Rubedo/Nigredo

Nigredo Discipline

All that lives, dies. All that dies, putrefies and in this, finds new life. So long as no greater wisdom is found, this circle cannot be broken. The mortal and all his works are doomed to repeat the insufferable whim of an uncaring nature. He is fated to fall and rise and fall again, in both body and soul. From birth, the process of putrefaction begins. In every breath one takes, every meal one eats, every connection one makes to others, every moment spent under sun or moon; the Outer Flame, worldly or peripheral essence, penetrates into the core of ones self and the Inner Flame, internal or personal essence, is kindled. Putrefaction occurs as the Inner Flame begins to reduce self and soul into same primordial matter from which they sprung.

The Nigredo Discipline is formed as the Homunculus struggles to gain some measure of self and soul and the Gisonen Alchemist explores the limitations of his soul and the content of his character. It is a measure of personal impurity and spiritual putrefaction, one which cannot begin until spiritual awareness itself already exists. Mortals are born to this state and must devote most of their life to comprehending and cataloging it’s depths. The Homunculus is created hollow, with no Inner Flame of it’s own and without impurity, and thus must actively seek it out through consuming aspects of the world around it. It must seek for impurities to burn, collecting them into itself bit by bit, like a man filling a lake with one bucket of water at a time.

As other mortals dwell idly unaware of the seeping darkness spreading across their souls and lesser Homunculi exist only as empty puppets of flesh, those who seek Nigredo understand the bondage imposed upon them by nature. They are still slaved to it, yet in comprehending it can become more powerful than it. It is the art of Internal Alchemy. The Alchemy of the Mind. It is self comprehension to it’s most terrifying extent.

x - You exist as you are. You may be self-reflective and even self-aware, yet you do not dare to truly plunge into the depths of your own soul. Unaware, you pass through life never seeing or feeling your own death as it creeps up upon you.

1 - You have opened your eyes to the blackness within yourself. On the very edge of the abyss, teetering not to fall, you see shadows in your dreams. You begin feel the passage of time gnawing away at you slowly. You never truly feel clean nor satisfied with the distractions of daily life as you once had. You are haunted by yourself.

2 - You peer into the blackness at a distance, risking glances into your own soul, but little more. You begin to see the worldly pursuits and worries that hasten the process of putrefaction. You comprehend how contact with the corrupting influence of others darkens the pallor of your soul. The passions and humors that you once embraced reveal themselves as weaknesses. You are a dark and distant figure, ever distracted from the world around you.

3 - You have stepped into the black, your way lit only by the dark fires of the Outer Flame piercing in behind you. You can smell the sweet scent of your own decaying form. Your impurities cover you like a cloud of biting gnats, each one acute in the pain of it’s existence. Disoriented and confused, none can truly understand you anymore, for you do not even understand yourself.

4 - You are overwhelmed with blackness. You choke on every breath of air, grow sick with every bite of food, and revile every moment spent in the company of others. You feel the impurities that seep in with each action and the crackle of your Inner Flame as it eats you alive. You realize that not a single speck of the you that came into this world truly exists any longer, only the black regurgitation of the Flame. You are lost.

5 - You are the blackness of your inner self. You see nothing of who you are beyond the dark. You feel how every moment changes you. Feel the death and lesser renewal of every flake of skin, every strand of hair. You feel yourself slowly burning away, destroyed and renewed again and again until in time there will be nothing left. Constantly aware of every flaw, your own flesh sits upon you like a suit of unclean clothes. One that cannot be shed, only burned away. You are alone.

Nigredo and Mortals

Self-reflection and self-examination have a place in spiritual enlightenment. Even the most devote Immaculate would not question a mortal's right to ask the question 'What am I?' Yet the Nigredo Discipline is a method of self-discovery of the most maddening and overwhelming kind. It answers that question with a simple truth: flawed, then challenges the alchemist to discover how much so. The deeper into meditation and awareness the alchemist comes, the further back from the world around him he draws.

