Wyrm's Nests
Places of mystical power fascinate The Ordo Dracul, and the covenant is always looking for such areas that might have shifted or escaped their notice. Most other vampires don’t understand why the Dragons wish access to such places, but the Kindred of The Circle of the Crone and sometimes even The Lancea Sanctum have an idea. Wyrm’s Nests, holy ground, nexuses — whatever name one attaches to them, the places hold power. Most vampires aren’t equipped to make use of that power, but those that are shudder to think of the fearsome Dragons and what unholy effects they might wreak in a Dragon’s Nest.
Of course, The Ordo Dracul doesn’t consider its efforts unholy per se. The Dragons believe they have the greatest right to places of power because they use them correctly. The Circle of the Crone, the Dragons argue, might be able to conjure some impressive feats, but the Acolytes’ magic is external, affecting (or infecting) the world around them with their Beasts, rather than enacting change from within. The Lancea Sanctum occasionally seeks to capture a Wyrm’s Nest that, to them, feels like sanctified ground, but The Ordo Dracul scoffs at such arrogance. There are much better uses for such sites than mere reverence.
The Ordo Dracul has specific methods and protocols for finding, cataloguing and using the Wyrm’s Nests.
The Ordo Dracul has been mapping Wyrm’s Nests and ley lines in Europe since the beginning of the 19th century (actually for much longer, but notes before then are unreliable; see Chapter One), but during the World Wars the energies of that region shifted so dramatically that many of the surviving maps were hopelessly inaccurate. Mapping of ley lines and Nests in the Americas proceeded slowly, as the covenant moved across the nations, but by the middle of the 20th century had become fairly consistent. Still, ley lines shift, and The Ordo Dracul doesn’t have a presence everywhere, so the search for ley lines can never truly be finished.
The ease of finding Wyrm’s Nests depends on the Nest in question. Some Wyrm’s Nests bleed with spiritual energy, detectable even to relatively insensitive mortals. Most are more subtle and require a mortal or vampire with special perceptions to detect them. All Wyrm’s Nests have a particular “flavor” of energy that they give off, a resonance that colors any feelings a sensitive mortal or vampire receives from the site. As such, Wyrm’s Nests aspected toward violence, blood or anger are the easiest for vampires to stumble across unaided. Some such Nests even trigger a sensation similar to the Predator’s Taint. By contrast, Nests that give off feelings of life, vibrancy or other benign feelings tend to slip below the Ordo’s notice. This is just as well, for the Dragons can make little use of such places.
At least, that used to be the case. The world has changed so much so quickly in the past century that The Ordo Dracul is often amazed by how far a given Nest has shifted from its original location and how much the energies it gives off have changed. Newer researchers have compensated by using computers to plot ley line movement, but this integration of technology and mysticism is hardly seamless.
The Ordo Dracul customizes its approach as necessary, of course. Some mortals respond better to Ghouls claiming to represent agents of the mortal’s religion, be it the Catholic Church or a local Wiccan coven. Others are sensitive enough to detect even the Ghouls approaching them. Such mortals may be abducted and tested under far harsher conditions than their more cooperative peers.
Another, more insidious method is for a Dragon to join The Circle of the Crone and learn something of Crúac, and then use this magic in the service of The Ordo Dracul. The problems with this approach are obvious, of course. For one thing, how can The Ordo Dracul ever be certain that the double agent’s loyalties don’t truly lie with the Circle? If she is taught The Coils of the Dragon, might she not use them to further the Acolytes’ agendas or, worse, teach them to those outside the covenant? But if she isn’t taught the Coils, she is not a true Dragon anyway.
Perhaps the best use of Crúac to find Wyrm’s Nests comes from Kindred who did at one point claim membership in The Circle of the Crone, but for whatever reason abandoned it for The Ordo Dracul. The Ordo Dracul doesn’t think ill of such Kindred — not by default. After all, if the Rites of the Dragon are to be believed, Dracula himself once studied with the Circle before discovering that true wisdom lay within.
The Ordo Dracul finds this strange, but accepts that the Sanctified are prepared to take on faith some notions that, to the Dragons’ minds, require proof and experimentation. The Dragons accept the existence of God because their own existence requires a higher power, since vampires fly in the face of many of the laws by which the rest of the world works. The Sanctified take this a step further, as The Ordo Dracul sees it, by stating that God desires one thing or another. The Ordo Dracul doesn’t claim to understand what God is trying to say by designating one place or another as “holy,” and then allowing those “divine energies” to slip away in a decade or so. It only knows that holy ground is an extremely effective bargaining chip when dealing with The Lancea Sanctum, even when the ground isn’t useful to The Ordo Dracul directly.
