Ancient clans - Historical and Prehistorical grounding

[Vumerion]

Please note that english is not my first language. So expect some spelling mistakes. Also i'm using the french version of Vampire the Requiem. I have access to some of the original version, but my mechanical descriptions could be innacurate.

Lately i've been listening a conference about therianthrope (man with animal traits) in the art of the Sahara, by Le quellec, a french ethnologist.
Basically, in the region of Mesak, people engraved in the rock sculptures of Lycaon-headed men. The datation is around 5000BC.
Those Lycaon-Men are usually portraited vanquishing big animals one handed, or carrying such animals after killing them.

So... humanoids with incredible strenght, animal traits and deified as the apex predator ? Quite a good pitch for a prehistorical clan.

Also the Lycaons are pretty badass : they are great hunters, can produce a large variety of sounds (a Lycaon can sound like a bird in fact). They hunt in pack and are able to kill huge beasts.

So i've created a clan, the Lycaon. They are very close to the Gangrel. It is not clear if this proximity derive from similitudes between their lifestyle and creation, or if one birthed the other.
Nonetheless, during the modern era, the Lycaons are almost all the time called Gangrel in the occident and north america, and Gangrel are called Lycaon in Africa.
Therefor, most of the Kindreds doesn't know it's in fact another clan.

Lycaon :
The hunters.

Names : the Beasts, the Lycaons, Gangrels (innacurate), Pack (among them, for the clan or a group of Lycaon), Savages

Origine : the region of the Messak is the birthplace of the clan, or at least it's most ancestral bastion. Some said the prehistorical men of the Sahara made a pact with great shadows vultures to gain the strenght of the Lycaon.
Others talk of dreams of hunger trapped into flesh.
And others said that, when the first human was created by the earth, she also created the first Lycaon, his dark brother. And it will remind Man that he will always be an animal like the others.

Typical behaviour : just like the gangrel they like wild spaces, but Lycaon are not prone to solitude, and tend to have attributes and skills that makes them valuable to a pack.
They don't like to be alone. If a Lycaon isn't part of a pack of vampire, he will likely have a pack of ghouls and charmed animals.

Covenants : usually the Invictus or the Circle of the Crone, but the communautary lifestyle of the Carthian have some appeal.

Clan weakness : as the Gangrel.

Disciplines : Animalism, Proteism, Vigor

Favored Attributes : Strenght or Wits

Unique Style Merit : Blood of the Lycaon.
Prerequisite : Lycaon.

O : Lycaon tongue.
The Lycaon (both the animals and the vampire ) are capable of producing strange, high pitched sound, for communicating during hunts or among them.

System : the Lycaon can make noise like a Lycaon. It's not very obvious that those are unnatural sounds, most people will just think it's squeaky mouth sounds. Singers and the like could notice that it's too high-pitched to be physically possible. Those sounds can communicate basic concepts (general type of animal, primitive behaviour, feelings and the like), and due to their frequency, can be heared twice farther than the average human noise, and are less dampens by obstacles (see the whistlings language to know what i'm talking about).

OO : Pack Spirit.
Most Kindred wont admit it, but, just like the men the are created from, they are social creatures. A lone vampire is a dead vampire, at least if it is not an ancient. Lycaon with this power, on the contrary, embrace this. They can share feelings and vague pulsion with members of their pack around them.

System : the vampire can communicate impulse (attack !, now !, flee !) and basic emotions with members of his pack. During an coordinate action, this type of communication can give up to +1 dices, and allow a pack to function as one.
The range depends of the proximity of the blood.

Sire, grand sire, brothers, infants, grand infants : 30 meters.
Fellow Lycaon with a bloodbond : 30 meters.
Vampire or Ghoul with a bloodbond : 1/5/10 for a first / second/ third level vinculum.


OOO : Lycaon Whispers.
The Pack discovered a long time ago that they could do something more with Animalisme.

A Lycaon can use the Feral Whispers to sing and ease the members of his pack. The song sounds weird to humans ans others vampire, but to Lycaon, it's divine.
If not precised, the effects last as long as the song is singed, maybe one to three rounds after that if it suits the ST.

System : As Feral Whisper but :
Dice pool : Wits+Animal Ken.
Success : Lycaon hearing the song (except the singer) gain one of the following benefits :
-riding the wave with no willpower cost. can decide to enter a frenzy, the target of wich will be decided by the singer.
-ignoring one type of negative modifiers against frenzy : starvation, fire or humiliation.
Exceptionnal Success : as a normal success, but the Lycaons also gain +2 to the related action : riding the wave or resisting those types only of frenzy.
Failure : well... nothing happends. But you're likely to lose some cred amongst the Pack.
Dramatic Failure : It was awfull. Gain the Guilty condition until you prove yourself worthy of the Lycaon again. Also, if you had any dots of status among the Lycaons, lose one.


OOOO : Perfect Predator.
After learning the potential of Animalism, Lycaon learned the potential of Proteism. Guess what ? They have an affinity for canine mutation and lycaon shape.

Proteism OO, OOO and OOOO can be used for free if it's a Lycaon, canine or somewhat related form.
When using Proteism OO or OOOO to gain canine-related mutation, the vampire gain the following trait for free :
-Quadrupedal : when runnig on all four, gain +4 to speed and jumping distance.
Also the vampire always know a lycaon form (looks a lot like a dog for attributes) for free.

When under the Lycaon form or having Lycaon related traits, the vampire double the range of Pack Spirit.

OOOOO : Mighty Blood.
The sculpure of Mesak depicts Lycaon-men single handedly putting down large bulls. Strenght is natural to the true Lycaon, they merely needs to push their blood to the limit.

When a Lycaon uses blood for Vigor, roll a dice. If the results is lower or equal to it's blood potency or three (the highest), the blood is not used.

[Vumerion]

I will soon post four others ancient i'm working on : Hadesian (greeks nosferatu basically), Blood of Jade (closely related to the Ventru, a tokharian or ancient chinese clan), the [not found yet] (mesopotamian daeva) and the [not found yet] (indian-american, coyote clan, looks like daeva or gangrel, or both).

