Descriptions of the various supernatural clans in Guns for Hire.
Template
Example
| [Two to three word description which gives a sense of the clan's real focus in life- not merely their powers, but what they do with them] [Bloodline Family, Were Clan, Vampire Dynasty, or some other description of what category of group this is] - [Unless you are Bob, write "Approval Pending" here]
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Manipulation: Internal, External, or Internal/External with the balance noted The thing manipulated by the clan's supernatural powers, like fire, borders, shadow, etc.
Season: Spring, Summer, Autumn, and/or Winter, or possibly Neutral
Age: The age of the group, measured in both years since founding and generations if applicable
Origin: God, Wizard, Interbreeding, Chakra-Generated, Soul Crafted, Blood Crafted, Clan Split, or whatever other source led to this group coming to exist
Home: The city or region of their nation which is the clan's center of power
Branches: List secondary cities or regions in which the group has a substantial number of members
Alliances:
Feuds:
History: Insert absurdly detailed historical description here
Personalities:
- List in absurd detail any particular clan members of note
- Stick to members who are currently alive, and preferably not more than a couple sentences each
Description:
Insert absurdly detailed description of the group overall here
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Clan Profiles
Feel free to add new clans to the below. When a clan has been reviewed and confirmed as existing, Bob will change the "Approval Pending" part of its template to "Approved". If you modify it again afterward, change that back for him to review and rubber-stamp at some later convenience.
Finland
Riihivuori
| Near-Extinct Bloodline Family - Approval Pending
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Manipulation: External Water Manipulation
Season: Winter
Age: 21 generations
Origin: Unknown
Home: The Valkonen nevernever demense
Branches: None
Alliances:
- Valkonen Bloodline Family
Feuds:
- Any and all Encantado, thanks to a popular Encantado rumor that this bloodline stole their ability from them. Please note this claim has not once been substantiated.
History: The Riihivuori clan doubtless has a long and storied history (they verged on making a real name for themselves two generations back), but these days they're all dead except for two traumatized kids.
Personalities:
- Hilja, clan head at twelve years old following the deaths of the rest of her family. Empathic link with Eirikki. Quiet and reserved, but far more headstrong than children of her age normally are.
- Eirikki, her younger brother. Empathic link with Hilja and strengthened magic due to sacrificial mutilation that robbed him of the ability to speak. Does not understand humor, but has a soft spot for it. Rather than laughing, he makes facial expressions to display his like-or dislike-of a given bit of humor.
Description:
Whatever awesome tricks the Riihivuori family once knew, most of them are probably lost now with all the adult clan members. Still, the kids are quite powerful and no slouches about using their skills creatively.
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Valkonen
| Decayed Warrior Bloodline Family - Approved
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Manipulation: Balanced Internal/External Ice Manipulation
Season: Winter
Age: 5000 years/78 generations
Origin: Chakra-generated supplemented by interbreeding with frost giants
Home: Nevernever demense contiguous with most of Finland
Branches: No magical branches-mundane branch of Valkonens are practitioners of Kas Pin.
Alliances:
- Riihivuori Bloodline Family
Feuds:
- Tugarin Clan
- Ghanem Clan
- Burabor Clan
- Tongs (Organization)
- The majority of Swedish clans (~%75)
- Numerous others
History: Lost to the ages/trapped within the minds of the Valkonens that became Einher. No living Valkonen has access to records dating back farther than ten generations.
Personalities:
- Markku, clan head with massive personal power due to Rule of Three boost.
- Einrik, clan heir with immense knowledge and skill developed as he seeks to match his more powerful father.
- Helmi, oldest daughter of Markku and one of the rare non-bloodthirsty Valkonens.
- Veiko, one of the twins, an altogether untalented but nevertheless cheerful individual.
- Tuomo, the other one of the twins, a would-be comedian too blunt to make most laugh. Like his twin brother, not exceptionally talented.
