GANGREL HISTORY
The history of the Gangrel is confused and contradictory. Too much of it is remembered as stories and tales that can even alter or colour the memories of those who were there when the events spoken of occurred.
Some say Gangrel or her mother(Ennoia), was of the Lupines in life, and this is why the Gangrel have a connection to the Changing Breeds. Others say she was a Gypsy, and so the Gangrel have a tie to vagabonds and thieves. Who can say? Gangrel herself has Gone Away - legends say she went to Australia, and passed on into the cold white brilliance of the Antarctic, abandoning her children as the Gangrel abandon their own children. When they have proved themselves, she will return.
In general, the Gangrel do not keep written record of their history much of what can be said about their history is apocryphal. Many of the "historical" vampires of human knowledge have been of our blood. But human history is full of the feacies of the historians, and may just be wishful thinking.
Our main source for learning about our past is oral tradition. True, any story good enough to be remembered and passed from century to century will have been embroidered, there is always a bit of truth to be found in it. Also, human writings, usually first-person, tell of what may be Gangrel. And finally, other clans keep records of us, well what they feel important any way.
We are almost certain that the Vikings were aware of the Gangrel around 400 B.C., there is a folktale that describes a battle between Grettir, a Scandinavian hero, and a vampire who is clearly a Gangrel.
Our anscestors were also greatly involved in the sack of Rome. Many ancient civilizations were aware of Kindred walking among them, and Romans were no exception.
Crusaders from France and Britain found more than just the Spanish Moors when they arrived in Spain, they foud a new sickness(syphilis). The victims wasted away, the blood drawn from the body as marrow by the light of the moon. This was the predation of the Gangrel sons of Al-Gamiz who arrived in the Spanish shores slightly before the Moors.
It was during this time that new areas of the world were discovered, and the bloodlines of the Kindred expanded with "civilization", and everywhere they found spinoffs of the Gangrel Clan. We not only inherited our mothers control of her form, but her wanderlust as well.
This is the root of one of our most effetive strategies, bieng the scouts for both humans and Kindred. Demanding blood as payment from mortals after being accepted was not uncommon, but changed after the Inquisition.
As the Europeans expanded across the world, we Gangrel found ourselves on both sides of the conflicts; walking with the conquistadores and being welcomed by the natives. With them, the pioneers brought many inhospitable ways. They cut down our trees were we loved to run, killed the animals and natives, our friends, and made us lazy on their tame and tasteless blood.
In the 1940's it is rumored that the concentration camp near Glödker was destroyed when the Nazis included a Gangrel among the Gypsies incarcerated. Needless to say, the hastily-drafted Neonates fed well, and the official story in Berlin was the camp was lost to a misplaced Allied bombing.
Later, when the ecological movement arose in the '60s, we were with it. It is shameful that some of us have taken advantage of the tree-hugers merely to state there hunger with their blood. Some have even created Ghouls to infiltrate the eco-guerrilla and there found the Lupines(who apparently can smell a Ghoul).
An Overview
The Gangrel wander, for the wanderlust is in their blood. It is an open secret that the Gangrel reached the Americas long before Columbus, and despite the purges of the Spanish and their Kindred allies there are still Gangrel who remember what it was to drink the blood of those sacrificed in the dawn atop the step pyramids.
Where they have settled and made homes for themselves, as in South America, they have protected those homes viciously against any who would try to take them. Old stories speak of the hidden atrocities this clan has committed in pursuit of unity with the beast, and it is an accepted truth that the Aztecs would never have fallen without the aid of powerful Kindred, in the face of the Gangrel resistance.
In the past, they have allied themselves to People, not Causes - to Friends, not Organiszations, and they do so to this day. Many still practice the pagan worship they knew when alive. They are warriors, more so than even the Brujah, and other Kindred would do well not to forget this. They were the vikings, once. In the distant past, they and the Brujah forged an experiment that made one great fief of Scandinavia. Many Gangrel have passed into Legend. Humans still remember the names of the Valkyrie, and Snorri, and Grendel, and even Beowulf and Taliesin (so it is said). Savage chieftans and bards, their storytellers remember the past more clearly than any other Clan.
