From SuspireWiki
- Surely you jest? This is my land, these are my things. I command them and they obey.
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Overview
The spirits of the land have, as ever, been a part of all things. Though modern "mystics" call them energies or powers, debatable to some degree, most any individual even the slightest bit familiar would know the description to be true. They are not the balls of light that modern snake oil vendors would sell to the dying and wounded, however. As with anything, these essences are tied to a natural balance. Some are good. Some are bad. It is with no great surprise then, that Kindred would seek to tap these powers for themselves.
Hailing originally from the Byzantine empire, the Komnenos call these essences their own. Though the bloodline has spread far from it's original roots, it has thrived under the auspices of secrecy and the allowance of others to believe their powers stem from devotions passed down from their sire's sire's sire. The Komnenos are fiercely protective of their traits and their spirit-infused power, believing that they have been chosen by their ancestors to wield this great power in their name. It is not unheard of for a Fiend, recently embraced or not, to be able to recite a lineage that can make most Ventrue's pale in comparison. The Fiends are more loyal to their sires than they are to their Princes and that fact has caused them to force themselves under the radar for many, many years.
The founder of the line was a member of the Byzantine Greek noble family the Komnenos, for which the bloodline bears it's name. Through Byzantine politics and intrigue, the founder who is known to her childer and their childer as "Isabella", gained the attentions of a young Ventrue. Through the embrace Isabella learned of the Lancea Sanctum, the Circle of the Crone and the Invictus, which all heavily influence the nature of her line and it's traditions passed down from sire to childe within it. Though some, were they to know how her formulated ideas began, would say she blatantly stole the knowledge from all three groups, the Komnenos have long since forgotten how their powers came to be. It was not until Isabella was long ash that a new herald for the bloodline emerged, repopulating the line himself and directing what would become the Komnenos of the recent past and the modern nights.
The actual founder of the bloodline (not just the brood of Isabella), Nicolephour Mehmed, a Hungarian by birth that was transported to serve as a slave in Bulgaria after the fall of the Komnenos family dynasty, was embraced to the Komnenos line and indoctrinated in the heavily Longinus-flavored methods that had been handed down since Isabella first began to sire into the line. A heavily influenced Slavic pagan in life, and having seen the terrible cost of the area due to the Crusades, Mehmed cursed his sire as soon as he was fit to do so, breaking away from the bloodline's roots and fleeing into the Black Forest. It was here that Mehmed awoke the power of his blood.
Though many would argue that such a thing cannot happen -- that angels and demons and spirits and ghosts do not exist, Mehmed knew differently. In the Black Forest, Mehmed made a deal with one such demon. In exchange for the ability to mutate his blood and bend it to his wishes, the demon made Mehmed agree that he and all of his descendants would be bound to the will of the demon itself, weakening them in case the demon ever wished to collect on favors owed. Mehmed was hesitant, but the lure of such quick power without the stigma of Diablerie, and the ability to create his blood as he wished was too much. He entered into an agreement with the creature, and formed what would become the Komnenos known today.
Mehmed knew what he wished. As a Ventrue, he had seen the ferociousness of his Gangrel cousins and their abilities to survive where he could only hope and pray - but he was not a Gangrel, and the demon could not create from what was not there. So, Mehmed schemed and diablerized the next Gangrel he was to come across in his small village, even though his original intentions had not been to Diablerize at all. But his greed overpowered his good senses. With the taste of the Gangrel in his blood and soul, the demon could do as he wished. He embraced twice, aided by the power of what he agreed to deal with, and one had the traits of a Gangrel, the other the traits of a Ventrue. These childer's name have been lost to time, mostly due to Mehmed slaying them once they'd produced childer to flesh out the growing line of his making.
He gave them stringent guidelines and forced them to learn as any Ventrue sire would, treating both the Gangrel childer and the Ventrue childer as one. Though the Gangrel Komnenos were unable to excel as quickly at the rigorous mental stratum that Mehmed had set down for them, they excelled at protecting themselves and their broodmates when wandering groups of crusading Knights of the Invictus or Legionaries of the Sanctified came to their village. It was a symbiotic relationship and both sides flourished.
As time went on, broods split away from their home and the carefully constructed ghouls and villagers that Mehmed and his children had raised. The Komnenos were no longer a simple line of eccentric Ventrue and their pet Gangrel to outsiders, instead they began to question the powers they held. Before too long, and political coups having failed (or conversely been too successful) the Komnenos found themselves the victims of a full scale heretical inquisition from local parishes. It did not help, either, that many Acolytes felt that the Komnenos had stolen secrets of Cruac from their dark rites. Bludgeoned by two sides as a relatively small lineage, the Komnenos Princes and Seneschals, and Mehmed himself, quickly were put to the stake.
Those that remained fled, but they did not forget the teachings of their sire's sire's sire, and they did not forget the lessons learned by their bravado.
Parent Clan
Gangrel or Ventrue
Nickname
Fiends (in any language you prefer)
Weakness
Though the founders of the line, in both incarnations, are dead, the deal struck with the darkness of the past still haunts the Komnenos to this day. In addition to the normal weaknesses of their clan, upon joining the bloodline a Fiend gains the inherent weakness of her forefathers. Mental-based powers work much easier on the Komnenos (and this means not just vampiric ones). Komnenos may not reroll 10's on any resists to the powers of Auspex, Dominate or Obfuscate. Furthermore, Komnenos may not ever spend a Willpower point to augment their pools, contested or resisted, to resist such powers.
