Necropolis

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Nosferatu The Beast that Haunts the Blood p. 113
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Buying points in the Necropolis Merit allows a Nosferatu character to contribute to the communal catacomb “kingdom” of the local Haunts. While it’s possible that only one Nosferatu in the city contributes these points, the Merit is meant to be shared by some or all of the city’s Haunts. One Nosferatu may possess the points which contributes toward the Necropolis’ many chambers and sites, but in all likelihood these are still open to those allowed entrance.

• Every point purchased in this communal Merit go toward the procurement of the various chambers and sites as listed below.

• If all the dots in the Necropolis are purchased by a single Nosferatu, assume that only that character grants or restricts access to the Necropolis. This Merit can apply to any Kindred, but it’s very rare that the local Haunts are willing to share the glories and shadows of their Necropoli with any outside their clan.

Necropolis dots can be lost. Nosferatu characters may betray the nest. They may fall out of favor. They may end the relationship held with their other subterranean dwellers, preferring instead to eschew the freak-show and try to carve out a niche amongst the “upper crust” of Damned society. Alternately, one of the Haunts may meet Final Death or be forced into exile by an angry Prince.

• In any such instance where Necropolis dots are lost, the Storyteller and players should work together to decide what that means for the communal Necropolis. In some cases, it might be easy: if one of the chambers is of variable dots (• to •••••), it’s easy enough to lower a three-dot chamber to a two-dot chamber and accept the resultant vulnerability.

• Alternately, it may be reasonable to restrict access to one of the rooms until the lost point or points can be bought back (thus, reclaimed) by another Nosferatu character. For example, if a powerful Nosferatu Bishop lost his head, the Dark Temple in which he held Midnight Mass might fall into disrepair. Until the Bishop’s dots in the Necropolis Merit can be bought back, assume the Dark Temple’s benefits cannot be accessed by any of the nest-member Haunts.

Bleak Annals

(● to ●●●●●)

The Bleak Annals are a library… of sorts. Oh, never a normal library, no. Maybe it’s too-tall walls whose thousand niches are filled with clay pots and in these clay pots lurk curls of papyrus. Sure, it could be books, but if they are, don’t count on them being arranged by alphabet or by the Dewey Decimal System—instead, they’re probably piled into teetering stacks or are scattered not in one room but throughout the breadth and depth of the entire damn Necropolis. Worse, the Annals might be something totally bizarre: walls made of shrunken heads that speak secrets if offered prayer, or a breeding room of rats whose squeaks and chitters could be translated into knowledge and wisdom for those who care to take the task.

• For each dot in the Annals, choose one Mental Skill Specialty. At any time, any Nosferatu with dots contributing toward the Necropolis can use the Bleak Annals and make a Research roll. Success on this roll allows the character to utilize the bonus from the Skill Specialty as if it were his own for the rest of the night.

Note that, when purchasing dots in the Annals, the same Skill Specialty can be purchased up to three times. For example, the Annals might be particularly focused on demonology, and if this Occult Skill Specialty applies three times, it grants a +3 bonus to all appropriate Occult rolls.

Caldarium

(●, ●●●, or ●●●●●)

For some, the Nosferatu bath house is a truly glorious affair: tarnished brass tubs sunken into stone floors, the tubs and water made hot by a floor heated through with steam or stoked with smoldering coals. For others… well, in one Necropolis the bathhouse is a grimy series of pits filled with rancid blood whose skin (like that which forms on old tomato soup) is pierced by the vigilant stirring of blind ghoul sycophants.

• At one dot, the Caldarium provides a place of social power for the Nosferatu: all Haunts within the Caldarium gain +1 to rolls involving Expression, Persuasion, Socialize or Subterfuge.
• At three dots, this bonus increases to +2, and in addition all present gain the Meditative Mind Merit.
• At five dots, the bonus increases to +3, and a dark serenity stays with the Haunt even after he leaves the bathhouse. For the rest of the night, he gains a +2 bonus against any kind of frenzy.

Catacombs

(● to ●●●●●)

Some Necropoli are little more than a series of connected rooms: a rotting set of pocket doors opens to reveal the library, a rusted porthole leads to the temple, and so forth. Others, though, have a great deal of space between the rooms, and in some, this space is a precarious tangle, a true labyrinth. These are the Catacombs.

• Navigating the tunnels necessitates an extended Wits + Investigation roll, with ten successes required. Each roll is equivalent to one hour’s worth of wandering. Those who do not have dots in the Necropolis Merit suffer a penalty to this roll equal to the owners’ total dots in Catacombs. Those who do possess any dots in the Merit, however, may still have to succeed on the roll. Even the Haunts may find themselves periodically lost in the dark and distorted heart of their own Necropolis.
• The Catacombs are almost unremittingly dark. Standard Perception rolls are hampered by a standard -3 penalty, and the “Fighting Blind” rules (p. 166, World of Darkness Rulebook) may apply at Storyteller discretion.

