Idea: Coil of owls.

[Khanwulf]

I'd like only to chime in and applaud the focus on tropes, and calling out the specific tropes used, as a foil for the Storyteller to wield. Pale_Crusader tho art the wind beneath our (one) wing.

Back to the topic at hand: keep in mind that not all coils went to 5 originally (1e, I think), so the final dot of this one may not have even been discovered yet. That could make it both a plot point (one or several individuals are working toward it) and also more palatable for use by a PC. You could, also, make the 5th dot somewhat less... complete... and instead make the transformation ritual into a scale that requires 5 dots (among other things). That also highlights the extra effort required to cross the threshold into darkness and smoke....

This approach could in particular work well if you wanted to branch the coil and call out its ability to transform vampires into either Strix or Tengu--the later being an inversion of the logic that led to full application of the Coil.

If a coil-like path is how you get Tengu, then linking them to VII is also interesting. Your mind is an enjoyable place, good gentle!

--Khanwulf

[Nepher]

Ok, let me try. Feedback appreciated.

Coil of Shadows
The Coil of Shadow is a set of self-hypnosis techniques and mediation on the nature of evil, made for the Dragon to avoid the trapping of Humanity and embracing his dark side. Becoming a true monster himself, his Beast catch up in malevolence, becoming something unexpected.
0 Detachment
The first step for achieving pure evil is to eshew his human ties to the world. The Vampire loose all his Touchstones, and cannot bind new ones (unless forfeiting the Coil, loosing all spent experiences). He suffer normal penalty to detachment rolls for not having Touchstones, but is immune to the Languid condition.
00 Malevolent Intent
The Vampire mold his mindset into one single wicked focus, loosing his Mask and Dirge to gain a Vice, similar to the Vice of a Strix. He can as a reflexive action convert 2 Vitae into a Willpower. He cannot gain Willpower any other way than through Vice or Vitae. As a strange side effect, he can now hear a Strix's Gathering Cry, and understand what it is.
000 Shadow Beast
The Vampire's Beast change into something sinister. When he enter Frenzy, he completly loose control of himself and cannot spend willpower to act against its Beast. He cannot remember anything that happen during it, and doesn't have to roll for detachment unless he discover what he has done after the Frenzy. Whatever the initial stimulus of the Frenzy, the goal of the Beast is always to indulge the Vampire's Vice. The Vampire doesn't appear to be in Frenzy, and may act as patient and composed as he would normally be. During the Frenzy, he is considered as being possessed by a Strix with no Dread Powers.
0000 Infinite Hunger
Amaranth is the ultimate sin for a Kindred, and the character reveal in it. He is now able to diablerize Mortals, with the only benefit of gaining Skills. Mortals resist Diablerie with their Integrity instead of Blood Potency. He can also diablerize Strix in material form (possessing a host or using the Materialize Embodiement) to gain Dread Powers (except for Kindred Discipline, which are diablerized normally). These Dread Powers are only available during Frenzy, or if the Vampire has achieved the fifth level of this Coil. He gains Tainted as a permanent Condition.
00000 Inhuman Monster
The Vampire achieve what he believe is its ultimate goal, and loose his Humanity. It is replaced for all intent by (10 - Blood Potency), including for mortal interaction. He is considered a Draugr for any power that can gauge Humanity. He is now identical to Strix in Synthesis, with only the Dread Powers he has acquired with the previous level.

[Ever Professional]

0000 Infinite Hunger
Amaranth is the ultimate sin for a Kindred, and the character reveal in it. He is now able to Diablerize Mortals, with the only benefit of gaining Skills. He can also Diablerize Strix in material form (possessing a host or using the Materialize Embodiement) to gain Dread Powers (except for Kindred Discipline, which are Diablerized normally). These Dread Powers are only available during Frenzy, or if the Vampire has achieved the fifth level of this Coil. He gains Tainted as a permanent Condition.

I like most of what you did, but vampires are already capable of diablerizing mortals, and they get skill dots from it. It was brought up in 1000 years of night, and I believe there might've been a humanity level prerequisite. So maybe make it so that the humanity level prerequisite need not apply?

[Nepher]

I like most of what you did, but vampires are already capable of diablerizing mortals, and they get skill dots from it. It was brought up in 1000 years of night, and I believe there might've been a humanity level prerequisite. So maybe make it so that the humanity level prerequisite need not apply?

I forgot about that, but it's for Elder with Humanity 6+ only. For most Vampire, it's not possible. Let say it's another way to achieve it
But thank you for pointing it, I have a minor change to make to match TTYN rules.

