Lasombra Antitribu

Contents

Overview • History • Strongholds • Advantages and Weaknesses • Lasombra Antitribu in DC • Lasombra Antitribu Characters

Lasombra Antitribu

Pseudonyms	Lords
Sect	Camarilla
Disciplines	Dominate Obtenebration Potence
Rarity	Rare

Shadowy, noble, and terrifying, the Lasombra Antitribu are beings of darkness and majesty, controlling their small domains with iron fists and ancient knowledge. Unlike the Lasombra, who waste their time with the petty squabbles and meaningless violence of the Sabbat, the Lasombra Antitribu consider themselves the last true descendants of their great Antediluvian, claiming that the Lasombra, changed by their attachment to the Sabbat, are the ones who should really be considered Antitribu. Order, hierarchy, and a near-medieval zeal for loyalty and fealty keep them rigidly in control and generally looking down their noses at everyone else, regardless of how well-esteemed they might be by other, lesser vampires.

The Lasombra Antitribu are something of a contradiction: where their brethren the Lasombra are the leading rulers and powers of the Sabbat, the Antitribu are exiles living in small pockets in what most would consider enemy territory; where the Lasombra are bowed to and feared by other vampires across the world, the Antitribu are viewed with suspicion and largely avoided, if anyone is even willing to believe that they exist. Certainly, most Camarilla vampires assume that the so-called "Antitribu" are really garden-variety Lasombra infiltrating their ranks as part of some Sabbat plot, and while they are officially members of the sect and considered in good standing, in reality most become recluses simply to avoid the seething dislike of the rest of Camarilla society.

As for the Lasombra Antitribu themselves, their opinions on their own clan vary widely. Many would agree with their Camarilla fellows that there is no such thing as a "Lasombra Antitribu," preferring to instead claim that they are simply Lasombra who decide what they want to do and where they want to go and are not beholden to the Sabbat unless they want to be (a stance that does not ease anyone's mind when it comes to their future trustworthiness). Others claim that isolation and not being bothered by their lessers were the goal in leaving the Sabbat and therefore the Camarilla's dislike of them is inconsequential, while still others, pointing out that just like any other Antitribu clan their weaknesses and powers are not identical to those of the Lasombra, are proud to be part of a very exclusive legacy. All of them agree on one thing: the Lasombra Antitribu are every bit as much lords and masters as their Sabbat counterparts, no matter where or with whom they live.

History

The first Lasombra Antitribu appeared after the Anarch Revolt and the supposed death of the ancient Lasombra Antediluvian, who they claim as their original ancestor. Rejecting the widespread story that the Sabbat had slain him in favor of pointing out that the ancient is so powerful and formless that such a thing must be impossible, they left the sect that had been so disloyal. Most of them didn't have a problem with the Sabbat's other goals, such as destroying the other Antediluvians or creating a world where vampires rule bloody over mortals, but they could not forgive the slight on their honor or the continuing propagandic story of their all-powerful ancestor's death. Claiming direly that those Lasombra who stayed with the Sabbat would become degraded and lesser due to overindulgence and fraternizing with freaks such as the Tzimisce, they left for the waiting bosom of the Camarilla.

The Camarilla formally acknowledged the Lasombra Antitribu as a clan allowed standing in their sect, although they notably did not give them the designation of one of the pillars of the Camarilla; even in modern times, there are few Lasombra Antitribu in the Camarilla, and generally no more than one or two per city, leading to them having little representation among Primogen councils or city officials. Most of them loftily claim that this is by their own design, as they don't want to be bothered by annoying Camarilla politics and scuffles any more than they did those in the Sabbat, but those outside the clan often surmise that the Camarilla simply does not trust them enough to give them equal standing unless forced, and their numbers (and interest) are too low for such a thing to be likely.

In earlier centuries, while the Camarilla ostensibly welcomed the Lasombra Antitribu as members, in practice various Princes demanded proof of their loyalty before allowing them to take up residence in their cities, most often in the form of a high-ranking Sabbat member delivered to them staked or, if not possible, a piece of solid evidence of such a monster's destruction. This practice has fallen out of favor in modern times, being considered somewhat uncouth and barbaric by the Camarilla and more than a little insulting by the Lasombra Antitribu, but it still occurs in some domains with especially traditional rulers (or rulers who recognize the practice as a way to gain some advantage).

Strongholds

The greatest sorrow of the Lasombra Antitribu is being cut off from their ancestral home in Sicily, which remains the seat of Lasombra power and the ancestral supposed home of the Antediluvian. Only the fact that the Antitribu numbers are so small prevents them from waging a shadow war under everyone's noses to get it back, and the fact that the Antediluvian's abode is under the control of his most unfaithful descendants rankles them to the point of sometimes cracking their disciplined façade.

Instead, the Lasombra Antitribu create individual strongholds independent from one another wherever they have decided to claim as their territory, usually giving each other a wide berth to avoid inevitable power struggles and unpleasantness; two powerful Lasombra Antitribu in the same domain is a recipe for political disaster, and it is considered gauche to let the lesser clans see them having such disagreements. They may be cut off from Sicily, but the sea is still in their blood as it is in their cousin clan, and so there are very, very few Lasombra Antitribu living anywhere except in coastal cities and fortresses.

Advantages and Weaknesses

Advantages

Intriguingly, it is very unusual for a Lasombra Antitribu to frenzy, or even to lose their temper unless severely provoked. Their calm, regal demeanor seems unbreakable to outsiders, and they are at an advantage to avoid any kind of outburst or upset, even when things are going very poorly for them. Other vampires often assume that they retain some ability to control their Beasts from their years indulging them among the Sabbat, but the Antitribu themselves only smile and suggest that many things, including even thought and emotion, can vanish into the darkness when no one is looking.

Disadvantages

Lasombra Antitribu can be seen in reflective surfaces, unlike the Lasombra... but only to a point. Video recordings and photographs of them are obscured by flickering lights, lens flares, film damage, or inexplicable smears; audio recordings sound like a nightmare, with some words understandable but a hellish shrieking of interference, static, and other technological failures surrounding them. Even more annoying in the modern world, touchscreen technologies such as smartphones seem to suffer from many similar problems, glitching out, freezing, and otherwise barely managing to operate with poor results. Even mirror images are flickering and distorted, difficult to get details out of, and hard to identify as the vampire themself.

Modern Lasombra Antitribu who live in major cities tend to have ghouls to operate technology for them, in order to make sure they are not left out of the growing pace of the modern world, but their strange frequency has drawn notice more than once as government electrical systems and spy technology progress, and the clan as a whole has begun to discuss whether or not they might have to take drastic measures in the near future in order to stay hidden from the mortal world.