Hidden in the shadows of every great university town in the Western world, a group of Kindred wage war against ignorance, their own nature and the ever-hungry maw of time itself. As the Greeks once used the agon, contests of physical strength and endurance, to test the mettle of a person, so do the Agonistes, a bloodline wholly composed of historians, philosophers, psychologists and scientists, test themselves nightly in intellectual struggle against the forces of the world that would keep Kindred forever in the dark. Unfortunately, those forces are legion, and even the very Kindred the Agonistes claim to help often thank the Polemicists’ efforts with violence, hatred and mistrust.

Most importantly, the Agonistes form a rare solid cornerstone within the often muddled Kindred historical tradition. They are the world’s foremost experts on the Kindred condition known as torpor, an expertise highly valued by the oldest (and often, by extension, most influential) members of every clan and covenant. The Agonistes are also, however, fervent proponents of education, insistent that only by understanding the past can Kindred rise above the ignorance in which many domains seem content to wallow. The line’s erstwhile beneficiaries find this philosophy, combined with the intellect and erudition these Kindred bring to their arguments, condescending at best and heretical at worst. Most Agonistes live furtive, hidden unlives, anonymously publishing long philosophical tracts while working to avoid ruffling the wrong feathers, gathering in small enclaves with the only other Kindred who truly appreciate their work: other members of the bloodline.

While few Kindred can actually claim to have ever met one of these reclusive scholars, most knowledgeable Mekhet have heard of the Agonistes. Many elders make locating a member of this line a primary imperative, even after centuries of putting the lineage’s libraries to the torch.

The Agonistes insist that no greater foolishness exists than to allow knowledge to slip from the world. To combat the erosive effects of the Fog of Ages and simple attrition over time, the Agonistes tirelessly seek out and collect rare lore and hidden histories, copying their discoveries, debating the ramifications and publishing philosophies to be disseminated among the greater Kindred public without priority given to any geography, faith, gender or age. The Agonistes line was founded on this precept, and many Mekhet over the centuries have flocked to the Agonistes’ banner. Their great struggle is not waged simply against the Fog of Eternity and the slow trudge of history, however; Agonistes battle mortals, mages and even other Kindred who would hide great truths from the rest of the world.

Despite the number of attacks their libraries have endured, this millennia-old bloodline boasts a detailed and rich history leading back to its inception. Widely circulated legends indicate that the line was founded during the height of the Camarilla. A group of Mekhet elders from Egypt, Athens, Carthage and Rome banded together in an unknown location in Greece to share the knowledge they had garnered in their studies, seeking a method to avoid the Second Death or miti- gate its attendant madness. Over the course of years of nightly discussions, the Shadows came to a consensus: to understand torpor they must embrace it. Together, they conceived a telepathic rite that would, theoretically, allow one of them to remain lucid during torpor and remember the experience afterwards. One of these elders, a philosopher from Anatolia, agreed to make the first attempt, and slipped into their ritually prepared torpor, exploring the Lethean Fog of Eternity for decades. He was forever changed by the experience.

Upon awakening, the philosopher found that his Vitae itself had been distorted, but he could not understand exactly how or why. He immediately took up what he termed his agon, teaching his fellow philosophers the lessons he had learned in dreams, altering their blood as well, and leading them through their own exegeses of torpor. The ancient Agonistes were soon delving into the unconscious fog with regularity, learning how to manipulate it and successfully assisting influential elders cope with its worst side effects, soon gaining significant prestige. While their power has waned, waxed and waned again over the two millennia of their existence, each Polemicist enjoys some small part of that initial esteem to this night. Many members of the line have made their unlives by guiding a single desperate but powerful elder through the sleep of ages.

Yet the altruism of the Agonistes remains a pleasant fairytale elders tell themselves when they feel the first cravings for Kindred blood. The Agonistes of the modern nights are no more selfless than the desperate Mekhet scholars in Greece a millennia ago who sought to stave off their own torpor. The service of an Agoniste never comes cheap, as he demands his elder customers describe every facet of that elder’s unlife and history if she is to benefit from his preservative powers. Savvy Polemicists often use this as a baseline, offering to perform rituals with even greater benefits in exchange for mentorship in esoteric sorceries or Disciplines, a price many desperate elders are quick to pay.

As the credulous patient rattles off centuries of secrets and conspiracies in the belief that it will protect her, the Agoniste records the knowledge to add to the bloodline’s massive library. Perhaps more frightening, the Agonistes consider their torpor-fighting psychological exercises far from complete, and many elders unknowingly become experiments themselves as the Polemicists fine-tune their technique without worry that anyone will notice a problem for centuries, perhaps longer. Finally, the Agonistes recognize fully the power that their patients willingly if not eagerly provide them with. While extremely dangerous, the practice of sabotaging a malevolent elder’s torpor is always tempting, and has brought more than one member of the line to ruin.

In modern nights, many of the Agonistes are bound by obligation, waiting for slumbering elders to rise so that they may fulfill their promise of revival. They continue to broker their deals, assembling histories from the testimony of Kindred frantic to stay whole even as the sleep of ages calls. Many delve again and again into the sleep themselves, honing their ritual skills and working to ensure that the whole of their assembled knowledge is well protected.

Nickname: Polemicists

Covenant: Members of the Agoniste line tend toward the intellectual and occult-minded. They seek out ancient secrets and hidden lore with unparalleled zeal. Therefore, it is no surprise that most tend to fall into the Ordo Dracul, the Sanctified or the Circle of the Crone.

The Order seems most fond of the Polemicists, as these knowledgeable Kindred possess some of the most extensive stores of Kindred history and philosophy, and few Dragons doubt the uncontested expertise of the Agonistes in the subject of Kindred psychology. The Agonistes often find the Ordo Dracul more receptive to their ideas than the other covenants, and the Coils exhibit an acute allure to Agonistes actively involved in the great struggle of the line. Elder Polemicists, however, often find that they must take great care to ensure their pupils do not forsake their mission for the Great Work, or worse, confuse the two.

Agonistes with less interest in Kindred physiology and Hermetic pseudo-science are often drawn to the Circle of the Crone. The Circle, they say, draws those Agonistes with an interest in doing rather than thinking. Acolyte Polemicists take to the mission of the bloodline with a visceral zeal, sifting through the covenant’s endless oral histories and divining the psychological underpinnings of the rituals of Crùac, taking comfort in the historicity of being a member of the world’s most ancient covenant. Jungian Polemicists bring a peculiar form of faith to the Circle of the Crone, paying homage to the collective unconscious and offering sacrifices to favored archetypes.

The relationship of the Sanctified and the Agonistes has long been rife with distrust. While many hand-copied tomes resting in the line’s libraries lend credence to the covenant’s history and philosophy, many more undermine it. Texts dating from the time of Longinus and before often clearly contradict the Sanctified’s teachings. Historically, the Lancea Sanctum has burned more of the Agonistes’ libraries and treatises than the other major covenants combined. Yet Agonistes anxious to plumb the hidden depths of the Church (or sometimes even hungry for a sense of meaning to their unlives beyond the endless Struggle) continue to enter the covenant, and the Lancea Sanctum continues to accept them, recognizing the line’s incredible ability to help elders cope with torpor. In addition, more than a few Theban Rituals over the centuries have been unearthed thanks to the tireless investigations of the Agonistes, and many Sanctified Kindred believe that these findings are miraculous indications of divine favor.

The Invictus and the Carthian Movement, despite their best efforts, claim relatively few Polemicists; the Agonistes, generally speaking, simply don’t get along with many of the Invictus or the Carthians very well. Kindred of the Invictus tend to dislike histories that contradict their own traditional tales, and are willing to destroy anyone who espouses them, even if the Invictus Kindred know that the offending tales are true. Furthermore, the Dynastic Houses of the Invictus make reliance upon the rituals of the Agonistes unnecessary — and the inheritors of a house are more fully trusted than any Mekhet outsider could be.

The Carthian Movement, on the other hand, demands activity from the Agonistes that many are unwilling to engage in, since it distracts from their studies. The political agitations of the covenant have nothing to do with the great struggle of the bloodline, and few will choose to deny it just to satisfy the Carthians. In addition, many Kindred of the Movement find the tendency of Agonistes to spend much of their time in study of distant history to be insufferably academic, in real-world political terms.

Appearance: Most Agonistes prefer utilitarian fashions that combine comfort with respectability, adopting uniforms typical of the academic institutions they embed themselves in. Glasses are unusually common, though with the Agonistes’ penchant for heightened senses, glasses are surely an affectation. Younger Agonistes may dress in prep-school chic: a blazer and tie with khaki slacks for men, a sweater vest or cardigan with a collared shirt and skirt for women.

The bloodline originally spawned along the Mediterranean coast, and most elder Polemicists bear distinctly Mediterranean features. In the constant hunger for brave, intelligent new blood, however, the line has spread widely in the millennia since its inception; tonight, Agonistes hail from across the Western world, though most remain of European descent.

Haven: Libraries and museums are by far the most cherished havens for Agonistes. Since there are only so many libraries in the world suitable for hosting an undead predator during the daylight hours, most Agonistes happily resort to keeping a large, well-stocked personal store of tomes. Agoniste havens vary greatly based on a number of factors, most especially location and age.

The Polemicists keep havens culturally appropriate to whatever area of the world they happen to be in, and elder Agonistes often have well-furnished, if understated, homes, paid for through the wealth and favors of the Kindred they have eased into torpor. Surprisingly few members of the line currently reside in Greece, the traditional homeland of the line, though the catacombs of Italy and France, as well as the underground cities of Anatolia have all historically served as havens for the Polemicists, and elders of the line remain entombed in them to this night.

Background: Agonistes overwhelmingly come from academic backgrounds. Whether psychologists, graduate students or tenured professors at the time of the Embrace, the Kindred of this line are universally familiar with the intricacies of research and scholarship. They are not all dusty librarians, however; field archeologists and explorers populate the ranks with hardy Kindred while former lecturers and priests add a socially competent force to the line. Most Agonistes hail from the middle or upper class, and many have at least some training, either academic or practical, in psychology before the Embrace.

The Agonistes line attracts many Mekhet elders, especially of the Ordo Dracul, who seek an Avus to train them in the ways of avoiding torpor. The bloodline may welcome these elders, though only after they have proven themselves through rigorous examination. A desire to diminish the effects of the sleep of ages isn’t qualification enough to become a member, and many of these Kindred are simply offered ritual service instead.

Character Creation: Mental Attributes and Skills are universally prized among the Polemicists, and any vampire Embraced directly into the line likely has devoted her primary points to these groups. Social Attributes are common, as well, especially among vampires who experienced firsthand the competitive world of academe. Common skills for the Agonistes include Academics, Medicine, Occult, Science and Survival. Psychologist Polemicists often possess Empathy and Persuasion, while surprisingly savvy academicians possess Politics, Socialize and even Streetwise. The Mental Merits Encyclopedic Knowledge, Eidetic Memory and Meditative Mind are all appropriate for members of this bloodline. Because of the tight-knit structure of the line’s enclaves, rare is the Agoniste without a Mentor or some Contacts among the lineage. Among the Kindred who can purchase it, the Library Merit is a must. Most Agonistes possess the Language Merit, with Greek and Latin being the most commonly understood languages among the line, followed by English, French and German.

Organization: The Polemicists maintain libraries around the world, nestled hidden in the shadows of Western intellectual institutions, training their childer in historical record-keeping, archival management and academic research. Many Agonistes spend years learning to become the bloodline’s representatives, combining the line’s propensity for Dominate with a thorough knowledge of the inner workings of the Kindred mind.

The Agonistes bloodline suffers from the unfortunate irony that they desire solitude and companionship in equal doses. Solitude and silence are necessary for serious academic work, yet most Polemicists demand nearby Kindred on par with their intellect to bounce theories and theses off as well as elder Kindred to act as clients. Thus, Agonistes tend to found small, secretive colonies called conservatories in cities with multiple major universities. These enclaves tend to be large communal havens filled with small personal living spaces for the Polemicists in residence or simple buildings where the Polemicists of the city gather to discuss their work.

The Agonistes are surprisingly structured for academicians, and, similar to university professors, are constantly expected to produce new works on Kindred history, psychology, theology, physiology or mythology. The bloodline is divided into colleges by area of study (the colleges of mythology and theology are the least respected of the colleges, while the colleges devoted to torpor and kindred psychology are exceptionally exclusive), each presided over by a Dean, whose chief duty lies in directing failing Agonistes into new areas of scholarship. The Polemicists deem the head of each enclave “Professor,” and an Agoniste responsible for one of the lineage’s vast repositories of information is known as an Archivist. Officially, loans between archives must pass through the Master Archivist, a unique title in the bloodline, but that requirement is ignored with increasing regularity in the modern nights, a development that the current Master Archivist is threatening to curb through her prodigious knowledge of sorcery.

From the outside, as a line, the Agonistes seem strikingly loyal. While as much backbiting and snobbery occurs among the Agonistes as in mortal academe, members of the bloodline know more than enough of their line’s history to understand that as frequently as they are sought out for their torpor rituals, the Agonistes are as often persecuted for their knowledge and the openness with which they share it. When faced with an outside threat, individual quibbles vanish, and conservatories display a united face to their enemies. As a result of this loyalty and the line’s willingness to share information other Kindred consider proprietary, the major p covenants have an uncomfortable and suspicious relationship with the uncannily useful Polemicists. Perhaps unfortunately, the suspicions of the covenants often prove to be true, and few Agonistes are truly devoted to their covenant over the Great Struggle. Indeed, the current Master Archivist of the line, a Londoner and noted Theban Sorcerer named Bianca Tilley, was recently expelled from her position in the Sanctified when she began displaying a knowledge of Crúac.

Concepts: Excitable archivist, single-minded museum librarian, stubborn art historian, immoral psychologist, jaded hipster, beleaguered corporate Polemicist, Jungian film junky, furtive grave robber, heroin-addict-turned-torpor-addict.

History

The libraries of the Agonistes boast the most complete record of Kindred history in the world, though, based as they are on the testimony of vampires, many of the historical texts are contradictory and unreliable. While difficulty in the transport of information between domains and the tendency of other Kindred to secrecy combine to make sure not even the eldest Agonistes have the whole story, rare is even the neonate Agoniste who does not know the accepted history of her lineage.

The Agonistes are a scholarly community, however, and numerous papers have been circulated among the line questioning the verity of the tale of the gathering of that first Mekhet enclave centuries ago. One recently published thesis, for example, claims that the fact that no two early histories of the line share the same name for the founder indicates a possible conspiracy of falsehood in the line’s early nights. The most famous alternate interpretation of the Agonistes’ founding is alleged by the Mnemonic Institute, which insists that the line’s quest for knowledge was inspired (or, among particularly radical Polemicists, founded) by the pseudo-mythical Agonista, an Athenian Kindred supposedly mentioned in Platonic-era documents. Most Polemicists dismiss this tale as fancy, despite the respect the Mnemonic Institute has garnered in its exploration of the depths of torpor. Another controversial dissertation indicates that the founders of the bloodline were themselves the victims of torpor-induced mental damage, and that the original purpose of the bloodline (and the inevitable outcome of its practices, still to fully manifest) is utterly unknowable. The destruction of many early documents of the bloodline over the centuries has almost ensured that no Polemicist will unearth a definitive answer to these questions, and members of the bloodline wage venomous wars of words over questions of Agoniste history.

In the first centuries after the bloodline’s inception, the Agonistes Embraced almost exclusively from the scholars and scribes of humanity, and most Polemicists kept an additional scribe as a ghoul. The goal of the Great Struggle, to prevent the loss of history and the Kindred cultural memory, was accomplished primarily through the espousal of detailed journals and notes taken by Agonistes spread across the Kindred Courts of the Mediterranean coast and Near East. Most Princes kept an Agonistes as an advisor and witness to her greater glory. While personal journals and Court histories were kept with the elder who had them scribed, the Polemicists carefully penned and painstakingly illuminated copies to be sent to the Master Archivist, a Kindred who resided in a massive library in Rome. After the collapse of the Camarilla, the Agonistes carefully moved what texts they could retrieve from the archives to Constantinople, the Queen of Cities, filling a massive palace with the collected tomes of their history. The line spread eastwards, not only to Constantinople, but also to Eastern Europe and the Hungarian Kingdom, the Levant, and into Egypt and northern Africa. Building on the precepts of the founder’s Exegesis ritual, the Agonistes line developed many of the earliest known defenses against torpor in the West during this time.

The Crusades strained and finally broke the power of the Agonistes, and the fire that preceded the sacking of Constantinople in 1204 saw the utter destruction of the archives, the Final Death of the Master Archivist and the end of more than half a millennium of Agoniste power among the Courts and scholars of the Queen of Cities A secondary result of the Crusades is known throughout the bloodline as the Silencing of the Middle East. Before the Crusades, the Agonistes existed in large numbers in the Levant, but the tenuous lines of communication between the Eastern Polemicists and their Western brethren were cut by centuries of war. Attempts to reclaim a foothold in the region failed time and again, and have yet to succeed. The Kindred of modern Istanbul are strangely distrustful of the Polemicists, and almost always refuse them entrance to the domain. This remains a constant thorn in the bloodline’s side, as many would dearly love to explore the labyrinths, catacombs and libraries of the former Queen of Cities.

The loss of the archives forever altered the path of the bloodline. No longer content to hoard their hoary knowledge, the Polemicists began their vigorous campaign to educate the society of the night. The great struggle of the line, they reasoned, could never be won by amassing knowledge in a single, central location. As they spread into the universities of Central and Western Europe, the Agonistes devoted themselves and their resources to copying rare texts of Kindred origin and spreading them to as many disparate libraries as possible, hoping to combat the entropic nature of fire, war, superstition and neglect by ensuring that the loss of a copy of a work did not mean the loss of the work itself. Furthermore, the Agonistes used the printing press, invented in the 15th century, to spread their amassed knowledge among the domains of Europe. This sudden spread of previously forgotten history was met with intense distrust, leading to acrimonious conflict and, in some domains, outright violence. Inspired by Kindred of various factions, the Agonistes became a favored scapegoat in certain domains, accused of blasphemies great and small. Eventually, many members of the line went underground, distributing their hard-won knowledge from the shadows.