[Tessie]

Edit: Here's the updated version of the Coil, including the Scales.


Coil of Smoke

Unholy Visage •
Similar to the Blush of Health, the vampire may use one Vitae to bring something to the surface for the duration of a scene. In this case it's the Beast and it's similarities to the Strix. Eyes gleam yellow and her aura is stained by diablerie until the effect wears off. Non-corporeal forms, such as Primeval Miasma, may also exhibit other traits such as the outlines of wings or an owl's head. Additionally, any supernatural powers that can detect whether someone is a vampire or a Strix will face a Clash of Wills. Failure means the vampire registers as a Strix.

Omen Sensitivity ••
The Birds of Dis are rarely seen outside of disaster areas, potential or actual. The reason for this is their innate sense of impending chaos and destruction. Now this sense is the dragon's, allowing him to sense any potential disasters within Blood Potency months before they happen. Any fortune, fate or luck altering powers or Merits in the immediate vicinity of the Dragon will also trigger this sense. In either case the sensation is vague, only indicating when the disaster will strike or who's the subject of the power. It does not alert the dragon as to what the disaster might be or what the power actually does.

Summon the Parliament •••
One of the lesser known tricks of the Birds of Dis is their ability to call out for each other. This Coil allows the dragon to hear this call as if she was a Strix herself. More importantly, when Unholy Visage is activated the vampire is capable of spending a point of Willpower and use the Gathering Cry herself. The call is heard a number of miles equal to the vampire's Stamina + Blood Potency.

Breath-Drinking ••••
One of the few well known tricks of the Strix is their ability to steal life straight out of the mouth of their victims. This ability is now the dragon’s. While in a grapple she can use a modified form of the Feed move that doesn’t require biting the victim. This procedure is far from the euphoric experience of the Kiss, and conscious victims always get the Scarred Condition, if applicable. The move cannot be used on vampires, whose Vitae is too tightly bound in their blood, or on victims suffering Soulloss who aren’t producing any Vitae at all, but it’s theorized that it’s possible to steal Vitae from Strix by using this method.
Vitae gained through Breath Drinking are marked as Shadow Vitae on the sheet. Such Vitae can be used to fuel most of the vampire’s repertoire, with the exceptions of Discipline activations that requires spilling Vitae in the form of blood, and the Blush of Life. The dragon can store a combined total of Vitae and Shadow Vitae equal to their maximum Vitae pool, but can’t store more Shadow Vitae than their unmodified maximum Vitae pool. The extra Vitae storage gained from Coil of Blood can’t be used to store Shadow Vitae.

Shadow Mastery •••••
The power allows the dragon to purchase the Strix’ Dread Powers, which can only be powered by Shadow Vitae stolen through Breath-Drinking.
Make sure your Storyteller allows the chosen Dread Power, and substitute all activations dice pools with a relevant Attribute + Skill dice pool decided at the time of purchase. Any references to Shadow Potency are replaced with Blood Potency, which includes the prerequisites for each power, and the cost for each individual Dread Power is 4 Experiences, same as Out-of-Clan Disciplines. Kindred Disciplines are specifically not allowed.

Edit: I coloured a section of text refering to our homebrewed version of Coil of Blood so you know to ignore it.

[Tessie]

Sample Scales of Smoke

Clipping the Darkened Wing
Prerequisite Coils: Summon the Parliament
Procedure: The subject has to be a vessel with a Vitae pool, such as a vampire or a ghoul. The dragon prepares a mixture using one point of Vitae and various esoteric oils. The resulting solution is then injected into the subject.
Effect: The subject gains one Vitae, along with the risk of the blood bond. This specific Vitae is tracked separately on the character sheet. If the subject becomes possessed by a Strix while not having used up this Vitae, the Strix becomes trapped. Only through winning an opposed Shadow Potency roll against the Vitae donor’s Blood Potency can the Strix end the possession. The Strix can only attempt dispossession once every 24 hours and, unlike an unpossessed vessel, can’t use up the marked Vitae.

Donning the Formless Shroud
Prerequisite Coils: Breath-Drinking
Procedure: Lorem ipsum.
Effect: The subject gains the Shadow Form of the Strix. She gains the three simplified Attributes Power, Finesse and Resistance, which is equal to her original Intelligence, Wits and Resolve respectively. She also gains Size according to the Shadow Potency table (p. 201), and updates her derived traits according to the rules of Strix. While in this form she does not gain access to her normal, blood-bound Vitae. Instead, all of her vampiric abilities needs to be powered by Shadow Vitae, as described above.