If The Lancea Sanctum claims dominion over a territory that includes a Wyrm’s Nest that doesn’t seem to be holy, The Ordo Dracul makes it a priority to find out why. Often, such areas were once holy ground, and the energies have simply shifted. Sometimes, though, the Wyrm’s Nest houses beings or energies that The Lancea Sanctum considers unholy and feels the need to protect. This, of course, only arouses the Dragons’ curiosity. If the territory lies within a city where the Sanctified hold power, The Ordo Dracul typically sends in a coterie instructed to stay out of sight, map and investigate the Wyrm’s Nest, and leave before drawing attention. If another covenant holds power, The Ordo Dracul instead sends in a diplomatic coterie to negotiate an investigation of the area, and, if that fails, resorts to skullduggery. Research is much easier when one doesn’t have to look over one’s shoulder constantly, after all.
The Ordo Dracul divides Wyrm’s Nests into the following four categories: haunts, fontal nests, crucibles and perilous nests.
Not all crucibles are sacred to one faith or another, however. Areas associated with chaos, including sites of riots, mass Hysteria or even large fires can aid in studying the Coils. The Ordo Dracul must take care, however, in researching or enacting the Coils in places associated with unbridled chaos. Change, after all, must have a purpose, but the energies left in the wake of such events aren’t bent toward any particular goal.
The Ordo Dracul isn’t comfortable with a perilous nest unless they know why the area is dangerous. Therefore, young coteries sometimes have the unenviable task of investigating such areas and determining what, if anything, the risks are in using it. While this sort of mission is sometimes used as a punishment, usually mentors see it as an opportunity to let their pupils shine. After all, the work might be risky, but it isn’t trivial — the covenant needs the information.
Every fontal nest is different. Most seem to “vibrate” or “resonate” with a kind of mystic spiritual harmonic, though Dragon theories vary on whether these harmonics affect the living or are effect by them. As emotional creatures, Kindred seem to be no less susceptible to the (often slight and subtle) influences of such resonance. Some mystically sensitive vampires claim to be able to feel the power of spirits and resonance in their blood, stirring or electrifying their Vitae.
The Ordo Dracul has theories about why this seems to be the case. Just as vampires enter a kind of stasis after the Embrace, ghosts enact that stasis upon their environments, forcing them to remain — on a spiritual level — as they were at the time of the mortal’s death (or at least, at the time that the ghost came to inhabit the area). The Dragons recognize that not all ghosts have this kind of effect, but there are those that do create Wyrm’s Nests in the form of haunts, and these haunts are useful to The Ordo Dracul.
Haunts tend to be the easiest of Wyrm’s Nests to find. Sensitive mortals are capable of seeing or sensing ghosts much more commonly than other types of spiritual disturbances. Of course, haunts are by nature already inhabited, and the spirits of the dead are usually unwilling to share their space with the undead. The Ordo Dracul has protocols for coping with this problem, of course.
Change always has a purpose. Nothing, therefore, is truly random, and the elder members of The Ordo Dracul know this. The Wyrm’s Nests of the world change, their ley lines slowly shifting like the beds of rivers, the world’s mystical “waterways” eroded or flooded as time goes on. These facts are enough for a Dragon to base an unlife’s work. If the shifts in the world’s mystical energies happen according to a grand plan, where does that plan end? Can it be subverted, or is God truly omnipotent? Or perhaps He means for The Ordo Dracul to change His designs, and that is the test upon which transcendence hinges.
Another possibility is that Wyrm’s Nests change because of isolated incidents, but do not change in any overarcing pattern. A murder here, a war there, and this sort of mystical geology shapes the world in ways imperceptible to Humanity. Then again, it could be argued that Humanity shapes the flow of magic by their actions. In either case, The Ordo Dracul recognizes that one crucial element could be added to the mix, and that element could literally change everything. That element is purpose.
God might have a purpose, but no one on Earth truly understands it. Humanity certainly doesn’t have a collective purpose. The Ordo Dracul does, however, and if the covenant could find a way to wash mystical energy into one direction, perhaps they could create a grand crucible in which all of the Kindred of the world (or, more likely, a select few) could be reborn.
