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Characters / Vampire: The Masquerade - Signature Characters

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Signature NPCS

    Shared Tropes 

Tropes some or all of the signature characters share.

  • Depending on the Writer: Although their traits, relationships and subplots remain largely intact across their various appearances, the signature characters are always somewhat different each time, since the novels were written by different people. For instance, Lucita in the Clan Novel Saga is often callous, aggressive and violent, whereas her Lasombra Trilogy incarnation is overall a lot more quiet, thoughtful and melancholic. Calebros is an even worse case; depending on the writer he could either be a grumpy Team Dad Father To His Men or a ruthless, irredeemable scumbag.
  • Informed Ability: Most of them have received official stat-blocks for gameplay purposes, but their actions and capabilities in the novels do not always match their stats.
  • Informed Flaw: Several of the older vampires follow Paths of Enlightenment, but are quite happy to act in accordance with their tenets only when it suits them. This is despite the fact that the whole point of a Path is to shackle the Beast by single-mindedly obeying an extremely strict code without loopholes or exceptions.
  • Retcon: The retconning of Gehenna means that a lot of their fates have since been overturned.
  • Spared by the Adaptation: Many of those who were killed off in the Gehenna timeline are alive in the V5 timeline.

    Theo Bell 

Signature character of Clan Brujah. An escaped slave from Mississippi in life, Bell is now an archon of the Camarilla, one of its most feared and capable operatives.

  • The Ace: A living legend amongst the Camarilla's archons, despite being a relatively young and high-generation vampire.
  • Consummate Professional
  • Depleted Phlebotinum Shells: He uses Dragon's Breath rounds for his shotgun, excellent against fellow Kindred.
  • Disappeared Dad: His father was taken from him when Theo's slave-owner split the slaves into different groups and sold half of them. He never found his dad again.
  • Good Is Not Nice: Theo might well be one of the most moral vampires about, but underestimate him at your peril. He's willing to execute innocents to keep the Masquerade and presents as a bit of a dick at the best of times.
  • He Knows Too Much: Not Bell himself, but Beckett, who happens to know that Hardestadt the Elder, the actual Camarilla founder, has suffered Final Death, and that his Childe, Hardestadt the Younger, has replaced him. Therefore, Bell is tasked with destroying Beckett to keep the secret.
  • Irony: Despite his role as a keeper of peace and law, his Nature is listed as Rebel.
  • Knight in Sour Armor: Theo is intensely moral under his stoicism, having assisted the Underground Railroad and Civil Rights Movement. He despises wanton sadism and will stick his neck out for others, even working to bust an evil slaving ring no matter if he has to take on the Camarilla itself. He's not a nice guy and tends to be blunt, sarcastic, gruff and rude even to close allies.
  • My Species Doth Protest Too Much: A non-rebellious, cool-headed Brujah who treats everything with quiet seriousness.
  • Odd Friendship: With Jan Pieterzoon. Ventrue and Brujah rarely get along, but the two can bond over a desire to actually make the Camarilla better rather than just improving their own station in unlife.
  • Parental Substitute: His Sire, Don Cerro, is this to him.
  • Red Baron: 'Killa-B'
  • Sawed-Off Shotgun: His weapon of choice.
  • Scary Black Man: Theo is one of the first American black Kindred and is frequently described as incredibly imposing.
  • The Berserker: According to his official character sheet, he suffers from the "Berserk" Derangement, in a strong contrast to his usual behavior.
  • The Stoic: Again, contrasting the typical Brujah stereotype, he surrounds himself with an air of quiet professionalism.
  • We ARE Struggling Together: Avoiding this was one of his primary motivations for siding against the Anarchs, even if he sympathized with their cause. Eventually, however, Theo gets so fed up that he kills the leader of the Camarilla and joins the Anarchs.

    Beckett 

Signature character of Clan Gangrel, alongside Ramona. A Noddist historian. Basically, he studies the origin of vampires.

    Ramona 

Signature character of Clan Gangrel, alongside Beckett. A Gangrel Neonate who was born in a rough Los Angeles neighborhood. Turned only very recently and without the aid of a Sire, she still struggles with the difficulties of vampirism and trying to guard her humanity against the clutches of the Beast.

