Goalenu

AKA the Chimerical Barons of the Lady of Storms, the Knights of Proteus, the Sworn Guard

''A man strides down the street, in a long, greenish-blue coat and broad-brimmed hat. He keeps both covering him as best he can. If you could see his flesh, you could see the cracks of green fire which spread out from his joints, skin cracked and dried as this shell weakens. He walks, legs overly stiff, past the shops, and towards the school. The colour is being drained from the surface of everything around him, leaving a fine grey ash layered all around.''

''The woman in the bar catches your eye, and you walk over to introduce yourself. You realise your mistake in the alley outside, when the woman with the flirty, bright green eyes unhinges her jaw to an impossible level, revealing the burning green fire which she has in place of a heart. He seemed a little distracted when he got home, your wife says to the police, after the atrocity which the thing wearing your shape commits at your office, the next day. ''

''It's not even vaguely human, that thing. It, if you had to describe it, most resembles some unknown animal thing, covered in oil with harsh light reflecting off, but the animal is invisible. There's nothing there but the reflections and the shimmers and the glimmers and your torn off leg, jammed into a man-sized doll of wet clay and stolen flesh. It's building itself a new vessel.''

Background
There is a tale that the Knights of Proteus tell themselves. As the Kingdom fell, a squad of knights, sworn only to the service of the Kingdom, not the corrupted and weakened leaders, held the gate against the tide of the Darkness which swarmed and writhed around the city. They were true, they were faithful, and they held to their oaths. While She Who Would Become Tears cowered in the keep, playing with the Darkness and inviting it in, the burning green light of the weapons of the Sworn Guard, led by the woman who would become the Queen of Storms, fought off the Dark, even as they died from the power that they were channeling. One by one they fell, from the fiends that they fought, or as their bodies collapsed, burned to empty husks. Soon, only the Queen-to-be was left, and the play took its final, tragic act.

But the other members of the Sworn Guard, though their bodies were dead and their souls blasted by the powers they were wielding, would not give up the fight. They would see every single trace of the Darkness burned from the world, even if they had to reduce the world to ash. They had sworn it; it would be so. They would see the traitors who had betrayed the Kingdom, from within and without, dead and more than dead. They had sworn it; it would be so. To this day they remain, in communion with their Queen and each other, and sometimes sally out to destroy the enemy when the General or her living servants discover it. And as the centuries pass, and others bring fire to the Darkness, the Sworn Guard adds recruits to serve their cause beyond death.

Description
When not in a vessel, a Goalenu often looks like a stormcloud forced into the shape of a man - grey or black smoke, lit from within by green flickers - or a shimmering distortion of the air, outlined in ghosts of color. It is always taller than most mortals, never less than six and a half feet, and usually more than seven feet tall; it always has a generally human body plan, with two arms, two legs and a head; and its bulk is such that, were it substantial, it would be taken for a bodybuilder. But a Goalenu is never quite substantial, even when it has fully materialized, and the glimmers and flickers that delineate its form sometimes shift when the Guard itself is still, showing eyes on its hands or a face in its stomach.

A Goalenu's speech and behavior show an odd combination of monomania and absent-mindedness. In moments of direct threat, or when a spawn of Darkness is present, the Guard focuses wholly on the enemy's destruction; at other times it grows a bit forgetful and indecisive, needing a few moments' thought to recognize old acquaintances. Goalenu have even been heard talking to - rather, arguing with - themselves, when they thought no one else was in earshot. To those who have questioned them about this, the Goalenu explain that they are “many by birth, one by the General's will” and that to those who fight the General's war, death is promotion to a post of greater trust. And in proof of this, Goalenu who lead a cult of Stormwracked very often remember, in detail, the lives of cultists who have died in the cause ... suggesting that the deceased are now one with it, ready for the eternal war.

Systems
The Goalenu are ephemeral beings, and use the rules for such [CofD 122-140], but they are not ghosts, spirits or angels of the God-Machine; they are formed of a different type of ephemera. The typical Goalenu is Rank 2, with the Attributes and Essence pool appropriate to that Rank, and has a Size of 5 - somewhat larger than most humans, but not gigantic. Though Goalenu are living avatars of Tempesta they retain enough of their human nature to be affected by any magic that works on human souls, and their version of Essence is practically identical to a Princess' Wisps, in that powers which transfer Wisps work just the same way on their Essence. (Thus in what follows, we speak of Goalenu spending and regaining Wisps or Essence indifferently.) Contrariwise, powers that specifically affect ghosts or spirits don't do anything to the Goalenu. A Goalenu forced into hibernation drifts slowly towards anyone pledged to the Seraphic General within its range; if a Goalenu runs out of both Wisps and Corpus, it discorporates, returning to the train of the Queen of Storms.