Is this the only dream of the Dragon elders? No. But upon meeting with the Kogaions, young Dragons are often introduced to the notion. Kindred who spend their unlives studying mystical cartography can and do go mad trying to break God’s code or trying to work out a way to control it.
Meanwhile, more pragmatic Kindred have concrete uses for Wyrm’s Nests.
This problem is exacerbated by the fact that crucibles, by their very nature, are the least stable of Wyrm’s Nests. While haunts and fontal nests can retain their mystical properties for decades, or even longer if handled carefully, crucibles move, shift focus or “burn out” within a matter of years. If The Ordo Dracul does not manage its use of a crucible carefully (and it rarely does), this time can fall to months or even weeks.
All of that said, crucibles are invaluable Resources in studying and mastering the Coils. Exactly what benefit a crucible provides depends on the Nest in question. Some suggestions follow:
Some Academies of Dragons have uncovered rituals and occult ceremonies capable of tapping into the arcane power of fontal nests, however. The blood rites of vampires abuse fontal nests, however, in ways that other mystic ceremonies do not. Virtually all of the fontal rituals known to occultists of The Ordo Dracul are thus seen as despicable practices by Lupines, mages and other users and protectors of fontal nests. (Game mechanics for fontal nest rituals can be found in Chapter Five.)
Other uses for a perilous nest depend on why the Nest is considered dangerous. If the Nest is the claimed territory of another being, could that being be slain or driven off? If it is dangerous for environmental reasons (say, little protection from sunlight), is the energy within worth the effort of correcting those concerns? If the peril stems from a biological agent (a mold that consumes undead flesh, for instance), can that agent be harvested, studied and used? If the very energy of the Nest is harmful in some way, the Guardians usually focus on keeping Kindred (or Dragons, at least) away from the area and monitoring to see if the Nest changes in time. Otherwise, student coteries can often be found performing Research on the Nest, regardless of danger.
Another, little-known use for haunts is that they may provide passage to a place called the Underworld. In this shadowy realm, the dead await their final reward (or punishment), and a vampire finds herself free of several of her most deadly banes. Very few haunts actually contain gateways to the Underworld, but for the most part, the Dragons aren’t interested in traveling there anyway. A haunt that does contain a gateway to the Underworld, whether or not that gateway is actually open (most such gateways only open under certain conditions), provides a +1 modifier to all uses of the following Disciplines: Auspex, Dominate, Nightmare and Obfuscate. Any Devotions incorporating those Disciplines are subject to this bonus as well.
Of course, The Ordo Dracul doesn’t consider its efforts unholy per se. The Dragons believe they have the greatest right to places of power because they use them correctly. The Circle of the Crone, the Dragons argue, might be able to conjure some impressive feats, but the Acolytes’ magic is external, affecting (or infecting) the world around them with their Beasts, rather than enacting change from within. The Lancea Sanctum occasionally seeks to capture a Wyrm’s Nest that, to them, feels like sanctified ground, but The Ordo Dracul scoffs at such arrogance. There are much better uses for such sites than mere reverence.
The Ordo Dracul has specific methods and protocols for finding, cataloguing and using the Wyrm’s Nests.
Finding the Nests
The world is constantly in flux, on levels that not even the Kindred can perceive. Long ago, the Ordo Dracul noticed that certain places hold magic better than others. These areas, variously called “nexuses,” “holy sites” or “dragon nests” by different cultures, don’t stay static. They migrate as flows in the mystical energies of the world push them. Likewise, new sites of power spring up every year. The Order has determined that many places that mortals consider haunted or cursed (or blessed) are simply the result of this energy being “washed” into a new locale. Every few years, then, the Dragons re-draw the mystical maps of the world, plotting sites and the current of mystic power toward them (sometimes called “ley lines”). This practice takes place over the course of weeks and months, normally beginning with the week preceding The Winter Solstice, as it gives the map-makers the most time to work. A certain amount of reverence, if not outright ritual, accompanies these mapping efforts. The mystical cartographers are treated with the utmost respect, and being sent to verify the existence of a nexus is considered something of an honor among the Order. It’s generally accepted that any mystical artifacts discovered at such an investigation remain property of those who find them (after the covenant has a chance to catalog and examine them, of course).The Ordo Dracul has been mapping Wyrm’s Nests and ley lines in Europe since the beginning of the 19th century (actually for much longer, but notes before then are unreliable; see Chapter One), but during the World Wars the energies of that region shifted so dramatically that many of the surviving maps were hopelessly inaccurate. Mapping of ley lines and Nests in the Americas proceeded slowly, as the covenant moved across the nations, but by the middle of the 20th century had become fairly consistent. Still, ley lines shift, and The Ordo Dracul doesn’t have a presence everywhere, so the search for ley lines can never truly be finished.
