Custom WoD Vampirism

This article contains information about a custom version of vampires, mainly intended for use with the World of Darkness franchise.
 * See Vampirism for more information on vampirism in other settings.

The Vampire
The vampires we use in our settings are heavily inspired by the World of Darkness vampires, found in the systems (respectively) Vampire the- Masquerade and Requiem.

Vampires are undead, but they retain sapience. Many vampries believe that they've come back from the dead, but the truth is, they haven't. There's just something else wearing their skin now, something else using their body, and that something retains their memories. Vampires are often terribly confused the first many nights of their new unlife, because they remember how they used to feel. Like a traumatized person, they walk around frustrated that some of their normal human emotions seem so distant, they feel like they're affected by a drug of some sort, capable of doing things they know they wouldn't normally be able to, like feeding on other people's blood, putting them at risk to sustain themselves, but still the continue their existence but gradually that thing they've become, the thing many of them refer to as the beast (believing it to be some sort of "passenger" or instinctual side that they gain from the vampirism) manages to set aside their former ideals and behavioral patterns and eventually they succumb to their new nature, and became Draugr - Vampires without humanity, territorial beings who only manage to preserve the masquerade out of some misguided survival strategies, spending their days hunting, killing, feeding and sleeping, defending their territories with extreme prejudice.

Of course, the vampires of today have figured out how to avoid this fate, and so they cling to the last shreds of their human side, the human side that died and was replaced by the curse, by the best, but they keep pretending, they keep fooling themselves, and so they remain MORE than just a beast. Some vampires even believe that they can transcend to a higher state - the state of Golconda...

Science and magic
Vampires defy reality, science can go only so far in describing them despite many attempts having happened to define vampirism as something. To most vampires, vampirism is proof that there is something out there, forces that are greater than what humans can possibly imagine. This is the reason many vampires turn to religion, even if they were stout atheists in life. Sure, the mutation that happens the first nights, the shift in power and the growth in potency, all of that can be scientifically documented, but it cannot be scientifically explained. There are many tendencies in vampirism that mirrors other things observed by science, animalistic behavior and many other things, for instance psychology and other related topics, but this doesn't make vampirism normal by any shred of the definition. Vampirism remains mystical and even though somewhat comprehensible and scientifically observable, it's still impossible to explain in laymans terms. The cosmic energies that are manipulated when vampires use their strange undead powers are seemingly unrelated to vampirism itself, as if the universe bends around the vampires.

There is something ancient and powerful that runs through the veins of the night-stalkers, and what ever it is, it seems not of this world.

The Myths
The Invictus knows the location of several truly ancient vampires whom they protect and watch over, and some of these vampires are so old that it's almost unfathomable to imagine a being living for so long. Seeing so much, and yet even these vampires do not remember the beginning. It's rumored that the Invictus has a single vampiric source, so ancient that he predates the Roman Empire, so ancient that he claims to remember so far back that he can detail the supposed beginning, but other rumors claim that even this vampire, if he does exist, is merely a second hand source.

The Vampires don't know where they come from, but for some reason, the belief that they are organized in generations has been maintained for very long, strongly supporting the idea that there was a first vampire, or first generation of vampires at least, at some point. Whether ANY of these still exist or not is dubious.

As far as the Vampires can remember back, they've always had conflicts with the Strix, strange dark spiritual beings of shadow, associated with owls and ancient religions. These creatures of the shadow have through out history made several attempts to end the kindred and they seem fully capable of living their own requiem, but they are not born human like vampires are, nor do they ever change. They can simply assume human form.

The lost Pijavica clan is believed to have been the result of a kindred embracing a Strix, or the other way around in some sort of unholy union.

The strix are tied to the vampires in some way, the blood, the vitae, they use as fuel for their dark powers, and they seem to suffer many similar ailments. This suggests that the Strix and Kindred are somehow related.

Many Strix have been captured and interrogated through the ages, and they've revealed much the same, that they are the denziens of the realm beyond, coming to claim what was taken from them, that which was stolen. The Kindred believe that the Strix are creatures from the underworld, come to claim the lives that didn't pass beyond, but some Kindred, mainly scholars of the Ordo Dracul, have come to believe that there might be an entirely different explanation, but the rumors are few and far in between in regards to what they ended up concluding...

The Kindred aren't stupid, most who aren't Sanctified don't believe in the Christian god, but most vampires become strangely spiritual after their embrace due to the overwhelming amount of unexplainable things that happen around them. Though religious studies showcase a pattern in religious tales, certain tales remain the same from religion to religion with new names and new locations, slightly differen't details but same idea and concept. Caine and Able are among those tales, but they are numerous, and it's long been a popular notion that Caine was the first Vampire, and this idea was strongly supported among Kindred in the early Christian days, and this is also the variant that the Lancea et Sanctum preaches.

The Circle of the Crone believe that the first vampire was granted her powers by the Mother, the Blood god, but different chapters of the Circle of the Crone can barely agree on anything. Globally speaking they're united because they believe in the right to figure out what to think on their own and because the Lancea et Sanctum consider them heretics.

The Carthian Movement and the Invictus are all less spiritual about the matter mostly, with many members leaning towards already established ideas. The Invictus believes that they are the only ones who will ever truly know, because they have the elders. The Carthians don't concern themselves with their roots as an organization, and leave their members to think what they want.

Creation of a vampire
A vampire is created when a vampire feeds it's blood to a recently dead human. An important factor to remember is, that for this to succeed, the human who is to be "embraced" (the term used by vampires about this process) must still have an intact brain which is attached to the rest of the corpse, as well as a, more or less, undamaged heart. The process can take a few minutes, but sometimes it takes but a few seconds. Occasionally it has taken longer than minutes. It's hard to confirm anything when it comes to vampires, but rumours speak of some vampires turning after several days, and even of a single case of a corpse that was preserved and turned after 100 years.

The change
As soon as the initial transformations are complete, the vampires body begins the painful and confusing mutation process, and for the next couple of days, the vampire will be half mortal, half undead, still capable of eating and digesting, as well as walking the sun, but gradually will lose appetite for normal food and loathe the sun. The fledgeling (vampire term for recently embraced), will almost immediately develop rectractable canines and their eyes change so they work optimally at night, but will be partially blinded in daylight. All of their senses highten very rapidly in no specific order, their physical appearance changing rapidly, growing taller, more muscular and by normal standards, prettier. They will experience mood swings, and start failing to stay awake during the day. The full transformation takes less than 13 days normally. The most disturbing thing for most fledgelings is the amount of enhanced instincts. The vampire will suddenly know how to feed, that they can lick their own wounds to heal them, that they must conceal their nature from humans (the thought of being outed as a vampire causes fear and anxiety in them), that they cannot trust anyone, they will instinctively know that they need to stay away from fire and the sun, and that they need a secure hiding place, as well as their bloods ability to bind people to their will.

The final product
Most organs have changed either into simple blood storage, or mutated into transformation stations, assisting with the transformation of mammal blood into vitae (magical vampire blood). Every 24 hours, the vampire burns about half a litre of vitae to fuel it's undead state. The vampire will not age from this point and onwards, but it's body can still change, this requires the vampire to burn vitae in large amounts, however, and can also only be attempted if the vampire is currently in a stable condition. A vampire has no stamina rating once the transformation is complete. Vampires use their bloodpotency instead of stamina for all related matters. Any dots (including the first and free dot) the vampire held in stamina are refunded as exp and must be relocated into the two other physical stats immediately, and any left over exp is kept by the character.

Generation
Many speculate who it might have been, but thousands of years ago, the first vampire, or perhaps first generation of vampires were somehow created. Regardless of how that happened, vampires have been counting the generations since that happened, and most vampires are aware of what generation they are.The first three generations are regarded as the ancestor generations with most believing that the first generation  was a single vampire. The second generation is widely regarded as having been only af few individuals who in many of the tales were not supposed to have passed on the affliction but did anyway. All of them were supposedly put to death and as such, the third generation are considered the founding fathers of all the now existing bloodlines, the majority of who are still alive, but have long since fallen into deep hibernation. This generation are known as the Antideluvians, and while not all existing bloodlines even recognize the theory of antideluvians, not being able to trace ones heritage back to one makes one of lesser stock. Despite the many theories about who the first vampires were, most vampires agree that there are no more than 17 existing generations of vampires at present, but only 13 of them are considered the true "generations" as the 14th generation of vampires and onwards fall into a category called "thin-bloods", and after the 17th generation, vampires are no longer able to pass on the curse. Vampires below the 8th generation have been rare for a very long time, almost through out recorded history. Vampires of 6th generation are the lowest generations widely recognized as still occasionally making appearances, and as such the 7th and 6th generations are recognized as methusaleh.

