The clan itself is divided into circles of ranking, moving from apprentices (who carry out the day-to-day tasks of the clan) to regents (who oversee clan affairs in a city) to lords (who exercise dominion over a particular region) to pontifexes (whose rule extends to all

Tremere activities within a large geographic area) to, ultimately, the fabled Council of Seven (whose members each oversee a continent). Initiates strive diligently to outperform their peers in order to rise in rank, yet maintain a rigid code of loyalty to clan and Camarilla (in that order). This chain of command promotes ambition while making the Tremere more insular and structured than any other Camarilla clan. Among the ranks of the Tremere are Freemasons, mystics, witches, New Agers and antiquarians. The clan does not draw from practitioners of the arcane exclusively, though. Politicians, financiers, scientists and soldiers can all be found among the ranks of the clan. Self-discipline, a keen mind and a will to power are qualities inherent to the prospective neonate. Loyalty to the clan and knowledge

of the occult can be instilled later.

Because of their stolen blood and their hiddensecrets of magic (so secretive that other vampires whisper rumors of Tremere assassins who hunt and slay vampires learning Thaumaturgy outside the auspices of the clan), the Tremere occupy an uncertain place within the Camarilla. Their prowess grants them grudging respect, but it is no secret that any Tremere advances the clan’s agenda first and foremost. As a result, most Tremere are superlative manipulators. Vampires of this clan barter their impressive magical skills for favors, calling in debts later to consolidate the clan’s claims to specific political goals and mystical treasures. Their magical powers allow them to counter the actions of the Camarilla’s many enemies, yet they grant an unpredictable edge over their allies at the same time. The Tremere exert an insidious influence over vampire society from their chantries (part stronghold, part academy), directing crusades and research to their own occult ends.

 

Roleplaying Hints:

You have taken an oath to uphold the goals of clan and Camarilla. You hail from a distinguished house of wizards, and in return for your

dutiful service, you can expect instruction in the mystic arts. You obey the laws of Kindred society unswervingly, but you always work to advance the interests of your clan first. Since unknown abilities cannot be opposed, you conceal the true measure of your own power and your clan’s knowledge, acting when appropriate and before others can fathom your plans. You possess a strong will, capable of undertaking difficult tasks in order to succeed. Other vampires may not understand or trust you, and that’s just fine — you have other plans.

 

 

Disciplines:

 

Auspex, Dominate, Thaumaturgy

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Advantage:

As a result of their training in the mystical arts, all Tremere gain one Occult Ability and one Occult Influence automatically. This bonus

represents their basic knowledge of magical practices and their clan’s contacts within arcane circles.

Because of the tightly knit structure of the clan, Tremere can expect assistance and instruction from higher-ranking members of the clan. However, members must still perform their duties. Tremere cannot simply expect all of their problems to be solved by their superiors — the clan does not tolerate laggards. Tremere vampires can expect that any Mentor they may have will always offer assistance (if the Storyteller rules that doing so is within the Mentor’s capabilities), but conversely, they will always be required to fulfill a specific duty afterward.

 

Disadvantage:

On receiving the Embrace, all new Tremere are forced to drink from a chalice containing the blood of seven elders of the clan. From this

mixture of blood, the neonate comes one step toward a blood bond to the elders and, through them, to the clan as a whole. Tremere who fail in their duties or who disobey orders may be forced to drink again of such a mixture, stepping closer to total obedience to the clan.

Tremere who fail to report to their superiors, or who do not successfully carry out their duties, can also expect their superiors to deal with them harshly. Members of the clan who do not pull their own weight quickly find that they are expendable.

 

Bloodlines:

At one time, a small faction of antitribu claimed membership within the Sabbat. However, a recent turn of the Jyhad has seen to the extermination  of all of those expatriates, with no survivors whatsoever. Also, during the Dark Ages, a small group of Lithuanian pagans formed several cults. These Telyavelic Tremere possessed the Discipline of Presence instead of Dominate, but they suffered mightily from displays of Christian faith. These pagans were finally exterminated before the 17th century. With the rigid structure of the Tremere clan, there is no room for the deviance of any other bloodlines.

