Clans and Bloodlines

A Kindred’s clan is zir lineage, the vampiric “family” into which ze was Embraced. The clans are distinguished by their Antediluvian founders. Kindred society generally acknowledges 13 clans tonight, though some may have been lost to history, some may exist in secrecy, and some may never have been known. Some clans are highly organized, while others are utterly decentralized. The only constant when speaking of clans is that each has a unique ultimate progenitor, a set of mystical aptitudes known as Disciplines, and a pervasive flaw.

Those without a clan are known as Caitiff. These individuals are undeniably vampires, but they display no inherited characteristics from their sires (if, indeed, they know who their sires are at all). Caitiff are frequently shunned in Kindred society, as much for their lack of pedigree as their ignorance of vampiric social structures.

A sect is an artificial organization of vampires, usually composed of multiple clans that form a league or compact. In most cases, one’s clan has immense influence on one’s sect, but exceptions do occur. Some clans belong to no sect at all, and in most cases, Caitiff may be found among any of the sects.

The interplay of clan and sect realities shapes much of a Kindred’s nightly experiences: A Camarilla Ventrue’s understanding of zir city is radically different from a Sabbat Tzimisce’s perspective.

This page contains overviews for each of the main 13 clans, as well as the 9 most common bloodlines. For further details, follow the links through to the more detailed pages. For variations on the main clans, see Variations of the Blood. There are also some rare and extinct bloodlines that require Storyteller approval and collaboration to use.

Clans

Assamites

Your blood is anathema to me, but the act of spilling it brings me closer to Haqim.

The childer of Haqim, known as Assamites to the rest of the Kindred, are a silent knife in the dark, an order of bloodthirsty assassins who participate in the secret wars of the undead by operating as killers for hire. Outside the purview of the sects, the Assamites are true independents and mercenaries, hiring out to whoever can pay their blood-price and ungoverned by the will of Prince or Priscus. By the time a mark realizes that they’re being hunted by an Assamite, it’s often far too late. Needless to say, this makes the Assamites both feared and reviled by many of the other clans.

In truth, the Assamites are more than simple thugs and killers. Theirs is a complex but insular clan predicated upon the three principles of wisdom, sorcery, and diablerie. Most Assamites that other vampires encounter are members of the warrior caste, however, so Kindred society has painted them all with that brush. For their part, the Assamites have done nothing to stop this misunderstanding. If it helps them acquire contracts and it occludes the true nature of their clan, the better for them.

Long ago, the Assamites were brought to heel by a powerful curse to curb their bloodlust, levied by the Tremere at the behest of the Camarilla. They cannot taste the vitae of vampires without it causing them harm. In their ongoing quest to lower their Generation and bring themselves closer to their holy figure, Haqim (whom some outside scholars claim was of the Second Generation, while others insist he was a judge appointed by the other Antediluvians), the Assamites must refine the blood of Kindred into an alchemical solution. Were it not for this mystical yoke, the Assamites would surely be unchecked on a crusade of unholy diablerie.

Nickname: Assassins

Sect: For the most part, the Assamites tend to be independent, letting the sects hire them to operate on their own terms. That said, some Assamites believe an allegiance with the Camarilla or the Sabbat would allow the entire clan to stand more strongly.

Appearance: Older Assamites often come from Middle Eastern and North African cultures, though more and more young Assamites come from a wider demographic. In traditional environments, the Assamites prefer garb appropriate to religious or clan custom. When in public, however, Assamites wear whatever the locals do, allowing them to fulfill their contracts without anyone noticing anything amiss. An Assamite’s skin grows darker with age (as opposed to other vampires, whose skin gets paler); particularly ancient Assamites are almost ebony in complexion.

Haven: Assamites often share communal havens with others of their local cell, remote structures that allow the Assassins to watch the larger domain from a distance. These havens are generally well appointed, but not so lavish that the whole place can’t be moved on short notice. Individual Assamites also tend to keep personal hideouts of a much more humble nature, for when they need a place to lay low.

Background: Those Embraced into Clan Assamite tend to fall into two distinct types: The “provincial” members of the clan fit whatever their locality is, and can blend seamlessly in with the people around them. The higher-profile “jet-setters” transcend cultures, bolstered by their ability to handle interpersonal and intellectual challenges.

Character Creation: Physical Attributes tend to be primary, with some Assamites favoring Social Attributes to help them get close to their prey. Talents and Skills are equally favored, but Knowledges may help the wise Assamite in a pinch. Few Assassins cultivate extensive Backgrounds, and instead specialize in an array of Disciplines that heighten their competence. The most accomplished Assamites follow the clan’s unique Path of Enlightenment (the Path of Blood), and those who don’t often have to spend a great deal of effort maintaining their Virtues and Humanity.

Clan Disciplines: Celerity, Obfuscate, Quietus

Weaknesses: Due to the Tremere Blood Curse, should an Assamite consume the blood of another Kindred, they suffer 1 automatic level of unsoakable Lethal damage per blood point imbibed. Diablerie attempts result in automatic Aggravated damage, 1 health level per point of permanent Willpower the victim possesses; the would-be diablerist gains no benefits (including Generation reduction) if they survive the process. In addition, Assamites must tithe some of the profits from their contracts to their sires or superiors (generally around 10 percent of all such earnings).

Organization: An insular, hierarchical organization shapes much of Assamite custom. “The Old Man on the Mountain” — the master assassin who makes his haven in the mountain fortress of Alamut — is the ultimate authority, and the clan heeds the orders that trickle down to them with a mix of reverence and terror. Individual and local cells of Assamites known as falaqi frequently have license to act with autonomy, but “turncoats” against the higher cause are rare.

Stereotypes

Brujah: Where they are blatant, we are subtle. And that is why they are a broken clan and we are ascendant.

Followers of Set: Humility before God is itself divine, but certainly not humility before their unclean god.

Gangrel: When the blade bites deeply, they die as readily as all other Kindred.

Giovanni: They value their independence as we do, but they squander it in unholy debauchery.

Lasombra: For all their posturing, they are quick to pay our fees and hire our knives.

Malkavians: In the parable of the scorpion and the frog, they play the roles of both doomed creatures.

Nosferatu: But for their desperation to be included among the society that shuns them, they would make puissant rafiq.

Ravnos: Make yourself known to them and they will acknowledge their place.

Toreador: We kill to honor our God. They kill to avenge a wittier remark.

Tremere: Possessing the power of Solomon makes them none the wiser for it, and vengeance will be ours.

Tzimisce: They bear old grudges against us; meet them with a wary eye.

Ventrue: Vultures picking at the corpse of a long-gone nobility.

Caitiff: Every culture must have its Judas goat.

Camarilla: A tower built in Babel by Icarus.

Sabbat: They profane what is holy and pretend it is an eminent glory.

Anarchs: The wisest of the tribes — because they know when to admit they don’t know.

We are not here to reap the benefits of your hard work, or to take what you so richly deserve. No, if you sow a strong seed, we will not take it. We are here to reap the rotten, the corrupt, and the depraved — those who have been judged unworthy.

Brujah

I’ll give you a head start. You’re the tortoise and I’m the hare — a pissed-off, fuck-the-world hare with a score to settle and a thirst like the devil’s own.

The legacy of the Brujah is one of halcyon greatness marred by their own fiery natures. Theirs was the glory of ancient Carthage, but Ventrue treachery in ancient Rome brought the dream to an end. Since then, the Brujah have borne a grudge.

Tonight, the Brujah are rebels and provocateurs, bat-swinging hooligans and agents of change in a society long crippled by stasis. As rebels, it’s in their nature to challenge the status quo — though sometimes, without adequate opposition, they embody the status quo themselves. It works out fine, because there’s always a hot-blooded Brujah waiting in the wings to bring down an uppity clanmate grown too comfortable in the role of rebel-turned-dictator.

More so than any other clan, the Brujah still feel the flames of the passions that once inspired them as mortals. Clan Brujah loves a cause and is quick to act on a stirring speech, accusation of injustice, or a call to arms. This connection to passion can be a blessing, but inspiration can also yield to the madness and hunger of the Beast.

No wise Prince turns xyr back on the Brujah, and rare is the Brujah who would allow zirself to be manipulated or pandered to. A Brujah is zir own master, first and foremost, and those who would bring zir to heel face a terrible task. A Brujah who thinks ze’s getting the short end of the stick will tear an enemy to ribbons first and maybe remember to ask questions later, no matter if ze’s a Primogen or a mortal authority.

Some Kindred historians claim that the Brujah have parlayed their ancient betrayal into a role as agitators against the very order that they help support. Others claim the Brujah have long since submitted to the will of that same order, being little more than loyal opposition rendered impotent. Most Brujah don’t care either way, as long as someone needs a good ass-kicking and they can be the ones to deliver it.

Nickname: Rabble

Sect: For all its rebellion, Clan Brujah generally considers itself a member of the Camarilla. Young Rabble sometimes look to the wildness of the Sabbat, but elders assert that the Ivory Tower provides a fine structure against which to rage.

Appearance: Many Brujah affect styles and mannerisms that reflect an attitude of rebellion. Multicolored hair, shaven heads, spikes, rivets, fetish gear, and t-shirts with bold slogans might appeal to a Brujah. While not every Brujah wears the “uniform,” the Rabble often enjoy adorning themselves in outfits intended to provoke. Some young Brujah prefer mobile devices as their tools of resistance, and can summon a riot at the touch of a screen.

Haven: Brujah may feel kinship to a city, but they rarely develop such ties to individual locations. Thus, at any given time, a Brujah probably has a half-dozen or more hideouts, safehouses, and flats available. These are often shabby and ill-kept until the Brujah needs them. Brujah havens might also have mortals who follow the Brujah’s ideology or their cult of personality. This works out fine: it never hurts to have a spare vessel in an emergency.

Background: As creatures of passion, Brujah often Embrace without really thinking much about it, and their childer tend to be a disparate lot. Sometimes, the Rabble Embrace those who share a similar outlook or enthusiasm for a cause as the prospective sire. Other times, they inflict the Embrace on those of opposite ideology, cursing a rival with vampirism as punishment.

Character Creation: Brujah are usually — though not exclusively — drawn from mortals with violent or ungovernable personalities. Their Natures and Demeanors are often similar, as Brujah have little use for guile. They lean toward Physical Attributes, with Social and Mental about equal afterwards. Many favor Skills and Talents, but most respect the Knowledges that make them more than just thugs. Contacts, Allies, and Herd are common Backgrounds.

Clan Disciplines: Celerity, Potence, Presence

Weaknesses: The same passions that inspire Brujah to greatness or depravity, left unchecked, can send them into incandescent rages: the Difficulties of rolls to resist or guide frenzy are two higher than normal. Additionally, a Brujah may never spend Willpower to avoid frenzy, though they may spend a point of Willpower to end a frenzy that has already begun.

Organization: Certain causes rise and fall in Brujah fashion, but some of the more tenured are those who call themselves Idealists and Iconoclasts. Iconoclasts want to tear it all down, while Idealists enjoy solving problems through theory. This last harkens somewhat to the classical roots of the Brujah as philosopher-kings, and most Idealists are among the ranks of Brujah ancillae and elders.

Stereotypes

Assamites: Fast, invisible, fanatical, and they want to drink my fucking blood? Sounds like a good case for doing unto others.

Followers of Set: The apple doesn’t fall far from the tree, and the tree should have been chopped down long ago.

Gangrel: Much respect, so long as we agree it’s mutual.

Giovanni: If you have to deal with one of these nasty dagos, you’ve already lost.

Lasombra: No habla Ventrue with a different hat on.

Malkavians: Trust one? No. Find some common ground with one? Maybe.

Nosferatu: It’s better to have one telling you shit about someone else than the other way around, so be cool.

Ravnos: I’ll bet I can throw one further than you can.

Toreador: If you can catch one, see if they’ll blow you. They might as well be good for something.

Tremere: If one of these witches starts looking at you weird, you’d better hope you can get close to them before your blood catches on fire.

Tzimisce: Nasty old bats with claws where their junk used to be. But at least they’re usually honest.

Ventrue: Boot, meet face.

Caitiff: Teach them something and maybe they’ll return the favor.

Camarilla: It mostly works when we punch it into heading the right direction.

Sabbat: Giving your soul to the devil makes you a servant, you choads.

Anarchs: Get on the bus and let’s tear this Prince a new asshole together.

Last night wasn’t the end of times. Tonight is. Every night, wake knowing tonight is the last night ever, and fight to end it a better place. When it doesn’t end, build on that change, and create a more perfect tomorrow. Why? Because tomorrow’s the end of times.

The Followers of Set

I know what you need.

Addiction, debasement, corruption, and desperation strike fear into many Kindred who worry that theirs will become an unlife of ruin, but to the Followers of Set, these and more are the tools of the trade. Pimps, pushers, and priests, the Setites cater to the needs of the desperate, and convert them to a nihilistic cause in doing so. Whether one needs flesh, money, drugs, or dark secrets, the Followers of Set can provide it, and when they do so, they all but guarantee themselves a return visit from those who seek them.

The Followers of Set are as much a chthonic religion as they are a clan, though the faith includes the clan. Its mythology is complex and convoluted, an impenetrable pantheon of god-monsters. At the apex of this worship stands a syncretism of the Egyptian Lord of the Underworld Set and the Greek hydra Typhon, as much spiritual guardians of secret places as they are the “liberators” of other’s souls. To outsiders, this is all blasphemous religious affectation, but to devout Setites, the cult and cause are real, and their dark lord works his will through them.

Needless to say, the politics of desperation and the placation of evil gods place the Serpents on the outside of Kindred society. The Setites are fine with this. The Kindred can often find themselves in need of what the Followers of Set purvey, and the extra “service” of secrecy is one the Setites are happy to provide — at a premium. The Setites offer a devil’s deal, but on their own terms. That way, when they collect their due and feed blood and souls into the maw of the Typhonic beast, all of its sacrifices have been given willingly.

Nickname: Setites, Serpents

Sect: Externally, none of the sects will have the Followers of Set. Internally, the Setites sometimes describe themselves in terms of both sect and clan. They have no real impetus to join either the Camarilla or Sabbat, and their goals are different from those of the Anarchs.

Appearance: Many older Setites hail from the North African and Mediterranean ethnicities native to the Serpents’ historical territory, but they freely Embrace from among the mortals of their adopted homes. Some long-standing Setite temples are tied to locations where “Egyptian” Serpents might seem out of place, but where some aspect of serpent mythology is present, as in Mesoamerica or even far-flung Nordic locales, and thus draw their membership from local populations. Red hair is considered a mark of Set’s favor.

