When seeking mortal allies and compatriots, the Ventrue look to the cream of the crop. Those who rise to heights of prowess through talent, hard work and noble character are the foremost recruits among the Ventrue. Of course, among the older members of the clan, blood will tell; scions of wealthy and noble families are often inducted, with the expectation that their rarefied lineage provides insight and

potential beyond that of commoners. 

As the rulers of the Camarilla, the Venture hold a noblesse oblige, a duty and responsibility to lead and protect. Members of the clan use their political savvy and influential powers to sway Kindred and mortal politics alike, bringing prosperity to vampires and protecting the

society of the undead from discovery. Thus, Ventrue naturally gravitate toward positions of power and authority, or attempt to do so.

Even those Ventrue who join the Sabbat take their duties as protectors of Cainite society very seriously, serving as dark crusaders of a holy cause. Of course, since  the Ventrue cannot let other clans know the hidden secrets and burdens that they carry in the war to defend all vampires, they must assume the burdens of leadership alone. However, they are certain to drop hints about the burdensome task.

 

Roleplaying Hints:

You are among the elite nobility of Kindred society. Above mortal or even petty Cainite concerns, you bear the right and responsibility

of leadership. You have a firm respect for tradition, for the ways that have worked for hundreds of years; even the most rebellious youth understands the power of tradition. No other vampires have the necessary talents or capabilities to take on the burden of guiding Cainite society. Thus, it is up to you to take up that mantle. You lead not necessarily out of desire or habit (though such factors may figure in), but because your clan has gifted you with the duty to assume responsibility. All that is done must advance the sect, for the sect will protect the weaker ones. Your conviction is your armor, your honor a shield, your birthright your weapon. Honed to perfection, you uphold all that is noble, ordered, ancient and wise in the children of Caine.

 

 

Disciplines:

 

Dominate, Fortitude, Presence

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Advantage:

Because of their keen financial acumen and savvy, all Ventrue characters begin play with an extra Trait of the Resources Background that can never be lost permanently. All Ventrue additionally gain one Trait of Finance, High Society or Political Influence (player’s choice) due to their connections to society and social manipulation. Even those Ventrue without such ties themselves may call on their clanmates for the appropriate aid, effectively granting them the same capabilities.

Ventrue tend to keep detailed records of lineage and heritage. As a result, the Ventrue clan, though not as hierarchical as the Tremere, can prove difficult to infiltrate; nearly every Ventrue is recorded somewhere in the clan’s family trees. Though it may take several months to track down a particular lineage, a Ventrue can usually contact others of his clan and discover the sire, grandsire and so on of a particular Ventrue claimant, thus establishing “credentials” of a sort.

 

Disadvantage:

All Ventrue have rarefied tastes, to the point of excluding all other prey except their chosen taste. Ventrue may only feed from mortal blood meeting with their particular dietary restriction. A given Ventrue might be able to feed only from young women or from businessmen or perhaps only from those experiencing terror. A Ventrue reflexively regurgitates any blood taken from any other source, gaining no nourishment. This restriction does not apply to vampiric vitae, though, and it may be suppressed long enough for a Ventrue

to Embrace a new childe. 

Because of their restrictions on feeding, Ventrue typically come into play each game session with one Blood Trait less than other vampires (though this shortage can be ameliorated with the Herd Background, as usual).

 

Bloodlines:

The Ventrue antitribu are crusaders who lead in the holy war of the sect, feeling that the others of their blood have failed in their mission

to protect Cainites from the machinations of the Antediluvians. Despite differences of philosophy, though, Ventrue of the Camarilla and the Sabbat are functionally similar; antitribu are the true dark knights of their kind. There are no distinctive bloodlines of Ventrue, though some family lines do form “dynasties” within the clan.

 

History:

The second Brujah War would parallel that of Rome and Carthage, where Brujah, Assamites, and even Baali ruled the mortals openly, demanding blood and sacrifices while living as gods. In such contrast to what the Patricians had fostered in Rome, the African nation was seen as a den of infernalists and monsters. Despite Lysander's repeated efforts to convince Camilla, the war with Carthage would not begin until a Brujah named Dominic antagonized the MalkavianPrince of Syracuse, Alchias. Alchias turned to Artemis and supposedly the bull-dancer Arikel for help, and the three made plans with Lysander to arrange the war. Cainites largely avoided direct fighting during the first two Punic Wars, but in the final assault Ventrue, Toreador, Malkavians, and Gangrel of Rome battled openly alongside the Romans against the people of Carthage. In the end both sides were greatly wounded, but the Ventrue prevailed, and the Brujah would never forgive them for destroying their fabled city.

