Day Caste
When the night has passed and the Unconquered Sun sits high in the sky, the living presume they are safe from the darkness. They go abouyt their meaningless lives like placid sheep, never realizing that wolves already stalk among them. Members of the Day Caste hunt their mortal prey in Creation at the behest of their Deathlord and Neverborn masters. They Who Dwell Among the Wretched are no less dangerous in the Underworld. Like any Abyssal, the world of the dead is their home ground, and they take all the same advantages. The Children of Blood walk easily among the living, however, unnnoticed until they kill.
Day Exaltations best suit mortals who wield subtlety as a weapon. Such candidates often nurture hidden hatred, biding their time for the right moment to strike rather than spoiling their vengeance with rash and brutish force. While assassins and other criminals make logical hosts, Daywalkers also draw their ranks from less obvious sources: mothers who secretly resent their children, dutiful slaves waiting for the chance to smother their masters, younger sons and daughters deprived of their inheritance by primogeniture and the like. These frighteningly broad criteria make it all the harder to discover who received Day Exaltation until they strike, if even then.
Day Caste renegades apply their strong sense of independence and subtle viciousness to their own interests, whether they're fomenting rebellions against the Deathlords or working as ultimate assassins for hire. Within Creation, they can hide among the herd until the power of Oblivion building up within them forces them to move on or risk exposure. Because they spend more time among the living than other Abyssals usually do, Children of Blood are perhaps the most likely to develop genuine feelings for the living (whether they want to or not). Any such compassion ends in predictable tragedy when their Dark Fate catches up with them, though. Retaining any vestige of humanity through this cycle of love and loss requires more fortitude and hope than most renegades can muster, ultimately drawing them back into the darkness when bitterness finally poisons their souls. Sadistically patient Deathlords sometimes manipulate their Day Caste servants into turning renegade just to harden their hearts and hone them as sharper knives against the light.
Loyalist Daywalkers normally divide their time between solo missions and team projects involving their circles. In the former case, operating alone lets them use their full mobility and stealth without the chance of clumsier peers blowing their cover. Even when they work with other deathknights, Children of Blood sometimes vanish without warning to take care of some problem, such as assassinating a pursuing monk or eliminating all the sentries in an enemy fortress. This tendency can frustrate Moonshadows, who do not appreciate having their elaborate schemes made irrelevant because a Daywalker acted without consulting the master plan. Even when the deathknights of Hidden Darkness stay where their circlemates can see them, they often have another agenda (or 12) that they hide behind wan smiles or demure façades. In some cases, this agenda is to serve as the eyes of their masters (and if necessary, executioners) to prevent disloyal circlemates from going renegade.
Anima Banner: A closed and endless ring symbolizing isolation brands the Day Caste, as hollow as the pent-up bitterness within them. The anima colors are usually ethereal gray and black, tinged with sickening greens and purples.
Anima Effects: Like their Night Caste counterparts, They Who Dwell Among the Wretched can reflexively spend an extra mote to prevent any Peripheral Essence spent activating a Charm from adding to their anima banners. Hiding the use of Obvious Charms doubles the Charm's mote cost instead.
Additionally, Daywalkers can reflexively shroud themselves in ghostly concealment for a scene by spending 10 motes. (Obviously, this power does not contribute to anima display.) Other characters suffer an internal penalty equal to half the deathknight's Essence rating to notice or track the shrouded character. While radiating an anima banner at the 11–15 mote level or higher, the character's specific identifying features become indiscernible apart from any iconic display.
Caste Abilities: Daywalkers are as shadows to the eye and whispers in the ear, unnoticed and all-seeing. They wield affinities for Athletics, Awareness, Dodge, Larceny and Stealth.
Associations: The colors of indigo and gray, the northern direction, the corpse-element of blood, the new moon.
Sobriquets: They Who Dwell Among the Wretched, Daywalkers, Children of Blood, Hidden Darkness, The Wretched
Concepts: chief of counterintelligence, doppelganger infiltrator, Labyrinth diver, left hand of tyranny, sadistic murderer, sweet-faced bait
Quote: "Nice family. Would you prefer to die before or after them?"