Malkavian
Dismissed as madmen and kooks, the clan of seers is alternately derided and feared. Every last member of the Malkavian clan is twisted in some fashion, rendered incurably insane by the power of the clan's blood. For some, this madness takes the form of hideous homicidal displays or outrageous chaotic behavior; in others, a quiet, insidious bent makes its way through the vampire's thoughts. In all cases, the blood makes Malkavians unpredictable, potentially dangerous and absolutely free from the confines and expectations of normalcy.    No unifying purpose or goal binds the Malkavian clan, only a bond of shared madness. Some revel in their insanity, others deny it, but they are all inevitably drawn together by their insight into a world altered by twisted perceptions. None can guess what Malkavians really see or think. Indeed, to do so is to invite the Lunatics to share their madness. Unbidden, the Malkavians seek to open the perceptions of others, using pranks, misdirection and chaos to force others into new viewpoints and to shatter accepted norms. Some vampires whisper that the Malkavians control the Jyhad subtly, that the war of ages is simply a great joke of their founder... and a few fear that the Malkavians are already laughing at the coming end.  The Lunatics Embrace seemingly at whim. Many members of the clan are insightful, some even brilliant. Any other categorizations, aside from their common insanity, fail. A  Malkavian usually Embraces someone on the edge of insanity or one already driven mad, but none can really say what might motivate a Lunatic to bring another into the fold. Some new childer are not insane when they are Embraced, but their sires seek to rectify this "shortcoming" as quickly as possible. A few are physically brutal, and some can be quite socially charming when not visibly afflicted, but these outsiders serve only to point up the commonality of the clan: Madness - and enlightenment - can infect anyone.  Most Malkavians seem to have little care for sect politics, although those who do so are terrifying in their dogged pursuit of their aim. The true loyalties of the Malkavians likely lie with whatever greater goal drives their shared insight, though. Even the most chaotic Lunatics occasionally find themselves working in tandem at the most unusual of tasks.

 Roleplaying Hints: You see and understand things that nobody else comprehends. Maybe they're right when they say you're mad, but maybe it's just that they can't handle the truth! You're not feeble, helpless or stupidly comical. You have a vision, and though it sometimes makes unlife difficult, you can look at things from directions that nobody else contemplates. You can sometimes get others to see brief moments of your vision by tricking their minds into thinking in strange ways, so you create plans designed to interrupt the "normalcy" of other peoples' existence's, so that they are forced to examine their motives and places more carefully. You may have a lot of trouble with unlife, or you maybe only subtly touched and pretty much functional in normal society - but you are always aware of the invisible pulse of currents underlying everything.

  Disciplines: Auspex, Dementation, Obfuscate

 Advantages: The Lunatics see "blessed" with a special Insight into the workings of the hidden world. 'Whether they discern small bits of knowledge from watching leaves fall or they work divination with human entrails, all of Malkavs's brood seem to follow hidden patterns that few others are even aware of. Because of this bizarre insight, all Malkavians gain a free level of Awareness.  Some Malkavians possess a strange link to others of their kind. Indeed, the Lunatics seem to be able to recognize one another on sight, and they even pass along bits of knowledge from time to time. This "madness network" may be the result of a true sharing of minds, or simply ranting - none outside the clan really know, and few wish to explore the matter too deeply.

 Disadvantage: The members of the Malkavian clan are universally insane.  All Malkavian characters suffer from a derangement of some sort. These sorts of personality disorders are not humorous - they are cracks in the workings of the mind, turning the Malkavian into something beyond the comprehension of even vampires. A Malkavian is unlikely to regress to a childlike or clownish state, collecting teddy bears and silly clothing. A Malkavian who wears blood-stained pajamas and babbles in a room full of teddy bears covered in entrails, seeking wisdom from the charnel pit - that's the sort of insanity that infects the Lunatics.  A Malkavian's initial derangement can be temporarily suppressed with Willpower Traits like any other derangement, but it can never be removed or cured permanently.

 Bloodlines: Most Malkavians claim nominal membership in the Camarilla, though antitribu are found in the Sabbat - the Freaks are usually the most deranged and homicidal of their kind. Some Malkavians of the Camarilla still possess the Discipline of Dominate (instead of Dementation), but most of the Lunatics were "converted" to the ways of Dementation in a wash of madness that swept through the clan in recent years.



Malkavian antitribu of the Sabbat



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