Giovanni: The Last Supper

 Ambitious, power-hungry and dangerous, there is not a vampire “alive" today who would say different of Clan Tremere.

They have well earned their reputation, but it has not won them any favours. At best, they are trusted about as far as a (weak) neonate could throw one, and at worst they are the most singularly despised clan to join the ranks of the undead. There are some who declaim them even being a clan; until their leader, Tremere, consumed the soul of one of the other clan's ancient founders, most vampires wouldn't have given them the time of day. Or night.

Now things are changing. They’ve earned some measure of respect - at least from clans who share an enemy with the Tremere. It cannot be ignored that the Eastern Lords among the Ventrue stand much to gain from Eastern Europe being depleted of Tzimisce.

The beginning of the tale goes further back than you’d expect for so young a clan. The original Tremere were not humans, as such, as they were supernatural creatures: each an immortal, ascended magi, who belonged to a Hermetic order known as The Order of Hermes. If they were human once they bear little resemblance to them for power now. Reclusive and tightly knit magical scholars, the Tremere were observant of the world, at least, beyond their books. The perceptive among them noticed that shifts in the fabric of reality were over time affecting the magic of the world, and with it, these shifts were beginning to affect “High Mages”, such as they called themselves. Their core source of power, High Magic, was shrinking, losing power somehow, as if the very nature of their magic was competing against a polar opposite for force. Most devastatingly, this shift in the world’s magic was in favour of the antithesis; no longer was the lifeforce provided by High Magic sustained. It meant that, undeniably, the immortality of High Mages was beginning to fade.

Being proactive, House Tremere - a small offshoot of mages under the Order of Hermes - decided to act. A select few of them decided to act, rather. Goratrix manufactured a cocktail of vampiric blood. Capturing neonate vampires and ambushing the unguarded young, the Tremere were able to steal away and abuse childer from Clans Tzimisce, Nosferatu and Gangrel, all to produce a serum that they would drink, and in doing so empower them with immorality.

It worked. But it destroyed everything in the process. The mages lost the very core of their power: their avatars. With it went all their innate magic, rendering the mages vulnerable and weak in a world of greater, lethal parasites. It was an overwhelming loss to the Tremere, much like the mage’s soul being ripped away. The mages assured their immortality but lost everything else, a pyrrhic victory if there ever was. Not only: The stolen vampires who the Tremere experimented on were eventually noticed for their absence. Soon, three clans were out for blood. The newly “Embraced” Tremere entered their unlife at the dawn of savage conflict that would bloody the fields of Eastern Europe and crack the stone of Carpathian castles. The clan of Fiends (as the Tzimisce are known) waged war against House Tremere in retribution for the theft of blood that had been part of Goratrix's experiments - the very blood that would go onto forge “Gargoyles”, the Tremere clan’s horrific battle ace card.

The Tremere are, if nothing else, adaptive. They are also ruthless, ingenious and unafraid of getting thoroughly dirty to survive. Goratrix played with the newly developed Thaumaturgy, the discipline these Usurping vampires have made. While it is a poor echo of the power they once wielded, it is new, and effective. Thaumaturgy is also immeasurably functional for a wide range of applications; it has many paths, some elemental, some kinetic, some bearing no similarity to others at all. Though there are sorcerers who stalk among the damned, the range of blood magics the Tremere wield is unparalleled. And the Tremere are creating more and more of these paths today, beset on all fronts by furious Gangrel, Tzimisce and Nosferatu. But they are making ground rapidly on Clan Tzimisce - and even now younger Fiends are fleeing from their ancient homes, made immigrants to foreign, western lands, escaping their earth for their very lives. The elders of Clan Tzimisce who survive are among the most powerful of their kind, and they are livid.

The mages argue that the Tzimisce hit first; some Tremere say their fight is in self-defence. No matter: The Omen War began. And it rages this night.

The Renaissance

The Renaissance has seen clan Tremere burst into a frenzy of activity and expansion. Still recovering from the Omen Wars (or out in Eastern Europe, actively in the war), much of the clan has concentrated its efforts on destroying what remains of Clan Salubri - whose founder Tremere diablerised - further legitimizing their place in vampire society as they wield vicious propaganda to see the Salubri’s demise. Naturally the explosion of science and culture throughout the continent has also suited this scholarly clan very well - and any self respecting Tremere ancilla would have their fingers in several pots of scientific research.

Still other Tremere might spend this era of spiritual enlightenment examining their own immortal souls, and the nature of the vampiric condition. Whilst the arts have not stereotypically been the mainstay of Tremere studies, the crossover between art and mathematics has not been so keenly explored since the classical era and would be an object of fascination for many Usurpers. 

