| Nagaraja |
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Reviled for their unsavory practices by all but the most charitable of Kindred, the Nagaraja's ranks have eroded in these late nights to the point of insignificance. Once rumored to be members of a secret cult called the Black Hand, the bloodline is no more than a handful now. A war deep in the Underworld has whittled away at their ranks until less than 20 (some sources say no more than a dozen) remain. Most tales put their origins somewhere in the Middle East, but rumor and truth are nigh indistinguishable when it comes to the Nagaraja. What is known is that they are necromancers on par with (or greater) than the Giovanni, that their troves of blasphemous knowledge are prodigious and that not only the blood of their victims is needed to sate their hunger but the flesh as well. Victims of their hungers are often a beacon to the Camarilla and Sabbat, who hunt them mercilessly. With their numbers shrinking nightly and their eldest destroyed, there aren't many takers who would wager on the Nagaraja's continued existence. Isolated from Kindred and kine alike by their gruesome diet, hunted by the ghosts they once commanded, the Flesh Eaters can do little but hide and watch the world go by, eking out meager unlives before Final Death comes at last. Rumors have filtered west from Korea of an ancient court of Eastern vampires offering a dozen or so of the surviving Flesh Eaters sanctuary, but poor relations between Cathayans and Cainites have prevented confirmation. If the rumors are true, perhaps the Nagaraja are not finished, but biding their time and gaining strength. The wise Cainite rules nothing out.
Roleplaying Hints: Yours is a solitary existence, an unlife of discipline and study. Those that may have once been your allies have all perished beyond the Shroud. Those who were your slaves pursue you in hopes of taking vengeance. You do not have the luxury of the occasional misstep. Only a handful of your blood remains, and you mean to keep yours as long as possible. You cannot afford the extravagance of Humanity. Your very existence denies it, calling out for the flesh of the kine to sate its terrible hunger. Immortality is precious and terrible, power its only salve. Cling to both and you just might live to eat the flesh from your enemies' bones. There can be no sweeter morsel than that. The peculiarities of the Nagaraja diet leave little room for maintaining one's Humanity. As a result most Flesh Eaters opt for the vampiric Paths of morality and often choose the Path of the Bones or Death and the Soul.
| Disciplines: Auspex, Dominate, Necromancy |
Advantage: Hunted for millennia as the most vile of monsters, the Nagaraja have developed a knack for deception, if only for the sake of concealing their studies and dietary needs. All Nagaraja receive a free Subterfuge Ability. In addition, their scholarly pursuits and morbid interests lead them to make inroads as they can in fields where such things might, at the very least, be tolerated if not appreciated. Each may choose one Medicine, Occult or University Influence trait at no cost.
Disadvantage: Not only must a Nagaraja drink blood to maintain her existence, she must also eat of her prey's flesh. Without fresh meat, a Nagaraja's body wastes away. As with Blood Traits, a mortal has 10 Flesh Traits. Unlike blood, however, each Flesh Trait consumed by one of the Nagaraja inflicts one health level of unsoakable lethal damage - this is not skimming off the top, but loss of muscle tissue or organs. For every night that a Nagaraja does not eat at least one Flesh Trait, she loses two Physical Traits as her body withers away. This deficit must be repaid in full before she can return to complete health. Every point of flesh consumed after such an episode restores two Physical Traits, up to the character's normal maximum. Nagaraja do not have retractable fangs like other Kindred. Instead, their mouths are full of sharp teeth like a piranha's.