By charlottevtes
Carmen Lives!
The model for Carmen, this year’s winner for Best Supporting Vampire, has been revealed. Known as Malice, she’s a model/manager for the band Hellfire Society. Here is her MySpace page. She even has this photo of herself and her V:TES alter-ego in her photo album:
No word yet if David Bowie plays V:TES
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.
COVID-19 Limiting the VTES Calendar
The planned Charlotte Tournament in April or May 2020 has been put on hold due to COVID-19 outbreak shutting down the campus of UNCC, as well as all the gaming stores in the Charlotte-area.
Florence After Dark may be hosting a tournament in the late summer, if the state and local government permit places, such as breweries to reopen.
Until then, be safe, wash your hands, don’t touch your face and stay away from old people.
Know Your Kindred – Hannigan
Name: Hannigan
Clan: Tremere Antitribu
Generation: 9th
Embraced: 1907
Hannigan was an Irish immigrant in New York City when he was recruited to join the Sabbat. Proving himself very useful, he attained status as a True Sabbat. Since then, he has lead his nomadic Sabbat pack all over the country, causing problems for Anarchs and other Kindred. Hannigan is a tough individual who likes dangerous situations and keeping his pack strong. He believes the more dangerous the mission, the more powerful his pack will become and thus prove his worthiness as its leader. Hannigan is very bold and outspoken for a Tremere Antitribu, since few of that clan survive as nomadic Sabbat and even fewer become pack leaders.
- Source: Under a Blood Red Moon, pg 88.
Know Your Kindred – Count Vladimir Rustovitch
Name: Vladimir Rustovitch
Clan: Tzimisce
Generation: 6th
Embraced: 876 AD
A peculiar combination of nobility and evil, Vladimir Rustovitch is the embodiment of the term “vampire lord” and was one of the most powerful Tzimisce in Eastern Europe and high general of the Transylvanian voivodate. Werewolves have trembled at his name for centuries.
Born during the bleakest era of the Dark Ages, Rustovitch grew up in a family already subjugated as warrior-revenats for the Tzimisce clan. After showing his mettle as a solider fighting in the Tzimisce’s wars and expanding the fiefdom of House Rustovitch as its leader for almost 10 years, he was embraced by the ancient fiend Kosczecsyku.
Kosczecsyku met final death from a pair of treacherous clanmates — Mischa and Csikos. They fled from the lands after Rustovitch killed the other co-conspiractors. He then took over Kosczecsyku’s fiefdom and carved out a dominion between Western Hungary and Transylvania proper using equal parts fear and strategy.
For centuries, Rustovitch led successful campaigns against the Gangrel, Ventrue, Old Clan Tzimisce, the Tremere, and the Garou tribe known as The Shadow Lords. Rustovitch expanded his fiefdom again and again. Other Tzimisce voivodes paid him their respect and the most beautiful women in all of Hungary were brought to his castle as food or as brides-to-be.
That all changed in 1313 A.D., after defending the country’s borders from a Teutonic Knight invasion, Rustovitch returned to his home… or what was left of it. Micha and Csikos had returned and manipulated the Shadow Lords to attack his castle. Rustovitch’s bat banners were torn down, his guards lay strewn throughout the courtyard and his brides torn to tattered, bloody rags. Rustovitch’s wrathful frenzy on that night is still told by Shadow Lords who wish to frighten unruly cubs. Eventually, Micha and Csikos were captured alive and what Rustovitch did to them sends a shutter up the spines of other Tzimisce.
Afterwards, a grieving Rustovitch filled a sack with dirt from his courtyard and began to wander the world, angry and bereaved. All he cares about now is revenge against the Shadow Lords. He joined the Sabbat to help him capture Micha and Csikos, but cares little for the sect’s mission and more about killing werewolves.
Rustovitch is the embodiment of Old World gentleman. Standing six feet tall, perfectly groomed and manicured (thanks to Vicissitude) in immaculate suits and cravats.
Rustovitch is able to use his Animalism to extend his consciousness into a swarm of bats, controlling the swarm like a puppet. With Auspex he is also able to “see” in 360 degrees by means of sonar emissions, like a bat. With Vicissitude he can assume the Chiropteran Marauder shape and transform himself into a hideous, tusk-fanged bipedal bat.
Sources: Rage Warriors of the Apocalypse, pg 125-126. Transylvania by Night pg 117. Under the Black Cross, pg 95.
The Story Behind Camille Devereux and The Raven
For many years, playing a Gangrel deck usually featured two vampires who had the exact same capacity and discipline spread – Camille Devereux and Raven. Some players probably thought it was amusing, if not puzzling, that there were two Gangrel who were exactly alike.
