Vampirism

> *"There is a generation whose teeth are as swords, and their jaw teeth as knives, To devour the poor from off the earth, and the needy from among men."*
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> – Proverbs 30:14
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**Vampires** are mythical creatures and/or people that are known as being malevolent, though the degree of this ranges from someone being forced to drink the blood of others to rage-filled cannibals who are more animal than human and are one of the main metahuman types in the Ark. Vampires generally live in cities, which are run feudally by Princes; life in a city is one of constant political manipulation and paranoia, as the powers of the city vie for power, control and food. They are creatures ruled by fear, most importantly the fear of exposure to the Kine, everyday humanity. Since the Inquisition the majority of the Cainites have lived under the veil, an enforced campaign to hide the existence of their kind from humanity. In modern nights various scientific minded members of the species have classified their kind as *Homo Sapiens Sanguineus*, *Homo Sapientissimus* or even *Homo Vampiricus*.

## Origins

The first vampire is referred to as Caine, the farmer whom God cursed for slaying his shepherd brother Abel. Caine wandered for a time, refusing to repent for murdering Abel three times, and each time receiving a new curse, which ended up with him nocturnal, harmed by sunlight, and subsisting on human blood. He created the vampiric Disciplines and went on to create at least three spawn to share his gift/curse.

These first vampires lived in the First City as lords, and eventually as gods over the human populace as worship of true God faded away. The three collectively created thirteen more vampires, creating a web of politics and infighting over Caine's favour that caused much grief and abuse for the humans (slaves fed special herbs for better taste of blood and being bled to death in banquets were commonplace, and enforced dimming of night fires until the crawling chaos managed to manifest itself due to the mass suffering and wipe the city out.

In ancient cultures, there weren't any creatures called "vampires" or any word that roughly translates to "vampire"; however, stories were told of demons and spirits that drank blood or ate flesh. Even the devil was directly associated with the eating of flesh and drinking of blood, and the gods and goddesses of some cultures were credited with these activities.

The Persians were one of the first civilizations to have tales of blood-drinking demons: creatures attempting to drink blood from men were depicted on excavated pottery shards. Ancient Babylonia had tales of the mythical Lilitu, synonymous with and giving rise to Lilith (Hebrew לילית) and her daughters the Lilu from Hebrew demonology. Lilitu was considered a demon and was often depicted as subsisting on the blood of babies. However, the Jewish counterparts were said to feast on both men and women, as well as newborns. The closest this got to the idea of vampires in recent history was that some demons would possess corpses and then use them to drink the blood of people.

Many of the myths surrounding vampires originated during the medieval period. The 12th century English historians and chroniclers Walter Map and William of Newburgh recorded accounts of revenants, though records in English legends of vampiric beings after this date are scant. These tales are similar to the later folklore widely reported from Eastern Europe in the 18th century and were the basis of the vampire legend that later entered Germany and England, where they were subsequently embellished and popularized.

During the 18th century, there was a frenzy of vampire sightings in Europe, with frequent staking and grave diggings to identify and kill the potential revenants; even government officials engaged in the hunting and staking of vampires. The panic began with an outbreak of alleged vampire attacks in East Prussia in 1721 and in the Habsburg Monarchy from 1725 to 1734, which spread to other localities. Two famous vampire cases, the first to be officially recorded, involved the corpses of Peter Plogojowitz and Arnold Paole from Serbia. Plogojowitz was reported to have died at the age of 62, but allegedly returned after his death asking his son for food. When the son refused, he was found dead the following day. Plogojowitz supposedly returned and attacked some neighbours who died from loss of blood. In the second case, Paole, an ex-soldier turned farmer who allegedly was attacked by a vampire years before, died while haying. After his death, people began to die in the surrounding area and it was widely believed that Paole had returned to prey on the neighbours. Another famous Serbian legend involving vampires concentrates around certain Sava Savanović living in a watermill and killing and drinking blood from millers. The two incidents were well-documented: government officials examined the bodies, wrote case reports, and published books throughout Europe. The problem was exacerbated by rural epidemics of so-claimed vampire attacks, undoubtedly caused by the higher amount of superstition that was present in village communities, with locals digging up bodies and in some cases, staking them.

Although many scholars reported during this period that vampires did not exist, and attributed reports to premature burial or rabies, superstitious belief increased. Dom Augustine Calmet, a well-respected French theologian and scholar, put together a comprehensive treatise in 1746, which was ambiguous concerning the existence of vampires. Calmet amassed reports of vampire incidents; numerous readers, including both a critical Voltaire and supportive demonologists, interpreted the treatise as claiming that vampires existed. In his Philosophical Dictionary, Voltaire wrote:

> "These vampires were corpses, who went out of their graves at night to suck the blood of the living, either at their throats or stomachs, after which they returned to their cemeteries. The persons so sucked waned, grew pale, and fell into consumption; while the sucking corpses grew fat, got rosy, and enjoyed an excellent appetite. It was in Poland, Hungary, Silesia, Moravia, Austria, and Lorraine, that the dead made this good cheer."
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The controversy only ceased when Empress Maria Theresa of Austria sent her personal physician, Gerard van Swieten, to investigate the claims of vampiric entities. He concluded that vampires did not exist and the Empress passed laws prohibiting the opening of graves and desecration of bodies, sounding the end of the vampire epidemics. Despite this condemnation, the vampire lived on in artistic works and in local superstition.

