Vampire: The Requiem/Characters

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The Clans

A clan is a vampiric lineage. There are five clans: the Daeva, the Gangrel, the Mekhet, the Nosferatu and the Ventrue; all vampires belong to one clan or another. Members of clans all have certain things in common, from easiness with specific Disciplines to a particular weaknesses. Within the clans are smaller groups of specific lineages called Bloodlines, they share much of the defining characteristics of their parent clan, but have a number of unique abilities, access to specialised disciplines and are penalised with additional weaknesses in addition to their clan weakness. Overall the Bloodlines, to varying degrees, suffer from being Crippling Overspecialization variations of their parent clans.

Daeva - The Succubi

The Daeva are sexy, passionate, and manipulative. They embody and cultivate the image of the sensual vampire which is a great way to conceal their true natures. And to add insult to the injury they are more than capable of kicking your ugly ass. The truth is that behind their beautiful facade lies a hungry and lustful creature that is, gradually, losing its soul.

In the Shadows Of Mexico supplement, the indigenous Daeva, called Xoxocti, served as the majestic priests of the Aztec Gods and they viewed humans as above them and worthy of being allowed to rule over humans and vampires alike. Modern Mexican Daeva are more or less like the standard Deava and it is because of this the Xoxocti view them as illegitimate children.

Meanwhile in India, they are associated with the high Brahmin caste and are, interestingly enough, going through the same Priest to Dark Chick transformation as the Xoxocti as the years go by.

Tropes associated with the Daeva

Notable Daeva Bloodlines:

  • Anvari: Drug culture vampires who prefer to feed on people under the influence of opiates.
  • Carnival: Supernatural freaks with the power to make their "Freak" traits worse. Almost totally opposite from the clan's ideals of seductive beauty.
  • Children Of Judas: Depressed emo pariahs with the power to make others suicidally depressed. Can make mortals who committed suicide rise as vampires to prolong the emotional suffering.
  • Eupraxus - The ultra-elite royal family of the Invictus, around whom the entire covenant is situated to protect. Luckily, they never ask for much that couldn't already be provided, because there's only seven of them and they could be wiped out in the span of a single night if the Invictus really felt like it.
  • Gulikan: Vampire Perfumers who can use scent as a medium for their vampire powers.
  • Toreador: A homage to the Toreador clan of the previous game. Arrogantly fashionable, this bloodline takes the clan's hedonism and narcissism to Beyond the Impossible levels.
  • Xiao: Two different clans of emotion manipulators; California Xiao are sociopathic cult leaders who siphon the emotions of others, while Tianpan Xiao are overly emotional psychos who inspire wild mood swings in others.

Gangrel - The Savages

Nicknamed Savages by the others and stereotyped as babaric and stupid, but in their own way more noble than any other clan, meaning they are (probably) the nicest vampires around. You should note, however, that taking their niceness for granted is not a very wise decision since they are just as likely as any vampire to turn evil, have an intense connection with the Beast, very sharp claws and go berserk with little hesitation. They loathe the weak of mind, but value those with a strong sense of survival.

In Mexico, indigenous Gangrel were cousins of and allied with actual Werewolves (a Shout-Out to the clan's inspiration in Masquerade); they were also proud warriors and law enforcers, furthering the good guy thing.

Tropes associated with the Gangrel

  • Absurdly Sharp Claws: Part of their signature Discipline, Protean.
  • Animorphism: Another part of Protean. They can take the form of almost any animal, but wolves and bats are the most common.
  • Beastess: Female Gangrel.
  • The Beast Master: Animalism, one of their core disciplines.
  • Beast Men
  • Book Dumb: They are closer to the Beast than any other Clan and this proximity clouds their intellect and makes them more feral. However they compensate this with wisdom and insight.
  • Color-Coded for Your Convenience - Red and brown, according to the Florentine Kindred dress code. Probably a nod to their beastly streak and earthy personalities. To the Mexican Kindred it's yellow.
  • Demonic Possession: Animalism allows them to possess animals.
  • Evil Feels Good: The Red Surrender, when they loose their grip on Humanity and give in to the whims of the Beast, feels really good.
    • Being Good Sucks: For vampires, anyway. The Defiance, a rumored process that allows Savages to be shackle the beast such that they can never touch the Red Surrender again, also allows them to be intelletual and empathetic and in general more humane. And it feels awful, like denying part of who you are.
  • Gaseous Form: Another part of Protean.
  • Lack of Empathy: They have little interest on human needs or morality, and almost no compassion, when they are under Red Surrender.
  • Made of Iron: Resilence, one of their core Disciplines.
  • Proud Warrior Race: The clan as a whole but specially the Mexican Gangrel.
  • Seven Deadly Sins
  • Speaks Fluent Animal: Animalism grants them the ability to talk to animals.
  • Stone Wall: Theorically speaking, thanks to Resilence.
  • This Is Your Brain on Evil: Once again the Red Surrender.
  • Wild Vampires
  • Zen Survivors

