Riding back to Gothic-Punk (through the Dark Ages shortcut)
Forgotten Lore - Issue 3
Introduction
Imagine there's no Camarilla, no Sabbat (as we recognize it) and no world spanning Jyhad, but a War of Princes centred on a few hotspots.
No, I'm not talking about the 13th Century Europe of Dark Ages Vampire. I'm talking about unlife in the great Western cities of the 21st century. Recently, Queen Eglantine of the Court of Love of Shreveport was unmasked as a Malkavian, after agents to the Lasombra Bishop of Louisiana, Giles Bertrand, sabotaged her meeting with the Marcher Lord William Locklinn, Prince of Dallas. Interstate 20 between Dallas and Shreveport is plagued with Sabbats and Ahrimanes, and Eglantine was expected to offer Locklinn some Louisiana fiefs for his support against the malcontents. The gathering was disrupted, showing the whole world Locklinn apparently is unable to provide a safe meeting. At the same time, Shreveport lost its leadership.
That's the Vampire experience I’m proposing here, as I revisit Gothic- Punk through the lenses of the Dark Ages setting. Before presenting it, however, I think it’s important to understand the motives behind the idea.
Vampire Retrospective
Do you remember the very first time you set eyes on a green marble hardcover? I do. A friend introduced me to Masquerade in the mid 1990s, and soon our coterie was running and gunning through the bad side of town, trying to carve out a domain between decaying monuments and massive tenements.
Movies like The Hunger (1983) and Near Dark (1987) influenced the way we portrayed our character. Tim Bradstreets’ creations provided what we saw as the right imagery and early Danzig records helped to establish atmosphere. However, even without any other media we always enjoy ourselves, simply because it was Vampire.
A sense of doom permeated the whole world. The past was lost, ruined, and the future looked bleak.
Our characters, however, were the Kindred saying “f**k it” and “one more night”, proudly parading their middle fingers. Eventually, we discovered the joys of Elysium and politics, without losing the penchant for risky manoeuvres and desperate measures, of course. It's hard to explain the enjoyment we had, but old time fans know what I'm talking about.
Old time fans may also have experienced a sort of burnout from Vampire Retrospective time to time, like there was something missing on their game sessions. With me it happened sometime after I started reading the Revised Edition material, I mean, every single new release. It added a new layer of complexity to our stories, as we started to take in consideration the world spanning machinations of the Jyhad. But something changed, and Vampire suddenly was not enough. I still felt very attracted to all the concepts and imagery behind the game, but somehow the whole dynamic just didn't work anymore.
I felt obligated to ponder what messed my Masquerade experience all up, but it took Vampire the Requiem and its fresh perspective to make clear what had happened. It was my own fault, as I allowed metaplot and a multitude of (individually, great) options to interfere on what should have been my games and my characters. Yes, I'm saying the back to the basics approach made me overcome the burnout. It didn't provide any answer regarding how to actually back to the basics, though. In the end, my choice was to overhaul the whole setting. Doing so was the only way to ignore the aspects of Masquerade I found detrimental to what I envisioned as a cruder Gothic-Punk.
I have to admit, also, that the overhaul solution did not came after careful consideration or planning it rather stemmed from my predilection towards Dark Ages Vampire and my dissatisfaction with the metaplot developments after 1230 (the default starting date for Dark Ages Vampire). Why the Camarilla? Why the Sabbat? Of course, Vampire: the Masquerade and its two sects came to be long before the Dark Ages line, but that did not stopped me from holding a grudge (despite all my love for green marble). Finally, I decided to act, to shake things up a bit, but not before setting guiding principles, my own development standards. Those, obviously, are also personal preferences.
Themes
First, I like the idea that Cainites ride history – they're not its guiders. Humans guide history, by their uncoordinated and disparate aspirations and actions. After the Embrace, you're not only out of realm of the living, you're an anachronism, strange to the realm of history itself. And of course, Cainites have their own confusing (and frightening) melange of history and legend, and it adds more flavor to the setting and game experience than the notion of vampires as the "secret masters".
