Difference between revisions of "Brujah"

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Arrayed by Clan

The legacy of the Brujah is one of halcyon greatness marred by their own fiery natures. Theirs was the glory of ancient Carthage, but Ventrue treachery in ancient Rome brought the dream to an end. Since then, the Brujah have borne a grudge.

Tonight, the Brujah are rebels and provocateurs, bat-swinging hooligans and agents of change in a society long crippled by stasis. As rebels, it’s in their nature to challenge the status quo — though sometimes, without adequate opposition, they embody the status quo themselves. It works out fine, because there’s always a hot-blooded Brujah waiting in the wings to bring down an uppity Clanmate grown too comfortable in the role of rebel-turned-dictator.

More so than any other Clan, the Brujah still feel the flames of the passions that once inspired them as mortals. Clan Brujah loves a cause and is quick to act on a stirring speech, accusation of injustice, or a call to arms. This connection to passion can be a blessing, but inspiration can also yield to the madness and hunger of the Beast.

No wise Prince turns his back on the Brujah, and rare is the Brujah who would allow herself to be manipulated or pandered to. A Brujah is her own master, first and foremost, and those who would bring her to heel face a terrible task. A Brujah who thinks she’s getting the short end of the stick will tear an enemy to ribbons first and maybe remember to ask questions later, no matter if he’s a Primogen or a mortal authority.

Some Kindred historians claim that the Brujah have parlayed their ancient betrayal into a role as agitators against the very order that they help support. Others claim the Brujah have long since submitted to the will of that same order, being little more than loyal opposition rendered impo- tent. Most Brujah don’t care either way, as long as someone needs a good ass-kicking and they can be the ones to deliver it.

Brujah Pronounce BROO-hah or BROO-zhah (see below)

Nicknames

The Learned Clan, Warrior Scholars, Philosophers, Punks, Rebels, Rabble, Zealots, Agitators, Troilites (by the True Brujah)

Antediluvian

Troile (via diablerie of [Brujah])

Faction

Camarilla (Formerly)
Anarch Movement

Disciplines

Celerity, Potence, Presence

Bane

Violent Temper or Violence

Compulsion

Rebellion

The Brujah are one of the thirteen clans of Kindred in Vampire: The Masquerade.

History

Early History

Scratch the surface of a Brujah, and these days you are more than likely to find a Brujah thug underneath. However, the clan is a fallen clan, still mourning the death of their Carthaginian paradise and decaying from their era of warrior-scholars to the petty rebels common in the Final Nights.

Little consistent knowledge is known about the Brujah Antediluvian because the stories may confuse two individuals: the original founder of the Brujah (named as "Ilyes" in one account and as "Troile the Elder" in another) and his childer and diablerist, Troile.

According to most records, Brujah was a callous and fiercely logical creature. Dispassionate in the extreme, the Antediluvian sired a clan of equally dispassionate childer. Among these, however, was a less controlled whelp: Troile the Rebel. What events caused the Embrace of Troile are unknown, but clan history holds that Troile diablerized her sire and claimed the clan as her own. A small bloodline, the True Brujah, claim descent from Brujah and hold this grievance close in the Final Nights.

Following the death of {Brujah} in unrecorded history, the clan Brujah lived among the mortals, letting themselves revere as kings and gods, trying to recreate the glory of the Second City and the harmony between the Children of Seth and the childer of Caine. The first place that became an experiment of the Brujah was Greece, specifically Athens. Learning from and discussing their ideals with the Athenian orators and philosophers, the Brujah found countless impeti to improve society. The Brujah allowed other Cainites to enter their city and to share Athens glory. Conflict with Spartan Ventrue led to discord and the first Brujah War. After that, many of the praedicandi, the rulers of the Clan, left Greece, convinced that the experiment had failed and that they should start again elsewhere. Many of the praedicandi seized the moment and followed Troile's example, diablerizing their sires to leave no witnesses or patrons to what they regarded as a failure.
The clan's next major moment is also its greatest moment. The Brujah built or co-opted a Phoenician colony, Carthage, for another grand experiment. The Brujah say that Carthage was a utopia — a city where Kindred and kine lived in harmony, and where justice reigned. Other clans, and history, tell the story somewhat differently. The Carthaginians were cowed by their gods, offering their children to the flames of Moloch; and, apparently if the blood of sacrifices should flow down the gullet of a methuselah, Moloch did not mind. Exactly what happened in Carthage is dependent on who speaks of it – the Brujah claim Paradise, the other clans claim the presence of the Baali and human sacrifice. Some of those who were present in Carthage admit and acknowledge the truth.

Carthage fell during the Third Punic War in 146 BCE, when Scipio Aemilianus, aided by the Malkavians and Ventrue of Rome crushed the shell of a city hollowed out by two previous wars. The earth was salted (preventing those Kindred who had melded with the earth from rising), the land was plowed, and the Brujah experiment ended.

