Danse Macabre The Clans of Prague

"Feared by all yet courted by many, thirsty prisoners for far too long, now finally free to claim their just due in blood. Their fangs shine beneath the moon like drawn blades, crying out for vengeance."

With the exception of Turkey, the Assamites remain a relatively small presence in Prague, and in Europe overall. Yet the clan's liberation from the Tremere curse, coupled with the city's worsening state, could change that sooner than anyone expects.

Using Istanbul as their point of departure, the Assamites are quietly reappearing in small enclaves across the continent. They remain on the sidelines, waiting for tensions among Europe's Kindred to reach the boiling point, as they already have in Prague. A few Princes and elders, having seen what is coming, have already started seeking Assamite services... and more than a few acts of terror in European cities owe something either to clan contracts or to the work of their antitribu cousins.

Current members: none.

"Few things are more beautiful than a visionary's work. Few things are deadlier than a dreamer betrayed. The hammering in your temples has already begun, and neither words, nor fire, nor blood will stop it."

The Brujah of Europe, and especially those of Prague, are drastically different from their American kin. More than one New World Brujah has been startled to find European clanmates behaving like the most stereotypical Ventrue.
Idealists dominate here. They revel in intellectual debates over chessboards in salons and all-night cafes. The failure of the ancillae-inspired Communist Revolution was the cruelest disappointment European Brujah have suffered since Carthage. Those embittered ancillae remain the loudest champions of change within Europe's old regimes, and many of them now see Prague as their next prize, hoping to seize control just as Carlak once did.

Current members: Carlak (missing), Henry Hudson III, Sergei Khrushchev (antitribu).

"From among them the Herald shall arise!"

Europe's clanless stand even lower than the Anarchs and the Nosferatu; their hopes for a long unlife are bleak. In Europe, blood, family, money, and age still mean everything. Every clan and faction despises the Caitiff, and the Sabbat treats the Panders no better, dismissing them as an American invention. In Prague's present turmoil, some Caitiff have found chances to vanish among the masses of soldiers, though everyone knows how dangerous that is. If they perish, no one will mourn them. Some would be pleased.
The wisest course for a clanless vampire is still to flee to America or find a place where anonymity is possible.

Current members: Zamenná Rusena (Pander).

"Born as wanderers, living as nomads, now dodging death like exiles, yet above all roaming the night free of every leash and claiming it as their own."

The Gangrel's departure from the Camarilla was never going to leave Prague, or the rest of Europe, untouched.
The primeval forests where Gangrel once roamed are being devoured by progress, and Europe's few remaining wild places shrink with every passing year. Some Gangrel have resigned themselves to urban existence; others have joined the Anarchs in acts of ecoterrorism. The Gangrel of Europe are rapidly approaching the night when they must choose between total war with the Lupines or some separate, uneasy peace. The continent's remaining forests will soon be too depleted to shelter both Kindred and werewolves. A few Gangrel with money and political influence have even aided the Green Party in France.

Here in Prague, with the city plunged into chaos, few dare flee alone and unprotected. The Gangrel exploit their survival skills and their knowledge of the lands beyond the city to smuggle Kindred in and out in exchange for favors.

Current members: Dubcek "Shining-Claws" (absent).

"Baptized in blood and betrayal, heirs of a bloody legacy in the shadow of its worst Specters. Bury yourself among their ghosts, it's a offer you can't refuse because you're dead and they call you."

Even though the Putanesca family is the clan's chief representation in the city, as in many other matters, the Giovanni maintain firm neutrality in conflicts among European Kindred. They continue expanding their financial power, seeking entry into Switzerland, Germany and the Netherlands.

They wait for the night when they will be able to offer aid to vampires on every side of the conflict, thus bringing all clans under their influence. Their control over Venice is absolute, and most Kindred tend to keep away from that city.
Like the Setites, the Giovanni must keep close watch on their older-blood cousins, because nobody forgets a debt. On the other hand, a city at war like Prague, with so many souls screaming beyond death, is business the clan cannot afford to let slip away...

Current members: Dvorak Zajran Putanesca.

