Clan Assamite

Save your breath, weak one - no one will hear your screams.
Now aid me on my journey back to Haqim's grace....

From the desert wastes of the East come the Assamites, and they bring with them a miasma of terror. The Assamites are known throughout vampire society as a clan of murderous assassins, working for whoever can pay their price. The price they charge for their work is the vitae of other Kindred; for the Assamites, diablerie is the greatest sacrament.
Assamites tend to avoid the affairs of the Camarilla and the Sabbat, working for either or both sides in pursuit of their goals. They do circulate among sect-held cities; other Kindred find them useful for slaying rivals, enforcing blood hunts, scourging undesirable childer, and infiltrating rival's power bases. However, Assamites rarely form true alliances with other Kindred, for they consider other Children of Caine to be of inferior stock. Unlike other clans, the Assamites do not claim to have a founder of the Third Generation. Rather, they believe their founder to be a member of the Second Generation, making all other Cainites flawed copies of themselves.
In nights prior to the formation of the Camarilla and the Sabbat, the Assamites practiced diablerie widely, always looking to bring themselves closer to "the One," as they referred to their mythical founder. As the Anarch Revolt ensued, and the Sabbat and Camarilla rose from the ashes, many powerful elders grew uneasy at the cannibal assassins stalking their ranks. Calling upon the Tremere to curse the Assamites' blood, the Camarilla placed a yoke on the clan that rendered its members unable to consume the vitae of other Kindred. Unable to face the unified front the Camarilla represented, the Assamites submitted to this indignity. Those few who did not accept the curse went into hiding and joined the Sabbat.
Those who deal regularly with Assamites have sensed great upheaval among the clan. The greatest sign of this is the clan's recent circumvention of the Tremere blood curse. Freed from the mystic shackles preventing it from engaging in diablerie, the clan has begun a campaign of murder and cannibalism once again. Assamites now kill other Kindred without provocation - indeed, without sanctioned contracts.
The clan as a whole has assumed a more aggressive disposition. Whereas once the Assamites would take no further contracts on a victim who bested their assassins, the clan may now pursue that victim, and often does with unparalleled fervor. Similarly, Assamites no longer honor the age-old custom of tithing to their sires. In these nights of impending Gehenna there is no place for lazy Assamites who rest on their laurels.
Precisely what the Assamites want, though, is unknown. Certainly, Assamites have flexed their muscle in both the physical and the political arenas, and hidden agents of the clan have come out of cover in cities where the ruling vampires have become lazy and fatuous. Their hold in the cities of India and the Middle East is much stronger than other Kindred had previously guessed. Whereas other Kindred once viewed the Assamites as honorable (i.e. relatively impotent), useful functionaries, they now hold the clan in dread.

Nickname: Assassins

Sect: The Assamites hold Sabbat and Camarilla in equal contempt. Some Assamites remain among the Sabbat, and a scattered few exist as loners in the Camarilla.

Appearance: Assamites tend to dress stylish but practically. Aquiline noses, dark hair and slim, graceful builds dominate the clan's membership, though African members obviously bear more Nubian characteristics. Recently, a number of Westerners have been introduced into the clan, though they remain in the minority. These individuals may have almost any appearance, as they are chosen for their skill, not their looks. Also, Assamites' skin grows darker as they age (as opposed to other vampires, whose skin gets paler with age); particularly ancient Assamites are almost ebony in complexion.

Haven: Most clan elders make their homes at Alamut, the clan stronghold, which is located high atop a mountain thought to be somewhere in modern Turkey. Neonates and operatives abroad typically select remote, inaccessible locations to ensure that they receive no unexpected guests.

Background: Many Assamites fida'i (newly Embraced apprentices) hail from Asia Minor or northern Africa. Most members of the clan have been involved with assassination, wet work or terrorist activities for some portion of their mortal lives, though this is less true among the Assamite vizier bloodline. Recently, the clan has Embraced many neonates from the Western stock among which it moves, particularly soldiers, criminals and street gangsters.

Character Creation: Assamites favor Physical Attributes, with Mental Attributes a close second. The Assassins favor Skills and Talents equally. Assamites typically have similar Natures and Demeanors, as subterfuge isn't their style, but rarely are they the exact same. Popular Backgrounds include Mentor, Contacts, and, of course, Generation.

