The Seven
The Wu Zao
The al-Amin
Antitribu
are and all we do. The Independent Clans … well, it’ s best to take them as individuals.
As you’ ve discovered, we often make individual pacts with elders. Even they have favored kine they do not wish to lose to disease or injury, though, and that gives us bargaining power. Obeah allows us to contribute to the health and heartiness of humanity, and if the herds or domitors agree to give blood as payment, what of it?
When disease threatens to run rampant over the mortal herds, we ensure the Kindred population does not suffer. The poor and the religious are our herds. From the teeming masses, those under the bridge as it were, we watch the other vampires within the cities. When we see one struggling under the weight of being a monster, we show him what it means to be a man. When we see a neonate or ancilla choosing to feast on rats and cats, we reach out to her, guide her to the paths of real Humanity.
Why do this, when we are hated and brought nothing but suffering? Some would say we are made to suffer, that it strengthens our souls. Others would disagree.
The Seven
First thing’ s first: there are more than seven Salubri, let me assure you— and no, I’ m not counting antitribu in our number. Still, the Seven are by far the best-known representation of our Clan, and continue to succeed admirably in tainting the opinion of the Camarilla against us. They’ re a mixed blessing to the rest of the Clan: they draw a great deal of attention, but they also define our perception amongst the Kindred, as many hold their crimes against us. Their faults are not perhaps in their souls, but in themselves.
I’ ll pass on more of my what sire taught me besides Shakespeare: when the Tremere hunts began to gain legitimacy during the War of Princes, seven elders of the Clan decided to follow in Saulot’ s footsteps, attempting to find enlightenment beyond the reach of the Usurpers. They followed the Silk Road to the East, ostensibly to find the Watchers and learn what secrets Saulot entrusted to them.
They returned as deranged bodhisattvas, caretakers of a false Golconda. Embracing one childe apiece, then guiding that childe along the first steps to the Red Suspire, they urged their childer to commit diablerie upon them to eternally shepherd Raphael’ s Promise. The Seven believe they remain within the souls and blood of their diablerists, purifying rather than degrading. Besides acting as beacons for other seekers of Golconda or Tremere hunters, they frequently rip out the souls of mortals for their own inscrutable ends.
On the one hand, they attacked my sire, Matthias of Bath, and attempted to diablerize him when he confronted them sometime around the Enlightenment. On the other hand, the neonate who nearly overpowered my sire showed incredible power and puissance for her age, with radiant veins in her aura instead of the pulsating black of diablerie.
The Wu Zao
A ta moko is no tatau, but to answer your actual question, no, I don’ t wear this face all the time. I learned the trick of hiding after a few years in Hong Kong. As I wandered about Victoria Harbour, I happened upon a sailor, easily charmed by tales of filming the Lord of the Rings. I’ d just gotten to the topic of tasting blood when he blinked and walked away. Nobody else in the bar could see or hear me, save one, who shook his head sadly and addressed me as“ an unwise Scholar”.
Perhaps the greatest share of our bloodline still exists in the East, he explained to me over a bit of native food( much better than that tourist trash). The Wu Zao divided their bloodline of old into Scholars and Thieves instead of Healers and Warriors, after two childer of Saulot. Secret keepers of Saulot’ s wisdom, they watch the other creatures of the night, gently manipulating then against the Wan Kuei, the demon Kindred who hold Korea, China, and Japan. Rather than finding difficulty in interacting with humanity, they grow focused on the small details of their obsessions. They also interact as a community, forming cells and continuing their endless war of weariness against the Wan Kuei.“ Xao-lat’ s wisdom is immortal, even if he was not,” said my companion.“ We await his return at the turning of the Wheel, and we have kept his enemies weak and cowed for him.”
When I asked him if he was one of the elusive Watchers my sire spoke of, he just laughed.
The al-Amin
In nights past, the greatest of our number were found in the Levant, our ancient strongholds. We hunted Baali, tried to bring peace to the fractured lands of the Middle East, and resisted the Camarilla invaders for centuries. The Ashirra Clans considered our bloodline one of their own, never to be betrayed to the hated heathen Tremere.
Until the first of our World Wars, that is. As mortal powers carved up the lands, the Camarilla finally swept in, and we were swept out with them. Six centuries of service, vanished in a few nights of blood and sorcery. A dozen three-eyed vampires joined the rest of us in exile, the remnants of our last public figures.
Antitribu
I thought the Healers alone had survived the pogroms, or perhaps a few lone Watchers in torpor amongst the Wu Zao sect they built. The Sabbat have sheltered us by default,
78 SALUBRI