In the years that followed Rome prospered. The Ventrue shared its power with many of the other clans that had taken part in the wars against Carthage, establishing friendships with other Cainites even as the Ventrue themselves began squabbling with one another. Most Patricians of the time were independent, with the only organization of the clan being a largely ineffectual assembly that eventually fell out of practice. Following the cue of Julius Caesar, Camilla reorganized the Ventrue into a structure that gave authority over the clan's members to the most important Ventrue in the region. While the power over the younger and less important Ventrue was not absolute, it did create a means for settling disputes, establishing connections, and identifying friends and enemies of the clan. These reforms served the clan well, and the Patricians prospered for several centuries until the empire itself dissolved.

Dark Ages:

When Rome fell, most of the Ventrue elite abandoned the ruined city to establish new centers of power elsewhere. During the rise of the Merovingian dynasty in Frankia (later the Holy Roman Empire), the Ventrue began infiltrating existing government as feudal lords, thus taking credit for the creation and expansion of the medieval feudal system. As the Frankish state expanded into Germany and Italy, the Ventrue began to prosper once again. When the Holy Roman Empire was dispersed, the Ventrue moved their center of power to Italy. However, since Rome was dominated by the Lasombra (as was much of the Church), the Ventrue established centers of power elsewhere in Italy, in Venice, Milan,Genoa and Firenze. Here, the Ventrue constantly opposed the Lasombra (and their proxies in the church and in Rome) in their quest for power, as their own early efforts had not succeeded. Posing as kings and merchant princes, the Ventrue expanded their influence across the Mediterranean through trade routes and crusades, thus becoming again a force to be reckoned with.

During these times, many Ventrue were influenced by the laws of chivalry and personal honor. Some of these separated themselves from the main clan during the founding of the Camarilla and turned to the Sabbat.

Victorian Age:

1800s England was a good time to be Ventrue. The combination of centuries-old feudalism with the nouveau riche middle class served to keep the Ventrue at the top of the power structure. From there, they could oversee both international politics and the finances of an entire country.

Many Ventrue childer, already hungry for territories of their own, were sent to colonies through the British Empire, creating Camarilla beachheads in India, Australia, and Egypt. The vampires who already occupied these regions (primarily Ravnos and Daitya in India, and Setites in Egypt) faced years of vicious propaganda declaring them to be heathens, savages, and worse. Most people - both Kindred and kine - adopted these views wholesale, making the work of controlling popular opinion that much easier for the Ventrue.  If a Ventrue wanted to increase profit from a mine in Africa, all they had to do was spread the word that the mine's workers were closet heretics, justifying the decline of pay and living conditions.  The Danava of India were able to invoke their historical connection with the Ventrue to leverage themselves into a position resembling neutrality, at least on the surface.  After over a century, the native Daitya were able to eventually wrest control of India back from the foreign British Ventrue.

Not all Ventrue were robber-barons and misanthropes, but enough of them were to make vampiric opinion turn against them for the first time since the founding of the Camarilla. The Toreador were repulsed by the Ventrue obsession with money and political gains; the Tremere had more important things to worry about than who was Prince of a small English town; the Gangrel were treated as servants and animals when they weren't being hunted down.

The Ventrue made just enough compromises to smooth things over, at least with any Kindred whom they could make use of; it was during this time that the Ventrue learned to temper their cutthroat business dealings with an outward veneer of philanthropy. They remained, of course, a clan out for profit and prestige, but there's no reason not to remain civil while doing so. This policy was put to the test in the New World, where the Ventrue spread West across North America and provided much of the impetus for doing so: The clan's money could sponsor quite a few landstaking ventures and West Coast mines, and wherever cities sprang up so did Ventrue interests.

Final Nights:

The years following the World Wars have seen Clan Ventrue reassert itself once more over a half-century of troubles and decline. The clan thrived during the four-decade cold war, taking full advantage of the paranoid on both sides to make massive profits and sink its tendrils into the growing government bureaucracies that came to dominate industrialized governments. Having learned a valuable lesson from the debacle of the Crusades, savvy Ventrue have determined to hold their resources together despite the mortal conflict raging around them. Ventrue on both sides of the Iron Curtain worked in concert, watching their respective “governments” act against one another for the greatest advantage. The Ventrue were particularly fond of the various incarnations of secret police that came into existence, finding them an excellent way to keep the kine in line and under supervision. In the West, the Ventrue concentrated on the recovering European industries, all but abandoning the last of their feudal and noble ties for big business and majority shares in multi-national corporations.

