Golden Rule Options

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he Setite priest quite nearly shivers with delight as he sinks his fangs into his newest procurement and laughs to see that the cultist seemingly enjoys the kiss with a level of abandonment and rapture he has never seen before. The very triumph of it all, for this mage had been betrayed to the Followers by his own friend, the power mad kindred Sean, Malkavian wannabe prince of Vegas. Here Cyrus would gain the power he sought to find and destroy Bakarne, the Gangrel Basque explorer who had slain his love centuries ago and even now hid somewhere out in the deserts of Nevada. Here Cyrus had gained this gift in such a way that it corrupted the future prince, and corrupted this deliciously naive sorceror. He felt the blood burn as it entered his throat, full of power beyond any mortal ken. Javier, the cultist, writhed in the Ecstasy which his tradition craved. But not all was well. . .

It is known that mystical blood can have strange effects upon the kindred who drinks of them.  Last issue, I discussed the interaction between the kindred and the plasm that makes up the essence of wraiths. Last issue promised to discuss the effect of the blood of mages, and I got some email asking when that would happen. Here it is; I hope it will please you.  What of mages, what happens to the vampire who taps into their mystic blood? The wise kindred learns. 

The Vampire Players Guide gives suggestions for rules to apply to kindred who have fed from psychics or hedge mages, but what of the kindred who drinks from the raw power of the True Mage. What benefits might she obtain, what penalties might she face, and what happens to the mage? The following are suggested rules to cover these eventualities. They are rules that have been tested in actual games, and were in part created to alleviate certain problems that occurred before they were in place. 

Imagine a mage with Life magick sufficient to heal himself. Imagine if you will a vampire who befriends this mage. Unlikely perhaps, but often player's troupes are composed of unlikely combinations. The vampire never need fear the need to feed ever again, and the mage in return can expect a lifetime of free Tass. This cannot be, this is not what is intended, and there must be reasons why it will not work. You might suggest that every time the kindred feeds on the mage that it is aggravated damage. Consider that the mage draws his blood out and gives it to the kindred. You might ask why a kindred would give his blood so freely to a mage, and I say consider that it is merely an exchange. You might think that the mage could not heal that easily, and I point out that he is armed with an immense supply of Tass. You might say that the mage will become blood bound, and I point out that there is nowhere in the mage rules that specifically requires a mage to consume the Tass to use it. So what is left? 

The blood of a True Mage will have powerful effects on a kindred who consumes it, far more incredible than the random uncontrollable little acts that will surround the vampire who has fed upon a psychic or hedge mage. The blood of the True Mage is filled with dynamic power, charged with the very essence of the universe. It is possessed of primal magick, and the kindred's static being cannot entirely contain this might. This results in dangers and merits to drinking the blood of a mage. 

s mage blood is usually more potent than that of a mortal, the kindred will usually gain more in the way of "blood points" from draining a like amount of blood. This occurs in a similar way to the drawing of blood from a lupine; the vampire being able to hold more total blood points because the blood is more concentrated in power. How potent the blood is to the kindred depends upon the mage's quintessence rating. As the level one sphere of Prime suggests, the essence of the life of the mage flows in his blood, and the power of the kindred can allow him to tap into that source. For each blood point a kindred drains from a mage, he receives one tenth of that mage's quintessence as well. Thus a mage with ten quintessence drained of the three points normally gained by a kindred in a single round, will lose three blood (taking health levels of damage) and three quintessence. The kindred will gain three blood each potently charged and equivalent to two blood points, thereby gaining the equivalent of six blood points. However these six points will only fill three points worth of space, allowing a kindred to gorge upon supernatural blood. 

The dangerous effects of using mage blood are too numerous and chaotic to represent using the rather limited rules for what happens due to the blood of psychics and hedge mages, yet we do not want to bog the game down with an immense regimen of new rules. The simplest solution is to represent the dangers using the Mage rules. Each time a kindred actually spends a blood point gained from a mage, he gains a point of paradox. Thus in the example above, the kindred would eventually gain six paradox as he spent those points. As kindred normally do not gain paradox due to their static use of magic this is likely to be a horrifying thing to them. It is suggested that you try to create the actual effects of the paradox using a conceptual blend of the speres of magic of the mage and the physiology and mindset of the kindred. As this is essentially what you do in Mage anyway, this should come naturally to a Storyteller familiar with both games. 

n the sample story blurb, the Setite gains blood from a Cult of Ecstasy mage. Later when he spends some of those points he is struck with horrifyingly realistic images of the slaying of his love hundreds of years  ago and spends an entire night in rage against the murderer he cannot find. For many nights later he is overcome with grief. This is the result of Quiet coming from Time and Mind magicks born by the Cultist, Javier. Another kindred in one of our chronicles drank the blood of a Euthanatos and became incredibly unlucky as he was struck by the forces of karma. This was the interaction between Entropy magick and a Malkavian who truly believes that everything is based upon probability. A third kindred was subjected to the ultimate torture, as he literally became a living human again for twenty-four hours. He had drunk from a mage who possessed Life magicks and he greatly desired to become human again. Of course at the end of the twenty four hours, during which he had no idea that this would be temporary and which was marked with a beautiful scene in which he watched his first sunrise in over one hundred years, he underwent the horrible agony of dying and becoming kindred again. The expulsion of food and wine he had drunk over the course of the day was disgusting to say the least. 

The Paradox is gained as the actual points of blood are spent, but in true Storyteller style, there is great freedom over when they actually strike. Paradox is a fickle thing and can be used to spice up a story greatly if used correctly. But do not wait too long. The paradox is the result of the kindred tapping into the essence of the universe. It will likely happen soon after the blood is burned. 

Other possible effects of the blood are somewhat more mirky and best left firmly unestablished. The use of mage blood is certain to affect thaumaturgic rituals in some way. Perhaps the use of a mage's blood to perform a ritual that somehow is in resonance with his magicks will yield extra successes or lowered difficulty. On the other hand using the blood of a saintly Celestial Choruser to summon a demon or harm an innocent might be more difficult. A mage skilled in Time 3 magicks allowing rapid movement might allow temporary boosts to Celerity. These are unlikely to be consistent effects, however, as the kindred do not actually have control over the awakened nature of the blood they are stealing. In this way they are similar to drinking the blood of an ancient kindred--you may gain a bit of his power but at what price and how will it manifest?