The Second World War, which forever changed the face of Europe for Kindred and kine, resulted in the destruction of a dozen Agonistes conservatories and archives and the loss of centuries of work. While the bloodline still struggles to make up for the lost efforts of ages, the damage may never be completely repaired. Detractors of the line claim that while the Agonistes have always presented a threat to the Masquerade, their efforts to find, copy and trade in Kindred history makes them ever more dangerous. The Agonistes, for their part, ignore the naysayers; the struggle must continue.

Even still, throughout the troubled history of the line, rumors of the Agonistes’ talents attract the attention of worried elders, and they are approached time and again for the ritual protection they can provide. Every time the line seems to find itself on the cusp of shame and destruction, an elder somewhere lends a member the power she needs to survive and rebuild, in exchange for the guarantee of a safe and whole return from torpor.

Society and Culture

When a prospective student of the Agonistes is ushered into their ranks, her Avus or sire carefully prepares her. She feels the thick touch of olive oil dabbed across her brow, the subtle contractions of the damp bandages she has been wrapped in and the cold, unyielding table against her back. As the presiding Agoniste places his hand on her forehead and begins to speak to her in a low, monotone voice, she slips away, only then realizing that she is about to enter torpor.

The secrets she learns from the experience that follows banish any residual resentment.

The Agonistes combine the trappings of ancient Greek culture with the structures and titles of university life. Members fuse the primal respect of the active mind and body (and thereby reject torpor, the very essence of the inactive mind and body) with the cut-throat backbiting of academic politics. Ideally, status in the bloodline is based on intellect and ability, as illustrated through the quality of work ‘published’; in reality, most Agonistes realize that its not the quality of work published but the quantity and breadth of distribution that gains acknowledgement within the line. Thus often a hard-working ancilla who publishes a well-researched and well-reasoned polemic once every decade is ignored in favor of the neonate whose scribbled writings of barely factual historical notes gleaned from his mentor’s teachings inspires excited conversation among the Kindred at Elysium. In short, it is more important to get other Kindred interested and involved in the struggle than it is to do quality work, if only barely. Of course, if that same neonate’s writings are easily dismissed and contradicted by established fact, she is spreading disinformation, one of the line’s cardinal sins. Young, hotshot Agonistes under pressure from their mentors to perform often carefully toe the line between the sensationally true and the fantastically false.

The mentor-pupil relationship forms the core of interactions between members of the line, though it is not unusual for a Polemicist to take on several pupils at once, or the eldest member of an Agoniste conservatory to be deferred to as mentor to the conservatory as a whole (sometimes an Agoniste even performs this function). Bloodline gatherings begin as reserved affairs, as members exchange information about their current projects or philosophical conundrums, but after business is out of the way, an Agoniste gathering builds an odd self-celebratory manic energy. The Polemicists are known to prefer only the finest libations filtered through the blood of their hyper-literate guests.

During the Middle Ages, the Agonistes spent many of their nights in silent scribbling, delicately copying thousands of pages of ancient text by hand. Centuries later, the Polemicists bent over presses, carefully setting type and distributing treatises among the nascent Carthians and receptive Acolytes. Advances in technology have provided members of the lineage far more freedom and time in the modern nights, but most Agonistes spend each night furthering their own agendas in the Great Struggle. Though Agonistes remain stubbornly proud of their erudition and effort, most pamphlets distributed outside the bloodline are done so anonymously to prevent one member from taking too much heat.

There are few bloodline-wide rites or observances, but two of the most conventional are known as Matriculation and Encaenia. Matriculation celebrates the return of the fledgling Agoniste from her first dip into the tenebrous realm of lucid torpor. Often not entirely recovered from the experience, the fledgling, draped in scarlet gowns, accompanied by her sire or Avus, enters an assembly (called the Congregation for this ceremony) of her new conservatory gathered for the occasion and similarly dressed, representing entrance into the fraternity. In an elaborate ceremony, the mentor presents the fledgling with a sash of blue and white, setting it carefully across the kneeling Kindred’s shoulders. Then the fledgling presents a paper on an academic subject to the Congregation, after which the gathered Polemicists take a simple vote of acceptance. In modern nights, this has become a formality, and rarely are the results anything but unanimous. On the unlikely occasion the Congregation refuses entrance to the fledgling, the mentor is expected to immediately rend the supplicant torpid and strip her of her gowns. After an appropriate length of time in torpor (called a Suspension), the fledgling is awakened and allowed to begin the process anew.

The bloodline expects each Polemicist to engage in Encaenia once per quarter century. This rite, created after the fall of the Archives in Constantinople, requires the Kindred to rediscover a piece of information once lost to the line. Initially, this referred to tracking down a journal or tome captured by the rampaging Crusaders and reclaiming it for the bloodline. Since the mid-20th century, Polemicists traditionally seek to find information lost to the world wars. The Agoniste does not necessarily seek actual documents lost during the war; locating a lost torpid elder and reviving her, tracking an obscure reference in a charred text or interviewing a Kindred of Dresden who escaped Final Death are all possibilities.

Perhaps owing to their thorough understanding of the effects of the Fog of Ages and the potential of the Dominate discipline, the Polemicists are notoriously distrustful of a single Kindred’s memory. Agonistes consider information that cannot be verified by more than a single source almost useless, and the information they have verified they disseminate to as many Kindred readers as possible, hoping to birth a mnemonic hydra (even if one Kindred with a particular piece of knowledge dies, or if one library burns, the knowledge remains elsewhere). In the past century, the Agonistes’ suspicion has spread from the mind to the very linguistic structures that make up human (and Kindred) thought. Rumors currently circulate among the line of Polemicists so disconcerted by the questions raised by Deconstructionism that they have embraced torpor rather than face the implications it presents. Most Agonistes, however, are pragmatic enough to explore such dark philosophies from a distance.

While the Agonistes line draws intellectual Kindred from a wide variety of intellectual (and occasionally outdated) models, two philosophies have made great headway in the last century among those Agonistes more interested in the question of torpor than Kindred history. Ancillae of the line have found Jungian philosophy, particularly the focus on the universal archetypes, the collective unconscious and the shadow, an incredibly useful framework within which to discuss the torpid experience. They insist that torpor represents a necessary reconnection with the cultural mythologies that inform the man within the Kindred, and that a Kindred properly prepared by an Agoniste can experience through torpor a genuine and healthy interaction between the Man (the Animus) and the Beast (the Shadow). A contradictory philosophy currently gaining ground within older members of the lineage is the practice of Entelechy, a belief that purports a Kindred, provided a source of sufficiently potent blood, can stave off the ennui of ages through constant active and conscious thought and action. Neither philosophy has had ample time within the bloodline to be fully explored or tested, but numerous Polemicists are devoted to both factions.

Bloodline Devotions

The Agonistes have developed a range of devotions, widely called “rituals” or “exercises” among the Polemicists, based on their knowledge of torpor. Although Kindred find the Polemicists entirely candid about their process, going so far as to circulate “How To” pamphlets, the inability of other Kindred to replicate the Polemicists’ results leads most outside the bloodline to believe the powers of the Agonistes to be a bloodline Discipline or type of ritual blood magic.

In reality, the Devotions bear a closer resemblance to a pseudoscience, as the bloodline members use their deep understanding of Kindred psychology and torpor to fortify their subjects against the Fog of Eternity. Most Devotions involve the use of Auspex and Dominate to place subtle mental blocks or suggestions in the Kindred mind, which are used to maintain sanity and memory in a torpid Kindred.

Although the Polemicists have been historically forthcoming with the particulars of their rituals, the powers cannot be used outside of the line, as they hinge on the intertwining of the energies of torpor with the Vitae that the Agonistes experience. The secrets gleaned from their first Exegesis and emergence are so fundamental to the use of Agonistes’ Devotions, that learning any of the exercises requires the Polemicist to be placed in controlled torpor through the use of Exegesis.

The Devotions of the Agonistes rely heavily on mental tricks, and none of them create any lasting physical alterations. After a Kindred has benefited from most of these powers (i.e., after she has awoken from torpor), the power becomes inactive and must be used again if the elder wants to gain the benefits for a second length of torpor. No Agoniste has ever developed a power that allows a vampire to maintain Attributes, Abilities or Disciplines in levels in excess of 5 after the elder’s Blood Potency has dropped, though the search for such powers occupies the bloodline nightly.

Agoniste Devotions affect only vampires.

Condemned to eternal darkness, the sightless line of horrors known as the Baddacelli burrows through the network of catacombs that grow inevitably in the underground of all human cities. Whether lurking in collapsed sewer branches, abandoned subway stations, condemned basements or midnight labyrinths of their own construction, they hide — and hunt — in the dark places away from the sight of men and Kindred alike.

In these places, the Baddacelli dwell, shrouded in the darkness that is both their shield and their curse. Denied sight, they develop their remaining senses to preternatural levels and cultivate uncanny, horrifyingly effective abilities to aid in survival.

Everyone knows that sound can play tricks on you underground, but few suspect what a weapon sound becomes when touched by the unholy power of the Blood. When the Baddacelli infest the underground of a city, bereft mothers disappear into subway tunnels following the plaintive voices of lost children. Sewer workers separated from their crews hear their coworkers call from an unexpected direction and follow those voices — never to be seen again. Children hear the whimpering of lost pets coming from storm drains, and never realize until too late that a blind and hungry monster lurks in the darkness behind the wretched sounds. Enticing sounds that beg investigation, haunting echoes that confuse all sense of direction, chilling screeches that demand the listener flee ever deeper into the subterranean catacombs — all these and more drive unsuspecting victims to the waiting clutches of the Baddacelli.

The Kindred of this line are monsters and deceivers by nature. They have to be, in order to survive. Therefore, they approach the world through the lens of that to which they are accustomed — cloaking themselves in secrecy and warding off trouble with misdirection.

This is not to say that they just hide in their tunnels and ignore the world above; in fact, they are curious about the surface world, and drawn to it as only beings accursed to be forever separated from it can be. It is simply that they choose to touch the world the same way they hunt their prey: by bringing it to them unawares, and in manageable amounts.

In the early centuries after the fall of the Camarilla, infighting among the Kindred of the Roman Empire was at its peak. In one of these cities (Baddacelli legends differ as to which, though almost all agree it was within the bounds of modern-day Italy), one Nosferatu grew to prominence and took advantage of the chaos to Embrace in great numbers. He had been an exceedingly large Kindred, a fact that had earned him the appellation by which he was known to the vampires of his city: Botticello, or “The Barrel.” As his progeny grew to become a de facto faction of their own within city politics, they were in turn collectively referred to as the Botticelli, a diminutive form of their sire’s own name meaning “The Little Barrels.” The mutation of this name has accrued to the bloodline descendants of these Kindred, and predates the assumed provenance by several centuries.

Naturally, Botticello’s ascendancy made him many enemies — he was particularly known for humiliating rivals with uncanny impersonations of their personal foibles. Himself an unabashed pagan who still clung to the old Roman gods, he was particularly fervent in undermining and attacking the vampires of the Lancea Sanctum. It was perhaps only a matter of time before the conflict being played out in the city’s Elysium spilled over into outright violence. Over the next several years, the struggle took on the savage character of religious warfare fueled by strong personal hatreds on both sides.

In the end, Botticello was defeated, and the majority of his brood slain or scattered. He was captured by his rivals, who set about torturing him until Final Death. His remaining childer managed to rescue him, but not before his body was broken and both eyes burned from his skull.

Botticello and his loyal childer fled deep into the sewers and catacombs beneath the city. Initially, it is said, they planned to allow the elder to recover from his injuries and flee the domain. In time, however, it became clear that the injuries to his eyes were not healing. It was unthinkable for a blind vampire to attempt to traverse the wilderness between cities in those nights, and so Botticello stayed hidden away in the underbelly of the city he had once sought to rule. A few of his most loyal progeny chose to remain with him. However, as the years passed, the Baddacelli began, one by one, to lose their own sight, and rumors spread within the brood that the sorcerers of the Lancea Sanctum had placed a curse upon their line. Some of the brood fled to distant cities in the hopes that by separation they could avoid a similar fate.

It was not to be. In the years that followed, most of the surviving vampires of the line lost the world of light and color forever. In lands distant from their city of origin, they, too, fled into the underground of their new homes. There in the endless darkness they hid, slowly learning mastery of the special talents and rarefied senses that could bring them the prey they needed. Sometimes, a recently Embraced vampire would attempt to flee the curse of the Blood by desperately seeking out a new city to call home. But the Baddacelli curse would inevitably have its due, and a new brood of blind horrors would begin beneath a new city.

Tonight, members of the Baddacelli bloodline can be found scattered throughout Europe, the Americas and the Middle East. Several major cities play unwitting host to a brood of these blind nightmares. Even where other Kindred are aware of the Baddacelli’s presence, these secretive Kindred keep their true numbers and the details of their existence to themselves. The Baddacelli survive, and they hunt in their lightless demesnes, and few indeed are the Kindred who would be willing to follow the Baddacelli into their catacombs to learn more of them than that.

Covenant:
Generally, an entire brood of Baddacelli within a city will claim membership in a single covenant. The nightly struggle for existence means that the broods rarely have the luxury of being able to bicker over politics. As a result, pressure to conform can be intense within a Baddacelli family.

Baddacelli crave stability, as unexpected shifts in footing tend to throw them off. Thus, they are very sympathetic to the philosophy of the Invictus, though the Baddacelli rarely rise to prominence within that organization. Baddacelli are most likely to be found doing the bidding of Invictus Princes and Sheriffs, acting as spies and enforcers among street-level (or lower-than-street-level) Kindred. This is not to say that the Baddacelli are necessarily unsophisticated in the machinations of the covenant, or that they are particularly subservient by nature. Indeed, more than one Baddacelli has amassed significant behind-the-scenes power in Invictus domains. It is simply that they prefer to stay out of the spotlight as much as possible while seeking to maintain the stability that Invictus rule tends to bring to a given city.

On very rare occasions, a Baddacelli will take a bolder position by operating openly in the Elysium Courts and salons of the First Estate. In these circumstances, a clever member of the line can make quite a name for himself as a Player. The powers of the bloodline grant the Baddacelli particular skill in skewering opponents with scathing impersonations, dissecting them down to the last vocal nuance. Others use their developed hearing to serve as unparalleled Librettists and Interpreters, applying their discerning judgment to the many sounds of the Court.

The Circle of the Crone is also a strong draw for the vampires of the Baddacelli line. Subterranean imagery and tales of descent and imprisonment in the underworld abound in the stew of pagan religions that makes up the Acolytes’ faith. And it can hardly be argued that the Baddacelli do not suffer trials, or that they fail to find knowledge and strength in the midst of those tribulations. As a result, members of the Circle make up probably the second highest proportion of the bloodline after those in the Invictus.

Among the Crones, Baddacelli are respected for their adaptability in the face of great hardship. But even more, their companions in the Circle prize the Baddacelli’s vocal talents. A vampire of this bloodline who chooses to turn his talents to song can be a haunting performer, and a chorus of Baddacelli raising a hymn to the varied manifestations of the Crone is an experience that no witness can ever forget.

Those Baddacelli who fight the Curse, on the other hand, find succor in the Ordo Dracul, where they are prized for their ability to find and occupy Wyrm’s Nests that form below ground. At the same time, they pursue transcendence with a fervor unmatched by vampires who do not bear the bloodline’s burdens. The promise of overcoming the disadvantages of their state is motive enough for some Baddacelli to join the Ordo Dracul.

Those few Baddacelli who embrace their cursed state may join the Lancea Sanctum. Those Baddacelli who do are exceedingly zealous, more so than many of their compatriots. Morlock Spears see themselves as ideally designed to serve as God’s Damned Hunters within the subterranean realms they claim. Perhaps ironically, Baddacelli Priests often become popular confessors despite the unease they engender in others. Since Sanctified Priests traditionally take confession face-to-face, giving confession to a blind vampire who prefers lightless environments provides many Kindred with an illusion of anonymity that helps to set them at ease.

When Baddacelli join the Carthian Movement, it is often because they are intrigued by the Movement’s claims of an egalitarianism that the Kindred of this bloodline have learned not to expect from other covenants. Still, the Baddacelli are latecomers to the Carthian fold. Only as they have seen the relative stability of certain mortal governments that conforms to Carthian principles have the Baddacelli developed any faith that the Movement can achieve a lasting degree of change. Even so, only the most experimental of the lineage have gravitated to the Carthian Movement, and at present, they remain the smallest proportion of the Baddacelli population.

Appearance:
Baddacelli prefer functional, utilitarian coverings able to withstand the rigors of their subterranean existence.

Their clothes are often worn and mismatched, owing at least in part to their owners’ inability to see what they are putting on. Those Baddacelli who interact with the surface with any regularity prefer hoods or concealing headgear to hide the bloodline’s signature deformities.

The eyes of the Baddacelli are useless, and often deformed in some way that makes this obvious to onlookers. Whether the Baddacelli’s visual organs are shriveled to mere vestiges, swollen and clouded or even absent altogether, anyone who can clearly see their faces can tell that these vampires are denied sight.

Haven:
Baddacelli havens are frequently communal in nature, and almost always underground. It is simply too dangerous for the sightless Morlocks to dwell above ground, where an unseen crack in a wall or gap in the curtains could spell their doom with the rising sun.

Baddacelli take advantage of natural caverns and abandoned human constructions such as forgotten sewer chambers or decommissioned subway stations whenever possible, but will excavate their own tunnels when such convenient lairs are unavailable. Their havens are usually entirely lightless, or nearly so, and meticulously arranged with “landmarks” — objects placed so that the Morlocks who dwell there can easily memorize them and know their location within the unseen chamber, but guaranteed to impede the progress of strangers accustomed to relying on their eyes.

It is not unusual for Baddacelli broods to keep human herds caged in some portion of their communal haven. Since hunting can be a challenge, they are loath to waste a potential food source once it is caught.

