Robert Kross was a German Ventrue Archon during the period that Democritus held that title.
Biography[]
A childe of the Inquisition years who first saw the potential return on investments in the back end of new industries and ventures, he was an aide to Hardestadt during the Renaissance and traveled throughout Europe as a part of Democritus' retinue.
Kross was a pioneer in the art of investment into new industries, mainly in the Netherlands, where he built up his domain and managed to amass a fortune with sea trade based on goods of the Far East. In the meantime, his childe Juan-Miguel Ramirez duplicated his successes in Spain, an investment that literally paid off in tons of gold diverted from the Spanish Empire.
He ushered in the era of wealthy Ventrue, gaining the clan's modern reputation as the richest of clans. However this newfound wealth somewhat backfired, as it served to reinforce the division between the Ventrue and their antitribu counterparts in the Sabbat. In the 19th century Hardestadt and other prominent Teutonic Ventrue followed after the models that Kross had established, taking advantage of the growing industrial movement and nationalist sentiment in Germany. They helped to unify their homeland under one rule, supporting Chancellor Bismarck.
He left Europe in the decade following World War I, as he hoped to leave the depressing atmosphere of the trenches behind and focus instead on new avenues and industries in the United States. However, his childe Juan-Miguel Ramirez was quick to back the growing fascism movement in Spain, just as other young Ventrue where doing the same in Germany and Italy. Later, Kross would work with other Ventrue leaders such as Lodin to help stem the tide of Anarch power during the first spread of the Anarch Free States.
In the wake of the Final Nights, Kross joined a movement within his Clan’s Elders that centered around finding and awakening lost Methuselahs of their Clan, mainly legendary figures like Camilla or Lysander in the hopes of finding a charismatic leader as an alternative to the shadowy Directorate which leads the clan. With the awakening of Camilla in the 21st century, Kross may have gotten his wish.
References[]
VTM: Clanbook: Ventrue Revised, p 24-31