Order of Sir Martin
The disease I got only goes to the bones. Yours goes soul deep.
The First Estate’s acceptance of the bloodline and knightly order known as the Order of Sir Martin comes as something of a surprise to most Kindred. Often described with epithets ranging from “unpleasant” to “scurrilous” or worse, the Knights of Sir Martin seem at first glance antithetical to the First Estate. They claim to uphold the law, never openly defying it and always adopting a stance of submission towards the authority of The Invictus, yet they seem constantly plagued by accusations of secretly flaunting the edicts of the domain and spreading disease among the masses.
In truth, the Order of Sir Martin acts as a sort of secret police for The Invictus, willing to act in ways and investigate in places that the more proper members of the covenant could never sanction. The eclectic membership of the order opens it to Kindred who would never otherwise find a niche within the First Estate, while the covert operations it engages in on behalf of The Invictus allows its members to channel their most destructive impulses into productive avenues. The Invictus appreciates the Leper Knight’s unique talents and have kept them close to their breast for almost a thousand years.
In truth, the Order of Sir Martin acts as a sort of secret police for The Invictus, willing to act in ways and investigate in places that the more proper members of the covenant could never sanction. The eclectic membership of the order opens it to Kindred who would never otherwise find a niche within the First Estate, while the covert operations it engages in on behalf of The Invictus allows its members to channel their most destructive impulses into productive avenues. The Invictus appreciates the Leper Knight’s unique talents and have kept them close to their breast for almost a thousand years.
Culture
Culture and cultural heritage
History and Culture: The Most Noble Order of the Fallen King, more commonly known as the Order of Sir Martin, originated in the late 11th century, just as the Crusades first fell upon the Holy Land. Bloodline legend accredits the formation of the line to an ancient monster called Martin of Jerusalem. The Haunt, long blighted with deformities that gave him the appearance of a leper, dressed in rags and existed among the colonies of the diseased and infirm. Over the centuries he drew several vampires to him, most of which were Haunts whose curse had manifested in ways they felt too severe to allow them to exist within the framework of Kindred society.
The pilgrims of the First Crusade slaughtered much of the populace of Jerusalem, robbing the local Kindred of a onceplentiful Herd. While his more erudite and sophisticated contemporaries fell into Torpor, Martin adapted, moving among the mortal knights and spreading the diseases he had long carried within his blood. The population of hospitalized westerners rose, and Martin moved among the blighted knights, studying their philosophies and religion and melding it with his own understanding of the world. A few of the warriors proved too pleasing to release to the cold grasp of death, and Martin took on new childer, empowering them with his Vitae and teaching them his own brand of survival.
By the end of the 12th century, the lineage had grown to almost a dozen Kindred residing throughout the Holy Land. While a few were directly related to Martin, most were European monsters who had followed the Crusade east. Martin took such outcasts to his bosom, as he had always done, and taught them to move with subtlety and guile. Better to skulk, hide and survive within Kindred society than be banished to the wilds and fall to the rapacious monster within. Yet the line faced rejection, both from the local Kindred, who felt Martin had become too westernized, and from the Sanctified and Invictus that had followed the Crusade, who saw Martin as a local heathen and threat.
Martin again adapted, adopting the organization of the knightly orders that accompanied Kindred of the two great covenants to the Levant. In 1183, Martin gathered his extended family and bound them together in an oath, christening his group the Most Noble Order of King Baldwin the Leprous (who was then the King of Jerusalem). After Baldwin’s death two years later, Sir Martin renamed his followers the Order of the Fallen King.
Though the Leper Knights never gained the respect of the other knightly orders of the period, they both outperformed and outlasted the vast majority. Martin taught his followers to cleave only to the words of oaths, discarding the spirit for a convenient loophole. He taught them to defend themselves, not only with weapons and armor, but with the fear of the diseases they might have. Members of the line teach their childer the following aphorism, attributed to Martin himself: “Be so unpleasant that they cannot bear to look at what you are doing. Smell so of filth that they keep their noses out of your business.”
