The Akahkway: a Daeva Bloodline for Requiem for New Oskana

The Daeva are notorious for their proclivities towards humans; whirlwind attachments, a focus upon them and their relationships with them that disturbs many other kindred. Inevitably they’re predatory and parasitic. The Akahkway bloodline takes the parasitism to a more tangible and disturbing extreme, even for Daeva.

The Akahkway are consummate parasites, even for vampires. They insinuate themselves into the lives of others for more than simple feeding, but to keep themselves invigorated on all levels. Less ostentatious than many Daeva, they pick a host; an individual that becomes the focal point so long as they still live. In turn, they manipulate them; using their powers to make the Akahkway a central important point to their existences, if not reliant, all the while using the poor hosts life, their wealth, their family connections, their blood to their own ends until they are drained dry literally and figuratively.

Sure, an Akahkway can dally among others, feeding and fucking those who aren't their chosen host (and most do), but they always come back to their host like a recurrent infection. Sometimes they grow bored of these poor individuals, or find them to be too dangerous to continue to use; most imagine they’d never harm their hosts but this is untrue. When they've got all they can, often they’ll leave them mentally damaged, or simply consume them unto death. Some don’t even leave it at that; keeping the bodies of the deceased around like macabre mementos or using stranger arts to keep their ghosts from moving on, keeping collections like catalogues and memories of those they've enjoyed the most.

The Bloodline is old and somewhat isolated to North America due to their reliance on hosts; they don’t tend to travel far from their chosen prey lest anything they cannot control happens to them and compromises their use. They’re also subtle for Daeva; if they had spread further, odds are unlikely they’d be noticed, appearing in the spotlight when they wish, and just as quickly disappearing from plain sight, or moving among lower forms of life not typical to most Daeva proclivities.

Whom the original founder was isn’t known, lost to centuries or more of time though is believed to actually stem from somewhere closer to the equator. While the bloodline has spread throughout the Americas, they are strongest in the warmer, more humid regions humanity occupies, said to be most numerous in Central America though broods of them exist into the chilly north of Canada and far into South America as well. It is said, and without any disdain despite the implications, that they are the result of contact with a strange natural, or perhaps supernatural parasite by their founder, who acted as the brood-mare to spread and multiply it as it passed among its childer like a strange contagion, and often to their victims as well, their beast adapting to the presence of the many, many parasites those regions have that target humans.

The parasites are said to reside in their blood; like an unseen infection of roundworms or some grotesque internalized infection. This could simply be due to happenstance; contact with blood-borne parasites that have become resilient battened on vitae, or it could be a manifestation of something greater, but nonetheless they spread them and utilize them with their Devotions. Among the more occult and historically orientated of the bloodline, they point to no exterior cause, no contact with a strange outside parasite.

No, they say that their founder was so engrossed in the flesh of others, so obsessed with intimate contact with humans that it’s Beast twisted, becoming physically manifest partially in the flesh. No exterior excuse; simply a Beast that grows so obsessed, so hungry for particular individuals it squirms through their undead bodies, trying to find ever more hosts to spread to. Among these scholars, they fear that perhaps one day their Beasts will fully manifest and squirm out of their own bodies, leaving them hollow and empty. Some even posit this is why their founder can no longer be found; long since consumed by it’s vampiric nature, twisted into a physical parasite that only exists within their own bodies.

What is true is that their Beasts do seem partially manifest; they all gain a strange internal deformation not unlike a disturbing pale worm that coils around their heart, spinal column and riddles their dead brains. Small as it may be initially, perhaps entirely undetected, the greater their Blood Potency grows, the larger -it- grows, until it may be noticed through open wounds, while feeding or some unfortunate surgery. Secondary blood borne parasites may be its offspring in the blood, or simply secondary infections passed down from the first of them, but no few believe it really is the Beast seeking to contaminate others in a more tangible way.

No wonder then that they’re prone to large broods; a sire among them tends to have numerous childer, sometimes until their will is burnt out. Some wonder if it’s by choice, or the urging of their secret internal ‘friend’ influencing them. At the least it’s pragmatic; given the line’s dependency on Hosts, those who are sufficiently potent enough to require supernatural blood could find no better individuals to parasitize than their own childer.

