Initiation

There are no mechanical prerequisites for becoming a Tremere. Any mage, even one that just Awakened, can theoretically become one. However, the Order usually only inducts people that would be an asset. They usually target experienced mages seeking immortality, or specialists with access to lore and knowledge the Order doesn’t already have. Sometimes recruitment is by invitation, and other times it is forced upon the initiate. The typical candidate has at least Gnosis 3, and at least 3 dots in two Arcana. Initiates must complete the initiation ritual as described in Left-Hand Path (being soullessly baptized in Oroboros). Mages in a Legacy lose their Legacy as part of the Hollowing. Any Experiences spent on the Legacy are refunded.

Playing as a Tremere

The general method of playing a Temere involves increasing Hollow to a high level in order to buff the mage’s capabilities. Once it’s no longer needed, the Tremere should enter short koimaomai to reduce their Hollow to a more manageable level. Thus, a Tremere needs a steady supply of souls on hand to work their most powerful magic. When things go south, the Tremere can go into longer koimaomai, hiding from the world for decades until the danger has passed.

Tremere Template

The template:

• Hollow: A Tremere's replaces Gnosis with Hollow upon their initiation. Hollow represents how much the Tremere allows the void of the Final Watchtower to fill them. Hollow allows the Tremere to use souls to fuel their life force and use other strange powers.
• Wisdom: Tremere retain Wisdom. A Tremere that reaches Wisdom 0 is fully consumed by the living void of the Final Watchtower, and is erased from the Tapestry.
• Soul Consumption: Tremere may "attach" a soul to themselves via the Soul Jar spell, Hollow Attainments, or similar effects. While a soul is attached, the lich does not age. A soul normally animates the Tremere for 1 year. Every 3 dots of effective Hollow reduces this by 4 months, to a minimum of 1 month. If the lich is age 75+, add 3 to effective Hollow for calculating nourishment. At age 100+, add 6 instead. A Tremere whose animating soul is depleted, or who has no soul at all, immediately enters soul loss.
• The Supreme Coin: Awakened souls are more potent for the Tremere. A Tremere animated by an Awakened soul gains The Supreme Coin Condition.
• Soul Burn: The mage can burn their animating soul to increase Hollow rapidly. In a process taking one Scene, the mage depletes the soul to increase Hollow. Burning a Sleeper soul costs 1 Regular/Arcane Experience and increases Hollow by 1. Burning an Awakened soul costs 1 Arcane Experience and increases Hollow by 2. Burning a Sleeper soul does not cause a Wisdom violation, but destroying an Awakened soul this way is still an Act of Hubris against Falling Wisdom (1 die).
• Hollow Identity: Tremere do not have a personal soul; aura-reading and soul-affecting powers affect the soul animating the Tremere instead. A lich can reflexively spend 1 point of Mana to react to soul-affecting or aura-reading powers with any soul in their possession, making the effect target that soul instead.
• Yantras: Tremere may channel their connection to the Final Watchtower into their spells. They gain access to a unique Persona Yantra worth +1 die. This Yantra can be enhanced by The Supreme Coin and Hollowed Conditions. Tremere also gain an additional +1 bonus when using a soul as a sacrament Yantra.
• Koimaomai: Koimaomai, or the sleep of death, is a mystical state that Tremere enter to lower their Hollow, escape problems in the present, or halt the progression of grave injuries. In this state, they consume no souls. During this time, the lich's body appears to be a corpse and does not need air, water, or livable temperatures. Entering koimaomai is a violation of Understanding Wisdom, and takes a Scene to initiate. The Tremere then gains the Koimaomai Condition.

Hollow

Tremere replace their Gnosis with Hollow, a value that represents their connection to the living void of the Final Watchtower. At a high Hollow, the void consumes the Tremere, but permits access to fantastic power. At low Hollow, the mage retains more of the self, but has less access to power. At initiation, Gnosis converts into the Tremere's Ego.

• Effects of Hollow: Hollow is the Tremere’s Supernatural Tolerance trait and controls access to Hollow Attainments and Praxes. Many Tremere template abilities scale with Hollow. Any effects reliant on Gnosis use the Tremere’s Hollow, unless otherwise noted.
• Ego: Ego is the Tremere's sense of self pitted against the void of the Final Watchtower. This is a number marked on the Hollow chart, initially equal to the mage's former Gnosis. Some Hollow-derived bonuses are limited by the Tremere’s Ego. It determines all Gnosis-derived traits, such as Arcanum Limits and spellcasting dice pools. It also determines access to House Attainments, as if they were Legacy Attainments. Increasing Ego costs 5 Experiences.
• Changing Hollow: A Tremere's Hollow starts at 1. It naturally increases by 1 dot every 5 years, or whenever the Tremere increases their Ego. It can increase faster if the Tremere burns souls. It can only decrease if the Tremere enters koimaomai. If the Tremere’s Hollow drops too much, they may lose access to Hollow Attainments or Hollow Praxes.
• Hollow Praxes: The Tremere’s undisputed mastery of the subtle Arcana gives them extra Praxes. Starting at Hollow 1, and every 2 dots after, the mage gains an extra Praxis. The Praxis must be of a subtle Arcanum and within the lich’s Arcanum limits. The base spellcasting pool for these Praxes is Hollow + Arcanum, rather than Ego + Arcanum. If the lich would lose access to these Praxes because of low Hollow, they choose which one(s) to lose.
• Call of the Void: Tremere can fully open their non-being to the Final Watchtower. By spending one point of Mana as an instant action, the lich gains the Hollowed Condition. But as a lich grows in power, the Watchtower calls louder. Per chapter, the Storyteller has one “charge” for every 2 dots of Hollow, which they may spend to force the lich to become Hollowed. Involuntarily entering the state requires success on a Hollow roll, and is usually triggered by powerful Mysteries or dangerous situations. Mana may be spent, up to the Gnosis-derived Mana-per-turn limit, to reduce chances of involuntary Hollowing. 1 Mana removes one die from the Hollow pool, down to a chance die.

