By Fabian Alvarez (maldoror@eucmax.sim.ucm.es)
Smooth as silk were the words of Amelech, the Blind Seer, and Ventrue finally looked at his childe, saw his burned, blinded eyes, and a tiny tear of blood slid by his cheek. And Ventrue told Amelech about his plight, and Amelech listened.
Was Amelech one of the smartest Kindred of Enoch, so different of the others childen of Ventrue... the Embrace had blinded him, and his chalky eyes were always hidden behind a fold, save when he visited his sire. And yet Amelech talked to Ventrue as no other childe dared, because he was no normal childe: he didn't want to control the minds and spirits of others... Instead, he liked to spend hours and hours in mediation [...] Amelech throught than, whenever anyone died, a fragment of the world died with him. So, he developed a method to preserve the memories of the world and, blind as he was, he could store perfect images on his memory, and then he could show them to others. Also, Amelech liked to research the hidden; his blindness, however, led him towards the shadows, and soon Amelech was as proficent controlling them as the childen of Lasombra. And a friendship of sorts arose between the Dark Anthediluvian and the Blind Methuselah.
That night, Amelech left his sire is distress; why, I wonder, must we fight among ourselves? Is not the stylus stronger that the sword? Is not the hand stronger than the fang? And Amelech wrote the first record of the Traditions of Caine, as they were in Enoch, and them... [...]
The night before Sutekh, Absimilard, Brujah and Tzimisce visited beloved Ventrue, Amelech abandoned Enoch. But he never forgot the love Ventrue had given him, and so had never his childen: the Amelechites, the Arbilexti.
Fabrizio Ulfila, Clan Ventrue.
Mercurial and enigmatic are these Kindred, the Arbilexti, the Sons of Amelech; not as arcane as the Mnemosyne or other Kindred scholars, the Arbilexti are renown for their calm and quiet ways and for their totally unmitigated hate for those that hold all laws in contempt. It's believed that the founder of the Bloodline, Amelech, was a blind scribe in Enoch, son to the Ventrue Antediluvian. After the destruction, the sons of Amelech scattered and became splintered in three factions: those allied to the Ventrue, those allied to the Lasombra and those allied to the Brujah and the remaining True Brujah. During the Dark Ages, the three kinds of Arbilexti hold a Conclave in Rome and resolved their differences, as many centuries ago they have renamed themselves Arbilexti, until them calling themselves Amelechites. Amelech himself had entered torpor during the late reign of Tiberius, and he had become proud about other Kindred calling his brood "Arbilexti" (Arbiters of the Law).
Blind and stealthy, the Arbilexti have remained along the centuries in the fringes of Kindred's society, always concerned with the spirit of Justice and the study and improvement of the Traditions of Caine. Gifted (some say cursed) with the power of prophecy, Arbilexti become occasionally the Kassandras of the Kindred, warning both Anarchs and Princes of disasters, and only rarely being trusted. In fact, some Kindred see the Arbilexti as doombringers and cursed, and wish all of them dead.
The least vile of Khayim's get.
Brujah: This Clan has lost much glory since the fall of Carthage; we understand them and protect them occasionally from the wrath of our Ventrue brethen.
I have heard they were ass-lickers of the Ventrue and scions of the elders; however, one of them let me go after I broke one stupid law, mumbling something about "...draconian laws not being in the spirit of Justice..." A bit scary, but not too bad.
Caitiff: Why our Kindred abandon their Progeny? Try your best to help them, but seek and destroy their sires whenever possible; they are not guilty of the sins of their fathers.
Too enigmatic, almost frightening... I won't go near one of them.
Gangrel: They are honorable, that's sure, and they know how to fight.
They are too concerned with laws and rules... one of them should show them the true meaning of the word "freedom," and not let them read it on their books.
Giovanni: Born from the deadliest sin, some of them are guilty, some of them are not.
They are arcane and mystical; I wonder what they see with their blind eyes.
Lasombra: There's great sadness in this Clan; when Antediluvians fall, bloodlines wither. However, they are still powerful and worthy of respect.
They are good as councellors and librarians, but do not ask one of them to fight in the warfield.
Malkavian: Pity these lost, mad children; they are reservoirs of great wisdom, but they cannot see it clearly.
Oh, you Mighty Blind Oracles! Give me your wisdom!
Nosferatu: I think they are the most honest of all of us; we have never hold them a grudge.
The Oracles are good chaps, but they tend to fall to lick the boots of the Ventrue.
Ravnos: Jesters and thiefs, all of them!
So, so, so serious and bored are these blind seers that we no longer steal from them. There's no honor and no much fun stealing from the blind. Setites: The Children of the Dark God are to be treated like the snakes they are.
They shouldn't be too difficult to corrupt but beware them... some of them know too much for their own well being.
Toreador: Artistes are artistes; forever thinking they can live over the rules, forever trying to break the rules.
They are bored and snobish, these blind oracles. Why don't them like us?
Tremere: They know much about many things, but like the Giovanni they are born from the deadliest sin. Only one thing we can respect from them: they like order... their own order.
Arcane. I wonder how many things do they keep from us.
Tzimisce: The Fiends are intelligent scholars and wise men without peer; sadly they are also cruel and usually too inhumane for me...
They are interesting, these blind prophets. I like to debate with them, even if their opinions about Justice are occasionally too kind.
Ventrue: They are the patricians, the most fit to rule. We will never abandon them.
The Arbilexti are not tools of the Secret Masters; they, however, must be carefully watched.
The Camarilla: An interesting organization, a bit too fractious and divided to be truly effective.
