You seek to fight the Contagion? First, you must be pure of spirit, strong of mind, and clear in your focus. In the long nights ahead, you will find your faith tested, your desires twisted, and your relationships shattered. You will be stronger if you discard all that hold you down, set you back, and lead you astray.
This isn’t a placebo. Yes, the mere act of meditation, prayer, or personal affirmation can provide real benefits to mind and body, but that’s not what your sect has access to. Instead, the act of engaging in your fervor gives real, concrete benefits. All impurities flow away like water, or burn in the fire of our fervor. Everything from disease and supernatural influence to toxic relationships and inconvenient situations are shed, leaving us free to face our true enemy.
A Deviant sits in a dingy motel room, rereading favorite passages from the Gideon bible left in the dresser drawer. A Promethean studies the flames as she watches her old clothes burn in an empty oil drum. A werewolf stalks his prey, letting the spirits guide his kill.
System: The user of Purification allows the fanatic to remove any one Condition from themselves they wouldn’t normally be able to remove. This can be any Persistent Condition. Removing a Condition in this way does not grant a Beat. The only Conditions it cannot remove are those imposed by the Contagion, such as Contagion-Touched (p. 279).
If the user wishes to remove their Condition temporarily, they meditate as per p. 75 of Chronicles of Darkness. If they want to permanently remove the Condition, however, they have to prove that their work against the Contagion is sincere. They must gain approval from the faction to spend one Sworn Experience and then meditate.
Cost: 1 Willpower (+1 for Persistent Conditions) or 1 Sworn Experience
Requirement: Access to a representation of the fanatic’s fervor — a bible, a sacred fire, a spirit, whatever.
Dice Pool: See meditation in Chronicles of Darkness p. 75 Action: See meditation
Duration: One scene or permanent
Edges
Beasts, Changelings, Deviants, Werewolves: No one is going to fuck with your heart. Not ever. No matter what the source, your fervor is clear and pure. Nothing else can distract you from your righteous anger. Fanatics with this edge can remove Persistent Conditions from others if they manipulate emotions, such as Obsession or Addiction. Removed Conditions don’t grant Beats.
Mages, Mummies, Sin-Eaters: The way to enlightenment requires, above all things, stillness of mind. Only if you study and appreciate the source of your fervor without encumbered thought will you ever be free. Fanatics with this edge can remove Persistent Conditions from others if they muddy clarity of thought, such as Madness or False Memories. Removed Conditions don’t grant Beats.
Demons, Hunters, Prometheans, Vampires: Hell is other people. You don’t plan to live in a monastery or anything, sequestering yourself from all other contact, but occasionally relationships can just be so messy. Luckily, you know how to cut through the ties that bind, so that you are free to do what you know is just. Fanatics with this edge can remove Persistent Conditions from others that involve other people, such as Enslaved or Hunted. Removed Conditions don’t grant Beats.
Specializations
Bereaved: In tune with those suffering loss, these Sin-Eaters can apply this vector to protect the grieving, perhaps feeling they’ve suffered enough. After use of this vector, the target can choose to shrug off any non-Contagious Condition or Tilt for the duration of the next chapter, but gain no Beats for resolving those Conditions.
The Long Night: These are the end times, but that doesn’t mean you can’t spread a little comfort in your fight against the Contagion. Members of the Long Night who embrace the Jeremiad can temporarily remove Conditions brought about by the Contagion, such as Contagion- Touched. Purification cannot permanently remove these Conditions, but the effects can be ignored for one scene after spending one Willpower.