Hollow Attainments

Tremere automatically gain access to Hollow Attainments as they increase in power. These generally follow the rules for Legacy Attainments, except as noted here. Fixed Reach is calculated using Hollow as effective Arcanum dots, but Potency for these effects are always equal to the dots in the lich's highest subtle Arcanum. Access to these is limited by the Tremere's Hollow. If it is less than the requirements, they cannot use the Attainment. Tremere do not need to learn these powers by spending Experiences; they are just a natural extension of the their Hollowing.

• Soul Sight (Hollow 1): A Tremere's Mage Sight is able to perceive what sustains them. With Active Mage Sight, the Tremere can replicate the effects of the Soul Marks spell at Sensory Range. The lich must concentrate on a subject for one turn to study its soul. The Potency of the effect is equal to the lich’s highest subtle Arcanum.
• Hideous Stipend (Hollow 3): The mage may sever the soul from a Sleeper target with a touch, as the Sever Soul spell. The soul can either be placed into a soul jar or left free in Twilight. Reach is assigned to Instant Casting.
• Wicked Claim (Hollow 5): By spending a point of Mana, the lich may attach a stolen soul to themselves. The soul must be free in Twilight or in a Soul Jar in the lich's possession. The process takes one Scene. This Attainment emulates the Soul Jar spell with Reach assigned to binding a soul and Lasting duration.
• Supernal Theft (Hollow 7): The mage can steal souls from Awakened victims, and immediately either place the soul into a soul jar or bind it to themselves (as Wicked Claim). The lich can also opt to leave the soul free-floating in Twilight. The mage must touch their victim. This experience is extremely traumatic for the victim, inflicting the Enervated Condition. This Attainment emulates the "Sever the Awakened Soul" spell with Reach assigned to Instant Casting and skipping the Soulless Condition.
• Hollow Pattern (Hollow 9): The mage can use their Pattern as a Soul Jar. They may store a number of souls within their Pattern equal to the dots in their highest subtle Arcanum. The mage may also attach souls from within their Pattern as an Instant Action. The connection between the lich and the souls in their Pattern is so great, that it can only be assailed by Unmaking magic. Souls stored in the mage’s Pattern do not appear in Active Mage Sight or through the Death Arcanum, but a specifically designed Prime spell can uncover them. This provokes a Clash of Wills.

Soul Loss

A Tremere lich whose animating soul has been depleted, or one who has no animating soul at all, suffers from soul loss. They suffer in a way similar to regular mages, but it is more dangerous. Any time a Tremere regains Willpower while suffering from the Soulless or Enervated Conditions, they take one point of Resistant Lethal damage that cannot heal they regain a soul. A Tremere who manages to reach the Thrall Condition is obliterated from existence one Scene after gaining the Condition. Once the Tremere regains a soul, they start healing the resistant damage. They regain one Lethal damage suffered as a result of soul loss when they regain Willpower, in addition to healing it at the normal rate.

Houses

Houses are the conquered Reaper Legacies of the Tremere. Houses are divisions within the Order, each with unique Attainments. There are many Tremere Houses, although a few dominate the sect. Some Houses are nothing more than the princeps that created it, plus one or two custodes underneath them. Others are full-fledged societies, like well-established Legacies.

Houses are slightly different from Legacies:

• Limitations: No House possesses a Ruling Arcanum, unique Yantras, or unique Oblations.
• House Attainments: The Attainments follow the rules for Legacy Attainments except as noted here. Unlike a normal Legacy, Houses only grant the 3rd, 4th, and 5th Attainments. They have no pre-requisites aside from Ego and Arcanum dots, but they are more costly to learn. House Attainments cost 2 Experiences to learn, instead of 1. Unlike Hollow Attainments, House Attainments have no relation to the Tremere’s Hollow--only their Ego matters.
• House Boon: Each House grants a Boon to those Tremere who maintain the Hollowed Condition. A lich gains access to this benefit upon initiation.
• House Weakness: Every House has a weakness that manifests due to the Hollow nature of the Tremere. A lich gains this weakness upon initiation.
• Initiation: Joining a House requires the aspirant to pay a cost of 5 or 6 souls (or one Awakened soul). If the House decides to accept the enfante, they teach the Aspirant to shape their non-being in such a way that they gain the House’s powers. Tremere can join a House at Ego 2, although they cannot start learning the Attainments until Ego 4. Initiation does not automatically grant access to the House’s first Attainment.

House Nagaraja

The Nagaraja are the oldest House, originating out of India. The original Legacy consisted of wandering ascetics that hunted evildoers and gained spiritual strength by understanding, conquering, and discarding passions. The serpent kings treat other members of the Order with condescension, believing themselves to be at the top of the Tremere’s hierarchy in prestige, if not also power. They are kings of vice, wandering mystics who conquer sensual pleasures so that they may lay claim to others’ souls. Contrasting with regal bearing, they often wear simple clothes in emulation of the original ascetic Legacy.

• House Boon: The Tremere adds their Mind dots to social maneuvering rolls that utilize one of their stolen Vices.
• House Weakness: Members of the House regain 2 fewer points of Willpower from satisfying a Virtue than usual. If this wouldn’t allow them to recover any Willpower at all, they regain 1 point of Willpower instead. [LHP p. 84]

Attainments

The Nagaraja are kings of vice, able to warp and twist it to any desired end.

