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[[File:VampireRequiem.jpg|frame|[[Hemo-Erotic|Blood, sex]] and violence. [[Interplay of Sex and Violence|Is there a difference]]?]]
A tabletop roleplaying game in the [[New World of Darkness]] line. Players take the roles of vampires, people [[Cursed with Awesome|Cursed]] with eternal (un)life, supernatural power,
▲A tabletop roleplaying game in the [[New World of Darkness]] line. Players take the roles of vampires, people [[Cursed with Awesome|Cursed]] with eternal (un)life, supernatural power, and -- oh, yeah -- [[Blessed with Suck|bloodlust and a fatal sunlight allergy.]]
''Vampire: The Requiem'' began in 2004. Instead of the [[Vampire: The Masquerade|previous game's]] thirteen (and then some) clans, clans being the most distinctive feature of White Wolf's system, it was whittled down to five "archetype" clans, though they have tons of bloodlines that were created from those five. ''Masquerade'''s two sects, the Sabbat and the Camarilla, were replaced with five "covenants", effectively setting up an X/Y axis with far more options numerically than Masquerade. Then there's the fact that each covenant has tons of factions (see below).
* ''[[Dark Chick|Daeva]]'': The [[Spiritual Successor
* ''[[The Brute|Gangrel]]'': All but unchanged from the Clan of ''Masquerade'', but unlike their previous incarnation, they have no ties at all to the [[Werewolf: The Forsaken|Werewolves]] (except for the [[All Bikers Are Hells Angels|Bruja]]) and little to no [[In Harmony with Nature|harmony with nature]]. However, their bond with the Beast remains the same, if not stronger: while other clans tend towards more...''human'' evil, the Gangrel do boast some savage monsters, including one of the "iconic" (to borrow a term from [[Dungeons
* ''[[Evil Genius|Mekhet]]'': A clan of [[Ninja Pirate Zombie Robot|psychic vampire ninja]]. They have a huge fan base because they [[Spiritual Successor|vaguely resemble]] several ''Masquerade'' clans that weren't carried over <ref>such as the [[Psycho for Hire|Assamites]], the [[Religion of Evil|Followers]] of [[Reptiles Are Abhorrent|Set]], the [[Dark Is Edgy|Lassombra]], the [[Evil Sorcerer|Tremere]], the...</ref> and are a [[Master of None|blank slate]] deliberately. Sourcebook: ''"Shadows in the Dark"''.
* ''[[The Dragon|Nosferatu]]'': The original Nosferatu from ''Masquerade'' were [[The Grotesque|physically repulsive]]. The recreation of the clan can be visually "normal" (in the loose sense of the word), but very [[Uncanny Valley|disturbing]] in one way or another. At least one non-player character of middling importance in New Orleans is in fact beautiful...[[So Beautiful It's a Curse|perhaps too much so]]... Sourcebook: ''"The Beast That Haunts The Blood"''.
* ''[[Big Bad|Ventrue]]'': They are [[Aristocrats Are Evil|the aristocracy]] of the vampire society. They are always at the top and their motto is, essentially, "[[Magnificent Bastard|We Always Win]]", although that is normally followed by some [["The Reason You Suck" Speech|semantic wrangling]] [[Did You Actually Believe?|about how they won in the long run]]. Unlike their ''Masquerade'' incarnation they are not [[Picky Eater|picky eaters]], but the responsibility of ruling over the Damned has put a [[This Is Your Brain on Evil|great toll on their ever weakening minds]]
* ''Julii'': They're [[Expy|expies]] of the Ventrue (or is it the other way around?). Created by the Strix, servants of the god Mars, in return for sweet, bloody glory. The clan was wiped out when the Julii started to humanize as a whole. There's a few ideas about how both the Ventrue and Gangrel may have descended from them, among other theories.
* ''The Wicked Dead'': Vampires who aren't Kindred, brought-up in the book of the same name. Their Blood Potency is 0, so each time they meet a "true" vampire, they cower in fear. Notable examples:
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** Strix: [[Owl Be Damned|Owl-like specters]] with the ability to [[Demonic Possession|possess]] corpses, the living, and vampires-though they prefer the last, seeing as how the others quickly degenerate into uselessness. They claim to be metaphysical embodiments of [[Enemy Within|the Beast]], although they are [[Red Oni, Blue Oni|pragmatic and amoral rather than instinctual and savage]]. [[Complete Monster|They have personalities to match]], being utterly self-centered [[The Hedonist|libertines]] who use, abuse, and defile both their stolen bodies and those around them [[For the Evulz|mainly to see what it's like]]. They initially appeared in ''Requiem for Rome'' to avenge the broken promise of the Julii to be the best monsters they could be, but in ''Wicked Dead'', they've made their return. [[The Unfettered|Now unburdened by purpose]], the Strix now do whatever they please, with their former mission now a favorite game of theirs-[[The Corrupter|"See How Inhuman We Can Make The Kindred]] [[Anarchy Is Chaos|While Disrupting Their Society."]]
