#tremere antitribue

[drmikhailov]

CRINGETOBER 2024 Day 2 - Tsundere

I failed at sleeping lol

[mortifying-macaroni]

♱ ℜ𝔞𝔫𝔡𝔬𝔪 𝔣𝔞𝔠𝔱𝔰 𝔞𝔟𝔬𝔲𝔱 𝔊𝔯𝔢𝔱𝔠𝔥𝔢𝔫 𝔊𝔯𝔦𝔪 ♱

⛦ Her parents divorced when she was 10, which led to Gretchen being bounced back and forth between Vienna and Syracuse throughout her adolescence, then eventually moved to New York to attend college while staying over at her aunt and uncle's place.

⛦ They owned a pizza restaurant, at which Gretchen worked as a waitress, but was fired for breaking a patron's nose upon catching him looking up her skirt. He threatened to sue the establishment, however the lawsuit never came to fruition due to mysterious circumstances.

⛦ During her teen years in Italy, her mother made her join a church choir. Gretchen hated the idea at first, but then slowly grew rather keen on performing.

⛦ For some period, while still pursuing her DDS in NY, she was giving out guitar lessons in private for acoustic and electric. She aspired to be a musician like her father, however he suggested that her becoming an orthodontist promised a way more prosperous future.

⛦ On a few occasions, she pickpocketed people in the subway so she could gather enough money for tattoos and piercings.

⛦ Has a tattoo of a cartoon cat on her right ankle, a tramp stamp, a cherry with a ribbon stem on her right butt cheek, a starry ornament on her sternum and the Sabbat symbol Andrei carved near her left inner thigh with his talon dipped in ink.

⛦ As for her piercings - she's punched a hole in her tongue, bellybutton, ears, nipples and lady bits.

⛦ Gretchen fully embraces both her feminine and tomboyish nature. She's willing to stomp on skulls whether it be in high heels or combat boots.

⛦ Some of her other interests include: doing nails, playing video games, racing dirt bikes, playing football, brushing up on her history and toxicology knowledge, collecting intricately designed daggers along with character figurines and CDs.

⛦ Her top favorite bands are: Lacuna Coil, Curve, King Diamond, Slipknot, Korn, Dimmu Borgir and Motorhead, though she loves listening to Italian jazz too.

⛦ With her would be sire/boyfriend at the time named Bram, along with two of their friends, Gretchen formed a goth band where she would do vocals and play the electric. The group performed several gigs at bars, yet quickly fell apart when the two bandmates died from opium addiction, followed by Bram disappearing without a trace. They did manage to record two demo tapes, which remain lost media to this day.

⛦ Watching her friends from back then spiral and drop like flies from their vices made her want to quit drinking, yet her smoking habit persisted.

⛦ She has a gray-white Persian cat named Magenta, who is just as sassy and grumpy as her owner. She immediately became ghouled as soon as Gretchen learned about the process. Magenta is continuing to live her spoiled, carefree life with her elder feline beau (Andrei's family cat) - Malachi.

⛦ Gretchen's beast takes the shape of a black panther with bloodshot eyes. She calls it Anima ("Soul" in Italian).

⛦ Isn't fond of any clan (not even her own) and thinks that everyone sucks equally.

⛦ Ever since diablerizing a Malkavian, Gretchen randomly receives vague visions of the future. Fearing she would grow mad if it turned into a habit, she refuses to consume another soul from said clan.

⛦ In the AU of the "Soul-Inmates" fanfic, she was born with two identical scars on each palm that prevent her from touching the skin of a person who isn't her soulmate. Upon doing so, the consequences are immense, burning pain that could potentially cause death. Only those who are marked are affected by it.

⛦ Bertram was the first one Gretchen used as a vessel for creating a Gargoyle. With him rebelling against her, she had to put him down, along with many others after him. Only Gangrel and Nosferatu were used as subjects.

⛦ The Thaumaturgical paths she constantly hones are: hands of destruction, alchemy, mastery of the mortal shell and lure of flames. Thanks to Andrei's teachings, Gretchen dabbles in Koldunic sorcery as well.

