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Vampireratz
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posticon Ghouls in the Crimson Keep World of Darkness

Rules for the inclusion of ghouls in the CK world


These rules are based upon the guidelines set down by Whitewolf™ and the source-books they have developed. But, due to the way in which Crimson Keep role-play sessions have been vampire-based over the years, a few of the rules regarding ghouls have been edited slightly to work around our Storylines and character creation. With this in mind, the rules we work by are stated below, and to maintain a sense of stability, logic and realism should be followed wherever possible. Please take this information into account when including ghouls in a storyline or creating a ghoul character.


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3/10/2007, 1:30 am Send Email to Vampireratz MSN
 
Vampireratz
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Rules for Ghouls

A ghoul with a steady diet of vitae is capable of learning the arcane powers which are also passed from sire to childe. The more instinctive abilities (such as increased strength/speed etc) come more naturally. Other, more specific powers require time and training, and often the blood from a particular clan.

Whilst Cainite vitae is in the system of a ghoul, it halts the process of cellular breakdown - ie, has a preservative effect. This means that ghouls will not age as long as they retain vitae in their veins. If weaned, aging will resume within a month. Just as with a dead vampire, an ex-ghoul rapidly advances to the biological age befitting their chronological age. If they have lived from 100 to 250 years, then they begin aging at 10 times the normal rate (a year becomes a decade and so on). Ghouls who have lived more than 250 years crumble instantly to dust if their supply of vitae is withdrawn.

Ghouls are still ‘living’ and heal themselves at the natural rate, still requiring rest and nourishment. A ghoul that is deprived of food and only fed on vitae will continue to live, (kept alive by the vitae), but will become malnourished and weak, and may lose some supernatural abilities as their body uses the vitae to maintain basic life-processes. Although ghouls do not age, their hair/fingernails etc do continue to grow. In effect, it is as if the ghoul re-lives the same day over and over. But, they are also capable of utilising their ingested vitae as Cainites do, to regenerate wounds far more quickly then normal. This even extends to the regeneration of severed limbs if enough vitae is available and the ghoul is skilled enough in utilising vitae for such levels of healing.

Ghouls are able to metabolise the vitae in order to quicken their physical capabilities - temporarily boosting such things as strength, speed, stamina, endurance or agility over and above any supernatural enhancements they may already posses. ie. The process of ghouling automatically improves such physical capabilities to an extent anyway, but the ghoul also has the ability to utilise the vitae in their system to temporarily extend these capabilities yet further. Think of it as giving their inherited ‘skills‘ a ‘booster‘.

Aspects such as increased strength come relatively naturally to a ghoul, and the newly ghouled individual may more than double their lifting capacity with no training. However, any arcana beyond this level (with the exceptions of rapid healing, quickening etc) are considerably more difficult for a ghoul to master. As a basic guide, it takes ghouls around double the amount of time it would take a neonate to learn a discipline. The ‘potency’ of the domitor (Cainite giving the vitae) blood also has an effect on the level of discipline the ghoul can learn. ie. The further from Caine the domitor is in regards to generation, the less disciplines the ghoul will be able to master, and those they do learn will be less powerful than a ghoul on blood from a stronger generation. This means that the ghoul of a fifth generation vampire would reach a higher level of discipline skill, and more complicated powers, than the ghoul of a ninth generation vampire.

Disciplines can only be learnt by a ghoul if they are ghouled by a vampire that has learnt those disciplines. A ghoul of a vampire of a specific clan, can also learn those disciplines more quickly than a ghoul of a vampire who has merely only learnt the skills over time. For example, a Gangrel ghoul will learn to shape-shift more quickly than a ghoul of a vampire that has merely learnt the discipline over time (that the discipline class protean doesn’t come naturally to). But, once a ghoul has learnt a specific discipline, ANY vampire blood they drink will allow them to use it.

