Page 129 - Chronicles of Darkness

Language: Rank 1 ghosts can’t communicate verbally; their ephemeral Twilight form and physical substances always
they don’t have enough of their sense of self left to employ contains a flaw — a bane — that damages the entity’s Corpus
language. Rank 2 and higher ghosts know whichever lan- through symbolic or mystical interference. The bane is a
guages they knew in life. Spirits all speak the native tongue of physical substance or energy the entity can’t abide.
the shadow world, a strange, sibilant language that resembles • Ephemeral beings voluntarily attempting to come into
ancient Sumerian, but often learn the human languages contact with the bane must spend a Willpower point
common around their Essence-feeding grounds. Angels and succeed on a Power + Resistance roll with a dice
speak all human languages simultaneously, and more — they penalty equal to their Rank.
sometimes “speak” in strange glossolalia or sounds more like
electronic noise than a language, and appear to understand • Banes are solid to entities, even when they are in
each other when doing so. When an angel wishes to be un- Twilight. They do not, however, affect spirits on the
derstood, everyone present hears it speak fluently in their other side of the Gauntlet.
native languages.
• Simply touching the bane — even voluntarily — causes
Bans a level of aggravated damage per turn if the entity is
Materialized, and causes the relevant Condition to end
All ephemeral beings suffer from a mystical compulsion unless the entity succeeds in a roll of Rank in dice. The
known as the ban, a behavior that the entity must or must not roll must be repeated every turn if contact holds.
perform under certain conditions. They can be as simplistic
as “the angel cannot cross railway lines,” moderately complex • If the item or person to which a Fettered entity is
like “the ghost must come if you call her name into a mirror linked comes into contact with the bane, the entity suf-
three times within her anchor,” or as difficult as, “the angel fers a level of lethal damage per turn as long as contact
must receive a tribute of a printing press that has used blood holds. The entity must use the Unfetter Manifestation
as ink once a month or lose a Rank.” Effect to escape.
Bans increase in both complexity and consequences with
Rank. • Touching the bane while in Twilight causes a point
Rank 1 entities have mild bans that are easily triggered, of lethal damage per turn to non-Manifested entities.
but don’t endanger the entity. A spirit of bliss can’t resist an
offering of opiates. The ghost of a nun has to immediately use • If the bane has been used as a weapon against the
an offered rosary. A weak angel must stand still and parrot entity, the wounds suffered are aggravated for Manifest
hexadecimal numbers when they’re spoken to it. entities and lethal for entities still in Twilight.
Rank 2 and 3 entities have moderate bans that curtail the Banes are increasingly esoteric and obscure for entities
creature’s activities in a more serious way than mere distrac- of increasing Rank.
tion. A ghost must immediately dematerialize when it hears Rank 1 entities have common substances and phenomena
the sound of a cat. The murderous spirit of a car that has as banes. Ghosts burn at the touch of salt. The spirit of a for-
run down multiple people loses all Willpower if it doesn’t est is poisoned by the fumes of burning plastic. A low-Rank
kill one person a month. The angel of the records answers angel can’t touch gold.
any question about the family, background, or true identity
of a subject if the questioner accurately tells the angel her
time (to the minute) and place of birth.
Rank 4 and 5 entities have complicated bans that put
an end to whatever the creature is trying to do — often in an Honorary Rank
explosive fashion. They have consequences in game traits or Some supernatural creatures that are closely
long-term actions, but esoteric requirements. The Smiling related to a form of ephemeral being have
Corpse, a ghost summoned back from the Underworld by “honorary” Rank in the appropriate otherworldly
a mystery cult, is immediately banished back to the Great hierarchy; Sin-Eaters are all Bound to a ghost, for
Below if anyone should sing a particular nursery rhyme in his example, and werewolves are treated with respect
presence. The spirit of Mount Iliamna, a volcano in Alaska, by spirits according to their Renown.
will use its Numina to kill a victim named by anyone who Technicalities, in this case, count, but only against
makes it an offering of platinum that was mined from its the ephemeral entity. A werewolf who “outranks”
foothills. The angel Uriminel, four-faced enforcer of destiny, a minor spirit will deal devastating wounds to it
has Defense 0 against individuals who have fulfilled their Fate with his claws, but a high-Rank spirit can’t burn
within the last lunar month. that werewolf by touching him. There are other
ways to assert dominance, and high-Rank enti-
Banes ties are quite capable of showing the half-fleshed
who’s boss.
Ephemeral entities are not of the material world, and react
strangely to some elements of it. The interaction between
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Horrors and wonders-antagonists