* Eyes of the Skull

The Mictlani first learns to attune their senses to the energy of the Shadowlands. By concentrating, the vampire blocks her sight to the world to see as the dead see. By rolling Perception+Occult (difficulty 6), the vampire gains Deathsight (see how close to death is someone and how she might die), Lifesight (Aura reading, similar to Auspex 2) or Heightened Sight (similar to Auspex 1) for the remainder of the scene. If she wishes to change the form of sight, she must roll again. Whatever mode she is in, she will always perceive the world as if from the Shadowlands: a dull, grey world filled with decay. A botch means that the vampire goes blind until she rests for the day. The eyes of the vampire using this level of Mictlampa turn milky white and transparent, allowing others the sight of her empty sockets. Pretty frightening to the average human.

** Teeth of the Skull

Once a Mictlani knows to see the Shadowlands, it's time to learn to communicate with its inhabitants. By rolling Charisma+Empathy and spending a Blood Point the vampire is able to talk to and hear wraiths and spectres. The difficulty depends on the area's Shroud; the thickness of the barrier between the living and the Shadowlands, high in places who deny death (labs, factories), low on those who embrace it (cemetaries, countryside, haunts). The communication is silent and those addressed are compelled to respond; whether they are friendly or hostile depends upon them.

*** Razorwind

Vampires with this level of Mictlampa are able to tear the fabric of the living lands and reach for the Tempest, a wild soulstorm underlying the Shadowlands. The Mictlani's attacks are accompained by the chilling and terrifying touch of Oblivion. The tlaltecuhtli must roll Strength+Occult (difficulty of Shroud+1, max.10) and spend a Blood Point. Each success adds a die to Brawl/Melee and Damage rolls for the next combat turns. This pool diminishes each turn by one, as the gap between worlds closes. A botch is very dangerous, as it channels the winds of the Tempest within the character, inflicting a level of aggravated damage per 1 rolled. If the vampire is fighting a wraith, each success reduces 1 level of the wraith's Corpus if the attack scores, rather than the normal one.

**** Dead Man's Guide

This is a great power, and frightfuly dangerous to the Mictlan's enemies. The vampire's understanding of Death is such, that she can cross over the Shroud into the Shadowlands. She must succeed in a Stamina+Occult roll against a difficulty set by the Shroud and spend two Blood Points. The Blood is consumed as the vampire's body turns into plasm, giving the vampire a level of Corpus per Health level, and the remaining Blood Pool turns into Pathos energy. While in this state, the vampire is, technically, a wraith, though she doesn't have Passions or Fetters, and she cannot travel to the Tempest. She does has the advantage of being able to discorporate (spending 1 Corpus) to pass through objects and only takes 1 level of damage from attacks from the living world (if the attacker can somehow perceive her). Another roll is required to return, though no expense of Blood is necessary. Should a vampire be driven into Torpor while in the Shadowlands, her body discorporates and reforms somewhere else after a few centuries; she will not be solid until a day before her awakening. A botch casts the vampire into the Tempest, where Spectres torment her until her body snaps back to the world the day after, causing her to gain a Derangement.

***** Dark Blessing of Mictlantecuhtli

The Mictlani who has mastered this level of Mictlampa can bestow the Death God's blessing upon anyone. This manifests in two forms depending on the target. The vampire rolls Manipulation+Occult, if the target is alive and healthy, the difficulty is the target's Willpower; the target can resist by rolling Willpower against the vampire's Man+Occ. If the vampire wins, each level of damage the target receives will seem aggravated for the remainder of the scene; should the target be driven below Incapacitated while under the Blessing's influence, she _will_ be killed. If the target, however, is dying (and without hope of recovery) whether from wounds or illness, the difficulty is the Shroud. The Blessing will call for the nearest Ferryman in the Underworld to come and take the target at the moment of her death. The fate of the deceased depends on herself; if she becomes a wraith or goes directly unto Trascendence or Oblivion is not the vampire's role to determine, but the newly dead's and the Ferryman's. This latter roll can't be botched.

6* Wisdom of the Dead

This level of Mictlampa allows the vampire to use the basic abilities of the Arcanos her Calpulli practices (consider the vampire as having a point in the Arcanos for rolling purposes)

7* Craft of the Dead

At this higher level of mastery, the vampire can begin expending her Experience to buy the first and later points in the Arcanos her Calpulli practices at normal costs. However, she can only use the Arcanos arts while in the Shadowlands, meaning she must first travel there.