However, an outbreak of tuberculosis in the 19th century in New England caused a Vampire panic. Tuberculosis, also known as consumption, was understood to be caused when a dead relative began to drain the life of their surviving relatives. Corpses of the dead relatives were dug up and organs ritually removed, such as the heart, and burned to stop the vampire from attacking the local population. These practices were limited to New England and spread by a moral panic and some real panic but a complete lack of understanding of Tuberculosis.

## The Embrace

The **Embrace** is the act of transforming a mortal into a vampire. It is the only act of reproduction of which the Cainites are capable. A vampire drains and replaces a victim's blood with a bit of their own to pass the curse of vampirism to a mortal.

When a vampire desires a childe, due to loneliness, regret at an accidental feeding, a need for a pawn, or any other reason, the first step is to drain the candidate dry. Any technique that results in a bloodless corpse will do, although most sires drain their soon-to-be childer by feeding on them, making the Embrace an intimate experience akin to sex and childbirth. Once the candidate is drained of blood, the sire gives the candidate a small amount of his own blood, and this instantly transforms the candidate into a new childe. The moment of rebirth is perhaps the greatest pleasure the child will ever feel, perhaps the only true ecstasy he or she will feel other than the Kiss.

The first reaction most childer have after an Embrace is raw hunger. With less than a blood point available and no experience dealing with a fully raging Beast, the childe will most likely enter a hunger Frenzy at the first sight of blood. For most vampires, this means that the Embrace is followed immediately by a moment of degradation. After this point, the childe will experience hours of painful burning sensations as his or her body undergoes the process of death and disposes of needless waste.

### Restrictions

* Animals cannot be Embraced.
* Vitae must flow directly from the sire to the childe. It cannot be placed in an intermediary vessel or otherwise delayed, because its supernatural properties quickly decay after leaving the vampire's body.
* The Embrace is instantaneous, except in the case of Thin-blooded vampires, where it can take many hours.
* Any activity which completely drains the corpse is acceptable; draining does not cause the Embrace, vitae does.
* Pregnant women almost always miscarry when Embraced, although a vampire fetus is a possible (and disgusting) scenario.
* While two vampires can theoretically feed their Vitae to a candidate for an Embrace, the resulting vampire will generally have both the clan and generation as if the lower generation parent had performed the Embrace.
* Shapeshifters may or may not become Embraced. It will vary depending on the breed. Most will immediately burst into flames when Embraced, which may kill the attempted sire.

### Embracing a Mage

One of the unbreakable laws of sorcery is that vampires may not practice Awakened magic. The Embrace either destroys a magus' enlightened soul or expels it to its next incarnation. In any case, the experience is so traumatic that magi emerge from the transformation damaged. Some are so strong-willed they vomit forth their sire's blood and immediately die. The less resolute often enter undeath insane. Yet their occult knowledge remains.

## The Clans

### Darkheim

Clan Darkheim are what we normally think of with the pop cultural vampire: blood drinking, mouldering corpses with superpowers. In addition to the expected super strength, super durability, and super speed, Darkheim vampires have many powers, including subverting the will of humans to make them docile and compliant or as a physically-empowered beast who is fanatically loyal to their master. Darkheim vampires are the most powerful, but have the most weaknesses, and it adds up to them being the hardest to fight and easiest to kill. While older, more powerful vampires have some protection against the traditional weaknesses, young vampires have to remain dormant during the daytime. Garlic, sunlight, and getting staked are all lethal, and holy relics are an anathema, and necromantic magic is rumoured to be a potent weapon against them. They are also notably vulnerable to more modern means, such as flamethrowers and high explosives. Out of the vampire species, they reproduce the fastest, with victims of their bite getting back up in a matter of minutes and able to create even more Darkheim vampires; but the greater their presence means the more attention they draw, meaning the sooner a whole group comes to extinction. Their rivals in the White Court commissioned Bram Stoker to write the novel *Dracula* as an expose on their strengths, weaknesses, and signs that a group (or more correctly, a "scourge") of Darkheim vampires have taken up residence in an area. This has lead to the court has largely dying out, and natural selection has left the most powerful, the most cunning, and/or the most discreet vampires being left alive, with the odd exception of a young Black Court vampire popping up to cause trouble when an older vampire finds them useful. The original vampire of the Black Court has the title of the Black King, and in this case it appears to be the original Dracula. His father, Vlad Dracul was ironically even worse, since he was some *thing* of incredible evil that was trapped in human form (most fan theories posit that he was a demon or a dragon, but juries out if he was something else entirely), and since he was incredibly evil, he was a dick to his son. So out of daddy issues, little Vladdy joined the Black Court according to a snarky magical database, but he might have been mistaken about Dracula having *joined* the Black Court rather than *creating* it, as Word of God later posits that Dracula was the Black Court O.G. Whoever the creator was, the Black Court was apparently created when they had made a deal, if not with the Devil, then with a creature of comparable evil and power. Notably, if Dracula was indeed the founder, that would make this Court just more than 5 centuries old, making them the youngest Court.

