DP Tool Club 17/CD_ASCQ_17_101194.iso/vrac/vampires.zip/WISSENGE.VMP

Internet Message Format | 1993-09-07 | 20KB

Date: Fri, 02 Apr 93 20:38:07 EST
From: [e-mail]
Subject: NEW CLAN: Wissengeist

Wissengeist

You are by just a single urge possessed; Oh, may you never know the
other! Two souls, alas! are dwelling in my breast, And either would be
severed from it s brother; The one holds fast with joyous earthy lust
Onto the world of man with organs clinging; The other soars
impassioned from the dust, To realms of lofty forebears winging.


-Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
    Faust Part 1 Scene II

The Wissengeist are a loose clan of vampires that see their tortured
existence as a regrettable but resolvable condition and seek to
explain it through the schools of science and metaphysics. They are
generally an ethical and very compassionate clan, spread throughout
the world in secret coteries, aiding mortals in their quest for the
understanding of the Cosmos. The Wissengeist are a very unique clan
among the vampires in many respects. The most human of all the
Kindred, pledged to the quest for ultimate truth, throughout their
history they have worked to increase the vast wealth of knowledge of
both man and Kindred. It is their hope that one day science will come
up with an explanation for their existence; they believe that the so-
called "supernatural" operates by laws which may eventually be
understood by a combination of philosophy and physics. When these
principles are finally worked out and brought to the light of reason,
science will then be in a position to end the curse of vampiric
existence. While many Wissengeist are scientists and philosophers,
they see their role more as facilitators of mortal progress than as
actual "movers and shakers." They often stake out a progressive
thinker and aid him, sometimes funding his research, offering advice,
or even getting involved in the scientific process themselves. They
delight in metaphysics and philosophy over established religion, and
pursue theory and speculation over technology - they are usually
satisfied to allow humans to develop practical uses for any new
discoveries. The one exception to this is their untiring quest for a
cure for their supernatural "disease." The Wissengeist are one of the
youngest and smallest clans, but regardless of their age, their
origins remain clouded in mystery. It would be more proper to call
them a bloodline rather than a clan, but no one is really sure how
they came about.  Some have speculated that they were moralist
refugees or exiles from the Tzimisce clan who traded magic for
science, but there is a serious lack of evidence to support such a
claim. A few have linked them to the Toreador, but again this is just
guesswork unsupported by any real facts. It seems that the first
recognizable vampires having the qualities now associated with the
Wissengeist began appearing in fifteenth century Europe, specifically
in the area which is now Germany and Austria; but many Wissengeist
feel confident their clan has had several incarnations throughout
history, such as the Pythagoreans and Alexandrians, and that their
clan vanishes and reappears in cycles with human achievement.
According to them, they are born where the Zeitgeist wills it. They
deny a specific founder or legendary beginning, and they reject the
legend of Cain and the existence of antediluvians. They suggest that
there have always been vampires in the world; and like mortals,
vampires, too, have their need for myths and legends. Convinced their
wretched state can be explained through logic, they refuse to consider
themselves damned in any religious sense of the word - their sense of
damnation stems from a private well of anguish at their loss of
humanity. Most have a profound belief in the human soul and spirit,
and even in God, but they tend to think of these in personal and
abstract terms. They drink blood only to survive, and rarely kill
their vessel. More Wissengeist exist off the blood of animals than any
other bloodline or clan, and they search constantly for a way to
synthesize a blood substitute. While maintaining close contact with
mortals, they conform to the basic principles of the Masquerade
because they realize the danger of exposure - they call it the
"Frankenstein effect." It is likely that a large number of vampires
burned by the Inquisition came from this clan; they conte nd that
Giordano Bruno was one of their own. One of the most noted traits of
the Wissengeist bloodline is their virtual immunity to sunlight, a
result of their Menschlichkeit discipline. While bright sunlight will
still destroy a young Wissengeist, as they increase in age and power
they may resist the light of day for hours at a time. While never at
full strength during the day, this trait makes them the envy of all
vampires who are aware of this trait. The discipline of Menschlichkeit
has never b een able to be learned by another clan of vampire. Other
vampires, if even aware of their existence, tend to leave them alone;
indeed many just feel the Wissengeist are foolish idealists. Because
their clandestine goals more or less serve the Camarilla and avoid
interfering with the Sabbat, they have been left in peace by both
sects. Occasionally a few Wissengeist will make themselves known to
the Camarilla, and if a mutual relationship can be established, so
much the better. Unfortunately for the Camarilla, Wissengeist tend to
completely ignore rules of rank and privilege; they feel that petty
feudal hierarchies just get in the way of true inspiration. How the
Kindred feel about this ranges from amusement to open hostility.
Mostly they are just left alone.



