Bathory

by Mark Kinney (20 Oct 93)

Here is the first in a series of bloodlines I have created. It's relativly
untested, so your mileage may vary. In any case, enjoy, and comments are
welcome.

The Bathory

Believed to be a line of the Ventrue clan, something happened to this line
of Kindred to make them incapable of consuming vitae by the normal method.
This makes creating progeny complicated, and anyone who knows how this line
came about isn't telling. Theories include a curse on a Ventrue elder by
either the Setites, the newly created Tremere, or maybe even a wandering
Baali.

The Bathory, named for their most famous member and founder of the line,
developed a discipline that allows them to absorb blood through their skin.
The factor that links them with the Ventrue is their insistance on a certain
type of blood to consume, ostensibly to maintain the appearance of their
Embrace age. Then again, this could be a derangement held over by the
general reign the Malkavians usually claimed on Elisabeth Bathory's mortal
family.

Bathory are not much liked by the Camarilla, as the most common feeding
method used especially by younger Bathory, bathing in vitae drained from a
victim, tends to endanger the Masquerade. The Ventrue especially disown
them, denying even a link with them. Because of this, and because some of
those that Elisabeth Bathory Embraced early in her vampiric life were
peasants, the line divulges quite a bit from the Ventrue stereotype, which
would be another fact in favor of a link with the Malkavians except that for
the most part the Bathory are sane.

Nickname: Sponges

Appearance: Some continue the Ventrue stereotype, but as often as not there
are serious deviations from Ventrue standards. Dress will be appropriate to
the individual concept.

Haven: As appropriate to the character concept, although most Elders follow
the Ventrue lead.

Background: Elders are split between peasants who were among the founders
first victims and somehow struck her twisted fancy, and the noble girls
whose disappearance led to her downfall. As they get younger, more and more
tend to veer away from the Ventrue type. There is talk occasionally of a
Bathory among the anarchs, although this has never been confirmed.

Character creation: This bloodline is as varied as one can possibly get,
especially among the younger Kindred. Nonetheless, Social attributes and
Talents are generally favored.

Clan Disciplines: Dominate, Osmosis, Presence

Weaknesses: The Bathory have blood requirements similar to but not as
restrictive as those of the Ventrue. Bathory may feed from any vessel, but
for each week that at least one full Blood Pool's worth of their particular
type of blood is not consumed, they lose a point of Appearance. It can be
gained back at the rate of one point per week the blood requirements are
maintained. When Appearance reaches zero, the effects are permanent and the
weakness changes to that of the Nosferatu, and some of these have been known
to try to join Nosferatu coteries after being cast out even by their tiny
bloodline. For the above reasons, at least one Discipline point in Character
Creation must be spent on Osmosis.

Organization: Bathory are far more solitary than the Ventrue, but when
numbers of them gather in an area they tend to form loose groups.

Gaining prestige: The older Bathory of noble blood enjoy the Ventrue's power
games. Although most Bathory neonates also enjoy following these power
plays, prestige means much less to them.

Stereotypes

The Camarilla:
        o Our methods fall afoul of their Masquerade far too often.
          Nevertheless, we see why our Ventrue cousins established it. We
          generally trust these clans except for the Ventrue, who would love
          to eliminate this embarassment to their line, and the Tremere, who
          I am sure only want to use us as tools.
        o "This line is a greater danger to the Masquerade than the anarchs
          or, dare I say it, the Sabbat. They should have been eliminated
          long ago."
          -- Gracis, Ventrue elder, Milwaukee
The Sabbat:
        o Too many of our Childer take either their path or that of the
          anarchs.
        o "Any of these that become True Sabbat should be submitted to the
          Black Hand. There is much we can learn from them."
          -- Cardinal Greco, Tzimisce, Lexington
The Inconnu:
        o These are the only sect we can fully trust. Some say that even our
          founder saw her errors and strove to join their ranks.
        o "Their hunger is more distasteful than most; Golconda would do
          them more good than it does others, should any of them seek it. In
          the meantime, those responsible for their existance should be
          sought out."
          -- Dondinni, sixth-generation Monitor of Genoa

Note: Elisabeth Bathory was known to have commited diablerie on her sire.
She was originally fifth generation. There are no Bathory of higher than
fourth generation.

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SAKURAMBO (The Deranged Priest) AKA Mark Kinney AKA Duncan MacKinnon
Western Kentucky University,  Bowling Green, Kentucky
KINNEMA@WKUVX1.BITNET  kinnema%wkuvx1.bitnet@ulkyvm.louisville.edu
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"Bite the Wax Tadpole"