Brujah - History

History

The Brujah are warriors—but always warriors for a cause. The fierce heat of passion burns within their cold, dead breasts and it drives them to champion causes that they believe can set the world right. When Caine slew his brother, he threw the world from its intended course. The horror that it has become must be corrected, and the Brujah intend to do just that. Each member of the clan has her own vision of the way the world should be, and he strives to make that vision become a reality through argument, manipulation and force of arms.

In the earliest nights, passion was not a trait of the Brujah. Indeed, the founder of the clan, Ilyes, was Embraced for her cold wisdom, and her ability to assess the virtues of an idea without emotional involvement was greatly valued by her sire and grandsire. However, in her long years banished from the sun, she grew ever more remote from both the humans of the First City and her own childer. What few emotions she had left atrophied completely. As she developed theories, her experiments to test them became ever more cruel. She would use and sacrifice the living and the Damned, just to satisfy an idle whim.

One of her childer, whose name was Troile, could no longer stand by and watch this cruelty. He dreamed of a world in which the human and Cainites had at least an understanding. Even then, he thought that genuine peace was too much to ask. He tried to convince his sire to abandon her ruthless behavior. Ilyes's arrogant dismissal of the childe's arguments drove Troile to the very edge of frenzy, and he threw himself at his sire. Long out of practice in hand-to-hand combat, Ilyes eventually fell beneath her childe's fists and fangs. Once he had tasted his sire's blood, Troile was unable to stop himself from drinking. Within minutes, Ilyes was no more.

From the shadows stepped Caine himself, his face clouded with fury: "Never before has one of my progeny drank the very soul of another. I curse you ever to aspire to your sire's wisdom, but also to be prey to the very fury which led you to this diabolic act."

Troile took his sire's title and position among the third generation. He assumed the burden of Caine's curse, but also worked towards his own vision of a better world. His passion seemed to spread like wildfire through the line of his childer, and at first he rejoiced in their crusading zeal as they worked to make the world a better place.

In the city of Carthage, Troile and his childer worked to establish what he had dreamed of in earlier times: a society in which mortals and Cainites coexisted for their mutual benefit. But again and again he saw those of his clan start to repeat his mistakes and give in to their anger. In despair, he left the city and was never seen again. Carthage fell far from that ideal, until even some of the demon-worshipping Baali were welcomed within its walls. Soon, the other clans acted under the guidance of Roman Ventrue to destroy this abomination.

The Brujah have fought to improve the world ever since, but the failure of their grand experiment had made their blood boil ever hotter. As the centuries pass, the world seems to fall ever further from what it should be. As kine philosophies, religions and ideas multiply, proliferate and die, the clan becomes more divided as to what should be done to make the world right—and even as to what that right should be. Many of the younger members of the clan no longer heed the wisdom of their elders. Their blood calls to them to do something now, not watch and observe for a few centuries until the patterns of society become apparent to them. The elders merely shake their heads and recall the misjudged dreams of their own youth.

Some Brujah follow the great philosophies and religions of the past, while others adopt new faiths and ideals with equal vigor and convince themselves that the salvation of the fallen world lies there. Some even jump from idea to idea in search of the one that fires their imagination and drives them towards a better world. All of them pursue their ideals with a vigor and commitment that would put a hardened crusader to shame.