Parent Clan: Daeva

Nickname: Parasites

Covenant: The Akahkway are primarily part of the Old Ones; they’ve long existed among the Covenant’s of the First Nations and with many of them now subsumed or seemingly extinct, the Old Ones still see a fair number of their kind from traditional ties. No few Akahkway grow so attached to a dead host that they desire to keep keep attached to them in some way even after death, and the Old Ones help in this matter. Disturbing is the Parasite with their flock of dead Hosts in attendance, still bound to them even after death.

The Carthians see the next greatest membership; their strong ties to human ideologies and the use of their society is very appealing to Parasites who seek an even easier time cultivating new Hosts. Membership among the Carthians may overtake the Old Ones in the near future as a result given how desirable the capacity to blend in among humanity and insinuate themselves among them are.

The Ordo Dracul and Invictus see the next largest contingent. The former offers a respite to their hungers, their connection to their host, allowing them to find ways to at least more comfortably exist alongside their living patrons, if not exploit them further or otherwise find greater efficiency, if not to redefine their reliance upon their hosts into something different, if potentially horrifying. Unfortunately the level of secrecy and necessity to experiment can make it difficult to keep their Hosts intact while balancing the requirements of the Dragons leaving primarily older members of the bloodline to seek them out.

The Invictus by comparison offers much in the form of secular power and wealth and no small amount of social clout. Long-standing ties among humans is cherished, though the emphasis on the Masquerade occasionally strains the patience of the Parasites who often skirt the line with their Hosts. It’s a balancing act; no few elders of the Parasites however see it as an easier means to find Hosts in the form of other vampires via vassalage and more.

The Circle of the Crone and Lancea et Sanctum are fairly rare among the Parasites. While some certainly stray to understand their place in the world, to exalt in the powers of the blood or find purpose through embracing The Man, there is no strong desire for either.

Occasionally a particularly charismatic Parasite will seek to create an extended blood cult among the Crones, but most find the sheer amount of blood sacrifice and detriment to their Humanity strains their ties to their Hosts, causing them to prematurely expire or be used by others in the Covenant, something they gravely dislike. Some few do try to harness the blood sorceries to extend the ties they have to their Hosts even further, haunting their would-be patrons like distant monsters as their humanity erodes. As the Crone sees vampirism as a natural extension of the world, some Parasites in turn justify their natures through the Covenant. Humans have parasites after all, it should be no wonder that vampires are so reliant upon them, taking the notion that the Blood itself is a supernatural parasite much like the Beast, a separate, intrusive thing existing in them, just as they exist among humans.

The Lance by comparison simply offers little; custodians of righteous might appeal to a rare vain few but accepting the dogma is difficult; they’re not wolves in the shadows culling the herd; they’re parasites that -need- the herd, setting them at odds in turn with more traditional Sanctified. Most members are simply those who have lost their way and seek to rekindle their humanity through religion and purpose; no few also use the Lance et Sanctum as a means to insert themselves within religious communities to find ample Hosts.

The Parasites are uncommon, though not exactly rare among the Belial’s Brood; only the most fargone of them, the Parasites that embrace their one-sided nature and shirk off the rationales of being symbiotic find much reason to join with them. These sorts often look towards unorthodox Hosts in the form of a Convey-mates rather than mortals and fall headlong into the Crux, or otherwise sucking  their living human hosts dry at alarming rate literally and figuratively, leaving a wreckage of ruined lives and drained victims. After all, there are more hosts where the first came from, why practice moderation?

Appearance: The Akahkway have a very cosmopolitan appearance; it’s primarily predicated on the desires of their Host; dressing to specifically elicit their need for them. In many cases these means adopting the styles that their Host finds most attractive, though not too few will once learned adopt styles their Host considers intimidating or otherwise authority figures to more readily influence them or otherwise goad into giving into their desires. Rarely do they directly stand out in the crowds, at least by ostentatious clothing and grooming habits for the sake of others outside of their Hosts unless they’re seeking to find a new one to replace one used up.  