• Third: Inflict Vice (Mind 3): The Nagaraja inflicts the emotional desire of a Vice from a stolen soul on their target. This attainment emulates the Emotional Urging spell with Reach assigned to Instant Casting and Sensory Range. In addition to the effects of Emotional Urging, the Attainment inflicts the Obsession Condition regarding carrying out the Vice. The Attainment is Withstood by Composure, and Potency is equal to the lich’s Mind dots.
• Fourth: Conquer Vice (Mind 4): A stolen vice becomes iron discipline. To activate this Attainment, the Nagaraja must satisfy a Vice belonging to one of their stolen souls. They regain a number of Willpower equal to their Mind dots, and then add their Mind dots to Composure for one Scene, which may exceed the natural limit defined by Hollow. Activating the Attainment costs one Mana. This Attainment emulates Augment Mind with Reach assigned to Instant Casting and Advanced Duration.
• Fifth: Channel Vice (Mind 5): The Nagaraja can weave a stolen Vice into useful knowledge and skills. To activate the Attainment, the Nagaraja must fulfill the Vice. Then, they gain a number of dots in a Skill equal to their Mind dots for one Scene. The skill must be one that the soul’s owner has dots in. This Attainment emulates the Gain Skill spell, with Reach assigned to Instant Casting and Advanced Duration.

House Heo Sel

Originating in medieval Scandinavia, House Heo Sel was one of the first targets of the Tremere crusade. The witch-priests of the goddess Hel had power to bar Viking warriors from an afterlife in Valhalla or Christian Heaven. The original Seo Hel believed that the goddess was a Supernal metaphor for physical decay, with the material and afterlife retaining a bond on death. After absorption into the Tremere, the House learned to transmute souls into matter.

• House Boon: The Heo Sel gains an exceptional success on a roll with three successes instead of five when using an object made or altered by their House Attainments.
• House Weakness: The Grim Mark manifests upon initiation to the House. Over the course of a day, one side of the Tremere’s body becomes covered in dead, gray flesh.  Any Social rolls that require a pleasing (or at least inoffensive) appearance are reduced to a chance die. They also lose any dots in the Striking Looks Merit. Furthermore, the mark is difficult to conceal magically. Any spells designed to conceal or divert attention from the Mark cannot benefit from Advanced or Indefinite Duration. [LHP p. 85]

Attainments

The Attainments of House Heo Sel allow them to transmute their stolen souls into matter.

• Third: Crafts from the Grim Hall (Matter 3): The Heo Sel can transmute a soul in their possession into an object. The object can be simple, such as a screwdriver, or complex, such as electronic equipment. The object looks cracked and deformed, with muted colors. The object possesses Durability and Damage (if applicable) ratings equal to the mage’s dots in Matter. If the object is destroyed, the soul is destroyed. The true benefit of the Attainment is that the mage can make use of the soul’s ability when using it: they may substitute the soul’s owner’s skill dots when using the object. This Attainment takes an Instant Action and one Mana to activate, and lasts for one Scene.
• Fourth: Tools of Poison (Matter 4): The Heo Sel infects an object with the ability to sicken those who come near it. This object inflicts the equivalent of the Death Spell “Devouring the Slain” on anyone who touches it, if they have at least one Aggravated damage. The Attainment can only affect a target once, unless they suffer more Aggravated damage. Thus, the Heo Sel often cast this on weapons. Imbuing an object with the Attainment is an instant action that costs one Mana, and it lasts for for one Scene.
• Fifth: Perfected Crafts (Matter 5): The Heo Sel can use stolen souls to perfect material objects, including ones they create with Crafts from the Grim Hall. By melding a stolen soul with a physical object, the mage increases the object’s purity. The object’s Availability is increased by the mage’s Matter dots, and it grants the rote quality on a number of rolls equal to the dots the soul’s owner has in a relevant Skill (e.g. Crafts for a screwdriver, or Weaponry for a sword). Activating this Attainment is an Instant Action, and costs one Mana. It lasts for one Scene. This Attainment emulates the Crucible spell, with Reach assigned to Instant Casting, Advanced Duration, and rote quality.

House Vedmak

The Vedmak Legacy originated in medieval Poland. These mages were dedicated to fighting against supernatural evil, and with strange powers they could pursue their quarry into the spiritual world by possessing dead bodies. Volunteers would offer up their soul to protect these witchers, so that if the hero would take a death blow, the volunteer would take it for them, and they could keep on fighting. The Legacy was conquered by the Tremere after the Vedmak tried to unite and fight against the Tremere. The Diamond was deceived into destroying them. Today, the Vedmak still fight against supernatural evil, although they don’t need volunteers.

• House Boon: Vedmak add their Death dots to dice pools to damage ghosts, vampires, and other death-related supernatural creatures. This does not apply to spellcasting rolls.
• House Weakness: The Vedmak’s avoidance of injury by redirecting it to others makes it more difficult for them to use true Pattern Restoration. Pattern Restoration takes 5 Mana instead of 3, or 3 Mana instead of 1 if the Vedmak possesses the Life Attainment.

Attainments

The Attainments of House Vedmak are were originally dedicated to fighting off ghosts and other monsters, and keeping the witcher alive as a last resort. Today, the House still uses stolen souls to enhance their fight against evil, but in ways more innovative than the original Legacy could have ever thought.