Clan Disciplines: Celerity, Obfuscate, Quietus

Weaknesses: In light of their recent circumvention of the Tremere blood-curse, the Assamites have reacquired their appreciable taste for vitae, particularly that of other Kindred. Having been forced to rely on alchemic blood potions for much of its modern history, the clan is easily addicted to the blood of other vampires. Any time an Assamite drinks or even tastes the blood of another Kindred, she must make a Self-Control roll (difficulty equal to the number of blood points ingested +3). If this roll is failed, she is addicted, and she must make another Self-Control roll the next time she comes in contact with Kindred vitae. Failing this roll sends the vampire into a sanguinary frenzy, in which she will do anything physically possible to partake of as much blood as possible. When (not if) the character's addiction manifests, the consuming need for blood should be roleplayed - Clan Assamite no longer sees the need to hide its vampiric nature.

Organisation: Elders of the clan still orchestrate the Assassins' movements from the Eagle's Nest at Alamut, but more and more Assamites have been dispatched throughout the world, killing Kindred with or without sanction or contracts. Many of the clan's former "rules of engagement" - such as the prohibition against hunting an opponent who'd already bested another Assamite - have been discarded. To those outside the clan, it appears as if the Assamites are running rampant.
Assamites organise themselves into units similar to Sabbat packs; these bands are known as falaqi. A falaqi typically consists of two or three Kindred who infiltrate a city and gain a foothold there. Assamites in a city engage in activities common to many Kindred (establishing power bases, cultivating herds), but also weaken rival Kindred through selective assassinations, for they do not see the Sixth Tradition as applying to them.

Bloodlines: The Assamite vizier bloodline specializes in the study of Thaumaturgy and Middle Eastern magic. Viziers almost never leave the confines of Alamut, and certainly never engage in assassination activities. They instead refine their - and accordingly, the clan's - knowledge of blood magic. Assamite viziers forsake Celerity, instead learning Thaumaturgy as a clan Discipline, but must spend an extra blood point on all Thaumaturgical invocations. Assamite antitribu of the Sabbat differ very little from their independent counterparts, their only variance being their nominal allegiance to the sect. Assamites and their antitribu relate very well, particularly since the parent clan's breaking of the Tremere curse.

Quietus

Quietus, the Discipline of silent death, is practised by the assassins of Clan Assamite. Using the principles of poison, vitae control and pestilence, this blood-based Discipline focuses on the destruction of its target through varying means. Quietus does not always cause a quick death; the Assassins rely upon its secret lethality to hide their involvement with their victims.

[1] Silence of Death: Many Assamites claim never to have heard their target's death screams. Silence of Death imbues the Assamite with a mystical silence that radiates from her body, muting all noise within a certain vincinity. No sound occurs inside this zone, though sounds outside the area of effect may be heard by anyone in it. Rumors abound of certain skilled Assamite viziers who have the ability to silence a location rather than a circumference that follows them, but no proof of this has been forthcoming.

System: This power costs one bloodpoint to activate, which maintains a 20-foot radius of utter stillness around the Assamite for one hour.

[2] Scorpion's Touch: By changing the properties of her blood, an Assamite may create a powerful venom that strips her prey of his resilience. This power is greatly feared by other Kindred, and all manner of hideous tales concerning methods of delivery circulate among trembling coteries. Assamites are known to deliver the poison by coating their weapons with it, blighting their opponents with a touch, or spitting it like a cobra. An apocryphal account speaks of a proud prince who discovered an Assamite plotting her exsanguination and began to diablerize her would-be assassin. Halfway through the act, she learned that she had ingested a dire quantity of tainted blood and was then unable to resist the weakened hashashiyyin's renewed attack.

