Protean

Protean

Nicknames: Shapeshifting, The Beast's Form, The Earth-Meld

Essence: The power to manipulate the vampire's own undead flesh and bone, transforming it into bestial shapes or merging with the earth itself.

Description (In-World)

"The city-clans think the human form is a thing to be perfected. They are fools. It is a cage. Protean is the key to unlocking that cage. It is the glorious, agonizing feeling of your bones cracking and resetting, your skin stretching, your very essence shedding the weak shape of humanity to embrace a more perfect, predatory form. It is the power to grow the claws of the Beast, to take the shape of the wolf, to become the soil itself. It is the ultimate freedom: the freedom to cast off the man and become the monster you truly are."

Levels of Mastery

Initiate: Your connection to the Beast manifests in its most basic tools. Your eyes can adapt to see in absolute darkness, and you can grow long, terrifyingly sharp claws from your fingertips, capable of shredding steel and flesh with equal ease. You can also perform the sacred act of sinking into the earth, melding with the soil to find perfect safety from the sun.

Adept: Your mastery over your form is now profound. You can undergo a full and painful transformation, reshaping your entire body into that of an animal—most commonly a wolf or a bat. In this form, you are a perfect predator and an undetectable spy, the Beast made flesh.

Master: A master of Protean is a legend of the wilds. You can push your transformations beyond the limits of nature, becoming a monstrous wolf of terrifying size and power, or even dissolving your entire physical form into a cloud of mist to slip through the smallest cracks. The very earth knows you, and will rise to swallow and protect you as you sleep. Your body is no longer a prison but a fluid, deadly weapon.

Traditional Practitioners

Protean is the signature Discipline of the clans who embrace their primal nature. It is the birthright of the savage @Gangrel. The flesh-crafting @Tzimisce use its principles as the foundation for their own horrific arts, and @The Ministry use it to take on their sacred serpentine forms.