ANGEL MALDONADO › CAMARILLA TREMERE cis man & he + him     ∕ ∕     thaumaturgy ∙ auspex ∙ dominate

A knife in the gut and a smile on the lips, the sorcerer is in control of every situation; untouched by the blood dripping from their fingertips. While others scrabble for power or knowledge, they have everything they need without trying; secrets land on their shoulders like songbirds, and life whispers in their ear: it’s all about control. It is. The streetlights draw their chalk outline on the pavement, and the sorcerer’s mask cracks where no one else can see it. Desperation edges in; puddles of rain look like blood in the darkness, so where’s the line between heresy and genius? What’s the price of turning the world to suit your needs?

TURNED › seattle — 1994

i touch the world not as myself, but as an echo of who i was; can you hear me yet? can you read me?

CONNECTIONS ›

DIZZY 「tension」    › They both know that the other knows more than they’re saying. Neither likes it.

HAREL 「trepidation」    › Harel is a ticking time bomb, but maybe if Angel can get on their good side…

DIVYA 「amusement」    › When Angel speaks, Divya listens. Only Angel knows why.

JAZIRI 「friends」    › Angel will trade secrets for time in Jaziri’s company. They’re a calming presence.

FACE › manny montana

A Hermetic mage in eight century Romania, Tremere was the leader of a cabal of magick users rightfully feared for their obsession with knowledge and power. Able to prolong hs life unnaturally for centuries, his powers eventually lessened and his grip on youth became shaky. Unable or unwilling to accept his own mortality, Tremere cast his eyes on the hallowed secret of immortality. In his greed, the mage instigated the most terrifying magickal experiments ever conducted, damning himself and his followers to a hell of their own making. Thousands f mortals were murdered and hundreds of Kindred vivisected and drained in ritual circles before Tremere and his cultists thought they had found the elixir of life. How surprised they were to have discovered the curse of Caine. Terrified, they died and woke again to an eternity of unlife and hunger, cut off from their craft. In a mockery of their former magickal rituals, now only fresh blood allows the Tremere to cast their thaumaturgic spells to twist reality.

After the Second Inquisition destroyed the Prime Chantry in Vienna in 2008, CLAN TREMERE fell from gray eminences to personae non gratae in many regions. The arrogance of the Pyramid had made the usurpers few friends. But the need for sorcery has not disappeared; if anything, it grows as the cursed Blood shifts in the veins of the Kindred.

Without the Pyramid ordering them into rank and value, the warlocks find themselves competing with their fellow Kindred and, increasingly, with each other for anything that might allow them to regain some of their former power. A clan-wide chase for artefacts and grimoires belonging to their ashen ancestors rival the social intrigues in ugliness, and the alliance with the Camarilla is an oft-used weapon between the houses of Clan Tremere.

Meanwhile, the term “mercenary magus” is becoming increasingly widespread, as warlocks who were formerly Bound by the will of their masters find themselves free to serve for whatever price they choose.

Tremere serve in three ways: the warlocks serve the other clans with occult expertise, they serve the Camarilla with Blood Sorcery, and they serve themselves with their missions to grasp power. Though more Tremere ascend to praxis these nights than ever before, they still claim fewer thrones worldwide than Clan Nosferatu. In truth, most warlocks acknowledge that becoming the Prince is only useful if it helps them expand their knowledge. Tremere see true power as knowing the ways of shaping the world, having access to the right blood, and owning the rarest of ancient artefacts.

As the Tremere ally with confused coteries seeking them out, hunt for well-protected relics and artefacts, or closely analyse fragments of lore relating to the Cainite mythos – all the while miserly guarding their secrets from each other — they are all united in their thirst for knowledge. A Kindred who wishes to understand a piece of their history will do well to approach the Tremere for answers, as long as they are at peace with sharing a few secrets of their own – knowingly or otherwise.

THE TREMERE BANE is that the clan was once defined by a rigid hierarchy of Blood Bonds reaching from the top to the bottom of the Pyramid But after the fall of Vienna, their Blood has recoiled and aborted all such connections. Tremere vitae can no longer Blood Bond other Kindred, though they themselves can be Bound by Kindred from other clans. A Tremere can still bind mortals and ghouls, though the corrupted vitae has less of a ‘take’ even then. Some theorise this change is the revenge of the Antediluvian devoured by Tremere, others attribute it to a simple mutation. Regardless, the clan studies their vitae intently to discover if the process can be reversed, and, indeed, determine if they would want to do so.