  • Action Survivor: An ordinary girl thrown into the world of the Kindred without any external help. She really doesn’t have much experience with vampirism at all, but she does her best to get by. Ramona and her coterie even survived a werewolf encounter once.
  • And This Is for...: Ramona lists the names of all her fallen as she strikes down Leopold, ending with Zhavon’s.
  • Anti-Hero: A bit cold and very troubled by her Beast, but still fairly heroic, as far as Kindred go.
  • Attempted Rape: Ramona saves a human girl called Zhavon from this fate.
  • Beast Woman: Due to her Clan’s curse, her early frenzies result in developing reptilian claw-feet and animal-like ears.
  • Blessed with Suck: It’s her spirit sight that causes Leopold to be defeated in the end, but it also makes Ramona’s life hell.
  • Contemplate Our Navels: You'd think a Gangrel chick straight out of LA gang life would be more of a do-type than a thinker, but you'd be wrong. Ramona is extremely introspective, beating out even some of the perpetually scheming elders around her in that department.
  • Don't Make Me Destroy You: Why she tries to avoid Zhavon, despite her obsessive desire to seek her out.
  • Don't You Dare Pity Me!: Fiercely independent as she is, Ramona is not a fan of being pitied.
  • Driven to Suicide: Her past guilt and the constant torment of her spirit vision eventually make her gouge out her eyes. As she is never heard from again, one can assume this to be her end.
    • Together in Death: Spirits find her in this state and take her to the afterlife to reunite with her fallen people. Perhaps she even gets to reunite with Zhavon.
  • Earthy Barefoot Character: Downplayed. She does go barefoot most of the time, but that is because Her Gangrel curse gave her clawed feet, so few shoe types will fit her.
  • Enemy Within: She is initially rather prone to giving in to the Beast.
  • Eye Scream: As mentioned: Unable to take the curse of her spirit vision anymore, Ramona eventually gouges out her eyes.
  • Forgotten Fallen Friend: A very determined aversion.
  • Freudian Trio: Her little coterie in the beginning. She is the Ego to Darnell’s Id and Jen’s Superego.
  • Friendly Neighborhood Vampire: Refuses to indulge in the scheming ways of Camarilla or the brutality of the Sabbat and just wants to get by and keep the people she cares for safe. In gameplay terms, she is listed with Humanity 6, which equals slightly cold, but still fairly human.
  • Guilt Complex: Develops an ever-growing one over the course of the story.
  • Heroes Love Dogs: She does, and mentions she has to outright resist the urge to cuddle up to a doggy when she sees one.
  • If You Kill Him, You Will Be Just Like Him!: Invokes this trope on herself shortly before the aforementioned Eye Scream, calling herself no better than Leopold for having destroyed him, then resolves to at least be better than him in breaking free of the curse of her eyes.
  • I Hate You, Vampire Dad: She is not happy with what Tanner has done to her and initially plots his destruction after meeting him for the first time.
  • I Let Gwen Stacy Die: Regarding Zhavon and to a lesser extent her companions Jen, Darnell, and the rest of the Gangrel at the Gather.
  • Irony: Extremely independent-minded as she is, she still ends up with an inseparable tie to her fellow Gangrel, going so far as to end up joining their ranks in the afterlife.
  • Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Ramona is rude, abrasive, easily offended, somewhat cold and pretty poor with words, but unlike many vampires, she very much has a conscience.
  • Knight in Sour Armor: For all her faults and troubles, she takes pride in being neither a thief nor a murderer and intends to keep it that way.
  • Medium: After an encounter with an old Native American Gangrel called Blackfeather, she finds that she can suddenly see the connections between the material and the spirit world and the ghosts that dwell within.
  • Mercy Kill: Ramona does this to Zhavon after the latter's been deformed and crippled by Leopold’s attempts to turn her into a living piece of art to the point where even vampirism could not save her.
  • Morality Chain: Subverted with the death of Zhavon, which initially seems like such a situation, with Ramona remarking how cold and uncaring she is now feeling, but in time, she ends up being Ramona’s Morality Chain even in death.
  • My Greatest Failure: You can guess by now whose death is this for her.
  • Parental Abandonment: Not her actual parents, but her Sire embraced her and then left her to fend for herself. At least for the first few years.
  • Power Incontinence: Ramona eventually can’t turn off her spirit sight anymore, causing her to see traces of the dead everywhere.
  • Rescue Romance: For a given value of “romance”, but Ramona certainly ends up infatuated with the girl she saved and repeatedly seeks her out to watch her against her own better judgement.
  • Skilled, but Naive: An alright survivor and good with her disciplines, but largely ignorant of the vampiric world.
  • Sole Survivor: First of her little coterie, then of the Gangrel battle against Leopold.
  • Stalker with a Crush: Ramona’s obsession with a certain human girl causes her to watch her through the window several times and eventually even makes the Gangrel seek her out in a different town. Her reasons for this are not entirely clear: While she seems to see herself before the transformation in Zhavon and desires to protect her, she is also deeply excited by the idea of taking her blood.
  • Survival Mantra : She switches between several over the course of the story, but Ashes to Ashes is prominent.
  • Token Good Teammate: One of the few more clear-cut good characters.
  • The Quiet One: She doesn’t talk much.
  • Voluntary Shapeshifting: Exceptionally skilled with Protean for her age, as she manages to reach the fourth level of the Discipline within less than three years of vampiric existence. For the typical Gangrel Neonate, this takes at least ten years, often more, if they do not neglect their other disciplines.
  • You Remind Me Of Myself: Zhavon reminds her of her pre-Kindred existence, hence why Ramona is so protective of her.

