Backer Draft Manuscript Part 2B

– Lineages: The Hungry –

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The Hungry
This hunger, it never ends; it’s never sated. We live with this every. Single. Day.
We die with it, too. Get used to it, but also wield it like a knife.
— Eve, House Báthory
What? No. I didn’t kidnap you. I’m here to help! In a sense. I’m kind of your sister now, so I want to
make sure you know the ropes and settle in and all... what? Oh, I see, I’ve gotten ahead of myself again.
She’s always on my case for that, too.
Hush. It’s gonna be fine. You’re fine.
Please, you have to calm down or she’ll get angry when she gets back — Mother doesn’t like it when we
lose control. Fine, roll your eyes at me but fair warning — roll your eyes at her and lose them. Now listen
to me.
We are the Hungry. We are ambition and unfulfilled need made manifest. We are the glittering center of
the mortals’ existence, and the shadow that haunts their nightmares. We spent our lives chasing better,
wanting more, seeking the top — and more likely than not, it got us killed. Except people like us, we
never really die. We’ve got unfinished business. We claw ourselves out of our grave and keep going.
Because we’re Hungry.
Okay, you know what? Let me start again. Here’s everything you need to know about your new lease on
life — err, death.
Hi, I’m Eve — short for Evelyn, which I hate — and I’m a vampire. Not that we call ourselves that much,
it’s just what most humans know us as, thanks to Stoker and Rice and all them. Among ourselves, we are
the Hungry, and now you are, too. Feel that deep, gnawing sensation in the pit of your stomach?
That’s your new normal. Drink this; it’ll help.
Yes, it’s blood.
You’ll drink it eventually. No one outlasts the hunger.
Now, listen to me.
We. Keep. Going. It’s different for each of us. You hunger for blood, yes, but also for prestige, for power,
for immortality. Don’t deny it. I know you do, because she brought you back, and she chooses who gets
this gift — yes, it is a gift — extremely carefully. As well as needing blood, our kind hunger for flesh or
emotion or other means of satiation, while also hungering for acceptance or deliverance. Imagine being
undead and still craving friendship, of all things.
Anyway, most of the older ones are wrapped up in their political crap and centuries-old rivalries and the
like. I’m sure we’ll both get there eventually, but tonight you’re new and I’m here to babysit you so you
don’t starve to death or end up ripping out your former roommate’s throat. Yes, I said “former;” you can’t
go back. I mean, you could, but you’ll have to disappear eventually when people notice you don’t age or
eat normal food, and become weirdly allergic to everyday objects. No, not all the myths are true, they’re
just twisted. You’ll see soon enough, and I’m sure you’re going to inherit some of her issues. I know I
have.
Who is she? Right! That part, I always forget that part. I’ve only done the newbie chat once a few years
ago, so I’m a little rusty. She prefers we call her “Mother,” but the name she gave me was Camilla
Hadrid. She also said she was a duchess or something, but I can’t find her online anywhere, so if she was
one in her mortal life, she can’t have been important or she’s using a fake name now. Either way, it
doesn’t really matter in our current society...
I can see you, you know. Darting glances at the door, the window, wondering what’s beyond and if you
could get away. I can feel you, too. Pulse speeding up, the last of your mortal blood pumping away
through your veins. Your breath — which you don’t actually need to do anymore, it’s just a reflex —
quickening. Anyway, stop.
Stop looking for a way out. This is your life now. You are one of us now. You will drink blood to survive
and you will do as Mother says. Past that, your time is still yours to do what you want. That said, I
recommend getting some sleep now; waking up from death really takes it out of you and you’re going to
want to be fresh when you meet her. I’ll just leave this glass here, by the bed, for when you get hungry
later. I’ll be here when you wake up!

Once bitten...
Sorry if I upset you last night. For the record, you didn’t die, not really. But you’re also definitely not
alive, either, got it? Let me tell you about myself; maybe that’ll give you some context while you pull
yourself together. I see you didn’t drink that last night, so here’s a fresh one; you should really try it while
it’s warm.
My human life ended thirty years ago or so. Time stops being important after a while, honestly. I was in
college — I won’t name it because I don’t need you digging up my prehistory, thank you very much —
but it was a decent school and I was a very good student. I was doing some research work on blood
diseases, which is what caught Mother’s attention in the first place, she’s told me since. To be honest,
though, she still hasn’t told me why.
Long story short, I got tangled up in some relationship drama and my roommate took me to this wellness
retreat she had heard about to recoup and unwind. Pretty sure Mother was behind both the drama and
Helen finding out about the retreat, but I haven’t found proof. Just a hunch.
The “I” that I was never came back from the retreat. I think I’m still listed as a missing person? I don’t
check anymore. I didn’t have much family to begin with, so in that regard, things are different now, for
better or worse.
Anyway, I died out there. I woke up on a table in a dingy, dilapidated hospital basement, sliced open
breast to navel. My stomach contents were sitting in a bag next to me. I’m describing it clinically, but if
you’re wondering if I felt that: yes.
Mother was in the room, waiting, though I didn’t know it was her at the time.
“You’re one of the Hungry,” she told me as she rose from her chair in the shadowy corner like some sort
of Nosferatu wannabe. “You’re undead, a vampire. I called hunters. They’ll be here in fifteen minutes.
Get up if you want to survive.” Then, she left.
I couldn’t move at first, it hurt so bad. I could feel my flesh reknitting and that made it even worse — all
those cut nerve endings kicking back in just to scream. It was the kind of pain that makes people say, “I
wanted to die.” Except I didn’t. Someone killed me and I needed to return the favor.
I. Was. Not. Done.
I forced myself off the table and fell face first on the floor. Clawed myself up. Crawled out of the room. I
left my stomach contents. I left my entire life in that abandoned hospital. But I made it outside and there,
right as rain, Mother Hadrid was waiting for me in a limo, fresh clothes on the seat across from her and a
placid smile on her face.
“Welcome to forever,” she said cheerily, as if she was a teacher on my first day of school.
We had words about her introduction. We still do. She eventually promised to be kinder with her new
kids. I think she was lying. Trauma is part of our creation. One part gore, one part trauma. Maybe she
didn’t wait until the coroner made his cut before she raised you, but I bet it was traumatic anyway. You
should know that’s intentional. Still, she let me handle the introductions and I’m much nicer so maybe
that’s progress?
Welcome to forever, I guess. I’m sorry.

Where to Start
Once again, this section is separated between Eve explaining what it means to be
her kind of Hungry to her new brother and the mechanical information. If you’d
prefer to jump straight into character creation, here are the relevant pages.
Undead Strength, p. XX
Damnation, p. XX.
Torments, p. XX.
Lineage Path Mechanics, p. XX.
Ascetics, p. XX.
Black Hearts, p. XX.
Gaki, p. XX.
Heirs, p. XX.
House Báthory, p. XX.
Iscariots, p. XX.
Vorare, p. XX.
Practices, p. XX.

We eat people. Kind of.

