From Know Your Kindred
Know Your Kindred – Alfred Benezri
Name: Alfred Benezri
Clan: Pander
Generation: 8th
Embraced: 1769
Alfred is a rare breed among the Sabbat – contemplative and spiritual. A poet and statesman, Alfred is now the Archbishop of Montreal. Prior to that he was a judge and knight inquisitor, where he helped write the format for the modern Sabbat Inquisition.
As Archbishop, Alfred tires to keep the peace between the various Sabbat packs. His even temper helps calm the more eclectic Sabbat members.
Alfred was Embraced in Damascus in 1769. After his sire was destroyed, Alfred fled to Montreal where he was accepted by the Sabbat’s Shepherds of Caine, despite his Sunni Muslim heritage. Alfred seeks to understand God through the melody of his words. He tortures mortals to record their dying utterances.
On special occasions Alfred has allowed non-Sabbat vampires entry into Montreal, something unpopular with younger Sabbat.
Alfred is a tall man with dark skin. His eyes are a piercing blue. He wears clothes from the Middle East, typically robes made of silk. Alfred mostly feeds from members of the Arab and Iranian community in Montreal.
Note: Alfred is romantically involved with the Kiasyd, Beatrice L’Angou.
– Source: Montreal by Night, pg. 85-86. Nights of Prophecy, pg. 132, 136, 142, 156.
Know Your Kindred – Celeste Lamontagne
Name: Celeste Lamontagne
Clan: Country Gangrel antitribu
Generation: 9th
Embrace: 1979
Celeste was a wildlife expert who was Embraced by a Gangrel because of her almost religious appreciation for nature. A dedicated Harmonist, Celeste believes Cainites should accept their natural place as predators and not kingmakers.
In 1983 she befriended some Sabbat in Montreal, whose philosophies jibed with hers. Celeste has become extremely loyal to them and is fond of wrecking Camarilla plans (she considers the Cams the worst of all power mongers).
Celeste feels trapped in the city and spends much of her time roaming between the forests of Quebec, Ontario and New York State. She is allies among the Country Gangrel and clashed with the Camarilla Gangrel. She is also friendly with many Werewolves. During her last excursion in Garou territory she shared a night of passion with her Lupine guide, Jeremy Swiftrunner. When Celeste emerged from the ground the next night, Jeremy was gone and the scent of shame hung in the air.
Celeste gained some followers as leader of the alternative band “Wyldchylde.”
Celeste is a feral beauty, She is tall, muscular and always ready to burst into action. She bears the marks of multiple frenzies, including pointed ears and eyes that reflect light.
Note: On two occasions, Celeste has assumed the Lupine “wolf-man” form while lost in battle fury.
– Source: Montreal by Night, pg. 81.
Know Your Kindred – Pentweret
Name: Pentweret
Clan: Followers of Set
Generation: 6th
Embrace: 180 B.C.
Pentweret was a Follower of Set who wished to preach the Dark God’s teachings to everyone he could. He wondered why the Setites keep so many secrets about their faith when the Christians are completely open about how to gain salvation? Pentweret tried to preach Set’s message openly, but two months after he started his temple was burned down and many of his congregation murdered.
While Pentweret was hiding, he met Saulot. The Antediluvian sympathized with the priest’s desire to enlighten the masses, but warned him that people cannot accept too many new ideas at one time – and that went double for Cainites too. Saulot told Pentweret that vampires are jealous, petty creatures. They feared Pentweret was trying to spread his influence into their territories, so they created the mob that burned down the temple. Pentweret investigated and sure enough Saulot was right. So Pentweret decided to drop out of politics and seek Golconda instead. Pentweret combined Setite teachings with Saulot’s. He vowed that once he attained Golconda he would return to his clan and teach them the true path of wisdom. No more mysteries!
But after eight centuries with no success, Pentweret became increasingly bitter and angry. Saulot’s destruction only taught him how far he had to go to master his passions. He joined a group of Inconnu and tried to give assistance to others to reach Golconda. All of these attempts failed or backfired. Pentweret was bitterly reviled by his fellow Inconnu for these mishaps, so he grew tired with the world and advocated staying out of Jyhads. He has traded his passions in for weariness. Everyone can go to Hell as far as he’s concerned now. Leave him alone.
Pentweret practices a mix of magic that is a Setite version of Thaumaturgy. Much of Pentweret’s sorcery is based around amulets, which he wears around his neck.
Pentweret’s retainers are four ghouled venomous cobras that are highly intelligent and three animated statues of crocodile-headed men. If Pentweret were to die the retainers would endure for one month, seeking revenge. The statues would go on a rampage against anyone they came across. The Cobras are trained to assassinate those involved. Their bites can send a vampire to torpor and their Potence could knock a hole through a wall and drag the sleeping vampire into the daylight.
Pentweret is a small, middle-aged man with a shaved head. His skin remains dark despite two millennia of undeath. He usually wears a simple black linen robe. He carries an Egyptian twist-top rod and wears several small amulets, all tools for his sorcery.
– Source: Lair of the Hidden, pg. 67-69.