Potency
Vampires grow stronger over time, the lower their generation the quicker they grow in power. It's very hard to measure power-levels of vampires, and the bloodpotency stat is a meta aspect of the game, existing primarily on the sheet. A vampire is not able to tell that another vampire is, for instance, of the 5th level of blood potency, they can just tell whether the vampire is higher, lower or equal to them, but that said, the first three bloodpotency levels are known to vampires, the first being the level attained as a fledgeling, the second being the the level of transition and the third level representing a vampire who has completed his transformation. At some point, the vampire gains a certain mastery over their bodies making them capable of burning more vitae than he could previously, and this level is recognized as the 4th power level, despite it being achieved at the sixth point of bloodpotency in actuality. After reaching the third level, a 13th generation vampire takes approximately 50 years to advance, meaning a vampire has to have been a vampire for at least 150 years into his vampirism to advance to the 4th power level (blood potency 6), and this is the only reason vampires actually have a clue as to how long it takes to advance. The 13th generation is the last "true" generation, and therefor it is used to calculate such matters, seing as no one actually knows a 1st generation vampire. A vampire of lower generation advances in potency faster. Approximately 10 years faster per drop in generation. A 10 generation vampire advances every 20 years, and an an 8th generation vampire advances every year. Below the 8th generation, bloodpotency advancement is generally unknown, but some say that vampires below that level were always at the highest level of potency. When a vampire is in torpor, they quickly lose blood potency, but never fall below the third level. A vampire may also for various reasons advance his bloodpotency for reasons not entirely understandable. Some people just advance quicker (by spending exp), or diablerie may be used. The generation merit lowers the exp cost to raise bloodpotency prematurely. Normally, the exp cost is 10 xp + the dot you want to buy (no multiplication!), but the generation merit lowers the exp cost by 2 per dot. The generation merit only costs 2 exp per dot at creation, but cannot be raised at a later time, except through diablerie. Note that a vampire can never raise a discipline higher han his bloodpotency unless done through diablerie. If a vampire loses bloodpotency or his bloodpotency is somehow inadequate to use use a discipline, he doesn't lose disciplines acquired at a higher level, instead they just become unusable until such a time as the vampire has regained his bloodpotency. Every time a vampire falls into torpor long enough to lose blood potency, the dot(s) lost will recover at half the time it normally takes for them to recover, and alteratively, the exp cost is also halved to regain them.

Thin-bloods
A thinblooded vampire is a vampire with a higher generation than 13. Some vampires seem to think that the recent generations are also necessarily the newest vampires. This is not true. During the times of the Roman Empire, the Greek city-states, the Egyptian Empire and so on, vampires prospered and the thinblood generations were discovered back then. Obviously, thinblooded vampires were rare back in the days, as the lower generation vampires were more common and stronger. There were only so many people alive back then and vampires were relatively few, the weakest rarely survived, but the thinblooded was bred back then for a reason. It was quickly discoverd that the 17th generation of thinblooded were capable of reproduction. Their children laid the foundation for the "revenants" (see further below). 14th generation thinblooded cannot rise beyond the third dot of blood potency and are as such only technically thin-blooded as they are fully capable vampires, they just never advance in potency, unless they diablerize. A 15th generation cannot advance to the third state and is stuck in a strange middle-phase (blood potency 2), where they can still walk exposed in sunlight but lack quite a few of the powers other vampires possess. The 16th generation can only amount the first level of potency and can barely finish their mutations and can still ingest human food and sustain themselves for a long time that way and the 17th generation as mentioned can even concieve children, but cannot further create vampires. Thin blooded vampires, with the exception of the 14th generation cannot go into torpor for extended periods of time. Thin blooded live interesting existences, they are vampires but their powers are quite limited and

Diablerie
Diablerie or Amaranth is the act of killing a vampire by consuming his last drop of vitae, forcibly. Diablerie can only be performed on a torpid vampire. Diablerie is a horrid experience for the diablerist, and when trying to diablerize someone, the vampires must enter a contested roll, the goal for the diablerist is to achieve more successes than the defender has in willpower, but in order for his successes to count, he must beat the opposing vampire's diceroll, and every time he rolls must spend a point of willpower. The roll is resolve+composure+bloodpotency vs the same dicepool on the defenders side. The defender may add the difference to between their humanity if his is higher, to his defence pool to a maximum of plus 5, and a diablerist who has diablerized before may add a +1 bonus for each diablerie he has performed up to a possible plus 5 at the highest. Most diablerie happens when the diablerist is frenzied, and in such cases the vampire doesn't need to spend willpower to attempt diablerie. In many cases, the vampire comes to, not really sure what happened, and might be unaware that he is a diablerist. Diablerie of a more powerful vampire (blood potency and/or generation) always results in a raise. Diablerising a vampire of a lower generation will give you the generation of the vampire you diablerised if it's only one lower, but set you to the generation right above the victims' generation if there is more space between the generations, for instance if a 10th generation vampire diablerizes a 7th generation vampire, he becomes an 8th generation vampire effectively, but if a 10th generation vampire diablerizes a 9th generation, or 8th generation, he becomes a 9th generation vampire in both cases. In the case of bloodpotency, it always only raises by one. If the diablerised vampire is not of higher bloodpotency, but still higher generation, the generation still shifts. If the reverse is true, then the blood potency still shifts. If neither is true, then the diablrist gainst a single dots worth of discipline that the victim possesses that the diablerist doesn't. If no such are present, he gains a skill or possibly even a fighting style that the victim had that the diablerist didn't, or a speciality. Finally, if nothing is compatible, the diablerist gains 1 exp per dot of blood potency the victim held. Diablerie is a very extreme sensation, in case of diablerising a more powerful vampire, the diablerist will feel a powerful and almost unctrollable rush through his body as his beast mutates and grows stronger, but if diablerising a lesser vampire he will instead feel like he is in control, streaming through the victim's soul able to take something from him and make it his own. Diablerie normally results in a drop in humanity if done willingly - this drop is automatic as the beast roars and gains grounds, pushing out pathetic human emotions that are noting but limitations. If done in a frenzy and the vampire finds out, make a humanity roll (the vampire should get a bonus to the roll depending on how much he can distance himself to the happening), but if the vampire was riding the wave while performing the act, treat his humanity as one point lower for the sake of the roll, and it's always a breaking point. If done as a result of a hunger frenzy a roll will never be required. Diablerie is a free way to gain some power in this game, but it can come at a terrible cost. When consciously diablerising another vampire, every time the diablerist loses a roll against the defender, consider the willpower dot he spent permanently lost (there is a fixed exp cost to retrieve such a lost dot - so not necessarily PERMANENTLY lost), and if the victim manages a critical success (beating the opponent by more than 5 successes) or the diablerist manages a critical failure (a botch), the diablerist suffers a point of aggravated damage as the vitae burns wills it's owner and burns the would-be murderer. If the victim wins a number of rolls equal to or greater than the diablerists willpower, the tables can be turned and the beast lashes out from the torpid vampire's body attacking the diablerist, and suddenly the blood starts flowing the other direction, forcibly flowing from the diablerists body and into the victim's. Once this happens, both vampires are locked in place for a single instance, as something mystical happens, but the vampires both reverse the roll as if the victim was now the diablerist - but treat him as being in a frenzy. At this point, the only thing that can save the diablerist is if he manages to turn the tables again, otherwise he will surely be diablerised by the torpid vampire. If the diablerist is in a frenzy, the beasts of the two vampires will clash more violently to begin with, and everytime the vampire loses a round he suffers aggravated dammage. If he ever loses critically, the tables will turn immediately. Once the diablerie is complete, there's still a slight chance of something terrible happening. The attacking vampire rolls resolve+composure+bloodpotency (minus the defenders bloodpotency)  against the defenders resolve+composure, but this roll only happens if the vampire being diablerised has a higher maximum willpower rating than the attacker, or a higher bloodpotency. If the defender wins the roll, he survives inside the other vampire. Only powerful exorcism rituals can expell the vampire. If he wins dramatically, he switches bodies with the attacking vampire in the last second before the diablerie is complete and essentially keeps all his mystical stats (including all skillls - mental and social attributes and merits) but takes over the would be diablerists physical attributes and some merits (striking looks for instance). This is one of the only known ways to escape the fate of Nosferatu.

Torpor
A vampire will feel the urge to sleep when the sun rises, but this urge can be resisted, provided the vampire is in fine shape (just like with humans trying to pull an all-nighter, only slightly more extreme want to doze off). When a vampire sleeps, it's called "torpor", and technically, the vampire seizes to be undead when it does, which also entirely protects the vampire from any scrying attempts or tracking attempts by those means. When a vampire marks a place as home, that place will instinctively feel safer to sleep at. If a vampire wants to sleep elsewhere and still feel safe, it needs to bring soil taken from their original home, otherwise they lose one point of willpower from sleeping in fear, and they do not also regain one willpower from a days sleep. A vampire can mark a new place as their home, if they so desire, but that means losing all territorial feelings towards their old home, and it also requires the vampire to spend a point of willpower as well as a point of vitae. They must find a place that they regard as safe enough, or a place they genuinely believe they can hold as their territory, and then they must spray their own blood on the soil and let it soak in. This will mark the place as their territory, in a 1 km radius from that place, pr dot of blood potency.