8* Deathcraft Incarnate

The tlaltecuhtli with this level of Mictlampa has reunited within herself that which was sundered millenia ago: the land of the living and the land of the dead. She can now use her Arcanos while in the physical world; in fact, the vampire's mere presence lowers the Shroud by two (thus lowering all Arcanos difficulties based on the Shroud).

9* Obsidian Wind

Razorwind is but a meek breeze compared to the fury the vampire who has reached this level can conjure. She not only tears the Shroud; she rips it apart and opens a Nihil into the Tempest. She rolls Strength+Occult against a difficulty of 8; each success widens the size of the hole; the vampire must spend a Blood Point per success achieved; if she doesn't, the successes are limited by the amount of Blood actually used. Centuries of experience taught the Mictlan the foolishness of creating such a hole for too long, and so they learned to close it the turn following the opening, allowing the soulwinds to come through but denying passage to Spectres. The wind causes 3 levels of aggravated damage per success to all within a 30' radius both in the physical world and the Shadowlands. Beings in the Life Umbra just feel a chilly wind and the Penumbra darkens a little. A botch sends the vampire to the Labyrinth beneath the Tempest; and she must use all her guile and wits to escape. However, Ferrymen are always glad to rescue a vampire in such straits.

10* Chains of Blood

This is the only means of creating another Mictlan vampire, and is only practiced by the Tlatoanis of the Mictlan. The Tlatoani travels to the Shadowlands and follows the spirit of the candidate as it wanders off, she then proceeds to tear off the Caul and, by rolling Manipulation+Occult against 10 minus the new vampire's Sire's Willpower the soul is returned to the body. The Sire gives some of her blood, and the Tlatoani uses a Point of her own and Mictlaxochitl's in order to tie the wraith to it's new vampiric body. No Mictlan has discovered the way to block the Shadow from entering the heart and turning into the Itzyolotl.

* The Sun's Fascination

By spending a Willpower point and making a Courage roll against difficulty 8, the vampire can resist Rotschreck for one minute per success.

** Hands of the Brazier

By spending a Blood Point the vampire can cause burn damage with her bare hands. Each Blood point spent allows the user to inflict two lelvels of fire damage.

*** Summon Xiuhcoatl

By Spending a Blood Point and rolling Charisma + Occult, difficulty 9, the vampire can cause a weapon to be enveloped in a halo of living fire which adds 1 to their dice pool in order to hit AND 2 to damage. Vampire viewing this must roll their Courage or go into Rotschreck. The wielder of the weapon is unaffected.

**** Rage of the Eagle

By rolling their Wits + Intimidation versus their opponent's Willpower, the vampire can make their body appear to be enveloped in a sheath of fire. This fire is purely illlusionary, but any touched by the vampire must make a Wits + Fortitude roll or be mentally affected by the fire, causing one point of imagined damage per success on a successful hit roll.

***** The Care of Huehueteotl

By spending two Blood Points and rolling Charisma + Intimidation, difficulty 7, the vampire can convince the elementals within the fire to leave her unharmed for one turn per success.

6* Huitzilopochtli's Protection

By rolling Charisma + Occult, difficulty 8, and placing Three Blood Points in a stone bowl and burning them with a candle made of animal fat (preferrably human), the vampire gains temporary resistance to the damaging effects of the Sun. She gains 10 minutes of resistance per success.

7* Xiuhcoatl's spittle

By spending a Blood Point and rolling Dexterity + Occult, difficulty 8, the vampire can cause a fireball to fly from their mouth. Each success does three points of damage.

8* Heart of Ashes

By spending 2 Blood Points and 1 Willpower point and making a successful roll on a Wits + Medicine roll, difficulty 8, the Vampire can make his foe's heart explode and become ash. The victim takes three health levels, soakable, for each success, but the victim is considered staked until they can heal back the health levels lost.

9* Tonatiuh's Mantle

Two Blood Points and a successful roll on Stamina + Occult, difficulty 9, are required for the vampire to turn himself into a body of fire. He does 5 levels of fire damage when touched passively, and adds strength to that damage if actively fighting.

10* Face of Tonatiuh

Two Blood Points and Two Willpower points must be spent in addition to gaining a successful roll on Manipulation + Occult, difficulty 8, in order for the vampire to invoke the very power of the Sun. This effect lasts for 2 turns per success, and is treated as actual sunlight in regards to damage and Rotschreck checks for all vampires who see the user of this power.

