It may not look like it, but this bloodline is partly inspired by the Cappadocians/Harbingers of Death from the Classic World of Darkness. More information will be added to this write-up, over time. If anyone wants to help me fill it all out, though, you are most welcome to do so.
Lazarenes
Parent Clan: Nosferatu
Nickname: Harbingers of Death
Disciplines: Auspex, Obfuscate, Nightmare, Vigor
Everything has its time, and everything dies. And in every death lies a new lesson to be learned.
Death is no illusion. For many, It is an inescapable fact that it can and will claim them at the end of their time on this earth. Such is the cycle of life, no matter how fleeting it is.
The Kindred are no exception to this rule. Though the Embrace denies them death from old age, they can still be killed by fire and sunlight. Some also develop banes that prove equally fatal whenever they're exploited. The Blood Sorcery of the Circle and the Sanctified and the Mysteries of the Ordo Dracul offer some degree of protection from such harm, but they only delay the inevitable.
Yet there do exist Kindred who can defy death. They can step back from that point of no return and resume their nightly existence, but the means by which they achieve this mark them as monsters even among the Damned.
Background: Detached scholars obsessed with the mysteries of death and the soul, the Lazarenes are simultaneously feared and hated for their blatant disregard of the Traditions, especially the Third. They are bloodline of diablerists who regard the Amaranth as a sacred act, one that allows them to both preserve their collective knowledge, and (perhaps more importantly) as a means of resurrection. It is this extreme philosophy that makes them seen as a threat to the Masquerade, and thus targets of many blood hunts throughout history.
The Becoming: The Harbingers favor both intellectuals and spiritualists as prospective childer. They especially prize those who have dedicated their lives to understanding the mysteries of death. Consequentially, the majority of the bloodline come from various religious orders and scholarly disciplines, and even those that don't are typically introspective individuals.
Due to both their notoriety in Kindred circles and their beliefs, many Lazarenes favor the posthumous method of the Embrace. Like the Mekhet who support it, they believe that it smoothens the transition into the Requiem, instilling in each childe a first-hand familiarity with death.
In the Danse Macabre: In the few domains they make their residence in, the Lazarenes are almost always reviled. The nature of their Gift and Bane leads to them being maligned by other Kindred, who see them as threats to both the Masquerade and their very existence. Some particularly paranoid Princes even go so far a to issue blood hunts in response to the Harbingers' presence.
As a result of such misunderstandings, members of the bloodline keep a low profile, weaving their own little Masquerade to seclude themselves from the intrigues of the greater Danse. A sizable minority, though, take the opposite direction, entrenching themselves into the hierarchy of the covenants to hide in plain sight while exploiting their secrets. This occasionally has given rise to heretical and unorthodox traditions among the Circle and the Sanctified, as well as experiments conducted in secret in the Ordo Dracul and the Carthian Movement. There have even been rumors that some coteries of Die Nachteulen agents are Harbingers themselves.
Bloodline Gift: Rise From the Ashes
They say Death is a door from which there is no return. The Lazarenes' affinity for its mysteries, however, allow them to step back through that threshold and walk again among the living. All Nosferatu of the bloodline who meet Final Death can potentially be revived as Ashes that Devour (Blood Sorcery: Sacraments and Blasphemies, p. 67). This circumvents the normal requirements for an Ash's creation. Harbingers who do meet them, though, need only three days to begin the process of becoming an Ash.
Bloodline Bane: Tainted Soul
Death leaves its mark on all it touches, and its Harbingers feel them more acutely than others, especially after consuming the souls of other Kindred. A Lazarene gains the Madness Condition whenever he successfully performs the Amaranth. This lasts for as long as he has the Tainted Condition. Furthermore, the stains of diablerie become harder to cleanse as the vampire grows in power. The duration for the Tainted Condition is reduced by a month for every amount of aggravated damage he takes equal to half his Blood Potency (rounded up).
Bloodline Merit
Soul Drinker (ooo)
Prerequisites: Lazarene, Character has committed diablerie at least once.
Effect: You have tasted the fruits of the Amaranth so many times that you've refined the act of performing it so that it becomes more affective. While the Amaranth is still a means of achieving a great rush and acquiring greater temporal power, it also allows you to claim additional knowledge from your victims.
Whenever the Harbinger successfully diablerizes another vampire, he gains a free dot in one of his victim's Skills in addition to a free dot of one of his Disciplines. If he has all of his victim's Disciplines at an equal or higher level, he gains two Skill dots instead.