    Anatole 

Signature character of Clan Malkavian. Anatole seeks redemption in finding the truth about the history of vampires.

    Calebros 

Signature character of Clan Nosferatu. He is a crusty and somewhat ruthless Nosferatu elder who becomes, against his will, temporary Prince of New York.

  • Antihero: Almost all vampires are but he has few redeeming features.
  • Category Traitor: Uncle Smelly, the 2nd most powerful Nosferatu in the city, considers him this for doing nothing to help the Nosferatu when in a prime position to do so.
  • Cincinnatus: Has no desire to remain the Prince of New York longer than absolutely necessary. Subverted by the fact a voluntary abdication by a Prince in the Camarilla is just not done and no one likes him for it who doesn't want the job themselves.
  • Kick the Dog: Appointed a Scourge to destroy Thin-Bloods just because the Camarilla asked him to.
  • Pet the Dog: He is, however, extremely protective and loving towards his warren, considering them family.

    Victoria Ash 

Signature character of Clan Toreador. A beautiful Toreador bon vivant and party-goer who wishes to become Prince of New York.

  • The Beautiful Elite: One of the crowning examples thereof.
  • Bunny-Ears Lawyer: Makes many of her choices based purely on chance and yet is still a potent elder.
  • Dropped a Bridge on Him: Come Gehenna, she is killed off almost nonchalantly by the vampire Samuel in order to frame Beckett.
  • Hidden Depths: Plays the role of the social butterfly but is actually a Noddist scholar.
  • High-Class Call Girl: Victoria Ash's profession before she became a vampire.
  • Hooker with a Heart of Gold: Victoria Ash's mortal profession.
  • Irony: Is handed the Prince of New York position but is forced to turn it down because of her games of chance (which got her here in the first place).
  • The Mistress: One of her methods of gaining power.
  • Obfuscating Stupidity: Looks like Mila Jovovich, acts like Paris Hilton, and thinks like Machiavelli.

    Aisling Sturbridge 

Signature character of Clan Tremere. She is the head of the New York City war chantry and an iconoclast in the otherwise staid clan.

  • Badass Abnormal: Lived in New York during the Sabbat's dominion and held them off the entire time.
  • Bunny-Ears Lawyer: A 10th generation, perky, pleasant and unambitious high-ranking member of the Pyramid who will burn your pack to ashes if you're Sabbat.
  • Cunning Linguist: According to her official stats, Aisling speaks 16 languages and has the Natural Linguist merit.
  • Rape as Drama: Aleister Crowley wanted her to be his Scarlet Woman despite her lack of interest.
  • Rebellious Princess: In the 19th century no less, though her parents were merely wealthy American aristocrats.
  • Special Snowflake Syndrome: A Downplayed Trope example but Aisling Sturbridge is more or less the opposite of how a Tremere elder should behave. So far, it's cost her very little.
  • Token Good Teammate: Quite possibly the nicest high-ranking Tremere in history.
  • What the Hell, Hero?: While calling the Tremere heroes is stretching it, Aisling thought supporting the Nazis during WW2 was awful.

    Jan Pieterzoon 

Signature character of Clan Ventrue. He is a canny power broker and one of the most recognizable faces in the Camarilla.

