[Shartha] Srizaku, the Locust Host

[Cinder]

Here's a complete list of Shartha Aspects like the ones in Predators for the Locust Host that can be found in the same book. The general rules for Host Aspects refer to that book.

I also wrote a complete write-up of the Brotherhood of the Locust which, while a human organization, worship Mussughana, the same Idigam that birthed the Srizaku. I'll post it as soon as I can. All the "canon" information about the Brotherhood and the Great Devourer can be found in Night Horrors: Wolfsbane. Now, let's get to the Shartha.

The keywords I've used when working on this Host are "Hunger", "Ruin" and "Wasteland". Nothing too original, since this time I've just followed what can be found in their original write-up and their patron's description, but it has been useful to follow a certain mood and theme.


"They have no king, yet they advance together in ranks"

Though the Srizaku are exceedingly rare, in those few occasion when more Shards manage to meet and not devour each other for a while, the Locust Host displays a uncanny ability to coordinate their movements and improve their reactions. Their reflexes become sharper, their strikes more precise and their mind manage to translate their primal hunger into a obsessive yet calculated determination. While such power is hard to notice at first, it becomes frighteningly evident if the number of the Srizaku increases.

Mechanics:

- Each Srizaku Hybrid somehow emits an aura of control and discipline around itself. The aura has a radius in yards equal to the Hybrid's Essence rating. All the other Srizaku which happen to be within this radius, no matter which form they currently have, gain a +1 on all rolls. The Srizaku know this, and they change their tactics accordingly. If more than of Hybrid is present, the effect of their respectives auras is cumulative.

- The Srizaku's Swarm Form follows the Swarm rules. The Swarm's radius in yards is equal to the Shard's square Essence rating. For example, an Essence 4 Srizaku will have a 16 yards Swarm radius. For the purpose of determining whether a Srizaku has been killed, every locust in the Swarm is considered to be part of the Locust Host. If even a single locust survives, the Swarm will eventually reform. The Swarm is vulnerable to area-effect attacks, but ignores most other kinds of damage. Bigger swarms are extremely difficult to destroy, but high-Essence Srizaku avoid the spend much time in their Swarm Form if they can: the Hybrid Form is superior in too many ways to be ignored. A Swarm-possessed human dies as soon as the Shard takes over the body: what's left behind is a mere puppet. The Swarm swallows the poor human's soul and absorbs its memories. At first, there are no clear signs of the Srizaku's presence inside the body, except for an occasional locust that comes out of the mouth and some movements under the skin, but after a while the flesh starts to decay until it cannot further support the Host's presence. The locusts constantly feast on the body's flesh, so it cannot last for long. When living inside the body, the swarm is much more vulnerable: setting the body on fire or drowning the infested human are know to be the surest ways to deal with the Srizaku before it can fly away in a cloud of ravenous locusts.

General Aspects

BREACH THE BARRIER (INNATE)
A Srizaku with this Aspect can step sideways when in a locus’ area of effect, much as werewolves do (for more information, see Werewolf: The Forsaken, p. 250). This Aspect is innate to all Srizaku.

SHADOW OF THE DEVOURER (•••)
With this Aspect, the Locust Host is able to unleash the terror of their cold nature into the mind of any beings that witness his demonic presence. The Storyteller spends one of the Srizaku’s Essence and rolls Presence + Intimidation in a contested roll against the Resolve + Composure of each creature that can see the Bharsalu. Resistance is reflexive. (If a crowd sees the Locust Host, roll the highest Resolve + Composure in the crowd for the whole group.) If the Locust Host loses or ties the roll, all beings in the area are unaffected and are immune to uses of this power for the remainder of the scene. Beings that lose the roll flee from the spirit and will not return to the area for at least one day.

HUNTER’S LEAP (•)
This Aspect allows the Srizaku to greatly increase its leaping distances. No roll is required, but the Locust Host must spend an Essence point. For the next roll the Srizaku makes that involves jumping, the Locust Host gains a +8 modifier on the dice pool. Srizaku with this Aspect active always land safely, as though they had just performed a standard jump. They only suffer falling damage if they miss their intended landing spot, and plummet further than they had intended — such as missing a rooftop and falling from the edge of a building. The Locust Host can use this Aspect while in control of a human body.

