#‘and also fuck the tremere’

[marrowcrunch]

The VTM subreddit had some discussion of Nosferatu/Toreador romance the other day but the peak inter-clan pairing for me will always be Salubri/Tzimisce.

It’s the rich contrast between “I was created to be a healer. My touch erases pain and casts out evil. I can’t even feed if it would cause suffering, even if I am on the edge of starvation. My clan’s progenitor described his childer as lambs made to be sacrificed,” versus “Other clans know me by a word that means ‘demon.’ My hands are tools of torture and mutilation and even acts that are attempts at reconstruction rather than ripping apart are agonizing. My blood ties me to the land and the land is poison. The power that is my greatest strength is also a disease that is eating me from the inside out.“

It’s “Your abilities indelibly mark you as an enlightened savior while mine mark me as a horrifying monster.” It’s “I worship you because you’re everything I could never be.” It’s “I was doomed from the start but maybe if I take on the burden of violence so you can stay pure, I can find some kind of redemption.” It’s “I adore you but I’m terrified to touch you.” It’s “We couldn’t be more different, but we are both united in the horror of knowing we have no choice but to be exactly what we are.”

[mountainashfae]

the problem with my very specific VtM fixation right now is that I can't just start rambling on Tumblr about my thoughts on the differences between Camarilla, Sabbat, and Anarch Tremere antitribu because no one will understand that I'm saying all Tremere within those three Sects are considered antitribu because it's all part of my group's homebrewed V20 modern nights timeline and it's far, far away from the canon timeline in V5.

[melestopheles-art]

everyone's favourite berlin tremere babygirl NPC Andrzej Iwanowski in his natural habitat, offering a nice cold glass of coke to any weary travellers (and stressed chess novices)

s/o to our lovely story teller @affinno and their menagerie of baller ass NPCs

[hydrostorm]

i played vampire the masquerade bloodlines for an ungodly amount of hours. i like it so far

[moinsbienquekaworu]

Got past the Ocean House Hotel (finally!!) and yeah that game really is so good I forgot how fun it is to play

[paarthursass]

also "silent protagonists aren't immersive" my "immersion" in a game has been broken so much more by voiced protagonists saying The Wrong Fucking Thing than it has been by me having to use my brain to read dialogue options.

vtmb may be buggy as hell. it may have textures that load incorrectly sometimes so you've got doors that are half a stop sign. but i still get so drawn into the story that the ocean house hotel level manages to scare me every time. it's still so so tragic to watch how heather descends into her obsession with you if you make her your ghoul. it's satisfying to be able to have 5 different ways to tell lacroix to go fuck himself. and it's fascinating how, depending on which clan you pick, you have an entirely different experience - not just playstyle-wise, but interaction-wise as well! there's certain dialogue with maximillian strauss you only get if you're a tremere. your opinion of gary golden is going to change MASSIVELY depending on whether you play a nosferatu or a toreador.

voiced protagonists don't create immersion. fancy bells and whistles don't create immersion. good writing does.

[melonbear51]

i love your vtm concepts!!! would you happen to have any more gangrel ideas from any angle? i think that a good argument could be made for gangrel anarchism/independence/savagery being the 'truest' expression of vampirism in a way, they get looked down on a lot by other clans unfairly i think </3