  • Big Damn Heroes: In the Clan Novel Saga, he at one point saves a mortal man from a vengeful Autarkis.
  • Big Good: In the Nightshade Gehenna scenario, he forms an international and inter-sectarian alliance of vampires to combat the Antediluvian threat.
  • Broken Pedestal: Come Gehenna, Hardestadt and the Camarilla become this, as he realizes they lied to him about the Antediluvians the entire time.
  • Defector from Decadence: As a result of the above.
  • Flat-Earth Atheist: Jan's lack of belief in Noddism is perhaps understandable but it's also dead wrong.
  • Friendly Neighborhood Vampire: Is this despite his feeding restriction.
  • Hopeless Suitor: The much-maligned Eternal Hearts has him in love with Lucita who barely seems to know he exists.
  • Killed Offscreen: Is, along with Hardestadt, killed in Theo Bell's Brujah assault on the Ventrue in the lead up to Vampire: The Masquerade 5th Edition. However...
  • Never Found the Body: Although most vampires believe he died along with his sire, there is no proof, and Theo Bell denies having killed him.
  • Nice Guy: Despite his horrifying feeding restriction.
  • Odd Friendship: With Theo Bell, see above.
  • Rape Is a Special Kind of Evil: Can only feed on rape victims.
  • Rules Lawyer: He quickly realized the rape doesn't have to be a recent one. Since then, he preferentially picked individuals who experienced rape in the past as his retainers.
  • Shoot the Dog: At one point, he is forced to arrange a rape in order to be able to survive.

    Lucita y Aragon 

Signature character of Clan Lasombra. An assassin-for-hire trying free herself from the influence of her sire, Cardinal Moncada of the Sabbat.

  • Aloof Dark-Haired Girl: How she's drawn.
  • Anti-Hero: Lucita's morality is complicated, even for a vampire. Unlike most of the Camarilla characters, she has a low Humanity rating and generally cares little about casualties or even human morality. However, she differs from characters like Vykos or Hesha in that she does have scruples, being well aware of the dangers of the beast, often displaying random acts of kindness to counterbalance her cruelties. She considers opposing her sire, his schemes, and to a lesser extent the Sabbat, her goal in unlife, but at the same recognizes knows her own tendency to cause atrocities. Add to this a hefty dose of Deliberate Values Dissonance due to her medieval origins, a generally rebellious and contrarian nature and the Broken Bird-ness that comes with the abuse and mindgames she was subjected to by Moncada, and you have one hell of a morally dysfunctional character.
  • Badass Bookworm: While Lucita doesn't stand out as much in this regard because she's usually surrounded by Beckett and Anatole, she's nevertheless quite smart. She possesses above-average academic knowledge, is an expert occultist and speaks over a dozen languages. In fact, she is a major contributer to the in-universe Encyclopaedia Vampirica.
  • Became Their Own Antithesis: After spending centuries defining herself through opposition to her sire and battling the Sabbat, Lucita joins them, takes over her sire's holdings and embraces a Path of Enlightenment quite similar to her sire's. Both Beckett and Fatima fail to convince her that this is an utter betrayal of herself.
  • Berserk Button: Do not compare her to Monçada. Ever. Even after her Face–Heel Turn, especially when it's justified.
  • Byronic Hero: Intelligent, hot, dark, brooding, rebellious and excessively troubled? Yup, she sure qualifies.
  • Combat Tentacles: As shadow appendages.
  • The Corrupter: Post Face–Heel Turn.
  • Cunning Linguist: According to her official stats, she speaks 17 different languages.
  • Dark and Troubled Past: Ran away a lot. Her father couldn't even be bothered to discipline her and decided to force her to go to church thinking it would make her more tolerable. Except there was Monçada.
  • Defiant to the End: She really lets Assimilating Eldritch Abomination revived Monçada have it when he absorbs her.
  • Died Happily Ever After: She cries when she sees Anatole again.
  • Eerie Pale-Skinned Brunette: Notable even in a setting full of vampires.
  • Evil Is Petty: She's always been somewhat callous, cruel and just all-around mean. However, most of her truly evil acts only happen under the influence of the Beast.
    • An exception to this tendency, possibly the lowest moment for her character, is when she hires a (male) kine prostitute, fucks him in public in her sire's garden, then drains him dry and guts him, leaving the corpse behind like trash. All this to spite her prudish sire.
  • Face–Heel Turn: After Anatole commits suicide. She loses her humanity and rejoins the Sabbat.
  • Heroic Sacrifice: Subverted. It was more that standing up to her Back from the Dead Evil Mentor and then letting Beckett and the others escape was just a by-product of doing so.
  • Kicked Upstairs: Archbishop after her Face–Heel Turn.
  • Mentor Occupational Hazard: Subverted. She killed him, not that anyone would shed tears for him.
  • Ms. Fanservice: Many White Wolf products had art of her Eerie Pale-Skinned Brunette self.
  • The Power of Love: A strange example of this between her and Fatima ends up saving them from Moncada. The night before the duo ends up fighting Moncada, Fatima and Lucita make love, drinking each other's blood. Moncada is guarded by an enormous shadow monstrosity, called the Leviathan, which perceives the world only through blood. When Moncada attempts to sic the Leviathan on Fatima, the beast turns against him, since Fatima's veins are filled with Lucita's (and thus by extension, Moncada's own) blood.
  • Really 700 Years Old: Embraced in 1190 CE.
  • Rebellious Princess: A literal example of this.
  • Reconcile the Bitter Foes: Played with. She and Fatima were lovers who didn't part amiably, then Gehenna began to take place so they met each other to part on better terms. Which was just in time because Fatima dies not long after.
  • Spared by the Adaptation: She's apparently still around in Fifth Edition. Then Subverted as Tally believes he killed her according to Chicago by Night 5E (see Uncertain Doom).
  • Together in Death: With Anatole.
  • Trauma Conga Line: She's really a woobie. Her father didn't care much for her, then she was embraced by a Dirty Old Monk and had to be under his finger for a long time. She found a measure of happiness with Anatole and Beckett. Of course, Anatole had to die. Done again when afterwards, her relationship with Fatima starts improving and the latter abandons the Banu Haqim, meaning they are free to be together... then they have a falling-out over a vicious argument about ideals and don't meet again until shortly before Fatima dies.
  • Uncertain Doom: In V5, it is believed she was killed by Tally the Hound. An impersonator has also taken her position in Madrid but no one can say for sure.
  • The Vamp: Subverted. She is just a vampire. A mean, vicious and ferocious one at that. Depending on the Writer, she may be played as somewhat seductive or hedonistic, but it's never a prominent aspect of her personality.
  • We Used to Be Friends: She fell apart and distanced herself with Beckett and Fatima after Anatole's death.