INSATIABLE (INNATE)
The defining imperative of the Srizaku is not to strengthen or destroy the Gauntlet, but a simpler, more absolute desire to consume everything. Many Srizaku simply cannot wait for the end of the combat to feed. This primal need cannot be satisfied enough when the Locust Host is in its Swarm Form, but once it takes posses of a body or mutates into a Hybryd, the Srizaku may take nourishment from the flesh and blood of its enemies even during a fight. Unless the Srizaku has a bite attack as a result of a Aspect, it uses the normal human biting rules Every two points of bashing damage it inflicts with such attacks gives it one point of Essence. Alternatively, Srizaku that do have the means of inflicting lethal damage with their teeth simply take large chunks out of their foes. In such a case, each point of lethal damage thus inflicted grants the Srizaku one Essence. Srizaku that attack with claws and bone spurs do so by gouging out fistfuls of flesh and consuming it as they fight. This method is less than reliable for feeding, however. The Locust Host gain one Essence per two points of lethal damage inflicted with claws. If the Srizaku focuses on feeding itself as efficiently as possible, it may gain one Essence per lethal health point inflicted, but it is denied its Defense for that turn.

SENSE PREY (INNATE)
This Aspect allows the Srizaku to sense the location of the closest source of nourishment, be it in the form of a field of oilseed rape, a grove of fruit trees or a village of humans. Of course, the power can be vague, as the Srizaku are capable of eating almost anything. The Srizaku spends an Essence point and rolls Wits + Survival. Success reveals a vague direction and a promise of “food,” but an exceptional success reveals accordingly more details about the nourishment on offer.

SPIRIT SIGHT (•)
The Srizaku are not going to let their hunger unsatisfied because of a mere barrier between the worlds. With this power, which many Srizaku use a great deal in the physical world, the Locust Host can perceive what occurs on the other side of the Gauntlet. The Srizaku rolls Wits + Occult. Success allows the Srizaku to extend one sense across the Gauntlet; each additional success allows the Bharsalu to extend another sense across the Gauntlet, to a maximum of all five physical senses with an exceptional success.

VIRULENT HUNGER (••)
The Srizaku is able to infect his enemies with a portion of its hunger, turning them into mindless killers. When used on a werewolf, this Gift usually triggers Kuruth. When used a human being, the Aspect causes a terrible fit of ravenous fury. Worse, this anger is contagious, meaning that if the Locust Host uses this Gift in a crowd, it will quickly spiral into a brutal, cannibalistic mob. The Srizaku must touch the target’s flesh to use this Aspect. It spends an Essence point and, as a instant action, rolls a Presence + Persuasion – target's Resolve + Primal Urge dice pools. If Virulent Hunger is used on a werewolf, she must immediately check for Death Rage. Even if she fails to resist Kuruth, though, the player may roll Stamina + Resolve each turn (beginning on the turn following the one in which she was infected) reflexively to end the frenzy. During this time, her Rage is contagious (see below). The Death Rage lasts until the character can free herself from it, or until it runs its course. If Virulent Hunger is used on a human being, she immediately attacks the nearest target other than the Srizaku. The attack is brutal and persistent, if not entirely focused. The infected human lashes out with fists, teeth, feet and anything that happens to be in her hands when the Hunger takes over. She cannot use guns, Fighting Styles or any semblance of true strategy. Any attacks she makes are considered all-out attacks (see p. 157 of the World of Darkness Rulebook); she receives a +2 to her attack roll but loses her Defense. In addition, this state of frenzy is contagious. Anyone she touches (including in an attack) must succeed on a Stamina roll or succumb to the Aspect’s effects. Human are subject to Lunacy in this state, but they don’t respond with fear. Instead, any werewolf engendering Lunacy in a human infected with Virulent Hunger immediately becomes the target of the human’s frenzy. The Aspect’s effects last for a number of turns equal to the Srizaku’s Essence rating, but any victims can be re-infected. Therefore, in a large crowd of people, the Aspect’s effects likely will end only when the rioters are separated and subdued (or dead). With an exceptional success, the horrific hunger is particularly strong. All rolls made to resist the frenzy are made at a –1 penalty and the effect on normal humans becomes permanent.

