Chimerstry

[Tami]

The Ravnos clan is the only one with a facility for Chimerstry, and it is from that all tales of its origins come. Most believe that it originated with the clan's founder, a wander who delighted in capriciously torture mortals by twisting their perceptions of reality. Some stories say that the Ravnos clan founder learned this ability from drinking the blood of the Fair Folk a tradition a few European Ravnos maintain to this day. Others suggest that in torpor, he reached his mind out to touch a corner of Hell, and he brought back the Devil's flair for blending truth and fiction.

Chimerstry allows its user to create realistic illusions with which to torment others. Chimerstry is an elusive Discipline. It works best when its victims do not that its possessor is using it. Therefore, those who are proficient with Chimerstry rarely confess to it. Those Cainites, however, who are familiar with the lore of other clans know that it is likely to be found in the blood of the Ravnos, which gives the high-blooded one more reason to mistrust Ravnos and deny them entry into their cities. It's undoubtedly responsible for their sobriquet of Charlatans.

Chimerstry is one of the most versatile Disciplines available to the Children of Caine. With appropriate levels of it, and additional staging where necessary, nearly anyone can be made to believe almost anything, and it isn't necessary to resort to blunt-instrument Disciplines like Dementation or Dominate to make it so. The Discipline is useful for anything from feeding to ousting the prince of a desirable city.

Chimerstry has its downside. Most of the Dicsipline's abilities require the expenditure of Willpower, representing the fraction of the character's self that must go into creating the illusion. At the moment of creation, the illusion is very real to the Chimerstry user; for just an instant, her power fools her too. In addition, a botch on any Chimerstry power causes the character to be haunted by the illusion she creates, as decribed under each power. The fabric separating perception from reality is tenuous one, and the character toys with it at her own risk.

Chimerstry does not allow its user to create an illusion that she cannot sense in some fashion. She cannot create a purely auditory illusion somewhere she cannot hear, or the image of a crown if she is blinded. However, if she can sense the illusion in any fashion, she can create the other sensory components of it. That is to say, if she has Dweomer (Chimerstry 2), she can create an illusionary bowl of stew and it will taste right, even if it were across the room from her. She could create that crown if it were to rest on the head, so that she could feel it.

A victim of Chimerstry illusions cannot generally dismiss them, even if the victim is doubtful of their reality. Just because you don't believe that the window in front of you is actually bricked shut doesn't mean you can suddenly see through it. However, Chimerstry illusions cannot support weight or impede movement past a quick sensation of resistance. So, assuming that the bricks on a window were created with Dweomer, you would feel their surface if you reached out to touch them, but you would pass right trough if you tried to push them over. If they were created with Ignis Fatuus, your hand would sail right through. Therefore, Ravnos entertainers can dazzle a crowd with shinning lights and dancing spirits even if the crowd suspects that the lights are the work of illusions, and it is very difficult to be absolutely sure that an illusion really is illusory.

There are a few expceptions to those guideline. Character who experience damage from a sources created with Horrid Reality or Mass Horror and then becomes convinced of its illusionary nature can be relieved of the pain they have suffered. In addition, vampires with Auspex and others with form of supernatural perception have chances to both detect and learn to filter out the illusion, hence seeing through illusionary darkness or hearing past an illusionary scream. Detecting an illusion in this manner is automatic if the watcher's Auspex level is higher than the caster's Chimerstry level. If it is equal to or less than the Chimerstry level, she must convince herself of the illusory nature of the apperation through mundane means (such as plunging her hand into an illusionary fire). To filter out an illusion once the vampire knows it is false, the player rolls Perception + Alertness against a difficulty equal to 6 + caster's Chimerstry minus observer's Auspex. A single success filters it out of all her senses.

Chimerstry is said to reflect God's curse on Caine by deluding the Ravnos into believing that they are capable of creating acts in the likeness of God, when I truth all they do is to pervert and twist God's creation.

Chimerstry is a useful Discipline for con artist, thieves and spies of any clan.

