Know Your Kindred is Coming Back Soon

Hello,

I am currently in the process of moving everything over from my old hosting account to this one. Unfortunately, I did not save the site properly, I still have all the files and posts, but I do not have an easy method of transfer it all over at once, so I am forced to piece by piece put everything back together again. So it will take some time. But all the Know Your Kindred posts will be back here eventually. Stay tuned.

Know Your Kindred – Baron Samedi

Name:  The Baron
Clan: Samedi
Generation: 5th
Embraced: Unknown

Baron Samedi – or simply – “The Baron” is said to be the originator of the Samedi bloodline, although the Baron denies this, telling visitors a different tale every time they come asking, increasing the clan’s aura of mystery and fear. Rumors swirl that they are survivors of the extinct Cappadocian clan or perhaps an offshoot bloodline of the Nosferatu or Giovanni. Others believe the Baron may be an antediluvian who took on the disguise and persona of the Haitian loa, Baron Samedi.

Local Haitians told a story that this “Lord of the Cemetery” had been brought to Haiti from Africa in a box by the French. He killed his captors and fled into the Massif du Nord mountain range near the Artibonite river.

The Baron’s relationship with the Giovanni clan is dubious at best.  He and Augustus Giovanni have hated each other ever since their first meeting, when the Baron arrived as an unannounced visitor outside the Mausoleum in Venice, Italy. The visit was regarding the True Vessel – a magically sealed jar said to contain a small amount of blood taken from the antediluvian, Cappadocius. The Vessel is a legendary artifact to the Giovanni, especially to Augustus, who greatly desires the item.

The Baron came to personally apologize to Augustus, claiming he had found the True Vessel and was on his way to delivering the jar to Augustus, only to have it stolen from him by the Followers of Set. The Baron left a few minutes later and to everyone’s surprise Augustus did not kill him on site, leading many to believe there must be some deal made between Augustus and Baron Samedi

The Camarilla knows little about the Samedi clan and distrusts them. The Baron had sent goodwill emissaries to several princes around the Caribbean rim, but in recent years the Camarilla sees the Baron as hostile, as he has risen an army of zombies in a blatant violation of the Masquerade. But the Baron says he is just protecting Samedi territories from greater dangers long buried in the surrounding lands.

Baron Samedi stands at about five and a half feet tall, wearing a sharp formal suit, often with a top hat and cane. But the Baron is hideous to look at. His eyes hang down his face. His flesh is decayed with his exposed muscles almost rotting off the bone. His odor is nauseous, like an open mass grave.

Random Fact: He learned Chimerstry as payment from other vampires who hired him as a bodyguard and taught it to his childe, Genina. The Gangrel scholar, Beckett, has heard rumor the Baron also knows Serpentsis.

Sources: Kindred Most Wanted pg. 28, Players Guide Vol. 2 pg. 132, Clanbook Giovanni (1st ed)  pg 19-21, Nights of Prophecy pg 14, Beckett’s Jyhad Diary pg 186-201.

Know Your Kindred – Baba Yaga

Name: Baba Yaga
Clan: Nosferatu
Generation: 4th
Embraced: 5000 B.C.

Also known as “the Little Mother” or “The Hag”, Baba Yaga is regarded as one of the most powerful Kindred in the world. Maybe even the the world’s most powerful blood sorceress. Legends about her vary, with some painting her as a good, kind grandmother. Other tales say she was a crazed, flesh-eating monster. It is believed Baba Yaga is one of three childer sired by the Nosferatu Antediluvian, Absimiliard, who escaped their sire’s blood bond.

There are two versions of her origin story. In both versions, Baba Yaga was a beautiful earth shaman, or priestess. She was connected to the magic of the land and used it to heal and aid others. Then a stranger came to her village. In one version, he was beautiful, in the other he was truly hideous. He fed on the blood of the living and spread disease. Baba Yaga valiantly fought him with her magics to drive him out of her lands. In the end, he embraced her.  He told her how he searched the world for one worthy of his power and he finally found her. He told her how they would rule Russia together and she would forever serve him.

Baba Yaga awoke the next night ugly and deformed. She called upon the earth for aid, but the land rejected her, as she was now dead. Devastated at what she had become, Baba Yaga swore revenge on her sire. She learned her magic had changed, but was still mighty. She broke free from the control he had over her mind, and in doing so, cursed the land itself.

She slept for a millennia, awaking in late winter of 1990. Slowly she built up an army of vampires, corrupt werewolves, mages, wraiths, ghouls, dragons, and at least one demon. They were her spies, messengers, warriors and assassins. In August 1991, she made her move and the Soviet Union fell. The Ventrue, Toreador and Brujah united to stop her.  She destroyed the Brujah council and purged all prominent Kindred from Moscow in a matter of three nights.

Around this time a magical “Shadow Curtain” erected around Russia, cutting off the supernatural in the country from the outside world. This invisible barrier kept spiritual and magical beings who had entered Russia from leaving and prevented other such beings from entering Russia, even through the Umbra. This was the work of the Hag and the magic of the mages in her service, as a way to keep the Garou from gaining aid from the outside.

For much of the 1990s, Baba Yaga’s forces waged war against the werewolves, with both sides taking heavy casualties. Despite the heavy toll, the Garou were able to dismantle the Hag’s power structure brick by brick.

Baba Yaga met final death in 1998, when an ancient Nictuku, known only as Vasilisa, destroyed the Hag. Vasilisa was far older and more ancient than even Baba Yaga. He easily stripped away her magics and turned her into a boiled puddle of slime. After her death, the Shadow Curtain fell with reports of earthquakes outside local Russian villages.

Baba Yaga could change her appearance to intimidate or fighten.  She could be described as being over 8 feet tall, covered with warts, with teeth and claws of iron. But her true form was much smaller and less intimidating. Her back was twisted and humped and her left arm was noticeably longer than her right.

Baba Yaga would never harm a child, as she sees them as pure. And she could not harm a truly innocent person. Only if the child was corrupted and attacked first, would she kill it before the corruption grew further. She killed most creatures by swallowing them whole.

Sources: A World of Darkness, pg 54-55, 57, Clanbook: Nosferatu, Revised pg 97, Nights of Prophecy, pg 98, 100. A World of Rage, pg 71-76. Rage Across Russia, pg 33, 39, 50-51,89-91. Beckett’s Jyhad Diary, pg 268-285.