GARGOYLES

Credits First Edition

Written by: Ben Allsop & Sam Myatt Storytellers Handbook

Editor: Sam Myatt & Ben Allsop V20 Dark Ages

Cover Art: Mark Jackson Dark Ages: Vampire

Proofreaders: Ash Brock, Ellen Trezise, Lewis Players Guide to the Low Clans , Storyteller’s
Wylie, Max Robinson Companion

Sources: Vampire: The Dark Ages

V20 Ashen Cults; Book of Storyteller Secrets; House of

Tremere; Libellus Sanguis II - Keepers of the Word
Anarchs Unbound; Beckett’s Jyhad Diary; Dread
Names, Red List; Hunters Hunted II; Lore of the Vampire: The Victorian Age
Bloodlines; Lore of the Clans; Rites of the Blood Victorian Age Companion
Revised Edition Other
Archons and Templars; Clanbook: Tremere Revised Blood-Dimmed Tides
Edition; Blood Magic: Secrets of Thaumaturgy; Blood
Sacrifice: The Thaumaturgy Companion; Guide to
the Camarilla; Kindred of the Ebony Kingdom Special thanks to Chris ‘MrGone’ Leland for his
work on the character sheet!
Second Edition
Chicago by Night; Clanbook: Tremere; Montreal
by Night; The Kindred Most Wanted; Under a Blood
Red Moon

A Note on Language
It should be stated that Clanbook:
Gargoyles, unlike other V20 products, is
written in British English since that is the
form the authors are familiar with.
S&B

© 2017 White Wolf Entertainment AB. All rights reserved. Vampire: The
Masquerade®, World of Darkness®, Storytelling System™, and Storytellers
Vault™ are trademarks and/or registered trademarks of White Wolf
Entertainment AB. All rights reserved.
For additional information on White Wolf and the World of Darkness,
please, visit: www.white-wolf.com,
www.worldofdarkness.com and www.storytellersvault.com.

2 Credits and Contents

 C L A N B O O K :

GARGOYLES
A Gargoyle’s Diary 5 The Scout Mould 31 General Abhorrence
Introduction 8 The Sentinel Mould 31 Features 60
How to use this book 8 The Warrior Mould 32 Chapter Four:
Lexicon 9 Notable Eyries 33 Of Mingled Blood 66
Chapter One: Communal Eyries 36 A Bloodline’s Bloodlines 66
A Past Carved in Stone 12 Free Eyries 37 The Castings 67
An Audience with Mimesis 38 Scouts 68
Handsome Dan 12 Chapter Three: Sentinels 70
The First Grotesques 13 Hearts of Stone 40 Warriors 72
The First Revolt 14 Sired Gargoyles 40 Misbegotten Gargoyles 74
Centuries of Slavery 15 Character Creation 40 Calacas 74
The Gargoyle Revolt 16 Path of Service 44 Gorgons 78
Centuries of Freedom 18 Path of Freedom 46 Mariners 80
Discovering Mimesis 19 Wings 48 Minkisi 85
Ferox 19 Wing Types 48 Chapter Five:
The First Misbegotten 20 Aerial Combat Manoeuvres 51 Lithomancy 88
Gargoyles in London 20 Weaknesses 52 Disciplines 88
The Rock Lord 21 Abhorrence 52 Advanced
Chaundice’s Awakening 22 Amnesia 52 Visceratika Powers 88
Chaundice’s Children 23 Susceptibility to Advanced
Chapter Two: Mind Control 53 Flight Powers 91
Freedom and Dependence 24 Merits and Flaws 53 Combination Disciplines 92
Grotesque Culture 24 Merits 53 Humours 97
Gargoyles by Birth 24 Flaws 54 Misbegotten Humours 105
Gargoyles by Status 26 Abhorrence 56
Gargoyles by Sect 26 Synergy 57
Eyries and Grotesqueries 30 Abhorrence 6+ 57
Rock Lord or Lady 30 Gargoyle Specific Features 57

Clanbook: Gargoyles 3
Chapter Six: The Stone Beauty 135
The Slaves’ Retainers 110 Saxum,
Ghouls 110 The Master of Slaves 137
Life Stages 110 Ublo-Satha 137
The Standing Stones 112 Rocia,
1476 Revivalists 113 The Watcher Mould 140
Misbegotten Ghouls 113 Ch’iung Chi,
Gargoyle Animals 114 Rock Lord of Tianmu 141
Gargoyle Monstrosities 119 Ferox,
Chapter Seven: Servant of God 143
A Gallery of Grotesques 124 Erinyi, the Luminaire 144
Sample Characters 124 Filippo Sammarca,
Agitator 124 The Inquisitor 144
Supremacist 124 Babi 146
Mercenary 125
Scourge 125
Shaman 126
Keeper of the Shroud 126
Sentinel Caretaker 126
Gorgon Artist 127
Chantry Guardian 127
Demonic Host 128
Notable Gargoyles 128
Chaundice, Rock Lord of
the Grand Court 128
Ana, The Blood-Stained
Erinye 130
Gersella, Rock Lady
of the Stone Guardians 131
Drogo,
The Winged Wolf 132
Stonebones, Proprietor of
the Catacombs of Sorrow 133
Fidus,
The Shrunken Beast 134
Luma,

4 Credits and Contents

 Gargoyle’s Diar y
A

r 2017
12th of Decembe
co is
Dear diary, ov er an d ov er ag ain. I think Fal
I’ve asked
ve m e pa pe r, at last. It’s not like
They finally ga d he can’t!
jeal ou s be ca us e I can still write an
just
from
g is , I ca n ’t re member anything
range thin er is
fo r ar ou n d a m onth now. The st do es th at ev en m ean? Short answ
I’ve been here ade’. What bered’
ey ju st k ee p te lli ng me I was ‘unm ck . W hy do I k eep saying ‘remem
before then. Th nfidence ba atars
al l I ca n sa y is I’m getting my co S o th ey sa y w e are Gargoyles, av
I don’t know, after all. ania,
re m em be re d ho w to speak and write S om e sa y a w oman called Virst
and ‘back’? I’ve contention . one.
d ch ild re n of .. . well, that’s up for av e, so I’ ll ge t ba ck to you on that
of the earth an e and I le
ca lle d C ha un di ce, then they argu
some say a man
she
le ot he rs n ev er le ave. Rixatrix says
me and go whi but not all Gargoyl
es are
fa ir ly re la xe d though. Some co l sh e n ee ds n ow ,
It has been at we are al e she’s
as on to go ou ts id e anymore and th th an m e, bu t sh e’s different becaus
doesn’t see a re much older ys it’s
ua n is an ot he r n ew Gargoyle, not to ha ve co m e be tween us. She sa
like that. Sib th at means, but it do
esn’t seem
th rough the Eyrie -
that’s
n ot su re w ha t e w in d cr ee pi n g
‘sired’. I’m still n’t wait to join he
r. The gentl not allowed to go ou
tside.
t th er e, an d I ca so m e re as on I’ m
wonderful ou re, but for what
el s so di ffer en t to the stuffy air in he ha s ‘e n ch an te d’ me. I don’t know
our home - fe gs when he s made
at I w ill be fr ee to stretch my win e se em s ex ci te d about it. Falco ha
Falco said th d everyo n nsive
er , bu t it ’s ha pp ening tomorrow an th e en ch an tm en t. It’s not too inte
that means ei th aration fo r
fo r si x ho ur s every day in prep
me train wit h hi m blood’.
an d w ha t he ca lls ‘channeling the
ation
though, just medit
sit from
w or th w ri ti n g do wn would be the vi
at’s really l pairs
in g th at ’s ha pp en ed to me so far th
he ha d qu it e la rg e wings and severa
The only th skin and all, and her
H e w as G ar go yle too with grey n n ih y to sp ea k to our Rock Lady
the big guy. to Derrycu ts every
te d ho rn s. H e sa id he had traveled , th ey ev en br oke into argumen
of long, twis e four of th em I went
w as he re al l n ight talking to th , th in gs go t te n se in the Eyrie, so
Moulds. H e ft. After that
en , bu t be fo re th e light came he le
now and th
ay from it all.
to sleep to get aw
 17
13th of December 20
Dear diary, t am azing afterwards. I sta
rted
th e tim e, bu t I fel
ange and unsettling at was up to, then I practic
ed
The enchantment was str ixatrix ab ou t wh at ev ery on e
I awoke and spoke to R shaman most of the tim
e.
out my night as usual. th Falco - he ca lls him sel f th e
ey want me to learn wi ushered me into the chur
ch
the blood channeling th but be fo re we pa rte d F al co
day was drawing near, gathered. Obviously I wa
s
After my training the the en tir e Gr ote sq ue rie ha d
ndles had been lit and calmed me down alot. On
hall where numerous ca crowd sm ili ng at m e, wh ich
was at the front of the lly understand it. They
had
frightened, but Sibuan e, but I wa s too tired to rea
r event happened to m sheep. After that my
skin
my first night a simila e dri nk th e blo od of a big
like tonight and had m w a pattern on my head
in
all gathered around just time ar ou nd he sim ply dre
me stiff like straw. This would, but I keep hear
ing
dried and my hair beca do feel str on ge r, as he sa id I
allow a small stone. I
blood then made me sw
ng from nowhere.
a woman’s voice whisperi

17
20th of December 20
Dear diary, of all, I was allowed outsi
de! I
ha s ha pp en ed . B est
d since I wrote but a lot esn’t sound exciting for
such
A few nights have passe th e ste ep le. I kn ow it do
d did several laps around e lights all around me,
in the
flew for the first time an ag ai ns t m y fa ce an d th
sound of the air rushing e the world look so beau
tiful.
a short distance but the behin d th e hil ls, th ey m ad
ows, off in the distance
sky, in the church wind
much
’re sim ila r to us an d act like us but they’re so
r the first time too. They take a bite to the neck
and
I fed from a human fo nt ai n sh ee p we rea r of ten
can’t even fly. The mou t have bitten so hard he
r neck
more delicate, and they fro m th e hu m an I m us
but somehow when I fed the entire room. I’ll ha
ve to be
manage to walk it off sp ew ed al l ov er m e an d
away, and... her blood e stress I had to go throu
gh just
snapped when I pulled e ta ste , it wa s wo rth th
but the taste, my God th lls it. The spirit of the B
east
more gentle next time, I ‘jo ur ne ye d’ - as F al co ca
nectar. After the taste e me feel angry and con
fused
for a mouthful of that e fu n en tirely an d m ad
oments which ruined th
entered me for a few m
for the rest of the night.
 r several times
I me nt ion ed he r in my last entry. I’ve heard he
The last thing is the woma
n’s voice, nts like: “The
lou der tha n the n too . She keeps making comme
ually much st her words were
a night since then and us d “I am the wa y to your salvation”. At fir
self of fea r”; an when she falls
Flock awaits”; “Free your nd see me d so ali en but now I come to miss it
voice in my mi e me! In fact
disturbing to me, another in g wa y of cou rse ) but Falco seems to believ
crazy (in a lov
silent. Sibaun tells me I’m other.
tel ls me to lis ten to he r, he says She is my M
he

26th of December 2017

Dear diary,
village,
tel lin g me tha t S he is waiting for me south of the
of mine keeps lco agrees
Every night this Mother fee ls lik e S he rea lly wa nts me to see Her and Fa
are so soothing, it ually go
behind the hills. Her words to ign ore the voi ce, if I ignore Her, She will event
ibuan both tell me least once.
entirely. Rixatrix and S he sou nd s so ca rin g tha t I should go to see Her at
want Her to. S
away, but I don’t think I
en I take
ow , I’l l on ly be go ne for a few hours. I’ll set off wh
south tomorr to go far and
I think i’m going to travel alo ne wh en I fly so they won’t expect me
seem to let me be I don’t find
my midnight flight, they I see it, on e of tw o thi ngs will happen: Either
ow it. The way s Flock She
I’ll be back before they kn ve a lit tle fli gh t ar ou nd the village or I find thi
ary and simply ha nts of me.
anything out of the ordin las t we ek , an d fin d out what my Mother wa
that big guy fro m
mentioned, maybe even

27th of December 2017

Wish me luck.
 Introduction
The Gargoyles are emblematic of the bizarre
nature of the bloodlines as a group, and perhaps
those to whom the label ‘vampire’ does the least
justice. Long have they been the underdogs, the
oppressed, scarcely above Caitiff and thinbloods in
terms of social standing. But as a long-lost ancient
awakens, this is changing. Even as they are preyed
upon by members of their own bloodline aiming
to bind them to an insane and tyrannical creator
or enlist them in an apocalyptic crusade, the young
Freemen are beginning to seek a new destiny and
to carve out a true place for themselves. Some
wish to overturn the current order, to supplant
an entire Clan or even to create their own sect
divorced from the dichotomy of Camarilla and
Sabbat. Others simply wish to be treated as equals
and to survive.
As with any group of sufficient size - and the
bloodline has grown significantly over the past few
decades - there are stark differences in opinion, but
one line of thought is held largely in common. No
longer are the Gargoyles satisfied to be counted
as a mere bloodline; they wish instead to be
recognised as a Clan, and to be granted the status
that comes with it. After all, their progenitor has
returned and lives among them - how many of the
vaunted Clans can say the same?
8 Introduction
This book is the result of a particular and long-
held fascination with this strange bloodline.
Information about them, much like the Gargoyles
themselves, is scattered and often contradictory.
Clanbook: Gargoyles seeks first to bring together
the various scraps of lore to be found here and
there and make them fit together more coherently,
and then to expand upon that information, giving
the Gargoyles the book-length coverage we feel
they deserve and need. We are indebted to far too
many people to realistically list here since we have
drawn on so many sources, from the very recent
to the very old. Of particular note are Lore of
the Bloodlines, which prompted this book to be
written, and House of Tremere, without which it
would not exist in anything like its current form
(and possibly not at all).
How To Use This Book
Clanbook: Gargoyles serves two purposes: to
bring together information gathered from every
edition of Vampire: The Masquerade and its
historical spinoffs; and to expand upon existing
Gargoyle lore in appropriately bizarre and
surprising ways. These purposes, in addition to the
sheer amount of content, has required us to split
the book into a fairly large number of chapters,
which are as follows:
 Chapter One: A Past Carved in Stone sees
Handsome Dan, a veteran Gargoyle Anarch
of humble origins, relate the history of their
bloodline to a Grotesquerie of young Rockheads
- and offer a new way forward for them and the
Gargoyle race as a whole.
Chapter Two: Freedom and Dependence lays
out the current social structures of the Gargoyles,
from the local to the global, as well as their
relationships with the various Clans and sects of
the Kindred and other denizens of the World of
Darkness besides.
Chapter Three: Hearts of Stone provides rules
and guidance for creating Gargoyle characters, with and also feature prominently in their rituals.
a particular emphasis on the Embraced Gargoyles
provided in V20.
Chapter Four: Of Mingled Blood focuses on
the rarer types of Gargoyles - the three ancient
Castings (as depicted most recently in Lore of the re-emerged, and is the head of a new movement
Bloodlines) and the strange and new Misbegotten. within the bloodline.
Chapter Five: Lithomancy presents new
Visceratika powers, powers for the higher levels of independence and emancipation movement within
Flight, and combination Disciplines (some of our
own creation and others adapted from previous
editions). It also describes a range of humours,
the Freemen’s inheritance of the ‘Gargoyle rituals’ called the ‘Chaundician movement’ or simply
practiced by their former masters, the Tremere.
Chapter Six: The Slaves’ Retainers consists of
a miscellany of Gargoyle-related creatures, from
their ghouls to the mutated animals and other
monstrosities which are as much a part of the
bloodline’s grotesque heritage as the vampiric
Gargoyles themselves.
Chapter Seven: A Gallery of Grotesques
presents a number of character templates which
can be picked up or tweaked to provide ready-
to-use player characters, followed by profiles on
some of the most notable Gargoyles to be found in
tonight’s skies.
Lexicon
Casting: The ‘type’ which a cast Gargoyle conforms
to, whether Scout, Sentinel, or Warrior.
Ceoris: The Tremere chantry where Gargoyles were
first created and where the Revolt began, located
in the Carpathian mountains of eastern Europe. It
was abandoned shortly after the Revolt, and serves
as the base for Virstania and her Flock.
Cenote: A pool of stagnant water believed to offer
a passageway between this world and the next in
Mayan religion. They are used to Gestate new
members of the Misbegotten known as Calacas,
Chaundice: The first Gargoyle and the original
Rock Lord, created by Virstania as her last
significant act while still a mortal mage.
Apparently missing for centuries, he has recently
Chaundice’s Children: The young, radical
the Gargoyle bloodline, which gains more and
more traction each night, drawing its membership
from every sect and around the world. Also
‘Chaundicians’.
Duat: The Egyptian underworld, to which the
spirits of Gorgons (see Misbegotten) supposedly
travel during Gestation; once there, they are
believed to commune with Set and bring his words
back to the physical world.
Eyrie: The communal haven of a Grotesquerie.
Ferox: Originally a ghoul Embraced for his
assistance in the Gargoyle Revolt, Ferox now leads
the cult called the Grigori, or Watchers. He views
himself as one of the angels of the end times, and
wishes to prepare the Earth for God’s judgement
by destroying as many ‘demons’ (non-Gargoyle
vampires, and especially Nosferatu) as possible.
The Flock: The Gargoyles still loyal to Virstania.
They view her as the Great Mother, the
unquestionable queen of their kind, and make
efforts to kidnap or convert Gargoyles and bring
them to live with her in the ruins of Ceoris.

Clanbook: Gargoyles 9
Gargoyle Revolt: The conflict in which the Rock Lord/Lady: An honorific denoting
majority of enslaved Gargoyles rose up against leadership of a Grotesquerie or otherwise
their masters, beginning in 1476 with Virstania’s significant authority. Chaundice and Ferox (see the
uprising in Ceoris, and ending shortly after the Watchers, below) both bear the title, though the
signing of the Montmartre Pact. latter is recognised by very few Gargoyles.
Gestation: 1) The process by which a cast Gargoyle Virstania: The ancient Tremere primarily
is made, which takes months. 2) The Embrace of a responsible for the creation of the original
sired Gargoyle. Gargoyles, including Chaundice, and for the
Great Mother: See Virstania. development of the bloodline until the end of the
Gargoyle Revolt. Known as the Great Mother, she
Grigori: See the Watchers. currently rules over the Flock.
Grotesquerie: A group of Gargoyles, equivalent to The Watchers: A growing and fanatically religious
a coterie or Sabbat pack, which gather in an Eyrie Gargoyle cult centred around the infamous Rock
for mutual company, protection, and development. Lord Ferox, who believe that they are fallen angels
Grotto: The underwater Eyrie of Mariner manifested on Earth to destroy the ‘demons’
Gargoyles, a type of Misbegotten. which inhabit it - other Kindred, and Nosferatu in
Humour: A specialised ritual, useable only on and particular. Also called the Grigori.
by Gargoyles, which applies a particular temporary
effect to the subject.
Mimesis: A mysterious process by which a
Gargoyle comes to resemble the architecture
(whether natural or artificial) of their haven.
Grotesqueries which share the same Eyrie also
undergo this effect, coming to resemble each other
as they each reflect the physical features of their
surroundings.
Misbegotten: Recently-emerging types of
Gargoyles, made from Clans and bloodlines
previously unused. They are unknown to most and
looked down upon by those aware of them, though
some are more wretched than others. Calacas,
Green Men, Gorgons, Mariner Gargoyles, Minkisi
are the five Misbegotten ‘Castings’ known to exist.
Montmartre Pact: The treaty signed in 1489,
requiring the Tremere to end the slavery of
Gargoyles as a condition for their joining the
Camarilla, which effectively ended the Gargoyle
Revolt.
Mould: 1) The original three cast Gargoyles:
Fidus, Luma, and Saxum. 2) The three most senior
figures in a Grotesquerie beneath the Rock Lord or
Lady, titled the Scout Mould, the Sentinel Mould,
and the Warrior Mould. These positions need not
be filled by cast Gargoyles, but if they are they will
always correspond to the Gargoyle’s Casting.

