> For the complete documentation index, see [llms.txt](https://wiki.capetownvtm.com/llms.txt). Markdown versions of documentation pages are available by appending `.md` to page URLs; this page is available as [Markdown](https://wiki.capetownvtm.com/material-availability/bloodlines.md).
# Bloodlines
Below is a list of all Bloodline Loresheets, sorted by book. Each entry has their availability and any changes listed. The Loresheet names are also color coded from most- to least- restrictive; if any Lores in the Loresheet are banned, the title will be red. If a Lore needs to be re-contextualized to fit the setting, it will be orange. Should any need to be earned in play, the title will be yellow. A Loresheet title in green means that every Lore is completely available at character creation.
For regular Loresheets, see [Loresheets](https://wiki.capetownvtm.com/material-availability/loresheets).
| Book | Page Number |
| ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | ----------- |
| [Core](https://wiki.capetownvtm.com/material-availability/bloodlines#core) | pp. 390-406 |
| [Anarch](#anarch) | pp.194-195 |
| [Chicago by Night](https://wiki.capetownvtm.com/material-availability/bloodlines#chicago-by-night) | pp.273-274 |
| [The Chicago Folios](https://wiki.capetownvtm.com/material-availability/bloodlines#the-chicago-folios) | p.160 |
| [Cults of the Blood Gods](#cults-of-the-blood-gods) | p.226 |
| [Children of the Blood](https://wiki.capetownvtm.com/material-availability/bloodlines#children-of-the-blood) | pp.101-102 |
| [Trails of Ash and Bone](https://wiki.capetownvtm.com/material-availability/bloodlines#trails-of-ash-and-bone) | pp.171 |
| [Players Guide](#players-guide) | pp.223-229 |
| [Blood Sigils](#blood-sigils) | p.177 |
| [In Memoriam](#in-memoriam) | pp.149-153 |
| [Tattered Facade](#tattered-facade) | |
| [Live From the Succubus Club](#live-from-the-succubus-club) | pp.158-161 |
| Courts of the Damned | pp.218-222 |
## Core
Descendant of Hardestadt, Ventrue Characters Only (p.390)
*To hear many Ventrue tell it, Hardestadt was the most important Ventrue for eight centuries, until his destruction by Brujah rebels led by the betrayer Theo Bell during the Convention of Prague in 2012. Hardestadt was the Ventrue founder of the Camarilla, alongside six peers from other clans, and Ventrue credit him with the sect’s strength and survival since then.*
*Hardestadt did not Embrace many mortals, and oddly for a Ventrue, he never confirmed his lineage back to a Fourth Generation methuselah. As far as Hardestadt was concerned, he was the be-all and end-all of the Ventrue. None who came before or after could hold a candle to his achievements.*
**• Voice of Hardestadt:**
Hardestadt shouted often, punctuating his remarks with fist blows to tables, walls, or unfortunate ghouls. Your Blood allows you to speak over any noise and draw attention, whether in a buzzing meeting room or at a rave. Something in your voice allows others to hear you. Whether they go on to pay attention depends on what you say.
**•• Supreme Leader:**
Hardestadt’s self-confidence as a leader was in many ways his undoing, but until his Final Death, it saw him rise to greatness. You can convince others to follow you into deadly situations or command from the rear, and you can send subjects to their doom to better your position. Once per story, you suffer no penalty to your dice pool for sending people into danger.
**••• Ventrue Pillar:**
Due to your prestigious lineage, other Ventrue look to you for guidance. Regardless of your Status with other groups, you always have three dots of Status ( ) with Ventrue.
**•••• Line to the Founders:**
Hardestadt ensured his entire line could reach him when endangered. He rarely answered communications unless the situation was dire, and he punished misuse severely, but his method still holds despite his death. Once per chronicle, you can call, write to, or arrange a meeting with one of the Camarilla’s founders in lieu of Hardestadt. Whether they deign to respond depends upon the importance of your request
**••••• Hardestadt’s Heir:**
You hold in your possession a signed document in which Hardestadt names you as his successor. You’re not sure what you are a successor to: mere wealth and power, Ventrue kingship, or even the Inner Circle of the Camarilla. When you take the name of “Hardestadt,” the document claims that the Camarilla shall march to the beat of your drum – and ensures that the Anarchs will swarm to take you down.
Descendant of Helena, Toreador Characters Only (p.391)
*Some claim she dwells in the Americas, constantly at war with a rival. Others say she runs the most popular vampire nightclub in the world. A few believe she is the clan founder’s lover, and that she is in the process of waking the Toreador Antediluvian.*
*Beautiful and gifted, it is said none can look away from Helena unless she wills it. Mortals have died to be the first to witness her artistic creations. Her descendants all display an immense level of talent, exemplifying the traditional Toreador role. It is a stereotype few Toreador resent; Helena is a clan icon. Toreador want to get to know you, so they can get a little closer to her.*
**• Skin-Deep:**
No matter your standing, dropping Helena’s name in conversation with a Toreador or a vampire who knows of her effectively raises your Status by one dot. You can drop Helena’s name once per story for this effect, or more often to make everyone sick of you.
**•• Real Talent:**
Unlike other vapid Toreador relying on their faces and bodies alone, you were Embraced for your talent. Choose one Skill from Craft, Etiquette, or Performance. Increasing this Skill costs half the experience points (rounded down) that such an increase would typically cost.
**••• Embrace the Stereotype:**
When the time comes, you can play the role of shallow Toreador, surround yourself with an entourage of sycophants, and throw a party that becomes legend. Once per story, you may host a party to increase your Status and/or Influence by two dots with an invited group; the increase lasts as long as the party does.
**•••• Divine Purity:**
Unlike most within Helena’s extended family, your perfection is more angelic than devilish. You can commit any sin, but you will always look innocent. Add two dice to your dice pools when making tests to avoid blame for your actions.
**••••• Succubus Club Franchise:**
Helena succumbed to the Beckoning in recent years, leaving the Succubus Club in Chicago to a manager once again. She bestowed a license upon you to establish a franchised Succubus Club in your domain. This rare honor guarantees the city’s Kindred respond to your call, as every vampire Embraced in the last 200 years has heard of the Succubus Club. As long as the club remains open, the Chasse rating of your coterie’s Domain increases by two dots. You also have four dots to select among Resources, Fame, and Status among all Kindred.
Descendant of Zelios, Nosferatu Characters Only (p.398)
*All of Clan Nosferatu knows their great architect Zelios as a master planner, mason, and scholar of geomantic power. Though he disappeared beneath New York in the 1990s, he left behind libraries of books, plans, and treatises on the power of location and sacred geometry.*
*Zelios’ descendants continue his good work, instructing other vampires on the building of havens, dungeons, prisons, and labyrinths. They can supposedly sense ley lines and, for a price, advise Princes where to locate havens at these epicenters to ensure both armor and power from the earth and stars.*
**• Sanctuary:**
Your haven is a wonder of modern design, possessing security in the form of secret passages, electronic security, and even a self-destruct button, all while looking stylish and comfortable. Split two dots between either or both of the Haven Merits Postern and Security System, but someone, somewhere likely has all the details of the setup.
**•• Saboteur:**
You instinctively know where a building’s weaknesses are, and you don’t even require explosives to destroy it. With maul, crowbar, cable, and cold chisel, and as many nights on site as the difficulty the Storyteller sets for the building (i.e. four for a family home, six for a bank, eight for a prison, nine for a skyscraper), you can collapse an edifice like a house of cards.
**••• On Commission:**
Other vampires know you descend from Zelios and ask for advice on how best to build their own havens. This business ensures you often have a boon or two to collect (roughly one minor boon per story) and that you know where a number of powerful vampires sleep – which, in the end, probably does you more harm than good.
**•••• The Labyrinth:**
You used Zelios’ work to construct a labyrinth beneath your domain, made in part with sewers, disused drains, cellars, basements, and maintenance tunnels. You added your own chambers, dead ends, and connections to form a true underground maze. Only those you tell know of your labyrinth. You cannot treat the labyrinth as a Haven, as it terrifies you, but if you reach it when chased, no one can pursue you.
**••••• Sense the Ley Lines:**
You occasionally glimpse throbbing red tendrils snaking through the earth: ley lines. Vampires who make their havens where these vessels converge find their Hunger grows more slowly (when making a Rouse check for awakening, roll two dice and pick the highest) if they sleep there by day. Ley lines have other powerful magical effects – secrets you can research along lines the Storyteller indicates – and your fellow Sewer Rats harshly punish disclosing anything about such secrets.
Descendant of Vasantasena, Malkavian Characters Only (p.399)
*Vasantasena and her Malkavian sire Unmada traveled the world throughout the Middle Ages, preaching against the Blood Bond. They rejected the vinculum, traditional Kindred hierarchy, and all loss of free will. Ultimately, they condemned the Antediluvians for their cruel tyranny through Jyhad, joining the Sabbat during its formation.*
*As the Camarilla had, the Sabbat rejected her cause, instituting both hierarchy and ritual enslavement through vitae. She eventually rejected them in turn, assembling a faction of Malkavians to embrace freedom from the Sabbat.*
*Vasantasena’s descendants are many and varied, and all of them followed her from the Sabbat before the sect’s recent, bestial devolution. Some joined the Camarilla, others the Anarchs. All possess the zeal and charm she wields like a knife. All fight for something.*
**• Agent of Chaos:**
You thrive while everything around you burns or spins into catastrophe. In turbulent situations, such as an unusually chaotic and unpredictable combat, a car chase through a crowded city, or when fleeing an exploding building, once per session, you may re-roll a single die without spending Willpower.
**•• Hear My Words:**
You carry your ancestor’s skills of persuasion, finding your voice speaks to the Blood of others before it reaches their minds. Once per story, if you attempt to counsel others in a chaotic environment and they actually stop to listen, they may re-roll one dice pool in one future test during the same situation.
**••• Scent the Bond:**
Vasantasena’s loathing of Blood Bonds was part of the reason she targeted the Antediluvians and the ties they maintained with their offspring. Such was her power that she could smell the Bond on individual vampires and recognize the same odor on the vampire Bonded to, or Bonding, them. Once per story, on a successful Resolve + Awareness test (Difficulty 4), you can do the same.
**•••• Destroy the Bond:**
Vasantasena’s greatest act is the destruction of the Blood Bond. Some say she performed this act many times in recent years among the Sabbat, in part leading to their rapid degeneration. Once per story, you too can remove the Blood Bond imposed on a victim, if you drink a mouthful of the thrall’s vitae and then ride out a frenzy.
**••••• Sabbat Becomes Camarilla:**
Vasantasena achieved the impossible and showed her descendants how it was done. Alien, inhuman philosophies locked most vampires into the Sabbat. Once per story, you can deprogram a vampire from their sect beliefs. To do so, you must completely isolate the subject and make an extended test (p. 293) of either Intelligence or Charisma + Insight in an atmosphere of specialized perfumes. Roll once per three nights of disputation; you win after achieving a number of successes equal to twice the subject’s Willpower.