 

History:

The Tremere began as House Tremere, mages of the Order of Hermes named for their leader and founder, Tremere. At the end of the first millennia, the members of House Tremere realized the Hermitic arts were failing and found its immortality potions no longer working. Facing the possibility of losing everything, Tremere ordered research into alternate methods of sustaining their lives. House Tremere undertook numerous experiments, but it was Goratrix who devised a solution in his investigation of vampires.

In 1022, Goratrix invited Tremere and six of the founder's closest advisers to participate in the completed ritual, which promised true immortality. Whether Goratrix knew what would happen is known only by him and, perhaps, Tremere, but at the completion of the ritual the participants fell unconscious and were reborn as vampires, their avatars destroyed and magical abilities lost. The mages had gained their immortality but lost the power they lived for. Though the others would likely have slain Goratrix for his folly (or trickery), Tremere ordered them to halt and declared that they would remain at his side, leaving their chantries in the hands of subordinates while they discovered the powers of their new forms in secret.

In time the Tzimisce made war against House Tremere in retribution for the Fiends that had been made part of Goratrix's experiments. The Order of Hermes also became suspicious of diabolical practices being performed by the increasingly secretive House, but Tremere was able to dissuade them from investigating further. Finally, in 1037 Tremere gathered the seven newly-made Cainites and forced the blood bond upon them. He then declared to them that House Tremere would be restructured with a new pyramid hierarchy, placing himself at the top and his seven closest followers forming the Inner Council of Seven directly under him. They would slowly beginEmbracing the rest of the House, with each initiate being bound to the Inner Council to ensure their loyalty. In time, all members of House Tremere would die or become vampires.

Dark Ages:

Motto: Arbitrium Vincit Omnia (Latin: "Will Conquer All")

Over the next century the Omen War with the Tzimisce continued on and off. With their mages growing weaker and those newly Embraced unfamiliar with the powers of the blood, chantries as far as their stronghold of Ceoris were repeatedly ravaged. While Tremere and Etrius pursued their own research throughout Europe in converting the hermetic arts into Thaumaturgy, Goratrix once again returned to his laboratories with his apprentices at hand. After years of experimentation on captured Tzimisce, Nosferatu, and Gangrel, he succeeded in creating a Gargoyle in 1121, and by 1125 the hybrids were serving as shock troops against the Fiends.

Nevertheless, the Tremere found themselves third-class citizens among the undead. Whatever boldness Tremere had shown in entering the night was ignored by the staunchly traditionalist clans, and they were often forced from cities by princes who did not look kindly on their presumption.

The Tremere's response to this was further boldness. As he and Etrius rapidly acquired more vampiric lore they discovered the history of Caine and the Antediluvians, as well as the benefits ofdiablerie. Seeking to establish themselves as a clan proper, the Tremere sought a clan founder to diablerize and settled on Saulot, the enigmatic founder of the Salubri clan. In 1133, Tremere and the Inner Council discovered Saulot's tomb in the Anatolian desert. Tremere diablerized the Antediluvian and promptly entered torpor, leaving the Inner Council to lead the clan and destroy the remaining Salubri.

As with everything else that the Tremere had done to this point, the result was a mixed blessing. Due largely to Meerlinda's efforts, the Tremere were entrenched in many Cainite courts, their services as mages making them indispensable to princes across Europe. They were now accepted as one of the Low Clans, albeit considered usurpers, distrusted warlocks, and known diablerists. A vicious propaganda campaign painted the Salubri as infernalists and soul-stealers, granting them some credit, and even those who knew better largely sat back while the Salubri were hunted to near extinction, for their arrogance had made them many enemies among the other clans.

In 1202, the Order of Hermes finally discovered what had become of House Tremere and sentenced them to death, resulting in a Wizard's March. The Massasa War, as it would eventually be called, never officially ended, but neither side had the resources to sustain the war and it subsided after a few decades, only to sporadically begin anew years later.

