# Becoming Lasombra
Becoming Lasombra
of Note
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.
The Long Road Most Lasombra recruits enter the clan more slowly, with a great deal more deliberation on the part of their sires. The Sabbat maintains no strict accounting for progeny, but a sire who creates too many unsatisfactory childer eventually comes to the attention of his superiors. Success justifies risk, in the Lasombra conventional wisdom, so would-be sires generally prefer to take their time in creating childer.
Long experience shows the Lasombra that kings, presidents, chief executive officers, popes and comparable leaders seldom make good vampires. Such individuals are too tightly woven into the framework of their society, bound to human values and human rewards. Better recruits come from the ranks of those near the throne but not actually sitting on it: assistants, understudies, secretaries, advisors and the like. These people may exercise substantial power in practice, but on behalf of someone else who gets the credit. While the vast majority of assistants deal just fine with this situation, some succumb to festering Clanbook: Lasombra resentment and take the first unknowing steps into the Abyss.
Ambitious failures may also make excellent recruits, depending on why they failed. A would-be politician with great intellectual gifts who couldn’t quite mask her contempt for the public, for instance, bears watching.
As a Lasombra, she wouldn’t be called upon to treat the public charitably. An entrepreneur repeatedly bought out or otherwise balked by corporate rivals sometimes succumbs to deepening resentment; he’s also worth watching, to see whether his hatred might broaden into the rage that characterizes some of the clan’s best crusaders. An artist whose work offends critics and gallery owners on whose whim commercial success depends is likewise worth watching, to see whether her determination lasts in the face of defeat. If it does, she might be a valuable addition to the ranks of those facing Gehenna.
In each case, the sire looks for habits of thought and states of mind. The world is unpredictable, and success doesn’t prove the presence or absence of any particular quality. Experience counts, but in the end it’s the soul that endures through the Embrace, while all life’s lessons become at least partly irrelevant.
Pride is not sufficient. Anyone can be too proud to get along, and pride untempered by judgment is not a survival trait for neonates. Ambition is better, particularly if it’s only partially satisfied in life.
Revenge in all its forms is a good sign, as long as the vampire-to-be also shows patience. Cold detachment also warrants consideration. It’s quite rare to find a human being who can actually evaluate the world dispassionately, and the Lasombra snatch up as many such people as they can.
Some Lasombra stick to tried-and-true sources for neonates. They examine the dominant institutions of their society and perhaps rummage around in certain countercultures. Other Lasombra deliberately look elsewhere. Several of the most successful war leaders in current crusades were housewives in life. In each case, a prospective sire noticed some quirk of behavior that caught his or her fancy, and follow-up examination revealed untapped wellsprings of dark passion.
Other talented Lasombra have come from hospices, refugee camps and medical clinics for the working poor. People willing to stop being human can turn up almost anywhere.