City of Shadows Mux City of Shadows Mux

ADROANZI

Parent Clan: Nosferatu Sobriquet: Caretakers Source: Ancient Bloodlines, p. 107 Disciplines: Animalism, Nightmare, Obfuscate, Vigor Revised by: Ganymede

Background

The ancient, ancestral lords of the jungle, the Adroanzi find in modern nights a world that beckons to them. As the kudzu and wildlife reclaim areas once dominated by the technology of man, the Caretakers’ influence has become greater than ever before. Caretakers, new and old, have spread away from Africa, taking hold in the wilds and repelling interlopes with extreme prejudice. To them, the world is being called back to the Old Gods, and they will usher in a return to the past, where vampires lurk in the darkness to prey upon humanity.

Needless to say, the manifest destiny of the Caretakers has been met with resistance by the collective Kindred. Most Princes, upon rumor, will call upon blood hunts to eliminate the potential encroachment of a Caretaker into her territory. Unfortunately, as the stereotypical Caretaker hails from Africa, such an order has increased suspicion of race and skin-color, something which is harder to shake as humanity tries to stabilize itself.

Accordingly, to protect their charges, Caretakers attempt to take a less aggressive approach into establishing their territories, often providing Princes and others who may tolerate them unparalleled mastery over their natural areas. Still, prevailing wisdom is to purge the Caretakers when found, and to avoid the wild areas of the world.

Fortunately, the Caretakers consider themselves precisely that. Most are welcoming to those at their borders, and reward those who can return courtesy with courtesy. In their minds, they are descendants from older, eldritch lords that ruled when the world knew nothing of the mastery of man. And while they seek a return to that sort of time, there is no need to rush – especially when the signs show a reversal of civilization.

Bloodline Gift

The Caretakers’ affinity for Animalism goes beyond conventional limits, and can be used on plants and other non-sentient flora. The Caretakers suffers no penalty when using Animalism against insects and other vermin, but cannot use it against microscopic creatures. When using Animalism, the following augments apply:

Feral Whispers: The Caretaker can also speak to and understand plants, although this is through sympathy and empathy rather than speech. Plants will respond obediently to the Caretaker, but their ability to understand anything beyond what they can perceive is limited.

Raise the Familiar: The Caretaker may use this power to create sentient mandragora, which are able to communicate and move, albeit in a limited fashion. The mandragora cannot uproot itself, but it can reach out and grab people within range. Mostly, the Caretakers use this power to create unassuming watchers in their territory; the mandragora are capable of understanding concepts as if it had an Intelligence of 1. Such mandragora are also able to communicate with the plant-life around them.

Feral Infection: The Caretaker can turn the plant-life in an area into a single, semi-sentient entity bent on destroying whatever the Caretaker wishes through rampant overgrowth. Fighting off a plant is not terribly difficult, but the maddened, rampant overgrowth creates a formidable foe that can overwhelm with size. The kudzu can be considered a Horror, and may be built as such, with a Potency equal to the successes on the activation roll.

Further, uses of Animalism to directly harm a Caretaker in her chosen territory will automatically fail, and a Caretaker in her chosen territory can banish any animals or other wildlife from her presence with a thought.

Bloodline Bane

The Caretakers’ belief in their own divinity keeps them from obtaining sustenance from that which they have not personally touched. A Caretaker receives no sustenance from blood or Vitae that does not come from one of their own ghouls, thralls, or mandragora. This weakness forces them to keep tight communities and gardens of mandragora, which they guard jealously.

Bloodline Devotions

Jubokko (Animalism ***, Nightmare ***)

The Caretaker can use this devotion to turn a mandragora into a plant that inspires fear and anxiety by its mere presence. By spending an additional vitae when creating the mandragora, the Caretaker can imprint it with the inherent ability to use Face of the Beast or The Grand Delusion (Nightmare 2 and 3) on anyone that looks at it. The mandragora’s pool is equal to its domitor’s, and the Condition caused must relate to the plant itself.

This Devotion costs 3 Experiences.

Silent Passage (Animalism *, Obfuscate *)

The Caretakers, when in natural environments, are nearly impossible to detect, as the plant life around them actively try to hide their existence. When in a natural setting, any attempt to notice the Caretaker, even when she may be taking a violent act that would cause a commotion, is penalized by her Animalism score.

This Devotion costs 1 Experience.

Synergy (Animalism **, Vigor **)

With this devotion, the Caretaker can meld with a plant, such as a tree, equal in size to her, much as how Unmarked Grave (Protean 1) works.

Cost: 1 Vitae Action: One turn

This Devotion costs 2 Experiences.

Treant (Animalism ****, Vigor ****)

Once the Caretaker has melded with a plant or tree using Synergy, she may then animate it – with her inside and in control.

Cost: 2 Vitae per scene. Action: One turn

The Caretaker essentially creates a living tree that can uproot itself and walk around, violating the First Tradition in a way that it likely never envisioned. When in the treant, the Caretaker enjoys armor against bashing and lethal damage equal to the tree’s Durability, and has a number of extra health levels equal to the tree’s Size. The armor protects the Caretaker against sunlight, but not against fire. While in the treant, the Caretaker’s defense is lowered by the tree’s Durability, and attacks have a damage bonus equal to the tree’s Size – 5.

This Devotion costs 4 Experiences.