⛦ She has never learned how to drive a car. Instead, she rides on her red Honda motorcycle called "Lemmy". Though she did fall and crack her bones several times, that didn't deter her from continuing with her reckless behavior on the road. Back in the day, she used to go on rides with her old friend Samantha, whom Gretchen encountered in Hollywood for the very last time before sending her off.

⛦ Although married, Gretchen refuses to change her maiden name because, not only does she feel that it define her perfectly, but because she secretly doesn't want to leave her father as the only remaining Grim in the family. Growing up in an orphanage, he grew immensely fond of the tales by the Brothers Grimm, thus inspiring him to officially coin the surname without the additional 'm' upon leaving the orphanage when he was of age after not getting adopted by anyone.

⛦ Prior to the Chinatown siege, Gretchen's had multiple "children" - Blood Brothers fleshcrafted into looking like hypothetical grown offspring with the combination of her and Andrei's features (from his mortal days). The only surviving one was a female variant named Alma, who doesn't possess a hive mind the same way her fallen siblings used to. Unnoticed, she managed to flee from L.A.

⛦ Aside from Andrei, the only Tzimisce who warmed up to Gretchen are his niece/childe Darija and his cousin Sascha Vykos; whereas the rest of his kin detests her despite the victories she helped bring to the sect.

⛦ As a reward for helping the Sabbat claim L.A., she was handed a scythe made purely out of bone, which is her weapon of choice.

⛦ With LaCroix executed, Mercurio agreed to be sired by Gretchen despite his reluctance to join the sect. He is her only childe thus far, due to the fact that she doesn't place her trust in anyone else for that role.

⛦ She was also given the freedom to do as she pleased with the chantry. It ended up being rebuilt into a nail salon with its own basement lab used for research and conducting experiments; it's also where she stores dropped off packages from drug shipments until her packmates would come and make the pickup.

⛦ Throughout the years, Gretchen's thirst for more power amplified tenfold to the point where she traveled to Mexico City in order to seek out the very mirror Goratrix was sealed in, so she could attempt to gain clan secrets from him through any means necessary. With the help of various visions she pieced together, Gretchen managed to locate the mirror with the sealed betrayer.

⛦ After their wedding ceremony on January 1st 2005, Andrei took out Gretchen's heart along with his own and conjoined them before burying them deep in the soil underneath his ancestral estate in the Carpathian mountains.

⛦ Her parents may or may not have been dragged into the Kindred world one at a time without her being aware...

[dravencroft]

Some of the main NPCs from the VtM one-shot I GMed for my friends, set in the city of Davenport, Iowa!

Khadija: Sheriff of the local Camarilla court; Ventrue Antitribu

Thiago: Seneschal of the local Camarilla court and Khadija's worst headache; Samedi

Ife: Leader of the local Chantry and BBEG of the story; Tremere

Lenore: Very inexperienced hunter from the Society of Leopold; Redeemer

Hole: Owner of the Watering Hole, a local diner for truckers and bikers; also owner of a big black cat named Shit; Garou (Metis, Ahroun, Fianna)

Abeni: Trucker, regular customer of the Watering Hole and owner of a truck named Betsy; perfectly normal human, thank you very much

[kavalyera]

tevy realizing she MIGHT be attracted to the 6’8, blind tremere scourge that has perfect hair and is 400 years old:

[deathandthesoul]

If it wasn't for his stepdad, Jesse would have been Toreador Antitribu........

[jinxessticktogether]

i just got struck by the idea for a vtm sao crossover au and im-

[vixensdungeon]

The funniest thing about the Tremere in Vampire: The Masquerade is how the writers had to work around them not having a Clan bane.

They have one now, but originally they lacked one because they weren't descended from one of the 3rd generation vampires cursed by Caine, they were instead all bloodbound to the leaders of the Clan. And if they somehow got out of that blood bond, no more weakness! That was just one of those weird things in old World of Darkness.