Descendant of Karl Schrekt, Tremere Characters Only (p.405)
*Clan Tremere is a hollow reflection of its former glories. With the Pyramid decapitated and its leadership scattered, Tremere traditionalists look to one vampire for authority: former Justicar, Karl Schrekt. A legend within his own clan and the Camarilla, Schrekt hunted vampires before his Embrace in 1235. For centuries, he acted as the Camarilla’s weapon against the Sabbat, Anarchs, and occult menaces. He suppressed or destroyed lore regarding Antediluvians, eliminated countless threats to the Masquerade, and did it all without mercy. He earned his share of disciples, but few enemies. Those he got, he killed.*
*Now he’s one of the eldest Tremere remaining.*
*Schrekt’s descendants largely follow their ancestor’s hardline clan and sect views: enforce the Traditions, strengthen the clan, and hide the secrets of Blood magic from other vampires.*
**• Remember the House:**
Once per story, you can ask the Storyteller for one piece of information regarding the activities of House Tremere or the clan before its grievous injury.
**•• Hardliner:**
Schrekt’s way is the only way forward for your clan. You follow Schrekt’s laws fanatically. With the Storyteller’s agreement, add two dice to any dice pool when testing to resist attempts to sway you from Schrekt’s goals.
**••• Ritual Preparedness:**
Allegedly, Karl Schreckt prepares all of his rituals in advance and keeps several such-preprepared rituals about his person at all times. Once per story, you may perform one of your rituals in five minutes, without preparation, having done all the preparations beforehand.
**•••• Archon’s Bane:**
You find Schrekt’s targeting of supernatural entities deplorable, and you have formed a tight bond with a member of another supernatural background. You have a four-dot Ally: a mage, werewolf, wraith, changeling, or something even stranger. You must keep your friend safe, as they are being hunted. Once per story, they come to your aid within one to ten hours when called.
**••••• Know the World:**
Karl Schrekt believes knowledge is power and that vampires who limit their learning to the study of fellow Kindred are fools. Whether Schrekt’s puppet or nemesis, you agree with his assessment and keep archives on werewolves, magi, wraiths, fae, and other weird entities. This collection equates to a three-dot Haven Library (pick three suitable specialties of Occult), although you might not store your reference materials in your haven. Also once per story, you can ask the Storyteller to answer any simple question related to such creatures.
## Anarch
Descendant of Xaviar, Gangrel Characters Only (p.194)
*Nobody, even fellow Gangrel, listened to Xaviar the first time he spoke. It took marching into a convocation of the Camarilla’s biggest players for other Kindred to take notice of him. He spoke of interacting with one of the Antediluvians and seeing his entire coterie eaten alive by this mythological creature. He accused the Camarilla of perfidy against its members and cast aside his role of Gangrel Justicar.*
*News travels slowly among the Gangrel, as a clan with little hierarchy and lacking an effective communication network. Slowly, Gangrel followed Xaviar out of the Camarilla, some becoming Autarkis, while more ultimately joined the Anarchs.*
*Gangrel now share a communal guilt for their initial disbelief of Xaviar’s claims and slow reaction to his proclamation, as he met Final Death soon after. Few know if the Camarilla or some other agency slew the mighty Gangrel, but all know their ancestor was wronged. Now they take up his torch and attempt to bring the Gangrel into truth’s flickering light.*
**• Martyred Ancestor:**
Other Gangrel treat you with the respect they took too long to afford Xaviar. Despite any personal grievances, you can always find sanctuary with other Gangrel, if any are present in your current domain, at least until you insult them grievously. With them, you have two dots of Status.
**•• Where the Bodies Are Buried:**
Xaviar’s experiences with melding through earth, blood, and vitae left a mark on his lineage. Gangrel of his line can make a Resolve + Awareness test to detect whether a vampire has merged with the earth or lays torpid beneath the soil. Difficulty depends on the area you have to search.
**••• Loyal Hound:**
You resisted the winds of change, remaining with the Camarilla despite your clan’s actions. For your loyalty, the local Camarilla Prince awarded you status, feeding rights, and territory, amounting to four dots you can distribute among Domain, Herd, and Status. Non-Camarilla Gangrel despise you, and even Camarilla vampires of other clans pity your solitude, but you guarantee yourself a voice among the Primogen, should any rebel Gangrel pass through your domain.
**•••• Monstrous Bat:**
Xaviar’s preferred bestial form was once that of a bat, but following his encounter with the Antediluvian, he found his form capable of changing into a hybrid between human and bat. Once per story when the moon is just right, you can take the same form. This man-sized bat has an extra dot in all Physical Attributes and can glide in the air from any height. Biting in this form adds +1 Aggravated damage to mortals and vampires alike.
**••••• Experienced the Antediluvian:**
Xaviar was not the only Gangrel to sink into the ground and find himself inside his clan founder’s vast, inhuman form. You have done the same, and the experience changed you. You are now a little mad, likely suffering from paranoia or claustrophobia. Whenever you call your encounter to mind, you feel your veins rooted to the ground, connecting to every other Gangrel in the world. Once per story, you can sense any Gangrel’s location and drain a thimbleful of vitae from them to reset your Hunger level to 2. You must be touching open ground, not concrete, to use this ability.
Descendant of Tyler, Brujah Characters Only (p.195)
*Every aspiring Brujah rebel worships Tyler – once known as Patricia of Bollingbroke – and going by many names since. Her revolutionary violence against tyrant elders and insidious methuselahs irrevocably changed Kindred society and inspired the Anarch Movement. Tyler herself doubts that her actions led to effective praxis, but her childer and clanmates compare her to everyone from Robin Hood, to Malcolm X, to Che Guevara, to Gavrilo Princip.*
*Tyler still exists: a quiet, studious rebel in these nights. With centuries of reflection, she struggles to reconcile her actions with the results of modern nights. Her descendants continue the fight with the hopes of uplifting her to her destined greatness one night.*
**• Instigator:**
Once per story, whenever you attempt to persuade a mortal crowd into violent action, your hot-blooded nature adds two dice to your dice pool to do so.
**•• Champion of the Cause:**
When vampires want a leader for a rebellion, large or small scale, they come to you for advice or leadership. They might even listen to your words, and providing your advice is not completely ridiculous, might even defer to your authority. You add two dots to your Status with them during such rebellions, but you might find the numerous contacts gained before a rebellion more valuable and certainly less dangerous.
**••• Tyler’s Mercy:**
You know when to stop. Tyler recognized when the Sabbat went too far with her Anarch ideals, and you likewise recognize the limits of violent revolution. Once per story, when frenzying, you may at any point take a Brujah Compulsion (p. 210) to immediately cease the outburst. You do not suffer any confusion or tiredness after an interrupted frenzy, abruptly snapping back to Humanity.
**•••• The Furores:**
Tyler’s philosophies first emerged among a historic vampire group known as the Furores, dedicated to the destruction of all Kindred tyrants. This group still exists in secret, and you claim membership. When the time is right (once per chronicle), the Furores arm you, provide you with sanctuary in a regnum where they have influence, and activate assets in the target domain as surprise Allies (available within one scene). The Allies add up to five dots of Effectiveness; the rest depends on your collaboration with the Storyteller. Furore assets can only be used when attempting to take down a Prince, unfit Baron, or vampire of higher station. Misuse makes you a target of the Furores and their unknown operatives.
**••••• Permanent Revolution:**
You have already taken down one sect figurehead. You now lead an army of revolutionaries to sweep the board in the neighboring regnae. For as long as you keep fighting and are not found to be indulging in the luxuries of station, Anarchs stop to listen to your every word, and Brujah Anarchs do exactly as you say, including embarking on suicide missions. No rolls are required if your speech is strong and argument convincing enough.
## Chicago by Night
Descendant of Lodin, Ventrue Characters Only (p.273)
*Before Lodin came to power, one thing was true: He was not the only Ventrue in the city, only the most ruthlessly ambitious, the one who seized opportunity when it presented itself and claimed a throne for himself. After Lodin came to power, this was also true: He systematically eliminated any who might grow into a significant challenge to his claims of praxis, particularly the members of his own clan whom, rightly or wrongly, he considered primary threats instead of potential allies. He ruled for decades, siring a series of lieutenants to enact his will and solidify his control over the domain he had claimed, permitting those lieutenants to sire broods of their own as they, and he, deemed necessary.*
*Lodin is gone now, pulled down by treachery and inhuman savagery, but his legacy lives on in those that carry his bloodline — both of the childer he sired once he came to his throne and those he sired before the tides of conflict washed him up in Chicago.*
**• Baby of the Family:**
You are the (current) youngest member of the lineage, Embraced within the last decade and still young enough to be treated with some degree of indulgence while you learn the ropes — and pretty much every Ventrue you encounter thinks they have something useful to teach you. With other members of your clan in Chicago, you always have a Mawla rating of one dot.
**•• Responsible Middle Childe:**
You are a steadfast and proud member of Lodin’s wide bloodline, just coming into your own power and responsibilities. Due to your lineage and position, other Kindred of similar age and Generation to you look to you for leadership. With them you always carry a minimum of Status (••).
**••• Black Sheep of the Family:**
You are a descendant of Lodin...and you don’t like it one little bit. You have split with the rest of the late Prince’s consanguinity in some dramatic way: running off to join the Anarchs, publicly siding with the (dis)loyal opposition in political matters affecting the stability of your bloodline’s rule, turning into the world’s worst and least appeasable Herald. You have a little bit of dirt on every one of Lodin’s childer. The Storyteller will reveal a secret about any one of them you encounter, once per story.
**•••• Like Sire, Like Childe:**
Like your ancestor, you are a virtually unkillable cockroach of a vampire, capable of taking anything that unlife throws at you and turning it, if not into gold, then at least a solid shot at survival. Add two dice to your dice pools when making tests to avoid physical or supernatural injury outside of direct physical conflict.
**••••• Long-Lost Relative:**
Lodin had an unlife before he came to Chicago and your existence is proof of that fact: You are the descendant of one of the childer he sired in the years between his departure from Veracruz and his arrival in Chicago, when he was a rootless and pragmatically unsupervised wanderer. Your arrival has sent a shockwave through the city and now you are among the most sought-after of its residents, enjoying Status (••••) among Ventrue and court officials, the attention of every social gadfly in Chicago, and a definite seat at the Prince’s table.
## The Chicago Folios
Descendant of Menele, Brujah Characters Only (p.160)
*Menele has walked the Earth since his breathing days as a philosopher-king in ancient Greece. His insatiable lust for enlightenment led him first to India, then to Carthage, a utopia purportedly built on the ideal of peaceful coexistence between Kindred and kine. A utopia reduced to ash by the treachery of Helena.*
*Apoplectic with rage, Menele razed Helena’s beloved Pompeii to a cinder, lighting the spark of their unending rivalry. Helena and Menele fought across the ages until they beat themselves into mutual torpor near present-day Chicago. Menele was on the verge of renewing his ancient grudge with Helena when he was called east by the Beckoning, freeing his childer from his vice-like mental grip.*
*Many of Menele’s descendants inherited his passion for philosophy, enlightenment, and greater ideals, while others became fearsome warriors selected for their ability to defend Menele from Helena’s agents. Both were needed to realize Menele’s weary dream of founding a new Carthage based on ancient Brujah ideals. Now, Menele’s descendants are free to choose their destiny for the first time in millennia. The question is: What will they do with it?*
**• Symposium:** *Allowed*
Menele always liked a good argument and sired many childer after debating the mysteries of life for evenings on end. All of your Persuasion rolls have their difficulty reduced by one.
**•• Carthago Delenda Est:** *Allowed*
Menele maintained an elaborate network of spies, informants, and retainers. His network fragmented upon his destruction, but you managed to claim a portion of it for your own. You have three dots to split between Retainers, Influence, Allies, and Resources, with the absolute certainty that Helena and her agents will attempt to take them from you.
