by Justin R. Achilli

I thought some people might get some mileage out of this. It will soon supplement the old submission guidelines.

—

Vampire is a game of personal, gothic horror. That’s "gothic," not
"goth." Some vampires are goths, sure, but we’re more concerned with the intricacies of becoming a monster and the literary meaning of gothic than we are with lyrics from Apoptygma Berzerk songs.

(Somewhere, right now, you¹ll find a goth screaming, "That’s not goth, that’s industrial! Idiot!" To that goth, I say: Shut up. Somewhere, right now, a European is laughing at you for confusing industrial with darkwave electro. Get over it.)

Vampire is about normal people who have been Embraced into a World of Darkness and turned into predatory monsters. It is a game of horror, of both the internal and external varieties. Each vampire is only half man — the other half is a ravenous, bloodthirsty Beast. Vampires’ worlds fall apart: Mortals they love die, things they held dear now linger out of reach, they prey upon what they once were. They have been utterly cursed. To ease the pain — or to escape what they have become — they pretend to be mortal.  They place elaborate social rules and grand Jyhads before themselves, hoping to divert their attention from their own bestial natures. They cling desperately to the vestiges of their humanity. Their unlives are tragic, doomed attempts to stave off the unnatural forces that lurk within them all.

(Vampire, to some people, is about blowing shit up, hurling bolts of flame and vicariously getting back at a world that shuns them for their geekdom. I don’t publish books for those people. It’s fine for them to play in that idiom — as long as they’re having fun, the game works. They’re going to play Vampire like that anyway, but I’m not going to encourage them.)

So, with all that in mind, you want to write for Vampire, eh? Well, before I hire you, we’ll have to see if you can take it. Part and parcel with Vampire writing comes criticism, and it comes in greater volume than with any of our other games. To see if you’re up to the task, complete the following mock letter using the choices presented and gauge your reactions.

"Hello,
(1) Jackass;
(2) Idiot;
(3) Bonehead;
(4) Moron;

I am
(1) a generic Internet chump hiding behind an anonymous handle
(2) a lonely, frustrated student with nothing better to do
(3) an illiterate dullard with vociferously spoken opinions
(4) a rabid fan who thinks White Wolf owes him something

and I just want you to know that your last book really
(1) sucked.
(2) blew.
(3) stank.
(4) should have been fed through a chipper-shredder.

Why was it so bad? Well,
(1) you didn’t do exactly what I would have done with it, which proves you are stupid.
(2) you left out several details in the interests of creating mystery, but I wanted to know the exact Traits or reason behind [Event X], which proves you are stupid.
(3) I’m incapable of understanding in-character bias in printed material, which results in my confusion and also proves you are stupid.
(4) just because, stupid.

In fact, White Wolf has put out consistently crappy books since
(1) you started writing for them.
(2) Justin Achilli took over Vampire.
(3) they stopped using Sisters of Mercy quotes to open every subsection of text.
(4) they came into existence, yet I still buy every book, if only to give me new reasons
to complain and find a surrogate victim for my own feelings of inadequacy and self-loathing.

I hope
(1) wild jackals tear out your liver for writing this thing.
(2) you are assimilated by the Borg, decapitated by Highlanders, hamstrung by my Celtic ancestors and defiled by cape-wearing LARPers.
(3) real goths taunt you when you go to the nightclub, you Manson-loving wannabe.
(4) you get fired and they hire me, even though I have no idea how to write a cogent sentence, let alone prepare a book for publication.

Sincerely,
(1) DarkRavynDeth143@aol.com
(2) Kevin Collegebritches, State University
(3) Nethraxis Zomb, Crimson Master of the Eternal Night
(4) Eugene Fenster, by way of my parents’ basement

P.S.:
(1) Which book explains Baba Yaga’s death?
(2) Enclosed is my character. Please make it official.
(3) I didn’t type my letter legibly or even bother to send a SASE, but I’m going to get all uppity if I don’t receive a response from you.
(4) Rot in hell, you bastard."

If you’re prepared to deal with crap like this, you’ve got the fortitude to work for us. (On a lighter note, you should know that the people you’re actually working for are the silent majority — the ones who accept the game for the entertainment pastime it is and "get it" on a larger scale. They just don’t write as often, because they tend to be better acclimated to the world. Not everyone in this hobby is a wailing, sociopath lunatic. Just the loud ones.)

Now that that’s out of the way, let’s talk about how to write for Vampire.

Most importantly, a writer must have a grasp of English. Grammar, punctuation, solid mechanics and a good voice are paramount. One of many people’s common misperceptions involves the belief that writing is easy — not everyone can draw well, it’s hard to lay out a book to given graphic design specs, but any monkey can sit in front of a keyboard and type pretty words. Not true. In fact, writing is the hardest thing many people will be expected to perform in their entire lives, and doing it well is even more difficult. A writer must be a good communicator before I hire her, as our production schedule doesn’t offer enough time to piece together a flaw-heavy manuscript. You may have the best ideas in the world, but they’re worthless to me if I can’t make heads or tails of them. If you’re a good idea guy, team up with a competent writer and submit a joint proposal. Just don’t send me "I like alot of vampires and the diablerie in the Sabbat of Mexico. But mithris was wetching and a Lupine. Attack!" and expect to have it published.

Vampire’s core theme is a tripartite concept: It is a Storytelling game of personal horror. Storytelling involves taking a concept and doing something with it. We all know the Ventrue are wealthy powerbrokers nonpareil, but what do they do to garner that reputation? How do the Nosferatu manage to maintain their vast information networks? How does a twisted Tzimisce acquire that reputation among others of her kind? Tell a story worth the words. Show us "memorable antagonists, prizes worth fighting for, fascinating settings, believable goals, plot twists, betrayals, redemptions, heroism, tragedy, triumph, horror and general weirdness." If you expect me to pay you, and you expect others to buy your book, you’d best make sure it’s worth our dollar-two-ninety-eight.

The personal aspect rests upon the role of the characters. We don’t need books in which clans/sects/coteries are faceless, monolithic entities that exist only to serve the greater agenda. Sure, the Toreador involve themselves in the worlds of art and mortals, but what motivates them individually? Clans are not fraternities that gather for Spring Rush or to take over the Brujah primogen’s crime syndicate. Sects are not giant companies or armed forces that unite to war with the infidels or "control" (damn, I hate that word) cities (even though they may say otherwise, as is the case with some particularly fervent Sabbat or Assamites). Rather, clans are more like families and sects are more like social societies, and when was the last time the Achillis or the goths banded together to drive the Methuselahs from the city? Focus on the individual — the intent is to show the unique nature of being a vampire, not to join an eternal, undying corporation as a pathetic servant. Nothing inherent to clan or sect membership ties a vampire to a "party line," and it’s more likely for a conniving Ventrue to plot against other Ventrue than it is for him to shake his fist at a cadre of black-biker-jacket-wearing Brujah gangstaz. Princes don’t just "hang out" on velvet thrones, and not all Sabbat are molotov-tossing psychotics.

Concerning horror, your submission had better seep with it. Without horror, this may as well be a superhero game, and that’s not what we’re after. Consider: All characters are dead, yet exist in a fragile state beyond death by stealing away the life’s blood of the people they formerly were while fighting to hold back the excruciating urges of the Beast. All vampires are addicts, dedicated, above all else, to acquiring that precious fluid upon which their existence hangs so precariously. To what depths will these characters sink in the pursuit of their schemes and wants? Let’s see those depths.

With those central ideas in mind, here’s what I’m looking for.

o New Twists: Surprise your reader. If we know what’s going to happen in the plot, it’s boring. I’m not advocating random chaos or arbitrarily motivated antagonists, but sometimes the logical conclusion isn’t what shakes out of an event. Weirdness and mystery are good.

o Interesting Characters: This is such a hot button for me, I don’t even want to open it up. Just make your characters have whole personalities. The idea of a "generic Malkavian" is pretty weak; everyone is an individual. Also remember that your characters’ concepts are not their clan or sect. See? You’re getting me started. Cool characters, please.

o Monsters: I don’t want florid tirades about eternal damnation, but I do want to see that we’re not dealing with fanged superheroes. Simple, but very important

o Open-endedness: Yeah, that’s not a word. So what? Anyway, if you’re dealing with plot, allow players’ coteries to have an impact on their environment. This is very hard with Vampire; characters run such a broad spectrum of motivations that it’s impossible to create a truly universal situation. It’s not like the old days of hack ‘n’ slash games, where you could stick a monster in a room and every character would make a beeline for it and kick its ass, whether they were priests, elves or whatever. Still, try to accommodate as many tastes as possible, and plan for as many eventualities as you can. If the objective of a story is to recover a torpid Kindred’s body, give my vagrant Gangrel truck driver a reason to participate.

o Focus: At the same time, however, your idea needs a unity of vision. Why the hell is the Ventrue gang boss hanging out with the Malkavian political hopeful on the balcony of the Brujah runway model’s loft? You can’t stop players from creating characters who have no business being together (check out a convention game that lets you bring your own character to the table for big laffs sometime), but you can at least bring a sense of order to the material you’re putting into print.

o The Young Ones: I like games that aren’t infested with low-generation god characters. A 13th-generation vampire is every bit as cool as the fifth-generation Prince of Paris, and a damn sight more likely to be believably played. Vampires already have an edge over the mortals among whom they hide — we don’t need any more vertigo-inducing lists of mega-Traits. Skew your writing to reflect the higher generations, unless you’re writing for sympathy with an older vampire.

o Keep it Current: The Vampire setting is ultramodern, and a 600-year-old jackass capering about in a velvet frock coat is gonna get waxed by the Inquisition, if not other Kindred. Vampires enact their Masquerade by following mortal trends, not by guzzling bloodwynnnne from crystal goblets with their vampyre wyves and speaking fantasy roleplaying-influenced faux Olde Englishe. Hey, you! Yeah, you; the Lord Byron doppelganger! I’m setting you on fire because you look like a vampire! Seriously, show us how hip and cutting-edge vampires are. Or, by contrast, show us a static elder who still does wear his powdered wigs — and show us the difficulties he faces by being unable to cope with change.