Nickname: none, but some Toreador refer to them as the "Misplaced Muses."

Appearance: Wissengeist tend to be well-dressed in the current style,
tending towards conservatism and simplicity. Their discipline of
Menschlichkeit makes them the hardest vampires to distinguish from humans.

Haven: As they are a solitary bloodline they tend to dwell alone, usually
taking up residence in an apartment close to a university.

Background: Wissengeist only Embrace scientists and philosophers nearing
the end of their productive life, whether due to old age or disease.
Unfortunately, the Embrace is always a dangerous thing for the Wissengeist to

bestow - there seems to be a taint in the bloodline that causes
insanity in many of those who drink it. Called Der Wahnsinnflucht, or
the "Curse," it is a flaw which seriously limits the potential of
their clan. Simply put, a human who is Embraced often fails to undergo
the Becoming and instead goes partially or fully insane, remaining a
mortal. Only a quarter of those who are Embraced survive the Becoming
as a Wissengeist, fully half end up deranged and mortal, and the
remaining quarter are consumed in fatal madness after their first
taste of human blood. These poor wretches are usually killed out of
mercy ; but rumors exist that some of the more "lucid" set out into
the world as Malkavians.

They always present themselves to their intended progeny and ask
permission to bestow the Dark Gift, explaining fully its risks and
consequences. Mortals who refuse are Dominated to forget. Wissengeist
do not Embrace many, and unsurprisingly a large amount of their
prospective progeny elect to remain mortal and die a quiet, sane, and
natural death.

Character Creation: Wissengeist are almost always scientists or
philosophers of some kind, and they tend to be physically older than
many other Kindred. Mental attributes and Knowledge Abilities are very
important, and Backgrounds may include Resources, Contacts and maybe
Fame. Secondary Abilities are important, obviously heavy in science
and metaphysics.

Clan Disciplines: Auspex, Domination, Menschlichkeit

Weaknesses: As mentioned above, the Wissengeist bloodline is tainted
by the Wahnsinnflucht, and many do not transform into vampires after
their Embrace. Their abundance of Humanity and their overly-logical
Weltanschauung can also work against them, and they cannot rise above
level five in any discipline.

Organization: There is no real organization to the Wissengeist. They
are solitary, and when they meet each other it is often to pass along
information. Rumors exist of clandestine meetings held in Sweden and
of the existence of a secret trade journal, but the Wissengeist aren't
telling.

Gaining Clan Prestige: They are completely unconcerned about Prestige.

Quote: "As Goethe so eloquently stated, 'Zwei Seelen wohnen ach! In
meiner Brust.'  It is our responsibility to bring to light the soul
which makes us worthy of grace; our greatest gift is to understand the
Cosmos and our place in it. Like Horatio, we still have much room in
our philosophy. We will master our condition; and upon mastery will
resolve it."

Stereotypes:

Nosferatu - These poor, wretched souls bear the mark of Nature's
cruelty. One day they will be in a position to be healed, if they so
desire it.

Ventrue - They leave us alone; they understand the Frankenstein effect
more than anybody. If they would only give up their tenacious
mythology and join us, together we could prevail.

Toreador - They see part of the true potential for humanity. Coupled
with a stronger sense of control, more compassion, and a disciplined
mind, they could be us.

Gangrel - They have reconciled the Beast and dwell apart from man. We
honor this, but it is not our path.

Brujah - They have produced some great thinkers, but so few survive
the moral freedom of Becoming - they have their own Blutflucht to deal
with. It is difficult to comprehend a clan that burns books in youth
and pens them in maturity.

Tremere - They walk the dark path of superstition, and yet they have
mastered Nature's Uncertainty. They are engineers, using technology
for which we have yet to establish theories.

Malkavian - We feel for them. They have both our curses: they are mad
and dead.

Ravnos - Are they really that important?

Assamite, Setite, Tzimisce, Losombra, Giovanni - They are monsters
screaming under the inhuman yoke of the Beast, and they destroy all
that they touch. They must be killed when necessary, with a grim and
quiet dignity.


What the Undead think of the Wissengeist:

Nosferatu - Heard of them. They seem harmless enough - foolish; but
harmless.

Ventrue - They serve their purpose in eradicating man's belief in the
supernatural. As long as they are watched, they are to be left alone
and treated with respect .

Toreador - Charming clan! Too bad about that Curse of theirs, though.
Poor Nietzsche!

Gangrel - Another goddamn bloodline? Well, they leave us in peace.