**••• Know Thyself:** *Allowed*
Menele believed the Brujah needed to return to their roots as thinkers and positive agents of change. You are trained to resist the pull of your Brujah fury. Once per session, you can spend a Willpower point to re-roll a frenzy brought about by your Brujah clan bane.
**•••• Knowledge is Power:** *Allowed*
Menele was impossibly old and held many secrets about the Kindred of Chicago and beyond. You were steward of those secrets before. The Beckoning drew him away. Once per story, you may request a single secret from the Storyteller about a clan or Kindred in Chicago or similar domain that felt Menele’s influence (Storyteller’s discretion).
**••••• The Greater Mysteries:** *Allowed*
Menele spent years learning the meditative practices necessary to perceive the astral plane in his quest for spiritual perfection. You inherited a portion of his ability and remain fully cognizant of your surroundings during your daily slumber. Reduce the difficulty of all Rouse checks to awaken during the day by two.
You also have the ability to perceive fractured glimpses of events to come that may affect your character while you slumber. Once per session, you may roll Resolve + Occult to interpret your nightly visions. Each success brings the vision into greater focus and the Storyteller may offer you one cryptic hint or fact relevant to your character.
## Cults of the Blood Gods
The Criminal Puttanesca, Hecata Characters Only (p.226)
*For a few decades, the Giovanni had a reputation as being nothing more than vampire mobsters. Savvy Hecata ancillae confronted by such ethnic stereotypes in Camarilla Elysia laugh and suggest the rumor started from too many late-night showings of The Godfather. And once the Hecata gets a chance to slip away, they call their cousins and ask what the fucking Puttanesca have done this time.*
*The fucking Puttanesca family, as they’re often called by other Hecata, were acquired from Sicily in the 1660s as talented street hustlers — perfect for dirty, low-level jobs that the more moneyed Giovanni couldn’t be bothered to handle. Over the years, these Puttanescas leaned into the mafioso stereotypes, because you might as well be a legbreaker if you break legs for a living. After the Family Reunion, any remaining connections to organized crime have been quickly shuffled over to the Puttanescas. The anziani say it’s a reward for loyal service. But the Puttanesca know it’s a way to put all the Hecata’s embarrassing assets in one place.*
*So if they’re going to be “the fucking Puttanesca,” that’s fine. This family knows all about beating on the little guy before you get beat on by a bigger guy. But soon they’ll be the big guy, and it’ll be everyone else that gets fucked.*
**• Friends in Low Places:** *Allowed*
Puttanesca Kindred have close ties to the street, and usually have a few side hustles happening at any one time. It’s easy to get your hands on a little bit of cash and a little bit of muscle whenever you need it. You get two dots to spread between Allies and Resources, and you can reallocate those two dots at the start of each story. These Advantages are immediately subject to police scrutiny.
**•• Show Your Belly:** *Allowed*
Some members of your family survive by looking as harmless as possible to people more powerful than them. Sure, it’s not dignified, but if you can survive the night, that gives you time to get your revenge later. You get three bonus dice to rolls to convince people not to hurt, endanger, or act against you.
**••• Show Your Fists:** *Allowed*
On the other hand, it’s not all being pushed around. Some Puttanesca prefer to kick around those smaller than them. You need to show them who’s boss. Prick probably would’ve done something to piss you off anyway, so better to get your licks in first. Against mortals you get two bonus dice for rolls to intimidate, and your unarmed damage modifier increases by one.
**•••• Get the Squad Together:** *Allowed*
Occasionally you just need to get some people together for a good old ass-beating. Once per story, you can get a gang together for a brawl. This gang comprises any local Puttanesca Kindred, as well as mortals equivalent to five dots of Allies. You also get an automatic success in rolls to convince other characters that this beatdown is necessary.
**••••• The Don:** *Allowed*
Against all odds, you’ve kissed and kicked ass in equal measure to make your way to some amount of respect, wealth, and influence. Other Hecata might even stop insulting you to your face. You have three additional dots each in Contacts, Influence, and Resources, but they must be assigned to criminal enterprise and require careful maintenance to not draw the attention of groups such as the FBI, agents of which can become potent versions of the Enemy Flaw.
## Children of the Blood
Grudge Masters, Hecata Characters Only (p.102)
*In the 1950s, the Milliner family joined Clan Giovanni out of spite. They weren’t known for their prowess with Oblivion, but their connections helped the clan survive major shifts in organized crime, and the rise of the Second Inquisition. Their only reward was more work and tighter restrictions on feeding and the Embrace, something the Family Reunion did little to rectify. The Milliners have the most responsibilities and the least respect.*
*As a Milliner, you’re not a household name like the Clintons or the Waltons, but the right people double-take when they hear it. You know that the Giovanni haven’t and won’t give you the credit you deserve, and it’s a deep and simmering grudge, one of the most important among the many you hold. Now everyone is one big happy family, it’s time to air all those grudges out. After all, you’ve got plenty of new cousins that’d just love payback.*
**• You Know Who I Am:** *Allowed*
The Milliners are a true American dynasty, and the name carries a power even now and outside of the United States. Once per story, when you invoke the legacy of the Milliner line, you may add three dice to a Social roll.
**•• Family Bank:** *Allowed*
The family has plenty of money, but anyone that calls upon that fortune needs to repay with cash, blood, or labor. Once per story, you may borrow money from a new or existing Milliner SPC. You have Resources 5 for the rest of the story but owe that SPC a favor that must be fulfilled before the end of the story. Your Storyteller will tell you the favor, and the consequences you face if that debt isn’t repaid when the story ends.
**••• Perfect Grudges:** *Allowed*
The Milliners are known for their grudges, but you’re the true poster child. When you are slighted or beaten on a roll by a SPC, you may create a Project (Vampire: The Masquerade, p. 415) dedicated to taking revenge. Its Launch Roll automatically succeeds, and you may add two dice to any Goal Rolls. The character can have as many grudge Projects as their dots in Composure. Any aspirations of revenge beyond that limit are regular Projects.
**•••• You Owe Me:** *Allowed*
The Milliners always get their due, even at the worst possible times. Once per story, you may spend a Willpower and declare an SPC in the scene owes you a favor in secret, and it’s now due. The SPC must fulfill that favor to the best of their ability by the end of the story, as decided by the Storyteller.
**••••• Friends in High Places:** *Allowed*
The Milliners’ connections in law enforcement turned them on would-be vampire hunters. This is more difficult these days, but you still have the little black books. Pick a faction within the Second Inquisition (FIRSTLIGHT, the Entity, a local intelligence agency, etc.). Once per story, when that faction acts against you, you may automatically redirect that action onto any enemy Kindred SPC. If they survive, that SPC will know you are to blame.
## Trails of Ash and Bone
Descendant of Roger de Camden, Hecata Characters Only (p.171)
*Few figures among the foundations of the Clan of Death are as ancient and enigmatic as Roger de Camden. Known by many names throughout history, the shadowy Kindred who now rules as Prince of Edinburgh has spent lifetimes studying and honing an intimate understanding of the boundaries between life and death.*
*A scholar, martyr, and a survivor, de Camden walked among the eldest Cappadocians, his powerful vitae resonating down through the centuries all the way to tonight’s Hecata. To you. Whether through the boasts of your sire, or poring over a dusty book of names delivered to your haven, you have discovered that you are a descendant of Roger De Camden himself.*
**• Proud Childe:** *Allowed*
Your grandsire is among the most storied and respected of any to walk among the Clan of Death. While within any Hecata controlled domain, haven, or social gathering, you have two dots of Status (••).
**•• Corpsense:** *Allowed*
You follow in your ancestor’s footsteps with a fascination and understanding of the deceased. You gain two dice to any pool for investigating the cause of injury or death of a body. At any time, if a nearby wraith chooses to, they can always communicate to you with ease.
**••• Eye to Eye:** *Allowed*
Roger de Camden’s relationship with the godlike Ventrue Mithras was deep, complex, and the gossip of generations. While the Blue Bloods respect little outside their own clan, they recognize how significant de Camden was to the lonely unlife of one of their greatest. You receive a benefit of two dice to all pools for Persuasion or Intimidation actions when dealing with Kindred of Clan Ventrue, and careful mentions of your lineage could get you through doors non-Ventrue might normally never pass.
**•••• The Way of all Flesh:** *Allowed*
The bloodline of de Camden screams out to the spirits of the recently deceased, dragging them back to the physical realm long after they should have departed forever. You can perform the Embrace as normal on an old corpse so long as it has not rotted beyond recognition. This rebirth is far more traumatic than usual, and the fledgling is deeply affected by whatever they experienced in their brief time between lives.
**••••• Perchance to Dream:** *Allowed*
Like your forefather before you, you are forever preoccupied with the world of the dead, their souls so close you can almost reach out to touch them. Occasionally during your daily rest, or indeed when lying in torpor, your spirit wanders into the Shadowlands (see Cults of the Blood Gods). What you may see there, or what wraiths may be drawn to your presence, is anyone’s guess. If you are attacked while in the Shadowlands, you are immediately returned to your physical form, suffering one level of Superficial Willpower damage.
## Players Guide
Bankers of Dunsirn, Hecata Characters Only (p.223)
*Sometime around the 18th century, the Giovanni wanted a foothold in the markets of the New World. But all of their attempts were constantly blocked by a Scottish family of bankers who owned several shipping ventures. Impressed by their financial acumen, the Giovanni investigated bringing the family into the fold. What closed the deal was the discovery that the Dunsirn were cannibals as well as financiers. It was the perfect balance of money, depravity, and ability to keep a secret.*
*For centuries, the relationship between the two families was clear: The Dunsirn made the money, and the Giovanni family spent it like water. Surprisingly, even though mortal members of the Dunsirn family still indulge in the occasional bit of “long pork,” the Kindred don’t show much aptitude or interest in necromantic pursuits. Prior to the Family Reunion, there was an effort to force them into learning the ways of Oblivion, but now the Dunsirns are happy to go back to what they do best: bleeding people dry.*
*And this time, they don’t need to answer to the fucking Giovanni to do it, either.*
**• Money Obfuscates:** *Allowed*
It’s hard to make money and not be noticed, but the Dunsirn have worked in the shadows for centuries. You’ve spread some of your family’s money around to make an alternate identity for yourself. You get two dots of the Mask Background for free, though you must maintain this Mask at least once per story.
**•• Money Talks:** *Allowed*
The Dunsirn find information in the most interesting places. All you have to do is spread a little money around, and people jump out of the woodwork to tell you things. Once per story, you can find information as if you had the Contacts Background with a number of dots equal to your Resources. This ability lasts for a single scene.
**••• Money Enhances:** *Allowed*
You always have access to the best that money can buy. Having access to quality products not only acts as a status symbol, it also makes everything a little easier. When making a roll in which you can use your own equipment, you get a bonus die to the roll.
**•••• Money Multiplies:** *Locked*
All the Hecata know the Dunsirn are bankers. But most of them think of it in the abstract, as if “banker” is just a different way of saying “someone with a lot of money.” But you are (or are directly related to) a legitimate investment banker. Gain three dots (up to five) in Resources. In addition, anyone in your coterie loses the Destitute Flaw (Vampire: the Masquerade, p. 193), and can purchase dots in Resources at 2 experience points per dot, instead of the usual 3.
**••••• Money Dictates:** *Locked*
You are the head of the Dunsirn family accounts. You have your undead finger on the pulse of the Hecata’s financial accounts. And you make sure that everyone else knows it. You gain three free dots of Status in the Hecata. In addition, once per chronicle, you can either give every Hecata in the chronicle two additional dots of Resources or remove all Resource dots from every Hecata in the chronicle. These Resources additions or removals last for a single story, and if removed, generate a chronicle-length Adversary Flaw in the form of one of the robbed vampires.
