50 Shades of Vampires, Part III

Originally published April 3, 2013

In my previous two installments, I mentioned a vampire elder called the Antediluvian. In this today's post I'll reveal what it is and how I designed it.

The Antediluvian evolved substantially during my chronicle. Originally I introduced it as a subject of worship by the feral vampires beneath my city. The more intelligent of these called themselves the Black Hand, a name I stole from the Classic World of Darkness. Back then it was just a powerful vampire elder slumbering beneath the city, one that had discovered some secret about that location.

As I began to solidify my vision of the Circle, the living vampires that surprised my players so much, I knew I needed something stranger and more powerful. It was around this time that I acquired Night Horrors : Wolfsbane which details the Idigam, strange primordial spirits which were imprisoned on the moon by Father Wolf of the Werewolf: the Forsaken mythology. Notably these spirits could remove souls and replace them with spirits or ghosts. The idea of an Idigam claimed vampire was appealing.

At this stage we had the core of the being, an unnatural fusion of vampire and spirit, but we didn't know its history. I knew from my earlier version that it had awakened sometime in the 16th or 17th centuries to learn of the Native Americans destruction. So around this time I decided it was tied up with the Mississippian civilization and other mound builders. Playing fast and loose with history, I decided it fed on entire civilizations, slumbering in torpor while new meals arose.

Possible childe of the Antediluvian

Initially I thought to make it a servant of my big bad (an imprisoned god of demons) but later I decided it worked better as a guardian to stop people from disturbing and releasing the god. Basically the equivalent of an electric fence. If you get too close, it kills you. And your civilization.

This also added to the difficulties of killing it. Destroying it just brings the apocalypse that much closer.

And here is its write-up. The Devotions can be found in Ancient Mysteries and Blood Tenebrous can be found in World of Darkness: Book of Spirits.

The Antediluvian

Background: The truth of the Antediluvian may never be known. The fog of eternity has hidden the past from its mind. For millenia it has dwelt in North America, since the time of the Clovis people. Perhaps it is one of the original vampires, a monster born of a union of spirit and flesh that should not have been. Or perhaps it is the result of god-king whose soul was sundered when the gates to heaven were broken. Or perhaps it has always been, a being created by an unknowable god to watch over the human flock. To its mind all of these are true. As near as anyone else can tell, the being known as the Antediluvian has dwelt by the shores of the Great Lakes for over ten thousand years. Its spawn traveled South to incite blood sacrifices of the Aztecs, aping the forgotten mound builders that worshiped the memory of their sire.

Long has it slept, letting centuries pass between feedings. But each feeding would destroy the society, both mortal and damned, that existed around it. These are recorded in the mysterious collapses of the Olmec, the Maya, and Pueblo civilizations. Its most recent awakening left it hungrier than normal as it found its people missing, killed by European disease.

It was upset.

It attacked and murdered a Jesuit mission in revenge. There it also found a nomad vampire, an outcast from the Bohemian mystic societies. After torturing the Kindred, it devoured his mind and then later his soul. From his thoughts, it learned of the world, what had happened to its people, and who its enemies were.

It slept, digesting the creature's past and readying itself for the task ahead of it. To make man fear the night again. This creature had long known the secrets of the Underworld and maintained a dual existence. A dark spirit, cast from the heavens, sat in its torpored form, protecting it and serving as a symbol of vassalhood to a dark entombed god. Meanwhile its "soul" would wander the Underworld learning its secrets and living off of the memories of blood. It built a church to itself and began to gather the ghosts of humanity's mystics there.

They would be its army, while above the nameless spirit made sure the growing city was filled with the undead. It whispered to the ignorant European vampires to dig and dig deep. It taught them to sup on the blood of the earth, to make them strong and mad. Some it formed into a cult and encouraged them to exhume its form.

When the Black Hand had served its purpose it whispered to their mortal servants to steal it away. It tore souls from the mortals replacing them with pale shades and a promise of immortality.

The time is now. Now it moves upward to rejoin its slumbering form. It will escape the Underworld, bring forth an army of blood addict ghost-mages, and seize control of Circle. Then it will use its powers to tear apart the spirit world, the Consilium, the Seers, the Forsaken, and bring fear back to the mortals.

