Animalistic Dependency
mild or severe
Your character feels isolated, vulnerable and alone when not in the presence of animals. Kindred and kine are untrustworthy, two-faced and wicked. Animals are honest and dependable. While, in most cases, your character is able to make do with her discomfort provided she is not too far removed from wild creatures, when frightened, pressured, or imperiled, she seeks out or summons the reassuring presence of mundane animals just for her own peace of mind.
This derangement most often manifests in the minds of Kindred who practice the Discipline of Animalism, though no particular level of ability in that Discipline is necessary to open the door to this disorder. A Kindred with the power to summon animals may be more likely to recover from her discomfort, but the anxiety does not wait for the Kindred to gain that power before it deranges her.
This derangement most often manifests in the minds of Kindred who practice the Discipline of Animalism, though no particular level of ability in that Discipline is necessary to open the door to this disorder. A Kindred with the power to summon animals may be more likely to recover from her discomfort, but the anxiety does not wait for the Kindred to gain that power before it deranges her.
Symptoms
Mild Effect: In any scene set in an environment where your character cannot expect to see or hear wild animals (even squirrels or birds), roll Resolve + Composure to avoid a bout of anxiety. If the roll fails, the character suffers a -1 penalty to all dice pools for the remainder of the scene. Not actually seeing a wild animal isn’t enough to trigger the mild effect of this derangement; if the character can see a patch of ground or sky where animals would be able to reach her, should she call for them, that’s usually enough to ward off anxiety. GM discretion should dictate what environments are problematic for the character.
Severe Effect: The mild effects apply, as above, but in addition your character feels trapped whenever she is uncertain if her calls to nearby animals will be heard. It’s not enough to simply see sky or ground, at this level of derangement – the character cannot function unless she knows that some form of animal life can hear her. If the player fails the Resolve + Composure roll to overcome the character’s anxiety, the character must spend one Vitae and activate the Call of the Wild power (Animalism •••), just to get a sense of how well she can be heard by nearby animals. If the dice pool to activate the power is penalized by the Storyteller due to the nature of the physical environment (sealed windows, secure foundations, etc.), that same penalty affects all the character’s dice pools for the scene if she fails to summon any animals (or if the summoned animals fail to reach her).
Severe Effect: The mild effects apply, as above, but in addition your character feels trapped whenever she is uncertain if her calls to nearby animals will be heard. It’s not enough to simply see sky or ground, at this level of derangement – the character cannot function unless she knows that some form of animal life can hear her. If the player fails the Resolve + Composure roll to overcome the character’s anxiety, the character must spend one Vitae and activate the Call of the Wild power (Animalism •••), just to get a sense of how well she can be heard by nearby animals. If the dice pool to activate the power is penalized by the Storyteller due to the nature of the physical environment (sealed windows, secure foundations, etc.), that same penalty affects all the character’s dice pools for the scene if she fails to summon any animals (or if the summoned animals fail to reach her).
Type
Mental