• Third: Enter Twilight (Death 3): The witcher enters Twilight in pursuit of ghosts or other things that lurk there. Over the course of one Scene, the lich converts their body and possessions into ghostly ephemera. The effect lasts for a Scene. This Attainment emulates the Ghost Gate spell, with Reach assigned to Advanced Duration and transforming without a gate.
• Fourth: Repel the Darkness (Death 4): The Vedmak can walk unharmed among evil. Ghostly Numina, Influences, Manifestations, Death spells, and any death-related powers of other supernatural creatures provokes a Clash of Wills roll. If the witcher loses the Clash, or if they would take Aggravated damage from any source,  they may reflexively spend one point of Mana to redirect the effect or damage to the owner of one of their stolen souls. The soul’s owner must be living. This may only be done once per soul for the duration of the Attainment. Activating the Attainment is an Instant Action and lasts for a Scene.
• Fifth: Army of the Dead (Death 5): The witcher can summon the dead to aid them in their fight, enhanced by the power of stolen souls. The witcher binds a soul into a corpse, and it raises as if Quicken Corpse was cast on it. The zombie acts as a Retainer with dots equal to the mage’s dots in Death. It has Health equal to the living creature it came from, and suffers damage as if it was under the effects of Death mage armor. It uses the mage’s dots in Death for attack dice pools, has Defense 3, Initiative 1, and Speed 6. The stolen soul enhances the zombie, allowing it to apply the soul’s owner’s Skills as a die bonus to relevant dice pools (such as Brawl for combat). Activating this Attainment takes one Scene and lasts for one day.

House Thrax

The book says “the 9th’s commanders were Adamantine Arrow warrior-mages and used the legion’s position to investigate Pictish sorcery. Through military incursions, they forced native mystics to teach them the battle magic within human sacrifice. As the Thrax Legacy, the 9th’s officers sacrificed their own men in battle to live as war-gods beyond Hadrian’s Wall.” It also says “Their attainments channel souls into frenzied strength.” Today, the House has modified the Attainments to attract less attention. The Thrax pool together rage and strength from many souls in order to become strong warriors.

• House Boon: A Thrax mage who maintains the Hollowed Condition adds half their Life dots (rounded up) to non-attack rolls based on a Physical attribute (Strength, Stamina, or Dexterity).
• House Weakness: The ruthless disregard for human life of the Legacy lives on as a curse on the Thrax. They are mystically compelled to utterly destroy their opponents, which has lethal consequences on the battlefield. Their compulsion does not absolve them of any Acts of Hubris. Showing mercy to an enemy requires the Thrax to spend a point of Willpower.

Attainments

The Thrax distill stolen souls into an “invisible legion of fury.” Every soul they take is added to the Legion, becoming an impersonal force of strength and rage that benefits the mage and his allies. Thrax are powerhouses in a combat situation, although their tendency to enter close range to make use of their great strength can be dangerous, despite their Attainments.

• Third: The Legion’s Frenzy (Life 3): The mage may tether the fury of the Legion to living recipients in order to increase their effectiveness in combat. Subjects become berzerkers capable of performing amazing physical feats and shrugging off wounds nonchalantly. The Attainment emulates the Body Control spell with a Potency equal to the mage’s Life dots. Affected targets also gain 1/0 armor and the “Wroth” Vice, and the Obsession Condition regarding that Vice. The mage can affect a number of targets equal to the number of stolen souls they have in their possession. The Attainment takes an Instant Action to activate, and lasts for one Scene.
• Fourth: The Legion’s Discipline (Life 4): The ancient rituals of the Thrax commanders included pre-battle meditation to channel the skills of the men they sacrificed. The mage can channel the physical ability of a soul in their possession. The mage adds the soul’s owner’s dots in the Athletics, Firearms, and Weaponry skills to their own. The dots may exceed the lich’s natural limits. Activating this Attainment is an Instant Action that costs one Mana, and it lasts for one Scene.

• Fifth: The Legion’s Strength (Life 5): The mage draws strength from the stolen soul of a living victim, gaining a bonus to Strength equal to Life dots, which can exceed the natural limit. While the Attainment is active, if the Thrax spends Willpower to enhance a Strength-based roll or resistance, they may opt to draw on the strength of the soul’s owner. If they do so, the bonus provided by Willpower increases by 1. This causes the soul’s owner to lose one dot of Strength for 24 hours. This Attainment takes an Instant Action to activate, costs one Mana, and lasts for one Scene.

House Khentamenti

A House derived from an Egyptian Legacy of Anubis worshipers. In Ancient Egypt, these death priests severed the souls of the dead and dying in order to command power over death itself. By the time the Tremere conquered them, they were an obscure cult on the fringes of medieval Awakened society in Egypt. House Khentamenti’s Attainments might be responsible for the ancient legends among the Awakened conflating them with vampires. In some versions of The Suspire, the Tremere are said to have been enslaved by the Kindred for centuries, developing their predatory hunger for souls that way.

• House Boon: Tremere who maintain the Hollowed Condition add their Death dots to any Social rolls where they would take advantage of another person.
• House Weakness: The parasitic nature of House Khentamenti’s Attainments magnify the Tremere’s hunger. Increase the Tremere’s effective Hollow by 3 for determining how long a soul sustains them.

Attainments

House Khentamenti straddles the line between Awakened and vampiric with their Attainments. Their Attainments focus on draining their enemies of vitality and stealing Willpower or Mana.

• Third: Devouring the Thralled: The lich can drain a soul’s owner of Willpower or Mana as an Instant Action. For each dot in Death, the mage can steal one point of Willpower. If the soul’s owner is a mage,  they can instead scour the owner’s Pattern for one point of Mana, dealing 1 Lethal damage in the process. The mage does not need to see or touch the soul’s owner to use this Attainment. Using this Attainment to Scour counts towards the limit of times per day the mage can gain Mana by scouring.
• Fourth: Drain Vitality: With a touch, the lich briefly saps a target of physical strength. The target suffers from the arm wrack or leg wrack Tilt, as the Enervation spell. However, the mage also benefits: the stolen vitality invigorates the mage, granting a bonus equal to the mage’s dots in Death on the mage’s next Physical attribute-based roll. The roll must be made before the victim recovers, or the bonus is lost. The effect lasts 3 turns, and is Withstood by the target’s Stamina. Activating this Attainment is an Instant Action.
• Fifth: Enslave the Reaper: The greatest accomplishment of House Khentamenti was innovation on the Tremere’s immortality. If the lich would die, they may sacrifice souls to miraculously avoid death. This Attainment requires preparation: the lich must spend one Scene in meditation to activate the Attainment. The mage must prepare a number of souls equal to their dots in Death. If the mage would die from damage at any point during the Attainment’s Duration, the souls and their owners are obliterated from existence instead, and the mage miraculously lives with one health box remaining. This Attainment’s effect lasts for a number of steps on the Advanced Duration chart equal to the mage’s dots in Death, and costs one Mana to activate. This Attainment is not powerful enough to protect against Unmaking effects or the powers of archmages or entities of rank 6 or higher.

