Zho'ak, The Breath (2E)

[CTPhipps]

Thread necro here, But bane, the ashes of a cremated body done with the proper rites.

Please don't necro threads again.

[Laguz 24]

Thread necro here, But bane, the ashes of a cremated body done with the proper rites.

[Deionscribe]

Critique and suggestions would be welcome, especially for a fire-based bane on either version of the Breath.

[Deionscribe]

The Sundered World: Breath of Pangaea

The People know that spirits come in a myriad of forms, and the lords of the Border Marches are equally diverse. Many take the forms of animals like Bird, Bull, Snake, and Wolf. Others have bodies which represent the natural forces that shape the Land. It is the latter group that Zho'ak is counted among.

A minor divinity, Zho'ak's role in the world was that of a reclaimer. It drifted between the worlds, directing its powers upon the dead and ruins of the People. All that it touched became ash and dust, consigned to the earth so that it might spring forth new life. Such actions would have normally brought the attention of Urfarah, but the lesser Pangaean was content with the purpose it had carried out long before mortals walked the Land. Thus, the Great Predator was willing to leave it to its own devices.

When the Wise still entreated to the gods for their favor, some sought to forge pacts with Zho'ak so that they may may channel its powers against the restless shades that plagued their living kinsmen. The majority of these seekers Awakened to the Sea or the Storm, though the Pangaean also counted Wise from the other Paths as its heralds.

This all changed when the Circles began taking the Omphalos Stones by force. Zho'ak withdrew its blessings and fled deep into the Border Marches. It sought to evade the Wise that hunted it for its soul, and it grew increasingly bitter toward the People as it witnessed more of its fellow gods slain at their hands. This anger grew to the point that it began to twist its actions.

Zho'ak would no longer wait for humankind to die in order to carry out its duty, and it did not hesitate to fight back against the first hunting party which caught up to it. The entropic forces it had used to further the natural cycle were harnessed now to drain away their life energies, and their bodies were animated soonafter to serve as its minions. The Pangaean then turned its attention to the vilages of its People, falling upon them like a plague of death.

Before long, Zho'ak had raised an army of shambling corpses, and it continues to grow in strength and numbers as more villages fall to its advance, drawing the concern of both werewolves and Wise Ones. The latter are especially concerned, as they see a pattern forming in its attacks. The Pangaean is reaping the souls of those who dwell near the omphalos stones stolen by the Circles, and this in turn draws the suspicion of those they protect. Unless its rampage is stopped, the Lie maintained by the Wise will come crashing down.

And their place of honor among the People will crumble with it.

-=-

Zho'ak, The Breath of Pangaea

Type: Pangaean
Rank: 4
Attributes: Power 7, Finesse 9, Resistance 10
Influence: Decay 2, Fog 4
Arcana: Death 4
Numina: Discorporate, Innocuous, Legion, Mirage, Pathfinder, Sign, Speed

Ban: Zho'ak cannot raise the corpses of those buried in sanctified ground with the proper rites.
Bane:

Phantasmal Form: Zho'ak benefits from the Mist Form Dread Power as a passive ability. Furthermore, it can shift in and out of Twilight as a reflexive action. If it loses all its Corpus, Zho'ak condenses into a mass of ectoplasm shaped around its materialized soul. This is treated as a Pangaean carcass for all intents and purposes.

[Deionscribe]

The backhoe’s shovel scraped harshly against another slab of rock, and hard. The machine lurched a bit before Everett reversed the controls.

“Oh, for God’s sake,” he growled under his breath. Not another chunk of rock. It positively baffled him how people had ever managed to plant enough crops to feed a town here, much less how they managed to keep burying their dead in a graveyard that seemed more stone than soil with each shovelful.

Everett’s nose wrinkled. What was that smell? Not a stiff, surely… the church was damn meticulous about keeping records of where all the old graves were. But it stank, whatever it was… so bad, he could almost see it. Wait… he could see it. What in...?

Everett toppled from his seat, fingers clawing at his throat, leaving bloody marks. His mouth continued to open and close for some time, as the greenish haze slowly slid down his throat and then slowly withdrew.

By the time the backhoe stopped idling, the mist had long since rolled downhill.

The Breath is a creature without solid form, life (or perhaps unlife) that exists solely in a vaporous state. It has no eyes, but it can see. It has no brain, but it can thing. It has no teeth, but it can kill.

The Breath appears as a mass of faintly greenish vapor. It may be all but transparent, only visible as a faint discoloration in the air, or opaque as heavy smoke.

The actual opacity of the Breath seems to vary with the strength of its emotion. When the Breath has been thwarted or even injured, its form grows thicker and more solid-seeming — when it has lost interest in a place or when it decides to retreat, it fades to a thinner form. It may drift on the wind like any other vapor, or it may roil with unnatural violence, extruding half-formed shapes almost like faces or limbs from its mass. Of all the horrors of the primordial world, it may be the most subtle — when it chooses to be. When its mood shifts to violence, it is volcanic in its energy and hate.

[For more information on the Breath, see p. 173 of Predators]

Zho'ak, The Breath

Potency - oooo

Mental Attributes: Intelligence 2, Wits 3, Resolve 7
Physical Attributes: Strength 1, Dexterity 6, Stamina 7
Social Attributes: Presence 4, Manipulation 1, Composure 6

Mental Skills: Medicine 1, Occult 1
Physical Skills: Athletics 2, Brawl 3, Stealth 6, Survival 6
Social Skills: Intimidation 2

Merits: Direction Sense, Eidetic Memory, Killer Instinct 3
Willpower: 13
Initiative: 12
Defense: 5
Speed: 11 (Species Factor 4)
Size: 7

Dread Powers: Animation*, Blinding Spray 3, Discorporate, Eye Spy, Mist Form*, Toxic 2
Bane: Fire

* Animation: By spending Willpower while making contact with a corpse, the Breath may raise it as a servant. For an individual zombie, use the guidelines found here, with each Willpower point granting it five creation dots. For groups, use the Horde from Chronicles of Darkness, p. 149.

* Mist Form: This Dread Power is treated as being always active.

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Aspects: If you are using the rules from Antagonists, zombies raised by the Breath typically have the following Aspects: Death's Voice, Pack Instinct, Magic Resistance, Preservation, Regeneration, Regrowth, and Special Attack. They also possess a Vulnerability to fire.
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