Post by Tami on Mar 4, 2007 22:44:07 GMT -5
Lhiannon
Most of Europe has fallen to Christendom, but fragments of the land’s older cultures yet survive — particularly among the continent’s supernatural denizens. Certainly the blood-line of vampires known as the Lhiannan looks back fondly on Europe’s ancient nights. Seemingly a subtribe of the Gangrel, the Lhiannan are a dwindling strain of vampires who haunt rural areas, forest groves and isolated villages. Once they wove a web of influence (and terror) over Europe’s barbarian population, but Rome and the Church have largely stripped the line of its deathright,
Lhiannan are largely matriarchal, even to the point of spurning the myth of Caine. Lhiannan instead claim descent from a shadowy female figure said to have walked theworld in ancient nights. This figure, known as the Crone, created the Lhiannan from droplets of her blood. Most Cainite eschatologists s p u r n this tale, but a few Cappadocians and Brujah point out the parallels between the Lhiannan’s myths and certain stories in the Book of Nod.
In the end, it matters little. The Lhiannan are a dying line, hounded by both mortal and Cainite hunters. Their vampiric nature shines like a bonfire before mystic scrutiny, and thus Lhiannan are often easy scapegoats and targets for witch-hunters. Their power base, which involves blood cults, ley lines and pagan rites, is blasphemous to the Church and inconvenient for the Roman-descended Cainites who have largely displaced them.
In elder days, Lhiannan established themselves among pagan Celts, Norse, Slavs and other European barbarians. These “Children of the Crone” acted as Osirises, infiltrating villages, turning key inhabitants into ghouls or vampires, and playing on the populace’s superstition. Powerful individuals founded blood cults, and grisly legends sprang up around the nocturnal doings of the Lhiannan. Indeed, many pagan heroes tirelessly hunted these witches who preyed on their own people
The real blow to the Lhiannan, though, was the coming of Rome and its Cainite parasites. Though they were individually powerful, internecine competition for ley lines left them fractious and few, and their domains fell into the talons of the more organized Roman vampires. Worse yet was the ascendancy of Christendom, with its churches and priests and consecrated ground. The Lhiannan’s mystic aura, which
Christian priests found repulsive, made them among the first targets of priestly pogroms. The proud Lhiannan were forced into hiding and their cults driven underground.
Now the Lhiannan stand alone. Their gruesome practices, reliance on human slaves, and predilection for siphoning ley-line energy have alienated them to many Gangrel, while the Tzimisce see them as competitors in the Slavic states. Even the Lupines and fae, it seems, despise and fear them; one Gangrel tells a tale of being spared by a werewolf pack in exchange for her help in eradicating a Lhiannan sabat. Nightly the Lhiannan are rooted out by clergymen and rival Cainites. Though they battle fiercely, their numbers dwindle by the year, and it will not be long before they fall.
Sobriquet: Druids
Appearance: Lhiannan survival depends on blending in with their conquerors. They generally appear as rustics of one sort or another. Due to their Ogham Discipline, however, they often anoint themselves with bloody glyphs or runes. When at a safe haven, Lhiannan often dress in the garb of old, and adorn themselves with skulls, talismans and other paraphernalia.
Haven: Lhiannan try to occupy an isolated rural village where the old ways are still practiced; they then set up a cult with themselves as the priests. Failing this, Lhiannan try to live inconspicuously on the fringes of urban demesnes.
Background: Many, though by no means all, Lhiannan are female; females tend to be perceived as having a greater connection to the Dark Mother. Lhiannan tend to be chosen from mortals who still follow the old pagan ways.
Character Creation:Any Attribute class can be primary. Lhiannan, by dint of their rural unlifestyle, tend to have high scores in animal handling and survival-based Abilities. Most Lhiannan have Retainers and Herds (pagan cultists).
Disciplines: Animalism, Ogham, Presence
Weaknesses: Lhiannan are innately pagan; the mark of the Mother-Goddess flows through their dead veins. As such, all difficulties to detect their nature via Aura Sight, Faith Numina, etc., are reduced by two. Additionally, Lhiannan increase all difficulties by two (including soak rolls, if such are necessary) when resisting Faith magic — even pagan Faith.
