Characters / Vampire: The Masquerade - Sabbat

The Sabbat

Overall Tropes

Believing themselves to be the true masters of the world and superior to humanity in every way, the Sabbat embrace their monstrous natures wholeheartedly. Enemies of the Camarilla in every respect, they oppose both the Masquerade and the disbelief in Antediluvians — who the Sabbat claim are secretly orchestrating the Camarilla's every move.

---

• Always Chaotic Evil:
  • Gets this treatment from both the Camarilla and the Anarchs.
  • Played straight in Revised with the only decent Sabbat, the Path of Harmony followers, getting exterminated.
• Big Bad Wannabe: The Sabbat openly want to rule the world and subjugate the human race, which is not very likely: not only is Sabbat territory limited to Latin America, Spain and the poorer parts of the United States, they also have to compete with the other supernatural powers of the World of Darkness. Pentex is everywhere and is their prime competition for who can be the most cartoonishly evil and the Technocracy has fingers in every pie and is advanced enough to explore other star systems, and make Terminators on the side. When Zapathasura awoke, the Technocracy was (allegedly) able to kill him using space mirrors to redirect sunlight into the Ravnos Antediluvian after he shrugged off their magical nukes while fighting off packs of Garou and mages and three old and powerful Kuei-Jin while the Sabbat's only contribution to that fight was pinning down their Ravnos pack mates and keeping them from joining their Antediluvian. And all that is discounting the Garou, Kuei-Jin, Hunters, Changelings, Mummies, the Traditions and the Crafts, the Fallen and the Earthbound and... look, Sabbat victory is not likely. The Sabbat could have been a dark mirror of Camarilla, but in the modern nights they are little more than a swarm of borderline insane monsters. And those two Antediluvians that the Sabbat killed? They're not dead. Lasombra used his own diablerization in order to unshackle his soul from his body and enter the Abyss: he is now trying to merge with it. Meanwhile, Tzimisce has gone through a whole deal of stuff and is now currently a massive growth of flesh in the sewers of New York, biding its time. So, good going there, Sabbat.
• Blue-and-Orange Morality:
  • The Sabbat happily enforce Paths of Enlightenment- which don't really abide by any human morals- to keep the Beast at bay.
  • Subverted in the Revised Edition as the number of Path followers are minuscule. Most Sabbat are just poseurs at overcoming their humanity. Or at least the books insist, though the sheer number of Paths of Enlightment would seem to say otherwise. (Either each Path has only three or four followers, or they're more popular than the books claim.)
• Buried Alive: A popular way to break a neonate's ties to their humanity is to hit them with a shovel, Embrace them while they're unconscious, and then bury them before they recover. Digging your way out of your own grave and then realizing you only pulled it off because you're undead tends to do a good job at making you forget you were ever human.
• Cassandra Truth: Regarding the existence of the Antediluvians.
• Equal-Opportunity Evil: For such a bloodthirsty, unapologetically monstrous sect, they're remarkably all inclusive. The Sabbat is made up of antitribu from pretty much every clan, as well as a pretty much extinct one or two. Though this doesn't stop the Tzimisce and especially the Lasombra from looking down upon just about all of their comrades.
• Even Evil Has Standards: The Sabbat, monsters as they are, do not allow demon worship and will kill any that practice it. Ironically demons can themselves be awfully sympathetic figures, much more so than the murderous Sabbat who drain humans hung from ceilings in parties...
• Evil Is Petty: In contrast with the Camarilla's more subdued Pragmatic Villainy, the Sabbat are often (and loudly) complete asshats just for the sake of it.
• Fantastic Underclass: Among the Sabbat, a lucky few Caitiff known as Panders have been grudgingly accepted and united as a clan; however, Panders are still treated shabbily, regarded as mutts, and given only the dirtiest jobs their masters can think of.
• Fully-Embraced Fiend: What ultimately sets them apart from the Camarilla. They don't even pretend to be human anymore.
• How the Mighty Have Fallen: In the V5 timeline. Turns out that the Sabbat's blatant disregard for the Masquerade was a really bad idea in the face of the Second Inquisition. The FIRSTLIGHT organization came down upon them hard, raiding several of their central strongholds and murdering and capturing their members en masse. This led to several of the sect's members defecting, particularly Clan Lasombra's leadership. The Sabbat was forced underground in a bid to survive, and is now a shadow of its former self, having (seemingly) given up on controlling the cities of America, and have instead flocked to the war zones of the world, where it is easier for them to hide their activities.
• Hypocrite: They accuse the Camarilla's elders of only using the sect's neonates and ancillae as tools, to be discarded with next to no room for real advancement of any kind. The Sabbat themselves mark a distinction between "True Sabbat" and "False Sabbat", and if you happen to be the latter, they're more than happy to use you as cannon fodder against their foes. Or murder you just for shits and giggles, actually. Even the "True Sabbat" have a hard time edging in on the traditional Lasombra-Tzimisce hegemony of the sect. Ergo, their claims of inclusivity are largely complete horseshit.
• I Hate You, Vampire Dad: Their antagonistic relationship towards the Antediluvians, progenitors of every modern Kindred.
• Initiation Ceremony: The Sabbat are notorious for burying their childer alive and making them dig their way out... but that's not actually the initiation. If the "shovelhead" survives whatever assault they were Embraced for, then they get to be made into proper Sabbat.
• Knight Templar: They even have a rank literally named templar.
• Mirroring Factions:
  • The Sabbat claim that the Camarilla are Antediluvian puppets ignoring the Masquerade as they see fit, and that only they are able to destroy the 11 remaining Antediluvians in order to save the world. In practice, the Sabbat is almost exactly like the Camarilla that they claim to hate. The Sabbat's inner circle, the True Black Hand, is directly serving the Antediluvians, they have their own Masquerade: the Lasombra payoff Mexican authorities to ignore them, ghoul families (particularly Zantosa) clean up messes, and the Tzimisce pretend to not be vampires in their domains in the old world, and instead of being a beacon of freedom it's a tyrannical shithole whose mortal population would go extinct if the Sabbat could openly do what they want; even their vampires aren't "free", they are blood bound to their packmates.
  • Later sourcebooks even poke holes in the rank and file's monstrosity. While Sabbat packs mock mortals as "juicebags" and regard them as little more than walking meals, most Sabbat are too young and human-focused to simply kill them. They have to depersonalize them to an extreme extent first.
• Noble Demon: Followers of the Path of Honorable Accord are all about this.
• Not-So-Well-Intentioned Extremist: One of the sect's stated goals is to prevent the Antediluvians from rising in the Final Nights and destroying the world. This would be a noble mission if not for the fact that the Sabbat only care about how such an apocalypse would affect them. Even in the event of a final victory against the Ancients, they still plan to turn the world into a giant bloodfest with mortals serving as their cattle and playthings, so humanity would be screwed either way.
• Order Versus Chaos: In the eyes of the Camarilla, they tend to solidly occupy the chaos side. The sect in itself is a lot more complex than that, however, not really sticking to any side of the spectrum.
• Religion of Evil: Worshipping Caine, the first vampire.
• Smug Snake: When you consider that they failed to even successfully destroy the two Antediluvians they claim to have eliminated, their leadership can come across this way, yes.
• Villain Has a Point: Although they're routinely depicted as amoral monsters, they're right about the threat posed by the Antediluvians.
• We Have Reserves: A common Sabbat tactic is to kidnap and embrace a large number of humans, point them in the direction of the enemy, and let them loose. Survivors, if there are any, have earned the right to be accepted into the Sabbat proper.

