Mind's Eye Theatre - Vampire The Requiem.pdf - RoseRed

clans • daeva • gangrel
somewhere — but where? In a modern context, only two Kindred are known to have no clan,
and they haven’t reliably demonstrated that they’ve been able to Embrace over the course of
their Requiems. These vampires, the legendary Dracula and the Roman centurion Longinus
are responsible for the creation of certain covenants, not clans, but might they be on a path
toward clan creation themselves? And if the origin of clans doesn’t lie with certain progenitor
vampires, from what source do clans originate? If Longinus and Dracula have no clan, who’s
to say that other, more secretive Kindred haven’t also suffered the curse in the same way?
Tonight, the infl uence of the clans is felt almost everywhere. The fi ve clans have a presence
throughout the Western world, or so it is believed. The Kindred defi nitely came to the New
World along with the early colonists, suggesting that these vampires are European in origin,
or that they grew out of the civilizations that fi rst populated the world and followed the movements
of mortal men. Oral histories and sparse records indicate that some vampiric presence
existed among the tribal cultures of North America before its colonization, but whether these
creatures were members of clans or solitary, unique beings — or even if they were truly vampires
at all — cannot be determined. While information on the Far East is fl eeting, members of the
fi ve clans are known to be active there, as they are in Africa, South America and much of the
Middle East. Still, little is known about how indigenous culture shapes the understanding of
clans in all these regions, and anyone attempting to study the phenomenon is probably wise to
take no presuppositions with him.
A bloodline is like a clan, but its characteristics are not so universal. It might help to think
of a bloodline as a “sub-clan.” Not all vampires are members of bloodlines. Each bloodline
has a parent clan from which it distinctly diverges, yet claims descent. Kindred scholars have
no reliable estimates of how many bloodlines exist in the world tonight, because bloodlines
can arise at any time and few of them would stand up to be counted, even if some formal
roster of them were made.
DAEVA
The Daeva are emotional, sensual and desirable. Sexual predators and sensual hedonists
alike populate the ranks of these succubi-seducers.
Among Kindred historians, the Daeva are suspected of being one of the oldest clans of
the Damned. Their moniker suggests a Persian mythological origin, and their abilities suggest
they could be related to the demons from which they take their name. A few ancient
writings suggest that the progenitor of the line was a Kindred known as Aesma Daeva, but
vampiric scholars debate whether this individual was actually undead or the writings merely
draw comparisons to the Persian demon of lust and anger.
The name “Daeva” predates the commonly accepted origin point of Kindred society,
generally understood to parallel the ascension of Rome. Certainly, some incarnation of the
Daeva existed before then, but whether they had their own society or were merely a rabble
of lust-crazed revenants is unknown. After the rise of Rome, the Daeva had become an inextricable
part of Kindred society, and vampiric history shows that they were very active in the
Camarilla, the fi rst known social contract of the undead.
GANGREL
The Gangrel are primal, hardy and savage. They embody the myths of vampires turning
into animals or otherwise changing form (into wolves, bats or mist, for example).
Many Kindred believe that the Gangrel clan is an old one, but due to the Gangrel’s bestial
nature, few records exist that can connect their origins to any specifi c time period. While the
murky pre-history of the Kindred contains any number of legends about bestial vampires, not
all of these tales coincide with the hallmarks of the Gangrel.
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