Vampire (WOD)

Vampire
The iconic fangs of a vampire
Gameline	Vampire: The Masquerade
Other Names	Kindred Cainite 'Leeches' (By Garou) 'Ghuls' (By the Egyptian Mummies and Amenti) Kin-jin (By the Kuei-jin) Vampyr (Archaic name)
Association	Vampires Mortals Ghouls
Type	Undead Immortal

Vampires are one of the three main supernatural beings in the World of Darkness and the fundamental characters of Vampire: The Masquerade and Kindred of the East. They are split into two main species: the predominantly western Cainites (also called Kindred), and the oriental Kuei-jin.

Overview

The blood-drinkers who stalk the World of Darkness mostly call themselves Kindred, licks, or Cainites. The term "vampire" seems déclassé to the habitués of Elysium and the theorists of Anarch utopia, reminiscent of cheesy Hammer sequels and tourist-friendly reactionary folklore. However, those Embraced in recent decades increasingly use the term among themselves ("taking the v-word back"), establishing their claim to this status despite the thinness of their Blood.

When challenged, they respond: "Who has a better right to the name? Those of us actually out in the night, or the mythical monsters from movies?" Vampires cannot afford too many illusions; as predators, their existence depends on fooling their prey, not themselves. Whether they call themselves Kindred, licks, or vampires, they face certain immutable truths.

To be a vampire is to be driven by an insensate Hunger for human blood and by the immortal legacy of your vampire Blood. Hunger drives you to murderous frenzy, impels you to slake your thirst in mortal veins.

The human blood you drink alchemizes and resonates, granting not just ecstasy but also immortality; not just strange powers, but also slavery. More than most of us, vampires are what they eat. More than most of us, vampires must retain their Humanity if they want to be more than that.

Even the seemingly timeless truths of the vampires admit some exceptions or shift as the Blood changes its tides. For centuries, the Kindred believed there was no generation after the 13th, and some modern vampires retain a psychosomatic fear of the cross or garlic.

Supernatural Traits

Vampires are created through the Embrace; during the Embrace, a vampire drains a candidate of all their blood and replaces it with a small amount (generally a single drop) of their own. This causes the corpse to rise as a (very hungry) vampire, usually instantly (though those of the highest generations may appear to lie dead for some time before they awaken). A vampire's body has no heartbeat or pulse, holds no heat, and generates no sweat or hormones. A vampire's body does not age or rot. It regrows lost flesh and even whole limbs, given time enough. And yet it thinks, walks, plans, and speaks – and hunts, and kills.

The vampire who initiates the Embrace is the Sire; the new vampire is the Sire's Childe. When a vampire is Embraced, their internal organs wither away, and almost all their body fluids are replaced by blood. The only exception being the stomach, which pulses with the blood that the vampire consumes.

Vampires use blood (also called Vitae) for a variety of purposes; blood replaces most bodily fluids, so vampires will cry blood and sweat blood under certain circumstances. Blood is also used to get up and move; every night, vampires expend a certain amount of blood to rise. In addition, vampires can use blood to enhance their physical attributes and use supernatural powers called Disciplines. Blood is used to Embrace, as noted above, and also to create Ghouls. Finally, vampires can use blood to heal damage.

Vampires crave human blood, and they can only slake their thirst and power their inhuman abilities with the life's blood of their victims. Some penitent vampires eke out an existence from animal blood, and some ancient vampires must hunt and kill others of their kind to nourish themselves, but most vampires indeed consume the blood of their former species (whilst the blood of the supernatural creatures are an entirely different matter). The process of taking blood is euphemistically called the Kiss or feeding.

Vampires do not have to completely drain a victim, although frenzying vampires are likely to do so. When first Embraced as a vampire, the undead grow extendable fangs for feeding. However, vampire saliva can close the wounds made by their fangs, thus concealing the evidence of the feeding. The Feeding process is highly pleasurable (arguably the only pleasure) for vampires, and is also extremely pleasurable for victims. Blood doll who are drained regularly can become addicted to the Kiss.

Vampires change considerably after the Embrace. Physically, they are incapable of eating food, with most vomiting it up almost instantly (and even those that can keep it down for a while will still have to regurgitate the food later), they require no food save blood, and they never need to breathe.