"Ha ha ha...
YOU ARE BLIND!"

Eccentricity is acceptable in a civilised society.
Aside from the grossest excesses, European Kindred usually tolerate Malkavians. What may be most disturbing for the unprepared visitor, however, is discovering that a few European cities even have low-generation Malkavian Princes. These Kindred, so powerful and potentially dangerous, are treated with utmost caution by elders, ancillae and neonates alike. A few Malkavians have made wild predictions about imminent conflicts among Europe's Kindred, and though they hate to admit it, many vampires pay careful attention to those delusions after the last nights in Prague.

Current members: Alan Ratzor, Ivan Strakovitch (anarchist).

"Horribly deformed, terribly cunning, quietly patient and cautious. Hidden from the eyes of their peers... but who can be sure the others can keep their secrets away from them?"

Although the Nosferatu are numerous in Europe and they have a wide variety of hiding places among the old ruins, catacombs and transportation systems underground, they also suffer a disadvantage. Most of the European Kindred hate and despise the Nosferatu, considering them evil and cursed.

For many, the Nosferatu are beyond all redemption, regardless of how honourable their acts. Whether due to their hideous appearance, their self-image as condemned beings, or both, this prejudice remains absolute. In some respects, the Nosferatu could hold the key to victory or defeat for any of the three factions contending for the city. Whoever recruits the Nosferatu to their cause will gain a valuable ally.

Current members: Jared Kirhoff (antitribu), Lubomír Král.

"Wrapped in nets of darkness, clothed in layers of shadow fit for a dark king, longing for a reflection forever denied them. These lords of darkness slip into the night they were born to rule."

Many Spanish cities, and a few Italian ones, are ruled by Lasombra archbishops. Some Lasombra antitribu have carved out respected positions inside Camarilla cities, and rumor insists that Prague shelters a few as well. Their numbers may be small, but they are likely more numerous than the Keepers would prefer to believe.

These Lasombra antitribu use all their experience and influence to frustrate their Sabbat kin with a mixture of resentment and amusement. They do not openly serve the Camarilla, or any sect, but whenever matters have turned truly desperate their support has tended to fall, almost without exception, to the Ivory Tower.

Current members: Ismael Sartori "Osciler el Rojo", Sofia Moretti (antitribu).

"Potentially powerful, divided beyond all division and paralyzed by the bitterness in their hearts. Let them be the muses of your inspiration, but beware lest they become the fratricides of your love."

Europe remains the heart of the art world, and a city like Prague naturally draws countless Toreador. The rules of their society are rarely written down, but those within it understand them intimately. Ancient Toreador who dwell in artistic capitals such as Paris, Florence, or Amsterdam mock the influence of foreigners trying to insinuate themselves into vampiric culture.

Many European Toreador are especially disdainful of American artists. These Kindred would rather cling to old notions of order and social elegance, burying themselves in art instead of acknowledging the chaos around them. In Prague, Toreador from both factions defend the city's heritage tooth and nail, sometimes to the point of fanaticism.

Current members: Barbara "Love Doll" Schneider (antitribu), Marcus Konietzko, Sir Eduars.

"Born of murder and raised in greed, created for power and married to destruction, feared even within the Ivory Tower. Fear them, for their enemies are everywhere, especially in their own ranks."

Vienna is the city of the Tremere. From there, the clan's power and influence extend across Europe and the world. Because the Tremere are bound to remain in close contact with ancient Vienna, their European members differ little from their kin elsewhere. So far, they have managed to avoid being torn apart by the rising tensions among elders, ancillae, and neonates.

Yet these lands have always been a battlefield where the Usurpers and the Fiends contest control of the region. Some insist the Tremere have remained here for centuries for some darker purpose, while the Tzimisce refuse to explain anything at all. They want only the destruction of their enemies, and even interference offered in their favor is taken by the Fiends as an insult.

Whatever the truth may be, it is clear that everything revolves around their beloved Northern Cross Chapel and the lands surrounding Prague, territories steeped in the blood and traditions of the old and enigmatic Tzimisce koldun, sworn enemies of the Usurpers since nights beyond counting.

