From February, 2010
Know Your Kindred – Apache Jones
Name: Apache Jones
Clan: Malkavian antitribu
Generation: 9th
Embrace: Probably 1890s
The man called Apache Jones was born in Ireland and worked on the railroads for several years. He also gambled heavily and did a great deal of bare-fisted boxing. After winning a mach against a much larger man, Jones was attacked by a vampire who Embraced him and then fled into the night. Jones was just beginning to use his powers and get the hang of being a vampire when he got the attention of local law enforcement, who sent a posse out after him.
Jones would have been killed by them, but the Boot Hill gang rode into town just as the sun set, following his trail on a bet between Hill and Jack Dawson as to whether they would find Jones before the posse did. Hill won the bet by killing the posse, and was so pleased with himself he offered Jones the opportunity to join them.
Over time Jones keeps getting stranger. He used to answer to the name Walter, but now decided he’s an Apache Indian and speaks in the kind of Pidgen English dialect used by Indians in dime store novels about the wild west. Hill tends to look at him as a mascot – a very big and dangerous mascot, but a mascot none the less.
Jones is a big man, with the personality of a cigar store Indian. His hair is braided and he dresses in leather. He tries to pass himself off as Indian, even though he is very much a Caucasian. His face looks like he was in too many fights before he was Embraced. His nose is slightly off to the right and his ears are caulifowered. Despite his comical appearance, he is a very able gunslinger and vicious in hand-to-hand combat. He can also directly affect the mind of his opponent.
– Source: Tales of the Trail: Mexico, pg. 86-87
Know Your Kindred – Uriel
Name: Uriel
Clan: Salubri
Generation: 5th
Embrace: Unknown
It is said that after Samiel’s death, Saulot was in such sadness that he became withdrawn from the world and from his clan. But it was Uriel who found Samiel’s writings, which had become known as the warriors’ Code. Uriel took up Samiel’s mantle and lead the clan’s warrior caste with a new sense of purpose.
They sought out new students and Embraced them in the way of the Code, training them just as they had been trained, replenishing the ranks of the ones lost in the war with the Baali.
The Salubri warriors of today can trace their linage back to Uriel, who was one of five grandsires who kept the clan from fading away in Saulot’s grief.
– Source: Clanbook: Salubri, pg. 16.
Know Your Kindred – Jack Dawson
Name: Jack Dawson
Clan: Samedi
Generation: 6th
Embrace: Probably between 1880s – 1890s
Jack Dawson fell in love with his neighbor’s daughter. But being half black and half indian upset the girl’s father and so he had Jack arranged to be murdered. Jack was left to die in a field when Baron Samedi found him and offered him the Embrace. Jack accepted and he became a Samedi vampire. Jack stayed with the Baron for several weeks, so the Baron could teach Jack how to speak with and control the dead. Jack also learned how to hide his decaying form behind illusions and how to be patient. Soon afterward Jack got his revenge against his murders and the Baron went on his own separate way.
It wasn’t long before Jack joined the Boot Hill gang. While Jack doesn’t follow the beliefs of the Sabbat he does consider Joe “Boot” Hill to be his good friend.
In his natural form Jack looks like a mummified corpse with long dark, curly hair. Most of the time he looks like a young, handsome Mexican with slightly darker skin and brilliantly white teeth. He is never seen without his pistols in easy reach and a rifle slung across his back. Jack is always wearing a pleasant smile, even when he’s killing someone.
– Source: Tales of the Trail: Mexico, pg. 87-88
Know Your Kindred – Alejandro Aguirre
Name: Alejandro Aguirre
Clan: Tremere antitribu
Generation: 10th
Embrace: Late 19th Century
Alejandro was a snake oil sales man, traveling through Mexico, Texas and California selling a miracle tonic that could cure any aliment imaginable. The tonic killed far more than it cured, but luckily for Alejandro he met a man who promised he could teach him real magic. Alejandro agreed and was attacked by the man and turned into a vampire. Alejandro was now a Tremere and over a great deal of time has learned to master several of his clan’s powerful spells. Some of his clanmates would debate if Alejandro’s spells are really that powerful, but he can create one hell of a lightening storm.
Alejandro is vain and cocky to a fault. He dresses in Mexico’s finest clothing and moves with the grace of a dancer. He is seldom without a smile on his face and a woman on his arm. His mustache is normally slightly hidden behind a fat cigar.