[Baaldam]

Ok, since the subject of animal-headed beings in the ancient past was brought up, let me thow together a few things (all 1e) that i think might be of interest to the subject of ancient kindred practices.

•••• Shape of the Beast
Do vampires draw their animal forms from the land around them? From the blood of their ancestral Kindred? From the unique character of the Discipline they learn? No one knows for sure. What’s clear, though, is that a great deal of variety exists in the Blood. The natural forms assumed by vampires in Mexico are not necessarily the wolf and bat. Depending on the Kindred’s mystic heritage — his sire and/or the vampire who taught him the Discipline of Protean — his bestial self may manifest in the forms of different animals. When the character’s first dot of Protean is purchased, the player or the Storyteller must determine which of the following animal sets will be inherited from the vampire’s sire or mystic teacher.
Jaguar and Condor: This pair of animal forms is much more common in South America, but Kindred of this ilk can be found in a few domains in Northern and Southern Mexico, too.
Jaguar: Size becomes 4, Speed is doubled, teeth and claws inflict lethal damage and add +1 bonus to attack pools, +2 bonus to Stealth dice pools.
Condor: Size remains 5, –1 Strength, +2 Stamina, +1 Defense, fly at Speed 18, +3 dice to scent-based perception pools, vampire may gain 1 Vitae for every 3 points of Size of a carrion corpse for up to 12 hours after its death (+2 on feeding dice pools) — this doesn’t enable the vampire to feed on creatures below the needs of his Blood Potency.

I'd like to point out that condors are far from the only carrion-eating animals around. Nothing to say the same mechanic could not apply to someone with a jackal form in Egypt or a number of other places in Africa & Asia, for example.

A nice little bit that gets some extra omph with:

Partial Transformation (Protean ••••, Resilience •)
With this power, any vampire who is capable of assuming a bestial or inhuman shape may choose to stop the process partway through, granting herself a single aspect or trait of the animal. The nose of a wolf allows for tracking prey, and the wings of a bat or bird — while unable to provide true flight, as the Kindred simply aren’t built for soaring — are useful for breaking falls or gliding short distances. Technically, this power can also be used for sprouting claws, but as the Protean Discipline already allows for that effect such a use would be somewhat redundant.
Cost: 1 Vitae
Dice Pool: This power involves no roll to invoke.
Action: Instant
Once the transformation begins, the character halts it, granting herself only those animalistic features that she chooses. Obviously, the character may take on only the qualities or features of an animal she can already become through use of Protean. Thus, a character with two alternate forms — a wolf and a bat — could assume wings or a wolf’s nose, but not the tail of a scorpion or the eyes of a hawk. Partial transformations of this sort last for the duration of the scene or until the character chooses to remove them.
Use of this power provides a bonus of one or two dice to the circumstances in question, as determined by the Storyteller. A character using a wolf ’s nose might gain two dice to attempts to track something by scent. Combat applications of this power add one die to attack rolls and inflict lethal damage.
This power costs 15 experience points to learn.

But, since we are putting things together, how about an extra piece to this puzzle, to make a more distinctive image?

Merit: Liver-Eating (•••)
Prerequisite: Blood Potency 2+
Effect: The Kindred who believe that eating a mortal’s liver can substitute for a period of normal feeding have it wrong. Devouring a human liver, still hot and dripping from the victim’s body, merely enables a vampire to subsist on less potent forms of blood. A vampire whose Blood Potency restricts her to human blood can subsist on animal blood once more; Kindred who must drink the Vitae of their fellow vampires can go back to merely mortal blood — for a while.
Liver-eating carries a number of restrictions. First and foremost, the vampire needs a living, human victim to kill. Aside from loss of Humanity, the character faces the practical difficulties of committing a murder, hiding the body and making sure the police can never tie the crime back to her.
Once the vampire rips the liver from her prey, she has to eat it and hold it down. To consume anything except blood, a character must expend one Vitae to keep from immediately vomiting what she swallowed (as described on p. 157 of Vampire: The Requiem). It isn’t enough to hold the raw meat down for a scene before eliminating it, however. To gain the benefits of liver-eating, a vampire must also expend a Willpower point to keep the meat in her stomach until she sleeps. When she rises the next night, the liver is burned away by her Vitae and she can feed on weaker blood for a number of nights equal to 10 + twice her Stamina.
Liver-eating takes practice or training from someone who already knows the art. It therefore constitutes a three-dot Merit. As a character tries to develop the art, however, the Storyteller may ask the player to roll Stamina + Resolve each time the character attempts to eat a liver; failure means the character vomits up her cannibal feast (possibly just as she slipped into her daily sleep) and gains no benefits for the attempt. After the character succeeds three times (or so), the Storyteller can grant that the character has mastered liver-eating and no further rolls are needed.

Hope it looks fun.

[Vumerion]

I've made some devotions for the Lycaons. I'm interrested by carrion-eating vampire, but as Lycaon are predators (a pack killing a lion it is not unheard of), i will keep it for another clan i think.

Voracity :
Protéisme oo, Vigor o
(cost 2 experiences to learn)

This devotion allows the vampire to eat flesh. Eating the flesh of a creature give blood, up to a quarter of the blood gain by normal feeding. This power doesn't work on vampire.

Flesh-Eater :
Protéisme ooo, Vigor o, Animalisme o
(cost 2 expereiences to learn, must have the Voracity devotion)

When the vampire eats flesh, it can gain bonuses from certain body parts. The vampire must swallow those parts (no chewing).

-Liver : the liver float is the stomach of the vampire like a sponge. It can stock blood, wich will be digested as soon as their is room for it. A typical liver store 2 blood points for small animals and 4 blood points for big animals and humans.
-Heart : when the heart is consumed, the vampire gain a speciality for the night, in every skills, the speciality being : Hunt this kind of animal.

