Demons, Ghosts, and Spirits

The Ka of Lauren Darrow

Type Ghost-Reflection

Lauren's ghostly reflection. Doesn't like her, but forced to protect her because their existences are tied together. At best, it's spiteful, petty, and enjoys playing mind-games with Lauren.

Mostly, the reflection uses the Ghost Sign power to frighten and unnerve Lauren, and gently sabotage relationships as best she can. If forced to protect it's existence by protecting Lauren, the reflection uses the Snatch numina, dragging offenders to cool their heels in a mirror for a few hours. Materialize is the power of last resort, which the reflection has been extremely careful about using in any situation where it may get back to Lauren. Mostly, it is used to make life more comfortable for the reflection, such as by ensuring a supply of stagnant water and rotted corpses (via sabotaging graves and such).

Type Reflection

Attributes: Power 4, Finesse 4, Resistance 4
Willpower: 8

Initiative: 8
Defense: 0
Armor: 4
Speed: 13
Corpus: 9

Morality: 3

Essence: 13/13
Numina:

The Reflection can take solid form, stepping out of its mirror and into the real world. It appears exactly the same as the vampire, except that it can walk in broad daylight, has a shadow and can be heard on telephones and recording equipment. It still doesn’t show up in mirrors, film or photographs, however. The Storyteller spends three Essence and rolls the Reflection’s Power + Finesse. The Reflection can stay in material form for one hour for every success rolled.

Materialize,

The Reflection reaches out from the mirror, TV screen or picture it has just manifested in and drags someone inside. The Storyteller spends three Essence and rolls the Reflection’s Power + Finesse – the target’s Resolve + Blood Potency. For every success the Storyteller rolls, the victim becomes trapped within the reflection (banging his fists noiselessly against the glass) or image (stuck in an attitude of terror) for one hour for every success rolled. The Reflection can communicate with an imprisoned victim (and in lieu of any other power to communicate, might use this as a way to talk), or choose to attack. The Reflection can use this power on its vampire. Should a mortal be killed within the mirror, their remains simply vanish; thus, Reflections cannot use this method to feed.

Snatch, Savant (Snatch), Unknown, Unknown

Asherbenal
Irssirbanilq

Type: Ghost

Virtue: Charity Asherbenal has the generosity of the sailor at leave or the rich man's son, giving with abandon.
Vice: Gluttony He is a thoroughly elemental creature, controlled by his whims and appetites.

Background: Asherbenal (a long-corrupted form of his birth-name 'Irssirbanilq') was born on present-day Wrangel Island sometime around 1800 BCE. He was one of the Elsim Qaninuq, a branch of the Siberian Yupik people that had lived on that island between 2000 and 1400 BCE. They were hunters, who made stone and ivory tools and preyed on seals, fish, and the dwarf mammoths that still lived on the island when Irssirbanilq was alive. They lived in animal-hide tents, yarangas, and had an animistic worship. Their village has long since been erased by time, though the distant cousin-village has been uncovered at Chertov Ovrag.

Irssirbanilq was an apprentice shaman, courtesy of a quirk of fate -- Irssirbanilq was an epileptic. He was taught minor magics, and bound a badger-spirit familiar (not a honey-badger, despite Asherbenal's corrupted memory). He was married, and had been the apprentice shaman for three years when he died in what amounted to a foolish accident. Following his familiar, Irssirbanilq suffered an epileptic seizure and fell far from the village. He broke his leg, and died of exposure over the course of the next several hours.

Between his spirit-magics and his traumatic death, Irssirbanilq remained as a ghost. His last anchors were destroyed over the course of the subsequent centuries, and he slipped into the Underworld. There, unlike most, Irssirbanilq stayed. He just never quite moved on. He grew powerful, lost his mind, and stayed out of trouble. He's still there today.

Type Ghost

Attributes: Power 9, Finesse 7, Resistance 8
Willpower: 17

Initiative: 15
Defense: 2
Armor: 7
Speed: 21
Corpus: 13

Essence: 20/20
Numina:

The ghost assumes a perfect, idealized form, so unimaginably beautiful that all can but stop and stare. Spend one point of Essence and roll Power + Finesse. Anyone within 20 yards of the ghost must succeed on a Resolve + Stamina roll – the number of successes gained or be stunned for one turn (see the World of Darkness Rulebook, p. 167). Characters that are stunned by the ghost's beauty also suffer a –3 penalty to any Perception checks that rely on vision for the remainder of the scene.

Blinding Beauty,

No cost, roll Power+Finesse (16) as a lethal range attack with a range of 100 yard. May spend essence to increase damage by 2L per 1 essence

Blast (Green, geometric spider-webs),

Asherbenal can transform into an animal, or even some imagined creation. Roll Power+Finesse as an Instant Action, and spend 3E. Successes may be distributed as increased Size, Armor, Damage (claws or tusks), Stealth bonus (small size or camouflage) (all at +1 per success), or movement forms (flying, swimming, costs 3 successes each).

Chimera,

This power assaults a person’s mind with a cavalcade of nightmarish imagery, breaking down the victim’s sanity in the process. Such images are often personal and culled from the target’s own memory. The ghost doesn’t itself control these images, and in fact doesn’t know what they are — thus, it’s probably the victim’s own mind that draws up the mental torture. The ghost can, however, use some of its own memory and history to affect the victim, thus furthering the visions of terror. Spend one Essence and roll Power + Finesse versus the target’s Intelligence + Composure. Success indicates that the victim gains a mild derangement (choice of the ghost) for a number of days equal to the successes gained over the victim.

Dement,

The ghost is greatly resistant to fire-attacks. When the ghost is targeted by one of these attacks, add the ghost's Resistance to its Defense. The ghost’s Resistance is also automatically subtracted from environmental exposure as well.

