Pact Flame
AX.GHW.08.04 - The Hollow Pact
The compact didn't create the Marked's capacity for Force power. It created a channel.
The Hollow entity made a deliberate transfer of something into a bloodline — not a grant, not a gift, but a seeding. Cold. Purposeful. The entity placed something of its nature in the bloodline's blood, and what it placed was intended to develop over time, to become more useful, to eventually return something worth the original investment. The power is not the practitioner's in any straightforward sense: it was placed in them, for purposes the Hollow entity defined, with terms that the bloodline has been carrying since before the current practitioner was born. The Hollow Pact is what happens when a Shadow-Bound Marked decides to use that power with skill and intention rather than reacting to it when it surfaces in moments of stress.
Shadow-Bound practitioners describe the tradition as drawing on what was seeded — the cold is there, the Hollow entity authorized its use by the terms of the compact, and the Marked are spending what was invested in their blood. The compact doesn't require them to file a request before each use. It tracks the total. When a practitioner uses the Hollow Pact, they are not performing power from nothing. They are being what the compact made them, on purpose.
The tradition has three characteristic expressions. Consuming Dark is the combat application — directed shadow energy, cold and damaging, specific in its effectiveness against targets that resist mundane means but find shadow deeply disagreeable. Binding is the compact's logic applied to the physical world, constraints that operate not through force but through the principle that agreements, once made, have weight. Invoke is the deepest draw: reaching into the compact's established relationship with the Hollow entity for effects that go beyond what the bloodline alone can sustain.
Most Shadow-Bound Marked who develop the Hollow Pact use Consuming Dark primarily, because it is immediately and obviously useful. Practitioners who develop Binding tend to be the ones who have thought carefully about what the compact actually is. Practitioners who develop Invoke have either developed significant understanding of their relationship with the Hollow entity, or have decided the risk is worth whatever they need.
System Integration
The Hollow Pact as an Odd Talent
The Hollow Pact functions as an Odd Talent per AX.C.04. Standard rules apply:
- The roll is: Governing Attribute + Hollow Pact (+ Focus if applicable)
- Hollow Pact dice are purchased from the Talent budget at character creation, or improved through Advancement at standard cost (Governing Attribute × 2 XP for a new Tradition at 1D; current value × 2 XP to improve)
- Maximum Tradition rating: 5D. Maximum Focus rating: 3D
- All three Expressions draw on the same Odd Talent pool
- The Hollow Pact is not available through Independent Study. It requires an active compact with a Hollow entity. A character without the Marked (Shadow-Bound) lineage cannot access this tradition.
Governing Attribute
The governing Attribute is chosen at character creation and is permanent.
| Expression | Common Choice | Reasoning |
|---|---|---|
| Consuming Dark | Wit (default) | Directed shadow energy requires precision and intent |
| Binding | Wit or Body | Wit for the compact's logic; Body for physical constraint expression |
| Invoke | Wit | Drawing on the Hollow entity's channel requires focused attention |
Access
Marked (Shadow-Bound) Lineage: Shadow-Bound Marked who receive Profession access to the Hollow Pact begin play with 1D at no Talent generation cost. The compact is already active; the channel is already open. A Profession that formally acknowledges the Marked's nature accelerates the formalization.
Mechanics Summary
| Feature | Detail |
|---|---|
| Tradition Category | Force, directed shadow energy, physical causation, binding through compact logic |
| Default Attribute | Wit |
| Action Type | Primary Action (most effects); Free Action (minor Consuming Dark applications) |
| Signature Feel | The cold is real. The terms are also real. Both of these things are always true at once. |
| Lineage Affinity | Marked (Shadow-Bound) only; not available through Independent Study |
| Signature Focus | The Mark |
| Expressions | Consuming Dark, Binding, Invoke |
Threshold Scale:
| Threshold | Scale of Effect |
|---|---|
| 1 | Minor; brief; Touch to Close range; a demonstration or small effect |
| 2 | Standard; single target at Near range; scene-relevant damage or constraint |
| 3 | Significant; extended effect or resistant target; multiple targets or range extension |
| 4 | Major; persistent binding or significant area effect; lasts until Long Rest |
| 5+ | Profound; permanent or extended compact-level effect; direct entity channel |
Expression: Consuming Dark
The compact provides. The cold moves where you direct it.