Secondly, things should remain local, even in the age of instant communication. Of course, Kindred share information and travel between cities, but most schemes remain within city limits, and only the great movers and shakers are able to influence more than that, the realm of metro zones and megaregions.
Think about the Texas Triangle cities (Dallas, Austin, St. Antonio, Houston etc.) or South California, and you’'ll know how far the immediate influence of a powerful elder or group of elders extends.
External conflict appears where different zones of influence intersect, like those portrayed on Europe's map of Dark Ages Vampire.
Lastly, the setting’s elements must not conflict with what I think as proper Vampire mood and themes.
I'm talking about Gothic-Punk, and how it should always guide designing and aesthetics. Gothic-Punk is as raw and desperate as it is embellished by the grandeur of decay, and I'm not only talking about ill lit streets glistening with broken glass or Gothic Revival skyscrapers, but also about how vampires should conduce their affairs. The so called “Fish Malkavians” epitomize a undesirable portrayal of Masquerade's vampires, not in tune with Gothic-Punk. Gothic-Punk archetypes, at least if we consider the 1990s, include goth kids, street preachers, punks, urban primitives, bikers, criminals, metalheads, artists and many others. Beyond these archetypes there's a myriad of possible other character concepts, and as a rule of thumb I like to start with a Nature or Demeanor and ask myself how it could express Gothic-Punk.
How about a Bon Vivant character, is she a wild-eyed poet, oppressed by what she understands as urban alienation.
According the same character-centric logic, the Dark Ages Vampire Roads are also good starting points, since they were developed according a world we Westerners traditionally fancy as barbaric (sort of Punk) and full of evocative, even if sombre, sceneries (Gothic). The general art notes for Vampire the Masquerade 20th anniversary edition advises the use of visual elements that enforce a neo-medieval social structure, such as modernized medieval motifs and romanticized depictions of ruins. So, how about pushing neo-medieval into character creation? Does the Bon Vivant poet follows the Road of Humanity, or do you think she could do better with the Sinners?
But what did this guy salvaged from the green marble books, you may ask. Well, I have always been fond of the idea that Cainites are experiencing the Last Nights, but I dislike how the notion ended so entangled with Jyhad and metaplot.
A reckoning is at hand, but its unfolding does not seem to disturb most Kindred affairs. There are some portents (like Caitiff, and the appearance of Thin Bloods) and enigmatic rumours of distant events, but the War of Princes and the War of Ages follow quite different rhythms, and are perceived as two clearly independent conflicts. A sense of dread and urgency permeates the current nights, and that's what most vampires know about the War of Ages.
Sects
Acting accordingly the fundamentals above I decided the Camarilla was unnecessary. I stated each city or region was under the yoke of a Cainite or group of Cainites. Also, I got rid of the Sabbat, Masquerade's bloodstained monolith. There are only Sabbats. Getting rid of the sects had it consequences, though. It affected clan history, something I thought about after asking myself how the Tremere managed to survive without the Ivory Tower. It also means more infighting, since there's no need to unite against a common enemy.
Only rarely the Sabbats stop fighting against each other and coordinate their efforts, forming tense short term alliances. In fact, some Princes actively use sell-out Sabbats against their rivals (including other Sabbats), or at least tolerate their presence in the outskirts of town, providing they don't disturb the established order. The enemies within city limits are more dangerous, and that's why Princes try to enforce a feudal order, since it gives local movers and shakers autonomy (and safety) enough for pursuing their own agendas, while fledglings are kept on the leash. That's why newly-embraced Cainites form coteries.
So, there's no Camarilla and no Sabbat (as a single entity), but how about the Anarchs. I decided to stay with Dark Ages' Furores and Prometheans, the setting's idealists, firebrands and loyal opposition. More than organized political stances they are vague principles of action, allowing players and storytellers to create a variety of characters and contexts.
