Cappadocian (High Clan)

[Tami]

Cappadocians



Known among Cainites as the “Clan of Death” the Cappadocians are shunned even by their brethren for their macabre interest. Cappadocius himself was an iconoclastic priest in life, and continued his search for the secrets of life, death and what lay beyond after his becoming. His Childer have continued his research, and through their efforts Cainites have learned much about the nature of their existence. Still, the secretive nature of the clan has caused as many people to fear them as respect them.

In vampiric society, Cappadocians often fill the roll of advisors to princes. They are respected for their insight and wisdom, and largely trusted due to their lack of interest in earthly power. Because of this, the venture and Cappadocians have formed an unofficial alliance, whereby the former provides a secure place to do research in exchange for the council of the latter. Their seat of power lies in Turkey, where they have access to remote research locations as well as centers of learning.

The Clan has recently Embraced a small cabal of necromancers in order to further their studies. There new Vampires are currently developing a Discipline of there own, although it is far from polished. It is the hope of the Cappadocians that this shared knowledge will help break down the final barriers, revealing the truths they have sought for millennia.

Sobriquet: Grave robbers

Appearance: Most Cappadocians spend their nights in study of death, so it is not surprising that many of them affect the dress of scholars and monks. Long dark robes, simply cut and unadorned are most common, though some also wear carved and painted masks, fashioned to look like skulls or death-throes.

Haven: Member of the Clan of Death often choose tombs and Ossuaries, or the catacombs beneath cathedrals or monasteries, where one or more robbed figure is unlikely to attract attention. They surround themselves with reminders of mortality, often in the form of macabre works of art.

Background: Cappadocians select neonates from scholars and the priesthood, though occasionally an executioner, tomb-robber, thief of Crusader is chosen for the becoming. A love of learning and insatiable curiosity are of the utmost importance if the neonate is to be able to carry out the clan’s research.

Character creation: Most Cappadician are learned folk and who are of a philosophical bent, including many of scholarly and visionary concepts. Mental attributes are always primary, and knowledges tend to predominate over talents and skills. Though the ability to contribute to the clan’s knowledge of death is always paramount, this is not to say that every grave robber is a weakling. Many prefer the Road of heaven.

Clan disciplines: Auspex, Fortitude Mortis

Weaknesses: No matter how much blood a Cappadocian drinks, her skin will always remains cold as a bloodless corpse. Because of this deathly pallor, the difficulty for any social roll is increased by one, and they are more easily marked as Vampires. Note: if you are using the optional merits and flaws, Cappadocians may not take the merit Sanguine Humor.

Organization: Cappadocians are largely solitary and meet only infrequently with each other to exchange knowledge. Each winter all members travel to a disused monastery, where they perform secret rituals on the winter solstice.

Quote: In the end, we shall all end up dust – yes even you, my Brother. But are you really foolish enough to think that will be the end of existence?

[Tami]

Cappadocian ( Revised core book)

For member of Clan Cappadocian, bloodline is often as much a philosophy as it is a lineage. The vast majority of Cappadocians are fascinated by the concepts of death and undeath – most specifically with what remains once the eternal soul has left the body. Some were scholars in their mortal lives, while others were men of faith or philosophers. Such inquisitive natures remain vital even after the Embrace, and although the Cappadocians’ bodies resemble those of the dead, their minds are quite alive with the metaphysical secrets of the night. Their studies and obsessions manifest most potently in their twits Discipline of Mortis

Within this archetype, however, these so-called graverobbers vary widely. For every one who was a priest following the events of the Crusades, there is a clanmate who was a knight fighting in those same Holy wars. While the Cappadocians are not politically powerful as a clan, they do earn their place among the High Clans with their knowledge, wisdom and contacts. The most politically active act as advisors to princes, viziers to mortal kings and even tutors to royal families, while the scholarly more typically haunt monasteries or plunder graveyards for the “subjects” of their inquiries beyond the veil of mortality.

The clan is suspected of originating in the depths of Anatolia or Armenia; several clan legends mention desert sands, subterranean cities and rolling plains. The progenitor of the clan is only know as Cappadoius ( “of Cappadocia”), gives his childer great berth, merely asking they uphold the quest for answers to the undead state. Scholars believe that many Cappadocians either spend their nights in the cold arms of torpor or have immigrated into the Saracen East, As Cainite history implies that they were once far more common than they are tonight.

