Good morning, everybody! I hope everybody had a good Christmas/Hanukkah/Yule/etc. As a belated Christmas gift, you're getting one of my favorite Mekhet bloodlines: the Norvegi!
The Norvegi are interesting in that they are basically Requiem's spiritual successors to Masquerade's Tzimisce, if the Tzimisce had a Norwegian black metal/underclass vibe, rather than the Tzimisce's Slavic/H.R. Giger thing.
The Norvegi were actually surprisingly easy to convert. The bloodline bane was expanded slightly, so that it includes a penalty to Social Maneuvering: the Norvegi are hired blades, not negotiators. Bloodworking became a Devotion set, and I replaced it in the Discipline set with Protean, since that's the default "shape-shifting" Discipline. Bloodworking is basically intact, I just made some adjustments to some of the roll results, and to a couple of the dice pools.
As always, leave thoughts and comments. Next week, you'll be a bloodline of Nosferatu who won't let a little thing like their clan bane stop them from being the toast of Elysium: the Gals and Gents of the Cockscomb Society!
Bloodline Conversion- Norvegi
You look down your nose at us, but if we're so weak, why do you keep paying us to do your dirty work?
Those Kindred who know of the Norvegi consider them an abomination of the blood, fangless mockeries of true vampires. It is common wisdom that the Norvegi are too weak to survive as a bloodline, but even the wisest elder seems to not notice that the Norvegi do not only seem to survive, but thrive. Like all successful carnivores, the Norvegi have found a niche doing dirty jobs cleanly and cheaply- need a rival disposed of with a minimum of fuss mess? Pay a Norvegi- just don't let anybody find out that you had to resort to those mongrels' help.
While Norvegi might not have fangs, that's because, like all organisms, they have discarded characteristics they no longer need. The Norvegi have learned to use highly specialized applications of Protean to warp their flesh, bone, and vitae into lethal blades, talons, and spikes that can drain both vampires and humans dry in seconds. The Norvegi keep this ability a strict secret: being beneath notice grants them a certain degree of safety, and this safety would be lost the second the wider All-Night Society knew that the full extent of the Norvegi's powers. Anybody who witnesses this bizarre ability is either fully trusted, or soon to be dead.
Background: Since the Dark Ages, the Norvegi have been hypothesized to be the remnants of the extinct Clan Grettir, who were incorporated into the Mekhet population of Scandinavia. Supposedly, these isolated Mekhet became insular, diablerizing their sires and choosing their childer from the ranks of their mortal relatives. Eventually, widespread perversion among the Norvegi warped their vitae and stole their fangs.
Eventually, the Norvegi were declared something akin to untouchables in the All-Night Society, and took jobs as killers and mercenaries. As the Middle Ages gave way to the Renaissance and Enlightenment, the Norvegi moved south, facing the same prejudice and filling the same role. From Scandinavia, to the Baltic states, to the former Soviet Union, to Germany, to Britain, to Canada, they spread, always unwelcome but always indispensible. The Norvegi keep close ties with their mortal relatives; it is not uncommon for these family members to compete with each other to become ghouls, and for the few chosen to become ghouls to compete for the honor of the Embrace. When the Norvegi become old enough that their Requiems become burdensome, they expect their childer to diablerize them, that the bloodline may be kept strong.
Across the globe, and throughout history, Norvegi have played rolls in Kindred society. Astrid the Norvega was the secret assassin of the Lady of London; another acts as the spymaster of New York, ruling a web of ghouls from beneath the city itself.
The Becoming: Norvegi Embrace almost exclusively from their mortal families. Norvegi broods tend to be lower- or working-class families, clannish in attitude and criminal in disposition. Those few Norvegi not related by blood to their sires either married into the family, or were trusted associates who were symbolically adopted in. Physical Attributes and Skills are nearly always primary, while Intimidation and Streewise are useful, and Medicine can be valuable. Merits like Allies, Herd, and Retainer represent the control and loyalty Norvegi command from their families, and Contacts in the criminal world are valuable.
In the Danse Macabre: Norvegi are pushed to the outskirts of the All-Night Society; some domains even forbid their presence at Elysium, or permit only occasional, distant attendance. Elders may publicly denounce the very existance of the Norvegi when they speak of them at all, but all wise elders know that the Norvegi are expendable, cheap, and efficient hired guns. Membership in a covenant is possible, but no Kindred would allow a Norvegus to rise above the position of leg-breaker or assassin, and no Norvegus harbors illusions of leadership in any Covenant. In the absence of any meaningful interaction with other Kindred, the Norvegi turn to each other and their families for support and companionship.
Clan: Mekhet
Nickname: Knives among themselves, Filth to other vampires.
