This Ceremony enables a vampire to raise a group of aggressive, walking dead minions.
Prerequisite Power: Aura of Decay
Ingredients: A mortal corpse (or multiple corpses), and a fresh mortal sacrifice.
Process: The vampire must have a separate corpse in addition to a mortal prepared for sacrifice. The vampire slays the sacrificial victim, spilling their blood on the corpse or corpses intended for animation. If the Ceremony is successful, the corpses stand (the recent sacrifice does not) and serve the vampire’s commands.
System: Due to the amount of blood spilled in this Ceremony, the caster must first test to resist Hunger Frenzy (Difficulty 2). Make a Ceremony roll, possibly incurring Stains in the process depending on the chronicle Tenets and the Storyteller’s discretion. Upon a win a number of aggressive dead equal to the necromancer’s Oblivion rating or the number of prepared bodies (whichever is lower) receive the gift of animation. Corpses animated this way do not decay and only enter repose if commanded to by the vampire, if the vampire meets final death, or if destroyed.
The animated corpses can parse moderately complex orders such as “kill everyone who enters,” “groan if you see anyone pass this way,” or “terrorize that neighborhood.” Unlike the corpses raised using the Gift of False Life, these animated dead do not sit idle if left without commands, instead attacking anyone around them except for their master.
As per the rules for temporary Advantages like these (Vampire: The Masquerade, Gaining and Losing Advantages), their continued usefulness beyond the current story must be ensured with Experience — such as through the Retainers Background (one dot per loyal corpse) — or the aggressive corpses may become unstable and unruly.