Gravenor
NO TRISSPASING.
A manor lies at the end of that long, pitted road that descends deep into the swamp. Most know that the manor belongs to that old Gravenor family, though few truly know who or what the Gravenors are. Rumors mix with truth, and locals whisper crazy stories when glancing down that shadowy drive that cuts through the marshes. Rarely does one see a member of the Gravenor family. Occasionally, one is caught in town buying wick string for tallow candles; others are seen as shadows, wandering in and around the periphery of the swamp. Some people are content to believe that the Gravenors are just a strange, secluded family; others are certain that the Gravenors are inbred or escaped lunatics or some kind of cult. The truth is all of that and more. Yes, the Gravenors are inbred. Yes, they’re crazy. Yes, they’re certainly secretive.
But what people don’t know is that the Gravenor family has long served a torpid creature of the night, a Nosferatu vampire sleeping in the cellar of the old Gravenor manor. Locals sense that madness lies down that rutted, boggy road, but few locals know just how deep that madness goes.
Nobody knows exactly what attracted the attention of the itinerant Nosferatu, Grigor Swancott. Was his interest piqued because he too was of some Welsh nobility? Or was he instead merely drawn by the heady scent of pig’s blood in the air? It’s possible that his reasons were incomprehensible to a sane mind. Whatever the case, he came to the family late one storm-tossed October night, bringing visions of terror and tales of monsters far more horrible than he. He held the Gravenors fixed where they stood and hammered his own Paranoia upon them. For many nights he commanded them to stay as they grew hungry and tired, steeping in the Nosferatu’s own madness. Every night he awoke anew and assaulted them again with the brunt of his lunacy. By the end of the week, the Gravenors had claimed a small part of Grigor’s insanity for themselves, and that madness was immovable. Grigor believed that he had found solace in the storm, a safe place with those who understood him. Of course, he did not have the presence of mind to realize that he had forced this understanding upon them.
Grigor’s belief was this: Forces beyond his control were trying to destroy him. These forces were represented by “invisible monsters” from “other planes of existence” that sought to undo him at every turn. The Nosferatu was certain that they crept silently between worlds, watching him and moving within his peripheral vision. These monsters showed their horrid faces in distant mirrors, shambled slowly across hazy horizons, dwelled beneath stairways and dirt mounds. Grigor never seemed sure exactly what these creatures were. Sometimes he called them coblynaugh, or “the Cobblers.” Other times he gave them far grander names — “The Watchers from Beyond the Door” or simply “The Strangers.”
The Gravenors, to Grigor’s addled mind, represented a powerful opportunity. Their home, a bog-bound manor only a few miles from the pig farms, seemed isolated and defensible against these entities. Moreover, the wealthy and insular family seemed natural Allies to the fanatical Nosferatu. And so, after having broken them down and infected them with his Paranoia, Swancott accepted some of the family members as his Ghouls, while placing the rest under The Vinculum.
Over the following decades, Grigor’s mind degraded further, while the ranks of the Gravenor family grew in defiance of potential miscarriages or stillbirths. Grigor would not allow the family to breed outside its bloodline, instead compelling them to couple with one another. Cousin to cousin, sister to brother, it didn’t matter. Roderick Gravenor, the head of the family, was the most… fruitful when it came to breeding. He even seeded the womb of his own daughter.
Then, some 30 years after his introduction to the family, Grigor awoke one evening believing that the alien entities had finally found him. Every shadow was a new fiend, every water stain on cracked wallpaper was a new face. He fled to the root cellar, curled up in an old clawfoot bathtub on the shattered, dusty floor, and retreated into a deep, unshakable Fugue.