Children of Tenochtitlan, Hecata Characters Only (p.224)
*In the early sixteenth century, Spanish Giovanni met representatives of the Aztec civilization as part of the Cortez expeditions. In the city of Tenochtitlan (now part of Mexico City), these Giovanni were introduced to a massive, formalized necromantic tradition. So naturally they killed, enslaved, and converted the “heathens,” bringing them into the fold. The Giovanni called these converts pisanob, a Mayan term that roughly translates to “ghosts of the dead that walk the Earth” (the fact that the Aztecs weren’t Maya didn’t concern the Europeans). That these vampires already had a name, a legacy, and their own beliefs mattered little to the Giovanni.*
*Their leader, Pochtli, was still in charge of the Pisanob up through the Family Reunion. However, the family had been whittled down to a bare few remaining Kindred after the ongoing attacks by the Harbingers of Skulls (see p. 226), although the reasons for the attacks were unknown. Pochtli offered his unlife to the Harbingers in exchange for an end to hostilities, which the Harbingers accepted.*
*Now, the remaining children of Tenochtitlan are deciding on a new leader, while planning their revenge.*
**• Hiding from the Wolf:** *Allowed*
The remaining Pisanob survived because they are really, really good at hiding. You’ve learned all manner of techniques to remain out of sight of those that would hunt you... and those you would hunt. You get one extra die on any roll to hide, including via the use of Disciplines or Ceremonies.
**•• Ghostly Instincts:** *Allowed*
The original Kindred embraced in Tenochtitlan were extremely talented necromancers, and they have carried on a wide variety of tips, tricks, and secrets among their brethren. You’ve learned some of those secrets, which give you two additional dice on any Oblivion Ceremony roll involving the summoning, control, or destruction of ghosts.
**••• Forward Thinking:** *Allowed*
After years of being hunted down by the Harbingers of Skulls, you’ve learned to always plan ahead, turning potential tragedy into a triumph. Once per story, you can reroll any Skill roll. In addition, you always get one free Skill reroll in any scene in which you work against another Hecata. If the Hecata in question is a member of the Harbingers of Skulls, you get an additional success on that reroll.
**•••• Necromantic Prodigy:** *Locked*
The secrets of Oblivion are yours to command, whether through study, your ancient bloodline, or secrets you have acquired from your cousins over the years. Your mastery of necromantic Ceremonies is unparalleled. You get two automatic successes on any roll necessary for activating a necromantic Oblivion Ceremony.
**••••• Next In Line:** *Locked*
Now that Pochtli has sacrificed himself to the Hecata’s grand plan of unity, it is time for another to step up and lead the Pisanob to future glory. You are one such individual, wielding a balance of necromantic skill and political savvy. You have an additional two dots of Status within the Hecata. Further, you have an ally among the Hecata leadership, who acts as a five-dot Mawla once every other story. (You can purchase the Mawla Background as normal to make the character a more regular mentor or patron.
Flesh-Eaters, Hecata Characters Only (p.225)
*The Nagaraja are the most wayward of vampires in a clan now full of wayward vampires. They believe themselves to be the first ever necromancers. They revel in the fact that their lineage is not easy to trace back to one of the known Antediluvians. They believe they once mastered the lands of the dead, having converted their Blood to live in such a place. And, perhaps as a result of said Ceremony, they ate human flesh in lieu of drinking blood. They believe one night they can become masters of the Underworld again. The Nagaraja are rightly seen as bogeymen, as they number but few and advocate for the horrible practice of capturing mortals and stripping them of flesh and blood night after night, while keeping them alive through first aid and gifts of vitae. As a disparate group, they have little that binds them as a society beyond their affinity or ghosts (most master Oblivion ahead of any other Discipline) and their belief*\ *that torment of the body and spirit brings any witnesses (or victims) closer to the mysteries of life, death, and undeath.*
*A handful of Nagaraja showed up to the Family Reunion, claiming some kind of catastrophe drove them out of their home. Initially they were believed to be some kind of radical form of Dunsirn, but while the bankers are hobbyists in the realm of cannibalism, the Nagaraja are experts. Years of avoiding attention from both mortals and Kindred society have honed them into efficient serial killers — quite useful to their new clan-mates. They may no longer need flesh the way they did, but their skills are still useful in this new age. And some never lost the taste.*
**• Viscus:** *Allowed*
You can still eat flesh in lieu of drinking blood — biting a mortal and causing an Aggravated wound acts in all other ways like drinking blood for you. You can also eat fresh corpses, although the taste is not as good.
**•• Unseen Spirit:** *Allowed*
Some of the Nagaraja can make themselves unseen to ghosts and spirits. If you do not already have access to the Obfuscate Discipline, take Cloak of Shadows (Vampire: The Masquerade, p. 261) at no cost — you do not necessarily have the Obfuscate Discipline, but rather a special power of your own. This power works like Cloak of Shadows, except that it only works against spirits and ghosts. If you do have (or later acquire) Obfuscate, instead all your Obfuscate powers work against ghosts and spirits in addition to their usual effects.
**••• The Perfect Murder:** *Locked*
You have a lot of experience in planning murders. As long as you have at least a night to plan a cold-blooded, intentional murder, you get one extra success on all rolls for that murder scene. These successes are negated by someone who possesses the Send a Murderer Bloodline ability (below).
**•••• Send a Murderer:** *Locked*
You’re a serial killer, or maybe you’ve spent a lot of time studying them. You get two extra dice on rolls to study murder scenes or track down killers. In addition, you’ve worked with law officials (mortal, Kindred, or both) on some cases, whether it’s through sending them anonymous emails or as a direct consultant. You have three dots to spend between Contacts with the police force, Contacts with investigators in Kindred society, and Status.
**••••• Monstrous Bite:** *Allowed*
When ready to attack or feed, your teeth extend to lengthy, splayed, and vicious daggers that protrude from your mouth. When attacking with your bite, you suffer no called shot penalty, gain one extra success on all Intimidation rolls, and increase your bite damage to 3.
Harbingers of Ashur, Hecata Characters Only (p.226)
*Holding the Jyhad’s longest grudge, the Cappadocians were the Clan of Death before they were usurped by the upstart Giovanni. Believed for centuries to be destroyed, the Cappadocians either took to wearing masks and calling themselves the “Harbingers of Skulls” or a subfaction of the clan named themselves “Harbingers” generations before. Whatever the truth, the majority joined the Sabbat and worked aggressively against Giovanni interests. For many years it was thought that both sides would never stop until one obliterated the other, but that appears to have changed with the Family Reunion.*
*Despite the reconciliation and the acknowledgment of the remnants of the Cappadocian Kindred, the Harbingers of Skulls as they were could no longer exist. But neither could the Cappadocians return to their former state after so many centuries of anger. As such, these vampires respond to either name, but they have become some synthesis of the two. Like all things, the past form has died, and enriched the earth so that something new can grow.*
**• The Ashen Mask:** *Allowed*
You don a plain mask made of ash wood, for while you respect the traditions of the Harbingers, you care more about studying death than status, glory, or revenge. If a Touchstone of yours is dead or dies after you purchase this lore, study of their corpse allows you to transfer the Conviction they represent to another mortal (Vampire: The Masquerade, p. 240) as if they died peacefully. If they actually did, gain a one-die bonus to the Humanity test. If anybody else interferes with the corpse, you must test against Fury Frenzy at Difficulty 3.
**•• The Gold Mask:** *Allowed*
You don a rose gold mask, because you strive to balance your existence between the living and the dead. Gold has connections to both wealth and alchemy, with golden grave goods sitting in the perfect intersection between the two. As such, you have the capacity to hide your actions, and the actions of your coterie, as you explore death. You have the equivalent of four dots of Influence when attempting to cover up a death.
**••• The White Mask:** *Allowed*
You don a bone-white mask, with not a speck of dirt on it, because it is the mask of a respected Harbinger lost in one of the historic purges. You speak for the elders of your bloodline, and most Harbingers (and even other Hecata) listen to you. You add three dice to any social roll against another Harbinger, and two dice to any social roll against another Hecata.
**•••• The Obsidian Mask:** *Allowed*
You don a polished black mask, because you are more than just a vampire — you are truly half-dead. You are a wraith that has inhabited a vampire’s body. You may learn Oblivion Ceremonies without a teacher (and with half the training time if you have one anyway) due to your experience in the Underworld, but are vulnerable to effects which target ghosts (such as some Oblivion Ceremonies). You suffer a two-dice penalty to resist these effects, but gain a two-dice bonus when resisting effects that control your physical shell (such as Dominate).
**••••• The Lazarene Mask:** *Banned*
You don the mask engraved in the image of one of the clan founders, for you know the true secret of the Harbingers. Their crusade was never solely about destroying the Giovanni, but annihilating all those who serve the Clan of Death. The final stage of necromancy is for all who practice it to die, and become the masters of death. You incur no stains for any action taken in the pursuit of killing another Hecata Kindred, or any character who serves the Hecata.
La Famiglia Giovanni, Hecata Characters Only (p.227)
*Until recently, whenever an outsider Kindred thought about the Clan of Death, they pictured the Giovanni family. Their origins stretch back before the Roman Empire (when they were known as the Ioveanus or Jovians), and the entire time they’ve had their hands in Kindred affairs. The original Giovanni family knew how to play the game better than anyone, crafting an identity as “Devil Kindred” to strike the right balance of fear and respect in their rivals — and their relatives.*
*Identifying the Giovanni family with the Clan of Death was a useful fiction for centuries, until the Vatican and the FBI joined forces against the clan — starting with the family. Reputation comes with records, and the Second Inquisition rolled up every family retainer and bank account it could find. When the Family Reunion restructured the Clan of Death, the surviving Giovanni found safety in new anonymity. But they resented having to hide themselves, and further resented upstart bloodlines tossing out years of family history for security or worse, for political convenience. The “true Giovanni” have grown used to being top dogs, and they’ll murder to retain that position.*
*After all, no one fights like a family.*
**• A Cousin's Ear:** *Allowed*
Even if family members hate each other, the whole family lives by a certain code to share information — that’s how they’ve survived everything from the fall of the Roman Empire to the Second Inquisition. Once per session, you can ask a direct question of another member of the Giovanni family, and get a straight answer. However, you have to answer a question in return. You can also ask a favor of mortal members of the family once per story, as if you had the Allies Background at three dots.
**•• Faded Glamour:** *Allowed*
Being a Giovanni still means something, even if it’s not your name on the clan anymore. Old habits die hard, and the instinct to obey is still ingrained in much of the Clan of Death. Once per session, you can add one automatic success to any social roll against another Hecata Kindred, ghoul, or retainer.
**••• Petty Cash:** *Allowed*
The Giovanni started as merchants, and they still know the power of cold, hard cash. As one of the favored childer of the family, you have access to a substantial bank account. You get four dots to spread among the Resources and Retainers Backgrounds for free, but these dots can be pulled back by elder members of the family at any time, especially if you cross them.
**•••• Spectre Servant:** *Allowed*
There’s a lot the family is good at, but in particular they’re excellent at enslaving the spirits of the dead to their will. You have inherited or personally captured a spectre to act as your servant. This Ally uses the spectre stats (Vampire: The Masquerade, p. 377). The spectre wants nothing more than to break the leash and devour your spirit. Until then, they can be summoned once per session and arrive within 10 hours.