Background:
Almost all Baddacelli are themselves the childer of other Morlocks — few indeed are the vampires, even among the Haunts, who would willingly choose their blind, subterranean existence. Given the rigors of their state, the Baddacelli seek potential childer who are emotionally resilient and already dwelling on the fringes of society. Fortunately for the bloodline, the sort of person who would enter and/or work in their domain in the first place frequently fit this description already. Often, the mortals they select for the Embrace are already blind, since many Baddacelli hope that their childer will not resent them for stealing their sight.

In recent nights, some Baddacelli have been seeking potential childer proficient with modern communications and technology to bring into the fold. As voice recognition and other compensatory technologies improve, many Morlock broods see greater possibilities opening up to improve their access to the surface world (or at least its wealth of information) without placing themselves entirely at the mercy of sighted Kindred.

Character Creation: Baddacelli tend toward high Mental and Physical Attributes, with one of these usually being Primary and the other Secondary. Social Attributes are almost universally lowest in priority.

Skills are usually distributed similarly, with perhaps a stronger emphasis on Physical rather than Mental abilities. Survival is highly valued, as are Stealth, Brawl, Crafts and Investigation. The Baddacelli often acquire Specialties that will help compensate for their blindness in areas of focus (such as “grapples” or “blind fighting” for Brawl or “working by touch” for Crafts). Social Skills tend to focus on Intimidation, Subterfuge and Expression, the better to facilitate survival and misdirection on the societal fringe the Baddacelli call home.

Only a rare Baddacelli who acquires any significant amount of Resources. The often communal living arrangements of Baddacelli broods lend themselves well to the acquisition of Mentors within the bloodline, as well as shared Haven (Location) and Haven (Security) Merits. Baddacelli who have taken to imprisoning captured mortals to ensure a steady supply of Vitae may represent this with Herd. Finally, a substantial number of these Kindred will also maintain a one- or two-dot Retainer, who serves the role of seeing-eye dog and errand-runner in the surface world.

BUT HE DOESN’T HAVE EYES !
Several vampiric Disciplines require eye contact in order to be effective. The Baddacelli are not prohibited from learning these powers, but what happens when a vampire who cannot see — who might not even possess eyes at all — attempts to actually use them?

Probably the simplest solution is to assume that someone looking into the Baddacelli’s eyes (or, in some cases, where the eyes should be) may be affected by the power in question as normal. Storytellers may wish to impose a dice penalty on the activation roll, however, owing to the difficulty in timing the use properly when you can’t actually see the eye contact. Other Storytellers may require the Baddacelli to develop particular Devotions in order to compensate (Auspex • + the Discipline in question would be appropriate).

Organization:
The Baddacelli tend to gather in familial broods, usually dominated by the eldest member present in the city (who is often, but not always, the Morlock from whom the others descend). Contact between broods of different cities is rare, as few Baddacelli are willing to risk the rigors of travel after the Blood’s manifestation robs them of their sight.

Customarily, brood members are expected to contribute to the maintenance of the communal haven, and to assist each other in hunting — especially the younger members for whom even acquiring enough Vitae to get by can be quite a challenge. Broods that have taken to keeping a captive herd often find it efficient to delegate responsibility for care and maintenance to a single Baddacelli. This individual usually holds quite a bit of sway within the brood, due to his ability to withhold access to the herd “to ensure the continuation of a healthy supply.”

Beyond these duties, individual Baddacelli are usually left to their own devices. The pecking order is otherwise pretty informal, with preference going to age (after all, few Baddacelli achieve a long unlife without some degree of wisdom) and ability to provide information on the surface world (provided security is maintained). A young Baddacelli with reliable surface contacts can make a comfortable place for himself within the brood.

The lowest status in a brood usually belongs to childer in whom the Blood has not yet manifested the Baddacelli’s specific curse. These young and sighted Kindred spend much of their time running errands for their elder, sightless broodmates.

Concepts: The thing under the tracks, pied piper, curious spelunker, mother of the lost, reclusive geologist, cryptozoologist, Braille teacher, underground musician, resentful engineer, has-been impressionist comic.

Kindred emotions are but a pallid, hollow echo of living passions. Genuine feelings flowing through a warm, beating heart are lost to the undead. Most Kindred envy the living their emotions. The Xiao crave them. Unable to sustain their existence through Vitae alone, these Daeva offshoots drain their victims of emotions just as they feast on their blood. The secretive, cult-like bloodline has mastered the art of finding and exploiting those to whom emotions are a burden. The angry and bitter youths, the impressionable, those who have been recently rejected or suffered some other misfortune. The Xiao find such mortals, shower them with love and attention, present them a false faÁade of friendship and sincere concern, and then induct them into their blood cult to strip their victims of their very minds and souls.

Records of the bloodline founder’s vampiric existence date back to the second half of the 19th century. Allegedly, Xiao Jun Jie was already a vampire when he moved to California from the Asian southeast. What is known for certain is that within a couple of decades the prolific Daeva had at least two childer and a sizable human herd.

At first, Xiao’s followers were organized into an avant-garde polyamorous ring, but mystical elements crept into their philosophy. Xiao fancied himself a “holy man” — despite not being a “man” anymore — and went to reside with his followers and many lovers in a reclusive commune. He started a disturbing cult, mixing elements of primitive Buddhism with Catholic paraphernalia and the sharing of Vitae. His teachings revolved around escaping the cycle of reincarnation though ascetic practices, involving fasting, sleep deprivation, intercourse with the master himself and, ultimately, drinking the master’s blood.

Suffering more than the average Daeva from the sterility of emotions that plagues all Kindred, Xiao devised a Discipline that allowed him to siphon passions away from his living herd. He gorged himself on his followers’ passions, rekindling his own while destroying any interest they could have for anything but him. Slowly but surely his following grew in both numbers and dedication — most of his faithful now regarded him as a lover, a father, a god and more.

In the early years of the 20th century, some of his descendants managed to snap out of Xiao’s spiritual iron grip. They were able to tear the veil of lies the cult had spun around them and flee. Known as Apostates, these rogue Xiao dwell in fear of reprisal. Xiao cannot stand being rejected by his own blood; deranged by decades of worship, he simply can’t stand the thought of someone who knows him but doesn’t love him. The elder vampire spends a great deal of resources trying to track down his stray childer, working to bring them back to the fold or destroy them.

This night, while most bloodline members still owe loyalty to the founder, a few rogue Xiao cults are scattered across Europe and Asia, far from their old master’s interference. Other Apostates have turned their back on the Xiao lifestyle altogether and are striving to start their Requiems afresh, to find a place within vampiric society despite a troubled past and the enduring threat of the Sect.

Nickname: The Sect (members of the bloodline in good standing) or Apostates (rogue Xiao)

Covenant:
By and large, most Xiao cultists are unaligned. The Sect’s demand for absolute devotion and relentless dedication leaves little time for other pursuits. Besides, most covenants — indeed, most Kindred in their right state of mind — want nothing to do with the Xiao. To those rare outsiders who know the Xiao, the bloodline’s practices are universally considered a potential breach of the Traditions, and especially a severe threat to the Masquerade. For this reason, the covenants will usually turn down any application from a known Xiao.

Apostates, on the other hand, often join a covenant to give a new meaning to their unlives or simply out of a need for protection. The accepting Carthian Movement is the prime choice for disaffected Xiao who have fully rejected the way of their bloodline. The modern, secular outlook of this covenant feels comfortably distant from the mystical Sect. It also helps that the Movement stresses individualism within a structured framework, helping rogue Xiao cope with their newfound freedom. In turn, Xiao tend to do well within the Movement — as uniformly charismatic leaders, Apostates can quickly rise to positions of great responsibility despite suffering some social stigmata because of their past.

The Lancea Sanctum is far less tolerant, but is still home to a small number of Xiao who have managed to turn their back on the Sect without losing their devotion. Sanctified Apostates bring their typical fiery Daeva passion into matters of religion, leaning toward the more mystical side of Longinus’s teachings. They’re more likely to meditate than to sermonize, and are generally more concerned with their own spiritual growth than with a covenant’s agenda. The Lancea Sanctum is prone to consider attachment to an individual Priest a liability rather than an asset. Consequently, Sanctified Apostates rarely reach any position of authority, despite their ability to effortlessly draw sizable followings.

So far, no Xiao is known to have joined the Ordo Dracul, the Circle of the Crone or the Invictus.

Appearance:
Older bloodline members from Xiao Jun Jie’s community are uniformly attractive, chosen to suit his tastes. This is also true of most, but not all, younger Sect members. All Xiao Embraced in the 19th century, and many American Xiao Embraced later on, are of Asian descent.

No Xiao could be described as plain-looking. Bloodline members need to be able to attract attention to use their signature Discipline, so even those few who are not gifted with good looks soon learn how to dress for the part. As fashion-conscious as any Daeva, Xiao strive first and foremost to win trust and confidence. They prefer to sport casual elegance and usually shy away from extravagant looks.

When conducting rites or meditation, Sectarian Xiao wear ornate ceremonial robes devised by the line founder. These are reminiscent of a Chinese Buddhist monk’s robe, usually in lively warm colors, and are sewn with an eclectic assortment of mystical symbols, lifted from Christian, Buddhist and Taoist imagery. There is some variation in ceremonial robes among different communes, but every robe marks its wearer’s status within the bloodline.

Haven:
Sect Xiao are often to be found dwelling in commune-like compounds with their large human herds, usually sharing them with one or more other members of the bloodline. The vampires’ quarters are always impeccably furnished — just as most Daeva, Xiao prefer to spend their Requiems in the lap of luxury. Chambers reserved for the cult masters are also well guarded and generally inaccessible to lowly cultists. The human followers’ quarters, on the other hand, tend to be spartan at best and squalid at worst. If at all possible, the compound will be found in a remote, secluded location comfortably far from prying eyes.

Apostates tend to be more practical-minded in regard to their havens, favoring places that are both hard to find and easy to defend. Religious Apostates favor quiet, secluded, spacious havens. Their spiritual pursuits are readily apparent to any visitor: holy texts and images line the walls, and the smell of incense wafts through the air. Secular Apostates, on the other hand, fall back to the ways of other Succubi, favoring cozy, well-kept quarters in lively urban areas, even at the loss of some safety.

Background:
Faithful Xiao Embrace from within their cult herds exclusively. Indeed, it might be argued that the whole cult’s purpose is to select the best prospective bloodline members. “Best,” in Xiao Jun Jie’s eyes, meaning of course “most beautiful and slavishly loyal.” Over several years, cult members are accurately screened and tested for unswerving faith and unthinking devotion.

Eventually, a handful of the most promising cultists are required to undergo one last trial, breaching the veil between life and death and ascending to a deathless state beyond the circle of reincarnation. To the cultists, this looks like a suicide ritual, and it’s the ultimate test of loyalty. Those who refuse are slain on the spot. The cult leader then Embraces the rest, or tries to. There are known instances of some manic Xiao trying to lead up to 12 cultists at a time into unlife, accidentally slaying all but one or two. Siring many childer seems to confer a measure of status within the Sect, but few Xiao have been able to perform mass Embraces more than once in their Requiem. This practice of mass Embrace does nothing to endear the bloodline to the rest of Kindred society. Most vampires see it as an offense to the Second Tradition and an unreasonable drain on the blood supply. Many simply see it as an abhorrent, downright despicable practice.

Most Xiao are of American nationality, and a plurality are of Asian descent. Members are chosen for their ability to successfully found and lead a cult cell of their own. Good looks, a strong personality, burning ambition and a way with words are all highly sought after. Usually, cultists are drawn to the Xiao because the mortals find themselves at odds with society, or are unable to cope with some change they are going through.

Apostates are an even more diverse lot. Most are ex-cult members who escaped the bloodline’s clutches. They share most of the traits normally associated with Sect Xiao, except blind devotion to the bloodline. A tiny minority of Xiao have never been cultists themselves, being instead the childer of fugitive Apostates.

Character Creation:
As with all Daeva, Xiao favor Social Attributes and Skills. Furthermore, they all excel at Intimidation and Persuasion and receive at least some training in Academics and Occult. The Striking Looks Merit is a given for any Xiao, and Sect members should invest some dots in Herd and a communal Haven.

Organization:
The Sectarian Xiao act much like a tight-knit charismatic cult, centered upon the bloodline founder, Xiao Jun Jie. As he created more childer, the founder sent them to other cities to spread the cult. Only a few were successful, though. Princes usually resent such intrusion on their domains and stomp out Sect cells with cold efficiency. No Xiao cell is known to exist in the American Midwest or on the East Coast.

Most Sectarian Xiao still reside on the West Coast, and all members in a given city share a haven and form a coterie. The single largest Xiao cell is located in California, where the bloodline founder resides. Some other West Coast states also boast a Xiao cell, usually consisting of one Kindred cell leader, two to four other coterie members, either vampires or ghouls, and at least 10 or 20 human followers. These independent cells often have something in common with the main Californian cult, but they also reflect their local leaders’ personalities to some degree. A few work like secretive, paranoid militias; others have closer ties with organized crime and run extensive drug and prostitution rings under the religious faÁade. Regardless, all cult members are expected to show absolute loyalty to their cell leader.

Rogue Xiao don’t usually keep any ties with members of their bloodline. A few crusading Apostates, though, have taken upon themselves the duty to help others escape the Sect. Over time, informal rings of Apostates have sprung up in a few cities. These loose affiliations provide each other with counsel and mutual protection, but have little in the way of formal organization, and most are rarely willing to trust any member of the line they don’t already know.

Concepts: Doomsday preacher, spoiled socialite, angst-ridden runaway teen, frustrated writer, ex-cult member, paranoid militiaman, commune leader, conspiracy theorist, jaded polygamist, abusive office boss.

In tales, vampires are often depicted as rapacious creatures of unmatched appetite. They appear from the shadows, turning the lives of hapless mortals into waking nightmares of blood and sorrow. Often, stories of decadent aristocracy parallel these portrayals of the undead. Bored nobility charm some naïve peasant, inviting him into the world of the languid halls of power, only to turn the poor worker’s life into a game. In the languorous Duchagne bloodline, the two images have merged, spawning a creature driven as much by a never-ending hunger as by a deep-seated need for new sensations.

Among the bourgeoisie of 1765 France, few could hold the fickle attention of indolent aristocracy such as the Vicomte and Vicomtesse du Chagne. Though not land-owners, the du Chagne were competent merchants and excellent manipulators. Their lavish parties consistently pushed the boundaries between risqué and obscene, delighting the court of King Louis XV and his successor.

The Vicomte, Albaric, and his wife, Eglatina, had voracious appetites that would have put even Caligula to shame. The parties they held were always scandalous affairs: they often brought in prostitutes from nearby cities, each paid handsomely for her service and silence. There, they suffered the sadistic vices of the Vicomte, Vicomtesse and their guests. When not playing hosts to debauchery, the du Chagnes toyed with the affections of naïve youths in the Court, tempting them with deviant pleasures and empty promises of power and wealth. For husband and wife, the hunt was the only interest; the outcome unimportant.

A Daeva, attracted to their folly, found most of these games less than innovative in comparison to those of the Kindred. But the depraved couple themselves were fascinating to him, and he believed they had great potential. He decided he would sculpt the two into social predators worthy of Kindred society. In the midst of an arranged party for his friends, the Daeva took the pair and introduced them to their Requiems. The two reveled in the Danse Macabre, diving into the courtly intrigues as though born to it.

Their sire instructed them in the les arts licencieux, showing them how to use the Vitae to alter the emotions of their victims. The trio was inseparable, holding grand masques for mortal and Kindred guests alike. As the pair’s newfound abilities grew, the parties became lavish spectacles, often escalating into chaotic orgies of blood and pain. This unmitigated lust for sensation, however, led to their downfall. The three were so consumed in their own games of manipulation and self-gratification that they lost track of the troubles brewing around them.

The three remained blissfully ignorant for several decades as problems plagued the social structure of France. As insurgents assaulted the Tuileries, the Vicomte and his wife held a masque. When the Assembly suspended the monarchy with the support of the Jacobins, the three dallied with a family of the nouveaux riches. Then, as the sun was low in the Parisian sky, the revolution came with violence and voices raised in anger. Weakened from the sleep of the day, the vampires were no match for the mob. The Vicomte and his sire met Final Death, while only Eglatina survived, though barely. Wounded and in shock as her lavish world crumbled into ash, the Vicomtesse retreated into the numbing grasp of torpor.

Several decades later, she emerged from the death-like sleep and sought relief from the nightmares of torpor that plagued her. She took in several mortal retainers, hoping to use them to satisfy her debased appetites and to salve her grief. Strangely, the old methods failed to elicit any joy in her dead heart. Even more bizarrely, the loss of the Vicomte and her sire twisted her ministrations, forcing the protégées (as she preferred to call her subjects) to share her sadness and regret, feeling it as their own. Most broke under the mixture of physical and psychological torment, but a small handful flourished. No matter what she levied against their flesh and minds, these servants begged for more. Impressed, she eventually Embraced them, training them in the ways of the Vitae as she had been trained. These protégées took on the title of Les Élèves du Chagne, or more simply, the Duchagne.

Or so goes the story as told by Eglatina. Many of her descendants, however, suspect that either purposeful deception or torpor-twisted memories have altered the truth. In the carefully manicured salons of the Duchagne, broodmates exchange whispered speculation. Some believe that the unnamed sire was the true origin of the bloodline’s prized ability to manipulate the senses of others. They claim that Eglatina killed her own sire and husband out of a selfish desire to be in total control.

Others believe that Albaric was actually killed prior to the Vicomtesse’s Embrace, and that her own desire twisted her mind in torpor, creating false memories of a fantasy life. The bloodline’s ability to twist perception, they say, is a direct extension of Eglatina’s wishful desire to change the truth. And what of the mysterious Daeva who sired her? Why has she never spoken his name? Has she forgotten, or does she merely choose not to remember?

Over the last couple of centuries, members of the bloodline have changed little from the sybaritic lifestyle of the du Chagne, even if they are a bit more adapted to modern lifestyles. It is also worth noting that the majority have taken a far more active role in Kindred society, adding their unique talents as marketable skills to their covenant of choice.