Right. Here comes the part that might shock you — and I don’t mean that as clickbait. I’ll just get straight
to it.
We must eat the living to survive.
Blood, flesh, guts, you name it, we need it.
I mean, you can still go out for donuts and coffee, though they’ll taste like nothing. Carbs won’t fuel your
body now unless they’re mixed with something living. We need blood in specific, but some families
consume other things. Consumption is the root here.
Blood animates your body and mine, and fuels our powers. Animating your body is automatic, but using
your power requires will, control, and a source.
Blood out.
Requires blood in.
On to the topic of drinking then. You’ll find a variety of terms for the mortals who provide us with blood.
“Donors” is popular — nice and clinical; not too emotional. “Vessel” and “offering” are also in vogue.
Some Hungry like to refer to their donors as “beloved.” You’d be surprised — or not — how many just
call them what they are: prey.
With the lexicon out of the way, here’s how you drink. I don’t mean the physical part — that’s easy. Once
the time is right, you will instinctively sink your fangs into their flesh to drink their blood. Either way,
you won’t need me to run you through it.
Step one is for you to Want it. That’s capital w, Want. It’s not enough to be physically hungry. Or to
realize you need blood to survive. When you sink your fangs into someone, it needs to be the whole
center of your existence. You must crave it like a man in the desert craves water.
There are a couple of ways to accomplish that. Fasting works, but it can get messy — easy to lose control
when you’re famished, and now you have a dead donor on your hands. Or worse, a badly injured one, and
you need to weigh the risk factor against your own morality before dropping them at the ER.
A better way is to form an attachment to your donor. Which, yes, conflicts with the nice clean term but
people are complicated. Fall in love with them, or in lust if it’s just for the night. Hate them with an
abiding passion. Toy with them like a cat with a mouse. But make yourself Want them — and then drink.
Step two, and here’s the tricky part: Make them want it, too.
You’ll play on their desire if you’re nice. Kiss them, tease them, bite them. You can coax want out of hate
and fear as well, though. Paint yourself the villain. Make them hate you with the burning heat of the sun.
Do it right, and they’ll ache for the moment you reveal yourself as the monster they know you to be. Fear
works that way, too. You know when you watch a horror movie, and the suspense is worse than the
reveal? That’s where you need your donor — at the point where they want you to come out and do your
worst.
I hope you flinched reading that. It sounds like I’m blaming the victim, saying they wanted it.
Pay close attention to me now.
It’s. All. On. You.
They want you to come out, sure. But it’s because you pushed and pushed and pushed. You used every
ounce of manipulation at your considerable disposal, and now they want it over with. That’s not on them.
It’s your doing. If you’re gonna be a monster, it needs to be eyes wide open. No lies. No euphemisms. No
victim blaming. There might come a time when you see the slippery slope and you want out — and you
can’t climb back up if you don’t know the path.
Or, you know, just stick with making out.

What makes us?

Let’s cycle back to the whole dying and being reborn part. First off, there’s how it works — Mother
Hadrid chooses and brings you back from your grave or mortuary table — but then there’s how it works.
The metaphysical aspect of it. Our curse, or Damnation. It comes from a mix of ambition, desire, and
trauma.
Let’s start with ambition.
Damnation comes from ambition gone too far. It goes from a plan to a scheme to a racket. You work
hard, you are determined, and soon you forget what you were working towards, always grasping at the
next thing, then the next. You have to work to be Hungry, too. Always reaching for that next shining goal
— the achievement that’s impossible for others is the one that drives us forward in life. It’s also what
makes us claw our way up from the grave. You also have to work to get donors or victims, to move
within our ranks, to carve out your own little place in this cursed existence.
Now, add desire.
It’s not enough to know what you want and work hard for it. You have to have a burning desire, an
insatiable, incurable, gnawing pit in the bottom of your stomach. It’s what separates the merely ambitious
from the Hungry, and it’s a necessary ingredient for Damnation. Now, you might be thinking to yourself,
“I didn’t have strong ambitions and desires, why is this happening to me?”; and that is a very good
question. The Damnation doesn’t care, because Mother doesn’t care, and she chose you. It turns out that
you can just curse anyone with this Damnation, and that ambition and desire will foster inside them.
Finally, the trauma.
Here’s where the magic happens. No, not the kind of magic that means something good, the kind of
magic that is part and parcel with living a cursed existence. Sometimes the Damnation chooses, but that’s
so rare we don’t talk about it. You need a Hungry to curse you, infect you, pass their blood, flesh, spit,
whatever, on to you and bring you back from the dead. Your creator will almost certainly make it hard to
come back. They might physically bury you. They might beat you and leave you dead and broken. They
might wait until you’re already sliced up by a pathologist. All this to “make you stronger,” but if you ask
me, it’s plain-old generational abuse. The supernatural version of “my parents beat me, and I turned out
fine.” No, if this is how you treat people you are not fine — but I digress...
I lied, there’s a secret ingredient: craving.
Hunger creates hunger. I’m not just waxing eloquent here. It’s literally how the world works — you buy
something, you’re happy for a while and then you want to buy more stuff. You see someone has
something and all of a sudden you need it when two minutes ago you didn’t know it existed. It’s how rich
assholes end up with five houses they don’t live in, and a yacht for inside their yacht. Your curse makes
you hungry. Ambition and desire are nothing compared to how the cravings will take you.
That’s how we’re made, but like I said before, what we do is drink blood. We have to. It is our sustenance
and our curse. If it’s not sated, the hunger can make you lash out and take something more, probably
somewhere you’d rather not engage in a violent, public, bloodbath. It can also make you lethargic, cause
you to slowly sink into a sort of waking paralysis. First, you lose your powers, then you lose yourself.
Good news, though, you can be brought back from most things with blood as well.
We also do have a few rules we abide by so no one gets too suspicious of us:
Don’t get famous.
Don’t get caught.
Do not, under any circumstances, turn a child into one of us.
The first two should be self-explanatory, though being infamous can be as bad as being famous. The third
one has been explored in all kinds of media and it always turns to shit. Don’t do it. You’ll be stuck with a
60-year-old person in a kid’s body who can’t grow up and probably wants to rip your throat out.

Redemption
Okay, I’m sure this was all a lot to take in. You’re probably wondering if you can undo your curse. You
can die — you’re immortal and immune to both aging and illness, but that isn’t the same as indestructible.
Fire, decapitation, and a stake through the heart will kill you, but let’s be fair — those kill most things.
Plus, maybe you don’t want to die. Maybe you just want to go back to being mortal. Well, there’s stories
about Hungry who do.
The most famous one is Lazarus — you know him from the Bible. Mother claims Lazarus is a parable for
our own Damnation. Did you know how the story ends though? According to Biblical apocrypha, Lazarus
traveled to the kingdom of Kition after his resurrection, to a place that now holds the city of Larnaca. He
lived another thirty years and then died of natural old age.
He lived another thirty years.
Not this parasitic half-life we have, but a true mortal life. One that ended as all mortal lives eventually
must. For two long millennia, Hungry have sought Lazarus’ secret. I’ve heard rumors about the Disciples
of Kition, who uncovered the Gospel of Lazarus in ancient ruins under Larnaca. The gospel holds a road
to redemption that’s equally simple and impossible: stop being hungry.
Hunger drives us, traps our flesh between dead and living, and propels both our ambition and prowess to
inhuman height. To become mortal again, you must reject all it stands for.
Most Hungry experiment naturally with abstinence, as only the most callous are entirely comfortable
eating humans. No one likes being a cannibal. Stories of young accursed going on hunger strike abound.
If the kid holds out, they find their power waning. Animals lessens the gnawing somewhat, but never
quite fills an aching belly. I’ve never heard of a single one with the fortitude to stay the course. Most
abandon their experiment voluntarily, but an unwise few hold out until hunger forces their hand. The
latter, more often than not, leads to carnage.
Some ancients try fasting too, though by all reports it’s much harder — if not impossible — for them.
Mother Hadrid says her creator tried it and fell into a listless sleep on the twelfth night. He awoke a full
two years later, reporting terrible and vivid nightmares that plagued his slumber.
Lazarus, as one among few, held out. If it’s real, his gospel describes rituals and meditations that enhance
control and lessen blood thirst. He resisted Damnation and became mortal again. He’s not the only one —
the tales of Tammuz’s or Orpheus’ return from the underworld also hold coded messages about undoing
certain curses — there’s hope out there.
But don’t get too terribly attached to it. Those stories are all old, and maybe just myth. I know some
people who claim to be in contact with Lazarus’ disciples, but they don’t seem any closer to unlocking a
cure for damnation than any of the rest of us.
So, you can try, but honestly, just drink the fucking blood, okay?