Each dot of Nigredo a mortal possesses incurs a -1 penalty to his Socialize, Performance, and Presence rolls. Be it at a stage where he is simply self-absorbed or outright reviling the company of others, his social skills suffer badly. Upon obtaining the third stage of Nigredo, a mortal also begins to suffer a -1 penalty on Perception rolls related to outward awareness and increases difficulty on rolls made to regain Willpower each morning by 1 per dot above 3 he achieves. His ability to enjoy pleasures is hampered and those with the Nature of Hedonist will either find their Nature shifting or go thoroughly mad.

Mastery of Nigredo is not without some benefits however. An alchemist mastering the path becomes keenly aware of his mind and body. His knowledge of self grows so minute that he becomes instantly aware of any attempt to influence his self, body or mind. Poisons, possible sources of sickness, and attempts to influence his passions and needs through supernatural means are all as visible to him. His accurate knowledge of self makes it easy for him to resist such incursions, adding his Nigredo in dice to all Endurance, Resistance, Willpower, or Virtue rolls to resist the effects of poison, illness, and unnatural mental influences.

Each dot of Nigredo costs a mortal 10exp and takes (Current Rating) x 5 months to master.

Nigredo and the Exalted

Though there have been no Exalted in Rubedo for countless generations, there is nothing preventing an Exalt from mastering the Nigredo Discipline as long as he has someone to teach him. The effects of the Nigredo Discipline upon Exalts is somewhat different than mortals. All of the penalties and bonuses a mortal suffers or enjoys apply to the Exalt as well, but in addition they become increasingly detached from the very thing which makes them Exalted. Their pathos and self-loathing becomes reflected upon them physically as well.

Solars turn their awareness inward upon their purely mortal selves, losing sight of their own heroic nature, and become less bright for it, a tarnish spreading upon their golden light. The shine dims until it takes on a base and bronze pallor. Their anima banner alters to reflect their differing self-perception, becoming gradually more hideous and defeated. Artifacts of Orichalcum they are attuned to loose their luster as well, though none of their potency. It becomes harder for their animas to flare and more costly to employ the powers of their Exalted shard. They add their Nigredo to the minimum number of motes they must spend to achieve each level of anima display and add one-half their Nigredo in motes to the cost of activating their anima effects.

Lunars dive deeper into the animal flaws of their totems and draw away from the cold bright moon. Dull gray splotches spread over their anima like the oceans of the moon and eventually transforms the silver light to purely gray. The animal of their banner becomes less of an exemplar and an avatar and more a mere creature. Moonsilver too suffers a spreading corrosion to it's luster, taking on the color and appearance of iron whenever the Lunar attune an artifact made of it. Less fluid and more fixed, they have no dreams that are not fixated on their own slow decay. Lunar's add one-half of their Nigredo as a surcharge whenever employing Charms of the Fair Folk, but also add one-half their Nigredo in Aggravated damage to any blow against the Wyld Born.

Sidereal turn their gaze downwards to their feet and soon can no longer see the patterns of the stars. Their animas become inverted in their shades, bleak negatives of their usual glows. The starlight even fades from their eyes, each star winking out one after another. Starmetal seems to thin whenever they attune to it, the faint colors draining from the artifacts until little is left but what appears to be cheap glass. Nothing without their ties to the heavens, a Sidereal whose focus is purely inward is blind to the patterns of the stars and becomes hollow even to the eyes of others. Sidereal suffer a penalty to all Astrology rolls equal to one-half their Nigredo, but add a like amount to all Stealth rolls.

The Dragon-Blooded fixate upon their human flaws and in so doing, leave unchecked their elemental natures. The raging tempest of their animas grow even more volatile, the shapes of their banners increasingly indistinct and replaced by simply raw torrents of elemental energy. Their own bodies suffer as the uncapped elements bubble to the surface to escape the growing darkness inside of them - Fire Aspects exhales clouds of unclean black smoke, Water Aspects seem always covered by a coat of slimey ooze, Air Aspects grow thick with frost from the icy winds that stir around them, Earth Aspects crack and crumble at the joints as their skin stiffens like stone, and Wood Aspects sprout the prickly skin of weeds or the rank scent of corpse lilies. Attuned to Dragon-Blooded mastering Nigredo, Jade seems become little more than rough and unrefined stone. Without the vigilance of a mortal mind to watch it and feed by the coal of the Terrestrial's own flaws, the Dragon-Blooded's anima flux becomes increasing dangerous. For each point of Nigredo, the Dragon-Blooded increases the damage dealt by their anima flux by one.

