Progenitor (4 point merit)
Prerequisites: Vampire, Blood Potency 4

Effect: Some kindred are unsatisfied creating childer that will suffer the ravages of being babes among the wolves.  Indeed, legends are filled with stories of those who are embraced and not only are suffused with the power of the undead but are more powerful than their peers by virtue of being the childer of an elder.  Indeed, some elders do know how to pass on the thickness of their kindred vitae to childer.  Indeed, some take pride in this talent as they are appalled by the idea that all are created equal.  Some childer of elders are even given special accord rightly or not under the assumption that they might have some of this power.  Still, the increased vitae given by this power is significant but the lack of practical knowledge of the requiem and lack of disciplines to accompany it usually means that a progeny may get themselves into proportionate trouble.

Vampire created beyond Blood Potency 2 get increasingly rare so while a Blood Potency 5 neonate is possible with this power it is nearly unheard of due not only to the risk but the rarity of vampires powerful enough to do it.

The Progenitor talent allows for the creation of progeny of Blood Potencies 2, 3, 4 or 5 rather than 1.  Each blood potency requires a sire of a Blood Potency at least twice that they are creating, the investment of six points of vitae into the thickening of the childe’s per point of childe’s Blood Potency beyond the first, one dot of will power per point of Blood Potency and one aggravated wound per  point of Blood Potency beyond 1. So, for example, if an elder wants to create a childer with a Blood Potency of 3, this would require that the elder have Blood Potency 6, invest 12 points of Vitae, sacrifice 3 willpower dots and suffer 2 aggravated wounds.
The creation of such childer is dangerous to the elder but also can bring them great prestige.

Domains where this talent is known often have laws forbidding its use without the Prince’s explicit approval.  The knowledge of this talent is uncommon even among elders and is only in common knowledge at all in larger Ordo Dracul and Invictus domains.

The art above is from www.jasonchanart.com – I ran across his site while browsing Google images.  The cropped version here is a actually a wonderful larger piece.  Go check out his art and his prints for sale.

First, my thanks to Howlin, a poster on the White Wolf forums who posted his Coil of Progeny which I used as the basis of mine very closely.  His ideas were very close to my own (scarily so) and his write up was very strong.  So, why re-invent what has already been well made?  The Coil of Progeny you will see below has seen changes but not to ‘fix’ it but reflect what I wanted differently from it and limit to only four ranks.

In Khallam, Byron is the only master of this coil and even lower ranks are closely protected knowledge.  They are not secret at all, in fact knowledge of this coil grants great rank and puts kindred in a perilous position.  Dragons should never withhold knowledge of a coil but they do routinely.  That is the nature of the danse macabre.  If a Dragon exhibits knowledge of this coil others will also assume that they have a relationship with Byron.

First Tier: Will of the Blood
The vampire may create and maintain Ghouls without spending willpower.  Ghouls created by the vampire must still spend willpower to maintain themselves, but the vampire can maintain them with a mere thought, and no expenditure beyond the Ghoul’s blood requirements.

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Second Tier: Strengthen the Bloodline
If the vampire is a member of a bloodline, he may optionally chose to embrace his childe directly into the bloodline, rather than the childe needing to willfully activate the bloodline at blood potency 2 with a willpower dot expenditure.

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Third Tier: Infectious Soul
Reduces the cost of performing the Embrace from a willpower dot to a willpower point.

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Fourth Tier: Beyond Clan
Vampire may embrace his Childer into any clan who’s blood he committed diablerie on recently enough that the death would still show on his aura (it doesn’t have to show if they have the ability to hide it, it simply has to be in that time frame].  Further, the effects of his blood in creating ghouls or mandragora can be likewise be revectored to work as though the vampire were a member of that clan (changing what is “in clan” for a ghoul, or what specific effects mandrake lacroma produces).  Such childer however often show an aptitude for joining bloodlines or developing disciplines that have affinities for their sire’s true clan.  So, for example, a a Gangrel who uses this power to create a Ventrue childer might find that the Ventrue has an affinity for joining the Adrestoi bloodline or developing the Protean discipline.

[I fixed spelling and changed the rule for cross clan embrace from 'blood he has tasted' to the verbiage involving diablerie and added the last two sentences.]

Neverwhere.  City of Lost Children.  Diadem.  Perdido Street Station.  Buffy.

These are the things I’m thinking about as my wife brings me a cup of espresso and my almost three year old hangs onto my arm and Max and Ruby plays on the TV.

I’ve been pondering Justin Achilli’s post about his idea for a World of Darkness setting called Diadem.  Influences are things like Neverwhere, the City of Lost Children and Perdido Street Station.  And it brings what I’ve been doing with Khallam into doubt.  To be honest those things are strengths of mine, especially settings like the City of Lost Children where the absurd is sharp and thick like maple syrup on an antique knife.  And a setting like Perdido Street Station’s New Crobuzon … oh yeah.

