Disciplines

Prerequisites: Auspex ••• and Obfuscate •••••

This power may be used on the wielder, or on any other willing individual within five feet/one and a half meters. The target of this power appears to die. The death appears genuine in all ways, including leaving behind remains. However, the target instead slides sideways into a pocket realm without the passage of time and is displaced from the physical world. A lifeless but identical construct of the victim’s own physical matter has been swapped into its place just before death occurs.

The target remains displaced until a predetermined set of circumstances occur at the location where they “died.” These circumstances are chosen by the user at the moment the power is activated, and may not be altered thereafter. Once those circumstances are fulfilled, the individual reappears in the precise location from which they vanished. There are known cases of Josians vanishing into the grip of this power, never to reappear. Either the circumstances were poorly defined, it is presumed, or they somehow became impossible to fulfill.

False Death is useful for faking a Josian’s final death when they are compromised, or to allow an infiltrating Josian to pretend to take part in sacrificial rituals. The Josian appears to slaughter their target, proving their dedication to the cult, and then returns hours (or weeks, or years) later to rescue the innocent from displacement.

The use of this power wipes any knowledge-locks on the target individual. Thereafter, powers such as Summon, Scry, or Clairvoyance can no longer target them (and register as though the individual were dead). The ability to use such powers on this person may be reestablished as per a first use of those powers. Josians are known to use False Death on themselves and their Servires routinely, to invoke this erasure against those who might be spying on them or tracking their movements.

System

After the character stares at the subject for at least a few seconds, the player rolls Perception + Empathy (difficulty 8). The target must be generally willing to escape their circumstances, even if she does not know a power is being used on her.

This combination power costs 20 points to learn.