So Koldunism is pretty much just spirit manipulation. The knowledge of it might have come from Kupala but it isn't inherently infernal and could theoretically be used to summon and bind any non human spirit that inhabits the land, be it a demon, bane spirit, nature spirit, or other similar entities. Also loved the tidbits on Romanian history and lore, binding air and water dragons? Yeah, I am definitely gonna use this in my chronicles now.
Every of your videos are a treasure, neighbor. In Serbia we had "zduhać", wind-and-cloud banisher, a type of weather controling magic users who could banish bad weather made by alas, a bad type of dragons.
Thank you so much! 😭 That's really high praise right there, and I will do my best to keep up the good job 😁 Also, thank you for telling me about zduhac - I will look into it 😉 I'm curious to find out if folklore in this part of Europe has similar elements from country to country, even though they might be called differently 🤔 Can't wait for more comments in this regard 🥰
To me, regarding the lore aspect of Koldunism I am reminded of the way magic works in another system, Legend of the Five Rings where the caster, communes with a spirit and through some sort of understanding is lent part of a spirit's power. Maybe the lore passages are something akin to a spirit's past with the region and by showing you know them it grants you some power.
Koldunism is so cool.I must admit I'm biased towards the way it's practiced in the Dark Ages Tzimisce novel, although that may be because I adore Ilias as a character, and I think it has a lot of flavour in how it's portrayed. Regarding the use of spirit language, it could be that that was how Ilias was taught specifically, and it's not an actual requirement? Koldunism is pretty similar to Dur-an-Ki in that it both uses spirit pacts, and to get to the right mindset for it, there are different methods an ashipu can use (meditation, pain, dancing, kalif, et cetera). Ilias might use language as his method. On that note, I'd really love an examination on the similarities between Koldunism and Dur-an-Ki! Thanks for another really interesting episode!
Oh wow! That is a killer interpretation 🤯 Language not as a requirement, but just as an "encypted" means of passing down the knowledge or using the magic itself, so no one can understand what's happening. Love it! I need to brush up on my Dur-An-Ki first 😋
It seems Koldunic sorcery is to Dark Thaumaturgy what Alchemy is to real magic; that is to say, it's derived from demonic knowledge, but isn't in and of itself infernal. Sorta like if a reckless Baali started spreading some of the less obviously tainting Dark Arts around to the point people didn't actually need to make deals with demons to get that knowledge (something that would probably go poorly for that Baali, but oh well); the knowledge may have come from an infernal source, but isn't in and of itself demonic or corrupting.
Yup, I like seeing it that way too, although, Koldunism is so much fun to have that... if the Storyteller were to deem it infernal, I'd still play a Koldun, even if it meant the character suffers a horrible end 😈🥰 I'm currently playing one for the very first time! Though the Tzimisce are my favorite Clan, I only got to play... 2 Fiends before? Yes, 2 Fiends. This third Tzimisce character is a Koldun of the Ruthven line, and she knows the Ways of Fire (2 dots), Wind and Spirit, with the Way of Water coming up shortly (only 1 dot each). She uses the Way of Fire to protect herself and to destroy her enemies in a frightening way (burning them), Way of Wind to communicate safely without modern technology, Way of Spirit to commune with the land she seeks to claim as her own, and the Way of Water is going to allow her to create very vivid illusions on any water surface, which is great for creating a specific ambiance/visual stimulus during certain activities or sharing very valuable visual information with others of the blood (like... the face of an enemy, the view of a certain place, information you want to SHOW your Coterie, not just tell them). Ah, Koldunism is just... fantastic! 😍
22:04 I can feel many shadow lords failing their rage rolls because of this statement. all jokes aside what can a vampire offer a spirit besides the power within their blood things like money have no value to them, there also a contradiction in the relationship between vampires and Gaia spirits because if I remember correctly (it has been some time since I read any of the werewolf books) spirits of gaia have no desire to interact with vampires let alone make deals with them. just imagine you are a werewolf hunting down a leech and you decided to get some information by talking to a local spirit and asking 'great noble spirit I'm hunting down a leech that stalks these lands can you help me find it?' and the spirit replies with 'oh you must be talking about vampire john' the werewolf shocked says 'wait you know this monster?' and the spirit says 'yeah he feeds me his blood in exchange I deliver messages to his friends' I can't see how this meeting doesn't end with the werewolf ripping the spirit to shreds because to the werewolf the spirit has clearly been tainted by the vampire. A slightly off topic side note I always find it odd that there are tzimisce still on the road of humanity to me they all seem just too alien be on the road for any long period of time.
Solid point! It is in these moments that I really wish I knew my Werewolf better 😆 Saying that Koldunism might have once been of Shadow Lords or kinfolk is probably too far fetched indeed 🤔 The scenario you presented above does make me wander about some things, though, and unfortunately, I do not have access to Werewolf books at the moment: Are spirits always benevolent towards Lupines? Do they have a notion of morality? Do they seek to always protect Gaia? Can they be tempted or corrupted? To what extent do they interact with other types of spirits? If the Infernal and Umbrood are, indeed, separate entities that rarely interact with each other and predominantly reside on different layers of reality (different Umbras), then how could any demon, even one like Kupala, give vampires power over elemental spirits? How would it come to know such spirits, if they are kept separately, and what if they outright refuse to interact with such an entity and refuse to make themselves known, both to it and vampires? In the scenario you presented above, spirits can be tainted/corrupted (and the werewolf wants to tear it to shreds as a result), which leads me to think some spirits can be made to do the biding of other beings. Now, when it comes to elemental spirits (or nature spirits, if we can call them that), the Tzimisce don't actually converse with them. They simply become aware of a procedure that allows them some degree of manipulation. The actual talking to spirits seems to be done only when interacting with what the game calls "demons" (a term which, from what I've seen, can be used to refer to a number of different entities in the World of Darkness) For lack of a better example, I think interacting with elemental spirits in absence of verbal speech is like training a cat 😂 Let me explain: Sure, the cat has no idea what I'm saying to it, even when I speak. It need not understand my morality, my cultural practices, and I need not understand too much of its own behavior, as long as we can tolerate each other. After a while residing in the same place, and after some very awkward interactions, it grows to see I'm not a direct threat and I grow to see it is not a direct threat either. Interactions continue. At some point we start trading favors, we "domesticate" one another. I feed the cat and, in exchange, it shows me what it's been catching, bringing me mice and such. The more different generations interact peacefully, the more they will continue interacting and trading favors and Vampires have eternity to make such relationships work 😁 At some point, observation might show the cat that if it taps my hand with its paw in a sort of "high 5" motion when I place my open palm before it, it gets a treat. Gradually, the cat comes to understand that most of the time, when I place my open palm before it and it high fives me, it gets a treat. Throughout our interactions, it notices changes in my vocal pitch, and comes to understand that different pitches mean different things. Calling out to the cat sounds a certain way, while other sounds indicate a coming conflict, or some kind of danger. From what I know, spirits can be very intelligent, so having such an interaction is not impossible, especially if the Tzimisce had a mentor in either the kinfolk or Kupala, who taught them the proper way to "domesticate" such entities 😁I don't think power over such spirits was actually given to the Koldun, because "authority" isn't mentioned at all, in any of the books 🤔 But hey, a lot of this is my own attempt to make sense of this sorcery. Sadly, the books don't really give us much detail on how spirit interaction works for Koldun, definitely not to the same degree they explain Hermeticism. They just say: spend a blood point - magma shoots out of the ground 🤣 But your question is super good! What does the Vampire have to offer nature spirits and why DO the spirits take an offer of Vitae? Ah, I'm really hoping I can get a better understanding of these things from the Werewolf perspective 😋 Loved your comment, it really got my mind wondering, and reminded me that I've never really delved into Werewolf lore too much, sadly. I'm putting that on my to do list 🤓
@@theoldcountry 'Solid point! It is in these moments that I really wish I knew my Werewolf better Saying that Koldunism might have once been of Shadow Lords or kinfolk is probably too far fetched indeed no I think there a chance this could be true because I remember reading about the Thaumaturgy path of spirit manipulation (the book was either rites of the blood or guide to the camarilla) and I recall the book saying the path was similar to some 'lupine practices' what they mean by this has never been fully explained but if I had to guess I would imagine some Tremere warlock get his or her hands on some werewolf lore on spirits and used it as a foundation block for the path of spirit manipulation. as to why spirits take vitae as a offer I think it because a vampire's vitae has inherent power in the mage book Blood Treachery it states that kindred blood contains quintessence which the garou would know as gnosis so maybe that why spirits take vampiric blood as a offer.