Now here’s what I don’t want.

o Stuff We’ve Already Done: I’m not interested in Your City by Night, in which the main conflict is a struggle for princedom.

o Stuff We Haven’t Done for a Reason: No Clanbook: Samedi or Secrets of the Inconnu, please. It’s hard enough to keep the mystery without turning over every rock in Vampire’s backyard. Maybe these books will come out at some point, but if they do, it’sbecause Vampire needs them and not because the eight millionth "I think Samedi are cool" submission was the straw that broke the camel’s back. I’m a bitter, resentful jerk, and I’m more likely to not print a book out of spite than to be won over by fawning over a pet idea (see below).

o Crossover: I’m the guy at the office who hates this the most. Mixing the various World of Darkness supernaturals almost invariably comes at the expense of the games’ horror and leans it toward a disparate mix of random superpowers. That, and the systems of the different games don’t work well together. Werewolves don’t even have tribes in Vampire; they’re almost always unknowable "Lupines." Other supernaturals follow suit. Send crossover to someone else and keep Vampire out of it if you know what’s good for you.

o Your Personal Crusade: So you like the Daughters of Cacophony. Great. The strength of your fetish/passion won’t sell books. Cool ideas will.

o The Same Old Tropes, Redux: Blah blah blah prince blah blah blah Ventrue blah blah blah control blah blah blah manipulated blah blah blah in his bid for power. Yawn.

o GoobCon XIV: I don’t know what committee approves these sorts of things, but every now and then, the gaming community appropriates some weird trend and it becomes chic to participate in it. People claim to be Celts or pagans or Gypsies or Wiccans or Native Americans, or they wear blowzy poet shirts and trenchcoats. What the hell is this all about? Well, most vampires aren’t gamers. Leave your Scottish Gangrel and your Ren Faire-visiting Nagaraja Abomination at home, please. Let these cultures have their dignity and let the dorky fads hurry to their merciful deaths.

Important Note: The Vampire schedule is full until mid-2001. I will not be adding new projects until that time. I do, however, need people to work on books in the interim, so please send in your proposal. Even if I don’t use your idea immediately, I may use you for one of the other projects on the board.

A list of inspirations for Vampire:

Anne Rice’s Interview With the Vampire and The Vampire Lestat — Vampires are sexy in a modern context, and the historical flashbacks are very evocative. I wasn’t a huge fan of Queen of the Damned, which I found too epic for my tastes, or The Tale of the Body Thief, which gave vampires some weird powers (but showed how much Lestat lost by becoming a vampire).

Sheridan LeFanu’s "Carmilla" — Here’s how you exist for centuries: by hiding and reinventing yourself. This story is also very sensual and spooky.

Frederick Cowles’ "The Vampire of Kaldenstein" — What a bunch of monstrous degenerates these guys were!

John Polidori’s "The Vampyre" — Despite the aftermath of lace and capes, this story pretty much established the core ideals of the modern vampire.

Bram Stoker’s Dracula — Duh.

Irvine Welsh’s Trainspotting — Unpleasant, seedy characters; swap out the heroin for blood and poof! Instant vampires! The movie also provided a good film translation, which is uncommon.

F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby — An excellent book stylistically (Fitzgerald describes his characters through their actions, showing rather than telling), and the social commentary is certainly applicable to Kindred society.

Tom Wolfe’s The Bonfire of the Vanities — A nest of high-society vipers and what they do when things go awry. Very Camarilla.

Hunter S. Thompson’s Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas and Hell’s Angels — Welcome to what could easily be the Sabbat. The Fear and Loathing movie is actually better than you heard it was.

John Berendt’s Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil — Very Southern, but also very gothic in the sense Vampire illustrates: rife with corruption and rotten from within.

Blade — Um, see, there are these 13 cla– er, houses, right? And they have mortal minions called ghou– uh, familiars. Oh well. The vampires in Blade were certainly very sexy and ultra-modern-hip-cool, and Steven Dorff’s performance was excellent. Plus, New Order was on the soundtrack and played during the phenomenal opening scene, so you can’t go wrong.

The Crow — Despite spawning a legion of fiendishly made-up LARP kids (and Sting), this was a scummy, noisy, vibrant, violent, druggy, and even somewhat gothic hell of a good time, with kickass sets to boot. Michael Wincott gave a sterling performance as Top Dollar, and I think the movie was better than the comic.

The Replacement Killers — Mainly the opening scene. You can bet that when vampires walk into a nightclub and some grade-A whup-ass starts to happen, there’s going to be some Crystal Method playing really loudly. And most of the movie’s characters are World of Darkness-style scumbags.

The Godfather, The Godfather II and Goodfellas — Treachery! Greed! Death! Sex! Lather! Rinse! Repeat! If you don’t like these movies, there’s something wrong with you. Every element of these movies can be adapted to suit Vampire, most of them with very little shoehorning.

The Hunger — A bit dated, but excellent nonetheless. Two creepy vampires ply their trade in New York as Bauhaus leers at the camera. I think David Bowie really is a vampire.

John Carpenter’s Vampires — Again, the strongest part of the movie is the opening scene, and it gets kinda action-campy from there. That opening scene is quality, though, and it gives an unsettling feeling for the "nests" of vampires. The head vampire, Varek, is really sinister in an over-the-top "bad dude" way.

Some General Writing Guidelines

Spellcheck, Damn You!: Your word processor does this. You have no excuse to submit a proposal with spelling errors. Even if you¹re a brain-dead, flesh-eating, feces-flinging howler monkey, all you have to do is click a little button and 60 percent of your moronism will disappear.

Action!: Many writers have a tendency to slip into the future perfect tense and passive voice. The Storyteller games are as much about proactivity as reactivity, and writing should reflect this. Consider:

o The hapless serf was slaughtered by the frenzied vampire.

o The frenzied vampire slaughtered the hapless serf.

Note the inherent sense of action in the second sentence — it¹s actually happening (even in past tense) as we speak, by simply making the subject active instead of passive.

o The characters will discover the slumbering Methuselah.

o The characters discover the slumbering Methuselah.

Note that "will" in the first sentence implies that the characters may get around to it eventually, whereas it definitely happens in the second sentence. Keep this dynamic of dynamics in mind, please!

Verb Tense: Present. Things happen now! Use the present tense to indicate that the things you¹re talking about are going on as we speak. Only use past tense if you are discussing something that did indeed happen in the past. For example:

o The players¹ characters stumble upon the lair of Assamite ghouls.

o A group of rogue Assamites established a fanatical ghoul cult in 1973.

Words I Hate: Don’t use any of these words unless they¹re the best choice for the job: Utilize, Moist, Zesty, Tangy, Facilitate, Basically (and its ugly sister, Essentially) and Incredible. Also avoid "junk" words — the ones you use to make yourself seem smarter. I don¹t care how smart you are, I just want to read something without being patronized. Some of those above words are junk words, for example.

Bad Phrasing: Avoid it. Things don¹t "begin to" happen unless they¹re interrupted. ("It was then the Tremere began to take action against the Tzimisce" implies that they never finished. "The Tremere began to take action against the Tzimisce, but faced opposition from Ventrue Eastern Lords that ended their campaign" works just fine.) Be wary of subjective prepositions, too; within, upon and the like are treacherous and rarely appropriate.

There Is and There Are: Not only are these often used incorrectly, they’re passive as all hell. "There is" means, "In that locations existsŠ" which generally isn’t what you’re trying to say when you use this construction. Here; I’ll show you.

o "There is my car," is fine, if passive-voiced.

o "There is a school of thought that suggest vampires are the children of Lilith, not Caine," is a damn mess. Where is this school? "There is" suggests it has actually, physically been constructed somewhere. And it’s still passive, even if you’re talking about a literal school, which you’re not. See what I mean? Just say no to there is.

by kabael@bu.edu

Well everyone, I’m back for another column and another month, and I’ve found out that WordPerfect has the most annoying habit of wanting to convert html code into something unintelligible. I am so glad that these computers at work are going to be getting Word soon. Yes, that’s right, I am writing this at work this time. Ha! I get paid $10 an hour to sit here at a computer doing nothing. Tough life, I know.

Anyway, loyal readers (because I know the first column really hooked you), this month, as I promised last month, is all about tha’ stereotypes. While I must admit that my personal preference for vampire clan lies with the Lasombra, I have to say that I find it sad that so few people see any potential in the "basic clans" at all. My friend Ratspaw, however, never really liked any of the Independent or Sabbat clans, he says that he has all the potential he needs in the Camarilla alone. I think he is right, although I do like the other clans.

So what do I propose be done about that? What am I going to do in this column? I’m going to provide several character concepts for each of the (formerly) seven Camarilla clans. Yes, I am including the Gangrel in this count. I intend to have one stereotypical-but-interesting concept and one "Why the hell is he in that clan?" concept, or at least that is what I had intended before I wrote this. I hope that each reader finds at least one interesting concept amid the fourteen or so that I am going to describe.

And one more thing, why is it so bad to play the stereotype? I mean, that stereotype had to come from somewhere, didn’t it? In any group, there are those who fit the stereotype perfectly. Granted, in Vampire: the Masquerade many of the stereotypes are as much because of how players play out their characters as how the clans operate in the World of Darkness itself.  Sometimes the first image in your mind is one that has grown from poor players, not the traits of clan members. So I ask, what is so wrong with playing the "stereotypical Tremere" once in a while? Does every character have to be some amazing example of stunning creativity and ingenuity? How long can you keep that act up? Sometimes it is nice to simply play the "common man." Some of the best role-playing experiences I have had (as far as getting into character goes) have been with "stereotypes" (like a Setite cop or an Ofanim cabbie in In Nomine). Sometimes I think gamers are terrified to play something so "bland." Sometimes we forget that it is not always the idea that makes a character great, it is the role-playing you do in that character.

One last thing as well. When people think of the clans, often they don’t think past the stereotypes, and they get lost in them. While I know that the clans are more like clubs than families in many ways (in that only those with certain traits are chosen to join usually), they are still relatively huge clans, and nearly any concept can be found within them. Each and every one of the clans is large enough to have a warrior tradition, a sect of magicians, secret police, and information gatherers. Sometime I have to do a column on mages within the clans, but that is for another time I suppose. But keep that in mind the next time you say "I don’t want to play a Ventrue, they are all money and politics."

Anyway, on with the stereotypes and examples.