Dark Ages

During the Dark Ages, the Brujah were considered part of the High Clans, a clan of warrior-scholars noted for their fierce devotion to radical philosophies. The Brujah viewed themselves as the practitioners of a Greek philosophy of total mental and physical discipline (commonly called entelechy), and would often train their neonates in combat and the classics with equal discipline. Brujah of the Dark Ages were associated primarily with politics, especially in Greece. Their historical association with Carthage gave them a dim view of Rome and her heirs.

The Renaissance proved to be one of the turning points in the history of the Clan, when the division between the various ideological strains within the Clan exploded in the heavy infighting that strain them today. The cultural explosion within Europe resulted in ecclesiastical and civil strife, that the Brujah were only too willing to follow.

Victorian Age

During the Victorian Age, the Clan was divided in those few who lived true to their legacy as the Learned Clan, and those bulk who were mere troublemakers and criminals in the eyes of their sect, as many neonates rebelled against the oppressive and stagnant politic of the Camarilla. The closeness of the clan to mortal passions brought forth the best and the worst of the Age within the clan. Many Brujah started to regard themselves as the proletariat of vampiric society and wanted to change this through revolution.

Many Brujah during this time were fierce supporters of various ideas like Marxism, collectivism, syndicalism, and Darwinism and engaged in various revolutionary groups to topple the rising pauperization during the Industrial Revolution.

Modern Nights

In the final nights, the Brujah are the clan of rebels. The ancient traditions of the clan are all but forgotten, with a few reluctant throwbacks like Theo Bell and undying artifacts like Critias to remember the clan's history and tradition.

For the Brujah, the twentieth century is marked by a sequence of failed projects. Two daring projects defined Brujah culture throughout the final nights: The Anarch Free State and the Brujah Council. In the first case, California was turned into a new Kindred society, led by the Brujah Jeremy MacNeil. The Anarch Free State was almost a separate sect for the Kindred for nearly 5 decades. However, under the weight of Camarilla influence, the invasion of the Kuei-jin and the eventual betrayal by Brujah such as Tara Kearney of San Diego, the Free State largely collapsed.

The Brujah Council was another, arguably more daring, and ultimately more frightening experiment. In the early twentieth century, the Brujah pitched in with the Soviet Revolution, eventually forming a separate council which managed the entire USSR's vampiric affairs. This Brujah Council was destroyed overnight, however, when Baba Yaga rose from torpor and mystically separated Russia from the rest of the world. Only with the Little Grandmother's death at the hands of a Nictuku have vampires been able to cross the Shadow Curtain and survey the ruins of vampiric Russia.[1]

Most of the clan left the Camarilla for the Anarch Movement after Hardestadt and Jan Pieterzoon were killed by Brujah rebels led by Theo Bell during the Conclave of Prague in 2012.

Nickname: Rabble

Sect: For all its rebellion, Clan Brujah generally considers itself a member of the Camarilla. Young Rabble sometimes look to the wildness of the Sabbat, but elders assert that the Ivory Tower provides a fine structure against which to rage.

Appearance: Many Brujah affect styles and manner- isms that reflect an attitude of rebellion. Multicolored hair, shaven heads, spikes, rivets, fetish gear, and t-shirts with bold slogans might appeal to a Brujah. While not every Brujah wears the “uniform,” the Rabble often enjoy adorning themselves in outfits intended to provoke. Some young Brujah prefer mobile devices as their tools of resistance, and can summon a riot at the touch of a screen.

Haven: Brujah may feel kinship to a city, but they rarely develop such ties to individual locations. Thus, at any given time, a Brujah probably has a half-dozen or more hideouts, safe-houses, and flats available. These are often shabby and ill-kept until the Brujah needs them. Brujah havens might also have mortals who follow the Brujah’s ideology or his cult of personality. This works out fine: It never hurts to have a spare vessel in an emergency.

Background: As creatures of passion, Brujah often Embrace without really thinking much about it, and their childer tend to be a disparate lot. Sometimes, the Rabble Embrace those who share a similar outlook or enthusiasm for a cause as the prospective sire. Other times, they inflict the Embrace on those of opposite ideology, cursing a rival with vampirism as punishment.

Character Creation: Brujah are usually — though not exclusively — drawn from mortals with violent or ungovernable personalities. Their Natures and Demeanors are often similar, as Brujah have little use for guile. They lean toward physical Attributes, with Social and Mental about equal afterwards. Many favor Skills and Talents, but most respect the Knowledges that make them more than just thugs. Contacts, Allies, and Herd are common Backgrounds.

Clan Disciplines
Celerity
Potence
Presence

Weaknesses: The same passions that inspire Brujah to greatness or depravity, left unchecked, can send them into incandescent rages: The difficulties of rolls to resist or guide frenzy (p. 298) are two higher than normal. Additionally, a Brujah may never spend Willpower to avoid frenzy, though he may spend a point of Willpower to end a frenzy that has already begun.

Organization: Certain causes rise and fall in Brujah fashion, but some of the more tenured are those who call themselves Idealists and Iconoclasts. Iconoclasts want to tear it all down, while Idealists enjoy solving problems through theory. This last harkens somewhat to the classical roots of the Brujah as philosopher-kings, and most Idealists are among the ranks of Brujah ancillae and elders.