The vampire have no need for sex as the need to feed replaces all physical and emotional urges, although they can imitate the physical reactions for sex if needed and will even feel pleasure from it, though all such mortal pleasures pale in comparison to the ecstasy of the Kiss.As a result of these processes, the vampire is paler and generally thinner than they were before the Embrace. Certain clans have more extreme physical changes, such as the Nosferatu or the Cappadocians.

Once Embraced, vampires are locked into a form of stasis. Apart from wounds (healed with blood), vampires are restored to their condition at the time of Embrace every time they rise up for the night. This physical condition eventually extends to their mindsets - old vampires often find it very hard to learn new things, much like how an older human will often find it difficult to keep up with next generation's innovations and ways of thinking.

In addition to the physical changes, vampires experience extreme intellectual and emotional changes. The vampire is now a predator, and has a raging id called the Beast, that may take control of his body (be it through fear, hunger or hatred).

Vampires are highly durable against physical threats, except for fire or sunlight. Although some thin-blooded vampires can bear the sun briefly and some vampiric powers allow a few minutes' survival, sunlight fatally burns a Kindred's undead flesh if exposed long enough. Vampires are nocturnal creatures, and most find it extremely difficult to remain awake during the day, even within sheltered areas.

Vampire Blood grants Kindred supernatural powers called Disciplines, which encompass all these abilities and more. Vampires increase their power as they age, from newly created vampires little more powerful than humans to mighty elders who can rival fiction's Lestat or Dracula. The methuselahs and Antediluvians, who have stalked the night for millennia, often possess literally godlike power.

However, outside of these, vampires are very hard to kill - bullets do not cause much damage, and those who possess the Disciplines of Celerity and Fortitude are extremely hard to hit, let alone damage in combat. That said, shotguns and similar weapons are warily respected or feared; while an individual bullet might not frighten a vampire, it becomes a different issue when the weapon can remove their head entirely with a well-placed shot, or remove limbs in seconds with a never-ending stream of lead.

When severely wounded, vampires can pass into a deathlike stasis called Torpor, which allows them to heal more extreme damage. Torpor can last for centuries depending on the circumstances, and as a vampire gets older, Torpor becomes a more attractive option due to social and personal issues often suffered by vampires of significant age or those who cannot cope with the changes in society. Some vampires have been in Torpor for millennia, such as the Antediluvians.

Generation

See Generation, Blood Pool and Blood Potency

Generation is the distance between a kindred and the first vampire, following their Embrace a newly formed vampire is one number higher than their sire. Generation has a variety of effects - mental powers do not work on vampires of lower generation, and the lower a generation the more potent a vampire can become.

Generation has a variety of gameplay effects, the most important being Blood Potency. As time passes the kindred's blood thickens from age within the boundaries of their Generation's limit. While the stronger they become with age, there is a downside that it will take more blood to satisfy the vampire.

Kindred generally raise Blood Potency by 1 every 100 years while active but even intense or dangerous experiences can expedite the process. On the reverse side, Kindred in torpor loses one point for every 50 years inactive. It can never rise nor lower beyond the cap determined by their Generation.

The amount of blood a character can store and spend changes radically as their generation decreases, this makes a low-generation character far more potent in combat, especially once they can spend multiple blood points at a time. Generation also affects most mental disciplines - characters generally cannot use mental disciplines on characters of a lower generation. In addition, Characters cannot raise attributes or disciplines above 5 dots unless they are 7th generation or lower. Higher dot disciplines tend to be highly idiosyncratic.

Vampires cannot lower their generation except through diablerie, a form of vampiric cannibalism in which the diablerist consumes the soul of his or her victim - which is usually a rare opportunity and a very severe crime. A Diablerie is easily detectable on an aura, and the Camarilla views it as a capital crime.

Generation, however, does not dictate the age of a vampire, as a 10th Generation vampire could have been embraced hundreds of years ago and in reverse, a low Generation vampire could have embraced a fledgling in the last year.