@@theoldcountrySome spirits are known to be liars and power hungry, also the corruption of the wyrm affects all lands. A vampire offering power and protection to the a forest might get in an uneasy alliance with it. The forest spirit might see the vampire as the apex predator that eats the luggers and actually effectively influences the humans away from harming the land. When a werewolf passes the spirit might play both against each other, make sure they never meet, even pretend victimhood or guilt trip the werewolf for not doing as good a job as the local Tzimisce.
@@theoldcountry In werewolf mythology there is Gaia(the world spirit) and she has three greater spirits below her as her servants. These are the Wyld(chaos,creation), the Weaver(order, stasis) and the Wyrm(death,destruction). In the eyes of the Werewolfs, the Weaver went mad and assaulted the Wyrm, which is why the Wyrm became corrupted and tries to destroy the world. These three greater spirits have almost all other nature spirits below them. For example Kupala for the Werewolfs is a high ranking Wyrm spirit, so powerful it sometimes even called one of the Talons of the Wyrm. Equally humans and other creatures possecced by Wyrm spirits, called Banes, are the main antagonist in Werewolf games, but other spirits can be an enemy too. This is also a reason why Werewolfs usually destroy Vampires, because of their undead nature they smell of the Wyrm and Werewolfs think that undeath is an example of corruption by the Wyrm. However Vampire have their own quirks when it comes to spirits and the Werewolf description of the spiritworld has to be taken with a grain of salt, because Werewolfs are the self declared police force of the world. For example Banes cannot possess Vampires like they do with humans or animals and if they try it, they become imprisoned inside the Vampire, with the Vampire being able to gain some of their abilities. The most OP character you could build in 3rd Edition was a Fomori/Vampire Hybrid. This has the funny side effect, that while Werewolfs usually think of Vampire as completly being corrupted by the Wyrm, Spirits of the Wyrm keep their distance from Vampires. Equally because Vampires are unchanging and unaging, they can gain the apriciation of Spirits aligned with the Weaver. Both Vampires and Weaver spirits love cities and Mankind as a whole is the specie favored by the Weaver. This is something that pisses the Werewolfs off because they once tried to genocide Mankind in prehistory. So in essence while Spirits usually help and deal with Werewolfs, because they are the chosen of Gaia, the truth is that there is a huge number of spirits that are hostile or apathetic towards Werewolfs and those spirits might make a deal with a Vampire. If asked about the Vampire, those Spirits might lie to the Werewolf or lead them astray. Honestly the biggest hurdle of Vampire/Nature spirit cooperation is that they usually have no way of coming into contact with each other outside of Koldunism and some rare Thaumaturgy path or ritual.
I really enjoy reading and have been reading Vampire for years, so it's completely my pleasure to investigate the lore a little bit, and maybe present it in a way that enhances someone's game, or opens up new narrative possibilities 🤞 I'm glad you are enjoying the channel. I really look forward to the comments regarding the presence of Koldun around Romania. I don't know much about that and I'm always eager to learn new things 😌
Great video that I have been anticipating, and it was great to hear about Romanian history and lore about sorcery (Especially the dragons). I have always liked Koldun, but have always been a bit weirded out by the Kraina of the Well. Is it one derived from the Baali presence in the Old Country, since it deals with an organ pit, and refers to demons as children (Like the Children of Outer Dark, or a Decani)? I admit, I don’t have the relevant books for this (Building up the collection), so I only have the Wiki as a fallback. Also, congrats on 400!
Thank you so much! Just a little more and community tab will be available 🥰 In regards to the Kraina of the Well - I will have to research this one more in depth because I am pretty confused about it. I mean, I know for a fact the True Black Hand opposes infernalism. So what's that variant of the sorcery doing there... I don't know. Might be tied to the Molochim Baali, but i know pretty little about them too 😔
Koldunic sorcery is my favorite type of blood magic right after abyssal mysticism. Speaking of which do you think a lasombra using obtenebration could suck a demon straight back into the abyss?
Hmmm, a very interesting idea! I'm not sure if the Abyss the Lasombra manipulate is the same... "stuff" that makes up the Pit. I will look into this for the Abyss Mysticism episode 😉
@@theoldcountry Necromancing this conversation: it is stated Obtenebration draws power from Oblivion, the same one Necromancy manipulates, channels and coaxes. Maybe not into the Abyss (which is a whole magnitude of existence out), but sending him back to the Labyrinth or other outer levels of the Umbra is not out of the possibilities
Great video! I've tried to piece together material on koldunism and Tzimisce in general, but geography and language proved to be very obstinate obstacles (my meager Russian and the handfull of words I get of Polish can only get me so far). I found that in Poland they actually celebrate Kupala's night for real... and it's freaking midsummer! It's literally the feast of Saint John the Baptiste mixed with local folklore. That broke me. Your video is a much apreciated view and research aid. Thanks a bunch! Just one adendum that I'd very much love to have your help with: in the old Blood Magic: thaumaturgy companion (I think... Will check as soon as able), there's a box dedicated to explaining how magical senses percieve the effects of different sorceries. It's there mentioned how your garden variety blood mages (read Tremere) would very probably damage their sanity, or at the very least shit bricks, if they tried their senses on the visceral corruption that is Koldunic sorcery. Maybe I'm remembering this wrong (again, Will check as soon as able), but I'd very much apreciate your take on this.
I'm glad you enjoyed it 😉 I've struggled with finding sources on real life Koldun as well, so I'm more than happy to share my meager findings in this episode 😀 Wish I had more info to share 😔 Uuuu, I must've missed that in the Companion. I'll look it up as soon as I can and get back with an answer 😁
@@theoldcountry Found it! Wasn't in the Companion though... It's a box on the power Thaumaturgical Sight, on page 47 of the Revised Tremere Clanbook. It doesn't say as much as I remembered. Funny how memory throws things in the shaker some times.