Unlike ghosts or spirits, a Goalenu can have Skill dots, but these only matter when it animates a vessel - it never uses them directly. Goalenu retain the Virtue and Vice they had in life. Courageous is rather common, due to the mentality required to kill yourself through overuse of your powers, rather than surrender; as is Righteous, out of their desire to see the Darkness, no matter its form or how it conceals itself, destroyed. Meanwhile, Hateful and Arrogant are common Vices; the former from their desire for vengeance, while the latter from the fact that they follow the only true Queen of the Kingdom, the only one who did not betray them to the Darkness and isn't an imaginary spectre, futilely whispering into the wind.

Goalenu are tied to things and people that resonate with the Tempesta Invocation. All of them have the Influence: Tempesta 2 - they automatically regain 1 Wisp per day when in the presence of the Stormwracked, or a human who knows the Invocation, or whose mind is fixed on vengeance; or when they are close to an unoccupied vessel. Also, once per day, when a Goalenu fights servants of the Darkness or agents of the Queen of Tears, or is in the midst of great destruction, it rolls Power + Finesse as an instant action and regains 1 Wisp for each success. It can do this at any time during combat, or immediately after a combat ends. A Goalenu's sense for Essence will find both servants of the Darkness and people loyal to the Queen of Storms, and it never mistakes its fellow warriors for the creatures it is pledged to fight. Goalenu suffer from Essence bleed like other ephemeral beings, but are safe from it when within five yards of a Resonant (Tempesta) Condition.

The Sworn Guard of the Seraphic General all share a bane: they must avoid anyone who has unjustly taken grave injury from the hands of another and refuses to take vengeance, and touching such a one dissolves their cloud-like corpus. Both the injury and the refusal to avenge are necessary - Goalenu may safely approach people who have never suffered, and often seek out those who wish for revenge but dare not take it. Moreover, one who has been hurt several times must have forgiven or forgotten all the hurts to ward a Goalenu away. Even one shadow of anger or resentment is enough to let the Sworn Guard come. On the other hand, each Goalenu has its own ban, as long as it exists separately from its Queen. Often these bans relate to the Tempesta ban; some Goalenu cannot stop fighting any foe before they or the foe are down, others must pursue anyone who spills human blood (not their own) in their presence without provocation. Some, though, especially those of high Rank, have strange, inexplicable bans - the Baron named Badegisel has been seen to stop entranced by music from a church organ.

Goalenu have the Manifestations Twilight Form, Materialize and Animate Vessel (a variant of Claim unique to them.) Goalenu of higher Rank than 2 learn more Manifestations, but all have the basic three. No Goalenu may use Discorporate, as that would return them to their Queen prematurely. Likewise, they cannot use Claim, and while they can use Possess, creating the Possessed Condition inflicts a point of lethal damage on both the Goalenu and the host, and so, frankly, most of the Chimerical Barons would rather build themselves a man, with blond hair and a tan, than wear the skin of a mortal in that painful fashion. To accomplish that, all Goalenu have the Craft Vessel Numen (also unique to them); as for other Numina, they like to use Blast to harry enemies and Implant Mission to instruct allies.

The Craft Vessel Numen
Craft Vessel is an exceptionally unusual Numen, only ever found among the Goalenu, and (if you are to believe them) taught directly to the first of their kind to take upon new bodies of ephemera by the Queen of Storms herself. The vessel is a construct, of flesh and clay in varying proportions, which provides a host which can contain the essence of the Protean Knight, and unleash its powers to the full. Indeed, it is not quite a body, but more of a weapons system, fuelled by the Essence of the Goalenu, and manifesting it to ends that the ephemeral creature could not have reached on its own.

