Agonistes



'''“Of course I had no idea that exercise would call up memories of your indiscretion with the governor’s daughter. I will try to be more careful, Alder. Now, shall we continue?” '''

The Agonistes are a bloodline of the Mekhet clan of vampires. They are a mysterious group who seek to preserve knowledge lost by Kindred to the Fog of Eternity, the loss of memory that comes with long periods of torpor.

Parent Clan: Mekhet

Nickname:Polemicists

Bloodline Disciplines: Auspex, Celerity, Obfuscate, Dominate

Covenant: Members of the Agoniste line tend toward the intellectual and occult-minded. They seek out ancient secrets and hidden lore with unparalleled zeal. Therefore, it is no surprise that most tend to fall into the Ordo Dracul, the Sanctified or the Circle of the Crone. The Order seems most fond of the Polemicists, as these knowledgeable Kindred possess some of the most extensive stores of Kindred history and philosophy, and few Dragons doubt the uncontested expertise of the Agonistes in the subject of Kindred psychology. The Agonistes often find the Ordo Dracul more receptive to their ideas than the other covenants, and the Coils exhibit an acute allure to Agonistes actively involved in the great struggle of the line. Elder Polemicists, however, often find that they must take great care to ensure their pupils do not forsake their mission for the Great Work, or worse, confuse the two.

Individual Agonistes were free to behave as they wished with their power, despite the semi benevolent declared policy of the line, contributing to their compelling, realistic feel. As the entry went through edits, the line took on a more oppressed tone — a history of denial and destruction worked its way through the story of the Agonistes, opening up great possibilities for dispute within the ranks of the line. The quest to preserve knowledge was complicated by the inevitable response of Kindred who have reason to obscure the past, and by the doubts that response would arouse in the Agonistes themselves. A very interesting take on the bloodline emerged, and we knew we had a winner on our hands. Agonistes with less interest in Kindred physiology and Hermetic pseudo-science are often drawn to the Circle of the Crone. The Circle, they say, draws those Agonistes with an interest in doing rather than thinking. Acolyte Polemicists take to the mission of the bloodline with a visceral zeal, sifting through the covenant’s endless oral histories and divining the psychological underpinnings of the rituals of Cr˙ac, taking comfort in the historicity of being a member of the world’s most ancient covenant.

Jungian Polemicists bring a peculiar form of faith to the Circle of the Crone, paying homage to the collective unconscious and offering sacrifices to favored archetypes. The relationship of the Sanctified and the Agonistes has long been rife with distrust. While many hand-copied tomes resting in the line’s libraries lend credence to the covenant’s history and philosophy, many more undermine it. Texts dating from the time of Longinus and before often clearly contradict the Sanctified’s teachings. Historically, the Lancea Sanctum has burned more of the Agonistes’ libraries and treatises than the other major covenants combined. Yet Agonistes anxious to plumb the hidden depths of the Church (or sometimes even hungry for a senseof meaning to their unlives beyond the endless Struggle) continue to enter the covenant, and the Lancea Sanctum continues to accept them, recognizing the line’s incredible ability to help elders cope with torpor.

In addition, more than a few Theban Rituals over the centuries have been unearthed thanks to the tireless investigations of the Agonistes, and many Sanctified Kindred believe that these findings are miraculous indications of divine favor. The Invictus and the Carthian Movement, despite their best efforts, claim relatively few Polemicists; the Agonistes, generally speaking, simply don’t get along with many of the Invictus or the Carthians very well. Kindred of the Invictus tend to dislike histories that contradict their own traditional tales, and are willing to destroy anyone who espouses them, even if the Invictus Kindred know that the offending tales are true. Furthermore, the Dynastic Houses of the Invictus make reliance upon the rituals of the Agonistes unnecessary — and the inheritors of a house are more fully trusted than any Mekhet outsider could be.

The Carthian Movement, on the other hand, demands activity from the Agonistes that many are unwilling to engage in, since it distracts from their studies. The political agitations of the covenant have nothing to do with the great struggle of the bloodline, and few will choose to deny it just to satisfy the Carthians. In addition, many Kindred of the Movement find the tendency of Agonistes to spend much of their time in study of distant history to be insufferably academic, in real-world political terms.

Background: Agonistes overwhelmingly come from academic backgrounds. Whether psychologists, graduate students or tenured professors at the time of the Embrace, the Kindred of this line are universally familiar with the intricacies of research and scholarship. They are not all dusty librarians, however; field archeologists and explorers populate the ranks with hardy Kindred while former lecturers and priests add a socially competent force to the line. Most Agonistes hail from the middle or upper class, and many have at least some training, either academic or practical, in psychology before the Embrace.

The Agonistes line attracts many Mekhet elders, especially of the Ordo Dracul, who seek an Avus to train them in the ways of avoiding torpor. The bloodline may welcome these elders, though only after they have proven themselves through rigorous examination. A desire to diminish the effects of the sleep of ages isn’t qualification enough to become a member, and many of these Kindred are simply offered ritual service instead.

Weakness: All Agonistes suffer the weakness of the Mekhet clan. In addition, though they are loathe to admit it, the first ritual torpor of the bloodline creates a subconscious yearning for the Second Death. Agonistes are addicted to the quiet oblivion and surreal dreamscapes of vampiric torpor, and most will remain in the sleep longer than they need. When determining the length of torpor for an Agoniste, treat the character’s Humanity as one dot lower than it actually is. The rare and unfortunate Humanity 1 Agoniste remains in torpor for two centuries multiplied by her Blood Potency.

Agonistes tend to enter voluntary torpor more frequently than other Kindred, and are susceptible to its strange allure in their waking nights. Every time an Agoniste suffers tragic or extremely emotional circumstances that lead to a degeneration or derangement check (regardless of the result), a Resolve + Composure roll is required to avoid returning to a safe place and entering ritually prepared torpor.

Character Generation: Excitable archivist, single-minded museum librarian, stubborn art historian, immoral psychologist, jaded hipster, beleaguered corporate Polemicist, Jungian film junky, furtive grave robber, heroin-addict-turned torpor-addict.

Reference

 * Bloodlines: the Chosen, p. 16