Banu Haqim



The Assamites are one of the thirteen vampire clans of the old World of Darkness. Based in their hidden fortress Alamut in the Middle East, they are traditionally seen by Western Kindred as dangerous assassins and diablerists, but in truth they are guardians, warriors and scholars who seek to distance themselves from the Jyhad. Throughout their history, they have remained self-sufficient and independent clan.

Dark Ages


The Assamites of the Dark Ages are strongly unified in the Dark Medieval period, following a tumultuous period where the clan was split by those who followed Islam and those who chose not to. Some Assamites even renounced their clan membership, becoming Dispossessed. It took the threat of the Baali destroying the clan entirely for them to come together again. The vast majority of the Assamites became Muslim, but some still followed other faiths.

In the Dark Ages, the Children of Haqim are kept quite busy because of the Western vampire clans. The Crusades enabled the Western Cainites to invade the lands of the Assamites. In addition, their greedy and corrupting ways have hurt and diminished the herds the Assamites had so carefully developed and tended to, as well as the mortal families of the Assamites that many of the clan still held in some regard. In response, the Assamites worked to rid themselves of these invaders and restore their own power.

For centuries, the Children of Haqim also refused to officially Embrace women, although this policy seems to have changed by the time of the War of Princes. Another split had taken place by this time: that of the creation of the three castes of Assamite: warrior, vizier, and sorcerers. Although the Assamites consider themselves noble, the Western vampires saw them as little more than meddling, corrupt, heretic foreigners and placed them among the Low Clans.

The Clan called themselves the Banu Haqim, or Children of Haqim, especially in the Middle East and North Africa. Superior in numbers to the other bay't in the area, many of the Banu Haqim worked hand-in-hand with the Ashirra to keep the Europeans out, especially since the majority of the clan was Muslim.


 * VTDA: Veil of Night, p. 114

Final Nights
Assamite Schism

The Assamite castes split apart during the Schism. Ur-Shulgi demanded that other Assamites give up the worship of other gods and only revere Haqim. This resulted in many Assamites being killed, and many more opting to leave Alamut. Ur-Shulgi was particularly vicious towards Muslim Assamites, and killed several elders for refusing to renounce their faith, including the head of the Warrior caste.

Some Assamites joined the Camarilla. Most of those that joined the Camarilla were viziers and sorcerers. Warriors that joined the Camarilla are generally seen as loose cannons who must be supervised by their more restrained (and non-vitae-addicted) clan mates. Sorcerers in the Camarilla find their skills in high demand as an alternative to dealing with the Tremere.

A small number of Assamites, mostly Warriors, joined the Sabbat. While the Assamite antitribu who had been with the Sabbat for the last 500 years were entirely from Warrior stock, the Warriors opting to join the Sabbat were not entirely welcomed with open arms. Many of the Assamite antitribu elders, particularly in the Black Hand, had defected and left the Sabbat to return to the main clan. This meant the Sabbat was not entirely welcoming because of the recent betrayal. Few sorcerers or viziers joined the Sabbat.

Some Assamites chose to go completely independent and avoid all the sects. They also drew away from the main clan, primarily for religious reasons. Few Warriors chose this option. Most Dispossessed Assamites are Viziers or Sorcerers.

Many Assamites stayed with the main clan. Most of these were warriors and sorcerers. Virtually all Assamites on the Path of Blood chose to stay with the main clan.

Assamite antitribu
The Assamite Antitribu are almost identical to their non-Sabbat counterparts, except that they accept all races into their clan, granting membership to anyone with a warrior's heart. Also, most importantly, they were never subjected to the Curse of the Tremere. The Assamites of the Sabbat are free to drink the blood of all Vampires. Because of this, they may be considered a separate bloodline from all other Assamites.

The Assamites of the Sabbat, acting on the request of the Sabbat leader Vestgeir, severed all direct association to the Assamite clan. The Sabbat Assamites have since that time made peace with their former clan. Assamite Antitribu will not battle non-Sabbat Assamites, and Assamites have never warred against the Sabbat Assamites. This unspoken understanding is at least recognized by Sabbat leaders.

The Assamite Antitribu are the primary assassins of the Sabbat. However, they do not ask for blood from the leaders of the sect. Instead, they ritually slay the eldest of their own clan every 100 years through a special diablerie ceremony. This elder has some of the blood of the Lasombra founder, a third generation vampire, running through his veins. The elder exists for a century as the closest Assamite Antitribu to Caine himself, ruling under the title Hulul. At the end of the 100-year reign, the next in line drinks the precious vitae from the previous ruler, and so it passes it through history.

