By Brian Connors (connorbd@bc.edu). Refer to World of Darkness: The Roman Empire
The Taureator have little of their history, so much do they focus on the debauchery of the Roman Empire. What they know is that their founder was a female vampire Embraced from the pre-Greek population of the Peloponessos. Her whereabouts are unknown, but her name is said to be Arikel, a name that has been Latinized as Aricella. There is said to be some relation to the Malcafii, but the idea that Malcafis and Aricella were brother and sister is too disgusting for the Taureatores to contemplate.
Their name comes from the fact that though they came from the Greek mainland, their influence was strongest on the island of Crete, the legendary home of King Minos. It is said that they invented the art of bullfighting; this was reflected in the name they picked up in Greece four centuries ago.
The Taureatores were once known for patroning art. A few still uphold the ancient ideals, but the simple fact is that they are more hedonist than artist. Many members of the Roman Senate during the early days of the Empire were Taureator ghouls (indeed, it is whispered that Julius Caesar was killed at the orders of Aricella). Taureatores invade the late-night parts of Roman banquets, participating as much in the debauchery as any mortal.
There is a certain nihilistic logic to this. Humans surpassed the ideals of the clan in Greece, only to have them perverted by the martial civilizations of the Romans. This has been a cyclical thing in the past; Taureatores of the heroic days in Greece are said to have built up the civilizations of Crete and Mykenai, only to see them annihilate themselves (though it is to be noted that one Taureator, a colorful female named Eris, is said to have been herself instrumental in that self-destruction. The story of the Golden Apple is considered apocryphal by some, but Eris still lives (unlike a number of those who would masquerade as gods) and she does tell a damn good story...). The Taureatores (some pretending to be the gods Athena, Ares, and Selene) managed to rebuild Hellenic civilization around Athens, only to see Athens fall in just over a century. It is even said that the Taureators have contacted those on the far side of the great river Oceanus, but so little is known of these mysterious areas that the stories are discounted.
The Taureatores were still in Greece when the Ventrutae, then identified more strongly with the Etruscans than the Celts, incited Rome to take apart Carthage and the Brushah hegemony over North Africa. The Taureatores began to enter Italy after the Peloponnesian Wars, leaving behind Athens to fall successively to Sparta, Alexander the Great, and ultimately Rome itself. The cycle of debauchery began again then, with the first stirrings in the last century of the Roman Republic, as Julius Caesar took the power of the Republic and began to mold it into an Empire. Drunk with power and closely aligned with the Malcafii, the Toreador drove out the Ventrutae (whose ultimate revenge came four hundred years later in the form of the Visigoths, the Simistis-influenced, Ventruta-driven Germanics who sacked Rome) and took over.
The Taureatores and Malcafii hold Regnant over the most powerful men in the Roman government. Augustus is said to have had a rather shaky understanding with them (being related to Julius Caesar, he was not all that enthusiastic about dealing with vampires, but he had no choice), but Tiberius is firmly in the power of the Taureatores, as are the men considered likely to succeed him.
The Taureatores are watching closely, though. The Roman policy of religious freedom is beginning to cause problems, and two named Pavlos and Shimon Kefas from the region of Palestine are spreading a new religion that seems to have come from no source that could be attributed to vampiric or any other supernatural origin. The philosophies of this religion run brutally counter to the established beliefs of traditional Greece and Rome, and frankly, the Taureatores are starting to get worried...
(The Taureatores are largely the same as the modern Toreador Poseurs.)
Cappadocii: Pleasure is pleasurable. Death is not. Only they would find that so hard to understand.
Gangrilli: Weird feral monster thingies. If they can prove themselves to you, fine. But as a rule of thumb, avoid them.
Haqimin: Well, that's another good reason to not go to Palestine. As if those preachers aren't annoying enough.
Malcafii: There is no way those manipulative freaks are connected to us. We put up with them because we have to.
Nictuci: Sickening. Their discord only mirrors their ugliness.
Rafanuti: I hear many things about these. All I can confirm is that they're vampires and not well-trusted. Of course, if you believe the stories...
Salubri: There are too few of these and they are too pacifistic. Saluot will eventually regret his philosophy.
Simistis: Vampires they may be, but the most menial of mortal slaves are human and their masters need take no interest in their existence. We have nothing to do with their weird gods and ancient language.
Umbrati: A true threat to our power. Many are beautiful beyond compare, but their power over darkness is more disturbing than than the Cappadocii obsession with death.
Ventrutae: They deserve their banishment. They are weak and divided, and the Brushah have taken them out of the loop for eternity.