Apostle – Disciples

Forward

The Gospels refer several times to one of the Apostles simply as "…the disciple, whom Jesus loved…". This Disciple was thought to have gained eternal life as a gift for his loyalty. It has never been completely agreed as to which of the Apostles this was. As Christ expressed his love for almost every person he met (except for people such as the moneychangers in the temple or Jerusalem), this statement from him seems to be a contradiction of his own belief, inferring that Jesus loved this disciple above the others. Matthew Henry’s Commentary states that this man was John, the writer of the fourth Gospel, but as to whether all theology students agree upon this remains unknown.

Regardless, this disciple is the influence behind this supplement. It broaches subject matter that some religious readers might well find disturbing (in which case why are you reading a supplement for a roleplaying game set in the World of Darkness?), while others might well shout "blasphemy!", in which case I retort with "…he who is without sin, cast the first stone…".

Introduction

The first immortals were those created by God. Adam and Eve were the beginning of the world, and their son, Caine, is thought to be the origin of the second immortals, the Kindred. More immortal races would follow, with the Immortals that fought with each other for the Prize; the Cursed, who could only die once, and if that opportunity was missed, were truly cursed to live for eternity; plus many other races that had long or eternal lives.

The last immortal was John the Apostle.

A disciple of Jesus of Nazareth, John wrote the last of the four Gospels, as well as an account of his vision of the end of the world in Revelations. He is recognised as the most likely disciple to be the one referred to several times simply as "…the disciple, whom Jesus loved…"

He was the disciple who followed Jesus into the temple when the Priests’ guards captured him. He stood with Jesus’ mother, her sister, Mary (mother of James) and Mary Magdalene. When Jesus saw them, he said to his mother, "He is your son." He then said, "She is your mother," to the disciple and from then on, he took her into his home (only in the Gospel according to John does this take place, and the greatest detail concerning the events surrounding the death of Christ are within this Gospel alone).

(Warning: What follows is entirely fictitious, and will likely bring the author into a flame-war from religious ’Net browsers the world over. If you don’t like what has been written so far, for you own sake, don’t read on!)

After Jesus ascended to heaven, John took Mary, mother of Jesus, and Mary Magdalene back to his home. He wrote his account of the life of Jesus, referring several times to the memories of Jesus’ mother. Being an eye-witness to his death, his account of the crucifixion was detailed and is the only one to include the piercing of Jesus’ side with a spear. Curiously, he does not mention Jesus saying "Father, Father, why have you forsaken me?" which is a statement attributed to Jesus by Matthew and Mark, but not by Luke (who may also have been present at Golgotha while Jesus still lived, but left when he died).

Being human, John and Mary Magdalene fell in love. John had supported them through the difficult times after the resurrection and ascension of Christ, and Mary returned his support. They married soon after, and had a family together, always including Mary, mother of Jesus, amongst them. Their children followed the same teachings of Jesus that John had followed and continued spreading the Word.

One thing remained a constant. John and Mary had both become enthused with the Holy Spirit, and became beings that transcended normal humanity. Their faith protected them from the ravages of time, as it did their family. Those family members who wished to see the day of judgement simply made a conscious decision, and became fully mortal, while others decided to continue Christ’s work and stopped ageing when at their peak of physical and mental fitness. Thus, it has continued for several generations.

The Holocaust

In 1933, a German idealist by the name of Adolf Hitler was voted into power as the leader of a nationalist party and the leader of the German people. The world would soon regret not paying more attention to the losers of the Great War. It has never been particularly clear why Hitler persecuted the Jews, but it’s quite likely that he didn’t have any emotional feelings about them at all, neither loving nor hating them. Until the end of the Second World War, over 6 million Jews would lose their lives in concentration death camps, the gas chambers and under general abuse by the Nazis. (For those that are under the demented impression that the holocaust was actually a fictitious piece of propaganda, created by a Jew-controlled government, I point you towards the thousands of first-hand accounts, and the preserved Auschwitz concentration camp. You also gain my pity for being afflicted with such moronic naiveté).

