The path of Galconda

The path of Golconda is something that many vampires struggle with.  It means fully accepting their vampire nature and human nature.  It is a path of complete enlightenment when a Vampire finally accepts who he is – all of who he is.  Golconda in this game will be treated as a discipline.  However, you cannot purchase additional points in Golconda – you must roleplay it out in order to achieve each additional level. Since Vampires in my world, are basically demonic entities occupying human bodies, the struggle that a vampire faces is the internal battle between his human side and his demonic side.  Galconda means a truce being reached to this battle and complete harmony existing between both sides through true acceptance of each by the other.

Golconda is journey a vampire takes to know themselves and accept themselves.  It is not the same for 2 vampires – it is a unique journey for each kindred.  Some kindred never finish this journey – many get stuck in one step and are unable to move forward.  The few kindred who do manage to achieve this often move away from society as a whole, as they find it petty and flawed.  The Vampires that have achieved Golconda, have done so over hundreds of years – so this is a lifelong path (after a long life) – it not something that happens overnight or even over a few decades.

– (1) Awakening

This is the first step in accepting your true nature as a kindred.  Awakening involves the Kindred taking their first steps to accept their new state of being.  It means understanding that as a Vampire, you are both demon and human and that both sides exist within you.

Method: This generally happens through a mentor or a traumatic experience or an Eureka moment.  The kindred realizes that they are both good and evil – that they cannot avoid once side of who they are for another.  They have to embrace both sides in order to reach a place of peace.

System: The kindred is able to awaken the latent powers within his/her blood.  This means that the Kindred will no longer suffer clan penalties for learning any new disciplines.

– (2) Accepting

The kindred has through much “inner work” accepted that there is a dark power within themselves, but at the same time, they have accepted that part of them is still human.  They have begun to learn that part of the true nature of their power is the lack of power and ability humans have.

Method: This step takes place once the kindred is able to see Humanity as an empowering part of their life.  They are able to see, accept and respect the power that exists in being human.

System: The kindred is able to embrace their humanity so completely that they are able to appear completely human.  This includes their aura, natural breathing and are even able to eat food and drink like a normal human would.  The Kindred would roll their humanity (T8) and the number of successes is equal to the number of hours that they are able to hold on to their human side.  They still would not be able to go out in the daylight.

– (3) Blending

The kindred has furthered her knowledge of her dual nature, and accepting that there exists a balance between her human side and her dark side.  In balancing both sides, the Kindred learns to accept that her nature is unique – not demon and not human but both.  She accepts that she is her own person and her allegiance is to herself and no one else.

Method – either through meditation, research or some type of Eureka moment, the Kindred accepts her dual nature and is able to shed all previous misconceptions.

System: The Kindred is able to purify her own blood removing any blood bonds, dependencies and all other blood bound deficiencies from her system.  She also is able to shed most supernatural flaws that hold her back in one way or another.  The kindred who has achieved level 3 of Golconda can no longer be blood bound to anyone.

– (4) Darkness Within

The kindred has learned more about the darkness within herself.  She has learned through research or through personal experience the type of demon that she shares her soul with and is able to tap into additional powers of this demon.

Method – this is one of the most difficult levels to attain, because it requires the kindred to undergo something akin to a shamanic Journey to discover her true nature.  She will find that her inner demon will fall under one of 5 vampiric demons listed below and tap into one power from his true nature:

Elathan – Demon of Darkness and Shadow – The kindred is able to use shadows as a portal.

Jahi – Demon of Vice and Debauchery – The kindred is able to influence anyone he wishes to do anything for him, he does not need to touch anyone.

Xaphan – Demon of Fiery Vengeance – The kindred becomes immune to fire.

Erebrus – Demon of Stone – The kindred’s skin becomes hard as stone and he takes no damage from any attacks – except for aggravated damage which is soaked normally.

Nergal – Demon of Form – The kindred is able to change his or her appearance to look like someone else

System – the kindred makes a willpower roll with a T7 the number of successes is the number of rounds (if in combat) or minutes (if out of combat) that he/she is able to use this ability for.

– (5) The Human within

The kindred is able to fully tap into his or her human side and completely suppress her vampire nature.  This allows her to go outside without taking any harm from exposure to sunlight.

Method: The kindred must complete an act in which she shows that she truly embraces her humanity.  Plus her humanity can be no lower than an 8 – if at any point her humanity dips below 8 she will lose this step in her path to Golconda

System: The kindred is able to literally become human for a day.  The kindred makes a Humanity roll (T10) and needs at least 4 successes to make this happen.  If she is successful, she will temporarily suppress her Demon side and completely embrace her humanity.  She will act as a human and be able to do everything a human can do – including eating, having sex, going to the beach, Bleed – everything.  She will have no access to any of her vampire abilities during this time and her physical stats will be reduced to a number no higher than a 3.  The downside is that she is a human and can be harmed as a human.  If she takes more than 4 levels of damage, she have to make a willpower roll (T10) to maintain her humanity or revert back to her vampiric self.  Any damage taken as a human will carry over if she reverts back to her Vampire self and will be treated as aggravated damage.

– (6) Without Limits

The kindred is no longer bound by generational limits on her blood pool, stats or skills.  She may increase her stats above any generational limits.