10 Introduction
Clanbook: Gargoyles 11
 Chapter One:
A Past Carved in
Stone
An Audience with
Handsome Dan
Evening lads and lasses. Easy now, I don’t
mean you any harm. I’m not here to take you
into Tremere or the Mother or anyone else. Lord
knows there’s enough of them out there who’d like
nothing more than to put you in chains. I’m not
here to tell you to do anything or go anywhere, just
hear me out before you do something we’ll both
regret. That’s better. Let’s talk like grown-ups.
My name’s Dan, ‘Handsome Dan’ to the ladies.
I’m sure I’ll find out yours in due time. I was
just on my way over to DC, heard there might
be a flock of us headed there. I noticed you lot
and thought I’d stop by for a chat. Before I start
rambling on, I’ve got a question for the lot of you.
How much do you know about what you are?
Where you come from and that?
Blimey… I’ve got my work cut out for me. I’m
not talking about your sires or where you got your
fangs, I mean metaphorically. I suppose what I
mean to ask is, what do you know about where
we come from? I see. You can’t be blamed really.
There’s too many sires these nights who just aren’t
up to the job. Doesn’t look like you’ve got much
going on, cooped up in here, so take a seat and
listen up, and I’ll impart some learning.
12 Chapter One: A Past Carved in Stone
I should think you at least know that we’ve
always been slaves, one way or another. It’s been
some time since any Warlock has owned one of
us - openly, anyway - but it’s part of us, deep down.
Some of us have tried to fight it, but it’s a story of
false starts - a bit like my own story. As you may
be able to tell I was born and raised in - no, not
bloody Australia! I come from old London town.
And don’t interrupt unless you’ve got something
useful to say.
Anyway, back in my youth I went around with
the finest bunch of anarch miscreants you could
hope for. The Sixpence Pinch we called ourselves.
Rooker, my sire, saw us through many a tough
time. We ruled that city for about a hundred years,
don’t let any Blue Blood tell you otherwise. But
it all ended badly, sad to say - the Cammies got us
in the end, and I was the only one who got away. I
spent a few rough weeks on the continent feeling
sorry for myself, living much like you are now.
Eventually I got the idea of heading to California
to make my fortune in the Free State they’ve got
going over there. What I found on the way there,
though, was a miracle, a proper fresh start for me
- and for all of us. But I’ll get to all that later. First
thing’s first: you all could do with an education.
The First Grotesques
We’ve not always been as most of us are now.
Matter of fact, far from it. The first of us weren’t
even vampires as you’d think of them. What were
they, you ask? Good question. I haven’t quite
figured that out myself. In any event they weren’t
bitten and fed blood, but made in labs by the
Tremere, almost a thousand years ago now. The
really scary bit is that we weren’t some sort of
experiment gone wrong - we went right. After a
couple of attempts, at any rate. What it took to
get it all started was the one we call the Mother.
Yeah, the Great Mother, that’s the one. You know
something at least. Though how ‘great’ she is is
pretty up in the air.
Virstania
The one we owe our current state to is an
ancient vampire called Virstania. From what I’ve
heard - and I’ve got a pretty direct source - she was
born in a Tremere chantry itself, somewhere in
Eastern Europe, round what’s Romania and that
tonight. This was back when most Tremere were
mortal, but they still had magic somehow. I don’t
pretend to understand all that malarkey. She was
something of a prodigy, bit of a teacher’s pet, you
know the type. What she was best at was making
things - living things, that is, usually cobbled
together from different animals.
In short order her chantry, the only home
she’d ever known, got taken over in 1105 by the
Tzimisce, who were enemies of the Tremere. You
know, those dodgy bastards in the Sabbat who like
messing around with people’s bodies. Yeah, them.
Oh, well, that’s how I say it. Point is, this was just
the latest chantry to go. They’d been dropping one
by one for a while. As I understand it the Fiends
saw the land as theirs, and the Tremere were
unwelcome guests. I wouldn’t start taking sides too
soon though, they were as bad as each other at the
end of the day.
Anyway, Virstania got away and ran to another
chantry, called Ceoris. Don’t worry about
remembering that name, you’re gonna hear it
plenty. Bear with me on this next bit. When she
got there she had one of her little creations - a
Clanbook: Gargoyles
mink with a sturgeon’s head. Basically a ferret with
the head of a fish, for those who don’t know. It got
free and started causing all sorts of havoc round
the gaff. Tearing up books, knocking over pots,
running up people’s robes, that sort of thing. Yes
there’s a point, and no I’m not pulling your leg. As
I said, don’t interrupt with stupid bloody questions
or we’ll never be finished.
While the creature was running amok, it was
noticed by one of the bigwigs in Ceoris, some
evil bastard called Goratrix, who was one of the
first Tremere to be a vampire. They all had funny
names, you’d better get used to it. The thing soon
died, but he must have seen some kind of potential
in it, and he took Virstania under his wing. He’d
had an idea for making living weapons, things to
fight off the Tzimisce, ad in her he saw what he
needed to make it a reality.
Chaundice
Virstania, Goratrix, and his childe Malgorzata
got to work. As I say I don’t really understand
such things, but from what I can gather Virstania
could work magic better because she was still
human. Being a vampire limits magic, makes it so
you have to work along certain lines, something
like that. Whatever the reason, her first creation
was nothing like what came after. He was named
Chaundice, and he was incredibly strong even
from, er, ‘birth’. So strong that Goratrix feared
him, and the woman who had made him.
Owing to this, he had Virstania Embraced,
which he presented as a reward for her work, and
had the acolytes who assisted her quietly done
in. She would seem to have taken it gladly, not
suspecting what he really meant to do. As for
Chaundice, Goratrix Embraced him personally,
crippling him and making it so that nothing like
him could exist again. Had it not been for this,
our history - and all vampires’ history - would have
been completely changed. As you might be able to
tell, I’m no fan of Goratrix. I’m not sure anyone
is, really. If they are, I’d much prefer not to meet
them.
It wasn’t another ten years until Chaundice
was actually shown off to the rest of the chantry.
13
Maybe Goratrix wanted to make sure he was
weakened permanently. During that time the three
experimented with quickly making new Gargoyles
from the body parts of captured Kindred, but most
were weak, stupid, and useless. They didn’t know
then that, for whatever reason, only using Gangrel,
Nosferatu and Tzimisce works.
When Chaundice and his ‘children’ - five
pretty powerful Gargoyles, though none as strong
as him, and all made from those Clans - were
unveiled in 1121, Goratrix passed them off as his
own work using the captured vampires, while the
eight useless Gargoyles were quietly gotten rid of.
Virstania and Chaundice were in no position to
kick up a fuss.
The First Revolt
In short order, the five Gargoyles (led by
Chaundice, making six) were used to harass the
Tzimisce, reclaiming whole chantries in complete
surprise attacks. This exposed them to the wider
world, and while they followed their masters’
instructions, they were mostly left to go about
things as they decided while in the field. The
Warlocks never expected them to be capable of
really thinking for themselves, so they didn’t keep
too tight on a leash on them. That was their big
mistake.
Chaundice and his lot got to thinking about
independence. There was nothing really stopping
them from just flying off after being let loose from
Ceoris to do the Tremere’s dirty work. Chaundice
himself and another called Ana badly wanted to
simply flee their masters’ control and set off to
make their own place in the world.
Others, like Alvusia - poor girl - and Ublo-Satha,
were scared of the consequences and of what the
outside world might hold. On one particular night
in 1126, Chaundice got them together to finally
hash it out. After hours and hours of whispered
arguments, they swore on one another’s blood to
leave together the next time they were sent out.
Sadly, it didn’t last. Ublo-Satha must have
broken, and grassed on the others. It was Alvusia
who first saw Goratrix and his cronies heading
to the Eyrie, the place where the Gargoyles made
14 Chapter One: A Past Carved in Stone
their haven. She was able to warn them, but was
caught by Ublo-Satha, who tried to spare her sister
punishment by convincing her to stay. Poor, poor
girl...
In what some of us call the First Gargoyle Revolt,
the other four - Chaundice, Ana, Saxim and one
now called Ch’iung Chi - got away, and went their
separate ways in the rush to escape. Brunavog,
Virstania’s sire, made the error of assuming that he
spoke with the Mother’s voice, and as one of the
first Tremere to arrive at the Eyrie ordered them to
stand down. Chaundice gave him Final Death with
a single blow before being forced to run.
And for a long time, that was that. Virstania
would tell the Gargoyles that came later about
Chaundice, who she called the ‘Rock Lord’, living
in the nearby mountains with a colony of free
Gargoyles. This was either a delusion of hers or
just a story she told the young to put the idea of
freedom in their heads and keep them motivated.
It turned out to be true in the end, I suppose, but
hundreds of years later.
Chaundice was recaptured some time later by
Goratrix.. Ana remained free and did what she
could to liberate the Gargoyles which came after
her, and as you might have guessed Ch’iung Chi
fled all the way to China. Ublo-Satha stayed the
slave she wanted to be, and Alvusia, well… she was
punished, whatever her sister wanted. I’ll get to her
shortly.
Saxim seems not to have been able to properly
leave home. He stayed nearby, maybe hoping to
free others. Unfortunately this meant he was easy
for the Tremere to find again, with some sort of
magic I expect. Etrius, another right Berkshire
hunt at the top of the Clan, got to him first and
enslaved him again, just a couple years later.
He brought him back to Ceoris and started
slagging off the Mother for all to hear, before
punishing her by having Saxim sent to the chantry
in Vienna, even though he would have been more
useful at Ceoris. This was yet another thing that
came between him and Goratrix, who had wanted
to capture Saxim for himself. He was the first
Gargoyle to be given to another chantry, and as far
as anyone knows he’s still there as Etrius’ pet.
Centuries of Slavery
Finding themselves without Gargoyles, for the
most part, the Tremere needed to act quickly
or they’d be overtaken by the Tzimisce again.
Vistania, Malgorzata, and Goratrix got to work
on improving the Gargoyles made from other
vampires. They noticed that the best results came
from using Gangrel, Nosferatu, and Tzimisce -
especially together. However, they needed a new
way of combining the parts altogether... which is
where Alvusia came in.
The Next Generation
Virstania, who by this point was nicely settled
in Bedlam, decided to give her daughter not a
punishment but (in her mind) a gift, to show
that there were no hard feelings. That ‘gift’ was
motherhood. Through some kind of horrendous,
drawn-out ritual she transformed Alvusia from
a Gargoyle much like you or I into something
new and awful - the first of the womb-bearers.
The name is disgustingly literal; they chopped up
whatever Kindred they wanted to use, sewed the
parts together, and opened up her belly and put
them in before sealing her up again. She’d spend
months in agony, all to produce a single Gargoyle.
As far as anyone knows, she’s still suffering under
this treatment. I don’t get sick any more, o’course,
but it makes even my stomach turn.
The Gargoyles that came out were a new breed.
To make sure they stayed loyal, Goratrix ordered
that they should be split into three ‘Castings’.
There were Scouts, Sentinels, and Warriors,
each one made to suit a different role and with a
different way of ensuring total loyalty. A couple of
elders from back then seem to remember a fourth
Casting, but I wouldn’t know anything about
that. Might be worth looking into, but if they’re
out there anywhere they aren’t making themselves
known.
There aren’t a whole lot of cast Gargoyles left
these nights, but some of you have probably met
one or two even if you didn’t know it. My own
sire, Rooker, was a Scout, but he wasn’t as old as
the ones I’m talking about. Or if he was, he never
let on.
Clanbook: Gargoyles
The first three Gargoyles made this way are
called the Moulds, since the rest were made to
match up to their design. Watching over them
all was Ublo-Satha, who remained in Ceoris for
almost another hundred years. Together with her,
the Moulds were known as Virstania’s Gargoyle
apprentices, since they kept by her side most of the
time.
The first Mould of all was the Sentinel, Saxum -
yeah, like Saxim, hang about, I was getting to that.
He was named that way since Virstania missed
Saxim after he’d been brought back to her, only
to be sent away again. It’s said that she and Ublo-
Satha kept mixing them up and eventually forgot
there was an original at all. ‘The Master of Slaves’,
as he was called - that should tell you plenty - kept
a close eye on the Eyrie and those in it, always
looking out for rebellion. The Sentinels who’ve
followed him carry that on, but tend to be softer
touches.
Second came Luma. She was the first Warrior,
and she set the standard for them in aggression
and killing power, though as the tales go she was
beautiful, unlike the rest of us; ‘the Stone Beauty’,
she was called. I can’t speak to that, I’ve not had
the chance to make her acquaintance, and as you
can see nicknames can be ironic. Must have some
truth to it though, since the Mother kept trying to
repeat her creation. She was rebellious as well; it
was largely Ublo-Satha’s a job to keep her in line.
Last of the three was Fidus, the Scout, called
‘the Shrunken Beast’. Where Saxum was large and
strong, Fidus was small but fast, and a conniving
little welk. He was the Mother’s favourite, and
rarely left her side; she even secretly taught
him magic, since he whispered everything that
happened in the Eyrie to her. Fidus was the first of
the three to learn to fly, and taught that skill to the
Scouts who came after him.
Mass Production
Not long later, in 1133, Goratrix got exiled
from Ceoris - for what reason I don’t know or
care. What matters is that this left Virstania
and Malgorzata unsupervised, and they got to
behaving like two bickering sisters. This meant
15
that Virstania was able to experiment more freely,
while Malgorzata egged her on. She created all
manner of strange creatures, which while they
were Gargoyles weren’t like us or even like the cast
ones. There’s even fewer of those left, but some
Grotesqueries have them as pets. Most of them just
give me the willies. I personally think Malgorzata
did it to see how far she’d go.
In only a few decades, the Tremere had
themselves an army, not just a pack. None of them
were the equal of Chaundice or even his children,
but their numbers more than made up for it.
From 1167, the year the cast Gargoyles were set on
the Fiends, the Omen War - the conflict between
Tremere and Tzimisce - got kicked up a few gears.
Chantries fell and got taken back, and most of the
killing and the dying was done by us. If you look in
the right nooks and crannies of the right mountain
ranges in Eastern Europe, you’ll find the makeshift
Eyries of those unlucky Gargoyles whose chantries
got took out. Seems like they built effigies of their
former masters, so they’d have someone to serve.
Doesn’t look like any of them lasted long; all those
old Eyries are long abandoned.
It was in the middle of all this that some of us
started being able to Embrace, probably thanks
to Virstania’s meddling. Once there were enough
that other Tremere started noticing - sometimes
patrols would come back with more than they set
out with - it was swiftly banned, and any Embraced
Gargoyles were destroyed. Some slipped under the
radar, though, and carried on their potential.
By this point, most Warlocks were vampires, and
in 1199 their dirty little secret came out among the
other wizards they knocked around with. Now they
had two enemies to fight, and while they had some
help from the German Ventrue, they were pretty
hard-pressed. The production of cast Gargoyles
became too slow to replace the losses, and as a
result the ban on Embracing was lifted. Since
about a third of all Gargoyles could do it by now,
our numbers shot up, giving the Clan the support
it needed to survive its various wars. By the mid-
14th century, sired Gargoyles were the majority,
and had spread far beyond Ceoris, though always
under Warlock control.
16 Chapter One: A Past Carved in Stone
Things just kept getting better for our lot. By a
hundred years later we had a Discipline to call our
own, cobbled together by the Mother from some
of the more useful rituals the Tremere liked to use
on us, letting us hide in plain sight, move through
walls - all that stuff you’re familiar with. Sadly only
the sired ones showed much of a knack for it, but
there were so many of us by then that we may as
well all have had it. Though they never knew it
until it was far, far too late, it was the thing we
needed to overthrow our masters. Couldn’t have
happened to nicer people.
The Gargoyle Revolt
We couldn’t do it alone though. There’s plenty
to be said about her, but without Virstania we’d
still be in chains. Maybe only someone as far
gone as her could come up with something like
the Revolt and actually see it through to the end.
She’d been preparing for decades, maybe even
longer. Hard to say really, she didn’t even let on
to her personal Gargoyles as far as anyone knows.
Some say it started as early as when Goratrix got
kicked out, a century and a half beforehand.
The Mother might have been a few straws short,
but she was canny, and chose her opportunity
well. In the few years before the Revolt, two
important Tremere had left Ceoris, willingly or
otherwise. The first was Etrius, who I mentioned
earlier, though the reason why I’m not sure about.
Something about their Antediluvian who was
switching bodies or asleep or fighting a giant
worm. Don’t ask me, sonny, I just repeat what
I’m told. Important thing is, without Etrius there,
the Mother had even less people looking over her
shoulder.
Malgorzata was one, but she was more concerned
with wheeling and dealing among her own Clan
than keeping an eye on us. There’s even rumours
that say despite being his childe, she wasn’t
Goratrix’s favourite, that he shared more with
Virstania than with her. For example, one very
old Gargoyle told me that he’d developed some
kind of artificial blood, said he tried it on him in
Paris, said it filled you up alright but didn’t satisfy
the Beast, so you’d be on edge all night. As far as
he knew, only Virstania was told about this, not
Malgorzata. However things were with her, they
became pretty moot when she got captured by
the Tzimisce during their last big raid on Ceoris.
There aren’t many of us about who were there at
the time, but there’s a story which goes that the
Mother let it happen.
Ceoris had lost two of its big hitters, its defences
had taken a nasty beating, and everyone was
distracted. Esoara, basically the head of security,
was off out hunting the anarchs who’d taken
Malgorzata. With Etrius and Malgorzata out of
the picture, Virstania was left on her own, and
without Esoara, the chantry was weak - ripe for an
inside job. In 1476 - three hundred years before
these United States kicked up their own stink - she
used some massive spell to free all the Gargoyles in
Ceoris from Warlock control - magic, Dominate,
blood bonds, the whole lot. It was a simple matter
then for us to rise up.
The Revolt in Ceoris
I’m told Ceoris was a slaughter. In less than a
night it went from the jewel in the Tremere crown
to a gutted ruin. The castellan - the boss, for the
benefit of you lot - an old Warlock by the name of
Curaferrum, got himself disblerised by the Mother.
He the first casualty in a war that continues
tonight, no matter what kind of treaties and pacts
Clanbook: Gargoyles
get signed. But I’m getting ahead of myself…
The Mother went to his chamber, supposedly to
speak to him about the counter-attack to the raid
which had taken Malgorzata. Little did he suspect
that we were taking our places in the walls. At her
word we leapt out and held him down while the
Mother listed every cruelty against us, to the last
harsh word. For each one she had a single tiny
cut made in him. She counted each broken bone,
each night of solitary confinement, each petty
punishment. It took most of the night, and by the
end he’d been begging for Final Death for hours.
To cap it off she leant down, bared her fangs, and
took his blood.
Her deep frenzy spread to us, and we ran amok
through the chantry, killing dozens of Tremere
and their ghouls in just an hour. Luma and her
Warriors led the way, and she took down dozens
single-handedly. The walls were stained red, and
barely any got out ‘alive’. We had ghouls of our
own, and they did more than their part both at
Ceoris and in the battles afterwards. Most notable
was one called Ferox - yes, that Ferox - who was
Embraced for his services. We’ll get to him later,
I’m sure.
This wasn’t the last fight at Ceoris though.
Esoara was the childe of the late Curaferrum, and
17
must have smarted something awful when his
sire got it. Enraged, and with some of the hardest
Tremere around in tow, he turned up two nights
later, while we were still getting ourselves together
after the previous night’s celebrations. We were
ready, we knew he was coming, but still we had
taken some losses. Once he worked out what
had happened, he immediately executed all the
Gargoyles in his party. Poor bastards.
The fighting was vicious, and in the end we
retreated. Virstania, not wanting to lose any more
of us, ordered us to abandon Ceoris. We fled in all
directions, and Virstania relocated to her secret lab
in a cave not far away, taking her equipment with
her along with the three Moulds. The battle for
Ceoris was over in a hollow Tremere victory, but
the chantry had to be abandoned - and the Revolt
had just begun.
The Revolt Spreads
Since we could travel faster than the Tremere,
the first few chantries we hit were taken by
surprise. Virstania did rituals on us which allowed
us to spread her spell of liberation to others, so
we started by infiltrating the chantries, freeing
the Gargoyles inside, and gutting the places from
within, just like Ceoris. It couldn’t last, of course,
and we were only able to hit a handful before some
Warlock must have gotten a magical message out
to the others - probably that bugger Esoara.
By that point, though, we’d vastly increased our
numbers, and even then some of the arrogant
bastards didn’t pay attention. they must have
thought it was a lie made up to weaken them
by having them destroy their slaves, or they just
thought that their control was too strong for it to
happen to them. Idiots.
Of course, many did listen, and Lord knows
how many of us got executed right then, so they
couldn’t rise up. It’s tragic, but at least it meant
they couldn’t be used against the free ones.
Eventually it got so that it was just Gargoyles
on the one side and Tremere on the other. For
another thirteen years we fought over Europe,
even while the Anarch Revolt was ongoing. They
couldn’t get assistance from the other Clans -
18 Chapter One: A Past Carved in Stone
we actually had help from lots of our Gangrel,
Nosferatu and Tzimisce ‘relatives’ - and so they
were left to fend for themselves.
The Montmartre Pact
The Anarch Revolt ended when the Camarilla
got together, including the Tremere. One of the
conditions for them joining was for them to release
any slaves they still had, give up any claim to the
free ones, and make no more Gargoyles, which
they agreed to in 1489 under the terms of the
Montmartre Pact.
The Ventrue and Toreador and that will say this
was out of concern for the cruelty of slavery and
because we were originally made from Gangrel
and Nosferatu, who they had to get on side (our
Tzimisce heritage being politely brushed over,
of course). In reality, they saw the pasting the
Tremere were getting and didn’t want any of it.
For the Warlocks’ part, handing over the few
slaves you’ve got left after you’ve already murdered
most of them isn’t that big a price to pay, nor is
giving up ownership of rebellious ones. It’s not
as though they really stick to it anyway. Every few
years they trot out a scapegoat who gets ‘caught’
making a Gargoyle or keeping one a slave, but
that’s just to keep up appearances and get rid of
enemies. They’re all at it even tonight, mark my
words - but not for long. But back to the past for
now; we can talk about the present and the future
later.
Centuries of Freedom
By hiding in the Ivory Tower, the Tremere saved
themselves. The Gargoyle Revolt didn’t so much
end as it did peter out, but it was no less a victory
for us. The problem, though, was what to do next.
Many of us returned to Virstania’s cave, having not
seen her in years (or ever), but who still felt a draw
to her. These became known as the Great Mother’s
Flock. Those from chantries further afield tended
to try and make their own way in the world, setting
up Grotesqueries as far afield as Paris, India, the
Urals, and - of course - London.
Us and the Tremere both started picking up
the pieces, like most of the Kindred world. They
returned to Ceoris and Virstania kept a good
eye on them, deciding to leave them alone if
they left her children alone. She became more
obsessed with perfecting us, and right away began
experimenting. She’s there tonight from what little
I’ve heard. Who knows what she’s otten up to in
that time?
The free Gargoyles - the really free ones, not
Virstania’s Flock - spread their wings and took
flight where they pleased. Many of them took up
with the Camarilla, some with the Sabbat, both of
which were just starting to get themselves together.
They both needed spies, scouts, assassins, enforcers
- jobs we were uniquely suited for. We never earned
much in the way of proper rank or respect, but
we were valued. In London and Paris were set up
the first ‘official’, Camarilla-backed Grotesqueries,
employed by the Princes of those cities, and the
practice was taken up by others who had enough
Gargoyles on hand.
Discovering Mimesis
It was around this time that we first started really
noticing Mimesis. Oh, Christ almighty… You know
how after you spend a while in a new haven you
start to look like it, and like each other? It’s that,
and it’s not something all vampires do - if you
choose to call us that. It’s just us. Don’t ask me
about the name, I didn’t come up with it. Seems
fitting anyway. Point is, as we started roosting
together in different Eyries we noticed this
happening. Whether it was more pronounced after
we became free, it’s hard to say. Mimesis became
something to unite us, to set us apart from other
Kindred and give us an identity.
An unusual example were Pygmalion’s
Daughters, an all-women Grotesquerie who
became popular with the Toreador in Italy and
Greece. They toured Elysiums and put on shows,
singing and dancing, posing for portraits, all that
lark - you know how Toreador can be. While I’m
not one to go in for all that, they did put us on
the map, showed the Kindred that we aren’t just
monsters. The Daughters put Mimesis to good use
and developed a way of making it happen faster
by combining a few disciplines, so they could look
different during each show. I’ve not been able to
Clanbook: Gargoyles
do it, but then it probably wouldn’t be much help
in my line of work. And besides, why’d I want to
change this handsome mug?
Ferox
Sadly not all Gargoyles of the time were credits
to our name. You may remember I mentioned
Ferox before. He’s probably older than all of us put
together, and he’s got a history to match. I shan’t
go into all that here, we’d be up well past dawn if
I did. Suffice to say he was first made a ghoul two
thousand years ago before being bandied about
between Clans, which eventually landed him in
Ceoris at the right time. Like the Mother, he’d
seen the abuse of our kind, and took our side even
though he was a Tremere ghoul rather than one
of ours. He might not have been Kindred then,
but his age more than made up for it. Of course, it
also meant that when he was cut off from Warlock
blood, time started catching up with him sharpish.
Since he’d helped us out so much and had
become one of Virstania’s main advisors, he was
given the Embrace both to save him and as a
reward. He didn’t stick with the Mother for long,
tough. Somehow, he remembered one thing after
the Embrace, which was his faith - and nothing
else. Flying off even before the battle outside the
chantry two nights later, taking his sire with him,
he disappeared for decades.
When he came out of hiding, Ferox began some
sort of crusade, killing Kindred left and right.
He had a particular dislike of Nosferatu, calling
them ‘demons’ while we were angels - and him the
lead angel, naturally. From there he’s only gotten
stronger, gathering larger a cult than you might
think, who call themselves the Watchers. They’re
no direct threat to us, of course, but they shit on
our name in society, across all sects.
It’ll only be a matter of time before the other
Clans stop bothering to distinguish us from them
when they retaliate. The fact he’s actively recruiting
us, and that a lot of young Gargoyles are desperate
enough to belong somewhere - anywhere - hardly
helps matters.
19
The First Misbegotten
Any good work produces imitators, and we were
no different. While the Tremere were supposed to
have destroyed all records of the ritual for creating
cast Gargoyles, of course they never quite got
around to finishing that particular job. Must have
been busy, I’ll bet. We watched them like hawks in
case they broke the Montmartre Pact in a big way,
but we weren’t so vigilant when it came to others
who might try the same stuff. We don’t know
how - maybe they tried to hide it and it got found,
maybe it was stolen, maybe the bastards just sold
it - but here and there the ritual got out.
Of course, not being properly trained in
performing it, those outside the Tremere who tried
never quite got it right, or had to change things
to make it work. The results are what we call the
Misbegotten. They’re something I won’t blame you
for not hearing about. If there’s few of us, there’s
even fewer of them.
The earliest culprits we know about were the
Tremere antitribu, who included Goratrix and
Esoara - what a bloody pair - and who split off
from the main Clan in the 1700s. A particular
sect of these split off again, and decided that
the best place to hide from their many enemies
was underwater. They built a chantry under the
Atlantic, and since they needed servants down
there, adapted the creation ritual to produce
Gargoyles suitable for life at sea. They used, and
still do use, Mariner Gangrel and those Nosferatu
and Tzimisce adapted to the water, somehow
combining them with sea creatures.
They have three Castings just like our ancestors,
but they’re even stranger. I’ve only met one
‘Mariner Gargoyle’, and I can’t honestly say it’s an
experience I’d like to repeat. But they do deserve
freedom as much as any of us. They might have
been the first Misbegotten but they definitely
weren’t the last, and if you think it’s bizarre now,
just wait and listen. I’ll get to the others another
time. For now, I get to tell you where I fit in.
20 Chapter One: A Past Carved in Stone
Gargoyles in London
I was Embraced in 1885, or there abouts. The
one who sired me, as I mentioned, was named
Rooker. He found me in the gutter suffering with
the cholera, sure to die, and must have taken pity.
Quite where he came from I never found out, but I
know he was a cast Scout. He introduced me to his
gang, the Sixpence Pinch. You won’t find this out
from asking any of them, but we ran circles around
the Tremere and Ventrue of London. We made
our Eyrie in St Pauls - you know, the cathedral -
and from there we’d set out to cause all sorts of
trouble for the Cammies.
There was six of us: me, Rooker, Moll, Six-of-
One and Half-a-Dozen-of-the-Other (one of them
gave me my nickname, not sure which), and Big
Sally. Couldn’t have asked for better chums, all
told. Rooker was an odd bird, now I think of it.
He never quite got his hands as dirty as ours, but
he didn’t need to, and he appreciated what we did.
He was like our centre, the brains of the outfit.
Moll was a sweet girl, but she was canny; I’ve met
plenty of Toreador and Blue Bloods who couldn’t
hold a candle to her when it came to skullduggery.
Six-of-One and Half-a-Dozen, called that since
they were twins in life and by Embrace and always
looked alike, were the smallest and quickest of
us. If you needed something nicked and a clean
getaway, it was them you went to. Big Sally was
like the mother of the group; if we had a problem
we went to her for advice even before Rooker,
and she’d get involved if we got into a spat, as
happened from time to time.
As for me, I suppose I was the face of our gang.
Not the pleasing face, as you might have guessed -
that was Moll - but the one shown when someone
needed a bit of fear put in them. I knocked around
with the Nossies in the Underground a fair bit,
kept my ear to the ground, that sort of thing. What
we mostly got up to was poking at the Traditions
while getting away with it, and making some
money on the side. We gatecrashed Elysiums,
robbed chantries of their magical guff, and dealt
with interested parties in Gargoyle animals like the
ones I mentioned earlier. Most of those I kept away
from, they were Sally’s area of expertise.
 We even did our part for Blighty. When the
bombers came over London we took to the skies
to defend our Eyrie. We wished we could have
done more for the city, but even we knew the
Masquerade had to be kept. Nonetheless we took
out a decent few Jerry planes, and kept St Pauls
standing strong. The people of London thought
it was a miracle, never suspecting a thing - which
while it helped the Masquerade was a bit of a sore
point for us, since it became painful for us to stay
in any more. You know how some churches are.
No Nazi pilot who saw us got back across the
Channel that night. We were seen in a new light
by the Kindred of London, and even the Warlocks
and Blue Bloods had to smile and applaud and
pretend to approve. They agreed to peace between
us on the condition that we had our own feeding
grounds and weren’t going to be harassed by the
hounds or the sheriff.
What we didn’t know then was that the bombing
had driven the Prince, an unimaginably old Blue
Blood called Mithras, into torpor. The other
Ventrue were in disarray, which was why they were
so allowing with us. They tried to hide it as long
as possible, but we found out in short order, and
once we were sure there wasn’t a three- or four-
thousand-year-old Methuselah to worry about,
we painted the town red like never before. For
decades, the Ventrue and Tremere could only look
on and scowl.
As I said, it wasn’t to last. After St Pauls we got
complacent and lazy. Rooker kept to himself and
looked like he was going to slip into torpor any
night. The rise of surveillance in the city meant we
couldn’t move about anywhere near as freely. We
didn’t realise it at the time, but I now think that
was put in by the Ventrue and Tremere just to put
us on the back foot. Without Mithras - who never
cared for Warlocks, to put it mildly - they were
able to get together and work out a way to get their
own back.
Over the years they forced us to keep moving
our Eyrie until we lost everything we’d gained in
a single night. By the time they moved against
us we’d been mostly forgotten, a curiosity from
the war. They doctored some photos, claimed
Clanbook: Gargoyles
we’d broken the Masquerade, and used that to
justify rooting us out. No one else batted an eye.
Bastards...
No, son, I’m fine. I’ll get through it. I was the
only one who survived that night, and I just flew
away as fast as I could. Rooker told me to, first
thing he’d said in weeks. I wanted to stay, but that
ingrained obedience of ours saved my arse. I got
across the Channel - first time I’d left London,
let alone England - and shacked up with the
Gargoyles in Ironbridge for a month while I licked
my wounds, mourned my losses, and looked at my
options. Eventually I got it in my head to travel to
California, join the Anarch Free State, build up
again, and make the sacrifice of the Sixpence Pinch
mean something. What I found was something far
greater than I could have imagined.
The Rock Lord
I never did get to California. Let me set the
scene. It’s the turn of the millennium, I’m flying
over Arizona, admiring the Grand Canyon, not
really thinking. Suddenly I see something moving,
something not a human and not an animal. I
swoop down to get a closer look, and what do I
see but another Gargoyle, but hunched over and
twisted up, like some sort of goblin. Last thing I
was expecting. He seemed lost and confused, so I
came down to check on him. Thought I might get
myself some welcome company for the journey, get
my Grotesquerie started early.
As I say he was out of it, didn’t seem to
understand what I was saying. Since it was getting
fairly close to dawn and I wasn’t getting much out
of him, I decided we should make our haven in
the canyon, which I managed to shepherd him
towards. I could tell he was no neonate; he had the
biggest set of wings you’ve ever scene, and I could
feel all this power coming off of him. He didn’t
seem to know how to sink into the rock, though,
so I found us a shaded spot and we slept through
the day.
The next night he seemed to have collected
himself, and he started talking. Mostly nonsense
to begin with, lots of it in Spanish. He kept talking
about a mirror and an axe, that I did pick out. I
21
thought he looked a bit peaky so I flew out and
snatched a bighorn for him. It took him a while
to figure out what to do but eventually he sunk
his fangs in and drained it. Now he was stronger,
we had something like a conversation. He spoke
enough English for hand gestures to make up the
difference. He said he’d flown north, from a city.
Something had gone very wrong, his ‘master’ had
had something happen to him, he’d been in a
fight; the mirror and the axe came up again. He
knew he was a Gargoyle, what that meant, but he
seemed to know nothing about us, almost none of
the history I’ve just spent half the night on. He was
curious about me, so I started there and worked it
backwards.
When I mentioned Virstania he perked right up,
started asking me questions, then began telling me
things I’d never heard - about her, about Goratrix,
about Ceoris and the first Gargoyles. Eventually
he remembered his name: Chaundice. Rooker
had told me the legend of the Rock Lord once,
about a Gargoyle called Chaundice who escaped
into the mountains to lead a Grotesquerie of free
Gargoyles. Not a true story, obviously, but the
name was right. I didn’t rightly know what to do
or what to say at this point. What do you say when
you meet the ancestor of your entire people?
Thankfully he did most of the talking from
there. It all seemed to come flooding back. He told
me about fleeing Ceoris, how he’d flown north
and lived mostly alone for he couldn’t tell how
long, occasionally with animals, sometimes with
wandering Gangrel. Eventually he was rediscovered
by Goratrix, his sire, and made a slave again. He
was shocked when I told him how much time
had passed; there seemed to be whole centuries
he couldn’t recall. He’d lived as Goratrix’s slave
all that time, first in Europe, then travelling the
world, then in America and Mexico, where he’d
been before wandering to the Grand Canyon.
Something, he didn’t understand what, had
happened to Goratrix, something involving a
mirror. Whatever it was had freed Chaundice from
his control. During his escape he fought another
vampire, a Warlock wielding a battleaxe. From
what I’ve since heard from other elder Gargoyles,
22 Chapter One: A Past Carved in Stone
this was almost certainly Esoara. Like he’d done
with Brunavog almost a thousand years earlier,
he batted him aside in order to get out, though
he didn’t think he’d killed him. His mind in a
blur, he sometimes flew, sometimes walked north,
repeating his escape from Ceoris. If I hadn’t
have found him when I did he’d have starved to
unconsciousness, and been left for the sun.
Chaundice’s Awakening
I got around to asking him about him not being
able to enter the stone, and he had no idea what
I was on about. I showed him Visceratika, and
he immediately asked me - almost ordered me -
to teach him. So I did. He took to it completely
naturally, like he’d been made to use it. Thanks to
yours truly, plus this natural ability, he was able to
spend the next day resting in the stone.
The next night was another story again. He
spoke calmly and confidently, where before he’d
seemed lost and unsure. He moved with this grace,
this controlled power, and looked every inch the
Rock Lord in the legend, no longer hunched over
and mutated. He said he’d had strange dreams
of a spirit of the canyon calling out to him, as he
put it. The spirit, which is called Massaw in local
Native legend, had somehow made him what he
was before Goratrix Embraced him. Put simply, he
wasn’t a vampire any more.
The next fifteen years were the strangest of my
life. From the moment he emerged, he had this
grand vision in mind: a Rock Court unlike any
other, including not just Gargoyles but all pure
creatures connected to the stone. As time passed,
I flew to nearby cities contacting Gargoyles and
telling them about this place. Not all of them came
at first, but over time it grew in power, and we
started receiving guests I’d never even heard of, let
alone invited. I even saw Lupines - which prefer to
be called garou, apparently - and some sort of rock
spirits in attendance.
As you might have guessed by now, I’ve come
from there to speak to you about joining. I’m sure
you’re full of questions from what I’ve told you,
and I can answer them in time, but first let me say
this: You don’t need to live like slaves any more.
 Chaundice’s Children
Ch’iung Chi: After fleeing during the First Revolt, Chi simply flew east as far as his wings could
carry him. He founded the Petrified Sanctum within Tianmu Mountain, allowing kine monks to
practice geomancy in a nearby temple. His Grotesquerie grew and expanded into the mountain, and
the catacombs beneath. In recent times he has made contact with Chaundice, becoming his figure
head in the east. He and his childer are hunted by the Tremere Thomas Wyncham, Inner Councilor
of the Far East.
Ana:- The Standing Stones took Ana east, guarding her within the forest and wild lands of central
Europe. After a short few decades they began a crusade against Tremere oppression. After her
mutation at the hands of Tremere experimentation, Ana took a stronger approach to liberating her
race, becoming a form of folk legend amongst European chantries. Tonight she relays information to
chaundice about potential Gargoyle subjugation and strives to battle slavery of all forms.
Saxim: Saxim was quickly recaptured by Etrius following his escape, which the Warlock noted to
himself (but admitted to no one else) was surprisingly easy to do - almost as though the Gargoyle
wanted to be found and reclaimed. He was publicly admonished at Ceoris before being sent to
Vienna, where he became the personal servant of Lotharius, Etrius’ childe. Etrius would join him
several centuries - later along with the torpid body of Tremere himself - to take over as Regent of
Vienna and Pontifex of Austria, narrowly avoiding the impending Revolt. To this very night he
exists in wretched servitude, watching over the founder’s twisted form, the very embodiment of the
Gargoyle drive towards service to others. Like his Mother, all but a small handful of individuals
- including Chaundice and his siblings - have quite forgotten his existence until recently, when
startlingly accurate but impossible to confirm rumours began to appear. Quite who or what is the
source of these whispers is unknown, and a cause of great interest to some (primarily Chaundice and
Ana) and grave concern to others (especially Etrius).
Ublo-Satha: Following the First Revolt, Ublo-satha was kept on as a well-treated slave for her loyalty
and her value; unlike many of the cast Gargoyles who followed her, she was highly intelligent and
capable of independent thought, though she never dreamed of betraying the Clan. Eventually she
was given to the Tremere called Grimgroth, as a reward for his betrayal of the Hermetic chantry
of Mistridge, resulting in its complete destruction. After centuries under Grimgroth’s service, she
suggested she be sent to Chicago when she overheard her master discussing the suspect loyalties
of Nicolai, the Regent there; the story put about among the Tremere of Chicago was that she was
there to provide extra security in the wake of a Lupine attack on the chantry. In coordination with
Meerlinda, the Councillor of North America, he had her transferred. In truth, neither Grimgroth
nor Meerlinda knew the true reason for her suggestion (see page 124).
Alvusia: Once the Mother had escaped the final battle of Ceoris, she had a contingent of her
closest acolytes place Alvusia into a state of torpor. She awoke in exactly the same conditions she had
found herself in following her siblings’ escape attempt - a perpetual cycle of pregnancy, birth, and
impregnation. On a yearly basis from the early 1500s she has had new foetal Gargoyles Gestating
inside her womb, a process which continues to this night.

Clanbook: Gargoyles 23
 Chapter Two:
Freedom and
Dependence
A Grotesque Culture
When most Kindred think of Gargoyles
(assuming they know of and believe in their
existence at all), they think of dull monsters
entirely disconnected from humanity. These
stereotypes are popularised by Tremere to cast
their former slaves in the roles of boogeymen. This
is aided by the fact that Gargoyles are typically
submissive and evasive around Kindred, even
exclusively sticking to their Eyries rather than
making havens in common grounds as other
Kindred might.
These ideas form a cold, stony facade, which
hides the warmth and vibrancy to be found within
Gargoyle culture. Gargoyles measure their worth
and status based on numerous factors within a
Grotesquerie (a family of Gargoyles within a city
similar to a Coterie, though often larger). From
birth, status, political view, age, and generation
(not to mention the size and appearance of wings),
Gargoyles have developed quite intricate systems of
interaction and social bonding.
Gargoyles by Birth
Creating a Gargoyle is an involved and
multifaceted practice which is shrouded in mystery.
Some vampires still tell tales of a Gargoyle ‘brood
24 Chapter Two: Freedom and Dependence
mare’ nestled deep within a mountain, atop a
clutch of obsidian eggs. While there is some truth
in each myth, the commonly accepted means of
making a Gargoyle are by Embrace or birth.
In the beginning, Gargoyles were only created
by one ritual devised while Virstania was still a
mortal witch, known as ‘At Our Command It
Breathes’ (see Rites of the Blood, page 106). After
her Embrace, she continued to refine it, making
variations with which to ‘cast’ specific Gargoyles
built for specific duties. Gradually these cast
Gargoyles evolved to facilitate the Embrace, where
earlier on they had all been infertile. The number
of Embraced Gargoyles soon outweighed their
more submissive cast kin, and so a bloodline was
born.
Embraced
The Embrace of a Gargoyle is simultaneously
a starkly beautiful event and a deeply disturbing
horror. Gargoyle vitae is thicker and more abrasive
than that of most Kindred. Where other vampires,
especially Toreador, may have blood that feels
like silk as it creeps through the fledgling’s veins,
a Gargoyle’s feels like mortar. To make matters
worse, the Kiss of a Gargoyle comes at a naturally
higher risk than others since many have large tusks
in place of fangs. As the vitae settles in his flesh,
the fledgling quickly feels the petrification that
comes from Construct blood, rigor mortis setting
in before he even gets to die.
Gargoyle childer relate that before they reawaken
their minds are flooded with screams and visions
of sensations they will never feel again, like a
beautiful sunset or the warmth of a kiss. The
transformation from human to vampire is an even
harder ordeal than usual, as they won’t be free
to move until after their first night is through.
Instead, they are frozen in place to feel their flesh
gradually contort and toughen into a thick layer of
stone.
If the childe is lucky this will be all he faces, but
the day after is likely worse. As he sleeps, his body
twists into whichever shape it will. On his second
night his bones and tendons stretch to fit his
eternal physique. His spine shatters and reforms,
and his limbs elongate as the vitae swells within
his very marrow. Finally, all organs aside from
the heart petrify into stone shards only vaguely
reminiscent of the organs they once were. These
shards are then expelled by the quickest possible
means, whether falling from orifices or painfully
piercing the flesh.
As joints regain their malleability and limbs
become flexible once more, the fledgling finally
feels the first twitches of his inhuman wings,
marking him as a child of stone.
Cast
A purer form of Gargoyle comes from the
birthing chambers as a product of At Our
Command It Breathes. Despite the involved and
time-consuming nature of this method, not to
mention its grotesque and revolting reputation,
many Gargoyle shamans (see page 31) still
remember the procedure and see it as the most
divine transition.
Firstly, Kindred specimens must be selected from
those collected by assistants; only the strongest
and most powerful will survive the transition. The
specimens selected must be from at least two Clans
who share some degree of physical malleability -
Nosferatu, Gangrel and Tzimisce. Their bodies
must be scribed with ritualistic symbols after each
Clanbook: Gargoyles
portion has been thoroughly analyzed. Various
fluids, including blood, are extracted from the
victims’ bodies while crystals are used to measure
the quantities of magical essence flowing through
them. After this analysis, the thaumaturge will
write up alchemical charts and diagrams outlining
the most appropriate course of dismemberment.
Next, the victims (on the brink of starvation
following the draining process) are placed atop
operating tables by assistants and have every part
of their bodies weighed and measured with all
sorts of arcane and highly invasive instruments.
They are then smeared with a thick mixture of
ash, clay, and the thaumaturge’s blood to inscribe
specific incision markings and preservation
methods for each segment. During the testing
period the specimens are fed tiny doses of the
thaumaturge’s specially-treated blood, linking the
two as ‘sire’ and ‘childe’. After at least a month of
this testing, measuring, and preparation (though
often much longer), the assistants begin severing
each designated portion of the specimen’s bodies
and carve them off, separating them into useful
and unneeded.
The specimens are not allowed the gift of torpor
at any point during these trials, as to disrupt
the emotional humours within them in this way
may result in a stillborn or non-viable Gargoyle.
When the Kindred’s bodies are reduced to
their constituent parts, they are each preserved
in some particular way, be that encrusted with
salt and quartz powders, immersed in a smog of
alchemical smoke, or bathed in balms of honey
and oil. After a long period of treatment, the
duration and nature of which is determined by
the thaumaturge’s own previous examination, the
pieces are ready to be reconstituted.
Once the months of preservation have passed,
the pieces are realigned and bound with rough
twine to loosely resemble a humanoid shape, then
placed inside a gestation cask or sac. If a cask is
used, the lid will be sealed by copious amounts of
wax with a small pipe to feed ingredients through
over the gestation period. If a sac is used, a cow’s
hide is stretched to cover the specimen and sewn
up, forming a foetal ‘package’, which is promptly
25
placed inside the abdominal cavity of a womb-
bearer. The womb-bearer screams and begs for
death, but at the samr time is proud to bare the
Gargoyle infant to term. Once this agonising
ordeal is over, the Gargoyle claws through the wax
of the chamber or the wall of the birth canal.
Misbegotten
Not all Gargoyles are made equal. Those
relatively young creatures created by thieves of
Virstania’s work live in the shadows of not only
Kindred society, but the society of Gargoyles
themselves. These ‘Misbegotten’ vary across the
world depending on the Clans or bloodlines
used to create them. Followers of Set are buried
in gestation sarcophagi to form living idols called
Gorgons, Mariner Gargoyles are cast in the wombs
of whales to mutate in the isolated void of the
deep ocean, Samedi are vivisected and heaved
into a flooded sinkhole to become Calacas, and
in recent times even some Kindred of Africa
have been forced to undergo the punishment
of petrification. On the rare occasion that a
Misbegotten reaches a free Grotesquerie, it is
unusual for them to be rejected (though they are
unlikely to be truly loved).
Gargoyles by Status
Surprising to most Kindred is the fact that
status means as much to Gargoyles as it does
to Ventrue, Toreador, or Brujah. After all, the
bloodline as a whole went from being nothing in
the eyes of vampiric society to having a distinct
identity, leading many to wish to develop their
independence further. Within a Grotesquerie,
a loose but complex social order is maintained,
based around ideals of mutual freedom and
individual rights.
Most are directed by four distinguished
individuals: the Rock Lord (or Lady), and the
three ‘Moulds’ (named so since they are supposed
to serve as paragons of each Casting, though they
may be cast or Embraced). A Grotesquerie elects
these representatives as a community, with every
member having a vote and an equal say.
26 Chapter Two: Freedom and Dependence
The Enslaved
Little is left to be said about enslaved Gargoyles
that isn’t common knowledge. Within this
category consist two mindsets that most Gargoyles
wish never to fall into; the currently subservient
Rockheads and those who actively chose to stay by
their masters’ side after the Revolt. The currently
enslaved Gargoyles know nothing of freedom and
more than likely know nothing of the Revolt or
our salvation. The discovery and liberation of
these individuals is what many Gargoyles strive
for nightly. Those who are granted freedom by
Chaundice only to turn their back on his ways and
return to their masters are not considered true
Gargoyles, but merely obstacles to remove on the
path to freedom.
The Free
During the 20-year Revolt, Virstania traveled
to chantries across Europe, freeing her children
and returning them to her Carpathian Eyrie to
be free with their siblings. During this time many
Gargoyles sought their own form of independence
by breaking off from the Flock and created their
own Grotesqueries.
As a rule, free Gargoyles are confident and
caring for one another, always looking out for
their own and seeking more ways to liberate
the downtrodden. They have made numerous
allegiances with anarchs in the New World and
erect community Havens wherever they settle for
themselves and any kindred seeking salvation.
Increasing numbers of free Gargoyles walk the
Path of Freedom (see page 45). Some settle with
Humanity or take up the Paths of the Feral Heart
or Honourable Accord.
Gargoyles by Sect
On the whole Gargoyles don’t care much
about Kindred society in the way that Ventrue,
Brujah, Toreador or Tremere do. They will pay
their local Kindred authorities any due respect
as is customary, but more often than not keep to
a solitary Eyrie. Within the bloodline, however,
there are two minor ‘Sects’ - one very old, one
virtually new - which lead to schisms in an
otherwise strong family.
 These schisms have arisen due to the dispute
over the bloodline’s true progenitor and leader.
Virstania, the Great Mother, has traditionally
been seen as the creator and rightful mistress of
those that fled during her Revolt. Chaundice,
on the other hand, is now seen by many
independent Gargoyles as their true sire, akin to
an Antediluvian in some regards.
Chaundice’s unexpected discovery in the
Arizona desert sent a wave of renewal and self-
realization through the Grotesque world, with
many Grotesqueries instinctively heading to the
Grand Canyon to meet the Rock Lord in his new
Court.
The Great Mother’s Flock
The Gargoyles who still live with Virstania,
collectively known as the Great Mother’s Flock, are
outnumbered now by those Constructs who see
domination by their Mother as much the same as
any other kind. Nonetheless, a number of autarkis
Eyries still follow the rule of the Great Mother.
Their main goals are to indoctrinate (or
‘enlighten’) Gargoyles to Virstania’s love and breed
their race to its fullest potential. They abduct
(‘rescue’) young Gargoyles and pass them along
secret networks of Eyries stretching back all the way
to Virstania’s own in the caves near old Ceoris.
To the Flock, the Camarilla, Sabbat, anarchs,
and various other vampiric communities are
meaningless roadblocks to their aims of elevating
their Mother and themselves to new heights of
power. Many branches of the Flock will create
Gargoyles by themselves to bolster their numbers
and share the Mother’s boundless love with ever
more children.
The main enemy of Gargoyles committed to
their own freedom, the Great Mothe’s Flock is
known and feared as a dangerous and shadowy
force that seeks to undermine their hard-earned
independence. It is a struggle made yet more
difficult by the fact that many Gargoyles, despite
what they may know of Virstania and her slaves,
feel an instinctive and childlike admiration for
her; it is this that often causes them to fall into the
Flock’s clutches, no kidnapping being necessary.
Clanbook: Gargoyles
Chaundice’s Children
Kindred could be excused for seeing no
difference between Chaundice’s Children (or,
more commonly, ‘Chaundicians’) and unaffiliated
Gargoyle anarchs. In truth, the majority of free
Gargoyles are not strongly opposed to rule by age,
as they see that personal wisdom and strength
come from age - qualities they value highly in their
leaders as figures to be looked up to and emulated.
They also don’t believe in dissolving power
structures as long as those structures aren’t built
around imposed (and thus illegitimate) authority.
All this said, more of Chaundice’s Children (an
organisation that crosses Sects and sees much
ideological diversity) are found among the Anarch
Movement than in either of the major Sects, as the
objectives of the two groups often align.
Gargoyles who fall into this ‘Sect’ keep free
Grotesqueries with a devotion to releasing any
subjugated Kindred (primarily other Gargoyles)
and following the example of their progenitor and
messiah Chaundice, the first and greatest Rock
Lord. Very few of Chaundice’s Children follow
paths other than that of the Path of Freedom;
they believe that they can become as powerful and
perfect as Chaundice himself if they follow his
Path.
The Watchers
The place on the Red List of the ancient
Gargoyle known as Ferox is possibly the biggest
obstacle holding Gargoyles back from earning
legitimate respect in the Camarilla. A mass
murderer of Kindred and especially Nosferatu, he
is convinced that Gargoyles are embodied angels,
and that all other vampires are demons incarnate.
The Gargoyle cult which has formed around
him, which go by the name Grigori (meaning
‘Watchers’), prosecute a bloody crusade against the
Kindred world, and are a particular threat to Clan
Nosferatu. Many of them have True Faith - Ferox’s
own is reputed to exceed that of many of the most
pious inquisitors - and they often point the Society
of Leopold in the direction of other vampires.
When it comes to their fellow Gargoyles,
meanwhile, the Watchers actively attempt to
27
 Free Forms Radio
‘Ride the Airways to Freedom!’
In 2013, Chaundice approved of a more modern method of contacting young Gargoyles stranded
across the world. Broadcast from high up within the Canyon, Free Forms Radio appears to the
unsuspecting ears of kine and most Kindred to be simply a poor-quality pirate radio station with no
clear purpose. To frightened and isolated Gargoyles, however, its presenters quite blatantly litter their
broadcast with hidden references to the Gargoyle condition, the potential for freedom, Chaundice,
and the Grand Rock Court itself.
Free Forms Radio is hosted by two charismatic Gargoyle presenters, Sean and Samantha, aided
by their various Nosferatu and ghoul technicians. Commonly-played tracks during music segments,
hosted by Samantha, include: ‘Come Fly With Me’, ‘I Believe I Can Fly’, ‘Free Bird’, ‘Made of Stone’,
‘Heart of Stone’, ‘Steppin’ Stone’, ‘Poor Slave’, ‘You Don’t Own Me’, and ‘Happiness in Slavery’.
Sean also makes as many off the cuff comments as possible, usually about ‘letting go of ancient
constructs in society’, ‘the downtrodden having to spread their wings’, and ‘how free the Grand
Canyon makes you feel’. All the while referring to their viewers almost exclusively as ‘You Rockheads
out there’.

convert and recruit, which they have only become
more successful at. The powerful message of
the Watchers carries much that appeals to the
Gargoyle mindset: the elevation from the bottom
wrung to the highest level of creation, a place to
belong, a cause to follow - and the possibility of
transcendence.
The Watchers are ruled by a council of seven
fanatical Gargoyles with Ferox as its head. These
are mostly very old Gargoyles, many veterans of
the Revolt. Ferox’s own sire, Rocia, stands at his
side, having converted to his religious worldview
shortly after Embracing him. That Ferox has been
a vampire for less time than most of his council
is no obstacle for the Watchers, since they follow
him out of worship and religious devotion. They
identify themselves as the seven angels who will
break the seals in the final nights and bring on a
glorious, world-purifying Gehenna.
Anarchs
In contradiction to the autarkis way, the Anarch
Movement attracts a great many gargoyles to it,
for obvious reasons. Many Gargoyles freed from
chantries across Europe heard of the Anarch
Revolt occurring at the same time as their own
rebellion, and not only approved but joined in.
These Gargoyles blended their own campaign with
that of the anarchs quite naturally, though few
joined the Sabbat once the Revolts had concluded.
When the Second Anarch Revolt came about at
the tail-end of WWII, a number of Gargoyles did
more than their fair share of fighting, and became
major contenders in Jeremy MacNeil’s new Free
States. Though the brief glory of that time is now
long past, no small number of Gargoyles (most of
them now ancillae) look back fondly on the short-
lived revolution in California.
Whether they care about anarch beliefs or
simply want to fight and rock the foundations of
power structures across the world is down to each
individual, but no group of anarchs would be blind
enough to turn down the help of a capable and
deadly Grotesque. Since Chaundice’s discovery
became widely known, the focus of Gargoyle
anarchs has shifted dramatically towards furthering
the cause of Chaundice’s Children, due to which
the number of Gargoyles in the Movement has
increased several times over in just fifteen years.