Bloodline Bane: All Norvegi lose their fangs upon joining the bloodline, even if they were normal Mekhet beforehand. Other Kindred instintively know when they are in the presence of a Norvegus, almost as if he carries an aura of inferiority or deficiency, and it fills them with contempt. A Norvegus' impression with other Kindred can never rise above Hostile for the purposes of Social Maneuvering, unless they are members of the same covenant as the Norvegus, in which case his impression can never rise above Average. Additionally, a Norvegus can never have more than two dots of the Covenant Status Merit.
Bloodline Disciplines, Auspex, Obfuscate, Protean, Vigor
Bloodline Gift: Bloodworking
Bloodworking is the Norvegi's secret weapon, the ability that grants them the power to warp flesh and bone into lethal weapons. A Norvegus may actually be most dangerous when he is unarmed, for he does so only when he intends to feed, and it is usually a lethal affair. Norvegi avoid using Bloodworking around witnesses, and when they must do so, they use Obfuscate to conceal it. Bloodworking is a ghastly power: an empty hand extends into a visceral blade that impales an adversary, silent for a grunt of pain and surprise that gives way to a death rattle as that same blade drains the victim of blood in seconds. All Norvegi gain the first Devotion, Spongeflesh, upon joining the bloodline.
Spongeflesh
Spongeflesh is the first Bloodworking ability that Norvegi learn. With this ability, small capillaries in a Norvegus' skin open to the air, and grant him the ability to suck blood through skin-to-skin contact with a target, or remove blood from a wall just by passing their hand over it.
Cost: 1 Vitae
Dice Pool: None
Action: Instant
To be used against a living target, the Norvegus must succeed in a grapple roll against the target. Each time the Norvegus choose to siphon blood from a target, they may make a Brawl roll with their hands as 0L damage, and absorbing one point of Vitae per susccessful Brawl roll. However, Spongeflesh cannot impose the Swooning Condition, only the Scarred Condition. If blood is outside of a body, it is absorbed at a rate of one pint per turn.
Fleshblade (Protean @@@, Vigor @)
Fleshblade is first weaponized use of Bloodworking that Norvegi learn. With this power, a Norvegus' hands and arms become covered in spikes and blades of hardened, wickedly sharp muscle and Vitae. The first time a Norvegus uses this ability, his arms and hands become covered in scars that never heal, and are unique to each Norvegus.
Cost: 1 Vitae
Dice Pool: None
Action: Reflexive
Upon activating this power, the Norvegus' Brawl attacks deal +2L damage for the remainder of the scene or until he cancels the Devotion, but he suffers -2 on all Skill rolls that involve the use of his hands. If the Norvegus spends an additional Vitae on the turn that he activates Fleshblade, he can also activate Spongeflesh, but instead absorbs Vitae points equal to damage dealt.
This Devotion requires two Experiences to learn.
Boneshield (Protean @@@, Vigor @@)
The Norvegus' skin boils and erupts with a gruesome, protective mass of thorns, shredding any clothing the Norvegus is wearing.
Cost: 2 Vitae
Dice Pool: None
Action: Reflexive
This Devotion lasts for the rest of the scene. It grants 2/1 armor, but reduces both Defense and Speed by 1.
This Devotion requires three Experiences to learn.
Bonedart (Protean @@@@, Vigor @@)
The Norvegus has learned to localize Bloodworking's effects, creating a vicious spike that he can eject from his body with devastating effect.
Cost: 1 Vitae per dart
Dice Pool: Dexterity + Athletics + Protean – target's Defense
Action: Instant
Darts created with Bonedart are treated as 1A weapons, and their short range is equal to the Norvegus' Strength + Dexterity + Athletics; medium range is twice this number, while long range is quadrupal this number.
This Devotion requires three Experiences to learn.
Quillshower (Protean @@@@, Vigor @@@)
The Norvegus grows darts all over his body, and ejects them at high velocities, impaling everyone within five feet of him.
Cost: 3 Vitae
Dice Pool: Strength + Brawl + Protean
Action: Instant
Roll Results
Dramatic Failure: The Norvegus misjudges his own anatomy and contracts muscles in a manner that sends the darts inwards, shredding his internal organs and inflicting 3 points of aggravated damage on himself.
Failure: Vitae is consumed, but the quills fail to fully manifest and subside back into the body without success.
Success: The Norvegus takes two points of aggravated damage, while all characters within five feet take an amount of lethal damage equal to successes rolled.
Exceptional Success: The Norvegus does not take any damage from this ability, while the damage dealt to enemies is upgraded to aggravated damage. The quills also move too quickly for targets to use Defense, but armor protects against the quills as if they were normal attacks.