– Source: Tales of the Trail: Mexico, pg. 88-89
Know Your Kindred – Lucy Markowitz
Name: Lucy Markowitz
Clan: Lasombra
Generation: 10th
Embrace: Late 19th Century
Lucy was born in New York City. She married young and her husband wanted to move out West. Being the good wife, Lucy agreed and they settled in Texas. A week later the Comanche Indians attacked and killed her husband and daughter. Lucy was taken as a slave. She was not treated well by the Indians and she ran away the first chance she got. She didn’t make it far before the Sabbat found her. Lucy was Embraced and buried in the ground, forced to dig her way out of the grave they placed her in. When she emerged her blood thrust was overwhelming and she gorged on three men she killed, then vomited up the fluid, disgusted with herself.
In the years since Lucy has come to terms with her new lifestyle as a vampire, especially since gender means nothing to them. She is now an equal to men and for Lucy that is a very powerful feeling.
Lucy dresses like a man, but her figure stands out. She wears her hair in a pony tail and tries her best to look stern and rugged, but her beauty still draws the eyes of men whenever she enters a room. The stupid ones make comments and soon after eat hot lead.
– Source: Tales of the Trail: Mexico, pg. 87-88
Know Your Kindred – Las Hermanas Hambrientas
Name: Las Hermanas Hambrientas (The Hungry Sisters)
Clan: Blood Brothers
Generation: Between 10th and 14th
Embraced: 1997
After the Tremere antitribu disappeared in the late 1990s, many of their experiments and thaumaturgical workings were left behind. The Hungry Sisters are one of these experiments.
Blood Brothers were shock troops the Tremere antitribu and a few Tzimisce sorcerers had developed. These “Frankensteins” were sometimes used to undermine the stability of a targeted city. A few of Goratrix’s followers hoped to improve upon their design. One such antitribu named Elena Mendoza Vasquez created a female Blood Brother capable of reproducing itself.
This female Frankenstein locks herself in a mutual feeding with her victim. Their blood flows between them for 3 to 10 nights. If all goes well the feeding ends and the sire and childer rise. This artificial Embrace transforms the child into a physical duplicate of its sire and plugged into the hive mind of the circle. The process leaves both vampires starved for blood. Their vampiric metabolisms are so charged that they burn blood at a phenomenal rate. It is not uncommon for the freshly risen sisters to consume the blood of 12 mortals before feeling sated.
Elena Vasquez never intended to let the three “sisters” she created loose in Mexico. They were locked up in her Chantry until November of 2000, when the Harbinger of Skull known as La Viuda Blanca broke in to exhume Vasquez’s research. One of the sisters escaped and fled into the night.
In her two years of freedom, she spawned again and again. Whole neighborhoods were destroyed to feed their ravenous hunger of first one, then two, then 10 and now 20 Hungry Sisters. They make their haven in the basement of a disused hacienda surrounded by a few shantytowns. The large basement crawls with the Sisters and is littered with the bones of their victims. The locals believe the Sisters are ghosts or saints out for vengeance. A small cadre of men act as the Sisters’ eyes during the day and select victims to feed the brood.
The Sisters share thoughts as well as blood. They know with each new Embrace their hunger grows stronger. Soon the shantytowns will not be enough for them. The Sisters have a dozen or so ghouls, who help them keep the shantytown paralyzed with fear.
The Sisters are all identical, with long luxurious black hair and swarthy skin. Much of the time the Sisters are beautiful, glowing with vitality. But when their hunger sets in, they become horrific shrews, all pretense of humanity is lost to long fangs and animalistic rage.
– Source: Mexico City by Night, pg. 69-70.
Know Your Kindred – Xeper, Sultan of Lepers
Name: Xeper, Sultan of Lepers
Clan: Baali
Generation: 7th
Embrace: 790 AD
Xeper was originally an Egyptian trader traveling through Damascus. He entered Baali servitude as a ghoul messenger to help keep the infernalists linked across the scattered regions.
When the Assamites destroyed numerous Baali strongholds, Xeper escaped and returned to Damascus to warn his masters. For his actions they gave him the Embrace.
Since that time Xeper has remained in the shadows, watching Damascus grow. He has also watched Annazir grow careless and make numerous mistakes that have compromised the clan’s safety. Xeper believes he must act before Annazir’s foolishness jeopardizes the entire sect.
Xeper has convinced a number of younger Baali to take action against their elder. The only matter stopping them is Annazir’s control over the organ pit. Once Xeper understands its secrets, he will rise up against Annazir. Until that time, he waits, trying to find a way to use the Assamites to destroy Annazir without it threatening the other Baali.
– Source: Veil of Night, pg. 206.
