Ventrue

Clan Ventrue
The Ventrue offer a very simple boast: They win. The always win.

Other Kindred often despise the Lords, but they seldom dispute the clan's boast. All too often, a Kindred works and schemes to win some prize, only to find that as Ventrue owned it all along. The officers who lead a city's Kindred almost always include several highly placed Ventrue. The Lords acknowledge no defeats, only setbacks. The clan shares a ruthless will to power and the power to enforce it's will.

Their favored Disciplines account for some of their success. The Ventrue learn to command the thoughts of other beings almost by instinct. Their mastery over lesser animals harks back to the nights of domains in which the Lord was a master of beasts as well as men. Although they do not especially cultivate the arts of combat they often prove remarkably hard to kill. Ventrue regard their super natural gifts, however, as merely a tool to begin the acquisition of real power – the power of money, property and corporate stock, political contacts, rank in Kindred society and large numbers of mortal, at every level of society, begging to lick their boots and fulfill their commands.

The Ventrue take the feudal nature of the Kindred society very seriously. Every sire tells her childe that some people rule and some are ruled. As Lords, they should strive to place themselves among the rulers. Most Ventrue neonates already believed this before their Embrace. Through out the clans history, the Ventrue have sought power in whatever forms mortals offered. Kindred historian say that in ancient Rome the clan Embraced senators and patricians. In the Middle ages, they brought knights and churchmen into the fold. As commerce became an avenue to power they cultivated merchant princes, bankers and magnates. When states grew more bureaucratic the Lords Embraced high-ranking civil servants. The rise of organized crime brought mob bosses and drug kingpins into the clan. At the start of the 21st century, Ventrue elders ponder the merits of Embracing Scientists, engineers and computer wizards. No matter where in society the power lies, the Ventrue vow to exploit it before other Kindred even know it exist.

Organization: The Lords track their ties of blood and obligations through an old-boy network that extends across generation, bloodlines and continents. A respectable Ventrue knows his fellow Lords' ancestors, their broodmates, allies, enemies and Kindred owed and owing favors (though the information might be a century out of date). Two Ventrue often compare lineages and acquaintances when they first meet. Thus so they establish their relationships and status within the clan.

The Ventrue also take clan office very seriously. Ventrue Whips, Prisci and other clan leaders often try to hold Monthly meetings of all clanmates, regardless of covenant. The Lords use these meetings as opportunities to brag, size up the competition, cut deals and chide clanmate who seem to show insufficient ambition. After all, the Ventrue have a reputation for steel-fisted power to uphold. Once does not want other Kindred tinging that any Lord might go soft.

Bloodlines: Much of the clan consists of lineages that claim descent from famous Venture of the distant past, such as the great Mithra. The 'bloodlines' merely express pride in ancestry” a Mothraic Ventrue, for instance, does not differ greatly from the other Lords. Other prestigious lineages include the Licinii, the Beni Murrahim ad the Rotgrafen. The comparatively new Malkovian lineage suffers even more debilitating madness than the parent clan.

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STEREOTYPES

Daeva:  Our only serious rivals. Watch them as you would a deadly viper.

Gangrel:  Stray dogs with sharp teeth. Train them when you can.

Mekhet:  Acknowledge their window, but be sure they know they ave their place.

Nosferatu:   What was it Machiavelli said about love and fear?

Lupines:  You can no more rule their kingdom than you can rule a wildfire. Treat them with care – or avoid them if you ant to see another night.

Mortals:  Rule them, use them, feed upon them without pity. They are born to serve and suffer and never know why.

Disciplines

 * Animalism - The ability to form bonds and control all matter of beasts.


 * Dominate - The piercing stare that commands minds and the ability to break the will of others.


 * Resilience - The discipline of supernatural endurance and toughness.

Members of Clan Ventrue

 * Captain Lorelei Havetsdattar
 * Jean-Baptiste Mechant
 * Joey O'Banyon
 * Dr. Abraham Blackbourn