Ventrue

We are kings, bishops, knights.  We have brought civilization to the wilderness, order to the chaos of these dark nights.  We have created glory were there was none before.  Through us flows the power of the old gods, the will of mastery over others.  Shrink away from that if you will.  You can even curse it, if it makes you feel better.  But you are able to sleep undistrubed during the day because I wear the crown at night.

To many, the Ventrue are the ruminants of the legendary Julii. Theirs was the most powerful empire to have ruled, from them came the grace and the majesty that was Rome. However, to the Venture, the Julii are but a crazed bloodline, nothing more, and their destruction is but a footnote in a long history they themselves track back to Troy. They instead see themselves as the children of Venus, advisers to ancient kings. These nights, the Ventrue look not to Rome, but to what came after and the rise of power that came with the Holy Roman Empire and Charlemagne.

To the Ventrue, what one was as a Kine is just as important as what one will be as Kindred. They pick many of their progeny from the ranks of the nobility; many a Ventrue haunts the land of their mortal families. It is not a coincidence that many powerful Ventrue can be found in London with names like Plantangant and Fitzroy.  Others pick progeny that has shown ambition or skill in other areas that are useful, such as a particularly talented knight. They even will seek out a rising priest, if it will serve their purposes.

But faith in the Christian god is not particularly strong among the Ventrue. As with everything else, faith is seen as something that can perhaps be used or manipulated. The Ventrue are not concerned with religious needs, nor are they interested in conversations about heaven or hell. They are concerned with temporal power, not spiritual. Even those that believe in God tend to take the view that while he should rule over heaven, earth is theirs.

The First Crusade was suppose to cement the place of the Ventrue as the rightful Kings of Kindred.  In this they failed, and by some reckoning, the Ventrue lost more in the Massacre then any other Clan.  The Ventrue, of course, are quick to point to their other victories on the field, in cities such as Antioch, and note that the Christians have maintained a hold of the Holy Land.  There is an entire Kingdom of Jerusalem where prominent Ventrue rule.  But to others, this is a deep wound.  And it is one that has recently reopened, as Edessa has fallen, the Second Crusade has proven a failure, and the Arabs once again threaten the fragile peace that so many died for.

Likewise, there are those Ventrue who have worked very hard to maintain control of London.  The Gangrel and the Deava have other cities on the isle, as the Ventrue were perhaps the last of the Clans to establish themselves in Briton.  But they have built the city of London as a center of trade, learning, and power.  They grew the city, nourished it, and did whatever they had to do to make sure they kept it.  There are those old Saxon Lords who had to bitterly bite back quite a bit under the guise that a Ventrue Norman was better as Prince then a Saxon of another Clan.   And with the Prince withdrawing more and more, and the Lord Chamberlain's void unfilled, there are some Saxon Ventrue that have started to wonder if it must be really be either or.

Yet the Normans are a force to be reckoned with.  The blood of the Prince flows through the veins of Barons and Harpies.  They feel that they have brought culture and civilization to the English, and they are unwilling to give up, under any circumstances, what they have worked so hard to build.

Character Concepts: Ventrue Baron, Prince's Herald, Knight, Priest, Chamberlain, Prisci, Harpy