Ghouls can frenzy in a similar manner to vampires. This is known as ‘Animalistic Hysteria’. This behavioural disorder can strike a ghoul at any time. It is thankfully only a temporary condition, but when it happens, most ghouls are unaware that their vampiric nature is taking over. Some domitors instinctively know when their ghoul has suffered an attack of ’frenzy’, even if they are not present. Frenzy in ghouls is triggered by sensory, environmental, physical or emotional stimuli that the ghoul construes as negative. For example: Feelings of inferiority to their domitor, abandonment by their domitor, their domitor becoming injured, overdose or lack of vampire blood, unrequited romantic feelings for their domitor, grave physical endangerment, or being forced to commit acts in violation of their moral, cultural or ethical codes. Basically, any stressful situation may cause a ghoul to enter frenzy - the triggers varying from one ghoul to another according to the individual ghoul’s perceptions and past experiences.

Ghouls can get sick. Vitae conveys no immunity to disease. Ghouls can use the vitae to heal themselves of the prolonged physical symptoms of many ailments, however diseases that cause prolonged deterioration may prove more difficult to resist. For example, cancers cannot be undone by the use of vitae, but it is halted in its progression. Conditions such as haemophilia and other inherited blood diseases are easily countered by ensuring the ghoul retains no blood of their own in their circulatory system. But, this obviously requires constant feeding and so can be troublesome to the domitor.


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3/10/2007, 1:39 am Send Email to Vampireratz MSN
 
Vampireratz
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Rules for Ghouls (continued)

If a ghoul is fed vitae regularly, they will develop clan-specific characteristics (ie Nosferatu disfigurements or derangements of Malkavians), but never to the extent that a Cainite might develop. But, it has been known for some mortals to have an apparent ‘resistance’ to the vitae-inflicted flaws of many clans.

Due to the way in which vampire vitae is absorbed into a ghouls body, and is retained in the ghoul’s circulatory system, the ghoul can only ‘store’ a finite amount of vitae. One cannot feed a ghoul too much vitae without first letting some of their own blood. Regular feeding however, increases the vitae/blood ratio. If fed nightly for example, a ghoul will eventually assimilate enough vitae that nothing remains of the human blood. But, this obviously means that as soon as the ghoul is weaned of vitae, the remaining vitae in their system will be metabolised and the level of human blood in their system will once again rise to keep levels at a steady whole. Elder ghouls gain additional blood points (storage capacity beyond the standard level of 10 for a human), at the rate of one point per two centuries of life (so, for eg. An 850 year old ghoul has a blood pool of 14). If you want to get technical - Only 10 blood points can be ‘stored’ within the ghouls body via feeding/injecting if their body has adapted to this ratio of vampire/human blood (obviously a blood pool of 10 vitae points would mean the ghoul is receiving nightly feeds and their entire circulatory system contains practically nothing BUT vampire blood). But only 2 blood points can be ‘fed’ at any one sitting, as this is the amount that fits in the human digestive tract. If the ghoul wishes to gain more than 2 blood points worth of vitae by methods other than direct feeding, they must undergo in a blood transfusion, where some of their human blood is first removed. As previously mentioned, it is possible for a ghoul to increase their blood pool above 10, but only 10 of these points will be available to vitae without first bloodletting).

It is possible for a ghoul to ‘overdose’ on vitae (feeding until their veins are thoroughly filled with vitae and then to fill their stomach to the absolute capacity). This results in several things: The capacity for frenzy is heightened even further, to the extent that the ‘beast’ they appear to posses is almost as strong as the one found in a frenzying Cainite. If the vitae in the ghoul’s system is also largely from a single clan, the ghoul will adopt in full, any disfigurements that the bloodline bears. The blood in the ghouls system also becomes highly oxygenated, which in turn affects brain functions. This can result in benefits such as slightly heightened reaction speed, but can also result in drawbacks such as hallucinations or becoming dangerously erratic.

When a ghoul utilises vitae, it is consumed from their system accordingly and at a faster rate. This means that if a ghoul utilises too much vitae too quickly (before the body has a chance to replace the vitae used, with human blood, to keep the levels whole), then they will suffer the symptoms of rapid blood loss (extreme weakness/gasping for breath etc).