The ease of finding Wyrm’s Nests depends on the Nest in question. Some Wyrm’s Nests bleed with spiritual energy, detectable even to relatively insensitive mortals. Most are more subtle and require a mortal or vampire with special perceptions to detect them. All Wyrm’s Nests have a particular “flavor” of energy that they give off, a resonance that colors any feelings a sensitive mortal or vampire receives from the site. As such, Wyrm’s Nests aspected toward violence, blood or anger are the easiest for vampires to stumble across unaided. Some such Nests even trigger a sensation similar to the Predator’s Taint. By contrast, Nests that give off feelings of life, vibrancy or other benign feelings tend to slip below the Ordo’s notice. This is just as well, for the Dragons can make little use of such places.
Mystical Extrapolation
Skilled geomancers of The Ordo Dracul can make educated guesses as to how ley lines and Wyrm’s Nests have shifted over the years. This is in fact the primary method by which the covenant narrows the areas to search. Different Kindred have different styles of Research. Some use paper charts that incorporate astrological movements, some study mortal demographics (if a great number of people of a given persuasion suddenly leave an area, for instance), some use carto- or geomancy. In any case, this kind of study rarely pinpoints an exact location of a new Wyrm’s Nest, but instead shows probable locations where existing ones might have moved. Since these locations move so slowly, this kind of extrapolation isn’t usually attempted more than once or twice a decade.At least, that used to be the case. The world has changed so much so quickly in the past century that The Ordo Dracul is often amazed by how far a given Nest has shifted from its original location and how much the energies it gives off have changed. Newer researchers have compensated by using computers to plot ley line movement, but this integration of technology and mysticism is hardly seamless.
Mortal Eyes
Dragons keep a sharp lookout for mortals who are sensitive to the supernatural and use them as “bloodhounds” to find Wyrm’s Nests. They prefer to do this without calling the mortal’s attention to The Ordo Dracul’s true desires and Status as vampires, as this breaches the Masquerade and may require the Dragons to either kill the mortal or make her into a ghoul. Often, The Ordo Dracul sends Ghouls posing as researchers to the mortal, asking her questions about her sensitivity, what she believes it to be, what triggers her feelings, and so on. After this, the Ghouls bring her to several locations, most mundane, but one a known Wyrm’s Nest. This is done after dark so that a Dragon can witness the test, but the vampire remains a safe distance away so as not to taint the experiment. If the mortal is able to identify the Wyrm’s Nest as supernatural, she is subject to further “tests” as The Ordo Dracul refines her sensitivity, and eventually finds herself being taken on a tour of the area, pointing out any location that she notes as supernaturally significant.The Ordo Dracul customizes its approach as necessary, of course. Some mortals respond better to Ghouls claiming to represent agents of the mortal’s religion, be it the Catholic Church or a local Wiccan coven. Others are sensitive enough to detect even the Ghouls approaching them. Such mortals may be abducted and tested under far harsher conditions than their more cooperative peers.
Acolytes of The Crone
Another avenue of approach offers more information, but carries greater risk. The Acolytes of The Circle of the Crone long ago developed methods of perceiving magic at work in the world, and, while The Ordo Dracul has no knowledge of the secrets of Crúac, the Dragons are aware of the advantage it poses to the covenant. The Ordo Dracul sometimes makes bargains with members of the Circle who can help them find Wyrm’s’s Nests. The terms of these bargains are specific to the individual Kindred involved, but normally involve feeding rights, traded favors and shared access to the Wyrm’s Nest in question. The two covenants have never traded magical knowledge as a matter of policy, but every now and then the suggestion does come up. As a rule, the Dragons of some domains don’t mind Acolytes using “their” Wyrm’s Nests, provided that everyone displays respect for both covenants’ goals.Another, more insidious method is for a Dragon to join The Circle of the Crone and learn something of Crúac, and then use this magic in the service of The Ordo Dracul. The problems with this approach are obvious, of course. For one thing, how can The Ordo Dracul ever be certain that the double agent’s loyalties don’t truly lie with the Circle? If she is taught The Coils of the Dragon, might she not use them to further the Acolytes’ agendas or, worse, teach them to those outside the covenant? But if she isn’t taught the Coils, she is not a true Dragon anyway.