Haven: Where their hidden temples stand, the Setites make their havens, either individually or communally. These may be anything from “churches” with never-before-heard-of denominations or they may be outright cults that have to hide their existences. The secretive Serpents sometimes hide individual havens in places where other Kindred don’t often go, such as insular ethnic neighborhoods, abandoned domains, “the rough part of town,” and so forth. Some Setites also haven in secret mystical places that have value to the clan, guarding them from outsiders.

Background: Prospective childer for the Followers of Set often spend some time involved with a Setite cult, so they’re indoctrinated in the mysteries of the clan before becoming one of its Kindred. They may come from any cultural origin, though many are outsiders, loners, or otherwise marginalized by society, which is often what led them to the forbidden fruits offered by the cult of Set in the first place.

Character Creation: Sires choose those who demonstrate acumen in Social and Mental Attributes, as the clan needs its proselytizers and its priests to be charismatic and quick-witted. Knowledges are almost always primary, though Talents may be so instead, especially among those Serpents engaged in dealings with others. Setites focus on Backgrounds that give influence over others whether subtly or overtly, making Allies, Contacts, Influence, Resources, and sometimes Retainers popular.

Clan Disciplines: Obfuscate, Presence, Serpentis

Weaknesses: Given their origins in darkness, the Serpents react negatively to bright light: Add two health levels to damage caused by exposure to sunlight. Setites also lose one die from dice pools for actions taken in bright light (police spotlights, stage lights, flares, etc.).

Organization: Setite organization is mostly local, with a single temple or network of cults representing a city’s Serpent presence. Setites in the cities rarely scheme among each other, preferring to face outward threats in unity rather than the schismatic self-interest of the sects. Whispers persist of a massive temple devoted to Set located somewhere in Africa, with a terrible Methuselah who claims to be the childe of Set himself at the head. If this is true, then the clan’s higher agenda probably originates here, but the Setites themselves remain silent on the topic.

Stereotypes

Assamites: They aren’t so different from us, and it scares the hell out of them.

Brujah: We could have saved their precious Carthage, but in their pride, they chose an eternity of ridicule and failure.

Gangrel: Don’t mistake their sullenness for noble savagery. They have vices, just like anyone else.

Giovanni: They distract themselves with methods and neglect their goals.

Lasombra: Behind many successful Lasombra is a debt to the temple.

Malkavians: They make excellent allies because no one pays attention to them, and by the time they’re due their share, all they can do is gibber.

Nosferatu: Forge a relationship or you’ll find yourself dragged before a Prince or Archbishop with them as witnesses.

Ravnos: Sorry, I don’t take credit. From you.

Toreador: Cha-ching.

Tremere: One in a hundred realizes what we might do together. The rest are up their own asses.

Tzimisce: The Dragon is not the only Serpent among the Damned.

Ventrue: Let them hate us publicly, so long as they keep buying.

Caitiff: How easily the trod-upon becomes a convert.

Camarilla: Hypocrisy is great for business.

Sabbat: Take one step forward, two steps back, set self on fire, kick own ass. Preen.

Anarchs: An idealistic cult of personality that sometimes succeeds in spite of itself.

You call us heathens, thieves, and serpents. You fail to understand that your hatred says more about you than it does about us.

Gangrel

This is not a place for you, and it is too late to turn back. Run, little man.

A glint of red eyes in the darkness, the scent of a predator’s musk, a flash of fangs, the sound of flesh tearing: these mark the presence of the Gangrel. More than any other clan, the Gangrel resemble the beasts associated with the legends of vampires: bats, wolves, and other creatures of darkness. Indeed, the Outlanders may develop the ability to transform themselves into these and other, more primal forms.

The Gangrel have other characteristics in common with animals as well. Many shun the elaborate social constructs of both Kindred and kine. A number of them prefer to move alone or as a member of small packs or coteries. Most are tough and, when pressed, ferocious. And when Gangrel succumb to the depredations of the Beast, they are left with some feature redolent of the animal kingdom.

As a clan, the Gangrel are wary and aloof. Most would prefer to spend their nights stalking prey or wilding on the rooftops than minding Princely edicts or lobbying for recognition of domain. Theirs is a tense relationship with vampire society, and Outlanders are among the most frequent to turn Anarch or Autarkis. In some localities, the Gangrel have collectively abandoned membership in any sect — insofar as the Gangrel truly ever do anything collectively.

The Jyhad seems less pronounced among the Gangrel than it is among other clans, and the Outlanders have little regard for the eternal conflict. Differences between Gangrel more often fall along the lines of domain and feeding rights than they do on Generational mistrust, and the things that concern young Outlanders are matters that concern Gangrel ancillae and even elders. Still, one would be hard-pressed to consider the relationship among Gangrel of different Generations amicable, except in isolated sire-childe situations. The Beast is ever suspicious of those who would take sustenance from it.

Nickname: Outlanders

Sect: The Gangrel at least nominally belong to the Camarilla, but the clan has always had a vocal faction that spurns membership in any sect. They claim that political games and social structures do nothing for the primal Gangrel.

Appearance: Personal presentation is often not high on the list of many Gangrel priorities, and a Gangrel’s appearance is often more a matter of circumstance than it is of active decision. The clan’s weakness can contribute a great deal to their appearance, as does an extended unlife in the places where they make their havens, which are frequently short of modern conveniences.

Haven: Gangrel often lair where they can, taking refuge when the sun threatens to rise. Those who do maintain permanent havens often lean toward the utilitarian: everything from a cave to a covered alley to an illegal squat may serve as a Gangrel haven, usually with little demarcating them as any sort of personal territory (until it’s too late for the unfortunate interloper).

Background: Gangrel sire childer like they seek prey: after long hunts during which the prospective childe doesn’t even know she’s being followed. Creating a fledgling means sharing limited resources, so each sire-childe relationship is unique and significant. Outlanders Embrace because they choose an individual, not out of whim or recklessness. Those who earn their attention are hardy, whether physically or emotionally.

Character Creation: Sufficiency is the Gangrel hallmark, and many have outsider or loner personality archetypes. Physical Attributes are far and away most frequent, as are Talents with a smattering of Skills and Knowledges. Many Gangrel focus on Disciplines rather than Backgrounds, preferring to rely on themselves more than others. Gangrel almost never have significant Resources, Influence, or Retainers.

Clan Disciplines: Animalism, Fortitude, Protean

Weaknesses: Every time a Gangrel frenzies, they acquire a temporary animal characteristic (which may replace an existing temporary one). A patch of fur, a brief torpor after feeding, or skittishness around crowds — all of these may mar an Outlander after frenzy. Characteristics acquired in Gangrel frenzies need not only be physical – they can be behavioral as well. Players should work with the Storyteller to determine what new animal trait is acquired (whether the frenzy involved the fight-or-flight impulse may be relevant). Over time, or in an exceptional situation, a particular animal feature may become permanent, with the next frenzy adding a new feature. A good guideline is to require each frenzy-gained trait to have some effect grounded in system terms (such as the temporary reduction of Social Attribute dots or a permanent loss of Humanity), though some Storytellers may allow narrative-only traits that can shape the story.

Organization: Regional groups of Gangrel occasionally assemble in convocations that draw from ethnic or cultural influences. These are informal affairs, geared more toward sharing information and revelry than advancing any cogent agenda. Aside from these infrequent gatherings, almost all Gangrel organization is very local where it exists at all, from pairs of sire-and-childe through terrifying packs centered around one accomplished Outlander.

Stereotypes

Assamites: Pull off the fucking head and the body will die.

Brujah: I wouldn’t call what we have “trust.” More of an understanding that we have a common enemy.

Followers of Set: If it smells like carrion, I don’t want any part of it.

Giovanni: I try to make it a habit not to keep talking to things once I’ve killed them.

Lasombra: I’m not afraid of the dark, so you’d better have something else underneath that cape.

Malkavians: Ten gallons of bullshit in a one-gallon jug.

Nosferatu: When they get nervous, get the fuck out of there.

Ravnos: If she starts calling you her brother, pop your claws and make your point. It’s the only way she’ll learn.

Toreador: Assume that they want something from you when they lower themselves to your level.

Tremere: Fight or flight with the grayfaces. Choose carefully.

Tzimisce: When I see a carcass eaten through with worms, I’m smart enough to know it’s rotten.

Ventrue: If you like answering to a master, you can do worse... but not much.

Caitiff: Unless they pull their weight, who needs another mouth to feed?

Camarilla: Any port in a storm, I guess.

Sabbat: Self-righteous evangelical garbage.

Anarchs: Almost. They almost get it.

Of course it’s uncomfortable until you get used to doing it. Come closer. I’ll show you how to do it right.

Giovanni

You misunderstand the situation if you think you’re important to me alive.

Achieving prominence during the Venetian Renaissance, the Giovanni family built their fortune on the rise of the middle class and the ready profit of banking and Mediterranean trade (and the criminal enterprise that came with it). However, with the family’s rise came hubris, as its paterfamilias sought ever more power, and with that hubris came horror. With his earthly power at its apex, Augustus Giovanni turned to the arts of controlling the dead, and in doing so, gained the Embrace from a forgotten Antediluvian. With a conclave of conspirators, the Giovanni plunged a now-forgotten clan into oblivion and built their own legacy on its corpse.

Since those first nights, the Giovanni have accepted no limits on their ambitions, despite opposition from Kindred outside their clan and a well-deserved reputation as “Devil Kindred.” They studied forbidden arts, becoming formidable in the nigrimancy that allowed them power over the spirits of the departed, and degeneracy followed in the wake of unclean ritual. To this night, the Giovanni are known for the insular nature of their clan and the incestuous practices by which they populate it. A few outside families and factions fall under Giovanni auspices, but the vast majority of the clan comes from the debased mortal family. The family remains successful despite all of their ghastly peccadilloes, and has amassed a vast wealth through crime, politics, and the secrets of the dead that keeps them in their position of degraded opulence.

In public view, the Giovanni make a great show of humility and respect. Part of this gentility is a habit of centuries, still in place from when the other clans hunted the usurping Necromancers (and to preserve their hardwon neutrality from the conflict between the Camarilla and the Sabbat). Another part of it is the velvet glove hiding the iron fist of their nature, remarkable for forcing ghosts, minds, and bodies alike to bow to their needs. To hear the Giovanni tell it, Princes and Archbishops alike owe them favors, and anyone with something to offer may earn their patronage.

For the most part, the Giovanni participate little in the Jyhad, pursuing their own agenda of cultivating wealth and building a foundation of power in the lands beyond the veil of death. Outsiders rarely comprehend the goals of the Necromancers, but only the most trusted of the Giovanni know that the clan wants to plunge the world into a state where the dead and the living commingle. And with their mastery of Necromancy, the Giovanni would be positioned to rule it all.

Nickname: Necromancers

Appearance: Outwardly, Giovanni dress with subtlety and taste. Much of the clan comes from the original mortal family, and have not only olive Italian complexions, but some amount of inherited family features. Those outside the immediate family often appear “of a type,” and in the traditional garb of their regional family branch.

Haven: The family wealth of the Giovanni is evident in their havens, which may take the form of villas or lavish estates. The Necromancers often have valuables invested in their havens as well, such as galleries of fine art or displays of jewelry. Many Giovanni also maintain secondary havens, where they may have elaborate necromantic crypts or just flats where they can lie low if necessary.

Background: Giovanni of the main family branch have usually spent some amount of time as a ghoul in a practice known as the Proxy Kiss. During this time, the Kindred-to-be learns about the treacherous and jealous reality of the vampire family. They learn ambition and an unhealthy dose of duplicity, in addition to the family history and customs. Giovanni rarely see much of the outside world on their own terms during the Proxy Kiss period, and often become insular and alienated, while at the same time eager to stand out among the other family ghouls.

Character Creation: Giovanni vampires often have outgoing, professional Demeanors that hide unpleasant Natures warped in their upbringing. Social or Mental Attributes are usually primary, though some of the “soldiers” of the family prefer Physical Attributes. Emphasis likewise usually falls on primary Knowledges or Talents, depending on proclivity. A split in the clan sees those who favor the practicality of Backgrounds (particularly those tied to wealth and exerting influence) diverge from those who prefer the forbidden puissance of Disciplines. Few Giovanni could be described as well-rounded.

Clan Disciplines: Dominate, Necromancy, Potence

Weaknesses: The Kiss of a Giovanni vampire causes excruciating pain in mortal vessels who receive it. If the Giovanni isn’t careful, their vessel may die of shock and agony before being wholly exsanguinated. When a Giovanni feeds upon a mortal, they do twice as much damage as the Kiss of another vampire would inflict. For example, if a Giovanni takes one point of blood from a mortal vessel, that victim would suffer two health levels of damage. As a result, they tend to use blood banks and other means of feeding that don’t fight as much.

Organization: Like few other clans, the Necromancers have a top-down organization where policy is made by a (presumed) still-active clan progenitor, Augustus. The family maintains an enormous palazzo known as the Mausoleum in Venice, where elders and fledglings alike dance to the whims of their ancient puppetmasters. Clan structure is itself familial, with the added complications that degeneracy and vampirism offer. Incest, ancestor worship, necrophilia, cults of guilt, and bizarre relationships in which fathers and grandmothers are their own issue’s childer make a mire of the clan and family, and fracture many Giovanni long before they become Kindred.

Stereotypes

Assamites: Beware, as all the money in the world still cannot buy one passage back from the grave.

Brujah: Inexpensive allies or irascible enemies.

Followers of Set: Dangerous relics deluded by a primitive grasp of what lies beyond the Shroud.

Gangrel: Let them have their mud and misery.

Lasombra: Like us, they stand with one foot in the temporal world and one foot in the occult.

Malkavians: Once they crumble to dust, they don’t have to suffer their madness anymore.

Nosferatu: Dead men do tell tales, and the Sewer Rats have so many tales to tell.

Ravnos: The Kindred have forever to make of their fates what they will, and this is how they spend it?

Toreador: How tragic is the Kindred so desperately afraid of what she truly is.

Tremere: We don’t enshrine the history that made us what we are, so why do they?

Tzimisce: The worm that feasts on its own flesh must eventually starve.

Ventrue: They often forget that Machiavelli worked in the wake of the Borgias and the Medicis.

Caitiff: Without knowing their origins, what can they possibly amount to?

Camarilla and Sabbat: Let them have their endless war, for we grow rich by selling each side what it needs to continue the effort.

Anarchs: Until they build something of lasting import, they are the ugliest of the sisters.

If you wish you knew what the future holds, you have it backwards. You should hold the future in your hands and shape it to your will.

Lasombra

Wielding the shadows is an extension of controlling the darkness into which we are all Embraced.

To the mind of a Lasombra, it is better to reign in hell than to serve in heaven. Fear, frenzy, the power to determine whether another lives or dies: these are at the root of the power that the Lasombra hold dear. Whereas other vampires try vainly to hold the Beast at bay or give themselves wholly to it, the Lasombra beat the Beast into submission, invoking it when it suits them but leaving it trapped inside when they wish to govern themselves.