Notable Gangrel Bloodlines:

  • Bohagande: Gamblers with the power to manipulate chance. The members of this bloodline style themselves as Magnificent Bastards or as lucky simple souls, while Kindred society treat them all as Jerk Sues who are dependant on their supernatural power of cheating to achieve success. A possible Spiritual Successor to the Ravnos.
  • Brujah: Vampire Bikers.
  • Dead Wolves: Wolf men mostly located in Northern Mexico, these were mortals who had potential to become Werewolves but were embraced before they could undergo their first Change. Have access to subtle powers that are affected by the moon. The bloodline is intended to serve as a bridge between the Vampire and Werewolf gamelines.
  • Hounds of Actaeon: The Evil Poacher of the Vampire world.
  • Les Gens Libres: A group of Vampiric freedom Fighters who seek to free others from oppression whether they want to be free or not.
  • Mabry: Vampire Bikers, that use traps.
  • Oberlochs: Monstrous, degenerate, inbred rednecks that lurk around rural towns, will only embrace their close family members and do not hesitate to kill city dwellers.
  • Shepherds: Altruistic vampires that protect mortals from the excess of less disciplined vampires.

Mekhet - The Shadows

The Mekhet, as their nickname implies, are silent vampires that gather forbidden secrets while lurking in the darkness which, by the way, are so entangled into their being that they can be considered one. If there something nobody should know you can be sure that sooner or later (most likely sooner) the Mekhet will discover and make use of it. Unlike the other clans they have nothing in particular that distinguishes their existence so to make up for this they can assume a variety of roles, from deadly spies to the enlightened scholars. They also have a tendency to pass themselves as wizards.

Their clanbook introduces the Shadow Cults, which serves to emphasize the mage thing, but they're Not That Kind Of Mage. It also introduces the possibility of Mekhet being able to embrace mortals after a few days of their actual death, but these individuals, have a higher chance of being raised as Hollow Mekhet, the clan's original form when they arose in Ancient Egypt. Instead of extra flammability, a Hollow lacks a Ka, meaning he doesn't cast a reflection...of any sort, meaning his voice lacks an echo, he doesn't cast a shadow, and recording devices (cameras, bugs, phones...) can't actually pick him up. This can be a bit of a double-edged sword.

By the way, the Ka? It wasn't destroyed. In fact, that's the reason why they don't have a reflection-because the Reflection is usually somewhere else. And it never likes the vampire.

