Post by Andrei on Jun 13, 2007 16:05:03 GMT
Blood Bond: A blood bond is a supernatural link of fidelity and dependency of one vampire (the thrall) on another one (the regnant), created and maintained by the repeated consumption of blood. In many vampire societies, The blood bond is a powerful weapon for vampire leaders who wish to be assured of their subjects' loyalty.
A vampire becomes involved in a blood bond by drinking the blood of another one on several occasions, not excessively spaced in time (for example, on three consecutive nights). After the first sip of blood, the thrall-to-be feels emotionally driven to the regnant, but this is unconscious, and he is still perfectly free to act against the regnant. However, he may try to run across the regnant and to drink from his blood again, and he may be more susceptible to the regnant's mental powers (such as Domination and Presence). If he drinks no more, this faint drive will vanish in time. (A week)
After the second sip, the vampire feels more strongly compelled towards the regnant. He will deliberately start to look for him and will consciously act on his favour. He may also develop an obsession, or mixed feelings of love and hate. His craving for the regnant's blood will increase, and he will find it very difficult to act against him or to resist his orders or mental powers.
After the third sip, the bond is complete. The thrall is now subject to the regnant completely; regardless of his feelings, he will be loyal to him. It may still be possible for him to act against the regnant, but only temporarily and after an extreme effort of the will.
The strength of the blood bond is not influenced by the generation of the vampire (i. e. the distance, in vampiric generations, from the original vampire Caine).
The bond will become weaker in time if the thrall does not drink from the regnant's blood and does not see him for a long time. However, due to the very nature of the bond, abstaining may be extremely difficult for the thrall.
The blood bond is broken by the death of the regnant. The effect on the thrall is variable: some feel relieved or even joyful; others experience pain and desolation; others yet fear their independence and look for a new bond. Some may even kill themselves.
In some clans and circles, it is customary for a childe to drink blood from his sire. The Tremere force the new childer to drink one sip from each of the seven elders of the clan, in order to increase their obedience. Meanwhile, among the Sabbat, a form of blood bonding known as The Vaulderie is used to enhance camaraderie among affiliated vampires and to foster mutual loyalty among new vampires added to a pack.
Blood Point: A blood point, is a unit of blood (approximately half a liter). The number of blood points a vampire has depends on its generation (the farther removed the generation is, the fewer blood points the vampire has). Blood is consumed in the order of one blood point per night to survive, and also to use the Disciplines.
Up to three blood points can be taken from a human at a time without killing him or her.
Childe: A childe (pl. childer) is the vampiric offspring of another vampire, referred to as the sire.
A mortal human being is turned into a vampire childe by the Embrace, during which the sire sucks all of his/her blood and then gives him/her some of the sire's own blood. Unlike what happens in much popular fiction about vampires, a vampire bite is not enough to turn a human into a vampire; otherwise, the Earth would have been filled with them long ago. A sire can turn someone who died of other causes as well, as long as the body is still warm.
The first vampire, Caine, had three childer, who in turn had thirteen childer of their own (then known as the Antediluvians, founders of the main vampire Clans).
According to tradition, childer are the responsibility of their sires. In the Camarilla, among other things, sires must tell their childer about the Masquerade and ensure that they respect it. If a childe violates this, the law demands that he be destroyed, and his sire may be punished too. The tradition also demands that no vampire produce childer without permission of their prince. Many vampires do not want childer at all.
Childer, in turn, have different attitudes towards their sires (just as human children with relation to their parents). Some hate them because of the curse they inflicted upon them. Some love them (for the same reason seen from another point of view). In most cases the relationship is more complex.
Some vampires scout for prospective childer, finding promising candidates in certain fields of art, in certain strata of human society, or among humans with given personality traits. Others Embrace with little planning beforehand, perhaps even frivolously.
While some sires are careless and leave their childer alone after summary instructions (if any), others take great care and devote time and effort to their offspring. In some clans the new childer find a strict organization with a place (usually at the bottom of a hierarchy) for them. The Tremere, for example, emphasize education of the childer and strict adherence to their hierarchical scheme (the Pyramid). In order to ensure a measure of obedience, the Tremere childe is forced to drink one sip of blood from each of the seven clan elders, thus coming one step closer to a full blood bond.