* ''The Invictus'': [[Deadly Decadent Court]]. If we're dead, they reason, we might as well rule the world while we're at it. Or at least the city. Sheer force of meritocracy (Invictus screw-ups do ''not'' last long) generally makes them competent administrators, but since the faction code of ethics can be summed up as "Ain't got one" and their attitude towards political maneuvering is "Machiavelli might have been good at this if he'd ever been Embraced", Invictus-ruled territories are classic examples of ''At least [[The Trains Run On Time]]."
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* ''Ordo Dracul'': [[Our Vampires Are Different]] with more than a hint of [[Evilutionary Biologist]]. Vampires may be vampires, but frankly you're not just trying if you intend to stay like that. We can use the [[Mad Scientist|scientific method]] [[Magitek|blended with]] [[Hermetic Magic|occultism]] to get rid of all the annoyances...such as that little sunlight allergy. They make heavy use of a student-mentor program. Have a second sourcebook, ''Rites of the Dragon'', supposed to be Dracula's account of his Requiem and the founding of the Ordo.
* ''The Carthian Movement'': Suffers from [[Russian Fashion]]. If we're dead, they reason, there's no reason to just give up on mortal society. We can use their innovations to make our unlives better. Typically the goal of taking over the city and ruling it by their chosen method (which can be anything from strict Representative Republicanism to clan-based tyranny) follows shortly. Ironically, while Invictus-ruled cities generally tend to have the Carthian dissidents be the least amoral vampires in town, the ''Carthian''-ruled cities detailed in the setting so far have all set new world records for going downhill ''fast''. Apparently they make far better gadflies than administrators.
* ''The Circle of the Crone'': [[Wicked Witch]]. A pagan Goddess-worshipping [[A Worldwide Punomenon|coven-ant]] that espouses vampires are vampires because they're perfectly natural (in the way that leeches are natural) and that's cool. And suffering and persecution makes us stronger. That's just as well, as they've been persecuted a lot (especially by the Lancea Sanctum) throughout history. On the other hand, they're a bunch of monsters who revel in their monstrosity and just learning their [[Bloody Murder|blood sorcery]] [[The Dark Side|distances you from humanity]], so they did sort of deserve it. This covenant has the most factions, with everything from [[Straw Feminist|man-hating lesbian feminista Wiccans]] to [[Hollywood Voodoo|Lousiana voudunists]].
* ''Belial's Brood'': [[The Corruption|Infernalists]], self-titled the Forsworn, that believe that they should lose all traces of humanity and give themselves over to the Beast/the Biblical Satan, the monster that lives in them. Tend to have rather short life expectancies; to quote Shadows of the UK, "Members of Belial's Brood often labour under the delusion that they can go toe-to-toe with an enraged [[Werewolf: The Forsaken|Uratha]]." The ''smart'' ones, on the other hand, usually tend to be just as subtle, if not more so, then VII. Their splatbook elaborates and contains many interesting [[Horny Devils|squicky demon]] powers with the [[Unfortunate Implication]] that they're the covenant closest to what vampires are truly supposed to be, and adds a [[Nietzsche Wannabe|philosophical side]]. Their splatbook also retcons the whole infernalist thing to just two factions, and gives us these groupings:
** The Nameless - An apocalyptic cult that believes Belial is the greatest MORTAL man to have ever lived (i.e., a [[Jerkass]]), and treat him as a Buddha-like figure. Their mission: find Belial's descendants, and help them destroy the world in whatever way they can.
** The Mercy Seat - Expy of various Gnostic groups, they believe there are three worlds, and the World of Darkness is the worst one, filled with hate and anger. Belial is the evil ruler of the WoD, referred to as the demiurge. He cannot be worshipped so much as appeased, and they all hate him. They truly believe they deserve to go to Heaven (the next world), but Heaven has limited seats. The solution? Damn others to Hell so only they can move on!
** The Roaring Serpent - They believe Belial was a man Embraced by the Biblical Satan, and so go out into the world doing things that would make it collapse under its own weight, just as Satan would want. This usually involves the spreading of dangerous ideologies (some claim they're responsible for the phenomenon we call racism).
** The Pandaemonium - You know the description of Belial's Brood as infernalists? These are them. They think he's a [[Demon Lords and Archdevils|demon lord]] who patrons vampires in the name of the Adversary, [[God of Evil|the anti-Creator]].
** The Throne of Smokeless Fire - A group founded by a group of Sikh Muslims and an (surprise!) angel of fire named Asa'el. They walk the "path of flame:" rage, dominance, and power, all in the name of their combination of God (not a devil) and [[The Social Darwinist|Social Darwinism]]. They have the most elders (that's not saying much) and are obsessed with becoming the best in absolutely everything. They're known to [[Evil Versus Evil|hunt even other Belial's Brood members]].
** The Scarlet Rite - They're basically a pleasure cult focusing on sex and drugs. They somehow get Investments despite not really caring much about Belial, and it is this reason that the other members of the covenant don't respect them.