We can help you.

Hey, I’m here for you, remember? But it’s not just me. We have a whole Family dedicated to making sure
you can eat, you’re safe when you sleep, and you learn how to use what you’ve been given.
We’re not the only Family, obviously. You don’t get an immortal lifespan without wanting to drag a few
friends along. And after all this time, we’ve got a lot of friends. There’re quite a few families scattered
across the globe, including seven major ones and a bunch of offshoot bloodlines.
We’re members of House Báthory, you and I. Mother is extremely proud of our heritage, but all the
families are in some way. And yes, she might have traumatized you, and she will continue to do so, but I
honestly think you’ve landed in a good place. At least we didn’t bury you like those weirdo Iscariots.
You’ll learn about all of us in time, but we all have our own agendas and traditions, so try to pay attention
when Mother comes to visit, won’t you?

We are not alone.

No, we’re not the only non-humans out here. Wouldn’t that be rich? Just humans and vampires doing
their thing without all the other supernaturals you’ve heard about your whole life?
You really should drink that.
But no, of course it’s not just us. There are Outcasts and Sorcerers, both of whom are still mortal...
human... technically, I think? Their powers are unpredictable at best, from what I’ve seen, so tread softly
and all that. I’m not sure what all the differences are between them, to be honest, and I don’t really care
except that they insist they’re not the same thing. They both wield some form of actual, spell-type wizard-
school-ass magic and neither is bad to have by your side in a fight, but the things that hunt them are way
scarier than the mortals who try to stand up to us occasionally.
We’re probably most like the Dead, in the sense that we’re both sort of undead. They’re ghosts but they
aren’t ghosts; yeah, it’s confusing as fuck, I know. Essentially, they are dead and are ghosts, and at the
same time, are inhabiting a body. They have all the ghosty powers, and can take over bodies. Or other
things, I’ve heard they can possess places too, which is just wild. They also have this thing for emotions
that is a lot like our hunger, but less visceral. Basically, they’re not a threat to you, but you might find
them useful to team up with down the line.
I don’t run with many of the Primal, the shapeshifters. Where we pride ourselves on being cool and
collected, they let their animal urges take over — literally. It’s funny, there’s so much pop-culture trash
about vampires and werewolves being mortal enemies, but we’re not even that, we’re just so incredibly
different that we rarely have anything to talk about. Excellent in a fight, though, and if you can get one to
work for you, you have a great infiltrator on your hands, so I guess they’re at least useful.
Yes, werewolves (and other were-things) are real. Magic is real. Vampires are real. You are one. I’m not
sure why this isn’t sinking into your lovely, newly immortal skull, but we can’t all be the top of the class,
I guess.
I’m sure there’s more, but we have an infinite span of nights ahead, and Mother should be here soon, so
she’ll keep up your education.
Oh, also?
If you don’t drink that by morning, I’m shoving it down your pretty throat and you will not enjoy the
process.
Good night!
[NOTE TO LAYOUT. THE FOLLOWING IS USING THE CHAPTER HEADER TO DIFFERENTIATE THAT
THIS SHOULD HAVE SOME KIND OF ½ PAGE ART DELINEATING IT AND IT SHOULD START AT THE
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Hungry Systems
Members of the Hungry are cursed to feed on living beings for survival and to be able to control their
powers and their own bodies. They are master manipulators, pulling on mortals’ strings to make them
sway in their direction. This section contains all the rules you need to create a Hungry character and the
mechanics that define how they work.
Feeding
Every Hungry can satisfy themselves with blood. Once per session, the character must spend a scene
feeding, even if it happens “off-camera,” so to speak. If the rest of your crew helps you acquire someone
to feed from, or offers themselves to you, add a Momentum to the pool.
Additionally, each Hungry has a meal of choice, decided by Family or by the individual. Whenever your
character eats their preferred meal, gain a curse die. For example, the Ascetics drain memories, the Black
Hearts emotions, and the Gaki feed from spirits, and an individual may choose to only feed from the one
percent or people they perceive as sinners.

Nocturnal Predator
The Hungry are ultimately creatures who prefer the dark. Whether it’s a learned response from hunting
and consuming humans, or an imposition from their curse, they function better in the dark. Hungry gain
+1 Enhancement to all influence actions between sundown and sunrise. Conversely, they struggle during
daylight hours. Direct sunlight creates a deeply uncomfortable feeling and makes it harder to do anything.
Hungry can cover themselves with long coats, hoodies, wide-brimmed hats, and shades while outside.
Otherwise, they suffer the Exposure status effect which only resolves when they find suitable cover.

Undead Strength
The Hungry are immune to mortal diseases, are ageless, and can regenerate their bodies given a long-
enough timeline. Some of their strength, however, comes at a cost. For every little bit of this curse a
Hungry draws on, they gain something that can hurt them in a very real way.
If a Hungry uses a little of that vigor to move blindingly fast in pursuit of their prey, they may not be able
to cross the next highway bridge leading out of the city. If they want to punch through a door with an iron
fist, they might suddenly find the sun’s rays burn like phosphorus. All of those weaknesses in popular
culture — silver, certain herbs, white animals, wooden instruments, crosses, etc. — they’re all rooted in
how this works for the Hungry.
To gain access to undead strength, bleed 1 curse die and gain access to one of the following benefits and
gain a single bane for the rest of the scene. A character can activate as many instances of undead strength
as the player wishes, but each instance costs an additional Curse die and results in a new bane.
• Gain +1 Enhancement that stacks to actions made with Attributes in the physical arena.
• Gain +1 Enhancement that stacks to actions made with Attributes in the mental arena.
• Gain +1 Enhancement that stacks to actions made with Attributes in the social arena.
• Regenerate 1 injury at the beginning of each round.
While a character suffers from a bane, she is physically and mentally repelled by it. While in the presence
of the bane, the character suffers a Moderate Complication on all actions. Failure to buy it off results in
her suffering 1 damage and either an appropriate status effect or being unable to regain curse dice, at the
Storyguide’s discretion.
• Fire.
• Any item of faith, prayer words, or religious iconography.
• Running water, holy water, even rain.
• Old world superstitious icons such as paper money, white animals, counting grains of sand,
complex origami, garlic or other allums.
• Silver of any kind, cold iron, and wooden stakes.

Lineage Path
You are a predator, stalking the night for your prey so you can fight another day. Your hunger is never
quite satiated, but perhaps you can quell the gnawing sensation for a time, so you’re fit to deal with the
machinations of your elders and the movements of the other pieces on the cursed chess board you inhabit.
Path Skills: Empathy, Medicine, Persuasion
Major Path Attributes: Mental 3, Physical 3, Social 4
Minor Path Attributes: Mental 1, Physical 1, Social 2
Assets: Elder Hungry, havens, herds of prey, secrets of the hunt, relic items and weapons
Major Path Inheritance: The Hungry are immortal, so long as they feed their cravings. Any time your
character partakes in a meal to regain curse dice, she also heals 1 injury for each curse die she gains.
Additionally, when gravely injured, the Hungry passively restore their vitality from nearby people. At the
start of any round in which the Hungry is at Near Death, she automatically regains one full Injury Level if
a mortal is present in the scene. The mortal character gains the Aggravated Wound status effect. If there
are no mortals in the scene, the character may make an opposed Esoterica against an Accursed to gain the
same benefit instead.

Damnation
Your character must feed upon other people to sustain herself. Whenever your character holds zero curse
dice, she feels the hunger overcome her and must consume a meal of blood or the sustenance dictated by
her Family as soon as possible. The character cannot cast spells, use her undead strength, or gain curse
dice until she has had a meal drawn from a human.
Resolution: She must feed as above. If the feeding makes things inconvenient for her party, she gains
either a curse die or Momentum (player’s choice). If the feeding is in line with her Family’s traditional
meal type, she gains both.