Childer are just about the only legitimate targets of diablerie; when a blood hunt is decreed, the sire is authorized to kill his childe in this manner.
Diablerie: Diablerie takes place when a vampire drinks all the blood of another vampire generally in order to increase his/her own powers. A vampire who engages in diablerie is known as a diablerist.
The strength of vampirical powers is often correlated with the vampire's generation, i. e. the generational distance between the original vampire Caine and the vampire, where Caine was the first generation, his childer were the second, etc. (in The Masquerade, the default generation for starting characters is the 13th). On each successive generation these powers become more and more diluted as a result of a curse set upon the Third Generation by Caine himself. By committing diablerie, a vampire can absorb those purer powers from a vampire of an earlier generation, effectively decreasing his/her own generation (the victim, of course, experiences the final death in the process).
Diablerie is explicitly forbidden by the vampiric tradition and is considered a crime by the Camarilla, but it is a fairly common practice in the Sabbat. In the past, the Assamite clan devoted its energies to diablerie in order to gain power, until the Tremere placed a magic curse on them, by virtue of which Assamites became physically harmed by the act of drinking vampire blood. Nevertheless, this curse did not stop the Assamites from continuing their practices by indirect means. It was finally broken in 1998 by the Methuselah Ur-Shulgi, childe of the Assamite Antediluvian Haqim, who arose from torpor and took command of the clan. It must also be noted that diablerie was not unknown to the Tremere (the clan's founder committed diablerie on Saulot, the Antediluvian founder of clan Salubri).
Vampires with the Discipline of Auspex are supposed to be able to recognize diablerists by the characteristic dark veins in their aura.
Disciplines: Disciplines are the supernatural powers of a vampire. All Clans naturally learn three Disciplines but can also learn others as well, but require twice the normal length of time to learn them.
Embrace: The Embrace is the act of passing on the curse of vampirism to a mortal human being.
Although different clans and bloodlines of vampires (for example, the Baali) have special variations on the act, the Embrace always involves draining the target of blood, before allowing them to drink the blood of the Embracing vampire. If he does not drain the target, a ghoul is created instead.
The vampire that Embraces is known as the sire, while the new vampire created is known as the childe (plural childer). The childe's blood is more diluted than that of his sire's, because it is one generation farther from the original vampire, Caine.
It is always possible that the Embrace fails, since the vampire might accidentally kill the target or simply have a weak blood. Accordingly, higher-generation vampires tend to fail more often. Already in the Dark Ages, a 12th-generation vampire usually cannot complete the Embrace; in the modern era most players are 13th-generation, and the chances of Embrace success are close to none.
The Camarilla leadership imposes strict control on the Embrace, which is formally conceded as a privilege by the princeps; a vampire who creates childer without permission will be punished. This is done both as a means of population control and as a means to control the balance of power between the often feuding vampire clans. Having too many vampires around would increase the number of clan-less Caitiff and weak Thin Bloods, and endanger The Masquerade.
The Sabbat does not enforce such a restriction, instead regularly creating large amounts of high-generation vampires to serve as cannon fodder.
Frenzy: A frenzy is a temporary state of rage and lack of self-control that a vampire character enters as a response to certain stimuli. During the frenzy, the vampire's inner Beast is in control.
The most common causes for a frenzy are:
Anger or frustration: the vampire cannot keep his emotions under control.
Danger: the vampire senses danger (real or imaginary) and reacts with a preemptive attack on (what he believes is) the source.
Hunger: the vampire's blood pool (reserve of vitae) is dangerously low; he craves for blood and will try to feed from anyone in sight.
Shame: the vampire feels embarrassed and attacks the source of his humiliation (and sometimes also its witnesses).
Temptation: the vampire is tempted by the inner Beast to perform sinful actions, and cannot resist.
Some vampires can and do deliberately induce frenzy ("summoning the Beast"), and then try to direct their instincts ("riding the Beast") for specific purposes.
In-game, when you get taken over by or summon the beast you will frenzy uncontrollably for a minimum of 10 posts. As time goes by this minimum of posts drops and if you can get to blood the Frenzy posts will be halved. If it gets to one post you can simply snap out of Frenzy in that post. With more posts you can also lower the number of minimum frenzy posts by 1 with every 100 posts. This may sound harsh but remember, in frenzy you become stronger against mental disc. and can ignore wounds. On top of that, just by drinking some blood the minimum frenzy time is halved. And as some have the ability to frenzy at will, this is designed to show it's a VERY bad thing to frenzy too much.