Many have taken to the politics of the night with renewed fervour, hoping to extend for as long as possible what they believe to be a temporary situation. Alliance of the clans, support of local Princes, exchanging favours with blood magic for Boons - though they never teach it to outsiders - all of these have become the modus operandi of Clan Tremere.

Old habits prove remarkably resilient, however, and the more experienced members of the clan have demonstrated a marked resistance to embrace the glory age affords them. As one might expect, the majority of most Tremere's unlives revolve around study or service to one's elders. Even those unskilled in the thaumaturgical arts typically work with a Tremere who makes it her raison d'etre whether as gatherers of ritual components, as liaisons (political and professional) to other Cainites or as agents and enforcers.

Most undead would be surprised to learn that the Tremere have always had territories that would seem to outstrip their relatively few numbers - more born out of necessity given the war with the three wronged clans. However, many of these lie in remote fastnesses or on the borders of civilised lands and the hoary expanses of barbarous wilds. As a bulwark against the dreaded Tzimisce, the Tremere erected a chantry in the Transylvanian Alps years ago, though its name remains known to only a few tonight and its fate eludes even most of them. Other witch-houses, by their very nature, had to be secluded and protected from the fires of the Inquisition and lie in similar mountain expanses or deep in the reaches of swamps, woods or even in the catacombs beneath cities. The Inquisition does not seem to have really hit the vampire species yet - but they certainly burn unassuming witches, which an unwary Tremere neonate might will become should she be indiscreet in a town with her interests.

Truly, Tremere chantries lie in almost every major population centre of Europe, some with only a couple members, but all of them duly devoted (insofar as a vampire's allegiances ever are) to the clan's pyramidal structure. It is less common in the Renaissance for Tremere to be stationed in small chantries; the clan wishes its members’ protection, and so it has become the norm for truly secret strongholds in the wilds to be strengthened and stacked to the Thaumaturgical teeth with elders intent on winning the Omen War. Meanwhile the chantries in more civilised regions - or even cities - face steep politics and vampiric intrigue, something the clan has become uncannily adept at. They have had good practice, after all, with climbing over their own chantry mates to rise in power in the suffocating pyramid.

Strongholds

Eastern Europe and Transylvania: Seat of Ceoris, homeland of the clan. They have trouble here with the Tzimsice but recently working alongside the Ventrue Eastern Lords they now have more power than the Tzimisce. Prague and Krakow are major centers for the clan.

England: For some unknown reason they have a chantry in Durham. Why? Who knows. They try to hide their plans from Mithras and hope to expand their influence into Scotland and Ireland.

France: Mainly stronghold of the Toreador and Ventrue but Goratrix has established chantries in southern France, in Marseilles and Tours in particular.

Holy Roman Empire: The Tremere are taking advantage of the conflict between the Ventrue, Lasombra and Toreador to opportunistically gain power. Siding with the Ventrue and currently establishing a very interesting chantry in Vienna, Austria with their permission.

Spain: The Lasombra allow them to have chantries in Toledo and Santiago. The Tremere are very interested in Iberia and Granada but shit scared of the Children of Haqim because they are OG blood sorcerers :D

Italy, Not Quite: The Tremere are tolerated in their visits but they stay temporarily, only able to engage in diplomacy with the Giovanni. They have made no real ground in any of the Italian City States; between the books of this quickly rising necromantic family and the iron fist of the Lasombra, the Tremere are struggling to make headway. The Lasombra refuse to support such overt allies of the Ventrue; the Giovanni are all smiles and polite declines.

The Church?

The Tremere, while their minds are mostly on other things, share the Brujah's interest in the Church's scholarship. Like them, the few Tremere who have left their strongholds have taken to making their havens in monasteries. In the long-term, they are well aware of the power - both Thaumaturgical and political - that they could attain through the Church, but at the moment, survival is their main priority.

The Tzimisce are in a similar position to the Tremere where survival is winning about above everything. Their ancestral lands are threatened by the Tremere, so they have little time to worry about the Church and the Renaissance as a collective, but there are exceptions. A few voivodes care, seeing value not only in the Church but in this new dawning era, with its growth and technology being potential weapons against the Usurpers. Some even attempted to direct the eastern branch of the Church toward the "evil" mage infestation of Tremere vampires. Subtlety, however, does not come naturally to the Tzimisce, and the Church is an unnatural vehicle for their pagan thought. The Tzimisce's contempt and disregard for Christianity have dangerously blinded most of them to the increasing Christianization of their territories: the Church is undermining the old Gods, and Tzimisce rule with them.

Clan Opinions On…

The Embrace

Selecting Childer

The need to swell their ranks in order to increase their chances for survival has led the Tremere to begin an active search for promising recruits. The Usurpers still give priority to those mortal mages already within their ranks, marking them as primary candidates for the Embrace, but there are simply not enough mortal magi remaining within the house for this to be anything more than a short-term solution. As the clan expands outward from their stronghold in Ceoris, after Tremere's diablerie of Saulot, the Usurpers have undertaken a concerted effort to find and Embrace other likely individuals.

