History Characters / VampireTheMasqueradeExtinctClansAndBloodlines

* OffingTheOffspring: Cappadocius sealed forever thousands of his childer in what would be called the Feast of Folly, causing the deaths of many of them.

* TheUnfettered: Normal (Nergali) Baali morality is...not.

Once, there was a hunter who stumbled upon [[EldritchAbomination a darkness from before time]]. Seeking a material host, the darkness poured into the hunter, succeeding only in killing him...but the hunter rose again the next night [[CameBackWrong as one of the undead]], now animated by the darkness.

Such is the story of the first of the Bonsam, a Dark Ages African bloodline. However, the original hunter claims he never Embraced...which, if he's telling the truth, raises some interesting questions about the bloodline's origins.

In the Tremere's early nights, they found themselves in combat with the Tzimisce, who were...displeased, to say the least, at the Tremere's using Tzimisce in their rituals. As a consequence, they sought to create potent servants to protect them, and discovered a way to transform certain vampires (Gangrel, Nosferatu or Tzimisce) into Gargoyles. Eventually, many broke free of the Tremere's magics, becoming independent. They also developed the ability to Embrace mortals into their ranks as well.

* BodyHorror: The Gargoyle change. Yes, even for former Nosferatu. Gargoyle wings come from ''somewhere'', after all....

A mysterious cabal of necromancers and sorcerers, the Harbingers of Skulls are commonly allied with the Sabbat - but only out of convenience. Though there are only fifty Harbingers in existence and none of them have ever embraced, their proficiency in magic and necromancy makes them a force to be reckoned with. Desiccated and corpselike, the few members willing to talk have claimed that they have actually escaped from the Underworld to inhabit the bodies of corpses, and are now seeking vengeance against the clan that wronged them....

%%* LeanAndMean

* MultipleChoicePast: Though it's clear that [[spoiler: they're actually former Cappadocians]], their origin stories tend to change slightly in different books: [[spoiler: in some, they're just victims of the Giovanni and out for revenge, while in others they're actually survivors of "The Feast of Folly" and comprised of the clan rejects sealed at the bottom of Kaymalki by Cappadocius himself.]]

A Gangrel bloodline said to have been created from a fusion between a vampire known as the Crone and a spirit of the forests. Never very numerous, they were all destroyed by the end of the 14th century...though as so often with the Kindred, there are rumors of their return in modern nights.

* ClapYourHandsIfYouBelieve: A minor example. Caitiff are not traitless Vampires, and their pre-conceptions about Vampires have a tendency to influence them somewhat. This not only influences strengths and weaknesses, but is the canon explanation for the disciplines they have when sired. If they believe vampires are "supposed" to be physically far superior to mortals, they'll start with Celebrity, Potence, and Fortitude. If they believe VampiresAreSexGods, they'll start with Presence and/or Dominate.

* ClapYourHandsIfYouBelieve: A minor example. Caitiff are not traitless Vampires, and their pre-conceptions about Vampires have a tendency to influence them somewhat. This not only influences strengths and weaknesses, but is the canon explanation for the disciplines they have when sired.

* BigBad: [[spoiler: Admits his aspirations to be this in Transylvania Chronicles outright. Clanbook Salubri mentions perceptions of him being arrogant and haughty. Not to mention he created the Baali, hence why the Setites call him 'the Father of Demons'.]]

* BigBad: [[spoiler: Admits his aspirations to be this in Transylvania Chronicles outright. Clanbook Salubri mentions perceptions of him being arrogant and haughty. Not to mention he created the Baali, hence why the Setites call him 'the Father of Demons'.]]

* FliesEqualsEvil: A particularly horrific Baali sect known as the Avatars of the Swarm embrace this trope wholeheartedly. They do not follow the Children or any of the other usual demonic entities that the Baali worship; instead, they devote themselves to the propagation of vast swarms of ghoul flies, even using human prisoners as incubators for the larvae. Favoured devotees are often haloed with clouds of insects (the Lord of the Flies flaw). Some members of the sect even make themselves into broodmothers for the swarms, allowing themselves to be used as incubators and ritualistically cutting themselves open to release the matured flies- over and over again. As for the unique embrace for this particular sect...it requires an OrificeInvasion. [[spoiler: In the introduction to the clanbook, the orifice of choice is the urethra.]] Enough said.