FRIEND I LOVE THE GANGREL SO MUCH YOU HAVE NO IDEA! They are so damn underrated and it KILLS me how so many players, old and new, overlook them or think of them as Brujah with werewolf powers. And they TOTALLY get looked down on by other clans, but that's part of what makes them interesting; much like the other "low clans," they're underestimated, and that makes them DANGEROUS. But enough of my fangirling. Let's get to business: 1. A Gangrel who formed a coterie with a Salubri, Cappodocian-Hecata, and Tzimisce SPECIFICALLY as a giant fuck-you to the Tremere. Whether or not they make a good team is up to you, but regardless, the local anarchs find the whole thing HILARIOUS and make it a point to send this motley crew in whenever the Tremere are involved. 2. A writer and narrator of a podcast noted for their distinct storytelling style who was turned into a Gangrel because of this. They are currently being groomed by their sire and elders to become a lorekeeper and storyteller of the clan, and while some aspects are enjoyable, the weight of expectations and the pressure is beginning to get to them. 3. A college kid with a very controlling family who put extreme pressure on them to succeed who was embraced coming home from a student government meeting. Faced with a new reality and tasting true, wild freedom for the first time, they've kindly told their parents to suck a fat one and have begun to carve their own path. They are also searching for their sire, who they wish to thank for granting them a way out. Whether or not they stay grateful is up to you and the events of the chronicle. 4. A highly-educated Gangrel who purposefully conceals their intelligence and expertise by leaning into the whole "Gangrel are wild savages" stereotype. Their clothes are ripped or the least fancy items you've ever seen, they motel-hop or live out of a trailer, the whole shebang. Many Camarilla scoff at them and even some Anarchs look down on them. The Gangrel doesn't care: do the others have hundreds of thousands of dollars from smart investments and an animalism-driven information network that spans the entire state? No? Fuck em'! 5. A Gangrel who either fakes being a caitiff or fledgling to gain the trust and pity of other kindred. After weaseling their way into their target's unlives, they either steal their valuables and hit the road, or straight up murder those that gave them charity. For extra symbolism, make it so that they have two protean beast forms: a sheep, which they show to others, and a wolf, which only comes out when they strike. 6. A Gangrel DJ who stalks the rave and club scene for prey, gathering a herd from their dedicated and ever-growing fanbase. Some of the more traditional Gangrel look down on them but hey, a party animal is still an animal! 7. A Gangrel doomsday/Gehenna prepper. They could be the traditional survivalist/resource gathering prepper, or they could go to another extreme: attempting to gather animals à la Noah, waiting for some great ecological disaster. 8. A young anarch Gangrel with a Camarilla sire. Mistrusted because of their sire's loyalties, they are desperately trying to prove themselves to the other anarchs and their clanmates, all the while trying to resist the tempting bait their sire offers them to try and get them to come back home.

I hope you enjoy these! I also hope this gives other players some inspiration to look at the Gangrel a bit differently! As always, feel free to use any of these ideas for pcs/npcs, and don't hesitate to shoot me a message to chat about VTM!

[blood-bound]

first off - click the middle image for it to show. i couldnt get it to not cut off. second, alt text included in image description!

ANYWAY DOODLE DUMP BECAUSE IM INSANE.

top row: @harbingerofskulls 's very own mattia giovanni! :D easy 2 doodle due to mask. sorry i couldnt draw the Skeleton hand. What a cool twice dead dude.

middle row: @dykeferatu's magpie!! :D :D easy 2 doodle due to being very Shaped. love this Creature. the rightmost image is when she was Falling from a window like a Cat. its silly.

bottom row: mark on the left because of course, being a little judging Guy. and then on the right CASSIDY! gay tremere psychologist. doing weird things. loves old movies. and i love him. he is wearing the assigned tremere chantry robes. one day him and mark will date. right now i think he thinks mark needs therapy. also i fucked up his torso :(

anyway thank u for perceiving them all!

[sapphim]

Finally made it to a desktop!

Here's the links to those playlists. They're largely a mix of goth/post-punk bands and horror film scores. There are almost certainly songs on there that aren't meant to be in some of the playlists and were accidentally added when I tried to add them to a different playlist and slipped. Ignore those, lol

These are also still WIPs and are centered around the different grops as they were written like seven years ago; I'm not confidently up to date on the more recent editions and Bloodline alliances and groupings.

