Vampire

**Vampires** are one of the three main supernatural beings in the World of Darkness and the fundamental characters of Vampire: The Masquerade and Kindred of the East. They are split into two main species: the predominantly western Cainites (also called Kindred), and the oriental Kuei-jin.

### Supernatural Characteristics

Vampires are created through the Embrace; during the Embrace, a vampire drains a candidate of all their blood and replaces it with a small amount (generally a single drop) of their own. This causes the corpse to rise as a (very hungry) vampire, usually instantly (though those of the highest generations may appear to lie dead for some time before they awaken). The vampire who initiates the Embrace is the Sire; the new vampire is the Sire's Childe.

When a vampire is Embraced, their internal organs wither away, and almost all their body fluids are replaced by blood. The only exception being the stomach, which pulses with the blood that the vampire consumes. Vampires use blood (also called Vitae) for a variety of purposes; blood replaces most bodily fluids, so vampires will cry blood and sweat blood under certain circumstances. Blood is also used to get up and move; every night, vampires expend a certain amount of blood to rise. In addition, vampires can use blood to enhance their physical attributes and use supernatural powers called Disciplines. Blood is used to Embrace, as noted above, and also to create Ghouls. Finally, vampires can use blood to heal damage.

Blood is generally replaced by sucking it out of humans. While vampires can feed on other creatures, they do not enjoy the taste of animal blood and older vampires will acquire no sustenance from it (whilst the blood of the supernatural creatures are an entirely different matter). The process of taking blood is euphemistically called the Kiss or feeding. Vampires do not have to completely drain a victim, although frenzying vampires are likely to do so. Vampires can hide the puncture marks of feeding by licking the wounds, making the process fairly subtle. The Feeding process is highly pleasurable (arguably the only pleasure) for vampires, and is also extremely pleasurable for victims. Vessels who are drained regularly can become addicted to the Kiss.

Vampires change considerably after the Embrace. Physically, they are incapable of eating food, with most vomiting it up almost instantly (and even those that can keep it down for a while will still have to regurgitate the food later), they have no need for sex as the need to feed replaces all physical and emotional urges, although they can imitate the physical reactions for sex if needed and will even feel pleasure from it, though all such mortal pleasures pale in comparison to the ecstasy of the Kiss.As a result of these processes, the vampire is paler and generally thinner than they were before the Embrace. Certain clans have more extreme physical changes, such as the Nosferatu or the Cappadocians.

Once Embraced, vampires are locked into a form of stasis. Apart from wounds (healed with blood), vampires are restored to their condition at the time of Embrace every time they rise up for the night. This physical condition eventually extends to their mindsets - old vampires often find it very hard to learn new things, much like how an older human will often find it difficult to keep up with next generation's innovations and ways of thinking.

In addition to the physical changes, vampires experience extreme intellectual and emotional changes. The vampire is now a predator, and has a raging id called the Beast, that may take control of his body (be it through fear, hunger or hatred). Vampires are highly durable against physical threats, except for fire or sunlight. If set ablaze they burn easily, and will burn up almost instantly in sunlight. However, outside of these, vampires are very hard to kill - bullets do not cause much damage, and those who possess the Disciplines of Celerity and Fortitude are extremely hard to hit, let alone damage in combat. That said, shotguns and similar weapons are warily respected or feared; while an individual bullet might not frighten a vampire, it becomes a different issue when the weapon can remove their head entirely with a well-placed shot, or remove limbs in seconds with a never-ending stream of lead.

When severely wounded, vampires can pass into a deathlike stasis called Torpor, which allows them to heal more extreme damage. Torpor can last for centuries depending on the circumstances, and as a vampire gets older, Torpor becomes a more attractive option due to social and personal issues often suffered by vampires of significant age or those who cannot cope with the changes in society. Some vampires have been in Torpor for millennia, such as the Antediluvians.

#### Generation

Every vampire has a Generation, numbered from 1 (Caine) to 15 in the Canonical games. A vampire is always one generation higher than his Sire, thus farther removed from Caine. Generation has a variety of effects - mental powers do not work on vampires of lower generation, and the lower a generation the more potent a vampire can become.

