By Brian Connors (connorbd@bc.edu)
| Clan | Modern Name |
| Brushah/Brusiati | Brujah |
| The oldest of the tribe still remember Carthage. Brushah himself died then, but the divergency between the True Brujah and the Brujah of Troile is just beginning, and the ease with which Brujah frenzy is well-established. They are most common in northern Africa and those parts of southwest Europe where the Umbrati have not yet gained prominence. | |
| Cappadocii | N/A |
| The Cappadocians are still developing their death disciplines. Their history lies in the ancient religions of the Caucasus and Asia Minor, but since the Trojan War, over a millenium ago, these vampires have become Hades-worshippers. They are most common in Asia Minor and other Greek-speaking areas. | |
| Gangrilli | Gangrel |
| Not much different from the Gangrel of the Dark Ages, the Gangrilli are still rather barbarous by most Roman standards. This is not always the case, of course; a Gangrillus ancilla named Lucian is well-known in many very powerful circles. The Gangrilli are nomads, but are most common in the East and North. | |
| Haqimin/Assamii | Assamites |
| Much feared in the Eastern Empire, the Haqimin are much more dangerous than their modern descendants. They seem to exist solely for the purpose of committing diablerie, and they are currently not the honorable tribe they will become. They are true savages, even more so than the reputation of the Semitic nomads that will one day become the Berbers that they feed most frequently from. They are most common in Arabia and Asia Minor and have provided a good deal of impetus for the Cappadocians' studies. | |
| Malcafii | Malkavians |
| Oddly widespread, the Malcafii are thought to be master manipulators and are truly feared by virtually all vampires in this era. Their insights have affected many religions, and one prominent Malcafius, said to be named Loki, is worshipped as a god by some of the barbarians to the north. In truth, they are every bit as insane as their descendants, but no one knows this yet. Malcafii share a near-total stranglehold on the Roman government with the Taureatores; it is said that Malcafis and Aricella, the founders of the two clans, were brother and sister and that the two clans still honor this. | |
| Nictuci | Nosferatu/Nictuku |
| The rift has only just begun. The hideously deformed Nictuci are engaged in a cold war among themselves over the clan's aims; one side, controlled by the Clan's founder Lucianus and his assistant, the Slav Babajaca, has made an effort to incite violence against the Roman Empire by the outlying barbarian tribes (an effort which ultimately fails, but which the Tzimisce succeed at), while the other, who have chosen the name Nosferatus, have declared an intention to stop them. The rift has existed for approximately 20 years, but already seems unhealable. The Nictuci are everywhere in the Empire, and a good deal beyond; they trace their roots back to Mesopotamia. | |
| Rafanuti/Ravennu | Ravnos |
| Known by name only to most, the first real European contact with the Rafanuti was by Alexander the Great's men. They are looked on more as the Indian/Central Asian equivalent of the later Unseelie court of fae than as vampires; their true nature is really a matter of conjecture at this point. Most common in India and Persia, where they have occasional contact with the Assamites. | |
| Salubri | Salubri/Tremere |
| The healers are not yet the maligned ones they will become known as because of the lies of Tremere. There are nearly thirty of them in these early days, and Saluot is well-known as being the one Senex (old one) who refuses to participate in the wars. Salubri are so few that they have no real territory. | |
| Sequitores Sethis | Setites |
| In their day, they were sort of the anti-Ventrue of Egypt. This isn't too different now; like the Ventrutae, the Sequitores are no longer powers in their own land. Their numbers are few, their bitterness great... | |
| Simistis/Tsimishchi | Tzimisce |
| Vicissitude has not yet made its mark on this clan. Little-known to the more civilized people of southern Europe, the Simistis will become the eventual founders of feudal civilization itself, though these influences will not be spread by the Simistis. Their current territory is modern-day Ukraine to Azerbaijan; it will be a long time indeed (four centuries) before they infiltrate all future Slavic lands. | |
| Taureatores | Toreador |
| The Toreador of the Roman Empire truly disgust all other vampires. Their debauchery is remniscent of a modern Sabbat gathering gone wild, and their legendary love of art has taken a back seat to a four-century obsession with outright hedonism that will be the eventual downfall of the Roman Empire as it spreads. The Taureatores have lost their original name to history, remembering only the name of their founder (Aricella in Latin, Arikele in Greek). Their name was attached centuries ago in Classical Greece (they date back to pre-Greek Greece; several claim to be Greek gods) due to a half-remembered association of theirs with the bullfighters of ancient Crete. | |
| Umbrati | Lasombra |
| Little known until the Romans started to explore Spain, the Shadowed Ones really have no name. They are known only as that because those who have dealt with them have seen them simply remove light from their presence in a most disturbingly selective manner. Despite that, they are far more common than most would think, and they have been manipulating Roman governments for years. The only way to tell them is that they cast no reflection at all... | |
| Ventrutae/Ventru | Ventrue |
| The Ventrue of the Roman Empire are much weaker than they ever will be later. Once the rulers of Etruscan Italy, they were forced northward as Greek (and thus Taureator) influence replaced theirs and the vaguely Greek-like language of the Latins forced the old Etruscan language into extinction. Though Ventrutae still roam Italy, what power they have has been corraled in Thule and Britannia. | |
Baali: Stuck in Mesopotamia. The last time they sent out an expedition, the expedition's heads were sent back rather startlingly well-preserved by an Assamite courier.