Torments
Curses drives all Accursed to act in ways that make them monstrous. Choose one of the following
torments that affects your character. Any time your character succumbs to a torment, gain a Momentum.
• Boundless Hunger: Hunger defines the Hungry. It’s right there in the name. Despite the
appellation, most Hungry eventually find satisfaction but not a character with this torment. When she
succumbs, no amount of feeding fills her. She must continue to feed for the rest of the scene even if it
would provide no further nourishment or mechanical benefit and especially if it would cause harm to her
friends or other close associates.
• Take What’s Mine: The Hungry rule by birthright. They’re nobility, one and all, regardless of
whether or not the rest of the world acknowledges this fact. A character with this torment recognizes that
everything is hers. When she succumbs, there’s no item, good, or service that she believes she cannot
have. She demands the attention and service of others and takes anything she should own. It’s not
stealing, it’s claiming one’s royal due. (The authorities may feel differently.)

Families
Families are what make the Hungry who they are, literally. Hungry families rise and fall from grace and
power, but they continue to pass on their vital essence to their children, generation after generation. Some
go on to found new families, while some families eventually die out, but their curses bind them all to
consume.

Ascetics
I have the information you need. What will you pay for it?
We hunger for hidden knowledge in all forms — occult secrets, the hidden places of the earth, and more
recently the edge of science. We drink your memories, for in your memories, we find all the world’s
darkest knowledge.
We’ve always been here. We don’t know where we began; it’s been so long. It’s why memories taste so
good to us. We arose from primal forests and village terrors. We hide and hunt and change. We feed from
animals we command and from humans when necessary. We were known as local alchemists, wood
witches, and strange hermits in history; now we find it easier to keep private clubs and windowless
laboratories. And that’s why we crave knowledge so much — we know what it’s like to have gaps in our
cultural knowledge.
We hunger for knowledge, forgotten and remembered. We Ascetics are all magicians and scientists.
Our internal hierarchy is based on knowledge, lore, and storytelling — not just your own, but also your
children’s. Some elders would kill a disgraced child rather than let them be a stain upon their reputation.
You’re expected to dedicate your unlife to uncovering secrets and new knowledge.
Information is currency. Make sure your area of expertise is vast — either you have the answer, or you
should know a contact who does. If you don’t possess it, drink it from someone else. You should always
be the first person people think of when they need an answer to something, and they should be willing to
pay through the nose to get that answer.
Tithe to the eldest. Our elders know how valuable the right information is. That’s why we have to give a
portion of our data wealth to our parents, our superiors, our mentors. Do they give anything back? Fuck
no. It’s too valuable, and we’re mere flies stuck in whatever web they’re weaving.
Don’t kill the golden goose. When we feed, we take extra care not to kill our victims. Of course, animals
don’t have account numbers to cough up, so some of us just prefer to stick to livestock instead of
worrying about holding back. Others prefer to focus on people who won’t be missed all that much.

Relations
The grand lords and ladies of House Báthory think they’re in charge because —
what? They have a sword and a crown? Let them think what they will, and we’ll
focus on the pursuit of real power.
Beware the Heirs’ schemes. They like to act like dandies — as if all they care about
are their galas and glitzy suits — but underneath they’re full of razor-sharp
ambition and cunning. Cut a deal with them early or try to pass under their radar.
The Gaki act like necromancy isn’t a natural part of sorcery and something they
alone can lay claim to. Their penchant for poaching or killing necromancers from
our ranks is trying. One day we’ll have the right bit of lore we can hold over their
heads, and then we can talk about their methods.
I admire the purity of the Primal, and they have some interesting ideas that might
 be worth stealing... I mean, cultivating. Just make sure you don’t make them angry.
We share a love for occultism with Sorcerers, and frequently find ourselves allied
with them. It’s a toss-up whether we keep our end of the bargain or betray the
Sorcerer when the work is done — it wholly depends on whether that Sorcerer is
likely to be an asset or nuisance moving forward.
Others call us witches, alchemists, data miners, and scientists. They are all correct.
Among the Family, we call ourselves by our names, mostly, though some of us have academic titles we
use.
We use our powers for secrecy, whether that’s ferreting out others’ or protecting their own. We move
unseen, watch our enemies, and send hidden messages.

Path
Path Skills: Culture, Enigmas, Science
Major Path Attributes: Mental 5, Physical 2, Social 3
Minor Path Attributes: Mental 3, Social 1
Access: A university professor, a well-stocked library, a relics dealer, a secret laboratory
Secret Spell: Memoryscape, p. XX
Major Path Inheritance: Once you’ve learned something, you don’t forget it. Once per session, you may
describe a story element in a scene as though you had spent 1 Momentum. Also, when you activate your
undead strength, you may gain +2 Enhancement on actions taken with Attributes from the mental arena
instead of +1.
Motifs
• When casting a spell with the Ethereal Attunement, bleed one fewer curse die to a minimum of
zero.
• You may cast spells from the Smoke and Shadow Predation reflexively, even if they would
normally call for a simple action.
• When casting a spell Liminal Attunement, your spells act as though they do not have the Physical
Attunement.
[LAYOUT: THE FOLLOWING SHOULD BE IN ITS OWN SPECIAL BOX]
Play an Ascetic if you want to:
• Strip mine everything for data. Everything.
• Place knowledge over loyalty or friendship.
• Uncover memories best left hidden, and try to sell them for fun and profit.

The Black Hearts

That’s it, keep crying.
The Hungry are supposed to be leaders and game changers — beautiful, powerful, and confident — but
we drew a very different lot.
Every last fucking one of us is an outcast, a black sheep, or a fuckup. Our families didn’t want us for
some reason or another. It isn’t because we aren’t strong, powerful, beautiful, confident, all that shit. It’s
because we are broken, far too broken for even the Hungry to hold onto. You may wonder how exactly
we’re broken, and that’s a personal story for each of us, but I’ll tell you mine.
There is no bloodlust. We do not lust for blood, or even flesh. We crave something more esoteric,
something more fraught. We need emotions. Not need, no; hunger, crave, yearn, go into an absolutely
bonkers frenzy over. Any emotion will do, as long as its strong, and as long as it is freely given, just like
the other fuckers. Does that make us sound like the Dead? Huh. I guess it does.
We fall fast and do it hard. We need others. Specifically, we need people who feel emotions to the
degree that we can take without leaving them insensate and are willing to share those emotions with us.
God, if only we could take from the unwilling, wouldn’t that be so much easier? Instead, we have to
painstakingly build relationships, evoke an emotional connection, and foster those emotions like helping a
seedling find light. This is a two-way street.
Any emotion will do. I know it sounds like I’m talking about some lovey dovey bullshit, but a nemesis is
probably an easier person to foster a relationship with than a lover. We aren’t trying to fuck people over
here, but hate works just as well as joy or love, and hate is pretty easy to feel for long stretches. Not to
mention that most people prefer to lose that emotion over any other.
We are mercenaries. So we like who we like, and we hate who we hate. That’s all well and good, but we
still need to make scratch, and if we want to be respected by the other families, we need to pretend that
we care about their politics. The best way to do that is to work for them, rather than against them. While
other families may revile our cravings, they are more than happy to pay us in their scraps of thankfulness
and cold hard cash if we’ll merc a few of their rivals.
No leaders, no masters. We lack central leadership, instead flitting from group to group as we will. We
keep loyalty to each other, and that’s the rule of law. If you fuck over a Black Heart, you fuck over every
Black Heart. We’ll come for you.

