Book of Bone and Ebony

Players and Storytellers are encouraged to come up with
their own, using those listed below as guidelines.
The Warm and Pleasing Cadaver
Diplomacy, seduction and deception are invaluable
assets to nemissaries infiltrating the living. These subtle
agents of the Deathlords are capable of passing among the
living with none of their victims even knowing that the
dead walk among them. Alternatively, a nemissary with
these augmentations may be a known representative of the
dead but may wish to put the mortals she’s associating with
at ease by appearing to be one of them.
Eat/Drink (5 points): A ghost without this augmentation
cannot consume anything, as the corpse’s stomach will
hold neither food nor drink. This does not grant the ghost
the ability to digest food (that is a luxury reserved for the
living), but it allows the ghost enough control of its vessel’s
innards that it does not immediately regurgitate everything
that passes its palate. The body can take in two large
meals or three smaller ones before the ghost needs to empty
the vessel’s stomach.
Essence Parasite (10 points): Enchantments etched on
the vessel’s bones allow the ghost to absorb Essence from
other Essence channelers, including Exalted, God-Bloods,
materialized spirits and gods. For every two hours the
nemissary is in close contact with the Essence channeler
(within 10 feet or closer), the ghost drains 1 mote of
Essence. Since most Essence channelers gain more than
that during that time frame, the theft frequently goes
unnoticed. Essence Parasite can sap motes from more than
one Exalt at a time, so sharing a bed with three Exalted (for
example) would provide the ghost with 3 motes of Essence
every two hours. This method is an agonizingly slow way
to replenish Essence, but it’s better than nothing, and it
stacks with Essence-Measuring Thief Arts (see Exalted:
The Abyssals, pp. 245-247). It’s possible to use this
augmentation on mortals, but the mortal in question
suffers one unsoakable bashing health level per hour,
which manifests as exhaustion and anemia.
Lifelike (10 points): Owing to the familiarity of the ghost
with his assumed body, the vessel betrays no outward
visible sign of its undead state apart from its ashen or pallid
complexion. A nemissary inhabiting the body can spend 5
motes of Essence to simulate all signs of life — from breath
to a pulse to faint warmth to basic sexual responses — for
one scene. It takes three successes on a Perception +
Investigation roll to discern that the vessel is a possessed
corpse. This seeming is only cosmetic. Any test for actual
life will easily discern the corpse’s true nature.
Sculpted Physiognomy (10 points; if target face is more
attractive than Appearance 3, player must also buy additional
points of Appearance): Sometimes, a ghost doesn’t
just need to pass for living, but must appear like a particular
living individual. With this augmentation, the nemissary’s
facial bone structure and overlying flesh are sculpted to look
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CHAPTER FOUR • CREATIONS OF BONE
like a particular individual. There’s only so much even the
finest necrosurgeon can do, however, so anyone well acquainted
with the individual the ghost is mimicking (sibling,
lover, old friend, arch-nemesis) needs only two successes on
a Perception + Investigation to detect subtle but pervasive
differences in facial features and expressions.
The Corpse Made Stealthy
It behooves the Deathlords to know what the living,
and the armies of the living in particular, are doing. Some
nemissaries choose revenant vessels appropriate to scouting
and reconnaissance missions. These bodies are
augmented to allow the ghost to make long forays into
Creation and to bring information back to the Underworld.
They are the Deathlords’ eyes, spies and military
intelligence operating in Creation.
Built for Speed (5 points): They say the dead travel fast.
In this case it’s literal — and dead flesh never needs to
rest. The revenant’s leg and pelvic bones have been
modified through necromantic artifice to enable the
corpse to run at three times its usual running speed (see
Exalted, p. 227 for movement rates) for entire days on
end. Spending 5 motes of Essence lets the nemissary
sprint at full speed for up to one full day.
Repellent to Animals (3 points): Such a miasma of death
and horror surrounds the nemissary that even carrion
eaters avoid her. No animal will go near the augmented
body without being magically commanded to do so. Fourand
five-dot familiars will do so, but only if their masters’
players get three or more successes on a Manipulation +
Presence roll. This augmentation requires a rotten raiton’s
head be sewn into the revenant’s chest cavity and subtracts
two dice from all the nemissary’s Social dice pools.
Repugnant to the Mind’s Eye (10 points): The corpse is
ritually scarified, and small nodules of soulsteel are placed
under the skin to produce horrific patterns of bumps that
are repellent to the living mind. It is possible to look at the
nemissary, but the mind does not want to accept what the
eyes are telling it and truly see the nemissary. One of the
living passing a transcendent revenant vessel with this
augmentation is likely to experience a fleeting moment of
disgust, pity, horror or indignation followed by instant
denial of his own senses. The moment the nemissary is out
of sight, the witness’ mind instantly, gratefully, turns to
anything else rather than acknowledge the revenant’s presence.
In situations where a mortal can easily talk himself
out of believing what he just saw — a dark forest, a busy
street at night, in the midst of a mad rush — subtract three
successes from all Perception rolls to see and truly recognize
the revenant body for what it is. In situations where
the revenant’s presence is not so easily ignored — he’s the
only one on a deserted street in broad daylight or in a welllit
room with people looking directly at him — subtract
two dice (not successes) from the perceivers’ dice pools.