Tzimisce

The Tzimisce (pronounced zee-Mee-shee or Tzee-mee-skeh or Tzee-mee-tsheh) are one of the thirteen Great Clans which feature in White Wolf Publishing’s World of Darkness universe. Although the bulk of the Clan consists of young, headstrong vampires belonging to the Sabbat sect, there still exist a small group of powerful Elders who remain the scholarly yet aloof creatures that the Clan was in its distant past.

History
Although the origin of the Tzimisce is shrouded in mystery, one tale tells that the Clan progenitor (whose name is unknown, but is usually simply referred to as Tzimisce) was created by the Second Generation Kindred known as Enoch. This telling states that Tzimisce left the First City before the Great Flood, and made its way to the Carpathian mountains in Eastern Europe where it made a pact with a demon of the land by the name of Kupala. The details of this pact are uncertain, but what is known is that Tzimisce and his offspring were granted the power to overcome the local werewolf tribes and claim the mountains as their own.

After cementing their power base in Europe and cowing the local populations with grand displays of their supernatural might, the Clan spread throughout the Old World and beyond, gaining great influence in the court of Constantinople, and even gathering power in such far-flung places as the city of Alexandria in Egypt.

The Dark Ages
The Dark Ages were a period which brought great upheaval for the Clan. First, there came about the Omen War, a conflict that raged for several decades between the Tzimisce and the upstart Kindred of the Tremere. Begun when the Tzimisce learned of the Tremere’s practice of experimenting upon captured vampires, the battle devolved into a stalemate after many long years of violence and bloodshed, but left many of the Clan Elders severely weakened.

The next major event was the advent of the Anarch Revolt, which shook Tzimisce society to its core. The Tzimisce, who had always operated as a strictly hierarchical Clan with younger members forced to obey their Elders through use of the Blood Bond, faced an uprising from not only vampires from other Clans, but from those younger members of their own who had found a way to magically throw off their shackles. The fighting raged for years, and whilst the revolt was ultimately put down it was at great cost to the Clan: not only were most of the already-weakened Elders dead, but the Clan founder, mighty Tzimisce himself, had apparently been slain by one of the would-be usurpers.

The Victorian Age
Something of a mixed bag for the Tzimisce, the Victorian Age offered the Clan more ready access to the knowledge provided by the flourishing arts and sciences, whilst also dealing it a heavy blow.

In the first instance, the spread of scientific studies such as anatomy, biology and medicine allowed them to make even greater use of their signature Discipline of Vicissitude, opening up avenues of experimentation previously unheard of.

On the other hand, the proliferation of modern media, and the curiosity shown by monied mortals about events in far-flung lands, posed a real problem for the Tzimisce. Heavily reliant on fear and superstition to hold power in their domains, many of the old practices had to be abandoned, lest they draw unwanted attention from the breathing masses, and more than a few Elders were rousted from their ancestral manses and put to the stake. As a result, many of the younger Tzimisce, mostly survivors from the Anarch Revolt, chose to flee to the Americas with the by now well-established Sabbat.

It was also during this period that the novel Dracula was published. This was something of a public relations disaster for the Tzimisce, as the novel was directly written about one of their own, Vlad Tepes, and cast him in a less than flattering light. Indeed, many of the Tzimisce Elders found the portrayal of one of their own in such a manner to be a great indignity.

Modern Nights
Once a proud and mighty Clan, modern times find the Tzimisce in a state of decline. Whilst many of their number belong to the Sabbat, the second largest of the vampiric sects, most of these know little to nothing of their Clan’s heritage, and the few Elders who still call Eastern Europe their home cling to their power by the thinnest of threads.

There have also arisen rumours that the Clan founder did not die at the hands of the Anarchs after all, but now exists in a metamorphosed condition somewhere in the United States. This fills many of the Sabbat Tzimisce with a deep unease, fearing that soon this dread entity will come after them for their traitorous actions during the Revolt.

Culture and Organisation
As has been previously stated, the Tzimisce are now a fragmented lot, with a small but ancient minority holding sway over their ancestral homes in the Carpathians, and the bulk of the Clan acting as youthful foot-soldiers or priests for the Sabbat. These two groups hold vastly different traditions and ideals.

Old Clan Tzimisce
The Old Clan - known as Voivodes - have held their position for centuries, with each one holding sway over a certain geographical region in Eastern Europe. Formerly they operated as a council, with the position of Viceroy acting as the “chairman,” and their decisions governing the direction the Clan as a whole would take. However, since the Anarch Revolt of the fifteenth century, the Voivodes have become much more solitary creatures, with each being a law unto himself and giving no regards to outsiders.