##### Red Courte

The Red Court are Central American, anthropomorphic bat monsters. Unlike most depictions of anthropomorphic creatures, Red Court vampires are grotesque creatures with flabby bodies, pot bellies, spindly limbs, and slimy skin. For them, blood is both sustenance and a drug, sometimes having a narcotic effect with dependence potentially being a very real issue; and instances of insanity and mental instability occurring in Red Court vampires in much greater frequency than in other Courts and human populations.

Red Court vampires are less powerful than Black Court vampires, but also have fewer weaknesses. There are a higher number of magic users in the Red Court than in the Black (though that's a given and its unknown if that's per capita, since only about two vampires of the Black Court showed up, and literally hundreds of Reds). They have super strength, but the fact that they still have a mass comparable to a human has been leveraged against them. Their main weaknesses are divine symbols, fire, and sunlight, being damaging against them, and lethal only with sustained exposure (with fire, of course, requiring slightly less sustained exposure). They can also heal pretty quickly, given they have enough blood to metabolize. They can also pose as regular (albeit incredibly attractive) humans with a second skin called a flesh mask, which can be formed at will over a few seconds, and it provides them with some protection from sunlight. Elder vampires are hinted to be able to alter their flesh masks, allowing them to disguise themselves, and occasionally they happen to have other abilities (one vampire could mesmerize people with a look in the eyes, making them see the things she wanted them too). Lastly, they have narcotic saliva, which can be used to make prey more compliant and willing (imagine an incredibly hot individual who has a tongue than makes you feel great, numbed, and willing to go along with their suggestions), and they can create "renfielded" individuals by making them dependent on the effects of their saliva.

Most members of the Red Court are survivors of another Red Courts vampire's bite. These "dhampirs" have super strength, immortality, and super senses. Unfortunately, they also have a huge hankering for blood that they need to resist unless they want to become a vampire themselves. A group of rebellious Red Court dhampirs have gathered together as the Order of Saint Giles and are conducting a centuries-long guerrilla war on the Red Court. If a Red Court dhampir ever drinks blood, that is to make or fail to resist the choice of taking the life of another to sate their thirst, then they become a vampire.

The leadership is based around hierarchical system of nobility, the very top is a council of twelve who took the name of the Lords of Outer Night, and the Red King being placed above them, and he having taken the title of Kukulkan. Kukulkan has been the Red King for at least 4,000 years, ruling Central American civilizations from the shadows all the while, and nobody is quite certain where he comes from. The Lords of Outer Night have posed themselves as gods, members of one of the Central American patheons (probably Mayan, going by "Kukulkan"), for several thousand years, and the worship and devotion of mortals has allowed them to become deities in their own right; this means they become much more powerful, and exerting their force of will is like a form of telekinesis that most humans don't have a prayer of overcoming. While considered a nation unto themselves, they control several human nations in Central and South America, mostly through secretly pushing their cult and compulsion of key individuals through intimidation, addiction, or promises of vampirism. As a nation, they have several billion dollars worth of resources and entire villages of humans bred like cattle for consumption and occasionally proliferation, including children.

Kukulkan has ruled the red court for his entire life, though through the novels, his subordinates think that it's about time for his tenure to end. By the "present" in the novels, with the possible exception of a few sequel hooked individuals, the Red Court has been driven to extinction.

##### The White Court

Incubi and Succubi. The White Court are psychic vampires that mainly feed on psychic energy, mostly lust and desire. They appear the most human, having no secret form and no distinction except for glowing silver eyes when their powers are activated or their hunger is stoked. White Court vampires are more born than created; the son or daughter of a White Court vampire is a human born with a demonic symbiote called a "Hunger", and it manifests at puberty, and is awakened only when it sates itself for the first time the nascent vampire makes love for the first time. The effect is that their partner is drained to the point of death and the human scion of the White Court is transformed into a vampire. Female White Court vampires appear to be sterile (though this isn't confirmed).

The White Court is, in a few ways, the weakest of the Vampires. They're still physically superior to humans in every way, have an ability to regenerate from injury that's superior to the Red Court and much better than the Black Court, and when their power is activated, their strongest vampires can go toe-to-toe with a Black Court vampire. But every time their power is used, it draws from their Hunger, draining their "battery" each time, and one of the best ways to beat them is to exhaust their Hunger. They can inspire lust and devotion in their prey, advanced vampires or vampires with a long term relationship with their "food" being able to take the life force from their prey with a touch. At least one of their more humane vampires has developed a semi-functional romantic relationship with his prey, even with the predator-prey dynamic. To compensate the fact that they generally aren't as powerful and that they don't have the sustained power as their counterparts, the White Court has developed a culture of scheming and manipulation. (On the other hand, their relative weakness and tendency to act indirectly means they aren't enough of a threat to be worth exterminating like the Reds or Blacks were.)