The descendants of John and Mary lost a great deal through this. Many of their relatives were killed during this time, and others suffered so much that their faith was shaken to the core. "Father, Father, why have you forsaken you people?" they shouted, mirroring the crisis of faith that Jesus was attributed by Matthew and Mark while he was dying on the cross. At that moment, their faith was tested to the limits, and some failed the test, becoming human and dying as mortals, while others remained faithful. Those in the camps ascended at their moment of death as angelic being, to sit with God and Christ in heaven. Others survived the terrible treatment to tell their story and bring the truth into the light of the world. A few used what they had to help Jews escape from persecution, while others became warriors, fighting directly against the dark powers that would exterminate their people. The Jews of the 20th Century relived the lives of those who had lived under the whips of ancient Egypt. They rediscovered the pain of being ruled by a dictator such as the Roman Caesar.

After the war, John and Mary sent out messengers to find the survivors of the Holocaust. They discovered that barely 10% of their descendants remained alive, and they wept for the souls of those that had died. But as they cried, an angel came down to them, saying, "Do not cry, for all that have died in my name will live again in my kingdom." John and Mary had kept their faith for over a millennium, and now, at the cusp of the 3rd millennium, they began to suspect that an end was in sight.

John spread the word that his descendants should begin to prepare for the Second Coming. The Day of Judgement was now believed to be closer than ever, and that the Word should once again be brought before God’s people.

The Gehenna referred to by the Kindred is coming…

Character Creation

The first thing that must be stressed is that Apostles are quite powerful beings in some ways, but weak in others. Their faith has made them strong in both mind and body, and the have 7/6/5 points to spend in their attributes. No attribute may be less than two.

Characters begin as those who have recently come of age and their ageing has just ceased. They get the normal 13/9/5 share for abilities. With the permission of the Storyteller, they can take dots in the background Age, which works in a similar way to the background in the Vampire the Masquerade supplement ‘Elysium’. All characters have 7 dots to spend on Virtues.

Apostles have one additional trait, that of Faith. This begins at a level equal to the character’s starting Conscience, before freebie points are spent, and is not modified by increasing Virtues during character creation, unlike Humanity and Willpower. At no point can an Apostle’s Faith be higher than her Humanity.

All Apostles must then select one or more powers as shown below. Some of these powers have restrictions that will be given later. All powers are restricted in that regardless of their trait value, they cannot be used at levels higher than the average of the Apostle’s Humanity and Faith. They have three dots to spend:-

Angel Sight (identical to Auspex); Armour of God (identical to Fortitude); Strength of God (identical to Potence); Seraphim (identical to Presence); Hand of God (more-or-less identical to Obeah, but the character spends Faith instead of Blood points); God’s Blessing (rapid healing, more later); Angel’s Wings (more later).

Finally, the backgrounds available to the character are as follows: -

Allies, Contacts, Fame, Age (two points per dot), Mentor (Apostle), Resources, Retainers and Arcane.

After this, the player has 15 freebies to spend on the character’s traits, following the costs below:-

Age Background

Some characters may have lived longer than other Apostles, and this is reflected in the Age background. It is more expensive than the other backgrounds as it makes the character much more powerful compared to a starting character without this background. This background is only available if the Storyteller allows it.

If an Apostle’s Humanity ever falls below her Faith level, then for each point difference, the character suffers a +1 difficulty on all power rolls and has all power trait levels temporarily reduced by that amount.

Power: God’s Blessing

This power is a reflection of Christ’s continued protection of his disciples and their descendants. Not all Apostles have this power, but those that do possess the ability to heal far more rapidly than a mortal.

Power: Angel’s Wings

Some Apostles bear the mark of John long before they ascend to heaven. Angel’s Wings are not usually visible to normal mortals, but to those with Angel Sight, Auspex, or a mortal who is a Medium, they are detectable as irridescent white wings fixed to the back of an Apostle’s shoulders. They do not encumber the Apostle unless they are being used.

