Tzimisce - History

History

The Tzimisce were one of the High Clans in the original settings. In medieval times, it was common for the Tzimisce to hold vast domains in their fictional version of Eastern Europe, and command armies of men, ghouls and monsters of their own making; in some places they were revered or worshipped almost as gods. The most (in)famous Tzimisce NPC was Vlad Ţepeş, commonly known as Dracula.

Gangrel characters were among the preferred victims of the Tremere clan, who often employed Gangrel as raw material to craft Gargoyles. The Gangrel of old held Tremere characters in utmost contempt.

During the Dark Ages cycle of books, the younger characters of the clan were subject to blood bonds with their elders, until they found a way to break them and slaughtered most of their masters. This in-game ritual is called Vaulderie and consists of a blood bond with the pack members rather than a single elder, thus bonding to a community (or pack) of fellow Tzimisce characters and breaking their sire's control upon them. The Vaulderie is now one of the Auctoritas Ritae and practiced by all of the Sabbat, in theory at least.

It was also during the Dark Ages cycle of books that the Koldun arose as a playable Tzimisce faction. In the modern World of Darkness setting, Koldun are so rare as to be considered extinct. The Koldun were ret-conned in later revisions into Old Clan Tzimisce.

In Vampire: The Masquerade, the Tzimisce clan is associated with the Sabbat who wage an eternal struggle against their vampiric rivals in the Camarilla. Their symbol is the Ouroboros.