%%* {{Necromancer}}

* {{Retcon}}: ''V20 Dark Ages'' retcons what the Kiasyd historically were, saying that in times past, they were what happened when a vampire successfully Embraced a faerie-blooded human, and any childer they sired would likewise be Kiasyd. Each "first generation" Kiasyd got Mytherceria plus two Disciplines from their sire's clan, along with some physical mark of their faerie nature, which they passed on to their childer. The established bloodline was a Lasombra-descended version with particularly noticeable markings. ''The Black Hand: A Guide to the Tal'Male'Ra'' says the established bloodline took the Kiasyd name for themselves, while other faerie-blooded vampires became known as the Maeghar.

* SealedEvilInACan: The Children, again. Unusually for this trope, virtually nobody, including most Baali, wants them unsealed.

* TheCorrupter: They attempt to corrupt the Camarilla and Sabbat to serve their masters, and if that doesn't work, [[KillEmAll kill them.]]

* MySpeciesDothProtestTooMuch: ''The Black Hand: A Guide to the Tal'Mahe'Ra'' presents two factions of Baali: the infernalists everyone knows and hates, and the anti-infernalists, who are out to stop the infernalists from breaking the world, and are more than willing to eradicate them with extreme prejudice in order to do so. Neither side is ''good'', both performing monstrous deeds in pursuit of their goals, but [[BlackAndGrayMorality one side serves demons and the other side is hellbent on eliminating them]].

* ReligionOfEvil: ''Every'' faith espoused by the Baali.

* TheUnfettered: Their morality is...not.

* Nigh-Invulnerability: Armour of Caine's Fury and Fortitude can make the ''antitribu'' and Warrior Caste seem to possess this.

* ZeroPercentApprovalRating: I mean, the Giovanni are hated by everyone, but when it comes to the Baali, [[EveryoneHasStandards most everyone's]] policy is [[KillEmAll kill on sight.]] It's a measure of just ''how'' hated the Baali are that, in ''The Black Hand: A Guide to the Tal'Mahe'Ra'', the Black Hand goes to extreme lengths, even by vampire standards, to ensure that the leader of the anti-infernalist faction is telling them the truth, including mentally and physically torturing him, thaumaturgically binding him, and ensuring that he and all the members of the faction are blood bound to patrons among the Black Hand, and even then there's still a good chunk of the Hand who want him killed painfully.

* NotQuiteDead: [[spoiler: More and more so in later books. The Samedi are implied to be survivors of the Cappadocians who escalated their clan weakness to better hide themselves from the Giovanni. The Mla Watu bloodline in Africa is also heavily implied to be splintered off from the Cappadocians. Then there are the [[MultipleChoicePast Harbingers of Skulls]]...]]

** [[spoiler: Whether or no Saulot is good or evil. Or both at different times.]]

* OneGenderRace: Subverted; there is nothing preventing them from recruiting men, and during the Victorian era, they did. But the men all disappeared around Revised and they stopped embracing them after that. However, the V20 corebook leaves the possibility of male members of the bloodline open.
** Fanon calls male members of the bloodline Sons of Discord, which became ascended fanon in TabletopGame/VampireTheEternalStruggle and By Night Studio's ''Mind's Eye Theatre'' live-action rules, but not as yet in the tabletop RPG.

* {{Bookworm}}: A clan-wide example, as Kiasyd can happily spend centuries in their own well-stocked libraries.

* DoomedByCanon: In any game set during The Dark Ages, where they are a playable clan, although the fate of individual Cappadocians may vary.

* BigBad: [[spoiler: Admits his aspirations to be this in Transylvannia Chronicles outright. Clan Book Salubri mentions perceptions of him being arrogant and haughty. Not to mention he created the Baali, hence why the Setites call him 'the Father of Demons'.]]

* Nigh-Invulnerability: Armour of Caine's Fury and Fortitude can make the antitribu and Warrior Caste seem to possess this.

* EldritchAbomination: The Children; a cabal of primeval beings native to the darkness that existed prior to the creation of the world, they were almost wiped out by "Let There Be Light." Falling to the newly-created earth, the survivors burrowed into the earth and sealed themselves away there; eventually, humans discovered the sleeping monsters and began to worship them in the hopes of gaining some of their godlike power- up until they realized that doing so was actually bringing the Children dangerously close to wakefulness and TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt. So, in a desperate attempt to lull them back to sleep- and keep drawing power from them without fear of death- their worshippers set about comitting horrific acts of mass-murder and rape. According to the clanbook, the Baali are merely the latest in line to carry on their worship.
* FliesEqualsEvil: A particularly horrific Baali sect known as the Avatars of the Swarm embrace this trope wholeheartedly. They do not follow the Children or any of the other usual demonic entities that the Baali worship; instead, they devote themselves to the propagation of vast swarms of ghoul flies, even using human prisoners as incubators for the larvae. Favoured devotees are often haloed with clouds of insects (the Lord of the Flies flaw). Some members of the sect even make themselves into broodmothers for the swarms, allowing themselves to be used as incubators and ritualistically cutting themselves open to release the matured flies- over and over again. As for the unique embrace for this particular sect... it requires an OrificeInvasion. [[spoiler: In the introduction to the clanbook, the orifice of choice is the urethra.]] Enough said.