28 Chapter Two: Freedom and Dependence

Autarkis
Independent Gargoyles not associated with
the Sects or the three major Gargoyle factions are
very rare, and include the highest proportion of
wight-turned Grotesques. Many of these lonely
Constructs simply let themselves fall into a bestial
mindset, surrounding themselves with animals for
company and sustenance.
Camarilla
After the signing of the Montmartre Pact and
Convention of Thorns, Gargoyles have (officially,
at least) been openly accepted by the Camarilla,
though they have received little else from the
Ivory Tower. They do not gain the Primogen
representation many feel they deserve, and are
rarely granted the wide-ranging domains these
creatures need in order to truly stretch their wings.
Aside from this second-class status and (at best)
cold relations with Clan Tremere, unlife inside the
Camarilla can be relatively kind to more desperate
Gargoyles, with limited risk presented to their own
safety. Camarilla Gargoyles generally exist in a state
of relative comfort, though not much esteem.
One of the most popular positions for a
Gargoyle active in a Camarilla domain, aside from
Scourge, is that of a political activist with the aim
of achieving more extensive Gargoyle rights. Some
take this activism further by petitioning their
Gargoyle Archons & Alastors
With a potential combination of
Disciplines including Auspex, Visceratika, Flight,
and Protean, Gargoyles are some of the undead
world’s greatest trackers and hunters, making
them useful Archons (or at least assistants to
Archons) - not to mention expendable Alastors
(see Dread Names, Red List).
Though it is kept a close secret (mostly due
to Tremere influence and the apathy towards on
the matter on the part of other Clans), several
elder Gargoyles are kept on permanent retainer
for Blood Hunts and Anathema sightings.
Clanbook: Gargoyles
Prince for a Primogen member to represent the
rights of all bloodline members. So far only a small
handful of Princes have deigned to even formally
consider such requests, and fewer still have acted
on them.
Sabbat
Very few Gargoyles willingly align themselves
with the Sabbat as they will more often than
not be dominated by a member of the Tremere
antitribu, who couldn’t give a shit for any pact
made centuries ago by self-important elders.
At best, they can expect to receive abuse and
mistreatment by ignorant shovelheads and Cainite
purists alike - at least until they respond with
violence, as often happens.
Some, however, actively seek out the Sabbat
as a means to regain their dominators. A life
of domination, no matter how inhumane, is
preferable in the eyes of any Gargoyle over eternal
isolation - a sentiment which Sabbat elders are all
too ready to take advantage of.
Black Hand
Gargoyles, like most bloodlines, are not
acknowledged by the Black Hand despite their
obvious combat and reconnaissance applications.
This has caused a lot of resentment among Sabbat
Constructs, many of whom would like nothing
more than to prove themselves to the Sword of
Caine by joining its elite assassins.
Inquisition
Those Gargoyles that do try to make it in the
Sabbat can do so with great success. Being a
bloodline suited to dedication and the endurance
of hardship, they adapt better than most to the
focus of a military mindset, and can stand up to
the worst inhuman foe. A former Ceoris Gargoyle
is likely to seek membership in the Inquisition
(which unlike the Black Hand has no qualms
about admitting so-called ‘impure’ Cainites) due to
its mandate to stamp out infernalism.
When Etrius opened a gate to Hell in the
dungeons of Ceoris to harness its infernal powers,
swathes of Gargoyles were sent to hold off the
demons that poured forth while Etrius magically
29
sealed the area. Those few that survived returned
traumatized, inspired with a devotion to keeping
Hell sealed which they have passed down to their
childer. A tiny handful of Gargoyles aligned to
the fanatically anti-infernal Ferox are found in the
Inquisition, but they are very closely monitored
by Nosferatu antitribu, and find their genocidal
intentions curbed at every turn.
Eyries and Grotesqueries
Home and hearth are central concerns to the
majority of Gargoyles. They need somewhere to
belong, valuing highly the strength of a family
and the structure of a domain to call their own. A
Gargoyle naturally seeks out a group unless he has
been traumatised by past experiences to the point
where a life in solitude seems the safest. Most
Gargoyles choose to set up roost in an abandoned
building or cave system, as they are the most secure
locations made mostly of stone. This new home
becomes their Eyrie and the family of Gargoyles
living within forms their Grotesquerie.
This leadership structure is derived from
Virstania and her three apprentices and still
survives to this night. Despite the general lack of
cast Gargoyles in free Grotesqueries, individuals
are still be identified as possessing qualities worthy
of each Mould. Free Grotesqueries have retained
these titles as a mockery of the old ways; by placing
an Embraced Gargoyle in one of these positions,
they defy the archaic social construct of cast
Gargoyles being bound to their station.
In the modern nights, the phrase ‘breaking the
Mould’ is used to refer to a younger Gargoyle
challenging the Mould he serves under. More
often than not, the Mould serves his Grotesquerie
almost permanently. Occasionally an up-and-
coming soldier defeats a faltering Warrior Mould
in single combat, or a Shaman devises a ritual
so groundbreaking that the Grotesquerie must
acknowledge that he has exceeded the Scout
Mould’s expertise and place him in the position
instead.
Grotesqueries maintain customs and rituals
designed to keep them as close as possible. At Our
Command It Breathes is still culturally prominent,
30 Chapter Two: Freedom and Dependence
though only privately practised in many Eyries
using the bodies of Gangrel, Nosferatu, and
Tzimisce who have breached the Traditions,
the Code of Milan, or other appropriate body
of vampiric law (depending on which Sect the
Grotesquerie belongs to, if any). Gargoyles are
noted for frequently petitioning for custody of
such criminals, especially diablerists (since their
usually lowered Generation can produce more
powerful Gargoyles).
Common activities in a Grotesquerie include
cave painting, carving, group combat (both
practice and play fighting), and patrols, all of
which serve to promote group cohesion. Among
Sabbat Grotesqueries, the ritae are naturally co-
opted for this purpose; Grotesquerie-packs often
have especially idiosyncratic Ignobilis Ritae.
Most Gargoyle Grotesqueries think of themselves
as families, and claim an almost tribal connection
with their fellow Grotesquerie members. Often,
if there is more than one Grotesque living in easy
flying distance (rarely are Grotesqueries found
any closer together), they have frequent meetings
and exchanges, some even swapping members in
mock marriage ceremonies to gain the strength of
a union between Grotesqueries. The vast majority
of other Kindred, caring little for the affairs of
Gargoyles, would be taken aback to discover the
secret networks of inter-Grotesquerie politics
playing out quite literally above their heads.
The Rock Lord or Lady
The leader of a Grotesquerie is called the Rock
Lord (an honorific dating back to the first nights
of the bloodline; tonight, Rock Lady is also used).
The Rock Lord serves as the overall decision maker
for the Grotesquerie, presides over regularly-held
‘Rock Courts’ (where members of a Grotesquerie
can bring forward grievances to be resolved and
important matters to discuss), gives audience to
outside visitors, and is the first in line to defend
his Eyrie.
It is emphasised at all times that the Rock Lord
serves the Grotesquerie, and not the other way
around. For instance, he is usually obligated to
feed last, after all others in his charge are sated
(unless he is hungry to the point of risking frenzy,
of course).
A typical Rock Lord will possess great strength
and cunning, and will usually have the greatest
control over Visceratika and Flight within the
Grotesquerie as well. Naturally, a corrupt few use
this to dominate and abuse those under their
charge, but as a whole Gargoyles on the Path
of Freedom (see page 46) are quick to depose
unworthy leadership.
The Scout Mould
Any Construct who demonstrates sufficient
skill in stealth, deception, and espionage can
become the Scout Mould of his Grotesquerie. As
masters of magic and intrigue, these leaders often
learn Thaumaturgy over common disciplines. To
a Scout, the secrets of Kindred politics and of
blood sorcery are equivalent, and he must know
everything there is to know about everything.
The typical Scout Mould is highly intelligent
and familiar with a vast multitude of Thaumaturgy
paths and rituals, as well as Humours - special
rituals conducted only by the Gargoyle bloodline.
Hwe Subterfuge, Stealth, Occult, Politics and
Academics ratings will be not only above those of
they who share his Eyrie, but will surpass those of
most other Kindred in a given domain.
Shamans
During their confinement within Ceoris,
Virstania kept her own select group of Gargoyle
apprentices. She trained these Gargoyles in the arts
Clanbook: Gargoyles
of Thaumaturgy (even rituals of his own devising)
as if they were acolytes of his own Clan. In the
modern nights, some free Gargoyles continue
to uphold this tradition, serving as shamans
of a Grotesquerie. These shamans are strange
in appearance and eerie to be around, having
extensively warped their bodies and minds with
blood magic. They care for the Eyrie in their
own twisted way, often performing rituals and
experiments in seclusion.
Spies
Not all Gargoyles who choose to swear
themselves to the service of the Scout Mould
wish to follow an unlife of isolated magical study
and experimentation, rather seeing infiltration
and investigation as the tasks they are best suited
towards. They might keep tabs on the local
Camarilla or Sabbat (or both) groups for the
sake of the Grotesquerie’s security, audaciously
steal arcane knowledge from nearby Tremere
chantries or even assassinate the enemies of their
Grotesquerie or its allies.
The Sentinel Mould
The overall defender of a Grotesquerie on
both the individual and structural level, the
Sentinel Mould is responsible for the welfare of
all Gargoyles under her protection. No Sentinel
Mould leaves the Eyrie for significant periods of
time, avoiding conflict or political engagement in
lieu of tending her Eyrie and her ‘children’.
A successful Sentinel Mould possesses strong
Social Attributes as she keeps the peace between
the violent Warriors and egotistic Scouts, not to
mention indomitable Stamina for when that peace
collapses. Their ratings in Athletics, Alertness,
and Brawl are matched only by their Performance,
Animal and Gargoyle Ken (see page 114), and
Empathy. Sentinel Moulds often have strong levels
of Visceratika as a matter of course, as well as
(unusually for Gargoyle-kind) notably high levels of
Presence. The combination Discipline Ambience
(see page 92) is a powerful tool in the Sentinel
Mould’s arsenal for maintaining internal harmony
and security.
31
Gargoyle Animals
Once a Grotesquerie has ghouled a specific
animal for long enough and wish to bring it more
fully into their family, they may undertake a ritual
Embrace. They are fed a mixture of components
for a week in place of Gargoyle vitae and then
drained of their blood, after which the Embrace
is performed as it would be on a human. The
resulting half-living, half-dead animal is considered
a Gargoyle creature and takes its place alongside its
Kindred family for eternity.
Gargoyle Monstrosities
Mindless Gargoyles created from a mixture of
human and animal ‘parents’ can still be made
tonight by those few Eyries equipped (and willing)
to do so. They require a vast array of ingredients
and equipment, not to mention a Gargoyle
endowed with a womb for gestation. Non-Kindred
beings are put through Gestation (or similar
procedures) become childlike and horrendously
mutated, but are kept by a loving Sentinel Mould
all the same.
Ghouls
Ghouls are a much-loved feature of any
Grotesquerie. Often ‘adopted’ at incredibly young
ages (as young as six in some instances), they bring
fresh life into a dusty Eyrie. Ghouls are usually
raised as a Sentinel’s own biological children and
taught all manner of Kindred lore, including
the Gargoyles’ fragmented history and the use of
Disciplines. Since Gargoyle ghouls are denied the
immortality of regular ghouls due to the mutations
they manifest as the decades and centuries pass, if
a Grotesquerie chooses to ‘adopt’ a child into their
Eyrie it will almost certainly receive the Embrace at
some point later in its life.
Guards
The final jurisdiction of a Sentinel Mould are
the guards, whether they be Sentinel-cast Gargoyles
or simply Embraced ones with a firm grasp of
and commitment to maintaining the security
and welfare of the Grotesquerie. Only Gargoyles
with compassion and rigid willpower will become
guards, some focusing on the fortification of
32 Chapter Two: Freedom and Dependence
their Eyrie against invading foes and some on the
rearing of infants.
The Warrior Mould
A Warrior Mould is the greatest combatant
within the Grotesquerie, a master of the battles
both outside the Eyrie and within his own heart.
He keeps the Grotesquerie in a state of permanent
war-preparedness, by drilling fledglings in useful
Disciplines, ensuring that hunts take place
regularly, and providing moral guidance, typically
on the Path of Freedom, so that Gargoyles do not
fall prey to their Beasts and compromise security.
The Warrior Mould takes on the role of somthing
like a drill sergeant, keeping his soldiers prepared
in mind, body, and soul, and will be the first to kill
or be killed in the Eyrie’s defence.
Warrior Moulds undoubtedly excel in Physical
Attributes, with terrifying Strength and Dexterity
(more often than not complemented by Celerity
and Potence). They bolster their naturally-high
Brawl with Athletics and Intimidation.
A Warrior Mould’s pride is exposed when
teaching his soldiers aerial combat, a tactic
mastered only by the Gargoyle bloodline. Many
elder Tzimisce claim that the Chiropteran
Marauder (see V20, pp. 242-243) is as effective
in aerial combat as any Gargoyle can be, but this
claim is immediately disproven when a fleet of
Gargoyle Warriors devastate and scatter advancing
forces in a single coordinated swoop.
Soldiers
Gargoyles find martial prowess to be almost
second nature to them. With their Fortitude,
Flight, and Potence, they become a true force
to be reckoned with. Many Constructs choose
to channel their rage and raw power into useful
channels, hunting for food for their Grotesquerie,
and killing off any encroaching Kindred, kine, or
even Lupine threats.
Teachers
Gargoyles with a more introspective outlook on
their conditions focus their military training and
discipline on caging their Beasts and maintaining
a clear picture of the goals and ambitions for
themselves and their Grotesquerie mates to
follow. These teachers direct their efforts towards
educating their kin in Discipline use and guiding
them along their Paths on a nightly basis.
Notable Eyries
Many Grotesqueries are formed throughout
the world by free Gargoyles that are dedicated to
only allowing members the Gargoyle ‘Clan’ to
reside within their Eyrie. These Eyries, the true
strongholds of the bloodline, are found the world
over, but most are quite limited in influence
simply due to the small number of Gargoyles living
within them. Some, however, manage to make a
significant footing in the vampiric world to the
point where they are acknowledged by most Sects,
even if only as worthwhile targets. Outlined below
are several Eyries of interest.
Ceoris
Deep within the foreboding woodlands on the
Carpathian slopes rest the barest trace of forgotten
stone ruins, hidden by the shade of a bloated oak
tree and yet undiscovered by mortals. Beneath
these ruins weave an extensive system of catacombs
- some a few decades old, some centuries more
ancient. This network is home to Virstania’s ‘free’
brood, the Flock, and their unending spawn.
The palce is replete with innumerable alchemical
laboratories and libraries holding untold tomes
of formulae and Tremere lore, and at its heart
rests a vast mausoleum housing Virstania herself,
whiling away her torpor within a stone casket.
This monument to Gargoyle kind has become
like a factory, churning out malformed, cretinous
versions of Virstania’s original creations, a process
overseen by her paragons - Luma, Fidus, and
Saxum.
Saxum, by tradition titled Master of Slaves,
enforces the rule that no one but the three of them
are allowed into Virstania’s personal bedchamber,
and that no non-Gargoyle is to walk within a mile
of their fortress. He keeps a tight regime of patrol
and guard duties over all the Flock’s Sentinels.
Luma and her Warriors bring raw materials to
the chantry for Fidus to process in his alchemical
experiments. Whether they be a foxglove root or
Clanbook: Gargoyles
a methuselah Gangrel, they venture out into the
world under her leadership to harvest anything
deemed worthy of use. In complete disregard
of any Masquerade, she also orders them to
dominate local populations of rural kine, who
serve as Embracing stock for their enslaved
Gangrel, Nosferatu and Tzimisce ‘breeders’. Her
influence also stretches across and beyond the
Western world, as the Flock hunt free Gargoyles to
rehabilitate into the Ceoris Grotesquerie.
Fidus has spent the centuries since the Revolt
working tirelessly at mastering each and every
element of blood magic he and his Mother
have access to, and puts them into practice by
furthering his Mother’s own programme of
creation and refinement. A new Gargoyle is cast
per week, with the ritual slightly adjusted each
time by his own clawed hand. He and his many
Scout-cast Gargoyles keep watch of the gestation
chambers and continue to refine the creation
process, bit by tiny bit.
No area of the Eyrie is well lit or cleaned, with
ash and vitae at all times staining the ground. In
truth, the Gargoyles found here are as submissive
as they were before the chantry fell, the only
difference being that rather than follow Clan
Tremere as a whole they are bound to one mistress.
Any newborn Gargoyle which survives its first few
nights of starvation and brutally violent treatment
will either flee realising the true horror of the
Gargoyle ‘factory’ (after which they will likely be
caught out during the day), or fall into the mindset
of a submissive drone for the rest of eternity - or
until something is done to liberate the Gargoyles
of Ceoris. This night is surely a long way off yet.
The Hidden Heart
Before Virstania fell into torpor for the latest
time, she had decided to branch out deeper into
the Carpathian mountains, hunting for a bigger
and better catacomb system, where she wished to
establish new laboratories away from Ceoris. She
sent out a small gathering of Warriors and sired
Gargoyles to survey the surrounding area from
above, looking for natural caves to exploit.
Several nights into their explorations, they
33
discovered a strange grove, surrounded on all sides
by tall rocky crags, making the area inaccessible
except from the air. Unusual plants grew here,
most numerously a blood-red flower. Chief
amongst this flora was the vastly overgrown tree
at the grove’s centre. Curious - and driven on by
instincts not their own - the pack settled within
this glen, some melding within the stone walls
of the crags and some burrowing (via Protean)
beneath the central tree.
After a night of troubled rest which restored
none of their vitality, the pack awoke to see half of
their number missing and what they saw to be the
figure of Virstania herself standing before them,
beside the tree. Every remaining Gargoyle flocked
to her, their packmates quite forgotten, and each
one was given a gift she seemed eager to bestow - a
taste of her own vitae. Upon drinking, their flesh
suddenly became soft, as it was in their first lives,
but soon began to fall away like wet mud. Maggots
and flies perforated their earthen flesh as they felt
their souls drain into the roots below. Before long,
they were all part of the dark power of which the
glen was only one small tendril.
These monstrosities exist to this day, ritually
Embracing animals and mutating them into
horrific clay mounds, which they then graft
onto themselves, growing only larger and more
deadly with each addition. This protean army
continuously throw themselves at Virstania’s
stronghold, providing more than ample cause for
Fidus to rapidly churn out new, scarcely-conscious
Gargoyles simply to die in the line of battle. No
matter what measures the Flock takes, it can’t seem
to find the root of this spawning site.
The Eternally Petrified Sanctum
(Tianmushan, China)
One of the few branches of Kindred living in
Asia are the noble Gargoyle children of Ch’iung
Chi, called the Ominous One. Ch’iung, who has
assumed his name and title from the gargoyle
of Chinese myth, is the Rock Lord of an Eyrie
nestled deep within the side of Tianmushan
(‘Heavenly Eye Mountain’). He is a master of many
Disciplines and, it is rumoured, a novice of the
34 Chapter Two: Freedom and Dependence
mysterious powers of eastern vampires, and has
managed to maintain a Grotesquerie in absolute
isolation and under the very noses of the local
‘hungry dead’. The children of Ch’iung have
learned to manipulate the earth in a more subtle
way than their western brethren, causing the very
earth itself to regard them as welcome guests of its
catacombs, and their enemies as intruders within
them.
The Eternally Petrified Sanctum is linked to
nearby monastery of Akashic Brotherhood monks
devoted to Ch’iung, but not ghouled to him or his
children. They respect the earth and bring regular
animal sacrifices and willing blood offerings
to the gates of the Eyrie, occasionally catching
glimpses of the guardians within. Ch’iung is one
of Chaundice’s childer and still remembers their
noble Revolt so long past. He encourages his
charges to connect with Chaundice’s Children
and walk the Path of Freedom, and to take regular
spiritual journeys deep within the ‘Endless Chasm’
they call home; not all return, something which
doesn’t seem to bother the Ominous One.
Within the Endless Chasm lives a pride of
guardian lions (see page 116), Ch’iung, and his
peculiar Grotesquerie, who naturally take on
specific forms dependent on their gender as a side
effect of their Mimesis, due to the magical nature
of the mountain. When Ch’iung Chi Embraces
female Gargoyles, they become known as shisa
(‘dragons’) and when he embraces males they are
known as komainu (‘dogs’).
The Grand Rock Court
(The Grand Canyon, Arizona)
Chaundice, the ‘True Rock Lord’, lives to this
day, and unlike most Clan founders he takes a
personal approach to his cause, making his voice
heard by each and every Kindred who will listen
- and many who would rather not. He lives in a
Rock Court dug deeply within the Grand Canyon,
a magnificent subterranean cathedral made from
dozens of types of stone to create a truly impressive
structure.
Inside this temple can be found examples of
every type of Gargoyle in existence tonight, living
free. As well as a few ambassadors of other Clans
brought in by Chaundice to reach out to the
Kindred race, namely Nosferatu, Ravnos and
Toreador. Whole tribes of ghouled humans live
within the mile deep canyon breeding flocks
of ritualy Embraced mountain sheep, entirely
disconnected from mortal society. This ghouled
community live in close cohabitation with the
Kindred around them.
The Court has endless chambers used for
meetings, libraries, training rooms, various living
quarters, a radio booth, and great reception
hall. The entire installation is an architectural
masterpiece designed by Chaundice with the
help of a consortium of Toreador artists. A small
contingent of other supernatural species also live
within the Court, including spirits, human mages
and even the occasional sympathetic Lupine. The
location is a monument to free will and a bastion
dedicated to its protection.
Freehold of Ironbridge
(Ironbridge Gorge, United Kingdom)
Located in a large gorge in the English county of
Shropshire, the tiny town of Ironbridge is touted
as the birthplace of the Industrial Revolution, for
it was there that a cheap method for iron-smelting
was discovered. The eponymous bridge, which still
stands, was the world’s first major bridge built of
cast iron. It is during this era of innovation that a
Grotesquerie, seeking refuge from persecution in
Tremere-heavy cities such as Durham and London,
made its Eyrie in the local gorge.
Led by the unusually charismatic and well-
spoken Malachai, the Gargoyles of Ironbridge
essentially became autarkis, too far from centres
of the sects to be a concern. The Eyrie served as a
safe haven and stopping-off point for free British
Gargoyles, as it did for Handsome Dan when he
was forced to abandon London (see Chapter One).
In recent years it has fallen under the auspices of
Chaundice’s Children, and remains the group’s
only significant outpost in the British Isles. In his
capacity as an envoy, Dan makes great use of it.
A strange rumour has emerged surrounding the
Freehold following this engagement with the wider
Clanbook: Gargoyles
Rockhead world - that its members have managed
to adapt Visceratika to merge not only with the
stone of the gorge but with the Iron Bridge itself,
though whether they can apply it to other metal
structures is a matter of pure conjecture. When
asked on this matter, Handsome Dan replies with
a wink and says he won’t ‘give away trade secrets’.
The Catacombs of Sorrow
(Quito, Ecuador)
The Metropolitan of Quito was built in the
mid-1500s and has since undergone many
additions, renovations and re imaginings. The site
itself was built atop a vast gorge which hindered
many such efforts throughout the years, but
after an earthquake hit in 1797 an artist known
as Caspicara was brought in to renovate the art
installments throughout the roofing and choir
pits.
Caspicara performed his task well, but could not
bring himself to leave the cathedral because of its
monumental beauty. In his later years he spent
many nights in the catacombs of ‘la Catedral’,
marvelling at the carvings of angels, saints, and
heroes and adding to their number with his own
hand.
His Embrace came just before the turn of the
19th century, when his mind had completely
detached itself from ordinary life in favour of the
tranquil stillness and solemnity of the growing
population of dead in the underground necropolis
of mausoleums. A wandering Calaca (a Samedi-
turned-Gargoyle; see Chapter Four: Of Mingled
Blood) calling himself Stonebones had chosen
the location to create more of his kind, due to the
ample ‘raw materials’ left over from the genocide
of the local Inca people centuries earlier. As a final
attempt to repel the Spanish forces they destroyed
their entire city and committed mass suicide in
underground rivers running through the gorge,
now integrated into the catacombs.
He set up his new domain in these catacombs,
entered by a door behind the altar of Nuestra
Señora de los Dolores (‘Our Lady of Sorrows’),
through which only Kindred or ghouls could
physically pass due to magical wardings laid upon
35
it. One of Stonebones’ Samedi followers Embraced
Caspicara to then be immediately gestated in the
old Inca cenotes stagnating below, to become one of
the dead he so loved.
The two of them transformed the catacombs
into a magnificent display of death’s beauty, with
sculpture and furnishings the like a prince would
envy. At the end of the Ecuadorian-Peruvian War
in 1942, they opened their doors of the Catacomb
of Sorrows to any and all Kindred looking for
revelation in death.
Many more Calacas had been created over this
time to make their work easier and to prepare
for the moment they received their guests. The
site to this day is still functioning as intended, a
place for Kindred of more morbid temperaments,
particularly Central and South American
Giovanni, to associate and indulge their unusual
interests.
Many venues proliferate the catacombs that lie
beyond the lady’s altar, offering blood infused
with an array of different substances resulting
in a cornucopia of pleasures and sensations,
music and dancing from a consortium of undead
carcophanists, and thaumaturgical fetishes able to
rekindle, for a time, the sensation of being mortal.
The parties never cease, and the only cost is to feed
the hosts. The Day of the Dead is celebrated every
night beneath la Catedral, and every Kindred is
welcome to attend. Simply place blood on the altar
of sorrow to enter into the night of your death.
Communal Eyries
Not all Gargoyles seek the sole company of
themselves in protest against their treatment by
other Kindred. Some seek to assimilate within
vampiric society and become truly equal in the eyes
of Kindred in the modern nights. Others simply
revert back to the shattered memories of their
former Clans, held since before the Revolt.
In either case, such Gargoyles seek communal
havens with members of their parent Clans,
despite their in-built instincts to attack them, so as
to retain the individual personality they remember
having before the blanket of servitude smothered
them.
36 Chapter Two: Freedom and Dependence
Gangrel
The Gangrel above all else value independence,
and admire the common Gargoyle dedication to
cast off a past of oppression and seek personal
freedom. This, combined with the simple fact that
many of their Clan have been transformed into
Gargoyles in centuries past, creates a solemn bond
between these two groups.
This connection becomes clear when vampiric
researchers and wanderers happen upon wild
mountainscapes owned by a pack of Gangrel
living alongside Gargoyles, who have joined the
Clan as honorary members. The affinity with the
earth Gargoyles possess, and the distinct parallels
between their two signature Disciplines, leads to a
much stronger pack when this occurs.
Nosferatu
Nosferatu share in one another’s vitriol as
much as they do blood, being social rejects of the
lowest order. Deep revulsion directed towards
both Nosferatu and Gargoyles is a characteristic
shared by Princes and fledglings alike. In
grim solidarity, these two groups (along with
members of the Samedi) find safety together in
mausoleums, catacombs, and subway systems.
Paris’s underground is supposedly secretly ruled by
a contingency of Nosferatu and Gargoyles of both
old stock and new, all pulling strings in the city’s
sewers and catacombs.
Tzimisce
Tzimisce do not share or seek companionship as
Gargoyles naturally do, so any mingling between
these estranged relatives is more than likely a
shadow of the Gargoyles’ enslavement, for they
find ready masters among the Fiends, who are
bound by no paltry pact which determines who
they can and cannot take as servants There are
multiple reasons why a Tzimisce would want a
Gargoyle present in their haven:
Because of the Gargoyles’ already magical
existence, the uniqueness of their blending of
flesh and stone, and their typically great capacities
for enduring punishment, many Tzimisce find
Gargoyles to be exciting ‘test dummies’ for their
more experimental procedures.
A traditionalist elder Tzimisce’s preferred home
is deep within a lofty castle, from which to lord
over the masses of kine and Kindred beneath him,
especially among the Old Clan. In such a setting,
the voivode requires security - and who better than a
Gargoyle, who can see every room simultaneously,
and travel swiftly between wings at the drop of a
hat?
The final and maybe the strongest reasoning
would come down to sheer pettiness. A Tzimisce of
great enough age will surely remember the nights
of bloodshed and fury as the Omen Wars raged
between the Tremere and their own kin. In the
modern nights, it seems only natural to these elder
Fiends to keep the former slaves of their ancestral
enemies as servitors, while they themselves are
restrained from doing so.
Free Eyries
The free Eyrie isn’t acknowledged by many
vampires, for most truly don’t know with any
certainty that other supernatural species exist.
The term is used to refer to a home for Gargoyles
where supernatural beings other than vampires are
permitted to reside.
No member of the Flock would survive in a
free heaven before falling to the ravages of their
Beast, due to the lack of master-slave relationships,
but Chaundician Gargoyles thrive in these
environments of liberty and voluntary mutual
assistance (the Grand Rock Court itself is possibly
the biggest example of such an Eyrie).
If anything, Gargoyles are better off living with
a sorceress in her sanctum or a nature spirit in
a grotto, as these beings are outside of the petty
disputes which arise among Kindred and so are
often unbiased in their opinions of Constructs.
Mage Chantries
The mortal wizards of mankind hold a
fascination with magical phenomena such as the
Gargoyles are examples of. This is particularly true
of two magical schools. Hermetic mages, from
whom the Tremere originated, find Gargoyles to
be interesting familiars to test spells upon and
Clanbook: Gargoyles
keep as guards or immortal companions. They find
particular fascination in Gargoyle rituals and the
suitability for Gargoyle flesh to act as a conduit for
spells and rituals performed by others. That they
can rub their ancient enemies’ faces in the loss
of their servitors by appropriating them is just an
added bonus.
The more scientifically minded ‘technomancers’
also admire Constructs, their fascination revolving
around Mimesis. A number of these mages have
granted asylum to free Gargoyles, permitting them
to haven within their laboratories with the goal
of studying their transmutable bodies and other
supernatural qualities.
Earth Spirits
Disciplines such as Auspex and Spiritus have
shown kindred the multitude of spiritual beings
living beyond the veil of human perception.
Those most frequently encountered by Gargoyles
are, naturally, earth elementals and (more
rarely) the spirits of important buildings. These
incarnations of living stone have been known to
make themselves apparent to mountain-dwelling
Grotesqueries in order to make allies of them
and keep themselves protected. Yet stranger fae
entities hailing from the land of dreams sometimes
pass through to our side of reality and make their
homes inside stone and rock.
Disciplines like Mytheceria, Chimeristry, and
Dementation can draw these beings to the fore; it
is only because of the lack of availability of these
Disciplines to most Gargoyles that encounters
with these beings are so rare, for they rejoice in
one another’s company. Some of these mysterious
creatures are simultaneously more timid and more
sentient while in the real world, able to create
temporary, vaguely-humanoid bodies to better
interact with their Gargoyle companions.
37
Mimesis
As with other Kindred, Gargoyles have a semi-
mystical connection with their havens after
spending a substantial period of time therein (see
the forthcoming The Endless Death). However,
through the years of horrendous ritualistic
treatment, Gargoyles have had this bizarre effect
inverted upon themselves. Rather than an area
subtly changing to reflect their inner selves (as with
normal vampires), Gargoyles come to physically
resemble the aesthetics of their surroundings
through an effect they call Mimesis (if they call it
anything at all).
After many years together in the same location,
each Gargoyle in a Grotesquerie come to look
uncannily similar, though not identical. This helps
to distinguish which Grotesquerie a Construct
is from on the occasions when Gargoyles gather
in large groups, and more importantly to further
cement group identity and loyalty.
Cavedwelling Gargoyles develop smooth, curved
skin with a faint wet shimmer. Cracks may develop
across their backs and miniature stalagmites
may descend from their chins and noses. Those
residing in manmade structures (typically churches
and other fine works of architecture) will appear
robust and hardened, their skin becoming
segmented to mimic brickwork. Some have
displayed wings with narrow layers of slate snaking
across their membranes.
Gargoyles who nest in churches are typically
well-proportioned and adorned with incongruous
ornamentation, including miniature spires
sprouting from their backs and even the faces
of grotesques leering out from their chests and
shoulders. By contrast, Gargoyles who make
Eyries in sewers are squat and especially ugly
in appearance, with mostly desiccated (though
functional) wings and a coating of translucent
soapstone for their flesh.
Moreover, Mimesis imparts a unity of mind
almost indescribable to those outside of its
influence. As with changes to appearance, this
happens gradually over time, beginning with a
vague sense of detachment when a member of the
38 Chapter Two: Freedom and Dependence
Grotesquerie leaves the Eyrie but evolving after
about a century into sharing the strong emotions
of other Grotesquerie members.
After around 200 years, they will even be able to
talk for one another and find it hard to perform
harmful actions against other members of their
Grotesque, irrespective of the action (requiring
a Willpower roll, beginning at difficulty 6 but
increasing by +1 for each century of Mimesis spent
with the Gargoyle in question beyond 200, to a
maximum of 9).
Notable Mimetic Grotesqueries
The Cologne Grotesquerie
This family prides itself on their ‘true Gargoyle’
appearance, which they claim to be identical to
that of Chaundice himself. They consciously adapt
themselves to what humans typically envision
when picturing a Gargoyle: horned and winged,
with monstrous (but not utterly horrific) visages
and red brick skin. They all have long, slender
digits and colossal bat wings. Whenever they meet
with other local Gargoyle Grotesqueries they
attempt to lord their ‘Chaundician physique’ for
all to see.
The Bakers Hotel Grotesquerie
Being the largest abandoned building in the
U.S., Bakers Hotel in Mineral Wells, Texas has
become a popular nest for Gargoyles. The ‘Bakers’,
as the local Groesquerie’s members are called,
possess art deco features such as smooth, brightly-
polished skin, exaggerated curves accentuating
their generally rounded physiques, and sharp
angles at their joints.
Members of this Grotesquerie love to ‘joke’
with mortals who visit the hotel (whether youths
looking for a place to hang out or sightseers on
ghost walks), playing tricks and hauntings on
them. They have even been known to adopt very
young kine and rear them in long-forgotten attic
rooms.
The Birmingham Grotesquerie
Seemingly modern marvels of Mimetic
construction, the Gargoyles living in the mostly
abandoned iron works of Birmingham, England
have a vast array of architectural periods rendered
upon their flesh. Their faces are ugly, bestial
caricatures (stemming from the multiple ornate
chapels of the city), their limbs long but with signs
of erosion, and their wings coated in smooth and
angular scales of varying stone composites.
The Derrycunnihy Grotesquerie
A large family of free Gargoyles make their
Eyrie in the abandoned Derrycunnihy Church
located in County Kerry, Ireland. They keep a
peaceful existence, preying solely on local herds
for sustenance and forgoing human blood on
religious principle. The family have dried, cracked
textures to their splinter-riddled skin out of
which occasionally pokes exposed bone. Most of
them have squat bodies and long, gnarled fangs
resembling rusted wrought iron.