- Hillevi, teenage daughter of Markku and the only child who inherited his tripled power
Description:
An internal/external hybrid ice manipulation bloodline using clan, the Valkonens practice their personal style, called Jää Koura Kas Pin. This style allows for the formation of ice much more like pykrete than conventional ice-this lets them use their ice as substitute for many high-stress materials that ice normally would not be able to match. They have a fondness for melee combat, and can both freeze objects on touch and generate ice near their body. Ice armor and weapons are common tactics of theirs. At their weakest when faced from a considerable distance.
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France
Loup Garou
| Berserker Bloodline Family - Approval Pending
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Manipulation: Internal Rage Manipulation
Season: Summer
Age: Unknown
Origin: Curse
Home: Unknown
Branches: Several (locations unknown)
Alliances:
Feuds:
History: Insert absurdly detailed historical description here
Personalities:
- Labombard, a mercenary in Istanbul
Description:
The Loup Garou are a bloodline cursed (or blessed) with powerful rage fragments which grant them powerful shapeshifting and regenerative capabilities at the price of their long-term mental stability. The high level of power and low level of training required to be extremely dangerous when using it makes this a fairly well-known bloodline respected for its prowess, and envied by the were clans who gain comparable abilities only after a century or more of practice.
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Hawai'i
Kamehameha
| Royal Autumn Bloodline Family - Approval Pending
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Manipulation: Restricted Internal Blood-based Soul Manipulation
Season: Autumn
Age: 7 generations
Origin: God
Home: Honolulu, O'ahu
Branches: Throughout Hawai'i
Alliances:
- House of Hanover (through Queen Victoria)
- Royal Order of Hawai'i
Feuds:
History: Originally the recipient of a Divinely-inspired martial art granted by Ku'ialua (called Kapu Kuialua or simply Lua). Prior to the birth of Kamehameha I, the family practiced blood sacrifice to empower their ancestors and their god. Kamehameha I forbid the practice, though remaining a fervent follower of the Hawaiian religion. Unified Hawai'i and other islands through open battle, using of European firearms to supplement their martial art, the Law of the Splintered Paddle and occasionally treachery.
The House of Kamehameha continued to lead Hawai'i for the following four generations, through a period which outlawed mysticism and even "craft" kahuna, until Kamehameha V's reign. Now relegated to figurehead status and then all but to history.
Personalities:
- King Kamehameha I, the Lonely One
Description:
When a member of the Kamehameha family dies, their souls are collected into the god's keeping rather than left to the mercies of the Nevernever. In return for this which strengthens the god, Ku'ialua allows Kamehameha's descendents to call on ancestors through their shared blood, which take the form of spirit animals. This effectively allows the family to shift spirit animals as necessary, provided they can convince the ancestor to aid them.
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India
Burabor
| Combat Bloodline Family - Approval Pending
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Manipulation: Internal Flesh Manipulation
Season: Summer
Age: 3 Generations
Origin: Unknown
Home: Nevernever demense in southern India
Branches: Unknown
Alliances:
Feuds:
History: A new family which shot from poorly thought of and largely unknown to one of the most prominent combat practitioner bloodlines on their continent after the addition of The Most Powerful Mortal to their ranks some three decades ago.
Personalities:
- The Most Powerful Mortal, a random badass who hangs out with them and apparently makes them more awesome just by existing
Description:
Unlike most internal flesh manipulation bloodlines, the Burabor line does not use regeneration. Instead, it is based around battle shifting-longer, more flexible limbs, an arm that grows stronger as it's thrown, bones that are woven with carbon tube supporting latticeworks. Individual members are known for being able to take on rather ludicrous challenges and walk out unharmed.
