Chapter 37 is the thirty-seventh chapter of Vampire Sphere.
Summary[]
A short summary of the known Vampire history is narrated, along with the description of the Camarilla, the Sabbat and the Neutral Vampire Clans. The 13 Sacred Weapons are also listed. At the Airport, Ge Chen, Yue Jian, Lilla and Fraser are departing. Yue Jian sits on the flight next to Ge Chen, while Lilla and Fraser are forced to sit together which irritates both of them. Their bickering doesn't lessen even when till they reach the hotel they are staying at, much to the irritation of Ge Chen. At the Sabbat HQ Xi Yan is surrounded by Vampires who are constantly drinking her blood. When they leave her alone and barely alive, she reaches for a bunch of long, needle-like weapons.
Description[]
In the last 1000 years 13 main Vampire Clans has formed and each one possessed a Sacred Weapon. In the 13 Clans, due to the similar goals, ambitions and beliefs alliances has emerged. The 2 main alliances were the Camarilla and the Sabbat.
In the 14th century the humans has taken notice of their existence and started slaughtering Vampires without discrimination. This led to the formation of the Camarilla. It consists of 7 Clans, and they have 6 strict rules they must follow. Their most important law is to avoid being discovered and they can't cause trouble for humans.
The seven Clans are:
The leader Clan of the Camarilla is the Ventrue Clan, Ge Chen is its prince. The Clan's Sacred Weapon is the Corpse Hand.
The Tremere Clan is led by Fraser and their Sacred Weapon is the Staff. The Gangrel Clan's princess is Lilla, the Sacred Weapon is the Poison Bottle. The Malkavian Clan's Sacred Weapon is the Spirit Ring, the Brujah Clan's is the Torture Axe. The Toreador Clan has the Devil Doll and the Nosferatu Clan has the Illusion Mirror.
The other alliance is the Sabbat, the absolute enemy of the Camarilla. They are not willing to hide from the humans, instead they use violence and terror, and they see the humans as inferior beings, slaughtering them as they want it.
The Sabbat is made up from 2 Clans:
The leader Clan is Lasombra Clan, with Fan Le Lao being its prince and the leader of the Sabbat. The Sacred Weapon belonging to them is the Devil Key.
The other Clan is Tzimisce Clan led by Yi Sai, and their Sacred Weapon is the Blood Goblet.
Apart from the Camarilla and the Sabbat, there are 4 other Clans, who don't ally with anyone, and they refered as the Neutral Clans. They are:
The Giovanni Clan with the Butcher Knife, the Ravnos Clan with the Ghost Lamp, the Assamite Clan with the Bone Harp, and the Followers of Set with the Rotting Bracelet as their Sacred Weapon.
At the airport, Lilla is complaining about being have to cover her cat ears, whoch she hates. Fraser mockes her for this, as hiding is their most important.
On the flight Lilla tries to sit beside Ge Chen, but he rudely pushes her away and invites Yue Jian to sit on the next seat. Lilla is forced to sit beside Fraser much to her irritation. At first they try to pointedly ignore each other, but then the stewardess arrives and they try to outdo each other by trying to eat more than the other.
After Yue Jian's questions Ge Chen explains that Vampire can actually eat food, but not that much and scolds Fraser and Lilla for being childish. After eating to much both of them are about to vomit. They rush to the washing room, then starts fighting about who should go in first. Ge Chen is utterly irritated by them.
Next day they arrive to the city near the Brujah Clan's terrority. Fraser spots a thief and he kicks the guy, who rolls two and half times on the ground. Lilla annoyed by this kicks the thief, too, making him roll three and a half time.
In the hotel Ge Chen rents out a few rooms then informs everyone that they are to meet at midnight. Yue Jian ponders about their differences. Ge Chen tells her that her room is next to his and if she has questions, she can look for him. A woman from the staff asks Fraser if he wants some help with his luggage, but he proudly picks it up and carries it like it has no weight. Seeing this, Lilla does the same, leaving behind an angry Ge Chen and the wondering staff, who think they are from a circus.
In the basement of the Sabbat HQ a few Vampire are drinking Xi Yan's blood. One of them warns the others that they should stop when she is about to reach her limit, but his words are not taken seriously as Xi Yan was turned into a Vampire by Yi Sai, so she will not die so easily just from bloodloss. The Vampires had great fun drinking her blood, and they leave her on the ground. She is barely able to lift up her head as she spots a few, long, needle like things and reaches for them.
Fun Fact[]
- The storyline in this chapter explains the history of the Vampires in VS. Much of this is borrowed from VtM's storyline.
- The Camarilla also originally met in the 14th century to form an alliance in VtM. This failed and it wasn't until a century later they formerly realised the need for an alliance. In VS, ithe Camarilla formed in the 14th century.
