DARK SALUBRI

By Scott Hillman (symmes@sfsu.edu)

Description

The Tremere community at large thinks at the present there are only seven Salubri left in the word. These Seven Salubri think they are the only seven Salubri in the world. Their both wrong. The 23 other Salubri hope they are dead wrong. These are the Dark Salubri, who are committed to destroying the bastards of their blood. They work however, by destroying it from the inside, for all of them appear and pretend to be perfectly respectable Tremere, the very vampires they most despise. Fortunately for themselves, they are working so slowly, that the Tremere haven't even begun to suspect that they exist. If they ever do however...

The Dark Salubri began their Path of Vengeance with Market Lesinson the founder of their bloodline. Market in life was a typical Swedish blacksmith, but when he was 49 years old, he entered the dark life. He was embraced by his own Lesin, his own father, and a member of the Salubri clan. He went threw the typical path of His clan. He studied with his father, who had reached Golconda, for about 20 years. He then slew him, and drank his blood. The next step in the Salubri road would have been to reach Golconda himself and then find another apprentice. However Market did not continue this.

At this point he radically left the Salubri path striking out on his own. He translated the Salubri's internal self-loathing to an outside source, the Tremere. Market had always had feelings of anger and rage but had always kept them hidden. Lesin could never admit this to himself or anyone else, and he had been dominating him throughout his existence to hide the rage inside his son. He thought maybe by bringing him through the path of the Salubri, he could end these impulses. He was however, wrong. Without his continuing Domination, Market was left with only his anger. Unfortunately for the Tremere, he directed this anger at them. He made a Vow to destroy each and every one of them. He Desired to personally sink his teeth into Tremere, suck out his blood and recreate the clan Salubri. He spent several years meditating in his old withered blacksmith shop, sitting in a ball, on the proper way to do this. He decided best way to achieve his goals was by hiding from within. It was what he had been doing all of his life after all. He met with a Tzimisce Bishop, whom he told of his quest, and asked for the dark powers of their clan. The Tzimisce laughed, raised his hand to him and Market began to drink. The Tzimisce then showed him the wonders of Vicissitude. Now when Market closed his third eye, it closed permanently. His next, step was to find Adolph Humger, a German Tremere, also of the Seventh generation. Adolph unlike others of his clan, was living by himself in Munich. He only went to monthly clan meetings. When the Munich Tremere had their clan meeting in December of 1792 Adolph seemed more interested in Tremere business in general. Little did his fellow chantry members know that the Real Adolph Humger was a small pile of ashes sitting around a sharp wooden stack on the banks of the Danube.

Thusly,, Market began to expanded his work. He has personally became chantry leader of Munich after the previous leader, named Hans, was tragically destroyed in a Sabbat raid in 1921 (actually The "Sabbat raid" was the work of Market. He actually drank his blood himself. Incidentally. Market is now of the 6th generation and plans to increase it more). He has also started to create his clan. He created four before he fed on Hans, and has created three since then. They have all agreed to help Market in his personal quest. The blood bound helped.

There are at present 23 Dark Salubri in the world. Each gives the appearance of working full heartily for the clan, and most live in the various Chantries of the Tremere. There are however differences. Each is blood bound to his sire, who is in turn blood bound to his sire, up to Market himself. These blood bonds are formed before the traditional Cauldron of the seven elders of the clan blood ritual, that the Tremere use to enforce loyalty. The only outward similarity between the members themselves, is the hard time they have learning Thaumatury. Several of the masters of the Art have noticed this, but have not taken any action, other than to write a few dissertations on the effects of "paradox upon the clan" and other material of a similar vein. Most of the Clan haven't even read this. They just occasionally tease the mostly good natured members, of the clan.

The clan is aided in their ruse by several features. No amount of blood Thaumuturgy, can distinguish their blood from that of the Tremere, for they both have the same Texture. If the clan the aura is read, they can truthfully say they are of clan Tremere. After All clan Tremere is just a branch of clan Salubri. A bone of truth or telepathy however, will detect the lie, as unlike Aura reading it can tell when people are lying to themselves.

