Zelani
No bloodline is exactly prolific. Some consist of only one member, but most bloodlines of note contain at least a dozen constituents. The enigmatic Zelani bloodline only has enough members to form a single coterie — at present. The founder of the bloodline has great, noble plans for its destiny, and, now that the time is right, she encourages the Zelani to rise to their rightful place as the leaders of The Carthian Movement.
Culture
Culture and cultural heritage
Background: Zelani can come from any walk of life. The only requirement for the Embrace is crossing Lorna Zelan’s path on the right night.
As afternoon wore on, a neighbor woman came over to check on Lorna, since she knew that the Zelan family had a new baby and many mouths to feed already. She found Lorna pinned under the ghoul on the living room floor, and screamed for help. No one was within earshot, however, and the ghoul leapt up and made short work of the woman. By that time, Lorna had retrieved her late husband’s shotgun from its perch over the mantle. She claims it took four shots to kill the ghoul.
Lorna knew the Kindred were in the basement, but she had never heard the word “vampire” before and knew nothing of them. (Lorna also admits to being illiterate at that point.) Dazed and still in shock, she set about trying to bury her family, and opened the wide cellar doors to retrieve a Shovel. The sunlight streamed in and destroyed four of the five Kindred in moments, and Lorna watched, unable to believe her eyes, as the monsters turned to dust before her. When the chaos was over, she found her spade and went to work.
She claims that she was in the midst of burying one of her family when the full horror of what had happened hit her, and she dropped to her knees and wept. She was still crying when the sun set, and the last of the Kindred emerged from the cellar. As fate would have it, the only survivor was the same vampire who had chosen her to be his plaything. He found his intended victim crying over the half-buried corpses of her family, and something — perhaps her face, perhaps the blood-soaked ground — awakened in him the last shred of Humanity he possessed. He knelt next to her and waited for her to regain her composure, and then asked what she would have him do, if any forgiveness was possible.
Here Lorna’s story varies a bit. She has, at times, claimed that she asked him for the Embrace (which begs the question of what exactly she asked, since by her own admission she had no knowledge of vampires), and, at others, asserted that he cursed her with unlife in a twisted attempt at absolution. In any case, she is very clear on one point — only by forfeiting his life could he gain her forgiveness. So, the depraved vampire Embraced her, and then she tied him to a post and set him on fire.
Knowing that she couldn’t keep her new existence secret in her hometown, Lorna finished burying her family and left, soon arriving in “the big city.” (She refuses to say which city was her first domain.)
Although Lorna never joined a coterie and never became involved in the Danse Macabre, she kept abreast of events in her city and gained something of a reputation as a power waiting to happen. The other Kindred in the city could sense a growing prescience in the young Daeva, and one even attempted to slay her in order to be on the safe side. That Kindred, however, timed his attack wrong and ran afoul of a gang of young toughs who felt that attempting to stab a whore with a Wooden Stake was ignoble. To Lorna’s knowledge, he’s still at the bottom of a nearby river, the stake intended for her jutting from his chest. That attack was the beginning of a new reputation for her — after word got around that her assailant had been taken down by sheer happenstance, the vampires of the city started calling her “Lucky Lorna.”
Lorna, for her part, felt that what guided her was a much greater force than luck. She never had a name for it, and “fate” and “destiny” were too mystical for her tastes. It wasn’t until The Carthian Movement arrived in the city that she truly came into her own.
Could Lorna read the future, or did the fact that other Kindred respected her opinion help her realize her eventual goal? The question is intriguing, but largely irrelevant. The covenant in command of the city lost power, slowly but surely, and the Carthians’ ideas took hold. Their style of government was initially a meritocracy, and Lorna, having no wish to compete, sank into Torpor. Seeing this, several other influential Kindred either did likewise or removed themselves from Kindred politics in other ways, waiting for “Lucky Lorna” to recover. Her awakening gained a kind of mythical Status in the city. “When Lorna wakes” became a general phrase among the city’s Kindred, applied to any event that was favorable but wouldn’t happen in the foreseeable future.
After she took power, she immediately split her attention between doing her job as Prime Minister and propagating her own bloodline, the Zelani. Already her childer have sired other childer and the Zelani have spread throughout the city, acting as Regents of tenurial domains. Some of the city’s Kindred accuse Lorna of nepotism, but she keeps an open relationship with all of the city’s Kindred inhabitants and welcomes suggestions and criticisms, so such accusations tend to be met with shrugs and statements of “It ain’t broke, so let’s not fix it.” Lorna’s reputation and support comes largely from her perceived disdain of keeping secrets, her fair and impartial judgments on Kindred affairs and her uncanny ability to say and do the right thing at the right time.
