Vampires

Vampires

Vampires are the classic undead of myth and literature. Undying, semi-immortal creatures that stalk only at night, preying on living human beings whose blood they must drink to survive, they are bringers of both nightmares and fantasies. While few mortals know they exist and even fewer know much about them, they come in many different shapes and from many different sources, spreading all over the world to any place where there are mortals to feed from.

Clans

European Clans

Vampire society as most know it is centered around clans, genetically-related groups of vampires who pass their traits, skills, and powers on to others they create. Such clans often have goals and philosophies in common, and tend to be insular and likely to consider other clans threatening rather than to want to cooperate with them. In the grand political scheme of the Camarilla, the European clans are the most powerful and numerous, using centuries of political acumen and collective vision (and oppression of clans from elsewhere) to shape the world around them.

Brujah	Cappadocians	Gangrel	Giovanni

Lasombra	Malkavians	Nosferatu	Toreador	Tremere	Tzimisce	Ventrue

African Clans

The African vampire clans, collectively referred to by their northern neighbors as the Laibon after the name they used in diplomatic negotiations during the Middle Ages, are entirely separate from their European kin. More firmly tied to and drawing power from their native lands, they have their own political societies and concerns and seldom allow northern vampires to do more than establish a foothold in their territories. Their powers reflect traditional African vampire lore, making them distinct as bloodlines even when they bear a passing resemblance to the European clans.

Akunanse	Bak-Ra	Followers of Set

Guruhi	Kinyonyi	Lygos	Naglopers	Osebo	Shango	Xi Dundu

American Clans

The American vampire clans are elusive, living as they do mostly off of the indigenous peoples with whom they have a close bond and the fringes of large cities, seldom making their domains in the midst of the mortals. They are less centrally organized than the clans across the sea, preferring to each hold individual territories and kingdoms. Although widespread throughout their traditional territories, with the Mesoamerican clans referring to themselves as the Teteoh, the South American clans as the Drowned Legacies, and the North American clans banding together into the loose federation of the Quiet Nations, European vampire society considers them largely wiped out and powerless enough to ignore. They are incorrect, but seldom do any of them who intrude into their stronghold territories survive to tell anyone else the truth.

Ærquic

Ahchinkxat	Baykosh	Ceceya	Cipactli	Kalku	Karai Pyhare	Lëpweokàn
Les Gens Libres	Lostundo	Maxinkwelësëwakàn	Pishtaco	Titlacauan	Unhudo	U'tlun'ta

Asian Clans

The Asian vampire clans are among the rarest and most elusive, originating and largely living as they do in the dangerous territories of the far more powerful and widespread Kuei-Jin. Their largest sect is the Cradle of Civilization, those ancient clans that arose in the Middle East and believe that they are the ancestors of all the others, closely followed by the powerful clans of the India-based Jati, but formal organization becomes more and more sparse in more eastern parts of the continent, with only the Shining Kingdoms managing to band together occasionally against their ancient foes. While some of them claim ancestry from immigrants from the European clans, having developed themselves into a distinct bloodline with time and isolation, others make it clear that the idea that there are no vampires native to Asia is perhaps more of a story the Kuei-Jin like to tell rather than a reality.

Akhud

Annunaku	Assamites	Aswang	Canda Bhanu	En	Iltani	Ishtarri

Jiang Shi	Kinnaree	Naditu	Penanggalan	Rakshasa	Ravnos	Salubri

Australian Clans

The smallest continent has only a few known vampire clans, and they elect not to form a larger coalition, remaining independent of not just the European invaders but one another as well. While the official word from the European clans was that Australia had no native vampires whatsoever for many centuries, in the modern nights they have begun to emerge so that they are becoming difficult to ignore, fighting to reclaim the traditional territories that they very seldom leave.

Jharana	Nhang

Bloodlines

European Bloodlines

The European clans have given rise to a number of bloodlines, smaller groups of vampires that have developed unique features and powers as a group that differ from the regular clan's. Most bloodlines are still identifiably related to the clan that gave rise to them and often represent cultural differences in different parts of the world. Because of their comparative rarity, most vampires from bloodlines have a hard time rising to political power or being taken seriously as a group, even to the point that most vampires of the major clans remain unaware of the existence of the majority of bloodlines.

