Camilla
- Roma -SPQR- Rome -- medieval -SPQR- Ventrue -SPQR- Talk:Lineage of Mithras
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Introduction
Titus Venturus Camillus, more commonly known by the epithet Camilla,
was the Prince of Rome during the transition from the Roman Republic
to the Roman Empire – a period of time that includes the Punic Wars that
destroyed Carthage.
Appearance:
Behavior:
History:
The Ventrue methuselah Collat, the Prince of Rome at the time, saw potential
in the young mortal Camilla and made him a ghoul, educating him in the ways
of rulership among both Cainites and kine. Camilla was Embraced by Collat in
the 4th century BCE. (One source suggests that Camilla may have instead been
sired by Collat's own sire, the Etruscan methuselah Tinia.) When Rome fought
the Pyrrhic War, Camilla met his renowned clanmates Lysander and Artemis.
Camilla knew little of what lay beyond the Roman Empire and the tutelage of his
sire; Lysander educated him in debates that went on over the course of years,
and Artemis educated him by example rather than through dialogue. Through these
two, Camilla saw an alternative to his sire's desire for Cainites (Ventrue or
otherwise) to remain in the shadows, reacting to mortal history instead of shaping
it. Soon after, Camilla returned to his sire in Rome and explained his new vision
for the future of Cainites and of Rome. With Lysander's aid, Camilla slew Collat
and claimed his domain as the Prince of Rome, although both Camilla and Lysander
would maintain that Collat merely stepped down and vanished into history upon hearing
Camilla's message.
At some point in the century that followed, the adventurer and philosopher Tanitbaal-Sahar
(supposedly a Brujah, but actually a Baali) arrived in Rome. The pair became lovers, and
Sahar taught Camilla the ways of the Road of Desire, which would soon be known as the Road
of Sin. Camilla became a prolific scholar of this Road, and authored texts that would survive
among adherents of the Road for millennia. This relationship was cut short when Tanitbaal-Sahar
was called to join his sire Tanit in Tyre. Sahar's ship vanished during the journey, and he was
never seen again.
- The Punic Wars with Carthage
A few decades after Sahar's disappearance, relations between the Cainites of Rome and Carthage reached
a tipping point. Tales spread of infernal deeds committed by the Brujah of Carthage and their allies,
the Baali, under the leadership of the Brujah Antediluvian Troile and its Baali consort, Moloch. Camilla
was urged to make war against these corrupt Carthaginian Cainites not only by his Malkavian and Toreador
allies, but also by the counsel of the renegade Baali Cybele. Camilla pushed the Eternal Senate (the Roman
equivalent of the primogen) to declare war; they did so, granting him even greater status in the process.
Roman Cainites and mortals soon sailed to Carthage in the Third Punic War. As word of the corruption in
Carthage spread, Camilla's alliance was joined by the Lasombra, Cappadocians, and Gangrel, among others.
The deciding factor was the assistance of the Toreador, who had previously supported both parties until
Camilla offered them influence in both Rome and Carthage; as part of this exchange, the Romans received
crucial information on Carthage's undead from the Methuselah Helena. By the war's end, Carthage was destroyed
at Lysander's behest, and the Brujah dream of a Third City lay in ruin at the feet of the Ventrue-led invaders.
As for Troile and Moloch, they were bound in torpor beneath its salted fields thanks to Cybele's blood sorcery.
Ironically, Camilla's success in uniting the clans during the Punic Wars weakened his clan in Rome, as many
disparate Cainites took the opportunity to travel to Rome. Following the example of the mortal Roman Emperor
Augustus (formerly Octavian), Camilla codified the authority of the Ventrue over their domains, ensuring that
his clanmates ruling elsewhere in the Roman Empire would have the same control over their own domains that he
held over Rome. The gatherings of the empire's Ventrue Senators are often cited as the forebears of the Conclaves
of the Camarilla, but are more similar to the localized Ventrue institution of the Gerousia (the Board of Directors
in modern nights). Camilla also attempted, with less success, to restrict the influence of other clans over the
Eternal Senate.
- Decline and Fall
Over the centuries, Camilla grew increasingly detached from the affairs of state. He vanished during the Great Fire
that devastated Rome in 64 CE, and was presumed to have met his Final Death in the blaze. Some believe that Camilla
was in fact slain during the fire by Petronius; this is unlikely, however, since Petronius was not Embraced by the
Toreador methuselah Beshter until the following year. In Camilla's absence, the Eternal Senate fell into obscurity,
and some believe that its body of membership became the foundation of the Inconnu.
In actuality, Camilla simply let himself fall into torpor without the companionship of Tanitbaal-Sahar to sustain his
existence. More than a millennium later, he was reawakened by an earthquake in 1229 – one that, coincidentally enough,
had caused the destruction of the then-current Prince of Rome, Constantius. Immediately seeing the decline that had
befallen Romans and Cainites alike, Camilla sought out the lost lore of the Road of Sin, and within a year had gathered
a number of wayward Sinners to himself.
As of 1242, Camilla had styled his court to counter the court of the pope, proclaiming himself the Pontifex Maximus of the
Damned or Pontiff of Sin. He left Cainites to do as they pleased, intervening only in crises. The system worked because Roman
traditions lend stability to resident vampires, but Camilla chafed against Christianity and the dominant morals of restraint.
He supported challenges to the Papacy, and in doing so risked attracting the attention of Faith's soldiers and followers of
the Road of Heaven. Unbeknownst to him, his actions were backed by Cretheus, who sought to use the depravity of the prince to
incite a reckoning of the Church against the city's Cainites, hoping that some that had remained steadfast would find their way
to Golconda. Camilla's activities following the Dark Ages era are unknown.
- Possible Futures
Beckett's Jyhad Diary implies that Camilla eventually fell into torpor again and rose in the beginning of the 21th century.
He clashed with the Malkavian Lados, who has made it his goal to track him down.
Recent Events:
Relevant Statistics
Alias: Camilla, Pontifex Maximus of the Damned, Pontiff of Sin
Gender: Male
Sire: Collat
Clan: Ventrue
Embrace: 4th century BCE
Generation: 6th (originally), 5th (through diablerie)
Childer: Tiberius Carnifex
Rank: Prince of Rome
Nature: Autocrat (more likely Deviant)
Demeanor: Judge
Apparent Age: Mid 20′s
Morality: Road of Sin
