Marcus Vitel

Marcus Vitel
Clan: Lasombra
Age: Elder
Sire: Sybil
Childer: Cynthia Black, Monica Black
Status: Acknowledged, Confirmed, Exalted, Famous, Respected, Well-Known
Position: Prince of Washington DC

Marcus Vitel is among the oldest and most powerful Kindred active in the Camarilla in modern nights - which is no mean feat, since as a Lasombra he is a member of a clan with very few members in the Camarilla to begin with. Aged, potent, and apparently utterly without mercy or hesitation, Vitel is considered fair for an elder, but he is completely uncompromising in his rulings and his strange clan, along with his ancient blood and reputation as a man unafraid to destroy anyone who threatens his plans, make him feared and respected even among those Kindred who wish that they could loathe him. He is dour and aloof, seldom communicating with anyone outside of his childer and those dignitaries and lieutenants that keep his domain running smoothly.

Mortal Life

In life, over a thousand years ago, Vitel was a Spanish mercenary, recruited to fight in Julius Caesar's army and eventually appointed as overseer over the Roman Empire's Spanish domains, enabling Caesar to turn his attention to other territories. Vitel ruled firmly and well, consolidating Roman power over Spain and Morocco and ruthlessly removing all opposition to the empire, and gained a reputation as a powerful war leader - so powerful that Caesar eventually began to feel uneasy about his influence.

The emperor's suspicions grew until he decided to replace Vitel, installing a new lieutenant who might be slightly less ambitious and competent when it came to organizing armies and potentially seizing power. In an armed coup, Roman soldiers loyal to Caesar infiltrated Vitel's Spanish stronghold and overthrew him, conquering his own guards after a bloody battle. Vitel was eventually captured in spite of his own prowess as a warrior, and fatally wounded before being cast into a nearby river to float away with the rest of the dead.

Embrace

Vitel's story should have ended there, but a Lasombra elder known only as The Sybil was wandering on the banks of the same river and saw him floating downstream, still stubbornly clinging to life. She Embraced him and dragged him to the shore, where she granted him a cryptic prophecy, claiming that she had rescued him because she had seen a vision of a glorious destiny for him that he must survive to fulfill in the future. Then she abandoned him, leaving him to find his own way.

With no idea what this grand destiny was supposed to be but a newfound assurance that it must indeed be meant for him, Vitel retreated into obscurity, brooding upon everything he had lost and what he suspected might be in store for him.

Alignment with the Sabbat

Vitel spent the next few centuries in "retirement", avoiding the affairs of other Kindred entirely as he slowly built up his power and following and plotted his future expansion to reclaim power in the world. By the eleventh century, however, the depredations of the Inquisition and the fallout of the great schism between the Camarilla and newly-created Sabbat forced him to choose sides, and he turned his energies to battling the Camarilla with his clanmates.

He had initially chosen to side with the rest of Clan Lasombra against the Camarilla in order to achieve their goal of wiping out elder control of younger vampires; such a move would clear the playing field for him and allow him greater control over his own territories, and prevent any creatures like his sire from controlling any destiny he might or might not have. However, he quickly realized that this was a losing battle; the Camarilla was too old and too firmly entrenched, and he doubted that the Sabbat would ever be able to win their fruitless war. Ever the pragmatist, he decided to abandon the losing side, and sailed for the New World to begin gaining power there anew.

Once he arrived in the Americas, he founded a small homestead and laid himself down in torpor, remaining there for a few centuries. When he awoke in the 1950s, he found that his small homestead had been built upon and grown around until it was the great sprawling metropolis of Washington, DC, the nerve center of a new and great nation. Taking this as confirmation of the great destiny foretold for him, he began to consolidate power on his own once again.

Power in Washington, DC

Upon realizing that the city was under Camarilla control, Vitel passed himself off as a member of Clan Ventrue, infiltrating the city's Kindred to see how politics had firmed up in the centuries he had slept. In the process, he met Marissa, the Tremere Prince of the city, and the two developed a strong mutual fascination with one another, bordering on love. However, his natural instinct for power would not allow him to remain in her shadow for too long, and as he saw her begin to take on too much power and plan a major schism between factions in the city, he turned on her, secretly summoning a Justicar and Archons to execute her.

Vitel immediately seized power in the resulting vacuum, with the full force of Clan Ventrue behind him, and strategically removed those major threats to his power from important positions. By the end of the year, he had fully solidified his grasp on politics in DC.

Official Renunciation of the Sabbat

Now firmly in power and aware that this power depended on the continuing control of the Camarilla in the region, Vitel turned to ensuring that the Sabbat could not threaten his dominion. He began working as a double agent for the Sabbat, feeding them information to aid in their siege of the city, and eventually gave them the leverage they needed to completely overrun it.

Once the Sabbat had overthrown the Camarilla power bases and the city was converted, Vitel was declared the local Archbishop and took control of the city. He invited the entire Sabbat population to his estate outside of town in order to celebrate their victory; and then, once almost all of the local Sabbat were within his grounds, he had the place sealed and burned to the ground, eliminating the Sabbat presence in one fell swoop. Those few he allowed to survive were sent back to their masters with a message: Marcus Vitel was now a Prince of the Camarilla, and the Sabbat were not welcome within the limits of his city.

Since then, Vitel has created a nigh-unassailable power bloc in Washington, one that causes severe distress and envy in the other clans and no small amount of concern from Kindred who worry that he might change sides again when it becomes advantageous.

Additional Information

Character Sheet