History Characters / VampireTheMasqueradeCamarilla

* AncientConspiracy: They've been running the world for a long time. Interestingly, they refuse to believe the AncientConspiracy of the Antediluvians.

* BodyHorror: The clanbooks go into exquisite detail as to the agonizing transformation inherent in the Nosferatu embrace; it generally takes about a week to run its course, and throughout the process, the newly-embraced childe will be in constant pain. Because no two Nosferatu are quite the same, the transformation is vastly different in every case: sometimes, the cartilage of the nose and ears distends, creating pointed ears or an elongated nose; in other cases, it dissolves, resulting in a gaping crater when the childe's nose used to be. On the final day, the skull itself begins to warp out of shape, flattening, stretching or collapsing altogether.

* NightmareFace: There is a reason why seeing them is a violation of the Masquerade.

* UnderestimatingBadassery: Other clans have a nasty habit of underestimating just how powerful the Nosferatu really are; this usually lasts right up until they make the mistake of trying to bully a Nosferatu on home turf.

* BewareTheNiceOnes: It's mentioned that the Toreador can get downright ''terrifying'' once they begin to succumb to their inner beast. They're called the degenerates for a reason...

* BadassBookworm: Most Tremere are embraced from scholars and mystics, and often devote themselves to learning. Of course, they fight hard if pressed and any Sabbat siege of a Camarilla city makes the local chantry a priority target since the Tremere supply heavy arcane firepower to support the frontline Brujah.
** This one is literal if some of the rumors about Tremere's final form are true.

** '''The Destruction''': ''"Thou art forbidden to destroy another of thy kind. The right of destruction belongeth only to thine Elder. Only the Eldest among thee shall call the Blood Hunt."'' In essence, ApeShallNotKillApe, except in cases where an Elder deems a vampire's destruction necessary. In particularly bad cases where a Kindred is threatening the Masquerade in general and the safety of all vampires in a city, the Elder can sic every vampire in their Domain on them in a Blood Hunt to eliminate the problem as quickly and efficiently as possible.

* TechnologicallyBlindElders: One of biggest issues within the Camarilla is that most of its leaders are centuries and millennia old and the nature of vampirism means that they are mentally "frozen" in the time periods they were embraced. This means that the same vampires that are perpetually perplexed by concepts like indoor plumbing are the same ones in charge of protecting the Masquerade against satellite tracking and smart bombs.

* ArchEnemy: Manage to have two. The Lasombra are a [[CastingAShadow dark mirror]] of the Ventrue, and they often seek out power in different places to oppose each other. The Lasombra now lead the Sabbat and historically manipulated the church, the Ventrue lead the Camarilla and historically manipulated royalty and government. The [[HotBlooded Brujah]] are more similar to the inverse of the Ventrue - angry, passionate fighters who are often rebels and anarchists (and Anarchs). There is far more animosity between the Ventrue and Lasombra, however.

* {{Wrath}}: The clan's main sin, which causes them considerable problems. The fact that they are probably the most dangerous clan in a straight up fight makes things even worse.

''[about the [[LooksLikeOrlok Nosferatu]]]'' They make a strong case for the Mark of Caine being a sickness.\\

''[about the [[ProudMerchantRace Ventrue]]]'' Why are older brothers always such corpulent bullies?

-->''[about the [[RebelliousSpirit Brujah]]]'' Just admit you’re beaten and this will become much more pleasant.\\

''[about the [[LooksLikeOrlok Nosferatu]]]'' Surprisingly functional, should you be able to handle their odious personalities and overestimation of their own value.\\
''[about the {{T|heBeautifulElite}}oreador]'' For every King, there is a Queen. And there are many queens among the Rose clan.\\

%%* EvilVirtues: There are a list of virtues the Ventrue follow that make their belief that they are the ones best suited to leaded more than them just blowing hot air.

[[folder:The Inner Circle]]

* HumansAreTheRealMonsters: The party line of the Camarilla asserts that the primary reason for the Masquerade is that if humans were ever to discover that vampires really ''do'' in fact exist, the humans would wipe them off the face of the Earth in short order. They are ''very clearly'' not wrong (as the core book points out, humans nearly exterminated vampires in the ''Middle Ages'' with the technology and numbers of the time - how much easier could the six billion humans of today, armed with flamethrowers and nuclear weapons, do the job?).

* KlingonPromotion: The only real way for neonates to advance in Camarilla society is by diablerizing [[note]] Drinking a senior vampire's blood to gain their soul and powers [[/note]] a superior. While this is still one of the few genuinely taboo behaviours in vampire society, nearly all high-up members took part in it.