Because of the power wielded by members of this bloodline, outsiders are often leery of interaction. Rumors abound about just what the Bacchantes are capable of doing, and few wish to find out from personal experience. Indeed, the grand balls held by the bloodline on special occasions are often more than most care to see. These gatherings are used by members to parade their latest protégées, or to display particularly clever uses of the bloodline’s ability to manipulate the senses. These parties can be as formal as the standard high school prom or as surreal as the most twisted carnival.

However, in spite of their shared induction experiences, there is little that truly unifies members of the bloodline any more. Often it is only their rapid loss of empathy for others that connects two Duchagne. Sensations are quick to please, and discarded even more quickly. Within a few short years, a Duchagne vampire finds that it takes more and more depraved acts to stir any sense of pleasure in her existence, until only the most base and cruel indulgence manages to bring a weary smile to her pallid face. The reason for this desensitizing is as much grist for the rumor mill of the bloodline as their origin.

Covenant: Most Duchagne find a place in the hallowed halls of the First Estate. The Duchagne’s manipulative gifts allow them to excel at negotiation and interrogation in equal measures, as well as general interaction with kine and Kindred. Duchagne vampires make excellent Advocates, Speakers and Interpreters. Some use their power to rocket up through the ranks of the Invictus, applying it viciously to their competition. Many Kindred fear the subversive talents of the Duchagne, but few give voice to those fears, knowing full well that they risk becoming targets of the Bacchantes’ attention.

The Circle of the Crone holds the second largest number of this bloodline. The concept of growth and tribulation appeals to the Bacchantes’ nature, and through pain the bloody rites of Cr˙ac hold a certain (some would say unhealthy) amount of fascination.

A Duchagne Acolyte is likely to build a cult of personality around herself, using her ability to alter the senses of her followers to convince them of her own divinity. Often these mortal cults enthusiastically deify the vampire, bringing willing, and not so willing, prey to sate her bloodlust. Many of the Bacchantes who take this route burn out quickly though, often buying into their own rhetoric and pushing themselves to wilder and wilder excess in the name of misbegotten self-worship.

Other, less self-serving Duchagne see the Crone’s faith in growth through tribulation as a natural path to enlightenment, and consider their own initiation into undeath part of the process. To these ends, they begin to revere pain and torment. The members of these bloody factions are scar-covered, callous thugs who attempt to spread their own pain into the lives of all around them, believing that the anguish will ease their souls toward enlightenment.

Those few Duchagne who join the ranks of the Lancea Sanctum often disapprove of the decadence and self-indulgence their brothers and sisters wallow in. To these Sanctified, les arts licencieux are better put to the use of hounding the heretical and tormenting the wicked. Moreover, members of this covenant eschew many of the hedonistic indulgences of their brethren, choosing to indulge few pleasures of their own outside of the completion of their duty.

The Carthian Movement holds little appeal for the Duchagne. Eglatina has commented often to her childer and grandchilder of the Movement’s similarities to the revolution that took her sire and husband from her, and these teachings have filtered down the ranks of the bloodline, tainting members’ attitudes toward the covenant.

There are, to date, no members of the Duchagne within the ranks of the Ordo Dracul. Though certain ideals espoused by the Dragons pique the occasional interest of a lone Bacchante, the Duchagne’s inability to stay interested in repetitious work tends to diminish her ability to take the covenant’s philosophies seriously.

Appearance:
Though Albaric and Eglatina were noble in title alone, the two still maintained the appearance of those born to the aristocracy. And while protégées are taken from generally all areas and cultures of life, there is a certain standard to which members are held when it comes to appearances. Two members of the same brood may be as differing in tastes as night and day, but whatever it is they choose to wear, one can be assured it is the finest, and most fashionable and most expensive.

Yet, there is always a certain antiseptic look and scent about members of the Duchagne, like someone who has been working in a hospital or with chemical cleaners. Everything is too carefully arranged, too perfect. One would almost believe that their clothes are worn once, and never again.

Haven:
The members of the bloodline are all about keeping up appearances, and few other places allow for such an intimate look at the soul as the hearth and home. The havens of the Duchagne are palettes and tools with which the vampires use to create their masterpieces upon the blank canvases of their protégées. As such, functionality is as important as style.

Where one might maintain a spartan dwelling filled with easily cleaned faux leather furniture, another exists in a lavish home in a cocoon of rich textures and color. Both, havens, however, would be set up for quick rearranging and cleaning. The two would also have ‘accommodations’ secreted away for future protégées. The maintaining of these hidden (and sometimes not-so-hidden) rooms often leaves behind a strong scent of antiseptic solutions, which clings to the bodies and clothing of residents. It is perhaps this scent that others commonly associate with the bloodline.

Background: The predominant number of Duchagne originated from the ranks of protégées with which the members surround themselves. Prospects are often watched for months before being taken. A few never even enter their possible sire’s haven, but are tested from a distance, their every action judged. There is no true measure to gauge a protégée’s worth as a member save that which the vampire decides. Those who survive their patron’s perverse affections and manage to show an enthusiasm for said treatment are desirable candidates for the Embrace. Those who fail remain the target of the Duchagne’s attentions. That is, until the vampire tires of them, and tire the Duchagne quickly do. Duchagne rarely use the Blood Oath, certainly not on a protégée. The student’s mind must be clear of foreign influences. Never does a protégée come from the blood addicted.

Induction of Daeva into the bloodline has rarely occurred. Indeed, the majority of this bloodline has never known anything other than the intimate relationship between sire and childe, and few even realize that they are anything but Duchagne. If a Bacchante found a Daeva with great promise, that Daeva might be taken into the bloodline, but the Daeva would have to be willing to undergo the same treatment that mortal protégées do.

Character Creation:
Protégées are chosen from a wide variety of mortals, but those who excel in social or mental practice tend to be Embraced more often then those who are more physically inclined. Manipulation, Composure and Resolve are highly favored Attributes, although, after the physical trauma many protégées endure prior to the Embrace, a high Stamina is quite justified.

Social and Mental Skills are coveted by the members of this bloodline. Crafts, Intimidation and Subterfuge are all useful, as are Medicine and Socialize. Herd and Haven are highly prized Merits, as well as connections to mortal police and criminal organizations.

Organization:
The sire/childe connection continues to be the primary source of order within the Duchagne, with Eglatina sitting as the Matriarch above all. Typically, the sire, termed the esclavagiste, inducts a mortal possessing qualities the sire finds favorable. This mortal is referred to as the protégée, and remains such until released into Kindred society. Protégées possess little-to-no rights, save those their esclavagiste grant them, and are little more than slaves. Duchagne rarely trade protégées, but it might happen in instances of truly stubborn inductees.

Upon release into Kindred society, the protégée is referred to as being sans entrave, or unchained. Typically, a grand ball is held in the Duchagne’s honor. Such parties are not restricted by covenant politics, or even blood ties. Indeed, grand balls tend to be showcases of the bloodline’s collective talents.

Concepts: Lothario, Prince’s interrogator, drug lord, bondage freak, con artist, power behind the throne, bored aristocrat, purveyor of the flesh, vengeful zealot.

In every culture and region in the world there are stories of cannibalism. Horror stories of survival on the edge of starvation and monsters that hunt and eat the flesh of men. The Kindred have cannibal tales of their own: whispered rumors of the dread Noctuku, Nosferatu who take pleasure in hunting their Kindred cousins and eating the dead flesh that hangs from their bones.

These stories are passed along with the same excitement and fear as an urban legend or a ghost story — tales told of Noctuku dwelling on the edges of a city, waiting for Kindred to stray too far from the shelter of the Prince’s law. Kindred in larger domains scoff at mentions of the Noctuku, taking them to be rumors fueled by fearful neonates or worse, a competitor’s attempts to hide her crimes behind an old ghost story. Those who reside closer to the hidden haven of a Noctuku live in fear of the dark, for the Noctuku are very real.

Myth and rumor surround the Noctuku. It is believed that they may have existed long before the advent of the covenants, and that they may not be a bloodline at all; tales are told of Nosferatu who have spontaneously exhibited the hunger of the Noctuku following the diablerie of another. What is known is that many Nosferatu fear that they, too, will feel the pull of the Noctuku within their veins. Whether there is truth in these words, or merely more fairy tales told to scare young Nosferatu away from violating the Third Tradition is unknown. However, there have never been any reliable records of the founder of this bloodline, and the stories of the Noctuku are remembered by elders who have existed for centuries. Indeed, Kindred on many continents share tales of the cannibalistic Noctuku bogeymen who stalk the night; however, no single domain claims that they hold the origins of this strange and barbaric bloodline.

Any vampire who identifies herself as Noctuku is sure to face severe difficulties in Kindred society. The act of consuming the flesh of vampires is seen as tantamount to that of diablerie — the temptation to consume the soul along with the body too great a risk. Cannibalism is just as much a taboo among vampires as in mortal society, and predators do not like the feeling of being hunted any more than mortals do. Most Kindred react violently when presented with the reality of the Noctuku.

The Noctuku themselves are perfectly comfortable with violent response. In their eyes, they are the apex predator — the elite among a killing race, capable of hunting and destroying hapless mortals and experienced vampires alike. In fact, the more powerful their Kindred opponent, the more likely that Noctuku will engage in the hunt with enthusiasm, savoring the challenge of the kill. Some encroach upon established vampire domains, knowing full well that doing so will draw conflict from their own kind. They chew a hole through reputable Kindred Courts, clashing with the agents of Princes with gleeful abandon.

Younger Noctuku — those who have yet to lose themselves to the cannibalistic hunger of the line — argue that all Kindred hunt their own when they consume the blood of mortals. The Noctuku believe that the Noctuku represent the pinnacle of all predators, feeding from Kindred just as ordinary Kindred hunt mortals — for survival, for power and for sport.

Covenant:
The Noctuku find roles within the covenants that allow them to practice their taboo discipline and feed without the threat of a death sentence. The Circle of the Crone seems to appeal to the Noctuku the most; with its arcane practices, rituals and belief that it is are above mortal taboos, the covenant is in many ways the only one that will accept the bloodline for everything that it is. In isolated domains, the Circle of the Crone has come to venerate the Noctuku for their unique ability to survive in even the harshest terrain, an example of their true communion with nature and their role as the top predators.

Those few Noctuku who join or remain in the Invictus following their bloody admission into this bloodline find their perverse hunger a liability that they must hide from their more delicate cousins. Concealing their cannibalistic tendencies behind a veneer of civility eventually grates on them, especially when surrounded by so many sources of Vitae-infused flesh on a nightly basis. Only the strict rigid structure of etiquette gives any of the Invictus Noctuku hope of maintaining humanity, giving them a crutch to lean on when the hunger calls.

While the promise of transcending the vampire condition appeals to a few Noctuku, the scholarly approach of the Ordo Dracul is foreign to the majority of Bogeymen. Most members of the covenant will not tolerate these violent and predatory Kindred, and few Noctuku manage to retain membership for long. Furthermore, the records of the Ordo Dracul in several cities warn against fraternizing with members of this line, alluding to incidences of uncontrollable violence and diablerie within the walls of academies foolish enough or hopeful enough to admit these monsters.

The Lancea Sanctum faces a unique dichotomy when the truth of a Noctuku is revealed — while the Sanctified praise the role of the ultimate predator, they decry the evils of diablerie and believe that the practices of the Noctuku will lead to greater sin. Thus, few members of the line openly join the Lancea Sanctum for fear of becoming a lightning rod for the pulpits of all manner of Kindred gospel.

Noctuku are also rare among the Carthians, as the Noctuku’s perverse diet tends to alienate the very bonds that the Carthians seek to foster with other Kindred. The Carthians may simply express their pity for the Noctuku’s plight and move on into the night or, worse, attempt to destroy any they encounter to satisfy their sense of justice.

Appearance:
Noctuku dress in comfortable clothing, usually only a few months or years off the standard fashion for the mortals in their domains. Many Noctuku differ little physically from their Nosferatu cousins, which allows for an easier hunt. Only with time does the difference begin to display itself: Noctuku often appear slightly more gaunt and pale than other Nosferatu, and as the Noctuku age, they make little effort to appear lifelike, taking on the pallor of a walking corpse.

Haven:
Residing in domains worldwide, from the edges of great cities to the rural wastes beset by competing horrors, the Noctuku are a hardy line, finding purchase in any nook that can protect them from the sun and allow them to stalk their prey. Lone Noctuku take up functional havens in out-of-the-way locations that will not raise suspicion, yet still allow them to be close enough to the mortal and Kindred populations to hunt with ease. Places such as animal slaughterhouses and butcher shops tend to mask the special diet that the Noctuku indulge in. Many of the havens of the Noctuku are eventually piled with the flesh and bones of their victims. Some are ghoulishly decorated with these remains, arranged with perverse tableaux of torn limbs and skeletal fragments.

Those Noctuku who remain part of Kindred society tend to live in small havens with only the basic amenities. Not the types to crave lavish surroundings, most Noctuku seek out the most basic aspects of what they need to survive their Requiems, focusing on safety and mobility over comfort.

When Noctuku form family coteries called “clutches,” they build functional havens similar to their more solitary brothers and sisters, with separate sleeping areas for their acolytes that commonly feature reinforced doors and locks on the outside so that the eldest among them can then secure them to prevent any accidental attacks against other Noctuku.

Background:
Most Noctuku are made of converts from their parent clan, those Nosferatu who are either drawn by the promise of secrets best left unrevealed or by necessity when they are driven from the luxury of the city. Due to the hunger that consumes them, many Noctuku who do Embrace from mortal stock choose those who can stomach the mental and spiritual stresses that the Kindred of the line must endure nightly. Living on the edge of Kindred and mortal society, Noctuku choose only those who are used to surviving under the roughest of conditions. In some of the more remote regions of the world, where there is also a mortal history of the Noctuku’s practices, they tend to Embrace from the strongest and fittest, creating warriors who then safeguard their mortal cousins from outsiders.

A Nosferatu rarely petitions a Noctuku to join the line; rather, a Noctuku Avus will select a Nosferatu whom the Noctuku feel has the mental and spiritual fortitude to survive the hunger and then go about slowly destroying any ties and connections that the Nosferatu enjoys. Newly adoptive Noctuku choose solitary Requiems out of a sense of necessity, usually because they have yet to truly accept their darker natures and embrace the true Beast within them. When Noctuku choose to live solitary lifestyles, they tend to either take to the road as nomads or push themselves to the very edge of civilization. Any place that harbors mortal souls could harbor Noctuku who lie in wait for the next unsuspecting victim to fall to their noire appetite.

Character Creation:
With their need to survive in some of the most inhospitable terrain for Kindred around the world, the Noctuku tend to favor Physical Attributes over all else. Noctuku find little need for Social Attributes beyond simple Intimidation, and the most successful practitioners of Phagia have respectable levels of Strength and Stamina along with a strong background in Survival, Larceny and Medicine.

Individual Noctuku vary in their skill and knowledge base, with some even reveling in their roles as Bogeymen and specializing in Nightmare as well as Phagia. Noctuku will sometimes keep a Retainer, usually a member of society so debased or corrupted that he willingly feeds the Noctuku’s perverse hunger. The Noctuku rarely have Allies or Contacts, and almost never keep up communication with mortals at all.

A clutch of Noctuku tends to pool its resources to benefit all, which usually means that the eldest benefits from the younger members’ hard work. Shared havens are common and even recommended with clutches, so that the bloodline elders can watch over their adoptive childer like wardens.

Organization:
Most Noctuku eventually become solitary monsters, keeping to themselves out of necessity. When they do gather in any numbers larger than sire and childe or Avus and Acolyte, they tend to bow to the eldest and most powerful among them, generally adopting subservient mannerisms to prevent unwanted attacks. In the small clutches of Noctuku that share the hunt, the organization is similar: graduating respect paid to those with more power and experience. The clutches tend to keep a tightly knit community, and many Noctuku who feel the need for social ties without having to hide their depravity flock to them.

In most domains, the gatherings of Noctuku are subject to the simple philosophies of competitive survival and domination through strength. When a new Nosferatu is brought into a clutch, she endures weeks or months of physical trial, either proving herself worthy of the Blood or falling to the gnashing teeth of her compatriots.

Concepts: Hungry drifter, corrupt mortician, Embraced bushman, rural parish priest, freak show monster, serial killer, creepy cab driver, underground doctor, pathetic loner, blood-crusted trucker, and depraved cult leader.

From the frozen shores of Northern Europe to the warm beaches of the Caribbean, tales exist of terrifying invaders from the sea. Attacking without warning and without mercy, the Sea Kings claimed domain over the entire ocean. No coastal community was ever safe. The Sea Kings appeared at night. Ghost ships, emerging from the mists, without any apparent crew. If the townsfolk were lucky, the Sea Kings would be gone before sunrise, leaving a handful dead and a few missing. If the townsfolk were unlucky, the assault could last for weeks.

The Rötgrafen bloodline was founded nearly 1,000 years ago by Sigrún Ericsdottir, a woman who claimed to be the illegitimate daughter of Eric the Red. Through a series of lies, manipulations and outright killings, she was responsible for the deaths of more than two dozen people during an expedition to what is now L’Anse aux Meadows on the Canadian Atlantic coast. Two groups of explorers left Greenland together, determined to settle a rumored paradise discovered by wayward sailors. One group, led by Sigrún and her husband, returned a year later. The second group was never seen again.

Sigrún’s manipulations started innocently enough; she lied just enough to ensure that her crew ended up with the prime location for a settlement. She was, after all, just looking out for those who sailed with her. Her desire for power slowly grew, and as it did, her thoughts darkened. She began to view the second group of settlers not as comrades united in purpose but as rivals, leeching away that which should be hers. Hatred boiled in her chest, much of it focused on the brothers, Sindri and Tryggvi, who were leading the other explorers. And so it was that she set forth one night, alone and unseen, to deliver an ultimatum to the brothers: leave now or die. Sindri and Tryggvi did not react the way Sigrún had envisioned: they scoffed at her and suggested that she cut down on her drinking. Enraged, she stormed back to her own settlement, setting in motion the events that would lead to her eventual damnation. She told her husband that she had gone to visit Sindri and Tryggvi to arrange a feast, but she had overheard them plotting to kill her and all those who followed her. Sigrún demanded vengeance, and she led her sailors as they stormed the other settlement, killing all the men while they were still in bed. However, the sailors’ code of honor prevented them from attacking unarmed Viking women. Completely caught up in a blood fury, Sigrún grabbed an axe and killed the women herself while they huddled together, screaming for mercy.