The Goalenu requires two things before the ritual construction can start; flesh and clay. In order even to start, moreover, the Chimerical Baron must be able to manipulate the material world, generally through use of the Materialize Manifestation; other possibilities are Possession of a convenient mortal, or Influences over Flesh and Clay. When the pieces are gathered together, the Goalenu spends 2 Wisps and begins an extended roll of Power + Finesse, one roll per hour. It must reach a threshold equal to its Power + Finesse + Resistance to craft the vessel properly.

Not all vessels are made alike. Although certain constraints must be followed (the heart must be flesh, torn from a human chest, while the brain must be replaced by a tiny sculpture, of the self-image of the Chimerical Baron), for all other things there is a wonderful degree of flexibility in their creation. Flesh and clay may be merged almost without limits. The face of that woman is wonderful, but her body? Well, let's just say that a much better job could be done. And it has been found that the way the essence of the Goalenu fuels the Vessel changes depending on whether certain major organs are flesh or clay. It comes at a cost, though; vessels which are mostly clay are more resilient to the vitriolic sun that lives within it, but far less able to pass for human, while the opposite is true for the ones which are mostly flesh. The appearance of the vessel is averaged out over the parts; one which is entirely flesh, apart from the brain, is almost identical to a human, perhaps with a little cold skin, while a vessel of clay (apart from the heart) is an exquisitely painted china doll, squatting at the bottom of the Uncanny Valley.

The Animate Vessel Manifestation
Once a Goalenu has finished crafting a vessel, it may proceed to inhabit it. The vessel must be Open to the Goalenu - which it is immediately after crafting finishes, for turns equal to the Goalenu's Finesse; after that it drops back to Resonant (Tempesta). The Goalenu spends 3 Wisps to dematerialize its corpus and infuse its substance into the vessel, which applies the Goalenu's Vessel Condition to it. When in a vessel, the Goalenu still gains Wisps from its Influences, but cannot use them otherwise, or any Numina or Manifestations. Instead it uses the advantages and powers inherent in the vessel.

Before being animated, a vessel has the nine Attributes of corporeal characters, with values determined by the materials used in the crafting. Each of nine organs in the vessel are linked to an Attribute. An organ from a human's flesh gives the vessel dots in the linked Attribute equal to what the human had while alive; an organ molded from clay gives the vessel 1 dot in the linked Attribute. Because flesh from a superior person is so much more effective, some vessels are made from a truly horrendous number of individuals (rather than just the one who contributed the heart), as the Goalenu, often using Storms-serving cultists, finds the best people to claim each organ from. And, although you can survive the loss of an arm, you certainly can't survive the loss of your spine.

The Goalenu's Vessel Condition
The Goalenu distributes its Power dots across the vessel's Intelligence, Strength and Presence; its Finesse dots across the vessel's Wits, Dexterity and Manipulation; and its Resistance dots across the vessel's Resolve, Stamina and Composure. After this is done, the vessel's Resolve, plus the number of clay organs used to craft it, must exceed twice the Goalenu's Rank. Derived traits are calculated normally. The vessel's Skills are those of the Goalenu. An animated vessel also has a Revelation track, initially with a number of dots equal to the vessel's Resolve + the number of Clay organs - 2x the Goalenu's Rank as a spirit, to a maximum of 10 dots.

Vessels do not heal naturally. All damage done to them remains forever unless repaired by the ritual of Ritual: Potter's Sacrifice, which Goalenu cannot perform for themselves, or by a supernatural power that directly heals damage. Powers that restore the Structure of an object will heal bashing damage in a Goalenu at a 1:1 ratio; lethal and aggravated damage require powers that heal a living being for that type of damage.

All vessels have 9 powers named Reprisals, each linked to an organ, which cost Wisps and/or Revelation to activate. Spending Revelation fills in dots on the track; when the last dot of Revelation is filled, the vessel reduces the track's length by 1 permanently, and empties the remaining dots. 2 Reprisals are common to all vessels (linked to the heart and brain) while the other 7 have a choice between 2 powers, depending on whether the linked organ is flesh or clay. There are rumors of other powers (what an organ cast out of iron does, for example), but flesh and clay are the only materials used regularly by the Goalenu.

Each clay organ increases the vessel's initial Revelation by one, but imposes a -1 to its Social rolls. Some clay organs provide persistent bonuses, which are noted in the Reprisal entry for that part.

As Revelation dwindles, the Vessel's basic inhumanity grows more obvious. Some effects always appear; others appear when the Goalenu uses a Reprisal, and last until the end of the scene.