Strike as One :
Animalism o, Vigor o
(cost 1 experiences to learn)

With this power, Lycaon can share strenght with another, in order to bring down mighty foes.

System : this power can only be used on a vampire who :
a) possess this devotion.
b)shares a vinculum or a blood resonnance with you.

You can use 1 Vitae to give a measure of your Vigor. The target immediatly gain one of the active effects of Vigor, just like he spent this Vitae itself. The target also gain one dot of Vigor for this turn, or two if your dots in Vigor are twice its dots or more.

*****

In Vtr 2, i think Proteism oo and oooo give animal traits (including animal head), i don't konw if a devotion to adopt a therianthrope form is necessary.

Also i've got a question : is the merit Blood of the Lycaon too powerfull or too weak ?

[Baaldam]

*****

In Vtr 2, i think Proteism oo and oooo give animal traits (including animal head), i don't konw if a devotion to adopt a therianthrope form is necessary.

Fair point, that devotion is probably redundant in 2e, something i missed because i haven't played VtR since late 1e.

[Baaldam]

Also i've got a question : is the merit Blood of the Lycaon too powerful or too weak ?

Well, i'm ok with them the way they are, but as previously said, i haven't played VtR since late 1e, so other people might disagree on either direction.


(Incidentally, i've done something akin to Lycaon Whispers in one of my first Requiem games, with two or more vampires "communicating through the ways of the Beast" to get around language barriers or utterly confound kindred without Animalism. My version of the merit was called "Daniel's Tongue" due to Old Testament citations from L+S elders)


But as an aside, what are you aiming for with them? What is your idea with them as a lost clan instead of a bloodline? What imagery you have in mind of a place, time and culture that you want to explore in ways diverging from the Gangrel?


Re-reading your intro i see a theme of mimicry, imitation... they replicate the sounds of other beings, animal - or human too perhaps? - to attract, confuse, distract & scare prey or enemies and communicate between themselves in unrecognizable ways in plain sight, assume other forms, fully or in part to use them separately or in tandem for hunt, ritual and other idiosyncratic desires of theirs.

People of the paintings in the cave walls, of mud figurines in forgotten mountains hidden by the sands of millenia, dead men & women of clay, those who hunted with forms assumed or stolen amidst the land that time forgot and the desert swallowed, ancient forgotten legends for civilizations that themselves little more than legend to the people of the modern world.


Just some rambling thoughts of the moment. Hope it gives ideas or at least makes fun for reading.

[Vumerion]

I intended the Lycaon to be confusing : it looks like a gangrel, but when you taste it's blood it is not, it's close but different. You can really frighten players with small anomalies like that. Is this a disease ? A curse ? VII ?

Also, the main differeance between Lycaon and Gangrel, in my mind, is in their strange abilities, akin to Belial's Brood : the tongue of the beast, the style of life.

A secret weaknesses i would give to the Lycaon is being tempted in their dreams by Belial. Some whispers that the first vampire to ever join the blood were Lycaon. Some whispers of great battles, of an entire clan being whiped out for his cursed blood.

Secret Weaknesses : Belial Call :
When a Lycaon drop to humanity 5, it hears whispers of Belial every night : he can join the brood spontaneously, losing all humanity.
It's up to the player, really...
Also Lycaon can't become Draugr... when they reach humanity 0 they always turn to Belial.


Bloodline : you can make the Lycaon a bloodline.

>Disciplines : Animalism, Majesty, Proteism, Vigor

>Bloodline bane : Lycaons find it difficult to resist worshiping. When a mortal is offering help ,assistance, or prayers, the Lycaon must accept, if the offer is honest (from it's point of view) : to refuse, it must succeed a Humanity roll.
This weakness leaded to all sorts of masquerade breaches.

[Vumerion]

Devotion :

Crown the Hunters :
Majesty o, Animalism o, Vigor o
(cost 1 experience to learn)

Cost : 1 Vitae.

The Lycaon suround itself with a nearly palpable aura of confidance for a scene, empowering its pack.
The effects of this power scale with every Lycaon using it simultaneously : every Lycaon adds its highest dot number between Vigor, Majesty or Animalism.

If this pool is greater than the sum of the willpower dots of the adversary (simple bystanders counts half), thePack gain Defense+1. If it is twice greater, future victims take the Bestial conditions, and can't resolve it while in the presence of the pack.

[Baaldam]

I intended the Lycaon to be confusing : it looks like a gangrel, but when you taste it's blood it is not, it's close but different. You can really frighten players with small anomalies like that. Is this a disease ? A curse ? VII ?

Also, the main differeance between Lycaon and Gangrel, in my mind, is in their strange abilities, akin to Belial's Brood : the tongue of the beast, the style of life.

A secret weaknesses i would give to the Lycaon is being tempted in their dreams by Belial. Some whispers that the first vampire to ever join the blood were Lycaon. Some whispers of great battles, of an entire clan being whiped out for his cursed blood.

Well, pardon me for saying that, but i honestly not seeing much of confusion and otherness here. If you need a blood check to notice they are not Gangrel, something is askew, maybe they are not different enough.


The lost/forgotten/secret clans overall have something of a narrative and or culture built-in alongside their imagery.

- For the Akhud, it was being the face behind VII, a lineage of kindred consumed with their - literally - diabolic thirst for biblical vengeance against the other clans harkening to Sodom & Gomorra (or Babylon, in their Thousand Years of Night version).

- For the Julii (in their 1e iteration at least), it was being in the black heart of roman culture & myth for good and for ill, the plunge headfirst into excess, hubris and degeneracy, the role as ancestors-spirits in form of flesh, a shadow-replica of the culture of their mortal descendants amidst catacombs beside the other dead, under the earth. All of these things serve to give them a character all their own even through the (intentionally) razor-thin to almost nonexistent differences from the Ventrue.

