The History of the Brujah in Paris

Paris -P- Brujah

The history of the Brujah Clan in Paris is very special. Even with their small numbers, they keep divided because of parts of their history.

The First Brujah to have heard of Paris were those trying to conquer it while the barbaric invasions, even if some of those invasions were arranged by Lupines and their Gangrel Allies.

But the first to install themselves came with Alexandre, after the death of Charlemagne (Carlos Magnus: "Charles the Great"). Those Brujah, still choked by the destruction of Carthage, only waited the occasion to pay their due to the Clans of Rome. But their meeting with Cassius, and moreover Labienus was for them a light in the age of darkness that had fallen over Europe. Ventrue's wanting Republics where their Clan was governing with feudalist ways! Surely, with compromises and discussions, they could build back the New Carthage, the perfect city where Kine and Kindred would live in peace! So, the Idealist Brujah allied themselves with a Ventrue traitor to his Clan, to take over Paris, and create there their Utopia.

It was in the end of the 18th Century that they were nearer to their aim: Alexandre the King, and his Queen Saviarre were replaced since the Religion Wars by Beatrix of the Clan Toreador but the Toreador showed themselves even more intolerant to the Brujah ideas than the feudalistic Ventrue.

When the 1789 Revolution started, Beatrix and her brood fled and were destroyed just before reaching England. The Brujah fought among themselves to see what type of Constitution they wanted. At first, the Constitutional Monarchy was chosen, because the King and his children would be easier to control, and the Assembly would have given the rights for the people the freedom to control its own destiny, as was wanted by the other Anarchs.

But the others clans didn't wait to see the results. The infiltration by the Sabbat and the Setites threatened to destroy the dream before its growth. To remove outside influence, the Anarchs and Brujah removed the king and the queen (executing them some time after). At the same time, the influence of Delphine who wanted the king to be spared proved much too "revolutionary". Her ward, Olympe de Gouges, who had written the "Déclaration des Droits de la Femme et de la Citoyenne" (Declaration of the Rights of the Woman), was condemned to death because she argued against the execution of Louis XVI. They then inspired Robespierre to continue his work in the "Comité de Salut Public" (Comity of Public Salvation). The Camarilla saw this as a dangerous game that could lead to chaos in Europe. The Tremere decided it couldn't happen (they had worked hard to install their Chantry in Paris, and they wanted to keep good relation with Parisian Toreadors with the help of Marie-Antoinette!).

And so, the Europeans joined to attack France to put back the Monarchy. In the same time as the Republic was declared in France, the French army won over the mercenaries hired by other European crowns, because of the action of a young theoretician named St Just, who purged the bureaucracy from the corruption instigated by the other Clans (Sabbat and Setites) and reorganized the army.

But this new form of Inquisition frightened the Elders to no end, and then it was the beginning of the end. Those who weren't fanatics about the republic ideas (those who were against were dead or far away, fearing for their lives) were threatened. The same thing happened to the Cainites who went into hiding because of the secret actions of Madame Guile, and other, more overt Anarchs and Brujah. The machine was working, and work too well, as even the Brujah and the Anarchs started to be its victims, as in the same time their mortal followers died too.

No one understood what happened (some think it was the Sabbat), but in less than a few weeks, the Kindred population of Paris neared zero!.

Napoleon was less than a willing pawn, but the Toreador, led by François Villon succeeded in influencing him the most: They installed new pawns named "Prefets" (Prefects) in the place of the old and used aristocrats. But their control over France was even tighter, even if the people didn't see this.

By the time Napoleon was exiled, the Brujah (and the Anarchs, who were separated by a wall of ideological differences) had lost their power in Paris. Even the two following revolutions ( 1830 and 1848) were raised with the help of Labienus, and each time, the Toreador succeeded in, putting back a king, or even in the case of the nephew of Napoleon, an emperor named Napoleon III.

It was in the years 1870 that they saw their chance: After the catastrophic war against the Prussians, the Parisian people rebelled in what would be called the Commune. The Commune was considered by the Anarchs and Brujah as their personal victory against the Toreador and Ventrue Despotism. But the Brujah Elders, and some Anarchs were against it. Anyway the Anarch continued, and chaos flourished, hidden behind the freedom the people gave themselves.

The same chaos will prove to be their undoing as (as it was foreseen by the Brujah Elders) they were unable to defend themselves when the Toreador forces were coming back. In final defense, they put some of the Parisian building, and with them the Tuilerie (part of the Louvre) on fire to stop them, but without success.

Villon was outraged by this act of vandalism against an Elysium. (The Tuileries protected his beloved art library!) He ordered one of the greatest Blood Hunt against the Brujah and the Anarchs, and all the Clan, exhausted by the disorder, followed him. The Brujah idealist decided to side with Villon assuring him that they didn't want it. The other Brujah, calling them cowards, tried to fight back, but were soon destroyed, or fleeing. Called the Great Hunt, this Blood Hunt would be the reason behind the separation of the Brujah Clan and the metamorphosis of the Parisian Anarchs Ideals.