But later they introduced the Tremere antitribue and of course those can't be bloodbound to the Inner Circle, so they had to get a clan bane to balance things out. Same with the Telyavelic Tremere. And even the mainline Tremere got the weakness of being especially susceptible to blood bonds.

I quite like the V5 clan bane they have and the reasoning behind it, I just think it's funny how they kept having to write around one of the more interesting aspects of the clan for so long.

[mortifying-macaroni]

Doodle dump of my goth & nerdy Tremere - Gretchen 🖤

[mortifying-macaroni]

While Gretchen is well off due to marrying rich, that doesn't mean she's opposed to taking up side hustles; especially if they involve an opportunity for her to strut her stuff (PNG under the cut :3)

Alright all ye merry jesters, the time for tom foolery is nigh! With April Fool's Day approaching, we're all putting our Kindred to work at Hooter's to get money for... whatever. Things. We're putting everyone in skimpy outfits for our amusement and that's the long and short of it! This is a clan free-for-all, feel free to dress whichever OC you desire in this bright orange scantily clad uniform and put them beside our own hardworking hotties! (Lyre belongs to me, Clive and Godwynn belong to @thesixthplaneteer!)

Like the other collaborations, I will take all submissions at the deadline and smush them all into one final collab piece - the deadline will be March 31st!! (A Monday!) I tried to answer how to submit here in case you were curious! It would be great for you to post a PNG of your character beneath a cut when you reblog the piece just for easier management!

(For reference, Godwynn is 6'1" while Clive and Lyre are about 5'7"! )

IF YOU WANT TO DRAW AND FEEL LIKE YOU CANNOT DRAW DO NOT LISTEN TO THAT VOICE THAT IS THE DEVIL DECEIVING YOU! Please draw your OC next to them if you want to I would cry and love to see it!

[kavalyera]

- “you are in good hands ^_^”

- “UNHAND ME”

[findingtarshish]

i dont think i know that much about harmony !! i would like to get to know abt her :D

Oh goodness I am about to become a unskippable cutscene. My baby. My beloved. The blorbo ever

(Art by @crownedinmarigolds. Pictured: Harmony on the left in a white wedding dress, looking adoringly at her newlywed wife, Olivia)

Harmony Heller-Adams is an 11th Generation Tremere Antitribu, aligned with an independent Kindred organization called the Waterfront Association, which controls a strip of neutral ground in Philadelphia between Queen Village and Fishtown. She is fairly young for how powerful she is, only about 3 years into the night as of 2025. She is also the effective leader of the city's Bahari, the chosen Lamb of Lilith, a saint of innocence to her allies and a terrifying, sadistic torturer to her enemies. Her current stats can be found on her npc character sheet.

Infodump under the readmore!!! Big long poast

Harmony was born in the small town of Summerton, Tennessee, did her undergrad as a double major in Art History and Business at UTK and her MLIS at UPenn, after which she settled in Philadelphia with a little seed funding from her dad (perks of a rich family) to start an antiquarian bookstore and private conservation office. She has a half-sister, Melody, who she is very close with, even though she's oversees working on her own masters at UCL.

Things started out rough. While her business thrived, Harmony had serious troubles with love. Her boyfriend of 4 years, Kendall, had not taken her coming out as Bisexual well. He'd become incredibly abusive and possessive, and though she'd broken up with him and kicked him out, he'd begun stalking her.

Things took a turn upward when she met a strange woman, Katherine Ithaca. (Read more in Harmony's fledgling character sheet) Katherine commissioned her services to craft a facsimile of a valuable grimoire, and upon the completion of the work, Katherine offered her the Embrace. But it wasn't that simple- Katherine and her sire are fanatical consensualists, who not only ask before feeding, but before the Embrace, the Bond, and many discipline powers. Katherine would not Embrace Harmony that night, even if she wanted it- she spent the next year tutoring her, ensuring Harmony knew exactly what she was saying yes to.

