Malkavian

Arrayed by Clan

People are strange when you're a stranger
Faces look ugly when you're alone
Women seem wicked when you're unwanted
Streets are uneven when you're down

When you're strange faces come out of the rain
When you're strange no one remembers your name
When you're strange, when you're strange
When you're strange

People are strange when you're a stranger
Faces look ugly when you're alone
Women seem wicked when you're unwanted
Streets are uneven when you're down

When you're strange faces come out of the rain
When you're strange no one remembers your name
When you're strange, when you're strange
When you're strange, alright, yeah

-- People Are Strange on Strange Days Album -- The Doors (September 1967)

Clan Malkavian is twice damned: once by the curse of being Kindred, and again by the turmoil that disturbs their hearts and minds. Upon the Embrace, every Malkavian is afflicted with an insurmountable insanity that fractures her outlook for every night thereafter, making her unlife one of madness. Some consider this a form of oracular insight, while others simply consider them dangerous.

Make no mistake: Malkavian insanity is a painful, alienating phenomenon, but it occasionally provides the Lunatics with bursts of insight or heretofore unknown perspective. Madness for the Malkavians may take the form of any clinical form of insanity, or it may be a hyperacuity of senses others don’t know they have; a supernatural puppeteer pulling the Malkavian’s strings, or a sense that the Malkavian is somehow ahead of evolutionary schedule. A Malkavian may believe herself to be an idea given physical form or an avatar of some concept the World of Darkness has yet to encounter. She may be a nonstop ravening psychopath, or may be a mostly lucid individual sometimes rendered catatonic by fear of an impending cosmic cataclysm.

Their precarious stability makes it hard for other Kindred (or, indeed, any vessels with whom they may meet) to interact with Malkavians. The Clan sometimes indulges in elaborate, terrifying, and dangerous “pranks” which do little to endear them to other vampires. These incidents are nominally meant to educate the target, but the lesson can often be lost between the vampire’s scramble for safety and the inability to parse the Malkavian’s inner logic. Common pranks might be to replace a vain Toreador’s haven door with a guillotine or to redistribute a Brujah elder’s wealth while he’s at Elysium, or it might take the form of giving a hunter the location where the Nosferatu gather. Kindred both dread and resent the word “prank” almost as much as they do the Lunatics themselves.

Nickname: Lunatics

Sect: In their moments of lucidity, the Malkavians offer their unorthodox perspectives and Devil’s advocacy to the Camarilla, offering their visions and unique insights to cut through the webs of deceit. Princes and Primogen tolerate the Lunatics to varying degrees, but the Clan as a whole has always been a supporter of the Ivory Tower.

Appearance: While Malkavians can come from any culture, the madness following the Embrace tends to lead them to extremes of self-presentation. Malkavians may appear disheveled, injured, or simply dirty. They could still be wearing the same clothes from the night of their Embrace or they may have stolen clothes from a laundromat or a department store during a fit of confusion or fugue. Of course, Malkavians are just as likely to be meticulous and exacting in their appearance, trying obsessively to appear as normal as possible.

Haven: Consistency is rare among Malkavians. Quite simply, they establish havens where they think to, where they can, and where they can recall. A significant number of Malkavians have literally no home, spending each night where exhaustion or the sun’s rays leave them. Others may permanently have the presidential suite in a posh hotel, a squat in the Barrens, the dispensary at a county jail, or a broom closet in a historical landmark.

Background: Malkavians Embrace with all the caprice one would assume from them. Lunatic childer come from all economic and cultural strata, though most have some sort of hard-luck story or black secret behind them that caused their sire to take note. Truly damaged Malkavians who are unaware of the meanings of their actions may not even be aware that they have sired childer, which makes for very difficult entry into Kindred society for these castoffs, many of whom end up among the Caitiff.

Character Creation: Loner, outsider, and deviant concepts and archetypes prevail among the Malkavians, as do Mental Attributes (with an occasional Social-primary madman or Physical-primary maniac hiding among the ranks). Talents and Knowledges are likely most popular among Malkavians. Backgrounds tend to be either broad and shallow or few and deep, representing the way the way the Malkavian caroms through unlife. Virtues, Humanity, and Paths often tumble quickly, usually in the wake of Willpower doing the same.

Clan Disciplines: Auspex, Dementation, Obfuscate

Weaknesses: All members of Clan Malkavian suffer from a permanent, incurable derangement. They may acquire and recover from other derangements, and may spend Willpower to ameliorate the effects of the derangement for a scene, but they can never recover from their original derangement.

