City of Shadows Mux City of Shadows Mux

ALUCINOR

Parent Clan: Mekhet Sobriquet: Sandmen Source: Bloodlines: the Hidden, p. 12 Disciplines: Auspex, Celerity, Nightmare, Obfuscate Revised by: Ganymede

Background

The Fall broke many barriers. In the case of the Alucinor, it broke the delicate balance they had between the myriad dream-worlds they could walk and their mundane selves. Whereas the Alucinor could simply study and contemplate mortals as they dreamt, the Alucinor become horridly connected to those dreams, and now need them to sustain them.

Before the Fall, the Alucinor were rare and far between. This was mostly due to their preoccupation with and travels in the dream-lands of mortals. Their gift allowed them to traverse into the minds of the mortals around them, and to experience the fantasies and nightmares, as if they were real. In the case of special mortals, the Alucinor kept them close, serving as their muses or psychiatrists. This was how they remained connected to their humanity.

Whatever supernatural event immediately preceded the Fall, the Alucinor are now dependent upon humanity. No longer able to draw blood through normal means, they are compelled to come out of the shadows and keep a herd of select dreamers from which to feed. As a result, their impact – and their ability to protect their Kine – is now felt wherever they appear, with the result being the breaking of unwitting Kindred who knowingly, or unknowingly, stumble upon an Alucinor’s clutch.

And those who survive such encounters are often haunted from such a harrowing experience. Vampires are knowledgeable about many things, but few have ever had to defend their minds from a creature that knows of their weaknesses and can attack them in their dreams.

Thankfully, the Alucinor remain studious by nature and without the sort of ambition that would make them dangerous. They also tend to be solitary creatures, especially in modern nights when keeping groups of dreamers secure is a top priority.

Bloodline Gift

The Sandmen, simply, have the ability to walk into someone’s dreams. The first step is to become attuned to an area’s dreamers, which requires the expenditure of a Willpower point. Once this is done, the Sandman can instinctively sense the dreams of anyone sleeping within a radius of 100 yards per Blood Potency dot. The Sandman may try to understand what a particular dreamer may be dreaming about by focusing, which requires a successful Intelligence + Empathy + Auspex roll.

Once the Sandman is attuned to a particular dreamer, he may enter the dream. There, the Sandman can interact with the dreamer as if the both of them were in the waking world. This means that the Sandman can, of course, attack the dreamer, and even feed from them. When feeding from a dreamer, the dreamer loses a Willpower point for each damage caused by the feeding, and the Sandman gains a Vitae or a Willpower point. If the dreamer runs out of Willpower, they will take a level of bashing damage for every point of damage caused by the Sandman feeding from them.

A dreamer may attempt to awaken from their dream by concentrating and focusing on doing so. This means they cannot resist the Sandman in the dream-world. If they succeed on a contested Willpower roll with the Sandman, who resists reflexively, then the dreamer awakens and the Sandman is ejected into his own body.

Bloodline Bane

A Sandman cannot regain Willpower when awake. Worse, a Sandman cannot feed from someone when they are awake. Any blood that is drunken while the Sandman is awake simply turns to ashes in their mouth.

Bloodline Devotions

Blissful Sleep (Auspex **, Nightmare **)

With a mere touch, a Sandman can cause a target to fall into a deep sleep.

Cost: 1 Vitae Dice Roll: Manipulation + Persuasion + Nightmare vs Composure + Blood Potency (ref.) Action: Instant

The target resists reflexively. If the Sandman succeeds, the target falls asleep instantly. If the target suffers any damage, she will awaken.

This Devotion costs 2 Experiences.

Dream-Bending (Nightmare **, Obfuscate **)

While in a dreamer’s slumbering mind, the Sandman is able to manipulate elements of it in order to create effects and emphasize whatever mood or message the Sandman wishes to imprint.

Cost: 1 Vitae per scene Roll: Presence + Intimidation + Nightmare Action: Instant

With a successful roll, the Sandman manipulates the dreamscape around him, effectively boosting his stats and ability to manipulate the dreamer. For every success on the activation roll, the Sandman can increase any of his attributes by 1.

This Devotion costs 2 Experiences.

Imprint (Auspex ****, Nightmare **)

The Sandman is a master of dreams, and, with this power, he can affect a dreamer as if he had all of the supernatural faculties associated with vampires. In effect, this allows the Sandman to place commands in the dreamer, which he or she may not be aware of, even when they awaken.

Cost: 1 Vitae Dice Pool: Presence + Persuasion + Nightmare vs Composure + Blood Potency Action: Instant

If successful, the Sandman subjects the target to any non-persistent condition. If the Sandman achieves an exceptional success, that condition may be persistent, but only lasts for a week.

This Devotion costs 3 Experiences.

Morpheus’ Oubliette (Nightmare ***, Obfuscate *****)

With this devotion, the Sandman is able to trap a dreamer in her dreams indefinitely. Whether the dreamer can escape is entirely up to them. Meanwhile, their body wastes away in the real world, starved of sustenance and presence unless given medical attention. For vampires, this may mean falling into torpor, and being trapped forever in a never-ending cycle of nightmares.

Cost: 1 Vitae per night Dice Pool: Intelligence + Empathy + Obfuscate vs. Composure + Blood Potency Action: Contested / Extended

If the Sandman is successful to activate this, then the target is trapped in their dreams and cannot awaken as normal. Record the successes. Each night, the Sandman must spend a Vitae to continue the effect, and then roll again. If the Sandman scores more successes, add those to the previous night’s number. If the Sandman scores fewer, deduct the difference from the previous night’s number. If the target spends a Willpower point, however, then a roll is not made for the night, and the total successes are reduced by 1.

This Devotion costs 4 Experiences.