This Devotion requires four Experiences to learn.
The Norvegi are interesting in that they are basically Requiem's spiritual successors to Masquerade's Tzimisce, if the Tzimisce had a Norwegian black metal/underclass vibe, rather than the Tzimisce's Slavic/H.R. Giger thing.
The Norvegi were actually surprisingly easy to convert. The bloodline bane was expanded slightly, so that it includes a penalty to Social Maneuvering: the Norvegi are hired blades, not negotiators. Bloodworking became a Devotion set, and I replaced it in the Discipline set with Protean, since that's the default "shape-shifting" Discipline. Bloodworking is basically intact, I just made some adjustments to some of the roll results, and to a couple of the dice pools.
As always, leave thoughts and comments. Next week, you'll be a bloodline of Nosferatu who won't let a little thing like their clan bane stop them from being the toast of Elysium: the Gals and Gents of the Cockscomb Society!
Bloodline Conversion- Norvegi
You look down your nose at us, but if we're so weak, why do you keep paying us to do your dirty work?
Those Kindred who know of the Norvegi consider them an abomination of the blood, fangless mockeries of true vampires. It is common wisdom that the Norvegi are too weak to survive as a bloodline, but even the wisest elder seems to not notice that the Norvegi do not only seem to survive, but thrive. Like all successful carnivores, the Norvegi have found a niche doing dirty jobs cleanly and cheaply- need a rival disposed of with a minimum of fuss mess? Pay a Norvegi- just don't let anybody find out that you had to resort to those mongrels' help.
While Norvegi might not have fangs, that's because, like all organisms, they have discarded characteristics they no longer need. The Norvegi have learned to use highly specialized applications of Protean to warp their flesh, bone, and vitae into lethal blades, talons, and spikes that can drain both vampires and humans dry in seconds. The Norvegi keep this ability a strict secret: being beneath notice grants them a certain degree of safety, and this safety would be lost the second the wider All-Night Society knew that the full extent of the Norvegi's powers. Anybody who witnesses this bizarre ability is either fully trusted, or soon to be dead.
Background: Since the Dark Ages, the Norvegi have been hypothesized to be the remnants of the extinct Clan Grettir, who were incorporated into the Mekhet population of Scandinavia. Supposedly, these isolated Mekhet became insular, diablerizing their sires and choosing their childer from the ranks of their mortal relatives. Eventually, widespread perversion among the Norvegi warped their vitae and stole their fangs.
Eventually, the Norvegi were declared something akin to untouchables in the All-Night Society, and took jobs as killers and mercenaries. As the Middle Ages gave way to the Renaissance and Enlightenment, the Norvegi moved south, facing the same prejudice and filling the same role. From Scandinavia, to the Baltic states, to the former Soviet Union, to Germany, to Britain, to Canada, they spread, always unwelcome but always indispensible. The Norvegi keep close ties with their mortal relatives; it is not uncommon for these family members to compete with each other to become ghouls, and for the few chosen to become ghouls to compete for the honor of the Embrace. When the Norvegi become old enough that their Requiems become burdensome, they expect their childer to diablerize them, that the bloodline may be kept strong.
Across the globe, and throughout history, Norvegi have played rolls in Kindred society. Astrid the Norvega was the secret assassin of the Lady of London; another acts as the spymaster of New York, ruling a web of ghouls from beneath the city itself.
The Becoming: Norvegi Embrace almost exclusively from their mortal families. Norvegi broods tend to be lower- or working-class families, clannish in attitude and criminal in disposition. Those few Norvegi not related by blood to their sires either married into the family, or were trusted associates who were symbolically adopted in. Physical Attributes and Skills are nearly always primary, while Intimidation and Streewise are useful, and Medicine can be valuable. Merits like Allies, Herd, and Retainer represent the control and loyalty Norvegi command from their families, and Contacts in the criminal world are valuable.
In the Danse Macabre: Norvegi are pushed to the outskirts of the All-Night Society; some domains even forbid their presence at Elysium, or permit only occasional, distant attendance. Elders may publicly denounce the very existance of the Norvegi when they speak of them at all, but all wise elders know that the Norvegi are expendable, cheap, and efficient hired guns. Membership in a covenant is possible, but no Kindred would allow a Norvegus to rise above the position of leg-breaker or assassin, and no Norvegus harbors illusions of leadership in any Covenant. In the absence of any meaningful interaction with other Kindred, the Norvegi turn to each other and their families for support and companionship.
Clan: Mekhet
Nickname: Knives among themselves, Filth to other vampires.