Consuming Dark is the combat-facing expression of the Hollow Pact — directed shadow energy, projected outward as damage. It is not heat. It is the absence of heat, the cold that the Hollow entity carries and that the compact has seeded in the bloodline. When the practitioner directs it outward, targets feel it as a localized and deliberate cold, a darkness that has weight, that presses. Entities with specific vulnerabilities to shadow — those whose nature is radiant, consecrated, or opposed to what the Hollow is — find it far more than merely cold.
The damage type is Shadow. Entities with covenant backing, Illuminated nature, or specific protections against shadow sources may have resistance to Shadow damage. Entities with Hollow affiliation — including the Marked themselves and their compact's source — are generally not harmed by the Hollow Pact's expressions.
Consuming Dark — Applications
Void Strike (Primary Action, ranged attack)
Roll Governing Attribute + Hollow Pact (+ Focus if applicable) vs target's Defense. On hit, damage = total successes rolled. Range: Near. Damage type: Shadow. The strike manifests as a pulse of tangible cold darkness — a visible dimming at the point of impact, frost forming briefly at the strike, then gone. Practitioners of other Force traditions recognize the signature.
Extending range to Far: add 1 to the Threshold (one additional success required on top of Defense).
This application is available as a Free Action at Threshold 1 — a minor cold touch, Touch range, 1 Shadow damage. Useful for immediate close-range combat, demonstration, or triggering shadow-sensitive materials.
Consuming Drain (Primary Action, Threshold 2, Close range)
The practitioner maintains a directed pull of shadow energy on one target at Close range — not a strike but a sustained draw, as though something cold has fixed its attention on the target and is drawing warmth and vitality outward. The target takes 1 Shadow damage automatically each Turn they remain in range. Additionally, the target must make a Body Save vs Threshold 2 at the start of each of their Turns or become Hindered.
Roll to establish (Threshold 2). The drain continues until the practitioner stops maintaining it, moves out of range, or cannot act. Establishing the drain uses one roll and Strains the character. Maintaining it (same drain, same target) does not require additional rolls, but any additional Hollow Pact use while maintaining triggers Strain rules normally.
Scaling: Excess successes above Threshold increase the automatic damage (1 excess = 2 damage per Turn) or change the Hindered condition to require a Speed Save instead of Body Save (practitioner's choice on establish, permanent for duration of that drain).
Dark Surge (Primary Action, Threshold 3)
An area effect — shadow energy discharged in a surge centered on a point within Near range. All creatures in Close range of the burst point take damage equal to the practitioner's successes on the roll. Shadow damage type. The surge manifests as a brief collapse of light in the area, a cold that hits all at once and recedes. Those caught in it describe the experience as a moment of total, deliberate dark.
Friendly fire is real: the surge does not distinguish. Practitioners almost always use this in situations where they can control the area or accept the risk.
Scaling: Each excess success above Threshold may: extend surge radius by one range band (Close → Near; 1 excess), increase damage by 1 (1 excess), or prevent friendly fire to one specific ally within the surge (1 excess per ally).
Backlash: - Minor: The channel bleeds back — the practitioner takes 1D3 Shadow damage (internal; their own shadow resistance, if any, does not apply to their own compact's energy turning inward). - Moderate: The surge goes uncontrolled. The practitioner takes 1 Shadow damage and every ally within Close range takes 1 Shadow damage. The practitioner's hands are visibly darkened with shadow residue for the remainder of the scene — an atmospheric signal that practitioners of other traditions recognize as compact-produced. - Severe: The Hollow entity's channel surges. The practitioner takes 2D3 Shadow damage (internal). One piece of equipment on their person is permanently destroyed — consumed by cold, frost-shattered, left as a darkened husk; the GM chooses the most dramatically significant item. The practitioner gains Staggered until their next Long Rest.
Expression: Binding
An agreement, once made, has weight. This tradition applies that principle directly.
Binding is the expression of the Hollow Pact that most directly reflects what a compact actually is: a thing with real force, a structure that constrains behavior because the structure itself is real. The compact tradition does not generate these bindings from nothing. It extends the logic of the practitioner's own compact into the world, using the compact as both model and power source.