[Tami]

** Ignis Fatuus

This ability lets the user create simple, motionless illusions that affect only one sense. The illusion stays stationary with respect to the earth: The image of a ship does not bob in the waves, and the image of a tunic does not move with its wearer. An illusion can be purely tactile a gust of wind, or a simple illusionary contract but such a thing cannot truly harm anyone or exert any real force.

System: Spend one point Willpower. No roll is necessary, although you must use an action for your character to concentrate long enough to summon the trickery. The illusion remains for as long as you like, as long as you can sense it and wish for it to persist. Terminating an illusion thus is a free action, and does not even have to be your action should you wish to do so in combat.

As with all Chimerstry, your character must be able to sense the illusion herself so she too will experience the foul stench or rancid taste she summons up. In such a case, she can choose to have a single person within her line of sight per dot of Chimerstry also experience the sensation, or permeate an area of a radius 20 yards per level of Chimerstry with it. Single targets who move more than a few feet or out of an affected area are free of such illusions. This limits functions for smell, tastes, illusiony gusts of wind, diffuse glows or a shroud of darkness. More isolated visible illusions ( a single point of light, a standing guard) can appear anywhere within sight. Sounds can emanate from anywhere within earshot.

Despite the fact that the character experiences the illusion, she knows that it is illusory and suffers no ill effects. She is not blinded by darkness she imposes on another, for example.

[Tami]

** Dweomer
Dweomer improves the Character’s mastery of illusion. She can now create phantoms that are real to multiple senses – even all five, if the character prefers. The phantoms are, of course, only illusions. A character might feel the sharp blade of an illusory sword on his thumb as he tests it, but the weapon will pass right through him rather than so much as crease hi skin. Illusion created with Dweomer cannot move under their own power, but they can react naturally to their surrounding if the character wishes. An illusory crown might move with its wearer or fall to the ground if released. Alternatively, the Dweomer can remain completely motionless, as with Ignis Fatuus.

System: Spend Willpower and one blood point to create the Dweomer. You must decide whether the image will remain motionless or tied to a particular person, animal or thing. Whichever you choose, it will remain that way as long as it persists. The illusion’s duration and the ranges of effects are as per Ignis Fatuus.

[Tami]

*** Apparition

Characters with Apparition can give a static illusion created with either Dweomer of Ignis Fatuss the semblance of movement. Such an illusion moves as the character directs. The movement can be as simple as a banner flapping in the (illusory) breeze or as complex as a galloping horse and rider. If the character is unfamiliar with the type of movement in question, witnesses to the illusion are more likely to pierce it, but if he’s seen it before, it should be perfectly natural and not arouse any suspicions.

System: Create an illusion using either Dweomer or Ignis Fatuus, and spend Willpower as necessary to do so. At the same time, spend an additional blood point to animate the illusion as you wish. As long as you concentrate on the illusion, it can do whatever you like, within reason. An illusion that does things that are physically impossible, however, gives viewers a chance to recognize the apparition for what it is. A Perception roll, using Empathy, Animal Ken or Alertness as appropriate for the situation, gives the victim a chance to see through the illusion I case. The Storyteller should determine the difficulty based on the situation at hand, but he should probably require around as many successes as you have dots in manipulation.

Once you stop concentrating on the illusion, it can continue I simple, repetitive motions - roughly speaking, anything that can be described in a simple sentence, such as a guard walking back and forth along a parapet. You can allow it to continue moving as you ordered, or let it fade as described under Ignis Fatuus.

[Tami]

**** Permanency

Like Apparition, Permanency stacks with other, simpler Chimerstry powers. It eternally extends the duration of illusions created by those abilities, allowing them to persist even when the character who created them is no longer nearby. It will remain for all time – even past the character’s Final Death, unless the character chooses to dismiss it as described previously. If he uses this ability on an illusion given movement by Apparition, the character must guide the illusion through its normal pattern of movement once before he can make it permanent. Despite the illusion’s permanency, however, it is no more real than an illusion created by any of the abilities listed already. It can still neither harm a character nor bear weight.

System: After creating the illusion, spend as additional turn and one blood point to make permanent. Note that Permanency does not work on any Discipline other than Chimerstry, nor does it work on other sources of illusion that might wield, be they hedge magic, Thaumaturgy or a shackled fairy.