History Characters / VampireTheRequiem

"Half-Damned is a term commonly employed by Kindred to design all the creatures living at the edge of vampire society, who are not exactly vampire, but not exactly human either. This covers creatures such as Ghouls, Revenants and Dhampirs.

* PetTheDog: In 2E, it's mentioned most vampires feel guilty about what they make their ghouls go through, and will frequently try to not mistreat them too much. Any vampire who actively mistreats his ghoul and let it know is very likely to be seen as scum by his peers.

* CannibalismSuperpower: Diablerie, the act of drinking another vampire's blood and soul, grants the vampire a little of the victim's power. It is also regarded as a MoralEventHorizon among vampires, and even the ''Beast'' doesn't like it. [[YourSoulIsMine You ate someone else's soul, after all]].

* '''En:''' Babylonian [[TheChessmaster schemers]] and [[EvilOverlord nobles]] in a [[TheSymbiote symbiotic relationship]] with a demon called an alu, which fuses with their Beast as they join the bloodline. At higher Blood Potency, can Embrace mortals without spending Willpower dots, resist Viniculum, and slow the degenerative effects [[YourSoulIsMine diablerie]] has on them, which lead to them being such a plague that only a race of anti-vampiric superweapons (possibly designed by VII) could get rid of them.

!Other Covenants

!Others

[[folder:The Strix]]
[[quoteright:320:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/strix_rome.jpg]]

Reoccuring villains, the Striges are shadowy, birdlike specters that have haunted the Kindred since Ancient Rome. They claim to be the embodiment of the vampiric Beast, and seek to make Kindred less human. Initially, they exterminated the Julii clan in Ancient Rome for breaking a [[DealWithTheDevil deal with them]], but recently, have been released into the world [[TheUnfettered bereft of any purpose.]] Well, apart from the fact that they're heralds of disaster-if many of them gather in a single place, something ''really bad'' is going to happen there.