It is with these predilections that the Lasombra style themselves a “dark nobility,” an aristocracy of the night that chose the supremacy of the Cainites over veneration of the Masquerade. Their regard for such ideas as redemption and salvation are cynical at best, and much of the pomp that shaped the clan’s pre-Sabbat outlook remains only with a sense of blackest irony or open mockery. The grandeur and rituals of the Church and aristocracy remain dear to the Lasombra, however, and the clan was instrumental not only in establishing many of the rituals of the Sabbat, but in the institutions that keep it from descending into chaos each night.

Whether they see themselves as God’s instruments or as outcasts from His creation, the Lasombra believe they have a duty (whether to sect, clan, pack, or even just themselves), and obligation to their responsibilities gives them a wicked sense of purpose. Even a Lasombra shovelhead may consider zirself a cut above the rest; a surprising number of Lasombra mass Embraces survive, perhaps owing to the intervention of their sires.

While the night belongs to all Kindred, the Lasombra are truly born to darkness, to the degree that their very clan name reveals their tie to shadow. Theirs is the Discipline of Obtenebration, and it allows them to wield the stuff of shadow and darkness, and even reach beyond the darkness of the physical world into the abyss that lies beyond.

Nickname: Keepers (as in “my brother’s...”)

Sect: The Sabbat would be very different without the influence of the Lasombra, and they remain its most prominent clan. Young Lasombra often make auspicious starts as Sabbat Ducti or Priests, leading their fellows by charging into the fray or demonstrating mastery of the Beast.

Appearance: The Lasombra are frequently attractive. Whether through the Spanish, Italian, and Moorish stock associated with the clan, or due to more cosmopolitan modern backgrounds, the Keepers cut a striking figure. Their dress is often conservative or religious, drawing on years of ceremony and faithful ritual. Rare is the Lasombra who cannot at least manipulate shadows to affect a dramatic entrance or enigmatic pose.

Haven: The obligation of their leadership leads many young Lasombra to maintain communal havens with other members of their pack. Wealthier Keepers and those who predate the Sabbat often maintain their own havens, whether sinister penthouse suites or sprawling Old World villas.

Background: Prospective sires of Clan Lasombra seek both erudition and ambition in their potential childer. As such, many Lasombra come from professional backgrounds, and display outgoing and even aggressive personalities. Merit in their sires’ eyes takes fledgling Lasombra far, and the Keepers do not hesitate to cull their ranks of flawed, lazy, or boorish childer.

Character Creation: Lasombra often have disparate Natures and Demeanors. Mental or Social Attributes are equally likely to be primary. Attributes tend to be narrow and specialized, showing individual expertise. Keepers cultivate Backgrounds of all types similarly in (initially) low quantities, to better diversify themselves.

Clan Disciplines: Dominate, Obtenebration, Potence

Weaknesses: Lasombra vampires cast no reflections. Whether in a mirror, in a body of water, on a polished surface, or in the rear-view of a taxicab, the image of the Keeper does not reflect.

Organization: For the Lasombra, the nights of high aristocracy never faded, and the titles and offices a modern onlooker might associate with history still carry great weight among the Keepers. A complex system of patronage, mentorship, and lineage characterizes the clan, similar to the courts and churches of centuries gone by. Childer benefit greatly from esteemed sires and vice versa, while acts that confer sect or clan status may also elevate a Lasombra’s peers, so long as ze associates zir success with zir fellows.

Stereotypes

Assamites: They believe themselves lions but possess only the ways of jackals.

Brujah: Petulant whelps in a rage over their own loss of rule from a self-fulfilling prophecy.

Followers of Set: Peer too deeply into the darkness, serpent, and you shall find that it has the means to smite.

Gangrel: Every society needs its beasts of burden.

Giovanni: Their inner foulness manifests in their every action.

Malkavians: The fool does not dine at the table with the lords.

Nosferatu: They are martyrs, not monsters, and their faces are the stigmata they must bear.

Ravnos: Filth, suitable only from which to make an example.

Toreador: A rose plucked from its garden remains lovely for only so long before it crumbles to dust.

Tremere: They revere only themselves, and they will reap a just reward for the sacrilege they practice.

Tzimisce: Although we may share a common goal, a murder of crows is always an ill omen.

Ventrue: Such a misguided effort, to use the scepter of kings only to hide oneself from his lessers.

Caitiff: Lords have ever sired bastards, and have ever hidden them as their marks of shame.

Camarilla: Who would wish to dwell in a castle that closes its gates for fear of unruly peasants?

Sabbat: Imperfect, and thus in need of ever more investment.

Anarchs: They must never be equals — it is enough that they think they are.

Jealousy is the provenance of fools and pretenders.

Malkavians

I was trying to turn water into wine. Where the fuck did all this blood come from? Oh, well — waste not, want not.

Clan Malkavian is twice damned: once by the curse of being Kindred, and again by the turmoil that disturbs their hearts and minds. Upon the Embrace, every Malkavian is afflicted with an insurmountable insanity that fractures their outlook for every night thereafter, making their unlife one of madness. Some consider this a form of oracular insight, while others simply consider them dangerous.

Make no mistake: Malkavian insanity is a painful, alienating phenomenon, but it occasionally provides the Lunatics with bursts of insight or heretofore unknown perspective. Madness for the Malkavians may take the form of any clinical form of insanity, or it may be a hyperacuity of senses others don’t know they have; a supernatural puppeteer pulling the Malkavian’s strings, or a sense that the Malkavian is somehow ahead of evolutionary schedule. A Malkavian may believe zirself to be an idea given physical form or an avatar of some concept the World of Darkness has yet to encounter. Ze may be a nonstop ravening psychopath, or may be a mostly lucid individual sometimes rendered catatonic by fear of an impending cosmic cataclysm.

Their precarious stability makes it hard for other Kindred (or, indeed, any vessels with whom they may meet) to interact with Malkavians. The clan sometimes indulges in elaborate, terrifying, and dangerous “pranks” which do little to endear them to other vampires. These incidents are nominally meant to educate the target, but the lesson can often be lost between the vampire’s scramble for safety and the inability to parse the Malkavian’s inner logic. Common pranks might be to replace a vain Toreador’s haven door with a guillotine or to redistribute a Brujah elder’s wealth while they’re at Elysium, or it might take the form of giving a hunter the location where the Nosferatu gather. Kindred both dread and resent the word “prank” almost as much as they do the Lunatics themselves.

Nickname: Lunatics

Sect: In their moments of lucidity, the Malkavians offer their unorthodox perspectives and Devil’s advocacy to the Camarilla, offering their visions and unique insights to cut through the webs of deceit. Princes and Primogen tolerate the Lunatics to varying degrees, but the clan as a whole has always been a supporter of the Ivory Tower.

Appearance: While Malkavians can come from any culture, the madness following the Embrace tends to lead them to extremes of self-presentation. Malkavians may appear disheveled, injured, or simply dirty. They could still be wearing the same clothes from the night of their Embrace or they may have stolen clothes from a laundromat or a department store during a fit of confusion or fugue. Of course, Malkavians are just as likely to be meticulous and exacting in their appearance, trying obsessively to appear as normal as possible.

Haven: Consistency is rare among Malkavians. Quite simply, they establish havens where they think to, where they can, and where they can recall. A significant number of Malkavians have literally no home, spending each night where exhaustion or the sun’s rays leave them. Others may permanently have the presidential suite in a posh hotel, a squat in the Barrens, the dispensary at a county jail, or a broom closet in a historical landmark.

Background: Malkavians Embrace with all the caprice one would assume from them. Lunatic childer come from all economic and cultural strata, though most have some sort of hard-luck story or black secret behind them that caused their sire to take note. Truly damaged Malkavians who are unaware of the meanings of their actions may not even be aware that they have sired childer, which makes for very difficult entry into Kindred society for these castoffs, many of whom end up among the Caitiff.

Character Creation: Loner, outsider, and deviant concepts and archetypes prevail among the Malkavians, as do Mental Attributes (with an occasional Social-primary madman or Physical-primary maniac hiding among the ranks). Talents and Knowledges are likely most popular among Malkavians. Backgrounds tend to be either broad and shallow or few and deep, representing the way the Malkavian caroms through unlife. Virtues, Humanity, and Paths often tumble quickly, usually in the wake of Willpower doing the same.

Clan Disciplines: Auspex, Dementation, Obfuscate

Weaknesses: All members of Clan Malkavian suffer from a permanent, incurable Derangement. They may acquire and recover from other Derangements, and may spend Willpower to ameliorate the effects of the Derangement for a scene, but they can never recover from their original Derangement.

Organization: Rumor is more widespread than truth with regard to Malkavian organization, and any number of harrowing tales describe the function of the clan. Some say the Lunatics all share a hive consciousness; others claim that this is in fact the lingering consciousness of the clan’s progenitor Malkav. Still others claim that a network of madness puts all Malkavians in contact with one another and is the cause of their crippling insanity. If nothing else, the Malkavians prove inscrutable and uncanny. One night, each of them frenzies when they see one another, while the next night, they all converge at the same time at the Sheriff’s haven and accuse him of harboring Sabbat spies. Who can say how the “disease of information” or the customs of the clan travel among them?

Stereotypes

Assamites: There’s something flattering in what they’re doing. Like I’m a little piece of their God.

Brujah: You can’t hide your horns, devil-man.

Followers of Set: Walking westward, they should meet the sun before it sinks.

Gangrel: Pin the tail on the — OW, OW, OW, FUCK!

Giovanni: Ashes, ashes, we all fall down, and get back up, and dance with ghosts.

Lasombra: A hyena doesn’t ever choose to be a hyena, I think.

Nosferatu: I have dreamed what hunts them in their dark, humid warrens, and it is what each of us can become, if we’re not careful.

Ravnos: It looks different depending on if I close my left or my right eye.

Toreador: Made up of the pieces of the people they’ve harmed. Each time they feed they become a little less.

Tremere: If you can rub those letters off their foreheads, they’ll stop in their tracks.

Tzimisce: I tried to sprinkle salt on one’s tail and he bit off my hand.

Ventrue: I will make you a fine new waistcoat, my emperor.

Caitiff: I didn’t do it.

Camarilla: When all you do is look behind you, you never realize that the door in front of you is closed.

Sabbat: They have the answer, but they don’t understand the riddle itself.

Anarchs: All they from Sheba shall come: they shall bring gold and incense.

You tell me you envy my insight. It comes at a cost. When you speak, I hear you through the cries of everyone I’ve ever known who passed away. When I beg you repeat yourself, it’s because I cannot hear you over the screams of anguish. Yes, that teaches me truths about the soul. But do you envy the lessons?

Nosferatu

Nobody down here but us boogeymen. Hey, whose head is this?

Those who doubt that the Embrace is a curse need look no further than the Nosferatu. Twisted by the mark of Caine, members of Clan Nosferatu are warped by the Embrace into hideous monsters. As such, they skulk and keep to the shadows, and they often rouse the ire and mockery of other Kindred for their nightmarish appearances. Still others are so terrified or revolted by the Nosferatu that these warped Kindred have little social interaction at all.

To their credit, the Nosferatu come to possess many of the whispered secrets of their reluctant fellows. The Sewer Rats enjoy a grudging respect as the information-brokers of the Kindred, given their supernatural acumen at stealth and the fact that many Kindred would rather ignore them than acknowledge them. Savvy Nosferatu exploit this for all it’s worth, turning the hypocrisy of other vampires to their own profit.

On the whole, the Nosferatu condition is lonely and alienating. How they react to the Curse of Caine varies with their outlook and mental stamina, but it’s hard to be an object of utter revulsion and not let it shape one’s disposition toward one’s “Kindred” in some way. Some of the Sewer Rats are cruel, as blighted on the inside as they are on the outside, while others are tragic, wretched creatures who have been cursed with eternal outsider status through no choice of their own. A few of the Sewer Rats even position themselves as prophets or avatars of the Damned, physically embodying the haunting riddle, “A Beast I am, lest a Beast I become.”

Nickname: Sewer Rats

Sect: Clan Nosferatu belongs at least nominally to the Camarilla, though many of its members become Autarkis or support the Anarchs rather than navigating the Ivory Tower’s vicious social labyrinth. Some even contend that the Nosferatu need the Camarilla, because without the Tower they have no buyers in their economy of secrets.

Appearance: Physical horror is the lot of the Nosferatu, and their unsettling deformations are countless. No two Nosferatu share the exact same malformation, and the clan is a freakshow of snarled limbs, fanged protrusions, hellish countenances, serpentine spines, ruined faces, spasmodic appendages, and even features not usually seen on the mortal stock from which the Nosferatu are drawn. The Sewer Rats often hide these disfigurements under shapeless robes and rags, but some exult in the discomfort their presence causes, and don’t bother disguising them. They may even emphasize them.

Haven: Nosferatu Kindred often make their havens far from the scorn and spite of other vampires. Whether they construct warrens in the sewers suggested by their nickname or they sculpt a sprawling nightmare-nest in the spire of a condemned church, Sewer Rats value secrecy and distance from rivals in their havens. Nosferatu of humbler means may well squat in an abandoned tenement or a disused alley. So long as it’s away from other Kindred, it’s a good haven.

Background: The Sewer Rats mostly fit into one of two categories. Some Nosferatu Embrace the damaged, flawed, outcast, or vile, feeling some degree of kinship with them. Others Embrace spitefully, dragging the beautiful or privileged into an immortal hell of disfigurement and monstrosity.

Character Creation: Many Nosferatu come from loner and outsider concepts, Natures, and Demeanors. They favor Physical and Mental Attributes over Social, and they tend to be balanced in their regard for Talents, Skill, and Knowledges. Nosferatu prefer to specialize rather than generalize in Backgrounds, favoring those that carry favors and information like Allies, Contacts, Mentor, and even a bit of Influence.

Clan Disciplines: Animalism, Obfuscate, Potence

Weaknesses: All Nosferatu have an Appearance score of 0, and they may never improve it. Cross it off the character sheet. Dice pools that use the Appearance Trait are inherently difficult for these hideous Kindred.

Organization: Occasionally, a coterie of Nosferatu becomes a brood or cult, often based around a remote warren. These can sprawl into vast “kingdoms” of Sewer Rats, who often exist without the knowledge of a domain’s Prince or Archbishop. The Nosferatu are among the Kindred most likely to share a communal haven, if only for protection in numbers. As well, Nosferatu share information with each other via networks — whether digital, personal, occult, or something less definable — that defy the comprehension of other Kindred.

Stereotypes

Assamites: Secrets for amnesty seems like a fair trade.