* ''VII'': They engage in terrorist acts against other vampires, and their minds can't be read beyond getting the image of the roman numeral 7. Beyond that, there is no canonical explanation for who VII are. Well; there are several, but they all contradict each other. They could be [[Manchurian Agent|normal vampires infected with a mind-control meme]], the members of the Seventh Clan (the now-Dead Julii being the Sixth), or [[Arson, Murder, and Jaywalking|a bunch of Vampires annoyed that a party in Camarillan Rome was cancelled]]. Various suggestions for what they could be have been seeded through the books; the VII book gives 3 contradictory possibilities.
* ''The Ancient Covenants '': [[Fantasy Counterpart Culture]]. Referenced as early as the Bloodlines: the Hidden book, but now only recently detailed in the Ancient series, these are the covenants that don't have the influence of the others, but are still very strong. Most are not based in English-speaking areas. Examples:
** The Indian Covenants - Basically a vampiric version of India's Hindu caste system. Your clan and maybe bloodline determine your varna (caste), which in turn determines your role in the Requiem. It is possible that Indian Kindred can actually strip you of your bloodline, and therefore change your caste. For example, if you're a Ventrue of the Canda Bhanu bloodline, you're a brahmin instead of a vaisya, or a kshatriya if you're a Daeva of Amara Havana stock. You can also be a kshatriya if you're a Rakshasha Nosferatu.
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Now with [[Vampire: The Requiem/Characters|Character Sheet]], fans are highly encouraged to edit.
Aside from the Clan and Covenant sourcebooks (even ghouls get one, called, simply, ''"Ghouls"''
And then there are the PDF supplements. ''"Ready-Made PCs"'' is [[Exactly What It Says on the Tin]], a set of ready-to-play characters, ''"Invite Only"'' covers how to build Kindred social interactions and gatherings, and ''"New Wave Requiem"'' is a historical supplement for the 1980s. The ''"Vampire Translation Guide"'' is a quick and dirty guide to converting between ''Requiem'' and ''Masquerade''.
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{{tropelist}}
* [[Affably Evil]] - The Spina, a Daeva bloodline whose unique curse makes them ''obsessed'' with politeness. Their unique Discipline, Courtoisie, encourages
** Some of the factions are definetely not good, but they seem cool enough to hang out with. The Reformers of the Lancea Sanctum, for example.
* [[Age Without Youth]] - The Oberloch bloodline.
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* [[Bastard Boyfriend]] - This is what a ghoul's regnant is by default.
* [[The Beautiful Elite]] - Deconstructed by the Daeva
* [[Being Good Sucks]] - Not all the time; it's more that [[Evil Feels Good]]. However, the opposite of the Gangrel Red
{{quote|It feels ''awful''. Humanity is no pleasant thing. Denying the Beast feels sick, wrong, tainted. The vampire concentrates overmuch on all the wrong things she’s done and recognizes herself for the monster that she is.}}
* [[Bittersweet Ending]] - Ending a story like this is par for the course.
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** An interesting case study of this are Bloodlines. Bloodlines can be born from a vampire getting incredibly old and powerful in blood manipulation, allowing them to create a special Discipline or make an Out of Clan into an In Clan Discipline, making it [[Experience Point|cheaper to buy]]. [[Fantastic Fragility|The downside?]] The vampire and likely most if not all of their progeny now get an ''extra'' [[Weaksauce Weakness]], even if they don't ''want'' the spiffy new powers! It's no surprise that a good number of bloodlines were created as a result of said founder surviving a particularly nasty [[Curse]].
*** Of particular note are the Kallisti, a Daeva bloodline outlined in the Invictus sourcebook. On paper, they are the ultimate social manipulators, with [[Hypnotic Eyes|Dominate]], [[Mary Sueperpower|Majesty]], and a bloodline Discipline called Perfidy, which is basically emotional control geared towards causing as much chaos as possible. Plus, they have access to [[Super Speed|Celerity]] if things get dicey. The catch? Their bloodline weakness is that their blood doesn't cause Vinculum. This doesn't sound too bad until you realize that since vampires (once they reach an appropriate age) can only feed from other vampires, any elder would give his left arm for a blood slave that he can drink freely from without any emotional ties. The Invictus practically keeps them as pets, letting them play tiddly winks with local politics as long as their elders can tap their veins whenever they please. If you're a Kallisti, and word gets out about the weakness of your bloodline, expect a long stay chained up in an elder's basement as he farms you for blood.
* [[Blood Bath]] - One bloodline of vampires, the Galloi, bathe in blood to make themselves more beautiful.
** Macellarius and Noctoku feeding habits are this trope. Noctoku, at least, can absorb blood through their skin.
* [[Bomb-Throwing Anarchists]]: Subverted with Belial's Brood: The Forsworn ''are'' anarchists, and they ''do'' throw bombs, but their sourcebook shows that they actually don't view chaos as an end in and of itself-it's actually part of their Pursuit, the philosophic journey towards the platonic ideal of "the Beast".
