For some, eternity is no more than a continuance of mortal existence. For Malkavians, the transition is far more abrupt and devastating. The act of Embrace shatters the minds of those brought into this clan, driving them over the sharp brink of madness — but also unlocking supernatural gifts of insight and introspection.

All Malkavians are deeply, darkly insane; their psychology is precariously balanced on the edge of sanity’s cliff. This is a painful, alienating phenomenon. The madness may take the form of a structured, clinically understood insanity, or it may be a complete reversal of the senses. It may come and go in vivid psychosis, or it may manifest as elaborate, longterm hallucinations. Each Malkavian’s Embrace shatters the mind in a different pattern; no two emerge into immortality exactly the same.

It is difficult for other vampires to relate to members of the Malkavian clan. They are fractious, unpredictable, and sometimes unintelligible. They see the world differently and, occasionally, they try to educate and enlighten others to truths that only they seem to understand. These lessons take the form of pranks, and they are elaborate, terrifying, and dangerous, following logic only a Malkavian could understand.

Malkavians Embrace seemingly at random, taking their childer from all strata of mortal society. A Malkavian’s outward appearance is usually specific to the individual’s derangement, varying from disheveled and dirty to obsessively clean. Younger Malkavians tend to be deviants and loners, struggling to understand themselves and the new world into which they’ve been plunged. Elders tend to have a better grasp of their inner pandemonium, and seem more at ease. Further, all Malkavians are connected by a vast, lingering sixth sense – some say it is the slumbering consciousness of the founder of their clan – and they all have insights beyond any mortal capacity to understand.