The White King is the patriarch of the Raith family, known only as Lord Raith, and he maintains his position at the top of the heap with a long-earned reputation of being the most powerful White Court vampire and being the entire court's best manipulator. There are other families, presumably derived from Lord Raith's siblings. While House Raith feeds on and can inspire lust and desire, the lesser houses of Malvoras and Skavis have a similar relationship with fear and despair respectively, and it is implied in the RPG books there is another house that feeds on anger. The White Court derives at least as far back as the Etruscan civilization, which was one of Rome's neighbors about 21 centuries ago, and the ancient Etruscan language is still utilized by the Court in the present.

## Changes

Following the embrace your body has become a corpse. A literal corpse, your time of death being the moment your dying body was given vampiric vitae. Now to go down the list of what that entails, along with other things you should expect to deal with:

* **Your body's cold, doesn't breathe and doesn't blink, which may raise suspicion from mortals you interact with.** Your sense of smell and touch is numbed to anything that is not a prey, and your sense of taste is non-existent. You cannot eat or drink anything but the blood. Again may be a problem if you're attending to a party or a dinner. If you are lucky, you can have traits that let you keep food and non-blood drinks, or force yourself to keep it until you can puke outside.
* **Your skin produces no clear sweat or sebum**, meaning no fingerprints and a grip as reliable as if you're using a talcum powder (terrible for swiping on modern touchscreens, though). No sweat and sebum also means no body odour. This also means you can get away with bathing or showering once a month or two, unless you wander through sewers, hang with hobos, fight in (or with) dumpsters, or cover yourself in the gore of your enemies (or pulverized parts of your own body). Which you probably would, as Elders often send you to do their dirty work. On the other hand, most animals instantly pick that you don't smell like a human despite looking like one - the normal reaction is either fear or aggression. On the plus side, dogs have a hard time tracking you by scent, because you literally don't have one. Learn some skills so as to not to agitate the local fauna. On the note of heat, anything short of the "glowing-red" category does not hurt you, nor does extreme cold. Your dead flesh *can* freeze at below zero, slowing down and constraining your movement a bit, so it's advised to actually wear some practical clothes in winter.
* **Your body dehydrates and becomes more lean.** This means you'd lose some weight and size, so fat vampires are quite rare. One of the side effects of this (and lack of lung tonus) is that vampires lose buoyancy and swim about as good as a bag of bricks - then again, not needing to breathe makes this a minor problem, and with proper athletic training and/or vampiric disciplines you can overcome this limitation and even outpace normal humans in the water.
* **You're tough as nails.** Blunt force trauma is a mild annoyance to you, since you have no blood and liquid pressure. Blades and bullets, while still dangerous, are considerably less lethal. If someone manages to actually break your body down you don't actually die, but merely enter a catatonic state until you heal yourself to a functional state. You can be paralyzed by a stake through the heart, and while a lone vamp is helpless if staked, they still fare considerably better than if a normal human had a stake driven through his heart. You're also just as vulnerable as anyone else to fire and to the claws of and teeth of *supernatural* creatures like vampires, werewolves and demons. Regular weapons can still kill you for good, though, but it requires them to cut off (or explode) your head or completely destroy your heart, so it's heavily advised to *not* take shotgun blasts to the head, or catch RPG missiles to the chest.
* **You've gained a few new weaknesses**. You are now vulnerable to **True Faith**, an exceptionally blind and powerful belief in *anything*. (There are reports a banker scared a vampire brandishing a credit card and focusing in the power of credit. Yes.) Looking directly into **the sun** will end poorly for you, though you can survive and move in a very sluggish state if you don't actually face the sun and stay in the shadows, and only if you still have your humanity as moral code, and a high value at that.
* **Your dead body no longer regenerates naturally**, which is a minor concern since you can use blood to heal injuries in seconds and even grow back lost limbs. Also note that your supernatural regeneration does not push foreign objects out of your body, so if someone emptied an SMG into your chest, best avoid metal detectors in airports until you find a surgeon to remove bullets. If you're lucky to learn some low-level rituals that help you push foreign objects out or dissolve them, but outside that blood magic, only Elder-level disciplines can get rid of anything you got inside, ranging from bullets to stakes. Generally speaking, if you do end up in firefights a lot it pays to ghoul a surgeon, know another vampire who ghouled one, or learn a bit of surgery yourself.
* **Diseases no longer harm you, but neither can you harm them, as your body has no immune system.** If you feed off sick people you will become a disease carrier infecting everyone you feed from, which is generally accompanied with significant social stigma if not outright ostracizing in vampire society; even a Sabbat knows not to shit where they eat. Even common cold lurks in your blood until you burn it and get some fresh ones. Kindred spreading something dangerous like AIDS or hepatitis (or the Black Plague in the nights of old) may even be banished from the domain, and there are examples of blood hunts being called on unrepentant disease carriers. Be careful with what you eat.
* **Your wounds don't bleed, no matter how wide or deep they are**. All the blood you have is stored supernaturally in your heart.
* **You need to drink blood to survive.** Ideally human blood, but animal blood may suffice, although it's far less potent and may cause anger issues, and that's assuming your sire taught you you can sustain from animals (most sires don't). Blood of other super-naturals (at least those who have it) may work too, but it may have some side effects, like mage blood giving you an acid trip, and werewolf blood, though far more potent, can make you rage. Basically, blood tastes like the mix of everything the victim ate and smoked (some discriminating Kindred maintain herds with special diets and temperament). To help you with bloodsucking business you can magically grow fangs to bite people; the bite itself is not painful, and it renders the victim completely catatonic (and probably with ruined underwear). Oh, and licking a bite mark completely heals it. Most humans tend to forget their first bite and a few minutes of memory around it, but long term victims lose this effect and often develop strong psychological addiction to vampire bites, which some kindred use to build loyal herds of bite junkies (plus it helps to maintain health standards in a tight-knit community). It's even better for *you*, and is basically the only real physical pleasure you're left with. Have fun with that.
* The blood you sucked from others is transformed into **Vitae** you can use to instantly heal your wounds unless they're caused by things vampires are weak to, make yourself stronger, tougher or faster, restore your dead body to full human functionality (so you can temporarily scratch all the disadvantages of an undead body listed above) or just get up from your bed (or coffin if you're into it) every evening. Vitae is more "compact" than human blood and it stores better, so it's better suited for storing extra blood for combat situations (think mana potions), although drinking *other* vampire's vitae poses a considerable risk.
* **Drinking Vitae creates a Blood Bond that ties the drinker to his victim for each night the drinker drunk the vitae.** It starts with a mild sympathy with one bond and goes up to complete sycophantic enthrallment at three bonds. This works on both humans and other vampires, as well as some other supernaturals.
* **Vitae is a powerful magical reagent coveted by occultists of all sorts**, starting from vampire's own blood mages, to Hedge Wizards (un-awakened linear sorcerers) and awakened mages (who use it as an easy source of Tass), to demons and their cults, to rogue ghouls and certain kinds of vampire hunters, to random mortal mafia cartels who make super-addictive drugs out of it. This is a reason maintaining the Masquerade around other supernaturals is no less important than around normal humans: there is always a bigger fish.
* **You're a nocturnal creature now, waking up after the dusk and going to sleep before the dawn**. This means you have less time per day to work with that humans do. Despite spending all your waking time at night you don't have night vision any better than normal humans do unless you learn certain Disciplines. You can stay awake at daytime, but it takes quite a lot of concentration, and you're likely to be very sluggish, weak and lethargic when the sun is up even if you never face it directly. Not good for combat.
* **You're affected by the effect called "Stasis", that reverses a lot of changes to your body during your day sleep**. Basically, your body reverts to the state it was in when you died (new tattoos disappear, your hair goes back to whatever cut and colour it had). This partly spreads to your mental changes as well, so while all the horrible stuff you go through only scars your psyche a bit when it realistically should have made you flip your shit and go insane years ago, it also takes more time and effort to learn and improve skills than humans and other super-naturals take. Have fun getting used to the new-fangled "Internets" and "Smartphones" if you are an Elder.

