[VtM] Brujah Character Concepts
Vis Sierra
least another week if I don't get it out now.
I posted a brief list of brujah concepts a year or two back, but I
think it's received enough revision and new material that a repost
would be acceptable. Enjoy.
~~~
I. Brujah Character Creation
Non me tenent vincula. Chains cannot hold me.
Non me tenet clavis. Keys cannot imprison me.
Quero mihi similes I look for people like me
et adiungor pravis. and join the wretches.
-Estuans Interius, -Burning Inside,
Carmina Burana Songs of Buren
A. A Word on Clan-oriented Concepts and Clan Brujah
This list of Brujah core concepts builds first on the ideas of
political philosophy and activism. A secondary factor is passion
and able expression. Tertiary is a social tie of some sort or a
noteworthy impression a character may have made on a Brujah sire
from a conventional background.
Not every Brujah will fit within one of these concepts or have
a parallel in the list. These are concepts that would be more
commonly associated with Brujah than vampires in general because
of the anticipated interests of potential characters' sires and
may be more easily integrated with existing player or non-player
characters.
This list assumes Brujah don't slavishly obey stereotypes, but
also that the line has passed on interests from sire to childe
in the process of choosing who to embrace and the sire's education
or indoctrination of the childe after the embrace. This includes,
first and foremost, seeking out a potential childe that shares
either the philosophical tenets, or a passion that -could- hold
similar tenets that the siring vampire would respect the childe
enough to give him or her the opportunities vampirism presents.
B. Brujah Concepts
Visual Artists:
Muralist/Fresco painter
Graffiti Artist/Vandal
Political Satire Cartoonist
Photojournalist
Film Maker - Drama, Documentary, Comedy
Writers & Speakers:
Beat Poet
Spin Doctor
Speech Writer
Dissident Autobiographer
Utopian/Dystopian SF Author
Radio Host - Talk- or Shock-Jock, Pirate
Underground Newspaper, Zine Publisher
Mainstream Newspaper Columnist - Art Critic,
Political Analyst/Humorist
Anarchist Handbook/Militia Manual Author
Philosopher, Political or Economic Theorist
Electronic Freedom - Advocate, Hacker, Webmaster
Feminist Literature Professor
Movers & Shakers:
Labor Unionist - Farm/Industry, Organizer/Muscle
Terrorists - Freedom Fighters, Animal Rights
Liberators, Eco-Terrorist Vigilantes, Mad
Bomber Anarchists, Chemical or Biological
Warfare Experimenters, Zooterrorist (who
needs Bygones when Ghouls are even easier
to come by?)
Civil Rights Lawyers - ACLU, Amnesty International,
NRA Lobbyist, Retired Abolitionist
Black Panther - Revivalist, Nostalgist, Pretender
Pacifist - Flower Child, Veteran, Satyagraha-ist
Officeholder - Former Governor, Senator, etc.
Antidisestablishmentarianist/countercounterrevolutionary
- Secret Policeman, Collaborator, Snitch,
Evidence Doctor, Subversive Infiltration
Specialist
Religious:
Cult Leader - Megalomaniac, Insincere Manipulator
Survived Martyr - Hunger Striker, Self-Immolator
Vampire Hunter
Tertullianist Sibyl (see section C1 below)
Follower of Set (see section C2 below)
Other:
Dissident Athlete/Dancer
Philanthropist
Stand-Up Comic
Street Musician
Forger - Money Maker, Passport/Greencard Provider
Black Marketeer, Smuggler, Arms Dealer
Linguistic/Lifestyle Preservationist
Hermit - Anchorite, Unabomber, Mountain Man
Underground Railroad 'Engineer' - Refugee Smuggler,
Abused Child Relocation, Dissident Extractor
University hangers-on: Perennial Student, Librarian
C. Coteries, Schisms, and Sects
1. Tertullian was a Carthagenian Montanist whose sect was reconciled
after his death by St. Augustine. In the WoD, Brujah followers of a
Church of Carthage splinter group are less likely to have been moved
by Augustine's writings than any mortal followers. Tertullian crit-
icized the mainstream Church for being too cerebral, too legalistic,
rather than being sincere and spiritual. The sect believed that the
life and martyrdom of Christ failed to redeem humanity, and that the
Holy Spirit spoke through prophets to continue the effort.
A Tertullianist Brujah would probably have no knowledge of Wraith's
Sons of Tertullian or their view on wraiths; the Brujah would
approve of the concept of martyrdom but, as Tertullian specifically
avoided naming death as a point where penance ends, a wraith may be
a valid penitent working toward, at least hypothetically. (Heretic
wraiths following Tertullianist beliefs are also a possibility, with
this idea in mind, just in case you want the potential for three
takes on an obscure 1800 year old heresy to have a crossover head-on
collision in your WoD.)
It's hardly an unbiased source, but information on Tertullian can be
found at:
http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/14520c.htm
http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/10521a.htm
2. In my WoD the 'Church of Set' is a primarily a mortal institution
(albeit with a strong vampire presence). As they consider Set to be
a god, not an Antediluvian, vampires are elevated only for their age
and supernatural abilities giving them an edge, not for being direct
descendants of Set.
The CoS is not about corruption, although some branches do involve
themselves in conventional illicit activities. Mostly, it's about
mortals feeling they're in touch with secret ancient powers shunned
and persecuted by Christians (whose understanding of Egyptian
religion, they say, is both filtered through the Alexandrian Greeks
and *completely* wrong).
They are as quiet and subtle at gathering converts as any Hermetic
order. Combined with the image of Set as a god of darkness, this
has given the rest of the world an image of the CoS as being worse
than your average 'Osiris cult' when, in truth, it's about average
(and better than many, but even so!). They have been more success-
ful and lasting than any other vampire-related cult, however, which
adds to the threat perceived by other vampires in their existence.
In the wake of the destruction of Carthage, a few ties to the Brujah
refugees of that North African city were formed, but a modern Brujah
with ties to the CoS is as likely to have been embraced by a later
convert.
~~~
Future parts expanding on both Brujah character creation and other
clans will show up as time permits and as the motivation visits me.
Part C will be expanded and the section on Tertullian may receive a
total rewrite, Part D will add more developed concepts or templates,
and Part E will add an epilogue on roleplaying concerns.
Supplements on the other clans would be nice, but any new projects
for me are at least six months off. I'd be willing to provide feed-
back and encouragement to folks doing similar projects as an a.g.ww
reader, but I don't expect to have time for anything new of my own
in that time frame.
Be seeing you,
Vis Sierra