Feeding
When feeding, a vampire bites it's victim. The bite can theoretically be placed anywhere on the victims body where it's possible for the vampire to chew into the bloodways, but if the vampire bites down poorly, the process of feeding can take hours instead of minutes. When the vampire bites, the saliva of the vampire is injected into the victimes vains, and this causes the effect known as "the kiss". The effect is mutual however, as the pleasure of feeding causes complete euphoria in the vampire. The blood absorbed by a vampire during feeding will be circulate in the vampires vains, and the vampries heart will beat for the next few hours. This will cause the vampire to seem alive, with the exception of breathing. After a while, the vampire's lungs will have filled up with the excess red liquids, while what the vampire actually needs from the blood has been processed and stored in the vampires organs. The "red mist" is what occurs next, when the vampire exhales the the excess blood-fluid some hours after feeding. Obviously, the vampires lung capacity limits the amount of blood a vampire can process, as the vampire will lose the ability to speak when the lungs are full. The vampire can process ½ a litre of blood pr bloodbotency dot into one points worth of vitae every minute. A normal average vampire can contain a total of 6 litres of blood fluid in it's lungs before it needs to exhale the red mist, and have completely lost the ability to speak. 6 litres of red fluid turns into roughly 12 points worth of vitae.

Nosferatu
No one knows how, or why, but a vampire upon being embraced has a risk of becoming a nosferatu. The Nosferatu is speculated to be a defect in the curse, or perhaps it's true nature, seeing as some elders eventually also develop it, and vampires who lose their mind to the beast also often eventually succumb to the nosferatu. Nosferatu are found in two stages, stage one emits a strange but very unpleasant aura, alerting anyone in the presence of the nosferatu that they are truly monsters. The scond stage, mutates the appearance of the vampire to be much more monstrous. The Nosferatu of stage one tend to be successful in the courts, where as the stage two nosferatu tend to band together and take to the sewers where no eyes will gaze upon them, staying out of politics, renouncing their bloodlines. The invictus has effectively declared a law that allows any Nosferatu to claim membership in Clan Nosferatu, which is consiered a bloodline and it's own court, but there are rarely enough nosferatu in a city that they bother. Stage one nosferatu tend to keep their memberships in their original courts, but it's becoming a trend for them to defect to Clan Nosferatu and become active politicians for their clan. Stage One nosferatu doesn't necessarily ever turn into stage two, but the effects of both stages are irreversible. Some stage one nosferatu retain all of their mortal beauty, and as with all vampires, their beauty is even slightly enhanced by their undead condition, yet the aura of undeath hangs around them, possible to feel as soon as one lays eyes upon them. Nosferatu of stage one seems to be tied into the senses. Sight, hearing, taste, smell and feeling all trigger the aura, however casual observation from afar seems to negate the effects, and as such, a stage one nosferatu can easily blend into a crowd if he bothers to try and remain incognito.

Malkavia
Malkavia is believed to be the result of generation upon generation of blood bonds from sire to child. Sometimes a vampire develops a stronger connection to the blood within them. This is described by some, as the hive mind. Vampires who succumb to their nature usually work together in small groups and never occur to be rivals or enemies, forming a strict unbending hierarchy with the oldest in charge. This suggests that the curse has a will of it's own. Elder vampires spend a great deal of time in torpor, and most vampires spend the day time in torpor, all experience the strange vision like dreams. On several occasions, it has been proved that when dreaming, a vampire sees through the eyes of a Malkavian who is awake, and their subconscious tries to guide this vampire, this is believed to be a side effect of the hive-mind effect that is part of the vampires true bestial nature. Malkavians, when awake, constantly feel strange impulses, they hear voices in their head, many of them have difficulty leading conversations because they have a hard time concentrating due to the constant flow of information. Only malkavians with a high composure score manage to not appear crazy. Most malkavians eventually go insane, but not all are. Vampires live indefinately, and some that once were insane eventually regain sanity. Malkavia can strike in a vampire at any age, but most often strikes at creation, like Nosferatu. Malkavians have been condemned in periods, forced to band together much like the Nosferatu, with the exception of those who manage to hide their nature. They have always managed to gain foothold and just like with the Nosferatu, they are recognized as Clan Malkavia - on equal footing with any bloodline. The vast majority of Malkavians are considered rather useless, as they spend the first many years of their vampirism coming to terms with their condition, and once they have, they enter vampire society as strong and well developed vampires with little experience. Some Malkavians retain their membership in their original court, these are often referred to as Malkovians, but this isn't an actual term. Malkovians often do not reveal their nature to others, and most Malkovians are the ones that were already hiding some psychological trauama when they were embraced, while others develop Malkavia later in their unlife as a result, perhaps, of the unlife itself.

Tremre Liches
It's rumored that clan gangrel orignated when the first vampires embraced a werewolf. This seemed to have been discredited by the fact that werewolves seem incapable of receiving the embrace, and die when this is attempted, but it's quite possible that it simply requires a more powerful vampire to pull off such a feat, and the appearance, through out history, of "dead wolves" (when a wolfblooded is embraced) revitalizes the idea of something like that being true. No phenomenon lends more credit to the notion than the existence of the Tremere Liches however. The Tremare liches, or Clan Tremere, is the result of vampires embracing mages. Incapable of working ordinary disciplines, the Tremere liches retain the ability to cast spells like a mage, as long as they power their spells through blood. The tremere can only expand upon their clan by embracing mages, and while new tremere liches appear from time to time suggesting that there is more to them than meets the eye, it's generally believed that the tremere liches came into existence when a powerful necromaner tried to emulate the Curse of Vampirism, using the blood of an elder in torpor he had acquired. It's important to note that this happened several thousands of years ago, if not more, and if this vampire was already an elder back then, then it is quite possible that this vampire was so far up the chain of generations that there might be talk of yet another gangrel incident. The tremere liches caused a massive incident back in the time following the dark ages, where mages rose up against the vampires, forming alliances with known vampire hunters, to stop the tremere. This lead to a peace treaty that is still being enforced by the mages, and the tremere is a very small clan as a result, as they aren't allowed to embrace mages, unless the mage seeks them out willingly. Because the tremere ended up with many enemies among the other clans, it seemed they would soon die out, but they found their salvation through ghouls. It turns out that ghouling ordinary humans for a tremere, had a slight tendency to awaken them. Naturally, already being ghouled, the newly awakened human, despite any treaty, still falls under tremere domain.

Dead Wolves
A dead wolf is the result of a vampire embracing a wolfblooded.

Creation
Wolfblooded are often protected, and so this is a rare thing to happen. Dead Wolves are typically treated differently than if they had not been Dead Wolves, because the Dead Wolf state of being is much more dominating than any clan could possibly be, and their importance in diplomacy with the Werewolves makes them too important to waste on covenant politics. Dead Wolves can be of any clan and covenant, but will always resemble clan Gangrel the most. It's speculated that Clan Gangrel originated in the same way, only with a much lower generation vampire, and that the Dead Wolf gene is found somewhere inside all Gangrel. That said, the difference between a Gangrel and a true Dead Wolf is unmistakable. A deadwolf keeps his original clan's signature discipline, but otherwise assumes the gangrel disciplines, and will default to Resilliance/Fortitude as his favored physical discipline - ALWAYS. Everyone, except for the Vampire's sire, is likely to believe that the childe is a gangrel. A Dead Wolf is associated forever with the moonphase that was active during his embrace, and considers this moonphase his Auspice.

Weaknesses
The Dead Wolf suffers from the Gangrel Clan Weakness, their original Clan Weakness AND a werewolf weakness as well, namely that Silver is a bane for Dead Wolves - Causing aggravated damage. Further more, whenever a Dead Wolf falls into a frenzy, they automatically without cost assume their warform if it is available to them, fortunately the effects of lunacy extends to Dead Wolves protecting them from masquerade breaches. Using silver is a breaking point for a Dead Wolf, all the way to Humanity 5. A Dead Wolf will naturally feel torn between their alliances to the Werewolves and the Vampires.

Advantages
A Dead Wolf gains the "Unseen Sense" merit in regards to werewolves and spirits. During the auspice moonphase, the Dead Wolf gains the ability to use the Auspice special ability. Dead Wolves are fully capable of absorbing essence within them unlike other vampires. They can use essence to power their vitae allowing them access to some mystical powers not normally accessible by vampires and use fetishes for instance. Dead Wolves can access the spirit world from a Locus, and they gain Renown the same way a werewolf does, but as they are vampires it's harder for them to be accepted into werewolf society. Only the Forsaken will under any circumstances consider making them allies, the Pure consider vampires to be abominations. Dead Wolves cannot learn werewolf gifts, but they can learn werewolf rituals and certain other powers. A Dead Wolf can belong to a werewolf pack should they want to and be allowed to. They can contribute in many ways a normal werewolf can, gaining full advantage of totem and territory. When in a pack with werewolves, territorial effects of the vampire extends to the pack and if a Dead Wolf has dual membership with a pack and Coterie, territorial benefits will extend to both sides strengthening both parts much. A dead wolf may take dots in totem, and may lean the tooth and claw fighting style. A dead wolf can automatically feed from werewolves without falling into a super-powered frenzy, and werewolf blood will sustain them in the same way Kindred Blood will, and considering how quickly werewolves regenerate, a pack of werewolves could willingly sustain a Dead Wolf, giving the Dead Wolf no reason at all to ever hunt humans, the only problem is that the Dead Wolf also drains essence through the blood, but this cannot be helped, fortunately, a Dead Wolf can help tend a Locus (and may hold dots in Locus). Dead Wolves can mix the blood of their packmembers with their own and by allowing everyone in a pack (including possible coterie members) they can create a pack bond between all members, across both pack and coterie, similar to a sabbat vinculum ritual.