* [[But Not Too Foreign]] - A plot point introduced in ''Night Horrors: Immortal Sinners.'' The character Emily Eupraxus Washington was inducted into the ancient Roman Eupraxus bloodline, who are treated as the figureheads of the [[Aristocrats Are Evil|Invictus]] Covenant. Emily's half-Japanese, and is portrayed as an ineffectual ruler and [[Moe|moe blob]]. The plot is that the elder Invictus are largely racist feudal Europeans, but they dare not act against their crown jewel. The younger Invictus, on the other hand, love Emily because her combined lineage and bloodline show that the Invictus is capable of [[Society Marches On|adapting to the modern world.]] [[Wild Mass Guessing|Allegedly,]] the Japanese ancestry also pleases a [[Occidental Otaku|large part of the fan base.]]
* [[The Caligula]]
* [[Came Back Wrong]] - The Nosferatu. Some are [[The Grotesque]], but most simply have something about
** The expanded rules on draugr give us larvae: Kindred who, whether by curse or accident, are brought into the Requiem at Humanity 0.
** Then you've got the Hollow Mekhet. Rather than being Embraced on the cusp of death, they were Embraced several days after. However, this has given them time for their [[Anatomy of the Soul|ba]] to depart, which means they cast no shadow, don't reflect in mirrors or resolve on any film medium, can't be heard over a phone or tape recorder... oh, and their ba is still pinned to this mortal coil, ''can'' do all these things, and will make the Mekhet's nights living hell if it's not placated with the right rituals.
* [[Canis Latinicus]] - "Lancea Sanctum."
* [[Cannibal Clan]] - The Oberloch bloodline seem to be based on the [[Cannibal Clan]] types you see in horror movies like the ''[[The Texas Chainsaw Massacre]]'', but are actually derived from the [[Deep South|redneck]] thing. A truer cannibal clan would be the Noctoku, who feed on other vampires exclusively, or the Macellarius, who do that occasionally, but really emphasize the family unit.
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* [[Cosplay]] - People who play in the LARP version of the game, Mind's Eye Theater, often dress-up as their characters or major NPCs. The actual rulebook for the LARP even uses pictures of some players cosplaying as New Orleans mainstays [[Retired Badass|Pearl Chastain]] and [[Magical Negro|Baron Cimetiere]], who himself is cosplaying Baron Samedi.
* [[Crapsack World]] - ''Especially'' for humans.
** "Especially?" No, thank you, I'm perfectly fine with being a blood doll as opposed to having to deal with a society entirely composed of [[Manipulative Bastard
** [[Hunter: The Vigil|Some humans take issue with this state of affairs]] and have developed potent tools towards that end-such as a device that essentially makes a vampire's unique metabolism self-destruct in rather graphic fashion. [[Not So Harmless]] indeed.
* [[Crippling Overspecialization]] - The Moroi bloodline are a group of uber-predators kept as assassins by the Ordo Dracul. They boast strength and toughness beyond even undead norm, they have both Obfuscate (vampiric stealth) and Animalism (animal control), and they're an option for both Gangrel ''and'' Nosferatu, meaning that they have relatively easy access to Protean, though it's no longer in-clan. They also have murderous urges even more powerful than other vampires that take up most of their concentration, and while they're not precisely deformed, they have yellowish skin and their air of menace allows even oblivious humans to understand there's ''something'' wrong with them. So yeah, good if you want to fight, sneak, or assassinate, bad if you want to, say, carry on a normal conversation, or do more than basic math.
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* [[Darkest Africa]]: Requiem for Rome has a section detailing how a game set in sub-Saharan Africa might be like. it's described like this trope, but it may be [[Justified Trope|justified.]]
* [[Dark Is Not Evil|Dark Is Somewhat Less Evil]]: The Mekhet hate [[Burn It With Fire|fire]] and sunlight even more than other vampires, and the Nosferatu are literally ''impossible to like''. They're also the clans with the least amount of mental effects the Beast has on them, so it's easier for them to be good...which isn't saying much
* [[The Dark Side]]
** The Gangrel get the Red Surrender, which allows them to yield more power from going into Frenzy. Problem is, it also makes it harder to succeed at non-bestial skills... oh, and [[Evil Feels Good|it's addictive]].
** Belial's Brood get Investments, demonstrations of their symbiotic relationship with the Beast and their understanding of vampiric nature. If things like tearing off your hands to serve as puppets or climbing up walls with your fingers weren't obviously creepy enough, they get easier to buy the lower your [[Karma Meter]] goes.
* [[Deadly Decadent Court]] - Any Elysium. Pick an Elysium.
* [[Deaf Composer]] - Any vampire cooks, by virtue of having normal food taste utterly rancid.
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** Pick a Strix. Any Strix. Chances are he's done this at least once, probably more.
* [[Depending on the Artist]]: As different artists are commissioned to work on the same characters, this trope is in full effect.
* [[Deprogram
* [[The Dev Team Thinks of Everything]]: The core book informs the curious just what would probably happen if one of the Kindred found themselves at the bottom of a deep-sea trench or [[Recycled in Space|in outer space,]] with [[Parabombing|parentheticals]] asking just [[What the Hell, Player?|what kind of chronicle you're playing for this to come up.]]
** [[Hilarious in Hindsight|Six years later, the Infinite Macabre supplement was released.]]
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** There's text in the corebook that suggests this is intentional on the part of the Invictus:
{{quote|Members of the Invictus occasionally refer to the Lancea Sanctum as the Second Estate, itself a perversion of the historical first and second estates.}}
* [[Downer Ending]]: This is the ''default ending'' for most chronicles (personal horror game, remember?). The authors make it a point to remind the readers every now and then.