Disciplines
For Gangrel-based Komnenos: Nightmare, Protean, Resilience, Koldunism
For Ventrue-based Komnenos: Auspex, Dominate, Resilience, Koldunism
Organization
The vast majority of Komnenos are members of the Circle of the Crone and often form their own cults to practice and worship without the meddling of the local Hierophant or other cults. Such Fiends who become practiced in both Koldunism and Cruac are forces to be terrified of, though in actuality for most, one of the two usually suffers due to the inclinations of the particular practitioner. Those Komnenos who number themselves as Acolytes are often considered too stringently attached to tradition for the liking of other Acolytes and find themselves often shunned because of it. Komnenos second-most often number as Unaligned -- their self-righteousness and elevating practices often lead them to shirk the responsibilities and necessity of a covenant and instead deal with other Kindred only as a polite necessity rather than an actual desire to form lasting bonds of kinship with their peers. Most often, Fiends who number in the Unaligned are either very young or very old -- either too foolish and pigheaded to believe they can be contained, or annoyed and tired of the incessant byzantine politicking of the Danse Macabre to deal with it any longer (but are more than capable of defending themselves and their assets should the need arise). Some Fiends find their way into the Invictus, out of respect for the Traditional notions that the covenant espouses, but often grow irritated with the covenant if the Invictus leans too heavily towards favoring the Lancea Sanctum or their practices. Lastly, it is possible for the Komnenos to find their way into the Carthian Movement out of convenience, similar to those working with the Invictus, though they are at best aloof members. It is comical to think that a Fiend would try to join the Sanctified, or even that the Lancea Sanctum would entertain thoughts of their joining if they were to somehow know what the Komnenos truly was.
Traditions and Practices
As mentioned in the history of the Komnenos, members of the bloodline are steeped in Tradition from the moment they are embraced. While many would think this would set them as a sure fire shoe-in for the Invictus, their barbarism (by modern terms, mind you) is lost on the new nobility of the modern nights. It is no longer common to spill blood of an ox while praying for the safety of one's loved ones by nobility. Though that may not be a practice of the Fiends, it is a good example of the differential between the past and the present and something to keep in mind for the affiliation of a Fiend.
Honoring Karakonjul
A creature of Bulgarian folklore, a Karakonjul walked the roads at night and would await strangers at crossroads. The creature would engage the individual in conversation, most often asking them riddles or puzzles or asking them for a favor. If the individual in question was rude or spoke poorly to the Karakonjul, they would see that they made their way to being the next sacrifice. If the man so questioned was polite and gave them their attention, even if the answers they gave was incorrect, the Karakonjul would let them pass. The Fiends have adopted this to be the means of collecting the living tissue needed for some of their Rituals. Those who are disrespectful or rude are often slain and flayed, those who are not are allowed to generally pass by unharmed, though feeding from the individual in question is not considered "harming them".
Rite of the Kotolik
Based on the spirit of the Kotolik, an undead creature that takes the form of a cat and harms the living, the Komnenos have a bastardized version of the rite of Embrace adhered to by many Kindred. The practice may vary slightly from brood to brood, but it holds major similarities across the board. With the embrace looming, and the prospective childe present, the Komnenos explains what she is to the mortal. She tells them the history of her particular branch of the bloodline's tree, generally confusing the mortal something terribly. Then, with such recitation of feats and lineage completed, the Komnenos offers the childe the chance to join the branch of the tree. If the childe hesitates for longer than the Fiend deems acceptable, or declines, the mortal is drained and disposed of. Otherwise, the Komnenos presents the child with earth from the homeland of their founders and a feline. This is the most often varied part of the Rite; many Fiends require the mortal to kill and drink the blood of the cat mixed with earth from the Balkans in a glass, others simply require that the childe lay down with the feline in the sprinklings of earth. The Rite is intended to reinforce the strong lineage ties the Komnenos have with their sires, and also to likely introduce the first of many bloody situations to the childe. Sometimes this works well for acclimation, other times a very soft-hearted childe never quite recovers. They are often disposed of for the "good of the line".
Tongue of the Sheptun
A commonly practiced Rite when among other Fiends, either in a familial reunion or a meeting of some importance, Tongue of the Sheptun is a relatively simple rite. A Sheptun was a man who whispered a magical spell or formula in a tone or method that obscured the words so that only those who knew of what he spoke could decipher the words. This rite requires the tongue of a man to be procured and dried, it is sliced into pieces and then set into a small fire pit or some other fire-containing metal object. A small sprinkling of earth is added on top of the bits of tongue and then the mixture is lit. While it burns, all present sit in silence. The Rite is intended to remind those of the line of the importance of silence and secrecy and remind them of the prices paid by those who were not in the far past.
Other Minor Rites
There are several localized rites for Komnenos, often depending on what type of Fiend is present. In an area permeated mostly by Ventrue-borne Komnenos, their rites and meetings are more likely to be much more formal. There may be simple rites of remembrance, where the Fiends recite their lineage and what they have done to honor it and their ancestors. Or there may be Dominate-laden orgies of blood and earth. Whereas in an area where a majority of Fiends are Gangrel, they may hold regular hunting rites, or pack-based training rites. Truly, the greatest gift that Mehmet gave to his line was to encourage it's spread and to instill the importance of rites to encourage the idea that Komnenos will forever be superior to their ignorant and ungifted lessers.