Effects
Wounds received during the frenzy will not impact on the character's physical abilities. That is, the vampire receives damage but ignores some of its effects.
The Beast that commands the frenzy has a strong will of its own; the vampire can employ the mental Discipline of Domination on others more easily, and will forcefully resist being Dominated by others.
A frenzied vampire may enter the uncontrollable state of fear known as Rötschreck when/if threatened by fire or sunlight.
Ghoul: A ghoul is a being living or dead(human or animal) that has become a slave to a vampire and addicted to vampiric blood (vitae).
Any kind of animal, including a human, can be turned into a ghoul by a process similar to that of the blood bond among vampires; that is, by drinking several times from the vitae of a vampire. After three doses, the ghoul becomes addicted and needs to be resupplied with its master's blood.
Like a vampire, the ghoul craves for blood, heals abnormally faster, can develop some supernatural Disciplines, and ages very slowly if anything; but unlike a vampire, the ghoul is fully awake during the day and can walk under the Sun. A ghoul can also enter a frenzy, though not so easily as a vampire.
Human ghouls have been useful to vampires for a long time, working as servants, seneschals, and generally protecting their masters. Whole families of ghouls and revenants were at the service of Tzimisce landlords in Eastern Europe during the Dark Ages. The Cainite Heresy was ruled by vampires but administratively run mostly by ghouls.
Animal ghouls can also be extremely useful, especially for vampires with the Discipline of Animalism. The Tzimisce lords tended to employ horse ghouls for riding. From fused combinations of ghouls, modified and distorted by the Discipline of Vicissitude, the Tzimisce also created vozhd, huge living war machines.
Revenants: Revenant families were bred over many generations to serve the sabbat. They are not quite human, somewhere between human and vampire, and they exist outside of society's norms. Some worship vampires as Gods, some aspire to achieve that state themselves.
Revenants are divided into families, and like Vampire clans, each family has particular roles to play, specific disciplines and weaknesses. These humans were bred over many generations, and genetically they are quite different from the average human. The aging process is slowed (but not halted as in traditional ghouls). A hundred year old revenant may appear to be in their twenties. Also many of the family's philosophies are indoctrinated into them from an early age, some revenant families even follow Paths of Enlightenment (or Roads). The personality of the average revenant is often freakish and alien by society's standards, and inbreeding is not uncommon.
Revenants produce their own blood pools at the rate of 1 pt per day. They cannot use this blood to form bonds, create ghouls, or make vampires.
Families
Bratovitch
Brutish monsters that usually serve the Tzimisce, they are fighters and trackers, and rarely engage in finer social events. Most Bratovitch know little about humanity and follow Paths or Roads
Disciplines: Animalism, Potence, Vicissitude
Weakness: +1 diff to resist frenzy
Grimaldi
These revanants spend their time in society and social atmospheres, they maintain a facade of normalcy and often act as go betweens between the sabbat and areas of mortal influence.
Disciplines: Celerity, Dominate, Fortitude
Weakness: Bonded to bishops or archbishops
Obertus
Scholars of the sabbat, they spend much of their time researching the occult.
Disciplines: Auspex, Obfuscate, Vicissitude
Weakness: Derangement (Obsessive)
Zantosa
Decadent and wealthy, these revenants pursue their own pleasures, many of them Follow the Path of Cathari.
Disciplines: Auspex, Presence, Vicissitude
Weakness: May become obsessed to pleasure and sensation, easily addicted
Ducheski
Though they once served the Tzimisce, this family now serves the Tremere. They are very talented with mechanical devices, and many tremere have the Ducheski maintain their libraries and laboratories.
Disciplines: Auspex, Dominate, Thaumaturgy
Weakness: Inbreeding has caused some birth and personality defects. No Ducheski can have a social trait above 2.
Rafastio
Witches and practitioners of magic, they once served the Tal'mahe'Ra. With the Tal'mahe'Ra's destruction the family remained independent, preferring to carve their own destinies.
