From vampire-l@wizards.com Wed Sep 7 11:21:12 1994 X-Subject: VAMPIRE-L digest 553 X-Topic-No: 14 Date: Tue, 6 Sep 1994 21:51:11 -0600 (CST) From: Alejandro Melchor Lombardo To: "Vampire: the Masquerade" Subject: Clan Huitzilopochtli Message-ID: Status: OR At long last; I'm nearer to Death as I have finished something I set myself out to do :). The following Clan ignores much of _The Chaos Factor_, as it's too eurocentric to my taste. /////////THE CLANS//////////////////////////////////////////////////// ***** Huitzilopochtli ***** Nickname: Hummingbirds In the Templo Mayor of Tenochtitlan, human sacrifices were performed in honor of Huitzilopochtli. The priests claimed that Huitzilopochtli, in order to live and shine as the Sun, needed to feast on human hearts, the only food worthy of his stature. Indeed, many Aztecs died in the altar proud of helping feed the god and keep the sun in the sky; but only the first part was true: they were feeding Huitzilopochtli, a powerful vampire. Clan Huitzilopochtli's origin is lost in the middle of self gloryfing mythology. As it's members claim, they are Huitzilopochtli's Chosen; the warriors who proved themselves so worthy that they form their army of their god. Huitzilopochtli was far from being a god, but he did Embrace those warriors he deemed worthy of his ranks, and promptly blood bonded them to him. Huitzilopochtli was a priest of the wandering Mexica, a nomadic tribe that eventually settled in the Lake of Texcoco and founded Tenochtitlan. Many say he was actually Tenoch, the leader of these people, or Aacatl, the priest who gave the Aztecs warfare; but not even the Wyld Runners, the Garou that led the Mexica, are sure of this. The god Huitzilopochtli was the patron of the Mexica, and his transition from a normal, unremarkable god to the warmonger and bloodthirsty figure he became is marked by Tenoch's (or whoever's) Embrace. The new vampire claimed to be the god Huitzilopochtli and demanded blood, and then human hearts. As the Aztec prospered, Huitzilopochtli grew in power. He promptly diablerized his Sire and began to exert his influence over the rim of the Texcoco Lake. In the Triple Alliance of city-states that consolidated Tenochtitlan and the Aztec as a power, many discovered Huitzilopochtli's true nature, but did nothing further than breaking relations. Nezahualcoyotl, an Ehecatl Galliard who was prince of Texcoco, warned all Garou and Mage about this threat; but the Ehecatl and the Sons of the Feathered Serpent were too busy locking horns with the Nahual and the Nightspawn, the Tlaloque and the Sorcerers of Quiet Gladness shared Aztec worship and were complacent, and the Wyld Runners didn't care, so Huitzilopochtli ruled unchallenged. The only opposition came from the Mictlan, the New World equivalent of the Camarilla; a collection af vampires of different creeds and power, who traced their origin to Mictlacihuatl, consort to the God of the Deads' Realm. Huitzilopochtli had a ghoul: Tlacaelel, a general who was much the power behind the Aztec throne in obediance to his Sire's wishes. Soon, the expansionist desire revealed that Huitzilopochtli was insane, and very bloodthirsty too, for he raised his quota of blood by fighting the Florid Wars; battles meant only for sacrificial victims gathering. The Mictlan participated in these Wars too, backing other city states, so that they wouldn't have to hunt. War was the primary concern of the insane vampire, and so, through Tlacaelel, he created the Eagle Knights, an order of warriors, as a breeding lot of new vampires as much as an elite of warriors; they were the best fighters and some of them were ghouls of priests, waiting to be embraced. Although thwarted to his desires to the Aztec throne by Nezahualcoyotl, Tlacaelel's cunning prevented for years the collapsing of the Aztec Empire from the Mictlan's schemes and the Nahuals' bids for power and, realizing that Huitzilopochtli had no intentions of Embracing him (he was too useful as a ghoul), he reached outwards. He somehow managed to contact the european Kindred and convinced them that this was a land ripe for conquest, and so the Conquest began and concluded when im 1525, Hernan Cortes conquered Tenochtitlan. Now, Huitzilopochtli was powerful enough to hold back and actually defeat Cortes' army, but the Spaniards had the help of the Mictlan and the Tlaxcaltecan cities it governed, along with the help of Clan Ventrue and the Celestial Chorus and, secretly, the Technocracy. Against this coallition army, not even the mexican Bete's and Magi's help could resist long, and the forces of the Inquisition hunted for every supernatural and nearly annihilated all of Clan Huitzilopochtli. Nowadays, members of the Clan are rising from Torpor and, though a little disoriented, they are finding their way into Kindred politics, as allies of the Sabbat, although they plan to betray them and exterminate them as soon as they have reached the peak of their power and found and awakened Huitzilopochtli, who still remains in Torpor in an unknown place. It's important to point out that the Huitzilopochtli have declared a Blood Hunt on Tlacaelel, and will not rest until they diablerize him. Appearance: Powerfully built and bronze skinned, their eyes shine with an eerie red light when expressing their vampiric nature. Haven: Museum storage rooms, secret chambers in ruins. Some Huitzilopochtli are finding their way to appartments and warehouses thanks to the newest recruits. Background: Before the Conquest, Eagle Knights and priests were chosen for Embrace; now, they are recruited from street gangs, the police and the military. Character Creation: Depending on the status of the character, he might