Protean
Being a Dead Wolf carries some advantages with the Protean Discipline, and a Deadwolf upon gaining the second level automatically learns the following aspects: Claws, Extra senses and Quadripedal. A non-gangrel Dead Wolf will have to gain additional dots of Protean to unlock more aspects. Further more, when gaining the third level of Protean, the Vampire doesn't need to consume a Wolf to be able to assume the shape of a wolf. When gaining the fourth level of Protean, the Dead Wolf doesn't get a chance to pick any forms or abilities, instead he gains the special War Form, which is almost identical to the werewolf Gauru form in appearance and abilities, with the major exception that a vampire cannot regenerate, and that the form is assumed in a different way than a werewolf would assume it's form, also the Dead Wolf can only access this form while riding the wave or in a frenzy. The Dead Wolf may like all other users of Protean gain a second dot four aspect upon attaining the 5th dot of Protean.

Warping the forms
While the Dead Wolf doesn't have to, Dead Wolves have a special option of spending a point of vitae to assume Dalu form when they activate their 3 aspects. They gain all advantages of the dalu form. When assuming the form of a wolf, they may also activate their 3 aspects afterwards, and warp into urshul form. These forms can only be accessed through use of Protean dot four, but represents applying the three pre-chosen dot 2 aspects to the dot 3 wolf form and the normal human form.

Gangrels
Gangrel Dead Wolves have an easier time getting in touch with their Protean-based abilities. A Deadwolf who is an actual gangrel automatically gains 3 extra aspects of their own choice upon getting the second dot of Protean, and still get a free aspect upon getting the fourth dot of Protean. A gangrel gains the use of Nightmare as a clan discipline. If the gangrel is already a step one Nosferatu and as such already has Nightmare, the gangrel instead gains Obfuscate.

Frenzy
A vampire carries inside it, a beast or an animal that is purely in it's mind. It's a part of it's own consciousness that can take control and wants to do so. The intsintcts that comes with being an undead terror of the night, super powerful instincts that threaten to surpress forever what ever is left of the original human's personality, and turn the undead creature that the human has become, into a ferrocious territorial killing machine, that hunts and sleeps. Thousands of years ago, vampires that had dropped into a permanent state of frenzy actually had an easier time surviving than those that tried to hide amongst the humans. These dreaded creatures had all the right instincts, they struck quickly, surrounded themselves with animal servants as well as human servants and lived at night, only to satiate their own hunger and defend their territory, with no regard for anything or anyone, but as times changed, the frenzied vampires became a threat to the "masquerade" (a term describing the hidden existence of vampires that is necessary for them to stay alive), and most of them were hunted down as the monsters they were, but occasionally, they still appear, vampires that have lost their very last shred of humanity. Several things can cause a vampire to frenzy, most common are exposure to fire and sunlight, very sudden bright lights, strong negative emotions, hunger and physical pain. This can further be divided into several categories of "frenzies";

Fear frenzy
A vampire that has been exposed to something dangerous, or who has been seriously frightened will react by entering a state of frenzy. Primal instincts to flee to safety and hide will take over. The vampire will fight with full lethalty to achieve this, and if cornered will fight to the death. Exposure to sunlight and fire will also cause this particular kind of frenzy.

Normal frenzy
The most common form of frenzy is usually triggered by an unacceptable amount of negative emotions at the same time, or extreme pain. This causes the vampire to fly into a state of incontrolable rage, and will murder everyone in sight. Once no more people are in sight, the vampire is very likely to feed until it feels satiated, and then the frenzy will end.

Feeding frenzy
A vampire that is running low on vitae will during any frenzy that is not a fear, will attempt to feed during that frenzy, but a frenzy caused by hunger will end as soon as the vampire has managed to satiate it's hunger.

During a frenzy a vampire doesn't become stupid, despite losing the ability to determine if it's a good idea or a bad idea to try and feed from a paticular target, or if it's a good or bad idea to attempt to murder someone, or to determine if it's even necessary to flee, the vampire can use all of it's knowledge, skills and everything it has at it's disposition to achieve what ever tasks are at hand. Not all vampires know how to fight, but any vampire that enters a frenzy, can add their dots in bloodpotency to any combat related skill as well as survival, athletics, stealth and intimidation. Further more, any vampire may consider itself as having access to dot 4 of "brute force" (a fighting style), 5 dots of "frenzied assault" as well as 5 dots of "berserker". A vampire with an intelligence of 3 or higher may also consider itself as having access to all 5 dots of "armed fighting". During a frenzy, all vampires know how to kill. When huntning or fleeing in a frenzy, the vampire may consider itself as having both "parkour" and "Spelunker". It's possible for a vampire to intentionally frenzy, and remain somewhat in control, but the vampire is constantly in risk of slipping and losing control in such a situation, but the benefits are a great temptation.

Banes of Vampirism
Vampires take aggravated damage from exposure to sunlight and fire, but are fully capable of walking in sun light (albeit at the risk of flying into a fear frenzy - a check must be done once per scene), as long as they are not directly exposed to it. They have minus 3 to all actions when the sun is up and minus 5 if the sun is shining directly upon what ever they are using to cover their naked flesh (a roof would mean minus 3, clothing would mean minus 5, ect.). Vampires can see perfectly with no light at all, but suffer -1 to perception checks when normal humans suffer no penalties, and suffer -2 in bright light, and -3 in daylight. They have adapted so that the moon and stars do not bother their eyesight.

Taking damage
A vampire's body is undead, meaning it's very resilliant. Vampires can never take direct lethal damage from fists or other blunt force (only in extreme cases or if all boxes are filled). Falling damage follows the same rules. Any weapon that deals lethal damage with a damage rating lower than two causes bashing damage to vampires, and guns deal lethal damage only if loaded with hollowpoint or the damage rating is 5 or above unmodified. Vampires cannot take damage from ordinary heat (unless it's actually burning), from freezing (but they can become frozen) or from electricity (though it does immobilize them/cause spasms and cause slight burns - but these are merely cosmetic). Targetting a vampire's organs will remove valuable vitae storage (every point of lethal damage dealt to an organ other than the heart or the lungs removes 1 point of vitae - it's not lost but inaccessible until the damage is healed), and targetting the head can cause loss of motorfunction. gunshots to the head, no matter what caliber or type, deals lethal damage.

Healing and Regeneration
The undead body of the vampire will always attempt to rise from slumber in perfect condition. Aggravated damage is the only thing that will not automatically heal after rising from Torpor (when in torpor, a single vitae will heal all lethal damage automatically - but this is on top of the cost to rise from torpor however - which is one vitae). Normally, a vampire can spend one point of vitae to instantly heal all bashing damage, spend one point of vitae to heal one point of lethal or spent one point of lethal to heal one point of aggravated (though this is done when rising from torpor - and only then). A vampire can also attempt a healing roll, but this is not a simple action and requires the vampire to be out-of-combat and in a non-stressful situation. The roll made is Bloodpotency+resolve, and the number of successes equals the number of lethal damage healed, plus 1. Even at a failure, one point is still healed as normal. In torpor, the vampire has much greater control over such subtle manipulations of the body, and can more easily heal wounds (no roll required - and all damage is healed for the cost of just one vitae). Lost limbs are considered aggravated damage in most cases, and they grow back when the damage is healed.

Death of a Vampire
When vampires die, they instantly decompose, their corpses becoming the age they would have been, and all damage they ever healed in supernatural ways will instantly reappear on the corpse (regrown limbs will instantly turn to ashes).

Forced Torpor
When a vampire sustains a certain amount of damage (full aggravated) the vampire falls torpid. To all but other vampires, the vampire clearly appears dead. It takes considerable skill to kill a vampire without first rendering it torpid. If a vampire takes damage that leads to having all health boxes full of aggravated damage, and there is even more damage beyond that sustained, this extra damage is normally ignored, unless it is considerable (story tellers discretion). A forced torpor takes a certain amount of time to recover (see core book).

Paralyzation
The vampires don't know why, but their heart, which is the organ that transforms blood into vitae, is obviously very vital to them, infact so vital that if it is piearced, and something remains stuck in it, the vampire falls torpid instantly, but unlike a forced torpor, the vampire immediately awakens when the object is removed. It needent be wooden.

Starveation Torpor
If a vampire has no blood to rise with, he must attempt a resolve+blood potency roll to rise from his slumber, which may only be attempted once every night when he would have risen. He suffers a point of aggravated damage each day that passes, regardless of whether he rises or not. Eventually, the vampire might fall into a forced torpor.

Organization
Vampires in society exist in both smaller and bigger settlements. It's not unheard of that a vampire lives alone in a smaller village, but the tendency is for vampires to seek out places with many humans, where they can blend in. In order to peacefully coexist, vampires tend to form courts. Courts are the most common vampire rulership model seen across the world, and has been since the time BC. A court forms around a vampire who either claims power or gains it otherwise. Said vampire forms an inncer circle of advisors typically, but every other vampire is considered a part of that court. The model is enforced by the Invictus.

