Antediluvian Rumors

Due to the varies canon changes throughout the editions (in addition to there being lot of rumors and very few hard facts in the meta plot) it can be hard to keep track of what happened to what Antediluvian, who are the clan founders in Vampire the Masquerade. I have taken the time and tried to track down where and what the Antediluvians are doing in the modern nights. 

I have used the Vampire: The Masquerade 20th Anniversary Edition timeline changes, information from Beckett's Jyhad Diary, and the information presented in Vampire 5th Edition. 

 

What They are Doing or Where They Are

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• Banu Haqim: The last anyone saw of Haqim was in 121 CE at the British Isles where he was engaged in philosophical conversations with Mithras. Since then, attempts to find him has failed. It is rumored that he is in torpor in the Azerbaijan/Iran/Turkmenistan though some believe he is awake but remains hidden.

• Cappadocian: Cappadocius was diablierized by Augustus Giovanni in 1444 CE.
  

• Brujah: Brujah was diablierized by Troile in the second city.

• Ministry: After a brief awakening in 33 AD, Sutekh disappeared from view and has not been seen since (but left vague prophecies about his return). Despite this, a Ventrue named Nasch came upon a cult known as the Coil of Lion allegedly harbored Sutekh’s body in the 14th century. Nasch then drank from Sutekh’s body which sent Nasch into torpor for a century.

• Gangrel: Ennoia has drifted in and out of torpor since the fall of Enoch. It is unknown whether she is awake or not in the modern nights.

• Giovanni: Augustus Giovanni was staked (and put on ice somewhere) or possible diablerized during the Family Reunion where Clan Giovanni, Cappadocian's, and the other related bloodlines came together and overthrew the reigning leadership of the last 500 years. This new ideal is due to the threat of the Second Inquisition and the Promise of 1528 coming to an end in 2028. This creates a new consolidated clan of death, the Hecata. 

• Lasombra: Physically slain and allegedly diablerized by Gratiano de Veronese at the start of the Anarch revolt.

• Malkavian: Malkav is thought to be in torpor somewhere in Jerusalem where it is thought that his madness has caused the constant state of chaos in that area. It has also been theorized that all Malkavians may or may not have drunk him causing their “cobweb” mental connection with all other members.

• Nosferatu: Absimillard was last recorded to have retreated to the far ends of the Earth after his scarring and creation of the Nicktuku. Absimillard was disappointed in his children for creating embracing others and created the Nicktuku to hunt them. Modern Nosferatu's stem from one of his original childes.
  

• Ravnos: Zapathasura awoke insane with the pain from the death of his children at the hands of the Kuei-jin. This event caused the Week of Nightmares and ended with Zapathasura being destroyed by concentrated sunlight (from satellites) after surviving spiritual nukes and destroying three Bodhisattvas.

• Saulot: Tricked Tremere into diablierizing him in which he took over Tremere’s body in 1133 CE. Last rumors place him at Hunedoara Castle pretending to be a servant.

• Toreador: Arikel is currently thought to be awake and residing in Greece.

• Tremere: The soul of Tremere resides in the body of his childe Goratrix (while Goratrix soul is confined in a mirror) since 1133 CE. Goratrix is trying to lead those Tremere that followed him to rebuild the pyramid after the destruction of the Chantry in Vienna by the hands of the Second Inquisition.

• Troile: Troile descended into the Earth in the arms of Moloch to hide from the Romans where they salted the earth and performed a ritual to trap them there. Though, in recent nights, there is evidence that they have been moved and reside under the Castle Vysehrad.
  

• Tzimisce: Was allegedly diablierized by Lugoj at the start of the Anarch Revolt but it was discovered that the Eldest faked his own diablerie and eventually when into torpor. In the modern nights, the Eldest body was brought to New York where he awakened, shed his giant flesh crafted body, and is now on the search for his siblings to find answers.

• Ventrue: The clan Ventrue claim that their founder Veddartha was ambushed and killed by Brujah on the outskirts of the Second City.

Interesting Rumors of the Night

• Arula: There is four beings who lay in torpor in Enoch, who may or may not be members of the Third Generation. Their names are Al-Mahri, Loz, Nergal, and Ninmug.   

LAST UPDATED 11/08/2023

Review: Cha'alt: Fuchsia Malaise

This is the big follow up release of Cha'alt and just like the original, production values are very high and there were only 1,000 released of  the deluxe physical copies. Cha'alt Malaise continues with the themes of the gonzo fantasy/science fiction/Heavy Metal/Gamma World with a dash of Cthulhu on a Dune world but goes a step further and advances the timeline from the original events of Cha'alt by eighteen months. This is going to be a review with a different structure as Cha'alt Fuchsia Malaise is a beast of its own.

For a disclaimer, I was given a pdf/physical copy of this book for review purposes. 

Presentation: Between the hardback slip covered book you get 230 pages of full color printed on paper stock that reminds me of one of those coffee table art books. All of the art and maps that is included takes up an entire page or two page spread with purple-ish alien language and symbols and generously placed in the book to keep the theme going. It is type set in two columns with some tables taking up a full page. This is all typeset against a parchment style background which does not make it hard to read. Though, it would be hell on your printers. 

Essentials: This section deals with the basics. It includes information on the races of Cha'alt and gives you all kinds of useful tables. The tables lean towards referee utility but this is some great tables for players and all of the tables have plenty of inspiration. There is the usual fair such as morale, alignment, NPCs, Loyalty, Hirelings, and reaction but others such as disguise, enamored, social hierarchy, death is not the end, Cha'alt names, dehydration, how to use this NPC, backgrounds, and many others. These tables are set up on d6s, d8s, d12s, d20s, and even a d100. These tables do not always follow traditional thinking and some of them are setting specific. I think one of my favorite aspects in this book is one that is a list of suggestions.