The Sun's Mantle (Level 3)

Jealous of the Huitzilopochtli's resistance, the Tezcatlipoca devised this ritual. In a stone recipient, the vampire burns a bunch of eagle feathers along a coup of blood. The resulting residue is mixed with copal and lit again. the vampire must breathe the smoke and bath herself on it. Roll Willpower; each success means 10 minutes of resistance to the Sun.

Passage into the Living Spirit (Level 3)

Created by the Tlaloc, this ritual allows them to travel from the Shadowlands to the Life Umbra. The ritual must be enacted in the Shadowlands and, by the conclusion, the vampire finds herself turned into a spirit. In this guise, she cannot affect the physical world and can only use her Disciplines to affect others. Neither Mictlampa nor Arcanoi work. The vampire can travel to any Umbral Realm and needs no sustenance; however, she is vulnerable to everything a normal spirit can be subjected to: being turned into a fetish, summoned (consider her a jaggling), trapped in the Pattern Web, attacked by banes, etc. Each sunrise, the vampire must roll Willpower (diff.6) or be forced back into the Shadowlands; each following day, the difficulty of the roll increases by 1. However, if the Umbral Sun touches the vampire's spirit body, she is returned to the Shadowlands without rolling.

Chain of Return (Level 1)

By drinking a mixture of blood and powdered bone, the vampire ensures that, if reduced to 0 Corpus while in the Tempest or the Far Shores, she will reform in her haven. Also allows for immediate transportation if she succeeds a Sta+Occult roll (diff. the Shroud) and burns both a Pathos/Blood Point _and_ a Corpus/Health.

Ancestral Memory (Level 4)

If this ritual succeeds, the vampire will lower her generation by 1. Requires the sacrifice of a living animal. A human sacrifice will lower the generation by 2. All Disciplines and Arcanoi are available for the duration of the effect. This enhancement lasts as many days as the vampire's Stamina score.

The ties the Mictlan has to the Underworld are tight, and these reflect on a number of things:

Crossing over: Whenever a Mictlani crosses into the Shadowlands, she becomes a wraith; this has a number of effects:
• Characteristics:
  • Health Levels turns into Corpus, spent normally.
  • Blood Pool turns into Pathos, spent normally.
  • The vampire doesn't gain Deathsight, Lifesight or Heightened Senses automatically; she must employ Mictlampa with a -3 difficulty.

• Feeding:
  • If the vampire wishes to feed, she can feed on Willpower; she rolls Stamina+Occult with a difficulty of the Shroud. Each success is a point of Pathos; she can only try this once per day. The victim will feel listless and tired, but will regain the Willpower robbed after a good night's sleep. Pathos obtained in this manner reverts to Blood at a 2 Pathos to 1 Blood ratio. The vampire can only feed on the living, thus, feeding in the Tempest and beyond is impossible.
  • For each day in the Underworld, the vampire must spend a Blood/Pathos Point to sustain herself.

• Travel:
  • Normal human rituals prevent their passage, as a normal wraith.
  • The vampire needs no Fetters, and thus can travel to the Tempest and beyond.
  • The vampire cannot be Harrowed.
  • If the vampire is reduced to zero Corpus, she snaps back to the living lands in Torpor, provided she underwent the ritual Chains of Return; if not, she is discorporated and will reform in a few centuries. Summoning the vampire will reform the body in the living lands, but she remains in Torpor.

  Using Arcanos: the use of Arcanos is different for Mictlan, due to them being undead rather than dead:

• Accross the Shroud: Arcanos cannot be used to affect anything accross the Shroud except when the Arcanos specifies so.
• Angst: When using Arcanos arts that cause Angst to be accumulated, the vampire suffers it in her blood. Each point of Angst gained in this manner fouls up a Blood Point. The contaminated Blood will cause the Itzyolotl to be stronger, giving a +1 penalty to any roll against it per 2 Points of foul Blood. The contaminated Blood is the first to be spent whenever the vampire wishes to spend Blood; when this happens, the player must make a Spirituality roll; if she fails, the Itzyolotl takes over; if she succeeds, however, the activity she spent Blood for gains a -1 die penalty.
• Corpus and Pathos: If the Arcanos is used against a living victim or affect the vampire while in the living world, substitute Corpus for Health Level and Pathos for Blood. Otherwise, use the normal Arcanos description.

• The Mictlan Main Page.
• Origins, history and the ties to the Underworld.
• The Mictlan Vampire
• The Calpullis

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This page was done by Alejandro Melchor, and last modified in 20/Sep/1995