Beast is a term used by vampires to describe the inner predator that strives for control over a cainite's mind.
Overview[]
- The Beast: 1. The primal drives of a vampire that threaten to turn him into an uncontrollably ravenous and/or zombie-like being. 2. The drives and urges which prompt a vampire to become entirely a monster, forsaking all humanity.[1][2]
The Beast is an innate demonic predator that awakens within each and every vampire upon their Embrace. It stands in direct opposition to a vampire’s Humanity (and in some cases the Paths of Enlightenment) and is responsible for many of the debased urges Cainites feel on a nightly basis. In times of extreme distress the Beast can overwhelm a vampire forcing them into a state of pure animalistic fight or flight, which is referred to as Frenzy or Rötschreck. If a vampire forsakes their humanity or Path of Enlightenment too deeply, they will be fully taken over by the Beast, undergo the Wassail, their final frenzy, and turn into a Wight for the rest of time.
Beast Shards[]
Beast Shards are physical manifestations of a vampire's Beast, representations of what it truly looks and acts like when unconstrained by a rational physical body.
Sometimes, a Beast refuses to die, even with its body reduced to ash. When a ritual or a formula using the remains of a vampire who met Final Death goes wrong (an act naturally associated with the Ashfinders, who make a kind of rite of passage out of finding and destroying Beast Shards)[3], there’s a chance their Beast returns to wreak havoc. A Beast Shard resembles a blurred image of the vampire, as if caught in a bad mirror, casting a fuzzy shadow. It targets their accidental summoner’s mortal loved ones, warping their Resonances and driving them into emotional frenzies. Shards delight in this emotional manipulation, driven by instinct and uninhibited desire to feed.[4]
Beast Shards cannot communicate with spoken language beyond except snarls, mocking laughter, or grimaces, but can create emotional hotspots that bend mortal Resonances to their will. This hotspot extends in a roughly two-meter radius around the Shard.
Beast Shards are not ghosts, and aren’t affected by any power, ritual, or ceremony that affects ghosts. They resemble holograms or reflections, but feel like cold bone when touched. Physical attacks, however, feel like nothing but cold light, and do no damage. Sufficiently bright light — brighter than a flashlight, more like an arc lamp — disrupts their image and does Aggravated damage to them.
Trivia[]
- According to werewolf culture, a vampire's Beast is nothing but a manifestation of the corrupted spirit known as the Beast-of-War.
References[]
- ↑ VTM: Vampire: The Masquerade Rulebook Revised, p. 59
- ↑ VTM: Vampire: The Masquerade Rulebook, p. 194
- ↑ VTM: Cults of the Blood Gods, p. 39
- ↑ VTM: Blood Sigils, p. 130-131