Clan Information : Assamite From the desert wastes of the East come the Assamites, and
they bring with them a miasma of terror. The Assamites are known throughout
vampire society as a clan of murderous assassins, working for whoever can pay
their price. The price they charge for their work is the vitae of other Kindred;
for the Assamites, diablerie is the greatest sacrament.
Assamites tend to avoid the affairs of
the Camarilla and the Sabbat, working for either or both sides in pursuit of
their goals. They do circulate among sect-held cities; other Kindred find them
useful for slaying rivals, enforcing blood hunts, scourging undesirable childer
and infiltrating rivals' power bases. However, Assamites rarely form true
alliances with other Kindred, for they consider other Children of Caine to be of
inferior stock. Unlike the other clans, the Assamites do not claim to have a
founder of the Third Generation. Rather, they believe their founder to be a
member of the Second Generation, making all other Cainites flawed copies of
themselves.
In nights prior to the formation of the Camarilla and the Sabbat, the
Assamites practiced diablerie widely, always looking to bring themselves closer
to "the One," as they referred to their mythical founder. As the
Anarch Revolt ensued, and the Sabbat and Camarilla rose from the ashes, many
powerful elders grew uneasy at the cannibal assassins stalking their ranks.
Calling upon the Tremere to curse the Assamites' blood, the Camarilla placed a
yoke on the clan that rendered its members unable to consume the vitae of other
Kindred. Unable to face the unified front the Camarilla represented, the
Assamites submitted to this indignity. Those few who did not accept the curse
went into hiding and joined the Sabbat.
Those who deal regularly with Assamites have sensed great upheaval among the
clan. The greatest sign of this is the clan's recent circumvention of the
Tremere blood curse. Freed from the mystic shackles preventing it from engaging
in diablerie, the clan has begun a campaign of murder and cannibalism once
again. Assamites now kill other Kindred without provocation — indeed, without
sanctioned contracts.
The clan as a whole has assumed a more aggressive disposition. Whereas once
he Assamites would take no further contracts on a victim who bested their
assassins, the clan may now purse that victim, and often does with unparalleled
fervor. Similarly, Assamites no longer honor the age-old custom of tithing to
their sires. In these nights of impending Gehenna there is no place for lazy
Assamites who rest on their laurels.
Precisely what the Assamites want,
though, is unknown. Certainly, Assamites have flexed their muscle in both the
physical and the political arenas, and hidden agents of the clan have come out
of cover in cities where the ruling vampires have become lazy and fatuous. Their
hold in the cities of India and the Middle East is much stronger than other
Kindred had previously guessed. Whereas other Kindred once viewed the Assamites
as honorable (i.e., relatively impotent), useful functionaries, they now hold
the clan in dread.
Nickname: Assassins
Sect: The Assamites hold Sabbat and Camarilla in
equal contempt. Some Assamites remain among the Sabbat, and a scattered few
exist as loners in the Camarilla.
Appearance: Assamites tend to dress stylish but
practically. Aquiline noses, dark hair and slim, graceful builds dominate the
clan's membership, though African members obviously bear more Nubian
characteristics. Recently, a number of Westerns have been introduced into the
clan, though they remain in the minority. These individuals may have almost any
appearance, as they are chosen for their skill, not their looks. Also, Assamites' skin grows darker as they age (as opposed to other vampires, whose
skin gets paler with age); particularly ancient Assamites are almost ebony in
complexion.
Haven: Most clan elders make their homes at
Alamut, the clan stronghold, which is located high atop a mountain thought to be
somewhere in modern Turkey. Neonates and operatives abroad typically select
remote, inaccessible locations to ensure that they receive no unexpected guests.
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