Level	Speed (mph)	Altitude (ft)	Minimum Flying Trait
1	30	500	1
2	60	1,000	1
3	120	2,000	2
4	250	4,000	2
5	400	8,000	3
6	600	16,000	3
7	Mach 1	32,000	4
8	Mach 2	65,000	4
9	Mach 4	130,000	5
10	Mach 8	Space!	5

Apostles in the World of Darkness

The world is a dark and dangerous place. In this world walk all manners of strange and sinister creatures. Vampires roam the night, feeding off the blood of the innocent and not so innocent. Werewolves hunt for food in the woods and forests of the world, and any human that strays too far may well become dinner for a hungry pack. Mages tinker with reality, bending its rules and sometimes catching innocent victims in the backlash of paradox or in the crossfire from the Technocracy. Wraiths watch the living world with envious eyes, hitching rides in people bodies and not always caring about what happens to their host. Changelings bury their heads into a dreamworld full of knights and dragons, drowning out the darkness that surrounds them, wishing that they could return to their home of Arcadia. Immortals clash swords in alleys, fighting for a prize they don’t know anything about. Mortals scurry about their short lives, their souls being sold to the highest bidder or told by hypocritical TV evangelists to send them their hard-earned cash to pay for a orphanage that will never be built.

Into this world come the Apostles. A bright light that can burn the darkness way, if only they are asked. They do what they can to help their fellow men and women, but they are so few, and the darkness is so oppressive. They continuously see things that strain their faith in God, and Satan’s followers tempt some too much.

Kindred

If ever there was a race that showed pity for vampires, it is the Apostles. They have discovered the common believe by the older Kindred that their ancestor was the biblical third mortal, Caine, and can understand their bitterness towards the world. They can feel the rare light from a vampire with a vestige of Faith, and some say that an Apostle can lead a vampire along the path towards Golconda.

"I once read the aura of one of these… people… It blinded me for an hour! It was like looking at the Sun through a telescope; it burned my retina and filled me with such a surge of warmth that I didn't cool down for the rest of the night. I could see a burning flame that hung above her head. It was so beautiful…" – Michelle, Toreador

Werewolves

An ancient race of shapeshifters that once slaughtered men, women and children to protect their homelands. Didn’t a human being do that in the 1930’s? What was his name now… oh yes… Adolf Hitler! The Garou are not well liked by Apostles, and this is due to the Impergium. The fact that Red Talons continue to hunt humans in defiance of the Garou Litany doesn’t improve matters.

"I didna know that ’e wuz an Angel, or somethin’! Ah could’a’ tak’n ’im easy… if et wern’t fer th’ fact that ’e gev me a good kek in th’ fangs an’ knocked me silly befer ah cud change t’ Crinos…" – Sporran Ripper, Red Talon, trying to explain why he failed to kill an intruder in woods near Inverness, Scotland.

Mages

With a little change in history, namely the complete eradication of the period during the Inquisition, Mages would probably get on a lot better with Apostles. But as these new disciples represent God, and it was in his name that many of them were murdered by burning, drowning, and torture, Mages prefer to remain quietly untrusting of these beings. Paradox is blamed on the outlook of people that turned to religion as well as science, and some less sociable Mages might well take it out on a lone Apostle. Luckily, an Apostle’s Faith acts as a kind of automatic countermagick field against hostile magick, being rolled whenever magick is directed towards the disciple. The Technocracy don’t interfere as anything that distracts the traditions makes their job all the easier.

"I’ve never forgiven the Inquisition for the death of my father, and I never will. Those priests killed the only family I had left, and I would have died too if it wasn’t for my mentor. Jesus may well have died for our sins, but he never hung on that cross long enough for the sins that were made in his name!" – Frederic Grey, Order of Hermes.