Generation has a variety of gameplay effects, the most important being Blood Pool. The amount of blood a character can store and spend changes radically as their generation decreases, this makes a low-generation character far more potent in combat, especially once they can spend multiple blood points at a time. Generation also affects most mental disciplines - characters generally cannot use mental disciplines on characters of a lower generation. In addition, Characters cannot raise attributes or disciplines above 5 dots unless they are 7th generation or lower. Higher dot disciplines tend to be highly idiosyncratic.

Vampires cannot lower their generation except through diablerie, a form of vampiric cannibalism in which the diablerist consumes the soul of his or her victim - which is usually a rare opportunity and a very severe crime. A Diablerie is easily detectable on an aura, and the Camarilla views it as a capital crime.

#### Weaknesses

Aside from the particular curses of each clan, the Cainites share a few disadvantages. For instance, vampires must feed on the blood of other beings to survive and heal their wounds (with few notable exceptions, such as the Nagaraja, who must feed on flesh as well). In addition, they universally fear fire, sunlight, decapitation, and the teeth, claws and powers of other supernatural creatures. A wooden stake through the heart will immobilize them. Contrary to popular belief, garlic has no ill effect on vampires at all, save for a very small number with an unusual flaw in their blood. Likewise, the inability to cross running water is a rare weakness and probably psychosomatic.

Also, after the embrace every vampire must be wary of the influence of the Beast upon their behavior. The Beast continuously assaults the character, and if the Beast's demands exceed the character's own capacity to control it, it will react in a Frenzy or Rötschreck. Vampires can permanently lose control to the Beast, entering Wassail, a state of permanent Frenzy. In this condition, all humanity is lost and the vampire becomes a mindless killing machine.

### History

The Antediluvians spread across the world at this time, travelling to various places and embracing further descendants. Eventually, they sink into Torpor. Vampires fear Gehenna, the time that the Antediluvians will rise from Torpor and devour their descendants, then Caine will return in judgement. The Camarilla claims Gehenna is a fraud, and that there are no Antediluvians. In contrast, the Sabbat is strongly Noddist and sees defeating the Antediluvians as their entire purpose.

### Organization

Nominally, every vampire is Embraced into a Clan, which is a line of vampires tracing their ancestry back to a common Antediluvian. Each Clan has specific strengths and weaknesses, as well as their own distinct history. A vampire without a Clan is Caitiff, generally a second-class citizen in vampiric society.

Most vampires belong to one of two major sects: the Camarilla and the Sabbat. The Camarilla consists of those clans who are dedicated to preserving the Masquerade and (generally) their Humanity. The Sabbat are dedicated to the coming Gehenna and the superiority of the vampire species over humanity. It should be noted that the distinction is not between *Good Vampires* and *Bad Vampires* as much as between *Bad Vampires* and *Worse Vampires* (which is which depends largely on who you ask). The Camarilla and Sabbat are violent enemies.

In addition to these two Sects, several lesser divisions exist. Vampires who reject both Sects in favor of more indepedence are grouped into a loose community called Anarch. Several Clans are loyal primarily to their Clans, and are independent of the major Sects. In addition, there is a group of mysterious elder vampires, the Inconnu, who eschew all politics in favor of their own projects. However, not every Kindred belongs to a Sect, nor swears fealty to a Clan, Prince, Bishop, or other such entity - these Autarkis often lead solitary unlives not unlike hermits or outcasts.

While they are still globalized, most vampires are generally confined to one city (which is ruled in a feudal fashion). At the apex of the power structure is the Prince, who is generally served by a council of Primogen, the prince controls access to feeding grounds which he allocates as fiefs. There are additional city offices, notably the Harpies and Sheriff; later editions of VTM introduce the Scourge, as well as other, more specialized minor offices.

Sabbat cities use a slightly different structure. Cities are generally ruled by a Archbishop, who is supported by a number of Bishops. Below this level are the various packs who make up the bulk of Sabbat society; these packs are led by Ducti.

