The greatest secret that the Noctuku harbor with their semi-solitary requiem is that of Phagia, a unique discipline that the Noctuku have developed, expressing their true nature as apex predators in the world of Kindred. Noctuku scholars believe that Phagia was born of the dark hunger that all of the bloodline struggle with on a nightly basis, while others hypothesize that Phagia was simply born of necessity great power attending the hunger of the bloodline, strengthening the Bogeymen even as it encourages them to greater and greater depravity. Phagia is a dark art that is drawn from deep within the Noctuku’s predatory souls, empowering and entrapping them for all time.
The vicious potential of the Noctuku shows itself in the very first expression of Phagia, allowing vampires to draw sustenance from flesh even as they rend it with their fangs. When most Kindred latch onto a victim with their teeth, they may choose whether to drink blood or do lethal damage by gnawing further. The Noctuku can do both at once, tearing through his victim and feeding at the same time.
The Gnashing Maw can be used to take blood from the corpse of a recently deceased mortal or animal, assuming there is any left in the system, drawing the blood from the torn vessels in the flesh itself. The blood will only be useful if the creature has died within the last hour or so — after that, the blood begins to break down.
This power does not involve any physical transformation on the part of the Noctuku. He is simply a more efficient predator than most, pulling the blood from his victims even as he tears them apart.
Cost: —
Dice Pool: Strength + Survival + Phagia
Action: Reflexive
Roll Results
Dramatic Failure: The Noctuku fails to use the power, accidentally disengaging from the victim without doing damage or draining blood, wasting his action for the turn.
Failure: The Noctuku fails to use the power, and must choose either to drink blood or to deal damage as normal.
Success: The Noctuku drains one point of Vitae and deals lethal bite damage to his victim, chewing through her flesh even as he drinks. If the wound is inflicted upon a mortal, it will be mangled and may disfigure the person permanently.
Exceptional Success: The bite of the Noctuku does an extra level of lethal damage while draining a point of Vitae.
When this level of Phagia develops, the Noctuku’s flesh changes to a rasping, rough surface covered in microscopic ridges that allow him to ingest blood through any point on his body. Anyone who feels the flesh of the Noctuku will notice the unusual texture, but those who have never seen this power in use may assume that the flesh is a deformity of the Nosferatu, failing to understand its true purpose.
Because of the great increase in available intake area for feeding, the Noctuku can now drain two points of Vitae from a victim in a single round, as long as the Noctuku maintains enough flesh-to-flesh contact (at least twice as much as the area of his open mouth).
Many Noctuku who develop this power choose to wear as little clothing as possible, maximizing the potential feeding surface of their bodies. Some eschew garments completely, while others prefer to wear cloaks or coats that are easy to tear away at appropriate moments. Those more concerned with maintaining a semblance of humanity (whether for psychological or tactical reasons) are likely to remain fully dressed though, leaving just their forearms or feet bare for potential use in battle.
Cost: —
Dice Pool: This power involves no roll, and is considered “always on.” The character may turn it off if he wishes, but doing so requires a successful Resolve + Composure roll, which renders the power inaccessible for the duration of the scene. If the power is off, the character’s flesh returns to its ordinary state and feels no different from any other vampire’s.
Action: n/a
Empowered by the force of his hunger itself, the Noctuku can invoke this power to prepare and preserve the stolen flesh of his victims, imbuing it with unnatural longevity and storing it for later consumption.
Kindred with this power tend to litter their havens with the torn limbs of their prey, relying upon Bloody Cache to sate their hunger when hunting is too dangerous or inconvenient to engage in. So long as the power is in effect, the limbs appear fresh, and do not seem to decompose.
This power can be used once for each victim of Size 5 or less, although the body must be torn into pieces of Size 1 each. The power does not imbue flesh with additional blood — there will only be as much in the limbs as was left in the victim when it died.
Cost: 1 Vitae
Dice Pool: Dexterity + Survival + Phagia
Action: Instant
Roll Results
Dramatic Failure: The attempt to imbue the flesh fails, and the Noctuku actually expends an additional point of Vitae in the process, doubling the cost of his failure. He may not attempt to use this power on these remains in the future.
Failure: The power fails to activate, and the retained limbs provide no sustenance in the future.
Success: The limbs and the blood within them are successfully preserved. For each success rolled, they remain edible for one night (so, for example, three successes on the roll would allow the Noctuku to gain sustenance from the limbs for up to three nights after the activation of the power). To access the blood within the limbs, the Noctuku must devour the flesh. Even if the Noctuku regurgitates it immediately, the blood within will be drawn out and ingested.
Only a Noctuku with this power can gain sustenance from the limbs so preserved; the Bloody Cache entails the ability to both extend the sustainability of the flesh and the ability to benefit from it.