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Italy
Contadino
| Agricultural Bloodline Family - Approval Pending
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Manipulation: External Plant
Season: Spring
Age: ~1200 years
Origin: Chakra-Generated
Home: Nevernever demense contiguous with most of Italy, Switzerland, and southeast France
Branches: None
Alliances:
Feuds:
History: The Contadino family are an old and respected one. For most of their history they have been fairly quiet farmers, bending their arts first to making their fields prosperous, then exceptional, then to raising magical and ever more exotic plants. The quality of their products and a keen commercial sense won them a nevernever demense for their own private fields, which they have spent generations upon generations continually expanding and populating with assistants, servants, and guardians of various supernatural stripes. As it grew their operation grew with it, bringing them ever more wealth and opportunities thanks to the ideal- and carefully alterable- growing conditions within their home. Today it forms a massive region that exceeds the size of Italy itself, estimated at almost four hundred thousand square kilometers, a fact which the Contadino family made the heavy gamble to exploit during the second world war when they evacuated huge numbers of people (and creatures) into their realm. That paid off in spades, as a large fraction of them stayed on as subjects to the Contadinos. The current population of their realm is nearing a hundred thousand in humans alone- leaving their realm with vast swathes of wilderness considering its size, but precious few bloodlines on the planet can honestly claim to unquestioned and utterly uncontested rule over even a fraction that many people.
Personalities:
Description:
The Contadino talent is a powerful and compounded one, ill suited for combat but ideally suited for agriculture. Over the course of a day a trained scion of their bloodline can bring a hectare or more of plants from seed to full maturity; a few weeks can see them mutate or splice together entirely new breeds of plant, then refine it into something usable or delicious before putting it into mass production. Magical plants are more difficult for them to work with but not by much, and many of the most popular supernatural drugs, fruits, vegetables, and poisons on the market today are original creations of the Contadino clan refined over the centuries to near-perfection. The Contadino family generally eschews combat, leaving that to their dozen or so loyal servitor bloodlines and thousands of supernatural servants. Many of their hundreds of members are double-bloodliners with one of their servitor families and train in both disciplines for enjoyment and personal growth, but the Contadino philosophy of leaving violence to others while they focus on prosperity and governance tells even for them.
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de Cisena
| Elder Sorcerer Bloodline Family - Approval Pending
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Manipulation: Internal or External Elder
Season: Elder
Age: ~400 years
Origin: Elder Contract
Home: Florence
Branches: None
Alliances:
- Italian Ruling Dragon
- Most people who have made a significant study of Elder magic
Feuds:
- Most dragons who aren't Italian
History: The de Cisena family can trace their line back to the 1400's, when they shifted from mere farmers to merchants. In the next couple centuries they gained quite a bit of wealth and prominence, but from their current perspective their founding occurred on March 18, 1622, when the young Arsenio de Cisena, bold merchant and student of the profoundly dangerous, accepted an Elder Contract on behalf of his family after three full days of speaking with the Italian Ruling Dragon. Its effects reverberated up and down the family line, and in subsequent generations a large fraction of the family began displaying Elder powers. In spite of Arsenio's efforts most of those who did went mad, but enough of the family carried on and benefited from the ones who survived that they continued to endure, if not prosper, and as more generations passed the surviving scions gathered the knowledge and numbers they needed to handle frequent eruptions of Elder-based catastrophe amongst their lineage. Eventually accumulated knowledge began to tell and their line gained respect not as merchants but as users of this most eldritch branch of magic. Today they are known almost exclusively for that reason- the "de Cisena Codex" constantly maintained and updated by the family is known as one of the most reliable, accurate works on Elder magics short of draconic materials, certainly the best in Europe without question. Of course, finding an unabridged edition is virtually impossible without the personal favor of the Italian ruling dragon, who still keeps a very close eye on the family even today.
Personalities:
- Arsenio de Cisena, forger of the de Cisena Elder Contract and grandmaster sorcerer. He's still alive thanks to some unknown working and is ridiculously steeped in Elder knowledge... when he can sift through all his loose screws to find the grains of staggering genius. He compulsively unleashes absurdly complex (and deadly) Elder magics against anyone he encounters other than de Cisena scions and the Italian Ruling Dragon, so between that and being totally loony they mostly keep him out of sight.
