By Bryan Rendell (30 November 1994)
All Assamites are required to tithe 10% of blood they receive in payment to their sires. In cases where the sire has met the Final Death, the clan elders at Alamut will accept the token of loyalty in the sire's place.
The elders of Alamut will also perform certain minor tasks for any Assamite, in exchange for a further tithe. The elders will safely store any blood sent to them. This is an attractive option for most Assamites, as the elders are far more capable of protecting such precious vitae than any Assamite in the field. They will also organise to have the blood exchanged for blood of a more useful generation. This is also a very valuable, and time saving, service, that many Assamites utilise.
These services do not come free however. Storage of vitae costs a flat 10% of the amount stored. The cost of brokerage rises as the required generation falls, as the availability of such potent blood is low. The standard fee for brokerage is 10%. For every generation earlier than eighth, this price rises by an additional 10%. Thus if the requisite generation is sixth, then the brokerage fee would be 30%. Note that all fees are taken from the blood before any brokerage takes place.
While the Elders of Alamut would never cheat a fellow Assamite, they will always give themselves the benefit of the doubt. The amount taken will err in their favour, and will tend to take more of earlier generation blood.
Example: Al, a Seventh generation Assamite sends his earned blood to Alamut with a polite request for brokerage and storage. The gracious elders will tithe Al 30% of his supply for the privilege. Al has 17 points of 11th generation, 19 points of 9th generation, 7 points of 8th generation, 12 points of 7th generation and 4 points of 6th generation. This is a total of 59 blood points, of which 18 points makes 30%, rounded to the elders advantage. They take 2 points of 6th generation, 4 points of 7th generation, 3 points of 8th generation, 6 points of 9th generation and 3 points of 11th generation. In this case they took less than 30% of the 11th generation blood, because they would take no more than 30% of the total pool.
Al is left with 14 points of 11th, 13 points of 9th, 4 points of 8th, 8 points of 7th, and 2 points of 6th. When brokered, this becomes 18 points of 7th generation and 2 points of 11th. This is placed in storage. In any further brokerage, although this blood cannot be tithed again, it can be used in the process. The 2 points of 11th generation blood can be combined with 14 other such points to give 1 7th generation point of blood.
While it would seem obvious that by calculating ahead of time, Al could have sent less than the above amounts and made more efficient use of his resources, such practise is not recommended. The leeway granted is a mark of respect for the Elders of the clan, as the Assamites should be honoured that their elders would deign to aid them. To send quantities of blood that don't favour the Elders is insulting, implying that the Elders are somehow cheating the Neonates. Consistently doing so will almost certainly lead to loss of Clan Prestige. Rumours that the stored blood of offenders meet with mysterious accidents are utterly unfounded, as well as unjustly calling the honour of the Elders into question. Never, never, never call the honour of the Elders into question.
One common form of punishment for Assamites not guilty of capital crimes is to double all tithes in blood. Thus, tithes to ones sire, tithes for storage and tithes for brokerage are 20%. Moreover, such Assamites are expected to make full use of such services, to demonstrate their continuing loyalty. Not to use such services is to imply that the punishment was somehow unfair, calling the judgement of the Elders into question. Never, never, never call the judgement of the Elders into question.
Assamites would seem to be in great danger of succumbing to the Beast, considering they make death their living. However, just as the Sabbat has found a way of keeping the Beast at bay, so too the Assamites. However, they do not make use of Paths of Enlightenment, as Assamites require continuing coolness and self control to pursue their goals, something the Paths do not provide.
Instead, the Assamites have developed, over the centuries, a philosophical outlook on life and death that does not replace Humanity, as Paths do, but supplements it. By rigourous application of this philosophy, the Assamite can operate in the field of death dealing without loss of humanity.
Putting it briefly, this philosophy is related to the principle of Golconda, which is acceptance. The Assamite accepts all facets and conotations of the deed to be committed, accepts the separate and distinct reality of the one to be killed, accepts his own role as killer, accepts the spiritual quest upon which he is on. In this aspect, it can be seen as remorse before the fact. However, this "remorse" is counterpointed with the joy of spiritual epiphany, the necessary re-discovery of the spiritual underpinings of the Clan that must be achieved over and over again. While in this state of remorse/joy, the Assamite's horizons expand, and he is capable of performing the act of killing while keeping the Beast at bay
Note that an understanding of the reality of the intended target is crucial to the process. The Assamite requires as much personal detail on the target as possible, in particular photos of the target and family, if any. Other documents that reveal the target's history, such as school reports, lists of personal tastes and habits and any other highly personalized items are ideal. When arranging the hit, the Assamite will always ask to be provided with such items, as well as all information pertinent to the actual hit itself, by the one putting out the contract. If no such items are provided, the Assamite may well conduct a little raid on the target's house to furnish himself with the necessary items. If no such items are to be found anywhere, this may well affect the Assamite's willingness to perform the deed, depending on how highly the Assamite values his Humanity.