** An [[Esoteric Happy Ending]] is possible and actually referenced a lot: [[Ascended Demon]]. Most unfortunately, this ending type involves reaching a point of power and age where you no longer [[Blue and Orange Morality|think like a human]].
* [[Dying Like Animals]] - Almost every human is a Bat, the vampires are all Moles to humans and Mice to their elders, and Hunters are the rare humans who can see past the masquerade and try to stop the bad supernaturals.
* [[Dysfunction Junction]] - Enforced by the Predator's Taint rule. Basically, vampires are meant to be solitary hunters, and thus the [[Enemy Within|Beast]] tries to go into either a rage or a fear frenzy upon running across another vampire for the first time (the type of frenzy depending on whether the triggering vampire is of lower or higher Blood Potency, respectively). A roll is made to avoid this, but if it fails, [[Hilarity Ensues|well...]] It can be also be bypassed entirely if ''both'' possess the second level of Obfuscate.
* [[Empty Shell]] - What excessive uses of Dominate can do to a person.
* [[Enemy Within]]
** Hollow Mekhet have another Enemy Within: part of their soul is detached from their body and exists in reflective surfaces. They can only subsist on carrion and stagnant water and generally do not like their hosts.
** There's also "The Other," from the
* [[Enlightenment Superpowers]]: The Ordo Dracul's Coils seem to qualify, granting limited freedom to vampiric weaknesses.
* [[Mr. Fanservice]]: [[Scary Black Man|Solomon Birch]] is Chicago's resident [[Sexy Priest|LS leader]] with a [[Dark and Troubled Past]] who insists on not [[Shirtless Scene|wearing shirts.]] He has a lot of [[Good Scars, Evil Scars|scars]] due to self-flagellation and is portrayed as [[The Woobie]].
* [[Even Evil Has Standards]] - Members of the "Romanist" belief (the theory that the first vampires arose spontaneously from certain members of the Julio-Claudian Caeasers) sometimes wonder if Nero might have been the first Daeva... they invariably go back to speculating that the Daeva's founder was either his mother, Agrippina, or his aunt-in-law, Messalina. The reason is that general consensus is, simply; Nero was far too much of a ''jerk'' to have become the founder of the Succubus clan. Such a petty, preening poseur is nowhere near charismatic or attractive enough to be the founder of the Succubus clan, who, for all their glitz, only an idiot mistakes for vapid fools.
* [[Evil Feels Good]] - Humanity is lost by not showing remorse for misdeeds. And the Red Surrender, a Gangrel-only mindset that gives the beast a little more free rein, feels ''really'' good.
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* [[Evil Virtues]]: Part of what makes Belial's Brood such an effective organization is [[True Companions]]. This is in contrast to ''every other Kindred in existence''.
* [[Fan Disservice]] - The cover of ''The Wicked Dead'' has a [[Lesbian Vampire]] blood orgy. [[Nightmare Fuel|It's not sexy.]]
* [[Fan Service]] - [[Justified Trope|Justified]] since [[Word of God|it's explained]] that the art for the books is often commissioned before the written material is finished, so the pictures will sometimes not match the text! The end result is that we get illustrations of sexy vampire girls (and guys!) for no appreciable reason.
* [[Fantastic Drug]]: Vampire blood. Just don't mention this to most of them. They're kind of sensitive about it.
** Solace, from the ''Mythologies'' sourcebook. Basically, it makes a vampire feel like they're alive again.
** [[Changeling: The Lost|Bloodroot]] is about as fantastic as you can
* [[Fantastic Fragility]]: The allure of Bloodlines is they give their members a fourth discipline (sometimes unique) at in-clan cost, making it ''much'' easier to gain terrifying new powers. The downside? A whole ''new'' weakness to bog you down, ranging from nuisances like not being able to embrace men (Qedeshah) to the crippling like not having fangs or [[Kiss of the Vampire|the kiss]] (Norvegi).
** The Qedeshah weakness is a bit more than a nuisance. They also can't produce the effects of [[Kiss of the Vampire|the kiss]] and their bite is, in fact, ''more'' painful than it reasonably should be. Any who do attempt to embrace someone of the male persuasion end up with a black, slimy pile of goo where their prospective childe once stood.
* [[Fantastic Racism]] - The clanbooks bring up the idea that the Daeva and Ventrue are the top of vampire society, while the Mekhet are looked down upon. The Gangrel are equated with dogs, and Nosferatu? Worms.
** The Lancea Sanctum faction called the Crimson Cavalry is the Christian Identity Movement with vampire clans taken into consideration. Wow.
** The Deucalion bloodline of the Ventrue is all about this. They believe the Ventrue are truly superior to other clans, and their response to this ranges from "help the other clans get over their weaknesses" to "lord over them like the wastes of blood they are." Their bloodline-exclusive Discipline relies on inflicting exaggerated versions of the clan weaknesses on other vampires... but the book mentions that no one in the line has unlocked the fifth level, centered around the Ventrue tendency towards madness, because that would require admitting the Ventrue are flawed.