Is Lorna a threat? No one knows, but she does have a plan for her city, and perhaps for the covenant as a whole. She is actively courting Daeva of other covenants to join her bloodline, and since her knack for fortuitous timing seems to pass to these Kindred, she will likely have some takers soon. What happens when she has enough followers in the right places? Only time will tell.
History
No one knows exactly when Lorna Zelan was Embraced. She tells the story often, and most of the details don’t change. One night, she says, she was at home nursing her youngest child when a band of Kindred crashed through the door and slaughtered her family, one by one. She went into shock as she watched them pull her husband’s head from his body, and doesn’t remember exactly what happened to her eight children, but when her vision cleared, they were all dead. The only reason she had been spared was that the leader of this murderous coterie (which she now believes to have been Belial’s Brood) had chosen her as his consort and eventual victim. A ghoul servant watched over her while the Kindred took refuge from the sun in her root cellar. The ghoul, however, did more than simply watch her. While Lorna has never gone into detail, she claims that the ghoul lived out every depraved fantasy possible with her that morning. Lorna was so numb by that point, though, that she scarcely noticed.As afternoon wore on, a neighbor woman came over to check on Lorna, since she knew that the Zelan family had a new baby and many mouths to feed already. She found Lorna pinned under the ghoul on the living room floor, and screamed for help. No one was within earshot, however, and the ghoul leapt up and made short work of the woman. By that time, Lorna had retrieved her late husband’s shotgun from its perch over the mantle. She claims it took four shots to kill the ghoul.
Lorna knew the Kindred were in the basement, but she had never heard the word “vampire” before and knew nothing of them. (Lorna also admits to being illiterate at that point.) Dazed and still in shock, she set about trying to bury her family, and opened the wide cellar doors to retrieve a Shovel. The sunlight streamed in and destroyed four of the five Kindred in moments, and Lorna watched, unable to believe her eyes, as the monsters turned to dust before her. When the chaos was over, she found her spade and went to work.
She claims that she was in the midst of burying one of her family when the full horror of what had happened hit her, and she dropped to her knees and wept. She was still crying when the sun set, and the last of the Kindred emerged from the cellar. As fate would have it, the only survivor was the same vampire who had chosen her to be his plaything. He found his intended victim crying over the half-buried corpses of her family, and something — perhaps her face, perhaps the blood-soaked ground — awakened in him the last shred of Humanity he possessed. He knelt next to her and waited for her to regain her composure, and then asked what she would have him do, if any forgiveness was possible.
Here Lorna’s story varies a bit. She has, at times, claimed that she asked him for the Embrace (which begs the question of what exactly she asked, since by her own admission she had no knowledge of vampires), and, at others, asserted that he cursed her with unlife in a twisted attempt at absolution. In any case, she is very clear on one point — only by forfeiting his life could he gain her forgiveness. So, the depraved vampire Embraced her, and then she tied him to a post and set him on fire.
Knowing that she couldn’t keep her new existence secret in her hometown, Lorna finished burying her family and left, soon arriving in “the big city.” (She refuses to say which city was her first domain.)
Patience and Timing
While Lorna is quick to the tell the tale of her Embrace to anyone who asks, she doesn’t like to talk about her early years among the Kindred. This might be because she doesn’t like to date herself, but another reason is probably that she is somewhat ashamed of some of the things that she did. After leaving her home behind, Lorna posed as a prostitute, the better to allow her victims to come to her. She met other Kindred and learned of their society, but became involved only peripherally. One thing she refused to do was enter a mortal’s (or even a vampire’s) home without permission. People who walked the streets at night were fair game for predation, as far as she was concerned, but the home should be sacrosanct. That this sort of thing had been a staple of vampire legends in some parts of the world for years came as a surprise to Lorna, but she simply took it as evidence that she was in the right.Although Lorna never joined a coterie and never became involved in the Danse Macabre, she kept abreast of events in her city and gained something of a reputation as a power waiting to happen. The other Kindred in the city could sense a growing prescience in the young Daeva, and one even attempted to slay her in order to be on the safe side. That Kindred, however, timed his attack wrong and ran afoul of a gang of young toughs who felt that attempting to stab a whore with a Wooden Stake was ignoble. To Lorna’s knowledge, he’s still at the bottom of a nearby river, the stake intended for her jutting from his chest. That attack was the beginning of a new reputation for her — after word got around that her assailant had been taken down by sheer happenstance, the vampires of the city started calling her “Lucky Lorna.”
Lorna, for her part, felt that what guided her was a much greater force than luck. She never had a name for it, and “fate” and “destiny” were too mystical for her tastes. It wasn’t until The Carthian Movement arrived in the city that she truly came into her own.
