BARDO

This Discipline has been handed down since Osiris
himself first discovered this path. It involves attainment
of a constant state of mystical consciousness, only
achieved by the rigid, ascetic unlife of the Children.
This Discipline is not the same state as Golconda. Golconda
is a realization and acceptance of the way things
are, while the Children’s Disciplines are based on denial.
They deny the Beast within them by intensely concentrating
on their Humanity and their state of death.
If a Child was to give up his meditations and discipline,
he would be assailed by his Beast.
The Child must maintain Humanity equal to their
highest level of ability, or else lose that ability. For
example, a Child must have a Humanity of 9 to gain
the ninth level of attainment. If the Child’s Humanity
ever drops below the required level, then the ability of
that level is lost and must be bought all over again with
experience points. The Child can counteract this with
Restore Humanitas (below).
A Child of Osiris cannot follow any type of moral
code other than Humanity.

• Restore Humanitas
The first thing that the Children of Osiris are taught
is that Humanity does not have to be an inexorable
slide into depravity. Instead, it is more akin to a climb
up an extremely steep hill. The vampire is going to lose
some ground, but with perseverance and strength, he
can regain it.
System: When the vampire loses a dot of Humanity,
he can attempt to regain it without spending experience
points by using this power. The Child must use
this power within a week of losing the Humanity, and
must not have lost any more Humanity since the initial
loss (that is, if the character falls from Humanity 8 to
Humanity 7, and then falls to Humanity 6 before using
this power, Restore Humanitas can only be used to recover
Humanity 7). The character meditates for several
hours, and spends all of the blood points currently in
his body. The player then rolls Conscience (difficulty
equal to the level of Humanity being regained). If the
roll succeeds, the character regains the dot of Humanity
and (if applicable) the dot of Conscience lost to
a botched degeneration roll. If the character gained a
derangement, it fades within a week of using Restore
Humanitas.

•• Banishing Sign of Thoth
The character gestures, turning aside any supernatural
effect aimed at her. The source of the effect does not
matter. She can thwart, or at least blunt, the strength
of any mystical attack. This sign was supposedly taught
to Osiris by Thoth, the Egyptian god of wisdom and
magic. What Thoth actually was — vampire, mortal,
or spellcaster — is lost to time.
System: The player spends a blood point and rolls
Dexterity + Occult (difficulty 7). This power can be
used to “dodge” any incoming attack of a mystical nature,
including any Disciplines that target the character
(whether or not they actually inflict damage). Any
successes the player rolls are subtracted from the successes
on the attacker’s roll. The sign does not serve
to turn aside magically enhanced physical attacks; a
punch from a vampire with the Potence Discipline still
has the full effect.

••• Gift of Apis
All vampires must consume blood, no matter how
good their intentions. While this basic fact of undeath
cannot be circumvented, the Children of Osiris can at
least avoid drinking human blood.
System: Animal blood is just as nourishing to the
character as human blood. An animal is considered to
have a blood pool equal to the number of health levels
it has, rather than the lesser value usually assigned
to represent the creature’s less-than-filling fluids (see
p. 270 for more on drinking from animals). This ability
is always active.

•••• Pillar of Osiris
In the center of every temple is a Pillar of Osiris, a
place of meditation and power in which the Children’s
magic is greatly increased. At this level of Bardo, the
character learns to create such a Pillar, meaning that
he can create his own temple.
System: Creating the Pillar of Osiris requires a
night-long ritual, with the difficulty determined by the
location. The more remote and free from violence the
location is, the lower the difficulty. A cave far from
human populations that has never seen violence might
be difficulty 5, which the site of a grisly murder-suicide
in a downtown area would be difficulty 9. The player
spends a Willpower point and rolls Willpower. Success
creates the Pillar, which does not require a physical pillar
— the Pillar of Osiris is conceptual, not literal.
Once the Pillar is created, any vampire with at least
one dot of Bardo receives a -3 to the difficulties of any
Discipline or other mystical activity (including blood
magic) performed at the Pillar. However, this requires
regular trips to the Pillar. Once the vampire has created
a Pillar, he must visit it at least once a month, or
it ceases to function. In addition, for every week he
is away from a Pillar (not necessarily the one he created),
the difficulties of all rolls to avoid frenzy increase
by one. The Beast, long denied by the Child’s ascetic
practices, grows in strength while away from the Pillar,
and eventually pushes the vampire to frenzy and
(likely) Humanity loss. The Children of Osiris, for this
and other reasons, do not leave their temples for long.

