Mortis: Cappadocian Sorcery

Description

The Discipline Mortis is rooted in the control and manipulation of death. More specifically, Mortis is a form of blood magic dealing with corpses and their conditions after death. The Cappadocian lineage are the only cainites to possess the natural affinities for this Discipline. It is said to have been given to the Elders by Cappadocius himself.

Cappadocians believe that when a person dies the soul leaves the body, but an echo of the soul remains. This echo, along with the flesh of the dead, can be manipulated in many ways.

Through their intense study of the condition of death, their body has followed the mind. See Cappadocian clan disadvantage (Faith & Fire p.44)

Paths

Cadaverous Animation

Use Occult for retests of Cadaverous Animation.

(Faith & Fire pp.177-179)

Basic

Trace of Life: The kindred can cause mild traits of life in a corpse, such as twitching.
Call the Homuncular Servant: Allows the kindred to cause a small, mobile piece of a corpse (like a hand) to reanimate and move about.

Intermediate

Raise the Corpse to Service: Allows the kindred to reanimate a corpse into his/her bidding, although it cannot attack or do other complex tasks.
Call the Athanatos: Transforms a corpse into an undead warrior that the vampire may have trouble controlling.

Advanced

Muster a Corpse Army: An expansion on Call the Athanatos, this ability summons a number of corpse warriors that might be controlled by the vampire's willpower.

Corpse In The Monster

Use Medicine for retests of Corpse in the Monster.

(Faith & Fire pp.175-177)

Basic

Masque of Death: Allows the kindred to turn his/her body into a corpse-like state.
Cold of the Grave: The kindred enters a state of death where in they can temporarily feel no emotional or physical pain.

Intermediate

Curse of Life: The user causes a vampire to feel destructive aspects of his/her previous life, such as hunger, thirst, etc.
Gift of the Corpse: Although it lasts for only a brief period of time, this ability removes the inherent weaknesses of a vampire, such as vulnerability to sunlight, fire, etc.

Advanced

Gift of Life: This ability transforms the kindred into a semblance of their former self. They lose their vampire weaknesses and gain the ability to eat, drink, etc.

Grave's Decay

Use Medicine for retests of Grave's Decay.

(Faith & Fire pp.173-175)

Basic

Destroy the Husk: Turns a corpse into a pile of ashes.
Rigor Mortis: Allows the kindred to cause rigor mortis in mortal or undead bodies.

Intermediate

Wither: Allows the kindred to cripple an opponent's limb whether they are undead or mortal. The muscles shrivel up, the bones get brittle, the skin peels, etc.
Corrupt the Undead Flesh: This ability causes the victim to be stricken with a horrible plague. Mortal victims of this ability are highly contagious and easily spread the disease to other mortals and to Vampires if their blood is taken. Kindred have a harder time spreading the disease but are affected by the weakness it causes all the same.

Advanced

Dissolve the Flesh: An expansion upon the level one ability, this ability allows the kindred to turn vampiric flesh to ash.

Path Of Skulls

A nearly extinct Path that was the purview of a secretive cabal of Cappadocians intending to strengthen the political power of the Clan.

(V20 Tome of Secrets pp.54-57)

Basic

Calvaria Emissius: See through the eyes of a prepared skull.
Consilium Mortuus: Draw upon the memories of a severed head.

Intermediate

Ammorsus Vicarius: Animate a skull to bite attackers.
Exedo Animus: Place a memory of a skull into your own mind.

Advanced

Degulo: Devour a small part of a deceased person's soul to gain a skill, knowledge or ability in exchange for sacrificing one of yours.

Vitreous Path

The proprietary path of the Nagaraja, it allows for more refined control over wraiths than even the Sepulchre Path; a master of the path may gain sustenance from them. (Vampire Storytellers Handbook (Revised) pp.38-40)

Use Occult for retests, although the Storyteller may allow Wraith Lore to be used instead.

Basic

Eyes of the Dead: Grants the necromancer Deathsight of his own which can be used to determine nearness of death or diagnose illness.
Aura of Decay: Infect an object with the taint of Oblivion.

Intermediate

Soul Feast: Consume the energy of a Wraith as a substitute for blood.
Breath of Thanatos: Release necrotic energy as a deadly weapon.