Disciplines: Animalism, Auspex, Thaumaturgy
Weakness: Rafastio cannot be embraced, attempted embrace will result in death. Furthermore, they are cursed with a type of Lunacy which causes discipline difficulties to vary with the moon's cycles.
Rötschreck: Rötschreck (also known as Red Fear) is a temporary state of uncontrollable fear that a vampire character suffers when threatened by fire or sunlight (as well as any other potentially lethal elements).
The vampire in Rötschreck will try to flee from the perceived source of danger in any suitable way, disregarding other concerns, including his own safety besides the immediate threat, and the safety of others. Anything and anyone in the vampire's way will be attacked if necessary. He may try to resist, in which case he may succeed in calming down for a while.
A vampire will not enter Rötschreck for fear of a lit candle or torch, but he may not be able to light even a small flame himself. A vampire trapped in a burning building will most surely enter Rötschreck and has almost no chance to resist; the same is true of a vampire who finds himself caught in the open just before sunrise.
Frenzied vampires will not enter Rötschreck.
Vitae: Vitae is the blood of living creatures from which vampires feed, and also the blood that circulates within the undead vampiric body. This blood is indeed the only, absolutely necessary substance for the vampire, who gains no nourishment from food or drink (some vampires can tolerate ingesting other substances, but their bodies cannot process or dispose of them). Vitae is the vampire's single, eternal and constant obsession.
A vampire can only take a fixed amount of vitae within his body (the mechanics of the role-playing games measure this amount in "blood points"). Every night he loses a part of this reserve (one blood point), and feels the need for more.
If a vampire cannot consume vitae for some time, he will become more and more thirsty and may eventually enter a frenzy, during which he will lose control and attempt to get blood from whoever comes near, until the frenzy subsides. It is very possible that this does not happen immediately even after he is satiated. When a vampire loses all his vitae reserve, he will lose his ability to move or react, and his body will begin to deteriorate, until blood is supplied again (a frenzy might ensue as soon as the body is able to move again).
Vitae may be gained from mortal human beings (called kine, as in cattle, by vampires), or from animals, or from other vampires. However, drinking another vampire's blood is potentially dangerous, since it may lead to complete dependency (a "blood bond"). Vampire vitae may be forced on mortal subjects to create ghouls or revenants, with effects similar to those of the blood bond.
A vampire becomes involved in a blood bond by drinking the blood of another one on several occasions, not excessively spaced in time (for example, on three consecutive nights). After the first sip of blood, the thrall-to-be feels emotionally driven to the regnant, but this is unconscious, and he is still perfectly free to act against the regnant. However, he may try to run across the regnant and to drink from his blood again, and he may be more susceptible to the regnant's mental powers (such as Domination and Presence). If he drinks no more, this faint drive will vanish in time. (A week)
After the second sip, the vampire feels more strongly compelled towards the regnant. He will deliberately start to look for him and will consciously act on his favour. He may also develop an obsession, or mixed feelings of love and hate. His craving for the regnant's blood will increase, and he will find it very difficult to act against him or to resist his orders or mental powers.
After the third sip, the bond is complete. The thrall is now subject to the regnant completely; regardless of his feelings, he will be loyal to him. It may still be possible for him to act against the regnant, but only temporarily and after an extreme effort of the will.
The strength of the blood bond is not influenced by the generation of the vampire (i. e. the distance, in vampiric generations, from the original vampire Caine).
The bond will become weaker in time if the thrall does not drink from the regnant's blood and does not see him for a long time. However, due to the very nature of the bond, abstaining may be extremely difficult for the thrall.
The blood bond is broken by the death of the regnant. The effect on the thrall is variable: some feel relieved or even joyful; others experience pain and desolation; others yet fear their independence and look for a new bond. Some may even kill themselves.
In some clans and circles, it is customary for a childe to drink blood from his sire. The Tremere force the new childer to drink one sip from each of the seven elders of the clan, in order to increase their obedience. Meanwhile, among the Sabbat, a form of blood bonding known as The Vaulderie is used to enhance camaraderie among affiliated vampires and to foster mutual loyalty among new vampires added to a pack.
Blood Point: A blood point, is a unit of blood (approximately half a liter). The number of blood points a vampire has depends on its generation (the farther removed the generation is, the fewer blood points the vampire has). Blood is consumed in the order of one blood point per night to survive, and also to use the Disciplines.