System: To convert a bit of her blood to poison, the Assamite's player spends at least one bloodpoint and rolls Willpower (difficulty 6). If this roll is successful, and the Assamite successfully hits (but not necessarily damages) her opponent, the target loses a number of Stamina points equal to the number of bloodpoints converted into poison. The victim may resist the poison with a Stamina + Fortitude roll (difficulty 6); successes achieved on the resistance roll subtract from the Assamite's successes to affect the target. The maximum number of blood points an Assamite may convert at one time equals her Stamina. The number of successes scored indicates the duration of the Stamina loss.
1 success - One turn
2 successes - One hour
3 successes - One day
4 successes - One month
5 successes - Permanently (though Stamina may be bought back up with experience)
If a mortal's Stamina falls to zero through use of Scorpion's Touch, she becomes terminally ill and loses immunity to diseases, her body succumbing to sickness within the year unless she somehow manages to increase her Stamina again. If a Kindred's Stamina falls to zero, the vampire enters torpor and remains that way until one of her Stamina points returns. If a Kindred if permanently reduced to zero Stamina, she may recover from torpor only through mystical means.
To afflict her target with the poison, the Assamite must touch her target's flesh or hit that target with something that carries the venom. Many Assamites lubricate their weapons with the excretion, while others pool the toxin in their hands (or fleck their lips with the poison, for a "kiss of death") and press it to their opponents. Weapons so envenomed must be of the melee variety - arrows, sling stones, bullets and the like cannot carry enough of the stuff to do damage, and it drips off in flight. Players whose Assamites wish to spit at their targets must make a Stamina + Athletics roll (difficulty 6). No more than two bloodpoints' worth of poison may be expectorated, and a Kindred may spit a distance of 10 feet for each point of Strenght and/or Potence the character possesses. Assamites are immune to their own poison, but not the blood-venom of other Assamites.

[3] Dagon's Call: This terrible and recently rediscovered power allows an Assamite to drown her target in his own blood. By concentrating, the Assamite bursts her target's blood vessels and fills his lungs with vitae that proceeds to strangle him from within. The blood actually constricts the target's body from the inside as it floods through his system; thus, it works even on unbreathing Kindred. Until the target collapses in agony or death throes, this power has no visible effect, and many Assamites prefer it because it leaves no trace of their presence.

System: The Assamite must touch her target prior to using Dagon's Call. Within an hour thereafter, the Assamite may issue the call, though she need not be in the presence or even in the line of sight of her target.
Invoking this power costs one Willpower point. The Assamite's player makes a contested Stamina roll against the target's Stamina; the difficulty of each roll is equal to the opponents permanent Willpower score. The number of successes the Assamite achieves is the amount of damage, in health levels, the victim suffers. For an additional point of Willpower spent in the next turn, the Assamite may continue using Dagon's Call by engaging in another contested Stamina roll. Damage from Dagon's Call is considered lethal. So long as the Assamite's player continues to spend Willpower, the character may continue rending her opponent from within.

[4] Baal's Caress: The penultimate use of blood as a weapon (short of diablerie itself), Baal's Caress allows the Assamite to transmute her blood into a virulent ichor that destroys any living or undred flesh it touches. In nights of yore, when Assamites led the charges of Saracen legions, the Assassins were often seen licking their blades, slicing open their tongues and lubricating their weapons with this foul excretion.
Baal's Caress may be used to augment any bladed weapon; everything from poisoned knives and swords to tainted fingernails and claws has been reported.

System: Baal's Caress does not increase the damage done by a given weapon, but that weapon inflicts aggravated damage rather than normal. No roll is necessary to activate this power, but one bloodpoint is consumed per hit. For example, if an Assamite poisons his knife and strikes his opponent (even if he inflicts no damage), one bloodpoint's worth of lubrication disappears. For this reason, many Assamites choose to coat their weapons with a significant quantity of blood. If the Assamite misses, no tainted blood is consumed.

[5] Taste of Death: A refinement of Baal's Caress, Taste of Death allows the Assamite to spit caustic blood at her target. The blood coughed forth with this power burns flesh and corrodes bone; some Assamites have been reported to vomit voluminous streams of vitae that reduce their targets to heaps of sludge.

System: The vampire may spit up to 10 feet for each dot of Strenght and/or Potence he possesses. Hitting the target requires a Stamina + Athletics roll (difficulty 6). Each bloodpoint spewed at the target inflicts two dice of aggravated damage, and there is no limit (other than the vampire's capacity and per-turn expenditure maximum) to the quantity of blood with which a target may be deluged.

[6] Gout of Blood: By now, the Assamite has attained sufficient spiritual connection with his own blood in order to make it move and flow in certain ways. With Gout of Blood, the Assamite can vomit forth a stream of blood from his mouth, in order to cover a target. While not having any other intrinsic potential, the Assamite can use other powers related to attacking the target, such as Body Wrack or Crawling Death.

System: The Assamite can vomit forth a number of blood points in a single turn equal to his capacity for spending blood points. Obviously if the amount vomited equals the Assamites spending capacity, he will have no points available in that turn to spend on other characteristics. Medium range for this attack equals the Assamite's Strength X 5 in feet. Long range is twice this. Note that Potence adds to this range. The Assamite rolls Dexterity + Athletics at a difficulty of 7. The attack can be dodged as a firearm attack, at 1 difficulty easier due to the lower velocity of the attack. Every success achieved equals two blood points that have hit the target. It is thus prudent to make several small attacks rather than a single long attack, where more blood will be wasted. Further effects depend upon the accompanying power used.