The lineage began haunting the various roads between the west and the Holy Land, feeding on the sick and infirm and spreading fear and loathing in their wake. The western covenants, too repulsed by the Order’s habits, failed to realize the wide-ranging network the Order had established. A dark reflection of the Knights Templar, the Order began trading in favors and influence, allowing a Kindred to provide a service to a Leper Knight in Europe for the promise of a later favor in Jerusalem. Nomadic Kindred leapt at the opportunity, allowing the Order to garner wealth and power at a startling rate. Members of the Order printed notes with special seals that attested to what the traveler was owed by the line. The Leper Knights of the Levant even honored the writs of those few vampires who survived the arduous journey.
With Martin’s blessing, the Order melded with The Invictus in 1317. Since then the Order has grown in size, always clinging to the outskirts of Kindred society, providing necessary services that the majority of Invictus find too repellent to perform themselves. The Order continues to take in those who would otherwise founder in the Danse Macabre, teaching them to overcome their curse and work towards their own welfare rather than devolving into slavering monsters.
Tonight the Order looks much as it always has. In Europe, where the bloodline boasts the most members, the Leper Knights organize into Chapters, each of which usually covers a small region (such as London and its environs). In areas with smaller populations, a Chapter may cover a larger geographical area, but never so large that the Chapter cannot gather four to five times a year or easily communicate. Nomadic members of the lineage, called Rovers, travel between the Chapters, providing information and aid to compatriots in distant domains. Thus the bloodline manages a rough communication system that spans Europe, allowing information within the line to pass between domains far more quickly than it does through other sources.
In the Americas, the Chapter system breaks down, and few such organizations exist outside of New England. More typically a small city may include one or two members of the line, while a larger metropolis may boast a small gang of Leper Knights (who often adopt a gangland attitude and fashion sense, if only to further their unwholesome image). Groups of Leper Knights (even the New England Chapters) in the Americas rarely communicate across the vast expansesof wilderness and don’t benefit from the same information network that their European cousins do.
The pilgrims of the First Crusade slaughtered much of the populace of Jerusalem, robbing the local Kindred of a onceplentiful Herd. While his more erudite and sophisticated contemporaries fell into Torpor, Martin adapted, moving among the mortal knights and spreading the diseases he had long carried within his blood. The population of hospitalized westerners rose, and Martin moved among the blighted knights, studying their philosophies and religion and melding it with his own understanding of the world. A few of the warriors proved too pleasing to release to the cold grasp of death, and Martin took on new childer, empowering them with his Vitae and teaching them his own brand of survival.
By the end of the 12th century, the lineage had grown to almost a dozen Kindred residing throughout the Holy Land. While a few were directly related to Martin, most were European monsters who had followed the Crusade east. Martin took such outcasts to his bosom, as he had always done, and taught them to move with subtlety and guile. Better to skulk, hide and survive within Kindred society than be banished to the wilds and fall to the rapacious monster within. Yet the line faced rejection, both from the local Kindred, who felt Martin had become too westernized, and from the Sanctified and Invictus that had followed the Crusade, who saw Martin as a local heathen and threat.
Martin again adapted, adopting the organization of the knightly orders that accompanied Kindred of the two great covenants to the Levant. In 1183, Martin gathered his extended family and bound them together in an oath, christening his group the Most Noble Order of King Baldwin the Leprous (who was then the King of Jerusalem). After Baldwin’s death two years later, Sir Martin renamed his followers the Order of the Fallen King.
Though the Leper Knights never gained the respect of the other knightly orders of the period, they both outperformed and outlasted the vast majority. Martin taught his followers to cleave only to the words of oaths, discarding the spirit for a convenient loophole. He taught them to defend themselves, not only with weapons and armor, but with the fear of the diseases they might have. Members of the line teach their childer the following aphorism, attributed to Martin himself: “Be so unpleasant that they cannot bear to look at what you are doing. Smell so of filth that they keep their noses out of your business.”
The lineage began haunting the various roads between the west and the Holy Land, feeding on the sick and infirm and spreading fear and loathing in their wake. The western covenants, too repulsed by the Order’s habits, failed to realize the wide-ranging network the Order had established. A dark reflection of the Knights Templar, the Order began trading in favors and influence, allowing a Kindred to provide a service to a Leper Knight in Europe for the promise of a later favor in Jerusalem. Nomadic Kindred leapt at the opportunity, allowing the Order to garner wealth and power at a startling rate. Members of the Order printed notes with special seals that attested to what the traveler was owed by the line. The Leper Knights of the Levant even honored the writs of those few vampires who survived the arduous journey.