Tropes associated with the Mekhet

  • Anatomy of the Soul: The Egyptian variety, of course.
  • Ancient Egypt: All over the clan, starting with its name and the fact they trace their origin to Ancient Egypt.
  • A Wizard Did It: The clan was allegedly created by a magic spell involving a woman and her witch-pharaoh husband, Akhenaten.
  • Back from the Dead: Vampires in general are all back from the dead, but Mekhets can embrace corpses even if they have been dead for days. This process, called Post-Mortem Embrace, creates the Hollow Mekhet.
  • Badass Bookworms: Although some of them are not necessarily bookworms.
  • Beneath Notice: The Occultation Merit designed especially for Shadows (and Mages). It makes them very difficult to notice. It is so powerful that some start forgetting who themselves are.
    • The Norvegi bloodline actively cultivates this image. They are so socially ostracised that nobody ever stops up and examines them too closely, which leads to most kindred grossly underestimating them.
  • Color-Coded for Your Convenience: Indigo and silver, according to the Florentine Kindred dress code. Black to the Mexican Kindred.
  • Dark Is Edgy: They are associated with Dark and Night, but... see below.
  • Dark Is Not Evil: No more evil than the average, though. The Mekhet, along with the Nosferatu, are tenebrous vampires, but they are also less prone to the whims of the Beast.
  • Evil Twin: The Reflections of Hollow Mekhet. They universally resent their respective vampires for getting what they see as a lesser version of the curse, and thus enjoy making their counterparts miserable.
  • Fragile Speedsters: Thanks to Celerity.
  • Glamour Failure: The Hollow Mekhet don't have Ka, the Soul of Sustenance, which, by the way, became the Reflection. Because of this they have no reflection nor shadow and their voices and images cannot be recorded by any mortal technology.
  • Invisibility: Obfuscate, one of the core Disciplines
  • Kill It with Fire: All vampires are weak to fire and sun light, they are worse to the Mekhet due their affinity with darkness.
  • Ninjas: They have the abilities to be great Ninjas, so much the "Mekhet ninja" became a cliched Concept in the VTR community.
  • Our Ghosts Are Different: The key to creating a Hollow Mekhet is Embracing someone who was going to leave a ghost in the normal course of events (ie, traumatic death, connection to life, all that jazz). For their parts, Reflections are similar to ghosts who have been sent to the Underworld (perfectly aware they're dead, able to grow and change in small ways), are mostly stuck inside mirrors or as living echoes or shadows, and eat carrion and stagnant water to regain their Essence.
  • Psychic Powers: Auspex, their signature Discipline. It includes...
  • Secret Circle of Secrets: The Shadow Cults. They seem to be drawn to create conspiracies and make secret cults around them. Lacking a sense of meaning in themselves, they impose meaning on the world around them.
  • Seven Deadly Sins
    • Envy: Even more so in the case of Hollow Mekhet: Their Reflections envy them, and everything they do afterwards is motivated by spite.
  • Super Speed: Celerity, one of their core Disciplines.
  • The Man in the Mirror Talks Back: How Reflections interact with the world without Materializing.

Notable Mekhet Bloodlines:

  • Alucinor: Dream Manipulating vampires. Tend to be plagued by bad dreams which drive them mad.
  • Brothers of Ypres: WW 1 veterans that have powers based on the chemical weapons used in the war.
  • Itani: A group of assassins who use their own hate as a weapon.
  • Khaibit: Assassins and bodyguards most often associated with the Circle of the Crone. Claim heritage with the Egyptian god Set, who, although not Mr. Bright and Shiny himself, commanded his children to go forth and kill even worse things that lurked in the darkness. A common favorite for both the plug-and-play backstory for honorable warrior types and the Obtenebration Discipline.
  • Kuufukuji: A group of Vampiric monks who use training and discipline to resist the urge to feed.
  • Mnemosyne: Nearly a true Hive Mind with memory based powers.
  • Morbus: Disease carriers that spread disease in order to survive.
  • Norvegi: A secretive Bloodline of mercenaries and assassins, capable of projecting spikes from their body, with which they can syphon blood from their victims. The catch? They have no fangs, so that's the ONLY way they can feed.
  • The Players: The designated Butt Monkey in Kindred society, vampires who wanted to be what the media saw vampires to be so badly they developed Majesty. Their powers are extremely fickle, however, and if they fail to work, there's a good chance the intended target will see them as a "poseur" and never fall for the allure again. Some Kindred fear them, because anything that weak has to have a nasty surprise...
  • Qedeshah: A line of Mama Bear nurses, thoroughly the opposite of Hello, Nurse!. Attempting to induct men into the bloodline ends with a failed Squick.
  • Sangiovanni: A Spiritual Successor of the last edition's Giovanni clan, only they're now inbred mafia necromancers with a tendency to date less animate dead, often with family approved partners.

Nosferatu - The Haunts

The Nosferatu embody the nightmares of the Damned. There's always something unsettling about them. It can be their voices, their smell or even their very souls - regardless, the Nosferatu are really hard to like. The Haunts are always shunned or at least tolerated by the other vampires, the price for being aliens among their own kind. They counterbalance this with considerable strength, espionage mastery (rivaled only by the Mekhet) and sheer horror. As much as the other clans would like, they won't and CANNOT be ignored (unless they want to, of course).

Similar to Mexican Daeva, they are considered bastards, but for a different reason: the original Mexican Nosferatu, called Xolotli, caused themselves to become extinct and it's implied that most modern day Mexican Nosferatu are of Spanish Embrace.

In India, the Nosferatu that are not associated with any bloodline are part of the sudra varna. If you're a Rakshasha, you're a kshatriya.