Advanced

Nightcry: Summon creatures from the Shadowlands.

Rituals

While Powers tend to be quick and powered by a combination of vitae and the vampire's will, rituals include other elements relevant to the sorcerer's paradigm – sacrifices, mystical ingredients, magical tools and the like. Rituals typically require greater time and preparation, but can have long-lasting effects and range in power from trivial to history changing.

Basic

Call the Hungry Dead: By burning a hair from the head of a person over a black candle, the victim hears voices across the Shroud. (Laws of the Night, Revised p.157)
Circle of Cerberus: The Necromancer abstains from physical comforts, baths and fasts for a night. After donning well-maintained, high quality clothing and drawing a perfect circle around him, the Necromancer is protected from the powers wraiths have in the Skinlands. (Blood Magic: Secrets of Thaumaturgy p.105)
Death’s Communion: The Necromancer performs a twisted ritual similar to the Lord's Supper, only with blood instead of wine and a dedication to Dis Pater and the coming of the Endless Night. Afterwards, the participating Necromancer gains a bonus on any uses of Necromancy. (V20 Lore of the Clans p.108)
Draining the Well of Life: The Necromancer first gathers his wraith servants and carves their names into a vessel he intends to feed from. He then drains the victim completely dry. The wraiths can then feed on the generated emotions to fulfill their Pathos. (V20 Rites of Blood p.93)
Eldritch Beacon: By molding the wax of a green candle into a sphere, the Necromancer makes a target stick out in the Shadowlands by a sickly green-white aura. Usages of Arcanoi against it profit from greater ease and severity. (Sabbat Guide p.118)
Eyes of the Grave: Using pinches of fresh grave dirt, the Necromancer can cause a target to have visions of its own death. (Faith & Fire p.181)
Final Sight: The Necromancer works with the eyes of a corpse to catch its last glimpses during its lifetime. Practitioners of Taboo slowly eat the eyeball, while practitioners of Authority by dripping blood into the eye and reciting a short prayer. (Faith & Fire p.181)
Generating the Acheron Vortex: The Necromancer must have tasted the vitae of a Lasombra before the ritual. Under the new moon, he spills vitae from a Harbinger of Skulls and a Lasombra into a body of water, while listening to voices from the Underworld. The water forms a vortex through which the necromancer and one additional person can enter the Underworld. (V20 Lore of the Bloodlines p.49)
Hand of Glory: The Necromancer obtains the mummified hand of a condemned murderer, wraps it in a shroud to squeeze out any remaining fluids and puts it in an earthenware jar, together with salts, pepper and saltpeter. After a fortnight, the Necromancer finishes the process by drying the hand in an oven together with vervain and fern. If the Necromancer wishes to active the hand, he has to coat its fingertips into the fat of a hanged man and ignite them. All mortals in a house the Necromancer has entered will fall into a deep sleep for as long as the fingertips burn. (Clanbook: Giovanni (Revised) p.74)
Haunting Breeze: The Necromancer can create a light supernatural wind which serves to frighten and confuse all those within a small area. (V20 Rites of Blood p.103)
Judgement of Radamanthus: First, the Necromancer marks a wraith. Afterwards, he burns pages from a law book or religious text that applied to the Wraith in life in a cleansed bronze brazier. Combining the ashes with a mixture of pulverized silver, the Necromancer draws a perfect circle around him. When he summons the wraith, it will believe that the Necromancer has the authority to send it to the "true" afterlife (the one it believed in when it was alive), making it much more cooperative. The Ritual works only once on a Wraith. (Blood Magic: Secrets of Thaumaturgy p.105)
Minestra di Morte: The necromancer obtains a piece of a dead body and simmers it in vitae, together with salt, basil and rosemary. When he drinks the concoction, he can learn if the person lingered in the Underworld after death, and if it became a Wraith or a Spectre. (Clanbook: Giovanni (Revised) p.74)
Occhio d'Uomo Morte: The Necromancer plucks an eye out of the corpse whose soul became a ghost. The eye is then prepared under the new moon, under the burning of incense and chanting. At the climax, the Necromancer plucks on of his own eyes out and switches it with the one from the corpse. The Necromancer can then permanently see beyond the Shroud. If the soul became a Spectre, the Necromancer can catch glimpses of the Hive-Mind. (Clanbook: Giovanni (Revised) p.75)
Part the Veil: The Necromancer chants over an object representing the target and a fresh human eye. If successful, the target gains the ability to see past the Shroud for several nights. (Blood Sacrifice: The Thaumaturgy Companion p.85)
Preserve Corpse: By mixing grave dirt, defiled holy water, and rare herbs into a liquid and coating it on a corpse, the Necromancer is able to prevent decay from fulminate. (V20 Rites of Blood p.103)
Puppet: The Necromancer smears grave soil across the subject's eyes, lips, and forehead over the course of an hour. Any attempt of wraithly possession are eased. (Sabbat Guide p.118)
Rape of Persephone: By surgically creating up to seven additional genitalia on a fresh corpse out of its tissue, the performing Necromancers can freely trade Willpower points among each other and have greater success at following necromantic spells that do not specifically target a ghost, provided that they do have intercourse with the newly modified corpse. (Blood Magic: Secrets of Thaumaturgy p.105)
Revivify the Cold Vitae (Faith & Fire p.181)
Thanatos' Caress: The Necromancer unearths a rotting corpse. After bathing himself, he then lies down on the corpse to break it apart. Once he is sullied in the remains of the rotten corpse, he eats the heart. Afterwards, the Necromancer can inflict the decomposition of aging upon a victim with a simple touch. (V20 Rites of Blood p.90)
Words of Insight: The Necromancer travels to a place where the Shroud is weak. Then, he builds a triangle out of objects that present his own past, present and future and lits an incense burner in the centre of the triangle. The Necromancer can then ask about his coming Fate and will be answered by wraiths. (V20 Rites of Blood p.93)