Dark Temple

(●●)

Perhaps it’s a small alter ringed with rat skulls, or a golden urn in which the ashes of an ancient Haunt linger. Or perhaps it’s a bloody pulpit surrounded by rock walls made white with chalk crosses. Somehow, this room has become consecrated—why or when such a consecration happened is hard to say. The local Haunts may or may not remember. Maybe the Dark Temple lies beneath an open sewer grate that opens up in what they call “Murder Alley,” and over time all that bad blood dripping down left an indelible stain (both physical and spiritual) on the room. Could be that some decrepit Nosferatu Saint (Saint Cheslin of the Boneyard, Splinter of the Monastery of Yellowjackets) makes this room his sarcophagus. Or, perhaps it’s just that this is where the Nosferatu choose to worship, and their grim energy has pooled here like so much sewage.

The Dark Temple can only be consecrated for the Lancea Sanctum or the Circle of the Crone; to whom it provides its benefits must be decided at the time of the points purchased. The Storyteller may allow characters to actively attempt to “reconsecrate” the Dark Temple to their own faith.

• The consecration provides two benefits: usage of either Theban Sorcery or Cruac in this Dark Temple gain +1 to those rituals, depending on whether the temple is sacred to the Crone or the Dark Father. Also, those with Status in the appropriate covenant gain +2 Social dice when speaking to those without such Status while in the Dark Temple.

Garbage Pit

(●●) Trash has to go somewhere. Welcome to the Garbage Pit (which like many of the chambers listed here may have its own name in the Necropolis: The Shit Pit, perhaps, or simply, The Ditch). In some cases, it’s the trash from the world above. Garbage seems to ceaselessly wind its way downward, as if seeking interment and decay. Other trash comes from the Nosferatu themselves: old blood-stained clothing, broken masks, pilfered goods from victims, and so forth.

The Garbage Pit provides a handful of unconnected benefits.

• The first is that when aiming to use Crafts to jury-rig a device, a Nosferatu’s player can make an extended Wits + Investigation roll to look for a “missing part.” Five successes are necessary, and each roll is an hour of digging deep into the debris and waste.
• Second, any Nosferatu with points invested in the Necropolis gains a +2 to Stealth rolls performed within the Garbage Pit (imagine as him dancing across a floating pig carcass, deftly leaping to an oil drum and ducking behind an old Vaudeville sign—all in perfect silence).
• Third, the Nosferatu are home amongst the trash, and gain +1 Initiative here.

Labrynth Guardians

This is not used. See Retainer.

Sepulchers

(● to ●●●●●)

The bigger the commune of Nosferatu gathering in the Necropolis, the bigger the need for Sepulchers. Not every Haunt needs to slumber in these places, but many do.

A private Sepulcher is somewhat different than a Haven proper, but still falls under the rules of Tenancy. Size is for the most part equal to a small apartment of one or two rooms across the board, and security is up to the Haunts to provide in and around the Necropolis itself. So what use does a Sepulchur have then aside from keeping out the sun? Well, depending on how your Haunt has their space set up, it can find uses providing extra skill dots for the owner when present in the Sepulcher.

Maybe a Sepulchur is more a lab than home and thus provides dots to science. Maybe there is only weapons decorating the dark room, and blood stains here and there. Any individual sitting in a chair with only that to look at would of course be offset and thus a bonus to interrogation occurs. Perhaps words echo off the walls a certain way making Empathy checks easier, et cet.

Trap Door

(● to ●●●)

A Necropolis can, with time and effort stretch well beyond its original reach, engulfing the underbelly of whole cities with it's catacombs, and tunnels and hidden doors set up to pull in the unsuspecting kine with ease. It is perhaps the last bit there that is most terrifying to consider for the handful of mortals who might be aware of such terrible things.

• Use: The trapdoor works for those Nosferatu who want food: wriggle your way down the tunnel and wait for passersby full of sweet blood. But it can work also for Nosferatu thieves (dart out, grab a purse, disappear once more into the darkness). Worse, though, it can also work for those who wish to gain entrance to the Necropolis: any who discover the way in might be able to muscle aside the hidden door and enter the dark tangle of the Nosferatu kingdom.
• System: Using the Trapdoor for feeding purposes necessitates that the character succeed on a Grapple roll, and this roll gains a bonus equivalent to the dots purchased in Trapdoor. The target gets a chance to detect surprise, but suffers -3 dice to the Wits + Composure roll. Successes gained on the Grapple roll can translate directly into points of Vitae gained, with the Kiss sealing the deal and the mortal going slack as the Haunt hungrily feeds in the dark of the tunnel. A Trapdoor can be found only by those looking for it: it necessitates a Wits + Investigation roll, and this roll is penalized by a number of dice equal to the dots purchased in Trapdoor. A Necropolis can be home to several Trapdoors, meaning this Merit can be purchased several times. A Haunt may even have her own Trapdoor that other Nosferatu don’t know about

Trap Door will add a bonus equal to it's dots to the Strength + Subterfuge Hunting Roll.