* InitiationCeremony: Baali have arguably the most disturbing initiation ceremony of all clans or bloodlines. It starts with a prospective sire gathering a huge pit of decomposing corpses; then, a human heart will be filled with the sire's blood and buried at the very bottom of the pit; finally, the selected childer will be drained almost to death and flung into the pit. In order to survive, would-be-recruits have to crawl (or, depending on the consistancy of the bodies, ''[[NauseaFuel swim]]'') through the corpses until they can find it and drain it. If they fail, they join the bodies mouldering in the pit.

* TheUnfettered: Their morality is... not.

Once, there was a hunter who stumbled upon [[EldritchAbomination a darkness from before time]]. Seeking a material host, the darkness poured into the hunter, succeeding only in killing him... but the hunter rose again the next night [[CameBackWrong as one of the undead]], now animated by the darkness.

Such is the story of the first of the Bonsam, a Dark Ages African bloodline. However, the original hunter claims he never Embraced... which, if he's telling the truth, raises some interesting questions about the bloodline's origins.

* AGodAmI: Some Danava claim to be ''asuras'' (demons) in human form. Others claim to be descendants of the goddess Danu. All seek transendence of their mortal form.

In the Tremere's early nights, they found themselves in combat with the Tzimisce, who were... displeased, to say the least, at the Tremere's using Tzimisce in their rituals. As a consequence, they sought to create potent servants to protect them, and discovered a way to transform certain vampires (Gangrel, Nosferatu or Tzimisce) into Gargoyles. Eventually, many broke free of the Tremere's magics, becoming independent. They also developed the ability to Embrace mortals into their ranks as well.

* BodyHorror: The Gargoyle change. Yes, even for former Nosferatu. Gargoyle wings come from ''somewhere'', after all...

A mysterious cabal of necromancers and sorcerers, the Harbingers of Skulls are commonly allied with the Sabbat- but only out of convenience. Though there are only fifty Harbingers in existence and none of them have ever embraced, their proficiency in magic and necromancy makes them a force to be reckoned with. Dessicated and corpselike, the few members willing to talk have claimed that they have actually escaped from the Underworld to inhabit the bodies of corpses, and are now seeking vengeance against the clan that wronged them...

* BlackCloak: Most of them tend to wear cloaks and shrouds, partly to hide their dessication but mostly to make dramatic impressions.

A Gangrel bloodline said to have been created from a fusion between a vampire known as the Crone and a spirit of the forests. Never very numerous, they were all destroyed by the end of the 14th century... though as so often with the Kindred, there are rumors of their return in modern nights.

A Dark Ages African bloodline born from a DealWithTheDevil between a sidelined royal daughter and a dark spirit, the Ramanga seek to ensconse themselves as the powers behind mortal thrones.

** [[spoiler: Subverted in their reputation as Soul-Stealers, which is not just Tremere slander as proven by Nkulu Zao bloodline.]]

** TokenEvilTeammate [[spoiler: The 'Fallen Angels', Warrior Caste survivors made demonic pacts in a case of ThenLetMeBeEvil in order to avenge themselves upon the Tremere. Saulot himself might be able to hold this position among the Antedeluvians due to his aspirations of becoming the Demon Emperor.]]

** [[spoiler: The Gehenna source book states it was Saulot, which is in line with Clan Book Followers of Set Revised.]]

** [[spoiler: Subverted somewhat by the moral ambiguity of their Antedeluvian. The 'Fallen Angels', Warrior Caste survivors made demonic pacts in a case of ThenLetMeBeEvil in order to avenge themselves upon the Tremere. Saulot himself might be able to hold this position among the Antedeluvians due to his aspirations of becoming the Demon Emperor.]]

* NamesToRunAwayFromFast: Their sobriquet of 'Serpent Kings'.
* {{Necromancer}}: It's one of their disciplines.

** [[spoiler: According to the Gehenna source book it was Saulot, as stated by the PoV in Clan Book Followers of Set Revised.]]

** VillainWithGoodPublicity: Possibly justified. Valeren/Obeah is implied to be a bastardised version of Kuei-Jin Dragon Tears power.

* AscendedDemon: Saulot himself, having reached Golconda; the surviving healer Salubri aspire to reach this state.