Know Your Kindred – Annazir
Name: Annazir
Clan: Baali
Generation: 5th
Embrace: 12th Century BC
Annazir was the most powerful Cainite in ancient Damascus. He has resided there since he was a young infernal recruit during its years as a Greek outpost over 2000 years ago. The Baali of Damascus held a great deal of power thanks to Annazir’s maintenance over the great organ pit known as the Ibill al-Akbar.
Unlike too many of his brethren, who proved too eager to release Hell’s minions, Annazir possessed a disciplined patience. Hell was inevitable he believed, so why unleash it now? He remained quiet and subtle in his actions.
After the Children of Haqim struck blow after blow to several Baali strongholds, Annazir and five of the strongest Baali joined together and cursed the Assamites with a terrible blood thrust (“As you thrust for our blood, so you shall hunger for all blood all the time.”).
Besides the Baali, the Toreador were the second faction of power in Damascus. A Toreador named Darshuf controlled the city’s ruling family. But Annazir slipped in with the Toreador and slowly corrupted Darshuf and his kin. By the time they found out who Annazir really was, it was too late to do anything about it. Exposing Annazir’s existence would destroy their own reputations. So Darshuf agreed to protect Annazir and keep him on as a high ranking advisor in return Annazir would not corrupt the rest of Darshuf’s childer.
Unfortunately, centuries of this power filled Annazir with delusions of grandeur and he has forgotten the lessons in subtly that allowed him to become an elder. Now he is no longer satisfied with resting in the shadows and influencing events from afar. Now he was too visible to outsiders and openly relished his own corruption. The other Baali worry he will endanger them and are looking for a means to dispose of him, even if it means betraying him to the Assamites.
Annazir passes himself off as a humble Toreador who advises the cities elders, in truth he influences them. Although he has grown bold, he keeps a safe distance from the visiting Assamite delegation. If he becomes endangered, he is ready to pass off Darshuf or his advisor Barqat as scapegoats.
– Source: Veil of Night, pg. 192-195, 205-206.
Know Your Kindred – Baroque
Name: Baroque
Clan: Samedi
Generation: 7th
Embrace: 1725
Baroque looks like a tall, handsome black man wearing a dapper white suit. He is completely bald and speaks with a Jamaican accent. He is friendly to everyone and laughs in a booming, good-natured way. But this image is false. Baroque’s physical appearance is really an illusion covering the wizened old Tibetan vampire named Shih Hsu
Shih Hsu was a bully, sadist and rapist. He was a predator from birth. A minor death-mage, he terrorized his village and then his entire province. By the time he was 60, he was considered to be the most evil man in Tibet. With his wealth from banditry, he built a fortress for himself in the Himalayas where his deeds brought him to the attention of the Samedi named Morlock. Morlock admired Shih Hsu for his wickedness and offered him the Embrace.
After Morlock Embraced him and taught him all he knew, Shih Hsu flayed Morlock right down to his bones. What Shih Hsu didn’t know was that Morlock was a member of the Eastern Black Hand and soon they came after Shih Hsu.
Barely able to escape their attack, Shih Hsu ran for safety and sold his soul to Anastagio’s Olde Time Lunar Carnival in exchangefor immediate escape and a new identity, thus “Baroque the Fortuneteller” was born.
Baroque possess a small jade artifact known as the Hand of the Yama Kings. The Hand is powerful, allowing Baroque to control wraiths and granting him temporary entrance into the Shadowlands.
Source: Midnight Circus, pg 58-59.
Know Your Kindred – Rusticus
Name: Rusticus
Clan: Gargoyle
Generation: 10th
Embrace: Unknown
Rusticus is a former Tzimisce turned Gargoyle. He has little memory of his life before the Embrace. He remembers gardening and at one time being a professional soldier, but that is all. He spends most of his time staying in the Chantry providing security and manual labor.
Outside of his job, Rusticus is a gentle creature. This doesn’t make him any less dangerous when he is performing his duties; uninvited visitors are likely to have their heads twisted backwards and their body buried in a compost heap.
Rusticus is quite happy with himself. He is wistful about what his previous life was like, but doesn’t think about it that much. It isn’t that important to him. He does occasionally keep a diary, writing stories about his past. The diary is his only real personal possession. He has learned the basics of Thaumaturgy in exchange for giving a few Tremere fencing and pankration lessons.
Rusticus is a large, stony, bipedal figure, not blocky at all. He has smooth curves and a sharp spine. His skin is naturally covered in a Baroque intaglio of design. He is a work of art in his own right.
The Spanish Inquisition destroyed Rusticus in 1561, while he was helping several Tremere elders escape from Spain.
– Source: Jerusalem by Night, pg. 108-109