Embraces
The clan tends to watch potential neonates before allowing an Assamite to sire progeny. Although necessity sometimes demands that a new childe be sired quickly, the Assamites prefer making time for an apprenticeship. The Assamite Antitribu are strict in choosing recruits. If a newly created Assamite Antitribu survives his first experience in combat, he becomes a mustajib, or "deserving one." Mortals never serve the Assamites before being chosen to become one. Only after becoming Vampires do they get the chance for acceptance. For a period of seven years, the Vampire must serve the Assamite Antitribu who created him. If the mustajib fails in any of his tasks, he is destroyed. If he succeeds, he becomes a fidais, or "one who sacrifices himself," for seven more years as he serves his creator. During this time he becomes recognized as a member of the clan and he studies the Assamite art of assassination.

Culture
Assamites are divided into three castes, which often have a semi-antagonistic relationship with each other. While all Assamites grow dark with age, have access to Quietus as a clan Discipline, and have a weakness related to some form of lust so powerful that it stains their aura, the different castes also have different Disciplines and weaknesses. The castes are all hereditary, that is a warrior Assamite will always sire warrior caste childer and never sorcerers or viziers. Despite this, the three castes are considered equally close to the Antediluvian Haqim who is said to have sired Assamites of all three types in the Second City.

Warrior Assamites are the primary fighters of the clan. They are the Assamites most likely to take assassination contracts and most likely to adhere to the Path of Blood. When other vampires think of Assamites, they are most likely to picture a warrior.

Younger Warriors typically came from Islamic countries, and may mix the tenants of the Path of Blood with Islamic ideas about holy war. They are often fanatical and ready to die for the cause. Elder Warriors may come from other religions entirely, and see themselves more as judges (and executioners) than as holy warriors or assassins.

Their weakness is an addiction to vampire vitae and an aura stained by diablerie. Even if they have never actually engaged in diablerie, their aura shows their blood lust clearly.

Sorcerers are the the smallest caste, but the second most recognizable. They claim to have practiced sorcery since the time of the Second City and to have been created to counter the dark magic of the Baali.

Their magic is partially based around Babylonian, Sumerian and Persian magic's, with some more modern components thrown in. Sorcerers usually need to send themselves into some sort of altered state of consciousness in order to focus their magic's. This may involve consuming drugs, whirling themselves into a trance, ritually wounding themselves, or even more exotic methods.

Their weakness comes from their lust for magical power. A sorcerer's aura is so stained with magic that there is little way to mistake him for anything else. They also have trouble using powers to hide themselves due to their blazing auras.

Viziers are the least well-known caste, but allegedly the oldest caste (according to them). They are the scholars and artisans of the clan. In many ways, they are similar to the Toreador, but where the Toreador become lost in contemplation, the viziers explode in frenzied creative activity.

Viziers lust after knowledge or artistic perfection. They suffer from an obsessive-compulsive derangement that causes them to pursue their art with the tenacity of a pit bull. A vizier in the throes of his Derangement will pursue it to the exclusion of all other activities. His aura will blaze with madness. Vampires with Auspex may be able to discern exactly what it is he so doggedly pursues.

The Schism
The Assamite castes split apart during the Schism. Ur-Shulgi demanded that other Assamites give up the worship of other gods and only revere Haqim. This resulted in many Assamites being killed, and many more opting to leave Alamut. Ur-Shulgi was particularly vicious towards Muslim Assamites, and killed several elders for refusing to renounce their faith, including the head of the Warrior caste.

Some Assamites joined the Camarilla. Most of those that joined the Camarilla were viziers and sorcerors. Warriors that joined the Camarilla are generally seen as loose cannons who must be supervised by their more restrained (and non-vitae-addicted) clan mates. Sorcerors in the Camarilla find their skills in high demand as an alternative to dealing with the Tremere.

A small number of Assamites, mostly Warriors, joined the Sabbat. While the Assamite-antitribu who had been with the Sabbat for the last 500 years were entirely from Warrior stock, the Warriors opting to join the Sabbat were not entirely welcomed with open arms. Many of the Assamite-antitribu elders, particularly in the Black Hand, had defected and left the Sabbat to return to the main clan. This meant the Sabbat was not entirely welcoming because of the recent betrayal. Few sorcerors or viziers joined the Sabbat.

Some Assamites chose to go completely independent and avoid all the sects. They also drew away from the main clan, primarily for religious reasons. Few Warriors chose this option. Most Dispossessed Assamites are Viziers or Sorcerors.

Many Assamites stayed with the main clan. Most of these were warriors and sorcerors. Virtually all Assamites on the Path of Blood chose to stay with the main clan.

Embraces
Assamites typically try to embrace someone who will be 'useful' to the clan as a whole. This most often means someone who be willing to fight and die for the clan's (or at least their sire's) goals. However, during the long period that the clan labored under the Tremere blood curse, people may also have been embraced for knowledge in a specific (often obscure) area. Typically this had something to do with sorcery or medical research involving blood, but may also have included more obscure areas of research as well.

Assamites typically choose people with somewhat obsessive personalities for the Embrace. As they are typically involved with either hunting down miscreants or conducting obscure research, they tend to be highly motivated individuals. This often results in Assamites picking individuals who are fanatically devoted to a cause, religion, theory, or activity. The various caste flaws and the training they undergo after the Embrace tends to accentuate this even more. Thus Assamites can be said to select childer that will be eager to chase down their prey no matter how long it takes or how far they must go. That prey may be a physical target, an obscure piece of knowledge, or even pursuing the perfection of an art form.