Antitribu

Members of other clans not formally part of the Sabbat who have defected and joined the Sabbat instead. Antitribu basically means against the clan, and as such, most of these offshoots tend to occupy the Sabbat unless they are antitribu of a clan that is already part of the Sabbat.

---

• Ax-Crazy: Malkavian, Brujah and Gangrel antitribu tend to be a lot more unhinged than their origin clan- not a good thing in the case of the Malkavians.
• Back from the Brink: The Tremere antitribu of House Goratrix seem to have made a comeback in 2018 after their presumed extermination in 1998 and serve as one of the three main factions of Clan Tremere after the Fall of Vienna.
• Cannon Fodder: What they essentially serve as to the Lasombra and Tzimisce.
• Defector from Decadence:
  • It says something about the Followers of Set that the Serpents of the Light consider the Sabbat the more ethical choice.
  • Ventrue antitribu also consider themselves this; they feel the main clan's new business-focused approach to power is too soft and weak, pining for the days when they were kings and knights instead.
  • Inverted by the Salubri antitribu and, really, all the other clans.
  • Played with by the Lasombra antitribu. Both the Camarilla and Sabbat Lasombra consider themselves to be the "true" incarnation of the clan, and the others to be defectors. Most people agree that Lasombra is a Sabbat clan, though, but few will say so to a Camarilla Lasombra's face.
  • Nosferatu remain clan first in everything and consider any other differences just philosophical.
  • Tremere antitribu are actually descended from Goratrix, Tremere's most talented disciple (and lover) before he ultimately turned on him. Now they claim to be an entirely new rival house and seek to bring down the pyramid.
• Dude, Where's My Respect?: A major cause of friction in the Sabbat as they often find themselves rebelling against the Lasombra and Tzimisce presence in the sect.
• Dying Race: There are very few Tremere antitribu left in modern nights. The majority were killed in 1998 by Tremere himself with a strange blood ritual. In 2018 however, a group claiming to be House Goratrix has re-emerged. Whether they're the same organization come Back from the Brink or a new group of renegades following their example is unknown.
• Equal-Opportunity Evil: Played with as while twelve of the thirteen clans were represented as well as an equal status "Clan" for Caitiff called the Panders, none of the antitribu are as respected as the Lasombra or Tzimisce. Notably, the Panders were actually treated as full members of the sect with only a minimal amount of Fantastic Racism.
• Foil: They serve as this to many of their mainstream clan members. Ventrue antitribu, for example, are noble warriors versus Camarilla Ventrue who are primarily focused on finance and politics.
• Order Reborn: The thought destroyed House Goratrix seems to have resurfaced in 2018, but it's not entirely clear whether it's a case of Back from the Brink or this, with new renegades taking up the banner.
• Shadow Archetype: To their Camarilla and Independent cousins. They typically embody the worst traits of their parent clan.
  • Brujah antitribu lose themselves in their rage and often indulge in violence simply because they can.
  • Gangrel antitribu, particularly those of the Country Gangrel bloodline, have typically frenzied so many times that they have become more animalistic in appearance and behavior. The antitribu belonging to the City Gangrel bloodline usually look more human but are just as ferocious.
  • Malkavian antitribu are somehow even more insane than their Camarilla counterparts and it is much harder for them to keep themselves from frenzying. Truly unstable Malkavian antitribu are kept locked up by the Sabbat until they need them.
  • Salubri antitribu are completely savage in contrast to the main clan's peaceful nature. Their clan weakness is an inverse of the normal Salubri clan weakness in that they can only feed from unwilling victims.
  • Toreador antitribu find beauty in watching others suffer and employ that sadism into the art they create.

Lasombra

The leaders of the Sabbat, the Lasombra clan is well known for their ruthless natures and Darwinist beliefs. Arrogant, power-hungry and treacherous, they practice a unique Discipline that allows them to manipulate the shadows — making them deadly opponents in combat.

Weakness: Appropriate for a clan that is frequently as vain as they are, Lasombra cast no reflection in any surface that would do so.

