor, where he suddenly found himself standing in the
middle of the crowd like a discarded lamp, wondering why no one made good music anymore.
Or at least spoke clearly.
You’re sounding your age, Robert, a voice chided from the back of his mind. Stop standing around
like a fossil and go pretend to have a drink. He sighed and let the Blood warm his face, no longer the
Ghost of Discos Past.
As he turned to the bar, any lingering haze vanished as his suspicions of Carmelita’s spite were
confirmed. The vintage backsplash mirror had been blurred to add a surreal atmosphere (and to
cover for any Kindred who happened to fall victim to old wives’ tales), and the beautiful wood-carved
bartop had been replaced with an impersonal black synthetic piece. It was flanked by eighteen high-
back leather seats, but mixed in among them was a pair of crimson swivel stools on silver posts.
It seemed as if the staff had swapped them in after a couple of the newer ones broke — but Darcy
knew better. Those chairs were where they’d first met.
Carmelita had been perched atop the left seat, twirling a straw between her fingers with idle
interest as a pair of duds tried to convince her to be the meat in their devil’s triangle. He couldn’t
blame them for trying. The flawless ballerina’s dark hair was in a wild, wavy deluge, and she’d
stained her lips red to match her satin boned gown. As Darcy would later learn, she had already
performed twice that day, yet somehow she still looked like a goddess.
But if he had to be honest, it was the shoes that had called him over. It was silly; the definition
of desire was sitting right in front of him, laughing and rolling a maraschino cherry on her tongue,
but all he could focus on was a pair of Blahnik “Ivy Shoe” remakes, swinging under the bar like

14 Sin Again: Daeva

cobras waiting to strike. To anyone else, they were just expensive shoes, but to him, they were fate.
The originals had debuted at Darcy’s first runway show back in ’71, and he’d yet to see the remakes
in person until that very night.
And now, this one: The woman sitting in Carmelita’s chair had the same shoes. They were scuffed
and worn, but unmistakable. The woman sprouting from them seemed out of place, from her simple
polka dot a-line to her messy brown half bun. She looked so unsure of herself, and achingly vulnerable.
Her companion was anything but. He was James Dean handsome and barely 20, with improbably
high cheekbones and gravity defying bedhead, decked out in a black denim jacket and jeans. He
had the kind of look sculptors sought out, and Darcy could tell he was dead at twenty paces.
The couple stared at each other like starving cannibals; as he watched, the scent from the dance
floor returned, filling his chest with pinpricks. He was back in time, approaching Carmelita with
that same hungry look, pulling her to his side by the will of his blood. Without thinking, he
approached them, the smell consuming his every thought.
It was her.
Creamy vanilla, ripe cherry, and ruby blood against the iron and dust and cheap aftershave of the
vampire. They were so enraptured with each other that they didn’t notice him slip into the empty
chair beside them. They spoke in low tones, barely audible above the relentless, pounding music.
Her voice was cool and bright, but her words were tinged with nerves. “I don’t know what to think…”
His voice was a rich tenor coated in a Southern twang. “But you feel this, right? What’s between
us? This… electricity.” He brushed a strand of her hair behind her ear and trailed his pale fingers
down her neck, tracing around a rose tattoo just above her shoulder. Her head dipped into the
touch, and she reached up to clasp his hand. Her drink trembled in her other hand, nearly spilling
on her dress.
“Beau…” she cooed, and the vampire didn’t hesitate. He kissed her hard, their tongues intertwining
in a messy tangle, and his soft touch at the nape of her neck became a tight grasp. He worked his
way hurriedly from her mouth, nipping and flicking his tongue along her jawline. Then he got in
close, his teeth scraping just over her throat. Darcy turned from pretending to look at the mirror
to see the kid’s fangs were already out. In public.
Jesus,, he thought, is he going to drain her right at the fucking bar?
Jesus
Something had to be done. Whoever this guy was, he was sitting in Darcy’s chair.
He focused the power in his veins and made it undulate around him in waves. He could feel
the little shit reaching out, choking the woman with alluring tendrils like a horned-up octopus.
Two could play at that game. Darcy leaned into the pair’s writhing mass of hands and tongues and
thrust his own Beast between them, then watched as the other vampire’s appeal washed away like
seafoam on a beach. Where the woman had moaned a moment before, she now winced.
The vampire nipped her again and she pulled away. “Not so hard.”
Beau didn’t hear. He tilted his head upward and bit her ear, purring with desire. “You… everything
I am is midnight without you…” Darcy smirked, a foot away from their conjoined faces. The Lick
didn’t notice, but she certainly did.
“Beau
Beau,” ,” she urged. He didn’t respond. “Beau!” she repeated, then cuffed him on the shoulder.
He finally stopped trying to eat her jaw long enough to notice Darcy; the look on his face was
something other than welcoming.

Last Night 15
 “Hi there!” Darcy said as he wiggled his fingers in greeting. “Beau, was it? I’m Robert Darcy. We
haven’t met, which is weird seeing as I work for the guy in charge.”
“I hear there ain’t no guy in charge anymore,” the vampire growled.
“Well,” Darcy replied, leaning in with a conspiratorial whisper, “there are still rules. And a sheriff.”
“That so?”
Darcy glanced at the woman, who shot them both a look that said, I don’t know what macho bull-
shit you two are on about, but it’s none of my business, and I’m not interested in making it so. She had very
expressive eyebrows.
“Don’t worry, kid, he’s never too busy to meet the new guy. How about we go meet him together?
I’d hate for you to break a rule you might regret.”
Beau stood up and straightened to his full height, half a foot over Darcy. “I ain’t no kid kid,, and I’ll
meet your friend later. Now, leave me with my girl.”
Something about that response twisted Darcy’s gut. The Beast snarled, urging words from his
mouth, and the Man was too consumed with that damn scent to stop them. “Well, yeehaw yeehaw,, asshole.
Did I miss the cattle brand on your heifer?”
“The fuck you say?” Beau reared back, his fist poised like a scorpion’s stinger. Oops.
Darcy braced for impact, but just as the kid was about to hit him, the woman cut in. “That’s
enough!” She pushed a hand into Beau’s chest, hard enough to unbalance him. Apparently, she
was stronger than she looked, because whether she meant to or not, the impact knocked him
into a passing waiter holding a drink tray. Even with Kindred reflexes, Beau couldn’t avoid being
drenched in schnapps as he tumbled to the ground. A crash rang out as the tray launched across
the floor, followed by the sound of tearing fabric as Beau’s leg came down awkwardly, ripping his
jeans from thigh to crotch.
“Jesus!” The woman rushed to his side and tried to help him up, but he slapped her hand away,
and it came down hard on a piece of broken glass, which bit eagerly into the flesh of her palm.
Blood poured onto the floor, and Darcy felt his eyes catch in the gravity of each drop’s orbit. He
wasn’t alone. Beau’s pupils grew so large they filled his irises, but then narrowed in shame as he
noticed the clubbers around him laughing and pointing: His pants had split in the fall, revealing
an unfortunate decision to ride commando. He tried to clamber to his feet, but let out a cry of
pain as the broken glass shifted and more blood coated the floor.
Darcy wasn’t paying attention, though. He was too fixated on the red beads pooling in the wom-
an’s palm, staring longingly as she went to the barman for his first aid kit. He felt an urge to go to
her, as if pulled by an invisible hand, but before he could, a roaring vampire grabbed him by the
throat with a very visible one.
“Yarrgh,” said Darcy.
“You have no clue who you’re messing with, cousin. You’re in for a whole goddamn world of
hurt. She’s—”
“Kick my ass if you like,” Darcy managed through a compressed throat, “but you’re unacknowl-
edged, and I’m the Prince’s Herald. You don’t want the pain I can bring down on you you.. Now, go glue
your dick back together or I’ll call the Sheriff on your undocumented ass.”
Beau’s eyes were alight with the threat of frenzy, and for a long moment, Darcy thought he was
going to get murdered at Station, of all places. But then the other vampire noticed the mass of

16 Sin Again: Daeva

phones aimed at his shame, and rage took a backseat to self-preservation. Releasing Darcy, he cov-
ered himself with his jacket and made a beeline for the bathroom, catcalls following all the way.
Darcy brushed his outfit off. He had a sizable bloodstain smeared across his neck, and his shirt
was ruined, but it could’ve been worse. The bouncer finally arrived on the scene, but he slowed
his momentum to a cautious trot as he saw who’d been involved in the scuffle.
“Mr. Darcy—”
“I’m heading out. He’s in the bathroom.” He handed the bouncer a wad of bills; the large man
seemed satisfied with that, and rushed off toward the back of the club. Once he was out of sight,
Darcy turned to the woman. “Are you okay—”
“No thanks to you.” She checked the bandages around her hand. They were tight, yet somehow
nearly bloodless.
“You don’t need stitches?”
“It’s just a scratch. The blood’s mostly his…”
That didn’t seem possible. Darcy was intimately familiar with that cut, and it had been deep. He
gave a quick sniff and was overtaken again by the bouquet of sweet blood mingling with vanilla
and cherry. The aroma swelled inside him and pushed away every other thought. He felt a sudden
pang of empathy for Beau — he also wanted nothing more than to sink his teeth into that little
spot next to her tattoo.
He knew it was wrong. He also knew he should stay to deal with that idiot in the bathroom… but
he was hungry. And it was his last night on earth, after all. Why go out alone?
He let his Vitae swim up through his veins and reached out to her with unnatural charm. Just a
nudge. Just enough to put the last few minutes behind her.
“Sorry about the scene. I’m Robert.”
Her head rose from her injury and she stared at him with a glazed expression. “Sadie.”
“Hi, Sadie. I like your shoes.”
“I… thank you?”
“How about we blow this taco stand?”
She blinked, and the focus returned to her brilliant blue eyes. Darcy’s stomach dropped. Even a
Serpent’s look can’t save you if you blow the landing.
Then she laughed and his heart flip-flopped. He still had her.
“You mean leave?”
“Sorry, I—”
“Thought you’d never ask.”

Last Night 17
chapter one
Cousins
We’re everything you crave but can’t have.
We’re the scream of ecstasy, the thrill of surrender, the shock of hot blood on cold lips.
We’re the Daeva, baby, and everyone wants to be us.
Hope you’ve got your ticket ready, because tonight’s lineup is just dying to take the stage:
The addict, the hedonist, the fraud, the merchant, the slayer, the legend, the collector, the leech.
Some are mythic despoilers, the masses begging them for the privilege of corruption.
Some are new temptations, but you’re already hungry for a taste of their fresh sins.
So open your heart and legs, and do what you were going to do along: anything we want.

Chapter One: Cousins 19

 Children of Judas The ones who eat your grief

First thing’s first: We didn’t name ourselves. Who the fuck candy. But… we’re addicts. Desperate ones. And you know who’s
would want to be called the Children of Judas? That name’s noth- got just oodles of tasty atrocities squirreled away? Vampires,
ing but baggage, and we’ve got more than enough of that already. especially old ones. Apparently, when faced with several hun-
Unfortunately, we also have all the internal organization of an dred years’ worth of remorse all at once, of suddenly caring
orgy for the blind, so we’re stuck with it. about all the lives they’ve casually razed, some of our “donors”
Second, we didn’t ask to be this way. Ours isn’t the sort of off themselves rather than experience one more moment of
illustrious lineage you join in search of wealth and prestige. their rotten Requiems. That sort of thing tends to cause a stir,
Every single one of us is a victim, of one kind or another, and especially when it’s a prince or some other highly-visible asshole
that’s before the rest of the dead-man-walking crowd starts tak- who decides to give themself a tan. Doesn’t matter it’s only
ing swings. Probably why “Hanged” is our preferred sobriquet. happened, like, ten times in all of recorded history. A couple
We’re cheery like that. dozen at most. Accidentally cause a few horrid old leeches to
For a bunch of killjoy grief-addicts that nobody wants at their dust themselves, and all of a sudden you’re the Suicide Kings.
party, we’ve been around awhile. You can find records of us Fucking great.
in all sorts of domains going back centuries. They’re usually
records of execution, but hey. It’s good to have a history. Of Why you want to be us
course, that isn’t the same as knowing where we come from,
It’s a nasty burden to yearn for people’s worst crimes and
but we’ll get to that. Where we’ve been isn’t as important as
regrets, and no one’s going to thank you for bringing that
what we do.
shit up. Still, there’s a poetry in what we do. In what we are.
We taste things in the blood. Tragedy, sin, remorse, whatever We’re consequences for those who face none, a conscience
you want to call it. If you’ve been naughty and we take a nip, for monsters who’ve discarded their own. It’s almost worth
we get a peek at your shame. Yes, it happens every time; no, we being treated like a cross between a leper and the worst kind
can’t stop it. Wish it weren’t so. Worse, we need those terrible, of snitch. Almost.
no good memories — need them almost as much as we need
the Blood.
Picture a junkie. The most strung-out, hollow-eyed meth
Why you should fear us
addict who ever pissed on a bus stop at 4AM on December We know what you did. We know where all the bodies are
31st. That’s us, except instead of black tar and bricks, we’re buried, and we can count the exact number of ribs on each
craving your worst betrayals and most painful, secret failures, skeleton stuffed in your closet. Your worst choices are our best
dredging them up from the bleakest annals of your mind in meals, but we need you to feel the guilt again to fill our bellies.
living color. Sure, any Serpent can make you spill your guts It’s okay if you don’t remember how. We shall remind you.
with a pout and a wiggle, but we make you feel bad about it.
We can’t make you feel squat about us, but we can make you Why we should fear ourselves
feel really, really terrible about yourself. Easy to see why we’re We show people the worst of themselves and lap up their
so popular. tears like bloody gumdrops. It earns us exactly zero friends, a
Last thing: That oh-so-jolly nickname the rest of the no-pulse truly staggering amount of hate, and we can’t. Fucking. Stop.
crowd slapped on us? Really overblown. It’s not as if we go The only way to end our addiction to misery is to end ourselves,
around handing out cyanide and razor blades like Halloween and if that isn’t some razor-sharp irony, nothing is.

“Think about what you’ve done.”

20 Sin Again: Daeva

 • Once upon a midnight darkly, there was a maiden locked in a
Bloodline Origins tower surrounded by a deep, dark wood. Many a young man
• The Children of Judas do not claim to be descendants of rode forth to rescue her, yet none survived, for one by
Judas Iscariot. They want to be crystal clear on one, the forest claimed them all. The maiden lamented
that point. What they’re less clear about is who their terrible fates, but eventually she could bear
they really think founded their line; no one is no more. She hung herself with her golden hair
eager to claim that particular responsibil- — grown long and thick in captivity — so that no
ity. The Sanctified possess spotty records more fools would throw away their precious lives.
of a figure known as the Hanged Man, Soon after, however, a gallant knight finally con-
a Daeva preacher who drew comparisons quered the perils of the wood, arriving at the tower
between vampires and Judas, claiming both to only to find the maiden pale with death. Overcome,
be necessary evils in God’s holy plan of ulti- he wept for her, and when his tears fell upon her cold
mate goodness. No one can say whether flesh, she awoke with a terrible thirst.
the Hanged Man ever Embraced, but She drank from the knight, first his
fragments of his writings make tears, then his blood, then his life.
frequent mention of grief and Now she hides from the world
loss as things intrinsic to in dark caves and dungeon
the Kindred condition. keeps, or even atop the tallest
If this mysterious fig- mountain peaks, but no
ure is the Children’s matter how treacher-
founder, his reasons ous the path, a brave
for creating them champion will always
— and his ultimate reach her haven… and
fate — are lost in then she’ll drink him
the weeping. too — miserably ever
after.
• Rather than a single founder,
the Hanged have three. Long Parent Clan: Daeva
ago, a trio of Kindred sisters Nicknames: The Hanged (among them-
spent their Requiems studying selves), Suicide Kings (among others)
grief, and eventually each grew Bloodline Bane (The Grievous Curse):
to embody a different aspect The Children of Judas are addicted to
of misery. The first is Mater the blood of people exper­iencing grief,
Lachrymarum, Our Lady of Tears, remorse, or regret. This goes beyond the
embodying grief as pain, wailing drive to feed that all Kindred experience,
shrieks that demand answers. as even Hanged full of Vitae still feel the
The second is Mater Suspiriorum, need to taste misery on their fangs. If a
Our Lady of Sighs, who teaches Suicide King goes more than (Humanity)
grief as despair, anguish so deep it nights without consuming Vitae from
chokes the heart. The third is Mater one or more characters experiencing
Tenebrarum, Our Lady of Darkness, sorrowful emotions, her player must
who is grief as rage, when mourning roll Resolve + Composure each time
becomes destruction. Collectively she rises from daysleep. This roll suf-
they’re known as the Sorrows, or fers a penalty equal to the number
Dolorae. They poured their blood of nights it’s been since the vampire
into the corpse of a hanged man last got her fix. On a failure, she
to create the first Suicide King, and gains the Deprived Condition
their childer have inherited both until she finds or creates an
their thirst for deepest grief and their appropriately morose vessel to
ability to create it. Many Children feed upon.
claim to have met one of the Sorrows Disciplines: Auspex, Celerity,
or know someone who has, and having Nightmare, Vigor
three ancient founders still up and
Embracing would do a lot to explain
how the scattered and oft-persecuted
line has managed to persist.

Chapter One: Cousins 21

 her would-be saviors have neither the inclination nor ability
In the Covenants to help her. This doesn’t necessarily mean the Hanged leaves,
The Carthian Movement: Hanged looking for a home however. Just because there isn’t a cure yet doesn’t mean one
could do a lot worse than the Carthians. Firebrands are more can’t be found. Furthermore, it’s a sad truth that “oddity to
than willing to look past the bloodline’s infamy, being far be studied” is still a step up from “vermin to be destroyed”
more interested in their abilities to see past cover-ups and dig for most Children.
up buried secrets. The Movement’s networks can also put a
Suicide King into contact with grief circles, support groups, and
other organizations to help feed her pain addiction. The catch, Rumors
unfortunately, is that sheltering a known Child of Judas can “My Hounds: Following the tragic demise of Primogen Harris this
paint a rather big target on the Movement’s back, even bigger past week, I wish to interrogate one Patricia Vasquez, an admitted
than the one that might already be there. Not every would-be Child of Judas. I can see no reason why an accomplished scion of the
revolutionary is willing to accept that risk. First Estate such as Harris would seek to end her own Requiem, but
The Circle of the Crone: Hanged Acolytes tend to burn the foul powers of the Suicide Kings are well documented, and Harris’s
bright and fast. The Dark Mother doesn’t exactly encourage men have been attempting to oust Ms. Vasquez and her Firebrand
restraint, and a Suicide King given free reign can quickly allies from that warehouse property for some time. The Primogen and
run amok, spilling blood and secrets with equal fervor; it’s I never saw eye-to-eye, but I at least owe it to her to bring her killer
all too easy to lap up grief when you’re the cause of it. Some to the Prince’s justice.”
Acolytes revel in the chaos such grand unveilings cause, The most persistent rumor surrounding the Children of
using the turmoil to test themselves and grow stronger, but Judas is that they can force people — and Kindred — to commit
the Hanged herself almost never lasts long enough to reap suicide. They cannot, but this hasn’t prevented powerful and
the rewards. Those Children who do survive are dangerous ambitious vampires from using them as scapegoats for all sorts
in the extreme, weaponizing the shame of others even as they of crimes throughout the ages. The Hanged have few friends
discard their own. and make easy targets, and many of them become nomads
The Invictus: Any Child of Judas who looks for security because of it. A Requiem on the road is a difficult one, but
within the First Estate doesn’t do so openly. In most urban many Suicide Kings prefer the hazards of travel to the hidden
legends about the Hanged, it’s often an Invictus member dangers of domain politics.
playing the role of tormented victim, and the covenant has “I met another one, Vince. Clueless fucker scraping by as a rent-boy,
internalized a particular dislike for the line. The Conspiracy feeding on his clients. Didn’t know his ass from a hole in the ground.
of Silence doesn’t appreciate anyone who can uncover their Didn’t know the Masquerade, didn’t know who was in charge — didn’t
regrets with a taste or a glance, least of all those who struggle even know the word ‘Kindred.’ After I staked him, I checked him over,
to keep from doing it. Still, the stability the Invictus represents and yup, sure enough, there were the scars on his wrists. Not rope
can be attractive to the often dispossessed Children, and for burns like the last one. Too deep, if you catch my drift. I’m serious
all the risk, some still try to find a place within its marble here, Vince, he wasn’t a revenant, but I don’t think anybody Embraced
halls. The First Estate loves nothing more than other people’s this guy. I think he just… came back.”
secrets, and in some domains, they might be willing to look
Nobody likes to talk about it, but it’s been happening more
past a Suicide King’s unfortunate lineage, if she can bring
and more: suicide victims rising as Hanged. Not just any victim
them some top-shelf blackmail material.
will do, however; the decision to take their own life must have
The Lancea et Sanctum: The Sanctified have a love–hate been influenced by one of the Kindred, whether directly or
relationship with the Hanged, which puts them a step above indirectly. These spontaneous Embraces are not revenants,
the hate–hate relationship everyone else has. Children of Judas but fully-realized vampires, and those who’ve managed to exist
make extraordinarily effective confessors, able to sniff out sin long enough to identify themselves are universally Children
and wring out true remorse better than anyone else. That said, of Judas. Currently, no one has any answers as to why this is
the Church is one big glass house, and inviting the Children happening, or how. A small coterie of Hanged in Hong Kong
inside is basically asking them to start throwing stones. A — all returned suicide victims — have begun an investigation
Suicide King who finds succor with the Spear should be careful into the phenomenon, with the local Lancea et Sanctum act-
how he uses his talents — but on the other hand, the sins of the ing as silent backers. Only time will tell what they uncover,
righteous taste like candy. but the group is already attracting negative attention from a
The Ordo Dracul: Stories of Children joining the Ordo number of city’s night crowd.
Dracul are uniformly tragic. Desperate Hanged seek out the “Found one willing to talk about them. He was from Budapest, so
Defiant, hoping to find a cure for their addiction, and the his English wasn’t great, but it was the same description: maternal
Dragons are happy to make promises they can’t keep for the demeanor, beautiful but makes you feel like your heart’s breaking
chance to study a rare bloodline. This arrangement lasts any- every time your look at her. From the destruction she laid down, it
where from weeks to decades depending on the Suicide King was probably the third sister. That’s four this month: two in Europe,
in question, but it inevitably ends in tears when she learns another in Hong Kong, and one in Alberta, of all places. I know there’s

22 Sin Again: Daeva

supposed to be three of them, but how are they all over the world within Touchstone: Gabriella Vasquez, her mother. Trish sort
nights? It doesn’t make any sense…” of hates her mom, but at the same time, she’s sort of still
Among the limited communication Children of Judas have trying to prove herself to her.
with each other, whispers of the Dolorae are the most common Mental Attributes: Intelligence 2, Wits 2, Resolve 3
form of gossip. Sometimes they’re saviors; others, execution- Physical Attributes: Strength 2, Dexterity 3, Stamina 3
ers. Some Hanged even claim to know of Children who were
Embraced by one of the Sorrows, though these accounts are Social Attributes: Presence 4, Manipulation 2,
always third-hand at best. Within the bloodline, there’s little
Composure 1
doubt the Dolorae exist, but what they really are is another Mental Skills: Academics 1, Crafts (Improvised
matter. Most assume they’re exceptionally old Kindred, but if Weapons) 2, Computers (Social Networks) 2, Medicine
so, they’re uniquely mobile ones, as sightings of the Sorrows 1, Politics (Far Left) 3
crop up all over the All Night Society. Then there’s their bizarre Physical Skills: Athletics 3, Brawl 4, Weaponry
behavior, such as leaving cryptic warnings that lead to the Final (Improvised) 3
Deaths of every Suicide King in Milan, or leveling Winnipeg’s Social Skills: Empathy 1, Expression (In Your Face) 3,
Elysium for denying a Hanged entry into the city. Some who Intimidation 3, Persuasion 1, Socialize 2, Streetwise 3
follow these sightings wonder if they’re vampires at all. If they’re
not, then why are they so interested in the Children? Merits: Allies (Antifa) 2, City Status 1, Cacophony Savvy
3, Carthian Status 3, Carthian Pull, Contacts (Anarchists,
LGBTQA2+) 2, Herd 2, Kiss of the Succubus, Language
(Spanish), Strength of Resolution, Toss That Shit Right
Trish Vasquez Back, Weaponize Dissent
“Fuck you, asshole. Even I couldn’t even kill me, so what chance Disciplines: Auspex 2, Celerity 1, Nightmare 2, Vigor 1
do you think you have?”
Devotions: Bitter Blossom, Sense the Sin
Trish is six feet of pissed-off in a five-foot-two frame. Having
the misfortune of growing up both brown and queer in rural Blood Potency: 1
Alberta, Trish’s eventual date with a bottle of sleeping pills was Health: 8
both utterly preventable and tragically inevitable. The fact that Willpower: 4
she woke up dead afterward is either hilarious or infuriating,
depending on her mood on any given night. Humanity: 6
Her one and only break came when the first Kindred she ran Size: 5
into turned out to be a gang of very understanding Carthians, Speed: 11
and they more or less adopted her off the street. She and the
Movement get along like a house on fire; her failed(?) suicide
Initiative: 4
attempt left Trish without a single solitary shit to give, and Defense: 5 (Active Defense 6)
she brings every ounce of that reckless anger to every rally she Notes: Trish has the Dependent Condition toward
attends. Trish takes the usual stereotype of the lonely, pale, Angela Birkel, a deeply-conflicted — and closeted —
and wan Child of Judas, drowns it in gasoline, then tosses a police officer. Toss That Shit Right Back and Weaponize
match in for good measure. She’s always on the forefront of Dissent can be found on pp. 179 and 181 of Secrets of
the Movement’s many projects, and her “tear down absolutely the Covenants.
everything” attitude has won her a lot of respect in a relatively
short period of time.
Trish’s favorite victims to sate her grief-thirst are authority Bloodline Gift: A Taste of Grief
figures, especially cops and politicians. She’s taken to filming
The Hanged would argue over their innate ability being called
their tearful confessions and break-downs on her phone and
a “gift,” but they can’t deny it feeds their sorrowful addiction.
uploading them to social media, a practice that’s won her
thousands of followers but skirts a knife’s edge along the When a Child of Judas feeds from a vessel for the first time,
Masquerade. If she doesn’t learn to pace herself, she’s going to she receives a brief vision of a tragic event from that person’s past.
burn out fast, and she might take the Carthians down with The vampire has no control over what she sees, but it’s almost
her into the inferno. always something the subject experienced a breaking point over;
particularly young or innocent victims might, therefore, provide
Clan: Daeva no vision at all.
Bloodline: Children of Judas The information provided by this gift may or may not be use-
Covenant: Carthian Movement ful on its own, as these visions are rarely clear, but the insight
can often guide the use of a Suicide King’s Despond Devotions.
Mask: Rebel
This ability cannot be suppressed.
Dirge: Idealist

Chapter One: Cousins 23

 Exceptional Success: Depressed lasts for nights instead of
New Devotions hours.
Often referred to as Despond (when they’re referred to as Failure: The vampire fails to make the victim any more
anything at all), the Suicide Kings’ abilities all focus on sorrow: miserable than he already is.
sensing it, evoking it, and even weaponizing it. More so than Dramatic Failure: The vampire’s power backfires. She gains
the secrets they uncover, it’s the Children’s power to stir feelings the Depressed Condition.
of guilt in even the coldest heart that makes them such pariahs
within the All Night Society.
Suggested Modifiers: DEPRESSED
Situation Modifier (PERSISTENT)
The vampire has fed from the victim in the +1
past night. What’s the point? You’ve fallen into a deep depression due
to your checkered past, and while you might be able to keep
The vampire knows the victim’s Mask and/ +1
or Dirge (or equivalent).
going through the motions, your heart’s just not in it anymore.
While under the effects of this Condition, you lose the 10-again
The victim has no remaining Willpower. +2 quality on instant Mental and Social actions, and the vampire
The victim is under the effects of the Guilty +2 who inflicted it gains her Nightmare dots as a bonus on any
or Depressed Conditions. Manipulation rolls she makes to exploit your emotional state.
The vampire witnessed the victim enduring a +3 This Condition ends without resolving in hours equal to the
breaking point in the same night. vampire’s Blood Potency.
The victim has regained Willpower through –2 Resolution: Abandon an important task, like a short-term
the use of one or more Anchors in the past Aspiration. Make restitution for a past misdeed.
24 hours. Beat: Follow the vampire’s advice on shrugging off your
The vampire has the Dependent Condition –3 depression, no matter how… unintuitive it may seem.
toward the victim.
Sense the Sin
Bitter Blossom (Auspex ••)
This Devotion allows a Suicide King to peek at his subject’s
(Nightmare ••) soul and see how tarnished it’s become.
Called “Guilt Trip” by younger, more cynical Children of This Devotion costs 1 Experience to learn.
Judas, with this Devotion, the vampire brings about a deep Cost: Varies; the first use in a scene is free, but subsequent
malaise within her victim. uses in the same scene cost 1 Vitae each.
This Devotion costs 1 Experience to learn. Dice Pool: Wits + Empathy + Auspex
Cost: 1 Vitae Action: Instant
Dice Pool: Manipulation + Empathy + Nightmare vs.
Composure + Blood Potency Roll Results
Action: Contested; resistance is reflexive. Success: The vampire can tell how much Humanity or
Integrity a victim retains. Activated alone, this power can only
Roll Results target a single subject at a time, but if the vampire knows Dread
Success: The vampire inflicts the Depressed Condition Presence, he can use that Discipline to bring his victims’ worst
on her victim. If she’s fed on this subject with her bloodline sides closer to the surface, then use this effect to pick out the
gift, or has mundane knowledge of his past failures, crimes, person with the highest or lowest trait in a crowd.
and sins, she can choose to focus this emotional state on any Each Suicide King experiences this information differently.
such event she’s aware of. Otherwise, the victim will fixate on One might see his subject being slowly covered in an amount of
a plausible incident in his recent past that could serve as the bile proportionate to their misdeeds; another may catch a whiff
source of his mood. or brimstone or have to watch as her subject’s flesh begins to rot.
The vampire can also use this effect in tandem with Lay At Storyteller discretion, Sense the Sin can be used on other
Open the Mind, tying the Condition to a memory the victim supernatural denizens of the night, but successfully interpreting
would have otherwise treated as neutral or positive, tainting things like a werewolf’s Harmony or a changeling’s Clarity may
it with negativity that was never there before. Alternatively, require a successful Intelligence + Occult roll.
she can fish for an unhappy memory, dredging up the Guilty Exceptional Success: The vampire’s insight is acute. He gains
Condition to go along with Depressed. a symbolic vision of his subject’s most recent breaking point.

24 Sin Again: Daeva

 Failure: The vampire fails to see how the subject transgressed. Cost: 1 Willpower
Dramatic Failure: No one could be that innocent. The Requirement: The victim must have the Depressed or Guilty
vampire gains the Obsession Condition for the rest of the Conditions.
night, focused on uncovering the subject’s (real or imagined) Dice Pool: Presence + Intimidation + Nightmare vs. Resolve
misdeeds. + Blood Potency
Action: Instant
Tearstained Vision
Roll Results
(Auspex •••) Success: The victim is thrown into a deep despair, gaining
Similar to Sense the Sin, this Devotion allows Suicide Kings the Self-Loathing Condition.
to view the marks that sorrow leaves upon the world. Exceptional Success: The victim is so devastated that they
This Devotion costs 1 Experience to learn. also gain the Broken Condition for the rest of the night.
Cost: 1 Vitae Failure: The vampire doesn’t invoke the victim’s self-hatred.
Dice Pool: None Dramatic Failure: The vampire’s victim instead feels a deep
Action: Instant sense of self-satisfaction over having endured past trials. They
Duration: Scene regain a point of spent Willpower.
For the duration, the vampire can see a lingering aura of
negativity inherent to the objects around her. She might
perceive certain objects bleeding in a room where someone SELF-LOATHING
experienced a nasty break up, or see black flames dancing (PERSISTENT)
over everything touched by a murderer in a crime scene. The
more negative the associated emotion or act, the more intense You can concentrate on nothing save for what an irredeem-
the imagery. The vampire gains no insight into what caused able, wretched monster you are. Everything you do is worthless
this aura unless she uses The Spirit’s Touch, but she gains the and everything you are is a lie. While under the effects of this
8-again quality on that Discipline if the object was associated Condition, you cannot spend or regain Willpower, and all
with a breaking point. extended actions you take automatically fail.
This Condition ends without resolving in nights equal to
The Yawning Void the vampire’s Blood Potency.
Resolution: Engage in an act of self-sabotage to reconcile the
(Nightmare ••••)
blight of your existence; this can be anything from confessing a
The apex of the Children’s power over despair, this Devotion litany of crimes to someone you’ve wronged to destroying one
torments a victim with the full weight of their every regret. of your carefully-crafted schemes, like a long-term Aspiration.
This Devotion costs 2 Experiences to learn, and the vampire Beat: Tell the vampire a secret about yourself that would be
must know the Bitter Blossom Devotion. dangerous for anyone to know.

Chapter One: Cousins 25

 Duchagne
The ones who inflame you

Physical pleasure is too often dismissed as indolence. Mammals Chat with the phone sex gal. She doesn’t look a day past 60
evolved to feel good — it keeps the young occupied and the mature at 120, but that voice still flows like caramel. Tastes like it too.
focused on fucking. By the same token, pain also has its uses: She made a fortune helping lonely hearts remember the good
Don’t touch the hot stove; don’t step on the broken glass; don’t old days, but these nights she just does it for fun.
let the dead thing bite you. Pain is a medium, and handled with The modern Decadents first emerged in the French Revolution,
care it offers its own delights. Yet the Kindred think they’ve grown but they had predecessors, cults to hedonism the All Night
beyond these drives. What earthly delight response matches a Society still recalls with shame and envy. All bloodlines claim
Kiss on the throat or Vitae on the tongue? Human sensation is contradictory origins, but the Duchagne can confirm a few of
a shadow of what a vampire can do just by bleeding. them. Elders with the same blood as the French clutch say they
To this, the Duchagne say, give us five minutes. were Yangists in the Warring States, spreading the ethics of
Call a Duchagne a hedonist and she’ll ask why you aren’t one egoism among the All Night Society, and a handful remember
too. The Embrace brings a silver platter of corruptions, but the lustful nights as Pan worshippers, ministering erotic floggings
Kindred act as if they’re on a diet, distracting themselves from on behalf of pre-Acolyte cults. Records and common legends of
the raw joys of death with intrigues and schemes. Not that the bloodline’s powers confirm these claims, and at least a dozen
there’s anything wrong with a good scheme, but vampires who origin myths follow them from continent to continent. It’s as if
make them the focus of the Requiem are missing the point the bloodline were a natural gravity the Daeva fall toward every
of being dead. The Decadents know tending the body is the few centuries — one that burns bright, then out. Only a handful
only worthwhile occupation, and with les arts licencieux, they of these elders still exist, and all claim their branch collapsed
take reign over sense memory, introducing beautiful pain and in a spectacular manner, whether from infighting or Kindred
terrible pleasure to the human body in pursuit of a far more intervention. Perhaps this is the ultimate expression of their
refined meal than blood alone can offer. egoism: If you’ve got to go, better take everyone with you.
But this isn’t just for sadism the sake of sadism. A Decadent
can squeeze more Vitae from her victims by flooding them with Why you want to be us
the very essence of life. Of course, most Kindred hear about With us, you can to turn their nerves into a Swarovski crystal
these practices and go straight to the trite — fuzzy handcuffs of sensation, salting the meat in ways no other Lick would dare
and spanky sex and bodice rippers — but the Duchagne didn’t to dream. Fair warning: You probably won’t make it. You’re not
get where they are tonight by settling for clichés. good enough yet, and maybe you’ll never be. But you don’t get
Take a trip with the tour guide. He brings his customers to all anywhere without trying, do you?
the places they won’t tell you about, the secret underbellies where
real history festers like a wound. You can almost feel the bullet Why you should fear us
hit your chest where the mafia don got whacked, and your breath
Ever had an itch you can’t scratch? Let’s be more specific:
grows short where the lovely heiress dropped herself in the river.
Did you ever have an itch you had to wrench your shoulder
Meet the insult comic. He defines your flaws in needle-sharp to reach? One that wouldn’t go away with a metric ton of
patter, and the resultant laughter tears through you like a chem- ointment or powder or heroin. One you couldn’t dent no
ical burn. Your flesh is rawer than a sunburn, but the balm is matter how deep you dug through the skin. Yeah. That sure
so soothing as he rips everyone else to pieces too. would suck.

“I know what you need,

but you haven’t earned it.”
26 Sin Again: Daeva
Why we should fear ourselves
There’s a point where the human body hardens to pleasure. You only have so many ways
to get people off, and joy is so individual. But pain? Pain is facile, and if you let it be the
answer to every question, doling it out will be the only way you ever feel again.

Bloodline Origins
• In the time of the French Revolution, a noble of the Invictus burned for her
crimes. If any Lick deserved the flame, it was the Viscountess du Chagne.
Embraced in a time when feudalism was radical, she spent her Requiem
spreading misery for her own indulgence, torturing or exalting victims
depending on her whim. Her boudoir was a place of beautiful agonies,
and even her allies in the First Estate thought she got what was coming
to her. The Carthians called her not just a counter­revolutionary, but an
abomination, sentencing her to Hell by setting the flames on the Devil’s
behalf. Yet even the inferno couldn’t match her lust. Some say she rose
from the pyre and demanded the coals be made hotter, while others
swear claim an unwitting double took her place. Whatever the truth,
her brush with oblivion crystalized her philosophy, and she began a
spree of Embraces across France. Most Decadents tonight trace their
blood and name to the Viscountess, venerating her in the hope she’ll
never turn her debauched eye on them.
• Before Viscountess du Chagne ever pissed off the Revolution, other
Decadents ravaged their way through history. Their earliest antecedents
were Cyrenaics and Epicureans in Ancient Greece, forming mystery cults
to Dionysus, Pan, Zeus, and other oversexed gods. They were called Maenads
in those nights, and their few survivors claim they fell in one bloody frenzy.
So the story goes, they were the ones who devoured Orpheus, and drunk on
the blood of the perfect muse, they ripped themselves asunder for the sheer
pleasure of the act. A few of these Kindred still exist, along with Serpents
from other parts of the world with similar tales of decadence and destruc-
tion. Wherever the Bacchantes rise, a fall is sure to follow.
• The Duchagne aren’t a bloodline at all, just a perversion that draws Clan
Daeva ever closer to oblivion. Are they a disease? A curse? Evolution?
Whatever else they are, they’re right about being the ultimate expression
of their clan, but only in the sense that they’re a logical extreme. Every
time they reappear, they return more virulent, and this French brood
is especially resistant to destruction. For now. Some night, they
might just gobble up the entire Serpent clan, and if they do, their
inevitable destruction will spread through the All Night Society
like a forest fire, entire domains succumbing to paroxysms of
orgy and death. All Kindred will feel their destruction, and they
won’t be able to get enough of it.
Parent Clan: Daeva
Nicknames: Decadents, Bacchantes
Bloodline Bane (The Sybaritic Curse): It’s all so tiresome.
The Kiss, the Blood, the Beast — all of it. To feel alive,
Duchagne need something bracing to
wake their dead nerves, or otherwise
the Beast will find ways to gratify
itself. Unless a Decadent experiences
intense physical sensation as she feeds
(pain, pleasure, extremes of tempera-

Chapter One: Cousins 27

 ture, etc.), she must spend a Willpower. Otherwise, the Daeva
clan bane applies even if she’s never fed on the victim before.
Disciplines: Celerity, Majesty, Resilience, Vigor
Don’t Be a Jerk
The Sybaritic Curse is a narrative device meant
In the Covenants to make death complicated; it’s not an excuse to
make others uncomfortable. The Duchagne can
The Carthian Movement: Duchagne Firebrands look not lend themselves to topics not everyone will want to
explore, especially when using their special abilities,
just to political revolutions, but to physical and spiritual ones so be considerate and respectful to your friends in
as well. Familiar as they are with the limits of human bodies, any portrayals of this bloodline. It’s always fine to
these Bacchantes encourage comrades to look beyond the streets fade to black. For more on handling sensitive topics,
and turn their passions inward. Some even verge on a trans- see “Player Care and the Vampire Card,” p. 105.
humanist philosophy, tweaking kine with exercise regimens,
drugs, and technology to make them into a superior herd. That
said, many Duchagne remember what the Movement did to
the Countess, and not all Carthian Decadents are welcome generally, the Order doesn’t find much practical value in that
among their cousins. philosophy (though factions like the Impaled might beg to
The Circle of the Crone: If the Bacchantes have a natural differ). Conversely, Defiant Duchagne see the Dragon Himself
covenant, it’s the Mother’s Army. A Duchagne’s Requiem is as a perfect model for their egoism, and use les arts licencieux as
already a cycle of tribulation and enlightenment, of pushing essential aids in Scale development.
the body to its limits in the quest for an elusive high — so why
not make it a religion? Some are high priests of pain and epi-
curean gods, while others are campus recruiters for hedonist Rumors
communes where blood sorcery and group sex are synonyms. A “They don’t let just anyone into their hallowed sex cult. It’s a hoity
few work to break out of these stereotypes, preferring to exist toity thing, but it’s practical too. You don’t want some psycho joining
in ascetic Requiems and only allowing their baser urges out for up who’s just in it to torture kine for shits and giggles. Even rich Daeva
the glory of the Crone. douchebags have standards. That said, I hear they hold contests
The Invictus: A certain expectation follows Duchagne sometimes. Think like those Broadway ticket lotteries: You pay a fee
members of the First Estate. Surely they must be running and they put your name in a bucket. If they draw it, and assuming
Hellfire Clubs and high society debauches on a nightly basis! you’re eligible, you’re in. No, I don’t know why they’d do that. I don’t
They are, but it’s so much more than that. Such trappings know why anyone would do that.”
are cover for a grander purpose: the Masquerade. Duchagne True, but the odds of success are poor and the expense of
of the Invictus keep the Silence by using the carrot method, participating is prohibitive; even randomness has filters. It’s also
eschewing the stick as a tool of last resort (those can be fun not always quite random. Sometimes an elder Decadent puts out
too, of course, if that’s your kink). They bribe their high soci- a call for recruits, or makes her choice on whim alone, and a few
ety thralls and dupes to respect the Masquerade, rewarding will put the matter to a vote among their peers. The reasons for
powerful mortals for willingly deceiving their fellow kine, all this practice vary from domain to domain, but it usually comes
for a taste of perfection. down to a need for new blood. More than one Avus has come
The Lancea et Sanctum: What more perfect reflection of to regret lending his heritage to an inductee who burned out
God’s divine hatred could there be than such selfish libertines? even after a rigorous vetting process. The lottery prevents the
Sanctified Duchagne give their victims all they ever wanted, bloodline from becoming an echo chamber, and while it’s just
then strip away everything else until nothing remains but as prone to failure as the normal method, it’s a less costly to
self-gratification. Those few mortals who retain their beliefs clean up any mess.
after suffering a Decadent’s gifts are rare indeed, but they “It’s not like a Lord taking control of someone’s whole body, but
do gain the vampire’s eternal respect; if the Duchagne can’t Duchagne can basically co-opt your central nervous system. What you
have them, they really do belong to God. Still, these Kindred feel, she feels, and vice versa. Supposedly, they do it to their ghouls all
sometimes struggle with their faith, all too often using it as an the time. I guess they get off on it? Sounds… inconvenient.”
excuse to indulge. That can serve the Church’s purpose, but the On rare occasions, a Duchagne’s arts can go a little wonky.
Sanctified don’t have to like it. The Judges never quite know If a Decadent has a third-step blood bond from a human and
whether to praise the bloodline’s ingenuity or crucify the lot has the Dependent Condition toward her, sometimes his pro-
of them. But maybe they’d be into that? prietary powers reflect back on him. Most Duchagne consider
The Ordo Dracul: Between the pomp and prestige, often this feedback loop undesirable, although some — especially
overlooked is the fact that the Duchagne are beasts in a fight. those with few other mortal connections — find the novelty
Their favored powers make them matchless warriors, and the draws them back to Humanity. How the mortal feels about it
Dragons see this as the bloodline’s most valuable asset. All is another matter.
The stuff about pain and pleasure is all well and good, but

28 Sin Again: Daeva

 “They have a mini apocalypse every few hundred years, then come still watches out for his mortal descendants, who
crawling out from the ashes when the coast is clear. But not the same operate out of a North African food market in the 3rd
ones! No sir. Now, be honest, does that sound like a true thing? Occam’s arrondissement (5).
razor has its doubts.” Mental Attributes: Intelligence 3, Wits 4, Resolve 3
A few Kindred believe the idea of multiple, unrelated Duchagne Physical Attributes: Strength 3, Dexterity 3, Stamina 2
bloodlines is bullshit, and perhaps even deliberate bullshit. While
they agree the Decadents rose and fell several times over the long Social Attributes: Presence 3, Manipulation 2,
course of the Danse Macabre, the survivors could have shared
Composure 3
their blood later on, destroying the results when it didn’t suit their Mental Skills: Academics (Business) 3, Investigation 1,
purposes. Viscountess Chagne wasn’t known to be discerning Occult 3, Medicine (Anatomy) 3, Politics (Marseille by
about who supplied her various addictions; she could’ve easily Night) 4, Science 2
been inducted without her knowledge, then manipulated into Physical Skills: Athletics 2, Brawl 2, Drive (Stockcars)
believing she had the idea in the first place. If true (or even half 3, Firearms 2
true) the goals of this experiment aren’t obvious. The French Social Skills: Empathy 4, Expression (Triple Threat) 5,
Duchagne have apparently outlasted previous cycles, but if their Intimidation (Money) 3, Socialize 3, Subterfuge 3
future isn’t violent destruction, what is?
Merits: Allies (Service Industry) 5, Contacts (French
Government, Sex Workers) 2, Distinguished Palate, Kiss
of the Succubus, Languages (English, French, Italian),
Jacques Elmalik Ordo Dracul Status 4, Resources 5, Retainer 3, Safe
“I can get it for you, no problem. But first, how do you feel about Place 4, Sworn
tickling?” Disciplines: Celerity 3, Coil of the Ascendant 4,
Everybody comes to Jacques’s. The liquor, the drugs, the Majesty 4, Resilience 4, Vigor 3
“entertainment” — even the Vitae’s spicier. Whatever your Devotions: Enfeebling Aura, Incite, Infuse, Inure
sin, there’s something for you at the hottest nightclub and
burlesque revue in Marseille, and its success is the source of
Scales: Epidermal Shielding Bath, Flesh Graft Treatment
much speculation in the All Night Society. The Carthians say Blood Potency: 4
Jacques is the most connected man in France, living or dead, Health: 11
and the Invictus fear he might be on the verge of buying them
out. A few believe he’s a secret childe of the Viscountess, and Willpower: 6
that she left her fortune to him before entering a long torpor. Humanity: 5
Others say he ate the old bat and stands as the true, secret Size: 5
leader of the Duchagne bloodline.
Speed: 14
Maybe some of those things are true (or maybe not), but he
is excellent at his job. Jacques’s business is procurement, and Initiative: 6
not just for a good time. If you can meet his price, he can get Defense: 5 (Active Defense 8)
it for you wholesale, but the scale of the cost tends to extend
beyond the financial. See, Jacques sells experiences. The night-
club biz has its limitations, and his powers over the body are a
product few Licks can offer. The thing is, if you’re going to do
Bloodline Gift: The Spice of Life
something, you have to do it right. Jacques recruits playtesters, Duchagne gain satisfaction from their victims’ pleasure and/
assuring his actual clients have the safest, most pleasurable or suffering. Once a night, a Decadent can choose to refresh a
experience possible; he’s a businessman, after all, and you can’t spent Willpower by feeding from a victim experiencing extreme
make a buck on the flesh trade if people don’t trust you. In sensation (pain from a Personal Tilt, arousal, a Devotion below,
exchange, he offers his guinea pigs payment in whatever their etc.) If using this gift inflicts mental or physical harm upon the
hearts desire. If you’re of able body and an open mind, have a victim — more so than feeding normally would — any subsequent
chat with Jacques. He’ll hook you up. detachment roll suffers a –1 modifier.

Clan: Daeva
Bloodline: Duchagne New Devotions
Covenant: Ordo Dracul Les arts licencieux (“the licentious arts”) allow Duchagne
to provoke, dull, and magnify a victim’s response to stimuli,
Mask: Courtesan whether for agony or ecstasy. By overstimulating their herds in
Dirge: Competitor this way, Decadents can draw more Vitae from their victims.
Touchstones: When the club gets cooking, it’s the The Incite Devotion is the foundation of les arts licencieux, and
only thing that makes him feel alive (6); Jacques also must be purchased first.

Chapter One: Cousins 29

 Dice Pool: Manipulation + Medicine + Majesty vs. Stamina
Incite + Blood Potency
(Celerity ••) Action: Instant
The most celebrated and reviled of the bloodline’s bag of Duration: Scene
arts, with this Devotion, a Duchagne can overload her victim’s
nervous system, translating even minor stimuli into extremes
Roll Results
of pleasure and pain. Success: The vampire transforms her victim’s general overload
This Devotion costs 2 Experiences to learn. of sensation into a single intense one: nausea, arousal, soreness,
itchiness, a taste, etc. This bestows the Distracted Condition,
Cost: Varies; the first use in a night is free, but subsequent
which fades when the character ends or resolves Inflamed. As
uses cost 1 Vitae each.
long as Distracted lasts, the vampire gains double the Vitae from
Dice Pool: Presence + Medicine + Celerity vs. Stamina + a mortal victim without inflicting additional damage.
Blood Potency
If the vampire’s Vigor dots are higher than Celerity, the
Action: Contested; resistance is reflexive Inflamed Condition keys off that Discipline instead.
Roll Results Exceptional Success: The cost of the Devotion is refunded.
Success: The victim gains the Inflamed Condition. If the Failure: Was that a breeze?
vampire feeds from a mortal character with Inflamed, she gains Dramatic Failure: The vampire suffers one of the above
one additional Vitae without inflicting lethal damage. Conditions herself.
Exceptional Success: Inflamed lasts the rest of the night.
Failure: The victim feels a slight tingling. Inure
Dramatic Failure: The victim is immune to les arts licencieux
for the rest of the night.
(Resilience ••)
While the benefits of evoking and intensifying sensations
are obvious, dulling them has advantages as well.
INFLAMED This Devotion costs 2 Experiences to learn.
Cost: 1 Willpower
A vampire has overloaded your body’s response to stim- Dice Pool: Strength + Medicine + Majesty vs. Stamina +
uli beyond tolerance. Subtract her Celerity dots from all Blood Potency (if unwilling)
Composure and Stamina-based resistance rolls. Action: None
Inflamed ends without resolving at the end of the scene. Duration: Scene
Resolution: Take damage in excess of your Stamina as the Used on a vampire or a mortal without Inflamed, the
physical trauma reboots your system. Duchagne mutes her subject’s senses. He gains a bonus equal
to the vampire’s Resilience dots on all Resistance rolls to resist
Induce overstimulation, whether from taste, touch, sight, smell, or
sound. This includes rolls to resist frenzy. This does not protect
(Vigor ••) him against damage; it only increases his ability to endure pain
With this insidious Devotion, a vampire can evoke all manner or discomfort.
of physical delights or torments in her victims. Used on a mortal with the Inflamed Condition, the Duchagne
This Devotion costs 2 Experiences to learn. instead stretches out his capacity for providing blood. She the
Cost: 1 Willpower vampire’s Resilience dots to Stamina for the purposes of prevent-
Requirement: The vampire must have inflicted the Inflamed ing the Inflamed Condition from resolving.
Condition on the victim.

30 Sin Again: Daeva

 ErzsébetThe ones who want to be you

Back before I got the bite, I was a sugar baby for this rich-ass The Cavaliers first emerged in the late 17th century as upper-
Serpent named Szyszka. Only Daeva I’d ever met who looked over class Kindred began to drop the pretenses of nobility and take
40. And then some. up the realities of private enterprise. Their founder, one Lady
Dude was lonely, and kinda alienated from all the sexy young Syska, was a woman ahead of her time in “commercial acumen.”
Licks around town, you know? So I did my thing with him for a few Her schemes, scams, and multiple choice identities are still cele-
years. Mostly, he just wanted someone to talk to about music, and brated among her childer, as is the vast fortune she left behind.
sweet, innocent me was a good listener. Learned a lot about the Some say she loved money so much it turned her mortal in the
industry, but hey, he got an earful about me in return. daylight, just to appreciate the luster of gold against warm skin.
Then one night, there’s a RE/MAX sign outside his pad. Place Like their founder, the Withered have never settled on a
looks like it’s been gutted. I was a lot braver in my blood doll days, name. In America, where most of their membership resides
so I broke in — i.e., used the key to backdoor he snuck me through so tonight, they’re Moretti or Rózsa, but the alias they hold dearest
the neighbors wouldn’t see. I searched every inch of the house, but is Erzsébet. Rumor had it Elizabeth Báthory was Lady Syska’s
all I found was a first pressing of Ziggy Stardust and a sticky note sire, a claim she made with a knowing wink when it suited her
with my name on the cover. need, but others claim the bloodline found its philosophy in
Long story short, a couple nights ago, I’m meeting this smoke show the countess’s awful deeds, taking her name in tribute. If a
producer from the First Estate. New in town, looking for connections. mere human can go that far to hold onto beauty and power,
Seems kind of familiar, but we’re vibing, and I’m working my angle, imagine what an immortal could do.
so I ignore it. Anyway, just as I’m about to make my pitch, he excuses However, on that point, there’s a catch. Few things in this
himself: “Nice to meet you… Monica.” Pregnant pause and all. life (or the like) come without a price tag, and they’re upfront
And like, I don’t tell anyone that name — present company about that. If you want a taste of humanity, you have to give
excluded. But I bet you’ve guessed what was on that sticky note. up some of what makes you inhuman. For the Erzsébet, that’s
forsaking the stasis of death for the frailty of time’s arrow. As
The Daeva are as close to mortals as vampires get, but one
the years past, a Cavalier ages, and only through torpor can
would be generous in calling them humane. At best, they’re sexy
she regain lost youth, or else her body wastes into something
losers, parasitic corpses pretending at life and lusting after those
even corpses call unholy. Other Daeva say they’re cursed, which
who possess true vitality. At worst, they aren’t aware of that fact.
the Cavaliers think is just about the stupidest thing you could
Of course, most vampires would agree that mimicry is just best
say about a vampire. Of course they’re cursed; they’re Kindred.
practices among predators. Yes, the kine are food, but the five
They’re cancer. But, there are so many expressions of cancer —
great covenants would’ve died in their cradles if there were no
melanomas and tumors and lesions. Why settle on one?
value in distracting the Beast with human interests.
The Withered blend in with the kine to exploit them better,
If a vampire could fake mortality long enough, say some
but their greed goes beyond capitalism, even if they appreciate
Serpents, maybe she could find a new form. Not a mask to place
its modes and means. Their revenue is novelty, and mortals
over her cadaver, but a spark in the soul she lost in the Embrace.
are the instruments of labor. They enhance their half-lives
The Erzsébet believe they’re as close. Blessed with a state of with every human experience they can lay their fangs on, but
Damnation that retains many of life’s pleasures, from fucking whether that’s for euphoria or tragedy is a matter of personal
to fine dining, they’re well aware they’re still dead — but maybe taste. They are the patron of the arts who locks their portraits
just a little less than the others. away so no one else can look upon them. She is the cuckquean

“No one dies with dignity.

Well, no one except me.”
Chapter One: Cousins 31
 who finds new, exquisite ruinations in each lover’s infidelity. He is the villain who takes the hero’s blade
through the heart, only to return again to savor the steel of his foe’s descendants.
To be one of the Cavaliers is to know all these pleasures and identities and more. That they
have an endpoint for their revelry is just cause for rejoicing, a reason to squeeze every last
drop out of the Requiem before the end. All the better when you can do it all over again —
not as a corpse ambling forth, but a Phoenix rising to burn the world anew.

Why you want to be us

What, you want to be corpse forever? Kindred are the uncanny valley stumbling about in an
ill-fitting flesh suit. No, you’ll never really be mortal again, but that’s not the point. Why
would you want to be alive when you could be better?

Why you should fear us

You call us incomplete, but we say it’s the other way around. Maybe you’re the mistake
and we’re the correction. If so, we have a lot of work to do, and the money to do it.

Why we should fear ourselves

What if it’s just a slow decline toward death? Not many of us have gone far enough
to find out, but time makes fools of us all. And if we’re not really immortal — if
we haven’t erased the line between living and dead — then the reckoning will be a
cruel one.

Bloodline Origins
• Lady Syska was well known for her business savvy. Allegedly of Magyar nobility, she
could triple your investment in a year or less, and since neither Kindred nor kine
would know the name Ponzi for another three centuries, she had little fear of
anyone catching on. Most of her marks couldn’t even pronounce her name, let
alone read all those Hungarian warrants. Still, a gift for the grift only gets you so
far, and when things fell apart, it necessitated a new identity. From Syska came
Rózsa, and from Rózsa came Moretti, and (in a fit of pique) Erzsébet. As her
confidence games burned through Kindred coffers, each name became a true
reset. Her greed was so great that it withered her flesh, yet when the jig was
up, her skin would soften as she melted into the night, a new sobriquet her
only possession. Eventually, these masks couldn’t save her from the Danse
Macabre, but by then she’d made a true investment with her childer.
• The night Elizabeth Báthory was meant for the Reaper, a being bearing the
visage of her long-dead husband attended her castle prison cell. It claimed
it could heal her mind of its perversions, but the Countess was long past any
human compassion or desire. She slit the thing’s throat with her blood-stained nails
for such insolence, and a spatter of what ran through its veins fell upon her tongue. So
sweet was the taste that she drank from the gash like a suckling babe, expiring in the awful
lust of the act. When she awoke in her family crypt, still heavy with his nectar, she was one
of the Kindred, young again and more beautiful than a thousand peasant girls’ hearts ever
made her. With a new face and a new name, she joined the All Night Society, but she still
watches out for her husband’s face in the crowd.
• Once upon a midnight darkly, a masque was held in colored halls. We danced and drank
the red, red wine, afeared of running out of time. A sickness lurked ’tween fans of lace,
yet every ribbon held in place. The lamps burned low, I lost your hand, as fiddlers madly
led the band. I searched the rooms, green, blue, and black, with countless sins weighed
on my back. Our host he hunts with sharpest teeth, his hood pulled low o’er grin
beneath. Look not in mirrored halls, my love, deny the tears on tattered palls.
The song plays on through graven laughter — corruptly ever after.

