Vampire the Masquerade Bloodlines Refresher Course

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A/N: First off: this is a messed up story about messed up protagonists. General warnings for this story are: increasingly graphic violence, pretty graphic sexual content, blood, needles and death/murder. Where needed I will post more specific content warnings at the beginning of the chapter. Please take them seriously. If you want a censored version of a particular chapter, send me a message and I will try to oblige.

Before the story begins I will add a little glossary so you can look up some universe specific lingo and the background of some of the characters. That way you can read this without knowing or remembering too much of the game, but feel free to skip it if you'd rather jump straight in!

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Vampire Society:

Ghoul – A human who is blood-bound to a vampire. To become a ghoul, a human must drink the blood of a vampire – who then becomes their regnant – and must continue to do so once a month to feel the full benefits. Ghouls are faster, stronger, heal quicker than normal humans, and do not age because of the vampire blood. Depending on the type of vampire's blood a ghoul receives, their personality may change. For instance, if a human is given Malkavian blood, they may experience some of the side effects of the clan, such as hearing voices, suffering from insanity, and predicting strange insights.

Regnant – The creator and therefore owner of a ghoul.

Kindred – What the vampires call themselves.

Kine – What the vampires call humans.

Sire – The creator of another vampire.

Fledgling – A newly created vampire, supposed to be under the protection of their sire.

Blood Doll – A blood doll is a mortal who freely lets vampires drink from them. Some of them do not understand what is happening to them, others do and are simply addicted to the intense feelings and attentions of a vampire.

The Beast – The primal drives of a vampire that could turn them into uncontrollably ravenous monsters. The Beast refers to the innate demonic predator that hides inside every vampire. In times of extreme distress the Beast can overwhelm a vampire forcing them into a state of pure animalistic fight or flight, which is referred to as Frenzy. During frenzy a vampire cannot control their actions and will kill indiscriminately.

Humanity – Humanity is the measure of how closely a vampire clings to the morality and values of their life as a mortal human being, and consequently how well they are able to resist the urges of the Beast. Living by a moral code that forbids killing innocents, is one of the ways vampires preserve their humanity. That is why they are not supposed to drink a human to death. Vampires with high humanity rarely go into frenzy.

Discipline – Supernatural abilities that some vampires possess, usually clan specific. The only important ones to know for this story are Dementation and Dominate. They are both forms of mind control, only Dementation works by corrupting another's mind with madness, while Dominate overwhelms another's mind with their own will.

The Camarilla – The Camarilla is a worldwide sect of vampires. They are like a political alignment, the Camarilla being the "conservatives", who value seniority of blood and tradition above all and keep a strongly hierarchal system of government in place. The head of the Camarilla in LA is Maximillian Strauss, after Prince Sebastian LaCroix got himself unfortunately blown up.

The Anarchs – Anarchs are vampires who reject the status quo of vampire society. They especially resent the privileged status held by elders within the Camarilla. The Anarchs are not terribly well organized, but in LA they have quite a lot of power and control large areas. Although they disagree with the Camarilla's methods, they do share a desire to live alongside humans and keep vampires a secret. Unofficial leader of the Anarchs in LA is Nines Rodriguez.

The Sabbat – A vampric sect that rejects all the traditions of the Camarilla, especially the rule to keep the existence of vampires hidden from humans. They are extremely violent and monstrous and both the Camarilla and Anarchs fight them.

Prince – A vampire who has claimed leadership over a domain, usually a single city. The title prince is primarily used to describe Camarilla vampires. They hold authority over all vampires in their domain, are responsible for policing them, upholding the masquerade and granting the right to sire fledglings.

Baron – The Anarch equivalent of a prince, except a baron is chosen for their merit as a leader, not their blood seniority. This means that barons are usually weaker vampires than princes, since the older the blood, the stronger the vampire.

Primogen – The primogen is the leader of his or her clan from a city. They are ambassadors from their clan to the prince of the said city.

Clan – A vampire group of shared "Blood" or heritage, who can trace their Generations back to a common ancestor. The clans are the major vampire lineages that comprise vampiric society. The important clans are Brujah, Gangrel, Malkavian, Nosferatu, Toreador, Tremere and Ventrue:

Thin Bloods – Vampires come in generations. The oldest generations (sired by ancient vampires) have the strongest blood and are the most powerful. Thin Bloods are the youngest generation of vampire and they are weak. They often lack many vampire abilities and some of them can even stand sunlight. Vampires hate them, see them as a bad omen and kill or drive them away when they encounter them.

Vitae – This is what vampire scholars call the primal essence and energies of blood. It is the source of a vampire's power and also the cause of their cravings. It is what sustains the undead body of the vampire and the reason they must drink the blood of the living.

The Society of Leopold – A hidden society of hunters, basically the modern Inquisition. Their mission is to hunt all 'spawn of Satan', vampires included. They are a major threat to every group of supernaturals because of their extensive knowledge, training, equipment, and preparation. They know something known as the True Faith, which has almost magical abilities in very devout members.

Vampire Clans

Brujah: The Brujah have a reputation as fierce warriors. Quick to anger and always passionate, they have been steadily regaining their position as a clan of lofty philosophers, activists and revolutionaries, and are known for mysterious knowledge and power. They are mostly Anarchs and incredibly strong and fast. Their clan is known for their disorganization.

Gangrel: Gangrel, like the Brujah, are among the best vampire fighters. Unlike the Brujah, their ferocity stems from their animalistic instinct and rage, rather than Anarchic anger. Gangrel are loners and prefer solitude; they're also the closest to nature and the beast than all the other vampire clans. The stronger members of this clan can transform into animals. They are mostly Anarchs.

