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One Harbinger's Perspective

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Sabbat call me a Lazarene, a Harbinger of Skulls. Giovanni call me an anachronism. I call myself a Cappadocian. I was welcomed into the world of the Kindred 1,328 years ago. I am older than the Camarilla, I am older than the Sabbat, and I am certainly older than the Giovanni. Let me tell you about what those treacherous backstabbers did to us.

I was embraced in AD 674, a couple hundred years after the Roman Empire fell. My sire's name was Turretius, and he was an ancient philosopher and scholar, embraced hundreds of years before my time. I was a simple librarian in Constantinople, and Turretius apparently thought that I could be useful in his grandsire's quest for godhead. Oh, you hadn't heard about that? Thousands of years after his Embrace, Cappadocius decided that he wanted to become as God. He spent generations tracking down every hint he could about death and the afterlife. But, the Giovanni ended his quest prematurely.

In the early 12th century, Cappadocius decided to start what was called the 'Giovanni experiment.' Several Venetian necromancers were Embraced, foremost among them Augustus Giovanni. The Giovanni embraced more of their mortal kin and began to develop more and more power within our clan. Their new discipline, Necromancy, went through many breakthroughs inside the Mausoleum, the Giovanni power base in Venice. After several hundred years of political finagling and financial consortium, Augustus Giovanni decided that his family should take over the clan. He and dozens of his minions tracked down Cappadocius and challenged him.

While the Antediluvian himself would have been more than a match for Augustus, the combined might of the family, along with their zombu and other Necromantic powers, brought him down. Augustus diablerized Cappadocius and changed the clan forever. Japheth, Constancia, and other Cappadocians scattered when they heard the news. We had barely any time to get a plan together before the Giovanni were knocking down our doors. Some of us were killed, including my sire. I too was found by the Giovanni, but I did not meet Final Death. Instead, I was exiled to the Netherworld.

For more than three hundred years I suffered on the other side of the Shroud. I met a few others like me, including Unre, who was instrumental in our escape. Japheth, her sire, manipulated the Capuchin into opening the portal back into our world. I do not speak much of my time in the Netherworld; suffice it to say that it was dangerous and frightening, even for one as old as I, and that I am lucky I made it out with my mind and unlife intact. My hate for the Giovanni grew and festered into a monster with a volition all its own.

Since our return, we Lazarenes have connived and plotted to wipe out the deceitful Giovanni. We know that there are many of our kind trapped beneath Venice, in the water there. They are called 'Premascines,' and Japheth does not believe they are loyal to the Giovanni. They may say they are, but only to protect themselves from our fate. It is time that we released them from their imprisonment. Unre also has agents tracking down Lazarus. He may have killed Caias, but that crime may be overlooked for the time being.

The survival of the Cappadocians is more important than sibling rivalries. I've also heard that we've approached several of the Samedi in Haiti, for it is believed that they are from our stock. We haven't gotten word back yet, but I think that these stray Premascines could greatly aid our cause. As for myself, I've been collecting power and gathering favors, using the Sabbat to my advantage. Perhaps when the Giovanni have been completely destroyed, I can turn my attention to more scholarly matters. But that's a long time off, and I will enjoy the war.

Arnillo Tokdek, Harbinger of Skulls
Childe of Turretius
Childe of Caias
Childe of Cappadocius

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