Renaissance

The Tremere continued their hunt of Saulot's descendents while making alliances with HungarianVentrue against the Tzimisce. By the 15th century the Salubri were only a legend and the Tremere were completely acknowledged as a clan. The Inquisition was particularly hard on them, however, and they lost many of their cults and chantries. During this time Goratrix used his influence and power to try to corrupt religious orders, most notably the Knights Templar, in order to seize potent artifacts held by the Church and turn its hunters against his enemies. When his bid for power failed, and the Knights Templar were branded as heretics, Tremere awoke and summoned Goratrix to return to Ceoris to stand trial before the Inner Council. After being censored and stripped of his authority, Goratrix fled into the east, believing his assassination was imminent. Shortly thereafter Etrius moved Tremere's torpid body to the Vienna Chantry, which became the new center for the clan.

The formation of the Camarilla signaled the Tremere's rise to legitimacy. Though the Tremere did not suffer greatly from the Anarch Revolt, the spread of Thaumaturgy among the Anarchs by theTremere antitribu was a dire threat to the clan. The Warlocks used their sorcery to facilitate communication and coordination of the Elders needed to support such an endeavor and played a pivotal role at the Convention of Thorns when they placed a curse upon the entirety of ClanAssamite, preventing them from drinking the blood of Cainites without extreme danger. The Assamites would never forgive the Tremere, their rivalry continuing into the present. At the same time, the Tremere antitribu were also cursed so that anyone who partook of the Vaulderie would be branded by a mark visible to "true" Tremere. Such mighty feats were said to have been led by Tremere himself, who rose from torpor for the event, along with the entire Inner Council.

Victorian Age:

In the 18th Century rumors were finally confirmed that Goratrix had joined the Sabbat and was gathering the majority of the Tremereantitribu to form House Goratrix. Though the Tzimisce ensured that the they would never become influential within the sect, the Betrayer's efforts brought them closer together in an ironic imitation of the main clan.

During this time the Tremere continued to spread throughout Europeand North America, with considerably less success in Africa and Asia. Despite this expansion, the clan maintained its hierarchy, and the web of communication leading back to Vienna and the Inner Council steadily grew.

The Victorian age saw a rise in occultism among mortals, and the Tremere were quick to capitalize. Infiltrating the many secret societies that sprang up among the upper and middle classes, they drew childer, servants and herds from them. This also allowed the Tremere to practice their talents more openly (although still within the strictures of the Masquerade), and what once would have gotten an incautious magus burned at the stake for witchery, now enthralled and excited mortals with its concepts of divination, conjuration and communing with spirits.

Final Nights:

In 1998, the Tremere antitribu are wiped out. After being called to a chantry in Mexico City, they are completely destroyed in an unknown ritual. If any of the antitribu remain, those who did not attend the gathering, they are undoubtedly in hiding.

More problematic is the increasing number of free Gargoyles that are making themselves known within the Camarilla and those that are clamoring for more freedoms and rights despite the Tremere's attempts to keep them under their control. Far worse, the Tremere are beginning to take notice of a growing instability in Thaumaturgy with frightening similarities to the failure of the Hermetic arts that spurned Goratrix's experiments and the transformation into vampires. The curse placed upon the Assamite clan has failed, with subsequent efforts to renew it unsuccessful, and the Assassins are hunting them with renewed vigor, even as a new faction of sorcerers and scholars seek membership within the Camarilla. The advancements made by the Tremere seem to be met by further setback, and little reassurances is given from the top of the pyramid.

 

Organization:

The Tremere are the most strictly organized clan bar none, and every member knows where they stand in authority amongst their peers. This creates the illusion of total unison and cooperation for other Cainites, who rarely know anything of the Tremere hierarchy or inner politics. Their Antediluvian, Tremere, sits at the top of the pyramid and supposedly directs the entire clan, though very few have ever seen him or witnessed his hand in action. Many do not believe he is even a real person, but perhaps an ideal of the Tremere cause or a symbol of their unity. Beneath him, the importance of the number seven is emphasized, as each successive rank down is comprised of seven to one, starting with:

• Councilors, the members of the Inner Council of Seven and the true rulers of the clan, each of whom is responsible for directing clan efforts in a particular portion of the world. Each councilor appoints seven -

