All vampires work to control their Beast. The Embrace robs them of much of the human experience, but few Kindred wish to fall into an existence of merely feeding, killing and sleeping. The Kuufukuji are more concerned with this than most, since they are closer to their Beast than most Kindred. The Hungry’s weakness, developed through constant fasting, has led them to control their feeding, making sure their Vitae does not achieve a state of improper balance. Shihai, the signature Discipline of the Hungry, deals with the control these vampires work nightly to attain. Controlling one’s own Beast is only the first step. Once a Kindred touches her Beast and begins to understand it, the Kindred can slowly learns to control the Man, and then the Man and Beast in others.
Mere nights after the Embrace, neonates learn how to suppress the Beast. This power is vital to the survival of the vampire, as Kindred are very susceptible to the Wassail early in their Requiems.
When learning this power, the Kindred assumes a meditative state for a full 24 hours, eschewing sleep and feeding while he looks inward to explore his boundaries. After discovering the state of his soul, he enjoys greater protection from Wassail as he forces his body to adapt to less and less Vitae.
Cost: 1 Willpower
Dice Pool: This power involves no roll. While active, this power grants Kuufukuji a +5 bonus on rolls to resist Wassail (but not other forms of frenzy). The benefit of Roots to the Earth lasts for the duration of the night.
Action: Instant
The Kuufukuji may turn her body into a literal prison for the roiling wiles of the Beast. She uses her own body as a bulwark against Wassail.
Cost: 1 Willpower
Dice Pool: This power involves no roll. As the Kindred feels the onset of Wassail, she may invoke this power, immediately forcing the Wassail to subside. The Beast takes its toll, however, and the Kuufukuji suffers three points of lethal damage as she dissipates the rage through her physical form.
Action: Instant
Using this power, the Kindred becomes able to abate all forms of frenzy by broadening her understanding of both the Beast and herself. Her physical body becomes the lightning rod through which the frenzy channels, leaving her worse for the wear but certainly in control of herself.
Cost: 1 Willpower
Dice Pool: This power involves no roll. This power functions like Sate the Tiger’s Hunger, above, but Trap the Tiger’s Fury expands the vampire’s ability to mitigate all forms of frenzy, not only Wassail. This doesn’t make the Beast any happier, however, and the dismissal of a frenzy still inflicts three points of lethal damage on the Kuufukuji.
Action: Instant
The character can study the Man within another vampire and determine that vampire’s Virtues or Vices, learning the state of his ultimate balance. With this information, the Hungry can determine how best to influence her target to frenzy or to calm his Beast.
Cost: 1 Vitae
Dice Pool: Wits + Empathy + Shihai versus subject’s Resolve + Blood Potency
Action: Contested; resistance is refl exive.
Roll Results
Dramatic Failure: The character learns nothing about the target, but the target is aware of the violation of her privacy that the character just attempted. The character cannot use this power again until the next night.
Failure: The character learns nothing about his target and cannot use this power on this target until the next night.
Success: The character learns either the Virtue or Vice of the target. He also gains a +2 bonus to his Persuasion, Socialize and Intimidate dice pools with regard to the individual whose soul he has observed for the remainder of the night. The character cannot use this power on the same target until the next night.
Exceptional Success: The character learns both the Virtue and the Vice of the target. He also gains a +4 bonus to his Persuasion, Socialize and Intimidate dice pools with regard to the individual whose soul he has observed for the remainder of the night. The character cannot use this power on the same target until the next sunset.
Suggested Modifiers
Modifier — Situation
+2 — The power is turned on a vampire with whom the user has a blood tie (see Vampire: The Requiem, p. 162).
–2 — The target is currently in a state of frenzy or torpor.
In a refinement of Sate the Tiger’s Hunger, the Kuufukuji becomes able to soothe the urges of another’s Beast. The Hungry channels the fury of another into his own body, suffering its depredations but otherwise abating the threat of its presence — for a time.
Cost: 1 Willpower
Dice Pool: This power involves no roll. The Kindred cages the Wassail or frenzy of the target within the character’s own body. The Beast rages and howls, inflicting five points of lethal damage on the Kuufukuji as the character forces the frenzy to subside.
The Kuufukuji must know either the Virtue or Vice (or both) of the target whose frenzy he wishes to terminate.
This power works not only on vampires, but also on werewolves in the throes of death rage (see Werewolf: The Forsaken, pp. 173–175). Whether the Kindred may imprison the frenzies of other creatures that have the inclination to rage is up to the Storyteller, but this power should work in all but the most frightening circumstances.
Action: Instant