Lucky Lorna and the Carthians
Again, dates are fuzzy, but Lorna admits that the when The Carthian Movement gained a presence in her home city, the Movement was still a very young covenant, only recently recognized as any kind of power. Lorna seemed to know that it was going to snowball, however, because she threw her loyalty in with the Carthians immediately. She never attempted to seize any real power or position in the covenant, though, preferring to be known as a solid supporter rather than an ambitious up-and-comer. Once again, many of the Kindred in the city sensed that she was simply biding her time, and they considered her opinion very carefully when deciding what to do about this new faction.Could Lorna read the future, or did the fact that other Kindred respected her opinion help her realize her eventual goal? The question is intriguing, but largely irrelevant. The covenant in command of the city lost power, slowly but surely, and the Carthians’ ideas took hold. Their style of government was initially a meritocracy, and Lorna, having no wish to compete, sank into Torpor. Seeing this, several other influential Kindred either did likewise or removed themselves from Kindred politics in other ways, waiting for “Lucky Lorna” to recover. Her awakening gained a kind of mythical Status in the city. “When Lorna wakes” became a general phrase among the city’s Kindred, applied to any event that was favorable but wouldn’t happen in the foreseeable future.
The Brave New World
Lorna rose from Torpor just under a decade ago, and discovered that though the Carthians still held power in the city, their methods had changed. Now, the system was democratic — all the city’s Kindred voted on a leader known as a Prime Minister, and that leader was responsible for making policy and adjudicating breaches of the law. Lorna woke four nights before the elections and threw her hat into the ring, participated in several debates and was elected by a landslide. She seemed to know the recent history of the city as though she had been watching it closely, she was comfortable with the new technology and strangest of all, she had two childer with her who seemed as savvy as she was.After she took power, she immediately split her attention between doing her job as Prime Minister and propagating her own bloodline, the Zelani. Already her childer have sired other childer and the Zelani have spread throughout the city, acting as Regents of tenurial domains. Some of the city’s Kindred accuse Lorna of nepotism, but she keeps an open relationship with all of the city’s Kindred inhabitants and welcomes suggestions and criticisms, so such accusations tend to be met with shrugs and statements of “It ain’t broke, so let’s not fix it.” Lorna’s reputation and support comes largely from her perceived disdain of keeping secrets, her fair and impartial judgments on Kindred affairs and her uncanny ability to say and do the right thing at the right time.
The Ugly Truth
The fact is, though, that Lorna Zelan does keep secrets. She has Allies and Contacts in other cities that she never mentions. Carthians all over the country know her name and owe her favors, because they rely on her insights to make important decisions. In fact, her list of correspondents includes members of The Invictus, The Ordo Dracul and even The Lancea Sanctum. Lorna is unique in Kindred society because she is considered a power but not a threat.Is Lorna a threat? No one knows, but she does have a plan for her city, and perhaps for the covenant as a whole. She is actively courting Daeva of other covenants to join her bloodline, and since her knack for fortuitous timing seems to pass to these Kindred, she will likely have some takers soon. What happens when she has enough followers in the right places? Only time will tell.
Common Dress code
Appearance: Lorna does not Embrace based on looks or station in life, but rather based on her own sense of who is “right” for the bloodline. Therefore, no real commonality exists among the Zelani.
Art & Architecture
Major organizations
Covenant: All currently existing Zelani belong to The Carthian Movement. Lorna is eager for them to branch out to other covenants, but as only a handful of them exist at all, this hasn’t happened yet.
Organization: All Zelani are loyal to Lorna, and this loyalty is periodically reinforced by a taste of her blood. If the bloodline’s numbers expand as she foresees, however, she will lose control over its members. She recognizes this, and thus encourages her childer to become active members in their covenants, so they have someplace to belong once the family grows too large for her to oversee.
Organization: All Zelani are loyal to Lorna, and this loyalty is periodically reinforced by a taste of her blood. If the bloodline’s numbers expand as she foresees, however, she will lose control over its members. She recognizes this, and thus encourages her childer to become active members in their covenants, so they have someplace to belong once the family grows too large for her to oversee.
Nickname: None. (The Zelani have not existed as a bloodline for long enough to gain a nickname, so the Daeva sobriquet “Succubi” is still used to describe them.)
Bloodline Disciplines: Celerity, Majesty, Serendipity, Vigor
Weakness: Just as all Daeva, the Zelani have trouble resisting their base impulses. Any time a Zelani has the chance to indulge in her Vice and chooses not to do so, she loses two points of Willpower (as opposed to gaining one by partaking in its pleasures).