 * Revelation 8+: The Vessel appears wholly human.
 * Revelation 7: After using a Reprisal, the Vessel's eyes change color; they now have green irises.
 * Revelation 6: The Vessel's eyes always have green irises. After using a Reprisal, they become a brilliant green. Those familiar with the Goalenu can roll Wits + Occult, at -4, to notice this.
 * Revelation 5: The Vessel's eyes are always brilliant green. (Those familiar with the Goalenu can roll Wits + Occult, at -4, to notice this.) After using a Reprisal, babies, animals, and, oddly, car alarms in the area all start wailing in terror. The source of the disturbance can't be located, though.
 * Revelation 4: The Vessel's presence terrifies animals; none will dare to attack it. Just walking down a street sets all the dogs howling. After using a Reprisal, its eyes glow green, and anyone can roll Wits + Composure to notice this. Even if you're not familiar with the Goalenu, he had glowing eyes, man!
 * Revelation 3: The Vessel looks slightly sick and pallid, the flesh around the joints raw. When it touches things, there's a slight discharge of static electricity. After using a Reprisal, its skin cracks when it bends, and a network of fine green lines can be seen across them. If a good look can be got, the Vessel's certainly supernatural; most Vessels at this point wear heavy clothing to conceal the cracks.
 * Revelation 2: There is a greenish cast to the Vessel's features, as if it's nauseous or ill from some disease. Its lips are cracked, and the bits where clay and flesh merge are now clear to the sight, forcing it to wear long garments to cover up. After using a Reprisal, the environment chars and flakes around the Vessel. Where it stands, the pavement cracks, and ash accumulates in the corners; ash that no-one left. Touching it is like touching a weak electrical source (2 bashing).
 * Revelation 1: The Vessel's skin is bone dry, and if it's dark, the eyes radiate a slight light... and so does the mouth, when open. It's spread to the environment, too; things around it slowly bleach, like in intense sunlight, and there's a thin layer of ash, like cigarette ash, covering surfaces left unwatched. After using a Reprisal, the Vessel has no eyes any more, just blazing green holes into an inner sun. When it opens its mouth, green light spills out. Everywhere the skin bends, it is cracked like broken clay, light glowing through. Lightning crackles off it; anyone who touches it takes the same damage as someone who touches mains electricity.
 * Revelation 0: The Vessel explodes, as if it had used the Reprisal Let There Be Light.

Causing the Condition: The Condition is created by a Goalenu using its Animate Vessel Manifestation.

Ending the Condition: The Condition is permanent until the vessel is destroyed, by damage from outside or the Goalenu's Reprisals.

Partial Vessels
The Goalenu can use the Craft Vessel Numen to graft clay or flesh organs into a human being's body, and the Animate Vessel Manifestation to empower it, thus giving that person access to the corresponding Reprisal. The new organ also transforms the person it's grafted into; one of his Attributes, the one associated with the grafted organ, is replaced by whatever value the Goalenu gives the organ in the crafting. Craft Vessel's threshold to make a grafted organ drops to the highest of the Goalenu's Power, Finesse or Resistance, and when it uses Animate Vessel the Goalenu may spend Wisps above the activation cost to boost the Attribute linked to a clay organ at a rate of 1 Wisp/dot. The Attribute replaced by grafting a vessel organ cannot be raised further with Experiences. Goalenu cannot replace a human's heart or brain, so they can't replace a human's Resolve or Intelligence, or grant the Reprisals Let There Be Light or Ever Glowing Sun.

A human with a grafted Vessel part initially has a Revelation track equal to his own Resolve, plus the number of Clay parts in him. He takes -1 on all Social rolls for each Clay part. If his Revelation track is reduced to 0, all the grafted parts simply shut down. All dice pools involving the associated Attributes drop to 0; replaced limbs support no weight, replaced eyes leave you blind, a replaced tongue leaves you mute, replaced lungs suffocate you, and a replaced spine inflicts paralysis. Unlike a Goalenu, though, a human can regain lost dots of Revelation - by concentrating for a full round and taking 1 lethal damage, he gets back 1 dot of Revelation, up to his original maximum.

