Volscii

Volscii is the name given to an unknown number of ancient slumbering vampires who are commonly cited as being some of the first vampires to ever walk the earth. How or who created them is hotly debated and researched by both vampires and mages alike. Regardless of how many Volscii are hunted down and killed, the number never seems to really change. Kill one, and two more pop up somewhere else. This has lead many to believe that Volscii are merely Kindred whose blood has thickened to immense levels. However one thing remains certain: their power is undeniable. The last Volscii to be active in the world was Vlad Tepes III, who spawned the entire Ordo Dracul and created Coils for his descendants. Since his return and subsequent disappearance, there was a legitimate fear among the vampire population that others could be lurking around out there in the dark.

## Suspected Volscii

There are an unknown amount of Volscii in existence, the ones that are confirmed are as follows:

* Vlad Tepes III
* The Elder
* Baba Yaga
* Mithras
* Helena

### Vlad Tepes III

Volscii are rightly feared as blood gods capable of bending entire nations to their will. When there are signs that one is active (whatever they may be), kindred across the globe have one of two reactions: worship it, or destroy it. Such was the case when Vlad Tepes III was found to be walking again. The Ordo Dracul was primarily an independent organization up until the return of their famed creator. The Anarchs caught wind of his return and launched a massive offensive capturing and destroying many Wyrm Nests in an attempt to find and kill Vlad Tepes III. The Ordo Dracul turned to the Camarilla for support, and became one of the founding organizations of the Camarilla as it is today.

### The Elder

What is known of The Elder is that it is an amalgamation of the original six Tzimisce fused into a mass of writhing flesh. The Elder was discovered in the latter half of the 16th century and a combined assault of Werewolves, Mages, and Vampires managed to seal the grotesque horror deep within the Grossglockner Mountains.

### Baga Yaga

Baba Yaga is the (in)famous Nosferatu Volscii who has lived in Russia for millennia. She is widely held as the founder of the entire Nosferatu clan, and as such is quite the hot topic among Nosferatu. Some fear her, while others view her as a mother figure and worship the idea of her. None of them have ever truly met her, and none wish to.

### Mithras

Prior to Vlad Tepes III Mithras had been the most recently active Volscii some thousand years ago. He is hailed as being responsible for the birth of the Ventrue clan as a whole. Mithras was a popular figure in Britain for centuries, as each Ventrue Prince modeled their rule after his.

### Helena

Helena (of Troy) is believed to be responsible for the entire Daeva clan, and all its permutations. Despite physical evidence of her existence (some Elders even claim to have met her) she has spent the majority of the last 2,000 years in slumber, only waking occasionally. It goes without saying that Helena has an air of beauty unsurpassed by anyone in the world. It's even been rumored that she is capable of forcing Demons to Fall, which has led many Daeva scholars to believe the God-Machine is responsible for her slumber, and that she only rises when she is strong enough to overthrow her shackles.

## Origin

The origin of Volscii are hotly debated among many of the supernatural factions. Some Awakened believe they were experiments conducted by the Exarchs. Demons argue that they like many others are simply abandoned or forgotten Infrastructure built by the God-Machine. Some Kindred believe that God cursed Caine for killing Abel by forcing him to feed upon the blood of his children, and that all Vampires today are descended from this. Regardless of the belief or theory like many other things in creation *there had to be a first*. The Volscii are considered to be such and as a result are some of the most powerful vampires in existence.

## Gehenna

All Volscii slumber beneath the earth (sometimes literally) in torpor for a variety of reasons. Some are locked away by powerful entities, others are forcefully imprisoned by the "mundane" supernaturals (such is the case of The Elder). Whatever the fashion of their imprisonment, the Volscii slumber in torpor but are not inactive. The torpid dreams of Volscii can send out echoes of psychic entropy that effects the minds of those it touches. This is known as *Gehenna*.

Despite the connotations Gehenna is not the end of the world. Instead it is a supernatural phenomena in which the torpid nightmares of the Volscii ripple out into the world causing conflict and strife. Darfur, Bosnian genocide, World Wars, sacking of Constantinople - all of these events were partly influenced by this psychic ripple. This does not mean that Volscii *cause* these things, but more so light the spark needed for humans to kill and murder one another. The situation is further exasperated when vampires (and other supernatural factions) throw their lot in with humans; tipping the balance in one way or another. These events are known as Gehenna and are equal parts supernatural and human.

### List of 'Known' Gehenna

***The following list is by no means complete or meant to be taken as cold hard fact. The concept of Gehenna is something that can be largely ignored or only used sparingly. World War 2 could have been Gehenna, while the first one was merely humans murdering each other, or vice versa.***

* Both World Wars
* Middle East conflicts
* Hundred Years War
* French Revolution
* Mongolian Conquest