(Meanwhile, the modern Julii, as presented in Thousand Years of Night, share an über-secretiveness with the Akhud, but where the former hide to hunt amidst their sworn enemies, the later hide not to be hunted by their nemeses. They are relics defined by their fear of those who brought the fall from their nights of glory, as shown by their revised weakness)

- The Pijavica are colored by the gory imagery and strangeness of eastern european vampire folklore, their powers and curse resonating with gore and strange mixes of bloodly humours assuming a semblance of human form, more botched blood sorcery or wicked dead than kindred proper perhaps.

- The Hollow Mekhet, first presented in the Mekhet: Shadows in the Dark clanbook, tinkers with the supposed egyptian roots implied in the clan's name, by presenting us with an atavistic variant of the clan with strange ghostly qualities that touch on elements of ancient egyptian metaphysics and beliefs about the nature of the soul.

- The Jiangshi from 2e are a most interesting case - an old monster (previously presented in Wicked Dead) evolving into a whole new clan, alien, phantasmagoric and contradictory. Ancient and modern, a strange chain of events leading to obscure chinese magics blossoming in new form, stronger than ever, in an american intermunicipal academic center.

- The Amari and Mikhaili (from Spilled Blood & Twice Damned respectively) that might be distorted reflections of the same image, garbled tales of the same legend or twisted branches of a possibly defunct tree, speak of the cold vastness and sense of desolation/isolation of the siberian steppe and arctic circle respectively.


In the Lycaon i don't really see an identity or theme yet, there are bits & pieces, some references thrown around, but not really seeing an identity their own emerging from it, at least not yet.

The references to Belial in particular seen like something of tacked on in the last second, no real connection or clues of a relation before your last post.


What story do you want to tell with this clan? What imagery or themes you want to mess with in your games, what kind of strange morass to clash with the core five?

[21C Hermit]

The name and the pack-hunter theme reminds me of Uratha, Lycaon-Ur, and the Lodge of the Field. Maybe you could reference them? (Not suggesting a crossover per se — just for inspiration)

[Baaldam]

The name and the pack-hunter theme reminds me of Uratha, Lycaon-Ur, and the Lodge of the Field. Maybe you could reference them? (Not suggesting a crossover per se — just for inspiration)

Honestly, i was at first not a fan at all, since the name Lycaon has a quite flimsy connection to the clan/bloodline as it stands already, not much of a reason to associate with greek myth.

But reading this WW wiki entry made me rethink my initial impressions - "hunters of sacrifices for the gods" as a theme does not have to depend on any specific pantheon or mythology and could definitely work for kindred too. "The gods need sacrifices to hold up the heavens and keep the world in order" makes me think of undead monsters sacrificing to the Atlas Mountains and plateaus scattered across the desert as "pillars of the world" holding earth and heaven apart, the caves as sanctuaries memorializing celebrants and sacrifices, painted in blood-moistened earths and mud, sacred spaces where the alien voices of nameless ur-gods are heard through echoes rumbling from the mountain themselves.

Maybe a form of blood magic akin but unrelated to that of the Sons of Phobos - sacrifices becoming one with the pillars by the taking of their hearts, bodies now unbeating rise once more, gaping caves in their chests echoing the hungry rumble of the mountains that are the pillars of the world - and must be fed water, sweat and blood, to moisten the land so the pillars don't dry out and crumble into the endless sand, leaving nothing else to hold the heavens.

[Vumerion]

Okay so i'm posting another. I hope it's better, i tried to use your advices.

The Hadesian.
The ones.

The Hadesian are a very old clan. Kindred legends said that they were named as the god of the deads because he fathered them. Other legends tells the opposite. Every covenant wants them dead. Every clan wants them dead. Rumor has it that a Hadesian took refuge in a city, a long time ago. One year after, and every kindreds had met the Final Death but three, three yellow eyed survivors.

Something dead approach. But it is not alone. Demons are scratching against it's skin, and darkness ooze from it's eyes. Vampires complains about the Beast, the loneliness, the children they killed. Hadesian envy such lucky souls, for they share their existence not with one beast, but with a murder of flying demons.

Why you want to be us : The others can be stronger. Better. But you can destroy them. Unleash hell. You want to destroy ? You can. Nosferatu creates nightmare in your mind. You don't need such a lousy trick. Their is no nightmare. You're power is so real.

Why you should fear us : Kindred fear the Owls. And Hadesian could be a link between the two. The most terrifying is : are they more like us or like them ?

Why we should fear ourselves : When one join the blood of Hades, his fate is sealed. He will never rule his own life. A Hadesian never forget that it's not his power. He is merely the channel.

Nicknames : Targets, Monsters, Strix, Demons

Disciplines : Obfuscate, Hades, Vigor

Favored attribute : Composure or Stamina

Clan Weakness : The curse of parliament.
Hadesian shares their unlife with a pack a owls inside them.

Every night, upon waking, the Hadesian expels from itself 10-Humanity Strix with one dot of shadow potency. The Strix are not under it's command. Usally they are a little comatose for about Humanity minutes if the Hadesian wishes, so it can (try to) run.
For every Strix, roll a ten sided dice. On 1, the Strix is not frendly, but it don't give a f*** and will talk. Maybe it will help, but help from a Strix is always worst than nothing. On a 10, the Strix wants to kill or torture the vampire and/or it's touchstone. Between 1 and 10 the storyteller judge and make a scale.
Old Hadesian add up to four to the shadow potency of their little comrades. That's why old Hadesian don't have friends and learn Celerity, Resilience and Obfuscate. And are rarer than a humane Acolyte.
The Hadesian are vey special, and their Strix too, and they uses the following rules :

Double Frenzy : Hadesian have kinda two beast they say : one in the blood like the other vampires, and a collective one in their soul. Whenever a Hadesian makes a frenzy, it has two goals, and the frenzy will stop when both are accomplished. Usally, the objectives of the second Beast is more twisted and perverse (Strix !). Morover, a Hadesian double every costs to avoid or stop frenzy : it takes two point of willpower per turn to ride the wave, it takes six success per dot in blood potency instead of three for a toychstone to calm it down... Same for Coils of the Dragon, Witchcraft, Blood Sorcellery and everything.