Flesh and Clay: Reprisals
Activating a Reprisal requires a roll of the Goalenu's Rank + the associated Attribute. In a Clash of Wills, the Goalenu uses the same dice pool.
 * Dramatic Failure: The shell of the Vessel weakens, as the unconstrained power of the activation proves too much for the clay and flesh. The character erases the final dot of their Revelation track, reducing it by one. Those with grafts suffer something worse; not only do they reduce the size of the Revelation track, but they also suffer one point of lethal damage for each graft they have, as their flesh rejects it.
 * Failure: The Reprisal fails to activate. The Wisps and the Revelation are wasted.
 * Success: The Reprisal activates as desired.
 * Exceptional Success: The extra successes are their own reward.

Ever Glowing Sun

 * Requires Clay Brain
 * Action: Instant
 * Dice pool: Rank + Intelligence
 * Cost: 1 Revelation
 * Duration: instant

The Goalenu sacrifices some of the vessel's integrity for fuel. It regains 1 Wisp per success rolled.

Taken Revelation

 * Requires Flesh Eyes
 * Action: Instant and resisted
 * Dice pool: Rank + Wits - target's Resolve
 * Cost: 2 Wisps, 0 - 2 Revelation
 * Duration: instant

The Goalenu locks eyes with the target, dissolving memories with a single vitriolic thought, before letting the solution return to their own mind, to be studied at will. One memory per success is taken; the Chimerical Baron knowing it in full, and the target permanently losing access to it. The Goalenu may select an area of knowledge, or may just choose to take memories important to the target; either way, the Storyteller decides which memories exactly are taken. Any character may only suffer this Reprisal once per week, regardless of the source.

A Goalenu may spend 1 Revelation to inflict the Fearful Condition on the target for a week, or 2 Revelation to inflict the Terrified Condition for a day. The source of the fear is something prominent in the memories that were stolen.

Cleansing Fire

 * Requires Clay Eyes
 * Action: Instant
 * Dice pool: Rank + Wits
 * Cost: Wisps equal to the blast radius in yards, 0 or 1 Revelation
 * Duration: instant

The Goalenu closes its eyes, and when they open, they provide a sight into an inner green sun. Success on this Reprisal creates an explosive; its Blast Area equals the Wisps spent, and its Damage and Force equal the activation successes. The explosive is also an incendiary, starting fires of Intensity 3.

The blast of green light may then be “thrown” as an aerodynamic grenade would be, but using Wits + Composure to target, rather than Dexterity + Athletics. The Goalenu may choose to accept one Revelation to make the explosive as a reflexive action, thus permitting them to fire on the same turn that they create it; if not, making the explosive is an instant action.

Vessels with this Reprisal cannot suffer the Blinded Tilt [CofD 281] from a non-magical source, and always retain dim vision even if blinded with magic (-3 to all rolls).

Honesty of Purpose

 * Requires Flesh Right Arm
 * Action: Reflexive
 * Dice pool: Rank + Strength
 * Cost: 2 Wisps, 0 or 1 Revelation
 * Duration: instant

The vessel is a supreme unison of flesh and clay and Light and ephemera. What lesser object, composed of only inanimate matter, can stand against it? This Reprisal enhances an attack against an inanimate object. When resolving damage, the Durability of the target object is counted as 0, meaning that all damage is inflicted directly to Structure. A Goalenu with this Reprisal active may punch their way through a bank vault, or through a ritually sanctified Alhambran gate, with no signs of effort.

If the Goalenu takes 1 Revelation when activating this Reprisal the blow against the object also counts as a Killing Blow, with dice converted directly into successes. This may only be used against mundane inanimate objects, or those belonging to servants of the Darkness (actual Creatures of Darkness, and Alhambrans, including Princesses of Tears).

Rip and Tear

 * Requires Clay Right Arm
 * Action: Reflexive
 * Dice pool: Rank + Strength
 * Cost: 1 Wisp, 0 or 1 Revelation
 * Duration: instant

The Goalenu's blows leave grievous wounds. This Reprisal supplements an attack, and adds the activation successes to its Damage; moreover, the vessel reduces the penalty for inflicting the Arm Wrack, Blinded, Deafened and Leg Wrack Tilts by the activation successes, to a minimum of -0.

If the Goalenu takes 1 Revelation when activating this power, the attack does aggravated damage.

Vessels with this Reprisal do lethal damage with unarmed attacks.