I’ve never been much on the Brujah myself, they are good enough, I suppose, but I never really got much excitement from the "Rebel! Rebel! You’re all individuals!" feeling they gave off. The only Brujah that really got my heart pumping were those that did what they wanted to do, leather jacket or no. That’s the real "heart of the clan" to me.

So what great wisdom do I have for Brujah players? Learn to yell and get angry at anything. "You don’t like my tie?!? Argh!" They are less a clan of rebels than they are a clan of angry-ass bastards, to me. Anger is at the heart of all Brujah, anger at something. In some ways, I think that the Brujah chose to rebel against "the Man" and hate the establishment so that they can channel all that anger into something other than breaking the fists against the pyramids way back when.

Conservative Rebel

The more things change, the more things stay the same.

Growing up in a conservative school, you were a restless agitator like a lot of your new brethren, but unlike them, you weren’t agitating against nuclear power or foreign wars. You were fighting against political correctness and gun control. You were picked by your Sire amongst a series of candidates in law school for your perspicacity and clarity of thought. He believed that you could be swayed to his way of thinking through reason, but instead he begins to turn toward yours…

You don’t see why you should have to be a rebel just because you’re Rabble. What’s the point in free thought if you have to think it? You happen to support the ideals of the Traditions and think that they’re a good idea, and the hell with any of your clansmen who think they can force you to change your mind. They can try and talk you around, that’s fine, but you’ve got a houseful of books to arm your opposition.

Role-playing Tips:Be open, friendly, and willing to talk. Yours is a voice of freedom through reason, right? Voices have to talk to have any effect. Support your Prince, uphold the Traditions, and keep a close eye on your "brothers". After all, you can never tell what these cantankerous, temperamental Brujah might try to drag you into this time and screw up your city in some new way. If someone tries to force you back into your stereotype, get angry, get verbal and get loud. You gotta be who you are.
Systems: There are really very few recommended traits for the Conservative Rebel. Basically, take lots of Social Attributes (mainly Charisma and Manipulation) and Abilities like Expression, Politics, Leadership, etc. Some good Backgrounds include Resources, Influence and Status (and lots of it). You are the "Ventrue’s Brujah," build yourself as such. Presence is a must.

Muckraker

Words were meant to be free, but I have to charge $0.25 for the paper, man.

Before you were taken into the night side of the city, you ran an underground, independent newspaper, dedicated to the unpleasant truths that city officials and members of the upper tax bracket didn’t let into the large media concerns. A Brujah in your city happened to be a subscriber, and when he won permission to Sire a Childe he came straight to your doorstep and brought you into the fold. Since the, you run an underground, independent newspaper dedicated to the unpleasant truths that city officials and members of the upper tax bracket don’t let into the large media concerns.

You were already a nosy bastard, willing to stick your nose far into where it didn’t belong and risk getting your neck axed for your trouble if it meant exposing some of the city’s dirt to light. Now that you’re on the other side of dead, you find yourself in a unique position to understand why some of the shit you reported went down and to find out even more about the seamy side to fill your columns. Maybe you can’t tell the whole story, but you can tell enough to maybe make things better, or at least worse for your enemies…

Role-playing Tips:Keep your eyes open and listen to things you’re not supposed to. Ask questions. Take notes. Watch over your shoulder a lot, because you might be surprised how many people are looking at it from behind and frowning at you. Stay alive.
Systems: Contacts. Lots and lots of Contacts. Streetwise, Intimidation, Manipulation, Subterfuge, Expression, Enigmas; you have to know a lot to pull off what you do, it is not easy work. For Disciplines, Presence works wonders at swaying sources of information, and you have found that the Nosferatu have it right with Obfuscate, you learn more of it whenever you can. Speaking of Nosferatu, in many ways, you resemble the Sewer Rats more than the Rabble, even if you don’t break mirrors whenever you look in them.

The Gangrel, more than any other clan, embodies the essential predator nature of the vampire. They are closer to the Beast than anyone else, and they gain both power and problems from that. Like the Malkavians, there is something that should be kept in the forefront of the mind when playing a Gangrel, and that is the animalistic nature they all possess as heritage of their vitae. Very often a Gangrel will view things in the simplest terms possible, in a chain of predator-prey relationships, or a pack view with an alpha in charge, or as a herd shepherded by something more powerful than they. Sometimes this can give the lick great insight, sometimes it makes them act extremely naively, a fatal weakness in Kindred society. Not all Gangrel are loners, but all are eventually forced to become something akin to animals.

The Scourge’s Fang

Fuck being a loner, I’m sick of walking.

That security officer job never really worked for you, so when some stranger asked you if you wanted to work as "some muscle" for more money than you had ever seen in your life, you jumped at the chance. After that, you were a goon, the leg-cruncher and knee-capper of some local crime boss. You were never an exceptionally cruel man, but you did what you had to do. It was your job after all, that’s the way that world works.

And your world worked fine until you tried to break the wrong knees. Knees that just kept healing, no matter what you did to them. Didn’t mean you stopped trying, though, you never were one to give up. Which is why when you woke up with blood on your lips and a hunger in your belly, you signed up as the right-hand goon of the New Boss, one who insists that you call him the Scourge. You don’t love your job, you never have loved a job actually, but you do what you need to survive.

Role-playing Tips: You do what you have to do to survive. If that means breaking a few knees (or even necks), then that is what it takes. You don’t try to be "evil" despite what your victims say, but that is the way the world works. You don’t feel guilt for it. Really… The scariest thing is that more and more, you are right about that.
Systems: Protean 2, at least. Potence and Celerity are nice as well. Strength, Stamina, Brawl, Intimidation; those are the traits you live off of. You are not a thinker or a plotter, you never had to be, your muscle was always enough to get you by.

Aggressive Ecologist

Decelerating the Wheels of Progress is easier than you think

You excelled at your studies of ecology, because you understood the concept of interrelationships that a lot of your classmates failed to grasp, about how thoroughly affecting one thing could cascade into effects on a hundred things in a complicated system. They understood it intellectually, but you understood it viscerally and it made all the difference. That’s why you were picked by your Sire, a professor emeritus at your school, because of your understanding and how he could use it.

You use the famous ability of the Kindred to take undue Influence over an area and use it to protect what remains of the environment in your area. Using your skills as an ecologist, you can tell what companies are causing the most ruin and using your skills as a Kindred you force them to stop, and be damned the cost to the company involved. This doesn’t make you popular with the Ventrue, but they’re not your best buddies, either.

Role-playing Tips: Care. You care so much it infuses your very blood. Revel in the precious revenge that you do to these vicious pirate companies what they do to the environment, spoiling them to accomplish your goal the way they spoiled everything around them to accomplish theirs. Be needlessly sanctimonious about things like recycling and occasionally spout off about how important the naked mole rat is to the local ecology.
Systems: Social and Mental Attributes are important, as are Knowledges and such other Abilities like Subterfuge and Intimidation. Investigation and Science (Ecology) are a must. Animalism is likely to be your primary Discipline. Backgrounds should reflect usefulness in the Cause, Influence and Resources should be used as leverage for that, not for personal power.

Few things annoy me more than fish Malks. We all know them, they’re the LARPers who wander around babbling "Trala-trala, I am crazy. Ook-ook. Oh look, a faerie! Come to me my faerie friend!" They are also the kind of Malks that the Scourge uses to pick his teeth. To me, there are two things that should be kept in the forefront of the mind at all times when playing a Malkavian: A) I am insane. I am not sane. I am insane and B) I am a Predator. I have a Beast within me that cries out for blood. I drink blood to survive. For anyone wanting insight into how the mind of a Malkavian works, visit the Book of Not ftp site supported and heavily contributed to by the often caustically sarcastic but always brilliant Jason Corley. Really, the Book of Not is packed with both shite and intensely interesting stuff, but nearly all of it is more amusing than is legal. He also agrees with me, saying (in his! tips on role-playing a Malkavian) to always keep your derangement foremost in your mind. Filter everything (both in an out) through that filter. When you can do that, you can play a Malkavian better than you would probably like.

So just what are some good Malkavian concepts? Here’s two I think are pretty good.

Speaker of Blood

You are already dead.

You had a nice job on the police force, and everything was fine until that one bastard. You swore that he had a gun in his hand. You could see it clearly. Unfortunately, none was found when your partner searched the body. That was it for you. Until she came.

The day you died and came back, Death chose you. She kissed your neck, pulled your life out, and then gave it back. No longer are you some man going through your life like any other. Death gave you a gift when she brought you back from death. You are her eyes, her witness, her mouth and above all, her companion. You know when someone is going to die. You can see it in their eyes, hear it in their pulse, feel it on their skin – and you must tell them. That is what Death chose you for. You are the Declaration, the Announcement of the End. You give those who are doomed to die the time they need to prepare. No one ever does, though.

For the past 13 years, you have lived as Death’s witness, and spoken her judgements, and you have not been wrong once. This of course sets other people who know of your nature ill at ease. Most avoid you altogether, always finding something else to do. Some think that you have great insights, and actually follow you around, hoping for wisdom. More and more think that you are the one who kills those who need to die. That you are some kind of crazed assassin. Those are the ones who are most frightened by you, because they are always looking for the hand that directs you. They never realize that it is Death herself.

Role-playing Tips: Be ready, because any moment Death may call upon you to be the witness to the last moments of someone’s life. That is your duty, and it is a sacred
and solemn one. Let no one interfere with it, you will not fail. Watch everyone carefully, considering if they are the Next One. To others, of course, it seems like you are sizing them up as a meal. They just don’t understand. They can’t – they don’t see what you do.
Systems: Your Derangement is that you believe that you are Death’s witness. You can tell when people die and you must tell them, that is your duty and purpose. Beyond that, you must do your utmost to actually witness the deed itself. As far as traits go, take lots of Auspex and load up on prophetic merits and flaws, from Oracle to Bard’s Tongue. Make sure that you talk with your Storyteller closely about it. Some useful backgrounds might include Retainers or Status, based on the renown you have a a boogey-man of doom. The Status may result from people thinking you are an assassin for some secret society.