    Sascha Vykos 

Signature character of Clan Tzimisce. They are an elder vampire that personally helped the Anarch revolt and the creation of the Sabbat. They are a fervent scholar, much like Beckett, though they have a different approach to their 'investigations.' They spend their time roaming different Sabbat domains and trying to recover the Toreador Methuselah Michael's dream for a vampiric, perfect city, as well as turning people into armchairs. They are The Rival for Beckett.

  • And I Must Scream: All of their furniture is made from the still conscious flesh of their victims.
  • Ax-Crazy: Sascha Vykos has a reputation for handing out body horror and fates worse than death like Christmas candy.
  • Badass Bookworm: Badass and cultured.
  • Body Horror: They can do this thanks to Vicissitude.
  • Complaining About Rescues They Don't Like: Their first response to being rescued by Beckett was "Why did it have to be you?"
  • Cloud Cuckoo Lander: While completely straight faced and stoic, Vykos isn't exactly a paragon of mental health.
  • Enemy Mine: Works with Camarilla Justicar Jan Pieterzoon in one of the Gehenna scenarios.
  • Even Evil Has Standards: Complete monster they may be, but even Sascha Vykos hates the Antediluvians.
  • The Fettered: To the mad dream of Michael.
  • For Science!: One of their primary motivations, when they're not doing it...
  • For the Evulz: Like most Tzimisce they don't need a reason to do something completely immoral.
  • Gender Bender: Via their mastery of Vicissitude, Sascha has modified their gender to the point that they no longer appear to have one.
  • A God Am I: Had this quality while they were carrying the Dracon's essence.
  • Ignored Epiphany: Regained their self-control when the Dracon's essence was removed from them in Beckett's Jyhad Diary. They're back to leading the Sabbat at its most extreme in V5.
  • Infernal Paradise: Their ultimate dream is to realize Michael's vision for a reborn Constantinople, built from the flesh and bones of their enemies.
  • "It" Is Dehumanizing: Sascha prefers to be referred to with the singular "they". They insist. They really insist.
  • Mad Artist: Their "art" being Fleshcrafting.
  • Only Known by Their Nickname: Originally, their name was Myca Vykos.
  • Pet the Dog: Has those moments occasionally, usually in a Blue-and-Orange Morality kinda way.
    • Vykos is the last vampire to still hold onto, preserve the lore of and truly believe in The Dream of Constantinople.
    • When attacked by a young Tzimisce who turns out to be a descendent of theirs, Vykos not only spares his unlife, but educates him in vampire philosophy and fleshcrafts him a new, much more powerful and beautiful body before letting him go. It does the former by fleshcrafting him onto several live mortals and forcing him to either kill them to free himself or perish.
  • Pragmatic Villainy: The Antediluvians would wipe out everything, and they don't want that.
  • Rape as Drama: After getting raped by none other than Tzimisce Antediluvian itself and getting impregnated by it with the Dracon's life essence in Dark Ages: Tzimisce Novel, their sanity plummets into the depths of the abyss. It was this traumatizing event that turned them into what they are. Yes, you read that right, and yes, it is canon.
  • Really 700 Years Old: Born in 976 CE, Embraced in 1002 CE.
  • Self-Made Orphan: Diablerized their sire.
  • The Stoic: Apparently an (un)lifelong characteristic; they were having trouble engaging with sensuality even in the 1200s.
  • Torture Technician: It comes with being a Tzimisce.
  • You Don't Look Like You: Every artist that has ever drawn the character has given them a completely different design from the last. One can Hand Wave this with Tzimisce shapechanging, but it's still extremely noticeable when going from one image to the next; compare this, this, this, this and this.

