Cappadocian

The now (theoretically) extinct clan of Death, the Cappadocians were systematically eliminated through a coup d'famille conducted by Augustus Giovanni. Unfortunately for the Giovanni, they may have underestimated what it takes to kill a clan of experts on death.

Early History
Unique among the Antediluvians, Cappadocius viewed the Embrace as a unique opportunity to exmine the condition of death and unlife. Throught the early history of the Damned, he studied alone. Of all the Antedliuvians, Cappadocius appears the lest intereted in politics or power, even Saulot sired childer and fought in wars. Cappadocius saw no need to do so until he realized he would never find his answers alone, long after the flood, even after the demise of the Second City. Even then, he began with one childe, Caias Koine and with Caias he began to study mortal civilizations in order to understand death.

Cappadocian history begins with three events: the embrace of Caias, which creates the clan proper, the first visions of Cappadocius, which would guide the future of the clan (even towards its extinction), and an encounter outside of Jerusalem. There, Cappadocius encountered a lone traveller who introduced him to the nameless God, who would become the goal of all of Cappadocius' projects.

The first of these projects was the construction of Erciyes, the vast temple-complex at the mountain of the same name. This site became the Cappadocian headquarters, containing a monastery and the home of the Antediluvian and his oldest childer. Erciyes became the heart and research center of the clan, with the majority of the clan returning regularly to trade discoveries and set clan policy. Cappadocius had a goal, and unlike some more anarchic clans, the entirety of clan Cappadocian was dedicated to this goal of meeting, and then diablerizing, God. Cappadocius, a priest in life, was the only Antediluvian to adopt a human religion - following Christianity in his own fashion.

Dark Ages
Cappadocius, a vampire of the "I wake up and read for the next 300 years" variety, ruled his clan with a project but a relatively loose hand. He as a visionary, not a manager, and the clan was largely controlled by his favored Childer: Japheth Cappadocius, Caias Koine and Lazarus. These three had childer of their own in positions of power (most notably Constancia, and Lamia, the founder of the bloodline of the same name.  After those, the ones Cappadocius would regularly see, the clan spread far.  So far that they populated two cities of their own: Kaymakli and Derinkuyu.  Cappadocius was not aware that his clan was, in fact, the largest of all vampiric clans until the mortals of Derinkuyu told him.  Remorseful at this, Capapdocius committed genocide on his own clan.

He called another meeting of the clan at Kaymakli, with Japheth and Caias in attendance. Leading the members of the clan deeper into the cave complex underneat the city, he asked his descendants a sequence of questions to mearue their worth to society. The ones who answered, on the surface at least, incorrectly were sent to the surface the remainder brought further and further down. At the lowest level, Cappadocius sealed thousands of vampires in the caves with the curse of an Antediluvian: "Let no childe of Caine ever leave through this passage; let no son of Seth ever enter". There, bound by their father's ward, the rejected children of the clan starved, frenzied, fed and fell to torpor.

The Feast of Folly led to another reduction of the clan: Lazarus had not attended the gathering, along with his childer he remained in Egypt. At this time, Egypt was close to forbidden for the clan, as the Followers of Set would make short work of invaders to their territory. By dint of power and darker measures, Lazarus ensured his safety there, but he and his infitiores were severed from the clan, renouncing their identity as Cappadocians for their own projects.

Following the Feat, the founder sought further assistance for the clan in unraveling death's mysteries. Selecting a family of Venetian necromancers, the Giovanni, Cappadocius brought their patriarch into the undead, seeking to complement the Cappadocian mastery of death with insights into existence after it.

Embracing Augustus would become the undoing of the clan, however. Augustus Giovanni had his own motives for the embrace, and eventually betrayed his clan, diablerizing the Antediluvian and remaking it in his own image in 1444. The only survivors of the clan were small offshoots: Lazarus' infitiores, the Premascine Giovanni under the canals of Venice.

Victorian Age
Until the 19th century, the clan was exterminated by the Giovanni, who extracted a promise of non-interference from the Camarilla. As the Cappadocians fell, various offshoots of the clan mutated in fashions that had already begun before Cappadocius' death. Some of the infitiores decayed physically, becoming mobile corpses.

Meanwhile, other Cappadocians were active beyond the Shroud, waiting...

Final Nights
The Sixth Great Maelstrom gave many dead creatures a chance to escape the Underworld. None were more prepared for this than a cabal of 50 ancient, powerful and very angry Cappadocians who broke through the shroud, claiming or forming new decayed bodies and seeking vengeance. These Harbingers of Skulls are nominally allied with the Sabbat, but it would be more appropriate to say that they are the enemies of a Camarilla which sold them out.

Organization
The Cappadocians maintained a rather collegial organization: the clan was generally friendly towards each other, but loosely organized. Cappadocians would correspond extensively on their work, but generally were solitary, with sire-childe relationships being the most common. The clan had respected elders, but given the generally loose structure of the clan, clan prestige and power was mostly associated with insight into the mysteries of death and life.

Culture
The one word that sums up the old clan is "passive". The Cappadocians had their own projects and plans, and generally focused on those while ignoring the larger affairs of the world. Blessed with an unusually active Antediluvian and a generally placid nature, the Cappadocians were much less concerned about Gehenna, political backstabbing and the other niceties of undead life. This, of course, made them natural targets for the Giovanni.

The Cappadocians were well-known for partnering with the Ventrue, often serving as stewards or aides to Ventrue Princes. In this fashion, a Cappadocian could acquire what resources and protection he needed to pursue his own projects.

The Cappadocians were also highly religious, and would often adapt Christian religious practices, even if Embraced before Christianity. As a result, there were a large number of Cappadocian monks, priesta and the like.

Embraces
Cappadocians usually choose scholars or other intellectuals for the Embrace. The clan's morbid predilections meant that they often desensitized new embraces by burying them or interring them in crypts shortly after the change. In this way, the childe could acquire first-hand familiarity with death.

Version Differences
Insofar as there are version differences, they are mostly tied in with the Giovanni. The Cappadocians were created after the Giovanni, and the Cappadocian clan wasn't really created until Vampire: The Dark Ages. As a result, earlier material (such as Giovanni Chronicles I) creates several Cappadocian characters who are Giovanni.