Brujah - Idiots. Science is a tool; nothing more. They wish to tame
the Cosmos! Didn't we go through this all during that Enlightenment
thing? If you ever find a Wissengeist at work, however, some fun can
be had tormenting him and his poor subject.

Tremere - Oh yes, the Wissengeist. Interesting. . . . you wouldn't
happen to know where one is working, do you?

Malkavian - Wissengeist? Better than a poltergeist, I guess. At least
they don't throw things around as much. Knowsy ghosts, indeed! I think
my Brother-in-law was one, at least until I loaned him Finnegan's
Wake. Tea, anyone?

Ravnos - Vissin-who?

Assamite, Setite - Fools. Worthless to mention.

Giovanni - Damned Prussian mentality; one grows quickly tired of it.
But then again, we've had our plague of them before the Renaissance.
Like everything, they have their uses.

Lasombra - They are harmless romantics. Let them have their illusions.
The Antediluvians will destroy them whether or not they believe.

Tzimisce - A splinter branch of us? How vulgar. We know what to do
with our store of wisdom.




Menschlichkeit

A Wissengeist Discipline

 A very odd discipline, Menschlichkeit is unique to the Wissengeist
bloodline and cannot be learned by any other clan. It only has five levels,
and all are concerned with making the vampire seem more human.
Menschlichkeit is more akin to Celerity, Fortitude and Potence than
the other, more supernatural disciplines. When a level of the
discipline is achieved, it is available to the vampire at all times
and may be automatically maintained - it is now a part of their
nature. The more points a Wissengeist has in Menschlichkeit, the more
human he seems. A Wissengeist can never have more points in
Menschlichkeit than she has in Humanity. If a vampire's Humanity score
drops below their rating in Menschlichkeit, the discipline must be
reduced accordingly and the excess points are lost.


- Atmenkraft
 This discipline enables the vampire to breathe without any conscious
effort, although it can be stopped and restarted at will. While the
air is not actually needed, the Wi ssengeist may do everything a human
can do because of functioning lungs.

-- Herzkraft
 Two points in Menschlichkeit allow a vampire to simulate a heartbeat
and pulse with no conscious effort, although it may be stopped and
restarted at will.

--- Essenkraft
 This allows a vampire to drink liquids and eat foods at will with no
ill effects.

---- Der Sonnemantel
 The power granted by this discipline is one of the most coveted in
the entire vampiric world - it confers the ability to withstand
sunshine. For every point of Humanity the Wissengeist has, he may
spend a Blood Point to withstand one hour of day. During this time he
may use no other powers or disciplines other than those conferred by
Menschlichkeit, he may not feed, heal wounds, or expend blood points
to boost attributes. If he is caught out beyond his allotted time, the
sunlight will affect him as it would any ot her vampire.

----- Untergehen
 The name of this discipline is difficult to translate, but in a
Niezschean sense it could mean "to perish like the setting sun and be
transformed." In a way it is an anti-Golconda; for to go under  is the
closest thing to a return to Humanity allowed to a vampire. It allows
a vampire to completely pass as a human under limited situations. He
breathes, eats, has a pulse, can grow hairs and nails at the regular
rate, cries and sweats water, and can survive sunlight at the
temporary suspension of all other supernatural powers and disciplines.

In addition, the vampire can control the urge to frenzy until one
blood point is left, when a check is required as normal . The vampire
must still, however, sleep. The cost of this power is staggering. It
is tremendously taxing on the vampire's system, and as a result, once
this discipline is acquired, the vampire begins to slowly die the True
Death. The vampire will begin to permanently lose Blood Pool capacity,
falling from the normal ten down to one and finally die the True Death
upon reaching zero Blood Pool capacity. The way this operates is
insidious. It takes a full 100 years for the vampire to lose her first
point of Blood Pool capacity, but then the time it takes to lose the
next keeps decreasing by half. So in 50 years she is down to a Blood
Pool of eight, at 25 years her Blood Pool contracts to seven, in 12
years 6 months it is only six. . . . and so on until zero. With this
decreasing Blood Pool comes many disadvantages. There is obviously
less blood to heal injuries and increase attributes. T he vampire will
need to feed more often, but cannot drink as much Vitx. Siring another
vampire is even more dangerous than usual; there is only a 5%
chance/Blood Pool capacity point remaining of begetting a sane vampire
as a progeny, otherwise they remain mortal and become afflicted by the
Wahnsinnflucht. Most vampires choose not to sire any mortals once they
attain this level of discipline.