Elemental Immunity (Fire),

Roll Finesse, minus the target's Composure; The ghost is able to read a target's aura (as the Vampire Auspex 2 power). For 1E, the ghost may also read aura 'impressions', the auras of those who had interacted with the target in the past, at an increasing penalty (close lovers or recent encounters at -3 or -4, and going as high as -10 or more for long-ago encounters). For Asherbenal, this takes the form of scent and taste rather than visual auras.

Greater Aura Read,

The ghost's manifestation causes electronic equipment to malfunction due to an intense magnetic distortion. No roll is required. If the ghost manifests successfully it disrupts electronics within a number of yards equal to its Power trait. Radios, TVs and telephones emit static. Appliances stop working. Lights go out. Videotapes and camera film is erased/exposed, ruining any captured images.

Magnetic Disruption,

This Numen allows the ghost to bind a bit of itself to the target, creating a temporary living anchor. The ghost spends three Essence and rolls Power + Finesse versus the Resolve + Supernatural Advantage of its target. If the ghost wins the contest, the target becomes a living anchor for the duration of the scene. The ghost may extend the effect of the Numen by spending a point of Essence at the end of the scene and for every hour that passes thereafter. Ghosts can make this effect permanent by investing a point of corpus into the bond.

One Step Behind,

Chaotic and Fortean events create circumstances favorable to the propagation of fear. With this Numen, the ghost can cause frogs, fish, blood or some other organic material to rain from the sky. Spends four Essence and roll Power + Finesse. The frogs, fish, blood or whatever are spontaneously generated, and may cause, at the Storyteller’s discretion, some danger to people caught outdoors in the rain. Naturally, science has no explanation for what happens and can find no origin for the animals or blood. If blood rains from the sky, on analysis the blood matches the blood of no known animal. For a day after the unnatural rain, all rolls made to activate supernatural powers in furtherance of a Vice, or Numina used by the ghost in the area of the storm receive a +1 modifier.

Rain of Frogs,

The ghost gains rote-action on all perception rolls

Rarified Senses,

The ghost can manipulate physical objects as though it had a pair of physical hands. It can pick up objects, throw them, open and close doors and windows, write messages -- basically anything a mortal can do with his hands. Spend one Essence point and roll Power + Finesse. The number of successes rolled determines the ghost;s relative Strength when attempting to lift and/or move an object (see Chapter 2: Attributes, p. 47, for more details on lifting/moving objects). If the successes rolled are equal to the Strength needed to lift an object, the ghost can move it up to one yard. Each extra success allows the ghost to move the object an additional yard. If the ghost wishes to hurl an object at someone and enough successes are rolled to lift the object (and reach the target), the total number of telekinesis successes is rolled as a dice pool in an attack against the target. Alternately, the ghost can make a direct attack on a victim, using its raw power to inflict cuts, bruises and bites on the victim's body. Treat this as a normal attack with a -3 modifier. The attack ignores the target's Defense trait, any available cover and any armor worn (unless the armor is supernatural in nature).

Telekinesis
Note: Asherbenal has been wandering around the Underworld for close to four thousand years. He has many, many numina, far more than he even remembers. The ones above are simply those that he remembers and uses commonly.

Jenny Greenteeth
The Sunken Mother, The Thing in the River

Type: Spirit

Background: The Thing in the River is one of the United Kingdom’s river-hags, the patron of the life-demanding rivers of much of southern England. Powerful and malevolent, she wants to flood her banks, needs to flood her banks, but can be stayed with sacrifices of blood and death. She is a wretched, primeval entity. When manifested, her flesh is a sickly green and slick like a toad’s belly, and her teeth are jagged splinters of bone smeared with algae. Perhaps most unsettling are the spirit’s eyes, which quiver in their sockets like gelatinous clusters of salmon eggs.

This hag dwells in the rivers and waterways of southern England: the headstreams of the Thames, the Avon and the tributaries of each. She is a moody thing, fluctuating from periods of morbid giddiness to times of tempestuous anger. She enjoys the company of the Mara, accepting their worship and their sacrifices in exchange for her patronage, though she has no stake in their games of power and politics. When called upon, she is able to give great gifts and provide many secrets, but only at a cost. The pain or death of children is all that sates her.

Type: Spirit

Rank: 4
Attributes: Power 12, Finesse 10, Resistance 8
Willpower: 20

Initiative: 18
Defense: 2
Armor: 10
Speed: 22 on land, 32 in the water
Corpus 13

Essence: 25/25
Influences: Rivers 3, Water-Plants 3
Numina:

With this Numen, a spirit can literally drag a human being across the Gauntlet and into the Shadow. The spirit must first either dwell on the material side of the Gauntlet (using Materialize or Gauntlet Breach) or at least have a conduit beyond the Shadow (using the reaching Numen). Once this is established and a target is identified, the spirit can literally grab a human and pull him across the Gauntlet. Spend a number of Essence equal to the human’s Stamina, and then roll the spirit’s Power + Finesse (22). The mortal can resist with a Resolve + Composure Roll. If the spirit is successful, the human crosses the Gauntlet and is dragged into the Shadow. If the human wins the contested roll, he remains on the material side of the Gauntlet. Note this Numen only works one way. If the human wins the roll, he remains on the material side of the Gauntlet. The spirit cannot use this ability to move a human back to the material world. For the human to exit the Hisil, he must find an alternate way out. The power does not work on supernatural targets, even if technically mortal (such as ghouls or magi). Abduct does work on the wolf-blooded, or those with lesser templates, such as thaumaturges and psychics.

Abduct, Ban of Power,

No cost, roll Power+Finesse (22) as a lethal range attack with a range of 100 yard. May spend essence to increase damage by 2L per 1 essence

Blast (strangling water weeds such as duckweed) ,

Spend 1E, so long as the spirit is stationary, anyone else takes a penalty of Finesse(10) to find it

Camouflage, Greater Influence x2,

As the werewolf Gift, causes major flooding

Lament of the River, Reaching,

Spend 1E, roll Power+Finesse (22) versus Composure+Supernatural Tolerance; target is forced to flee for (successes difference) turns

Terrify
Ban: Jenny has two Bans. The first and well-known one is that she is unable to leave the confines of her rivers. The second ban is unknown, but is somehow related to the blood-letting rituals of the Mara.

