Leandros
Some people are born with a part of their hearts missing. They spend their lives searching for the one person holding the lost piece. Some find it; most don’t. Worse are the damaged romantics who experience both outcomes, bouncing from love to love in a desperate attempt to fill the ever-widening hole in their chests. The Leandros understand that better than anyone: Even a soulless monster deserves a soulmate.
The Heartbreakers are hungry Shadows. They crave the touch of warm flesh and the sound of secrets spilled from quivering lips. They attach themselves to people who glimmer with an inner light, then slowly — methodically — bleed them of that quality so they might shine by proxy. When their lovers become empty shells or empty corpses, they move on. They watch the night, waiting in the darkness for their next chance to bathe in the light.
And it’s easy for the Leandros. They’re social chameleons who shift and change everything to match their fixations. Love modern art? They do too! Devout Catholic? Hail Mary, full of grace. Anime fan? Evangelion is, like, amazing. The Heartbreakers pluck the image of the perfect mate from their lovers’ minds and reflect it back at them. Who a Leandros is can change from night to night, lover to lover, because a shadow is only ever defined by light.
The Heartbreakers have existed throughout history, seeking romance and the platonic completeness of decidedly un-platonic affairs. They’ve fought wars, razed villages, and toppled princes, all in the name of love — or so they claim. One eternally teenage Leandros prowls the halls of a community college, another negs at the club, while a third swipes right a hundred times on her Thirst app.
Of course, it’s only a matter of time before another potential soulmate comes along. It would be cruel to string along a lover past their expiration date, so the Leandros makes the hard choice… but sometimes the mortal survives, and becomes consumed with rage and hatred. Sometimes one these Scorned returns to settle the score, immune to the Leandros and their lies. True love is worth the risk. Leaving a trail of broken hearts and souls in your wake might be unpalatable to some, but you wouldn’t say that if you knew the rush. Besides, the next one might be the one.
Why you want to be us
We understand love in a way you never can. We’re not petty, or cruel, or shallow creatures baying for blood and constant stimulation. You want to be a creature of the ages: classic, always in style. We can do that. You can be like us. And once you are, you’ll find a love that lasts a lifetime…hundreds of them.
Why you should fear us
You shouldn’t. To be afraid of love is to be afraid of life, and we’re far beyond that petty existence. You need only open up. Look, we know what this must look like, but we promise — I promise — this is all because we — that is, you and I — are meant for something greater. So please, hear me out. Open up. Let me in.
Why we should fear ourselves
We’re not perfect. Far from it. Sometimes we… get it wrong. Love isn’t always love and what once seemed deep is meaningless and shallow. You can’t understand the terrible clarity when you realize your soulmate is right over there and you’re trapped in a lie with your last mistake. Destiny finally brought us together, so we don’t have a choice. Our exes know too much, so we try to make the breakup easy. Humane. We’re the real victims here. It only hurts them for a second, but we have to live with that pain forever.
Bloodline Origin Myths
Each night, Hero, a priestess of Aphrodite, would light a lamp so that her lover, Leander, could swim across the Hellespont to lay with her. One night the waves were too strong and he drowned, but Leander’s love was too great for death to claim him. He opened his eyes once more to see his love leap from her tower to be with him in death, too late to stop her. As Leander cradled her corpse against his cold flesh, he devoured her heart so that she would be with him forever. For his actions, the gods cursed him with a terrible hollowness that he could never fill.
Legend tells of a young Egyptian bride who lost her husband in battle and descended into the Underworld to retrieve him. She found him before Ammut, the Eater of the Dead, and begged for his release. But Ammut is a devious goddess and made the girl a wager: she would weigh his heart against a feather, and should their love be pure, they would both leave and not return for many years. The girl agreed, and Ammut weighed the man’s heart and watched with glee as it sank. The goddess laughed as she devoured the man’s heart, relishing the taste of harlots’ tents and lusty nights spent on campaign, then cast him into the Underworld. The girl, terrified, waited for her death, but Ammut took pity on her and ate but half of her heart, blessing her to forever walk the earth in search of her true soulmate.