@Kapuzki Ah, found it too! I really like how it's described 😁 I think combination disciplines or "techniques" such as this one are a really great means for allowing players to interact with the setting in a way that might reveal some of its lore, or at least giving them some more info they can act on. The Tremere were, in nascent times, also influenced by Kupala (mwhahahaha) so I doubt reading a "blood aura" (or the Tremere equivalent of "Detect Magic" - can't believe I've just used D&D terminology 😋) will break their sanity, especially given the rigorous training of their will. But, I totally agree when you say it should have them... at least concerned (and maybe shitting bricks! 😈) Depending on the Way that is being cast by the Koldun, the Tremere might see a gust of wind or mist, dark red, like tainted blood, being exuded from the pores of the practitioner, nostrils and mouth, and swirling around their limbs or head, or (for something like the Way of Earth) they might see pulsing roots of blood crawling from within the ground, through the stones, and biting into the Koldun's feet, binding them to the soil and forcing themselves into their veins, in a strange form of symbiosis. For the Way of Fire, I can see the Koldun appearing as a living cauldron of boiling blood-magma, head set ablaze and ember eyes, receiving heat from the bowels of the earth, while, for the Way of Water, the Tremere might see the Koldun beginning to leak outside of their shape or, some sort of fowl blood slushing around underneath their skin, as if the Koldun is a translucent vessel containing a small but agitated body of water, maybe a storm. I'm thinking of such descriptions because it is rumored that Koldun actually undergo a very brief possession when using these powers, like the spirits are not external, but... operate the beckoner from within. Mwhahahaha. I forgot to mention this during the episode 😔 When Koldun use a certain way, some books say their eyes turn the color of the element being used, thus indicating that... something might be lurking within the Koldun 😧(For Way of Wind, their eyes turn blue and clouds can be seen passing through their ocular orbs while gusts of wind swirl around them, for Way of Fire their eyes turn vivid, burning orange and so on...) Or, the Tremere might see blood traceries and bloody phantasms of the elemental spirits, surrounding the Koldun and doing their biding while executing strange motions that seem almost like a dance 🤩 Ok, I stop now. I got carried away there, but I really like this sorcery 🥰There's so much... poetry (for lack of a better term) that storytellers can give players with describing these powers, it's crazy 😁
first and last time i played a character with koldunism the gm (who was new to vtm/v20) kept saying every time i tried to use the spirit set of the discipline that the effect was "countered" and the "counterspell" hurled me around. we were all 15th gen, were only allowed 1 discipline (but could have up to 3 dots in said discipline) and he okayed it.... the other players who chose the other forms of sorcery never had their effects "countered". i chose to put 2 of my starting discipline dots into spirit and 1 into fire... and we werent able to get any additional dots in the game. ever. =/ i love the mechanics and the lore behind it as a discipline though... but that experience makes me loathe to trying to touch the discipline again any time soon... note it would happen *as soon as my dice hit the table to see if it worked/its duration* so even if i *could* spend the resources to use it: in the game world there was less than 5 seconds of use time...
I don't like your GM very much right now 🤬 Why did he even give you the discipline if he didn't want you using it? Ah, that's so annoying! I'm sorry you had this experience 😔 (but i thank you for sharing it)
I'm glad you say that 😁 Most of the time I feel like I should probably be more succinct and just collect the lore without interpreting it too much, like I'm going into details that aren't necessarily related to the lore itself and might bore people. I'm always happy to hear that's not the case 😋 Cheers!
100% I am running a nomadic Sabbat game and this, along with a couple others, are really really helping me remember what I've forgotten and learn what I missed. Very thorough, of which I have only the utmost respect, as I remember taking all those steps before lol. Thank You.
@@justanotherdayinthelife9841 Heeeey 😁 Glad you're enjoying the channel, and glad to hear you're running a Sabbat chronicle! If you want to, and it doesn't spoil things for any of your players who might be watching, feel free to share details about the game. I'm always eager to hear about the Sabbat 🍷🗡 *Vaulderies in emoji*
@@theoldcountry right on. Well, heres the premise: 1996 Halloween Palle Grande was the start of the game. They (players) were to be a part of a prestigious Elder hunting pack, one that the Sabbat had a bit more control over who gets to join and who needs to leave like a Spec Ops team. The players chose a route that encompassed a loop from Seattle Washington to Seattle Washington hitting the entire west coast into heavy Sabbat territory in Mexico then on through New Orleans (which is where they are now) routing out and eating elders of the Camarilla. As I said, now they're at New Orleans, but previously they had to deal with a Ventrue Elder (who they managed to swarm and sneak around all of his security with a player using Obtenebration and his successes on his tentacles and the type of edifice of the building, he was able to lift up the pack outside secretly onto his balcony while the Abbot launched the attack with a snipe straight to his brain meats while he was pretend eating with his pretend family for local investigative authorities. Lol so that was a blender on steroids of a fight. In the end the Ventrue was overwhelmed and diablerized. They then fled the scene out the window to avoid his tremendous guard force coming to see what had happened. Then they moved on into Anarch territory where the local Baron asked them to do them a solid for allowing them to travel through their territory unmolested. The favor being take out the Toreador Elder, "Butterfly", (basically David Bowie as Ziggy Stardust embraced). I've gotta go but hit me up here if you want mode of the history of the game ao far...
@@theoldcountry after dealing with Butterfly and his 6 childer like some sort of undead family band. They used their presence through their music and drew the characters into their grip almost fatally, until the Pack Priest managed to set the stage curtains on fire. That released their grip long enough for the pack to swarm 2 of the 7 to diablerie while they shot a 3rd up with overwhelming firepower. The 3rd Toreador recovered the next round, but in that time, with celerity and split actions a member of the pack was able to intercept the Butterfly. That's when the Sabbat Fire Dancing came into great use...the pack didnt Rotzhereck but the Camarilla bunch did. The Toreador fled beneath to a hidden garage where they burst out onto the street going about 120 mph with a bit of time before the same with the childer. The Pack was close enough to their motorcycles and were able to pursue. Chimerstry and Obtenebration stopped the car and a couple well timed (hand built via chemistry specialty in science, demotions specialty in frag grenades, and they have the equipment in their semi truck bed/haven) frag grenades under the childers car ended that threat. They then bound up the Toreador in shadow tentacles and ran his body off to eat. They got praise from the Baron, also for a job they didnt take....someone had killed all the Nosferatu in the city ( as was the job was just for 1 famous camarilla Nosferatu). This startled the players. While hurrying out of the area, the players biker gang pack got attacked. They had just rolled their bikes into the back of the semi truck for protection, and no sooner was the door closed on the back of the semi was it being wrenched open by what looked like a Nosferatu gone mad with disease and looking like a Chupacabra. They managed to lose it on the road. The Pander blood magician de ided to try to use taste of blood to figure out what it was and found that it was Niktuku blood. It was 8th generation Niktuku blood.....also the Pander got infected, lost a point in Appearance over time and is addicted to the non nourishing goats blood in addition to normal blood and if he stops drinking it he doesnt know what will happen...only that its degenerative. They made it through Sabbat Mexican territory and began moving eastward along their normal route. They eventually got an assignment to go infiltrate and destroy a new Tremere chantry established on the edge of Camarilla territory. This is supposed to bulwark the edging the Camarilla has been doing in what is currently a very hot war vs Sabbat and Camarilla. They reconed the hell out of the place and then snuck in (destroying wards etc). They found all the tremere had 