House Samedi

A House derived from a Legacy of Awakened Voodoo practitioners in Haiti and Louisiana. The Voodoo Queens of New Orleans would take the souls of those they offered charms and potions, and gain power from the beliefs of those individuals. Loa, actual spirits representing the syncretic beings of the same name that Sleepers dreamed up, would feed off the Resonance created by the Voodooist’s collection of souls and grant blessings in return. The Tremere conquered this Legacy and warped it into a House that enslaves both soul and spirit.

• House Boon: A Samedi lich who maintains the Hollowed Condition adds half their dots in Spirit (rounded up) to any mundane rolls that interact with spirits.
• House Weakness: Voodoo promotes power over others, amorality, deceit, and greed. Samedi gain two points of Willpower when indulging in their Vice, but only refill half of their Willpower when following their Virtue. Further, the inclination towards amorality oozes off the mage like a terrible odor. They permanently suffer from the Notoriety Condition. The curse magnifies some negative event from the mage’s past and twists that into the Notoriety Condition upon joining the House.

Attainments

The spirit lords of House Samedi have departed quite far from the Legacy’s original trappings. Voodoo symbolism, terms, and rituals have been completely stripped from the House’s doctrine. They focus on only the core of the original Legacy: using the Resonance of souls to empower and enslave spirits. Beyond that, Samedi liches are varied in their beliefs and tactics.

• Third: Harvest Resonance (Spirit 3): The lich can harvest Resonance from a soul in their possession and turn it into Essence. This can be fed to a spirit, stored in a suitable container, or stored it in the mage’s Pattern, as the Channel Essence spell. The keyword of the Resonance harvested can be the Virtue or Vice of, or related to any Aspiration or Obsession of, the soul’s owner. The mage generates an amount of Essence equal to their dots in Spirit, and the soul’s owner loses an equal amount of Willpower. If the soul’s owner has no Willpower, they suffer Lethal damage instead. This Attainment requires an Instant Action to activate.
• Fourth: Enslave Spirit (Spirit 4): In a process taking one Scene, the mage calls out to any single spirit of Rank 3 or lower whose Influence matches one type of Essence gathered from Harvest Resonance, similar to the Spirit Summons spell. The spirit can be given a complex command of one or two sentences and is compelled to obey. This Attainment lasts for a number of steps on the Advanced Duration chart equal to the mage’s dots in Spirit.
• Fifth: Soul Shaping (Spirit 5): The mage can shape souls in their possession into spirits. The spirit created has an Influence over the soul’s owner’s Virtue or Vice, or one related to any Aspiration or Obsession the soul’s owner has. The spirit is Rank 1, or Rank 2 if created from an Awakened soul. Once created, the mage can apply the effects of the Shape Spirit spell, except for changing the spirit’s fundamental nature. The Potency of the effect is equal to the mage’s dots in Spirit. This Attainment requires an Instant Action to activate, and lasts for one Scene.

Tremere Conditions and Tilts

These Conditions and Tilts are specific to the Tremere.

The Supreme Coin (Persistent)

The Tremere is animated by an Awakened soul. An Awakened soul is far more potent than a Sleeper’s soul when it comes to fueling a Tremere’s power. The Tremere’s persona yantra bonus increases by +1. The soul also sustains them longer than a Sleeper’s soul. For the purposes of calculating how long the soul sustains them, the lich’s effective Hollow is reduced by 3, and they ignore the age-based increase to effective Hollow.

• Resolution: When the Tremere is no longer animated by an Awakened soul. Resolving this Condition does not grant beats.
• Beat: N/A

Hollowed (Persistent)

The Tremere has allowed the living void of the Final Watchtower to fully consume them. By channeling the Truth that was locked away, the Tremere can perform wondrous feats of magic. While in this state, the Tremere adds half of their Hollow (rounded down, minimum +1) to their Persona Yantra bonus. They also add the dots of their highest subtle Arcanum to General Armor. The lich also benefits from their House Boon, if they have one. Bonuses to the persona yantra and armor are limited to a maximum of the Tremere’s Ego (for an example, a Tremere with Hollow 8 and Ego 3 would only gain a +3 bonus).

• Causing the Condition: This Condition is imposed on the lich when they enter the Hollowed state, either voluntarily or involuntarily.
• Resolution: Shed the condition as described above.
• Drawback: The mage suffers a persistent version of the Rampant Condition while Hollowed, but does not gain Beats from it. The Tremere must also spend at least Scene per dot of Hollow in this state before attempting to leave it. To leave the Hollowed state, the Tremere must succeed on a Resolve + Composure roll. Failure requires the Tremere to wait another Scene before trying again.

Koimaomai

The Tremere has entered the mystical sleep of death to lose Hollow or stave off injuries. The effects of all Conditions, including any soul loss Conditions, are halted. It becomes impossible to resolve or gain Beats from the suppressed Conditions. Immediately upon entering koimaomai, and every 25 years after, the lich loses 1 dot of Hollow. The actions the character can take are limited: they may spend Mana to heal, or by spending a point of Mana, they can take any actions that don’t require speech, movement, or the use of physical senses for 24 hours. A successful Resolve + Composure roll wakes the Tremere after they spend at least the minimum duration in the sleep. A failure requires waiting for the minimum duration before trying again. The lich may also be woken at any time, even before the minimum duration, by having an ally feed them a soul.

