Tremere

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Tremere Clan Symbol

The Tremere are both a fictional clan of vampires, from White Wolf Game Studio's books and role-playing games set in the World of Darkness (Vampire: The Masquerade and Vampire: The Dark Ages), and a fictional House within the Order of Hermes in the role-playing game Ars Magica.

1 Vampire & Ars Magica
2 Vampire: Dark Ages
3 Vampire: The Masquerade
4 Vampire: Requiem and the World of Darkness
5 References

[edit] Vampire & Ars Magica

The continuity of two games was formerly linked, and they were at one stage both owned by White Wolf Game Studio, and in this continuity the House of magicians spawned the clan of vampires as described below, but remained a major House of the Order within the time frame of Ars Magica. Continuity of Ars Magica is now separate, and the vampiric Tremere are no longer part of official continuity. The remainder of this article discusses the World of Darkness continuity, and is likely to be confusing if taken as Ars Magica continuity, though many details (such as clan symbol), are the same in both, and there are some general similarities. This clan is distrusted and feared by most of the other clans.

The Tremere are a clan of tightly-knit magicians. In comparison to the other vampiric clans, the Tremere are especially loyal to their hierarchy. Their symbol is a square surrounded by a circle; with an isosceles right triangle drawn at 60°, where the hypotenuse is a tangent to the circle.

It is told that the Tremere were a large cabal of human alchemists and Mages who attempted to gain the immortality and powers (Disciplines) of the vampires. After gruelling research and many setbacks, their experiments resulted not in immortality and blood-fueled magic, but undeath (the cursed state of existence laid upon all Kindred), and pitiably stunted powers. During the time of their inception, The Dark Ages, they were considered an upstart, and had already made many enemies as a result of their experiements. By the peak of the Renaissance, however through clever alliances and the forging of new, strange powers (even in the eyes of other Kindred), they took a place in the highest council of the Camarilla.

Since they moved from an isolated band of Mages into an acknowledged, mysterious and powerful Clan of Kindred in the space of less than a Thousand years, and since they had created unknowable and powerful new Disciplines (as well as for other, darker reasons), the Tremere are generally mistrusted, and are frequently referred to with the sobriquet, "Usurpers."

[edit] Vampire: Dark Ages

The Tremere were originally a group of human mages from House Tremere of the Order of Hermes. When they found their magical life-extending elixirs started failing due to the growing lack of belief in magic, they started looking elsewhere. They captured vampires of the Tzimisce clan and conducted experiments on their bodies and blood, and discovered how to turn mortals into vampires without The Embrace. Tremere and his six most loyal followers crafted potions of vampirism and consumed them.

Almost immediately after their transformation, the Tremere were beset with enemies on all sides: the Tzimisce wanted revenge, the Order outlawed them, and their awakened Avatars left them on the transition to death, taking their magic with them. Tremere crafted the art of blood magic, Thaumaturgy, and they defended themselves. Wanting more power for his bloodline, Tremere found the resting place of Saulot, the Antediluvian founder of clan Salubri, and diablerized him, consuming his very essence and gaining his power. Tremere declared his bloodline a full Clan, and started spreading rumours that the Salubri were soul-stealers, and managed to hunt them to near-extinction; it is believed that no more than six Salubri survive into the Final Nights.

[edit] Vampire: The Masquerade

Originally from Eastern Europe, the Tremere were organized in chantries. These were almost completely destroyed in the war against the Tzimisce. Only the fortified Coeris, in the southern Transylvanian Alps, survived, but the Tremere soon spread again and founded strongholds in Prague and Vienna (the latter was to become their main center of power), with smaller chantries elsewhere (such as the one in Perugia, in central Italy).

With the destruction of many Elder vampires during the Inquisition and the retreat into torpor of many other Elders, most surviving vampires had little knowledge of the Salubri and no source to counter the Tremere's allegations of the Salubri's soul-stealing. This, combined with the Thaumaturgical powers the young clan made available for the fledgeling Camarilla's defense, brought them greater esteem among the Kindred population in later centuries.

When the Camarilla was organized, the Tremere were one of the group's strongest defenders, although the Gangrel and Nosferatu clans harbour deep resentment toward the Tremere due to their use of Gangrel and Nosferatu blood to create their Gargoyle servants.

The Tremere have a strict formal hierarchical structure called the Pyramid. The heads of the Pyramids insure the loyalty of their subjects by having each childe presented to the elders and forced to drink their blood, thus bringing them closer to a blood bond. All Tremere are expected to respect and obey their superiors, or else risk being harshly punished.

During the formation of the Sabbat, a group of Tremere under the leadership of a powerful vampire named Goratrix defected to become the Tremere antitribu, which ultimately came to be based in Sabbat-dominated Mexico. They bore a sort of mark that could be perceived by the members of the clan that had remained loyal. According to the Third Edition of Vampire: the Masquerade, all members of the Tremere antitribu were wiped out in one night in 1997.

[edit] Vampire: Requiem and the World of Darkness

In the current World of Darkness, the Tremere existed once but are no more. They were a clan that practiced stealing the souls of mortal humans to overcome the inherent weaknesses of being a vampire. However, souls tended to decay when attached to the vampires, so to sustain themselves they struck a bargain to allow them to obtain the souls of willing mages in return for vampiric lore. However, something went wrong (it is unspecified what exactly happened) and the Tremere were apparently completely destroyed, but the mages inherited their spiritual curse, forcing them to steal souls to sustain their own bodies. They adopted the name of the extinct vampire clan and became a left-handed (tainted) legacy of mages.