USURY

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In death as in life, nothing’s free. Pathos is the currency of the underworld , and Usury is the Arcanos of barter. It is the delicate dance of the deal. Those with Usury can act as healers, mendicants, merchants or extortionists, and sometimes all at once. It all depends on how reputable they choose to be. Usury involves power over death energy, and is accordingly mistrusted in some circles. Many point to the Shadow as the source of this Arcanos, citing innumerable “deal with the Devil” stories as proof.  When used upon the Quick, Usury is nothing less than the theft of life itself. A wraith must touch his subject to use Usury. To affect mortals, this requires another Arcanos, such as Puppetry, Embody, Inhabit or Phantasm. The life energy thus stolen is visible to other wraiths as a vivid light, which dims as it is absorbed. This art has no outward affect upon a wraith those having to deal with constant shifting of energy from one wraith to another does lead to a certain tendency for precision. 

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Unless otherwise stated, each Usury art requires the wraith to touch his target. To affect a Skinlands subject, this requires another Arcanos (e.g., Embody, Inhabit, Phantasm, Puppetry) that facilitates either physical or spiritual contact. 

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Usury works on all Awakened beings just as it would on a mortal. Usurers can steal health levels from any manner of Awakened. The wraith can also avail himself of Blood Points, Gnosis, Quintessence, Dross or Faith, though this requires identifying the target as Awakened before beginning the assault, and many of these entities can retaliate, making this a risky maneuver. On the other hand, Usurers can also restore these energies. This makes for some interesting alliances between Usurers and Awakened beings.

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A BOTTLE IN FRONT OF ME…
For the purposes of Usury, bottled Pathos (Pathos in objects)   is just like Pathos in a wraith’s pool, but the bottle (or other container) has limited ability
to resist. A container with no special properties is incapable of resisting any application of Usury to its contents. Consider an Artifact or relic container to have a Willpower equal to its Background rating. Further treat it as an involuntary subject unless the Usurer owns it (i.e., has paid the Background dots for it) or is in physical control of it.

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USURY COMMON

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◉ APPRAISAL (COMMON)
Knowing another being’s physical and spiritual state is key to manipulating its life and death energies. While all wraiths have some facility at such evaluations, Appraisal makes it an exact science.

SYSTEM:

PASSIVE:   The player adds the wraith’s dots in Usury to all rolls for Deathsight and Lifesight. This art is always active and doesn’t require touch.

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◉◉ PATHOS CONDUIT (COMMON)
A Usurer may transfer Pathos between himself and another wraith, either voluntarily or not. This transferal is always clearly visible to onlookers, as a bright aura flares around the Pathos recipient during the process.

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SYSTEM I: Pathos Donation

NORMAL ACTION

ROLL:  CHARISMA + USURY RANK vs 10+ SUBJECTS CURRENT PATHOS

SUCCESS: 

Transfer 1 Pathos per success (Does not have to transfer full amount)
 

SYSTEM II: Pathos Siphon

NORMAL ACTION

GAIN:  1 ANGST

ROLL:  MANIPULATION + USURY RANK vs COMPOSURE + RESOLVE

SUCCESS:

Steal 1 Pathos per success (Does not have to steal full amount)

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Any failed attempt to use this art can result in disaster, as it reverses the desired flow of energy. If the intent is to give, a failure ensures the wraith instead takes, which can easily lead to Harrowings, or worse.

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◉◉◉ CORPUS CONDUIT (COMMON)
A progressive extension of Pathos Conduit,  this art enables direct transfer of Corpus between the wraith and another being. As with the lesser
art, this may be voluntary or involuntary, and the transfer is obvious to any observer. Corpus Conduit’s double-edged nature is well known, and
a cause for concern among all who seek healing from unfamiliar Usurers.