Brushah: Central North Africa is where they seem to have originated; that is the location of Carthage. Their influence extends as far as Spain, and some Brushah have settled in Italy.
Cappadocii: Concentrated in the area of the Bosporus strait, near the settlement not yet known as Constantinople. Some are settled near the area some say was the ancient city of Troy. Cappadocii are also scattered throughout the area of the Danube provinces (Dacia and thereabouts).
Gangrilli: Mostly in the British Isles and Gaul, with some presence in northern Spain. There are a few in the area known as Galatia. Needless to say, Gypsy connections are not yet known (that will be in a few hundred years).
Haqimin: Alamut, their stronghold, is in the east of Asia Minor, near Armenia, but their influence extends as far south as Egypt and as far east as Persia.
Malcafii: The Malcafii seem to be centered in Greece, but they are very secretive about their origins and most acknowledged Malcafii that you can actually carry on a conversation with are in Italy.
Nictuci: The Nosferatus faction is virtually everywhere there are cities. The Nictuci Veri are concentrated around northern Italy at the moment.
Rafanuti: They are centered in India, in the homeland of the people who do not yet call themselves the Romany.
Salubri: The thirty or so of them in existence are widely scattered, but Saulot is thought to have his haven in Palestine.
Setites: Virtually all of them are concentrated in the Upper Nile area; the Assamites have approximately the same attitude towards the Setites as they do the Baali.
Simistis: Their territory is believed to extend from Armenia (where it is said their name comes from) to the Baltic Sea, to the north of the Germanic territory.
Taureator: They control all of Greece and most of the Aegean Sea. They have abandoned Crete, and now are centered in Italy, directly in Rome.
Umbrati: The Nameless Ones exist practically everywhere there are vampires, but their current stronghold is among the Basques in Spain. There are many in Rome, continually picking away at the Taureatores' power base.
Ventrutae: The leaders of the clan are based in Great Britain and among the Germanic-speakers beyond the Rhine. Some remain in Rome, but they are second-class citizens there.
Fianna: They are everywhere among the Celts. In the Roman Empire, Fianna groups stretch from Hibernia to northern Spain to Galatia, throughout Gaul and most of southern Britain (we don't go too far north, it's bad for us...)
Black Spirals: They have a stranglehold on Scotland. It happens that there is still a population of White Howlers, but most of them are expatriates from the area.
Glass Walkers: They are not yet the Glass Walkers. Glass has little meaning in these times (it would not become widespread for centuries). In fact, the Ironclaws are at this point among the most anti-human of werewolves and will not take to the human cities until after the fall of the Roman Empire. They roam the Italian peninsula and most of the surrounding Mediterranean coast from Massilia to the legendary island of Ithaca.
Fenrir: They make their home among the Germanics north of the Rhine. Already they don't get along too well with the Fianna.
Spheres: The concept, hazy at best during the Dark Ages, had barely begun. The view of magick then was more along the AD&D lines if anyone thought about it analytically; greater/lesser divination, abjuration/conjuration, invocation, illusion, necromancy, etc. would apply here.
Paradox: Tends to take the form of "divine retribution" in some places, but just as frequently not. The results tend to be... weird.
Akashic Brotherhood: Though not yet an organization per se, its ideals and philosophies are in full force in China. They have not extended out of that area yet.
Celestial Chorus: The Awakened among the religions of the Roman world do keep in touch, but they are by no means a major force.
Cult of Ecstasy: There are still Dionysian mystery religions hanging around. No idea if there's any connection with the modern Cultists, though.
Euthanatos: The need has not arisen, therefore the Euthanatos have not.
Iteration X: The Artificers are not organized, and almost don't even understand their art yet. Magical items are the domain of priests.
Order of Hermes: The first houses are forming now, though the concept goes back several centuries to Greece and the Pythagoreans and even well before. It will not, however, be for another 700 years that anything coherent is created.
Progenitors: The Hippocratic Circle is sort of there. They are currently drawing their practices together from the healing arts of the world. It is slow work.
Sons of Ether: The Kitab al-Alacir hasn't even been written yet. Ergo no Solificati, no Electrodyne Engineers, no Sons of Ether. But the influences are there, and the Awakened have been trying to figure out what to do with Aristotle's physics for centuries. There is a subtradition of Aristotelians that ultimately goes nowhere that is currently active.
Verbena: Some of their practices are extant, but they are a long way from congealing into anything resembling coherence. The specific rituals they use, while a long way from the modern forms, are in use in many pagan cultures.
Virtual Adepts: See Ahl-i-batin.