- The VS storyline states the church acknowledged the threat of Vampires and rose against them. This is a nod to the rise of the Society of Leopold in VtM. The group are from the Inquisition of the Roman Catholic Church and dedicated themselves to fighting the super naturals believing the end of the world was near. The group laid the path in VtM for another related RPG book set in the Classic World of Darkness universe called Hunter: The Reckoning, which the Demon hunters of VS also draw influence from. This created a proper full hunter faction who combat all the supernatural of cWOD including Vampires, Werewolves, Fairies, Demons, etc.
- The Camarilla has 6 golden rules it follows, the most important being to hide their existence from humans. This is a reference to VtM's namesake "The Masquerade" which is the golden rule of the Camarilla that no Vampire within or without their alliance must break. The Camarilla go to great lengths to keep Vampires a secret.
- The Camarilla are explain on the wikia in Chapter 36, the chapter expands on the Sabbat and its clans. In VtM, the group is mainly made up two clans the Lasombra Clan and Tzimisce Clan. However, rebel Brujah, Nosferatu and other members of the Camarilla clans often join up with the Sabbat, seeking freedom from the rule of the Camarilla Elders. Many return to the Camarilla after realising the Sabbat aren't much better. Their clan, like many of the neutral clans, often re-cycle the themes of the Camarilla vampires in VtM, but give a different take on the same ideas. The most notable difference between the Camarilla and Sabbat is their overall attitude to humans, and whereas the Camarilla will manipulate them, the Sabbat often look down on them and aren't afraid to kill them. The Sabbat works in guerilla-like tactics, often relying on embracing of humans to create shock troops for raids on Camarilla Princes. Many of these stock troops are so fresh out of embrace they don't even know their Vampires.
- The Lasombra Clan is a clan who originally are traitors to other Vampire clans. They believe they are the true rules of all Vampires and despise the Ventrue clans claim to power.
- The Tzimisce are a clan of Vampires who are alchemists, researches and twisted scientists. Their most famous abilities is flesh crafting, they are the clan most likely to make ghouls and often craft monstrous creations to aid them.
- The chapter also brings up the Neutral clans, these are clans who are independent of any alliance. As with the Sabbat they often are variations of the Camailla vampires, but with a different take to the same idea. Individuals may sign up to either alliance as a temporary measure, but few remain permanently. In VTM these are;
- The Giovanni; a maffia-like clan whose members all come from the same family and former usurpers of clan Cappadocian. They specialise in Necromancy and while not the strongest clan are considered often the hardest to deal with as they often come back as wraths seeking revenge.
- Ravnos; a clan of criminals and religious fanatics. They are considered the weakest clan, but their hold over India makes it impossible for other clans to enter their territory. What they lack in strength, they make up for in their lack of humanity, able to kill and maim without consequences at times.
- Assamites; a clan known mostly by its assassins though are guardians and warriors. They prove their worth by actions over words. The are a clan whose culture is mostly Islamic based. They are a very structured clan with different caste's.
- The Followers of Set; a clan with serpentine sorcery, dedicated to chaos and destruction in Set's name.
- Lila's annoyance at having to cover her animal features is a reality for Gangrel in VtM. They, along with the Nosferatu, have the hardest time obeying the Masquerade as both clans have obvious physical changes. As a Gangrel frenzy's it gains more and more features over time, and centuries old Gangrel can barely at times look human. Some take to this by allowing second death when they can no longer pass off as Human in any way.
- Vampires cannot consume food in VtM, aside form Thin Bloods, these vampires are considered barely vampires and can even walk out in the daytime. VS's vampires have traits of Thin Blood vampires mixed in with normal vampires, as generations do not exist in VS. Lila and Fraser display a typical attempt by VtM vampires when they eat food, in that after a certain point they cannot swallow anymore and must get rid of what they have eat as they can't digest it.
- Xi Yan's torture continues and one of her fellow clan members notes as the childe of their leader she won't simply die so easily. This is likely one of the few references to Generations in the storyline. Most Princes in VtM are generation 9 or 10, which is the strongest seen generations in VtM's "modern nights" storyline. After this generation, Vampires drop dramatically in strength more then previous generations with most being generation 12 or 13 at best. The most common generations are 14, which 50% of suffer from thin blood, and 15 which is a generation completely suffering from the syndrome and the last generation of Vampires in VtM. So Xi Yan would be a generation 10 or 11, being stronger then the average Vampire.
- Ghost Lamp, sacred weapon of the Ravnos as mentioned in the chapter, is likely a nod to the Lamp of Constantine, however their powers are very different. The Lamp of Constantine is a re-occurring Easter Egg by Greg Stolze and was included in a number of books he wrote for Whitewolf, sometimes merely by description. It is said to hold a piece of the Sun and its re-discovery would come with the end of the world, becoming one of the last few bright lights in the days of darkness. It appeared randomly in all areas of the cWOD universe, not just Vampires and is a highly sought after artifact for this reason.