Weaknesses

Main article: Clan Curse

Aside from the particular curses of each clan, the Cainites share a few disadvantages. For instance, vampires must feed on the blood of other beings to survive and heal their wounds (with few notable exceptions, such as the Nagaraja, who must feed on flesh as well). In addition, they universally fear fire, sunlight, decapitation, and the teeth, claws and powers of other supernatural creatures. A wooden stake through the heart will immobilize them. Contrary to popular belief, garlic has no ill effect on vampires at all, save for a very small number with an unusual flaw in their blood. Likewise, the inability to cross running water is a rare weakness and probably psychosomatic.

Also, after the embrace every vampire must be wary of the influence of the Beast upon their behavior. The Beast continuously assaults the character, and if the Beast's demands exceed the character's own capacity to control it, it will react in a Frenzy or Rötschreck. Vampires can permanently lose control to the Beast, entering Wassail, a state of permanent Frenzy. In this condition, all humanity is lost and the vampire becomes a mindless killing machine.

History

Cainite's history begins with a homicidal farmer: Caine of the Biblical story. According to Vampiric mythology (detailed in the Book of Nod), Caine killed his brother Abel and was exiled by God to Nod, East of Eden. Outside of Nod he met Lilith, who taught him the basics of vampiric power. At this time, he was also cursed by God's Angels to be vulnerable to fire, sunlight and the treachery of his descendants.

Caine then traveled to Enoch, the First City of the human race. There he embraced its ruler and became the God-King of the city, embracing three childer as the Second Generation. These three childer in turn embraced the thirteen Antediluvians, the founders of the clans.

Some time after this, the Antediluvians rebelled against the Second Generation, after which the Great Flood covered Enoch in water. The Antediluvians survived for 40 days under water, devouring their own, until the floods receded.

Some time after the flood, the Antediluvians build the Second City, which they rule over as Gods, until Caine returns to pass judgement on them. Caine curses each of the Clans, then leaves.

The Antediluvians spread across the world at this time, travelling to various places and embracing further descendants. Eventually, they sink into Torpor. Vampires fear Gehenna, the time that the Antediluvians will rise from Torpor and devour their descendants, then Caine will return in judgement. The Camarilla claims Gehenna is a fraud, and that there are no Antediluvians. In contrast, the Sabbat is strongly Noddist and sees defeating the Antediluvians as their entire purpose.

Organization

Nominally, every vampire is Embraced into a Clan, which is a line of vampires tracing their ancestry back to a common Antediluvian. Each Clan has specific strengths and weaknesses, as well as their own distinct history. A vampire without a Clan is Caitiff, generally a second-class citizen in vampiric society.

Most vampires belong to one of three major sects: the Anarch, Camarilla or the Sabbat. The Camarilla consists of those clans who are dedicated to preserving the Masquerade and (generally) their Humanity. The Sabbat are dedicated to the coming Gehenna and the superiority of the vampire species over humanity. It should be noted that the distinction is not between Good Vampires and Bad Vampires as much as between Bad Vampires and Worse Vampires (which is which depends largely on who you ask). The Camarilla and Sabbat are violent enemies. Anarchs are vampires who reject the status quo of Cainite society. The resulting organization of anarchs is called the Anarch Movement, they values vary from domain to domain, with one unifying trait: Rebellion against the Tower, In recent decades it has seen vast growth as younger kindred find it increasingly difficult to understand why they must follow the laws of elders who care nothing for them, but to throw them in harms way when needed.

In addition to these two Sects, several lesser divisions exist. Vampires who reject both Sects in favor of more indepedence are grouped. Several Clans are loyal primarily to their Clans, and are independent of the major Sects. In addition, there is a group of mysterious elder vampires, the Inconnu, who eschew all politics in favor of their own projects. However, not every Kindred belongs to a Sect, nor swears fealty to a Clan, Prince, Bishop, or other such entity - these Autarkis often lead solitary unlives not unlike hermits or outcasts.

While they are still globalized, most vampires are generally confined to one city (which is ruled in a feudal fashion). At the apex of the power structure is the Prince, who is generally served by a council of Primogen, the prince controls access to feeding grounds which he allocates as fiefs. There are additional city offices, notably the Harpies and Sheriff; later editions of VTM introduce the Scourge, as well as other, more specialized minor offices.

Sabbat cities use a slightly different structure. Cities are generally ruled by a Archbishop, who is supported by a number of Bishops. Below this level are the various packs who make up the bulk of Sabbat society; these packs are led by Ducti.