One aspect that is inherent to them, but not noticed without select circumstances is that they all possess a physical parasite within them. The smaller parasitic organisms that live within their blood seemingly cause no outward issues to them or to those they infect, perhaps requiring the crucible of an undead body to truly proliferate and survive, but all their victims eventually gain them, often appearing over time to suffer from a subtle wasting effect even if otherwise they’re healthy physically, as if some vital portion was drained away, often in tandem with direct feedings on their blood by their patron Akahkway.

The Akahkway are no different than their victims in part; as their Blood Potency increases they seem more drained than many other kindred, more sunken in features, one could even say sickly as their Beast grows in strength and their vitae grows more potent. While not enough to cause too much undue complications or lessen their attraction, it’s the outward symptom of something far worse going on -inside-. They all gain a worm-like parasite, starting out thread-like coiled through their throat and unliving brain, the bulk of it residing within and around the heart. As their Potency increases, it to increases in size until eventually it may fill in much of the Akakhway’s chest cavity, skull and throat with it’s bulk once they the point to require supernatural vitae. While it may not distort their appearance beyond the wasted appearance they may have, it’s certainly noticeable with traumatic enough wounds or exploratory surgery upon them.

When they feed however, the horror is harder to overlook as they grow stronger in blood and Beast. It slips out around and sometimes through their fangs; unseen, thin and root-like when clamped down upon a victim unless prematurely pulled away. But when their blood gets truly potent or their humanity extraordinarily low, often around the time they require supernatural vitae to maintain themselves or when the ruse of pretending to be human is mostly gone, it’s more akin to a squirming proboscis or leech that slithers out as they feed, replacing their reliance on fangs entirely with it’s own sucking maw.

For all their strangeness, at least on those with the keen insight and perceptions to notice the differences they have compared to common Daeva stock, they are rarely shunned. The Akahkway as a whole usually have a keen insight and ability to blend in with the human throngs, and those who take well-connected hosts are often invaluable to the larger Kindred populace they take part in. To most, they’re simply more obsessive Daeva, if that, more prone to focusing on particular pets, animal, human or otherwise and a greater ability to influence the actions of the lower animals as they are with humans. Few outsiders ever come to understand just how disturbing they really are until become hosts themselves.

Haven: Haven’s run the gamut; from opulent to abandoned and unseen. They prefer being able to cohabit with a properly pacified Host if possible, some openly among their Hosts, while others use their powers of Obfuscate to live unseen within their very same home. Otherwise they tend to take whatever is most comfortable while still keeping easy access to their chosen Host. No to few try to keep their living arrangements secret; stalking their Host from afar and keeping them unaware of just how close, and how insinuated they are within their lives.

It’s fairly common for shrine-like areas dedicated to their host de jour within the haven: locks of hair, clandestine pictures, small personal items. More disturbingly are those of Hosts since passed on; while many are discarded, it’s very common to find less humane Parasite havens littered with the corpses or parts of corpses of Hosts that have since died for one reason or another, unable to part with them even in death. Even those with a stronger ability to blend in with the living may keep such macabre memento mori or bodies in a more sequestered area.

Some keep cages, cells or otherwise areas to keep animals; the thinner blooded among them often cultivate animal life towards their own comforts and ends, but it’s hardly uncommon for a Parasite to keep more human hosts under forcible confinement for ease of access and “their own safety”.

Background: Co-dependents and system abusers are common picks; those who know how to get what they want, and take and take with finesse, or at least those used to being utterly reliant on others in some way; they’re not a group of heavily, independent types by default, though there are certainly some that may appear such on the surface.

They use others; no few lawyers or politicians have found their way among them as a result. Even dog-sledders and similar people could see interest; people who rely on animals for their livelihood often have an easier time as a Parasite. The man who values his dog more than other people; the women whose life revolves around their husband, individuals that understand that solitude and complete self-reliance is not only undesirable, but impossible for them.

In a way this makes the exploited and the exploiter a common individual among them; those so broken by an abusive relationship they became reliant on it, as well as those abusers that just couldn't part with their victim despite it all. Some few are simply are the result of being Hosts themselves; the Parasite sire being so unwilling to part with them, let alone allow death to take them away permanent that they in turn are brought into the line. The connection from the Vinculum and the Blood ties only extend this; broods of Parasites are disturbingly co-dependent and more like twisted families compared to even the average Daeva.

