Thaumaturgy - The Vine of Dionysus
db-DG-Stabe-081.jpg

Years before the rise of the mighty Roman Empire, pagan sects dedicated to the Greek god Dionysus thrived. Small cults of vampires worshipped the lord of rebirth as a release from the burdens of undeath. Symbolized in oinos, or wine, and orgy, the cults of Dionysus spread their intoxicating practices throughout Eastern Europe. In practice, members of the cult of Dionysus would gather at night and debauch themselves with oinos, orgies and other euphoric activities. When the ecstasy rose to fevered pitch, the rites might culminate in castration or even cannibalism. Any practitioner of the Vine of Dionysus often refers to himself/herself as a thyrsus (females are occasionally called "Maenads", preferably from a safe distance). These Warlocks sometimes wear jewelry or other accouterments with ivy and/or pine cone motifs as symbols of their dedication.

Methyskein

By making physical contact with a subject, the thyrsus causes him to act as if he were drunk. While intoxicated, the subject falls into a slight euphoric episode, including slurred speech and clouded judgement.

System: A victim suffers a one-die penalty to all Dexterity and Intelligence dice pools for one scene per success the thaumaturge scores. However, a victim may make a Stamina roll (difficulty 6) to subtract successes scored by the Warlock. Failure on the part of the thyrsus will not alert her victim to this attempt at intoxication, though a slight “buzz” may momentarily cause a target to become disoriented.

Note: A mortal, if affected with Methyskein for three consecutive nights, lose the ability to willingly resist this euphoria. Only with the expenditure of a Willpower point can he initiate a Stamina roll (difficulty 6). Kindred react differently should they be exposed to this influence for an equal amount of time. For every three consecutive nights of intoxication under Methyskein, a Kindred’s difficulty to resist on a Stamina roll (difficulty 6) raises by one, to a maximum of 9.

Unless otherwise stated, the content of this page is licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 License