2 legit demons inside. They were binding one and asking for deal within a warded circle in another. Apparently between the recon stage and the action stage, someone had attacked the place and killed many normal and ghouled guards, as well as most of the Tremere. It looked like the assailants were fought to a stand still and pushed to make a retreat or regrouping. THIS is where the players appeared in the timeline and exploited the situation. The assailants showed back up with friends, they were a group of well funded and organized Hunters. This is when the players rigged the place with c4 and dipped while blowing it up on the Hunters moving in for the attack. They did this while daemon was loose and running around bleeding summoning circle around them so they leapt into the Umbra with triggered rituals out the window.....while the building exploded and the demon completed her ritual...this ? Ended up dropping them through the cracks of the Umbra into the Abyss instead. They duly freaked out and gained derangements from the experience while the Malkavian Abbot and Losambra Priest landed outside on the ground not in the Umbra and had to flee the Hunters. They eventually found a place where the newbie Abyssal Mysticism Lasombra tried to fish out the players from the inky black forever dark with the help of the Malkavian "pinging" them through her Malkavian Madness Network (Insight Background) to locate them. The characters got out and now had new emotional problems! Yay! Lol They got away from that botched success, and longer story shortened, are now in New Orlea s dealing with a "yojimbo/last man standing/hatfields and mccoys" situation where equal power on either side of the Cam and the Sabbat are present and stalemated. The Camarilla Toreador elder, a master at the art of warfare, and one of the towns original residents against an Old Clan Tzimisce who is so prodigious in his use of Koldunism that he has separated most of his self on this realm and exists almost entirely within the Umbra. Couched in an almost shard realm of his opulescence, that the Umbral spirits surrounding him are fat and glutted upon his power, sitting like a czar in the spirit realm and one of the original towns Native American detestors (he is actually Koschei the infamous folkore evil wizard), who traveled via the Umbra to this place be ause of the vast amount of power in that geography...it wasnt until he allied with the natives against the encroaching French that he began to become their protector. This would rage on until the two met and fell in love, the Toreador and Koschei (which quitted down the violence for a while). Then inevitably they fell out of love and became bitter rivals who ravaged everyone in their way to get revenge, leading to a stalemate and a fairly vacated city except for the local Samedi elder Poppa Justify, who watches the balance and guards the dead. There is also a new development that has shown itself in the city..the Giovanni and the Followers of Set have come to a business agreement called the Cairo Contrct, theyve joined together as a joint interest business venture as a pilot project in New Orleans. Theyve blinded Koschei from seeing them (as he is kinda checked out from the really real world and obsessed with living in the Umbra) and acting as if Mafia backed Scientologists with Necromancy and Setite Thaumaturgy, this is highly organized "oh-shittery". They managed to finish creation of a Lesser Bane Mummy, An-Apophis, or as they call it "Black Sunshine" and the shit has hit the fan.... This is where 8 months of biweekly discord gaming has gotten us so far.
Well koldunism and necronancy 2 the best sorceres in vampire ( sorry for bad english it is not my native language). There is a rumor that kolduns were some sort of seers that use animal guts
😁 I like that thought! But I'm still super curious if the word itself is part of neighboring languages, since we don't have it in our lexicon. I think there are also some baked cakes/ bread that is called kolduns 😋
Thanks for the Video, Im in a V5 Campaign playing as a V5 Koldun that may include the Baali and Wolves so this gives a great way to add flavor into my play!! Thanks Bud Any thoughts on the V5 Koldunism?
Hey! Glad you found the episode interesting 😉 I'm not well versed when it comes to V5, but I watched Voivode Mekhet's video on V5 Koldunism and I must say I found it very lovely. It was my understanding Koldunism is not an official V5 thing, but more of a homebrew. Regardless, I'm happy it's there 😁 It's such a fascinating form of blood magic 🥰
@@theoldcountry It used to be a Homebrew but Blood Sigils Book pretty much officially makes it V5 Content. However unlike Previous versions, in V5 it is restricted only to Tzimisce Kindred which totally contradictory to its old lore of always being an out of clan Discipline. It still needs to be taught by a Koldun Master in order to gain access to it.
I don't remember where I read it; but I think Kuppala had helped refining kreinas to elemental ways. He is not the source. Although it may change according to different books.
@@xaress I think that's really the beauty of it, the fact that this info can vary from book to book and game to game (or even from character to character) 🥰
Well, I am very tempted to see it that way, and I'm also tempted to say Vicissitude is in the same boat - something I will explore on the last episode of the lore-hunt. I mean, some rituals of Koldunism do allow interaction with spirits that are traditionally considered demons, there's no doubt about that. I don't think it's impossible that such entities have knowledge of forms of sorcery that are inherently dark/unclean/tainted, altering the practitioner's behavior if performed routinely, or even gradually corrupting the sorcerer... simply through the interaction ifself (if they aren't careful). It seems to be up to each Koldun to decide on how they use their abilities, keeping away from such corrupted spirits and forbidden knowledge... if they can overcome the temptation 😈 Mwhahahaha
Perhaps we are closer to "werewolf" magic here than anywhere else in vampire culture, if I am understanding this properly. What it a nice starting point to rewrite the History of vampires in this setting. I admit, that's the aspect I like less about World of Darkness, their past and their generations do not make sense to me. Their distant past is way too recent. While werewolf is a lot more interesting and plausible. Specially when we bring in consideration the mokolé. I have this notion about an adventure for abomination characters in the Sabbat. Where the spiritual connection is made by the Sabbat itself, acting as an spirit, and granting the characters a way to stay sane. This high level "special forces" would be spared much of the bad aspects about being abominations thanks to that. By the bargain price of being fully loyal to their spiritual "pack spirit" so to speak. And mainly fight corruption inside the sect itself. If Koldun is closely related to werewolf magic, then maybe some Sabbat bands can get a sort of "cultural understanding" with some werewolves that goes beyond the Spartan way regarding cultural exchange. I like the notion that less "human" vampires could have some sort of truce with werewolves, and even join forces in limited extent for specific tasks. While more "human" vampires, and werewolves for that matter, cannot even think about this possibility.
Это Волхвы - в древнерусской традиции служители дохристианских языческих культов (языческие жрецы), звездочёты, чародеи и предсказатели, осуществлявшие богослужения и жертвоприношения, которым приписывались умения заклинать стихии и прорицать будущее. Предполагается, что волхвы составляли особый социальный слой. Мульт князь владимир как пример
Я использую Google Translate, чтобы ответить на ваш комментарий 😋 Колдуны очень интересны, и мне бы очень хотелось, чтобы у нас было больше источников информации на английском языке 😔 Я получил информацию из статей, которые нашел в Интернете, но очень немногие заголовки в библиографии были на английском языке. Как видите, ответить на ваш комментарий я могу только с помощью Google Translate, поэтому русскоязычные источники мне недоступны 😁 Надеюсь, вам понравился эпизод! 😉
![SAFEPLANET - ดาวเคราะห์ [ THE PLANET ]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/4X1XL3I_k3c/mqdefault.jpg)
''I summon thee Garden Gnomes to cleanse the land'' - Sub-urban Tzimisce banishing a pack of Gangrel from their lawn.
🤣 Not quite the spirits of the land I imagined, but when others aren't available... 😁
Nice! Made my day 🤘
So Koldunism is pretty much just spirit manipulation. The knowledge of it might have come from Kupala but it isn't inherently infernal and could theoretically be used to summon and bind any non human spirit that inhabits the land, be it a demon, bane spirit, nature spirit, or other similar entities. Also loved the tidbits on Romanian history and lore, binding air and water dragons? Yeah, I am definitely gonna use this in my chronicles now.