Intermediate

Bastone Diabolico: The Necromancer removes a leg bone from a living person (who has to survive for a while afterwards). After submerging the bone in molten lead, the Necromancer inscribes it with various runes. Then, the "donor" is clubbed to death with its own leg bone while the Necromancer chants in Ancient Greek. When a such created "devil stick" hits a Wraith, it loses Passion, and against a Risen, it deals aggravated damage. (Clanbook: Giovanni (Revised) p.76)
Cadaver's Touch: The Necromancer melts a wax doll of a target while chanting rhythmically, turning the target into a reasonable facsimile of an undead. The effects last as long as the wax has not resolidified. (Laws of the Night, Revised p.157)
Call upon the Shadow's Grace: The Necromancer communicates with the "shadow" of a living person. While such a "shadow" is less forthcoming than that of a wraith, it can reveal things that the person would rather have buried. (Laws of the Night, Revised p.157)
Death's Head: The Necromancer takes residues of a killed human (bone, flesh, ash) and mixes them into a paint-like substance that is used to decorate a porcelain mask. When the mask is worn, the Necromancer appears as a wraith to onlookers. After it is used, the mask crumbles to white dust. (V20 Rites of Blood p.103)
Din of the Damned: The Necromancer draws an unbroken line of ash from a crematorium along the room's walls. If a person wants to eavesdrop on any events happening inside (either through mundane, mystic or electronic methods), all it hears are ghostly whispers and the sound of of howling winds. (Sabbat Guide p.119)
Drink of Lethe's Waters: After acquiring a personal object of a wraith that can be damaged with water, the Necromancer destroys by leaving it to soak in water and repeatedly spitting on it. After the object has been destroyed, the wraith loses all memory of her life among the living, making it highly suggestible. (Blood Magic: Secrets of Thaumaturgy p.106)
Drink of Styx's Waters: The Necromancer saws off the upper half of an exhumated human skull. The cup-shaped bone is then enforces with clay and made into a bowl. If a descendant of the original "donor" eats anything out from this bowl, any promises he makes during this time become enforced by a Spectre that torments him if he fails to uphold them. (Blood Magic: Secrets of Thaumaturgy p.105)
Eyes of the Dead: The Necromancer chants while spilling his own vitae over an object or piece of anatomy associated with a deceased person with an intact head. If the Necromancer was able to see the corpse during the process, he can then use the corpse's sensory organs to spy on its surroundings. (Blood Sacrifice: The Thaumaturgy Companion p.85)
Impregnable Soul: The Necromancer wards a body against the possession from one of the entities of the Underworld and hinders its soul of being pulled out of it. (V20 Rites of Blood p.104)
Peek Past the Shroud: The Necromancer eats a pinch of ergot over the course of several hours to gain the ability of seeing beyond the Shroud for as long as the ergot remains within his body. (Sabbat Guide p.119)
Ritual of the Unearthed Fetter: By acquiring the finger bone of the remaining body of a wraith, as well as its name and piece of a grave marker, the Necromancer transforms the finger bone into a compass needle that points to the nearest Fetter of the Wraith. (Laws of the Night, Revised p.158)
Summon Ethereal Horde: Using knowledge harvested from Sielanic Thaumaturgy, the Necromancer can summon Drones of the deceased into the world that then turn on the enemy. The Necromancer has to stand in a circle made out of the remnants of a cremated corpse, a coffin and a gravestone and chant a prayer to the dead. (V20 Rites of Blood p.89)
Tempesta Scudo: The Necromancer performs a short and awkward dance while biting his lip and spitting the blood in a circle around him. Wraiths have a harder time harming the Necromancer within this circle. (Clanbook: Giovanni (Revised) p.76)
Tempest Prison: The Necromancer obtains a large glass container and buries it in a graveyard over the grave of a wraith. After lacing lines of blood in the ground while chanting for several hours, the glass becomes filled with a swirling purple and black mist, in which can be seen occasional flecks of light, like miniature lighting. When opened in front of a Wraith, it is immediately sucked inside. (V20 Rites of Blood p.94)