32 Sin Again: Daeva

 Parent Clan: Daeva to protect flocks from sinful influences, all the while taking their
Nicknames: Cavaliers, the Withered, Moretti, Rózsa, Syska, dues from any sheep who stray.
and any number of other aliases The Ordo Dracul: Dragons and Erzsébet have a fundamen-
Bloodline Bane (The Moldering Curse): Erzsébet flesh tal disagreement about the nature of Damnation. The Order
wanes with the years. When one of the Withered falls to believes the Curse is a condition to be enhanced into a quality
Humanity 6, she begins to age at about a quarter the rate of a that goes beyond life or death, whereas the Withered believe
human, and eventually she’ll degenerate past the appearance of one should seek the best of both worlds. Most Erzsébet Dragons
the most decrepit mortal. Worse, when she lets the Beast over- are those who think their semi-mortality is a bane rather than
ride her façade of mortality, sometimes this aging intensifies. a compromise, or who see potential in better melding their
Once a chapter, if an Erzsébet experiences a breaking point, dualistic nature. Still, even Cavaliers who are skeptical of the
roll her Humanity at the end of the scene. On a failure, she Defiant consider the Mystery of the Ascendant an invaluable
ages one year during her next daysleep. Withered can revert tool, and rumors abound of the bloodline bribing its Dragon
their aging by spending an equal amount of time in torpor, but members for access.
they can only return to their ages at the moment of Embrace.
Disciplines: Auspex, Celerity, Majesty, Vigor
Rumors
“I hear Moretti have to keep it wrapped up, or else the stork brings
In the Covenants a little surprise abomination nine months later.”
The Carthian Movement: Human systems of governance? Erzsébet are no more likely to produce dhampir than any
The Erzsébet will take ten. Many idealistic Cavaliers begin their other Kindred, but they do have a certain fascination with
Requiems with the Firebrands, trying to force their politics to them. What could be a more potent symbol of their triumph
match their nigh-human natures. Carthian Withered serve as over stasis than creating life? Dhampir are also useful weapons,
deep-cover liaisons to the Movement’s mortal pawns, relying and Cavaliers sometimes create them for no higher purpose
both on their Serpentine charisma and Shadow sight to keep the than protection. The bloodline’s odd nature attracts all kinds
masses on message. However, older Erzsébet like to say if you’re of suspicion, and sometimes it’s best to head things off with
not a Firebrand as a neonate, you have no heart, but if you’re a honeytrap. A few Defiant Cavaliers have conducted fertility
not Invictus by the time you’re ancilla, you have no brain. The experiments in the hopes of providing their bloodline a step
Movement is a stepping stone for many Cavaliers, something you toward a truer vitality, but so far these studies have only resulted
grow out of as the years and wrinkles grow long. Being closer to in a surplus of raw materials.
the kine doesn’t mean you have to make their mistakes. “Sometimes Serpents just wake up as Erzsébet. They’re not a
The Circle of the Crone: Few Erzsébet join the Mother’s bloodline at all: They’re atavisms. Once upon a time, the dead things
Army. The Crone’s rejection of all things humane is anathema that became the Daeva were all like that, these weird, incomplete
to the bloodline’s philosophy, and many Cavaliers would rather vampires. Who knows what changed, but the Withered are that
meet the sun than rend the patchwork half-death they’ve crafted heritage hiding in the Blood.”
for themselves. Erzsébet Acolytes are those who break under If the Erzsébet are an evolutionary throwback, no one can
their family’s expectations, choosing hedonism and bloodshed confirm it. However, it’s true that a handful of Daeva have
over a human illusion. They allow their curse to burn away their “activated” this bloodline spontaneously. All had an Erzsébet
youths for the glory of the Crone, exalting in the ruin of beauty. in their family line, but not always directly. One story holds that
The Invictus: Most Withered are at least nominal members of a Serpent from the Spina lineage became an Erzsébet shortly
the Invictus, contributing to the First Estate coffers as a means after her sister did, without ever exchanging a drop of Vitae. If
of keeping him off their backs. Their curse makes navigating so, the connection seems to be in blood ties, though the true
the covenant’s politics tricky, as they must constantly reassure catalyst is unknown.
the Old Man that their aging is a benefit rather than a blight “Look, as far as Night Docs go, you could do a lot worse than me.
on the Masquerade. If they can get past that hurdle, Invictus Thing is, I haven’t performed plastic surgeon since I was breathing,
Erzsébet are adept as both nobility and secret police, using their and even if I had, I couldn’t do much more than stick you with some
Auspex gifts to gather grist for intrigues in the courts of the black-market Botox and pray. Hey, no need for profanity. I didn’t say
Damned, or to bring down anyone who would play a discordant I couldn’t help. There’s this guy. I don’t know him personally, but by
note in their perfect Silence. all accounts he can fix you up, though you’ll owe the Sanctified up
The Lancea et Sanctum: Some of the most fervent Sanctified in Ottawa a favor for his service. Yeah, you could call him a healer.
are Cavaliers. As the most “human” of Clan Daeva, they believe The laying on hands type.”
they’re well-equipped to tend the flock, understanding the weak- The name Bekaak is a source of trepidation and hope for the
ness in the flesh far more intimately than even other Serpents. Cavaliers. Some say these Kindred are a bloodline of Nosferatu
Some infiltrate human churches as wealthy lay leaders, allowing who suffer the same aging curse, while others claim they’re a
their curse to play out as a mask in service to God as they corrupt clan of Sanctified prophets who age a day whenever they tell a
the weak-willed. Others prefer a lighter touch, using their money lie. However, one story is consistent: They feed on time straight

Chapter One: Cousins 33

 from the flesh. The Withered have long sought one of these Merits: City Status 3, Daeva Status 3, Dynasty
strange vampires, but the Bekaak don’t seem all that interested Membership 3, Erzsébet Status 4, Family Fortune,
in meeting them, if they exist at all. What the Erzsébet may have Flock 2, Herd 2, Lancea et Sanctum Status 3, Library
done to offend them is a source of speculation, but in the rare 3, Lorekeeper, Retainer 2, Resources 4, Speaker for the
cases where their paths do align, the Bekaak make all effort Silent
to avoid the Cavaliers. For more on the Prophets, see Night Disciplines: Animalism 1, Auspex 4, Majesty 1, Vigor 2
Horrors: Spilled Blood. Devotions: Night Life
Blood Potency: 2
Ji-su Moretti Health: 7
“Just help me out here. One last time.” Willpower: 5
God was good to Ji-su. She had it all — money, power, and Humanity: 6
the kind of thrilling night life people imagine when they think Size: 5
of the word vampire. Her position as the Serpent representative
on her city’s politburo, and her role as her bishop’s personal Speed: 11
secretary, opened up death like a gory smörgåsbord. Initiative: 4
Yet God giveth and God taketh away. Ji-su isn’t the eldest Defense: 3
Erzsébet in Anaheim, just the one who woke up first. Being in
charge of the family assets was a sacred task her sire assigned Notes: Flock can be found on p. 193 of Secrets of the
Covenants. Ji-su has the Dependent Condition toward
whilst he finished burning off the ages. That was the first five
Father Jeong, the priest she uses to make confession.
years. As she got older and the Kindred kept staying the same
age, Ji-su began to feel her Requiem slipping away. She took lib-
erties: Dipping into investments she was only meant to curate,
blood bonding mortals she was meant to keep pure — she even Bloodline Gift: Almost Human
had the haven remodeled. The Erzsébet aren’t quite dead… or maybe they aren’t quite
In little time at all, she used up far more of her sire’s fortune alive? In any case, their hair and fingernails grow on nights they
than she could ever hope to hide or recover; Lord knows she want them to, and they don’t need to spend Willpower to preserve
tried. As the walls close in, Ji-su will do anything to keep her changes in daysleep, with the exception of wounds. In addition,
master from finding out about her indiscretions. Unfortunately, they benefit from a permanent blush of life, though they must
he’s housed in a heavily guarded Sanctified crypt, so she can’t still spend Vitae to use any powers that key off that effect (e.g., the
just jam a stake in his chest till she fixes the problem. He’s also Coil of the Ascendant). Instead of the blush, an Erzsébet gains
past due to rise, so time is of the essence. If she could convince the following benefits for a scene by spending a Vitae:
a few unsavory Kindred to steal his body and keep him on ice • He heals bashing wounds like a mortal, but this only applies
for a while, she might still have time to get herself back in the if he has no lethal or aggravated wounds in his Health track.
black. Or maybe she could do something else with his body…
• His Predatory Aura is masked. Characters with Auspex can
Clan: Daeva automatically see through this illusion, but if the Erzsébet
Bloodline: Erzsébet combines it with Face in the Crowd, even Shadow sight
can’t reveal his nature. Successfully lashing out removes this
Covenant: Lancea et Sanctum
obscuration for the rest of the scene.
Mask: Martyr
• His close connection to mortality provides his Beast a better
Dirge: Masochist understanding of it. While his enhanced blush is active, the
Touchstone: Her grandmother’s hanbok, which she airs Erzsébet can choose to treat three successes as an exceptional
out and inspects for moths at least once a month. success on any Empathy roll directed at a human, but only once
Mental Attributes: Intelligence 4, Wits 2, Resolve 3 a night. This even applies to Disciplines that use this Skill.

Physical Attributes: Strength 2, Dexterity 2, Stamina 2

Social Attributes: Presence 3, Manipulation 3, New Merits
Composure 2 In addition to the following Merits, all Cavaliers can purchase
Mental Skills: Academics (Religion) 2, Occult 2, Speaker for the Silent, ignoring the usual Invictus Status pre-
Physical Skills: Athletics 1, Firearms 1, Stealth 2, requisite. Due to their bane, the Withered have had to adapt
Survival 1 to their elders’ frequent “deaths,” and their solution to this
problem resembles the First Estate’s in more than a few ways.
Social Skills: Animal Ken (Horses) 2, Empathy 3,
In addition, Cavaliers can treat Bloodline Status as Clan Status
Expression 3, Persuasion 2, Socialize 4, Subterfuge 5
for the purposes of purchasing Dynasty Membership.

34 Sin Again: Daeva

Family Fortune (•)
Prerequisites: Dynasty Membership (Erzsébet) •
Effect: Your character has access to the Erzsébet bloodline’s Story Seed: Silver and Gold
assets, a vast fortune legend says Lady Syska bilked from half Despite a certain symbolic duality, the Erzsébet
the Kindred of Europe. For each dot of Dynasty Membership, have an icy relationship with the Star-Crossed (p.
your character gains an effective dot of Resources. She can 52). Maybe Electrum could cure a Cavalier’s bane,
but so far, it hasn’t. This has led to conflict, as the
combine this Merit with her personal Resources, though she Custodians get twitchy when others ask too many
cannot exceed an effective five-dot rating for the purposes of questions about their collections. Some Erzsébet
Availability. However, this does mean she can expend more have offered to rent Purities for experimentation,
than five dots of Resources on big purchases in a single month but no Sophist has been willing to offer up a loaner.
(see Vampire, p. 123). A few Withered wonder if they could be “purified”
themselves, but this idea (suspiciously, in the
Drawback: Wasting money is a big taboo among the Erzsébet’s eyes) is a non-starter for the Star-Crossed.
Cavaliers. Your character had better keep her receipts, lest the
piggybank gets corked.

Guise (••) This Devotion costs 1 Experience to learn, or none if the

Prerequisite: Daeva, must have an attached Touchstone at character is an Erzsébet.
time of purchase Cost: 1 Vitae
Effect: Some Daeva (like the Erzsébet) seek to be closer to Requirement: The vampire activates the blush of life and
their mortal friends and lovers than even other Serpents. They spends an additional Vitae (included in the cost).
aren’t satisfied with catching up over coffee or gloomy trysts in Dice Pool: None
motels — they want drama! Romance! Adventure! Action: Instant
When she takes this Merit, your character gains a role she can Duration: Scene
play to spice up her relationship to her Touchstones or mortals The vampire gains fine control over normally involuntary
with whom she has the Dependant Condition. This role should physical responses. She can cry, blush, sneeze, give herself
be fairly archetypal: the Hero, the Cad, the Benefactor, etc. goosebumps, dilate her pupils, experience orgasm, or even
Whenever she fulfills this role when defending a Touchstone or turn blue from a seeming lack of oxygen. The list goes on. This
feeding from one of her obsessions, she takes a Beat. reaction requires only a thought, and the vampire’s body will
In addition, if your character loses all Touchstones while she follow through. If this is intended to deceive or add depth to a
burns away the ages in torpor, her connection to this role is performance, any related Expression or Subterfuge rolls gain
enough that she can take any breaking points after waking as the 9-again quality.
if she had no attached Touchstones, rather than having none
at all. This benefit ends if she cannot find a new Touchstone
within about a week of rising, one that would fit within her Taking the Measure
self-designated role. (Auspex ••, Majesty •)
Your character can define a new role for herself whenever
To know thy prey is to know thyself, or so the Erzsébet are
she gains or loses a dot of Humanity.
wont to say, and with this Devotion, they can use their victims’
secrets to better playact Humanity.
New Devotions This Devotion costs 2 Experiences to learn.
Cost: 1 Vitae
Requirement: The vampire successfully uses Uncanny
Night Life Perception on a human victim in the same scene.
(Majesty •, Vigor •) Dice Pool: None
Even a Serpent’s flesh is deceptive, no matter how pleasing Action: Instant
it may seem. Some Daeva can achieve such control over their Duration: Scene
beautiful bodies that they become more human than humans. The vampire adds her Auspex dots to Humanity to negate
Originally developed by the Erzsébet, Night Life has found the penalty on any Social roll to relate to the subject. If the
its way into common among the Daeva, and rumor has it that a victim had the Swooning Condition toward the vampire when
certain Gangrel bloodline achieves a similar effect with Protean. she activated this Devotion, the effect lasts the night.

Chapter One: Cousins 35

 Gulikan
The ones who breathe you in

To smell something is to literally take a tiny bit of it into your- more favorable to a Gulikan after sampling her stock, more
self, adding a sliver of its substance to your own. In humans, this willing to listen to her suggestions in public, well, chalk it up
connection is fleeting. With our stunted noses and laughable to customer satisfaction.
sense of smell, all but the most obvious scents pass us by, barely The Perfumers are an organized and haughty family, with
perceived. But Kindred aren’t human. They can sense the scab high standards for who joins. The Old Masters who guide
where you cut yourself shaving from all the way down the block, the bloodline from their seat in Istanbul supposedly have
and they can follow its sweet aroma right to your door. If blood records of every Gulikan ever Embraced, as well as lists of
is life, then by taking in its scent, are you not capturing a per- their accomplishments. This regimented structure ensures
son’s very essence for yourself? The Gulikan certainly think so. Perfumers aren’t competing with each other in the same
All vampires excite at the coppery delight of blood, but the domains (with the notable exception of Istanbul itself), and
Perfumers relish it almost as much as the act of feeding. For them, guarantees the worthiest — read: most obedient — students
scent isn’t just truth — it’s the only truth. Originating out of the receive training in Ortam. This decadent tower has stood for
former Ottoman Empire, but now found all over the world, the centuries, though in recent nights, it’s started to show some
Gulikan aren’t just better at smelling blood than other Kindred; cracks along its base.
they can extract something essential from it, a special quality Objects created by Perfumers are notoriously beautiful,
only they can perceive. This ability to draw out blood’s true not only for the exquisite odors they produce, but for the
essence allows them to manipulate Vitae and infuse supernatural artistry of their presentation. The thing is, they don’t have to
qualities into perfumes, soaps, incense, candles, and more. A be. A candle infused with a Haunt’s blood will ward an area
Perfumer’s works are of exquisite beauty and quality, and turn with fear whether it’s delicately carved to resemble a pillar
an even more attractive profit. of weeping skulls or just a rough wax cylinder with a wick
Would you like to waltz into the VIP section of the club and stuck in the top. In short, as long as it’s functional, the form
instantly own it? Just a spritz of Serpent’s Enticement, and all makes no difference. Realizing this, many neonate Gulikan
the pretty people will be hanging off your every word. Tired of chafe under the Old Masters’ rules and restrictions, especially
not getting the respect you deserve? Authority for Lords will those Perfumers half-way across the globe from Turkey. Why
have mortals scrambling for the privilege of obeying your every should they have to pick up and move to a different domain
random whim. Sick of being pushed around? A dose of Haunt’s when they can compete by selling their wares at half the cost?
Spite will turn you from milquetoast to terror in an instant. More Why should their goods be exclusive to the already wealthy
than anything, the Gulikan bottle power and sell it at a premium. and powerful?
With such effectiveness and versatility behind them, the Like most elders, the Old Masters don’t appreciate being
Gulikan’s wares are always in demand. Of course, if other questioned, and their counter-arguments in favor of the tra-
Kindred realized the truth of these heavenly scents, there might ditional hierarchy have been rather pointed — lethally so, in
be a boycott. Vitae is the active ingredient for everything created most cases. Still, their reach can only extend so far, and while
by Ortam, and that Vitae is most often donated by the Perfumer they may dismiss these radical youths as nothing more than
herself. Every time you take a deep breath of the exquisite jas- common Peddlers, the movement is growing. Why buy from
mine-and-honeysuckle blend prepared by your local Gulikan, the master when you can get the apprentice to make the same
you’re also breathing in her blood. The Perfumers certainly thing for a song? Sure, it won’t make you weep blood tears
don’t advertise this little side-effect of their wares; they prefer with its ethereal beauty, but you’ll still be able to make rent
to keep their influence on their clients “subtle.” If a person is at the end of the month.

“What shall I make out of you?”

36 Sin Again: Daeva

 Eumathias becoming wealthy and powerful beyond his
Why you want to be us most ambitious yearnings, the Artist of Ashes receives
We have it all: wealth, respect, and product influence over those who indulge in the Gulikan’s
that moves. We can bottle fear, spray on author- gifts. Frequent users of Ortam-created wares often
ity, and people will pay us ridiculous amounts find themselves dreaming of rushing wings and glar-
of money for just a sniff. And don’t you want to ing yellow eyes, and the Artist can slip into their minds
smell amazing for all eternity? with such ease, they don’t even know she’s there. It’s just
like a Strix to make something connected to itself the
Why you should fear us hottest accessory this side of the Masquerade,
but what the Artist’s eventual goals truly
Weren’t you listening? We have it all. All
are is a fact she hasn’t shared with
the money, all the prestige, all the power.
anyone.
We have every weapon of the Blood at
our disposal, and with one errant breath, • Once upon a midnight darkly,
we’ll have you too. three brothers wandered the woods,
looking for something to eat. In a
clearing, they found a most won-
Why we should fear ourselves drous sight: a pool of the purest
We have it all, but it’s never honey, with a sweet scent so
enough. We obsess over the next alluring they could not help but
scent, trying to perfect it, to realize take their fill. However, they
it to its fullest perfection, and take soon found they were stuck
it in until there’s nothing left… then fast in the sticky pool, and
we move on to the next one and do could not leave. Worse, while
it all over again. Eventually, “the next delicious, the honey provided no succor, and it
one” is going to be “the last one.” seemed they were doomed to starve. The eldest
brother, Faith, prayed for deliverance, but
none came. The middle brother, Strength,
Bloodline Origins struggled mightily, but to no avail. The
• The first to unlock the secrets of Ortam youngest brother, Ruthless, devoured his
was a Serpent called Eumathias, five siblings and used the power of their sweet-
centuries ago when Istanbul was still ened meat to pull himself to safety. Ruthless
Constantinople. How he managed to still wanders the woods, consuming whole
infuse his perfumes with the potency all those lured by the sweet scent of honey —
of his own blood is a secret he’s never enticingly ever after.
revealed, but he used that secret to Parent Clan: Daeva
gain an incredible influence, becoming Nicknames: Perfumers, Bloodhounds,
prince of Constantinople in all but Peddlers
name. He secured permission to not only
Bloodline Bane (The Hyperosmic Curse):
Embrace, but to create an entire brood
Whenever a Perfumer has more than passing
of his own, to whom he passed down the
intimate contact with a living person, which
techniques he used to create his alluring
can range from an involved conversation, to a
scents. These nights, the Gulikan are still the
nasty ground fight, or even to sex, they must
preeminent power in Istanbul, and Eumathias
roll Humanity. On a failure, she gains the
still walks among the Kindred from time-to-time,
Obsession Condition focused on a scent of
ensuring with a nudge and a whisper that his line still
the individual. The Condition resolves when
runs according to his wishes. He’s yet to publicly comment
the Gulikan finds a way to immerse themself
on the Peddlers, but it’s impossible that he’s unaware of
in the scent in question, such as wrapping her
the rebellious element in his bloodline.
body in the person’s bed linens, or abducting
• It was a Strix who gave Eumathias his secrets. The Artist him so she can smell him to her heart’s
of Ashes taught the then-young vampire to turn his Vitae content. If a Perfumer would gain another
into mist, allowing him to exert a control over his fellows so instance of the Obsession Condition in this
subtle, none would even think to guard against it. The way before they’ve resolved the first, the new
Artist knows more tricks of the Blood than the Kindred Obsession takes precedence.
ever will, and it was a simple lesson for a creature Disciplines: Celerity, Majesty, Ortam, Vigor
made of smoke and spite to teach. In exchange for

Chapter One: Cousins 37

 A common misconception about the Gulikan is that their
In the Covenants obsession with certain scents replaces their hunger for blood,
The Carthian Movement: Gulikan are rare among the rather than existing alongside it. As much as the smell of a
Movement. Most cells lack the coherence and stability the mortal might excite a Perfumer, they gain no actual sustenance
Perfumers require in order to practice their art, but times are from the scent — which can be a problem for some Gulikan
changing. With young Gulikan rebelling against their static who neglect to feed in favor of chasing their current fixation.
elders, some are embracing the Firebrands’ chaos in order to Indeed, many Perfumers fall prey to hunger frenzy in pursuit
experiment with more avant-garde creations. One Portland- of a mortal’s scent, only to drink their obsession to death and
based Peddler is apparently outfitting the Movement with lose the special scent forever! It’s considered rather embarrassing
Molotov cocktails that literally smell like rebellion, spreading among the bloodline, but it’s common enough to have its own
outrage — as well as flames — when they burst. name: “breaking the bottle.”
The Circle of the Crone: Witch Perfumers are, to put it “Vindication! I knew the overly-complicated recipes and talk of
mildly, a little intense. They reflect the Dark Mother’s bloody artistic perfection were just a smokescreen. The sample I acquired
fury in all their works, producing noxious, musky incense that is almost entirely Vitae. The Perfumers have simply managed to
drives their fellow Acolytes to greater acts of fevered worship. maintain its properties through aerosolization. If I can only discover
Some Perfumers in the Mother’s Army even claim to have the mechanism, then I can finally prove my suspicions about the guild’s
practiced Ortam in the grip of frenzy, creating disturbing, wild influence over the Sheriff…” — From the journal of Adrian Vickmer,
scents even they don’t know the full effects of. Scholar of Untamed Hunger, missing since 2014.
The Invictus: The First Estate is full of exactly the sort of True, though the bloodline does its best to squash this rumor
capitalist monsters who can afford the exorbitant prices of whenever it emerges. At its heart, Ortam is about the Vitae used
Gulikan wares. The Old Masters encourage Invictus patronage, in its creation, and can absolutely form a Vinculum through
as the Conspiracy is one of the few groups willing to pay for scent alone. While the artistic and alchemical trappings the
exclusive access. Many of their scents can even aid in Masquerade Gulikan use aren’t just for show, they’re a lot less vital to the
preservation, adding a layer of removal between a vampire and process than the bloodline likes to suggest.
her manipulations. Of course, some Perfumers grow to resent “All right, so just follow me on this one: Mickey the Dog goes
being treated like vending machines, and this has driven more missing, yeah? Like, no one’s seen him in nights. Then, last week,
than a few neonates into the welcoming arms of the Carthians. that dude who sells those candles comes out with a new one called
The Lancea et Sanctum: Braziers full of incense that induce ‘Scent of the Wild’ or some shit. I got a whiff of one, and fuck me
awed worship, prayer candles that give off a soothing scent to if it doesn’t sorta smell l like Mickey after a night running through
calm the Beast — Sanctified Gulikan find all sorts of damnable the woods. Look, I dunno what exactly I’m saying… but have you
uses for their talents, and the Church can often be one of the never seen Soylent Green?”
bloodline’s most lucrative clients. Many bishops are willing to pay Half-true. Ortam products aren’t literally made from
a premium for religious artworks, but buyer beware, as saturating ground-up Kindred, but some unscrupulous Gulikan are known
one’s congregation with Ortam can sometimes result in them to acquire Vitae from less-than-willing donors. It’s an ugly side
fawning over the Perfumer rather than venerating God. to their business, and one the bloodline goes to great pains to
The Ordo Dracul: Most Gulikan would agree that Ortam is conceal. But not even their many perfumes can cover the stink
a balance of art and science, but Defiant Perfumers tip the scale of so many sins.
sharply toward the latter. They’re not interested in creating the
next Chanel No. 5; they want to explore the how and why of their
Discipline. Can one mass-produce Ortam-created scents? What
Yusuf Cakir
happens when someone with no physical sense of smell breathes “Tradition? Tradition is the corpse of wisdom.”
them in? What about if you replace the Vitae in the recipe with, Raised in a conservative family and Embraced into the
say, the Pyros flowing through the veins of a Promethean? The Gulikan’s tightly-controlled guild structure in Istanbul, Yusuf
Dragons don’t know the answers to these questions — yet — but Cakir still dresses the part of an eager apprentice. Within this
they’re willing to spill buckets of blood to find them out. smartly-dressed, thin-framed man, however, is a roiling pit of
resentment at having his every choice in life and death made
for him. Trapped within his bloodline’s stifling hierarchy,
Rumors Yusuf could never express his frustration without risking
“So this Serpent — one of those fancy-schmancy perfume-makers — she severe punishment.
grabs this dude off the dance floor, shoves him against the wall, and However, when he was sent away to Portland to cement
just… smells him. I don’t mean a little sniff. Like, pressing her face Gulikan interests in the city, he found a more-than-receptive
into him and inhaling. He was into it at first, but not so much after audience for his anger in the Carthian Movement. They fed the
he realized she wasn’t gonna let go. Did that for, like, ten minutes, sheltered neonate’s rebellious streak until it bloomed into full-
then just dropped him and walked away. Didn’t so much as nip him. blown outrage against oppressive Kindred systems everywhere,
Do those weirdos even need to feed?” including the ones in his new home.

38 Sin Again: Daeva

 Investigation (Scent) 2, Medicine 1, Occult 1, Politics
(Portland Kindred) 1, Science 2
Physical Skills: Athletics 2, Survival 1, Weaponry 1
Don’t Hold Your Breath Social Skills: Empathy 1, Expression (Poetry) 2,
One habit that sets Gulikan apart from most Persuasion 2, Socialize 1, Subterfuge (Emotions) 2
Kindred is sniffing. Perfumers are constantly sam-
pling the air for new and interesting scents, and this Merits: Carthian Status 2, Distinguished Palette,
can be rather off-putting to other vampires. Most Breaking the Chains, Contacts (Chemists, Herbalists,
mortals aren’t wild about it either. Portland Zoo) 3, Feeding Grounds 2, Haven 3, Lex
But if their sense of smell gets them in trouble, Terrae, Safe Place 2
why don’t the Gulikan just stop? Kindred don’t
need to breathe, after all, so it should be simple for
Disciplines: Animalism 1, Celerity 2, Majesty 2,
Perfumers to just not deploy their incredible sense Nightmare 1, Ortam 4, Protean 1, Resilience 1, Vigor 1
until they need it. Devotions: Enfeebling Aura
Except, it’s not actually that simple. First of all,
Kindred still need to breathe in order to talk, so Ortam Recipes: Authority for Lords, Bold Statement,
unless a Gulikan has decided to take a vow of silence, Haunt’s Spite, Marble Confidence, Quicksilver Grace,
he’s going to be taking in at least some smells he Savage Exemplar, Serpent’s Enticement, Tiger’s Musk
doesn’t mean to. Second, a Perfumer’s sense of
smell defines his Requiem like nothing else. Scents Blood Potency: 2
delight and amaze him; why would he want to give Health: 8
that up? A Gulikan who knows he needs to focus
on something important might be able to suppress Willpower: 7
his desire to take in all the varied smells around
him for a short time (perhaps requiring a Resolve
Humanity: 6
+ Composure roll), but no Perfumer is going to be Size: 5
able to resist for long — it’s just not in their nature.
Speed: 10
Initiative: 5
Defense: 4 (Active Defense 6)
A talented and dedicated student of Ortam, Yusuf employs Notes: Due to using Breaking the Chains to remove
his gifts in creative ways for his fellow Firebrands. From smoke- a Vinculum to his sire, and sampling Vitae to acquire
bombs whose scent enkindles fury to gas canisters designed Disciplines for Ortam recipes, Yusuf is one-step bound
to break blockades with the smell of terror, his creations have to at least half the Carthians in Portland. For the same
given the Movement a definite edge in their nightly struggles. reason, he’s also battling a not-so-insignificant Vitae
addiction. Breaking the Chains can be found on p. 179
Unfortunately, in offering these creations to his covenant at
of Secrets of the Covenants.
cost, Yusuf is also breaking one of the Gulikan’s strictest taboos
by denying the bloodline its cut. Portland is far away from
Istanbul and the Old Masters, but their reach is considerable.
When they hear about what Yusuf is up to (and they will), the Ortam
wrath they bring down on this new Peddler will be considerable The end-result of the Gulikan’s art and obsession, Ortam is
— but the Carthians won’t be willing to let go of their new, best their most carefully-guarded secret. Using an arcane combina-
asset without a fight. tion of alchemy, chemistry, and blood sorcery, Perfumers can
Clan: Daeva render Vitae down to its purest essence, extracting enchanting
and terrifying scents. They then trap these scents within per-
Bloodline: Gulikan fumes, incense, candles, pomades, and more. The resulting
Covenant: Carthian Movement items are infused with effects that echo different Disciplines,
Mask: Scholar based on the recipe the Gulikan used.
Ortam works in two parts. First is the basic practice of
Dirge: Idealist
extracting the essential scent of Vitae, the crafting of an item to
Touchstone: Jin Ying, the elderly owner of a teashop house it, and the binding the former to the latter. The second
Yusuf frequents for olfactory inspiration. is the recipe, the specific effect the Gulikan is trying to create.
Mental Attributes: Intelligence 4, Wits 3, Resolve 4 Not so much a single progressive Discipline as it is a different
Physical Attributes: Strength 2, Dexterity 2, Stamina 2 way to employ the Beast’s arsenal, Ortam is incredibly versatile.
One of its chief strengths, however, is subtlety. Kindred are
Social Attributes: Presence 2, Manipulation 3, used to guarding their eyes and ears against the dangers of an
Composure 3 imprinted command or dulcet word, but few are vigilant against
Mental Skills: Academics 2, Crafts (Scented Items) 4, an enticing scent carried on the breeze.

Chapter One: Cousins 39

 In addition to the recipes below, Ortam bestows Gulikan The eleven recipes outlined below are the most common,
with an extraordinary sense of smell, above and beyond what but variants exist, and rumors persist of more exotic formulas
most Kindred are capable of. This ability is useful to the that can mimic unique abilities possessed by bloodlines and
creation of their various scented wonders, but it can also be lost clans. There are even whispers of secret recipes that use
offputting to those who aren’t used to it, as most Perfumers the blood of werewolves, fae beings, and even stranger things…
think nothing of commenting on the various odors people
carry with them.
The first dot of Ortam grants the same effect as the
Essence Vitale Absolue
Duration: Scene
Bloodhound Merit (Vampire, p. 110). Sanctity of Merits applies
if the vampire already has this Merit. In addition, the character Effect: The essential Ortam ability can be crafted with Vitae
achieves exceptional success on three dice instead of five on from any vampire, creating an intoxicating scent that ensnares
any scent-based Perception rolls. minds as it delights them. Smelling Essence Vitale Absolue is
the same as having tasted the donor vampire’s blood. It can
Cost: 1 Vitae per dose
establish a Vinculum, though it can’t increase an extant one,
Requirement: The Vitae used to pay the cost must come from and it provides no sustenance. Any mortals taking in the
a vampire who knows the Discipline linked to the intended scent are helpless against it, but Kindred reflexively resist with
recipe. Resolve + Blood Potency – Ortam, shaking off the would-be
Dice Pool: Intelligence + Crafts + Ortam bond with a successful roll.
Action: Extended (five successes per dose, with each roll Essence Vitale Absolue is the only Ortam recipe that can be
representing an hour of lab work) combined with others; this requires the vampire to spend an
Duration: Per recipe additional Vitae per dose, but he still only needs to make one roll.
Roll Results
Success: The vampire creates the intended number of doses, Animalism: Tiger Musk
which takes the form of fragrant oils. He can then apply the Duration: Scene
oil directly, or infuse it into an appropriate object or deliv- Effect: A thick, intimidating odor that tells man and beast
ery system. If applied directly, the oil works on contact, but alike a predator is in their midst. Anyone wearing this scent
infused items are dormant until activated (the candle is lit, enjoys the rote quality on all rolls involving the Animal Ken
the perfume sprayed, etc.) Gulikan are immune to the effects and Intimidation Skills, as long as the target of these actions
of their own wares. can smell them.
Exceptional Success: The vampire achieves a minor break-
through in technique that makes the work go much faster.
Choose one of the usual effects of exceptionally succeeding an
Auspex: Shadow’s Eyes
extended action, or take the Ecstatic Condition as your charac- Duration: Night
ter’s Beast is overwhelmed with the heady high of its own supply. Effect: This recipe creates a sharp, arresting fragrance that
Failure: The vampire creates nothing but odious goop. awakens the mind to all the little details it might otherwise miss.
Anyone wearing the scent enjoys the benefits of the Trained
Dramatic Failure: Not only does the vampire fail to create the
Observer Merit at three dots and can pierce supernatural
intended recipe, but he becomes hopelessly distracted by a scent
powers of stealth if they achieve an exceptional success on a
accidentally created during his work. He gains the Obsession
Perception roll. Characters who already have Trained Observer
Condition focused on a scent of the Storyteller’s choosing.
at three dots gain a further 2-die bonus.

Ortam Recipes Celerity: Quicksilver Grace

Over the centuries, Gulikan have codified their experiments Duration: Night
into formulas that can be passed down from master to appren- Effect: A subtle, promising scent that builds anticipation,
tice. There are eleven canonical recipes acknowledged within the keeping the wearer on a knife’s edge of awareness — and dis-
mainstream bloodline, one for each of the ten Disciplines com- tracting everyone else. Anyone wearing this scent gains a +5 on
monly used by the Kindred, and a “basic” recipe that is the first Initiative results, and dodge actions gain the 8-again quality.
all Perfumers learn when beginning their instruction in Ortam.
When a Perfumer first learns Ortam, she gains three recipes, Dominate: Authority for Lords
one of which must be Essence Vitale Absolue. The other two
Duration: Night
can be from any of the remaining ten, but apprentice Gulikan
are advised to concentrate on recipes based upon Disciplines Effect: A powerful, domineering scent that’s impossible not
they already know. Every time she gains a new dot of Ortam, to notice. This fragrance overpowers minds, making them
a Perfumer gains two more recipes. subservient to the bearer. Reduce the number of Doors the

40 Sin Again: Daeva

wearer needs to bypass during Social maneuvering by two for
anyone who can smell her, and increase her impression level
by one, as even the most demanding requests seem reasonable
to those under the influence of this scent.
The Next Big Thing
If you want to create more recipes, like ones based
Majesty: Serpent’s Enticement on bloodline Disciplines, or just alternate versions
for the common powers, Gulikan can purchase “off-
Duration: Scene brand” recipes for 2 Experiences as an optional rule.
Effect: One of the Perfumers’ most popular creations, this
sweet, enticing scent lingers behind the wearer, beckoning
those who smell it to follow in their wake. Serpent’s Enticement
inflicts the Swooning Condition on anyone exposed to it enters frenzy as if they were riding the wave. However, when
for more than a few seconds. This lasts the rest of the night. this frenzy ends, they gain the Lethargic Condition. Humans
Kindred characters can resist with Composure + Blood Potency and creatures not prone to frenzy who are exposed to Savage
to shake off the effects, but still suffer a –1 to all further Exemplar gain the Fired Up! Condition, below.
Composure-based rolls while exposed, even if the resistance
roll is successful. Resilience: Marble Confidence
Duration: Night
Nightmare: Haunt’s Spite Effect: A fresh, earthy fragrance that boosts the wearer’s
Duration: Scene confidence and shields his mind from harm. Anyone wearing
Effect: This noxious, cloying odor is meant not to attract, this scent enjoys the benefits of the Indomitable and Iron Will
but rather to repel. Anyone except the wearer who is exposed Merits. If the wearer already possesses these Merits, their effects
to Haunt’s Spite gains the Shaken Condition, centered on the are enhanced: double the bonus from Indomitable and/or apply
person or area that’s the source of the scent. Kindred characters the rote quality on contested rolls for Iron Will.
can resist with Composure + Blood Potency – Ortam to control
themselves, but will still suffer a –1 to resist fear frenzy while Vigor: Bold Statement
they remain in the scent’s presence. Duration: Night
Effect: A brash and powerful odor, the wearer of this scent
Obfuscate: Fond Absence seems unstoppable to all in sniffing distance. When she
Duration: Scene deals damage to someone who can smell her, she can choose
to inflict the Beaten Down Tilt on her victim. Kindred can
Effect: Barely smelling like anything at all (perhaps a hint of
end the Tilt by simply ceasing to breathe, but most humans
poppies), this fragrance isn’t meant to be worn, but rather to
have no such recourse.
be deployed like a weapon. Any mortal who breathes in Fond
Absence for more than a few seconds will enter a fugue state,
completely forgetting they ever saw the wearer over the course
of the scene, filling in the blanks as best they can. This inflicts
FIRED UP!
the Amnesia Condition. Exposed Kindred characters must
make a successful Wits + Composure roll to detect the threat Your blood is up, you’re ready for a fight, and you don’t much
and cease breathing before it can affect them; otherwise, they care who it’s with. Gain a +3 to all Physical and Social actions
are affected as a human would be. involving violence or conflict, but take a –2 to any action to
resist impulsive or confrontational behavior. Efforts to con-
vince you to commit physical violence or destruction achieve
Protean: Savage Exemplar an exceptional success with three successes rather than five.
Duration: One use This Condition fades without resolving at the end of the
Effect: Perhaps the most dangerous scent crafted by the night.
Gulikan, Savage Exemplar smells of fresh blood and concen- Resolution: Deal at least five levels of bashing damage or two
trated fury. A vampire who inhales this scent immediately levels of lethal/aggravated damage to another person.

Chapter One: Cousins 41

 Moda Mortale The ones who cut you out

Mob lawyer hung from office window The Fashionistas are where style meets substance in the
All Night Society. From poisoning to strangulation, sniper’s
On Monday morning, a grisly scene greeted Seventh scope to pistol whip, they’ve mastered the assassin’s handbook,
Avenue at Main Street, where defense attorney Blake and they’re as chic as they are deadly. You’ll see them com-
Chilton’s remains were found on display at his former law ing because they want you to, in stiletto heels crafted from
actual stilettos and Protean-perfect feather coifs. The couture
firm. The cryptic phrase “BANG BANG” was emblazoned angle isn’t just aesthetics, though. They really are models and
in seven-foot-high letters on the building’s exterior windows designers, and they’re on the bleeding edge of fashion in a
on the 27th floor, in what the authorities have confirmed way few among the dead could ever hope to achieve. Some are
was Mr. Chilton’s own blood. Police would not comment even renowned beyond the Danse Macabre, voguing across
the edge of the Masquerade.
further on the message or its significance, and no firearm
Ironically, most Kindred don’t realize they’re anything but a
use was in evidence. Witnesses placed Mr. Chilton the bunch of fashionable Daeva, or that they’re a bloodline at all.
night before at La Verità Italian Cuisine in the fashionable For the Moda Mortale, covert means overt, using their “day
East End District around 7 p.m. He was last seen dining jobs” as cover to travel between high-end events that just hap-
pen to coincide with a nasty murder or two. Kindred or kine,
with an unidentified woman in her early- to mid-20s; she is
sire or childe, it’s all the same to these Widows, just so long as
considered a person of interest. the check clears. But you’re not just paying to solve a problem:
Over the past year, Mr. Chilton made a name for him- You’re paying for publicity. More than mere murderers, the
Moda Mortale operate the Cacophony like a sewing machine,
self after a legal career of relative obscurity, representing stitching in bloody messages the All Night Society can’t rip out.
high-profile clients with ties to organized crime, notably at An alderman dies in bed with his mistress, rose petals scat-
the controversial trial and subsequent acquittal of Sigismund tered around the bed; the Carthians cancel their plans for the
“Ziggy” Carmichael, an alleged capo of Arturo Sangiovanni. dockyard. A research scientist takes a bullet through the head,
but a knife defiles his corpse with the words Taking Note; the
This marks the third assassination of a high-profile criminal Kogaion flees town. A prominent occultist is crucified on the
attorney in as many months, and Metro PD is calling these eve of the summer solstice, on the highest skyscraper in the
homicides “professional.” The perpetrator or perpetrators’ city; the Mother’s Army declares war.
methods share little in common, aside from their theatricality, Are there easier ways to send a message? Sure, if you’ve got
no taste. But if you had a simple message, you wouldn’t come
with a daring, grotesque display at each crime scene. Police are
to the Moda Mortale. Each death is a two-pronged solution,
one that destroys whoever happens to be standing in the way
In the vicious world of Kindred politics, sometimes you of a client’s scheme and fosters an environment to further that
want a rival to disappear quietly — and sometimes, you want plan. All without a paper trail — not the bad kind, at any rate.
to send a message. For the latter, you need a killer with a The Widows ensure you always make the headlines. Sometimes
keen sense of style. Of panache. In other words, you need that means a little character assassination before the knives
the Moda Mortale. come out, destroying the victim’s social life in preparation for

“Watch yourself, honey:

I’m dressed to kill.”
42 Sin Again: Daeva
the “moral” they’ll be sending the Kindred. For the
Widows, this is the ultimate edit. And fashion is Bloodline Origins
all about editing. • Milan: Money, fashion, fame. Is it any wonder the
The bloodline’s services are available only Moda Mortale started here? Ginevra (she was never
to the true elites of the All Night Society, billed with a last name) was a proto-supermodel of the
yet to these upper echelons, the Moda 50s and early 60s, though she’d only ever work eve-
Mortale are a complicated problem. Killing ning or nighttime gigs. When the 70s hit and heroin
is just as much a crime among the dead as the chic took the world by storm, she disappeared for a
living, though one might ask when moral while — some said rehab; others, a scandalous
and legal quandaries have ever pregnancy — but when she returned, she was
really troubled the Damned. more beautiful than ever, timeless in a way
More troubling are rumors of trends in body types and clothes could never
Widows devouring their own challenge. She also began dating a series of
when they fail their high-stakes high-powered international celebrities… who
missions, but surely a bloodline kept winding up dead. Of course, no one dared
of assassins built around ritual accuse Ginevra, but they did start referring to
diablerie couldn’t have been her escapades as la moda mortale: the deadly way.
so… successful? Surely. Now her childer pass on all the tricks of her trade.
• On photoshoot tours, instead of food they
Why you want to give you cigarettes and coke and tell you not to
overdose. But sometimes, a pale stranger spikes
be us your wine with a little of the red stuff and
tells you to indulge. You hear stories of
When you send someone
models disappearing, of mysterious
across the final threshold, the least
close-casket funerals. Some whisper
you can do is dress for the occasion, and
suicide, but others think there’s
we’ll reshape you into a couture killing
more to it. The circumstances
machine. Joining us is getting on the Kindred A
of each death are identical,
List, and isn’t it better to be part of the club than
and they go back decades
at the mercy of the hunt?
and across continents:
Paris, Tokyo, Dubai.
Why you should fear us Still, everyone knows
There’s death and then there’s death. The former is modeling is a short-
casting off your daylight life like last season’s furs; the lived career; they practically
latter is getting on the wrong side of our blades. Don’t erect barricades around the runway when
worry, doll, we’ll make sure your end is unforgettable. your looks go. But what if they didn’t have to?
They just won’t be talking about you. Maybe there’s more than one way to be beau-
tiful. It takes poise and
self-control to transmit
Why we should fear ourselves your inner essence through
Being perfect takes constant rigor and endless a photograph, hour after
competition. Look over your shoulder because hour; it couldn’t be much
the next bitch is coming up the ranks; how harder to take a life. Who’s
long before she makes you obsolete? Letting behind it? Who can say? But who
yourself be outshone, outmatched, out- cares when you look this good. Ask
dated — that’s career suicide. And if you too many questions and you’ll get cut
don’t work for us, you get the bad edit. from this gig.
So take a long, hard look in the mirror.
• Once upon a midnight darkly, a certain witch was said
Are you as good as you were yesterday?
to be extraordinarily beautiful and powerful. A young girl
That’s not good enough. You’ve got
begged her parents to let her go to this witch, but they
to be fucking better. No sympathy
said the woman was wicked, and that if the little girl went
for even the smallest glimpse of
there, she would no longer be their child. But the girl was
weakness in our ranks. One
unable to quash her desire, and off to the witch she
slip, and you’ll plummet into
went. When she arrived at the door, she stood
last season. Forever.
frozen in awe, for there through the window,

Chapter One: Cousins 43

 she saw black, green, and red — a widow, a hunter, a butcher still operated by Ginevra herself. Assignments are distributed
in one. “You must be the face of the Devil himself,” said based on the current ranking vampire, where Widow competes
the little girl, and the witch gave a beautiful, terrible smile. against Widow for the most lucrative and noteworthy contracts.
She seized the child in her embrace and lit her aflame, just Only the most affluent and influential can hope to hire these
another log for her fire. The wicked woman cried, “O how Serpents, and with every job completed, the more elegant the
you’ll burn — gorgeously ever after!” Masquerade will be.
Parent Clan: Daeva The Lancea et Sanctum: Widows who seek deeper meaning
often turn to the Church to justify all the senseless killing, and
Nicknames: Fashionistas, Widows (among those in the know)
it’s thus that Sanctified Fashionistas become fanatical angels
Bloodline Bane (The Impeccable Curse): The Widows are of death, meting out retribution on sinners. This might sound
obsessed with perfection. While this makes them fastidious like a cannibalistic practice, considering how many vampires are
killers and fashion icons, it also means that if something dis- sinners — and you’d be right. These Widows almost exclusively
rupts their work, their manicured Requiems may crack. When hunt Kindred, and unlike other Fashionistas, their work can
a Fashionista suffers a setback or finds a flaw in her current get a bit personal. Destroying a reprobate isn’t breaking the
plans (such as fulfilling an Aspiration), her player must roll Third Tradition; it’s divine justice. Between instances of divine
Humanity. On a failure, she gains the Broken Condition until vengeance, these vampires work as designers and dressers for the
she resolves it or the task is complete. She cannot suffer her highest ranks of the Church Militant, stitching Kevlar into miters
bane again until she rids herself of Broken. and finding creative ways to hide machine guns under cassocks.
Disciplines: Majesty, Obfuscate, Protean, Vigor The Ordo Dracul: The Dragons appeal to the inner pedant
in every Widow. Fashion is all about innovation, after all,
and Moda Mortale in this covenant are fully haute couture.
In the Covenants One can’t survive among the Widows without constantly
The Carthian Movement: Fashionistas who take up the coming up with new and inventive ways to get the job done,
cause tend more toward centrist factions of the Movement, and the Ordo Dracul’s sciences are an ideal way to not only
preferring a capitalist solution to the feudal underpinnings of keep their skills honed to a razor sharpness, but to test out
the All Night Society. Widows know that regardless of what and invent deadly new techniques: Making slow-acting toxins
“brand” social structures may dress themselves up in, they’ve out of Vitae-based makeup? Peeling off a target’s skin to make
never been equitable, and they never will be with quixotic a suit that you can dress up in? Hiding deadly, untraceable
attempts at vampire Bolshevism. More of the champagne weapons within your own ribcage so you can pass even Mekhet
socialist bent, Carthian Widows prefer to set trends in motion scrutiny? The Dragons encourage every beautiful tactic the
than to seize the means of production, whether that’s an avant Fashionistas can devise.
garde ideal or a utilitarian power vacuum; in their public faces
as fashion icons and celebutantes, they can arrange all kinds
of front groups to cover up the covenant’s wetwork. If the city
Rumors
councilor breaks his neck on the stairs at a charity gala for the “If you hire a Widow, she’ll only ever make the attempt once. In the
children’s hospital, well, it’s a real tragedy, but his final wish rare cases something goes wrong, the home office always sends another
was to see donations break last year’s record… rather than reuse the first assassin. See, it’s not just an image thing:
The Circle of the Crone: The Crone’s embrace of They eat their failures for supper.”
divine chaos might seem the antithesis of the hyper-critical The Widows have, from their inception, “disposed” of mem-
Fashionistas, but every model knows discomfort has its uses. bers who fail to uphold the bloodline’s implacable reputation.
It pushes boundaries; makes you a better version of yourself. The idea that they have a one strike policy is an exaggeration,
Some of the longest-lasting members of the Moda Mortale but given their code of secrecy, the Moda Mortale does not suffer
find their strength among the Mother’s Army. They under- mistakes from full-fledged members. However, diablerie is an
stand that it’s impossible to be vigilant all the time, but with exception rather than a rule; a stake and a can of gasoline does
a trusted, blood-pact coven backing them? Their chances of just as well most of the time. Still, the Widows have procedures
success and longevity increase. They use their Protean pow- for the those who truly fall out of favor, euphemistically referred
ers to push their beauty to supernatural heights, becoming to as “stitching the ditch.” Wasting an asset is almost as bad
unsettlingly symmetrical, alien and otherworldly, or fully as white after Labor Day, but even a has-been can contribute
androgynous, destroying binaries as they do their victims. If to the art.
fashions change by the season, they will sculpt their appear- “They’re total control freaks. If you don’t wanna die, just slash up
ances to be all things to all people. their Alexander McQueen and make a run for it. They’ll need to pretty
The Invictus: Moda Mortale within the Invictus hold the themselves up again before they continue the chase.”
pinnacle spot as the most exclusive of assassination guilds. Here, While their curse does shake their resolve at times, stories
no Widow works alone. All First Estate Fashionistas act under of Moda Mortale assassins falling to pieces over broken nails
La Casa della Morte (the House of Death), a model agency front and out of place bangs are false (and say far more about the

44 Sin Again: Daeva

teller’s own foibles). A Widow’s priority will always be his Her perfume washes over you, and your heart would hammer
contract; giving in to the Beast is never an option. However, if it could. She must read it on your face, because one sculpted
he also knows that being rigid means breaking more easily. eyebrow arches, delicious as a whip crack. For a moment, you
Fashionistas often come equipped with branching, multi- almost feel sorry for your rival.
ple-choice plans for even the simplest hits. They make impro- “How much should I leave behind?” she asks, the smoke of
visation a necessity rather than a contingency, assuring the her voice like a caress.
Beast can’t easily be flustered by a target’s random reactions. “N— nothing,” you stammer. “I want her gone. Forgotten.”
The real problem comes when they compete with each other.
“Funny, that’s what Nicki said.” She’s got you tight in her grip,
Sometimes on lesser jobs, an agency will send more than one
nails sharpened into talons, and before you can put the thought
contractor to see who’s worthy of moving up in the organiza-
into such concrete terms, she’s drinking deep from your throat.
tion, and this can lead to bizarrely chic assassin wars as each
vampire tries to rattle the other with their mutual bane. It’s bliss.
“I’ve heard there are only thirteen of them at any given time. If Clan: Daeva
you want to join, and they’ve already got a baker’s dozen, you have to Bloodline: Moda Mortale
bump one off to take their spot. It’s like James Bond enters the Miss
Vampire Pageant, and the grand prize is a license to kill.” Covenant: Invictus
Despite nearly a half century of recruiting and training, Mask: Competitor
Ginevra’s bloodline is still small, but largely because most Dirge: Authoritarian
of its recruits don’t make it out of training. That said, while
Touchstone: A Tyrian purple scarf she wears to every
there’s no strict limit on their membership, Fashionistas will
assassination.
always prioritize quality over quantity. Potential recruits
need to show promise before they’re inducted, and not just Mental Attributes: Intelligence 3, Wits 4, Resolve 4
in their sense of style. Recruiters want physical flexibility, Physical Attributes: Strength 3, Dexterity 5, Stamina 4
poise, strength, and self-control. They also want quick wits,
Social Attributes: Presence 5, Manipulation 3,
street smarts, beauty, brains. In other words, star quality. Composure 3
For this reason, Widows often scout their childer, usually
focusing on amateur athletes and aspiring models, or even Mental Skills: Investigation 3, Crafts (Clothes) 5,
intelligence officers. Long before they’re ever introduced to Occult 2
the All Night Society, future Fashionistas have been marked, Physical Skills: Athletics 4, Larceny 2, Stealth
measured, and — sometimes — molded. (Hunting) 4, Weaponry (Stilettos) 5
Social Skills: Empathy 2, Expression (Fashion) 4,
Intimidation 4, Socialize 4, Subterfuge 5
Ginevra Merits: Bloodhound, Cacophony Savvy 3, Cutthroat,
“Beauty is pain, so pain should also be beautiful.” Friends Abroad 5, Kindred Dueling 5, Kiss of the
You sit in her penthouse office, nervous and jittery in the Succubus, Invested, Invictus Status 4, Iron Will, Moda
best way possible. Your feud with Nicoletta Macellarius has Mortale Status 5, Parkour 4, Resources 5, Striking Looks
2, Taste, Where the Bodies Are Buried
lasted decades, but now it’s time to end it. You got the idea
of hiring the Queen of Fashionistas after you saw the photos Disciplines: Auspex 3, Celerity 3, Majesty 5,
of what she did to that Russian oil baron a few years back: Obfuscate 5, Protean 5, Vigor 3
The siding on his private jet was peeled back like a blooming Devotions: Beautiful but Deadly, Kiss of Death
flower, and an oxygen mask was stuffed down his gullet.
Blood Potency: 7
They say the Archbishop of Florence abdicated that night,
and you’ve been saving up ever since. Health: 9
Rumor has it Ginevra’s establishing a dynasty, and that she Willpower: 7
devours those too weak to make the cut. Looking at her now, Humanity: 3
she doesn’t seem like the kind to diablerize anyone. How old
is she, exactly? You’ve seen her face countless times on vintage Size: 5
magazines: the kissable mouth that dares you to try, the cut- Speed: 16
ting cheekbones that could slice diamonds, but most of all the Initiative: 8
haunting eyes that sear despite the monochrome photos.
Some say she was never alive, just a perfect corpse who
Defense: 8 (Active Defense 11)
appeared one night and took Milan by the throat. Others — Notes: Ginevra suffers the Dancing Eyes bane (p.
the types who don’t attach their names to rumors — whisper 104), but she no longer experiences breaking points for
she’s old enough to remember when falling on a sword wasn’t premeditated killing. As their apparent originator, she
just metaphor. has access to all unique Merits and Devotions below.

Chapter One: Cousins 45

 This Devotion costs 2 Experiences to learn.
Bloodline Gift: Finishing School Cost: 2 Vitae
A Widow with Status in her bloodline gains the following Requirement: The vampire must have succeeded in styling
Merits for free: his outfit. This requires Wits + Crafts roll and spreading the
• If she has Cacophony Savvy, or purchases it later, a dot of cost above over the garment. The effect lasts until the end of
Friends Abroad (p. 99). the night or until the vampire uses it, whichever comes first.
• A dot in a Fighting Style for which she meets prerequisites. Dice Pool: Presence + Expression + Majesty vs. Resolve +
Blood Potency
• The Taste Merit, assuming she meets prerequisites. If a char-
Action: Instant
acter already has this Merit, she instead gains an Experience.
Roll Results
Success: The victim suffers the Insensate Tilt (Chronicles
New Merits of Darkness, p. 285).
Exceptional Success: The victim also loses a point of tem-
Medium Is Message (• or ••) porary Willpower.
Prerequisites: Moda Mortale Status • Failure: The distinctive outfit grabs attention, but doesn’t
Effect: When your character kills, the precise meaning and impede reaction.
intent of the death will be clear to all Kindred, even those without Dramatic Failure: The Fashionista is too notable, and his
any Cacophony Savvy. At one dot, roll Wits + Crafts/Expression mark reacts explosively, either to defend himself or to flee from
to create a perfect crime scene, using whichever Skill would apply approaching death with a 5-die bonus.
best to the message. At two dots, she can choose to make her
message sensible only to intended recipients. Any attempt to
decipher the meaning only succeeds with an exceptional success,
Face Lift
and only after suffering a penalty equal to your character’s Crafts (Majesty •, Protean ••)
or Expression dots, whichever applied to the crime scene.
Fashionistas can use Protean to sculpt their appearances
according to their own ideas of perfection.
Stitching the Ditch (••) This Devotion costs 1 Experience to learn.
Prerequisites: Moda Mortale Status ••• Cost: 1 Vitae
Effect: In extreme cases of ineptitude, when a fellow Dice Pool: None
Fashionista fails to complete a contract, all members in good
Action: Instant
enough standing are permitted to diablerize their disgraced
former colleague. Duration: Night
When your character successfully commits diablerie on The vampire can superficially alter her face and limbs. She
another Widow, she gains a Discipline dot and a Skill dot. If can smooth out asymmetry, mold her hair into a style that
she can’t gain a Discipline dot, she gains one of the victim’s won’t shift, render her features softer or brighter or more
Specialties if she has dots in a relevant Skill. She can use this lifelike, or even alter colors. Some Widows create more avant
technique on non-Moda Mortale vampires, but she must spend garde alterations outside the human baseline, like fingers with
an additional Willpower point as she initiates diablerie. no nails, feathers instead of hair, or skin tones that would be
impossible without extensive tattooing. As long as this effect
Drawback: Using this technique incurs a –1 modifier on the
lasts, the vampire adds her Protean dots on any Presence action
subsequent detachment roll for committing diablerie.
to establish a first impression and exceptionally succeeds on
three successes instead of five. Fashionistas can also bestow
New Devotions this effect on clothing, spilling the cost above on a garment or
garments. In this way, they can bestow their fashion sense on
allies — and sometimes, victims.
Dressed to Kill Note that the vampire can’t use this Devotion to alter herself
(Majesty •••, Vigor ••) so much that this effect would serve as a disguise; she’ll always
be somewhat recognizable to those who know her, though
The Fashionista dresses to stun his mark, preventing him
creative use of Face Lift might convince someone she has a
from reacting to violent actions and making him temporarily
sibling or an uncanny double.
docile.