Nigel
Sir Nigel Galsworthy, 4th Baronet of Bishop's Lydeard (Deceased), Invisible Member of the Suicide Circle

Type: Ghost
Born: 1980
Died: 2007

Virtue: Charity Never having quite realized what want means, Nigel would give someone the clothes of his back.
Vice: Sloth Standing up for himself is not Nigel's strong point. He's something of a wet blanket, really.

Background: As forceful and confrontational as a rabbit confronted with a piece of celery, Nigel grew up in the shadow of his father, Sir James Galsworthy, the 3rd Baronet of Bishop's Lydeard. A forceful and potent man, Sir James was a banker, his own grandfather raised to a baronetcy for services to British finance. Nigel grew up under a massive weight of expectations, one which he shouldered poorly. Instead of a barrister or financier, his few talents tended towards painting and dealing with animals, and he was cripplingly shy in social circumstances.

But Nigel was rich as Croesus, had a luxurious estate out in Somerset County, and he had a title. So when his father died suddenly of a stroke, Nigel found himself the target of entirely more attention than he'd ever been subjected to before. In short order, he found himself engaged to an exceptionally attractive young woman of artistic background, and for a few months, the young man was deliriously happy. He bought a wedding ring from De Beers with enough diamonds to feed a small country and started planning a honeymoon across the world. They'd visit Italy first, then perhaps a few weeks in Greece...

Then his fiancé was caught in flagrante delicto with one of the groomsmen, a school-friend of Nigel's, and the wedding was cancelled under a cloud of scandal. Nigel was actually willing to go on with it, but his own family vetoed that idea thoroughly, and it was entirely arguable as to whether the young lady in question was more fond of Nigel or his money. Regardless, Nigel sunk into deep, deep depression, interspersed with bouts of blatantly self-destructive behavior (visiting prostitutes, both high-class and low, drinking till he was insensible, etc). It was not long after this that a distant friend of his father suggested that Nigel could at least channel his misery to constructive uses.

Joining the Suicide Circle was cause for some perverse pride on Nigel's part. It required his death, but it was death for a cause, and the Romans did say that to kill oneself restored one's honor, didn't they? Thus, on New Year's Eve, 2007, Nigel Galsworthy underwent the Three-Fold Death. He drank from a cup of wine mixed with cyanide. He was hanged by a silk rope. And he was disemboweled with a sacred sickle. His blood fed London for one more year.

Of course, even in dying, Nigel managed to screw things up. Through Lauren Darrow's presence, she was initiated (somehow) into the Suicide Circle, despite being already dead by most standards. The other Invisible Members were not well-pleased with this. At present, the Circle in London is limited to eleven members rather than the usual twelve, but the issue appears to have been buried for the time being.

In life, Nigel was a short man with soft blond hair and a babyish face dominated by a pair of cornflower blue eyes. At his death, he was dressed formally, in a black suit with a bright green checked tie. In death, his face has gone pale, chalk-white, and he bears the marks of his death upon him: a smell of bitter almonds, the shiny-red ligature marks upon his neck, and the open, rancid wound upon his gut. He is able, for a time, to look as he had before, though even then he wears a black noose about his neck.

Presently, Nigel's personal anchor (his wedding ring) is in the possession of Bat, having been excavated from his grave at Kensal Green cemetery. He is also anchored to his grave, to the living members of the Suicide Circle (including Lauren Darrow), and to several other secret artifacts or locations kept by the Suicide Circle, including chips from the London Stone and the Reform Club at Pall Mall.

Type Ghost

Attributes: Power 2, Finesse 4, Resistance 3
Willpower: 5
Morality: 8

Initiative: 7
Defense: 2
Armor: 2
Speed: 16
Corpus: 8

Essence: 10/10
Numina:

Spend 3E and roll Power+Finesse. The ghost is able to materialize in the physical world for (successes) hours, looking as it did shortly before its death, though it may still bear certain signs. In Nigel's case, this is the noose he must wear around his neck.

Walk Amongst Mortals,

Spend 1E, roll Power+Finesse (6) versus Composure+Supernatural Tolerance; target is forced to flee for (successes difference) turns

Terrify

The Invisible Members of the Suicide Circle of Pall Mall

Type: Ghost
Born: Various
Died: Various

Background: These terrifying specters are those members of the Suicide Circle of London who have suffered the Three-Fold Death and sacrificed themselves at the liminal point between one year and the next. Unusually self-aware by ghostly standards, they now protect the living members of the Suicide Circle (a collection of eleven mortals of 'good character, high class and respectable birth') and the strange cult to which they belonged.

Invisible Members lose their humanity rapidly. Some are still human-shaped, but most are scarcely recognizable as having once been men. They are creatures that have sacrificed everything, with black, glassy eyes and rictus grins, the marks of their deaths upon them. Fingers are replaced with knives, teeth with needles, their hair turned black and shiny and carved of stone. They are stilled, dead things, but move rapidly when out of sight.

There are perhaps a hundred or so Invisible Members in London, and reputedly more exist in other cities. Though far from harmless alone, their danger comes from their unusual self-awareness and mobility (they have dozens, possibly hundreds of anchors, and are capable of moving them), and from their tendency to gather in packs of a dozen or more.

Type Ghost

Attributes: Power 3, Finesse 5, Resistance 3
Willpower: 6
Morality: N/A

Initiative: 8 (9 or 10 w/ Speed)
Defense: 2
Armor: 3
Speed: 18 (36 or 54 w/ Speed)
Corpus: 8

Essence: 10/10
Numina:

Spend 1E, for the rest of the scene, the ghost is able to attack from the Twilight, dealing Lethal damage. Unless the ghosts have manifested, or the target is able of seeing ghosts, it appears as though long, jagged gashes simply appear on the victim's skin. (Blind-Fighting rules frequently apply here as well)

Spectral Claws,

May spend 2E to double speed for the rest of the scene and gain a +1 to Initiative, or 4E to triple it and gain a +2 to initiative.

