Ankou (VTR)

Ankou are a bloodline of clan Mekhet. Insular assassins, the self-proclaimed Guardians cull the Kindred and kine population, killing those who violate the group's stringent moral code, especially vampires who reveal their nature to the herd. Believing Kindred and humans must never take pleasure in feeding, an Ankou would sooner murder her vessel than bestow the Kiss.

The Reapers mostly eschew the covenants, though a few grudgingly recognize that the Invictus shares similar values, at least when it comes to the Masquerade. Some become Sanctified heralds of death, or join the Ordo Dracul in the hope of being transformed into ultimate weapons, but for the most part, the Ankou prefer to remain on the outside, watching. They also ardently deny being members of VII.

History[]

The first Ankou was known as the Lady of Death, but the bloodline agrees on little else about her. Some say she formed the Guardians after another vampire murdered her mortal lover, writing the bloodline's Code of Death to leave a mark of vengeance on the All Night Society. Others believe the Lady was leader of a now broken covenant of Mekhet mystics called Ogma's Sword. These Shadows spent their Requiems studying the Strix, and (supposedly) harbored defectors from VII, but their kindness and diligence was rewarded with treachery, and they eventually fell to infiltrators. If true, the Ankou are the last vestige of this covenant. Another story, and one the bloodline would prefer not be spoken, says the Lady of Death was defeated in a brutal encounter with the Strix, and never truly recovered. Tonight, she uses her bloodline as a disposable pawn against the Owls, whom she fears to face herself.

Bane[]

Ankou suffer the Distanced Curse. Determined to separate the living and the dead, and bearing witness to the worst of both, an Ankou finds it difficult to take solace in her Mask, and slowly loses sight of the reason she had one in the first place.