[Cinder]

First Phase

COSMETIC ALTERATION (0)
This Aspect is a common one, though serves no purpose outside of actually betraying the Srizaku unearthly heritage. As such, it costs no evolution points. Horn, strange colorations, human eyes, abnormal limbs are common signs of such nature.

EATER OF SOULS (•, MANDATORY)
The Srizaku has “hollowed out” a human by entering the person’s throat and devouring everything while descending through the esophagus. No roll is required, and the process takes only a couple of minutes, after which the Srizaku gains control over the human’s body. Only a small number of locusts invades the body, for the simple reason that if the swarm were to enter the host in its wholeness, it would be consumed in a matter of hours. The rest of the swarm dissipates and dies. The Locust Host absorbs much of the host’s memories and knowledge, but this impersonation is far from perfect. The person will salivate too much without apparent reason, and always seems hungry no matter how much it ate. Dedicated observers and the sincerely suspicious can make a Wits + Composure roll; the Srizaku contests with a reflexive Intelligence + Composure roll. If the observer wins, she may be alerted to something definitely wrong with the Srizaku, such as a squirming under the skin, a severe memory loss or a trace of yellow dust that the possessed human leaves behind. The host body will begin to decay after 1 to 3 days, at which time the Srizaku will usually leave the body and prepare another to suit its purposes. On average, the rotting host body will lose a dot of Appearance and one dot of each Physical Attribute every month due to decay. The body will become unusable when it is reduced to zero Physical Attributes, but Storytellers should apply discretion to Appearance penalties in regards to walking corpses if the “one a month” rule doesn’t suit their purposes.

ALL-CONSUMING HORDE (•)
Prerequisite: Eater of Souls
The Srizaku’s presence in the host body acts corrupts it beyond any possible reparation. With this Aspect, the Srizaku’s demonic soul ravages the Essence remaining in the host body and taints it with spiritual foulness. Given that even the weakest Locust Host manifests as locust swarm, their host's bodies quickly falls apart. For every hour the Srizaku possesses the human, another Locust will form and be given parasitic life in the host’s throat. These locusts make their way through the host body within a matter of days, eating away at the person’s muscles and bones. Such appetites ruin the host, subtracting a dot from a Physical Attribute each day and suffers a -2 penalty on all Social rolls, but confer two sinister advantages. The Srizaku can send some of its locusts out of the body for a short time to attack individually or as a swarm. The swarm gains no additional bonuses than usual, but the attacking locust's bite carries a terrible disease (which works as a Toxicity 6 venom). Successes against the victim's cause her a violent fever victim which makes her unable to move for several hours, potentially up to an entire day. The locusts return to the host body after attacking by entering the host’s mouth, unless they are killed before doing so. Also, if the host body is killed or otherwise destroyed, the swarm flies away.

BEAST OF THE WASTELAND (•)
Prerequisite: Eater of Souls, Composure ••
Taking possession of a body allows a Srizaku to focus its mind. With the combination of human memories and devilish intellect, not to mention the constant source of nourishment granted by the flesh of the host, the Srizaku becomes a better predator. No roll is required, but the Srizaku gains a +2 modifier to all Survival dice pools for the duration it is within the host.

[Cinder]

Hybrid

ACID ENZYMES (•••)
All Srizaku can digest pretty much everything, but a Hybrid with this Aspect may use his supernatual digestive acid to harm its opponents and corrode objects. The character spends one Essence to drool a supernatural dissolving agent as a instant action. For the rest of the scene, anyone or anything the character touches (or that touches him) suffers one point of lethal damage per turn of exposure. The character can grapple a target and cause dissolving damage to him on each turn that he maintains his hold. Objects suffer damage only when the accumulated lethal points exceed Durability.

