••••• The Soul Transplant
One of the founders of the Moulding Room discovered, back in 1976, that the human soul was, in fact, a small organ vaguely resembling a six-inch-long spermatozoon encased within the breastbone.
Or maybe he was making it up. It fundamentally doesn’t matter. This, the highest power of Detournement, makes it happen. With a scalpel, the character opens up the breastbone of a dead or comatose human and pulls the slithery, still-screaming object out. If the owner wasn’t dead, he soon will be. Residents of the Moulding Room with this power keep libraries of “souls,” preserved in formaldehyde.
When the time comes, they transplant these “souls” into other mortals, or consume them, in order to gain moral strength.
Or maybe he was making it up. It fundamentally doesn’t matter. This, the highest power of Detournement, makes it happen. With a scalpel, the character opens up the breastbone of a dead or comatose human and pulls the slithery, still-screaming object out. If the owner wasn’t dead, he soon will be. Residents of the Moulding Room with this power keep libraries of “souls,” preserved in formaldehyde.
When the time comes, they transplant these “souls” into other mortals, or consume them, in order to gain moral strength.
Effect
Dramatic Failure: The character destroys the “soul,” whatever he is doing, and gains no benefit from it. If transplanting, the recipient of the transplant dies.
Failure: The character cannot remove, transplant or consume the soul, but does not destroy it (and if removing a “soul”, doesn’t immediately kill the victim).
Success: The character gains the successes needed, and the operation works as planned, or the character eats the soul.
Exceptional Success: The character gained ten or more successes on the roll to remove the soul or transplant it. The recipient of a transplant does not have a scar. The victim of a removal is sewn up perfectly, and the corpse does not show the signs of having been violated. If the character is consuming a previously stored “soul,” he not only gains an extra dot of Willpower, but his pool of Willpower points is replenished in full.
Failure: The character cannot remove, transplant or consume the soul, but does not destroy it (and if removing a “soul”, doesn’t immediately kill the victim).
Success: The character gains the successes needed, and the operation works as planned, or the character eats the soul.
Exceptional Success: The character gained ten or more successes on the roll to remove the soul or transplant it. The recipient of a transplant does not have a scar. The victim of a removal is sewn up perfectly, and the corpse does not show the signs of having been violated. If the character is consuming a previously stored “soul,” he not only gains an extra dot of Willpower, but his pool of Willpower points is replenished in full.
Material Components
Cost: One Willpower to remove or transplant
Gestures & Ritual
Dice Pool: Intelligence + Medicine + Detournement to transplant or remove; Stamina + Composure + Detournement to consume a “soul.”
Related Discipline
Effect Casting Time
Extended to remove or transplant; five successes required to remove; another five to transplant. Each roll represents two hours of work. Consuming an already stored “soul” is an instant action.
Level
5
Applied Restriction
The “souls” have their own unique characteristics. For example, the consistency and activity of the organ gives some sign as to the character of the individual. If it is firm, smooth-textured and moves strongly, its owner was someone of high moral character. If it’s flaccid and barely moving at all, it belonged to someone weak or evil.
The “soul” organ can be transplanted into another human body, replacing the implantee’s “soul.” The recipient of the transplant replaces his own Morality Rating with the rating of the previous owner of the “soul,” along with any derangements gained through degeneration (which, again, replace any derangements he might have). A journalist with a Morality of 6, for example, falls into the clutches of a Resident of the Moulding Room. The Resident drugs and performs surgery on the journalist, replacing his “soul” with that of a professional killer (Morality 2). Apart from the pain of recovery and the scar, the journalist doesn’t feel different. But later on he discovers that his conscience doesn’t bother him at all when he starts behaving callously towards the people he writes about and, later, brutally towards his girlfriend... and he starts hearing voices.
The vampire can also use the “soul” for his own purposes: eating it – and if he has this power, he can eat it – grants him an extra Willpower dot for the rest of the night. He can’t spend the dot on any power that requires the permanent expenditure of a dot of Willpower (such as creating a childe or joining a bloodline), but he can benefit from the extra points of Willpower the “soul” provides and the advantage of having a bigger maximum Willpower pool. The character can only use a number of “souls” equal to his Blood Potency or less at any one time. At the end of the night, the character vomits a pale, slimy substance as the power wears off.
Dead bodies without “souls” can receive the Embrace, but a new “soulless” vampire is always a draugr, with no dots in Humanity at all.
Using this power is always a sin against Humanity 3 (two dice).
Suggested Modifiers: The character has access to surgical equipment (+1 to +3), the character is working in an unsanitary or unsuitable environment, or with inappropriate tools (-1 to -3), the victim is not dead (-3), the victim has been dead for more than 48 hours (-1), the victim has been dead longer than a week (-2), the victim has been dead longer than a month (-4).
The “soul” organ can be transplanted into another human body, replacing the implantee’s “soul.” The recipient of the transplant replaces his own Morality Rating with the rating of the previous owner of the “soul,” along with any derangements gained through degeneration (which, again, replace any derangements he might have). A journalist with a Morality of 6, for example, falls into the clutches of a Resident of the Moulding Room. The Resident drugs and performs surgery on the journalist, replacing his “soul” with that of a professional killer (Morality 2). Apart from the pain of recovery and the scar, the journalist doesn’t feel different. But later on he discovers that his conscience doesn’t bother him at all when he starts behaving callously towards the people he writes about and, later, brutally towards his girlfriend... and he starts hearing voices.
The vampire can also use the “soul” for his own purposes: eating it – and if he has this power, he can eat it – grants him an extra Willpower dot for the rest of the night. He can’t spend the dot on any power that requires the permanent expenditure of a dot of Willpower (such as creating a childe or joining a bloodline), but he can benefit from the extra points of Willpower the “soul” provides and the advantage of having a bigger maximum Willpower pool. The character can only use a number of “souls” equal to his Blood Potency or less at any one time. At the end of the night, the character vomits a pale, slimy substance as the power wears off.
Dead bodies without “souls” can receive the Embrace, but a new “soulless” vampire is always a draugr, with no dots in Humanity at all.
Using this power is always a sin against Humanity 3 (two dice).
Suggested Modifiers: The character has access to surgical equipment (+1 to +3), the character is working in an unsanitary or unsuitable environment, or with inappropriate tools (-1 to -3), the victim is not dead (-3), the victim has been dead for more than 48 hours (-1), the victim has been dead longer than a week (-2), the victim has been dead longer than a month (-4).
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