    Fatima al-Faqadi 

Signature character of Clan Banu Haqim. She is a Muslim follower of the Path of Blood who finds her loyalties divided with the rise of Ur-Shulgi.

  • Assassin Outclassin': Has survived battles with Lucita, an equally talented assassin.
  • Badass Abnormal: One of the toughest in the setting.
  • Conflicting Loyalty: A pretty epic case of this. She loves Lucita, but her Clan also wants Lucita dead. Later on, well, see Neutrality Backlash.
  • Dark Action Girl: One of the deadliest killers in the Banu Haqim Warrior Caste and supposedly the first woman Embraced to it.
  • Evil Mentor: Her sire Thetmes wishes her to abandon the worship of Allah for Haqim.
  • Face Death with Dignity: When Gehenna reaches her, knowing the end is at hand, she chooses to wait and pray. When Haqim comes for her, she does not resist, calmly explaining that she has fought for both him and Allah, but could not abandon the latter in favor of the former. She is spared the deadly sandstorm and cries tears of joy as she realizes that both Haqim and Allah have judged her worthy, then fades away peacefully.
  • Neutrality Backlash: Ur-Shulgi doesn't take her Conflicting Loyalty well and makes the choice for her by ordering her death.
  • Lesbian Vampire: Unlike Lucita, we never meet any of her male lovers but the distinction is rather moot with Kindred anyway.
  • The Power of Love: See Lucita's entry above.
  • Real Men Love Jesus: Loves Allah as well as Haqim despite the contradictions therein.

    Hesha Ruhadze 

Signature character of the Followers of Set. One of the most prominent Setites, Hesha is an archaelogist and art historian, working to gather as much ancient lore as he can in order to bring about the awakening of Set.

  • Adventurer Archaeologist
  • Animal Motifs: The Snake, of course. While with most Setites, its sensuality and corruptive nature are played up, Hesha more closely resembles the silver-tongued, fiercely intelligent manipulator that appears in the Book of Genesis.
  • Badass Bookworm: There's a reason the Setites used to be called "The Clan of Scholars" in the Middle Ages. Hesha shows us why.
  • Benevolent Boss: He is relatively kind to his underlings, building a reputation of avenging their deaths without mercy. He is also always working towards a fairly amicable, somewhat family-like climate. While he is not above brainwashing them, he still believes that a motivated follower is much more useful than one that has been coerced and so goes to great lengths in explaining and justifying himself. Hesha also seems to entirely avoid You Have Failed Me and other violent punishments that are so popular among elders.
  • Blue-and-Orange Morality: As a Theophidian, his primary goal is the accumulation of knowledge that could benefit the Setite cause. His secondary goals are the spread of corruption and the strengthening of his own faith in Set.
  • Consummate Liar: Hesha may appear reasonable, honest and even noble in that stoic, all-business manner, but make no mistake: He very, very much likes to twist facts to make himself appear in a better light.
  • Crazy-Prepared: As is expected of any elder vampire.
  • Determinator: Compared to most Kindred, he has an excellent control of the Beast, owing to his high rank in the Path of Typhon, but also to well thought-out feeding habits and care in avoiding temptations.
  • Even Evil Has Loved Ones: Cold as he may be, even Hesha cannot deny he holds a degree of affection for his underlings.
  • Famed In-Story: One of the most prominent Setites in existence, looked up to by many and respected even among other Clans.
  • Insistent Terminology: He does not care for being lumped together with Cainites. He is a Setite, thank you very much.
  • Manipulative Bastard: Don't let his sympathetic traits fool you. He's at least as bad as any other elder.
  • Omniglot: His Establishing Character Moment is educating a fellow Follower of Set on the fine nuances of changing one's accent and choice of words in order to pass for an individual of different nationality. In game terms, he has Linguistics 5 as well as the Natural Linguist merit. That's at least 16 languages.
  • Path of Inspiration: Follows the Path of Typhon, a Setite-only Path of Enlightenment.
  • Pragmatic Villainy: Hesha in a nutshell.
  • Reasonable Authority Figure: To his followers, but also to other vampires, to a degree. At the very least, they are more willing to strike deals with him than with most Setites.
  • So Proud of You: His sire, who is so proud of Hesha that he renamed himself Abu Ruhadzenote .
  • Stereotype Flip: Yeah, no snake-worshipping orgies of drugs and sex here.
  • The Chessmaster
  • The Stoic: If he shows emotion, it's probably deliberate and meant to trick you.
  • Truth in Television: Going against the exaggerated Obviously Evil stereotype of Setites, Hesha represents the modus operandi of many real-world cults, using supposed benevolence and the manipulation of facts to make themselves look better, playing to individual weaknesses and desires in order to trick people into joininhg.
  • Villain with Good Publicity: Hesha in a nutshell. He has even been known to deceive readers into thinking he might be a genuinely good person.