When the Cold War ended, the few former Communist Bloc Ventrue who did manage to cultivate some degree of influence found themselves stripped of power just as the governments they supported had been. A decade later, these Ventrue are still trying to recover while Western Ventrue-owned companies step into the dismal economies and invest heavily in national infrastructures. As a result, a number of Ventrue in the East – particularly in Russia, Poland,Bulgaria and the Ukraine – have turned to organized crime as a new field of influence.

 

Organization:

Acquiring Dignitas is the only way to advance in Ventrue society.

The Ventrue are second only to the Tremere in terms of organization and interrelation, and take pride in the fact that every clan member has a place and knows just where he stands within the clan in relation to everyone else. Of course, the system is not at all like some military organization.

One does not necessarily ascend a ladder of advancement from rank to rank. Rather, members can move through the (largely honorific) system as their abilities and fortunes decree. The Ventrue feel that this system allows them more flexibility and lets them spot new talents within the clan and reward it, if desirable.

The clan elders often point this latter facet of the system out to young Kindred who are anxious and frustrated at the lackluster success of their own unlives. The system borrows heavily from the Roman Republic’s political institutions. Although the democratic elements of that system were stripped away long ago, the overall structure and some of the names remain.

Clan Internal Structure

The Clan is headed by the Ephorate, which arbitrates intra-Clan disputes, chooses the representative for the Inner Circle of the Camarilla and maintain the unity of the Clan in the face of global issues (although only Ventrue in power positions, like princes or primogen are actively inclined to heed them). Other influential figures within the Clan are the Strategoi, who enforce the dominance of the Ephorate along geographic regions. As agents of the strategoi act the Lictors, who often specialize in a specific field (finances, warfare etc.). On a more local scale, the Tribuneacts as a messenger to a Ventrue in a political position, often to alert him of the directives set by the Ephorate.

Clan Internal Structure within a city

Inside cities, the Ventrue organize themselves into an institution called the Gerousia, (or simply "Board" in modern nights). This Council effectively adjudicates Ventrue concerns within the city, overseeing Ventrue business and political interests within a domain. The Board is officially headed by the Praetor, who brings issues before the rest of the Board and hosts their meetings. Below the Praetors are the Aediles, who aid the Council and Praetor just as supervisors assist managers in a business. By their turn, the Quaestors act as assistants for their Elders or otherwise experienced Ventrue. Below that rank lie the common Ventrue, without a formal title or useful experience to the Clan, they are called Eiren.

 

Cultures:

It is said that while the Ventrue are the mind of the Camarilla, the Toreador are its soul. It was one of their number, Rafael de Corazon, who was instrumental in its formation. The Toreador are the greatest supporters of many of the Camarilla's traditions, most notably that of Elysium. This is where the Toreador are in their element, showcasing their latest pieces and practicing their highly effective (and sometimes deadly) form of social manouevreing. From the outside, most other Clans think of one face of the Toreador, but see another. When speaking of them to another, most envision Toreador as the Artistes - billowy shirted, frock-coated fops who crow about the beauty of the ages and lamenting their lost humanity. In reality, outsiders are less likely to meet such characters, given as they are to sequestering themselves away to work on their latest masterpiece. Far more often encountered are those Toreador whose unlives have become dedicated to the Kindred social scene - Toreador are often a large contingent of the city's Harpies, and having spent years with their bitchy and conniving clan-mates they are more than capable of ruining someone's reputation with a pithy comeback or a damning piece of gossip whispered in just the right ear.

The Toreador portray themselves as the vampires closest to the living, breathing pulse of the humans around them (though this honour might be shared with the Brujah). They claim that this is what keeps them so vital and modern. Indeed, Clan members are often the first ones to be aware of what mortals are wearing, eating, buying and sleeping with. While a Malkavian elder might be found in his 1800's finery, the Toreador is much more likely to be wearing something from this year's Paris catwalks. Many Toreador are fond of having mortal "families" or assuming mortal identities, in order to capture the breath of life that is denied to them. The constant pressure that the proximity to mortals can elicit, however, can cause a Toreador to break down, losing all of their creativity and motivation in the process, resulting in a debauched individual that desperately searches for the next kick to experience the feeling of being mortal again, eventually turning to mortal vices like drugs in order to feel just this one aspect. The older a Toreador gets and the more mortal associates he has watches dying, the more likely a "burnout" is to occur. Other vampires have to deal with it, too, but no Clan suffers so uniformly under this aspect of their existence than the Toreador.