Method: The kindred has accepted her nature – that she is indeed more than human and more than demon – that she is both.  She must accept the evil inside her just as much as the good inside and understand that there is a balance between them.

System – this is a passive ability – all generation limits are ignored.  The kindred can extend her blood pool to as large as she wants and ignore all limits on stat and skill levels. Furthermore, the kindred only requires spends one blood point per month instead of per day and requires much less blood to survive.

– (7) Embracing Destiny

The kindred has reached such a level and balance that she no longer needs to revert to her human self to be able to go out in the sunlight.  She can function just as well during the day or night naturally shifting her abilities as needed.  She suffers no penalties for walking around as herself in the daylight and does not need to suppress her powers.

Method: The kindred has reached a point of inner peace where she realizes the balance comes from within not without.

System: The kindred is no longer affected by daylight and other normal harmful things to kindred.  She also is able to shed all environmental affecting flaws.

– (8) Kick the habit

The kindred has fully been able to tap into her demon powers to such an extent that she no longer needs to spend any blood to use any disciplines (except for Thaumaturgy and Vississitude).  Plus, any discipline that she possess which are 5 and under will automatically succeed every time she uses them.

Method: The Kindred has begun her final journey to find herself.  This will differ from Kindred to Kindred.

System – all disciplines 5 and under will automatically succeed every time she uses them.  Furthermore she will no longer need to spend blood to use any discipline (except for Thaumaturgy and Vississitude).  If a discipline is over 5 she may still have to roll for success but it required blood previously it will no longer require it (except for Thaumaturgy and Vississitude).

– (9) My true Face

The Kindred is now able to fully embrace her demonic self, and appear as she truly is for as long as needed.  This demonic form can only come out at night, and follows the list below based on the inner demon the vampire possesses:

* Elathan – Demon of Darkness and Shadow – The kindred is able to use shadows as a portal and manipulate shadow as it were a solid substance.  The demon can use it as a weapon and mold it to any form she chooses.  The demon in this form appears as a dark formless shadow and can appear as big or small as he/she wishes.

* Jahi – Demon of Vice and Debauchery – The kindred is able to influence anyone he wishes to do anything for him, he does not need to touch anyone.  The demon is also able to seduce anyone she pleases.  She can deliver pure ecstasy and pleasure and torment to someone just by touching them.  The demon in this form has large wings, can fly and has a tail that can be used as an extra limb.

* Xaphan – Demon of Fiery Vengeance – The kindred becomes immune to fire and takes on the for of a Fiery Demon.  The Kindred is able to glide (not fly) in this form, and shoot fire from his or her hands.  The demon can control the intensity of the fire from a hot fire to a cold fire.

* Erebrus – Demon of Stone – The kindred’s skin becomes hard as stone and he takes no damage from any attacks – except for aggravated damage which is soaked normally.  The Demon turns into a Giant stone Golem and is able to crash through anything.  The demon in this form is immune to all physical attacks, including fire.  The demon’s Strength and Stamina are increased by 10 each.

* Nergal – Demon of Form – The kindred is able to change his or her appearance to look like someone else.  The kindred in this form is able to take the shape of anything she wishes, from animals to inanimate objects.  She can change the shape of her limbs individually  (like form a hand into a sword) or as a whole.  She is also able to split herself into 2 images of herself.

System – The Kindred must make a willpower roll (T8) and get at least 2 successes to take his true demon form.  She can keep this form for as long as needed through the night but must revert back to her normal form by daylight.

– (10) Goldconda

The Kindred has reached a state of complete balance, understanding her true nature.  This will only take place after the kindred has performed some type of journey to free her mortal soul and take it back.  The Kindred now has both a human and demonic soul living within her body in perfect harmony.

Method – this is the final step in Goldconda and will only come after a journey of some kind to retrieve the other half of your soul taken at the embrace.

System – The kindred has access to all physical and mental vampiric disciplines of all bloodlines at level 10.  The kindred no longer need to roll any dice for any disciplines – it will be an automatic success each time he/she decides to use it.   She can use any of these disciplines at any time of the day or night.  All stats are boosted by 5, and her occult knowledge and Infernal Knowledge is also at a level of 5.  The kindred also gains the merit of Iron Will and her Self-confidence and willpower are both maxed out.  The kindred is also able to use her demonic powers to purify the blood of any kindred she comes into contact with if she so wishes.  This will act as the Golconda power of 3 – Blending but it is usable on others.  The kindred can also suppress her demon side at will, being able to do all things human for any length of period that she wishes to.  If the Kindred does this for more than 1 day she is at risk for losing her Galconda.

NOTE about the path of Golconda:  This is a lifelong quest for many Kindred.  This acceptance of self is something that the Kindred needs to learn to live every day of their lives and truly accept.  If at any time the Kindred starts to doubt herself, or resent any part of herself, she will lose all of the previously achieved steps and will have to start from scratch again.   She will also not be able to use the same path she used before and will have to find a new way to accept herself.  Many many kindred have reached some level within the path in the past but they have not been able to keep it because at one point self-doubt took over.  There are fewer than 10 Kindred in the world that have ever achieved this path.