So they continue on their Jyhad. Market is trying to place his clan throughout the Camarilla cities. His plan is to let them open the gates for the Sabbat (with whom he has ties. In fact that Tzimisce bishop he met is now the archbishop lf Sweden), by giving them as much help and information as possible, and letting them set up power bases in the city, undetected. Then in one night have all of them falling, destroying the Tremere and incidentally the Camarilla with it. Market is also beginning to look at the Council of Seven. He knows only those of the fourth generation can hope to gain the power of Antediluvian...

As for the normal clan members, they tend to be less ambitious. They tend to make subtle schemes, which don't always produce much harm to the clan. They spread rumors about the Tremere, throughout the rest of the populace. They subtly sabotage interclan relationships with the Tremere. They destroy Tremere artifacts, but try to dismiss it to clumsy ghouls, or accidents. They dominate ghouls into not cleaning up the chantry one night. Anything that can hurt the Tremere is good as far as they are concerned.

They also very occasionally do larger acts. Tremere occasionally fall victim to Sabbat attacks when, the Dark Salubri know that a particular Tremere is going to be in a particular place. Chantries have been burned down, due to an accident of a clumsy Ghoul, who sadly perished in the blaze. Tremere princes have fallen when a Ventrue appears, who suddenly knows everything about the prince and his habits. These actions are never taken lightly, however. They must be approved by Market himself, and typically take years in planning. The Dark Salubri's greatest gift is secrecy. They would never do any action that would have even have a chance of revealing their secrets. Likewise they tend to spread out large actions, doing only one every two or three years. Nothing says Conspiracy more then repetition. They must always appear to be Tremere, Nothing less can be tolerated.

The Tremere however have an unknown advantage however. As the Salubri's blood is getting weaker throughout the passing generations, so do the power of the blood bonds they form. The blood of the seven elders is beginning to effect the younger members much as it effects the Tremere. While they understand that they can not reveal their secret to the Tremere, Some want to simply disappear into it, and not just pretend to be good Tremere but actually be good Tremere. This is a small faction and not very well organized, but it's growing. Most simply stop creating their small catastrophes. The clan elders are trying to put a stop to this, but it is hard to both notice and stop as frequently the offending Salubri is the only one in the particular community.

This has only made the rest of the clan more paranoid and secretive then ever. They know that one day that their plans will come to fruition, but when? This is the question the Clan constantly asks itself from its dark chantries.

Nickname

They don't have a nickname as such. In fact They don't really have a name period. Market never bothered to give call his group anything. Among themselves, they refer to each other as "our faction," or "our coterie." They realise that having a name whould give the Tremere ammunition if they ever discover them, as it whould give them somthing to hunt for. The few Sabbat elders who know that they exist do call them the "Dark Salubri," a name they themselves never use. In fact one of its members mysteriously died after he used the term Salubri in a conversation with another clan member.

Appearance

Like the Tremere themselves, the Dark Salubri don't give much Thought to appearence. The elders of the bloodline tend to be European, with the eldest amoung them being mostly German and Austrian. However the younger members in particular, can come from any racial or ethnic background. They tend adopt the Tremere Cane and Clock, to fit in better with the clan.

Each of the Clan has however, one universal feature; the third eye of Saulot. They equally universally, however use Vicissitude to cover it up. On those hose with Bonecrafting it doesn't appear at all, but those with only fleshcrafting have a small bump on their forehead from the eye socket underneath the skin (see clan weakness).

Character Creation

No member of the clan is about the sixth generation, and they only have one of that generation. Ther are also three of the seventh, nine of the eighth, sixth of the ninth, two of the tenth and one of the eleventh and twelfth respectively. Like the Tremere from whom they pretend to be they must get permission to create new vampires from the seven elders which has the effect of making them, of higher generation than typical vampires.

As for the vampires themselves, Mental attributes tend to primary, with social and Physical being almost equally likely for secondary. Knowledges almost always predominate. All members have at least one level of Vicissitude, as it is always tough for members of the clan after embrace. Because of their clan weakness (see below), almost all of them have some form of herd, which take as many forms as their are members. Short fuse and Vengeance tend to be very common flaws however. As for natures, Fanatic, Architect and Deviant are common, but at the same time their demeanors tend to be as radically different from their natures as possible. They keep the inner folds of the personality close to themselves.