Mortals with a strong interest in magic, alchemy, academics or astrology attract the Tremere. The Usurpers frequently choose promising candidates as "apprentices," leading these talented mortals to believe that they may have embarked on a study of the occult arts. After a suitable period of training, which sometimes includes making the apprentice into a ghoul servant of her master, the candidate receives the Embrace.

The Tremere have also recognized the need to include skilled diplomats among their number, and have thus Embraced individuals with highly developed skills for negotiation and etiquette. Occasionally, the Tremere select mortals connected to the Church in order to gain influence within that powerful institution, but the Lasombra and Toreador jealously weed these Usurpers out.

THE NATURE OF THE EMBRACE

For the Tremere, the Embrace takes the form of an initiation rite, surrounding the process of transformation with the trappings of ritual magic. By maintaining the charade of an advanced occult ritual, the Usurpers may thus entice even the most unwilling members of House Tremere into the vampiric fold. In Ceoris, where many unconverted members of the house still  reside, mortal magi targeted for the change are summoned without warning into the presence of one of the Inner Council. Informed that they have been chosen to undergo a unique ritual of advancement, these human wizards usually submit willingly to the bizarre ritual of blood-draining and forced infusion of their sires' vitae. The fledgling Cainite realizes the true implications of her transformation only when it is too late. While a few transformed magi rebel against their changed circumstances, most of them quickly adapt to their new existence - particularly after they have been placed two-thirds of the way under the bonds of a Blood Oath to the elders of the clan.

Rather than allowing her childe to feed directly from her veins, a Tremere sire usually first drains her blood into a goblet and forces her chiIde to drink from it. This practice both enhances the ritualistic aspect of the Embrace and re-enacts the ceremony of the founders' original transformation. At least two and sometimes more draughts of blood are thus fed to the new Tremere. The first goblet contains only the sire's vitae, thus establishing the all-important bond between sire and childe. The second goblet, however, also contains a drop or two of the mixed blood of the clan elders. The fledgling Tremere receives a second infusion of founders' vitae (but not her sire's) on the evening following the Embrace, bringing the childe to the verge of a Blood Oath to the founders of the clan.

A Tremere who desires to Embrace a mortal usually makes extensive preparations before doing so – including securing the necessary mixture of blood from the clan's founders. Special couriers, known as "redcaps," serve the Order of Hermes (including House Tremere) by travelling from chantry to chantry, delivering messages and transporting valuable items for their masters. Occasionally, these servitors' duties include delivering a vial of precious liquid (founders' vitae) to certain chantries. At other times, this responsibility goes to trusted ghoul servants or to recent neonates (and their unsuspecting coteries).

Each newly Embraced Tremere formally swears an oath of loyalty to Tremere, the  Elders, her sire and her clan. Conducted either during the ritual of transformation itself or shortly thereafter, this complicated oath carries with it a mystical compulsion that makes it a difficult one to break.

Although the Tremere occasionally resort to the "battlefield Embrace" in circumstances which require spontaneity, individuals so transformed receive the founders' vitae and formally swear their oaths of loyalty as soon afterward as possible.

RITUAL OF CLAN LOYALTY

The ritual swearing of an oath of loyalty to Clan Tremere and its founder forms an integral part of the Tremere Embrace. Although the wording of the oath will grow ever more complex over time, its essence remains unchanged from the clan's earliest nights. Taking its form from the original oath sworn by members of the Order of Hermes, the Tremere oath enjoins its swearer to remain loyal to the clan, its founder and all its members. Administered to the newly created Tremere immediately after the Embrace, the oath serves to impress upon the fledgling not only her place in the clan but her responsibilities to her superiors.

In the Dark Medieval World an oath often carries within it a true compulsion, making it difficult (though not impossible) to break. Enhanced by the use of Dominate, the loyalty oath of Clan Tremere has a terrible strength that goes beyond the impetus even the most fearful mortal oath can bear. Though this ritual of oath-taking does not irrevocably bind the will of the swearer to the clan, it does act as a deterrent to many actions that might go against clan goals.

The Auction

This insular and studious clan were absolutely captivated by the eclipse and have been searching for a reason for it ever since it occurred, all the while keeping an eye on how it may have affected magic in the world and more importantly blood. As relatively new vampires the Tremere do not like being taken by surprise - not by a phenomenon that seems to affect the sun, of all things, however much a blessing it seemed on the surface for one day. (And you can be sure the Tremere used that day well, effectively using the opportunity for some spring cleaning of Tzimisce castles, with copious fire.) 