[6] Sense of Blood: (plagiarized from Deird'Re Brooks). This power is a far more potent version of the First level power, Taste of Blood. It allows the Assamite to empathically "feel" a Kindred's current generation, initial generation (before any diablerie or use of the Thaumaturgy power Blood of Potency), whether the target indeed has committed diablerie, to which Clan the target belongs, or has affinity to (in cases where the target is Caitiff, but sired by a Clan member), as well as all information covered by the power Taste of Blood, and any other blood related information that one may think of.

System: The Assamite must touch the blood in question, and roll Perception + Empathy (difficulty 7). The number of successes determines the amount and accuracy of the information. This power can be used Sympathetically.

[6] Crawling Final Death: This power works identically to the Fourth level power Crawling Death, but can result in the deaths of even Kindred and Garou. It is no more effective against mortals than the earlier power: dead is dead, after all.

System: All rolls made and difficulties are identical to that found under Crawling Death. However, with this level of power, all damage inflicted is aggravated, posing a much greater threat to Kindred and Garou. The destruction of the target's blood is the same in any case. This power can be used Sympathetically.

[7] Black Blood: An Assamite can now make his blood so total venomous as to be certainly fatal to any living thing, including Mages and Garou. It cannot effect Kindred or Faeries. If the Assamite can get the target to internalize any of the poison in one of the usual ways, then death is guaranteed.

System: The Assamite must use at least a single blood point and get it into the target, either by raising the blood to the palm of his hand and making a successful attack, or placing it in the target's food or in any other way. Once internalized, the target makes a Stamina roll (difficulty 6), with the number of successes attained being the number of turns the target has until death.

The target has that long to do something about it. For mortals there is little that can be done: there is no known antidote to this attack. Mages and Garou have several avenues open to them. Various Gifts and Rotes will neutralize the poison, if they have the time to use them. If it becomes an issue of difficulty, the poison should be a reasonably difficult one to overcome.

This poison is not a painful one, the target feeling more and more drowsy and disjointed as the moment of death approaches. This power can be used Sympathetically.

[7] Blood Fan: The Blood Fan is a step up from the Gout of Blood, allowing the Assamite to physically project his blood out of his body. In the case of the Blood Fan however, the blood projects at high velocity out of the skin of the Assamites neck in a 360 degree circle, affecting not just one, but a number of targets around the Assamite. Again this power has no intrinsic effect on the targets, except when used in tandem with another power.

System: The Assamite can project a number of blood points up to his capacity for spending blood points in a single turn. The Assamite rolls Dexterity + Athletics (difficulty 7). Medium range for the attack is Strength X 2 in feet, long range is twice this, and Potence adds to the range. The successes are not divided up, but apply equally to each target. Targets may attempt to dodge the attack as a firearm, with a 1 difficulty bonus. Targets the Assamite cannot actually see receive another 2 difficulty bonus on their dodge attempt.

Blood Points sprayed are divided equally between potential targets, with any left over going to random targets. Note that no target can have more than half of the total blood points sprayed allocated to him, regardless of the number of targets available. For each success the Assamite achieves against a target, a single blood point has struck the target. If fewer successes are achieved than potential blood points allocated to a target, then unused blood points are wasted. Further effects depend on the accompanying power used.

[7] Empty of Vitae: This power is largely the same as the Fourth level Thaumaturgy power, Theft of Vitae, although it is more effective. It is also different in that it is not some magickally translocation of the blood from one vessel to another, but rather a spiritual syphoning of that which is important in the blood from the target to the Assamite. However the effect is just the same.

System: The Assamite rolls Intelligence + Empathy. The difficulty is 6 if the blood is outside of a living (or unliving) entity, or equal to the target's Willpower otherwise. This can be attempted at a range of the Assamites Perception X 20 in feet, and the Assamite must have line of sight to the target. Each success equals two blood points that have been taken. Unlike Theft of Vitae, it is not in any way apparent as to whom is stealing ones blood, although it will be immediately apparent to anyone that something is wrong. Note that with this power, Assamites can feed on the blood of Kindred, draining the necessary vitality without the concomitant spiritual repercussions. They cannot, however, diablerise a vampiric target with this power.

