Page 200 - Hunter - The Vigil

D
&
CASTIGATION R&D
Vigil. All the hours in a day cannot be driven
to judging monsters, and it’s good for a hunter THE BOOK OF ESCHATON
to spend some time helping those around him.
Volunteer at a soup kitchen. Teach people to One popular apocalyptic text is The Book
read. Help with a charity. Basically, do some good of Eschaton. Reliable copies have been
works and take some time to see why God wants dated back to the 8th century. The bulk
you to save this world. of Eschaton is the epic of a man damned
R&D: Performing good works equal to one by God and the ends his children will
“good work” per Merit dot assigned to the new someday come to. Some Lucifuge dismiss
Benediction does not change the Endowment the text as poetic gibberish, but it’s
Equation, but it can reduce the number of Practi- well written poetic gibberish, and even
cal Experience necessary to purchase that Bene- describes a few demons in detail.
diction. Assume that the cost in Practical Experi- The author is controversial — some
ence is now two less. vampires allege he was one of them, but
there’s nothing in the text that gives
Castigation R&D him a name or seems to literally refer
to him drinking blood. In fact, there
Spit, skin, blood, hair. That’s you. You can
aren’t any vampires, as the Lucifuge
trace every atom of every one of those things
understands them, in Eschaton at all. The
back through your family tree. Scientists can al-
demonological portions describe blood-
ready get halfway there with DNA and all that.
drinking demons, but these creatures are
They can tell which parts of you are most closely
clearly ethereal and subject to all sorts
related to your neighbor or the grocery clerk or
of sorcerous taboos.
the president. They can tell you if your father is
More likely, the Eschaton scribe was
really your father, and someday soon, they’ll be
a Lucifuge associated with an extinct
able to predict your reaction to that information
Christian sect called the Black Abbey,
with a statistically insignifi cant margin for error.
in what is now Lithuania. He may have
There’s more to you than the good stuff,
been consciously modeling his work on the
though, isn’t there? Somewhere back in your
Revelation of Saint John. For this reason,
family tree, somebody ate the apple. Somebody
he’s often referred to as “the Abbot” or
fucked the beast. Somebody followed a stranger
even “Abbot,” but there’s no historical
with smoldering eyes out behind the barn. There’s
indication that the narrator was actually
a little devil in you, one the science won’t ever
an authority fi gure in his community.
find, and that’s where Castigation comes from. It

comes from reaching down, away from God, away
from Heaven, past the bad things your human ancestors did cause human vision is imperfect. What everyone who practic-
and into the horrifying things that your ultimate, demonic es memory recovery is doing is trying to fi nd truth in the past
amnat
e
d
h
e
i
on t
h
b
etter un
t
o
d
t
d
erstan
y
r
h
ave
r did.
h
e
i
n
ancestor did. to better understand the damnation they have inherited.
a ment
itation
Gui
D:
R&
the fi
e
me
d
In the field, Castigation looks like the worship of de- R&D: Guided meditation (in which a mentor acts as
d
d

eld, Castigation looks like the worship of de-
in w
h
ic
(
o
h
y
yl
actor to a teamwork-st
mons, but it’s exactly the opposite. Castigation is putting a secondary actor to a teamwork-style Meditation) must be
e Meditation)
a secondar
but it’s exactly the opposite. Castigation is putting
pt
p
rformed once
a
in their place. Staring into the abyss until it has to
me session) for at le
demons in their place. Staring into the abyss until it has to performed once per chapter (game session) for at least 30 un-
pe
er cha
ga
er (
up
te
look away. interrupted minutes. The hunter must do this a number of
u
interr
h
is a n
h
h
o t
unter must
d
minutes. T
d
e
ay.
imes
to devel
t
op
times equal to the Merit dots necessary to develop this new

ual to the Merit dots necessar
y
eq
R
y
ecovered Memor
Recovered Memory Castigation rite. This earns the hunter a -2 discount to the
ation rite. This earns the hunter a -2 discou
C
ast
ig
n
The War in Heaven, the Fall of Lucifer, the Burning of Endowment Equation, but at an additional price: once the
ar in Heaven, the Fall of Lucifer
W
, the Burning o
f
e
d
Eq
owment
l
itiona
dd
p
uation,
rice:
b
ut at an a
En
d
u
g
in
in
eft t
h
g
ese events
l
eir mar
k
on a
t
h
ll
th
s, inc
l
Eden…these events left their mark on all things, including rite is earned, the character gains a mild derangement for a
ga
m
ge
rite is earned, the character
ins a mild deran
ent o
f
g
h meditation, an a
g
g
e. Throu
the blood of the Lucifuge. Through meditation, an agent of number of weeks equal to his Morality. .
o
d of the Lucifu
n
q
ual to his Morality
umber of weeks e

ifuge can trace the history hidden in his bloo

d, fi
the Lucifuge can trace the history hidden in his blood, find-nd-
The Devil’s Library
b
h
d
e
across
estia
l
ing the burns of celestial fire scorched across his DNA, thus us The Devil’s Li b
l
fi
re scorc
urns of ce

is DNA, t
h
h
Y
r
a scene from the W
ar
uctin
d to have demon
ou don’
g
reconstructing a scene from the War. Within the Lucifuge, e, You don’t need Satan’s blood to have demons on your
. W
s
s bloo
ithin the Lucifu
t need Satan’
g
ided exercise, with a mentor leadi
ng

eld of research for
b
a
a
rain. Demonology has been a fi
gu
p
up
this is a guided exercise, with a mentor leading a pupil back il back brain. Demonology has been a field of research for as long as
bl
ap
“
is is
to some scene of
. T
, an
d
d
oo
t
h
ry
orror
time an
a” is t
h
ph
through time and blood to some scene of epic horror. This is there’s been research, and “apocrypha” is the term the Luci-
d

oc
e term
h
h
ere’
h
ic
th
b
ep
een researc
s
t
actice; mo
u
use for research on documents ori
ng
nati
o
e
dern
ge
dern Lucif
f
raditional and a mo
ug
both a traditional and a modern practice; modern Lucifuge fuge use for research on documents originating outside the
u
pr
gi
Lucifucian bloo
se relaxed
otism and inte
hile the authors of textboo
hy
pn
k
W
rp
like to use relaxed hypnotism and interpret the eventual vi-ret the eventual vi- Lucifucian bloodlines. While the authors of textbooks on the
u
dlines.
h
(
b
orrors of t
ar in t
east in
l
sions at least in part symbolically (as not every member actu-er actu- horrors of the pit have often been unpopular in their com-
mem
as not ever
u
l
op
h
np
b
it
o
een u
p
pa
ym
y
ave often
rt s
h
b
e
h
y
ica
ll
l
s own
in
g
ge
eves that nonsense about belo
ally believes that nonsense about belonging to Satan’s own munities, the Lucifuge doggedly chases down every scrap of
og
y
unities, the Lucifu
d
chases down ever
ng
ge
dl
i
m
to Satan’
y
knowledge it can, whether from within the Christi
bloodline). More traditional practitioners use scourging and knowledge it can, whether from within the Christian world
ne). More traditional practitioners use scourging and
ibl
i i
i
i
h
h ’ b
h
l if h
consider the visions literal; if they seem impossible, that’s be- views or not. Studying demonology provides the Lucifuge
l
li
id
d
S d i
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