Enjoy, and please let me know if some of the links don't work! You're also okay sharing this/my spotify account since it's all public1

Antitribu Baali Banu Haqim Brujah True Brujah Camarilla Cappadocian Gangrel Giovanni Kiasyd Lamia Lasombra Lhiannan Malkavian Ministry/Setites Nagaraja Nosferatu Ravnos Sabbat Salubri Samedi Thin Bloods Toreador Tremere Tzimisze Ventrue

holy fuck

[humantea]

[crashes into your inbox] FINALLY A CORRECT SAULOT OPINION

listen…I love him…like yes I know vtm is supposed to be dark and vampires are dark creatures of hunger but the idea of one of them just constantly striving against his nature, trying so hard to be GOOD, is so so tasty

all the later stuff added to his background to try and make him the typical “evil” Antediluvian bores me. Yeah of course he’s going to be complex but I love the idea of turning the “all ancient vampires are irredeemably Evil who only things about themselves” trope on its head. also vampire healers? a concept that would seem to go against their nature and that he conceived of? aaa

Saulot is my favorite vtm character and I think about him constantly. absolute brainrot. there’s so little art and writing of him and I am dying out here but i’ll do it myself I guess

SORRY FOR THE RANT I search his name a lot bc he’s my fave and saw your post fjsjdjsk

Exactlyyy!! Like, sure, the whole 'Saulot is just as bad as the other Antediluvians and Golconda isn't actually a good thing and-' mindset fits the sort of grimdark lore of vtm, but its sooooo boring in comparison to Saulot actually trying to do good. Like, we already have 12 fucked up evil Antediluvians, in what world is it more interesting storytelling to have a 13th rather than one who tries to do good?

I choose to believe that all of the anti-Saulot takes are actually just Tremere propaganda

[cannibalcaprine]

Hi what the fuck are the Tzimisce from? They look so cool and i must know more immediately

Vampire: the Masquerade! tabletop game where you're in a coven of vampires in the modern day, all gothic-punk and stuff

the Tzimisce is one of 13 clans, which give you different vampire abilities

specifically for the Tzimisce, it's Fleshcrafting :3

there's also Clan Heceta for Necromancy, Clan Tremere for Wizard Stuff, Clan Gangrel for Animal Transformation, Clan Nosferatu for Invisibility, it's all rad

[cruddyart]

An out there Tremere headcanon I have and will try to articulate despite being bad at it:

Each tremere (that has been introduced proper inside the chantry but sometimes also in the Sabbat when they want to be cheeky) have scarification of magical symbols on their skin. This is to symbolize their ‘role’ inside the chantry and what their sire wanted from them. This is usually made during the embrace. Usually the more elaborate the drawing is the more it shows how much effort you put into this. Being both a testament to the sires skill and the childes importance. If you have a simple symbol it could probably mean that your sire didn’t really much care for you, thinks you’re simple or can’t fucking draw.

I think since the tremere are not ‘real’ vampires (as in they were made by a magical ritual) I would like to keep that aspect and say that there is a whole process involved in making a tremere. Rather than just making one like every other vampire. You cannot make them accidentally, every one of them is a deliberate and planned act.

As such I have one vamp who has the ‘magnum opus’ and ‘hand of the philosopher’ carved into them. And one with ‘the crucified serpent‘ on their back.

[mountainashfae]

I have two (2) Ventrue OCs period. Both are Anarchs because the Free Ventrue just interest me more. They're both extremely unhinged and something is definitely fucked up about them and one of them is only 24 years embraced as of our modern nights timeline.

One is a biology professor embraced in his 60s who befriended a Tzimisce and Tremere and got Vicissitude and Thaumaturgy out of it. He's decided his pet project is to give himself a snake lower body for fun.

His childe started as his TA and eventually gained an interest in Kindred Psychology and not only did she get her sire's friends' disciplines she also picked up Dementation and a few derangements from all the Malkavians she hangs around for her research.

There is something so very wrong with both of them. Heart.

[robotslenderman]

Aside from Sullivan, are any of your other vampires from the Sabbat/Formerly Sabbat?

