Auspex & Auras
Written by Kenneth Madsen (6-96)
E-Mail: 94944@udd.aalborgspsem.dk

Condition	Aura Colors
Afraid	Orange
Aggressive	Purple
Angry	Red
Bitter	Brown
Black Spiral Dancer	Black shifting to Sickly Yellowish-Deep Red Color
Calm	Light Blue
Compassionate	Pink
Confused	Mottled shifting Colors
Conservative	Lavender
Daemon	Aura in Flames
Dauntain	Swirling Gray-Yellow-Black-Dark Brownish "clouds"
Daydreaming	Sharp flickering Colors
Dead	Lack of Color
Depressed	Gray
Desirous or Lustful	Deep Red
Despair	Crimson slashed through with Blazing Orange and Gray
Diabolist	Black stripes in aura
Disassociated	A Prussian shade overshadows all other Colors, making them seem faded
Disgust	Purple and Red snake-like patterns melding and turning Black
Distrustful	Light Green
Dying	Swirling fading Yellow
Enraged	Crimson
Envious	Dark Green
Excited	Violet
Faerie-blooded	Sparkles in Aura (depends on the Changeling Court. See below.)
Fanatic	Various Colors criss-crossed with Green and Purple
Fear	Sickly Yellow
Frenzied	Rapidly rippling Colors
Frustrated	Red dissolving into spots of Flickering Yellow and mottled Orange
Furious	Dark Red with ripples of Black
Generous	Rose
Greed	Pulsating Purple
Happy	Vermilion
Hateful	Black
Hazy	A white-grayish fog lies dominant over all other Colors
Idealistic	Blazing Yellow
Infected by Bane	Aura in flames of a Sickly Yellow-Black Color
Innocent	White
Insane	Hypnotic swirling Color
Intellect-driven	Prussian changing to cornflower
Joy	Golden
Kindred	Appropriate Color is pale
Lecherous	Deep Red and Purple entangled in pulsating knots
Love	Brilliant Rose
Lupus Garou	Black shifting to Red
Magick User	Myriad sparkles... (see below)
Hedgewizard	...arranged in a flowing pattern like a grass-field
Kindred Magus	...arranged in a strict pattern of circles encircling circles
Marauder	...bubbles, squares and sometimes even yellow smiles
Nephandi	...with a dark core around the Nephandus
Oracle	...in Blazing Gold mixed with the appropriate patterns and Colors
Technocrat	...captured within a rigid grid of geometrical lines
Tradition	...in a random pattern of the Traditions favored Color, and symbol-pattern
Murderous Rage	Black rippling with Crimson
Neutral	It is impossible to read the Aura
Obsessed	Green
Pain	Red with stripes of white moving across the aura in an electric pattern
Perverse	Dark Lavender
Possessed (by Daemon/Bane)	Aura flickers slightly; like a dying fire
Psychotic	Pulsating Blue blending with Green, creating pulsating spots of wild colors
Resolution	Pulsating Blue
Sad	Silver
Seelie	Yellow-Red-Purple stripes
Skin-ridden (by Wraith)	Aura shifts between Lack of Color, and being complete Violet
Spiritual	Gold
Superior	Glowing crimson
Suspicious	Dark Blue
Terrified	Blazing Orange
Thoughtful	Sharp Colors in slowly moving patterns -- like a jigsaw puzzle
Uncertain	Flickering Yellow
Undead	Black Glow
Unseelie	Purple-Black-Dark Gray stripes
Vengeful	Pulsating Purple criss-crossed with Black and Pulsating Blue
Wondering	Dark Blue changing between being mottled and sharp

Well, here is a few thoughts regarding Auspex and the Reading of Auras. I am not completely sure that this is not just yet another rule -- which would be rather embarrassing as I am strongly opposed to the T$Rsque way rules are Wyrming its way into one of favourite White Wolf Games - Vampire: The Masquerade. But here goes...

