(no subject)
The Touched
Concept~ A vampiric group of mercenary assassins and manipulators dedicated to a religous form of excellence and perfection of a single point. They seek growth and advancement through personal excellence and learning of the physical existence. They worship a trio of dark gods whome they believe started the vampiric condition.
The Light~ The great shining. The burning fire. The sun. The giver of life and warmth to the world.The source of Charisma, leadership and love. Alternatively, the source of anger, rage and resentment as well as the source of love and affection.
The Steel~ The Cold Touch. The servant. The carrier of souls and the master craftsman . The source of honor, dedication, humility and harmony. Alternatively, the source of cruelty, fear and malicous deeds.
The Darkness~ The cold emptiness. The Icy field. The moon. The holder and weaver of the tapestry of life and fate. The source of logic, intelligence and ambition. Also the source of arrogance, pride, greed and desire.
Together these gods created vampires out of a desire to raise men above their condition of mortality. But with eternal life, comes the price of taking it from others. They view the feeding of human life to be a price they must pay in the way one takes communion at a church. An act that must be done to appease their creators. It is not feeding for sustenance so much as giving their gods tribute in exchange for power.
The Touch were obsessed with personal excellence. A simple monk order that, under the guidance of the Heavenly Triad, focused their desire to transform themselves into the pinnacles of human ability and deed. And pursue this excellence in the way handed to them by their founders.They were nestled quietly in a small canyon and the base of a a small mountain. Very content in their personal pursuits of excellence in service to the ones they held highest.
They worshipped their gods peacefully in quiet conteplation in pursuit of excellence. When they were visited by a trio of strange wanderers who would be called "The Vessels", creatures of the Darkness who claimed these monks as their own. They told them of a great legend. Where all of the Triad would select their champions that would be elevated. Changed and risen above mortal men, to do what a normal man may never accomplish. Truly achieve perfection. The Monks consulted and after 3 days and nights finally agreed. They prostrated themselves to the Vessel who granted them the dark gifts and handed them a doctrine from their gods commanding them that the perfection they sought lay not in the walls of a monastery or the insides of a meditation room. But in the world. They began wandering and quickly became steadily more and more malicous through the teachings of their god's vessel. The Vessels were creatures of the Darkness. Creatures of the hunt, the kill, the feed. And the monsters gladly taught the monks in the only way they knew. The men became more malicous and twisted as time progressed. And soon mastered whatever challenges lay before them, but always with the end of a sharp knife and a closed fist.
After several years of wandering over the countless villages and nomadic tribes, the Touched reached upon a city and dissapated within it's masses. Insinuating themselves into positions of maximum power. And began solicting their talents to those that needed them. Dissapearing opponents. Ceasing uprisings. Killing dignitaries. Reaching success where all other mortals had failed. Once successfully ingrained, they began spreading their influence. Soon many villages, cities and townships had cells of these assassins. They sold their talents to those that could contact them for the only 2 things they ever needed. Blood. And practice. They killed without mercy. Struck fiercely, leaving no survivors. Only their symbol was known, they left no trace, and even if caught they threw themselves to their demise and mysteriously vanished into flame in the morning light. They swiftly became known to be demons through their brutally effecient methods and terrible ruthlessness.
In time, the Vessels eventually tired and left their students to their studies. Retiring with his proudest and most potent students back to their place of origin for his long sleep. In the absence of their strongest however. The younger and sadly more ambitious followers of the ordergrew sloppy in covering their tracks. Within a few short decades, the remaining Touched became violently aware of their error when hunters began rooting them out and burning them in their sleep or chasing them down with spears and arrows during the day. Consumed with guilt at their sudden weakness, many threw themselves into the arms of the Light in the hopes of reaching reincarnation.
Eventually the hunters found the temple, and convinced of it's innate evil, did their best to seal it. Crushing it beneath a mountain of rubble by using their black powder to crush the mountain atop it. And inside, the kindred went mad from hunger as they woke. Many succumbing to the amaranth and being slain by their founder, the Vessels. The vessels commanded their remaining strongest to sleep and he would wake them when the time was right. Just to be safe, he staked each of them in their rest before succumbing to torpor himself and they rested in the darkness. Waiting.
Centuries had passed and a chinese archeological dig finally uncovered the tomb. The day the tomb was opened however. One man died as his footing collapsed beneath him and he was impaled by the rubble below. Over the next several days, men died and eventually the site was abandoned. but teh damage was done. And none of teh men could scarecelt suspect that the things that killed their comrades were stowed in large boxes taht once held priceless archeological objects. And the Touched walked the earth again.
The Vessels was nowhere to be found when the Touched awoke. But true to their training, they realized the folley of staying so far from a source of vitae and stayed with the humans and were overwhelmed by the changes of this strange world of the new millenia. They had slept for many centuries. None of them could say for quite how long. But they decided to stay awake and adapt to this strange new world of 1900.
