Nosgothic Birthright

[Cantriped]

Nosgothic Vampires

"The birth of a vampire traps the essence of life, and animates the corpse they 'lived' in. There the souls of the dead remain trapped. They cannot be spun into the wheel of fate. They can not complete their destinies." -Sarafan Lore.

As vampires 'evolved' their features became less and less human and more... 'divine'.

Among these changes the vampires hands and feet and developed into claw like apparatus; losing all but three digits on their hands, and all but two upon their feet, in place of which the remaining digits have developed a sharp bone like carapace perfect for rending mortal flesh. Incidentally this development also makes them able climbers, as their clawed fingers can easily dig into a surface that human hands would have trouble with.

Physical wounds are fleeting - a vampire’s immortal flesh begins to close as soon as it is cleaved. Vampires need only fear those wounds that impale, or inflame. Water scorches like acid, and fledglings are devastated by sunlight’s touch.

Raising a Vampire:

Mortal's believe (mistakenly) that Vampirism is a curse of the blood, and that it can be transferred when a vampire drains one's blood. The truth is that the creation of vampires is akin to the creation many other undead, and not necessarily a skill possessed by many vampires. Vampire's are created by drawing a soul from the Abyss (See Spectral Realm) and binding it into the body, Once the soul has been bound to the body, it will go through a period of mutation, eventually rising as a fledgling vampire. A fledgling's personality (if any) is largely determined by the soul used to animate the corpse. Lost Souls (See Spectral Realm) have lost all identity and thus create fledglings with no memory of their past lives, or very faint flashes from the life of the corpse they now inhabit. Souls of the recently deceased can also be used to create vampires, but the process is slightly different, First, such a soul can usually only be bound to the body it originally inhabited, and second such a vampire retains whatever memories and skills it still possessed at the time it's soul was drawn from the Abyss.

 

The Clans:

There are 6 vampiric clans, over-time each clan 'evolved' in different ways, making them distinct and monstrous entities. The name of each clan is derived from the vampire that sired it.

The Melchahim:

Like their Sire, Melchiah, The Melchahim are the weakest of the Vampire clans, appearing to be little more than walking corpses, resembling zombies more than vampires. These cadaverous wretches must often recruit new fledglings from the aged and desiccated corpses of the necropolis where they make their residence. As a point of note, only the Melchahim and Rezelim (see below) retain any semblance of 'human' porportion and features.

Although immortal, their souls cannot entirely sustain their flesh, which retains much of its previous human frailty. Their fragile skins barely contain the underlying decay, and must use the skins of their victims to hold their fragile bodies together.

The Melchahim burrow underground for lengthy periods of time to pupate and evolve. This tendency begets the ability to tunnel quite quickly through the earth in adults Melchahim.

The Zephonim:

Sired by the vampire Zephon, the Zephonim's evolution caused them to adopt a very arachnid like appearance. The Zephonim are particularly agile, with thin, wiry bodies, and long arms and legs. They walk on all fours most of the time, but can stand upright if they wanted to, and usually do so when attacking. Their flesh is ash grey darkening into a shiny black carapace in it's extremities, and upon maturation into an adult their backs become adorned with spines of black carapace.

The arachnidan traits of the Zephonim do not stop at their appearance. They can scale most (if not all) vertical surfaces, clinging to them for long periods of time, or dropping down to ambush their prey from above. When they catch humans, they usually bind them in cocoons of thread, to feed from later.

Fledglings of the Zephonim pupate (evolve) inside of grey/white cocoons attached to the walls and ceiling of their homes. Members of this clan seem to prefer locations with large vaulted ceilings, such as cathedrals.

The Rahabim:

Nosgothic vampires, young and old, are characteristically vulnerable to water. It burns their flesh like acid. The Rahabim are unique in overcoming this weakness. Not only can they withstand contact with the water - they actually thrive in it. initially, this development was necessary because like their Sire Rahab, the Rahabim are even more vulnerable to sunlight; to the point that even the most feeble rays of the sun could prove fatal to them. and even the reflected light of the moon is more then they can bare.

With the Rahabim's evolution their bodies became streamlined (with an unusual cobra-like hood), and they are now proficient swimmers. Coloration wise the Rahabim are typically a grayish-tan color. While swimming, they display fins on their lower legs, presumably for stabilization, and they circle and attacked their prey like sharks.