So how does this work in game terms? First, it requires the use of a new Knowledge, that of Assamite Philosophy (apologies for not coming up with some really clever name). It is then a simple roll of Perception + Assamite Philosophy at a difficulty of the Assamite's own Humanity. This reflects the Assamite's struggle with himself to attain the necessary state of mind. Each roll takes 2 hours to perform.
The number of successes on the roll determine the length of time the Assamite can remain in this euphoric state. The more successes gained, the more leeway the Assamite has on the means of assassinating the target. A single success grants the Assamite 3 hours of time. Each additional success doubles this base time, so 5 successes would give the Assamite 2 days to do the job. If the alloted time passes without the target being killed, or if the Assamite fails the roll, the Assamite can attempt another roll. However, unless there is a significant change in the degree to which the Assamite "knows" the target, the difficulty increases by 1. This can occur an indefinite number of times, with the difficulty penalty accumulating each time.
If the Assamite botches the roll, then he can make no further rolls regarding this particular target. However, by this stage the Assamite has almost certainly agreed to the hit, and is honour bound to make an attempt. The Assamite clan has a serious reputation to protect, and doesn't like individual Assamites doing anything to jeopardize that reputation. The Assamite will just have to kill the target and accept the risk to his Humanity. C'est la vie.
Beyond this simple roll, there are some considerations that must be addressed. First, it is part and parcel of the whole Assamite position that they are assassins, not murderers. This roll can only be made in the case of a legitimate assassination. It cannot be made for any old killing the Assamite may want to perform. For all other actions, Assamites are just as subject to Humanity loss as all other Kindred. Secondly, the process focuses on a single individual and his death. Thus, the Assamites Humanity is protected only against the death of that individual and the minimum violence required to attain the individual's death. It does not protect the Assamite's Humanity if he blows away the targets family when trying to get the target. Basically, this requires the Storytellers discretion as to when the assamite has crosed the line from necessary to gratuitous action.
There are also various modifiers that alter the circumstances of the roll. These are as follows:
Not all Assamites make use of the philosophy of the Assamites. Indeed, it is believed that some Assamites follow Paths similar to the Path of Caine found amongst the Sabbat. The Elders have no problem with this. So long as one is loyal to the Clan, and to the goals of the Clan, then how you go about it is your own business.
However, there has developed over the centuries a movement within the Assamites which is viewed as inimical to the goals of the Clan. This underground faction espouses the position that the Assamites should not be the assassins of the dead, rather they should be the defenders and warriors of the Kindred, as it is thought they once were. This of itself is not a problem. The Elders of Alamut are tolerant as to what Assamites do when not assassinating. What is a problem is that these separatists dispute the existence of Caine, and suggest that the quest of ascending to Caine by raising ones generation is bankrupt, and a perversion of the understanding of Golconda. Understandably, in such a fundamentalist Clan, this suggestion does not go down well.
It is believed that the Separatists have developed their own philosophy with respect to noble warfare, that works much as the Assamite Philosophy does. The Elders of Alamut have made repeated efforts to eradicate the movement where ever it was found. However, their efforts have never been completely successful, as the movement has always risen again after a time. Admittedly, only a small minority of Assamites are members of this group. Further, very few other Assamites have ever heard of them, as the Elders make concerted efforts to keep other Assamites ignorant of the heresy. While this policy perhaps keeps the number of Separatists to a minimum, it makes it easier for the Seperatists to remain hidden in the body of normal Assamites.
The Assamites' spiritual beliefs about blood, combined with their death fixation, led to the discipline of Quietus. While it is suggested that the Assamites used the curse of the Tremere to originate this discipline, the reverse is actually true. The curse of the Tremere made use of the Assamites' own blood powers, and turned that power against them. The powers of Quietus reflect two things: the growing toxicity of the Assamites blood, and the Assamites' growing spiritual connection with blood.
The Discipline of Obfuscate utilised by the Assamites is slightly different from the discipline used by Camarilla vampires. Assamites do not learn the first level power "Cloak of Shadows." Instead they learn a different power, called "Silence of Death." Note that this is merely contingently so. An Assamite who learns Obfuscate from a Nosferatu or a Malkavian, for example, would have the "Cloak of Shadows" power at the first level, as would any Assamites this individual subsequently taught Obfuscate to. However, virtually all Assamites learn Obfuscate at Alamut when Embraced, and "Silence of Death" is by far the more common of the two powers used by Assamites with Obfuscate.
