Azerkatil

The Azerkatil are a Nosferatu bloodline originating in the 16th century Ottoman Empire. They were systematically bred by the Red Sultan to hunt down and kill Dracula and the Ordo Dracul.

Records of the Court of the Red Sultan are patchy, but suggest that he was a Nosferatu Prince of Adrianople (now called Edirne, in Turkey) and that he employed numerous sorcerers and mystics for the defense of Ottoman Kindred. Not long after Dracula rose to undeath, greatly exaggerated rumors of his terrible powers make their way to Ottoman lands. The Red Sultan, believing "the Dragon" to be some sort of demonic entity, ordered a systematic breeding program to create a bloodline uniquely suited to destroying the monster.

The result were the Azerkatil, specifically those called the "First Dragonslayers." Embraced from mortal mercenaries and soldiers, they were dispatched into southeastern Europe to hunt down Dracula and his followers. By the end of the 16th century, however, the Red Sultan had passed into torpor and it was clear the Dracula was not the existential threat he had feared. Adrift, the Azerkatil lost any internal organization they once had. Many acutally joined the Ordo Dracul, the covenant they'd been bred to destroy, hence why some Kindred back in Turkey refer to them as "Traitors."

Azerkatil are masters of a discipline, Suikast, that seems designed for the sole purpose for fighting other Kindred. As Nosferatu, they have an unsettling aura of imminent violence that perturbs both mortals and other vampires. Additionally, the Red Sultan did not intend his Dragonslayers to become a true bloodline, so it is extremely difficult for Azerkatil to Embrace. In modern nights, all the First Dragonslayers are believed to be in torpor, and those who remain active have no first-hand knowledge of the bloodline's foundations.