Although vitae is not physically addictive in the manner of nicotine or heroin, it does produce psychological effects upon withdrawal. Lacking the substance that has become the crux of their existence, the ghoul becomes as pathologically desperately cunning as a ‘dope-fiend’ denied their fix. They will wheedle, demand and in some cases try to force vitae from their domitor or other known vampires. A withdrawn mortal that is denied the ‘legitimate’ means of satisfying a craving, often sublimates the lust for vitae into a lust for substance garnered in similar predatory fashion.

Ghouls can suffer from derangements such as obsession, manic-depression, regression and perfection. How the domitor treats the ghoul plays a large part in determining whether or not, or to what extent a ghoul suffers from a derangement. Events in the ghoul’s life may also play a part in this - for example, if a ghoul is forced to betray their loved ones or kills someone important to them in a frenzy etc.

It is possible for a ghoul to refuse to accept blood from their domitor, and effectively ‘wean’ themselves off vitae, but it is by no means easy for them to do so. If the ghoul is generally prone to addiction, then they may never completely be free of the craving for vampire blood.


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3/10/2007, 1:43 am Send Email to Vampireratz MSN
 
Vampireratz
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Ghouls - Blood Bonding

Blood Bonding


These rules are specific to the process of blood-bonding ghouls.



If a person experienced difficulties with compulsions or addictions in life, the effects of the blood bonding process can prove emotionally traumatic.

Upon receiving the first and second doses of blood, a ghoul feels what can best be classified as an amphetamine-like hysterical intoxication. They display extreme amounts of energy and feel more vibrant and robust. However, due to the dilution of the dosage within the human’s body, these effects dissipate within 2 to 4 hours after feeding. After receiving the third dosage of blood from an individual vampire, the ghoul is rendered more or less ‘addicted’ to the blood of the domitor, and will go to great lengths in order to ingest larger, more frequent and more concentrated doses of vampiric vitae. On the third dosage of blood, a ghoul also demonstrates a tangible and profound emotional attachment to this vampire, and sometimes to their domitor’s vampire family or clan.

In blood bound humans, the need for kindred blood becomes so urgent that the ghoul becomes completely obsessed with pleasing their domitor. Often this dependency on the domitor’s approval and blood evolves into what many ghouls consider a love relationship, albeit a potentially very unhealthy one. It is not uncommon for a ghoul to disregard any flaws their domitor may have and ‘put them on a pedestal’.

Domitors must feed their ghouls at least once monthly. At the end of a third week it is highly likely that with no ‘fix’, the ghoul will display suicidal tendencies if they feel they’re not being tended to. It is believed that it takes a full year to be completely free of the effects of the blood-bond, although the time can vary slightly depending on the willpower of the ghoul.

Although after a third dose of vampire blood, a ghoul will be blood bound, the more doses of vampire blood a ghoul has in a shorter amount of time, the stronger the ‘blood bond’ will be. So, a ghoul that is fed less often, has more of a degree of control, and a ghoul that is fed more often is closer to being ‘slave-like’. Obviously a ghoul still has to be fed a minimum of once a month to prevent aging/to keep the vitae in their system, but the more vitae the ghoul receives within this month, the stronger the blood-bond, and less control they will have.

Although the rule-book states that a ghoul can be blood bound to more than one vampire, this rule has been edited slightly. If a ghoul is fed an ‘impure mixture’ of the blood of several vampires, then to an extent, the effects of the blood bond are cancelled out. The ghoul will still feel drawn to the vampires who’s blood was used, but given their status (as in a situation such as this, the vampires are usually of a higher ‘rank‘ than the ghouls), this is usually experienced as nothing more than extreme respect/appreciation/admiration for the kindred involved- rather than the standard ‘obsession’ of a blood bonding. The vampires involved in this mixture are by no means in complete control of the ghoul (ie, the ghoul cannot reach a slave-like state).



Last edited by Vampireratz, 3/10/2007, 1:56 am


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3/10/2007, 1:48 am Send Email to Vampireratz MSN
 


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