* Silence of death: With this power the Assamite can create a zone from which no sound may escape. For a minimum of 5 feet around him in every direction there is complete silence. He could run at full speed, fire a machine gun or set off 100 pounds of dynamite right where he stands and no one would hear it as long as the sound was created within that zone. Note that the character can still hear things going on outside of this circle of silence, but cannot himself hear anything going on within the circle.
System: For the cost of 1 Blood Point, a zone of 5 feet around the character is created. For every additional Blood Point spent, the radius of the zone from the character increases by 5 feet. No roll is required to achieve this effect. Unlike the case with other Obfuscate powers, Auspex is of no benefit to counteract the effect of the "Silence of Death."
Quietus is a reflection of two factors: an Assamites spiritual connection with blood, and the growing toxicity of the Assamites own blood. One might think that this last factor would prevent Assamites from creating ghouls, or feeding their blood to other Kindred for the purposes of healing. However, the two factors are interdependent and largely inseparable. The toxicity of Assamite blood is latent, dependent upon a conscious spiritual connection to initiate the effects of Quietus, while it is the nature of Assamite blood, beyond the merely vitriolic, that initiates the capacity for spiritual awareness in the Assamite.
Thus for most Assamites, their blood is, for all intents and purposes, normal Kindred vitae, capable of being used by mortals and Kindred for all the uses other Kindred blood can be put to. Only by the conscious decision of the Assamite can the vitae take on its lethal properties. Evidence of this lies in the fact that Assamites can control the effect their blood has on others within the purview of Quietus. An Assamite with Quietus of level 5 can use his blood for any of the effects up to and including the fifth level. He is not merely obliged to exercise only the most potent effect he has reached, as if his body was nothing more than a store for more and more concentrated poison.
It was the latent toxicity of the blood, requiring a spiritual command for release, that the Tremere used to curse the Assamites into their present state. Attempts to reach "scientific" explanations for Kindred have been fruitless, and few would argue the mystical/spiritual nature of Kindred in general. In particular, the mystical nature of Kindred is contained within their blood, as the centre of their birth and continued life. What the Tremere achieved with their curse was a subtle alteration of Assamite blood, so that the presence of foreign Kindred blood in an Assamite's system would utilise the mystical properties inherent to such blood and initiate the same spiritual connection that the Assamite would normally make voluntarily. The nature of this command to the Assamite's system was the rapid assimilation of the foreign blood, followed by its immediate destruction as its mystical potential was released into the Assamite, a release that causes turbulence and disruption to whatever mystical power it is that keeps kindred alive. This is why Assamites have found no way to resist the pain caused by the consumption of Kindred vitae: it is a spiritual, not a physical, pain, and cannot be soaked.
The inability of Assamites to imbibe Kindred vitae is virtually total. Even the blood of other Assamites is sufficiently alien and individual in nature to prevent consumption without repercussions. The only exception to this rule is the blood of one's immediate progeny. Assamites are able to drink the blood of Kindred they have sired, but no other. The blood of an Assamite's own sire is too potent relative to his own to escape the normal effects, while the blood of his grand progeny is too weak, and has become sufficiently individuated to cause pain and damage.
On a related topic, it is often believed by those outside the clan that Assamites are immune to the effects of each other's Quietus. This is partially true, although it is not the whole story. An Assamite attacked with Quietus who takes some other Assamites blood into her system will suffer the effect of both the Quietus power as well as the spiritual consequences of having alien vitae in her system. The Assamite's system will then destroy the foreign blood in the usual way, although at a rate of 1 Blood Point per turn, rather than all at once. Thus an Assamite who unwittingly imbibes 3 points of another Assamite's vitae, initiating a Body Wrack, will suffer the full normal effects of Body Wrack, as well as losing 1 Health level per turn, for a total of 3 turns. At this point, the Body Wrack disapears, and the Assamite ceases to take damage, all foreign blood having been destroyed. Note that this only applies in cases where the Assamite's system is invaded with foreign blood. Thus, such powers as Blood Agony, which rely on the caustic properties of the blood, and Blood Sympathy, which turns the target's own blood against himself, affect Assamites normally.
An obvious benefit of this intolerance to Kindred vitae is that Assamites cannot be Blood Bound, at least in the normal run of things. All Kindred blood is destroyed far too quickly to have any effect, and although they can feed from their progeny, a sire cannot become Blood Bound to his progeny (Vampire, PP 16, last paragraph, written by someone who should know). It has been theorised that the vitae of the earliest generations of Kindred is potent enough that the Blood Bond can be established before the blood is destroyed by the Assamite's system. This remains a theory, however, and only the most ancient of Assamites would know for sure.