Consume the Shadow
Prerequisite Coils: Shadow Mastery
Procedure: Lorem ipsum.
Effect: Unknown.
No cases of performing this Scale has been documented, but the theorized outcome by the Scale’s late creator was the successful diablerie of a Strix, gaining Blood Experience equal to the Strix’ Shadow Potency, as well as gaining one new Dread Power that the Strix knew. If this is possible it would undoubtedly be a Breaking Point on par with diablerizing a vampire.


Yes, I know that I haven't written two of the procedures, but I'm just not getting any inspiration for them. Any suggestions (or other kinds of feedback) are very welcome.

Speaking of feedback:

Ok, let me try. Feedback appreciated.

I really like the first two dots. They're messing with the vampire template in ways that are unexpected but not broken. I might use versions of those two dots for another hypothetical Coil of mine about messing with the concept of Humanity.

[Prince of the Night]

Sample Scales of Smoke

Clipping the Darkened Wing
Prerequisite Coils: Summon the Parliament
Procedure: The subject has to be a vessel with a Vitae pool, such as a vampire or a ghoul. The dragon prepares a mixture using one point of Vitae and various esoteric oils. The resulting solution is then injected into the subject.
Effect: The subject gains one Vitae, along with the risk of the blood bond. This specific Vitae is tracked separately on the character sheet. If the subject becomes possessed by a Strix while not having used up this Vitae, the Strix becomes trapped. Only through winning an opposed Shadow Potency roll against the Vitae donor’s Blood Potency can the Strix end the possession. The Strix can only attempt dispossession once every 24 hours and, unlike an unpossessed vessel, can’t use up the marked Vitae.

Donning the Formless Shroud
Prerequisite Coils: Breath-Drinking
Procedure: Lorem ipsum.
Effect: The subject gains the Shadow Form of the Strix. She gains the three simplified Attributes Power, Finesse and Resistance, which is equal to her original Intelligence, Wits and Resolve respectively. She also gains Size according to the Shadow Potency table (p. 201), and updates her derived traits according to the rules of Strix. While in this form she does not gain access to her normal, blood-bound Vitae. Instead, all of her vampiric abilities needs to be powered by Shadow Vitae, as described above.

Consume the Shadow
Prerequisite Coils: Shadow Mastery
Procedure: Lorem ipsum.
Effect: Unknown.
No cases of performing this Scale has been documented, but the theorized outcome by the Scale’s late creator was the successful diablerie of a Strix, gaining Blood Experience equal to the Strix’ Shadow Potency, as well as gaining one new Dread Power that the Strix knew. If this is possible it would undoubtedly be a Breaking Point on par with diablerizing a vampire.


Yes, I know that I haven't written two of the procedures, but I'm just not getting any inspiration for them. Any suggestions (or other kinds of feedback) are very welcome.

Speaking of feedback:


I really like the first two dots. They're messing with the vampire template in ways that are unexpected but not broken. I might use versions of those two dots for another hypothetical Coil of mine about messing with the concept of Humanity.

I really think this is what I was looking for , thanks Tessie.

[Tessie]

I really think this is what I was looking for , thanks Tessie.

If you use those Scales in a game I'd be very glad to hear what procedures you came up with.

Edit: Here's an updated document for those who'd like that.

[Prince of the Night]

on Omen Sensitivity, how do you think it would work for a Kindred trying to prevent a disaster?

[Tessie]

I think that it would continue to ping on the disaster until the Kindred has successfully taken steps to avoid it. Of course, if Fate dictates a disaster, it might throw a bait-and-switch. You stopped the bombing in your home town, but the sense is still pinging and within days a wildfire is ravaging the countryside. Another complication might be the disaster has already attracted Strix that are actively sabotaging you.

Besides, someone who studies this Mystery will most likely not care about disasters unless they themselves feel threatened by it. Ordo's Mysteries are both utility and philosophy. If anything they would revel in the oncoming carnage.

[Prince of the Night]

Oh just had an idea? Would it be beyond reason for citys that allready suffer attention from the Strix to be the safest place for practicionars?

As the prince might in desperation give these "Scholar's of Strix Lore" refuge, thinking their experiments couldnt make things worse.

[Maina]

Or the most dangerous, given Strix probably wouldn't be happy with being studied. At least, not without a price being paid.

[Prince of the Night]

Thats true, i'd agree, but at least that way they'd have protection from their fellow kindred.

[Eldagusto]

This makes me wonder if you can emulate the Stryx with Coils, could you make a Coil emulating the Gentry/Fae?

[Blakemikizuki]

That's a cool idea. Probably a coil a vampire made after becoming a Hobgoblin of Goblin Queen. Try and attain even more power.