No rooms left ! : For very obvious reasons, Hadesian can't be possessed by a Stryx. Against other forms of possession, they gain twice their blood potency to resist, or are immune (usually if the power derive from the Stryx the Hadesian is immune, for example Dominate).

Shared existence : If the vampire meet it's Final Death, so does it's (numerous) hosts. If it falls into torpor every Stryx is absorbed into it again. Usually it stops a Hadesian own Stryx from killing their hosts (usually... Stryx can be suicidal haters). A Stryx created by a Hadesian can't leave it's vicinity (about a city block).
Also, a Hadesian always knows the banes of it's parliament. The opposite is true. The location of the Stryx is not known by the vampire (and reverse), but they definitively are once removed in blood.
Oh yeah ! it's Stryx knows it's touchstone. The opposite is not true.

Unique Discipline : Hades.
Other names : the Pact, Goetia, True Nightmare.
This disciplines is one of the many (many) reasons Hadesian have been extermined. With it, a symbiotic relationship is established between a Demon and it's parliament. The Demon can't give order, but it can influence and manipulate it's parasytes.

A Hadesian must have at least one dot in Hades. A Hadesian without Hades is a dead Hadesian.

Hades is kinda like a physical discipline.

Hades :
Banes : whenever a Strix is expelled from it's body, the vampire can give it up to it's dot in Hades unique banes. Each of those banes have the same effect : dots in Hades aggravated damages.
-attacking me (every physical violence, but not mental violence...).
-attacking a touchstone (but not lynig too, disturbing,).
-using a negative power against me.
-lying to me : the damages of this one are bashing.
-approach me without express permission (ten meters) : the damage of this one are bashing.

Influence : the vampire can give orders to it's parliament. Well... or advices at least.
Cost : 1 Vitae per Strix affected.
Dice Pool : Resolve+Occult+Hades-Shadow Potency of the Stryx (the highest)
Action : Instant.
Success : the Stryx must obey the order, wich must be simple (a phrase), for Success scene or until completion of the task. Stryx do not follow the spirit of order.
Exceptionnal Success : the Stryx obey the order and won't deform it too much.
Failure : run.
Exceptionnal failure : the Hadesian vomit a Stryx, but with a higher shadow potency. All of it's parliament (including the new Owl) is very disapointed, and will take measures.

Pact : the vampire can seal pacts between owls and vampires (not only it's owls and itself).
Cost : free (for it's own Owls), 5 Vitae (for others).
Effect : if an agreement is concluded between the Owls and the vampire, then everyone is mystically compelled to respect it : the Owls won't brake it willingly, and vampires are cursed if they commit perjury. It's always a horrible curse. Look at the dead J...

The pact offer the possiblity for the vampire to mystically transfer Blood and Humanity to the Stryx as part of the deal.
Note : Stryx always ask for a high price.

================================================== ================================================== ==============================================
Covenants : Hadesian joins no Covenants. Usually the Lancea et Sanctum, the Invictus and the Carthians wants to kill them. The Ordo Dracul and the Circle of the Crone wants to dissecate them, and next kill them.

History and Rumors :
Hadesian birthed the Nosferatu : it could be true. A legend speaks of Hadesian emptying themselves, becoming walking lonely corpses.
Hadesian are demons : stricto sensu, no. A Hadesian is a vampire, albeit a very strange one.
Stryx and Hadesian are ploting against the Kindred together : false. Usually, Stryx despise what they see as inferior locked Owls. They want to eat the weaklings and brake the cage.

>Breaking points : witnessing it's Owls doing atrocites is a breaking point.
>Owls stats : just use one profile for all the Owls.

[Baaldam]

Must admit you got me by surprise here - i was expecting you attempt to rewrite and further flesh out your first attempt with the Lycaon, but instead you choose to do something altogether different this time around.

Okay so i'm posting another. I hope it's better, i tried to use your advices.

The Hadesian.
The ones.

The Hadesian are a very old clan. Kindred legends said that they were named as the god of the deads because he fathered them. Other legends tells the opposite. Every covenant wants them dead. Every clan wants them dead. Rumor has it that a Hadesian took refuge in a city, a long time ago. One year after, and every kindreds had met the Final Death but three, three yellow eyed survivors.

Something dead approach. But it is not alone. Demons are scratching against it's skin, and darkness ooze from it's eyes. Vampires complains about the Beast, the loneliness, the children they killed. Hadesian envy such lucky souls, for they share their existence not with one beast, but with a murder of flying demons.

To be blunt, "hadesian" does not make me think of a clan, ancient or new. More like a nickname given by outsiders that don't take them and their supposed origins too seriously.

Why you want to be us : The others can be stronger. Better. But you can destroy them. Unleash hell. You want to destroy ? You can. Nosferatu creates nightmare in your mind. You don't need such a lousy trick. Their is no nightmare. You're power is so real.

Why you should fear us : Kindred fear the Owls. And Hadesian could be a link between the two. The most terrifying is : are they more like us or like them ?

Why we should fear ourselves : When one join the blood of Hades, his fate is sealed. He will never rule his own life. A Hadesian never forget that it's not his power. He is merely the channel.

Nicknames : Targets, Monsters, Strix, Demons

Disciplines : Obfuscate, Hades, Vigor

Favored attribute : Composure or Stamina

That part of playing with clan formatting & bits - honestly you can leave it for later, having a clearer identity of the clan, where they are from, what they are up to, who knows about them or not, are things that should take priority. The ideas, inspiration, the evocative bits. Mechanics and such can come later.

You speak of the clan being old, but we have little beside an implied connection to the greek god of the underworld through the name (that is i said previous, sounds more like a flippant nickname given by far from respecting neonates, imho). Give them form, an origin, be it historical/legendary or something folkloric that ties with no particular era or culture but evoke notes of older, more magical times or places.

