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Bloodline: Baali
Topic Started: Apr 8 2013, 05:53 PM (671 Views)
Dol
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Baali
Singular:Baali
Plural:Baali
Nicknames:infernalist
Antideluvian:N/A, Founders: Nergal (Shaitan), Moloch, and an unknown third
Faction:Independent
Disciplines:Obfuscate, Presence, Daimoinon


The Baali are a bloodline of vampires who are associated with demon worship. Some versions present the true purpose of the Baali as keeping demons sleeping by feeding them with carnage and destruction. Most presentations show them as infernalists, using demon worship to gain additional power. They have a somewhat complex heritage, appearing at times as a bloodline and at times as a clan. There is some indication that they may be a bloodline of the Salubri, Cappadocians, or Lasombra, although one earlier source suggested they may instead be descendants or even predecessors of the Gangrel line. They also recruit vampires from other clans to become Baali via a dark thaumaturgic initiation, further confusing the issue.

Historically, the Assamites, Followers of Set, and Salubri have fought wars against the Baali. The Salubri and Assamites in particular have a deep seated hatred for the Baali. The Assamite warriors current blood addiction can be traced to a curse leveled by the Baali.

Clan weakness: Affected by religious symbols. Double damage from faith.

Dark Ages
The Baali were prominent in the Islamic world at this time. Although their numbers were diminished by the Al-Amin, and many kindred were strengthened by Islam and the Ashirra, they managed to keep a corrupt hold in the area.

Organisation
All Baali have at least two identities, if not more. Among their own kind, they organize into small, tightly-knit groups called covens, usually in three or six. These covens meet only rarely, gathering only to perform some dark ritual or discuss matters of dire consequence. They prefer to meet under the new moon, though lunar eclipses hold great meaning for them and major rituals are performed at that time. Covens meet in secret places where their activities will not be disturbed, yet still within the city they wish to prepare. They frequently ally with Black Spiral Dancers and make use of their tainted caerns. A grand ritual involving both Baali and Black Spirals usually portends some great and awful occurrence.

These meetings are few and far between, however. In the interim, Baali usually pose as upstanding members of either the Camarilla, Sabbat, or both, depending on who controls the city. Contrary to popular belief, they do not pose as Caitiff -- Caitiff are distrusted enough on general principle alone. Instead, they are far more devious, hiding behind a mask of blood passed down through millennia: they pose as Tremere.

The blood of Saulot runs through Tremere's veins since his diablerie close to a thousand years ago. Now, almost all Tremere are descended from their founder, and therefore from Saulot himself. Only those with a high proficiency in Thaumaturgy can detect even a slight difference (Thau 5+, diff 9) and even then it is usually dismissed as a minor change in blood chemistry -- perhaps the vampire's sire was of House Bonisagus or Flambeaux. Reports of corruption deep within the Tremere hierarchy are scoffed at. Surely the Tremere, the masters of deception and manipulation, would know of a conspiracy within their ranks! But this conventional wisdom is wrong. With the immense occult resources of the Tremere, the Baali are gaining strength like never before. They have access to supplies, knowledge, and potential recruits. They have even started two secret orders within the clan: the Order of the Wyrm and the Illuminated Brotherhood.

The Order of the Wyrm is the more mainstream of the two, the conservative front for the more radical Brotherhood. Through the Order, the Baali hope to attract Tremere who share some of their beliefs, who have the potential to be recruited, corrupted, or both. Once an applicant has progressed high enough in the Order, they are inducted into the Illuminated Brotherhood. Only after their corruption is complete, their turn to evil assured, do the Tremere meet their Baali masters -- and their masters' Masters.

Sabbat Baali have an easier task in some ways, harder in others. While the vampires of the Sabbat have forsaken their Humanity, the Inquisition within the sect limits their activities. Whatever sect they belong to, however, the Baali are united in their cause. Their eventual goal is to turn both the Camarilla and the Sabbat to their infernal masters -- and if that doesn't work, to destroy them. Indeed, many Sabbat-Camarilla conflicts can be attributed to the machinations of Baali on both sides, destroying those who oppose them while garnering greater influence and power. After all, power is the name of the game.

Embraces
The Baali only embrace those who are intelligent and driven. Most who are embraced will even had interest in the occult during their mortal lives.

The embracing ritual of the Baali is one of their most disturbing rituals. A Baali will capture his prey and bring him to a site he has prepared. There will be a large pit, filled with dozens of decomposing bodies. The Baali drains it’s victim to near death, and tosses them into the pit. In just one of the corpses they hid their blood inside a heart. If the prey manages to find the heart before they die and drink the blood, they are considered worthy of becoming Baali. Ironically, this makes the Baali the only clan that regularly gives their victim the choice of becoming a vampire or choosing to die.

The most infamous organ pit was founded in Damascus, where it was tended by the Methuselah Annazir.

Variants

Apostates
The Baali recruit vampires from other clans into their ranks; such a successfully recruited vampire is called an Apostate. The Baali even have a dark thaumaturgic ritual commonly called the Rite of Apostasy which proves the recruit's loyalty to the Baali and grants the recruit the demonic Discipline of Daimoinon in place of one of their former Clan Disciplines. Effectively, there is a unique Baali bloodline for every Clan or bloodline who has had a former member undergo the Rite of Apostasy. This dark thaumaturgic ritual grants the Baali bloodline a "viral" property to laterally grow their ranks that no other Clan or bloodline is known to possess. The most populous bloodline of Apostates are the Lasombra Apostates known as the Angellis Ater.
Edited by Dol, Dec 28 2013, 03:57 PM.
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