Nice! Glad you enjoyed 😉
Every of your videos are a treasure, neighbor. In Serbia we had "zduhać", wind-and-cloud banisher, a type of weather controling magic users who could banish bad weather made by alas, a bad type of dragons.
Thank you so much! 😭 That's really high praise right there, and I will do my best to keep up the good job 😁
Also, thank you for telling me about zduhac - I will look into it 😉
I'm curious to find out if folklore in this part of Europe has similar elements from country to country, even though they might be called differently 🤔
Can't wait for more comments in this regard 🥰
To me, regarding the lore aspect of Koldunism I am reminded of the way magic works in another system, Legend of the Five Rings where the caster, communes with a spirit and through some sort of understanding is lent part of a spirit's power. Maybe the lore passages are something akin to a spirit's past with the region and by showing you know them it grants you some power.
Koldunism is so cool.I must admit I'm biased towards the way it's practiced in the Dark Ages Tzimisce novel, although that may be because I adore Ilias as a character, and I think it has a lot of flavour in how it's portrayed. Regarding the use of spirit language, it could be that that was how Ilias was taught specifically, and it's not an actual requirement? Koldunism is pretty similar to Dur-an-Ki in that it both uses spirit pacts, and to get to the right mindset for it, there are different methods an ashipu can use (meditation, pain, dancing, kalif, et cetera). Ilias might use language as his method.
On that note, I'd really love an examination on the similarities between Koldunism and Dur-an-Ki!
Thanks for another really interesting episode!
Oh wow! That is a killer interpretation 🤯 Language not as a requirement, but just as an "encypted" means of passing down the knowledge or using the magic itself, so no one can understand what's happening. Love it!
I need to brush up on my Dur-An-Ki first 😋
It seems Koldunic sorcery is to Dark Thaumaturgy what Alchemy is to real magic; that is to say, it's derived from demonic knowledge, but isn't in and of itself infernal. Sorta like if a reckless Baali started spreading some of the less obviously tainting Dark Arts around to the point people didn't actually need to make deals with demons to get that knowledge (something that would probably go poorly for that Baali, but oh well); the knowledge may have come from an infernal source, but isn't in and of itself demonic or corrupting.
Yup, I like seeing it that way too, although, Koldunism is so much fun to have that... if the Storyteller were to deem it infernal, I'd still play a Koldun, even if it meant the character suffers a horrible end 😈🥰
I'm currently playing one for the very first time! Though the Tzimisce are my favorite Clan, I only got to play... 2 Fiends before? Yes, 2 Fiends. This third Tzimisce character is a Koldun of the Ruthven line, and she knows the Ways of Fire (2 dots), Wind and Spirit, with the Way of Water coming up shortly (only 1 dot each). She uses the Way of Fire to protect herself and to destroy her enemies in a frightening way (burning them), Way of Wind to communicate safely without modern technology, Way of Spirit to commune with the land she seeks to claim as her own, and the Way of Water is going to allow her to create very vivid illusions on any water surface, which is great for creating a specific ambiance/visual stimulus during certain activities or sharing very valuable visual information with others of the blood (like... the face of an enemy, the view of a certain place, information you want to SHOW your Coterie, not just tell them).
Ah, Koldunism is just... fantastic! 😍
Wort the wait.
Best lore channel out there. ❤️
You are very kind, thank you so much!😊
EDIT: Oh wow, that blush emoji looks so weird 😆 It's supposed to be blushing 😁
22:04 I can feel many shadow lords failing their rage rolls because of this statement.
all jokes aside what can a vampire offer a spirit besides the power within their blood things like money have no value to them, there also a contradiction in the relationship between vampires and Gaia spirits because if I remember correctly (it has been some time since I read any of the werewolf books) spirits of gaia have no desire to interact with vampires let alone make deals with them.
just imagine you are a werewolf hunting down a leech and you decided to get some information by talking to a local spirit and asking 'great noble spirit I'm hunting down a leech that stalks these lands can you help me find it?' and the spirit replies with 'oh you must be talking about vampire john' the werewolf shocked says 'wait you know this monster?' and the spirit says 'yeah he feeds me his blood in exchange I deliver messages to his friends' I can't see how this meeting doesn't end with the werewolf ripping the spirit to shreds because to the werewolf the spirit has clearly been tainted by the vampire.
A slightly off topic side note I always find it odd that there are tzimisce still on the road of humanity to me they all seem just too alien be on the road for any long period of time.
Solid point! It is in these moments that I really wish I knew my Werewolf better 😆
Saying that Koldunism might have once been of Shadow Lords or kinfolk is probably too far fetched indeed 🤔
The scenario you presented above does make me wander about some things, though, and unfortunately, I do not have access to Werewolf books at the moment:
Are spirits always benevolent towards Lupines? Do they have a notion of morality? Do they seek to always protect Gaia? Can they be tempted or corrupted? To what extent do they interact with other types of spirits?
If the Infernal and Umbrood are, indeed, separate entities that rarely interact with each other and predominantly reside on different layers of reality (different Umbras), then how could any demon, even one like Kupala, give vampires power over elemental spirits? How would it come to know such spirits, if they are kept separately, and what if they outright refuse to interact with such an entity and refuse to make themselves known, both to it and vampires?
In the scenario you presented above, spirits can be tainted/corrupted (and the werewolf wants to tear it to shreds as a result), which leads me to think some spirits can be made to do the biding of other beings. Now, when it comes to elemental spirits (or nature spirits, if we can call them that), the Tzimisce don't actually converse with them. They simply become aware of a procedure that allows them some degree of manipulation. The actual talking to spirits seems to be done only when interacting with what the game calls "demons" (a term which, from what I've seen, can be used to refer to a number of different entities in the World of Darkness)
For lack of a better example, I think interacting with elemental spirits in absence of verbal speech is like training a cat 😂 Let me explain:
Sure, the cat has no idea what I'm saying to it, even when I speak. It need not understand my morality, my cultural practices, and I need not understand too much of its own behavior, as long as we can tolerate each other. After a while residing in the same place, and after some very awkward interactions, it grows to see I'm not a direct threat and I grow to see it is not a direct threat either. Interactions continue. At some point we start trading favors, we "domesticate" one another. I feed the cat and, in exchange, it shows me what it's been catching, bringing me mice and such. The more different generations interact peacefully, the more they will continue interacting and trading favors and Vampires have eternity to make such relationships work 😁 At some point, observation might show the cat that if it taps my hand with its paw in a sort of "high 5" motion when I place my open palm before it, it gets a treat. Gradually, the cat comes to understand that most of the time, when I place my open palm before it and it high fives me, it gets a treat. Throughout our interactions, it notices changes in my vocal pitch, and comes to understand that different pitches mean different things. Calling out to the cat sounds a certain way, while other sounds indicate a coming conflict, or some kind of danger.
From what I know, spirits can be very intelligent, so having such an interaction is not impossible, especially if the Tzimisce had a mentor in either the kinfolk or Kupala, who taught them the proper way to "domesticate" such entities 😁I don't think power over such spirits was actually given to the Koldun, because "authority" isn't mentioned at all, in any of the books 🤔
But hey, a lot of this is my own attempt to make sense of this sorcery. Sadly, the books don't really give us much detail on how spirit interaction works for Koldun, definitely not to the same degree they explain Hermeticism. They just say: spend a blood point - magma shoots out of the ground 🤣
But your question is super good! What does the Vampire have to offer nature spirits and why DO the spirits take an offer of Vitae?