46 Sin Again: Daeva

 Nelapsi
The ones who feast on you

You’ve heard about him since the night he moved into that Eventually, other Kindred took up arms against these Locusts,
ominous townhouse at the end of the street. People say strange fearful for their own herds. It was a costly war. The bloodline’s
sounds and lights come through the windows in the middle of the terrible fortitude wasn’t easily broken, and the conflict provided
night. The old folks cross themselves as they pass like its haunted, even more grist to weave into their tales. Some Kindred say each
and the jackoff teenage boys try to spook their girlfriends with tales Nelapsi bears two souls, their appetites only sated by feeding
of children going missing. both. Others believe they devour mortals whole and wield the
He takes your hand, bending down to give it a little kiss. It’s a strength of two men, with two hearts pumping in their chests.
bit dorky, but the charm radiates like a sunny day, and those ivory Still others whisper that their curse is so all-consuming that it
teeth shine with every inviting smile. They’re having a party later requires a pair of mortals to die for one Embrace.
tonight, he says. Come see what really goes down. Yet these stories weren’t enough to save them. In the end, the
How scary could it be? Nelapsi were scattered, manses burned to ash as their human
The Daeva know humans better than any Kindred, and the playthings were dragged away and made to forget. With the
Nelapsi know the most primal human want of all: hunger. A fall of the old guard came the diaspora, and a new ethos took
Glutton can wake starving even if she entered daysleep with a hold to prevent future purges. The new blood’s philosophy
bellyful of blood. Feeding grounds and herds are a painful point is restrained compared to that of their forebears, though its
of necessity for these Serpents, and the source of many a neonate’s adherents prefer to call it elegant.
downfall when she devours them all in one gory gulp. Even when Modern Nelapsi distance themselves from their herds but still
Vitae is free and plentiful, feeding is a careful balance between forge legends. They’re the friend-of-a-friend-of-an-acquaintance
the safety of moderation and the false promises of satisfaction. who can talk their way out of any situation, and they’ll do the
The Nelapsi didn’t always believe such control was necessary. same for you if you’ll meet them under the new moon. He’s
Once, they fed in whatever quantity they required, lording the party animal who knows every regular but never shares his
over private domains with only their childer for company. real name; if you learn it, you can summon him for one hell
The Gluttons of old ruled not as royalty, but ideas, medieval of a night. She’s Mephisto at the crossroads, offering wishes in
legends that infested every mortal unfortunate enough to hear exchange for a liter of your finest vintage.
their tales. These were not the Daeva of dreams and fantasy, Rather than estates and stables of mortal morsels, tonight
but greedy ghosts lairing in haunted castle keeps demanding a Nelapsi lets his myth do the heavy lifting. His herds are vast
tribute, or cunning demons awaiting supplicants in the low because the story he’s crafted for himself is more than the sum
places of the earth. Each folkloric mask was a way to hide in of its parts, and it keeps the All Night Society from ever realizing
plain sight at the top of the food chain. Even their name is the truth of the Locust flitting through its fields. A Glutton’s
just another guise, taken from a Slovakian beast that devoured reputation will always precede him — for good and for ill.
livestock and killed with a glare — though, given their appetites,
perhaps they gifted their name upon the monster. Why you want to be us
Cults to these nightmares once riddled Eastern Europe, from Even when we try to be quiet, we wind up being bigger than
Bohemia to the Black Sea, and the bloodline held dozens of life. Helps that we’re already dead. We can devour the world
hamlets as their personal buffets. Few approached; none dared entire if it suits us; the Danse Macabre is just a frenzied summer
leave. And every now and then, an offering would gain favor ball before the winter chill sets in. Join us, little grasshoppers,
as a Glutton’s clan curse gripped its soul, and its new childe for our larders are full and our herds are fat. We’ll make sure
would become yet another part of its mythos. the dancing never stops — greedily ever after.

“Don’t test me. I haven’t eaten.”

Chapter One: Cousins 47
 die from her wounds, yet she stirred in death
Why you should fear us as a spirit of famine spoke into her soul.
We are the virus of language, and to know our tales is to It promised life again in exchange for a
risk infection. You say our names in the mirror thrice upon nest in the spot where her heart used
a blood moon because you want the monsters to be real. You to be. Instead, she ate it, gorging
want them to spin hay to gold and chew on your firstborn in on its power. For denying the bar-
recompense, ridding you of the burden. One good story gain, she was cursed to walk the
is worth a thousand cattle, and we’ll dine out on ours world eternally starving, and each
as long as you keep telling them. Nelapsi carries a little bit of that
gluttonous spirit into the night.
Why we should fear ourselves Parent Clan: Daeva
There is a hole. Something filled it once, but Nicknames: Gluttons, Locusts
nothing remains now. We can never know Bloodline Bane (The Edacious
what we’ve lost, because in each of us it’s Curse): While every vampire needs to
a different hollow. The Beast, in its feed, the Locusts have a hard time stopping
cunning, calls us to feed and fill the once they start. After a feeding scene, roll a
void. Fill it with stories. Fill it with Nelapsi’s Humanity. On a failure, the vampire
power. Fill it with blood. But the is considered starving for the purposes of resist-
hole was born in life, and it can ing frenzy (Vampire, p. 104); this does not apply
never be filled in death. to riding the wave. The vampire’s hunger persists
indefinitely until he drinks his Blood Potency in
Vitae. He can spend a Willpower to suppress his
Bloodline Origins appetite for a scene, but he must do so before he
• Plied with enough wine-laced Vitae, suffers any provocations to frenzy. If feeding would
elders of the Nelapsi will reminisce require him to drink more blood than he can store,
on the true death-name of their he vomits up the excess like the Glutton he is.
blood: Upir. They say they were once Disciplines: Majesty, Nightmare, Resilience,
their own clan, ruling entire nations through Vigor
fear and feast, devouring the souls of any
Kindred who dared stray across their borders.
Yet the more they partook of the Amaranth, In the Covenants
the weaker they became… and the hungrier
The Carthian Movement: With the weight
they woke each night. If true, the Nelapsi are
of a curse that requires so much self-control, the
nothing more than the pathetic reflections of a
Nelapsi are a surprisingly easy fit within the rad-
clan consumed by its lust.
ical Movement. A self-motivated Nelapsi, one who
• As neonates begin to outnumber elders who doesn’t need a firm hand to guide her hungers, can be
survived into the modern nights, tales of Nelapsi a merciless party whip, crushing dissent with rumors
ruling entire kingdoms seem increasingly far- and scare tactics before enemies of the people have a
fetched. Few humans would be left on the planet if chance to kill political momentum. Those who require
there were ever a time or place where Nelapsi were more structure gravitate toward Carthian Law: Calm,
many. Instead, most of the bloodline believes the first studious scholars often have the most to hide, and those
Glutton was a Serpent preacher in the 11th century, Nelapsi who excel in wielding collective action stand to gain
traveling from city to city on a pilgrimage through the ultimate support network in the Revolution.
the eastern reaches of the Holy Roman Empire. The The Circle of the Crone: Some Gluttons fear excess,
specifics vary, but the story always ends with the but the Dark Mother doesn’t abide such weakness, and
priest leading his herd astray from the grace of God. Nelapsi in the Circle make sure to live up to their Locust
To hide his crime, he drained them all and left them moniker. Orgies of flesh end with mounds of corpses
in a mass grave off a lost highway. Revenants stirred as they spend their nights draining bodies to the bone,
in the cursed pit, and by the time he’d drunk them lapping up the spatter from each other’s flesh and then
dry as well, the priest too had become different. crafting horror stories of their conquests to seed among
• Not long after the fall of Rome, a Byzantine Prince the chorus and its human cultists. The only thing a Nelapsi
had grown lax in enforcing the Traditions, and the Witch need fear is her own coven, who might decide
Kindred began to overfeed. On the outskirts of the such excess cannot be sustained — or who see false
city, the last survivor of a great banquet was left to idolatry for what it is.

48 Sin Again: Daeva

 The Invictus: Home to the most Nelapsi by far, many of in the woods seem like background radiation. Rural Locusts
the bloodline’s elders are members of significant prestige in sit in the eye of a storm of their own creation, using the twin
Invictus domains, despite their unfortunate reputation. The blessings of Majesty and Nightmare to wreak havoc and keep
covenant’s inter-city travel system allows sires to spread their themselves above reproach.
progeny safely across the world, inflicting them on far-flung “I was brought in to deal with those — well, the news called them
domains yet allowing them to watch these childer from afar. ‘murders.’ They weren’t entirely wrong. Had to chase her down over two
Oaths also grant Nelapsi easy ways to gorge themselves, at weeks and five or six bodies before I caught her sucking on some poor
least so long as they don’t owe their vassals too much blood in bastard’s artery. Like a kid trying to get the last bit of soda through
return. This leads to a significant number of Invictus Gluttons a straw. No known sire. Didn’t even understand what she was. Well,
preferring penultimate positions of power, unwilling to risk not like she’ll ever know now.”
starvation at the top. Some cruel or ignorant Nelapsi Embrace free-range, taking
The Lancea et Sanctum: For ones so utterly cursed, there’s childer in random cities and leaving them alone to make it
tremendous relief in complete surrender to Damnation. Nelapsi through the night. Sometimes the compulsion to create progeny
can sate their appetites with righteous faith, building God’s is too strong to overcome, but for many it’s the alternative to a
own legend as street preachers, traveling mendicants, and prolonged and tedious apprenticeship. If the childe is cunning
even snake-handling conmen. Sanctified Gluttons excel in enough not to be caught, they clearly deserved the gift. And if
telling parables of hellfire and perdition, leaving their flocks they’re hunted down? No skin off their sire’s back. Of course,
awestruck in holy terror, afeared of ever leaving the Lord’s good incidents like these are why many outside the bloodline still
graces (or the vampire’s herd). Some quite literally pretend to call them Locusts, as even a lone Glutton can do irreparable
be demons, gathering sinners into cults and devouring them damage to a community’s blood supply.
in a bloody, holy rite.
The Ordo Dracul: Knowledge hurts. At least, that’s what
Nelapsi Dragons tell the secret societies they build. Instead of Luca
coopting tiny towns or spreading spooky legends, these Defiant
“I’m behind you. Soon, I’ll be ahead of you — beside you. I will be
run self-help groups, fringe religions, and even multi-level mar-
your world.”
keting scams. Each scheme is an exercise in rule-through-fear
and sunk cost fallacies. Their followers won’t dare abandon Preternaturally gifted in backbiting, blackmailing, and
them because they’re in too deep, no matter how many times general bitchy witticisms, Luca’s sire chose him to use his
they have to go under the knife. exceptional — if not unique — talents in her ongoing quest to
become Prince of Toronto. The only problem with this plan, of
course, was that she didn’t consider that such a self-possessed
Rumors childe might use his aptitudes for personal ends. Like, say,
becoming a master in the deadly art of Courtoisie behind
“I hear Laramie got staked and left in the sun, poor bastard. Snacked
her back.
on the Primogen’s boy toy by accident and got burnt to a damn crisp.
All Nelapsi get hyper-protective over their blood dolls. Fucking leeches.” At that point, it was easier to get rid of him than deal with
him on his own terms. Ostensibly, Luca was ejected from
Nelapsi aren’t always this precious about their herds, but it’s
Toronto as the “tough love” portion of his bloodline’s tradi-
a common trend for neonate Gluttons who’ve yet to establish
tional tutelage, but he’s well-aware of the truth behind this
their legends, as well as elders debilitated by loneliness yet
exile. Playing the game means accepting the chance of losing,
fearful of the Embrace’s cost. Like any Daeva, Nelapsi grow
but that doesn’t take the sting out of it.
obsessed with their victims, but for Gluttons, protecting
their beloveds often takes a “salt the earth” approach, like Now a pauper knight in Victoria, an Ordo Dracul cloister
drinking up a poacher’s own herd then hunting down their on Canada’s West Coast, Luca’s slowly clawing his way back
famished enemy. into the status and power he thinks he deserves. Thanks to
his blood’s curse, it’s been an uphill battle. His circumstances
“One night, I was driving out to the boonies — don’t ask why — and I
make it a struggle to keep his Beast in check, and he rages at
wound up in some buttfuck town in the middle of nowhere. Wouldn’t’ve
slights he would’ve laughed off only a year ago. At his low-
minded ’cept for the weird fuckin’ tension in the air. This face ain’t
est point, he briefly frenzied at Elysium, almost getting his
exactly subtle, but every single house I passed had at least two sets of
knighthood revoked.
eyes staring at me. Waitin’ for me to leave.”
But down doesn’t mean out. Like so many Gluttons before
Like their grandsires, many modern Nelapsi still nest in
him, Luca has taken his social stigma in stride. As he plots his
rural areas, those that are too small to sustain a court or
ascent, return, and revenge, he seeds his myth among the kine
coterie but which are perfect for a lone vampire. They fashion
as the Knight Errant, a protector who can be both political
themselves as black sheep around town, rogue elements who
advisor and eerily polite muscle for anyone willing to swear
inexplicably never get run out. They let suspicion and anger
their loyalty to his cause.
root across their lands, allowing fear of the unknown to run
rampant, making all those disappearances around their shack In blood, naturally.

Chapter One: Cousins 49

 Clan: Daeva • The First Lesson: Survival, represented by the Quickened
Bloodline: Nelapsi Hunger and Shadow Heart Merits. This is the most basic
and practical lesson, with elders teaching their childer to use
Covenant: Invictus their prey efficiently in the face of their curse and to escape
Mask: Deviant the wrath of fearful Kindred.
Dirge: Competitor • The Second Lesson: Renown, represented by the Fame,
Touchstone: Cameron is a fellow fencer at the gym Advanced Merit. This lesson isn’t so much taught as discov-
Luca frequents, and one of the first people he met when ered, as the predek allows his student to forge her personal
he moved to Victoria. He desperately wants to be as legend — though how far she needs to spread this myth is
human as he can around her, despite the passion — and up to the mentor.
hunger — she provokes in him.
• The Third Lesson: Domain, represented by the Cursed
Mental Attributes: Intelligence 2, Wits 4, Resolve 2 Fiefdom Devotion. This lesson varies the most between
Physical Attributes: Strength 2, Dexterity 3, Stamina 2 adherents of the new ways and the old. Modernist Gluttons
believe land is only as necessary as it is useful, and they teach
Social Attributes: Presence 3, Manipulation 3, their protégés to incorporate territory into their mythoi on a
Composure 3
case-by-case basis without growing attached to it. Conversely,
Mental Skills: Computer 1, Investigation 2, Politics 2 predkove from the old country teach that domain is the pin-
Physical Skills: Athletics 3, Drive 1, Stealth 1, nacle of a Nelapsi’s legend and Requiem, and that to have
Weaponry (Rapiers) 3 land is to attain true power.
Social Skills: Empathy (Motives) 4, Expression 3, Nelapsi characters aren’t required to learn these traits in
Intimidation 3, Socialize 4, Subterfuge (Doubletalk) 3 order (or at all, in theory), and some predkove teach the first
Merits: Courtoisie 3, Contacts (Spina) 1, Fame 1, Fame two lessons more organically. However, they always pass on
(Advanced) 1, Herd 2, Invictus Status 1, Oath of Fealty, the Lesson of Domain last.
Quickened Hunger, Resources 1, Shadow Heart, Social
Engineering
Fame, Advanced (• to •••)
Disciplines: Majesty 2, Nightmare 1, Resilience 1, Prerequisites: Kindred, Fame (equal level or higher)
Vigor 1
Effect: Your character has a legendary notoriety that shakes
Blood Potency: 1 humanity on a deep, fundamental level. This acts as addi-
Health: 8 tional dots of Fame when dealing with mortals. In addition,
Willpower: 5 determine a reputation for your character and work with the
Storyteller to choose or create a Condition that suits this
Humanity: 6 reputation. When acting in accordance with the reputation,
Size: 5 your character can create that Condition in humans interact-
ing with her. She can do this a number of times in a chapter
Speed: 11
equal to dots in this Merit.
Initiative: 6 Drawback: Hunters and other vampires find your character
Defense: 6 particularly easy to find. The Storyteller adds dots in the Merit
Notes: Courtoisie and Social Engineering can be found to any roll to locate your Feeding Grounds or Herd, or to read
on pp. 187 and 188 of Secrets of the Covenants. the Cacophony for gossip about you.
Luca’s Oath of Fealty is to the eldest Invictus Daeva in
Victoria as a condition of his entry into the city. Quickened Hunger (••)
Prerequisites: Nelapsi, Vigor •
Effect: The Nelapsi are feared for their appetites. Your char-
Bloodline Gift: The Lessons acter can treat Blood Potency as two dots higher than usual for
The Nelapsi pass down their ancient traditions through the purposes of the Feed move. For example, a Blood Potency 3
a rigid mentor–apprentice hierarchy. Each neonate suffers vampire can consume up to five Vitae per turn with the Assault.
through a long period of discipleship under a predek (“ancestor”), This looks deeply unnatural, as the victim’s veins spasm and
usually one’s own sire or a Glutton of great status. The fledgling pulse with every greedy sip.
must learn three canonical lessons from the predek before she Drawback: Mortal victims suffer an additional lethal dam-
can be considered her own master. age from trauma to the circulatory system when using this
Each lesson is embodied mechanically by the Merits and technique.
Devotion below.

50 Sin Again: Daeva

 Duration: One week per dot of Blood Potency, but the effects
Shadow Heart (•) of this Devotion only end when the vampire leaves her territory
Prerequisites: Nelapsi, Resilience • after the duration expires.
Effect: Hushed rumors say two dead hearts molder within Once complete, denizens within the bounds of the Cursed
Nelapsi chests, and this Merit may lend credence to that theory. Fiefdom find their surroundings imbued with the glorious
Assailants suffer a –5 modifier to target your character’s heart allure of Majesty. All residents gain the Delusional Condition,
with a stake rather than a –3. believing they live in perfect harmony and peace despite any
evidence to the contrary, be it scenes of horrific violence or
Cursed Fiefdom macabre scenery. They can resolve this Condition the usual
way or by moving away from the Fiefdom, but this requires
(Majesty •••••, Nightmare ••••) spending a point of Willpower and succeeding on a Resolve +
Like her ancestors in Eastern Europe, a Glutton must make Blood Potency roll, penalized by the vampire’s Majesty dots.
her legend more than just an idea. With this Devotion, the On a failure, each subsequent attempt to leave takes a further
Nelapsi discards the petty pushes and pulls of individuals and cumulative –1 modifier, to a limit of –5.
learns to bring an entire realm under her sway. Interlopers perceive the Fiefdom through the lens of
This Devotion costs 4 Experiences to learn. Nightmare’s otherworldly terror. Any niceties or luxuries are
Cost: 6–12 Vitae and 1 Willpower ignored or forgotten: Unwelcome guests gain the Frightened
Condition if they step foot in the territory, unless they succeed
Requirement: The vampire must spread Vitae around the
on a Composure + Blood Potency roll penalized by the vampire’s
area she wishes to claim, marking gateways, exits, and major
Nightmare dots. Each success grants an hour of time before they
landmarks. Six Vitae can mark a condominium or apartment
must roll again. On an exceptional success, they can remain
building, nine can mark a mansion or large estate, and twelve
for the rest of the night without fear.
can mark a small town or downtown center. This marking can
be spread over multiple nights, but the vampire must spend The Nelapsi can use Majesty and Nightmare powers reflex-
every day asleep in the location until the work is complete. The ively and at any distance while within her Fiefdom.
Vitae is absorbed into the areas marked, becoming invisible to If another vampire resides in this area already, she can
Kindred senses. attempt to lash out and break this effect before it forms, taking
Dice Pool: None any bonus she might have from Feeding Grounds. For this
reason, Nelapsi are careful where they put down roots, or purge
Action: Instant
undesirable Licks from their preferred territories.

Chapter One: Cousins 51

 Star-Crossed The ones who covet you

Photos were insufficient to capture his beauty, or the grace with long enough, these time-trapped bodies transmute their blood
which he moved upon the dance floor. Yet the years peeled him back into a strange substance the Star-Crossed calls Electrum, after
in layers, reducing him to a rotten husk. Eventually, the neighbors the amber tears of the Heliades, who eternally mourned the
complained about the smell, and then the law came knocking. I death of their brother Phaëthon, child of the Sun. Some (most)
fought like a demon to prevent them from taking away what was left Custodians tap their Purities — oh so carefully — for this golden
of my love, but they buried him where I could never find him. sap, bestowing its gifts on any who would consume it. Many
In retrospect, I understand why my sire chose me, even if she came Kindred would pay a pretty price for a vial.
to regret it; I was halfway Star-Crossed already. Crossed in a few However, as much as they would wish it otherwise, nothing
ways, really. lasts forever. Sooner or later, a Custodian can’t keep up the
Even in the Requiem, all I really wanted was him. I took to the maintenance, or her Purity escapes, or she befouls him with
streets looking for someone I could mold into his image, but the nights her Vitae. Then, all that lost time catches up with a vengeance,
slid by in a rabid need that no amount of blood could slake. If I couldn’t reducing the poor mortal to a wasted corpse.
have him, I would sooner tear out my own eyes than look upon another. This loss pushes the Star-Crossed to self-destruction. The
So I did. Now I hunt by touch and sound alone, but I’ve man- loathing that consumes them is as low as their euphoric obses-
aged to find three facsimiles. It takes some getting used to, all their sion was high. Therefore, they find outlets for these emotional
weeping, but I just turn up the gramophone and wait for them — storms. Like Pygmalion, they craft their ideal in marble, or paint
some night — to take up my offer to dance. canvas after canvas to capture each coveted feature. Others
Ah, to love again. hunt for a replacement among humanity’s ranks, and while
they might never find a true doppelgänger, if the eyes are right
Eternity is empty without devotion. And yet, most Daeva
on one, and the mouth on another… the parts might all add
wile away their nights avoiding it, all for fear of getting caught
up to a perfect whole. For the Star-Crossed, solace can only be
on mortal lives the same way they slip hooks through their
found in the spaces between life and death, where corruption
victims. Not all Serpents are willing to give up on happily ever
halts and the night stands still.
after, but it’s the ever part that’s elusive. Their blood aches for
humanity, yet humanity is fragile. The flesh wanes; the mind
fades. Time is the enemy of perfection, and for every vampire Why you want to be us
who thinks she’s found true, eternal love, another is laying his You need not taint those you would pluck from Death’s
soulmate to rest for the third time this century. The Embrace greedy hands: We can show you how to make them into undying
is no solution. Death sours relationships and adds another angels. Forsake the fruitless lust of other Serpents; it leads to
predator to the pack. Ghouls? Slavery isn’t love, and addiction nothing but despair. Instead, we’ll cup your hands around the
is just another layer of removal. most precious embers, fan them to blazing brightness, and then
But the Star-Crossed aren’t content to give up on human you — and you alone — will have been witness to a moment of
affection; it’s the one thing in the Requiem they find worthy true perfection.
of possession or preservation. To keep their own despair at
bay, the Custodians entrap kine who embody qualities they
most admire or lust for, imprisoning them in bizarre time
Why you should fear us
loops so they can bask in a captive’s unchanging state. Night Why do you keep trying to leave? There’s nowhere on earth
after night they maintain this stasis, spending precious Vitae where our love won’t lead us back to you. We would never
to ensure their “Purities” remain uncorrupted. Kept pristine stoop to polluting you as thralls, or pass on our Damnation.

“Time is a river; I am the dam.”

52 Sin Again: Daeva
In our grasp, you’ll always be pristine, incorruptible against them in eternity. It was a blessing to love so purely, a triumph
the ravages of time. You cannot wish to rot! What, to protect perfection from the ravages of cruel time. Now the
you want to return to your “family?” No, we lust for beauty, not blood, drives them on. Even tonight, they
shall not let them tarnish your perfection. seek to share this flawless obsession with their childer.
Don’t weep in your gilded prison, precious
• The Ordo Solis was a secret collective of poets and
one. Freedom is a price worth paying for
artists driven to despair in the Year Without a Summer.
eternity.
Addicted to the pursuit of beauty but unable to find it in
the bleak cold and suffering masses, their desperate desires
Why we should fear ourselves became more and more depraved in an effort to find that
Whatever moron said, “If you love some- spark again. Some began cutting away their own flesh in
one, let them go,” didn’t have to face the hope of feeling once more, preserving their
fucking forever alone. We cling discarded parts in blood and arsenic so they
to our Purities or else our hearts might never wither. However, eventually their
become little more than dead- passions waned so much it froze their hearts.
weight. Without someone When they rose again, the sun denied them
to safeguard and hold for all time, they swore to protect their pas-
dear, we’re forced sions from eternity itself.
to con f ront t he • Once upon a midnight darkly, a beautiful
wretched things young lord wished to age no more. Instead,
we’ve become in his prized portrait would accept the burdens
the name of love, of flesh from his charmed shoulders, reflect-
lo si n g ou r s el ve s ing all his sins as he took his fill of life’s
in the pur poseless pleasures. The man ravaged the world, and
depths. in turn the world ravaged his painting. After
many years and many depravities, smiling
faces wronged in the lord’s past returned to
Bloodline Origins haunt him, though whether they were truth
or delusion is unknown. Nonetheless, he gave
• Custodians call the first of their
commands, and all smiles stopped together.
number Orlando. Whether
He would hold against his past and future to
that was their true name or
protect his obsessions, even if it meant defying
assumed is unclear, though
Time itself. So, the lord resolved to destroy
it fits the bloodline’s milieu
the only true evidence of his crimes. He
for reasons both poetic
wallows in its remains still, a husk among
and egotistic. They say
the fragments of a ruined masterpiece —
Orlando was a mortal
deliriously ever after.
defiant of the Embrace,
clinging to life with a Parent Clan: Daeva
terrible fury. To stave Nicknames: Custodians, Sophists
off the hollow prom- (disrespectful)
ise of the Requiem, Bloodline Bane (The Curse of
they preserved their Self-Reflection): A Star-Crossed
last mortal sunrise obsesses outwardly to avoid the
in their heart, and it awful thing time warps her
burned so brightly soul into. The closer she
that it guided them is to the Beast, the more
through an endless visual representations of
night. Their hold a Custodian resemble a
over this perfect monstrous, distorted parody
moment survived of her form. If a mortal sees a
far beyond death, and facsimile of the vampire (in a mirror,
eventually it changed death a photo, a video, a drawing, etc.), her
altogether. Each mortal love Social actions with that human
they cherished (and there are limited by Humanity
were so many) joined for the rest of the night.

Chapter One: Cousins 53

 This bane does not apply to Touchstones, but it does apply to
Purities (and Purities who are Touchstones).
Disciplines: Celerity, Dominate, Majesty, Resilience
The Lost Visage
Star-Crossed vampires still benefit from the lost
In the Covenants visage, but humans will find distorted images of
them unsettling in a way they can’t quite define.
The Carthian Movement: Constantly upkeeping their However, if a Custodian chooses to drop that
Purities can leave Custodians vulnerable to famine, but they protection, the corpse thing she really is will be
can share that burden with the Revolution’s support. Electrum evident to all.
is a precious resource, and if a Star-Crossed Carthian needs
some extra rations to keep up with the means of production?
Well, her helpful comrade can expect a little kickback in return
for donations. Share and share alike, as they say. More Civic-
minded Sophists become Night Doctors, using raw Electrum Rumors
to aid in their surgeries.
“Ever seen a ‘Purity’ up close? Like the creepiest wax museum you
The Circle of the Crone: Crúac is the perfect outlet for all ever saw. They breathe, they’re warm, and you can hear the blood
the bloodlust Star-Crossed dare not turn upon their wards. pumping through them. You’d almost think it was some kinda fucked
So what if mirrors reveal the ever-growing Beast within? They up buffet, but the Star-Crossed won’t even let you have a sip. I swear
were heading to the devil anyway; might as well enjoy the trip. the poor bastard was looking right at me, like he was just begging for
Custodians among the Mothers Army bridge the old with me to kill him.”
the new. Some sorcerers have even experimented with using
Becoming a Purity doesn’t physically restrict a mortal’s
Electrum in their rites instead of blood, and while they’ve had
movement. However, considering how distressing the accom-
no success so far, some believe it’s only a matter of time before
panying Groundhog Day effect can be on them mentally, many
they come up with an entirely new way of manipulating the
Sophists have taken to administering medications in order
Crone’s gifts — and the fabric of time itself.
to help ease eternity for the long haulers in their collections.
The Invictus: Invictus Custodians are sometimes consid- This can have the effect of making some older Purities seem
ered sellouts by their siblings, but if the First Estate is night’s distant and lethargic, though many Star-Crossed consider this
rightful leader, surely one who commands time should be an desirable, as it prevents runaways. Only the crudest or most
agent of that leadership? Call them performance artists, pop novice Custodian uses physical restraints.
stars, cult leaders; whatever the term, they can inspire (and
“They don’t just stop time. I hear some of them can hit fast forward.
control) their vassals in more emotional, lasting ways than
Make you go from puberty to senility, or some sick shit like that.”
many Serpents. And the fact that their next Purity comes to
them in the guise of a “fan?” That’s the just reward for their Rumor has it that some rare Star-Crossed find beauty in
endeavors. With enough power and influence, they can hush decay, dissolution, and distortion. Rather than trying to
up any whiff of scandal about their followers disappearing. preserve a Purity’s pristine nature, they instead strive to cre-
ate perfect monstrosities, using their abilities to spiral their
The Lancea et Sanctum: Faith is the ultimate Purity. With so
victims through the aging process until their bodies give out
much corruption in the mortal church, Sanctified Sophists strive to
in unique and grotesque ways. If these practices are real, the
preserve the innocence of unquestioning faith. But faith is harder
rest of the bloodline won’t admit it, but they will investigate
to come by in this modern, scientific world, and some Custodians
any rumors of them.
therefore become evangelical, funding church-run education or
even acting as guardians for missionaries. Often caring more for “Wait, aren’t they called Everlasting?”
the totality of their teachings than the substance of their edicts, The Star-Crossed have rivals, of a sort. Sometimes thought
these Daeva seek not absolution in an afterlife they’ll never see, of as non-Kindred vampires, the Everlasting (Night Horrors:
but rather those brief moments of Heaven on Earth. Spilled Blood, p. 128) use a substance called Ichor to produce
The Ordo Dracul: No covenant is more fixated on perfec- similar effects to those of Electrum. Many Custodians believe
tion than the Ordo Dracul, and the Dragon’s Mysteries are an these strange creatures are former Purities from ages past,
excellent way for Sophists to hone the alchemies they apply to somehow corrupted to live beyond the loss of a Vitae source.
Electrum. It’s not enough for them to merely seal their captives in In truth, the Everlasting are far older than any bloodline of
a loop. No, these Dragons seek to extrapolate their time-bending the Damned, let alone the Star-Crossed. If anything, it’s more
gifts to objects, themselves, and even other Kindred. Creating a likely the Everlasting had a hand in spawning the Sophists,
mind that can revert to a time before it was Dominated; slowing but any concrete links have long been devoured by history.
the onset of damage from fire and sunlight; resetting Kindred In any case, little love’s been lost. The two groups often con-
bodies back to “factory settings” before the blood grew thick and flict over particular mortals, and Star-Crossed are known to
the soul grew thin… the possibilities are endless. ransack Everlasting havens to disrupt the routines they rely
on for sustenance.

54 Sin Again: Daeva

 Paint, Contacts (Hollywood, Publishing) 2, Enticing,
Thaddeus Quill Haven 3, Kiss of the Succubus, Resources 5, Safe Place
“The only thing more depressing than a blank page is the phrase 5, Taste, Time’s Ambrosia, When Inspiration Strikes
The End.” Disciplines: Celerity 3, Dominate 4, Majesty 3
You’ve never heard of Thaddeus Quill, and he’s fine with that. Devotions: Conditioning, Summoning
As a ghostwriter, his pen has been behind bestselling novels,
Blood Potency: 2
award-winning scripts, and uplifting political speeches for
decades. He’s always had a knack for sliding into the perspective Health: 7
of his client and disappearing into the role, which is probably Willpower: 5
how he’s managed to survive among mortals undetected for
Humanity: 4
so long — everyone knows writers are weirdos. His work is top-
notch, so who cares if he stares a little too long? He seems to Size: 5
know everyone, and everyone seems to owe him a favor. Speed: 8
Thaddeus consults for Kindred and kine alike behind the Initiative: 5
scenes. He’s saved many fledgling literary efforts from flopping,
and more than a few princes and politicians owe him for some Defense: 3 (Active Defense 6)
truly grandstanding oration. By producing distractions from Notes: Thaddeus has the Dependent Condition toward
real-world issues, Thaddeus knows exactly what his adoring all five of his Purities.
public needs, even when they don’t know what they want. And
no one ever questions those sudden rises in popularity; he
remains content behind the scenes, basking in the knowledge
that all that acclaim is secretly his.
Bloodline Gift: Purification
Thaddeus’s discretion and fastidiousness also ensure his The Star-Crossed have learned to preserve their paramours
gallery remains undisturbed. At last count, he has five Purities in biological stasis, using their force of will and Vitae to assure
on display — not that he lets just anyone see them. Not even his they never fade.
ghoul PA has the code to the room where he sleeps with them Cost: 1 Vitae and 1 Willpower to establish; 1 Vitae per week
each day. They are his muses, a collection of ingénues who to upkeep
came to Hollywood in search of fame and fortune and instead Requirement: The subject cannot have any level of blood
joined a ghostly writer’s permanent collection. Some have been bond to a vampire and must be mortal (e.g., not a ghoul).
tempted by escape, but they all know if they were free of his Duration: Week
spell, after how long he’s kept them to himself , they’d be dust The Star-Crossed anoints her subject’s throat with Vitae,
inside a week. Surely it’s better live on at one’s peak, even as painting an unbroken ring around the neck. She then spends
a fixture in a gallery? After all, Thaddeus Quill takes always a Willpower and anoints his forehead with another daub
care of his possessions. of blood. From that point onward, the new Purity’s body is
Clan: Daeva locked in a 24-hour biological time loop. The subject’s body
always returns to the exact condition at the end of the night,
Bloodline: Star-Crossed
effectively pausing the progress of aging and any diseases. A
Covenant: None Purity heals all wounds she’s acquired at the end of her daily
Mask: Guru cycle, even if she’s killed. A Purity bearing a wound when the
cycle began will regain it at the beginning of each reset if it
Dirge: Perfectionist
healed in the meantime.
Touchstone: The death-mask of his ex-wife. Not even In addition, a Purity’s mental processes are permanently beset
death could part them; she already tried that. by an intense sense of déjà vu. He suffers from a persistent form
Mental Attributes: Intelligence 3, Wits 5, Resolve 3 of the Confused Condition, which cannot be resolved without
Physical Attributes: Strength 1, Dexterity 3, Stamina 2 exiting the loop, becoming a ghoul, or receiving the Embrace.
Purity characters take a Beat whenever this endless mental fog
Social Attributes: Presence 3, Manipulation 4, causes them significant embarrassment.
Composure 2
This effect must be upkept once a week with another anoint-
Mental Skills: Academics 3, Computer 2, Politics ment. Failure to do so will cause all the time the Custodian
(Entertainment) 2 paused to rapidly advance upon their Purity within a few minutes.
Physical Skills: Larceny 1, Stealth 2, Survival 1 A vampire can have a number of Purities equal to Blood
Social Skills: Empathy 2, Expression (Writing) 5, Potency, but any she has the Dependent Condition toward do
Persuasion 4, Socialize 3, Subterfuge (Empty Promises) 3 not count against this limit.
Merits: Cacophony Savvy 3, City Status 2, Carmine Feeding on vampire blood ends this effect.

Chapter One: Cousins 55

 which remains viable for a week as long as it remains in an
Electrum airtight vessel. This substance fuel rituals, Disciplines, and
A Purity’s blood turns into a golden substance called Electrum Devotions, but it loses its addictive and blood bonding qual-
after her first week in the loop. Harvesting this material requires ities, and it cannot be used as sustenance. To use Carmine
bleeding a Purity for a level of lethal damage per point. These Paint, the user must break the seal and consume it as they
injuries are an exception to the time loop effect, heal in the usual activate a power. Once opened, contents of the jar only last
amount of time, and can kill a Purity permanently. As Purities the rest of the scene.
no longer have blood, they cannot serve as sources of Vitae.
Unprepared, Electrum lasts for (Blood Potency + 1) nights.
After that, it hardens into a useless brown resin.
Halcyon Days (••••)
Raw Electrum has the following effects: Prerequisite: Star-Crossed
• Consumed by a human, each point heals three levels of Effect: Your character knows how to extract the metaphysical
bashing or two levels of lethal damage, starting with the purity of Electrum. By reducing five points on a low simmer
most severe. Three points of Electrum heals a single point for 24-hours, she can create a potion that restores one dot of
of aggravated damage. Ghouls and vampires can access this Humanity to the imbiber for a single the night. A character
effect by applying the substance directly to their wounds. cannot benefit from this effect more than once at a time.

• Consumed by a ghoul, it grants an extra week before she

must spend Vitae to renew her immortality. Time’s Ambrosia (•••)
Prerequisite: Star-Crossed
• Consumed by a vampire, it resets her appearance to the
night she was Embraced (with the exception of any changes Effect: Your character knows how to process Electrum into
incurred due to a clan or bloodline bane), undoing any an even purer form to help restore mental vitality. By curing the
permanent cosmetic changes made in daysleep, such as cut substance in a glass vial for an hour, she can create an elixir that
hair, tattoos, or piercings. This even clears scars from fire restores a point of spent Willpower for every two Electrum used.
and sunlight. Drawback: This substance quickly loses potency and must
be consumed before the end of the night.

New Merits When Inspiration Strikes (•)

The Star-Crossed have many alchemical methods of refining
Prerequisite: Star-Crossed
Electrum. The following are the most common preparations.
Effect: Your character knows how to process Electrum for a
more subtle stasis effect. If she prepares then freezes Electrum
Carmine Paint (••) and consumes it as the sun rises within the same 24-hour
Prerequisite: Star-Crossed period, she gains a bonus equal to points used on her Stamina
Effect: By mixing Vitae with an equal amount of Electrum, + Resolve roll, and does not take the Lethargic Condition if she
your character can create a substance called Carmine Paint. succeeds. If she exceptionally succeeds, she gains the Steadfast
Effectively, this is a stable but dilute form of vampire blood, Condition. She can also offer this effect to others.

56 Sin Again: Daeva

 Xiao
The ones who drain you

Emotion is weakness. It’s a honeytrap that lures you in then their state of detachment is superior, that doesn’t mean they
drowns you before you realize you’ve been caught. Other Daeva should be denied all feeling, all the time. Over the decades,
claim to have conquered their hearts, but they’re liars. They Xiao Jun Jie learned to experience emotions again by taking
may have discarded some of their softer feelings, but envy, spite, them from others, developing this practice into what the
and rage can betray you just as easily as love or compassion. Ascended call Kingjan. When a Parasite feeds, she can use
Only the Xiao are strong. Only the Xiao can wield emotion as Kingjan to drain her victim of feeling, lapping up fear and
a blade without being cut. And only they can teach you this joy along with the blood. Xiao savor these stolen emotions
strength; all you must do is submit. like a sommelier sipping rare vintages, or a chronic case expe-
The Xiao are also liars. It’s true their emotions are pale riencing a potent high. The feelings they steal allow them to
shadows compared to those of even other Kindred, but it’s briefly remember what it was to be human and experience raw
not a special technique or a twelve-step to a better you. The emotion again… until the effect wears off, and they return to
Parasites’ icy hearts are just a curse they market as a higher their usual coldness.
state of consciousness, Zen mindfulness, or whatever else gets This makes the Ascended hypocrites of the highest order,
people through the door on recruitment night. but most are content to let the free-flowing blood and money
The Parasites operate within the Sect, a predatory cult founded soothe over that little moral quandary. Most, but not all. Some
by Xiao Jun Jie, a Kindred con man who immigrated to California new Xiao, after they’ve paid their last dollar and been chosen
from China in the mid-19th century. Like many cults, the Sect for Ascension, are horrified at the true face of the Sect. They’re
preys on lonely, desperate, and burnt-out people, offering all disgusted by the lies and hedonism at the heart of this thing
manner of solutions to their woes. In the Sect’s case, they claim that was supposed to give their deaths purpose, and they break
the problem is emotion — too much of it. Let go of desire and away. Called Apostates by the rest of the bloodline, these inde-
disappointment, and one can live a contented life. Certainly the pendent Xiao are a varied bunch, finding their own way through
“Ascended” members who attend the cult’s free seminars seem their numb Requiems. Often loners, Apostates are ruthless
content. Vampires all, they radiant confidence and power, and by both nature and necessity, with a reputation for taking on
would love to see you again at the next meeting. All you have to tasks that even other Kindred balk at, their dull hearts making
do is sign up for the six-week course; don’t worry about the fine them inured to the wails of victims. Absent the resources of the
print, just fill in your credit card number right here… Sect, Apostates have invented their own techniques in order
The Sect’s upper membership is entirely Kindred, with access to survive, and they turn what should be their weakness into
to a variety of ways to twist the emotions of others. As such, the a hideous strength.
cult is hideously efficient at draining its lower ranks of time, Naturally, these two groups of Xiao despise each other, and
money, and life. Parasites keep up their helpful façade as long as when they meet, it almost always results in violence. It doesn’t
possible, offering housing in Sect-owned properties once their help that most other Kindred can’t tell them apart, which
members can no longer afford rent, and giving them work in the aggravates both Ascended and Apostates all the more.
cult when they can’t hold down a job anymore. The ultimate fate
of most human cultists is to become smiling, vacant-eyed blood Why you want to be us
dolls who are so emotionally and physically addicted to the lead- We’re always in control. Let others snivel about fairness and
ership that they barely remember the lives they’ve left behind. feelings; we don’t have time to listen. Justice is for people too
The Sect brings in both money and blood, but it also weak to take what they want, and emotion should never get
attracts another thing the Xiao desire: emotion. While most in the way of what’s important. Join us, and no one will ever
Parasites have drunk the Vitae Kool-Aid enough to believe hurt you again.

“Don’t hold back.”

Chapter One: Cousins 57
 struck the deal, however, because when the smiling, bright-
Why you should fear us eyed thing that clasped his hand that night said it would strip
We are strong and you are weak — it’s as emotion from the blood as payment, it wasn’t just talking
simple as that. Posture all you like, but we can about his. That entity is still around, still keeping an eye on
reach into your quivering heart and shape the Xiao and their Sect, looking after its investment. It
it into whatever strikes our fancy. We’ll even shows up to seminars from time to time.
break you down, build you up, then discard
you in the gutter as soon as you can’t live • Once upon a midnight darkly, there was a white snake
without us. We’ll destroy everything about who longed to be human. She would watch them playing
you and never feel a pang of regret. on the bridge above the pond in which she
dwelled, wondering at all the things they
did. Eventually, she learned to imi-
Why we should fear ourselves tate them so well that she could
We’re hollow. We sleep on piles take human form, turning
of money surrounded by beautiful herself into a beautiful
bodies and feel nothing. Nothing woman in order to draw
except the sips and nips we take a mortal man close with
from others, and those just taunt promises of love. Once
us with what we’ve lost. We have she had, the white snake
to pretend we love what we are, returned to her true form,
because otherwise the only and attempted to devour the
thing left to fill the void in our man so that she might truly
souls is the Beast… and it feels become human, but she choked
everything. on his heart, and they both perished.
The white snake became a spirit, and it
haunts the pond still, luring mortals to
Bloodline Origins her and hoping the next soul she eats
will finally let her become what she
• Xiao Jun Jie fled the bloody Taiping most desires — desperately every after.
Rebellion for America in the mid-
1800s, hitching a ride on one of many Parent Clan: Daeva
ships packed full of immigrants hoping Nicknames: Ascended (within the Sect)
to strike it rich on California’s Gold Apostates (outside the Sect), Parasites,
Mountain. Xiao did indeed make his California Xiao
fortune, but not by grubbing in the Bloodline Bane (The Detached Curse):
dirt for shiny rocks. The cold-blooded Even for vampires, the Xiao have a difficult
Serpent brought several of his beau- relationship with human emotions. All mun-
tiful thralls from across the water, dane Empathy and Socialize rolls to relate to
and he was responsible for creating humans are treated as if the vampire were two
some of the first Chinatown broth- Humanity dots lower than usual, and treat any
els in North America. What began failures on these rolls as dramatic, even when
as a cynical façade of mysticism to not trying to specifically relate to a mortal. This
obscure illicit practices soon grew into bane does not apply to ghouls or Touchstones.
a full-fledged cult, and the Sect was born. Disciplines: Celerity, Majesty, Nightmare, Vigor
When Kindred segregation mirrored that
of the mortals, no one bothered to enforce the
Traditions in the Chinese slums, so Xiao was free
to Embrace as he saw fit. By the time both human and
In the Covenants
vampire societies integrated, there were too many of his Ascended and Apostates have different
line to cull, and they continue to spread across California. approaches to the covenants. For the Sect,
outside political membership is a transac-
• Xiao Jun Jie didn’t start his Requiem a sociopath. Why
tional affair, and they’ll cut ties the moment
develop an entire practice to regain something you never had
that membership is no longer advantageous.
in the first place? No, Xiao bargained away his emotions
For Apostates, the covenants can be a
in order to escape the many, many enemies he’d made for
badly needed refuge, though they
himself back in China, and to survive the perilous
also prepare to cut and run with
journey to America with his mind and harem intact.
little notice.
Xiao should have paid more attention when he

58 Sin Again: Daeva

 The Carthian Movement: As a rule, Ascended Xiao despise
the Firebrands, as they prefer their power structures nice and Rumors
static — with themselves on top, of course. Apostates, on the “Don’t screw around with Parasites. They’re all dead inside, totally
other hand, tend to flock to the Movement. While they have flatlined, so all our tricks just slide off. Can’t make someone fall for
difficulty relating to the anger and outrage that fuels their you if they can’t feel love, right?”
comrades, they absolutely agree that some Kindred hierarchies This is two different exaggerations merged into one. First,
need to be burned to ash. Such Apostates usually become while the Xiao’s emotions are dulled, they’re not wholly
fearsome enforcers, dispatching the Movement’s foes with absent, and (for better or worse) they relate to other Kindred
the raw physical and emotional power granted to them by just fine. They’re also not immune to the various ways vam-
their lineage. pires can alter emotions, though the Apostates have invented
The Circle of the Crone: Xiao of both types occasionally some formidable defenses in that regard. Both sets of Xiao
find their ways to the Mother’s Army, hoping its ecstatic rites encourage such rumors, however, either from a desire to seem
will let them feel something beyond their own muted emotions. untouchable, or to make other Kindred think twice before
Ascended who join often see the Mother’s Army as a fast-track taking a shot at them.
to greatness, their background with the Sect lending them “The Sect? Oh yes, they used to ply their trade here in Victoria,
insight into the world of cults and mysticism. Sometimes, they’re luring in the gullible and small-minded. Until they didn’t. Are you not
even right, but more often they’re in for a rude surprise with informed? You should really read that report from Dr. Helms about
the challenges of existing in a cult that doesn’t revolve around what he found in their little clubhouse after they disappeared. Their
them. Apostates are more wary of the Circle, often seeing it as leader’s corpse was hanging from the ceiling, thorny vines growing
just another hedonistic pyramid scheme, no different from the out of every orifice, with ‘Poacher’ carved into her chest. Ghastly
one they escaped. stuff. You can still see the remains if you like; we have it on display in
The Invictus: In perhaps a predicable split, Ascended subbasement three — here, I’ll lend you my clearance.”
Xiao find the First Estate quite comfortable, while Apostates True, and it’s not the first time a branch of the cult was
avoid it like high noon at the beach. Sect members make very wiped out under similar circumstances. Ascended Xiao lure in
capable — if detached — enforcers and interrogators, able to mortals and drain them of emotions, a state that can leave the
alternately charm or terrify their marks into surrendering victim essentially dead inside for days or weeks. Many creatures
whatever the Invictus requires of them. Xiao loyal to their that share the night with Kindred prey upon human emotion,
line also tend to be steeped in money and Oaths from eager and most react very poorly to a bunch of sociopathic cadavers
initiates hoping to buy enlightenment. The Conspiracy of messing with their food supply.
Silence may even be looking into optioning some of the Sect’s
“Seminars? What the hell are you talking about? The only Xiao
seminars into national tours.
I ever ran into was out in New York. Some sort of monk from Hong
The Lancea et Sanctum: It’s not unusual for Apostates to Kong, and chillest Lick I ever met. Who the fuck did you meet?”
turn to the Sanctified after fleeing the Sect. These lost souls
The name Xiao sometimes crops up with no connection to
often still crave order and structure in their Requiems, and the
the Sect or the Apostates, referring to a group of monastics
Dark Father’s promise of a place in God’s hierarchy can be very
and scholars out of China. Are these other Xiao a branch
appealing. They’re generally welcomed with open arms, as the
Jun Jie abandoned when he fled to America? Or did he steal
Apostates’ ability to weather the influences of other Kindred
their gifts like he stole so many mortal emotions? The Sirens
make them valuable wardens and messengers. In contrast, most
claim to date back to the Qing Dynasty, and they treat these
Ascended have no time for the Lancea et Sanctum, having no
California Xiao with haughty disdain. In particular, they seem
interest in a religion where they aren’t the object of worship.
to relish exposing the Sect’s “motivational techniques” for the
The Ordo Dracul: This is the only covenant Xiao Jun bullshit they are, disrupting their seminars and driving away
Jie actively banned his childer from joining, right before he clients. They don’t answer questions about their connection
went into torpor following World War II. Of course, that to the Ascended, and with Jun Jie still in torpor, an answer for
doesn’t mean they listened. With a naturally clinical mindset, why there are two bloodlines bearing the same name doesn’t
Parasites make for insightful Dragons. Sentiment can often get seem forthcoming.
in the way of necessary progress, but Xiao have little trouble
tuning out the muffled screams while they search for answers
in the flesh. Ascended most often join out of curiosity — their
famously permissive founder must have had an “interesting”
Master Quinn
reason to blackball the covenant, after all. Apostates seek out “Fear, doubt, grief… none of these exist here. Just surrender, and
the Defiant more out of desperation, hoping to find a way I’ll take all your pain away.”
to break through the numbness in their hearts. They often “Master” Quinn is the leader of the San Francisco branch of
find the secular nature of the covenant comforting, and while the Sect, and he’s seen as an ideal model of Ascended behavior.
the Defiant are often no less cruel than Sect leaders, here the Quinn joined the cult as a mortal in the 1980s, eventually
cruelty has a point beyond banal mysticism and ego stroking. becoming so enmeshed within it that he gave the Sect every-

Chapter One: Cousins 59

 seeing her just to learn more about psychology, but was
unexpectedly charmed by the young woman’s earnest
desire to help (6); a novelty plastic coin, a token of
rank he was given by the Sect in exchange for his life’s
Story Seed: Those Other Xiao savings — it reminds of him of his humble origins and
Two Daeva bloodlines share the name Xiao:
California and Tianpàn. Bloodlines: The Chosen how far he’s come since then (5).
presents this as a fluke, another obscurity in the Mental Attributes: Intelligence 3, Wits 2, Resolve 3
already murky world of Kindred bloodlines, but
perhaps these two lineages do share some history as Physical Attributes: Strength 2, Dexterity 3, Stamina 3
the rumor above suggests. Maybe Xiao Jun Jie broke Social Attributes: Presence 3, Manipulation 4,
away from his emotional masters, trying to tamp
down on his curse but going too far in the other
Composure 4
direction. Intriguingly, many Sirens are students of Mental Skills: Academics 1, Investigation 1, Medicine
the Ordo Dracul, the only covenant Jun Jie forbade (Psychology) 2, Occult (Chinese Mythology) 2, Politics 2
his childer from joining. What does he fear they
might find in the Dragons’ vast archives? Physical Skills: Athletics 4, Brawl 3, Stealth 1,
For Second Edition mechanics for the Tianpàn Weaponry (Concealed Blades) 1
Xiao, see Bloodlines: The Resurrected.
Social Skills: Empathy 3, Expression (Motivational
Speaking) 2, Persuasion 3, Socialize 2, Streetwise 1,
Subterfuge (I Really Get You) 4
Merits: Allies (Cultists) 5, Can’t Bullshit a Bullshitter,
thing, even his name. For his loyalty, Quinn was rewarded with Contacts (Chinatown, City Hall, Police) 3, Dead Sexy,
the Embrace, and rose rapidly through the bloodline’s hierarchy. Enticing, Enticing (Advanced), Haven 3, Herd 5, Kingjan
It’s an open secret that Quinn’s sire sent him to found a new 5, Mystery Cult Initiation (The Sect) 5, Resources 3,
branch in NorCal in order to deal with a problem she failed to Retainer 4, Safe Place 2, Staff 3, Striking Looks 1,
address herself: driving out a nest of arachnoid shape-shifters Touchstone 1
that infest the domain’s Chinatown and are interfering with Disciplines: Celerity 2, Majesty 3, Nightmare 3, Vigor 2
Sect operations. If Quinn knows he’s being set up to fail (or
to have his sire take credit for his success), he doesn’t seem to
Devotions: Wet Dream
resent it. Blood Potency: 3
A zealous follower of Jun Jie’s teachings, Quinn genuinely Health: 8
believes the Ascended are the pinnacle of Clan Daeva. To that
Willpower: 7
end, he specializes in breaking in — and breaking down — new
recruits. Anyone who gets past the initial free seminar and Humanity: 5
pays the fees for more personal instruction meets with Quinn. Size: 5
During intense, hours-long sessions, Quinn calls up his client’s
Speed: 12
deepest fears and desires. When they’re so full of lust, fear, and
shame that they can’t bear it anymore, he drains it all away Initiative: 7
with Kingjan. After this intense emotional and physical high, Defense: 6 (Active Defense 8)
followed by a blissful purging, most clients are all too eager
to visit him again. That’s the catch, though. The first session
Notes: Quinn suffers the Invitation Bane, but he no
longer experiences breaking points for accidental killing.
is easy to arrange, but further attention from Master Quinn At any given time, he has the Dependent Condition to at
only comes to those who prove themselves to the Sect through least three different senior cultists.
sacrifice and devotion.
The only problem is that Quinn is getting bored. After
decades twisting humans into whatever he wants them to be,
it’s become routine. Lately, he’s been thinking maybe another
New Merits
vampire might provide more of a challenge. Or perhaps one of Created from a potent brew of narcissism and desperation,
those strange spider-people he’s been sent to remove… Kingjan is Xiao Jun Jie’s answer to the curse that flows through
his veins. Kingjan requires a certain hypocrisy and arrogance
Clan: Daeva
that neatly sums up the Xiao; that is, to consider oneself above
Bloodline: Xiao the thing one constantly takes from others. If the Ascended
Covenant: None understand the irony, they don’t acknowledge it aloud.
Apostates, on the other hand, are all too aware.
Mask: Cult Leader
In addition, mortal and Kindred members of the Sect can
Dirge: Guru purchase Mystery Cult Initiation (Vampire¸ p. 121) in their
Touchstones: Patricia Wong, his therapist. He started organization; see below.