But, this is a role playing game.  Its not literature.  The underworld of Neverwhere can have convienences that players would question too far, New Crobozun only has to have the streets the author knows the characters will walk down and the City of Lost Children doesn’t have the one player who breaks the poetic mood.  Still, I’m good at building mood and improvising is a definite strenth.

But more fundamental perhaps is the problem of expectation.  One reason I’ve never strayed far from the ‘our world on the surface’ standard of the WoD is that unlike characters players have to make choices that are their’s and aren’t part of that world, they need something to go on, some set of expected standards.  Sure, many role playing games throw these out the window but one reason I like the WoD is that they are there – you can empathize and put yourself in that scenario.

But, what about Buffy?  I love the prom night episode where it becomes clear that despite all the normal attempts of people to ignore the wierdness of the world that they really know what is going on.  Perhaps some element of that, a hidden type of City of Lost Children feeling, hidden, but close enough that people know something is wrong.  Hunters become inevitable there I think, something I’ve stayed away from in Khallam mostly because its hard to imagine Byron tolerating them.  Unless they could be made useful.  But that would be a dangerous game.

I definitely have more thinking to do.

http://www.justinachilli.com/blog/2009/7/9/world-of-darkness-diadem.html

I’m tempted to copy the whole thing here just in case anything were to happen to his blog.  I don’t think WW would produce this book as it doesn’t seem to fit into the cosmos they’re building but they should.

Malkav vs. Malkov

About five years ago White Wolf took a game premise (that you play the monster) that they had built over over a long time in the World of Darkness and rebooted it.  When the Vampire : the Requiem came out one of the first things on every pair of lips (or typed at the keyboard was) who made the cut.  The Ventrue, Nosferatu, and Gangrel were still clans.  They were joined by the Daeva (Toreador like but broader in concept) and Mekhet (new but could incorporate a number of older ideas).  The Toreador themselves showed up as a bloodline in the back showing a narrower interpretation of the Daeva as well as the Brujah (surprisingly ignored for their oWoD popularity) and the Malkovians.

Not Malkavians, but Malkovians.

The shit storm erupted.

I was there throwing shit myself.

So, what the fuck matters about an o instead of an a?

Well, it turns out that many of us had an irrational fondness for our dear clan Malkavian and although the new Ventrue Malkovian bloodline had all the signature disciplines and were loons they lacked the flavor and the name.  And gamers of all stripes should know that there is power in a name.  Years later they made up for it and the Malkavians returned in the Ventrue clanbook Lords Over the Damned.

When we didn’t have Malkavians in the nWoD but I had embraced the new setting I had decided to have a mental patient in the local asylum, a kindred, who insisted he was a Malkavian, not Malkovian and strangely had abilities no one had seen before (Dementiation).  Now, I don’t mind houseruling against the canon but try to keep it sparse because I think published materials should, in general, be a common ground of agreement between Storyteller and player with the understanding that the Storyteller sets some boundaries such as the inclusion of optional bloodlines from supplements and the like.  However, having a single Malkavian that claimed the whole universe ended and then he woke up here and has Demnetation … well, that’s not adding but rather just pointless when they added it all back in.

I’m not complaining mind you.  I like having it back in.  And I will be adding some characters to take advantage of it.  Still, its odd that its taken me this long to get around to it.  Tegen is a Ventrue and one of the three leaders of Khallam and frankly madness is central to the nWoD in a way that it wasn’t to the oWoD.  In the oWoD a few were not just insane but bat shit loco.  The Malkavians.  The Black Spiral Dancers.  Did anyone really try to do the understated madman trying to control his madness in the old World of Darkness?  Not many.  They exalted in the extremes of madness and White Wolf responded with things like Broken Time and the Malkavian Madness Network.  The Network is in a way even eluded to in Lords Over the Damned.

And while a fun idea before I’m looking even more now to integrating that same material with the new Malkavians.  They are quite literally a crack in the mirror of the nWoD facing the oWoD and I like that … a broken mirror.

And the Ventrue are mad fuckers.  Madness is core now thanks to the humanity and derangements system.  Any vampire with a bit of bad luck can be a riddled mess of neurotic behaviors.  Ventrue even more likely so.  And Malkovians?

Ah, so.

Well, Malkovians have been a bit ignored thanks to White Wolf ‘fixing’ things with the Malkavians.  But that’s how a broken mirror is, it’s cracks can twist around.  I’m looking forward to bringing the Malkovians back now.  Are they or aren’t they?  Surely, someone in the world has noticed the odd coincidents of names though the text ignores it.

So, I’ll part with this while I plan for Tegen and his fellow Ventrue of Khallam (or at least the upper crust).  I ditched the Malkovian bloodline weakness in V:tR in favor of the Julii clan one in Requiem for Rome.  Why?  Because combined with the Ventrue clan weakness is further presses that idea of the blood succumbing to madness and the connection between madness and lost humanity.  And furthering the Ventrue connection to the Julii fits in perfectly for my idea of their history – which will be central to an NPC as well of course.