Perhaps the best use of Crúac to find Wyrm’s Nests comes from Kindred who did at one point claim membership in The Circle of the Crone, but for whatever reason abandoned it for The Ordo Dracul. The Ordo Dracul doesn’t think ill of such Kindred — not by default. After all, if the Rites of the Dragon are to be believed, Dracula himself once studied with the Circle before discovering that true wisdom lay within.
Priests of the Spear
The Lancea Sanctum, however, is another matter. These Kindred take interest in only one type of Wyrm’s Nest: holy ground. Like true zealots, they aren’t interested in hearing that any Wyrm’s Nest could conceivably give off the same feelings or that energy flows respond to the world around them, not the reverse. Such informative tidbits pale in comparison to the vindication of their faith they feel when standing in a churchyard so holy that it burns their undead feet.The Ordo Dracul finds this strange, but accepts that the Sanctified are prepared to take on faith some notions that, to the Dragons’ minds, require proof and experimentation. The Dragons accept the existence of God because their own existence requires a higher power, since vampires fly in the face of many of the laws by which the rest of the world works. The Sanctified take this a step further, as The Ordo Dracul sees it, by stating that God desires one thing or another. The Ordo Dracul doesn’t claim to understand what God is trying to say by designating one place or another as “holy,” and then allowing those “divine energies” to slip away in a decade or so. It only knows that holy ground is an extremely effective bargaining chip when dealing with The Lancea Sanctum, even when the ground isn’t useful to The Ordo Dracul directly.
If The Lancea Sanctum claims dominion over a territory that includes a Wyrm’s Nest that doesn’t seem to be holy, The Ordo Dracul makes it a priority to find out why. Often, such areas were once holy ground, and the energies have simply shifted. Sometimes, though, the Wyrm’s Nest houses beings or energies that The Lancea Sanctum considers unholy and feels the need to protect. This, of course, only arouses the Dragons’ curiosity. If the territory lies within a city where the Sanctified hold power, The Ordo Dracul typically sends in a coterie instructed to stay out of sight, map and investigate the Wyrm’s Nest, and leave before drawing attention. If another covenant holds power, The Ordo Dracul instead sends in a diplomatic coterie to negotiate an investigation of the area, and, if that fails, resorts to skullduggery. Research is much easier when one doesn’t have to look over one’s shoulder constantly, after all.
Cataloguing Wyrm's Nests
Rather than try to make sense of the myriad types of energy and resonance that Wyrm’s Nests emit, The Ordo Dracul categorizes places of power by their utility to the covenant. Therefore, part of reconfiguring maps that contain ley lines and Wyrm’s Nests is checking to see if a Nest that The Ordo Dracul previously had no use for has changed Status.The Ordo Dracul divides Wyrm’s Nests into the following four categories: haunts, fontal nests, crucibles and perilous nests.
Crucibles
The Ordo Dracul defines a Wyrm’s Nest as a crucible if it gives off energies that aid in learning, developing or implementing The Coils of the Dragon. Such Nests are easily the rarest of all Wyrm’s Nests, and the Dragons guard those they find fervently. Unfortunately, the covenant has found that crucibles often result from places associated with faith, and this means conflict with other factions, most notably The Lancea Sanctum and The Circle of the Crone.Not all crucibles are sacred to one faith or another, however. Areas associated with chaos, including sites of riots, mass Hysteria or even large fires can aid in studying the Coils. The Ordo Dracul must take care, however, in researching or enacting the Coils in places associated with unbridled chaos. Change, after all, must have a purpose, but the energies left in the wake of such events aren’t bent toward any particular goal.
Perilous Nests
A perilous nest, to The Ordo Dracul, is a Wyrm’s Nest containing energies or entities that are actively harmful to interlopers in general or Kindred in particular. Of course, the Dragons acknowledge that danger is a matter of degree. An abandoned building that for some reason is defended by a pack of werewolves presents a much greater danger than a corner of a graveyard in which the dead sometimes rise hungry. Just because a Wyrm’s Nest is dangerous doesn’t mean that The Ordo Dracul has no use for it.The Ordo Dracul isn’t comfortable with a perilous nest unless they know why the area is dangerous. Therefore, young coteries sometimes have the unenviable task of investigating such areas and determining what, if anything, the risks are in using it. While this sort of mission is sometimes used as a punishment, usually mentors see it as an opportunity to let their pupils shine. After all, the work might be risky, but it isn’t trivial — the covenant needs the information.
