Harbingers
A recent addition to the Sabbat, the bloodline calling itself the Harbingers of Skulls
claims a history of treachery, for which it seeks to exact a hellish vengeance. Members
of the bloodline are quite powerful without exception, and they claim to have returned
from their banishment to the realms of the dead. Long ago, they whisper, a
rogue society of sorcerers hunted them for their blood, stealing immortal
ity to further their own arcane lusts for power.
Few Sabbat believe this fairy tale of ancient injustice in these
modern nights, but the Harbingers are afforded a wide berth nonethe
less, given the immense potency of their magics and their discomforting
eccentricity. The Harbingers of Skulls are necromancers on par with
(and some say exceeding) the dreaded Giovanni, surrounding them
selves with miasmas of death, murder and mortification, all toward the
end of righting their legendary wrong. It would seem, however, that for
all their polemics, something rots below the surface they present. Like the
corpses they themselves resemble, something eats away at them from within.
The Harbingers of Skulls have been members of the Sabbat for only a
few years, and few of the youngest members of the sect have ever heard of
them, let alone seen one. Apparently, one of their number came forth with
a proposition to the cardinals, prisci and regent, who conferred and welcomed
the Harbingers to the Sword of Caine. Since then, the Harbingers of Skulls
have amassed unheard-of power in the sect (given their small number, which is estimated in the low hundreds). The Black Hand, the Inquisition and even
the ranks of the prisci now claim members of the Harbingers among them.
Scions of the Sabbat appear to reap great benefits from the Harbingers’ death
magic, maintaining contact with fallen allies or tormenting enemies from
beyond the wall of Final Death. Indeed, the Harbingers seem more than willing to
offer aid to Sabbat compatriots in exchange for favors to be determined later.
Cursed by Caine’s blood with the countenances of corpses, the Harbingers often
flay the tattered, grave-tainted flesh from their heads, leaving them with the
grinning rictus of their namesake. Masks and ceremony play an important part in
the bloodline’s culture, and elders among these Cainites maintain vast collections
of ritual masks and implements that they wear and use in their necromantic rites.
It has been rumored that the vitae in their veins is ancient and quite potent, and
perhaps their claims of grandiose history are not far from the mark. Whatever
the case, the Harbingers of Skulls simply ignore inconvenient lines of question
ing, preferring instead to spend their hours amid the tombstones of cemeteries
or in deep contemplation of the powers of the dead.
Nickname: Lazarenes (after Lazarus, who observed Christ’s return from
the dead)
Appearance: The Harbingers of Skulls have an emaciated, corpselike
appearance, accentuated by flesh that shrinks to fit the vampires’ skulls. They
are seldom seen outside their havens or the secret halls where powerful Sabbat
convene to plot their intrigues. Harbingers prefer loose-fitting, flowing cloaks
and burial shrouds, the better to represent their death magic and make dramatic
impressions.
Haven: Harbingers of Skulls never belong to packs, and thus, they never
make their havens with packs (unless doing so is temporary the Sabbat rumor-
mill is rife with tales of a Harbinger calling himself the Capuchin accepting brief
hospitality from certain packs, priests or ducti). Lazarenes prefer their own,
private havens, which often have laboratory annexes where they may conduct their grisly studies. Such havens tend to be far from prying or mortal eyes, beneath places like cemeteries, mausoleums, morgues and slaughterhouses.
Background: The backgrounds of those who become
Harbingers of Skulls is unknown it is believed that the
bloodline has not Embraced since its introduction to the
Sabbat. If this is true, murmur the young members of the sect,
the Harbingers must be ancient, accomplished and critical, as
they seem not to deem children of the modern nights worthy
of their brand of Caine’s curse.
Character Creation: Harbingers of Skulls have morbid
concepts, many of which are archaic or foreign to the modern
nights. The bloodline favors Mental Attributes and
Knowledges, and its members cultivate numerous Back
grounds. Few Harbingers deign to follow the tenets of
Humanity; they are more frequently attuned to the Path of
Death and the Soul or some bizarre variant of the Giovanni’s
Path of the Bones.
Clan Disciplines: Auspex, Fortitude, Necromancy Discipline information
Weaknesses: Regardless of the quantity of blood a
Harbinger of Skulls consumes, her skin maintains a deathly
pallor. Additionally, the Harbingers’ skin shrinks to make
these Cainites appear skeletal, with bony limbs and faces
frozen into an immortal death’s grin. Because of this decid
edly unwholesome and morbid visage, Harbingers of Skulls
have Appearance Traits of zero. All Social rolls involving the
Appearance Trait automatically fail for Harbingers of Skulls.
Organization: The Harbingers of Skulls have little orga
nization, and most eschew social company, preferring to be
left alone to study or hatch their plots. They do gather
infrequently, but to what purpose has never been confirmed.
Vampires outside the Harbingers’ circles suspect everything
from schemes to bring down the Sabbat from the inside to
symposiums on the most recent research involving the lands
of the dead. The Harbingers of Skulls do maintain some form
of visible hierarchy, however, as evidenced by their masks
and rituals. The more esteemed or accomplished members of
the bloodline wear much more elaborate masks, and they are
ritually acknowledged by lesser Harbingers, though the pre
cise system has eluded onlookers to date.
Quote: Nothing—-nothing—-burns as hot as the wound left by
the knife of treachery, especiallyy when it has been left to fester for eons.
A WORD ON HARBINGERS OF SKULLS
Like the Blood Brothers, Harbingers of Skulls are
not intended for players to portray. Unless the Story
teller plans on running an elders game, it is impossible to
create a Harbinger of Skulls under the new character
generation system.
Harbingers of Skulls are all at least eighth genera
tion, and hundreds (if not thousands) of years old. Most
have more Disciplines than many starting packs, and
could easily prove a match for the wiliest Tzimisce or
most duplicitous Lasombra elder. In fact, almost every
Harbinger predates the Sabbat altogether...
The bottom line is, don’t do it, unless you really,
really want to, and even then, Storytellers are encouraged
to put the kibosh on your plans. Storytellers, choose
wisely when allowing players to portray these types of
characters. Millennia-old vampires aren’t likely to pick
people off the street and turn them into vampires, and
they’re better off being used for you to weave your elabo
rate plotlines than as powerhouse players’ characters.
Also, don’t let your players’ knowledge color their
characters’ knowledge in this matter. In the World of
Darkness, there’s no master Vampire book for characters
to consult on these matters of mystery. Let them unearth
the secrets of the malignant world for themselves.
(Guide to Sabbat)
Clans