Description:
The de Cisena bloodline comes in the form of a family-wide Elder Contract. Its precise details are largely unknown, but its most obvious effect is giving the second child (and only the second child) of any de Cisena a natural ability with Elder sorcery, either internal or external but usually the latter, which manifests during childhood. The specifics of what they can accomplish with this varies wildly based upon the scion in question, but those who survive to adulthood invariably become powerful and usually take significantly longer to completely lose it than others who intensively study Elder sorcery. The members of the clan who are not so 'gifted' generally find themselves blessed by suspicious good fortune for mundanes, particularly in surviving magical dangers and mishaps, but aside from that and the inevitable manifestation of powers in their second children are entirely mundane. They usually act as support for the clan's extremely powerful and somewhat unhinged leaders, and focus on keeping the clan prosperous and handling practical matters.
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Savoy
| Assassin Royal Bloodline Family - Approval Pending
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Manipulation: Internal Space Manipulation
Season: Summer
Age: ~950 years
Origin: Unknown
Home: Unknown
Branches: Unknown
Alliances:
Feuds:
History: Insert absurdly detailed historical description here
Personalities:
- Galileo Savoy, a renegade Mafia assassin gone mad in the pursuit of power
Description:
This bloodline has an extremely potent specialized teleportation ability that lets them be virtually anywhere, even without knowing the location they want to be in beyond a few stated parameters- but they can only teleport when no one else is aware of them.
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Mexico
Apizmiquizque
| Bloodline Family - Approval Pending
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Manipulation: Fear
Season: Winter
Age: 490 years
Origin: Blood Crafted
Home: Tenochtitlan (now Mexico City)
Branches: Throughout Central America
Alliances:
- Sinaloa, Gulf, and Knights Templar Cartels
- Mara Salvatrucha
Feuds:
- Los Zetas
- AORB
- Former members
History: In 1520, Hernán Cortés' conquistadors entered Tenochtitlan, and within weeks held the emperor Moctezuma II prisoner in his own palace. A number of failed rebellions took place, the most dangerous of which involved a large ritual sacrifice to draw hungering spirits from the land of Tezcatlipoca, god of darkness, into subjects who could control them. Despite the ritual itself being successful, the rebellion failed when a number of the newly empowered subjects lost control and turned on their fellows. The Apizmiquizque family arose from the few survivors that remained. Since their blood-soaked founding, the Apizmiquizque have been involved in some of the worst atrocities Mexico has seen, especially during the Mexican Revolution and the modern Drug War.
Personalities:
- Tlacaelel: The new family head. A quiet young man, so strong-willed that his symbiote often cannot feed at all. Heavily involved in research on how to prevent the symbiotes from taking over their host without eroding the power of the bloodline.
- Cuetlachtli: The previous head of the family who, after overseeing a massacre of Los Zetas members, temporarily lost control of his symbiote. Afterwards, he abdicated as an act of penance, and had himself bound – his symbiote can no longer attack, other than in defense of him.
Description:
Black and roiling, their blood is a nightmarish charnel house of things that bite and rend and feast, a cage as close to home as the denizens of the Dark that find themselves within it can hope for. These entities feed on fear, a fact the family has come to capitalise on – when near a fearful enemy they attack, and feed, and when their host fears they defend him by doing the same. Over time, a number of these forced symbiotes have become more powerful than their hosts and the bindings that hold them have failed. These escapees are among the greatest danger to the family, having as they do an excessive hatred and desire for revenge.
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Romania
Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen
| Specialized Divination Royal Bloodline Family - "Approval Pending"
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Manipulation: External Locating Desired Objects/Persons/Places
Season: Autumn
Age: 440 years old, 22 generations
Origin: God (Jehova)
Home: Săvârşin Castle and the Elisabeta Palace in Bucharest
Branches: The Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen family has a branch in Germany, but the current head of the Romanian family is bickering with them.