Fontal Nests
Many Wyrm’s Nests are aspected toward spiritual or magical energies that most Kindred are no better equipped to deal with than common mortals are. These Nests surge with mystic powers tantalizingly misunderstood by most Dragons. The Ordo Dracul calls these areas fontal nests or wellheads. Fontal nests aren’t typically dangerous to vampires, though the creatures that are drawn to their power often are. The primary value of a fontal nest lies in its use as a bargaining point with other occultists and supernatural beings. In some cases, Kogaions have also been able to use the existence of fontal nests to extrapolate the locations of other Wyrm’s Nests or verify the truths behind arcane myths. Fontal nests are thought to influence and be influenced by pivotal events and powerful emotions (as well as other, unknown forces). The presence of a fontal nest might verify stories of a lost battlefield or ancient disaster — or they might foreshadow such an event.Every fontal nest is different. Most seem to “vibrate” or “resonate” with a kind of mystic spiritual harmonic, though Dragon theories vary on whether these harmonics affect the living or are effect by them. As emotional creatures, Kindred seem to be no less susceptible to the (often slight and subtle) influences of such resonance. Some mystically sensitive vampires claim to be able to feel the power of spirits and resonance in their blood, stirring or electrifying their Vitae.
Haunted Nests
The Ordo Dracul defines a haunted nest as any Wyrm’s Nest containing at least one human ghost. Such places give off spiritual energy, but this radiation is subtle, almost unnoticeable as such even to those sensitive to the supernatural. Most such mortals, and even Kindred, perceive haunts as touched by the unknown but inert. The energy therein doesn’t seem to change much, even over long periods of time.The Ordo Dracul has theories about why this seems to be the case. Just as vampires enter a kind of stasis after the Embrace, ghosts enact that stasis upon their environments, forcing them to remain — on a spiritual level — as they were at the time of the mortal’s death (or at least, at the time that the ghost came to inhabit the area). The Dragons recognize that not all ghosts have this kind of effect, but there are those that do create Wyrm’s Nests in the form of haunts, and these haunts are useful to The Ordo Dracul.
Haunts tend to be the easiest of Wyrm’s Nests to find. Sensitive mortals are capable of seeing or sensing ghosts much more commonly than other types of spiritual disturbances. Of course, haunts are by nature already inhabited, and the spirits of the dead are usually unwilling to share their space with the undead. The Ordo Dracul has protocols for coping with this problem, of course.
Using Wyrm's Nests
Which immediate use The Ordo Dracul puts a Wyrm’s Nest to depends on its type. Haunts have practical applications very different from crucibles, which, in turn, provide challenges different from perilous nests. The four categories and their immediate uses are discussed below. Beyond those, however, the Dragons have greater plans for the Wyrm’s Nests of the world.Change always has a purpose. Nothing, therefore, is truly random, and the elder members of The Ordo Dracul know this. The Wyrm’s Nests of the world change, their ley lines slowly shifting like the beds of rivers, the world’s mystical “waterways” eroded or flooded as time goes on. These facts are enough for a Dragon to base an unlife’s work. If the shifts in the world’s mystical energies happen according to a grand plan, where does that plan end? Can it be subverted, or is God truly omnipotent? Or perhaps He means for The Ordo Dracul to change His designs, and that is the test upon which transcendence hinges.
Another possibility is that Wyrm’s Nests change because of isolated incidents, but do not change in any overarcing pattern. A murder here, a war there, and this sort of mystical geology shapes the world in ways imperceptible to Humanity. Then again, it could be argued that Humanity shapes the flow of magic by their actions. In either case, The Ordo Dracul recognizes that one crucial element could be added to the mix, and that element could literally change everything. That element is purpose.
God might have a purpose, but no one on Earth truly understands it. Humanity certainly doesn’t have a collective purpose. The Ordo Dracul does, however, and if the covenant could find a way to wash mystical energy into one direction, perhaps they could create a grand crucible in which all of the Kindred of the world (or, more likely, a select few) could be reborn.
Is this the only dream of the Dragon elders? No. But upon meeting with the Kogaions, young Dragons are often introduced to the notion. Kindred who spend their unlives studying mystical cartography can and do go mad trying to break God’s code or trying to work out a way to control it.