**••••• Aspiring Anziani:** *Banned*
You have managed to work your way through the hidden politics of the Family Reunion and come out on top. You’ve done so partially from political skill and ruthless zeal, but mostly because you know where the bodies are buried (in every sense). You get five dots of Status among the Hecata, and you can get a private audience with the Capuchin every few stories. Just don’t push your luck, or you’ll join the corpses.
The Gorgons, Hecata Characters Only (p.228)
*The Lamiae were a bloodline of Kindred believed to be descended from Lilith as well as Caine — their founder and high priestess (named Lamia) claimed to be the daughter of the Dark Mother herself. In ancient times, a Cappadocian elder found Lamia performing sacred Bahari rites, and was so taken by her skin and resistance to pain that he Embraced her. From then on, the Lamiae were dedicated warriors protecting the Cappadocian clan, until the clan’s alleged destruction by the Giovanni. The last Lamia was believed destroyed in 1718.*
*However, the Gorgons lived on, much like their Cappadocian charges. While the latter claimed the title “Harbingers of Skulls,” the Lamiae took the title of “Lilins,” spreading the word of Lilith and the Bahari faith while secretly uncovering the fate of the Cappadocians and undermining the Giovanni. Now, in the wake of the Family Reunion, these women stand proudly once again at the side of the Kindred that Embraced them — although they are less inclined to tolerate so-called “Cainites” who chastise their faith.*
**• The Serpent's Kiss:** *Allowed*\
Legend claims the bite of the Lamiae once spread plague to their victims. These nights the bite of the Lamiae is no longer fatal, although a few like yourself have some remnants of the disease left in their system. Once per story, you can choose to infect your mortal prey with disease, causing them one Aggravated Health damage every night for three nights. This ability has no effect on vampires.
**•• Protection:** *Allowed*
You embody the original purpose of the Lamiae — the protection of your charges, by any means necessary. You gain a two-dice bonus when using the Block maneuver (Vampire: The Masquerade, p. 297) to protect someone else.
**••• Four Humors:** *Allowed*\
Many ancient Lamiae practice manipulation of the four humors, allowing control over their victim’s body or mind. Once per story you may bite a mortal and inflict a two-dice penalty on all actions which don’t immediately further their current resonance, until the end of the night or their resonance changes humours. If their blood contains a Dyscrasia, increase this penalty to three-dice.
**•••• Controlling the Beast:** *Allowed*
Chaos and pain are key aspects of the Bahari faith (and, thus, the faith of many Lamiae). However, mindless chaos and pain do not lead to education, so controlling accidental infliction of both is important. Once per session, you can convert a messy critical in combat into a critical.
**••••• Medusa's Gaze:** *Allowed*
The Lamiae most steeped in the bloodline’s mysteries hold a private power that betrays a more literal meaning behind their epithet than many realize. Once per session after you win an Intimidation or conflict roll, those who lost become unable to act on the following conflict turn. Outside of combat, they become unable to move for a scene unless they succeed at a Willpower roll (Difficulty 5).
Nasyon San An, Hecata Characters Only (p.229)
*A young lineage with Black Atlantic roots and rumored Cappadocian connections, the vampires once known as the Samedi carried on business as mercenary spies and necromancers, maintaining herds and confidants in religious circles and keeping a low profile. Rumors and misconceptions shrouded them in secrecy; but at the Family Reunion, they emerged from the lies to enter into the Clan of Death.*
*Unanswered questions still abound, many focused on their infamous paterfamilias, known in modern nights as Doc San. But times change, vodou isn’t hiding anymore, and neither are they. Nasyon san an are stepping out in billowing dresses, immaculately coordinated streetwear, and even the occasional silk hat. From Bahia to Ilé-Ifẹ̀ to New Orleans and beyond, ready the rum and cigars. Laissez les bon temps rouler.*
**• CSI Shit:** *Allowed*
As an aspiring gede, you’ve learned a few tricks about death. One of them is knowing a lot about rot, decay, and how bodies die. By carefully examining a mortal corpse you can immediately know the cause of death. If the cause of death is supernaturally concealed, you gain the ability to roll despite that.
**•• Pound of Flesh:** *Allowed*
Something of your bloodline’s original weakness remains with you, even as a full-fledged Hecata. In fact, you can even share it around. If you accept a gift freely given, you and whoever gave it to you receive a three-dice penalty from any pools used for any actions against one another for the remainder of that night.
**••• Treat Yourself:** *Allowed*
You’ve taken the gedes’ legendary appetite to heart. Once a night, you can indulge in a meal, a cigar, an alcoholic drink, or a sexual tryst just as a human would, regardless of any penalties which Humanity might inflict and incurring no negative effects in terms of Hunger. Your consumption thereof appears convincingly human to anyone paying attention to that kind of thing.
**•••• My Setite Friend:** *Allowed*
Your bloodline has a strange relationship with the Ministry. There’s a lot of overlap in interest, and more than a few have decided to join the Ministry rather than stay with the Hecata. You have a connection with the Ministry, whether it’s one of those wayward “Samedi” or another Follower of Set. You can ask your friend for a favor once per story, which translates to the equivalent of three dots in appropriate Backgrounds such as Allies, Influence, and Resources.
**••••• The Silk Hat:** *Discuss With Storytellers*
No one is entirely sure who the Bloody Doctor is, but they do know you have his favor, and are the next in line to his practice. Whatever that is. You’re not entirely sure what will happen if you step up and claim the silk hat of the Doctor. It may be a purely political position within the Hecata, or it may invest you with fantastic spiritual powers. It’ll certainly invest you with the Doctor’s enemies. Before you accept the role, however, you have the effect of Mawla at five dots, although the help comes in cryptic ways and via mysterious actions.
## Blood Sigils
Descendant of Al-Ashrad, Banu Haqim Only (p.177)
*When Haqim and ur-Shulgi walked the earth, al-Ashrad walked with them. Legends say he knew magic when he was mortal, but after a violent disagreement with Haqim, ur-Shulgi Embraced al-Ashrad. As a vampire, al-Ashrad led them from the clan’s home in Alamut as Amr, the most learned and respected of the clan’s sorcerers.*
*When ur-Shulgi rose from torpor and demanded the clan follow the old ways, al-Ashrad helped lead a portion of the Lawmen into the Camarilla before going into hiding. Since the Schism, he only emerged as his true identity once, to attend the Vermillion Wedding where he and Tegyrius saw their great plan to join the Camarilla come to fruition.*
*As a member of al-Ashrad’s line, you are the heir to an incredible legacy. Few can rival your potential for Blood Sorcery. Those who fled Alamut look to you with respect, or at least jealousy. Some even regard you with hope. Maybe you’ll be the one who outshines your ancestor, who puts an end to ur-Shulgi’s schism once and for all.*
**• Stories of Old:** *Allowed*
You’ve learned from the stories you’ve heard from your sire, passed down from al-Ashrad, and you know how to apply those lessons in these nights. When you invoke the legacy of al-Ashrad and Haqim to motivate others, you receive a two-dice bonus to Leadership tests and contests.
**•• Sight Beyond Sight:** *Allowed*
Before his Embrace, Haqim tore out al-Ashrad’s left eye. As a vampire, he replaced it with a diamond rumored to give him visions of worlds beyond ours. A fraction of this power passed to you. Once per session, you (or your Storyteller on your behalf) may use the Auspex power Sense the Unseen (Vampire: The Masquerade, p. 249) as if you had the Discipline, using your Blood Potency in place of Auspex when actively using the power. If you already possess this power, you receive a +2 dice bonus when actively using it.
**••• Vengeful Sorcery:** *Allowed*
You’ve never forgiven your clanmates for the Schism, and you channel your rage into your sorcery. Once per session, in a violent conflict you may choose to take a two-dice bonus to use any Blood Sorcery power intended to harm another vampire.
**•••• Banish the Intangible:** *Allowed*
Al-Ashrad’s hatred for malevolent spirits is legendary. Though incorporeal beings are not necessarily malevolent, they still cower when they realize whose blood you share. Any Blood Sorcery power or Ritual that brings harm to corporeal things also affects incorporeal creatures with the same effect.
**••••• Amr-in-Waiting:** *Locked*
Al-Ashrad has chosen you to succeed him as Amr, should he face final death before the schism is resolved and the sorcerers regain their place in the clan. Gain Status ••••• (Banu Haqim), and one free Ritual at your Blood Sorcery level or below. Gain Adversary ••• in the form of a leader of ur-Shulgi’s Blood sorcerers and your brother-in-blood.
## In Memoriam
Descendant of Dracula, Tzimisce Only (p.151)
*As Vlad Tepes moved Europe, he made many enemies, not least among the Kindred. But where he moved, he also took childer, and his childer took childer too. At least, that’s what the rumors say. It’s known that for a time, it was all the rage to be a childe of Dracula. Young Kindred, eager to set themselves apart, perhaps deserted by their actual sires, claimed the title often enough. Some hinted coquettishly at their mysterious ancestral lands, carrying a jar of dirt for the aesthetic of it, others did so with the reluctance of those who know that the honor of belonging to a bloodline many would see ended is a most uncertain one.*
*Tonight, only a few would openly claim the bloodline of the Impaler as their own. Some even suggest that Tepes’ childer were all destroyed in the last century, perhaps by Dracula himself. Nonetheless, you are just one such descendant.*
**• Blood of the Dragon:** *Allowed*
Your vitae carries a hint of Dracula’s legendary strength. Once per story, you can amplify your physical prowess, gaining an additional die to all Physical tests for one scene.
**•• Of the Earth:** *Allowed*
Your connection to the land is profound. Once per story, you can dig yourself down in the ground to mend all levels of Aggravated Willpower or Physical damage over 48 hours. The use of Earth Meld is optimal, though a shovel is permissible.
**••• Charisma of the Count:** *Allowed*
Your lineage grants you an otherworldly charm. You gain a free specialty in Persuasion and receive a bonus die to all tests involving seduction or charm.
**•••• Whispers in the Blood:** *Allowed*
Vlad has taught himself countless Disciplines. Your Blood is also full of potential and unawakened powers. Once per story, you may use any power you don’t already know as long as it is on a current or lower level of a Discipline you already have levels in.
**••••• Dracula’s Chosen:** *Allowed*
Among the descendants of the Dragon, you’re considered to be the main heir. You gain the grudging respect and jealousy of your bloodline. Once per story, you can call in a favor, the equivalent of up to a major boon, from your relations. Your relatives will expect you to favor them in turn, or at least prove yourself worthy of your title. Should you fail, the machinations to replace you will no doubt begin.
The Vanderbilt Ventrue, Ventrue Only (p.154)
*The Vanderbilt family was one of the most influential families in late 19th century New York, their immense wealth amassed through the business of railroads and shipping. Cornelius Vanderbilt was the richest man in America by his death in 1877, and his son William Henry Vanderbilt doubled the fortune in the following decade until his own untimely and suspicious death. The epitome of Gilded Age opulence, the Vanderbilts held almost royal status in American society. The main family themselves were mortals, but the same cannot be said for their wider circle of friends and relatives. At the height of their fortune, the Vanderbilts were all but surrounded by Ventrue. You were one of the parasites on the corpse of the gilded family, making alliances to keep as much of it to yourself as possible.*
**• Well-connected:** *Banned*
You are a cousin or descendant of the Vanderbilt Ventrue. Once per story, you can call upon a distant relative for a minor favor. This could be access to a social event, a small financial loan, or a recommendation from someone influential.