The Invictus
The invictus is an organization of elder vampires that spans the globe. They keep close watch on all regions, and make sure that all vampires obey their basic laws. They are rarely directly involved in politics, but have been known to step in and take control over certain places, condemning many people to final death and then leaving. Their interests and demands are that the elder vampires are respected, that the masquerade is unbroken, that there is only one ruler of a region, only one sheriff and that he keeps the peace, that all bloodlines represented and respected can trace their heritage back to one of the fabled antideluvians and that new bloodlines don't suddenly appear. The invictus are considered the most powerful faction of vampries in the world. The courts are the way of the invictus. The invictus make no demands that the vampires living under it's rules are in any way supporters of their ways or beliefs, as long as any member simply accepts their rule. Being a supporter of the invictus is considered mandatory in most regions, but being a member is reserved for elders. Elders typically gladly join as it offers them prestige, respect and authority, and by controlling the elders, they control those that the elders have sired.

The Carthian Movement
Members of the Carthian Movement break away from the norm. Apart from keeping the masquerade, they don't respect any of the laws of the Invictus. A few cities have fallen to the Carthian Movemement, but globally speaking, they are not represented in the entire world, they have few elders among them and they are often either regarded as hopeless idealists that are allowed to live because their ideals as such break no laws, or they are treated as traitors and put to the final death if their rebellion can be quelled. Members of the Carthian movement form their own courts in cities, but these courts are rarely respected. Any vampire may form a court, but is not likely to gain support. Some cities have strong Carthian courts that are starting to win recognition.

Religious groups
Religious groups have existed for thousands of years among the Vampires. Muslim, Jewish, budhist and other religions are represented among these often small and localized groups. Membership in a such group can be held while also being a member of a court. Members of these groups have their own myths and legends about how they came to be vampires, but are often ridiculed by others. Such groups include the Lancea Sanctum (Christians) and the Circle of the Crone (pagan). Lancea Sanctum and the Circle of the Crone are among the more powerful Covenants in the Western World. In the Middle-East and North Africa, membership of the Assamite Covenant is almost mandatory. In the far east, there are varying Covenants, the biggest one is built on ancient East Asian religion that isn't even practiced anymore, called the Kuei Jin, and again, membership of such a covenant is nearly mandatory. In these regions of the world, other minor covenants might exist and dual membership is often entirely possible, but the major Covenants are so important to the local community that it's almost unfathomable to the Western Kindred. ====''' The Lancea et Sanctum '''==== The Lancea et Sanctum are the perfect Christians. They don't actually consider the bible to hold any truths at all, because they know it was a fabricated document made to control the masses, but one thing they do firmly believe in, is that God exists and that Jesus Christ was his son. They know that many religions predated the Christian faith, and they know there are other gods too, or at least powerful creatures on par with gods from a mortal point of view. However, only one true god exists and he has existed through out all of these times when humans and vampires along had different traditions regarding their faith. The Lancea et Sanctum do not believe that people of other religions are wrong, unless of course they question the truth that Jesus Christ was God's son, and that Caine was the first vampire. Apart from that, they don't claim many truths, none but one and that truth is what makes them wha they are. They believe that Longinus, the Roman soldier whom in the Bible stabbed Jesus Christ to death with a spear, was curse by God to be a vampire, and as just as Caine and Able were among the first Humans and Caine became the First Vampire, so was it that when God put a new creature on Earth, his son who was in his image, he once again cursed a Vampire. They believe that just as Jesus Christ redifined the Jews in their beliefs (well, some of them anyway), Longinus' mission was to redifine the Kindred, and as such he was the first vampire in a new era, and also they believe he was a first generation vampire (which would help explain how they gained so much power, so quickly.

The Sabbat
The Sabbat was born back in a time when vampires were known openly to human kind and had been for a few years. The first members of the sabbat were ordinary vampires who lived at that time, but who would not adapt for survival when the inquisition threatened to end all vampires. The Sabbat went to war with the Invictus and all others who would not join them, hoping to unite kindred against the humans to enslave them and rule openly, but the Sabbat lost. Driven to the edges of the world, where society was still very primitive and even remains primitive today they've evolved into something truly sinister. The Sabbat is considered outright evil by many vampires. Many of them have trancended from believing that they simply could do a better job guiding human kind because they are vampires, into seeing themselves as clearly superior and the human kind as their playthings and their food, finding no small amount of pleasure in torture and murder. The sabbat keeps entire regions destablized to remain in control over as much of the human population as possible, but doing this also gives them more or less free access to human soldiers whom they can use as protection incase the Invictus attacks, or in case they need to attack. The Sabbat are big in certain areas of Africa, in certain areas of the Middle-East, in large parts of Asia and in some parts of South America. The Sabbat has begun to slowly worm their way into Europe and North America also, but they're meeting much resistance and the Invictus doesn't consider them a serious threat... Yet. The Sabbat uses Guerilla tactics, embracing kidnapped humans, putting them in training camps and use them as shock-troopers. They ghoul key-members of street gangs in more civilized regions and rebel armies in destablized regions to remain in control. They purposefully corrupt society around them to keep them from advancing, so that when something changes, it's because they've made it so. All clans are represented in the Sabbat, but their most feared weapon are the Tzcimize, a strange bloodline that has sprung out from the gangrel so long ago that there is practically talk of separate clan. The Tzcimize are few in number, fortunately, but their power is great, having the ability to make changes achieved with protean like powers permanent, and to invoke those changes on others too, referred to as the art of Flesh Crafting. They use this ability to create horribly deformed servants, both vampiric in origin and ghouls. Despite their deformities, these freakshows are incredibly lethal.

Belial's Brood
Belial's Brood started out as a group  of vampires someplace in Europe, who couldn't wait to become elders. Basically, they all thought they were entitled to be the talk of the town, and that they deserved to be feared and respected because they were vampires. While not taken seriously by anyone for their beliefs, or rather lack there of, they do adhere officially to the Invictus, and all the while, they are considered trouble makers. Few members of the brood make it into the first few years of their unlife, but a few have been around for long enough to be considered elders. These elders long ago looked to the Sabbat and agreed that this was the way they wanted things, and the young followed. In the Invictus, anyone can promovate anything, as long as they still adhere to the laws of the Invictus, and the Belial's Brood is a perfect example of this. They seek to end the invictus from within, officially this is their cause, and the invictus is bound by law to accept their voice politically, but many princes of the invictus have been known to turn a blind eye to random killings and diablerie of brood members, and an order once in history came down to terminate all members of the brood, back in the mid 19th century, but they did survive the order, and the order was since decalred unlawful which was a big win for the Carthian Movement. In other words, Belial's Brood is a big joke and an excuse for certain vampires to act EXACTLY the way they want, and it's also a support orgnaization for the Sabbat, helping them gain foothold in other territories.

VII
The VII are a mysterious lot, the rumored seventh clan. Their existence is considered mostly a rumor in most parts of the world, but unlike any other vampire movement in existence, the VII supposedly believe that not all clans can co-exist at all. No, only their clan must remain, and as such, they seek to destroy all other vampires. They've come to call themselves VII as well, but this name was actually given to them by their enemie in more modern times (several other clans have existed through out history, but they are all gone now). The VII have one ability that sets them apart from other vampires, namely the ability to blend in perfectly with humans and even with other vampires. As such, it's almost impossible for other vampires to detect their presence. VII are not assumed to be in direct control of any regions of the world, but rather to pull invisible strings in all cities. While the VII are not exactly a secret anymore, it's still debated whether they actually are a legitimate clan, or just something started by the Invictus to keep the neonates scared.

Clans
A clan is a major grouping of vampiric bloodlines that trace their heritage back to the same ancient ancestor. The West, East and middle-east do not share the same clans, but vampire historians have come to believe that it is infact the same few clans that exist across these cultures, only with different names and importences and different histories. The clans do not have an importance internationally, but the bloodlines of a specific clan are often allies (or rivals), and can relate better to each other. The different bloodlines fight for control over the clan as a whole, in areas where clan is important. In areas where clans are not important (often due to there being very few Kindred in most areas), some bloodlines still form alliances based on their mutual clan heritage, but this often doesn't translate into major political movements. In bigger cities where there are more kindred, the clans compete for control over the city. The leader of a clan is found within the clan itself, through different means, but is otherwise known as a primogen. Another, mostly informal title, found in the clan, is the "Whip". A whip doesn't concern himself with vampire politics, but only concerns himself with the clan itself, and Whips are often traditionalists who carry out certain rituals or what not, typically elders. The term Whip is an invictus term and the title is entirely informal in most areas.

Ventrue
The Ventrue clan mirrors the V:TM Ventrue clan more closely than the V:TR clan now, but we're using V:TR lore primarily. Consult the corebook and ventrue specific book for more information on the ventrue clan. The Ventrue organize themselves in bloodlines, and it's more or less commonly established that some of these are considered "highborn" while others are "low", creating a natural divide, but the ventrue still tend to acknowledge it's parent clan in general. Disciplines: Dominate, Majesty and Nightmare. Favourite Physical Discipline: Fortitude/resilliance.