Sigrún and her followers were eventually forced to flee North America, after her plot to poison indigenous people failed to kill as many of them as she anticipated. During the return voyage, she threatened to kill anyone who mentioned what had happened to Sindri and Tryggvi’s crew. However, some of the men felt ashamed of what they had done, and upon returning to Greenland, confessed their deeds. Sigrún was banished from the island, but it would seem that her reign of carnage was only just beginning.

Sigrún wound up in Norway, where the tales of her crimes preceded her. Her ruthlessness caught the attention of a local Ventrue, and she was Embraced within days of arriving. Unfortunately, her sire did not wait to obtain the local Sanctified Prince’s permission beforehand, and Sigrún found herself banished again, this time lashed to a ship with her sire and cast adrift to meet the morning sun.

A few years later, reports of midnight raids against Sanctified domains started surfacing all over the coast of the Baltic and North Seas./ Eyewitness accounts all mentioned the arrival of a seemingly empty longship, shrouded in mist, floating off the shoreline shortly before the attacks commenced. The raids were well organized, well planned and extremely violent. Kindred were left destroyed, their havens ransacked and their kine hauled away.

These ‘ghost ship’ sightings increased, soon becoming two ships. Then three. Merchant vessels in the area began going missing. And then Sigrún, Ghost Queen of the Baltic, revealed herself. She had amassed what amounted to a small army of followers according to vampire standards, an army that had managed to essentially carve a domain of their own on the open sea. And if the Sanctified didn’t have reason enough to want to hunt her down before, after her tale was told they most certainly did.

Sigrún claimed that as the dawn of her execution approached, she was visited by the god Loki.

He told her that her actions in life amused him, and he was interested in seeing what she could do in unlife.

He said that he would help her survive to see another night if she would offer her service, and the service of all she created, to fight in his army of the unholy dead at Ragnarok, the great battle at the end of the world. He offered her the blood of his own children to seal the pact. Sigrún agreed. The blood of Fenrisulfr, he explained, would enhance her natural ferocity and gift her with the power to shift her form. The blood of Jˆrmungandr would help rejuvenate her corpse and grant her the power to withstand any assault. The blood of his daughter Hel would grant her rightful rule over a great army of the undead. Sigrún drank his offerings willingly and with great relish, and he fed her sire to his children to repay them for their contribution.

Of course, many scholars of modern nights debunk this tale as mere fantasy, suggesting that Sigrún most likely diablerized her sire. They don’t bother trying to explain how she survived in an exposed boat on the open sea, claiming that the winds must have blown her back to shore or somehow managed to get her somewhere protected. Regardless, what is known is that her bloodline, under her direct command, ruled the northern seas for nearly 300 years.

As her fleet grew in size Sigrún realized that she needed direct control over ports to keep the ships seaworthy. Using the gifts of her Ventrue blood, she warped the minds of human leaders and worked to set up her childer as jarls in various Scandinavian coastal communities, posing as direct representatives of the king. The domains of Iceland were visited again and again by her line during the 13th century, and were used as a safe haven whenever the kine organized serious resistance. By the year 1300, the Rötgrafen were terrorizing seafarers all over the coastline of Northern Europe. Sigrún had sired nearly a dozen childer personally, and it appeared that she was on the verge of establishing an impenetrable, lasting power base, ruled exclusively by her bloodline. Then everything fell apart.

Sigrún fell into torpor shortly after the dawning of the 14th century. Her Ventrue blood warred with that of the dark gods of old, and her childer and grandchilder fought amongst themselves to fill the void in the bloodline’s power structure created by her absence. Many ships were lost as the Sanctified took advantage of the infighting to claim revenge. Control of the seas slipped away as her childer pulled back to their individual coastal domains to protect what power they had. The dream of a great conquering army of Kindred vanished completely as individual Rötgrafen, no longer capable of surviving alone, looked to the Invictus and the Circle of the Crone for protection.

Sigrún emerged from torpor more than 200 years later, but the troubled sleep of centuries had changed her. Feeling her blood thinned considerably and confronting a political landscape completely alien to her, she decided it was in her best interests to abandon Europe completely. She told no one where she was headed, but as rumors of ghost ships and vicious, impossibly strong pirates surfaced in the Caribbean, it was obvious where she had gone. The Ghost Queen of the Baltic was in the Americas.

Her activities in the Caribbean followed a pattern similar to her European conquests. She started with ocean-based raiding before expanding to the conquest of port domains. Her style of governance had changed, however, as her impatience for Ragnarok grew. Enamored by the passionate rhetoric of rebellious Kindred around her, she adopted a more democratic system of control, and while she maintained the final word, a significant amount of real power lay in the hands of those who followed her.

She fell back into torpor some time in the 19th century, and much of the framework she established still remains. Rötgrafen elements in the Caribbean were amongst the first open supporters of the Carthian Movement, and many remain in modern nights.

Rumor has it that the Ghost Queen of the Baltic is out of torpor once more, and that once more she has moved to a different part of the world. Some reports claim she is operating in Indonesia, but more reliable sources point to evidence of activity in the American Pacific Northwest. Of course, these reports could just be the result of an increase in activity of the bloodline itself and not necessarily actions directed by Sigrún herself.

Covenant:
Sea Kings generally fall into one of two camps, depending on their location. The vast majority of Rötgrafen in the “New World” are staunch supporters of the Carthian Movement, and have been since the covenant’s inception. Those who are not Carthians are often unaligned, with many operating as ocean-going nomads, sailing between islands and coastal communities.

In Europe, things are somewhat different. When the bloodline began to fragment shortly after Sigrún’s first descent into torpor, the Rötgrafen were left without their spiritual leader, who provided most of their internal organization. As the Sea Kings pulled back to individual cities, the unity of the bloodline was replaced by the protection of the covenants.

A few Sea Kings were absorbed into the Invictus, but most fully believed (and still believe) Sigrún’s account of her encounter with Loki and found the Circle of the Crone to be a more comfortable fit. With dreams of a united empire under Sigrún’s control still fresh in their minds, early Rötgrafen Acolytes adopted a more militant ideology than is usually seen within the Circle. Most European Sea Kings believe it is their duty to be prepared for the end of the world, when they will be called on to fight during Ragnarok, and much of their night-to-night existence is focused on ensuring that they are ready.

In modern nights, Rötgrafen nomads occasionally make the harrowing journey across the Atlantic, and the ideological beliefs of the two Sea King factions are slowly leaking into one another. Areas that have been visited by a nomad fleet will often have individual Sea Kings who are spiritually Acolyte and politically Carthian.

No Sea King has ever joined the Lancea Sanctum, thanks to centuries of mutual hatred and conflict stretching back to the early Middle Ages, when many of the Sanctified bishops decried the Rötgrafen as a heretic cult.

Appearance:
With the exception of Rötgrafen Acolytes, who tend to look as if they have stepped out of a Viking documentary, most Sea Kings favor the elegant appearance of the Ventrue, tempered by their covenant affiliation. Their clothing almost always has a nautical flavor, however, so an Invictus may look as if he just came back from the yacht club while a Carthian could look like more like a longshoreman or a surfer.

A very significant number of Sea Kings also have tattoos, regardless of the fit with the rest of their appearance. The tradition of tattooing has been passed down along the line, originating with its founders. The Vikings and Rus’ who made up much of the early Sea King membership were often tattooed. Acolytes who are strict Votaries of Hel often have extensive black ink tattoos on the right side of their body. The left side is always kept clear. The Sea Kings may be one of the few bloodlines that boasts 200-year-old elders more likely to bear tattoos than the neonates Embraced in the last few years.

Due to the history of the bloodline, most Rötgrafen are of Northern European descent, primarily hailing from the Nordic countries but with ample representation from the Baltic states and Germany. Rötgrafen in the Caribbean tend to be of Dutch or British descent, but there was no particular ethnic preference for siring, and the 17th century saw a wide broadening in the cultural and racial base of the line.

Haven:
Sea King havens tend to be large, lavishly decorated and very secure. They also tend to be located on the sea, such as an ocean-front mansion, a private yacht club or a refurnished warehouse down by the docks. The majority of Rötgrafen actually have their havens right on the water with large yachts the prime choice in modern nights. Houseboats, sailboats and even cargo ships have also seen use.

There are those among the line who maintain, either due to tradition or romantic nostalgia, that a wooden ship is still the most comfortable haven, and contrive means to inhabit one. Some still ply the seas in carefully maintained vessels that are centuries old in design — a strange sight, indeed, but no less dangerous under the command of a ruthless vampire than their modern steel counterparts.

Background:
While the bloodline’s beginnings were rooted in Viking raiding, the bloodline has diversified considerably over the last 1,000 years. There is a very heavy, nearly exclusive preference for individuals with some connection to the sea, be it physical location, vocational aptitude or an intangible emotional resonance.

Character Creation:
Due to centuries of raiding and midnight combat, the Rötgrafen have long had a preference for Physical Attributes and Skills. Weaponry and Stealth are particularly common. This has traditionally been followed by the Social Attributes and the attendant Skills to maintain political control over the ports they needed. As the massive changes in society have made roving bands of warriors much less viable in the last century, younger Sea Kings often place a much lower emphasis on Physical Attributes, particularly amongst the Acolytes of the bloodline. Nearly all Rötgrafen who operate a ship of any decent size put points into Herd and/or Retainer to represent additional crew members.

Organization:
The bloodline hasn’t had any dominant internal organization in Europe since Sigrún first went into torpor in the early 1300s. In the seven centuries that followed, most Rötgrafen have simply been absorbed into the overarching institutions of their respective covenants.

The Sea Kings operating in the Caribbean allied themselves with buccaneer democracies for the most part, although Sigrún and her Kindred usually worked to maintain a ‘first amongst equals’ position. These manipulations proved to be more robust than the feudal model she adhered to in the Baltic, and many Caribbean-based Rötgrafen who are not officially Carthian tend to espouse ideas of loose Kindred equality while maneuvering themselves into positions of control. Few are true believers in democratic right, preferring to judge one another (and outsider Kindred) on a system of merit earned largely in travel and battle.

Sigrún’s piracy required ship crews and raiding parties, so she was never a close adherent of the Tradition outlawing Embrace. If you find one Sea King in a domain, you most likely will find a handful. European Rötgrafen are usually able to recite their lineage back to Sigrún herself, and try to keep abreast of developments in their extended ‘family tree.’ Ventrue who have joined the bloodline through an Avus trace their lineage as if their Avus were their sire. The application of this lineage recital varies between covenants, but is generally little more than a matter of pride, with no tangible power or status attached. Status within the bloodline itself is often moot; two Sea Kings who meet will almost always treat one another as brothers in arms. Those who engage in battle together tend to defer to the one with the most experience, but this deference is considered a necessity of competent warfare, not one born of etiquette.

Concepts: Undead pirate, violent longshoreman, Hel-worshipping death cultist, manipulative cruise ship magnate, axe-wielding aristocrat, empowered Navy SEAL, shipbuilding tycoon, seafaring nomad, reclusive lighthouse keeper, midnight beachcomber.

“Observe how the advanced state of decomposition — slowed, in this case, but not wholly halted by the reanimating plasm — causes the corpse substantial difficulty in its efforts to dress itself. Of course, I don’t mind taking a moment to assist her. I may miss the opening ceremonies at tonight’s Elysium, but I love her so… she’s so beautiful… and there is such a thing as being fashionably late.”

The Sangiovanni bloodline is seen by many Mekhet as an embarrassment, an uncomfortable confirmation of certain unwholesome rumors surrounding the clan and its dealings. Based in Venice, the Sangiovanni family both acknowledges and disregards the contempt in which other Mekhet hold the bloodline. Members of the family, living, dead and undead, maintain degenerate traditions honed through centuries of incest and black magic.

Among the Venetian elite, during the waning years of the Renaissance, Lodovico Sangiovanni was a prominent, wealthy and talented citizen. An architect, Sangiovanni specialized in building churches, organizing the swift and masterful construction of many beautiful houses of God. The faithful who filed obediently into Lodovico’s churches could never have guessed that the walls and foundation had been constructed almost entirely by the animated corpses of the dead.

How convenient it was for Lodovico that new churches were often built on the sites of old churches, and that the sites of old churches nearly always harbored old, forgotten graveyards. Dead workers never tire, require no payment and never complain. His patrons never guessed at the truth behind his methods, and it’s doubtful the clergy would have appreciated the irony of their churches being constructed with the aid of the black arts.

Nearly all of the ancient lineages that converged into the prestigious and wealthy Sangiovanni family as it existed in Lodovico’s time had produced a number of sorcerers, seers and witches. Lodovico learned at an early age to worship things his mother claimed were older than the Christian God — shadowy things lurking behind the faÁade of the material world. It was she who taught him to grasp at the curtain between worlds, to conjure spirits and raise the dead, binding them to his will. It was she who arranged his education as an architect as well, securing his place of esteem in the mundane world. He repaid her with a dagger in the heart, and an innocent slave was executed for her murder.

An alcoholic and a womanizer, Lodovico spent as much time drinking and whoring as he did working in construction. Occasionally, his tastes ran to darker pursuits, and much of his family’s gold was spent acquiring artifacts of a distinctly unnatural nature. At the height of his career, Lodovico’s name was gasped in Italy’s filthiest brothels, even as it was whispered in the Vatican.

Whether the fact that Lodovico was never made to face the consequences of his less savory activities is a testament to his cleverness or to some dark pact, no one will ever know. It is known, however, that he endured the rigors of life at that time for a great many years, reaching quite an advanced age and siring a number of bastard children along the way, some of whom he even formally acknowledged. In any event, Lodovico’s understanding of the world beyond lent itself to an almost insane fear of death in his later years, and the aging Sangiovanni threw himself into more and more desperate means of staving off his own inevitable demise.

It was the midnight sacrifice of his youngest daughter that attracted the notice of a being with the power to grant Lodovico the immortality he craved. A creature described in Lodovico’s journals as having “fangs like a bat, a face like a skull” appeared to him, “arising… from the darkness… where no man had been but a moment before.” The creature offered no conversation at first, but seized a shrieking Lodovico and swiftly drained his blood, transforming him into one of the undead. Its voice, Lodovico wrote, was like the crackling of a fresh fire in dry leaves, and it spoke to him, mostly nonsense, or so Lodovico thought at the time, about “men walking, men sleeping, men kneeling before God.” Lodovico could feel the creature’s thoughts pierce into his mind, and in an instant he was made to understand. The creature dissolved into blackness, leaving an acrid smell and dark visions of the dead rising to outnumber the living. Lodovico rose, but stood motionless for the rest of the night. Those of his acolytes who had looked on in mute horror as their guiding magus had been slain and resurrected later wrote that the freshly undead Lodovico roared with mad laughter until the sun forced him to sleep.

Lodovico Sangiovanni never saw his sire again, and his journals tell of the nightly discoveries he made in the first years of his Requiem. Those who would read his writings in the centuries to come would note the steady pace with which the Sangiovanni elder’s grasp on sanity slackened. Lodovico wrote that he had been entrusted with a duty to raise up all the dead of the world, as had been foretold in the Book of Revelation. Initially, however, it seemed he had lost his former powers of sorcery upon becoming immortal, and his surviving writings from those early nights clearly reflect his rage. His sons aged and died before he mastered the arts of necromancy once again. Lodovico Embraced a daughter and a son, each of whom was forced to Embrace a brother and a sister. Lodovico was clever, never allowing the number of vampires in the family to endanger its ability to produce a new generation of living offspring. Nevertheless, he ruled over the family as a twisted tyrant for many generations, slaying out of hand those who incurred his displeasure. Not all of his childer and descendants shared his strange vision for the family or his crazed devotion to his dead mother’s wicked gods.

Eventually, Lodovico’s insanity would prove immensely detrimental to him. In the early 1800s, his ‘beloved’ family at last decided that they’d had enough of the despot, and the old patriarch was staked and left out to greet the sun. After a tremendous restructuring, one of Lodovico’s surviving grandchildren, Santino Sangiovanni, took over the mantle of leadership, and the family became less a den of degenerates bent solely on the preservation and empowerment of their founder and more a lodge for scholarly pursuits. The Kindred, however, are known for being set in their ways, and slow to change their minds, and even today the Sangiovanni family is seen as a blight on the history of the Mekhet clan.

More than once after Lodovico’s death, the Sangiovanni family found itself the target of Invictus attempts to eradicate them, and advances by the Circle of the Crone seeking to force mass membership upon the bloodline. Each such expedition met with hideous failure, as the Sangiovanni Necromancers’ occult prowess would seem strangely bolstered in the face of such concerted aggression. One such skirmish, eclipsed in the annals of Kindred history by the travails of those undead caught up in the American Civil War, saw the presence of both the Invictus and the Circle undermined so thoroughly in parts of Venice that even to this day neither covenant dares intrude upon Sangiovanni lands. As to how a remote bloodline of scholars managed to so soundly defeat two covenants, many theories exist, but the Sangiovanni themselves have remained unsettlingly silent on the matter. What is known is that, afterward, startlingly large sums of money were transferred anonymously to the coffers of an occult lodge in Florence.

The Sangiovanni family and bloodline exist now as an embarrassing secret, hushed up by both Clan Mekhet and an order of mortal sorcerers. Breeding and inbreeding for centuries within polite Italian society, the Sangiovanni are considered little better than a nest of cockroaches by those who know them. Those who understand the Sangiovanni’s secrets, however, often wish they could forget. Santino’s efforts in recent decades to establish ties with the Lancea Sanctum, calling upon the family’s old association with the Catholic Church, have yielded pleasing results. Diplomatically couching the family’s occult activities in terms that evoke images of biblical resurrection, Santino has secured the covenant’s protection, if not its respect.