In addition to these offices, however, the Sects impose their own additional offices. Princes report to the Camarilla, whose most visible officers are the Archons, roving agents of the Justicars, who are the highest public Camarilla official. Each clan provides one Justicar, who controls his own stable of Archons. Justicars are roving troubleshooters, each one generally focusing on one major project at a time - such as conducting a war to take over a city.

The Sabbat has a complex internal structure which includes both Templars and an internal Inquisition as well as a mini-sect called the Black Hand.

Clans

There are fourteen distinct clans in the modern nights, as well as the Caitiff, the Thin-blooded, and innumerable minor bloodlines.

Camarilla

Here is a list of the seven clans who were part of the Camarilla. With V5 new & strange bedfellows begin to change the Ivory Tower.

• Banu Haqim: Formerly known as Assamites, The Children of Haqim are a cult of assassins located in the mountain fortress of Alamut in the middle east. Descended from Caine's judge, the Assamites accept assassination contracts against vampires while fulfilling their clan's own (more obscure) goals. The Assamites are practically a sect unto themselves, with three castes, each of which has its own weakness. Judges of transgression, intellectuals and lawyers, assassins and blood sorcerers; once known as Assamites, the Children of Haqim have recently joined the ranks of the Camarilla.
• Lasombra: The former leaders of the Sabbat, the Lasombra slew their own Antediluvian during the Anarch Revolt and then led the Sabbat against the nascent Camarilla. Winners at life, religious figures, manipulative shadow masters, social climbers, ruthless fighters; once a pillar of the Sabbat, they’ve now begun defecting to the ranks of the Camarilla. The Lasombra are elegant, powerful, cruel and predatory espousers of a social darwinist approach towards control and leadership. The Lasombra are also masters of shadow, able to manipulate darkness in bizarre fashions; this power has a cost, however, as Lasombra cast no reflections. In the mid 2010s they sought accord with the Camarilla and joined their ranks.

• Malkavian: The Malkavians are a clan of Vampires with their ranks filled with those perceived to be mentally ill, afflicted with a strange madness which varies between individuals. Seers and jesters affected by supernatural madness, psychological masters, oracles concealing and revealing truths and themselves. This doesn't mean that they aren't also insightful and highly intelligent, but they are controlled by their own variant of madness from the moment of their Embrace, some showing signs of previous traumas from their life as Kine.

• Nosferatu: Nosferatu are hideously deformed by their Embrace and every Nosferatu is horrifyingly ugly. Eschewing other Vampires, they live in sewers and generally keep to themselves. Nosferatu are information brokers par excellence. Since the Gangrel left the Camarilla, the Nosferatu have shown that they are physically capable as enforcers and assassins in their place, cementing their place as invaluable. Permanently afflicted by supernatural hideousness, they hide in the dark as gatherers of secrets, information procurers, hackers, elusive enforcers, often with a connection to rats and outcasts. While they most are apart of a Camarilla on the whole, they put clan over sect, protecting non-Camarilla Nosferatu from threats that'd expose them and vice versa.

• Toreador: The Toreador are obsessed with art and beauty, and are the clan that spends the most time around humanity. Seekers of emotion, romance, cruelty, beauty… anything that can remind them of lost humanity and sentiment. Artists, divas, social butterflies, appraisers and lovers of beauty. Toreador tend to get lost in art, becoming enraptured by beautiful things. This love of beautiful things sometimes is their downfall as they become obsessive of their desired beauty including in some fatal cases, the sun itself.

• Tremere: The Tremere are a Hermetic order (originally from Ars Magica) who turned themselves into vampires to preserve their magic. Scholars and counsellors of the occult; heavily hit by the Second Inquisition, the warlocks guard their secrets of sorcery, hoarding and searching for knowledge. It didn't quite work out as planned. Since the 11th century, the Tremere have risen from outcasts to one of the pillars of Camarilla society. Tremere are the most powerful practitioners of the Discipline of Thaumaturgy, but are also tightly bound to their highly organized and incredibly paranoid clan. Only the original house of Tremere remains loyal to the Camarilla with three other major houses appearing through out the world.