These Kindred function in small groups called broods, with each Voivode standing at the head of a handful of his own offspring. They rarely venture beyond the borders of their own holdings, although some rumours in modern nights suggest that some of them have taken it upon themselves to set forth into the outside world and infiltrate the Sabbat. These Elders, the whispers say, wish to bring down that sect and destroy its members as vengeance for their acts during the Anarch Revolt.

The Sabbat Tzimisce
Those Tzimisce who threw in their lot with the Sabbat tend to be occupy the lower echelons of the sect, acting as spiritual advisors, the keepers of ancient lore, or simply shock troops. Whilst these Kindred have largely forgotten the traditions of their Clan, many are exceptionally learned individuals who carry great knowledge of ancient practices, or who serve as preachers to their packs, reminding the others what it is that the Sabbat fights for.

A large percentage of these Tzimisce have developed an interest in the Paths of Enlightenment, as series of quasi-religious teachings which foster the belief that the vampire is the ultimate evolution of the human form. These creatures tend to be amongst the most psychopathic and bloodthirsty vampires in the Sabbat, and are feared even by those they call friends (See main article: Sabbat).

Ghouls
Whilst the Tzimisce make use of ghouls in much the same way as other Clans, their servants tend to be much more pathetic than those of the other Clans, living in constant fear that they will make some minor mistake causing their master to visit unspeakable tortures upon them using their fleshcrafting abilities. Indeed, more than a few Tzimisce ghouls have been left with hideous disfigurements after making the smallest of errors, and stories persist of particularly adept practitioners of Vicissitude having in their possession living furniture; doors, stools, even drapes which were once mortal beings, but which now scream silently in the agony inflicted by a displeased Elder (See main article: Ghoul (World of Darkness)).

War Ghouls
Another use the Tzimisce have for their ghouls is to craft them into living weapons through the power of Vicissitude. Whilst not as common a practice as it was in days passed due to the increased need to remain hidden from the mortal population, the Tzimisce are known to “improve” some of their more combat-capable servants in ways which enhance their fighting prowess.

Szlachta
The more common type of war ghoul is known as the Szlachta, creatures which have undergone fleshcrafting modifications and now operate as bodyguards or front-line troops. They can be created from either mortals or animals, and typically sport such features as armoured hides, bladed fingers or arms, and enhanced senses or reactions.

Vozhd
The ultimate expression of the art of building a ghoul for battle, the Vozhd is a gestalt entity that combines several ghouls together into a single, monstrous creature of war which is resistant to all mind control, and commands the magical might of an Elder vampire. An enormous creation the size of a building, Vozhd are rarely seen on the battlefield for two reasons: first, a rampaging behemoth like this draws the kind of attention that even a Tzimisce does not wish for, and second, the advent of man-portable anti-tank weaponry is capable of putting an end to many months of hard work in a single shot. However, there is little in the World of Darkness as likely to unite a disparate group of vampires against a common enemy as the sight of a Vozhd tearing its way through Kindred and mortal alike. On the other hand, there is little as likely to cause an enemy to throw his hands in the air and surrender as seeing the most powerful of their number ripped to shreds by a frenzied wall of flesh. ..

Revenants
A type of ghoul virtually unique to the Tzimisce is the Revenant. These are not a single ghoul, but a whole bloodline, having been selectively bred by the Tzimisce over many generations to create a creature which does not rely solely on drinking the vampiric blood in order to gain a portion of their power. There are several distinct Revenant families, and they serve their Tzimisce masters in a variety of ways, from information gathering to research duties to sheer muscle, and all act with the utmost loyalty to their masters (See main article: Revenant (World of Darkness)).

Embrace
The Tzimisce tend to look for others with similar interests to their own to Embrace; although they do not look to a mortal’s achievements when selecting offspring, rather they scrutinise the potential offered by the individual. This propensity for giving the gift of immortality to those like themselves is seen by the other Clans as yet another aspect of the vanity possessed by all Tzimisce, and leads to broods of these vampires which can be very focused on a single objective, whilst being entirely ignorant of more pressing concerns (See main article: Vampire (World of Darkness)).

Clan Weakness
The Tzimisce Clan weakness necessitates that they sleep surrounded by at least two handfuls of dirt from a location which was of great importance to them as a mortal. Failure to do so will result in the slow degeneration of the Kindred’s physical and magical abilities until he either falls into the deep sleep of torpor or surrounds his resting place with earth which meets this condition.

Notable Tzimisce

 * Tzimisce, the Clan’s founder.


 * Vlad Tepes, The Son of the Dragon, better known as Dracula.


 * Doktor Totentanz, a particularly vicious ex-Nazi and Sabbat pack leader.