Clan Tremere Primer

Clan Tremere

Editorial Notes

Note the first: This page represents the degree of IC knowledge a Tremere character should have about the House/Clan's history. It is a redux of the contents of Rites of the Blood and Lore of the Clans and presented as an IC understanding of the history. Certain things are presented as known and factual that, in the books, are expressed as uncertain from a historical perspective. This is an editorial decision to create an established dogmatic doctrine, which is how House Tremere works as a clan.

Note the second: Within the halls of the Chantry, Tremere refer to each other as House Tremere. In general, when talking to other Vampires, they refer to the Clan as Clan Tremere. Only if you're being haughty and arrogant would you use 'House Tremere'. And that's a tool best used infrequently.

Note the third: Tremere characters know this. Any Tremere character found discussing the secrets of House Tremere with any outsider, regardless of how much the outsider claims to know already, should expect instant death. House Tremere spent centuries estalbishing themselves as cornerstones of the Camarilla.

Hidden History

By the dawn of the 11th Century, the world began to disbelieve in the supernatural and the magics of the Order of Hermes began to fade. Goratrix, a member of one of the Houses of the Order of Hermes, devised a ritual to provide immortality and thus safeguard the legacy of House Tremere's magic. Goratrix, Tremere and six of the leadership underwent the ritual, entered a deep slumber and awoke with their Avatars. Little by little, House Tremre were Embraced, each blood bound to the Pyramid to ensure loyalty and structure; the pyramid being one of the sacred symbols of enlightenment.

Clan Tzimisce, in retribution for Goratrix' use of Tzimisce; Gangrel; and Nosferatu Kindred in his experiments devising the ritual of immortality, began a war that would last for a little under a century. This conflict, known as the Omen War, lead House Tremere to create the Gargoyles as their foot soldiers and, eventually, to discovered and diablerized the Salubri Antedeluvian Saulot. Casting their lot in with the Princes in Europe, mostly Ventrue at the time, Tremere proved themselves ideal viziers. Cultivating deals which they adhered to unwaveringly, providing their unique blood magic to the clans. Clan Salubri were villified in this arrangement, cast as diablerists and demon worshippers by an impeccable propaganda engine.

The Black Death was the first turning point for House Tremere, their blood magic removing the threat of plague from Ventrue Herds. This provided an opportunity for them to both ingratiate themselves with the power elite and to present Thaumaturgy as a tasteful, noble, sanguine Discipline and not at all the bloody, inhumane, inhuman, sanguine thing it is. It was not long after this that the Inquisition began its war on the Supernatural, in particular Vampires. Many of the House Chantries were burned down, but this provided House Tramere the second opportunity to insinuate itself as reliable and upstanding members of Kindred society. Turning their magic to the protection of Kindred society, once again, the Inquisition found papers missing, their scouting missions hexxed, their investigations quite literally cursed.

During this time the rest of the Hermetic Orders discovered what had become of House Tremere and, on top of conflict with the other Clans, the Inquisition; a war broke out between the Mages House Tremere. This conflict, called the Massasa War, has continued to this day but mostly takes the form of a cold war. In L.A., during the recent flare up, the House Chantry was cloaked by a working undertaken by Maximillian Strauss.

Then came the Camarilla, which House Tremere consider their crowning achievement. Though, of course, Clan Ventrue take the credit for the formation of the Kindred authority and enshrining the Masquerade, and Clan Toreadore for making it culturally necessary to join; it was House Tremere's magic that allowed Kindred to survive the Inquisition. After the foundation of the Camarilla, the Anarch Revolt was brought to a swift end with the Convention of Thorns. It was the cursing of the Assamites, preventing them from committing diablerie without risking death, that cemented House Tremere as the singular authority on Thaumaturgy within the Camarilla.

Modern Nights

Though there are practitioners of blood magic to be found in the Sabbat, the Assamites, and even the occasional Anarch; it is only the Hermetically codified Thaumaturgy of House Tremere that allows the clan to stand as the ultimate magical authority, policing blood magic within the Camarilla ruthlessly and defending the Camarilla from magical threats beyond the Ivory Tower. The monopoly that House Tremere hold on blood magic within the halls of power, however, has bred both mistrust and jealousy. And though in the sanctity of their own havens, some Kindred might speak ill of House Tremere; doing so publicly risks their name being added to The Black List, the international Tremere catalogue of embargoed Kindred who are forever banned from receiving the Thaumaturgical aid of the House.

The Pyramid

Power among the Chantries is found exclusively within the Ranks Pyramid. There are seven ranks in Clan Tremere, each rank having seven degrees.

Ranks in the Pyramid

• Councilors, members of the Council of Seven, the ultimate ruling body of House Tremere, answerable only to Tremere himself.
• Pontifexes set the policy for entire regions or small nations.
• Lords set the policy for Regents in their branch of the pyramid
• Regents are ultimately responsible for the Chantry as a whole.
• Magisters are responsible for the day to day running of Chantries, educating Acolytes and Apprentices.
• Apprentice Only when they have sufficiently proven themselves within the Pyramid are they granted the Rank of Apprentice and presented to Kindred society at large. This is the rank that most Tremere spend their entire Unlives occupying.
• Acolyte is the starting rank for all released Kindred, within the Acolytes are the Trimira, exceptional Caitiff find a place in Clan Tremere here.

Below the Ranks are the Ghouls, the newly Embraced Kindred who need to be taught to survive the Night by their Sires, and the Gargoyles. The foundation of the pyramid.