Organization: Lhiannan form broods centered around a powerful individual and her followers; these broods are often referred to as “covens” or “sabats.” Sabats act in conjunction and generally maintain herds of mortals and ghouls. Rival sabats are often bitter enemies; this lack of cooperation is one more reason why the Lhiannan have failed to defend their holdings.
Destiny: The pagan Lhiannan have all but fallen to Christendom as it stands. By the end of the Inquisition, the Church has completed the task of purgation. No Lhiannan survives past the 14th century. Rumors persist that the Sabbat, or perhaps the mysterious Eastern vampires, make use of a Discipline similar to Ogham, but involving the use of tattoos or ideographs
Quote: At the hour of midnight thy vitae will flow down the spiral rock, and the Crone will feed, and be pleased.
Ways of the Lhiannon Strength and Influence
Each Lhiannan sabat acts alone. Though acknowledging other Lhiannan as fellow descendants of the Crone, Lhiannan are a grasping and jealous line. Lhiannan tend to remain in those mystic sites they have wrested from Lupines, Gangrel and fae.
Organization:
Lhiannan form themselves into tightly knit cults, known as sabats. Sabats tend to organize along sire-childe lines, but Lhiannan can be inducted into sabats headed by a Lhiannan unrelated to them. An interesting custom among the Lhiannan involves dueling for control of a particular magical site; the loser and her sabat are immediately inducted into the winner’s sabat, and the winner gains control of the site.
Current Practices
For now, Lhiannan try to hold on. They feverishly infiltrate rural communities that still remember their ancient roots, trying to corrupt the inhabitants and eventually generate a groundswell of resistance to the Church. Unfortunately, the Church expands faster than the Lhiannan can comprehend; ironically enough,
the Druids’ own immortality works against them.
Present Concerns
The Lhiannan have myriad concerns. Foremost among them is the spread of the Church. Already, individual inquisitors have begun targeting sabats, and a few more scholarly bishops to whom these inquisitors report are beginning to postulate the existence of a deeper conspiracy. Additionally, other Cainites are eager to wipe out the Druids once and for all, either because they object to the Lhiannan’s practices or because their presence proves increasingly inconvenient.
Most of Europe has fallen to Christendom, but fragments of the land’s older cultures yet survive — particularly among the continent’s supernatural denizens. Certainly the blood-line of vampires known as the Lhiannan looks back fondly on Europe’s ancient nights. Seemingly a subtribe of the Gangrel, the Lhiannan are a dwindling strain of vampires who haunt rural areas, forest groves and isolated villages. Once they wove a web of influence (and terror) over Europe’s barbarian population, but Rome and the Church have largely stripped the line of its deathright,
Lhiannan are largely matriarchal, even to the point of spurning the myth of Caine. Lhiannan instead claim descent from a shadowy female figure said to have walked theworld in ancient nights. This figure, known as the Crone, created the Lhiannan from droplets of her blood. Most Cainite eschatologists s p u r n this tale, but a few Cappadocians and Brujah point out the parallels between the Lhiannan’s myths and certain stories in the Book of Nod.
In the end, it matters little. The Lhiannan are a dying line, hounded by both mortal and Cainite hunters. Their vampiric nature shines like a bonfire before mystic scrutiny, and thus Lhiannan are often easy scapegoats and targets for witch-hunters. Their power base, which involves blood cults, ley lines and pagan rites, is blasphemous to the Church and inconvenient for the Roman-descended Cainites who have largely displaced them.
In elder days, Lhiannan established themselves among pagan Celts, Norse, Slavs and other European barbarians. These “Children of the Crone” acted as Osirises, infiltrating villages, turning key inhabitants into ghouls or vampires, and playing on the populace’s superstition. Powerful individuals founded blood cults, and grisly legends sprang up around the nocturnal doings of the Lhiannan. Indeed, many pagan heroes tirelessly hunted these witches who preyed on their own people
The real blow to the Lhiannan, though, was the coming of Rome and its Cainite parasites. Though they were individually powerful, internecine competition for ley lines left them fractious and few, and their domains fell into the talons of the more organized Roman vampires. Worse yet was the ascendancy of Christendom, with its churches and priests and consecrated ground. The Lhiannan’s mystic aura, which
Christian priests found repulsive, made them among the first targets of priestly pogroms. The proud Lhiannan were forced into hiding and their cults driven underground.