Abyssals are almost completely unaffected by mastery of the Nigredo Discipline. If anything, they are more in tune with it's lessons than any other creature who can practice them. The stain of the void upon their souls cannot be darkened by the mere trifles of a mortals flaws. Indeed, those flaws their soul already bears become an important part of Nigredo and in exploring them, they dive deeper into the mouth of the void than most would dare. Drawing closer to their Neverborn masters carries them further away from their already tenuous grasp upon their mortal lives. Their creativity wanes, lost in the stagnant darkness of the Neverborns dreams and all attempts to employ the magic of Sorcery incur a surcharge equal to their dots in Nigredo. However, they subtract twice their Nigredo from the cost to employ Necromancy (to a minimum of a single mote).

Exalted can master Nigredo far quicker than can most mortals. They pay only 4exp per dot and take only (Current Rating) x 2 weeks to train in it. The exception is Abyssals, who are exceptionally talented in mastering it's lessons. They pay only 2exp per dot and take only (Current Rating) in weeks to train.

Nigredo Charms

These Charms focus upon the consumption of Essence in people and objects. Eclipse Caste Solars and Moonshade Caste Abyssals can both master these Charms, so long as they meet the prerequisites for them. Able to harness the unending hunger of the Abyss in emulation of the Homunculi's hollow centers, Moonshade Abyssals treat Nigredo Charms as if they were Unfavored Abyssal Charms for the purpose of experience costs and learning times.

Taste the Crimson Chalice
Cost: 1 Willpower
Duration: Instant
Type: Simple
Minimum Nigredo: 1
Minimum Essence: 1
Prerequisite Charms: None
With this Charm, a Homunculus may feast upon the raw essence locked away within mortal flesh and blood. A suitable subject must first be pacified without being slain, typically by reducing them to their Incapacitated health level with Bashing damage. The blood it drinks need not come from an unwilling victim, though few offer their throats willingly to the mouth of the hollow-gods. For every health level of mortal blood the Homunculus consumes, it gains 3 motes.

Encrusting the Cold Hearth
Cost: None
Duration: Permanent
Type: Special
Minimum Nigredo: 2
Minimum Essence: 1
Prerequisite Charms: Taste the Crimson Chalice
Clasping a hearthstone to itself, the Homunculus opens both it’s flesh and it’s soul to the power locked within the gem-like stone. It implants the hearthstone into it’s body, feeding off it’s power and slowly consuming the stone itself. A Homunculus may use this Charm to implant a number of hearthstones into it’s body equal to it’s permanent Essence. While implanted, the Homunculus gains all it’s associated benefits, including mote regeneration. However, the stone is rapidly consumed and made inert, eventually absorbing completely into the hollow-gods form. Each hearthstone will last a number of days equal to it’s level. Once completely consume, the hearthstone will begin to form at the manse as if it had been destroyed.

Candle Wick Way
Cost: None
Duration: Permanent
Type: Special
Minimum Nigredo: 3
Minimum Essence: 2
Prerequisite Charms: Encrusting the Cold Hearth
Though a Homunculus cannot attune to the artifacts of the Exalted, they can make other use of them. Swallowing an artifact into itself, the hollow-god begins to slowly burn down the twisting enchantments woven in to them, consuming bit by bit the essence pent up inside of them. As long as the Homunculus carries the artifact inside itselfit gains a number of motes per day equal to the level of the Artifact it keeps within it. A Homunculus may perform this act on both true artifacts and those objects enchanted by mortal thaumaturgy. Mortal enchanted objects last only a single day, while true artifacts last a number of weeks equal to their artifact level. However, as the Homunculus consumes their enchantments, the power of the weapons wanes. Each week, the artifact will lose a single function, beginning with the most powerful and direct and ending with the most passive. A Homunculus may only consume a single artifact at a time in this fashion.

