Clan · Vampire
Ventrue
Blue blood and iron will — kings of the night.
Banner: Camarilla
Blue blood and iron will — kings of the night.
No one learned to fear the power of mortals better than the Ventrue who took the name Artemis. She, along with a number of other Ventrue, had settled in the prosperous region of Greece called the Peloponnesus. The Dorian Greeks had built on this peninsula the foundations of communities that would become great cities —places such as Corinth and Argos, in Clanbook: Ventrue particular, and most important of all, Sparta. Artemis — then known by another name — settled in a small rural community of four villages, a few shoddy wooden temples and not much else.
What, then, made Artemis pause in her wanderings at this rustic crossroads that offered so little to attract a Ventrue? It was a man who had a dream for the rough-hewn folk of Sparta — a dream that would transform them into the most feared fighting machine in all Greece. His name was Lycurgus, and he was about to pass into legend. Artemis intended to feed upon the philosopher, but he drew her into conversation, discussing his dream for the Spartans. With Medon’s death still fresh in her mind (although several centuries had passed), Artemis saw the potential threat and utility of Lycurgus’ dream. She decided to follow a course that so many Ventrue after her would emulate. Rather than try to oppose or dominate the growing power of mortal institutions (and risk being run over in the process), she bought into the Spartan invigoration, following mortal makers of the future.
The second war with Carthage came 20 years later, and it had nothing to do with Kindred at all. It began in faraway Spain, where only a few Brujah neonates resided with the cruel Lasombra. The mortal Hannibal and his fellow Carthaginians set the city to war on their own by capturing the Roman allied colony of Saguntum.
Hannibal then marched east and south across the Alps to invade Italy itself, where he and his army remained for the next 15 years. While Romans and Carthaginians involved themsel
Histories
Carthago Delenda Est
The second war with Carthage came 20 years later, and it had nothing to do with Kindred at all. It began in faraway Spain, where only a few Brujah neonates resided with the cruel Lasombra. The mortal Hannibal and his fellow Carthaginians set the city to war on their own by captur
DAMNATION
characters contend, all seeking to have last word on what's right. Never forget that might makes right. Sandman. A look at a family of immortal supernatural beings and what it means to be a part of it.
Renaissance and Reformation
After establishing the Camarilla, Clan Ventrue experienced a powerful resurgence that began in the 16th century, and a whole new world of possibilities opened up before them. With most of the anarchs subsumed into the Camarilla, the Ventrue-led sect had the muscle to fight the Sa
Sparta
No one learned to fear the power of mortals better than the Ventrue who took the name Artemis. She, along with a number of other Ventrue, had settled in the prosperous region of Greece called the Peloponnesus. The Dorian Greeks had built on this peninsula the foundations of commu
LEGACY
characters contend, all seeking to have last word on what's right. Never forget that might makes right. Sandman. A look at a family of immortal supernatural beings and what it means to be a part of it.
Figures of the Blood
Military Force
War is much too serious a thing to be kft to the military men. attributed to Talleyrand Few elders seek direct control of a large mass of human soldiers, preferring to work through a government or a leader to exert military clout. But sometimes they do assemble their own fighting force, which is not always human. For more on this Background, see Chapter Four.
Clanbook Malkavian
tGe riddle of god and man to Oedipus. (Part of her riddle commonly forgotten by scholars is “What is weakest when it has the most support?”) Rasputin is supposed to have feigned his own death and plunged Russia into turmoil, despair and a madness to match his own. Legends say that he is beyond the reach of the Brujah and Ventrue who fight over Russia, because he now resideson an utterly different plane of being, where he can spread his madness to Russia with impunity.
Famous Ventrue
What do Alexander, Katherine and Frederick the Great; Julius Caesar; Charlemagne; William the Conqueror; Niccolo Machiavelli; Louis XIV; George Washington; Robert E. Lee and Winston Churchill have in common? None of them — not a one — was ever either a Ventrue or a Kindred at all. In fact, over the course of history, the Ventrue have Embraced very few world leaders into their esteemed midst, a fact that no doubt seems odd when compared to the clan’s known reverence for rank, title and heritage.
Peacock Prince
Background: The prince of Ravenna is not what one would expect, were one to come on him while he was unawares. He seems a meek, frail but beautiful creature, so gentle that one might wonder if he weeps when he feeds on blood. His form is well-kept, and he dresses well enough, but he hardly projects the aura of command and strength that one would associate with a prince.
Enter MacNeil
It was against this backdrop that Jeremy MacNeil, a 300-year-old Scottish Brujah, arrived in town. A more complicated man than his history would suggest, MacNeil’s defining characteristic was his support for the underdog (or, at least, any person or faction which he had paternalistically identified as “the underdog”). He was not necessarily opposed to the Camarilla, but he did believe that an unspoken Tradition was that the Prince was obligated to though some found inconsistencies in his account. Most of the city’s other elders either died or fled, and within a week, the Anarchs, almost miraculously, had claimed praxis over a major city of their own.
Buried History
Archeology is a relatively new science, one devised and largely practiced by mortals. As far as many Ventrue are concerned, the relics of the past that aren’t already in someone’s hands are lost for good. Or that used to be the feeling, at least. Recent finds by younger Ventrue in search of their clan’s past have changed these attitudes for many. In a clan obsessed with ritual and history and tradition, items from the past carry great cachet. Someone who can claim to hold Camilla’s laurel crown or a stone from the Second City haven of [Ventrue] himself earns the immediate respect and (more importantly) envy of his fellow Kindred. Of course this passion applies generally to Ventrue-related artifacts. Kine or even other Kindred objects (except those with universal appeal, like anything relating to the mythical Caine) hold little interest to most Ventrue.
See also Featured & Canon NPCs.