Salubri

Salubri
Pseudonyms	Cyclops; Unicorns
Sect	Independents
Disciplines	Auspex Fortitude Obeah
Bloodlines	Baali Kin-Slayers Wu Zao
Rarity	Rare

The Salubri are one of the original thirteen clans, according to the European vampires, but where they should be as notorious as their counterparts, any modern vampire is likely to tell you that they have never heard of them. Nearly extinct, with so few members at any given time that their numbers are unknown and most other vampires are unlikely ever to meet one, they are a fractured clan who are known for the bizarre regenerative powers of Obeah and their determined quest to reach the enlightened vampiric state of Golconda.

Due to their use of Obeah, all Salubri have a third eye in the middle of their foreheads, marking them as visibly different from other vampires. This has traditionally been both a mark of pride for them, and a terrible brand to be hidden, depending upon whether the other vampire clans are inclined to hunt them down.

Interestingly, the Salubri are one of few clans to practice diablerie openly, and to not consider it necessarily an evil. Salubri sires often instruct their childer, once they have achieved a reasonable amount of enlightenment, to diablerize them in order to grant them the power and wisdom to continue on to the next part of their existences, and assume that the childe will do the same when one day they are the one passing on the torch. Other vampires, when they are aware of this practice, consider it warped and evidence of the secret evil that is rumored to fester under every Salubri's calm surface demeanor.

History

According to legend, the Salubri descend from the Antediluvian Saulot, a mystic and healer in ancient times who was tortured by the hideous urges of his Beast and determined to find a way to control them. He specifically chose humans to Embrace not because of love or a search for power, but because they were the wisest and most enlightened people he could find, creating a clan of peacemakers and physicians even in the long nights of the undead. According to the Salubri, Saulot was the first of all vampires to achieve Golconda, and the rest of them are on a centuries-long quest to join him in that elevated state.

Unfortunately, although Saulot and the Salubri were peaceful, others were not. The demonically-inclined bloodline known as the Baali appeared for the first time in force, attacking the other clans, and the Salubri declared that they and anyone else involved with demons were abominations to be cleansed from the earth. The clan split, with those who decided to take up arms leaving the peaceful clan to found other, more martial bloodlines, and the unified Salubri quest for enlightenment likewise splintered into various different philosophies and focuses.

During the Middle Ages, Saulot entered torpor, and the clan's great destabilization came when the human mages that would become members of Clan Tremere found and diablerized the Antediluvian, taking his supernatural blood in order to perform the ritual to transform themselves permanently into vampires. Horrified, the Salubri led the charge against the Tremere, calling for them to be exterminated for their heinous crime, but the Tremere responded with a vicious smear campaign, backed by magic, that managed to convince the rest of the vampiric world that the Salubri were the true evil. Branded as soul-stealers and demonologists, the very things they had always fought against, the Salubri became hunted among other vampires, always aware that the Tremere would stop at nothing to destroy them once and for all.

In the modern day, there are so few Salubri left that the apocryphal tale of there only being seven of them in the world at a time almost sounds plausible. Few ever encounter them, and the taint of their supposed evil still clings to them, making them distrusted at best and hunted on sight at worst. Worse, those few remaining Salubri elders are beginning to suspect that their clan's history only makes sense if Saulot himself was manipulating it behind the scenes, throwing everything they know about their identity and mission into question.

Strongholds

The Salubri stronghold was originally in Constantinople, where Saulot maintained a large monastery, mysteriously tolerated by all faiths in the eclectic region, where his childer and disciples could study and seek enlightenment along with him. That stronghold was lost in the Middle Ages when the Tremere thoroughly destroyed it, and the very small clan has not been able to muster collective power enough to found another, remaining in isolated, hidden pockets around the world.

Advantages and Weaknesses

Advantages

Due to the practice of encouraging their childer to diablerize them before striking out into the world, most Salubri start at a lower generation than they otherwise would, a gift given to them on their undead rebirth by the sire they will now carry with them forever. This can be a mixed blessing, given that the act of diablerie itself is still traumatic, but the resulting increase in potency cannot be denied.

In spite of their connection to diablerie, the Salubri also tend to be even-keeled and calm-hearted; this is a result of the clan simply refusing to Embrace anyone who doesn't seem both suited to undeath and willing to work toward the enlightenment they all crave. All Salubri have an easier time resisting Frenzy than most of their counterparts (although they can still enter it if pushed far enough).

Disadvantages

The major disadvantage for the Salubri is of course the ongoing, global war against them, instigated by the Tremere a few centuries ago and still going strong today. Salubri are feared and hated wherever they go, even by supposedly "tolerant" groups like the Anarchs, because of their reputation as demonic soul-stealing murderers, and as a result cooperation with other vampires (or even not being shot at as soon as they set foot outside) is usually almost impossible.

Most Salubri are also easily identifiable by the third eye in their foreheads, making it very difficult to pass as any other clan no matter how they try; even when using disguises or supernatural means such as Obfuscate to hide the feature, it bursts back into view the moment they are forced to use any of their Obeah powers. This gives Salubri an extra incentive to avoid using their powers in public, lest whatever they are trying to protect themselves from prove less dangerous than all the other vampires in the vicinity immediately turning on them.

Clan Salubri in DC

There is currently no Salubri presence in DC, even undercover.

See Also

Baali
Kin-Slayer
Salubri Antitribu
Wu Zao

Template:African Clans