Character Creation: Social Attributes will be primary; they can be brutes, forcing others to be hosts through physical intimidation or more clandestine use of animals, but people are the main thing and likely the more common among them. Some few focus on animals as Hosts; these rarely have the longevity and use that a human or other supernatural does, but among those who do one tends to find a bit more bucking of the trend and often a bit more Physical Attribute emphasis to reflect their often more rugged lifestyles. The same is true among Skills; Socials are often Primary and occasional Physicals.

Merits tend to towards reflecting their connections to people: Retainer and True Friend are often extraordinarily common as are Social Merits as a whole. For all their horror, the Parasites are people persons. Retainer is often a good way to reflect a Host for the character.

Bloodline Disciplines: Animalism, Majesty, Obfuscate, Vigor

Bloodline Weakness: In addition to the Daeva weakness, Akahkway are dependent on their Hosts; the first individual a Parasite feeds from without having a Host designated becomes one, a portion of their vital essence (and some say their Beast) infecting them provided they have any Willpower Points. The first individual they feed upon while having and Willpower Points is marked as their Host; they can be done selectively, delaying feeding, picking their targets, or otherwise be safe if without any Willpower, but should they have even one, a point is considered spent and the Host marked. The Beast hungers after these Hosts: while feeding is not a necessity from them, it is commonplace and may cause the Akahkway to also become Dependent on them due to the Daeva clan bane.

If the Akahkway neither feeds from the host nor has meaningful interaction with them for 10 - Humanity in days (usually a half hour or more of direct contact, socially or intimately) the Akahkway is considered to have the Deprived condition (see page xx of God Machine Chronicles) until they manage it, feeling weak and often desperate. Should their Host die, the Akahkway loses an additional Willpower point immediately (whether they witness the death or not) and the Deprived Condition remains until they find a new Host, leaving them effectively weakened. Hosts can be any being that matches the Blood Potency criteria for feeding; weak blooded Akahkway can have animals as hosts in addition to humans and appropriate supernaturals, while those who must feed upon supernatural vitae must take an appropriate supernatural host.

Organization: For all their interactions with humanity, the Parasites are loosely structured themselves given their fixation upon their Hosts. One may find a “Brood-Mother” or “Brood-Father” in an area where they have some numbers and a singular sire; these luminaries are powerful individuals who uses the rest as eyes and ears for new Host prospects should they lose an existing one. These usually act as social hubs; occasionally they may demand tithes or similar homage, parasitizing their own Bloodline, but primarily they act as a means to keep the Parasites aware of who’s who among them, who has which Host (provided it isn't hidden carefully) to keep other members from meddling with the property of others.

This structure is also used to keep well fed if they've become so potent in vitae they can no longer feed properly off of mortals, feeding upon the other parasites given their bloodline bane. In these situations they often have numerous childer or seek to bring other Daeva in line with their ways to keep comfortably satiated. Normally they’re the most schooled and skilled in the Devotions of the bloodline, acting as teachers and mentors for the right price; while there are no formal proscriptions against teaching the Devotions amongst each other, such Brood-Mothers and Fathers often hoard knowledge of these powers to keep their place intact. No few Brood-Mothers intentionally make the unlives of other Parasites difficult through direct meddling to make them more reliant upon them for their aid and knowledge. They viciously guard knowledge against outsiders and it’s often taught (falsely) that even if they did teach their Devotions to outsiders, they not to work for those not of the Bloodline.

Prestige is generally accrued from having prominent, influential or otherwise famous Hosts; while they may come and go, a Host’s own fortune and accolades is reflected upon the Parasite who successfully keeps them from falling from grace while reaping the blood and benefits of them. It’s not lost on some Parasites that their own personal accomplishments mean less compared to that of their victims even amongst themselves. Those who can suck away at their Hosts the longest without using them up often gain the most respect.

Bloodline Gift

Parasitic Infection

With but a thought, the Akahkway can infest another with a portion of their own parasite, quietly burrowing into the victim that comes into contact with the vampire.