• Causing the Condition: This Condition is imposed on the lich when they decide to enter koimaomai.
• Resolution: Wake from koimaomai, as described above.
• Drawback: The lich must spend a minimum amount of time in koimaomai before being able to wake themselves, determined by starting Hollow and Wisdom. At Enlightened Wisdom, the minimum duration is 1 hour per dot of Hollow. At Understanding Wisdom, it is one day per dot, and 1 year per dot at Falling Wisdom. Tremere at Wisdom 1 can only rise in response to some portentous mystical event: an alignment of the stars or the arrival of an ancient supernatural power, for example.

Tremere and Archmastery

Can a Tremere become an archmage? If so, no Tremere has advertised the fact. Other archmages certainly aren’t telling either. There might be some ways a Tremere could become an archmage, or something like an archmage:

• An archmaster using imperial magic could undo the Tremere’s connection to the Final Watchtower, and the mage could then seek the Threshold normally. Such a feat would most certainly be a violation of the Pax Arcanum, assuming the Tremere could even find an archmage willing to undo the transformation.
• The Tremere could discover a way to transcend to the truth of the unified Arcana that the Final Watchtower represents by fully accepting its power into their Hollow, or more accurately by becoming one with the Final Watchtower. Such a transformation would be damaging to the remnants of the mage’s psyche, and it wouldn’t exactly make them archmasters, but it could turn them into something similar. Apocryphal legends hidden away deep in Tremere archives refer to this state as “Finality.”

Differences from First Edition

The Tremere presented here are somewhat different from the ones in first edition, both mechanically and lore-wise. From a mechanics standpoint, they are no longer a Legacy. Instead, they are a modified template. Houses replace Legacies, and Hollow replaces Gnosis. Their Attainments and abilities have been shuffled around and moved much closer to second edition mechanics.

From a lore standpoint, the notion of being a Death Legacy was discarded. Perhaps that is how the Tremere originally started, but they have since grown into a full Order, a third sect to rival the Pentacle and Seers. The Tremere in second edition are convinced that they have a monopoly on a secret truth: that the subtle Arcana are one truth of the soul, and that the divisions of the Arcana are a Lie. The gross Arcana are merely extensions of this truth.

The Final Watchtower is the most powerful Truth in the cosmos, locked away in the Abyss to prevent knowledge of it in the Fallen World. Tremere differ on whether or not it was the Exarchs, a consequence of the universe shattering, or stranger beings locking away. The key point is that the truth of the soul was hidden away, and they have found it. Most Tremere do not view their condition as a curse, nor do they think they have surrendered their being or identity to the sixth Watchtower. Instead, they view the Final Watchtower as the one true soul.

There are different views within the Order on why the Tremere must consume souls:

• The Truth of the One Soul is too pure to survive unaided in the Fallen World, or its power is mangled by the Abyss, so the Tremere must feed. These are by far the most common views.
• The Tremere have a holy duty to devour souls in order to bring them into communion with the One Soul. Devoured and destroyed souls become one with the Final Watchtower, so these acts are sacred. Sleepers and other mages simply refuse to accept the truth of the Final Watchtower on a deep level--this is why they suffer soul loss.
• The Final Watchtower demands a price, and that price is souls. Only those worthy can access the Watchtower: it sings their names, like when the first liches beheld the Watchtower in The Suspire. By being willing to conquer lesser souls, the Tremere show that they are worthy of the Truth of the greatest soul.
• It’s a curse, plain and simple. This view is common among Tremere who were forcibly inducted into the Order. They view the condition as some kind of disease, and usually believe that the Final Watchtower is some kind of Abyssal Entity.  The paradoxical nature of the Tremere (magic without a soul) is enough to convince them.

The second edition Tremere still abide by the Sevenfold Oath and believe that the Supernal is the ultimate truth, albeit an incomplete one. They despise things that sever a soul’s connection to the Supernal, and actively hunt down and destroy them. They also despise the Abyss, perhaps more so than the other two major sects, since they believe it holds the ultimate Truth prisoner.

In keeping with the spirit of second edition, the Atlantean themes are extremely downplayed. Some early versions of the Suspire might talk about the seventh dragon, but most Tremere today consider those to be just stories. The Suspire today is a collection of legends about the origins of the Tremere and lore regarding the Final Watchtower. Different princeps maintain different versions of The Suspire, adding their own discoveries to it based on visions, deep meditation in the astral, or what they find in ruins from the Time Before.

FAQ

Questions and answers.

• Q: Is “effective Hollow” for calculating how long a Tremere can live on a soul capped at 10?

• No, although the duration of how long a soul provides nourishment cannot go below 1 month. Tremere with high Hollow should use Awakened souls if they want to feed less.

• Q: Do Tremere lose access to their regular Praxes when dropping Hollow?

• No. Only the extra Hollow Praxes granted by the Hollow Trait.

• Q: Do Tremere immediately enter soullessness after burning a soul to increase Hollow?

• Yes. If specifics are needed, the Tremere gains the Soulless Condition as a reflexive action at the end of the Scene where they burn the soul.

• Q: Can a Tremere release an attached soul?

• Yes, as an instant action. This leaves the soul floating in Twilight. Magic or an Attainment is required to put the soul into a soul jar or reattach it to the Tremere.

• Q: Does the Thrax compulsion apply outside of battle?

• Yes. In any context, Thrax are compelled to destroy their enemies. In non-combat situations, this isn’t usually lethal, but it won’t help the Thrax make friends.

• Q: Do Tremere end up with 15 Praxes at Hollow 10 + Ego 10?

• Yes. 10 from Ego, 5 from Hollow.

• Q: Do Tremere lose their Hollow Praxes when lowering Hollow?

