Know Your Kindred – Lazarus James

Name: Lazarus James (aka Father Iago)
Clan: Malkavian
Generation: 6th
Embrace: 1077

Iago was the personal priest to the demanding and brutal Countess Matilde of Tuscany. Iago was also a devout follower of Pope Gregory VII, even though he rarely agreed with the Pope’s decisions on matters of state. This all came to a head when the Pope excommunicated Henry IV, the Holy Roman Emperor.

Iago found that the Pope had Henry thrown out of his castle, standing barefoot in the freezing snow. Iago believed what the Pope and the Countess were doing was very wrong. He pleaded that Henry be allowed back in, but now he was beginning to see what kind of a man the Pope really was.

At sun set, a very pale man, who was an advisor to the Pope arrived and suggested Henry remain outside until he died from pneumonia. This idea shook Iago to his core and he stood up to denounce this advisor’s idea, making a well reasoned and moving speech about Christian charity that convinced the Pope to rescind the excommunication.

After Henry was allowed inside and back into his chambers, Iago stopped by his room to kiss his ring and wish him luck. Then as Iago left the room, he saw a swirl of cloth in the corner of his eye and everything went black.

Iago awoke with the Countess standing over him, screaming and telling him what a disgrace he was to the church. Iago didn’t feel right, there was a terrible hunger in his belly and a gnawing ache in his mouth. Before he knew it, he lunged at the Countess and sang his newly sharpened teeth into her neck. Somehow Iago got a grip on himself, dropping the Countess in horror and fleeing the castle to the far reaches of the Earth.

Iago tried to remain the man he had always been, but the suffering grew extreme. With each feeding his sanity, as well as his faith, diminished a little more. Somewhere along the way he changed his name from Iago to Lazarus after his madness overwhelmed him.

Lazarus never stopped traveling, preaching a blasphemous sermon of pure Christian heresy, shocking many in the religious community.  It is said he even had a run-in with Jerry Falwell.

Usually Lazarus shows up in New Orleans for Mardi Gras, where the socially dysfunctional of Kindred and Kine wait for his arrival, anticipating each year’s spectacle. One year he preached from a float, covered in black roses, scantly clad women and three crosses with what appeared to have real people nailed to them.

The Prince of New Orleans tries to keep Lazarus from attracting too big a crowd or violating the Masquerade.

With his powers in Presence, Lazarus is able to convince people of things they would not normally believe – their friends are their enemies, their children hate them, etc. But he rarely does it, not wanting to bring too much attention to himself.

Lazarus is a tall, angular man with shaggy blond hair and blue eyes. He is skinny and pale, dressing predominately in black with lots of silver jewelry. He makes his haven in monasteries around the world.

– Source: New Orleans By Night, pg. 58-59

Know Your Kindred – Petaniqua

Name:  Petaniqua
Clan:  Malkavian
Generation:  5th
Embrace:  323 AD

Petaniqua was originally known as Olympias – the mother of Alexander the Great.  Born into the royal family of the Macedonian Empire, she lived a spoiled and carefree life.  She delighted in the discovery of secret knowledge, which lead her to service in the cult of Cybele – a demonic Malkavian Methuselah.  The religion of Cybele had a hold over Petaniqua and she eventually became Cybele’s lover and began tasting her blood.

Using the powers she gained from Cybele, Olympias raised her son Alexander to be a proud, ruthless military leader.  For her success, Olympias was finally Embraced by Cybele.  After Alexander assumed the throne and conquered the Persian Empire, he was wounded and later died of fever.  Olympias wanted to be with her son, but Cybele refused to let Olympias go and make her son immortal.

With Alexander dead, the noble families of Greece pushed Olymias and Cybele out of the empire.  They fled to Delphia where they took resident among 13 members of the True Brujah clan.

These Brujah were masters of manipulating time and at predicting the future.  They claimed to have time itself imprisoned somewhere under their compound.  Olymias was fascinated with their powers and soon she studied their manipulations and became a priestess, gaining a remarkable ability to see the future.

In return for their hospitality, the True Brujah asked Olympias to help them break a curse that prevented them from crossing the borders of Asia.  She agreed to aid them and upon returning from her mission she found Cybele destroyed, burned to crisp by the sun and the group of True Brujah had mysteriously vanished.  Olympias spent the next few centuries puzzled by this event.  She wondered if the True Brujah were actually Malkavians who tricked her, but why did they kill her sire and not her?  And why could she not have foreseen their plot?  Olympias was afraid she was being hunted by the clan.

Olympias finally came out of the woods and joined the Sabbat.  The Sabbat accepted her because of her power, chief among them, her ability to command corrupted Garou, like the Black Spiral Dancers which she used as retainers.  They renamed her Petaniqua, the Black Eyes of the Wyrm.

As the Sabbat gained power and the Camarilla learned of Petaniqua and her involvement with the Lupines, the Malkavians decided to destroy her for the good of the clan.   They found Petaniqua and nearly destroyed her, but a group of Black Spiral Dancers came to her aid and chased away the Malkavian intruders.  Although she survived the attack, Petaniqua was so wounded she fell headlong into torpor.

It wasn’t until the mid-1960s that the Black Spiral Dancers were able to awaken her again.  Petaniqua quickly reestablished herself in the new modern world as a Malkavian antitribu, eventually becoming an Inquisitor in the Sabbat.  While the Path of Evil Revelations enticed her, Petaniqua found her Garou beliefs to be the real answers to her twisted spirituality.  She started worshipping the Wyrm in secret ceremonies while her pack traveled through Mexico City.  She is now enslaved by the Wyrm and has transferred her loyalty from Cybele to this unholy manifestation.