(Speaking of nicknames, "bird nests", "owl bait", "faustians" and others might be more in synch with their weakness & unique discipline)

Clan Weakness : The curse of parliament.
Hadesian shares their unlife with a pack a owls inside them.

Every night, upon waking, the Hadesian expels from itself 10-Humanity Strix with one dot of shadow potency. The Strix are not under it's command. Usally they are a little comatose for about Humanity minutes if the Hadesian wishes, so it can (try to) run.
For every Strix, roll a ten sided dice. On 1, the Strix is not frendly, but it don't give a f*** and will talk. Maybe it will help, but help from a Strix is always worst than nothing. On a 10, the Strix wants to kill or torture the vampire and/or it's touchstone. Between 1 and 10 the storyteller judge and make a scale.
Old Hadesian add up to four to the shadow potency of their little comrades. That's why old Hadesian don't have friends and learn Celerity, Resilience and Obfuscate. And are rarer than a humane Acolyte.
The Hadesian are vey special, and their Strix too, and they uses the following rules :

Double Frenzy : Hadesian have kinda two beast they say : one in the blood like the other vampires, and a collective one in their soul. Whenever a Hadesian makes a frenzy, it has two goals, and the frenzy will stop when both are accomplished. Usally, the objectives of the second Beast is more twisted and perverse (Strix !). Morover, a Hadesian double every costs to avoid or stop frenzy : it takes two point of willpower per turn to ride the wave, it takes six success per dot in blood potency instead of three for a toychstone to calm it down... Same for Coils of the Dragon, Witchcraft, Blood Sorcellery and everything.

No rooms left ! : For very obvious reasons, Hadesian can't be possessed by a Stryx. Against other forms of possession, they gain twice their blood potency to resist, or are immune (usually if the power derive from the Stryx the Hadesian is immune, for example Dominate).

Shared existence : If the vampire meet it's Final Death, so does it's (numerous) hosts. If it falls into torpor every Stryx is absorbed into it again. Usually it stops a Hadesian own Stryx from killing their hosts (usually... Stryx can be suicidal haters). A Stryx created by a Hadesian can't leave it's vicinity (about a city block).
Also, a Hadesian always knows the banes of it's parliament. The opposite is true. The location of the Stryx is not known by the vampire (and reverse), but they definitively are once removed in blood.
Oh yeah ! it's Stryx knows it's touchstone. The opposite is not true.

Too much, too much i say. You have basically 3 weaknesses here and the first one is essentially a death sentence on itself already.

In fact, i think much of this stuff could be repurposed in botch cases for their discipline, that i don't really see fitting on the physical discipline arrangement very well, looks more in line with some other stuff. As an aside, may i suggest an alternate name for the discipline, while at it?


But anyway, back to essentials, the whole "strige bait/nest" idea is interesting but needs some balancing out. Honestly, having one strix perma-haunting one around should be headache aplenty and already enough as a weakness. In fact one might easily model it with the "wandering Ba" mechanics of the Hollow Mekhet, from the Mekhet clanbook. Where there's also (page 111) a devotion/rite the Ritual of Nourishment, for appeasing/dealing/summoning it. Added bonus in that purloing some variant of Hollow mechanics you would not need to bake the relation to the evil bird inside a discipline, leaving that space open for you to insert Nightmare, if you want to lean a little more in the "related to the Nosferatu" angle, or anything else you feel like.

[Vumerion]

Okay, here's my second shot for the Lycaons. I've remade pretty much everything.

Lycaons :
The Ones wearing masks.

Something dead approach. It's wild and furious on the outside, cold and empty in the inside. It is perfectly adapted to its hunt, body and mind.
A long time ago, the Lycaons lost the desire to live. Then, they lost what makes them human. Tomorrow, they will lose everything. But today, it's your turn to lose.

Why you want to be us:
Lycaons are what they want to be. A thousand years ago, they wear the faces of hunters and godly ancestors. Today they wear the faces of mercenaries, soldiers, and even politicians. Preys changes. Predators changes. The hunt stay the same. The pack stay the same.

Why you should fear us:
We are not afraid to lose. It's our way of life: the weak lose, the strong lose what made it weak to rise anew. Come on! Strike us! Find our weaknesses, burn us... every weakness is the seed of our future mask and victory.

Why we should fear ourselves:
Lycaon cannot lie to themselves. They don't want to hunt. They don't want to roam the night. They want nothing but sweet oblivion. To surrender every last pieces of themselves to a mask. Immortals crave for the kiss of Death.

Clan Origin:
>A very long time ago, men looked at their life as humble hunters and farmers, and loathed that fate. They made masks, animals, gods, anything but humans. They lost something. And in their pride, they said they would never get it back, never regret, and walk that path to the end.

>What happens when old ancestor gods lose their followers ? When no prayers and thoughts go to them ? When all of their devoted children lies dead? Lycaons were gods, but today, they are mere shadows trying to gain what they can't have anymore.

>Lycaons weren't meant to exist. Nether man nor beasts, the Demiurge vomited them, unfinished creatures. He thought that they would disappear, that the Fomore, People of the Sand, Unfinished brothers and the rest of those errors would die in the truth of the sun. He was wrong, for they stole what they didn't have.

Geographical and Historical places of importance:
>The Mesaak Plateau: in the middle of the Sahara, this rocky mountain, as well as others rocky formation, holds prehistorical painting and engraving, some of them representing fantastical creatures with animal heads. This place is believed to be the birthplace of the clan. In the area, the Lycaons are especially united when it comes to defend the site: it means that if a Wyrm's nest is discovered there, they will struggle to place Lycaons at the upper level of the hierarchy. Sometimes, coteries of Lycaon came here for what looks like pilgrimage. Some say it's to groom and preserve a very old and powerful vampire sleeping beneath the mountain.

>Venice: Five princes of the city were Lycaons, and that the carnival is said to attracts the clan. Today the grip of the Masked upon Venice could have tightened, as the actual is (officially) not of their blood. Rumors has it that she is blood bonded, or a Lycaon in diguise.
One thing sure: the carnival is not a good time to be in Venice for a foreign vampire. Some simply disappear...