Gangrel
The Gangrel changed a lot from V:TM to V:TR, for the better I would personally say. Just to summarize what role the gangrel currently fill, they're not just the attack dogs, they aren't just the warriors or the animals. I want them to showcase a lot of the rebellious Brujah spirit from V:TM also. They're true vampires who don't take shit from anyone, and who ever stands in their way had better come strapped. The gangrel in local areas tend to wind up in two camps, and those two camps tend to be mortal enemies, but apart from that, the gangrel are really good at uniting, because of their shared difficulties with the curse. Their disciplines are: Protean, Animalism and Auspex. A gangrel may freely choose his favourite physical discipline.

Daeva
The Daeva have been changed so that they much more closely mirror the Toreador clan from V:TM now. They are social creatures renown for their ability to stay in touch with the mortal world. The Daeva organize themselves in bloodlines and don't have much of a "clan" feeling to them, being individualists as different as day and night.Their disciplines are: Majesty, Nightmare and Auspex. Their favourite physical discipline is vigor/potence or Celerity (free choice between these two).

Mekhet
Clan Mekhet is an original V:TR clan, and it hasn't changed much. It's originally based on Lasombra, a clan affiliated with Lorekeeping and the shadows, as well as the Followers of Seth and Assamite. These associations will continue. Clan Mekhet's role as "spies" and information gatherers is deminished somewhat. Sure, they're still good at it, good enough to threaten the Nosferatu's position as such, but their real game is the occult, and lore as well as history. Clan mekhet is not a political clan, and this is how they have managed to stay alive. Clan mekhet is a very closed clan that keeps a great many secrets. In doing so, they remain useful and can continue to bargain with their knowledge. Most Mekhet operate within this strict chain of command, despite their bloodline ect., but some operate independantly as information gatherers and brokers. The Mekhet have a strong tendency to worm their way into anything that reeks of the occult, seeking occult secret, lores and power everywhere they can, and as such, most mekhet seek to belong to one of the many religious covenants who somehow develop extraordinary occult abilities (cruac, theban sorcery ect.). Their disciplines are: Auspex, Obfuscate and Obtenebration. Their favourite physical discipline is celerity.

Malkavian
The Malkavians are a confusing lot as detailed earlier. While huddled together in a clan, there is fortunately quite few Malkavians, and the majority of them are kept in places referred to simply as "Asylums" (located out in the country-side often) where they learn from more experienced Malkavians to cope with their insanity before they are released into their unlife. But there are so many malkavians living with their condition in secret out there, not holding membership in the clan, and frankly, Malkavians organized in clans are only found in bigger cities where they tend to blend in with the masses more easily, and even then, they are usually very few. Malkavians are, politically speaking, often not seen at all, but it does happen. Malkavians are too diverse to truly appreciate the company of eachother. Their insanities do not go well with eachother, and their often colorful or outright creepy personalities tend to rub against eachother violently, but they do rely on eachother for "back-up" to preserve their existence, and tend to be allies by default, which is still more than can be said about most clans, how ever, they rarely agree to do anything unified and don't often accomplish things as a group. Their disciplines are Dementation, Auspex and Nightmare. Their favourite physical discipline depends on their parent clan (Clan malkavian isn't an actual clan, it's merely an established clan of those unfortunate kindred of other clans who suffer from Malkavia).

Nosferatu
The Nosferatu are divided in two camps, and it's to the point where there's almost talk of two separate clans. Stage one nosferatu often decide to stay with their parent clan for that reason, but some stay and become the political leaders of the Nosferatu Clan, but also their main agents among the mortals. Nosferatu of stage one make terrible negotiators without the use of the obfuscate discipline, but it's still better than breaking the masquerade or having to rely on outsiders. The nosferatu are however a tight-knit bunch with a pack mentality like no other clans. The entire clan sticks out for their own and protect each other. Because the Nosferatu lack the advantage of being able to selectively embrace new members, teaching each other is a big part of their internal culture. Because most Nosferatu are Stage Two, they cannot show themselves among mortals for prolonged time or without a disguise, and this means they rely on each other for company, creating very strong bonds. This also means that they have abundances of sparetime, and even better, the Nosferatu tend to dwell in the sewers, so far below ground that they for the most part can ignore the need to go to sleep when the sun rises. This sparetime is put to good use honing certain skills, gathering information and spying on other kindred and mortals alike. The Nosferatu are feared and renown for having their dirty claws in everything, but they're very loyal to the Invictus with only a few defectors to the Carthian Movement. The Nosferatu are rumored to have been put to work on founding entire cities underground, that would be used to house the kindred in case of trouble. These undercities would supposedly enable the kindred to live underground without being at all affected by the sun, but whether these rumors are true remains to be seen. A more interesting rumor, is the rumor that the nosferatu have established long and very deep underground tunnels spanning entire continents, enabling covert travel from city to city, but even mind-probing of nosferatu have proved nothing. Of course, such secrets would likely be guarded by powerful vampire magic...

Tremere
The Tremere are a very small and very secretive clan. There are maybe a handfull found even the biggest cities, but despite being so few, they do spread out across the globe nicely, realizing that their expertise and unique abilities set them apart from other vampires in a way that almost always grants them influence. Even a fairly young tremere will often immediately be invited into the inner circle of any Invictus court. There are large concentrations of tremere only centered around their training facilities. Politically speaking, the Tremere have only in more recent years amassed some control, having gained control over certain courts. The tremere clan's inner workings are somewhat unique, as they remain very much in contact globally, and do not care at all for local politics in the same way as other clans do. Much more united, there is an Arch Mage of the Tremere who is considered the leader of ALL tremere, and they are supposedly bound by blood to their nearest elder in a special ritual that forces this bond in an upwards fashion, making all tremere bound to all their elders. The Tremere have not been around for as long as Clan Mekhet has, and they're way too small to be considered a reliable part of the kindred society, there are infact kindred who haven't even heard of their clan. They also refuse to share their secrets with anyone as a general rule, and as such, they aren't considered a threat to neither the mekhet nor the nosferatu who are both much more numerous in numbers. The Tremere are all members of the Invictus, as if they were not, they would have ceased to exist long ago because of the many enemies they have made historically. The Tremere are mortal enemies of most gangrel because back in the medieval, they found out that the gangrel blood could much more easily be affected by some of their magic, and they in turn transformed many gangrels into their servants. These servants, some of which still exist, are known as Gargoyles. Interestingly, they are strong enemies with the Tzcimize for the very same reason, the Tzcimize infact made even better gargoyles. The Nosferatu distrusts them because they have no insight on them. The Ventrue see them as potential rivals for control, due to the fact that the Tremere seem to control magical powers that might even rival the power of the curse itself. The Malkavians in general seem to garner a sort of dislike towards the Tremere, and the Daeva have hard time relating to beings that are supernatural on more than one front, making their human side invariably small.

Bloodlines
All bloodlines are directly associated with a clan. If not, it's simply because the bloodline is too old to do so, refuses to do so or because the bloodline is of a volatile nature which has made it very difficult to trace lineage even a few years back (accidental embrace, ect.). Many bloodlines actually fall into these categories, for one reason or another, renouncing their clan-heritage to remain independant. Some bloodlines like these have grown very big, a good example is the Giovanni which is a ventrue bloodline that considers itself entirely independant, and the bloodline infact controls most of Italy. Bloodlines are often not represented by more than two or three kindred in a city, and the different bloodlines struggle for control over the clan. The bloodline elder by default controls the bloodline. In smaller communities, there's often just two to three bloodlines represented, these often being slightly bigger. Truly small communities might only have a single bloodline represented. The result almost invariably remains the same; vampires always struggle for control. There are incredible amounts of bloodlines. A bloodline is typically established when members of a previously existing bloodline decide to branch off, or because a specifically powerful member of a bloodline suddenly becomes more important than his own bloodline and then lineage is traced to that member. Look in the vampire books for bloodlines. Unlike in the core system, bloodlines are now activated from the start, and finding a vampire without a bloodline is highly unusual.

Powers
Vampires have access to certain powers, these powers are known as disciplines, and are divided into four categories. Remember, that as a rule of thumb, any vampire can learn any discipline.

Physical disciplines
The physical disciplines are the easiest disciplines to advance for the vampires. Indeed, they even advance naturally to some extent. A vampire's primary physical discipline advances everytime the vampire advances in bloodpotency. A vampire cannot raise a discipline above his bloodpotency, and if a discipline is ever raised above his bloodpotency any dots above his potency will remain unsuable until his bloodpotency rises.

A physical discipline has a passive effect, a long term effect and an instant effect.

Celerity
Celerity is an enhancement of the vampire's natural ability to enhance his dexterity, and act quickly. It's mainly a defensive power.

Long term
Activation of celerity can give a bonus to dexterity equal to the dots possessed in celerity. This effect lasts for an entire scene, and costs only one vitae. Bloodbuff can be used on top of this ability, and there is no threshhold for how high the vampire's dexterity can be raised to in this manner.