As for old Lodovico himself, many unanswered questions remain. Records are unclear as to the exact nature of his necromantic power before his Embrace, and less educated Kindred are quick to label him a mage. Mages, though poorly understood by Kindred society at large, are nonetheless known to seldom, if ever, survive the Embrace. The possibility that Lodovico was somehow the exception to this rule has kept many scholars, vampire and wizard alike, up through many long nights of wondering. What can be discovered, by those dedicated or suicidal enough to pry, is that the Sangiovanni bloodline’s survival unto the modern day is ultimately attributable to the subtle intervention of a subsect of mages — debauched, soul-stealing immortals, if the rumors are to be believed. Those few in the know seem to by turns inexplicably vanish, or choose to ignore their more disturbing findings on the matter.

Today, more Sangiovanni are leaving Venice than ever before. Modern Kindred have more on their minds than stories of nests of twisted vampires in the Old Country, and thus, the Sangiovanni are finding with increasing frequency that Kindred beyond Italy do not know who or what the Sangiovanni are. Borrowing from the family’s coffers or drawing on their substantial web of European business contacts, young Sangiovanni have been striking out into Western Europe, and even to the Americas, offering their services in the fields of business and accounting, as well as their family’s unique and eldritch specialty.

Covens of Sangiovanni Necromancers have appeared in New York City, Paris and even smaller towns and cities as the reach of the bloodline races to expand to match the new communications capabili- ties of today. For every Prince disgusted by the prospect of necromancy in his domain, at least one instead chooses to see potential in a Sangiovanni’s black magic, and many American Sangiovanni find that they can claim domains of their own in hospitals and funeral homes in return for providing their Princes with data both occult and scientific. Of course, whether times are truly changing for the Necromancers, or whether they have merely set themselves up for a new, modern witch hunt, remains to be seen.

Nickname: Necromancers (among themselves) or Necrophiles (to everyone else)

Covenant:
The Sangiovanni family more or less enjoys the protection of the Lancea Sanctum. Those willing to pay lip service to the Lancea Sanctum’s religious leanings will find the covenant willing to tolerate the practice of necromancy to a surprising degree. However, this tie to the Lancea Sanctum is built more on old debts and favors than on any real loyalty, and Sanctified Sangiovanni seen to be flouting the ethics of the sect, or, worse, showing too great an interest in Lodovico’s heretical writings, can expect their punishment to be swift and uncompromising.

Though hardly the majority, more than a few Sangiovanni have sided with the Circle of the Crone — particularly those who adhere to Lodovico’s views concerning ‘old gods.’ Sangiovanni Acolytes almost universally found or join death cults centered around entities such as Charon or Cama Sotz.

Appearance:
The elder Sangiovanni dress in fashions popular during the Renaissance, modern sensibilities be damned, whereas a startling number of younger family members seem to favor respectable business dress, typically in dark colors. A Sangiovanni of any ethnicity but Italian is a rare thing indeed, but not unheard of, as a number of foreigners have married into the family. Sadly, rather a lot of Sangiovanni are even more pallid than the average vampire, with weird, deep-set eyes, weak chins, eyebrows grown together, severe under- or over-bites and other defects that betray the family’s penchant for inbreeding. Many make an effort to look gaunt or corpse-like in an attempt to make themselves attractive to the elders of the line — a bizarre practice that most onlookers never fully understand. Only a few can be said to look ‘normal.’

Haven:
For obvious reasons, the vast majority of Sangiovanni establish lairs in Italy, the bloodline’s ancestral homeland, primarily in and around Venice. The family keeps a large estate not far outside of Venice, on the former site of a modest cathedral designed and built by Lodovico himself. Anyone who bears both the Sangiovanni blood and name is welcome there, but the family is infamous for turning away or simply destroying ‘double bloods’ — members of the bloodline who are not verifiable members of the family — who show up on their doorstep. Outside of Italy, Sangiovanni make their homes just as other vampires do, often grouping together when more than one of their kind meet in a given city. Independent Sangiovanni often go for theatrics, lairing in mausoleums or sleeping in the corpse drawers in morgues.

Background:
Sangiovanni often have little experience with the modern world, having been raised in a sheltered and twisted environment from the start. These unfortunates, inbred and often slightly insane, have been aware of the existence of vampires since before they could talk. Luckily, not all Sangiovanni are so twisted. Those independent Sangiovanni, unfettered by the family at large, are often scholarly Kindred whose studies take a darker turn, causing them to seek out properties of the blood that are perhaps best left alone.

Character Creation:
In spite of occasional handicaps levied by inbreeding, Sangiovanni are typically clever and knowledgeable. Mental Attributes and Skills are common, and members of the family are encouraged to develop these aptitudes from an early age. After all, occult studies comprise the bulk of their lives and, for the lucky and clever ones, their Requiems as well. The family’s vast stores of knowledge, in the form of both occult tomes and father-figure mentors who may have existed for centuries, make Encyclopedic Knowledge a common Merit, and it’s a rare Sangiovanni indeed who lacks any Resources, thanks to the family’s coffers, bloated with the sins of centuries. Of course, a second dot of Blood Potency is a good investment as well, if one wishes to begin play as a member of the bloodline. Finally, Allies and Contacts are extremely common, especially at high levels, due to the family’s many business partners, occult acolytes and organized crime contacts.

Organization:
The Sangiovanni, as noted above, are primarily organized into a close-knit family originating in Venice. Santino is the oldest surviving member of the family, being the founder’s childe and grandson, and he continues to run things to this day. Family members willing to undertake the journey to Venice are encouraged to schedule an appointment to meet with Santino, should they require advice or formal aid, as Santino has made it well-known throughout the family that the survival and well-being of the bloodline is his foremost concern. The family’s resources are widespread, but are not casually available for the taking by anyone who hasn’t spent generations cultivating pull with the higher-ups in the family. Nevertheless, being on good terms with the family has its advantages, as their various branches have fingers in numerous pies, including the obligatory ties to medical, religious and criminal establishments. Family members are expected to do their part to further the goals of the family, pulling their weight in financial and occult arenas alike, but also to ensure the bloodline’s long-term survival, which means keeping other Kindred in the dark as to their broader nightly activities. The family’s vaults are choked with corpses, and on nights of occult significance, the droning voices of chanting Sangiovanni witches can be heard on the wind for some distance around the mausoleum. Most of those Sangiovanni with ties to the Circle of the Crone make at least a token effort to attend the occasional gathering at the Venetian mausoleum. Most such Sangiovanni Acolytes hope that if some trace of Lodovico remains — even if only in the form of a lingering specter, or a tainted smear of ash — it will be one of them who finds it, and perhaps uncovers some hint to the bloodline founder’s true intentions. Even those loyal to the Lancea Sanctum are expected to participate in family rites and ceremonies, mostly practices codified by Lodovico and later revised by Santino himself. What even other Venetian Kindred need not know is that the Sangiovanni as a whole are as corrupt as ever, exploiting the dead for their own selfish ends — often for mere temporal wealth. For his part, Santino is not so foolish as to have overlooked the obvious benefits of possessing magics unavailable to any other Kindred lineage. A perpetually renewable army of corpses has its uses, and even the great covenants could scarcely contend with shambling forces that effortlessly replenish themselves. Nevertheless, even Santino realizes that the time is not yet right, so he plots and waits. As long as Kindred society at large believes the Sangiovanni are simple, deluded degenerates lurking in the dark, tending to their own selfish, insignificant matters, the Kindred are playing into Santino’s hands, and he remains free to plan for a secret war that may never come. Members of the bloodline who have rejected Santino’s leadership, and thus his protection, are seldom welcome at the mausoleum, though even Santino is more likely to simply turn them away than to destroy them. In the case of wayward members of the Sangiovanni family, it is hoped that they will someday return to the fold. The mausoleum has room enough for anyone of the blood with a passion for exploring the mysteries of death.

Concepts: Unsavory mortician, half-crazed librarian, charismatic cult leader, dread dark magus, laconic grave-digger, degenerate jetsetter, established haven designer, wild-eyed Catholic priest, simpering pervert.

Culture, art, beauty, civilization. These are the things that attract and fascinate the Taifa, a lineage of refined and sophisticated Gangrel hailing from the Islamic lands of North Africa. Far from the stereotypical Savages, other Kindred of the region acknowledge the Moors as the protectors of civilization. From the shadows, they seek to guide and manipulate culture to better suit their tastes. Indeed, the bloodline claims to have some of the world’s most talented politicians, artists and scholars amongst their ranks. Of course, the fact that they are static, dead things does these claims little good.

Their origins lie in the glorious nights of al-Andalus, centuries ago, when the Moors invaded Spain and established some of the most advanced and sophisticated societies in the world. While the rest of Europe struggled through the Dark Ages, the Moorish kingdoms led the Islamic world into a golden age of art, culture and science. In the cities of Córdoba, Granada and Seville, Muslims lived side by side with their Christian and Jewish neighbors, making great advances in the fields of architecture, medicine, astronomy and philosophy.

All Taifa can trace their ancestry back to Hassan al-Maghrebi, a former Berber warrior and scholar who followed the armies of the Islamic general Tariq ibn Ziyad as they arrived on the Iberian peninsula. Al-Maghrebi watched as what had once been the outposts of Muslim Arab and Berber armies grew into rich and powerful cities, and he became enamored with the achievements of Moorish civilization. When Abd al-Rahman II fled to CÛrdoba and established a new Umayyad court there, al-Maghrebi infiltrated it and Embraced or made ghouls of a number of the courtiers.

Proud, inspired by the majesty of the cities of Al-Andalus and empowered by the timely concentration of his Vitae, al-Maghrebi decided to create a line of his own — one that carried on a tradition of nobility and patriotism that he would impart to them. He made a vow that all who inherited his Blood would take up the cause he so loved: to protect and bear witness to the great achievements of the conquerors of Iberia.

Very quickly, his line spread across the Iberian Peninsula, drawing in a proportion of the wisest and most talented scholars, artisans and politicos they could find. Flirting with violation of the Masquerade on occasion, their efforts aided the disparate Muslim states to flower and retain their hold in Spain despite continued war with the Christian enemy. Indeed, it is from these very states and petty kingdoms, or Taifa in Arabic, that the bloodline gained their name.

Legends of fierce, inhumanly tough Moorish warriors arose during one of many failed sieges laid by the Spanish Kingdom of Aragon, striking fear into many Spanish soldiers and attracting the attention (and ire) of observant European Kindred. Battles were fought in the Elysium courts of Spain in those nights, too, battles that brought both respect and destruction to the Taifa. Many who did not suffer Final Death in the mortal fields of war were forced to defend themselves against incensed Kindred foes, proving themselves in brutal political conflict as well as physical.

Unfortunately, the gilded splendor of Moorish Spain was not to last. Gradually, the Christian-led Reconquista was able to chip away at the Taifa states, while back-stabbing, political intrigues and more conservative Muslim states in North Africa undermined the states from within. In the year 1492 on the Christian calendar, the Christian kingdoms of Castile and Aragon united and finally overtook Granada, the last of the great Muslim cities in Iberia. The Taifa were devastated by this loss.

Worse still, the Spanish armies brought members of the European Invictus and Lancea Sanctum (and even a few Basque Acolytes) with them, intent on reclaiming the Moorish domains and driving out sympathetic vampires. The Taifa were forced into a corner, and many fled to North Africa and parts of the Middle East to find sanctuary. Only a small handful chose to remain in Spain, seeking to tend the glories of the bloodline’s past. Despite shared language, culture and religion, the Taifa initially faced difficulty assimilating into the Kindred society of the Middle East and North Africa. Other vampires already held many of the positions of power and authority in the region, and did not appreciate having naÔve foreign upstarts trying to move into their territory. Only through adept social maneuvering and well-placed alliances was the bloodline able to survive through those dark and perilous nights.

Eventually, the bloodline managed to establish a presence in many of the major cities of the Islamic world, and slowly they began to spread out once again. In Cairo, Damascus, Baghdad and Istanbul, the Taifa once again became famous as socially astute political manipulators, patrons of the arts and insightful scholars and translators. To this night, many Arab elders maintain a soft spot in their cold, dead hearts for the Taifa and their cultural achievements.

Unfortunately, the Taifa’s homelands have become a hotbed for political tensions and religious conservatism in the years following the collapse of the Ottoman Empire in the First World War. Because of this, many Taifa have once again found themselves forced to flee. Even though many Kindred still remember the glorious nights of Islamic art and scholarship, even the most powerful vampires are little match for a mob of angry mortals with torches. Hence, some Taifa have been forced to go underground, while others seek their fortunes in the West.

Those Taifa who flee (or perhaps return) to Europe, ironically, follow the migrations of mortals from northern Africa and the Middle East. While members of the bloodline have yet to make their presence felt in North America, many Taifa can be found in Europe. They are particularly strong in France, where the Taifa lurk amongst “les Beurs,” second- and third-generation immigrants of Algerian, Moroccan and Tunisian descent. For their part, French Kindred have been less than welcoming, sharing many of their mortal countrymen’s prejudices. Other Western Kindred (and mortals) harass Middle Eastern immigrants out of fears they harbor terrorists (which is, of course, little more than a racist stereotype). The future of the Taifa, especially in the West, remains to be seen. Nonetheless, the bloodline is quite politically astute and has many old and powerful allies. Perhaps they will make themselves an integral part of social life in their new homes, or perhaps they will wither and die. Only time shall tell.

Nickname: Moors, though the Taifa themselves (and many other Muslim Kindred) prefer “The Civilized

Covenant:
The Taifa prefer the Invictus (or al-Harij, as it is sometimes known in Arabic), given the covenant’s love of pomp and ceremony, and the value the covenant places on personal achievements. Naturally, in the Taifa’s homelands of North Africa and the Middle East, the lcovenant takes on far more Arab culture. For instance, members of the bloodline prefer the term Sultan instead of a ‘mere’ Prince, and Arabic phrases are often used to show learning, culture and respect. Nonetheless, beyond such culture differences, the covenant is still the ruthless meritocracy that it is in the West, and that suits the Taifa perfectly. Even under the many layers of tradition and formality, the Moors are predators, and they know it. That the Invictus allow them to claim their rightful place through their own efforts appeals to the bloodline, and for that reason, the majority of the Taifa can be found within the First Estate. Of course, far more Taifa are Harpies or Sheriffs than actual Princes, but that matters little.

The Lancea Sanctum ranks a distant second, though in the Middle Eastthe covenant adopts more Islamic imagery instead of the familiar Roman Catholic trappings of the West. Sanctified Taifa tend to be the more scholarly members of their bloodline, researching the history and sorcery of the covenant, though they are also popular missionaries due to their charisma and influence.

Some Taifa are drawn in by the fiery rhetoric of the Carthian Movement, but most consider the covenant to be boorish and crude. Few Taifa have any interest in the Circle of the Crone, but the Acolytes do count a small number of Moors amongst them who are interested in the pagan faiths of Mesopotamia, Persia and pre-Islamic Arabia who venerate al-Uzza and other pagan goddesses.

The Ordo Dracul is a fairly recent arrival in Islamic lands, and the Moors have had little contact with the covenant, but many instinctively dislike it. Theories as to why range from Dracula’s atrocities against the Turks to some ancient lore they are trying to hide from the Dragons. The truth, however, is much more direct. The Taifa don’t like the Ordo Dracul because they see the covenant as pointless. Study and self-awareness are all well and good, but it must have some sort of purpose. Vampires are not static, but rather meant to enjoy, even indulge in, all the things that the world has to offer. As far as most Taifa are concerned, the Dragons shut themselves off to the primal truths of being a vampire, and the Taifa avoid the covenant accordingly.

Appearance:
While the majority of Moors still bear the physical features common to the Middle East and North Africa, the bloodline has become quite cosmopolitan in modern nights. Regardless of race or ethnicity, members of the bloodline tend to carry themselves with confidence, dignity and elegance. Most are quite swarthy, and their skin sometimes even darkens with age. Some particularly old Taifa call to mind legendary Arab heroes such as Abu Zayid al-Hilali and ‘Antara ibn Shaddad. Many Taifa are quite attractive by local standards, and know how to use this to their advantage. They also know the value of appearances, and tailor themselves to suit the occasion. Most Taifa are just as comfortable in a Western-style three-piece suit as they are in the traditional thobe, bisht and kaffiyeh of a Bedouin tribesmen.

Haven:
Given the nature of their weakness, members of the Taifa bloodline almost always prefer communal havens, though powerful elders are more likely to simply surround themselves with broods of their childer and grandchilder (or vampiric thralls unrelated to them). The Moors almost always keep large, expensive havens, whether these are private estates or upscale apartments in larger cities. Such havens are almost always large enough to host social events, and usually are lavishly decorated with traditional and modern art. Arabic calligraphy is especially popular with the bloodline, and indeed has been for several centuries now. The most powerful and influential members of the bloodline often hold court in their private havens, complete with talented musicians, poets and entertainers to amuse their vampiric guests. One particularly common practice within the bloodline is the abuse of waqf, or properties held in trust to the government. Traditionally, wealthy families bequeathed such property to the state, and allowed their mortal descendants to stay on as caretakers. Many Taifa took advantage of this practice during the Almohad and Almoravid empires, making their havens in waqfs held by family members (or ghouls). However, the practice has mostly died out in modern, secularized states, so the Taifa can no longer use this method.

Background:
Political acumen and social skills are perhaps the most important traits to the Taifa. Beyond that, the bloodline has no particular criteria, though individual tastes do play a role. Some Taifa prefer to Embrace only mortals from certain family lineages, meticulously tracking down descendants through the years before choosing a worthy candidate. Others give the gift of eternity to preserve particularly talented artists, musicians or scholars throughout the ages. And some Moors simply Embrace out of passion, choosing whichever reasonably attractive mortals catch their eye that night. Hence, there is a great deal of variety within the bloodline. Because of their origins in Moorish Spain, the vast majority of modern Taifa hail from North Africa or the Middle East. Arabs, Berbers and Sephardic Jews dominate the bloodline, though other ethnicities are represented as well. The bulk of the bloodline is Muslim, at least in name, though again this has more to do with their history and geographic background. Christian, Jewish and even atheist Taifa all exist as well.