Camarilla
The Camarilla just never happened. The Last Nights are ruled by powerful warring Princes, some of them Methuselahs. Mithras holds England, the various independent Courts of Love share most of France and Hardestadt the Elder still rules the German domains. Various Lassombra lords rule the domains of Catalunia, Provence and southern Italy.
Tzimisce voivodes haunt the Balkans and the lands of Russia. In the New World, each great metropolis is the center of a princedom, some of them powerful enough to influence Cainite affairs in whole regions. For example, there are Toreador Courts of Love along the Mississipi, in the cities of Minneapolis, Saint Paul, St. Louis, Memphis, Baton Rouge and New Orleans; and Texan domains are ruled by a confederacy of Scions, the Marcher Lords.
The Sabbats
There is no Sabbat, but various Sabbats, wandering bands of Cainites united by the mystically enhanced loyalty of the Vinculum. The first packs appeared during the Mongol invasion of Eastern Europe (second half of the 13th century), when Tzimisce, Nosferatu and Gangrel Methuselahs discovered (or created) the Vaulderie, to counter the roving hordes of Anda. United by the Vinculum, local packs of neophytes were launched against the hordes of Anda invaders, guaranteeing the survival of their own home domains.
However, after dealing with the eastern menace, the local Princes started using the packs against each other, lately causing a rebellion of their brutalized underlings, during the mid-14th century. United by the Vinculum, they fought their former masters, and then adopted a violent and unruly way of unlife based solely on brotherhood and limitless freedom.
During the Last Nights, the various Sabbats rule the roads and backwater domains of North America, serving none but themselves.
In the US, Kansas City is the only important city ruled by a loose coalition of Sabbats, but in the South and Western States they were able to establish smaller domains.
Furores
The Furores, often called "Anarchs" by the Scions, are a loose coalition of coteries united against the oppression of ruling elders. They usually adopt the Road of the Beast, the Road of Sin or the Road of Humanity, and try to change their home domains from within (sometimes peacefully, sometimes not). Most Princes just tolerate the Furores. In Europe, since the 14th century, the sect founded various "free cities", following the medieval communal movement. In North America, San Francisco is the most acknowledged Furore commune.
The Prometheans
The Prometheans are not a sect, but a network of fellow scholars and schemers, united by the dream of re-establishing Carthage (a Carthage-like domain). They're all Elders, and the most influential among them secluded Methuselahs.
Together, they work to influence the Princes of Europe and the Americas. The US harbors a disproportional number of them, attracted by the possibilities of what they still see as a new and promising country.
Clans & Bloodlines
I adapted some Clans and Bloodlines according my own needs as a storytellers, and of course, according to the setting's needs. Here I present only the most divergent from the original.
Ahrimanes
The Ahrimanes are not a rare, all-female bloodline.
They're the lords and ladies of the Southern Appalachians and the swamps of the Deep South. They oppose the Lasombra, Ventrue and Toreador, all vying for the conflict zone the domains of Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi and Louisiana became. So far, their only allies are local broods of Gangrel and Nosferatu, but they compensate their lack of political influence with extreme violence, guerrilla tactics and blood magic. Centuries ago, the Gangrel Muricia followed the kine colonists into the Smoky Mountains, between Tennessee and North Carolina. There, she became consort to a long imprisoned demon of the land, and he granted her the knowledge of the spirit magic called koldunism by the Tzimisce (yes, some of my Ahrimanes are kolduns).
Assamite
The Children of Haqim suffered heavily with the destruction of their most import domains, by the Mongol hordes (during the 13th century). With the conquerors came the Anda, numerous and battle hardened. Without their herds and influence among mortal institutions, the fight for the East was the greatest challenge the Clan faced since the Baali.
