Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines Preview
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The Spice of. Unlife? Variety is inherent as you are spawned as a lone, newly embraced member of the kindred (vampire) world. From the alley you will crawl, your first few hungry steps bringing you closer to your fate at the hands of your newfound brethren. A clan type has yet to be given to the player, thus indicating that you will begin as a Catiff or clanless vampire and choose your own alliance. For those of you familiar with the tabletop game, it is perceived that the player will be limited to the Camarilla when choosing a clan. The goal of the Camarilla alliance is to preserve the Masquerade.
The Masquerade is the code by which most all WoD (World of Darkness) based vampires live. It preserves their way of life and assures that they don't feed themselves into extinction, or bring about an all out war between kine (humans) and kindred. It allows vampires to co-exist with humanity as little more than figments of humanity's imagination. It is the equivalent to any self-preserving company's mission statement. The Masquerade is the goals and tenets in place to preserve and further vampire existence while prohibiting humanity from knowing fully of their actual presence as a parasitic being using humanity as both food and entertainment. It basically says no barring fangs on national television (or public/local access), no taking bullets in the head and then grinning sadistically (learn to play dead), and absolutely no feeding on the voluptuous blonde strolling through the retail mall in the middle of the holiday shopping season. Well, you can have her, but all in good time... just use your pimp-daddy skills of presence or dominate to persuade her to meet you in a dark alley in the shady district of town in which you reside. Of course, she'll be donning a recently purchased Victoria's Secret leather and lace getup when doing so (In my pre-ordered copy of Bloodlines at least).
The Camarilla composes the seven most popular and influential vampire clans in one brooding political powerhouse. These clans are the Brujah, Gangrel, Malkavian, Nosferatu, Toreador, Tremere, and Ventrue. United they stand against the rest of the vampire world collectively known as the Sabbat and the Independents. Traditionally, the Sabbat have been represented by the Lasombra and the Tzimisce clans. There are also the Independents who are currently composed of the Assamites, Followers of Set, Giovanni, and Ravnos, for the intents of this preview, the following four clans will be disregarded as they are not expected to make appearances within the game.
In brief, the Sabbat rejects the tenets of the Masquerade and refuses to see humanity as anything more than cattle; a source of food. They seek to take their somewhat rightful place as antiquity's premier species through the enslaving of humanity for use as a staple crop. It is this very ideal that sets the Camarilla on its heels as it seeks to hold the Sabbat at bay. Luckily for the Camarilla, the Sabbat possess such a degree of tunnel-vision that they rarely get far enough beyond their own differences to actually provide a truly formidable assault on the Masquerade. This may not be the case in Bloodlines, should the story pan out as one would come to expect through a thorough review of currently available information regarding the game.
We can also expect to see werewolves. This needs no explanation beyond the following: Run like hell when you encounter one. Considering the expected AI capabilities of the Source engine, I wouldn't recommend any form of diplomacy with the Garou (the World of Darkness' term for werewolves). Sure, Garou might befriend you now, and make for a worthy ally, but never in the eyes or bellies of any Garou has a vampire made a better companion than they made a snack.
Since you are presumably limited to the Camarilla, a little background of your potential is in order:
Brujah are a war-like sect most akin, politically speaking, to a state of nature where only the strong survive.
Gangrel strive to maintain a balance between beast and vampire as they are most at peace in an earth bound environment. They prefer free from the concrete confines we as humans have all come to know as home. They tend to do business in the city and reside in the undeveloped natural areas that typically border them.
Malkavian walk the thin line between sanity and dementia, somehow capable of a remote semblance of social interaction and a reserved regard for the Masquerade.
Nosferatu are the physical embodiment of all that humanity knows to be nauseatingly pungent, physically malformed, and in some cases crippled through the intense embrace they suffer. They're great if you like hiding behind a mask or being a hermit. It is only through Obfuscation (see below) that these guys can spend time on the streets.
Toreador are those that spend the unlife in the pursuit of beauty, crafted at their own hands and through the hands of others. Playwrights, visionaries, directors, artists, musicians, actors, and any other form of artistic expression are commonplace amongst members of the Toreador. They harbor a substantial distaste for the Nosferatu.
Tremere are suspected to have initially become vampires through the power of mortal mages who (stole) the power/secret of the embrace. They possess the power to wield the blood magic known as Thaumaturgy (explained below).
Ventrue are the diplomats who typically find themselves wrapped up in directing mortal politics to cater to their will through the use of their vampiric powers.
The preceeding clans are definitely available to players.
So as to avoid a possible spoiling for anyone who isn't aware of anything the Lasombra and Tzimisce are capable of, I won't mention their backgrounds here as they are possibly expected enemies/allies. Although the Bloodlines website leaves no mention of them, I would expect substantial appearances to be made by the Sabbat. This is in light of the fact that Bloodlines takes place in California which until now had no formal political ties to the Camarilla. In the pen and paper version of the game, it has been traditionally referred to as an anarch-free state. This means that the city of Los Angeles has typically been without a prince (the political leader of vampires within a given city). In the game, a Ventrue (Prince Lacroix) is claiming princehood, and thus I can't imagine that this will sit well with the Sabbat, thus my expectation of such prolific appearances. Well, that and the recently released concept art which has (Tzimisce creations) sketches, and (Sabbat thug) sketches. The simple fact that one of the sketches available is titled (Tzimisce creation) should give you some idea of the twisted powers they wield.