••••• Paradox
The Child utters a phrase or a riddle that lays bare
the truth of the universe to a listener. That truth — the
perspective of that one listener’s importance weighed
against the whole of creation — is enough to immobilize
the target for short while. Although this experience
would seem to be disheartening, after the fact
the targets are loath to harm the Child. Whether that’s
because of a newfound appreciation for one’s place in
the world, or out of fear that the vampire will reveal
the paradox again, no one really knows.
System: The vampire speaks the phrase, and the
player spends a point of Willpower and rolls Manipulation
+ Occult (difficulty equal to the listener’s current
Willpower). If multiple listeners are present, the player
rolls against the highest difficulty. If the roll is successful,
the listener(s) is immobilized for the scene as he
contemplates what he has heard. Striking the victim
snaps him out of it. At the end of the scene, the paradox
is gone, and the target can’t ever quite explain it.
He does, however, suffer a permanent +1 difficulty to
harm or act against the Child of Osiris.

••••• • Boon of Anubis
The vampire can protect a mortal from Embrace,
leaving instructions for Anubis, the judge of the dead,
not to take this particular mortal to his scales. If the
mortal is Embraced while under the power of this Discipline,
she simply sleeps for a full night and day, and
awakens aching and sick, but unharmed.
In order to enact this power, the Child of Osiris must
kiss the mortal, usually on the forehead.
System: The vampire spends a point of Willpower
and rolls Humanity. If the roll succeeds, the target is
immune to the Embrace for a number of months equal
to the successes rolled. The player can spend a dot of
Willpower to make the effect permanent. Note that
this Discipline does not protect against any other form
of death than the Embrace. If a vampire drains the unfortunate
victim dry and then shoots her in the head,
she dies just the same. However, the difficulty to avoid
degeneration when killing or harming someone under
protection of this power is increased by three.

••••• •• Bring Forth the Dawn
This power does not actually cause the sun to rise, but
rather triggers the daysleep in Kindred. The Child simply
gestures, and the target’s Beast responds as though
the sun had just risen outside. The Child can then beat
a hasty retreat — or stake and behead the vampire now
lying helpless before him.
System: The player spends a blood point for each
vampire to be affected and rolls Manipulation + Occult
in a contested roll against each target’s Humanity
or Path (both rolls at difficulty 7). If the target wins,
the power fails. If the Child wins, however, all affected
vampires fall asleep for a number of hours equal to the
Child’s net successes. Followers of Set and other bloodlines
that share their weakness suffer a -2 to their dice
pool for this roll. Any Disciplines or Thaumaturgy rituals
which protect the Kindred during their sleep also
work in defending against this level of Bardo.

••••• ••• Mummification
The Children of Osiris have an uneasy relationship
with destroying other vampires. They would prefer not
to do so, but some Kindred are too evil to be allowed
to exist. For the vampires that straddle the line — that
are wicked, but retain a spark of Humanity — the Children
sometimes use Mummification.
This long ritual allows a vampire to be put into torpor
for as long as the Child wishes. The target can attempt
to struggle free, but only once per century. Once
the vampire is mummified, the Children usually seal
her up in a deep tomb, where (hopefully) she will remain
undisturbed.
System: The target must be immobilized, ritually
bound in strips of fabric, and prepared with incense
and special herbs. The player then rolls Willpower in a
contested action against the target’s Willpower (both
difficulty 8). If the Child wins, the target enters torpor.
If the victim wins, he remains awake and the ritual
cannot be completed for another night (meaning that
resistance is usually temporary). The target can also attempt
to shake the spell free once per century, with a
Willpower roll (difficulty 9).
Ghouls can also be mummified, but they get no
chance to escape.

••••• •••• Ra’s Blessing
This ritual is difficult, but allows the vampire to accomplish
the impossible — walking in sunlight, fully
experiencing the day once more. Gaining Ra’s Blessing
requires a month-long period of fasting and meditation,
at the end of which the character might be granted the
chance to spend a few precious hours in sunlight. Even
this brief period, however, can bolster the character’s
Humanity.
System: After completing the month of contemplation,
the character ritually washes herself and prepares
to greet the dawn. The player spends 10 blood points
and rolls Humanity (difficulty 9). Every success allows
the character to withstand the sunlight as if she were
mortal for a single hour. If the roll fails or botches, the
character cannot attempt Ra’s Blessing for a decade.
If the roll succeeds, though, the character can use
the reaffirmation of seeing sunlight as a way to boost
her Humanity and Virtues. For every hour spent under
the sun, the Child can roll his Humanity, or one
of his Virtues, against a difficulty of 9. Success means
that trait is raised by one, while failure or botching this
room means no gain.