Speed, and one of the following:

The ghost may attempt to possess a living human being and control his or her body for a short time. Spend one Essence point and roll Power + Finesse (8) in a contested roll versus the victim's Resolve + Composure. If the ghost wins, it gains control of the victim's body for the duration of a single scene. Use the victim's available traits (except Willpower points, which are equal to the ghost's current Willpower points) and dice pools for any action the ghost wishes to take. If the mortal wins or ties the roll, the spirit fails its possession attempt. As long as the ghost has Essence points remaining it can continue to make possession attempts against a target. If a possessed body is killed or knocked unconscious, the ghost is forced out and must possess another victim if it still wishes to act. Attacks using a blessed object against a ghost in possession of a living body damage the ghost's Corpus instead of its physical host.

Possession,

Spend 1E, roll Power+Finesse (8) versus Composure+Supernatural Tolerance; target is forced to flee for (successes difference) turns

Terrify,

After a successful strike in hand-to-hand combat, the ghost may spend one to three points of Essence to inject a supernatural venom into its foe. The venom inflicts an additional point of damage for every point of Essence spent. In addition, the victim must succeed at a Stamina roll, or lose one point of Essence for each point of Essence the spirit spent. This corrupting effect also works on other forms of supernatural energy, though to lesser extent. A target that doesn’t use Essence will lose only one point of his reservoir to the ghostly-venom, no matter how much Essence the spirit spent.

Ghostly Venom

Attacks...........................Damage.....Dice Pool.....Special
Spectral Claws........................0L..............8............Blind-Fighting rules apply if the ghost has not manifested, Ghostly Venom

The Man Under London
The Unnamed Incarnae, The Gentleman

Type: Spirit

Background:Some Forsaken believe the Man Under London is actually the spirit of the Tube train. It’s certainly possible — he’s always found in the tunnels, Tube stations or on the trains themselves. None have ever seen him above ground, in or out of the Shadow. Still, the spirit won’t admit to being that spirit, and says he’s simply a “man of London.”

Physically, he seems unassuming. He looks to be an average man in a dark suit, white shirt, dark tie and spit-polished Doc Martens dress shoes. He has sharp features, bright eyes and a perpetual smile. His accent is crisp but cannot be easily attributed to any one part of London over another.

Despite his relatively simple appearance, the man pulses with a kind of power. Any Forsaken in his presence can feel that aura, like a metallic scent in the air, without effort. He is friendly, and will offer small aid for bits of Essence or easy tasks. The werewolves believe that he knows everything that goes on inside the city, regardless which side of the Gauntlet it happens upon. Stranger still, the man seems to be the keeper of many lost objects. Whether a pocket watch, a left-footed sock or a treasured fetish, if it goes missing in London, very likely the Man Under London has it or knows who does. (Lost items or information regarding them, he doesn’t give out so easily. Forsaken seeking help in this manner should expect to pay mightily.)

Lastly, he’s often seen with other spirits of wildly varying choirs. Unusual spirits seek to make long journeys to meet with him — some Forsaken have reported seeing water elementals, fox-spirits or even murder-spirits begging for his aid. Though, when the wolves approached, the other spirits fled. Similarly, the Man Under London often seems to enjoy the company of the other Minor Incarnae of the United Kingdom. More than once he’s been seen sharing a cigarette with Britannia, polishing the tiara of Diana or fencing with Albion. At times, the Man Under London can be found enjoying tea and clotted cream with all of them, sitting around a small setting table upon one of the trains.

Type: Spirit

Rank: 5
Attributes: Power 12, Finesse 18, Resistance 12
Willpower: 24

Initiative: 30
Defense: 6
Armor: 12
Speed: 40 (Species Factor 10)
Size: 5
Corpus 17

Essence: 50/50
Influences: Trains ●●●●, Lost Things ●●●
Numina:

With this Numen, a spirit can literally drag a human being across the Gauntlet and into the Shadow. The spirit must first either dwell on the material side of the Gauntlet (using Materialize or Gauntlet Breach) or at least have a conduit beyond the Shadow (using the reaching Numen). Once this is established and a target is identified, the spirit can literally grab a human and pull him across the Gauntlet. Spend a number of Essence equal to the human’s Stamina, and then roll the spirit’s Power + Finesse (30). The mortal can resist with a Resolve + Composure Roll. If the spirit is successful, the human crosses the Gauntlet and is dragged into the Shadow. If the human wins the contested roll, he remains on the material side of the Gauntlet. Note this Numen only works one way. If the human wins the roll, he remains on the material side of the Gauntlet. The spirit cannot use this ability to move a human back to the material world. For the human to exit the Hisil, he must find an alternate way out. The power does not work on supernatural targets, even if technically mortal (such as ghouls or magi). Abduct does work on the wolf-blooded, or those with lesser templates, such as thaumaturges and psychics.

Abduct,

Spend 1E, so long as the spirit is stationary, anyone else takes a penalty of Finesse(18) to find it

Camouflage,

Force the spirit through the Gauntlet into the Twilight.

Gauntlet Breach, Greater Influence x2, Know Path,

Can look through the Gauntlet to see the material world from the Shadow

Material Vision,

Materializes in physical world, but looks human.

Mortal Mask, Reaching,

Take a physical, non-living object across the Gauntlet with the spirit.