60 Sin Again: Daeva

Kingjan (• to •••••) Mystery Cult Initiation: The Sect (• to •••••)
Prerequisites: Xiao, Mystery Cult Initiation (The Sect) •, Effect: Mostly active along the West Coast of North America,
Majesty or Nightmare •• the functionally-named Sect has existed since the mid-1800s,
Effect: Kingjan drains away human emotion as a Xiao feeds, and it’s made its vampire masters rich off the sacrifices of its
delivering potent highs to vampire and victim alike. It never mortal dupes. As such, the benefits for joining are sometimes
lasts long, though. The stolen feelings inevitably fade away, and different between human and Kindred members.
the crash leaves the Ascended wanting more. • Both gain a Psychology Specialty in Academics or
Your character can only use Kingjan while feeding upon a Medicine.
mortal or ghoul experiencing strong emotions. Whether these •• Kindred gain a dot of Resources. Humans gain a dot
are natural or induced by supernatural means doesn’t matter. of Safe Place.
At least one point of Vitae must be taken, but some effects
require more, as noted below. Your character can pick and ••• Both gain a dot of Persuasion.
choose which level or levels of Kingjan to apply in a feeding. •••• Kindred gain three dots of Staff. Humans gain three
Thief of Smiles (•): The basic use of Kingjan is akin to a dots of Mentor.
smash-and-grab mugging, as your character crudely drains ••••• Kindred gain a four-dot ghoul Retainer. Humans who
away a victim’s feelings to experience them for himself. Once achieve this level are made into ghouls, gaining an addi-
a night, he can gain the Inspired Condition from a feeding tional dot in Majesty or Nightmare. These characters
victim through a sudden explosion of emotion. Drawbacks: automatically join the Xiao bloodline upon Embrace.
Unless he spends a Willpower, he also gains the Intoxicated
Condition; resolving it does not grant a Beat. He cannot use
this effect again until both Conditions are resolved.
Gardener Plucks the Flowers (••): The intimate connection
New Devotions
created with Kingjan allows your character to learn hidden Apostates rarely receive any training in Kingjan, as its very
truths about his victim. By spending a Willpower, for every existence disgusts them. Rather than smother or deny their
point of Vitae he consumes from a vessel, he learns one of the curse, these Xiao are forced to accept it, and in this acceptance,
following: If they’re under the effect of a blood bond, from they’ve found a power that’s all their own. Instruction in the
whom that bond originates, how strong it is, if the victim Heart’s Echoes is slapdash and inconsistent, as the Apostates
is under the effects of an emotion-based Condition (Guilty, have little organization to speak of. Something in their blood
Spooked, Swooning, etc.), and the origin of that Condition. seems to drive them to seek out instruction, though, and
Tolled Bell’s Echo (•••): To use this effect, the victim would-be students of the Echoes often encounter prospective
must possess either the Charmed or Frightened Condition. teachers through odd coincidences and twists of fate.
Your character receives insight from the victim’s extreme
emotional state to enhance his own abilities: For the rest of Ripples in Still Water
the night, he gains the 9-again quality to dice pools involving
Majesty if the victim possessed the Charmed Condition, or (Majesty •, Nightmare •)
Nightmare if the victim possessed the Frightened Condition. Existing with dulled emotions means any sudden flair of
After being fed on in this manner, the victim ends Charmed feeling is inherently suspicious, and this Devotion allows Xiao
or Frightened and gains the Inspired. Drawback: Your char- to identify who is trying to manipulate them.
acter can only enhance Majesty or Nightmare in this way each This Devotion is free for Apostates if they meet prerequisites.
night, not both.
Cost: 1 Vitae
Parched Throat Drains the Well (••••): If your character
drains at least three points of Vitae from a victim, he can trans- Dice Pool: None
fer an emotion-based Condition (Guilty, Spooked, Swooned, Action: Instant
etc.) from the victim to himself. No matter the nature of the Duration: Scene
Condition, feeling such a strong emotion also refreshes a point The vampire gains a heightened awareness of her own emo-
of spent Willpower for your character. tional state. Whenever she resists a supernatural power meant
Kiss of Oblivion (•••••): To use this effect, your character to manipulate her emotions (Majesty, Nightmare, etc.), if she
must inflict lethal damage in the victim’s last Health box via fails the contested action but achieves at least one success on
feeding. If he does, the effects of the Detached Curse are the roll, she becomes aware that she’s being manipulated. If she
suppressed for the rest of the night. Drawback: Roll Resolve + wins the contested action to resist, she also becomes aware of
Composure after feeding with Kiss of Oblivion. On a failure, the source of the influence if it wouldn’t normally be obvious.
your character gains the Addicted Condition with regard to Note that this knowledge does nothing to counter the effects
using this technique. If she goes more than (Resolve) nights of a power, but it may grant some leeway in how the vampire
without using it again, she becomes Deprived. reacts to it.

Chapter One: Cousins 61

 Silence of Depths
(Celerity ••, Majesty •• or Nightmare ••)
By embracing the coldness in her soul, the Xiao can use it Two Sides of a Bloody Coin
like armor against emotional attack, giving the impression she Nothing prevents Apostates from learning
Kingjan or Ascended from learning the Heart’s
has no feelings to manipulate at all. Echoes. In theory, a single Xiao character could
This Devotion costs 2 Experiences to learn. have both. However, Storytellers are encouraged to
Cost: 1 Vitae keep in mind the raw hatred and deep philosophical
differences between the two groups. Careful
Dice Pool: None thought should be given to the circumstances that
Action: Reflexive would lead to any character possessing both sets of
Xiao powers. That said, a character from one side
Whenever the vampire is the victim of a supernatural power attempting to gain knowledge of the other could
that would alter her emotional state, she can activate this be an excellent focus for a story in and of itself.
Devotion to add Majesty or Nightmare to the resistance roll,
assuming she’s aware of the attempt. Alternatively, she can add
this Discipline as a bonus to lashing out to break effects like
Awe or Dread Presence.
Requirement: The vampire must successfully resist an effect
with Silence of Depths.
Drowned in the Abyss Dice Pool: None
(Majesty •••, Nightmare •••) Action: None
The Xiao can use the emptiness of her heart as an echo The effect is the same as Silence of Depths, except that if the
chamber, reflecting attempts to influence her back upon her Xiao wins the contested roll to resist, she reflects the power
would-be manipulator. back upon the aggressor. The originating character is subject
This Devotion costs 2 Experiences to learn, and the vampire to all the effects of a regular success of whatever power they
must know Silence of Depths. were attempting to use on the Xiao, with her as the focus of
any Conditions such as Charmed or Frightened.
Cost: 1 Willpower

62 Sin Again: Daeva

 Part Three: Dreams
It took less than a minute for Darcy to get Sadie in his car, a midnight blue 1977 Ferrari 308. When
he’d struck it big as a model, he bought two things: the car, and a brick of Columbian cocaine. He
still had the car, and he’d kept it in as pristine a condition as time would allow.
Traffic had miraculously cleared up in the half hour since he arrived, and he and Sadie tore out
into the late-night streets of Chicago with a screech. Behind them, a very angry vampire watched
as the car’s tail lights faded into the distance.
While Darcy took the long way north, his passenger kept her eyes on the void that was Lake
Michigan to the east. His stereo was playing “Sultans of Swing” at a low volume, and although
barely a foot separated them, the gulf was felt with miles of silence. Darcy hooked a finger into the
collar of his shirt, only to realize its first two buttons were already undone. Then why did it feel
like he was choking? It wasn’t like breathing was a concern. He cleared his throat, but before he
could speak, her words killed his own in the cradle.
“Where we going?”
He flicked his eyes to the right and discovered her scrutinizing him with such intensity that his
pores shuddered. He set his sights back on the highway. Lake Michigan devoured all the light to
their right, but behind them the city beckoned. Safe. Bright. Full of possibilities and blood.
“Robert?”
He kept his eyes on the road. “Don’t know. Maybe my place?”
“Just ‘maybe?’ You called me a cow, got into a bar fight, lured me away from a perfectly fine Southern
gentleman, then convinced me to get in your car. Are you on drugs drugs?? Did you drug me?”
“What? No. How would I have—”
“You could at least tell me where you’re taking me to murder me.”
Darcy’s eyes went wide. He opened his mouth, but couldn’t even manage a stammer before he
was cut off by her laugh. She had a witch’s cackle.
“I’m kidding. Unless…” She laughed again. “No, I’m not getting that vibe off you. You’re one of
those nice guys.”
“I remember when nice was a good thing.”
“Bullshit. Those guys treat common courtesy like a sex token. My pussy’s not a slot machine.”
“Good to know. Think you can walk from here?”
“Funny too! Well, that’s better than nice, but try it and I’ll carjack you. I took Krav Maga at the Y.”
“Shit, I should just give you the keys now.”
They laughed, and the next silence was a comfortable one. As the final chords of the song began
to trail off, Darcy noticed he was being watched again. She eyed him with a suspicious gleam.
“He wasn’t my boyfriend. And he wasn’t that bad. For a Southern gentleman type.”
“Gentleman
Gentleman.”.” Darcy made a meal of the word. “You have a strange definition of ‘gentlemen.’”
She shrugged. “We only met tonight, but I felt like there was something there. And then... it
faded. Poof.”

64 Sin Again: Daeva

 “Because I showed up.” He turned to her, and a passing car’s lights illuminated his smile. Flawless
timing. “I have a way of making people like me.”
“Who are you, Mister Darcy? Not the club type. Rich…” She ran her fingertips along the Ferrari’s
dashboard. “You’d think you wouldn’t have to try so hard, but the way you’re dressed... I don’t want
to be that girl, but you’re just begging for it.”
“What am I begging for?”
When she spoke again, her voice was small, and it left him feeling the same. “You have lonely eyes.”
Darcy had endured hundreds of Elysium gatherings, and thousands of verbal duels with monsters,
and yet this comment cut him with the precision of a scalpel.
“Life is loneliness,” he said with more venom than intended. “Not even death shows up when
you want it to.”
“Is that what you want?”
A third, longer silence overtook the car and stretched on for miles. Above, the sky threatened a
downpour, but Darcy wasn’t quite uncomfortable enough to resort to talking about the weather.
“So, uh… what do you do? You from Chicago?”
She ignored him and prodded the stereo. “Do you have anything besides dad rock?”
“Dad rock?”
rock?”
“Yeah, like this. The Steve Miller Band isn’t really my jam. Where’s the aux cable?”
“I don’t know what that is.”
“Of course you don’t.” She pointed to the digital readout. “It says ‘disk.’ So where’s the CD player?”
“It’s in the trunk.”
“The trunk?”
“There’s a twenty-CD changer in there. Installed back in…”
“Back in, what, the stone age? Jesus, Rob.”
Rob.
“It came that way.” A lie. “Besides, this car is a classic. Why change it?”
“Classic can be so fucking dull. What else do you have back there?” She began to cycle through
tracks, then disks. The pause as each CD loaded was agonizing, and after rejecting 10cc, Bill Withers,
and CSNY, she was cackling at the awkward suspense.
Another name finally popped up on the readout. “Something I know!” she squealed, and began
to swaying as Fleetwood Mac’s “Dreams” filled the car.
“Big Stevie Nicks fan, are you?” he said.
“Oh, hell yes. Love this one. Listen to it every time I’m vibing out with my cranberry juice.”
“I think I actually understood that one.”
“He’s learning! But seriously, I love this song. It’s so sad, but also so… freeing, you know?”
Darcy paused, but by the time he replied, “Yeah,” he knew he’d taken too long.
She studied his expression. “You’ll get over them. Whoever they were.”
“Sure,” he whispered.

Last Night 65
 “You just need a little help.” She pointed to a spot at the side of the road ahead of them. “Pull
over. Right up there.”
“By the trees?”
She leaned in for a breathy “Yes”
“Yes” in his ear, and her voice was like steam on his flesh. He did
as she asked and pulled to the side of the road. The car’s engine idled in the dark, its headlights
illuminating a gnarled old elm tree. Above them, the rain gently fell into its green canopy.
“You said you were good at making people like you.” She laid a hand on his thigh. “Make me like
you, Rob. Like you did at the club.”
Her eyes were bright and hungry in the dim light of the car. He’d seen and felt that look so many
times over the decades, but once again the vanilla and cherry overwhelmed him. His very blood
shivered, and he reached out to her with every drop of its allure, willing her to bend beneath the
weight of his supernatural presence, wanting nothing more than to drown her soul in his.
Her eyes shimmered and softened; she leaned in closer. “Yes. Like that. I do like you, Rob.”
“I like you too, Sadie…”
“You’re funny. And handsome. A real gentleman .” She unclicked her seatbelt and swung her leg
gentleman.”
over to straddle his lap, pressing her hand to his chest. Her skirt rode up as she leaned back against
the steering wheel. “I like gentlemen.”
Darcy tried to move, but the car was pressing their bodies too tightly together. “My place isn’t
far. Let’s go—”
She pressed a finger to his lips. “You don’t always have to be in control.” She leaned in again.
“Let go for a while.”
With one hand, she unbuckled his belt and slid it clear of his pants.
“What are you doing…”
She snorted at that, then kissed him. Her mouth tasted of cranberry vodka and juniper.
Unprompted, his fangs threatened to descend; he bit into her lip gently, but when her moan turned
into a yelp, he knew he’d nicked her. She pulled back, a thin trail of blood painting her pink lips
crimson, and he felt the Beast rise alongside his arousal. He hadn’t been able to taste her before
she’d pulled back. Now he needed to.
But before he could, she wrapped her arms around him and pulled his belt around the headrest.
She licked his lips, and he gasped as she pulled the belt taut. The leather slid between his teeth
like a gag as she looped it around in a knot. She clucked her tongue. “No biting.”
A shock ran through him. Does she know? He tried to wrestle his thoughts into alignment, but
each touch shattered them like a hammer on glass. Her hands slid down his chest, and with a quick
twist of her wrist, tore his shirt open.
She licked his ear. “Oops. Send me the bill.”
Whatever retort he’d intended to say through a mouthful of leather never left his throat, as her
hands traced down his stomach and onto his slacks. Her fingertips danced along the outline of his
cock, and he stiffened — without aid, to his amazement. The blush must have still—
She pulled him free of his pants. “Don’t worry. I’m in control.”
She shifted her weight and slid down on him, and as she did the rest of the world faded. She
pulled her dress down and, having denied the use of his mouth, drew his hands up to kneed her

66 Sin Again: Daeva

breasts. She rolled her hips, burying him within her again and again. With each motion, Darcy
felt the mounting pressure at his stomach and spine build. He wanted to bite through the belt and
into her throat. He wanted to bury his fangs into her pale breasts and suck the life straight from
her heart. He wanted to consume every drop of her from every place imaginable.
He wanted everything and more, but what he wanted most of all was for her to never stop.
And then Darcy released, violently, like nothing he’d experienced since the Embrace. It was the
rush of Vitae on his tongue and the satisfaction of drinking the last drop and a secondhand coke
high all rolled into one. She met him there, and in her passion grabbed the back of the headrest
and buried her chest against his face. They cried out together into the dark night.
She collapsed against him. He could feel her heart fluttering through her chest, and he was sur-
prised to find his own still keeping up. His breath was hard and shallow, and his fingers tingled
with sudden warmth. He should have questioned it.
However, in the moment, Darcy didn’t care. For the first time in more than a decade, he felt alive.
“Okay. Now you can show me your place.”

Last Night 67
 chapter two
Blowouts
I like large parties. They’re so intimate. At small parties, there isn’t any privacy.
F. Scott Fitzgerald, The Great Gatsby

Parties are as much lifeblood to Daeva as Vitae. From the pomp and elegance of a ball, to the unhinged debauchery of a
bacchanal, to the down-and-out crowd patronizing the secret bar, Serpents know as many ways to get down as to feed. Social
gatherings aren’t just something Daeva do, but the clan has elevated this practice to an artform, thriving at the heart of parties
as both participants and hosts. They understand the intimate power of crowds in ways few Kindred or kine ever could.
This chapter delves into the importance of parties in the All Night Society in general and Clan Daeva in particular: their
politics, unspoken rules, and unifying power. You’ll also find a few historical Serpent celebrations, as well as different forms
and genres these gatherings can take. Parties also provide dividends for both their hosts and guests, and herein we offer a new
system for using social gatherings as a tool in the Danse Macabre.

Dead Men’s Parties

On the surface, the idea of a party is rather mundane. After best kind of party drug. You’re never bored on Majesty, and
all, humans have gathered in groups since the dawn of time: Add you’ll get into all sorts of thrilling adventures and atrocities
music and intoxicants and you’ve got yourself a good time. These under its influence.
events meet a critical need in every society, one that connects us As a Daeva’s mastery over her signature Discipline grows,
and in turn defines those connections. Social gatherings fulfill so does her ability to sway gatherings and seize the spotlight.
the primal desire to celebrate successes, mourn losses, and forge With Awe, a Daeva can be the belle of every ball. Why put
allegiances, whether on the battlefield or in the marriage bed. in the effort of organizing an event yourself when you can use
Within each mortal and vampire lies a desperate desire to and abuse the hard work someone else bled for?
be with others, whether to win favor, compete, find love, or Confidant creates immediate social connections. Rumors say
destroy — and where better than a party? some Daeva elders have mastered this to the point where they
can not only create these connections, but swap them among
each other, trading hearts and loyalties at a whim.
Serpentine Talents Green Eyes turns a Serpent into a lure. It’s a barbed hook
Blood nourishes. Sunlight kills. Daeva throw the best parties. set into the heart that tugs until the victim is little more than
These are three indisputable truths of the All Night Society. clay to be molded. If they set the snare right, the victim will
Whether you’re the guest of honor or the pariah du jour, do damn near anything, which can lead to some very exciting
attendance at a Daeva party is more than a requirement: It’s a opportunities to take a party to its next level, or a wonderful
badge of honor. Sure, the other clans throw their own shindigs, way to ruin someone else’s good time.
raves, and (ugh) dinner parties, but nothing leaves a mark like Loyalty allows for true mastery over a victim. It makes a
an event originating in the sinful minds of Serpents. faithful and dedicated friend, but in a party situation, it’s best
So, let’s look at what makes them so damn good at it. used on the host herself. And why not? You can bet your ass
she’s going to use it on you.
Finally, Idol is the ultimate expression of Daeva grace. This is
Tricks of the Blood the nuclear option for social situations, but sometimes you have
The Daeva are designed to party, and you only have to to bring out the heavy firepower. With Idol, a Serpent becomes
look at their Disciplines for proof. Celerity allows them to a literal party god, able to resurrect good times, punish party
react with supernatural grace and speed, and Vigor lets them fouls, and make an entrance that will be written of by poets
to hold their own in any rager. And Majesty? Majesty is the for generations to come.

Chapter Two: Blowouts 69

 There are as many permutations of Majesty as there are If you absolutely must attend one of these drab affairs, it’s best
ways to please a lover, and each can raise the profile of any that you know exactly what’s in store for you.
social gathering. The first rule of Majesty that most Daeva are
taught is that a gentle touch is better than a firm one — but
then, some situations call for a nice, hard spanking.
The Gangrel
Assuming it’s anything beyond a drum circle or a mosh pit,
Savage parties are the most lively of all our Kindred. On the
The Wanton Curse plus side, there’s always a lot of blood to be had. On the down,
Parties are the perfect way for Daeva to pretend they have most of it ends up spilled, not sipped.
no weaknesses: To mingle and mix and enjoy sampling a wide It’s rare to see a Gangrel gathering that ends without at least
variety of conversations and conversationalists. The Serpents one murder, and for some reason the victim always seems to be
encourage a wide array of refreshments, mortals to be in you. It’s one thing to be Savage, but quite another to be a boor. Do
attendance, and other safety measures to remove the pressure keep the criticisms to yourself, though. The Savages may be tough,
to indulge in their wanton desires. but they can be surprisingly sensitive about such things; best
However, such safeguards can fall short before a clever not to give them any more excuses to live up to their nickname.
mind. More than once, a Daeva has had what she thought was Gangrel tend to host events in the woods, mountains, or other
innocent blood spiked with a draught drawn from a particu- unpopulated areas, so at least no one has to see you there. When
lar mortal she’s fed upon before. Stories tell of a Serpent in they’re feeling more social, you can expect to attend biker bars,
Madrid who was repeatedly fed the blood of the Prince’s own cowboy clubs, or other places where you might be seen, but not
mortal descendant. After many sips, the hook was set, and by anyone who matters. And that includes the Savages.
the Daeva’s enemies arranged a “chance” encounter between
beauty and the beast. In short order, these machinations led
Serpent’s entire lineage being purged from the region. Most The Mekhet
Daeva who’ve heard stories like this can only scoff, saying What kind of party can you expect from a clan of wallflowers
their obsessions can’t be stimulated through blood alone, but and spies? They certainly throw a wild book club, but unless
rather a human connection. Of course, these same Daeva are you’re into quiet affairs, I’d steer clear. Still, if you can’t avoid it,
also careful to watch the proverbial punchbowl. try to convince them to play Seven Minutes in Heaven; there’s
Whether true or not, such tales are all the more reason for nothing quite so amusing as a bit of Shadow play.
Daeva to hold parties regularly, and to make certain they have When the Shadows are on their game, these events can be
direct control over the guestlist and snacks. The last thing thoughtful — even contemplative — often held it more intellectu-
any self-respecting Serpent wants is to find herself ensnared ally or symbolically relevant venues: the symphony, art galleries, or
against her will; most avoid such a fate at all costs, writhing even churches. Quiet and gentle conversation is key. Regardless,
in shallow personal pleasure instead of the aching embrace of clueless mortals are either present or at least nearby, so secrecy and
their curse. But ask any romantic (or addict) and they’ll tell you blending is part of the game whether you like it or not. Because
what happens when you try to avoid the things you desire. That of this, beyond all the other clans, the Mekhet are probably the
doesn’t mean the Daeva don’t try, and parties remain their best worst at providing refreshments.
tool for keeping the mortal herd simultaneously close, yet an Oh, and take care to do a bit of background on your host
arm’s length away. before you RSVP. Many Shadows have strange rituals and per-
sonal tics that you’ll need to respect, lest you come under their
admittedly keen sight. Maybe that sounds like superstitious
Gatecrashers nonsense to you, but in my experience, superstitious nonsense
Excerpt from Threaten Them with a Good Time: Party Planning doesn’t give a fuck about what you think.
for the Damned, by Alastair “Al” Ardent, Carthian operator
It’s not that the other clans can’t host their own events — the The Nosferatu
concept of a party is universal, even with undead parasites. Oh honey, wasn’t all… that enough of a punishment? But in
However, while these gatherings can be stimulating, or even amus- all seriousness, the Nosferatu could do worse. There’s always
ing, they often lack a certain dramatic flair or spark at their core. something delectably off-kilter about their spookhouse parties,
But what do you say when a Shadow invites you to their birthday but they’re rarely boring. Just make sure to stay in a group, and
party? Honestly, it’s like watching a dog walk on its hind legs: don’t stray from the path unless you want your night to get more
Adorable, and something you can’t help but encourage. Besides, interesting — for them.
if our clan offered to host or organize every gathering in the All It’s difficult to guess what kind of venue a Haunt will
Night Society, we’d be too busy to actually run it. choose, and nearly impossible to prepare in advance. The
Many cousins (like me) advise weaponizing the social calendar clan thrives on discomfort, and it loves nothing more than to
as a defense against such assaults on one’s time and sensibility, unsettle partygoers with little “unexpected” twists. A concert
but sometimes you can’t snub the entire court. Try as you might. held in a slaughterhouse, still stinking with blood and with a

70 Sin Again: Daeva

philharmonic weeping in the corner; a formal affair at the
city’s hottest nightclub, but one which just experienced a
gangland slaying, bodies still fresh on the floor; a graveyard
dinner party, but your seating arrangement is buried in one
of the fresh plots. You’ll generally be fine, so long as you play
along. And don’t flinch.
Likewise, you can never tell if mortals will be present, but
if they are, it’s usually open season. Let it be known that the
refreshments Haunts provide are either wholly amusing or
deeply disgusting. I can handle the twitching blood dolls
and the rat wine coolers, but the moaning thing in the bloody
canvas sack was a bit much. Delicious, yes, but presentation
counts for something.

The Ventrue
The worst thing about the Lords is that they think just
because they paid for the party, they’re the reason it’s remem-
bered. Classy? Occasionally. Ostentatious? Always. These events
are memorable because of who’s who and little else. Trust me,
by the end of the night, the host will be pretending he doesn’t
even remember your name, and frankly, you might not know
it either. Ventrue parties certainly leave a mark, but so does a
cattle brand, and I prefer some diversity in my kinks.
The problem with the Ventrue is that they’re almost good
at it. They’ve convinced themselves they understand how to
provide the best, but without ever asking their guests what
they actually like.
If nothing else, you can always depend on the Lords serv-
ing up an interesting array of hors d’oeuvres. Most Ventrue
provide a thoughtfully curated selection of human vintages,
either fresh from the body or in whatever thematic receptacle
fits the venue. Like everything else the clan does, the flex is
more important than the punch. Then again, there’s nothing
wrong with a little showboating now and then.

Family Reunions
And finally, us. We’re the best hosts, bar none. Here’s the
thing, though: To everyone else, there’s nothing better than
a Daeva party; to us, there’s nothing worse.
Oh, the event will go off magnificently, but there’s always
a cost, and it’s never what you expect going in. We Serpents
understand that when we host for the All Night Society, we’re
hosting for all of it. Look at each of the other clans and their
foibles, failures, and peculiar tastes; a successful soirée has to
incorporate key elements of each of these things in just the
right amount. It’s all about palette balance. Like making a
good Bloody Mary, it’s both about ingredients in proportion
and making them harmonize. And try making a cocktail with
ingredients like vampires.
But then, we’re not hosting for them. We Daeva are best at
what we do because every RSVP is a declaration of war. Every
dance floor is a battlefield, and every song is a dirge played
for yourself and your jealous kin. What’s better for a party
than a little family drama?

Chapter Two: Blowouts 71

 The Joy of Sects
With that said, no two Serpents approach parties in the
same way, and that’s doubly true across factions. Each of our
covenants brings its own unique spin to gatherings, but you
Unique Locations for a Party
Animal sanctuaries, aquariums, botanical gardens,
can generally find some similarities within party lines. cattle ranches, cemeteries, construction sites,
The Carthian Movement: The keyword for Carthian parties government buildings, high schools, historical
is quantity. Bigger is always better, and louder is never loud buildings and sites, indoor recreation parks,
junkyards, meat packing plants, military bases,
enough. Whether a warehouse rave in the industrial district, model homes, morgues, museums, private islands,
a house-stomping party on the outskirts of town, a bloody pub spas, sports stadiums, trailer parks, warehouses,
crawl, or a political poetry slam, we Firebrands are about going university lecture halls, yachts in international
big and bold, trying to reach the most people possible — both waters, wineries, zoos
Kindred and mortal. How else can you expect to sway the hearts
and minds of the masses?
The Circle of the Crone: The keyword for Acolyte parties
is surrender. Surrender to the Dark Mother, surrender to the against the world’s finest fighters and each other. (A digression:
primal, surrender to the Beast. Sometimes this involves carnal My Dragon business partner invited me to watch such an event
rituals in forgotten cave networks, or bonfire festivals in the once, and the torpid outnumbered the waking by the end of it;
deep woods, or paint parties with unwitting mortals, or even five stars, highly recommend.) The Ordo Dracul doesn’t allow
speed dating nights where everyone goes home with someone its membership to idle in base merriment, and if you leave the
to eat. The Circle of the Crone knows that the true utility same person you came as, you’ve deeply missed the point.
of social events has never evolved. It has been, remains, and
shall always be a means to abandon reason and connect to
the monster within. Parties of the Centuries
The Invictus: The keyword for Invictus parties is quality.
The Daeva say they’ve been hosts with the most since the
Exclusivity dominates every gathering of the First Estate. These
first cavemen gathered around a piles of rotted fruit and gorged
are the impossible locations and cutting-edge experiences,
themselves silly, and modern Serpents can learn much from
where gourmet blood types are paraded out to the elite. The
historical events that have faded into legend (or infamy). Below
Roman Colosseum is closed for a midnight rave; a private per-
are a series of eras and locations where parties were the norm,
formance of the Bolshoi is paired with a tasting menu for each
each presented with story seeds to demonstrate what it was like
dancer; a private island is rented for a long weekend, with the
to party with Daeva across time.
guestlist’s favorite celebrities in attendance and complementary
mind control on tap. In other words, a lot of bourgeois bullshit,
but the competent kind. These events are designed to remind The Garden Party (Prehistory Onward)
attendees they owe such delicacies to their status, prestige, and Many Serpents trace their lineage back to Lilith, Adam’s
power — and, of course, the hosts. first wife, possible consort of Satan, and progenitor of a race
The Lancea et Sanctum: The keyword for Sanctified parties of demons that may or may not have been Kindred. From the
is passion. Whether in religious rapture or the seething hatred beginning, the Daeva claim they’ve moved among the rising
of damnation and brimstone, the Church holds gatherings to ape and snaked their way inside of warm, welcoming hearts.
feed the fire within. Each branch differs in its style” Some hold Whether or not the Judeo-Christian mythology is true is
Midnight Masses stocked with willing flagellants, handing out unimportant. What is important is that, since the dawn of
prizes for whoever can whip the most blood from these penitents; history, the Serpents have reached down from tree branches
others put on grand celebrations to mark (or parody) Christmas on moonlit nights and asked of humanity, “How do you like
with the whole court in attendance, using Secret Santa-style them apples?”
gifts to reveal each recipient’s darkest sins. These events serve to The ancient world was filthy with Kindred, and the Daeva’s
remind the Sanctified that their faith will be eternally rewarded, fingerprints were everywhere, from Sodom and Gomorrah to the
and that their enemies will be similarly punished. Hanging Gardens of Babylon. Take pre-Islamic Iran, for example,
The Ordo Dracul: The keyword for Defiant parties is insight. where the last five days of the year belonged to the dead. On
No two Dragons hold the same event, but each is designed to these holy days, people lit fires on their roofs to call the deceased
force evolution or change in the mind of its attendees. Dragons home, and sometimes it even worked. In India, what we know
hold chess tournaments or trivia nights with prizes like “keeping today as the Kama Sutra began as a series of texts on sexuality,
your hand if you win.” Sometimes they hold symposiums at grand spiritualism, and righteous living. It also had verses that tore
convocations, complete with debates and lecture series from the down cultural norms by encouraging cross-pollination across
brightest, mind-whammied mortal minds. At others, they hold caste, gender, and sexuality, with a focus on success and wealth
massive mixed martial arts tournaments to test their strengths instead — something Kindred have rarely had difficulty attaining.

72 Sin Again: Daeva

 Few stories of these parties survive to the modern era, but were granted to elders and in particular those who shared a
their legacy echoes in the blood of every Serpent. Whether birth year with the emperor or empress. The emperor would
drinking from the skulls of fallen allies and enemies in a hold grand banquets for a thousand elders, regardless of social
Hyperborean Age, cavorting with Nephilim as denizens of caste, in order to foster filial harmony and show the power and
the Pit, or enjoying a rousing game of senet with the pharaohs majesty of the state. The Qing rulers were not fools, however,
over drinks, the start of the party set the tone for everything and unsubstantiated rumors state that a few emperors sought
else to come. guidance and aid from their eldest citizens, the Kindred. And
so, once the thousand elders had enjoyed their fill, one hundred
Story Seeds of the most respected vampires in the empire were permitted
• In ancient Persia, the most intense Festival of Fire in history to drink freely from the assembled guests.
has raged for five long nights and shows no sign of slowing
down. The priest overseeing the ritual grows more impassioned Story Seeds
with each night, as does his flock, but the local Kindred are • The emperor is dead, and with his passing comes a decree
growing restless. While the fires burn, they cannot hunt, and from his widow declaring all citizens must lock themselves
their hunger grows with each passing night. What is causing in their homes at night in mourning for the forty-four days
this frenzy, and how can they stop it before they feel the burn? remaining until Shengshou. Should the population mourn
adequately, she has guaranteed a festival like none other to
• A mighty warrior from a distant land has slain a horrific
honor his memory — but can the Kindred survive on such
monster who ravaged the lands and killed hundreds. In the
meager stock to make it to the party? Or will the event become
high hall, the king holds a festival in the stranger’s honor,
a buffet for frenzied beasts?
but something is wrong. As the coterie spends more time
observing the conquering hero, it soon becomes clear that • A gambling house holds weekly gatherings for any who can find
the difference between a monster and a man is skin deep. it, but none who attend return home. The house’s master is a
small man with a split tongue and dead eyes, and though the
• No one knows how Amel-Marduk, Nebuchadnezzar II’s least
location is a popular leisure spot for Kindred, a rumor spreads
favorite heir, managed to claim the throne, but the Daeva
that there’s a backroom where anything can be wagered: power,
know how he intends to cement his dynasty. Through a
wealth, and perhaps even a return to humanity.
steady diet of Vitae, Amel-Marduk is convinced one of his
concubines will become pregnant with an avatar of death and
desire. He’s half right: One of them is pregnant, but with a Bloody Baptisms (The Medieval Church)
dhampir child she intends to save from its father’s capricious Things were great in the Classical World and then
whims. Her only chance to get away is during the chaos of the Christianity fucked it all up, so say the Daeva. Suddenly, piety
Babylonian New Year’s celebration, which is secretly overseen and quiet contemplation replaced the indulgences of the past,
by an old and powerful Serpent. Will the coterie turn her and the Serpent ethos was upended. It was bad enough that
in and reap the rewards, or will they put their Requiems on Christians gave their worldly possessions away, but celibacy?
the line to help her escape?
If it weren’t for the fact that the water was bad enough
that wine was a requirement for survival, it might have all
A Vast and Sacred Longevity (Qing Dynasty) ended here.
If there were two things the Qing Dynasty loved celebrating, But the Daeva are innovative by nature. Talk about holy
it was elders and ancestors, and the Daeva are grateful for the rewards all you want; you can twist almost anyone’s faith with
consideration on both counts. rich food and gold coins and warm Vitae. By the Medieval era,
the Serpents had once again regained a hold on the halls of
Imperial Chinese festivals focused on the veneration and
power, this time within the church. The most obvious period
respect owed to those who came before, but despite the formal-
of Daeva influence over the Vatican was under the House of
ity of the royal house, these were rarely dull affairs, especially
Borgia, with almost a century of bloodstained sacrament.
when a Serpent was present. In particular, the Qing dynasty was
known for its festivals, none of which were more important than Story Seeds
the emperor’s birthday, known as the Wanshou (Vast Longevity), • The first known Catholic orgy is the Banquet of Chestnuts
and the empress’s, known as the Shengshou (Sacred Longevity). on October 30, 1501, at the estate of Cesare Borgia, son
While all birthdays were cause for celebration, every tenth was of Pope Alexander VI. Fifty courtesans are brought in for
particularly important, with each decade following a monarch’s entertainment, and the hosts offer lavish prizes for guests who
60s receiving even more aplomb. These grand celebrations can bed the most in succession. Alexander judges the contest
would see streets flooded with colored ribbons and lanterns, himself, which means (by canon law) God approves of the
and the capital itself would be transformed into something of results. But while the pope is at play, agents of the Lancea et
an arts festival, with numerous operas staged across the city. Sanctum have insulated themselves among the guests — and
Governors, foreign dignitaries, and tourists would flock even the entertainment — in an attempt to collect dirt on the
to Beijing to experience the festival’s glory. Special privileges Vatican’s sinful leadership.

Chapter Two: Blowouts 73

 • Is Longinus dead, or what? This is the question posed by a • The monarchy has fallen, but that doesn’t mean the party
local Sanctified Daeva who’s become obsessed with intro- has to stop. As the streets of Paris run red with the blood
ducing a new holiday. The Serpent believes Longinus has of the aristocracy, most Kindred try to hide among the
transcended to a higher — or lower — realm, and he deserves angry masses. A Daeva who calls himself the Master of
a party in his honor. At the height of this celebration of dam- Skulls has created an underground playground where guests
nation, the host intends to unveil the main course of their can cavort among the preserved severed heads of the elite.
feast: a captive and unrepentant vampire. The host believes Except rumor has it that one of these heads is an ancient
he’s been divinely chosen to impart a new Theban Sorcery elder, whose blood and brains hold secrets for anyone brave
miracle that will allow all who partake of the sinner’s Vitae enough to consume them…
to reap the rewards of diablerie. Is he deluded? Or has a new
and blasphemous power been granted to the Sanctified to
help them turn the tide against nonbelievers? And just who The Summers of Love (1960s America)
is this sinner in question, and how will the host go about In the late 1960s, rebellion dominated America’s youth.
acquiring him? In California, more than 100,000 free spirits flooded San
Francisco with flowers in their hair, and across the country, a
protest over a noise complaint drew 50,000 supporters into the
Kingdoms of the Sun (18th Century France) core of Manhattan’s Greenwich Village. The hippie was born,
The history of France is rife with debauchery and revelry, and the world would never be the same.
but none more than the period that began with the reign of The drugs, sex, and love were all free, and the Daeva were
Louis XIV and ended with the French Revolution. Over the ready to supply. The explosion of casual psychedelic use and
course of this century and a half, France’s vast political and the rise of the counterculture allowed Serpents to weave their
economic power was centralized in Versailles by the House of threads through an increasingly polarized society. The black
Bourbon. This single move brought the entirety of France’s and white mentality of both extremes allowed easy adaptation,
global influence into the king’s personal orbit, which is fitting exploitation, and control through huge events like Woodstock,
for a man who called himself le Roi Soleil. or the introduction of vices like marijuana to soldiers drafted
This consolidation also meant Versailles required the best into the Vietnam War.
entertainment to keep its nobility in check. The palace soon Meanwhile, shadows lengthened across the nation as a
became the center of the European world for arts, music, series of high-profile murders shook the nation to its core,
gambling, sex, and hunting. However, such extravagance introducing a new and enduring icon into American popular
came with a cost, and all nobles who chose to lodge at the culture: the serial killer. The Daeva would capitalize on this as
estate quickly found themselves sinking into debt, with either well, herding mortals together for safety and using murderers
money or the king’s good will. It’s no surprise that Versailles like Zodiac (and later, Son of Sam) to hide their own kills and
was rotten with Kindred and ghouls, and no corner was free personality cults. For the Serpents, there was nothing not to
of the Serpents’ influences. love about this decade.
Less than a hundred years after the Sun King’s death,
the Daeva could be found among the libertines (and early Story Seeds
Carthians) of the French Revolution. By the time the guillo- • Vampires normally have difficulty consuming drugs, but an
tines began to fall, Serpents had already maneuvered them- enterprising chemist in the Ordo Dracul has managed to
selves among the rabble and freedom fighters. They bolstered synthesize a form of LSD encapsulated in a drop of blood.
this new fraternity by hosting loud parties, rabid political Vampires all over the city are getting hooked on the stuff,
rallies, and gruesome mass executions that united France as a which is made with the Dragon’s own Vitae. The potential for
free people. And if some of their Kindred competition ended addiction surreptitious blood bonding would be bad enough,
up under the falling blade, so much the better. but the surreal hallucinations are drawing the attention of
local mages, who feel a disturbing shift in the geography of
Story Seeds Astral Space.
• A brutal death has befallen two minor nobles of the court
• A local Carthian coterie is known for its vocal stance on
(secretly ghouls), torn limb from limb under the light of a
mortal rights and open vampire–human relations. Above all,
full moon. The king has declared he’ll join the next hunt to
they want to rip down the city’s mortal and Kindred estab-
assuage fears, but when a third horrific murder occurs just
lishment, and they just might have the nerve to try it. Their
outside the walls of Versailles, the Kindred must scramble
first step is to hold a free concert in the park: By tainting
to uncover the beast stalking the halls. What is this mon-
every single hippie in attendance with Vitae, they’re going to
ster moving among them, and how does it connect to the
build a revenant army based on the principles of free love,
symbol of a ram skull topped with a crown that was found
free-flowing blood, and all-consuming hunger.
hidden near each victim?

74 Sin Again: Daeva

 Genres
What separates a Ball from a Banquet? A Bash from a will silence the Beast she became on that night of reverie? And
Bacchanal? Inspiration, intention, and invitees. All social gather- what’s the true purpose of the Winter Rite?
ings have specific rules and expectations, and the Kindred have
• Many Scales of the Dragon require a lot Vitae. A Bacchanal
their own ideas about how to implement them. What follows is
is an excellent way to gather the unsuspecting together, to
selection of party genres to draw on for your chronicles.
practice and experiment with powers in the blood without
any probing questions. What might a coterie discover, mean-
dering through with clear heads and a satchel full of samples?
The Bacchanal When anything goes, no one will question what thresholds
The mansion is filled with every earthly delight. At the poolside, are crossed or which boundaries violated.
you can dive into fountaining gore and bob for hearts. Up in the
apothecary’s parlor, you can feast on a void-black potion to heighten
every pleasure. Endless halls of fornication fork before you, an orgy
of limbs in every shape and size stoked to feverish lust. Buffet tables
The Ball
overflow with mortal foods, with a golden bucket behind velvet The Saint Paul Opera House, a derelict relic of the 19th century,
curtains where you can purge to make room for more. was to be torn down as part of your latest development scheme.
However, the Archbishop purchased it out from under your nose,
And out in the gardens, a ritual rages under the full moon,
saying it was blasphemy for all that history to be torn down. They
chants wafting through the air and silver athames flashing in the
even sent you a snide invitation to a Heaven & Hell–themed
dark, as the Damned cast a deadly spell.
reopening — and your wounded ego wouldn’t allow you to ignore it.
Everything is permitted. Sex and murder, love and hate, new
At the climax of the evening, a curtain pulls back to unveil a
life and new death. Bacchanals are where Kindred can be their
new frieze overlooking the grand hall. There’s no mistaking the
most human and their most bestial. Nothing’s more human than
Archbishop’s beatific face gazing out over the assembly, in the guise
giving in to lust, and nothing’s less so than taking advantage
of an angel with the trumpet of judgment in one hand and a scythe
of your untiring corpse physiology to do it. You really can live
in the other — holding their blade over the throat of a carving bearing
it up all night long if you’re a dead. But mortals also throng
your own visage. The strangest tingle starts to coil through you, and
these events, hungry, hapless, and helpless. Some have attended
someone catches you as you start to fall. “Never forget,” you hear the
before, either as favored blood dolls or candidates for a bloody
Archbishop say as the room turns dark, “God judges all.”
Embrace, but most are prey who won’t be missed.
The eveningwear. The crystal stained with “wine.” The pliant
Bacchanals are often a centerpiece for rituals, typically in
blood dolls on tap for a quick nip. Balls are often the stereo-
the Circle of the Crone, but each covenant has its own way of
type when someone says Vampire Party. They don’t have to be
communing with the baser natures of Man and Beast. Despite
ultra-high class, but they’re where the Kindred test each other,
their conservative outlook, the Lancea et Sanctum is just as
whether for competition, alliances, future trysts, or all of the
adept at blood magic as their rivals in the Mother’s Army, and
above. It’s all passive aggression and false politesse, intrigue and
a Midnight Mass can easily turn into something very much like
veiled insults; the Ball may be glamorous, but all the niceties of
a Bacchanal — though they wouldn’t use such a pagan term.
this fairytale world turn to ash when morning comes.
Besides, when the Sanctified kill, they do so for the good of the
flock, not some self-devouring false god of flesh. Balls almost always have a unifying theme, whether it’s
expressed in the décor, dress code, or the occasion the event
Possible Moods: Hedonism and Mysticism
is celebrating. Often, they’re where the powers-that-be make
Subgenres: Raves — So loud they can’t hear you feed. Orgies important announcements, like cutting the ribbon on a new
— Where you lose track of the body parts you’ve bitten. front company or declaring a change in leadership. Such
events provide the opportunity to jockey for social position
Story Seeds in the Danse Macabre, allowing vampires to grab at power
• What happens at the Winter Rite stays at the Winter Rite. while its fresh.
The High Priest of Nemi says Kindred can only be truly free Possible Moods: Romance and Intrigue
without repercussion, so let go and say yes for a night. And it Subgenres: Grand Openings — Come see all the shiny new
was glorious; everything the High Priest promised and more. toys. Masquerades — Spill secrets behind a veil.
The neonate felt reinvigorated in the face of eternity — but after
riding that high for almost a week, the pictures came through.
Photos of her doing things she never thought herself capable, Story Seed
all in stark focus and defiance of the lost visage. Then the • The Prince is dead, long live the Prince. Tonight, the city
demands began. The man she killed (at least that’s what she swears fealty to a new ruler, and some Kindred are receiving
hopes she did to him) was important to the Firebrands, and an invitation to the halls of power for the first time, finally
they’ll demand justice if they learn his true fate. What price recognized for all their contributions to the All Night Society.

Chapter Two: Blowouts 75

 Trouble whispers through the city, however. Much of the
old guard will be in attendance, armed with cutting smiles,
and the upset to the ruling class means they’ll be suspicious
of any new arrivals. Who helped overthrow the old regime? Blending
Who can be useful in the new? New positions will be handed Readers will inevitably find some overlaps between
out behind fluttering fans and over blood toasts. If you play genres. These categories are for convenience rather
your cards right, you could be counted among their number. than constraint, so feel free to combine them as it
suits your story’s needs. A Ball could easily include
a Banquet at its climax, and Block Party could have
begun as a commemorative Bash.
The Banquet
Down at the soup kitchen, the junkies gather on Friday nights,
when roast beef and mashed potatoes are on the menu instead
of the usual chicken noodle. The Good Ol’ Boys have taken to • Two Invictus dynasties have been at war for generations. Smoke
going in around midnight for a feast of their own. Slumming it like Wreaths are Embraced to loathe Black Chains, and Black
this, giggling over boozy blood, is a reminder of better days. When Chains fight Smoke Wreaths unto Final Death. However, at
Gascon the Traitor shows up, there’s a moment of flared tempers, least for tonight, the heads of both gangs are breaking blood
but everyone’s in too good a mood to pick over that old scab. He together for the very first time. The tension is palpable as vam-
brings a working girl over to share, and by the end of the night, it’s pires glare across tables at their nemeses, and you can feel the
hard to remember what the cause of the fallout even was… awkward moments down in your very blood. Still, if these two
Among the living, sharing a meal has the power to bring folks ancient foes can make peace, they might be able to dispatch the
together. Among the dead, the word meal has a very different brewing Revolution. Together, they’d be unstoppable. Now if
connotation, but the power it holds remains. Whether held in only they can get through dessert without fighting over whether
one’s private domain for more intimacy or a hall rented-out and they should be the Smoke Chains or the Black Wreaths…
catered with a pedigree herd, Banquets are where vampires are
free to do what they do best. Feeding is the one unifier in the
All Night Society, and much like many mortal cultures, Kindred
have taboos about violence whilst breaking bread.
The Bar
Without the password, no one gets in. They’ve made that rule
Banquets tend to be exclusive or limited to an in-group,
abundantly clear, and no one has ever fucked with it.
and they’re often curated for a particular faction. Sometimes
they come with a price tag on each “plate,” raising funds for The place is spoken of both among the underbelly and the
some internal covenant project. Many Banquets are also held heights of the city, a haven where Kindred can pay a premium
with the aim to mend bridges; as Kindred banter over plasma on privacy. To be admitted, it takes a certain kind of reputation:
served on ice, they have a chance to make new connections or You have to be the right kind of scumbag, or at least the sort of
strengthen atrophied alliances. It doesn’t mean you have to like bloodsucker who considers discretion more valuable than blood.
everyone in attendance, but what you say and do will be noted Snitches aren’t welcome here — but maybe if you can track one
for future reference. down, they might just give you that password.
Possible Moods: Gluttony and Kinship The Bar is a world of secrecy and privacy, a place to make
Subgenres: Dinner Theater — Take in a show; have a drink. unsavory deals away from the polite rules of the All Night
Fox Hunts — Families that slay together, stay together. Society. From dusk to dawn, the crowd is always changing:
dealers, fences, gumshoes, ghouls, and other breeds of monster.
Regulars come and go as they please, and many of the gloomy
Story Seeds booths double as offices for illicit businesses. Sometimes there’s
• An invitation to the annual feast at Madame Zitka’s is one a bougie singer crowing through the smoke, or a tinny jukebox
of the social calendar’s highlights. She prepares a special playing records that remind patrons of better nights.
herd for a year, adjusting and perfecting their blood with all Nostalgia is on tap at the Bar, but it’s still very much alive (or
manner of special alchemies. She has her fine crystal from close enough). Sometimes, the building is covenant exclusive, or
the old world polished, and her phonograph plays Ella and the haunt of a single bloodline. Or maybe it’s just found family.
Eartha and Etta, crooning ghosts who understood pain and Folks here know things, and they’ll help each other out… for a
isolation. This year, in addition to her regular crowd, she’s favor. Currency takes many forms in the Danse Macabre, but
invited Count Orso, finally freed from the Prince’s order of around here, they operate on IOUs and handshakes — impossible
mandatory torpor. It’s been decades since anyone’s seen him, to trace, but ready to be called in when the tables turn.
and many of the city’s neonates only know his name from Possible Moods: Secrecy and Melancholy
cautionary tales. But tonight, he’ll dine at Madame Zitka’s
Subgenres: Nightclubs — 24-hour party people. Speakeasies —
own table, and many would kill to be his plus one.
Home away from home when the heat gets hot.

76 Sin Again: Daeva

 Where the Bacchanal lets the Beast off its hook, the Bash is
Story Seeds a chance to strengthen one’s Humanity, reminding oneself of
• Grey’s is where outcasts find peace. The man himself still what all this time is good for. From taking over an amusement
works the bar, dripping out strong vintages (the O is kept park after dark to flying the gang to a tropical island to bask
for special occasions), listening to his patrons’ troubles, and in equatorial twilight over very Bloody Marys, the Bash is
sometimes pointing them in the direction of another regular something out of the ordinary. The pretenses and expectations
who might be able to help. The faces are grizzled, flighty, and of more formal events fall away, and the memories will enable
shifty. They’ve seen and done things that keep them in their the coterie to forge stronger bonds. Chances to celebrate don’t
cups all the way till sunrise, but comradery makes the shots happen every night in the Requiem, so embrace the Bash so
go down smoother and the off-color jokes lose their sting. It’s that this moment will remain fixed in minds and dead hearts
the last bit of safety in the city for some down-on-their-luck for centuries to come.
Licks. Until one night, the password doesn’t work. The door
Possible Moods: Carefreeness and Commemoration
is locked, and the smell of smoke sours the night. Rumor has
it Grey went down to the cellar to fetch another case when Subgenres: Bachelor parties — One last hurrah before you
the fire started; others say he wasn’t in at all that night. What bind yourself for eternity. Memorials — Mark the occasion so
happens when the city’s underbelly is torn open? Where do all the memory lasts another thousand years.
the rats who called this place home go when they get flushed
out? And what about the favors owed? Is Grey’s currency any Story Seed
good if there’s no more Grey to run it? • It’s not every night one turns 200. To mark the occasion,
• A prince from the next city over has called a hunt on his her sire agreed to give her the keys to his manse while he
trusted adviser, one who turned out not to be very trustworthy. was away on business. At first, she just invited a few of her
Nearly half her allies at court scattered, and some of them best judies over for a weekend of seduction, but soon that
are worth more in certain quarters not gutted. Therefore, the escalated into seven types of sin, one for each night of the
Duke ushers them through subterranean tunnels most believe week. They invited half the village up to dance, envious of
bricked up and forgotten. There’s a door down here, obscured the living, then organized some strip poker for greed. It soon
for protection, and behind it a place to rest. It served the Duke devolved into an orgy for lust, then a binge of feeding for
well when he was alive and smuggling for the cartel, and it’ll gluttony, then a night of comatose languor for sloth. Now
serve well again for this exodus. It’ll require caution bringing two of their ghouls have fought to the death for wrath. All
in fresh blood and supplies, and it’ll take time to make up false that’s left is pride, or at least her sire’s when he sees the state
identities and organize places for these fugitives to hide. But of his haven. Might be time to grab a mop.
if the Duke can manage it, he’ll have set up a veritable court
full of information — and a desire for revenge.
The Block Party
Dmitri got iced by the Brood last night. It was inevitable, the way
The Bash this war’s been going, but it’s still a punch in the gut. The whole
It was more than just the end of her line. When her great court’s gathering at the docks tonight, even a couple old bastards
granddaughter died, it was the loss of her last shred of Humanity. She who’ve been quiet for decades. The All Night Society’s putting aside
lived vicariously through her mortal family all these years without ever the usual hates and grudges to tell stories about Dee, drinking to his
really knowing it, and now those private perhapses were gone. memory and all the good times we had.
She wasn’t feeling up to seeing anyone, but after months in solitude, Mostly, we bullshit about what we’d do if we caught the Lick
her coterie drags her out to this little place down by the quay. They who did him. It’s big talk — there’s too much rage and grief and
give her an envelope, the wrong shape for a card, and inside is a fear tonight for any of it to be serious. But you can see the wheels
heredity test belonging to a name she doesn’t recognize… until she turning. Kindred talking fortifications and favors. Retribution.
catches her great granddaughter’s name under the maternity data. That’s the word on everyone’s fangs. Maybe this is what we needed,
A pregnancy from years ago she’d thought unsuccessful had actually in the end. One of us might be gone, but his memory will live
been an adoption. The others point across the restaurant to where a beyond his Final Death. And theirs.
middle-aged woman sits with her grown daughter. As the kine make a Everyone from the neighborhood is here. Someone’s blaring
toast, the light of hope rekindles in her dead heart. Motown from a tenement window, and the string lights make
As the centuries crawl by, Kindred often seek ways to help the alleyway glow over the hodgepodge of picnic tables and
keep track of the time. Embrace Day? A new and promising mismatched chairs. The grand dame of the quarter sits in
childe? It’s time for the nearest and dearest in one’s Requiem her rocking chair, unchanged for a century, laughing at crass
to mark the occasion in an unforgettable way. Grudges are put jokes and pinching all the neonates’ cheeks like an indulgent
aside as spiked blood loosens tongues and fangs. They each grandmother. The cops are paid to look the other way, and
might have responsibilities tomorrow, but tonight, their sole the coolers are stocked with blood packs fresh from the clinic
focus is the guest of honor. (Vinnie knows a guy). Backs are patted and palms are greased.

Chapter Two: Blowouts 77

 You drink some blood; you have a few laughs; you gossip. You people know to stay away from it. If folks look the other way
decide who gets whacked. and keep their children at home, no gets hurt. Some say it’s
The Block Party is all about tribe. Sometimes it arises from the mafia. Others, witches. And some say it’s zombies risen
proximity: the locals, the neighborhood, your city against from the grave to celebrate being dead. Whatever it is, it sure
theirs. Sometimes it comes down to clan or covenant. These does sound like fun. Maybe just a peek…?
people may not look like you, but they think like you — or at
least, you all have something in common. That common goal
is a reason to congregate so goals can be advanced under the
guise of a social event. This kind of gathering is where the
The Bonding
nitty gritty, city-level politics happen. They might be annual It’s the typical rags to riches story. She was his favorite pet once,
affairs, or someone influential might send out the call when a secretary who didn’t know he was dead. Did everything for him,
an issue needs to be solved. You don’t pass around graft learned all his secrets. When she got her first gray hair, he made her a
money at a Ball, and you don’t plan the Prince’s assassination ghoul to keep her around as long as he could.
at a Bacchanal. Think of mob bros sitting around shooting But even ghouls can’t last forever. Besides, that kind of intimacy so
the shit and eating hot dogs (or rather, plasma). It’s familiar, easily blooms into something deeper. He Embraced her, of course, and
habitual, and oh so useful. they were Poe and Lenore after that, all wrapped up in each other
Possible Moods: Business and Pleasure like no one else existed in the whole world. He never went anywhere
without his little wife. And as for her? You’ve never seen such
Subgenres: Festivals — Celebrate and contribute to the All
devotion, and anyone who notes her remarkable yellow eyes is swiftly
Night Society’s best interests. Wakes — Share war stories, pay
silenced. He wouldn’t have anything tarnish his happily-ever-after.
your respects, and see where things stand.
Forever is a long time. Sometimes, you need someone — or
more than one — you can trust, a partner in crime who can put
Story Seed up with all your BS, make you laugh, and who has your back
• Everyone knows that on midsummer night, someone throws even when your enemies are howling at the gates. A marriage
a party up on the hill in the parklands, just outside the cem- can assure (as much as Kindred can be assured of anything)
etery. Eerie music drifts over stagnant June air, live fiddlers that this is one Bond that won’t break. The living might pledge
and accordions, shouts of joy and shrieking laughter, and till death do us part, but when you’re already dead, there’s a
even the occasional pop of bottle rockets. It’s a tradition, and different weight to that sentiment.