All this arises from one of my own Chronicle Coteries, where the use of Aura Perception is frequent. I believe that AP gives a good feel to the game, and its always good fun for me when the Participants (aka the Players) discover that the calm-seeming man who is dancing with their favourite Herd member is an explosive mix of dangerous feelings. But as AP grew more frequent in use, I began to feel that the Colors provided by WW just were not enough. So I added more Colors to the list, and before I knew it, I had engulfed myself in making up Colors for every conceivable mood (as well as a few inconcievable ones as well). Fortunately it did not take me all that long to see that I was making up rules just for the sake of mapping everything out. That was not what I had intended! I started out to put a little more flesh on the Aura Colors, and wind up with more variants than your local paint shop. Hmmmm! What to do? I had the Colors, my fellow Coterie Members had grown used to them and did not want me to remove them, and thus return to basics. So we storytold on, and the Aura Colors soon became a dead tool in my hands. Aura Perception turned into reading words from a long list, and the roleplaying potential and the excitement completely went out of it. Rather than speak to the emotions and evoke a reaction, the lists made the intellect listen and in stead invoked a detached and cool approach to the matter at hand. There was too many details/pieces of information, and the need to sort them out completely killed the roleplaying-potential! Unfortunately it did not stop there, as I could not quite figure out what the problem was. Now I have, and I think I may have the solution. Of course, while I am reading this, I am hoping that I am not just a bloody awful StoryTeller and thus the only one who has experienced this problem.

The above is my more-than-complete list of Aura Colors, and perhaps it is now more clear to the casual reader why such a list could destroy any roleplaying potential which might have arise from opportunities involving Aura Perception. Mind you, that this is THE STORYTELLER'S LIST! The Participant's List is edited in the way, that a few of the more interesting Colors are missing (such as Daemon-possed, and the Mage Aura Colors).

Although it does not cover every aspect of the emotional/supernatural creature scale, it does hide the most obvious holes. And as WW continues to spew out new products (although the rate seems to have decreased considerably) there will probably be new creatures, and their effects to add to the list - or perhaps it is time to leave the details alone, and focus on the story?

What I propose to get out of the read-the-list-stagnation, is that any Participants who are capable of reading Auras, are not given a long detailed list like the one above or the one presented in Vampire: The Masquerade; rather it should be a list of Colors that is edited continuously while the session is in progress. This is meant to deal with the memory of the Participant's characters - and allow a bit of dice rolling (wahoo! finally!)
The Three Arguments

My argument on the use of Aura Perception goes as follows: Given that very few Kindred are professional aura-readers and fortune tellers, they should experience some difficulty in remembering all the various Colors. The reason for this involves several factors, of which I can currently think of three:

1) Even the most paranoid and nosy Kindred would hardly be scanning the auras of those around him on a constant basis. If so, his social interaction abilities should be seriously doubted.

An Example: Imagine you are at a Clan Fest, and you are mingling like a good little Kindred. You are approached by one of your rivals, and one of her allies from another Clan. The cold air between you has been warming up lately, and you are really growing tired of the constant rivalry. She wants to discuss a project she has been planning, but one which she needs your help to because you control the area in question. As the over user of Auspex you are you concentrate on their Auras in an attempt to figure out what mood she is in, if she might be lying, is she falling in love with you, etc. But while you attempt to interpret the information the Colors of her Aura yield, you are a bit absent-minded. As a result you say "yes" in the wrong place, and insults your rival and causes her to lose status, because she approaches you and is turned away. Before you know what happens, you have a drink all over your 1200$ suit, and your rivalry has turned to enmity.

My argument is as follows: I imagine that when you attempt to interpret the aura Colors, it demands a conscious effort and thus you must focus on that. If you chose to focus on the conversation at hand (as in the example) and still read the auras, your partial awareness in that direction might (read: should) give completely ludicrous results. Thus it is hardly acceptable that Vampires constantly read each others auras; I imagine it is the kind of thing you can do if your target is some distance away, if you are trailing someone or sitting at the Primogen Meeting and try to see what response a fellow Primogen's latest proposal ignite in the rest of the council. In other word; you have to be somewhat detached from the situation at hand, either by distance or because you are not participating directly, otherwise you will appear rude at best, and outright insulting at worst, to those with whom you are speaking.

