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CreditsAuthors: Christopher Kobar (The Betrayed), Greg Stolze
(Princes of the Fallen City) and Chuck Wendig (Sleepers) with Will
HindmarchVampire and the World of Darkness created by Mark
Rein•HagenDeveloper: Will HindmarchEditor: Scribendi Editorial
ServicesArt Director: Pauline BenneyBook Design: Pauline
BenneyInterior Art:Avery Butterworth, Cathy Wilkins, Ro-berto
Marchesi, Michael Gaydos, Drew Tucker, Tomasz Jedruszek and
Jean-Sebastian RossbachFront Cover Art: Daren Bader
BlameQuarterly Media Bias: Carl BowenShotgun Murder: Jeff
HoltMugging: Aaron Voss and Rebecca SchaferRuination of Airships in
the Popular Consciousness: Herb Morrison
© 2005 White Wolf Publishing, Inc. All rights reserved.
Re-production without the written permission of the publisher is
expressly forbidden, except for the purposes of reviews, and for
blank character sheets, which may be reproduced for personal use
only. White Wolf, Vampire and World of Darkness are reg-istered
trademarks of White Wolf Publishing, Inc. All rights reserved.
Vampire the Requiem, Storytelling System and VII are trademarks of
White Wolf Publishing, Inc. All rights reserved. All characters,
names, places and text herein are copyrighted by White Wolf
Publishing, Inc.
The mention of or reference to any company or product in these
pages is not a challenge to the trademark or copyright
concerned.
This book uses the supernatural for settings, characters and
themes. All mystical and supernatural elements are fiction and
intended for entertainment purposes only. This book contains mature
content. Reader discre-tion is advised.
For a free White Wolf catalog call 1-800-454-WOLF.Check out
White Wolf online athttp://www.white-wolf.com
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vii 13introduction
“The misTake we’re making when Talking abouT Vii
is ThaT we’re assuming They know The TruTh
abouT ThemselVes.
you saw This guy’s face —
did iT look like eVen he undersTood
whaT he was saying?
we’Ve goT proof ThaT They know abouT us,
buT i don’T Think They much abouT ThemselVes.
whaT if There’s noThing else buT The mysTery?
whaT if There is no secreT?
i Think we’re all They haVe.
i Think hunTing us is all They haVe lefT.”
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The vampires known only as “VII” are a riddle with no right
answer. No single truth to the mystery of VII exists in the World
of Darkness. This book gives you three possible truths to choose
from for your own Vampire chronicles — or three more legends for
VII to hide behind.
Like so many enticing mysteries, VII is something of an empty
box waiting to be filled with whatever you and your fellow players
bring to the table. Within the fictional cities of the World of
Darkness, there may be a definitive truth at the center of the
mystery, but in your own stories, what’s ultimately behind the
curtain is you. VII is what you bring with you. VII is what you
build using the tools of the Storytelling system and the materials
in this book. We’ll show you how.
How to Use This BookThis book explores and expands on the ideas
first
presented in Vampire: The Requiem of mysterious and deadly
vampires known, collectively, only as VII. The concepts, stories
and game mechanics contained herein are intended to be used — to
any degree the Storyteller sees fit — in any Vampire chronicle
deal-ing with VII, whether as protagonists or antagonists. A good
deal of this material builds on themes, ideas and rules found in
the World of Darkness Rulebook and Vampire: The Requiem.
Each of the different concepts of VII in this book is intended
to be the only one at work in a chronicle. The unique and elaborate
history of these possible Sevens makes it impossible — or at least
unbelievable — for more than one of these organizations to exist,
truthfully exist, in your World of Darkness at a time. As you play
through more and more chronicles in the World of Darkness, you’ll
have more and more opportunities to re-examine the mystery of VII
and redefine the truth.
This Book and the World of DarknessBecause the versions of VII
described herein are meant
to be mutually exclusive, inspirational and optional, the
authors of this book were given the go-ahead to tinker a bit with
the assumed norms of your Vampire chronicle. At the same time, each
was allowed to exercise his par-ticular voice to an extent that’s
usually not possible in a collaborative work.
What this means to you, as a reader, is that you may find one
chapter making an assumption about your fa-vorite covenant that you
don’t agree with. Don’t sweat
it. Everything in this book is an example of what might be in
your World of Darkness.
Information in this book is not necessarily an indica-tor of how
future books in the Vampire line will look at things. Future
Vampire supplements will continue to assume that the truth of VII
is commonly unknown.
If you don’t like the way the Ahranites in Chapter One have
assessed the Ordo Dracul, either change the way the Ahranites think
in your chronicle or prove them wrong by playing a Dragon contrary
to their estimations. If you don’t think the Betrayed should be so
strictly organized by region, change it. Every chronicle is
yours.
It’s easier to mix things together than it is to organize them,
so this book strives to create structures for you to use, mimic or
add to. If none of that suits you, tear those structures down and
build what you want from the parts you get.
OverviewIn a way, VII is presented like a collection of
small
books. Each of the following chapters presents a different
version of the truth behind the vampires of VII, broken down into
subsections focusing on history, culture, unique powers and the
like. Though each of these dif-ferent incarnations of VII can be
used in your chronicle just as they are presented, straight from
the book, they’ve all been designed to work as a collection of
smaller com-ponents that can be disassembled and recombined into
your own unique version of the truth.
This Introduction is your guide to using the mystery of VII in
any Vampire chronicle. In the following pages you’ll find advice
for introducing VII into a new or established chronicle and
guidance on expanding and preserving the mystery (and the truth) of
these enigmatic monsters. Using this advice, you’ll be able to
create distinctive and unpredictable versions of the truth for all
your future Vampire chronicles, so that the mystery of VII can stay
mysterious. As you play more and more Vampire chronicles, you’ll be
able to solve the mystery again and again.
Chapter One: The Princes of the Fallen City presents an ancient
and epic origin of VII rooted in the ill-fated Biblical city of
Gomorrah. These VII are the heirs to a city of sin, children of a
demon’s wicked wife and the practitioners of pagan sorcery. As
protagonists, they are tragic and noble warriors who have made a
deal with a devil to restore their ruined glory. As antagonists,
they
It doesn’t matter who my father was; it matters who I remember
he was.
— Anne Sexton
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PrologueCreditsTable of ContentsIntroductionChapter One: Princes
of the Fallen CityChapter Two: The BetrayedChapter Three: The
Sleepers