* AlwaysChaoticEvil: The only Anchor they have is literally their [[FatalFlaw Vice]].
* AnarchyIsChaos: They loathe Kindred for trying to behave more or less human and forming a society; to them, vampires should give in to the Beast and throw away every form of rules, leaving nothing but chaos and disorder. Their machinations can easily result in the destruction of an entire city.
* AxCrazy: They are completely insane, and, with their powers, they can send vampires into insane frenzies.
* BigBad: ''Blood and Smoke'' upgrades them to this, playing them up as the worst threat Kindred can be led to fight.
* BloodMagic: They can learn Cruac in ''Blood and Smoke'', on the basis that strain of magic draws from the Beast, and well, they ''are'' the Beast.
* BodySurf: And they [[AllYourPowersCombined keep disciplines from each body.]] [[OhCrap Yikes.]]
* CardCarryingVillain: Proudly proclaim themselves kin of [[EnemyWithin the Beast]], and are disgusted that most vampires aren't this trope.
* CreepyCrows: The other forms they can take.
* DarkIsEvil: They appear to [[LivingShadow literally be made of smoke and shadows]], and they are indeed very, ''very'' evil.
* DealWithTheDevil: How the Kindred initially got their attention, and a few of them still know how to perform the trick.
* DemonicPossession: In their natural state, Strix are basically just intangible creatures of mist, but they can possess corpses in order to access a real body. Unfortunately for Kindred, that includes them.
* EvilIsPetty: They have no grand scheme, and simply prefer to ruin vampire unlives [[ForTheEvulz for the lulz]].
* FaceFullOfAlienWingWong: Most Strix reproduce through mitosis, which has the unfortunate (for them) side effect of splicing off their own hard-to-get Shadow Potency. Most Strix do not have the power Contagious Genesis, which allows them to splice off a ''vampire's'' power to create more Owls.
* FantasticRacism: They ''despise'' humans, and any vampire who tries to hold on their humanity. This probably has more to do with the fact that humans have the sensations in their natural form that are [[SenseFreak craved by the Strix]] than any higher ideal.
* FeatheredFiend: Strix are distinctly owl-themed, and usually assume the shapes of either owl or crows. They also happen to be AlwaysChaoticEvil insane spirits who revel in chaos and see themselves as the Embodiment of the vampiric Beast.
* ForTheEvulz: They have no motivation at the moment, beyond pure, selfish hedonism. Even the whole "herald of disaster" bit is something they do subconsciously.
** Changed in ''Blood and Smoke''--the ''race'' has lost its purpose, but individual Strix have free will to chose their own goals, and usually do. This is ForTheEvulz as often as not, but a few have saner motivations.
* GlamourFailure: When possessing someone, their eyes glow like an animal's caught in light. However, they are clever enough to exploit this, and can make non-possessed people display this as well.
* TheHedonist: They possess corpses, humans and vampires in order to enjoy all the experiences the mortal world provides. They prefer vampires as hosts because vampires don't dissolve under the metaphysical strain of hosting a shadowy owl-demon inside.
* HorrifyingTheHorror: Kindred are utterly ''terrified'' by these guys, and for good reasons.
* IntangibleMan: In their true forms, anything not a blessed weapon simply passes through them, not harming them in the slightest. This has a downside, though-their forms are held together through their mental will, and if you knock their Willpower down to zero, they dissolve. Permanently.
** As of ''Blood and Smoke'', they have normal Corpus (spirit health) instead. It's also impossible for them to heal over time if you figure out their banes and hurt them, they have to spend precious Willpower to do so.
* ItAmusedMe: Why they do anything. It's their sole reason for clinging to the mortal world.
* {{Jerkass}}: To say Strix are not pleasant creatures would be an understatement.
* LivingShadow: They're made of this, and can manipulate their forms to get through small cracks.
* MonsterProgenitor: Some believe they are responsible for spawning vampire clans, and many of them collaborate with these claims. Of course, given their explanations contradict each other and they will gladly lie about anything just to screw with Kindred, it's hard to say how much truth there is to their claim.
* MotiveDecay: They supposedly caused the fall of vampire society in Rome. Now they're back, and no-one knows why - including the Strix themselves. Averted completely in ''Blood and Smoke''-- they have individual agendas now.
* OminousOwl: Their natural form typically look like owl-like birds made of smoke.
* OurDemonsAreDifferent: It's unclear exactly ''what'' they are, but they do fit a lot of elements from archetypal demons as far as Kindred are concerned, including DemonicPossession, being AlwaysChaoticEvil spirit-like beings and trying to make you embrace your darker urges. Also, a common theory in-universe is that Kindred actually have Strix inside them as the source of their Beast and powers, similar to how vampires in real life myths are sometimes described as corpses possessed by demons.
* PossessionBurnout: While sufficiently powerful Strix can possess regular corpses and humans, Kindred remain a more reliable choice, as possessing an ordinary corpse will cause it to decay faster than normal, making it temporary at best, while possessing a human is very likely to kill the host (and even if he ''does'' survive, he might die later because the Strix forgets feeding it), leading to a similar burnout.
* PragmaticVillainy: In Tokyo, the Strix protect Loci and make deals with Uratha, even joining their packs to learn, teach and share knowledge about the Spirit World. Since Tokyo, at least in 2nd Edition, is full of magath, has a cult that breaks the Gauntlet all the time and is infested with five strains of Host, it's in interest of the Strix to guide them to the competition so they can have more living bodies to use. For the part of the Uratha they think the Tengu are some kind of Host but as long as they only Claim corpses they would accept any help, even from the Pure, to contain the spirits.
* RedOniBlueOni: The cold, amoral Blue Oni to the Beast's (and Belial's Brood, for that matter) savage, instinctual Red Oni. They're aware of it, too: see CardCarryingVillain.
* TheSociopath: Almost the incarnation of this trope. They have no other motivation than simply hurting people for the sake of hurting people.
* SpellMyNameWithAnS: There are literally multiple, grammatically correct ways to spell "Strige". "Strix" is simply the modern way, with plural being the same word as singular in that case.
* ToCreateAPlaygroundForEvil: More or less what they plan to do while playing TheCorrupter: they think vampires are far too human for what they became.
* {{Troll}}: On a societal level, in fact! There is literally nothing the Strix view as a more fun game than screw with vampires and disrupt their society.
* TheUnfettered: They don't have any kind of qualms, and most of them don't even have any purpose other than hedonism.
* {{Youkai}}: They are known as Tengu by Werewolf, Hunter and Beast natives of Tokyo and, likely, the rest of Japan.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Ghouls]]

The most common type of servants used by vampires, ghouls are humans who, rather than being Embraced, are fed Vitae without draining them of their blood. This allows them to stay mostly humans (meaning they are still clinically alive and don't suffer any weakness to sunlight, among others), while still gaining a portion of Kindred powers, including the ability to use Disciplines, limited physical enhancements and eternal youth. On the downside, they become addictive to Vitae, which they have to keep in order to maintain their powers, and are unable to drink blood from mortals to create their own Vitae, meaning they are entrely reliant on an actual vampire being willing to feed them. This, plus the fact they develop a supernatural bound with the vampire who feed them, mean they usually end up helplessly servile minions who will do anything to get their fix.
----

[[folder:Other Vampires]]
Vampires who aren't Kindred, brought-up in the book ''Wicked Dead''. Their Blood Potency is 0, so each time they meet a "true" vampire, they cower in fear.

