The Solicitors keep their secrets locked up tighter than Charon's fist. Not only would they not teach the secrets of Intimation to anyone outside the Cabal, but anyone on the outside who showed too much ability with that Arcanos would be watched closely and tagged for possible inclusion, use as a pawn, or outright destruction. No one but a Solicitor should have access to the Alternate Arts, listed below.

Intimation first made its appearance in the Wraith Player's Guide. Since that time, there's been some time to question some of what was said concerning this Arcanos.

* Wraiths with the Iron Will merit resist Intimation whether they know it's being used or not, but the resistance is in the form of a +1 difficulty to the Solicitor's roll. Others with the Iron Will Merit (Vampires, Mages, Werewolves, etc) are completely immune to Intimation's effects.

* Intimation can be detected, and fought off, via the Mind Sphere.

* If Quash (Intimation Level 2) is used in anything other than a theraputic context, then the Solicitor receives a point of Temporary Angst. Anything done with bad intent, as opposed to mere mercenary selfishness, counts as 'non-theraputic.' Passions reduced via Quash are permanently reduced.

* Quash can also be used to reduce Dark Passions as well as normal Passions, but this requires that the Solicitor know what they are. She must use Deep Desiring on the Wraith and her Shadow to discover this, which costs an additional point of Pathos and gives the Solicitor a point of Temporary Angst for mucking about with the Shadow's desires. Also note that removing or lowering a wraith's Dark Passions may not be theraputic on their face: sometimes, a Shadow's Dark Passions are needed by the Psyche to balance her actions as well, and, as with normal Passions, anything done with bad intent counts as 'non-theraputic.'

* Such is the power of Intimation that both the Shadow and Psyche are equally affected by such Arts as The Urge, The Gleaming, The Horror, Cupid's Arrow, The Craving and any other Arts which use their principles, such as Mass Hysteria. Of course, without the use of Cupitatis, which also affects both sides of the Wraith, the Shadow might realize what is going on and choose to roll with it, much as the Psyche might think it's the Shadow doing something to her and seek Castigation.

Intimation is, as the Solicitors believe, a nearly-perfect Arcanos. Its central teachings and abilities have not changed significantly in almost a thousand years, perhaps more. Desires may change, but desire itself remains a constant and steady force: so, too, is the ability to direct it in others.

As such there are no Ancient Arts per se, but a number of Alternate Arts have been explored and utilized by the elders. As previously mentioned, the Solicitors keep their secrets very, very close to heart; no one outside the Cabal should ever have access to these Alternate Arts, much less suspect they exist.

Basic Ability: The Urge

This is a small and useful trick that the Solicitors teach their Apprentices as a precursor to learning the great secrets they keep, and the more imperative Arts of Intimation. It makes the target develop a slight urge to do, or not do, something, but in no way compels the target to act on it. She must decide that on her own.

SYSTEM: The Solicitor must be within line of sight of the target, and rolls Manipulation + Intimation at a Difficulty of the target's Willpower. A success causes an urge of the Solicitor's choosing to be implanted in the Wraith for a scene, and each success after that extends the time by another scene.

The urge does not have to be obeyed. The Wraith and her Shadow have the freedom to act on it, or not, depending on what their state of mind is when The Urge is used. The Cabal's members tend to use this as a precursor to other, more controlling Arts in a particular target. Sometimes it's used to drive their chosen customers towards making a bargain with them. They also use this as psychological warfare, dropping hideous or perverse urges into the minds of the easily suggestible, or straightlaced, just to watch them squirm.

* : The Horror

The flip side of the Level 1 Art The Gleaming, this is used to make a solid object less desirable to the targets who behold it: a bejeweled sword will be ordinary, or falling apart, a haunt will look like a run-down heap that wouldn't stand up to a mild Maelstrom, and so on.

SYSTEM: The Solicitor spends a point of Pathos and rolls Manipulation + Intimation at a Difficulty of 7. Success means that an object's value and attributes are downplayed at best, and hideously negated at worst, for five minutes per success. Unlike The Gleaming, any Wraith who's affected by this Art can still choose to use, enter or buy the object in question, but The Horror makes it much less appealing than it might normally be.

Failure will make the object look more desirable than it really is, and a botch makes the wraiths nearby so enamored of it that they must each make a Willpower roll at Difficulty 7 or else do anything to have it: fights are inevitable. As with its companion The Gleaming, The Horror does not affect the Solicitor who uses it.

* *: Cupid's Bow

This Art is much like The Gleaming or The Horror, but instead of solid objects, it works on other Wraiths. Any Wraith who this is used on will be immediately desired, or despised, by any wraith near her, and this means she'll either have to fight off any number of advances or run else for her life. This is made all the more confusion or terrifying because, unless the Wraith so targetted has Self-Intimation, she will not know what has happened, nor be able to see any change in her own appearance.