Now the Lhiannan stand alone. Their gruesome practices, reliance on human slaves, and predilection for siphoning ley-line energy have alienated them to many Gangrel, while the Tzimisce see them as competitors in the Slavic states. Even the Lupines and fae, it seems, despise and fear them; one Gangrel tells a tale of being spared by a werewolf pack in exchange for her help in eradicating a Lhiannan sabat. Nightly the Lhiannan are rooted out by clergymen and rival Cainites. Though they battle fiercely, their numbers dwindle by the year, and it will not be long before they fall.
Sobriquet: Druids
Appearance: Lhiannan survival depends on blending in with their conquerors. They generally appear as rustics of one sort or another. Due to their Ogham Discipline, however, they often anoint themselves with bloody glyphs or runes. When at a safe haven, Lhiannan often dress in the garb of old, and adorn themselves with skulls, talismans and other paraphernalia.
Haven: Lhiannan try to occupy an isolated rural village where the old ways are still practiced; they then set up a cult with themselves as the priests. Failing this, Lhiannan try to live inconspicuously on the fringes of urban demesnes.
Background: Many, though by no means all, Lhiannan are female; females tend to be perceived as having a greater connection to the Dark Mother. Lhiannan tend to be chosen from mortals who still follow the old pagan ways.
Character Creation:Any Attribute class can be primary. Lhiannan, by dint of their rural unlifestyle, tend to have high scores in animal handling and survival-based Abilities. Most Lhiannan have Retainers and Herds (pagan cultists).
Disciplines: Animalism, Ogham, Presence
Weaknesses: Lhiannan are innately pagan; the mark of the Mother-Goddess flows through their dead veins. As such, all difficulties to detect their nature via Aura Sight, Faith Numina, etc., are reduced by two. Additionally, Lhiannan increase all difficulties by two (including soak rolls, if such are necessary) when resisting Faith magic — even pagan Faith.
Organization: Lhiannan form broods centered around a powerful individual and her followers; these broods are often referred to as “covens” or “sabats.” Sabats act in conjunction and generally maintain herds of mortals and ghouls. Rival sabats are often bitter enemies; this lack of cooperation is one more reason why the Lhiannan have failed to defend their holdings.
Destiny: The pagan Lhiannan have all but fallen to Christendom as it stands. By the end of the Inquisition, the Church has completed the task of purgation. No Lhiannan survives past the 14th century. Rumors persist that the Sabbat, or perhaps the mysterious Eastern vampires, make use of a Discipline similar to Ogham, but involving the use of tattoos or ideographs
Quote: At the hour of midnight thy vitae will flow down the spiral rock, and the Crone will feed, and be pleased.
Ways of the Lhiannon Strength and Influence
Each Lhiannan sabat acts alone. Though acknowledging other Lhiannan as fellow descendants of the Crone, Lhiannan are a grasping and jealous line. Lhiannan tend to remain in those mystic sites they have wrested from Lupines, Gangrel and fae.
Organization:
Lhiannan form themselves into tightly knit cults, known as sabats. Sabats tend to organize along sire-childe lines, but Lhiannan can be inducted into sabats headed by a Lhiannan unrelated to them. An interesting custom among the Lhiannan involves dueling for control of a particular magical site; the loser and her sabat are immediately inducted into the winner’s sabat, and the winner gains control of the site.
Current Practices
For now, Lhiannan try to hold on. They feverishly infiltrate rural communities that still remember their ancient roots, trying to corrupt the inhabitants and eventually generate a groundswell of resistance to the Church. Unfortunately, the Church expands faster than the Lhiannan can comprehend; ironically enough,
the Druids’ own immortality works against them.
Present Concerns
The Lhiannan have myriad concerns. Foremost among them is the spread of the Church. Already, individual inquisitors have begun targeting sabats, and a few more scholarly bishops to whom these inquisitors report are beginning to postulate the existence of a deeper conspiracy. Additionally, other Cainites are eager to wipe out the Druids once and for all, either because they object to the Lhiannan’s practices or because their presence proves increasingly inconvenient.