### Vitae Dependency

The following is a list of qualities that lead to a dependency for vampires on the vitae of other vampires. If a vampire possesses more than four of these qualities, they can no longer sustain themselves on anything but vampiric vitae.

* Has committed diablerie.
* Morality Path of less than 3.
* Active for more than 500 years.
* Has developed certain preferences or restrictions for mortal blood (excluding blood Weakness).
* Has created several (4+) childer.
* Has subjected several (4+) other vampires to the Blood Bond.
* Hostile or negative relationship with one's sire.
* Eschews mortal relationships (total dots in Allies, Contacts, Herd and Influence of 5 or less).

### Rötschreck

**Rötschreck** or the *Red Fear*, is a state of blind fear experienced by a Cainite that failed a Courage roll against an attack by, or even the sight of, Fire or Sunlight - which are among the few sources of injury that can destroy a vampire. A few supernatural powers also can provoke such a condition in a vampire. Rötschreck is similar to Frenzy in that it is a compulsion that is difficult to control; characters under Rotschreck will hysterically flee from whatever caused the discomfort.

The difficulty of resisting Rotschreck and its effects varies. In the worst case scenario, a vampire under the spell of this Rötschreck is completely controlled by their inner Beast, instinctively driven to a *flight-or-fight* mentality and forced to flee blindly from the source of fear while they remove any obstacle or person in their way, regardless of their personal attachments to them. Even when maintaining a degree of control, Kindred will avoid fire and sunlight unless absolutely necessary.

In the Book of Nod, Archangel Michael clearly states, while cursing Caine, that he and his children will fear the flame and it will hurt them deeply, causing unbearable agony and pain; vampires have been cursed not only by weakness to flame but also by fear of it.

#### System

The following list shows common stimuli that can incite a Rötschreck, and the typical difficulty for a character to resist.