Tropes associated with the Nosferatu

Notable Nosferatu Bloodlines:

Ventrue - The Lords

The Ventrue are the true Lords of the vampire race and they rule it with an iron fist. Since their embrace they are powered by the desire to dominate the weaker ones (which from their point of view is basically everyone). They are also the driving force behind every political activity among the vampires. You can find them anywhere and they're usually high-placed because of their innate ability for rulership, manipulation and, of course, a good dose of their will-crushing stare.

No matter what context they're in, they're usually depicted as evil, domineering capitalists who wipe-out or enslave indigenous peoples. They are specifically singled-out as the ones who led the conquests of Mexico, Egypt (as the leaders of the Romans!), Russia, and really, everywhere.

Tropes associated with the Ventrue

Notable Ventrue Bloodlines:

  • Architects of the Monolith: Vampires with powers related to cities. Able to play with traffic lights or imprison a victim inside the city limits.
  • Bron: Arthurian themed Vampires cursed by the Holy Grail to become literal Fisher Kings in their own realms.
  • Malkovians: Spiritual Successors to the Masquerade's Malkavian clan. Both bloodlines are incurably insane and will cause insanity in others. Can have a bizarre effect on reality, or at least appear to.
  • Macellarius: Affably Evil obese gourmet vampires, who are compelled to draw Vitae from meat, but cannot keep it down. Their enormous feasts are famed for the disgusting aftermath...
  • Melissidae: Bee-themed Vampires. Their bodies are used as hives for swarms of bees and they produce a honey-like Vitae that will enslave any mortal or Kindred to the bloodline's Hive Mind. In the distant past the rest of Kindred society held a universal truce that was honored by all factions in order to hunt the bloodline to extinction before it could enslave the whole world. The holocaust was not as successful as the Kindred believed and a few members of this bloodline are still at large.
  • Nahuali: Aztec themed Vampires who try and find a balance between their human and bestial sides. Unique in that their clan's unique discipline only has four dots, as their founder was killed before he could finish it.
  • Rotgrafen: Vampiric viking pirates who revere Loki and fear fire.

The Covenants

The Covenants are nations, political parties and/or religions. They are the cornerstone of the vampire society and have been part of it for hundreds of years. While a vampire can't change their Clan, they can change their Covenant and, of course, enjoy the benefits and suffer the drawbacks of doing so.

The Carthian Movement

The youngest of the main five Covenants, the Movement believes that vampires need to adapt to meet mortal systems. Sometimes this means instituting secret allegiances with mortal power sources, other times it means completely rebuilding the vampiric system of government to reflect a new political model. Often viewed as the rabble of vampiric society and considered at direct odds with the Invictus. Oddly, while the Carthians may have their hearts in the right places, there's a history of Carthian experiments going to pieces in a radical fashion.

Tropes associated with the Carthian Movement:

  • Anti-Magic -- The system of Carthian Law in a Carthian-run domain is so powerful, it can actually stop others from using Disciplines if such would violate the law.
  • Friendly Neighborhood Vampire -- Of the five Covenants, the Carthians have the strongest tendency to be this -- the Invictus are too hidebound, the Circle of the Crone and the Lancea Sanctum are alternatively freaky and dogmatic, and the Ordo Dracul sometimes don't respect medical ethics.
  • Hive Mind -- Some Carthian coteries undertake the full blood bond and dress identically to simulate the experience of a hive mind. There's even a Carthian Devotion that allows them to create a true hive mind.
  • The Revolution Will Not Be Civilized -- Oh god, no.
  • Rule-Abiding Rebel -- Some Carthians try to find reforms for the Requiem that don't disrupt the Invictus-derived model of praxis, lest they get boots on their necks.
  • Well-Intentioned Extremist -- The Carthians want a system of government that reflects mortal systems. Understandable. Unfortunately, some of their experiments start to go the way of all revolutions...
    • If that's not enough, the Movement has its own well-intentioned extremists, the Anti-Obstructionist Army. They're basically vampiric terrorists who believe that the influence of Kindred (either through the Embrace or ghouling) stultifies mortal creativity, and take radical action against those who interfere too much with mortal society.

Notable Carthian Bloodlines: (While bloodlines are a function of clan, not covenant, some bloodlines descend directly from a prominent and specific member of a covenant. Combined with the often-small size of a bloodline, the majority of members will belong to their founder's covenant.)