78 Sin Again: Daeva

 The exact nature of the ceremony varies depending on cove-
nant, clan, and mortal culture. The Invictus are well known for
officiating the Oath of Matrimony (Secrets of the Covenants,
p. 190), and sometimes marriage ceremonies are worked into The Brainteaser
rituals and Scales, or even inductions into bloodlines. They can Vampires LARP, right? How to Host a Murder-style
also help distribute assets or raise wayward childer, and even games aren’t quite party genres in their own right,
political alliances can be solemnized this way, especially in the but they do provide a way for Kindred to get in a
lighter mood, allowing participants to test out their
Lancea et Sanctum. Sometimes the Embrace itself is celebrated sleuthing skills in a controlled environment. Each
with a wedding, with a cake and a honeymoon and everything. attendee might be expected to wear a costume
Possible Moods: Union and Devotion or guard secrets as they solve puzzles, either as a
group or against one another. Sometimes vampires
Subgenres: Shotgun weddings — Sired a revenant out of wed- (being vampires) go method with these games,
lock. Elopements — It’s Vegas, baby! using them as an excuse to dispose of mortals who
know too much, or ghouls who’ve deeply displeased
their masters.
Story Seeds Everyone’s dressed to perfection in all their 1790s
• In some of the bloodier cults of the Mother’s Army, a common glory. It’s a glamorous version of the actual French
Revolution, but it brings back many sweet memories.
ritual to prove devotion is the sacrifice of each betrothed’s
When the mortal tricked into being the Duc de Lyon
eldest ghoul. By draining their partner’s offering, each vampire is guillotined in the garden, all the other “aristocrats”
takes the other’s household into their blood in a symbolic bind- drink his blood in a toast to their fallen comrade
ing of their Requiems. This small loss is a figurative reminder and work together to identify the Committee Agent
of their original deaths, and a promise to defend one another hiding in their midst. But when another aristocrat — a
vampire this time — is found rotting in the foyer and
against all dangers. Of course, it’s a problem if these ghouls
all the doors supernaturally shut, the game takes
catch wind of what’s in store for them. What happens when on a terrifying edge. Suddenly, solving the murder
the rings go missing on the night of the wedding? and unmasking the murderer is paramount… or you
might be next.
• They were married in 1887 at the grand opening of the
Eiffel Tower. They lived through the turn of two centuries,
renewing their vows each time laws and customs changed.
They’ve made their haven on three continents since then, but
tonight, their dynasty is nothing by dust. There’s a danger in The Matrix Reloaded, directed by the Wachowskis: The
being so wrapped up in one another that you tune out the rave scene in this second Matrix entry brings the viewer into
rest of the Danse Macabre. More than once, their childer the underbelly of the human resistance. When the world out-
have burned for their neglect. Perhaps that’s why they’ve side is trying to destroy you, these brief moments of joy keep
been seeking a third, someone fresh and beautiful and young. the darkness at bay one beat at a time. With the bass shaking
Someone who can dust off their isolation and bring them up their bones, bodies writhe against one another, feeding off the
into a modern world. They’re taking applications and hiring crowd’s energy. That heightened pleasure reminds them what
matchmakers: Must have a zest for death; Gen-X or younger; living’s all about, and what could be more Kindred than that?
no living relatives. No one can swing like the dead. Only Lovers Left Alive, directed by Jim Jarmusch: Adam and
Eve, despondent and irreverent vampire power couple, show-
case what a Bond might look like through the ages (especially
Inspirational Media one between Mekhet). While these two crave different things,
The Great, created by Tony McNamara: A number of with very different Requiems on distant corners of the globe,
Banquets feature in this historical dramedy, but especially they’re still devoted to each other’s happiness. It can be difficult
appropriate to the Kindred is the one where a troop of Swedish to keep with the changing times, but if you have someone who
soldiers’ heads are served, with the guests popping out their understands you that well, perhaps the endless nights can be
eyes to stuff them with meatballs. The Great showcases how a little less dark.
a feast can build alliances, mend fences, and display power… Trainspotting, directed by Danny Boyle: They may be a small
and how quickly it can descend into chaos if someone says the crowd, but the crew from Trainspotting gives us a glimpse at the
wrong thing. Block Party. They all come from different worlds, but they’re
The Great Gatsby, directed by Baz Luhrman: Did anyone all pissing their lives away as best they can. What brings them
ever throw a party like Gatsby? This film adaptation is a mixed together is their mutual addiction — sure, for them it’s heroin, but
bag, but the anachronistic mash up of time periods showcase it could just as easily be for blood. Whether at the train tracks or
the enthusiastic lust for life that is the Bash genre. Of course, the nightclub, they gather to share in their mutual dissolution.
not every Bash needs to be this extravagant or last as long, but Then they band together to try to pull off a harebrained scheme,
if you want inspiration for what to do that’s out of the ordinary, but what sounds great in the throes of revelry doesn’t always hold
Gatsby’s got it on tap. together in the cold reality of morning.

Chapter Two: Blowouts 79

 Up All Night: Blowout Systems
Throwing a vampire party is easier said than done. There’s a Cheap
reason Elysium Masters are well-paid positions in most domains,
The coterie can get this done without a lot of resources,
and every covenant has its own specialized roles for handling
though you’ll have to sacrifice speed or quality. A Cheap party
social gatherings. Even the Dragons have a guy who maintains
doesn’t mean it’s poor quality (that’s what Good is for). You can
emergency procedures in case a good time breaks out.
still put on a rave with Solo cups and a boombox.
Kindred don’t throw parties just to entertain each other,
System: Blowouts that lack the Cheap quality gain the
though. Vampires are users. They only put themselves out if
Expensive Social Tilt.
they want something, and they never send out invitations unless
they want something big. Fast
The following is a player-facing system for hosting parties and Your coterie is equipped to handle whatever time constraint
other social gatherings in the Danse Macabre, a special form of their planning falls under, even if they have to spend a lot of
Social maneuvering Kindred characters can employ to climb money or patch over the rough edges.
the cannibal totem pole with a little help from their friends. The word Fast here is a bit relative. Five hours is more than
enough leadup time to cover a small gathering, whereas six
months is barely enough to cover a large convention. It’s more
Stage One: Planning that parties that lack this quality don’t have enough time.
Being eternal, Kindred can spend decades plotting out every System: Blowouts that lack the Fast quality gain the Delicate
minute of a social gathering, but even a spontaneous party Timing Social Tilt.
needs a little prep.
Good
You want the best of the best. That might mean spending a lot
Goals of money or taking a lot of time, but it’ll be worth it in the end.
First, decide on the party’s goal: What are the characters Parties that lack this quality aren’t necessarily “bad.”
trying to accomplish? Do they have a specific agenda in mind, Neglecting Good just means the coterie had to break out a lot
or are they just trying to make a name for themselves in the of duct tape and prayer. They can still achieve their goal, but
All Night Society? Has an elder or another important figure maybe only by the skin of their fangs.
tasked them with a particular agenda, or is the party a front
System: Blowouts that lack the Good quality gain the High
for a more devious scheme?
Stress Social Tilt.
Second, each player should decide what their character’s
individual goal is. Are they sucking up to a superior? Trying to
humiliate a rival? Or are they just putting on a show to be seen?
Difficulty
Murphy’s Law is the only law at a Blowout, and when you
Finally, decide what kind of party it is, and how big it should
throw Kindred in the mix, its many codicils are on full display.
be (see “Genres” on p. 75 if you need inspiration). Who’s on the
Social Tilts represent obstacles the coterie must resolve over
guest list: one covenant only or every bloodsucker in town? What
the course of the night, with the exception of the one from
do the attendees hope to gain by attending: prestige, protection,
Cheap/Fast/Good.
or opportunity? And what kind of entertainments might they
expect: a feast, a game, or a seduction? What about all three? System: The Storyteller chooses a number of Tilts to apply
based on the coterie’s goal and how difficult it will be to
accomplish. Bigger goals mean bigger Blowouts, and bigger
Cheap, Fast, Good Blowouts mean bigger problems. However, they also mean the
Once the players decide on the party’s goal, they need to players have more chances to rack up Beats. A party should
figure out how to accomplish it. Are they putting a lot of never have fewer than three Tilts at minimum or more than
money into it? How about effort? And what kind of timeline ten at maximum; consult the chart below for guidelines (see
do they have? p. 85 for sample Social Tilts).
This step follows the old Cheap, Fast, Good principle, more Each Tilt takes a scene to resolve. To start, the coterie has
formally known as the project management triangle. You can a number of scenes to complete their Blowout equal to total
have two, but that means the one you leave out is going to make Tilts, but this will change throughout the night.
your night more difficult. A party will always have an element At this stage, the Storyteller only needs to state the number
you have to work around, and that defines how the characters of Tilts she’ll be applying to the Blowout. When the Hosting
will go about their planning and hosting. Choose one of the stage begins, she reveals them as they come up, though she can
following categories to discard; this choice applies a mechanical reveal them all at once if she wants to give the players a preview
and narrative disadvantage to the party (see p. 84). of what they’re in for.

80 Sin Again: Daeva

 Once they’ve chosen their dice pools, the troupe takes turns
describing and playing out actions that might help resolve the
Tilt. Once a character has played out her action, her player
Blowout Difficulty Scale makes a roll. On a success, the coterie overcomes a hurdle,
and on an exceptional success, they overcome two. With a
Scenario Tilts failure, the coterie encounters a roadblock, a twist or a com-
Prom 3–4 plication that fouls up the plan. The Storyteller narrates the
Big Wedding 5–6 complication, and the player who failed must choose one of
the following actions:
Local Fan Convention 7–8
• She can accept the roadblock and move on, passing the action
Fashion Week 9–10 to the next player. All remaining rolls to clear hurdles in this
scene take a –1 due to the flaw in the coterie’s original plan.
• She can use the Beast to grasp victory from the jaws of defeat.
The player describes an action that aligns with a facet of the
Prep Bestial Triad (Vampire, p. 92), and her character overcomes
the hurdle through monstrous cunning. This is an act of
Once the troupe decides on all of these terms and limitations,
animal desperation, and it must reflect the Beast’s cruelty:
each player narrates their character’s main contribution to the
She gains Bestial, Competitive, or Wanton, or she must resist
Blowout. They don’t need to go into detail; they just need to
frenzy if she already has one of these.
explain how they accomplished the task. These preparations
must be within a character’s financial means, social status, and • The player can reveal how her character foresaw this even-
individual capability, mundane or otherwise. tuality with her prep action, negating the roadblock and
As long as this action is in a character’s wheelhouse, no roll treating the roll as a success. This applies once per Blowout
is required, but if the character wants to swing for the fences, per character.
break out the dice. Failure doesn’t mean she didn’t contribute, On a failure, a player can also choose to dramatically fail,
it just means she only scraped things together at the last minute. humiliating herself and the coterie. All rolls to overcome hur-
She cannot dramatically fail or exceptionally succeed; this is dles suffer a –1 for the rest of the Blowout.
simply a pass or fail roll. This action comes into play in the If all hurdles are overcome in this round of actions, the Tilt is
Hosting stage, below. resolved. However, if each character has acted and any hurdles
A character can also choose to shirk her responsibilities to remain, the coterie must make an act of desperation.
focus on herself. If a player forgoes a prep action for his character, The players elect a point character to make a final, heroic
she refreshes a Willpower. She performs the bare minimum but effort. To do so, she must make a roll penalized by any remain-
doesn’t go out of her way for the rest of the coterie. ing hurdles, plus any other modifiers the coterie may have
incurred. How many hurdles they failed to resolve should
influence the narrative difficulty of this effort.
Stage Two: Hosting The player must choose a completely different Attribute +
Hosting is the night of. Who’s the life of the party and who’s Skill combination than the one she used before, as something
the no-funner? Who frenzies and who insults the Prince? needs to fundamentally change about her tactics. Succeed or
The answers to those questions are up to the coterie. fail, she refreshes a Willpower for taking this action. On a
failure, the coterie can choose to accept a dramatic one, but
only if the choice is unanimous.
Resolving Tilts
Each Tilt has a number of hurdles to break down, equal to Resolution Results
the number of characters in the coterie plus two. Success: All hurdles have been removed. The Tilt ends and
To overcome hurdles, the players must first come up with a each coterie member gains a Beat for contributing. A scene passes.
plan, in- or out-of-character, noting each vampire’s contribution. Exceptional Success: The coterie cleared all hurdles without
They can choose to resolve these actions in any order. Each player a desperation action, and the issue was handled so efficiently
chooses an appropriate Attribute + Skill that represents their that they have time to spare. Choose one: Gain an extra scene
character’s effort, and can spend a Vitae to add Discipline dots or regain 10-again on a stalled Tilt.
to this roll. However, doing so means any failure is dramatic, as Failure: The coterie left hurdles in place; the Tilt continues to
guests take poorly to such manipulations. Discipline use is a sign wreak havoc and a scene passes. They must begin from scratch
to other Kindred that the character lacks wit and social grace, or on another attempt later in the evening. If the coterie has can’t
that they consider their guests little better than kine. stall for more scenes, the Blowout is also a failure.
Narratively, these actions can involve more than one coterie Dramatic Failure: The coterie resolved no hurdles. As with
member, but only one player makes the roll. a failure, but the Tilt gains an additional hurdle for later.

Chapter Two: Blowouts 81

 Stalling
Unless it was an exceptional success, the Storyteller advances
the narrative by a scene whenever the coterie makes an attempt
on a Social Tilt, whether pass or fail. This can and will create
Pacing
The number of scenes the coterie gets to overcome
situations where the troupe has more Tilts than scenes left, but their Tilts isn’t the exact amount of time the party
that doesn’t mean the Blowout suddenly fails. will take in- or out-of-character. The Storyteller is
Whenever the players are between Tilts and need an extra encouraged to include plot-related encounters in the
party and give the characters time to socialize or get
scene, they can choose an unresolved Tilt and declare that
wrapped up in intrigues. Such scenes don’t cut into
they’re stalling for time, with one or more players describing the coterie’s allotted time to resolve Tilts, but they
how their characters babysit the problem. If this makes sense might create organic places to introduce them.
to the narrative, it succeeds, and the coterie gains an addi- If the party occurs over several nights, the
tional scene to take care of that Tilt later. A Social Tilt can Storyteller might seed Social Tilts through multiple
only be stalled once, but the players can tackle it whenever chapters, treating them more like random encoun-
ters. If you’re willing to do a bit more bookkeeping,
they like. you might also stagger hurdle-clearing actions, letting
However, stalling also means the problem has more time to players approach problems organically rather than
fester, leaving no room for error: Rolls to resolve stalled Tilts sequentially. The system still works as described; just
lose the 10-again quality. keep track of who’s rolled against which Tilt and
how many hurdles have been cleared for each one.

Merits
Merits interact with hurdles as they would any other action.
Status adds dice to Social rolls with relevant characters, had a good time, and any drama was at least entertaining. In
Professional Training confers the 9-again quality on asset addition to achieving the coterie’s overall goal and the Beats
Skills, and so forth. However, if a Merit is narratively relevant gained from resolving Tilts, each character earns a free dot
to an action or Skill, but its mechanics don’t translate into the to spend on a Social Merit related to their personal goal. In
Blowout system, treat it as a Specialty. addition, the characters increase their impression levels by a
step with vampires who attended the party. This doesn’t apply
Vampires Ruin Everything to characters with a hostile impression (due to being ejected
or manhandled during Social Tilt resolution, for example).
With teamwork, a coterie should have no problem taking
down Tilts and throwing a fabulous party. All it takes is a bit Exceptional Success: The coterie also resolved Cheap, Fast,
of trust and teamwork. Good Tilt. The Kindred will remember this party for decades
to come, and anyone the coterie was looking to impress or spite
And then all the Kindred in the room had a good laugh. won’t be able to ignore them any longer. As with a success, but
A coterie member may sit out a Tilt if she chooses, enjoying the next Social maneuvering action a character takes with an
the party or working on her own goal. If so, she refreshes attendee ignores the first two doors.
two Willpower. The rest of the group will be down a body Failure: The coterie didn’t resolve the required Tilts in time.
to deal with hurdles, but the scofflaw doesn’t gain a Beat for The party wasn’t bad, but the characters were too busy spinning
resolving the Tilt she begs off. However, the player might be plates to achieve their goals. Each character takes a Beat for the
recruited as an extra in the relevant scene (see “Handling the effort. If a party becomes impossible to succeed, they can still
Guestlist,” p. 87). attend to remaining Tilts for Beats.
A character doesn’t need to sit out for every single personal Dramatic Failure: The coterie somehow resolved none of
affair she wants to attend to. Finding a minute to pay respects their Tilts, or the players unanimously decided to downgrade
to an old mentor just out of torpor doesn’t count, but spending a normal failure. They’ll be talking about this one for years,
an hour arranging a secret blood doll exchange with the Ordo but not for the right reasons. In addition to any narrative con-
Dracul definitely does. sequence for screwing up this badly, each character loses a dot
of Kindred Status (or another Social Merit of the Storyteller’s
choice) and gains two Beats. Sanctity of Merits applies.
Stage Three: Aftermath
Finally, the Aftermath. This is where we tally up the score and
see how the party went. Who got a record deal? Who got laid? Example of Social Tilt Resolution
Who died? Like any other action, the characters can succeed, Sam is running a Blowout in his Vampire: The Requiem
exceptionally succeed, fail, or dramatically fail. chronicle for Roman, Jesse, and Mike. Mike is playing Vivian
Success: The coterie cleared all the required Tilts in time. Sharpe, Jesse is playing DeForest Moretti, and Roman is playing
The party went the way they intended, the gathered Kindred Daniel Teller, all of Clan Daeva.

82 Sin Again: Daeva

 So far, the night’s been going well, with the characters assuring Sam: “You feel the room’s energy shift immediately.
their guests have a stimulating, conflict-free evening. However, Everyone’s looking at you, laughing at your jokes and ignoring
just as they begin to rest on their laurels, an unwelcome guest the edgelord Nosferatu. Even the ghouls are standing up to
arrives: O’Neill, an unaligned Nosferatu who enjoys making the him now. That doesn’t last long, though, because by their
rest of the All Night Society squirm as much as his skin does. expressions, he’s broken out the Nightmare. Still, he’s rattled,
The coterie finds itself facing an Interloper (p. 85). like he wasn’t expecting this kind of concerted opposition. All
Sam: “The Haunt is dressed in bloody, mud-caked rags that right, Daniel’s up next.”
smell as bad as he looks, if that’s even possible. He’s not invited, Roman: “So, while most of the guests are watching
but he’s not the kind of Lick you ask for an RSVP anyway. He DeForest, Daniel is looking for his cousin Solveig, the angri-
circulates around the scandalized guests, man-handling blood est Carthian in town. Dan’s going to play off her sympathy
dolls and scaring off ghouls. What’s the plan?” for the working man and suggest someone needs to speak up
The players give their characters a moment to huddle and discuss for all the poor, abused little ghouls getting pushed around
their plan of action. They’re a group of three, so they’ll have to overcome by this prick.”
five hurdles. Once they’re happy with their plan, they start taking Jesse: “While he does that, DeForest is doing the equivalent
turns. Jesse goes first. of Invictus stand-up comedy, with a few Carthian jokes thrown
Jesse: “DeForest walks into the center of the room and starts in Solveig’s direction to get her worked up.”
entertaining the crowd, very pointedly ignoring O’Neill’s antics. Sam and Roman play out a dialogue between Solveig and Daniel,
He’s going to try to deflate his whole ‘I don’t give a crap’ attitude with Daniel seeding the idea that O’Neill has some sort of grudge
by getting in a bunch of not-so-subtle digs about him, which against these ghouls and blood dolls, and that Solveig’s the only one
will hopefully put everyone more at ease so he can’t bully them. with the resolve to defend the working class.
I’m going to use Presence + Socialize.” Roman: “Can I roll Manipulation + Politics? I want to use
Sam: “Do you want to add Majesty to this?” her class consciousness to my advantage.”
Jesse: “Sure. Feels appropriate.” Sam: “It’s definitely playing on her political biases, but it feels
DeForest also has two dots of Etiquette, and Sam agrees that can more like it falls under Persuasion. Or Subterfuge, especially if
apply as a Specialty. Jesse spends a Vitae and rolls DeForest’s Presence Daniel’s not being sincere.”
+ Socialize + Majesty with a +1 modifier (8), scoring five successes: an Roman: “Definitely not.”
exceptional success! That’s two hurdles down, three to go. Sam: “And I’ll give you a +1 for DeForest’s tight five.”

Chapter Two: Blowouts 83

 Roman rolls Daniel’s Manipulation + Subterfuge with a +1 from collar and he stalks off. He won’t be back, but the coterie might
Jesse (6) and earns two successes. Not as effective as DeForest, but it have earned a new enemy tonight…”
gets the job done. Three hurdles down, two to go. With that, the gang has cleared their first Social Tilt. Vivian
Solveig nods in agreement at Daniel’s well-considered diatribe on takes a Willpower for getting rid of O’Neill, and everyone
Kindred class warfare, stomping over to O’Neill and getting in his gains a Beat. The coterie carries on with their evening, ready
face, preventing him from slipping away. for whatever comes next.
Sam: “O’Neill is pretty well cornered now, but he might still
have a few outs. Vivian?”
Mike: “So, Vivian is high on the physical side of her clan, Cheap, Fast, Good Tilts
and she cuts a pretty imposing figure even in pumps and a Choose one of the following Tilts to apply to the party for its
cocktail dress. She makes a beeline for Solveig and O’Neill duration. Ending this Tilt isn’t required to complete a Blowout,
and gets right between them, making a big show of being super but it can upgrade a success to an exceptional one. This Tilt
not cool with this sort of conflict. But, she acts like O’Neill is a fundamental part of the party, and far more intransigent
is the instigator, and berates him for behaving like a neonate. than other Social Tilts. There’s no dedicated scene set aside to
Then, she puts a firm hand on his shoulder and starts to escort deal with it, and it takes an additional two hurdles to resolve.
him out, loudly declaring that violence at an Elysium is deeply
shameful. I’m thinking Strength + Intimidation.”
Mike decides to spend Willpower to see if he can get an exceptional
success and end this here and now. He rolls Strength + Intimidation +3 EXPENSIVE
(10). Unfortunately, the coterie’s luck decides to run out here: Despite (NOT CHEAP)
Vivian’s beefy dice pool, Mike rolls no successes.
Description: It’s gonna cost ya.
Sam: “Vivian makes her big speech and puts O’Neill in her
Effect: The coterie has put up its own resources to cover the
vice-like grip. At first, the Haunt seems to accept it; maybe he’s
cost of the party. Maybe they took out a loan or made some
had his fun and the game’s grown tiresome. However, just as
promises they can’t really keep. Whether the party succeeds
you’re about to shove him out the door, he gets a nasty look in
or not, the characters are will have to pay up at the end of
his eye and disappears into the shadows. Since you’ve failed on
the night, each sacrificing a dot of Feeding Grounds, Haven,
the last roll, you don’t have many options. Do you want to use up
Resources, Retainer, or Staff for the rest of the month/story.
your prep action or lay Vivian’s Beast on him? Or do you want
to let it stand? You’ll have to try desperation no matter what.” Causing the Tilt: Favoring Fast and Good over Cheap.
Mike: “Yeah, I’ll let it stand. It’s only the first Tilt and I don’t Ending the Tilt: Find someone to foot the bill; win a patron’s
want to go all out just yet. Is everyone okay if Vivian plays hero?” favor; pin the expenses on someone else.
Jesse and Roman have no objections, so Mike describes Vivian’s
desperation action.
Mike: “Just as O’Neill winks out, Vivian’s lizard brain takes DELICATE TIMING
over and she just flings her hand out, hoping to grab him in (NOT FAST)
the split second before he has time to get away. I’m going with
Dexterity + Brawl.” Description: The gang took a lot more time than they really
Since there are two hurdles left and Mike let his failure stand, had, and any glitches will bring things tumbling down.
Vivian’s action takes a –3 modifier. Mike decides to spend a Willpower Effect: At the beginning of the Hosting stage, the Storyteller
again, then goes for broke by spending a Vitae to add Celerity, which rolls a die in secret and asks the troupe if they choose high or
risks making the resolution a dramatic failure if he doesn’t succeed. low. Low is a result of 1 to 5; high is 6 to 10. If they choose
He puts together his Dexterity + Brawl + Celerity, adding a +3 from correctly, nothing happens. Everything comes together accord-
Willpower but negating it with the penalty (7). He rolls… and gets ing to plan! If they’re wrong, things get dicey. If and when the
one success! The bare minimum, but enough to finally take out the coterie resolves all the required Tilts, the Storyteller gets to
Interloper. throw in one more. Some hitch or oversight sets off a domino
Sam: “Okay, so you grab him on instinct, way faster than effect, and the characters have to deal with it at the last minute.
he can think or move. It’s so surprising that he inadvertently The coterie gets one more scene to complete this task, excluding
drops his Obfuscate for all the world to see.” any extras they may have accrued with exceptional successes.
Roadblocks arising from this Tilt are immune to prep actions,
Mike: “‘Don’t pull that Haunt shit, asshole. You think that
as it quite literally came out of nowhere, and it cannot be stalled.
scares me?’”
Causing the Tilt: Favoring Cheap and Good over Fast.
Sam: “The crowd laughs and cheers, and for just a moment,
you think O’Neill’s Beast is going to claw your face off… but Ending the Tilt: You can’t account for everything. The only
then he just puts up his hands in surrender. You release his way to end this Tilt is if it goes off.

84 Sin Again: Daeva

 Possible Resolutions: Make sure some of that glow falls on
HIGH STRESS the coterie; convince them to cede the spotlight for a favor;
(NOT GOOD) make a bigger distraction.

Description: If anyone so much as sneezes, this will all go

down in flames. DRAMATIC REVEAL
Effect: Rolls to resolve hurdles take a permanent –2 modi-
fier, as the characters are forced to put out an endless supply Description: One of the guests has chosen the party as a
of small fires over the course of the evening (often represented venue to drop a bombshell. Maybe he’s planning on confessing
by roadblocks), distracting them from more pressing matters. his undying love for the Prince before the masses, or maybe
These hiccups might be centered around one particular element he’s going to load up on vodka cooler–laced blood and reveal
of the Blowout: the venue, the staff, the “catering,” etc. a secret he really shouldn’t.
Causing the Tilt: Favoring Cheap and Fast over Good. Possible Resolutions: Head the character off at the pass; play
Ending the Tilt: Dealing with each problem individually is it off as a joke or a lie; convince him there are better venues for
just whack-a-mole. If the characters can sort out the root of the this revelation (like a rival’s party).
problem, they might be able to patch the leak long enough to
deal with everything else. This Tilt must be dealt with before
any others; if not, it can’t be resolved. ELDER HATES YOUR GUTS
Description: It doesn’t even matter if you deserve it, he’s
Social Tilts going to shit talk this shindig to his friends in attendance no
matter how well you pull it off. This Tilt usually applies to only
The following are examples of the kinds of problems that one character, but the elder’s ire extend to the whole coterie.
might arise during the coterie’s party. Descriptions are fairly
Possible Resolutions: Placate the elder, at least for the night;
general, with plenty of room to tailor them to the specifics of
find a way to keep out of sight; make him look foolish for being
your chronicle. Storytellers should also feel free to come up with
so petty.
their own. You can also treat Tilts as multi-part, representing
several events with only one narrative thread. This can avoid
making the party too fragmented, although some troupes might
enjoy the chaos.
ENEMIES
Social Tilts are written with a lighter tone, but that doesn’t
Description: Two Kindred (or more) with an undying hatred
mean your Blowout has to be a comedy of errors. All of these
for one another have chosen the coterie’s party to make a scene.
scenarios can be played straight, and are good prompts for
This might also tie into the Dramatic Reveal Tilt, as one or both
serious drama. However, you can absolutely lean into the sit-
of these characters chooses to burn the other to the ground.
com tropes if you want to. The Kindred don’t like to admit it,
but What We Do in the Shadows is much closer to the All Night Possible Resolutions: Defuse the tension; keep them away
Society than they would have you believe. Daeva are especially from each other; channel their hatred into something useful.
prone to this kind of farce; sometimes being the most human
also means being the biggest idiot.
GHOSTED
CANCELLATION Description: The guest of honor didn’t show. Maybe no one
knows where they are, or maybe they just got cold feet and refuse
Description: The band is stuck on the interstate with two to unlock the bathroom door.
flats in bumper-to-bumper traffic in the middle of an ice storm Possible Resolutions: Send out a search party; find a replace-
on the Thanksgiving weekend. ment; find a double.
Possible Resolutions: Recruit a guest to perform; become
the entertainment; strike up some interesting conversations.
INTERLOPERS
DISTRACTING CELEBRITY Description: They aren’t on the list! Are they here to have fun
or are they here to make trouble? Maybe that’s one and the same.
Description: Sure, it’s great to have the cool kids at your Possible Resolutions: Eject them without causing a brawl;
party, but what if that’s all anyone cares about? Just try to play get them promise a favor for their continued presence; make
politics when all anyone wants is a selfie with what’s-his-face. them someone else’s problem.

Chapter Two: Blowouts 85

 JOYLESS ASSHOLE
Description: Some vampires come to parties just to spread “Why Don’t Social Tilts
their own misery. Have Modifiers?”
Possible Resolutions: Quarantine them in their own “special” The penalty of Social Tilts is to serve as a narrative
distraction from what the characters really want to
area; deflate their ego; trick them into having a good time. do with their Blowout. They’re also story prompts
to give players a sense of forward momentum as
the night goes on. However, Storytellers can choose
LAST MINUTE CHANGE to apply modifiers based on Tilts in the right cir-
cumstances. For example, the Distracting Celebrity
probably makes it hard to get a word in edgewise
Description: Something important has to be changed at the if you’re standing near her, and Overcrowding will
last minute: the venue, the dress code, etc. Now the coterie has make it difficult to track down the Enemies. Only
to scramble to update their guests. Most attendees are savvy apply these modifiers if they clash with a player’s
enough to carry cellphones, but a few older vampires aren’t so described action. If she can think of an alternative
or a workaround, let her have it.
accessible, and they just hate surprises.
Possible Resolutions: Put out the word without reliance
on modern technology; make it up to them; find a scapegoat.

MISTER ANGRY PROTEST

Description: One of the guests is having a bad night. They Description: The coterie pissed off the wrong group in their
didn’t mean to bring the negative energy, but if anyone pushes effort to put their party together, and now a not-insignificant
them, they’re going to lose it. This won’t just be snarling at the number of vampires (or their pawns) are protesting the event.
waiter; this will mean bloodshed. Possible Resolutions: Convince a few of them to cross the
Possible Resolutions: Calm them down; remove them with- picket line; make the protesters look foolish; make a show of
out provoking them; find a way for them to channel their anger strength, but without leading to any serious violence.
into something useful.

RAN OUT OF SNACKS

MORTAL SCRUTINY
Description: The blood dolls got tapped early.
Description: The party has caught the attention of mortal Possible Resolutions: Find some disposable mortals; draft a
looky-loos, or a dangerous, volatile contingent like the police. few ghouls for money or favor; propose a group hunt.
Possible Resolutions: Make sure no one breaches the
Masquerade; “Nothing to see here!”; scare them off.
RIVAL EVENT
OVERCROWDING Description: Whether through a scheduling mishap or pure
malice, another group of Kindred is holding their own event
Description: The coterie overestimated the size of the venue tonight, and the guestlist has some serious overlap.
or underestimated the size of their guestlist. Possible Resolutions: Merge the events; prove that your party
Possible Resolutions: Herd attendees into manageable is more important; sabotage.
groups around the venue; find more space outside without
putting the Masquerade in danger; get a new venue.
SOMEBODY DIED!
OVERHYPED Description: Well, shit. Some greedy Lick fed too much, and
now you’ve got a dead blood doll or ghoul on your hands. Or
Description: The coterie was too successful in selling their maybe some mortal’s heart just gave out taking coke on the
party, and now the pressure is on for it to live up to expectations. toilet. In any case, you’d better smooth things over.
Possible Resolutions: Pull out all the stops; lower expectations Possible Resolutions: Make it look like they died somewhere
without tanking them; blame someone else for overselling it. else; Weekend at Renfield’s; the Embrace…?

86 Sin Again: Daeva

 Handling the Guestlist
Running parties in a roleplaying game is a lot of work for Storytellers, and it can be especially daunting to manage
multiple Storyteller characters all at once. How are you supposed to keep all those names and motives and hatreds straight?
Here’s a secret: That’s what players are for.
Often, players do a lot of sitting around in party scenes. It’s rare that the coterie will stick together for the whole
evening, even at a Blowout, and as focus moves around the cast, it means some members won’t have much to do.
It’s good to give folks a break, but you also don’t want them getting bored.
If you have a social gathering scene that focuses on only part of the coterie, offer to cast players with downtime
in walk-on roles. An extra only needs a Mask, a Dirge, an Aspiration, and a few roleplaying tips or motives. You can
be more elaborate with traits if you like, but usually those are enough for a player to go on, and you can always
provide more detailed statistics if and when they become relevant. A numeral between 1 and 10 is easy to hand
out on the fly, and Disciplines are usually limited by clan or bloodline anyway. If you prefer a bit more mechanical
weight but don’t need a complete character sheet, consider modifying the various sample antagonists found in the
Chronicles of Darkness Rulebook, starting on p. 119.
Portraying a supporting character is completely voluntary, but, as an added incentive, if the player fulfills this
extra’s Mask or Dirge, her own character gets the Willpower, and if she fulfills his Aspiration, she gets the Beat.
Normally, you won’t be assigning major antagonists to your players — but nothing says you can’t. Just make sure your
troupe is okay with seeing behind the screen, and that they know exactly what they need to do (and what they shouldn’t).
This technique is similar to troupe play, a method of roleplaying where players take up multiple characters in the
chronicle rather than just one. If you need some reference points, check out The Pack, p. 26.

SPIKED PUNCH UNCOOL

Description: Someone dosed the blood and now half the Description: Even young vampires can be hopelessly anach-
guests are on… something. They can’t seem to get off it, either. ronistic at times, and younger vampires can be judgy in rather
Possible Resolutions: Assure that no one does anything they’ll innovative ways. Whether your characters are total fossils or
make you regret; find the culprit; get everyone high. just tragically unhip, the neonates are making a meal of your
sartorial and/or decorative choices.
Possible Resolutions: Prove your cool credentials; win them
STARFUCKER with substance over style; if all else fails, make ’em laugh.

Description: “Oh my god, it’s you!” One of the characters

or an important guest has a fan, and they will. Not. Go. Away. VERMIN
Possible Resolutions: Find someone else for them to bother;
don a disguise; hide-and-seek. Description: Some Savage brought his entourage, or the
photos of this place were deceptive, or the coterie just overes-
timated its “rustic” charms. However it happened, the venue
SUBDUED is crawling with rats, or roaches, or both (or worse), and it’s
only going to get worse before it gets better. In any event,
Description: Maybe everyone’s in a low mood, or maybe the tread lightly.
coterie misjudged their guests’ tastes, but either way, the All Night Possible Resolutions: Call a very subtle exterminator before
Society looks like it might pack it early for once. anyone notices; lean into it; negotiate.
Possible Resolutions: Amp up the entertainment; get some
juicy gossip going; stir up some (non-violent) drama.
WEIRDO
TERRIBLE ENTERTAINER Description: Who invited her? Some outcast of the All Night
Society is here, whether by grudging necessity or oversight,
Description: He’s dying out there, and if you don’t do some- and they’re the kind of Lick all the important vampires have
thing quick, that statement won’t be metaphorical. shunned for her bizarre behavior.
Possible Resolutions: Warm up the crowd; “It’s anti-humor!”; Possible Resolutions: Get rid of the weirdo; prove the weir-
kill him yourself. do’s not so bad; convince the weirdo to behave.

Chapter Two: Blowouts 87

 Part Four: Let It Bleed
Sadie had never felt as out of place or time as she did in the middle of Robert Darcy’s living room.
“I like your place. Very… retro.” She paused, then winked. “Sorry, classic .”
classic.”
“Cute,” he replied. “I’ve been meaning to update it since I bought it… but it has a certain charm
for parties.”
“Yeah, I bet it was great when Mad Men wasn’t just a TV show.”
“Actually, I did have John Hamm over once.”
She raised an eyebrow. “Really?”
“You think I’d lie about celebrities?”
“Well, yeah.” She shrugged and approached the bar. She inspected the front row of bottles and
selected a white tequila. “Guys will do anything to get in a girl’s pants.”
Darcy looked on as she poured herself a shot, downed it, then poured another. He slid in and wrapped
his arms around her waist. “I think we’re past that, but let me tell you about the time Jack Nicholson—”
She silenced him with a shot glass against his lips. “This is good. Don’t make me drink alone.”
He smiled around the rim of the glass. Of course it was good: It was Casa Dragones Joven, three
hundred a bottle and straight from a Mexican agave farm. It was designed for sipping, not shooting,
but it was a special night, and apparently the blush was really pulling its weight today, so there was
no need to waste blood on it. He tilted his head back and let her feed him the shot.
He immediately regretted it. The smooth texture of the liquor flowed over his tongue and turned
to fire as it hit his throat. A few drops invaded his lungs, and he doubled over from a series of
violent coughs. He couldn’t stop. He couldn’t breathe
breathe,, and a jolt of adrenaline burned under the
flesh of his face and scalp.
Something was wrong; in his many years of using the deceiving his dates with a warmed face,
he’d never, ever choked. He wasn’t even sure he could.
Sadie clapped him on the back a few times, oblivious to his panic. “I didn’t picture you for a
lightweight, party boy.”
Darcy coughed a dozen more times until the liquid was expelled and he was once again in con-
trol. His heart pounded in his chest, but he forced the worry away from his face and hid behind a
chuckle. “I don’t normally drink… tequila.”
Sadie studied his face; she looked concerned. “You’re a little pale. Let’s get you into bed.”
“Only if you join me.”
“There he is. Lead on.” She took him by the hand, and the worry melted away.
Darcy showed her to his bedroom and took a seat on the edge of the California king, watching
as she gawked at his massive walk-in. Its floor was littered with dozens of garments, casualties of
tonight’s sartorial planning.
“Dude, you really like clothes.”
“Well, I am a model.”

88 Sin Again: Daeva

 “I had a feeling, but… wow.” She stepped inside and looked around. “Do you really need like…
fifty pairs of shoes? And there have to be a hundred shirts in here…”
“Women are usually into shoes.”
She spun out of the closest and took a long pull of her drink. “Shoes are fine, but it’s weird when
people put their money into them.” She paused. “All that stuff in the closet and bar… but the rest
of this place is so… old.”
“Not true,” he said. “I just had a skylight installed.”
She glanced above the bed, and a strange look crossed her face. Then she continued as if she
hadn’t heard him, making her way to the television. “You don’t even have a modern TV. This thing
has to be older than me. Does it even work?”
She pressed the power button and Darcy sprang from the bed. “Don’t touch that!”
It was too late. Startled by his outburst, she dropped her glass, which tumbled down into his
recliner and spilled its contents. She didn’t notice. The DVD had been looping since last night,
and the ecstatic sounds an orgy flooded the room.
“You know what you are, Robert? You’re pathetic,” Carmelita admonished.
The strength drained from Darcy in a cold wave. He watched Sadie’s eyes, unable to turn away.
She too seemed transfixed, her expression a mix of shock, revulsion, and, worst of all, pity.
“That’s her,” she said. Darcy didn’t respond, but she didn’t need him to. “She’s, uh… pretty.”
On the screen, Carmelita repeated her mantra: “Are you watching, Robert?”
“Jesus,” Sadie said, her nose wrinkling with disgust. “That’s either really kinky or really psycho.
Is that what you’re into?”
Darcy sank back into the bed and shook his head. “She had good reasons for wanting to hurt me.”
Sadie flicked the television off, silencing the grunts and moans. “That’s still really fucked up.”
“I deserve fucked up. I…” His voice trailed off as she took his face in her hands and lifted his chin.
He hadn’t noticed her walk to his side, and now she held him firmly. Her eyes met his through the
curtain of his curly hair, and the pain in his chest faded into the background. The world became
the softness of her skin and the smell of vanilla and cherry.
“Everyone who’s survived a toxic situation has one thing in common: we survived.” She leaned
forward and brushed her lips along his forehead. “You will too.”
“I don’t want to lie to you.”
“Then don’t.”
Darcy couldn’t think, and he still couldn’t breathe. His mind raced as it tried to make sense of
the night, the emotions that threatened to tear open his dead heart, and the years of pain that had
led him here. He shut his eyes and tried not to lie.
“Okay.” He wasn’t sure it had worked.
“I’m going to hold you to that.” She kissed his cheek, impossibly warm lips against clammy skin.
“I’m gonna take a shower. I’m betting you have a nice one.”
He nodded. “Ten showerheads.”
Her eyes widened. “Well, I can’t say no to that. But first...” She stood and wandered back into the
walk-in, browsing for a moment. From the bed, Darcy watched in fascination as she sifted through

Last Night 89
 hanging clothes. She selected a button collar dress shirt that he recognized as an Armani from
last season, and yanked it free of the hanger without removing it from the rack; the hanger bent,
swung, and clattered onto the floor.
She sashayed to the ensuite wearing an innocent expression. “What?”
“That’s a $750 shirt!”
She called back as she closed the bathroom door, “But you’re not thinking about being sad any-
more, are you?”
She had him there.
Darcy shook his head in disbelief. It was amazing. She had known him for only a few hours; he
could be literally anyone — a murderer, a monster, or even something he wasn’t — but she didn’t
seem to care. He rubbed his eyes. He was acting like a lovesick puppy and knew it, but her presence
had a freeing quality that he couldn’t define. He knew it was ridiculous, but when she smiled at
him, he felt something he hadn’t in years.
He listened to the sound of the shower for a few sweet moments, then rose and smoothed the
wrinkles on the bedspread. Would she sleep over? It was a dangerous idea, should she wake up to
find him dead beside her, but invigorating all the same. Maybe she’d understand. Maybe he could
tell her. He glanced up at the skylight and felt an aching smile spread across his face. Maybe he
hadn’t been lying. Maybe the end could wait another night.
He felt a pull to join her in the shower, but tiredness flowed through his body. Not just tired-
ness — exhaustion, more than he could remember feeling in a long time. He listened to the sound
of running water for a moment more, then returned to his chair and flopped down. Glass broke
beneath his weight and he reflexively reached beneath his thigh. A sliver of pain slit the tip of his
thumb, and cold nausea followed close behind. He’d sat on the glass she dropped.
He stood and began to collect the shards from the chair, and he was almost done when he noticed
the blood. Bright red liquid gushed from the meat of his thumb. The cut was deep, a perfect crescent
that bisected his fingerprint and half the nail. He willed the wound to heal; nothing happened.
He focused harder.
Nothing.
He watched the edges of the wound tremble and pulse in time with a hastening thud in his
chest. He pressed his unmarred hand against his heart — it was still beating. He could feel it racing,
building with his anxiety, pumping blood through his long-dead circulatory system. Finally, the
stubborn flesh of his finger began to knit, leaving a perfect white scar over the wound.
As Darcy stared at the scar, and all but the far edges of his infatuation finally fell away. A pan-
icked anger flooded his thoughts. He scoured the room for anything that could explain what was
going on. Had he been drugged? Was it some voodoo brought down by the Acolytes because he’d
ignored all those calls from Lainey Hendrix? Had he been poisoned by some Invictus hack?
And then it hit him: Beau had bled. A lot. And just like this thumb, it had pulsed and pumped
out like a real wound. Darcy had survived enough rows with other Kindred to know vampires don’t
bleed like mortals: They ooze. Vitae only flows when it wants to, and even the blush didn’t spray
buckets over a dance floor. Or last all night. Or turn your dead flesh into paper.
His heart was pounding, and his lungs were starved for air. He stumbled back toward his bed,
all the while sucking in a series of shallow, desperate breaths that left him dizzy, which his heart
responded to by skyrocketing its pulse.

90 Sin Again: Daeva

 She had done this.
Through the crack in the bathroom door, Darcy could see her purse sprawled next to the sink.
Heedless, he swung the door open and grabbed the bag. The sound of the water muffled the
intensity of his entrance, and Sadie let out a welcoming sound as she noticed him, followed by a
confused one at his departure.
He ran to the bed, dumped the purse’s contents, and began sifting through a mass of keys, gum,
lip balm, tampons, and change. No pills, vials, or any other kind of drug that could have done this
to him — not that he knew what such a thing would look like. He shook the bag upside down one
last time, and her thick, half-brick of a wallet fell clear.
He looked inside and saw what it had been caught on: a .38 velcroed against the side. Ignoring
the gun, Darcy cracked open her wallet and flipped through its compartments. There were bills in
various denominations, credit cards, and a driver’s license for Sadie Miller, Illinois. No concealed
carry. But in a blind compartment behind the license, he found four more cards:
Kiera Fitzgerald and Kenzie King, both from Texas. Delilah Brown of Idaho. Cerise De Luce of
Arizona. Each undeniably the woman he knew as Sadie, all with slightly different hairstyles and
eye colors.
She was suddenly beside him, soaked and dressed only in the shirt she’d taken from his closet.
She slapped his hand, and the sudden sting made him drop the IDs over the bed.
“What the fuck ?”
fuck?”
“What did you— how did you do it?!” He grabbed her wrist through the dangling cuff of her shirt.
“Let me go,” she warned.
But he didn’t listen. Overcome with rage and fear, Darcy tried to twist her against the wall, but
his Vitae wouldn’t respond. Sadie, however, did. She countered his twist and sandbagged him into
the wall, snapping his head back so hard it left a crater in the plaster. Darcy struggled against her
iron grip, but his heart rate kept climbing. Then, as if tripping over on its own feet, it stuttered,
letting off three quick beats in rapid succession before stopping entirely.
He sagged in Sadie’s arms, and the last thing he heard was her calling his name.

Last Night 91
 Accessories People will stare.
Make it worth their while.
Harry Winston
When a Serpent sets her sights on a person, place, or thing, she pursues it with an intensity even other vampires find over-
whelming. The Daeva will never find satisfaction, no matter how hard they crave it, cursed to hunt for a fulfillment that ever
eludes them. Their connection to humanity is both a bulwark to cling to and a lure for the Beast to pull them down.
This chapter explores the tools and tricks Daeva have at their disposal to help take what they want. New Archetypes, Devotions
and Merits make sure they’re always a step ahead of the competition, and an examination of the Wanton Curse and its cravings
highlights why it’s just great to have a special someone in your Requiem. You’ll also find guidance on how to incorporate difficult
subjects into your chronicles, particularly ones that arise form Clan Daeva’s romantic milieu.

The Serpent’s Hoard

You’ve got to dress for success if you want to make it with
the Daeva, and that includes the gifts the Curse grants you. Almost Famous
Below you’ll find special Devotions and Merits for your Ventrue The Almost Famous longed to be recognized in life but never
characters, as well as new Archetypes to define their Masks and quite managed to achieve celebrity. The Masquerade makes fame
Dirges. Not all of these systems are exclusive to the Daeva, but more difficult for the dead, but it doesn’t stop them from trying.
at minimum, they’re Serpent-focused.
Single Willpower: Gain something useful or incriminating
from false celebrity.
Archetypes All Willpower: Suffer harm or serious hardship as a result
of your fake fame.
Serpents want to be wanted. More importantly, they want
to fool you into thinking it was your idea in the first place so
they can convince themselves that desire was genuine. Daeva Bon Vivant
change with the world around them, forever shedding their A Bon Vivant adores being the center of attention, and they
social skins to embody the newest trends, assuring they’re the thrive in the middle of a party. They always get a thrill from
ones everyone else in the room envies. They keep a finger on having groups of people watching.
the pulse of the mortal world and constantly teach themselves Single Willpower: Become the focus of a large group.
to move to its rhythms anew. All Willpower: Draw attention to yourself at the cost of a
As such, a Daeva’s Mask and Dirge are often in conflict, to friendship.
the point of sometimes being totally separate personas depend-
ing on who the Serpent’s hanging around, and whether those
individuals are Kindred or kine. Daeva Masks tend to skew Confessor
to those that seek a spotlight in one form or another, whereas Confessors crave secrets, and they can’t bear the feeling that
their Dirges reflect the true core of the beautiful monsters they they’re missing out on the lives of others. They love hearing the
believe they are. dirt and getting the lowdown on the juiciest gossip.
The following Archetypes are available to every clan, but Single Willpower: Learn a secret from someone close to you.
represent traits that are more common among the Serpents. All Willpower: Learn a dangerous secret.

Chapter Two: Accessories 93

 Leech
Leeches use people up and cast them aside to prove their superiority. All that
matters is their own satisfaction.
Single Willpower: Waste someone’s time.
All Willpower: Make someone sacrifice for your happiness.

Provocateur
Provocateurs crave drama and create it when they
can’t find it on their own. They spread false rumors, lies,
or plant evidence for the joy of seeing what might happen next.
Single Willpower: Push a rumor you know to be false.
All Willpower: Ruin someone for the drama of it all.

Trendsetter
Trends appear and disappear almost instantaneously, and Trendsetters are the
ones who decide which catch on and which wither away.
Single Willpower: Start a new fashion.
All Willpower: Remold someone or something in your own image.

Devotions
In addition to new powers, the following section updates the Devotion found
on p. 118 of Kiss of the Succubus: Daeva, as well as powers from other First
Edition sources. Night Life (p. 35) is now an Erzsébet bloodline Devotion,
but other Daeva can learn it too.
All vampires can learn these Devotions, but they’re most often found
among Serpents, and the Storyteller might require a Daeva teacher as
a prerequisite.

As I Do
(Majesty •, Vigor ••)
Just because you’re the center of attention doesn’t mean you can’t
give a little back to your fans.
This Devotion costs 1 Experience to learn.
Cost: 1 Vitae
Requirement: The vampire must perform the same action (i.e., with
the same dice pool) that the subject is about to attempt.
Action: Reflexive
The vampire can activate this Devotion during any physical action. Doing
so grants a bonus equal to Blood Potency to anyone attempting the same action
in the scene on their next turn, provided they saw the vampire’s original action.

Beautiful but Deadly

(Celerity ••, Majesty ••)
With this Devotion, a Serpent can exert her glorious mien over an opponent, dis-
rupting his violent intent through sheer magnificence.
Cost: 2 Vitae
Dice Pool: Presence + Expression + Majesty – Composure

94 Sin Again: Daeva

 Action: Instant
Roll Results
Success: The victim’s concentration is shot. He takes successes as a penalty on his
next Physical action equal to successes.
Exceptional Success: The penalty applies for two actions.
Failure: The victim appreciates the vampire’s beauty but isn’t dissuaded.
Dramatic Failure: The vampire’s perfection misfires and sends her subject into
a destructive rage. He takes the 8-again quality on his next violent action.

Drain
(Majesty •••, Vigor •••)
Echoing the foul art of diablerie, this Devotion allows a
vampire to drink not only a vessel’s blood, but a portion of
his essence.
This Devotion costs 3 Experiences to learn.
Cost: 1 Willpower
Requirement: The vampire must be feeding on the
victim.
Dice Pool: Manipulation + Empathy + Majesty vs. Composure +
Blood Potency
Action: Contested; resistance is reflexive
Duration: Scene
Roll Results
Success: The vampire reduces the victim’s Social Attributes by one dot
for each Vitae taken, to a maximum of her own Majesty dots. Attributes
cannot be reduced below one. Reducing Composure does not remove
Willpower points, but it does reduce the victim’s maximum capacity
for the duration. The vampire also gains one of the drained dots for
the scene, but she may only possess one stolen dot at a time regardless
of how many individuals she’s drained.
Exceptional Success: The effect lasts the night.
Failure: The vampire isn’t strong enough drain the victim’s essence.
Dramatic Failure: The victim’s soul turns the tables on the vam-
pire. He gains the point of Willpower spent to activate this Devotion
and the vampire gains the Distracted Condition.

Haymaker
(Vigor ••••)
It’s not always about knocking them down; sometimes, it’s
about knocking them away.
This Devotion costs 2 Experiences to learn.
Cost: 2 Vitae
Requirement: The vampire must have successfully attacked
the victim with a Strength + Brawl action.
Dice Pool: None
Action: Reflexive
The vampire hits her opponent with such intense concus-
sive force that he goes flying. For each success on the attack

Chapter Three: Accessories 95

 roll, the victim is thrown back a meter. He takes an additional scene as a bonus to uses of Majesty. This does not apply to the
(Vigor) dice of damage if he hits something hard: bashing if vampire’s own wounds.
it would break and absorb some of the force and lethal if it
wouldn’t. The victim is considered Knocked Down if this dam-
age exceeds his total Stamina (Chronicles of Darkness, p. 285).
Hysterical Strength
If the vampire doesn’t have enough Blood Potency to use this (Celerity ••, Vigor •••)
Devotion in a turn, she must spend a Vitae the turn before. The living are capable of incredible feats of strength in life-
or-death situations, and in some rare cases, so are the dead.
The Hook This Devotion costs 2 Experiences to learn.
(Auspex ••, Majesty ••) Cost: None
Sometimes, you need the right person for the job. Enhancing Dice Pool: None
both the vampire’s supernatural senses and magnetic charm, Action: None
this Devotion not only locates the sort of person the vampire Duration: Permanent
needs, but draws him in, making her seem like exactly the sort Whenever the vampire finds herself in a life-or-death situ-
of person he should get to know. ation, for turns equal to Blood Potency, she can use a single
This Devotion costs 1 Experience to learn. active effect of Vigor for free. As a rule of thumb, situations that
Cost: 1 Vitae might invoke this Devotion could be those that provoke fear
Dice Pool: Presence + Persuasion + Majesty frenzy with a severe penalty, or that could cause detachment
through inaction. The Storyteller is the final arbiter of when
Action: Instant
this Devotion can come into play.
Roll Results
Success: The vampire specifies a type of person, who will Instant Superstar
present himself or run into her before the end of the scene.
Use the sample questions listed for Beast’s Hackles as a guide (Majesty •••••)
for the kind of people she can summon. An individual fitting Some Serpents are so captivating that they can slip their
this description must be present in the scene, or the Devotion hooks into mortals with a smoldering look. Of course, easy
simply fails. prey often isn’t the best prey…
Exceptional Success: The victim feels uncontrollably drawn This Devotion costs 2 Experiences to learn.
to the vampire; she gains her Auspex dots as bonus dice on the Cost: 1 Willpower
first Social action she makes with him in the scene. Dice Pool: None
Failure: Either the victim is too preoccupied to notice the Action: Reflexive
vampire, or no appropriate victim is present.
If the vampire establishes eye contact with a victim, she can
Dramatic Failure: Rather than attracting the attention of use the effect of Confidant on him without rolling. It simply
someone the vampire desires, she becomes lost in the cacoph- works, and there’s nothing the mark can do about it. However,
ony of her heightened senses. The vampire suffers –2 to Social the Charmed Condition ends in an hour, and the victim will
actions for the rest of the scene. feel a bit disgruntled about anything untoward that might have
happened, even if he doesn’t resolve the Condition.
Hurts So Good
(Majesty •, Vigor •) Kingfisher
Vampires cause pain wherever they go, but some learn to use (Celerity •••, Vigor •••)
that feeling to empower themselves.
Striking fast and retreating to the shadows is an art practiced
This Devotion costs 1 Experience to learn.
by many Kindred, but rarely with the speed of vampires using
Cost: 1 Vitae this Devotion. With Kingfisher, a vampire can leap down and
Requirement: Someone in the scene must be suffering pluck a victim away, isolating her prey and picking the herd apart.
wound penalties. This Devotion costs 3 Experiences to learn.
Dice Pool: None Cost: 2 Vitae
Action: Reflexive Dice Pool: None
Duration: Scene Action: Instant
The vampire draws on the pain around him, using it to boost The vampire dives off a high place, grabbing a victim and
his supernatural power. Apply the highest wound penalty or bouncing back up to another high point, faster than the eye
modifier resulting from pain (such as a Tilt) present in the can follow. If numbers are required, this Devotion allows the

96 Sin Again: Daeva

vampire to fall up to (Vigor * 3.5) meters without taking damage
and move back up the same distance she fell while carrying her
One Night Stand
victim with her. (Majesty ••, Dominate • or Obfuscate •)
Majesty is a powerful tool, but it leaves a trail back to the
Kiss of Death vampire who wields it. This Devotion acts as an insurance
policy against retribution.
(Majesty ••, Protean ••) This Devotion costs 1 Experience to learn.
The Serpent’s bite can cause a paralytic effect in her vic- Cost: 1 Vitae
tims, transforming euphoric lust into a seductive numbness.
Requirement: The vampire must have inflicted the Charmed
Originally created by the Moda Mortale (p. 42), this ability
Condition on the victim.
seems to have filtered down into the less fashion-forward
members of Clan Daeva. Dice Pool: None
This Devotion costs 2 Experiences to learn, or 1 if the vam- Action: Reflexive
pire is a Fashionista. When the victim resolves or ends Charmed, he won’t quite
Cost: 1 Vitae remember who he’s been serving. He’ll know someone beguiled
him, but he wouldn’t be able to pull her out of a lineup, or
Dice Pool: None
even a fantasy.
Action: Reflexive
Most characters will think of this in the same way as getting
If the vampire bites a victim, she can spend a Vitae to impose blackout drunk, and may just forget about the incident entirely.
the Drugged Tilt (Chronicles of Darkness, p. 281) or the If they don’t, apply the vampire’s Dominate/Obfuscate dots as
Intoxicated Condition if this is outside of combat. a penalty on all Mental actions to recall or describe her.

Love Bomb Picture Perfect

(Dominate •••, Majesty •••)
(Majesty •••, Obfuscate ••)
Using others to do your dirty work is a Kindred tradition,
but with a Love Bomb, a vampire can use a mortal to deliver In spite of the Masquerade, many Daeva use this Devotion
an emotional payload, turning feeding grounds into minefields to share their magnificence with the world.
for poachers. This Devotion costs 2 Experiences to learn.
This Devotion costs 3 Experiences to learn. Cost: 2 Vitae
Cost: 1 Vitae, in addition to any cost for the implanted Requirement: The vampire must bleed a Vitae onto a piece
Majesty effect. of representational art depicting herself (included in the cost).
Dice Pool: Presence + Empathy + Majesty vs. Composure + This object must be physical, like a Polaroid, a painting, or
Blood Potency even a sculpture.
Action: Contested; resistance is reflexive Dice Pool: Presence + Expression + Majesty
Duration: Nights equal to Blood Potency Action: Instant
Duration: Nights equal to Blood Potency
Roll Results
Success: The vampire implants a Majesty effect into his subject,
Roll Results
which triggers when the correct conditions are met. The subject Success: The Daeva imbues the piece with a fragment of
must be aware of the trigger: “The next time you meet a vampire” her charisma. Anyone who encounters it with equal or fewer
won’t function if she’s not wise to the Masquerade but, “When Resolve + Blood Potency dots than the vampire’s successes will
someone says the word ‘Kindred’ to you” does. When the trigger file it away in the back of their mind as a work of profound
is fulfilled, the vampire’s player rolls to activate the implanted beauty. If they later meet the vampire, they gain the Swooning
Majesty effect as normal against the character who tripped the Condition toward her.
trigger, ignoring the need to have inflicted Awe. The vampire The vampire can only create one such object at a time. If she
activating this Devotion remains the user for the purposes of creates a new one, the effect on the old one expires.
the Majesty effect. Exceptional Success: The duration is weeks instead of nights.
Exceptional Success: The charge implanted into the subject Failure: It’s nice, but is it perfect?
is particularly potent and can affect a second victim before Dramatic Failure: The art provokes revulsion in its viewers
expiring. and the vampire is blissfully unaware. She suffers her own
Failure: The vampire’s influence fails to take root. Majesty rating as a penalty on Social rolls with anyone who
Dramatic Failure: The victim’s blood sours against the vam- sees the work in a night, and these characters are immune to
pire, granting 9-again to resist his Majesty for the scene. her Awe. This penalty lasts a scene.

