The Ventrue Antediluvian is the mythic progenitor of the clan Ventrue. He may have been known as Ventru but his origins are clouded in mystery, with a lot of conflicting information.
The Ventrue claim that he was a progeny of Ynosh (Enoch) and the first of the Third Generation, as well as Caine's closest advisor. He is also acknowledged as the builder and ruler of the Second City.
The official version according to clan Ventrue members states that he may have been destroyed outside of the walls of the Second City by [Brujah] (which is firmly denied by the Brujah Clan). Some accounts say he might have been diablerised by one of his own, or even that he escaped Final Death and is really in torpor near ancient Persia. However, Gehenna states that he is long dead.
He is often confused with the vampire named Veddartha.
Biography[]
“ |
We ruled in Enoch! We ruled in the Second City Be the law-giver, the tool-maker, Cower not in fear of the Sun! |
” |
— The Words of Ventrue to his Childer from The Book of Nod |
The First City[]
According to most Ventrue accounts of their founder's origins, [Ventrue] was Embraced by Enoch in the First City, and was probably the first Antediluvian to receive the Embrace. In one account, Caine saw the potential in [Ventrue] when he was still a youth and took him in, raising him as his own and eventually giving him to Enoch for his Embrace. In another account, [Ventrue] was a foreign nobleman who received the Embrace from Enoch without Caine's guidance.
[Ventrue] became Caine's right hand and enforcer under the office of the Hand of Caine, and served as Enoch's proxy among the populace of the First City. On the last night before the Deluge destroyed the First City, Caine visited [Ventrue] and entrusted him with the role of caretaker of all of Caine's descendants, including [Ventrue]'s own sire, Enoch. Caine departed afterwards; [Ventrue] was the last Cainite to see Caine before the Flood, and thus the last Cainite to see Caine before he returned to curse the clans many years later.
After the Deluge[]
After the Flood, the thirteen Antediluvians rose up against their sires and slew them. [Ventrue], like the other Antediluvians (except perhaps Saulot), was punished by Caine with his distinctive clan weakness for his role in the uprising. Some accounts claim that [Ventrue] led the uprising out of loyalty to Caine's law, while others (particularly the Ventrue antitribu) believe that [Ventrue] was the only Antediluvian to refrain from this patricide; many from these groups hold that the Ventrue clan weakness is actually a mark of distinction.
In the latter days of the Second City, [Ventrue] was forced to again take up the role of the Hand of Caine as his siblings warred against his rule and against one another in the first stirrings of the Jyhad. After Troile's diablerie of [Brujah], [Ventrue] departed the Second City in search of Caine. However, he was struck down outside the gates of the city by one of his siblings (presumably Troile, or possibly Lasombra, Set, or even one of his own childer). However, as [Ventrue] probably sired later methuselahs such as Arakur of Ur and Alexander, some claim he must have survived that attack in some form.
Since then, the clan has had a dissociated relationship with their Antediluvian founder. Sometimes the Ventrue claim to be the only clan free of an Antediluvian ancestor's manipulations, sometimes outright denying that the Antediluvians ever existed, and other times claiming authority over their Kindred through their esteemed progenitor's lineage.
Timeline[]
- Circa 8000 BCE. [Ventrue] is embraced by Irad or Enoch and participates in events at the First City.
- Circa 5000 BCE. [Ventrue] participates in events at the Second City and embraces Artemis Orthia. [Ventrue] banishes Set and Mekhet. [Ventrue] leaves after the diablerie of [Brujah].
- Circa 3000 BCE to 2000 BCE. [Ventrue] embraces Arakur of Ur in ancient Sumer.
- Before 1258 BCE. [Ventrue] embraces Veddartha, sire of Mithras and possible founder of the Danava bloodline. Mithras and his descendants will come to rule London.
- Circa 700 BCE. [Ventrue] embraces Alexander in Ancient Greece. He and his descendants will come to rule Paris.
- Before 600 BCE. [Ventrue] embraces Antonius and Erik Eigermann in Ancient Gaul. Erik Eigermann and his descendants will rule over Berlin. Antonius will assist in ruling over Constantinople.
- Before 480 BCE. [Ventrue] embraces Tinia, who would come to rule over the Etruscans. Her descendants will rule Rome.
References[]
- VTM: The Book of Nod
- VTM: Clanbook: Ventrue Revised
- VTM: Dirty Secrets of the Black Hand
- VTM: Gehenna
Vampire: The Masquerade Antediluvians | |
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Clan Founders | Brujah • Cappadocius • Haqim • Gangrel • Lasombra • Malkavian • Nosferatu • Ravnos • Salubri • Set • Toreador • Tzimisce • Ventrue |
Usurpers | Augustus Giovanni • Tremere |