Brujah: Emits showers of sparks. Point away from face. Point at some other asshole instead.

Followers of Set: They want our souls — usually until they understand the stench of a Nosferatu’s soul.

Gangrel: We have some common ground in being outsiders, but that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t be careful around them.

Giovanni: Down in the sewers we see a lot of shit, but never so much as when a Giovanni heads our way.

Lasombra: I try to keep to the shadows, but I’ll hang out under the streetlights when I know one of these creeps has my number.

Malkavians: See my face? That’s what these maniacs’ minds look like. Except they’re still bleeding in there.

Ravnos: Peddlers of lies, they make great patsies, but they sure can bear a grudge.

Toreador: Sell them dirt on each other and they’ll scratch each other’s eyes out. It’s the only way to come out ahead with them.

Tremere: They’re not even vampires, you know that? They did something way wrong back in the day and now it’s stuck to them.

Tzimisce: I look like this ‘cause I have to. These fuckers choose to. That’s how nature says, “Stay away.”

Ventrue: High and mighty, until they need you. Charge them double when they come calling. They can afford it.

Caitiff: “I never even knew my father!” Cry me a fucking river.

Camarilla: I’ll be damned, they think their claims of domain extend into the sewers.

Sabbat: Either monumentally gullible or Bible-grade wicked; either way, you’re better off when they’re somewhere else.

Anarchs: Sure, I’ll buy what you’re selling. For tonight, at least.

Whatever it is, the thing you haven’t found yet, or hoped no one would ever uncover, I’ve got it already. Whatever it is, however much you think it’s worth, you can’t possibly pay the price I have for this information.

Ravnos

What? Those aren’t bones. They’re wind chimes. Everything is going to be fine. Relax.

The Ravnos move like the rumors that surround them. They are the thief in the night, the raksha chased by the wind, the nightmare-dream too fearful to be real. Whether associated with the Romani folk of Europe or the grave-robbing ghûl of Western Asia, Kindred society burdens the Ravnos with prejudices of foulness, uncleanliness, and wickedness.

With reputations like these, the Ravnos are considered outsiders even among those Kindred who do not ally themselves with sects. Many young Ravnos tend toward nomadic unlives, moving from one domain to the next or hiding on the fringes of established territories where they can escape if local Kindred sentiment turns against them. This exacerbates their reputations as transients and vagrant scourges, but Ravnos vampires adapt well, thriving in their marginalized role. In fact, many choose to make themselves into the ravening terrors that other Kindred believe them to be.

The more enlightened among the Ravnos follow a clan ideology inspired by the cycle of reincarnation espoused by many Indian faiths. Among some young and unprincipled members of the clan, however, this philosophy becomes a penchant for capriciousness or an excuse for chaos. It is these latter Kindred who give so many Ravnos a bad name, but even the devout seem bizarre to many vampires.

The Ravnos practice a unique Discipline known as Chimerstry that convinces their enemies that they see things that do not exist. Chimerstry does much to convince Kindred that the Ravnos trade in lies and misdirection, but it can also prove to be a Deceiver’s salvation and ease the vagaries of an outcast unlife.

Nickname: Deceivers

Sect: Clan Ravnos often has a difficult time heeding the rigorous order of many Camarilla cities, and has no inherent love for the violence of the Sabbat. Thus, the Deceivers find themselves independent for lack of a more suitable option.

Appearance: Young Ravnos often come from Eastern European Romani stock. What few elders of the clan may remain are presumed to come from Indian or Middle Eastern origins. Given that the clan is widely spread and holds no traditional central domain, no consistent look can be said to be predominant, and any mendicant Kindred might be of Ravnos origin.

Haven: Many Ravnos take to the road instead of establishing permanent havens, dwelling temporarily among itinerant communities, at roadside rest stops, or even in vehicles. When a Deceiver does put down roots in a domain, their permanent haven is often away from high-profile Kindred territories. Havens in ethnic ghettos, industrial outskirts, and isolated geography are safest and most easily cultivated for the Ravnos.

Background: The Ravnos are scattered and suspicious, and those childer who don’t have the tendency toward self-sufficiency don’t last long. In many cases, a Ravnos will either never sire, or sire for companionship or safety, with little concern for how well a childe will fare as a vampire. Ravnos rarely seek out childer actively, instead drawing from those whose paths they cross on any given night. As such, the hard-luck drifter reputation tends to follow the Deceivers.

Character Creation: Outsider and selfish Natures are common among the clan. Physical and Social Attributes predominate, as do Talents and Skills. Savvy Ravnos develop a breadth of Backgrounds that can give them an edge when they’re on the move or in a tight spot, such as stashed Resources, defensible Domain, and a few Allies or Contacts.

Clan Disciplines: Animalism, Chimerstry, Fortitude

Weaknesses: A turbulent history makes the Ravnos slaves to their vices. Each Ravnos has a penchant for some sort of vice — lying, cruelty, or theft, for example. When presented with the opportunity to engage in that vice, the Ravnos must indulge it unless zir player succeeds on a Self-Control or Instinct roll.

Organization: The Ravnos are a far-flung clan, with little to unite them and an open acknowledgement that each Deceiver looks after their own interests first. That said, Ravnos often like to make a great show of clan camaraderie and cultural ritual, even though they know that promises made to one another are as fleeting as whispers on a night wind. Deceivers have been known to ally against common enemies such as tyrant Princes or Sabbat pogroms, but these alliances quickly fade once the threat no longer exists.

Stereotypes

Assamites: Half the time, I think we take a lot of shit because other vampires think, “All Arabs look alike” and confuse us with these assholes.

Brujah: You can get into a lot of trouble if one of these bloodsuckers imagines you did him some awful wrong when all you were doing was checking out his girlfriend.

Followers of Set: There’s no justice. People think we’re the demons.

Gangrel: They know how rough it is out there, and sometimes you can even convince them to give you a break.

Giovanni: Gaudy, vain, and easy marks. Of course, they probably think that about us, too.

Lasombra: Nobody cops that much attitude unless they’re hiding something to be ashamed of.

Malkavians: Be careful. You can either fool them or you can’t, but they can’t decide which one it is until they either take the bait or go berserk.

Nosferatu: Rat them out and you’ll have a chance.

Toreador: They love being lied to but hate it when someone tips them off that you’ve been lying.

Tremere: Tread carefully or these pricks will drink your soul and blame you for it.

Tzimisce: Nothing wrong with these guys that staking them in their coffins and setting them on fire wouldn’t solve.

Ventrue: I think these cocksuckers actually enjoy being hated by everyone else. Who else would set themselves up in the line of fire all the time?

Caitiff: Hard times make for desperate terms.

Camarilla: All the fancy costumes in the world don’t mean you’re not stealing or killing every time you feed, you fucking hypocrites.

Sabbat: I’ve seen this movie before, and the ending is shit.

Anarchs: Not usually a problem unless they start asking you to vote or bend the knee. Once the revolution’s over and they’re declaring themselves emperors, time to hit the road.

In these nights, I am a god. You, sir, are a monster, and there is no helping it. I cannot relieve you of your burden any more than you can relieve me of mine, and do not condescend to believe that my burden is any less than yours. While you must struggle to master yourself, I must struggle to master all those around me. I would say my burden is greater.

Toreador

Long after you die, I will still be young, beautiful, and adored by everyone whose life I touch.

From the Toreador perspective, when the sun fades, darkness gives rise to an eternal and wondrous world. Everything is fraught with wonder and terror, low politics and sensual glories, the profound and the profane, and an undeniable undercurrent of the sanguinary. These Kindred are the Toreador, and they spend unlives ensconced in pleasure.

Of course, for vampires of this disposition, it’s easy to become jaded and bitter. More than the other clans, Toreador often succumb to ennui, or fight the eventual boredom of unchanging immortality by playing at rivalries. An excess of stimulation turns them into slaves to the sensations they seek. The most debased Toreador can become true monsters, sinking to unimaginable levels of depravity in order to feel anything at all.

The Kindred of Clan Toreador often involve themselves greatly in the world of mortals. They have any number of reasons, whether enjoying proximity to the blush of life, cultivating veritable cults of doting followers, or influencing and following the trends that their own kind simultaneously mock and venerate. To hear the Toreador tell it, they are the Muses of a desperate mortal world, inspiring through their beauty or patronage.

Toreador culture is a mixture of sybarites, dilettantes, and visionaries. Some Toreador, with echoes of mortal passion, Embrace lovers or “project” progeny who seem to fly in the face of every Toreador custom. These either don’t last long or rise to great prominence as subversives and individualists. Ideas, trends, and “the next great thing” spread through the clan, and other Kindred often look to the Toreador to guide them. The Hedonists know this, and many become Harpies, Princes, and other key figures in vampiric society.

Nickname: Hedonists

Sect: The Camarilla would not have survived in the nights following the Anarch Revolt without substantial participation from the Toreador, and they remain among its most ardent supporters.

Appearance: Almost to the last, they are attractive in some way, whether the traditional beauty of a runway model or the dangerous allure of something more predatory. The Hedonists augment their physical beauty with a sense of personal style, which may take the form of expensive couture, avant-garde street wear, or classical fashions designed to emphasize their appealing qualities. This isn’t to say that ugly Toreador don’t exist. Indeed, those gifted with less physical beauty often go that much further with their choice of accoutrements.

Haven: The Hedonists spare no expense in appointing their havens in luxury, often with many original works of art. It is a point of pride among Toreador to have an unconventional (and thus memorable) haven with modern comforts; thus, many have striking lofts and penthouses, while the bolder among them renovate or repurpose everything from abandoned aquariums or deconsecrated churches to rooftop gardens or converted warehouse-galleries in fashion-forward neighborhoods. Share a communal haven? How déclassé.

Background: Many Toreador hail from high-society or “bohemian” backgrounds. Indeed, many are themselves artists or influential among local art scenes or other subcultures. Actors, singers, musicians, sculptors, poets, playwrights, authors, and creative folk of any stripe may well find a home in the clan, as do those who serve as patrons to (or travel in the entourages of) those artistic types.

Character Creation: Social Attributes are almost always primary, with an even split among Talents, Skills, and Knowledges depending on how the Toreador distinguishes zirself. Toreador also love to cultivate Backgrounds. Allies, Contacts, Resources, Domain, Haven, Mentors, Retainers — all of these have great value among Toreador. Wise Toreador may choose to develop their Virtues, Humanity, Path, or Willpower, because with an unlife of degeneracy, they must frequently attend to the ugly business of bringing the Beast to heel.

Clan Disciplines: Auspex, Celerity, Presence

Weaknesses: When a Toreador experiences something truly remarkable — a person, an objet d’art, a lovely sunrise — the player must make a Self-Control or Instinct roll. Failure means that the Kindred finds zirself enthralled by the experience. The dazzled Toreador cannot act for the duration of the scene aside from commenting on or continuing zir involvement with whatever has captured zir attention. If the experience no longer affects zir (whether by moving, being destroyed, or whatever is appropriate to the situation), the captivation ends. Enraptured Toreador may not even defend themselves if attacked, though being wounded allows them to make another Self-Control or Instinct roll.

Organization: Clan Toreador is cliquish and parochial in its local domains, but very rarely on a level that affects clan-wide custom. Certain Toreador (and a few outside the clan) sometimes use the terms “artiste” and “poseur” when describing individual Toreador, often derisively, to describe whether the Hedonist in question is one who is seen as creative or simply a follower of established trends, but these are certainly informal distinctions.

Stereotypes

Assamites: Blood-soaked barbarians.

Brujah: A fire may be stoked, but if left unattended, it may destroy what it once warmed.

Followers of Set: Worms breed in their vile footprints.

Gangrel: Beauty and the Beast, only without the complication of Beauty. Pity them.

Giovanni: Which is more unctuous: their smiles or their hair?

Lasombra: If I looked like they do, I’d hide in the dark, too.

Malkavians: The tedium of it all.

Nosferatu: They make a strong case for the Mark of Caine being a sickness.

Ravnos: There are two types of these creatures: awful, and absent.

Tremere: Aren’t they supposed to turn back into pumpkins at midnight?

Tzimisce: It is a poor artist who blames his tools, but that’s the only conceivable answer here.

Ventrue: Why are older brothers always such corpulent bullies?

Caitiff: The worst sort of fish is the one that feeds from the bottom.

Camarilla: This house needs a good cleaning.

Sabbat: Such marvelous passion wasted on such craven dementia.

Anarchs: Only a petty ruler acknowledges no greater purpose than himself.

My faith teaches these cravings are wrong. I vowed to abstain, yet I worship the village beauty for a sennight, writing odes to her eyes. I bind her with a thousand lies, then end her life in a grove smelling of pine, my hands wound in her golden braids.

I’m tortured by what I’ve become. Where is redemption to be found?

Tremere

When the world refuses to give, he who makes himself a master of the world may still take.

In nights long lost to the passage of time, the Tremere existed, though they were something else. Those early Tremere then made a bargain — or wrought a spell, or any number of other harrowing methods attributed to the clan — that changed them from what they had been into the vampires they are tonight. Some claim they stole the Curse of Caine from a torpid Antediluvian, or that they concocted the flawed immortality of the Kindred from the stolen vitae of other vampires. Such mysterious origins, which some describe as treacherous or even blasphemous, haunt the Tremere, as the other clans look upon them with mistrust and suspicion. The history — and, indeed, the modern legacy — of the Tremere is one marked by clan war, centuries-old grudges, and the stain of unwholesome mysteries long left unsolved.

Tonight, Clan Tremere is a clan shaped by its practice of blood sorcery. A flexible Discipline, Thaumaturgy is heavily entrenched within the Tremere, and they maintain cultic havens known as chantries to study its uses and share secrets among each other. To the Tremere, blood is both sustenance and the source of mystical power; they gather in their witch-houses to further their understanding of the vitae that is such a focal point of their unlives.

Beyond the practice of Thaumaturgy itself, the Warlocks are known for their close-knit hierarchy. They hail from the Old World, with an established power base in Vienna to which all members of the clan answer to some degree. Although they may be one of the youngest clans — in the terms with which deathless creatures like vampires measure time — they are as adept at the Jyhad as any Kindred. Beset by enemies who call them usurpers and backed by allies who may or may not defend the alliances they force, the Tremere have evolved to be self-sufficient. Indeed, many who eye them warily think they possess too great an edge, with their flexible Discipline and protective clan and chantry structure, and move against them both secretly and overtly.

Nickname: Warlocks

Sect: Clan Tremere considers itself one of the pillars of the Camarilla. It is rumored that they once performed a ritual that all but eradicated those of the clan not loyal to the Ivory Tower (and thus the Tremere’s pyramidal hierarchy).