Betrayal of the Betrayers

 * Requires Flesh Left Arm
 * Action: Reflexive
 * Dice pool: Rank + Dexterity
 * Cost: 1 Wisp, 0 or 1 Revelation
 * Duration: instant

The Goalenu strikes with blinding speed. This Reprisal enhances an attack. Its target must succeed on a Wits + Composure roll to apply Defense against it, just as if it were delivered from ambush.

Once per scene, the Goalenu may take 1 Revelation when activating this Reprisal. If the target fails the Wits + Composure roll, the attack becomes a Killing Blow.

Immaterium

 * Requires Clay Left Arm
 * Action: Instant
 * Dice pool: Rank + Dexterity
 * Cost: 2 Wisps, 1 or 2 Revelation
 * Duration: instant

It has been believed that man was created from dirt; flesh from clay. But the Chimerical Barons have shown that both clay and flesh are but a shell for the spirit. Raising their arm to the skies above, hand clenched, the vessel tears itself apart into a cloud of blood and sand, reforming in another location within sensory range in (10 - successes) turns. The Goalenu is not aware of what happens when so dematerialized, and may require a Wits + Composure roll to be able to act on the turn they reappear, if the situation has changed drastically in that time.

If the Goalenu takes 2 Revelation when activating this Reprisal, it can reform anywhere within its Dexterity in miles. In that case, the delay until reformation is increased to (10 - successes) minutes. The Goalenu may not use this option if leaving its current location would break its Ban.

Vessels with this Reprisal add +3 to their Speed.

The Hunting Beast

 * Requires Flesh Legs
 * Action: Instant
 * Dice pool: Rank + Stamina
 * Cost: 1 Wisp, 0 or 1 Revelation
 * Duration: time of chase

You cannot run. You cannot hide. The Chimerical Barons are ready for you, and you will not escape them. This Reprisal enhances any kind of physical chase [CofD 84-85] whether vehicular or on foot. The Goalenu becomes tireless and gains a Speed equal to 1 + their target's (unless it was already higher) for the chase's duration, increasing the opponent's required successes by 3. On an exceptional success, the Goalenu's Speed increases to twice the opponent's, raising the opponent's threshold by 5.

If the Goalenu takes 1 Revelation, it controls the terms of the chase, whatever the circumstances; it automatically has the Edge in every turn.

Unstoppable

 * Requires Clay Legs
 * Action: Reflexive
 * Dice pool: Rank + Stamina
 * Cost: 2 Wisps, 0 or 1 Revelation
 * Duration: instant

Death did not stop the Last Guard of the Kingdom. Why would you believe that you can? Whenever the vessel is attacked, it may activate this Reprisal. Each success on the activation roll downgrades 1 point of aggravated damage to lethal, 1 lethal to bashing, or cancels 1 point of bashing damage.

If the Goalenu takes 1 Revelation when activating the Reprisal, the damage from that source is capped at 1 point, of whatever kind it was, instead of being downgraded. This works against environmental dangers just as much as it does direct attacks (in which case the Goalenu must activate this power once per damage increment); few things are more horrifying than a Goalenu climbing out of the vat of liquid metal you just pushed it into.

Vessels with this Reprisal cannot suffer the Knocked Down Tilt.

Flesh Over My Flesh

 * Requires Flesh Tongue
 * Action: Extended, 1 turn/roll, threshold = Size of shape (usually 5)
 * Dice pool: Rank + Manipulation
 * Cost: 3 Wisps
 * Duration: indefinite

A Vessel is but flesh and clay. Why should it not be able to welcome more flesh into itself? Why should it not use this new flesh as a mask, so that which must be done may be.

To use this Reprisal, the Goalenu must consume a human being, cramming bloody meat into their mouth, inflicting 1 lethal damage for each success rolled. The flesh itself is not digested, but burns to smoke and a fine white ash which is exhaled by the Goalenu (characters who take a flesh tongue graft may also need grafted lungs, to avoid damage from this). Once the target number has been reached, the vessel shifts and flows, transforming into the person consumed. Physically, they are identical, except for the fact that the vessel still suffers from the visual effects of low Revelation. The social penalty for clay organs does not apply when disguised in this manner. However, the Goalenu does not gain any of the target's memories, and so may suffer notable problems if it tries to impersonate its victim. The Goalenu may switch between its true form and its current disguise as an instant action. A Goalenu may only have one disguise at a time; if it consumes another person, it loses the older disguise.