There was a slight hiccup. Harmony served as Katherine's loyal blood doll during her tutelage, and she took to it well- too well. Harmony rapidly became addicted to the Kiss, a fact she hid from Katherine out of fear that she'd withhold her fix. When Katherine did find out, and stopped out of fear of hurting her, it nearly broke Harmony and sent her into a depressives spiral that it took several weeks to recover from. She still suffers from this addiction even as an immortal.

On February 28th, 2022, Harmony Adams passed into the night of her own will. It was a romantic night; Katherine exsanguinated her by slitting her wrists, and as Harmony died, she spoke the Oath of Lilith. Katherine put her wrist to her mouth to reawaken her, then used the gathered blood of her new Childe to create the Blood of Lilith. Harmony's first meal was her own blood, augmented to make her a Lhaka from her first night. Thereafter, Katherine stayed with her as Harmony endured the pangs of body death. They watched a Ghibli movie and cuddled :)

Of course, then things went wrong. Harmony had looked forward to magic most of all from the Embrace, so discovering that she was unable to do blood sorcery was devastating. Instead, Harmony's blood seemed to center her clan's Salubri traits, allowing her to use Panacea and, for a brief period, Valeren. While she eventually developed blood sorcery in her second year (during a religious revelation brought on by a high pressure situation) she endured a lot of shame among her clan due to her lack of her clan's signature discipline. Like a Ventrue without Dominate or a Nosferatu without Obfuscate, certain lacking powers just leave one pushed to the edges.

Her first year was pretty uneventful, just generally establishing herself, claiming the four blocks around Headhouse square as her domain, and accruing boons and the like. Even with her lack of sorcerous capability, she was accepted into the Carnine Chantry to assist in maintaining the library.

In her second year, things got interesting with the arrival of a Gangrel Neonate, Olivia Heller, in Philadelphia. She and Harmony immediately hit it off-- if awkwardly-- in Elysium, and in the span of a few days, she had learned Olivia's secret: she wasn't Gangrel at all. She was tzimisce.

One thing led to another and soon the two of them were madly in love. Then things went even further wrong: the Toreador Primogen introduced her new childe to Elysium: none other than Kendall Nolan, Harmony's ex boyfriend. To make matters worst, Kendall's sire had pulled some strings to get him assigned to an investigative coterie with Harmony.

The coterie was supposed to investigate a Sabbat incursion, but long story short, Kendall sold them out. He made a deal with the Sabbat elder who had settled in the city (who happened to be Olivia's Sire) to deliver Olivia to him, in exchange for Harmony's capture and the means to control her. In the final battle, when that became inpossible, he tried to diablerize her, and choked on her blood when she used Scorpion's touch to poison him. His obsession with her literally destroyed him.

The victory over Kendall was bittersweet. In a fit of rage, Olivia, tried to diablerize her sire, and when Harmony stopped her, Olivia lashed out and ran from her. For three months, Harmony was alone, her only comfort a letter Olivia had written for her in the case of her death, which contained a ring and a proposal.

With her heart broken, Harmony traveled to Cardiff, to stay with her grandsire Ceridwen, who held praxis over the city. In Ceridwen's Garden, Harmony experienced the Short Dawn for a second time, and rather than a fleeting insight seared into her mind like when she first learned Blood Sorcery, she had a proper conversation with the being calling herself Lilith. The figure entreated her to eat of the fruit of her garden, and thus in her belly she placed the seeds of the Path of Innocence, Harmony's unique Blood Sorcery path which concerned the restoration and imitation of Humanity.

By the time Olivia returned, just three months afterward, with a cooler heart and a similarly broken heart, Harmony was more than ready to forgive her. She told her the answer was yes, she would marry her, and the two were wed by Ceridwen in Harmony's hometown.

By this point, Harmony had rapidly developed the Path of Innocence (to three dots). She could now pass a medical exam, make the Blush of Life last for days on end, and even temporarily nullify clan banes. When she returned to Philadelphia, to the Garden she and Olivia had started building together, she began to gain notoriety, especially among the city's considerable Nosferatu and Malkavian population, for her miraculous powers. Under the rule of the Dragon of Philadelphia and the Lamb of Lilith, the Garden grew extremely powerful and influential.