Clanbook: Gargoyles 39
 Chapter Three:
Hearts of Stone
Sired Gargoyles
Within decades of their creation, a peculiarity
developed amongst the Gargoyles to replace those
that died on the battlefields of the Omen War:
the capacity for reproduction. This reproduction
was not as natural and organic as Virstania had
dreamed, but simply the Embrace which Kindred
know all too well.
At first there was but a small handful born with
this mutation, though each Embrace - combined
with over three centuries of refinement on
Virstania’s part - tilted the population until there
were two roughly equally-sized classes of Gargoyle
living in the Eyrie: cast and sired.
To begin with, cast Gargoyles would bully the
Embraced ones, what with their greater numbers
and connection to Virstania, but over time the
sired few became many and the Mother’s favour
shifted to their more organic creation in preference
from the casting process. During the Revolt,
Embraced Gargoyles made up two thirds of all
constructs ripping and tearing their way through
the halls of Ceoris.
Sired Gargoyles simply revert to the original
design for Gargoyles whereby they suffer ‘only’
an inhuman appearance, total amnesia, and a
susceptibility to mind control, making them
40 Chapter Three: Hearts of Stone
much more functional successors to their cast
counterparts. Furthermore, as Virstania devised
and released the Discipline of Visceratika, it was
found that only Embraced Gargoyles could grasp
its use with natural ease. This was the final nail in
the coffin of the Castings’ primacy, though cast
Gargoyles continue to exist in small numbers,
primarily among the Virstanians.
Character Creation
Gargoyles are a multifaceted bloodline whose
characteristics vary more than those of any other
Kindred lineage, not to mention those lesser
constructs of low intelligence or limited use not
listed here (since they are entirely inappropriate
for player characters). Generally a Gargoyle is
both strong and stealthy, opting to steer clear of
the limelight out of fear of persecution but able
to fight back when this strategy fails. Within a
single Grotesquerie, the variations of personalities,
duties, and forms are seemingly endless, as it is
rare that a Grotesquerie turns down any Gargoyle,
whether sired, cast, or Misbegotten.
Attributes
According to their original design, Gargoyles
were given stunted intellect, so as to reduce the risk
of rebellion. This has sadly continued through the
ages, becoming a fact of unlife for many. Gargoyles’
Attributes reflect this frailty, with their focus
being usually on Physical Attributes rather than
Social or Mental. Strength, Dexterity, Stamina and
Perception are often much more developed than
Charisma, Manipulation, Intelligence or Wits.
Owing to their weakness, Gargoyles always have an
Appearance of 0 which can never be raised. unless
the Abhorrence rule is used (see page 56).
Abilities
Gargoyles in slavery are rarely, if ever, trained
to perform complex or intricate tasks. Creation
and thought are not jobs given to slaves, but
manual labour, patrolling, and general violence
are expected. As such, Gargoyles naturally excel in
Animal Ken, Intimidation, Alertness, Athletics,
and Brawl. Stealth and Survival are common
among free Gargoyles, stemming from desperate
unlives spent in woodlands or subways.
Backgrounds
Whether free or enslaved, whether Camarilla
Hounds, Black Hand assassins or infamous
Autarkis, Gargoyles will have very few
Backgrounds. It is exceedingly hard for these
poor creatures to make Allies, retain Resources
or keep Retainers, simply due to their abhorent
appearance. Even Nosferatu have easier unlives
than most Gargoyles, since they might in a pinch
pass through cities as disfigured humans, or make
use of Obsfuscate, but the Gargoyles are entirely
alien.
There are a few Backgrounds which free
Gargoyles hold dear, however, such as Humours
(see page 99), Domain, and Status; being both free
and frequently socially rejected, Gargoyles latch
onto their positions and their Havens even more
strongly than most Kindred. Indeed, Domains and
havens become a spiritual part of a Gargoyle, to
the point that they become distressed if they are
away for too long.
Virtues
Many Gargoyles are highly virtuous; unlives
spent as both horrific destroyers and some of
the most oppressed within Kindred society
Clanbook: Gargoyles
has weathered many of them into humble and
penitent beings, if it has not worn away their
humanity entirely; for these reasons and their own
animalistic natures, it is estimated that a larger
proportion of Gargoyles have become completely
lost to the Beast than other vampires.
Their Conscience (or Conviction) tends to
be high, as does their Self-Control (or Instinct).
Courage varies widely; some Gargoyles are
galvanised by their lot in unlife and the treatment
they are subjected to nightly, whereas others have
been broken by it.
Disciplines
Gargoyles can trace their lineages to at least one
Clan out of Gangrel, Nosferatu and Tzimisce,
and a few carry remnants of their past heritage,
dormant within their blood. Every now and then
a Gargoyle will be Embraced with enough of
this blood to learn and master the Disciplines of
their former Clan or Clans. On average, however,
most Embraced Gargoyles are able to use Flight,
Fortitude, Potence, and Visceratika.
Animalism
In the early nights of Gargoyle creation, those
Tremere skilled in the creation ritual were forced
to produce constructs with the intellect of animals
in an attempt to keep them in their place. After
the Gargoyle castings came about, their minds
became more focused and sentient once again.
That deep connection to the animal mind never
went away entirely, however, in no small thanks
to the fact that each of their former clans had an
affinity for Animalism.
This was a connection that Goratrix, Malgorzata
and (to a lesser extent) Virstania made deliberate
efforts to sever, not wanting to provide their slaves
with the ability to make servants of their own.
Nonetheless, several embraced Gargoyles have
developed the discipline through circumstance.
This is relatively often seen in free Sentinels, who
use Animalism to befriend flocks of bats, swarms
of rats or packs of feral dogs to earn themselves a
place within their family.
41
Auspex
Scouts use Auspex for their work as a matter of
course; improved senses and aura perception all
aid in watching an enemy’s movements. Those
who take the role of shamans value it even more
highly, using astral protection and telepathy to
advance their spiritual pursuits. Quite how any
Gargoyles managed to develop this discipline is
debated, but it was more than likely given to them
during gestation by Virstania so that her children
could better serve their masters and thus suffer
less; the Tzimisce heritage present to at least a
small degree in most Gargoyles no doubt makes its
spontaneous development more likely than most
Disciplines.
Flight
Even more important than Visceratika, Flight is
the foremost Discipline of the Gargoyles, in some
ways the essence of their existence. Most Gargoyles
develop Flight, if not from the very moment of
the Embrace (or gestation), then at some point
in their unlives. This is purely because their kind
are born with wings, and for no other reason. The
wings give gargoyles the belief that they were meant
to soar through the night sky and from that belief
may stem the Discipline.
Regardless of early failures and frustrations, they
keep trying, and eventually their vitae responds,
supernaturally reducing their normally immense
weight. The weight reduction is only half of this
power, though; to increase their ability they must
force their wings to grow through constant practice
in order to facilitate greater flight. Wings for
Gargoyle also become a status symbol, those with
the largest wings tending to be the most esteemed
within a Grotesquerie. Gargoyles will often
instinctively tear each other’s wings off during
struggles for dominance, so as to humiliate their
opponent as much as to cripple them.
Fortitude
Gargoyles are beings of stone made flesh and
have endured abuse and punishment on the
battlefield, in Tremere chantries and in the wider
world. They know suffering and desensitization
better than any Kindred, and as such many (in
42 Chapter Three: Hearts of Stone
particular Sentinels and sired Gargoyles, to
whom it comes naturally) will develop Fortitude
organically, without giving it much thought. A
Gargoyle with Fortitude can be an unstoppable
flying juggernaut in a fight. Fortitude has been
used by Gargoyles for centuries to withstand the
master’s whip, resist the blows of inhumanly strong
enemies, and survive their own supernatural
condition. Though it is a separate Discipline,
Fortitude certainly at once stems from and is
anathema to the petrified flesh so quintessential of
their race.
Obfuscate
Scout-cast Gargoyles possess this discipline
naturally, and it serves great and obvious utility
in their duties, but the legacy of Clan Nosferatu
is found throughout the bloodline, Obfuscate
being no exception. Enslaved Gargoyles with this
discipline can find ready use in it, whether by
blending into the background and never having
their presence impose upon the master’s day or
escaping the sting of whip (at least for a short
time). Free gargoyles can use this expertly to hide
Grotesqueries from Tremere slavers and other
threats, or to breach chantries without violence in
order to secretly free its ‘domestic help’.
Potence
Potence is Discipline which comes naturally to
the children of the mountain. Since a popular
focus for Gargoyles is on physical prowess in
combat, it is no surprise that Potence is the second
most common Discipline besides Flight, with only
Scouts not naturally possessing it. Preternatural
strength was gifted to the Sentinels and Warriors
to ensure they were viable weapons against the
Tzimisce, and ever since Gargoyles developed
to the point that disciplines could be taught to
them in great numbers, Potence has always been
a reliable one. The combination of Potence and
Flight can make an aerial attack feel like being hit
by a small tornado.
Protean
Though rare outside of the casting, Gargoyle
Warriors could shift their form in a similar fashion
to the signature mark of the Gangrel; thanks
to their Gangrel and Tzimisce heritage, it was
quite easy for Virstania to instil Protean in them.
Though they may be able to alter their eyes into
those of the beast or shift into the form of a dire
wolf they can never escape their curse. Any form
they do take will appear as if they were carved
into that mold from their original stone, and may
continue to use Visceratika. Furthermore, when
assuming their combat forms they retain their
characteristic wings and remain capable of Flight
at their usual speed (unless, at the Storyteller’s
discretion, the animal form is especially large).
Gargoyles rarely adopt literal flight forms, but
rather the shapes of burrowing animals such as
moles, rabbits, and rats (in which case they do
not have wings at all). These oddities don’t put
Gargoyles off from enjoying the vast array of
shapes and sizes permitted by Protean.
Visceratika
Virstania’s progress with her children’s evolution
was stunted soon after she developed the creation
ritual. She passed off their developing ability
to Embrace as her own work even though this
was a ‘natural’ emergence. Taking advantage
of the emergence of sired Gargoyles, she began
working towards a tool that would allow them to
perform the duties of the castings: a discipline
derived from several Gargoyle rituals, which she
named Visceratika. The cast Gargoyles showed no
particular capacity to learn this new gift, but the
Gargoyles born of the Embrace grasped it with
open claws and developed it to its full potential.
In time, as Virstania’s resentment of her own
clan festered and grew, she came to see another,
greater use for Visceratika: as a weapon against
Ceoris, with which the Gargoyles might overthrow
their abusive masters. When the Revolt came
to a head, her children’s use of it exceeded even
her expectations. She cackled with joy to watch
them flow through the walls of Ceoris, using the
scrying granted by the discipline to locate terrified
Tremere and emerging from the stone to tear them
apart in bursts of savage violence.
Following the Gargoyle exodus from the
ruined Ceoris, further chantries felt the wrath of
Clanbook: Gargoyles
their former slaves as the Revolt progressed and
expanded. The discipline spread with it, until
the vast majority of the bloodline at least had the
capacity to learn it. Since then, it has become an
ability as well-known and as key to the nightly
existence of most Gargoyles as Flight.
It is rare to find a Kindred outside of the
bloodline with any skill in Visceratika, for several
reasons: no other vampires share the Gargoyle’s
affinity for stone, Gargoyles often close ranks
against outsiders, and most Kindred are simply
too afraid to approach a Gargoyle to ask for
training in the discipline. However, it is perfectly
possible in theory, but should a non-Gargoyle
learn Visceratika he will develop symptoms of the
bloodline’s weakness, his body petrifying more and
more as his skill in the discipline develops. In the
beginning, his flesh will simply become dry and
cracked, but if the kindred learns more advanced
levels of Visceratika (generally 3 dots and above)
they will develop stony protrusions akin to a true
Gargoyle.
Paths
Though most Gargoyles of the modern
nights still cling to Humanity (even if they
struggle woefully under it), many Gargoyles
who reach some level of prestige adopt a Path
of Enlightenment, such as Honourable Accord.
Amongst those Gargoyles who decide to embrace
their outwardly demonic and bestial natures,
the Paths of Cathari and the Feral Heart are not
unknown. The Path of Service instilled in enslaved
Gargoyles by their Tremere masters still exists, and
the Path of Freedom is currently thriving.
43
Path of Service
Nickname: Slaves
Virtues: Conviction and Instinct.
Bearing: ‘Servitude’. The Slaves’ very existences
revolve around the wishes and commands of their
masters. The bearing modifier applies to rolls
made to impress a master or carry out one of their
commands to the letter (though not necessarily to
its intent).
Basic Beliefs: The masters gave you life, your life
is the masters to do with as they see fit. Gargoyles
under the Path of Service believe unequivocally
that the tremere deserve their unending loyalty.
Any master placed above a Gargoyle can expect
them to walk into fire upon their command.
The Ethics of the Path
• Serve the masters absolutely, without question
or complaint.
• Do not let the Beast’s selfish desire for
independence endanger the masters.
• Punish anyone or anything that commits an
affront against the masters or their work.
History
The masters of Ceoris and the other Chantries
forced Gargoyles to perform menial and dangerous
tasks in place of themselves whenever the risks
were too high or the Tremere believed themselves
too important for such trivialities. In order to keep
their slaves in line they developed a Path suited
specifically to that purpose.
The Path of Service represses a Gargoyles’ mind
in such a way that they come to believe that they
are worth less than any Tremere, and enforces
utter, abject loyalty to the clan - and especially to
Virstania herself. After Chaundice and his misfit
kin fled Ceoris, Virstania set about righting her
mistakes. She created the Castings and the Path of
Service along with them, each new Gargoyle being
placed upon the Path of Service to make sure they
were still loyal to Virstania and Clan Tremere.
She taught them (while equally convincing herself
and her few apprentices) that what they and the
44 Chapter Three: Hearts of Stone
Tremere were doing was paramount to life itself.
Gradually, belief in the word of Virstania as
though it were tantamount to God’s edict spread
throughout the Gargoyle broods, bringing them all
in line with the will of their Mother.
Current Practices
Gargoyles following this Path perform any and
every task set to them by their masters, ranging
from domiciliary duties to open warfare with the
Clan’s (or the master’s) enemies. Revering the
masters and performing duties even before they
arise is the best practice for a loyal Slave.
Description of Followers
Those Virstania Gargoyles still in Ceoris are all
subservient to Luma, Saxum, Fidus and (of course)
the Great Mother through the Path of Service.
Gargoyles who were never freed or who were
illegally created after 1489 remain on the bottom
wrung of the Tremere Pyramid, elevating their
masters to almost as high a position in their minds
as Virstania herself. Slaves vary between those
who freely enter onto it and commit themselves
body and mind to the Virstanian cause, to those
indoctrinated in it from the moment of their illicit
Gestation in the heart of a Chantry, leaving them
basically mindless and automatic.
Following the Path
‘Service before self’ is the motto of a Gargoyle
high on the Path, and they wear it like proud
armour. They have managed to eschew their own
base desires to become a valuable tool in their
master’s hands, whether that master is a Tremere
Regent or the Great Mother herself. Those who
slip down to the lower levels of the Path are
browbeaten into obedience, and destroyed if they
do not come to heel.
Common Abilities: Etiquette, Performance, Law
and Stealth all help keep a Slave from offending
the Tremere while performing his duties.
Preferred Disciplines: Slaves make use of
whichever Disciplines their master permits them
to learn and employ; this is typically limited to
the Disciplines inherent to the bloodline (or their
casting). Some masters see the value of a Gargoyle
capable of commanding animals or even ghoul
servants with Animalism or Presence, respectively.

Path of Service Hierarchy of Sins

Rating Moral Guideline
10 Disobeying the direct order of
the Great Mother.
9 Disobeying the direct order of
another Creator.
8 Disobeying the direct order of a
Tremere Master.
7 Thwarting the intent of an order
given to you.
6 Disobeying any Master.
5 Failing to punish an insult
against the Masters.
4 Failing to avenge a crime against
the Masters.
3 Remarking on the fallibility of
the Masters.
2 Shirking an opportunity to suffer
injury in place of the Masters.
1 Shirking an opportunity to die
gloriously in place of the Mas-
ters.
Rationale
The Mother gave you every
thing, so you must give it back.
The Creators aided the Mother,
you must aid them in kind.
You were made for duty, refusal
to serve makes you redundant.
You cannot concieve of the in-
tricacies involved in the Masters’
plans.
You serve the Masters in the
Mothers name, do not fail her as
you fail them.
An insult to the Masters is an
insult to the Mother.
The Mother’s enemies are our
enemies.
The Masters are above reproach,
why else would they be your
Masters?
You were made for duty, faliure
makes you redundant.
The Mother gave you life, you
must return it when needed.

Clanbook: Gargoyles 45
Path of Freedom
Nicknames: Runaways.
Virtues: Conscience and Self-Control
Bearing: ‘Freedom’. Runaways seek at every
instance to tear down imposed authority and
dismantle systems of oppression. The bearing
modifier applies to direct efforts made to
accomplish these goals.
Basic Beliefs: Gargoyles are generally grouped
among the underclass of Kindred society, along
with the Caitiff and the Ravnos. Throughout their
history they have been subjugated and oppressed,
by Sect leaders as well as vengeful Tremere. This
has given many of their number a certain sympathy
with the downtrodden, kine as well as Kindred.
The Path of Freedom offers a philosophy to
unlife for these Gargoyles, according to which
they strive to end the imposition of authority.
However, the Path is not solely externally-focused;
its proponents teach that only by changing yourself
can you change your community, only by changing
the community can you ensure the extinction of
tyranny.
The Ethics of the Path
• Stick to your own ideals in all things.
• Choose your own leader but never settle for
one.
• Free any subjugated being as you would wish to
be freed.
• Never impose your beliefs on the lives of
others.
History
In the years leading up to the First Gargoyle
Revolt, Chaundice was dismayed at the horror
befalling his children. They were being created
grotesque and malformed with little concern for
their wellbeing besides Virstania’s cloying motherly
‘love’, which exacerbated the degeneration and
suffering more than it helped. These children
were so mindless that they did not even have the
capacity to fear their masters, so Chaundice used
his position to convince them to lead their own
46 Chapter Three: Hearts of Stone
unlives and to choose their own leaders.
He first walked the Path of Freedom as a show
that Tremere authority did not need to be the
defining influence over the unlives of Gargoyles.
His success convinced the rest of his Grotesquerie
within the eyrie of Ceoris to stand up and be
counted by choosing a better master to follow;
perhaps unsurprisingly, they chose him, and the
next time they were sent from Ceoris, they likewise
chose unanimously not to return. After fleeing
the chantry they set themselves on this Path to
liberation, dedicating themselves to shattering the
chains of imposed rule wherever they found it.
Current Practices
Most walkers on the Path will use any excuse
to seek out and destroy imposed rule. This is
exemplified in their opposition to blood bonds
and the creation of unwilling ghouls, which brings
them to blows with all Clans, particularly the
Ventrue who rarely impede Gargoyle development.
Outside of insurgency against these institutions
of Kindred society, Runaways thrive on teaching
young Gargoyles, Anarchs, and even Caitiff of
independence and helping them achieve it.
Description of Followers
Runaways are a mix of firebrand rebels and
libertarian philosophers who fight for their own
liberty above all else, create free havens, and teach
others to do the same. Most truly free Gargoyles
who do not cling desperately to Humanity wind
up on the Path of Freedom. Other Kindred
with strong sympathies for the Gargoyle cause
(particularly Grangel, Nosferatu, and young
Tzimisce) sometimes take up the torch.
Following the Path
Gargoyles on this Path are encouraged to be
their own people unto themselves, free to do
as they see fit. Within that there are obvious
limitations in that they are expected to keep to
the libertarian principle of protecting one’s own
freedom while not impeding that of others’. The
academic followers seek to educate the young
and have a significant voice in their local vampire
society, while the more militant followers assault
Elysia, Cathedrals, and Tremere Chantries where
injustices are frequently committed to free any
subjected Kindred, kine, or ghouls.
Common Abilities: Survival, Leadership,
Academics and Law are useful for those Runaways
of a philosophical disposition, while militant
liberators favour Brawl, Intimidation, Stealth and
Athletics.
Preferred Disciplines: Visceratika, Auspex,
Obfuscate, Flight and Presence are all employed by
Gargoyles to liberate the Kindred community from
tyranny. Visceratika, though given by the mother,
has been adopted by Chaundice as both his
weapon of choice and an ideological symbol, and
as a result any Gargoyles (or indeed other kindred)
on this Path will have at least a base level of this
Discipline.

Path of Freedom Hierarchy of Sins

Rating Moral Guideline Rationale
10 Tolerating the existence of any To accept undue authority is to
imposed authority partake in it.
9 Using any form of coercion Any authority should be earned
through virtue.
8 Neglecting to free anyone from Do unto others as you would
imposed authority have others do unto you.
7 Imposing authority on another All beings suffer equally under
tyranny
6 Neglecting to seek out a worthy You must have a purpose, but let
master or cause to serve it be of your own choosing,
5 Neglecting to free any enslaved The Revolt will continue until all
Gargoyles Gargoyles are free.
4 Acknowledging any Tremere The Warlocks have proven them-
authority selves unworthy
3 Neglecting to free Gargoyles Even Virstania subjected us out
from Tremere slavery of love; no Tremere is above us.
2 Imposing authority on other We are all brothers and sisters,
Gargoyles. equal in the eyes of Chaundice.
1 Accepting imposed authority We have spent centuries trying
to escape our past of slavery. Do
not capitulate to tyranny now.

Clanbook: Gargoyles 47
Wings
All Gargoyles - whether born from Gestation
or the Embrace - grow wings without exception,
though they are not necessarily very flight-worthy.
Cast Gargoyles’ wings are crafted out of bone and
flesh gathered from the Kindred they used to be,
whereas those of the Embraced grow ‘organically’
along with added muscle mass and a reformed
bone structure.
Why Gargoyles always possess wings is a mystery
which has been much debated by many ancient
Constructs as they while away the years. It remains
a matter of interest to Gargoyles themselves as
well as some Tremere, who both conventionally
believe that it was a Thaumaturgical process in
itself, carried out so as to create soldiers who could
rival the mighty chiropteran forms of Ceoris’s
Tzimisce aggressors. Others hold different theories
to be true, such as the proposal that the Gargoyles’
connection to the earth and their ability to fly
are inexorably linked, and that Virstania crafted
her children to possess wings to ease the learning
process.
The Discipline of Flight (though recognised
as such by very few Gargoyles) is not merely a
matter of wings catching pockets of air to generate
lift, nor of travelling fast enough to do so using
outstretched wings, as it is with natural flying
capabilities. It confers no skill with flight as such,
only the capacity for it to be possible in the first
place, through a Rockhead’s manipulation of the
earth itself. He can, through an exercise of will,
greatly lessen the gravity applied upon him by the
earth below, effectively lowering his considerable
mass enough to glide and eventually fly - quite a
feat, considering that he is made of solid stone.
Nonetheless, the growth of wings is tied
to command over Flight, since the two are
inextricably linked by the original magic of
Goratrix, Virstania, and Malgorzata; without
them, a Gargoyle would be able to reduce his mass
but unable to effectively control his movement
or travel with any great speed. These means that
Gargoyles created without wings - of which there
are very few, primarily the widely-despised and
48 Chapter Three: Hearts of Stone
extremely rare Simulacra (see page 120) - rarely
cultivate the Discipline since they scarcely benefit
from it.
Wing Types
A Gargoyle without wings is without question
the lowest in Gargoyle society, all else being equal,
since wings are the most fundamental aspect of
Gargoyle physiology. Constructs will even go so
far as to shred or outright destroy other Gargoyle’s
wings during acts of dominance, especially during
frenzy. It is not only the size of one’s wings which
confers social currency, but the aesthetic quality
and novelty of their appearance. Different types
of wing are said to embody certain tendencies
and character traits, much like star signs in
mortal astrology; Gargoyles who put stock in such
things may have their views of other Gargoyles
significantly swayed, whether positively or
negatively.
System: During character creation, the player
may wish to change the type of wings her Gargoyle
is born with or develops during the Becoming,
paying in freebie points for unusual and beneficial
types as though they were Merits. This can only
be done during character creation and will not
change at any other time in their unlife unless
Vicissitude is extensively used upon them; as with
the appearances of the Nosferatu and other in-
born characteristics, such changes are healed as
damage. The cost in Freebie points is listed below
the effects of each type of wing.
Furthermore, some wings are only ever
detrimental, similar to Flaws, these and provide
the character additional freebie points when they
are chosen rather than applying a cost; these
extra points do not count towards the maximum
number of freebie points which may be gained
from Flaws.
A character may take only one type of wing,
beneficial or detrimental, even if he has the
Additional Wings Merit (see page 54); all wings are
of the same type.
Positive
Chiropteran
The default wings grown by Gargoyles are similar
to those of a colossal. They are thick appendages
with a leathery stone webbing stretched between
five narrow fingers. The tip of each wing ends
in a vestigial hand, immobile and ineffective as
an actual claw, simply flapping lifelessly with the
wing’s beats. Chiropteran-winged vampires are as
run-of-the-mill as Gargoyles can be, overlooked and
plain in Grotesqueries.
Freebie point cost: None; this is the default wing
type for a Gargoyle.
System: Chiropteran wings provide no special
modifiers, positive or negative.
Frilled
Like the lustrous fins of an angel fish, the
Gargoyle’s wings are long and frilled, with webbing
almost twice as long as that of other Gargoyles.
The frills appear only scarcely petrified and take
on vivid mineral colours of blues and reds. The
appendages of the wings additionally become
flexible, allowing him to cocoon himself in the
frilled wings.
Freebie point cost: 2.
System: In the right lighting and setting,
by enveloping himself in the frilled wings the
Gargoyle may remove one level of Abhorrence
as he appears to be cloaked rather than winged,
which may also serve to cover over some of his
Abhorrence features.
Membranous
The flesh of membranous wings is stretched
taut between thin arms. No chiropteran fingers
run through the webbing; rather, it takes the form
of one large sheet of wafer-thin, featureless skin,
like those of an insect. Rather than making single,
large wing beats, the Gargoyle creates a continuous
hum from the vibration of the wings’ membranes.
Translucent and often brightly coloured, they
are sometimes compared to ice or crystal, and
Gargoyles who bear them are said to be of artistic
and romantic character. On the other hand, those
Clanbook: Gargoyles
with membranous wings are distrusted by many
Gargoyles, for they slice through the air like knives,
silent and exact, with a precision which stirs
fear in others. This is especially true of the Cast;
none of the ingredients used to create Constructs
include insect elements, and as such few members
of the Castings see the membranous-winged as
sufficiently ‘pure’.
Freebie point cost: 4
System: All Athletics rolls made in Flight gain a
-2 difficulty bonus.
Avian
Avian wings are large and overbearing, often
thicker than other wings. Large stone shards
resembling feathers are embedded in the flesh of
the appendage, which reflect light in a striking way
as they move; with frantic enough movement they
may dislodge, creating a shower of flickering lights
- at least until they decompose.
Freebie point cost: 4
System: Feathered wings create an almost
mystical effect out of the Gargoyle’s Abhorrence.
When seen from a distance, and especially while
airborne, the vampire inspires awe rather than
horror in ignorant mortals as the moonlight
dances across his stone shard feathers, negating the
effects of Abhorrence. Should humans recognise
the Gargoyle for what he truly is, however, the full
effects return. Additionally, if the vampire twists
his wings with a Strength + Brawl roll (difficulty
8) he may dislodge the feathers, projecting them
towards an enemy within three times his Flight in
feet/his Flight in metres. If he is successful and his
enemy does not dodge, the feathers cause Strength
+1 lethal damage. This may only be attempted
once per night, as the plumage requires slumber to
regenerate.
Draconic
The dragon is the most adaptable beast in
mythology, gods in their own right, which is
why many Tzimisce hold the creature dear to
their hearts, especially those walking the Path of
Metamorphosis. The membranes of these wings
are voluminous, flexible, and highly adaptable;
49
with little effort, the Gargoyle may alter their wing end in blunt rounded edges more prevalent
size, even retracting them entirely so that he in architecture or natural rock formations, lacking
appears not to have them. Power is distributed the more common vestigial claw.
proportionally to the size of the wings, meaning Freebie point refund: 4
that there is no loss in flying ability from having
smaller wings, creating a false sense of awed System: To retract his wings, the Gargoyle must
inferiority amongst other Gargoyles. They may roll Strength (difficulty 7), failure leaving them
likewise be grown larger than normal, causing the extended for the remainder of the scene; he must
Gargoyle to appear naturally regal and dominant. make the same roll whenever he wishes to perform
a vertical takeoff.
Freebie point cost: 6
System: When his wings are below half their Flaps
usual size, the Gargoyle may fly with almost no These ‘wings’, little more than flaps of skin,
sound made, granting a -2 difficulty bonus to extend from the Gargoyle in triangular shapes and
Stealth dice pools while flying, and enabling him appear thick and fleshy, with no clear muscular
to fit through gaps no wider than his chest. When outline. They are not only unretractable, but
his wings are spread wide, reaching one and a half constantly writhe and undulate as if by their own
times their base size, they create huge blasts of impulse.
sound with every beat, reducing the difficulty of Freebie point refund: 6
Intimidation rolls by 2.
System: These wings prevent a Gargoyle from
Negative making a vertical take off at all (though his flight
Reformed speed remains unhindered) and add an extra point
of Abhorrence, counting as an Abhorrence feature
These wings look exactly the same as those in themselves.
possessed by the ‘foetus’ placed inside a womb
bearer: roughly hewn from parts of human flesh
and barely functional. The webbing is swollen,
the main arm of the wings bears more than three
joints (where others only possess one central
bend in the wing), and the whole wing is netted
with incision scars. These vampires are thought
of as second only to those vampires whose wings
shriveled away during Gestation or never grew
in the first place. They are the unfinished, the
malformed, and somehow untouchable for their
Frankenstein’s monster-like formation.
Freebie point refund: 2
System: These wings are not as structurally
sound as naturally formed ones, due to the scarred
flesh and cracked, weakened bones. Any attempt
to soak damage inflicted specifically against them
increases by 2.
Fins
The Gargoyle’s wings are thin and brittle, with
the quintessential petrification advanced to such
a degree that they are inflexible. The tips of each

50 Chapter Three: Hearts of Stone

Aerial Combat Manoeuvres
Mortals and vampires alike have the capacity to
learn the intricate manoeuvers of martial arts or
the sink-or-swim violence of underground fight
rings, but very few experience or even comprehend
the complexity of three-dimensional aerial combat.
The Warrior Gargoyles of Ceoris, however,
managed to devise a vicious combat style which
exploited their capacity for flight, based on the
movements of the golden eagles of their native
Carpathians. Involving raking talons, plucking
unexpectant prey up from where they stand,
and evasive aerobatics, the style has since passed
through the bloodline, while equivalent styles have
sprung up separately in many places.
Note: The below manoeuvres are all unarmed in
nature, since Gargoyles rarely fight with weapons;
accounts of lance-armed flights of Slaves using
their incredible momentum to impale Tzimisce
war ghouls and Ventrue knights - mount and
rider simultaneously - certainly exist, but this has
naturally fallen out of practice in the modern
nights. When a Gargoyle does use a melee weapon
while flying, he may add no more Melee dice to
his pool than his Flight rating. In the rare case that
a Gargoyle uses a gun from the air, the same rule
applies to Firearms.
• Backdraft: If the Gargoyle is knocked over or
backwards on land, he may use his wings to return
himself to his feet, creating a backdraft to push
him forwards. This can be performed as a reflexive
action as he falls. If he successfully carries out the
manoeuvre, he may choose to immediately charge
the enemy who knocked him down or back as part
of the same action.
Traits: Strength + lower of Athletics and Flight.
Difficulty: +1.
• Crouching Spin: While surrounded by
enemies on land, the Gargoyle may attempt to
spread his wings and spin around on the spot,
swiping all those within reach of his wings in an
attempt to knock them flying. This manoeuvre
requires only one action, but strikes every potential
target within a number of feet/50cm equal to the
Gargoyle’s Flight rating.
Clanbook: Gargoyles
Traits: Dexterity + Brawl.
Difficulty: +2.
Accuracy: +2.
Damage: Strength +2; knockdown.
• Dive: By plummeting from much higher
altitudes towards an enemy on the ground, the
Gargoyle may strike or abduct an opponent,
grasping or lashing out against her before making
an immediate escape back into the sky. The
manoeuvre involves the Gargoyle spreading his
wings just metres above the ground as he falls
to cancel his momentum, making his attack,
then climbing back into the air all in one swift
movement. Simply diving towards an enemy
without canceling the momentum with his wings
deals massive amounts of falling damage to the
Gargoyle himself.
This manoeuvre takes two actions to perform,
one for each roll. The first roll is used to cancel
his momentum before he reaches the floor, then
again to quickly climb higher into the air, while
the second roll is to make the actual attack. If the
first roll is successful, the difficulty to dodge the
subsequent attack is increased by +2. If it is failed,
the Gargoyle receives falling damage equivalent to
the distance dived (see V20 page 296), but may still
attack his target; if it is botched, the Gargoyle takes
the damage but is unable to make an attack.
Traits: Strength + Potence + the lower of
Athletics or Flight, followed by Dexterity + the
lower of Brawl or Flight.
Difficulty: +2.
Accuracy: Normal.
Damage: Strength +2.
• Rake: Many Gargoyles possess taloned feet
due to mutations gained in Gestation, by regularly
using Gargoyle Humours, or through the mastery
of Protean. They use them to best advantage when
flying low and fast over a battlefield, catching
unsuspecting enemies at foot’s reach. Unlike other
manoeuvres, this one is based solely on Flight, as
the Gargoyle directs his flightpath to intersect the
opponent’s head using his talons.
Traits: Dexterity + Flight.
51
 Difficulty: Normal.
Accuracy: Normal.
Damage: Strength + talon damage + Flight.
• Reversal: To escape aerial pursuits the
Gargoyle may retract his wings, causing him to
instantly plummet downwards. He may then rotate
in the air, spread his wings once again, and fly
in the exact reverse direction as his pursuers pass
overhead.
Traits: Dexterity + lower of Athletics and Flight.
Difficulty: +1.
Weaknesses
Though Gargoyles are possessed of great
personal power, they also bear multiple severe
weaknesses. These weaknesses can be traced back
to specific decisions made by Goratrix, Malgorzata
and Virstania during the creation process in order
to keep their slaves in line. Chaundice, the first
of their kind, is believed to have been a cut above
all those who followed after him, a vastly superior
prototype. Created by Virstania while she was still
a human sorceress of House Tremere (her last
significant act before her Embrace), he was made
perfectly formed, without a flaw or impediment to
be seen, the impurity of the vampiric blood used
in his creation somehow washed away.
He is said to have looked more like an angel
than any Gargoyle - until he was cruelly Embraced
by Goratrix, at which point his beatific features
inverted, becoming twisted and demonic. With
Virstania’s talent in high magic lost from her
‘reward’ of the Embrace, Chaundice’s ideal
(whatever its true nature) could not be reached
again, and since he served as the mould for all
Gargoyles to come after him, his ‘descendants’
were cursed to resemble him.
This tragic tale is not held to be true by
most Gargoyles, and only the most committed
Chaundicians believe it wholly. Those few who
have met with Chaundice and dared ask what
really happened have received curt deflections or
even wounds in place of answers. It is clear that
whatever occurred is a source of great pain to the
Great Father.
52 Chapter Three: Hearts of Stone
After the second generation of Gargoyle
prototypes fled with their original progenitor, a
third generation - the Castings were created out
of a need for specifically designed workers. Each
casting was granted it’s own weakness to keep them
performing their duty at peak efficiency.
Abhorrence
All non-sired Gargoyles are created in a similar
method of destruction and reconstitution
facilitated by arcane forces. As the Gargoyles body
is reconstituted, it warps and distorts in a hundred
ways. During Gestation, the compounds and and
unguents used to preserve the flesh cause the skin
of the Gargoyle to petrify. This was originally a
side effect which came about from disastrously
unsuccessful attempts to recreate Chaundice’s
original state, but Goratrix demanded it be kept in
order to prevent the Slaves from rejoining human
civilisation. Mechanically, this weakness simply
means that no Gargoyle can have an Appearance
rating.
Amnesia
All Gargoyles, whether sired or cast, have their
minds utterly remade by the trauma of their
creation, making them into blank slates. They
remember nothing of their mortal life (nor any
of the experiences of their constituent Kindred
in the case of cast Gargoyles) except perhaps in
brief flashes of recall, scattered images which cause
them great anguish though they do not understand
them. Gargoyle characters of all types begin play
with the Amnesia Flaw (V20 page 486), receiving
no points in exchange.
This amnesia comes about during their first
night of unlife where in they are trapped in
their immobilized shell. As they feel the physical
corruption take place, they also have the sense of
their memories gradually bleeding out, piece by
tiny piece. For a Gargoyle Embraced at sunset,
remembering his wife after the first hour will be
easy; by midnight he won’t remember her name
or their first date, and by sunup even her smile -
along with all other details of his life - will have left
his mind forever, never to return.
Susceptibility to Mind Control
After the First Revolt, Virstania was forced to
create her Gargoyles with limited independence
and self-will, resulting in creatures with an
increased susceptibility to mind control. The
original second generation were little more
than pack animals, constantly fighting amongst
themselves for dominance and ever eager to
burst forth from the eyrie on their next mission.
Gradually, Virstania granted more and more of
a human mind to her creations until they were
once again of full capacity but her formulae never
went back entirely to their original basis, so the
weakness remains in the Gargoyles’ blood to this
night.
Any power which focuses on controlling a
Gargoyle’s mind (typically Dominate, though
not Presence, which influences the emotions) is
much more effective; the Gargoyle’s Willpower
is counted as being two lower when used to resist
mind control of any kind.
Merits and Flaws
Back when Gargoyle kind could only come to
be from a glass urn or womb-bearing host, they
gained many unusual traits. These mutations
were believed to come from the various strains of
Kindred vitae mixed within their gestalt bodies.
Most Gargoyles believed that these were the
unique blessings given to them by their Mother
according to the intricacies of her design. After
living amongst other vampires they realised the
truth that this is not actually the case, and that
every Kindred runs the risk of mutation.
Many Kindred seem to gain unusual personal
characteristics, be they vital to their way of life
or horrific imperfections. Gargoyles, due to their
blood being such a volatile mix of physically-cursed
Clans, simply have a greater chance to manifest
such strange phenomena than other Kindred, as
well as a greater variety. These mutations may be
beneficial or harmful, and may be sources of pride
or shame (or some ambivalent mix of the two)
depending on the outlook of the Gargoyle.
Gargoyles can take unique merits and flaws
at will from the clans of Gangrel, Tzimisce and
Clanbook: Gargoyles
Nosferatu as well as their own unique mutations;
this applies equally to the Misbegotten, who may
take Merits and Flaws appropriate to their parent
legacies, at the Storyteller’s discretion.
Merits
Most Gargoyle merits go towards strengthening a
Grotesque against adversity, granting him a helpful
tool to help him survive or keep his community
strong, or a pitiful but benign debilitation which
helps inculcate sympathy in others.
Statuesque Beauty (2pt Physical Merit)
Every now and then a Gargoyle will emerge
with a beauty mimicking the picturesque form of
ancient Greek and Roman statuary. These rare
individuals have the chance to slip through even
kine society with little need to avoid attention.
In Kindred circles, however, this blessing really
comes to the fore, with only the most sheltered
and fledgling vampires being perturbed for long
by the metre fact of that a Gargoyle possesses
stone skin when it is shaped with an artistic touch;
perhaps needless to say, Toreador are especially
appreciative.
You can have an Appearance rating irrespective
of your inherent weakness that comes into
effect for appropriate individuals and groups,
in particular other Gargoyles and Toreador of
the correct tastes. All mortals other than those
ghouled to You who witnesses Your movement
will react in an even more horrified manner than
usual to see something simultaneously so close to
humanity and truly alien.
Leader of the Pack (2pt Social Merit)
In most Grotesqueries, the leader is determined
by her Charisma and Strength when faced with
situations endangering the whole group. Many
trials end with the weaker combatant having
his wings shredded as a mark of disgrace. This
Merit outlines your personal stance in the face
of Grotesque politics and grants you a natural air
of superiority over those you keep as company.
Gargoyles of a higher generation or significantly
lower age will submit to your command within
a Grotesquerie almost instinctively. This Merit
53
grants you +2 dice to any social rolls affecting these
gargoyles.
Holy Relic (3pt Mental Merit)
You generally come from a pious and highly
theological background. As such, the you have
retained such an overpowering resonance of
faith that while you reside within a holy place
appropriate to you beliefs, you will gain much
greater succor and reassurance than another
Gargoyle cowering within a breeze block. This
merit will provide a temporary Willpower point
every night you spend resting in such a place (a
Christian within a church, a Muslim inside a
mosque, a neopagan resting inside a standing
stone, and so on). This additional Willpower will
never exceed your permanent Willpower rating but
simply bolster Your temporary rating.
Claws (1pt/3 pt Physical Merit)
This mutation is commented upon by Virstania
in the earlier records of her research in that
most of the specimens emerged from Gestation
manifesting talons of one form or another (those
of a wolf, eagle or rat, for example). Creatures with
this heritage are believed to instinctively possess
rudimentary knowledge of Protean, though all
Castings as well as sired Gargoyles were observed
to possess them in roughly equal proportion.
You have claws protruding from your extremities,
which provide you with unarmed attacks which
deal Strength +1 lethal damage. This Merit costs 1
point for Gargoyles, but may also be taken by non-
Gargoyles (usually Gangrel, Nosferatu, Nagaraja,
and similar) for 3 points.
Additional Wings (4 or 6pt Physical Merit)
For 4 points, rather than a single pair of wings,
you possess four, he dorsal pair shared by all
Gargoyles being growing from your shoulder
blades. The ventral wings, meanwhile, sprout from
unique joints grown across the back of your rib
cage. The experience cost modifier of increasing
the Flight Discipline with two pairs of wings is
decreased by 1, making it 4× current level.
For 6 points, alongside the dorsal and ventral
sets wings, you have a third, paranotal pair
54 Chapter Three: Hearts of Stone
sprouting from new joints located on the pelvis.
Ironically, unlike Gargoyles with two pairs of
wings - who are occasionally seen as mutants or
even insect like - you are revered by some due
to the likeness you share with ancient angelic
iconography, specifically by the Grigori. The
experience cost modifier of increasing the Flight
Discipline with three pairs of wings is decreased by
2, making it 3× the current level.
Flaws
All Gargoyles are born different, and this is
most evident in the mutations they gain during
Gestation or as a result of the Embrace. These
mutations can be considered Flaws due to their
debilitating effects, though they can come with the
minor perk of providing a Gargoyle with a greater
sense of individuality among its kin. Some of these
Flaws relegate a Gargoyle to a position of weakness
within an Eyrie, rare is the Grotesquerie which will
not nurture those with Flaws that hinder unlife.
Erosion (5pt Physical Flaw)
You were born wrong. Your flesh does not
have the bonded crystalline indestructibility like
your brothers. Every night is a harrowing process
of physical dissolution, as your skin, flesh, and
bone gradually dry and fall off. Every physically,
mentally, or emotionally stressful ordeal you
undergo causes a portion of your flesh to crumble
away to nothing. Any significant activity causes
your body to slowly erode away. Erosion inflicts
one level of un-soakable bashing damage each
time you either perform a reflexive action (such as
blocking or dodging) or perform multiple actions
in one turn.
Alongside this horrific malady comes the social
disgrace. Most Gargoyles with this Flaw will
have been a Sedimus ghoul before Embrace or
gestation, which means they were not worthy of
the Embrace in early life. Though a Grotesquerie
will not look down upon one, though they will
choose others for important missions or to place
their trust in. Irrespective of whether this is
how you got this Flaw, others will automatically
presume it is and treat you in kind, imposing a +1
penalty to Social rolls with other Gargoyles at the
Storyteller’s discretion.
The to and fro of discussion between Cordwood
and Virstania led to a remark over Alvusia’s
physique. Though Alvusia’s form did not need
to be so grossly and excruciatingly expanded,
her presentation was made to invoke imagery of
the goddess Venus and the traditional fertility
statues in her likeness. This was gleefully added to
Alvusia’s design - Virstania saw it as a fitting gift to
one of her daughters, whereas Cordwood thought
it more than sufficient punishment - and the pair
continued without much further thought on the
matter.
Medusa’s Stare (5pt Supernatural Flaw)
You seem to bestow the mark of Visceratika on
every being you see. After being in your gaze for
the majority of one night, the victim’s skin will
begin to dry and their hair to stiffen. After three
nights their skin will become mottled and grey,
after five nights their flesh will calcify, and after
a full week in your presence, an individual’s body
will become rigid with stoney flesh, like the your
own.
This effect is a shadow of the your Mimesis
being inflicted upon the world around her. If any
Kindred suffering from this effect manage to flee
before the week is out, remain away from your
presence for even a single night and day, they will
revert to their former undead state, but once their
bodies fully take on the your curse, the effect is
irreversible. Any mortal affected your Flaw will
never recover regardless of how long they had been
in contact with you. Human doctors will presume
that this effect is the result of a debilitating skin
condition which, to its fullest, will leave them void
of function and mobility.
Missing Piece (2pt/4pt/7 pt Physical Flaw)
After the Embrace, the you undergo a traumatic
loss in addition to the harrowing experience of
immobility, as a portion of your body becomes
weaker over the course of the first night, until
finally it crumbles away like a dead leaf before your
eyes. If you are playing as a Cast Gargoyles with
this Flaw, you simply emerge from Gestation with
part of your body missing due to the vagaries of
Clanbook: Gargoyles
the process or incompetence on the part of their
creator. The portion is entirely missing rather
than damaged or withered, leaving behind it not
a stump or a scar but a flat, ‘cauterised’ section
of stone as if the portion had been neatly carved
away.
For 2 points, the you have a small feature like
a nose, an ear, or a finger. The loss can actually
look fairly interesting, like a battle scar, though
its impact will impose a +1 difficulty on your rolls
relating to it, be they manual Dexterity or specific
sensory Perception.
For 4 points, a larger body part like a foot, a
jaw or a pectoral muscle. The hindrance of this
loss is much greater as it actively inhibits nightly
function. Difficulty will be increased by +2 for any
rolls involving its use.
For 7 points, a truly drastic loss like a pelvis,
the entire abdominal region (leaving a spine
connecting pelvis to torso), or half of the your
head.
This Flaw, as well as increasing the difficulty of
rolls using your afflicted Attribute by +2, reduces
that Attribute permanently to 1 dot and prevents
it from being increased. Your Intelligence would
be limited if you lost half of your brain, your
Dexterity reduced if your pelvis was lost, and your
Stamina would be crippled if you existed with an
exposed chest cavity and spine.
Still Image (5pt/7pt Supernatural Flaw)
Though this mutation may be regarded as both a
gift and a curse it is certainly a spectacle to behold.
While most Gargoyles exist for the company
they keep there are some that take a horrific
turn during Gestation and develop a completely
opposite nature. Usually possessed by Simulacra,
this defect completely cuts the Gargoyle off
from any social or community based interaction
whatsoever.
Every time you are seen by a sapient being, you
freeze on the spot, turning into a solid statue made
from an incongruous stone material. You will be
unidentifiable as a life form and will be considered
a true statute by any who see you, in the correct
setting. This means that the you will know only
55
an abnormal and strained existence, and find it
impossible to fit in within any Grotesquerie due
to this crippling physical limitation. (Obviously,
this Flaw is especially crippling for Sentinel-cast
Gargoyles, for whom this Flaw is worth 7 points).
As per the Visceratika power Dark Statue (see
page 51), whenever a player has become a solid
statue, they cannot use any Disciplines (even purely
mental ones) until they regain animation. Despite
this. they are still aware in their petrified state and
experience everything around them.
Withered Wings (3pt Physical Flaw)
Your wings should be points of pride, a social
statement, and useful foci for Disciplines. After
your Gestation, however, you have suffered an
embarrassing mutation whereby your wings are
stunted or simply undeveloped. With this flaw you
will never be able to increase your Flight above
level one, and you will be seen as generally weak by
your superiors, both Gargoyle and Kindred alike
(which may impose increased difficulties on Social
rolls according to Storyteller’s discretion).
Abhorrence
No Gargoyle comes out of Gestation identical
to another, with the exception of only a few
notable ases where some have been deliberately
moulded to be. They will always vary in ways often
overlooked by all bar their sire. The ritual to create
them itself is open to so many variables that even
a shaman trained enough to design a Gargoyle
Wingspans
The wings of a Gargoyle demonstrate his
mastery over the Flight Discipline to all, a
fact of his physiology that he is incapable of
hiding from others. Unfortunately, wing sizes
do not change to fit the Gargoyle’s natural
height, meaning that tall Gargoyles with low
ratings in Flight have disproportionately small
wings, while diminutive Gargoyles with high
Flight ratings have overbearingly large wings
for their stature.
56 Chapter Three: Hearts of Stone
down to their very smallest warts and stalactites
cannot prevent at least minor deviations from the
intended result. This also carries in Gargoyle vitae
and grants their Embraces a wildly mutagenic
quality.
Rather than the player simply not being allowed
to place points in Appearance when playing a
Gargoyle, this optional rule grants Gargoyles access
to a new Attribute called Abhorrence, which has a
base value of 1 dot and may be increased like any
other Attribute. A Gargoyle’s Abhorrence rating
can only provide dice to rolls made to inspire
fear or anger towards the character in others; in
the case of Social rolls made to engender positive
emotions, it increases the difficulty by a number
equal to the rating (to a maximum of 10).
Each point of Abhorrence will make the
Gargoyle more horrific in the eyes of others. The
player chooses features to ‘enhance’ the physical
appearance of the character, selecting one feature
for each level of the Gargoyle’s Abhorrence
attribute. Each feature is gained at the same level
as the level of Abhorrence it was chosen for.
Doing this can help the player engage with her
Gargoyle more in play and create engaging stories
- the Toreador likes your translucent crystal skin
and takes you as her ward; the inquisitor (mortal
or Sabbat) sees your horns as a sign of demonic
influence or allegiance and seeks to kill you; your
animal features are similar to that of another
Gargoyle which creates envy and competition, and
so on.
When using these rules, the player of a Gargoyle
must choose one Abhorrent feature, for each level
of Abhorrence her character has. The severity of
each feature depends on the level of of Abhorrence
it was chosen for. Each Gargoyle’s base dot of
Abhorrence must be used to purchase the Petrified
Flesh feature, unless the player wishes to use that
point for another feature and take Petrified Flesh
to a higher rank (after spending Attribute points
or Freebie points to increase Abhorrence). The
highest level of each Abhorrence feature grants
the character unique benefits in exchange for his
extreme malformation.
 Handsome Dan’s Abhorrence Features
Handsome Dan (the narrator of Chapter One) serves as a good example of reasonably advanced
Abhorrence. Dan’s twisted, 6-foot frame is truly horrific. Almost all of his bones jut out like large
Tudor-style crossbeams, with browning red-brick skin padding the flesh between each beam.
Rounded ‘cables’ of flesh hang from his back, apparently reeled around his joints like those of an
abandoned ocean liner. His eyes stretch grotesquely down his face like large translucent ‘windows’
flecked with red, devoid of pupils. Dan simply views these as adding character, hence his nickname
(which he insists is not ironic). He is rarely seen without a brown flat cap atop his gnarled head. He
even owns a tailor made frock coat which he gleefully displayed at a ‘Bloodlines ball’ in recent nights.
Abhorrence features: Accentuation 1, Architecture Growths 2, Petrified Flesh 3