Up to three blood points can be taken from a human at a time without killing him or her.
Childe: A childe (pl. childer) is the vampiric offspring of another vampire, referred to as the sire.
A mortal human being is turned into a vampire childe by the Embrace, during which the sire sucks all of his/her blood and then gives him/her some of the sire's own blood. Unlike what happens in much popular fiction about vampires, a vampire bite is not enough to turn a human into a vampire; otherwise, the Earth would have been filled with them long ago. A sire can turn someone who died of other causes as well, as long as the body is still warm.
The first vampire, Caine, had three childer, who in turn had thirteen childer of their own (then known as the Antediluvians, founders of the main vampire Clans).
According to tradition, childer are the responsibility of their sires. In the Camarilla, among other things, sires must tell their childer about the Masquerade and ensure that they respect it. If a childe violates this, the law demands that he be destroyed, and his sire may be punished too. The tradition also demands that no vampire produce childer without permission of their prince. Many vampires do not want childer at all.
Childer, in turn, have different attitudes towards their sires (just as human children with relation to their parents). Some hate them because of the curse they inflicted upon them. Some love them (for the same reason seen from another point of view). In most cases the relationship is more complex.
Some vampires scout for prospective childer, finding promising candidates in certain fields of art, in certain strata of human society, or among humans with given personality traits. Others Embrace with little planning beforehand, perhaps even frivolously.
While some sires are careless and leave their childer alone after summary instructions (if any), others take great care and devote time and effort to their offspring. In some clans the new childer find a strict organization with a place (usually at the bottom of a hierarchy) for them. The Tremere, for example, emphasize education of the childer and strict adherence to their hierarchical scheme (the Pyramid). In order to ensure a measure of obedience, the Tremere childe is forced to drink one sip of blood from each of the seven clan elders, thus coming one step closer to a full blood bond.
Childer are just about the only legitimate targets of diablerie; when a blood hunt is decreed, the sire is authorized to kill his childe in this manner.
Diablerie: Diablerie takes place when a vampire drinks all the blood of another vampire generally in order to increase his/her own powers. A vampire who engages in diablerie is known as a diablerist.
The strength of vampirical powers is often correlated with the vampire's generation, i. e. the generational distance between the original vampire Caine and the vampire, where Caine was the first generation, his childer were the second, etc. (in The Masquerade, the default generation for starting characters is the 13th). On each successive generation these powers become more and more diluted as a result of a curse set upon the Third Generation by Caine himself. By committing diablerie, a vampire can absorb those purer powers from a vampire of an earlier generation, effectively decreasing his/her own generation (the victim, of course, experiences the final death in the process).
Diablerie is explicitly forbidden by the vampiric tradition and is considered a crime by the Camarilla, but it is a fairly common practice in the Sabbat. In the past, the Assamite clan devoted its energies to diablerie in order to gain power, until the Tremere placed a magic curse on them, by virtue of which Assamites became physically harmed by the act of drinking vampire blood. Nevertheless, this curse did not stop the Assamites from continuing their practices by indirect means. It was finally broken in 1998 by the Methuselah Ur-Shulgi, childe of the Assamite Antediluvian Haqim, who arose from torpor and took command of the clan. It must also be noted that diablerie was not unknown to the Tremere (the clan's founder committed diablerie on Saulot, the Antediluvian founder of clan Salubri).
Vampires with the Discipline of Auspex are supposed to be able to recognize diablerists by the characteristic dark veins in their aura.
Disciplines: Disciplines are the supernatural powers of a vampire. All Clans naturally learn three Disciplines but can also learn others as well, but require twice the normal length of time to learn them.
Embrace: The Embrace is the act of passing on the curse of vampirism to a mortal human being.
Although different clans and bloodlines of vampires (for example, the Baali) have special variations on the act, the Embrace always involves draining the target of blood, before allowing them to drink the blood of the Embracing vampire. If he does not drain the target, a ghoul is created instead.
The vampire that Embraces is known as the sire, while the new vampire created is known as the childe (plural childer). The childe's blood is more diluted than that of his sire's, because it is one generation farther from the original vampire, Caine.