The family continues to worship its master. Grigor abides in the same claw-foot tub down in the cellar, but that tub has been made into something of a Tomb or reliquary. The family surrounds him in garlands of swamp blossoms and burns fat beeswax candles in a five-pointed star around the body. They bring him blood, as well. Mostly, they kill animals, but from time to time (on holidays or other “special occasions”) they murder a lost traveler or other stranger and pour the blood into Grigor’s motionless mouth. The family also partakes of their Regnant’s own Vitae from time to time, chewing holes in his waxy arms and drinking a taste here or there.
The Gravenors also maintain Swancott’s paranoid delusions. Most members of the family pay more than just lip service to the idea that evil forces conspire against their sleeping master. They engage in homespun superstitious protection, such as pouring lines of salt across doorways or littering their lawns with dead blackbirds. Any outsider may be seen as kin to the enemy, so the family remains as isolated as possible from other people, walking to the nearby towns only when absolutely necessary.
Curiously, one thing most of the manor-bound family doesn’t know is that the bloodline extends beyond the swamp. Many Gravenors over the last century have been exiled from the manor for various reasons and sent to work at the pig farms (or rendering plants) miles away. While some of these Gravenors still feature many of the strange congenital defects of their peers, they tend to be more connected to the “real world.” Some generations aren’t even aware that Grigor Swancott exists. (It’s rumored that some of these Gravenors have even fled the farms for the cities, disappearing among the throngs of Humanity.) From time to time, one of the Gravenors in the manor visits the farms and chooses a potential “bride” from among the ostracized Ghouls.
Annals of the Balaur Gard: the Gravenor family. “My hand scribes this record of the Gravenor bloodline in the name of my Mentor, Claude. My name is Marie. The family once attained moderate wealth based on its profession of hog farming, but a failure to keep up quickly enough with the latest developments in agriculture, combined with a general loss of interest in mortal society, has reduced both the size of the family and the value of its holdings significantly. There has been a split in the family, between those directly involved with maintenance and support of its businesses and those who live at the family manor under the watchful eye of Roderick Gravenor. Roderick is the thrall of a Nosferatu by the name of Grigor Swancott, though all indications point to Grigor falling into torpid sleep, because he has not been seen outside the manor for decades. Almost all members of the Gravenor family have survived from that time, around the year 1810, when Grigor first joined the family. The split in the family occurred when Roderick and his grandson Eric had a violent disagreement over the introduction of electricity into the family’s hog farms and slaughterhouses shortly before the beginning of the Great War in Europe. Eric promptly married outside of the family, making him a permanent pariah. From time to time, others who have offended Roderick are sent out to ‘Eric’s Farm,’ giving us a revealing look into what has become of the family at the manor. Mostly, this seems to include a long list of congenital defects, but it also includes rampant Paranoia and a strange sense for things unseen. Roderick has been seen visiting the farms from time to time, and each time he brings home a young man or woman — presumably for the purposes of adding to the breeding stock, but selected based on qualities I have not yet been able to piece together.”
But what people don’t know is that the Gravenor family has long served a torpid creature of the night, a Nosferatu vampire sleeping in the cellar of the old Gravenor manor. Locals sense that madness lies down that rutted, boggy road, but few locals know just how deep that madness goes.
Swamp Butchers
The Gravenor family came to the New World in the early 19th century. At the direction of the family’s eldest, Roderick Gravenor, the family originally made its way in the country through hog farming and butchering. Already possessed of some money (for the Gravenor family was of distant Welsh nobility), it was not long before the coffers of the kin began to overflow. They opened several other farms and became especially adept at rendering hogs, that is to say, making useable as much of the pig as possible, turning once-useless waste into lard, gelatin, scrapple and Bone meal. The blood and fat ran thick from the Gravenor land.Nobody knows exactly what attracted the attention of the itinerant Nosferatu, Grigor Swancott. Was his interest piqued because he too was of some Welsh nobility? Or was he instead merely drawn by the heady scent of pig’s blood in the air? It’s possible that his reasons were incomprehensible to a sane mind. Whatever the case, he came to the family late one storm-tossed October night, bringing visions of terror and tales of monsters far more horrible than he. He held the Gravenors fixed where they stood and hammered his own Paranoia upon them. For many nights he commanded them to stay as they grew hungry and tired, steeping in the Nosferatu’s own madness. Every night he awoke anew and assaulted them again with the brunt of his lunacy. By the end of the week, the Gravenors had claimed a small part of Grigor’s insanity for themselves, and that madness was immovable. Grigor believed that he had found solace in the storm, a safe place with those who understood him. Of course, he did not have the presence of mind to realize that he had forced this understanding upon them.