  • Barjot - A Gangrel bloodline of wanderers and vagabonds. Their blood is so tightly bound by mystic ties that members need to be around each other. For this reason their numbers are miniscule, less than 20 all told. Considered revolutionaries and firebrands even by other Carthians, they are nonetheless seen as Carthians "by default", as the founder of their line believes in the cause, and they are too organized to be considered unaligned.
  • Deucalion - Deucalion, a descendant of Prometheus (or so the story goes), asked the Oracle of Themis how to repopulate the Earth after Zeus flooded the world. He was told to throw stones over his shoulder, and behind him they became people, unlike the previous race of humans, who had been sculpted from clay and were too weak. Despite being named after a figure from Greek myth, this bloodline of Ventrue is relatively new, and composed of members who believe they alone are "flawless" vampires--that is, the known weaknesses of the blood do not affect them. They are, more or less, supremacists (and indeed are nicknamed Skinheads by others, though racial and sexual prejudice is quickly schooled out of a neonate), believing that they are supreme, that the Ventrue (also without flaw--or so they think--but possible to corrupt) stand just beneath them, the Nosferatu, Daeva, and Gangrel beneath the Ventrue, and the Mekhet at the very bottom. They are also scholars of bloodlines, as they wish to study the myraids flaws of the blood to better know how to alleviate them. Most Deucaliones are Carthians, as they are attempting to spread a revolutionary idea, though some have joined the Invictus and Ordo Dracul.
  • Zelani - Another tiny bloodline, currently limited to a single coterie. Founded by a woman who was, more or less, the victim of a vampiric home invasion, the Daeva offshoot has a psychological flaw of being unable to enter others' homes--rather like the old legends, much to their (initially uneducated) founders' surprise. They threw their hat in with the Carthians, or so their founder says, when the movement was young, and she went into torpor after they assumed meritocratic control of the city she was in. She rose again only recently, and was immediately elected Prime Minister of the Kindred society there. She--and her childer--seem to have a knack for knowing things they shouldn't, being in the right place at the right time, and predicting future.

The Circle Of The Crone

Pagans with fangs. The Acolytes believe that vampires are perfectly natural creatures, derived from a maternal figure known as "the Crone." This Crone has faces in all polytheistic faiths, and the Circle revere her in a series of guises. Needless to say, as their beliefs say that all parts of being a vampire are natural, this can lead to some bloody rituals... though the Acolytes make sure never to fall too close to the Beast. One of the two users of Blood Magic amongst the Covenants, they practice the art of Crúac.

Tropes associated with the Circle of the Crone:

  • Blood Magic -- Crúac.
  • The Hecate Sisters -- The Acolytes take on a number of ritualistic archetypes, and among them are the Virgin (a woman who's never killed and serves as a reminder of Humanity), the Mother (a figure of comfort and manipulation), and the Crone.
  • Hot Witch -- The core rule book states that the Daeva are not inclined to join the Circle, but the number of Daeva found in the covenant in New World of Darkness fiction is quite staggering. They do avert the Beauty Equals Goodness part, though.
  • Human Sacrifice -- There's... quite a bit of it.
  • Straw Feminist -- The Daughters of the Goddess faction has some... interesting ideas on whether or not men can truly revere the Crone.
  • This Is Your Brain on Evil -- Crúac actually stifles a Kindred's Humanity. There are five levels of it, and with each one you learn, your maximum Humanity goes down one. So, an Acolyte skilled in three levels of Crúac can never raise their Humanity about seven.
  • Wicca -- Emphasized in the Crone book. There's even an entire bloodline that emerged from the fact that the progenitor didn't realize that Wicca isn't in and of itself an ancient tradition.
  • Wicked Witch -- All of its members can be considered Wicked Witches (or Warlocks), but the title fits much better if you are a Nosferatu.
    • The Acolyte with the role of the Crone is one, for sure.

