Abombwe

Name
Clans	Akunanse
Bloodlines	Bonsam
Sects	Laibon
Combination Disciplines	None
Rarity	Rare

The ancient powers of Abombwe, known only to certain of the vampire clans of the African Laibon, seek not to overcome a vampire's Beast but instead to become one with it, learning to embrace it as a core part of the self that can be wielded like all other supernatural gifts. To outsiders, its users appear to be a strange contradiction: bestial yet serene, inhuman yet in complete control of themselves, and capable of being more human than human moments before becoming purely of the Beast.

Basic Powers

Predator's Communion

Reaching out to their inner Beast, the vampire with this power can recognize the presence of any lesser beasts nearby, gaining an awareness of all nearby animals and their relative strength. In addition, they also recognize any ghouls or vampires who are in the same building or area with them, and whether they are of greater or lower generation, although their awareness is more along the lines of recognizing more or less dangerous predators than specific about how old they may be. They also gain an awareness of any nearby shapeshifters, but cannot tell how powerful they are, instead experiencing all of them as powerful and dangerous predatory presences.

Invoking the Predator

The vampire with this power taps into the Beast's primal nature, manifesting a physical animal trait that most closely matches the portion of their deepest and most basic personality. This feature may be anything including weapons like claws or fangs, defensive features like scales or chitin plates, environmental adaptations like gills or venom, or even in some elders' cases powerful wings or entire exoskeletons. The feature remains until the next sunrise unless the vampire chooses to subsume it back into themself early.

Taming the Beast

Instead of physically transforming into their Beast, a vampire with this power instead allows it to invest their normal form, gaining the physical strength, ferocity, hardiness, or perceptions of the creatues that their Beast most closely resembles. The additional powers last only for a few hours, but during that time can compete with many other vampiric disciplines, often causing considerable confusion among other vampires who witness their deeds. .

Intermediate Powers

Unseen Hibernation

By letting their Beast sink into the spirit of the land around them, the vampire may also physically sink into it, spiritually inhabiting all the animals in a mile radius while they slumber for the night. They have only a vague awareness of what the animals might be doing and cannot control them, but their body is protected from the rays of the sun for the entire day while they sleep within their minions.

Whistling Up the Beast

As a master of working with their own Beast, the vampire with this power can also influence that of others, dragging it to the surface and freeing it of its usual inhibitions. If a vampire touches a being with a Beast and uses this power, their victim becomes extremely emotionally volatile and greatly more likely to succumb to Frenzy until they leave the vampire's presence.

Beast-Channel

By sharply concentrating their Beast's power into just a small part of their body, a user of this power makes it a nigh-impossible powerhouse, nearly indestructible and possessed of awesome strength for a few precious seconds. Some vampires use this power to protect their hearts, making it practically impossible to stake them, while others use it to smite enemies with a near-divine fist or to perform feats that even other supernatural beings would be hard-pressed to pull off.

Power from Darkness

By releasing control voluntarily to their Beast, a being with this power can ride it, remaining aware and with minor influence over its actions as it is unleashed to pursue its own primal aims. While in this state, they cannot be affected by mind- or emotion-controlling powers (including Dominate and Presence), and they cannot be forced to enter an uncontrolled Frenzy, nor do any supernatural powers that affect their Beast have any affect when used on them by others. The transformation remains until the Beast is satisfied, which may be only a few minutes if it is able to gain a satisfying meal right away or last for nights on end as it seeks to destroy a hated rival predator.

Advanced Powers

Predator's Transformation

With this power, a vampire may coax their Beast to give them a true animal shape as long as it belongs to a creature that the Beast respects as a fellow predator. By killing a predatory animal, the vampire's Beast draws its spiritual essence into them at the moment of death, transforming them physically into a supernaturally powerful version of that creature for the remainder of the night. The creature is no longer identifiable as the original vampire without the use of appropriate powers, and is noticeably and forcefully supernatural in nature to all who perceive it. The vampire may remain thus transformed for as long as they wish, but elders among the Laibon tell cautionary tales of young vampires who remained animals for so long that their Beasts eventually made it impossible to remember their original form.

Elder Powers

Incarnate Darkness

With this power, a vampire surrenders fully to their Beast, giving up even their consciousness in return for its power and ferocity in moments of need. When they use this power, the Beast becomes fully ascendant for the rest of the scene; they immediately become far more physically strong and hardy, gain a myriad of extended senses and instincts, take on animalistic features where appropriate, and can compete even with shapeshifters for fierce and uncompromising ability to survive. The vampire ceases to have any awareness of events for the duration of the power and cannot remember anything done by the Beast while they were subsumed, and have absolutely no control over what it decides to do while in control.

Predator's Mastery

With this power, the Beast is so close to the surface that all creatures instinctively recognize it for the terrifying predator that it is. Animals instinctively recognize the vampire's Beast as superior to them as soon as they encounter it, and become subservient and intimidated, defending and bringing prizes to them as if they were a pack leader or dominant member of their own species. This power does not grant the wielder any ability to communicate with animals that they did not already possess.

Important Things to Keep in Mind

Growing closer to the Beast may allow Abombwe users to access great power, but it also carries risks: the more the Beast is ascendant, the harder it can become to resist or overcome it in moments of need. Elder users of Abombwe are often more their Beast than whatever original personality they might have had, and while they are on the whole less likely to succumb to Frenzy due to being able to channel their Beast into their Abombwe powers, others might point out that a Beast on the loose is not particularly different from Frenzy in terms of what happens to those around them.

Abombwe users also often find that they are avoided by other vampires, most of whom suspect them of being dangerous loose cannons due to how visibly active their Beasts are. and that blame for any breaking of the Masquerade or unexplained attacks is often assigned to them, the "uncontrolled beasts," as a matter of course.