---

• '90s Anti-Hero: A common aesthetic among Lasombra protagonists, and notably utilized to full effect by their signature character, Lucita y Aragon.
• Arch-Enemy: They utterly despise the Ventrue and the feeling's mutual with the two clans having sought power in opposing places. Historically, the Lasombra have manipulated the church and lead the Sabbat while the Ventrue have manipulated the government and lead the Camarilla.
• Badass Creed: "The only weak Lasombra is a pile of ash".
• Berserk Button: They do not like the Ventrue, or any Lasombra who join the Camarilla. Officially, Lasombra refuse to acknowledge that their antitribu exist, but that doesn't stop them from making any rumored antitribu priority targets.
• Black Knight: A common aesthetic among older or warrior Lasombra. They tend to be comparatively honorable and among the more Affably Evil and Consummate Professional sort, but this does not make them any less dangerous than their clanmates.
• Break the Cutie: Their preferred tactic in choosing recruits, as those who don't crack under the strain are judged worthy. One example found in the revised handbook recounts the story of a paraplegic reporter selected for the Embrace: in this case, his sire spent ten years doing her very best to ruin his life in every way she could before finally deciding that he was worthy to join the clan.
• Break the Haughty: Much to their embarrassment, the Lasombra are forced to swallow their pride and follow Ventrue leadership in "The Crucible of God." The humiliation is threefold: After centuries of despising weakness, they had to admit they were too weak to survive alone; despite having prided themselves as being a clan of leaders, they ended up becoming subservient; and finally, they ended up being led by their most hated enemies, the Ventrue.
• Byronic Hero: Heroic or protagonistic Lasombra are likely to be this, given that their clan comes pre-built with aristocratic grace, an expectation of hyper-competence, an Übermensch mentality, and, usually, boatloads of trauma.
• Casting a Shadow: Their signature Discipline of Obtenebration, which allows them control over not only ordinary shadows but the primeval darkness of the Abyss. Once practitioners have moved beyond simply hiding their movements, they can create deadly Combat Tentacles and Instant Armor from elemental darkness, teleport themselves from shadow to shadow, summon shades to do their bidding, temporarily plunge an area into total darkness, and even transform themselves into Living Shadows. As with all Antediluvians, theirs is even better at it, to the point of becoming a creature of pure darkness residing within the Abyss.
• Chronic Backstabbing Disorder: As one of the most ambitious clans in the game, this is a given.
  • In "Fair is Foul", the Lasombra Antediluvian is no exception, as Gehenna demonstrates; in the event that you take his side, he kills you as soon as You Have Outlived Your Usefulness... and the text actually mocks you for being gullible enough to trust him.
    You didn't really think the progenitor of Clan Lasombra would keep its word, did you?
  • In the V5 timeline, after suffering heavy losses to the Second Inquisition and deciding that combating the Antediluvians through the Sabbat is no longer possible, the Amici Noctis, the leaders of Clan Lasombra, have abandoned the Sword of Caine and joined the Camarilla, later petitioning for the entire clan to join. Additionally, the general price of admittance for each Lasombra who wishes to join the Ivory Tower is that they must sacrifice a member of the Sabbat older than them, which they complied with.
• Compelling Voice: Much like the Ventrue, the Lasombra possess Dominate. Unlike the Ventrue, they possess no qualms about using it in place of regular negotiations.
• Dark Is Evil: They control shadows, and are quite evil.
• Defector from Decadence: Not all of the Lasombra bought into the ideology behind the Sabbat, and as such, there is a small but noteworthy group of Lasombra antitribu in the Camarilla, which the main clan really don't like talking about.
• Disability Immunity: Lasombra don't just lack a reflection, they can't leave any recorded image behind, be it a reflection from any source, never showing up on photographs or security cameras. While it can be a weakness in today's modern age, it can also be exploited if say... a Lasombra wanted to rob a bank at night. So long as they didn't trigger any alarms, they'd never appear on camera (and the money would also disappear since it's on their person) and thus never be caught.
• Divergent Character Evolution: Both in-universe and out of it. The "Evil Counterpart to the Ventrue" aspect used to be more pronounced, with a similarly strong blueblood theme. Over time, this became more metaphorical than literal and The Social Darwinist aspect began taking precedence.
• Eldritch Abomination: Their Antediluvian, who has become a creature of pure shadow by the time of Gehenna.
• Enemy Mine: In the V5 plotline, the Amici Noctis, the Lasombra leadership, have formed an (uneasy) alliance with the Camarilla to protect themselves against the Second Inquistion (...and of course, for other, more nefarious purposes). Whether it is actually going to work out is somewhat up in the air.
• Even Evil Has Standards:
  • Although there may have been some overlap in previous editions, Vampire: The Masquerade 5th Edition makes it clear that, while the Lasombra are Social Darwinists, they are usually not Those Wacky Nazis. In fact, they tend to think of mortal fascists and race supremacists as pathetic and degenerate, rather than brothers-in-creed. As the clan of meritocracy at all cost, they take pride in embracing anyone who has the strength and willpower to survive their grueling trials.
  • For many older Lasombra, being pious Catholics is Serious Business, though in the Blue-and-Orange Morality kind of way, reasoning that they were damned by God and turned into monsters in order to terrify humans into staying on the right path and serving as parables for what happens to those who give themselves to evil. This is in fact the rationale behind their clan-specific path, the Path of Night.
• Evil Overlord: Between their social Darwinism, hunger for power, flexibility, and commanding "dark kings of the night" motif, they are exceptionally well suited to this. Whether it's a Tin Tyrant Black Knight you're looking for, a Sorcerous Overlord dabbling in eldritch arts, or a The Chessmaster mastermind schemer, Clan Lasombra has you covered. Only for Emperor Scientist you might want to go with a Tzimisce or Tremere instead.
• Evil Virtues:
  • While most Lasombra tend to end up as either snobby nobles or violent thugs, there are certainly several virtues celebrated by the clan which can be twisted in a sympathetic light. These include an absolute dedication to meritocracy over aristocracy, a preference for honest violence over overt manipulation and feigned love, self-reliance, individualism, ambition and hard work, a respect for freedom and personal autonomy (so long as you are willing and able to fight for it), a dedication towards forging one's own meaning in spite of the horrors of the world, and the belief that, no matter how much an individual has suffered and lost, they can transform their suffering into purpose and grow from it, rather than being forever reduced as a person. This notion in particular, of vampirism as something that you can go up from, rather than a slow spiral of humanity loss and damnation until self-destruction, would end up codified into the Sabbat's Paths of Enlightenment and became one of the more popular and, relatively speaking, understandable reasons why kindred defect to the sect. Interestingly, the Lasombra have also shown themselves to be one of the clans most determined and effective at fighting back the overpowering influence of vampire Elders among them, to a level some of the other, more benevolent Anarch-inclined clans can only dream of.
