Osirian
You chose to stop being a monster. The monster hasn't agreed yet.
What Are You?¶
You were someone else first. You had a Clan, a sire, a Bane, the whole cursed inheritance. Then something changed. Maybe you saw what you were becoming and couldn't stomach it. Maybe you'd already become something terrible and wanted out. Maybe you just woke up one night and realized that centuries of feeding, scheming, and Frenzying had hollowed you into something you no longer recognized. However it happened, the Osirians found you, or you found them, and they offered something no other Kindred organization does: a way back. Deny the Beast. Practice discipline. Study the ancient art of Bardo. Reclaim, piece by piece, the Humanity you thought was gone forever.
The Osirians are ancient, secretive, and very nearly extinct. Their founder was Osiris, an ancient Egyptian vampire who discovered a path to mastering the Beast through spiritual discipline rather than feeding it; he taught his methods to others, forming a monastic order that has survived in hidden temples for millennia. Their enemies, The Ministry (who revere the founder's dark sibling, Set), have been trying to destroy the Osirians for just as long, and they've almost succeeded. In the modern nights, an Osirian is a ghost story most Kindred don't believe. Your order doesn't participate in vampire politics, doesn't seek alliances, and doesn't Embrace — every member is a vampire who already belonged to another Clan and chose to walk away from it. You keep what your Blood gave you (your Disciplines, your reflexes, the general shape of your curse's aftermath), but you shed the identity. You are no longer Nosferatu, Brujah, or Ventrue. You are Osirian, and the work is never finished.
The cost is the tightrope. Your power comes from your Humanity, and Humanity is fragile. Every Stain threatens to cut you off from the Discipline that defines you. And the Beast you've been starving through decades of meditation and denial? Yeah, it hasn't gone anywhere. It's waiting and lurking, coiled in the dark, hungrier and angrier than any other vampire's Beast because you've been refusing to feed it. When an Osirian Frenzies, it's a truly horrific eruption. Other Kindred lose control for a few minutes. You lose control like a dam breaking in a spring monsoon. The higher you climb, the further you can fall.
Disciplines¶
You start with exclusive access to Bardo. Choose a former Clan and select 1 Discipline from that Clan's pool of 3.
Bardo does not follow normal Discipline access rules. Instead of requiring Blood Potency, each Bardo Power requires a minimum amount of Humanity to learn and use. If your Humanity drops below a Power's threshold, you lose access to it until your Humanity is restored.
- Level 1 requires 5+ Humanity
- Level 2 requires 6+
- Level 3 requires 7+
- Level 4 requires 8+
- Level 5 requires 9+
Bane: Denied Beast¶
You have spent your unlife suppressing the Beast through ascetic discipline, and it has not forgiven you.
When you Frenzy, the starved Beast erupts with devastating force. After any Frenzy, take an Ongoing penalty to Stay Chill rolls equal to half your missing Humanity, rounded up (minimum 1) for the remainder of the night. Your missing Humanity is 10 minus your current Humanity. (At Humanity 8, that's −1. At Humanity 5, that's −3.)
You cannot Embrace anyone. Any attempt to turn a mortal simply kills them; the blood of Osiris cannot create new unlife, only sustain the old.
Compulsion: Intervention¶
When you witness cruelty, corruption, or someone succumbing to their base urges, you feel compelled to intercede and guide them toward restraint peacefully, regardless of personal danger or tactical wisdom.
Until you meaningfully de-escalate the situation, convince someone to step back from the edge, or the scene ends, take an Ongoing penalty equal to half your missing Humanity, rounded up (minimum 1) to all rolls not dedicated to peaceful intervention. Violence to resolve a Compulsion of Intervention is a contradiction; if you resort to it, mark 1 Stain.
Osirian Perks¶
You get 2 unique abilities:
Pillar of Osiris: You can designate a fixed location (room, shrine, garden, cave, etc.) as your Pillar through one full night of uninterrupted meditation, creating a pleasant and persistent magical haze in the air that soothes everyone within it. While at your Pillar, you have +1 Ongoing to all Bardo Powers and Stay Chill rolls. When you meditate at your Pillar for at least one full scene, remove 1 Stain. You must return to your Pillar at least once per week; for each week you're away, take a cumulative −1 Ongoing to Stay Chill as the Beast inside you grows restless. Returning to your Pillar and meditating for one scene resets this penalty.
Gift of Apis: Animal blood nourishes you as effectively as human blood, regardless of your Blood Potency. When you Feed from animals, ignore all BP-related feeding restrictions. A rat, bird, coyote, deer, or any other animal is as filling as a full-grown human and somehow tastes just as good (though they never have Blood Resonance). You may select the Farmer Predator Type at any Blood Potency, overriding the normal BP 3+ restriction.
Osirian Experience¶
Once each per session, gain +1 XP when you...
- Resist your Beast or maintain your self-discipline in a situation where giving in would have been easier and more effective
- Guide somebody toward restraint or redemption, convincing them to choose a less destructive path
- Sacrifice power, safety, or a meaningful advantage to protect your Humanity or uphold your Convictions
Archetypes¶
- Ascetic: The mind can only be at peace when the body is too.
- Blood −1 | Shadow +0 | Resolve +2 | Demeanor +1 | Wits +1
- Guardian: You didn't swear off violence. You swore to use it only when nothing else will do.
- Blood +2 | Shadow +0 | Resolve +1 | Demeanor −1 | Wits +1
- Shepherd: You found the path. Now you help others find it too, one lost soul at a time.
- Blood −1 | Shadow +0 | Resolve +1 | Demeanor +2 | Wits +1
- Custom Archetype: Create your own by distributing these stats: +2 | +1 | +1 | +0 | −1