Xinyao (literally, “to bite the heart”) is the Discipline of emotional manipulation that Xiao Tianpàn created in his botched attempt to escape the curse of the Daeva. His hope was to create a power that would allow him to displace his emotions onto others, thereby nullifying them and leaving himself in complete control. The reality is tragically different. Emotions are not like water; they cannot simply be poured from one person into another. Instead, they proved to be more like flame, and the vampire’s emotions flared with proximity to the recipient. Certain powers allowed the Xiao to calm their hearts, but only by creating situations that were bound to stimulate them again. Defeated and despairing, Xiao Tianpàn nonetheless continued working to refine his Discipline, eventually giving into the temptation it offered. It remains the treasured weapon of his bloodline to this night.
As the Xiao learns to harness her natural abilities, she discovers that she can use the power of her Vitae to forge a connection directly to her target’s emotional self. Using this supernatural connection, she can bypass the natural discomfort of a mortal in the presence of Kindred.
Cost: —
Dice Pool: Presence + Empathy + Xinyao
Action: Instant
To activate the power, the Xiao must sing or speak to the subject while making eye contact. Only one subject may be affected per attempt, although several attempts may be made within a single scene.
Roll results
Dramatic Failure: The Xiao fails to activate the power and actually repels the subject, suffering a –2 dice penalty on all social interactions with him for the rest of the night. In addition, the subject is immune to all the powers of Xinyao until the next sunset.
Failure: The power fails to activate.
Success: For every success rolled on the activation roll, the Xiao may (with respect to this one subject) increase her Humanity dice cap on social interaction by one. This power lasts for the remainder of the night.
Exceptional Success: As above, but the power remains in effect for a week.
The power of the Xiao lies in their ability to bring one’s passions to the surface, goading their prey into emotional behavior without thought for the consequences of these acts. Stoke the Flames may be used on any target who is paying attention to the Xiao; she need not be actively dealing with that target. While active, Stoke the Flames brings the passion of the target to the fore, causing a momentary outburst. The Xiao cannot choose the nature of that outburst; she is prodding an urge that already exists.
Cost: 1 Vitae
Dice Pool: Presence + Performance + Xinyao versus target’s Composure + Blood Potency
Action: Contested; resistance is reflexive.
Roll Results
Dramatic Failure: The character accidentally severs her connection to her target’s emotions. The target cannot be affected by the character’s use of Xinyao for the rest of the night.
Failure: The character loses or ties the contested roll. The target is unaffected, but the character may try again later.
Success: The target is electrified by the presence of the Xiao, and reacts with a brief outburst of emotion. The manifested emotion depends on how the target already feels with respect to the Xiao — if he is currently feeling unhappy, hurt or ashamed, tears will fall from his eyes. If he currently feels jealous, indignant or annoyed, he will be overcome by a flash of rage. If he desires the Xiao, he will beg for her affection.
The outburst caused by this power lasts for only one turn. Afterwards, the victim is free to recover his self-control, but in most cases the damage will be done. Strangely, some just seem to go with the flow, relaxing into the display and continuing to laugh or cry unbidden. Note that Kindred who are affected by this power are likely to frenzy — especially if their feelings with regards to the Xiao are angry, fearful or lustful. The frenzy that is provoked (which can be resisted per normal) will certainly be directed at the Xiao, so the power must be used judiciously.
Exceptional Success: If the character wins the contested roll by five or more successes, she temporarily unhinges her target’s heart. Mortals will lose all self-control, breaking down in a blubbering heap or flying into a screaming rage. Kindred will frenzy instantly, no matter what their emotional state, and must roll seven successes on the Resolve + Composure resistance roll if they wish to calm themselves. The expressed emotion runs its course naturally, affecting the victim for the remainder of the scene. Even if he overcomes it mechanically, he will feel its echoes.
Stoke the Fire works most effectively if the Xiao herself is feeling the same emotion as her intended target. If that is the case, she gains a +2 dice bonus on the power’s activation roll. If she feels an opposing emotion (a melancholy Xiao trying to stoke a joyful target, for example), she suffers a –2 dice penalty instead.
Using this power, the Xiao can bring those who feel as she does close to her, sharing her pain (or joy) and drawing strength from the company. She expresses the depth of her emotion — sobbing in sorrow, howling with rage or laughing with pleasure — and all who feel the same way within a given area are compelled to seek her out, moving toward her at their fastest possible speed, via the most direct route they can find.
Only those mortals and vampires who can hear or see the emotional display will respond. Once they do, the intensity of the Xiao’s emotional state fades. It is as if those who respond to the call are taking her passion from her and accepting it into themselves. Many Xiao make use of this power when they are feeling dangerously emotional, hoping that they can numb themselves before they lose control.
Cost: 1 Vitae
Dice Pool: Manipulation + Expression + Xinyao
Action: Instant
Roll Results
Dramatic Failure: The Xiao strains herself overmuch, failing to attract sympathizers and losing a point of Willpower.
Failure: The power fails to manifest. Nobody is compelled to respond. The Xiao’s display may attract attention, but it is not likely to be the type she’s looking for.
Success: The area of the call is 10 yards for every success rolled. The Storyteller determines how many mortals and vampires within the area share the Xiao’s emotional state. Dozens or even hundreds might respond to the call, flocking to the Xiao and surrounding her with sympathy. Everyone who responds to the call is aware that his feelings are mirrored in the Xiao, and will be moved by the sense of commonality he feels with her.