With Martin’s blessing, the Order melded with The Invictus in 1317. Since then the Order has grown in size, always clinging to the outskirts of Kindred society, providing necessary services that the majority of Invictus find too repellent to perform themselves. The Order continues to take in those who would otherwise founder in the Danse Macabre, teaching them to overcome their curse and work towards their own welfare rather than devolving into slavering monsters.
Tonight the Order looks much as it always has. In Europe, where the bloodline boasts the most members, the Leper Knights organize into Chapters, each of which usually covers a small region (such as London and its environs). In areas with smaller populations, a Chapter may cover a larger geographical area, but never so large that the Chapter cannot gather four to five times a year or easily communicate. Nomadic members of the lineage, called Rovers, travel between the Chapters, providing information and aid to compatriots in distant domains. Thus the bloodline manages a rough communication system that spans Europe, allowing information within the line to pass between domains far more quickly than it does through other sources.
In the Americas, the Chapter system breaks down, and few such organizations exist outside of New England. More typically a small city may include one or two members of the line, while a larger metropolis may boast a small gang of Leper Knights (who often adopt a gangland attitude and fashion sense, if only to further their unwholesome image). Groups of Leper Knights (even the New England Chapters) in the Americas rarely communicate across the vast expansesof wilderness and don’t benefit from the same information network that their European cousins do.
Common Customs, traditions and rituals
The Advantages of Membership
Members of the Order of Sir Martin gain two advantages. First, upon entering the bloodline, the character swears an oath of fealty to his fellow Leper Knights. The Knights help one another regularly, forming a web of mentorship with a slightly different focus than The Invictus. As a result, characters who claim both membership in the bloodline and Status of at least 1 in The Invictus may purchase the following Merits at half the usual cost in experience: Fighting Styles, Haven, Mentor and Retainer. They do not continue to purchase Herd at half price, and this bonus does not apply at character creation.Additionally, members of the Order of Sir Martin gain access to the following Devotions. Each is a closely guarded secret within the sect and never taught to outsiders.
The Rejected Malady
Repulsive Mien
Major organizations
Reputation: The Order of Sir Martin has never enjoyed a particularly positive reputation among either its peers within The Invictus or in Kindred society as a whole. The Carthian Movement, especially, finds the Order distasteful. According to the Carthians, they serve as exemplars of the worst mercenary tendencies of the Kindred, willing to take any assignment, no matter how degrading, for whatever table scraps The Invictus throw their way. Most grating to the Carthians is the fact that many of the Kindred the Order takes on were vampires who the Movement was eyeing for recruitment.
The Lancea Sanctum and Circle of the Crone have eerily similar opinions about the Order. Both groups feel that the bloodline wallows in self-interest, rebuffing any opportunity for enlightenment or grace. In short, the line fails to uphold the will of God (or the gods). The Leper Knights don’t share the animosity, and in domains in which The Invictus has a strong relationship with either covenant, members of the lineage often attend mass or the solstice rituals.
While Kindred of the Order of Sir Martin almost universally swear fealty to The Invictus, a rare few forsake the First Estate for The Ordo Dracul. Such Kindred are almost always elders who have decided that they want something more out of unlife than the riches that come with membership in The Invictus. These Kindred find enough familiarity in the Order to embrace it, and many become celebrated members of the Sworn of the Axe. Unfortunately, leaving The Invictus requires a Leper Knight to recant his sworn oath to the knightly order. The lack of reprisal such turncoats face often worries The Ordo Dracul, and the Dragons usually watch their new members with extreme care, making entirely clear what will befall them if the local Invictus begins showing signs of The Coils of the Dragon.
The Lancea Sanctum and Circle of the Crone have eerily similar opinions about the Order. Both groups feel that the bloodline wallows in self-interest, rebuffing any opportunity for enlightenment or grace. In short, the line fails to uphold the will of God (or the gods). The Leper Knights don’t share the animosity, and in domains in which The Invictus has a strong relationship with either covenant, members of the lineage often attend mass or the solstice rituals.