Meanwhile, more pragmatic Kindred have concrete uses for Wyrm’s Nests.
Using Crucibles
Wyrm’s Nests that foster change see the most aggressive defense from the covenant. While The Ordo Dracul doesn’t risk valuable Guardians trying to secure Wyrm’s Nests in enemy territory as a matter of policy, a crucible is another matter. These embodiments of mystical change are holy sites to The Ordo Dracul, not that it would ever admit this. But normally, only a few vampires at a time can draw on a crucible’s energy, and this means that some of the most vicious backstabbing, infighting and politicking in the covenant takes place over securing time to study and practice The Coils of the Dragon at a crucible.This problem is exacerbated by the fact that crucibles, by their very nature, are the least stable of Wyrm’s Nests. While haunts and fontal nests can retain their mystical properties for decades, or even longer if handled carefully, crucibles move, shift focus or “burn out” within a matter of years. If The Ordo Dracul does not manage its use of a crucible carefully (and it rarely does), this time can fall to months or even weeks.
All of that said, crucibles are invaluable Resources in studying and mastering the Coils. Exactly what benefit a crucible provides depends on the Nest in question. Some suggestions follow:
The Beauty Butcher
This now-abandoned basement served, until recently, as the base of operations of a back-alley doctor performing plastic surgery and liposuction. The floor is permanently stained red from the blood he spilled here. Any Dragon attempting to learn The Coil of Blood finds his undead body more receptive to the changes. The player receives a +2 modifier to the Resolve + Occult roll to learn any tier of The Coil of Blood, if using the optional system put forth on p. 50. If the Storyteller is not using this system, the player pays 3 fewer experience points for learning this Coil instead. To gain these benefits, the character must meditate in the basement for at least one hour per night for a number of nights (not necessarily consecutive) equal to the level of the tier she is trying to learn.The Summit
High above the city streets, this skyscraper’s rooftop holds energies of the industry, the boom and decline of the entire downtown area. A Kindred who meditates here for the hour before dawn and the hour after dusk gains bonuses to learn The Coil of Banes (as described above). Obviously, a vampire courageous enough to attempt this should have servants or Allies willing to transport him safely to and from these meditations.The Circle of the Forsaken
The ways of the werewolves are, for the most part, inscrutable to the Kindred. The Ordo Dracul does not know why these shapeshifters choose to gather in the concrete riverbed beneath the old bridge, but the Order does know that, except for occasional meetings, they seem to avoid the area. After their meetings, though, the area under the bridge is charged with anger and bloodlust, and makes for a perfect crucible to hone The Coil of the Beast. Two or more vampires can gain the benefits described above when learning this Coil, but they must engage in a brief combat using no weapons beyond their own bodies, and must resist frenzy during this fight.The Graveyard and the Playground
Due to some extremely strange urban planning, a large new playground at an area public park sits just across the street from a cemetery. The cemetery is still in use, and the energies of grief and loss mingling with the exuberance of youth and life from the playground have created a unique crucible on the street dividing them. To make use of this crucible, a Kindred must spend at least two hours in both the cemetery and the playground, and then walk in the middle of the street away from the area. (The neighborhood sees little traffic at night, but the vampire is still advised to be careful). Doing so for at least three nights bestows the aforementioned benefits for the Coil of the Soul.Using Fontal Nests
Fontal nests are more useful for living creatures such as mages and werewolves than for the undead. That in mind, fontal nests can make for useful bargaining chips if The Ordo Dracul must negotiate with such creatures. Fontal nests are also useful because they sometimes attract mortals, so the surrounding area sometimes makes for a good hunting ground. Kogaions advise finding prey in this area and then luring the mortal away to avoid tainting the fontal nest’s energies.Some Academies of Dragons have uncovered rituals and occult ceremonies capable of tapping into the arcane power of fontal nests, however. The blood rites of vampires abuse fontal nests, however, in ways that other mystic ceremonies do not. Virtually all of the fontal rituals known to occultists of The Ordo Dracul are thus seen as despicable practices by Lupines, mages and other users and protectors of fontal nests. (Game mechanics for fontal nest rituals can be found in Chapter Five.)
