The Wandering Monster
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Kine
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Post by Aodhfin on Jan 25, 2015 0:07:56 GMT
Kerberos
Your line traces back to the Camarilla? You have the blood of a lost clan? Dear childe, I have the blood of Typhon running through my veins. I am a king among monsters. You may not have heard of me. But don’t worry your pretty little head — I’ve heard of you.
The Kerberos have mastered the Beast’s interactions with others, and use them to terrifying ends in social situations. They act as feral politicians, savage diplomats, and wild seducers. They refuse to sacrifice ferocity for acumen. They do not mince words. They crush opposition with the weight of their animalistic presence.
Adapt or die. This is a concept many Gangrel know all too well. The Kerberos have faced extinction time and again. Each time, they reinvent themselves. While this causes tradition and history to fade, the Kerberos remember why they came to be, and prefer relevance to righteousness.
Background: The Kerberos go back two thousand years, to the Greek isles. Their progenitor saw too many Embraces for the population. He petitioned the local tyrant for an official role as a gatekeeper, an arbiter for the Embrace. He claimed his sire was Typhon, the Father of Monsters. This afforded him the authority to judge, to determine who did or did not deserve the Embrace. A potential sire would go to him, presenting the childe-to-be.
Over time, the need for his intervention spread and grew. He could not keep his duties up with the swaths of population he needed to cover. He Embraced childer to task with his role elsewhere.
As the centuries passed, a growing number of vampires grew disgusted with him and his childer. They felt it was their own responsibility to choose and Embrace their scions, and none should limit their rights as such. They rose up and destroyed the bloodline founder, and many of his brood. The survivors spread to the winds, and abandoned their mission in their sire’s absence.
Their skill was always to test others and find how they handle the taint of the Beast. Coming to Byzantium in the sixth century, the line found a new role in the form of master interrogators for vampires of the nascent Lancea et Sanctum. They unleashed the Beast on victims, forcing them into submission and demanding obeisance.
This new purpose lasted a handful of centuries, before the New Rome movement painted them part of the pagan scourge looking to infiltrate and conquer the church. Again, they found themselves chased into the wilds, rejected and eschewed by their patrons.
They took on numerous other roles over the years. Each time, that purpose lasted for some time, before ending shamefully. Now, they’re looking for an identity once again. They need a new purpose. Some members of the line lobby to put themselves back in their historic role as judges for the Embrace. Of course, no covenant or rational city would allow such a thing, except from the deepest of shadows, murdering unworthy sires and investigating prospects for the Embrace.
Tonight, they act as social predators and urban monsters, cowing the competition with their fierce Beasts in back alleys and boardrooms.
The Becoming: Kerberos recruit based on social acumen and wise judgment. Even though their role as arbiters of the Embrace has long since faded, they choose with that heritage in mind. Mental and Social Attributes are often primary, with Intimidation, Investigation, and Subterfuge rounding out their most common Skills. They favor Power Attributes (Intelligence, Strength, and Presence) because of their Hound of Hell bloodline gift. Many keep Mentors in the forms of their sires or grandsires. Bloodline members only rarely keep elaborate havens, because of their history of being chased from city to city. Most rise rapidly in their respective Covenants. Consider Covenant Status to reflect this.
Interactions With the Danse: Many Gangrel act as enforcers, bodyguards, or hounds. Kerberos eschew their expected roles, and instead focus on dominating the political arena. They don’t tend to the top of the hierarchies in their respective cities; you won’t see many Kerberos Princes or Czars. But they tend to launch movements. Many take up roles as Senators, Primogen, or Councillors. They particularly shine in covenant leadership, where they intimidate and inspire their charges to compete. Kerberos favor the Carthian Movement because of their often brash dispositions, or the Circle of the Crone due to their affinity for older faiths, like the one that birthed them.
Clan: Gangrel
Nickname: Children of Typhon, Watchdogs
Bloodline Bane: Kerberos wield the Predatory Aura (see Blood & Smoke, p. 91) as if it’s second nature. Against any character not currently subject to a Predatory Aura Condition (Bestial, Competitive, Wanton), they lose the 10-again quality on all non-reflexive actions. This bane never applies to Predatory Aura rolls.
Bloodline Disciplines: Animalism, Majesty, Protean, Resilience
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