Villon had decided no Brujah would be authorized to come back to Paris, and that the surviving Idealists would not be allowed to Sire Childer (Vanessa was an exception). But the Anarchs and Brujah went back, in may 1968, when a begnin student demonstration, so negligible in front of the Toreador controlled De Gaulle, transformed itself in one of the greatest crisis of the past years: The Brujah and the Anarchs were back, led by Benedicte and Vincent, and they fought so well they earned the support of some the Idealist Brujah, who went out to help them in their fight. Those Idealists were destroyed as traitors. The Anarchs and Brujah claims were simple: Authorization to come back to Paris. Villon was cornered: To restore order, he had to accept (some believe he already have neglected to destroy Brujah influence in 1936 to calm down Ventrue powermongers, and that his decision was to be seen as "generous", before the Camarilla Inner Circle succeeded in deciding Villon's edict was illegal).

Since then, the Clan is divided into three faction:

The Idealists who fear for their life and the destruction of the Status Quo by too much brutal change (In fact, the situation is now cool enough... None but minor changes are seen as necessary).

The Iconoclasts who still work with the Anarchs to change the Parisian Kindred society, the faster, the better, and who want to purge the Clan from their "coward Elders" who betrayed the Clan ideals.

The Individualists who see the Idealists as cowards and traitors who support the status quo, and see the Iconoclasts (and their Non-Brujah Anarchs) as mindless destroying machines, or at best as immature Kindred.

While at first allied, this prejudice was too much for the Anarchs as a whole, and they formally broke any contact with the Individualists.

Since then, the Clan is divided into three faction:

• The Idealists who fear for their life and the destruction of the Status Quo by too much brutal change (In fact, the situation is now cool enough... None but minor changes are seen as necessary).

• The Iconoclasts who still work with the Anarchs to change the Parisian Kindred society, the faster, the better, and who want to purge the Clan from their "coward Elders" who betrayed the Clan ideals.

• The Individualists who see the Idealists as cowards and traitors who support the status quo, and see the Iconoclasts (and their Non-Brujah Anarchs) as mindless destroying machines, or at best as immature Kindred. While at first allied, this prejudice was too much for the Anarchs as a whole, and they formally broke any contact with the Individualists.

Organization

The Brujah have no meeting schedules. Their Rants, Raves or Reunions happen when needed, or at random (which is more rare).

The Idealists

They are, for the most, the Ancient Brujah who remained with Villon while the Great Hunt, when all the Brujah were hunted by the french Kindred. Most of them went away, disgusted by the Great Hunt, or were destroyed by the Iconoclasts when they tried to join in the May 68 Revolution. The remaining ones try to do their best to reach the Clan's ideals, even if each one has a personal vision of what theses ideals are, and how to reach them...

In fact, they are, as a group, totally inefficient, because they never succeed in agreeing in anything, but individually, they have power over mortal institutions that Brujah Neonates don't even imagine. As a whole, they are really powerful, and the Brujah's Duc is one of them. But they are apparently static, doing nothing but keeping the status quo. It is, with the fact that they survived the Great Hunt, the explanation of the dislike the others have for them.

• Delphine; 7th Generation.

  Saint Just; 8th Generation, childe of Robin Leeland, sire of Karl (deceased) and grand-sire of Benedicte Dalouche.

  Thomas Frère(Thomas, Brother); 6th Generation Duc of the Brujah.

The Individualists

The Individualists didn't forget the Great Hunt. Some upstarts burn some old building, and all the Brujah Clan had to pay with their lives (for those who fled) or their soul (for those who remained behind: Some say they were Bloodbonded!) for this sad event. If the Idealist had used their great influence over Villon, they could have saved the Clan. The Iconoclasts can be mindless brutes, but their age should have been enough to excuse them: Villon was said to be Anarch in his young days! The Idealists are old fossils whose authority has yet to be seen... Still, the Iconoclasts now lose their time and potential with Anarch wannabes with no real idea of what is the difference between revolution and annihilation (be it literal or not).

Fortunately, the Individualists are there to raise the standards, and to keep the Clan as a whole. But a Malkavian joke provoked some emotion: The story was about how the Idealists were once Individualists...

• Benedicte Dalouche; 11th Generation.

  Dona Vannessa; 7th Generation.

The Iconoclasts / The Brujah Anarchs

Also known as the Brujah Anarchs, they are, for the most part still welcome in the Clan: After all, every (almost!) Brujah was once an Iconoclast... There were three great Iconoclast coteries, but two were destroyed: The first was the Coterie of Alexandre, whose survivors resigned from their Anarch past, and now serve Vanessa. The second was formed by Ahmed, a young man with mixed Algerian/French blood, who joined the Anarchs because of the apparent freezing in the Brujah's politics. The last was and is a Neo-Nazi inspired movement, enemy of the Anarchs, lead by a Neonate who had changed his name to Adolf. It's easy to understand that Adolf and Ahmed were bitter enemies: The battle was observed by the Kindred of Paris as an amusing distraction, and when Ahmed finally destroyed an angry Adolf who wanted to kill him, no one blamed him too much. Some still had problems with the threat the Nazi were to Paris when they tried to destroy it by explosives. Other Iconoclasts seem to content themselves with being with other Iconoclasts or other Anarchs. They are the ones who want the destruction of the Parisian Clan Elders. They see the apparent stop in Individualist activities as an Idealist-ification of the ones who should instead dismiss their Swiss accounts and other Camarilla facilities to join the fight with the Iconoclasts as leaders of the Anarchs.

   Ahmed Bogdanovic; ?th Generation.
   Gérard Lachapelle; 11th Generation.
   Ron Stewart; 8th Generation.
   Le Serrurier; 10th Generation.