Relations
We find House Báthory pretentious. They think everyone cares about their power
and antiquated hierarchies, and they expect us to bow to them. Take their measure
before you rebel though, for some have the prowess to back their pretension.
Our relationship with the Heirs is fraught. We both move among mortals, but
where we nurture and cherish, they manipulate and take. Don’t let your mortal
friends fall into their clutches.
The Iscariots’ hunger for justice often overlaps with our desire to protect our
mortal relationships, but they’re still using humans to better themselves. While
our goals sometimes align, we don’t trust them to be anything but selfish in the
end.
Primals make great friends. They feel their emotions in abundance, and they’re
loyal just like we are. Just be careful about the kind of relationship you foster with
them, those emotions might just get you addicted.
We’re fine with the Outcasts. We both had to create family out of the cast offs of
others. They value our kinship more than most other Accursed and tend to be fast
friends.
 The Dead are like us, or we’re like them. We both crave the sweet taste of emotion,
right? The Ascetics say we’re halfway between undead and Dead because of the
way we feed, but what do those ghouls know?
Others call us dhampir and some assholes call us crybabies (fuck them in particular).
We call ourselves friends and comrades.
We use our powers to get close to people and earn their loyalty. We care more about humanity than the
other families, and we use our powers to protect those who are loyal to us, and beat the shit out of anyone
who crosses their paths.

Path
Path Skills: Empathy, Larceny, Survival
Major Path Attributes: Mental 2, Physical 4, Social 4
Minor Path Attributes: Physical 2, Social 2
Access: Street kids, a biker gang, communes, roadhouse, youth groups, therapist’s office.
Secret Spell: Homewrecker, p. XX
Major Path Inheritance: Your need for emotions draws you to others. You value your relationship with
humans and revile other Hungry. When you make a positive bond with mortals, it always starts at 2
instead of 1. Conversely, when you make a negative bond with other Hungry, it always starts at 2. Unlike
other characters, the Black Hearts can have an infinite number of level 2 bonds.
Motifs
• When casting a spell with the Emotional Attunement, you may purchase the Shockwave Trick for
one less hit. If the spell is not a rolled action, you may affect a number of additional targets up to the
number of curse dice you hold.
• When casting a spell with the Physical Attunement, bleed one additional curse die to apply the
Destroyed Reputation status effect on the target.
• When casting a spell with the Emotional Attunement, bleed one fewer curse die to a minimum of
zero.
[LAYOUT: THE FOLLOWING SHOULD BE IN ITS OWN SPECIAL BOX]
Play a Black Heart if you want to:
• Yearn for an emotional connection, but fear you’ll take too much.
• Make an impression on people, positive or negative.
• Reject Hungry social strata as they rejected you.

Gaki
Service in death is the greatest reward. So start serving.
Some Hungry will say different, but we’re all birthed from the grave. We bring the cold embrace of
death... undeath... let’s call it mortis, with us when we rise. We name ourselves for the hungry ghosts of
Japanese mythology, as that’s where the first of the Gaki arose. And like the Japanese of old, we were
isolated back then. Decidedly so. Now, things have changed. We come to share the blessings of mortis,
undoing curses with the magic of death and incorporating ghostly essences into our selves. The Dead may
object, of course, but we have to sustain ourselves somehow, and the cool, refreshing grave is infinitely
more palatable than tepid blood.
Ghosts are ours. We claim dominion over ghosts. Not the Dead, but lesser creatures. Some call them
phantasms, but let’s not kid ourselves. Even those they call the spirits of dreams, echoes of deeds
performed long ago... They’re all ghosts. We either summon them from their graves or create them
ourselves — and rumors of us deliberately botching a rebirth to create ghosts are greatly exaggerated, I
assure you! These creatures serve us in specific tasks: clean the mansion, guard the catacombs, spy on our
enemies... You know, simple work for simple entities. And when their time is done, we consume them.
Consider it a “green” style of unliving. We leave no waste.
Join us if you have the power. If you have a morbid streak, an affinity for the dead, or have never felt
like you quite belonged in the party scene, we’ll come recruiting. We know a potential sibling when we
spot them in utero. We offer generous trades in return for joining. We’ll protect your family — your
mortal family, that is — from the cradle to the grave. Necromancy is our purview alone among the
Hungry.
Bring your secrets from beyond. Our originator still remains in our Family’s catacombs, though they
haven’t woken in centuries. We make sure of that. We are instead governed by their six original
Accursed, each claiming dominion over their own minor Family. All Gaki dedicate themselves to
exploring the secrets of mortis, the plight of ghosts, and the journey of the soul — whether that’s as an
occultist, mortuary assistant, or pathologist.
Death is the beginning and the end. We are the children of the grave, and our expertise includes both
necromancy and modern science. Find us in séance parlors and mortuaries, goth music gigs and recovery
centers for those who danced a little close to the live rail, if you catch my meaning. Mortis is both our
obsession and a resource. We collect secrets — of people, as well as phenomena — rise to power, and
vanquish our enemies with our ghostly servants. We chase death to study the ephemeral existence of the
soul’s journey.
You are what you eat. I’ve never eaten another Hungry, but some of our less palatable Gaki brethren —
we sometimes call them “parasites,” though it’s hardly an original name — eschew the spiritual meal (oh
how they whine that “it just doesn’t fill me up!”) and take a bite from one of their own. No. That kind of
behavior will not do. Our feasts should be solemn affairs, with thanks given to the departing meal! Not
cannibalistic orgies with incestuous overtones. If my stomach could still turn, it might.
When we’re in a bind, we summon ghosts to our defense. We can always make more if they perish in
the struggle. You may ask us though, “why would a ghost serve when you’re preparing to eat them?”
Well, we make deals, just as all Accursed make deals. Serve us and we won’t sate our hunger on you. It’s
a fair transaction and the principle of the mortis code.

Relations
We’re one of the few families to reach a fair understanding with the Iscariots. They
struggle with what they are, and have a terrible reputation. I can sympathize. We
help them with a free secret gleaned from a phantasm, they help us with more...
temporal matters.
The Ascetics resent us for our grave-dug secrets, and we suspect they’re hiding
their secrets from us. We’ll come to a head sooner rather than later, and we shall
see if their magic is a match for ours. But know this: we’re far better at prying
 secrets from the desperate living and even more desperate dead than they could
ever be.
We often work with Sorcerers who embrace necromantic magic. This is a mutually
beneficial relationship that should never be mistaken for a true alliance. Like most
people, the Sorcerers believe our smiles — they probably think we’re closer friends
than we really are.
We’d love to see what makes the Dead tick — but they’re not too keen on the idea.
They think the grave is their domain and despise us while we resent them for not
sharing their secrets. The Zeds especially see us as subverting fatalism by bringing
spirits back. We sometimes find common ground with the Mavens, as we can give
a distressed ghost a chance at achieving its hopes in our service. You see, we can
be nice, when we want to be.
Others call us ectovores and ghasts. We know what we do is in pursuit of a higher calling. Their barbs
and nicknames have no effect on me.
We call ourselves the Gaki, as that’s long been our name. Necromancers is a common and accurate title.
People haven’t called me a majutsu-shi for a long time, though internally, you might hear it said.
Our powers make us necromancers — we can sense death on the wind, see the last vision of a murder
victim, and coerce ghosts to do our bidding. All of these require an expenditure of blood, though it
needn’t be ours nor does it have to be surrendered voluntarily.