It is always possible that the Embrace fails, since the vampire might accidentally kill the target or simply have a weak blood. Accordingly, higher-generation vampires tend to fail more often. Already in the Dark Ages, a 12th-generation vampire usually cannot complete the Embrace; in the modern era most players are 13th-generation, and the chances of Embrace success are close to none.
The Camarilla leadership imposes strict control on the Embrace, which is formally conceded as a privilege by the princeps; a vampire who creates childer without permission will be punished. This is done both as a means of population control and as a means to control the balance of power between the often feuding vampire clans. Having too many vampires around would increase the number of clan-less Caitiff and weak Thin Bloods, and endanger The Masquerade.
The Sabbat does not enforce such a restriction, instead regularly creating large amounts of high-generation vampires to serve as cannon fodder.
Frenzy: A frenzy is a temporary state of rage and lack of self-control that a vampire character enters as a response to certain stimuli. During the frenzy, the vampire's inner Beast is in control.
The most common causes for a frenzy are:
Anger or frustration: the vampire cannot keep his emotions under control.
Danger: the vampire senses danger (real or imaginary) and reacts with a preemptive attack on (what he believes is) the source.
Hunger: the vampire's blood pool (reserve of vitae) is dangerously low; he craves for blood and will try to feed from anyone in sight.
Shame: the vampire feels embarrassed and attacks the source of his humiliation (and sometimes also its witnesses).
Temptation: the vampire is tempted by the inner Beast to perform sinful actions, and cannot resist.
Some vampires can and do deliberately induce frenzy ("summoning the Beast"), and then try to direct their instincts ("riding the Beast") for specific purposes.
In-game, when you get taken over by or summon the beast you will frenzy uncontrollably for a minimum of 10 posts. As time goes by this minimum of posts drops and if you can get to blood the Frenzy posts will be halved. If it gets to one post you can simply snap out of Frenzy in that post. With more posts you can also lower the number of minimum frenzy posts by 1 with every 100 posts. This may sound harsh but remember, in frenzy you become stronger against mental disc. and can ignore wounds. On top of that, just by drinking some blood the minimum frenzy time is halved. And as some have the ability to frenzy at will, this is designed to show it's a VERY bad thing to frenzy too much.
Effects
Wounds received during the frenzy will not impact on the character's physical abilities. That is, the vampire receives damage but ignores some of its effects.
The Beast that commands the frenzy has a strong will of its own; the vampire can employ the mental Discipline of Domination on others more easily, and will forcefully resist being Dominated by others.
A frenzied vampire may enter the uncontrollable state of fear known as Rötschreck when/if threatened by fire or sunlight.
Ghoul: A ghoul is a being living or dead(human or animal) that has become a slave to a vampire and addicted to vampiric blood (vitae).
Any kind of animal, including a human, can be turned into a ghoul by a process similar to that of the blood bond among vampires; that is, by drinking several times from the vitae of a vampire. After three doses, the ghoul becomes addicted and needs to be resupplied with its master's blood.
Like a vampire, the ghoul craves for blood, heals abnormally faster, can develop some supernatural Disciplines, and ages very slowly if anything; but unlike a vampire, the ghoul is fully awake during the day and can walk under the Sun. A ghoul can also enter a frenzy, though not so easily as a vampire.
Human ghouls have been useful to vampires for a long time, working as servants, seneschals, and generally protecting their masters. Whole families of ghouls and revenants were at the service of Tzimisce landlords in Eastern Europe during the Dark Ages. The Cainite Heresy was ruled by vampires but administratively run mostly by ghouls.
Animal ghouls can also be extremely useful, especially for vampires with the Discipline of Animalism. The Tzimisce lords tended to employ horse ghouls for riding. From fused combinations of ghouls, modified and distorted by the Discipline of Vicissitude, the Tzimisce also created vozhd, huge living war machines.
Revenants: Revenant families were bred over many generations to serve the sabbat. They are not quite human, somewhere between human and vampire, and they exist outside of society's norms. Some worship vampires as Gods, some aspire to achieve that state themselves.