If the Goalenu wishes to use Reprisals without ruining the disguise, it must take 1 additional Revelation whenever it activates one, on top of any other cost. If it fails to do this, the layer of stolen flesh crackles and burns away like charred meat, and access to the disguise is lost.

Veil of Ignorance

 * Requires Clay Tongue
 * Action: Instant and contested
 * Dice pool: Rank + Manipulation vs. targets' Resolve
 * Cost: 1 Wisp/person affected
 * Duration: 1 scene

The Goalenu's rage overwhelms and bewilders those who see it. To use Veil of Ignorance, the Goalenu must spend 1 Wisp for every person in its line of sight. Each person who rolls fewer successes than the Goalenu believes the Vessel is a normal human being for the rest of the scene, and cannot afterward remember the Vessel's appearance. This automatically conceals all the effects of a low Revelation bar.

Vessels with this Reprisal reduce their penalties on Social rolls from clay organs by 2; taking a clay tongue, that is, reduces the Social penalty by 1, net, instead of increasing it.

Venomous Words

 * Requires Flesh Lungs
 * Action: Instant and contested
 * Dice pool: Rank + Presence vs. targets' Composure
 * Cost: 1 Wisp
 * Duration: 1 scene

The Goalenu incites its hearers to madness. Everyone who hears the Goalenu speak and rolls fewer successes than it does gains the Insane Tilt [CofD 285].

Storm's Vengeance

 * Requires Clay Lungs
 * Action: Extended, 1 turn/roll
 * Dice pool: Rank + Presence
 * Cost: 1 Wisp/roll, 1 Revelation
 * Duration: 1 scene

The Goalenu summons the fury of its Queen. As it accumulates successes, the sky fills with thunderclouds, and rain and high winds buffet everyone and everything standing. The Reprisal applies the Heavy Winds Tilt [CofD 283] within a radius of 50 yards times half the Goalenu's accumulated successes, to a maximum of 250 yards (10 successes.) The wind's rating is highest within 50 yards of the Goalenu, equal to half the Goalenu's successes; for each step of 50 yards farther away, the wind's rating drops by 1. The vessel itself is not impeded by the storm in the least. The violent weather endures for the rest of the scene.

Vessels with this Reprisal are immune to inhaled toxins. They do require oxygen, but toxic gases don't affect them.

Killing Words

 * Requires Flesh Spine
 * Action: Instant and resisted
 * Dice pool: Rank + Composure - lower of target's Wits and Manipulation
 * Cost: 1 Wisp
 * Duration: instant

The voice of the vessel corrodes those who listen to it. The Goalenu uses this Reprisal by speaking to a target - usually it utters threats, but a simple greeting is enough to carry the venom if it wants to be subtle. Each success inflicts 1 bashing damage on the target. The damage manifests as an unexplained weakness. Victims must be able to hear the Goalenu; unconscious people cannot be affected by Killing Words.

Unseen Hunter

 * Requires Clay Spine
 * Action: Reflexive
 * Dice pool: Rank + Composure
 * Cost: 1 Revelation
 * Duration: instant

Vessels with this Reprisal walk through any barrier, and strike from an intangible ambush. The Goalenu converts its vessel into ephemera of its own type, sending it into Twilight; or returns it from that state to materiality.

Let There Be Light

 * Requires Flesh Heart
 * Action: Extended, 1 turn/roll, threshold = remaining unmarked health boxes
 * Dice pool: Rank + Resolve
 * Cost: The vessel's destruction
 * Duration: instant

The cataclysmic energy contained within the vessel is released all at once, in one, terrible explosion. Raising its face to the skies, the Goalenu sings out, a scream of hate and rage and betrayal in the Royal Tongue, as they crack and glow, before finally, exploding. That is not the end for them, though, for the newly freed Goalenu is ready to continue its war.

When the target number is reached, the vessel becomes an incendiary explosive and goes off. It has a Damage and Force equal to the Goalenu's Rank and a Blast Area equal to the number of unmarked health boxes the vessel had remaining. This happens whether Let There Be Light was activated, or the Goalenu merely had its Revelation emptied through use of powers. However, if the activation was deliberate, then, in the middle of this inferno, the unbound Goalenu appears in the Materialized Condition, ready to wreak havoc on those who survived the blast. If the Vessel's Revelation ran out, the blast throws the Goalenu into Twilight Form.