• Ventrue: The Clan Of Kings. The Ventrue are the leaders of the Camarilla. Vampiric aristocracy, guardians of the Traditions and a pillar of the Camarilla, businessmen and politicians, sometimes archaic traditionalists, sometimes true entrepreneurs. They are the clan from whom the majority of Princes come and since the Second Inquisition and call to the middle east, their Anarch counterparts make up a number of Barons. Ventrue are careful to whom they Embrace and who they feed from: every Ventrue feeds exclusively from a specific type of prey.

Sabbat

The Sabbat was once composed of many different clans and bloodlines. While all the Camarilla clans certainly have an antitribu representation within the Sabbat, the term also applies to factions within three independent clans which have joined the sect. Since the beginning of the Second Inquisition there have been changes leaving in charge the sole clan of:

• Tzimisce: The Tzimisce hail from Eastern Europe, and are the former absolute masters of their nightmare domains. Are the Dragons of Kindred, this clan embraces to own. They do not care if their charges live well, but aim simply to control. Those who are loyal to the Tzimisce are often so more out of fear than love. The Tzimisce are the least human vampires in VTM, casually cruel and more than a little mad, and possessing the most potent shapeshifting powers of any Vampire. Tzimisce can shift not only their shape, but mold flesh and bone like it was clay. The Tzimisce crave stability - they cannot find peace at night without some of their grave earth.

Anarch Movement

The Anarch revolts, while not always looked kindly upon gave birth to the movement that now is the mainstream of Kindred life, since the Camarilla retreated from the kindred's public more after the beginning of the Second Inquisition. They welcome all clans with a very hands-off leadership made up of mainly two clans:

• Brujah: Originally warrior-philosophers, the Brujah are now petty rebels, roughnecks and political activists. Fighters against the system, rebels against injustice, petty criminals, raging rabble, activists, agents of change, warrior philosophers fallen from grace. The Brujah are powerful combatants and charismatic speakers, but are more prone to succumbing to frenzy. A notable number lead the Anarch movement but there are still those who cling to the Camarilla or are independent.
• The Ministry: Formerly known as Followers of Set or Setites, Descendants of the Egyptian God Set, the original Setites were a Gnostic cult dedicated to overthrowing the rule of the tyrant gods who oppress all creatures. The rebranded Followers of Set, refused admission by the Camarilla and welcomed among the Anarchs. Both liars and liberators, seekers of freedom from chains through pain, pleasure, and any other means, occult cultists and preachers, standing between refusal of social norms and true depravity. Though in the Mid 2010s they re-branded into the Ministry, making it about religion of self with Set being said to exist inside each of his followers. They are still seen as creatures of Darkness, and light does even more damage to them.

Independent

• Hecata: Necromancers, Graverobbers, Lazarenes. The Hecata are as much a Family as they are a Clan; the only true Independents in these nights, the separate Clans of Death, including the Giovanni, Cappadocians, Samedi and others have now united as the Hecata. For them, the Family is everything; and if you are not one of them, you will never know how deep the Blood runs; originally an offset of the more sedate Cappadocians, Augustus Giovanni diablerized his sire and purged the clan of all Cappadocians. Since that time, the Giovanni have become a very rich, powerful and incestuously twisted family with tentacles throughout the world. In the modern night the Harbingers, Cappadocians, Nasyon san an and dissidents of other death bloodlines started secret communication with young disenfranchised or frustrated Giovanni members. The rumor that the Promise of 1528 was only a 500 year agreement further led to worry over Camarilla retaliation and Augustus' poor management. This led to an attack on Augustus and his Venetian holdings snowballing into a revolt against the elders of Clan Giovanni, and assassinations of high profile clan members. It is speculated that the reason all Hecata share the same Disciplines unlike their ancestors is caused by the unification of the necromantic bloodlines that formed clan Hecata and the destruction of so many Giovanni elders.

