Dark Thaumaturgy

Dark Thaumaturgy is the name given to Thaumaturgy learned from demons.

OverviewEdit

Vampires may make pacts with demons in order to learn the secrets of blood sorcery, just as mortal mages do to learn other infernal magics; they do so at the cost of whatever soul they have left, sealing a bargain which is a quick route to magical power. The price of gaining knowledge varies depending on the demon bartered with, but even vampires generally consider any infernal cost too high. Dark Thaumaturgy is most often practised by the Baali bloodline and members of the Sabbat, especially the Tremere antitribu, who were considered to have created some of the better known Dark Thaumaturgy paths. Since the traitors' destruction, Dark Thaumaturgy has gained popularity in the Sabbat as it is now nearly impossible for the sect's members to learn Thaumaturgy by other means, but even the leaders of the Sword of Caine forbid its practice.

PathsEdit

Apart from providing faster and easier access to more common Thaumaturgy paths, Dark Thaumaturgy has paths and rituals of its own which can only be learnt from demons. While all Dark Thaumaturgy relies on an infernal pact, these paths draw on the power of Hell for their effects, and are greatly feared.

Dark Thaumaturgy is always learned at a price, whether this be a generic bargain with the demonic instructor, or a specific affliction relating to the path learnt. Known prices for the paths are listed with their entries below.

Fires of the InfernoEdit

Similar to the Lure of Flames, but the sickly green balefire conjured from Hell by this path has only one use: destruction. Like its untainted counterpart, the Path has no distinct levels, instead allowing for the creating of more dangerous fires. Price: Obvious balefire taints the user's aura.^[1]

Path of PhobosEdit

This path conjures a foe's worst fears to assault him. Price: Horrific nightmares.^[2]

• Induce Fear: Cause a target to feel paranoid
• Spook: Cause a target to feel dread
• Terrorize: Cause a target to see illusions of their greatest fears
• Fear Plague: Cause a target to live through their most deep-seated phobias
• Leech of Fear: Transubstantiate fear into a vitae-like substance

Taking of the SpiritEdit

Saps the willpower of the victim. Instead of distinct powers, each level of mastery allows the practitioner to strip Willpower for more extended periods of time from a target. Price: Arrogance, manifesting as megalomania.^[3]

Path of PainEdit

Mastery over and the infliction of physical pain. Price: Addiction to pain.^[4]

• The Numbing: Become desensitized from pain
• Anguish: Cause a target to feel pain simply by standing in its presence
• Shattering: Cause a target's bones to break or its organs to rupture
• Agony Within: Cause a target's blood to transform into hooked tendrils that shred their arteries.
• Hundred Deaths: Cause a target to be covered in a million small deep cuts that constantly heal themselves and reopen.

Path of PleasureEdit

The creation of artificial, addictive pleasure and other drug-like effects. Price: The Beast's desires become harder to resist.^[5]

• Ecstasy: Make a target feel intense pleasure via touch
• Intrusion: Make a target feel intense pleasure via a telepathic command
• Daisy Chain: Cause your pleasure to spread memetically to several persons
• Deadening: Cause a target to become emotionally desensitized and apathetic
• The Garden of Earthly Delights: Cause a target to become catatonic from intense pleasure

Path of the DefilerEdit

Mystical corruption; possibly an infernal variation of the Path of Corruption. Price: Jealousy, manifesting as possessiveness of the user's victims.^[6]

• Call the Weakness: Learn enough about a target via conversation to gain an image of their character
• Tainted: Cause a target to feel intense shame about something
• Degradation: Change a target's nature temporarily
• Poisoned Soul: Affect a target's Humanity or Path rating
• Cancerous Blossom: Turn the victim's self-loathing into an actual physical deformity

Path of the UnspokenEdit

The Path of the Unspoken deals with the acquisition of knowledge via blasphemous means. Considered a myth by most sorcerers. Price: Memory lapses.^[7]