**•• Financial Problem-solving:** *Banned*
Gain an additional dot in Resources. Additionally, you can spend a level of Willpower to gain a temporary Retainer (such as a private investigator, legal counsel, or a mortal bodyguard) for the duration of the story.
**••• Someone of Worth:** *Banned*
You were one of the Four Hundred, the crème de la crème of fashionable New York society. You gain an extra die in Social tests when interacting with high society figures, both mortal and Kindred. Additionally, you have a knack for reading social situations, allowing you an extra die to tests to gauge someone’s intentions no matter their status.
**•••• In the Know:** *Banned*
You became privy to some of the most closely guarded secrets in the Vanderbilt inner circle. Once per story, you can blackmail a suitable ancilla or elder Storyteller character—even antagonists. You can make the attempt on an additional victim but a test of Manipulation + Intimidation or Persuasion at Difficulty 5 is needed. The consequence of failure is never mild.
**••••• Ancient Pact:** *Banned*
You have knowledge of the occult ritual William Henry Vanderbilt and Alva Vanderbilt performed to double the family fortune. You can perform it, too. The ritual requires the sacrifice of a mortal of great promise—someone at the cusp of fame or with extraordinary talent, manifested as a rare Dyscrasia. If performed, the Ancient Pact Ritual gives extraordinary luck in financial matters. You gain +2 successes on any test connected to finances, financial crime, or the investigation of such. However, it comes with a curse. You get −1 die to all tests that would incur final death if failed. The pact lasts for a story and must then be renewed.
## Tattered Facade
Descendant of the Ankou, Malkavian Only (p.171)
*Since the dawn of history, Kindred have broken the edicts to assume the person of gods. The Ankou is likely one of these Kindred or at the very least probably not a Breton psychopomp. But their descendants have become obsessed with death and deriving information from it.*
*The Ankou was obsessed with death and visions, having settled in what is now northern France. The descendants of the Ankou have a vicious streak, a propensity for spilling blood, and an ability to deal with the death rivaling la Famiglia Giovanni and the Church of Set.*
**• Bleed Them Dry:** *Allowed*
You gain three of the following specialties: a fangs specialty for Brawl, a blades specialty for Melee, a blood specialty for Occult, or a hematology specialty for Science. These specialties ignore the normal limits for the number of specialties one character can possess, and you benefit from this specialty even if you have no dots in the Skill. Your penchant for bloody work leaves every Haven you occupy with the Creepy Flaw.
**•• Crimson Visionary:** *Allowed*
You learn Oblivion at the in-clan rate and do not need to drink the Blood of another Kindred to learn it. When you select Oblivion Powers, however, you must select one that relates to perception or gaining information for your first power (including, but not limited to: The Binding Fetter, Oblivion’s Sight, Fatal Prediction, Where the Veil Thins, or Shadow Perspective). You must have two such Powers by the time you select your third Power, and three by the time you select your fifth. Upon learning your first dot of Oblivion, you also gain a one-dot Folkloric Bane or Block Flaw.
**••• Bloody Work:** *Allowed*
Add two-die bonus to any Auspex dice pool or Occult dice pools for Rituals or Ceremonies designed to gain information so long as you spill at least two additional Rouse Check’s worth of human blood or kill an animal. The spilled blood cannot slake any Hunger. You may still use a Blood Surge on the same test.
**•••• Focus of Clarity:** *Allowed*
You have an object that helps you focus on your craft, resisting the pull of the Beast. It must be high quality, antique, or cutting edge. Choose one skill. Once per session when you use that object in conjunction with one chosen Skill, you may change a single 1 or 10 in the results on a Hunger die to a failure (2–5 or blank), potentially avoiding a Messy Critical or Bestial Failure. Should your focus of clarity be lost or destroyed, a suitable replacement cannot be found until the start of the next story.
**••••• The Prophet of Death Reborn:** *Locked*
Your visions have brought you local renown. Local luminaries seek you out for your prophecies, mortal and Kindred alike. At the start of each story, you can temporarily gain two dots of Contacts, Influence, Resources, or a minor Boon from a local Kindred which can be called on once during that story. Work with your Storyteller for any backstory on what prophecies you delivered or specify a more specific payment.
Descendant of Baron Vollgirre, Toreador Only (p.172)
*Baron Philip Vollgirre’s influence on Clan Toreador has been understated by most. Cruel and sadistic, he gave in to many of the clan’s basest urges for centuries as a literal Baron when he ruled over his Domain in what would become France, much as the Dragons of the Old Clan did in their ancestral homelands. He is known to have studied their fleshcrafting arts as well, passing this unusual mastery to some lines of his own childer. Over the centuries, he has sired and slain dozens of childer, but at least 13 survived beyond his demise.*
*While no fewer than nine of his childer went on to despise him and join the Sabbat, others of his bloodline flourished among the Camarilla and Anarchs hiding their proclivities among the monsters of those sects. Most have reputations as hard workers, willing to do whatever must be done to maintain the Masquerade with other Kindred. In private, however, their havens and hunting grounds are littered with the bodies of their victims.*
**• The Seven Arts:** *Allowed*
Your curriculum of study has been passed down from Baron Vollgirre’s love of the classics. Choose three specialties for the Academics, Crafts, Etiquette, Performance, Persuasion, Science, or Subterfuge skills related to grammar, logic, rhetoric, geometry, mathematics, astronomy, or music. These do not count towards the standard limits for specialties, and you benefit from this specialty even if you have no dots in the skill. You also gain the Disliked Flaw as your erudition begins to set you apart.
**•• Prodigy of Flesh:** *Allowed*
Vollgirre’s Blood is infused with fleshcrafting. You needn’t drink the Blood of any Kindred to learn Protean, pay in-clan costs to learn Protean, and may use Presence in lieu of Dominate or Blood Sorcery when selecting Protean amalgams. When you learn your second dot of Protean, you must select the Vicissitude Power (Players Guide, p. 81), and when you select your fourth dot you must select one Power with Vicissitude (e.g., Fleshcrafting or Horrid Form) as a prerequisite if you don’t already know one. Upon learning Vicissitude, you also gain a Dark Secret (•): Vicissitude. Should your abilities to mold flesh become known, your Dark Secret is exchanged for another flaw of the Storyteller’s Choosing, such as an Adversary or Infamy.
**••• Sadistic Hunger:** *Allowed*
Pain and fear help sustain you. Sadism slakes one additional hunger so long as you deal 3 levels of damage to a vessel’s Health or Willpower immediately before or during your feeding. This cannot reduce hunger below your Blood Potency’s limit, or below 1 unless you also drain the victim.
**•••• Unusual Connections:** *Locked*
You maintain connections with one of those distrusted by the city. Gain a five-dot Mawla that is a current Sabbat member, another descendant of Vollgirre, or Tzimisce. This connection awakens a yearning in your Blood to be bound, and you gain either the Bondslave, Bond Junkie, or Long Bond flaw, or lose any Bonding Merits you have.
**••••• Voice of Treachery:** *Allowed*
Your Blood causes those of similar bloodlines to cower before you and accede to your demands. Once per story, while determining the success in a social dice pool related to intimidation, torture, or influencing Sabbat members, Toreador, Tzimisce, or anyone possessing the Vicissitude power, you may set any one die you just rolled to a 10, even a Hunger die.
Descendant of Montano, Lasombra Only (p.173)
*Montano has achieved much for Clan Lasombra, but it is only now that the clan feels comfortable singing his praises. As one of the few who walked with the clan’s founder, his conversance with the Abyss is unequaled. It is said it was by his will that Christianity rose to prominence and that his legions of armies shaped the history of Europe itself.*
*Yet, Montano was always a man of honor. When vampire society split into sects, he refused to abandon the newly born Camarilla. For centuries, he was branded a traitor.*
*As his progeny, you have felt the sting of his decision and stand to reap its fruits. Whether you served the Camarilla openly or in secret, the clan now looks to you and your ancestor for guidance. You will show them what loyalty truly means.*
**• The Shadow of Yesterday:** *Discuss With Storytellers*
Montano remembers nothing about his early days but remembers plenty about his sect and clan. Once per story, you may write a letter to Montano asking for a single piece of information about either the Camarilla or Clan Lasombra. From his distant haven, he will respond either with truth or clues leading to it, with the implication that the journey is its own reward.
**•• Siblings in Darkness:** *Allowed*
Montano’s deeds brought the clan to its lofty position. The line he has cultivated is one based in the same honor that kept him in the Camarilla. You are afforded a respect even your clanmates in the Sabbat and elsewhere cannot help but acknowledge. Your Status: Lasombra (••) applies to Lasombra across all sects.
**••• Abyssal Apprentice:** *Allowed*
Montano cannot teach you everything about the secrets of Oblivion, due to the comparative weakness of your Blood, but you’ve picked up a few tricks. Once per story, you may use an Oblivion Power you do not already know that is at your current level or lower.
**•••• Word of Mouth:** *Allowed*
Inspired by Montano’s patience, you held fast to your place in the Camarilla even when the rest of your clan served as leaders in the Sabbat-held domains. As your siblings join the fold, your allies in the Camarilla have not forgotten where you truly stand. Your status among non-Lasombra in the Camarilla is at the same level no matter where you travel in your home country, even if you do not hold any position in the city you currently reside in.
**••••• Purity of Remorse:** *Allowed*
Once, Montano murdered his beloved friends and family to save the rest of his village from his sire. Though he cannot remember this, he weeps over it just the same. You hope to mourn for your sins as deeply as he does. Whenever you roll for Remorse, you never roll with fewer than two dice.
Little Siblings, Hecata Only (p.174)
*The Rossellini and the Giovanni were once rivals in necromancy. The Rossellini had more talent, but the Giovanni had more ambition. That led to the Giovanni appearing on far more SAD files, and thus disappearing in far more hunter raids, which balances the scales somewhat in these modern nights. The two families have much in common, but differ in their treatment of ghosts. The Giovanni prefer to coax and cajole, with an occasional threat. The Rossellini begin with threats, browbeating, and dominating wraiths into doing their bidding. The Family takes a sadistic glee in using Oblivion.*\ *As a Rossellini, the lands of the dead are your playground. Sure, your enslaved wraiths were human, just like you were, but you conquered death. They are the pitiful remains, doomed to lament what they once had. The least you can do is give purpose to their miserable unlives. One day you’ll die and join their sorrowful ranks, but for now, you will show your cousins the true depths of Oblivion.*
**• Grave Attitude:** *Allowed*
Your experience commanding wraiths has led you to believe that even Kindred may eventually cross the Shroud. This certainty gives you peace. In any attempt to intimidate or manipulate you, your aggressors always suffer a one-die penalty, which stacks with other penalties.
**•• Ghostly Dominance:** *Allowed*
You brook no tolerance for the pleas and threats of the intangible dead. They are your tools. If they don’t see it that way, you will remind them. When you damage a wraith’s fetter, loved ones, or intangible form, you receive three bonus dice to any tests to command them.
**••• Necromantic Expertise:** *Allowed*
Your siblings in the Giovanni see Oblivion as a means to an end. You know Oblivion is more than that. It’s a wondrous art, one that rewards those with the patience and ruthlessness to examine its depths. When you perform an Oblivion Ceremony, decrease the Difficulty level by one.