• No. They lose access to the Praxis, but they do not lose the Praxis itself. By increasing their Hollow again, they can use the Praxis once more.

• Q: Are Tremere affected by existing Mental Conditions if they leave their body during koimaomai?

• No. The sleep halts the effects of all Conditions, both good and bad. However, the Tremere is still considered to have the Conditions for effects that rely on such. Additionally, koimaomai does not protect against any Conditions the Tremere might receive while lurking outside their body.

• Q: Is it possible to resolve or get rid of Conditions while in koimaomai?

• Yes, if it can be done within the limits of koimaomai. Conditions that lapse after a period of time will go away if the lich waits long enough. Otherwise, the lich must use magic creatively to get rid of them, since it is impossible to resolve or gained Beats from the suppressed Conditions while in koimaomai.

• Q: Can Tremere repeatedly enter and leave koimaomai to rapidly drop Hollow?

• Yes. This is intended. A lich who spends a few days or weeks rapidly dropping their Hollow has to make a lot of Wisdom degeneration rolls, so this is a risky maneuver.

• Q: Does koimaomai halt ongoing damage effects?

• If that damage comes directly from a Condition, yes. Otherwise, it does not. For example, if a Tremere somehow manages to enter koimaomai while on fire, their body would still take damage and they might die.

• Q: Is it intentional that Persona Yantra can provide a +6 bonus at Hollow 10 and the Supreme Coin Condition?

• Yes. However, this requires Ego (Gnosis) 10, Hollow 10, and an Awakened soul to maximize the bonus.

• Q: Do Tremere commit Acts of Hubris when they deplete an Awakened soul?

• No. They only commit an Act of Hubris if they deplete or destroy an Awakened soul intentionally, such as by using the Soul Burn ability or for a sacrament Yantra. Although depleted souls are destroyed when released or replaced, the act is so bound up in the Tremere’s non-identity, it does not cause an Act of Hubris.

• Q: Do Thrax spend Willpower to get the +4 bonus on a roll?

• Yes. The Thrax must spend one Willpower, and the soul’s owner also loses one dot of Strength.

• Q: Can a Thrax using the Legion’s Strength Attainment get +4 on a roll from Willpower if the victim is out of Strength or dead?

• No, but they can spend their own Willpower to get +3 on the roll, as normal.

• Q: Do the protective powers of Hollowed stack with other effects?

• Yes.

• Q: Can a Tremere’s Hollow be above their Ego (Gnosis)?

• Yes. However, the Hollowed Condition, which gives the Tremere their greatest bonuses, is limited by the Tremere’s Ego. Increasing Hollow to high numbers can be useful for an otherwise weak Tremere, but they only get access to Hollow Attainments and Praxes, and most likely cannot handle the Involuntary Hollowing.

• Q: Soul loss is dangerous for the Tremere! How do I stop myself from dying easily when I lose my soul?

• Aside from not losing it in the first place, keep a handful of souls on your person, and make use of Hollow Identity to sacrifice them to soul severing magic. It is also good to make sure you get access to the Soul Jar spell (or the equivalent Hollow Attainment) as quickly as possible! Keep back-up souls on you so that you can re-attach them, and never hit the Thralled Condition! If you manage to get the Thrall Condition, you better pray for a miracle and attach a soul within one Scene.

More Todos/Ideas

Perhaps more interaction between Ego and Hollow? Right now Ego exists simply to not break the game balance.

Create the Order Merit for the Tremere.

A huge revamp to make things simpler and reduce the relative power of the Tremere:

• Increase interaction with subtle Arcana, although it’s unclear as to how.

Changelog

This documents the iterative changes to the mechanics.