 

SYSTEM I: Corpus Donation

QUICK ACTION:

ROLL CHARISMA + USURY RANK vs 10+ CURRENT HEALTH

SUCCESS:

Transfer 1 health  per success (Does not have to transfer full amount)

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SYSTEM II: Corpus Siphon

NORMAL ACTION

GAIN:  2 ANGST

ROLL:  MANIPULATION + USURY RANK vs COMPOSURE + RESOLVE 

SUCCESS

Steal 1 health per success (Does not have to steal full amount)

When a living being is involved in a Corpus Conduit transaction, health levels convert directly  on a one for-one basis and vice versa.

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◉◉◉◉ FACILITATE  (COMMON)
As a wraith’s command of life and death energies grows, he learns to serve as intermediary, channelling Pathos and Corpus from one being to another efficiently and without pause. To Facilitate such a transaction, he must touch both the donor and the recipient.

SYSTEM:

PASSIVE:

When the wraith uses Pathos Conduit, Corpus Conduit, or Arcanos Conduit, he can transfer the specified energy from one target to another, rather than between one target and himself. All the wraith has to do is declare the recipient in lieu of himself when rolling those arts.

The Recipient AND the USURER BOTH suffer the angst cost for receiving stolen pathos, health, Arcanos. 

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◉◉◉◉◉ INVEST  (COMMON)
The wraith can funnel his Pathos or Corpus into a relic, storing it for future use. He must focus on the relic in question, channeling his energy and carefully sealing it away with a gesture or command phrase. Anyone who knows this key may then access the stored energies.

SYSTEM:

NORMAL ACTION

SPEND: 2 PATHOS (+ The Amount Of  Pathos and Health you wish to invest)

ROLL: MANIPULATION + USURY RANK

DIFFICULTY:  14+
SUCCESS:
Each success invests one point of Pathos or health, up to the amount spent, into the relic. Any excess points are lost. Any relic may contain either Pathos or Corpus, but not both at once. Among this art’s other applications, Invest is the means by which wraiths create soulfire crystals. All damage a Usurer takes from a soulfire crystal containing his own energy is lethal, not aggravated.

NOTE:  For game balance reasons the maximum Health and Pathos that can be stored in an Item is 10 of Each. Also note that a wraith may only carry one such item at a time.

You may have to record the item on your sheet. With the amount of Health and Pathos stored within. This stored Energy does not renew. Once it is spent it is spent and to refresh it or top it up, you will need to use this ability again.

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USURY INITIATE

RESTRICTED TO

◉ USURERS ◉ MASQUERS  ◉ ORACLES  ◉

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◉ GRAY LEDGER (INITIATE)
Each application of Usury leaves minute traces on its subject. A wraith skilled in this art can assess this history, learning the details of prior “transactions.”
SYSTEM:

QUICK ACTION

ROLL: CHARISMA + USURY RANK

DIFFICULTY: 12+

SUCCESS:

Each success is one prior Usury application, starting with the most recent and working backward, in which the subject was either the user or the target. For each transaction, the wraith learns which art was used and when. If the subject was the target of a transaction, the Usurer also receives a brief vision of the Usury-user who was involved. In addition, the wraith learns all applications of Suspended Usury arts (see below) that are pending on the subject, regardless of when they were applied.

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◉◉ PLASM EXCHANGE  (INITIATE)
Any wraith may expend Pathos to heal lost Corpus levels. A wraith who knows this art may do the opposite, sublimating his own Corpus into Pathos.
SYSTEM:

QUICK ACTION

SPEND 1 PATHOS

ROLL: CHARISMA + USURY RANK

DIFFICULTY: 12+

SUCCESS:

The wraith may convert up to 1 health  per success into Pathos (though he doesn’t have to convert the full amount).

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◉◉◉ SUSPEND (INITIATE)
Used as promissory note, compulsion of obedience, or judicial mechanism of parole, this art of Damocles allows the wraith to delay the effect of another Usury power.

SYSTEM:

QUICK  ACTION: When the wraith uses any other Usury art that targets another character, roll this immediately prior.