• Ravnos: A nomadic clan of masters of misdirection, these rogues and illusionists prefer to not bare fangs for something they can obtain with subtler methods. The Ravnos are Vampires from the Indian subcontinent, where they are engaged in a genocidal war with India's Cathayans. The first Ravnos seen in the west were Gypsies and were generally assumed to be charlatans and rogues (which isn't that far off, since many Ravnos are charlatans and rogues); however, the Ravnos adhere to a complex philosophy of enlightenment through destroying Maya. Each Ravnos has a vice, from gambling to plagiarism. During the Week of Nightmares, they were nearly wiped out by their own Antediluvian. The few that remain stay hidden, even from other Kindred.
• Gangrel: The clan closest to their inner Beast, from feral soldiers to folkloric travelers and free spirits, from inhabitants of the urban jungle to boardroom sharks. The Gangrel are nomadic vampires and the only ones who regularly travel outside of cities. The Gangrel are also shape-shifters with the Discipline of Protean, which has left them with a tendency to acquire animal features as they frenzy. Since the late 1990s, they've become largely independent though a number have joined the Anarchs and very few remained within the Camarilla's circles.

Ashirra

Main article: Ashirra

The "Ashirra", from the Arabic word for "brethren", is the sect under which Islamic vampires declare their faith in Allah and which rules over Arabia and the northern parts of Africa since the Dark Ages. Members of the Ashirra believe that redemption for the Kindred was among the promises of their prophet Muhammad made, if they chose to follow Allah. Among the members of the Ashirra are the following clans:

• Banu Haqim (Assamites)
• al-Amin (Salubri)
• Bay't Majnoon (Malkavians)
• Bay't Mujrim (Ravnos)
• Bay't Mushakis (Brujah)
• Bay't Mutasharid (Nosferatu)
• el Hijazi (Ventrue)
• Qabilat al-Khayal (Lasombra)
• Qabilat al-Mawt (Cappadocian)
• Ray'een al-Fen (Toreador)
• Wah'Sheen (Gangrel)

Laibon

main article: Laibon

The term "Laibon" is the name African Cainites give to themselves. These vampires have a rich culture of their own, and they divide themselves in many Legacies - which derive from the traditional clans and bloodlines. They are:

• Akunanse
• Followers of Set
• Guruhi
• Ishtarri
• Kinyonyi
• Nagloper
• Osebo
• Shango
• Xi Dundu
• Mla Watu
• Nkulu Zao
• Bonsam
• Impundulu
• Ramanga

Shattered Clans

Clans that are believed to be extinct.

• Salubri: Few exist in the modern nights; unlike other clans they are not embraced on a whim. They instead are carefully chosen by their sire to complete a task through their inquisitive nature, nigh-pious with the tenacity to survive through difficulties. The Clan of Saulot, discoverer of Golconda. The Salubri were a clan of healers and demon-fighters. After the Tremere became vampires, the Founder Tremere sought out Saulot and diablerized him, they then launched a campaign against the clan, branding them as demon-worshippers and soul-stealers. There are only a few Salubri today.

Bloodlines

See Bloodlines

In addition to the thirteen clans, there are a variety of bloodlines, who are offshoots or mutations of existing clans. These bloodlines are generally small and normally politically impotent. Examples include the Daughters of Cacophony, Kiasyd and Samedi.

The Sabbat has two major clans, but in addition, members of the Camarilla clans have joined the Sabbat since there was a Sabbat (actually, technically before there was a Sabbat). These clans are called antitribu and usually differ slightly from their parent clans, either in terms of disciplines or weaknesses.

Clanless

See Caitiff and Thin-blood

In the World of Darkness, there is an increasing number of "clanless"—vampires who were abandoned by their sires immediately following the Embrace and who are ignorant of their clan status; a vampire cannot choose to become clanless. They are called Caitiff by the Camarilla, and regarded as a sign of the Masquerade spiralling out of control, therefore gaining little respect from their elders. The Sabbat, on the other hand, gladly embraces the clanless (which they call Panders) into the sect. The more superstitious see the growing numbers of these vampires as an omen of the coming Gehenna, the Final Nights of prophecy when all children of Caine will be destroyed.

Culture

Vampires observe a set of customs that exists somewhere between being coded into their undead natures and a social contract that’s ratified every night among the courts of the Damned. Not every vampire affords the idea of the Traditions the respect they deserve — the Sabbat in particular make bold claims about the flaws of the Traditions and the weak wills of those who hide behind them — but in practice, most vampires observe the Traditions to some extent. This is most true of the Masquerade, for as bold as the Sabbat or Anarchs may be, even they don’t have the concentrated might to stand against a world of mortals who learn the secret that the undead walk among them.

