Cattiveria is an Italian word meaning, quite simply, “wickedness.” Its development took generations of blood and sacrifice, such that it lives up to its name in both practice and spirit. Cattiveria, also called necromancy in some circles, is nothing less than the practice of manipulating the tainted essence of death toward such ends as raising seeping cadavers and enslaving specters and ghosts. When Lodovico became a vampire, he found himself robbed of the sorcery that had allowed him to command corpses and spirits when he was alive. Infuriated by what seemed to be a calculated punishment, the fledgling Kindred threw himself once again into studying the texts and stories he had inherited from his mother, striving in a haze of madness to discover what manner of block had been imposed on his talents. He traveled to Florence, hearing of a gathering there of others of his kind, and there he encountered the Lancea Sanctum, at one of whose midnight masses Lodovico was at last stricken with the revelation he had sought. Lodovico’s epiphany related to the nature of the very force that traps a vampire in his undying state. Much as a vampire is able to impart power to a ghoul through his Blood, so, too, can that animating force be shared with a corpse, granting it a jerky, unwholesome animation. Its kinship with a substance spiritualists in a later age would call ‘Ectoplasm’ likewise makes it particularly useful for drawing ghostly manifestations into the world.
In practice, Cattiveria is almost more of a scholarly pursuit than an occult discipline, its practitioners more like engineers than occultists, even though its workings universally demand the trappings of black magic — if only to cement in the Necromancer’s mind the grim reality of what he has set out to do. Almost no application of this discipline can be enacted on the fly, instead typically requiring candles to be lit and blood to be shed in addition to whatever bizarre trappings please the Necromancer’s sense of drama.
Years of studying death and medicine have attuned the Sangiovanni’s senses regarding corpses and the peculiar taint that distinguishes grave dirt from the soil around it.
By laying his hands on a cadaver and closing his eyes in concentration, the vampire can discover hidden truths about the corpse, such as the person’s name, her undamaged appearance, how the person died, how long she has been dead and other minor facts.
Alternatively, the Necromancer may apply this power to the study of an area, standing in its midst and shutting his eyes in quiet meditation, thereby detecting any corpses that may be buried or hidden nearby. Necromancers describe this power as briefly reaching out and touching on the realm of death, either listening to the lingering echo of living souls.
Cost: —
Dice Pool: Wits + Medicine + Cattiveria
Action: Extended
Roll Results
Dramatic Failure: The vampire receives misleading information, such as incorrectly assessing a corpse, sensing several corpses where none are buried or sensing empty ground where bodies are interred.
Failure: Nothing happens. The vampire concentrates for a moment, but he receives no useful information.
Success: Visions relevant to the information appear in the vampire’s mind’s eye, revealing information that only he can see or hear. If the character is studying a corpse, the player may ask the Storyteller one question per success rolled. The information available includes the corpse’s name, its undamaged description (for example, what its face looked like if its head is missing), the clinical cause of its death, the nature of any foreign materials in the body (including both material and chemical matter), the location and likely cause of any wounds and the exact time and date of its death. Note that the corpse is not “responding” to the vampire’s inquiry — the information is revealing itself. There is no conversation between the user of Mortician’s Appraisal and the spirit of the departed.
When Mortician’s Appraisal is used on an area, each success extends the vampire’s senses 10 yards out and 10 feet up and down, revealing to him the location of any and all corpses, human or otherwise, that are buried or hidden within that area. The vampire’s sense of any bodies in the area persists for a scene, or until he takes any action other than moving at a slow walk.
If this power is used on a vampire, the roll is contested by the target’s Resolve + Composure. If the user’s successes exceed those of the target’s, the questions can be asked as normal, or the body can be located. Note that the clinical cause of a vampire’s death is always exsanguination. No information about the Embrace will be provided.
Exceptional Success: An exceptional success in examining a corpse allows the vampire to learn all of the information listed above in a flash of insight.
If the character is attempting to locate bodies, an exceptional success allows the vampire to maintain the sense even while taking other actions, for the duration of the scene.
This power imparts weak animation to a corpse, whole or otherwise. The Shuffling Porter retains none of its body’s former intelligence. It is a simple automaton, capable only of performing unchallenging tasks as directed by its master. This power can be used on a single limb, if desired, but must be used once for each separate piece being animated.
To activate this power, the vampire barks a short phrase in an obscene, guttural cant, commanding the corpse to rise. The power of the vampire’s Blood draws plasmic energies of spirit into the corpse, mobilizing it. Auspex-users may catch a flicker, similar to static, of a black, oily mist — what the Sangiovanni call ectoplasm — coalescing around a cold corpse before the body moans and shudders, clambering to its feet to do the Necromancer’s bidding. The servants thus created are cold, with grayish skin and all the marks of death still upon them, shambling about stupidly and responding only to the simplest commands. These animated corpses rot at an accelerated rate, burning off ectoplasm and collapsing in a matter of hours.
Cost: 1 Vitae per corpse
Dice Pool: Intelligence + Occult + Cattiveria
Action: Instant
Roll Results
Dramatic Failure: A horrible backlash occurs. Not only does the corpse fail to rise, but the Necromancer takes a level of aggravated damage as the mysterious force that animates his own body flickers in brief failure.