Example: Max is creating his Gargoyle, who has Gargoyle-Specific Features

three dots in Abhorrence. Wanting his character to
Those features listed below are those specific to
appear as a classic church grotesque, Max chooses
Gargoyle appearance. Almost no vampire outside
to distribute the levels as follows: Horns, Talons
of the Gargoyle bloodline will be able to manifest
and Tusks at level one (granting the character
any of these features. As with Mimesis, Gargoyles
small, stubby horns), Petrified Flesh at level two
Embraced by the same sire or Gestated within
(creating a thin but distinct layer of rough stone
the same Womb-Bearer will often possess similar
over the character’s body) and withering at level
features as a result of their creation.
three (leaving the character only three feet tall or
so). Petrified Flesh
Synergy The hallmark of their bloodline, each and every
Gargoyle - cast, Embraced, or Misbegotten - has
It is suggested that you blend the features for
Petrified Flesh. It is unknown quite what part of
each level of Abhorrence in order to give your
the creation ritual unerringly endows mutilated
Gargoyle a unique appearance. Hunch 4 and
Kindred flesh this mineral composition, but no
Architecture 3, for example, might result in a
Gargoyle on earth is without it. Petrified Flesh is
Roman pillar growing from the back; Spines
also the only feature tied to a Discipline; as non-
2 and Animal Features 1 could provide longer
Gargoyle Kindred improve their understanding of
but thinner quills like those of a porcupine; or
Visceratika, they also develop this Abhorrence to a
Shrinkage 3 and Elongation 2 can produce a
limited degree.
creature with shriveled legs and elongated arms
who must bound along for movement on the • Your skin has become more of a mineral
ground. coating, with rough chunks visible across every
part of your skin.
Abhorrence 6+ •• The roughened chunks become inflexible
Any low-generation Construct with a physical and rigid, even sharp in some places. This grainy
form so repulsive as to have reached Abhorrence exterior will have a notably inhuman colouration,
6 will present a spectacle seemingly in violation changing from the Gargoyles original skin to a
of universal law. Any mortal or ghoul (other mottled grey or similar colour.
than his own) who witnesses such a Gargoyle will
••• Your body is so thoroughly coated in thick,
automatically enter a blind frenzy, fleeing to at
rock-like skin that you grind faintly as you move,
least a distance of 100 feet.
creating a subtle crunching noise and depositing

Clanbook: Gargoyles 57
small amounts of inorganic rock dust behind you.
•••• You appear to be a mobile rock formation,
with no easily recognizable human characteristics.
Your arms and legs may even blend in with
your skin when folded. Small depressions and
protrusions might give your body ‘caves’ of
missing flesh and overhanging ‘crags’ of tissue.
These marks can become points of pride to elder
Gargoyles to flaunt amongst their Grotesquerie.
••••• No features, facial or otherwise, may be
discerned within the cracks and coves of your rigid
mantle. Moreover, another Gargoyle may try to use
you to perform the third level of Visceratika, since
the top three inches of your flesh have transmuted
into entirely inorganic stone.
Variations: The player can choose and variety of
stone or stone like substance they find appealing.
Suggestions include marble, granite, obsidian,
quartz, hematite, tarmac, and brick.
Architecture
Gargoyles have an innate connection to
structure, home, and hearth, to the point that
many constructs seem to be just that - constructed.
Elements of architecture will appear in their flesh,
from small rivet indentations to tiles inlaid along
their wing membranes. This feature emerges as an
accentuation of the Gargoyle’s Mimesis and only
manifests in Gargoyles which have a history with
man-made structures, whether they underwent
Gestation in one and/or have made their Eyries in
one long enough to develop substantial Mimesis.
All elements of this feature will match the
architectural style of the building which the
Gargoyle is Mimetically linked to, as well as its
level of maintenance and repair. As such, the
precise effects of this feature are for the Storyteller
and the player to mutually determine.
• Pronounced, square-edged edges might run
down your legs and arms. Your ears might be
squared and inflexible.
•• Your eyes might be angular, resembling
stained-glass windows. Your skin might bear
distinct brickwork patterning which changes for
each area of your body.
58 Chapter Three: Hearts of Stone
••• You might possess sloped frills at every
joint like a pagoda roof; small deep slits might be
aligned all across your skin like embrasures, and
even your brow ridge might sport ornamentation.
•••• Your eyes might be completely clear, square
panes of crystal glass. Inch-thick brickwork might
coat your entire skin. Your skull might become
pointed and almost twice as tall as normal, with
miniature steeple protrusions running the length
of your collar bone. You resemble a walking
church, castle, skyscraper, or other building in
miniature.
••••• Your flesh may simulate apparently non-
mineral features. Functional miniature wooden
shutters might serve for your eyelids (on drawstring
tendons), plastic guttering transports blood
around your body, and a cranial chimney stack
might perpetually emits smoke. You may even
possess miniature gargoyles fixed to your shoulders
resembling Grotesquerie mates. This is arguably
the most disturbing of the Gargoyle features and
may cause an increase in the difficulty of courage
tests while at this level.
Variations: The above are simply examples of
physical features, any form of architecture can be
used; postmodern, art deco, gothic, baroque, as
well as any region of the world at the storyteller’s
discretion.
Engravings
Due to the mysterious nature of the Gargoyles’
creation, no scholar truly knows each and every
procedure Virstania undertook while devising her
famous ritual. Every now and then, a Gargoyle
emerges with evidence of her magnificent
work scrawled into his flesh like a forgotten
memorandum to herself.
• Your flesh is indented with rows of arcane script.
•• The quantity of text stretching across your skin
multiplies. Each symbol may be carved around half
a centimeter deep into your flesh.
••• The hundreds of inch-deep inscriptions may
make wild courses across your body. Your eyes
could even be ladened with sigils running down
every vein, as well as every millimeter of your skin.
•••• Many thousands of runes might appear
across your flesh and could occasionally glow with
arcane power, or seem to be carved so deep that
only darkness can be seen within their grooves.
••••• Rather than static markings across your
flesh, the pictographs may continuously rewrite
themselves as they continually scrawl across your
body. The sound of stone being carefully chiseled
might often be heard from you as new symbols
form every second of the night. Anyone with an
Occult rating of five may even use you to learn
new metaphysical knowledge.
Variations: Any form of arcane calligraphy
can be used along with symbols of any school
of magical thought, though there exists an
unsurprising tendency towards the hermetic.
Those manifested by modern Gargoyles are cave
imagery, alchemical symbols, and hieroglyphs
depicting key moments in Tremere and Gargoyle
history, though descending Sanskrit text and
primal glyphs are all possible.
Layers
Like the very earth from which the Gargoyles
derive their resilient mantle, the flesh of many
Rockheads separates like sediment to form
numerous layers.
•Your body is split into a handful of horizontal
layers, the number of which increase exponentially
according to age, generation, and Visceratika
rating. The older you are, the lower your
generation, and the higher your Visceratika, the
more layers you have. Skin texture will subtly
change between the layers from smooth to rough
to grainy, and so on. The layers are clearly visible
from a moderate distance, like looking at a cliff
face.
•• The differences in layer colour may become
quite startling. They might take on the appearance
of any mineral: black obsidian, white marble,
yellow sand, or red ruby for example.
••• The layers now produce overhangs, inch-wide
ridges that appear as if the layers are somehow
detaching. The overhang will be in a different
direction for each layer. This effect makes it appear
as if the Gargoyle has been sliced into numerous
Clanbook: Gargoyles
pieces.
•••• The ridges are now so distinct and
pronounced that they possess a three inch
overhang on every layer. This effect of separation
makes it look as if they are clearly falling apart.
••••• The layers become entirely separated,
meaning that the Kindred can physically detach
each layer while only suffering one level of Lethal
damage per layer removed, rather than suffering
aggravated damage or even final death. This
damage may be healed normally once the layers are
reattached.
Variations: The player can have their layers
vertically or diagonally if desired.
Weathering
This feature mimics the natural decay, erosion,
and weathering of stone when exposed to the
elements.
• Most of your skin may have crumbled away,
leaving sections of musculature exposed. What
flesh remains may be covered in small cracks or
even worn away to a smooth finish.
•• Your fingers may be weathered to the extreme,
exposing the thin tips of bone. Some parts of your
skin, like the forehead, might have crumbled away,
displaying a brittle and worn skull. Even portions
of your wing membrane may be missing, though
not to a degree that affects your ability to fly.
••• Most of your flesh is a matted, granite-laden
sludge coating your bones; significant patches
of your body are reduced to eroded depressions.
Many appendages have been stripped of their
flesh, exposing significant portions of bone.
•••• You may be worn as thin as a lampost. Your
face may be nothing more than a fractured old
skull and you might have fist-sized holes passing
straight through your entire body. Bones and
organs might protrude, resembling slate shards.
Your wings might be almost completely skeletal
only thin sludge veins keeping the bones together.
••••• You might have been reduced to nothing
but a dried mud skeleton, in which case even
projectiles can pass through you, having no flesh
to collide with. Blood seems to be stored inside
59
your marrow, as only small capillaries can be found
matted in the sludge around your bones.
Alternatively you may have an inverted form of
weathering, causing intact portions of your body -
your head; your chest; your forearms; or your shins
- to be connected to one another by only one string
of thin sinew, held up by unknown and unnatural
forces.
General Abhorrence Features
Though they reflect the Gargoyle condition just
as well as any other feature, some features can be
found in other Kindred cursed with inhuman
ugliness. At the Storyteller’s discretion, Nosferatu
and bloodlines with Appearance 0 as a weakness,
as well as characters with the Monstrous Flaw (see
V20 page 482), may make use of the Abhorrence
rules and use the features listed below. (For a more
in-depth treatment of Abhorrence and specific
features for other types of Kindred, amongst many
other things, see the upcoming Storytellers Vault
book The Endless Death).
Accentuation
A strange emergence similar to a feature of
grotesques found on some small churches in
Western Europe, Accentuation represents the
enlargement of a particular part of the Gargoyles
body, leading to unwieldy and impractical
forms. Only one particular body part should be
accentuated rather than a number of them to give
a more dramatic and grotesque effect, although
any part can be effected.
• Your most naturally prominent feature has
grown to double its original size: a nose, your
buttocks, or your hands for example.
•• Multiple body parts may expand up to three
times as large as normal: Feet will begin to look
more like large flippers; breasts balloon out; eyes
bulge like those of a fish.
••• Many features may have grown to more than
three times their natural size. Abdomens become
large and rotund, thighs expand like tree trunks,
and ears stand a foot from the skull.
•••• You now have certain features which make
you unidentifiable as human. Your lips might be
60 Chapter Three: Hearts of Stone
the only visible part of your face, your head might
be is five times its natural size, or your palms might
span two square feet when spread out.
••••• Any mortal who sees you will be struck
with pure terror, as your body parts may have
expanded to more than five times their natural
size. Your cheeks might be as big as tires, your
shoulders may jut out to three feet either side of
your body, or your tongue might loll from your jaw
like a loose neck tie.
Animal Characteristics
This feature is most often brought about when
a Gargoyle is Gestated using Gangrel ‘ingredients;
the results of the Outlanders’ Clan weakness is
sometimes carried over to the new Gargoyle foetus,
and the descendants of these cast Gargoyles may
carry on this bestial legacy.
• You have numerous small features: A vestigial
beak on your top lip; scales running across an area
of your skin; or slightly pointed ears like a fennec
fox.
•• You have one major feature such as: A
large turtle shell spanning the length of your
back; a long giraffe neck (similar to the effects
of elongation but with fur patterning); or thick
feathery down coating your skin.
••• You have two major features twisting your
already inhuman frame: The entire head of an
eagle; two bear forelegs disproportionate to the
rest of your body replacing your arms; or two long
snake tails in place of your legs.
•••• You are entirely inhuman with half of your
body taken up by an array of animal features, all
from misfit animals. For example, you may bear
the long chitinous legs of a cricket (increased
in size to human proportions), the striped tail
of a lemur, and the abdomen of an electric eel.
Alternatively you can be entirely composed of one
animal’s features and appear as a perfect replica of
that animal, with no human features to be seen,
but still with petrified flesh.
••••• The highest level of this Abhorrence
brings about more supernatural aspects of the
Beast into your body. Your vocal cords might adapt
to naturally communicate with animals; your aura
might resemble that of a Gargoyle animal and not
a true vampire; or your blood may taste only as
sweet to other vampires as that of a natural animal.
In addition, your entire body is composed of
between six and eight major animal features, all of
different animals, making you look like a horrific
chimaera.
Biome
Kindred vitae is stored beneath their skin, sitting
statically and radiating regenerative energy into
the surrounding dead cells. In some particularly
freakish vampires, this energy can be picked
up by the spores of nearby flora who root into
this hidden ‘water table’ of blood and make a
permanent residence. Some poor Kindred gather
more than simple mold patches through this
process, becoming home to an ecosystem of floral
life and giving them the appearance of the fabled
Green Man or Leshy.
• The stone flesh endemic of your bloodline is
coated with lichen patches that cover your whole
body, interspersed with numerous mounds of moss
and algae.
•• Thin leafy vines are permanently entangled
around your flesh, roping in and out like veins.
The leaves of these vines are a deep and vibrant
red, depending on how recently you - and in turn
they - have fed.
••• Your floral parasites are unmissable due to
the thickened red and black foliage and barked
saplings growing from your skin. Your features
become hidden by the thick overgrowth around
your body and the growths begin to significantly
increase your overall size.
•••• Multiple thick bushes, three foot tall trees,
and fungi as wide as dinner plates may sprout from
your flesh, creating a perversely natural-looking
buildup of undergrowth and canopy. You have
become entirely obscured by the blood red leaves
of the vines mummifying your body.
••••• Your flesh has gone beyond supporting a
small floral ecosystem; now even termites and ants
have invaded, carving your back and shoulders
into a colossal nest. Readily fruiting trees feed
Clanbook: Gargoyles
these nests with flowers and thicker foliage coating
it. The fruit of this ecosystem can be used to ghoul
anything that consumes it.
Variations: The flora used can be of any
particular region or even an eclectic mix -
coniferous forests, rainforests, kelp forests, and
deciduous forests, to give a few examples. The
Storyteller may even allow a dedicated fungal
biome, unnaturally tall mushrooms burrowing into
the Gargoyles flesh - which can even mutate into
cave caps (see page 119).
Elongation
This feature represents the elongation of
specific areas of the body, usually the neck,
arms, and abdomen. It is considered something
of a ‘high society’ feature amongst Gargoyle
Grotesqueries, and is proudly sported by the
subterranean Gargoyle residents of the Parisian
catacombs, resulting from their Mimesis with the
Notre Dame Cathedral. As with Accentuation,
it is advisable to only make one element of the
Gargoyle’s body elongated. This will provide more
impact than their entire body being contorted
and dysfunctional, and prevent characters from
becoming too difficult to play by virtue of their
mutations. The height restrictions of some
buildings will give Gargoyles with the highest levels
of this feature some hurdles to overcome.
• Your limbs and neck can gain an extra six inches
in length. Your fingers each extend by an inch or
you can gain a foot in length to your abdominal
region.
•• Your already gangly limbs, along with your
neck and abdomen grow by around two feet,
becoming disturbing even to most Kindred. Your
digits extend by four inches each.
••• You have features that have managed to
stretch to four times their natural size, making you
seem nauseating to behold. Your limbs have grown
by well over three feet; your neck is now two feet
long; your abdomen is six and a half feet long,
causing you resemble a snake, worm, or eel.
•••• Your disproportionate body has limbs of
around five feet in length, and each digit reaches
to nearly a foot. Your neck, now almost three feet
61
long, can flex and stretch around corners.
••••• Your limbs finally extend to illogical
proportions, each being six and a half feet long,
making you resemble a colossal spider. Your torso
now stretches to nine feet in length, and can
contract to provide greater flexibility.
Growths
This provides the Gargoyle with a classic ‘troll
under the brigde’ appearance, with stalactites
dripping from their jaw line and numerous
unusual bulges across their body. These growths
simply manifest as alterations to the Petrified Flesh
covering the Gargoyle’s body.
• Many hard warts span the length of the
Kindred’s body with an angular tip to them,
making them protrude around an inch from the
skin.
•• These spikes are as long as human fingers, and
individual examples are longer than the others:
Those running down your back; those hanging
from your chin; or those stalagmites pointing up
from your shoulders, head and feet.
••• The spines stretch as far as a foot from
your body. Now looming more like an unusual
rock formation than a natural ailment, they have
become a highly disconcerting feature of your body
for any Kindred observer.
•••• The spines are now two-foot-long columns
bursting out of your flesh and stretching as long
as your forearm. They point in every possible
direction, with no logical patterning.
••••• Your body is entirely coated in spikes and
growths, each almost three feet in length, making
you look like a humanoid sea urchin. Anyone
touching you with any force will receive two dice of
lethal damage from these. Alternatively stalactites
descend from your body, reaching down as far as
the floor.
Variations: These growths can appear as
stalagmites and stalactites, slate shards, and even
‘beautiful’ crystal columns (all emerging from your
skin at different points and in different directions)
irrespective of whichever mineral you have chosen
your Petrified Flesh to consist of.
62 Chapter Three: Hearts of Stone
Horns, Talons & Tusks
There are very few Gargoyles throughout
history that did not emerge from their creation
- whichever form that may have taken - without
horns and claws. As with a lack of wings, or having
particularly small or atrophied wings, not having
horns or claws was usually seen as a statement
of weakness during the days of the Revolt. This
social construct is largely absent in free Gargoyle
society, however, though it persists within the
Flock. Until the fifth level, the ‘weapons’ provided
by this feature are impressive but blunt, and as
such provide no change in the bashing damage of
unarmed attacks.
• Small natural armaments grow from your head,
hands, and/or mouth. These bone blades are
obvious from even cursory inspection.
•• The natural weapons grow to almost a foot
in length from your body, making you look like a
prehistoric beast.
••• Your weapons have reached the length of
a man’s forearm, twisting and contorting as they
will. Even tusks and talons can grow this long,
becoming much more of a power statement than
actual weaponry.
•••• Your tusks stretch down like short swords
as far as your chest, your horns grow like spears
for a four foot above your head resembling skeletal
tree branches, and your talons grow like daggers
between every knuckle.
••••• Extravagant scrimshaw-like patterns
decorate your thick horns, talons, or tusks as they
weave around your head, hands, and jaw. At this
point in the features evolution the armaments
become sharp enough to deal harm, providing
Strength +2 lethal damage on unarmed attacks.
Variations: Any natural horns, antlers, talons,
claws, tusks, or teeth can be used. Potential
examples include: longhorn sheep or narwhal for
horns; sabre-toothed cat or beaver for tusks or
teeth; hawk or bear for impressive talons or claws.
Hunch
As well as Gargoyles, many Nosferatu suffer with
this feature, almost to the point of it being a cliche.
It gradually swells the flesh around the Gargoyles
spine creating a hunch which, given time, re-molds
their body into a quadrupedal position under its
sheer indomitable size.
• Your shoulders have swollen up to your jawline
and around the base of your skull, forcing your
head to permanently point forwards.
•• The now colossal hump on your back has
swollen, pushing your shoulder up to around a
foot high. This hunch makes your head point
downward almost permanently and significantly
arches your back.
••• You are constantly bent forward under the
weight of your hunch, it has expanded to almost
two feet high, now towering above your head. This
forces you to walk with a pronounced hobble to
your step.
•••• The hunch is so overbearing you must walk
by bounding along on all fours for most of the
night. It is now a clear three feet high and wide.
••••• The hunch has grown to the point that
you have become quadrupedal. your head will even
have melded up into the hump removing any trace
of a neck. You look more like a crab than anything
close to a human being. However, this does mean
that your organs have rearranged as well; your
heart and brain now reside deep within this tower
of flesh. Any lethal damage you receive is also
halved as bashing damage is.
Minimalism
A particularly disturbing feature stemming solely
from the alien vitae of the Tzimisce, it inverts
everything that members of that Clan hold dear
about mutation and evolution, stripping them of
their unique and empowering visages. Gargoyles
cursed by this abhorrence are labeled with the
derogatory nickname ‘mannequins’, and are
usually shunned by every sane Kindred the world
over.
• Every physical characteristic of your being such
as warts, wrinkles, lesions, boils, colour variation,
Clanbook: Gargoyles
and other irregularities become entirely smoothed
out and standardised.
•• Your eyebrow ridge and jaw line recede to
make your head resemble a smooth egglike dome;
your nose and ears shrink to a quarter of their
usual size, looking more like spots than sensory
organs; and every last growth on your skin is made
completely level.
••• Your fingers become smooth rods with
no nails or joint creases; your eye sockets come
forward to become level with your face, resembling
simple patterning on a flat surface; and any hair
on the body is entirely lost.
•••• Your body is finally that of a mannequin;
you are a smooth and undefined mass with
nothing but a slit for a mouth and pin holes for
your eyes, nostrils and ears. This makes it difficult
for anyone to get any emotional reading from you,
deliberate or otherwise.
••••• This level of Minimalism goes beyond
the physical with other elements of your self being
‘sanitised’. Your aura may become bleached,
leaving a clear haze surrounding you; it may be
that no sound results from your footsteps or wing
beats; or your vitae may become as tasteless as
water (though still beneficial).
Tails
Commonly possessed by all three Clans
associated with the Gargoyle bloodlines and
the Constructs themselves - Gangrel, Nosferatu,
and Tzimisce. Tails seem to crop up in the flesh
from all mutagenic vitae. This feature may seem
synonymous with Animal Features (alongside
which it often appears), it instead provides
additional tails for every level taken rather than a
single increasingly unusual tail.
• You have grown a tail, around half the normal
size of one of your legs. The tail is coated in
bare skin with an arrow head point at its tip and
cannot act as an independent appendage due to its
thinness and pointed tip.
•• Another tail joins the first one; both are now
as long as your legs. The movement of each tail is
erratic and unpredictable creating a continuous
63
writhing effect behind you. •••• You are proportionally four feet shorter
••• Three substantially long tails grow from your than normal. Human witnesses will likely either
back. They are constantly in motion and seem to flee in terror or attempt to record you and post it
possess rudimentary independent thought, lashing the footage online.
out at passers by, knocking items off of shelves ••••• You are proportionally only one foot
and generally causing havoc when you are angry, tall. Though you cannot possibly be mistaken
agitated, hungry, or otherwise disturbed. for a natural human being, you can be easily
•••• Your body is now endowed with four tails, overlooked. Stealth and Flight are easier to you (at
each double the length of your spine. They are a -2 difficulty) due to your diminutive stature.
still capable of movement, but you can exercise a Variations: You can modify this Abhorrence by
greater degree of control over them. either reducing your overall size by a foot each level
••••• Like a nest of vipers emerging from the or significantly whither a single body part per level
base of your spine, five tails writhe in your wake. (in a similar but reverse way to Accentuation).
They are capable of twist above your head and
attempt to grapple passers-by when your Beast
is roused. These tails are so developed and well-
connected to your nervous system that by spending
a temporary Willpower point you can control
all five for one turn, each of which can deal one
attack as a single action for all five. Each tail may
strike a different or the same target, though they
only deal Strength-1 bashing damage.
Withering
Withering is famous in Gargoyle culture due to
its appearance on the Scout Mould, Fidus; it is
from it that he gained his moniker ‘the Shrunken
Beast’. It simply reduces a Gargoyle’s overall
stature and build.
•You are proportionally a foot shorter than you
normally would be. Though this only makes
you look smaller than average, it still creates the
uncanny feeling that you have been shrunken,
both in yourself and in others.
•• You are proportionally two feet shorter than
normal. This significantly outlines you as not an
average person, it will appear as if you suffer from
some form of dwarfism. You must take the Short
Flaw (V20 page 481).
••• You are proportionally three feet shorter
than normal. You are now very clearly inhuman,
more closely resembling a stunted imp or
homunculus than a human being due to your
wings and other abhorrent features.

64 Chapter Three: Hearts of Stone

Clanbook: Gargoyles 65
 Chapter Four:
Of Mingled Blood
A Bloodline’s Bloodlines
The majority of Gargoyles in existence tonight
are sired, meaning that they have been Embraced
by a Gargoyle capable of the act (which are also
now in the majority), in much the same way as
other Kindred. One night they were human,
the next they began the traumatic process of
Gestation, their bodies warp and their minds are
wiped blank as they are reanimated by the power
of the sire’s blood.
Nonetheless, there still exist a notable number
of Gargoyles who were already vampires before
their Gestation. In these cases their previous
bodies (often along with those of other Kindred)
have been used in various rituals designed to bring
forth new Gargoyles.
There are two broad groups of non-sired
Gargoyles: the Cast (who are considered by some
to be the most ‘pure’) and the Misbegotten (widely
recognised by those who know of them at all as
the least). Rare though members of these ‘sub-
bloodlines’ of Gargoyles may be, they are not so
few in number as to be completely discounted.
The cast represent the grisly origins of Gargoyle-
kind, while its strange and unpredictable future
can be seen in the Misbegotten.

66 Chapter Four: Of Mingled Blood

The Castings their bodies do not heal correctly - an inheritance
of the vile legacy of Vicissitude. Ultimately it
Of the ‘pure’ breed of Gargoyles, those grown
would seem that the Clan or Clans of the victims
within a womb-bearer or Gestation chamber
did not matter nearly so much as the methods
rather than having been Embraced, there are
used.
three recognized ‘Castings’, each suited to a
different duty or set of duties. The number of In the eyes of Goratrix and their Mother, the
Cast Gargoyles produced every year - which has Castings were cutting edge magical innovations,
been low for many centuries - has plummeted wrought according to a refined art. Gradually,
even further since Virstania parted violently with however, these beings became redundant compared
the Clan, taking with her much of the original to the next big thing - the sired Gargoyles. Thanks
materials and formulae, and the creation of new to Virstania’s constant improvements to her
Gargoyles was outlawed by the signing of the formula, it eventually became more economic to
Montmartre Pact. have Gargoyles sire naturally than to source the
obscure ingredients required to merely create one
After Chaundice and most of his immediate
creature, never mind the months-long Gestation
‘children’ abandoned Ceoris, taking with him the
periods (almost a year in the case of Sentinels).
knowledge of true Gargoyle creation in his blood,
The Casting of a Gargoyle, however, did not pass
it was decreed by Goratrix that nothing like the
down to a Gargoyle’s childer; while this left them
escape of Chaundice and his progeny could be
free of the Casting’s imposed weaknesses, it also
allowed to happen again. As such, he instructed
left them bereft of their powers.
Virstania to amend At Our Command It Breathes
so that it could be used to create new, specialised As Virstania noticed the decline in her cast
Gargoyles, their loyalty ensured not only by children’s numbers, she created the Discipline of
inclination but by their very essences and bodies. Visceratika from the Gargoyle rituals she deemed
most useful for her children. Her hope was that
As Virstania added and subtracted various
the sired Gargoyles would become versatile enough
arcane and alchemical elements of her formulae
that each individual could perform any or all of
in order to give her children more specific forms
the Casting’s duties as necessary, though not as
and natures, the three Castings came to be. The
effectively as a cast Gargoyle would perform its
powders of additional, stronger types of rock were
specific role.
added and a longer Gestation period allowed
in order to provide the Sentinels with greater The Cast Gargoyles were maintained as
stamina. specialist units, while their sired counterparts
came to form the rank-and-file of the bloodline.
Virstania’s own vitae, filtered through the smoke
This combination of generalist and specialized
of incense derived from the roots of the strange
Gargoyles served very well during the Revolt, and
‘fire-flowers’ found throughout the Carpathians,
the cast still hold positions of respect in the minds
granted Scouts their keen senses and natural
of most Gargoyles, albeit often tinged with a
stealth. Kindred ash ground up with a drop of
certain pity.
Lupine blood imparted feral rage to the Warriors.
In the modern nights, no one truly knows the
original provenance of the Castings. For example,
some argue that Gangrel must have lent form to
the Scouts because of their survival instincts and
their drive to explore; others the Nosferatu, for
their possession of Obfuscate and their furtive
natures; and yet others the Tzimisce for their
manifestation of Auspex and the way in which