Sorcery and blood magic are the domain of the Tremere and the rumours of humans with powerful blood born during the eclipse have certainly not escaped them. For centuries the Tremere have made it their business to snap up humans with magical/supernatural ability and they guard their research into vampiric and human blood alike with near pathological secrecy. Missing these mortals is a mistake they will not easily endure. Some Tremere are attending purely to determine if the Giovanni have secreted away - and worse, Embraced - mortals better suited to blood magic than necromancy. The Tremere have no illusions that Claudius would actually sell a human who held necromantic power. But the others? The Tremere are here to counter losses and at least ensure they rise above the other clans - directing their bidding with pinpoint, united effort. The Tremere are masters with efficient force.

Elders among this young clan are furious that Claudius Giovanni’s acquisition of these mortals may result in their missing out on even a single one of these fascinating humans, but needs must. Younger Tremere may see this as an opportunity to learn as much as they can about abnormalities of the blood. Young or old, the Tremere certainly have a deep interest in acquiring as many of these humans as they possibly can - but only in a manner approved of by their superiors, of course. A Pontifex is as likely to appear as a Regent, and even a low-sphere apprentice might be permitted to attend the auction, all to obfuscate who holds the real power in the clan to the public eye. Internal clan politics will be wild for the Tremere with them duking out who deserves to ghoul or Embrace the humans should they get hold of any.

Profane Rebirth

The process has been thoroughly laid out for you. Despite your misgivings, you told them that you understood, and would do all in your ability to undergo the process with dignity befitting one about to receive such a gift. In truth, your heart is hammering in your chest as if it knows this is it's last chance to do so, and sweat trickles down your spine under your robes.

Yours is a logical disposition - from a family of means you had strived to understand the nature of the world through science. Whilst you didn't disdain the Church as such, the Church would not tolerate your thirst for truth that could not be satisfied by scripture, and you found yourself a pariah in your own community. It was this that drew the attention of those that called themselves Tremere. The promises of knowledge beyond the grasp of simple 'kine' such as yourself was intoxicating, and you pledged yourself to their service through the fault of your curiosity.

It was gruelling work. Whilst you were granted access to a small portion of “Clan” Tremere's knowledge (the most harmless you suspected) you were expected to serve your master tirelessly, learning the etiquette of the house and assisting with rituals and experiments with little reprieve. Years became decades, and now - at last - you are here.

In a chamber beneath the main estate, you are clad in woollen robes, kneeling before your superiors upon a circle of stone that has been carved with intricate runes. Now, as you tremble despite your attempted composure, you feel a chilling fear grasp at your spine. Perhaps it is the last attempt of your soul to spare you from a truly damned existence. If you were not so petrified you would grimace at the irony that after all these years, you finally found capacity to fear divine punishment for your deeds. 

Running would do you no good - you recognise the outer ring of glyphs upon the stone circle; wards. You can only look up with widened eyes as your master breaks from the circle of vampires that surround you, and sweeps across the chamber toward your kneeling form. He draws a glittering black knife from a voluminous sleeve.

"Remain still, and silent." He intones softly, and despite the screaming of adrenaline in your veins you find yourself frozen in place.

There is a rushing in your ears, it blocks the soft chanting of the remaining Cainites around you. From the corner of your eye, you see a bowl of vitae being prepared, ready to bind you to the council of seven upon your rebirth. Your focus is locked almost entirely upon the man before you though as you bow your head, shaking.

"Look at me." The command is irresistible.

The moment you lift your chin and lock eyes with your master, there is a flash of obsidian and a sensation of sharp cold at your throat, followed by the blossoming explosion of pain. You try to grasp for your neck out of some foolish survival instinct, but your murderer has swept behind you, skillfully pinning your arms with one of his. The other hand grips the back of your head, the fingers tangled in your loose hair as they force you to raise your head. You feel wet heat splatter your robes even as your breath gurgles and dies in your mouth and a thick coppery tang fills your senses. Your lifeblood pours from you eagerly, pooling on the stone once it is finished painting the front of your restrained body - filling the carved recesses that make up the runic circle.

Your vision is swimming now as your limbs twitch and spasm in the hold of your master, who grips you tightly so you don't crumple to the floor. 

The caress of peace has almost overwhelmed the pain and fear as you feel a new sensation, as if from a great distance. A cold, silver chalice is pressed to your already bloody lips, the content forcing their way into your mouth and down your unbroken oesophagus. Your nostrils flare at the sudden explosion of indescribable excitement that sets every nerve alight despite your previous numbness. As your eyes snap open, you feel a terrifying euphoria overcoming everything else; fear, anger, excitement and joy - all are pushed beyond human magnitudes within this moment.

Your master steps away from you as you are left to convulse in the circle of blood, your fingertips raw and bloody as you claw at the stone. You were warned; rebirth is never easy.

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