Harmony's new coterie was composed of herself (Camarilla Tremere), her wife Olivia (Camarilla Tzimisce), her good friend Cecelia-Rose (Camarilla Caitiff), her childhood rival turned ward Tiffany (Independent Lamia), and an anarch Toreador named Hector whom the local Baron assigned to them to keep an eye out. Between them, and their close allies in Martina Carita (Independent Minister) and John Rhodes (Camarilla Ventrue, Scourge), they effectively controlled the entire Philadelphia waterfront. That territory that wasn't theirs belonged to Kindred sworn to the garden, loyal to Martina, or part of the local Carnine Chantry. A few fledglings, neonates, and young ancilla had rapidly become incredibly influential.

Of course, things continued to go wrong, as they do. The Prince, a Banu Haqim named Mask, had grown incredibly erratic as a result of a Setite Tremere who claimed to see the future, warning him of his usurpation. Unbeknownst to most of the city, he had had the Sheriff dispose of his Seneschal and Keeper, Ismini Rondou and Kadin Ouyahia, to forestall this, under the guise that they were just missing. The worst part is, a similar prophecy had been made by the Sheriff's childe in 2004, which foretold that a fledgling spared to further the prince's schemes would lead to his destruction.

So that, plus the fact that Primogen were dying left and right (Kendall diablerized his sire before his final death, Katherine (now going be her birth name, Ekaterina, killed the Gangrel Primogen, leading to the Fairmount Gangrel being ejected from the Camarilla, and she and the Carnine Chantry orchestrated an exploding Tesla which killed the Ventrue Primogen, allowing them to claim the Old City and Olivia to claim Northern Liberties) meant that the city was in chaos. To make matters worse, another Garden formed across the river in Camden, led by Ekaterina's long estranged childe Cayetano Molina, a fleshcrafting diablerist and infernalist who loudly declared Bahari supremacy and eagerly engaged in human sacrifice. They begin to entreat Harmony's friendship, much to Ekaterina's terror. To make matters even worse, Olivia faced significant abuse from the Camarilla court on account of her clan and her work against the Sabbat, and was saddled with raising 12 Tzimisce fledglings that her sire had mass embraced. As if things weren't bad enough already, the Praesidium arrived in town, eager to poach this mythical ritual from Harmony in the hopes that it could restore the clan's ability to bond, thus enabling them to rebuild the Pyramid. It's still unclear if this would actually work, but it might just.

Shit went down. The Praesidium used the Gift of Morpheus to torture Harmony, taking the mental pattern from Cecelia-Rose's dreams (She is bonded to John, and utterly psychologically dependent on him) and attempting to implant the craving for the bond in her. Their hope was that Harmony would come to them with the ritual of her own free will in the hopes of sating her craving within the Pyramid. Instead, Harmony fell into an extremely severe suicidal spiral, and nearly died before Olivia finally agreed to bond her. When the Astors discovered this, they flew into a rage and kidnapped Harmony, and proceed to torture her physically to force her to give up her magic. Unfortunately, Harmony is a masochist and a torture has yet to be invented that does not make her moan, so they moved on the psychological abuse. This nearly broke Harmony, before she experienced the Short Dawn for a third time. Lilith comforted and soothed her, giving her the courage to rally and hold on until the Chantry exploded on account of a very angry dragon looking for her wife. Thus the Tremere problem was solved and Harmony was carried safely home by her wife and protector.

Then things got worse again. For context, Cecelia-Rose was Embraced under mysterious circumstances in a Tremere-owned building, where she worked as a security guard. She was left in a dumpster, and the building she was supposed to be guarding was burned to the ground. She was found by John shortly after her Embrace and presented to the court. The Prince intended to kill her where she stood for the crime of being Caitiff, but John, with the backing of Seneschal Rondou, prevailed on him to allow her to live. Blood as potent as hers (8th Generation!) was rare, and should not be wasted. So, Cecelia-Rose was entrusted to him, under the condition that she remain blood bonded to him. One might say, she was a fledgling spared to further and elder's schemes.