Thieve
Ban: Unknown

Tyburn Gallows-Lord
The Hanging Judge, The Deadly Nevergreen, Tyburn's Fatal Tree

Type: Spirit

Background: To close the scene of all his actions he
Was brought from Newgate to the fatal tree
And there his life resigned, his race is run
And Tyburn ends what wickedness begun

For nearly six hundred years, from the revolutionary Fitz Osbern in 1196 to highwayman John Austin in 1783, the idyllic village stream of Tyburn was a place of execution. The men of London covered over the stream and incorporated the village into London as that latter city grew to monstrous size, but still they executed their criminals there, six hundred years of nigh-constant bloodshed. Royal peers saw their final act at Tyburn, hanged for treason against the Crown alongside commoner rebels. Murderers were hanged there, and martyrs as well when the religious troubles wracked England. They hanged Oliver Cromwell at Tyburn, though he had been dead for some years by then.

They built the Tyburn Tree in the days of Queen Elizabeth I, Tyburn's fatal tree it was called. A gallows of unique construction, an awful device of triangular construction, with each of its three oaken beams capable of hanging eight miscreants at a time -- that is to say, twenty-four at once should the need arise. And it did. Mortal men called it the Deadly Nevergreen, the tree that never bore leaves, yet always had its grisly fruit. Some fifty thousand criminals 'danced the Tyburn jig' before the scene of London's executions was moved to Newgate Prison.

It is little surprise, then, that the Forsaken of London avoid that little traffic island of stone just north of Hyde Park, by Marble Arch. They fear the Genius Loci of that place, for though Justice is blind, Lord Tyburn is not. He is the wide-eyed and mad-eyed embodiment of the ultimate Law. He is the Lex Talionis, the Eye for an Eye and the Tooth for the Tooth, a bloody-handed relic of a time when they hanged thieves and priests alongside the most grotesque murderers. But there is an older aspect to Tyburn yet. Long before the gallows, long before even the Romans had come to Britain, the early Saxons had placed a standing stone at what would become the village of Tyburn, the Oswulfstane, which vanished in 1869. It has yet to have been found.

Encountered in the Shadow, Tyburn Gallows-Lord partakes of certain aspects of Odin, the Hanged Chieftain of the Gods of Norse lore. He is a great, grey-bearded man, with one eye pale and covered in cataracts, the other black as night and speckled with crimson. He has broad, killing hands, and dresses in the robes of authority of a thousand years of judges, with the Roman fasces in one hand and a gilded Celtic torc about his neck. He is seen in the company of spirits of death, sparrow spirits and hemlock spirits and the spirits of the black rabbit, which is the most knowledgeable of them all about death. Encountered in the mortal world, he is a decades-dead cadaver, burning through with Tyburn's fatal power, dressed in Victorian finery but with a noose about his neck.

He seeks the Oswulfstane, and will give anything to have it back. For what purpose, none can say, but the patronage of Tyburn Gallows-Lord would be a potent prize, if also a double-edged blade. He holds his court at Marble Arch, sitting in judgment beneath the white Carrara marble, but he can be found anywhere in London where man has slain man for the cause of Law. He frequents Old Bailey, where Newgate Prison once stood, and at Execution Dock in Wapping, where pirates were gibbeted until the tide washed over them three times.

Type: Spirit

Rank: 5
Attributes: Power 15, Finesse 11, Resistance 14
Willpower: 29

Initiative: 25
Defense: 4
Armor: 11
Speed: 26 (Species Factor 0)
Size: 6
Corpus 20

Essence: 50/50
Influences: Methods of Execution ●●●●●
Numina:

No cost, roll Power+Finesse (26) as a lethal range attack with a range of 100 yard. May spend essence to increase damage by 2L per 1 essence

Blast (nooses),

Claim a dead body like possession

Corpse Ride,

Can transfer to another Corpse whilst using Corpse Ride via Touch

Chain of Death,

Cast an tangling attack

Ensnare,

Bind self to a particular real object

Fetter,

Consume Ghosts as if they were spirits

Ghost-Eater,

Can look through the Gauntlet to see the material world from the Shadow

Material Vision,

The spirit can make a living target into a temporary 'fetter', but can invest a point of Corpus to make it permanent.

One Step Behind,

Creatures killed by a Corpse-Ridden can be animated by the Spirit

Plague of the Dead,

Spend 1E, roll Power+Finesse (26) versus Composure+Supernatural Tolerance; target is forced to flee for (successes difference) turns

Terrify
Ban: Tyburn Gallows-Lord is unable to harm anyone who has not been condemned by the Law. Given that the Incarnae considers itself empowered as judge, jury, and executioner, this is not a great impediment, but an exceedingly cunning lawyer or a truly innocent soul is safe from Tyburn.

The Shiver-Trees

Type: Spirit

Background: In old English folklore, the aspen was thought to have been the tree that supplied the wood for Christ’s cross. You could see the tree, they said, shivering in the wind, and shivering in no wind, shivering with guilt for what it had been party to. Shiver-Trees, they called them, and considered them ill-omened.

Whether the truth fed the folklore or the folklore made them that way, nobody knows, but the fact is that the spirits of British aspen trees are also powerful spirits of guilt. They appear as impossibly thin and ancient men and women with skin like pale wood. Their hair is tangled with leaves, thorns, nails and sometimes glass and barbed wire. They feed from guilt and remorse, and work to promote those feelings and then feed from them. Their ties to Christian legend attract them to churches, and they sometimes Ride preachers and ministers, whose sermons grow ever more condemnatory, their faith twisted into a means of control. Christianity in the United Kingdom is mostly dying now, but even so, awakened Shiver-Trees can still find themselves attached to those traditionalist Christian groups that still have a powerful hold on communities in the remotest parts of the rural provinces: Ulster Presbyterians, Evangelical Movement of Wales youth camps and Scots Wee Frees are particular favorites.

No matter how pure, honest and transcendent the creed, humans have the ability to twist it into something small-minded and self-serving, without any outside help. The tragedy of these communities is that communities targeted by a Shiver-Tree don’t often notice any difference in their minister. These congregations had already been twisted into sources of potent, delicious guilt: all the Shiver-Trees need to do is harvest it.

Shiver-Trees have potent healing powers, and are often worth seeking out. Negotiation with a Shiver-Tree must always begin with an incantation, which, in its most common form, goes:

When Christ Our Lord was on the Cross,
Thou didst sadly shiver and toss.
My aches and pains thou now must take;
Instead of me, I bid thee shake.

