Malkavian

**Nickname:** Lunatics, Loons

## Sect

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

 Clan Malkavian is twice damned: once by the curse of being Kindred,
 and again by the turmoil that disturbs their hearts and minds. Upon the
 Embrace, every Malkavian is afflicted with an insurmountable insanity
that fractures her outlook for every night thereafter, making her unlife
 one of madness.

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

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

## Appearance

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

## Havens

Consistency is rare among Malkavians. Quite simply, they establish
havens where they think to, where they can, and where they can recall. A
 significant number of Malkavians have literally no home, spending each
night where exhaustion or the sun's rays leave them. Others may
permanently have the presidential suite in a posh hotel, a squat in the
Barrens, the dispensary at a county jail, or a broom closet in a
historical landmark. The Lunatics by and large take whatever shelter they like, although more
 than a few find aging hospitals and poorly funded asylums to their
tastes.

## Background

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

## Character Creation

Loner, outsider, and deviant concepts and archetypes prevail among the
Malkavians, as do Mental Attributes (with an occasional Social-primary
madman or Physical-primary maniac hiding among the ranks). Talents and
Knowledges are likely most popular among Malkavians. Backgrounds tend to
 be either broad and shallow or few and deep, representing the way the
way the Malkavian caroms through unlife. Virtues and Humanity
often tumble quickly if one isn't careful, usually in the wake of Willpower doing the same.

## Clan Weakness

Every last vampire of Malkav's blood is irredeemably insane in some form
 or another. Some attribute this to a curse of the blood, while other
Lunatics actually call it a special blessing, a gift of insight. When a
Malkavian character created, the player must choose at least one derangement
 for that character at the time of the Embrace; this derangement can be
temporarily fought with Willpower, but can *never* be permanently
overcome.

## Organization

The hierarchy of the Malkavians, if it exists at all, defies
description. Most are usually content to let one another do as they like
 from night to night. Rumor is more widespread than truth with regard to Malkavian
organization, and any number of harrowing tales describe the function of
 the Clan. Some say the Lunatics all share a hive consciousness; others
claim that this is in fact the lingering consciousness of the Clan's
progenitor Malkav. Still others claim that a network of madness puts all
 Malkavians in contact with one another and is the cause of their
crippling insanity.