Deceiver

*"Can you see me? Can you trust your eyes?"*

 -**Deceiver**

**Clan Zephonim**

Deceivers are Nosgoth's masters of illusion. They rely on stealth and unpredictability to break the defense of the human team. They are good initiators and are great at executing specific targets with Backstab, or dealing large AoE damage with Infect. Deceivers are most dangerous behind enemy lines, disguised or invisible, where they can surprise the human team to create a chaotic situation. The Deceiver's team then has the perfect opportunity to join in and help finish off the staggered enemy team.

## Lore

Physically less powerful than the offspring of other Lieutenants, the Zephonim make up for it through their mental abilities. The Deceivers have attempted to artificially shape and force their Vampiric evolution through self-torture, experimental alchemy and twisted breeding programs. Moreover, their devious personalities have come to manifest themselves in accursed abilities.

Cunning and trickery have always been the primary tools of these spies and assassins – where once they served their lord Zephon in his political machinations, the Zephonim now focus their attention on the Human enemy. Acts of sabotage, spying, psychological warfare and targeted killings are their preferred operations; when forced to appear alongside their siblings on the open battlefield, however, their supernatural ability to sow confusion and discord has come to be greatly feared.

A Deceiver is capable of assaulting his enemies' minds directly, making them succumb to whatever he finds most useful to sow fear and confusion amongst their ranks. These masters of deception can drive a Human mad with confusion by possessing their very eyesight, making them hear things, and often see things that are not there. Much of a Deceiver's value as a warrior is in his ability to divide a Human group and make them more vulnerable to Vampire attack.

It is not only Humans, however, who fear the Zephonim, but their own kind as well. The extremes they have gone to in their attempts to further themselves and master their own evolution have driven the Deceivers over the edge of sanity, and their precise motivations and agenda are no longer clear. They are not fully trusted by the other Clans – the remnants of the Razielim in particular have long suspected the Deceivers' dark influence at work behind the purge of the supposedly traitorous offspring of Raziel following his execution. Nevertheless, they are tolerated for now due to their usefulness in combat.

While the Deceivers are their most active agents on the battlefield, Clan Zephonim is also valuable in another way to the Vampire race. While every Clan has its own breeding farms of captive Humans buried in the heart of their own territory, the Zephonim have for centuries cultivated the art.

In centuries to come, Clan Zephonim will come to make use of their mental powers to re-affirm the sect of Vampire-worshipping Humans' waning faith, compelling them to serve their dark gods as devoutly as ever before. For now, the Deceivers' only goal is to bring Humanity to its knees.

## References

http://www.nosgoth.com/blog/new-vampire-class-the-deceiver-of-clan-zephonim