Exceptional Success: The limbs are preserved for a number of nights equal to twice the number of successes rolled.
It is said in many cultures that the flesh and blood are the body of the soul, and when someone dies, her body becomes an empty shell, rotting slowly away until nothing remains. The Noctuku have discovered through their perverse rituals that the body that remains — when properly prepared — can act as protective armor. The Noctuku removes the skin of the victim, preparing it like the hide of an animal, and can then drape it over himself for protection. The flesh becomes a leathery, ablative casing, protecting the vampire from the rays of the sun, the heat of flames or other attacks. This cured hide is heavy and semi-flexible, trading freedom of motion for protection.
Mortals and Kindred who encounter a Noctuku wearing the hide may not understand exactly what it is that they’re seeing. Most will mistake it for poorly prepared or hastily stitched leather unless they get a good chance to look it over. An observer attempting to identify it must garner a success on a Wits + Academics roll. Those who wish to identify the person (or specific creature) the hide came from will have to take the opportunity to examine it at length, acquiring a number of successes (as directed by the Storyteller) on an extended Intelligence + Investigation or Intelligence + Science roll. A Noctuku can choose to make identification more difficult by working or warping the hide (represented by a further Dexterity + Crafts roll, adding to the number of successes required on the extended forensic attempt). Rather than sacrificing mobility for protection on a hunt, most Noctuku will keep a supply of prepared hides in their havens, sleeping under a pile of them for safety.
The process of preparation takes one night for each hide — the skin must be removed from the victim, scraped, dried and mystically imbued with the vampire’s will. Putting on the hide takes one turn.
Cost: 1 Willpower
Dice Pool: Dexterity + Crafts + Phagia
Action: Instant
Roll Results
Dramatic Failure: The hide produced is worthless, and the vampire exhausts herself in the process of attempting to activate the power, expending an additional point of Willpower.
Failure: The hide does not preserve properly, and will provide no protection.
Success: The hide is preserved, transforming it, for all intents and purposes, into armor with the following qualities: Rating 2/2, Strength 2, Defense –1, Speed –1. The hide can be layered, as with normal armor, with the attendant addition of bonuses and penalties.
If the hide absorbs two points of damage, the hide disintegrates immediately and cannot be used again. The hide will absorb aggravated damage caused by sunlight or flame as well as that of normal attacks, so long as the whole of the Noctuku’s body (or whichever part is exposed to the damage-dealing factor) is wrapped in the hide.
Exceptional Success: The hide produced has the following qualities instead of those listed above: Rating 3/3, Strength 2, Defense –1, Speed 0.
Perfecting her understanding of Phagia, the Noctuku becomes a truly favored predator, literally attracting blood to her flesh as if by some impossibly magnetic force. Blood running freely will turn toward the Noctuku, even if it runs counter to gravity, flowing around barriers and through cracks to get to the vampire. Even that contained within flesh will push toward the Noctuku, forming livid bruises under the skin of the living and rising uncontrollably to the surface of a vampire’s body.
This ghastly attraction is a truly terrifying effect, and many who witness it are unlikely to forget the sight for as long as they live.
Unrestricted blood will flow toward the Noctuku with unnatural velocity, moving at the vampire’s Speed rating.
Cost: 1 Willpower
Dice Pool: Strength + Survival + Phagia (versus target’s Stamina + Blood Potency if turned upon a victim)
Action: Instant/Contested
Roll Results
Dramatic Failure: The magnetic lure of the vampire’s body goes awry, tugging at her own Vitae. She spends one point uncontrollably, wasting it, and cannot make use of this power again for the remainder of the scene.
Failure: The power fails to activate.
Success: The power is activated, affecting an area dictated by the number of successes achieved on the roll:
Successes — Radius of Effect
1 success — 1 yard
2 successes — 2 yards
3 successes — 5 yards
4 successes — 10 yards
5+ successes — 30 yards
All of the free blood within the area of effect will flow toward the vampire at a rate equal to her Speed (without modifiers). Blood that is held within sealed containers and unable to flow freely will press up against the side nearest the vampire, as if searching for holes or cracks to pass through.
To turn the power upon a mortal victim, the Noctuku must touch him to activate it. The victim suffers levels of lethal damage equal to the number of successes achieved on the roll as dark bruises appear on the side of his body closest to the vampire. These bruises fade when the damage from the power is healed normally. If the victim bears an open wound, blood will flow profusely from it.
If the power is turned upon a vampire, touch is still necessary. The power forces the vampire to expend a point of Vitae for each success rolled on the activation roll, bringing the blood uselessly to the surface of the skin in an emulation of the “blush of health” effect.
Exceptional Success: As above.
This power can only be directed at one living or undead target at a time. Once used successfully on a victim, Blood Compulsion cannot be applied against him again in the scene by any vampire.