Nightwalker

A N G E R Y

Nightwalker

History

The Night Father saw great beauty in Pelezotz, and great tragedy in Their demise. Almost in tribute to this lost Godhead, Nihilos sought to twist Their Pact into something new and beautiful– the Nightwalkers. The Night Father granted them all of the monstrous majesty of Pelezotz and then imbued them with the rage, fervor and bloodlust required to wreak havoc upon a world that rejected the Mother of Monsters so.

The first of their number was a Æld’Norai man called Ulrik who’d lost himself in meditation deep within Myrkvior’s caverns; Nihilos had reached out to his exposed mind and…twisted him, irrevocably. Horrified of what he had become, he lived in hiding until he was guided in a dream to happen across Reykr– the first Scourge among his kin. Reykr introduced him to the rest of Alítheia, and he joined them as the progenitor and eventual leader of the Nightwalkers. From the security such a coven brought him, he was able to temper his rage and grow his curse’s numbers slowly, all over the world.

Acquisition

To become a Nightwalker is to endure an arduous trial that requires ample space of some sort. Some common examples are large, underground sanctums or isolated fields in the middle of who knows where. And to ease the pup’s transition, it is required that their Pater (or Mater, in the case of female progenitors) bring along with them ample meat for them to feed upon, preferably fresh, but not necessarily so. Once the location has been chosen and other preparations made, the pup will be forced to eat about a cubic inch of their Pater’s flesh. And once that part is complete, they will be struck with Lunacy, making this initiation take a minimum of eight hours.

In this first lunatic state, the initiate may end up taking a bit longer than eight hours to fall out of it depending both on the individual and the quality feed that their initiator brought them. If no food for them is brought at all, they will cannibalize themselves to death or attempt to eat their Pater. When they are not consuming, they will actively burn away their energy shifting into whatever their base Therianthropic state will be and exploring their new anatomy’s abilities, though their thoughts will be reduced to about the intellect of a wild animal during this time.

Whensoever their trial ends, the initiate is born anew; a Nightwalker pup, young and restless.

Living as a Nightwalker

Heightened Awareness

As soon as they are born anew, all five of the Nightwalker’s sense are roughly half again what they were before. They are able to detect the life force of the living, their circulatory systems alight in red beneath the skin. And finally, they are capable of detecting the heartbeats of those nearby. The cost of this greater awareness is that many among them consider existing in populated areas, particularly in crowds, to be incredibly overwhelming and they risk revealing themselves due to their unstable blood. As a result, most Nightwalkers are solitary things, only called upon when Alítheia wishes to bring the hand of carnage down upon their foes.

Lunar Sacrament

If a Nightwalker desires to change their base form, they must endure a special trial prone to running awry. To begin, they must starve themselves beneath a full moon, surrendering to lunacy. During this ferine state, they will duel a shadowy manifestation of their inner beast and should they win, they will be able to manifest a new form.

Mageburn Symptoms

• Lesser: Emotional Instability, Fever, Light Sensitivity
• Moderate: Chimerism, Muscle Soreness, Hypersensitivity
• Greater: Unstable Blood, Bloodlust, Lunacy, Burning Sensation (throughout the body)
• Lunacy: A crazed, frenzied state. This is temporary, and lasts about 8 hours. During Lunacy, the Nightwalker thinks naught beyond their hunger for meat. This can occur from both Greater Mageburn and/or starving oneself.
• Moonstruck: Moonstruck Nightwalkers are lost ones; they are beasts who must be down. This is a shade more extreme than the Lunacy they’d experience with Greater Mageburn, and in this case, irreversible. Their minds become blinded to any thought outside of hunger, and they will wander the world consuming every living, fleshbound creature they come across until they’re killed.

See Therianthropy for definitions regarding ‘Chimerism’ and ‘Unstable Blood.’

Spells

Like all Blights, Nightwalker uses the Metaphor of Absentia to cast.

Therianthropy

Nightwalkers are capable of shifting from their natural state into that of a wild, untamed beast. The nature of this beast depends on the individual and evolves with them as they grow in power. For example, different Nightwalkers might shift into a werewolf, a weretiger, a werebat, a werecentipede and so on. The base of their Therianthropy may manifest in the full shape of a beast or be anthropomorphic, but once this base form is chosen, it cannot be altered outside of the additions gained with mastery or performing the Lunar Sacrament.

They will also gain one additional, distinct feature per tier of Mastery, including but not limited to:

• Venom
• A pair of additional limbs
• Wings
• Body spikes
• Plated, armored flesh
• Anything else similar in scale to the above.

Chimerism: Strong emotion brings out a Nightwalker’s inner beast. For example, as they get angrier, features of their Therianthropy may begin to manifest ranging from subtle to not so much. Eye color changes, sharpened teeth or nails, visual shifts to their skin, changes to body hair patterns, etc.

Unstable Blood: If a Nightwalker becomes too emotional, such as losing themselves to anger, they will uncontrollably shift into their beast shape.

Fury of Pelezotz

By activating this spell, the Nightwalker’s body and senses are preternaturally enhanced. The tissues of their muscles and bones become denser, their senses heightened, and they are put into a constant state of heightened awareness similar to adrenaline for the entire duration.

While raging, they may use their Therianthropy in place of defending against poisons (Resistance) or mental, even Metaphoric manipulation (Meditation).

Blood Frenzy

Carnage incites the Nightwalker to frenzy. Consuming at least as much of a body equivalent to half of their own body size fuels their rage and doubles the effect and duration of Fury of Pelezotz. The Absentia cost of this spell is half that of normal.

Regenerate

The Nightwalker can heal their wounds and regain physical endurance to stay in the fight and outlast their opponents.

Hunting Ground

A Nightwalker may pull a foe with them into a caliginous domain overlaid atop the world around them. It is gloomy, devoid of color and deathly silent aside from the sounds made by the two combatants within. Within their domain, the Nightwalker is less injury prone, their black blood sizzling and burning away as its shed, superficial wounds more easily coagulating.

Hunting Ground persists until the Nightwalker consumes the heart of their target, they themselves die, or their prey manages to evade them for long enough. All, including the Nightwalker, that perish within it are seemingly erased from existence, eaten away by the Absentia that powers the Hunting Ground when the spell fades.

Tiers of Mastery

Novice

description

• Therianthropy:
• Fury of Pelezotz:
• Blood Frenzy:
• Regenerate:
• Hunting Ground:

Apprentice

description

• Therianthropy:
• Fury of Pelezotz:
• Blood Frenzy:
• Regenerate:
• Hunting Ground:

Journeyman

description

• Therianthropy:
• Fury of Pelezotz:
• Blood Frenzy:
• Regenerate:
• Hunting Ground:

Expert

description

• Therianthropy:
• Fury of Pelezotz:
• Blood Frenzy:
• Regenerate:
• Hunting Ground:

Master

description

• Therianthropy:
• Fury of Pelezotz:
• Blood Frenzy:
• Regenerate:
• Hunting Ground:

Ascendant

description

• Therianthropy:
• Fury of Pelezotz:
• Blood Frenzy:
• Regenerate:
• Hunting Ground:

Creations

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