Organization: Rumor is more widespread than truth with regard to Malkavian organization, and any number of harrowing tales describe the function of the Clan. Some say the Lunatics all share a hive consciousness; others claim that this is in fact the lingering consciousness of the Clan’s progenitor Malkav. Still others claim that a network of madness puts all Malkavians in contact with one another and is the cause of their crippling insanity. If nothing else, the Malkavians prove inscrutable and uncanny. One night, each of them frenzies when they see one another, while the next night, they all converge at the same time at the Sheriff’s haven and accuse him of harboring Sabbat spies. Who can say how the “disease of information” or the customs of the Clan travel among them?

Quote: I was trying to turn water into wine. Where the fuck did all this blood come from? Oh, well — waste not, want not.

The Malkavians are a clan of Kindred cursed with insanity. Every Malkavian is in some fashion insane; in game terms, they have at least one derangement they can never remove. They are one of the original seven clans of the Camarilla and a pillar of the organization. Throughout history, the Malkavians have been the seers and oracles of the Kindred, bound by strange compulsions and insight.

Due to their inherent clan weakness, every last vampire of Malkav's blood is irredeemably insane in some form or another. Some attribute this to a curse of the blood, while other Lunatics actually call it a special blessing, a gift of insight. When a Malkavian character is created, the player must choose at least one derangement for that character at the time of the Embrace; this derangement can be temporarily fought with Willpower, but can never be permanently overcome. They are also pranksters, with their "jokes" ranging from benign to sadistic.

Culture

Malkavians have traditionally fulfilled two roles in Vampire society: seers and jokers. As seers, the Malkavians have relied on advanced Auspex and the Cobweb (Madness Network) to provide information. Malkavians being Malkavians, this information is generally jaundiced, incomplete, filtered through cracked lenses or a total lie.

The joker role is somewhat more complex: Malkavians have a clan tradition of pranking. The exact purpose of these pranks is open to debate; they often appear intended to readjust the target's perceptions, but are also often sadistic.

In the Camarilla, Malkavians are tolerated; they are rarely princes but often are important primogen or otherwise figures of authority. Given their obvious insanity, princes traditionally give the Madmen a certain amount of latitude; in return, Malkavians are generally expected to demonstrate enough self-control to not break the Masquerade. This is not a benevolent arrangement but largely driven by fear on both sides: fundamentally, Malkavians are unknowable and the general attitude among princes is that its better to keep them quiet and happy, since unhappy Malkavians have a tendency towards introducing bizarre and inexplicable incidents to the equation. Conversely, Malkavians need the protection of the Camarilla, and have been modified as discussed above to make them more amenable to it.

Many Malkavians are gifted with insight into the world around them. Through their shared madness and the powers of Auspex and Dementation, many are able to glimpse little bits of the future or the past. True Oracles and Seers, however, go beyond these common talents. They are blessed (or cursed) with strong visions that come upon them without warning. No one knows for sure from where this connection originates. Some embrace their powers and attempt to channel them. Some try to shun the visions and get on as if nothing happened. Other unsensitive Malkavians use the picture of the prophet for their own advantage like mortal fortune-tellers, using vague prophecies to secure themselves safe places. Those with the true Sight, however, often suffer for it, as they receive visions they do not understand at first and then watch helplessly unfold before them. During the Dark Ages, the Malkavian Orders of Mystery, also known as Ordos, tried to channel the gift of prophecy to mimick the Methuselah-Oracles of Antiquity, but with the formation of the sects and the severing of Dementation, their practice fell out of use. Embraces Edit

The Malkavians are one of the more intellectually focused of the Camarilla clans (with the Tremere arguably being the only clan as interested in cerebral pursuits). As a result, Malkavian candidates for the Embrace tend to be intelligent and more than a little...odd. While the Malkavian embrace guarantees insanity, they do tend to choose candidates who are already halfway there.

Lunatic childer do come from all economic and cultural strata however, though most have some sort of hard-luck story or black secret behind them that caused their sire to take note. Truly damaged Malkavians who are unaware of the meanings of their actions may not even be aware that they have sired childer, which makes for very difficult entry into Kindred society for these castoffs, many of whom end up among the Caitiff.

3rd Generation

• -- Mekhet -- Insane originator of the Malkavian Clan.