Clan Disciplines

Auspex, Obeath and Vicissitude

Clan Weaknesses

The bloodline's weakness are many, reflecting both their inner secret, and their outward appearance. Each of the clan has a third eye on their foreheads which they must keep covered at all times, usually by using Vicissitude. However when they use their discipline of Obeath, the eye begins to open, even if wasn't their before in the first place. This requires multiple usages of Vicissitude, which can ironically cause them to go further into the beast.

Also Every member of the clan can only feed from willing victims. If they drink from an unwilling victim they lose one health level. Unlike the rest of the Salubri this does not apply to Tremere vampires, whom they can hunt and feed on with impunity. They have mastered the Nazi trick of dehumanizing their enemy.

Also unlike The rest of the Salubri they do not need to search for Golconda. Golconda doesn't trouble them in the least, and they can get as much willpower no matter what actions they take.

Also each of the clan is blood bound to his sire. She can do no actions that would harm him, and must help him do whatever he wants. Also each of the clan share the common secret of their existence. If tremere ever find them, they will all die painful and horrible deaths.

Clan Rrestige

The clan has no offical prestige system, but one can gain informal status by killing Tremere, working to weaken the clan and by working to save other Salubri. Also each member of the clan has a clan prestige rating in the tremere clan as well. Most work very hard to get as much of this posible, but balance it by owrking to help their real clan as well.

Stereotypes

While the Dark Salubri Have developed stereotypes of the other clans over the years, the other clans for the most part have never head of them. They treat them just as they would any other Tremere. Only a select few of the elders of the Sabbat, even know they exist.

Assamites: Tools, but like an ax, treat with care.

Brujah: More an excuse for our actions than a real threat to the Tremere, but their cause is admirable.

Followers of Set: Inconsequential. Just don't take their "gifts" and you'll be fine.

Gangrel: We know of their dislike for the Tremere. Perhaps it can be exploited...

Giovanni: Monsters who have killed their Founder as well. We shall destroy them after we're finished with the Tremere. They are however more powerful then most other vampires believe. Lucky for us, the Tremere feel the same way, so if you can get them to kill each other, you might kill two birds with one stone.

Lasombra: Petty egoists. After we're finished however, they might be the petty egotists on top however, so be kind to them.

Malkavians: They can be useful, as their "pranks" make for good diversions. They are however quite a bit smarter then they look, so treat with caution.

Nosferatu: Be very, very careful when around these beasts. Actually its good advice to be careful always; you never know when that shadow over there might be one of them.

Ravnos: "Oh gee, Mr. Chantry leader, we lost two artifacts last night. Must be those damn Ravnos." Useful, but don't over use.

Salubri: Their passivism, to our problem is disheartening, so we must fight the good fight alone. Don't kill them of course, but at the same time don't tell them our secret. Sadly they will probably all die before we finish our grand quest, and you never know if they'll be dominated to tell where other Salubri are located before hand.

Toreador: Idle hedonists yes, but most of the Tremere are under their sway more than they care to admit. Exploit that.

Tzimisce: They have been a great help in our quests. They hate the Tremere almost as much we do. Their detachment from life might be a tad disturbing, but remember their hearts are in the right place.

Tremere: The anti-clan. While Some of them may appear nice and you may have the impulse to befriend them, remember above all, your goal in existence is destroy each and everyone of these bastards of are blood. .

Ventrue: These Allies of the Tremere appear to be strong. We should know that appearances can be deceiving.

The Camarilla: The tool of the Tremere. Most know full well what the Tremere did Saulot, and none have taken action against them. If they get in your way, kill then.

The Sabbat: Even though they can be violent and petty, they will at least help us. While a world under the Sabbat may not be a pretty thing, perhaps after where finished we can pursade them to seek a lighter path.

The Incomnu: They used to fight the Tremere; now they hide. You might as well let them keep hiding.