This list is Murder-Hobo regrets. It is basically used when a player does something murder hobo like, etc. The list has basically repentance on in the ranges from saying a prayer for the fallen, notifying their next of kin, killing one of their enemies, etc. 

City of A'agrybah: The next sections details the Golden City. It goes into detail about its history, politics, a day in the life,  noble houses, places of interest, a d100 table for unlikely events, plot seeds to go to the city/be inside the city, and a few other pieces of information. The section provides enough information to help the GM build the city but it is not overwhelming.

Encounters: In this section, there is a few encounter tables, Fuchsia Putrescence, traveling at night, the meteorite, clown worms, sub ways, galactic tyrants, and some sorcery. 

Scenarios: This section offers three different scenarios/adventures. The first one is Fuchsia Flesh Pit, which is an experiment of a wizard that is recently deceased. The girl that beckons the party came to this flesh pit looking for the other half of the glove she stole from the wizard, but she had to realize that it's dangerous to go alone: there are tentacles, mutant clams, evil cultists, a whispering elder monstrosity, and other gonzo stuff within the organic pit. She tries to persuade the party into coming down and helping her out, after which she would try to betray them and leave with the treasure. 

Tower of Vromka-ad, is the home of the dead wizard that created the flesh pit. Since Vromka'ad's death the servants have taken over, and are now busy bickering among themselves. There are twelve color coded rooms which could be reached by touching the corresponding orb in the entrance. Each room as its one focus point but there is not much else of note in the rooms. There are not a lot of servants and most of them are not worth messing with. There also is not a lot of treasure except for the room with the three warriors and some magic items. This easily ties into the Flesh Pits as a second location. 

Tomb of Va'an, Zayne: Va'an Zayne was a sorcerer and writer, whose tomb is mentioned a lot in the rumors tables. This tomb offers a good deal of interactivity combined with a bunch of unique NPCs. There is a writers circle right at the entrance, energy beings taunting cultists, a statue that can summon demon, etc. Another cool aspect is that the tomb is tied to Cha'alt's metaplot in a couple of ways. These type of details are always nice and some of my favorite. The place was raided by Tha'anos recently and there are revelations about the true nature of the Old Ones and the planet's future.

Elysium:  This describes a floating station in the sky that was built by aliens. It starts off talking about the different aliens, factions, security systems, personnel, and politics. Then the section opens up into a room by room description and there are 56 of them. There is a lot going in this station and a lot of NPCs have their own agendas. There are also connections that that party can discover about the over arching meta plot which are Easter eggs on crack. Elysium is a pretty opened ended location set up as a very large dungeon and the party can pick up various plot points, blow up the whole thing, set up shop, and so on.

S'kbah Pilgrimage: This is an event on Cha'alt due to a series of unfortunate events. This effects the setting of Cha'alt and the players can interaction with it or not but interacting with it is the only sure way to affect the course of events. This provides numerous locations with moving parts.

Appendixes: This section includes the complete rules of Crimson Dragon Slayer D20 Revised, Cha'Alt Ascended, and Old School Renaissance like a Fucking Boss. The very pieces of crunch that exist around Cha'alt: Fuchsia Malaise are designed to sue with Crimson Dragon Slayer Revised. 

Final Thoughts: I think the art and layout is great on top of Fuchsia Malaise offering a ton of setting information to Cha'alt. It really expands on the world and advances the world (various plot points) by eighteen months. It does this advancement well and it does not feel heavy handed.

I was really hoping that the City of A'agrybah (this section was the part I was looking forward to the most) was going to get the same treatment as the Black Pyramid did in the original Cha'alt release but it did not. I really wanted to see a city location within Cha'alt to get the mega dungeon treatment with locations, NPCs, adventure hooks, countless reasons to keep returning to the city, and enough intrigue where the campaign would never need to leave that location. Having a city set up this way with all of the weirdness, gonzoness, and flavor that Cha'alt has to offer would have really sent this release over the top. Regardless of this, we do still get a solid foundation with various locations, some tables, notable NPCs, notable royal houses, and a few other story aspects. I just think it fell short of its potential. 

The S'kbah Pilgrimage is an interesting event that spans a good chunk of Cha'alt with plenty of story seeds and ways the party could interact with it. It also gives a good amount of setting information. This could be set up where the players could interact with it at various points of its progression which I think is a very clever idea. Though, the chain of events feels rushed and I think this could have been expanded upon as it is part of the meta plot.

I feel like the author set up Elysium to be the apex of this release for its "mega dungeon". At 56 rooms it does accomplish this in size and scope but I am glad it does not have the mega dungeon feel. Elysium feels more like a neutral location that has its own plot points and moving parts. It almost feels like the party is takes a trip to Alpha Blue but it is has nothing to do with Alpha Blue - I am just talking about the open ended feel of the location. This whole section is written with hints of the sense of humor found in the works of Terry Pratchett and Douglas Adams. I personally appreciate this but your mileage may very.

This release adds a lot of the original Cha'alt release and it was a lot of fun to read cover to the cover.

You can find it here;

• Drivethrurpg
• Physical Copies (only 1,000 made) 
• Cha'Alt Ascended
• OSR Like a Fucking Boss 
• Crimson Dragon Slayer D20 Revised