Additional Hooks: There was one time you were wrong, with that woman who you declared about to die. She did die, after a fashion. She was Embraced, but it seemed to fail and she lay like a corpse for hours. She rose again, however, plagued by visions of blood and fire. Now, you have to know what happened to her. She is the only one who has escaped Death, and she is ridden by visions just like you…

Media Junkie

"Impeach him? What a great idea!"
"Impeach him? What a ridiculous idea."
"Impeach who? Hey, did you see Unsolved Mysteries last night?"

"You have to listen to what they say, because they’re saying it for a reason, aren’t they? They wouldn’t put it on paper or over the airwaves if it simply weren’t true, after all. TV shows have their experts and their consultants and newspapers have their researchers and editors, and if it’s good enough for them, well, then it should be good enough for you and me put together, thank you very much. Listen and learn, watch and see, and you too can believe, brother, for only $4.95 for the first minute and $3.95 for each additional minute. Teeth really can be whiter, family crises can be solved in thirty minutes with plenty of time for some chipper advertising and doctors can laugh their way through the Korean War if only you’re willing to open your senses to what they’re trying to tell you and believe, yes, believe, brothers, with only a small donation you too can help a poor unfortunate starving Ethiogandakorean for the price of a pizza a year… Here, read this. It’ll help! p you u get started on the road to enlightenment. What is it? It’s the Weekly World News, can’t you read?"

When you were a child, your parents took great care to save you from the horrors of self-determination, teaching by example the advantages of gormless conformity. So you grew up the same way, cutting your hair just so, only wearing what the other kids wore first, and always, always taking TV as the Gospel, especially when it came to the Gospel, which seemed like too much trouble to just read for yourself. The Embrace opened your perceptions to all the information trying to get to you, to save you from yourself and from the ugly thoughts trying to break free and make your mind see the world that’s really around it…

You know the adage "You can’t believe everything you read"? You think it’s a load of crap. You can believe everything you read, and you damn well will, unless you see something on Jerry Springer that sounds better. Contradictions don’t faze you – if TV says something and then later contradicts itself, what it said was true until it said the latter and then it was false, that’s all. What’s the big deal? So the world changed in 45 minutes. That’s progress for you, like they said on the History Channel.

Roleplaying Tips: You go off on binges where you read something that particularly strikes your fancy or you see a TV special that catches your eye (Alien Autopsy! Wow! Why didn’t they tell us about all this before?!?) and try and spread the word that TV has brought you. Well, until it brings you something else. You strongly doubt anything you haven’t seen in the media or that contradicts what the media said, even if you personally witness evidence that disproves it. TV can’t be wrong or they wouldn’t have said it, after all.
Systems: Depending on the direction that the Media Junkie goes in, either high Auspex and Perception would be in order or low of both. Dementation would also be in order. Lots of Abilities (most of them seemingly useless) at lower levels would be much more likely than a few high ones. The Media Junky samples, he does not commit.

Sometimes there is just something about playing the pragmatic monster that gets my mind racing. The Nosferatu are monsters. They can’t deny that. They don’t have the luxury that the Toreador do nor the escape into madness that the Malkavians rely upon. Instead they are faced with reality daily, and they simply go on with their unlives. No other clan, even the Gangrel, are so down-to-earth and realistic. They are what they are and they know it. It is that acceptance that I think endears the clan to me so. I have had precious few opportunities to play a Nosferatu, but I would certainly like more. Despite their sick visages, they are the most well adjusted and humane of vampires, and that juxtaposition makes for some interesting role-playing if handled properly. In addition, the Nosferatu are often the secret source of information and materials. If you want it, they have it, and are usually willing to sell it.

Forager

You want it? I got it. You want it? Baby, I got it.

"Here, how about this? Almost new VCR. Hm? Oh, there’s a pawn shop on 34th Street with old-fashioned locks. I have another one over here. This one’s a pride o’ mine. It’s actually made from parts of three VCRs I found in a dumpster on Merchant Avenue. Works like a charm. Even in stereo."

You fully understood the concept of getting A to B. In high school, you were the guy who knew where all the school equipment was stored and how to get to it, whether you were supposed to or not, and that didn’t stop as you got older. You and your friends helped yourself to some of the equipment at the factory where you worked, y’know, not on a permanent basis, but for maybe a couple of weeks while you were sporting up your car. The bitter old son of a bitch you worked for, though, didn’t buy your story when he found out and had you arrested for theft. You argued your way through the judicial system and found yourself in prison. You filled a niche there, too, being the guy that everyone came to to get cigarettes and little bits of the outside world. One day you were taken from your cell and led to a visiting room, from which you never emerged…

You know how to get anything for anyone. It’s a free service for your sewer-mates; after all, if Nosferatu don’t help each other, no one else is going to, that’s for damn sure. But even the smooth-faced fancy-pants who live above come to you for your services from time to time; living in the night has become easier with 24-hour stores and the Internet and such, but there are some things that still need to be arranged for, if you know what I mean. For them, it costs. You offer volume discounts, though.

Roleplaying Tips: You’re a broker, but you don’t go for broke. You stay alive but not sticking your neck out, and if these monkeys want you to expose your precious hide it’s going to come out of their pocketbooks big time. Don’t ever flinch at what the customer wants to buy; it puts you in a bad position for bargaining. Don’t ever reveal customer purchases, because it’s bad business all around. Well, except to your pals in the sewer, of course, and they said it’s a secret between you and them…
Systems: Like any other "standard" Nosferatu, you need lots of Contacts and Allies wouldn’t hurt either. Since you deal with inanimate objects instead of people much of the time, however, Manipulation is less important and Mental Attributes and Skills like Technology and Repair become more important.

Resident Alien

People are strange, when you’re a stranger, faces look ugly, when you’re alone…

You still don’t know why the Sabbat picked you during one of their recruiting drives, but they did. You were walking home from a night on the town, when these four yahoos come out of nowhere and take you down together. Easily, too. You tried to put up a fight, but you might as well have taken a nap for all the good it did. One of them sinks his teeth into you, you feel your lifeblood sapping away, and then the next thing you know you’re in the ground… You lived with the Sabbat for some years before you started to drift around. You found a clot of Sewer Rats in another town, but it turned out they were Cammie. That didn’t bother you too much; sect is sect, sure, but Nosferatu is forever. You decided to see how the other half lives.

You’re keeping an open mind about this whole Camarilla thing, but whereas for your friends it’s a way of life, for you it’s a big question (or a series of little ones). Who, what, where, when, how, and most frequently, why? You’re curious about why your new buds have to do some of the things they do and follow all these silly rules that your old pack would scoff at, but when in Rome, right? So you float through Camarilla society, playing the roles that serve your purpose. Sometimes you are a loyal Cammie stooge. Sometimes you are almost a Sabbat ambassador. Sometimes you are simple the voice from the shadows. All the time, however, you are Nosferatu.

Roleplaying Tips: Walking up to your Prince and announcing I AM SABBAT is probably a bad notion. Being a Nosferatu transcends sect in many ways, and you can trust your Clansmen to watch out for you, but in the end you have to resort to the great protection of your kind: stealth. Keep your eyes open, mimic the people around you, and learn what the enemy does on their off time. Who knows? Maybe they won’t always be the enemy. Or they will and you’ll know where to hit them…
Systems: Obfuscate, and then some more Obfuscate to be safe. You have Manipulation, Subterfuge, Acting, and Stealth up the yin-yang, and you use them all regularly. Allies and Contacts (but mainly the former) keep you alive when the going gets tough, but your Nossie family is always happy to help.

(I had to sneak another Nosferatu in, I was suddenly inspired – forgive me, my readers)

Deep Throat

Listen carefully, here is what you want to know…

In school, you were the tattle-tale that no one knew about, the secret snitch. You were the eyes and ears of the Administration, often managing to get away with the worst stuff by pinning it on another kid. Life was sweet, until your scapegoats found out. You were never that careless again. When you grew up, you worked as an undercover cop, and a corrupt one at that. You had your finger on the pulse of the city, and you pulled strings and got what you wanted. When the crack-down on police corruption started, you were safe and sound, not only because you had started it, but because you had always been careful to be unidentifiable, always in the background. No one knew a thing – or so you though.

You were Embraced right when you were about to be elected, still rising off of the investigation of the police department that you had started. Now, living in the sewers and never able to grasp the reins of power directly, either in the mortal world or in the Kindred one, you have fallen back on your old skills. They say that the Ventrue and Toreador are the masters of manipulation, but they have nothing on you. Speaking from the shadows, whispering over the phone, dropping notes off at certain locations; with a few bits of well-placed information or suggestions, you steer the bull of political power better than a thousand blood bonds and a truckload of Dominate.

Role-playing Tips: Know just a little bit about everyone, just a little bit. It might come in handy later on. Always seem like you know more than you are telling and only say enough to get the results you want. Why squander your power? You lost everything once, it will not happen again.
Systems: Social Attributes and Abilities like Subterfuge, Leadership, Intimidation, Streetwise and Acting are a must. Obfuscate is the primary in-clan Discipline, and Presence and Dominate are both intensely useful out of clan powers. Backgrounds gravitate towards Contacts, Status and Influence, but almost all of it is through indirect control and manipulation. Sometimes it is difficult, yes, and not very exact, but it certainly is safe.

For some reason everyone seems to hate those "art fag" Toreador. "Pansies and fops! All of them!" is what I hear a lot, mostly from Brujah or Gangrel fans. A Toreador can be a great character though, look at the two pillars of the clan: Art and Politics. They claim only the former, but the latter is their bread and butter just as much. As such, Toreadors are the perfect characters for playing the "connected vamp" (or just plain "vamp"). The Toreador Embrace for Art, Politics, and Love most of the time, but what about the other parts of the clan? Sure, most Toreadors are "lovers, not fighters," but they are, like any other clan, still vampires are heart. Despite whatever personal delusions they have to holding on to their humanity, they are the same monster that the obviously inhuman Gangrel or the alien Tzimisce are. Combine that predatory nature with a love of art and an almost inherently political nature, and you get a very complicated monster indeed, rivaling any Tzimisce ! for sheer brutality hidden behind a facade of refinement.

