The Brujah Clan: The Sons of Cartague's Utopia

In the First City, the first among the Brujah sought to as many explore and understand the Cainite condition from angles as possible. However, his passion for his existence caused difficulties with his more somber brethren. After the Flood, he sired Troile to counter that passion; where Brujah was prone to fits of rage that set his Beast to roar, Troile was logical, methodical, and calculating.

However, Troile and Brujah disagreed frequently due to their conflicting natures.

Finally, Brujah flew into frenzy and attacked Troile. Troile sank his fangs into his sire to drain the fury from his blood, but it only enraged Brujah further. Worse still, Troile continued to drink even after his sire’s veins were dry, consuming Brujah’s soul.

When called to answer for what he had done, Troile listed a litany of reasons based soundly in logic.

Troile’s reasoning convinced other Antediluvians that murder was the best course of action to preserve the peace between the descendants of Caine and the children of Seth.

Some say this was the first rebellion that sparked the Second City’s fall. However, when Caine returned, he was not convinced. He cursed Troile and his line with the fiery passions of their progenitor, multiplied threefold.

Troile eventually came to Carthage. Longing for the days of the First and Second Cities, he called other Cainites to recreate those times, and was quite successful for a time. Eventually, envy and fear led the Ventrue and Malkavians of Rome to incite the fifty-year battle that destroyed the Brujah utopia, cementing the enmity between the Brujah and the Ventrue for centuries to come. None have seen Troile since, and many assume he met his Final Death during the fall of Carthage.

Sobriquet: Zealots, Philosopher-Kings, Rabble (derogatory)



Appearance: Depending on the area, the Brujah could be the most influential noble or the most innocuous peasant.

No matter where in the world a given Zealot is, they tend to choose physically fit mortals for the Embrace; hardy manual laborers, strong knights, and the like. Where they can, they look for mortals with sound and active minds as well, if only to preserve their intellectual pursuits. However, in areas where conflict with other clans is high, they get less picky about intelligence.

Havens and prey: The Zealots seek out the highest concentrations of people they can, such as cities and major trading villages. Rare is the Brujah who ties himself solely to a small fiefdom. During a fledgling’s tutelage, he often havens with his sire, undergoing physical and mental training. Recently, likeminded Zealots have established communal havens where they argue philosophy and train together. These “packs” provide a unique challenge in self-control.

Backgrounds: Zealots collect their prospective childer from nobility or the clergy to ensure a strong, educated baseline. They especially favor those kine who champion a cause to improve the lot of the people around them, whether through strength of arms or wit and cunning. A few rare exceptions come from the peasant class, namely those with remarkable speed and strength in life.
Character Creation: Brujah can be fierce warriors favoring Physical Attributes, charismatic leaders favoringSocial Attributes, or scholars of Cainite history or philosophy favoring Mental Attributes. However, Zealots tend to prize physical prowess, so it rarely comes up as tertiary. The vast majority of Brujah have at least some martial Abilities, either through mortal training or during their initial tutelage as a fledgling. Most possess at least rudimentary Academics and other Knowledges.

Clan Disciplines: Celerity, Potence, Presence

Weakness: The passion that inspires the Brujah from night to night can send them into fits of rage if left unchecked. The difficulties of rolls to resist or guide frenzy are two higher than normal. Additionally, a Brujah may never spend Willpower to avoid frenzy.

However, they may spend a point of Willpower to end a frenzy that has already begun.

Organization: With so many causes to champion, Brujah don’t so much organize as they would hope. Several Zealots find themselves working at cross purposes, spawning rivalries that last for centuries when they don’t explode due to flaring tempers.

When several Brujah do work together toward a common goal, only an act of God can dissuade them from their course. A sire and her fledgling childe often operate as one unit while the childe receives proper tutelage. When the childe finds a cause of their own, however, she usually moves on to pursue it. When Brujah organize, it’s in cliques, it’s in salons.

They gather in large enough numbers that bystanders can restrain any debaters that grow violent.

Stereotypes
Baali: Have you ever woken up after a long night not remembering anything from too much drink, to be sleeping in filth next to the rotting carcass of a sow? Add some more heresy, and then you know the Baali.
Followers of Set: Dead gods are just that. Dead.
Gangrel: They understand the need for the Beast within to come out just as keenly as we, if not more so.
It is a shame I see so few of them.
Giovani: I’m sorry, who?
Lasombra: Second-best to the Ventrue, of all clans, is a poor aspiration. Surely they can do better.
Malkavians: Seers? Perhaps. Complicit in letting whatever broken visions appear in their head come to pass? Certainly.
Nosferatu: Useful, but keep them at arm’s length, and not just for the stench.
Salubri: A cautionary tale. The passion of their Warriors put some of my brethren to shame.
Toreador: If they pursued important things like they pursued beauty and decadence, they could rival us in the scope of the changes they could bring about.
Tremere: Many of my blood are strong advocates of change. The Tremere are a clear example when change can go too far.
Ventrue: They call themselves Kings, but so much corruption in the world comes directly from royalty.