While Kindred of the Order of Sir Martin almost universally swear fealty to The Invictus, a rare few forsake the First Estate for The Ordo Dracul. Such Kindred are almost always elders who have decided that they want something more out of unlife than the riches that come with membership in The Invictus. These Kindred find enough familiarity in the Order to embrace it, and many become celebrated members of the Sworn of the Axe. Unfortunately, leaving The Invictus requires a Leper Knight to recant his sworn oath to the knightly order. The lack of reprisal such turncoats face often worries The Ordo Dracul, and the Dragons usually watch their new members with extreme care, making entirely clear what will befall them if the local Invictus begins showing signs of The Coils of the Dragon.
Nickname: Leper Knights (or more derogatorily, simply Lepers)
Parent Clan: Nosferatu; rumors persist, however, that the Order of Sir Martin can spread their foul disease to members of other clans, drawing them into the bloodline against their will.
Bloodline Disciplines: Nightmare, Obfuscate, Resilience, Vigor
Weakness: Members of the Order of Sir Martin suffer from the Nosferatu clan weakness (see p. 111 of Vampire: The Requiem).
Additionally, they are wracked with a foul disease that upsets their humors. Whenever a Leper Knight feeds, her player rolls Resolve + Stamina. On a failure, she vomits up an amount of Vitae equal to her Blood Potency or the amount of blood she consumed, whichever is less. This applies whether the feeding occurs in the course of play or falls to an abstract roll (see Vampire: The Requiem, page 164).
The regurgitated liquid remains human blood and carries no risk of Vitae Addiction or Vinculum (though few vampires would risk exposing themselves to the Lepers’ taint, even for the heady rush of Kindred Vitae). It may be possible to consume the Vitae again, depending on the circumstances, though unless special care is taken, most of the Vitae will be lost (assume that in most situations one quarter of the Vitae vomited can be reclaimed). Licking vomited Vitae from the ground is not only disgusting, but also requires the Leper to roll again to avoid vomiting.
While the majority of the members of this line don’t have horrific physical deformities (at least not in the modern nights), such malformations remain common enough to be considered part of many Kindred’s stereotype of the bloodline. For their part, deformed Leper Knights wear their blemishes as badges.
Concepts: Anti-Crone crusader, apparent AIDS victim, disease carrier, doctor-turned-murderer, extremist militant, gangland tyrant, information broker, spy in a foreign court, unceremonious prostitute, urban cowboy
Parent Clan: Nosferatu; rumors persist, however, that the Order of Sir Martin can spread their foul disease to members of other clans, drawing them into the bloodline against their will.
Parent ethnicities
Weakness: Members of the Order of Sir Martin suffer from the Nosferatu clan weakness (see p. 111 of Vampire: The Requiem).
Additionally, they are wracked with a foul disease that upsets their humors. Whenever a Leper Knight feeds, her player rolls Resolve + Stamina. On a failure, she vomits up an amount of Vitae equal to her Blood Potency or the amount of blood she consumed, whichever is less. This applies whether the feeding occurs in the course of play or falls to an abstract roll (see Vampire: The Requiem, page 164).
The regurgitated liquid remains human blood and carries no risk of Vitae Addiction or Vinculum (though few vampires would risk exposing themselves to the Lepers’ taint, even for the heady rush of Kindred Vitae). It may be possible to consume the Vitae again, depending on the circumstances, though unless special care is taken, most of the Vitae will be lost (assume that in most situations one quarter of the Vitae vomited can be reclaimed). Licking vomited Vitae from the ground is not only disgusting, but also requires the Leper to roll again to avoid vomiting.
While the majority of the members of this line don’t have horrific physical deformities (at least not in the modern nights), such malformations remain common enough to be considered part of many Kindred’s stereotype of the bloodline. For their part, deformed Leper Knights wear their blemishes as badges.
Concepts: Anti-Crone crusader, apparent AIDS victim, disease carrier, doctor-turned-murderer, extremist militant, gangland tyrant, information broker, spy in a foreign court, unceremonious prostitute, urban cowboy