Storyteller

Once upon a time, in a faraway land, there lived a young girl, and her name was
Lilith…

You had the voice and you had the knack, even as a young boy. You loved to read stories out loud, even as a boy, and your parents would sit enraptured by the side of your bed and listen to their boy read them to sleep. As you got older, your knack for telling stories began to serve other purposes. It made your antics seem more grandiose to the boys, more romantic to the girls and more innocuous to the Principal. You were picked up by a roaming Artiste in a coffee shop performance while you were in college studying literature and drama, and the two of you struck it off immediately. You became a Toreador society darling and eventually a full member. Now you live in what seems like some story out of an odd horror novel, and you love it. You have found a whole new world, with tales and stories the likes of which you have never seen before. Caine, Abel, Lilith, Enoch, the Antediluvians; all of it captivates you with an almost magnetic power. You cannot get enough, and you have become something of an amateur Noddist in your own fashion.

Role-playing Tips: Timing is important for a story. Work them in where they fit but don’t force them on people or you become a boor. Don’t be afraid to embellish or even outright diverge from reality when telling a story, because what’s important in a story a lot of the time is rhythm and flow, not technical accuracy. Fall back on the classics. Everyone loves the old stories. That’s why they’re old. Just don’t be afraid to personalize them a little.
Systems: Charisma and Expression are your heart and soul. Wits is important as well, as you need to be able to improvise. It might also help you to have a smattering of various Knowledges, especially History, because a little bit of knowledge can make a story sound so much more real Some things to you might want to carry: A bottle of rum, a copy of Aesop’s Fables and some semi-authentic fragments of the Book of Nod.

The Renaissance Woman

In framing an artist, art hath thus decreed,
To make some good, and others exceed…
– William Shakespeare, Pericles

You mastered the piano at 11. The violin at 13. The cello at 16. The paintbrush at 19. The pen at 21. The chisel at 25. It all came to you like breathing, and you kept mastering it all. You’re parents were so proud of their little prodigy. So proud that they paraded you around like some brightly colored peacock, and you hated them for it. They never loved you, they loved your ability – and they weren’t the only ones. A young Toreador was enamored of your amazing talents, and he brought you into undeath to be his lover, giving you eternity to master every art form. He never understood you, though. He never knew how you kept moving on to new media because you never cared for the art. You did it because you could, and you always grew bored of it. He just wanted to parade you around, just like your parents did. You hated him too. Or maybe he did understand more than he let on, because one night he grew bored of you, and then you were on your own. Now, in a world that you don’t understand but know well enough to pretend and gain status, just like when you were a kid, you finally feel driven and inspired… you just cannot figure out how to express the Art burning in your heart.

Role-playing Tips: Everyone is only interested in you for your talents, they don’t care about who you are at all. But you’ll show them, once you can figure out how you want to say the words ringing in your undead soul. Until then, you will have to remain quiet and play the little peacock for everyone. It is an easy role for you now, you are used to it.
Systems: Lots of Expression, or better yet, loads of points in Secondary Skills, all pertaining to art. Appearance and Charisma may or may not be high, but Manipulation certainly is, as is Acting – you have to know how to smile when everyone fawns on you, after all. And that is all anyone seems to want, isn’t it?

The Tremere are another one of my favorite clans (I think this would be a good time to mention that I like all of the clans), mainly because I love ooky-spooky blood magic. Sometimes though, I think that the Tremere are short-changed. They are often seen as either the carbon-copy magus (like the Cog below, but less personal) or the renegade "I learn kewl magik! Wee!" Anarch. I think that the double-agent Tremere is overlooked, as are the non-magical Tremere (although they got a look-see in the Vampire: the Dark Ages supplement Libellus Sanguinus 2: Keepers of the Word). From politics to assassination to spying to magic, the Tremere are like any other clan, and they need their warriors just like they need their wizards. But then again, magic is just too much fun to pass up sometimes.

Benedict Arnold

I, John Walker, swear to defend the Constitution of the United States of America…

You were a military analyst when they took you, used to processing information classified by the United States of America. They figured that you would immediately understand the nature of secrecy required by the Art. What they didn’t know, though, was that for years you’d been selling bits and pieces of that information to a broker you’d met "accidentally" at a party, and you were used to the gains to be got from betraying the trust of your allies. You’re a backstabbing weasel. You’ll sell anything you know if the price is high enough, and you’ll sell it as many times as you can manage since, unlike most other products, you can never run out of something you know. You don’t just sell information – you sell lessons in the Art, breaking the most sacred tradition of the Tremere and running the risk of execution for premium prices.

Roleplaying Tips: Play your activities extremely close to the vest. Make it clear to your customers that if anything happens to you, it’ll likely happen to them, too, so they’d be well served in keeping you hale and hearty. Space out your leaks or time them so it won’t be immediately obvious it was you. If you can, shift the blame onto one of your potential persecutors in the Clan.
Systems: Manipulation, Teaching, Acting, Subterfuge, Wits; all of these are musts if you intend to survive past your first night. Lying is something that comes like second nature to you, you are almost more a Setite than a Tremere. While both Auspex and Dominate are useful (hell, everything is useful), you concentrate in Thaumaturgy, as that is what most people want to learn, and what you can charge the most for… Your Backgrounds should reflect your success, Resources, Status, Favors; the whole nine yards.

The Cog

Climb the steps of the pyramid, my friend, it is there for a reason.

Even in life you followed the system. At the university you followed the curriculum exactly. When you graduated and became a teacher, you followed the rules to the letter, even if you didn’t like them. They were there for a reason after all, weren’t they? If there was something you didn’t like, you tried to change it from the inside. It is just better and easier that way. You were Embraced after you retired, after you had lived a nice, full life, so you don’t really regret leaving it behind. In fact, you welcome eternity, you have forever to learn now. While you don’t like the rules of the clan, and you are sometimes questioning the orders you get, you follow them none the less, the rigid order is comforting, and better than the alternative.

Role-playing Tips: The way in which you do something is as important as what you do. Blatant disregard for the rules is for the foolish and insane, not for anyone who wants to accomplish anything. Sure, not ever rule is right or good, but at least from the inside you can try to affect some change on them.
System: Mental Attributes are primary, specifically Intelligence. Similarly, Knowledges are your passion, much more than Talents or Skills. Auspex and the ever interesting Thaumaturgy are where your interests lie, Dominate is of little use to you know. Backgrounds are likely to be Status and Contacts, gleaned through you perfect Tremere attitude.

Often the most overlooked clan, the Ventrue have their own flare sometimes if you look at them right. They have their warriors and the secret police, they are just not in the forefront. And just what is so wrong with being a master manipulator anyway? Often times people underestimate the power of a well-trained ghoul. There is that whole sunlight issue that humans are so much better at. In many ways, the Ventrue epitomize "vampire" in the Camarilla sense. The "good Ventrue" is subtle, intelligent, plotting, and manipulative. A huge challenge to play, but it can be very rewarding none the less – as long as you ignore the Clanbook, that is, it was the worst of the Cammie clans.

Internal Affairs

"Repent, Harlequin!" said the Ticktockman.
-Harlan Ellison

"The truest danger to an organization always lies on the inside, friend, not on the outside, and the looser and freer that organization is, the truer the statement becomes. There’s always someone on the inside whose boss spoke to him the wrong way or read some propaganda and became a believer or needs the money or whatever, and if you think the enemy doesn’t have vultures circling around the outside looking for these weak spots every minute of every night, you’re fooling yourself, friend. We need to be as vigilant as the enemy is cunning if we intend to keep the organization going long enough to see if Y2K is real or hype, and we’re the ones to do it. You with me, or you with them? That’s what I thought, or I wouldn’t have asked and you wouldn’t have seen tomorrow."

You were in ROTC while earning your degree in Criminal Justice, so after graduation you went straight into the Army. During your military career you worked in counterintelligence, and you learned how vulnerable the seeming strong can actually be if it only looks without. You did stellar work during your career, and the Ventrue were pointed to you by one their agents who had escaped your notice, but then he did have some special advantages…

While most of the Camarilla’s defenders look out over the metaphorical walls at the enemies that lay ready to siege them, you look within for the turncoats who would proverbially unbar the gates and drug the guards’ wine. Traitors can be anywhere, and no one is above suspicion, even after an investigation comes up clean. That just means it’s time to start the investigation over.

Roleplaying Tips: Don’t trust anybody. As a matter of fact, the more someone
tries to solicit your trust, the more your suspicions turn toward them as either suborned spies or dangerously naive fools. Ask embarrassing questions about anyone and everyone, most especially the powerful, and feel no need to justify yourself for it. You’re just doing what needs to be done, and you need to know the dirty laundry before you can keep it out of enemy hands.
Systems: Social Attributes and Abilities like Investigation, Interrogation, Forensics, and the like should be assumed. Dominate and Presence both have their uses, although perhaps Dominate would be more effective. Status is a must, otherwise you would not have the authority to survive your manners.

The Puppeteer

Why do it myself when I have so many others willing to do it for me?

During life you were a follower, a pawn. You were the stooge for the schoolyard bully, the crony for the rising executive, the yes-man for the CEO. A young Ventrue thought that you would make the perfect pawn as well. You would have, if the Embrace hadn’t changed you so drastically. No longer content to be manipulated, you wanted to be the manipulator. You turned years of being on the bottom into a weapon, and with it you decapitated your foolish sire. No one wept when he fell to the "Sabbat attack." Then you set to being that manipulator, that puppeteer. You built your network of spies and agents. You flexed your strings, always sure to be subtle. So what if people call you the "stereotypical Ventrue?" Let’s see what they say when your ghouls destroy their haven during the day.

Role-playing Tips: You don’t do it yourself, you call for it to be done. Other people do the work for you. You are for planning and thinking, not for executing anymore. That is for the "little people," and now you have so many little people. Systems: Like any good Ventrue, lots of Social Abilities and Attributes, as well as Allies, Contacts, and Retainers. They are your arms and legs, your fists and teeth for defeating those who stand in your way. You do not attack your enemies as they leave Elysium, you have their haven burnt during the day.

Yup, this month’s column (and a fucking long one at that) has come to an end already. To keep it short and sweet after that monster, I’ll just say what is on the slate for next month: I don’t know. No, really, I don’t. I am thinking maybe about The War with the Fuzzies: How I would "fix" Werewolf: the Apocalypse, although I am also toying with maybe A Less Subjective Mage Game or A More Subjective Mage Game, the latter specifically because I don’t like that kind of game. Or maybe I might do the same kind of look as I did this month on Werewolf, but this takes a great deal more work than I had expected.