• Pontifices. A pontifex oversees a large region, such as parts of a nation or groupings of smaller countries and islands, and in turn oversees seven -

• Lords. Each lord is responsible for a small country or group of states and uses their influence and knowledge to sway the Tremere in their domain, specifically the -

• Regents, the most visible figures of Tremere authority. A regent runs an individual chantry and is charged with the well being and training of -

• Apprentices, the youngest and most numerous Tremere. Apprentices must spend much of their time training, serving some need within their chantry, or playing the politics of the clan as best as their inexperience allows. Some never advance beyond this rank, either because they are more interested in Camarilla politics or their own affairs to rise among the Tremere or because the lord of the region sees no need to create a new chantry and regent.

Circles of Mastery

Each rank, save for the Inner Council itself, is further divided into seven levels called circles of mastery. One's circle of mastery denotes one of several characteristics that have earned them prestige and further responsibility, such as skill in Thaumaturgy, years of experience and hard work, successful political machinations, or simple favoritism. The higher one's circle of mastery the more authority and power they have access to, but they are also expected to provide more for the clan and given less tolerance for failure. Those of the fifth circle or above are also commonly called "high" members of their rank, such as high apprentice or high lord. Promotion and demotion is dealt by members of higher rank, though tribunals may also be called where accomplishments and failings are examined. The pursuit of promotion is one of the most motivating factors for the clan's members to excel and obey Tremere doctrine, though advancement is rarely as simple as that.

Secret Societies

The Tremere pyramid teems with conspiracies since the creation of the clan and the feud between Goratrix and Etrius. These houses of Clan Tremere are by now little more than cults of personality at their worst, but are distinct colleges of magic or philosophy at their most valid. The Clan consists of an unknown number of houses, some claiming only a handful of members, while others - such as the House of Tremere - claim every childe of the clan. Many of these societies are tolerated as long as they do not threaten the foundation of loyalty to the clan.

Known and accepted societies are:

• Astors, a secret organization that hunts traitors and infiltrators within the pyramid

• Brothers of Absinthe, who believe in the usage of certain drugs to elevate their consciousness and awareness in Dreams

• Children of the Pyramid, who revere the spiritual concept of the Pyramid

• Elite, a group of Tremere that believe that they are the next step in vampiric evolution and are dedicated to show the supremacy of the Clan

• Guardians of Traditions, who  stand opposed to any change in policy and oppose all modern technology and conventions

• Quaesitori, a remnant from House Quaesitor that act as independent judges

Besides them, there exist groups like the Eyes of the Serpent, which is a cell from the Followers of Set and the Illuminated Brotherhood and the Order of the Wyrm, which are rumored to have connections to the demonic Baali. Membership in one of these societies can be punished with Final Death once it is known, and so, these cults hide among the other members of the Clan. Other societies die out due to lack of interest, such as the Humanus League or the Golden Path of Harmony.

 

Cultures:

Aside from the clan hierarchy, Tremere are sometimes grouped into political factions and houses, which range from cults to distinct colleges of magic or other intellectual pursuits. These groups are generally highly informal and maintain their own organization, if any at all, and some may even at odds with one another. To the rest of Cainite society, however, they always present a unified front. Given their history as usurpers and power-grabbers, they are obsessed with the image and reputation of their clan. The Tremere are one of the primary pillars of the Camarilla in the modern nights, arguably second only to the Ventrue in terms of the support and influence they possess (most of this power comes from the Tremere's near-monopoly of Thaumaturgy, but also from the encouragement for individual Tremere to place clan interests high on their list of priorities).

The clan is synonymous with blood magic, a fact that they use to instill fear and envy in others. While they are surely not the first thaumaturges in Cainite history (despite claims to the contrary), their paradigm is one of the most flexible and expansive. The Tremere differ from the other thaumaturges by adopting a uniquely scientific approach to magic, and they encourage active experimentation - the result being a staggering array of thaumaturgical paths and rituals. Of course, no single individual knows every application of blood magic, and such knowledge is one of the main forms of barter within the clan.