>Hollywood: at least four coteries composed in majority of Lycaons wanders in this area. They work as costumiers, and sometimes, they even makes a cameo with another face. They work hand in hand with the Daeva and the Invictus to create a constant flow of rich and handsome blood, as well as money.

>Uluru, Australia: a ferocious bloodline of the Lycaon, the Mimih, claimed the sacred site as theirs since immemorial times, even for vampires. For a century now, it has been the area of a four sided war between the Circle of the Crone (who wants the rocks to practice magic with it), the Ordo Dracul (the Rock is one of the biggest Wyrm's nest existing), the EDAVM (Ecologic and Democratic Australian Vampiric Movement, a branch of the Carthian, wich makes alliances with the Ordo and the Crone as they see fit) and the Mimih (with no one and against everyone).
The Masquerade is barely enforced by a very weak Invictus, poorly implanted in this area of the country. In fact, a fifth groups is rising: the hunters, a hole bunch of them.

Nicknames: the empty, the pack, the masked

Clan Bane: the Masked curse: Lycaons are highly dependent upon artificial link to their identity. A Lycaon cannot use more than three dots of a skill or attribute, except when activating Protean Mask. It can nonetheless have more than three dots, but unusable. When a touchstone is attached, it allows a Lycaon to overcome it's weaknesses for one skill, attribute or discipline related to it.
Moreover, Lycaons cannot regain all willpower using their dirges, and can only regain Humanity willpower per week when defending it.

Favored Attributes: Strength or Manipulation

Clan Disciplines: Protean Mask, Resilience, Vigor

[Vumerion]

Protean Mask:
This discipline is connected to Protean but distinct. When the human died, a Lycaon had a brief glimpse of what it's like to be nothing. They can use this feeling to become whatever they need to be.

Protean mask is deeply disturbing to use: the beast literally devours the very identity of the Kindred, leaving room for something else.

Masks: To use every powers of Protean Mask, the Kindred must wear a mask related to it's transformation. As long an object hide at least half of the face and is not a natural object (some human skill must have been used in it's creation), it's a mask for the purpose of this discipline.

Example of exotic masks: thick layer of warpaint, Tongouze shaman garb, African helmet mask, skinned wolf...

The kindred must wears the mask during the transformation, but has no obligation to keep it after.
Masks of excellent quality (ancient, handcrafted with tremendous skill, with an interesting and bloody background...) can give up to five dices as an equipment bonus. Usually the maximum bonus will be +2, as masks giving a bonus above this are very, very rare. A mask giving a +5 bonus is a masterpiece with a very rich history, which maybe is or was the focus of a powerful cult. Or a magical artifact.

Every powers of Protean Mask needs one blood per level to activate and activate the powers of lower level for free (cost already included).
The powers take a little time to set up: the Lycaon must take on the mask with a little ceremony, using every power in order.
Every powers of Protean Mask last until the Kindred enter daysleep or uses another mask.

Bonuses given by those power must always stay true to the mask used.

O - Awaken the stranger inside.
>No activation roll.
The Lycaon give in to it's emptiness. It can change it's mask and dirge.
It also gain the following bonuses :
-the Kindred can swap up to three specialties to others skills. The specialties can be modified a little to stick more.
-the Kindred can use dots beyond three in up to four skills or attributes.
All of those change must stay true to mask used.
OO - Glimpse in the void.
>Activation roll: Composure + Expression + Protean Mask
Surrendering it inner self to the beast, the Lycaon gain some insights of another life.
The Lycaon can imitate with great talent it's mask, gaining his dots in Protean Mask for every roll related to the imitation of it, mimicry, disguise.
This power allows the Lycaon to change it's voice, size and physical traits a little (the changes stay discreet). It gain the merit False Identity (it's mask) at one dot only, since it's purely physical and their is no paperwork to support it officially.
Every success on the activation roll gives one of the following bonuses:
-One dot in a skill. It don't stack, but it can bring a skill beyond five.
-Gain a specialty in a skill. Can stack with the first effect, and you can't gain more than one specialty per skill using this power.
-Gain one dot of Striking Look.
OOO - New Skin.
>Activation roll: Resolve + Expression + Protean Mask.
The Lycaon gain true mastery over it's appearance, shaping its flesh as well as its mind.
Choose on the following effects :
-transform into an animal. This need one success per difference in size for animals. In this form, the vampire gain the first level of Animalism if not already possessed, and gain +2 dices to interact with animals.
-transform into another human. Every success can change a physical traits, like the sex, the ethnicity... Gain +success dices for every rolls made to pass as a normal human. If impersonating someone, this bonus is halved.
-gain supernatural traits related to the mask, like claws for a wolf mask. Gain success animal traits, similar to those given by Predatory Aspect (both powers won't stack sadly). At the storyteller discretion, the traits can be a little different than the ones given by Protean, and be related more to the symbolic of the animal more than the animal itself.
OOOO - Kill the ego.
>No Activation roll.
Dancing near oblivion, changing faces and behavior like others change clothes, a Kindred mastering this level of Protean Mask is close from madness. And with madness come power.
The Lycaon can reallocate its dots between [Protean Mask] skills. It can also warp any specialty to another OR moves it to another skill. (it can stack with the effect of the first level power).
The Lycaon can reallocate its dots between [Protean Mask] attributes.
The Lycaon can reallocate its dots between [Protean Mask] disciplines: this power can't be used to learn bloodline disciplines, only the basic ones.
Devotions can't be swapped, but rumor has it that a devotion allows to swap devotions, based on the Xp. Also, you cant' use a devotion if you don't meet the prerequisite anymore.
OOOOO - Tear the Soul apart.
>Activation roll: Strength + Subterfuge + Protean Mask.
At the pinnacle of Protean Mask, the Lycaon do not merely change it's mind and body. It reaps away it's very soul. Then, it fills the void with fragments of spirits, souls and ghosts. Lycaons always liked to play archetypes and gods.