Anyway (I say that a lot, readers, so you might as well get used to it), suffice to say I don’t know what to expect for the next month, I guess it depends on what people tell me they want. I’ve gotten one response from this so far, just a general "Good job!" and I want MORE! More damnit! Remember, I write this for you people, so if you want me to write about a specific thing, just let me know.

Until that next, fateful, suspenseful month, enjoy your games and spend more time on the internet. It is the best way to procrastinate. Trust me, I know.

Oh, and before I go, I would like to publicly and profusely thank my good friend Ratspaw for helping me make this month’s column a success. At least half of the ideas here are either his or inspired by his. He’s a great and cool guy. Wave to him if you happen to see him around alt.games.whiltewolf.

by kish_k@mindspring.com

Blank pages: I’ve stuck to Clanbook conventions when writing this, and one such convention is that every chapter begins on an odd-numbered page, with an art page facing it. However, there is no art in this book, due to both lack of artistic ability on my part, and lack of knowledge of PhotoShop. Accordingly, those pages which would be pure art pages in a Clanbook are blank here.

Disciplines: Auspex, Fortitude, Presence. This isn’t what any "official" write-up gives the Ventrue antitribu, but I feel it makes more sense, and so it’s what I use. This book can be used with either "official" Discipline combination; just ignore the Flaw "Throwback."

Paths and Virtues: Again, my Sabbat is rather different from the official one, and I don’t have enough of a feel for the Path of the Feral Heart to know how the Ventrue antitribu would think of it. However, the different Paths and Virtues should be fairly easy to translate into what fits anyone’s version of the Sabbat.

Special Thanks to:
Shweta "Warrior Princess" Narayan, for arguing me to a standstill about pretty much everything.
Bryan "Path of Re-emergence" Rendell, for contributing to my version of the Sabbat without ever knowing it.
Joe "Inner Voice" Iglesias, for suggesting a quote.

Chapter One: Freedom

I clench my teeth to avoid shouting as Darius turns casually away from the body of his dead packmate. Scanning the faces of the assembly, I see no one else looking as shocked or outraged as I feel; instead, all the others are strolling away.

"Why?" I want to scream at Darius, but I can imagine what the result would be. Instead, I scan the throng until I see my sire, Amy, and go over to her.

"Am I missing something?" I ask her. "He did just murder his packmate over a kine, didn’t he? How–"

"Not here," Amy breathes, grasping my arm firmly. "Back at our haven. I’ll explain it all there."

"That upset you," Amy says quietly as she turns one chair to face another and sits in the first chair, gesturing me to the other.

"He killed his packmate — for a kine," I sputter, wondering what I’m missing. The detachment everyone has been showing is starting to get to me. Amy leans forward and tells me, "It wasn’t really about the kine." Leaning back in her chair, she says, "Define freedom for me."

"Freedom is — the right to do as you choose, as long as you respect others’ rights."

She smiles, showing her Vicissitude-perfect teeth. "Very good," she tells me. "That last part — as long as you respect others’ rights — is essential. Darius is a Harmonist; his Path requires him to care, even about lesser beings. Of course, that doesn’t mean all of us should avoid hurting humans, that we do not injure the sensibilities of our Harmonist brothers and sisters — not a bit of it!" She laughs, tossing her hair. I’m reminded again of how I first met her. She still appears as she did then, like an innocent, beautiful, vulnerable young human. Fixing me with her eyes, she continues, "But what Simon did, torturing a kine to death in front of Darius — that wasn’t about Simon’s freedom. That was about a lack of respect for Darius and his Path. Simon meant it as a challenge; Darius responded — appropriately. Everyone there understood that. Indeed, had Darius not killed him, everyone would have known Darius was a coward."

I blink, adjusting to this viewpoint. "Not about the kine," I repeat slowly.

"Not in the way which matters," Amy shrugs. "It’s simple, really. If you hurt a kine for — scientific research, it’s your business. If you take up social work, spending your spare time helping hungry kine get food, it’s your business. If you kill a fellow Sabbat for torturing a kine, it’s murder. If you kill a fellow Sabbat for trying to help kine," her voice clearly indicates the incomprehensibility of any sane vampire trying to help kine, but she finishes, "it’s murder. If you kill a fellow Sabbat who was provoking you, in a properly sanctioned Monomacy duel… it’s justice. Only the strong can be free, and if we cannot treat our brothers and sisters with respect, we are as weak as the Camarilla.

"Respect," I repeat the word. "All those of our clan I’ve met put so much emphasis on this. Most of the others talk about freedom and loyalty, but not respect.

She frowns slightly. "It’s an essential part of our clan’s ideology — but don’t generalize too much. Stereotypes can be useful, but not nearly enough to make up for the danger. Every other clan loses much to them, even the ones you’d think would know better. Inside the Camarilla, the Nosferatu make sure to humiliate every Toreador they can, even Toreador neonates who never considered laughing at a Nosferatu. This makes sure every Toreador who makes it past a century never misses a chance to put down a Nosferatu again. And so it goes. Some of those outside our clan recognize that freedom and loyalty both depend on mutual respect.

"What if a fellow Sabbat does not treat you with respect?" I ask, thinking of the Lasombra.

Her frown deepens. "There can be no respect which only goes one way. If one of your fellow Sabbat treats you with disrespect because of an error you have made, act to correct that error. If another vampire treats you with disrespect because of something beyond your control, such as bloodline, lineage, gender — talk to her. Try to make her see."

"And if she cannot see?"

Amy draws one fingernail across her throat, in a gesture that would be quite meaningful enough even without the bright red line that follows her finger. She tilts her head back, making sure I see, then the cut on her throat closes gradually. "All vampires are equal," she tells me quietly. "All. All generations, all clans, all bloodlines, the Panders — all deserve to be judged on their own merits as individuals. That is one of the guiding principles of the Sabbat. Anyone who says otherwise is a traitor — or a fool. Fools can be convinced of the truth. Traitors die."

"It’s not always that easy," I protest. "No priest would agree I had grounds to fight a Monomacy duel with every Lasombra who snubbed me. And even if I could— "You’d get smeared all over the ground by one of the elders?" she suggests dryly, then laughs. "Of course no one expects you to go out and beat up any Sabbat whose actions are unjust. Pointless bravado is not considered a positive quality in our clan. Survive and succeed. Believe me, when we act, it will be as a clan, with careful, well-thought-out precision and perfect unity…and the Lasombra will cease to lead the Sabbat."

I can’t quite suppress a start at her words. She rises to her feet. In that moment, she doesn’t look innocent, vulnerable, or even remotely human. "Oh, come now—it cannot be a surprise to you," she says sharply. She walks over to her chessboard and starts playing with the pieces as she speaks. "Even with the Lasombra, I do not generalize. Some can be good friends. Some are worthy to stand with the rest of us in the Sabbat. None are worthy to stand above us, and by ‘us’ I mean more than the Ventrue antitribu. The number of Lasombra who would accept a Sabbat where they did not get to dictate to the other members, who would accept truly being our equals, who have any real belief in freedom, or any loyalty to anything but their own power…few. Very, very few. As individuals, they deserve the same consideration as all other Sabbat. As a clan?" She gently lifts one of the chess pieces—a black king—into the air, then abruptly clenches her hand around it. I watch as the king explodes into fragments in her hand. The hand opens, letting the particles fall to the floor. "Dust," she finishes succinctly.

As Amy quietly resumes sitting next to me, she seems to shrug off the seriousness of the evening. "But that is all for later," she says, once again appearing harmless, but for the memory of that flash of terrible power. "In the meantime, I had a few kine from the club brought here and strung up in the next room. Their bodies are full of…alcohol. Let’s make an even out of it.

Chapter Two: Truth

Our true history as a clan is brief indeed. While we have accounts that date from before our split from the Ventrue clan, I have deliberately excluded anything that the eldest of those who now stand with us could not personally confirm the truth of. I make no apology for this; our ancestors are perhaps the greatest liars and hypocrites of the Cainite race, and their accounts are apocryphal, to say the least. One thing we can learn from the conflicting (and, probably, all false) accounts of Carthage is that false information is far more debilitating than an honest "I don’t know." As for what is here…it is confirmed enough to satisfy me, but you are encouraged to take it with as much salt as you like.

This is where it all started, with the young Brujah and Tzimisce. The Brujah objected to being abandoned to the tender mercies of the Spanish Inquisition when their elders went into hiding. The Tzimisce objected to being thrown into suicidal battles against the Tremere, used as cannon fodder by their elders. They banded together, calling themselves "anarchs," setting out to destroy all the elder vampires and set the young ones free. At first, the elders of the thirteen clans laughed at them. Then, they were joined by young Gangrel, Malkavians, Nosferatu, Ravnos, Toreador, even a rare few Lasombra and Ventrue (our ancestors). They managed to arrange a temporary alliance with the Assamites. And suddenly they weren’t so funny anymore.

As near as I can figure out, the Lasombra elders were simply in the wrong place at the wrong time. Mind you, the Lasombra nowadays claim their Antediluvian wanted to die and deliberately set himself up. Hardly any Lasombra will admit his clan was not in total control of any situation—ever—but our best evidence indicates that if the anarchs had first come upon the Toreador Antediluvian, say, that would have been the first Antediluvian to fall. In any event, what we can (mostly) agree happened goes something like this: one childe of Lasombra named Gratiano diablerized his sire, either because he believed in the anarch cause or because he saw an opportunity for power. Most of the other Lasombra quickly changed sides once their Antediluvian fell. Tzimisce was, by this time, much too attached to his homeland—and much too arrogant—to run. One Tzimisce anarch called Lugoj Blood-breaker, the inventor of the Vaulderie ritual that we practice today, fought his way into the Antediluvian’s sanctum. Many other anarchs fought at his side, and there was an epic battle with Tzimisce’s defenders, but Tzimisce himself never woke from torpor, not even when Lugoj sank his fangs into Tzimisce’s neck and diablerized the Antediluvian. This was the finest hour of the anarch revolt. We now had three full clans on our side, and there was every sign that we could continue in this fashion until all the Antediluvians were dead. Then we could have created an ideal world, a world in which all vampires treated each other with respect and none could force another’s will. At least in theory. I’m not sure how well it would have worked in practice.