The Assamites draw most of their childer from the Middle East, North Africa and surrounding areas, but this does not mean they are all Arab. They also Embrace childer from the Indian subcontinent, Persians, Turks, Malays, Central Asia groups such as the Uzbeks and Kazaks, and various Mediterranean groups. Assamites from European or far Eastern ethnic groups aren't unheard of, but are not common.

When thinking of the Assamites, most other vampires assume they will be Muslim. While they do draw the majority of their childer from the Middle East and other Muslim countries, this does not mean all Assamites are Muslims. While most are, and some Assamites from pre-Islamic times converted, it is not considered the official Assamite religion by any stretch of the imagination. Many elder Assamites come from pre-Islamic cultures practicing some form of animism or ancestor worship. Some are Jews, Christians, or Zoroastrianism, as these were also common in the area before the coming of Islam, and are still present in the modern era, though to a lesser extent. Virtually any religious background is acceptable for an Assamite, being a Muslim is just most likely.

Assamites tend to Embrace more men than women overall. In 1st edition sources, it was even indicated that they did not Embrace women at all until roughly 200 years ago. Later editions refuted this. They still tend to embrace more men than women. The exact ratios have varied with time and depend on caste.

Warriors typically embrace far more men than women, and may be the source of the rumor that the Assamites actually banned embracing women. Women are less likely to have the skills that warriors favor. They also tend to be physically smaller and less aggressive than men. That they were typically married off young and were raising children also limited the number embraced as Warriors. Female warriors thus tend to have unusual skills or backgrounds that lead to their Embrace. Some may have disguised themselves as men to fight, be skilled with more subtle means of assassination (such as poison), or less physical aspects of warfare (such as diplomacy).

Viziers and Sorcerors are less focused on the physical skills of their childer, and thus more likely to embrace women. The number of women embraced waxed and waned based on the overall attitude towards educating women. In periods where women were rarely taught to read or write, they naturally took fewer women. However, even in periods where few people were educated, a vizier might take someone for their skill with art or social acumen, even if they were a total illiterate. Similarly, a sorceror might embrace someone who showed some innate knack for magic, even if they could not write their own name. Childer could be taught to read and write after the Embrace, after all. Men typically had a head start on education however, making them a more likely choice.

Age wise, Embraces were also skewed by caste. With their emphasis on physical pursuits, Assamite warriors typical favor the young and fit. Thus most warriors with an older physical appearance were probably embraced for their skills with leadership or tactics, rather than raw physical might. Older warriors may also have been embraced for skill in an area that takes a lifetime to master, such as blacksmithing, constructing siege weapons, or more obscure weapons and fighting styles. It is unlikely that a warrior would Embrace anyone with a severe physical problem.

Viziers and Sorcerors typically place greater emphasis on learning and mental skills. While an exceptionally smart or artistically talented individual may catch their eye while still young, they are more likely to select someone who has spent a lifetime learning or perfecting their skills. Thus many sorcerors and viziers may be of an advanced physical age reflecting years of study before their embrace. As Auspex can also help compensate for the slow loss of hearing or sight with age, viziers in particular may consider embracing an individual with a sound mind but infirm body.

Version Differences
The Assamites have gone through MANY revisions. In 1st edition, they were generally presented as an all male fanatical sect of Muslim assassins. In 2nd edition, sorcerors started to make an appearance, but they were poorly defined and a tiny section of the clan.

Vampire: The Dark Ages initially presented them in much the same light as 2nd edition Vampire: The Masquerade. Libellus Sanguinus originally introduced the concept of the three Assamite castes.

Revised edition Vampire presented the Assamites of consisting of the warriors and the "viziers". In that context, the "viziers" were actually the sorcerors. The three caste system was introduced as "optional" in the Revised edition Assamite clanbook.

Dark Ages: Vampire presented the Assamites as three separate castes without the disclaimer that the castes are "optional".

With the version changes, there were also several changes in weakness. 1st and 2nd edition Assamites all suffered from an allergy to vitae due to the Tremere curse and had to tithe vitae to the clan. Revised and Vampire: The Dark Ages Assamites suffered from the Warrior weakness, addiction to vitae. Revised edition "viziers" (sorcerors) had to pay an additional blood point to use Thaumaturgy. Assamites in Libellus Sanguinus, Dark Ages Vampire, and the Revised Assamite clan book have the standard three caste flaws.

In Libellus Sanguinus and Dark Ages: Vampire sorcerors get Assamite Sorcery, Auspex, and Quietus as their primary Disciplines. In the Revised edition Assamite clan book (modern era) they get Assamite Sorcery, Obfuscate, and Quietus. The Viziers and Warriors have the same Disciplines in the Dark Ages and modern era.

In all versions, Assamites grow darker with age.