 Sight of a torch
 Bonfire
 Obscured sunlight
 Being burned
 Direct sunlight
 Trapped in burning building

## Age

### **Fledgling:**

After the immediate Embracing of a mortal, the victim will become a Fledgling. The newly turned vampire must be able to stabilize The Beast within before gaining status. Ultimately, it is the responsibility of the Sire to ensure that the Childe is even worthy of the Embrace. When the vampire has at least passed through the initial stages of vampiric existence and no longer needs the protection of the Sire, the Fledgling will often be viewed as a Neonate.

That's the idea, anyway. Not every sire & childe has this relationship, though. Some sires, just embrace their childer and then abandon them to the wolves, to see if they can survive on their own. If they don't die and prove themselves as survivors, they might take them in. Somedon't even bother coming back and see what happened to their childer.

### **Neonate:**

A Neonate is a recently embraced vampire that has passed through the initial stages of vampiric existence, the fledgling stage. It is the sire's responsibility to ensure that the childe does not embarrass itself or its sire in vampiric society. Derogatorily, a neonate is often called a whelp.

Neonates are generally lightly involved in the true machinations of undead society. They aren't powerful enough to really matter, and are consequently used primarily as pawns by their elders. Conversely, they still have an investment in the mortal world of the 21st century and are less likely to adhere to the feudal character of vampiric society.

### **Ancillae:**

Ranking below the elders but above neonates, the ancillae (sing. ancilla) are vampires who have proven themselves as valuable members of Kindred society. Certain ambitious younglings may achieve the rank prematurely. Ancillae often serve as aides and agents for elders or the court. Ancillae usually play their own power games as well, though these are of lesser consequence than the manipulations of the elders.

Due to the huge increase in world population over the past few centuries, the vast majority of vampires in the world are ancillae or neonates.

### **Elder:**

While there is no strict definition, one normally must be at least two centuries old, with appreciable claims to domain or a variety of other assets and far removed from their mortal past to qualify.

The choices and sacrifices they have made in order to survive so long instils a degree of amorality and slow caution; it is not unusual for elders to design plans that take decades or centuries before coming to fruition. Such beings are often cold, if not monstrous, and focused completely on their own interests and well-being, though a rare few struggle to maintain their human sentiments.

There is a long-standing cycle of jealousy, contempt and resentment between elder and younger vampires, being especially pronounced between sires and their childer. Elders often use their greater power and influence to oppress those younger than them out of fear of being outnumbered and because most vampires of such age believe they know what's best in the same way that mortal elders feel that theirs is the better way. Younger vampires naturally chafe under such treatment and grow jealous and resentful of the elders' positions and power. It was this cauldron of emotions that gave rise to the Anarch Revolt and all things thereafter.

Typically, elders of Europe are much older than those across the Atlantic Ocean. Most of the time Elders are the oldest active vampires in undead society.

### **Methuselah:**

A Methuselah is a fourth or fifth Generation elder who has existed for at least a millennium or more. Many of these elders are generally old enough to have known their clan Antediluvian personally, and usually serve as lieutenants in the Jyhad. The term is also used to refer to elders who have very little to do with the Camarilla or Sabbat: their machinations are far deeper, subtle, and terrifying. Methuselahs tend to fall into the borderline unplayable characters for Vampire: they often break the rules as they exist, (e.g., Mithras surviving his diablerie by Monty Coven).

A methuselah has several traits that betray him to those who know what to look after. Their speech is in general tinted with an accent of their native dialect, which, in general, has not survived the centuries. Their unconscious body movement has completely stopped and many could be confused with statues when they do not move. Many have also reached a point where the kine's blood can no longer nourish them, forcing them to feed on other vampires.

## Vampiric Society

Most vampires live in cities, which are run feudally by the Princes; life in a city is one of constant political manipulation and paranoia, as the Cainites vie for food, territory, and power. But while they must dwell in close contact with their source of sustenance, vampires largely fear the exposure to the mortal world, and since the Inquisition the majority of these creatures have lived under the Masquerade – an enforced campaign to hide their supernatural existences from humanity.

In general, vampiric societies consist of two levels: sects and clans. Characters within the Vampire setting are members of one of the clans or minor bloodlines offered, and usually belong to factions associated with these or that reflect a general ideological stance the characters happen to share.

## The Traditions

### **1: The Masquerade**

The titular Masquerade entails that none of the Kindred may reveal themselves to the outside world. Knowing that a full-scale Masquerade breach would result in the world uniting against them out of fear and hatred and the subsequent destruction of the Kindred. Princes tend to spend a lot of time and resources covering up breaches of the Masquerade, and those who break it will be punished severely. This tradition is the most important one, especially in modern times. Reasons notwithstanding like police, potential lynch mobs and mortal authorities, there are Mages who actively combat vampirism(they can one-shot virtually any Kindred once powerful enough), Werewolves who see vampires as Wyrm's scum (good luck killing one with steel weapons) and most importantly, vampire hunters. There are vampire hunters who have a wide knowledge about how to kill Kindred. Then there are those who are ordained by the Pope himself. In a show of grimdarkness, those useful bloodbags sadly only manage to attack the most harmless, docile Camarilla Kindred living as an almost legal person, because Sabbat not only brutally hits back, but also turns the family of the hunter into vampires for spite. Either way, even the most powerful Kindred fear hunters.
### **2: The Domain**

