The Lasombra Archives
Keepers of the night — lessons, culture, and bloodline of Clan Lasombra.
The Clan
The Darkness Everything belonged to him — but that was a trifle. The thing to know was what he belonged to, how many powers of darkness claimed him for their own. Claims You Ten years ago: I can feel the pulse in my head, louder and faster as more blood spurts from a dozen cuts to drip past my face toward the pile of broken glass below me.
Very few people successfully set out to become vampires. In general, the desire to become an undead creature of the night goes along with psychological features that work against vampiric survival, including a willingness to act with insufficient knowledge and a lack of attention to details. The Lasombra choose their recruits from among those mortals who show aptitude for survival whether or not the targets yet know anything about vampires or would want the condition for themselves if they did. The Short Road Occasionally a mortal selected more or less at random for “shovel party” transformation into an undead shock troop survives and shows an intuitive knack for Lasombra powers. Estimating how often this happens is tough, though most Lasombra archbishops agree that about one shovelhead in a thousand proves worth saving. It depends partly on how carefully the shovelers selected their target for strength of will, determination or simple hatred of humanity at large, partly on unrecognized qualities within the victim and partly on sheer luck.
“What we claim, we hold — in shadow, in blood, and across the long night.”
Gifts of the Blood
Obtenebration
Living shadow — the Abyss as cloak, weapon, and companion.
Dominate
Will imposed through blood and gaze — the Keepers’ gift of command.
Potence
Supernatural strength among warriors and enforcers of the clan.
Five Lessons
The history of the Keepers, told in five nights.
The First Lesson: Beginnings
The First Lesson: Beginnings This night’s cold, not that the packmates are about to admit it. The winter storms blast off the North Pacific and up the Columbia River, driving sleet like knives. The wind hasn’t fallen below 25 miles an hour since sunset. Gusts sometimes move as f…
The Second Lesson: Antiquity
The Second Lesson: Antiquity The worst of the storm is past now, leaving a legacy of winds chill enough to keep the ice frozen. Andrew’s pack spends two nights seeking out stranded motorists and feeding on them. Andrew makes it a training game, with the object of inflicting the m…
The Third Lesson: The Great Revolt
The Third Lesson: The Great Revolt The Festival of the Dead is over. As always, the police and the mayor scramble for hasty explanations about all the extra bodies. As always, they tried to cover it up, but amused Sabbat made sure to keep the local media informed, and the corpses…
The Fourth Lesson: The Rest of the World
The Fourth Lesson: The Rest of the World It’s been fifteen nights since the battered freighter left Bangkok. Andrew and his pack are having a marvelous time. They came on business: The Pacific Rim cardinals “asked” several reliable bishops to investigate rumors of heterodoxy and …
The Fifth Lesson: Into the Final Nights
The Fifth Lesson: Into the Final Nights Demba returns to Portland in mid-October. She’s been traveling around California, trying to make sense of the continuously evolving chaos among Cainites there, and not at all sure she understands what’s going on. She decided to celebrate th…
From the Chamber
Culture, voice, and the unlit halls.
The Fourth Lesson: The Rest of the World
The Fourth Lesson: The Rest of the World It’s been fifteen nights since the battered freighter left Bangkok. Andrew and his pack are having a marvelous time. Th…
Claims You
The Darkness Everything belonged to him — but that was a trifle. The thing to know was what he belonged to, how many powers of darkness claimed him for their ow…
Hatching the Sabbat
The Devil in the Details Oso’s account differs in some ways from the ones found in other Vampire books. From the vantage point of the Final Nights, there’s no o…
Africa
of the diviner’s arts, secrets of concealment and disguise and some forms of blood magic. Auspex in particular is as common among us as Obtenebration, which I g…
Origins on Earth
result of haphazard psychosis. None of you have met a truly deranged elder yet, have you? Just wait till the next Palla Grande. In the meantime, cultivate paran…
Origins in Darkness
on their creators or would-be manipulators. Here is the lesson of Caine again. Do not underestimate the kine. And if the kine can accomplish so much, how much …