Blood Alchemy

In comparison to other disciplines that have existed as long as most vampires can remember, thin-blood alchemy is an incredibly young discipline. Considering thin-bloods have only existed in any significant numbers for a couple of decades, the discipline is largely undeveloped and there are no outright masters in the field. Each thin-blood explores the discipline for themselves and usually has an individual way of handling the discipline.

Just like in blood magic, thin-blood alchemy requires teaching or experimentation in order to develop new uses for the discipline. However, unlike other disciplines, the power is not something that can be activated in any way, but requires the thin-blood to brew elixirs with the help of formulas that they either invented themselves or passed on from someone else. Namely, there is no collective knowledge base; a thin-blood in Cairo may know a certain set of formulas while one in Stockholm knows others.

The formulas mentioned here are those that are general enough that a thin-blood should have no problem developing them. The use of the discipline is an obscure mixture of chemistry and the occult. The elixir must be prepared in advance and requires varying amounts of time to prepare depending on its strength, often leading to thin-bloods having to be vigilant about using their precious resources. How the thin-blood chooses to prepare their elixirs is a bit up to the individual, but regardless of whether it is done in a shabby kitchen in a junkyard or in a clinical laboratory, they must be prepared somehow and a thin-blood cannot use the discipline if they can not prepare the elixir.

System: Blood Alchemy does not have individual powers like other disciplines, but consists of a set of formulas that can be used to prepare various elixirs. Each elixir grants the vampire who drinks it the ability to use its power for one hour. A character can be affected by a maximum of one elixir at a time. If they drink a new one before an hour has passed, the new elixir replaces the old one. Each elixir takes one week per level to prepare and a thin-blood can freely choose which ones they want to produce in the time between each larp. To be able to prepare elixirs, some kind of lab is required. Financially stable thin-bloods may have large chemical labs at their disposal, but in an emergency, a gas stove and a few glass vessels will suffice. A character can easily collect most ingredients between the larps, including human blood, as long as these are not costly or rare.

Once an elixir is prepared, it must be stored below room temperature in an airtight container to maintain its effect. In case of emergency, a refrigerator works. A thin-blood can store a certain amount of elixir equal to twice their level in the background resources, alternatively three times the level of influence: local invested in his haven if they have one. The character can invest in separate storage facilities on the same basis, but hiding their elixirs in unattended cold rooms also allows other characters to steal them. A character can have a certain amount of elixir on his person at a time equal to twice his level in Blood Alchemy. A higher degree of skill is required to ensure that a large number of bottles maintain the correct temperature and are not subjected to shock, friction and other things that can cause the brew to lose its potency.

An elixir works on any vampire who drinks it, not just thin-bloods. Each elixir has a certain number of ingredients, but always needs blood from a thin-blood corresponding to a hunger and blood from a human with the appropriate resonance. The description of the formulas states the activation cost once the elixir is drunk, if any.

Level 1

Far reach: The elixir allows the alchemist to exercise a kind of limited telekinesis. They can manipulate objects and to some extent also people without touching them. This very rarely does any direct damage, but a crafty alchemist can use the ability creatively to put others in trouble, or to save themselves from it.

Brewing time: 1 week

Ingredients: Blood of happy resonance, magnets of matching polarity and steel wire.

Cost: Hunger +1

System: The player says "far reach-lift" to manipulate an object and then moves the object as they want it to move. Players who see it will perceive it as the object floating in the air. An object must be relatively free, but can be pulled from the grasp of others. A coin in someone's palm can be manipulated, but not a necklace.

If the player instead wants to use the power against another character, they says "far reach - jerk" or "far reach - throw", which causes the person to be thrown either forward or backward. Characters with lower unmodified AV than the player's MV also fall to the ground when thrown or jerked.

The elixir's effect, and cost, only applies per manipulation, but the character can spend more hunger to activate his telekinesis more times as long as the elixir is active.

Haze: A somewhat primitive attempt to copy some vampires' ability to stay unseen. The elixir creates a mist that covers the character and obscures their features, at least enough to prevent identification.

Brewing time: 1 week

Ingredients: Blood of shameful resonance, dry ice, cigar smoke or exhaust smoke.

Cost: Hunger +1

System: When the power is active, it prevents clear identification from a distance, for example via surveillance cameras or the like which cannot see through fog in normal cases. If it is active during hunting, it prevents a masquerade crime based on simpler surveillance cameras or witnesses from a distance.

Gaoler's bane: Most thin-bloods at some point in their encounters with regular vampires are caught, held, bound, or similar, so this elixir was developed as a means of escape. The character's muscles and legs become more flexible, allowing them to get out of grips, knots and the like by twisting their shoulders out of joints, squeezing his muscles or other minor adjustments.

Brewing time: 1 week

Ingredients: Blood of happy resonance, grease from a grill.

Cost: +1 hunger

System: The player says "gaoler's bane" in response to their character being restrained, bound, or similar. They can then wriggle out of any hold that is not reinforced with Potence 1 or higher and any shackles, ropes, and the like that are not made with this ability in mind.