• Version 1: The initial document.
• Version 2: Added the Hollowed Condition, and Tremere get one subtle Praxis per dot of Hollow. This increases the risk/reward factor of high Hollow. Increasing Hollow quickly costs 2 Experiences instead of 1 Mana, but it also increases if the Tremere increases their Ego. Moved Soul Sight to a template ability.
• Version 3: Added the House rules, along with House Nagaraja and House Heo Sel.
• Version 4: Added House Vedmak and House Thrax.
• Version 5: Removed “Hollow Being,” which allowed Hollow to govern Trait Maximums. To confusing for too little gain. Hollowed Condition info moved under “Effects of Hollow” heading.
• Version 6: Clarify that Thrax still suffer Wisdom degeneration despite their mystical compulsion to destroy people. Changed koimaomai to simply reset all progress towards gaining a new dot of Hollow. Moved Falling Wisdom violation of Call of the Void to Hollow 8 or higher, up from 7. Degraded Condition now blocks access to Call of the Void along with House Attainments and House Boon.
• Version 7: Hollowed now gives a -5 to all Mental and Social rolls unrelated to using/perceiving/studying magic instead of -5 to Social rolls. Tremere only gain one Praxis every 2 dots of Hollow.
• Version 8: Cleaned up Koimaomai text. Koimaomai now halts the effects Conditions the lich had when they entered the Sleep. Clarified that Tremere cannot suffer from the various soul loss Conditions. Soul Sight uses Hollow as Potency.
• Version 9: Hollow Praxes are now cast with Hollow + Arcanum, rather than Ego (Gnosis) + Arcanum. Entering koimaomai takes one Scene.
• Version 10: Removed Mana effect from Call of the Void. Call of the Void is now an Act of Hubris against Understanding Wisdom when the mage has the Hollow Condition, instead of a sliding chart based on Hollow dots. Added fifth Hollow Attainment that allows the mage to store souls in their Pattern.
• Version 11: Hollowed renamed to Call of the Watchtower, and its protective benefits were reduced to 1, from 3. Its penalties were reduced to -3, from -5. At Hollow 10, the Tremere gain a new Condition called Hollowed, which is extremely powerful but very dangerous. Both Conditions grant Beats to encourage Tremere behavior.
• Version 12: Hollowed adds the highest subtle Arcanum dots to Call of the Void, instead of full Hollow. This still makes it powerful, but increases the investment required to get there. Hollowed increases protective benefits of Call of the Watchtower.
• Version 13: Call of the Watchtower now also gives 1 general armor, but excludes Clash of Wills from the die bonus effect. Added more details to the House rules (Initiation, clarifications).
• Version 14: The final Nagaraja Attainment limits the skill choice to ones the soul’s owner has dots in.
• Version 15: The fifth House Thrax Attainment no longer destroys a soul when its owner runs out of Willpower.
• Version 16: House Thrax Attainments reworked. Moved Legion’s Frenzy to third (Reach effect for 1/0 armor still in effect, but balanced by the “Wroth” compulsion), and Legion’s Discipline to fourth. Legion’s Discipline and Legion’s strength now both focus on individual souls instead of a group. Legion’s Strength now drains Strength from the victim’s soul when used, instead of their willpower. Awakened souls now remove the Tremere’s age as a factor when determining how long a soul will sustain them.
• Version 17: Mages with Legacies that join the Tremere lose their Legacy upon joining. Call of the Void no longer costs Mana, but always counts as a Yantra.
• Version 18: Call of the Void lowers impression level by 2, but does not apply a penalty to rolls in social maneuvering. -3 penalty to social rolls outside of social maneuvering.
• Version 19: Removed the limitation on burning Sleeper souls to get above Hollow 5, because otherwise the Tremere would go mad very quickly from multiple Falling Wisdom violations (not to mention attract way too much attention).
• Version 20: Changed Call of the Void to be a +2/+3 Persona Yantra. Removed both the original Call of the Watchtower and Hollowed Conditions, and replaced it with a new Hollowed condition that Tremere can enter into voluntarily, or be forced into if their Hollow is high enough. This ability is named “Call of the Void.” Removed House Attainments doubling the rate of soul consumption, for now.
• Version 21: Instead of failing a Resolve + Composure roll to not become Hollowed, Tremere must succeed on a Hollow roll, which makes it more likely they will end up Hollowed at higher dots. They must also spend at minimum one Scene per dot of Hollow in the Hollowed state before attempting to leave it.
• Version 22: By default, aura-reading powers affect the animating soul of the Tremere instead of just failing. Mana can now be spent to reduce chances of entering the Hollowed state involuntarily, similar to reducing Paradox dice pools.
• Version 23: Tremere add their Hollow dots to the Persona Yantra while in the Hollowed Condition, instead of replacing the bonus with their Hollow dots.
• Version 24: When under the effects of the Hollowed Condition, Tremere add all subtle arcanum dots as a bonus to the Persona Yantra, capped by Hollow. They also add highest subtle arcanum dots to general armor, capped by Hollow. This decreases the speed at which Tremere gain power, but keeps the risk vs reward. Destroying Awakened souls via regular depletion no longer counts as an Act of Hubris. Instead, the Soul Burn ability can burn Awakened souls more easily (1 Arcane Experience), and that counts as an Act of Hubris. Moved the Soul Burn ability to the template instead of under Hollow. Changed the House Heo Sel final attainment to grant a number of rote quality rolls equal to the dots the soul’s owner has in a relevant skill (e.g. Crafts for a screwdriver, or Weaponry for a melee weapon).
• Version 25: Changed koimaomai rules into a Condition (shorter text!). Also removed the requirement to make a Hollow roll to perform non-healing actions in koimaomai, as it is a needless complication.
• Version 26: Condensed the soul erosion rules into a few sentences on the main template. The benefits of being animated by an Awakened soul are now centralized in The Supreme Coin Condition.
• Version 27: Feeding a Tremere in koimaomai a soul can wake them up immediately, even if they have not slept for the minimum duration.
• Version 28: Moved Soul Sight back to Hollow Attainments.
• Version 29: Changed Hollowed drawback to be a violation against current wisdom, rather than always Falling.
• Version 30: Updated “initiation requirements” to indicate that the Tremere seek mages with at least 3 dots in two Arcana.
• Version 31: Clarified House Thrax’s final Attainment to say that it works with either rolls or with resistance (providing +4 to a roll, or adds 3 to Strength resistance).
• Version 32: Added first draft of House Samedi.
• Version 33: Reduced Soul Burn cost to 1 XP, and burning Awakened souls gives 2 Hollow, since Acts of Hubris against Falling Wisdom are quite punishing and Hollow is now less powerful. Hollowed Condition grants less dice, but drawback is less dangerous.
• Version 34: Add House Khentamenti. Removed Degradation and Stave Off Annihilation. Tremere now follow the regular soul loss rules, but it is slightly more dangerous for them. Changed Hollow Attainments to be only limited by Hollow, but bonuses from the Hollowed Condition are limited by the Tremere’s Ego. This divorces Hollow quite well from Ego (Gnosis), but still limits weaker Tremeres’ power.
• Version 35: Souls stored in the Tremere’s pattern via use of the final Hollow Attainment can only be attacked with Unmaking magic. Clarified that Soul Burn does not cause a Wisdom violation for destroying Sleeper souls. Added a note about the state called “Finality.”
• Version 36: Tremere gain a +1 bonus when using souls as a sacrament yantra. Also renamed the yantra bonus to account for this expanded availability.
• Version 37: Removed immediate depletion of soul when waking from koimaomai to resolve any strange rules situations with active soul loss Conditions. Tremere use Hollow for all Gnosis-derived effects (except as noted under Ego). When reducing Hollow dice pool for involuntary Hollowing using Mana, only Mana up to Gnosis-per-turn limit may be spent. Clarified that the effects of the Rampant Condition do not give Beats when Hollowed