Well, there was a reason for this. In 1994, when Jyhad was released, Camille Devereux was one of the original cards printed in the game’s debut release, but the card’s artwork by L.A. Williams was taken directly without permission from a photo published in a Victoria’s Secret catalog of the model Stephanie Seymour.
A year later, when the base set was reprinted under the game’s new title Vampire: The Eternal Struggle, a replacement card was created called Raven, with a different illustration by L.A. Williams.
Both cards were considered unique onto themselves and did not contest with each other. That changed in 2004, for the Tenth Anniversary Edition, when both characters were combined into one card.
Know Your Kindred – Piotr Andreikov
Name: Piotr “Peter” Andreikov
Clan: Tzimisce
Generation: 12th
Embraced: 1969
Codenamed “Winter” for his cool demeanor, white-blonde hair and pale blue eyes – Piotr serves both as a priest of the Druid Hill pack in Baltimore and as an intelligence analyst, investigator and strategist for the Black Hand. He spends his nights reading reports from Sabbat packs and interviewing spies sent into Camarilla territories, pinpointing targets for both the Sabbat and the Black Hand
Piotr grew up in Houston, Texas, a first generation American born to immigrant Ukrainian parents, including an abusive father. His unusual name and cool nature set him apart from the other boys at school, who bullied him, but soon learned it was best to leave him alone, as his frustrations at home exploded into violent rage when other kids pushed him.
He grew up fascinated by serial killers, psychopaths and ancient cults. His interest in the dark side of human nature lead him into psychology and police work. Piotr was an excellent detective – solving several high profile murders, which earned him the ire of the Toreador, who were trying to found a criminal empire.
The Toreador blood bound Piotr and the effects of the bond frightened him. Odd lapses of judgement, irrational compulsions troubled him deeply. His increasingly distracted mind and carelessness lead him to be kidnapped by a Tzimisce named Deloris, who at first delighted in playing with this Camarilla pawn, but she soon respected his cool courage when faced with her horrific pets. Intrigued, she embraced him into her clan.
Piotr adapted well to unlife. No stranger to violence, he grew to enjoy inflicting it on others. He tracked down his former slave master and wrecked the Toreador’s criminal business before trapping and destroying him in his own haven. However, Piotr was not cut out to be a morphosist like his sire and her pack mates. His keen intellectual curiosity forced him to sever his ties when the Black Hand dominion, Chang, who noted his abilities, invited him to join the Black Hand.
His labors have served the Sabbat well during its invasion up the East Coast. Piotr has self appointed himself as Baltimore’s Black Hand census taker, filling out his own knowledge of the sub-sect’s members, activities and aspirations.
Piotr’s pale hair and eyes and bone-white skin give him a washed out look. Due to his police training, his frame is muscular but short. He still tends to dress in suits.
Source: Caine’s Chosen: The Black Hand, pg 93-94.
Know Your Kindred – Tegyrius, Vizier
Name: Tegyrius
Clan: Assamite
Generation: 5th
Embraced: 330 B.C.
For the Children of Haqim, the Vizier caste (aka the “scholar caste”) studies range from theology to particle physics. ‘THE’ Vizier is elected every 63 years to the position.
The current Vizier of the clan is Tegyrius, an ancient legal expert, who has held the title three consecutive centuries.
In life, Tegyrius was a cavalry officer, who rode in Alexander the Great’s armies. Until one day his horse fell over on him and crushed his leg. It was here he was embraced by an unnamed child of Haquim, who told Tegyrius of his nights in the Second City and the role judges had played.
Tegyrius took on the judge role for himself, spending centuries traveling the world, serving as an anonymous neutral arbiter in countless Cainite and mortal disputes. Some Ventrue and Malkavians remember him in the court of Justinian, watching as the emperor codified Roman law. Others remember him at the bloody battles of Constantinople.
After serving one term as head Vizier, Tegyrius disappeared for several centuries. He resurfaced in the 17th century, where he went to Alamut to claim a seat on the Council of Scrolls and later elected again as leader of the Viziers in 1801. He remained at Alamut for the next two centuries, slipping into episodes of month-long torpor due to sheer lethargy.
But Ur-Shulgi’s awakening and subsequent assumption of power has galvanized Tegyrius into action. While reverence toward Haqim was acceptable, blind worship of him as a genocidal god went against everything Tegyrius saw as the legacy of the Second City. The clan wide schism created by Ur-Shulgi’s new policies have some viziers whispering Tegyrius aided al-Ashrad’s bid to join the Camarilla, with plans for Tegyirus to be appointed the first Assamite Justicar.
Tegyrius walks with a slight limp, from a broken hip that never fully healed. He was embraced near the end of his military career, so the grey in his beard and around his temples stands in stark contract with his pure black skin. Tegyrius is a master linguist, who can manipulate his accent.
Source: Clanbook: Assamite Revised pg. 34-36, 99-100