Bestiary

The Samsa inflicts her own fears and mental illness on her victim, gaining brief respite in return. The Samsa spends one Gnosis point and rolls Willpower (difficulty 7), adding 2 dice per Derangement she currently has.

Every success passes one of the Samsa’s Derangements to her victim for a scene. The Samsa chooses which Derangement is inflicted. With five or more successes the victim’s mind breaks with the sudden strain and he shuts down for the scene, refusing to act except to try and flee violence.

A Samsa loses access to this power whenever she passes all her Derangements to others. She can use the power multiple times to inflict separate Derangements on different victims, but can’t invoke the power again on a victim already suffering one of her Derangements.

Samsa heal at the same rate as Garou. They are not vulnerable to silver but suffer aggravated damage from insecticides in Ungeziefer form. Samsa never suffer damage caused by radiation or toxic waste.

Samsa all have the fomori powers Animal Control (for cockroaches only), and a unique version of Cause Insanity.

Samsa are as difficult to eradicate as natural cockroaches. When a Samsa takes lethal or aggravated damage in her last health box she automatically spends one permanent Willpower dot and dissolves into a thousand cockroaches scrambling in all directions. All but one cockroach dies within the following hour. This final cockroach has only one health level and is ravenously hungry — each day it must consume twice its body weight, growing in size and regaining another health level. When the Samsa regains seven health levels the now giant cockroach spontaneously shapeshifts to Homid form. The Samsa has no memory of several hours before her near death, and can only recall snippets of her cockroach experience through terrifying nightmares. Each use of this power inflicts another permanent Derangement on the Samsa.

Cockroach spirits will teach the Samsa Gifts if the wretches listen long enough to learn. The Glass Walkers recently discovered this tutelage and are confused and saddened, exacerbated by the fact that their totem refuses to discuss it with the tribe.

Image: Samsa look entirely human in Homid form, with haunted expressions and a tendency to jump at sudden noises. Most Samsa have a mild sensitivity to bright light and a fear of darkness.

In Ungeziefer form the Samsa is an oversized cockroach standing on human-like legs. His entire body is covered in a sickly green-brown exoskeleton and has four arms — the lower pair often hangs limp and useless. The arms end in three-fingered claws where one serves as an opposable ‘thumb’. The Ungeziefer’s mandibles make hissing, clicking sounds that can’t be understood by humans — Samsa can understand and speak these sounds in either form.

Background: Pentex has little use for the Samsa except for psychological warfare or as distractions for other, more important missions.

A number of Samsa exploded into cockroaches when Pentex collection teams tried to recapture them, revealing the Samsa’s last-ditch survival ability. Pentex doesn’t realize what happened, assuming that the thousands of dead cockroaches were just another flaw in the Samsa design — unaware that the werecockroach had escaped the company’s clutches.

These free Samsa are even more insane, unable to cope with, or relate to, the world around them. Although these werecockroaches haven’t yet bred, their genes are true and any offspring will likely be new Samsa.

A number of Samsa exploded into cockroaches when Pentex collection teams tried to recapture them, revealing the Samsa’s last-ditch survival ability. Pentex doesn’t realize what happened, assuming that the thousands of dead cockroaches were just another flaw in the Samsa design — unaware that the werecockroach had escaped the company’s clutches.

Storytelling Notes: Samsa will most likely be encountered as a Pentex distraction or as part of a psychological warfare operation. These Samsa are confused, vulnerable and volatile. Anyone attempting to help them will become a victim of their Cause Insanity power.