The Lycaon gain Protean Mask dots of merits related to it's mask.
The Lycaon can buy success dots of werewolf gifts. It can activate them at the cost of one Vitae per Essence point. Theoretically all powers are accessible, but as Lycaon are not attuned with the spirit world, they usually develop only Shadows Gifts with very physical applications.

Drawback: at the end of the power, the Lycaon takes 3 aggravated damages as it's soul is slowly mending. The aggravated damages takes the form of rotting lines of flesh, oozing a disgusting mix of blood and pus, drawing symbols upon the flesh of the Lycaon.

Another drawback of the power is that it corrupt the spirit realm. Every time the vampire use a werewolf gifts, a part of it's own emptiness corrupt the spirit realm further. Usually werewolves tries do destroy the vampire and the corrupted spirit, so it will maybe kill some trees or makes a city a little more violent for a month, but repeated use of this power will overwhelm the spiritual defenses, turning the area in both world into a desert. This why the Mesaak is dead.

Merits:

>Mighty blood (*****):
Prerequisite: Vigor * and Lycaon, or Vigor * and Protean **** :

Some vampires are strong. Others are mighty. Something in your blood makes it easier to use vigor : each time you spend Vitae to activate Vigor, roll a dice. If you rolled a number lower than your Blood Potency or 3 (whichever is the highest), you regain the Vitae after use.

Does not work on devotions.

>Lycaon tongues (*):
Prerequisite: Protean Mask *, or Protean ** and Animalism *

The vampire can produce growls, high pitched whistle, and barks.

The Lycaon can make noise like an African bush-dog. It's not very obvious that those are unnatural sounds, most people will just think it's squeaky mouth sounds. Singers and the like could notice that it's too high-pitched to be physically possible. Those sounds can communicate basic concepts (general type of animal, primitive behavior, feelings and the like), and due to their frequency, can be heard twice farther than the average human noise, and are less dampens by obstacles, just like a whistled language: tongue of the Lycaon can be heard at ten time the distance of normal human voice in rough terrain (like mountains) and areas of sound dampening (like dunes and snow).

To understand the Lycaon Tongue, you must possess the Merit or use animalism.

>Art Traffic (*** or *****):

Your vampire has connections with art smugglers, archaeologist without money and moral, and dirty museum curator.
With this merit, the Lycaon can buy masks of high quality and value, maybe even magical ones.

This merit offer the contacts and knowledge to find a (shady) merchant, but the vampire still need to acquire the object with (a lot of) money, favors... The ***** version allows the character to make command (the merchant won't always find something that is for sale, but the vampire can just rob the place after that...) and to have access to some strange traffic (artworks from the world of darkness).

>Thirst for Death (**):

This vampire has some strong death pulsions. Secretly, a part of himself (or herself) loathes immortality and seek death. It is mainly unconscious, and can derive from a traumatizing embrace for example.

It gains an additional dirge: Thirst for death, regaining one point of willpower when charging into a dangerous situation. Is a dangerous situation any violent situation that could (with reasonable probability) lead to torpor or aggravated damage, such as fighting a mortal hunter, defying another vampire, jumping under a truck to save an ally... Self inflicted wounds and openly suicidal moves doesn't count, but stupid moves could (you can throw yourself under a truck to save a touchstone and regain willpower, but jumping under a truck for the sake of it will bring nothing but pain).
If the vampire takes more than one aggravated damages (but not self inflicted), it regains all willpower. It could also regain all willpower when putting itself in a very deadly situation, like choosing to fight someone next to a bomb.

The Mask Society (* to *****), Style merit:
(Protean Mask *)

More than any other clan, the Lycaons are sociable. After all, when they wear the same masks, they are one and the same, right?
When a group of Lycaon which all possess this merit uses closely related masks (the themes of the masks must be the same for all, the material and crafts too), they can use the following abilities:
(*): One Spirit in many Wooden Bodies: Lycaons of the Mask Society shares a one step stronger blood sympathy with each others. Fourth removed becomes thrice removed, thrice removed becomes twice removed...
(**): The Mask is speaking: Lycaons can share basic impulse (not even thoughts) and emotions with the Mask Society. It allows them to coordinate with great efficiency (+1 for group action and collaboration). Depending upon the proximity of blood sympathy, he range is 10(fourth)/20/30/50(once) meters.
(***): One Will: a Lycaon can use a willpower point from the pool of a fellow Masks. Two conditions: the comrade can always disagree if it wants to preserve it's pool, and the two Lycaons making the exchange must be within range of The Mask is Speaking.
(****): One Flesh: a Lycaon of the Society can transfer Vitae and wounds (but not aggravated one), just like with One Will. One wound per turn. The limitations are the same.
(*****): One Soul: just like One Flesh, but Aggravated Wounds can be transferred.

For One Will, One Flesh and One Soul, only one of the member (giver or receiver) needs to have the power, not both.
Note: as long as it is possessing Protean Mask, anyone can join a Mask Society. Usually such groups are entirely made of Lycaons, but ghouls and members of other clans can join. Usually ghouls don't last long and turn crazy in such groups. Vampires also turn crazy, but it's less visible.

Drawback: a Mask Society can be a little... too close. Say goodbye to your privacy, and hello to pesky plotting and manipulation. Member of the Society are not compelled to be loyal toward their comrades. Vicious conspiracy and twisted blood bonds are frequent (and blood bonds are rarely going both ways...).

Devotions of the Lycaon:

Those devotions can be learned by vampires outside the clan, but it's very rare.

Keep the Godly Face:
(Resilience ****, Protean Mask *****)

The Lycaon can prolong Tear the Soul Apart beyond one day. For this, it must use Vitae before falling into the daysleep. It musts use 1 Vitae to prolonge the power the first day, 2 Vitae on the second, 3 on the third... The 3 aggravated damages occurs when the power stop.