Wraiths

The dead can often interfere with the living, although Charon himself made rules that prohibited such actions, and the results can often be fatal. There are even some Apostles counted amongst the restless dead, their Shadows filled with venom towards their living relatives. While in control, an Apostle spirit will be helpful and do what she can to continue her work. While the Shadow is in control, the spirit can be even more sadistic than most, and might try to undermine the actions of living Apostles.

"Shhh, not so loud. There are some around here that hold it against me that I didn’t fight during the camps! Whatever they think, however, I do what I can to help those that are left. I’ve managed a 73% success rate in finding new spirits before the Hierarchy has. I’ve even seen some of them start their journey towards paradise— Shhh, they’re coming back!" – Paul Goldberg, victim of Auschwitz.

Changelings

Apostles aren’t completely sure what to make of the Fae. On the one hand they feel that they escape from the world around them, but in doing so, place their mortal bodies in great danger. It takes some effort to remember that the 11 year-old child before them might be a 7ft tall, blue-skinned Troll with a mission from a member of nobility. They can sometimes be annoying, but as the majority interacts with things that we can’t see or touch, they are usually quite harmless.

"Last week, I watched a man paint a picture. It was one of the most horrific images I had ever seen. It looked like an oven, but instead of bread, the oven was full of skulls. You might at first think that the picture would be full of Banality, but as I watched, he cried, and I never felt such heart-felt emotion from a mortal before. I didn’t need to refresh myself again for a week, and I intend to go back to share his sorrow whenever I can." – Bright Beard, Pooka, after watching an Apostle paint a picture of his time in a Nazi death camp.

Immortals

There can be only one! One what? These homicidal maniacs don’t even know what they’re fighting over! Given the time, an Apostle might try to understand the Game, but as the last day is getting very close, they don’t have the time to waste on lunatics that behead each other.

"I am Conner MacLeod of th’ Clan MacLeod. I was born in 1518 in th’ village of Glen…finn… hey, where d’yer think yer goin’? Don’ you wan’ me t’ tell you who I am?" – Guess…

Some notes on Apostles

Right, firstly, anyone who is a devout Christian and has read this far is either an open-minded soul, or is looking for someone to have a flame war with. Don’t bother, because you’ll only be wasting your time. Any e-mails sent to me about this supplement should be polite, using words that are in the English or American English language, have a distinct lack of profanity and are constructive comments, praise or the contact name of a roleplaying game company who want to hire me.

How Vampires interact with Apostles

Without Auspex, a Vampire will view an Apostle as any other mortal: Two legs, two arms, one head, body, the normal sort of thing. With Auspex, however, things get interesting. Heightened Senses will make the Vampires hairs stand on end the closer they get to an Apostle. This is directly proportional to how LITTLE Humanity they have. A Vampire with Humanity 7 will simply feel a chill, while a Vampire with Humanity 2 will feel as though her skin is on fire! Vampires that follow evil Paths, such as Path of the Devil, will actually take damage equal to the Apostle’s Faith level divided by the number of metres they are from the Apostle. This damage is considered stun damage, but can only be soaked with Fortitude. If one of these evil Kindred actually touch the Apostle, however, it becomes actual aggravated damage equal to the Apostle’s Faith.

Aura perception will show the Apostle to firstly have a very strong aura compared to a normal mortal, and that a strange phenomenon occurs if they study the aura. Occasionally, a flame will appear over the Apostle’s head, which will shine so bright as to blind anyone who is observing the Apostle’s aura at the time. This is considered special damage equal to the Apostle’s Faith, and is only soakable with half the Kindred’s Stamina and Fortitude. For each wound not soaked, the Vampire will suffer +1 difficulty to visual perception rolls for the rest of the scene, and half penalties for the following scene. The difficulty to soak is equal to the number of dots the character does NOT have in Humanity. A Vampire with Faith is immune to this effect.

All forms of mental domination need to exceed the character’s Faith level in successes. Any remaining successes are counted as normal successes. Anything less is not only ineffective but will call attention to the person trying to force their will upon the Apostle involved.