Using Perilous Nests
A Wyrm’s Nest can be classified as both perilous and haunted and a crucible (or even a fontal nest, theoretically), and such dangers see the same uses as safer examples of those Nest types. A perilous nest can serve as a trap for unwary Kindred, too. Sometimes the Dragons use them to dispose of spies from other covenants or vampires who defect from The Ordo Dracul.Other uses for a perilous nest depend on why the Nest is considered dangerous. If the Nest is the claimed territory of another being, could that being be slain or driven off? If it is dangerous for environmental reasons (say, little protection from sunlight), is the energy within worth the effort of correcting those concerns? If the peril stems from a biological agent (a mold that consumes undead flesh, for instance), can that agent be harvested, studied and used? If the very energy of the Nest is harmful in some way, the Guardians usually focus on keeping Kindred (or Dragons, at least) away from the area and monitoring to see if the Nest changes in time. Otherwise, student coteries can often be found performing Research on the Nest, regardless of danger.
Using Haunted Nests
The Dragolescu bloodline has the most obvious use for ghosts (see p. 150), but the covenant as a whole finds ghosts instructive on a theoretical level. After all, they are very similar to vampires: they are dead, ruled by emotion in the same way that Kindred are slaves to hunger, they do not change except by extreme force of will, and they suffer the passage of time badly.Another, little-known use for haunts is that they may provide passage to a place called the Underworld. In this shadowy realm, the dead await their final reward (or punishment), and a vampire finds herself free of several of her most deadly banes. Very few haunts actually contain gateways to the Underworld, but for the most part, the Dragons aren’t interested in traveling there anyway. A haunt that does contain a gateway to the Underworld, whether or not that gateway is actually open (most such gateways only open under certain conditions), provides a +1 modifier to all uses of the following Disciplines: Auspex, Dominate, Nightmare and Obfuscate. Any Devotions incorporating those Disciplines are subject to this bonus as well.
Alternative Name(s)
Holy Ground, Nexuses
Contested By
Related Tradition (Primary)
Mystic Extrapolation
The system for finding Wyrm’s Nests works differently depending on the method used in the search.A Dragon with access to maps of ley lines and local Wyrm’s Nests stretching back at least 10 years can attempt to calculate the most likely location for new or moved Wyrm’s Nests. This requires a roll of Intelligence + Occult with a Specialty in Ley Lines, Wyrm’s Nests, Geomancy or some other suitable method of mystical calculation, modified as follows:
Modifier | Situation
+1 | Detailed records stretching back more than 15 years.
+2 | Detailed records going back more than 50 years.
+1 | Researcher has some skill in Auspex or Crúac and has personally perceived ley lines/Wyrm’s Nests.
-1 | Incomplete/altered records.
-1 | Researcher uses a computer.
Dramatic Failure: The character concludes that a new or moved Wyrm’s Nest is present, but her calculations on the location are off by at least 10 miles.
Failure: The character cannot determine any change in ley lines or Wyrm’s Nests.
Success: The character is able to guess with reasonable certainty whether a new or moved Wyrm’s Nest is in the area she is studying, and where it would be (within roughly a three-mile radius) if it does exist.
Exceptional Success: The character knows for certain whether there has been mystical change to the area and can locate the epicenter of that change within a one-mile radius.
A mortal searching for a Wyrm’s Nest requires the Unseen Sense Merit. The Merit might be specialized toward places of power, ghosts or any other phenomena that a Wyrm’s Nest might encompass.
The Auspex / Crúac Devotion Arcane Sight can also be used to find Wyrm’s Nests, as can the Sample the Earth Devotion.
Creation of Haunts
It sometimes occurs to the Dragons to create their own haunted nests. After all, the only requirement is for a human ghost to reside in an area, and human ghosts are simple enough to create, in theory. Brutal deaths create more potent hauntings, and so sometimes a Dragon steers a near-mindless Kindred or another monster such as a werewolf toward a group of humans in an attempt to create a haunt.This ploy rarely works, however. For one thing, haunts take time to gain spiritual power. Even if the vampire succeeds in creating a ghost, it can take years until the ghost has changed the area’s spiritual frequency enough to make it a true haunt.
More importantly, though, the human soul, as The Ordo Dracul has noted to its frustration time and again, is the most mutable metaphysical force on the planet. Mortals are capable of finding grace and inner peace at the moment of death even if they have lived lives of deprivation. Likewise, mortals whom one would expect to pass quietly into the beyond sometimes Flare with anger at their deaths, returning as especially vengeful shades. Humanity is simply too unpredictable to be manipulated this way.