A Shiver-Tree is bound to listen to whatever deal a petitioner who approaches in this way presents.

Type: Spirit

Rank: 3
Attributes: Power 7, Finesse 6, Resistance 10
Willpower: 17

Initiative: 16
Defense: 1
Armor: 6
Speed: 15 (Species Factor 0)
Size: 8
Corpus 18

Essence: 20/20
Influences: Aspen Trees ●●●, Guilt ●●●
Numina:

Afflict a person with disturbing images from their memory and give them a mild derangement

Dement,

The spirit can heal others’ wounds, typically for a hefty price. The spirit expends a point of Essence and rolls Power + Finesse. Bashing damage is healed before lethal, and all lethal damage must be healed before aggravated damage. Each success heals a level of bashing damage, while two successes can heal a point of lethal damage. The lethal damage healed can be used to mend aggravated damage, but each point of aggravated damage cured costs one additional point of Essence. (Healing two aggravated wounds calls for four successes and three points of Essence.) This Numen may also be used to help a character fight off disease or the effects of poison — each success adding to the character’s resistance rolls on a one-to-one basis.

Heal, Greater Influence x3,

This variation on Fetter allows the spirit to fetter itself in a living being rather than an inanimate object. The same rules and restrictions as Fetter apply, save that the spirit must first succeed at a Power + Finesse roll contested by the target’s Resolve + Composure + Supernatural Tolerance. A successful use of this Numen creates one of the Ridden, specifically a Spirit-Urged (see p. 166). The spirit essentially uses the living being as a fetter and its Influence to impel its “host.” The most reliable way to break the bond between a spirit using the Living Fetter Numina and its host is to force the host into contact with the spirit’s ban.

Living Fetter
Ban: A Shiver-Tree must listen to any bargain that is begun with the proper incantation, which may vary from spirit to spirit but is most commonly the above. It does not need to accept the bargain, but it will stop whatever it is doing and listen to the offer, provided no hostile actions are taken.

The Numbers Ghosts
Operators, Shadow Men, bladed shadows

Type: Unknown

Background: It’s long been assumed that numbers stations are coded communications provided for spies. Some believe that they’re used by criminal organizations, be they drug runners or masters of slave markets. Certainly, numbers stations are trying to communicate something. These radio frequencies, found on shortwave and around since World War I, transmit a series of numbers or codes as read by what sounds to be a synthesized human voice. The transmissions often have simple, tonal music in the background (anything from “Hot Cross Buns” to the “Lincolnshire Poacher”). Sometimes, a series of letters is read first, read in the military style (“Charlie Oscar Tango”) then followed by numbers of a single language (which may be foreign — “zwei eins neun sechs”). A few eschew spoken codes and go for codes based on sound (such as Morse code). Whatever the recording, it’s played over and over again, obviously trying to communicate some kind of message.

These messages are transmitted over a high-frequency signal given low power, receivable only by a properly-tuned large antenna and receiver. The low power makes them difficult — impossible, in this case — to triangulate.

So, what are they? Nobody knows, or if they do, they don’t seem willing to share. No government will admit to using them, even though the United States government persecuted a group of supposed Cuban nationals (the “Cuban Five”) using a numbers station as evidence in the trial (the so-called “Wasp Network”).

Attempts to jam the stations have met with futility. Either the numbers station itself moves frequencies or, as is normally the case, the jamming attempt fails for some reason (equipment breaks down, jammer personnel go missing).

The truth is that Numbers stations are not spy tools. They are not the clandestine communiqués between drug- or slave-runners. No, these frequencies are a type of summoning, and can in fact themselves be summoned into this world. The Numbers stations are operated by the dead.

The cosmology is not precise, but it seems that some ghosts do not go to their just reward (be it Heaven or Hell), nor do they linger longer on this mortal coil, not even in a state of Twilight. No, some ghosts go to a very specific Underworld, a realm that exists beneath all else, a bleak and blasted land whose topography is bored through with bottomless holes and endless tunnels. It is here that these specters learn to serve something, some manner of utterly vast being that certain occultists identify with Typhon or Nidhogg, a titanic, serpentine horror of unimaginable potency. And it wants out, out of its grey hell and into the mortal world.

To that end, the ghosts crawl through the cracks between worlds, cracks far too small for their worm-like master, or else they’re summoned by sorcerers with more power than wisdom. This, then, is the ultimate goal of all the numbers ghosts. To create a rift between the two worlds, large enough for their master to come through.

Most do this by broadcasting their numbers, and if you can decipher them (they’re encoded, a one-time pad), then they can offer power, sorcerous control over the dead and dying. Others take a more direct approach, possessing mortals, or mages, or vampires, and trying to open a gate themselves, first to bring over more of their kind, and eventually, their master.

Physically, Operators (as these specters are called by learned occultists) or Shadow Men (as they are known in popular lore), resemble 2-dimensional human shadows. Each one has spurs or jagged blades of shadow emerging from their joints, and each seems to have a bulky, old-fashioned radio headset over their heads. They communicate only by means of their numerical code, but even if one breaks through with either magic or the Dragon’s Tongue, they are very, very mad.