Yrs/mo elapsed:  Blood Pool:  Yrs/mo to next loss:

0     10   100 yrs
1
00 yrs   9   50 yrs
150 yrs   8   24 yrs
174 yrs   7   12 yrs
1
86 yrs   6   6 yrs
192 yrs   5   3 yrs
195 yrs   4   1 yr 6 mo
196 y
r 6 mo   3   9 mo
197 yr 3 mo   2   4 mo
197 yr 7 mo   1   2 mo
1
97 yr 9 mo   0   True Death


 When the Wissengeist reaches zero, he dies as a mortal corpse. To put
this discipline in the proper light, it must be remembered that it is
only chosen by Wissengeist who are weary of their lonely crusade.
Often they choose it after completing a major life-project and passing
the mantle to another - in other words, successfully Embracing a
progeny. They often then spend the better part of the next century
instructing their new progeny in survival, vampiric lore , and the way
of Wissengeist existence. As their Blood pool Capacity decreases below
five, most Wissengeist can feel the Blutflucht coming on - the Blood
Curse, very similar to the Wahnsinnflucht. Although it largely depends
on the nature of the individual vampire, most fall prey to the madness
d uring their last few months of existence, and many ask to be put out
of their misery. It is always said that a Wissengeist wears a smile
upon his final death. . .


A Few Words to the Storyteller:

 Obviously, the Wissengeist are a Germanic Clan. Given their origins,
their connection to figures such as Kant, Hegel, Schopenhauer,
Nietzsche, Planck, Heisenberg, Einstein, Schrodinger, etc should be
obvious. Many of these gentlemen had friends, and it wouldn't take a
stretch of the imagi nation to postulate the existence of a
Wissengeist friend. . . . The Wahnsinnflucht may also be of particular
interest. Many philosophers and scientists were a bit eccentric -
Nikola Tesla and Einstein come readily to mind - and as a point of
interest, it has been suggested that the mere presence of a
Wissengeist has a slight destablizing effect on her subject, causing
him to lose a bit of his grip on reality. Most Wissengeist
emphatically deny this, but that denial may easily have it's sources
in fear of the truth. . . . As for the Wahnsinnflucht itself, think on
the fact that Nietzsche's last days were spent quite mad, Goethe's
last words were "More light. . . . " and Newton had two nervous
breakdowns. . . . Hmmm...?

Pronunciation and meaning:

Wissengeist: (VISS - en - geist): roughly means the "Spirit (or soul)
of Knowledge." Wissenschaft is science, and geist is a metaphysical
translation of "ghost" in terms of spirit or soul. Poltergeist means
"noisy ghost", but the Hegelian concept of Zeitgeist means "the spirit
of the age." (Zeit is pronounced TSEIT, the "Z" being spoken like a
TS, such as the sound at the end of "spits" or "spats.") A German may
sugstitute the x letter for the double ss, so it may be written
Wixengeist.

Weltanschauung: (VELT-an-shauw-uhng): usually translated as "World-
outlook"

Wahnsinnflucht: (VAHN - zin - FLOOCHT): translated loosely as
"Madness- Curse." The German "ch" sound is pronounced in the throat,
like the Scottish "Loch," the Greek X "Chi", or the Hebrew "L'Chaim."
(sorry for the spelling, guys, I don't speak Hebrew!)

Blutflucht: (BLOOT - FLOOCHT): means Blood-Curse.

Menschlichkeit: (MENSH - lich - KITE): literally, "Humanity."

Atmenkraft: (ATMEN-krahft): "Breathing-power"

Herzkraft: (HAIRTZ-krahft): "Heart-power"

Essenkraft: (ESSEN-krahft): "Eating-power" (Also Exenkraft)

Der Sonnemantel: (DARE  ZON - uh - MAHN - tel): "The Sun-cloak"

Untergehen: (UHN-ter-gay-in): A Nietzschean concept, means "to go
under." In his book Also Sprach Zarathustra, h e used it to signify
the death of man and the birth of the ubermensch, or the "over-man."
(usually translated as "super-man.") It really is a bit of a pun
(unter-uber), but I've twisted it even further by using it to describe
a vampire "becoming" human again to die fufilled. So Nietzsche may be
upset; he's dead, so sue me.


IMPORTANT NOTE:

I hope you enjoy this clan, and it is my intention to eventually
submit it to those great individuals over at White Wolf, so if you
pass it along, please leave it intact. I claim all rights, so please
don't publish any of it without my permission. Enjoy, and beware the
Illuminati.


Allen B. Ruch
2141 Apt. A-3  King Arthur's Court
Harrisburg, PA 17110
[phone]


AOL NAME: LordArioch