Malkavian: Malkavians are all clinically insane; the mental illnesses they suffer range from schizophrenia to near-catatonia. Their unhinged minds allow them to see things other Kindred cannot. Powerful Malkavians can drive those around them temporarily insane. Their loyalty is very divided over the Camarilla and Anarchs.

Nosferatu: The Nosferatu are the most monstrous looking among the vampires. They cannot live among humans and are also largely ostracized by other vampires. They are extremely gifted at sneaking and snooping however, which means they have information on almost everything and everyone and that makes them valuable. They are reluctant Camarilla allies, serving sort of as the vampire secret intelligence.

Toreador: The Toreador are the most beautiful and human looking among the vampires. The clan has long been associated with art and socializing and they are not very ruthless. They are very skilled manipulators, however, and can easily get humans to do whatever they want. Because of their beauty, extreme involvement in human life and love of attention, some other clans dislike them strongly. The Toreador are largely Anarch.

Tremere: The Tremere are a clan of undead mages. They are insular and secretive and not trusted by the other vampires. Still, their skills make them powerful allies. They have helped the Camarilla on many occasions and are mostly aligned with them. Powerful Tremere can wield powerful magic that alters the mind, steals power or outright kills humans and weaker vampires.

Ventrue: The ruling class among vampires. The Ventrue clan is the head of the Camarilla and members of this clan often become the princes of major cities. They move in the same high circles of human society as the Toreador and love to be in control. The Camarilla as well as the Ventrue clan are hated with a passion by the Brujah and Gangrel clans. Powerful Ventrue can force their will on others to such an extent that they can will them to die.

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Characters

I try to introduce all the characters I use thoroughly, but in case you want some backstory on the games' characters that feature in my story:

The Protagonist – He doesn't feature in the story, but is responsible for leaving LA's vampire society in a rather big mess. He was a rather ruthless Ventrue who decided to choose the path of the lone wolf. He was unwise enough to open the mystical Ankaran Sarcophagus and died in the explosion this caused. Before he suffered his final death, he killed Prince LaCroix, murdered most of the Sabbat, murdered a lot of the local vampire hunters and killed a considerable amount of human thugs too. Most importantly, he made sure Therese killed her sister Jeanette.

Therese and Jeanette Voerman – Therese Voerman is the a Malkavian and self proclaimend Baron of Santa Monica. She is the proprietor of The Asylum, a nightclub in the area of Santa Monica. Jeanette Voerman is her twin sister, except she is really Therese's alternate personality. They live in one body, but seem utterly unaware of this. Therese is intelligent, arrogant, ruthless and cunning, with a superb mind for business. Jeanette is highly sexually promiscuous, childish, needy, but less cruel. Therese sides with the Camarilla, while Jeanette is an Anarch. They are almost exclusively at war with each other. The protagonist witnessed a vicious falling out between the two 'sisters' and sided with Therese, making her 'shoot' her sister and kill her. Ever since Therese has run the club and her political affairs completely on her own.

Phil – Vandal's former co-worker in the blood bank. It is not quite clear if he was human or a ghoul, but I am inclined to guess he was a ghoul, since he helped with the whole kidnapping and selling blood thing. Phil got drained and killed by a newly freed and starved Lily.

Lily – A thin blood vampire girl who broke into the blood bank to steal blood. Vandal caught her and drained her blood to sell, until the protagonist freed her.

Smiling Jack – A Brujah Anarch and one of the oldest and most powerful vampires around, a fact which he is very careful to hide.

Nines Rodriguez – The unofficial leader of the Anarchs, a loud but brave Brujah.

Skelter – One of the Anarch vampires, a short-tempered Gangrel. Malkavians call him "Helter Skelter".

Prince Sebastian LaCroix – A ruthless venture vampire and the former prince, head of the Camarilla in LA. He tried to grab control by using the protagonist and manipulating everyone around him, but got himself murdered in the process.

Dr. Alistair Grout – A psychiatrist that got bitten by a patient and ended up a Malkavian vampire. He became the Malkavian primogen in the LA area, until LaCroix had him secretly murdered for almost finding out his treacherous plans.

Maximilian Strauss – A powerful vampire and scholar, leader of the Tremere in LA. He became the head of the Camarilla after LaCroix died.

Isaac Abrams – Anarch baron of Hollywood, an old-fashioned but principled Toreador.

Velvet Velour (VV) – A beautiful Toreador that runs a strip club in Hollywood.

Bertram Tung – A Nosferatu. An expert spy and information broker that had a relationship with Jeanette before she disappeared.

Knox Harrington – Bertram Tung's ghoul. He became a ghoul recently. He used to be a bounty hunter and is a very good investigator, despite his overexcited manner.

Mercurio – Prince LaCroix' ghoul. He was born in the 1940's and is a talented black market dealer.

Heather Poe – Heather was a fashion design student attending college in Los Angeles, living alone with her grandmother. Her parents died in a car accident and she herself got injured very badly one night. The protagonist found her in the Santa Monica Clinic, fed her some blood to save her and later kept her as his ghoul. From the moment he saved her she adored her master and loved him with all her naïve, trusting nature. She was broken-hearted when he sent her away, not realizing he only did this to save her life. If he hadn't turned her away, his enemies would have murdered her, but as it was she ended up on the streets, going out of her mind with longing.

Dr. Malcolm – A surgeon at the Santa Monica Medcial Clinic. He has a wife called Trina and is having an affair with Paige, a nurse at the clinic.

Paige (Matthews) – A pretty red haired nurse that is having an affair with Dr. .

Dr. D. Roberts – An extremely capable doctor at the Santa Monica Medical Clinic. He has never lost a patient.

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A/N: Now we have that out of the way, let's begin...