SPEND: 2 PATHOS

ROLL:  CHARISMA + USURY RANK vs COMPOSURE + RESOLVE

SUCCESS:

With success, the art used doesn’t take effect immediately. Instead, it remains Suspended for a maximum time determined by successes rolled:
1 success 1 scene
2 successes 1 day
3 successes 1 week
4 successes 1 month
5+ successes 1 year per success

The target of a Suspended art doesn’t automatically sense the Usury of Damocles hanging over her but they can roll for it.

ROLL: PERCEPTION + OCCULT :DIFFICULTY 14+

One success to get  the feeling that something’s amiss.

Three or more successes, she knows the Usurer is that feeling’s source.

In addition, a Suspended art is automatically evident to any wraith with KISMIT ( FATALISIM ◉)

At any time before the Suspended power expires, the wraith may  “call in his marker.” The power takes effect at that moment, regardless of the distance between the wraith and his target. If the Suspended power is not called in before it expires, it dissipates with no effect. The
Usurer has a constant intuitive sense of his Suspended arts and their remaining durations.
At any time, a wraith may hold a number of Suspended Arcanos applications equal to his CHARISMA dots.

NOTE: Unlike other species who have hung effects, the "Hung" Arcanoi must be rolled in the presence of the targeted character. Meaning the roll has been witnessed, its  effects are just delayed.

At Usury ◉◉◉◉◉, the wraith may Suspend the arts of other Arcanoi he knows.

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◉◉◉◉ OBLIVION'S SEAL (INITIATE)
In legal circles, a contract is termed a “meeting of the minds,” a common agreement on a set of circumstances and actions. This art is the Usury-user’s means of closing and enforcing such agreements with the full weight of Oblivion behind them. A breach of an agreement made under Oblivion’s Seal
brings immediate and crushing retribution upon the transgressor.

SYSTEM:

NORMAL ACTION: To initiate this art, the wraith must verbally state the terms of the agreement he intends to enforce, in the hearing of all other parties to be bound.

SPEND: Any amount of PATHOS

ROLL:    CHARISMA + USURY RATING

DIFFICULTY: 13 + 1 per character to be bound.

Each other bound party agrees to the terms and that player spends 1 Pathos.

(There is no resistance roll, they accept the terms and pay one pathos or they DON'T)

SUCCESS:

With success, this power affects all targeted characters — including the wraith himself, if he is to be a bound party — for one year per success rolled. During this time, any character who breaches the agreement immediately suffers aggravated damage equal to the total amount of Pathos spent by all bound parties.
The initial application of this art ensures that each bound party understands the terms of the agreement exactly as the wraith intends them — in both letter and spirit. If Suspend is used with Oblivion’s Seal, the period of Suspension begins when a character breaches the agreement.

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◉◉◉◉◉ ARCANOS CONDUIT (INITIATE)
Requiring either great trust or great desperation to use, this art allows the wraith to briefly loan or borrow mastery of an Arcanos. Usurers don’t like to admit it — such knowledge wins them no friends — but Arcanos Conduit doesn’t have to borrow Arcanoi from a willing subject.

SYSTEM: The player designates a single Arcanos to be transferred

NORMAL ACTION:

SPEND:  Between 1 and  10 PATHOS

GAIN:   2 ANGST per stolen dot.

ROLL:     CHARISMA + USURY RATING  vs COMPOSURE + RESOLVE (unwilling subject)

DIFFICULTY: willing subject 16+
SUCCESS:

The Arcanos transfer lasts for one scene per success. The donor loses a number of dots in the specified Arcanos equal to half the Pathos spent, rounded
down.

The recipient’s rating in that Arcanos becomes equal to the number of dots transferred, regardless of how many dots he had before, and he can use all of the donor’s arts of an appropriate rating.
If either wraith enters a Harrowing, Arcanos Conduit ends immediately and all stolen or borrowed Arcanoi return to their rightful owners.

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