Current members: Elke Fassbinder and Lion Montreaux.

"Demons with changing faces, vile minds after the sword, atrocious nocturnal monsters who teach your heart what fear truly is. Beware their caresses, because whoever lies with Hell never wakes an angel again."

Reveal the secret

Some are surprised to hear the Tzimisce described as a clan at all, because in Europe many regard them as a sect unto themselves. To the great frustration of their Sabbat rivals, several Tzimisce elders still maintain havens in Eastern Europe.
Whatever their allegiance, European Tzimisce lean more toward study than toward the Jyhad. Certain clan elders maintain ties to the Inconnu of the Carpathians. The few European Tzimisce who belong to the Sabbat, particularly those nostalgic for neo-feudal nights, use the collapse of Communism and the genocides of Eastern Europe as cover to seize ground across the continent. A war for domain is brewing that could make Bosnia look like a schoolyard brawl.

Beyond that, a major coalition of European Tzimisce is believed to belong to the whisper-haunted Old Clan. The rest are divided among neo-chivalric houses that echo the knightly orders of the Kindred's distant dark ages. The Order of Oradea is the most prominent of them and commands the greatest number of independent Fiends, all struggling among themselves for the East, though no one believes they will keep their ambitions confined there forever.

Current members: Lekov brothers (Natasha and Zavid), Mikhail Szemioth, Velya the Vivisector and Elaine Cassidy (watching from afar).

"They are the voices that whisper to you in the darkest hours of the night. They are the caresses that lure you toward the darkness behind all things. They come crawling out of shadow, and in the end, everyone returns there..."

Setites remain relatively rare in Europe, though the relaxation of anti-drug laws in Holland has made the clan's elders consider expanding into the Netherlands. Small gains in Eastern Europe and the Mediterranean have already opened doors into local criminal networks. Like the Assamites, the Followers of Set watch the changing balance of power in Europe and have cautiously begun spreading word that their services can be had, for a price.

But the clans of Prague, and both of its major sects, have not forgotten what happened in the recent nights. If the Setites mean to climb again, they will have to do so while watching every shadow behind them.

Current members: Vaclav (Serpent of Light).

"Rogues, vagabonds and chatterboxes, but cunning souls who dance on the edge of danger, lying to liars, swindling swindlers, and taking the curses of the Damned with a grin."

The Ravnos spread across Europe long ago, and remnants of their old routes could be found in many lands that once held Roman enclaves. Camarilla elders barely tolerated them in their cities, valuing them only slightly more than the Nosferatu and dismissing them as vulgar thieves and confidence artists.

Since the Week of Nightmares, however, and the disaster that nearly erased the clan by its own founder's hand, everything has changed. Many European elders now see the Ravnos as little more than the shattered remains of what was once a clan. No longer fearing reprisals from elders or armies of kin, they are eager to finish the work that the Ravnos Antediluvian failed to carry into the grave.

Now they are fearful, paranoid, broken vampires who know they have been marked as an endangered species, and worst of all, no one has closed the hunting grounds.

Current members: Anezka (Anarchist), Robert Lang.

"Theirs are counsel and skill,
theirs intelligence and strength,
theirs the princes who decree what is just,
theirs the nobles who judge the earth.
For them kings reign, and for them they always will."

The Ventrue are the largest and most powerful clan in Europe, and until recently they held the same position in Prague. Though divided, much like the Brujah, the clan's elders believe only strong authority and strict devotion to tradition can calm tensions and avert disaster, while the ancillae seek to unite Europe's vampires in a coalition of their own making. The Ventrue are arrogant enough to believe that only they can solve Europe's present problems. The elders are still willing to hear other clans on the methods required to halt the upstarts, but whichever faction wins hegemony among the Ventrue may well set the course for every other clan in Europe.

In Prague, after the recent nights, the survivors of every Ventrue faction are few, and all of them are scrambling to correct that weakness before the others do. The race is on to see who will rise high enough to dominate the city. With Prague once more without a throne, the Ventrue know their finest opportunity has finally come.

Current members: Klaus von St. Polten.