Path
Path Skills: Esoterica, Medicine, Persuasion
Major Path Attributes: Mental 5, Physical 3, Social 2
Minor Path Attributes: Mental 3, Physical 1
Access: Morticians, spiritualist church, cemeteries, hospital workers
Secret Spells: Forbidden Temptation, p. XX
Major Path Inheritance: Your dealings with ghosts give you power over them. Once per session, you
can summon a phantasm with the Fright template (p. XX) to you. It will speak with you and follow your
command for the rest of the scene. The phantasm cannot be compelled to do anything that would cause
itself harm, but cannot resist you feeding from it, destroying it in the process.
Motifs
• Gain +1 Enhancement when casting a spell with the Psychic Attunement, either to cast the spell,
or as a result of the spell’s effect.
• Your Physical spells may ignore the Incorporeal Quality on adversaries.
• When casting a spell with the Psychic Attunement, bleed one additional curse die to apply the
Ennui status effect to the target.
[LAYOUT: THE FOLLOWING SHOULD BE IN ITS OWN SPECIAL BOX]
Play a Gaki if you want to:
• Cull necromantic secrets from the world.
• Rule over your own ghostly servitors.
• Explore the world as a mysterious necromancer or undead pathologist.

Heirs
We are the lords.
Other Hungry may say that they are natural leaders, made by their condition to rule over the masses. And
that might be true. But if they rule over the masses, we rule over them. It makes basic sense, we take our
place at the top of the food chain not only by divine right, but also through might. We’ll take the hearts
from our prey, as tradition dictates. We take them, we devour them, and in so doing, they become a part
of us forever.
We are true royalty. Carmilla Karnstein, of the eponymous 19th-century novel, is the latest of our
Family heads. She created the most recent dynasty, and each one of us are her heirs. We’ve had many
heads, but all heads must fall in time. Our first… Well, you can ask those Lykan scum about him. While
we use some medieval titles, we also use business titles — CEO, head of marketing, head of finance, and
so on. Many of the most influential tonight are blood descendants of Carmilla, but there’s plenty of
Family who passed the stress test, descending from all kinds of interesting figures. He-Who-Was-
Huitzilopochtli, Richard of Gloucester, Vlad Tepes, Jure Grando…
You wanna know who really runs this town? Spoiler, it’s us. From controlling the banks, the city
infrastructure, and the media, literally nothing can get done here without our say. You think the other
families have sway? It’s only through our good graces. Even the other Lineages are careful around us.
The Family provides. If you have a venture, the Family will give you the resources you need to get it off
the ground. Success is how we take our measure though, so don’t ride the Family’s dollar too long. These
days, some of the younger members are disdainful of our structure, calling it rank nepotism of the worst
sort, but what else is family for?
We’re who you want us to be. Who would you like us to be? I’m the high-heeled boot trampling all over
your heart before I pluck it out. We’re your hidden desire and your undoing. Give into me — you know
you want to. We influence people. We dictate what others want, and how much it will cost. We like to
work in tandem — ideally one of ours controls mortal desires, and another their purse strings.
We feast on those who need us, whether they’re beggars for our financial fortune, or dedicated fans
liking all our posts. Our Family dinners are lavish affairs where we show off to each other. All our donors
are willing — even those who don’t survive the night — and we reward them generously. We like to
cultivate clubs and mortal families of donors. We can satisfy ourselves on blood alone, and for those we
want to keep around, we do just that. For those deserving greater sacrifice, why, it becomes a sin of the
heart.
You know the easiest way to solve things? We throw money at problems — we’re the one percent and
there’s not much money can’t solve. If that fails, we turn our considerable resources toward the problem.
Of course, that might grind an entire city to a halt, so use such extreme measures sparingly.

Relations
We have a healthy rivalry with House Báthory. They are languid and hedonistic
in their approach, but they sure are good sports about stealing mortal institutions
right out from under us. They call themselves noble while wallowing in our
offcuts.
 We get along with the Gaki, they keep to themselves and keep their dominion to
the grave. That’s fine by us, we can’t find much use for a dead body anyway. Their
hearts taste foul.
The Black Hearts are even more invested in humans than we are — expect to run
into them. Don’t expect them to accept your kindness. Honestly, it’s pathetic how
much they scratch and beg for our scraps, yet refuse to acknowledge it.
If you’ve ever met a Sorcerer, you know that they are filled with power and exert
it every chance they get. You might find them taking over your territory before
either of you even realize it.
Other call us influencers, moguls, heart-eaters, or usually things like “that fucking bitch,” but they’re just
jealous.
We call ourselves Heirs, Carmillites, the elite. Mostly we call for our servants, and they know better than
to speak to us.
Our powers make us excellent at putting people at ease — before taking them for all they’re worth.

Path
Path Skills: Culture, Leadership, Persuasion
Major Path Attributes: Mental 3, Physical 2, Social 5
Minor Path Attributes: Mental 1, Physical 1, Social 2
Access: Executives, club owners, gala events, charities, festivals
Secret Spell: Shared Senses, p. XX
Major Path Inheritance: Your influence seeps from you, even if you have no temporal power over
others. You gain +1 Social Advantage on actions to persuade others. If you’ve eaten a human heart in this
session, another character with +1 Social Advantage over you loses their Advantage.
Motifs
• Gain +1 Enhancement when casting a spell with the Emotional Attunement, either to cast the
spell, or as a result of the spell’s effect.
• When casting a spell with the Physical Attunement, gain access to the following Trick. If the
spell is not rolled, you gain the Trick’s effect for free.
Impression (1 hit): Your target cannot help but to feel a lasting impression of you. They gain the Awed
status effect.
• When casting a spell with the Psychic Attunement, bleed one fewer curse die to a minimum of
zero.
[LAYOUT: THE FOLLOWING SHOULD BE IN ITS OWN SPECIAL BOX]
Play an Heir if you want to:
• Take the crown — the king is dead, long live the queen.
• Shape mortal desires to your whim and have them worship you.
• Lead a city with an iron fist wrapped in a velvet glove.
House Báthory
Don’t you just want to indulge in immortality?
Oh, sweetie, we hunger for luxury. What greater purpose is there to an eternity than pure bloody
enjoyment? We have the skills, we have the graces, we have the skin like chiseled and polished stone,
eyes like glittering jewels, and lips like soft pillows waiting to just... Mm. We are nobility, and we get
what we want. We take it. No, we earn it! We don’t wait for it to be passed down like some bloody Heir:
we see what we want, and it’s ours.
Now open your wrist. This bath’s getting crusty and needs a top-up.
Don't believe everything you read. Our history starts with Erzsébet Báthory: beautiful, forever young,
bathed in virgin blood. Countess Báthory was a strong-willed woman in possession of land she was
unwilling to surrender to her king. He imprisoned her and did what powerful men always do to unbowed
women: he spun lies about her, called her a witch, a murderer, a tyrant, a brute. Don’t get me wrong —
our beautiful countess was a cruel tyrant, but murder six hundred people and bathe in the blood of
virgins? No. It was closer to sixty thousand. Or is, now. Don’t do her a disservice, or she’ll want a bath in
your blood. Don’t think I’m joking, honey.
We luxuriate in her honor. We are Báthory’s descendants. We owe it to her to enjoy immortality. She’s
lived an eternity of bad press! She suffers so we can live. There’s not a sensation I’d choose to avoid nor
sacrifice I’d be unprepared to make if it meant my life improved as a result. Does that make a monster?
No! It means I understand what it is to come up from nothing and take my due with both hands.
We love a good time. Our house follows the same hierarchy as any noble court — and power and favor
flow down from the head. I admit to a certain amount of... nastiness... in our past, but we’re doing better
now. We acquire and parlay titles all for fun, wear gowns and makeup like some French court (without
the decapitations, on most nights). Share and share alike, within the Family! But looking outside the
house? Make them pay for the spells, the magic potions, and the curses in which we deal. The house
applies a title to every Báthorite, from dukes and duchesses to barons and such, but don’t expect to use
them outside formal Family events.
Are we murderers? Not if we can help it. You’ll hear tell of baths filled with blood... Yes, I’m in one
right now, but in truth all we need is a basin. Or a bowl, even. There are always some who take it too far
too often. But if you find your estate filled with venators wanting your head, there’s no law I recognize
that stops you from grabbing them, putting them on hooks, and slowly bleeding them into a suitable
receptacle. Unlike those other butchers, we exalt in blood in favor of consuming it.
We’re often hunted. Tragic as it is, we Báthorites have a reputation. Therefore, martial training is
common. We like to enforce our will rather than command others. We train with weapons and claws,
teeth and acrobatics. Other Accursed may not expect it from us, but that’s why we’re so damn good at
defending ourselves.
Offer the forbidden fruits. You know the most desirable sensations are the ones nobody talks about in
polite society? Well you can talk about them with me, honey. You can even do them, if you like. I won’t
tell. In fact, we Báthorites are likely to help.
We never show our insecurities. Here's the truth: we all come from nothing. Almost every Báthorite was
someone on the wrong side of the tracks, someone blackballed or ignored. This curse is our chance to take
what we were never given. These titles, this pageantry... It’s all an affectation, sweetie. But now we have
this power, we’ll bloody well use it.
 Relations
We adore our Black Heart cousins. You might look at them and think “why can’t
they stop complaining?” Well I have an answer: it’s because they wish they were
as fortunate as us. They’re still stuck in the self-hating stage of their curses. We
worked out how to weaponize it. And so, we take on the role of older cousin with
those dears.
Ach, the Heirs. Someone believes their own press a little too much, I feel. You
recall I told you about Countess Báthory? Just guess which Family her king — the
motherfucker who imprisoned her — was cursed to join after she left him for dead.
They hold station like it’s a weapon and mock us for our aristocratic epithets. And
then they chew on a heart like it’s somehow civilized to do so.
Oh I love a night out with the Vorare! Have you ever hammered a steak? It can
infuse the meat with flavor. Well, the Vorare are a perfect steak tenderizer. We
then enjoy the meal after.
Like the Ascetics, Sorcerers usually fare well in our courts, and come for us for
illicit indulgences. They like to believe themselves sovereign — an illusion we
happily grant so long as they ultimately follow our lead.
Like us, Outcasts know what it is to be treated poorly and want something more
from life. They might not appreciate our practices, but we can give them a taste of
something rare, which might make them feel slightly more human. Sex, drugs, art,
experience: they come to us, because without us they’re lost.
Others call us the red-handed, pretenders, and Draculas, but we know we’re not playacting.
We call ourselves courtiers, House Báthory, Báthorites, and lots of fun little titles to imply age and
importance in a locale, though it’s more “this is the duke of all arts” and “this is the queen of fucking”
than “this is the prince of New York.”
We use our powers to satisfy our every need and desire, and those of others. We appreciate the finer
things, and don’t like to wait in line.

