Chimerstry

The Ravnos tricksters of India live in a world of illusions and dreams. According to their philosophies, the material world itself is only a passing fantasy. Consequently, they wield power over perceptions, shaping their own illusions and crafting dream stuff to their liking.

With the Chimerstry Discipline, the Ravnos call on the energy of dreams and imagination, giving it form and phantasmic substance. This Discipline’s powers can conjure almost any shade that springs to mind, though plausible effects or duplications of things that the conjurer has experienced are much more likely to fool viewers and victims. With enough mastery, the vampire can even give such illusions shadow substance, causing injury to others.

These illusions vanish only if dispelled by the creator, if the illusionist ceases concentrating on her creations or if they are banished by a disbelieving opponent who exerts enough presence of mind to prove the illusion’s nonexistence (say, by shoving a hand through an illusory wall). Chimerical illusions can only create, not remove - thus, they may add elements to a scene, but cannot cause something to become invisible.

Chimerstry could cover up something’s features but not remove selected parts. Furthermore, each illusion is a single object; one use of Chimerstry cannot create an entire host of illusory sensations or items. Chimerical creations must be free-standing items or sensory effects - a chimerical piece of clothing could conceal someone’s real appearance, but a chimerical stake could not suddenly materialize inside of someone’s chest (though it could later seem to be thrust there).

Retests with Chimerstry use the Subterfuge Ability, as they attempt to trick, deceive and mislead.

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