Karif al-Numair

Karif al-Numair was one of the founding members of the Black Hand within the Sabbat.

Biography
Born into a servant family that supported the original hashishin, Karif quickly learned the value of obedience and silence. By the time he was 12, Karif knew how to wield the knife, garrote and sword. He had also come to the attention of an Assamite named Wasim who saw in the boy the sort of dedication required of those who could bear the curse of undeath. Eventually, Wasim came for him. Waiting until the boy was sent to fetch wood beyond the confines of the assassin’s strong hold, the Assamite cut off his return and hunted him. Karif quickly realized that someone was after him. Understanding that he would not make it back to the stronghold, Karif quickly gathered whatever makeshift weapons he could to defend himself from his unknown stalker. It was a doomed effort from the start.Throughout the night, the Cainite played cat and mouse with the servant boy, testing his reflexes, intelligence, courage and determination. At one point the boy even managed to set a trap for the Cainite and wound him slightly with a sharpened stick. Wasim was pleased. Ending the game by capturing the youth, Wasim took him to Alamut. When he realized the honor being paid him, Karif willingly accepted his role as servant to Wasim. Seven years later, he became an apprentice. From the rudimentary training he had absorbed as a boy, he then graduated to full-scale assassinations.

For the next seven centuries, Karif faithfully served his clan, fulfilling the contracts assigned to him and paying his tithe of blood to his sire. He fought against the infidels who came to force Christianity upon his homeland and learned their barbaric tongues. Following the road he had been taught, Karif was among those who swarmed into Eastern Europe with the Turks, diablerizing those he could. He also wanted to punish the arrogance of those who had invaded his home with the crusades. Taking their lands and feasting upon their blood satisfied that desire. In the wake of the Anarch Revolt, Karif received word that Alamut was under attack from the European vampires. As he turned his steps toward his home to defend it, he heard that an accord had been reached. Karif was summoned to a meeting of those slayers who did not agree that they should bend the knee to the Europeans. They sent him to the Convention of Thorns to speak for their views, even against the express wishes of the Old Man of the Mountain. Karif found no ears willing to listen to him at the convention and joined with those anarchs who also refused to yield to the Camarilla, becoming one of the first Assamite antitribu. He later played an integral role in leading the Gehenna cult of the Black Hand into the Sabbat.