Cecelia-Rose was called to meet with the Prince, where he revealed to her the truth: she was his childe, sired in a bid to plant an operative in the Sabbat (though John had ruined that by finding her before the Sabbat did, hence why he wanted to kill her). He then entreated her to join him, offering her the position of Sheriff as he reorganized his court and filled it with loyalists. However, he also revealed he had been collaborating with the Sabbat, that he was a diablerist, and that he had ordered the deaths of his Seneschal and Keeper. So, Cecelia-Rose did the wise and logical thing, and attempted to arrest him.

This did not go well.

Long story short, a brief and vicious sect war ensued, the Primogen convened to level a blood hunt on Prince Mask, and Cecelia-Rose diablerized her sire with the aid of her coterie. The Camarilla was now proper fucked, but to make matters worse, the Waterfront Coterie and its allies were disgusted with the Ivory Tower, and withdrew en masse in the chaos, forming the Waterfront Association, an independent buffer zone between the Camarilla in West Philadelphia, the Laibon in North Philadelphia, and the Anarchs in Camden. Between their economic and political clout, their surprising power, and their prime geographical location, the Association grew to to be a force to be reckoned with.

Now, after the events of Philadelphia by Night (which Harmony was blissfully not a main character of), and the ascension of Queen Andrasta to the throne, Harmony has taken a major role alongside Olivia and Ekaterina in securing the Association's sovereignty and security in the new age of their lupine Prince. More strangely, Olivia has received a vision from Lilith herself, of the wives smiling over a cradle. What this means, they do not know, but Harmony has begun to wonder if the Path of Innocence might allow them to have a child...

There are a lot of details missing her, like Harmony's childhood trauma, Olivia's Path of the Caduceus, the wives' close relationship with the Garou, Harmony's brief turbulent relationship with Martina, but those will have to wait for a different ask bc this one is so damn long already.

Some illustrative poasts: Innocence and Infernalism Night Owl Loresheet Dragon of Philadelphia Loresheet

[kentuckycaverats]

oc deep dive: delsidhe tsuga

formerly delphine tsuga fujinami

maeghar, thinblood, sired by toreador antitribu

portrait by @hairbrushed

what common/uncommon fear do they have?

her greatest fear (one of the only things she fears, really) is loss of autonomy. as a mortal her abusive bio parents raised her as a sacrificial lamb for baali methuselah petaniqua; upon escaping them she was involuntarily ghouled by a domitor who heavily abused her via auspex and presence; she took her life in an attempt to be free of her domitor, who embraced del to maintain her control; resulting in the expulsion of del's fae mien, who was then imprisoned/tortured/exposed to constant banality at the hands of the sabbat for the better part of a decade; and nearly every encounter with petaniqua throughout the chronicle involved del being on the receiving end of dominate or dementation. her "submit to no one" conviction is the one she most often takes stains against, whoops.

do they have any pet peeves?

cowards and politicians. if you're gonna do something fucked up, at least have the balls to own it and get your hands dirty yourself.

what are 3 items you can find in their bedroom?

a cauldron-shaped ceramic mug that she made for her (tremere) wife, tara. it's used like a vase to display lavender and lilacs.

a tie-dye print hydro dipped sniper rifle, gifted by coterie lasombra benedetta.

an ungodly number of lava lamps.

(visual refs for the vibe of her haven)

what do they notice first in a person?

as a matter of survival: how banal they are. all kindred are banal and all mortals have some degree of banality, but her fae nature makes her particularly sensitive to it. most ventrue, tremere, and lasombra are unbearable to be around but most ravnos, malkavians, and toreador are mild enough.

on a scale of 1-10 how high is their pain tolerance?

somewhere around 7-9. she inherited the toreador antitribu beast and therefore fixation on pain from her sire; and between all the torture she's endured + the chronic pain caused by the dissonance between her changeling and kindred natures, her tolerance is pretty high.

do they go into fight or flight mode (or freeze or fawn) when under pressure?

fight <3 girl who loves craves delights and revels in scenes of carnage.

what animal represents them best?

tasmanian devil! small, ferocious, territorial, fearless.

how would a stranger likely describe them?

insane, unpredictable, bold, self-assured

do they have any hobbies?

pottery, dancing, occult research, breaking and entering or carjacking with ravnos bestie mitra, arson, interior design, tending night-blooming plants, wooing/relentlessly hitting on tara.

tagging @lgbtmi @eric-the-bmo @harbingerofskulls @chiss-ticism !