Clanbook: Gargoyles 67
Scouts
Quick, nimble and created to delve deep into
the heart of enemy strongholds to extract sensitive
information (or simply to turn its defenders to ash
while they rest), Scout-Cast Gargoyles have powers
and instincts designed to make them an unseen
force of ruin. The Scouts are seen as conniving
and mischievous as well as intelligent and quick.
As lone hunters it would be rare for a pack of
Scouts to be sent out rather than one individual,
they greatly value their privacy and their ability
to carry out tasks single handedly. Rituals of
invisibility and stone melding made them nearly
undetectable.
In the event they were found and attacked,
a failsafe was built into their makeup to resist
divulging Tremere secrets, as physical harm would
cause their flesh to solidify until it became wholly
calcified. As a result, they are the only Gargoyle
or even Kindred on earth whose bodies remain
after death, in the form of a frozen statuesque
effigy. The Scout-cast have developed a deep love
of sorcery. Their role was to learn secrets, and
what better secrets could there be than those
of the mystic arts? Starting with Fidus, many
young Scouts took on the position of Gargoyle
apprentices under Virstania, feeding their own
egos by believing they were a step above the other
Slaves, being taught the Mother’s own magic.
Tonight, those Scouts shunning a life of espionage
and secrecy will adopt the shaman’s way, becoming
the spiritual leader of their Eyrie and practicing
many rituals uniquely developed by Gargoyles, for
Gargoyles.
Nicknames: Shadows
Sect: The Flock is home to a vast number of cast
Scouts, most of which keep to their ‘natural’ role
as spies. They trawl the earth for escaped, freed or
sired Gargoyles, which Warriors may then abduct
and to adopt back into the Flock.
Children of Chaundice value the more shamanic
Scouts, for their values are solely focused around
the evolutin and elevation of Gargoyle kind.
Chaundice himself encourages close bonds with
the spirits of each Grotesquerie’s Eyrie.
68 Chapter Four: Of Mingled Blood
Anarchs value both sides of the Scout Casting,
using the stealth provided by Visceratika for their
various missions against the Camarilla and Sabbat.
Their shamanic sides are favoured by Ravnos and
Gangrel anarchs to the point of wonder and awe.
Appearance: Scouts more often than not take
on attributes of utter inhumanity with sunken
features, elongated limbs, and shrunken bodies.
Fidus was the first of his kind, and serves as an
example of the horror they can embody. Scouts
will frequently opt to learn Vicissitude at some
point in their unlives. Using this Discipline not
only has the potential of making them more
outwardly hideous but allows them to adopt a new
form for each mission.
If you choose to use the Abhorrence rule
(see page 56) Scouts suffer from an additional
Abhorrence feature, meaning they have two
automatic dots in Abhorrence rather the one
that Embraced Gargoyles have. Their additional
Abhorrence is Withering.
Eyries: An exclusively Scout Grotesquerie will
choose a more natural setting for their Eyrie. Cave
systems and mountain crags provide them nesting
grounds for most of their unlives. This oneness
with nature and their environment provides
more adaptive camouflage and a greater force
behind their animistic rituals. In Eyries with other
Gargoyles they will tend to only pay fleeting visits
rather than a permanent stay. Scouts often find it
hard to keep close ties with their family members,
preferring a more secluded and independent
approach to their duties.
Gestation: A Scout is often made small, with less
parts used in its design. Muscles, bones, and some
organs will be sacrificed to give the Scout a more
lithe shape (many of these rejected parts are fed
to the womb-bearer so as to circulate the foetus’s
natural humours within their amniotic fluid or
added to the gestation chamber).
After their birth they will flee from their
mewling brethren to seek isolation and time to
come to terms with their existence. For their
second night, they are suckled on the womb-
bearer’s necrotic bosom. Amongst the Flock, the
vitae they drink from Alvusia is carefully infused
with the incense of the strange ‘fire flower’, which
burns hot as it passes through her lactiferous duct.
This infancy awakens the Scout’s inhuman senses
and leaves them detached from their Grotesquerie.
Character creation: Intelligence, Perception,
and Dexterity are fundamental to this band of
Constructs. They will be focused on Stealth,
Survival, Athletics and Empathy to give them the
means to collect any information required.
Disciplines: Auspex, Flight, Obfuscate.
Weaknesses: Stealth and silence are all-important
to those Kindred cast in the guise of the Shrunken
Beast, their duties including the infiltration of
enemy strongholds and discovering the secrets
hidden therein.
Their weakness to them makes them more likely
to stick to an approach of secrecy and subtlety, as
their bodies react to physical harm with immediate
and painful petrification of the wounded area.
Scouts have their wound penalties doubled from
the intense discomfort and disabling nature of this
affliction. Due to this feature of their form, it is
impossible to torture a Scout-cast Gargoyle without
it becoming incapacitated long before it would
give over its secrets. The Storyteller may also elect
to entirely disable the use of a damaged limb after
aggravated damage has been sustained.
Grotesqueries: Scouts rarely meld into ‘family
life’, but rather sardonically berate each other, and
punish those whom they see as failing. The less
stealthy and more intellectual of Scouts become
shamans of the Eyrie, in which position they will
judge the failures of their kin and practice rituals
on them.
Clanbook: Gargoyles
The View from Without
Sired
“Their shifty ways are an antiquated strategy,
from back when we didn’t have cameras,
drones, and microphones. The sooner all of
them turn to sorcery the better.”
Warriors
“I have no time for underhanded trickery.
Our kind have too much potential to while
it away reading and scheming.”
Sentinels
“Our brothers are masters of misdirection,
but they suspect the same of others. We
want to trust them but they don’t trust us.”
Calacas
“All the time ya spent spreadin’ lies is a waste
of time better spent drinkin’ the rumblood.
Take a sip an’ say I’m wrong.”
Gorgons
“Their vile looks speak to chaos and discord.
Sre they spawns of the dark one?”
Mariners
“They’re so different to our own Scouts.
How do they sit still so long?”
Minkisi
“Our Magaji keep many spy masters in their
domains. They could never reach the Scout’s
potential, however.”
69
Sentinels
Overview and History: Large and imposing,
the Sentinels were cast to defend chantries
from the Tremere’s enemies, in particular from
the forces of the Tzimisce, such as the Vozhd
that frequently attempted to break through the
Warlocks’ defences. To their foes, these beasts
seem formidable, but they primarily serve defensive
roles in their Grotesqueries, drawing satisfaction
from nurturing fledglings and protecting the weak.
To keep the Sentinels from wandering from their
posts, Virstania was forced at Goratrix’s insistence
to endow them with a weakness whereby if they
ever abandoned their proper place in Ceoris, they
would become disorientated and confused.
These Grotesques tend to stay with the
adolescent members or the infirm to keep the
‘family unit’ together (possibly through deep-seated
fears of losing their family and falling to a bestial
mindset). In addition to these duties, Sentinels
rear Gargoyle beasts and ghouls from childhood,
teaching them who to respect and how to behave.
Nicknames: Stonewalls.
Sect: Sabbat Sentinels are an odd but common
group of gargoyles in the kindred world. Gargoyles
will often join a coven rather than a nomadic pack,
shunning the wandering lifestyle and choosing to
settle in a city. It is rare that a Sentinel will take a
title within the Sabbat, other than possibly pack
priest if they are particularly committed Noddists.
The Camarilla Embrace Sentinels readily, due
to their devotion to their company and incredible
resilience. With a Sentinel as seneschal (a greatly
unusual occurrence) a Prince may ensure they their
primogen will be duly cared for and no party will
be mistreated or harmed.
Particular Sentinels (especially those converted to
womb-bearers) choose to detach themselves from
humanity altogether and settle Grotesqueries in
mountainsides with a few Gargoyle acolytes. There
they are likely to breed massive nests of childer,
ignoring the local Kindred and kine in equal
measure.
70 Chapter Four: Of Mingled Blood
Appearance: Sentinels possess swollen and
overbearing features with little in the way of
fearsome weaponry or inhuman parts. They may
possess denominations such as boils, twisted limbs,
or unusual scarring, but their true horror comes
from their sheer mass.
If you choose to use the Abhorrence rule (see
page 56) Sentinels suffer from an additional
Abhorrence feature, meaning they have two
automatic dots in Abhorrence rather the one
that Embraced Gargoyles have. Their additional
Abhorrence feature is Accentuation, specifically in
the abdomen.
Eyries: Sentinels free of domination tend to make
their domains beneath cities - not because they
value the dank and the cold, but because they feel
sewers and subways to be accessible to all and more
easily fortifiable.
Sentinels take great care in how their Eyrie is
kept and presented, choosing locations that suit
their personalities. Curmudgeonly Constructs will
choose foreboding dens while excitable Gargoyles
choose the unused areas of busy subways,
perilously close to unsuspecting mortals.
Gestation: In many ways, Sentinels endure the
opposite creative process to Scouts. Their bodies
are padded out to give them greater mass than
they can necessarily support. This padding is often
sourced from rotting clumps of leftover Kindred
flesh (refuse which can also be used for iecur
production; see page 97).
This meat is encrusted in quartz dust before
being sewn into the foetus’s body. A Sentinel’s
Gestation is quite drawn out, and makes for an
especially agonizing experience for the womb
bearer; the foetus is barely small enough to
fit within her womb, meaning ribs and spinal
columns will easily become splintered, unable to
heal for the extended ten-month Gestation period.
In Gestation chambers, often the waxen seals will
crack and burst from the growing pressure within.
When the infant lumbers its titanic body
through the womb-bearer’s cervix they will (while
accompanied by other sentinels) consume the
surrounding placental matter rich with Vitae.
Character creation: Sentinels often have a close
understanding (for Gargoyles, at any rate) of
Crafts, Empathy, Expression, and Performance,
being able to educate and entertain the young of
their Grotesquerie. Brawl comes naturally to them,
though aggression is always a last resort in lieu of
steadfast resistance.
Disciplines: Flight, Fortitude, Potence.
Weaknesses: All Sentinels experience a complete
dependency on their own kind. These beings of
stone and flesh revel in the company of each other
to the point where they live for little else. At any
point that these Gargoyles are left in isolation,
without at least one master, dependent, or friend,
they become confused and disorientated, halving
all of their dice pools until such a relationship has
been formed or renewed.
Grotesqueries: Grotesqueries are more important
to Sentinels than other Castings, because of their
weakness, Sentinels know they will not be free
to live in solitude. To this end they stay in their
Eyries and around their Grotesque kin as much as
is possible. They tend to their kin like the Mother
herself, bathing them in love and dedication.
Most are willing to lay down their lives so the pack
survives (hence their station).
Clanbook: Gargoyles
The View from Without
Sired
“You were the only Kindred who cared for
our sires and grandsires. You loved them as
if they were cast. This kindness is not forgot-
ten.”
Warriors
“Your hearts are not made of stone like ours.
If not for us, your weakness would be your
downfall.”
Scouts
“You need more that an unmoving frame to
hold back the enemies of our Eyrie. A wall
of flesh and stone such as yourselves cannot
stop the forces of ignorance and falsehood.”
Calacas
“Now you I get! Live in comfort, care for
your friends and live how you want!”
Gorgons
“A temple would be truly blessed if a we rose
from Duat with your resilience.”
Mariners
“At least we share the love of our children
with our cousins on land.”
Minkisi
“Our duties are not as clear-cut as your own,
we belong to our Magaji and must do their
bidding. We belong to them, but we do not
love them.”
71
Warriors
Overview and History: The cadres of shock
troops of Tremere chantries were almost always
designed with a pack of Warrior-Cast Gargoyles
at their core, alongside ghouls and fledgling
Warlocks. The Warriors gained gifts of might and
terror from their array of malicious mutations and
weaponry.
These Gargoyles vary in temperament from feral
beasts to boisterous competitors, and typically
behave much the same way off the battlefield as
they do on. The more bestial Warriors, however
easy to anger they may be, are likely to become
calm or even childlike and playful when near their
Sentinel siblings and womb-bearing mother.
A surprising inversion of behaviour arose soon
after the Revolt where many Warriors chose to
turn their ferocity in on themselves and use it to
cage the Beast rather than fuel it. These martial
‘guides’ spend all night, every night honing
themselves to master their bodies and minds
in equal mix, as well as teaching Disciplines to
younger Gargoyles and keeping them on the
straight and narrow.
Nicknames: Horrors
Sect: The Sabbat is usually home to the wilder
Gargoyles of this Casting, fitting in well with the
lower ranks of Sabbat culture, who do not care
for advanced thought or advancement on the
Paths of Enlightenment, but merely relish battle
and conquest. These Warriors may ascend to high
ranks in their packs and dioceses through sheer
violence. The rumour that their bodies are made
using Lupine blood is enough to frighten the
weaker-willed and less skeptical shovelheads.
Chaundice’s Children accept Warriors from any
corner of the earth, whether as deadly combatants
or wise teachers. They are valued as rescuers of lost
and enslaved Gargoyles, travelling in vast packs to
reclaim even a single Gargoyle under domination.
Their introspective outlooks are also valued to
enrich the free thought so heavily encouraged in
Chaundician Eyries.
Camarilla domains have one very specific seat
for Warrior-Cast Gargoyles, that of the scourge.
72 Chapter Four: Of Mingled Blood
Gargoyle scourges are merciless and tireless. No
boundary can prevent their approach, whether
they must fly, flow through stone, or simply force
their way through obstacles. No law-breaking
Kindred is safe if they are being hunted by a
Warrior - let alone a pack of them.
Appearance: Warriors are possessed of feral and
animalistic features, causing their approach to
resemble that of mythical berserkers charging
across the battlefield. They will most often be
bipedal, adorned with a variety of antlers, tusk-like
fangs, patches of petrified fur, and the talons of
multiple predatory animals.
If you choose to use the Abhorrence rule
(see page 56), Warriors suffer from an additional
Abhorrence feature, meaning they have two
automatic dots in Abhorrence rather the one
that Embraced Gargoyles have. Their additional
Abhorrence feature is Horns, Antlers or Tusks.
Eyries: Warriors are frequent residents within the
Eyrie, spending most of their downtime there,
training the fledgling Gargoyles and ‘play’ fighting
amongst themselves. Horrors prefer the tactical
advantage of a structured Eyrie; castles and old
forts suit them best, with multiple vantage points
and safe resting spaces.
Gestation: Not sedentary like the Sentinels or
subversive like the Scouts, Warriors are fearless
and unashamed, and emerge from Gestation
believing that they are champions.
Their Gestations are trials in and of themselves
for the womb bearer and the Warrior alike. They
are put together using large quantities of bone,
the flesh of ghouled animals in place of human
remains, and even a drop of Lupine blood to burn
in their hearts. Once this recipie of exotic parts is
sewn together, they are placed within the womb of
an already reluctant womb bearer. They grow and
mutate rapidly, with claws and bones protruding
through the womb bearers flesh; this lasts for
the first three months of their six-month-long
Gestation.
During the second half of their Gestations, their
Beasts take hold of them in an almost permanent
state of hallucinatory frenzy, during which they
imagine they are locked in combat with the worst
enemies their subconscious can invisage. The
ferocious fits and spasms that result typically begin
just in time for when their claws grow through.
After three months of unending battles within his
mind the Warrior will, rather than being expelled
through the birth canal, rip through the womb-
bearer’s abdominal wall to create his own escape,
dragging with him bits of separated bone and gore
as bloody trophies.
Character creation: As is evident in their names,
these constructs favour aggressive and forceful
approaches to all areas of their lives. Strength,
Dexterity and, somewhat surprisingly, Charisma
lend great ability on the battlefield. These
Attributes are always bolstered with strong degrees
of Melee, Brawl, Athletics and Intimidation.
Disciplines: Flight, Fortitude and Protean.
Weaknesses: In order to discourage Warriors from
indulging too freely in the savage joys of frenzy, the
Tremere made it so that when they lose control
to the Beast, they begin to petrify. If they fail a
Self-Control or Instinct roll made to avoid losing
control to the Beast, they will lose the function of
one Attribute for the remainder of the night as a
relevant body part turns to stone (causing all rolls
relying on that Attribute to fail). If they botch their
roll, this petrification must be healed as though it
were a lost limb, requiring its forceful (and likely
painful) removal and regrowth.
Grotesqueries: Since they spend most of their
spare time in the Eyrie training themselves and
others, Warriors are more likely to be respected
than feared by their Grotesqueries. They make
great connections within their family units,
being able to defer their rage and violence until
they reach the battlefield makes them strong
commanding figures. They are able to discipline
fledglings where the Sentinels’ compassion fails.
If, however, the Warriors do not manage to fight
on a regular basis they will become agitated and
confrontational with their entire Grotesquerie.
Clanbook: Gargoyles
The View from Without
Sired
“The Warriors treated our sires like freaks,
but now we are the many. How irritating
that must be.”
Sentinels
“We are probably the only ones who can
calm your feral hearts. You are always wel-
come in our Eyrie.”
Scouts
“Such a lack of finesse.”
Calacas
“Your rebirth leaves you so bitter! Sets you
off on the wrong foot. We love our baths;
your lot would do well to learn from us:
come out laughin’, not fightin’, and you’ll
know joy the rest of your nights.”
Gorgons
“I’m sure Anubis’s gates are piled high with
your victims, but there’s more to unlife than
murder and glory.”
Mariners
“You can fight off a vozhd or two, sure,
but you won’t be cheering if you meet our
enemies.”
Minkisi
“Without the warrior there can be no tribe,
but too often they lack humility and con-
trol.”
73
Misbegotten Gargoyles
The Misbegotten is the collective term for the
disparate groups of Gargoyles created by individual
magicians using stolen, fragmentary notes
pertaining to the Mother’s research. The majority
of these records originate with the Tremere
antitribu, which they disseminated throughout
the Sabbat so as to ingratiate themselves with their
Sectmates. However, the creation of Gargoyles did
not take off very much within the Sabbat until
the formation of House Goratrix - and even then,
the bias against the Slaves held by many senior
Tzimisce, combined with the general mistrust
of the Spellbinders, has limited the practice.
The less cautious and secretive nature of the
Tremere antitribu compared to the parent Clan
has nonetheless caused workable but imperfect
fragments of At Our Command It Breathes to leak
outside of the Sword of Caine.
Those attempting to use such incomplete
formulae must fill in the gaps themselves, devising
rituals based (however loosely) on Virstania’s
original art. Examples of Misbegotten range
from sandstone mummies created using Setite
preservation rituals and specially-made Gestation
sarcophagi, to the angels of death from Central
America, fermented from the mingling of Samedi
bodies and corpseflesh in sacred stagnant pools.
Each variety is more disturbing than the last, and
Misbegotten are rarely seen in any area of Kindred
society outside of freak shows held in the courts of
decadent Princes and at Sabbat gatherings. These
Constructs are more likely than not to be accepted
within a Chaundician Grotesquerie, though
Virstanians may claim that these Constructs
are mere bastardizations of the Great Mother’s
glorious vision, and sooner stake them than listen
to one word of their heresies. Needless to say, the
Flock and the Watchers take an even harder line,
and destroy them on sight.
These alien beings are few and far between.
Most ‘ordinary’ Gargoyles, let alone most Kindred,
have never seen one, and many refuse to believe
in their existence. However, they are quite real
and are all Gargoyles, sharing the weaknesses of
a grotesque aspect, post-Gestation amnesia, and
74 Chapter Four: Of Mingled Blood
a susceptibility to mental control, though they
each have additional debilitations in the same way
that the cast do. The main weakness they share
with the original cast Gargoyles is that of infertile
blood, making them unable to Embrace more of
their kind; a mercy, in the view of most who know
of them first-hand. As with the earlier batches
of Gargoyles in Ceoris, only a very select few
demonstrate the capacity to Embrace, though they
may all create ghouls. The handful of individuals
who pay attention to such matters do however
note a gradual but marked increase in Misbegotten
fertility.
Calacas
Imagine, if you will, a walk through a forgotten
graveyard in Central America. One might expect
to see a skeletal statue in a hooded cloak, watching
over the grave of a killer - or an angelic sculpture
once of vast beauty now eroded to an almost
unidentifiable state. These are the forms of the
poor Calacas, cast from the Baron’s own kin, the
Samedi, and the bones of multiple dead kine.
The progenitor of the Calacas is unknown,
but rumour variously has it that he or she was a
Tremere who indulged in the study of Caribbean
Necromancy, a Giovanni of the Hidalgo or
Pisanob families, a Serpent of the Light, a mortal
houngan, or even a Samedi scholar of the esoteric
who became obsessed with the artificial unlife
of the Gargoyles to the point that he wished to
recreate and develop it among his own kind.
Whatever the truth, this assembler of horrors has
not come forward to take credit for the Calacas; it
is speculated that the creations have risen against
their creator, but equally, no Calaca makes claim
to have destroyed the one responsible for their
blighted existence.
The true magic of Calaca Gestation comes
from the stagnant sinkholes called cenotes, which
traditionally have sacrificial significance in Mayan
religion but are found worldwide. The cenotes used
for the making of Calacas are characterized by
those Kindred scholars well-read in such gruesome
matters as a blend between the abominable organ
pits of the Baali and the spawning pools of the
Nosferatu. Human sacrifices are performed within
the pool to create a ‘bedrock’ of rotting flesh,
which is then laced with copious amounts of vitae
(and other fluids of decay) from a Samedi, which
prevents the flesh from ever quite rotting away.
When the Calaca larvae reach animation within a
cenote they will swim up through the silt and gore,
which clings to their raw skin and heals into their
new shells.
Nicknames: Angels of Death.
Sect: The rare humourless Angels seek
membership in the Sabbat as a means to work
through their fundamentally inhuman conditions.
No shovelhead dares touch them, the Tremere
antitribu, Tzimisce, and Harbingers of Skulls in
particular study them with awe, and the Bishops
and Ducti use them for their terrifying presence on
the battlefield and as centerpieces at ritae.
Individuals with a relatively positive outlook on
their condition have been known to find more
obscure groups of Chaundicians (often those
containing Nosferatu or particularly afflicted
Tzimisce) in attempts to find new energy and
passion in spite of their condition. They act as
emissaries and enforcers, striking fear in the
enemies hearts on Chaundice’s behalf.
True children of the Baron revel in their deathly
affiliations with grim smiles on their cracked,
sallow faces. The main gathering place of these
is the Catacomb of Sorrow at Quinto, the largest
Eyrie in South America.
Appearance: All Calacas look different, but share
similar markers. They all possess a pair of bone
wings protruding from between their shoulder
blades. They bear intermittent patches and shards
of exposed bone, some in the correct places and
others question whether they’re even their own.
Any skin they do have, made from melded mud,
silt, and rotting flesh as it is, will appear cracked
and dried, as though it could peel or crumble at
any moment.
If you choose to use the Abhorrence rule (see
page 56), Calacas suffer from an additional
Abhorrence feature, meaning they have 2
automatic dots in Abhorrence rather the one
that Embraced Gargoyles have. Their additional
Clanbook: Gargoyles
Abhorrence feature is Weathering.
Eyries: Several Calacas have set up small
communal havens in Camarilla or Sabbat domains
and kept themselves entirely independent, thriving
in overgrown cemeteries and mausoleums. From
here they sometimes establish ‘businesses’, selling
refined, alcohol-infused blood to a market of
Brujah, Toreador, and Ventrue connoisseurs.
Within their Eyries, they have surprisingly
numerous ghouls in a permanent state of
intoxication from which to extract their produce.
Gestation: Calacas are created through a grisly
and often-improvised process involving the
binding together of unliving Samedi and mortal
cadavers through whatever available means, the
performance of a debased version of At Our
Command It Breathes, and the dumping of the
collected remains into a cenote. There, the vile
assemblage ferments with the grime and muck of
its environment, which serves to meld the various
carcasses together into one misshapen mass.
Frequently-used cenotes acquire a sediment of limbs,
viscera, and bone remains which have become
detached from their owners, which during further
incidents of Gestation get churned up with the
submerged human and vampiric matter, lending a
certain unpredictability to the process.
Once the larval Calaca is dredged up, its creator is
able to mold its shape to match his wishes, before
the mulch of the cenote solidifies to a preternatural
degree, producing a sturdy vessel for the fledgling
Misbegotten. Most often they are rendered
similarly to the statuettes which share their name,
since the presence of human bone within the
Construct lends itself to such a macabre form.
Character creation: Unlike most Gargoyles,
Charisma is quite popular among Calacas. They
are jovial and revelrous, reflected in Empathy,
Expression, and Performance ratings. Their bodies
don’t tend to make the sturdiest of frames so
they focus on adopting (or continuing) Hougan
lifestyles, with Larceny, Leadership, Medicine, and
Occult.
Disciplines: Flight, Presence, Thanatosis.
Weaknesses: Calacas suffer from a truly
75

The View from Without
Sired
“How do other Gargoyles look upon such a
thaumaturgical marvel and feel shame or re-
sentment? They have been given unlife that
clearly shouldn’t be, and make the most of
every second. If we were all like our Ameri-
can cousins none of us would be revolting,
for there wouldn’t be a need.”
Scouts
“Their wings make even less sense than ours;
they refuse to hide, and make a joke out of
their situation. Not surprising that they’re
just bastards of Chaundice’s legacy.”
Sentinels
“Conflict and discord arise when you bring
up these cadaverous monsters. I natural-
ly despise their corruption of Virstania’s
efforts, but on the other hand they love their
Grotesqueries and tend to their ghouls... if
a little too hard. Let the Warriors and the
Scouts fight them, but I will take no part in
their downfall.”
Warriors
“They dance and sing, drink and smoke
with no fortification or strength of their
own. These beings hide behind necromancy
and blood magic to retain their hedonistic
unlives, ignoring the battles we Gargoyles are
still part of. I fail to see why they were made
in the first place.”
Gorgons
“To see them you would think that they
have been to Duat themselves, with their
rotten skulls and skinless wings. They call
their underworld ‘Xibalba’ and claim that
their Gestation ponds lead them there. They
wouldn’t be smiling if they saw our hell.
76 Chapter Four: Of Mingled Blood
debilitating weakness: vulnerability to any sort of
water, which causes them to rapidly rot and break
down, in much the same way as other vampires are
harmed by sunlight. Some believe that the water
they undergo Gestation within grant them unlife,
but to feel its touch a second is to lose this gift;
that which gives life may take it away. The more
esoterically-minded reflect that in Yucatec Mayan
belief, one could reach the underworld through
the cenotes, which also served as places of human
sacrifice. It is speculated by such individuals that
the Calacas, created in such a place, are barred
from entry into the Underworld, and so the
water one must journey through in order to pass
over does them harm. No matter the cause, it is
true that for every pint of water that falls upon
a Calaca within a scene, she will suffer one level
of aggravated damage as her body commences its
decay.
Grotesqueries: Surprisingly, Calacas don’t spend
much time together as each tends to have a big
ego, a larger-than-unlife personality, and dedication
to her appetites. They can typically only just
about keep their own ghouls’ needs a priority, let
alone other Kindred. That’s not to say that they
cannot coexist within a Grotesquerie, but they will
eventually depart on their own adventures, leaving
their families behind. The biggest permanent
Grotesquerie of Calacas is located in Quito,
Ecuador.
Mariners
“If they burn from the water, surely they’re
not meant to be? Who are we to go against
the wishes of the sea!”
Minkisi
“My Magaji arranges the bodies of his
enemies like this, coated in the earth and
smiling, to show others what would happen
if they crossed him. Who are these ‘Calacas’
warning us about?”
 Petrified Thanatosis
Calacas can only alter the flesh of Gargoyles or material stone. Calacas lose all connection with
decaying flesh as they Gestate in their cenote, a loss filled by a connection to stone instead. Their
Thanatosis powers (listed only to the fifth level, since no known Calaca is of a lower generation
than ninth) work somewhat differently, as indicated below. The original powers may be found on
pages 471-474 of V20.
• Create hidden stone cavities or malleable pouches in Gargoyle flesh or stone.
•• Make sections of the skin of a Gargoyle (or any instance of stone) brittle and drop off, deal-
ing damage as per Putrefaction; Gargoyles do not have Appearance to lose, and it is irrelevant to
inanimate stone.
••• Turn yourself to sand with the same properties as the dust form granted by Ashes to Ashes.
•••• Fully remould stone structures or statutes, and also remodel the flesh of Gargoyles in the
same way Calacas are remodeled after Gestation. By spending a Willpower point and succeeding
a their Manipulation + Medicine roll, a Calaca can modify the stone as they wish; to shrink or
otherwise debilitate the limb of a Gargoyle requires 3 successes (which restores on the next night).
••••• Disintegration of the stone skin of Gargoyles or a stone structure, turning either into
withered husks. Each success of a Dexterity + Medicine roll (difficulty of the target’s Stamina +
Fortitude) causes one health level of lethal damage and lowers their Dexterity and or Strength by
1; refer to the table on page 473 of V20.

Clanbook: Gargoyles 77
Gorgons
Gorgons are arguably the most accursed of all
Gargoyle kind, and the most roundly rejected by
Kindred society. These beings crafted from the
vampiric children of the Egyptian god Set. They
have come from a theological heritage guiding
them towards the realization of some great destiny.
Gorgons have been idolized under that dogma and
removed from their former Clan by thaumaturgical
practices stolen from the Great Mother.
Between the 17th and 19th centuries, British
colonialism and imperialism brought many
Kindred from distant lands together, whether due
to kine military action or opportunistic Kindred
taking advantage of the times. One such Kindred
was a Tremere acolyte named Samuel Hess,
an English archaeologist Embraced later in his
life by a member of the Lion’s Gate chantry in
Durham. As the empire rolled through more and
more countries, Hess traveled along side it in the
hopes of gaining esoteric knowledge to further his
growing research on the legendary Virstania and
her work in creating inanimate life. He reached
Cairo in the early 1910s and quickly discovered a
group of Followers of Set who had the power to
animate clay models called ushabti.
Hess committed himself to joining the ranks
of these lector priests, learning the Setites’ magic
(which they called Akhu) in order to master
the creation of ushabti, which he managed in a
surprisingly short time. Soon after WW2, Hess
juggled the practice of Tremere blood sorcery
with his newly adopted Clan’s own, to the point
where hybridizations were emerging. He created
small human-animal hybrids from local strays and
homeless adolescent Kine to resemble soldiers of
the gods, and successfully created a living man-
sized sphinx, but his final invention proved his
worth in the eyes of his foster clanmates.
He earned the chance to punish a heretical
Setite, charged with blasphemy against Sobek
(deemed by Hess’s temple to be an avatar of
Set), in whichever way he saw fit. Hess used this
chance to test his method of creating god-specific
ushabti from a combination of Nile clay, animal
78 Chapter Four: Of Mingled Blood
hide and Kindred flesh. In order to avenge Sobek
personally, he made use of the blasphemer for the
flesh and generous amounts of crocodile scale for
the hide. The rituals and libations succeeded and
Sobek was clearly appeased, for he had bestowed
his visage onto the idol, alongside messages from
Set himself in hieroglyphic form. This was a
turning point in Hess’s career. He began making
more and more of these Misbegotten, supplying
more and more temples with their own divine
avatars, which he continues to do to this night.
Nicknames: Idols (by laypeople) and Swt (by their
devotees).
Sects: Gorgons work solely towards the forwarding
of the Setite cause, and see no need for interaction
with other Sects and beliefs. They work mostly
inside their temples, only traveling off-site to
handle local officials or transport their high priests
from place to place.
Appearance: The Gorgons emerge from Gestation
endowed with the head of whichever animal’s
flesh was used during mummification, in place
of their own and reduced or enlarged to regular
human proportion. Their bodies are made of
finest sandstone, etched in crossed lines defining
a former placement of bandages; these bandages
retain texture from the original animal’s hide
(scales, feathers, warts ect.). Faintly covering every
inch of stone are perfectly formed, richly detailed,
minute hieroglyphs. These hieroglyphs detail the
fevered and harrowing hallucinations undertaken
by the Gorgon during their Gestation journey
through Duat. Setite lector-priests often read from
these chiseled reels of doctrine in the belief that
they detail a prophecy given by Set. Many claim
new hieroglyphs appear across their Swt, seemingly
from nowhere, in response to outstanding service
to Set’s needs.
If you choose to use the Abhorrence rule (see
page 56) Gorgons will suffer from an additional
Abhorrence feature, meaning they have two
automatic dots in Abhorrence rather the one
that Embraced Gargoyles have. Their additional
Abhorrence is Engravings, specifically hieroglyphs.
Eyries: Gorgons generally live in deep sections
of their cults’ temples, since they are considered
earthly incarnations of their deities and cannot
be flaunted in front of most ghouled mortals.
The Idols often help lead sermons and guard the
embalmed hearts of their lords. Their chambers
are arranged to resemble the limitless maze of
tribulations offered to them in Duat to ensure
their devotion.
Gestation: A Setite devotee is ritually punished,
murdered, and preserved in a reflection of Osiris’
dismemberment, ultimately crushing the vivisected
organs together with clay from the Nile to form
a modeling paste (multiple preservative balms
are continuously applied alongside chants of
resurrection spells during the dismemberment to
prevent the body turning to ash). The lector-priest
reforms sculptures of each individual organ from
the paste, drying them by a kiln and placing them
inside the body before binding the salted muscle
and skin back together with reed splinters in
order to then mummify the reconstituted body in
bandages made of cured animal hide.
Once reformed and mummified, these flesh-
formed ushabtis are placed in a ritually-prepared
Gestation sarcophagus, inside which they are
submerged within desert sand for forty nights and
days. During this time the Kindred’s soul is passed
through Duat and put through seemingly never-
ending trials. They return broken, terrified, and
committed to being pulled from the shadow by
Set’s guiding hand.
The animals used can imitate any of the Egyptian
animal-headed gods, or in theory any other
animal-headed deity. Set, however, can not have a
representation, for as the typhonic beast does not
exist, at least not any longer. This fact is used as
evidence of Set guiding the ushabti through Duat
personally, as though they truly were his kin.
Character Creation: Gorgons have no Social
Attributes of significance; their focus is around
knowledge, mainly Intelligence. When they
return, if not before their Gestation, they commit
themselves to researching the lore of their cult
and become living encyclopedias on the word of
Set. To this end, their Occult, Academics, Science
and Medicine will all be naturally high. Other
than these factors they possess the preternatural
Clanbook: Gargoyles
resilience given to most Gargoyles, so high levels of
Strength, Stamina and Brawl are a given.
Disciplines: Flight, Presence, Visceratika.
Weaknesses: Aside from their ornate appearance,
Gorgons are identical to ‘natural’ Gargoyles
bar one unique weakness - that of petrification.
Perhaps due to the Setites’ susceptibility to
sunlight, and as though reflecting the ancient
practice of mummification of their homeland,
the Gorgons become entirely paralyzed during the
day, their bodies made purely of stone during the
hours of light, until darkness comes once again
and restores them to animation. It is believed that
Set himself takes the souls of the ushabti each day
to personally guard them against Ra’s hateful gaze.
This offers no protection against the harmful rays
of the sun, however, which burn them as quickly as
any other Kindred.
Grotesqueries: Gorgons have unnatural
relationships to their kin in that they don’t seem
to acknowledge each other’s existence in any way.
If more than one exists in a temple they will never
fight or talk with one another but simultaneously
do not collide with each other when walking in
line and never fail to engage enemies the other is
battling; their death mask stares simply glaze over
when their brothers pass by. As for other members
of their temple, they keep a solemn disposition
with high priests and even manage to express
strained sarcastic or belligerent humour towards
their acolyte wards. Gorgons are often encouraged
to give the ritual ‘Embrace’ to their ghouled
asps, cobras, and cerastes who reach a unique
size or strength. Named aabt-jb (‘slave’s heart’),
these Gargoyle serpents possess slightly greater
intelligence and significantly increased strength
and endurance. They are seen as the cousins of
the Setites’ originally ritually-Embraced serpents
- the ‘aabt Kindred’, sired by Nefertiti, ‘Queen of
Europe’.
79

The View from Without
Sired
“What is written on their skin is irrelevant,
for your temples keep these beings like
books in a chest. You bring them out and
read them when it is convenient, then lock
them away when it is not. Would you do the
same to your own childer?”
Scouts
“They have been to the other side? What
wonders they must have learned! If only the
Mother could capture one, their knowledge
would be invaluable.”
Sentinels
“You possess such dedication to your supe-
riors and hide the harrowing truth of ‘Duat’
from your subordinates, so as not to frighten
them. This is at least one point we can see
eye to eye on.”
Warriors
“You are no superior species, despite what
your former clanmates may say. Your exis-
tence only proves the theft of our mother’s
livelihood; it shows nothing of your false
god’s power.”
Calacas
“So joyless. I don’t care who your god is! You ain’t
dead no more so stop acting like it!”
Mariners
“We are granted our shapes from the life all
around us, not the dirt beneath our feet.”
Minkisi
“You share our land but have turned out so
different. I pity your slavery to the words on
your back.”
80 Chapter Four: Of Mingled Blood
Mariners
It is rumoured that a small number of Tremere
have, over the last few decades, founded vast
undersea chantries devoted to the study of the
otherworldly entities and defiled magics found
deep beneath the waves. These tales are all too
true, and several citadel-sized chantries have been
erected in order to sustain the old ways in an
environment free from outside scrutiny and the
harsh decline of magic. Any chantry, land-based
or otherwise, has need for servants, and it was for
this reason that the so-called Mariner Gargoyles
were created, horrific amalgamations of aquatic
Gargoyle beasts and tortured Kindred.
Of all the Misbegotten Castings, the Mariners
are the most like the more conventional types
of Gargoyle, their deviations revolving around a
radical change in environment. One significant
difference is the use of Gargoyle sea animals
(sea creatures ritually ‘Embraced’ by Gargoyles
(see page 90) to make up half of the flesh used
in Gestation. They are made using the bodies
of Gangrel aquarii, Nosferatu adapted to unlife
spent at sea, and aquatically-modified Tzimisce,
blended with Gargoyle sea creatures farmed on the
outskirts of these chantries.
Unlike their flying cousins, the vast majority
of Mariner Gargoyles are kept in servitude.
However, their slavery is less cruel than for most
current slaves and certainly less than it ever was in
Ceoris, the reason for this being that no Tremere
wants another Gargoyle Revolt - much less one
fought under the sea. Mariners are never used in
terrestrial chantries, due both to the risk of their
discovery and to by proxy the property of their
vitae which causes it to clot in the low pressures
found in shallow waters and above sea levels.
Their main duties are performed outside of the
chantry; Scouts venture forth to gather ingredients
or study supernatural marine life, Sentinels raise
new fledglings and guard weak points surrounding
the chantry, and Warriors will battle the rebellious
groups of marine Kindred seeking to ‘rescue’ their
kin, as well as the occasional waves of malignant
monstrosities which rise up from the depths.
 To prevent them from absconding while carrying
out their assigned tasks (which can sometimes take
them far from their home chantry), all Mariners
are created with a powerful and deep-seated
homing instinct which causes them deep distress
should they wander from their duties. This is
brought about through a combination of sorcerous
treatments applied during Gestation, liberal use
of blood bonds, and old-fashioned brainwashing.
Even for Mariners who do achieve freedom, it
never quite leaves them.
The most caring and protective of all Mariner
Gargoyles are the Sentinels, which resemble
crustaceans. These mollusks construct their own
off-chantry Grottoes for fledglings to feel safe in,
vast burrows with a murky central pit filled with
‘blood reefs’ - monstrous coral reefs ghouled by
the head Sentinel, which in turn ghoul the life
forms which thrive within and feed from them.
This ghouled colony gives any Grotto an extra line
of defence, to the point of breeding small sharks
and manta rays as shock troops. Sentinels see the
protection and maintenance of these reefs as their
duty to their family, and take great pride in the size
and biodiversity of their spawning coral.
Mariner Warriors reflect cephalopodic life,
formed from parts of squid, octopus, cuttlefish,
and other invertebrates. Their duty is a simple
one: to destroy threats to their chantries once
they have been identified by Scouts and seen off
by Sentinels. They possess explosive personalities,
rivalling frenzying great whites in their savagery
and ferocity, and are so fearsome that only
experienced Warlocks have resolve enough to
meet one’s gaze and give commands. Unlike other
vampires, these Gargoyles can only feed using the
tiny suction cups which cover their limbs (with
which they can also seal the wounds created by
feeding), drawing blood from whatever prey they
grasp.
Underwater reconnaissance faces the difficulty
of there being almost infinite angles of approach.
Therefore, Mariner Scouts - formed from piscine
elements, typically of the shark family - must
continually travel the perimeter of their domains
in all three dimensions, ensuring that there are
Clanbook: Gargoyles
no abyssal beasts lurking in the blood-dimmed
tides. These creatures have extraordinary powers
of observation by virtue of their Auspex and the
frequently-found mutations of electrolocation and
echolocation. Rather than a pair of large fangs,
they bear row upon row of pin-like teeth, which
fall out each time they bite a victim, ultimately
regrowing come the next night.
Those few Mariners that manage to escape
Tremere domination simply live nomadic unlives
on the seafloor or settle small Grottos (submerged
equivalents of Eyries) in isolated trenches. These
groups become almost entirely beastial, living in
eternal battle against the denizens of the deep and
struggling to survive on non-human blood.
Nicknames: Mollusks.
Sect: Mollusks don’t know what Sects are; all they
know is the deep sea tyranny of the Tremere and
the constant threat of the other monsters lurking
within the abyss.
Appearance: Sentinel-cast Mariner Gargoyles are
encased in thick stone shells and their legs are
laden with large, eternally-undulating swimmerets.
These Gargoyles have eyes of pure jet mounted
on stalks poking some distance from their heads.
Their vampiric ‘fangs’ more closely resemble
twitching mandibles, and their hands are often
replaced by colossal hydraulic claws able to tare
tons of stone from the floor, the better to craft
their Grottoes.
Mariner Warriors possess much more disturbing
and dangerous forms than their kin. They appear
as vile and unfathomable beings, with armaments
too numerous to count sprawling from their
bodies, including spines, hooks, and grasping
tendrils. Their bloated heads sport colossal soulless
eyes and small snapping beaks, which while as
sharp as any vampire’s fangs are not used for
feeding, since Warriors must feed by grasping prey
and using their suckers.
The features of Mariner Scout are those of fish
and particularly sharks: legs fused to become tails,
holes in their throats which regularly discharge
blooded mucus, and webbed fins in place of wings.
The skin of these Gargoyles is covered in finely-
81
detailed scales of smooth, hardened soapstone.
Their ‘fangs’ are extremely thin, their mouths filled
with rows of hundreds of the delicate teeth along
their gum line.
If you choose to use the Abhorrence rule (see
page 56) Mariner Gargoyles will suffer from an
additional Abhorrence feature meaning they have
two automatic dots in Abhorrence rather the one
that Embraced Gargoyles have. Their additional
Abhorrence will be Animal Features, specifically
those of aquatic creatures.
Eyries: The Eyries of Mariner Gargoyles are
called Grottoes, and are usually found in trenches
running along the seafloor or hidden in cave
systems. Irrespective of where they’re found, they
will be very well hidden and heavily guarded
against the outside threats. Most often they include
blood reefs running throughout, and shoals of fish
and other sealife coming and going continuously
(most if not all of which are also ghouled).
Mariner Gargoyles live for their Grottoes; if one is
destroyed, they will completely relocate to a new
suitable site and start building all over again.
Gestation: Rather than gather two or more
members of the three appropriate Clans to form
a true Gargoyle, a Warlock who wishes to create a
Mutant Warriors
Within many Grottoes, Mariner Warriors
seem to go missing more often than their
brethren, with only a few ever being reclaimed.
Upon retrieval, these Constructs are notably
different, with an air of taint about them that
magi will be unable to ignore. They vanish at
random times and seem yet more alien and
distant every time they return; in time, they
may be observed undergoing new and unde-
sired mutations, growing much larger, sprout-
ing new eyes and tentacles, and becoming
more calculated than common brethren. Most
Tremere regard it as some spiritual malady
needing to be eliminated, but are reticent to
investigate its true nature or origin.
82 Chapter Four: Of Mingled Blood
Mariner Gargoyle find one and combine it with
the body of a sea creature ritually Embraced by
another Gargoyle. The creature they are combined
with dictates what duty they are given due to their
inherent physical capabilities: piscines for Scouts,
crustaceans for Sentinels, and cephalopods for
Warriors.
The reformed body is coated in seabed silt to
form an ‘eggshell’ around the prospective Mariner,
after which it is placed inside the womb of a
ghouled whale (often alongside several other such
‘eggs’), which then carries it off into the vast ocean.
The Gestation of Mariner Gargoyles is a lengthy
process, taking several years; in that time the
embryonic Gargoyles must be kept immersed in
blood and protected from harm.
The foetal Gargoyles will awaken inside their
host and begin draining her of all of her blood -
all 6000 liters of it - frenzying again and again as
they gorge themselves on their surrogate mother’s
innards and the weakest of their ‘siblings’.
Eventually they will rip from cavity to chamber in a
month-long fit of violence within the unsuspecting
cow. Finally the poor animal will die, and
emerging from her corpse will be a confused and
scared clutch of surviving Mariner Gargoyles. They
are born with the one instinct: to return to the
Warlock who originally ghouled the whale.
Tremere get around the problem of needing a
whale each time with a combination of Gargoyle
creature breeding programs and a ‘choir’ of caged
Mariner Gangrel, these degraded Kindred are
forced to summon a new whale each time their
jailers run out or every time a Gargoyle is urgently
needed. Every once in awhile a particularly lively
creature arrives that is seemingly impossible to
ghoul, but whose body positively radiates with vis.
The warlocks have not yet managed to identify this
unusual breed, for they have so far always managed
to promptly flee on any attempt to catch, observe,
or ‘impregnate’ them.
Character creation: Social interaction keeps
Mariner Sentinels from full mental degradation,
making Charisma and Manipulation key attributes,
though Stamina is a natural feature of their forms.
They excel in Leadership, Crafts, Animal Ken, and
Science as they tend to their Grottoes and their
occupants.
Physicality is but one of the things that makes
Mariner Warriors so horrific; their Strength
and Dexterity allows them to tear sharks in
half without much thought. Brawl, Athletics
(for ejecting barbs or throwing harpoons),
Intimidation, and even Melee are a the Warriors
simple but hideously effective tools.
As spies in a realm of millions of eyes and ears,
the Mariner Scouts must be at the top of their
game. They use high Perception and Wits to
observe any potential threat in the murky oblivion
and calculate what risks they might present to
themselves, their Grotto, and their chantry.
Awareness, Alertness, Stealth and Survival grant
them great subtlety and agility.
Disciplines: Auspex, Flight, Obfuscate (Scouts);
New Background: Blood Reef
Mariner Sentinel characters have access
to a Background solely for them, called Blood
Reef. Each level adds another 50 feet cubed
to the size of the character’s personal reef,
in addition to several species of ghouled sea
creatures to the ecosystem of the reef (of
the player’s choice, according to Storyteller
approval).
These reefs grow to immense sizes, with
mottled red and black coral growing in all
directions. The inhabitants of this reef can
be any aquatic species favored by the player
(within reason), though they will be mutated
versions of natural specimens. Even krill and
plankton that feed in this reef will be ghouled
and mutated under the influence of Gargoyle
blood.
For each level of this Background, the reef
must be fed one blood point per week. The
Background can also be pooled by all members
of the Grotesquerie wishing to keep a reef,
resulting in an ever-growing reef with an ever-
growing appetite for blood.
Clanbook: Gargoyles
Flight, Fortitude, Potence (Sentinels); Flight,
Fortitude, Protean (Warriors).
All Mariner Gargoyles transfer the aeronautical
abilities of Flight over to the gift of swimming.
They can swim at a speed equal to that provided
by Flight. With only the first level of Flight, they
must rely on following natural currents; young
Mariners will follow behind their elders, using
their slipstreams to travel.
Sentinel Weakness: These Mollusks suffer from a
similar weakness to their terrestrial counterparts in
that they suffer in isolation, though in a different
sense. If a Sentinel is away from anything she
Blood Clots
Unlike most Kindred taking to a life at
(or indeed beneath) the sea, Mollusks do
not suffer the debilitation of ‘blood sweats’
while at the pressurized environments of the
sea floor. In fact, the exact opposite is true.
Mariner blood is so well-adapted to their
deep-sea lives that when they are taken into
the harsh air their blood starts to internally
coagulate. For every hour the Mollusk spends
above the surface (even treading water), one
blood point becomes ‘clotted’ and unusable.
This ‘clot point’ does not leave their pool
but cannot be used for waking, healing, using
Disciplines, or any other purpose, and neither
may it be deliberately bled out. If a Mariner
wishes to get rid of the clot, she must break
it down by healing. Every point of clotted
blood is healed as if it were a level of bashing
damage. Therefore, each ‘clot point’ costs one
healthy blood point to heal.
If this painful coagulation of vitae reduces
the Gargoyle to a blood pool of 0 they slip
immediately into Torpor and collapse to
the ground (where they are likely to severely
breach the Masquerade, be taken by the sun,
or both), or sink back down to the seafloor to
be forgotten.
83