Path
Path Skills: Artistry, Close Combat, Culture
Major Path Attributes: Mental 3, Physical 4, Social 3
Minor Path Attributes: Physical 3, Social 1
Access: Rare art collection, martial training, meat locker, old castle and house, BDSM dungeon.
Secret Spell: Predator's Roar, p. XX
Major Path Inheritance: Your control over yourself gives you power. When you are suffering from any
status effect, you gain a new resolution condition that you can engage in to remove it. After you cover
your face in blood, the status effect resolves. You can resolve one status effect this way once per scene.
The blood must cover your face, but it can be rubbed, sprayed, daubed, or dipped to achieve the effect.
Motifs
• When casting a spell with the Lineage Attunement, bleed one additional curse die to apply the
Wounding status effect to the target.
• You may cast spells with the Physical Attunement as a reflexive action.
• When casting a spell with the Physical Attunement, bleed one additional curse die to apply the
Inspired status effect to an ally.
[LAYOUT: THE FOLLOWING SHOULD BE IN ITS OWN SPECIAL BOX]
Play a Báthorite if you want to:
• Experience forbidden pleasures and pains.
• Pull yourself from nothing to be somebody.
• Enjoy the pomp and pageantry within your own Family.

Iscariots
My justice is worth more to me than your life.
Judas Iscariot was a rebel to his core, even betraying his best friend to incite an uprising against the
Romans. Idealism like that doesn’t die, and Judas rose three days after hanging himself. He’s traveled the
world since, sharing his blood with revolutionaries everywhere to create House Iscariot.
We hunger for justice because we know guilt. Justice of the spirit and the flesh.
Especially the flesh.
Oh, Lord. I really want to taste your sweetness. I really want to know you. Let me taste you again, my
Lord… Alleviate this hungry guilt for me.
We bear our lineage proudly. Judas’ betrayal was a noble act. It was. It was. You clearly lack backbone
if you won’t sacrifice your own. It was also necessary — the carpenter’s son wouldn’t be nearly as
famous today without Judas. I may be Christian, but not all of us are. Some Iscariots believe our
progenitor was another legendary rebel like Loki or Enki. We don’t get into long arguments about it,
though. We all know we have the blood of noble traitors in our veins, and we’re proud of the fact.
We’re here to fight. We are rebels with a cause. Any cause will do. We fight for justice, equality, and
freedom for all people. We make good trouble. We topple tyrants and raise up the oppressed. We happily
burn the city down rather than let injustice stand. We take a bite from those who hold us down. A big,
hearty chunk.
Is this body your body, my Lord?
The cause matters more than friendships. We remember our roots and know that sometimes you must
betray someone for the greater good. Sure, maybe you were friends once, but if they aren’t willing to live
and die for the cause, they weren’t really your friend. We’ll even turn on each other if the cause is right.
Once a betrayer, always a betrayer, isn’t that what they say? Your flesh for my flesh. Mine for yours.
That’s the nature of sacrifice.
Anyone can scrap with us. We organize in cells, fraternities, and sororities, which often include mortals
and other Lineages. We unironically claim the moniker of justice warriors. You’ll find us fighting
alongside the oppressed and downtrodden and silencing the voices of those who overtly harm others,
though I have met less savory Iscariots championing conservative movements. They’re next on my list.
I’ll bite their throats out to stop their vitriolic spew.
We feast on those who deserve it and those whose sacrifice is worthy — such is our curse. It doesn’t
matter if what they’ve done is legal or not — if evil lurks in their hearts, they’re good enough for us to
drag to the dinner table. If they’d make a good martyr for a good cause, that’s also fair. We don’t want to
turn the righteous into our victims unless it serves a noble end.
In my view, guilt tastes so much better than innocence. I know its flavor intimately.
We stick together. Most of the time. Our Family dinners can be violent affairs, mixing politics,
fisticuffs, and biting in equal measure. But when things get bad, we band together and go to war. We’re
stronger as a Family, and many rulers find their fortune turning after dealing what should have been a
grievous blow to us — it’s a mistake they don’t live to regret. Of course, we rarely stay in power for long.
Sooner or later, someone else thinks it’s time to overthrow us.

Relations
Fuck the assholes of House Karnstein, the so-called Heirs. They think they’re
secure on their throne? We’ll show them. I don’t care if they’re good or bad — it’s
the principle if their self-appointed rule I oppose. I remember when they called
themselves “Yorkists.” A bastard is a bastard, no matter the name.
The Black Hearts would be great allies, if they didn’t get so wrapped up in their
own drama. Stop worrying about what your boyfriend really thinks about you,
and work with us to solve the real problems.
Provided we can point the Vorare in the right direction, their zeal works great with
our cause. Let’s topple old power structures and bring in the new, yeah! Just make
sure they don’t decide you’re the one that’s next to set fire to.
The Outcasts give us a lot of side eye, because some of them work for the same
entities that damned us in the first place. So, the feeling’s mutual, asshole. Turn
your ass around and walk away, bootlicker.
We fight side by side with the Sorcerers of the Underground. Their anarcho-
communist, leftist principles overlap nicely with ours. If you’re one of those
Iscariots who’s run afoul of them — you probably deserve it, so don’t come to me
for help.
Others call us zealots and Judases. We don’t much mind; it’s not like we’re not occasionally the first,
and we’re related to the latter.
We call ourselves firebrands, radicals, and warriors. We’re Iscariots and there’s no turning your back on
that fact.
Our powers give us a natural talent for inciting violence, and riling up emotions. We’re adept at tracking
our targets and striking from the shadows. We’re at our best when we’re the underdog, and we always get
back up for round two — or three, or four.