In the modern nights, the Touched are a secret group. Having learned their folley and downfall of their last organization and their supreme arrogance and presumption of power, they keep their numbers small, but well knit. Very loyal to the cause of excellence and the precepts of their gods. They follow their old oaths of loyalty with a fierce zeal and have accumulated much new information about their current state.
They know now that they are divided into the clans, but still refer to themselves amongst each other by their vessel's designations.
The Light Vessel- Ventrue
The Steel Vessel- Nosferatu
The Dark Vessel- Mehket
The Touched regard the modern world with a sense of awe. Men has become more innovative at the cost of creativity. They have risen to great heights at the cost of their past. To many it proves that humanity is innately inferior and worthy of only one thing to the Touched. Death. The few who show potential are quickly snatched up in the hopes of their contributions to the eventual goal of absolute perfection of skill.
Activities~ The touched are an assassins guild. They use their activities and movements among mortals to test their skills. Letting mortal groups or persons hire them to eliminate obstacles or competition and seat themselves in greater seats of power. They use their newfound comfort to meditate and practice, and after they have improved themselves again, they seek more work and so on. Many of their contacts believe they are dealing with simple drug dealers or smugglers.
Organization- The touched stay in pairs or trio's. Usually with a mehket who is usually in charge. They allocate duties to those best suited. Recconaisance and Assassination fall to the Mehket.Their talents for Auspex and Obfuscate allows for a great deal of flexiblity in intelligence and inflitration. Combat with a large gaurd or a group or disruption of large parties falls to the Nosferatu. And the Ventrue stay as a face. Many mistake the Ventrue as the leader, as they aret he most socially able and can insinuate themselves the best amongst mortals, and their command of beasts makes recconnaisance far easier.
Covenant~ With no suprise. Their religion puts them at odds with many covenants so nearly all find refuge in the Circle of the Crone and among the unaligned. Their philosphies of personal growth and evolution of the self fits the philosphy of the pagans, and the use of Cruac meshes nicely with their already inhuman mindset. Several of the Touched who are in pursuit of Occult excellence learn the secrets of the covenants magic swiftly and become quite adept at the arcane art.
Prerequisites. The Touched are prided at being the true paragons of mortal skill at whatever act they seek o perform. They are obsessive to the point of mental derangement with their obsession of excellence. They are also a guild of assassins and they use their impressive bredth of mortal contacts for the express purpose of seeking more work and securing their personal havens. The Touched are expected to have one martial skill. Either Athletics, Brawl, Firearms, or Weaponry at * * * * * and should possess a relevant specialty. Many were martial monks or embraced those of like mindset so many are practicioners of various fighting styles in their pursuit of excellence. Becoming one of the Touched. Firearms are something of a new revelation to the Touched. The bow has been replaced by something far more effecient, so several elders attempt to overcome their discomfort around these new devices to embrace their use. Due to their assassinous bent, all of the Touched should all have Athletics, Stealth, Larceny and Investigation at at least * * *. Finally, as merits go, the assassins rely on many mortal sources at a distance. Contacts or Allies should be at * * * to express this effect. Items like Eidetic memory, meditative mind, Danger sense or various languages would not go amiss.
The Protocols.
A touched shall kill~ Lo, like the stalking tiger, those touched by the gods from on high shall slay the mortals to end their suffering. Man shall be slain and their blood used to fuel the journey toward perfection.The Touched are firstly and foremost assassins. They kill and they are good at it. They view this act with holy reverence and take death and killing very serious. Killing is never callous to the Touched.
A touched shall grow~ As it was in the beginning of our order, we shall strive to be what no man yet is. Perfect. We shall do this via mastery of our minds, bodies and souls. For as long as we walk the night, we walk to perfection. The goal of perfection and skill have always been the original goal for the touched. They aknowledge that hubris and complacency threatened that quest and now take great pains to punish those that stray.
A touch shall only kill once invited~ As the gods have commanded, humanity is a sickness over the world, but as fellow children of the gods, they may only be slain upon invitation of their bretheren. To kill a mortal unbidden by man or god is monstrous. This order is the reason they are assassins hired by mortals. It is the only way for them to kill in a manner approved by the gods is to do so at the bidding of another mortal. They may feed at will from mortals so long as they do not kill. But who dies is not for the Touched to decide.
A touched will never slay a fellow immortal~ As we are gifted by the gods to walk the night, must beware the others chosen by the dark. To slay another gifted by eternity is anathema and must be punished. As followers of a god of death and fate, the touched do not and will not participate in the death of another kindred for any reason other than self defense. Kindred die, and the touched accept this fact. But it is because their god of fate decided it so and is not for the touched to concieve why.
The consumption of a soul taints the spirit of the order~ Those who commit the most grievous sin by consuming the soul of a brother of darkness is the most heinous monster. And all his brothers shall seek him unto the ends of the earth to scour his blight from the land. Murder is bad within the touched. But Amaranth is greeted with a stern and angry storm. The eldest remember being sealed in darkness with their brothers as they turned on them and they remember the Vessel's decree's well. Diablerie is a sin, and any touched will go to whatever lengths nececerry to see to a diablerists ultimate demise.