[8] Blood Mist: This power represents another step up in an Assamite's ability to project his blood from his body. However in this case, the projection takes the form of a slow release of a fine mist of blood which hangs in a cloud. Once again, this blood has no effect on others unless used in tandem with another power. This Blood Mist can be mentally controlled by it's originator, floating with him in a defensive cloud around him, hanging in a single spot as a nasty trap, or actively moving to attack others. While the blood is finely dispersed when in mist form, it is attracted by "living" things, and converges at a target in sufficient concentration to take effect.

System: The Assamite must build the Blood Mist gradually, spending no more than a single blood point per turn towards it's creation. However there is no limit to the total number of blood points that go towards making a single Blood Mist. Each blood point spent creates an area of Blood Mist in a cube, with sides of 5 to 10 feet, as chosen by the Assamite. A single Blood Mist must be comprised of such cubes of equal size. These cubes are arranged in whatever manner the Assamite desires, such as a 3 X 3 X 1 structure. This may seem artificial, but it helps for game purposes.

The Blood Mist is not discriminating, and will effect anything larger than a cat, although the Assamite can choose at the time of creation to make this bottom level of effect even smaller. Each time a viable target enters the Blood Mist, a single blood point of the Mist will converge on the target and effect them with whatever potential the Mist has been given. Each time this happens, the Mist will diminish in area by a single cube of the appropriate size. In this way it is possible for a single target to blunder their way through the entire Mist and absorb the entire effect.

The Assamite can choose to alter the structure of the Blood Mist at any time, including the size of each cube. This takes a single turn to complete. However, he cannot separate an existing Blood Mist into two or more such Mists. If he wishes to reduce the size of a Blood Mist he must allow some of it to disperse, at which point those blood points are lost. The Assamite can also choose to reabsorb the Blood Mist, being unaffected by his own blood. This works the same as for any other target moving through the Blood Mist, although it is discretionary for the Assamite. With each area traversed the Blood Mist shrinks and the Assamite regains a blood point. The Assamite can also add to a Blood Mist at any time. A single Blood Mist has a duration of a single scene, unless the Assamite retains mental control beyond this point. If after this point the Assamite drops control, as he will when he goes to sleep during the day, then the Mist instantly dissipates. Note that while engaged in active control, the Assamite cannot do much more than move about and engage in conversation.

In order to gain mental control of the Blood Mist, the Assamite must have line of sight to the Mist, although range is unimportant. He then rolls Wits + Empathy (difficulty 6). The number of successes is the number of turns before the Assamite needs to attempt to establish control again. The Blood Mist moves at a speed up to the Assamite's own maximum movement rate.

While an Assamite can create more than one Blood Mist at a time, he cannot mentally control more than one at a time. If a Blood Mist is not under active mental control, or the Assamite fails to renew mental control, it ceases all movement and hovers until control is again attained.

Blood Mist is unaffected by natural winds, although supernatural phenomenon are another story. Whenever an Assamites control over a Blood Mist is contested by a magickal wind generated by a Garou's Gift or a Mage's Rote, then the two play off in a resisted Willpower contest (each difficulty 7). The one with the most successes has temporary control, and if either gains 5 more successes than the other, the the other has failed to control the Blood Mist, and cannot attempt again against that particular Blood Mist.

[8] Corroding Blood: A particularly insidious power available to Assamites, Corroding Blood is not used to kill a target, but permanently cripple them. The vitriolic blood eats away at the target, burning off parts of their body and causing wounds that cannot be healed. This affects even Kindred, Garou and Mage with wounds they cannot recover from.

System: Having entered a blood point into the target, the Assamite rolls Stamina + Empathy at a difficulty of the target's Stamina + Self Control. Each success gained is a level of damage that cannot be healed, and can only be soaked with Fortitude (difficulty 8). However, regardless of the number of successes attained on this attack, no target can be brought lower than Crippled, which is the point of saturation of the toxin. The attack will also cause horrific scarring to the victim, possibly even causing loss of appendages, blindness, deafness and other such disabilities (Storyteller's discretion).

Although it is a general rule that such damage cannot be healed, it seems possible that the use of healing powers greater than the destructive powers of the Assamite may be effective. The powers of other ancient Kindred, Salubri, Oracle's and Incarna may be effective, but would take some effort to seek out. This power can be used Sympathetically.