Appearance: Tremere often have two distinct presentations: a traditional and severe public aspect and a much more eldritch mien better suited to wielding their blood sorceries. When out in public or at Kindred events, the Tremere favor conservative suits and dresses and muted tones. When in their chantries or convening with others of their clan, they often prefer robes decorated with subtle occult symbols or garb with various folds and pockets for their bizarre ritual ingredients.

Haven: Many Tremere rely on a central chantry the clan maintains in cities where it has a notable presence. More solitary Warlocks develop private havens, with all of the trappings one might expect from an occult scholar, from libraries to alchemical laboratories to moonlit balcony observatories and even more sinister oubliettes where vivisected “research subjects” bleed according to experimental Tremere-controlled stimuli.

Background: The Tremere draw from a fairly narrow pool of potential acolytes. Those who have an awareness of the supernatural, who are driven to succeed, who seek answers that elude less inquisitive individuals, yet who also have the discipline to heed the edicts of the hierarchy make good Tremere. This isn’t to say that individualists don’t have room in the clan; rather, those who go their own way may well find themselves leading a chantry — or greeting the sun if their interests don’t align with those of the pyramid.

Character Creation: Mental Attributes and Knowledges are prominent among the Tremere. Many have high Courage and Willpower, but are somewhat lacking in Conscience or Conviction. They often favor Backgrounds that heighten their relationship to the clan, like Mentor, Status, and Retainers (whom an accomplished Warlock may craft from otherwise inert components).

Clan Disciplines: Auspex, Dominate, Thaumaturgy

Weaknesses: Tremere dependency on blood is even more pronounced than that of other Kindred. It takes only two draughts of another vampire’s blood for a Tremere to become Blood Bound instead of the normal three — the first drink counts as if the Tremere had taken two drinks. The elders of the clan are well aware of this, and seek to impart loyalty to the clan by forcing all neonate Warlocks to drink of the (transubstantiated) Blood of the Seven Tremere elders soon after their Embrace.

Organization: The hallmark of Clan Tremere is “the pyramid,” the rigid hierarchy that governs the clan and makes it the most organized of all the Kindred lineages. With many levels of membership, internal factions, and circles of mystery, the Tremere hierarchy presents a unified face to those outside the clan, and is almost as unified behind the scenes. Still, the pyramid inculcates more than its share of paranoia, as both rogue Warlocks and a competitive environment of academic occultism pits each acolyte against their peers to the greater accomplishment of the clan.

Stereotypes

Assamites: They show signs of being able to subvert our rituals, so the time to tolerate them has expired.

Brujah: Hubris and a lack of self-discipline have laid low the clan of warrior-poets.

Followers of Set: We pursue the secrets of the world and they pursue the secrets in its dark places. When too many know, secrets are no longer secrets.

Gangrel: Theirs is a simple but formidable power. Fortunately, their blood is as susceptible to mastery as that of all Kindred.

Giovanni: Their clumsy understanding of the secret ways will shackle them to empty ritual rather than set them free to work their wills.

Lasombra: A once-accomplished lineage dragged into the muck by foul associations.

Malkavians: Once we can synthesize their stochastic perception, the Kindred will no longer have to brook their disruptive caprice.

Nosferatu: Those involuntarily placed outside the system can prove fruitful allies or accomplices.

Ravnos: Disorder sows its own punishments, yet I am happy to expedite those results.

Toreador: Form follows function, which makes the ongoing prominence of these self-worshippers such a dispiriting enigma.

Tzimisce: Peel away the rot and idolatry and all that’s left is the carcass of outmoded mummery.

Ventrue: Caesar shall have his due, and to our benefit, his love of lucre blinds him to true power.

Caitiff: As Vesalius gathered his cadavers, so do we solicit volunteers in the understanding of our sciences.

Camarilla: A sundered house still offers shelter.

Sabbat: They do not understand their own ends, and damn themselves thus.

Anarchs: In the absence of structure, autarchy yields only the brutishness of lesser Kindred.

The true magus is one with the power to act. Blood is our power, and the time for action is now.

Tzimisce

Why on earth would you think I wanted you to stop screaming? I find the results so much more melodious when you indulge your fear.

A blood moon casts a crimson light over the land beyond the forest and something fearsome howls its agony into the night. The Tzimisce call these lands their ancestral home. Since time out of mind the Fiends have been masters and lords of the domains of much of Eastern Europe. But theirs is a proud, selfish clan for which tradition goes only so far despite their aristocratic origins. In fact, the clan claims to have destroyed its Antediluvian, and in the wake of that momentous event, helped establish the foundations of the Sabbat.

Tzimisce practice a strange Discipline known as Vicissitude that allows them to twist the skin and bone of their victims. In many cases, they refine their fleshly arts by practicing upon themselves, but they just as frequently use it upon their lackeys and retainers, turning their boyars and szlachta into monstrous thralls. Vicissitude itself is a much misunderstood Discipline, and debates over its origins occasionally plunge the clan into vicious partisan rivalries.

Clan Tzimisce is a clan of extremes, and long, cold nights spent in remote castles have turned the Fiends’ perspectives both greatly inward and outward. Mystics of the clan study a philosophy of metamorphosis, seeking to discover what lies beyond the state of vampirism. An alien attitude of spiritual secularism characterizes many Tzimisce. Young members of the clan often find themselves detached from the historical role of the Fiends as terrifying landed lords, and throw themselves wholly into a cause of their own choice, whether as Sabbat zealots, fleshcrafted horrors, or transcendental Koldun sorcerers.

Nickname: Fiends

Sect: The Tzimisce are longtime but largely detached members of the Sabbat. They were instrumental in the sect’s nascence, and remain one of its most numerous clans.

Appearance: Given their ability to manipulate their physical appearance with Vicissitude, Tzimisce look however they want, and they often want to provoke or frighten. Some prefer extreme modifications and experimentations with their bodies that leave them looking only vaguely humanoid. Others seek to redefine and even transcend the limits of their forms, rebuilding themselves in the images of angels, monsters, nightmares, and things even less recognizable.

Haven: Young Tzimisce are often Sabbat Priests or Ducti, and prefer to maintain communal havens with their packs. They encourage the pack to live in fearsome locations, such as beneath a hospital or morgue, or in the dank recesses of a mausoleum. Elders of the clan sometimes have ancestral holdings in the Old World, and the image of the vampire on the craggy mountain in a crumbling castle owes much to Tzimisce lords. Rarely are these ancient holdings kept to any modern standards of comfort, but their lords are strangely hospitable to invited guests (and terribly intolerant of uninvited bores).

Background: Elder Tzimisce, particularly those of the still-landed nobility in hoary old domains, may have family lines from which they Embrace, or they may restrict their occasional siring to the terrified villages suffering in thrall beneath their estates. New World and younger Tzimisce aren’t as discriminating and are more practical. Indeed, many Tzimisce fledglings are little more than shock troops, Embraced and warped to the limits of their frames to cause revulsion and revel in bloodshed until put down.

Character Creation: Few Tzimisce know moderation, and thus often favor Physical or Mental Attributes, usually with one extraordinarily high Trait. Knowledges are usually favored, though Skills are valued as well. Mentor, Allies, Domain, and Retainers are all quite appropriate to Tzimisce, as are narrow — almost overdeveloped — Disciplines. Their alien mindsets often lead them to follow Paths of Enlightenment. The ghastliness to which many Tzimisce are often exposed during their fledgling years sometimes results in complicated Derangements.

Clan Disciplines: Animalism, Auspex, Vicissitude

Weaknesses: The Tzimisce are inextricably tied to their domains of origin, and must rest in the proximity of at least two handfuls of “native soil” — earth from a place important to them as a mortal, such as the soil from their birthplace or the graveyard where they underwent their Embrace. Each night spent without this physical connection to their land limits all of the Tzimisce’s dice pools to one-half, cumulatively, until they have only a single die in their pool. The penalty remains until they rest for a full day amid their earth once more.

Organization: The Fiends are, on the whole, mistrustful of other Kindred, especially others of their own clan. As such, Tzimisce organization, such as it is, has a high regard for solitude. It is against their nature to be inclusive, and thus they have to work at being Sabbat (though this is less difficult for younger Tzimisce of at least somewhat modern outlooks). This is also a key reason so many of them undertake Paths of Enlightenment: to give their xenophobia purpose, but also to provide some common point of reference with others on the Path.

Stereotypes

Assamites: The fox convinces the hens to let them watch over their precious eggs — delightful!

Brujah: They plunged themselves into ruin millennia ago and continue to blame others for their own failures.

Followers of Set: Why worship dead gods when one can become a god themself?

Gangrel: They command fierce power, but wield it with little more than a primitive will.

Giovanni: Muck out the stables, you slope-browed lummoxes.

Lasombra: Competent. Mostly.

Malkavians: Suitable for making lampshades from their remains.

Nosferatu: Ah, what marvelous paradoxes, redolent of the slime yet possessed of the wisdom to adapt!

Ravnos: I’ll take thirty, staked for the sun and placed on the ramparts.

Toreador: Thou shalt not suffer a bitch to live.

Tremere: They are the gout of corruption that issues forth from a lanced boil, only they have none of its charisma.

Ventrue: We have warred for so long that they are due a grudging respect before you snuff their heart’s fire.

Caitiff: How droll! I always thought the term for them was “spare parts.”

Camarilla: When the serfs don’t believe their masters, the reich has lost the war.

Sabbat: We play the game with the pawns — er, pieces we are given.

Anarchs: There is a misguided nobility in what they do, though they are too childish to succeed fully.

Do not fear, little mortal. The earth feeds you, you feed me, I feed the earth. This is the order of things; it is natural.

Ventrue

There is no shame to bending the knee to one such as myself, so pay your fucking tribute before I lose my temper.

Throughout history, while the other clans have skulked about their petty intrigues, the Ventrue have curried favor with Caesar, whispered into the ear of Charlemagne, bankrolled the Age of Exploration, and even swayed policy in the Holy See. Theirs is a legacy of rulership, from Ventrue fledglings starting their climb to the top to the mightiest elders whose influence spans the world. Long have they played kingmaker in the shadows in the mortal world, and long have they been the Clan of Kings among the Kindred.

Other clans, of course, find all this insufferably pompous at best, punishably tedious at worst. Someone has to lead, surely, but why does it always have to be some long-winded, self-aggrandizing Ventrue? The Blue Bloods try to bear the criticism of their lessers with a sense of noblesse oblige — ever heavy hangs that head that wears the crown — but even the most munificent of Kindred leaders occasionally succumbs to tyranny and bloody rage.

Tonight, the Ventrue are a synthesis of the modern and the ancient, often in stark contrast within the clan and among one another. Theirs is money of old, from the vaults of Croesus, but their young manipulate stock markets and influence currencies. Elders may command armies or even whole governments, while neonates conjure their assets from a website or smartphone app. But for all their wealth, their distinguished history, and their status among the Damned, each and every Ventrue must still seek that one resource that makes Kindred society egalitarian: precious blood.

Nickname: Blue Bloods

Sect: To hear the Ventrue tell it, the very idea of the Camarilla originated with them. Every other clan realized what an invaluable proposition it was and flocked to their banner.

Appearance: The Ventrue favor conservative clothing and reserved presentation, unless they’re making a point about power or money. Ventrue Princes may well wear a circlet or carry a scepter as symbols of office, while young Blue Bloods display their own achievement via suits, ties, dresses, and accessories that are easily overlooked singularly but add up to a stunning total effect. If a Ventrue has so much as a hair out of place, it’s because they spent all night running down the Society of Leopold and demanding the Sabbat menace retreat.

Haven: A Ventrue’s haven displays both their great power (read: wealth) and distinguished tastes. Opulent, grandiose, even baroque — these may all apply to Ventrue havens. They shun the gaudy displays of other Kindred, and their style tends less to the avant-garde than it does to the classical and traditional. To the Blue Bloods, a well-maintained haven is an extension of oneself, and for someone to see it in less than flawless state implies weakness, distraction, or even madness.

Background: Anyone who has “made something of themself” may attract the attention of the Ventrue, who judge their childer based on their prominence and success even before they start to groom them for the Embrace. Socialites, moneyed family, corporate wunderkinds, military leaders, and even untested newcomers who show great promise are keenly valued among the Blue Bloods.

Character Creation: Ventrue usually have directorial or outgoing personality archetypes. Members of Clan Ventrue favor Social and Mental Attributes, but any Ability category can be primary, reflecting a personal avenue of expertise. Backgrounds go both wide and deep for the Ventrue, with almost every Blue Blood possessing some amount of Resources, Status, and Herd (particularly the latter, given the clan weakness). Elders in particular cultivate enviable havens and sprawling Domains.

Clan Disciplines: Dominate, Fortitude, Presence

Weaknesses: The Ventrue have rarified tastes, and they find only one specific type of mortal blood palatable and vital for them. When a player creates a Ventrue character, ze should decide with the Storyteller what specific type of blood suits the character, and this choice is permanent. Blood of other types (even animals) simply offers the vampire no blood pool increase, no matter how much ze consumes — they simply vomit it back up. This refined palate may be very narrow or very broad — say, the blood of younger sisters, or the blood of nude children. Vampiric blood is exempt from this restriction.

Choosing a New Menu

A Ventrue who simply cannot find any blood that fits within zir feeding restriction can attempt to “retrain” zir restriction, but it is dangerous and difficult. The easiest way is to go into torpor after a hunger frenzy and lack of blood. Once the Ventrue is reawakened, zir first hunt will determine zir new feeding restriction.

Alternatively, the Ventrue can try to shortcut the process. First, ze needs to have no blood in zir body (0 blood points). The Ventrue must then go an entire night from waking until sleep without feeding, making Self-Control checks for hunger frenzy as necessary. If the Ventrue frenzies and attacks someone for blood, others can restrain zir, but as soon as blood enters zir mouth, the process has failed, even if the blood ingested gives zir no sustenance. Once the Ventrue has gone an entire night without any blood whatsoever, ze can spend a permanent Willpower dot. Zir next hunt will then determine zir new feeding restriction.

Organization: The clan-wide organization of the Ventrue is localized and feudal, with various universally understood peerages, vassalages, oaths of fealty, and sworn boons taking the place of a rigid hierarchy. Many Ventrue style themselves as secret masters of their domains, consolidating power in longstanding networks and forming conspiracies. The Ventrue greatly value propriety and honor, and use many forms of address and respect — their Laws of Decorum are complex and rigid, and could fill several volumes. Almost every Ventrue worth their status can recite their lineage at least back to the elders, if not to the great Methuselahs.

Stereotypes

Assamites: Useful only so long as they don’t become a poison in our veins.

Brujah: Just admit you’re beaten and this will become much more pleasant.

Followers of Set: When you learn of them in your domain, do not hesitate to introduce them to their master, the sun.

Gangrel: Who would guess that Kindred so simple could be so groundlessly prideful?