A touched will only spread the gift of darkness to a mortal blessed by a god's touch~ The gods sent the vessels to the touched to spread their gifts and teach us our powers. But only did so after years of wandering the wastelands, training, learning and proving our worth. And so we do the same. We only grant the gift to those few who show promise and accept our trials, to begin the path toward perfection. The Touched take in only the best mankind has to offer. And even if he can survive a year and a day of what is tantamount to torture. They take the embrace very seriously, but are certainly not opposed to spread their numbers.
Within the order~ The touched claim their order used to span most of china and with numbers to be considered their own covenant. With their numbers crippled they are no longer as official as they were, but several of the touched retain their old functions.
The Memory~ Many of the leaders of the Touched made heavy use of Memory keepers. Kindred who were blessed with perfect memories and the gifts of sight beyond sight. The memory keepers, in addition to the functions present in all the touched, served as a record of their brothers, Using their auspex to read another kindred's mind and over several nights of meditative thought, would absorb the lifetimes of their fellows for the purpose of making sure none were lost. Memory keepers are precious in the modern nights and all memory's embrace download their record into their childer to help preserve the memories. They are also the only way one from outside the Touched can seek to become one. See (Joining the Touched)
The Eye~ The spymasters of the touched, usually chosen of the light for their perchance with mortals and animals. They use their myriad contacts to keep watch on all the members of the touched to see to their security.
The Moon~ A relatively new position and is reserved for a member of the Circle of the Crone who has a measure of power in Cruac. They are usually more instrospective than their bretheren but are no less dedicated to their pursuits of perfection.
The Talon~ A master assassin. Not a leader so much as a state of Elite Status within the order. And comes from one has mastered total skill over all realms of mortal combat. Athletics, Brawl, Firearms and weaponry all at ***** with several specialties. And 1 fighting style at *****. Historically, only the Vessels and their immediate first childer ever reached this prestigous rank.
The Servant of Steel~ The craftsmen and haven keepers within the touched. They emphasize worship to the Lord Steel. They are usually submissive and focus their perfection in crafting beautiful and deadly works of weapons, armor or other devices.
The Servant of Light~ Those that cultivate mortal and kindred influence within the touched are servant's of Lord Light. They are the ones who actively seek power within other institutions. Many of the Moon's are servants of Light.
The Servant of Darkness~ The vast majority of the touched fall under servants of darkness. These are the leaders, the killers, and those who do not fall under the rest of the above positions. The
The Crown~ A leader of a group of 3 kindred is called the crown. Usually a mehket and the one that organizes the other 2 into their nightly actions. When mutliple groups must convene, the eldest of the Crown's is declared the Crown of the group, the other reliquishes power until the groups are seperated once more.
The Vessel~ Should a large group ever have reason to convene on a much larger scale, the position of Vessel is declared. The Crowns of all groups decide and elect a vessel to lead them should attention on such a scale be warranted. Such as hunting down a diablerist.
Joining the Touched~ A very difficult prospect considering their militant lifestyle and very specific modes of embrace. Joining the touched post embrace is a very tricky situation. But a clever Memory keeper discovered a method. It is very trying for the applicant and only done if they truly wish membership. First, the subject is prepared. A practicioner of Dominate speaks to the applicant carefully and erases several parts of the applicants mind using Forgetful mind. He also implants mesmerisms to help the subject become more open minded and their mental state very absorbant. A memory keeper then sits before the applicat. The two join hands and their hands are impaled with spikes. They then lock eyes and the memory keeper joins minds with the subject and proceeds to feed them the memory, life and feelings of one of the Touched long since passed. The process takes days. And many applicants do not come out mentally intact. Several exhibit multiple personalities, megalomania and depression as a result of these treatments. Once done, the subject assumes the lost one's name and they are allowed into the order. Their old self is to be considered dead. Now merged and evolved with this new persona. And many change their appearence through ritual scarring, or simply change location and live their unlives as a new person. Which may cause complications if this applicant was blood hunted or had enemies.
Appearence~ All the original members of the touched are from Asian descent. They were embraced at the pinnacle of their physical lives, but many of the originals were old monks at their embrace and appear somewhat aged now. They dress for personal comfort and aren't very interested in complications. Sandals. Slacks. Tunics. A few where cloaks and robes out of habit from their old lives. But many work hard to blend into humanity as much as possible. While not officially against women, many harbor old points of view of the innate inferiority of women, but a few have joined the order and proven them wrong. Physical beauty is not often a factor for embrace, nor is race, age, or religion so one of the Touched can come from any walk of life. But no new member of the touched was embraced between 700 to 100 years ago as the entire order was in hibernation. Any new members from that time were indoctrined by a memory keeper. .
I was struck with an odd sort of inspiration last night. For a group within the Circle of the Crone who worshipped a trio of gods and strived for perfection. So I started typing... and well... you'll see.
I'm kinda curious to see who would be interested in playing in this group.