Antara
- Cairo -- medieval -القاهرة- Assamite
Sobriquet: Antara ibn Shaddad ibn Amr, also known as the Shepherd of Wolves, is an Assamite of the warrior caste who has fought to keep Egypt clear of Setite influence.
Appearance: When people speak of the archetypal warrior-poet, they are speaking of Antara. He is the consummate noble warrior, displaying the depth of his tribal pride with every utterance and gesture. As a Cainite, Antara is so old that his jet-black skin glistens like onyx in the moonlight.
Behavior: Antara is diplomatic when it comes to interacting with the other vampires of Cairo, whom he tends to view as wayward and unruly animals. The exceptions to this patronage like in the Baali and the Followers of Set, whom he affords neither respect nor mercy. Antara speaks in cultured tones, and shows the proper courtesy to all others in his attendance -- even those who are scarcely with the honor. Only by encouraging cooperation and respectful discourse can reason hope to prevail in the coming Final Nights.
History: In life, Antara's constant throughout his life was his love his future wife Abla. Despite being the son of a slave, he proposed her hand and when her family rejected him, he proved his worth by becoming one of the most deadliest warriors of their tribe. One of the most heroic figures of pre-Islamic Arabia, he draw the attention of various vampires who began to court him for the right of Embrace.
An agent and influential figure of the Tal'Mahe'Ra, known as Nabonidus, eventually brought him to the fold, but Antara found that unlife without his wife was shallow and void. He embraced her, under the condition that he would become the leader of the Tal'Mahe'ra in Egypt following the War of the Betrayers, which split the sect into two branches. Inserting himself in the fortress of Al-Aksar near Cairo, he ventured forth to drove the Followers of Set out of Egypt, who revanched themselves by turning his childe and wife against him, so that she eventually stepped into the sun.
Although Antara nearly followed her, a message from his sire assured him that his wife continued to exist in the Underworld and that she wanted him to continue his war against the spawns of Set until Gehenna and God's judgement would reunite them. Antara built up a network of retainers across the Old World, fighting against the prejudices that European Kindred harboured against his Clan. During the Anarch Revolt, Antara allied with the Elders, given his own potent generation, and he partook at the Convention of Thorns as a voice of reason, eventually submitting to the Blood Curse.
After ur-Shulgi broke the curse and his sire perished in the terrors of the Sixth Maelstrom, Antara was blamed by many younger Assamites for the 500 years and shame and humiliation. Antara struggled with this, having only the best of intentions for his Clan on his mind during the convention. He went so far as renouncing most of his titles, but it did not help. Antara sought out the aid of the Ashirra in order to gain allies in his ongoing struggles against the Setites and tries to preserve what influence is left with him.
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