Notable Circle Bloodlines:

  • Asnâm: Daeva mystics who attempt to unlock the power of the god they believe resides within them, using mortal followers to gain this power. They believe that their power comes from Palden Lhamo, a figure from Tibetan history and myth. There are at least three versions of exactly how their power is related to her: their founder performed diablerie upon her; he submitted to her and she turned from Buddhism into becoming a monster once again, granting him power in exchange for becoming her first servant; and that she beat him like a government mule and sent him running. The first story was espoused by the founder, until he fell into Torper in the early 20th century; the second is favored by a splinter sect (yes, a sort of bloodline within a bloodline). The last, despite not having an explanation for how the founder then created the bloodline, does have some interesting evidence--very few Asnâm who go into Tibet come out again, and the two who have wonèt talk about what happened...except that what they found worshipped the Buddhist Palden Lhamo, knew all about the Asnâm, and was mad as hell.
  • Carnon: The Carnon, a Gangrel line that emerged relatively recently, were an accident. The founder, a new-made member of the Circle, confused Wicca, cultural anthropology, and Circle beliefs with fact, fashioned himself and his blood in the image of an "ancient god", and went on a thrill-kill-fuck spree that ended in his final death (and several confused childer). To those he sired, though, it didn't matter if he was right or wrong--what matters is that when his excesses eventually drew attention, he survived for three days with hunters hot on his heels. Modern members are more measured, but they are still given to excess and hedonism. The Carnon become more bestial in body, not just mind, when they lose Humanity, eventually becoming a walking Masquerade breach.
  • Childer of the Morrigan: Once the generals and war-chiefs of the Crone, now the Morrigans are more templars, advisors, and guardians, and there is debate within the Circle as to whether they are needed even for that. The Childer know, however, that the day will come when they are truly needed once more. These Gangrel are almost universally Acolytes; those few who are not are ostracized or seen as traitors. The Stormcrows follow a specific ancient war-goddess, though, and when local Circle activity breaks with what they believe the Morrigan wants, they will often go their own way. Though confident warriors, the bloodline succumbs to depression easily.
  • Gorgons: So called because they claim descent directly from the mythical monsters, this bloodline of Ventrue actually makes use of serpentine imagery to the point where it has a totemic importance them; if they are not in contact with a snake, they are badly weakened, and if they are, they can use a unique discipline to empower themselves. Over time, they begin to take on serpentine features. The Gorgons had once held great power in the known world, but had begun to wane by the time the majority of their number drifted to the Circle of the Crone, and in time vanished, before apparently reappearing in the modern nights.
  • The Mara: Dwelling in the lightless or murky waters, the Mara are a frightening Gangrel bloodline of devout and ascetic believers in an esoteric faith system. Their religion is most similar to one of the goddesses of the Circle of the Crone, and they probably consider themselves as being, more or less, Acolytes. It's not known if their inability to gain sustenance from blood consumed while they are not completely submerged predates the line's tendency to spend their unlives underwater, or if it was caused by it.

Invictus

Not to be confused with the Henley poem or the "Nelson Mandela and rugby" movie of the same name. The First Estate is considered one of the oldest covenants, with records of their territories stretching back to the days of Rome. They are vampiric feudalists and aristocrats, believing in the value of meritocracy and the great chain of being. Their houses and lineages are institutions that are powerful, but seen by others as being calcified and unmoving (at least, until someone dies). Responsible for the current system of praxis used by most domains.

Tropes associated with the Invictus:

Notable Invictus Bloodlines:

  • Annunaku: Truly ancient, this breed of Gangrel gain strength in their favorite haven, which they call their Demesne. They believe strongly in hospitality, the sanctity of one's domain, and so on, making them an excellent fit for the Invictus. In turn, they are weaker when away from home, though in a place where they know they are accepted or in the company of friends, this can be alleviated.
  • Kallisti: Narcissistic beyond even the stereotype of Daeva, cold, and manipultive, the Ravagers delight in fomenting social chaos and discord among the Kindred they know. It's not done out of any sort of grand plan or devotion. They are, more or less, full-blown sociopaths, and most were before their Embrace. They do it because unlife is boring, and it's fun. This would seem to make them antithetical to the careful social order of the Invictus...but for their blood's complete inability to form a Vinculum on vampires, making them the perfect prey for a peckish elder...
  • Lynx: The youngest bloodline in the Invictus--only officially becoming a bloodline a mere three months in the game world at the time the covenant splatbook was released--these Mekhet are not even structured like a traditional bloodline, instead describing themselves as a blood web. The Lynx are fascinated by connections and networks, and not just of the digital sort--they are psychologically reliant on being connected to their preferred network.
  • Malocusians: Similar in ways to the Annukanu, the Malocusians are descended from the Ventrue, and this seems to have made all the difference. Rather than being physically weakened outside of their chosen domain, they have a psychological aversion to even leaving their home, and find it a test to do so for any period of time.
  • Sotoha: Japanese in origin, but settled mainly in the New World--in fact, they are descended from one who may be the first Japanese man to be Embraced by a European vampire, but most of the modern clan is not ethnically Japanese--the Sotoha have adopted a code similar to bushido and adhere to it fervently, believing in submission to their lord (i.e., the vampire who Embraced them) and total control of their emotions. However, their devotion to calm and control means the Beast becomes more opportunistic. Sotoha frenzies do not just end--it takes a prolonged effort.
  • Spina: The Spina take Passive-Aggressive Kombat to extremes only an immortal creature with access to blood magic and a tendency towards obsession can--and they do it so masterfully it can become You Fight Like a Cow. Unlike many who claim adherence to the Invictus, as most Spina do, these Daeva do not seek to rule; they instead see themselves as those who judge the rulers, providing necessary (and always polite) criticism.