A Domain is the area of influence of any given vampire. This is most commonly used to refer to a Prince's domain, which often encompasses a city. Some Princes consider this to be the only valid definition of the term, but the more liberal ones allow other vampires to hold smaller domains within their own, as long as they recognize the Prince's authority of course.
### **3: The Progeny**

According to this Tradition an Embrace may only be performed with the leave of the Prince, and failure to obtain this beforehand will result in the destruction of both the Sire and the Childer. In practice though only a few Princes enforce this Tradition strictly, and the ones that don't will have far larger populations within their Domains to the point of overpopulation.
### **4: The Accounting**

Parents are accountable for the actions of their children, and this is not different with vampires. Sires are required to educate their Children in the ways of the Kindred and failure to properly teach one will have the Sire punished the same way their Childer is, up to and including death.
### **5: Hospitality**

When arriving in a new city a vampire has to present themselves to the local Prince. In turn, the Prince will have to grant audience to such a visitor before deciding whether or not they are allowed to stay in their Domain. Some Princes will keep tight tabs on all of their visitors while others are content with letting them stay as long as they don't get involved with local politics and observe the Traditions.
### **6: Destruction**

Only the Elders of the Domain can sentence someone to death, and only the Prince may call for the Lextalionis, the Blood Hunt. Such a hunt is only rarely called and only against the most vile of criminals. A Kindred who has the Blood Hunt called on them has forfeited their life, making them fair game for other vampires. In a fair deal of cases the Diablerising of a target of a Blood Hunt is pardoned, and a good number of Princes will turn a blind eye to Blood Hunts coming into their Domain from an outside one.
## Acts

### Positive Acts

* +1 = Publicly presenting a new work of art you created.
* +1 = Public display with a successful performance.
* +1 = Hosting a successful ball or salon including an attendee of greater Status.
* +1 = Recognized for manipulating a vampire of greater Status.
* +1 = Cutting remarks against a vampire of greater Status while in Elysium.
* +1 = Invited to protect a major cultural icon.
* +1 = Significant cultural discovery.
* +1 = Patronage of a prominent mortal.
* +2 = Well-selected Embrace.
* +1 = Gain a Minor Boon from somebody of greater Status.
* +2 = Gain a Boon from somebody of greater Status.
* +3 = Gain a Life Boon from somebody of greater Status.

* -1 = Public display with a failed Performance.
* -1 = Embarrassing social moment.
* -1 = Public failure.
* -1 = Hosting an unsuccessful ball or salon.
* -1 = Disrupting a planned social event.
* -1 = Destroy an icon of cultural significance.
* -2 = Damage caused to an icon under your protection.
* -2 = Allowing a great artist to come to harm.
* -1 = Substandard cultural discovery.
* -1 = Poor behaviour of a childe or protege.
* -2 = Poor reputation of a sire.
* -1 = Lose/Use a Minor Boon from somebody of greater Status.
* -2 = Lose/Use a Boon from somebody of greater Status.
* -3 = Lose/Use a Life Boon from somebody of greater Status.

## Core Disciplines

Below are the 17 core Disciplines. Clans all have access to at least two of these that are common amongst other clans, with all but a few having a third one that's unique to them. Most "unique" clan disciplines can be learned by other clans, although they require more XP, a teacher and sometimes drinking the blood of someone who already knows that discipline. That being said knowing "out-of-clan" discipline can lead to false identification, which could go either way, especially given some clans with the most interesting disciplines are on the "kill-on-sight" list for many other clans, and you may have no time to explain that you're not actually a Sabbat scum or Caine-damned Usurper.

