Literature / Vampire The Masquerade Clan Novel Trilogy Brujah

Loyalty versus freedom.

The Clan Brujah Trilogy, written by Tim Dedopulos, is the last of the Clan Novel Trilogies that serve as unofficial sequels to the Vampire: The Masquerade Clan Novels. They are set in the Old World of Darkness, specifically tying in to Vampire: The Masquerade.

The Clan Brujah Trilogy deals with the creation of a global slave trade among the Kindred as well as corruption the Camarilla. Centering on former slave, Theo Bell, they follow him as he struggles with hia loyalty to the Camarilla as well as disgust with the age old evil reborn.

We also discover much more about why the Gangrel have abandoned the Camarilla. The books serve as a character study of Theo Bell and what drives the Brujah Archon to be so loyal to the Camarilla as well as charts his history through the World of Darkness.

The trilogy contains the following entries:

• Slave Ring
• The Overseer
• The Puppet Masters

The series remains Broad Strokes canon with elements referred to later on but others retconned due to the build-up toward Gehenna that has since been erased.

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General

• Always Identical Twins: Nathalie and Delphine are identical twins and were, in fact, kidnapped for this purpose.
• Apocalypse Cult: The Circle turns out to be one of these and is kidnapping Kindred as well as humans to make food for the Antediluvians when they arise. They also have the aid of demons.
• Badass Biker: At two hundred years old and a Brujah archon, Theo is considered one of the Camarilla's best warriors. He's also a biker.
• Berserk Button: Theo is understandably traumatized by his past as a slave and hates when people bring it up.
• Big Bad: A vampire named Meonia is the ancient behind the slaver ring.
• Black Magic: The Circle uses demons and black magic as part of their activities.
• Born into Slavery: Theo Bell suffered this and it still has a traumatic effect on his vampire mind centuries later.
• Discontinuity: At one point, Theo Bell visits Minneapolis and meets the black haired Toreador Prince of the City named Elizabeth. Vampire The Masquerade Winters Teeth would establish the city as ruled by a redheaded Toreador named Samantha Merrain.
• Doomed by Canon: The Circulatory System and other groups like it show that the slave trade for blood becomes increasingly common by Vampire: The Masquerade 5th Edition.
• Hero with Bad Publicity: Theo Bell becomes this after the slaving ring frames him for murdering two primogen members in Minneapolis.
• Internal Reformist: Theo Bell has this as his goal in life, to accumulate enough power within the Camarilla to try to make it a better place as well as the mortal world. He got this advice from his friend, Angus.
• The Masquerade: Theo Bell's primary job is to protect humans from knowing about vampires. Protecting this is his initial (flimsy) justification for going after the slavers.
• Naïve Newcomer: Delphine is a newly embraced vampire that Theo Bell has to explain the basics too.
• Nebulous Criminal Conspiracy: The slaving ring possesses resources far and above any normal criminal syndicate that stretch throughout the Camarilla.
• Rape Is a Special Kind of Evil: The slaves that are recruited by the slavers are subjected to this by their handlers in order to break them alongside Cold-Blooded Torture and Electric Torture.
• Skewed Priorities: The court of Minneapolis is more interested in the fact that Theo Bell brought them an illegally Embraced fledgling than they are of an international slaving ring operating in their city. That is because they're either involved in the organization or blackmailed by it.
• The Syndicate: Theo Bell assumes the slaver ring is one of these and the biggest danger is global crime (which he numbers as having 40,000,000 members) might find out about criminals. In fact, he's dealing with a N.G.O. Superpower.
• Wrong Genre Savvy: Theo Bell assumes he's dealing with Kindred that have broken the Masquerade to make money on the side or gain access to vessels. It's much-much bigger than that.

Slave Ring

• Antihero: Theo Bell opens up by murdering a pair of innocent captives after slaughtering a bunch of Anarchs. He wanted to wipe their mind but felt he couldn't risk The Masquerade.
• Bittersweet Ending: Theo Bell successfully destroys the Minneapolis branch of the slaver ring, rescues Nathalie, rescues Millie, and gains valuable intelligence. He's only scratched the surface, though, of the conspiracy and the twins' lives are ruined either way.
• Condescending Compassion: Don Cerro has a lot of this as he believes he deserves a great deal of credit for rescuing Theo from slavery and introducing him to high society.
• Double Standard Rape: Female on Male: Subverted. Theo Bell is almost raped by a white woman in Victorian England despite the fact he is a vampire and she's human. He pushes her off but her injuries paint a different picture. It almost gets him destroyed by the local Kindred.
• False Rape Accusation: Theo suffers one of these and almost gets puts to death by London Sheriff Juliet Parr.
• Lack of Empathy: The slavers love taunting their victims and insulting them from their weight to their horrible fates.
• My God, What Have I Done?: After being caught in an explosion, Theo frenzies and kills two of the captive women he was trying to rescue.
• Papa Wolf: Nathalie and Delphine's father is willing to attack a slaving ring by himself with only a suicide vest to intimidate them in hopes of rescuing his daughters. They're actually bags of flower.
• Race Fetish: Theo Bell has to deal with this in London and other locations from women intrigued by rumors of black sexual prowess.
• The Right of a Superior Species: During the Victorian Era, Angus says the British Empire tells itself this as they are trying to justify what they know to be wrong.
• Skewed Priorities: Delphine's immediate reaction to waking up a vampire and killing a man is to wonder if she's gay due to feeling sexually attracted to her sire (a woman) and nothing for Bell (due to being dead).
• Slavery Is a Special Kind of Evil: Theo Bell and his fellow Kindred may feed on Kine but actually kidnapping them, brainwashing them, and trafficking them is something that is a bridge too far.
• Well-Intentioned Extremist: Kristine will do anything to stop the slaving ring, which of course, gets the Camarilla against her. This includes mass murder and turning Delphine against her will.