be chosen for priesthood or for a fighter; Occult and other knowledges must be used for a priest; fighting skills for a warrior. As the Huitzilopochtli have just risen from a Torpor of nearly half a millenium, they are all of low generation, so Generation must be chosen as a Background. Clan Disciplines: Thaumaturgy, Dominate, Xiuhcoatl. Weaknesses: Huitzilopochtli vampires are very, very bloodthirsty; they need double the amount of victims to renew their Blood Points; they must also eat their victim's heart. In addition, they Frenzy easily in battle; the difficulty dropping by 2, only appliable to combat situations. Organization: The priesthood rule the warriors, they are all bloodbonded and will obey blindly the High Priests and Huitzilopochtli. Gaining Clan Prestige: For priests, by excelling in their mystic knowledge and besting other magicians, be them Magi, Bete or Kindred (specially Tremere). For warriors, their deeds in combat and the number of defeated foes will rise their prestige. Quote: "We were defeated by treason; well, not anymore, these invaders will learn to fear Huitzilopochtli". Stereotypes: The Camarilla: Invaders of our realm, our Anahuac. They have been forced out of our lands for now, but we will not forget what they have done to what is ours. "Vampires who serve the sun? Just by the sound of it, I think they'll take care of themselves for us." Khalib, 8th Generation Brujah The Sabbat: They pretend to understand what the Beast inside is. We will show them, just in time for them to see us tear out their withered hearts. "Viscious creatures if ever there were ones. Beware of their powers, for dark forces hover about them." Ezekiel, 7th Generation Tremere antitribu The Inconnu: They match us in the power of their blood, but these 'neutral' observers are hiding something sinister. "The cruelty of the Sabbat and the plottings of the Camarilla. Never a more frightening combination. Keep all observers clear of these ones." Antonia, 6th Generation Ventrue ---Xiuhcoatl--- Level One: _The Sun's Fascination._ By spending a Willpower point and making a Courage roll against difficulty 8, the vampire can resist Rotschreck for one minute per success. Level Two: _Hands of the Brazier._ By spending a Blood Point the vampire can cause burn damage with her bare hands. Each Blood point spent allows the user to inflict two lelvels of fire damage. Level Three: _Summon Xiuhcoatl_ By Spending a Blood Point and rolling Charisma + Occult, difficulty 9, the vampire can cause a weapon to be enveloped in a halo of living fire which adds 1 to their dice pool in order to hit AND 2 to damage. Vampire viewing this must roll their Courage or go into Rotschreck. The wielder of the weapon is unaffected. Level Four: _Rage of the Eagle Knight_ By rolling their Wits + Intimidation versus their opponent's Willpower, the vampire can make their body appear to be enveloped in a sheath of fire. This fire is purely illlusionary, but any touched by the vampire must make a Wits + Fortitude roll or be mentally affected by the fire, causing one point of imagined damage per success on a successful hit roll. Level Five: _The Care of Huehueteotl_ By spending two Blood Points and rolling Charisma + Intimidation, difficulty 7, the vampire can convince the elementals within the fire to leave the her unharmed for one turn per success. Level Six: _Huitzilopochtli's Protection_ By rolling Charisma + Occult, difficulty 8, and placing Three Blood Points in a stone bowl and burning them with a candle made of animal fat (preferrably human), the vampire gains temporary resistance to the damaging effects of the Sun. She gains 10 minutes of resistance per success. Level Seven: _Xiuhcoatl's spittle._ By spending a Blood Point and rolling Dexterity + Occult, difficulty 8, the vampire can cause a fireball to fly from their mouth. Each success does three points of damage. Level Eight: _Heart of Ashes._ By spending 2 Blood Points and 1 Willpower point and making a successful roll on a Wits + Medicine roll, difficulty 8, the Vampire can make his foe's heart explode and become ash. The victim takes three health levels, soakable, for each success, but the victim is considered staked until they can heal back the health levels lost. Level Nine: _Tonatiuh's Mantle_ Two Blood Points and a successful roll on Stamina + Occult, difficulty 9, are required for the vampire to turn himself into a body of fire. He does 5 levels of fire damage when touched passively, and adds strength to that damage if actively fighting. Level Ten: _Face of Tonatiuh._ Two Blood Points and Two Willpower points must be spent in addition to gaining a successful roll on Manipulation + Occult, difficulty 8, in order for the vampire to invoke the very power of the Sun. This effect lasts for 2 turns per success, and is treated as actual sunlight in regards to damage and Rotschreck checks for all vampires who see the user of this power. ---- NOTES: the Wyld Runner, Ehecatl and Tlaloque Tribes and the Nahual have already been posted to werewolf-l; if anyone is interested they are available for FTP at ftp.wizards.com on the digests. The idea of Tlacaelel, the Xiuhcoatl mechanics and the Stereotypes were done by COATL@delphi.com ______________________________________________________________________________ \Alejandro Melchor / "The new media are not ways of relating us / /al168214@academ01.mty.itesm.mx / to the old "real" world; they _are_ the real\ \Ciencias de la Comunicacion / world, and they reshape what remains of the / /ITESM, Monterrey, MEXICO / old world at will". \ \ / - Marshall McLuhan / /_______________________________/_____________________________________________\ ------------------------------