It’s appearance varies; for most it’s tiny and no bigger than a finger, often far smaller, though easily visible to the naked eye and unpleasant in appearance to someone observant. For some, particularly those of very low humanity or high blood potency it could be up to Size 1 and utterly grotesque. It will evade mundane attempts of removal; a proper supernatural ability however may be sufficient to prematurely remove it. For more brutal or inhumane vampires, it may created to be forced down the victim’s throat or other orifice to noticeably wriggle into their body despite no uncomfortable sensations of pain.

Infection is painless; the Vitae is used by the parasite to hide the entry point as if a vampire was licking shut a gentle feeding bite and masks the discomfort the parasite would cause it as it quickly slips within their body. The Akahkway can intentionally made the infection unpleasant and blatant with intentional marks left, sometimes as a means to mark the hosts of the Akahkway as theirs in a unique way.

From then on, the Akahkway may gain a sense of the direction and distance of the victim as well as a measure of their senses if they focus upon them. This is commonly used to have a greater hold on their hosts and monitor them. To them, it’s a part of their own parasite, their Beast infecting the victim. To some, it’s treated as a gift to a subject so deserving; a disturbing form of offspring that only the most special of their hosts deserve.

Cost: 1 Vitae
Dice Pool: None.
Action: Reflexive; touching the target is an Instant Action may require a Touch Attack to inflict upon an unwilling victim.
Effect: The animated portion of vitae and flesh burrows unnoticed into the victim upon the touch, who feels nothing unless otherwise desired. For one week per Blood Potency of the user, the victim is considered to be One Step removed for the purposes of Blood Sympathy; a one way connection is forged that allows the vampire to sense the victim but not vice versa without a pre-established sympathy on their part.

The victim may reflexively make a Stamina + Resolve roll at a penalty equal to the Akahkway’s Blood Potency to initially resist the infection, requiring the Akahkway’s Blood potency in successes +1. This may be done every week after infection is successful as wel; once the infectee garners successes in excess of the Akahkway’s Blood Potency, the parasite is completely purged.

Devotion: Distant Consumption (Majesty 1, Animalism 1: Requires Parasitic Infection)
10 Experience (2 Experiences via Blood and Smoke)

This Devotion may be used on select targets; individuals whom are under the effects of Parasitic Infection may be drained of their lifeforce at a distance. It allows the Parasite to feed at a distance; the victims feel weakened, unpleasantly drained as it does not inflict the Kiss, but often attribute it to illness, a feeling of listless enervation. A savvy Kindred or other under it’s effects might come to different conclusions, however.

A rarely used ability of this Devotion is that it can be used to feed a target Vitae at the same distance: ghouling a victim or creating a clandestine Blood Bond, potentially even feeding a distant ghoul, reversing the connection, but otherwise has the same requirements.

Cost: 1 Willpower Point
Dice Pool: Strength + Larceny + Majesty - subject’s Stamina
Action: Instant
Requirements: The victim is under the effects of user's Parasitic Infection.

Dramatic Failure: The victim is alerted to something going wrong, a sense of malaise and spiritual rejection with the idea of the vampire being the cause. The power may not be attempted again upon the victim again for at least a full month.

Failure: No vitae is drained from the victim, who notices nothing amiss.

Success: 1 vitae is drained per success from the victim at the rate of 1 Lethal per turn until the successes are accrued. The Akahkway may chose to drain less if they see fit. Otherwise it may be used to grant another their own Vitae (with all of the side-effects) at the same rate, the Parasite losing 1 Vitae and the victim gaining one up to the amount determined by user. This may not inflict the Swooned or Scarred Conditions.

Exceptional Success:  Extra successes are their own reward.

Suggested Modifiers:
+1 for each stage of the Blood Bond to the user if under the effects of Parasitic Infection.
+1 for each grade closer on a Blood Sympathy the user is to the victim provided they a subject of Parasitic Infection.
+1 if the victim is a Ghoul or Host under the user’s Parasitic Infection Gift.
-  Subject is a victim of users Parasitic Infection.
-1 victim is out of line of sight of the user while used.
-2 victim is not in the same city or similar regional distance.
-3 victim is across the world or an ocean away.