**•••• Stolen Will:** *Allowed*
Ghosts are bundles of emotion cased in an intangible shell. While some Hecata slake their Hunger from ghosts, you know a more sustainable use. When you bite into the fetter of a ghost under your command hard enough to damage it or cause it injury, the fetter bleeds raw passions drawn from the ghost’s corpus. Consuming this bitter substance heals a level of Aggravated or Superficial Willpower damage.
**••••• Purge:** *Allowed*
You shred ephemeral bodies with ease. Any attack made on a ghost always causes Aggravated Health damage, even outside of the lands of the dead. You are also capable of striking them when they are intangible.
## Live From the Succubus Club
Descendant of Idder, Banu Haqim Only (p.158)
*Tales of the Second City suggest that each clan resembled a Kindred family. Idder was rumored to be the first Kindred to break with his clan, leaving the city and striking out on his own. His descendants likewise wandered with the nomadic peoples of North and Sub-Saharan Africa, the Arabian Peninsula, and beyond. Sometimes called the Bedawi or Bedouin Banu Haqim, members of Idder’s line traveled with various nomadic groups and pilgrims, tending their Herds and keeping them safe from the predation of other Kindred.*\ *For a time, most upheld Haqim’s code even if they rarely saw others of their clan, but after centuries of sail, steam, and into the new digital age, these traditions have broken down as some leave autarky behind to join the Anarchs, Camarilla, or lesser factions. A few of Idder’s descendants have begun to make a name for themselves in the Circulatory System or as couriers between Domains.*
**• Animal Affinity:** *Allowed*
Idder’s descendants have a knack for animal ghouls. They may reroll any rouse checks to maintain animal ghouls. If they possess the Bond Famulus power, they may have two Famuli.
**•• Shepherd:** *Allowed*
Your sire passed down his collected wisdom related to maintaining a Herd. This wisdom allows you to slake one additional Hunger from your Herd per session.
**••• Never Unprepared:** *Allowed*
Your Blood tells you where mortals may be and when they are easy pickings. The first time you hunt mortals in a new city or environment, you gain a two-dice bonus to the attempt.
**•••• Safe Haven:** *Allowed*
Fear of the Sun doesn’t drive you like it does other Kindred, as your Blood knows where to find shelter. If you ever need sanctuary from the sun, so long as you are not restrained and you have 30 minutes before sunrise, your Beast finds you shelter from the sun at the cost of gaining one Hunger.
**••••• Haqim’s Justice:** *Allowed*
Your Blood drives you to protect your own. Whenever your Herd, Contacts, Allies, Touchstones, or other close Relationship-Map connections are threatened, you gain a two-dice bonus to all actions in a scene to defend them or seek retribution for their harm. Once per story, you can declare a vendetta and gain a two-dice bonus against one specific target until justice or vengeance has been served.
Descendant of Kerwiya, Gangrel Only (p.159)
*Kerwiya rarely felt the wanderlust of most Gangrel. Though she was forced to move from whatever lost village or city she was Embraced in, the wilderness never called to her. Through the ages she moved from towns along the rivers of Mesopotamia and India to the cities of the Caspian, Black, and Mediterranean seas. Many of her descendants were notable for dwelling in Constantinople, sometimes called Greek Gangrel.*
*Her descendants likewise thrive in cities, much more so than other Gangrel. Though they occasionally wander between these bastions of the Kindred, they rarely dwell in rural or suburban communities. They are rumored to be as adept in Kindred politics as the Ventrue, Toreador, or Lasombra.*
**• Hidden Predator:** *Allowed*
Kerwiya’s vitae cloaks you from others. You do not need to drink the Blood of another Kindred who knows Obfuscate to learn it, though it is still counted as a non-clan Discipline for the purpose of experience cost.
**•• Politically Adept:** *Allowed*
You develop an instinctive sense for Kindred politics. You gain a specialty for Politics, Insight, and Subterfuge usable against other vampires. If you do not already possess a dot in one or more of these skills, you instead gain the first dot. Your focus on the politics of the dead has made you ignore the nuances of mortal assembly. You can’t take specialties related to mortal politics or social customs.
**••• Actions have Consequences:** *Allowed*
Your Blood warns you before you make foolish mistakes. Once per story, you can ask the Storyteller if the decision you’re making increases the danger you’re in in matters related to other Kindred. The Storyteller gives a yes or no answer. You can use this Merit again if the Storyteller cannot answer clearly.
**•••• The Boon Economy:** *Allowed*
You leverage prestation better than most, noting minor causes for Boons that others might miss. Once per Story, you may upgrade a trivial or minor boon owed to you by one degree (e.g., trivial to minor, minor to major).
**••••• Echoes of Constantinople:** *Allowed*
The Greek Gangrel of Constantinople were renowned for their political insight, and you have the same knack for winning political battles against your rivals with one decisive move. When your dice pool involves Insight, Subterfuge, or Politics, you can set any single die to a 10 after rolling.
Descendant of Phaedyme, Ravnos Only (p.160)
*While the Ravens may often be considered vagrants, wanderers, and drifters, the ancient methuselah Phaedyme and her descendants were drawn to different childer. Phaedyme Embraced a line of pilgrims and knights whose reputation is still remembered in some corners of the globe. A Macedonian woman who fought alongside Alexander’s forces as a man, she was Embraced in India but journeyed west to Gaul to establish herself. Fighting off the threats from locals was easy given her history, and she instilled that sense of martial prowess and duty to her childer.*
*Her descendants gained fame in Antiquity and the Dark Ages, traveling with pilgrim bands to and from the Holy Land and delivering messages between Domains.*
**• Skilled Traveler:** *Allowed*
Your Blood has given you an instinct to keep you safe on your travels. Select a specialty for Athletics, Brawl, or Melee, and another for Drive or Stealth. If you do not have dots in this skill, instead, gain the first dot. These do not count against your limit of specialties. All your time on the road has kept you from delving deep into the realms of knowledge. You can’t take specialties in Academics, Science or Medicine.
**•• Safe Routes:** *Allowed*
You keep track of your options and don’t need a map app to tell you which routes will likely be blocked or under construction. Once per session, you can evade roadblocks and obstacles by taking the longer route, possibly suffering the consequences of arriving late instead.
**••• Renown Guardian:** *Allowed*
The name of your ancestors carries weight. Once per Story, if you ask the Prince, Baron, Justicar, or other local authority for responsibility in security, they’ll grant it to you, possibly with minor conditions, without reward, or even officially deputizing you as a temporary hound or archon.
**•••• Honor among the Honorless:** *Allowed*
The blood of your ancestor offers succor through honor and duty, providing a bulwark for your heart. Choose one additional Conviction related to duty, honor, or chivalry. You can maintain this conviction without recourse to a Touchstone.
**••••• Defender:** *Allowed*
Phaedyme’s Blood drives you to defend your charges, quickening your limbs and strengthening your attacks. Once per story, when defending someone or something important to you (not merely yourself, but a Touchstone, coterie-mate, or other Relationship Map connection), you reroll all Rouse checks for Blood Surges for any dice pools related to defending your charge for the entire scene.
Descendant of the Fallen Lord, Salubri Only (p.161)
*Sometime in the late 20th century, a Sabbat pack uncovered a Kindred locked in Torpor in a Polish mine. After he came to understand the changes of the past millennium, he threw his lot in with the Sabbat, bearing an ancient grudge against the Tremere and the Camarilla that protected them. He trained his childer initially with ancient martial arts and then began mastering modern guerrilla tactics. This individual is often referred to only as the Fallen Lord today, glossing over various blasphemous titles used in the past.*
*Over a decade or two, his childer swelled within the ranks of the Sabbat. With the Sabbat’s fall to civil war and the fractured remnant’s focus on the Gehenna Crusade, many of his descendants fled the Sabbat, whether they were new recruits or unwilling converts looking to salvage what was left of their souls. The Fallen Lord’s brood is rumored to be responsible for many of the Salubri found in the modern nights.*
**•** I**nstinct for Death:** *Allowed*
The Fallen Lord’s Blood gives you a knack for violence. You gain two combat-related specialties divided among Athletics, Brawl, Firearms, or Melee (or gain the first dot if you have no existing rating). These do not count against your specialty maximum.\
Unfortunately your violent demeanor also increases the Difficulty of Social tests with Kindred of Humanity 9 or 10 or particularly humane mortals by 1.
**•• Tracker’s Mark:** *Allowed*
The Fallen Lord’s Blood sings to you a sacred rite to hunt your enemies. You gain a two-dice bonus on all checks to track any opponent you have attacked in combat.
**••• Fury’s Strike:** *Allowed*
You embody the warriors of old, feeding your Beast on violence. Once per scene, you may activate a Discipline Power against one target immediately after hitting them in close combat. You are considered to have eye contact or touch them if required by the power.
**•••• What Must Be Done:** *Allowed*
You possess a righteous anger and the right to do what must be done, whether in combat or cold-blooded murder. You gain an additional Conviction, which cannot be lost and is not tied to a Touchstone. This conviction must be related to destroying your enemies.
**••••• Vengeful Eye:** *Allowed*
Your gaze terrifies your enemies and helps your blade strike true. When you spend Willpower to re-roll dice in melee combat, you can reroll one additional die, which can be a Hunger die. Your third eye reveals itself to your adversary, which may violate the Masquerade or draw unwanted attention.
## Courts of the Damned
Descendant of Count Jocalo, Ministry Only (p.218)
*Among the Kindred of Europe, one of the most infamous members of the Ministry is Count Jocalo, an Iberian noble turned spy for the Church of Set back when the Clan and Church were largely the same entity. Jocalo traveled between Europe, Africa, and Asia, visiting Court after Court to gather pawns and artifacts for the Hierophants of Set. Legend has it that he was even exiled from London for his role in the Great Fire.*
*Jocalo was very much the stereotypical tempter and schemer, and most of his descendants follow suit, using drugs, sex, religious beliefs, or occasionally plain burglary to obtain anything needed. His own religious convictions were dubious at best. His extensive travels and independence from the usual court system led Jocalo to sire many offspring across the world, and Ministers claiming him as an ancestor spread further still during the Ages of Sail and Steam.*
**• A Name You Can’t Refuse:**
Your reputation precedes you, providing the equivalent of one dot of Status with both the Anarchs and Camarilla—even autarks, the Hecata, and most blood cults won’t refuse you entry into their domains so long as you don’t overstay your welcome or cause obvious trouble. Most domains will also watch you like a hawk, with the fame of Jocalo’s schemes coloring your reputation.
**•• Tools of the Trade:**
Jocalo’s Blood gives you an understanding of his methods. You gain a free specialty in your choice of three of the following Skills, or the first dot in the Skill if you don’t already possess one dot: Insight, Larceny, Persuasion, Streetwise, or Subterfuge. You are, however, known for inheriting Jocalo’s teachings, and local authorities or boon holders often come to you to get underhanded tasks done—or consider you a suspect.
**••• A Taste So Sweet:**
Your Blood and Kiss are more potent when ensnaring others. You gain the Enduring Bond Merit (complete and partial Blood Bonds to you weaken every other month; see Gehenna War, p. 44), and gain a two-dice bonus to interact with any mortals during or immediately after feeding from them. Your Discipline powers relying on others drinking your Blood or receiving your Kiss (such as Lingering Kiss, Draught of Might, or using Scorpion’s Touch to affect the Blood in your own body) have their durations doubled.
**•••• Relic Hound:**
Following in Jocalo’s footsteps, you’re a collector of lore and relics. You gain a two-dice bonus to all dice pools directly related to seeking out texts or items pertaining to Kindred history or sorcery (including Blood Sorcery, Oblivion, and Thin-Blood Alchemy), and you may turn a single 1 or 10 on a Hunger die (your choice) to a 2 for these tests.
