Know Your Kindred – Ambrosio Luis Moncada

Name:  Ambrosio Luis Moncada
Clan:  Lasombra
Generation:  6th
Embraced:  1153

For centuries Cardinal Ambrosio Luis Moncada led the Lasombra clan.  His chambers beneath Madrid were the epicenter of Lasombra culture.  He commanded fear that few others in the Sabbat could match.   He was very nearly beyond the reach of the regent and the Black Hand.

Not much is known about Moncada’s early life, except that he was a talented Catholic priest with big ambitions and an unshakable religious faith.    However, the politics of the church kept him an outsider.  But Moncada’s honesty in a time when corrupt clergy were commonplace caught the eye of a certain Lasombra.

Moncada was not changed much by the Embrace.  Within weeks many vampires became regular visitors to his confessional and Moncada quickly obtained a position of supremacy among the Lasombra.   But he saw this quest for power as a quest for God, not himself.  And now that he was immortal he had all eternity to do the Lord’s work.  Moncada’s influence rapidly grew in mortal and immortal society.  The network created around him gave Moncada a power few Cainites could match.

In 1190, Moncada embraced a young noblewoman named Lucita.  He was enthralled by her beauty and free will – so much so that it grew into an unholy lust for her.  He embraced her and hoped to make her his forever, but her rebellious spirit spurned him and the Sabbat.

As the centuries passed, Moncada’s faith never wavered, but evolved into something dark and terrible.  From Moncada’s perspective, only God can grant salvation, and since there is no salvation available to vampires, they are all damned in God’s eyes.  Moncada felt it was his duty to do his best to earn that damnation, because it was God’s mission for him.  Many scholars believe the Path of Night was created by Moncada’s dark faith.

As time went by, Moncada’s influence consolidated.  He was still a spiritual anchor for Lasombra who remained Catholic, but his influence with younger Sabbat waned.  Moncada stayed confined in his haven, protected by a maze of corridors around his inner chambers.  Moncada was immensely fat, almost repulsively so.  However he moved with a grace and silence remarkable for a man his size.  Intruders in his maze never heard his approach.

In the end, Moncada’s haven and awesome power could not protect him.  He met an agonizing Final Death from the Assamite Fatima.   The female assassin was put on a contract to kill the cardinal.  After the two fought in his inner chamber, Moncada lost his left arm and shoulder, but was able to summon the shadows around him, grappling Fatima in a crushing grip.  But Fatima called upon the blood inside her and it welled up her throat, spewing out her mouth and into Moncada’s face.  His skin peeled off, his eyes shriveled, and his whole head burned away, leaving behind a smoldering heap on the floor.

Since his death, Moncada’s haven became a pilgrimage destination for devout Lasombra (and some Cainites of other clans too), who come to see where one of the greatest Cainites once roamed and to ponder their own uncertain futures.

– Sources:  Transylvania Chronicles I, pg 80. Children of the Night, pg 27-28.  Clan Novel Saga: End Games Vol 4, pg.103-105.  Clanbook: Lasombra (Revised), pg 96-97.