SYSTEM: The Solicitor rolls against a Difficulty of the target wraith's Appearance + 5. Each success can either be used to raise or lower her Appearance by a dot for one scene, and every success must be placed in one direction if Jorg scores four successes on Cupid's Bow, he can increase his target's Appearance by four, or decrease it by four, but not increase it by three and then subtract it by one for an overall increase of two.

So long as the Appearance stays somewhere between zero and five, the change is merely a matter of roleplaying. However, if the Wraith's Appearance goes higher than five, then every Wraith who beholds her - regardless of gender preference - must make a willpower roll at a Difficulty equal to her new Appearance to keep from going over and trying to win her affections. Conversely, if her Appearance goes below zero, then every wraith who beholds her - regardless of any past dealings or current friendships they may enjoy - must make a Willpower roll at a difficulty of 7 to avoid the need to beat her into a Harrowing with whatever weapons are available.

The cost is variable: if the goal is to make the target more beautiful, it costs two points of Pathos. If it's to make her more ugly, it costs three points of Pathos and gets a point of Temporary Angst.

* * *: A Line of Desire

Some say that the Solicitors' power is such that they do not even need to be near a previous target to know what is on her mind. That may just be gossip from the mouths of those who do not know enough, but some would say that such is indeed true. And they are right.

SYSTEM: In order to use A Line of Desire, the Solicitor must first make a successful Twinge or Deep Desiring roll on the target, and then make a Manipulation + Intimation roll at diff 9. If this second roll works, then the Solicitor may make the same, previous roll on that target at anytime, even if the target is nowhere in sight. The effect of the Art lasts for a month, and each success past the first grants another month.

A Line of Desire costs 2 pathos and one Temporary Willpower.

* * * *: That Fickle Feeling

Some say that this frightening power is the hallmark of the Solicitors - the ability to make small, temporary changes in a person's mental state. These take the form of emotional or mental "shifts," where the Solicitor plants desires or emotions in a person. They don't last too long, but they're often enough to make someone look the other way, or become strangely interested in bothering someone else.

In many cases, this power is used to condition possible recruits, or break down would-be puppets for the Cabal. Every five succesful uses of That Fickle Feeling on a target reduces the difficulty for any other use of Intimation on that target by that Solicitor. Tales have been told of wraiths kept locked up and howling, undergoing mental and emotional torture at the hands of the Guild for ages before being subjected to Cupitatis and released.

It is possible for a victim who understands what's going on to fight back, but sometimes this is what the Solicitors want. Doing do makes the victim extert her will, and with that exertion comes depletion, whereupon it's much easier to interrogate her...

SYSTEM: The Solicitor must make eye contact with her target, and then roll Manipulation + Intimation at a difficulty of the target's Willpower. The number of successes scored equal the number of sudden emotional or desire shifts that the Solictor can implant. The Art can be used as many times as needed each scene, and each use of this Art can last up to one Scene, but any shifts not used by the end of that scene are lost.

If the target realizes she is being jerked around by the Solicitor, she can try to fight back. This is done by spending one point of temporary Willpower and engaging the Solicitor in a Resisted Roll, each one rolling off against a difficulty of the other's Permanent Willpower. This roll and Willpower expenditure must be done when the shift happens, and in order to resist, another roll and Willpoer expenditure must be made for each new shift.

If the target can overcome the Solicitor, shift for shift, for one whole use of the power, then the Solicitor cannot use That Fickle Feeling on the target for a whole day.

Use of That Fickle Feeling costs 1 Temporary Willpower and 2 Pathos per use.

* * * * *: Mass Hysteria

The Solicitor's hold over the crowd is a frightening thing to see. Although Intimation is best practiced intimately, between one Solicitor and one target, it is possible for one particularly skilled in its ways to affect more than one person at a time. The cost is considerable, however, and perhaps we should all be thankful for this.

SYSTEM: Mass Hysteria allows a Solicitor to use The Craving on more than one target at once. The roll is the same for The Craving (Manipulation + Intimation vs. the Subject's Willpower) but that roll is made once, and the dice rolled affect everyone. In addition, using Mass Hysteria costs the same as The Craving plus 1 Temporary Willpower, and plus 1 Pathos for each target after the first, and the Angst gathered is 1 for every 2 successes that affect each target. And if one of the targets is a botch, the entire effect is shattered.

Also: note that The Craving can either cost 4 Pathos, or 2 Pathos and 2 Temporary Willpower. So Katherine could have done as she did above, or else spend 2 Pathos and a total of 3 Temporary Willpower.