Ahrimanes	Ananke	Angellis Ater	Blood Brothers	Carriers	Coyotes

Daughters of Cacophony	Dracul	Dunsirns	Eloi	Gargoyles	Gorgons	Harbingers of Skulls
Kiasyd	Kolduns	Lamiae	Lhiannan	Mariners	Nephilim	Nictuku
Noiades	Putanesca	Rosselini	Taifa	Telyavs	Volgirre	Zoidones

African Bloodlines

The African bloodlines, on the other hand, represent groups of vampires whose ecological niches and connection to their homelands has been damaged, most often as a result of European colonization. Several of them differ from the main clans only in that there are far fewer of them, making them unable to affect the same kind of broad influence. Indo-European vampires tend to assume, if they are aware of the African bloodlines at all, that they represent offshoots of the main clans the way theirs do.

Adroanzi	Anubi	Bonsam	Children of Osiris	Damballahns	Glyconites	Impundulu

Khaibit	Mla Watu	Nkulu Zao	Nomads	Ramanga	Usiri	Vipers

American Bloodlines

It can be difficult to distinguish between the American clans and their bloodlines, as they have much less difference in population and secrecy than their counterparts on other continents; endangered by the invasion of the European bloodlines, they have very few members and even less inclination to let anyone know about them. Seldom seen, they still operate in the shadows of their traditional territories, invisible to any they do not choose to show themselves to.

Apollinaire	Bekaak	Bohagande	Calacas	Cihuateto	Coconeh Pochtli	Cuetlachtli
Malintzin	Nahualli	Pisanobs	Samedi	Sta-Au	Tlacique	Xotoli

Asian Bloodlines

There are very few members of any of the Asian bloodlines, some of them hardly more than a handful of survivors who have managed to escape the depredations of the Kuei-Jin. This means that they tend to have very little organization or connection with others of their bloodlines, who are likely to be isolated and at least partly in hiding; many members of the more major clans are completely unaware that any of them exist, even when they live in the very same territories.

Amara Havana	Anavashra	Anda	Anvari	Azaneali	Azerkatil

Baali	Burakumin	Bushi	Courtiers	Daitya	Danava	Gaki
Kin-Slayers	Kuufukuji	Magi	Matasuntha	Mayarap	Nagaraja	Nepheshim
Phuri Dae	Qedeshah	Sotoha	Tianpàn	Viziers	Wu Zao	Xiao

Antitribu

Antitribu, or counter-clans, are those members of larger European clans who have rejected the complex political landscape of the rest of their clanmates and stand as the antithesis to their mainstream views and practices (often, though not always, as a result of membership in the Sabbat). While they technically have the same genetic powers and features as the clans proper, they often manifest in very different ways or give rise to strange mutations as a result of the wildly different ways that they use their powers and interact with the world. It is possible for antitribu to become "regular" members of their clan and vice versa, but it is uncommon due to the extreme prejudice on both sides.

Assamite Antitribu	Brujah Antitribu	Gangrel Antitribu	Lasombra Antitribu	Malkavian Antitribu	Nosferatu Antitribu

Ravnos Antitribu	Salubri Antitribu	Serpents of the Light	Toreador Antitribu	Tremere Antitribu	Tzimisce Antitribu	Ventrue Antitribu

The Clanless

Occasionally, a vampire may be created who has no blood connection to a clan. Most of the time, this is a genetic mutation or error, caused by anything from impurities in the former human's blood to instability in the sire's powers to simple weakening of the clan line. Vampires with no clan are viciously marginalized, often completely excluded from society, heavily mistreated, or even hunted on sight, and some as a result attempt to blend in with the major clans, passing themselves off as a member of whatever clan is most suited to their temperament.

Abominations	Caitiff	Dhampir	Maeghar	Panders	Thin-Blooded	Twice-Cursed

The World Beyond

As huge as the World of Darkness is, it's almost inevitable that there must be more creatures lingering in the shadows than have yet allowed themselves to be discovered by others. Since the vast majority of vampires in Europe and the Americas are of European descent, they tend to assume that parts of the world they consider "exotic" are empty and just waiting for them to colonize them - in other words, they shape their own history around themselves just as much as humans of European descent do.

Given this, it's almost certain that vampire clans and bloodlines exist beyond those listed above, although it is very unlikely that any of them would be interested in revealing their existence to others that they do not trust implicitly.