Vicissitude

Description

One of the most horrifying powers available to Cainites, Vicissitude is the signature power of the Tzimisce and is almost unknown outside of the clan. With it an experienced crafter can sculpt the flesh and bone of a subject, making them a creature of alien beauty or gnarling them into a deformed monstrosity. Tzimisce use Vicissitude on themselves extensively, altering their appearances with their mood or changing their bodies to be as vile as their souls.

Vicissitude is similar in some respects to Protean, but springs from a much darker source. Whereas Protean merely enables a Cainite to emulate God's creatures, this twisted power allows a Tzimisce to defile and deform those creatures or him/herself for all manner of perverse ends. The most beautiful maiden or noble stallion can, with but a knead of the fingers or a flick of the wrist, be reduced to a hideous freak or a blob of deliquescent pus. The Fiends have certainly used Vicissitude's more grotesque side effects to cement their infamous reputation.

Note that while this Discipline permits powerful and horrific effects, the wielder must obtain skin-to-skin contact and must often physically sculpt the desired result. This even applies to the use of the power on oneself. Tzimisce skilled in Vicissitude are often inhumanely beautiful; those less skilled are simply inhuman.

Outside of Blood Magic, Vicissitude is the most versatile of the Disciplines, and is often used in tandem with extensive ghouling. Tzimisce tend to deform their servants into war-forms szlachta, which are optimized for combat through extensive bone plating, spiked forearms and other modifications. True masters of fleshcrafting are capable of fusing multiple victims together into mammoth killing machines known as vozhd, but such creations are incredibly rare. While its effects are normally permanent, vampires of lower generation can heal fleshcrafting transformations over time. Likewise, the Clan Curse of the Nosferatu cannot be removed through use of Vicissitude.

The nature of Vicissitude is shrouded in mystery, with even the most elder Fiends only speculating as to its origins and true potential. More than just a Discipline, it seems to act as a virus that "infects" others through transmission of blood. It is assumed to be invented by the Tzimisce Antediluvian, with some speculating that Vicissitude itself is an extension of the Elder Tzimisce and that it continues to learn and experiment through those that fleshcraft. The Tzimisce themselves view the control over physical forms granted by the Discipline as proof of their superiority over mortals who are slaves to their bodies. Practitioners of the Path of Metamorphosis go a step further and consider Vicissitude the path to achieve individual evolution and transcendence through a somewhat scientific approach of research and experimentation. Voices in the Shadow Crusade believe that Vicissitude is instead connected to the Iryi Aretstikapha, who dwells in the qlippothic shells of anti-being and who reaches into the material world through the use of the discipline.

God's curse is reflected in Vicissitude in that it replaces the ability to nurture and care with the ability to rend and corrupt. Advanced users find that the discipline develops a certain degree of independent existence: Spontaneous flesh- and bone-crafting effects manifest from time to time, usually as a response to outside stimuli. A threatened Tzimisce might find herself growing claws, while one caressing a favored servant might find herself altering said servant to be more beautiful.

(Source: https://whitewolf.fandom.com/wiki/Vicissitude, CC-BY-SA )

Abilities

Basic

• Malleable Visage: Alter bodily parameters: height, build, voice, facial features, and skin tone, among other things. (See Faith & Fire p.214)
• Transmogrify the Mortal Cray: Alter muscle, fat, and cartilage. (See Faith & Fire p.214)

Intermediate

• Rend the Osseous Frame: Alter bone. (See Faith & Fire p.214)
• Awaken the Zulo Shape: Transform into the war-form zulo; the transformation takes 2 turns to complete. (See Faith & Fire p.214)

Advanced

• Ascendancy of the Sanguine Humour: Instantly transform into a pool of sentient vitae. (See Faith & Fire p.215)

Elder

• Blood of Acid: Permanently make your vitae highly corrosive. (See Sabbat Guide p.136)
• Body Arsenal: Transform the bones in your body into weapons. (See Laws of Elysium p.78)
• Chiropteran Marauder: Transform into a huge, flying bat. (See Faith & Fire p.215)
• Estatic Agony: Change the pain of wounds into pleasure. (See Clanbook: Tzimisce (Revised) p.68)
• Plasmic Form: As Ascendancy of the Sanguine Humour, except you can move and hold any shape as a pool. (See Laws of Elysium p.78)

Master

• Cocoon: Wrap yourself into an incredibly resilient shell. (See Sabbat Guide p.136)

Ascendant

• Breath of the Dragon: Exhale a blast of flame. (See Sabbat Guide p.136)

Methuselah

• Earth's Vast Haven: Dissolve your body into the earth. (See Sabbat Guide p.137)

Progenitor Flaw

Some dark magics have bound the soul of the Cainites with this Progenitor Flaw to the very land of either their birth or their death.

Curse

Tzimisce clan disadvantage

(See: Faith & Fire, p.50)

Benefit

Free Trait in Craft: Fleshcraft