* [[Fantasy Axis of Evil]] - The Vampires as a whole belong to the Fallen among the other "races" of the [[New World of Darkness]], but this trope can also apply to the five Clans. You should note, however, that they may might not fall squarely under each category...
** Savage: The Gangrel may be considered both Savages (indeed, their nickname) and Eldritches, because of the greater influence The Beast have on them.
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** Humanoid: The Daeva or, even, the Ventrue, but it suits better the Mekhet since they lack true uniqueness.
** Fallen: All over the Daeva with a hint of Humanoid because they blend easily among mortals.
** Crafty: The Ventrue and their machinations/lust for power, but they do show a dash of Fallen.
* [[Fantasy Counterpart Culture]] - [[Invoked Trope|Invoked]] to emphasize that Kindred were once mortal, and that they love their old lives alot, thank you very much.
** The Indian covenants.
** The Crimson Cavalry are the Christian Identity Movement from the US, UK, and South Africa.
** The Lancea Sanctum has variant creeds associated with Judaism, Islam, and other branches of Christianity.
** The Amanotsukai is Shinto with vampires.
* [[Fate Worse Than Death]] - Ultimately every vampire will surrender to their beast and become either a mindless beast or a [[Complete Monster|careful predator]]. For some that is a [[Fate Worse Than Death]] but for some (just read the Belial's Brood description above) it's a ''blessing''.
* [[Final Death]]
* [[Five Races]] - The five vampire clans. Complicated by the fact that there was a sixth clan, the Julii, in ancient Rome, who replaced the Ventrue, and that the Mekhet have an alternative clan weakness in the form of the Hollow, introduced in their clanbook.
* [[The Force Is Strong with This One]]: How vampires sense each other's Blood Potency.
* [[Foreign Fanservice]] - ''Requiem for Rome'' portray the Daeva as sexy Middle Easterners.
* [[For Science!]] - The stated motive behind many of the more horrible thing the Ordo Dracula do. For example, "Following the Dragon's Tail," which involves murdering a frequently randomly selected innocent, just to observe the effect of the murder on the victim's friends and family. An expanded version, called "Counting the Dragon's Scales," involves a number of vampires and coordinated mass slaughter, and is intended to allow the study of what happens when an entire city collectively craps itself in terror.
** They also entertain ideas about Embracing people completely unprepared for vampirism (suicides, the disabled) for the reason of seeing whether or not the Beast's survival urge can overcome their mentality.
* [[For the Evulz]] - One of the most deranged things introduced in the game is a ghoul family called the Crassus. Unlike most ghoul families, these guys are pretty awesome. They're a 6,000 member family with tons of cash, connections, fame, and Kindred disciplines. They're called the Caesars, and sometimes the royalty of America. They have their hand in everything from insurance to Mob wars. But there's a catch: see, this family was created when a Ventrue dude named Lysander agreed to paying a Roman gambler's debt, but in return everyone in his family is now a toy for Invictus members. Only a few individuals in the family know this. And by "toy," we mean the Invictus can beat and rape the hell out of them whenever they want to vent out some of their frustration (or the lulz), only to return the poor Crassus member to their normal life as if nothing has happened. [[Refuge in Audacity|The Crassus are noted for being incredibly resistant to the thought of anything supernatural, even their own powers, so they always always rationalize these regular degradations as some "evil uncle paying a visit."]] The fluff actually encourages this behavior: the Crassus are consistently portrayed as [[Rich Bitch|vain and snot-nosed rich kids]] that [[Break the Haughty|"need to be taken down a peg or three"!]] But wait, it gets better! All Crassus ghouls can have their choice of either the Ventrue or Daeva weakness. Clearly, being part of a rich family sucks in this world.
** The Crassus estate actually has an insane asylum for all their family members who were unable to use thier money and power to fix themselves up from all the rapes. Their estate has a wing with a coterie of Invictus in it, as well... This family is doomed.
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* [[Fridge Brilliance]] - The dead girl plot in ''Ventrue'' actually reference Belial's Brood mechanics and fluff to fight the strix. [[Evil Versus Evil|You know what that means!]]
* [[Fridge Horror]] - All over the place, which is saying a lot when the game is ''already'' about horror.
** A relatively mild example: independent Moroi (see [[Crippling Overspecialization]]). Most are kept on a short leash by the Ordo Dracul; most of the rest were killed. However, this means logically that there are those of the bloodline that didn't want to be leashed killers, enough that they refused...and were powerful enough to avoid destruction. This is actually
** The Ghouls. It's hidden right on the surface, but when you make a Ghoul, you ruin a persons life as thoroughly as any addiction. The horror is explored in the Ghoul splatbook, with a Ghoul so desperate that he drinks the menstrual blood of another, recently fed, ghoul. But otherwise the horror you wreck on this person is just implied.
*** Even more so: It's implied the reason the Duoloi, the ghouls who serve Belial's Brood, are so loyal is because of [[Benevolent Boss|how well they're treated]] compared to mainstream ones. Yes, you read that right-the ''[[Card-Carrying Villain|Card Carrying Villains]]'' treat their ghouls better then ''every other vampire in existence''.
