Vampire

**Vampires**, also known as **'Kindred'** to their own kind, are undead former humans who have undergone a transformation called the Embrace by being drained of all blood and being fed some by their sire. They possess superhuman abilities and exceptional longevity, and as a result have been able to operate from positions of power as well as the shadows of society for millennia.

## Society

Most vampires belong to certain clans and factions either through grooming, obligation, or choice. Each clan offers its own unique abilities and weaknesses, as well as motivations and personality traits that distinguish them from the others.

* The **Daeva** are seductive, decadent, and sexually transgressive predators who blur lust and hunger together, equating the act of feeding with sensual pleasure.
* The **Gangrel** are embody the fear of vampires as predatory feral demons. An upper level in the feeding chain with little or no interest in humans as anything other than food.
* The **Mekhet** are mysterious conspiratorial occultists, obsessed with knowledge and information, who hide in the shadows and manipulate others from afar.
* The **Nosferatu** are the repulsive, yet fascinating, alien and hideous monsters of legend.
* The **Ventrue** are regal vampires who value power and dominion to the point of obsession as self-styled "lords of the night".
* Formerly known as Assamites, the **Banu Haqim** are a cult of undead assassins who kill for hire and are paid in vitae for use in special rituals that bring the clan's members closer to Haqim. They are largely independent of other clans and consist mostly of vampires without a solid allegiance.
* The **Tzimisce** are a now-extinct clan that formerly ruled over their lands in Eastern Europe for centuries. Legends say they destroyed their founder and formed the Sabbat, a sect that was formed in response to the oppressive rule of elders.

### Covenants

* The **Carthian Movement** works towards finding the best form of government for the Kindred, basing its experiments on mortal systems such as democracy, fascism, and the like. It is the only covenant that elects leaders, and is the newest major covenant.
* The **Circle of the Crone** is a collection of pagan and Neopagan cults and religions within the vampiric culture.
* **Invictus**, also known as the "First Estate", is an order of vampires that represents the old order of things and act as old nobility, they are also concerned with material gain and power and therefore are heavily involved in city politics and business.
* The **Lancea et Sanctum** claims the Roman Centurion Longinus as their founder and they believe the Kindred have a role in the Divine Providence: that of the ultimate predators, unleashing God's Wrath upon the unworthy and testing the pious.
* The **Ordo Dracul** is focused on understanding the vampiric condition, improving upon it and ultimately transcending its limitations.
* **Belial's Brood** are a loose confederation of reckless and raucous vampiric Satanists, demon-worshippers, and overt miscreants, who exalt in the spread of misery and pain.
* There are vampires who are unaligned and do not belong to a covenant.

## Powers & Abilities

As undead creatures, vampires possess an inherent "immortality" - as long as they are not outright killed (decapitated, for example), vampires are able to live for indefinite periods of time, with a majority of the living vampire population today being a thousand or more years old. Vampires can only be seriously harmed and destroyed by certain sources of damage: fire, sunlight, massive physical destruction, having their blood drained by another vampire, or coming into contact with appropriately-blessed objects.

All vampires display incredible strength and superhuman speed. However, they can display more impressive feats other than their base abilities through their blood potency, which increases steadily with age but can also be boosted through training or committing a diablerie (consuming the soul of another vampire). A vampire with a higher blood potency can store more blood points and access greater supernatural powers, but their feeding needs become more stringent as well - while weaker vampires can live even on animal blood, the most powerful vampires begin craving the blood of other vampires. Powerful vampires who cannot meet this need usually go into hibernation either by choice or from hunger. As time passes, their blood weakens until they can feed on humans again.

Kindred can use a variety of supernatural powers called Disciplines that they learn and harness through their bloodline or clan of choice. These are special abilities associated with their curse which, like their undead bodies, are fueled by the living blood they take from mortals.

### Common Disciplines

These powers of the Blood are commonplace among the Kindred and more than one clan has an innate knack for them. The physical Disciplines in particular can even be learned without a teacher by those with an in-born blood affinity for them.

* **Celerity**: The ability to move at incredibly high speeds with uncanny precision.
* **Resilience**: The ability to withstand crippling injury without submitting.
* **Vigor**: The ability to manifest supernatural strength beyond a vampire's normally superhuman abilities.
* **Animalism**: The power to commune with and command animals; related to a vampire's inner Beast.
* **Obfuscate**: The power of hiding oneself by clouding the minds of the weak; related to a vampire's natural cunning and guile.

### Unique Disciplines

These Disciplines are the proprietary abilities of each of the clans. Their instruction tends to be used as bargaining chips with other Kindred who don't possess them as natural talents.

* **Auspex**: Preternatural sensitivity and awareness and the ability to foresee and know things seemingly unknowable. Practiced by the Mekhet.
* **Chimerstry**: The ability to conjure illusions into existence, fooling others with realistic phantom images. Practied by the Ravnos.
* **Dominate**: The piercing stare that commands minds and the ability to break the will of others with vampiric mental control. Practiced by the Ventrue.
* **Majesty**: Seductive or commanding sway of emotions and the predatory manipulation of the weak in this way. Practiced by the Daeva.
* **Nightmare**: The ability to evoke sheer terror by manipulating fear and revealing one's primal nature. Practiced by the Nosferatu.
* **Protean**: The ability to change one's body and assume a variety of forms such as a wolf, bat, or mist, or sprout bestial claws. Practiced by the Gangrel.
* **Quietus**: This Discipline grants the users influence over the blood of others. Practiced by the Banu Haqim.
* **Viccissitude**: The ability to sculpt the flesh and bone of a subject, making them a creature of alien beauty or gnarling them into a deformed monstrosity. A lost and forbidden art, practiced by the Tzimisce.

### Covenant Disciplines

Some covenants possess knowledge of blood magic and rituals which they only teach to their loyal and proven members. These magics are never shared with outsiders and defectors with extensive knowledge of these Disciplines are often hunted.

* **Coils of the Dragon**: The metamorphic stages followed by members of the Ordo Dracul.
* **Crúac**: The blood magic practiced by the Acolytes of the Circle of the Crone.
* **Theban Sorcery**: The dark miracles performed by the Sanctified within the Lancea et Sanctum.

## Notable Vampires

* Asphodel, the Lawless
* Dracula
* Fane, the Erudite
* Kozani, the Vulpine
* Moldark, the Undamned
* Vorrigan, the Barbarian