Chapter Three: Accessories 97

 the vampire’s regular action in the first round of combat. If
Potence another character also has a power that allows them to pre-empt
(Vigor •••••) Initiative (e.g., the active effect of Celerity), a Clash of Wills
Legends of Clan Daeva say its elders can demolish buildings occurs to determine the first actor.
and obliterate human bodies with only their bare hands.
While that may just be big talk, with Potence, they certainly Speak of the Devil
come close.
This Devotion costs 2 Experiences to learn.
(Celerity •••••, Majesty ••••)
Cost: 3 Vitae And he shall appear. Kindred with this Devotion learn to
realize this legend, seeming to always be near those thinking
Dice Pool: None
of them.
Action: Instant
This Devotion costs 4 Experiences to learn.
Duration: Scene
Cost: 1 Willpower
For the duration, the vampire ignores Durability when
Requirement: The victim must have been affected by the
attacking objects, or armor if she’s attacking an individual.
vampire’s Awe within a number of nights equal to Blood
If the target of the vampire’s attack has no armor on the
Potency.
relevant body part, she deals lethal damage with her attacks,
including to other Kindred. This armor-busting effect even Dice Pool: Presence + Stealth + Celerity
applies to the first-listed active effect of Resilience. However, Action: Instant
this provokes a Clash of Wills.
Roll Results
Success: The vampire appears somewhere within the vicin-
Ring the Bell ity of the victim, just out of sight. If the victim speaks the
vampire’s name aloud within the time period noted above,
(Vigor ••, Majesty • or Nightmare •)
she’ll be aware of it, and can use this Devotion without
With this Devotion, the vampire can land a devastating blow, spending a Willpower.
dazing her victim and shaking his confidence.
Exceptional Success: The vampire is mystically aware of the
This Devotion costs 1 Experience to learn. surroundings she’s about to appear in, and can pick up the flow
Cost: 1 Vitae of a conversation in progress, or insert herself into the scene
Requirement: The vampire activates this Devotion as she in an otherwise dramatic fashion.
makes a successful Brawl or Weaponry attack. Failure: The Blood lies still in the veins. The Devotion has
Dice Pool: None no effect.
Action: Reflexive Dramatic Failure: The vampire teleports… somewhere.
Duration: Scene
The victim goes reeling from a successful attack, taking a Subliminal Message
penalty to their Initiative score equal to damage dealt for the
rest of the scene. This Devotion can only be successfully applied (Majesty •, Obfuscate •)
to a victim once per scene. Serpents have a reputation for being masters of veiled insults,
and with this Devotion, they can make sure everyone knows it.
Snap Punch This Devotion costs 1 Experience to learn.
Cost: None
(Celerity ••••) Requirement: The vampire must activate Awe.
Smart predators understand that if you have to fight, it should Dice Pool: Wits + Subterfuge + Obfuscate
be sudden, short, and vicious. Stretching their supernatural
Action: Instant
reflexes to the extreme, vampires with Snap Punch can react
instantly to the slightest hint of aggression, ending a fight before Roll Results
it has time to begin. Success: The vampire hides a secret meaning within a the-
This Devotion costs 2 Experiences to learn. matically related sentence. For example, if she wanted to convey
Cost: 1 Willpower that the Prince seems upset, she might say, “Her Majesty’s outfit
Dice Pool: None is quite… confronting.”
Action: Reflexive Anyone who hears the vampire’s statement will know the
Before the vampire’s player rolls for Initiative, activate hidden meaning, but only if they are under the effect of the
this Devotion. The vampire can take a single physical action vampire’s Awe. The vampire can also choose to convey this
before any regular actions take place, which does not sacrifice message only to certain people.

98 Sin Again: Daeva

 Exceptional Success: The vampire’s message is clear as day This Merit applies once per character in a story.
to anyone listening. They gain her Obfuscate dots as a bonus Drawback: Being known as a big talker makes talking big all
to conveying this idea subtly for the rest of the scene. the harder. Unless your character has spent Willpower to bolster
Failure: The noise overwhelms the signal. an action, he suffers a –1 modifier on all Subterfuge rolls with
Dramatic Failure: The vampire’s message is garbled and she people who know him well. At two dots, it’s a –2.
doesn’t know it, but her listeners think they got it. The Storyteller
decides what that means. Can’t Bullshit a Bullshitter (••• or ••••)
Prerequisites: Majesty ••, Manipulation •••
Whisper Campaign Effect: Being a veteran puller of heartstrings herself, your
(Majesty ••••, Nightmare ••••) character can easily read the intentions of lesser manipulators.
At two dots, if she has Awe active, characters with fewer dots
Sometimes a Serpent’s best weapon is the rumor mill. in Manipulation lose the 10-again quality on rolls to charm,
Destroying an enemy (or elevating a friend) is as simple as influence, or lie to her. At four dots, she gains the 9-again
kibbitzing with your herd. quality on resistance rolls made against mundane actions
This Devotion costs 4 Experiences to learn. enhanced by Awe if she possesses more dots in Majesty than
Cost: 3 Vitae the character using it on her.
Requirement: The vampire must seed the rumor among at
least five individuals before rolling. Dead Sexy (•)
Dice Pool: Manipulation + Socialize + Majesty vs. Composure Prerequisites: Striking Looks ••, Humanity 5 or lower
+ Blood Potency
Effect: You’re a monstrous walking corpse, and some people
Action: Instant are super into that. When you would normally suffer a penalty
Duration: Nights equal to Blood Potency on Socialize rolls to relate with humans, once per scene you can
Roll Results ignore the penalty if Striking Looks would apply.

Success: The vampire puts a rumor out into the world about
her victim, whether for good or for ill. For the duration, the sub- Enticing, Advanced (••)
ject gains a dot of the Fame Merit or the Notoriety Condition Prerequisite: Enticing
(Chronicles of Darkness, p. 290), depending on the context. Effect: Being a vampire is hot. You know it, they know it. Hot
Anyone who gets a good look at the victim will know who they doesn’t always equal sexy, but at base it means you’re desired
are and what they did. more than anyone else in the room. Once per chapter, take a
Exceptional Success: The effect lasts for weeks instead of Beat whenever you invoke the Seductive Beast on anyone with
nights. a blood bond to another vampire.
Failure: Who? Drawback: When lashing out with the Competitive or
Dramatic Failure: A nasty rumor forms about the vampire Monstrous Beast, any failure becomes a dramatic failure.
herself, which lasts for the duration above. She gains the
Notoriety Condition. Fake It till You Make It (••)
Prerequisites: Braggart •, Subterfuge ••
Merits Effect: As long as you look like you know what you’re doing,
Alongside new Merits, the following section updates those no one’s the wiser. Once per chapter, when your character
starting on p. 115 of Kiss of the Succubus: Daeva, as well as other makes a mundane Social roll that calls for a specific Social Skill,
First Edition sources. Some have been renamed due to similarly they can substitute their dots in Subterfuge instead.
titled effects in Vampire: The Requiem Second Edition. Drawback: If the action fails, it counts as a dramatic failure,
as everyone realizes how full of shit your character is.
Braggart (• or ••)
Prerequisites: Manipulation •••, Persuasion •• Friends Abroad (• to •••••)
Effect: Your character talks a big game — who cares if he Prerequisite: Cacophony Savvy •
doesn’t know what the fuck he’s talking about and couldn’t Effect: Cannibal gossip chains have provided your character
deliver if his life depended on it? At one dot, if your character with a bird’s eye view of the All Night Society. Treat each dot of
has a good impression in terms of Social maneuvering, he this Merit as a Contact in another domain, even in a different
gains the 9-again quality on any Subterfuge roll to convince a country. If your character visits one of these cities, she can use
stranger of his credibility, regardless of his actual bona fides. the effect of Cacophony Savvy.
At two dots, he gains the 8-again quality. Drawback: Vampires really don’t trust interloping predators.

Chapter Three: Accessories 99

 Good in Bed (•) Quantity Over Quality (••)
Prerequisite: Empathy •• Prerequisites: Daeva, Cannot possess Quality Over Quantity
Effect: When you’ve been doing the horizontal mambo for Effect: Anyone who says “less is more” doesn’t know how
centuries, you pick up a few tricks. Beyond just being skilled good “more” tastes. Once a night, if your character consumes
in the sack, your character is adept at understanding what five or more Vitae in a single scene from more than one source,
people like and how to give it to them. Gain a 2-die bonus to they gain the Inspired Condition.
Empathy, Persuasion, and Socialize rolls when attempting to Drawback: Your Beast is particularly gluttonous. Take a
discern someone’s romantic or sexual desires. –1 to all rolls to resist hunger frenzy on nights your character
uses this Merit.
Kissing Cousins (•)
Prerequisite: Daeva Resting Bitch Face (•)
Effect: Your character is part of a Daeva family. Whether that Effect: When at rest, your character always looks like he’s
means a network of blood ties or just a large and longstanding pissed off about something, even if he’s entirely content, and
friend group, your character is in their good graces regardless he’s learned to take advantage of the assumptions others
any other social determiners. Once a story/month, your charac- make about him. Against anyone who doesn’t know him well,
ter can call on three dots of Allies, Mentor, or Resources from your character gains a +1 on Intimidation and the 9-again
her family when she’s in a bind. quality to instant Subterfuge actions meant to conceal his
Drawback: Family is everything, but everything has limits. true emotional state.
If your character takes from her cousins without giving back, Drawback: They don’t call it “resting approachable face.”
they might hold an intervention. Your character loses the 10-again quality rolls to make a first
impression.
Making Do (••••)
Prerequisite: Daeva Single Strike Individual (••)
Effect: While not human, ghouls are mortal enough for a Prerequisites: Brawl, Firearms, or Weaponry •••
Daeva’s clan bane. Still, the taint of vampirism is strong, and Effect: The best fights are the ones you end in one blow. In
for some Daeva it can present a loophole. Characters with this the first round of an action scene, gain bonus dice equal to half
Merit can feed on their own ghouls without triggering the effect your character’s Initiative modifier (rounding up) when making
of their clan bane. a Brawl, Firearms, or Weaponry attack against a character who
Drawback: When her bane does come up, your character hasn’t taken an action yet.
takes a permanent –1 on the associated Humanity roll.
Social Butterfly (•)
Perfect Wingman (•) Prerequisites: Fame •, Socialize ••, no Status Merit over ••
Prerequisite: Socialize •• Effect: You’re such an omnipresence in the domain that
Effect: You have a talent for talking up other people, giving everyone’s heard of you. More than that, they like you! They
them just the nudge they need to succeed. Whenever your charac- really like you! Once per night, your character can claim a single
ter participates in a teamwork Social action as a secondary actor, dot of temporary Status in a group he has none in, so long as
as long as he grants the primary actor at least one bonus die, the that group isn’t actively hostile toward him. This new Status
primary gains the 9-again quality on their action. lasts the rest of the evening and confers all the normal benefits
and drawbacks such recognition entails.
Drawback: If your character ever gains three or more dots
Quality Over Quantity (••) of Status in any single group, he loses this Merit, as he’s too
Prerequisites: Daeva, cannot possess Quantity Over Quality tied up in that organization to properly flit about the scene.
Effect: It’s not the number of notches on your belt; it’s the Sanctity of Merits applies.
quality of the experience. Once a night, when your character
feeds from anyone she has the Dependent Condition toward,
she gains the Inspired Condition.
Social Chameleon (•)
Drawback: The Beast shares this preference. If your char- Prerequisites: Barfly, Empathy ••
acter falls to frenzy provoked by hunger, she will prioritize Effect: Daeva are the life of the party, and they can feed off
people she has the Dependent Condition toward even if that attention. Once a chapter, when your character uses the
they’re not the closest source of blood, just so long as they’re effect of Barfly to fit in with a group she’s never encountered
reasonably nearby. before, refresh a spent Willpower.

100 Sin Again: Daeva

Sunglasses at Night (•••) These Guns (•)
Prerequisites: Daeva, Resolve •••, Humanity 6 or lower Prerequisites: Majesty •, Strength ••• or Stamina •••
Effect: Being a Daeva means getting intimate with your prey Effect: Being devastatingly sexy is fine and all, but sculpted
in a way few other Kindred ever do. It means knowing their abs are for more than show. Whenever your character performs
hates, passions, and dreams, befriending or loving them even a truly remarkable feat of physical strength or endurance with
as you drain them to the marrow. However, your character Awe active, she exceptionally succeeds with three successes
understands they’re not real people if she doesn’t on all mundane Socialize and Intimidation actions with any
know their names. As long as she’s never witnesses for the rest of the scene.
met a mortal victim before, she gains a
+2 modifier on any detachment roll
for seriously harming them, or
Total Badass (• to •••••)
a +1 if she kills them without Prerequisites: Brawl or Weaponry ••,
intending to. Celerity •, Majesty •, Vigor •
Drawback: Cold hearts Effect: With their reputations as slink-
need warmth, and your ing seducers, many Kindred forget how
character’s is very cold well-equipped Serpents are to kick ass,
indeed. Whenever at least until they get punched in the
she benefits from this face with the force of a speeding semi.
Merit with a success- Technique might seem redundant when
ful detachment roll, you’re already faster and stronger than
your character’s clan bane everyone else, but many Daeva want to look
applies to her next mortal feeding as good breaking bones as they do breaking hearts.
victim, even if she’s never drunk from him Fight or Fuck (•): Sometimes, it’s not the one you
before. This applies even if the Making Do were expecting. When Initiative is rolled, if your
Merit (p. 100) would normally apply. character used Awe on any of the combatants
during the past scene, she adds her Majesty dots
to her Initiative.
Catch Me Outside (••): If you can,
that is. On any turn where your
character spends Vitae to
increase her speed with
Celerity, she can sacrifice
her natural Defense to add her Discipline dots as
a bonus to Brawl or Weaponry. Active Defense
from Celerity still applies.
All Outta Gum (•••): Best attempted while wearing
mirror shades. Once per chapter, when your charac-
ter makes a successful All-Out Attack, she gains the
Steadfast Condition.
Fuck Around and Find Out (••••): It’s about send-
ing a message. When your character inflicts damage
equal to or greater than her victim’s Stamina with
a single Brawl or Weaponry attack, the victim takes
your character’s dots in Majesty as a penalty to the
next hostile action that targets her.
End Their Whole Career (•••••): Say goodnight.
When your character uses the active effect of Vigor
to add bonus damage to an attack, she can spend a
point of Willpower to make that bonus damage lethal,
including against Kindred.

Chapter Three: Accessories 101

 True Love’s Kiss (•••) Voyeur (• or ••)
Prerequisite: Kiss of the Succubus Prerequisite: Daeva
Effect: Like something out of a storybook, your character can Effect: Your character likes to watch. At one dot, she regains
lift other Kindred from their eternal slumber with a mere press a point of spent Willpower when she witnesses a mortal fulfill
of her fangs. If your character spends a Willpower to inflict the his Vice, but only if she had a hand in pushing him toward
Kiss on a torpid vampire (which does not require her to feed), debauchery. At two dots, she doesn’t need to have caused his
she can rouse him from slumber as long as his Humanity is ugly moment, but she gains nothing if another vampire did
higher than his Blood Potency. the deed.
Drawback: If this action is successful, your character Drawback: If this Vice leads the mortal to a breaking point
feels intense attraction to her sleeping beauty. She gains the and your character caused it, or did nothing to intervene, she
Dependent Condition, which fades at the end of the story. It suffers an commensurate breaking point of her own, depending
can be resolved if she takes a true Vinculum to him. on her own Humanity rating.

Never Let Me Go: The Wanton Curse

[A]n obsession is a way for damaged people to damage themselves more.
Mark Barrowcliffe, The Elfish Gene
She’s always there lately, outside on the street. I see her coming feeding from favored vessels. It’s easy to avoid the same victim
out of the corner store, waiting at the bus stop, just standing if you own a nightclub or two, but for those who prowl within
under a streetlight. She always looks up at me, like she can feel me a small art community in a sleepy town, it’s considerably more
watching her — like she wants me to catch her. difficult to avoid repeat performances.
I don’t know how she tracked me down. We shared a few words Once they’ve “found” them, Daeva grow protective of their
at most. One dance, a short kiss… beloveds. Existing in a society of predators, a Serpent always
Maybe management gave away my address, or she followed me? knows to hide her vulnerabilities; sensing weakness, some mon-
Something about her, underneath the soft lips and perfect hair, ster of the night might swoop in and carry their paramour away.
reminds me of the big cats I’ve seen in the zoo. I think I should be This can lead to Serpents making less than pragmatic choices
afraid; like maybe I should call somebody. in order to keep their fixations safe. Rivalries and clashes have
Deep down, though, I know I’m going to let her in. spawned over nothing more than another vampire learning a
mortal’s name, provoking an over-active territorial response.
On rare occasions, Daeva will even feud over the same human.
Needful Things This either ends up with the mortal being Embraced or an
emotional tug of war as the competitors force the poor human
Vampires understand prey. They understand hunting people to choose between them.
and taking things from them. Alone among the Kindred, the Cynical Daeva refer to unfortunates in this situation as
Daeva see more in their vessels than blood pumping through “wishbones.”
veins. They see emotions, dreams, and works of art — and they
Occasionally, Serpents cultivate their attachments on pur-
crave them all.
pose, giving in to the urge just so they can feel something, even if
Viewed from without, the Wanton Curse is terrifying dirty they know deep down it isn’t real. The most degenerate become
cycle. Most humans are unprepared for the intensity of a addicted to this feeling, destroying people, relationships, and
vampire’s attentions, and they find themselves on a traumatic themselves for the brief high of connection.
rollercoaster as the Majesty takes hold. An obsessed Serpent
Elders approach their curse warily. They’ve existed long
will interfere in her beloved’s life, pushing others away to
enough to understand love brought on by blood is the work
become the center of his world. This puts a strain on both the
of the Beast, but sometimes the craving becomes irresistible,
mortal’s mundane relationships and the Masquerade, but to
as they’re no longer capable of connecting to humanity in
an infatuated Daeva, those things don’t matter in the moment.
any other way. Fashions and styles may change with time, but
That attachment is a tool the Beast uses to lure Serpents further
loneliness is always in vogue. Elders who feel the temptation to
away from Humanity, singing a siren song of love and fulfill-
connect must weigh that desire against the needs of survival.
ment. This lure is so convincing that some Daeva view it as a
It’s understood among Kindred that many older Daeva manage
gift rather than a curse at all.
to maintain links to mortals that no other clan can muster,
Fledgling Serpents, especially those without an attentive even if that connection manifests as the worst sort of toxic
sire to guide them, are particularly vulnerable to this craving, dependency. As long as they feel something, they consider it a
lacking the knowledge, wisdom, or resources to avoid repeated price worth paying.

102 Sin Again: Daeva

The Craving
I feel alive for the first time in years. I find myself just… smiling,
for no reason at all. Last night I went out and stood in the rain, The Captivating Curse
staring up at the drops under a street lamp and lost myself in the If you’re using the optional elder banes from
beauty of it all for hours. I don’t ever remember feeling this way, not Thousand Years of Night, the Daeva curse trans-
even when my heart was still beating. He lights up my whole world. forms into a hurricane of emotional destruction.
All the roleplaying notes in this section apply to the
I don’t think he feels the same yet. Right now, I’m just the guy many Kindred who Daeva become blood bound to
who’s shown him a couple good nights. He doesn’t know how special as a result of this curse. Having so many beloved
he is. I never want anyone else ever again, just him. Only him, the doesn’t diminish the craving for any single one,
and can lead to feelings of ownership over whole
way he is. Forever.
bloodlines and city regions, or byzantine schemes
Serpents have trouble describing the depth of what they feel of jealously so complex even the Serpent no longer
to other Kindred, but their clanmates need no explanation. really understands them.
The craving is a need for human connection as intense and
ever-present as the need for Vitae, just not as sharp. How
do you describe the perfect person? How can you possibly
communicate the way every little thing they do brings joy of a spurned Serpent with a grudge isn’t any better. Keeping
and comfort? To the Serpents, this feels like the most natural the peace might be worth a few overwrought love letters until
thing in the world, perhaps even a boon at first, providing they move on to the next pretty thing.
them a chance to feel highs of emotion and connection that
were never available in life.
This is how the Beast tricks them, convincing them they’ve Bloody Fixations: Playing the Bane
always been this way — that it took dying for them to unlock That ratfuck Tower Serpent was in our bar again tonight. Yeah,
their whole potential. As the memories of their mortal lives slip sniffing after Michelle again. Three nights in a row he’s been here,
away, Serpents start to believe their obsessions are as true as and three nights in a row I’ve put him out on his ass in the snow,
any relationship they ever had in their breathing days, and the with him mewling about how they’re meant to be together or some
Beast is waiting to claim them at the end of that bloody slope. shit. So what if he’s the Hound’s childe? Fuck the Hound and fuck
Obsession is at the core of playing a Daeva, and spending him. Sounds like he didn’t take the hint, so bring some of the lads
time considering how a Serpent reacts to that impulse is an around tomorrow night. When he comes back, we’ll show him what
important aspect of character creation. The obsession the happens when you poach from the Revolution.
Wanton Curse inflicts echoes the need all vampires feel for It’s fun to have vulnerabilities and it’s fun to drive drama.
blood: When they don’t have it, it’s always in their thoughts; Daeva claim they’re the most human of the Kindred, which
when they do, it’s their whole world. Most importantly, it will is a facet of their Requiems that can be rewarding to portray.
never be enough. However, the Wanton Curse takes a little more effort for players
The threat of obsession twists a Serpent’s outlook over time. to work into sessions than the banes of other clans. Maybe it’s
Just as Lords grow more detached and the Shadows skew into as straightforward as asking your Storyteller to expand a feeding
the occult, a Daeva’s Beast pulls her away from a human mindset scene, giving the curse a chance to enter play, or introducing the
while convincing her she’s as close to human as she ever was. scenario yourself if your character feeds in the same location
In truth, the Wanton Curse drags the clan to extremes, never repeatedly. However, the Daeva clan bane shouldn’t be dragged
allowing them to form close bonds with the majority of the people into play carelessly. The Dependent Condition lasts until a
they meet, and interjecting an occasional searing “love affair” that mortal’s death. That story doesn’t have to end in a murder or
leaves them hollower than when they first began. Most Daeva Embrace, accidental or otherwise, but it takes special attention
forget how to experience relationships in the middle, as everyone for it not to.
around them is either a quick snack or the love of a lifetime. As Mortal subjects of the Wanton Curse provide fodder for
vampires, Daeva never tire, but they do get very bored. interpersonal drama in a chronicle, a chance to examine your
These extremes bleed into a Serpent’s other relationships, character’s Humanity up close. A Serpent may grapple with the
including those with her fellow dead. Neonates usually have an choice to force reciprocal feelings from their beloved using Vitae
easier time coaxing out more balanced relationships with their or Disciplines, knowing such feelings aren’t true but wanting
cousins and Kindred, but as the years drag on, those skills atro- them all the same. One Serpent might lavish their beloved with
phy. Other vampires find this unnerving, as the Serpents always gifts, dazzling her with the finest things in life, while another
seem preoccupied or aloof — until they decide you’re someone tries to change himself into the perfect companion, adopting
they find fascinating. At that point, you walk a tightrope of trying new mannerisms and styles as it suits his lover’s whim. A third
to escape their constant attention and not insulting them with locks her true love away, the better to keep him safe from the
your attempts to struggle free. No vampire wants to become the other sharks. Some seek to appease, others to dominate, but a
object of a Daeva’s obsession, but then again, being the target Serpent’s fixation is always the center of her world. To a Daeva,

Chapter Three: Accessories 103

 accustomed to being loved by all, the experience of trying to Unless they want to be seen as living up to their clan’s
win affection through mundane means can be a tad frustrating. worst stereotype, Daeva never refer to their own
The stereotypical obsession enters play on a nightclub beloveds this way, even (and especially) when
dance floor or a one-night stand, but a more nuanced they’ve used the term to mock their cousins.
way to introduce a potential beloved is as a result Serpents rarely refer to these people at
of your character changing routines. Perhaps all — or at least they think they don’t.
your character gains new territory, acquires new You’ll always know a Daeva has a new
servants, or is given a new role by their elders best friend; the more she tries not to
or covenant, and someone they come into talk about him, the more she will.
contact with proves irresistible. Maybe
a new tenant moves into their
apartment building, or they Common Banes
spy some new patron Serpents manifest personal banes that
at a coffee shop they focus on obsessions or attachments to mortal
haunt. For good or ill, life. More than any other clan, the Daeva
Daeva see the people can’t let go of the people they once were, no
around them as individ- matter what masks they’re wearing tonight.
uals rather than as a faceless
Conspicuous Consumer: Your character
morass, and they’re always alert
is driven to feed where she might be seen by
for the interesting, unique, and allur-
others, riding the Masquerade’s razor edge. Roll
ing among them.
Humanity whenever she attempts to feed in a
Like any bane, don’t view the Wanton non-public setting. Failure means her need for
Curse as a negative, even if it does pain your attention robs her of the joy of feeding; she must
character. It’s an opportunity to explore the spend a Willpower to take sustenance from her
boundaries of the relationships between vessel, abandon him for a new one, or bring the
human and monster, to better see how they act into the spotlight. This bane does not apply
break down — as well as where they succeed. to feeding from Kindred or ghouls.
Dancing Eyes: Your character really
Terminology does wear his emotions. His eyes shift
The Daeva don’t call their bane the color depending on his current mood
Wanton Curse. Indeed, most clans don’t and hunger. The changes are subtle,
think of their banes as quantifiable traits and are never a hue that’s truly
at all. The Gangrel don’t have a bane; supernatural, but it’s a notice-
they’re just always angry. The Nosferatu able shift to anyone paying
don’t suffer a Lonely Curse; they’re just attention. Anger might lead
Nosferatu. Ventrue might think they’re to a reddish flash, or envy a
uniquely uncursed, but everyone else greenish tint. The changes grow
can see how they treat their friends. And more pronounced as your character
the Mekhet… okay, the Shadows are defi- falls away from the Man. On any action to
nitely cursed, but the exception proves the conceal his true emotions, your character’s dice pool is
rule, doesn’t it? At any rate, these names are limited by Humanity unless you spend a Willpower to add +3
terms we use out-of-character for easy short to the roll.
hands, as well as to set the mood. Signature Style: Your character’s Beast has discovered a
That being said, the Daeva do have a term fashion or a subculture that truly defines her. She has a visual
for their bane’s fallout. At least in parts of the tell, some garment or decoration that hearkens back to whatever
English-speaking world, Serpents derisively refer to she considers the golden age of style. Lacking this garment, or
the objects of their obsessions as beloveds (belovéds). having it damaged beyond recognition, your Social actions are
It’s a nasty epithet you use when you think your penalized by (10 – Humanity).
cousin’s out of earshot, and it passes around Daeva That’s My Jam: There’s a specific genre of entertainment your
gossip threads with equal doses of snark and pity, as character can’t resist indulging. This might be a particular form
if they’re all above this particular foible. of dance, style of music, artistic expression, or even protesting
“I hear Christine’s found a new beloved. Third or rioting. Whenever you have the opportunity to partake in
this month.” this art form and refuse to do so, roll Humanity. Failure means
“See that doughy guy by the vending machine? you cannot spend Willpower to enhance any action until you
Yeah, he’s beloved of Vladimir.” participate in your obsession, or until you rest for the day.

104 Sin Again: Daeva

 Player Care and the Vampire Card
Modern vampire fiction has often embodied sexuality; the to give away the game — knowing a movie’s genre doesn’t spoil
Kiss isn’t called the Kiss for nothing, after all. It would be facile the ending. Think of it as the difference between surprise and
to say “vampires equal sex,” but it’s a theme they have an easier suspense. Not everyone likes surprises, but by their nature, they’re
time lending their name to than other motifs. Of all the Kindred hard to avoid. Conversely, you know exactly what you’re getting
clans, the Daeva are the most intimately tied to this theme, and out of suspense: You can see the bomb under the table, or the
the Wanton Curse plays into one its most well-trod tropes. killer creeping down the hall. Half the fun is the anticipation,
A vampire obsessing over a mortal beloved is a common story even if you probably know what’s going to happen, but it’s not
beat, though from any reasonable person’s point of view, it’s going to give you a scare or thrill you weren’t ready for.
stalking. Of course, if we wanted to roleplay reasonable people, we If everyone is comfortable exploring a subject, even a difficult
wouldn’t be playing Vampire: The Requiem. In the abstract, it’s one, make sure to define the scope. Some troupes will be all
okay if a Kindred character is a creep. That’s conflict, and it can in on eroticism and tragic affairs with only light constraints,
make for interesting drama to explore this archetypal plot hook while others will need to have detailed guidelines on how to
in play, as well as the way it wears on your character’s Humanity. handle them in a way that’s fun for everyone. Even if your
What’s not okay is if it makes playing the game uncomfortable group doesn’t have as many off-limit subjects as others, know-
or upsetting for the rest of your troupe. Themes of sex and toxic ing exactly who consents to what is vital. Storytelling games
romance, or in-character expressions of them, can go down roads are a collective process, and the chronicle will be all the better
not everyone will want to follow you down. if everyone works together to make sure they’re on the same
Chronicles with romantic and sexual elements can be a page. Respect boundaries, and if you do you accidentally cross
unique part of Vampire: The Requiem, especially in depic- one, apologize and work to not repeat the mistake. However,
tions of the Serpents. However, if the troupe is interested all the planning in the world can’t account for every scenario,
in exploring these aspects of the Daeva — or any vampires — and not everyone at the table will be comfortable discussing
everyone needs to know the ground rules. Different groups their no-go topics in graphic detail. As such, add the following
have different levels of comfort about this topic, and even system to the Vampire system. A similar rule was introduced
within the same troupe, there may be varying levels. This is in Geist: The Sin-Eaters Second Edition, and as with that
true of any potentially fraught subject, but sexuality is often one, it’s an essential mechanic of the Storytelling System, just
the first thing that comes to mind when we talk about player as much as initiative modifiers and Willpower. It applies even
safety (and pop culture vampires). if you never need to use it.
Make sure everyone’s going to have fun with the themes or Whenever a topic comes up that anyone at the table feels
plotlines you bring to the table. This goes for Storytellers and uncomfortable with, they can tap or hold up a card. This is the Vampire
players alike. Before the first chapter, run a zeroth session where Card. That’s a cue for the rest of the table to change the scene or back
everyone discusses what they want from the story, as well as the away from the topic. The person who used the Vampire Card doesn’t
group’s boundaries. If certain topics won’t be fun for someone, need to explain why. Play continues in the new direction, and everyone
don’t use them. It’s as simple as that. Always be upfront about agrees to keep that topic out of the story going forward.
where you want to go with the chronicle, even if a theme or plot For more on similar devices, check out John Stavropolous’
device seems innocuous. That doesn’t mean Storytellers have X-Card system, available online.

Chapter Three: Accessories 105

 Part Five: The Perfect Kiss
What felt like hours later, her voice called him back to consciousness.
“Robert?”
With effort, Darcy opened his eyes and found himself lying on his bedroom floor, his head resting
on Sadie’s knee as she sat cross-legged.
She frowned. “You scared the shit out of me.”
Darcy took a deep breath to steel himself and was frustrated to find his body still craved the air.
“What did you do to me?”
She shook her head, and a cold anger flared in him in response. He reached out with the Blood to
give his words weight, to wrap them around her heart like velvet chains. By the time he was done,
she’d share every single damning secret she had and thank him for making her do it.
“Tell me what you did, Sadie.”
Sadie.”
“I…” she trailed off. Her lower lip quivered and his eyes were drawn to it; he had bitten that lip
what felt like only moments before. His focus waned, and instead of forming the words he wanted
to hear, she instead said, simply, “Fuck off, Rob.”
Darcy stared in disbelief. He had her. She had the look they get when it works — the same as a
deer in traffic begging to be spread across multiple lanes. “What the hell…?”
“That’s not going to work on me.”
“You’re not Sadie Miller.”
“And you’re not alive, so I guess we’re even.”
Darcy froze. “What did you say?”
“Luddite, 70s everything
everything,, all the mind control. Oh, and the fangs. Come the fuck onon,, Rob.”
“I— I didn’t mind control you…”
“You just did.”
“And you did something to me!”
Sadie glared down at him. He tried not to flinch, but he knew she’d seen it. “I gave you life. The
thing you steal every single night, and I gave it to you for free.”
“Well I don’t accept!” He tried to rise, but his body was still weak. He sank back to the ground,
and when Sadie tried to help him, he batted away her hand like a petulant child. “What now? You
weaken me and… what, kill me? Are you with the Crone? Invictus?”
Sadie’s eyes turned a boiling blue. “I’ve never killed anyone
anyone.. What about you, Count Douche-ula?
Can you say the same?”
“I’m fixing that.” He glanced up at the skylight. She followed his movement and a darkness
crossed her face.
A tremor ran through Sadie’s body, small at first. Then it expanded, shaking her entire frame
from her shoulders to the tips of her fingers. She shut her eyes tight and laid into him. “You stupid
fuck. You have everything! You get to live forever, you’re rich, you’re—” She looked at the dead
television. “And you’re going to kill yourself because some bitch broke your heart? Not because
you have to literally kill people to live? Everyone loses someone, Rob. How dare you squander
this… this…”

106 Sin Again: Daeva

 “It’s not a gift.” He bared his fangs, finally managing to sit upright. “It’s like getting drugged, except
gift.”
I remember every moment and have to keep doing it forever forever,, murdering when the monster in my
head demands it. So yeah, death would be a nice change of pace.” He looked up at the television.
“The only person I ever loved is dead because I gave her that ‘gift.’”
As the words left him, Darcy’s resolve finally crumbled. He slumped back to the floor and began
to sob — real tears, not the disgusting red morass of Kindred weeping.
From miles away, he felt her weight shift and crush the carpet next to him. Warm fingers brushed
through his hair. She held him for what could have been hours, until the tears stopped flowing
and the convulsing stopped. His lungs burned from the effort of breathing. He hadn’t used them
this much since… well.
“I don’t know what it’s like for you,” she said, her voice hesitant. “My first… vampire, I met at a
bar in Phoenix. I was there for the Mayo Clinic, and when they told me the chemo wasn’t working,
I decided to drink myself to death before it could get me.” Darcy looked up. She tapped her fore-
head twice and smiled. “Instead, some undead frat boy tried to fuck me and eat me. Nothing out
of the ordinary, except it was a bit more literal than usual. And I don’t know. Maybe the tumor is
what makes your vampire powers work weird on me.” She reflexively rubbed the rose tattoo on her
neck. “It feels good, what you do… what your kind does. But I can turn it off when I want. Like,
I know you used your mojo on me. So did Beau. But I can just… stop? It’s like choosing to sober
up from a buzz.”
“You’re dying?”
“Kinda?” She shrugged. “It’s still there, but it stopped growing. Seven years now. When I’m around
vampires, it’s like I’m paused — or rewound. My hair doesn’t grow, cuts heal faster. I don't get sick.”
“You’re something of a vampire yourself.”
“Yeah, I guess so. Hot.”
She laughed her witchy laugh and Darcy was powerless to resist. The sun was coming up; he could
feel it pressing him down, but less forcefully than usual. He was spent, completely at her mercy,
and he joined in on her cackling. Their faces moved closer and closer until the scent of blood and
tears and breath overwhelmed them both.
They kissed. Their arms entwined as they rolled up against the bed in a mass of grasping hands and
yearning mouths. Darcy lost himself in the moment, his anger and angst forgotten.
Tink.
He buried his hands in her hair, pulling it all free and wrapping his fingers in it.
Tink.
She bit his lip, hard enough to draw a drop of blood. He pulled back, his—
Tink.
Darcy froze. What the hell is that?
He looked up at the window on the far wall across the room. His sharp Kindred eyes would’ve
normally cut through the reflected light, but now he was squinting to see past its sheen. A bird?
His eyes finally focused, and he saw a figure standing outside, knocking gently on the pane with
a crooked finger.
Darcy stood. “Who the—”
The window exploded, showering them in tiny knives of broken glass. He tried to call on his
Vitae, to move faster than the shrapnel, but the blood wouldn’t come, and a series of bone crunch-
ing blows dropped him to his knees. As he recovered his senses, the smell of fresh blood bulldozed

Last Night 107

 over his pain, and he watched as it dribbled down Sadie’s cheek and shoulders. A butcher knife
blade of glass was embedded between her ribs, and a half-dozen more finger-sized ones jutted out
of her shoulders, arm, and cheek. He reached out to her as a boot came down on his bent, broken
leg. The figure standing on his knee was eternally young and handsome, clad in a t-shirt, a denim
jacket, and a fresh pair of jeans.
Beau smirked down at them, fangs bared.
“About that world of hurt I promised.”
Darcy tried to concentrate, but whatever Sadie had done to him was still short-circuiting his body.
The other vampire noticed. No — he knew knew..
“Didn’t I say you had no clue what you were messing with? I only gave her a taste, but you let her
have the whole meal.”
Sadie lunged for the gun hidden in her purse, but Beau was faster. He caught her high in the
chest with a kick, pinning her to the floor and grinding the boot into her shoulder. The room filled
with her screams and the sound of crunching, tearing cartilage.
“Might’ve worked if you’d fucked me instead.” He struck her in the stomach, hard enough to
rocket her into the wall across the room. She slid to the ground, limp yet breathing through pained
gasps. “But then, that wasn’t really the point of this little exercise…”
Darcy pulled himself up and dove at the other vampire. He tried to will strength back into his
arms and legs, but his Vitae was AWOL. His fist connected, and what should have crushed his
enemy’s skull ended up lightly smacking the back of his head.
Beau turned and appraised his assailant. “Fascinating! I’ll have to document this. But first…” His
own fist caught Darcy in the solar plexus, forcing him back to the ground. The impact snapped
his ribs and sent a spike of bone through his shirt. The blood pouring from the wound was a vivid
crimson, and Darcy marveled at its color, so unlike the wine-black of Vitae.
“Why?” he said, trying to stall. If he could just summon up the strength for a second, he might
be able to hold him off… but there was nothing left. He was spent, and it wasn’t just Sadie’s effect
now. The barest glow of sunlight framed the broken blackout window, casting Beau into silhouette
but not touching him. Darcy’s Beast recoiled against the brightness, but even it was too weakened
to lend him a hand. Beau didn’t seem to notice the coming dawn, and if he did, he didn’t care.
“Why? She’s Ishtari,” Beau said with a shrug, as if that meant anything to Darcy. “Sorry, tech-
nical term: Flower of Inanna.
Inanna. Takes your strength and leaves all the weakness. A parasite, in other
words — but evolution at its finest. And you almost fucked it up for me. You know how long I’ve
been trying to acquire a live specimen?”
Darcy coughed and his mouth filled with blood. Was he going to bleed out? Could he? He wanted to
fight, but the full weight of morning was coming down hard: He could no longer feel his arms or legs.
Beau continued. “You know what your problem is, pal? You base your reality on snap assump-
tions. You smarted off to me ’cause you saw some punk in a jean jacket. You called me kid .” He
kid.”
crouched down and tilted Darcy’s chin up, leaning in so close it could’ve been for a kiss. “Son,
I’m one hundred and seventy-six goddamn years old and Sworn of the Dying motherfuckin’ Light.
Show some respect for your elders.”
Darcy could almost laugh. Why is it always the Ordo?
Beau stood back up and surveyed the broken window. “Well, look at the time. Mind if I crash after I
cave your head in? I was just gonna torp you, but you were real ungentlemanly to me, so…” The Dragon’s
steel toe cowboy boot hit Darcy’s side so hard it bit into the bone like a hatchet. He rolled with the
blow, and he would’ve kept going if he hadn’t hit his recliner. Blood trailed from the wound in a web.

108 Sin Again: Daeva

 “I think I’ll leave you out for the sun instead. Then, I’m gonna take my specimen back. You should
be happy for me, cous’ — she really is one in a billion.”
Darcy’s head swam as the numbness of daysleep crawled up his chest. No use fighting it. He’d
wanted an end to his pain, and leave it to Robert Darcy to find the most dramatic way possible.
This is what you wanted.
This is what you deserve.
He shut his eyes and waited for the end.
“Robert…”
A voice called out from the other side of darkness, but it wasn’t Carmelita’s. It took almost all
his strength, but he managed to open his eyes to see Sadie sitting up against the wall. Her wounds
were beginning to close.
“Don’t worry about her,” Beau said as he lifted Darcy up by the throat. “She’ll have her turn.”
He reared back his fist for the final blow.
A jolt tore through Darcy, and not a haymaker. A thought sprang to his mind as his eyes settled
on the space by the television.
“Please!” he groaned between bloody, broken teeth. “If you’re a man of honor… a gentleman. A
final request?”
Beau rolled his eyes. “I’ll bite.”
“I was a star. Applaud as I exit.”
The Dragon laughed, loud and cruel, dropping Darcy hard on the floor. “You’re one vain son of
a bitch. But, I am a gentleman.”
He struck his hands together twice, which was all the Clapper needed.
Whatever tricks Beau had mastered to avoid the daysleep couldn’t save him from the burning
judgment bearing down upon him from the skylight. He screamed as his flesh ignited, and in his
panic, he rushed to the broken window, only to remember too late it was no escape.
Sadie hurled herself forward and tore a sheet from the bed, throwing it over Darcy. Beau tried to
call on his supernatural speed to carry him to safety elsewhere in the house, but this time, Sadie
was faster. She drew the .38 from her bag and plugged him in the head, knocking him back into
the light. Taking advantage of his stunned agony, she locked herself around his waist, holding him
tight beneath the open ceiling. Beau brought his fists down on her back in a windmill of blows,
but his arms soon shattered into ash, scattering over her shirt.
He howled into the sky until the sun took his voice, then finally fell to dust.
Beneath the sheet, Darcy thanked God he refused to settle for anything less than 900 thread
count, but the sunlight was starting to penetrate his shelter. He could hear panicked then angry
clapping, then swearing. He felt Sadie’s strong arms wrap around his chest as she dragged him
across the room and into the walk-in. After taking a moment to catch her breath, she pulled the
sheets clear of his battered face.
“Are you okay?”
“Because of you,” he said.
She hugged him, but the daysleep had already claimed his body. As she reached up to pull the
closet door shut, she saw through the skylight that the dawn had turned a gentle, calm blue.
It was going to be a beautiful day.

Last Night 109

 chapter four
Haters
I can be on guard against my enemies, but God deliver me from my friends!
Charlotte Brontë

The Daeva collect detractors like some people carve notches in their bedposts, and for many Serpents, a lengthy block list
is just one more status symbol. Yet the clan would never claim to be invulnerable; leave that talk to the Lords. A Daeva knows
her frailties all too well, and balancing her dirty secrets with a bigger-than-death persona is half the challenge of her Requiem.
Who then holds the key to Clan Daeva’s hope chest? What follows are a few choice candidates.

Wet Dreams and Nasty Habits

Starting with four new and returning ghoul families, we exam- More monsters than vampires stalk the night, and the Daeva
ine the ways Serpents wield power over their underlings, as well are prone to perverting their victims into such horrors.
as the ways that influence can blow up in their beautiful faces.
• The Alu hunger for Kindred souls. If you’re willing to part
• The Brigmans are on a mission from God to make vampires with yours, they have one hell of a deal to offer.
obsolete, but if their master sees this holy dream come true,
• The Flowers of Inanna are survivors, each cast away and left
he’ll be first up against the wall.
to die in the wake of a vampire’s hunger. With the help of
• Stalwarts of a primordial death goddess, the Children of a wrathful deity, they’ll wreak vengeance on the All Night
Nirriti serve the Kindred by devouring the chaos in their Society for a chance to live forever, but only if they can resist
hearts. Just don’t disappoint them. its charms…
• Behind every successful Daeva is a ghoul, but in front of him • When the Daeva play, sometimes they break their toys in
is a Histrion, ready to take any slings and arrows aimed at ways they don’t expect. Now pain is the only path for the
her regnant’s heart. Scorned, but it’s one they’re eager to take you down too.
• The Tribute Society is the vampire fan club from Hell. They Finally, addiction and disease are all part of the human
so badly want to know the Kindred better, and they’ll tear experience, and unfortunately for the Daeva, that means it’s
the Masquerade to shreds just to steal another Kiss. part of theirs too.
Next, we explore an up-and-coming covenant of the dead, • Solace is the stuff that dreams are made on, but what night-
one the Daeva have begun to mold in their own image. mares might it unleash?
• The Nemites know human affection is just chemical reaction. • As the body creeps closer to expiration, life’s pleasures don’t
Only the pure love of Kindred will suffice to honor their come as fast as they once did — but what if you’re already
reborn king, and their reps are standing by to move their dead? VLAD is a small issue writ large, and if it spreads, it
product in volume. could be more than just embarrassing.

Chapter Four: Haters 111

 Brigman
The ones who stand above you

Mercy? No. If God needed you alive, you would’ve won.

The man tied to the aluminum chair looks like he’s spent a few seems like one. But God can’t make mistakes, so that means
days in Hell’s sauna. He flinches as fat beads of sweat drip over the it’s a riddle to solve — and Birch thinks he’s found an answer.
cuts your boys left all over his face, and the smell coming off his stale Enter the Brigmans. They are the Elect, a beacon that will
clothes is starting to congeal in your nose. one day guide humanity against the darkness of the Kindred
“Last chance,” you say. “Tell me where it is, and this is all over. race, injecting true holiness into the flock so the wolves won’t
You don’t get to live, but I promise we make it quick.” be necessary. Maybe that skirts some Christian dogma, but
The man babbles a few broken prayers and spits a tooth. Solomon Birch is no Christian.
“I tried. All right, get the clippers.” The Brigmans were a fixture in Chicago’s upper crust long
As your man makes a big show of walking over to the toolbox, before Birch got his golden claws in them. They invested early
you hear a scraping, squeaking sound as nylon rubs up against in the city’s vast infrastructure, making a fortune with Brigman
metal: Your captive is straining against his bonds. Transport, Inc., and this simple fact attracted Birch in his salad
night. He needed the cash, and he had a Serpent’s lust for the
“God’s sake, Brigman, take it like a man—”
family’s beautiful (married) daughter, Elena. He’ll say now that
His hands are around your throat before you finish, the tattered he was drawn to them due to the purity of their bloodline, but
remnants of his bonds slick with blood. He’s strong, and not just for just how he came around to this understanding is obscure, and
a guy you haven’t fed in two days. Your boys try to pull him off, but Birch isn’t one to show his work.
he lifts you up and sandbags them with your body. He drops you on
Some loose tongues at Elysium say Elena refused his Vitae
the concrete floor, and half your ribs snap on impact.
when he first tried to court her; others joke she slapped him
You don’t see what he does to the others, but you’re pretty sure the for getting fresh. Whatever the catalyst, Birch found a spark
clippers are involved. You try to pull away as he advances, blood, in his ghoul that coalesced into a Requiem’s work. The Black
sweat, and gore falling off him like an Old Testament plague. You Bishop is no geneticist, but he is a craftsman, and he believes
run up against something hard — a boot. he can apply his artistry to the human genome in ways secular
A large, pale man, hairless but for a devil’s goatee, stands above scientists don’t have the imagination to conceive.
you. “I trust my point is made,” he says.
“Yes, Bishop,” says Brigman with a feral satisfaction.
“The fuck is this?” you choke out despite your ruined ribcage.
A shadow of a smile crosses the bald man’s face. “For him? A
test. For you?” He presses the boot into your ruined chest, never Ghoul Family Systems
If you don’t have access to Half-Damned, ghoul
taking his eyes off Brigman. families come in two types: biological and social.
“Judgment.” Biological ghouls breed true, have natural lifespans
of about 150 years, don’t age rapidly when lacking
Vitae, and can learn common Disciplines without
Kindred. Social families are looser associations of
Where we came from humans and ghouls who band together to achieve
Let it never be said that Solomon Birch takes half measures. a particular goal or live under the thrall of a single
regnant. They have no special inherent qualities.
Like all good Sanctified, Chicago’s Black Bishop believes vam- Both family types have an Integrity 6 Touchstone,
pires are a race of Devil’s Advocates, one that tests the faithful a Benefit, and a Drawback.
and takes the sinful as payment. Still (and not to question God’s Families in this chapter fall under the following
plan) it’s not the most efficient system. Not all vampires adhere categories: The Brigmans and Children of Nirriti are
to the Longinian creed, and most don’t care about the difference biological, while the Histrions and Tribute Society
are social.
between sacred and profane feeding. This troubles Birch. It’s
a contradiction in the Almighty’s perfect order. Or rather, it

112 Sin Again: Daeva

 Of course, the problem with eugenics, apart from being a The other reason he rents them out is to breed resentment.
pretty clearcut example of evil, is that they’re non- Seeing the depravity of other Kindred firsthand, yet
sense. Birch might argue his blood makes the having to bow to them, isn’t great for the superiority
difference, and that mortal genetics have little to complex Birch has bred into them. That’s the point.
do with his project beyond metaphor, but when One night, he wants them to betray him; not just to
has Vitae done anything but twist the human quietly disobey when they think he’ll never find out
soul into more contorted shapes? (he always does), but to aim a stake at his vile heart.
That’s a question he’s not prepared to If the Brigmans are Elect in truth and not just name,
answer. No matter how hard he pretends they need to break his grasp. Only then can they make
otherwise, Birch’s fixation on human- the Kindred obsolete. With each generation, a defiance
ity is just as potent as any other burns in them like flame working through a taper.
Serpent’s, and he’s as dependent When the wick is ash, Birch will know if it was
on the Brigmans as they are on all worth it.
him. All he’s managed to do
is remake the Elect in his own
image, and one night, they may be Three Elect
unlucky enough for him to realize it. David Brigman: paterfamilias, aide-de-camp,
and one of the best-known ghouls in Chicago’s
All Night Society. Where his mother Elena
Who we are tonight failed, David succeeded — which doesn’t mean
The Brigmans are a family in the he’s perfect, but every incremental change is a
organized crime mold, albeit with fundamen- step in the right direction. His mistake was being
talist vampires cooking the books instead of born before his master found his mother, and it’s one
gangsters. Like the mafia, not all are directly he’s never forgiven her for. Still appearing to be in
related, but they’ve all tasted the Black his mid-thirties, David’s various progeny form the
Bishop’s Vitae, and that’s more than enough political core of the family, and he speaks with his
to make you Elect. Their internal structure master’s voice even on matters he shouldn’t. Birch
is stringent yet ever-shifting, with different knows every time David oversteps, but for now,
factions vying for power and Kindred favor. he allows it. When it comes time to correct the
A few things are set in stone, though: The issue, it will be a true test of his faith.
dead are better than the living; the living Elena has seen better days. Back in the good old
are less than Brigmans. days, she fell for the attractive young man Birch
Wherever Birch extends his influence, pretended to be long before he ever let his Vitae
the Elect are on the vanguard with money touch her lips. For his affections, she offered up
and muscle, but that doesn’t mean their her husband, then her money, then her children,
service is exclusive. In recent years, Birch opening up a world of wealth for the future Black
has allowed a degree of autonomy as long Bishop to build his notorious Requiem. She peaked
as they keep the faith, so Brigmans can be early. Tonight, her heirs have displaced her once priv-
both hired help and guns for rent. He’s ileged position, and she suffers a paranoid certainty
bound every last one of them, so it doesn’t that the only reason she’s still alive is because her
really matter how much sinful Kindred death would be an admission of failure. Yet Elena
blood gets in their veins. Plus, it’s good to still has some of that Brigman strength in her. Oh
throw some new DNA in the gene pool from yes. She’s still a worldly woman, adept at playing
time to time. It’s also good for his donation high society’s lipstick and dagger games. She’s as
plate, and the Brigmans provide soft power to a gorgeous as the day Birch filled her heart with
Lick known mostly for the lash. sin, and few centenarians have the affections of
The Elect specialize in anything that requires mus- so many pretty young things. Young things with
cle. Often, that’s taking a baseball bat to some lowlife’s commands hidden in their minds for the night
knees, but these ghouls weren’t bred just to be goons. Elena proves she wasn’t a waste of time.
Their construction company front is a good way to Margery. Clever, treacherous Margery. As close
access their brawn, but sometimes the appearance of to a success as Birch ever achieved, Margery Brigman
strength is useful too. If you have the cachet to enter has been on the run for fifteen years. With the help
a meeting flanked by Solomon Fucking Birch’s of a vile creature Birch didn’t offer the dignity of
brutes, it says a lot about the direction your death, she absconded into the night at 16 with a good
Requiem is taking. chunk of the family’s arsenal. The creature abandoned

Chapter Four: Haters 113

 The Black Bishop of Chicago
Solomon Birch appears throughout the Chronicles of Darkness, particularly in Chicago and Night Horrors: Immortal
Sinners. Our version of his ghoul family also draws on some loose threads from The Marriage of Virtue and Viciousness,
though we’ve tried not to lean too hard on setting lore. You don’t need those books to use the Elect in your chronicle,
but they offer many more details on the Brigmans and their fanatical regnant. If you want to update Solomon Birch
for your Second Edition stories, make the following changes to his character sheet on p. 18 of Immortal Sinners:
Mask: Perfectionist
Dirge: Visionary
Touchstone: Maxwell
Physical Skills: Add a Disarm Specialty to Brawl.
Disciplines: Optionally, increase Dominate to 4, as Birch is sometimes depicted in fiction as knowing the effect of
The Lying Mind (originally Dominate 3, The Forgetful Mind).
Merits: Anointed, City Status 4, Feeding Grounds 2, Haven 4, Herd 3, Lancea et Sanctum Status 4, Quick Draw
(Stakes) (Chronicles of Darkness, p. 49), Resources 4, Retainer 4, Safe Place 4, Staff 5
Defense: 5 (Active Defense 7)
Speed: 15
Notes: Instead of a Narcissism Derangement, Birch takes the Holy Day bane (Sunday), but no longer suffers breaking
points for acts of torture. The Golden Mask (Immortal Sinners, p. 19) allows the wearer to use the effect of Anointed
as many times in a night as she wishes, but only once per crowd. Birch has the Dependent Condition toward pretty
much all of the eldest Brigmans, though one could hardly call his affections tender. However, this obsession has kept
them alive longer than he normally would’ve allowed for their sins.

her soon thereafter, but it did offer a word of advice: Birch creation to spend on Physical Merits. In addition, due to their
doesn’t rest. Now 31 (and barely looking a day past 20 thanks regnant’s spurning of his clan Discipline, few Brigmans know
to her ghoul heritage), Margery has little left but cancerous hate any Majesty. Instead, they gain access to Dominate.
for her family’s captor. Knowing the Bishop’s knack for mortal Drawback: Despite their purpose, the Brigmans are deeply
technology, she’s had to exist off the grid, surviving in ways she alienated from the rest of humanity — all the better to prevent
never could’ve conceived in her privileged upbringing. She’s its taint from setting in. As such, they get clingy. Whenever a
been training for the night she lets Birch find her, homebrew- Brigman shares a significant interaction with a normal human,
ing all kinds of “gifts” for her return. Then she’ll give him the she must roll Integrity. On a failure, she gains the Dependent
fight he always wanted. Condition toward him for the rest of the week.
Nickname: The Elect (only among themselves) Stereotypes:
Touchstone: The family’s ancestral home, one of the last • Daeva: Perfection must be earned.
remaining Gilded Age mansions in Chicago. • Gangrel: On the other hand, depravity comes easy.
Benefit: The Black Bishop has spent decades molding • Mekhet: What’s anything multiplied by zero? Just so.
his Elect into Godly beings, and while his plan is far from
• Nosferatu: You’re sure we aren’t better than them?
complete, he’s produced some interesting specimens in the
meantime. Brigmans gain three additional dots at character • Ventrue: Perfection can sometimes be approximated.

114 Sin Again: Daeva

 Children of Nirriti
The ones who pray for you

O Goddess! Invest thy sin in me!

From childhood, they told you how precious you were. The All Night Society, and the Serpents own them body and soul.
Sybil at your birth saw wheels of fire in your newborn eyes, and The Daeva wouldn’t allow it otherwise. By taking Vitae from
proclaimed it an omen of great power. When the sacred offerings their patrons, these ghouls “eat” Kindred sins for a short time,
were laid before you, you instinctively chose the hairpin that had lessening the Curse.
once belonged to your patron. Someday, you would be of great Where they acquired this trait is unknown. The party line,
service to your family. of course, is that the goddess Nirriti blessed them to work her
Until then, you would be watched. Attendants dressed you in silk will, infusing their blood with the ability to leech chaos from
and fed you a sacred diet to keep you pure. You could not mingle the world. For their part, the Daeva believe this deity was one
with the other children. Instead, you learned to inscribe all the sigils of their own, some Serpent who was clever enough to appro-
and sing all Nirriti’s hymns. priate a goddess of death as her disguise. This doesn’t answer
Now they say you’re old enough. You know the ritual by heart, but the question of how she imbued her servants with a way to
still you shiver, sitting naked upon the dais. The ancestors circling the mitigate her bane, but perhaps her assumed identity became
altar hand you a goblet of desecrated wine. It is bitter and foul, but you more than a mask.
drink it all. The Sybil nods. You take a deep breath and sing the litanies. If Nirriti was just another Serpent with a god complex, she
A rustle of fabric sounds behind you, like the flap of a raven’s could’ve done worse than styling herself after a Vedic god, one
wings. The Goddess’s hands, white as alabaster, slide over your bare with so many names to hide behind. Any vampire of any gender
body. Her perfume fills you: old roses and grave dust. She presses can wear the mantle of “Nirriti” and gain a dedicated coven,
close, and her body is cold and hard as the stone dais. A thrill of just as long as they’re willing to suffer (or indulge) in the cult’s
terror mingles with excitement. You dare to tip your head back, to theology. To the Chosen, Kindred are gods who walk among the
steal a glance at her. living. With their own Mistress of Death watching over them,
Her fangs are out, holiness blazing from the too-perfect lines of smiting their enemies and granting them boons, the Sin-Eaters
her face. Black waves of hair fall around you as she bites deep into accept every twist of fate and feeding as divinely ordained. They
her wrist above your lips. The black blood spatters on your tongue, believe they bleed the taint of a fallen world by accepting its
and you’re falling, falling… until the chaos within you ignites. You burden from their goddess. Perhaps their rituals only stem the
moan as bodies press against yours, groping, caressing, coupling — tide, but eating a little chaos is better than allowing the void
but all you see is your Goddess looming over you. on the edges of reality to claw its way in.
“The seed of chaos has rooted,” the Sybil says at last.
The Goddess smiles upon you, and your sin is absolute. Who we are tonight
The Chosen are no longer recluses in saffron robes and
Where we came from isolated temples. Perhaps you’ve even met one and not known
it: Sin-Eaters work their rituals around unassuming jobs and
In the beginning there was chaos. Then, the goddess Nirriti in quiet suburbs, or concentrate their operations in “chaotic”
granted humanity the sanctity of death. With a final stop, she regions where wars, disease, and decay flourish. There’s no
gave the confusion of living a destination and a purpose, and better way to keep the madness at bay than to wade through it.
in return for worship, so say her Children, the goddess provides
Some Nirriti cults still hold to the old Vedic litanies, but
them the power to keep disorder at bay.
others have transmuted their practices into the Wiccan, Pagan,
The Children of Nirriti sprang up in India in the waning Santerían, or even secular Satanist traditions. While Sin-Eaters
nights of the colonial age. Perhaps they were once true wor- can be found all across the All Night Society, they’re most often
shippers of the Vedic goddess, but if so, that hasn’t been true tied to Serpents in the Circle of the Crone and (more and more
as long as anyone living or dead can remember. The self-pro- of late) the Nemites, as most of the family’s teachings center
claimed Chosen are one of the most fervent ghoul cults in the around the practice of blood magic.

