Salubri

The Salubri Clan is descended from Saulot, the great vampire who journeyed to the far east in search of wisdom. Some scholars say that in the east, Saulot found enlightenment, either Golconda or some other state that allows kindred to defeat or suppress the beast. The Salubri themselves strive to follow in their founders footsteps, looking for enlightenment - though the prevailing thought among most modern Salubri is that truly defeating the beast is folly and that they must learn to be at peace with their own beasts and thus end the inner struggle - which entails allowing the beast to frequently sate its desires. The Clan went through a major schism when the Anarch Revolt began, with many of the younger vampires siding with the rebels and adopting an almost pacifistic ideology of non-violence and humane behavior with the more pragmatic elders rejecting these ideals. While many Salubri helped the Anarchs and ultimately joined the Sabbat, the majority of the Clan sided with the elders and helped in the creation of the Camarilla - believing that the more egalitarian and soft hearted philosophies of the rabble were incompatible with human and vampiric nature.

The Salubri still consider themselves idealists and philosophers, but their views of both humanity and vampires are that they are savage and foolish by nature and that the elites must lead the masses and decide what is best for them. Which is why they believe so strongly in the rule of the elders and of the right of vampires to rule of humanity. The Salubri believe that as scholars, that they should try to stay aloof from vampiric politics within the Camarilla, though they are often sought after as advisers and sometimes get drawn into politics that way. While seldom holding direct power in a city, they are often the trusted advisors to princes and sometimes even the power behind the throne. The Salubri usually only have moderate power within the mortal world, aside from a handful of ghouls to help procure blood for them, though they occasionally do like to have some contact with the academic community. Salubri are the most common Clan of western vampires in the far east where they are known as the Wu Zao.

Nicknames: cyclops, triclops, unicorns.

Disciplines: Auspex, Dominate, and Telekinesis (Movement of the Mind with no blood cost to use).

Weakness: The Salubri are scholars by nature, and each of them has a special focus. At character creation, the player must select an area of study. Whenever the opportunity arises to learn something about this subject, the player must make a Willpower roll (difficulty 6) to avoid pursuing that lead to the exclusion of all else.

Advantage: The Salubri have a greater control over their emotions. All rolls to resist frenzy are at -2 difficulty. Furthermore, a Salubri can raise its Auspex to one point higher than what is normally allowed by its generation, but doing so causes it to grow a third eye. When the Salubri opens its third eye, the difficulty of all vision based rolls and Dominate rolls decreases by 1. On the downside, the third eye causes the Salubri suffer a +2 difficulty to all social rolls with any normal mortals who have seen the third eye.

Appearance: Members of the Salubru can don’t fit any particular pattern of appearance. The tend to have been eccentric mortals in life, often people who cared little for fashion or appearance or that cultivated certain distinctive styles. Some older Salubri, masters of the Auspex Discipline, develop a third eye in the middle of their foreheads, requiring them to  wear hats or style their hair in such a way as to obscure this strange feature. Many Salubri are eastern or southern Asian in ethnicity, especially the elders. 

Haven: Unlike many vampires, the Salubri don’t care that much about luxury or opulence. They favor more mundane havens, small houses in the suburbs or apartments above book or occult stores. If a Salubri does put a lot of money into his haven, it will be used on a library, laboratory, or similar intellectual interests that the Salubri has an interest in. It is not uncommon for Salubri to live on university property or research complexes, ghouling or dominating staff their so as to gain access to the knowledge of such locations and to have a convenient nearby resting place. Of course, since the Salubri do vary quite a bit in their interests, there are many who do not fall into any of the above trends. 

Background: The Salubri are scholars and philosophers, so that is who they embrace. They look for mortals with the ability to think outside of the box, to diverge from the mainstream of society, who are unwilling to conform. This leads to all sorts of unusual individuals becoming Salubri, from fringe political activists, to professors, to religious fanatics, to autodidacts of all kinds. The Salubri also embrace for brilliance, for those whose minds are truly exceptional even if they haven't necessarily accomplished anything - for there is great potential in such people. A Salubri will usually befriend the mortal, getting to know him and having discussions about philosophy, science, morality, religion, poetry, and any other number of intellectual topics. After years of such a friendship, if the Salubri finds the mortal not only worthy but interesting enough to be a companion, then the childe is embraced and becomes the student of the Salubri. A new Salubri will always have some sort of knowledge, intellectual ability, or unique ideas that distinguish him from most humans. The Salubri like Renaissance Men as well, and it's not uncommon for the childer to have other unique skills such as combat experience, great charisma, or virtually any other random experience or ability that unusual people tend to gain.

Organization: The Salubri usually exist in pairs, a sire and a childe, with the elder acting as mentor and master for the younger vampire. This relationship usually lasts for centuries until such time as the two decide that they have learned all that they can from each other and decide to part ways, the younger vampire by then is ready to embrace a childe of his own. Such partings are almost always on good terms and the two remain friends thereafter. The Salubri value learning and knowledge as much or more than any Clan, but instead of hoarding knowledge and keeping secrets, they freely share their knowledge with each other and with other Clans as well. Aside from the relationship of sire and childe, there are no strict hierarchies or organization within the Clan, but there is much in the way of friendly interaction as Salubri meet to share knowledge or debate issues of philosophy. Very few Salubri take action against their fellow Salubri. Usually the only rivalries that arise within the Clan are based on ideological differences and these conflicts usually take the form of heated debates. The Salubri rarely directly involve themselves in political conflicts within the Camarilla and as such, the Clan rarely has to act in concert to defend itself against political pressure from other Clans. Salubri generally consider other Salubri to be friends and allies and seldom act against the interests of Clan mates, the closest the Salubri come to direct conflict with each other is when two Salubri become advisers to rival vampires - though even in that case they don't consider the opposing Salubri to be a personal enemy.

Stereotypes

Ahrimanes: In their foolish pursuit of power they risk everything. 
Baali: All things in moderation. We must acknowledge our beasts but no become mastered by it.    
Blood Brothers: They are relics of a bygone age, when strength of arms alone could prevail against wit and planning.   
Children of Osiris: How can they truly achieve peace when they are at war with their own nature? 
Gargoyles: Brutish thugs who seek to avenge themselves against long dead enemies.    
Kiasyd: A prince need not be wise, he need only to heed wise council. 
Laibon: An endangered species. Perhaps a few of them could be preserved for future study.  
Lamia: They walk the knife‘ edge between being warriors and being philosophers. It is unfortunate that they do not defer to those wiser than themselves.    
Lhiannan: If only they could rise above their traditions and superstitions, they could truly accomplish something great with their magic.     
Nagaraja: These bullies are consumed by fear of each other and of other kindred. They can only distract themselves from this fear by causing fear in others.  
Samedi: Ah, if only they would share their many dark secrets with us, they might become truly useful to the kindred. 
Sybarites: Underneath a veneer of egotistical hedonists, these kindred conceal some terrible secrets. What could they be?    
Caitiff: Why judge these kindred so harshly?They would make excellent cannon fodder. 
Camarilla: Supporting the Camarilla is the wise choice, even if most of the members are rather unimpressive.  
Sabbat: These fools give no thought to the future or the consequences of their actions. It is a mystery how they have survived as long as they have.  
Anarchs: Those who do not learn from history are doomed to repeat it. 

Salubri