Interpreting and enforcing the Traditions is the privilege and responsibility of the Cainite rulers. In some domains, particularly those of non-Camarilla Sects, both the titles and the Traditions themselves may vary, but the core principle is found everywhere: that an undead authority makes the rules and woe to any who feel that they don’t have to heed them.

Morality

See Humanity

Vampire espouses a virtue system which has changed in the various editions. The core of the system is three humane virtues: Conscience, Self-Control and Courage, rated from one to five. In addition to these virtues, all vampires have a Humanity score, rated from one to ten.

Humanity is ultimately a measure of how much control a vampire has over the Beast; the lower the Humanity, the more a vampire is controlled by his appetites. The default humanity for human beings is around 7.

Vampires lose humanity by committing sins; whenever a vampire does something that violates his morality, the player rolls a degeneration check. Losing the roll costs the character a point of humanity, while winning the roll maintains the morality. It should be noted that by winning, the character feels guilt - he realizes he's done something wrong. Conversely, losing means that the character is more comfortable with that sin, be it stealing a book or killing a friend. What qualifies as a sin depends on the character's morality score; as a character's humanity rises, the opportunities to degenerate become more common.

In general, humanity is inimical to being a vampire - as a blood-drinking nocturnal marauder, the character must engage in a variety of socially deviant behavior. As a result, most characters drop humanity until they reach a stable, if low, level. Low humanity has gameplay effects; a character cannot roll more dice on a social roll involving people than his humanity score. The remainder drop all the way to zero, Wassail, storyteller control and a violent death.

Humanity is not the only moral path available. The Sabbat and independent clans espouse Paths of Enlightenment, which outline alien and rigid moralities strongly divorced from the human norm. These are descended from the Dark Ages Roads, but are generally not practiced by Camarilla vampires.

Viewpoints

There are also other creatures who share the Classic World of Darkness with the Cainites. Some are oblivious to them while others actively hunt them down. Here are a few examples on their perspectives regarding vampires:

Mortal Perspective

In the modern nights the majority of mortals have been convinced by The Masquerade that vampires are myths, and thus possess only the knowledge found in the average novel or movie. There are a handful of cults and organizations that are aware of the existence of vampires, such as the Society of Leopold, though their information is often skewed and incomplete. One example is how in the Middle East, vampires are called Adites and are believed to descend from a tribe of people that challenged one of Allah's prophets and were cursed with eternal thirst after Allah let their city sink beneath the desert.

Werewolf Perspective

Most Garou regard vampires, who they call Leeches, as servants of the Wyrm and attack them on sight. Thus, discussion between the two races is incredibly rare and neither side really understands the other, aside from recognition of the mutual antagonism. As most vampires prefer civilization over the wild (largely because werewolves are not believed to spend as much time in cities), encounters between the two are infrequent but usually violent.

A widespread misconception exists among the Garou that as a vampire grows in age and power, so too does it become increasingly more deformed. This has led to even fledgling Hecata and especially Nosferatu being given a wide berth, while vampires from the more human-seeming clans are routinely underestimated in terms of their perceived ability to defend themselves.

Mage Perspective

Very few of the Awakened realize that vampires are real, though their interaction with both the wondrous and monstrous makes them fairly open-minded to the idea of their existence. Regardless, most mages have no more knowledge concerning vampires than the average mortal gets from modern fiction. Those that have encountered vampires, however, often are intrigued by their apparent abilities to avoid paradox and the levels of quintessence contained in their blood.

Wraith Perspective

Most wraiths couldn't care less about vampires; after all, their posturing and manipulation have no effect on the dead side of the Shroud. A scant few vampires with Auspex have become aware of the presence of wraiths, but most of the time, vampires and wraiths leave each other alone.

The exception comes with the nigrimancer Giovanni, who seek to control wraiths, the Shroud, and the Shadowlands. Fear towards these invaders is not unknown among the dead, but far more react towards the Giovanni with rage and fury, especially if the Giovanni attempts to manipulate wraiths against their will. A few wraiths have been known to form alliances with the more "pleasant" Giovanni, but these are rare, and most go out of their way to avoid the Necromancers. Some wraiths have also made contact with the Tremere and the Samedi; these have usually been of a slightly more pleasant nature.