The Sabbat: Let our antitribu brothers deal with them. A totally different view of the world.
The Arbilexti antitribu: We are still brothers, but we are no longer friends or allies. It's a pity, and could have be helped.
The Inconnu: To escape from the world is not the answer, neither has it never been.
The Arbilexti should be watched, even the few ones in our sect. They are too silent, too enigmatic. What do they hide?
They don't usually smell of Wyrm, but I will be careful of trusting a Leech, even a blind one.
Mages: It's amazing how these guys are similar to the Tremere and have both of them hate each other.
Of all vampires, the Arbilexti are the most peculiar. I wonder if some of the first of them were proto-Hermetic mages.
Wraiths: The Laws of the Dead are as harsh as the Laws of the Undead, or more harsh.
They are not dangerous.
Changelings: A bunch of psychopathic, lawless shining guys with funny ears.
Fear them, because their words are truly the claws of Banality.
You have a -2 difficulty on all rolls requiring Law, Bureaucracy and related secondary abilities. You also have a -1 difficulty on all rolls related to Finance or (in V:DA) Seneschal.
The same as in The Player's Guide to the Sabbat, but it's only a 2-point Merit for the Arbilexti.
This is a very uncommon Merit and only a few Arbilexti possess it. A vampire with Empowerment may burn Blood points to increase either her Physical or Mental Atributtes.
Although you don't belong neither to the Camarilla nor to the Sabbat, both sects respect you for your knowledge and you are given almost complete freedom in their domains. You have a -2 difficulty in any Social roll with Camarilla Archons, Princes and Justicars and with Sabbat Bishops, Archbishops and Cardinals.
You never got the ability to think in legal terms. You have a +2 difficulty on all rolls requiring Law, Bureaucracy and related secondary abilities. You also have a +1 difficulty on all rolls related to Finance or Seneschal.
Like the daughter of mythic king Menele of Troy, your prophecies will never be believed. You possess for no cost the Merit: Oracular Ability but no one will never ever believe your warnings. Also, possibility of doom is always in your mind and you have a +1 difficulty to all Mental rolls when not alone.
Image: Amadeo wears a shroud and a little golden circlet over his forehead. Nobody has seen his face since the XV century, and some neonates are truly frightened of being called to the court of the "Grim Reaper." He likes black, flowing robes, and always wear velvet gloves, even when welcoming someone to his city.
Roleplaying hints: Be calm, calm and smooth as silk. You are the fist of iron in the velvet glove. If anyone become a truly hindrance, crush him switfly and mercilessly.
Bloodline: Arbilexti
Nature: Judge
Demeanor: Director/Caregiver
Generation: 6th
Embrace: 1012
Apparent age: Unknown
Physical: Strength 3 Dexterity 7 Stamina 5
Social: Charisma 4 Manipulation 6 Appearance 3
Mental: Perception 7 Intelligence 7 Wits 6
Talents: Acting 3 Alertness 4 Dodge 3 Empathy 4 Leadership 2 Sense Deception 7 Streetwise 2 Subterfuge 5
Skills: Blind Fighting 7 Etiquette 5 Meditation 6 Melee 4 Stealth 3
Knowledge: Area Knowledge 4 Bureaucracy 5 Camarilla Lore 3 Clan Knowledge 3 Finance 5 Linguistics 7 (Ancient Greek, Latin, English, German, French, Arab, Russian) Law 7 Politics 3 Sabbat Lore 1
Disciplines: Auspex 7 Celerity 1 Codex 7 Dominate 3 Fortitude 2 Obtenebration 7 Obfuscate 4 Presence 5
Backgrounds: Influence 2, Herd 3, Resources 5, Status 3
Virtues: Conscience 4 Self Control 5 Courage 3
Path of Enlightment: Path of Blind Justice 8
Willpower: 10
We have many things in common with them; they require the same ambiances that us for their studies. I like them.
By Abetorius, progeny of Primus, progeny of Amelech, progeny of Ventrue, progeny of Enosh, beloved of Caine.
I am Abetorius, first childe of Primus... I am more than 1000 years old, and I dwell in Enoch, in a marble, spectral palace near the Library of Brujah... We the Arbilexti, the Amelechians, didn't joined the True Black Hand until the fall of the Roman Empire; a distant friend of my sire, a Kindred called Altair, was contacted by someone called Abd'ibn Rahit, who guided him to the remains of the libraries of the True Black Hand, scattered after the War of the Betrayers, and asked him if he could help them regaining some fragments of the Book of Nod held by Primus himself... Many years later, it is rumored that the rulers of the Tal'mahe'Ra spoke to Amelech himself, and Altair found himself as main librarian of the library of Enoch...
Now, we the Arbilexti have infiltrated both the Camarilla and the Sabbat, although most of us don't belong to the True Black Hand, those who do control our childer and our grandchilder, and most of the knowledge archived by us Arbilexti ends finally in the vaults of Enoch...
Ours is truly a lonely task, as we are an ancient, but not prosperous, bloodline... there are only fifteen Arbilexti in the Black, including Altair and myself, but that's seems enough to archive all the knowledge our masters the Antediluvians will request when they rise...
The Arbilexti are interesting Kindred, but I fear they may be hiding something among all their scrolls, books and secrecy.
Old Clan Tzimisce: These are the true lords of ancient Eastern Europe. Sadly, they are now very few, and their rebellious childer are a headache for all of us...
These Blind Prophets and Seers intrigue me... I wonder if, being kin to the Ventrue, are they truly trustworthy.
True Brujah: They have been more sucessful in redeeming their lost childer that everybody would like to think...
The Arbilexti are detached and lonely, and I respect that.