The Overseer

• Brainwashing for the Greater Good: Delphine blood bonds Kristine, her sire, to gain an ally against the other Kindred.
• Broken Pedestal:
  • Theo Bell has this toward Angus when he finds out his old friend is the traitor working with and against the slavers.
  • Theo is appalled that Delphine blood bonded Kristine as a way to get her on their side.
• The Determinator: Theo Bell's status as this is the reason that Angus betrays him.
• Digging Yourself Deeper: Nathalie shows a great amount of interest in the Kindred world, which Theo keeps informing her is going to get her killed.
• Did Not Think This Through: Angus is genuinely surprised Theo intends to kill him for his betrayal.
• The Dragon: Carnell is a Malkavian assassin working for the slaver ring.
• Evil Former Friend: Angus, the man who educated Theo Bell in how to reform the system from the inside, turns out to be the slaver's man on the inside.
• Firing Day: Justicar Pascek strips Theo Bell of his status as an archon due to his reckless behavior hunting the slavers. It is meant to protect him.
• Frame-Up: Theo Bell is framed for the murder of both Angus and the Tremere Primogen. He only killed one of them, though.
• Hoist by Their Own Petard: Carnell brainwashes Theo Bell into going mad so he can diablerize him. Instead, Theo Bell diablerizes him.
• Mind Rape: Carnell uses his Dementation/Dominate powers to force individuals to commit suicide by messing with their sense of reality.
• Red Baron: Carnell, the Malkavian enforcer for the slaver ring, is known as "The Overseer."
• Villains Want Mercy: Angus begs Theo for his life but this doesn't do any good since killing him quickly is what Theo thinks of as mercy.

The Puppet Masters

• Bittersweet Ending: Theo Bell successfully destroys the Circle, clears his name, and purges the Camarilla as well as Sabbat of infernalists. However, it may all be pointless as Gehenna is looming and the Camarilla is sending him after Cuthbert Beckett. Bell has also arguably learned nothing from his experience and will still blindly trust the Camarilla. Nathalie's mind is shattered and she will need to be watched by Delphine for the rest of her life.
• Brainwashed and Crazy: Nathalie is made into a ghoul by her sister unbeknownst to Theo. It has immediate and long-lasting effects.
• Corrupt the Cutie: Nathalie becomes a murderer and psychopath due to a combination of the torture she suffered, Itio's Dominate to remove her fear, and becoming a ghoul.
• Berserk Button: Nathalie has a hair trigger related to anything sexual after becoming a ghoul. Which makes sense given the abuse she suffered at the slavers' hands.
• The Dragon: Karsh is the Warlord of the Camarilla and the chief enforcer of the Circle.
• Enemy Mine: Talley shows up with a group of Sabbat supporters in order to help against the Circle.
• The End of the World as We Know It: Gehenna is imminent and all vampirs can feel it, meaning most of their actions here are pointless.
• Killed Off for Real: Don Cerro dies at the hands of Karsh.
• The Purge: Justicar Paschek carries out one of these on the Circle's members once he has a list of their names.
• Rank Up: Theo Bell is promoted to Praetor, which is theoretically above an archon but since he still answers to a Justicar, means essentially nothing.
• Reasonable Authority Figure: Paschek continues to prove that he is one of the few honest (to a point) justicars in the Camarilla.
• The Reveal: The slaver ring is revealed to be called the Circle. Given so many people believed the villains were the Tal'mah'Re or Inconnu, it serves as an anticlimax.
• Stating the Simple Solution: Karsh says he could just call Theo Bell, invite him over, and kill him. Sadly, for him, his plan gets shot down.
• Unexpected Character: Inyanga and Mark Decker from Chicago by Night and Milwaukee by Night show up to help fight the slavers.
• We Are Everywhere: The Circle is shown to have people in the Sabbat, Camarilla, and Independents. Justicar Paschek finds out even one of his own archons is one of their agents.
• You Killed My Father: Theo Bell wishes to go after Karsh after the latter reveals that he killed Don Cerro.

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