An Apostle that is embraced makes a Faith roll, difficulty 5. On a success, the character ascends in an explosion of heavenly light that delivers 10 aggravated wounds upon the Vampire that embraced her. Any wounds that are not soaked leave permanent scars that cannot be healed away. Even Vississitude requires five successes to remove each scar, and takes double the normal time to perform. Apostles instinctively recognise these scars.

How Werewolves interact with Apostles

An Apostle can be detected through their scent, as they are a beacon of Wyrmlessness in the world of human corruption. Apostles cannot be Kinfolk. Apostles do not deliver any forms of supernatural damage, but can use silver weapons without problems. Unfortunately, the Garou ancestral memories include everyone’s friend, Torquemada, and the Spanish Inquisition. This was responsible for the destruction of shapeshifter, Mages and Fae, and Garou are a race that hold a grudge…

How Mages interact with Apostles

In the name of God, the Inquisition persecuted all supernatural creatures, but especially Mages. The influence of religion has buried the Mage under a reality that no longer allows free magick. This has caused more than one Mage to be hostile towards an Apostle once their nature is revealed, but not all. The Fatih of an Apostle acts as a countermagick field, and is automatically rolled whenever a Mage atempts to use Magick, both vulgar and coincidental, directly against them. Apostles are considered Awakened beings for Paradox purposes.

How Wraiths interact with Apostles

Like any other Willpower test, Faith is added to an Apostle’s Willpower when resisting Wraiths who want to influence them. Skinriding is therefore very difficult to achieve when attempting to get a lift from an Apostle, unless the character is aware of the spirit (with Angel Sight), in which case the Apostle may wish to allow the Wraith to ‘climb aboard’ for a while. An Apostle’s soul appears to Wraith’s that can see it as a shining light, floating within the Apostle’s chest, placed directly within the character’s heart. If a Wraith can see an aura, they will suffer the same effects as Vampires when the Apostle displays the flame.

How Changlings interact with Apostles

For the most part, the Fae take no notice of Apostles, and the reverse is also true. However, Angle Sight can allow the Apostle to see the Fae’s true chimerical form, overlayed on the character’s mortal seeming like a semi-transparent, 3-D projection. This requires Angel sight of at least level 2, and the Apostle must make a successful Perception + Angel Sight roll, difficulty 7. Failure indicates the Apostle can only see the Changling’s mortal seeming, and each success indicates how many scenes the Aposlte will be able to see the Changling’s chimerical form. Also, the more successes, the more the convincing the image, until, at five successes, the Changling’s chimerical form completely replaces that of their mortal seeming.

How Immortals interact with Apostles

Not all storytellers allow the Highlander-style Immortals into their game, especially those who are over 500 years old! For those that do, however, the Immortals are probably the closest to an enemy that the Apostles could have. Immortals spend most of their time looking for each other, fighting duels to the death, and in some cases, terrorising the mortals around them. The ‘Prize’ for which they fight could be absolutely anything, including the transformation of the last Immortal into the Anti-christ, for which the Apostles are starting to prepare. They keep a wary eye on the Immortals that are considered to be ‘good’, such as Conner and Duncan MacLead, and sometimes aid them in defeating the ‘evil’ Immortals, such as the mighty Kurgen. With Angel Sight, the Apostle may be able to identify an Immortal if they have already encountered them before (Perception + Alertness, difficulty 7).

End Notes

This is the first draft of the Apostles rules. Those of you with suggestion can send me your ideas, and I will read every one of them with an open mind.

As far as I can tell, a beginning Apostle is only slightly tougher than a starting Vampire, and is a little weaker than a starting Werewolf. Changlings and Wraith are character types that seldom have any say in the world of the living, and Immortals are often the toughest guys (and girls) on the block when you consider that they can heal ANY wounds given enough time.

Enjoy this supplement, and prepare yourselves for more in the future.