In any event, we never found out, for we’d underestimated the Antediluvians’ cunning. Our parent clan was responsible for organizing the resistance to our movement; the Tremere helped them make their plans, the Toreador were the first to support them, the Brujah elders came back out of the woodwork to ally with them. In the end, the elders of seven clans supported them. We had all the Assamites, Lasombra and Tzimisce on our side, and we had some Ravnos (the bulk of the clan avoided the fighting altogether), but the Setites offered their support to neither side, and the Cappadocians…well…the Cappadocians were being eaten by their childer. (Yes, you have heard of the Cappadocians; you just didn’t know it at the time. Their descendants call themselves Giovanni now.) We were close to evenly matched, the elders and the anarchs. We fought for years and years, but finally…we lost. Oh, that’s a bit of an exaggeration. The fact that we’re still here attests to that. However, they definitely had the upper hand, and they offered us surrender terms. For the most part, we could join their new organization, or "camarilla" as they called it. If we surrendered to them, we would be Blood Bound to the Camarilla’s Inner Circle, but we would receive no further punishment. Many chose to surrender. The Brujah—they stopped being our leaders then, because so many of them caved in and joined the Camarilla. The Assamites surrendered for the most part, but refused to accept the Blood Bond. Instead, they negotiated terms with the Camarilla, terms which are well known to you.

Some from each clan, however, rejected the Camarilla’s terms. The Lasombra, anarch Ravnos, and Tzimisce—none of them surrendered, for their different reasons. None of our ancestors surrendered. Of course, there were never that many of us—the eldest of us was and is five steps removed from Caine. But all there were were completely dedicated to the anarch ideals—besides which, Clan Ventrue has never been much for leniency to traitors; we had little to go back to. We resolved to continue fighting. As long as there is blood in our bodies, we will fight the "Camarilla" and its corrupt, oppressive power, for our own sake and that of all our brothers and sisters. What happened then? We fell back. The Lasombra wanted to stand and fight, but we—the anarch Ventrue—knew that would be suicide. At that time, in that place, we had already lost. We pushed for a strategic withdrawal, and the Tzimisce supported us. Finally, we did indeed retreat from most of Europe. We developed new tactics and made new allies. We named ourselves the Sabbat, for we had been created, albeit inadvertently, by the human Inquisition. Our membership increased to include vampires of all thirteen clans, save only the Giovanni. Those who claimed membership in our Sabbat though their clan’s loyalties were elsewhere started calling themselves antitribu. Joseph Pander, with our help, forced the Lasombra to give his clan equal rights. This was all the good news. The bad news was that the Lasombra were easily the most numerous of all the anarchs now, except possibly the Tzimisce, who did not choose to stand against them. They claimed almost every leadership position, and they became, as they are today, fully as corrupt as their ancestors had been.

For six hundred years, we’ve been in the Sabbat. Six hundred years of watching the Ventrue rule the Camarilla. Six hundred years, and it seems we’ve finally managed to clean the stain of our ancestors’ actions from our hands. Tell a Pander that our clan kept the Caitiff down, and he’ll stare like you said the sky is falling. Tell a Sabbat Brujah that we should be his enemies, and his laughter will be heard for miles around. Six thousand years since the first Ventrue "princes" claimed territories and began striving to enforce their rule on other vampires, and it seems the more thingschange…the more they stay the same. Only now, here, it’s the Lasombra who hold the chains. The Brujah antitribu, the Gangrel antitribu, the Panders…they look to us to lead a revolution. We owe them, for all our ancestors put them through. And so we oppose the Lasombra, as strongly as we oppose the Camarilla. The Lasombra are strong and devoid of honor. Those who stand against them are accused of treason, framed for assisting the Camarilla, sometimes outright murdered. But in the end, they will lose, because in their hearts, the other clans know we want the best for all of us; they know the Lasombra want the best for no one but the Lasombra. We could destroy the Lasombra tonight, if we were willing to pay the price, but we’re not. We could win another civil war, without external interference, but as it stands, the price for starting one would be the fall of the Sabbat and the final victory of the Camarilla—and the Antediluvians. For now, we act with more subtlety because for now, we have no other choice, but believe me, the Lasombra will not rule the nights forever.

Chapter Three: Honor

The Ventrue antitribu regard organization—all organization—with a suspicious and wary eye, having seen what "organized" clans such as the Lasombra and Ventrue True Clan are like. Accordingly, they are deliberately as disorganized as they can be without becoming completely ineffectual. There are no "leaders" of the Ventrue antitribu; the main goals of the clan are agreed upon, and each individual clan member chooses how to pursue them. Since Ventrue antitribu ideology states that any power that one gains benefits all, they cooperate better than any other bloodline, with the possible exception of the Nosferatu. A fair number of Ventrue antitribu choose to ignore the clan’s larger goals entirely and spend their unlives doing as they please; however, even these ones never act to the clan’s detriment.

*Cain
This Path, like the kine religion it developed from, suffers from a fundamental lack of logic. No one currently exists who can claim to have met Caine and is remotely trustworthy, so followers of this Path try to pattern themselves after what is essentially a myth.

*Cathar
This disgusting Path holds honor and loyalty as flaws. It would have been better if it had never become an accepted Sabbat Path. Those who follow this Path are lost to any worthwhile cause; we must prevent them from doing any damage. Far too many of our clan follow this Path; that is their right, but as long as they choose it, they deserve nothing but contempt.

*Death and the Soul
They’re weird. That’s a compliment—normal is bad. Few of our Clan choose this Path, but those who do are certainly welcome to it.

*Evil Revelations
This Path is forbidden—for excellent reason. Its followers willingly enslave themselves to demons and work to force others into slavery as well. They are anathema to everything our Sabbat truly stands for.

*Harmony
Here in the Sabbat, we accept that we are not human. This gets twisted when those outside, especially the despicable elders of the Camarilla, speak of us. They call us "beasts," they call us "monsters." What they forget is just how twisted humans can be. Being inhuman and being immoral are two completely different, unrelated things. The followers of this Path are never deliberately cruel. Do not make the mistake of thinking this means they’re weak; most of them are deadly in battle, and when they see killing is necessary, no other Path’s followers can act with more determination or less hesitation. Still, few of our clan find this Path’s tenets to their satisfaction.

*Honorable Accord
Most of us follow this Path, as I do myself. It is, after all, the ultimate form of our beliefs: our personal honor is more important than anything, save the good of the Sabbat. It is our duty to make the Sabbat what it can be, what it was originally intended to be, for the sake of all vampirekind, and over the dead bodies of as many elders and Lasombra as care to get in our way.

*Lilith
The main difference between this Path and the Path of Caine is that the things followers of this Path do cannot be logically explained independently of the Path. That makes them seem, at the least, sincere in their beliefs. However, their actions appear quite insane to those not on this Path. I think I’m glad so few of our clan find this Path appealing.

*Power and the Inner Voice
This Path’s followers include our best friends and our worst enemies inside the Sabbat. Few of our Clan follow this Path, but if you meet one who does, treat her with respect and loyalty, and she will offer you the same.

Auspex
Exactly how it is that we gained skill in this Discipline, rather than the Dominate Discipline practiced by our ancestors, is unknown. There is much speculation about it, but in any event, it suits us. We do not desire to force others to obey us. With this Discipline, we can discern if the potential for choosing to support our goals exists within an individual’s heart. Also, it helps us select childer, since we have no desire to be as elitist as our parent clan, and cannot afford to Embrace as many total idiots as…some others do.

Fortitude
This is the only Discipline that remains exactly as our ancestors practiced it. It helps keep us undead. It is purely defensive, and that suits us too, for we do not consider ourselves warriors. Many consider this cowardice, but we do not care. There is no courage in choosing to use force where another tool would work better.

Presence
We still practice the Discipline of Presence, but our powers have changed since we split from our parent clan. Compelling others to obey against their will is wrong, and we have no desire to learn a way of doing that. Those who are blind should be helped to see, and that is what our Presence can do. Those who knowingly choose evil should be destroyed.

* Awe: No change
** Dread Gaze: No change
*** Inspiration
A vampire with this power is capable of inspiring his/her allies to great deeds. Anyone who is presently working toward and believes in the same ideals as the vampire can tap amazing reserves of inner strength. This can affect any being, but only works on those who actually are working toward an ideal shared with the vampire—temporary alliances against a common foe won’t work. The most common subjects are the vampire’s pack.

System: The vampire rolls Charisma + Leadership. The first success gives one ally one extra point of temporary Willpower for one hour. Each additional success can be used either to add one hour to the duration or to add another point of Willpower to the same or a different ally. This power cannot affect the user. Extra points of Willpower are always the first to be spent. This power can only be used once a day.

**** Summon: No change
***** Idealism
By speaking truthfully and persuasively with another being, the vampire can attempt to convert that being to her viewpoint. This Discipline has helped many vampires decide to join the Sabbat and has been useful in forming temporary truces with werewolves on occasion as well.

System: The vampire must speak for at least five minutes with the subject of this power, and everything the vampire says must be true to the best of her knowledge. Including a lie or saying anything the user doesn’t mean results in an automatic botch. At the end of that time, the vampire can roll Charisma + Expression at a difficulty determined by the Storyteller, based on how well the player roleplays the interaction and how open the subject is to what he is being told (this power requires careful adjudication). The subject’s Willpower has no effect on the difficulty number. Most often, the user speaks of how all vampires should be equal and free. This Discipline can only play upon what is already in the subject’s heart; one who has no common ground with the user cannot be affected. Also, note that this power results in an ideological conversion rather than a physical conversion (Example: Gavin, a Ventrue antitribu, uses Idealism on Naera, a Tremere elder, and scores nine successes. Naera is fully convinced that all vampires should have equal rights and freedom…but, this does not change her opinion of the Sabbat one bit. In a blast of Thaumaturgy, she incinerates Gavin, then goes back to her chantry and starts using her influence to convince the rest of her clan both that the Tremere hierarchy is stifling and that they really should be fairer to the Nosferatu, Brujah, and Caitiff).