Lazarenes
Parent Clan: Nosferatu
Nickname: Harbingers of Death
Disciplines: Auspex, Obfuscate, Nightmare, Vigor
Everything has its time, and everything dies. And in every death lies a new lesson to be learned.
Death is no illusion. For many, It is an inescapable fact that it can and will claim them at the end of their time on this earth. Such is the cycle of life, no matter how fleeting it is.
The Kindred are no exception to this rule. Though the Embrace denies them death from old age, they can still be killed by fire and sunlight. Some also develop banes that prove equally fatal whenever they're exploited. The Blood Sorcery of the Circle and the Sanctified and the Mysteries of the Ordo Dracul offer some degree of protection from such harm, but they only delay the inevitable.
Yet there do exist Kindred who can defy death. They can step back from that point of no return and resume their nightly existence, but the means by which they achieve this mark them as monsters even among the Damned.
Background: Detached scholars obsessed with the mysteries of death and the soul, the Lazarenes are simultaneously feared and hated for their blatant disregard of the Traditions, especially the Third. They are bloodline of diablerists who regard the Amaranth as a sacred act, one that allows them to both preserve their collective knowledge, and (perhaps more importantly) as a means of resurrection. It is this extreme philosophy that makes them seen as a threat to the Masquerade, and thus targets of many blood hunts throughout history.
The Becoming: The Harbingers favor both intellectuals and spiritualists as prospective childer. They especially prize those who have dedicated their lives to understanding the mysteries of death. Consequentially, the majority of the bloodline come from various religious orders and scholarly disciplines, and even those that don't are typically introspective individuals.
Due to both their notoriety in Kindred circles and their beliefs, many Lazarenes favor the posthumous method of the Embrace. Like the Mekhet who support it, they believe that it smoothens the transition into the Requiem, instilling in each childe a first-hand familiarity with death.
In the Danse Macabre: In the few domains they make their residence in, the Lazarenes are almost always reviled. The nature of their Gift and Bane leads to them being maligned by other Kindred, who see them as threats to both the Masquerade and their very existence. Some particularly paranoid Princes even go so far a to issue blood hunts in response to the Harbingers' presence.
As a result of such misunderstandings, members of the bloodline keep a low profile, weaving their own little Masquerade to seclude themselves from the intrigues of the greater Danse. A sizable minority, though, take the opposite direction, entrenching themselves into the hierarchy of the covenants to hide in plain sight while exploiting their secrets. This occasionally has given rise to heretical and unorthodox traditions among the Circle and the Sanctified, as well as experiments conducted in secret in the Ordo Dracul and the Carthian Movement. There have even been rumors that some coteries of Die Nachteulen agents are Harbingers themselves.
Bloodline Gift: Rise From the Ashes
They say Death is a door from which there is no return. The Lazarenes' affinity for its mysteries, however, allow them to step back through that threshold and walk again among the living. All Nosferatu of the bloodline who meet Final Death can potentially be revived as Ashes that Devour (Blood Sorcery: Sacraments and Blasphemies, p. 67). This circumvents the normal requirements for an Ash's creation. Harbingers who do meet them, though, need only three days to begin the process of becoming an Ash.
Bloodline Bane: Tainted Soul
Death leaves its mark on all it touches, and its Harbingers feel them more acutely than others, especially after consuming the souls of other Kindred. A Lazarene gains the Madness Condition whenever he successfully performs the Amaranth. This lasts for as long as he has the Tainted Condition. Furthermore, the stains of diablerie become harder to cleanse as the vampire grows in power. The duration for the Tainted Condition is reduced by a month for every amount of aggravated damage he takes equal to half his Blood Potency (rounded up).
Bloodline Merit
Soul Drinker (ooo)
Prerequisites: Lazarene, Character has committed diablerie at least once.
Effect: You have tasted the fruits of the Amaranth so many times that you've refined the act of performing it so that it becomes more affective. While the Amaranth is still a means of achieving a great rush and acquiring greater temporal power, it also allows you to claim additional knowledge from your victims.
Whenever the Harbinger successfully diablerizes another vampire, he gains a free dot in one of his victim's Skills in addition to a free dot of one of his Disciplines. If he has all of his victim's Disciplines at an equal or higher level, he gains two Skill dots instead.
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