Samiel was a mighty childe of Saulot, first knight and founder of the Salubri Warrior caste who wrote the Code of the Warrior. Silas claims that Samiel slaughtered the Tzimisce Antediluvian.
Biography[]
Samiel was the greatest among the Salubri warriors. He developed the warrior path of the Valeren Discipline, mainly to banish all the Baali from this world and to mercifully give the gift of death for those who pursue it. He also established the Code of Samiel, a doctrine that formalized the tenets of the Warrior Salubri and of the Path of Retribution (Via Vindicta).
Samiel was killed at the end of the Second Baali War, as were more than half of his followers. Supposedly, he was slain by the Baali he was hunting in the siege of their stronghold at Chorazin, thanks to the treachery of his clanmate Ahab. According to this version Nergal ripped the elder’s heart out and consumed it.
Other accounts claim that he met his end in a grisly battle against the Tzimisce Antediluvian, whose szlachta ghouls had been mistaken for demons and attacked by the Salubri warriors. It is possible that there was no accident in the attack on the Tzimisce stronghold; thanks to the malefic influence of Kupala over the Tzimisce, the Baali may not have been the only targets of the zealots.
With the death of Samiel and the Tremere's purge of the Salubri, the Code of Samiel was fragmented, as much of it had been transmitted orally. By the year 1230, the only Salubri to hold a complete copy of the Code was Samiel's last childe, Qawiyya el-Ghaduba (whom he had Embraced during his final journey) and safeguarded with the only known copy of the Code to have been penned by Samiel's own hand.
Another Warrior Salubri, Adonai, established the Vengeful faction of Salubri, who sought retribution against the Tremere and all others who had betrayed Clan Salubri; he is said to have rediscovered several fragments of the Code of Samiel. In the Final Nights, the only Salubri who might recall anything of the Code of Samiel are the followers of Adonai, who is now the leader of the Salubri antitribu of the Sabbat.
Rayzeel, another childe of Saulot (though not a Warrior Salubri), is described as being Samiel's sister. It is unclear whether she was his sister in mortal life, or was merely described as such thanks to their mutual sire. Rayzeel was the confidant of both Saulot and Samiel, and may have also been Saulot's lover. Both Rayzeel and Malkav counseled Saulot in the wake of Samiel's final death.
Version Differences[]
The exact timeline of the Baali Wars (and, as such, the time frame of Samiel's death) is contradictory between sources; some sources refer to only one Baali War, not two, with Samiel's death occurring at or shortly before the conclusion of this war, and others place Samiel's death at the conclusion of the First Baali War, not the second.
Road of Heaven places Samiel's Embrace of Qawiyya in AD 636, while most other sources place the Baali War that resulted in the death of Samiel before the destruction of Knossos, which occurred more than a thousand years earlier, or in the time of the First City, which fell thousands of years before that. Possibly the entry in Road of Heaven is incorrect and should read BC instead of AD.
References[]
- VTDA: Clanbook: Salubri, p. 15-17, 23, 64, 66
- DAV: Players Guide to High Clans, p. 131-132, 134
- DAV: Road of Heaven (book), p. 45, 92-93
- VTM: Vampire 20th Anniversary Edition: The Dark Ages, p. 447