ADDITIONAL ARMS (••)
The Hybrid develops an additional pair of human arms that grow just below or above the arms it already possesses. These arms add a +1 modifier to all rolls involving arm strength (such as lifting, carrying, grappling or inflicting brawl damage). The Srizaku also gains the Brawling Dodge Merit for free, waiving the prerequisites for the Merit. This Aspect can be taken multiple times and the modifiers stack, with the factor borne in mind that no Srizaku can develop more than 10 limbs.

ADDITIONAL EYES (•)
The Srizaku develops another pair of eyes somewhere on its face: cheeks, temples and forehead are the most common places for these eyes to manifest. The Srizaku gains a +1 modifier on all Wits rolls involving sight. This Aspect can be purchased multiple times, up to a maximum of three times. If purchased more than once, the modifiers stack.

ADDITIONAL LEGS (••)
Prerequisite: Elongated Abdomen
The Srizaku develops a set of extra legs in addition to those it already possesses. The legs may be human or insectoid in appearance, and confer a +1 modifier on all dice rolls involving balance and running. This Aspect can be taken multiple times, and the modifiers stack. For example, a Srizaku that takes Additional Legs three times gains six additional legs and a +3 modifier on all balance and running rolls. While this Aspect can be taken multiple times, the factor must be borne in mind that no Namaresh can develop more than 10 limbs. This Aspect can also be taken once to represent the change of the human’s original legs to four huge locustlike legs.

ANTENNAE (••)
A pair of insectoid antennae sprout from the Hybrid's head and begin to “feel” the air, examining the environment, looking for enemies, prey and other signs of other being's presence. The Srizaku gains a +2 modifier on all Perception rolls. This Aspect can be purchased multiple times, up to a maximum of three times. If purchased more than once, the modifiers stack.

BODY BARBS (••••)
Prerequisite: Bone Spurs
Sharp barbs of bone protrude from within the flesh of the Srizaku with this Aspect, endangering anything the Hybrid touches or vice versa. A Hybrid with Body Barbs automatically inflicts +1 lethal damage with unarmed strikes and grapples. Moreover, those who strike the creature with an unarmed attack take lethal damage equal to half the damage they inflict (rounded down), reduced by armor. Likewise, those seeking to foolishly grapple a Srizaku with Body Barbs receive a number of points of lethal damage equal to their successes to grab hold of the Srizaku, reduced by armor.

BONE SPURS (•••)
At junctures in the body where bone is close to the surface, especially at joints, spurs of bone have erupted, granting the Srizaku a variety of wicked weapons. The Srizaku may attack with these spurs, inflicting +2 lethal damage.

CHITIN EXOSKELETON (•)
Any parts of the Srizaku that remain human in shape are covered with a thick, brittle layer of chitin, like that of a locust or a grasshopper. The chitin exoskeleton can vary in appearance, being plain, colored or smooth-surfaced. The Srizaku gains 2 armor against general attacks and 1 armor against firearms attacks, with no reduction to Defense.

COMPOUND EYES (••)
The Srizaku's eyes are now compund, bizarre eyes like those of an insect. They ma be striped like that of a locust or more generally insect-like. In absolute darkness it sees as if it were a gloomy day. Lesser amounts of light, from starlight to the ambient glow from a cell-phone screen, provide enough illumination for the Locust Host to see without penalty. Additionally, these eyes are particulary unsettling, an obvious reminder of the Locust Host alien nature. The Srizaku gains +2 on all Intimidation rolls made against those who can see its eyes.

CORRUPT RESILIENCE (••)
Prerequisite: Chitin Armor
The Srizaku’s armor thickens and the Locust Host learns how to focus on his constant hunger to deaden pain and fatigue. The Host gains two additional dice to any Stamina-based dice pool.

DEMONIC SIZE (•••)
The Srizaku is seven or more feet tall and weighs in excess of 250 pounds. He is +1 Size (and thus +1 Health). Note: This Aspect replaces the use of the Giant Merit in the World of Darkness Rulebook. It can be taken multiple times to increase Size and Health further, up to three separate times.