LET ME INTRODUCE YOU TO THE VYKOSOVICHES~!

Introducing: Grigori Verenich. As a Russian scholar in Oxford he was Embraced by Sascha Vykos for his research skills, and discarded when no longer useful. Needless to say, he was one of the lucky ones, but his experiences with them fucked him up nonetheless. He poured his time into learning blood magic and was often mistaken for Tremere, which he delighted in because he knew it'd piss off Sascha, but also not enough for them to actually destroy him over it.

I don't know much about his time between then and meeting Norman, but he met Norm in the roaring twenties in Boston. Norm was almost ready to graduate medical school to become a doctor, and he was also a boxer. When Grigori Embraced him Norm took one look at the Sabbat and went "holy shit fuck THIS" and noped out. Grigori stalked him for a few decades because he didn't really know what else to do with this kid that actually has morals, and their relationship was pretty tense. Norm basically divorced himself as much from his Tzimisce heritage as he could. Much like how Grisha was frequently mistaken for Tremere, Norm was usually assumed to be a Gangrel.

Their relationship was healed by having a baby, believe it or not -- in 1980s New York City Grigori met Anastasia Petrova Sokolova, who was an exceptional artist and sculptor at an art school. Grigori went to Norm "hey, you're a good anatomist but you're shit at Vicissitude, check out who I met who'd be awesome at it" and introduced them. Norm quickly realised that no matter what his opinion was over the matter that Grisha was going to Embrace her, so he agreed to stick around to watch over her, at least for a while, and ended up agreeing to do the deed himself.

Nastasya ended up being the counterbalance in the relationship and Norm and Grigori got along a lot better with her influence. She was, however, largely sheltered from the majority of the Sabbat, and is shit at playing politics. They do take her to Sabbat events but keep her away from the edgelordy stuff; Grisha knows that Norm wouldn't stand for it, and thinks they're a bunch of tryhards anyway.

The three of them lived together long after Nastasya was supposed to be released. They do not have a vinculum, but do not need to. They mostly see themselves as Noddists who are "true Sabbat" and haven't lost sight of the underlying founding principles of the Sabbat that eventually got taken over by edgelords and sadists -- they adhere to the main beliefs of being anti-establishment and anti-Antediluvians, and also varying levels of vampire supremacy.

These nights they live in Staten Island in New York City. They mostly ignored the Battle of New York (though Grisha did participate a bit). They have a treaty with the local Camarilla (which Hellene would sooner die than admit the existence of) and a good relationship with the local Anarchs, too. In exchange for certain stipulations, including Nastasya's services as a Vicissitudist, the Camarilla don't kick them out of NYC. The Anarchs also leave them alone because Grisha has played the three of them up as being the only thing holding the Camarilla back, and absolutely leans hard on the "childe of Vykos" thing, using his blood magic skills and Nastasya's Vicissitude to give the three of them a far more terrifying reputation than they deserve. They had no idea Callihan was blood bound, but when he gets replaced by someone who seems to have the exact same ideas they definitely do get suspicious about it...

Despite their reputation, these nights the three of them are super chill and laid back and tend to just fuck around in their house leeching off Nastasya, lmao. Grigori breaks into the Tremere Chantry for fun to borrow their books (it's not stealing if he gives them back), which drives Aisling Sturbridge apeshit. Norm, on the other hand, spends most of his time in his Gangrel identity hanging out with Anarchs. Nastasya is the only one of the three of them who is actually actively working, lmao. Norm and Grigori just stuck their money in investments decades ago; the three of them are "don't have to keep track of how much money I have" kind of wealthy. They have friends in all sects. After a while, post-Dracon, Sascha even starts mentoring Nastasya in Vicissitude.