  • Vampire: The Masquerade – Shadows of New York firmly establishes Lasombra as "cat people" rather than "dog people", that is to say, they want others to follow them for their competence and if possible out of their own free will (though options like violence and coercion, which technically leave an alternative, are accepted). Taking away a person's self and personal drive disgusts them. The novels have Lucita visiting a castle staffed by centuries-old ghoul servants, and she acts with utter revulsion upon realizing how much their sense of self has been eroded, to the point that an old ghoul reacts with stoic servile acceptance upon learning that his daughter was killed because of pointless vampire intrigue, causing Lucita to ponder that any human being should react with a Roaring Rampage of Revenge after being robbed of their loved ones so meaninglessly at someone else's fault.
  • The Lasombra, alongside the Tzimisce and the Brujah, played a central role in the Anarch Revolt. This is admittedly more out of a tendency towards Enemy Civil War with the first two, rather than the latter's idealism, but the clan still bears a certain proud Anarch spirit, even if the majority has become members of the Camarilla in modern nights.
• Faking the Dead: The Lasombra Antediluvian; though the Sabbat report that they successfully diablerized him centuries ago, nobody seems to be able to remember exactly how it happened. Worrying, to anyone who knows of the Lasombra's proficiency with Dominate.
• Fallen Angel: The Angellis Ater part of the clan, which is both a bloodline and a faction, is themed after these and largely consists of vampires engaging in Hollywood Satanism.
• Fantastic Racism: As a whole, the clan despises ghouls, seeing them as mortal intruders in a world that only vampires have a right to inhabit; as such, they tolerate them only as convenient sources of money or substitutes for mirrors.
• The Fighting Narcissist: Vain and hopelessly self-obsessed, many Lasombra are often driven to considerable frustration by their lack of reflection; as such, they have a habit of creating ghouls solely for grooming purposes- with vicious punishments in store for leaving a single hair out of place.
• Freudian Excuse: The Lasombra obsess over survival and self-preservation at the expense of anything else more than any other Clan in part because their connection to the Abyss means a Fate Worse than Death awaits them if they perish ^note Upon death, the Abyss claims a Lasombra's soul. Some theorize this means Cessation of Existence, and that's the more benevolent option. The more common assumption is that we're talking about the same location and conditions that the demons of Demon: The Fallen had their minds shattered by, just without any option of escape. This translates to complete loneliness and deprivation of any kind of stimulus for all eternity. In real life, that is a torture technique known as white torture, and has been known as an extremely effective way to devastate a person's psyche, and they know it. In their defense, as with other Kindred, they usually did not have a choice in the matter and are to an extent just doing the best they can with the cards they were dealt, though most will still perpetuate the Curse onto others anyway.
• Gnosticism: During the Middle Ages, the Lasombra had an Enemy Civil War between the traditional Catholicism-infiltrating kind and those espousing vampire-themed Gnostic versions of the faith, most notably the Cainite Heresy, which views vampires as Gnostic divinities due to their immortal and magical and thus "less material" nature. The Catholics ultimately won, but many of the Gnostic elements were still carried over into the later Sabbat, most notably the Path of Cathari, a Path of Enlightenment which instead views vampires as the Demiurge's agents and humanity's jailors in the Gnostic system. The Gnostics ultimately seem to have had the last laugh, as Fifth Edition revived the Cainite Heresy as a massive movement.
• Good Is Not Soft: Should you run into a rare case of a benevolent Lasombra, expect this to be in effect in full force. The clan doesn't actually care all that much which values its members hold, so long as they do not embarrass everyone else with weakness or incompetence. As an old saying goes, the only weak Lasombra is a pile of ash.
• Hated by All: Maybe not all, exactly, but it bears saying that even the Lasombra Antediluvian's most loyal childe (Montano) disliked him.
• Hazy-Feel Turn: About half of the clan abandoned the Sabbat and joined the Camarilla (or, to a lesser extent, the Anarchs) in the V5 plotline, making for a more open and easily justifiable option to play as a Camarilla- or Anarch-aligned Lasombra character. Make no mistake though, the Lasombra who end up casting their lot in with the Camarilla or the Anarchs are still very much Lasombra; that is to say, always creeping around in the shadows and scheming up something sinister.
• Heaven's Devils: The Path of the Night, fittingly codified by an actual Catholic priest according to the "god's hangman" theological tradition. It considers vampires trying to find moral salvation completely missing the point, stating that it's humans who are moral subjects, whereas vampires are more akin to devils or a part of the environment, who exist to scare the shit out of humans in order to keep them on the right path and provide examples of what happens to those who do commit evil. Notably, they are banned from killing, although most of the time it's a very convenient excuse for Then Let Me Be Evil types.
• Ironic Hell: Assuming the theory presented under Freudian Excuse is true. The Fallen were punished with an eternity alone in the Abyss so they had to be all alone with the memories of their misdeeds. What better punishment for a clan of villainous narcissists? Their inability to see their own reflection taps into the same idea from the other side, denying them the ability to indulge in self-glorification rather than forcing them into too much of it.
• Jack of All Trades: Competitive Balance and Clan stereotypes generally suggest a Frontline General Magic Knight angle, but, fittingly for a lineage of individualistic survivalists, the Lasombra are very flexible. Potence is excellent for combat, while Dominate is useful for combat and social situations. Their true ace in the hole, however, remains Obtenebration. Obtenebration can be used in combat and also has enough applications to make dedicated spellcaster Lasombra feasible (hence why the clan has notable niches of both priests and shadow mages); it can summon shades, buff Intimidation and Stealth, and even improve perception and has some investigation-type uses. Really, the only limit to the clan's versatility is their penchant for brutality. While Lasombra are expected to have enough smoothness and knowledge of etiquette to keep their cool and preserve face in social situations, they come with no pre-built support towards being The Charmer, and the more violent members of the clan may mock such vampires. And while Lasombra are absolutely capable of subtlety, intrigue, and performing roles such as The Spymaster, expect them to go about this with somewhat less dexterity and finesse than, say, a Toreador or Nosferatu would in those respective fields, instead utilizing a lot more intimidation and violence.
• Laser-Guided Karma: The social Darwinism and constant diablerie prevalent to their leadership of the Sabbat finally backfires on them during "The Crucible of God," leaving their numbers too depleted to retain autonomy as a clan. With humanity gearing up for war against the vampires and no other source of aid in sight, the Lasombra reluctantly pledge their allegiance to the Ventrue/Toreador/Setite alliance.
