King Fish:

Challenge: Social Vs Storyteller

Retest: Primal Urge

Effect: This Gift draws upon the body of cultural and historical myths and legends concerning sharks to command respect from others. The Merfolk makes a Social Test (retest Primal-Urge). The character gains an automatic retest on any test involving Leadership or Intimidation for the duration of the scene. Most regular aquatic creatures will automatically obey her provided that doing so does not directly endanger them. Note that she must still possess some means of communicating with them if she wishes to impart orders more complex than simple gestures.

 

Know Oversea’s Mind:

Challenge: Mental Vs. Storyteller

Retest: Primal Urge

Effect: Through the use of this Gift, the Merfolk may rise to the water’s surface and converse with the spirits of the air in order to predict with accuracy the weather for the general region. The Merfolk makes a Mental test (retest Primal-Urge) to predict the weather for one day. The character may attempt additional Tests to predict the weather for succeeding days. Three successful Tests mean the Merfolk can determine weather conditions for the next three days. A failed Test prevents the Merfolk from continuing further in her predictions. Air spirits may occasionally provide other information as well, particularly concerning airborne pollutants or aircraft activity, but they tend to be quite flighty and unable to provide anything but the barest of details.

 

Lungs of the Sea

Cost: One Willpower

Challenge: Willpower Vs. Target Willpower 

Effect: Merfolk use this Gift to force someone who naturally breathes air to grow gills, forcing the individual to “breathe” water as if she were a fish. A Merfolk may use this Gift to enable a friendly human to breathe underwater when visiting the Sea. However as much as this gift may be used for the positive and the sharing of worlds with the airbreathers, it may also be used to lure those the Merfolk are seeking vengence on, taking away the effects to allow their targets to drown or manouver them into the depths where others may be waiting with readied deathly intentions. 

Duration: One Scene or Hour, or until the Pearl Weeper wishes to remove the effects. 

 

Resist Pain

Activation Time: At will (Reflexively)

Cost: One Willpower

Effect: You push on through the pain of injury with superhuman resilience. You stop suffering wound penalties for the duration of this Gift.

Duration: One Scene or Hour

 

Sea's Voice: 

Challenge: Social vs. the animal

Retest: Animal Ken

Effect: You are able to speak with any sort of animal. If successful, you can speak not only to the target animal, but to all animals of the same type. This gift doesn't change their natures nor their reactions to the predatory nature of the Merfolk, nor does it force them to cooperate.

Duration: One Scene or Hour

 

Spit Teeth:

Challenge: Physical Vs Target Physical

Retest: Athletics

Effect: With this Gift, a Triton can spit teeth at an opponent at adistance. Though used most often on land, this Gift also works in the water. The Triton may use this Gift in any form, up to a range equal to his normal throwing distance. The tooth inflicts one Health Levelof aggravated damage.

 

Strange Blood:

Challenge: Mental Vs Storyteller

Retest: Primal Urge

Effect: With this Gift, the Merfolk can smell the blood of a selected individual and determine if the target is a supernatural being. While Merfolk often use this Gift to identify other Merfolk, they can also discern other supernaturals by the scent of their blood. The Merfolk makes a Mental test (retest Primal-Urge). Success enables the Merfolk to identify the target as either another Merfolk, a “normal” creature (whether human, fish or other), or some other type of supernatural. The Storyteller should not immediately give away the precise nature of the supernatural creature. Instead of telling the Merfolk that the target is a werewolf, the Storyteller might inform the Merfolk that the individual’s blood has a feral scent and is laced with the taste of Rage. With enough uses of the Gift, of course, a Merfolk may become an expert at identifying the various supernaturals by the smell of their blood.

 

True Intentions:

Challenge: Mental Vs Storyteller

Retest: Empathy

Effect: This Gift enables the Merfolk to discern a target individual’s true purpose by studying his actions. By watching a human tag a captured shark and then release it into open waters, for example, the Merfolk can determine what the person intends to do with regard to the Merfolk. This Gift works on actions only, not on words. The Merfolk makes a Mental test (retest Empathy) to understand the true meaning behind a single action or a series of connected actions performed by the target creature during a single minute, with a difficulty determined by the complexity of the actions observed. For example, the Merfolk could determine whether a person offering a handshake was giving a sincere greeting or whether they were merely presenting a friendly front, but it would not tell him anything about what the person was saying during that time.

 

Waves of Truth:

Challenge: Mental vs. target

Retest: Empathy

Effect: You hear the ring of truth and deception in the words of others. If you win the challenge, you can tell if the target has deliberately lied to you. The gift cannot detect lies that the target actually believes -- misinformation and altered memories foil this gift.

 

 

 

Intermediate:

 

Living Sea:

Cost: One Willpower

Challenge: Social Vs Storyteller

Retest: Occult

Effect: The Merfolk animates a portion of the ocean or any other body of water, imbuing it with lifelike activity. The water takes on a semi-solid form, enabling it to seize and hold a person immobile or push a Merfolk along faster than a normal wereshark can swim. The animated water can also strangle a victim if the Merfolk so desires. On land, Merfolk can use this Gift to cause fountains and pools to extrude tendrils of water to wrap around victims. The Merfolk spends a Willpower Trait and makes a Social test (retest Occult). Success enables the Merfolk to control up to 5 cubic feet of water. The Merfolk can increase the amount of water by another 5 cubic feet for every additional two Mental Traits spent after the initial Test is made. If the Merfolk uses this Gift to strangle a water-breather or drown an air-breather, the victim takes two levels of lethal damage each turn until the Merfolk ends the Gift or the victim succeeds in a Physical test (retest Brawl).