* OurDemonsAreDifferent: It's unclear exactly ''what'' they are, but they do fit a lot of elements from archetypal demons as far as Kindred are concerned, including DemonicPossession, being AlwaysChaoticEvil spirit-like beings and trying to make you embrace your darker urges.

* IHateYouVampireDad: For obvious reasons, Revenants typically loathe the vampires who turned them into what they are. The most ambitious will actively work to Diablerize them as payback.
* PowerIncontinence: The primary reason they are BlessedWithSuck; Revenants can only contain a very small amount of Vitae inside their body (equal to their Stamina Gameplay-wise), cannot use Disciplines unless they are taught to, and bleed all of it during daytime, meaning they fall into Frenzy even more easily than vampire do.

* TheStarscream: The Ventrue see them as this; unlike Gangrel and Gangrel (who are [[FantasticRacism look down upon]] as "lower Clans" and muscle) and Mekhet (who prefer to operate behind the scene as {{Knowledge Broker}}s), Daeva's mastery of [[{{Glamour}} Majesty]] makes them just as capable of controlling people around them, and they ''are'' pretty open in their desire to get people under their heel, making them the only serious threat to a Ventrue's authority (at least as far as they are concerned).

* TheBeastmaster: Like the Gangrel, they have an affinity for the Animalism Discipline, granting them power over animals.

* CharmPerson: Their clan specialty discipline, Dominate, allows them to seize absolute control over a person's mind.

* IHateYouVampireDad: For obvious reasons, Revenants typically loathe the vampires who turned them into what they are.

* SlaverRace: Disturbingly a common role for them in Kindred society; since givin birth to a dhampir always is a controlled act, many vampires conceive them for the sole purpose of creating a servant or a bodyguard to fulfill a role that cannot be accomplished by a Childe or a Ghoul. Even worse are the Ordo Dracul, who sometimes produce them for the sole purpose of serving as lab rats.

* HunterOfHisOwnKind: Following the archetype, dhampirs have an infamous reputation of becoming {{Vampire Hunter}}s, which can lead to difficulties for them to integrate in Kindred society; while exaggerated, this reputation isn't entirely undeserved, as many of them indeed do turn to that profession.

* {{Dhampir}}: [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin Obviously]].

* {{Glass Cannon}}s: By vampire standards, anyway. They can move incredibly fast, and hit equally hard, but only have the base vampire increased durability, making them relatively fragile compared to [[StoneWalll Gangrel and Ventrue]].

* {{Glass Cannon}}s: By vampire standards, anyway. They can move incredibly fast, and hit equally hard.

* TheStarscream: The Ventrue see them as this.

* TrueBeautyIsOnTheInside: So very much {{Inverted}}.

* TheAgeless: As usually is the case with vampires. Kindred do not age, are immune to weakness (though they still can carry them), and while a stake to the heart, sufficient wounds or being unable to feed will cause them to fall into a death-like hibernation state called Torpor, nothing short of beheading or entirely destroying the body will actually kill them.

* AlwaysChaoticEvil: Not unique in ''TabletopGame/NewWorldOfDarkness'' terms in this respect but the only real rule for using them is that they are nothing but this trope. The weakness for the Akhud clan is similar to the [[EvilSorcerer Tremere]] in Old [=WoD=] where MySpeciesDothProtestTooMuch types can't fight against their peers. Unlike the Tremere version this is inherent to their blood and applies to mortal descendants of their founder.
** It's kind of the other way around, since the Akhud clan are MySpeciesDothProtestTooMuch types by default to the rest of Kindred society, and couldn't betray each other even if they wanted to.
* BlackAndGreyMorality: This being ''Vampire: The Requiem'', they're firmly the former and the players are the latter. May even be their actual motivation.
** This being Requiem, [[SubvertedTrope it's also quite possible that they're more heroic then any of the clans put together]].