DEVOUR (••••)
Prerequisite: Iron Jaw, Swallow
Powerful Srizaku are able to gorge with whatever they have have put their eyes upon in a matter of seconds. The Hybrid spends 1 Essence point and makes a contested Stamina + Survival roll against the target's Dexterity + Brawl. On a success, the Srizaku swallow its prey whole in the blink of an eye. If the Srizaku possess the Acyd Enzymes Aspect, the victim suffers one additional lethal damage per turn. If the target is still alive, he is treated as suffocating. A target with natural weaponry or a weapon that inflicts lethal damage, may try to cut himself free, but all attacks suffer a -1 penalty. If the victims inflicts a number of lethal (or aggravated) damages equal to half of the Srizaku's health levels, it manages to cut a hole in its stomach large enough to escape. This Aspect works only if the Srizaku's Size if bigger than its target's. If for some reason the victim increases her Size beyond the Srizaku's capacity while still inside the stomach of the Host, the Srizaku must make a contested Stamina + Survival + Primal roll. If the Srizaku loses the roll, it suffers a number of lethal damages for each success it fails short on the roll. If the victim scores an exceptional success, she manages to free herself even if the damage inflicted would not be enough.

DUST OF DECAY (••)
The Srizaku leaves behind a strange yellow dust. Although such dust loses its power and breaks down quickly, it is a powerful irritant to flesh and the lungs. It is so fine that a cloud of the dust is raised when the Srizaku moves quickly or when someone strikes it. The dust leaves a thin, yellow film that quickly dissolves or blows away, preventing it from being used to aid in tracking attempts and the like. Whenever the Srizaku is struck by an attack that inflicts damage, the litharge billows up in a small cloud of dry, stinking, stinging powder that engulfs anyone standing near the Srizaku. The Srizaku may also take an instant action to move forcefully enough to cause the cloud to billow up. Those who choose to take a dodge action may flee the area if they have not acted yet. Players of characters caught in the dust must make a reflexive Stamina + Resolve roll or be negatively impacted by the cloud, limiting the characters’ ability to act due to coughing and burning eyes. A failure means that the victim suffers a -2 dice pool penalty to all rolls involving Physical Attributes or Physical Skills for two turns. The victim also suffers a -1 cumulative penalty to subsequent resistance rolls against dust during the same scene.
With a dramatic failure, the character is also blinded for the rest of the scene, or until he takes an instant action to somehow clean the powder from his eyes. On a success, the victim is unaffected by the dust. This Aspect is always active. If purchased at one dot higher, however, the change may be activated with the expenditure of one Essence and an instant action. The body continues to produce the deadly dust until the end of the scene.

DUST DEVIL ONSLAUGHT (••••)
Prerequisite: Dust of Decay,
This Aspect in many ways expresses the primal anger and inner turmoil of the Srizaku’s spirit. The wind can be a fearsome ally, able to destroy flesh as well as metal, wood and stone. When a Srizaku calls upon the wind, great destruction is sure to follow. The activation is an instant action that requires 2 points of Essence and a succesfull Strength + Empathy roll. A whirlwind of terrible intensity forms immediately within 50 yards of the character. He can then set it moving in any direction he chooses (though he cannot make it change direction). The whirlwind’s radius of effect is approximately 10 feet, and it moves at the character’s unmodified base Speed. People or objects caught in that radius suffer one die of lethal damage per success rolled on the Aspect’s activation roll. Anyone within the radius of effect also suffers a –4 penalty on all die rolls, and targets weighing 150 pounds or less may be lifted and thrown in a random direction. A character who is within the radius of effect can attempt to get out of harm’s way during the Aspect-user’s place in the Initiative order if his action falls after that of the Aspect user. His player rolls Dexterity + Athletics (though this roll suffers the –4 penalty). Even a single success allows the dodging character to get out of harm’s way, but doing so costs him his action at his own later place in the Initiative order that turn. The whirlwind dissipates after two turns. The Aspect user himself can be affected by the wind if he comes in contact with it. With an exceptional success the whirlwind remains for an additional turn.