• Living Shadow: One of the more advanced techniques of Obtenebration is temporarily becoming one of these. The clan's Antediluvian has become a permanent example.
• The Man Behind the Man: One of the things that Lasombra sires look for in future childer is the ability to manipulate events while staying out of the limelight.
• Manipulative Bastard: In no small part due to possessing Dominate.
• Meaningful Name: Their name comes from the Spanish "La Sombra", meaning "The Shadow".
• Missing Reflection: Lasombra cast no reflection, and will actually appear invisible to photographs and security cameras. Later editions note that, because digital cameras don't use mirrors, they can show up on digital photography, which many find extremely gratifying (or a reason to do terrible things to the people who screwed up their portraits).
• The Night That Never Ends: The clan's Antediluvian starts one of these in "The Crucible of God," spreading himself across the entire planet to create a permanent state of night; during this time, countless plants die without sunlight and the earth's temperature rapidly cools, to the point that the tropics experience frost. Many humans freeze to death as heat sources fail them, their souls immediately devoured by the hungry Antediluvian overhead; many Kindred die as well, devoured by the shadows themselves. Then, a month after the nightfall began, it ends with a rain of blood as the Antediluvian is slain; nobody knows who killed him or how, though the prevailing theory is that even an Antediluvian made of living shadow is still a vampire at the core, and a solid month of tanking the sun finally did Lasombra in.
• Ninja Pirate Zombie Robot: They are one of the clans with the most eclectic collection of stereotypes. While no Lasombra is all of these things at once, most represent a combination of multiple of the following: snobby aristocrat, vicious thug, career criminal, spymaster, assassin, honorable Black Knight, pirate, conquistador, merchant prince/nouveau riche, Evil Overlord, grey eminence, Catholic clergy, existentialist, Eldritch Abomination-worshipping cultist, shadow mage, and sometimes medium and necromancer. And that's not even getting into the more distinct sub-varieties, like the ones considering themselves a type of Fallen Angel.
• No True Scotsman: Lasombra are expected to show those of their blood a certain level of respect. However, because the clan stereotype is that they are survivors and born winners, the Lasombra find it quite easy to axe one of their own and after the fact claim that, since their target failed to triumph, they weren't really much of a Lasombra at all. This is also how they get around the hypocrisy issue described under Freudian Excuse, with a touch of Blaming the Victim. Sure, they doomed your soul to eternal torment after death, but if you had been a true Lasombra, that wouldn't have been an issue, since you'd just not have died!
• Personality Powers: The clan of vampires who can control other people's minds, manipulate shadows, and possess Super-Strength believe themselves to be the best suited to lead, prefer to manipulate events from behind the scenes, and value strength over all else.
• Power Incontinence: As with many clans, the Lasombra begin to lose control over their most-valued Disciplines in "Fair Is Foul": Shadows normally controllable through Obtenebration start to attack the wielder, and — at higher levels — punching holes in reality and allowing the Abyss to flow through...
• Raven Hair, Ivory Skin: An extremely common visual style among the clan, given both their association with shadows as well as their oftentimes Hispanic ancestry.
• Religious Vampire: While the Lasombra have been associated with the Catholic Church to carry out their agenda, the biggest and most sinister example of this trope is Archbishop Ambrosious Luis Moçada, a corrupt Cardinal that saw his Embrace as the Lord's gift and was one of the very few vampires capable of True Faith.
• The Sacred Darkness: The Cults of the Blood Gods supplement for Fifth Edition proposes this as an alternative take on the clan's traditional These Are Things Man Was Not Meant to Know Abyss Mysticism spiritual tradition. Rather than a place of dangerous evil, the Abyss is viewed as a place of salvation where one can finally find utter tranquility and peace from the cruelties of the world.
• Screw the Rules, I Have Money!: Similar to the Ventrue in this regard, the Lasombra have a tendency to ghoul accountants, lawyers, bankers and other experts in financial matters for this very purpose.
• Secretly Earmarked for Greatness: Despite the stereotype of the mass-Embraced shovelhead, most members of the Lasombra are carefully selected over a long period of evaluation, especially since sires who produce incompetent childer may end up sharing the inevitable punishment. Once a prospective sire finds a mortal with the necessary drive and ambition, they will spend a long period of time doing their best to ruin the kine's life just so they can be certain that the mortal can withstand adversity... and because of the Masquerade, none of the would-be-childer ever realize what's going on. In the case of Andrew Emory from the revised clanbook, his sire spent ten years sabotaging him at every turn until she was certain that he had the will and the anger to make it as a member of the clan.
• Smart People Play Chess: The clan has something of a fascination with the game, and see proficiency in it as a sign of success.
• The Social Darwinist: Believe strongly in this, hence their lengthy tests of their future recruits.
• Stealth Pun: The Lasombra's philosophies bear similarities to those of Friedrich Nietzsche, the clan's existence is inextricably linked to the Abyss, and one of their sub-factions is so dedicated to researching the Abyss that they become like it. In other words...
• The Stoic: Much like the Ventrue, they believe in distancing themselves from emotion. This is particularly true in dealing with their clan weakness. Most Lasombra will pose for portraits, but one who hires a Tzimisce to fleshcraft a ghoul will be mocked and possibly be diablerized.
• Stupid Evil: Discussed and Zigzagged. The Amici Noctis are an organization that exists specifically to prevent the usual Enemy Civil War issue common among societies running on Chronic Backstabbing Disorder and The Social Darwinist mentality. Lasombra are not allowed to just destroy one another to gain more power, instead they must submit a petition to the Amici Noctis, explaining why their target is a disgrace to the clan and the Lasombra as a whole would be better served by letting the petitioner diablerize them. However, in practice, the clan still managed to severely deplete themselves with infighting despite this safeguard.
• Super-Strength: Wielders of the Potence Discipline; appropriate, given their belief in strength.
• These Are Things Man Was Not Meant to Know: Abyss Mysticism, the study of the Lasombra's Eldritch Abomination progenitor and the primal darkness of the Abyss which stains their souls. Part science, part religion, part Blood Sorcery tradition, and fairly close to the necromantic studies performed by the Death Clan. Although it is possible to maintain your personality doing this, most followers tend to be Always Chaotic Evil or Omnicidal Neutral types, with the occasional Emotionless Girl thrown in.
• White Hair, Black Heart: The other popular Lasombra visual style, possibly implying that their strain of vampirism causes a kind of Disease Bleach sometimes. Best seen in their Kiasyd bloodline, but absolutely happens to regular Lasombra too, a good example being Consummate Professional Killer Talley the Hound from the clan novel saga.
• Worthy Opponent: They consider the Tremere to be this, acknowledging their proficiency with Blood Magic and the effective structure of the clan.

