Sarrasine

Sarrasine is a degenerate vampire who currently presides as the Prince of Sydney, Australia.

Biography[]

Sarrasine is a mysterious individual. Under his rule, Sydney is an independent city, where vampires of any clan or sect can come together. Although Sarrasine presents himself as a Toreador, many believe that he is actually a Caitiff; if true, he would be only the second Caitiff prince in Kindred history, after Mukhtar Bey of Cairo. However, this is also a lie on his part. Sarrasine is actually an elder Follower of Set, and has served his clan's interests (secondary to his own, of course) since the Dark Ages, when he resided in Constantinople alongside his sire, Khay'tall.

As a mortal, Sarrasine was a young boy in the court of Justinian the Great, who saw that temporal lords often did not live according to the orthodoxy of the scripture, but to hidden masters. Khay'tall Embraced him because he saw something of himself in the boy. Sarrasine, however, did not reciprocate these feelings. During the sack of Constantinople by the Fourth Crusade in 1204, Sarrasine attempted diablerie on his sire, but failed thanks to his sire's mastery of Serpentis^[1] (though he apparently later diablerized another vampire of similar generation). In the 15th century, Sarrasine was sent from the Grand Temple of Set in Uganda to interfere with Ventrue interests in England. There, he fell under the sway of the Toreador primogen Merritt, who was later revealed to have been the methuselah Kemintiri.

For some unknown reason, when the English sent the Second Fleet to Australia in 1789, Sarrasine abandoned his ongoing schemes in favor of traveling with the fleet. Shortly after Sarrasine arrived in Australia, the Ventrue Abram declared himself Prince of Sydney. Sarrasine became the Ventrue's advisor and seneschal, and took over so many of the Prince's affairs that much of the domain's temporal power was held not by the Prince but by Sarrasine himself. In 1839, Abram left for Melbourne, leaving Sarrasine as his acting regent in Sydney. When Abram was driven out of Melbourne in 1879, Sarrasine remained in power in Sydney, but did not declare himself Prince until the turn of the century. In the mid-1950s, Sarrasine declared Sydney a free city, independent of the rule of Camarilla and Sabbat alike.

His enforcers kept the Masquerade under control, but the court has become decadent and degenerate. While he has not reformed the Children of Judas, he uses many of the same tactics to entice and ensnare followers, still enjoying the thrill of corrupting those who claim they are too strong-willed to be enchanted. In the wake of the influx of Kuei-jin at the turn of the millennium, Sarrasine has entered an alliance with Archbishop Camille of Brisbane and Prince Taylor of Melbourne, called the Truce of Sydney. After the Truce was broken by Taylor, who allied himself with the Green Court, Sarrasine manages to keep his city safe and now waits for the next move of his enemies.

Appearance[]

Sarrasine's appearance is that of an androgynous, almost asexual youth. His shoulder-length hair is more white than blond, framing a delicately boned face. His eyes are pale blue, and a tracery of blue veins is visible beneath his pale skin. His thin lips are usually twisted in a wry, seductive smile. Sarrasine has slender hands and long fingers, with which he gestures gracefully during conversation. He favors loose white clothes and silver jewelry.

Stats[]

The following stats come from A World of Darkness Second Edition.

Clan: Followers of Set
Nature: Autist
Demeanor: Confidant
Generation: 6th
Embrace: 532
Apparent Age: 15
Physical: Strength 4, Dexterity 7, Stamina 6
Social: Charisma 6, Manipulation 7, Appearance 5
Mental: Perception 6, Intelligence 6, Wits 6
Talents: Acting 4, Alertness 4, Dodge 5, Empathy 6, Leadership 5, Seduction 7, Sense Deception 5, Streetwise 5, Subterfuge 6
Skills: Bribery 5, Etiquette 5, Melee 4, Music 4, Stealth 4
Knowledges: Area Knowledge 5, Art History 4, Camarilla Lore 3, Clan Knowledge 4, Finance 5, Linguistics 3, (Ancient Greek, Modern Greek, Latin), Politics 7, Sabbat Lore 3
Disciplines: Auspex 5, Celerity 5, Obfuscate 6, Presence 6, Serpentis 7, Thaumaturgy 5 (Corruption 5, Movement of the Mind 3, Weather Control 4)
Rituals: communicate with Kindred Sire, Defense of the Sacred Haven, Devil's Touch, Rebirth of Mortal Vanity, Wake with Morning's Freshness, Ward versus Lupines
Backgrounds: Influence 3, Herd 4, Resources 5, Status 5
Virtues: Conscience 0, Self-Control 5, Courage 3
Path of Enlightenment: Path of Ecstasy 7
Willpower: 10