Know Your Kindred – Talbot
Name: Talbot
Clan: Gangrel
Generation: Unknown
Embrace: Unknown
During the 1950s, a deranged Gangrel went on a seven state killing spree. The rusty yellow chainsaw she used is believed to possess some unknown supernatural powers. Rumors include: complete immunity to bullets, blades and fire, as well as the ability to call up zombie-like creatures.
– Source: Player’s Guide to the Sabbat, pg 154.
Know Your Kindred – Melinda Galbraith
Name: Melinda Galbraith
Clan: Toreador antitribu
Generation: 5th
Embraced: 1143 BC
Melinda Galraith is considered to be one of the most dangerous vampires in the world, notorious for her cruelty. Melinda is a stunning woman with dark brown hair and hazel eyes. She is always dressed in the finest clothes money can buy. Once the Cardinal of Mexico City, she later became the Regent of the Sabbat.
Although Melinda was really a Toreador, she claims to be a Lasombra for purely political reasons, since traditionally the Regent comes from the Lasombra clan. Only the Seraphim of the Black Hand know Melinda’s true lineage.
In life, Melinda was a slave girl in Europe working for the Toreador, Helena. Melinda hated being a slave and promised herself that she wouldn’t let that happen to her again. Later she was Embraced by Helena and forced into a Blood Bond – another form of slavery.
Melinda traveled to Mexico with Helena and the Conquistadors, where they waged war against the Aztecs. Then without a word of warning Helena abandoned Melinda. But Melinda’s memories may not be accurate, as she’s been under the influence of the demon Baali known as Hitzilopoctli. He slumbers beneath her city and slowly twisted her mind. She is under the belief that Helena betrayed her. Hitzilopoctli prepared to make Melinda believe he was her sire and lover. Melinda still has feelings of love for Helena, but also of hatred for what she did to her.
Melinda went missing for months after a major unexplained disaster in Mexico City that killed thousands. Hitzilopoctli was the force behind the disaster. Melinda was trying to help him awaken from hundreds of years spent in torpor, but other vampires from the Camarilla interfered and a major earthquake and explosion erupted, devastating the Mexico City region. Hitzilopoctli disappeared, having either been destroyed or returned to his unending sleep. And Melinda vanished.
But before the Sabbat could replace her as Regent, Melinda returned and reaffirmed her position of power. But it was not Melinda who reappeared after the disaster. It was an entity known as the Red Death, a being who could make itself look like anyone it comes in contact with. While the Red Death can copy appearances, it cannot capture memories and this false Melinda was exposed as an impostor and killed before the Seraphim.
*Note: The Red Death Trilogy is now considered to be non-canon. Here is another account of Melinda’s disappearance:
Since the 2001 Palla Grande, Melinda has kept a terrible secret – she is actually Zachary Sikorsky, a Tzimisce impostor. Zachary was scheduled to meet Melinda and present her a “costume” for the big ball that night. But upon entering the room he found her crumbling body on the floor and a strange sign painted in blood on the wall of her dressing room.
Fearing the elders would accuse him of her murder, or atleast make him the scapegoat, Zachary quickly changed his appearance and took her place inorder to save his own life.
He intended to only impersonate her until the festivities were over and he would simply slip away into the night. But weeks and then months went by and Zachary never found a chance to escape from the Regent’s retinue of bodyguards, aides, supplicants and cronies.
– Source: Chaos Factor, pg 54-55. Unholy Allies, pg 131. Unbeholden, pg 3-4, 80, 174, 335-339. Mexico City by Night, pg. 95-96
Know Your Kindred – Toy
Name: Toy
Clan: Samedi
Generation: Unknown
Embraced: 1800
Imagine a rage-driven, decomposing monster without the capacity to express his fury due to missing limbs. Toy is much, much worse.
The Samedi known as “Toy” was most likely Embraced as a joke. Born with no arms or legs, he failed his Creation Rites and lay in torpor in his grave from 1800 to 1852. When the old cemetery was dug up and moved in 1852, the Sabbat exhumed the vampires who failed their creation rites. When Toy was found the Archbishop decided to put him in a toy chest with another vampire to undergo another test. After an hour the chest was opened and they found Toy in a pool of blood. They declared him the winner (and thus the nickname “Toy” stuck).
Toy is kept sealed in his box every night until feeding time. Sometimes they use him to send neonates through their Creation Rites, but none have survived.
Toy is a quadriplegic. Filth, blood, grime and chunks of flesh cake his face. His mouth is filled with razor-like teeth.
– Source: Montreal by Night, pg. 113
Know your Kindred – Jacob the Glitch
Name: Jacob the Glitch
Clan: Tremere antitribu
Generation: 7th
Embraced: 1880
Jacob is a pawn under the control of the demon Metathiax; being used as a sensory conduit to spy on the vampires of Montreal. Wiping Jacob’s memory to prevent him from learning about his past, Metathiax released him into the city and cursed him with monthly episodes of complete amnesia, preventing him from ever advancing to a point where he could break free from the demon’s control.