Grigor’s belief was this: Forces beyond his control were trying to destroy him. These forces were represented by “invisible monsters” from “other planes of existence” that sought to undo him at every turn. The Nosferatu was certain that they crept silently between worlds, watching him and moving within his peripheral vision. These monsters showed their horrid faces in distant mirrors, shambled slowly across hazy horizons, dwelled beneath stairways and dirt mounds. Grigor never seemed sure exactly what these creatures were. Sometimes he called them coblynaugh, or “the Cobblers.” Other times he gave them far grander names — “The Watchers from Beyond the Door” or simply “The Strangers.”
The Gravenors, to Grigor’s addled mind, represented a powerful opportunity. Their home, a bog-bound manor only a few miles from the pig farms, seemed isolated and defensible against these entities. Moreover, the wealthy and insular family seemed natural Allies to the fanatical Nosferatu. And so, after having broken them down and infected them with his Paranoia, Swancott accepted some of the family members as his Ghouls, while placing the rest under The Vinculum.
Over the following decades, Grigor’s mind degraded further, while the ranks of the Gravenor family grew in defiance of potential miscarriages or stillbirths. Grigor would not allow the family to breed outside its bloodline, instead compelling them to couple with one another. Cousin to cousin, sister to brother, it didn’t matter. Roderick Gravenor, the head of the family, was the most… fruitful when it came to breeding. He even seeded the womb of his own daughter.
Then, some 30 years after his introduction to the family, Grigor awoke one evening believing that the alien entities had finally found him. Every shadow was a new fiend, every water stain on cracked wallpaper was a new face. He fled to the root cellar, curled up in an old clawfoot bathtub on the shattered, dusty floor, and retreated into a deep, unshakable Fugue.
Isolation
Grigor’s own torpid state is reflected now in the family’s moribund paralysis. They live, secluded and largely inaccessible, breeding only with one another. They wear antiquated clothing, they don’t use phones or other modern trappings (electricity was accepted only grudgingly), and they speak in outmoded dialects. They don’t… look right, either. Most of them are pale, with their eyes either too far apart or too close together. Some have veiny webbing between fingers or toes. Others seem to have strange skin disorders, such as rashes, shingles and constant bruising. A new son, Owen, was born with porphyria, a disease that makes the sufferer frighteningly sensitive to light.The family continues to worship its master. Grigor abides in the same claw-foot tub down in the cellar, but that tub has been made into something of a Tomb or reliquary. The family surrounds him in garlands of swamp blossoms and burns fat beeswax candles in a five-pointed star around the body. They bring him blood, as well. Mostly, they kill animals, but from time to time (on holidays or other “special occasions”) they murder a lost traveler or other stranger and pour the blood into Grigor’s motionless mouth. The family also partakes of their Regnant’s own Vitae from time to time, chewing holes in his waxy arms and drinking a taste here or there.
The Gravenors also maintain Swancott’s paranoid delusions. Most members of the family pay more than just lip service to the idea that evil forces conspire against their sleeping master. They engage in homespun superstitious protection, such as pouring lines of salt across doorways or littering their lawns with dead blackbirds. Any outsider may be seen as kin to the enemy, so the family remains as isolated as possible from other people, walking to the nearby towns only when absolutely necessary.
