Cappadocians
“The great poet Ovid once wrote, ‘Fas est ab hoste doceri.’ One should learn even from one’s enemies.” ― Anisa Marianna Lopez
Nickname: Graverobbers
Disciplines: Auspex, Fortitude, Necromancy: Mortis Path
The Cappadocian Antediluvian was a monastic scholar with little interest in leadership or political causes. Cappadocious sought truth, questioned the secrets of life and death, and asked that his childer do the same. During the Dark Ages, the clan was populous, if not powerful, and its members were often seen as impartial judges in the great Jyhad. The clan’s obsessive attitude about its studies (and open practice of Necromancy) led other clans to see these vampires as grim and disturbing, and their isolationist tendencies kept the Cappadocians from having many strong allies.
Generally, the Cappadocians did not consider ethnicity or nationality when Embracing childer. Individuals of every religion were brought into the clan, so long as those mortals wished to study death. Due to their monastic habits, Cappadocian scholars spent little time among mortals. They left such tasks to one of their lesser lineages, a group of vampires Embraced from a Venetian merchant house. Unfortunately, the Giovanni proved untrustworthy and seized control of the clan, hunting down and diablerizing every Cappadocian they could find.
Only a few of these vampires survive in modern nights, hiding themselves away from the rest of the vampiric world and preferring their studies to politics. These vampires hate the Giovanni with a passion, and select childer far more cautiously, leading to an extremely low population of Cappadocians throughout the world. Those who remain have taken on new appellations, such as the Harbingers of Skulls in the Sabbat, hiding their true lineage in order to better remain undisturbed in their twin pursuits of research and revenge.
The two Cappadocian bloodlines are very distinct and originated in entirely different fashions. The Lamia were guardians and protectors of the monastic line; they now are disgraced and nearly extinct. The Samedi, a more recent offshoot of active Cappadocians, hide their true nature and exist as mercenaries and scholars of voudon.
Organization: In the Middle Ages, Cappadocians fulfilled the roles of advisors to Princes or stewards of large repositories of knowledge. Internally, the clan had little hierarchy, although they revered those with more knowledge and tutored the young or unlearned. After the Giovanni destroyed the majority of the clan, the Cappadocians who remained had even less interest in communicating with one another, lest such association reveal their location to the Giovanni.
Clan Weakness: No matter how much blood a Cappadocian consumes, her skin remains deathly pale, resembling a corpse.
Clan Merits: Cappadocians can purchase any of the following Cappadocian-only merits.
- Necromantic Insight (1 point merit): You can purchase an additional path of Necromancy.
- Bloodline: Samedi (2 point clan merit): You are a member of the Samedi bloodline, an independent group of repugnant, rotting vampires who practice voudon. Your in-clan disciplines are Fortitude, Obfuscate, and Thanatosis.
- Pierced Shroud (3 point merit): You gain power (Blood) when sentient creatures die within your line of sight.
Bloodline: Samedi (2 point clan merit)
Disciplines: Fortitude, Obfuscate, Thanatosis
The Samedi are repulsive, even more so than their deathly, disfigured parent clan. Rotting skin, exposed bone, and the hideous smell of decomposition commonly afflict the Samedi, as does the tendency to be rude and uncompromising. These vampires claim to be the childer of the voudon loa, Baron Samedi. Mercenary and self-interested, the Samedi do not join sects, preferring to work independently, keeping to themselves as much as possible. Samedi are known for maintaining the absolute law and word of any bargain they make — for good or for ill. As mentioned, the Samedi are putrid beyond words.