Revenants are divided into families, and like Vampire clans, each family has particular roles to play, specific disciplines and weaknesses. These humans were bred over many generations, and genetically they are quite different from the average human. The aging process is slowed (but not halted as in traditional ghouls). A hundred year old revenant may appear to be in their twenties. Also many of the family's philosophies are indoctrinated into them from an early age, some revenant families even follow Paths of Enlightenment (or Roads). The personality of the average revenant is often freakish and alien by society's standards, and inbreeding is not uncommon.
Revenants produce their own blood pools at the rate of 1 pt per day. They cannot use this blood to form bonds, create ghouls, or make vampires.
Families
Bratovitch
Brutish monsters that usually serve the Tzimisce, they are fighters and trackers, and rarely engage in finer social events. Most Bratovitch know little about humanity and follow Paths or Roads
Disciplines: Animalism, Potence, Vicissitude
Weakness: +1 diff to resist frenzy
Grimaldi
These revanants spend their time in society and social atmospheres, they maintain a facade of normalcy and often act as go betweens between the sabbat and areas of mortal influence.
Disciplines: Celerity, Dominate, Fortitude
Weakness: Bonded to bishops or archbishops
Obertus
Scholars of the sabbat, they spend much of their time researching the occult.
Disciplines: Auspex, Obfuscate, Vicissitude
Weakness: Derangement (Obsessive)
Zantosa
Decadent and wealthy, these revenants pursue their own pleasures, many of them Follow the Path of Cathari.
Disciplines: Auspex, Presence, Vicissitude
Weakness: May become obsessed to pleasure and sensation, easily addicted
Ducheski
Though they once served the Tzimisce, this family now serves the Tremere. They are very talented with mechanical devices, and many tremere have the Ducheski maintain their libraries and laboratories.
Disciplines: Auspex, Dominate, Thaumaturgy
Weakness: Inbreeding has caused some birth and personality defects. No Ducheski can have a social trait above 2.
Rafastio
Witches and practitioners of magic, they once served the Tal'mahe'Ra. With the Tal'mahe'Ra's destruction the family remained independent, preferring to carve their own destinies.
Disciplines: Animalism, Auspex, Thaumaturgy
Weakness: Rafastio cannot be embraced, attempted embrace will result in death. Furthermore, they are cursed with a type of Lunacy which causes discipline difficulties to vary with the moon's cycles.
Rötschreck: Rötschreck (also known as Red Fear) is a temporary state of uncontrollable fear that a vampire character suffers when threatened by fire or sunlight (as well as any other potentially lethal elements).
The vampire in Rötschreck will try to flee from the perceived source of danger in any suitable way, disregarding other concerns, including his own safety besides the immediate threat, and the safety of others. Anything and anyone in the vampire's way will be attacked if necessary. He may try to resist, in which case he may succeed in calming down for a while.
A vampire will not enter Rötschreck for fear of a lit candle or torch, but he may not be able to light even a small flame himself. A vampire trapped in a burning building will most surely enter Rötschreck and has almost no chance to resist; the same is true of a vampire who finds himself caught in the open just before sunrise.
Frenzied vampires will not enter Rötschreck.
Vitae: Vitae is the blood of living creatures from which vampires feed, and also the blood that circulates within the undead vampiric body. This blood is indeed the only, absolutely necessary substance for the vampire, who gains no nourishment from food or drink (some vampires can tolerate ingesting other substances, but their bodies cannot process or dispose of them). Vitae is the vampire's single, eternal and constant obsession.
A vampire can only take a fixed amount of vitae within his body (the mechanics of the role-playing games measure this amount in "blood points"). Every night he loses a part of this reserve (one blood point), and feels the need for more.
If a vampire cannot consume vitae for some time, he will become more and more thirsty and may eventually enter a frenzy, during which he will lose control and attempt to get blood from whoever comes near, until the frenzy subsides. It is very possible that this does not happen immediately even after he is satiated. When a vampire loses all his vitae reserve, he will lose his ability to move or react, and his body will begin to deteriorate, until blood is supplied again (a frenzy might ensue as soon as the body is able to move again).
Vitae may be gained from mortal human beings (called kine, as in cattle, by vampires), or from animals, or from other vampires. However, drinking another vampire's blood is potentially dangerous, since it may lead to complete dependency (a "blood bond"). Vampire vitae may be forced on mortal subjects to create ghouls or revenants, with effects similar to those of the blood bond.