* [[Fully-Embraced Fiend]]: Belial's Brood is composed of vampires who have collectively decided "screw humanity" and become the best monsters they can be.
* [[Game Face]]
* [[Glamour]]: The Majesty discipline.
* [[Glowing Eyes of Doom]]: The Strix's [[Glamour Failure]] when they're doing the [[Demonic Possession]] gig. They're [[Owl Be Damned|owls]], owl eyes flash in light...etc. Unfortunately, they're [[Dangerously Genre Savvy]] enough to know this, and more social members of the race can make non-possessed people do that to.
* [[Gothic Punk]]: Less so than the Old World of Darkness; it's more Gothic Horror, although traces remain
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* [[Half-Human Hybrid]]: Very much averted. Ghouls are never anything but alive or fundamentally human. That doesn't stop the [[Shout-Out|Cainite Heresy]] from [[Hunter: The Vigil|Hunter]] calling them Half-Vampires, though.
** Played straight in ''Wicked Dead'', with the introduction of the Dampyr. Thing is, each and every Dampyr is a walking curse incarnate, designed to utterly shatter a vampire's unlife... and thanks to the nature of their powers, the Dampyr are often utterly oblivious to the effects they have on the vampires around them. Most aren't even aware vampires exist.
* [[The Hedonist]]: Potentially every Daeva.
** And ''definitely'' every Strix.
* [[Hermetic Magic]] - Cruac and Theban Sorcery
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** The Lancea Sanctum branches in Mexico are generally more accepting of those who worship the pagan gods of the region. This is because those gods are potentially their precursors.
** In the Invictus, your vampiric ancestry (grand-sires and above) determines how easily you can be accepted. This applies to all Invictus domains, not just in Mexico.
** A good many bloodlines are, quite frankly, [[Curse
*** The Melissidae bloodline are known to not do anything if their childer run away. They just assume that the blood will take care of itself. So far, it always has.
* [[Jabba Table Manners]]: See the Macellarius bloodline in the [[I'm a Humanitarian]] entry above.
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** Dutch traders were among the few foreigners who had contact with Japan...and could have brought vampires with them?
*** Although that's true, this trope is about an Anglo outperforming a non-Anglo on their own terms, for dubious intentions. Ketsuekihime, the Dutch girl, was actually hunted down by the native Japanese Acolyte vampires for reasons unknown, and is then made a Cruac master as well as their leader by their own goddess, also for reasons unknown.
* [[Mind Rape]]: High level Dominate qualifies. While altering memories or even possessing someone might be done for the greater good, using Dominate to condition someone is ''always'' a [[Karma Meter|sin against high-to-mid level Humanity]], no matter how well intentioned you might be in doing it.
** The Duchange bloodline's [[Meaningful Name|La Touche Illusoire]] power lets a Kindred launch a psychic pattern of touches, prods, and caresses on some victim. On an exceptional success, you can [[Beyond the Impossible|LITERALLY]] rape someone with your mind! Higher levels allow you to hit someone with intense pain (or... [[Electric Instant Gratification|the exact opposite]]) and completely recolor their emotional perceptions, to the point of having someone ''adore'' you as you advance on them with a chainsaw.
* [[Monster Lord]]: Bloodlines and elders with high Blood Potency, obligating them to act monstrously to other monsters.
** The Ventrue would have you believe that each and every one of then is one too.
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** It gets worse. The Vitae drives ghouls to love their masters, ''no matter what.'' Only extraordinary hatred or long-term deprivation of blood has a shot at breaking this bond, which means a lot of vampires feel perfectly okay with abusing their ghouls in ways that would get them put on trial in an international tribunal, were they doing such things to a prisoner of war rather than their blood-addicted servants. Also, since the blood allows for regeneration, don't expect pity for any injuries you may suffer from the depravities of your vampire master, or anything that might happen to you while performing the duties your master expects of you. Obviously, many ghouls are [[There Are No Therapists|not right in the head.]]
** Not to be confused with ''Ghûls'', who are Arabian wizards who [[Cursed with Awesome|are immortal. superhuman an canibalistic]].
* [[Our Vampires Are Different]]: All vampires share the same common weaknesses, but each clan has a unique new weakness and each Bloodline (a sub-group of a clan) has an extra one. Some are more traditional for others; the Zelani, an offshoot of the Daeva, can't enter homes uninvited (mainly due to the horrible crimes inflicted on their progenitor by her sire during a home invasion).
** ''Wicked Dead'' offers up a number of non-Kindred vampires ranging from the Mnemovores, who feed on memories, to the Jiang Shi, the fabled "[[Chinese Vampire|hopping corpses]]".
** And the Ordo Dracul are working on making themselves ''more'' different, getting rid of or lessening those certain weaknesses in particular.
** ''Chronicler's Guide'', a book written to give suggestions and ideas to [[Game Master
* [[Owl Be Damned]]: The basic form of the Strix is an owl made of shadow and ash.