4th Generation

• -- Avant Won -- Sire of Siors Aldegar, Berethraban
• -- Elimelech -- The Twice Damned. Seraph of the Black Hand.

5th Generation

• -- Antoine Le Fanu -- Born Pollius Felix Maximus, is an inscrutable Malkavian methuselah.
• -- Chelsea Fischer -- The final, damned childe of Elimelech.
• -- Siors Aldegar -- Mad Lilin of Miami, Childe of Avant Won.
• -- Theiea Ariadne -- Mad Lilin of Italy, Childe of Avant Won.
• -- Unmada

6th Generation

• -- Anatole -- The Holy Harbinger -- Progeny of Pierre l'Imbécile. Malkavian prophet of the Camarilla.
• -- Lucila Dumasa -- Slumbering Queen
• -- Sergius the Elder -- Prince of Naples, 1850-1950

7th Generation

• -- Aristotle de Laurent -- Kindred chronicler, Noddist expert and a leading member of the secretive cult of the Mnemosyne. Adopted sire of the famous Gangrel adventurer and archeologist Beckett. {Paris}
• -- Cienwen ap Seren -- Baroness of Glouchester and Prince of Bristol.
• -- Mister Cocoa -- And of course, his evil White Rabbit! -- {Rio de Janeiro}
• -- Ealhstan Akhenaten O'Niall A British madman in the Big Easy.
• -- Restewin -- Progeny of Morgana Le Fey, sire of Rat de Bibliothèque and Uriah Travers. (deceased: 1809. Killed by lupines)
• -- Maureen O'Leery -- Progeny of Lasker. Sire of Jason Newberry (:1893+1993), Paula Smith (:1970+1993), Ben Smith (:1980+1993), Hubert Otis (:1993), Caroline Irene Parrish (:1994), Loren Annika Reese (:2003). {Chicago}

8th Generation

• -- Quentin King III -- The Puppet Prince -- {Boston}
• -- Cierra Odetta -- Progeny of Ealhstan Akhenaten O'Niall, living in New Orleans circa 1920
• -- Michael (Malkavian) --Unknown Sire, Lives in Gary, Indiana
• -- Rat de Bibliothèque -- Progeny of Restewin and sire of Cassandra and Pharamond. Primogen of Lunatics in Quebec City.
• -- Uriah Travers -- Progeny of Restewin and Malkavian Abomination of New Orleans.
• -- Hubert Otis -- Progeny of Maureen O'Leery. {Chicago}
• -- Caroline Irene Parrish -- Progeny of Maureen O'Leery. {Chicago}
• -- Loren Annika Reese -- Progeny of Maureen O'Leery. {Nomadic}

9th Generation

• -- Cassandra Boucher -- Progeny of Rat de Bibliothèque, resident of Quebec City and former assassin for Hire. (Former sheriff of Quebec City)
• -- Dominic Vaughn -- (age 50:1623) Seneschal to Prince Michaela of NY.
• -- Juliet Parr -- The Sheriff of Northern London
• -- Ruth McGinley -- Malkavian Primogen of Houston.
• -- Magdalena Blanchard -- Keeper of Elysium in Glasgow, Scotland
• -- Pharamond Lestrange -- Progeny of Rat de Bibliothèque, resident of Quebec City and his sire's new whip.
• -- Raleigh Montgomry: Senechal -- Senechal to the Prince of St. Louis

10th Generation

• -- Barnabus Rollins -- The Blunderbus of Leeds, member of the Knights of the World Tree

12th Generation

• -- Osgur Mac Leod -- Immortal of Glasgow

Those of Unknown Generation

• -- Abraham Mellon -- The Magician of Madness
• -- Freia
• -- Frigga
• -- Catherine
• -- Dr.Timothy -- The Lunatic Primogen of London
• -- Lachlan Bone -- Lone Malkavian resident and sworn vassal to the Baroness of Newcastle: Helen Stuart. {Redcar, England - 2042}
• -- Nikolo Badeni -- Seneschal of Zagreb
• -- Cedilia of the Tongue -- Infernalist, High Priestess of Bothothel
• -- Gitta Wörnhör -- Resident lunatic of Dresden.
• -- Ouroboros -- Lunatic of the Phoenix Society, wanderer.
• -- Barnabus Rollins - Bodyguard to Prince Thorton Bryant, Knight of the World Tree, and childe of Keller Williams. {Kingston upon Hull, England - 2042}

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