Lancea Sanctum

They kick ass for the Lord. The Lancea Sanctum believe that Longinus, the centurion who stabbed Christ's side, was damned to unlife when the Messiah's blood fell on his lips. After wandering in the desert, an angel revealed to Longinus that vampires were damned to serve as a warning to mankind and to harrow them into righteousness. The Sanctified adopt Christian trappings, but they're a generally Abrahamic covenant, with creeds covering Judaism and Islam.

  • Blood Magic -- Theban Sorcery, which relies on sacrifice as well as one's own will.
  • Canis Latinicus -- It doesn't matter what explanation you use, that title just won't decline.
    • Actually, Requiem For Rome gives us an explanation. Originally, they were called the "Lancea Et Sanctum," the Lance and Sanctuary. For some reason, people started to forget to add the "Et," so it just became "Lance Sanctuary." It's not just grammatically incorrect, they don't even use the same gender tense!
  • Church Militant -- Many Sanctified have elements of this, but the Exorcists (who hunt other supernaturals) and the Godslayers (who believe that "Thou shalt have no other gods before me" bit means there are other deities, and it's their duty to kill them) are definitely up there.
  • Crystal Dragon Jesus -- Complete with Vampire Jesus.
  • Dark Messiah -- The Sanctified even call Longinus such, and believe it's their duty to serve as such to mankind.
  • Dark Shepherd -- And lead us not into temptation... with barbed wire, if necessary.
  • Religion of Evil -- When contrasted with mortal Christianity, certainly. When contrasted with the Brood, however...
  • Scare'Em Straight -- Their guiding ethos.
  • Sinister Minister -- More than a few.

Notable Sanctum Bloodlines:

  • Icarians: Believers in the idea of the church-ruled state, the Icarians plan to rule the Lancaea Sanctum and then ensure the Lancaea Sanctum rules every domain it can. Their desire to do so, and surprising impatience to achieve this goal, leads to dissatisfaction with any smaller achievements or even wasted time (despite the near-agelessness of vampires).
  • Mortifiers of the Flesh: The Sanctum's take on Opus Dei, the Mortifiers believe that the body and soul are separable, that flesh is sinful, and that the soul is immaculate. By causing pain, they not only drive out the Devil, but find the limits of the flesh... and so may one day find where it ends and the soul begins. Though originally Daeva, any vampire of sufficient Blood Potency can become a Mortifier with a tutor.
  • Osites: Ecumenical as far as the Lancaea Sanctum goes, these Mekhet study the secrets of death, and so are quite happy to work with the "pagan" researchers of the Circle or the Ordo Dracul. They believe that within the bodies of the dead there remains a fragment of the self left from when the soul broke free. By studying these remnants over long periods of time, they hope to see and understand the mechanisms of the universe God created.

The Ordo Dracul

Yes, that Dracul. The Dragons are vampiric transcendentalists, who believe that Vlad Tepes was Embraced and managed to become something more than a vampire. Inducting his three "brides" as his first students, Dracula went on to found a secret society dedicated to studying and enhancing the Kindred condition. By pragmatically analyzing what makes vampires the way they are, they can gain control over such nagging inconveniences as the necessity for blood, the panicked reaction to sunlight and fire, and the inclinations of the Beast. Mind you, they tend to have strange ideas of medical ethics...