ELONGATED ABDOMEN (••)
The Srizaku hybrid has developed a large locust’s abdomen, and her thorax has become locust-like just below the ribcage. This abdomen is composed of thick, blubbery flesh. The Hybrid gains +1 Size (and accordingly, +1 Health) from the huge, chitinous abdomen. While Srizaku are capable of retaining their human legs with a swollen abdomen, the overwhelming majority develop at least one other pair of insectoid or human legs to handle the weight.

EVISCERATING BONE-SCYTHES (•••)
Prerequisites: Additional Legs • and Additional Arms •
A single pair of the Srizaku’s limbs (locust or human limbs) develops into long, jointed, jagged blades of solid bone. If the Srizaku attacks with these heavy bone-scythes, it gains two bonus dice and the damage is lethal. If the Srizaku spends one Essence point, the damage inflicted becomes aggravated, as the toothed edges of the limbs resemble nothing so much as a supernatural saw- blade. The Srizaku must have the Additional Leg and Additional Arms Aspects to maintain balance with the bone-scythes. This Aspect can be taken a maximum of three times, with each purchase changing two limbs into bone-scythes.

HYDRAULIC MUSCLES (•)
The Srizaku develops the hydraulic muscle fibers of true insects, in each of its human and insectoid limbs. This greatly increases the hybrid’s physical strength, agility and fortitude, allowing the Hybrid to overwhelm its foes with greater ease. This Aspect can be taken multiple times, and each purchase raises one of the hybrid’s Physical Attributes by 1, to a maximum of eight in each.

HUNGER-FUELED BITE (••••)
Prerequisite: Mandibles
The Srizaku’s bite leaves festering, odious wounds in his target’s flesh. These wounds heal extremely slowly, even for werewolves. A successful bite attack inflicts damage as usual, but the damage cannot be healed by supernatural means. Lethal damage heals at the normal human rate of one level per two days, and aggravated damage (should the Srizaku manage to inflict it with this Aspect) heals at one point per week. The Rite of Healing cures this damage as usual, however. To activate this Aspect, the Hybrid must spend 1 Essence per bite.

IMMUNE TO PAIN (••)
The Hybrid is able resist to the worst wounds and to isolate the pain, preventing them from affecting its existance. Wound penalties do not apply to the Locust Host, no matter how badly it is hurt. Stamina rolls to remain conscious aren’t made when a bashing wound is marked in the Srizaku’s rightmost Health box. It remains conscious automatically, collapsing only when a lethal or aggravated wound is marked in that box (and the character is dying or dead).

IRON JAW (•••)
Prerequisite: Mandibles
The hunger of the Srizaku knows no limit. They want to devour everything. Flesh, bone, steel, concrete; you name it, they want a bite. With this Aspect, the Hybrid may finally chew through anything the host can get his hands on. Each turn the Srizaku worries at an object, he can gnaw through 5 points of Structure. Further, no matter on what the Host is chewing he suffers no damage.

LORD OF THE SWARM (•••)
This power enables a Srizaku to calling a swarm of hostile, aggressive locusts that will attack anyone the Hybrid directs it toward. This Aspects needs a Essence point to be activated. The Swarm always calls a swarm of locusts, but there don’t actually need to be locusts in the immediate area for the Aspect to work. They just appear, crawling out of the earth. The Srizaku rolls Presence + Stamina + Animal Ken. On a success, the Srizaku calls a swarm of locusts with a radius of one yard for every success gained. The swarm follows the orders of the Srizaku, attacking or withdrawing at his behest until destroyed or until the end of the scene, at which point it disperses.

MALICIOUS BLOOD (••)
Prerequisite: Acid Enzymes
The Srizaku’s blood becomes a corrosive, burning acid that reacts violently with anything it comes into contact with outside the Hybrid’s body. Whenever the Srizaku is wounded, corrosive blood spurts out of the wounds, causing two automatic points of lethal damage to anyone within arm’s reach. Success on a reflexive Dexterity + Wits roll negates this damage.