Short term
When activated short-term, the discipline gives a bonus to initiative equal to the dots possessed in celerity(only once per scene) that immediately changes the vampire's position in the discipline order (maybe). Apart from that, the vampire gains a bonus to defence equal to his dots in celerity, and may multiply his speed with his value equal to his celerity plus one. Using celerity this way costs one point of vitae, and the effect lasts only one round - with one exception; if the vampire starts running, the effects only wear off once he stops or if he does something other than running.

Passive
Celerity acts as the fleet of foot merit.

Resilliance/Fortitude
Fortitude is an enhancement of the vampire's natural ability to enhance his "effective stamina" (a vampire uses his bloodpotency instead of stamina - but cannot actually increase his bloodpotency using this discipline). It's mainly a defensive power.

Long term
Activation of Fortitude grants a bonus to "effective stamina" equal to the vampire's dots in fortitude. This effect lasts for an entire scene, and costs only one vitae. Bloodbuff can be used on top of this ability, and there is no threshhold for how high the vampire's dexterity can be raised to in this manner.

Short term
The vampire can activate fortitude to gain a number of effects; First of all, a number of aggravated damage equal to the vampire's rating in fortitude will be downgraded to lethal, a number of lethal damage equal to the vampire's rating in fortitude can be ignored entirely (though not downgraded aggravated damage), and further more, a number of lethal equal to the vampire's rating in this merit can be downgraded to bashing, the vampire can entirely ignore all bashing damage (except downgraded lethal) and finally, penalties sustained from specific targets are reduced by the dots in fortitude. Activating fortitude like this costs 1 vitae and the effect is lasts until the end of a round in which the vampire has made use of at least one of the aforementioned abilities, but re-activition is reflexive and doesn't count towards a vampire's maximum allowed vitae per turn, though normal activation does. For example, John the vampire is fighting a dangerous creature of the night, so he activates his short term use of fortitude, which he has 3 dots of. The creature slashes at John with it's talons, and deals 2 lethal. John retains the activation because he only took two lethal, which were both soaked. Had he taken 3 or more lethal, the activation would have ended. Let's assume the creature instead dealt 5 lethal, now John takes 2 bashing damage. Let's assume he also, in the same round gets fired at with a flamethrower from an unknown enemy and takes 3 aggravated from that, then John comes to a total of 3 lethal and 2 bashing from this round. John can apply any and all of the effects, but if any of them are fully expended or exceeded, the effect ends, and John will need to reactivate the discipline.

Passive
The fortitude discipline also works as the toughness merit

Potence/Vigor
Potence is an enhancement of the vampire's natural ability to enhance his strength. It's mainly an offensive power.

Long term
The vampire can activate potence to gain a bonus to his strength equal to his rating in potence. When potence is activated the vampire may ignore falling damage from up to twice his total strength rating in meters, and even then, no falling damage is applied unless the damage exceeds the vampire's potence rating. When jumping, the vampire adds twice his strength rating after activation of this merit and when making a jump-roll every success represents two meters worth of jumping distance. Remember that a roll should only be made when jumping at the very treshold of the characters maximal jumping distance, otherwise treat it as an automatic success, meaning a vampire with a considerable amount of dots in potence should only be making jump rolls when trying to clear truly tremendous distances (it's still okay to ask for a dex+athletics roll to see if the vampire simply slips or something, if the jump is critical though). Activation of this discipline in this way costs one vitae and his effect lasts for an entire scene. Bloodbuff can be used on top of this ability, and there is no threshhold for how high the vampire's dexterity can be raised to in this manner.

Short term
A vampire can use potence to become a truly lethal opponent. Upon activation, the vampire supercharges his undead body enabling him to perform inhuman feats of strength on the spot, which can almost only be used for destructive purposes. The vampire may add his dots in potence as automatic damage upon a successful melee hit, much in the same way a gun works, and any weapon (including unarmed attacks) that would deal bashing damage deals lethal damace instead. Activation costs one vitae, and lasts for the duration of the attack. It can also be used to destroy objects, but the mechanical effects do not change.

Passive
The discipline also functions as the strong back merit.

Auspex
Auspex is a discipline that mainly revolves around senses.

Heightened Senses
If this discipline is found on a character's sheet, treat him as having the trained observer merit of rank equal to his dots in trained observer. The player may spend a point of vitae to add an additional bonus to perception checks for the reminder of the scene, equal to his bloodpotency.

Obfuscate
Obfuscate is a discipline that revolves around hiding or concealing something, usually the user.

Dominate
Dominate is almost self-explanatory.

Majesty
Majesty is a discipline that allows the user to change the way others percieve him, in a positive and awe-strucking manner.

Nightmare
Essentially the opposite of Majesty.

Animalism
Animalism allows a vampire to use his beast within to interact with other beasts.

Obtenebration
Obtenebration is a discipline that allows the vampire to interact with shadows in a unique way.

Protean
One of the most drastic disciplines, that allows a vampire to change his own form. Protean follows the Blood & Smoke variant.

The power of the Blood
Vampires can use their blood for more than healing their bodies or powering their disciplines. The blood can also be more directly used to their own advantage.

Blood-Buff
A vampire can burn a single point of vitae to gain a bonus equal to his blood potency in a single physical attribute for one round. A vampire doesn't actually have a stamina rating, as they use their bloodpotency for stamina rolls, but the bonus is to their "effective stamina" and not to their bloodpotency (as that would really be silly otherwise). This buff lasts for the duration of one round only and is a natural precurser to to the physical disciplines.

Natural weapons
A vampire bite can be used to deal lethal damage if the vampire uses his teeth aggressively, but this requires the vampire to initiate a grapple. Any vampire can by spending one point of vitae sprout claws. These claws give +2 bashing damage when dealing damage in a grapple, +1 when trying to deal bashing damage normal combat and turn your damage into lethal damage if very soft targets are pin-pointed (but no bonus is added). This transformation ability is obviously a precurser to the protean ability.

The Preserved Image
A vampire's body seeks to automatically revert to the state it was left in during the embrace, and the next time a vampire awakens from Torpor, a vampire will automatically have reverted his appearance back to normal. Vampires will quickly learn this, and they instinctually understand how to avoid this, should they wish to change their appearance, namely they spend a point of vitae and a willpower point right before they go to sleep, and any number of tattoos, piercing holes, scars and even the current haircut (though not the style) will be preserved. A vampire can at any point undo these changes, how ever the cost is the same. A vampire is also able to willfully alter their body and appearance gradually through time (meaning they can purchase points in Striking Looks after character creation), this is usually not enough to make them unrecognizable, but it happens (purchase the merit "New Face" to represent having changed your appearance enough not to be recognized). A vampire can instantly grow a beard or their hair should they wish to, roughly 1 cm of beard growth for 1 vitae and 5 cm of hair for 1 vitae.

The unwilling masquerade
What ever ancient powers conspire to keep the Kindred hidden are probably just a pre-state of the Obfuscate ability that is inherently found in all Kindred. Vampires have a natural bonus to subterfuge and socialize rolls to blend in with their surroundings equal to their bloodpotency. Further more, these mystical powers also seem to hide vampires from being captured in photographies, recordings, voice recordings and even in mirrors and glass as reflections. Motion detectors tend to miss them and things like that are all to common. Only when a vampire willingly seeks to be detected by such objects to they seem to pick up the vampire, and vampires seem to have a knack for knowing when someone is trying to use such equipment on them, and have a natural bonus equal to their blood potency to perception rolls to detect if someone is using such means to try to observe them, of if such means simply are present and observing them. All vampires have a bonus equal to their bloodpotency to stealth rolls (not against vampires - in cases where both vampires and non-vampires are present, apply the bonus, but add the other vampire's own bloodpotency to their perception checks to spot hidden vampire), as the shadows seem to stretch a little longer to cover them, and ambient noises seem to cancel out their footsteps, casual winds sweeping away their scent and their footprints. Vampires cannot be tracked by scent unless the tracker is also a supernatural creature (werewolves have proven particularily good at this! Though a ghouled dog could also do it).

The Beast in social situations
The beast inside the vampire affects humanity around them in many ways. The beast is capable of making others around it submit, lesser beings. Only in the case of the nosferatu is the beast constantly exposed, but in most vampires it hides in plain sight to avoid arousing suspicion. When a vampire wants to, he can unleash the beast a little in social situations though, but in doing so he risks falling into a frenzy as the beast inside him roars. All vampires inherently have the ability to seem more intimidating when they let the beast loose just a little, and thus if they beat a frenzy check, they may apply their bloodpotency to a single intimidation check. When using this ability against another vampire, that vampire automatically gains his bloodpotency to his resistance roll. This ability is essentially the most obvious precurser to the social disciplines.

Further more, the beast can be used normally as per the B&S: The Strix Chronicle rulebook (The competitive, seductive and monstrous beast).