* [[spoiler:AGodAmI]]: [[spoiler:Cappadocius received a vision which he interpreted to mean he should ''diablerise God'', and sought to put it into practice.]]

* {{Necromancer}}
* [[spoiler: NotQuiteDead]]: [[spoiler: More and more so in later books. The Samedi are implied to be survivors of the Cappadocians who escalated their clan weakness to better hide themselves from the Giovanni. The Mla Watu bloodline in Africa is also heavily implied to be splintered off from the Cappadocians. Then there are the [[MultipleChoicePast Harbingers of Skulls]]...]]

* [[BeastMan Beast Woman]]: Not uncommon in the modern line, given that they were all former Gangrel, and any animal-like features incurred before becoming an Ahrimane would have gone unchanged.

* [[OneGenderRace One-Gender Bloodline]]: All Ahrimanes were female, although this is by choice rather than a requirement.

* TheUnfettered: Their morality is....not.

* [[OneGenderRace One Gender Bloodline]]: Subverted; there is nothing preventing them from recruiting men, and during the Victorian era, they did. But the men all disappeared around Revised and they stopped embracing them after that. However, the V20 corebook leaves the possibility of male members of the bloodline open.

* NightmareFace
* OurGargoylesRock

* LeanAndMean

* BlackEyesOfEvil / PurpleEyes

* {{Necromancer}}

* {{Necromancer}}

* FlamingSword: A signature Velaren discipline lets a vampire coat any melee weapon with his blood, turning it into a blazing weapon that inflicts aggravated damage.

* [[BeastMan Beast Woman]]: Not uncommon, given that they were all former Gangrel, and any animal-like features incurred before becoming an Ahrimane would have gone unchanged.
** AnimalEyes: A common form of the above; notably, their founder possessed cat-eyes as a result.

* DeepSouth: Most or all of the Ahrimanes made their havens in this part of the country.

* FantasticRacism: In addition to their hatred against men, they also dislike whites. They almost never Embraced white women, and often attacked whites unprovoked.

* {{Retcon}}: According to ''V20 Dark Ages'', the modern Ahrimanes were the resurrection of a Dark Ages bloodline who traced their origin back to one of the [[Myth/NorseMythology Valkyrje]].

Once, there was a hunter who stumbled upon a darkness from before time. Seeking a material host, the darkness poured into the hunter, succeeding only in killing him... but the hunter rose again the next night as one of the undead, now animated by the darkness.

An all-female bloodline of singers known as the Sirens. They do not work with either faction, and are disinterested in the Jyhad.

* [[OneGenderRace One Gender Bloodline]]: Subverted; there is nothing preventing them from recruiting men, and during the Victorian era, they did. But the men all disappeared at one point and they stopped embracing them after that.
** The V20 corebook leaves the possibility of male members of the bloodline open, even having a name for them: The Sons of Discord.

* MultipleChoicePast: Though it's clear that [[spoiler: they're actually resurrected Cappadocians]], their origin stories tend to change slightly in different books: [[spoiler: in most, they're just victims of the Giovanni and out for revenge; however, in the Gehenna scenario "Nightshade," they're actually survivors of "The Feast of Folly" and comprised of the clan rejects sealed at the bottom of Kaymalki by Cappadocius himself.]]

* TheReveal: ''The Black Hand: A Guide to the Tal'Mahe'Ra'' reveals [[spoiler:there's another faction of the bloodline which isn't interested in avenging themselves on the Giovanni, instead preferring to focus on necromantic pursuits. This branch of the Harbingers ''does'' Embrace in order to stay abreast of the living world]].

* LonersAreFreaks: Not only is the bloodline independent from both the Camarilla and the Sabbat, but the individual members are rarely in contact and have no overall organization.

* KnightInSourArmor: Playing a Salubri who's dedicated to being the FriendlyNeighborhoodVampire has a 99% chance of being this trope. Being haunted by both Camarilla and Sabbat and even bloody [[MageTheAscension mages]] will take quite a toll on any Salubri sooner or later. The Vampire Storytellers Companion provides information about the magi's involvement.
--> "This isolation proved his undoing, however. At some unknown point in time, he entered Torpor, perhaps voluntarily. During the Middle Ages, a group of power-hungry magi unearthed Saulot's resting place. The most powerful of these magi slew the Ancient, slaking his own thirst on Saulot's blood. It's said that Saulot didn't resist, knowing that it was his time to pass. To complete the deed, the cabal of magi hunted Saulot's childer to near extinction.The modern Salubri are the lineage of those of Saulot's brood who managed to escape the purge led by the magi, at least according to what information they told others. The magi are believed to hunt them to this very night, and likely have some connection to the Tremere."