A Bound target is not compelled through power alone. They are constrained through compact logic — one they did not necessarily consent to in advance, but that the cold weight of the agreement enforces on the same principle that the Hollow entity's original terms are enforced. Practitioners who have thought about this tend to have strong opinions about when Binding is appropriate. The ones who haven't thought about it use it more freely and eventually learn why the ones who've thought about it are careful.
Binding — Applications
Hollow's Hold (Primary Action, Threshold 2)
The practitioner establishes a binding constraint on a target within Near range — a cold stillness with the force of compact logic behind it. The target cannot voluntarily move from their current location for the duration of the scene. They can still act, attack, and use abilities that don't require movement. They can break the Hold with a Body Save vs Threshold 3 (their action to attempt).
The constraint has no visible form, though targets with supernatural awareness feel it immediately as a cold pressure at the edges of their movement — the sense of a boundary. Targets without supernatural awareness may simply find that they cannot make themselves move and don't know why.
Scaling: Excess successes increase the Body Save Threshold to break the Hold by 1 per excess (maximum Threshold 5).
Compact Compulsion (Primary Action, Threshold 3, contested)
The practitioner imposes a compact obligation on a target — a specific narrow behavioral constraint that operates like a contract term. The target must succeed on a Wit + Resolve Save vs Threshold 3 (contested against the practitioner's roll) or be compelled to comply with the stated term for the scene's duration. The term must be specific: "you will not call for help," "you will leave this building," "you will answer questions truthfully" — not "you will obey me" or anything similarly open-ended.
This application is ethically significant in the hidden world. Using compact logic to compel behavior without consent is the kind of thing that entities with shadow affiliation notice and have opinions about. It also means the practitioner's compact source has facilitated the binding.
Scaling: Excess successes extend duration (1 excess = until Long Rest) or reduce the target's Save Threshold by 1 (allowing the roll to contest a more resistant target).
Backlash: - Minor: The binding inverts — the practitioner themselves is briefly subject to the stated term. For the remainder of the scene, the practitioner cannot violate the condition they were attempting to impose. This is inconvenient or harmless depending on the term chosen. - Moderate: The compact's source claims the binding's energy. The practitioner becomes aware of a new minor obligation to the Hollow entity — something small, specific, and due in the near future. The GM establishes what the obligation is. It is not dangerous, but it is real and must be honored. - Severe: The binding shatters outward. Every sapient creature within Near range must make a Wit Save vs Threshold 3 or become Shaken until end of their next Turn, as the compact energy from the failed binding discharges. The practitioner themselves is Stunned for one Turn as the backlash passes through them.
Expression: Invoke
The compact has depth. Most practitioners never find out how much.
Invoke is the expression that goes beyond what the practitioner's own bloodline can sustain — reaching into the compact's established channel to the Hollow entity and drawing on what is on the other end of it. This is not summoning. It is not communication. It is deliberately opening the line that is always there and asking it for something specific.
The Hollow entity does not direct Invoke. The practitioner initiates. What comes through is shaped by the compact's terms and the practitioner's specific request. The results are real and powerful, and the practitioner takes on additional weight in the compact's accounting each time they do it. Experienced practitioners use Invoke sparingly and deliberately.
Invoke — Applications
Hollow's Mark (Primary Action, Threshold 3)
The practitioner calls on the compact's authority to mark a specific target — not a physical mark, but a shadow designation that communicates to entities with shadow awareness that this target is of interest to the Hollow entity's compact. For the remainder of the scene:
- Any shadow-affiliated entities that encounter the marked target treat them with the wariness appropriate to something the compact has flagged. Hostile shadow entities may reconsider attacking.
- Any entity that has Psychic Sensitivity or equivalent supernatural awareness perceives the mark on the target and understands its general nature: this target has been designated by a compact with the Hollow.
- The practitioner can track the marked target's location at Far range without a roll (the mark registers in the bloodline's awareness).
Shadow Threshold (Primary Action, Threshold 4)
The practitioner uses the compact's channel to establish a zone of shadow authority at a location within Near range — typically a doorway, threshold, or defined boundary. For the remainder of the scene, entities with Hollow nature (shadow entities, compact-bound creatures, lesser shadows) cannot cross the designated threshold. Entities with Illuminated nature can pass freely; all other entities pass normally.