Lesser Numbers Ghosts

Attributes: Power 4, Finesse 4, Resistance 4
Willpower: 8
Morality: 2

Initiative: 8
Defense: 0
Armor: 4
Speed: 0 (Operators cannot move from where they are summoned, unless they are possessing a mortal or are fettered to an object that is then moved).
Size: 5
Corpus 9

Essence: 10/10

Numina:

The ghost can manipulate physical objects as though it had a pair of physical hands. It can pick up objects, throw them, open and close doors and windows, write messages -- basically anything a mortal can do with his hands. Spend one Essence point and roll Power + Finesse. The number of successes rolled determines the ghost’s relative Strength when attempting to lift and/or move an object (see Chapter 2: Attributes, p. 47, for more details on lifting/moving objects). If the successes rolled are equal to the Strength needed to lift an object, the ghost can move it up to one yard. Each extra success allows the ghost to move the object an additional yard. If the ghost wishes to hurl an object at someone and enough successes are rolled to lift the object (and reach the target), the total number of telekinesis successes is rolled as a dice pool in an attack against the target. Alternately, the ghost can make a direct attack on a victim, using its raw power to inflict cuts, bruises and bites on the victim's body. Treat this as a normal attack with a -3 modifier. The attack ignores the target's Defense trait, any available cover and any armor worn (unless the armor is supernatural in nature). The ghost may also telekinetically wield weaponry, in which case its attack pool is Power+Finesse+(Weapon Damage)

Telekinesis,

The ghost's manifestation causes electronic equipment to malfunction due to an intense magnetic distortion. No roll is required. If the ghost manifests successfully it disrupts electronics within a number of yards equal to its Power trait. Radios, TVs and telephones emit static. Appliances stop working. Lights go out. Videotapes and camera film is erased/exposed, ruining any captured images.

Magnetic Disruption,

The ghost can broadcast its voice over a radio or television band. Spend one Essence and roll Power + Finesse. If the roll fails, nothing happens. If the roll succeeds, the ghost can repeat a message (no longer than five minutes in length) over that frequency for up to a single day (24 hours). The message is never perfect, and is usually hampered by bouts of static and other radio interruptions.

Frequency, and either

The ghost may attempt to possess a living human being and control his or her body for a short time. Spend one Essence point and roll Power + Finesse in a contested roll versus the victim's Resolve + Composure. If the ghost wins, it gains control of the victim's body for the duration of a single scene. Use the victim's available traits (except Willpower points, which are equal to the ghost's current Willpower points) and dice pools for any action the ghost wishes to take. If the mortal wins or ties the roll, the spirit fails its possession attempt. As long as the ghost has Essence points remaining it can continue to make possession attempts against a target. If a possessed body is killed or knocked unconscious, the ghost is forced out and must possess another victim if it still wishes to act. Attacks using a blessed object against a ghost in possession of a living body damage the ghost's Corpus instead of its physical host.

Possession or

Bind self to an object indefinitely

Fetter
Ban: The Operators may communicate only in codes or numbers

Greater Numbers Ghosts

Attributes: Power 8, Finesse 8, Resistance 8
Willpower: 16
Morality: 0

Initiative: 16
Defense: 0
Armor: 8
Speed: 0 (Operators cannot move from where they are summoned, unless they are possessing a mortal or are fettered to an object that is then moved).
Size: 6
Corpus 14

Essence: 20/20

Numina:

The Operator forces numbers and codes into the targets mind, confusing and overwhelming their minds. Spend one point of Essence and roll Power + Finesse. Anyone within 20 yards of the ghost must succeed on a Resolve + Stamina roll – the number of successes gained or be stunned for one turn (see the World of Darkness Rulebook, p. 167). Characters that are stunned suffer a –3 penalty to any Intelligence checks for the remainder of the scene.

Numbers,

The ghost can manipulate physical objects as though it had a pair of physical hands. It can pick up objects, throw them, open and close doors and windows, write messages -- basically anything a mortal can do with his hands. Spend one Essence point and roll Power + Finesse. The number of successes rolled determines the ghost;s relative Strength when attempting to lift and/or move an object (see Chapter 2: Attributes, p. 47, for more details on lifting/moving objects). If the successes rolled are equal to the Strength needed to lift an object, the ghost can move it up to one yard. Each extra success allows the ghost to move the object an additional yard. If the ghost wishes to hurl an object at someone and enough successes are rolled to lift the object (and reach the target), the total number of telekinesis successes is rolled as a dice pool in an attack against the target. Alternately, the ghost can make a direct attack on a victim, using its raw power to inflict cuts, bruises and bites on the victim's body. Treat this as a normal attack with a -3 modifier. The attack ignores the target's Defense trait, any available cover and any armor worn (unless the armor is supernatural in nature). The ghost may also telekinetically wield weaponry, in which case its attack pool is Power+Finesse+(Weapon Damage)

Telekinesis,

The ghost's manifestation causes electronic equipment to malfunction due to an intense magnetic distortion. No roll is required. If the ghost manifests successfully it disrupts electronics within a number of yards equal to its Power trait. Radios, TVs and telephones emit static. Appliances stop working. Lights go out. Videotapes and camera film is erased/exposed, ruining any captured images.

Magnetic Disruption,

The ghost can broadcast its voice over a radio or television band. Spend one Essence and roll Power + Finesse. If the roll fails, nothing happens. If the roll succeeds, the ghost can repeat a message (no longer than five minutes in length) over that frequency for up to a single day (24 hours). The message is never perfect, and is usually hampered by bouts of static and other radio interruptions.

Frequency,

The ghost may attempt to possess a living human being and control his or her body for a short time. Spend one Essence point and roll Power + Finesse in a contested roll versus the victim's Resolve + Composure. If the ghost wins, it gains control of the victim's body for the duration of a single scene. Use the victim's available traits (except Willpower points, which are equal to the ghost's current Willpower points) and dice pools for any action the ghost wishes to take. If the mortal wins or ties the roll, the spirit fails its possession attempt. As long as the ghost has Essence points remaining it can continue to make possession attempts against a target. If a possessed body is killed or knocked unconscious, the ghost is forced out and must possess another victim if it still wishes to act. Attacks using a blessed object against a ghost in possession of a living body damage the ghost's Corpus instead of its physical host.

Possession,

Bind self to an object indefinitely

Fetter,

This Numen allows the Manifested spirit to take control of a machine or vehicle that it has made into a fetter. By spending one Essence point, the spirit may operate the machine for the duration of a scene — the spirit can turn the machine off or on and control any moving parts, though the spirit cannot alter electrical flow. A spirit using this Numen to operate a car, for instance, would have to physically manipulate the radio knob to switch stations or turn the ignition switch to start the car. The spirit may make Finesse rolls in lieu of Drive in order to operate a moving vehicle, including all driving, control and crash rolls.