Gangrel not of the bloodline are usually seen as backwards cousins, treated with respect perhaps, but not as equals. Only when they can prove themselves to be more than violent savages will they win respect within the bloodline. Nonetheless, those who do impress their Avus are adopted into the Taifa following traditional Arab custom and are considered full members of the lineage.

Character Creation:
Social Attributes and Skills are almost always primary for the Taifa, though they also respect intellectual prowess as well so Mental Attributes and Skills are also appropriate. The Taifa prefer to be well-rounded, after all, and it’s good to have a broad base of knowledge when striking up conversations. Skills such as Academics, Empathy, Expression, Persuasion, Politics, Socialize, Subterfuge and even Streetwise are all useful for the bloodline. Of course, it would be a mistake to assume all Taifa are fops, and those who make that mistake quickly learn to regret it if they survive. Many Moors appreciate the value of Merits, and Social Merits of all kinds are especially common within the bloodline. Striking Looks is not uncommon, and a fair number have Encyclopedic Knowledge as well, these are hardly required. Merits such as Allies, Contacts, Resources, Status and such are far more useful.

Organization:
Despite being a very social group, the Taifa have little true organization of their own. They are numerous across North Africa and the Mediterranean, but the bloodline is plagued with numerous factions, broods and social intrigues. The most powerful, or well- connected, Taifa in a particular domain often bears the title of Sheikh (or Sheikha in the case of women), and holds private court somewhere in the city. Although the Sheikh is respected, he wields little actual authority in the bloodline. Often, he will form a small clique, competing with other Moors for status and influence. Once a month, the Sheikh will often hold an open court somewhere in the city, featuring art, music and decadence that harkens back to the courts of al-Andalus. Of course, other Taifa will often try to put on even more lavish displays to upstage the Sheikh. Beyond that, the Taifa are largely concerned with their covenant above all else.

In the West, the Taifa are often more tightly knit, if only for protection and because of the bloodline’s unique weakness. The Taifa often form small, insular broods, especially in such cities as Paris, London or New York, where there are large immigrant communities they can blend in with. Sometimes, the Moors will play up their exotic appeal to win favor with the Prince or his court. At other times, the Moors look down upon their Western cousins. Some Sheikhs have been known to even claim the much more glorious title of Emir (or prince) for themselves, believing that Western Kindred won’t speak Arabic. More often than not, these Taifa are right, but every once in a while they have been horribly wrong, much to their dismay.

Although they share little formal structure, the bloodline does share numerous traditions from their homeland. For instance, the Moors continue to preserve Arab naming conventions amongst themselves. If a vampire named Khalid was Embraced by a vampire named Ibrahim, he would be allowed to call himself Khalid ibn Ibrahim. If the vampire were Fatima, she would take the name Fatima bint Ibrahim. And Ibrahim could call himself Abu Khalid. The Taifa take great pride in their lineage, and spend a great deal of time tracking down their ancestors.

Concepts: Bedouin prince, collector of fine art, diplomat between covenants, foreign news correspondent, Islamic legal scholar, manipulative advisor, modern warrior-poet, seductive predator, social scientist, translator, oil tycoon, wealthy merchant.

Among the Kindred, the passion of the Daeva is legendary. The lurid tales of the Harpies often include warnings about the dangers of allowing one’s Vices to take control, using the Daeva as an object lesson. Young neonates content themselves with the thought that such loss of control could never happen to them.

They have never met the Xiao. This Daeva bloodline draws in those around them into excesses of emotion, setting a standard for self-indulgent behavior that few can match. Those who try soon fall prey to the Xiao’s own manipulations.

Xiao Tianpàn was a Daeva Embraced during the height of the Qing dynasty, as corruption and greed began to spread through the nation. In life, he was a bureaucrat of the nation, employed as a ghoul by an elder Daeva of the Ordo Dracul for the purpose of increasing influence within the structured court of the Emperor. Serving as a long-term ghoul to a vice-ridden vampire, Tianpàn was well acquainted with the difficulty that the Daeva had holding on to their emotions, and when his sire chose to Embrace him, Tianpàn felt equally gifted and cursed.

While Tianpàn appreciated the immortality that the Embrace granted, he had no wish to become a slave to his passions, and spent the early years of his Requiem trying to restrain his urges and desires. Despite his best efforts, he found that his pride led him to rash actions that he would never have taken in life. As the 19th century dawned, and the dynasty waned, amidst the increasingly rampant corruption and violence of the land, Tianpàn took action. Taking the legendary passion of the Daeva and twisting it, he remade himself, hoping to escape his curse.

By Tianpàn’s standards, the attempt was a terrible failure. He discovered that he had forged a newfound connection to the passions of others instead of his own; as a result, his emotions ran rampant, and restraining them became thoroughly impossible. Bitter and vengeful, he began to use his newfound capabilities to manipulate the others, using their passions to bring them down to his level. In the process, he discovered that he took real pleasure in toying with his victims — almost as much as feeding from them, and the endgame, the complete self-destruction of a person as a result of his maneuvering, was a difficult and intriguing achievement that drew Tianpàn into further study. With each exploration of his newfound power, with each mortal who was ruined or destroyed, Tianpàn pushed his own failures further to the side. Eventually, he could almost pretend that he had always meant for this to happen.

Years passed, temptation grew and Tianpàn sired three childer, drawing them from the ranks of those whom he had preyed upon. Each of the three had been a person ruined by passion in life, whose ill-considered actions had brought failure upon his head. All chose to follow him down the path of the Blood that he had created, and his bloodline began in earnest. They took Tianpàn’s family name as their own in tribute to him, enshrining his failure for all eternity. Each sired in turn, and within a century, there was a small but thriving population of Xiao throughout China. Xiao Shan, one of Tianpàn’s childer, undertook the dangerous journey across the Pacific to the United States in the late 1800s, his curiosity at this young land overcoming his familial loyalty. There, he slowly began to spread the curse of the Xiao as well, working through the corrupt politicians of the day. Now, the Xiao range throughout China and the United States, encouraging their prey to destroy themselves through their own selfish desires.

Xiao Tianpàn himself fell into torpor early in the 20th century, and has not yet emerged. Without him, the Xiao have fractured and scattered. Those who are most traditional follow in the footsteps of their clan founder, hoping to awaken him and aid him in his quest. Others simply enjoy manipulative play, working to unleash their hidden desires and watch the disastrous outcome. Most of the Xiao who bother to rationalize their behavior perversely consider themselves agents of justice. After all, they argue, a true innocent would face no danger from his or her own passion, and, therefore, any harm that comes to the Xiao’s prey is entirely his or her own fault. A few of the Xiao, especially those in North America, combine this misplaced sense of judgment with a desire for justification; by seeing how passions bring others down, the Xiao hope that they can somehow prove that they are no worse than their victims.

While the power of the Xiao is rarely overtly supernatural, their presence seems to sow chaos and uncertainty in the domains that host them. As they rarely bother to concern themselves with the long-term impact of their actions, they can easily upend social orders and sunder alliances simply by encouraging the wrong emotions at the wrong times. Indeed, some Xiao have been known to cause the fall of Princes without taking any overt actions, and a cautious ruler does not suffer the Xiao’s presence gladly.

Covenants:
Xiao in Asia find themselves frequently drawn to the Ordo Dracul, whose emphasis on research and understanding appeals to those who think as their founder did. In the Ordo Dracul, the Xiao can continue to explore their condition, further mastering their natures in an effort to overcome their weaknesses — because of this, the Order remains the most popular of the covenants to join. Xiao within the Ordo Dracul often lend their passion to driving discovery forwards, and their mastery of passion lends itself to greater understanding of the connection between passion and the Beast. However, Xiao rarely rise high in the Ordo Dracul, as their uncontrolled emotions make it difficult to have the clinical restraint that many members of the covenant respect most. A number of Xiao (most famously Shan, childe of Tianpàn) have been ejected from the Ordo Dracul because of inappropriate behavior.

It is traditional for Xiao Dragons to undertake the quest to join the Sworn of the Dying Light and pledge themselves to the relentless study of the emotional weaknesses of Kindred — specifically, the tendency to vice and frenzy. Many pursue the Coil of the Beast in their studies, hoping that by mastering the understanding of its unconscious power, they can learn to direct their own passionate outbursts.

Other Xiao, however, gravitate to the Circle of the Crone, intrigued by its forbidden rites, ancient mysteries, blood magics and practice of unleashing the primal Beast. By joining the Circle, those Xiao who have chosen it seek to free themselves from restraint, often becoming more depraved and more violent than most of their kin. These vampires feel that they are holding more true to the spirit of their founder with their abandon, but they are, in fact, abiding instead by the warped rationale of his later waking years. Xiao Acolytes are extremely dangerous, blithely justifying their indulgences as they carry out the meticulous destruction of mortal hopes and aspirations. Many fall into a rapid decline of Humanity, becoming indefensibly cruel in their manipulative play. Acolytes of the Circle often believe that Xiao are talented channelers of discord and primal rage, affording them a measure of respect as a result.

The other covenants do not hold much in the way of attraction for the Xiao, and often do not make an effort to tolerate them. The passionate Carthian Movement and the fervent Kindred of the line have some commonalities on the surface, but the Sirens are uninterested in social change on a grand scale; they tend to work on the understanding that if someone powerful falls, that person will simply be replaced by an equivalent influence. This lack of belief in the fundamental tenets of the Movement means that while the Xiao may occasionally work with the covenant, they rarely belong to it.

A similar problem holds the Xiao away from the Invictus, who are not, as a whole, amused by the concept of wild cards running about and mucking things up for more proper, upstanding and respectable vampires — the Xiao, in turn, almost always refuse to consider the Invictus and their pawns as off-limits, further straining the likelihood of joining that covenant. As a result, the Xiao seem incapable of hewing to the oaths of the Invictus, and the bloodline’s capricious nature is made most unwelcome.

Finally, while their roles as monsters might find some traction with the concept of the Damned of the Lancea Sanctum, few of the Xiao have the patience for the dogmatic ritualism of the covenant, much less its messages of holiness and restraint. One or two disrupted masses are all most Priests need to ban the Xiao from their gatherings, and more than one incident has led to a violent purge. Though most in the bloodline hold no particular disdain for the Lancea Sanctum, the Xiao generally make an effort (driven mostly by a sense of self-preservation) to avoid the covenant.

Appearance:
Members of the bloodline tend to take meticulous care of themselves, making sure their hair is perfectly brushed and their clothing immaculately cleaned every night, presenting a tightly controlled faÁade as a counterpoint to their raging emotions. Extravagant hairstyles that take excessive effort to maintain are not uncommon, and elaborate, intricately detailed and layered costumes are almost a requirement. While the Xiao are not always beautiful, they work diligently to make sure that they are always striking.

In contrast to the perfection that most aspire to in dress, the auras of the Xiao are whirling maelstroms of color, and a skilled aura-reader who has encountered them before will instantly recognize the mark of the line, although some mistake the reading for full-blown psychosis.

While the elders of the Xiao are exclusively Chinese, younger vampires of other races are now joining the line with greater and greater frequency, especially in North America.

Haven:
Most of the Xiao prefer well-placed havens to secure ones; proximity to potential targets and comfort for personal living are the main issues that the Xiao usually consider. Common choices are simple, but (if they can afford it) luxurious, lofts, or even large houses near major areas. Havens in areas frequented by current victims of the Xiao’s manipulations are given precedence over the local nightlife, and those members of the line who have enough money frequently set up a number of well-appointed havens around a city to ensure that they can always be close to interesting subjects.

The havens of the modernist Xiao often give insight into their natures, if only obliquely. Just as everything else that the bloodline’s members keep, their havens are carefully focused affairs, designed to draw the eye of those few who visit them. Each room often has its own motif, and some Xiao go so far as to have one for each mood, carefully designed to support and foster a specific ambience. Others simply allow their entire haven to become a paean to excess, with the most expensive furnishings and art decorating a lavish abode.

Traditionalist Xiao, especially elders of the line, almost always go the opposite route, and their havens are all but empty of furnishings, conveying the feeling that their haven is not so much a place to live as it is a place to sleep away the days.

Background:
Xiao have a strong tendency to recruit from those whose lives have been ruined by their passions, regardless of their social positions and histories — especially if the Xiao themselves were responsible for that ruination. They also prefer those who take pride in themselves, finding them more interesting comrades. Some of the newer groups that the Xiao are beginning to target more frequently are those who begin life humbly but rise to greatness. Actors, musicians, businessmen who were born into the working classes and the like are becoming increasingly common prey. The Xiao may even create such icons, before tearing them down again, exposing their faults and then offering the Embrace as a second chance.

The Xiao remain a relatively small bloodline. Xiao Tianpàn had only three childer, and they themselves have not Embraced frequently, or have most of their childer in turn. The eldest of the bloodline have seen less than two centuries, and there are not more than a few dozen members of the line scattered around the world.

Character Creation:
Much as the Daeva in general, Social Attributes and Skills are favored by the Xiao, especially those related to Presence. Composure tends to either be very low or very high, depending on whether the Xiao in question is trying to suppress or embrace her curse. Social Merits based on mortal connections are uncommon, as the Xiao frequently destroy those mortals with whom the bloodline members interact.

Organization:
Once, Xiao Tianpàn kept a firm hold on his childer through a mixture of iron resolve and exceptional manipulative technique. In his absence, however, the bloodline has quickly fragmented, losing its sense of singular purpose.

Overall, many of the Xiao tend toward similar goals, but they do not do so with a single, coherent plan. Instead, individual Xiao naturally gravitate toward areas that they find interesting, immersing themselves in the social world of the domain they happen to have settled in. Neonates, once they have been properly trained and introduced to the Danse Macabre, are often encouraged to go and find a domain a decent distance from their sire, taking the difficult step of cutting themselves off from their former lives to prevent them from becoming complacent as well as working to prevent the inevitable emotional clashes with their sires. There is no need for this severing to be complete, but maintaining closeness is often considered too risky to be allowed.

Part of the reason for this loose organization is that the Xiao are far from immune to each others’ abilities. When two Xiao of sufficient power come together, their passions feed off one another, leading to a spiral of dark indulgence that can easily end with the death of one or both of the vampires involved. When more Xiao come together, the effect becomes increasingly pronounced. Because of this, most meetings between members of this bloodline, unless focused on a specific goal, are short and bittersweet.

There are a few Xiao currently attempting to impose some sort of order on the line, leading the charge to reunite the membership and reawaken the founder. Their efforts are relatively recent, though, and have not produced significant results. Those who do gather to them are suffering from one another’s inevitable provocations, and most are beginning to believe (secretly or otherwise) that the effort is doomed to collapse.

Concepts: Serpent in the garden, backroom whisperer, untrustworthy drug dealer, deadly muse, corrupt politician, frenetic political activist, manipulative groupie, energetic road manager, sinful priest, fervent pop psychologist.

All social creatures have a pecking order — from a pride of lions to a flock of chickens, from which the phrase is derived. Vampires are no different. Beginning with clan and ending with coterie, every vampire has his place, or so they are taught to accept by their elders. This being said, Clan Ventrue are arguably (and sometimes obviously) the equivalent of vampiric royalty — the top of the undead social ladder, as it were. By the same token, very few would dismiss the notion of the Nosferatu being on the bottom of that very same ladder, if they were even allowed on the rungs at all. Very few except the Nosferatu themselves, of course.

So when a bloodline such as the Yagnatia steps out of the darkness of Eastern Europe and throws Nosferatu stereotypes on its ear, many elders become curious and suspicious. Proud, terrifying and iron-fisted and possessed of a keen understanding of politics and social graces, the Yagnatia have emerged to take their place as kings of the night, not peasants.

In the late 10th century, Russia became officially Christianized with the conversion of Vladimir I, Prince of Kiev. With this mortal shift in religion, vampires of the Lancea Sanctum took it upon themselves to spread their doctrine to the Kindred of the Baltic region. The Lancea Sanctum met stiff, and usually violent, resistance from the pagan goddess-cults whose many followers were often Chorus members of the Circle of the Crone. The Acolytes had held power over the peoples of Latvia, Lithuania, Russia and Ukraine for generations, but the Acolytes were unable to stop the inexorable advance of Christianity. Many of the Circle’s adherents met Final Death in great pyres when entire cults were exterminated or else were forced to flee their ancestral territories for more tolerant locales. Leading this crusade into the Baltic lands was a Sanctified Ventrue by the name of Pasko Grechkovik. He had had a religious epiphany after claiming to see visions of Christ on the cross floating over the city of Kiev around the time of that city’s conversion. Grechkovik took this to mean that he was to be the instrument of God’s will in bringing His Word to the heathen masses of Russia. To this end, Grechkovik was able to appropriate a large amount of the covenant’s manpower and resources to accomplish his vision of a Christianized Russia. This included siring several childer from among the newly converted Princedoms to aid him.

The Circle of the Crone, naturally, resisted this intrusion and brought to bear their own resources, mortal and otherwise, in their efforts to retain control over their ancestral holdings. For almost 200 years, the Acolytes waged a war of attrition against the Sanctified. For every village the Circle managed to retain, two more were burned to the ground, their inhabitants slaughtered if they refused to kneel before Christ and His chosen messengers. With these tactics, it was no surprise that the mortal populace began converting by the thousands, and as paganism waned, so, too, did the Circle’s power.

By the 12th century, the majority of Russia and Eastern Europe had been forcibly Christianized, and the Acolytes’ power had diminished considerably. A large number of Nosferatu Acolytes in particular had been harshly persecuted, driven from their domains or dispatched to Final Death by Grechkovik’s fanatical followers, although Pasko himself had entered torpor several decades before. The last stronghold of Acolyte power left in Russia was the state of Vladimir-Suzdal, a nation that succeeded Kievan Rus as the most powerful Eastern Slavic state, in the late 12th century.