Tzimisce

The scholars and clergy of the Sabbat, the Tzimisce do not merely disparage their humanity, but have successfully discarded it altogether: with the ability to manipulate human (and immortal) tissue by touch, a viewpoint bordering on alien, and a predilection for torturing and experimenting on humans and vampires alike, the Tzimisice are known as Fiends for good reason...

Weakness: Tzimisce are tightly bound to their places of birth, or to places of great importance to them (such as where they received the Embrace). They must sleep amid at least two handfuls of soil from such a place, or else find themselves greatly weakened the next night.

---

• Above Good and Evil: Most others would see them as evil. Tzimisce simply don't care.
• Absurdly Exclusive Recruiting Standards: Having been hit hard by their upstart Childer during the First Anarch Revolt, modern Tzimisce refuse to indulge in the mass-Embraces staged by other Sabbat clans, instead relying on their vast armies of fleshcrafted ghouls for manpower. As such, the Tzimice Embrace is comparatively rare, and the selection criteria is based heavily in the clan's notorious Blue-and-Orange Morality - though they like recruits of an intellectual bent, especially ones already isolated from humanity in some way.
• Affably Evil: Because of their deeply held beliefs regarding hospitality, the Tzimisce are unfailingly polite and gracious even to their enemies, particularly when on home territory.
• And I Must Scream: The fate of those used as decoration around a Tzimisce's lair; one particularly horrific case involves several unfortunate victims being woven into wallpaper, still alive and conscious.
• Assimilation Plot: The Tzimisce Antediluvian is revealed to be operating one of these in the Gehenna scenario "The Crucible of God". Having been left under New York, he starts growing into a hideous blob of flesh that spreads throughout the city, draining humans and vampires alike — and absorbing all Tzimisce in the area. Then, having acquired enough energy to exist as spirit alone, he allows its body to be destroyed by the sun and begins periodically taking over the bodies of anyone with Tzimisce blood — including the Tremere. This eventually results in the Antediluvian sabotaging Tremere's ritual to control all humans and vampires alike by possessing him at a critical moment; he then alters the ritual, allowing him to contaminate and control everyone on the planet except for the player characters.
• Bad Powers, Bad People: Only the Baali are perhaps more wicked. Only the Baali wield perhaps more disturbing powers.
• The Beastmaster: As masters of both Animalism and the Blood Bond, the Tzimisce rarely lose control of the ghouled monsters they create.
• Berserk Button: Most members of the clan utterly despise Tremere for gaining immortality by stealing it from Tzimisce elders and ensure that any Tremere unlucky enough to be captured in a Sabbat raid will suffer a long and excruciating demise.
• Big Bad: The Tzimisce Antediluvian is this in "The Crucible of God," having far more apocalyptic designs than any other Antediluvian in the scenario, even eclipsing Tremere's plan in sheer ambition.
• Blob Monster: An option for Tzimisce who like the plasmic form. This is also the Antediluvian's first major appearance in "The Crucible of God."
• Blood Magic: Koldunic Sorcery.
• Bloody Murder: Not only can Tzimisce transform themselves into mobile blood and slide under doors and through keyholes, but they can also make the blood into deadly acid.
• Blue-and-Orange Morality: Thanks to their unique powers, ancient traditions and self-deifying philosophies, most members of the clan tend to hold very strange perspectives on the world around them; as they grow older and modify themselves through Vicissitude, these attitudes grow steadily more alien and their motives increasingly incomprehsible. As the manual itself says, "while younger fiends might be described as merciless or sadistic, elders of the line simply fail to comprehend mercy or suffering- or perhaps they do comprehend, but no longer consider such emotions relevant."
• Body Horror: Most of the effects of Vicissitude involve this to some extent or another, particularly when used against enemies and captives.
• Classical Movie Vampire: Of all the clans, the Old Clan Tzimisce are the most likely to be this, and it is even implied that Dracula himself is a member of the clan. Unlike the modern Tzimisce, they substitute Dominate for Vicissitude, and are stereotyped as being old and of relatively low generation, as well as possessing large tracts of land and mortal retainers. Additionally, they usually style themselves as Count, Baron, Voivode, or some other noble title and are very hospitable to travellers.
• Combat Tentacles: A common choice for Tzimisce self-modifications.
• Defector from Decadence: Downplayed, in that they're still generally pretty brutal and cold even by vampire standards, but the Tzimisce have a weird in-Clan faction of Independents called the "Old Clan," who foreswear Vicissitude (which they see as the spiritually defiling influence of their Antediluvian) in favor of the Dominate discipline. They're also technically the original Tzimisce, with the ones who went off to join the Sabbat being the "Defectors," but they're so much more common than the Old Clan that the trope still mostly applies. Rather than the Blue-and-Orange Morality of their kin, Old Clan tend towards Deliberate Values Dissonance, continuing to rule as feudal overlords in modern nights, each a law unto him or herself, and seeing submission and obedience as their rightful due from their human (and vampire) servitors. This also means they cling to positive outdated values like Sacred Hospitality and a certain degree of noblesse oblige towards their social inferiors, provided said inferiors are sufficiently respectful.
• Dominance Through Furniture: The Tzimisce take this to a disturbingly literal extent; because of their clan-unique Discipline of Vicissitude and their utter contempt for humanity, they enjoy making innocent human beings into furniture for their homes - including chairs. Worse still, many of these objects are still sentient even after all the mutilation they've been subjected to. One particular Tzimisce brags that he's created a fainting couch that still cries when you sit on it!
• Easy Sex Change: A potential function of Vicissitude, judging by the presence of Doktor Totentanz, previously Dr. Heinrich Lundt. Not to mention Sascha Vykos, who is agender and uses they/them pronouns; previously male, Vykos removed their genitals and forswore any gender to demonstrate their detachment from humanity.
• Eldritch Abomination: The Tzimisce Antediluvian is commonly seen as this. In the Gehenna scenarios that feature him, he goes out of his way to prove his credentials in this field, especially in "The Crucible of God," in which he first appears as a gigantic blob of living flesh that devours all of New York, then as a disembodied spirit that periodically possesses any vampire descended from him and uses it to reshape plants and animals into monstrous new forms across the world... and finally as all of humanity and vampires put together. His control over both is so unshakable that it takes the Wrath of God- as called down by Saulot and the player characters- to finally finish him off.