Level 2

Fractionate: The alchemist prepares an elixir that makes blood "neutral" and eliminates all resonances, side effects or connections. Sometimes a character wants to drink blood without sensing the resonances, or simply to protect their blood from snooping blood mages.

Brewing time: 2 weeks

Cost: None

System: The elixir can either be mixed with blood or drunk. If the elixir is mixed with blood, all resonances, blood ties or other side effects are eliminated and the blood becomes normal, stored blood. That kind of blood can't be read with blood magic either. The elixir can also be drunk and the person who drinks it then receives the same benefits. Any blood extracted from the body during the elixir's duration can be read with blood magic, but the character cannot create any blood bonds during the same time either. The elixir can affect blood outside the body equal to one level of hunger, but for every five levels of MV the alchemist has, the elixir is enough for one more level.

Envelop: The elixir creates a cloud of bothersome gas around the person the character uses the ability on. For vampires, the effect is mostly troublesome in battle as it makes it harder to see, but humans are affected to a much worse degree.

Brewing time: 2 weeks

Ingredients: Blood of depressed resonance, potassium chlorate, smog or halogen Gas.

Cost: Hunger +1

System: The player says "envelop" and points to the person to be affected. The victim takes -2 AV for five minutes or until the player ends the effect. They also has difficulty seeing things clearly that are more than an arm's length away. Affected humans who have an AV lower than the player's MV are paralyzed during the effect and can do nothing but cough and clear their throats.

Mimic: This elixir imitates a first-level power from another discipline. Each separate power constitutes its own formula and must be learned or researched individually. Blood magic or Necromancy cannot be imitated in this way because each power is the result of study and knowledge that cannot be simulated with an elixir. Nor can Oblivion be imitated because a thin-blood lacks the connection to the Abyss that is necessary

Brewing time: 2 weeks

Ingredients: Scales from a chameleon, frog or the remains of a pupa. Blood from a resonance that matches the discipline:

Aggressive: Potence

Depressed: Fortitude

Animal Blood: Animalism and Protean

Calm: Auspex and Dominate

Happy: Presence

Fear: Celerity

Shame: Obfuscate

Cost: Hunger +1

System: With the exception of the cost in hunger, the elixir works exactly like the power it simulates in terms of effect, range, and duration. However, the power cannot be active for longer than an hour as the effect of the elixir wears off.

Vitae rejection: An alchemist may, in an emergency, need to get rid of blood that is unhealthy or dangerous. This elixir forces the body to reject recently ingested blood and cleanses any impurities it may have left behind. It often leaves the person with a greater degree of hunger than before. The elixir can also be tricked on other vampires with corresponding effects. People can also drink it, but then it's usually not blood that the body rejects.

Brewing time: 2 weeks
Ingredients: Blood of shameful resonance, vomiting syrup and T-spirit.

Cost: None (other than the effects)
System: A character who drinks the elixir immediately vomits up the blood they last drank. If they has been hunting during the larp, they vomit up the corresponding level of hunger that they managed to get out of the hunt. Otherwise, hunger only increases by +1. The elixir also cleans up any consequences of the blood, including effects of resonance, drugs, alcohol, or any blood ties, as long as no more than half an hour has passed. Humans who drink the elixir instead vomit their last meal or drink, but the body is also cleansed of any impurities in the form of intoxication, the influence of drugs or food poisoning.

Level 3

Advanced mimic: A further development from mimic that allows the alchemist to imitate more advanced disciplines. The character can copy powers from the second level with the same restrictions as mimic. The formula can be learned multiple times and applies each time to a specific discipline power.

Brewing time: 3 weeks

Ingredients: Scales from a chameleon, frog or the remains of a pupa. Blood from a resonance that matches the discipline:

Aggressive: Potence

Depressed: Fortitude

Animal Blood: Animalism and Protean

Calm: Auspex and Dominate

Happy: Presence

Fear: Celerity

Shame: Obfuscate

Cost: Hunger +1

System: The player gains access to a power from a second-level discipline with the exception of Blood sorcery, Necromancy and Oblivion. The elixir otherwise works just like the power it imitates. The player cannot imitate powers that require levels from other disciplines (for example, Dementation).

If the character imitates a discipline that scales with levels, such as Potence, Celerity, or Fortitude, they gain the cumulative effect of the first and second levels.

Defractionate: The alchemist concocts an elixir that refines stored blood and allows it to be drunk as if it were fresh. In addition to stored blood retaining its resonance, it also allows vampires who cannot normally drink stored blood to do so.

Brewing time: 3 weeks

Ingredients: Blood of happy and depressed resonance, human blood of blood type O-, moldy spinach and black coffee.

Cost: None

System: The elixir is mixed into stored blood, which is then counted as fresh. The blood retains its resonance and can be drunk by both members of Clan Ventrue (provided the blood matches the vampire's preference) and characters too old to drink stored blood. Vampire blood that is refined retains its capacity to create blood bonds even after it leaves the body. The elixir can refine blood equal to one level of hunger, but for every five levels of mental value the alchemist has, the elixir is enough for one more level. Refined blood retains its potency for one month and then returns to being normal stored blood again.