This is not a generic ward. It specifically uses compact authority to deny shadow entities access, and they know why they cannot cross. It does not bar the practitioner or their compact's source.
Scaling: Excess successes extend duration (1 excess = until next Long Rest) or expand the threshold to cover a room-sized area rather than a single crossing point (2 excess).
Backlash: - Minor: The Hollow entity's attention focuses sharply and personally on the practitioner for the rest of the scene. The practitioner is acutely aware of being observed and assessed — the cold at the edge of their perception is specific and deliberate. No mechanical effect, but the GM should make the quality of this attention clear and present. - Moderate: The channel pulls harder than it should. The practitioner takes 1 Shadow damage and the connection to the Hollow entity remains open and uncomfortable until their next Long Rest — a constant cold at the edge of awareness, the sense of something patient watching everything they do. One obligation to the compact's source (GM-defined) becomes immediately due rather than future-deferred. - Severe: The line opens fully. The Hollow entity manifests briefly — not physically, but perceptibly: everyone in the scene with any supernatural awareness experiences the presence of something vast and consuming that is paying attention to this practitioner. The practitioner takes 1D6 Shadow damage and the entity delivers one direct instruction, obligation, or demand in the practitioner's awareness. The practitioner may refuse it, but the compact registers the refusal.
The Mark (Hollow Pact Focus)
The Mark is the Shadow-Bound Marked's lineage brand — the physical or metaphysical sign of the compact. Unlike other Traditions' Foci, the Mark cannot be lost, set down, destroyed, or confiscated. It exists as part of the practitioner's body or supernatural constitution. It was there before they formalized the Tradition. It will persist after.
The Mark | Focus | Hollow Pact
Mechanical Effect:
The Mark provides +2D to all Consuming Dark Expression rolls
when the practitioner is actively using it as a focus —
they make the intention deliberate, channeling through
the compact's established physical presence.
When using Binding, the Mark reduces the Body Save
Threshold for Hollow Hold by 1 (from 3 to 2) —
the compact enforcing through its own sigil is more
difficult to simply walk away from.
The Mark is always visible to entities with shadow
awareness (Hollow entities, other Marked, compact-adjacent
entities) and to high-level Glamourist or Blood Sense
practitioners. It cannot be glamoured or concealed
from these sources.
The Mark is the Focus. The practitioner does not
require any additional object. This means they are
never without their Focus, and never without the
identification that the Focus provides.
Acquisition: The Mark was acquired with the lineage.
It does not need to be sought or prepared.
Note: Because the Mark is always present and always functioning as a Focus, practitioners do not need to track Focus availability. The +2D is always available on Consuming Dark applications. The corresponding visibility cannot be turned off.
Access and Cross-Lineage Notes
Marked (Shadow-Bound) practitioners: This tradition is specific to the compact. There is no path to the Hollow Pact that does not run through an active compact with a Hollow entity. Practitioners develop the tradition in the context of the relationship they are already in — everything they do with it is visible to that relationship.
Practitioners who want organizational context for that development typically work through the Sovereign Circle (AX.GHW.07.14). The Circle's institutional knowledge — what the Hollow entity is likely to notice, which applications carry more weight in the compact's accounting, how to read the Strained state as a signal rather than a warning to stop — represents the accumulated practice of Shadow-Bound Marked who have been working this tradition deliberately for a long time. Practitioners who develop the Hollow Pact without that context are not at a disadvantage mechanically; they tend to learn the same things eventually, through experience that the Circle's practitioners have already catalogued.
Marked (Light-Bound) practitioners: The compacts of the Hollow and the covenants of the Illuminated are different structures with different sources. A Light-Bound Marked cannot access the Hollow Pact. They have their own Force tradition (Sacred Fire, AX.GHW.08.05). Cross-tradition access between Shadow-Bound and Light-Bound Marked would require a second contract of the other type — an occurrence with implications significant enough to constitute a campaign-level event.
Creditor Involvement: GMs should establish what the Hollow entity actually wants from the bloodline and how actively they monitor Tradition use. The Veil Strain Strained state is the mechanical representation of the entity's attention — what they do with that attention, including the five involvement levels and a menu of what Hollow entities typically want, is covered in AX.GHW.14.03 (Creditor Framework).