BEASTS AND OUTLANDERS
Character and Society:
The Gangrel are wanderers, seldom staying in one area for long. There are no established clan leaders (as far as outsiders can tell), as the Gangrel are little concerned with such things. Withdrawn, quiet and solemn, they generally keep their cards close to their chest. In the changing politics of the Kindred, they are an enigma.
This is the clan of survivors - vampires capable of making it on their own. They do not despise civillisiation or the activities of their fellow kinded (well, most do not) - they simply do not require them. They pay lip service to the customs of their Kind - introducing themselves to Princes when they stray into their territory, seeking permission if they wish to Embrace within the land (although most Embrace in the wild or on the roads). Yet, more than any other Clan, they are a law unto themselves.
They show little concern when crossing the lands of the werewolves, for it is said that they have friends among the Shapechangers, and there seems to be some truth to this. The Gangrel has always been a Clan with odd allies and friends, and not just among the Lupines.
Capable shapeshifters themselves, their Protean discipline means their features often resemble those of animals. Some of the oldest Gangrel bear little resemblance to humans. This, in part, explains their reticence to interact with society. The presence of a truly ancient Gangrel is terrifying to behold, and has been known to send younger or less experienced kindred into a Frenzy of terror, especially if that older Gangrel is a master of the Animalism discipline.
The Gangrel also believe in the art of the oral tradition, and are great tellers of tales. Ancient stories of the Dawn Times still exist as gangrel tales, told around campfires and in the darkness of the woods to those who seek these ancients out.
Elder and Childe:
Among themselves, Gangrel can be very formal, but when they must they tear into each other with the savagery of beasts. It is said their formality and distance is as much an attempt to control their angry Beast as it is part of their heritage to be apart. They often act more like wild beasts than men, and have been known to resolve disputes with vicious duels that last until one side or the other backs down. They can also be immensely territorial, and a Prince who gifts a Gangrel a part of his Fief as a Domain can rest assured that it will be well protected.
In the Eternal Jyhad, the Gangrel try to remain neutral and vote with the side most liable to aid them. The Clan elders often take to task any other Elder Gangrel who compromises that neutrality too extremely.
WAY OF LIFE
Gangrel always pick their progeny carefully. typically, following the Embrace the childe is left to his own devices while the Sire watches from a distance. When the time is right they present themselves to their fledgelings and teach them the ways of the clan.
Gangrel are usually quite rustic in dress, or wear comfortable clothes. They rarely make permenant havens, and often shelter in parks and semi-wilderness areas. Most can meld with the earth and evade the light of the sun, so they give little thought to permenant havens. They are more ethnically diverse than any other Clan, and it is said that not a place on earth exists that has not had a Gangrel visitor come and have a look for a while before going away again.
The Gangrel have a long history of dealing with Werewolves and detect as Wyrm Tainted only if they have three or more Beast Traits, regardless of Generation. Werewolves are wary of, but not usually hostile to, Gangrel.
Their Good Alliances mean they can travel much more freely than other Kindred. In addition, most Gangrel have an instinctive understanding of the wilderness between cities, for this is where they spend much of their free time. As a result, a Gangrel can move around freely, and as he usually travels by foot it is nearly impossible to block him with Transport Influence. If a Gangrel can Earth Meld, he can travel between cities in the same way. While this usually takes longer than travelling by car it is, oddly, safer, and requires no Influence be spent.
The Gangrel clan does not usually cultivate a large amount of Influence: they may build up Politics influence, but they usually all have a few points of Transport influence, which is an area the clan often seeks to control. It is not uncommon for Gangrel to have a point or two of Influence among the Lupines or in Occult circles.
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