Annunaku

Parent Clan: Gangrel
Disciplines: Animalism, Protean, Resilience, Tenure

Bloodline Weakness: Territorial

The Landlords’ powerful connection to their Demesnes also renders them uncomfortable when they leave. Outside of her chosen Demesne, a Landlord suffers a –2 penalty to all dice pools (including reflexive rolls to resist Disciplines and the rolls of the special Annunaku Discipline, Tenure) because of her anxious yearning for her home turf or her uneasy awareness of being out of her element. This penalty drops to –1 on familiar ground where the character is accepted, such as Elysium. The company of familiar and allied vampires — such as the character’s coterie — also reduces the penalty to –1. For another Kindred to qualify as a “familiar vampire,” the Annunaku must drink from her at least once and spend one Willpower point. An Annunaku can only “familiarize” herself with a number of other Kindred equal to her Composure. Attempts to exceed that number result in strained relationships as the Annunaku subtly sabotages her own trusts, growing suspicious and doubtful over several weeks until, finally, she no longer feels the blood-settling comfort of camaraderie with one of her allies.

Kindred who share Status with an Annunaku — such as other Invictus vampires — do not grant the vampire any special comfort. The bonus to Social dice pools afforded by Status does counterbalance the penalties for the Annunaku’s unease, but the unease itself is not alleviated by such delicate allegiances.

Bloodline Gift: Whispers of the Chamber

Cost: Whispers of the Chamber does not cost Vitae if used within the character’s own haven. Anywhere else, it costs 1 Vitae to search for one person or object.
Dice Pool: Wits + Investigation + Tenure - Target's Stealth
Action: Instant. (Reflexive for detecting intruders within the Annunaku’s haven.)

An Annunaku can locate a defined object or a person within his domain. As well, a vampire who knows Whispers of the Chamber automatically knows if an unauthorized person enters her haven, at least while she herself is in it. She won’t track the comings and goings of Retainers (unless she wants to), but becomes instantly aware of intruders.

The demense must be a defined area, such as a block, a neighbourhood, or a locality. It must be in an area controlled or claimed by the Annunaku. Areas controlled by a ghouled retainer impose a -2 penalty for this roll. Areas controlled by a thralled Childe impose a -3 penalty. Areas controlled by Kindred vassals will nullify any effects of this power.

Discipline: Tenure

Tenure is used optimally in a demense controlled by the Annunaku. Areas controlled by a ghouled retainer impose a -2 penalty. Areas controlled by a thralled Childe impose a -3 penalty. Areas controlled by Kindred vassals who are not bound by blood suffer a -4 to -5 penalty, depending on how far removed the Annunaku is from direct control of the domain. For example, an Annunaku Prince who vests power in a Duke, who parcels out one of his lands to a Baron, is considered twice removed and suffers a -5 penalty to activate Tenure while in the Baron's territory.

• Enlil's Favor

Cost: Enlil's Favor does not cost Vitae if used within a character’s haven. If used within his Demesne, the special territory he claims and rules, this discipline costs 1 Vitae. The effects of this power last for a scene.
Dice Pool: Wits + Survival + Tenure
Action: Instant

Enlil, which means Lord of the Storm, was the Sumerian deity who separated the sky from the earth, creating land inhabitable by humans. The protection of Enlil allows the Annunaku to ignore one Environmental Tilt or nullify one environment-based penalty for each successful roll.

This includes penalties applied by Territory traits, such as Awareness, Safety, or Stability.

•• Veil of the Udug

Cost: 1 Vitae
Dice Pool: Wits + Subterfuge + Tenure
Modifiers: Size of area (a building:0; a block:-1; a neighbourhood:-2; a locality:-3; a borough:-4)

This power befuddles the senses and misdirects the target, turning an area into an impregnable maze. Characters present in the area acquire the Lost Condition.

Characters with the Lost Condition remove one die from their Composure dice pools. This does not influence derived traits; it only influences dice pools that use these Attributes. A Lost character cannot make any headway toward her goal without first navigating and finding her place. This requires a successful Wits + Streetwise action (in the city) or Wits + Survival action (in the wilderness).