Banner Desecrating Discipline
Cost: None
Duration: Permanent
Type: Special
Minimum Nigredo: 2
Minimum Essence: 1
Prerequisite Charms: Taste the Crimson Chalice
Basking in the raw power that radiates off gods and Exalts, a Homunculus may tear this ambient displays of power away and throw them into it’s cold belly. Upon learning this Charm, from that point on a Homunculus may reflexively consume the anima banner of a single creature within his Essence x 10 feet, gaining a number of motes equal to the level of display. This snuffs out the banner instantly, though has no other outward effect.

Sword Sheathing Succulence
Cost: 1 Willpower
Duration: Instant
Type: Reflexive
Minimum Nigredo: 2
Minimum Essence: 2
Prerequisite Charms: Banner Desecrating Discipline
In battle, gods and their chosen so often cover their weapons in a coat of deadly essence. When faced with an attack empowered by Charms, the Homunculus reflexively rolls it’s Temperance + Willpower. Each success on this roll rips a single mote out of the supplemental Charms used in the attack and adds it to the Homunculus’ own pools. Any Charm reduced to zero motes is completely consumed. This Charm must be activated after an attack is declared, but before it is rolled.

Drinking the Dragon’s Blood
Cost: 1 Willpower
Duration: One Day
Type: Simple
Minimum Nigredo: 3
Minimum Essence: 3
Prerequisite Charms: Encrusting the Cold Hearth
With this Charm, a Homunculus may burrow like a tick into the flows of essence that move through the earth. Slurping greedily upon the power of a Dragon-Line, the Homunculus can upset the natural flow of Essence through an entire region. Each day the Homunculus nests unmoving upon a dragon-line, it may roll it’s Nigredo Discipline in dice and regain a single mote for each success. Any Manses linked to these patterns of Essence begin to grow weaker. A single Homunculus can rare disrupt a Manse completely, but many can work in unison to do so. For every five dots of Nigraedo collectively possessed by a group of feeding Homunculi, reduce the effective strength of the adjoining Manse by one. Any hearthstones the Manse no longer possesses levels to support become inert and crumble apart. They will not begin to reform at the Manse until the Homunculi cease their feeding.

World-Harvesting Hunger
Cost: 2 Willpower
Duration: One Scene
Type: Simple
Minimum Nigredo: 4
Minimum Essence: 4
Prerequisite Charms: Drinking the Dragon’s Blood
Standing within a realm made of raw spiritual essence such as Yu-Shan, Malfeas, or the Wyld, the Homunculus stretches wide it’s spiritual maw and begins to consume the very world around it. The landscape dissolves mote by mote, crumbling first into pebble and dust and then into iridescent clouds of essence that siphon into the hollow god. For the remainder of the scene, the Homunculus will gain a number of motes equal to it’s Nigredo Discipline every turn. Additionally, everyone within it’s Essence x 10 yards suffers a -3 environmental penalty as they struggle to stand under the dissipating world.

Salting the Fallow Fields
Cost: 4 Willpower, 5 exp, + Manse Rating in Health Levels
Duration: Instant
Type: Simple
Minimum Nigredo: 5
Minimum Essence: 4
Prerequisite Charms: World-Harvesting Hunger
One of the most terrifying powers of the hollow-gods, this Charm can render a single manse inert forever. Only a massive act of geomancy to shift dragon-lines back into proper alignment can ever cause the manse to function again. The Homunculus must be standing at the center of the Manse before activating this Charm. Latching into the central focus of essence within the manse, power fountains upwards through the hollow-god, filling it to the brim and exploding outwards through cracks in it’s perfected flesh. The Homunculus suffers a number of Aggravated health levels equal to the rating of the Manse. All hearthstones linked to the Manse are rendered instantly useless. The land and air are so leached of essence by the time the hollow-god is finished that anyone traveling with it’s Nigredo Discipline x 2 miles of the Manse can regain motes. This persists for several days as the ambient essence of Creation slowly begins to seep back into the area, reducing the area effected by two miles per day. This Charm can destroy the Sanctum of a God as easily as a Manse of Creation.