Ah, I'm really hoping I can get a better understanding of these things from the Werewolf perspective 😋
Loved your comment, it really got my mind wondering, and reminded me that I've never really delved into Werewolf lore too much, sadly. I'm putting that on my to do list 🤓
@@theoldcountry 'Solid point! It is in these moments that I really wish I knew my Werewolf better Saying that Koldunism might have once been of Shadow Lords or kinfolk is probably too far fetched indeed
no I think there a chance this could be true because I remember reading about the Thaumaturgy path of spirit manipulation (the book was either rites of the blood or guide to the camarilla) and I recall the book saying the path was similar to some 'lupine practices' what they mean by this has never been fully explained but if I had to guess I would imagine some Tremere warlock get his or her hands on some werewolf lore on spirits and used it as a foundation block for the path of spirit manipulation.
as to why spirits take vitae as a offer I think it because a vampire's vitae has inherent power in the mage book Blood Treachery it states that kindred blood contains quintessence which the garou would know as gnosis so maybe that why spirits take vampiric blood as a offer.
@@theoldcountrySome spirits are known to be liars and power hungry, also the corruption of the wyrm affects all lands. A vampire offering power and protection to the a forest might get in an uneasy alliance with it. The forest spirit might see the vampire as the apex predator that eats the luggers and actually effectively influences the humans away from harming the land. When a werewolf passes the spirit might play both against each other, make sure they never meet, even pretend victimhood or guilt trip the werewolf for not doing as good a job as the local Tzimisce.
@@theoldcountry In werewolf mythology there is Gaia(the world spirit) and she has three greater spirits below her as her servants. These are the Wyld(chaos,creation), the Weaver(order, stasis) and the Wyrm(death,destruction). In the eyes of the Werewolfs, the Weaver went mad and assaulted the Wyrm, which is why the Wyrm became corrupted and tries to destroy the world. These three greater spirits have almost all other nature spirits below them. For example Kupala for the Werewolfs is a high ranking Wyrm spirit, so powerful it sometimes even called one of the Talons of the Wyrm. Equally humans and other creatures possecced by Wyrm spirits, called Banes, are the main antagonist in Werewolf games, but other spirits can be an enemy too. This is also a reason why Werewolfs usually destroy Vampires, because of their undead nature they smell of the Wyrm and Werewolfs think that undeath is an example of corruption by the Wyrm.
However Vampire have their own quirks when it comes to spirits and the Werewolf description of the spiritworld has to be taken with a grain of salt, because Werewolfs are the self declared police force of the world. For example Banes cannot possess Vampires like they do with humans or animals and if they try it, they become imprisoned inside the Vampire, with the Vampire being able to gain some of their abilities. The most OP character you could build in 3rd Edition was a Fomori/Vampire Hybrid. This has the funny side effect, that while Werewolfs usually think of Vampire as completly being corrupted by the Wyrm, Spirits of the Wyrm keep their distance from Vampires. Equally because Vampires are unchanging and unaging, they can gain the apriciation of Spirits aligned with the Weaver. Both Vampires and Weaver spirits love cities and Mankind as a whole is the specie favored by the Weaver. This is something that pisses the Werewolfs off because they once tried to genocide Mankind in prehistory. So in essence while Spirits usually help and deal with Werewolfs, because they are the chosen of Gaia, the truth is that there is a huge number of spirits that are hostile or apathetic towards Werewolfs and those spirits might make a deal with a Vampire. If asked about the Vampire, those Spirits might lie to the Werewolf or lead them astray. Honestly the biggest hurdle of Vampire/Nature spirit cooperation is that they usually have no way of coming into contact with each other outside of Koldunism and some rare Thaumaturgy path or ritual.
@@roberthartburg266 Oh wow, your answer clarified things in a flash! 😁 Thank you! 🤘
I like this channel because you cover things I haven't ever read about
I really enjoy reading and have been reading Vampire for years, so it's completely my pleasure to investigate the lore a little bit, and maybe present it in a way that enhances someone's game, or opens up new narrative possibilities 🤞
I'm glad you are enjoying the channel. I really look forward to the comments regarding the presence of Koldun around Romania. I don't know much about that and I'm always eager to learn new things 😌
Great video that I have been anticipating, and it was great to hear about Romanian history and lore about sorcery (Especially the dragons). I have always liked Koldun, but have always been a bit weirded out by the Kraina of the Well. Is it one derived from the Baali presence in the Old Country, since it deals with an organ pit, and refers to demons as children (Like the Children of Outer Dark, or a Decani)? I admit, I don’t have the relevant books for this (Building up the collection), so I only have the Wiki as a fallback. Also, congrats on 400!
Thank you so much! Just a little more and community tab will be available 🥰
In regards to the Kraina of the Well - I will have to research this one more in depth because I am pretty confused about it. I mean, I know for a fact the True Black Hand opposes infernalism. So what's that variant of the sorcery doing there... I don't know. Might be tied to the Molochim Baali, but i know pretty little about them too 😔
Koldunic sorcery is my favorite type of blood magic right after abyssal mysticism. Speaking of which do you think a lasombra using obtenebration could suck a demon straight back into the abyss?
Hmmm, a very interesting idea! I'm not sure if the Abyss the Lasombra manipulate is the same... "stuff" that makes up the Pit. I will look into this for the Abyss Mysticism episode 😉
@@theoldcountry Necromancing this conversation: it is stated Obtenebration draws power from Oblivion, the same one Necromancy manipulates, channels and coaxes. Maybe not into the Abyss (which is a whole magnitude of existence out), but sending him back to the Labyrinth or other outer levels of the Umbra is not out of the possibilities
Great video!
I've tried to piece together material on koldunism and Tzimisce in general, but geography and language proved to be very obstinate obstacles (my meager Russian and the handfull of words I get of Polish can only get me so far). I found that in Poland they actually celebrate Kupala's night for real... and it's freaking midsummer! It's literally the feast of Saint John the Baptiste mixed with local folklore.
That broke me.
Your video is a much apreciated view and research aid.
Thanks a bunch!
Just one adendum that I'd very much love to have your help with: in the old Blood Magic: thaumaturgy companion (I think... Will check as soon as able), there's a box dedicated to explaining how magical senses percieve the effects of different sorceries. It's there mentioned how your garden variety blood mages (read Tremere) would very probably damage their sanity, or at the very least shit bricks, if they tried their senses on the visceral corruption that is Koldunic sorcery.
Maybe I'm remembering this wrong (again, Will check as soon as able), but I'd very much apreciate your take on this.
I'm glad you enjoyed it 😉 I've struggled with finding sources on real life Koldun as well, so I'm more than happy to share my meager findings in this episode 😀
Wish I had more info to share 😔
Uuuu, I must've missed that in the Companion. I'll look it up as soon as I can and get back with an answer 😁
@@theoldcountry Found it! Wasn't in the Companion though... It's a box on the power Thaumaturgical Sight, on page 47 of the Revised Tremere Clanbook. It doesn't say as much as I remembered. Funny how memory throws things in the shaker some times.
@Kapuzki Ah, found it too! I really like how it's described 😁
I think combination disciplines or "techniques" such as this one are a really great means for allowing players to interact with the setting in a way that might reveal some of its lore, or at least giving them some more info they can act on.