[badass-at-fandoming]

Hi, you were recommended to me by ryttu3k fir your knowledge of Anatole.

Their is one question from clan novel saga by the Prophet that always confuses me.

"the young wizard’s sire is within the clay.”

A bit of context- he is saying this with two Kindred present, Victoria Ash, and Jeremiah (an obfuscated nosferatu). It is said within Leopold's art studio.

The young wizard is obviously Leopold. It is revealed that he is not a toreador but is the childe of tremere antitribu, Nikolai.

But the sire is in the stone????

There are a few named statues at the art studio. A bozetto of Petrodon, but he's the deceased nosferatu Justicar and Sire of Cock robin and Julio Martinez. There is also a bust of Victoria Ash. Later their is a tower made of gangrel and Hannah (a tremere) fuses with it. But neither are Leopold's sire.

This causes Ms Ash, unaware of Jeremiah or the Justicar bozetto, to think that Anatole is saying Leopold is her childe. He is not. This causes the nosferatu to gain this incorrect info temporarily too.

It does save the day at the end, as Ms Ash walks up to Leopold (and eye of hazimel) and this distracts him long enough to be killed by Ramona.

But, as far as I'm aware, their is no Nikolai sculpture in the book. Cock robin is not a "young wizard" so it can't be about the bozetto.

The only thing I can think of, was that Anatole deliberately lied to cause Leopold to be distracted later in the book and die. But why would the prophet of Gehenna deliberately lie?

What is the answer to "the young wizard’s sire is within the clay.” since I swear there's no Nikolai sculture?

If you can't tell, Anatole is one of my favourite non nosferatu vtm characters of all time.

Hello! Awww, I'm honored to be considered to have insight into Anatole and his Malkavian prophecies. Thanks @ryttu3k! You seem anxious for an answer, @roseate-felidae, so I'll do my best. Honestly, I'd probably need to have read the Clan Novel Saga for a confident answer. Browsing the wiki and the context you've given me are good enough for guesses. In order of most to least likely:

1) Your first instinct is right, Anatole is lying. More accurately, Anatole could be manipulating his report of his vision to achieve a better final outcome. A fun layer to Malkavian visions is the difference between the vision itself and the interpretation of the vision. For example, Anatole used to think his visions were literally God talking to him, but now he's like, nah, just a Kindred power like Potence or Celerity. He could be false reporting what he's seeing or hearing, or only sharing a suggestive portion, like you first guessed.

As why would Anatole lie: well. He and Victoria Ash aren't friends. She manipulated hunters into burning down his Paris haven, with his ghoul Paul inside. She's too powerful and connected to eschew outright, but I wouldn't describe their relationship as "good." At the end of the Saga, Hesha Ruhadze has the Eye from Leopold, and Hesha is on friendly terms with Anatole and his faction, the Mnemosyne. It could be that Anatole foresaw that Ash & the Nos thinking Leopold was Ash's childe would benefit him in the long run. Maybe he foresaw and wanted the happier ending you described. That, or he just wanted to throw a spanner in the works of Victoria's plan and/or general unlife.

Being a Prophet of Gehenna and a Malkavian doesn't preclude Anatole from deceit. He has to lie to humans all the time, remember, about his identity and Kindred status. He lies to his friends, including Beckett, about what's under Jerusalem. Victoria Ash points out the obvious logical flaws in his prison "rehab" program, and he self-deceives that there's nothing wrong. "We're natural liars," as Beckett says.

