Cappadocius was one of the thirteen original Kindred Antediluvians who appeared in White Wolf Publishing's World of Darkness setting. The founder of the Great Clan of Cappadocians, he met Final Death at the hands of one of his creations, Augustus Giovanni.
History[]
Always something of a recluse, very little is known of Cappadocius's early years; indeed, Cappadocius may not even be his true name. Spending much of his vampiric formative years advising the other Antediluvians, the ancient distanced himself from their power games and political manoeuvrings, preferring to devote his time to the study of his favourite topic: death. This fascination with all aspects of death came about as a direct result of his work as a priest during his living years, his duties including ministering to the dying, performing final rites and, occasionally, conversing with the dead through various supernatural means.
Creation of the Cappadocians[]
Whilst parting company with the other Antediluvians after the fall of the Second City, unlike those he left behind, Cappadocius chose to walk the Earth alone for long ages, before finally coming to the conclusion that his questions about death could only be answered with the assistance of others, and thus began the process of Embracing his future Clan. Establishing their central domains in and around modern day Turkey, the Cappadocians quietly went about the task of learning all that they could about their Clan founder's greatest interest.
The Great Purge[]
At some point during the Dark Ages, it came to Cappadocius' attention that, despite his wish for a small Clan with very distinct goals, his offspring had somehow become a vast, sprawling conglomeration of vampires, numbering more than any of the other Great Clans. Troubled by this, he commanded the Clan in its entirety to attend him in the vast subterranean labyrinth beneath Kaymakli in Anatolia. There, he weeded out those whom he deemed unworthy of membership in the Clan by asking each a series of questions; those who answered incorrectly, he sent off to wander the maze, whilst those who provided the proper answers eventually followed Cappadocius to the surface world. With a curse of “Let no Childe of Caine ever leave through this passage; Let no son of Seth ever enter,” he then sealed the labyrinth for all eternity, those inside either cannibalising the others or slowly falling into the death-like sleep of torpor.
Rise of the Giovanni[]
Following the purging of his Clan, and by now a firm believer in Christianity, Cappadocius decided to diversify his interests, and to this effect Embraced a household of mortal necromancers named the Giovanni, hoping that their work with the dead would provide insight into not simply the act of dying, but what happens afterwards.
However, this proved to be his undoing, as what Cappadocius had not taken into account - or perhaps unconsciously had, and cared not - was the thirst for power which consumed the head of the Giovanni, a man named Augustus. After much scheming, Augustus finally had his pawns in place, and proceeded to diablerize Cappadocius, taking his Sire's power for himself before wiping out the remainder of the Clan and establishing his House as a new power in the World of Darkness.
Cappadocius' Survival[]
Despite having his blood drunk dry by Augustus Giovanni, Cappadocius survived, after a fashion. Due to his conversations with the dead during his living years, when he died during the Embrace, a small part of Cappadocius's soul remained in the Underworld, held back by the spirits of those he had communed with (this is also believed to explain, at least in part, his fascination with death, as he was always subconsciously searching for those parts of him which did not return from the Underworld). Slowly regaining some of his former power, Cappadocius has spent centuries plotting his revenge on Augustus, and only time will tell what the outcome will be.