• Fairytale Motifs: Dragons. They are often called Dragons in V5, and members of Old Clan Tzimisce prefer the term "Dracul". They are ambitious and covetous by nature and tend to possess terrifying strength and intellect. Their domains are often treated similarly to a Dragon Hoard. There's even a high level Koldun ritual that allows them to transform into literal dragons.
• Faking the Dead: The Tzimisce Antediluvian; much like Lasombra, he was supposedly found and diablerized many centuries ago. In reality, he actually killed his would-be-assassin and used Vicissitude to impersonate him until he could retreat into seclusion again. As far as any of the "assassin's" friends could tell, the crushing weight of the Antediluvian's blood forced him into torpor on the spot.
• Flesh Golem: The Vozhd War Ghoul; among the most terrifying creature in the Tzimisce menagerie, the average Vozhd is actually fifteen or more ghouls moulded into one gigantic monster through a mixture of Vicissitude and Koldunic magic. Driven insane by the process, lobotomized with Vicissitude and starved before a fight, the War Ghouls were particularly dreaded before the Modern Nights. However, the Vozhd is a prime example of Awesome, but Impractical: the creation rites are long and extremely complicated even when only one is meant to be produced; in combat, they're liable to be just as dangerous to their masters as they are to the enemy; at times, the sight of just one such War Ghoul has been known to force enemies of the Tzimisce to join forces against it; and finally, the proliferation of LAW rockets, shaped charges, grenades and other modern weaponry make it much easier to kill than it once was. As such, the Vozhd isn't widely used anymore.
• Genuine Human Hide: Those of the clan who don't stop at making furniture out of people may extend their talents to making clothes out of people. In fact, at least one Tzimisce fashion designer liked tailoring clothes out of rewoven human tissue and selling them to Ventrue and Toreador clients; as well as being essentially spies for their mistress, the skin and sinew used in their creation was taken from homeless people- just so the designer could get a cheap laugh out of seeing a Toreador vampire dressed in a beggar's skin.
• Grand Theft Me: Throughout the various Gehenna scenarios, the Tzimisce antediluvian demonstrates the ability to take control of any vampire descended from him or in possession of his blood; in two separate scenarios, both Tremere and Saulot are completely dominated by him.
• Horrifying the Horror: The Tzimisce are alien and unknowable, and between their powers and being just rare and reclusive enough to feed into quite a few horror tropes, the clan has become in-universe Nightmare Fuel even to the other undead monstrosities. One ghoul handbook had the narrator do a rundown on the vampire clans. When he got to the Tzimisce, he broke down and could only repeat that you must never let them catch you alive.
• Involuntary Shapeshifting: Their preferred method of torture and experimentation. Though some may also provide it as a service.
• Lovecraftian Superpower: The Tzimisce possess a clan-unique Discipline known as Vicissitude (also known as Fleshcrafting), which allows them to mold and shape flesh, tissue, blood and bone as if it were clay; members of the clan use it wherever possible- for decorating their havens, for experimenting on captives, for creating monsters and guard animals, or for altering their own appearance. During a very brief invokedAudience-Alienating Era, Vicissitude was reimagined as the result of a supernatural virus from the Umbra, thus playing up the Lovecraftian aspects; this has since been retconned.
• Mad Artist: Those of the clan not interested in experimenting for practical reasons will do so for aesthetic reasons, and as usual, the materials will be very much alive. Some prominent members have been known to boast of paintings, sculptures, even furniture still alive after decades of their first fleshcrafting - and still crying.
• Mad Scientist: Often obsessed with exploring their vampiric "superiority" or the "inferiority" of humans, many Tzimisce fulfil this particular role. Because of their clan's reliance on ghouls, even the less philosophically inclined members end up becoming this as they create new varieties of ghouled monsters via Vicissitude.
• Magic Plastic Surgery: A popular use of Vicissitude; in fact, it's become so popular among the clan that few members retain their original appearance once they master the basics: some remake themselves as terrifying inhuman monstrosities, while others sculpt themselves into creatures of impossible beauty. Notably, they can't do a damn thing about the Nosferatu curse; they can try, but the Nosferatu's flesh snaps back into place seconds later.
• Malevolent Mutilation: Another popular use. If you piss off an elder, don't be surprised to find your anus and navel swapping places, or your eyes pointing inward while still being fully functional. And that's if they're feeling lazy that day.
• Multi-Armed and Dangerous: A possibility for Tzimisce self-modifications.
• Must Be Invited: V5 introduces an alternate clan bane "Cursed Courtesy" where they feel extreme distress when entering someone else's home or haven uninvited due to their being compelled to respect other peoples' ownership of their "domains" just as they demand for their own.
• One-Winged Angel: At higher levels, Vicissitude can be very useful in combat for allowing Tzimisce vampires to shape themselves into monsters at a moment's notice: one good example is the "Horrid Form," an eight-foot-tall monster with clawed hands, leathery, Kevlar-like skin, massive jaws and incredible strength; another is the "Plasmic Form," a wave of mobile, sentient blood immune to everything except sunlight and fire.
• Our Ghouls Are Creepier: Unlike much of the Sabbat, the Tzimisce have a predilection for utilizing ghouls, apparently due to being far too choosy about embracing childer to bother with mass-embracing shovelheads. Along with the armies of slaves, test subjects and monsters ghouled by the clan every month, the Tzimisce also have access to a number of ancient families that, thanks to constant exposure to vampire blood over the centuries, have become immortals in their own right. Still loyal to their vampire benefactors, these indentured families can aid the clan in many ways, providing fleshcrafted hounds, occult information, key access to mortal society, and so on. Some eventually prove themselves as capable servants, and become vampires themselves. In "The Crucible of God," ghouls start to become even creepier as Tzimisce himself begins randomly ghouling creatures across the planet, transforming whole sections of wildlife into fleshcrafted monstrosities; even after the Antediluvian's death, these nightmarish creatures remain, becoming part of the natural environment following Gehenna.
• Ouroboros: The symbol of the clan is a dragon-headed serpent biting down on its own tail.
• Perpetually Protean:
  • In the Gehenna event book, the Withering of vampire blood begins to have some rather unusual effects on the Tzimisce Clan: more specifically, in the scenario "Fair Is Foul," Vicissitude becomes simultaneously more powerful and significantly harder to control, prompting random displays of mutation in both the wielders and their targets. Towards the end, Tzimisce may lose their ability to maintain a single shape for even the briefest period of time, constantly sprouting new claws, tentacles, jaws and eyeballs; as a result, breaking the Masquerade becomes practically inevitable.