Advanced

Chair of Hades: The Necromancer exhuminates the femur and tibia bones of a person, wrapping the bones in coarse cloth and encasing them with wood or metal so that they become able to sustain weight. He then constructs a chair from the bones. If a blood descendant of the person whose bones have been used sits in the chair, they lose all desire to do anything else than sitting in the chair, leaving only to quickly fulfill basic bodily needs. (Blood Magic: Secrets of Thaumaturgy p.106)
Chill of Oblivion: The Necromancer melts a one-foot cube of ice on the chest of the target that has to lie naked on bare earth for entirety of the Ritual. Afterwards, the target treats fire damage as if it was lethal damage and can extinguish fires through a Willpower effort. The aura of a target of the ritual becomes riddled with black veins similar to a Diablerist, and its eerie presence attracts ghosts and chills its surroundings. (Sabbat Guide p.119)
Enochian Passage: By plunging a silver dagger into his heart and falling into a body of water large enough to completely cover him, the Necromancer can manifest bodily in the Shadowlands, in front of the ruins that are believed to be Enoch. (V20 Rites of Blood p.104)
Esilio: The Necromancer speaks five syllables of unknown origin. A tear within him opens that connects him to the Well of the Void. Any wraiths and spectres the Necromancer can grasp and clutch to his chest are destroyed (Wraiths have the potential to return as a Spectre). Usage of the Ritual reduces Humanity permanently by 1. (Clanbook: Giovanni (Revised) p.76)
Garb of Hades: The Necromancer dresses himself in clothes that a person wore at the time of its death and the symbolically "breathes" out. The body of the Necromancer remains behind in a Torpor-like state, while the Necromancer's spirit takes possession of the corpse of the person whose clothes he wears. (Blood Sacrifice: The Thaumaturgy Companion p.85)
Grasp the Ghostly: By chanting for six hours and sacrificing an object roughly equal to its mass, the Necromancer can bring a Relic across the Shroud. (Laws of the Night, Revised p.158)
Orphic Sojourn: The Necromancer dresses himself in funerary garbs and meditates from dusk till midnight, surrounded by grave goods. At midnight, his spirit enters the Underworld, able to interact with its environment as if it was a native. (V20 Dark Ages p.296)
The Ferryman's Recall: The Necromancer needs the intact corpse of a ghoul of his, as well as a Fetter of its wraithly form. The body has to be cleansed and drained of any remaining fluids. Then the necromancer paints a series of sigils onto the body, intended as place markers for the subject’s spirit to relearn how to use his body. In the climax of the rite, the Necromancer pours his vitae into the throat of the corpse, Embracing him in a post-mortem process. (V20 Lore of the Clans p.109)