2) The Auras most Kindred - to my experience - read, belong to other Kindred. Given that Vampires are prone to some numbing of the emotional spectre as the years passes by, or almost worships a specific range of emotions (such as love and hate), the Kindred reading the Auras will only become familiar with a small number of Colors. Small, because the range of emotions used by Kindred, as they grow older, must somehow be limited when compared to that of a normal Kine - the more basic and mundane feelings are so to speak eliminated. Even when dealing with such Kindred as the Toreador, who are regarded as the most emotional of all Kindred, I suspect that one will only encounter two states of mind; one of numbness, and one of wildly agitated feelings. The subtle scale of gray between nothingness and volatile behavior is lost, and thus the details, the things which make us mortals human. The way I perceive the Toreador, they are tragic creatures in the way that they desperately attempt to hold their mortality, a world in which they do no longer belong. And as someone desperately hunting love and doing all they can to relive their mortal emotions, they are doomed to lose them completely.

Another factor which comes into play when reading the Auras of Kindred, is the pure showmanship of many a Kindred; although explosive emotions are shown to the world, the Kindred may very well be acting. The Jyhad demands of it's players that they remain cool and detached so that they may perceive the flow of the Ancient Battle. Thus, while a Brujah may be frothing and shouting about pulling off your head and feeding it to the maggots, he may very well only be acting - or worse yet, have lost the ability to have the true feeling of anger. I believe that when an emotion is used too often, it loses its meaning in the end, and left behind is a mere facade, a Masquerade if you will. But this is solely my claim. Whether you decide that the Kindred does only have a very limited range is your own choice. But I find it entirely believable that one will only experience a certain number of Feelings-Colors when moving in the circles of the Kindred in general, this would after all, fit in nicely with the steady loss of humanity because of a clinging to this very value - remember: "A Monster I Am, Lest A Monster I Become!" If the bestial side of your nature is never let loose, or explored, the human side will sooner or later lose its impact. Kindred are not human anymore, they are something entirely different, and many Kindred disappear down a vortex of despair, desperation and bestiality in an attempt to escape this fact.

Finally, there are the Elders! If one spend a lot of time around these creatures, I am certain that one's perception of emotions and Aura Colors will become somewhat warped. They are truly alien, and few can fathom what a half millennia might do to one's frame of mind. What I have read of WW's Elders, and from how my own Elders function, I would say that they no longer have emotions as we understand them. Rather, they are driven by passions! I see some difference between the two; where emotions are strong, they span the entire spectre, from the quiet and mundane to the heights which rival any Frenzy! Passions are derived from emotions, but differ from them by way of their almost crystallized emotional spectre; they completely lack the variations of the emotions, and are very black'n'white. One might say that they are emotions without the human touch, pure hate, love, and lust, without the variations of the standard Kine. Thus the traditional Aura Colors may not even apply to the Elders. the Colors might well be the same, but the meaning of it could be entirely different. The Elders show what happens when you hang on to your humanity with all your might, who can tell how Lodin of Chicago was as a Neonate? What emotions he held? Just look at him in Chicago By Night. What a monster, but a monster driven by his passion to rule undisputed! Try to imagine how you would react if your emotions were suddenly without nuances, a one-way street, if your world was solely defined by passions. Love is a beautiful feeling, how would it be if it was torn loose from what makes us human? No matter how much our emotions may speak to us, we still retain a little bit of reason, and I will claim that this reason is what directs our emotions into positive use. Thus I claim that reason is the master pilot. What if reason and emotions were put under administration by passions as I define them? This might be what creates serial killers, but what if said passion drive is furthermore powered by the Powers of the Undead? But it all comes down to this: if you are around Kindred constantly in socially interactive context, you perception of Aura Colors will be warped. Whether it is warped because of the sheer alien spectre of feelings used, or because the emotions involved are not entirely human anymore, now that is another matter.

3) If the only time a Kindred ever reads an Aura, is when he is out hunting, then too will his perception of Colors be limited. When I am Story Teller, most Kindred hunt in specific places - this might be parks, the suburbs or nightclubs (a favored spot for the tragically hip undead). I believe that the emotions you will perceive when you hunt, will be very closely linked to the place you hunt. Just think about it! When you are out for a night in town, there are certain emotions, as well as certain desires and lusts, which is associated with such a night. Only a select few go out for a night of fun, and get their kicks sitting in a corner intellectualizing the world and its philosophical problems when viewed from a metaphysical angle. When you are out for a stroll in the park, what state of mind are you in then? Or when you are returning from a dreadful day at work to your dreadful home in suburbia? Certain emotions and states of mind will be prevailing amongst the Kine encountered in specific places - or at least, that is my strong belief.