  • In another Gehenna scenario, "The Crucible of God," the Tzimisce Antediluvian manifests as a gigantic blob of ever-changing flesh, constantly sculpting itself new appendages or sprouting secondary bodies to attack or feed.
• Pet the Dog:
  • They are one of the only clans in the modern nights that still insists upon the Salubri's innocence. Then again, it's the Tremere (who the Tzimisce hate) who are pushing that story, so it makes sense why the Tzimisce still defend them.
  • Their belief in Sacred Hospitality leads to this surprisingly often. Guests in their domains are likely to be well cared for, even if they find the stay unsettling.
• Power Incontinence: The clan loses control of Vicissitude in "Fair Is Foul," frequently losing their ability to wield it with any degree of accuracy or control. In extreme cases, some Tzimisce are reduced to a permanent state of Shapeshifter Swan Song. On the upside, a few learn the ability to use it without touch.
• Pragmatic Villainy: While a lot of Tzimisce participated actively in the Nazi regime, most infamously Doktor Totentanz and his childe, Weissrarech, the clan at large held them in contempt, viewing genocide as a complete waste of time and resources to no tangible benefit.
• Properly Paranoid: The Old Clan refuses to learn or use Vicissitude, seeing it as the spiritually-defiling parasitic influence of their Clan's Antediluvian. Two separate Gehanna scenarios prove them absolutely right.
• Proud Scholar Race: A very dark twist on the trope.
• Punished with Ugly: In some cases, Tzimisce punish their ghouls by ruining their faces with Vicissitude and then promising to restore one feature of their face for every year of perfect service- perfect service, without even the slightest instance of failure. Nobody has yet succeeded.
• Pupating Peril: One possible use of Vicissitude involves the creation of a big fleshy cocoon. Effectively immune to damage from sunlight and (to a lesser extent) fire, these cocoons can be used as a safe place for a Tzimisce to rest during the day. Given that Vicissitude also allows them to alter their bodies in many weird and disturbing ways, it's entirely possible for them to transform themselves even further while in this state and - if their cocoon is found - immediately go on the attack once the cocoon opens.
• Red Right Hand: Even if they've made themselves beautiful through fleshcrafting, many Tzimisce can't resist adding the odd inhuman trait.
• Sacred Hospitality:
  • The older a Tzimisce is, the more likely he is to believe in this. This actually becomes a plot point in "The Crucible of God". In this Gehenna scenario, your team is joined by Lambach Ruthven, grandchilde of Tzimisce himself; spared from being devoured like the other Tzimisce vampires in order to act as a final witness for when his grandsire consumes all life on Earth, he's lapsed into depression. However, he is still a deep believer in Sacred Hospitality, and if the players treat him kindly, he will grant them a boon in return.
  • One possible coterie merit in V5, Old World Hospitality, allows coterie members to heal additional superficial willpower damage while staying at the Tzimisce's haven. Given what Tzimisce havens often look like, they must have gotten very good at hosting to achieve this.
• There's No Place Like Home:
  • Tzimisce require two handfuls of earth from their home in order to sleep. If they don't, it halves their dice pools.
  • In V5, some Tzimisce with less traditional domains must instead be surrounded by something they rule, be it a certain type of people (i.e. a landlord must be in the presence of tenants, a military commander must be around soldiers etc.), a certain environment, or objects related to what they command power over.
• Those Wacky Nazis: Despite insisting that they didn't actually inspire Hitler or the creation of the Nazi party, the Tzimisce profited immensely from it; they were able to use the death camps as makeshift laboratories and feeding grounds, and managed to find several valuable recruits among the Nazi membership- one of the most notable being Doktor Totentanz. Even the majority of Tzimisce who view Nazism with disinterest or outright contempt do so mostly because they regard genocide as pointlessly wasteful.
• Torture Technician: Any member of the clan worth his salt is an expert at both physical and psychological torture, and ready to do so- for extracting information, performing experimentation, creating art, or personal enjoyment. Every single Discipline they possess can be put to use in a torture session: Auspex can be used to learn a victim's fears and humiliating secrets; Animalism allows the summoning and direction of maggots, spiders and other creatures that might provoke horror in a victim; Vicissitude can not only be used to mutilate, but it can also allow the user to assume an attractive form to tempt the victim- or a horrific one to terrify it. Blood Bonds are also considered useful in utterly breaking a victim's spirit, thanks to the emotional attachments that can be formed and abused as a result. However, some Tzimisce prefer not to use supernatural methods at all: at least one elder still brags about how he once "convinced" a Gangrel Archon to talk with the aid of a disposable razor blade, three needles, a pack of Holiday Inn matches, a rubber tube and a gallon of Clorox.
• Transhuman: This is essentially the stated goal of the Path of Metamorphosis, which they invented - to become something as far beyond vampires as vampires are beyond mortals. At its highest levels, not regularly warping your body into something inhuman is a sin.
• Token Heroic Orc: Much rarer than for Lasombra, but some Tzimisce, typically younger ones, actually do join the Camerilla and Anarchs. They rarely stay in the Camerilla for long as the rigidly structured, traditionalist nature of the sect meshes poorly with their ambitious nature and disinterest for being ruled over by others. Many find the Anarchs more accommodating however, due to the looser structure and more diverse politics are far more accommodating to an aspiring dragon. They still tend to veer towards being the Token Evil Teammate relatively speaking, or at least more of a Wild Card group. The Blue-and-Orange Morality typically plays a role in that.
• Übermensch: What they believe themselves to be.
• The Unfettered: Tzimisce are the most alien and inhuman of all vampires.
• Vampires Sleep in Coffins: They're the clan most likely to do this. After all, if they don't sleep in their ancestral dirt, they get weaker, and coffins are a convenient way of keeping all that dirt in one place.
• Vampire Vords: Many elders tend to speak like this, which is justified since the original Tzimisce domains were located around Romania.
• Voluntary Shapeshifting: Their specialty discipline, Vicissitude, grants the ability to do this, along with enforcing Involuntary Shapeshifting on others. The more adept one becomes at it, the more easily and drastically they can do so.
• Wipe That Smile Off Your Face: In the event that a servant, test subject or food-source is making too much noise, Tzimisce have been known to simply erase the unfortunate's mouth with a touch.
• Worthy Opponent: The Tzimisce generally think this of the Ventrue, almost name-dropping the trope in the second-edition clanbook. With the Tzimisce, it's not a good thing.

---