Ghouls

Ghouls
A ghoul is a creature somewhere between the deathless state of the Kindred and the normal state of most mortals. In fact, ghouls are mortals, with the added condition that they have been fed Kindred Vitae and invested with some aspect of the curse of undeath. Not every mortal who simply tastes vampiric Vitae becomes a ghoul, though. It takes a specific devotion on the part of the Kindred to create ghouls, but once they do, those creatures can become as independent or reliant as their masters wish.

Creating a ghoul is an endeavor laden with risk. Ghouls are, by their nature, threats to the Masquerade, as they are mortals who have knowledge of the existence of vampires. Kindred who use ghouls argue that this knowledge also protects the secret, since a ghoul depends on vampiric Vitae to sustain that very state. Ghouls (and other mortals) suffer the same potential for blood addiction that the Kindred do, and since a single ghoul is rarely a match for any given vampire, most willingly suffer whatever eccentricities or cruelties their masters inflict on them as long as the promise of that precious Vitae is delivered.

Of those Kindred who create ghouls, most use them as agents for their agendas during the daytime, or as extra aides, muscle or specialists during their own active hours. Ghouls can and do come from all walks of life, from menservants of high-class Kindred to gangsters under a vampiric crime lord’s sway to crooked cops or valued informants.

Ghoul Creation and Support
A vampire who wishes to create a ghoul must feed a mortal at least a single Vitae. In addition, the vampire’s player must spend a point of Willpower to invest the ghoul with some degree of the mystic state with which she is cursed. This Willpower expenditure represents the creation of an artificial state, inflicting some of the benefits and detriments of undeath on the ghoul.

Upon becoming a ghoul, a mortal stops aging. Although time still passes normally, the ghoul’s body doesn’t become any more decrepit with age, nor does a ghoul child continue to grow. So long as the ghoul obtains regular feedings of Vitae, this state of static age continues.