Hopefully, there is a major difference between the Colors you find when you interact with people in a sociable situation, and the Colors found when you hunt. Again, if you continuously read the Auras of those with whom you interact, see Argument #1. I believe that the Auras of people who are interacting in a relaxed atmosphere, will be of a much more varied Colors than in those who are encountered in specific situations.

That concluded my three arguments concerning why Kindred should not be able to remember all the Aura Colors instantaneously. I find them fairly plausible, but then of course I do since I sat out to prove that Kindred should not be able to remember all those damn Colors as flawlessly as I have experienced "them" to.

To sum the argument up, it goes as follows: The Kindred should not be able to identify all Aura Colors they perceive, as they are unlikely to do so on a constant basis. If they do read Auras constantly, one can be certain that their social abilities will be somewhat "flawed". If they do indeed not read Auras all the time, there are two factors of major importance to reckon with: 1) the Auras of the Kindred are most likely quite unlike those of the Kine, and 2) the Auras known are most likely based on certain events and therefore certain emotions will be predominant in the "vocabulary" of the Kindred's Aura Understanding, and thus a Kindred will still know only a limited amount of Colors.
Total recall...or not?

The Colors which should be on the Participant's list, are those which are frequently encountered. This varies from Chronicle to Chronicle, but since the Participants are likely to be using their Aura Perception under certain circumstances (hunting, socializing, etc.), they are also very likely to see certain Colors very often; for instance if you out hunting on the street (Afraid, Bitter, Daydreaming, Depressed, Envious, Fear, Sad), or you are socializing in nightclubs (Afraid, Bitter, Depressed, Desire, Disgust, Furious, Lecherous, Obsessed, Uncertain). Although, in the World of Darkness, the scope of emotions might be a less wide than in the examples I have provided. Perhaps a tenth of the 70+ Colors which are on my list could be counted as being "amongst the frequently perceived." Some are not seen very often (Innocent, Idealistic, Joy, Love), while others should not be found very often in any Chronicle (Black Spiral Dancer, Daemon, Dauntain, Nephandi, Marauder, Possessed by Daemon/Bane) unless of course you run a "check-out chronicle." But in short: those which are perceived on an almost constant basis may well be reckoned amongst "Total Recall Colors," whereas the more rarely, or never seen, Colors demands that the Participant uses his mind more intensely, and as such they are not immediately recognizable.

Right, right. But how do I translate this into Chronicle-usable terms, you might ask. Well, that is where it gets just a little hard. Where as this might all sound very well in theory, the simple practical solution I can come up with is a bit on the pencil-pushing side, and that alone may deter from using this addition to the Aura rules.

Solution No. 1: The Participant has a list which he himself maintains. The list contains the Aura Colors he most often perceive - of course, it would be best if such a list could be made practice from the very first step the Participant's character makes. This list represents the character's instant memory, and thus the Colors he can remember without even trying. The Participant might also keep another record, namely of Colors which are not on his TRC-list, and how often he has stumbled upon such Colors, and with what frequency. The Story Teller could ask for such a list before each session commences, go through it and decide if any new Colors should be added to the TRC-list. As some of the unknown Aura Colors become more familiar, the Story Teller may allow an Intelligence Roll against a Difficulty based on the number of times the specific Aura has perceived, and thus determine if the character is able to recall what the Color indicates.

This the the typical and fairly simple model, however...


Complication no. 1: The above solution does minimize the potential of role-playing the Aura Perception. Where as some may be satisfied with the minimal bureaucracy present in the list, others may very well not be. In stead, the solution could be to maintain a short list of frequently perceived Colors, and turn the recognition of unknown Colors into a role-play/mind-puzzle mixture. This does of course all depend on the Participant, as he can either try to figure it out on his own, or run to the nearest Kindred with Aura Perception and ask for the solution. Of course, should the latter option be chosen to often, even something as simple as telling what a specific Aura Color implies, might count up for a Boon at some time in Kindred society. Thus the Participant will have to figure it out on his own. Back to basics! Right, now the Participant has a list of perhaps 10 Colors of which he know the meaning. But he is bound to stumble upon new Colors, so now what. Well, you carefully describe the Colors and how they mix, the facets he can see, all as usual. Now the Participant has to take note of any Colors he does not know, perhaps he will ask you a few questions regarding the individual he has seen having the unknown Color(s) as to establish whether or not they may be easily deciphered from the immediate appearance of the observed and the known Colors which might be mixed into the unknown Color.

