Gargoyles (World of Darkness)

The Gargoyles are a fictional bloodline of vampires from White Wolf Game Studio's Vampire: The Masquerade books and role-playing games.

The Gargoyles are a bloodline created by the Tremere as servitors. Although technically not a Tremere bloodline, the bloodline is largely under their control. The Gargoyles were created using the blood of three different clans: the Gangrel, the Nosferatu, and the Tzimisce. The blood was combined to form three specific types of Gargoyle: scouts (Gangrel-Nosferatu), warriors (Gangrel-Tzimisce), and sentinels (Nosferatu-Tzimisce). Warriors focus on Potence and combat Abilities; sentinels focus on Fortitude and alertness; and scouts practice stealth, survival and the like.

However, there is an additional classification to the bloodline; free and slaves.

The Gargoyles who remain slaves of the Tremere are Camarilla as well, but by default. Most have little or no sense of identity, no memories of existence before being transformed into Gargoyles and no free will. A Tremere-bound Gargoyle who begins to demonstrate more than a rudimentary sense of self is often destroyed.

Descendants of the so-called Slaves who escaped from Tremere domination in centuries past and more recent escapees, the free Gargoyles cluster in isolated communities either in mountain retreats or industrial cities that offer nothing to the Tremere. More adventurous souls flock to the Camarilla cities to offer themselves as bodyguards, muscle and other sorts of labor for hire. It is a show of prestige for a prince to have Gargoyle bodyguards at her Elysium, and a show of strength to be able to afford Gargoyle assassins to deal with enemies

History

Dark Ages

The bloodline was first created via Thaumaturgical ritual in 1167, created in three variants: the Gangrel-Nosferatu, Gangrel-Tzimisce, and Nosferatu-Tzimisce. For the first several centuries after their creation, all their "powers" were in the form of rituals cast upon them by their Tremere masters.

Victorian Age

At this point in their history, Gargoyles have "evolved" beyond the need for Tremere rituals, instead having developed their own special Discipline, called Visceratika.

Final Nights

Many free Gargoyles during the Final Nights have discovered that while they May Be vampires, they are also practically their own species. They are capable of biological reproduction with other Gargoyles.

Background

The process of creation is particularly intense for Gargoyles, especially for those taken directly by the Tremere. The surge of competing strains of vitae, combined with the magical energy inherent to the transformation even after all of these centuries, serves to wipe away the preexisting memories and loyalities of a new Gargoyle, leaving a tabula rasa on which the Tremere can work. The process is a trifle gentler for Gargoyles Embraced by other Gargoyles, who sometimes retain at least vague senses of their former lives, but even so most of the past just dissolves under the occult onslaught. (Note: Free Gargoyles actually Embrace mortals; the Tremere prefer to take Kindred of the three "root' clans and transform them into Gargoyles.) As for what drives a Gargoyle to Embrace a mortal, most times it's a cast of simple obsession, and even the most eloquent members of the bloodline shrug and put it down to "gut feeling".

Flight

Gargoyle characters technically start with a 4th discipline; Flight. Only Gargoyles can learn this discipline, and though it functions like any other to the player, the character is not aware that it's a Discipline.Level 1 of this ability allows the character to glide, with max speed equaling prevailing winds. Each additional level increases this ability, with two allowing flight and running take-offs; three, the ability to vertically ascent; and four and five increasing both speed and how much the character can lift.

Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodlines

The Gargoyle bloodline makes an appearance as an end-level boss in the PC game Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodlines developed by Troika Games in 2004. Gargoyles appear similar to their Vampire: The Masquerade description, although with a distinctly Asian motif. The player can either fight or talk their way out of the confrontation.

Vampire: The Eternal Struggle

The Gargoyles also appear as a bloodline in the the card game Vampire: The Eternal Struggle.

Strategy

Gargoyle cards mix well with the Tremere and Tremere anititribu, as well as the Blood Brothers. The Gargoyle are also one of the bloodlines most suited for single-clan play.

While Flight is a Discipline in the role-playing game, it is not a Discipline in the card game. It is treated similarly, however. Some minions are indentified as having flight, and some library cards require flight to use.

The Gargoyle Slave ally (from The Sabbat expansion) does not represent a Gargoyle vampire. Any card that requires a vampire of Clan Gargoyle (or a "Slave Gargoyle") requires an actual vampire; controlling a Gargoyle ally is not sufficient.

New terms

Slaves

Some Gargoyles are identified as Tremere slaves or Tremere antitribu slaves. A slave vampire cannot take a directed action if his controller doesn't control a ready member of the specified "owning" clan. If a member of the owning clan controlled by the Gargoyle's controller is blocked, the controller can tap the slave Gargoyle to cancel the combat and untap the acting vampire and have the slave Gargoyle enter combat with the blocking minion instead.

Notes

Note that the Gargoyles have two "official" symbols: the first is that used in Vampire books, and is identical to the generic Vampire: The Masquerade ankh. The second symbol is the alchemical symbol for Earth superimposed upon a silhouette of the Tremere symbol.

References

• Achilli, Justin, et al., Vampire: The Masquerade (Revised Edition), White Wolf Inc., 1998
• Hartshorn, Jennifer , et al., Vampire: The Dark Ages, White Wolf Inc., 1995
• Oliver, Clayton, et al., Vampire: The Masquerade Storytellers Companion, White Wolf Publishing; Package edition, December 1998