Navigating the Pyramid

Tremere of any Rank can be expected to answer the Thaumaturgical call for members of the Camarilla. Any practitioner is expected to check The Black List before peforming even the simplest of Rites. The general prestation for ritual is one or two trivial boons for a lesser ritual or a minor boon for a greater ritual. Reducing the cost of pretastion requires extenuating circumstances or the approval of the Pyramid.

Rank and Rank alone determines power within the House, Generation is a powerful tool in a Tremere's arsenal, but quite often Rank means that a Twelfth Generation Vampire is giving orders to an Eleventh Generation Vampire. A sixth degree Apprentice can give orders to any Acolyte, but only to Apprentices of fifth degree and below. And the closer to Rank and Degree two Kindred are, the more reasonable the orders have to be.

In theory, each member of the Pyramid has seven members below them, until you get to the ghouls, gargoyles and very newly Embraced. Apprentices may have seven acolytes, magisters have seven apprentices, regents have seven magisters. In reality, numbers dwindle in some places and the pyramid is less filled.

By and large, if you want to ask for permission to do something, you ask the person directly above you in the Pyramid. Skipping them is quite likely to cause offense. If it is within their remit to answer, they will do so on their own time. If they have to ask the person above them, it may take longer. The Pyramid is a bureaucracy and good Tremere wholeheartedly believe that the bureaucracy is a good thing. It is part of their mystical thinking. The structure of the Clan, itself, lends power to their Thaumaturgy. The power of seven is an ancient conceit.

The Code and Oath of the Tremere

I, [initiate’s name], hereby swear my everlasting loyalty to House and Clan Tremere and all its members. I am of their blood, and they are of mine. We share our lives, our goals, and our achievements. I shall obey those the House sees fit to name my superiors, and treat my inferiors with all the respect and care they earn for themselves.

I will not deprive nor attempt to deprive any member of House and Clan Tremere of his magical power. To do so would be to act against the strength of our House. I will not slay nor attempt to slay any member of the House and Clan except in self-defense, or when a magus has been ruled outlaw by a properly constituted tribunal. If a magus has been ruled an outlaw, I shall bend all efforts to bring such magus to justice.

I will abide by all decisions of the tribunals, and respectfully honor the wishes of the Inner Council of Seven and the wishes of my superiors. The tribunals shall be bound by the spirit of the Code of Tremere, as supplemented by the Peripheral Code and interpreted by a properly constituted body of magi. I have the right to appeal a decision to a higher tribunal, if they should agree to hear my case.

I will not endanger House and Clan Tremere through my actions. Nor will I interfere with the affairs of mundanes in any way that brings ruin upon my House and Clan. I will not, when dealing with devils or others, in any way bring danger to the Clan, nor will I disturb the faeries in any way that should cause them to take vengeance on the House and Clan. I also swear to uphold the values and goals of the Camarilla, and I will maintain the Masquerade. Insofar as these goals may conflict with my goals, I will not pursue my own ends in any way that would endanger the Masquerade. The strength of the House and Clan Tremere depends on the strength of the Masquerade.

I will not use magic to scry upon members of the House and Clan Tremere, nor shall I use it to peer into their affairs. It is expressly forbidden.

I will train only apprentices who will swear to this code, and should any of them turn against the House and Clan, I shall be the first to strike them down and bring them to justice. No apprentice of mine shall be called magus until he first swears to uphold the code. I shall treat my apprentices with the care and respect that they earn.

I concede to my elders the right to take my apprentice should it be found that my apprentice is valuable to an elder’s work. All are members of the House and Clan and valuable first to these precepts. I shall abide by the right of my superiors to make such decisions.

I shall further the knowledge of the House and Clan and share with its members all that I find in my search for wisdom and power. No secrets are to be kept or given regarding the arts of magic, nor shall I keep secret the doings of others who might bring harm to the House and Clan.

I demand that, should I break this oath, I should be cast out of the House and Clan. If I am cast out, I ask my brothers to find and slay me that my life may not continue in degradation and infamy.

I recognize that the enemies of the House and Clan are my enemies, that the friends of the House and Clan are my friends, and that the allies of the House and Clan are my allies. Let us work as one and grow hale and strong.

I hereby swear this oath on [current date]. Woe to they who try to tempt me to break this oath, and woe to me if I succumb to such temptation

Thaumaturgy

Thaumaturgy is the Blood Magic of the Tremere. When building your character you will want to set a note somewhere that your primary path is Blood, no secondary path can exceed your level in the Thaumaturgy discipline. When you level your Thaumaturgy, your primary path is levelled with it for free.

The rules for Thaumaturgy are largely found in the V20 book. Rites of the Blood includes some Thaumaturgy Paths, some Tremere specific rituals and some Combination disciplines.

Paths

The Tremere-available Paths are listed here. General availability will be down to how you learn and, beyond that, the Director's discretion.

• Elemental Mastery
• The Lure of Flames
• Mastery of the Mortal Shell
• Movement of the Mind
• Path of the Focused Mind
• Path of the Levinbolt
• Path of Spirit Manipulation
• The Path of Conjuring
• The Path of Mars
• The Path of Mercury
• The Path of Technomancy
• Thaumaturgical Countermagic
• Weather Control

See Also: Blood Sorcery Rituals

Combination Disciplines

Any non clan-reserved Combo Disciplines are allowed and would be a welcome addition to the Pyramid's Arsenal. But Lore of the Clans has some rather nice Tremere specific ones.

• Blood Sight: Auspex ••, Thaumaturgy (Path of Blood) •
• Chain of Slavery: Auspex ••, Dominate ••
• Theft of Will: Dominate •••, Thaumatugry (any path)••••
• Thaumaturgical Sight: Auspex ••, Thaumaturgy (any path) •