* **Animalism:** Control over animals, possessing them an drawing out the primal fear in vampires and humans alike. Also keeps animals from freaking out around you and instantly giving you up to vampire hunters.
* **Auspex:** ESP including supernatural intuition, heightened senses (enhanced vision is a must unless you know Protean, as vampires have no innate night-vision) aura vision, psychometry, telepathy and astral projection. Without at least two dots in it you'd feel blind in most investigative and half the combat situations. Also the primary counter to illusion disciplines like Chimestry and Obfuscate. Let you see ghosts and tell vampires and other supernaturals from humans at a glance, which really helps to avoid running into trouble.
* **Celerity:** Vampire super-speed that adds extra actions per turn. **The** combat discipline, as it turns vampire into a living blender if he's even half competent in the noble art of stabbing the shit out of people. In the more combat-oriented scenarios it's considered broken as fuck and homerule-nerfed to the ground. In less combat-oriented scenarios, though, high vitae cost of using it makes Celerity pretty much useless, as well as potentially breaking the Masquerade.
* **Chimerstry:** Illusions capable of affecting any normal sense, starting with simple static images to illusions so potent illusionary fire can burn someone to death. At higher levels this can permanently alter objects, and at the highest published level Chimerstry can spawn a universe.
* **Dementation:** The power of madness, starting with emotions being stirred all the way up to outright insanity from a single person to entire cities going mad in one burst. Higher levels include the ability for a stubborn Malkavian to make his/her delusions real, such as denying the existence of a material object to the point that it becomes intangible to the vampire.
* **Dominate:** Traditional vampire mind control powers, and they often require eye contact. Even at lower levels it makes hunting a walk in a park (sometimes literally). At the higest of levels you can possess people with this. You can have other people carry out your will with this, but it suppresses their independent thought so don't expect to get more than basic tasks out of your victim. Includes ability to redact memories, which is in high demand in the Camarilla's endless quest to cover all the inevitable breaches of the Masquerade, so if you learn this expect more responsibilities to be thrown at you by the Elders, although they do come with a healthy dose of power and prestige.
* **Fortitude:** Vampires tend to be tough enough as-is, but with Fortitude they can become supernaturally so. This adds dots to Stamina to soak Bashing and Lethal damage alike, but more importantly Aggravated damage like Lupine claws and teeth, fire, magic, sunlight and such. One of the Antediluvians had this discipline leveled up so high he could safely walk under the sun.
* **Necromancy:** Death magic of all kinds. It can command ghosts and interact with the land of the dead, as well as use potent death magic. It has many paths, see below for all their uses.
* **Obfuscate:** Invisibility and mimicry powers. It doesn't actually make you invisible or change your appearance, it just tricks people into not seeing you or seeing you as something else. This is incredibly useful to those clans who look like corpses. Beware that cameras can still see you as you really are, as do vampires with Auspex and about half of other supernaturals, and it have finite (if long) range, so sneaking up on a sniper may take some expertise in actual sneaking.
* **Obtenebration:** Sinister shadow-based magic that lets you sneak around, create shadowy tentacles, become a shadow version of yourself and manipulate the shadow-stuff of the Abyss. No, not the one from Demon: The Fallen. Or the one from Werewolf: The Apocalypse. Or the Tempest from Wraith: The Oblivion. There's a LOT of Abysses in the World of Darkness and they're all different, okay?
* **Potence:** Vampire super-strength. Aside from making all your close combat hurt like a motherfucker it have almost limitless potential when combined with other skills: from jumping three stories high, to punching through walls, to dismantling locked doors, to breaking handcuffs, to wrestling down Frenzying/Rötschrecking Kindred before they could break the Masquerade, to forging the cold metal with your bare hands. If you want a combat character who's not a minmaxing Celerity twink and can actually contribute to non-combat stuff you go Potence. Of important note, it does not grant you some required additional powers to super-strength (well, until you reach elders-level stuff, which you probably wouldn't), so for example you cannot punch a hole through a brick wall with your bare fist without high level Fortitude, because your fist is less durable than brick and would break first, and you cannot use a car as effective weapon even if you have enough strength to lift it effortlessly, because conservation of momentum still exists and you weigh far less than a car, and would probably fly *along with* the car in mid-air should you toss it sideways rather than in an arc.
* **Presence:** Vampire animal magnetism. You can turn into some rather hot stuff and make people do what you want, without ruining their initiative or independent thought like Dominate does. Also unlike Dominate it does not require eye contact or even line of sight, and if you have both can help you make your future mind-zombies make that eye contact to begin with. Whether Dominate makes people your obedient but stupid personal living zombies this one turns them into your adoring worshipers that can and would go overboard in their desire to please you. Overuse tend to turn people (including other vampires) into creepy stalkers who kill all your friends to get more of your attention, so proceed with caution.
* **Protean:** Vampire transformation powers: seeing in the dark (by transforming your eyes), growing deadly claws and/or giant fangs, sinking into the ground, turning into wolves or bats, turn into mist and so on. Claws that deal aggravated damage(shit vampires run from) in particular seem to be the most sought-out ability, and given they're only two-dot, it became quite common for every single goddamned combat character to learn them as soon as they get some Gangrel contacts. Higher levels make you into mist, or even A GODDAMN SUN.
* **Quietus:** A mix of sneaking and poison powers mixed in with the ability to spit Vitae like acid. At the highest level you can affect entire generations of vampires this way.
* **Serpentis:** Snake powers and powers associated with snakes. Also the ability to remove someone's heart and put it in a jar for safekeeping or blackmail. The most potent of Methuselahs can do this on the spot and even turn into giant snakes made of darkness.
* **Thaumaturgy:** Blood magic that can do just about anything. See below for its many applications.
* **Vicissitude:** Fleshcrafting that allows you to make anything, so long as it's made of meat and bones. Infamous for allowing all sorts of edgy body horror, but can also turn you into a murder machine, a sapient puddle of Vitae, turn your blood acid for better or worse and even breathe fire. Also the most difficult core Discipline to pronounce and spell. Rumoured to be demonic (or at least Deep Umbral) in origin, universally hated by *everyone*, and the most likely discipline to get you killed on sight unless you're Sabbat. The highest published level allows the spectre of a vampire whose body was completely disintegrated to slowly reform their body atom by atom.