Although they are disorganized and far-flung, many revere knowledge and congregate at certain temples, libraries and universities. There, they consult with the one another on what they have learned, trading secrets and blasphemies, sainted truths and gossip. The clan’s spiritual center is said to be in the great temple at Erciyes in Anatolia, where Lady Constancia acts as priestess and oracle, and where fragments of The Book of Nod were gathered at the end of the 12th century. Despite the fact that no outsiders – and very few Cappadocian neonates – have seen Erciyes, there are rumors of temples more secret and more terrible still, including buried necropolises of ages past.

With its broad scope and well-traveled members, clan Cappadocian has Caintites all over Europe and even to the south and east. Coptic monasteries in Africa are havens to grave robbers, as are the courts of pashas beyond the Levant and even the halls of the Giovanni, a Venetian merchant family rumored to be skilled in the art of necromancy. It is a cosmopolitan clan, with as many of its members claiming humble origins as hail from noble or clerical stock. To the Cappadocians a keen mind is more important than breeding, and any Cainite with an inquisitive nature earns the esteem of his sire and peers.

Other clans often regard the Cappadocians as secretive and morbid, which is true to some extent. Indeed, their practice of Mortis and related studies require patient research and a plentiful supply of dead flesh. Members of the clan have been known to cloister themselves for decades, emerging from their laboratories and haven only to procure sustenance and subjects for their experiments – often on in the same. Beneath this dark side, however, lies a serious spirituality in many Cappadocians. Although their practice tends to make them cold, alien and withdrawn from the mortal world, they delve into mysteries that lesser Cainites and Kine couldn’t begin to fathom.

Sobriquet: graverobbers

Appearance and Prey: Cappadocians usually make their havens away from the mortal world and even other Cainites, where they may study in seclusion or conduct morbid experiments without unsettling other residents. Such havens include disused chambers of castles, out-of-the-way monasteries, neglected cellars and Roman-era sewers or cisterns.

Of all the High Clans, the Cappadocians are probably the least exclusive when it comes to choosing prey. Indeed, many Cappadocians see the Kiss as little more than a function, and they deny the emotional charge it gives both predator and prey. Few Cappadocians have reservations about feeding from animals or even corpses, but fresh human blood is still more delectable. When they do feed from mortals Graverobbers are as unobtrusive as they are in Cainite society, discreetly feeding from the dregs and untouchables of humankind.

The Embrace: Being possessed of somewhat morbid mindsets, the Cappadocians usually Embrace those who are interested in death or work with it in some fashion or those whose scholarly talents may be turned to the Graverobbers own intellectual and spiritual pursuits. Soldiers, priest, hermits, pilgrim, gravediggers and supposed witches have all been Embraced into Clan Cappadocian. Additionally, the clan seems inclined to less of the European prejudices than other clans exhibit. Embracing such far-flung folk as Persians, Moors and other foreigners.

Character Creation: Mental attributes and knowledges tend to be primary among Cappadocians. Concepts, nature and Demeanor lean towards the introspective and contemplative, white Virtues lean toward one extreme or the other, either very developed of callously ignored after the Embrace. Backrounds, likes other aspects of the Cappadocians’ personalities, usually focus on making the aconite self sufficient or at least well regarded by others. There are Cappadocians on every major Road, but most tend towards the Road of Heaven or of Sins. The Clan’s most spiritual and morbid members follow their own Road of Bone.

Clan Disciplines: Auspex, Fortitude, Mortis

Weaknesses: the Cappadocians bear the visage of death, which makes their skin appear cold and corpselike. No mater how much Vitae a Cappadocian imbibes, she never shows “the flush of life” that other Cainites may choose to display. This grim condition also exacerbates with age, and some of the most venerable Cappadocians literally resemble nothing more than shrunken cadavers. Difficulties of Social rolls for Cappadicians – any roll involving a social attribute – increase by one.

Organization: While Cappadocians may see solitary, their inquisitive nature leads them to seek out others. In some cases, they form fraternities or societies of like-minded scholars, while others form coteries whose journeys may lead to the recovery of a lost relic. Others are simply cabals of fellow intellectuals who share their observations. The Clan as a whole has no formal hierarchy (Although most voice respect for the priest of Erciyes), so it is up to the individual Graverobber to provide for their social urges individually.

Quote: Is our undeath a curse or an exaltation? No easy answer exist. It is the question that has plagued us since God cast out Caine.