Independent Ghouls are the least common type of ghouls, who live a free existence with no Regnant Cainite ruling over them, but also a dangerous existence in constant struggle for vitae.
Overview[]
| “ | You know just as well as I do that you can’t do everything yourself, or have you forgotten that you’re exclusively nocturnal? Trust me, I’m reliable help, and my price isn’t hard to pay at all. | ” |
You think being a junkie is rough? Try doing it when the dealers want to shoot you on sight. An independent‘s road is a hard one. Kindred view these masterless ghouls as dangerous and uncontrollable, and a vampire very much mistrusts what he doesn’t control. Usually, the only recourse is to kidnap and kill vampires in order to gain their blood. Others serve vampires as freelance “help,” taking care of particularly nasty daylight problems.
Independent ghouls come from all places, but they put a bit of distance between themselves and ordinary people. They aren’t pawns; they do what they do deliberately. Usually, they’re orphans: A domitor dies, and his enemies are careless enough to let a servant or two get away. Sometimes the orphan’s been a ghoul for so long that he knows he’ll wither away to old age in a month if he doesn’t get some vitae. Desperation gets a lot of independents started down this road.
Of course, some independents have more complicated stories. Some may have stumbled across Cainite society accidentally, and eventually discovered the power that vitae contains. Others may have been cultists who discovered that there was a variety of blood that worked much better in rituals. Some few might even have been cannibalistic killers who picked an unusually strong victim, and learned the source of that strength. But even without the blood bond, the addiction remains, and only a handful of those who’ve tasted vitae never try to taste it again.
References[]
- VTM: Ghouls: Fatal Addiction, p. 62-63, 74-75
- VTM: Vampire: The Masquerade 20th Anniversary Edition, p. 496