* TeethClenchedTeamwork: Doesn't even begin to cover it. The Camarilla is filled to the brim with so much political intrigue and so many heated rivalries that they can barely get anything done. And that's on ''a good day.'' They certainly lucked out because, all things considered, [[ArchEnemy the Sabbat]] really isn't much better. The ''V5'' storyline sees the Camarilla suffer a semi-implosion when the vast majority of Brujah and Gangrel turning their backs on it in favor of the Anarchs, leaving only a few holdouts behind. Meanwhile, Tremere fractures into several bickering factions, with only one of them remaining loyal to the Camarilla.

* WizardDuel: A way of solving disputes (or a possible avenue of advancement within the Tremere hierarchy) is to defeat another Tremere in a blood magic duel, termed a 'Certamen.' Once the rank of Pontifex has been reached, [[KlingonPromotion Certamen to the death]] [[TheSocialDarwinist is actually the]] ''[[TheSocialDarwinist only]]'' [[TheSocialDarwinist means of further advancement.]]

* AuthorityGrantsAsskicking: Played straight in ages past, not so much in modern nights. The rare Ventrues from blue-collar backgrounds are also likely to take up [[SuperStrength Potence.]]

%%* {{Foil}}: To their {{Arch|Enemy}}-Enemies, the Ventrue. The clans having sought out parallel dominions.

* NighInvulnerability: Enemies of the clan tend to forget that the Ventrue possess Fortitude; even if they lack the disciplines to make them better at fighting, they still have the ability to shrug off things that would obliterate other Kindred.

* PersonalityPowers: They believe themselves to be the most suited to lead and possess the [[CompellingVoice Dominate]] and [[CharmPerson Presence]] Disciplines. [[NighInvulnerability Fortitude]] is also fitting for the clan [[TheStoic who don't outwardly display a lot of emotion even in the face of constant criticism and insults.]]

* AuthorityGrantsAsskicking: The Inner Circle is usually made up of very old and very low-generation vampires. Some of them even belong to the fourth generation.

* {{Invisibility}}: Chances are, you won't even know a Nosferatu has been eavesdropping on your conversation until it's too late.

** V5 changes this up somewhat; some Nosferatu are inflicted with a less severe version of the transformation and can pass as relatively normal, if slightly deformed humans (think someone with a birth-defect or severe burn scars) from a distance, and they will no longer break the Masquerade merely from walking around in the open. However, they all now instead involuntarily exude an extremely creepy and malevolent aura, which gives them significant difficulties in social situations. Mortals will instinctively find them terrifying or at the very least disturbing (even if they cannot explain why rationally) and generally try their hardest to stay out of their way, and even other Kindred will at best be slightly uncomfortable in their company.

* AuthorityEqualsAsskicking: Played straight in ages past, not so much in modern nights. The rare Ventrues from blue-collar backgrounds are also likely to take up [[SuperStrength Potence.]]

* AuthorityEqualsAsskicking: The Inner Circle is usually made up of very old and very low-generation vampires. Some of them even belong to the fourth generation.

%%* AuraVision: Masters of Auspex.

** A lot of people, in-universe and out, get so distracted by their beauty, wealth, social status, and supernatural Presence that they forget the Clan's other two favored Disciplines are basically PsychicPowers and SuperSpeed, affording a Toreador many options to wreck your day without you ever seeing them coming.

* TheGunslinger: Combine {{Au|raVision}}spex with [[SuperSpeed Celerity]] and the Toreador interestingly have a natural knack for this.

* JackOfAllTrades: In theory, their Discipline set is supposed to mostly be used for socialization and art creation. In practice, {{Au|raVision}}spex, [[SuperSpeed Celerity]], and [[CharmPerson Presence]] are all among the most versatile of Disciplines, allowing a Toreador to fulfill pretty much any role they can imagine, from MasterSwordsman to PhantomThief, with the only real stipulation being that you might want to pick up some [[NighInvulnerability Fortitude]] if you aren't interested in being a FragileSpeedster (and even that is relative, given how tough vampires already are).

* JackOfAllTrades: In theory, their Discipline set is supposed to mostly be used for socialization and art creation. In practice, {{Au|raVision}}spex, [[SuperSpeed Celerity]], and [[CharmPerson Presence]] are all among the most versatile of Disciplines, allowing a Toreador to fulfill pretty much any role they can imagine, from MasterSwordsman to PhantomThief, with the only real stipulation being that you might want to pick up some [[SuperToughness Fortitude]] if you aren't interested in being a FragileSpeedster (and even that is relative, given how tough vampires already are).

%%* FiveManBand: At least compared to the Sabbat's ThePsychoRangers.%%ZCE
%%** TheLeader: Ventrue
%%** TheLancer: Tremere
%%** TheSmartGuy: Nosferatu / Malkavian
%%** TheBigGuy: Brujah / Gangrel
%%** TheChick: Toreador

* BunnyEarsLawyer: While seen by many Camarilla at large as brainless dilettantes, they are remarkably skilled. The Toreador clanbook notes that they make excellent sheriffs since they excel at investigation and interrogation.