 

Lure:

Cost: One Gnosis

Effect:  The Merfolk uses this Gift to create an illusionary duplicate of herself that can act with some autonomy while performing simple repetitive actions, such as swimming or running. Though the image has no tactile existence, it looks, sounds and smells like the Merfolk. By the time someone gets close enough to realize the deception, she has likely already placed herself within range of the true Merfolk. The Merfolk spends a Gnosis Trait to create the duplicate within her line of sight, which is usually portrayed by a Narrator. The image lasts until the Merfolk’s concentration is broken or she wills the illusion to disappear; she may perform other actions, but at a two-Trait penalty due to her concentration. The image can perform any simple action that does not require physical exertion to perform, such as lifting objects.

 

Oversea’s Wrath:

Cost: One Gnosis

Challenge: Social Vs Storyteller

Retest: Rituals

Effect: This Gift enables the Merfolk to call down a storm on his enemies, capsizing small boats and creating turbulent waves on the ocean’s surface. The Merfolk spends a Gnosis Trait and makes a Social test (retest Rituals). Depending on existing weather conditions, the storm called may either be relatively weak or hurricane force. The Merfolk may spend additional Gnosis Traits to up the strength of the storm to the desired force. A weak storm can overturn a small fishing vessel or pleasure boat. A medium-sized storm can topple mid-size fishing vessels or moderate-sized passenger vessels. Most terribly, a large storm can sink large ships, though Merfolk are often reluctant to capsize rigs that might release tons of oil into Sea. Those that continually release large storms without good cause find themselves summoned to answer Sea herself.

 

Sea’s Wisdom:

Challenge: Mental Vs Storyteller

Retest: Rituals

Effect: By swimming in furious circles to create a small whirlpool, the Dimwater Merfolk uses the roiling water to hear messages from Sea and ask advice of her great mother. Unfortunately, Sea has not given out any messages about betweeners as yet, but many other valuable things have been learned by means of this Gift. The Merfolk makes a Mental test (retest Rituals). Success grants her information or advice from Sea about a single question. The Storyteller should determine what knowledge is granted to the Merfolk. As a rule, the more the direct the question posed, the more direct the answer received. The Storyteller can rule some things are outside of the Sea’s knowledge entirely; while pervasive, Sea’s domain is not all-encompassing. 

 

 

 

Advanced:

 

Common Foe:

Cost: One Willpower

Challenge: Social Vs Storyteller

Effect: This Gift enables the Merfolk to remind other supernaturals of a common enemy, usually some powerful minion of Qyrl, and call them to their aid in time of battle. The Merfolk spends a Willpower Trait and makes a Social Test  If successful, the Merfolk emits a low call or a Sending that affects any non-corrupt supernatural being in the area for the duration of the scene. While the Gift is active, these creatures cannot attack each other or the Merfolk, suffering immediate wound penalties as if they were Wounded should they try to do so. Even Gifts designed to ease pain do not alleviate the penalties or suffering caused by ignoring the Gift’s strictures. So long as the common threat exists, the Gift remains active in relation to those present at the original Sending; ones that came later are not affected. Additionally, non-shapechangers such as mages or fae may spend a Willpower Trait to ignore this Gift. The urgings it prompts in them are not entirely natural for their race, though most instinctively feel that the Merfolk’s cause is just. Note that the purpose of this Gift is to rally any supernaturals not in service to the Wyrm to join together against a common foe, not to convince others to attack betweeners or other personal foes of the Merfolk. Those that attempt to abuse it in this fashion sometimes find it calling minions of Wyrm instead…. 

 

Leviathan:

Cost: One Willpower One Rage

Effect: This power enables the Merfolk to transform herself into a monstrous prehistoric Sea Creature, similar to the type of creatures called forth by the Gift Great Summons. The Merfolk spends a Willpower Trait and a Rage Trait to change into an enormous sea creature, approaching eighty feet in length. The character adds five Traits to all Physical Tests after applying the usual Nereid Trait modifiers. In addition, the Merfolk automatically regains one Rage Trait per turn and ignores all bashing damage not inflicted by beings with supernatural strength or natural causes of extreme power. The Gift lasts for one scene.

 

Wound Undersea:

Cost: One Rage One Willpower

Challenge: Social Vs Storyteller

Retest: Rituals

Effect:  The Merfolk can open a vent in the sea floor, bringing forth lava that boils the surrounding water and creating a disturbance that causes minor earthquakes in the vicinity. This Gift is only used in times of great need, since the damage it causes to the surrounding area can easily exceed the good it does unless employed very carefully. The Merfolk inflicts one level of lethal damage upon herself, slashing open her body so that she bleeds near the floor of the sea. She then spends one Rage and one Willpower Trait and makes a Social Test  (retest Rituals). If the Merfolk is successful, she opens a crack in the sea bed. Three turns later, enough time for the Merfolk to swim to safety, lava boils from the crack, heating the surrounding water so that it inflicts three levels of aggravated damage each turn to any creature in the vicinity. The Storyteller should determine any by-products of the use of this Gift, such as earthquakes, tidal waves and other phenomena.