Alliances:
Feuds:
History: Insert absurdly detailed historical description here
Personalities:
- His Majesty Michael I King of the Romanians (Honorific, only modest political influence left)
- Stick to members who are currently alive, and preferably not more than a couple sentences each
Description:
Insert absurdly detailed description of the group overall here
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Russia
Aldokushin
| Combat Bloodline Family - Approval Pending
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Manipulation: Unknown Unknown
Season: Winter
Age: Unknown
Origin: Unknown
Home: Unknown
Branches: Inebolu (Turkey)
Alliances:
Feuds:
History: Insert absurdly detailed historical description here
Personalities:
- List in absurd detail any particular clan members of note
Description:
Insert absurdly detailed description of the group overall here
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Romanov
| Near-Extinct Imperial Bloodline Family - Approval Pending
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Manipulation: Internal Soul
Season: Winter
Age: Unknown; their line can be traced back to the 13th century
Origin: Unknown
Home: None
Branches: None
Alliances:
Feuds:
History: One of several dozen ancient Russian noble houses. Ruled Russia from 1613-1917. By 1918 supposedly every last one of them had been executed.
Personalities:
- Gleb Romanov, still alive and kicking as a powerful Einher
Description:
They can come back to life after their bodies are killed or minds are destroyed, so long as their souls are intact and they still have Winter power remaining. Generally this functions a certain number of times per day, with the definition of "day" being specific to each scion.
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Turkey
Aksoy
| Combat Bloodline Family - Approval Pending
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Manipulation: External Corrosion/Decay Manipulation
Season: Autumn
Age: Unknown
Origin: Unknown
Home: Ladik
Branches: Unknown
Alliances:
Feuds:
History: Insert absurdly detailed historical description here
Personalities:
- List in absurd detail any particular clan members of note
Description:
The biggest name in the mortal realm in Turkey for melee combat, so they've got some serious tricks.
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Ghanem
| Bloodline Family - Approval Pending
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Manipulation: External Earth and Wind Manipulation
Season: Autumn
Age: Unknown
Origin: Unknown
Home: Istanbul
Branches: Unknown
Alliances:
Feuds:
- Aksoy Family
- Valkonen Family
History: At some point, the family migrated from Arabia to Turkey.
Personalities:
- Abdul Ghanem, a cruel man of serious power and villainous inclination.
Description:
The Ghanem bloodline is specialized in manipulating earth and wind combined, as in sandstorms and other desert phenomena.
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Hapsburg
| Vampire Dynasty - Approval Pending
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Manipulation: Unknown Unknown
Season: Unknown
Age: Unknown
Origin: Unknown
Home: Unknown
Branches: Istanbul
Alliances:
Feuds:
History: Insert absurdly detailed historical description here
Personalities:
- Erzsi, a vampire prone to sleeping with random drunk men in exchange for seeing their super-powerful magical artifacts.
Description:
Insert absurdly detailed description of the group overall here
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Ibruhem
| Kinetic redirection Vampire Clan - "Approval Pending"
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Manipulation: Internal, External, or Internal/External with the balance noted Kinetic energy
Season: {{{Season}}}
Age: Unknown
Origin: Vampire
Home: Istanbul
Branches: Unknown
Alliances:
Feuds:
History: Insert absurdly detailed historical description here
Personalities:
- Sire Jogda Ibruhem, the serious and absurdly skilled leader of the Ibruhem clan
- Stick to members who are currently alive, and preferably not more than a couple sentences each
Description:
The Ibruhem like to lurk in the district of the city dedicated to slaughterhouses and meat packing factories.
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Muburak
| Were Clan - Approval Pending
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Manipulation: Unknown Unknown
Season: Unknown
Age: Unknown
Origin: Unknown
Home: Istanbul
Branches: Unknown
Alliances:
Feuds:
History: Insert absurdly detailed historical description here
Personalities:
- Matron Witch Oggmum, a Witch who loves the clan head and has significant say in clan matters, presumably due to being generally wizardly and all-powerful. Has a reputation of staying true to her word and generally being a straight shooter and nice person.