Long ago, the moon fell in love with young nobleman who slept each night bathed in her light. The moon sent the youth dreams each night until he too fell in love with her. As the years went by, however, the dreams were not enough, for he grew to crave the touch of flesh. The man’s family wished him to marry, and he could not help but comply. However, the moon is a determined mistress, and whispered secrets into his ear while he slept. On his wedding night he took his blushing bride to bed and with a sharp knife he hollowed out a place in her breast for moonlight. From that moment onward he and his true love lived happily ever after, to the end of his days.
Parent Clan: Mekhet
Nicknames: Heartbreakers, Creeps (disrespectful)
Bloodline Bane: The Infatuated Curse
The Heartbreakers are always looking for the next future ex. Whenever a Leandros feeds from a mortal, roll Resolve + Composure. This can be augmented with Willpower. On a failure, the vessel becomes her one and only. No other blood compares. The vampire can only drink Vitae equal to Humanity divided by two (rounding up) from other sources before the blood turns to water in her mouth, though she no longer needs to resist becoming infatuated. This “relationship” lasts until the mortal’s death or the vampire next succeeds a breaking point. This bane does not apply to feeding from Kindred. In addition, if a Heartbreaker has not gained her clan curse before she joins this bloodline, her bane must be Invitation (Vampire, p. 108).
Disciplines: Auspex, Majesty, Obfuscate, Vigor
In the Covenants
The Carthian Movement
Masquerades are relics of the past. Have you seen the teenage romance section? Mortals are ready — and willing — for vampires to come out of the coffin. Leandros who join the Carthian Movement are often rabid anti-Masquerade activists, or mortal outreach specialists who build literal cults of personality. The Revolution keeps these impulses in check with work, aiming their efforts toward bolstering the Movement’s influence among the living. The Heartbreakers are often tasked with the seduction of powerful mortals to undermine the other covenants. The Leandros don’t mind, of course; it’s exactly what they came for.
The Circle of the Crone
Cults are great places to meet people, but the Circle’s distaste for intimate relationships with humans pushes most Heartbreakers away. Some rare Leandros see themselves as an atavistic, sexual expression of the Dark Mother, sent to lure mortals into the sticky embrace of heresy. Others accept their role as avatars of change, believing their mercurial affairs to be acts of unholy worship, bound to lunar or planetary cycles.
The Invictus
The Invictus is a natural home for the Leandros, who exert its influence in service to the Masquerade and their own desires. Heartbreakers of the First Estate are fanatical supporters of the First Tradition, and their talent lies in strategically destroying the lives of mortals connected to Kindred in rival covenants. The look on a Carthian’s face when his little sister introduces her rich new boyfriend is delicious. Power is the ultimate aphrodisiac, after all.
The Lancea et Sanctum
The Leandros predilection for romancing mortals is a complex subject among the Sanctified, who often view such behavior as decadent. However, given the inevitable tragedy of such relationships, and greater impact on the flock, many bishops turn a blind eye to the bloodline’s proclivities. Others openly encourage them, often in the hope of driving friends and family of the departed into the arms of God. Sanctified Heartbreakers often push this acceptance to an extreme by inviting all the city’s Kindred to elaborate weddings to their mortal paramours, and later equally elaborate funerals. If nothing else, the Heartbreakers are the authors of wonderful cautionary tales of lust and loss.
The Ordo Dracul
Why do we love who we love? Leandros of the Ordo Dracul seek to answer this question through careful study and experimentation. One believes in a resonant frequency within each person; another believes in the balance of humours; a third believes Freudian psychology is the key. There’s no such thing as a love potion — at least one that isn’t made of Vitae — but that doesn’t mean the Heartbreakers aren’t hard at work. It’s too bad their test subjects never last as long as they would like.
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