Mechanical Possession, Savant (Telekinesis)
Ban: The Operators may communicate only in codes or numbers

War-Wights
Eidolons, Twilight Soldiers

Type: Revenant



Background: An eidolon is a forgotten soldier from another time. Each has an uncompleted mission, and knows exactly how to complete the mission in its new surroundings. War-wights arise from the corpses of failed or vanquished soldiers, either as a result of some alien, unknown force, or by the efforts of a necromancer. A war-wight will stop at nothing to be victorious.

Each one is focused on carrying out a military mission – any conceivable military mission may be the focus of a war-wight’s activities. Saving a comrade behind enemy lines, assassinating an enemy agent, escaping to safety over a border, taking out an enemy installation, protection a general or other VIP, and so on. Always, the mission focuses around a handful of human targets which are to be captured, interrogated, protected, killed, or rescued. There are always uncanny parallels between the war-wight’s original era and the present day. A WWII war-wight may wish to destroy a train, and research may uncover that that train had been running during the Second World War. A hotel in which an eidolon hides emerges to have been a bunker. Mortal targets always have some connection to the war-wight’s era, as descendants or historians – necromancers that use war-wights often research their own genealogies.

War-wights divide the world into allies, enemies, and bystanders. Everyone except the mission’s target (if any) starts out as a bystander. Those who help become its allies; to be used but never trusted. Anyone who poses a threat to the war-wight and actually impedes its progress becomes an enemy, to be destroyed, usually as brutally as possible. They are tough and fanatical, with uncanny intelligence compared to most undead.

When the mission is complete, the twilight soldier disappears. The damage it has caused remains. Careful examination of history books after the fact shows that the soldier, once anonymous, is now mentioned (at least parenthetically), there may even be a reference to the mission, described in the context of the war-wight’s era of origin. Each war-wight is a soldier that actually lived, with identities, personal histories and skills appropriate to their era of origin. They also have the misconceptions and prejudices of their era.

War-wights always hide their faces – behind a gas mask, under the shadow of a helmet, etc. They try to locate weapons, vehicles, and equipment from their own time. More modern war-wights find this straightforward enough, though those from earlier eras may burglarize museums or build their own gear. They operate in secrecy, believing themselves to be in enemy territory, with the attendant need for caution, though some are better at this than others. They are nocturnal creatures and are usually quiescent during the day, healing, contemplating, resting, or studying available mission information during that time.

Still, as individuals, each war-wight is different. Some look perfectly human, though others seem to be rotten or else have inhuman features (glowing eyes, claws). Most come from the 20th century (there are simply more suitable corpses available), though some eidolons can be very, very old. The majority were scouts or shock troops of some sort in their mortal lives – the kind of soldiers likely to be working alone – though any kind of fallen soldier may become a war-wight. War-wights are usually short-lived, lasting only a few weeks before they either complete their mission or fail, though those summoned as bodyguards by necromancers are more lont-lasting.

Lastly, each twilight soldier that does not serve a necromancer has a hidden sponsor. They regularly receive helpful, even essential information from a special source. Every war-wight has a different receiving method. It could be a radio, a walkie-talkie, written notes that appear in the war-wight’s equipment, spoken words from a shadowy-figure, etc. The war-wight wil keep these transmissions secret. Outsiders who discover them will find the orders to be cryptic… and the information horrifyingly true.

Twilight soldiers may be purchased as a 5-dot retainer by any necromancer (who usually have some ritual to restore the war-wight’s essence). Independent war-wights have a further Mentor (Hidden Sponsor) 4 merit. The following is a typical World War II eidolon (German).

Type: Revenant

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

Mental Skills: Academics 1, Crafts 2, Investigation 1, Medicine 1, Politics (Military Strategy) 2
Physical Skills: Athletics 3, Brawl 2, Drive 2, Firearms (Rifle) 4, Stealth (Ambush) 4, Survival 2, Weaponry 2
Social Skills: Intimidation 3, Subterfuge 1

Merits: Danger Sense 2, Fast Reflexes 2, Fighting Finesse (Knife) 2, Fighting Style (

• Shoot First Add Firearms to initiative •• Tactical Reload Reload as a reflexive action

Combat Marksmanship) 2, Indomitable 4, Quick-Draw (Firearms) 1

Willpower: 7
Passion: Complete the Mission (primary, other passions are subjugated to this)
Passion: Acquire weapon and equipment from its era of origin.
Passion: Obey the necromancer/Hidden Sponsor.

Health: 9
Initiative: 9 (13 w/ drawn firearm)
Defense:

2-Armor

1
Armor: 2/3B (Flak Jacket)
Speed: 12

Numina:

Spend 1E (up to 5) to increase Strength, Dexterity, or Stamina by 1 for the remainder of the scene. Attributes may be raised above 5.

Spirit Prowess,

Spend 1E to heal 1B; spend 1WP to be able to heal lethal or aggravated damage for the rest of the scene (at 1E per wound)

Regeneration,

Spend 1E, roll Presence+Intimidate (7) versus Composure+Supernatural Tolerance; target is forced to flee for (successes difference) turns

Terrify,

Spend 1E, so long as the revenant is stationary, attempts to find it receive a penalty equal to (Dexterity).

Camouflage,

Spend 3E and 1WP, touch a corpse, and create a zombie.

Zombify
Essence: 10

Attacks...........................Damage.............Dice Pool...........Special
Combat Knife...........…………1L………………….8-13………………Spirit Prowess
Luger Pistol........................2L....................10-15................ Spirit Prowess, 8 ammo, 15/30/60 range
Sturmgewehr 44........……..4L……......…......13-18................. Spirit Prowess , 30 ammo, 125/250/500 range, fully-automatic 2(2/3/4)