Unknown to Metathiax is that the connection works in reverse; Jacob became aware of the subconscious fears of his demon master.
Jacob retains his memories for a single month before they vanish and he awakens the next night rambling in English, Greek, Russian, Latin and a multitude of other languages known to Metathiax.
For the most part Jacob is unintelligible, but there are moments of divine lucidity when he spouts off riddles, fragments of information and knowledge about Metathiax’s fears. The only thing Jacob can remember are potent Thaumaturgical rituals that no one can account for.
In 1998, Jacob, known for his amnesia and incoherent ramblings, became strangely lucid. He spent most of his time conferring with Noddist scholars and rumors said that he even offered to tech Thaumaturgy to anyone willing to listen to his incessant babbling. Then early one morning he met with his clanmate Yasmin, the Black and simply said “And so it is” and walked into the dawn sunlight. Some took this as a sign that Gehenna was coming and the Tremere antitribu of Montreal packed up and left.
Jacob was a small mousy Afro-Caribbean in disheveled clothes. He always looked confused and befuddled.
– Sources: Montreal By Night, pg. 91-92. Nights of Prophecy, pg. 136.
Know Your Kindred – Ezekiel, Lord of Montreal
Name: Ezekiel, Lord of Montreal
Clan: Serpent of Light
Generation: 8th (Raised from 9th through diablerie)
Embraced: 1981
Ezekiel made a name for himself as a shrewd leader and ruthless fighter for the Sabbat. He and his Black Hand circle were responsible for destroying many Chicago elders during the Sabbat-Lupine-Camarilla War in the early 90s.
Since his Creation Rites, Ezekiel has possessed a dark intensity with an unnatural ambition and adoration for the Sabbat. After his sire was found guilty of infernalism and destroyed, Ezekiel committed himself to rid the Sabbat of weakness.
Ezekiel wants to be the Archbishop of Montreal, but for now he stepped aside and allowed Alfred Benezri to take the position.
Ezekiel is a strong 16 year old boy with dark eyes and childhood innocence.
– Source: Montreal by Night, pg. 100-101. Nights of Prophecy, pg 130.
Know Your Kindred – Agaitas, The Scholar of Antiquities
Name: Agaitas, The Scholar of Antiquities
Clan: Harbingers of Skull
Generation: 8th
Embraced: Unknown
Agaitas has a thirst for vengeance unparalleled by anyone outside the Harbingers of Skulls. Agaitas did not meet the Cappadocian’s standards of worth, something that greatly angered him. To see a proud heritage be destroyed by the Giovanni, clan of second-rate usurpers and grave robbers was an ironic – if not a just – death for the Cappadocians.
Agaitas survived hellish unlifetimes in the rapidly unpredictable Shadowlands and now has returned to the realm of the living. Since his return, Agaitas has taken charge of protecting the Harbingers’ secrets. He euphemistically calls himself a “Scholar of Antiquities,” an elaborate title for a simple enforcer. Agaitas visits Montreal frequently, consulting with the Sabbat scholars there, as they have the finest occult and historical database accessible to the Sabbat.
Agaitas gives off a cold sensation, like a numbing chill. When questioning others his presence can cower the uncooperative.
Agaitas has round black eyes, like a shark’s. He wears a mask of stretched skin pulled tight around his own skull-like head. His hair is frail and dried like a corpse. He almost looks like a scarecrow.
– Source: Nights of Prophecy, pg. 140, 145. 154, 157-158.
Know Your Kindred – Toby
Name: Toby
Clan: Nosferatu
Generation: 10th
Embraced: 1988
Toby was a crack computer whiz, who prided himself on being able to hack his way into any network. Toby was too good infact. His talents attracted the attention of a Nosferatu named Oswald, who contacted Toby online and paid him to perform various illegal tasks. Toby was unaware of Oswald’s true nature and often did not know whose computer Oswald was paying him to hack into.
It all came to an end when Toby was attacked in his home by the Melanesian Liberation Army, someone Oswald had paid him to hack. As Toby laid dying on the floor Oswald appeared and Embraced Toby.
The transformation was horrific, but nothing compared to Toby’s new looks. He was a monster. He broke all the mirrors in his home and moved his equipment to a warehouse near the open sewer ducts. He could not stand for anyone to see him now.
The Nosferatu of the city were good to Toby, but Toby felt they only stopped by to feel better about themselves. There was only one visitor who Toby liked. He we a Brujah anarch named “Honest Abe” and unlike the others, Toby’s looks did not concern him. Toby started working for the anarchs in secret, often hacking into government computers for Abe.
Toby is fearful that the local prince will find out, so Toby takes special precautions not to be discovered. He has used his computer to change the city’s records so his warehouse is untouched.
Toby is a chubby person; fat hangs off him like multiple balloons growing from his flesh. He cannot wear a shirt and will not get one tailored for fear of letting someone measure him. His face is a wasteland of acne scars and his pimples ooze continually. He wipes his face with old rags, which he then throws into the sewers, as he is unable to clean them.
– Source: The Anarch Cookbook, pg 82-83. DC By Night, pg 63-64.