Failure: Nothing happens. The corpse remains a corpse.
Success: The corpse rises as directed. The Shuffling Porter is a mindless creature, responding only to the simple commands of its master. It cannot be mentally or socially manipulated.
Shuffling Porters have an effective rating of 1 in all Physical Attributes and 0 in all Social and Mental Attributes, and they have no Abilities. Their Defense is 0, and their Speed is 2. Their initial Health rating is equal to the number of successes achieved on the activation roll, and they take one level of lethal damage every hour as they rot. When the lethal damage they take equals their Health rating, they collapse into a mass of rotten flesh and cannot be animated again. Until collapsing, the animated corpse suffers no wound penalties.
Exceptional Success: Shuffling Porters created with an exceptional success gain three extra Health levels upon activation.
At this level of understanding, the Sangiovanni can summon and manipulate the black plasm of spiritual energy. She produces this gauzy, visible, weightless substance from any orifice in her body (usually the nose or mouth), and can apply it to heal wounds suffered by vampires or animated corpses.
Cost: 1 Vitae
Dice Pool: Strength + Crafts + Cattiveria
Action: Instant
Roll Results
Dramatic Failure: Ectoplasm appears, but it rips itself violently out of the vampire’s body, doing one level of aggravated damage to the user, and dissipates before it can be used.
Failure: The vampire fails to produce the ectoplasm.
Success: The ectoplasm is produced harmlessly, and floats in the air before the vampire, who may then manipulate it. By applying the ectoplasm directly to a wound, the vampire may heal one level of lethal damage (or two levels of bashing damage) in a Kindred body or other animated corpse (such as a Shuffling Porter). The ectoplasm is absorbed into the body as it is used, sinking into the flesh and vanishing from normal sight.
This plasm is not composed directly of vampiric Vitae, and possesses none of the qualities of Vitae; the plasm cannot be ingested and does not impose a Vinculum on a subject who absorbs it.
Exceptional Success: Double the normal quantity of ectoplasm is produced, and two actions to heal can be performed with it before it is dissipated.
Advanced understanding of the art of Cattiveria allows a vampire to learn how to imbue his animated servants with a measure of his own power and predatory instinct. With a symbolic kiss, he pushes a point of his Vitae into the corpse, awakening it and further empowering it.
Before this power can be used, the target corpse must be animated as a Shuffling Porter, above.
Cost: 1 Vitae per corpse
Dice Pool: Intelligence + Occult + Cattiveria
Action: Instant
Roll Results
Dramatic Failure: The Vitae is wasted and the corpse is paralyzed by the botched attempt, completely unable to move or act for the remainder of its existence.
Failure: The awakening of the corpse fails. It may continue operation as a normal Shuffling Porter.
Success: The animated corpse is empowered and be- comes more capable and more dangerous than a normal Shuffling Porter. The corpse’s Strength and Stamina rise to 4 each (adding 3 to its Maximum Health rating as well), and its Intelligence and Wits rise to 1 each. The corpse gains one dot of the Brawl Ability, with a specialty in Grappling. The corpse can comprehend more complicated commands, and will be imbued with the predatory nature of its master, who it will guard with fierce loyalty.
Shuffling Porters gifted with the Predator’s Bequest stop taking damage from accelerated rot, and can only be destroyed by violent means. They do not heal damage naturally, requiring the application of ectoplasm for repair.
Exceptional Success: In addition to the attributes gained above, the Shuffling Porter inherits a second dot of Brawl and one dot of any other Ability the vampire possesses, as chosen by the vampire.
The Last Breath, as Santino originally named this power, is a truly horrifying spectacle. By invoking her power to the limit, a Sangiovanni can forcibly rip the animating plasm from a walking corpse, damaging it hideously in the process. Animated corpses are unmade in an instant, and vampires suffer terrible wounds.
When this power is used, the Sangiovanni literally tears visible ectoplasm from the victim’s body, leaving a deep scar in its wake. He must touch the victim, flesh to flesh, and then whip back, pulling the ectoplasm away.
The plasm so removed dissipates in seconds and cannot be used for any other purpose. This power may only be used once on a given victim per night, no matter how many vampires attempt to use it.
Cost: 1 Willpower
Dice Pool: Intelligence + Crafts + Cattiveria – Resolve + Blood Potency
Action: Instant
Roll Results
Dramatic Failure: The power catastrophically back- fires, rending the Necromancer’s own plasm, which rips itself out through his heart and deals one level of aggravated damage as it goes, leaving a roughly circular scar on his chest.
Failure: The power fails to activate.
Success: The target, which must be some form of walking dead, takes one point of lethal damage per success rolled. The plasm that evacuates the body leaves agonizing burns in its path, searing whorls and loops of tissue before vanishing.
Characters with Auspex may see the plasm whip out of the victim’s body, curling and dissolving in the air around him.
Exceptional Success: As above, but the target is wracked with paralyzing pain and cannot act (except to defend himself) for the duration of the next turn.