Description: The Antediluvian's "soul" appears as a mummified humanoid with blackened skin wrapped tightly around brittle seeming bones. Its eyes are the only thing that seem alive, blood-red and surprisingly compelling.

Its body until recently has been encased in a mass of calcified blood, storage for the long centuries of slumber. Once free and nourished, its form is rather unusual with a strange oblong skull covered in thick braids of black hair. Its hands have long digits and its feet are almost opposable It is female and oddly attractive despite its inhuman features and jagged teeth.

Roleplaying Hints: A force of nature and seemingly all-knowing, the Antediluvian should use its best attacks, know the weaknesses of its opponents, and crush obstacles. But it should also spare random individuals and get distracted by the mundane. It needs to belong, something it doesn't realize but is echoed in every action. It builds cults, gangs, and fearful societies to surround it. But it doesn't sit at the pinnacle but as first among monsters. It wants temporal power, the power of fear. It fears humanity, empathy and feeling are alien to it and scary.

Ghost Traits

Attributes: Power 6, Finesse 5, Resistance 6

Mental Skills: Academics 2, Crafts 2, Investigation 3, Medicine 2, Occult (ghosts, underworld, vampires) 4, Politics 3

Physical Skills: Athletics 6, Brawl (fangs) 7, Larceny 2, Stealth 6, Survival 6, Weaponry 3

Social Skills: Animal Ken (bats, wolves) 6, Expression 2, Intimidation (stare down) 6, Persuasion 4, Subterfuge 2

Merits: Allies (Ghost Mages ) 3, Allies (feral vampires) 3, Vice over Virtue

Willpower: 11; Humanity: 0; Virtue: Friendly; Vice: Envy; Initiative: 11; Defense: 3 (Armor 3); Speed: 21; Corpus: 11

Blood Potency: 10 (100/15)

Disciplines: see below

Vampire Traits

Clan: None

Covenant: None (though is venerated by the Circle and Black Hand)

Mental Attributes: Intelligence 5, Wits 5, Resolve 5

Physical Attributes: Strength 6, Dexterity 5, Stamina 7

Social Attributes: Presence 6, Manipulation 6, Composure 6

Mental Skills: Academics 2, Crafts 2, Investigation 3, Medicine 2, Occult (ghosts, underworld, vampires) 4, Politics 3

Physical Skills: Athletics 6, Brawl (fangs) 7, Larceny 2, Stealth 6, Survival 6, Weaponry 3

Social Skills: Animal Ken (bats, wolves) 6, Expression 2, Intimidation (stare down) 6, Persuasion 4, Subterfuge 2

Merits: Allies (Circle) 4, Allies (Black Hand) 4, Allies (Ghost Mages ) 3, Allies (feral vampires) 3, Iron Stamina 3, Taste of the Strange (mages, shapeshifters, demons). Vice over Virtue

Willpower: 11; Humanity: 0; Virtue: Friendly; Vice: Envy; Initiative: 11; Defense: 5; Speed: 16; Health: 11

Blood Potency: 10 (100/15)

Disciplines: Auspex 5, Blood Tenebrous 5, Celerity 4, Majesty 4, Nightmare 5, Obfuscate 3, Protean 5, Vigor 5, Resilience 5

Devotions: Blood Shield, Destructive Might, Gargoyles Watch, Glimpse of the Abyss

Idigam

The mages who bound this spirit walked many strange roads and not all of them stayed to this world. On the lunar surface they encountered and brought back a spirit of alien resonance. Destroying it was seen as too dangerous at the time. It seemed the being was bound up with the creation of life itself. So they trapped it in the form of an ancient eternally dead creature, the Antediluvian. Over the eons the two grew into each other until they were one. Now it wants to belong to a group and forms societies to worship and adore it. It awaits the return of its other half.

Attributes: Power 9, Finesse 12, Resistance 9

Merits: Allies (Circle) 4, Allies (Black Hand) 4

Willpower: 18; Size: 5; Initiative: 21; Defense: 6 (Armor 6); Speed: 31; Corpus: 14

Rank: 4

Essence: 50

Influences: Blood 3, Faith 2, Vampires 3

Numina: Claim, Greater Influence (x3), Ghost Eater, Rapture, Soul Harvest, Telepathy

Ban: Exposure to glacial ice paralyzes it until it melts.

Hope you enjoyed that. Next time we'll look another variant vampire the fungus infected Malphaens.