Toreador (VTM)

The Toreador are some of the most beautiful and glamorous of the Kindred. Famous (and infamous) as a clan of artists and innovators they are one of the bastions of the Camarilla, as their very survival depends on the facades of civility and grace on which the sect prides itself.

Early History
It is said that the Clan's founder, Arikel was a mortal painter in the First City. Famed throughout the lands for her work, after her Embrace she painted a mural on which the past, present and future of Kindred society was depicted. When Caine saw a terrible future for his race, he cursed her with the affliction that affects Toreador today - the art that she loved most dear would now be her obsession and distraction above all things.

Dark Ages
In the middle age, the Toreador were a member of the High Clans, and their numbers were made up of the same types that are common in the modern nights - minstrels, painters, poets and actors.

Like most Clans, some of the members left the Clan proper upon the formation of the Sabbat. Toreador antitribu are the dark reflection of their Camarilla cousins - while they are beautiful social butterflies, their weakness has twisted so that all antitribu derive joy from the emotional, physical and mental suffering of others.

Victorian Age
The Toreador revelled in the Victorian age. The Industrial Revolution led to a phenomenon that only the rich had been previously afforded - leisure time. A heyday of theatre, music and art began in cultural nexsues like New York, London and Paris and spread throughout the globe. While the influence of the Church in people's lives (and consequently, the influence Toreador held over the church) waned, those Kindred that latched themselves onto businessmen prospered. Possibly the one thing most Toreador love with the exception of beauty is money, and it was now accessible from places other than the landed gentry of the time. While the Clan has had peaks and troughs, this was a time that cemented them as a true power in the Camarilla.

Final Nights
The Toreador play their games as they always have, albeit at a slightly more frantic pace due to the upheaval of the various skirmishes the Camarilla have fought. The recent innovations of cinema, television and the internet means that new forms of art and expression are being discovered almost daily, meaning the Toreador have become even more varied.

However, the Toreador are still a noble and aristocratic clan, and many perceive the Embrace of graffiti artists, Wall Stret Wizards and CGI technicians as a pollution of the vaunted ideals that the Clan used to stand for. Many nights are filled with one Toreador bickering with another over what can be considered "true" art, and each Toreador's opinion is as varied as the definition of art itself.

Organization
The Toreador of a city organise themselves into Guilds. While this has something of an artistic ring to it, most Toreador in the city are members, whether they are Poseurs or Artistes (see below). The head of the Guild is typically the oldest and most influential Toreador within the city, with the other members forming a complicated stratified social system, the rules of which boggle many an outsider.

The clan itself has two divisions. The Artistes consist of the sculpters, the painters, the musicians and the writers. The consider themselves to be the 'real' Toreador as inheritors of the Clan's original values and goals. The Poseurs make up the other faction - they can include the failed artists (or those that happened to be Embraced while their sire was riding a particular fad), as well as the professional critics and those who consider their bodies to be their life's masterpiece. It should be noticed that neither group has a nickname for themselves - they tend to be only flung at the opposing faction as a derisive epithet.

Culture
It is said that while the Ventrue are the mind of the Camarilla, the Toreador are it's soul. It was one of their number, Rafael de Corazon, who was instrumental in it's formation. The Toreador are the greatest supporters of many of the Camarilla's traditions, most notably that of Elysium. This is where the Toreador are in their element, showcasing their latest pieces and practicing their highly effective (and sometimes deadly) form of social manouevreing. From the outside, most other Clans think of one face of the Toreador, but see another. When speaking of them to another, most envision Toreador as the Artistes - billowy shirted, frock-coated fops who crow about the beauty of the ages and lamenting their lost humanity. In reality, outsiders are less likely to meet such characters, given as they are to sequestering themselves away to work on their latest masterpiece. Far more often encountered are those Toreador whose unlives have become dedicated to the Kindred social scene - Toreador are often a large contingent of the city's Harpies, and having spent years with their bitchy and conniving clan-mates they are more than capable of ruining someone's reputation with a pity comeback or a damning piece of gossip whispered in just the right ear.

The Toreador portray themselves as the vampires closest to the living breathing pulse of the humans around them (though this honour might be shared with the Brujah). They claim that this is what keeps them so vital and modern. Indeed, Clan members are often the first ones to be aware of what mortals are wearing, eating, buying and sleeping with. While a Malkavian elder might be found in his 1800s finery, the Toreador is much more likely to be wearing something from this year's Paris catwalks.

Embraces
As stated before, there are two rough moulds that clan members fall into. Artists make up a large proportion of the clan, which in the modern nights can include computer graphics artists, avant-garde performance artists and sportsmen alongside the singers, dancers and writers. The other portion consists of businessmen, critics and those who are simply beautiful. While the main detractors of the clan, often the Nosferatu and the Brujah complain that Toreador coddle their childer, the truth is a much more brutal one. Toreador sires are notoriously faddish, and while the subject of their Embrace can be the most cutting edge, the most innovative, the most beautiful, the most now, they can easily be terrible passe and embarrasing the following week. The sire then inevitably dumps the new childe as soon as is feasible, leaving the young vampire confused and struggling to make their own way. Such is the nature of the Toreador.

Version Differences
A change to the weakness of the Toreador antitribu. In 2nd Edition the Sabbat Toreador had a similar weakness to those in the Camarilla (although the Sabbat members could also find beauty in great ugliness). Revised edition changed this to forcing Sabbat Toreador to make a Willpower check when confronted with an opportunity to cause pain to somebody.