Each will express his sympathy in any way that seems appropriate — taking her hand, speaking or standing silently by her side.
Mortals are unable to resist the compulsion of the Call, but vampires may sacrifice a point of willpower to be allowed a Composure + Blood Potency roll to resist. If they match or exceed the number of successes the Xiao scored on the activation roll, they are unmoved.
If the Xiao is currently experiencing an emotion that threatens frenzy, successful activation of this power may prevent the rising of the Beast. As the sympathizers gather, the Xiao is afforded a +1 die bonus on her rolls to resist frenzy, and enjoys that bonus for as long as the crowd remains.
Example: Mei of Xiao is feeling intensely unhappy while attending an Elysium gathering, and she wishes to purge herself of the sensation. She weeps aloud, using Sympathetic Call. Her player rolls Mei’s Manipulation + Expression + Xinyao for a total of four successes. Everyone within 40 yards, mortal and vampire both, who also feels unhappy is compelled to rise and join Mei in her suffering. The vampires present are given the chance to resist, if they so choose. If any gather around her, her sadness will wane to a certain degree. Her sadness is not gone entirely, but she feels less weighed down.
Exceptional Success: As above, but the Xiao immediately gains a point of Willpower from the display of sympathy and enjoys a +2 dice bonus on rolls to resist frenzy.
Emotions feed each other like fire, spreading from one person to the next. The Xiao understands this process, and learns to manipulate it with this power, directing the flow of passions through a crowd and using it to sweep hapless subjects away. With the careful application of Guiding the Conflagration, a Xiao can start a riot or quell one, provoke a mob to panic or calm a seething horde.
Cost: 1 Willpower
Dice Pool: Manipulation + Empathy + Xinyao
Action: Extended
To activate the power, the Xiao must have line of sight to at least 10 people (mortal or Kindred) who also share line of sight to one another. She sends an emotional impulse — one that she is currently experiencing — out of herself and into one of the victims, and then cycles that impulse from victim to victim, intensifying it with each pass. When the number of successes she accumulates exceeds a target’s Composure (and Blood Potency, if applicable), that target is overwhelmed by the impulse and either spurred to action (if the impulse is provocative, such as anger, defiance or derision) or quieted (if the impulse is conciliatory, such as guilt, tranquility or melancholy).
Each roll represents the emotional impulse’s passage from one target to another. The Xiao may continue to make rolls as long as she likes, provided that she takes no other action, does not lose line of sight to the targets and does not move faster than a slow walk (one-half her Speed rating). Once the number of successes rolled exceeds the Composure + Blood Potency of everyone in the crowd, she need only maintain this concentration to pass the impulse from one target to another until all are affected.
Victims of this power can resist its effects for one turn with the expenditure of a point of Willpower and a successful Composure roll (or Composure + Blood Potency, for Kindred). This roll is reflexive. If it fails, the Willpower point is lost and the target remains affected. If the roll is successful, the target temporarily shakes off the effect and is free to take any action he chooses, uninfluenced by the chosen emotion.
Kindred with Auspex may instinctively be able to locate the Xiao who is using this power just by paying attention to the crowd’s reaction. If the observer succeeds on an Intelligence + Empathy + Auspex roll, he finds the Xiao immediately and understands that she is the source of the crowd’s compulsion.
Note that Kindred who are affected by this power are likely to frenzy — especially if the projected emotion is angry, fearful or lustful. The frenzy that is provoked (which can be resisted per normal) will be directed at the nearest logical target. Use of this power in a gathering of Kindred is extremely dangerous, and has led to the Final Death of more than one Xiao.
At the ultimate expression of Xinyao, the Xiao finally learns to shield herself completely from emotional impulse — but only by stealing the capacity for self-control from another. The result may protect the Xiao, but it strips her victim bare, leaving him ravaged by the vampire’s emotional storm.
A given target can be subjected to this power only once per night, no matter how many Kindred attempt to use the power.
Cost: 1 Willpower
Dice Pool: Presence + Expression + Xinyao versus target’s Composure + Blood Potency
Action: Contested; resistance is reflexive.
To activate this power, the Xiao must have clear line of sight to the victim, and the victim must be paying full attention to the Xiao for one turn, taking no other action.
Roll Results
Dramatic Failure: The Xiao fails to activate the power and immediately enters a frustration-induced frenzy directed at a random target. The frenzy requires three successes to be overcome. The intended victim of the power is rendered immune to all uses of Xinyao until the following sunrise.
Failure: The character loses or ties the contested roll. The target is unaffected.
Success: The character wins the contested roll. For the remainder of the scene, any emotional impulse the character would normally feel affects the target instead. All Social-based powers and Abilities are deflected to the victim (although the Xiao cannot circumvent passive powers such as Sovereignty). Any social provocation to frenzy likewise bypasses the vampire and affects the victim instead. Hunger frenzies and fear frenzies provoked by fire, sunlight or other physical sources are not affected.
Mortals who experience the fury of the Xiao’s Beast are traumatized by the experience, and may gain a derangement if the Storyteller deems it appropriate.
The power immediately ceases its effect if the Xiao and the victim lose sight of one another.
Exceptional Success: The character wins the contested roll by five or more successes. The effects last for the remainder of the scene, whether or not line of sight is maintained. Furthermore, the victim will rationalize the effect, believing that his response to the Xiao’s experiences is logical and reasonable.