The Kuei-jin Perspective

Main article: Kuei-jin

The Middle Kingdom, while hosting western vampires as well, has its own nocturnal predators: The Kuei-jin. These creatures, while similar to western vampires, differ from them in a number of ways, most being metaphysical and cultural. The eastern Kuei-jin are an entirely different species of vampire. Their society is very exclusive and they recognize only their own kin as meriting any sort of fundamental rights or respect. The cainites are commonly called Kin-jin, and seen as the foreign devils who have brought down the Fifth Age upon the Middle Kingdom.

As their creation ties them strongly to their homelands, Kuei-jin are usually confined to Eastern Asia, although in the Final Nights, some have arrived in California and Australia. Most Cathayans see the Kin-jin as enemies, menaces and infiltrators, the ignorant and corrupt tools of the Yama Kings..

Demon Perspective

Demons and the kindred are usually competitors for the same prize - mankind and all it has to offer. Both groups are highly territorial, prideful and more than willing to resort to violence if threatened. It’s not surprising, then, that most demon-vampire relations tend to be highly confrontational. This is especially true when a fallen and one of the kindred find themselves vying for a hold over a particular mortal or mortal institution. Both sides will spare no effort to protect what they see as theirs. This is not to say that all demon-vampire relations are ultimately destructive. Some of the fallen, particularly of the Reconciler faction, have forged ties with individual vampires, hoping to use their lore to restore the kindred’s humanity in exchange for knowledge and support as the demons try to further their agenda worldwide.

Mummy Perspective

Mummies call vampires as ghuls and have an ambivalent relationship with the Cainites. While they loathe the Setites as the spawn of their dreaded enemy Set, they cherish the Children of Osiris. According to the Undying lore, when Osiris proclaimed an end to cannibalism, some ghuls rebelled and were burned to death by Ra's fury for their defiance. The surviving blood demons slipped into the shadows and carried on in their vile ways.

The Drowned Legacies

Main article: Drowned Legacy

The Drowned Legacies are a curiosity from South America. A breed of vampires from pre-columbian times, they can neither be fully attributed to the Cainites nor to the Kuei-jin. Even their very existence is more rumor than fact.

The Drowned are suspected to be malleable in their nature, mimicking the supernaturals around them. While they currently mimic vampires, they might one night shift and resemble some other supernatural creature.

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Statistics

Crusade Lore: The Storytellers Screen and Book
Wild Vampyr
This feral undead scorns the society of his own Damned kind, preferring to make his den in sewers, cisterns, plague-yards and other places of filth. With few exceptions, he and his kind are abominably foul of visage - appearing as beasts or outright monsters - and bear the stench of the open grave.
Character Creation: Attributes 7/5/3, Abilities 15/10/3, Backgrounds 2, Willpower 7
Suggested Attributes: Strength 6+, Dexterity 3+, Stamina +5, all other Attributes 1 to 2, Appearance 0
Suggested Abilities: Alertness 3, Animal Ken 5, Archery 3, Brawl 4, Crafts 3, Dodge 3, Enigmas 3, Hearth Wisdom 3, Herbalism 2, Intimidation 4, Investigation 3, Stealth 5, Survival 4
Suggested Powers: Claws (Strength +2, aggravated), Uncanny Fortitude, Superhuman Senses and either Shapeshifting or Illusion
Gear: Tattered clothes, recently dead animal

References

• VTM: Vampire: The Masquerade, p. 6, 198
• VTM: Vampire: The Masquerade Second Edition, p. 57, 238
• MTAs: Mage Storytellers Handbook, p. 197-202
• MTAs/cMET: Laws of Ascension Companion, p. 173-175
• MTSC: Crusade Lore: The Storytellers Screen and Book, p. 48-52
• HTR: Hunter: The Reckoning Rulebook, p. 262-265
• HTR: Hunter Storytellers Handbook, p. 60-68
• HTR: Hunter Storytellers Companion, p. 29-39
• HTR: The Nocturnal, p. 1-111
• HTR: Hunter: Urban Legends, p. 86, 90
• DTF: Demon Storytellers Companion, p. 66-69
• VTM: 5th Edition Corebook, p. 201-211