Sixth sense
While the vampire's senses have physically changed to a point where it can be scientifically proven, that isn't what this is about. No, the beast inside the vampire functions practically like a radar system that detects incoming danger. As a result, vampires are very difficult to catch off guard. The beast knows how to hide from the beast, and some mortals (hunters) and other supernatural creatures can fly below the beasts' radar, but the vampire is difficult to kill by accident or even planned if you're nothing but an ordinary mortal. Vampires gain their bloodpotency as a "danger sense" merit. If they have "unseen sense" in regard to a specific kind of supernatural that normally flies under their radar (they all do - even other vampires, after all, the beast knows how to hide from itself), they gain it towards that particular group too. Vampires count as having the unseen sense merit in regards to vampiric creatures, and can generally identify things that relates to them on sight, in fact, the beast leaves small subtle hints subconsciously, to mark it's passage and mark it's territory. Vampires can pick up on these, this is what is referred to as the Cacophony, but it requires a bit of training. These abilities are an obvious precurser to the Auspex discipline.

As per the B&S: The Strix Chronicle rulebook, vampires can also sense heartbeats within a certain distance determined by their bloodpotency.

Further more, Kindred have an uncanny ability to taste hidden nuances of blood, again detailed in the book.

Blush of life
Vampires can spend a single point of vitae to seem as if they are alive in every way for the duration of a scene. This might not initially seem like the most potent ability, but the ability also triggers some more interesting effects, the most interesting one, is that, to all non-supernatural beings, the mutated organs of the kindred will appear normal. The vampire will bleed a little if cut (not enough to lose vitae), he will breathe (though he won't need oxygen - but he can feel the lack of it however), his skin will feel warm, the vampire will be able to summon any bodily function (including a period, an erection, lubrication of the vagina, crying with actual tears, a runny nose even ect.). It happens automatically when a vampire has just fed and lasts for the duration of a scene, however when induced by spending vitae it lasts until the vampire either dismisses the effect or until the vampire next sleeps, which means it could potentially last indefinately.

Blood Bond
The blood of a vampire is the essence of that vampire. When a vampire passes it along to any living being, that being will absorb some of that essence, and this will grant the vampire who fed the blood to the other being, an amount of power over said being. Blood bonds come in three stages. It's commonly believed that three drinks of blood will result in a third level bond, but this isn't always the case. Three whole points of vitae fed from a vampire to anything living, will as a rule of thumb always result in a stage three bond. Animals much easier reach the third level bond however, and it can be difficult to say how to reach, for instance, the second level bond with a snake, but with humans, a rule of thumb is one point of vitae per bond, will at the very least do the trick. Weak willed humans will generally develop a bond over very little blood, where as it might take several drinks of blood for a human to reach an acceptable level of bond if they are strong willed. Vampires are much harder to bind. How quickly inidivuals can be bound also depends on the potency and the generation both, of the blood used. Experiments conducted using a 13th generation vampire with a potency of 1 showed that a child could be bound after just a few drops of blood at level one, and that a young adult could be bound to the first step after almost an entire point of vitae. Blood bonds will reinforce existing possitive emotions, but if there is a negative relationship prior to the bond being established, the bond is more likely to develop other, more subtle emotions between them. Note that the feelings between vampire and bonded can change and mutate indefinately, but the bond will remain, and below are the bare minimums that the bond will ensure.

Stage one
The First stage creates a feeling of respect. This doesn't change the bonded individual's emotions towards the vampire, but it will force a certain amount of respect, making the vampire a figure of authority in the bonded's life (or unlife). Treat the current level of impression towards the bond-holder as always being excellent.

Stage two
The second stage still doesn't exactly change any base emotions towards the vampire for the bonded, but will force an amount of trust towards the vampire, regardless of what the bonded might think of the vampire otherwise. Halve the amount of doors (round up) that need to be passed.

Stage three
The third stage creates a family like bond between the vampire and the bonded. The bonded can still be severely angry, even indefinitely so, with the vampire, but the bonded will however still love the vampire as family. Forcing the doors has no real consequences, and the vampire may always try again.

Ghouls
A ghoul is not merely a blood bound individual. A ghoul is a living being that has absorbed some of the vampire's essence from the blood, granting it some measure of vampiric power. It's a bit difficult to say when an individual is likely to become a ghoul, and when the individual is likely to only become bound. As a rule of thumb, feeding an entire point of vitae to anything but a vampire, is likely to create a ghoul. When ever a vampire wishes to create a ghoul, it the blood hears the command and carries out the order, but ghouls are sometimes created by accident, or because it cannot be avoided when trying to bind a particularly strong willed human. A ghoul becomes addicted to the vitae it is fed and will feel the craving for vitae every month or so from it's last feeding. Potent blood will usually last a bit longer, while the blood of a thin blood while not enough to create a ghoul will sustain them for a while only. Ghouls will learn the favored physical discipline of their masters instinctively (the first level of it), and can learn any discipline that they have the intelligence to grasp. They tend to learn the physical disciplines as easily as vampires almost, but any other disciplines tend to be hard for them to learn. It's important to note that ghouls do not age while under the influence of vitae, but once the effects stop, they will very rapidly catch up to their actual age, meaning if they have passed their natural lifespan, they're likely to die within days from failing health, but they never die outright however. Ghouls cannot become sick, but they can carry disease in their bodies. Ghouls cannot reproduce, which is important to note. Ghouls can die from the withdrawal of vitae in some cases. While a ghoul needs a fix every month to maintain the effect, it takes at least another three months (the actual amount of months depends on the potency of the strongest blood they've drank) before they start aging again and lose all passive benefits.

Animal Ghouls
Animal Ghouls are typically fiercely loyal and tend to grow unnaturally intelligent. They can be taught to use simple disciplines, the physical ones especially easy. Animal ghouls can be very dangerous, as they do not understand their own addiction fully, the concept of an addiction tending to be lost on them despite their enhanced intelligence, and once they start feeling the addiction, they will react very differently.

Lesser animal ghouls
Insects, small rodents and even smaller organisms that aren't intelligent enough to understand their new situation tend to be entirely taken over by the blood, which forms a hive-mind between these animals that fed from the same vitae. They blindly obeying their master, commanded through the blood, despite not understanding the vocal commands of said master, they do his bidding regardless. Such creatures do not gain any power from being ghouled, but they do grow bigger and stronger. Lesser animal ghouls do not feel the addiction in the same way as an animal ghoul does. Once the power of the blood eventually leaves them, they tend to break off their pack of misfits and wander off back to where they came from, remaining bigger and stronger, permanently with a taste for blood. Most don't make it very far as they tend to devour each other, and soon die in nature.

Plant Ghouls
Sounds stupid? Plant ghouls have some interesting properties. They grow stronger and gain the ability to grow despite lack of sunlight, for the duration of which they are fed vitae. They don't need to be fed much either, just a little bit mixed in with their water supply. Plants tend to grow a little more vicious when fed blood, stretching roots further, growing sharper and longer thorns, bigger leaves, ect., and they will soon strangle competition, but they also suffer from the hive-mind, meaning plants that are biologically unrelated will from a symbiosis from being fed the same vitae. This symbiosis remains after the effects wear off. What can a vampire actually use a plant ghoul for? That very question is the very reason many vampires don't even know about this.

Human Ghouls
Human ghouls are by far the most interesting kind. Human ghouls act as loyal servants for their masters, fully aware that they need the vitae to survive, and ever time they drink, they are bound further and further. It very rarely happens that a ghoul turns on it's master. Most vampires keep at least one ghoul if they are allowed. Ghouls run errands for vampires in the daytime, and human ghouls tend to have very little need to sleep, often requiring less than 2 full hours, enabling them to watch over their masters during the day and work during the night if needed.

Human Ghouls and Vitae
Once a human is fed vitae, he will store that vitae in his body, and will be able to use it at will. A human can store 10 points of vitae normally. Vitae can be used at will at a rate of one point per turn. Using all vitae doesn't mean the ghoul needs a fix again, but they will crave it. Ghouls can heal at will (same way as vampires, except they cannot make healing rolls, instead they heal 1 lethal per vitae spent) and naturally heal as if they have the quick-healer merit (if they already do, double healing rates again). Ghouls can even regrow lost limbs and otherwise unhealable damage (special process).

Family Ghouls
Ghoul family members are permanently evolved beings that decend from the pairing of 17th generation vampires. There are a few Ghoul families across the world, and members from these families are highly valued. A member of a ghoul family ages very slowly from nature's side. Once ghouled, their body starts thinking that they're vampires, and starts to produce a weak form of viate at a rate of one point every day. They only need to be fed blood every 6 months before they start going into withdrawal, which they only feel because their bodies stop producing their lesser vitae (which they can use to fuel all thie powers). Their withdrawal phase lasts twice as long as it normally would, and has no risks or drawbacks, and they resume their natural aging as if they had never been ghouled, instead of rapidly aging to their actual age.

Dhampir
A dhampir is the direct result of the pairing of 17th generation vampires. Referred to as "half vampires" by most, these "ghouls" do not need to be fed vitae at all. They produce it on their own same as a revenant does when ghouled. Dhampir's can still be bound however, and can still be fed vitae for them to use. Dhampir's still make good and extremely valuable servants, but are somewhat feared among the kindred.

Revenants
A revenant is described in B&S: A Strix chronicle, but is essentially an unintended vampire.