Bloodline Bane: All Norvegi lose their fangs upon joining the bloodline, even if they were normal Mekhet beforehand. Other Kindred instintively know when they are in the presence of a Norvegus, almost as if he carries an aura of inferiority or deficiency, and it fills them with contempt. A Norvegus' impression with other Kindred can never rise above Hostile for the purposes of Social Maneuvering, unless they are members of the same covenant as the Norvegus, in which case his impression can never rise above Average. Additionally, a Norvegus can never have more than two dots of the Covenant Status Merit.
Bloodline Disciplines, Auspex, Obfuscate, Protean, Vigor
Bloodline Gift: Bloodworking
Bloodworking is the Norvegi's secret weapon, the ability that grants them the power to warp flesh and bone into lethal weapons. A Norvegus may actually be most dangerous when he is unarmed, for he does so only when he intends to feed, and it is usually a lethal affair. Norvegi avoid using Bloodworking around witnesses, and when they must do so, they use Obfuscate to conceal it. Bloodworking is a ghastly power: an empty hand extends into a visceral blade that impales an adversary, silent for a grunt of pain and surprise that gives way to a death rattle as that same blade drains the victim of blood in seconds. All Norvegi gain the first Devotion, Spongeflesh, upon joining the bloodline.
Spongeflesh
Spongeflesh is the first Bloodworking ability that Norvegi learn. With this ability, small capillaries in a Norvegus' skin open to the air, and grant him the ability to suck blood through skin-to-skin contact with a target, or remove blood from a wall just by passing their hand over it.
Cost: 1 Vitae
Dice Pool: None
Action: Instant
To be used against a living target, the Norvegus must succeed in a grapple roll against the target. Each time the Norvegus choose to siphon blood from a target, they may make a Brawl roll with their hands as 0L damage, and absorbing one point of Vitae per susccessful Brawl roll. However, Spongeflesh cannot impose the Swooning Condition, only the Scarred Condition. If blood is outside of a body, it is absorbed at a rate of one pint per turn.
Fleshblade (Protean @@@, Vigor @)
Fleshblade is first weaponized use of Bloodworking that Norvegi learn. With this power, a Norvegus' hands and arms become covered in spikes and blades of hardened, wickedly sharp muscle and Vitae. The first time a Norvegus uses this ability, his arms and hands become covered in scars that never heal, and are unique to each Norvegus.
Cost: 1 Vitae
Dice Pool: None
Action: Reflexive
Upon activating this power, the Norvegus' Brawl attacks deal +2L damage for the remainder of the scene or until he cancels the Devotion, but he suffers -2 on all Skill rolls that involve the use of his hands. If the Norvegus spends an additional Vitae on the turn that he activates Fleshblade, he can also activate Spongeflesh, but instead absorbs Vitae points equal to damage dealt.
This Devotion requires two Experiences to learn.
Boneshield (Protean @@@, Vigor @@)
The Norvegus' skin boils and erupts with a gruesome, protective mass of thorns, shredding any clothing the Norvegus is wearing.
Cost: 2 Vitae
Dice Pool: None
Action: Reflexive
This Devotion lasts for the rest of the scene. It grants 2/1 armor, but reduces both Defense and Speed by 1.
This Devotion requires three Experiences to learn.
Bonedart (Protean @@@@, Vigor @@)
The Norvegus has learned to localize Bloodworking's effects, creating a vicious spike that he can eject from his body with devastating effect.
Cost: 1 Vitae per dart
Dice Pool: Dexterity + Athletics + Protean – target's Defense
Action: Instant
Darts created with Bonedart are treated as 1A weapons, and their short range is equal to the Norvegus' Strength + Dexterity + Athletics; medium range is twice this number, while long range is quadrupal this number.
This Devotion requires three Experiences to learn.
Quillshower (Protean @@@@, Vigor @@@)
The Norvegus grows darts all over his body, and ejects them at high velocities, impaling everyone within five feet of him.
Cost: 3 Vitae
Dice Pool: Strength + Brawl + Protean
Action: Instant
Roll Results
Dramatic Failure: The Norvegus misjudges his own anatomy and contracts muscles in a manner that sends the darts inwards, shredding his internal organs and inflicting 3 points of aggravated damage on himself.
Failure: Vitae is consumed, but the quills fail to fully manifest and subside back into the body without success.
Success: The Norvegus takes two points of aggravated damage, while all characters within five feet take an amount of lethal damage equal to successes rolled.
Exceptional Success: The Norvegus does not take any damage from this ability, while the damage dealt to enemies is upgraded to aggravated damage. The quills also move too quickly for targets to use Defense, but armor protects against the quills as if they were normal attacks.
This Devotion requires four Experiences to learn.
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