**••••• Rapid Entanglement:**
The Blood teaches you to shed connections and forge new ones. Once per story or month of game time (whichever is shorter), you can exchange all the dots invested in an Ally, Contact, Influence, or Retainer for another, whether the same category (such as Influence with local law enforcement for Influence within the local funeral industry) or another Background (such as Influence with local law enforcement for a Retainer).
Descendant of Marconius, Lasombra Only (p.219)
*Marconius was already old when he and a coterie of his fellow Lasombra experimented with fell Oblivion Ceremonies. He disappeared for a time, emerging around Strasbourg in the late Middle Ages. Impeccably polite and erudite, Marconius and his brood became powerful members of the city, vying with the Ventrue for influence in the region. During the Age of Steam, many of his brood nominally accepted membership in the Sabbat while others remained loners and autarkis. From the Second Sabbat Civil War through the Sect Wars of the 1990s, Sabbat purges of moderates and “the undevout” within their ranks, as well as the expansion of Kindred metropolitan domains to include smaller cities in their orbit, led many of Marconius’ brood to leverage their ancestor’s name to abandon the Black Hand quietly. Whether prescient or just pragmatic, many of Marconius’ childer rejected the Sabbat before the cost to leave skyrocketed.*
*Marconius’ brood has a reputation for politeness and suffers from common superstitions. Few cities have more than one weirdling, as they tend to eschew the company of their clanmates and shoo their childer away after a decade or two.*
**• Darkling Ward:**
You can master any ward or warding circle Blood Sorcery Ritual as though it were an Oblivion Ceremony with no power prerequisite. Your Wards deal Aggravated Willpower damage, rather than Health damage, and those affected by them lose all sense of direction and location until they wander away from the ward. The first time you learn a Warding Ceremony, you must also take a Folkloric Bane or Block Flaw.
**•• Abyssal Scholar:**
Marconius’ Blood gives you a knack for Oblivion Ceremonies, gaining an Occult specialty for Ceremonies. You can learn Ceremonies without needing the prerequisite power; however, each time you learn a Ceremony without the prerequisite, take an additional Folkloric Bane or Block Flaw. If you later master the prerequisite Power, you may remove that Flaw. You must still possess the correct level of Oblivion to master Ceremonies.
**••• Fey Beauty:**
You appear tall and lithe, with an odd, fey-like feature that makes you stand out in a crowd. You gain the Stunning Merit but suffer a two-dice penalty whenever attempting to disguise yourself, even supernaturally.
**•••• Nightingale’s Song:**
Dominate ordinarily cannot be used to force someone to tell the truth, but Marconius’ Blood helps you steal secrets. Once per session, you can use Mesmerize to demand a target reveal a secret; however, without a cleverly worded order, the secret may be unpredictable. Revealing damning information counts as harm, so getting specific secrets may still be impossible. Should your attempt to compel a secret fail, you visibly shed one large, bloody tear for each point of the margin of failure (or seven tears if the Power otherwise fails). These tears cause a Rouse Check if shedding four or more, and risk provoking Hunger Frenzy in other Kindred or uncomfortable questions among mortals.
**••••• The Grandest Trick:**
Marconius’ odd Blood embraces the light, if only for a moment. The effects of your Oblivion Powers or Ceremonies can survive three rounds of sunlight before they fade away. Whenever you are exposed to sunlight, you may choose to take Aggravated Willpower damage instead of Aggravated Health damage for up to three rounds. This is often enough for the weirdlings of Marconius to escape, though the damage to the Masquerade could be severe if they don’t escape the sun in time.
Descendant of Meerlinda, Tremere Only (p.220)
*Meerlinda was one of the first Tremere and a participant in the Ritual of Usurpation that founded the clan. Whenever a schism arose within her cabal, she deftly walked the line between the accuser and the accused, preserving allies and avoiding enemies as she worked to rehabilitate the clan’s image as usurpers and low-clan villains. Many say it was her intervention that allowed the Tremere a place in the Camarilla or that the Camarilla was a Tremere scheme to gain acceptance within Kindred society in the first place.*
*Her descendants tend to share her views, spinning neutrality to the benefit of everyone rather than scheming for their own gain. Now, in the era of a divided Clan Tremere, her descendants often bridge the gap between feuding houses and even work with solitarchs (autark chantries) or non-Tremere sorcerers.*
**• Strength of the Coven:**
Your sire taught you when to step back and let others take the reins. You can assist in any Blood Sorcery Ritual (see “Teamwork” in Vampire, p. 122) even if you don’t know the Ritual. If you’ve ever assisted another Blood Sorcerer in a Ritual, you gain a two-dice bonus to Persuasion tests to convince them to share a Ritual with you or use one on your behalf. The other sorcerer may still request a reasonable payment or other compensation.
**•• Wealth of Boons:**
Your Blood compels you to exchange minor favors with other Kindred, often to your benefit. Once per story, you can treat one boon owed to you as one category higher or a boon you owe as one category lower. Trivial boons treated as lower are immediately satisfied: no recompense needed.
**••• Sanguine Understanding:**
Meerlinda’s Blood whispers of politeness and politics. You gain a specialty related to Kindred or their factions for Etiquette and Politics, or the first dot in the Skill if you don’t have any. Furthermore, once per session, when dealing with Kindred, you can use your Etiquette or Politics (including specialties if relevant) instead of Insight, Persuasion, or Subterfuge in a dice pool.
**•••• Meerlinda’s Heir:**
You emerge from Meerlinda’s shadow as a well-known force on your own. Increase your Status by 1 (to a maximum of 5). Once per session, you can demand to be treated by your faction as though your Status were one level higher (if adding your Status to a test, this can bring it above 5), or use your full Status even when far from home or dealing with another sect.
**••••• Bestial Neutrality:**
You excel at negotiating with your own Beast. You gain a Conviction related to diplomacy or neutrality, such as “Peace among the Kindred is worth any cost,” which is not tied to a Touchstone and cannot be lost. Once per session when acting in line with this Conviction, you can change a single 1 or 10 on a single Hunger die result to a 2 (a simple failure) after seeing the results of the roll.
Descendant of Menele, Brujah Characters Only (p.221)
*Menele has walked the Earth since his breathing days as a philosopher-king in ancient Greece. His insatiable lust for enlightenment led him first to India, then to Carthage, a utopia purportedly built on the ideal of peaceful coexistence between Kindred and kine. A utopia reduced to ash by the treachery of Helena.*
*Apoplectic with rage, Menele razed Helena’s beloved Pompeii to a cinder, lighting the spark of their unending rivalry. Helena and Menele fought across the ages until they beat themselves into mutual torpor near present-day Chicago. Menele was on the verge of renewing his ancient grudge with Helena when he was called east by the Beckoning, freeing his childer from his vice-like mental grip.*
*Many of Menele’s descendants inherited his passion for philosophy, enlightenment, and greater ideals, while others became fearsome warriors selected for their ability to defend Menele from Helena’s agents. Both were needed to realize Menele’s weary dream of founding a new Carthage based on ancient Brujah ideals. Now, Menele’s descendants are free to choose their destiny for the first time in millennia. The question is: What will they do with it?*
**• Symposium:**
Menele always liked a good argument and sired many childer after debating the mysteries of life for evenings on end. You gain the ability to reroll a single die on all of your Persuasion tests.
**•• Carthago Delenda Est:**
Menele maintained an elaborate network of spies, informants, and retainers. His network fragmented upon his destruction, but you managed to claim a portion of it for your own. You have three dots to split between Retainers, Influence, Allies, and Resources, with the absolute certainty that Helena and her agents will attempt to take them from you.
**••• Know Thyself:**
Menele believed the Brujah needed to return to their roots as thinkers and positive agents of change. You are trained to resist the pull of your Brujah fury. Once per session, you can spend a Willpower level to reroll a Frenzy affected by your Brujah Clan Bane.
**•••• Knowledge is Power:**
Menele was impossibly old and held many secrets about the Kindred of Chicago and beyond. You were the steward of those secrets before the Beckoning drew him away. Once per story, you may request a single unspecified secret from the Storyteller about a clan or Kindred in Chicago or a similar domain that felt Menele’s influence (Storyteller’s discretion).
**••••• The Greater Mysteries:**
Menele spent years learning the meditative practices necessary to perceive the astral plane in his quest for spiritual perfection. You inherited a portion of his ability and remain fully cognizant of your surroundings during your daily slumber. Reduce the difficulty of all Humanity tests to awaken during the day by two. You also have the ability to perceive fractured glimpses of events to come that may affect your character while you slumber. Once per session, you may roll Resolve + Occult to interpret your daytime visions. Each success brings the vision into greater focus, and the Storyteller may offer you one cryptic hint or fact relevant to your character.
Descendant of Rasalon, Nosferatu Characters Only (p.222)
*Rasalon believed in the unity of Clan Nosferatu; many of his descendants continue to maintain this belief: neither sectarian lines nor coteries should prevail over the unity of the Blood. A crusader who traveled in the Middle Ages, Rasalon established lines of communication between individual Nosferatu, and his name is still revered by many of the clan. As sectarian lines divided other clans, the legacy of Rasalon maintained lines of communication that benefited the Nosferatu for centuries. Many Nosferatu push for open lines of communication — even with their Sabbat brethren — out of fear of a mythical group of murderous elders, although Rasalon did his best to assuage those fears and focus more on clan unity.*
*Your ancestor’s name has opened doors for you that may be closed to others, and you find yourself becoming a fulcrum of knowledge for the clan.*
**• Whisper to the Brood:**
You communicate with the Nosferatu in the closest neighboring city, plus one additional city for each dot of Politics you possess. You speak through animal or mortal messengers, local cyphers and metaphors, and/or a hodgepodge of various languages, rendering the messages no threat to the Masquerade.
**•• Shared Knowledge:**
Your clanmates reveal secrets that help you excel in Kindred society. You gain the first dot of Etiquette, Politics, or Occult (choose any two) or, if you already possess the first dot, a specialty related to Kindred. Many Nosferatu seek you out for your knowledge, which occasionally costs you time. Once per story, you may ask the Storyteller to reveal any secret you may have heard that is relevant to a current plot or event, though which plot or event it relates to may not always be clear.
**••• Underground Support:**
Your reputation precedes you, at least among the sewer rats. You gain a four-dot Mawla representing all the Nosferatu neonates and ancillae in nearby cities. Once per story, you can petition a Nosferatu for shelter for one day (if it includes your coterie) or three (for just you), and at least one clanmate will offer refuge, though there may be a cost. Your connections often drag you into minor squabbles between clanmates.
**•••• Clan of the Hidden:**
Your Blood resonates with other sewer rats. When activating Obfuscate Powers to hide or disguise yourself, you can extend that effect to include other Nosferatu (up to your Obfuscate + Blood Potency) so long as everyone maintains physical contact. Those losing physical contact become noticeable. With you, a group of Nosferatu can huddle under the effect of Silence of Death for secret conversations, be hidden with Cloak of Shadows, or thwart cameras through Ghost in the Machine.
**••••• Hidden Primogen:**
All the Nosferatu in the region look to you. No Nosferatu other than explicit Adversaries reject reasonable boons from you. Nosferatu treat any boons involving you as one step in your favor: trivial boons you might owe are instantly expunged, a minor boon owed to you is treated as major, or a life boon you owe is treated as a major boon.