The Tremere were, in nascent times, also influenced by Kupala (mwhahahaha) so I doubt reading a "blood aura" (or the Tremere equivalent of "Detect Magic" - can't believe I've just used D&D terminology 😋) will break their sanity, especially given the rigorous training of their will. But, I totally agree when you say it should have them... at least concerned (and maybe shitting bricks! 😈)
Depending on the Way that is being cast by the Koldun, the Tremere might see a gust of wind or mist, dark red, like tainted blood, being exuded from the pores of the practitioner, nostrils and mouth, and swirling around their limbs or head, or (for something like the Way of Earth) they might see pulsing roots of blood crawling from within the ground, through the stones, and biting into the Koldun's feet, binding them to the soil and forcing themselves into their veins, in a strange form of symbiosis. For the Way of Fire, I can see the Koldun appearing as a living cauldron of boiling blood-magma, head set ablaze and ember eyes, receiving heat from the bowels of the earth, while, for the Way of Water, the Tremere might see the Koldun beginning to leak outside of their shape or, some sort of fowl blood slushing around underneath their skin, as if the Koldun is a translucent vessel containing a small but agitated body of water, maybe a storm.
I'm thinking of such descriptions because it is rumored that Koldun actually undergo a very brief possession when using these powers, like the spirits are not external, but... operate the beckoner from within. Mwhahahaha. I forgot to mention this during the episode 😔
When Koldun use a certain way, some books say their eyes turn the color of the element being used, thus indicating that... something might be lurking within the Koldun 😧(For Way of Wind, their eyes turn blue and clouds can be seen passing through their ocular orbs while gusts of wind swirl around them, for Way of Fire their eyes turn vivid, burning orange and so on...)
Or, the Tremere might see blood traceries and bloody phantasms of the elemental spirits, surrounding the Koldun and doing their biding while executing strange motions that seem almost like a dance 🤩
Ok, I stop now. I got carried away there, but I really like this sorcery 🥰There's so much... poetry (for lack of a better term) that storytellers can give players with describing these powers, it's crazy 😁
first and last time i played a character with koldunism the gm (who was new to vtm/v20) kept saying every time i tried to use the spirit set of the discipline that the effect was "countered" and the "counterspell" hurled me around. we were all 15th gen, were only allowed 1 discipline (but could have up to 3 dots in said discipline) and he okayed it.... the other players who chose the other forms of sorcery never had their effects "countered". i chose to put 2 of my starting discipline dots into spirit and 1 into fire... and we werent able to get any additional dots in the game. ever. =/ i love the mechanics and the lore behind it as a discipline though... but that experience makes me loathe to trying to touch the discipline again any time soon...
note it would happen *as soon as my dice hit the table to see if it worked/its duration* so even if i *could* spend the resources to use it: in the game world there was less than 5 seconds of use time...
I don't like your GM very much right now 🤬 Why did he even give you the discipline if he didn't want you using it? Ah, that's so annoying! I'm sorry you had this experience 😔 (but i thank you for sharing it)
This channel is so good for brushing up on WoD lore.
I'm glad you say that 😁 Most of the time I feel like I should probably be more succinct and just collect the lore without interpreting it too much, like I'm going into details that aren't necessarily related to the lore itself and might bore people. I'm always happy to hear that's not the case 😋
Cheers!
100%
I am running a nomadic Sabbat game and this, along with a couple others, are really really helping me remember what I've forgotten and learn what I missed. Very thorough, of which I have only the utmost respect, as I remember taking all those steps before lol.
Thank You.
@@justanotherdayinthelife9841 Heeeey 😁 Glad you're enjoying the channel, and glad to hear you're running a Sabbat chronicle!
If you want to, and it doesn't spoil things for any of your players who might be watching, feel free to share details about the game. I'm always eager to hear about the Sabbat
🍷🗡
*Vaulderies in emoji*
@@theoldcountry right on. Well, heres the premise:
1996 Halloween Palle Grande was the start of the game. They (players) were to be a part of a prestigious Elder hunting pack, one that the Sabbat had a bit more control over who gets to join and who needs to leave like a Spec Ops team. The players chose a route that encompassed a loop from Seattle Washington to Seattle Washington hitting the entire west coast into heavy Sabbat territory in Mexico then on through New Orleans (which is where they are now) routing out and eating elders of the Camarilla.
As I said, now they're at New Orleans, but previously they had to deal with a Ventrue Elder (who they managed to swarm and sneak around all of his security with a player using Obtenebration and his successes on his tentacles and the type of edifice of the building, he was able to lift up the pack outside secretly onto his balcony while the Abbot launched the attack with a snipe straight to his brain meats while he was pretend eating with his pretend family for local investigative authorities. Lol so that was a blender on steroids of a fight. In the end the Ventrue was overwhelmed and diablerized. They then fled the scene out the window to avoid his tremendous guard force coming to see what had happened.
Then they moved on into Anarch territory where the local Baron asked them to do them a solid for allowing them to travel through their territory unmolested. The favor being take out the Toreador Elder, "Butterfly", (basically David Bowie as Ziggy Stardust embraced).
I've gotta go but hit me up here if you want mode of the history of the game ao far...
@@theoldcountry after dealing with Butterfly and his 6 childer like some sort of undead family band. They used their presence through their music and drew the characters into their grip almost fatally, until the Pack Priest managed to set the stage curtains on fire. That released their grip long enough for the pack to swarm 2 of the 7 to diablerie while they shot a 3rd up with overwhelming firepower. The 3rd Toreador recovered the next round, but in that time, with celerity and split actions a member of the pack was able to intercept the Butterfly. That's when the Sabbat Fire Dancing came into great use...the pack didnt Rotzhereck but the Camarilla bunch did. The Toreador fled beneath to a hidden garage where they burst out onto the street going about 120 mph with a bit of time before the same with the childer. The Pack was close enough to their motorcycles and were able to pursue. Chimerstry and Obtenebration stopped the car and a couple well timed (hand built via chemistry specialty in science, demotions specialty in frag grenades, and they have the equipment in their semi truck bed/haven) frag grenades under the childers car ended that threat. They then bound up the Toreador in shadow tentacles and ran his body off to eat.
They got praise from the Baron, also for a job they didnt take....someone had killed all the Nosferatu in the city ( as was the job was just for 1 famous camarilla Nosferatu). This startled the players.
While hurrying out of the area, the players biker gang pack got attacked. They had just rolled their bikes into the back of the semi truck for protection, and no sooner was the door closed on the back of the semi was it being wrenched open by what looked like a Nosferatu gone mad with disease and looking like a Chupacabra. They managed to lose it on the road. The Pander blood magician de ided to try to use taste of blood to figure out what it was and found that it was Niktuku blood. It was 8th generation Niktuku blood.....also the Pander got infected, lost a point in Appearance over time and is addicted to the non nourishing goats blood in addition to normal blood and if he stops drinking it he doesnt know what will happen...only that its degenerative.
They made it through Sabbat Mexican territory and began moving eastward along their normal route. They eventually got an assignment to go infiltrate and destroy a new Tremere chantry established on the edge of Camarilla territory. This is supposed to bulwark the edging the Camarilla has been doing in what is currently a very hot war vs Sabbat and Camarilla.