Giovanni: Our stillborn siblings, who never developed a sense of right and wrong or what not to stick your cock into.

Lasombra: Pretenders to our mantle of dignity and honor, though they are formidable.

Malkavians: When you find yourself making excuses for them, it is time for the purge to begin.

Nosferatu: Surprisingly functional, should you be able to handle their odious personalities and overestimation of their own value.

Ravnos: No kingdom survives by mingling with the conquered.

Toreador: For every king there is a queen, and there are a lot of queens among the ranks of the Rose Clan.

Tremere: They can prove dauntless allies or treacherous enemies, often both within the same skin, so let them know who commands.

Tzimisce: What more do you need than their cloying scent of corruption to know that theirs is an ill presence?

Caitiff: They are mongrels, barely worthy of names. You might as well care about your furniture.

Camarilla: It is our greatest triumph, but also our greatest responsibility.

Sabbat: The inmates run that asylum.

Anarchs: There is something admirable in what they do, yet how they do it is entirely puerile.

I smell power in the air. A king has died. Long live the king. I stand in the throne’s shadows, but most do not know my name. Years slip away like tides, dynasties fall, and yet I remain a most trusted advisor. He will not see the string tied to his limbs until it is too late.

The king is dead. Long live the king.

Caitiff

Unwanted and abandoned, the Caitiff have swelled the ranks of Kindred society in the past few decades. They are the results of mistakes, regrets, frenzies, and poor choices. Many are lucky to have even a vague recollection of their sire and the Embrace, while most stumble around with no understanding of what they are. Those that find a way to survive are the exception instead of the rule, and some of these Trash grow to become notorious Kindred in their own right.

The only thing that the Caitiff have in common is what they lack — the marks that identify a vampire as being part of a particular clan. Kindred scholars speculate that some sort of connection between sire and childe occurs after the Embrace, an “imprinting” that gives a Brujah their rage, a Nosferatu their disfigurement, or a Lasombra their propensity to manipulate shadows. For whatever reason, though, the Caitiff has none of these. They may be angry, ugly, or prefer the darkness, but at best, they’re a pale shadow of their sire’s clan. While this tabula rasa keeps them from finding solace in the clan hierarchies of Kindred society, it also means they have no barriers to overcome — learning the intricate nuances of Dominating a mortal mind comes just as easily to a Caitiff as preternatural strength or manipulating insanity.

Nickname: Trash

Sect: The Camarilla considers the Caitiff to be nothing more than expendable foot soldiers — second-class citizens to throw at their enemies when the time is right. Some Caitiff cling to any sort of protection and acceptance, while others rebel at being treated as disposable and look to the Anarch Movement or even the Sabbat as alternatives. Still others dismiss politics as unimportant, eking out unlife in the fringes of the Ivory Tower or even becoming Autarkis. But it seems like every night more and more clanless vampires are made, and some have even unified as a “clan” within the Sabbat. At some point, they’re going to make the Kindred listen to them.

Appearance: As befits their checkered origins, a put-upon look often accompanies the Caitiff, who often have to devote much of their attention to simply surviving in a Kindred society that would prefer to sweep them away. Many are visually similar to the Brujah, Gangrel, and other “street clans,” though this is more of an ethnographic characteristic than it is a clan attitude. For those Caitiff who are able to divert attention from their clanlessness, their appearance may well reflect the success or failure of their efforts to make a place for themselves in the world of the Damned.

Haven: As with their appearance, Caitiff havens are diverse; many Caitiff have to make do with whatever haven they can find, or with whatever haven they can cajole another Kindred into letting them occupy. Few Caitiff are able to maintain anything more than a minor domain, and many Caitiff are transient or simply do without havens.

Background: Caitiff can come from any background, most of which reflect as much about their absentee sires as it does about themselves. Indeed, when among the more formal societies of the sects, some Trash take great pains to obscure the details of their backgrounds.

Character Creation: Any of the three Attribute categories are appropriate for Caitiff to choose as primary, according to their background or what their sire saw in them. Talents are often primary Abilities, reflecting what the Caitiff has to do to protect zirself. Few Caitiff have much in the way of Backgrounds, preferring the immediate, practical value of bolstering Willpower or having picked up a smattering of low-level Disciplines.

Clan Disciplines: Caitiff are able to purchase any Discipline at character creation, pending Storyteller approval. However, the cost to increase all Disciplines with experience points is 6 times the current rating, rather than the usual 5 for in-clan Disciplines or 7 for out-of-clan Disciplines.

Weaknesses: Because of their social stigma, Caitiff are unable to take the Status Background at character creation. In addition to being a “clan,” Caitiff is also a negative title. Until the Caitiff establishes zirself in a domain or social group, they are at +2 Difficulty on all Social rolls with non-Caitiff vampires. When Caitiff Embrace, their childer are also Caitiff.

Organization: None to speak of. In some domains, Caitiff who fall through the cracks may establish themselves as the lords of broods of their own illicit Embrace. It’s no surprise that these unbound rogues continue to give the rest of their ill-sired ilk a bad name.

Stereotypes

Assamites: They normally leave us alone. Something about “dirty blood.” No argument from me.

Brujah: Common enemies don’t make us friends.

Followers of Set: The Kindred equivalent of driving a white van with “Free Candy!” spray-painted on the side.

Gangrel: If you can convince them not to gut you on sight, they can be pretty tolerant.

Giovanni: Never heard of it.

Lasombra: Meet the new fucking asshole, same as the old fucking asshole.

Malkavians: They’ve either got a sickness or they see every secret. Problem is, you can’t tell one kind from the other.

Nosferatu: Misery loves company. Especially company it can blackmail.

Ravnos: They seem to want us to trust them, and that raises my hackles.

Toreador: They’re usually the first ones to take us to task for not having been asked if we wanted to be vampires. As if they’re such a great bunch of licks.

Tremere: I gotta get back to my haven to, uh, turn off the oven or something.

Tzimisce: The bats have left the bell tower. The victims have been bled. Undead, undead, undead.

Ventrue: Occupy Elysium! I am the 99 percent!

Camarilla: Fuck you, milord.

Sabbat: Fuck you, Dracula.

Anarchs: Fine, why not?

Bloodlines

Baali

‘And behold, a pale horse, and his name that sat on him was Death, and Hell followed with him.’ Ever noticed it’s in past tense? That’s not a mistranslation.

Even monsters have their bogeymen, and Kindred are no exception. Sires often attempt to keep neonates from growing drunk on their own power as vampires, and one method for doing so is to explain to them what sorts of twisted, evil power awaits them in the dark. The Baali are one such power.

History — or legend, perhaps — claims that the childe of an Antediluvian made a pact with forces beyond human understanding in order to make war on the thirteen clans. He took the name Baal-the-Destroyer, and he led his apostles against the Second City. The battle was terrible, and none caught in its wake were spared — demon and Kindred alike perished. But the Baali and their unholy allies were routed and fled, and over the millennia, they faded from memory, to legend, to cautionary tale.

The Baali do still exist, though. The Inquisition weeded out the stupid and the careless, but left the clever and the patient. Some went into torpor, while others simply claimed membership in another clan and begged for sanctuary. Now, in modern nights, the bloodline sees more concentrated activity than it has for centuries. Baali are explorers and seekers of secrets. They will do almost anything and sacrifice almost anyone to gain access to occult mysteries. They squander the wealth they have accumulated, they make deals they cannot possibly hope to live up to, and they do so with no apology and no attempt at an excuse. They seem to know that they are in decline, and that their bloodline is disappearing into the mists of time.

The bloodline has enemies, after all. Infernalists — those who call up and worship demons — are one of the very few beings that can be called “common enemies” by most of the denizens of the World of Darkness, Kindred and otherwise.

Despite their small numbers and host of enemies, the Baali are dangerous. They are not Faustian bargainers, looking for comfort or even knowledge. They do not wish to reign in Hell. They believe — they know — that the world is doomed. The End Times are here, and every sacrifice they make, every murder they incite, is one more chink in the dam holding back the deluge of blood called Gehenna. If they have to die to break that dam, so be it. They die knowing that what they do is what must be done.

Nickname: Demons

Sect: While individual Baali might pretend to membership in the Camarilla or, less commonly, the Sabbat, the bloodline as a whole claims no sect.

Appearance: Some neonates adorn themselves with Satanic paraphernalia. Some Baali dress in expensive clothing, and some don’t bother. Some become so fixated that they neglect outer appearance. Older Baali surround themselves with insects, rats, or other vermin.

Haven: Baali tend to nest in places of antiquity. Libraries, universities, and stately homes attract the Demons. No matter where the Baali make their havens, though, the vampire’s very presence changes the place. Vermin creep in first, and no amount of effort can keep them out.

Background: The Baali value temperament above profession. Teachers, defrocked priests, laborers, artists — all have joined the ranks of the Baali. The bloodline even breeds their own recruits, drawing from ghoul families raised over the years to produce offspring suckled on the unholy truths that the Baali recite as gospel.

Character Creation: Mental Attributes, especially Perception, are usually primary. A Baali’s ability to tempt and entice depend on their insight into what a person truly wants. Social Attributes are also helpful, as the Baali need both to keep their identities a secret and convince others to open up to them.

Clan Disciplines: Daimoinon, Obfuscate, Presence

Weaknesses: Baali cannot bear to look upon or handle objects of any faith. Demons must avert their gazes from such objects, and touching them burns their flesh. In addition, should a Baali run afoul of True Faith, any hindering or damage effects are doubled.

Organization: The Baali gather in cabals numbering three to 13. Supposedly, these cabals answer to the bloodline’s founder. Any Demon is willing to die to protect their cabal-mates; not out of any loyalty or affection for them, but because they’re all doomed anyway.

Stereotypes

Camarilla: Sooner or later, the masks have to come off. Take all the time you need. We’ll wait.

Sabbat: A honeycomb in which to hide. Just learn how the little bees dance first.

Followers of Set: They have the right idea. They’re just playing for the wrong team.

The View from Without

Camarilla: Satanists? They’re not... wait. You think they care about Satan?

Sabbat: There’s a reason we spend so much time ensuring loyalty, and it’s not because we think the Camarilla licks are going to infiltrate us.

Ravnos: You wouldn’t believe what I’ve seen.

Daughters of Cacophony

I heard the song as I died. It led me out of darkness and cold, and it came to my lips with my mother-sister’s blood. And now I sing, because to end the song would be to end all.

The Daughters of Cacophony emerged as a distinct bloodline sometime during the 19th century. Before that, of course, there were always Kindred who saw music and song as a way to remain sane. Kindred scholars believe that the Daughters sprang from the blood of either Clan Toreador (for their passionate artistic pursuit) or Malkavian (given their propensity for causing madness), but their supernatural powers point more toward Clan Ventrue. It’s something of a moot point, as the “first” Daughter of Cacophony is unknown. Regardless of their origins, the Sirens (as they are called in Kindred circles) are all singers, and the bloodline has always been predominantly female.

Indeed, the Daughters of Cacophony base their unlives on song. They wander through eternity with music always in their ears, and that makes them seem unfocused or flighty to other Kindred. This is one of the reasons, along with their rarity, that neither major sect of vampires considers them a threat or much more than a diversion. Individual Kindred, however, might have occasion to meet a Siren and wonder why it is that those who spend too much time listening to their songs always seem changed by the experience.

Nickname: Sirens

Sect: Sirens might fall in with whichever sect holds power locally. If asked, most Daughters either identify as independents or claim membership in the Camarilla.

Appearance: A Siren might be a street musician dressed in thrift-store chic, a pierced and tattooed punk rocker, or a high-class entertainer with money and prestige. Apart from the fact that the Daughters are largely female, their appearance varies widely.

Haven: Most Sirens have a quiet room with good acoustics where they can sing without anyone listening. As much as most Daughters love performing, they would prefer to be alone after the “show” ends, and so the outward appearance of their havens isn’t as important as maintaining its secrecy.

Background: The majority of Sirens were singers before the Embrace as well. Very occasionally, a Daughter Embraces someone who never developed her skill at singing, but these discover their talents swiftly.

The Daughters do not discriminate based on musical style. Jazz singer, nu-metal waif, opera diva, sultry lounge performer — any chanteuse might be a Siren.

Character Creation: Social Attributes tend to be primary. Expression and Performance are almost always high, and many have Fame. Sirens who die with a following reap the benefit of their fans (Herd). Those less lucky often still have Contacts in show business.

Clan Disciplines: Fortitude, Melpominee, Presence

Weaknesses: The Daughters of Cacophony hear music constantly. This might be a form of synesthesia, or it might be a hallucination. This constant song distracts the Daughters as much as it guides them. The Difficulties of all their Perception rolls increase by 2. No Daughter of Cacophony may have Alertness above 3 dots.

Organization: Their numbers are too small for them to be truly organized, yet sometimes the Sirens act as one. Every so often, Sirens everywhere put on a performance on the same night. They don’t necessarily sing the same songs, but all of the waking Sirens sing at exactly the same time.

Stereotypes

Camarilla: Would you like to hear another, my lord?

Sabbat: Very well. You don’t mind if I hum a bit, though?

Toreador: If only your art had real power, like mine.

The View from Without

Camarilla: It’s the Prince’s policy not to let fratricide go unanswered, even among the less important clans — would you please stop singing a moment?

Sabbat: If we can’t get ‘em our way, you get ‘em yours, sisters!

Giovanni: I don’t know what songs they’re talking about. I’ve got a nasty suspicion, though, that I could listen in if I wanted to.

Gargoyles

Master. Why did you burn her? She only wanted to fly free for one night... yes, master. I obey.

The Tremere unveiled the Gargoyle bloodline in AD 1167, and the Slaves have been a steady, if infrequent, part of Kindred society ever since. Gargoyles might, in fact, be one reason that the Tremere weren’t exterminated entirely in their first few centuries of existence. These odd quasi-Kindred often look like their stone namesakes — rocky-skinned, ugly, winged creatures that exist only to serve their masters.

Or such was the case for several hundred years. Recently, though, many of the Slaves have thrown off their chains and joined the Camarilla. Why the Gargoyles choose to ally themselves with the sect that also protects their former masters is anyone’s guess. One of the going theories is that it’s a slap in the Warlocks’ collective face, but most Kindred don’t give the Gargoyles credit for being that sophisticated. More likely, the Rockheads simply realize that in the Camarilla, their talents will be recognized and no one will try and order them around (at least not directly).

Gargoyles are created out of other Kindred, and this ugly fact makes their creation a seldom-discussed topic in polite vampiric society. The Tremere start with a Gangrel, Nosferatu, or Tzimisce vampire and perform obscene, bloody rituals using its blood, heart, and skin. Vitae from another vampire (from one of the other two clans) is used to provoke a violent mutation, with the result that some Gargoyles look purely hideous (Nosferatu base), some look feral (Gangrel base), and some look fleshy and sport bony protrusions (Tzimisce base). No Gargoyle can pass for human.

