Clan Tremere

Sect allegiance: Camarilla

Clan Disciplines: Dominate, Auspex, Thaumaturgy

Motto: "Knowledge is not power; it is power's prelude."

Overview

The Tremere are the second-youngest vampire clan, preceding the Giovanni by just a few hundred years. Originally a House of the mortal magickal tradition known as the Order of Hermes, the Tremere are famed and feared for their skill with blood magic, and the occult secrets they hold. Enigmatic and often coldly aloof, they rarely share their secrets with anyone. For this they are mistrusted, hated and feared by outsiders. They are also the most tightly organized of the clans, following a pyramidal structure and chain of command quite similar to the old Hermetic mystery orders; indeed, Tremere often refer to their internal structure as The Great Pyramid.

The Tremere have gone from being a tiny group in the Carpathian mountains, beset by fellow Kindred and Lupines alike, to being founding members of the Camarilla and arguably the most powerful of the vampire clans. It may be that they will soon be able to contest the Ventrue for leadership in the Camarilla.

One of the most interesting aspects of the Tremere is the speed with which they act. Not for them are centuries of deliberation and planning; no, they expect results, positive results that meet or exceed expectation, and they demand them right now. The most eloquent explanation of this comes from Philip Boulle, the developer of Vampire: Dark Ages for White Wolf Games Studio, in a teaser for House of Tremere supplement on the White Wolf website:

"...This is a group of vampires others call Usurpers, and not without reason. You see, Cainites in the Dark Ages are the ultimate inbred nobles. The same 13 clans have been there, knowing and hating each other like only siblings can. Everything was played over the course of centuries, with patience and hidden intrigues - until Tremere.

This sorcerer, this mortal, and his acolytes kicked down the doors of the hidden vampiric world and took what they wanted. They saw a chance for immortality and went for it. No endless debate and eternal caution. No quiet maneuvering and silent consultations. So what if it cost them their souls? But being vampires wasn't enough, so they did in a few short decades they did what others have tried for millennia: found an Antediluvian, drank his blood and took his place.

In a relative eye-blink, Saulot was dead, the Salubri a dying line, and the Tremere stood as the first new clan since Enoch. And that's not all. No, the Tremere did all this in the heart of Transylvania, staving off the most terrifying of all the high vampiric clans: the Tzimisce Fiends. At the same time, they've managed to translate their hermetic arts into Thaumaturgy, a Discipline that makes other types of blood magic look pale in comparison. Young, cocky and powerful, the Tremere have smashed the status quo and nothing will ever be the same again."

A final interesting note: the Tremere are the only clan ever to have completely wiped out their Sabbat counterparts -- the Tremere antitribu were all wiped out in the middle of a great ritual in Mexico City in the late 1990s.

See the World of Darkness and White Wolf Game Studio nodes if you are confused by all of this.