Ventrue

"They get a bad rap if you ask me. Everyone likes to take shots at the man in charge, but when it comes to getting the job done the venture know how to step up. They can take the heat."
The Ventrue are the rulers, leaders and politicians of the Camarilla, sometimes known as the Patrician Clan or the Kingship Clan, and a strong sense of noblesse oblige permeates the clan. In Ancient Rome, they were generals and warlthumb|left|200 pxords of the Empire, and in the Dark Ages, they were knights and barons, leading crusades and conquests. In modern times the Ventrue still have great ambition and see themselves as conquerors, but their ways have changed, using courts and companies instead of feifdoms and mighty armies. Targets for Embrace by the Ventrue have always been people in positions of power, whether these people were aristocracy or company CEOs. The Ventrue perceive themselves as the most powerful of the vampiric clans thanks to their wealth, social influence, and powers over the thoughts and feelings of mortals. The clan as a whole is typified as conservative, be it in actions or customs. The Ventrue have their own nigh-inviolable code of etiquette. The clan's Elders have been known to punish violations of these unwritten rules with greater ferocity and resolve than the Traditions of the Camarilla.
The Ventrue claim that ruling vampires is their duty, their burden, a task which is interlocked with their fate, given by Caine himself (if he ever existed). The reality is that excessive pride and ambition seem a more convenient explanation as to why they strive to expand their already vast influence and assert themselves over other Kindred. Young Ventrue tend to be politicians, businessmen, military officers, crime lords, important members of powerful religions, sects and cults, while older Ventrue are almost always come from mortal nobility.
==The Clan==
The Ventrue offer a very simple boast: They win. They always win.
Other Kindred often despise the Lords, but they seldom dispute the clan’s boast. All too often, a Kindred works and schemes to win some prize, only to find that a Ventrue owned it all along. The officers who lead a city’s Kindred almost always include several highly placed Ventrue. The Lords acknowledge no defeats, only setbacks. The clan shares a ruthless will to power and the power to enforce its will.
Clan Ventrue has long been one of the proudest lines of vampires. Its members work hard to maintain a reputation for honor, genteel behavior, and leadership. And The Ventrue are second only to the Tremere in terms of organization and interrelation.
A sense of noblesse oblige has long pervaded the clan, accompanied by the genuine belief that the Ventrue know what's best for everyone. They not only consider themselves the oldest clan, but see themselves as the enforcers of tradition and the rightful leaders of vampire society. Unsurprisingly, they have long been chosen from the ranks of nobility and privilege, whether kings or merchant princes, but they have also been known as knights and warlords who sought to live by the laws of chivalry and duty.
If anything, the Ventrue have adopted to fill the roles of leadership over the ages, and in the modern nights are more politician than noble warrior, more CEO than baron lord. They remain the largest supporters of the Camarilla and the Masquerade, believing both institutions to be the surest means of protecting vampires from the growing mortals masses, and of guarding their own power.
Ventrue culture places a heavy emphasis on dignitas, the Latin word for "dignity." In modern days, it's often described as "Face". Ventrue are completely aware of the unsavory aspects of power, and while a Ventrue leader is just as likely to lead organized crime as he is a Fortune 500 company (the Ventrue really don't object to theft, so much as petty theft), he must always comport himself with dignity, with grace and with honor. At least publically.
==Covenants and Sects==
Most of the clan finds its home within the safe confines of the Camarilla.
Covenant wise there is a strong family line of Ventrue within the Lancea Sanctum that has members throughout Europe and North America. Ventrue rarely join the Circle, though some do (Such as Gwendolyn) and their abilities serve the crone quite well. There are many ventrue among the Ordo Dracul as the Ventrues particular weakness can sometimes lead members of the clan to seek ways that they keep a decent blood supply, the coils can do that, if they have the stomache and the patience.
==Bloodlines==
The Ventrue antitribu are the knights and paladins of the Sabbat, sworn to combat the Antediluvians and bring down the degenerate Camarilla. They see their Camarilla counterparts as failures, and have assumed the roles of the race of Cainites' saviors to atone for this. They believe mortals to be ignorant cattle, sufficient only for food and service to their terrible vampire lords. To accept anything less is to take the path of the disgraced Ventrue of the Camarilla, and the Sabbat Ventrue are not willing to accept that failure.
==Disciplines and Systems==
Clan Disciplines:, Dominate, Majesty, and Fortitude.
Favored attributes: Presence or Resolve.
Weakness: A ventrues sense of nobility is also his downfall. Ventrue can only feed from a certain type of mortal that is drawn from something that effected them in their mortal life. If a ventrue feeds from any other source the blood is expelled immediately in a supreme mess.
==The Ventrue in Portland==
Known Ventrue in the Portland/Vancouver area include:
Emery, Gwendolyn, Sally Oswald, Tessa Mayhand, Jerod, Edmund Bruke, Father Clairance McConihan, Bartolomeo, Mauricio Oleastro, Juanita Cardona, Marcos Diaz
Category:Clans/Bloodlines