The Tremere tolerate the Gargoyles’ presence in the Camarilla as best they can — it’s not as though they can easily re-enslave them, after all. But relations are obviously strained. The Gargoyles’ revolt and induction into the Camarilla has all but doomed the remaining slave Gargoyles, as their masters now monitor them ruthlessly for any sign of betrayal. The Tremere also aren’t above planting hypnotic suggestions in their Slaves’ minds, so that if they ever do rebel, they still serve a function for the clan.

Nickname: Traditionally Slaves, though free Gargoyles have been known to crack heads over it. Other common nicknames are Rockheads, Runaways, Freemen, and Grotesques.

Sect: Gargoyles usually join the Camarilla. It’s not impossible for a Slave to join the Sabbat, but the bloodline as a whole frowns on this.

Appearance: Not all Gargoyles look like the stone grotesques found spitting rainwater over old buildings, but all are nightmarish. Some have tufts of hair protruding randomly over their bodies, or odd, galloping walks. Most Gargoyles have gray, rock-like skin. All Gargoyles have wings. These grow as the character’s Flight increases.

Haven: Slave Gargoyles sleep wherever their masters allow them — closets, basements, crypts, cells. Free Gargoyles prefer sleeping in havens high above the ground. Bell towers and disused high-rises are favorites. Gargoyles are often muscle for other Kindred, sometimes in exchange for a bare-bones haven.

Background: Gargoyle creation rarely shows a discernible pattern. The Change tortures the new Gargoyle’s body, as bones elongate and split to form the wings. The face warps, leaving nothing to recognize the mortal or vampire by. They rarely remember their unlife or mortal existence.

Character Creation: Created to be slaves, Gargoyles specialize in Physical Attributes, Talents, and a few select Skills (Melee, for instance). All Gargoyles start with a free dot of the Flight Discipline. Appearance is always 0. Gargoyles created by the Tremere are at the same Generation as the Kindred that act as their “base.”

Clan Disciplines: Flight, Fortitude, Potence, Visceratika

Weaknesses: The Slaves are hideous. That grotesquery takes different forms, but always results in an Appearance of 0. They are also highly susceptible to mind control from any source. A Gargoyle’s Willpower score (current or permanent) is considered 2 points lower when used to resist such powers.

Organization: Gargoyles have a strong sense of community. They often keep communal havens. Sometimes Gargoyles petition the Prince for the release of slave Gargoyles, but more often they just tear slave owners to pieces. With no community, Gargoyles are likely to Embrace and build their own.

Stereotypes

Camarilla: Our new home. Here, no one shouts or strikes us or burns us with mirrors and light. Here, they ask politely, and we are free to ask for payment in blood. Paradise.

Sabbat: They are so brutal. And they love each other so. And yet, when I think of them, my eyes begin to burn. Why should this be?

Tremere: I will never be a slave again. Never.

The View from Without

Camarilla: Fuck you, Merlin. They belong to all of us now.

Sabbat: Where d’ya think they get the raw materials to make those monsters? Oh, the civilized Camarilla.

Ravnos: You headed into the city? Good luck! Don’t forget to look up!

Harbingers of Skulls

It’s amazing what the dead can teach you about revenge. We have been listening to them for centuries.

The Harbingers of Skulls are a small bloodline that emerged from the mists of the past and threw their lot in with the Sabbat. The Harbingers are alleged to all be elders, and frighteningly powerful. While their sudden appearance suggests a long bout of torpor, they don’t behave like recently-awakened vampires. Indeed, they claim they have been dead these past five centuries.

The Harbingers of Skulls resemble rotting corpses, much like the Samedi. Indeed, vampires that know of both bloodlines suggest a common origin, but since neither the Samedi nor the Harbingers discuss their origins publically, it’s just speculation.

The Harbingers have only been members of the Sabbat for a short time, but during that time they have made themselves invaluable. The Sword of Caine, lacking Giovanni members, has difficulty dealing with ghosts. This can lead to problematic hauntings, since the Sabbat kills enough people that ghostly visitation can become an issue. The Harbingers can exorcize these vengeful shades, or, better yet, turn them into incorporeal spies and slaves. And for all of this, the Harbingers ask nothing except for favors to be repaid at a later date.

The Sabbat, for its part, isn’t usually given to the favor-trading that one finds in the Camarilla, but what the Harbingers bring to the table is too valuable to miss. And besides, whether one believes the fairy tale about noble origins and “revenge on the traitorous moneylenders” that the Harbingers sometimes spin, their passion is palpable. That kind of murderous zeal is always welcome in the Sword of Caine.

Nickname: Lazarenes

Sect: The Harbingers of Skulls belong entirely to the Sabbat. That said, given that the bloodline obviously has many secrets buried, it’s impossible to know if any Lazarenes claim membership in the Camarilla or remain independent.

Appearance: The Harbingers prefer to stay hidden in their havens, or at least remain among Kindred, and for good reason. They resemble emaciated, shrunken corpses. Their skin grows taut and white, and the gums recede, giving the impression of a bleached, grinning skull. Most Harbingers wear flowing garments or burial shrouds, the better to highlight their affinity for death.

Haven: Unlike most Sabbat Kindred, the Harbingers of Skulls do not join packs, and therefore do not use communal havens. They usually choose lairs away from mortal interference, but close enough to the living that they don’t want for blood (or fresh corpses for their horrific arts). Crypts, disused laboratories, and slaughterhouses are common choices.

Background: The background of a “typical” Harbinger is impossible to know. They are all elders, and who they were in life has been lost to time. They do seem to show evidence of a classical education, and one survivor of a battle between a Harbinger and a gang of Camarilla Brujah mentions that the Lazarene used a style of fighting that originated in Florence. Beyond those sparse clues, however, the Harbingers’ true identities are unknown.

Character Creation: The Harbingers of Skulls tend toward morbid and somewhat violent concepts. They are obsessed with revenge, death, and the horrors beyond the grave. Social Attributes and Abilities aren’t a priority. Mental Attributes and Knowledges are generally highly rated, but their status as elders means that they are formidable across the board (and imply a significant amount spent on the Generation Background to boot).

Clan Disciplines: Auspex, Fortitude, Necromancy

Weaknesses: No matter how much blood a Harbinger consumes, zir skin remains deathly pale. Moreover, all Harbingers look like shriveled corpses. They have Appearance ratings of 0 and automatically fail Appearance rolls.

Organization: The Harbingers have some kind of internal organization, and they do keep in contact and even meet with one another occasionally. They keep in touch using ghostly messengers, and they travel to meet each other using methods that other Kindred cannot match. Most of the Sabbat doesn’t quite know how many Harbingers exist or what they might be doing.

Shadowlands Shellshock

Harbingers of Skulls who spent any length of time in the shadowlands often bear mental scars, after years of harrying by horrifying spirits and worse denizens of the Underworld.

Derangements such as Amnesia, Fugue, Paranoia, and Schizophrenia are prevalent among Harbingers of Skulls. If you wish to take one as a Flaw, discuss the symptoms of your character’s Derangement, and your Storyteller can assign a point value.

Stereotypes

Camarilla: The more things change...

Sabbat: They can’t win. But we don’t want to win.

Giovanni: Payback is coming very soon, and on that day all of your money will mean nothing.

The View from Without

Camarilla: What do I have to do, spell it out for you?

Sabbat: You should have seen the look on the goombas’ faces when their ghosty slaves all turned around and jumped on ‘em. I love these guys!

Giovanni: How many times do I have to say it? The Cappadocians are dead. We killed them. Period.

Kiasyd

I didn’t invite you in. Leave. Touch nothing except the floor and the doorknob, or I swear on the moon and the stars I will have you on the other side of that mirror by morning.

The Kiasyd are a bloodline of the Lasombra clan; that much is obvious, given that these odd Kindred make use of the Obtenebration Discipline. But their aversion to iron, their odd power of Mytherceria, and their very appearance speak to even stranger ancestry.

The Kiasyd are independent, focused more on their studies than on the causes of the Sword of Caine. The ones that do claim membership in the Sabbat aren’t passionately involved in the sect’s activities. Some speculate that the Lasombra hold some power over them — did the Keepers create the Kiasyd, the way the Tzimisce created the Blood Brothers? Do the Wierdlings, whatever their origin, owe the Lasombra some debt? Whatever the nature of their relationship, it seems to benefit the Sabbat.

The Kiasyd are, as a rule, calm and studious. They prefer to remain ensconced within their havens, poring over ancient texts, maps, artifacts, and other bits of antiquity. Other Kindred, it seems, can’t understand how a lineage of vampires that is so very strange could be nothing more than scholars. To hear the rumor-mill tell it, the Kiasyd can feed only on the blood of infants, or faeries, or unspoiled virgins. Their otherworldly heritage comes not from the Good Folk, but from demons and the forces of Hell. Their odd appearance isn’t because of mutation in their vitae, but a God-given warning: These are not Kindred. They are other.

Nickname: Wierdlings

Sect: Most Kiasyd belong to the Sabbat, at least nominally. A rare few identify as Camarilla vampires, and others are independent. Since the Kiasyd don’t spend much time around each other if they can help it (see below), drawing a conclusion about their collective preferences is difficult.

Appearance: The Kiasyd aren’t called “Weirdlings” just because of their behavior. Most of them are well over six feet tall (two meters or more), willowy, and thin. Their skin isn’t just pale, as with most vampires, but glows faintly in moonlight. Their eyes are almond-shaped and have no visible pupils. They are often violet or jet black in color. Their ears are slightly pointed. The Kiasyd cover this with a hat or headband when going out amongst mortals, but even so, their height and skin tone make them stand out.

Haven: Most Kiasyd spend years building up their havens, improving security, library facilities, and other amenities. They are fiercely protective of their homes, and they do not allow guests without explicit invitations. When they do invite guests, however, they treat them well, offering vintage vitae, comfortable rooms and, of course, plenty of reading material.

Background: Museum curators, talented students, librarians, rare book experts, and academics of all stripes are likely choices for Kiasyd Embraces. The Wierdlings want their progeny to be studious, polite, and educated, and they don’t want to take the time instructing them in the basics of erudite understanding.

Character Creation: Mental Attributes and Knowledges are usually primary, though all Kiasyd have some degree of Etiquette. Occult is, of course, a common Ability. Resources, Generation, and Contacts (with other Kindred) are the only common Backgrounds. Kiasyd have difficulty mingling with mortals long enough to gain others.

Clan Disciplines: Dominate, Mytherceria, Obtenebration

Weaknesses: Besides their somewhat freakish appearance, Kiasyd also have an allergy to iron. Touching iron requires an immediate roll to avoid frenzy, and any weapons made from cold iron inflict Aggravated damage to Kiasyd.

Organization: The Kiasyd don’t enjoy each other’s company, which is strange, considering how little they have in common with everyone else. After a short period of instruction (50 years at the most, and this period has grown much shorter in modern nights), a Kiasyd childe is released from zir sire’s haven and is no longer the elder Kiasyd’s responsibility.

The Necromancy Lie

At the Storyteller’s discretion, Kiasyd may take the Discipline of Necromancy instead of Dominate, but in so doing earn the Clan Enmity Flaw twice, both for the Giovanni and Harbingers of Skulls. Freebie points aren’t gained for taking these Flaws.

Stereotypes

Camarilla: A grand experiment. I don’t think it has run its course quite yet, but it has so much ground to make up.

Sabbat: What is the color of regret? What is the flavor of a bad debt? Like rust in my mouth.

Ravnos: They have some sense of how reality really works. A shame that they squander it on parlor tricks.

The View from Without

Camarilla: Proof positive that the Sabbat needs to be exterminated now. They’ll accept anyone, even demon worshippers.

Sabbat: Three vampires walk into a bar, and the fourth was a Weirdling, so the bar decapitated him. Get it?

Ravnos: Do not turn your back on these guys, spit on the ground where they’ve walked, and for the love of all that’s holy, do not steal their books.

Nagaraja

Your fate is inevitable, but serve me, and I will protect you from it for as long as I can.

A bizarre bloodline of flesh-eating witches, the Nagaraja are legends, feared by Kindred on all sides of the Jyhad. As a result of their hideous appetites, the Nagaraja have been hunted to near extinction in the modern nights by political enemies and the ghosts upon whom they prey. A few of these vampires still prowl the darkness, however, continuing their subtle plans.

Although not particularly forthcoming with their origins, the Nagaraja supposedly hail from the Middle East. They are associated with a death cult in that region that ritually consumed human flesh and opened gateways into the lands of the dead. How these cultists became vampires is lost to history, but those few Kindred that have met the Nagaraja have theories: maybe a wandering Giovanni trader Embraced them, perhaps they tried to follow in Tremere’s footsteps, or they could be the last surviving Cappadocians. The Nagaraja refuse to confirm or deny such speculations, however, so the truth and rumor continue to entwine around these mysterious Kindred.

Some of the Flesh-Eaters belong to a sect of vampires called the Tal’Mahe’Ra or the “True Black Hand,” apparently distinct from the Black Hand of the Sabbat. What the Tal’Mahe’Ra is doing in the Deadlands isn’t clear, nor why they war with the Restless Dead, but their city in the Underworld is home to a number of the Nagaraja. Those in the land of the living are independent, now seeking to eke out whatever unlife they can.

Nickname: Flesh-Eaters

Sect: The Nagaraja as a whole refuse membership in either the Camarilla or the Sabbat, but in Camarilla cities they follow the rules as well as they can (given their weakness).

Appearance: Nagaraja have pointed, irregular teeth, rather than the usual retractable fangs. This means that they seldom smile, and they tend to speak quietly around mortals — unless they plan to eat them.

Haven: The Nagaraja take havens where they can. One thing that the Flesh-Eaters do try to incorporate into their havens, when they can, is a means for disposing of bodies. They do not have the luxury of merely sipping a bit of blood the way other Kindred do.

Background: Most Nagaraja are well-educated, and many have some medical knowledge (either from their mortal lives or acquired post-Embrace). The bloodline’s small numbers make further assertions difficult to support. Some Nagaraja were priests or cultists before the Embrace, some antiquarians, and some exorcists or ghost-hunters.

Character Creation: Nagaraja usually have solitary or selfish concepts and Natures, though their Demeanors may be practically anything. Mental Attributes are usually primary, as are Knowledges. The most common Backgrounds for Nagaraja are Contacts, Resources, and Retainers, though a few twisted Mentors sometimes Embrace childer.