The Rahabim pupate in underwater cocoons, anchored to the floor or river bed. As a rule the Rahabim choose locations such as sunken ships as their homes.

The Dumahim:

The progeny of the vampire Dumah are among the most prolific of Nosgoth's vampire clans. The Dumahim are compact and heavily armored in appearance, their skin ranging from green as fledglings to blue as they mature into adults. The Dumahim also have developed long lashing tongues that they could flick out at their enemies from their huge gapping jaws; allowing them to drink the blood of an opponant without first pinning them down.

The Turelim:

The Turelim are one of the most powerful clans in Nosgoth; Born from the vampire Turel, they are physically strong, quick-moving, armed with highly sensitive hearing, and able to fire Telekinetic Force Projectiles. Their evolution has made them somewhat goat-like appearance, with huge, bat-like ears. The Turelim possess no distance weaknesses beyond those suffered by any vampire, however it is notable that their vision is faltering at best.

The Razelim:

Like the Melchahim, the Rezelim have retained their human resemblance to a large extent. However they now boast the addition of vast, bat-like wings, and a third clawed digit upon their heel which allows them to grab prey while flying. With this evolution the Razelim have also developed a greater resistance to the devastating effects of sunlight, while it will still burn them, it does so more slowly.

 

Dirverging from Cannon:

The Prefabs:

Converted to Hero system are four package deals for those interested in playing Nosgothicly themed vampires, as of yet these prefabs are not Clan specific (see above). Instead following the fundamental pre-(de/e)volved Vampiric model. Only the Fledgling and Adult prefabs are cannon. The Elder and Ancient prefabs are included as an option in place of Clan Specific mutations. Instead of specialization the Elder and Ancient Prefabs continue to gradually reduce the vampire's Susceptibilities while increasing the 'raw power' marginally; primarily to keep point expenditure between age catagories steady.

Susceptibilities:

For the sake of practically, the cannon nosgothic vampire susceptibilities are handled as follows.

Water: To a vampire, immersion in pure or mostly undiluted water often proves fatal, scorching their unhallowed flesh like acid. Water quite literally seems to scorch and evaporate as though from great heat when exposed to a vampires flesh, however the damage it causes the vampire is akin to acid.

Brief exposure (such as from rain) is neither fatal nor particularly painful, as the water boils itself away before it can really damage the flesh. Much like how one can pass their hand over a flame and not be burned. Brief exposure is given it's own Disadvantage (as shown in the prefabs)

Special cases, such as rain coming in sheets (literally, we're talking monsoons), or brief, but enveloping blasts of water, should be treated as Immersion.

Because Water burns as an acid rather then a flame, the vampire will begin to regenerate (assuming enough is left) the moment it is heaved from the water.

Playing a Nosgothic Vampire: This gets a bit tricky, especially if you wish to play a Fledgling. Though their net cost is very reasonable for starting characters, this is due largely to the overwhelming disadvantages they suffer from in exchange for their new powers. The later age groups are more player friendly, as the vampire has begun to overcome it's weaknesses with age, but even here there is little room for traits outside of the racial package if the GM abides strictly to the point allowances.

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[Cantriped]

Re: Nosgothic Birthright

 

Please note, very little of the document above is my own intellectual property, being a rough conversion of Vampire's presentation in the Legacy of Kain & Soul Reaver games. In fact much of the text itself was drawn from the either the game, or descriptions found on other sites.

[AmadanNaBriona]

Re: Nosgothic Birthright

 

Vae Victus!

[Black Rose]

Re: Nosgothic Birthright

 

Vae Victus!

Boo-freakin'-yah!!

 

Oh man, I loved that game! Only ever played the first one for any real length of time, but I loved me some wholesale slaughter of innocent Nosgothians. I got to fool around with the second one, and only really got to see the start of the one where Kain goes to the future. Good times....

[Cantriped]

Re: Nosgothic Birthright

 

I only ever actually played Soul Reaver 1, but I know the story in full at this point.

Considering I don't have acess to the series and don't really have time to play it, I didn't feel at all bad about reading transcripts of the scripts and a massive number of Wiki's and FAQs on the world and it's characters for this little project.

I always find myself somewhat drawn to the enigmatic magic of worlds like Nosgoth... must be the mystique.