    Isabel Giovanni 

Signature character of Clan Giovanni. Isabel Giovanni is a powerful necromancer in the service of the Giovanni and one of their movers and shakers.

    Khalil Ravana 

Signature character of Clan Ravnos. He is noted for his dangerous addiction to diablerie, which he has used to bring himself down to the Ninth Generation.

Dark Ages Signature NPCS

In Vampire: The Dark Ages, Lucita, Anatole, and Myca Vykos (later to be known as Sascha) reprised their roles, but new signature characters were created for the other clans. In addition, the three returning signatures also represented their Roads (predecessors to the modern Paths of Enlightenment): the Road of Kings, Road of Heaven, and Road of Sin respectively.

    Amala 
Signature character of Clan Banu Haqim during the Dark Ages.

    Véronique d'Orléans 
Signature character of both Clan Brujah and the Road of Humanity during the Dark Ages.

  • Blue-and-Orange Morality: Subverted. While most Roads are this, the Road of Humanity is the ancestor of the familiar Humanity system used by most vampires in modern nights.

    Constancia 
Signature character of Clan Cappadocian during the Dark Ages. She is known as the Priestess of Bones.

  • Blue-and-Orange Morality: She holds her Beast in check through the Path of Bones, which revolves around studying death.
  • Uncertain Doom: Constancia vanished a year before her clan's destruction at the hands of the Giovanni, but it's unclear if she survived to the modern nights or met her end at some point in between.

    Andreas Aegyptus 
Signature character of the Setites during the Dark Ages. He is also known as Ankhesenaten.

    Qarakh 
Signature character of both Clan Gangrel and the Road of the Beast during the Dark Ages. It's strongly implied that he survives in the modern knights as Jalan-Aajav, Seraph of the Black Hand—who has himself been implied to be one and the same as Karsh, Warlord of the Camarilla.

    Malachite 
Signature character of Clan Nosferatu during the Dark Ages. He is a powerful vampire of Constantinople, dedicated to the Dream.

    Zoë 
Signature character of Clan Ravnos during the Dark Ages. She is the adopted childe of Anatole.

    Rosamund of Islington 
Signature character of Clan Toreador during the Dark Ages. She is an ambassador for the Courts of Love, as well as the lover of Lord Jurgen von Verden.

    Jervais bani Tremere 
Signature character of Clan Tremere during the Dark Ages.

  • Character Death: In the early 20th century—rumored to be at the behest of his own grandsire Goratrix.

    Jurgen von Verden 
Signature character of Clan Ventrue during the Dark Ages.

  • Became Their Own Antithesis: If he is Hardlestadt the Younger then he's a cowardly Manipulative Bastard in the Modern Nights.
  • Character Death: Eventually destroyed by Hardestadt for his failures... unless he is in fact the vampire now known as Hardestadt the Younger, and the story of his Final Death a cover story.
  • Proud Warrior Race: How he embodies the Ventrue ideals before they became a Clan of Merchants.

Other Characters

    Leopold 

A young Toreador artist who specializes in sculpting. He suffers from a bad artist's block. In actuality, Leopold is a Tremere antitribu. Obtaining an ancient artifact called the Eye of Hazimel by random chance, he ends up becoming the Big Bad of the Clan Novel Saga.