Clan Disciplines: Auspex, Dominate, Necromancy

Weaknesses: The Nagaraja require raw flesh in addition to blood to survive. For every night a Nagaraja goes without consuming flesh, ze loses 1 cumulative die from all zir Physical dice pools. Eating 1 point worth of flesh restores 1 die to these pools until the vampire has “caught up.” A human body has 10 “flesh points,” which work just like blood points: a Nagaraja consuming 1 flesh point increases zir blood pool by 1. Unlike blood points, however, taking a “flesh point” from a vessel does 1 health level of unsoakable Lethal damage to that vessel. The flesh the Nagaraja consume must be relatively fresh, though not necessarily “alive.” Indeed, some Nagaraja keep stores of ritually preserved corpses in their havens. This weakness does not allow them to eat food or consume other liquids.

Organization: While some claim this bloodline belongs to the Tal’Mahe’Ra in its entirety, there are ample exceptions. A given Nagaraja might keep contact with another, but the bloodline as a whole has no organization.

Stereotypes

Camarilla: An umbrella, until the drops grow heavy enough to break it.

Sabbat: Perhaps we can kill enough of them? No. The contagion has taken root.

Giovanni: You think you’re so powerful and decadent? How quaint.

The View from Without

Camarilla: Ghost problem? Go out to that busted-down house on 65th and follow the smell. You’ll find a guy that can help you. Bring along a mortal you don’t like.

Sabbat: These guys have backup you can’t see or touch. Beyond that, no idea.

Giovanni: Hey, when did we pick up a bunch of towel-heads?

Salubri

I say this and mean it truly — no burden I have ever carried is heavier than what this new eye has seen.

The Salubri were once a true clan. Their clan founder, Saulot, was said to be a superlative warrior as well as a fair-minded judge. It was also said that he grew progressively more disgusted with Kindred affairs over time, and weary of the constant, bloody cycles of violence and betrayal. He left his home for lands far to the east. When he returned, he was changed. He was tranquil and contemplative, but also somewhat fatalistic. Most surprisingly, though, he had developed a third eye in his forehead. Saulot Embraced new childer, and his clan slowly split into two distinct lines — the “warrior” and “healer” Salubri. For centuries, they acted as advisors, bodyguards, and sages to other Kindred and, to a lesser extent, mortals.

And then came the diablerie of Saulot.

The mages of the newly created Tremere line found Saulot’s torpid body, and drained his blood and soul. They usurped the power of the one of the Clans of Caine, and sent the Salubri into a downward spiral from which they never really recovered. Tonight, rumor has it that only seven members of the once-respected line exist at any given time.

The rumors die hard, however. Modern Kindred know of the Salubri as diablerists who consume their own sires (and do it openly — patricide is hardly unknown among the other clans, but they don’t admit to it) and remove the souls of other Kindred. The Soulsuckers are, supposedly, a clan of defilers and liars from centuries past, possibly involved with demon worship, and demonstrably part of the Sabbat (see Salubri antitribu). They ask, quite reasonably, how the Salubri are able to achieve Golconda with any regularity. They wonder how any line can sustain itself with so few members. And, finally, they pose this question: even if these first two notions are taken as given, why would the Salubri need to submit to diablerie? Why do their childer need to consume their sires’ souls, if not for some defect in the bloodline itself?

Nickname: Cyclops, or, less kindly, Soulsuckers

Sect: The Salubri are independent, though they do sometimes masquerade as other clans and blend in with the Camarilla. The Salubri, however, are just trying to survive long enough to reach Golconda and pass along their blood. Sectarian politics mean nothing to them.

Appearance: Each Salubri has a third eye in the center of their forehead. Otherwise, the Salubri are too few in number for any generalization about their appearances to be possible. Their ranks in modern nights have included children, the elderly, and adults of all races.

Haven: Salubri are unwelcome in most cities, and that means their havens are situated in isolated environments. They also usually have multiple escape routes, and only have what possessions the character can carry in a backpack. Quick departures are not uncommon for the members of this bloodline, so Salubri don’t get attached to their havens.

Background: The Salubri Embrace people whom they feel can find Golconda. Healers, teachers, empaths, and other people with high Humanity ratings are good choices, although occasionally Salubri Embrace evil people in hopes of seeing them redeemed (or, at least, setting them on that path).

Character Creation: Social or Mental Attributes are often primary, as are Knowledges. Most Salubri also have decent ratings in Empathy. All Salubri must take 5 dots of Generation (to represent their diablerie of their sires), and most have at least a dot of Herd as well.

Clan Disciplines: Auspex, Fortitude, Obeah

Weaknesses: Salubri have difficulty feeding on unwilling vessels. If a Cyclops attempts it, ze loses a point of Willpower.

Organization: The Salubri are not, as a bloodline, organized. In fact, when Salubri do meet, it tends to be on the instruction of their sires — the dying wish of a given Cyclops to xyr childe might be to seek out another member of the bloodline and deliver a message or pay respects.

Stereotypes

Camarilla: Judge a man by the company he keeps.

Sabbat: Fish gotta swim, birds gotta fly, warriors gotta make war.

Tremere: The enemy. For them, there can be no forgiveness.

The View from Without

Camarilla: Yeah, yeah. I’ve heard the same things you have. Consider the source.

Sabbat: We’ve got some open slots, any time you folks wanna man up.

Giovanni: Hey, Tremere. I feel your pain.

Samedi

Make fun of me one more time and I’ll hug you, you prissy bitch.

If the Nosferatu are repulsive and the Harbingers of Skulls are hideous, a word hasn’t yet been invented to describe the Samedi. Resembling nothing so much as walking, rotting corpses, these odd vampires take their name and their origin from the Caribbean and the religion of vodoun (popularly known as voodoo). Baron Samedi, in legend, was a loa of death and ancestor worship. The vampires that bear his name and visage (for Samedi is often portrayed as a corpse, albeit not one so disgusting as the Stiffs) also often share his rude, blunt demeanor. In fact, a vampire going by the name of “Baron Samedi” seems to be the founder, or at least the oldest extant member, of the bloodline.

The Samedi might seem to be an offshoot of the Nosferatu, but their powers of Thanatosis — a Discipline dedicated to manipulating dead flesh — speak of a connection to the Giovanni or their doomed predecessors, the Cappadocians. If that is the case, though, the Samedi and the Giovanni went their separate ways long ago, for neither has anything good to say about the other. The reason for this enmity is not something that members of either line discuss in public, but the Giovanni apparently have a history with Baron Samedi himself. The Baron, still active in the bloodline’s affairs, refuses to discuss the “deal” that he had with Augustus Giovanni, but it must have been something of gravity for the mutual dislike to persist.

Samedi take the roles of enforcers and assassins in Kindred society. They don’t do it on ideological grounds, like the Assamites, and thus they find work with Kindred who want to get what they paid for. The Samedi do not take contracts against Nosferatu or, strangely, Giovanni Kindred without a heavy fee, speaking to some regard or fear of these clans. As with so many other facts about their line, the Samedi have nothing to say on the matter.

Nickname: Stiffs

Sect: Samedi occasionally join the Camarilla or the Sabbat, but for the most part they consider themselves independent.

Appearance: Saying that a Samedi resembles a rotting corpse is, sadly, in no way a euphemism. Their flesh is soft and tends to leak fluid if poked too hard. Their ears and noses rot away (but still function normally), and tiny bits of their skin tend to slough off and regrow. Skin retracts from the eyes and teeth, giving them the appearance of grinning skulls, but too much meat clings to the cranium for them to achieve the cleaner horror of the Harbingers of Skulls. Some Samedi are leathery and dry, like unwrapped mummies. These Stiffs still stink, but their stench is more reminiscent of rotted flowers and old decay than fresh putrescence.

Haven: The Samedi make havens in places where a moldering corpse and its stench aren’t out of place. Morgues, mortuaries, graveyards, and meat packing plants house the occasional Samedi. Some members of the bloodline choose to dwell below ground like the Nosferatu, but this does lead to conflict between the Stiffs and the Sewer Rats.

Background: The Samedi are a relatively young line. No Samedi older than 250 years is known to exist. Most of the older ones hail from the Caribbean islands or the southern United States. Neonate Samedi don’t always share this connection to vodoun, but frequently were close to death (one way or another) before the Embrace.

Character Creation: While Physical Attributes are a priority for those Samedi working as killers and enforcers, many Samedi lean toward Mental Traits. Samedi rarely have the Herd or Resources Backgrounds, and their standoffish and solitary nature means that Mentor and Allies are equally rare.

Clan Disciplines: Fortitude, Obfuscate, Thanatosis

Weaknesses: The Samedi, as mentioned, are putrid beyond words. Samedi characters have Appearance ratings of 0, and automatically fail Appearance rolls.

Organization: The Samedi are too rare to be organized. They might cross each other’s paths occasionally and trade stories, but no plan or schedules exists for these meetings, at least as far as anyone outside the bloodline can tell.

Stereotypes

Camarilla: Careful. These jokers have a built-in reason to set us on fire, and they aren’t afraid to use it.

Sabbat: They’re more honest than the Camarilla, anyway. But I smell like a dead asshole already; I don’t need to actually be a dead asshole.

Giovanni: Just because you’re older than me don’t mean I give a fuck what you think, dago.

The View from Without

Camarilla: We’re all agreed that our continued survival rests on the mortals not knowing about us, right? How about we get rid of the walking, talking, Masquerade breach?

Sabbat: They follow the Baron, I prefer to dance with Erzulie. But it’s nice to know that the family still talks.

Giovanni: So they can stuff shit into their dead stomachs. That’s not Necromancy. That’s, like, biology.

True Brujah

I spared you last night because we hadn’t finished our conversation. I might spare you tonight, if I think that tomorrow you might still interest me.

The Clan Brujah that most Kindred know in the modern nights is not, according to legend, the true lineage of the Antediluvian known as “Brujah.” The strange bloodline known as the True Brujah claim that Brujah’s childe, Troile, committed diablerie upon him and stole control of the clan. Brujah, it is said, was not the hot-blooded warrior/scholar that many vampires associate with the Rabble, but rather a staid, passionless introvert. Why, then, he chose to Embrace a maniac like Troile in the first place is a mystery that will likely never be fully explained.

The True Brujah were never subject to a massive purge as the Salubri or the Cappadocians were, but they don’t Embrace often and never recovered from the theft of their clan status. Their city — the Carthage of Kindred myth, in which vampires openly ruled over mortals — supposedly died out due to the treachery of Troile’s childer (though other stories suggest demonic influence). From there, the bloodline faded from history. A few notable members of the bloodline appear throughout history, but by the modern nights only Kindred historians or those who chance to meet them can speak of their existence.

Whatever the truth of their origins, the True Brujah have remained a small but constant presence in Kindred society. Sometimes they wear their true nature openly, while other times they claim membership in other clans (stating their clan as “Brujah,” for example, and not bothering to correct the misapprehension that ensues). Their primary focus is the pursuit of knowledge, and to that end they have made some strange alliances. The True Brujah occasionally ally with the Followers of Set, and sometimes even provide services as consultants to the Sabbat in exchange for access to secrets and locations normally closed to them.

Nickname: Sages

Sect: The Sages have become more or less independent. They follow the Camarilla’s rules when in their cities, and avoid the Sabbat lest they become pressed into service or destroyed. While it isn’t impossible for a True Brujah to join the Sword of Caine, most of them can’t summon up the necessary fervor.

Appearance: In nights past, the True Brujah were predominantly of Greek or North African descent. As the centuries wore on, though, the Sages Embraced progeny from across Europe and, eventually, the New World. In modern nights, True Brujah tend to dress professionally, the better to fit in with the academic settings they prefer.

Haven: Some True Brujah maintain multiple havens around the world, which they use as they travel pursuing whatever kind of knowledge they find most fascinating. Others stay closer to a given city, generally with a centuries-old university or other center of learning nearby. In either case, their havens tend to be clean, well-maintained, and austere.

Background: It’s not entirely accurate to say that the True Brujah only Embrace academics and scholars, but it’s fairly rare for them to do otherwise. Sages sometimes Embrace out of curiosity or even spite, but for the most part they choose people whose capacity of learning and accumulated knowledge will benefit their sires.

Character Creation: Mental Attributes and Knowledges are usually primary. True Brujah sires instruct their childer in the basics of Occult and some form of combat (it’s just not practical to be unable to fight). Nature and Demeanor are often similar, if not identical, and never anything forceful or passionate. Common Backgrounds include Resources, Contacts, and Herd.

Clan Disciplines: Potence, Presence, Temporis

Weaknesses: True Brujah lose much of their emotional capacity when they are Embraced, and their ability for sympathy continues to deteriorate as they grow older. All Conscience/Conviction rolls are made at +2 Difficulty (maximum 10), and ratings in Conscience, Conviction, Humanity, and Paths of Enlightenment cost double the normal experience costs.

Organization: While their rarity precludes frequent meetings, the bloodline comes together twice a century to discuss matters that affect them all. The eldest members of the bloodline determine the location and specific time of the meeting. Outside of these larger meetings, many True Brujah stay in contact via letters, whether handwritten or online.

Stereotypes

Camarilla: After a certain point, a system becomes self-sustaining, and even if it no longer has any resemblance to its original purpose, it is too large to dismantle.

Sabbat: I strongly suspect that the future of all Kindred can be found in this sect. I also hope I am wrong.

Brujah: A misguided, angry thief is still a thief.

The View from Without

Camarilla: Yeah, they seem all smart and shit. My sire told me stories. Don’t trust ‘em, just stake ‘em.

Sabbat: I spent a very pleasant evening conversation with one of their number some years back. I lament that their temperament doesn’t induce them to join us. At least they are tactful.

Followers of Set: Our newest friends. We are still, I admit, at a loss for how best to tempt them. They don’t seem to want anything.

Clans and Bloodlines

Clans

Assamites

Stereotypes

Brujah

Stereotypes

The Followers of Set

Stereotypes

Gangrel

Stereotypes

Giovanni

Stereotypes

Lasombra

Stereotypes

Malkavians

Stereotypes

Nosferatu

Stereotypes

Ravnos

Stereotypes

Toreador

Stereotypes

Tremere

Stereotypes

Tzimisce

Stereotypes

Ventrue

Choosing a New Menu

Stereotypes

Caitiff

Stereotypes

Bloodlines

Playing Bloodlines

History and Vampires

Baali

Stereotypes

The View from Without

Daughters of Cacophony

Stereotypes

The View from Without

Gargoyles

Stereotypes

The View from Without

Harbingers of Skulls

Shadowlands Shellshock

Stereotypes

The View from Without

Kiasyd

The Necromancy Lie

Stereotypes

The View from Without

Nagaraja

Stereotypes

The View from Without

Salubri

Stereotypes

The View from Without

Samedi

Stereotypes

The View from Without

True Brujah

Stereotypes

The View from Without