The Lancea Sanctum, specifically the Ventrue members of Grechkovik’s line, backed a Christian ruler by the name of Yuri II, who took the throne of Vladimir-Suzdal in 1212 from his ailing father. However, a short four years later, in 1216, at the Battle of Lipitsa, Konstantin I soundly defeated his younger brother, and seized the throne for himself to become the 5th Grand Prince of Vladimir. This upset Grechkovik’s Sanctified Ventrue greatly, largely due to Konstantin’s stubborn refusal to accept Christianity, and they blamed the Nosferatu and the Acolytes, though neither had anything to do with the usurpation. Pasko Grechkovik was awakened from torpor by his fellow Sanctified and brought up to date on all that his followers has accomplished while he lay in the grip of the Little Death. Grechkovik was furious at what he perceived to be the meddling of the Acolytes with his holy vision.

Konstantin’s actions were entirely his own, the result of his bitterness at having been disowned on his father’s deathbed in favor of his younger brother; no vampiric manipulation lay behind his grab for power. However, Konstantin’s actions did not go unnoticed among certain vampires of the time, namely a Nosferatu elder and Acolyte named Zapruda, who saw an opportunity to strike back at the Lancea Sanctum (and Grechkovik in particular) for their prior pogrom against the Haunts. During those intervening two years of Konstantin’s reign, Zapruda made her move to diminish the control Grechkovik’s Sanctified Ventrue held over Vladimir-Suzdal.

Some time during the winter of 1216, Konstantin received reports of a coven of witches conducting blasphemous rites on the outskirts of a small village. The church took harsh reprisal against those who continued to follow the Old Ways, since Russia was supposed to be thoroughly Christianized by this time. Despite his own pagan convictions, seeing Christianity as simply a retelling of much older myths and placing no real faith in its supposed savior, Konstantin did as he was required. He was forced to keep up the faÁade of a true, God-fearing lord in the eyes of the Church and his own subjects to cement his hold over his newly conquered lands. If he could use these followers of the Old Faith to further his goals, so be it, but if they all had to be burned at the stake, he wasn’t above that Christian duty, either.

Finding the coven easily, he and his men rode into the clearing, interrupting their ritual. Declaring himself, Konstantin asked what manner of worship was taking place. The high priestess, calling herself Afanasiia (meaning “immortal”), the Daughter of Baba Yaga, told him of their intention to welcome the spring back to the land and honor the goddess to give them new life and fertility. (Popular belief is that the coven was composed of a mortal Chorus of the Circle of the Crone, but if so, none of the Acolytes has come forward with a definitive answer. This rumor is also cited as the reason why many women of the Yagnatia elect to become Acolytes, however.)

Konstantin snickered to his men, claiming he was more than fertile enough already, having sired several children in his original domains of Rostov and Yaroslav. Growling that though he was not himself a Christian, he much desired to see if the old gods still possessed any real power now that the Christ had come to the lands of the Rus, power that he, as the land’s new ruler, was free to exploit. He then asked the witch to read his future, that he might discover what Yuri was plotting, since he had escaped during Konstantin’s coup.

After gathering her cloak about her, Afanasiia stared into Konstantin’s eyes and consulted the lines in his palms, then pronounced her prophecy: Konstantin would only rule until the seasons turned twice more, then Yuri would reclaim his throne. Enraged at this news, Konstantin drew his sword and struck Afanasiia’s head from her shoulders. So swift and clean was the cut that the priestess’ body remained standing. He ordered his men to kill the entire coven, but suddenly the right hand of the corpse rose, pointed at its murderer, and the severed head began to speak, pronouncing a curse upon Konstantin: that he should never sire another heir for as long as he should walk the Earth unless blessed by a follower of her goddess. His men, crossing themselves, weeping and screaming of the devil, fled, leaving a shaken Grand Prince to straggle back to his palace.

As was foretold, Yuri II reclaimed the throne of Vladimir-Suzdal in 1218, secretly backed by Grechkovik and the Lancea Sanctum. Pasko declared his “holy vision” had been realized; pagan power had been supplanted by Christianity, and the Lancea Sanctum had supplanted the Circle of the Crone as the dominant covenant in Russia.

Here, mortal and Kindred history diverge. It was the night of February 2, 1218, that Konstantin was approached by Zapruda, the Nosferatu elder. She admired his pagan convictions and vowed to show him that faith in the Old Ways, while currently diminished, still held great power. She explained that her clan, the Nosferatu, had long desired a way to directly challenge the Ventrue on their home ground. She also related the tale of the persecution of her clan at the hands of Grechkovik and his Sanctified cronies and that she intended Konstantin to be the instrument by which she and the Circle would exact their revenge. The elder Haunt had first taken an interest in him when he usurped his brother’s throne, and offered Konstantin a proposition — in exchange for his assistance in thwarting Grechkovik and the Lancea Sanctum who controlled Yuri behind the scenes and, by extension, the nation, he would become her childe, one of the living dead. He agreed, and human history records that Konstantin Vsevolodovich I died in his sleep at the age of 32. Kindred know that Konstantin became the childe of Zapruda, beginning his Requiem as a member of Clan Nosferatu that night.

When Zapruda Embraced Konstantin, she could not have foreseen how Afanasiia’s curse would affect him. The mystical interaction between her Vitae and the curse caused Konstantin to become Nosferatu, but different. The insidious effects of the curse revealed themselves years later, when Konstantin himself attempted to Embrace a childe of his own. The poor unfortunate merely died after being drained of blood. Konstantin made several more attempts before realizing that the witch’s curse was, in fact, real and fully in force. Seeking out the coven he had accosted those years before, he beseeched them for a blessing. After spending most of the night in ritual prayer and fasting, the new high priestess, Raina, came forward and declared that she would bless Konstantin with fertility, but only if he would then make her his childe, extracting an oath from him. He readily agreed; having tasted the true power of the Old Faith once already, he had no desire to cross its followers again, and the bloodline of the Yagnatia was born.

Until the time of the Bolshevik Revolution, the bloodline Embraced exclusively from several noble families (most notably Konstantin’s mortal descendents), as well as the pagan covens of Eastern Europe and Russia. The Yagnatia made a name for themselves in those same territories by driving out, or at least holding their own against, Grechkovik’s childer and his allies within the Lancea Sanctum. After the rise of communism, the bloodline was forced to adapt to a changing environment. Many family lines of nobility still existed, but they did not hold the power and prestige they had once commanded. This loss of prestige did not prevent the Yagnatia (or the Ventrue, for that matter) from Embracing from those families, however.

Unfortunately, Konstantin himself met Final Death at the claws of a pack of vengeful Lupines in 1621.

The werewolves were given information by Grechkovik’s ghouls on Konstantin’s whereabouts and made to believe he was the vampire responsible for the destruction of one of their sacred sites. Grechkovik’s followers had hoped that the loss of the founder would cripple the bloodline as a whole, but it only caused Raina, Konstantin’s first childe, to bring to bear the Boyar’s own resources and oust several of the Lords from their warm winter estates, cementing the Yagnatia’s rule across several Russian cities.

The Industrial Revolution and the overthrow of the Russian czars by the Bolshevik party during the early 19th century brought major changes to more than just the mortal populace. The Yagnatia, mostly young ancillae but also a few elders, saw a time of change and were determined to capitalize on it. They determined to expand their bloodline’s horizons and took to exploring the world outside their ancestral homelands. To this end, small groups of Yagnatia, composed of at least two men and one woman, embarked on journeys that would find them founding outposts in London, Madrid, New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, Bogot, Buenos Aires and even Tokyo.

These groups petitioned the Princes of those cities for acceptance and territory to establish themselves. Where a cult of the Circle of the Crone already existed, the Yagnatia requested, and usually gained, admittance, adding their numbers to the Circle in exchange for secure havens and feeding rights. These goals were much easier to achieve in cities with Princes belonging to any covenant other than the Lancea Sanctum. Indeed, where the Yagnatia encountered a Prince of that covenant, the bloodline’s members politely moved on. Sometimes, they were hounded out of the city by Sanctified zealots when the Yagnatia’s own covenant affiliations were discovered, but most often they were allowed to pass through in relative peace. Where the Yagnatia encountered a strong Invictus presence, they were often able to negotiate certain concessions, offering their services as Acolytes in exchange. Despite their physical differences, this Nosferatu branch does not disdain their disfigured cousins; they honor their ancestry and take great pleasure in the reactions they receive when revealing their clan affiliation to others.

In the modern nights, the Yagnatia continue to slowly spread across the rest of the world, focusing their attentions on large, industrialized cities and emerging economies. This places several Yagnatia in the burgeoning cities of Asia that are just now starting to take their place among the movers-and-shakers of the world economy. These young Boyars are determined to make themselves and their bloodline a powerful force and with them, the Circle of the Crone stands to retake much of its lost glory, something the Sanctified shudder to imagine.

Covenant: Having played a major role in the creation of the bloodline, it’s no surprise that the Circle of the Crone contains the most number of Yagnatia. Almost all female members join the Acolytes in honor of their ancestress, Afanasiia and her successor, Raina. Only the members of this covenant are taught the blessing ritual and elevated to the title of Holy Mothers. Many of the pagan cults of the Baltic region were mortal Choruses of the Circle, and it is rumored that the creation of the Yagnatia was by design rather than happenstance.

Second only to the Acolytes, the tradition-bound Invictus with their iron-fisted rule and political acumen draws some of the Yagnatia like flies to carrion. Those elders who pine for the days of the czars enthusiastically embrace the philosophy of the First Estate and all it represents. Solitary male Yagnatia tend to find themselves attached to this covenant, though when they decide to sire a childe of their own, they must abide by all the protocols and customs of the bloodline. For this reason, they maintain close ties with their pagan cousins, despite differences in ideology, something almost unheard of among other covenants.

For those few Yagnatia seeking a means of escaping or transcending their cursed existence, the Ordo Dracul is a viable option. Unconcerned with lineages, the Dragons present the Yagnatia with a means of exploring their own limitations without the burden of larger politics, should they choose. As with their First Estate brethren, the members of the Ordo Dracul who wish to sire childer must follow the proper customs and so keep cordial relations with the Holy Mothers among the Acolytes.

Neither the Carthian Movement nor the Lancea Sanctum attracts any members of this bloodline. The former because the Yagnatia’s noble ancestry does not provoke respect among the Carthians and the latter because their pagan roots invite outright persecution from the Sanctified.

Appearance: Those Yagnatia Embraced from the members of Konstantin’s mortal family are fair-haired and pale skinned, with blue or green eyes. Unlike the majority of their parent clan, these Nosferatu tend to be attractive and very regal in their bearing. The Nosferatu curse manifests in the aura of predatory dread that surrounds them at all times, despite their genteel seeming. They embody the epitome of the Machiavellian ideal: a ruler who prefers to be feared rather than loved.

Regardless of mortal heritage, all Boyars have the carriage of true nobility. They are arrogant, imperious and regal. Even without the powers of Majesty at their command, Yagnatia demand attention by virtue of their forceful presence. Elders sometimes retain the style of dress favored during their breathing days, somewhat antiquated but every bit as impeccable and intimidating as younger vampires’ Armani suits and Gucci shoes.

Haven: Almost without exception, the Boyars prefer to keep havens that display wealth and clout within their respective regions. Since the majority of the bloodline dwells in the ancestral home of Russia and surrounding Slavic nations, their havens’ art and architecture reflect their mortal days. Many still hold court in ancient castles or walled estates surrounded by acres of woodland that have been passed down through the mortal generations of families from which they Embrace.

For those Yagnatia making there homes in the bustling metropolises of North and South America and the Pacific Rim nations, the desire to impress all visitors with their wealth and power remains just as strong as that of their Slavic cousins. Whether it be the prominent display of rare and priceless artwork, legions of servants at their beck and call, or vast compounds, estates or penthouses in traditional samurai, drug lord or stockbroker fashion, all are designed to flaunt the power of the Yagnatia in one way or another.

Whether the Yagnatia share a haven or not, there is always a communal structure in every city where they reside that allows the bloodline members to come together to discuss personal business. These shared havens always have enough secure quarters in case individuals wish to spend the day sleeping here as well as a central location reserved for gatherings, allowing individuals to mingle and share gossip and general social niceties. Politics are often discussed, but surprisingly, everyone tends to keep a cool head. Even when members of different covenants share a haven, there is an unspoken rule that covenant differences are set aside when meeting in the common areas. The level of cooperation between members of this bloodline is exceedingly high, considering the inherent nature of the vampiric condition and inter-covenant conflict. The fact that the majority of Yagnatia belong to either the Circle of the Crone or the Invictus and that these vampires still maintain a close cooperative relationship has lead to rumors of some unholy alliance between the Acolyte Boyars and those of the First Estate.

Background:
All Yagnatia must bring prospective childer before a tribunal of elders who determine if the candidate is acceptable to be inducted into the “family.” A lengthy interrogation follows the presentation of prospective candidates to determine their mortal lineage, specific talents or skills and any mystical affiliation (such as having been a local midwife who was also a member of a goddess cult).= If the prospective neonate is deemed worthy, the soon-to-be sire then goes before his local high priestess to receive the blessing, allowing him to Embrace the childe. In nights prior, only those mortal members from among the noble houses or pagan cults of Eastern Europe and Russia were chosen for the Embrace—those sons who would have been targets of assassination by elder brothers or those daughters destined for the convent or the witch’s pyre. The elders of the bloodline retain this practice and have yet to show a more progressive attitude to the changing social conditions of the world. In fact, the mortal descendents of Konstantin continued to rule the towns of Rostov and Yaroslav until the late 15th century. Numerous princely families of Russia issue from this Prince, and consequently, so do many elder members of the bloodline.

In the modern nights, where money has replaced a noble title as a path to respect and prestige, younger members of the bloodline have begun petitioning the elder tribunals to allow them to include rich and influential families in Western Europe, North and South America and even Japan. They argue that families with ties to industries as varied as steel, cocaine, computers, pharmaceuticals and biotechnology would all be of great benefit to the bloodline as a whole. Denied formal approval to do so, these younger Boyars have nonetheless Embraced several new members from these backgrounds, producing several lines. The Lackenbys of England’s steel industry and the Shoups, investors in some of the United States’ largest pharmaceutical manufacturers add connections to Europe and the U.S. The Cardenas Lizardi brings a noted Colombian drug cartel into the fold, and the Murakami are up-and-comers in the field of Japanese biotech. Other individuals have also been inducted into the Boyars, being Embraced from Wall Street, Hollywood and even Dallas. All of these neonates share the ambition and outright ruthlessness the Yagnatia prize. Competition with the Ventrue in their ancestral domains, who have no qualms about Embracing outside of nobility, will force the elder Yagnatia to do likewise or fall by the wayside.

Nosferatu from outside the bloodline can petition a tribunal for acceptance into the Yagnatia, though the requirements are stringent. To begin, they must not bear any outward physical deformity whatsoever. Passing that hurdle, the prospective Boyar must show a high degree of acumen in an area of interest to the bloodline, specifically business, politics, assassination and related talents. If the prospective Boyar proves successful, the Nosferatu is inducted into the bloodline, whereupon he assumes the strengths and weaknesses of the Yagnatia.

Character Creation: It’s difficult to pin down a specific category of Attributes for any single Boyar. Most tend to favor power Attributes (Presence, Intelligence and Strength) over others, especially the first two. The average Boyar has higher scores in Mental Attributes rather than the Physical or Social, but only just so. Excellence in the social arena, quick wits and an intimidating demeanor, physical or otherwise, are all aspirations of the Yagnatia, despite the weakness of the Nosferatu. Favored Skills always include Intimidation and Politics as well as Academics, Persuasion and Socialize. Some familiarity with the Occult is relatively common, especially for those vampires wishing to become Holy Mothers. Social Merits with a high level of Contacts and Allies, although difficult for the Boyars to maintain, are almost universally prized, as well as certain Mental Merits such as Eidetic Memory.

Organization:
The Yagnatia appear, to those outside the bloodline, to be dominated by the male Boyars, while the women seem relatively unconcerned with vampiric politics and power plays. In reality, this branch of the Nosferatu is ruled by its female members, the aptly named “Holy Mothers.” The reason for this deception is due to the bloodline’s unique weakness. Women are a precious commodity to the Yagnatia, and they go to incredible lengths to protect them, and with them, the secret of their sterile Vitae.

Part of this protection is keeping up the faÁade of the men running the bloodline’s night-to-night activities and policies. At the same time, women are seen as devoted Acolytes in service to the Crone, unconcerned with anything other than their worship and the recruitment of new cultists. Continuing this deception isn’t as difficult as it sounds. The men truly believe their women to be holy, able to bestow a sacred blessing upon those of their choosing, and thus continuing the Yagnatia line. All Boyars, even those who belong to the Invictus or other covenants, maintain close ties to each other, and it is not unusual for these Boyars to attend Acolyte rituals. The Holy Mothers bind them to one another, regardless of covenant; without their blessing, there will be no more Yagnatia.

Should the loyalty of any member of the bloodline be called into serious question, he is forcibly blood bound to the high priestess herself in a special ritual that not only strips the unfortunate of his status within the bloodline but brands him as a potential traitor to other Yagnatia. Should the marked vampire commit an act that again calls his loyalty into question, he can expect the remainder of his Requiem to be short indeed: he becomes the immediate target of exsanguination by any of his fellow Boyars he encounters.

Candidates for the Embrace, as well as disputes between Boyars, are brought before a tribunal in a specific city or region. The tribunals are formed of the three oldest vampires in the area not in torpor, and they serve for a century before having the opportunity to appoint a successor or continue their post. Should a Yagnatia meet Final Death or enter torpor before choosing a successor, the remaining tribunal members will select a replacement. Regions are defined geographically based on mortal cities and their surrounding areas, population density and distance. In some places, the bloodline has actually secured positions of prominence among the Courts of the Damned, and many large Eastern European cities have Yagnatia Prisci if not Primogen.

Concepts: Power behind the throne, follower of the Old Faith, separatist warlord, political advisor, Mafia boss, orphanage director, shrewd businessman, social worker, Old World aristocrat, patron of the arts, ex-KGB agent-for-hire.