The View from Without
Sired
“If we can find one of these creatures, they
will be more than enough proof that the
Tremere flagrantly breach the Pact - and we
can finally take their place.”
Scouts
“If only the Great Mother were awake to
witness your splendor! She would prevent
your blood from clotting in no time, I’m
sure of it.”
Sentinels
“Even I think they’ve taken their ghouling
way too far.”
Warriors
“Your warriors are truly worth admiration -
well, most of them.”
Calacas
“They’re... underwater?”
Gorgons
“They, like us, travel far to become what they
are. Do they meet Nu and Naunet, as we
meet our Dark Father?”
Minkisi
“You have it wrong. These creatures are
not like us. They are clearly Nommo, spirits
placed in terrible slavery.”
84 Chapter Four: Of Mingled Blood
considers her children - any organism growing
within her blood reef - she will be at half dice pools
until returned to her Grotto. To this end, these
Gargoyles often travel with ghouled shoals of many
different species wherever they go, making them
at once a formidable sight and psychologically
fortified against the harrowing loneliness that can
be brought on by the vastness of the depths.
Warrior Weakness: Whenever Mariner Warriors
encounter other sapient beings, they undergo a
wild transformation as the Beast tries to manifest
a dominance display. The specific nature of
this change is entirely down to the Storyteller’s
discretion, but should provide features particularly
intimidating to their company (whether an
aggressor or otherwise). The change does not
hinder their physical function but rather makes
interaction much harder as their company faces a
constantly imposed threat from the Beast.
Scout Weakness: Like terrestrial Scout Gargoyles,
these poor creatures suffer from the weakness of
gradual petrification, their bodies continuously
transmuting into solid stone. The only way to
mitigate this is to keep their organic muscles
exercised, thus shattering any crystallization. Every
hour of inactivity causes one level of aggravated
damage. This effect is nullified during daytime
hours.
Grotesqueries: Mariner Gargoyles keep vast
schools of family around them to stave off
the depression of their immortal abuse. If the
Sentinels keep a ‘healthy’ blood reef in their
Grottoes, the Grotesquerie will have a full
complement of strange and mutated sea creatures
living amongst them on a permanent basis.
Sentinels and Warriors generally maintain their
presence at the Grotto, unless ordered otherwise
by their masters. Scouts, however, will only ever
be seen during the earliest and latest hours of the
night as Scouts must maintain constant patrols to
stave off the effects of their weakness.
Minkisi
Across the Ebony Kingdom live the Minkisi
(singular Nkisi), Misbegotten Gargoyles formed
from Akunanse (Gangrel), Nagloper (Tzimisce),
and - more rarely - Guruhi (Nosferatu) stock. But
quite unlike the traditional treatment of Gargoyles
elsewhere - are valued by the Magaji (a prince of
the Laibon) they Belong to as totemic protectors
of Laibon havens and even spiritual protectors of
an entire tribe of kine. A Magaji will occasionally
have a subject of his doman who has breached
the Tenets - the laws under which all Laibon
are supposed to exist - turned into an eternal
embodiment of those Tenets and a reminder of the
Magaji’s power and authority. Once transformed,
an Nkisi becomes the personal slave of her Magaji,
taking on some his burdens and doing his dirty
work. Their name finds its origin in the statuette-
fetishes of the Kongo peoples, but they are found
all across the Ebony Kingdom.
All Minkisi are created by transferring the soul
of a Kindred who has performed a heinous act
against the Tenets (at least in the eyes of the Magaji
sentencing them) into a specially-made sculpture
of fine construction. Many Akunanse will tell the
wrong tales to the wrong vampires, making them a
target of punishment; Naglopers generally offend
all those they interact with (often simply by their
very existing), which eventually leads them to cross
the wrong Magaji; and Guruhi will usually be
punished as a display of dominance and authority
once they have been deposed by a rival. The
soul of a punished Laibon is bound into a hand-
carved shell by means of blood sorcery and mortal
wizardry, her new vessel designed to provide
eternal and bespoke suffering.
Kiteke (Minkisi created from Guruhi) radiate
an air of alien malignancy, and even the most
courageous are loath to even remain in their
presence. Resulting from the deaths of the dozens
of beasts required for their initial construction,
then endowed with the soul of a fallen Magaji, they
have immense value to their owners. Kiteke do
anything and everything to be liked by their former
enemies, vainly attempting to keep their forms
pleasing to the eye, if even functional.
Clanbook: Gargoyles
Mitupo (Akunanse-formed Minkisi) become mute
confidants to those whom they Belong, as they
retain their legacy’s innate desire to learn the
stories of others while simultaneously lose the
ability to share that which they have learned along
with the power of speech itself.
Nkomi (Minkisi made using Naglopers) live a
half life in the court of their Magaji, becoming
comical masked clowns. Between humiliations
they desperately try to twist their clay flesh in
the futile hope of becoming great again. Every
time they change themselves, the clay will assume
some undesired and embarrassing shape as those
surrounding the Kiteke point and laugh at their
now-fallen state.
While they are derived from multiple legacies,
the Minkisi are not gestalt beings and thus do
not reflect the duties of their Cast Gargoyle
predecessors. In fact, they possess none of their
Gargoyle cousin’s forms or behaviours, though
they do still vary somewhat in appearance. While
some Minkisi (usually Mitupo) revel in their new
forms, most find it to be a harrowing waking
nightmare of desires.
Nicknames: Fetishes
Sect: Besides being Laibon and thus a step
removed from the predominantly Western
Camarilla and Sabbat, Minkisi are devoted to their
sworn Magaji and none other; anyone else is either
family to them or simply irrelevant.
Appearance: Kiteke are granted hearts of saprolite
(from the Greek meaning ‘putrid rock’), with
large quantities of fresh ivory forming casings
of scrimshaw-embellished flesh. This inscribed
art includes detailed and imaginative depictions
of the domain a Kiteke once ruled, underlining
the hubris that lead to their downfall and
transformation - an eternal reminder of failure for
all to see.
Created with hollow leopardite bodies tightly
swathed in red silk ‘webbing’, Mitupo resemble
abstracted, anthropomorphic animals such as
spiders, lions, and hyenas. The thin silk is weaved
between small perforations in their ‘flesh’, achieve
the effect of seeming to be bound with threads
85
of blood. Their mouths are completely fused;
they must consume blood through these woven
passages.
Crafted with bones of serpentinite and flesh
of hardened clay, Nkomi usually come human in
shape - aside from their oversized, distended heads,
gross parodies of the ceremonial masks of various
African cultures. Because of their disproportionate
build and unnatural design, these beings live in
a perpetual state of unrest. Like the Naglopers
and their Tzimisce cousins, they like to reshape
their flesh constantly, but only because they
are unhappy with their form, not due to a drive
towards enlightenment.
If you choose to use the Abhorrence rule (see
page 56) Minkisi will suffer from additional
Abhorrence features meaning they have 2
automatic dots in Abhorrence rather the one that
Embraced Gargoyles have. Kiteke’s additional
Abhorrence is Engravings in the style of cave
paintings. Mitupo’s additional Abhorrence will be
Animal Features, specifically indigenous African
beasts. Nkomi’s additional Abhorrence will be
Accentuation, specifically facial features
Eyries: Minkisi do not claim their own Eyries,
and rarely keep one set place of rest. They Belong
to the Magaji and his community, they do not
usually call any one location their daily resting
spot. Nkomi prefer subterranean nests, Kiteke lair
in man-made havens, and Mitupo will never sleep
in the same location twice, though they usually rest
within stone. Ultimately, a Minkisi rests where her
Magaji demands.
Gestation: The creator of the Minkisi is not a
vampire at all, but a mortal wizard known only as
‘the Nganga’ who lives with a host of his creations
in an enchanted palace, obscured from both
Kindred and kine eyes, located in the Nubian
desert. Over the last century, he has made deals
with many Magaji, trading Minkisi as slaves in
exchange for boons, secrets, and magical artefacts.
The Nganga performs a profane ritual that
some scholars have likened to the Baali’s ability to
‘re-Embrace’ vampires of other Clans. He gathers
materials that can hold the essence of the Kindred
he is to reconstruct (in addition to any requested
86 Chapter Four: Of Mingled Blood
by the Magaji), then forcefully bleeds every last
drop of vitae from his chosen victim, mystically
extracting the life force from her very heart. Once
this is done, the blood is pooled in a fresh-dug,
shallow grave and her new vessel is submerged
within it. By the turn of the next night the blood
will have been absorbed by the Construct and
the Kindred’s soul will have been bound into its
eternal stone prison.
Character creation: Kiteke, cursed with a
consuming need for the approval and validation
of others, focus on their Social Attributes. They
cultivate Empathy, Etiquette, Performance, Law,
and Politics, to keep their company pleased with
them, even if only condescendingly.
Mitupo have maintained their legacy better than
either of the other Minkisi. They typically possess
high Mental Attributes as well as significant levels
of Academics, Law, Occult, and Politics in thanks
to the stories they continually overhear. Due to
their inability to speak, their Social Attributes
and related Abilities suffer greatly, though some
demonstrate inventive ways to communicate.
Nkomi are desperate to take back control of their
own bodies, endeavouring to keep their Physical
The Laibon Legacies
For those unfamiliar with Kindred of the
Ebony Kingdom, the Kindred native to Africa
(called the Laibon) are split not into Clans but
into legacies (each of which is derived from
a Clan). The three relevant to the creation
of Minkisi are the Akunanse, storytelling
shapeshifters descended from the Gangrel,
used to create Mitupo; the Naglopers, feared
and despised witches who sprung from Clan
Tzimisce, used to create Nkomi; and the
Guruhi, who unlike their Western Nosferatu
cousins are actually the ruling legacy of the
Laibon, making up the majority of Magaji
(the rough equivalent to Princes) and used to
create Kiteke.
Attributes high. They never stop trying to reach a
form that they are happy with, and so Athletics,
Crafts, Melee, Medicine, and Science are common.
Disciplines: Potence, Presence, Visceratika
(Kiteke); Auspex, Fortitude, Visceratika (Mitupo);
Fortitude, Potence, Vicissitude (Nkomi).
Weaknesses: During Gestation, the weakness of
their legacy is inverted upon Kiteke. Being former
Magaji, their previous unlives were filled with a
sense of being above the opinions of others; now,
however, they wear these opinions like a cowl.
Kiteke have truly inconstant appearance, their
bodies supernaturally changing to reflect the
views others have of them. They do not undergo
Mimesis as do other Gargoyles, but the emotions
and opinions of those around them naturally
change the shape and texture of their ivory forms.
If one comes across as vile and unlikeable, she
might resemble a detestable leper cast in rotted
ivory, but if she excels in her duties and reach a
position of relative respect, she may gradually gain
a smooth complexion and elegant features.
Mitupo have a simple but crippling weakness,
especially for them: the inability to speak, cursing
them to never again be able to tell the stories they
so treasure. Mitupo characters begin play with the
Mute Flaw (V20 page 483), and receive no points
in exchange. The physical representation of this
weakness is visible on their faces the second they
emerge from their blood filled graves. The mouths
of these Minkisi never appear normal, but rather
are fixed in an entirely inhuman position. This
may mean a grimacing smile from ear to ear or a
small puckered hole in the centre of the face. The
player is encouraged to be creative when devising
the precise nature and appearance of this mouth.
Nkomi will never achieve a desirable form,
no matter how often or how hard they try.
Every night, they will awaken to see any use of
Vicissitude inverted to an embarrassing and
hideous version of what they had achieved the
night before. Firm, tough chitin becomes flabby
hide, elegant claws become gnarled fingernails
and a flowing mane becomes greasy and mottled.
This weakness can never change their caricatured
mask of a face, nor can anything else following
Clanbook: Gargoyles
Gestation; even Vicissitude cannot alter their
visage.
Grotesqueries: It is rare that a Magaji will keep
more than one Minkisi. Grotesqueries are
therefore unknown to the Minkisi as none are
known to be free.
The View from Without
Sired
“If we offer you freedom, will you even take it?”
Scouts
“You are worse than any other mongrel. Not only
are you bastardizations of the Mother’s way, but
you’re not even made by Kindred!”
Sentinels
“Your devotion to those you Belong to is astound-
ing; it’s a shame you’re not true Gargoyles.”
Warriors
“Trinkets by another name, sold to your ‘Magaji’
like a dog. You are just decoration to them. Prove
them wrong by striking back!”
Calacas
“If they let you off the leash for a second, will you
join us for a drink or just stand in the corner like
you’re told?”
Gorgons
“You are closer to us than the other constructs.
Your fellows revere you exactly as you deserve.”
Mariners
“Protection of your community is at the
heart of their creation; we meet eye to eye.”
87
 Chapter Five:
Lithomancy
Disciplines
Advanced Visceratika Powers
Originally, very few of the sired Gargoyles were
of a lower generation than eighth, so no construct
developed the use of high level Visceratika powers.
In the modern nights, however, because of
diablerie during the Revolt and the centuries since,
Gargoyles have managed to explore the Discipline
to far greater extents.
••••• • Might of the Mountain
The Gargoyle is able to take on the indomitable
essence of stone, increasing his physical prowess
greatly but making him much heavier and
significantly slowing his movement. After using
this power, the Gargoyle grows in height by a foot
or more and increases in mass by several orders of
magnitude; in the heat of combat, this alone can
be enough to send even a hardened pack of Sabbat
fleeing for their unlives before even the first deadly
blow is dealt.
System: To use this power, the Gargoyle must be
physically touching stone (whether natural stone or
a synthetic materials such as concrete or asphalt)
and must spend one blood point. His Strength is
increased by 2 and his Stamina is increased by 2,
but his Dexterity is reduced by 2. His skin changes
88 Chapter Five: Lithomancy
to the same colour and texture as the stone he is
in contact with as his musculature bulges, causing
him to resemble nothing less than an avatar of
stone itself. Repeated use of this power on the
same structure or surface has been noted to greatly
accelerate Mimesis.
••••• • Reconstruction
A Gargoyle’s form is in many ways constructed,
not grown, the body rebuilt and adapted to the
inorganic essence of stone. It is not so great a leap
for such a body to be healed with the use of simple
masonry. Whenever a Gargoyle with this power
receives damage that would otherwise take days of
rest to fix, the vampire can use his blood to bond
additional stone with his damaged flesh, rapidly
repairing the wound in exchange for committing
minor property damage.
System: The Gargoyle must spend three blood
points and one turn per level of aggravated
damage to be healed, applying a quantity of stone
(which must be harvested through means aside
from this power, usually a Potence-enhanced
grasp) to his damaged body large enough to fill
the wound or wounds. This power does not
require the expenditure of Willpower and can be
performed as many times as needed per night. If
the Gargoyle is melded with a stone surface or
object through Visceratika, they may simply siphon
off the required material from within. This has no
observable effect from the outside but does weaken
the stone, potentially leading to spontaneously
collapsing statues - or supporting walls.
••••• • Rockheart
A development of Armour of Terra, Rockheart
allows the Gargoyle to harden his entire body,
inside and out. Attackers who manage to pierce his
outer flesh find only further resistance from the
Gargoyle’s now-rocklike innards.
System: Any weapons which pierce the body
(including bullets) do half damage (rounding
down), and staking is impossible unless the
attacker has an effective Strength (including
Potence) that is at least 7.
••••• •• Blood From Stone
For some enterprising Gargoyles, feeding has
become a simple matter of leaching blood spilled
in violent alleyways or from the floors and walls
of murder scenes, with only small mental effort
on their part. If the vampire is connected to a
stone surface when blood is spilt upon it, he may
instantly absorb it through the material. The
combat applications of this power are obvious, as
the Gargoyle may sap his opponent’s blood even as
it is shed, and use it to heal his own injuries or use
other Discipline powers instantly.
System: The vampire spends one Willpower
point to manipulate the stone and draw sustenance
through the ground. The power remains active for
the remainder of the scene, allowing the Gargoyle
to absorb blood on the relevant surface within
a number of cubic feet equal to the Gargoyle’s
Willpower so long as it is mostly fresh. When this
happens, he gains the equivalent number of blood
points as the vitae is sucked into him through the
floor, wall, or ceiling (a Gargoyle may hang on the
‘underside’ of a room and gain sustenance through
any blood shed onto the floor above, so long as it
is in range and both surfaces are connected and of
the same material).
This power is equally effective on the blood of
humans, animals, and supernatural creatures,
Clanbook: Gargoyles
including other vampires. It may be used as part
of an especially cruel diablerie, as it was more
than once during the darkest nights of the Revolt.
As the victim is allowed to bleed out, her blood
will be gradually and agonisingly drawn into the
ground, flowing like oil in a single coagulated
mass from her wounds. At the culmination of this
process, her soul is consumed remotely without
any direct contact with the diablerist Gargoyle,
though the struggle over that soul occurs as with
any act of diablerie. A Gargoyle may not use this
power to initiate diablerie on a vampire who does
not have an open wound which is bleeding onto
the appropriate surface.
••••• •• Renovation
An extension of the more fundamental ability
to sense through structures, the Gargoyle with this
power can exercise enough control over a building
to rearrange its basic layout, altering the location
of walls, floors, windows, and doors in order to
confuse, disorientate, or simply scare the prey
within (or invaders of his Eyrie).
System: The player spends two blood points
per desired alteration to a building and rolls
Manipulation + Science (difficulty 8). If she wishes
to make the effects of the power permanent, she
must also spend a Willpower point. Changes such
as ending corridors abruptly with a new wall,
adding doors to sheer drops, and raising floors too
high in a room for it to be entered can be created
at will, and remain for a number of turns equal to
the successes on the Manipulation + Science roll.
As with other Visceratika powers, the Gargoyle
can only manipulate stone, all of which must come
from somewhere. Wood, wiring, metal piping, and
plaster are unaffected, lending modern buildings
altered with this highly Masquerade-threatening
power a ruined and dilapidated look, even after
the changes reverse themselves (if the effects have
not been made permanent). The process of reversal
can also be hazardous to those inside affected
buildings, as walls sink and rooms shift about.
Repeated use of this power on a structure often
leads to its damage and eventual collapse unless
the Gargoyle takes great care. A clever Gargoyle
might well use this power to remove a wall, lure a
89
target into the space where it was, and watch as the
wall rapidly returns to its proper place, crushing
the unfortunate victim.
The legendary effect of this Discipline allows
the Gargoyle to heal any damage sustained by the
building, as if healing the same damage incurred
by their own body. This will take as much time,
blood and Willpower as if the damage were their
own so healing a hole in a wall will be as costly as
healing 5 levels of aggravated damage.
••••• •• Viscous Vitae
A Gargoyle’s petrified flesh will only usually
penetrate the skin, occasionally going so far as to
harden their muscles, but only rarely will it reach
as deep as the Kindred’s bones and organs. This
Discipline enhances the effects of the bloodline’s
curse and spreads it to the Gargoyle’s own blood,
which permanently becomes thick, viscous, and
gritty, like wet cement. This greatly increases the
time it takes to be extracted, including during the
diablerie attempts of other vampires. The small
downside is that the liquid stone flowing through
the Gargoyle’s veins is repulsive to those who
would drink it, though its capacity to create blood
bonds and feed ghouls is in no way lessened.
System: Once this power is taken, this change
in the the Gargoyle’s vitae is permanent. Any
would-be diablerists will need to make a Strength +
Potence roll for each blood point they try to drain,
rather than each health level of the Gargoyle as
diablerie normally requires.
••••• ••• Crawling Chamber
Some Gargoyles claim that Chaundice, their
progenitor, is a being not drawn from humanity,
but one of living rock Embraced. Though this
suggestion is ignored by most scholars (if not
most Gargoyles), the fact remains that their flesh
is literally animated stone. Elder Gargoyles have
even been known to harness this animating force
and instil it to matter entirely devoid of Gargoyle
blood (or indeed any blood at all), as with this
power, which allows for a Gargoyle to create,
mould, and animate an area of stone, with the
potential of spawning a creature which may ooze,
reshape itself, and even attack foes. Even large
90 Chapter Five: Lithomancy
statues may be animated in this way if the Gargoyle
invests enough of his mental reserves. Some claim
that gargoyles of sufficient resolve have learned
this power only to pass their entire soul over into
a beautiful stone vessel, and finally escape their
unliving nightmare. Whether any Gargoyle has
reached this transcendence is unknown, though
there are many who would wish to try.
System: While in contact with a stone surface,
the Gargoyle can concentrate for several moments
while rolling Manipulation + Empathy (difficulty
8) and spending at least one blood point. If the
roll is successful, for each blood point spent the
Gargoyle may animate one 10’ by 10’ cubic area of
stone material. Once animated, a surface is largely
out of the Gargoyle’s control beyond choosing
to the end the power, which is done by breaking
off physical contact with the original substance.
Grasping alien limbs, snapping bestial mouths,
and contorted, agonised faces are all hallmarks
of this power. They will respond generally to the
Gargoyle’s wishes, but are capable of independent
action if left to their own devices.
The Gargoyle may direct these creations to attack
or grapple his enemies without spending any
actions, and they act on his turn. For each blood
point spent when the power was first activated, the
area may make one attack or grapple, has a range
of one foot, deals one dice of lethal damage when
used to attack, and has one point of Strength
when used to grapple. It can direct multiple attacks
and/or grapples against one target.
A secondary and more complex use of this
power is to extract matter from the animated area,
creating an amorphous, semi-living mass which
can move and act independently, albeit according
to the Gargoyle’s direction. To do so, the Gargoyle
spends temporary Willpower points. For every
Willpower point he imparts he may extract a
5’ by 5’ cubic area of stone and gains 5 dots to
distribute among its Strength, Dexterity, Stamina,
Perception, and Wits (it has no Charisma,
Manipulation, Appearance, or meaningful
Intelligence). Each of these Attributes starts at 1,
and may be increased to a maximum of 5. These
points may also be distributed to grant the creature
one level of either Fortitude or Potence per point,
to a maximum of the gargoyles own discipline
rating in those powers; the creature may soak
bashing and lethal damage with its Stamina, and
also halves bashing damage.No disciplines other
than Potence or Fortitude can be used by crawling
chamber constructs, even if the creator Gargoyle
possesses the arts herself.
The formation of such a creature requires
the Gargoyle to physically pull matter from the
malleable surface it has created before moulding
it into the desired shape, requiring a minimum
of 10 minutes per Willpower point invested. This
process reminds some Kindred disconcertingly of
the fleshcrafting arts of the Tzimisce. The shape
and appearance of these homunculi depend on
the skill, care, and attention of their creators; some
remain amorphous, featureless blobs, whereas
others could have been carved by Michelangelo
himself. If given mouths they are incapable of
language, but do ‘speak’ in a bizarre cacophony of
wet gurgles, grinding squeaks, and low rumbles.
The legendary use of this power - permanently
passing one’s own consciousness into a ‘living’
statue rather than merely animating it as a separate
being - is left up to the Storyteller’s discretion as to
whether it is even possible. It is recommended that
no less than all 10 possible Willpower points be
required for transfer. If a Gargoyle with Crawling
Chamber also possesses the power Blood from
a Stone, as long as he and the animate stone
creation are touching the same surface, any blood
the statue touches can be absorbed immediately
by the Gargoyle as per the rules of Blood from a
Stone.
Advanced Flight Powers
Some Gargoyles have lived for over half a
millennium - Chaundice’s own Childer are tonight
turning Methuselah themselves - and during that
time they have learned that only the prepared and
the adaptable survive. Because of this, ancient
Constructs have managed to create elder powers
from Flight, a Discipline many Gargoyles ironically
overlook entirely as merely a natural ability.
Clanbook: Gargoyles
••••• • Hover
Maintaining a solid altitude in flight is a difficult
manoeuvre, perfected only by the most athletic
Rockheads. Doing so can allow a Gargoyle to
remain completely still while airborne, ‘hovering’
on the spot for as long as he wishes. Most
Gargoyles beat their wings while using the power,
whether with leisurely slowness or quickly in
imitation of hovering birds and insects.
In Ceoris, this power was utilized by Warriors as
they engaged in aerial attacks against creatures far
in excess of their own physical capabilities such as
vozhd, peppering them with arrows and javelins
while remaining out of reach in the safety of the
air. Later, many of the small acts of disobedience
leading up to the Revolt took place not beneath
the Warlock’s feet, but miles above their heads, as
Gargoyles shared unauthorized rites and planned
their attack against the chantry.
System: There is no blood cost for this
Discipline and, like the Flight Discipline itself,
Hover is not seen as a Discipline at all but rather
the mastery of an inherent ability. The vampire
must make a Wits + Athletics roll (difficulty 7)
in order to hover. He may remain perfectly still
in mid air for a number of minutes equal to the
successes rolled.
••••• • Slipstreaming
Disciplines generally are a very inwardly focused
practice for Kindred to master, requiring hours of
practice and very specific direction to be perfected.
Perhaps in part because of this isolated training,
most Disciplines only benefit the user and actively
harm others, but this is not the case for Gargoyles.
Worthy Rock Lords see it as a solemn duty to
ensure the survival of their Grotesqueries, a vow
which often involves relocating the Constructs
under their watch to brand new Eyries when
Tremere slavers or other threats come knocking.
Out of this duty, masters of Flight have learned
to mimic the migratory patterns of birds whereby
the leader uses wing rotation and greater exertion
to lessen the workload of its fellow flock mates,
allowing them to reserve energy. A Gargoyle may
use this power to increase the speed of those flying
91
in his wake, in turn reducing the strain placed on
weaker individuals.
System: By spending blood points up to his
generational maximum, the Gargoyle increases
the Flight Discipline ratings of others within 100
feet/30 metres by one dot, affecting one individual
per point spent; closer individuals are affected
first. The effect remains in place for as long as the
vampire himself is in flight. If he stops flying or his
followers stray from near enough behind him, they
no longer benefit from this Discipline. Individuals
who overtake the places of others begin to benefit.
Slipstreaming can also be used to increase by
half the natural speed of other winged Kindred,
such as the flight form afforded by Protean, the
Chiropteran Marauder form of Viscisitude, and
even some Baali bestowed with blackened wings
by their demonic masters, if the Gargoyle should
choose to aid them.
••••• •• Gust
Some elder Gargoyles have managed to focus
their core strength through the ability to fly, and
when combined with the huge wingspan provided
by this level of Flight, they may project massive
amounts of force beneath them. By focusing his
rage, willpower, and blood into one powerful beat
of his wings, the Gargoyle may launch a wave of air
pressure toward enemies before him, taking them
off their feet and falling prone.
System: The vampire must spend two blood
point and roll Strength + Athletics (difficulty
7). Every enemy in front of him within range
(30 feet/10 metres, or 40 feet/15 metres if the
Gargoyle has Flight ••••• •••) receives a
number of levels of unsoakable bashing damage
equal to the successes rolled. If any of the enemies
receive a number of points of damage equal to
their Stamina rating, they are forced to the ground,
becoming prone.
••••• ••• Cyclone
By exaggerating the powers given by Gust, the
Gargoyle may use atmospheric turbulence created
by the beating of his wings to generate a stationary
tornado. Unlike Gust, this power does not cause
92 Chapter Five: Lithomancy
damage as it is not specifically directed towards
his enemies, but rather exerts massive amounts
of strength against them, throwing them aside or
lifting them into the air entirely.
System: By remaining airborne, beating his
wings in precisely specific ways, and spending one
blood point per turn of use, the Gargoyle may
create a cyclone with the force of his Strength
+ Flight ratings. The power takes three turns to
begin taking effect as the Gargoyle must build up
this force. All enemies and loose objects within
30 feet/10 metres horizontally or ten times that
amount vertically are thrown up into the air unless
they have equal or greater Stamina + Fortitude.
The wind also deals the same amount of direct
bashing damage to all weak structures - those made
of wood, plaster, glass, or tile - permanently fixed
in place.
Combination Disciplines
Gargoyles boast that it is easier for them to
create new combination Disciplines for the
array of disciplines they possess because of how
primally they learn each one. To most Gargoyles,
Disciplines are seen as ‘natural’ uses of their
bodies, and so creating a combined Discipline
power is as intuitive as using their eyes and ears
simultaneously. Below are listed a few of the more
complex and innovative combination Disciplines
developed by Gargoyles of all stripes - and their
masters.
Ambience
(Presence •••, Visceratika ••)
With this power, the Gargoyle has honed his
connection with structures to the point that he can
subsume a single building with his emotional state
and impress it on any visitors, the air becoming
filled with a sense of dread or security. He may also
use a more forceful variant of this power, allowing
him a full emotional switch to all its occupants,
inflicting on them bursts of rage, fits of hysterical
joy or pangs of ravenous hunger.
System: The more subtle use of this power
is in effect as long as the Gargoyle is in the
structure and wishes it receive his ambience; no
 Gliding (Non-Gargoyle Flight)
Other vampires may indeed learn Flight, though the process is incredibly difficult even in the
rare cases where one thinks to learn it and a Gargoyle is willing to train him. Gargoyles have not
yet devised a way of teaching the power outside of their training method intended for Gargoyle
Beasts, which involves repeatedly dropping the animal from a great height until they naturally learn
to adopt gliding positions. Since rational Kindred naturally opt out of this dangerous training, they
either attempt the fall method at a much lower altitude or by using Potence’s ability of Leaping great
distances to practice gliding during their descent. If a non-Gargoyle vampire puts enough effort into
the practice of Flight, he may purchase it at the out of Clan cost (7× current level).
Note: Gargoyles can also use the system below by spending a blood point. However, they very rarely
have any need to do so, equipped with wings and thus far greater capabilities as they are. Young and
inexperienced Rockheads with only the first level of Flight might find occasional use for levitation,
though it does not come naturally to them.
System: The player rolls Dexterity + Athletics (difficulty 6), then divides the successes between
distance, altitude, and velocity. For every success he may travel to a horizontal distance of three feet/
one metre, elevate the same distance, or move three feet/one metre per turn faster, respectively. At
least one success must be allotted to distance or altitude.
Examples: Gregor rolls 5 successes in his Dexterity + Athletics roll and chooses to travel nine feet/
three metres upwards, ascending at a rate of three feet/two metres per turn to quickly appear at his
prey’s bedroom window. Alternatively, Melody rolls 4 successes; she chooses to glide three feet/one
metre towards her prey at nine feet/three metres per turn in order to catch her before she can flee.