MANDIBLES (• or •••)
The inside of the hybrid’s human mouth is grotesquely that of a locust’s. Clacking, crunching appendages draw food in and mash it up before swallowing, and the Srizaku gains a bite attack (2 L). If purchased at two dots higher, the damage increases to 4L. Srizaku with Mandibles find communicating in human language next to impossible, as their mouths are almost unable to form the appropriate shapes and syllables. To communicate even remotely intelligibly (in any language other than the First Tongue), the Locust Host must make a Composure roll.

MUTATED LOCUST (••••)
Prerequisites: Additional Arms •, Additional Legs ••, Mandibles, Elongated Abdomen, Hydraulic Muscles •••, Wings
The Srizaku’s entire body is that of a gigantic Locust, approximately the size of a car. Most Srizaku that take this shape do so many years after breaking from the metamorphosis cocoon, but a rare few have gathered the power necessary (and the luck required) to assume this form immediately upon their first hybrid Joining. The Srizaku gains Str +3, Dex +3, Sta +4, Manipulation –3, Size +3, and 2/1 armor due to the insect’s thick hide.

PAINLESS HIDE (•••):
Prerequisite: Corrupt Resilience, Immune to Pain
The Srizaku is immune to blunt weapons and other attacks that would inflict bashing damage from a broad kinetic impact. Such attacks inflict only a single point of bashing damage, rather than their normal damage.

PROTECTED ABDOMEN (•)
Prerequisite: Elongated Abdomen
The Srizaku’s abdomen is covered in a thick shell of exoskeleton chitin. This solid shell is incredibly resistant to damage, and more often than not, attacks against the Srizaku’s abdomen bounce harmlessly aside and fail to make any impact on the armor. The Srizaku with this Aspect gains three extra points of armor against general and firearms attacks; however, this armor has a penalty of –1.

SWARM DISCORPORATION (INNATE)
This Aspect is the fabled power of the Hosts that allows them to survive the total destruction of their. If the power is used voluntarily, the process is automatic and requires no roll. If the Locust Host has been killed and reduced to zero Health, the Srizaku must succeed in a Wits + Survival roll. Success means that the Srizaku's body instantly breaks down and dissolves into a number of locusts. A Srizaku hybrid is likely to break down into several hundred locusts, or perhaps even one or more thousand if the creature is large enough. With this Aspect, the host’s skin ruptures and hundreds of locusts pour out. The Srizaku’s original soulshard is contained within one of these locusts, and flickers from one locust to the next if the creature is killed. If even a single one of these locusts escapes unharmed, the Srizaku survives as the lowest, weakest Host, and must begin the whole process of evolution and possession again. The other locusts either join the Shard and become part of it or die within a die. This Aspect is innate to all Hybrid Srizaku. The Storyteller should apply his judgment to the scattered locusts and their escape.

SCORPION’S TAIL (•••)
Prerequisites: Additional Legs •• and Protected Abdomen
The Srizaku develops a deadly, lashing tail between 6 and 10 feet in length. Covered in thick chitin, the tail is powerfully muscled and as thick as a man’s thigh. It can be used as a bludgeoning weapon in Brawl attacks, adding two dice of bashing damage. Most fearsome of all is the lethally-tipped black barb that curves out from the tail’s tip. This barb inflicts damage as a knife; by spending two Essence points, the Srizaku may inject a Toxicity 7 poison directly into a target that has been impaled by the barb.

SRIZAKU JOINING (•, MANDATORY)
Prerequisite: 4+ Evolution points
This is the prerequisite Aspect for any Srizaku development, representing the actual Joining ritual itself. A Locust Host that gained enough power to reach Essence 4 is no longer considered a standard shard. It usually seeks out a human host immediately to begin the Joining, but some Srizaku bide their time and wait for the circumstances to be favorable. In the more common case of the former circumstance, the Srizaku swarm envelopes a human in its wholeness and bites him thousands of times. Each bite transfer some of the Host's Essence into the helpless mortal. After a few minutes, the locusts are no more than hollow shells, devoid of life, and the Srizaku’s soul has entered the shocked and bloody human. Then the wounded body undergoes a metamorphosis that takes between 24 and 48 hours, during which time the mutating Srizaku is utterly prone. When the change is complete, the Hybrid awakens and feels impossibly hungry, even for a Locust Host. It possesses the complete memories and knowledge of the human host, although such information is considered utterly secondary to the Srizaku’s own drives and desires.