Quote: I’ll give you a head start. You’re the tortoise and I’m the hare — a pissed-off, fuck-the-world hare with a score to settle and a thirst like the devil’s own.

3rd Generation

-- Troile --

4th Generation

-- Azif -- Progeny of Troile.
-- Hannibal -- Progeny of Troile.
-- Losario -- Progeny of Troile.
-- Meneleus -- Progeny of Troile.
-- Maximinus Grimhilder -- Progeny of Troile
-- Nike the Amazon -- Progeny of Troile.
-- The Wanderer -- Progeny of Troile.

5th Generation

-- Altamira -- Childe of Hannibal, Sire of Maxwell
-- Cecrops the First King - The first and only childe of Nike the Amazon.
-- Critias -- Childe of Menele and Primogen of the Brujah in Chicago.
-- Dark Selina -- is a potent Brujah antitribu of the Sabbat and an ardent foe of the Masquerade.
-- Guillaume -- Progeny of Hannibal. Inconnu. Prince of Switzerland and Liechtenstein.
-- Reginald Cavendish -- Progeny of Maximinus Grimhilder
-- Samal -- Sire of Dominic

6th Generation

-- Aglaulus the Mother - The Athenian wife and childe of Cecrops the First King.
-- Batrem Dubois - Child of Samal. Idealist Sire of Alexis Blanc
-- Damien Bastard progeny of Critias
-- Dominic -- Progeny of Samal. Mercenary Overlord in Carthage. Once thought to have been destroyed by the Ventrue.
-- Don Caravelli -- Progeny of Caracus. Head of the Mafia.
-- Maxwell Former Prince of Chicago
-- Reva: Prince of Saint Louis
-- Tyler -- Childe of Robin Leeland, Sire of Joshua Tarnopolski

7th Generation

-- Alexis Blanc -- Childe of Batrem Dubois. Sire of Balthazar. Sire of Gabriel Dunai. (Alexis is believed Deceased)
-- Bobby Lee -- Progeny of Reva
-- Ceryx Agrinethese -- Progeny of Aglaulus the Mother
-- Ian Corso -- Security Head for Carfax Abbey..
-- James the Red -- Sire of Jeremy Macneal. Anarch
-- Lyndon Ryder -- Anarch leader of London 1900.
-- Malcolm Wallace -- Prince of Glasgow, Scotland
-- Robin Leeland -- Brujah rabble rouser. Former Prince of Nottingham. Sire of Tyler
-- Suregethes -- The Ancient Prince of Blagoevgrad, Bulgaria.

-- Leslie "Squizzy" Taylor -- Prince of Melbourne

8th Generation

-- Antonio Romano -- -- Childe of "Squizzy" Taylor
-- Balthazar (Sheriff) -- Sheriff of Chicago under Lodin. Progeny of Alexis Blanc.
-- Cellach MacTaggart - Sheriff of Glasgow, Scottland
-- Conrad Schrek -- Childe of "Squizzy" Taylor
-- Don Cerro -- Dignitary, Scholar and Brujah Primogen of London
-- Don Nicko Lazzari -- Second in chief in the Mafia. Killed by Madeleine Giovanni. {Deceased 1994}
-- Gabriel Dunai -- Sire to Nimat Bilous
-- Joshua Tarnopolski -- Childe of Tyler
-- Reginald Moore --
-- Seonag Hardie Mac Innis -- Childe of Prince Malcolm of Glasgow
-- Storie Ogilvie -- Childe of Prince Malcolm of Glasgow

9th Generation

-- Ahmed Bogdanovic --
-- Anatol Gorski -- Archon for Clan Brujah.
-- Boris Melor -- Former Primogen of Clan Brujah in Sofia, Bulgaria
-- Martiné -- Brujah Primogen of Houston.
-- Nimat Bilous -- Progeny of Gabriel Dunai
-- Pierre Bellemare -- Brujah antitribu Infernalist
-- Robert Therwell -- Liverpool brujah, Sire of Paul Bedwell
-- Teasag Henerson -- Childe of Sheriff Cellach MacTaggart of Glasgow.

10th Generation

-- Herbert Westin --
-- Paul Bedwell --
-- Janine Jarrett -- Childe of Louis le Monstre, having diabolized down to 10th.
-- Takuya Shiraiwa -- Progeny of Leonid Barofsky.

11th Generation

-- Doncho Yanchov -- (Deceased) Anarch. Sire of Jurgis Ąžuolas.

12th Generation

-- Cal -- Sire of Ariane
-- Jayne Jonestown -- antitribu -- Marilyn Manson parody. (deceased)
-- Jurgis Ąžuolas -- Long-time ghoul and now ward of Brian O'Reilly. Childe of Doncho Yankov.

13th Generation

-- Ariane -- Progeny of Cal.

Those of Unknown Generation

-- Stevie Reno -- The Butcher of Houston.
-- Snarl -- Anarch of Cleveland, Ohio.
-- Tim Pavlicek -- Anarch of Cleveland, Ohio.

http://vampirerpg.free.fr/Genealogy/Brujah.html