Curiously, one thing most of the manor-bound family doesn’t know is that the bloodline extends beyond the swamp. Many Gravenors over the last century have been exiled from the manor for various reasons and sent to work at the pig farms (or rendering plants) miles away. While some of these Gravenors still feature many of the strange congenital defects of their peers, they tend to be more connected to the “real world.” Some generations aren’t even aware that Grigor Swancott exists. (It’s rumored that some of these Gravenors have even fled the farms for the cities, disappearing among the throngs of Humanity.) From time to time, one of the Gravenors in the manor visits the farms and chooses a potential “bride” from among the ostracized Ghouls.
Annals of the Balaur Gard: the Gravenor family. “My hand scribes this record of the Gravenor bloodline in the name of my Mentor, Claude. My name is Marie. The family once attained moderate wealth based on its profession of hog farming, but a failure to keep up quickly enough with the latest developments in agriculture, combined with a general loss of interest in mortal society, has reduced both the size of the family and the value of its holdings significantly. There has been a split in the family, between those directly involved with maintenance and support of its businesses and those who live at the family manor under the watchful eye of Roderick Gravenor. Roderick is the thrall of a Nosferatu by the name of Grigor Swancott, though all indications point to Grigor falling into torpid sleep, because he has not been seen outside the manor for decades. Almost all members of the Gravenor family have survived from that time, around the year 1810, when Grigor first joined the family. The split in the family occurred when Roderick and his grandson Eric had a violent disagreement over the introduction of electricity into the family’s hog farms and slaughterhouses shortly before the beginning of the Great War in Europe. Eric promptly married outside of the family, making him a permanent pariah. From time to time, others who have offended Roderick are sent out to ‘Eric’s Farm,’ giving us a revealing look into what has become of the family at the manor. Mostly, this seems to include a long list of congenital defects, but it also includes rampant Paranoia and a strange sense for things unseen. Roderick has been seen visiting the farms from time to time, and each time he brings home a young man or woman — presumably for the purposes of adding to the breeding stock, but selected based on qualities I have not yet been able to piece together.”
Culture
Common Dress code
Appearance: As noted in Chapter One, the Gravenor’s choice of clothes has not changed since the 19th century, and many of them have shocking congenital defects. The members of the Gravenor family range from those who were alive in the 1800s (who look fairly normal), to those born more recently (who are much more likely to exhibit obvious signs of inbreeding). Gravenors who have escaped the manor still sport mild (though often noticeable) congenital defects and the remnants of Paranoia, but nothing quite so obvious or frightening. They also tend to dress in modern clothes, even if their taste runs to conservative styles, and the escapees do know how to use modern technology.
Art & Architecture
Havens: The Gravenor family has two primary domains: the Gravenor Manor and Gravenor Hog Farms & Slaughterhouse. Living at the first counts as Haven ••• (Security ••, Size •), while the second can be purchased as Haven •• (Security • Size •) for any character with at least Status • in the company, representing living quarters on the property. Those who do not live at the family home may buy other havens if they wish to do so, as their funds (and player access to Merit or experience points) allow.
Nickname: Throwbacks
Clans: Because only one vampire is involved with the Gravenor family proper, all those who live at the manor are Nosferatu Ghouls. Of course, any clan might pick up those who have left the family and spread to the four winds. Their predilections make them especially suited to service for other Nosferatu, as well as Mekhet and Gangrel Kindred.
Strengths: Grigor Swancott’s obvious insanity aside, it seems possible that he was driven insane by something very real. Members of the family of Ghouls he fostered have inherited his sense that something else is out there. This sense functions like the Unseen Sense Merit, except more potent. Any kind of supernatural phenomenon can be sensed by a Gravenor, and in such situations the player may make a Wits + Occult roll to see if the character realizes what she is sensing.
Roll Results
Dramatic Failure: The feeling goes unnoticed entirely. A sadistic Storyteller might also decide that the feeling is mistaken for something else, but should note that this sense also functions as a senseof danger, and that the level of a threat cannot be mistaken once noticed.