Only in the early 15th century they were able to reestablish some degree of stability, after reconquering some of the old territories, but then ur-Shulgi awakened. The Clan's eldest reinstated the Road of Blood as the orthodoxy, thus causing the Schism, as the numerous Assamite followers of other Roads (specially the Muslim Assamites) had to abandon the region or suffer destruction. The exiled Assamites, including a considerable number of Viziers and Sorcerers, colonized the newly conquered Balkan lands of the Ottoman Empire, and followed the Turkish advance in Europe, taking local domains as their former lords fled the Muslim armies. European Kindred retaliated, however, with the Tremere Curse, a plague affecting all the Schismatics (but not those loyal to ur-Shulgi), to the current nights.
Cappadocians
The Feast of Folly, the culling of Clan Cappadocian, never happened.
It means there are more Cappadocians, and not all of them hew to the stereotype of heaven- obsessed necromancers.
They're occultists, schemers, seneschals, criminals, even Princes. In the New World, the Cappadocians are even more diverse, since they're far from the Clan's Elder orthodoxy.
The Lamia are their muscle, and the Giovanni control not only the dead, but palatial estates and billions of dollars. A bloodline of Cappadocians, the Samedi, active in the Caribbean and southern U.S., work as guardsmen and enforcers, and at least some of them are allied to the Tremere House of High Saturday.
Lasombra
The Lasombra are influential in Southern Europe, specially Southern Italy and Spain.
Montano, Monçada and Gratiano, Lucita hold mandates from the Castle of Shadows, where the Clan's Founder lies torpid. In the New World, the Methuselah Violante claimed the tittle of Archbishop of New Spain, in the early 19th century, and she still holds great influence over most Mexican domains, governed by her children and other members of Clan Lassombra (her Bishops). In the US, Violante claims most of former Spanish-Mexican lands, except for Texas (the Marches of New Spain).
California, New Mexico, Arizona and Nevada are under Violante's sway, but north of the border her influence is contested, and her Bishops are practically autonomous. Florida, another Lassombra domain, harbors a Exharchate, ruled by another of Violante's children. The historical presence of a number of Lassombra domains in the Gulf's shore made the Cainites call it The Gulf of Shadows.
The Gulf Lasombra, however, do not recognize Violante’s authority.
Tremere
Without the Camarilla, the Tremere survived selling their support, both political and otherwise. During the 12th and 13th centuries they allied themselves with the Hungarian Ventrue, against the Tzimisce voivodes, and with the Schismatic Assamite invasion, in the wake of Ottoman conquerors, the Tremere were sought by frightened elders of the High Clans, and then they cursed the Children of Haqim.
In the U.S., the Tremere followed the same strategy, as they helped the Ventrue from the Baronies of Avalon against the Lasombra and other conquerors, and now New York, Boston, Philadelphia and Charleston all hold prestigious chantries. However, their greatest success came during the Texan Revolution, when Regent Marissa supported a conspiracy of Ventrue, Toreador and Brujah against the local Lasombra bishopric. She eventually became Prince of Ft. Worth, and acquired rights to found new chantries in Austin, San Antonio, Houston and Dallas. Now, Lady Marissa oversees five chantries, from her own, located in Ft. Worth.
Tzimisce
Old Clan Tzimisce is shattered, but in better shape than its canonical version. In the lands south and east of Hungary, there's the Oradea League, formed by local voivodes against Schismatic Assamites, Sabbats, Tremere and Ventrue. North of Hungary, in Poland, the Baltic, Belarus and Russia, the voivodate became a realm of scattered, isolated, domains.
The Clan's founder was never diablerized, however, and the voivodes zealously guard their ancestral lands against invaders, aided by the ever- loyal revenant families.
In Western Europe and North America, the only known Tzimisce are the flesh-crafting demons raiding with the Sabbats, called antitribu by the voivodes. They lack the Clan’s blood magic, and practice the Discipline of Vicissitude. Some are their pack's wise men or women, others embody the concept of urban primitive or body art aficionado.
A considerable number of them still follow the Road of Metamorphosis, and the Road's Ashen Priests have great influence over the antitribu.