Chapter Four: Haters 115

 However, even outside the auspices of the Mother’s Army or the rise and fall of the British Raj, carrying his family into
the Tree Surgeons, the family practices Crúac as a sacrament for two new centuries and across three continents. Perhaps this is
their deity and as a practical way to punish sin. As the Chosen why rumors have begun among the younger ranks that Amrit
send more of their scions into the world, they prove themselves is truly immortal — indestructible by blade or fire or even
devoted additions to all the other Kindred covenants. A few exsanguination. For all he’s passed down over countless years,
are even associated with the Lancea et Sanctum; it’s no great Grandfather still keeps some secrets to himself.
leap from pagan sacrifices of body and blood to the pomp and Visoka is one of Amrit’s many true-blood granddaughters,
ceremony of a Black Mass. Sanctified Chosen and their regnants and currently one of the most trusted sibyls for her family.
are careful not to flaunt the family’s Crúac use, but many justify Her visions are consistent, clear, and invariably accurate. She’s
it as the cost of fighting sin. Sometimes you beat the Devil by protected her “goddess” from financial ruin, unwise alliances,
using his own tools against him. and even assassination attempts. Her family’s patron trusts her
The forms of sin include betrayals of their blood kin or pro- so much that she takes Visoka everywhere she travels, and
fane acts against their particular version of the faith, or at even allows her to watch over her as she sleeps. Visoka
least their regnant’s interpretation if it. All relationships prizes this trust above all things — sometimes even
and pregnancies are strictly controlled by the High above the needs of the family. She has no qualms
Priests and Priestesses of each branch of about casting out those who might cause trouble,
the family, and all is done in service or who stray from traditions as she herself defines
to the Goddess of Death, for them. And if she sometimes clothes those decisions
without her they cannot hold under a veil of prophecy, who’ll be the wiser?
the void at bay forever. Pari, on the other hand, is as ambitious as her
T his is the role of the sister Visoka is pious. A prophecy was spoken on
Children of Nirriti — but what the night Pari entered the world that said
do they do when the goddess she would give birth to a High Priest
defies their traditions? The for a new and expanding arm of the
Chosen don’t worship Kindred family. She’s already borne three
idly; they expect their deities children for the family, but none of
to uphold their duties, smiting them possessed the foretold mark.
the family’s rivals and provid- Pari stood by as they were taken
ing them the Vitae required from her to be raised by lesser
for their rites. The vampire branches of the cult, but something
who abuses her Chosen, who twisted in her, a question she’d
wallows in sin and allows never been allowed to ask: What if
chaos to reign, will find her the foretold new branch was truly
ghouls’ magic turned against hers? She still tends to her duties
her. When a false divinity aban- for the Children of Nirriti, lest she
dons her followers, her flock rouse suspicion, but alone in the flat
may rise up and perform a final she rents across town, she conducts
ritual, consuming their goddess rituals of her own. She will design
whole and raising another, better her own traditions, gather her own
one in her place. followers, and find answers in the
void. To fulfill the prophecy, she must
reshape the world to make it reality.
Three Chosen Nicknames: Chosen, Sin-Eaters
Amrit has been the head of the Touchstone: Every chapter of
largest Nirriti cult since the mid- the Nirriti cult has a patron deity,
19th century, and many of its a vampire they worship and who
youngest members refer to him provides them with Vitae for
as Grandfather. He preserved their rituals.
the Chosen’s rituals through

116 Sin Again: Daeva

 Drawback: Each time a Sin-Eater takes Vitae from a vampire,
her player must roll Resolve + Composure. On a failure, she
becomes “sin-laden,” suffering the Wanton Condition. In this
The Poison Tree state, the void comes howling, wracking her with physical pain,
As noted, the Children of Nirriti and Nemites disturbed sleep, and impulses that boil right below the surface,
(p. 124) get on like a forest fire. Tree Surgeons — leading her into temptation and depravity.
especially Daeva ones — consider mortal blood foul,
and feeding from humans constitutes a necessary Stereotypes:
evil at best and a grave sin at worst. • Daeva: They understand the pull of the void, treading the
Lucky for them that the Sin-Eaters are here to line between absolution and sin and leading us to salvation.
take confession.
Many Nemites maintain extended families of • Gangrel: Blood and full moons, sure, but tradition? Not so
Chosen in their downlines, propping up the Rex much.
Nemorensis as an avatar of their goddess and
allowing them to orgiastically devour her when the • Mekhet: Spread our teachings to the four corners of the
Golden Bough passes. In exchange, the Tree Surgeons world and you would dilute the sanctity of our message.
get to ritually purge their sins into these ghouls
whenever they’re forced to taint themselves with • Nosferatu: This is the face of a world where sin has won.
mortal blood. The fact that this purging is most useful • Ventrue: Dogma only provides so much.
to Daeva members is just another way the Serpents
are taking firmer hold over the small covenant.
New Crúac Rite
In addition to those listed in Vampire: The Requiem and
other supplements, Chosen with Status in their family have
Benefit: Once per week, if a vampire feeds Vitae to a Sin- access to the following rite:
Eater in a special ritual, her Humanity is considered one dot
higher for the purposes of all acquired banes, to a limit of ten.
If she’s a Daeva, it’s two dots. This lasts until she suffers her
Nirriti’s Fork (•)
next breaking point or a week passes, whichever comes first. Target Successes: 5
In addition, while bearing a vampire’s sinful Vitae, a Chosen The Sin-Eater casts a divination, such as tarot cards, yarrow
ghoul’s own blood is sufficient for sacrifices in Crúac rites stalks, or haruspicy. If the ritual is successful, she can ask which
higher than the first level. However, unless she can store enough of two courses of action is more likely to succeed, but only if
Vitae to cover the rite’s entire cost, she must inflict herself with the goal is attainable within the space of a month. This rite
lethal damage for each Vitae in excess of her reserves, or share won’t reveal the optimal choice, just the better of the two she
costs with other sin-bearing Children. presents. A ritualist can only use this ritual once per choice.

Chapter Four: Haters 117

 Histrion The ones who perform

But… what if I’m no hero? It might hurt you if you got to know me.
You are watching a child play pretend. about damning their messengers even as they let them guide
He sits in the cushy leather couch with his shirt half open, as pale the masses to the light. The Gospel from a sinner’s mouth is
skin glimmers in club light. In some half-forgotten memory, you think still the Gospel, and a reprobate is far easier for a vampire to
of the sounds of preschool where you played grocers and cowboys control than a saint.
and pirates. He plays vampire. He portrays a tragic victim who’s lost Perhaps that was the problem. As successful Histrions
nothing. He mimics dangerous, looking over his shoulder for effect. lived it up in the lap of luxury, they began to resemble their
He’s an adult who can run home and cry to mommy when the dead masters, and not just figuratively. The more they were
world gets too scary. rewarded, the paler their skin became, and the more depraved
But you like him. Despite it all, you like this idiot child. their decadent tastes. They say imitation is the sincerest form
Children are, after all, innocent. And innocence is one of the of flattery, and if so, these ghouls were exemplary sycophants.
many things you can’t afford to indulge anymore. Eventually, little difference remained between the monsters
and their servants.
As new toys flock to him for his eerie pallor and stunning-
yet- conventional looks, he gets hooked on the power, just like he The name of the first assassinated Histrion is lost, but later
got hooked to the Blood. It makes it more real, you tell him. And written accounts claim it was an ignoble end. During the
anyway, being so beautiful comes with a price. He believed you, too. final performance of a shockingly sexual production of Ordo
Your innocent, idiot child believed you. Virtutum, an audience member stormed the stage and gutted the
player portraying Chastity. The assailant proclaimed he’d slain
And some night, when the stake skewers his heart and blood
an agent of Hell and urged the crowd to cleanse the remaining
sprays from his chest, he’ll believe you’re trying to save him as you
taint. A riot ensued.
sink your teeth into the hunter he’s helped you lure out.
This was not to be an isolated incident. The Serpents behind
He’ll die loving mommy.
this endeavor became laughingstocks, myopic fools who’d
created a bunch of narcissists in their own image. The project
was dead.
Where we came from However, an actor can never leave the stage until the curtain
The Histrions emerged in Rome’s wake, as the Lancea et call. As more of these ghouls fell to violent “fans,” the Serpents
Sanctum’s Traditions became Kindred law. For Christianity saw a brand new angle. Maybe their Shepherds couldn’t make
to outlast the Empire, it needed exemplars, and if the Twelve anyone keep the faith, but they sure could provide cover. After
Apostles couldn’t do it, propaganda would work in a pinch. all, the difference between a real vampire and a patsy who’s
The first Histrions (literally, “actors”) were drawn from circus groomed to act like one is academic to the man with the stake.
troupes and other entertainers, selected for their talents in Eventually, these Daeva would turn their blunder into an asset,
holding a crowd’s attention. With morality plays and other and even tonight, the Histrions play on. They just don’t realize
didactic theater, the dead Church would show the kine how who their real audience is.
to live up to Christ’s standards, then “quiz” them on their
piety. The regnants of these ghouls were mostly Daeva, ones
who understood the dividends of high production values even Who we are tonight
when it comes to faith. They also recognized that their illiterate Histrions are designer ghouls, bespoke insurance policies
flocks couldn’t be tested if they didn’t know the rules, and so for paranoid corpses. Modern Shepherds are ethereal beauties
the Histrions went about making them crystal clear. with melancholic, pale complexions, subtly guided into filling
Those Shepherds who brought the most souls to the all the various stereotypes pop culture has bestowed on the
Lord were blessed with Vitae and power. Actors were often living dead. Some Patsies are even altered physically, made
viewed as beyond redemption in these times — little better to look similar to their regnants or otherwise enhanced to
than whores and thieves — so the Sanctified had few qualms fit certain aesthetic markers. Not understanding the Kindred

118 Sin Again: Daeva

condition, some are even tricked into believing they are
vampires. Histrions are blessed with good Three Patsies
looks, resources, and even new passions. The John Archer is living the best month of his life. Before
cost, of course, is that nearly all of them January, he was nobody — human wallpaper no one could
wind up dead. ever care about. He was ignored, dismissed, and passed
Placed in large social environs, their unique over for every opportunity that ever came his way. Now,
traits draw both positive and negative after meeting his new friend, people can’t help but notice
attention, luring out stalkers, aspiring him! His jawline is stronger, his step more confident,
hunters, and other undesirables with- and his smile the shiniest pearl white. He can talk
out risking a vampire’s Masquerade or to anyone he wants, about anything he wants,
Requiem. By pampering the ghoul because they’re dying to get to know him. He
and building up her ego, putting doesn’t just make opportunities; no, he is
her in positions of vague authority the opportunity. John is someone people
becomes a layer of protection. love and adore because he’s just better
Suddenly all the vampire’s bank than the rest of them. Sure, he had
accounts are in her name, and to go to the police about a stalker
all the records list her home (something he couldn’t even have
address. The entire purpose of a imagined before now!), but it was
Histrion is to act alone upon the all worth it. This is his week. His
stage, and compared to the eternal year. His time! And nothing’s going
servitude of other ghouls, this can be to bring him down.
quite a blessing. And if their lives end tragically Guillaume is a blessed man, and
as they take a firebomb meant for someone else? every day he thanks the Lord for his
Well, then they’ve performed very well indeed. deliverance. In his angrier years, Guillaume
Most Shepherds fulfill this duty within a few lost himself to vices and depression. He had no
years. Fueled by the ceaseless power fantasies direction, no goals, and no dreams. He knew he
seeded by her regnant, a Histrion rarely realizes wanted to help the world, but the how was never
she’s a designated meat shield — after all, how clear… until he met Olivia. He didn’t think how
could creatures as generous and powerful as strange it was that she only ever seemed to show
the Kindred allow such cruelty? Up to the up at evening masses; he only cared that she
moment she takes silver blade to the throat, had an old soul like his, but it wasn’t until one
a Shepherd is a pampered, beloved lapdog, night four years later that he learned just how
and even in dire straits, she’ll play her part to old it was. Now he’s doing missionary work in
the hilt. She’s special, dammit. No human can northern Quebec, and he’s renewed his mission
dodge a bullet, but a Histrion just might try. every year on the dot. It’s a lonely job, but Olivia
That doesn’t mean Patsies never piece tells him how much it means to her. She wor-
together their morbid purpose, especially if ries about their ignorance and superstition.
they survive one of these misguided assas- They’re scared of monsters up there, and he’s
sinations. What was once delight in their come to lead them to salvation.
power turns to ash, and when the ghoul tries Amara is out. She’s been going from
to confront her regnant, she’s either struck bus to bus and town to town, even
down for outliving her purpose or cowed as temptation still gnaws away at her
by the seductive words of a slave master. Or insides. She remembers the blood, the
maybe the event is just tossed in the memory sticky warmth that coated her ribs
hole, and she’s left to wonder where she got and made her heart sing in her chest.
these burns. In any case, many Players wind She remembers Jeb even better, the
up justifying these attacks as happenstance, man who gave her that warmth and
or come to believe their regnants really so much more. Now she knows bet-
didn’t know. ter — now she knows fear. One last
Ultimately, Histrion lives are brief fire- attacker came for her, with a wooden
works in an endless night, pretty sparks stake she now knows is meant to
designed to fizzle away and be forgotten. kill dead things. She ran to Jeb
Just more noise for the Cacophony. with that wooden stake, and all
the questions that came with it,
and when the wood sank into his
still and lifeless breast, she just kept

Chapter Four: Haters 119

 Genuses and Genres
The Histrions fall within the ghoul family category only in the strictest sense. They’re more like a type of ghoul, one
that Sanctified Daeva have a tradition of cultivating for themselves or on behalf of other Kindred. As such, vampires
tend to avoid bringing these catspaws together; isolated from other Patsies, they aren’t likely to discern their true
purpose. Most Histrions know they’re part of a “troupe” of some sort, but those who meet their siblings are usually
grouped together for a specific purpose, like acting as decoys for an entire coterie.
Creating a Histrion is a matter of socialization, following techniques developed in the late Medieval period. As noted,
this method came about by accident, but as it was formalized, it became easier and easier to foster whole companies
of Players. Rumors sometimes make the rounds that a Theban Sorcery miracle is involved, but the Sanctified keep
their techniques close to heart. If the other covenants found out how to make Histrions, it would be bad for business.

running. Now the thirst’s calling to her, and she’ll need to their heartbeats, enjoying a +3 on any Expression, Persuasion, or
find a new source of that special blood. Except now, the thirst Subterfuge rolls to convince uninitiated mortals (intentionally
will be on her terms. or not) that they’re “vampires.”
Nicknames: Patsies, Players, Shepherds (among the Lancea Drawback: Patsies take a –5 modifier on all rolls to detect
et Sanctum) lies from anyone acting in a position of direct authority over
Touchstone: Human attachments are the first things to go them, and any failures count as dramatic failures.
when Patsies join the All Night Society. Instead of a Touchstone, Stereotypes:
a Histrion gains the equivalent of a Mask, albeit while still retain- • Daeva: How close we are, yet so far. Imagine what we could
ing her human Vice and Virtue. This Anchor doesn’t provide a do with that kind of power…
bonus to breaking points, but neither can it detach.
• Gangrel: He keeps calling me “bait.” What does that mean?
Benefit: The Histrions exude a natural receptiveness, making
them alluring as lovers, confidants, and decoys. All Players gain • Mekhet: He who increases knowledge increases sorrow.
Striking Looks 1 (or an Experience if they already have it) and • Nosferatu: What lonely souls they must be.
begin play with an extra Discipline dot in Majesty. In addition,
they lose a touch of color in their skin and a bit of volume in • Ventrue: The Devil is often subtle.

120 Sin Again: Daeva

 The Tribute Society
The ones who crave your attention

I’ve done everything for you.

She did her research. She knows your every haunt, all your To we devoted few, they were more than Penny Dreadfuls or
favorite brands and bands and back alleys. She cut and dyed her opium-fueled poetry. We felt the truth in these tales as others
hair to match your taste and dressed in your favorite colors in the felt the word of God. In 1730, we formed an epistolary club
styles you like best. Even tattooed your name right over her heart. known as the Tribute Society, and we’ve been operating ever
Every night, she does the circuit to your club, your office, your since. In the beginning, it was mostly letters exchanged between
penthouse, hoping you’ll see her. Sense her. Hoping you’ll need her a few bored vampirophiles, sharing knowledge of the “Kindred”
the way she needs you. and their bloody society. Can’t cross running water. Allergic to
Tonight, she catches sight of you through the crowd: beautiful garlic. Burned by silver crosses — we made sure to purge such
and elegant and ageless. Her heart starts pounding, cheeks flushed, deterrents from our lives.
already overcome at the very sight of you. She pushes her way Then we wrote pamphlets, took memberships. By 1893,
through, cutting in line to get close enough to touch you. There! a woman named Angela Chapman became president of the
Your skin is smooth and cool beneath her fingers. You look over Society. Known best by the pen name Thalaba, she built many
your shoulder at her, an eyebrow quirked in that debonair way that of our organizational and structural supports, but — more than
makes her knees go weak. that — she got her hands on some genuine blood. The details of
“Do you remember me?” she asks. She waits a moment for this acquisition are somewhat obscure, but however it started,
recognition, but then you turn away. No, she won’t let you slip out for a fee, you could order a vial of your own and get a little edge
of her grasp again. She stumbles forward, grabbing at your coat. You in your pursuit. That’s when we Tributes went from observers
know she’s not strong enough to hold you back, but it gets you to to active participants.
turn around. Those initiates who reach the rank of the Unveiled are per-
She pulls the penknife from her pocket and stabs through her mitted to consume this precious Vitae and become full-fledged
hand, holding it out to you. People around her yell and exclaim, members of our little “family.” There are three official ranks:
but they don’t matter to her. The room fades from both your Veiled (a newcomer), Unveiled (one who has become a true
senses. She has your undivided attention now, and the hunger Tribute), and Bitten (one who has been fed upon by a vampire).
rolls through you. Tradition says that each Unveiled member takes on a literary
You’re feeding from her, lips pressed tight to her wound, hero or heroine’s name during their acceptance ceremony, as
tonguing the cut as her blood rushes into your mouth. She moans well as a Society-approved surname. After all, if you’re willing
with need, pulls herself into your iron embrace, kissing any part of to come this far into our little club, you know it isn’t just a
you she can touch. hobby: It’s a lifestyle.
You’re still suckling, but the wound is closing beneath your
talented tongue. With a fluttery laugh, she whispers in your ear,
“We have to stop meeting like this…”
Who we are tonight
Pop culture has always had a vampire in the limelight, and
weirdos on the fringes have always been tantalized by the idea of
Where we came from some sexy monster sweeping them off their feet. Vampires — or
so film and literature paint them — have seen more of the world
The Kiss brings euphoria. How could we not want that?
than any mortal cold fish date ever could, and offer pleasure
Between unrealistic expectations for heteronormative happy
beyond the wildest imaginings with just a prick of their fangs.
endings and puritan cultures that repress our sexualities, there’s
massive appeal in the idea of an underworld where unfettered We Tributes have grown up longing for that bite, believing
sensuality reigns supreme. Vampires represent everything real with all our might that vampires are real. Knowing it. They’re
life doesn’t: nuance, freedom, and fulfillment. From Christabel out there, in the shadows, drinking the blood of the living.
to The Giaour, from Carmilla to Dracula, these twisted figures And, if so, why not our blood? What makes those others so
have captivated humanity for generations. fucking special?

Chapter Four: Haters 121

 So, we dive down the rabbit hole of message boards, fan bribing whomever she has to, funneling all her resources into
theories, slash fic, and counter-culture sex her obsession. She lives, sleeps, and breathes her beloved.
clubs. We work through endless conspir- Usually she prevails, chumming the water until he can’t resist
acies, trying to discern what’s true and her. Because if we show them how much we love them, how
what’s trash. The challenge is, with so can they not love us in return?
many “clans,” it’s hard to discern
the noise from the signal. All we
can do is make educated guesses Three Seekers
and hope our digging unearths a
Dorian Ravenswing (“raven’s wing,” as he’s constantly
real vampire.
forced to reiterate) is the longest standing member of
We gather through social media and the original Tribute Society. Rumors say he’s pushing
community centers, and even some 150, but he still looks like a college student, at least
progressive churches, sharing our woes at a cursory glance: It’s impossible to say where the
with fellow seekers. Sometimes a mem- Vitae stops and the plastic surgery begins. Dorian
ber shares a lead: a bar purported to embodies the obsession most Tributes have of
be run by a dead man, a location being enticing to vampires, and he’s survived
of multiple feedings, photos and being played with and abandoned by no fewer
paintings of identical faces from than three Kindred. Each guttering of a
across distant decades that must romance threw him into a deep despair,
belong to a single individual… or and were it not for the Society, he might
one of their ghouls. Some of us will have done something drastic. Still, the law
drop everything just to chase these of averages says the fourth time’s got to be
threads in the vain hope they’ll the charm. These nights, Dorian’s back on
bear fruit, exposing ourselves to the the hunt, looking for the lover who’ll keep
dangers of the night for the chance him forever. He’s got a stake ready if they
some Dead Prince Charming will decide need time to consider it.
to take us out for a drink.
Morgan Morningstar joined the family
The lucky work our way up the ranks in the 1980s after becoming obsessed
with a patron vampire, but most of us with Gentry de Viola, a sculptor who,
have to do it the hard way. However, if in his living days, gained renown at
you’ve proven yourself to the organiza- the Exposition Universelle. Morgan
tion, Thalaba herself will ship you your is convinced he’s still stalking the
own vial of genuine Vitae. There’s a night, and they’ve chased after any
strict regimen recruits need to follow vampire who bears even a passing resemblance
for the “turning” to work: microdoses to his one surviving self-portrait. They thought
taken on the hour, consistently, for a they had him at least twice over the years — no
month. The change comes over slowly, matter what name he might’ve been using. This
but you’ll know from the sudden, irre- time, they’re sure they have the right Lick. He looks
pressible craving for more that you’ve the part, talks the part, dresses the part, and even
become properly Unveiled. has a suspiciously derivative collection up at the
For us, once bitten, twice shy is just local gallery. Morgan has followed him for three
admitting defeat. That kind of talk’s months now, making sure every detail of their
not for closers. After one rises to the meet-cute is perfect. They’re absolutely certain
Unveiled rank, the need for a vampire this is the vampire of their dreams. They won’t
patron escalates. Maybe Kindred can allow themself to be disappointed again.
smell the change in us, because it’s T halaba Wolfsbane (A K A A ngela
easier to attract a Lick’s attention the Chapman), was born in 1871, and it took
higher up the ladder you go — that’s her thirteen years after beginning her
part of the appeal, really. Look hard tenure as club president to meet a proper
enough, present yourself on a platter vampire. The tragic Marquise was a Daeva
to a blood-sucker, and sooner or later, clinging to aristocracy in a world ravaged
you’ll get nipped. And the Kiss? It’s by the Great War, and she gave Thalaba
everything we dream of and more. the idea of creating ranks for her
A true Tribute will track her first club. Together, they began peddling
vampire’s every movement, learn- the Marquise’s Vitae — willingly,
ing everything she can about him,

122 Sin Again: Daeva

 according to Thalaba. No one would want a gang of emotion-
ally-stunted snoops keeping constant tabs on vampires. What
use would that be?
Story Seed: Single White Ghoul Nicknames: Seekers (among themselves), Fanatics, Groupies,
The euphoric hit of the Kiss is supposed to make and numerous other derisive terms among the Kindred
feeding easier, but too many vampires don’t concern
themselves with the side effects: the withdrawal,
Touchstone: A Seeker will always hold the location of his first
the cravings, the obsession. The Fanatics aren’t just Kiss dear. It centers his sense of self, and even the thought of
looking for the next hit; they want the dealer. They it can cause small aftershocks of pleasure to bolster his resolve.
love their Kindred with an unquenchable fire, an “If Benefit: Ironically, Tributes are true independent ghouls.
I can’t have you, no one can!” fixation that makes
even other ghouls wince.
As long as she has at least a point of Vitae provided by the
What do you do when your herd imprints on Society in her system, a Seeker is immune to blood bonds
you? When does it shift from being endearing and from any vampire she doesn’t have the Swooning Condition
gratifying to terrifying? Maybe it’s when you wake toward. However, if she does have the Swooning Condition
at night to find them tucked up against your corpse, toward a vampire, she knows where he is at all times, even
with no idea how they got past security. Or maybe
if he’s Obfuscated. The feeling pulls at her like a compass,
it’s when they start destroying your Touchstones so
your attention has nowhere else to focus. Careful firing her addiction for more and giving her laser focus. Unless
who you bite, or you might get more than you she has a regnant, a Tribute’s starting Discipline options are
bargained for. Celerity, Majesty, and Vigor.
Drawback: If a Tribute goes more than 24 hours without
seeing a vampire she has the Swooning Condition toward, she
loses the 10-again quality on all actions.
allegedly — to Thalaba’s most devoted subscribers. Of course, Stereotypes:
the Marquise’s true role in this is hotly debated among the • Daeva: At least the addiction is mutual.
Tributes, especially after her untimely torpor some hundred
years ago. Gossip aside, Thalaba still can’t really explain how • Gangrel: Sometimes love makes you live dangerously.
the Society’s methods work, like how the Vitae she ships turns • Mekhet: If you prefer to stay in the shadows, that’s fine by
her followers into ghouls, or why it doesn’t seem to form a me. My eyes will adjust.
blood bond to… anyone. The rank and file’s general ignorance
of Kindred physiology has helped her dodge more awkward • Nosferatu: You be Phantom; I’ll be Christine.
questions, but who even cares? Nothing sinister is going on, • Ventrue: I always wanted a sugar daddy.

Chapter Four: Haters 123

 The Nemites
The Tree Surgeons
I’ll break her fucking neck. can feel vertebrae knitting back together, but what hurts more
“You touch him — you hurt him — I’ll rip you to shreds!” is what I see:
I can barely hold the Beast back. It’s behind my eyes, trying My little brother, rent apart like an obscene piñata.
to break free. Fixed on Gail. But the pain in my heart is different. Not anger or sorrow.
Her whole look is a lie. A hot pink fake fur coat and a Just loss.
shaved head make her look like some student junkie, but she’s “I’m a monster.”
a monster. I can smell the blood dribbling off her nails from “At last,” Gail says, and she’s got tears in her eyes. She cups
the punctures she left in Carl’s neck. She holds him up like blood in her hands from the cavity in my brother’s — no — the
a ragdoll. corpse’s chest. She feeds it to me and the others. My family.
“But he means nothing to you, Jerome. He doesn’t care for They draw around us like a blanket of shadows.
you. You saw the way he reacted when you revealed your nature And we kiss.
to him.” She lifts him. His feet are scrabbling for the ground,
and it’s like watching those old cartoons where the coyote
runs off a cliff. “He doesn’t understand you, Jerome. But we You want to join the Nemites because
do. We love you. And you spat in our faces. You sullied the You’re looking for community. You want someone to have
tree by feeding on this… mortal. You tainted the roots with your back. You need to feel valued by those ahead of you and
his sin. Well, no more.” those behind you. You want to escape a stagnant Requiem
Gail produces a knife. She’s a tease, dragging the tip down within the other factions of the All Night Society. You need
the length of Carl’s body. Tears stream down his face as he to rise above the rest.
sputters bloodied pleas for me to help.
“There’s a price to pay, Jerome. Only an offering can correct The big picture
the imbalance your false love has caused. Only by watering the Love as vampires experience it is a strange beast. Their dead
roots can your transgression be forgiven — and we thank you hearts no longer flutter when they see a person they connect
for it.” She thrusts the knife deep in Carl’s gut, and I wretch with; their bodies don’t stir to have sweaty, glorious, awkward
at the sight. sex in one-night stands; they don’t get a shot of endorphins
A twist and a yank and the blade comes free, slicing flesh and when they see an old friend for the first time in years. They can’t
spattering blood onto the cellar floor. The others rush from even mourn properly, unchanged and immortal as multitudes
me and kneel before Carl. He’s bleeding out, showering them pass on into true death.
in his gore. Gail just watches me. I haven’t seen that look for The Nemites know this isn’t real love. It’s animal-like, born
a long time. It’s like when my mother walked in on me jerking out of the primal needs of the ape brain. Human “love” is a
off; a look of utter disgust and disappointment. biochemical response to sex and the need to protect offspring.
The Beast breaks free, and I black out. Grief is also just an organic response, the lizard brain reacting
When I come to, I can barely pry my face off the wet floor. to loneliness. But the love of Kindred is stronger — purer — and
My head feels like a lead weight, and my jaw like its chewing a divorced of any built-in exchange of services, or the need to
mouthful of dry toast. It’s broken. protect each other.
I mumble through the cracked teeth, “Carl…?” Perhaps, they say, true love originated with the dead, wrestled
“We snipped the bud and watered the roots,” Gail says and from the grip of the gods. If so, the Blood isn’t just a nonchem-
points at me. No… not at me. Next to me. Moving my neck, I ical process: It’s divine.

Don’t just maximize your downline: Bleed it dry.

124 Sin Again: Daeva

The Nemites are a cult and aspiring covenant that subscribes to the ideals of unconditional
love among vampires. Through the emotional manipulations of Majesty and the binding
power of Vitae, the love they build isn’t a temporary bond born out of primitive need,
but instead a union of a holy essence all Kindred hold within themselves, a “multi-level”
network of roots that nourishes their community and offers a path to spiritual ascension.
Their rituals, both socially and supernaturally, form an extended network, cleaving
members to each other and allowing blood to be siphoned from the bottom of their hier-
archy. At the base of the tree is the Rex Nemorensis, the eternal king who subsists
on this spiderweb of tributaries — one that
falls apart if members break their promises.
Thus, the only way to maintain this link is to
trap more saplings in the system. The love of the
covenant must be everything to its members, while
outside connections must be cut. Permanently.

Where we came from

We have no name for the first of our order. None remember when
we became a gathering of vampires, but the ritual cycle of our faith
resonated with Kindred of the time. What we do know is that,
thousands of years ago on the edge of Lake Nemi, the priest of the
goddess Diana led our faith. Called the Rex Nemorensis, the King of the
Grove, to him flocked the outcast, the slaves, and the desperate, for it was
said this monarch once died and returned to life.
Now, at this point you’re thinking, “Hey, haven’t I heard this before?” And
you’d be right, to which I compliment you for that copy of The Golden Bough
collecting dust on your bookshelf. It’s okay; mine’s propping up an end table.
A king killed only to be resurrected? Not the most original, no, but wouldn’t it
be kind of interesting if these myths originated with vampires? Makes you think.
Some in our order believe the first of us was the Greek hero Hippolytus, who
shunned sex and marriage at the temple of Artemis. For this, he was cursed by
Aphrodite — just as we Kindred are cursed by our mortal connections — forced
to reject the advances of his own stepmother. Her suicide and framing of
Hippolytus for rape acts as a warning to us about our reliance on the
base love of mortals. Their affections will always be guided by the petty,
self-gratifying amygdala and the straitjacket of evolution.
But, more importantly, Hippolytus experienced a life after death. He
was resurrected by Asclepius on the shores of Lake Nemi and became
a king who honored Diana, establishing the way we choose our Rex
Nemorensis to this very night. Now, this likely leads to your next question:
Was Hippolytus Kindred? Was Asclepius his sire? Maybe Diana (sometimes
Hecate, goddess of the underworld; sometimes Selene, mistress of the
moon) was a vampire, choosing her priests and brood from the mortal
cult dedicated to her.
In truth, we don’t know, but like any good myth, the reality is less
important than the message. There’s a theory that the ritual renewal
of the Rex Nemorensis allows for our founder’s soul to move across
the ages, passed on via the Blood. If that were true — if this were all
some elder’s leapfrogging through time — then our community would
be no better than the crushing oppressors in the other covenants.
Fortunately, this is likely a fabrication of those jealous of the
freedom of spirit we experience. Or maybe they’re projecting!
At any rate, it’s not surprising that our practices gave rise
to the reoccurring legend of the sacred king. But this is just
another sign of how far our faith has spread.

Chapter Four: Haters 125

 Care must be taken to maintain our downline, but feeding
Our practices upon mortals is profane, opening our divine souls to sin.
A community is only as strong as its roots, and ours are fed Drinking human blood pleasures the Beast and drives us to
with blood. Blood is an offer of freedom and an escape from dark temptations. Yet, as keepers of Hecate’s faith, we stand at
stagnant power structures that would enslave Kindred for the the crossroads of life and death, and for this we must balance
rest of their Requiems. With us, you’ll find a community that the scales. Just as we transmute blood into Vitae, death into
quells the Beast and soothes the loneliness of death — one with life, we cleanse the world of sin as we suckle on the blood of
an exciting path to promotion. man. And so, our faith is a paradox: We strive for purity while
All kings must die, but ours is reborn in the grave, just as tainting ourselves with mortal sin. However, the act of gifting
Kindred take their second breath with the Embrace. The title blood to others — watering the roots of our society — balances
of Rex Nemorensis is claimed in a ritual combat called the the scales as our love transforms the polluted blood of mortals.
Passing of the Golden Bough. Taken from our sacred grove, Therefore, each night we gather, our downline presenting kine
a branch is fashioned into a stake for a successor to drive as offerings to the family, and we collectively feed. Share the
through the reigning King’s heart. Drinking deep of his Vitae sin, save the sinners.
and drawing his soul into theirs, the victor offers the slain However, there are limits to that principle. When the roots
monarch’s blood to the community. In an orgy of gore, of break down, when the downline fails, there must be reparations,
entrails and bone and divine madness, the new King binds and those who violate our family’s faith must balance the scales.
us together in an ever more perfect love. It’s exhilarating. Just as the Rex Nemorensis must water the roots with their
Enlightening. Something we all crave, leading us all to seek passing, so too must the penitent make sacrifice: One of their
the Bough. As a final act, the new Rex Nemorensis rips the mortal blood relatives must be offered up in a symbolic act of
spine from the former, planting it in the sacred grove as a severing their connection to the profane world.
symbolic green shoot.
We count all clans within our number, and each one has
Like Hippolytus, we server ties to mortal desires that would guided our tree at different times through history — even
bind us to a profane world, and which would dilute our down- (allegedly) the Julii in our earliest nights. However, of all the
lines. Our love is founded on true, sanguine devotion — what Kindred, those of Daeva blood tend to stand at the forefront
other vampires crudely call the Vinculum. But ours is no invol- of our community. The nature of the Serpents’ curse means
untary bondage as that awful word suggests: We are a family our teachings have great benefit to them. Coupled with their
formed by the purest agape. command of mortal hearts, they quickly master the downline
Each Nemite is expected to tend to their downline. Some run and spread our roots far and wide.
self-help groups, others mentor investors through mindfulness Speaking of, how about we get you signed up?
training. The goal is same: Be a good influencer, keep up the
Nicknames: The Priesthood of Nemi (formally), Tree
engagement of prospects, and crush mortal distractions. No, no,
Surgeons (informally), Children of the Grove, Huns, Hunbots,
it’s not so oppressive as it sounds! This is community building.
Multi-Level Monsters (disrespectful)
This is working together for the benefit of the Upstream, and
sometimes that means acting for the good of all rather than Concepts: Salvation Army recruiter, door-to-door salesman,
the good of you. Free Zone Scientologist, Internet agony aunt, local church
charlatan, the soccer mom next door, stake president
You too can benefit from our growing and dynamic commu-
nity. You too can be a sponsor! But just how do we spread our
message to the masses? “To grow out roots, we must recruit!” When we are in power
We silently exist within the other covenants, mimicking a We rarely have enough sway to hold praxis over an entire
dynastic house, or a Dragon chantry, or even a Carthian cell. domain. Instead, we prefer to pull the strings, having wormed
Our veneration of the reborn king nestles within the Lancea our way into the false covenants to spread our love. That said,
et Sanctum’s teachings just as well as it does within the Circle we have ruled openly a few times. Within our community, all
of the Crone’s. Hidden in plain sight, we identify those who’ve are expected to water the roots. All Kindred must attend weekly
been trampled by the humanist sects and offer them a path out. instruction, and before long, all are watching each other for
Acolytes are the easiest marks, as our rituals and blood sorcery signs of stepping out of line or taking up relationships with mor-
closely follow those taught by the Dark Mother. tals. Maybe you call that paranoia, but a little healthy anxiety
Conflict comes between our family and the Circle when, is an excellent motivator. It lets the roots flourish.
like a weed, we grow too wild and deep within their garden.
They see us as usurpers, enforcing a lockstep faith, but we
don’t seek to drown out their choir. We just want to create
When we are in trouble
harmony. It’s a shame some wish to sing their own song so A forest can survive any inferno if firebreaks are formed.
selfishly. Such singular voices must be stifled, and if doing We eliminate those closest to our enemies, forming gangs of
so adds to the Upstream? Well, at least they found a way to “Bush Burners” to flush them out in the open where we can
make a contribution. pounce. Each gang of Bush Burners targets a particular part of
the city, or section of local government, and removes the All

126 Sin Again: Daeva

Night Society’s mortal powerbase. If the burn is deep enough, Dirge: Cult Leader
we create a wall of fear, one our enemies will refrain from
Touchstone: Her granddaughter, Cristal, who at age
crossing. Cleanse, purge; it’s all the same in the end. 5 is a vibrant, pure soul who reminds Gail of the life she
never had.
Mental Attributes: Intelligence 2, Wits 3, Resolve 3
Sample Tree Surgeon: Gail Aido Physical Attributes: Strength 2, Dexterity 3, Stamina 3
“Welcome, and thank you for attending this introductory session.
We’re looking for aggressive expansion!” Social Attributes: Presence 4, Manipulation 4,
Composure 2
Gail, on first appearance, looks like a street walker or a meth
addict. That’s as she prefers it. The weekly meetings she runs Mental Skills: Computer 2, Medicine (First Aid) 3,
for her downline and prospective recruits have the appearance Occult 2
of a counseling session as she stands before the gathered crowd Physical Skills: Athletics 1, Brawl (Bites) 3, Larceny 2,
with her signature fake fur coat and buzz cut, enthusiastically Stealth 2
spouting uplifting slogans about understanding pain, love, and Social Skills: Empathy 2, Expression 3, Intimidation
letting go of unhealthy connections. To passersby, it all seems 2, Persuasion (Sales Pitch) 3, Socialize 3, Streetwise 2,
to be on the up and up, but if you were to sit down and listen Subterfuge 3
long enough, the teachings of the Nemites begin to punctuate
the lesson. And the gathered hang on her every word. Merits: Allies (Narcanon) 2, Cacophony Savvy 2, City
Status 1, Community Chest, Daeva Status 2, Enticing,
Embraced to a domineering deacon of the Lancea et Inspiring, Herd 2, Lancea et Sanctum Status 1, Nemite
Sanctum, Gail was a tool in his arsenal for luring morally Status 3, Retainer 2, Roots
corrupt mortals for judgment and execution. She was led to
Disciplines: Auspex 1, Celerity 2, Crúac 2, Majesty 3,
believe the emotional and physical abuse she’d suffered from the
Vigor 2
father of her child would cease with the Embrace, but instead,
she found her Requiem largely played on the same patterns, Rituals: Briar of Selene, Thorns of Diana
this time sugarcoated with Sanctified piety. Blood Potency: 3
It was only after Gail fled the church, broken in body and Health: 8
faith at the hands of her furious sire, that the Nemites found
her. She was alone on a rooftop, contemplating the coming sun, Willpower: 5
when her mentor-to-be came upon her. They’d been watching Humanity: 4
for months, seeing her buckle under the strain. As dawn Size: 5
threatened to burn them both, the recruiter sold Gail the same
lines she now quotes back to her recruits. Promises of power, Speed: 12
freedom, and something more than being a beast of burden Initiative: 5
for decadent priests. They just asked for a sacrifice. A token Defense: 4 (Active Defense 6)
offering. Two nights later, the father of her son went missing,
and Gail became the newest member of the Nemite family.
A quarter of a century on, Gail bends others to her will so
she might, one night, have a chance at being Rex Nemorensis.
Initiation
She hides her allegiance to the Nemites from the Sanctified Members of the Nemite cult are inducted through two stages
and attends mass to maintain appearances, but recently she’s of blood bonding.
instigated the first step in freeing herself fully, having conspired First, the initiate takes a third stage bond to their recruiter.
to have her sire killed by rivals in the Carthian Movement. Once this Vinculum is formed, the process of cutting the recruit
Still, while she’s a competent speaker and recruiter, Gail has off from their mortal connections and relations can begin. This
her own demons, some of which run counter to Nemite ideals. is a lengthy process, but ensures the strength of the bond before
Indeed, she still maintains a single tie to her mortal life — her the initiate is then presented to the community.
son. The young man she gave away when she went into rehab Next, the initiate is brought to the Rex Nemorensis in a place
is all grown up with his own a family, and Gail can’t help but designated as a sacred grove. This need not be a literal grove,
want to know them more. On dark nights, she watches through but it’s a holy space devoted to the Triple Goddess. Here, the
the window as her granddaughter slumbers, a precious thing initiate stands naked before the King, representing the sever-
that Gail can let none learn about. ance of all ties to the mortal world. The King and their high
priests proceed to interrogate the initiate, testing their faith and
Clan: Daeva
commitment to the cult. This ritual signifies the watering of the
Covenant: Nemites (posing as Lancea et Sanctum) roots, as the initiate is flogged with barbed leather whips and
Mask: Nurturer tree branches. The pain, blood loss, and questioning brings the
subject to the edge of control, drawing the Beast to the surface.

Chapter Four: Haters 127

 Community Chest (•)
Prerequisite: Nemite Status •
The Once and Future King Effect: A community is defined by its members. Maybe
The politics of being Rex Nemorensis are much that’s a truism, but the Tree Surgeons martial their personal
murkier than what the Tree Surgeons present to connections almost to the exclusion of all other assets. As
prospects. In theory, the Passing of the Golden such, they always have backup. Your character gains access
Bough is annual, with the King’s power voluntarily to dots in Allies, Contacts, Mentor, and Retainer equal to
and violently expiring every October 31st or
November 1st. In practice, most cults interpret this Covenant Status, distributed as you see fit. This benefit
year as metaphorical, a fluid period the King has applies to Status in all covenants. For example, if she has three
to effect change and strengthen the covenant’s dots with the Nemites and one with the Carthians, she gains
roots. Only when he succeeds in his holy tasks will four dots of these Social Merits.
he be allowed to abdicate. Some Nemites treat
this more concretely, defining a term of ten to Drawback: These resources belong to the Grove, and
fifty years with “leadership reviews” every fall. Still, drawing on them for selfish purposes is bad for the Upstream.
however long he may reign, being Rex Nemorensis Furthermore, if your character is accessing another covenant’s
is a death sentence. For the cynical, that fate is one social resources, she’d better be willing to share them with her
to be evaded until the last possible moment; for the real family when times get tough.
sincere, it’s an apotheotic reward for service, but one
they’ll only accept on their own terms.
As for choosing a successor, some Kings have Roots (•)
the authority to choose their heir, while others
leave the matter to their high priests. Still others
Prerequisite: Nemite Status •
offer their crown to whoever’s willing to meet Effect: Children of the Grove put great stock in the roots they
the challenge, with a much less ritualistic combat lay down: The more blood they gather in their downlines and
than the one described above. A few eschew the feed into the Upstream, the better chance each has of becoming
fight altogether: Concealing a piece of the Golden
Bough in their bodies, these Kings are consumed by
Rex Nemorensis one night. Each week, your character gains a
their subjects in ritual orgy, with whoever finds the number of Vitae equal to twice her rating in Covenant Status;
splinter given the right of diablerie. This practice was this works the same way as Community Chest. You may draw
once more common, but as time wore on, it became this blood to your character’s Vitae pool in a piecemeal manner,
evident that a barrier of entry was needed to filter adding it whenever she enters or rises from slumber. However,
“unworthy” monarchs.
she cannot carry over unused points week to week.
This Vitae is sufficiently potent for characters with Blood
Potency 6 and higher.
The King then makes an offering of blood; this establishes a Drawback: Your character must spend a Vitae once per week
new Vinculum, one that shifts her third-stage Vinculum to the as her own contribution to the Upstream, or she must offer up a
entire community. mortal victim to the Grove. Failure to contribute is a grave sin.
However, if the initiate is overcome by the Beast and erupts
into a frenzy, they are unworthy, and slain if they cannot over-
come their baser urges. Assuming the initiate maintains control,
New Crúac Rites
a mortal is then brought forth — typically a person from the When they can’t practice their religion openly (i.e., pretty
initiate’s mortal life — and they are made to feed upon him to much always), the Nemites are most at home masquerading as
death. This act represents the support the Rex Nemorensis and part of the Mother’s Army. Their focus on the ways the Curse
the cult provide, just as the soil offers shelter to a tree. separates vampires from natural life cycles is similar to the
A Nemite’s Vinculum to the community lasts for the usual ethos of many Acolyte cults, and it’s a philosophical overlap
amount of time, and is maintained by feeding from other mem- Tree Surgeons will shamelessly exploit.
bers. However, if the Rex Sacrorum should ever die outside the How entwined this minor covenant has become with the
proper ritual, the bond shatters. Circle is unknown. Do the Nemites really predate the modern
Circle, or did they grow out of a radical schism against the Dark
Mother? Maybe they’re just inheritors of ancient arts, ones
New Merits who’ve organized only in the modern nights.
No matter the answer, the Priesthood of Nemi also uses the
The techniques Tree Surgeons use to maintain their down-
blood magic known as Crúac, and they’ve developed their own
lines bestow them with both a significant blood supply and a
unique rites. All Tree Surgeons with at least a dot of Status in
deep bench of people power. The Nemites refer to this collec-
their covenant can learn Crúac as an out-of-clan Discipline and
tively as their Upstream, a social resource that could one night
learn a free rite at each dot. In addition to the rituals below,
rival those of the five great covenants.
Nemites can learn any taught by the Circle of the Crone.

128 Sin Again: Daeva

 ritualist spreads the sacrifice over a meter square area full of
Briar of Selene (•) plant life. For one month, contact with these plants count as
Target Successes: 5 being poisonous to mortals, vampires, and Strix. The Toxicity
The Nemite grips tight a braid of hawthorn, tight enough for of this poison is 2, and deals damage for turns equal to the
the thorns to puncture her skin. This braid must be from a plant rite’s Potency.
she has fed with Vitae called a mandrake (Half-Damned, p. 115).
When thrown onto the ground, the braid creates an invisible Stave of Hecate (•••)
barrier one meter wide. Only Kindred of higher Blood Potency
Target Successes: 8
than the ritualist may cross this barrier. Those of equal or lower
Blood Potency must make an instant Resolve + Stamina action, Harvested from the sacred grove, the ritualists shapes a
subtracting the rite’s Potency, and must obtain more successes bough of cypress (or another wood sacred to Hecate) into a
than the ritualist’s Crúac dots. If they fail, they take bashing long stave that ends in a sharp point. This weapon is conse-
damage equal to the difference, to a minimum of one. The bar- crated with the sacrifice. For the rest of the week, the stave
rier lasts for one hour. The vampire can bleed a Vitae to extend gains a Vitae point from any victim it wounds in an attack,
the length of the barrier by a meter, or the duration by an hour. inflicting an additional lethal damage on mortals and drawing
from a vampire’s Vitae pool directly.
Blood stolen from enemies in this manner is stored within
Thorns of Diana (••) the stave until released when the vampire takes hold of it and
Target Successes: 5 wills it out with a reflexive action. If the ritual is performed
The Nemites have a connection to flora, and they’ve learned under a full moon, the effect persists for a lunar month. Staves
ways to protect their sacred groves from interlopers. The have Vitae capacity equal to Size plus the rite’s Potency.

Chapter Four: Haters 129

 Alu
The worm turns

Ambition outlives the ambitious.

AKA: Worms, Udug Hul, Dark Strangers its mindless shell. There is no resistance. Once complete, this
process creates a composite being: the En.
Newbies at Elysium are always an event.
But joining with a draugr is only the first step. The new En is
Usually, it’s somebody’s hot shit new childe, or another pretty young
a quick learner, eager to devour the world around it and experi-
neonate who thinks she’s Queen of the Damned. But last night, it
ence all the pleasures of sight, sound, and — most of all — taste.
was this ancilla no one’s heard from in decades, apparently seeing
Once it finishes digesting the last vestiges of its host’s soul, a
an opportunity to start fresh. Except, the moment he sets foot in the
new drive coalesces. While they must sustain themselves as all
room, Martine — d’Entrement’s dirty little snitch — just starts pointing
vampires do, the only true meal for an En is the Amaranth,
and screaming at the dude like his head’s spinning in its socket.
and it will bring Kindred and draugr alike to heel to sate that
No one would tell us what all the fuss was all about. We just hunger. Vitae may fuel their stolen bodies, but they require the
had to sit there and wait for the goon squad to drag the poor spark of a soul to make eternity worthwhile.
bastard out; didn’t go quietly either. Don’t have the foggiest what
Finding a draugr isn’t the only way to become an En, though.
became of him, but I doubt we’ll be seeing him again any time soon.
It’s the easiest, but vampires with no Humanity rarely survive in
They tell me Martine never did stop screaming. Not till they the All Night Society. Instead, if an Alu comes across a “normal”
staked her for the night. vampire, it can try to take a willing vessel. By striking Faustian
Time is an uncontested hunter. Even if a vampire never pacts, it can assure it never suffers the torment of its primordial
meets Final Death, the burden of her inhuman nature will existence again. In exchange, all the vampire has to do is commit
eventually claim her. Tragedies beget atrocities, and atrocities a little diablerie now and again. And again… and again…
beget degeneration, and degeneration begets bestiality. The
Requiem is unceasing malice for the sake of survival, and the
once-human mind will invariably break. The Kindred call En Isiratuu
these wretches draugr, and their vile, frenzied existences almost No on still living has ever witnessed an Alu’s creation, and
always meet a quick end. no one knows how long they live (if they have a lifespan at all).
Almost. Once in a while, with no Humanity left to tame However, they do share some history.
the Beast, something else slithers in. For as long as vampires Many centuries before the fall of Rome, a city sat in the
have haunted humanity, the Alu have moved in the shadows. cradle of civilization. In that city, the Kindred were brash,
These bizarre creatures use draugr as meat puppets, or bargain lording over the night without the restraint of a Masquerade.
with more humane vampires for a safe haven in return for an The kine were their playthings, less than slaves, though there
immense and terrible power. was no brotherhood among the dead. They warred on each
other with such spectacle that it would make modern quarrels
seem like playfighting. The Dark Strangers claim it was in this
Background city that they first came to be, created with dark magics to aid
Alu are crimson, gelatinous worms that float through Twilight. the Kindred in their endless wars. Or perhaps they were simply
Things of spirit yet devoid of it, they have no eyes, ears, or any opportunistic, like bacteria feeding around a festering wound.
other sensory organs. Before it finds a host, an Alu’s existence is In this damned city, a monster called En Isiratuu rose as king.
little more than profound loneliness, punctuated by brief flashes En was a Daeva, perhaps one of the first, and where his soul
of immense craving. If they were born with hopes or dreams, once sat, a powerful Alu guided him. He committed countless
those things decay in the face of a ceaseless, deafening void. atrocities upon his people, both enemies and friends alike, for
A Worm’s only drive is to find a body, and to this end, the all before him was his birthright and dominion. Many tried
creature can sense vampires on an instinctual level. If it’s lucky to assuage the empty heart of their king, but all were met with
enough to come across a draugr, it can devour the beast’s last failure. En could not be motivated by or pity or shame, for his
bits of soul before taking over as the only thinking entity inside cruelty existed for its own sake.