* JackOfAllTrades: In theory, their discipline set is supposed to mostly be used for socialization and art creation. In practice, Celerity, Presence and Auspex are all among the most versatile of disciplines, allowing a Toreador to fulfill pretty much any role they can imagine, from MasterSwordsman to PhantomThief, with the only real stipulation being that you might want to pick up some [[SuperToughness Fortitude]] if you aren't interested in being a GlassCannon (and even that is relative, given how tough vampires already are).

-->"Our influence is forever. The prince's is not."

* PowerBornOfMadness: The Dementation discipline.

%%* WithGreatPowerComesGreatInsanity

* VegetarianVampire: Often forced into this, due to their clan flaw making them to only able to drink from certain victims, which can vary from mildly-annoying to damn near impossible.

* OurGhoulsAreCreepier: Nosferatu ghouls are second only to victims of the Tzimisce in terms of sheer creepiness; because Absimiliard's curse is carried in the blood of all his children, ghouls also inherit a greatly reduced version of it for every drop of Nosferatu blood they drink. While it doesn't result in them becoming ''quite'' as hideous as their masters, it does result in them appearing [[UncannyValley ever-so-slightly unnerving]] to people around them; extreme cases have been known to become almost as ugly, though, and many of them are found as worshippers in Fagin blood cults.

* ProudWarriorRace: What they are now- a clan of BombThrowingAnarchists with little organization and a love of violence.

* ProudWarriorRace: A Gangrel will not like it if you look down on him.
* RedRightHand: Every time a Gangrel character frenzies, he or she develops an animalistic feature -- a tail, catlike eyes, tusks, scaly skin, and so on.

* WithGreatPowerComesGreatInsanity

Weakness: In the original version, the Tremere didn't have an innate weakness due to their unusual origins, but every Tremere childe was made to drink the Council of Seven's blood, leaving them one step away from being forcibily blood-bound. In later editions, their reliance on mental control and the blood bond has left them extremely vulnerable to mind-affecting Disciplines, weakening their rolls to resist them.

* AHouseDivided: In the ''V5'' timeline, this fate has befallen Clan Tremere. When the Second Inquisition struck against the Kindred, they came down especially hard upon the Vienna chantry, the seat of the clan's uppermost leadership, apparently operating under the mistaken belief that the chantry was the leaders of the Camarilla as a whole, and brutally and swiftly eliminated the entire top of the Tremere pyramid. For a clan that relied so heavily on such a very rigid power structure, the sudden vacuum was downright catastrophic. Without any leading figure to unify the clan, several higher-ranking members, owing no loyalty to anyone but themselves, began fighting for leadership positions, with each now claiming that they were the legitimate head of the clan. Clan Tremere splintered among these new leaders, with the upstart House Carna seeking independence, a resurgent House Goratrix defecting to the Sabbat, House Ipsissimus allying themselves with the Anarchs, and only the hardline traditionalists under the elder Karl Schrekt staying loyal to the Camarilla. Meanwhile, there are even quite a few smaller independent groups of Tremere, or even the rare lone operative, who offer their services for hire as mercenary vampires.

* SecretArt: They don't share their blood magics with just anyone.
* ShoutOut: They're essentially House Tremere from ''TabletopGame/ArsMagica'' turned into vampires, since Creator/JonathanTweet and Mark Rein·Hagen worked on both games.

%%* TheCloudCuckoolanderWasRight: All too often.

* {{Nerd}}: Due to their status as outcasts and pariahs, the Nosferatu clan tends to embrace people disconnected from mortal society; however, they also tend to embrace those with skills that can benefit the clan as a whole -- leading several nerdy characters to end up getting inducted into the Nosferatu, from the Tunnel Crawler concept to Mitnick from ''VideoGame/VampireTheMasqueradeBloodlines.''

* SuperToughness: Thanks to their use of Fortitude.

* PersonalityPowers: They believe themselves to be the most suited to lead and possess the [[CompellingVoice Dominate]] and [[CharmPerson Presence]] Disciplines. [[SuperToughness Fortitude]] is also fitting for the clan [[TheStoic who don't outwardly display a lot of emotion even in the face of constant criticism and insults.]]

* SuperToughness: Enemies of the clan tend to forget that the Ventrue possess Fortitude; even if they lack the disciplines to make them better at fighting, they still have the ability to shrug off attacks that would obliterate other Kindred.

* TheSneakyGuy: The ''whole clan.''

* KlingonPromotion: The only way to get anywhere in the higher echelons of the pyramid is to kill your direct superior in a WizardDuel.