Failure: The character knows she is feeling something, but she can’t tell what’s causing it. Surprise is still prevented, as the feeling causes the character to sit up and take notice of potential dangers.
Success: The feeling indicates what kind of creature or occurrence is happening in a way the character has felt before and is able to put a name to, such as “vampire,” “werewolf” or “shambling swamp monster hiding under the muck.” Once the source of a feeling has been identified, the character retains the same sense of it for the entire scene.
Exceptional Success: The exact direction and approximate distance to the source of the feeling can be determined.
Weaknesses: Congenital defects make life very difficult for the Gravenors. Players of Gravenor characters should choose one of the following defects:
Grigor — and the entire Gravenor family by proxy — is plagued by the fear of terrible monsters seeking to gain entry to our world. It seems the product of a delusional mind, and evidence certainly supports that. Swancott and many members of the Gravenor kin suffer from paranoid visions and peripheral hallucinations. Such mental fractures easily explain away the phobias and irrational Paranoia. But as the saying goes, “Just because you’re paranoid doesn’t mean they’re not after you.”
Is it possible that Grigor is right? Are there really strange creatures outside this world trying to get in? Are they demons, fey spirits, ghosts or something altogether stranger? It seems impossible, until one considers that those traveling nearby claim to have seen hominid beings lurching through the marshes, and others have seen red eyes staring at them from the rearview mirrors of their cars…
The marsh surrounding the crumbling Gravenor manor is a dank, forbidding place. The house specifically (a sprawling Victorian monstrosity) is surrounded by a number of black willow trees, hunched over and leaning toward the house as if trying to crush it.
Some of these dark, drooping willows are Mandragora, trees that have been made to drink the Vitae of Grigor Swancott. They sway and lurch even when there is no strong wind, and the vinelike tendrils are capable of tangling unsuspecting mortals who wander through their foliage. The trees, like all Mandragora, produce the glutinous bloody Sap called lacrima. Many of the elder Gravenors harvest this substance from time to time and use it in both food and drink. They feed each mandrake with the stolen blood from their Nosferatu master.
Grigor Swancott was a lunatic, and eventually his lunacy drove him into Torpor. Yet, what could drive a Nosferatu, a creature with the power of Nightmare at his command, to such degeneration? The fact that none of those living at the Gravenor estate can Ignore is that something did. Something gets into fights with the trees they’ve fed on Grigor’s blood, sometimes tearing off branches or withering the plants prematurely. Something breaks windows, and it’s not spastic little Timmy. (He gets tied down at night.) Something writes eerie messages in the steam on the mirror while Daddy’s shaving, and something looks into Suzie’s bedroom window at night with glowing red eyes.
To the outside world, the disgusting effects of inbreeding are rationalization enough to stay away from the house in the swamp. Those who live there are trapped in a world where rationalizations are futile. The problem is, they also don’t have any real idea what they’re dealing with. The reality of it all is reinforced almost daily… though in a way that, when they talk with family members who have left the enclosure, is doubtful and might simply point to slipping sanity and cabin fever. Each person living at Gravenor Manor has one or more personal tokens that prove, at least in their own eyes, the truth of what they fight. Players of Gravenor characters can take heart one of two ways. Either (as escapees) they are out of the insane asylum and free, or (if they live inside) they know that what others call crazy is really the only sane way of dealing with an insane truth.
Strengths: Grigor Swancott’s obvious insanity aside, it seems possible that he was driven insane by something very real. Members of the family of Ghouls he fostered have inherited his sense that something else is out there. This sense functions like the Unseen Sense Merit, except more potent. Any kind of supernatural phenomenon can be sensed by a Gravenor, and in such situations the player may make a Wits + Occult roll to see if the character realizes what she is sensing.
Roll Results
Dramatic Failure: The feeling goes unnoticed entirely. A sadistic Storyteller might also decide that the feeling is mistaken for something else, but should note that this sense also functions as a senseof danger, and that the level of a threat cannot be mistaken once noticed.
