Also known as
Vitreous Path Necromancy, Nihilistics is one of the three native
disciplines of the
Nagaraja bloodline of vampires in the
Vampire: The Masquerade role-playing game. It deals in the manipulation of the forces of
decay and
entropy, allowing the
necromancer to see through the eyes of
wraiths around her, sense the imminent
death of an individual, determine what aspect of a wraith's personality is in control of it, call to certain
spirits known as
Spectres, and feed on the souls of the dead rather than the flesh of the living (as Nagaraja must eat flesh, rather than blood). Rather icky stuff.
Nihilistics has been the victim of a certain amount of editing by White Wolf Game Studios over the years. Originally it was a vampiric discipline with up to ten levels, just like any of the other disciplines in the game. It was originally published in the Vampire Storyteller's Guide (2nd Edition). However, in the Revised (3rd) Edition of the Storyteller's Guide, Nihilistics is redesigned as a Path of necromancy, called the Vitreous Path. This admittedly makes a great deal more sense than having it be a stand-alone discipline, and allows the praticing Nagaraja to perform rituals and more easly learn other types of necromancy.