[dykeferatu]

hi... i hope you dont mind this but u should talk about taeho and parker.... deathly curious. what're both of their general deals? ik taeho is a tzimisce but not much else otherwise :^)

OF COURSE I DON'T MIND!! i dont think anyones ever just asked me to explain my ocs i usually just babble about them and i assume everyone just goes "who the hell are they talking about" and moves on. unless they are my fwiends who i'm insane abt ocs with on the reg. anyway, thank u so so much for asking!! infodump commences

i'll start with parker because she hasn't had any session yet so her lore is not deep, and since at least one other player will likely read this i can't quite reveal all the fun bits yet! here's the only drawing i have atm. subject to change but this is the vibe

parker (she/her) is a 21 year old skater chick (and lesbian) in the year 2007. she recently had an experience that turned her onto the path of a hunter. one of her friends was attacked by Something a few nights ago. she hit the thing with a bat (she used to play softball :D) but it didn't seem to phase it. at one point when she was checking out the crime scene, she ran into... her old high school english teacher. the victim was 18 and a current student of his, and he was curious about the incident too.

the two teamed up on their investigation and met an occult bookstore owner who took interest and told them she might know a guy who can help. all 4 of them will meet up for the first time in the first session on saturday :>

----

now, taeho..... taeho taeho. shim taeho (he/she) is a south korean cybernetics expert in the year 2077 (so many sevens in these years. that's a coincidence). she was a cybernetic designer/engineer i guess? i don't really know cyberpunk i'll be honest with u. she was also a back-alley ripperdoc. you can only understand so much about cybernetics without installing them yourself :)

(art courtesy of @cradlingsongs)

she made some great achievements in her field, which attracted the attention of a tzimisce, jaeyoon (they/them). jaeyoon was interested in figuring out the mechanics of cybernetics on kindred, so they embraced taeho to be both a lab partner and a guinea pig. they also didn't let taeho leave the haven often because the camarilla was not welcoming to them. he'd only ever fed on their vitae until recently. no hard feelings, though! taeho loves her sire (why yes, he is Mega Blood Bonded, why do you ask?).

their main project together has been developing some sick doc ock tentacles by combining vicissitude and cybernetics. taeho has 2 currently installed. she's a beast with them in combat and it's a delight (when the dice don't hate me...)

anyway, after about 8 years of being holed up with his sire, the city they reside in was attacked by the SI. jaeyoon didn't come home, and taeho was left all alone. she waited, but eventually he knew he had to leave. she fled to the nearby city of seoul.

since it was his understanding that a tzimisce weren't really allowed in the camarilla, taeho decided to masquerade as another clan. and what other clan should she choose but the fucking tremere? look. he knows he has very nerdy energy so she figured she could blend in. plus, he was very curious about blood sorcery. could never quite figure out all that koldunic stuff.

since then she's been eating shit as a cammie scrub in a coterie of other scrubs (or, originally other scrubs. some players have rotated out and now half the coterie is much better off than taeho and the other refugee in the coterie). shenanigans have ensued, most notably for him when he got trapped into a marriage with a changeling that ended in a very messy divorce. uh. taeho may have been marked by the changeling relative that escaped the blood bath. it's fine.

i also have to include that this particular chronicle is, honestly, very horny. which is a lot of taeho's fault (but not entirely... *side-eyes lavender and her regnant*). for some reason his autistic swag is so strong that she has gotten laid THRICE since we started playing. none of the other pcs have done that even once... you'd probably expect the mafia girlboss or the sexy lasombra who takes every opportunity to take his shirt off to be pulling more, but you'd be wrong.

in recent events: a couple sessions ago taeho reunited with her sire! he cried like a baby, finally got to do some fleshcrafting (she had been feeling very trapped in this form... had a bit of a gender crisis. he's still figuring out exactly what's going on in that regard but hey the egg has definitely cracked, hence the new set of pronouns), and then had some. fun times. with her beloved sire. unfortunately, due to reasons, he can't stay with them. also they've been cursed somehow so taeho has to figure that out now. it's fine.