Failure: The character knows she is feeling something, but she can’t tell what’s causing it. Surprise is still prevented, as the feeling causes the character to sit up and take notice of potential dangers.
Success: The feeling indicates what kind of creature or occurrence is happening in a way the character has felt before and is able to put a name to, such as “vampire,” “werewolf” or “shambling swamp monster hiding under the muck.” Once the source of a feeling has been identified, the character retains the same sense of it for the entire scene.
Exceptional Success: The exact direction and approximate distance to the source of the feeling can be determined.
Weaknesses: Congenital defects make life very difficult for the Gravenors. Players of Gravenor characters should choose one of the following defects:
- Albino (Sunlight Allergy) — Take bashing damage from sunlight in the way a vampire would take aggravated damage.
- Grotesque Physical Mutations — A penalty of -2 dice on all Presence and Manipulation rolls dealing with those outside the family. Striking Looks Merit may not be purchased for this character.
- Severe Mental Illness — The character possesses one severe derangement, which is congenital and can never be removed.
Is Grigor Right?
Grigor — and the entire Gravenor family by proxy — is plagued by the fear of terrible monsters seeking to gain entry to our world. It seems the product of a delusional mind, and evidence certainly supports that. Swancott and many members of the Gravenor kin suffer from paranoid visions and peripheral hallucinations. Such mental fractures easily explain away the phobias and irrational Paranoia. But as the saying goes, “Just because you’re paranoid doesn’t mean they’re not after you.”Is it possible that Grigor is right? Are there really strange creatures outside this world trying to get in? Are they demons, fey spirits, ghosts or something altogether stranger? It seems impossible, until one considers that those traveling nearby claim to have seen hominid beings lurching through the marshes, and others have seen red eyes staring at them from the rearview mirrors of their cars…
Gravenor Mandragora
The marsh surrounding the crumbling Gravenor manor is a dank, forbidding place. The house specifically (a sprawling Victorian monstrosity) is surrounded by a number of black willow trees, hunched over and leaning toward the house as if trying to crush it.Some of these dark, drooping willows are Mandragora, trees that have been made to drink the Vitae of Grigor Swancott. They sway and lurch even when there is no strong wind, and the vinelike tendrils are capable of tangling unsuspecting mortals who wander through their foliage. The trees, like all Mandragora, produce the glutinous bloody Sap called lacrima. Many of the elder Gravenors harvest this substance from time to time and use it in both food and drink. They feed each mandrake with the stolen blood from their Nosferatu master.
Hope — Mortal Terro
Grigor Swancott was a lunatic, and eventually his lunacy drove him into Torpor. Yet, what could drive a Nosferatu, a creature with the power of Nightmare at his command, to such degeneration? The fact that none of those living at the Gravenor estate can Ignore is that something did. Something gets into fights with the trees they’ve fed on Grigor’s blood, sometimes tearing off branches or withering the plants prematurely. Something breaks windows, and it’s not spastic little Timmy. (He gets tied down at night.) Something writes eerie messages in the steam on the mirror while Daddy’s shaving, and something looks into Suzie’s bedroom window at night with glowing red eyes.To the outside world, the disgusting effects of inbreeding are rationalization enough to stay away from the house in the swamp. Those who live there are trapped in a world where rationalizations are futile. The problem is, they also don’t have any real idea what they’re dealing with. The reality of it all is reinforced almost daily… though in a way that, when they talk with family members who have left the enclosure, is doubtful and might simply point to slipping sanity and cabin fever. Each person living at Gravenor Manor has one or more personal tokens that prove, at least in their own eyes, the truth of what they fight. Players of Gravenor characters can take heart one of two ways. Either (as escapees) they are out of the insane asylum and free, or (if they live inside) they know that what others call crazy is really the only sane way of dealing with an insane truth.