In addition to these offices, however, the Sects impose their own additional offices. Princes report to the Camarilla, whose most visible officers are the Archons, roving agents of the Justicars, who are the highest public Camarilla official. Each clan provides one Justicar, who controls his own stable of Archons. Justicars are roving troubleshooters, each one generally focusing on one major project at a time - such as conducting a war to take over a city.

The Sabbat has a complex internal structure which includes both Templars and an internal Inquisition as well as a mini-sect called the Black Hand.

**CLANS**

There are a total of thirteen major clans.

#### Camarilla Clans

Here is a list of the seven clans who were part of the Camarilla. With V5 new & strange bedfellows begin to change the Ivory Tower.

* Banu Haqim: Formerly known as Assamites, The Children of Haqim are a cult of assassins located in the mountain fortress of Alamut in the middle east. Descended from Caine's judge, the Assamites accept assassination contracts against vampires while fulfilling their clan's own (more obscure) goals. The Assamites are practically a sect unto themselves, with three castes, each of which has its own weakness. Their clan joined the Camarilla after the Second Inquisition started.

* Malkavian: The Malkavians are a clan of Vampires with their ranks filled with those perceived to be mentally ill, afflicted with a strange madness which varies between individuals. This doesn't mean that they aren't also insightful and highly intelligent, but they are controlled by their own variant of madness from the moment of their Embrace, some showing signs of previous traumas from their life as Kine.

* Nosferatu: Nosferatu are hideously deformed by their Embrace and every Nosferatu is horrifyingly ugly. Eschewing other Vampires, they live in sewers and generally keep to themselves. Nosferatu are information brokers *par excellence*. Since the Gangrel left the Camarilla, the Nosferatu have shown that they are physically capable as enforcers and assassins in their place, cementing their place as invaluable. While they most are apart of a Camarilla on the whole, they put clan over sect, protecting non-Camarilla Nosferatu from threats that'd expose them and vice versa.

* Toreador: The Toreador are obsessed with art and beauty, and are the clan that spends the most time around humanity. Toreador tend to get lost in art, becoming enraptured by beautiful things. This love of beautiful things sometimes is their downfall as they become obsessive of their desired beauty including in some fatal cases, the sun itself.

* Tremere: The Tremere are a Hermetic order (originally from **Ars Magica**) who turned themselves into vampires to preserve their magic. It didn't quite work out as planned. Since the 11th century, the Tremere have risen from outcasts to one of the pillars of Camarilla society. Tremere are the most powerful practitioners of the Discipline of Thaumaturgy, but are also tightly bound to their highly organized and incredibly paranoid clan. Only the original house of Tremere remains loyal to the Camarilla with three other major houses appearing through out the world.

* Ventrue: The Clan Of Kings. The Ventrue are the leaders of the Camarilla. They are businessmen, aristocrats, monarchs, captains of industry, crime leaders and tend to occupy any other position where control, social status and power are required. They are the clan from whom the majority of Princes come and since the Second Inquisition and call to the middle east, their Anarch counterparts make up a number of Barons. Ventrue are careful to whom they Embrace and who they feed from: every Ventrue feeds exclusively from a specific type of prey.

* Lasombra: The former leaders of the Sabbat, the Lasombra slew their own Antediluvian during the Anarch Revolt and then led the Sabbat against the nascent Camarilla. The Lasombra are elegant, powerful, cruel and predatory espousers of a social darwinist approach towards control and leadership. The Lasombra are also masters of shadow, able to manipulate darkness in bizarre fashions; this power has a cost, however, as Lasombra cast no reflections. In the mid 2010s they sought accord with the Camarilla and joined their ranks.

#### Sabbat Clans

The Sabbat was once composed of many different clans and bloodlines. While all the Camarilla clans certainly have an *antitribu* representation within the Sabbat, the term also applies to factions within three independent clans which have joined the sect. Since the beginning of the Second Inquisition there have been changes leaving in charge the sole clan of:

* Tzimisce: The Tzimisce hail from Eastern Europe, and are the former absolute masters of their nightmare domains. The Tzimisce are the least human vampires in VTM, casually cruel and more than a little mad, and possessing the most potent shapeshifting powers of any Vampire. Tzimisce can shift not only their shape, but mold flesh and bone like it was clay. The Tzimisce crave stability - they cannot find peace at night without some of their grave earth.

