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 Tremere are not only the most organized clan, but they also tend to keep the most meticulous records. Over several hundred years, the clan archives spread over several libraries across the globe. They contain enough secrets for several lifetimes. You are one of the Kindred that stand guard over these secrets. They need to be managed and maintained, even incorporating improvements like scanning ancient scrolls onto digital media.
It may not be the most exciting life, but sometimes your skills are required outside the library. Newly located records need to be verified and collected properly. Stolen texts need to be tracked down and refilled. You may also be required as a consultant, acting as a living repository of the secrets you have read.
The chantry is more than just a repository of lore. It is a sanctuary, a fortress, and a home. Someone needs to see to the bricks and mortar that shelters the clan. You make sure that needed improvements are made and magical protections are organized. For you, the chantry is more than a building; it is almost an extension of yourself. You know every corridor, every room, every secret passage and tunnel.
But taking care of the chantry does not mean you never leave it. You must have a hand in the city planning departments and be able to whisper in the ears of politicians to ensure its security. You are responsible not just for a building but the foundation of the Tremere in a city.
Every clan needs a few disposable assets, and your job is to procure them. To this end, you run a small but intimate group dedicated to the worship of long-forgotten gods. A little showmanship, a little Thaumaturgy, and you have convinced them you have divine or demonic power. When you mix a little blood into the communion cup, they soon become willing servants to the Tremere, even though they have never heard the name.
Your cult might contain outsiders and the forgotten, but could easily include a few politicians and scions of the wealthy looking to experiment. When the clan needs a favor or a few willing victims, it turns to you to provide them.
Few Kindred are happy to share their secrets with the Tremere, so the Tremere have had to be subtle in rooting them out. It is your job to get close to the other clans, using deceit or charm to convince them to share their secrets.
You might be an undercover agent, working a dangerous double bluff. To those outside the clan, you are a renegade, or just a knowledgeable Caitiff or Anarch. You are willing to give up secrets in return for sanctuary among other Kindred. You do not offer these secrets without a price, though. You tell them that with an enemy like the Tremere looking for you, you want something valuable in return. Sometimes your allegiance is more obvious, and you put a face on the Tremere when they wish to negotiate with the other clans. You remain charming and open to gain their trust, and put a spin on recent Tremere plots to assuage suspicions.
Despite appearances, your loyalty is only to the Tremere. Quite often you don’t know the whole picture (to allow you plausible deniability), but all you need to know is your part in it.
The Tremere keep their lore in vast libraries, but entrust their secrets to very few. There are plenty of things the Tremere do not want the other clans to know. Many are magical secrets, the keys to understanding the higher levels of Thaumaturgy. Others are the locations of valuable artifacts or deep cover agents. You may simply guard a hard drive you have vowed never to investigate. Several Tremere are trusted with each secret, in case something happens to one of them.
You have been given such a secret, and must remain vigilant against those who might seek to steal it. The nature of the secret is up to you and the Storyteller to decide. How dangerous it is to you or the clan is something you will also need to decide.
Magic doesn’t really interest you. Clan Tremere is more than just a group of magicians, and that is where you have pledged your loyalty. However, some don’t feel the same way. There are those who spurn the gifts the clan gives them or selfishly put their own needs before those of the Tremere. When they try to run, you hunt them down.
Unlike many Tremere, heightened senses and street skills are far more useful to you than Thaumaturgy. With an array of contacts throughout the city, you’ll easily know where your quarry goes to ground. Sometimes you are used as a bodyguard or an enforcer, but you truly excel in the chase and the capture. You are the shadow haunting every renegade.
Many of the Tremere stay mired in the old ways or hocus-pocus and mumbo jumbo. You are looking to apply magic in new ways, enchanting machines and connecting the occult to the Internet. The elders of the clan see your work as ridiculous at best and abomination at worst, but tradition blinds them. What you are working on may change the face of magic.
While your skills in Thaumaturgy are advanced, you are also a creature of science. New advances are being made at a startling rate, and any one of them might prove the key to transmuting sorcery into a new form of science. While the elders will never understand, you are gaining support from many of the younger Kindred. Soon, when you have real proof of the potential of your work, you might be able to force the elders to place power in more enlightened hands.
Structure is important certainly, but no structure works very well if people stop following orders. You are here to ensure loyalty, through compulsion if necessary. Not everyone is enlightened enough to know that unquestioning loyalty is the best way to benefit everyone. This goes double for the kine. Where a Masquerade breach is likely or a new political officer decides to make a few unwelcome changes, you step in. It is not for your personal power, though. You are simply here to make sure the gears and cogs of the great machine keep turning.
You are a master of Dominate, and few can meet your gaze without feeling your compulsion. A quiet word is all you require to make anyone follow your lead. Some accuse you of being a Ventrue, but you are not a leader. Instead, you see yourself as a servant, making sure the human and Kindred parts of the system function as they should.
If there is one thing the Tremere despise, it is other people keeping secrets from them. This is doubly the case for magical secrets. While it is a distinctly different ability, Necromancy has far too many similarities to Thaumaturgy to be ignored. What makes this more frustrating is that the Giovanni are very good at keeping secrets.
While it is a hard path, you have chosen to delve deep into those secrets. If the undead will not teach you what you know, you will drag the knowledge from the dead themselves. The Giovanni are not going to help you, but you are not afraid to get your hands dirty searching for answers. For you, the line between blood magic and death magic is becoming more and more blurred. Soon you will discover their true connection and open new worlds of power for Clan Tremere.
You are a vampire that dreams of being a magician. From a young age, you studied the occult, but with limited success. Unfortunately, your dreams of magical power constantly eluded you, but a vampire saw your potential and appreciated your dedication. As a newly Embraced Tremere, the power of Thaumaturgy is finally yours. The lore at your fingertips as a member of the clan is truly humbling. Having eternity to study it somehow doesn’t feel like long enough.
You have little or no interest in politics; all you really care about is learning more magical secrets. Your only Discipline is Thaumaturgy, and that is all you need. The secrets of the universe are finally yours for the taking.
The Montmartre Pact
The Code and Oath of the Tremere
The “Death” of the Antitribu
Teaching Thaumaturgy
The true magus is one with the power to act. Blood is our power, and the time for action is now.