Assamites

Introduction

Antediluvian - Haqim

Proud and deadly, Assamites – who call themselves Banu Haqim – live by a foreign code. Originating from the Holy Land, Assamites consider themselves judges and guardians of the night, serving as soldiers and generals of Caine. Killing is literally their religion. Few Assamites reside outside the lands of the Saracen, where their Mountain holding Alamut resides.

Although they are militant (and rigorously trained at the Mountain to be so), Assamites are not limited to physical battlefields. Their ranks are filled with several castes that include ancient mystics and revered scholars. A rare member of the warrior caste can be found traveling away from their homeland. Assamites are generally embraced as Muslims, but over time more Assamites are worshiping Haqim as a god unto himself. They have been on the forefront in battling Baali for thousands of years and have a long friendly history with the now decimated Salubri.

Where vampires turn paler with age, the Assamites become darker. Haqim is said to be as a dark as the night.

Assamites, according to the tales, were never cursed by Caine. Instead, their weakness came from the Baali, who afflicted the warriors with an addiction for vitae during the war between their clans. Even after one taste of a vampire's blood, the Assamite craves more. This makes them extremely easy to blood oath.

Laws of Haqim

Assamites follow their own code of law that can override even the revered traditions of Caine.

The Law of Leadership: Honor the Eldest amongst you, for he is to rule my house when I am absent.

The Law of Protection: Guard the mortals from Caine's descendants and treat them with honor in all things.

The Law of Destruction: Slay not those of the blood, for that judgment is for the eldest alone.

The Law of the Word: Deceive not those of the blood, for my house is founded on truth.

The Law of Judgement: Judge those of Caine's blood and punish them should they be found wanting.

See Revised Assamite Clanbook PG 48—52 for additional information.

Online resource:

http://www.assamites.com/assamites.htm

This is a restricted clan, and are subject to an available space in game and concept approval by a Character Guide. It is HIGHLY recommended that you read the available White Wolf materials before playing a character of this group.

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Introduction

Professional murders, vile diablerists, arrogant hunters; these are some of the names other clans attribute to Assamites. And the Children of Haqim aren’t in the business of letting people think anything other about them. Their history runs deep, going back to the Second City, surrounded in mystery and mired by half truths. These self proclaimed Judges of all Cainites have protected their history, secrets and intentions for centuries, and have no plans on changing that.

History

Haqim (pronounced “Assam”) was a warrior of great renown. As a mortal he could have been one of the best soldiers, and indeed would have been the most dangerous general to fight against, but he preferred to be a war-party leader. Soon he grew tired of causing and seeing bloodshed, as soldiers do after years of experiencing man made hells, and turned to being a scholar. Haqim learned languages of long dead cultures and philosophy, and caught the attention of one of Caines childer who wished to preserve this culmination of culture and sophistication. After the rest of the Cainites saw Haqims abilities they often asked him to help mediate between squabbles, and soon Haqim made more Cainites who reflected his gifts. Haqim never took a side between any two, or more, and was gifted the name “The Hunter” as a joke, as he used to be a great soldier and had turned into a hunter of truths. It is because of his reputation that the other clans requested that he become a judge, and by extension that his childer become judges. The other clan antediluvians asked this because their childer had become too much to manage, and needed to have an unbiased authority. Haqim reluctantly agreed to make a second family of judges who would keep order and protect the children of Seth (humanity) from the actions of the other clans. The first family of Haqim, the artisans and scholars, saw the addition to their clan as arrogant upstarts, and small feud erupted within the clan. These quarrels where small problems, but these divisions in the clan would last for centuries, but no one outside the clan will ever know of them.

Centuries later the Baali, demon worshipping vampires who knew no ends to depravity and vile acts, infested the Second City. Haqims Judges could hardly keep up with the atrocities that the Baali committed, as they were using blood magic completely unknown to the Cainites until then. Haqim left the city as he was unconvinced that the Warriors of Saulots clan could destroy the Baali by themselves. When he came back, three years later, he had with him the first of his addition to his family; human sorcerers who had been weathered the embrace. They produced a counter blood magic to help his Judges, and the Salubri, to rid the city and the Children of Seth of the Baali’s influence and taint. The Baali rose up in strength only once more, and the Children of Haqim rose up to defend the Children of Seth and destroy the Baali again. The Judges and Sorcerers, along with the Salubri, chased and burnt the Baali, until they could find no more. Inevitably the Baali came back, but never with the strength of the previous wars, and the Judges and Sorcerers fought back with ruthless counter magic’s and overwhelming force. Eventually there was a time of peace.

For Cainites, peace is a relative term. After a time, many vampires left the second city, and those who stayed often balked at the oaths their sires had made for them. Haqim was worn down from the many centuries of war with the Baali, and he finally took his clan and left the Second City. A small amount of his children stayed, but most of the Clan left to wander the dessert with their Sire. After less than a year of traveling Haqim found a place deep into the mountains, and called for a halt of his procession. In those mountains he proclaimed that the cave they had found should be “to gather, to watch, to remember and to judge.” Legends are abundant about the caves, and how they formed into an exact replica of Haqims estate in the Second City, but what is known is that Alamut, or the Eagles Nest, is where the clan is located. Haqim would disappear and reappear often throughout the ages, often to support or bring a terrible lesson upon his children. But it was thousands of years that the clan spent in seclusion. Where the children of Haqim spent that time alone, the other clans had spread out of the Second City, and claimed most of the known world. When the Children eventually left their home they found that the other clans had surrounded them. It also seemed that the other clans had forgotten why the Judges (the most populous sect of the Children of Haqim) where created, or that the Sorcerers and the Scholars where created at all. It was at the time of the emerging that the clan was called Assamite’s and that the Judges became the Warriors and the Scholars became the Viziers.