Description:
Insert absurdly detailed description of the group overall here
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Laine
| Mercenary Start-up, Bloodline Founder and Associates - Approval Pending
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Manipulation: Internal/External Soul, Flesh (with individual examples of Shadow/Ice, Wind/Luck, and Blood/Soul/Shadow)
Season: Winter/Summer
Age: Two Months
Origin: God/Divine
Home: Istanbul
Branches: N/A
Alliances:
- Valkonen Bloodline Family
- Riihivuori Bloodline Family
- Duke (Li Kui a.k.a. Iron Ox a.k.a. Black Whirlwind)
Feuds:
- Neo-Nazis
- The Russian Black Operations Army (commanded by Major General Vladimir Chugainov)
- The Emniyet Istihbarat Daire (Turkish federal investigations unit)
History: See the Timeline
Personalities:
- Armas Laine, clan head. Dual-bloodline godling, possessing Winter and Summer nodes. Effectively immortal, barring extreme circumstances. Chronologically 27, but thanks to time dilation effects from extensive sessions in NeverNever bubbles actually in his 60s. He has the attitude of a child, and enjoys playing elaborate pranks alongside his soul brothers.
- "Shadowbro," soul-shadow to Armas, soul brother to Sake and Armas. Possesses a Winter and Summer node, and notably enjoys the benefits of having access to the regeneration aspects of the Summer bloodline.
- Sake, Kamaitachi triplet soul possessing a Ramidreju body. Soul brother to Armas Laine and "Shadowbro." Enjoys wind and luck manipulation powers. Often in the company of Lyubov Khorobrova.
- Lyubov Khorobrova, the Witch Saint of Tesla. Possesses mathematically derived belief based powers that allow her to command and control divine magics and magic users up to and including weaker gods. Known for being very cheerful and talkative. Often in the company of Sake.
- Amen, bound bloodfiend, currently calls Armas his master. A grandmaster-class bloodmage, with cross-specialties in Shadow, Flesh, and Soul manipulation. Bound to remain on the mansion property, but enormously powerful and actively malicious nevertheless. Hobbies: gardening, tailoring, plotting Armas' death
- Camella De Larosa (a.k.a. Camella Nardi), a slider from a magicless world and physical one-in-a-generation prodigy, Camella was taken in by Armas and nursed back to health after a nearly fatal escape from the Bones of the Earth. Currently second in command of the clan. No magic, minor chakra skills. Possesses a self-developed soul quirk granting her 108 spirit eyes. Determinator-type personality.
- Hillevi Valkonen, currently Armas' ward for the year. A powerful ice manipulator who enjoys a deep well of personal magic energy, she is also in many ways a normal seventeen year old girl.
- Dávgon, an exile from one of the Sami shaman tribes, and former nomad. After talking with Einrik, he was convinced to try seeking his fortunes as a mercenary in the Company of Laine. He is a cautious sort of person, and is teaching Armas soul manipulation fundamentals.
- Gianni Giammari, a hedonistic fleshcrafter who specializes in golemcraft. He's a member of the Mafia who is on permanent loan to Armas following events where Armas saved the majority of the Istanbul branch.
- Matvey Baich, a transcendent soul human with numerous soul quirks, most of which make him a formidable field commander and soldier. Current owner of "Old Boss Dick," the oldest sword in the world, a sentient weapon that can teach its wielder all the techniques and fighting skill past owners had.
- Assorted Russian minions hired after a failed attack against Armas (which they engaged in against their will, due to Chugainov's blood mage).
Description:
A mercenary company comprised of 24 to 28 individuals, with several prominent members. Mundane clan assets estimated to be in the $25 million range in mundane property, material, and liquid assets. Blood assets in the $5 to 8 billion range, and additional magical assets of unknown value.
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Zosimus
| Information Broker Vampire Dynasty - Approval Pending
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Manipulation: External Shadow Manipulation
Season: Spring
Age: ~2350 years
Origin: H Clan (claimed)
Home: Istanbul
Branches: Unknown
Alliances:
Feuds:
History: Started by Cornelius 300 years before the Roman empire was founded. It is publicaly claimed that Cornelius became a vampire due to being bitten by one of the fabled 'H' Clan members. No proof positive has ever been offered.
Personalities:
- Corneluis Zosimus, clan Sire and an ancient vampire of staggering power and skill; a grandmaster of Shadow manipulation
Description:
The Zosimus clan is the premier information brokering Vampire clan in turkey, due in no small part to their clan-wide manipulation of shadows.
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