Elder (VTM): A vampire who has experienced at least three or more centuries of unlife.[1]
Elder (VTR): A vampire who has survived for over 150 years; also a term of respect.[2]
The term Elder is used in Vampire: The Masquerade to denote the status of a kindred who has experienced 300 years of unlife. In Vampire: The Requiem, it is for 150 years of unlife.
Overview[]
While there is no strict definition, one normally must be at least two centuries old, with appreciable claims to domain or a variety of other assets and far removed from their mortal past to qualify.
The choices and sacrifices they have made in order to survive so long instills a degree of amorality and slow caution; it is not unusual for elders to design plans that take decades or centuries before coming to fruition. Such beings are often cold, if not monstrous, and focused completely on their own interests and well-being, though a rare few struggle to maintain their human sentiments.
There is a long-standing cycle of jealousy, contempt and resentment between elder and younger vampires, being especially pronounced between sires and their childer. Elders often use their greater power and influence to oppress those younger than them out of fear of being outnumbered and because most vampires of such age believe they know what's best in the same way that mortal elders feel that theirs is the better way. Younger vampires naturally chafe under such treatment and grow jealous and resentful of the elders' positions and power. It was this cauldron of emotions that gave rise to the Anarch Revolt and all things thereafter.
Typically, elders of Europe and the Old World are much older than those across the Atlantic Ocean. Most of the time Elders are the oldest active vampires in undead society.
There used to be more elders, Kindred who are centuries old, of low Generation but still active in the Camarilla or other sects, at least to some degree. Elders are usually defined as those who are older than 250 years and younger than 1000.
The Beckoning has changed a lot, calling many elders away to the Gehenna War, leaving their holdings up for grabs as younger Kindred fight for what was left behind.
When an old vampire gets Beckoned away, they don’t disappear from the world. They go somewhere. This means that in a Gehenna War story, you may well encounter an elder thought to be lost. Here are a few examples of what could happen with a Beckoned elder:
- The elder is remembered as a fiercely independent, cantankerous autarkis who never allowed anyone to tell them what to do. This is why it’s so shocking to see them now, as a simpering, broken servant of an ancient blood god.
- The elder denies even having been Beckoned. They say that they traveled to the war zone entirely voluntarily, to further their own agenda. And who’s to say they didn’t!
- The elder has become a religious fanatic, taking some aspect of the Gehenna War to heart so profoundly that they now act very differently than ever before. A coward may have become a warrior, a power-hungry materialist a philosophical mystic.
- The elder is personally in charge of a faction fighting the Gehenna War. Perhaps they are being controlled by a methuselah or maybe they’re genuinely independent. Whatever the case, they sit at the center of a faction composed of vampires and mortals, on war footing to fulfill their goals.
- The elder has joined the Sabbat, fighting the Gehenna Crusade to keep themselves free of the influence of the ancients. Whatever they were before, they’re now an inhuman monstrosity impossible to understand or empathize with.
Character Sheet[]
Elder (1st & 2nd)[]
These are Kindred of the Fifth, Sixth or Seventh Generations, who have survived between 300 and 1000 years and therefore have considerable inherent power.
Crusade Lore Stats[]
Prince of the Undead[]
The elder has lived for three centuries or more and is among the most maliciously cunning creature in the world.
Suggested Powers: Most, possibly even all, of the powers listed (Might, Uncanny Fortitude, Illusion, Superhuman Senses, Superhuman Speed, Shapeshifting, Mesmerism)
Gear: Fine-quality clothes and jewelry, guards and retainers, ancient ritual equipment.
V5[]
Note for Vampire the Masquerade 5th Edition: No Dice Pools are provided because it works better if the ancients are a force of nature, and the characters make tests just to survive interactions with them. Tests involving something incidentally related to the ancient may have lower Difficulties, such as attempting to escape as the building starts to collapse.[3]
Gallery[]
References[]
- ↑ VTM: Vampire: The Masquerade Rulebook Revised, p. 59
- ↑ VTR: Vampire: The Requiem Second Edition, p. 74
- ↑ VTM: Vampire: The Masquerade Rulebook Revised, p. 99