more recent events: taeho's regent/mentor seems to be reaching his limit on tolerating taeho's secretiveness. he's known that taeho has been lying about her clan since, like, almost the start. this regent is a very unusual tremere, and didn't immediately reveal taeho. in fact, he didn't even force taeho to tell him anything. he had already decided to take him under his wing, so that was that.

last session though he got a little fed up with the lack of trust. taeho tried to counter with some rumors he'd heard about the regent, expecting to weasel out, but instead the regent just laid out his whole tragic backstory to her. taeho didn't know how to respond to this, and also still couldn't tell the tremere regent that he was a tzimisce while they were in the middle of a chantry. she felt really bad about not telling the truth, which is weird and fucked up. why does he feel so bad about hurting this tremere??

i think i've said all the important stuff and then some, so i'll wrap it up. ahh.. taeho.... i love her. he's so fun to play. her game has already been going for over a year i think but only recently did he really click in my head. and boy. boy oh boy did he click. dug her cybernetic claws into the folds of my brain. i'm in pain. anyway i have some more art and posts in her tag if u want to check that out wehehehe

[shantyslimes]

Do you think that different clans try and instill different moral values? Like some are obvious, Brujah tend to be aligned with the Anarchs more so they probably are more likely to instill a sense of independence and stick with the ones who stand right by you, or Tremere who tend to be very Camarilla aligned likely try to instruct this sense of loyalty to their formers and secrecy about their clans secrets to all others, right

But I think other clans probably try and give something so fuck it here's what I try and have NPC clans typically teach in my games (note these are never universal and absolutely should not be treated as such)

Brujah: In modern nights they're usually kept as typically anarchs or short tempered rebels, but most punk movements or what are typically considered "violence driven" anti-authority groups tend to have pretty strictly agreed code without ever saying it out loud. So there's the rule to respect anyone from a distance, don't start a fight and you won't get in a fight. If someone starts a fight with you, fucking beat their ass and make it clear that starting shit is a bad idea. Don't go around acting like a big shot and nobody has to put you in your place, which will be the gutter.

Also special shoutout for the Cammy brujah who enforce the traditions but then also emphasise "but if they're being a dick, just don't start any fights you ain't gonna win."

Gangrel: Survive. More than anything, don't do something that will get you killed. That means follow the traditions, but don't make a fuss over them if you're in sabbat turf. Stand by the people who are good to you, but don't be gullible enough to trust them unconditionally. Top priority is do not get yourself killed. The secret to immortality is not pissing anyone off enough to have them kill you.

Giovanni: Look, you're going to inevitably do something fucked up, but just try not to break the law when you're breaking the law, yeah? You can trust the rest of the clan, probably, but just in case, don't be afraid to screw up and get a few things wrong as long as the worst case scenario isn't going to bite you in the ass, because it'll hurt a lot more than their bite ever could.

Lasombra: You are not human. Kine are not human. Forget about all of that. They are food. You are horror incarnate. Fucking act like it or you will be thrown aside and destroyed for failing.

Malkavian: Malkavians are taught the phrase "good luck with the psychosis" and then how to use psychosis like a gun. Morals are not a factor.

Nosferatu: You're a horrifying abomination, we don't feel bad, but if you can actually get a leg up on people, then you shouldn't feel bad. Legality and morality are not the same, but you really shouldn't care about either.

Toreador: Crimes are forgivable if you're hot enough.

Tremere: The greater good of the clan is more than yourself, you are but a part of a larger system. Hoard your power, yes, but remember that you yourself are part of the larger hoard of the clan's power.

Ventrue: There's a hierarchy in the world, and you're on top. Therefore, as the ones in power, we set the rules, we decide the game, and anyone complaining about either aren't worth your time. You stand on top, so look down on the rest because they have not earned the right to look forward and see anything more than your boot, ready to be cleaned.

Anyway those are just the ways I like to have clans raise their childer and teach eachother how to act. How much an individual listens depends on the specific Kindred, but also keep in mind I like to play a lot with expectations of your elders when writing cainites.