The interdependence of blood and spiritual awareness for the Assamite to use Quietus makes the Discipline an unusual one in terms of being learned by non-Assamites. The Assamites are created with the potential for establishing this two way relation by virtue of the very nature of their blood. Other Kindred are not so endowed, and Quietus cannot simply be taught by any Kindred who has it to another who does not. The exact conditions for the teaching of Quietus to non-Assamites is uncertain, as the Assamites themselves are loath to do so. It is believed, however, that much like Vicissitude and the Tzimisce, the consumption of Assamite vitae is necessary at some stage in the learning process. Although Quietus is not a disease as Vicissitude is often seen to be, the properties of Assamite blood is internal to the whole use of Quietus as a Discipline. So the Discipline Quietus is only regularly found amongst the Assamites, and in the Sabbat, where the Assamite antitribu have shared their secrets. Outside of these two groups it is extremely rare. Interestingly, it is not as prevalent in the Sabbat, except for amongst the Assamite antitribu, as one might suspect it would be. The reasons for this are not clear (See "Unity" for more details).
Certainly, it is not a philosophical or religious conviction that holds the Assamites together, for nothing within their codefied beliefs pertains to any such solidarity. Nor, as some have suggested, is it the apparent alienness of their beliefs that holds them together, as the only acceptance they will find is with each other. One might argue the same point of the Sabbat, and no-one would deny that it is only the Vaulderie that keeps the Sabbat from exploding, regardless of their inhuman value systems.
The further fact that Assamites cannot be Blood Bound only makes the situation even more incomprehensible. Prior to the Treaty of Thorns, it was long suspected that the Assamite clan was a structure of Blood Bonds, similiar to the Tremere. Once the Assamites were cursed, it was largely believed that the Clan would fly apart at the seams. Instead, it continued on with scarcely a ripple, instigating their role as hired killers of Kindred with amazing speed.
It is the inexplicable unity of the Assamites which particularly troubles some of the Tzimisce. They wonder why it is that if the Assamites are unified beyond our ability to understand, and attempt to purge dissident elements that arise in their ranks, such as the Separatists, then why did they fail to react at all to the defection of numbers of Assamites to the Sabbat? The Assamite antitribu have never been anything but unswervingly loyal to the Sabbat, the Black Hand being the saving grace of the Sabbat Civil War. No tests that have been tried, no thaumaturgical ritual that has been cast has revealed any secret control over the Assamite antitribu, or given any indication that they would betray their sect. For the more paranoid of the Tzimisce, this does nothing but heighten their fears. Such fear and speculation serve no purpose however. Without any sort of evidence, few others in the Sabbat pay much heed to the fears of the Tzimisce. Such wild speculations as the spiritual connection the Assamites have with blood, and the possible latent effects that the Assamite Antedeluvian may have passed on to his or her progeny through their blood, latent commands and orders waiting like time bombs for the right moment, are dismissed as groundless ravings
It has been rumoured before that when Gehenna comes, the Assamites will be the shepherds for the Antedeluvians. It may be that the Sabbat has accepted the shepherds in with the sheep.
In pursuit of their single goal of the perfect kill, the Assamites adopt a wide variety of methods and means, often specialising in fields such as explosives or poisons or "accidents." One of the tools found most useful in enacting any number of these preferred modes is Thaumaturgy, and the enormous range of capabilities it grants. Amongst the Assamites, Thaumaturgy is slightly more commonly possessed than among Camarilla clans, where the Tremere jealously guard their secrets. For the Assamites however, there is a critical difference in the manner in which they learn the Discipline.
Basically, no Assamite will ever learn the Path of Blood. The Path of Blood is seen as defiling and polluting the spiritual connection Assamites have with blood. What this might mean in practical terms is not known, as no Assamite learns this path. In terms of learning Thaumaturgy, this limitation requires that any Assamite desiring to aquire Thaumaturgy must be taught by another Assamite, generally back at Alamut.
For most Kindred, the learning of Thaumaturgy is accompanied by the automatic development of the Path of Blood. Obviously Assamites cannot do likewise. Instead, in ages past, the Assamites developed a unique Thaumaturgical path that is the automatic path learnt by all Assamites. This path is the Path of Inner Silence. Beyond this path, the most common paths learned by Assamites are Movement of the Mind and the Path of Conjuring, although it is possible to find all of the paths represented in the Assamite clan.
The restrictions on Thaumaturgy are believed to apply equally to the Assamite antitribu. In fact it is known that Assamite antitribu wishing to learn Thaumaturgy will travel to Alamut where they are taught that which they wish to know, no questions asked. Originally, the Sabbat was critical of this practise, but the Assamite antitribu were completely willing to divulge the learning of the Path of Inner Silence to their fellow Sabbat. Presently, although the Sabbat disaprove of the practise, they do not stop Assamite antitribu from traveling to Alamut. Within the Sabbat, the vast majority of Thaumaturgy practitioners outside of the Assamite antitribu have the Path of Blood as their base path. Only a handful learn Thaumaturgy from the Assamite antitribu, and not many more learn the Path of Inner Silence at a later date.