Petaniqua wanted to find a way to gain entry into the Camarilla and redeem herself with her own clan.  She discovered that there was a member of the Red List in her own Sabbat pack.  She quickly stacked him and brought him to the Camarilla to claim the Trophy.  But the Malkavians remembered Petaniqua and urged the other clans to destroy her.  Petaniqua managed to escaped into the wilderness with now both the Camarilla and the Sabbat chasing after her.

Now Petaniqua has forsaken vampire society and spends most of her time among the corrupted Lupines.  She hopes to one day prepare them as an army to march against the Camarilla.  But this is difficult as her followers are not entirely rational beings.  If they were more sane her plan might well come to fruition.  In the future, she hopes to assault the Masquerade.  Petaniqua unequivocally believes that Gehanna is a myth to give the Camarilla control and the Sabbat a cause.

The Malkavians want her more than any other clan, dead or alive.  The Gangrel fear her because of the hold she has over werewolves.  The Lupines are just now beginning to learn about her, although most do not consider her a great danger.

But Petaniqua is a convenient scapegoat for the crimes committed by Camarilla elders, when they need to shift blame to someone else.  Some quietly suggest the Justicars have been ordered to pull back from pursuing her in order to maintain this “safety net” of blame.  A few say there is an even more sinister purpose for slowing the pursuit.

Rumors persist that she is either a Black Spiral Dancer or a Follwer of Set.   Because of the taint she carries, Garou can detect her over great distances, but because she has only been awake for the last 30 years, the Garou don’t yet realize the threat she poses.

Her skills in Auspex allow her to peer into the spirit plane of the Umbra.  And she can use her Dementation to give targets derangements and turn them into cold blooded killers.

Petaniqua moves like a queen, as if she owns everything.  She cannot rest unless she controls her environment.  Not being able to do so causes her to go into a rage.  Lately, she has been having dreams of a world in flames – and saw herself fanning these flames.  She also saw ancient vampires rising from the graves she dug up.  Petaniqua has no idea what these visions mean, but she knows better than to dismiss them.

Petaniqua has black hair and lovely purple-hued eyes.  She dresses like a shaman, with rattlesnake skulls, rattles and bird bones attached to her clothing like ornaments.

– Source:  Kindred Most Wanted, pg 80-85.

Know Your Kindred – White Lily

Name:  White Lily
Clan:  Malkavian antitribu
Generation:  6th
Embrace:  1776

Almost nothing is known about White Lily’s past.  The story is that she was Embraced by a powerful Black Hand assassin, who trained her.  She is one of the Hand’s best, most reliable agents, and has also maintained an identity within the Camarilla.  She travels the world, destroying anyone who is a danger to the sect.

Lily looks like a woman in her mid-twenties with blonde hair in a blunt-cut bob and has a beauty mark near her mouth.  She wears a padded black leather jumpsuit with high-laced combat boots.  She has many pockets sewn into her leather jacket to accommodate her many weapons – sniper rifle, pistol with silencer, silver bullets.  She wears round sunglasses and moves like a panther.

Source:  Midnight Circus, pg 116.

Know Your Kindred – Alicia Barrows

Name:  Alicia Barrows
Clan:  Malkavian antitribu
Generation:  6th
Embraced:  1401

Alicia is the Archbishop of Mexico City, so she has substantial influence over the unlives of those around her.  But she is smart enough not to flaunt her power and is alive because of the precautions she takes and her use of others to actually give the orders.

When she was a mortal fortune teller, her cards told her that Gehenna was coming and the Antediluvians would rise up and devour them all.  She told her master this and he forced the Embrace on her so that he would not die alone.  But he did die alone, when Alicia betrayed and killed him.

Since then she has consulted her fortune telling cards again and now believes Gehenna can be prevented, but the only question is how?  Alicia hopes to convince the entire Sabbat they must work together to find and destroy the Antediluvians.

Alicia is pale and lovely.  Her hair is dark red and her eyes are green.  She stands only 4 feet 10 inches tall but carries herself as if she were taller.  She is often mistaken for a child when first seen.

– Source:  Chaos Factor, pg 57-58.

Know Your Kindred – Ankou

Name:  The Ankou
Clan:  Malkavian
Generation:  Perhaps 5th?
Embraced:  Unknown

There are many tales about the being known as Ankou.  It is an ancient terror that stalks the night and appears in Malkavians’ dreams as a remorseless, lifeless monster that silently treads country roads with an ox-cart and scythe.

Most reliable visions hint that it is a Methuselah, grandchilde of Malkav and faithful servant of his 4th generation creator.

The Ankou can roam through Lupine territory untouched, through a busy downtown unseen, and even vanish from one place and appear miles away, visible to only it’s victims.

Malkavians vanish from their hunting grounds all the time, but sometimes after a disappearance, the Madness Network vibrates with whispers repeating “Ankou.”

– Source: Clanbook Malkavian (Revised), pg 100

Know Your Kindred: The Ankou

Name:  The Ankou
Clan:  Malkavian
Generation:  Perhaps 5th?
Embraced:  Unknown

There are many tales about the being known as Ankou.  It is an ancient terror that stalks the night and appears in Malkavians’ dreams as a remorseless, lifeless monster that silently treads country roads with an ox-cart and scythe.

Most reliable visions hint that it is a Methuselah, grandchilde of Malkav and faithful servant of his 4th generation creator.

The Ankou can roam through Lupine territory untouched, through a busy downtown unseen, and even vanish from one place and appear miles away, visible to only it’s victims.

Malkavians vanish from their hunting grounds all the time, but sometimes after a disappearance, the Madness Network vibrates with whispers repeating “Ankou.”

Source: Clanbook Malkavian (Revised), pg 100