In addition, Lorna Zelan bears the psychological scars of her hideous Embrace and has passed her aversion to invading people’s homes on to her bloodline. Zelani are unable to enter a residence of any kind (apartment buildings, houses, even hotels) without an invitation from someone who dwells there. The invitation doesn’t have to come from the rightful owner, but must be issued by a resident rather than a visitor. Until such an invitation is issued, the Zelani cannot cross the threshold into the building. The vampire cannot directly force an invitation (with Dominate, for instance), but can use Majesty to entice one or Serendipity to arrive at the right moment to be invited. If the Zelani enters a building without an invitation or is forced to do so, roll the character’s Resolve + Strength. Each success inflicts one level of aggravated damage upon the character (so it is possible for a Zelani to crumble to dust if she violates this taboo).
Concepts: Artist, cab driver, Carthian Lawyer, “crazy” street person, drifter, fortune teller, gambler, hotel manager, real estate agent, seductress
Lorna loves telling the story of her Embrace, especially to neonates who think they had a bad time of it. She doesn’t vary the story on many points, either, but she never says in what year or even in what century it took place. Given that her blood has enough power for her to form her own bloodline, though, and that she has never committed Diablerie (she says), she must be fairly old. The content of her story also speaks of an agrarian society, but that in itself doesn’t give the listener a good sense of zeitgeist. Add to this the fact that Lorna has, by her own admission, spent a great deal of time in Torpor, and it becomes clear that she is either lying or far older than her comfort with modern technology and practices would imply.
It’s up to you. If a player wishes to take on the role of a Zelani Kindred, the player should work with the Storyteller to decide what Lorna has asked of the player’s character and what the ultimate goal of the bloodline is. Here are a few suggestions:
Parent ethnicities
Weakness: Just as all Daeva, the Zelani have trouble resisting their base impulses. Any time a Zelani has the chance to indulge in her Vice and chooses not to do so, she loses two points of Willpower (as opposed to gaining one by partaking in its pleasures).
In addition, Lorna Zelan bears the psychological scars of her hideous Embrace and has passed her aversion to invading people’s homes on to her bloodline. Zelani are unable to enter a residence of any kind (apartment buildings, houses, even hotels) without an invitation from someone who dwells there. The invitation doesn’t have to come from the rightful owner, but must be issued by a resident rather than a visitor. Until such an invitation is issued, the Zelani cannot cross the threshold into the building. The vampire cannot directly force an invitation (with Dominate, for instance), but can use Majesty to entice one or Serendipity to arrive at the right moment to be invited. If the Zelani enters a building without an invitation or is forced to do so, roll the character’s Resolve + Strength. Each success inflicts one level of aggravated damage upon the character (so it is possible for a Zelani to crumble to dust if she violates this taboo).
Concepts: Artist, cab driver, Carthian Lawyer, “crazy” street person, drifter, fortune teller, gambler, hotel manager, real estate agent, seductress
How Old Is Lorna?
Lorna loves telling the story of her Embrace, especially to neonates who think they had a bad time of it. She doesn’t vary the story on many points, either, but she never says in what year or even in what century it took place. Given that her blood has enough power for her to form her own bloodline, though, and that she has never committed Diablerie (she says), she must be fairly old. The content of her story also speaks of an agrarian society, but that in itself doesn’t give the listener a good sense of zeitgeist. Add to this the fact that Lorna has, by her own admission, spent a great deal of time in Torpor, and it becomes clear that she is either lying or far older than her comfort with modern technology and practices would imply.
So What's Really Happening?
It’s up to you. If a player wishes to take on the role of a Zelani Kindred, the player should work with the Storyteller to decide what Lorna has asked of the player’s character and what the ultimate goal of the bloodline is. Here are a few suggestions:
- Power: Lorna wishes to take over The Carthian Movement in her country, perhaps the entire world, and remake it in her image. Alternately, perhaps she wishes to take over clan Daeva and change it into clan Zelani, phasing out the Succubi and all of their bloodlines over time. This motivation is significantly outside the local scope of most Vampire chronicles, but that’s not to say it can’t happen.
- Revenge: Lorna has been waiting decades, maybe even centuries, to strike at the Kindred who murdered her family. Although those Kindred are dead, Lorna has discovered a way to call their souls back and infuse them into the bodies of Kindred who bear her blood. She can do this as many times as she likes, as long as members of her bloodline remain, meaning she can kill them again, and again and again . . . .
- Armageddon: Lorna doesn’t really care about power among the Kindred, she just wants members of her bloodline in as many cities as possible. Lorna is in possession of a lost fragment of the Testament of Longinus, one that gives instructions for bringing about a kind of Rapture for the Kindred. Enacting it, though, means that a certain number of Kindred must perform a ritual during an eclipse. That eclipse will take place in 10 years, so Lorna needs loyal Kindred in as many cities as possible before then. Fortunately, she’s ahead of schedule. She doesn’t really care about The Carthian Movement per se, but figured that the other covenants would be too nosy as to her agenda.