• Whispers of the Unborn: Listen to the forces of entropy to gain the answer to one specific question
• Scribing the Unknown: Transcribe any written information
• Shadow Thoughts: Learn more about a target by conversing with their shadow
• Fragments of the Forgotten: Transcribe information from lost works (missing passages are often filled in with misleading informations)
• Forsaken: Cause a target to vanish from the collective consciousness

Path of PestilenceEdit

The creation and spread of disease. Price: "The Rot", an ever-worsening disease.^[8]

• Illness: Cause a target to display symptoms of common illnesses
• Infection: Cause a target's wounds to become infected
• Miasma: Exhale obnoxious gases that blinds targets and infects mortals with diseases
• Parasitic Possession: Take control over a creature riddled by disease
• Vector: Infect a target with a virulent disease

Rego Venalis (Path of Corruption)Edit

Mystical corruption. Possibly an earlier variant of the Path of the Defiler or the Path of Corruption.^[9]

• Night's Terror: Cow a target in fear by showing them images of personal damnation.
• Poison Heart: Give a target inclinations towards their darker urges.
• Fool the Heart's Eye: Assume the appearence of a target's loved ones
• Name the Crime: Suggest a sin that the target has to commit
• Unleash the Dark Soul: Slay a mortal and resurrect its corpse animated by its darkest desires.

Video Nefas (Path of Evil Revelations)Edit

The acquisition of secrets of mortals and demons.^[10]

• See the Unseen: See into the spirit worlds
• Learn the Heart's Pain: See into a target's soul to learn its innermost regrets and grievances.
• Seize the Moment: Draw upon a specific memory of a target
• Casting the Bones: Use rune-carved bones to see into the future of a target
• Recall the Bloody Deed: Give a target's misdeeds and violence form as a minor demon that will exact retribution from them.

Rego Dolor (Path of Pain)Edit

The infliction of physical pain. Note that this is different from the modern Path of Pain.^[11]

• Strike the Broken Limb: Cause an old wound to reopen
• Phantom Pain: Cause a target illusionary pain
• Curse the Senses: Shun one of the target's senses
• Feed the Corruption: Cause the victim to become infected by maggots and swarmed by flies
• Eternal Torment: Cause bleeding sores across the target's body that do not heal normally.

Rego Manes (Path of Spirit)Edit

The conjuration of demons and the infliction of damage to all kinds of spirits. Rather than distinct powers, each level of mastery allows the practitioner to summon larger and more powerful demonic entities.^[12]

Rego Calatio (Path of Summoning)Edit

The summoning and controlling of demons. Rather than distinct powers, each level of mastery allows the practitioner to have greater control over the demons they have summoned. Price: The area where the summoning has taken place becomes sickened and corrupted,^[13]

Die Herrschaft des Wyrms (Tyranny of the Wyrm)Edit

Developed by a Malkavian cabal in Hesse, this Path draws upon demons in service to a three-headed dragon. Price: When resisted, the powers turn back against the thaumaturge.^[14]

• Malfean Infection: Corrupt and lessen a person's True Faith
• Bane of the Soul: Graft a "Bane spirit" on a target to become a slave to its worst impulses
• Dissonant Miserere: Infect a target's mind with insane ramblings that attracts demons
• Feed the Wyrm: Cause a target intense pain that can only be alleviated by pledging themselves to the Wyrm
• House the Maeljin: Become temporarily possessed by an aspect of a Maeljin

ReferencesEdit

• VTM: Storytellers Handbook to the Sabbat, p. 50-58

^  Fires of the Inferno

^  Path of Phobos

^  Taking of the Spirit

^  Path of Pain

^  Path of Pleasure

^  Path of the Defiler

^  Path of the Unspoken

^  Path of Pestilence

^  Rego Venalis

^  Video Nefas

^  Rego Dolor

^  Rego Manes

^  Rego Calatio

^  Die Herrschaft des Wyrm