Path
Path Skills: Athletics, Larceny, Ranged Combat
Major Path Attributes: Mental 2, Physical 5, Social 3
Minor Path Attributes: Physical 3, Social 1
Access: Activist circles, punk bars, public defenders, the unhoused population
Secret Spells: Provocation, p. XX; Present Dismissal, p. XX
Major Path Inheritance: When you make a promise to someone, you can form a temporary bond at
rating 1 with them. If you already have a bond, increase the rating by one step. This can take you over
your normal bond limits. You can only use the bond Enhancement when working towards fulfilling or
betraying that promise. You can only have one such promise at a time.
Motifs
• When casting a spell with the Emotional Attunement, bleed one additional curse die to apply the
Passions Flaring area effect to the Area you’re in.
• When casting a spell with the Psychic Attunement at a target, bleed one additional curse die to
apply the Liar status effect to the target.
• When casting a spell with the Physical Attunement on a living target, bleed one additional curse
die to gain a negative 1 bond with the target.
[LAYOUT: THE FOLLOWING SHOULD BE IN ITS OWN SPECIAL BOX]
Play an Iscariot if you want to:
• Align your just cause with that of mortals.
• Watch those in power burn while you devour their sins.
• Consume the flesh of the guilty as punishment and of the innocent to make martyrs.

Vorare
I have the power to keep you safe. No matter what.
A count embroiled in a battle for an ancient’s crown — no, I won’t tell you their name — founded our
Family in the 19th century. They hungered for change; a new way of doing things, eyes wide open into
the future! To win the throne, the count struck a bargain with a demon named Abaddon.
Abaddon taught us how to consume souls.
Unlimited demonic potential, at a low, low price. The demon gives us powers we never would have
otherwise. We have the potential to gain even more. All we have to do is keep eating souls, and keep
worshipping Abaddon. She is one of the original fallen hosts. She demands destruction of old values, old
traditions, and old alliances. And we gladly pay her in broken promises, broken families, and broken
pasts.
We are not loved, but feared. And we like it that way. Others call us infernalists. And we are, proudly.
Now stop being jealous of our power and our way out. They fear us because they know that we are one
step removed from our curses. They fear that kind of power, and they do not understand it. That’s okay,
we’ll lift them up when our time comes. We’ll protect them just like everyone else.
We use our power to protect others. We are driven to change the world around us. It isn’t just change
for the sake of change, though. We must disrupt, we must ignite, we must make it better. We will beat our
curses, and when we do, we’ll take everyone with us. And in the meantime, we’ll protect the ones who
can’t protect themselves, and we’ll fight anyone who stands in our way.
Our patron is absent, but we hold the course. No one has actually interacted with Abaddon in years as
far as I know. We still have her power, which means we are doing something right. But there are those
among us who seek out a new patron, someone less demanding and less disruptive. I can understand their
desire, but you can’t make progress without change, and they should remember that.
We feast on those who stand in the way of change. Our Family dinners are hunts — we let our victim
loose on the street, arm them to give them a fair chance, and then the game is on. We shake things up. Act
first, think later. Sometimes you just gotta kill the king’s right hand and see where the pieces land. Let
them become drones, our bellies filled with what made them whole.

Relations
The Heirs are our traditional enemies. They’re arrogant and stuck in their ways —
everything we stand against. They won the first round, but we’re everywhere they
don’t look. We’ll be their downfall yet.
We get along excellently with the firebrand Iscariots if you can put up with all the
tiresome speeches about ideals and justice. Just smile and nod and watch them
take a baseball bat to the local ruler.
The Gaki want our secrets to expand their weird, fucked-up necromantic bullshit.
We’ll happily hand them over if they want to join us. Otherwise, they can get
fucked.
Even though the Dead are ancient, they understand the necessity of change. They
make good allies, and bitter enemies.
The Outcasts share an origin with us, and we get along just fine in general — birds
of hell flock together well, and all that. Terms and conditions may apply to some
of their families.
Others call us soul eaters, demons, infernalists.
We call ourselves revolutionaries and protectors.
Our powers make us excellent at noticing weak spots, either in an opponent’s combat moves or social
facade.

Path
Path Skills: Close Combat, Esoterica, Ranged Combat
Major Path Attributes: Mental 3, Physical 5, Social 2
Minor Path Attributes: Mental 1, Physical 2, Social 1
Access: Fight clubs, self-help groups, cops, church groups, cultist compounds
Secret Spell: Burning Halo, p. XX
Major Path Inheritance: You have dedicated yourself to your cause of protecting others with your
“purifying” flame. When you make an attack in the service of protecting someone you’ve sworn to
protect, gain the Flaming tag. Reduce the Complication you suffer from the Aflame area effect to Minor,
no matter its severity.
Motifs
• When casting a spell with the Physical Attunement, bleed one additional curse die to apply the
effect to a second target.
• When casting a spell with the Ethereal Attunement, bleed one additional curse die to apply the
Social Code area effect dictated by you.
• When casting a spell with the Psychic Attunement, it gains the Flaming tag. If the spell is not
rolled, you may instead bleed one curse die to apply the Aflame area effect starting at Minor.
[LAYOUT: THE FOLLOWING SHOULD BE IN ITS OWN SPECIAL BOX]
Play a Vorare if you want to:
• Protect someone, whether they want you to or not.
• Work underneath an utterly terrifying patron.
• Burn those who endanger you and yours.

Predation Practices
Hungry magic stems from their connection with their hunger and their mastery over its driving force.
They model their lives around their ever-burning need, and have honed their magic to make themselves
elite predators. They deem these practices as Predations, recognizing that all their life is in service to the
hunger.
The Hungry have access to three Predations. Below each, we have listed the spells available at character
creation with a short description of the spell and the page number where you can find the full write-up.

Vital Force
Hungry can manipulate the vital essences that make life go. From blood to life essence, they can control
it.
• Foul Humors: Retaliate against an attack with your very essence, p. XX.
• Life Bridge: Steal someone's vitality to heal yourself with an attack, p. XX.
• Red Death: Attack your target, making their blood weep uncontrollably, p. XX.
• Spilt Blood: Harm yourself to gain a large boost to an action, p. XX.
• Vital Flow: Alter a target’s life state to the point of undeath, p. XX.

The Iron Edict

When the Hungry call, others respond. The Iron Edit allows them to manipulate others’ actions, and even
control them.
• Bestial Familiar: Compel an animal to become your loyal familiar, p. XX
• Dire Command: Dominate someone to do simple tasks such as spying on an enemy, p. XX
• Inhabit the Beast: Take possession of an animal’s body, p. XX
• Instill Dread: Create an aura of command around yourself, p. XX
• Tabula Rasa: Make someone forget you for a short time, p. XX.

Smoke and Shadow

Smoke and Shadow gives the Hungry control over darkness and the shadows that lurk inside. They can
manipulate it, call it forth, and even become one with it.
• Dark Embrace: Become one with the shadows, p. XX.
• Ebon Strike: Use the darkness to attack an enemy, p. XX.
• Gloomstrike: Plunge the surrounding area into darkness, p. XX.
• Personal Predator: Command someone’s shadow to attack them, p. XX.
• Tenebrous Sight: See clearly, even in magical darkness, p. XX.