They reconed the hell out of the place and then snuck in (destroying wards etc). They found all the tremere had 2 legit demons inside. They were binding one and asking for deal within a warded circle in another. Apparently between the recon stage and the action stage, someone had attacked the place and killed many normal and ghouled guards, as well as most of the Tremere. It looked like the assailants were fought to a stand still and pushed to make a retreat or regrouping. THIS is where the players appeared in the timeline and exploited the situation. The assailants showed back up with friends, they were a group of well funded and organized Hunters. This is when the players rigged the place with c4 and dipped while blowing it up on the Hunters moving in for the attack. They did this while daemon was loose and running around bleeding summoning circle around them so they leapt into the Umbra with triggered rituals out the window.....while the building exploded and the demon completed her ritual...this ? Ended up dropping them through the cracks of the Umbra into the Abyss instead.
They duly freaked out and gained derangements from the experience while the Malkavian Abbot and Losambra Priest landed outside on the ground not in the Umbra and had to flee the Hunters. They eventually found a place where the newbie Abyssal Mysticism Lasombra tried to fish out the players from the inky black forever dark with the help of the Malkavian "pinging" them through her Malkavian Madness Network (Insight Background) to locate them.
The characters got out and now had new emotional problems! Yay! Lol
They got away from that botched success, and longer story shortened, are now in New Orlea s dealing with a "yojimbo/last man standing/hatfields and mccoys" situation where equal power on either side of the Cam and the Sabbat are present and stalemated. The Camarilla Toreador elder, a master at the art of warfare, and one of the towns original residents against an Old Clan Tzimisce who is so prodigious in his use of Koldunism that he has separated most of his self on this realm and exists almost entirely within the Umbra. Couched in an almost shard realm of his opulescence, that the Umbral spirits surrounding him are fat and glutted upon his power, sitting like a czar in the spirit realm and one of the original towns Native American detestors (he is actually Koschei the infamous folkore evil wizard), who traveled via the Umbra to this place be ause of the vast amount of power in that geography...it wasnt until he allied with the natives against the encroaching French that he began to become their protector. This would rage on until the two met and fell in love, the Toreador and Koschei (which quitted down the violence for a while). Then inevitably they fell out of love and became bitter rivals who ravaged everyone in their way to get revenge, leading to a stalemate and a fairly vacated city except for the local Samedi elder Poppa Justify, who watches the balance and guards the dead. There is also a new development that has shown itself in the city..the Giovanni and the Followers of Set have come to a business agreement called the Cairo Contrct, theyve joined together as a joint interest business venture as a pilot project in New Orleans. Theyve blinded Koschei from seeing them (as he is kinda checked out from the really real world and obsessed with living in the Umbra) and acting as if Mafia backed Scientologists with Necromancy and Setite Thaumaturgy, this is highly organized "oh-shittery". They managed to finish creation of a Lesser Bane Mummy, An-Apophis, or as they call it "Black Sunshine" and the shit has hit the fan....
This is where 8 months of biweekly discord gaming has gotten us so far.
Great video as always! Can you talk about Obtenebration and it's connection to Abbys and if this Abbys is the same in Demon?
Already working on it, since another listener has asked me to cover Abyss Mysticism 😋
We will be diving into matters of the Abyss... soon 😈
Amazing video as always
Yeeey! Glad you enjoyed and thank you so much 🥰
Basically Slavic druidism
Well koldunism and necronancy 2 the best sorceres in vampire ( sorry for bad english it is not my native language). There is a rumor that kolduns were some sort of seers that use animal guts
Of course there are Koldun in The Old Country. We're them.
😁 I like that thought! But I'm still super curious if the word itself is part of neighboring languages, since we don't have it in our lexicon. I think there are also some baked cakes/ bread that is called kolduns 😋
Thanks for the Video, Im in a V5 Campaign playing as a V5 Koldun that may include the Baali and Wolves so this gives a great way to add flavor into my play!! Thanks Bud
Any thoughts on the V5 Koldunism?
Hey! Glad you found the episode interesting 😉
I'm not well versed when it comes to V5, but I watched Voivode Mekhet's video on V5 Koldunism and I must say I found it very lovely. It was my understanding Koldunism is not an official V5 thing, but more of a homebrew. Regardless, I'm happy it's there 😁 It's such a fascinating form of blood magic 🥰
@@theoldcountry It used to be a Homebrew but Blood Sigils Book pretty much officially makes it V5 Content. However unlike Previous versions, in V5 it is restricted only to Tzimisce Kindred which totally contradictory to its old lore of always being an out of clan Discipline. It still needs to be taught by a Koldun Master in order to gain access to it.
@@overscoresam948 Well, at least it's in V5 as well now 😁 Hmmm... gotta get my hand on that Blood Sigils book
I don't remember where I read it; but I think Kuppala had helped refining kreinas to elemental ways. He is not the source. Although it may change according to different books.
@@xaress I think that's really the beauty of it, the fact that this info can vary from book to book and game to game (or even from character to character) 🥰
Is it possible that Koldunism has both a "pure" form and an "infernal" form, like Thaum and dark thaum?
Well, I am very tempted to see it that way, and I'm also tempted to say Vicissitude is in the same boat - something I will explore on the last episode of the lore-hunt.
I mean, some rituals of Koldunism do allow interaction with spirits that are traditionally considered demons, there's no doubt about that. I don't think it's impossible that such entities have knowledge of forms of sorcery that are inherently dark/unclean/tainted, altering the practitioner's behavior if performed routinely, or even gradually corrupting the sorcerer... simply through the interaction ifself (if they aren't careful).
It seems to be up to each Koldun to decide on how they use their abilities, keeping away from such corrupted spirits and forbidden knowledge... if they can overcome the temptation 😈 Mwhahahaha
Perhaps we are closer to "werewolf" magic here than anywhere else in vampire culture, if I am understanding this properly. What it a nice starting point to rewrite the History of vampires in this setting. I admit, that's the aspect I like less about World of Darkness, their past and their generations do not make sense to me. Their distant past is way too recent.
While werewolf is a lot more interesting and plausible. Specially when we bring in consideration the mokolé.
I have this notion about an adventure for abomination characters in the Sabbat. Where the spiritual connection is made by the Sabbat itself, acting as an spirit, and granting the characters a way to stay sane. This high level "special forces" would be spared much of the bad aspects about being abominations thanks to that. By the bargain price of being fully loyal to their spiritual "pack spirit" so to speak. And mainly fight corruption inside the sect itself.
If Koldun is closely related to werewolf magic, then maybe some Sabbat bands can get a sort of "cultural understanding" with some werewolves that goes beyond the Spartan way regarding cultural exchange.
I like the notion that less "human" vampires could have some sort of truce with werewolves, and even join forces in limited extent for specific tasks. While more "human" vampires, and werewolves for that matter, cannot even think about this possibility.
Это Волхвы - в древнерусской традиции служители дохристианских языческих культов (языческие жрецы), звездочёты, чародеи и предсказатели, осуществлявшие богослужения и жертвоприношения, которым приписывались умения заклинать стихии и прорицать будущее. Предполагается, что волхвы составляли особый социальный слой. Мульт князь владимир как пример
Я использую Google Translate, чтобы ответить на ваш комментарий 😋 Колдуны очень интересны, и мне бы очень хотелось, чтобы у нас было больше источников информации на английском языке 😔 Я получил информацию из статей, которые нашел в Интернете, но очень немногие заголовки в библиографии были на английском языке.
Как видите, ответить на ваш комментарий я могу только с помощью Google Translate, поэтому русскоязычные источники мне недоступны 😁
Надеюсь, вам понравился эпизод! 😉
@@theoldcountry It was a wonderful episode thank you for content. Also episodes with Kupala was very interesting.