At the end, there will be war. Mortals speak of the Battle of Armageddon, Cainites of Gehenna. Either way, there will come a night when drawn swords and mustered armies are that stand between the Damned and the saved. The Ventrue take these predictions as their marching orders. They are the fearsome knights, noble warriors and empire-builders of Caine's get. Let others ''rule'' as priests and potentates. When the last battle comes, they will beg for protection like all others cowing behind the arrayed Ventrue knights.
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According to clan legend, the Ventrue founder was the first childe of Enoch, eldest of the second generation. Therefore, they are destined by special mandate to carry the mantle and the burden of leadership.
In more recent nights, the Ventrue identify strongly with the late Republic and early Roman Empire, looking to Julius Caesar and others as great exemplars of the warrior-king ideal. In the later Empire, however the decadent Lasombra and addled Malkavians were surely closer to the heart and soul of the eternal city. The other clans rub the Ventrue's face in this transformation every time they call them ''Patricians,'' the name of the Roman noble families who became an inbred privileged caste.
The Long Night was not a grand time for the Ventrue, either. Skill at arms was hardly necessary in the period after Rome, but the get of Caine was so isolated s to shrug off the urge for empire-building. In these centuries, many who could not prove their worth on the battlefield chose other methods. They became the guild masters, the courtiers, and the seneschals who whispered promises of power to come.
In these nights, however, things have changed. After a tense build-up, the War of Princes rages at last, and the Ventrue know their time has come. Several of their elders have returned to the fore to gather their armies and claim new kingdoms. The knight--a warrior-lord bound by his honor and judged by his sword--is the Ventrue made manifest, and the clan has organized several orders of chivalry for the Damned. The Ventrue call themselves Warlords, and it is no empty boast.
But the corruption of late Rome and the indolence of the Long Night are not easy to shake off. The clan's warriors clash with one another as often as they do with outsiders, either in personal vendettas or under the banner of one of several great Ventrue factions. And still others refuse to return to the warrior's ways. They seek power in commerce and intrigue instead.
The greatest Ventrue factions are the Normans who follow Mithras, Prince of London and Monarch of the Baronies of Avalon, and the Germans, under Lord Hardestadt of the Fiefs of the Black Cross. Both courts rally around powerful Methuselahs and claim whole swaths of Europe as their extended domains. Various merchant princes who have been carefully constructing their leadership around a system of money-lending and cooperative guilds are strong as well. This new class of Ventrue still remains a strange aberration to many of the more traditional elders, but the power of the guilds is a force to be reckoned with. Other Ventrue warlords and nocturnal dukes stake claims of their own or under the banners of other lords, including the Arpad brood of Ventrue in Hungary and the freelances who fight in Iberia under Lasombra banners.
Mortal society is important to the Ventrue, but not nearly as important as what one gains after the Embrace. Only then can the true power and potential of the fledgling be realized. A few independents maintain influential positions within mortal political institutions and the Church, but not enough to truly impact society as a whole. Any Ventrue with ambition, however, should be viewed with respect, for the clan is a formidable force indeed.
Warlords (some still use the less-flattering Patrician sobriquet
Whether merchants or princes, the Ventrue dress to their station impeccably. An impressive elegance goes a long way towards creating the appearance of leadership, and the Ventrue work to portray what they embody. Commonly present too are the various arms and weapons that prove the Ventrue lords are both willing to and capable of defending their lands and leading their forces into battle.
Every leader requires followers, and so the Ventrue are never far from centers of political power or from the battles where it is to be gained. Old castles and mansions make excellent havens, as do fortresses built on the frontier, be it in pagan Livonia or in the Holy Land. Younger Warlords either serve under elders at a great court or head to outlying areas to gain power and position. Because of specific feeding habits of the Ventrue, they often choose a haven that allows them access to the specific type of prey that they require.
The Ventrue seek to Embrace those who personify honor, power, and conquest. More often than not, they Embrace members of the existing aristocracy and especially tradition-oriented clan members go so far as to Embrace those of a specific lineage, keeping a pure line of descent throughout the ages. Other powerful mortals, by they military leaders, merchants, or the occasional Knights Templar, also make excellent candidates for the Blood. Sires often train childer for several years, forging vassals and lieutenants out of their progeny.
Physical Attributes and Skills are primary in the most martial of clan, but rulership is more than skill at arms, so Social Attributes and Knowledges are also popular. Important Backgrounds include Allies and Retainers (for brothers in arms), as well as Domain and Resources (for lands that they hold). There are Ventrue on every major road, but the clan identifies most strongly with the Road of Kings.
Dominate, Fortitude, Presence
All Warlords have specific limitation on their feeding habits. They may drink the vitae of only type of mortal (priests, non-Christians, virgins, Englishmen, and so on), chosen at the time of character creation. While they can physically imbibe the blood of mortals who are not among their selected prey, the gain no sustenance from it. The weakness does not extend to the blood of other vampires, however. The Ventrue can always gain sustenance from that.
The Ventrue believe firmly in Cainite feudalism, and they organize themselves accordingly. Oaths of loyalty (sometimes backed by blood) are common between Ventrue of differing rank. Others join chivalic orders of the Damned, some exist as a conspiracy within mortal orders. The largest one is the Order of the Black Cross, which is hidden with the Teutonic Knights.