1 success
The subject is slightly interested and willing to continue listening; you can roll again after another five minutes. If for any reason you stop now, the subject will likely dismiss your words.
2 successes
The subject will give serious thought to what you have to say. There is no guarantee that he will not eventually decide to disregard your words, but they will at least be seriously considered.
3 successes
Your words will never be completely forgotten by the subject. He may believe he stopped considering them long ago, but they will rise again at the most inopportune times throughout his existence.
4 successes
The subject is inclined to agree with you, even if your words run contrary to something he believed strongly before.
5 successes
The subject is completely won over and acknowledge the accuracy of your words. How he will react then is up to him.

A vampire with this form of Presence at Level Five can learn the normal Entrancement power at a cost of fourteen experience points, and the normal Majesty power at a cost of 28, from anyone who knows them. They do not have to be learned in that order (the vampire could also choose to pay 28 experience points for Majesty and never learn Entrancement). A vampire with the normal form of Presence at Level Five can learn Inspiration at a cost of fourteen experience points, and Idealism at a cost of 28, from anyone who knows them. They also don’t need to be learned in order, as long as the vampire has Presence 5. No vampire with less than 5 in one form of Presence can learn powers from the other form.

New Merits and Flaws
These Merits and Flaws are recommended for Ventrue antitribu only, although they may be allowed to other characters at Storyteller discretion.

Progressive (4 pt Merit)
Your mind adapts itself quickly to changing times. While other vampires balk at using cars, you surf the World Wide Web without difficulty. You can never have the Flaw: Anachronism, and no matter how old you get, you can reasonably expect to be perfectly comfortable with new technology. Even more importantly, your mind is as flexible as a human’s. In an Elder game, you use the Experience Point Chart for neonates, regardless of how many points of the Age Background you possess (note, however, that no Ventrue antitribu can reasonably possess more than four dots of Age, and only the founders of the bloodline should be allowed that many).

They All Look Alike (2 pt Merit)
Humans all seem alike to you, and your clan weakness has adapted itself accordingly. You can feed on any human, although animal blood is still off limits. However, if you ever accept that humans possess individual personalities, you lose this Merit and immediately gain the full Prey Exclusion of a normal Ventrue antitribu.

Throwback (2 pt Flaw)
Perhaps you’re a defector from the Camarilla, perhaps your sire or grandsire was, or perhaps there is some other explanation—in any event, your blood shows that you are more closely related to the Camarilla Ventrue than most Ventrue antitribu are. Your Clan Disciplines are Dominate, Fortitude, and standard Presence. You are viewed with distrust by the rest of your clan, and finding a teacher for Dominate will likely be difficult. Most of your clanmates will strongly encourage you to develop Auspex (at out-of-clan costs) and let your Dominate skills rust. It should be noted that not every Ventrue antitribu who traces her ancestry to a Camarilla member has this Flaw; in fact, the ones who do are a distinct and inexplicable minority.

Perspectives on Others
Assamites
They are warriors. They know no other way, nor do they wish to. For now, the ones in the Sabbat are essential allies against the Camarilla, but after our war is won, if we cannot find another target for them quickly, they will turn on us. If everyone they could possibly regard as an enemy was dead, they would turn on each other. They could never deal with peace.

Brujah
They are the best at rescuing innocent young vampires from the Camarilla’s web of lies. They always support us, and much of our political power in the Sabbat comes from that support. Indeed, we owe them much. That debt will be repaid. We will not allow them to destroy their own dreams as they did in the Soviet Union, and in long-ago Carthage.

Caitiff
They are a perfect example of what a world dominated by the Camarilla would be like: in no meaningful way are they inferior to other vampires, yet they are treated as nonbeings because their blood is not pure enough.

Followers of Set
As a clan, they are most abhorrent. They wish to reduce all others to dogs at their feet. However, they still retain free will, and those who choose to turn their backs on that evil deserve the same chances as any other vampire.

Gangrel
The ones allied with us ignore us, and we them, for the most part, yet they are loyal. The ones in the Camarilla fight for their sect only when forced to. For the most part, they prefer to be left alone, which is their right.

Giovanni
Their true goals are unknown to us. Their morals are appalling, their actions are incomprehensible, and their personalities are disgusting, but as long as they concern themselves exclusively with mortals, they’re not a threat to us.

Lasombra
The members of this loathsome clan must be pulled down from their current position of leadership. Leaders are supposed to serve their followers, not the other way around, but the Lasombra do not accept that, and so they must be overthrown. Those who will not accept being the equals of the other Sabbat must be destroyed.

Malkavians
As long as they don’t pose a danger to the Sabbat, they deserve the same rights as all of us. The ones who do oppose the Sabbat deserve the same mercy as the other loyal slaves of the Camarilla—Final Death.

Nosferatu
They’re not very friendly, and they keep secrets from their allies, even among the Sabbat. This is bad for sect unity. However, considering the way they’ve been treated by most other clans throughout history, we cannot blame them for being a little…standoffish.

Panders
Most Panders are thoroughly self-absorbed, show no signs of ever considering anyone besides themselves, and are prepared to gain equality by walking over the tattered corpses of both those who oppose them and those who try to help them. We cannot trust them, and I would prefer not to have to deal with them at all…but we must help them gain recognition as equal to the other clans. If we don’t, we’re the same as they are. Worse. We’re the same as the Lasombra.

Ravnos
They believe in an entirely one-sided definition of freedom. They demand it for themselves, but do not offer it to those they interact with. Most of the ones in our sect are less hypocritical, but, for the most part, the ones in our sect are bleeding hearts who worry far too much about the humans and not enough about the Sabbat.

Toreador
Despite their artistic pretensions, the members of this clan are extremely conservative in practice. This makes them really irritating to be around, the more so because in their unthinking support of the designated leaders of their sect, they possess no sense of the gravity of their own actions. Respect them only when they have earned it.

Tremere
This clan is one of the most vile in existence. Everything from their power structures to their custom of Blood Bonding most of their members stands in direct opposition to everything we believe in. However, far too many of our fellow Sabbat generalize from the clan to the individual members. Those of the Tremere who flee their pyramid system and join us in the battle against the Camarilla’s evil deserve our support and, as do all our brothers and sisters, our respect.

Tzimisce
They have almost the opposite problem from the Ravnos antitribu; they forget that without humans to Embrace, we wouldn’t exist. However, their sense of honor makes it easy for us to find common ground with them, although their unwillingness to take direct action can be very frustrating at times.

Ventrue
No Ventrue believes in leniency to traitors. The Camarilla Ventrue consider us traitors to our clan. We consider them traitors to their entire species, to all the other vampires, of all clans, of no clan, whom they profess to wish to help and mercilessly exploit. Some clans retain a chance of reconciliation with their antitribu, but not ours. There is no room on this Earth or anywhere else for us and the Camarilla Ventrue together, ever. The split in our clan can be resolved only by war.

The Camarilla
This sect is dedicated to the principles that those clans which are best at obeying their leaders deserve preferential treatment, that those from "lesser" clans or those without a clan are beneath contempt simply by virtue of their blood, and, most of all, that it is right for those with power to impose their will on all others without reservation. This vile sect is crumbling beneath its own weight, and we will help it fall any way we can.

The Sabbat
As it was created, with its original ideals, the perfect society for vampires to live together in mutual respect. Unfortunately, it was quickly corrupted by the Lasombra. I wonder, sometimes, if that was inevitable—if vampires are unable to coexist happily; if we truly are, as the Camarilla melodramatically calls us, the Damned—but then I get over it. The Sabbat can still be what we dreamed of it being, and if every last Ventrue antitribu must die the Final Death to ensure it, most of us are prepared.

The Black Hand
The Assamite approach to leadership. Join if you like fighting and having people scared of you. On the other hand, this provides a check and balance to the Lasombra control of the Sabbat, and those of us who do want to join it generally have an easier time than the Black Hand Lasombra. The Lasombra stack many things against us in the Sabbat, but the Assamites are our friends—just ask them.

The Secret Masters
They’re the oldest, most manipulative, corrupt, and evil beings imaginable. This is known to our parent clan, but we know something they don’t know. We know where the Secret Masters originated.

Our parent clan realized, long ago, that it didn’t work for them to try to justify gaining power for power’s sake. It didn’t even work for them to try to convince themselves that the other clans needed someone to control them for their own good. Stupidity is one thing that has never been endemic to our clan, and too many of its members could see the fallacious nature of their own arguments. They needed a reason for accumulating power, something that could conclusively demonstrate how it really was in everybody’s best interests for the Ventrue to control them. Then one night, the Secret Masters were discovered, and their power and evil is so great that whatever the Ventrue must do to fight them is justified. Truly, the world has been a far darker place since the Secret Masters arrived.

Yes, what was your question—what are the Secret Masters?
Most vampires know them as, "Clan Ventrue."

Lupines
If you meet a werewolf, she is likely to tear you in half before you have finished your greeting. The clan they call Glass Walkers can be reasoned with some of the time. The clan called Shadow Lords is always willing to talk, but I’m not sure talking to them is a good idea. Isn’t "Shadow Lord" English for Lasombra? The clan called the Black Spiral Dancers frequently makes alliances with the Sabbat, but they give me the creeps, and their auras—don’t ask. The Lasombra plan on wiping all the Lupines out once the Camarilla has fallen; making long-term alliances with the werewolves is, accordingly, guaranteed to piss off the Lasombra, and if that isn’t a reason to do it, I don’t know what is. How you personally deal with Lupines is up to you. Just be careful.

Mages
Mages are more dangerous the farther away they are. If you can reach them, they’re only kine; they break, they bleed. Some of them consider themselves above the rest ofhumanity, but they’re still just juice bags. For all of that, however, they still shouldn’t be treated with open contempt. I’m sure they can be dangerous if the circumstances favor them. My advice is to let the Tzimisce handle all dealings with them if you can.

Humans
They’re so far behind us on the evolutionary scale as to barely qualify as sentient, much less sapient. The only two ways in which they are significant are as food and as potential vampires. The ones we do not Embrace—their lives are ours, to take or spare as we choose. Most of us agree with this, but some among the Sabbat argue that the kine should be shown more consideration. I don’t understand that, but then, when I was human I didn’t understand why people chose to teach sign language to gorillas, either. It comes back to freedom again; those vampires who choose to waste their time "helping" juice bags are welcome to it. The humans who threaten us should die, without mercy, and none of us would debate that. The vast majority of all the kine should simply be ignored.