* [[Parental Incest]]: The Ghoul splatbook has a vampire that keeps her Ghoul in check by a combination of sex and denial of blood. Y'know, typical vampire stuff. But by the end we find out that the Ghoul is her own father, who took this state upon himself so that he could forever watch over his daughter.
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* [[Plaguemaster]]: The Morbus Bloodline. Subverted in that they HAVE to spread illnesses because they can only feed from the diseased.
* [[Power Born of Madness]]: The [[Vampire: The Masquerade|Malkavians of the oWoD]] became a ''Ventrue'' bloodline called the ''Malkovians'' in the new WoD. The basic concept is mostly the same, though they don't have Dementation anymore, but a form of Domination that is known to induce madness in its victims.
** Actually the madness is induced in the instigator, not the
** And with a recent Ventrue splatbook, Malkavia is now a disease that affects vampires causing madness and allowing access to Dementation. It's fitting because the whole Ventrue clan is now crazier than dropping acid in Disneyland.
* [[Power Perversion Potential]]: ...have you been paying attention to a word on this page?
** For added [[Squick]], how's about those Sangiovanni, what with the built-in OCD that makes them freak out when they're not around corpses? Yes, some of them do like corpses that [[I Love the Dead|way]], why do you ask?
* [[Powered by a Forsaken Child]]: The Mercy Seat's practices are a [[Trope Codifier]].
* [[Psychic Powers]]: [[Aura Vision|Aura Perception]], The Spirit's Touch (aka postcognition), [[Telepathy]] <s>Astral</s> [[Spirit World|Twilight]] Projection from Auspex Discipline.
* [[Psychic Surgery]]: One variant of the VII faction can do this... for good ''and'' ill.
* [[Rage Against the Heavens]]: The Rakshasa bloodline's ultimate goal is to destroy the gods [[Because Destiny Says So]]!
* [[Red Baron]]: The Unholy. The Red Sultan, as well.▼
* [[Red Right Hand]]: All of vampire Clan Nosferatu, albeit less so than in Vampire: The Masquerade.
* [[Reed Richards Is Useless]]: Both averted and played straight numerous times. Many vampires have the power to change the
* [[Reptiles Are Abhorrent]]: An alternate creation mythology for vampires is that they are descended from the son (Lilu) or daughter (Lilit/Lilitu) of Eve and the Serpent of Eden. The suggestions for tweaking the game in manners implying that this could be true are: adding asps and pythons to the "default forms" (wolf and bat) for Shape of the Beast (or even replacing wolf and bat); making it easier to ghoul snakes; rendering vampires immune to snake venom (by core rules, it's one of the few natural toxins that do affect them); and letting vampires paralyze with their gaze as an innate, non-Discipline power.
* [[Scare'Em Straight]]: This is essentially what the Lancea Sanctum's declared Divine Purpose for Vampires is. Vampires are Damned to not feel God's grace, but still remain in the shadows of His Creation to make sure those still blessed with His love (read: mortals) don't start to revel in sin and wander too long in the dark places of the world. If they do, well, Vampires [[Knight Templar|have an]] [[Mind Rape|arsenal]] [[Super-Powered Evil Side|of]] [[Cruel and Unusual Death|ways]] to make mortals high-tail it back to Church.
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* [[Seven Deadly Sins]]: Mentioned in the ''Requiem Chronicler's Guide'', one way to interpret each of the clans is that they are symbolic of one of the seven deadly sins. Daeva represent Lust, Gangrel represent Wrath, Mekhet represent Envy, Nosferatu represent Sloth, Ventrue represent Pride, Julii represent Gluttony, and [[Punny Name|Seven]] represent Greed.
* [[Shirtless Scene]]: Common in the splatbook art, particularly for Solomon Birch and Duce Carter.
* [[Shout-Out]]: Newer books contain references to popular websites and memes like [[Image Boards]], [[
** Don't forget [http://bogleech.com/scrapbook/scrapbugman.html the NPC based on the guy who runs] [http://bogleech.com/ Bogleech.com]
** The art for the Moroi bloodline from the Ordo Dracul sourcebook is clearly meant to be [[Blade|Jared Nomak]].
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* [[Shrouded in Myth]]: The Unholy, most famously.
* [[Sliding Scale of Vampire Friendliness]]: It's just ''barely'' on the middle-ish area. A really determined Kindred could potentially go their entire Requiem without killing...but just about every "biological" and social factor is against them. Feeding requirements only get tougher with age, the Beast means every emotional stimulus can potentially lead to murder, the Danse causes most neonates to get callous, ''fast''. And all their powers make it so ''very'' easy to get corrupted.
** Ironically, the Ordo Dracul, the covenant with the most tools to minimize the curse that makes the above so slanted to unfriendly, are also one of the likeliest covenants to turn a member into an [[Blue and Orange Morality|amoral creature]] that cares nothing for humans or morality.
* [[Sourcebook]]
* [[Space Whale Aesop]]: The point of the Invictus Emperor story, as well as why the Invictus doesn't like democracy, seems to be the aesop that Kindred magic makes it easy to subvert democracy and support Social Darwinism, so why even bother?
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