Time went quickly for the Assamites, as they made a name for themselves as assassins within the Cainite world. During this time their progenitor took long journeys away from Alamut, leaving the clan to lead itself, as he instructed. When he would come back he wouldn’t do so to lead, but to watch, or spend time in Alamuts great library. He finally left and hasn’t returned in centuries, only to have been spotted around Europe. The last time he has been seen was conversing about philosophy with the Ventrue named Mithras in London.

Geography

Since the advent of Islam as a religion, the Assamites have stayed in the Middle East, claiming the Muslim people as their own. No small amount of the Children can be found in North Africa and Southern Spain. Egypt is contested by the Followers of Set, and skirmishes happen often between those two clans. Since the Crusades other clans have been violently encroaching on their territory, which has met with stalwart, if not zealous defense from the Assamites.

Important Figures in the Clan

Jamal: A devout follower of the Prophet, he is a formidable leader a master swordsman and archer, and has lead many into the field of battle against the French during the Crusades. He is what most Warriors would aspire to become.

Thetmes: Where as Jamal is the perfect Warrior, Thetmes is who the Warrior caste would aspire to be if they where to go the assassin route. An ancient gladiatorial fighter in his breathing days, he was embraced and his mortal art of killing became a chosen craft of murder. These days he is the leader of the internal organization called the Web of Knives (a group of elite assassins within the caste of Warriors).

Tegyrius: This Vizier was the head of his own caste until the sacking of Constantinople, where he disappeared. Some place him in torpor, others state that he went east to find the same knowledge that Saulot found. He had been known as one of the best examples of the original family of Haqim, who served as an anonymous neutral arbiter for mortals and Cainites alike.

Typical Roads of members of the Clan

The Road of Blood is the only Via the Assamite clan adheres to. Most see this Road as an avenue for power, but there are so many hidden levels of this Via that outsiders aren’t allowed to know, much like the clan it comes from.

Priorities of the Clan

The Crusades left relations between the European clans and the Assamites strained, to say the least. In the holy lands the Assamites attack anyone who come to harm their herds, and will zealously protect their interests. The Warrior caste leads the forefront against any intruders, but has also started to become an asset others can hire for clandestine operations. The Viziers still attempt at keeping the peace within their clan, and have become less interested in adjudicating between other clans, because of their actions during the crusades. No one knows what the Sorcerers intentions are.

Opinions

Humans: “The Children of Seth are our responsibility to protect. Let none of them come to harm.”

Ghouls: “These rare and chosen few who are given the opportunity to show their worth to the Brothers and Sisters of Haqim. They help us train our newly embraced, and they protect us while we sleep. We should honor them as much as they honor us.”

Brujah: “If they hadn’t taken up arms against the people we protect, we could have their allies.”

Cappadocians: “They may have jobs for our Warriors, and our Sorcerers could spend decades debating their magics, but they are still those who are to be judged.”

Followers of Set: “They use the Children of Seth like play things, and not to be trusted. Cut off any head of the snake you see.”

Gangrel: “They are as close to being an animal as they can, and that is an unclean thing. But they are just as dangerous one on one as our Warriors are. Beware.”

Lasombra: “Their hand can be seen behind the Crusades, and we will not forget this.”

Malkavians: “The Prophet tells us it is good to give charity to the mad, but there is only so much we can do before their madness becomes a detriment to our brothers and sisters.”

Nosteratu: “The Lepers make better friends then enemies. Their thirst for knowledge is equal to the need of vitae.”

Ravnos: “Strangely, these Cainites rarely attract our attention. Their intentions seem to be nothing more than mortal vices, and we care very little of those things.”

Salubri: “Once brothers in arms against the Baali, they now can be found in the numbers of Crusaders. Maybe they have seen the error in their ways.”

Toreador: “For the most part, the entire clan is ineffective. If a chosen Rose has chosen politics as their art, be wary on their land. If another has chosen the art of swordsmanship be afraid.”

Tremere: “These Usurpers are like a coiled snake: ready to strike with their own poison.”

Tzimisce: “They have lost every bit of their humanity, and often have to be reminded of that. Be careful of the way they treat humans around you.”

Ventrue: “The strength of a Ventrue doesn’t lay in their physical prowess, but in their friends, their allies, and their ghouls.” Shifters: “Do not try and negotiate, reason, or barter with them. They hate us, and seek out our destruction at every moment.”

Wraith: “Only our Sorcerers have many dealings with the restless dead. The only dealings the rest of us have are making more ghosts.” Sorcerers: “They are still people, and one of our castes is hails from their ranks. Tread lightly, as they are humans, but have tremendous powers.”

Fae: “For reasons unknown, they pull pranks on us seemingly more than others. We are not amused.”