Ventrue

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The symbol of Clan Ventrue, it could only be less subtle by hitting you in the head with one of these.

A Vampire: The Masquerade clan, as well as a Vampire: The Requiem clan. Made up mostly of rich, commanding types. They're mostly embraced from nobility and powerful merchants. You know... Assholes. The word ventrue is a French word meaning "fat-bellied parasitic plutocrat"; once upon a time rotundity of belly was nearly synonymous with wealth as only wealthy people could afford the glut of food required to get fat. Telling a snobby Ventrue the meaning of their clan's name is always good for lulz; do it as a Malkavian and you just might get away with it without getting staked after you step outside of Elysium.

Vampire: the Masquerade

Look at her. She's not even real and she's judging your pleb tastes so fucking hard.

Ventrue are the politicians and CEOs of the Camarilla. They're the ones most likely to have control over mortal affairs, from large businesses to police and government functions. They also commonly set themselves up as Prince; the clan-wide predilection for organization helps a lot with that. This regimental thinking gives the clan a reputation of having a stick up their butts.

Ventrue are often obsessed with lineage, and most are able to recite their sire's sire's sire going back to the clan's founder; which gets weird when you remember the Camarilla denies the existence of the antediluvians. This lineage carries a social weight, and Ventrue are quick to use their lineage as an advantage. Their clan isn't really organized, not like the Tremere or Nosferatu are, but a Ventrue is expected to follow the orders of their elders. the clan holds a lot of traditions, and it's that hidebound mentality that helps keep the Camarilla from falling apart. (It's also what keeps it from ever getting shit done or adapting to changing times)

Ventrue have the weakness of needing to feed upon specific kinds of blood, like that of virgins, senators, children, or whatever fills their palate, and only that kind of blood. If they did consume blood besides that they will receive no nourishment (or blood points) from it and/or vomit it up.

Ventrue Bloodlines

Ventrue antitribu

The Ventrue antitribu among the Sabbat sect tend slightly more towards the knights and stewards of old (eg, killing people) and tend to learn Auspex over Presence. They're even given the nickname "Crusaders".

Heraldry of Clan Danava

Danava

The Danava claim that they are the original clan of their Antediluvian, whom they call Veddhartha, and that the Ventrue are a somewhat degenerate Danava bloodline who sacrificed enlightenment for material gain. A faction of Danava believe that they are the guardians of their Antediluvian, and this guardian faction helped found the ancient Tal'mahe'Ra sect. The Danava are a bloodline of Hindu thaumaturges (though they use the Hindi word Sadhana rather than the English word Thaumaturgy) whose mastery of Thaumaturgy/Sadhana far predates the comparatively nascent Tremere. The Danava are also the Eastern mystics from whom Saulot gained his knowledge of the transcendent vampiric state poetically referred to as Golconda. The crimes of Clan Tremere against the Salubri would almost definitely provide the Danava with a religious reason to hate the Tremere. If the Ventrue ever manage to repair relations with their estranged Thaumaturgy-wielding Danava cousins, the Tremere would need to roll for Anal Circumference.

The religion of the Danava is primarily a vampiric spin on Shaivism (Hinduism centered on Shiva), and in V:tM there is a vampiric religion called Via Primordia which worships a vampiric version of the Hindu Trimurti (which includes Shiva), yet in typically uncoordinated White Wolf fashion the authors of the Danava material and the authors of the Primordia material completely missed the boat by failing to integrate the two sets of overlapping Hinduism-related material together, which should have been easy given that the first books debuting each were published in the same year.

Vampire: the Requiem

The Ventrue are one of the five Kindred clans in Vampire: The Requiem. They have a simple boast: they always win. Their plots and plans can take years, decades, or centuries to assemble or accomplish, and they have all the time they need to accommodate outside influences.

Known as the Lords for their habitual pursuit of power, many Kindred domains have Ventrue in high-ranking positions. Their preference in childer conforms to this goal: many Ventrue in life were old money, entrepreneurs, politicians, crime bosses, or other professionals with expertise, connections, and money. Of all the other clans, the Ventrue consider only the Daeva as a potential threat to their positions of power.

The thirst for power erodes the Ventrue's humanity, turning them paranoid or delusional and making them more prone to losing the Touchstones that remind them of what it meant to be human. This degeneration makes them more susceptible to insanity after confronting the horrible acts they commit. In fact, one of their core bloodlines is Malkovian, who are all incurably insane in one form or another. Additionally, some are known to succumb to a condition dubbed Malkavia, a bizarre form of contagious mental illness that grants flashes of insight at the expense of insanity.

Their favored Discipline, Dominate, accounts for much of their success; when personal charm and diplomacy fail, just mind-control somebody into doing what you want. For Malkovians, using Dominate can set off their derangements, and Malkavians (I.E. vampires that have contracted Malkavia) gain the powers of Dementation.

In accordance with the rest of Requiem, the intricate clan structure used in Masquerade is abandoned for a more open-ended backstory. This has its benefits (allowing for the general archetype of the Ventrue as commanding, leader-like vampires to appear outside of their stereotypes in Masquerade) and its detriments (many Masquerade fans saw it as lacking in the fluff that they enjoyed in Masquerade).