SWALLOW (••••)
Even after chewing, some objects are just too big to fit down a human’s esophagus. The Srizaku entity takes just as much pleasure from the slow digestion of a living, kicking animal as it does from the taste. Swallowing inanimate objects whole is also a convenient way of disposing of potentially incriminating evidence or hiding stolen goods. A Srizaku with this Aspect can digest anything he swallows, without suffering harm, as a passive effect. This includes poisons, toxic waste and other dangerous substances. The Locust Host can swallow objects (or creatures) up to Size 3 as an instant action.

WINGS (•••)
Two pairs of repulsive gossamer wings sprouts from the Srizaku's back. The Locust Host with wings can fly at his normal Speed as a reflexive action. This Aspect is always active. If purchased at one dot higher, however, the change may be activated with the expenditure of one Essence and an instant action. The wings remain until the character wills them to disappear.

[Darkhunter]

All of this the same as the last time you posted it on the old forums or is this a new incarnation?

[Lyrics Of War]

While I haven't read through all of it I admire your dedication!

[LostLight]

Cinder! I'm happy to see your work again!

[Cinder]

All of this the same as the last time you posted it on the old forums or is this a new incarnation?

Mostly the same, even if I have a couple of new Aspects in mind and some additional fluff I will write once I return to "Shartha mood" once again, though finally writing my Bat Host would probably be my main objective then.

While I haven't read through all of it I admire your dedication!

Thanks, you should see my Snake Host then It gets easier after you've done it a few times. Right now, I've collected a series of tips and advices I use whenever I work on the Hosts and those make the whole process a lot quicker.

Cinder! I'm happy to see your work again!

Thanks, man. I don't show myself very much these days because I had enough luck to find a good gaming group and start a chronicle that has lasted more than a bunch of sessions, thus most of my WoD work is done for that game. By the way, I took the liberty to use some of your Hunter stuff for it, so I guess I owe you one

[Leetsepeak]

Please post things that you're working on! I love the way these guys are done up. I'm in a Vampire game and the Locust Hosts seem like a good thematic foe what with Kindred hungers.

[Cinder]

Please post things that you're working on! I love the way these guys are done up. I'm in a Vampire game and the Locust Hosts seem like a good thematic foe what with Kindred hungers.

Thanks for the appreciation. I agree the Srizaku work well as a foil to the vampiric hungers and, in fact, I underlined this common aspect in the Brotherhood of the Locust write-up.

As for my new chronicle's material, I haven't posted it since I'm afraid it may be a little too specific.

My game is a pulpish Dark Fantasy game which uses the Dark Heroes Rules for Mirrors in an "Arabian Nights" setting. Arabian Nights meets Conan in the WoD, basically. Aside NPCs and setting material, most of the stuff I've wrote are rules hacks for Vampire, Mage, Hunter and Mummy (the gamelines I use the most to create things), spirits, all sorts of critters (as in "I read One Thousand and One Nights, Persian and Babilonian myths and translate every single monster into the WoD") and a bunch of Relics. Plus detailed rules for Djinn, but that's a given.

As I said, it's quite specific stuff and works only for a certain kind of games. I won't mind sharing it if you or others are still interested, though.

[Raistlin]

Plus detailed rules for Djinn, but that's a given.

As PCs (Djinn the Binding) or NPcs spirits-like?

[LostLight]

Thanks, man. I don't show myself very much these days because I had enough luck to find a good gaming group and start a chronicle that has lasted more than a bunch of sessions, thus most of my WoD work is done for that game. By the way, I took the liberty to use some of your Hunter stuff for it, so I guess I owe you one

no problem- I post them for others to use, after all. But I'll be glad if you'll PM me what you used and how it worked out

[Cinder]

As PCs (Djinn the Binding) or NPcs spirits-like?

NPCs. I found "Djinn the Binding" interesting but ultimately not what I was looking for this game. My Djinn are, mechanically speaking, something between Spirits and Angels.