2) Nickolai is in a stone/clay building. While the location in Leopold's studio jumps the mind to clay sculptures, the Malkavian Cobweb's reach is not limited by immediate geography. From the wiki, I can glean that Nickolai is in his haven in NYC, which is warded with blood sorcery. NYC has stone buildings, or clay might be a ward ingredient. It's probably not a reference to a basement encased in clay-type soil, because NYC's soil is the silt-loam type of dirt (yes, I looked this up). This theory can be disproved with a description of Nickolai's haven, so I kicked it down the list.

3) The young wizard is Aisling. This theory switches the young wizard part of the equation. Malkavian visions are not necessarily about the topic at hand, after all. To a methuselah like Anatole, Aisling Sturbridge is quite young and she's a Tremere. Instead of Leopold as the "young wizard," Anatole could mean Aisling, and the clay part a reference to her sire, Lucien de Maupassant. Lucien disappeared while on a mission from the Inner Council in 1948. "Within the clay" could be any number of hints to his fate, including his ashes mixing with dirt.

4) Nickolai is being controlled by the Eye. This is a biiiiiiig stretch, but whatever. Hazimel used to a stone mason, which is a profession that works clay. Compared to Hazimel, Nickolai is an incredibly young wizard. Nickolai thinks he's manipulating Leopold and the Eye to his own ends, but perhaps Hazimel is working him. Anatole is saying that Nickolai is within Hazimel's thrall, or influence, and Nickolai is being shaped like clay under a mason's hands.

The number of problems this theory has is Many, no matter how much I like it. First off, I don't think the Eye shows full sapient intelligence: it more like, makes its bearers into powerful rage machines, like the Beast. If someone as cool as Hazimel was controlling it, the Eye would be more sophisticated. The theory is also very Lord of the Rings-y with the whole "cursed object wants to return to its master." Vampire: the Masquerade doesn't draw inspiration from Tolkien. Last, the theory falls apart under a Doylist lens. In-universe, sure, Hazimel could know that manipulating Leopold and Nickolai would drop his Eye in Hesha's hands, and Hesha would find the Eye too hot to handle and therefore drop it on Beckett, and Beckett would return it to him. Out of universe, the Clan Novel Saga was published 1999 to 2000 in a hysterical frenzy. The story of the Eye's return appears in Beckett's Diary, which launched its Kickstarter in 2016. Sixteen years is a loooonnnggg time to pay off one line in a previous book. Possibly longer than 16 years, depending on if the story was written after or before the Kickstarter was funded. A meticulous planner could do it, of course, and maybe a nebulous idea of the Eye's return existed in the White Wolf writers' heads, but I am full of doubt. The BJD story itself doesn't call back to Anatole's prophecy either, which weakens the idea further.

The prophecy is a fun puzzle! Thank you for bringing it to me to play with. If any other Clan Novel Saga or Anatole fans want to chime in with their ideas, feel free :D :D :D

[gretchen-grim]

𝔄𝔟𝔬𝔲𝔱 𝔪𝔢

If you must know... I am a Tremere Antitribu, a proud thorn at everybody's side since my Embrace in 2004 at the age of 27. By my husband Andrei's side (yes, I kept my maiden name don't pester me about it), I reign over Los Angeles to this very night. I serve myself and the Sabbat; in that order. My thoughts are bathed in vanta black, my meals taste even more scrumptious when they're fueled by agony and the melody that soothes me the most is the symphony of chaos. If you cross me, the most I can do is insult your pitiful existence and block you since I'm nowhere within the desirable range of boiling you alive or draining your blood.

OC Deep Dive // 6 Song Soundtrack Game // Relationship Tag // Playlist // Wardrobe // More Facts // My Text Posts // Asks // VTM Posting

[mortifying-macaroni]

Finally finished Gretchen's pinup poster :3

[holly-bearie]

*im finally running out of these* only 2 more i think

chandra!!! they're a gurkha on a Mission (not dying again). they went missing (got embraced) during the Anglo-Nepalese war because a Salubri Antitribu wanted a protégé, and now they're hiding out on the East Coast in a cheesy resort city dodging Tremere and tracking low-humanity Kindred