Tropes associated with the Ordo Dracul:

  • Badass Bookworm -- The Sworn of the Axe are the knights of the Ordo Dracul, but still expected to hold to the same intellectual standards as the rest of the Dragons.
  • Eldritch Abomination -- One faction, the Chthonians, believes vampires are Lovecraftian beings in training. They tend to be a bit... off.
  • Evilutionary Biologist
  • Mad Doctors
  • Mad Scientists
  • Morally-Ambiguous Doctorate -- The Ordo Dracul value the quality of change. One traditional way of passing this lesson on to students is "Kill this mortal, and see how the world adapts to his death."
  • Our Vampires Are Different -- As said above, they want to be something more.
  • Place of Power -- They regularly seek out "Wyrm's Nests", places where there's high weirdness afoot. Mind you, this often leads them to Loci, Hallows, and Haunts...
  • Sufficiently Analyzed Magic -- The Dragons gain more control over their bodies by figuring out what makes vampires tick.
    • A Kindred only Buddhist Sect from Thailand has the same views as the Ordo but use an entirely opposite method to pursue the same goal, it even uses the rules for the Coils as the basis of their own Treasures. The sourcebook provides a possible storyhook for these two groups meeting and attempting to integrate.
    • And there's a minor covenant, the Society of the Accord, who seek to reach an understanding with their Beast through negotiation. Their Treaties are oddly similar to the Coils... and utterly incompatible with them.

Notable Ordo Dracul bloodlines:

  • Azerkatil: Though mostly aligned with the Ordo Dracul, these Nosferatu were bred to hunt down and destroy Dracula. What seems strange on the surface becomes reasonable (sort of) upon examination: from their perspective, they were able to use the Order to expand their influnece west from Turkey, allowing them to search farther for Dracula. From the perspective of the Ordo Dracul, the so-called Dragonslayers are model Dragons. They are the embodiment of change and experimentation, and were a direct result of Dracula's journey to Adrianople.
  • Dragolescu: Fascinated by death, these vampires, originally Ventrue, were once honored and powerful within the Ordo Dracul, respected for their ability to communicate with the dead and responsible for much of what the coveneant knew about Wyrm's Nests. The founder, however, descended into insanity. He became a Nazi sympathizer, believing that Hitler was Dracula reborn. His madness lead him, at the end of the war, to an act that the Ordo Dracul could not forgive: subjugating himself to spirits. The powers the bloodline used meant that the Dragolescu would never be trusted again...but they were too valuable to destroy.
  • Libitinarius: The Morticians, Mekhet who have refined their blood, are academics, scholars, and researchers who study vampiric sleep and torpor. They are, if not trusted, then at least allowed to main other vampires' safety in their torpor and help to make the practice less traumatic. They are not, however, as unique as they like to pretend--any vampire, if they are willing to put forth an effort, may learn their "special" discipline. This is, as might be imagined, a well-kept secret.
  • Moroi: Despite their relative numbers, these vampires are mostly unknown, and the Ordo Dracul intends to keep it that way. Reputedly developing on their own from both Gangrel and Nosferatu in a remote area of rural Romania, they were visited by Dracula, who shared his knowledge and spoke with them on many topics. These vampires promised to serve him if he ever had need and called for them. Some time after he vanished, they reappeared, having hunted down and slain many of those who attempted persecution of the Dragons in the covenant's early, vulnerable years. Those who joined the covenant have since been used as hunters and assassins. Those who did not either hunted down or escaped. Brutal and malicious, the mingled blood of savages and haunts has produced a perfect killing machine--but the machine is decidedly imperfect at doing anything else.

Others

VII

Also known as Seven, Se7en or Clan Akhud. A covenant and sometimes a clan or some other group that are alien and monstrous even by Kindred standards. They don't provoke the beast when meeting Kindred, they're known mostly by graffiti left at crime scenes and are a total enigma to the rest of Kindred society. When the origin being used defines them as a clan they're Clan Akhud, and have a literal demon trapped inside them instead of the Beast that afflicts other vampires. The other "canonical" (such as it is) origins are that they're a completely different variety of vampire with Russian origins. Or they're a failed creation of the Sanctum turned brainwashed moralists.

Tropes associated with the VII:

The Strix

Reoccuring villains, the Striges are shadowy, birdlike specters that have haunted the Kindred since Ancient Rome. They claim to be the embodiment of the vampiric beast, and seek to make Kindred less human. Initially, they exterminated the Julii clan in Ancient Rome for breaking a deal with them, but recently, have been released into the world bereft of any purpose. Well, apart from the fact that they're heralds of disaster-if many of them gather in a single place, something really bad is going to happen there.

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