For instance, a character knows Black(hate), Deep Red(Desirous/Lustful) and Black shifting to Red(Lupus Garou), but then he encounters a Black Dancer in Homid form, and sees the Black shifting to Sickly Yellowish-Deep Red Color. He may be able to guess that this is some other form of shape shifter from the pattern, or he may just believe that he is simply dealing with some unknown type of supernatural creature. However, since he has not seen the Black Dancer in any of its other forms, he cannot immediately guess what the Color implicates. The Participant jots it down on his list of unknown Colors. Later in a Chronicle he may see a Black Dancer in full Crinos, and thus make the connection. This presents more of a challenge than merely maintaining a list.

Of course, this also makes room for human error, as the Participant may reason incorrectly, and connect a Color to another emotion than the one it implies. Thus, much more fun.

Complication no. 2: The way things currently are rule-wise, Colors always means the same. I find that hard to believe, given the complexity of emotions in general, which are essentially what you are trying to decipher when you read Auras. For those of you who have spend a little time in the really real world (scary concept!), its well-known that emotions are rarely (if ever) unambiguous. Love(Brilliant Rose) is always love, according to the system. That is of course the inherent weakness of any RPG-system as it is a simplified model of reality - its either that, or Role Master. The old "Maximum Realism vs Maximum Role Playing" discussion. But I have been speculating on this flaw of the Aura Perception. And really, I believe the main reason as to why I see it as a flaw, is because WW did not include any examples of how they intend it to work. From the books I have been able to find on Aura Perception, I can derive that their Story Teller Aura Perception differ from the Spiritual Aura Perception. So, now what?

Well, first of all I believe that the Colors should be changing in intensity, in order to show the variety of the individual emotion; love is not just love, it changes intensity depending on the situation, and love can take many forms (brotherly love, paternal love, true love, etc.). Secondly, the individual Color should change according to the other emotions it is put beside. For instance: A couple who love each other are having an argument. Normally their Auras are dominated by the Color of Love in a particular intense variation. As the argument turns ugly, the man tries to distance himself from the emotional debate by intellectualizing it, thus his Love fades and the Color of Disassociated takes the predominant place amongst the Colors in his Aura. This really pisses the woman off (who would not be so?), and her Love fades as a blazing Furious takes it seat. As the argument comes to a standstill, and the lovers go to separate places, their Love becomes entangled in the thick web of Frustration.

Considering the past 57 lines of contemplation, I would probably go for a mixture between the two descriptions under "complication 1+2", as there are far more role playing-potential in those two. However, I believe that all depends on how much importance you wish to give Aura Perception in your Chronicle. This article was written from the belief that a role playing potential was being overlooked with the way Aura Perception used to be. This method will take more time, and depending on your Participants, this may become a destabilizing factor. I'm trying hard to move away from the old ways of "scenario-before-players", and it still strikes a nerve in me when I consider using new material in a Chronicle that might take time away from the other Participants! That is the completely wrong way to think about it, and something I work very hard to remove from my thoughts when I am developing new material for my RPG-sessions. Just because an action takes more time does not mean that the Participants lose anything! They gain a role playing experience, and may even be given new insight. Role Playing is not about getting the most attention from the Story Teller, not about racing to be the first one to solve the plot! Role Playing is about life, and you hardly rush a kiss from a lover because you want to be the first one at work, or leaf through a good book because you want to read it faster than anyone else. Role Playing is also about individuals and a good mood, and hopefully the other Participants will not feel that something is being "stolen" from them because one of them is using a little more time reading and understanding an Aura. If so, something is definitely wrong! Beware the Wyrm is upon us! Created and Maintained by Lance W. Larsen
(lance@iit.edu)
TVC Comments & Submissions