Transformation Camilla could not quite mirror Augustus’ great accomplishment, and he failed to set himself up as sole ruler of the Ventrue. He did, however, manage to bring many of the less powerful Kindred into line. He established a system whereby the most important Ventrue within a given city or region had “authority” over the younger members of the clan. He claimed a local supremacy for himself as preeminent among the Roman Ventrue, although a number of other powerful Ventrue, including Lysander, had practical autonomy. Obviously, the clan could not have absolute authority over its members — nor was such the nature of Camilla’s claim. Instead, the clan served as a guide and resource to its members. It began to take on many of the functions that it has tonight, such as providing a forum for settling disputes, a network for alliance against common foes and a social denominator of contacts and potential allies to help individual Chapter One: The Kings of the Kindred Gaius Fabricius. The fact that Fabricius had nothing to do with the event and that Julius Caesar had everything to do with it did not bother Demetrius. He blamed Fabricius for failing to make Caesar a pawn. Ever since that night, Demetrius has worked against Fabricius at every turn. Although the Roman Ventrue bore the Greek no ill will at first, he quickly took up the feud on his own in retaliation for Demetrius’ constant attacks. Now, 2000 years later, they are well beyond the point of reconciliation. Both have tried and failed to sway the ranks of the clan, to some degree because their rival stood in their way, but also because few outside the drama wish to be dragged into it. Any undertaking in which one involves himself, the other opposes out of venomous spite, even if it is against his best interests to do so. Their acrimony even extends to their progeny, their progeny’s progeny and so on. Although both are reputed Cainites of the Fifth Generation, they have been known to take out their aggressions on lowly neonates who can claim a rival’s lineage. As often as not, the rival doesn’t even know that the poor descendent even exists. Each justifies his position by citing ages-old treachery on the other’s part. Regardless of the feud’s legacy, most Ventrue realize that not every move in the Jyhad is grave — some are petty, fueled only by bitterness. Forever is a long time to bear a grudge. Ventrue achieve their personal goals. The clan claimed chroniclers, historians, adjudicators known as “notaries” and “vouchsafes” and even enforcers who could bring unruly neonates to bear if they became a liability to more influential Ventrue. For the next five centuries, the Ventrue prospered as a clan. As Rome spread its influence, Ventrue traveled in its wake. Ambitious Ventrue, always eager for new lands to claim, spread with the Empire, establishing domains throughout Spain, France, modern-night Benelux and Britain. In the East, where populations were larger, Ventrue came to dwell in concert with other clans throughout Asia Minor, Syria and Egypt. The mortal world saw periods of upheavals and prosperity as Rome went through a long series of good and bad emperors. If the Brujah mourn the fall of Carthage, so do the Ventrue grieve for the fall of Rome, placing too much emphasis on the short reigns of insane men like Caligula and Nero in the first century but ignoring the wise reigns of men like Vespasian, Trajan and Marcus Aurelius in the centuries that followed. The truth is, Rome did not truly fall in A.D. 476 or on any other specific date. It merely evolved into something else, and the Ventrue followed reluctantly. The same can be said for Camilla, who had overseen Rome and its Ventrue for nearly a thousand years before he finally slipped into torpor. Meanwhile, his trusted aide Lysander moved east with the empire’s seat of power, observing quietly the politics of what would become the Byzantine Empire and last until the Crusades. In the West, the empire dissolved gradually into discrete nations and kingdoms. The Ventrue were there all along, merely exchanging their governors and generals for kings and princes. They had also found a new venue for exploitation, a human institution that showed every sign of some day rivaling the empire itself: the Catholic Church. The Ventrue became involved in the Church, and they Embraced some of the most important Kindred the clan has ever known, such as Fabrizio Ulfila, from its influential ranks. In effect, the clan was now split into two halves: the old guard that had migrated east with the changing focus of the Roman Empire, and the newer Ventrue who remained to take advantage of the growing disorder and the Church’s increasing influence on society. A noteworthy minority, disillusioned with the collapse of the Roman Empire, withdrew from the political unlife altogether, preferring instead to observe the passage of time from a cloak of shadows. It is even rumored by some that this faction formed the basis of the mysterious Inconnu. The Dark Ages For vampires, anything called the “Dark Ages” has to have its benefits. It certainly seemed thus to the Ventrue at the time. Human institutions, with the exception of the Church, were weaker than they had been in a thousand years. Individual Kindred could exist practically out in the open as masters of their own individual domains and occasional rulers of mortal lands. The system Camilla had devised to unify the clan fell by the wayside as single Ventrue came to care about only themselves once more. The clan itself split into two distinct halves: the Western Kindred who focused their attention on individual nobles and personal domains, and the Eastern Ventrue who retained close ties to what remained of the Roman Empire in the form of Byzantium. While clan unity might have suffered, few Ventrue cared for such esoteric (and largely impossible) matters. After centuries under Camilla’s strict rule, they thrilled at the chance to stretch their wings on their own. Clanbook: Ventrue During the Crusades, this split became a source of deadly contention within the clan. Western Ventrue, tied to an aristocracy of Christians and their Roman Church came into direct conflict with Eastern Ventrue and their Greek Orthodox and Muslim allies. Although neither side made any organized effort, a number of small rivalries and contests between Ventrue broke out during this time. In a few instances, Ventrue even came into direct contact, fighting one another openly, sometimes even destroying one another. For example, a faction of Slavic Ventrue ousted Ventrue claiming Teutonic and more Western origins in Eastern Europe, and became known as the Eastern Lords. Caught up in the undisciplined freedom of the Long Night, the clan as a whole was sinking to a low point in its history. Then things became much, much worse.
Ventrue · Vampire