130 Sin Again: Daeva

 Although En’s kingdom fell, him. How genial he was. Polite. Confident.
tonight, he’s the ideal all Udug As if all that paranoia you earn with age
Hul aspire to. Some Kindred just vanished like faerie dust.”
familiar with the myth wonder Those Udug Hul lucky enough to
if such mastery over kine was take control of draugr aren’t
possible at all, even in ancient necessarily well-versed in
times, and En’s similarities to the behaving like humans (or
Epic of Gilgamesh are… suspicious. But vampires), but they know
the Alu simply say that facts seem like better than to act like pred-
lies to unbelievers. Joined Worms refer to ators. The Alu’s complete
themselves by En’s name both in tribute lack of inherent empathy
and as a reminder of the heights they makes the task of approxi-
might achieve. mating social behavior sur-
prisingly rote, with responses
Body Snatching and moods designed to placate
and not raise suspicion. To put
The presence of an
it charitably, this tactic doesn’t
En leads to disappear-
always work.
ances of Kindred and
kine alike, as many vic- “There was once a deposed prince
tims as the creature thinks who returned ten years to the night of her
it can get away with. The banishment. She felled the pretender who
more the En eats, the more usurped her throne, and his primogen, and any other fools
brazen it becomes, as restraint who got in her way. Twelve of the city’s eldest Kindred
becomes unnecessary in the face couldn’t take her down — yet when all was said and
of unrestrained power. done? Gone. Another pile of ashes on the floor, just
like her victims.”
Alu incursions often start when
the All Night Society is at its most When an Alu joins with a host, sometimes
fractured: anywhere Kindred fight it second guesses its priorities. An Udug Hul
amongst themselves with enough knows if it ever succeeds as an En — truly
desperation to engage in diablerie, or succeeds — it may become something else.
where draugr are left alone to fester. Something new. Rather than face an uncer-
As crises expand beyond control, a tain future, some Alu destroy their hosts
vampire will do anything for sur- before this supposed ascension can occur,
vival, and an offer to preserve even content to start from scratch.
a fraction of her power in these dire “There’s a bloodline out there who merge
times is more than enough for Alu with those things in a ritual. They basically
to get a foot in the door. summon a Worm and steal its powers, then use
With newfound strength, the those abilities without losing their minds to it.”
Alu works to fulfill every desire Once, such a bloodline did exist.
and dream its host has. However, Supposedly Serpents, this En lineage
as the Worm digests each meal tamed hostless Alu and drew upon their
their bargain provides, the vam- strengths while containing their more
pire’s psyche fades away until noth- insidious influences. They claimed to be
ing remains but a new En. the true inheritors of En Isiratuu, and
with their rite, they gained great power
and prestige in the Middle East before
Rumors the rise of the Roman Empire. How
they met their end is unclear. One
“It was strange seeing him back story claims their binding effect
the way he was. The old man was failed all at once, and that their
strong before he vanished, and captives devoured their souls.
instead of showing up weak like Another says they fought and
a kitten, he struts back into town lost a protracted guerrilla war
like a conquering king. I think with the true En, and that
that was when I began to fear the Worms took their souls

Chapter Four: Haters 131

 as war trophies. Kindred speculate that survivors of this blood-
line might still walk the night, or hide in torpor, or that their
binding rites could still survive in some lost ruin…
Story Seeds
• A long-lost mentor reinserts herself into a player
Elizabeth Giffard character’s Requiem, and where once they
were cold and critical, they return receptive
“No, it’s not enough. Nothing offered freely ever really is.” to whatever current goals their protégé might
Elizabeth Giffard was the Marquise of Quebec City before have. They may even promise to teach them
a special Discipline, or induct them into an
suddenly vanishing a few months after her appointment.
exclusive bloodline — just so long as they have
Officially, she was recalled to perform her duty within a cyclical a one-on-one meeting sometime soon.
dynasty and care for her grandsire, re-educating him to exist • The leader of a powerful Invictus dynasty
in modern nights, but this was little more than theater for awakens after a century of slumber, and
the rest of the All Night Society. The Invictus of Quebec have his demands are growing more and more
always loved an entertaining coverup when it comes to coups. alarming. He’s always hungry, and despite
his slumber, it seems only Kindred blood can
In truth, the First Estate’s many spies had caught Elizabeth sustain his gluttony. What happens when a
collaborating with Kindred on the other side of the tracks: coterie member catches the respected elder
Carthians. A long war had just ended between the two factions, vomiting the excess Vitae he’s drunk in pursuit
and Elizabeth figured it best to work with the anarchic rabble of diablerie?
rather than against it. However, her seneschal and lover, a • A friend of the coterie has strained his
Shadow called Diego, didn’t feel the same way. A few rumors of Humanity to the breaking point. No longer
able to empathize with the kine, he finds
a Vinculum to the Revolution later, and the Judex and knights solace with an elder who teaches him to con-
were called in. She was left on a rooftop, the sun ready to give tain the Beast. However, when the characters
her that final, tender kiss before oblivion. investigates, it becomes clear this teacher is
negotiating for a dire exchange: the remains
Yet a stranger found her and saved her, offering the power she
of their friend’s soul.
would need to take her position back. She began by diablerizing
Diego, which was more for herself than for her political ambi-
tions. Before she can reclaim praxis, she needs extra hands to
bring her sleeping elders (the others resting in her dynasty would Merits: Allies (Personality Cult) 4, City Status 4, Daeva
be a great start), and to play the Invictus and Carthians off each Status 4, Dynasty Membership 3, Invictus Status 3,
other before she makes another move. She promises power in Resources 4, Where the Bodies Are Buried
her new court for those who care for that sort of thing, or money
Disciplines: Auspex 2, Cachexy 1, Celerity 2,
and favors for those who don’t. Dominate 2, Majesty 5, Protean 1, Resilience 2
Elizabeth is exacting as a benefactor, and she expects her
servants to use the most brutal and efficient means to get
Blood Potency: 4
things done. She doesn’t worry about loyalty, though. If she Health: 9
even suspects treachery, she just drinks her would-be betrayer Willpower: 6
before he can even think to slip in the knife. She won’t make
the same mistake again. Not ever. Humanity: 2
Clan: Daeva Size: 5
Covenant: Invictus Speed: 9
Mask: Conspirator Initiative: 5
Dirge: Monster (formerly Authoritarian) Defense: 4 (Active Defense 6)
Touchstone: None Notes: Elizabeth has the Gifts of the Alu Condition. She
holds several Oaths of Fealty and one still-secret Oath
Mental Attributes: Intelligence 3, Wits 2, Resolve 3 of Serfdom from an important Carthian. Cachexy can be
Physical Attributes: Strength 2, Dexterity 2, Stamina 2 found on p. 112 of the Dark Eras Companion.
Social Attributes: Presence 2, Manipulation 3,
Composure 3
Mental Skills: Investigation 3, Occult 1, Politics (City) 4
Systems
Without hosts, Alu are completely vulnerable. Anyone who can
Physical Skills: Athletics 2, Weaponry 3 physically interact with creatures in Twilight can kill an Udug
Social Skills: Empathy 2, Persuasion (Negotiation) 3, Hul with a single strike, crushing it like the Worm it is. They
Socialize 4, Subterfuge (Poker Face) 4 have no traits of their own, move slowly, and aren’t cognizant of

132 Sin Again: Daeva

the world around them beyond the presence of vampires. The
one thing an Alu can sense with clarity is the taint of diablerie,
which lights up like hellfire in the creature’s non-vision.
Whenever an Alu enters a draugr or hollows out a Kindred The View from Without:
host’s soul, the amalgamation becomes an En. Unless otherwise
noted, En operate as Humanity 0 vampires, albeit ones with
Ms. Lucky, Strix
Weren’t always weird slug things you can squash
human intellect and an inherent diablerie addiction; they do with a breeze. Used to be just another kind of you
not have clans and do not suffer acquired banes. idiots. “Daeva.” See, that king they proverbially
• The creature uses its host’s traits. However, it suffers a –3 suck off screwed them good. Hedonistic gluttony
does nasty things to the reasoning center, and he
penalty on untrained Social Skills instead of –1, and failures tried to eat someone he shouldn’t have, far more
on mundane Empathy and Socialize rolls are always dramatic. powerful than some useless, pointless little vampire.
An Alu often resembles its first host’s personality, sometimes Some say it was the Great Bull of Heaven, and the
even convincing itself that it’s still that vampire in some way. sin of spilling even a drop of its blood was so great
that even Hell wasn’t a good enough punishment.
• With a successful diablerie, the En can choose to steal I’ve also heard the name Iltani thrown around, but
any bloodline gift the victim knows rather than a normal that’s another can of worms. Heh.
Discipline or Skill, if possible. It must meet any basic require- What do I think happened? Oh no, hun, that’s not
how this works. First, you’re gonna do something
ments or prerequisites to use the effect, but it can learn the
for me. Then we’ll talk more about your pal’s little
power for future use. This does not allow the En to learn parasite problem.
other powers of that bloodline, including higher dots of a
unique Discipline.
• If the host body dies, the Worm is ejected into Twilight.
Fighting against this burst of dominance penalizes any one
• If an En Embraces, it must spend a dot of Blood Potency. Its action you take in the chapter by five or your own Blood
childer are always Daeva, regardless of its body’s original clan. Potency, whichever is higher, Alternatively, it can add to a
• If it can see a vampire, an En can always sense if it has ever dice pool opposing you. This urge often takes the form of
committed diablerie. whispers or hallucinations and feeds into the Alu’s competi-
tive nature. If you dramatically fail a roll penalized this way,
If a vampire with Humanity makes a compact with a Dark the Alu takes control of your body for the rest of the scene.
Stranger, the character gains the following Condition:
This Condition ends without resolving in one of two ways:
reaching Blood Potency 10 or falling to Humanity 0. In both
cases, the Alu devours your soul, permanently gaining control
GIFTS OF THE ALU of your body.
(PERSISTENT) Resolution: Forcibly dislodge the Alu from your soul.
Beat: Murder a rival.
An Alu coils around your soul, urging you to feed it with
diablerie. In exchange, it offers you the following benefits:
• Diablerie no longer costs Willpower and does not inflict the Twists of the Blood: The Imperial Line
Tainted Condition. You can also choose to steal bloodline In the First Edition of Vampire: The Requiem, the En were
gifts as an En can. Furthermore, all evidence of Amaranth is indeed a bloodline. The Alu are inspired by that lineage, but
concealed within the Worm, though a Mekhet looking closely whether these groups exist in the same world is up to you. If
with her sight will find something wrong with you. you prefer the Emperors of Ancient Bloodlines, or you want
• You are immune to blood bonds and Vitae addiction, as to incorporate them into the Alu mythology presented here,
your heart’s desires belong to the Alu. You also cannot be use the system below.
possessed by Strix or characters with Dominate 5. Parent Clan: Daeva
• Once a chapter, the Alu can offer (or you can ask for) one Nickname: Emperors
to five bonus dice on any action, even a reflexive one. If Bloodline Bane (The Cannibal’s Curse): The Emperors
you accept, you must also suffer a Humanity (6 – dice used) have difficulty distinguishing between their Kindred and their
breaking point, if relevant, and your Touchstones are not food. Unless she spends a Willpower, all mundane Empathy
considered attached on the detachment roll. The Alu always and Socialize rolls with other vampires are limited by an En’s
has final say over how much “help” it offers. Humanity before modifiers apply, and any failures are treated
You also now share the Alu’s inherent diablerie addiction, as dramatic failures. Spent Willpower does not add a +3.
which cannot be resolved without removing the creature. Disciplines: Celerity, Dominate, Majesty, Vigor
Furthermore, the Worm can wrack your body with an over- As an additional requirement to join this bloodline, a Daeva
whelming hunger for power when you go against its desires. must also merge with an Alu, gaining the Condition above.

Chapter Four: Haters 133

 Flowers of Inanna
Love's labors revenged

Is this real? Well, tonight it is.

AKA: Ishtari, Astarte’s Tears As Inanna hung on that hook, she was visited by Nergal, her
sister’s husband and Lord of Death. The two had long lusted
She’s watching you. She has been since you walked in the
for each other, and so in death they consummated their desire.
club. She’s not your normal type, but she’s got something about
Three times he went to her, and each time he whispered a
her that feels just right for tonight. And maybe tomorrow night.
grand promise: he would free her; he would abandon his wife
You planned your evening around a quick hookup and a meal,
for her; he would give her the underworld as her kingdom.
but you just can’t get her out of your head. Maybe it’s something
And three times he abandoned her as the morning came, left
genuine for once. Maybe…
to hang on the hook.
Or maybe you’re being played.
When her father’s servants finally came to free her from this
The Daeva are nothing if not arrogant, but perhaps they’ve mess of her own creation, Inanna returned to her heavenly
earned the right. They have the power to create city-spanning throne, wiser but more vindictive than ever. She had heard
herds and are endowed with a Kiss with pleasures deeper the promises of the dead and now knew the lies behind their
than any orgasm. It’s only natural that these Kindred would pretty words. And so, Inanna took the seed Nergal left within
attract their fair share of hangers-on and stalkers. But hidden her and sowed it within the souls of mortals, ones who had
among that clinging throng is something vampires so rarely suffered the touch of the death as well, and blessed them with
encounter: predators. a divine purpose.

Background Justice from Above

Every Ishtari has been the victim of vampiric violation,
The Flowers of Inanna say they’re blessed by a scornful
and all bear scars of their encounter, be they psychological or
goddess, one with an endless hunger for the pleasures of dead
physical. The Flowers believe their suffering calls out to Inanna
flesh. By playing at being mere victims and blood dolls, the
and her own experiences in the underworld, and that their
Ishtari worm their way into the All Night Society, providing
goddess helps them balance the scales. Whenever a mortal is
potent pleasures for even the most jaded Lick. To love one of
afflicted by a vampire’s bite, there’s a small chance they’ll be
the Flowers is to know (an approximation of) true love, but such
visited by a vision of a beautiful woman radiating warmth and
joy carries a steep price, one they’re ordained to collect. Each
life. These visitations are most common among feeding victims
caress thins a vampire’s blood a little more, and eventually, it
close to death, as the proximity to the underworld is said to
leaves her a helpless whelp.
draw Inanna’s attention. When the being appears, she offers
the victim a choice between a gentle, kind death or a long life
The Queen of Heaven filled with power — and justice.
As their name suggests, the Flowers trace their origins to If he accepts, the new Flower awakens bearing the Mark of
Inanna (sometimes called Ishtar, or Astarte, or even Athena), Inanna, an eight-pointed rose symbol that resembles a tattoo.
the Mesopotamian Queen of Heaven. Inanna was a greedy and The Mark grows as the Ishtari ages, spreading vines across his
spiteful creature, known for her many attempts to steal power skin. With each Kindred victim left in his wake, a thorn sprouts
from other divine beings. According to legend, one day, she along the snaking vine, and legend has it the oldest Ishtari have
decided to conquer the underworld, the domain of her sister, marks that spread over every inch of exposed flesh.
Ereshkihal. However, when she stood before the gates demand-
ing entry, Ereshkihal struck her dead for the blasphemy, for the
living can never enter death’s domain. Of course, gods can’t
Necromance
truly die, and even in death, Inanna still lusted for power. So, An Ishtari’s presence is invariably captivating to Kindred,
Ereshkihal hung her sister’s body on a hook to suffer the fate and her touch is as addictive as any narcotic. However, these
of living death for all time. encounters come with a price to the victim: the potency of their

134 Sin Again: Daeva

blood. By leeching a vampire’s death energies, a Flower can to be anyone at all, in point of fact. One Flower from a
prolong her own life, revitalizing her body and gaining Wolf-Blooded lineage believes she’s some kind of
access to immense reserves of strength and will. spirit, one who was banished from the Shadow
To prey on their victims, Flowers masquerade as and now creates Ishtari to feast on the Essence
blood dolls and groupies, or even cultists if they they produce in their hunts. Another theory states
know where to look. In particular, their ability that she’s Inanna’s holy ghost, forced to wander
to shrug off Majesty allows them to pass freely the living world to atone for her crime, yet bent
through Daeva circles where a normal mortal on revenge against creatures she believes to be
would find himself ensnared, entranced, or dead. Nergal’s children. It’s also possible this being
An Ishtari is indistinguishable from a normal was once a vampire herself, ascended to a higher
human in all ways except one: Her presence plane of existence but remaining on earth to
is intoxicating to Kindred. This passion isn’t take revenge on her former Kindred.
one-sided, though. As an Ishtari makes her way “Know how you keep them away? Solace. It’s
into the All Night Society, she begins to feel a weedkiller. No idea why, but if you’re dosed up on
sympathy for the dead. Most Flowers are aware the S, it fucks them Flowers up.”
of the threat their affection presents their lovers, True. Solace (p. 141) has similar effects
but the connection need not be hostile. Many on vampires as the Flowers of Inanna
choose not to share the truth of their nature, but do, but the ana-
it’s as often for fear of abandonment as it is for logs are almost
their own safety. Perhaps the most damning gift all surface level.
of all is not that the Flowers of Inanna must feed Indeed, Kindred
upon the curse of vampirism, but that they’re who are addicted to
fated to love the ones they devour. Solace are immune to a Flower’s allure. Worse,
if an Ishtari feeds on a vampire who has the
drug in his system, she suffers a severe aller-
Rumors gic reaction. To an outside observer, this
resembles anaphylaxis, but an EpiPen will
“Ishtari are just the Daeva version. Each clan
do nothing to save her. Fortunately for the
has its own bespoke gang of hunters, and I hear
Flowers, this is an unlikely convergence, as
even a few bloodlines have to watch their backs.”
Solace is barely more than an urban legend
False. All Flowers of Inanna share the in most domains (and Ishtari aren’t exactly
same traits, and none have any particular commonplace). Still, those in the know will
supernatural affinity for one clan over often check to see if any S dealers are in town,
the others… except the Daeva. By and and deal with them accordingly…
large, most Ishtari were created due to
a Serpent’s ministrations, and their
Majesty resistance surely can’t be coin-
cidence. Flowers who’ve noticed this
Isabel Cisne
link suspect the Daeva had some- “Sure, I’m the bad guy. This from the ‘Bathroom
thing to do with their creation; Strangler.’ Oh yes, fuckface! I know all about that!”
Inanna figures in several Serpent Isabel wants to forgive the Kindred. She
creation myths, so perhaps their truly, deeply does. But forgiveness doesn’t
goddess wasn’t taking revenge come cheap. It requires soul searching,
so much as covering up for her and maybe just a bit of self-awareness.
mistakes. Unfortunately, these aren’t qualities vam-
“Which is more likely: The Sumerian god- pires hold in high regard.
dess Inanna comes down from on high to bless Izzie doesn’t talk about how she became
poor, abused little blood dolls, or a couple Serpents Ishtari. Given her looks, whispers sometimes crop
have figured out a new con to use mortals against up among other Flowers that she was a model, one whose
their cousins? I know where I’d place my bet.” Kindred manager literally murdered her career, or that she was
The Flowers of Inanna aren’t the result an aspiring actor who became a dead impresario’s casting couch
of any Serpents’ moves in the Danse conquest. Whatever the truth, the trauma is hers alone to bear,
Ma­cabre. However, their patron’s identity and she avoids the issue on the rare occasions she meets one of
is controversial. Most Flowers take a literalist Inanna’s other adopted children. She prefers to stay away from
position, but the creature who visits them has them altogether, really, and most Flowers who’ve heard of her
never claimed to be Inanna. She hasn’t claimed want nothing to do with the shit she’s into.

Chapter Four: Haters 135

 Story Seeds
• The Prince is a monolith of vampiric power, one whose iron reign has gone unquestioned for decades… until
tonight. A few weeks ago, she fell in love with a Flower of Inanna, and this union has weakened not only her
Kindred might, but also her political will. She’s made sweeping decrees calling for humane treatment of mortals
and insisted on her lover’s inclusion in all courtly matters. This consort’s advice is now held in even higher regard
than the Prince’s own handpicked advisors. Worst of all, rumors suggest the pair may be trying to create an
unholy dynasty the old-fashioned way…
• The Cheiron Group is interested in acquiring Ishtari test subjects, and they’re using proxies to hire Kindred dupes
to serve as bait. However, some cells have been upfront about the project, selling it to vampires as a win–win
situation. Will the coterie sign on? Or will they negotiate to see if the targeted Flowers have a better offer?
• Monsters Ink is a tattoo parlor that specializes in historic and vintage designs. Recently, one of its new employees
has been creating designs identical to the markings found on the Flowers of Inanna, right around the same time
several prominent Daeva went missing around the city. Who is this artist, and how are they able to pass along
the mark? And can they be stopped before they create an Ishtari army?

Rather than preying on vampires just to prolong her life, Health: 8

Isabel serves Inanna by putting an end to her paramours. Willpower: 7 (10)
In theory, at least. In practice, she spends much of her time
judging if they’re worthy of mercy. She becomes an expert on Integrity: 4
her victims, searching for just one good reason to spare them Size: 5
before they weaken enough for her to kill. So far, she’s come Speed: 11
up emptyhanded. Worse, this makes her few friends among
her fellow Ishtari. Some see her wanton killing as blasphemy Initiative: 7
against their patron’s lessons, but most just fear the heat she’ll Defense: 5 (7 while armed)
bring down if the Kindred ever catch on; some Flowers are Armor: 1/3 (Kevlar vest)
even gunning for her.
Now entering the tenth year of this quest, Izzie’s doesn’t know
Notes: Defensive Combat and Professional Training can
be found on pp. 61 and 46 of Chronicles of Darkness.
if it can last much longer. She’s not even sure what she’s looking Isabel’s Asset Skills are Occult and Weaponry.
for anymore. Almost every one of her subjects has disappointed
her, and sometimes she fears she’s just a serial killer with a prettier
coat of paint. As doubt blooms and resolve withers, her enemies
might finally have a chance to nip this Flower in the bud. Systems
Virtue: Precise The Flowers of Inanna enjoy several inherent powers, as
well as abilities granted by the Afterglow, the period where their
Vice: Sentimental bodies digest the power borrowed from their Kindred victims.
Mental Attributes: Intelligence 3, Wits 3, Resolve 3
Physical Attributes: Strength 3, Dexterity 3, Stamina 3 Innate Powers
Social Attributes: Presence 4, Manipulation 3, The Queen of Heaven’s blessing provides the following traits:
Composure 4
Allure
Mental Skills: Academics 2, Investigation 3, Occult 2,
Medicine (First Aid) 2 By spending a Willpower, an Ishtari can make sure she stands
out in a crowd. For the rest of the night, if she falls within the
Physical Skills: Athletics 2, Brawl 3, Firearms 2,
range of a vampire’s Kindred Senses, he gains the Swooning
Weaponry (Stakes) 4
Condition toward her. To resist, his player can spend a Willpower
Social Skills: Animal Ken 1, Empathy 3, Expression 4, and roll Resolve + Blood Potency vs. Presence + Manipulation +
Persuasion 3, Socialize (Vampires) 3, Subterfuge 3 Afterglow. If he prevails, he’s immune to the Ishtari’s charm for
Merits: Contacts (Law Enforcement) 1, Defensive the scene, or the night if it’s an exceptional success.
Combat (Weaponry), Fast-Talking 4, Kindred Dueling 1,
Professional Training (Vampire Hunter) 2, Striking Looks Death Sight
2, Trained Observer 3, Unseen Sense (Kindred) All Flowers gain Unseen Sense: Kindred. In addition, with
Afterglow: 3 a Wits + Occult + Afterglow roll, an Ishtari character can learn
a vampire’s rough Blood Potency. On a success, the Storyteller

136 Sin Again: Daeva

 deadly. Your Blood Potency is capped at one, and your corpse
no longer downgrades damage. Furthermore, whenever you
want to spend Vitae, you must also spend a Willpower.
Intimations and Innuendo This Condition fades without resolving within a week of your
What’s the Flowers of Inanna/Inamorata con- last interaction with the Ishtari who inflicted it. Once it ends,
nection? We don’t know. That’s not us being coy
lost Blood Potency dots return at the rate noted above. If it’s
or obtuse, it’s just that there is no “canonical”
answer. These beings don’t need to share a link not persistent, Half-Dead ends after a scene.
at all if you don’t want them to, and the Ishtari’s Resolution: Exceptionally succeed a breaking point. Regain
aversion to Solace might even suggest some form a Humanity. Kill the Flower of Inanna.
of opposition — that is, if Solace really is connected
to the Inamorata, as a few suggest. We don’t Beat: Suffer an injury you would normally shrug off with
have any answers on that one either. your dead physiology.
For more on the Inamorata, see Thousand Years
of Night and Kiss of the Succubus: Daeva.
Afterglow
Afterglow has a permanent score and a temporary one. A
Flower gains a temporary Afterglow for each Blood Potency dot
must reveal if the trait is greater than one (if it’s five or less) or she absorbs, but she must spend one at the end of each interval
greater than five (if it’s six or more). listed in the chart below to maintain her immortality. All Flowers
Flowers of Inanna can identify Daeva on sight, and any other begin play with a dot of Afterglow; increasing this trait costs 5
clans they’ve fed from before. Experiences, to a maximum of five dots.
As long as she has at least a point of temporary Afterglow,
Emotional Control
an Ishtari enjoys the following benefits:
Ishtari are immune to blood bonds, and they cannot be
• She treats her dot rating as Supernatural Tolerance, applying
Embraced or turned into ghouls. They are also resistant to the
her highest Social Attribute + Afterglow in any Clash of Wills.
Kiss and the Assault, though they can still find the Kiss plea-
surable. Furthermore, as an instant action, a Flower can choose • Her aging pauses, and her body functions as if it were in its
to dismiss Majesty effects if they apply to her, ending (but not prime. If a Flower normally suffers from a physical or mental
resolving) any relevant Conditions. However, for each scene she ailment related to age, it vanishes for the duration of the
allows the Discipline’s effects to stand, she refreshes a Willpower. Afterglow. This also negates any chronic or terminal diseases.

Feeding • She gains heightened senses and increased might, agility, and
endurance. As long as the Afterglow lasts, she enjoys a bonus
Once a night, if a vampire spends more than a few minutes in
to all Perception rolls and Physical dice pools (see below).
skin-to-skin contact with an Ishtari, he temporarily loses a Blood
Potency dot, refreshes a spent Willpower, and gains the Half • She adds her permanent Afterglow to her Willpower score.
Dead Condition. If he has the Swooning Condition toward her, • She can reflexively heal two levels of bashing or one level
it resolves and becomes Dependent, which fades when he restores of lethal damage by spending a Willpower. In desperate
all Blood Potency; if he can avoid contact for a full 24 hours, dots situations, she can reflexively spend an Afterglow point to
start to return at a rate of one every (Humanity) nights. If further heal all wounds, including aggravated ones. She also doesn’t
trysts would reduce Blood Potency to zero, he instead gains the pass out when her Health track is full of bashing damage,
persistent form of Half Dead and refreshes all Willpower. though she will if it’s lethal.
Such connections rarely run one-way. When a Flower drains
a Blood Potency, her player can choose to accept the Swooning
Condition for a Beat, but only if she doesn’t have it toward the
vampire already.
A Flower can suppress her feeding effect until dawn, but it Effects of Permanent Afterglow
costs a Willpower to reactivate it. She cannot feed on vampires Perception/
in daysleep or torpor. Afterglow Physical Bonus Duration
1 1 1 month
HALF DEAD 2 2 1 month
(PERSISTENT) 3 2 2 months

Life stirs within you. Horrible, feeble life. Your heart beats, 4 3 2 months
your veins pump, and you bleed like a stuck pig. While this 5 3 3 months
Condition provides access to human autonomic functions,
similar to the blush of life, it’s much less pleasant and far more

Chapter Four: Haters 137

 The Scorned
Hell hath no fury

You can’t hurt me anymore.

AKA: Ravagers Not all “scorned” humans take up this philosophy. Indeed, in
the rare cases where a Daeva ruins her plaything with Majesty,
Through Majesty, the Daeva do more than enforce reality.
the poor soul usually spends the rest of his short life on copious
They can plum the deepest secrets, sway the unwashed masses,
amounts of anti-depressants, not some revenge quest. True
and reap the adoration of fanatical herds. The cruel and
Scorned are rare, but genuine ones always come around to the
uncanny nature of their Discipline perverts a victim’s thoughts
above belief system. Some Daeva speculate that an outside force
and bends their emotions to whatever ends a vampire wishes.
must be at play here, or at least that this ideological prevalence
But emotions aren’t as simple as most Serpents believe. is more than coincidence. However, every Ravager who’s been
They’re fragile mechanisms tied to a patchwork glob of flesh willing to extol her ethos hasn’t said jack about where she got
laughably called a mind. Humans aren’t designed to withstand it. To all appearances, it comes to them apropos of nothing,
constant and overwhelming desire. and if that’s the void Majesty opens in the human soul, then
In very rare cases, repeated exposure to Majesty can push a the Daeva may have bigger problems coming over the horizon.
mortal to the breaking point. When the fleeting bliss of the
vampire’s affection vanishes, the victim realizes in horror that
it took every other feeling with it. Suddenly, she no longer feels
pleasure in any form. She’s unable to feel anything at all — except
Rumors
pain. These unfortunates rarely live long, whether taking their “Those aren’t real. No way. I hear it’s just a bunch of Savage ghouls
own lives or meeting the sharp end of the Masquerade, but a who went crazy after going off the Blood too long.”
few accept what they’ve become and embrace the only outlet False, but a few Gangrel are interested in learning more
they can. They call themselves the Scorned, and pain is their about the Scorned, specifically those Savages found within
only pleasure.  the Impaled faction of the Ordo Dracul. The Impaled are well-​
acquainted with the power of pain, and its Gangrel members
are on the forefront of researching its limits, both among the
Background living and the dead. If these vampires could gather enough
Scorned together, they might have enough subjects for an
Pain isn’t quite the right word for what Scorned experience, intriguing case study… or an army.
but it’s close enough for government work. Does it feel good?
Certainly not. But it does feel, and that’s sufficient. Like wan-
derers dying of thirst in a desert, Ravagers are willing to expe-
rience anything — no matter how agonizing — to feel anything
at all. This adaptation warps their souls, converting desire to Becoming Scorned
masochism and kindness to sadism. Reborn in agony, Scorned Scorned are created when a mortal suffers
“excessively” from the power of Majesty. As
find truth, and in that truth, they find a gospel: Pain must be
Ravagers are primarily intended as antagonists and
shared. True joy can only be found in mutual agony. It’s the plot devices, Storytellers can determine when, if, and
Golden Rule, after all: Do unto others as you would have them how often this happens as it suits their chronicles.
do unto you. So pass that claw hammer; they need to show you Our underlying assumption is that the Scorned are
how much they care. exceedingly rare, but still well known enough to
make a few Daeva think twice about overusing
Of course, evangelism is only a side concern. Before the their charms.
Scorned can bear witness, they must take revenge. Most hunt If you need a rule of thumb, a dramatic failure
vampires as a fulltime gig, particularly Kindred of Clan Daeva. to use Majesty on a human who’s experienced
A Ravager’s first victim is usually the Lick who ruined him, and that Discipline multiple times may trigger this
if he succeeds (or at least survives), it serves as proof positive transformation or make it more likely.
that he’s taken back the reins of his life.

138 Sin Again: Daeva

 “You can cure them. A colleague of mine knows this Night Doctor
who took a series of MRIs of one back in the 90s, and the results suggest Jerry Wilkes
physiological repair is possible. Their brains are basically riddled with “She took everything from me. Now
benign, tumorous growths that act as patches over traumatic brain it’s my turn.”
damage localized in the pleasure centers in the anterior cingulate Jerry Wilkes isn’t like those other
and prefrontal cortexes. In theory, laparoscopic surgery could break Scorned. He’s got a job, pays his
up enough of the tumors to allow for stem cell treatments on the taxes, and coaches little league on
damaged tissue. Of course, being as you can’t even anesthetize them, weekends, tamping down his pecu-
that would be quite the feat.” liar needs with self-discipline and a
A fabrication, but it’s a story that gets passed around hard-won talent for putting others
from time to time, tagged with varying degrees of at ease. After being “scorned” and
neurological accuracy. No one knows the exact mech- abandoned, he spent a lot of time
anism that breaks Ravagers, and few have gotten close in the gutter, and this gave him
enough to find out. Yet the question remains: Can they the tools he needed to survive a
be cured? Yes, but it’s not some- now-alien human society. He wasted
thing any vampire is going to a lot of that period trying to find a
be down for. The taste of Vitae high to fix his soul, but eventually, he
invigorates the Scorned, offering realized wallowing wouldn’t get him the
emotional clarity if consumed vengeance he so deeply desired.
in mass quantities. A Ravager is Instead, he cleaned up. He went back to
created when a vampire breaks school, got a blackbelt, changed his name,
her heart, but all it takes to fix and saved a lot of money. Now he’s living the
her is returning the favor. If American dream, for all intents and purposes
one of them consumes a torpid and appearances. Behind this mask, however,
vampire’s heart, the damage to the only thing he’s interested in is taking down
her soul begins to mend. This the bloodsucker who did this to him. To do
healing process isn’t instantaneous, that, he’s going to need more than a franchise
but it’s the only known path to business in five states and Canada, or the ear
recovery. of the outgoing mayor (his future father-in-
“The Xiao produce those law). No, he’s going to need a platform, and in
freaks at an absolutely alarming the dog-eat-dog world of municipal politics, Jerry Wilkes
rate. I’m pretty sure they didn’t even exist could be a wolf. As they say, you can’t fight city hall, and
before the Parasites. Just another reason armed with a decade of research on his enemy and his
to keep their weird cult off your turf.” condition, that cliché may prove true. He’s especially
False, surprisingly. The Xiao (p. curious if the heart of a “prince” will taste any different
57) drain human emotion just from those of other vampires.
to feel a scrap of it, but they
Virtue: Patient
don’t create Scorned any
more than other Daeva. Vice: Spiteful
However, when Parasites Mental Attributes: Intelligence 4, Wits 4,
do spawn or come across Resolve 4
Ravagers, it often rep- Physical Attributes: Strength 3, Dexterity 2,
resents an opportunity. Stamina 4
The Apostate faction of
the bloodline would like Social Attributes: Presence 3,
nothing more than to gather
Manipulation 4, Composure 3
pawns immune to their rivals’ Mental Skills: Academics (Economics)
emotion-draining powers; the 3, Investigation 2, Medicine (Body
Sect builds its fortunes by Mods) 1, Occult (Vampires) 1, Politics 4
convincing mortals they feel Physical Skills: Athletics 4, Brawl
too much, and if a Ravager (MMA) 5, Firearms 2, Weaponry
could be controlled (a big (Stakes) 3
if) she would make for Social Skills: Empathy 4,
an excellent infiltrator. Expression 4, Intimidation 3,
Socialize 3, Subterfuge 5

Chapter Four: Haters 139

 Story Seeds
• One of the local Invictus nobles collects rare and dangerous animals, holding grand safaris each year where she
and her peers can hunt the most dangerous game. She’s taken a particular interest in the Scorned, and after a
decade of work, she’s managed to gather five for her upcoming hunt. She’s spared no expense, but she’s also
grossly underestimated both her security protocols and what people undeterred by pain are willing to endure
to escape captivity.
• A young neurosurgeon has been unknowingly developing a cure for the Scorned on behalf of a wealthy patron in
the Ordo Dracul. However, the doctor’s proximity to the All Night Society has made her the target of the Dragon’s
academic rival, a Serpent who loves to play with his prey’s heartstrings. The good doctor is being pushed to her
limit, and if no one intervenes, she may soon become Scorned as well.
• While rare, some Scorned manage to form clutches, tearing through small towns and rural backwaters in the
guise of biker gangs or other criminal enterprises. Spreading the gospel of pain, they try to trigger their condition
in other humans, believing they can save them from the All Night Society’s influence. To date, no reliable reports
exist of their successes.

Merits: Allies (Business Community) 4, Contacts (Blood

Doll Burnouts) 1, Etiquette 5, Mentor 5, Resources 5 New Dread Powers
Dread Powers: Pain Focus 3, Reserves of Agony, The unique physiology of the Scorned provides disturbing
Unbearable Touch supernatural benefits. Ravager characters always have at least
Health: 13 one of the following Dread Powers, or more if they’ve survived
long enough to stress test their bodies.
Willpower: 7
Integrity: 5
FEARLESS OFFENSE
Size: 5
Speed: 10 By spending a Willpower and performing an All-Out Attack,
Initiative: 5 the Scorned gains +5 on the action and still applies half her
Defense, rounding up.
Defense: 6
Armor: 2/4 (Flak jacket)
(• TO •••••
PAIN FOCUS (• •••••))
Systems The first time the Scorned suffers wounds in an action
scene, she gains the amount of damage she suffered as a bonus
Scorned characters possess the following traits and abilities:
to Strength and Stamina rolls for turns equal to dots in this
• They are immune to any supernatural powers that make Dread Power. If the damage is lethal, she also gains the 9-again
them feel pleasure or pain, whether physical or psychological. quality. If it’s aggravated, she gains 8-again.
A Ravager also adds her lethal and aggravated wounds as a
resistance bonus against other supernatural powers.
• They are immune to the psychotropic effects of drugs and other
RESERVES OF AGONY
intoxicants. They also reduce the Toxicity of poisons by their
Stamina rating before they roll to withstand their effects. The Scorned can mentally force her body to keep going even
when it’s beyond utter destruction. Add the Scorned’s Resolve
• A Ravager does not suffer wound penalties and does not fall dots to Health.
unconscious due to damage. Only aggravated damage can
stop her, though she’ll still bleed out from full lethal damage
without medical care. In addition, Scorned are immune to UNBEARABLE TOUCH
being Beaten Down.
• The first time a Ravager suffers lethal or aggravated damage If the Scorned successfully takes control of a grapple, use of
in a scene, she refreshes a Willpower. If she later takes lethal the Damage move inflicts a terrible pain in the victim’s soul,
or aggravated damage in one of her three rightmost Health removing one point of Willpower. If the subject is reduced to
boxes, she regains all spent Willpower. This damage can be no Willpower, he becomes Beaten Down, as his brain refuses
consensual, but not self-inflicted. to participate in the tortuous process any longer.

140 Sin Again: Daeva

 Solace Liquid nostalgia

First taste’s free.

“You want some, man?” Serpents are especially vulnerable to Solace addiction; it’s
The glint in the dead woman’s palm is sharp in the streetlight, an easy way for them to indulge both their narcissism and
a silver razor in your eyeline. The object isn’t a syringe with a their humanity habit. Daeva high on the S can almost convince
plunger that a junkie might slam in his vein; it’s more akin to a themselves they’re not just wolves among sheep. The idea that
travel toothpaste tube with a needle. It reminds you somehow of a mortality could be a needle prick away is thrilling, and many
bullet, as if someone shot it into an event horizon and stretched the Serpents are willing to forget it’s an obvious lie as long as it’s
endpoint through oblivion. a soothing one. The prince gets to play pauper for a day, and
You take it between your fingers. It’s heavier than you would’ve when the sun falls and his blood turns blue again, he goes back
thought, though it can’t contain more than a few milliliters. You set to his velvet-lined coffin convinced he’s learned something.
the needle beneath the blade of your tongue, just like she tells you, It never remains so comfortable. Getting hooked on Solace is
and gently press it into soft flesh. You squeeze, and everything glows. like being addicted to a dream, something that’s real and clear
Your heart dances like you’ve just made love for the first time, and true for a moment, then cloudy like a cataract in the light
and your skin stings in the nippy air like when you were ten years of day. Indeed, trying to reclaim that high is a great way to meet
old sledding down the hill behind your uncle’s house, on the last the sun. The worst S addicts crave the warmth of sunlight as
Christmas you ever believed in Santa Claus. much as that sweet pinch beneath their tongues. When they
lose their supplies, they play chicken with the dawn, hoping to
God, is this what they feel when you bite them?
spark something other than fourth-degree burns.
You ride the high for a day (a real day!), and you almost walk
into the light a few times from the sheer novelty of the thought.
But like everything pure and beautiful, it doesn’t last. You try Hearsay
to find the dealer again when the glow fades and the grave creeps As for what it is, no one with that information is willing to
back, but she’s long gone. share it. One rumor suggests Solace is distilled from the blood
All that remains are a few spent needles, and the threat of what of women who commit self-harm, though every vampire who’s
you’ll do for more. tried to prove that theory has come away with little more than
intense shame. Some Dragon biologists say it’s the blood of
Inamorata, beings who resemble a vampire’s long-lost mortal
Background lover. Drinking Vitae from Inamorata has a similar effect to
the drug, but these strange creatures are far rarer than even
The Sanctified call it sin. The Carthians say it’s bourgeois
Solace, and highly individual. A similar theory ties it to the
decadence. The Invictus want to market it. The Ordo Dracul
Flowers of Inanna (p. 134), but the Ishtari consider it their one
are performing clinical trials. And the Acolytes? They’ll burn
true bane, disdaining its presence in a vampire’s blood. A few
every last syrette given the chance.
fundamentalist Sanctified say it’s the work of the Devil, and
Solace (Vampire: The Requiem, p. 73) is a drug that provides that, somewhere, Satanists are bottling the blood and tears
Kindred with a day of pseudo-mortality. This effect is akin to of seventh sons to tempt Kindred into the Adversary’s arms.
the blush of life, but the feeling is far more intense, and it comes
The only consistent rumor states that the drug has some-
with a spiritual sense of wholeness. That’s as much as anyone
thing to do with blood, and this at least holds the weight of
knows for sure; those who claim otherwise are just repeating
evidence. A hit of Solace provides a bit of Vitae, and it’s hard
hearsay and folklore.
not to speculate on who bled for it. As a general rule, vampires
The S is rare enough that when it does show up in a domain, are pretty cool with bloodletting, but how much varies from
it’s usually only for a few hours. If a dealer’s stock lasts even a Lick to Lick. Maybe a lot more Kindred hold the truth about
night, it’s notable. From a practical standpoint, its rarity means Solace than they let on, and the reason they keep it obscured is
it’s not exactly habit forming, but if you’ve done a hit even once, because of the hunt that would inevitably follow its unveiling.
you’ll never want to miss another chance. Or maybe they just don’t want competition.

Chapter Four: Haters 141

 Story Seeds
• An associate of the coterie’s comes to them with the biggest deal of their Requiems. She’s got a suitcase full of
Solace and a buyer lined up two states over; it’s a hard cash kind of deal, and she needs protection for the trip. It’ll
be a full week on the road there and back, and she doesn’t trust the local coyotes to move such precious cargo. If
the coterie is in, she’ll pay out ten percent of the profit, well into the six figures. However, a condition of the job is
no questions asked, neither about where she got the case, nor the Kindred who’ll be trying to get it back.
• Some vampires experience extended periods of lost time while high on Solace. They usually chalk this up to the
drug’s overwhelming euphoria and the sudden imposition of mortal sleep patterns, but a few have noticed faint
scars around their midsections where there were none before. Here’s the truth: Angels are harvesting vampire
organs infused with Solace. The Kindred skirt the line between life and death already, but on Solace that line
shatters. These angels have nothing to do with creating the drug, and the purpose of the Infrastructure they’re
building with the stolen parts is known only to the God-Machine.
• Once in a while, a woman with yellow eyes arrives at a Solace dealer’s haven with a package containing seven
golden syrettes. Each dose is tagged with a vampire’s name, whether near or far. It’s the dealer’s job to make
delivery and assure each subject takes their medicine. For their trouble, the woman restocks the dealer with a
month’s supply. And if they fail? No one has. Yet.

The Anvari bloodline of Clan Daeva have nothing to do with

Folklore Solace production, but they do sell it when they can get their
Tracking the history of Solace is as byzantine as finding its hands on it. The Pushers control their herds through narcotics,
source. Needle drugs didn’t exist until the 19th century, yet but while some vampires retain these mortal addictions, Vitae is
fragmentary tales mention similar potions as far back as the by far their drug of choice, and it’s one the Anvari will never have
Camarilla, sometimes calling it Ambrosia or Manna, or any a monopoly over. However, Solace might just even the playing
other host of divine food. However, these anecdotes never really field. The Pushers are as in the dark about its origins as the rest
form a cohesive narrative, and most are poetic to the point of of the All Night Society, but they make a point to hoard it when
obscurity. Some might just be talking about plain old opium. they come across it (if they can resist it). Anvari are intimately
Most Kindred believe Solace is a modern phenomenon, or familiar with distribution networks, and if a Pusher managed
at least that its increased availability is. Not that you can find to hoard enough of the stuff, she could make a serious killing.
it on any street corner, but the S is more common tonight than “It’s the Dracul. Evidence? It’s always the Dracul.”
even a decade ago, still dismissed as myth in some corners of
It’s not the Dragons. Definitely, probably not. It’s not Dracula
the All Night Society, but spreading further and further with
either. Dracula bottling his blood? Come on. Dracula bottling
every year.
his blood and creating thousands of Vincula interlinked
through the Coil of the Voivode? Wow. Got any spare tinfoil
hats? Don’t let anyone catch you spouting that nonsense — seri-
Rumors ously, they might be listening…
“Getting some S isn’t an active pursuit. It finds you, but only if you
need it. Looking for it just scares it away. You gotta put the desire out
into the universe.” Three Users
Trite bullshit, but it sounds deep when you’re high. Still, you Jimmy Hole-in-One is always looking for more S, but he
won’t find many better explanations. Solace moves through hasn’t had a dose in a decade. It was only the one time, but the
the All Night Society with little fanfare, and even its best memory’s burned into his mind the same way the sun did in
dealers can’t name its ultimate source. They met a guy who Tijuana. Jimmy’s not the most well-regarded Lick in town, but
knows a dude who’s friends with a Lick who’s dead now. Some his brother’s the new Bishop, and Jim’ll make sure the big man
know how to find it, and some don’t. The only concrete clue pays you for the trouble of finding a hit. That’s what Jimmy
is the silver syrettes. On very rare occasions, they have serial tells folks, at any rate. Truth is, his brother doesn’t look kindly
numbers, seven digits that are barely visible to the naked eye. on anyone contributing to his wayward sibling’s delinquency.
If someone could parse those digits, maybe they could find
Ivana’s brush with Solace left nothing but heartbreak, and
the (or at least a) manufacturer.
the tattered remnants of their Requiem serve as a warning to
“No, man, shut up. It’s the Anvari. Dope dealer vampires. Yeah, those who would chase mortality. Now they’re in rehab, and
I know what that sounds like; just listen. Those creeps bottle it — or, it’s getting better every night. The doctors have been so kind,
uh, fill it…? Whatever. They put it in the needle thingies and sell it and it’s easy to pretend you’re a pale junkie with photophobia
to the rest of us assholes.”

142 Sin Again: Daeva

when you’ve got enough Majesty. Their fellow patients are also
easy pickings, especially the ones who aren’t lucid anymore. Systems
Still, they’ve heard rumors of S back on the streets, starting at When a vampire takes a hit of Solace, she gains a point of
about the same time as they saw strange equipment being hauled Vitae and benefits from the blush of life for the next 24 hours.
around the hospital in the middle of the night. She also takes the Intoxicated Condition, which fades without
Doña Paola Amado doesn’t touch the stuff — but her childe resolving at the end of that period. She can sleep like a mortal,
does, and after his last dose, he was never the same. It’s like the and thus regain Willpower for the act, but she loses access to all
high is permanent: He can barely stomach feeding anymore, special Kindred abilities. She remains vulnerable to any inherent
as if the blood just tasted like, well, blood. Paola’s consulted or acquired banes, but feels no compulsion to feed on blood,
doctors living and dead, and even tried to convince a local and the Beast won’t trouble her with threats of frenzy. She also
Dragon crank to “clean” her childe’s blood, but even that doesn’t need to spend a Vitae to rise when the sun next sets.
guy isn’t sleazy enough to offer false hope. Now she believes Solace addiction works the same way as Vitae addiction, but
the Kindred don’t have the answer at all, and she’s hunting the roll to resist is penalized by the drug’s purity, rated from
down every rumor of “Willworkers” she can find. However, 1 to 5. This also determines the number of nights before the
if Paola gives her beloved childe to the Awakened, they might addict gains Deprived. Solace purity is based on Storyteller fiat,
not want to give him back. Not once they figure out what’s but dealers tend to use the old trick of hooking their customers
really happening to him. with the good stuff, then progressively diluting it.

Chapter Four: Haters 143

 VLAD
Our little problem

This has never happened to me before!

AKA: The Withering, KED the unphased minion shot back a humiliating retort that filled
the gathering with mocking laughter, directed at the near-fren-
Sometimes stress, anxiety, and life in general mess with your
zied Max. From there, his condition continued to decline until
head. The quagmire of living in this world can lead to… things…
he was reduced to hiding away in his haven and feeding from
just not working the way they should. It’s a natural part of the
blood bags his servants stole from the hospital.
aging process, and it happens to everyone eventually.
Max needed help, and Andrea was happy to get back to
Performance issues aren’t limited to the bedroom, either.
her roots. After months of grueling therapy and study, she
Everyone from professional athletics to chess masters knows
developed a treatment plan that incorporated clinical behav-
about the yips and the twisties. Sometimes you just choke. There
iorism, exposure therapy, and a hefty dose of Dominate.
isn’t a person alive who hasn’t experienced a bout of strange
And it worked: Max was cured. Of course, in his desperation,
and sudden discombobulation, or just random incompetence
he’d allowed himself to be blood bound to his childe, and
related to something they’re good at. It’s all part of being alive
she wasn’t above slipping in a few self-serving mental triggers
— though even that isn’t a given.
and memory alterations.
A strange disease has arisen among the Kindred population
With her sire’s fortune at her disposal, the Andrea has created
known as Vampiric Labile Abnormality Disorder (VLAD).
a foundation for extra-normal research, and its first focus is her
Those suffering from the disease find themselves increasingly
sire’s former disorder. It was Dr. Heinrich who came up with
unable to use their innate abilities: Calling on Disciplines turns
the acronym, though she was tempted to name it after Max.
into a crapshoot, lashing out becomes arduous, and eventually,
even the Kiss doesn’t work.
Infection
VLAD is as much virus as psychological disorder. Bizarrely,
Background it doesn’t pass through any physical means, though it appears
in a Kindred victim’s blood like any other pathogen. The dis-
If it’s hard enough to diagnose conditions that only affect
ease instead spreads when a vampire witnesses a carrier strike
a small segment of the human population, and diagnosing
out using one of her Disciplines, or any other deathly power.
creatures as aloof and paranoid as Kindred is nigh impossible.
Most vampires refuse to share details of their psychology with While it doesn’t move through shared vectors like Vitae, it
anyone, lest they reveal a weakness to their rivals, and even does have an easier time passing among vampires who share
those who are open about such things have little recourse. blood ties. Kindred of the same clan have a much better
Sure, there’s always that one Mekhet who attends weird support chance of catching it from each other, and the closer one’s
groups after hours, or who turns their analyst into a ghoul, but relation to another vampire, the more difficult it is to resist.
these solutions are short term at best. Maybe that’s why VLAD
wasn’t properly identified until 2009.
When Dr. Andrea Heinrich finished her PhD in psychology Rumors
from Stanford, she was Embraced within a week. Her sire, “That’s the second case in a month. If we don’t contain it, this thing
Maximilian, was an Invictus magnate who wanted to turn her is going to start growing at a geometric rate. If it hasn’t already…”
education to his own ends, modernizing his company’s glitzy ad VLAD is alarming to its sufferers, but it’s not exactly the
campaigns to keep consumers ignorant of the vampire selling end of the world. Given its relative benignity and obscurity, few
to them. It was demeaning, demoralizing work, but Andrea had Kindred have expended much effort into containing it, with
little choice. Max was an intimidating, tyrannical, seemingly the exception of Dr. Heinrich. Tonight, it affects hundreds
all-powerful elder — until one night, he wasn’t. of vampires across the globe. That might not seem like much,
Max’s Disciplines first failed him at a First Estate soirée but given the relative size of the Kindred population, it’s a tad
during an attempt to victimize a ghoul. Instead of being cowed, concerning. Sure, the worst thing that might happen to most

144 Sin Again: Daeva

vampires is actually addressing her issues, but what happens
when hunters get wind of the disease and try to spread it? Three Infected
Or worse, the Brood. Members of Belial’s Michelle is living with it, at least as much as a dead person
Brood are immune to VLAD, and if can live with anything. She’s even seeing a therapist about it
anyone can figure out how to use it as (circumspectly), one of those online docs who just happens
a bioweapon, it’s the Worthless. to live in an accommodating time zone. The only problem is,
“Yeah, but they’ve got, like, pills for she hasn’t told anyone. She only figured out what VLAD even
that, right?” was through a lot of dark web digging, and she’s not about to
Not yet, but they’re working on it. risk her position as Prefect of the Carthian Movement over
While Dr. Heinrich’s research suggests a few “senior moments.”
talk therapy is the best cure, talking Kino is freaking out. It took zir a long time
about one’s feelings doesn’t exactly to realize anything was happening at all, and
come easy to the Damned. For this when zie did, zie tried really hard to pretend
reason, a few dead chemists are it wasn’t. Now zie’s finding zie can’t even
working on a little-blue-pill solu- hunt consistently, and other Kindred have
tion, mostly Night Doctors in definitely started to notice. They keep their
the Carthian Movement. Night distance when zie comes around, and they’ve
Doctors are often the first stopped keeping zir in the loop about things
to get a visit from VLAD like where Elysium is being held tonight. Kino
patients, and while surgery is petrified of what zie might lose next, and
won’t do much, some zie’ll do anything to put zir Requiem back on
of these medicos track, even if it means visiting with that yel-
are studying the low-eyed witch just outside of town.
possibilit y of a Magnus is fine. Really, he’s fine. The
chemical cure — mind slips when you get to his age, even if
or, at minimum, the body doesn’t show it. Sometimes you
a way to blunt just make a darn fool of yourself when you
the symptoms. Some of this research hit 300. It probably means he’s put off the
is very promising, but like any true scien- big sleep for too long, but it’s hard to say
tists, they need to conduct clinical trials. goodbye, you know? And he has so many
Fortunately, the Revolution is all about childer and grandchilder now, it feels like a
collective action; unfortunately, you dereliction of duty to abandon them. Still,
might not know you’re taking part. Talk sometimes you have to do what’s right for
about double blinding. you. So, before Magnus rests, he’s going to
“This isn’t a new phenomenon. Kindred visit as much of his family as he can,all over
were once human, and humans have always the world, and he’s going to show them all
had a propensity to choke when the pressure’s his very best tricks.
on. The question is, when did it stop being a
foible and when did it become an infection?”
Dr. Heinrich’s work has uncovered Systems
numerous records of mythological and Whenever a vampire witnesses another
folkloric creatures exhibiting similar bloodsucker exhibit an obvious symptom
impotency, most of them likely Kindred of VLAD, such as failing a Discipline or
viewed through a mortal lens. Currently, flubbing his Predatory Aura, she must roll
she’s trying to figure out if there’s a Resolve + Composure minus her own Blood
definite starting point for the VLAD phe- Potency. On a failure, she gains the Shaken
nomenon, and she’s developed a hypoth- Condition, fearful that something like that
esis that the first cases didn’t appear until could happen to her. This roll is further
shortly after 33CE, roughly the year of Jesus’s penalized by her degree of Blood Sympathy
crucifixion. Or, to put it another way, when to the other vampire (Vampire, p. 98), but
Saint Longinus allegedly stabbed him with a takes a +3 if the characters are of different
spear. What VLAD’s connection might be to clans. If the vampire suffers a failure on
Christianity or the Lancea et Sanctum (if any) any Discipline or attempt to lash out
is likely Andrea’s next investigation, but it may before she resolves Shaken, it becomes
be a far more fraught one. the VLAD (Stage One) Condition.

Chapter Four: Haters 145

 Story Seeds
• The disease no longer just affects vampires. Several Uratha packs have reported similar problems, and even
the local Awakened are rumored to be experiencing difficulty with their incantations. Some of these creatures
have come looking for answers in the All Night Society, but the Kindred are just as baffled. Has VLAD always
been able to affect other supernatural creatures, or has it mutated? And was this spillover, or did someone
intentionally spread it?
• Dr. Heinrich has discovered revenants are immune to VLAD, and that by combining their Vitae with infected blood,
she can create a 100% effective vaccine. However, sourcing it is going to be… tricky, and she’s not interested in
doing so without informed consent. She’s hired the coterie to travel the country in search of these rare creatures,
offering cash, blood, and even the true Embrace for their help. Unfortunately, one of Andrea’s rivals has also made
this discovery, and his agents are far less ethical about acquiring their quarry.
• A hunter cell has figured out how to spread VLAD via humans. They’ve conducted a few field tests in the coterie’s
city, surreptitiously infecting known blood dolls with the disease, and now they’re ready to put it in the water
supply. Tonight’s the big night, unless the coterie can sabotage their operation and destroy their documentation.

Stage Two
VLAD The Storyteller’s roll gains your Blood Potency as a bonus
(PERSISTENT)
and can exceptionally succeed or dramatically fail. The effect
now applies to Blood Sympathy and Kindred Senses.
You suffer from a strange memetic disease known as Vampiric
Add the following results to those listed above:
Labile Abnormality Disorder. Whether psychological or phys-
iological in nature, it has caused you to lose control of your Exceptional Success: As with a success, and the affected trait
Kindred powers. This Condition progresses through three no longer functions for the rest of the night unless you spend
stages. Each time you suffer its effects, you can opt to move to a Willpower to kickstart it back into gear.
the next stage for a Beat. Otherwise, it progresses on its own Dramatic Failure: To dramatically fail this roll, declare that
if the Storyteller succeeds a number of rolls described below you choose to do so in the event that the Storyteller rolls a
exceeding (10 – Blood Potency). failure. If she does, the disease leaves you alone for the rest of
VLAD fades without resolving when you next enter and the night and the next. However, if the roll does succeed, it’s
complete a full period of torpor. If you resolve this Condition, an exceptional success.
you are permanently immune to it. Stage Three
Stage One The Storyteller now rolls at the beginning of each scene.
The Storyteller rolls a die when you rise for the night, keeping Furthermore, the disease also applies to healing, Physical
the result secret. At this stage, the results are simply pass or fail. Intensity, the blush of life, and the Kiss. Even your fangs betray
you, sometimes refusing to lower at all.
Success: At some point in the night, the effect of lashing out or
one of your Disciplines will go sideways in a glaring way. As such, Resolution: Accomplish an important task with the help of
the effect doesn’t work as intended, and all resources are wasted. your vampire powers. Lose a dot of Humanity. Therapy.
Failure: Everything’s fine! Beat: Suffer embarrassment due to your powers misfiring.

146 Sin Again: Daeva

 Epilogue: Sin Again
When Darcy awoke, he was lying naked and alone in a cold bed. His body had mostly healed
itself through the day, and someone had taken the time to wipe his skin clean of blood and grime.
He sat up and surveyed his bedroom. It almost looked like nothing had happened, save for a
few minor details. Namely, the skylight’s control box having been smashed, presumably with the
hammer lying on the television stand. His vacuum stood next to his chair, and while there was no
trace of Beau on the carpet, he could see the filter straining to contain a mountain of ash. To his
left, the broken window had been sealed with particle board and black trash bags.
As he pushed off the bed, his hand came down on a piece of paper next to his pillow. It smelled
of creamy vanilla, ripe cherry, and ruby blood.

Dear Rob, don’t

things, but if I
is isn ’t ho w I wanted to leave so m ething
Th ter. There’s
no w, I m ig ht not be able to la sta y (a nd I
go I’d like to
and as much as
real between us, e of us en ds up dead .
re it ’ll mean on
do), I’m pretty su
by, like , killing
do n’ t m ak e this awkward more
Pl ea se night, but there’s
ur se lf. I’v e on ly known you a e is. W ha t
yo I hope ther
yo u th an yo u think . At least yo ur he ad
to get out of
you are . Try to
you are isn’t who
e that.
enough to realiz r ’s
r. A little thunde
ra in in g no w, but it ’ll get bette
It ’s
worth the rain .
ght.
u again some ni
I’d love to see yo
e,
Until Next Tim
“Sadie”
ur car.
PS: I borrowed yo

Darcy carefully folded the letter and set it next to the clock on his left hand nightstand. It was almost
ten already. He rose from the bed and made his way to the television. With a shaking hand, he pressed
Eject on the DVD player and removed the disk, Carmelita’s elegant handwriting scrawled across it:

To Robert
He took a deep breath and reflected on the last two decades, smiled, and snapped the disk in half.
Bits of it floated through the air like snowflakes, and he dropped the shards in the trash by the bed.
Over on the other nightstand, his phone blinked, revealing dozens of missed calls and texts.
It appeared the city was figuratively — and, perhaps, literally — on fire without its Herald to keep
things in order. It wasn’t time to mope, and it certainly wasn’t time to pick sides.
It was time to get to work.

148 Sin Again: Daeva

We've met before and will again.
You'll see me under neon lights
with a drink in my hand
and your name on my lips.
You'll find me lounging on a chaise
with nothing but your eyes upon my body.
You'll catch me in the seat across the aisle,
and pacing by your office door,
and watching from your bedroom mirror.
And you won't be able to stop me.
- Vivian Sharpe, Acolyte evangelist
The Serpents are obsession defined. To know them is to want them, and to
want them is to need them — but never as much as they’ll need you. Now,
for the first time in over 13 years, bask again in the glorious blasphemies of
Clan Daeva.
Sin Again is a complete guide to the Daeva in Vampire: The Requiem Second
Edition, with updates and expansions to their original clan book, Kiss of the
Succubus. It includes:
• Eight Serpent bloodlines: The Children of Judas, Duchagne, Erzsébet,
Gulikan, Nelapsi, and Xiao, dying to remake your acquaintance, along
with new cousins like the cutting edge Moda Mortale and time-defying
Star-Crossed.
• An in-depth exploration of Kindred parties and social gatherings, with a
special system to help you run your own bloody blowouts.
• Four ghoul families and numerous horrors to play upon your heartstrings,
featuring the return of the Nemites, not seen since The Danse Macabre,
and new insights into Solace, designer drug of the Damned.
• Exciting new fiction from the Chronicles of Darkness: Chicago setting.
• Devotions, Merits, banes, and more tools for players and Storytellers alike!