#### Anarch Movement

The Anarch revolts, while not always looked kindly upon gave birth to the movement that now is the mainstream of Kindred life, since the Camarilla retreated from the kindred's public more after the beginning of the Second Inquisition. They welcome all clans with a very hands-off leadership made up of mainly two clans:

* Brujah: Originally warrior-philosophers, the Brujah are now petty rebels, roughnecks and political activists. The Brujah are powerful combatants and charismatic speakers, but are more prone to succumbing to frenzy. A notable number lead the Anarch movement but there are still those who cling to the Camarilla or are independent.
* The Ministry: Formerly known as Followers of Set or Setites, Descendants of the Egyptian God Set, the original Setites were a Gnostic cult dedicated to overthrowing the rule of the tyrant gods who oppress all creatures. Though in the Mid 2010s they re-branded into the Ministry, making it about religion of self with Set being said to exist inside each of his followers. They are still seen as creatures of Darkness, and light does even more damage to them.

#### Independent Clans

* Giovanni: The Giovanni are a clan of Venetian businessmen and necromancers who entered the scene in the 15th century; originally an offset of the more sedate Cappadocians, Augustus Giovanni diablerized his sire and purged the clan of all Cappadocians. Since that time, the Giovanni have become a very rich, powerful and incestuously twisted family with tentacles throughout the world. The Giovanni do not feed lightly - Feeding is a nightmare for their Vessels, causing excess damage and intense pain as oppose to the erotic ecstasy of the Kiss. At the begining of the Second Inquisition they were nearly slaughtered and forced to retreat to their homelands.

* Ravnos: The Ravnos are Vampires from the Indian subcontinent, where they are engaged in a genocidal war with India's Cathayans. The first Ravnos seen in the west were Gypsies and were generally assumed to be charlatans and rogues (which isn't that far off, since many Ravnos *are* charlatans and rogues); however, the Ravnos adhere to a complex philosophy of enlightenment through destroying *Maya*. Each Ravnos has a vice, from gambling to plagiarism. During the Week of Nightmares, they were nearly wiped out by their own Antediluvian. The few that remain stay hidden, even from other Kindred.
* Gangrel: The Gangrel are nomadic vampires and the only ones who regularly travel outside of cities. The Gangrel are also shape-shifters with the Discipline of Protean, which has left them with a tendency to acquire animal features as they frenzy. Since the late 1990s, they've become largely independent though a number have joined the Anarchs and very few remained within the Camarilla's circles.

#### Ashirra

The "*Ashirra*", from the Arabic word for "*brethren*", is the sect under which Islamic vampires declare their faith in Allah and which rules over Arabia and the northern parts of Africa since the Dark Ages. Members of the Ashirra believe that redemption for the Kindred was among the promises of their prophet Muhammad made, if they chose to follow Allah. Among the members of the Ashirra are the following clans:

* Banu Haqim (Assamites)
* al-Amin (Salubri)
* Bay't Majnoon (Malkavians)
* Bay't Mujrim (Ravnos)
* Bay't Mushakis (Brujah)
* Bay't Mutasharid (Nosferatu)
* el Hijazi (Ventrue)
* Qabilat al-Khayal (Lasombra)
* Qabilat al-Mawt (Cappadocian)
* Ray'een al-Fen (Toreador)
* Wah'Sheen (Gangrel)

#### Laibon

The term "*Laibon*" is the name African Cainites give to themselves. These vampires have a rich culture of their own, and they divide themselves in many *Legacies* - which derive from the traditional clans and bloodlines. They are:

* Akunanse
* Followers of Set
* Guruhi
* Ishtarri
* Kinyonyi
* Nagloper
* Osebo
* Shango
* Xi Dundu
* Mla Watu
* Nkulu Zao
* Bonsam
* Impundulu
* Ramanga

## Infants

When a baby vampire is born they immediately begin to levitate themselves and objects from the age of two human years, they grow their fangs