    Ma-Ri-Ah / Mary the Black 

An ancient Baali, who rose to prominence during the fall of Constantinople. Considered an outsider even by the standards of her own bloodline, it was her actions that led to the downfall of Michael, and by extension, Sascha Vykos' descent into the monster they are today.

  • Back from the Dead: She was resurrected by her sire, Anaduk, who sold his soul to Anoster to bring her back, after his Auspex allowed him not to just to read Mary's writings, but also to feel her emotions. Anoster obliged, sending a succubus to consume the tablets and become the product of whatever was contained within them. The tablets contained Ma-Ri-Ah's despair and rage towards Michael. Which was then redirected at Anaduk for bringing her back against her will.
  • Berserk Button: She absolutely loathes Toreador, mostly because of Michael. Clanbook: Baali describes how she's left a trail of Toreador ashes all throughout Europe and the Middle-East, killing them for no other reason than because she can.
  • Broken Bird: She was made into one of Michael's ghouls, and was rewarded for her service by being left for dead when the Akkadians sacked Ebla. She was Driven to Suicide, and then resurrected against her will by infernalists, the leader of whom embraced her into the Baali bloodline. From that point on, all she could think about was getting revenge against Michael, and when she finally succeeded in diablerizing him, she felt all of his guilt for the way he treated her, negating her entire purpose for existing up until that point. She's had a pretty miserable existence, but in the process, became one of the most feared ancient kindred still alive in modern nights.
  • Demon of Human Origin: One of the very few Baali to actually succeed in this. She did this by usurping the power of Anoster, her own patron Decani, and coincidentally the one who resurrected her in the first place.
  • Fantastic Racism: In her opinion, Toreador are the absolute scum of the earth, and she will kill them on sight.
  • Humanoid Abomination: Physically, less so than other Baali Methuselah, with her only disfigurements being a particularly noticeable Undeathly Pallor and bright, red eyes. She got off much easier in this department than Nergal did. Beyond the physical, though, she's one of the very few kindred in the setting to ascend to full-fledged demonhood, which she did by usurping Anoster.
  • I Hate You, Vampire Dad: Her sire, Anaduk, found her writings from before her death, fell in love with the sheer amount of rage and hatred expressed in them, resurrected her, and then embraced her. Ma-Ri-Ah thanked him by brutally diablerizing him. Before that, she was Michael's ghoul; after killing her sire, seeking revenge for his perceived abandonment of her became her one and only goal.
  • In the Hood: Due to her infernalism-inflicted disfigurements, she tends to wear hooded garments, including cloaks or an Islamic hijab.
  • The Older Immortal: She was born in the eighteenth century B.C., but spent the next few centuries, well, dead. She was later resurrected, but that would still clock her in at nearly two and a half millennia old.
  • Red Eyes, Take Warning: One of her physical signs of her infernalism are bright, almost bioluminescent red eyes.
  • The Starscream: After getting rid of Michael, her next objective was getting rid of Anoster, her patron Decani as a Baali. She began plotting in secret behind Anoster's back, amassing enough infernalist power and demonic allies to attempt to overthrow him. She succeeded, becoming one of only two known Baali in existence to actually ascend to demonhood.
  • Übermensch: The Path of the Devil, also known as Via Adversarius, emphasizes absolute free will above all else, completely rejecting societal norms, notions of morality, and any sort of authority, including any demons you may or may not be in thrall to. They're actually one of the nicer Paths of Enlightenment, since their Path also compels them to help anyone being oppressed by people abusing their authority.
  • Unwitting Instigator of Doom: During Constantinople by Night, she became obsessed with the idea of seeking revenge against Michael, and during the Fourth Crusade, she finally had her chance, killing and diablerizing him. Michael's death was taken very, very personally by Sascha Vykos, likely even causing his insanity he's infamous for in modern nights.
  • Villainous BSoD: When diablerizing Michael, she learned that not only was he not resisting, he wanted to die at her hands, out of guilt for leaving her to die in Ebla, something he never even intended to do in the first place. This revelation led to her frenzying in the streets of Constantinople. Keep in mind, this was during the height of the Fourth Crusade, in the middle of the siege of the city. She was very lucky to make it out of that alive, newly-acquired Fourth Generation or not.

    Caine / Kapaneus 

The Progenitor of vampires. He is Shrouded in Myth and rife with Alternative Character Interpretation.

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