The navigation roll made by the Character is penalized by the successes achieved on the Annunaku's activation roll. During an off-screen action, this discipline can reduce the Access of an area by the number of success. The effects of this Discipline lasts until the next sunset.

••• Pillar of Hammurabi

Cost: 1 Willpower and 1 Vitae per law, and 1 Vitae for each subsequent modification
Dice Pool: –

The Annunaku can lay down restrictions to interacting with the Herd in his own domain. His word is law, and once written down and quantified, the laws mystically bind anyone who wishes to draw benefit from those under his dominion. This discipline affects interaction with assets that fall under the Annunaku's protection, such as Influence Spheres, Retainers, Feeding Grounds, Haven, Sites, and even Geomantic Nexus and Wyrm's Nests.

The written law must be made easily accessible to be read by those affected by the law, though ignorance of the law is no excuse. The Annunaku can quantify a number of laws equal to his own dots in Tenure. The laws are obeyed in spirit rather than in word, although vague wording, such as “the Herd cannot be socially manipulated or influenced”, could render the law ineffective.

Impose a penalty for actions that are in violation of the laws, equal to the Annunaku's Blood Potency. The Annunaku can add the same bonus to rolls to investigate and enforce violations of said law in his territory. The laws remain in effect for as long as the Annunaku is in control of his territory.

Examples of laws that can be enforced with Pillar of Hammurabi:

• The Masquerade must not be revealed to those who are not of the blood. (Annunaku gains a bonus in hunting down Masq-breakers.)
• Poaching is an offence punishable by chopping off the hands of the offender. (Hunting roll is penalized and the Annunaku takes a bonus when removing the hands of the poacher.)
• Those who work in the Legal field are protected from harm by the Lord of the land. (Rolls to injure people with Status: Legal suffer the Annunaku's Blood Potency in penalty.)
• Squatters must reveal themselves to the Lord of the land. (Annunaku gains a bonus when searching for squatters, and a bonus when using Auspex against squatters.)

•••• Eye of Marduk

Cost: None.
Dice Pool: Wits + Occult + Tenure
Action: Reflexive. The character does not need to be watching consciously for any supernatural intrusion.

The character senses if any other vampire expends Vitae or activates Disciplines within his territory. The character also detects the special mystic powers used by werewolves, mages, ghosts and other supernatural creatures, as well as enchanted objects. The character might not, however, know the intruder’s location or the nature of the power used — only that some supernatural creature is active within his territory. If one of the vampire’s Contacts, Allies, Retainers or other Demesne defining social connections suffers lethal or aggravated damage, the vampire may sense that as well. The Eye of Marduk only works within a vampire’s Demesne, and only when the user is also within his Demesne. A supernatural creature that does not use active supernatural powers remains undetected.

As an added benefit, a vampire skilled in this power instantly knows if any unauthorized person enters his haven. The vampire does not have to be within his haven at the time, but must be within his Demesne at the time. If he is on less familiar ground, he becomes aware of the intrusion as soon as he returns to his haven (or his Demesne, if the intruder is still present).

••••• Crown of Ninhursag

Cost: 1-5 Vitae. 1 Vitae for a small house or garden, 3 Vitae for a city block, 5 Vitae for an entire district or territory. The effects of the power do not happen until all of the Vitae is paid.
Dice Pool: Presence + Expression + Tenure
Action: Instant, at the turn where the last Vitae is paid.

The land itself bends to the will of its master. The Annunaku can summon events to impose an environmental Tilt or penalty to the target for one scene. The environmental Tilts may involve weather formations like rain or earthquake (God Machine Chronicles p. 207), or events that modify the local Attribute of a territory, such as a rolling fog (Awareness), streetlights going out (Awareness), stoplights turning red (Access), or animals seeking out a certain target (Information).

The penalties imposed by the environmental Tilts are generally not more than 5. Alternatively, the Annunaku may increase or decrease a given Trait by the number of successes achieved in the activation roll. This power lasts for one scene.