Clanbook: Gargoyles 93
roll or expenditure is needed to activate it. Any
individual observing or occupying the building in
question will feel a palpable sense of the Gargoyles
emotional state, irrespective of what emotion
they’re feeling. This phenomenon is always in
place, and the Gargoyle may not turn it off.
Further, it is constantly present in any place the
Gargoyle gains Mimesis from, as well as whatever
structure (if any) they are currently inside. Multiple
Gargoyles with this power can affect the same
location, whether by proximity of Mimesis, and
a Grotesquerie of Gargoyles linked by Mimesis
always feel to a small extent the emotional state of
any of their number who have this power.
The active use of the power requires the Gargoyle
to spend a Willpower point and rolling Charisma
+ Empathy (for most emotions) or Intimidate (for
fear), difficulty 7 and requires a level of success for
each storey targeted. If successful, this causes all
non-mortal occupants of those floors to roll Self
Control or Courage (again, for general emotion
and for fear, respectively); mortals cannot resist
this effect. Those who fail or are unable to resist
immediately feel a change in emotion to that of
the Gargoyle’s choosing. The floors being targeted
must be connected to the Gargoyle’s own storey as
the emotional shock wave bursts forth.
Judicious use of Ambiance may only require
the top floor of a building to be affected with fear
in order to clear the entire structure, however, as
herd mentality takes over and kine flee from the
unknown threat that the power’s victims seem
to be running from. Gargoyles can also attain a
level of security from this power while outside
of their Eyrie, as any allies in their Eyrie will
receive warning of a change in his emotional state
whenever the Gargoyle becomes endangered, and
can move to respond to the threat.
Cousins in Clay
(Auspex ••, Visceratika ••)
This technique was developed shortly after the
Revolt as the children of Virstania fled Ceoris
and the other chantries, hiding in any cave, rock
formation, and stoney crevice Europe had to offer.
On rare occasions, Grotesques would experience
94 Chapter Five: Lithomancy
the presence of otherworldly beings living side by
side with them in their mountain retreats. One
such event saw a Gargoyle Scout use her Aura
Perception while scrying a cavern to determine its
viability for settlement, upon doing so discovering
strange presences within the very walls. The
presences were in fact beings similarly made of
stone, but entirely natural: Elemental spirits
embodying the rock and the earth.
System: This power is always active once the
Gargoyle has developed her connection to the pure
essence of stone, triggering whenever she uses Scry
the Hearthstone. She can see, feel, and interact
with spiritual beings, from earth elementals to
terrible demons to mortal ghosts, which house
themselves within or are anchored to this world
by a building, cave, or other structure. If the spirit
is using other means to hide, this power will only
reveal them if the Gargoyle wins an opposed roll
of her Perception + Awareness against the spirit’s
Wits + Stealth.
Nose Dive
(Fortitude ••, Flight ••, Potence ••)
Despite the mundane nature of this power
compared to some, it can provide an unexpected
impact during combat. The Gargoyle may cause
catastrophic damage when dive-bombing into
an enemy by combining his momentum with a
sudden increase in mass just before impact.
System: This Discipline is permanently active
and requires no activation or blood expenditure.
When the vampire intentionally impacts anyone or
anything while flying, he may add his Flight rating
to his Stamina + Fortitude dice pool in order to
resist damaging himself; soaked points of damage
are not only ignored but added to the damage
dealt to an opponent or structure.
Weather the Storm
(Fortitude ••, Visceratika •••)
Said to have been developed by a Gargoyle who
observed a Ravnos passing wounds inflicted on
her body onto an animal ghoul bound to her (see
Lore of the Clans page 183), this power allows
a Gargoyle to similarly reflect damage into a
stone surface which he has recently bled upon,
temporarily ‘ghouling’ it in the process.
System: The power costs one blood point to
activate, and must be used as a reflexive action.
The Gargoyle must also have bled upon the stone
surface to be used (‘ghouling’ it) before he passes
damage (an attack that causes them to bleed
upon an appropriate surface will make this power
possible for the next attack weathered). They then
roll Stamina + Athletics, immediately passing one
level of damage for each success into the chosen
surface. As they do so the stone they channel
it into will receive physical damage reflective of
that which the Gargoyle would have received:
for bashing it will crack and crumble, for lethal
great tears will slice deeply into the in surface, for
aggravated the stone will violently explode away
from the combat, for fire the stone will become
scorched or even begin melting depending on the
quantity of damage taken, and so on.
Aerial Surveillance
(Auspex ••••, Flight •••)
The duty of the Scout Casting was to perform
reconnaissance and intelligence gathering both
within Ceoris and much further afield. To
facilitate this, Fidus himself developed this power
to use the potential of Auspex whilst far up in the
sky, spreading the users’ senses among one or more
earthbound individuals. Few Gargoyles enjoy using
this power, finding the experience disorienting to
say the least, but recognise its usefulness, and it
sees ready use among Scouts to this night.
System: The Gargoyle must spend one
Willpower point and focus his attention
downwards while flying. As he does so, his
perception leaves his body lifelessly drifting
through the sky on a kind of automatic pilot
following his previous route. While in this state, he
may simultaneously perceive through the senses of
anyone directly below him, regardless of whether
they are housed within a structure or walking in
the open air. For each person he senses with, he
must make a Perception + Awareness roll (difficulty
6 + 1 for every 300 feet/100 metres he is above the
ground, to a maximum of 10). This power lasts for
Clanbook: Gargoyles
a scene or until the Gargoyle chooses to end it; the
Storyteller may wish to end the power if the local
weather is turbulent and the player fails a Dexterity
+ Athletics roll (difficulty 8).
Roc
(Flight ••••, Protean ••••)
The flight form provided by Protean does not
quite serve to empower the Warrior Casting in
performing their duties; the Warriors’ lot in
unlife is ceaseless combat, and the small and
inoffensive form of a bat or bird aids little but
stealth and escape. To make better use of this
form, the Tremere drew on the mythological roc to
transform the most powerful Warriors into huge
and formidable winged beasts that could dominate
the battlefield. Like other Gargoyle rituals, this
transformation became possible for Gargoyles, and
not just Warriors, to assume on their own initiative
following the Revolt.
System: The vampire must spend two blood
points and succeed a Willpower roll (difficulty
7) to begin the transformation, which completes
the turn after all the blood has been spent. The
Gargoyle assumes the form of a colossal eagle, his
wingspan doubling while the rest of his body grows
to remain proportional to it. He gains a number
of points equal to his Flight to distribute as dots
among his Physical Attributes and Perception,
ignoring generational maximums, though no more
than half these points may be placed in a single
Attribute. These additional dots remain until the
power ends, and for its duration he also gains the
benefits of Feral Claws at no blood point cost.
He remains in this for for the remainder of the
turn, as which point he will transform back to his
original state.
Shockwave
(Flight •••••, Visceratika ••••)
For Embraced Gargoyles, combat is often
an ill advised choice when faced with Warrior
Gargoyles or Tremere with significant martial
training, despite their inherent physical prowess,
independent Grotesqueries are simply too small to
fend off such threats. In place of a violent solution,
95
many free Gargoyles choose the intimidating
power of Shockwave to attempt to scare away
potential opponents.
System: The Gargoyle does not need to be
airborne to use this ability; he need only spend
two blood points and flap his wings as if he were
trying to attain lift. The beating of his wings passes
down into the earth and amplifies tenfold, creating
a booming shockwave at 100 decibels, which may
be felt by all those near to her for as long as she
beats her wings. If she is aided by another vampire
who possesses this Discipline the sound pressure
increases by 40 decibels per additional Kindred.
If this is done within a confined space, those
touching a surface connected to the ground within
50 feet/20 metres receive a number of dice of
bashing damage equal to the number of Gargoyles
using the Discipline every turn; Gargoyles using
this power do not receive this damage.
Alternatively, this Discipline may be used during
flight, with the beating of the vampires wings
clapping as loud as thunder as she passes over
head. Hearing such a noise - from within a cave,
far off into the distance, or flying over head - will
cause those who hear it to make a Courage roll
96 Chapter Five: Lithomancy
(difficulty 6 +1 for every other Gargoyle using the
power).
Dark Statue
(Fortitude •••, Visceratika ••••• •)
Gargoyles have marveled at the craftsmanship
of their namesakes for as long as they have
had the presence of mind to contemplate such
things. Placed atop churches to stand guard
over the houses of God or watching silently over
the teeming masses of humanity, architectural
gargoyles are a representation of the bloodline’s
ideal. They have a place and a purpose; that
purpose may be one so humble as providing
drainage, but they stand strong knowing it will
never be stripped of them. An inexhaustible
purpose is all that many Gargoyles desire.
A few Constructs have spent enough time
fawning over their inanimate counterparts to
combine the aspects of two different Disciplines
in order to imitate these unmoving paragons.
During the day, a Gargoyle with this power can
safely fall asleep before sunrise without shelter,
without fear of harm or pain from sunlight so
long as he remains static. When night comes and
the Gargoyle reanimates, he leaves behind an exact
stone replica of his body, from which he emerges,
reborn like a moth from its cocoon. Using this
power, the Gargoyle may guard a fortress, be safe
from most daytime threats, and never be noticed as
anything especially untoward by kine.
System: Through the passive use of Dark Statue,
by remaining completely still, the character can
ignore damage from direct sunlight. This power is
used most effectively (and much more safely) at the
point before sunrise when the Gargoyle falls into
slumber for the day, causing his body to petrify
entirely. In this case he may not be woken, may not
fall into frenzy or Rötschreck, and to all outside
examination he appears to be nothing more than
a mundane statue of his exact size and shape. This
statue is formed of whatever stone material he is in
physical contact with, if any; if he is not in contact
with stone, the statue will have the same material
composition, colour, and texture as his Eyrie. Any
gargoyle performing this ability will not be able to
perform any other power in their statue form, in
fact they do not even feel the passage of time and
simply emerge from their cocoon anew seemingly
instantly.
Dark Statue may also be used reflexively as
an emergency measure for a Gargoyle to protect
himself from the burning touch of sunlight. While
effective in the short term, this use of the power
is perilous, for in this case the Gargoyle does
not sleep and is afforded no protection against
Rötschreck. If the Gargoyle moves or even slightly
twitches, the power’s protection ends and it may
not be used again until the next sunset. Unless
by some good fortune the Gargoyle is obscured
from direct sunlight during this time, he must
endure an entire day of not only remaining totally
and agonisingly still, but also of battling with his
blindly panicking Beast. More than one Gargoyle
has met a horrific, fiery Final Death only after
long, bitter hours of inner struggle against his
own body and his dark half. A Gargoyle forced
to employ this power has only a slim chance of
survival - but he has a chance. If they do struggle
through the halved extent of this power, gargoyles
can use disciplines during the daytime hours.
These disciplines cannot involve movement in any
Clanbook: Gargoyles
way without drawing the sun’s rays down on their
heads.
The statue left behind by this power will only
appear if the Gargoyle has slept in this state for
an entire day, from sunup to sundown; if it is
activated after dawn, there is nothing left behind
once the Gargoyle’s hours-long battle with his
Beast ends - whether for better or worse. This shed
‘skin’ remains until Dark Statue is used the same
way again; as the Gargoyle’s body petrifies once
more, the old remnant crumbles and disintegrates
into fine ash - leading some to speculate that
Dark Statue is far more than only a defence
against sunlight, but in fact a death, reconception,
Gestation, and rebirth of the Gargoyle.
Humours
Long before the Revolt - before the majority
of Gargoyles were true vampires capable of
the Embrace, before the use of Disciplines
and other fundamental Kindred abilities, the
Tremere masters would apply specialised rituals
called ‘humours’ to their Gargoyle slaves. These
humours ranged from an enchantment allowing
the master to see through a Construct’s eyes,
to a mutation granting a Gargoyle the ability to
breathe fire. In the modern nights, these rituals
work just as well as they once did, but due to the
terms of the Montmartre Pact, many have been
lost. As the subjects of these rituals, Gargoyles in
Grotesqueries the world over have retained the
knowledge of their performance and have made
them into something akin to social traditions.
Many rituals related most directly to survival
(Skin of the Chameleon and Stone Slumber, for
instance) were codified by Virstania and converted
into the Discipline of Visceratika.
Though blood sorcery is not a common talent
for Gargoyles to be born with, it is rare for any
Grotesquerie to not have some degree of arcane
knowledge (under the purview of the Scout Mould
and his shamans), with which they refine their
rituals into tools for both social protocol and
individual survival. These range from the ornate
decoration of war-bound Warrior packs to brewing
psychoactive blood tonics to facilitate an audience
with spirits.
97
 Though most Gargoyles have abandoned the
Mother’s personal goals, many still believe they
are meant to be elevated to a status of greatness
which can now only be achieved through a unique
connection to the spiritual world.
Enchant the Newborn (Level One)
This ritual allows the shaman to initiate a
fledgling into his Grotesquerie, blessing her with
a number of gifts for as long as the shaman and
the fledgling remain bound by the ritual itself
(generally the first few years of the fledgling’s
unlife). A shaman may be so bound to only one
fledgling at a time, so if he is the only shaman
in the Grotesquerie the effects will normally be
transferred each time a new childe is Embraced
(or, rarely, created by ritual) and initiated.
This humour requires six hours per night for
one complete cycle of the moon, beginning on
the night of the Gargoyle’s Gestation (whether
by Embrace or At Our Command It Breathes)
and ending with precisely the same moon phase.
The actual ritual requirements of Enchant the
Newborn are quite relaxed; the six hours need only
consist of the shaman and the fledgling being in
one another’s presence, usually bonding over play,
sparring, tutoring, or simply conversation. This is
also considered an ideal time for a new Gargoyle
to bond with her Grotesquerie, including being
subject to Grotesque Consecration (see below)
System: This humour must begin on the night
of the subject’s Gestation, and be ‘performed’
nightly for the entire moon cycle which begins on
that night. The shaman spends one blood point
per night and once a week makes an extended roll
of Intelligence + Occult (difficulty 8); if a night’s
work is missed or if the four extended rolls do not
accumulate at least 20 net successes, the childe is
unaffected and the humour cannot be resumed
or repeated. An initiated fledgling gains several
advantages:
• The difficulty of all harmful or malicious
magical effects that target her increases by +1.
• The fledgling receives one extra dice when
rolling for group ritual castings.
• If the fledgling is separated from her
98 Chapter Five: Lithomancy
grotesquerie, a successful Perception + Occult roll
(difficulty 7) allows the shaman who performed
this rite on her to divine her location.
Fire Dancer (Level One)
The Gargoyle acolytes finally managed to prove
that gargoyles are superior to other kindred by
creating an ability where in they could ignore a
fundamental failing of the vampiric condition:
Rötshreck, the fear of fire. This process will give
them an unshakable foundation within their souls
that even fire cannot crack. The Gargoyle will
cloak herself in her own wings while the shaman
breaks off a shard of the subject’s carapace (which
hurts, but inflicts no damage) and lights it. After
this he inscribes runes across the Gargoyle’s wing
casing using with the fresh hot ash, which when
complete, glow with arcane power.
System: To perform this ritual, the Shaman must
spend a Willpower point and roll Wits + Occult.
The ash and sparks of the burning stone create a
spiritual barrier across the Gargoyle’s flesh that
obscures the Beast’s ability to perceive fire, thus
helping her stave off Rötshreck. Once the ritual is
complete, the Gargoyle gains an additional dice on
Courage rolls made to resist Rötshreck per success
the shaman gained on the roll to perform the
ritual. This bonus is applied in the next scene in
which the Gargoyle is required to resist Rötshreck,
after which the runes burn out and the shield
tapers off, leaving the Gargoyle in her natural
state.
Grotesque Consecration (Level One)
A surprisingly simple humour taught to most
shamans early into their journey, allows Mimesis to
take hold much sooner than would come naturally.
They must bring a live animal into their new Eyrie
- sheep, deer, and cows are most commonly used -
before any of their new Grotesquerie mates sleep
there, and cut geomantic sigils into the skin of the
animal and any Gargoyles on whom the humour
is applied. Each Gargoyle must then drink from
that same creature. When they sleep that day, they
find that their Mimesis has begun at an advanced
rate. Groups of Gargoyles who undergo this ritual
together often have far more uniform appearances
than Grotesquerie mates who have spent years or
decades in the same Eyrie.
This ritual is primarily used in two
circumstances: when a Grotesquerie moves into a
new Eyrie (in which case all members, including
the shaman, take part), and when a new member
is introduced to the Grotesquerie and its Eyrie. If
in the latter case the newcomer is introduced to
the Grotesquerie by way of Embrace or At Our
Command It Breathes (see page 107), Enchant
the Newborn will also be used if that humour is
known. For many recently-created Gargoyles, this
humour has been their first experience of feeding.
It is not uncommon for two Grotesqueries to
exchange members through the use of this ritual,
so as to create bonds between them. It is noted
that the use of this ritual allows new members of a
Grotesquerie to quickly gain a sense of belonging
in their new home and form fast friendships with
their comrades.
System: The shaman spends a Willpower point
and rolls Dexterity + Occult (difficulty 6). If the
shaman is successful, the creature’s blood will
be imbued with the essence of that Eyrie, and
a sympathetic bond created between it and all
Gargoyle subjects. They must drink of the animal’s
blood before they sleep in the structure that night.
Each Gargoyle who drinks one blood point from
the animal will take on Mimetic features of that
Eyrie when they next awaken. Additionally, they
gain a temporary Willpower point (which may
exceed their usual maximum). This ritual may only
be performed once for each Gargoyle introduced
to an Eyrie.
Resisting Flesh (Level Two)
Shamans invoke this humor to impart a
resistance against the dread Tzimisce ability
to mould a victim’s flesh like a clay. Many
Grotesqueries live on the fringes of human
society, and as such are easy prey for Tzimisce
experimentation. Many small Grotesqueries have
been raided by Sabbat packs, only to be dragged
into a Fiend’s laboratory for ‘research purposes’. In
response, a group of shamans developed a defence
strategy with this humour, which has spread widely
since.
System: The shaman must prepare a balm before
starting the ritual using local spring water and
earth from their eyrie, they remove a chip of the

New Background: Humours

You have access to fragments of arcane knowledge long ago stolen from the archives of Ceoris.
Either your Eyrie is home to a well-versed shaman, you were gifted the texts by a Gargoyle
sympathiser within Kindred society, or you or an elder you know managed to personally steal them
during the Revolt. This valuable knowledge has given you the ability to perform humours in service
to your Grotesquerie.
• Initiate: You can learn only level one humours.
•• Novice: You may learn humours up to level two.
••• Acolyte: You may learn humours up to level three.
•••• Shaman: You may learn humours up to level four.
••••• Master: You may learn any humours.
This Background can only be taken up to the same level as the Gargoyle’s Occult rating. Humours
are gained as though they were blood sorcery rituals, as part of the story and at the Storyteller’s
discretion. Some storytellers may wish to limit access to some humours, especially At Our
Command It Breathes, to keep the chronicle grounded and more challenging, and give prospective
shamans something to strive towards.

Clanbook: Gargoyles 99
subject’s stone skin and anoint them with the
balm using the chip as a ‘wand’ while spending
one Willpower point. The skin becomes resistant
to any shape-changing capability and as such halves
the dice pool of Vicissitude rolls made to alter the
Gargoyle. This ritual will only remain active for
one night, so the shaman must tactical with its
application.
Window of Second Sight (Levels Two and
Four)
To allow Warriors and Sentinels alike to better
defend their Grotesqueries, shamans can give
them an insight into one another’s perceptions.
Through this ritual, two Gargoyles, irrespective
of their Casting or other origin can experience
each other’s observations in addition to their
own, giving them heightened levels of combat
awareness, surveillance capability, and defensive
capacity. This ritual is also used to give a pair of
Sentinels greater ability to protect their fledglings
or Gargoyle animals, supplying peace of mind as
they stay in the Eyrie.
System: The two subjects must expend a point
each of their blood and bind it with a point of the
caster’s blood and a pint of the clearest mountain
spring water. Once the two subjects are ready for
their endeavour they will be lain on their back
and have a drip dropped into each eye three times
while the correct incantation is intoned. Once
each of them blink, the bonded Gargoyles become
able to simultaneously see their own vision and the
ally’s sight. This ritual will only last for one night.
A Level Four version of this ritual exists, which
must be learned separately and requires the Level
Two version to know. It requires the expenditure
of an additional blood point from all three
participants (totalling 6). With this version, the
bound Gargoyles see images of other supernatural
creatures’ true forms whilst also sharing vision –
werewolves appear in their hybrid man-wolf shapes,
mages glow in a scintillating aura, wraiths become
visible, subjects under the guise of Obfuscate can
be seen, illusions cast no reflection, and those
possessing True Faith are coated in golden light. It
still only lasts one night.
100 Chapter Five: Lithomancy
Draught of Molten Fury (Level Three)
This humour was designed purely to increase
the Warriors’ already terrifying battle prowess,
giving them an even greater edge in combat. They
gain the ability to not only ignore the debilitating
effects of wounds during the heat of combat, but
to use this pain to fuel mighty blows against his
enemies. The shaman must - without revealing
his true purpose to the subject in question - goad
a Gargoyle into frenzy and remove a number of
blood points from him equal to the number of
prospective subjects before he regains control.
This substance is then boiled in an iron pan. As it
reaches the boil, the shaman recites an incantation
akin to a battle cry. Once enchanted, the blood -
still boiling - is drunk by the Gargoyles subject to
the humour.
System: After the Gargoyle activates this
humour’s power, they can make a Willpower
roll (difficulty 7) whenever they take damage. If
successful, the player will ignore any new dice pool
penalties incurred and instead adds that same
number of dice to all of his Strength rolls. If the
Gargoyle reaches Incapacitated or below he still
falls unconscious or is destroyed, as appropriate.
If the Kindred possesses Armour of Terra, he will
only gain dice equal to half the normal health
penalties, exactly as he would suffer losing them.
This humour lasts for one scene once it is activated
by the Gargoyle subject, which she may do at any
time by burning the enchanted blood point.
The Grand Grotesquerie (Level Three)
The Grand Grotesquerie is a meeting of many
Gargoyles, held in order to share in their strength
as a bloodline and forge and strengthen ties
between nearby Grotesqueries. Once the place
for a Grand Grotesquerie has been decided upon
by a council of Rock Lords and Ladies and the
chosen site has been made secure against any
outside threats, the date will be set. The location
will almost always be a place with absolutely no
mortal presence, or land owned by Kindred who
have proven their worth in the eyes of the Gargoyle
race.
Each Rock Lord will escort his entire
Grotesquerie along with any ghouls, monstrosities,
or Gargoyle creatures that may live within his Eyrie
to the location of the gathering. Once there, they
will lay claim to a specific region of the domain
in a first-come-first-serve basis until all attending
Grotesques have made their ‘camp’. A symbolic
Rock Court will be set up by specially-appointed
shamans from all attending Grotesqueries, where
the Rock Lords and Ladies will ultimately meet. In
the centre of this court will be placed a monolithic
standing stone carved by the Scout Moulds of each
attendant Grotesquerie, covered with inscriptions
representing each Grotesquerie’s Eyrie and bearing
a sculpted, open-mouthed face in the centre.
The Rock Lords and Ladies debate the various
bonds between their Grotesqueries, any breaches
in those bonds and any further agreements that
they might wish to propose. Boons may be granted
during this debate and more often than not
individuals will be sworn to other Grotesqueries,
whereby a Gargoyle will leave his Eyrie to join
another, unifying the two. Once all Lords are
happy with the arrangements (a state which can
take several nights to reach) they will all, one by
one and in descending order of age, enter the
central monolith; once this is finished they will
expel blood simultaneously from the mouth
carved in the centre, providing a gentle fountain
of combined vitae from which every attendant
(ghouls, Gargoyle beasts and monstrosities
included) will drink. After drinking, the attendants
will spend the rest of the night sparring, racing, or
teaching each other Disciplines. This display strikes
those few Kindred to have witnessed it (and several
Camarilla-loyal Gargoyles) as disconcertingly close
to the ritae of the Sabbat, and in particular the
Vaulderie.
At the turn of the next night the members of
each Grotesquerie returns to their Eyries with a
renewed sense of belonging to their bloodline (or
‘Clan’, as they become tempted to think of it). The
Rock Lords will all Mimetically retain elements
of the stone from which the monolith was made
in order to remind them of their various oaths.
This feature will only fade come the next time they
perform the ritual.
Clanbook: Gargoyles
System: The Scout Moulds each spend a
point of Willpower and make a Intelligence +
Crafts roll to create the monolith (difficulty 6),
requiring one successful roll for each Rock Lord.
If they all succeed, all attendees of the Grand
Grotesquerie count as blood bonded to each
Rock Lord for the month following the humour’s
performance, though only to the first degree. It
does not affect existing blood bonds or vinculi.
If any Mould fails his roll, the entire ritual fails
but may be reattempted at +1 difficulty. If more
Moulds fail than succeed, the ritual may not
be reattempted that night at all. Worst of all, if
there are more botched rolls than successes, the
Grand Grotesquerie will likely descend into petty
bickering or even exchanged blows, imposing +1
difficulty to all Social rolls between all Gargoyles
present for the rest of the night.
Harder than a Stone (Level Three)
For this humour, the shaman must carve a heart
from stone local to Eyrie and place it on the chest
of the Gargoyle subject, who must lie on the floor
of the Eyrie in front of her entire Grotesquerie.
The heart is smeared in hot wax, reddened with
the blood of every member of the Grotesquerie, to
create a ‘cocoon’ for it, which becomes mounted
on the Gargoyle’s chest. The gathered Gargoyles
repeat a ritual enchantment while the mound
of hot wax cools. As they do so, the Gargoyle
gradually feels less and less of an emotional
attachment to them.
At the climax of the ritual the shaman will stab
the waxen mound with a stake made from petrified
wood. As they do the mound will appear empty
and the entire wax structure will disintegrate,
revealing the that the stone heart has vanished,
having mystically entered the Gargoyle and merged
with her own heart over the course of the ritual.
The application of this humour has fundamental
and far-reaching consequences for the subject’s
physiology and psychology.
Most simply, te Gargoyle’s heart becomes
permanently encased in a layer of thick, hard
stone, making her much more difficult to stake.
This stone is part of her body, and will regenerate
like any other if damaged. The psychological
101
effects, however, go far deeper. For every night
following the ritual until the Gargoyle meets Final
Death, she will be a cold and unfeeling creature,
with little sentiment or compassion. Though she
retains the capacity to hold values and beliefs,
she does so only because she sees them as logical,
and will perform virtually any act in their name
- though equally she will not become incensed
when they are criticised or opposed. She becomes
very difficult to manipulate emotionally, whether
through mundane means or through the use of the
Presence Discipline. Further, her Beast’s aggression
atrophies, though if she willingly performs actions
that erode her Humanity, she will fall all the
quicker without much in the way of a conscience
to resist degeneration.
This is not a humour which is applied lightly, for
it is irreversible. The few Gargoyles who volunteer
for it, most of whom are Warriors, are regarded
with equal parts awe and fear by their fellows. It is
considered the greatest sacrifice for a Gargoyle to
give up their sense of belonging in order to protect
the place of belonging of others.
System: The ritual requires one blood point
from the shaman and from each member of the
subject’s Grotesquerie, which are infused with the
wax. In addition, all participants (including the
subject) must spend a temporary Willpower point.
Once the ritual is performed, the subject has
numerous, permanent changes applied to her:
• Conscience and Conviction rolls are made
at +3 difficulty
• All dice pools are halved for Social rolls
not involving Intimidation, including
Disciplines.
• The character loses access to all Merits she
possesses that pertain to positive social
interaction
• Self-Control and Instinct rolls made to
resist frenzy or ride the wave are made at -3
difficulty
• The difficulty to use any supernatural
emotional influence (such as Presence) on
her is increased by +3.
• Any attempt to stake the subject is next to
102 Chapter Five: Lithomancy
impossible; the Gargoyle doubles her soak
pool.
Milk of the Serpent (Level Three)
A ritual more commonly used on Scouts to
facilitate assassinations of Tremere (or any other
Kindred), this humour turns the fangs of the
Gargoyle into those of a venomous snake. As the
Gargoyle feeds on his victim, he may transmute
the blood he takes from them into a toxic venom
which he then replaces, taking a heavy toll on
his victim’s body. To enact this rite, the shaman
must carve two thick fangs from rock and bathe
them in snake blood for one month, starting on
the new moon. During this month they must test
their Intelligence and Occult each night (difficulty
7), by the next new moon they must have reached
30 successes or the fangs will be left inurt. Once
done, these fangs must replace those of another
Gargoyle.
System: To perform this ritual the shaman
spends a blood point and a Willpower point
and rolls Intelligence + Occult (difficulty 7). If it
succeeds, the Gargoyle subject may spend a blood
point whenever he drinks a point of blood from
a victim (mortal, vampire, or other) in order to
convert that blood into a potent supernatural
venom (preventing the risk of becoming subject
to a blood bond), which he then regurgitates back
into his victim’s body. The victim then rolls her
soak dice against a difficulty equal to the shaman’s
Willpower (minimum 5) to shrug off the effects
of the venom. Victims who fail will suffer one
unsoakable level of lethal damage each night
thereafter (accompanied by a brief but intense
agony upon awakening) until they die, until
they go into torpor, or until the venom loses its
potency.
The shaman can spend a point of Willpower
to prevent the victim from suffering the next
night’s wound, provided the shaman is in the
victim’s presence during the night before. This
makes the venom an ideal means by which to
threaten a victim into obeying the user, or to
appear as a friend. One victim may be envenomed
multiple times by the same (or separate) users, to
a maximum of three, and suffer a corresponding
amount of damage each night.
A subject can generate venom for one week.
After a victim suffers its effect, the venom lingers
in her system for one week per success gained by
the shaman on the Intelligence + Occult roll made
to perform the ritual.
Perpetuating Vitae (Level Three)
Another apparent example of Gargoyle
supremacy is displayed through this humour,
the ability to temporarily turn a Gargoyle into a
revenant-like being, whereby they can generate
vitae ‘naturally’. The shaman must collect the
marrow from a horned or antlered beast and a
winged beast. The two are slowly mixed together
with one blood point from each Gargoyle wishing
to imbibe, including the shaman. As it is mixed
the shaman rolls Intelligence + Occult (with a
difficulty of 9) while spending any number of
temporary Willpower points required, dependent
on the intended duration of the humour. The
number of successes indicates how many doses of
the potion are useful. Once the ritual is complete,
the Gargoyle beneficiaries must eat the magical
‘blood jelly’.
System: Whenever the Gargoyle wishes to spend
one or more blood points, he can make a Stamina
roll (difficulty 7). If successful, the humour
causes the Gargoyle’s marrow to synthesise a
compensating quantity of blood, so that a number
of blood points up to his successes are not
removed, though the benefits of spending them
remain. This substance deteriorates after a single
night, removing its effects after that time and
meaning that it cannot be stocked.
Ward of the Winged Sepulcher (Level Three)
The Gargoyle shaman can prepare his subject to
provide temporary shelter from the damning rays
of the sun. When sunlight strikes the subject’s
skin, her wings automatically billow out and
wrap around herself and anyone in her grasp,
forming a solid dome of stone around them. Both
the shaman and his charge are protected from
taking sunlight damage until the sun sets the next
evening.
Clanbook: Gargoyles
System: The shaman must prepare a small
cube, half an inch in diameter, carefully cut
from a tombstone. Spending a blood point
and a Willpower point, he dabs each side of
the cube with a tiny drop of blood, whispering
an incantation. The Gargoyle ingests the cube
and the ritual lies dormant until the Kindred’s
skin is touched by sunlight, at which point her
wings unfurl to protect her. The wings harden
to true stone, from which grows a dome of the
same material around the Gargoyle. She is able
to protect one additional adult-sized individual
within this dome for every two levels of Flight the
Gargoyle possesses.
If the subject does not already possess wings, the
ritual has no effect on them. Gargoyles with the
Withering Abhorrence Feature (see page 64) can
only protect a number of additional individuals for
every third level of Flight they possess. Likewise,
one Gargoyle with Withered - or a being of similar
size, such as a human child - counts as half an
individual for the purpose of this ritual.
Fertility of Clay (Level Four)
The very existence of the Gargoyles as they are
known depends on this ritual, which predates At
Our Command It Breathes. Through it a Gargoyle,
whether cast or Embraced, may be transformed
into a womb-bearer (see page 96). The earliest
shamans to emerge free following the Revolt
sought to emulate their Mother and her great goal
of elevating the Gargoyle race above the other
Kindred. The subject must be willing, ready and
female for this procedure to work, she will become
the brood mother of her Grotesquerie, equal in
status only to their chosen Rock Lord.
A womb-bearer is prepared by having her
abdomen scrubbed with various smoke-filtered oils
for an entire night amidst lengthy incantations.
The bearer is then given a specially-prepared
mixture of vitae and natural soil to consume. As
she does so, she must make an extended Stamina
roll (difficulty 8) not to spew the mixture back out
(unless she happens to have the Eat Food Merit),
over the period of a month.
Over this period the womb-bearers body grows
103

At Our Command it Breathes
The ritual devised by Goratrix almost a
millennium ago is still practiced tonight
by the Great Mother herself, independent
Grotesqueries and a few less upstanding
Tremere chantries. It is almost impossible for
an acolyte to simply pick up a manual and
start churning out Gargoyles as the ritual
will seem to have no logical consistency. This
is why Virstania spent four centuries writing
countless theses trying to define it. Outside
of Thaumaturgy (see Rites of the Blood,
page 106), it may be learned by Gargoyles as
a Level 5 humour. Though mechanically the
ritual is identical to that given in Rites of the
Blood, we encourage a Storyteller to make a
focal point of the chronicle be this ritual, if a
player wishes to attempt it.
When it is attempted, the Storyteller is
advised to use one session for each section
of the ritual; examination/vivisection,
preservation/alchemical treatment, and
assembly/Gestation. The first session
should be physically demanding on the
shaman, requiring the character to restrain
her multiple victims and delicately remove
specific features. The second session should
be more intellectually rigorous, with the
character undertaking precise preservation
methods (curing, tanning, pickling etc) and
deciding on the correct obscure ingredients
(fire flower root, Lupine blood, ground vis
crystals, etc). The third and final session
should be more of a creative process where
the character ‘designs’ their creation;
the Storyteller can make secret changes
depending on how well the players various
rolls went. The resulting Gargoyle should be
more of an achievement within the shaman’s
story than the result of a simple ritual.
104 Chapter Five: Lithomancy
at an agonisingly slow pace, until she is three times
larger. Once this process is complete, the shaman
performs one final blessing upon the bearer’s
uterus, rolling Intelligence + Occult and spending
three blood points and a Willpower point. If the
entire ritual is successful, the newly-converted
Gargoyle will naturally birth a mass of compressed
earth, leaving her with a womb ready to bear
Gargoyles.
Shamans outside of the Flock have adapted
Fertility of Clay, enabling them to relieve a womb-
bearer’s pain - only for the shaman to take it
on himself. Doing so is considered a grim duty
by responsible shamans, so as not to repeat the
sufferings of Alvusia. Some are looking into ways
to relieve or take on the pain at other periods, but
have so far been unsuccessful.
System: As a result of this ritual, the womb-
bearer’s Athletics and Dexterity are both reduced
by two and her Stamina is increased by four
(exceeding generational maximums if necessary).
This increase in size often makes movement
difficult. She will have to be sectioned to fit the
Gargoyle foetus within her womb, and again to
remove it once Gestation is completed. During
the birthing process, the shaman who performed
this ritual may spend a Willpower point in order
to take on the womb-bearer’s pain (which deals no
damage but causes the shaman to count as being
Crippled for the remainder of the scene, losing 5
dice from all dice pools).
Vigil of the Stone Guardian (Level Four)
Clan Tremere had long utilized several mystical
servants other than Gargoyles to protect their
chantries, havens, and laboratories. Vigil of the
Stone Guardian allowed the thaumaturge to create
a mystical sentry to protect a door or gate, in the
form of a stone Gargoyle door-knocker. Many
Sentinels escaping Ceoris ripped these knockers
from their mounts to save them from future slavery
in the aftermath of the Revolt. To get back at the
Warlocks, shamans began performing a similar
ritual as that used to make such figureheads using
dying Gargoyles - not only to save the lives of fallen
Gargoyles but to better defend their Eyries while
also sending an insult to Clan Tremere.
 System: To create a Stone Guardian the
shaman must, through a short but specific ritual,
decapitate the head of a fallen Gargoyle (that is, a
Gargoyle which has dropped below Incapacitated
in the same scene) and soak it in her vitae over the
course of three nights (2 blood points are required
per night). This immersion keeps the brain ‘alive’,
albeit in a comatose state, using the re-animating
power of vitae. She then hangs it upon the door or
wall that will become the new home for the Stone
Guardian and recites the correct incantations. If
successful, the Guardian’s skull bonds with the
mount it is fixed upon and will be incredibly hard
to remove without it being destroyed.
The Stone Guardian retains all memories and
cognitive powers it had before ‘death’, it may
talk, think and learn using any Social or Mental
Attributes and any Knowledges it had previously,
as well as the use of Visceratika and non-physical
Disciplines. If it is affixed to a door, gate, or other
portal, the Guardian has the inherent ability to
open, close, lock or unlock it.
Such protection comes at a cost to the
Grotesquerie. Like any other vampire, the
Stone Guardian loses a point of blood when it
awakens each night, and thus requires feeding
if it is to continue its vigilance. Usually this is
done by providing a drop of blood gathered
from elsewhere, but some Grotesqueries have
the tendency of occasionally bringing their Stone
Guardians live ‘prey’, so that they might experience
true feeding again. If a Stone Guardian is not fed,
it will fall into torpor until reactivated with a point
of vitae.
The Cave’s Shadow (Level Five)
Gargoyle shamans often participate in this
ritual at a young age while preparing Warriors
for the fight, but it is only truly known by senior
shamans. Deep in his Eyrie’s cave system, cellar, or
catacomb the shaman will find the darkest shadow
and paint the Gargoyle subject with a thick paste
consisting of blood, ash, and various finely-ground
stone powders. Once the Gargoyle is painted to
accentuate her most horrific features - the duty
usually performed by apprentice shamans - she will
slowly crack apart, only to reform into a vast cloud
Clanbook: Gargoyles
of blackened malice. Glimmers of her screaming
face can be seen as flashes of fire amongst the
billows of smog as she surges forward to attack.
System: The shaman must combine 1 point of
blood with 1 pound each of three varieties of stone
and ash, resulting in a thick, red-grey sludge. The
shaman must coat his subject in this sludge for
at least one hour in the darkest shadow available,
using the paste to emphasise the subject’s ferocity
and intimidation factor. The subject’s stone flesh
will crumble away to release a billowing black
cloud. This cloud is invisible in darkness and
almost silent (requiring a difficulty 9 Perception +
Alertness roll to hear its approach). While in this
form, the subject may move at double her normal
Flight speed and may reform into her physical
body as it was before the ritual began, taking no
damage from the process and being able to act as
normal immediately.
Misbegotten Humours
The shamanic way is certainly not restricted to
sired and cast Gargoyles; even those Constructs
made far outside of Virstania’s jurisdiction have
command over some humours. Most Misbegotten
have the ability to learn Gargoyle humours, though
it will be much harder for them to attain such
knowledge, on the fringes of an already small and
disparate community as they are. The Storyteller
may decide to allow his Misbegotten players
unlimited access to Gargoyle humours, though we
would suggest limiting them to the two provided
for each specific Misbegotten group, reflecting
their limited experiences (if only due to their
relatively short histories).
Noche de los Muertos (Level Two; Calaca)
An almost religious ritual practiced by most
Calacas, Noche de los Muertos is designed to lower
the Shroud and provide ghosts a smoother passage
between worlds. During the daylight hours of the
day of the dead, the Calaca’s ghoul must begin
consuming vitae-fed marigolds; any respectable
Calaca will ‘ghoul’ entire bushels of marigolds,
which they value for their supposed ability to clear
away the mists between the worlds, endowing
them with powerful hallucinogenic properties.
105
When darkness falls, the Calaca awakens to join
his heavily intoxicated ghoul. He must drink one
blood point from her and immediately break into
dance around the cenote while wearing a long,
fetish-strewn cloak.
The pair must dance up until midnight (making
an extended Stamina roll at a difficulty of 7 and
spending one Willpower point). By this time,
the ghoul will have begun to suffer organ failure
from the strength of the marigolds, causing her
to cough up blood. Just before the stroke of
midnight the cenote will stir, whipping up into a
whirlpool - seemingly in time with the rhythm of
the dance. At the stroke of midnight the already-
weakened ghoul’s throat will be cut and her blood
allowed to flow into the writhing cenote’s waters.
The reddened tempest will utter screams from
the underworld along side splashes of blood and
chunks of carrion-ladened silt and muck.
While this is ongoing, the Calaca must remove
the ghoul’s head, strip it of flesh, and decorate the
skull with highly ornate patterns, including silver
and gems arranged in floral patterns. Thereafter,
the skull (called a craneo) will be stained by the
underworld, becoming a permanent fetish of the
Calaca, lowering the Shroud and, rumour holds,
easing the creation of further Calacas. Calacas
have found that members of Clan Giovanni will
seem to pay a hefty price for just one craneo, even
though they are only half as effective (if that) away
from their home cenote.
System: The Calaca must initially succeed an
extended Stamina + Performance roll (around one
per hour) and sacrificing his ghoul (who must also
succeed her rolls). Stripping and decorating the
skull requires a successful Intelligence + Crafts
roll (difficulty 7). One skull at the Calaca’s cenote
lowers the Shroud by one; each consecutive level
which the Shroud is to be lowered by requires
an additional number of skulls equal to the new
number of reduced Shroud levels (i.e., three skulls
must be used to lower the Shroud by 2, six to lower
it by 3, etc.).
In addition, the more skulls a houngan his
surrounding his cenote, the shorter the Gestation
period will be when that cenote is used to creating
106 Chapter Five: Lithomancy
Calacas. Some Calaca havens are known to possess
entire walls made of these fetishes, at which
places the Shroud is perilously thin and the most
time-consuming element of creating a Calaca is
acquiring the ingredients.
Hoodoo Familiar (Level Three; Calaca)
Though ‘voodoo dolls’ are a Western fallacy
based on actual Afro-Caribbean practices, some
Calacas have taken the idea and combined it with
the creation of their own ritualistic fetishes. These
familiars produce a similar though altogether
more sinister effect against an unwitting target, a
shaman can use them to intimidate and control
any victim they desire. The houngan must
surround her cenote with a thick cloud of incense
from a blend of tobacco and dried peppers. While
trying to ‘entertain’ the spirits of the pool through
jovial conversation and anecdotes - even getting
a response back on occasion - she will create a
humanoid doll from hessian cloth, filled with
sludge scooped up from the side of the cenote
(which incurs one level of un-soakable damage
from the water and requires a successful Courage
roll, difficulty 8, to perform).
She must place an ‘element’ of the victim she
wishes to subjugate inside the belly of the doll:
hair, flesh, teeth, or clotted blood all work equally
well. The doll is finally stitched inside a sack and
tossed into the cenote, along with the full contents
of a litre bottle of rum. As the doll sinks to the
bottom, the houngan must convince the Loa that
this doll is a ‘horse’ created to be ridden by spirits
wishing to enter the real world through possession.
System: If the Calaca is successful in her attempt
to coerce the loa, which will require a Charisma
+ Occult roll (difficulty 8 normally - difficulty 7
if rare and high quality rum is used) the doll will
physically crawl from the cenotes depths drenched
in gore at the next sunset entirely animate. This
doll will be sympathetically tied to the human,
Kindred, or other being whose flesh was used
during its creation. As such, any damage she
inflicts upon the doll will instantly damage the
victim (this damage is unsoakable). The doll must
be soaked in one blood point’s worth of vitae
nightly to remain animate, though once the doll is
destroyed the power will end. To prevent the doll
from escaping it must be constantly restrained or
caged - bird cages full of these frantic dolls have
been witnessed in the havens of some particularly
malicious houngans. If the doll is damaged beyond
use it continues to exude an inverted ‘blood bond’,
providing a +1 bonus dice to Intimidation rolls
made against the victim to whomever possesses it.
The doll can only sustain six levels of lethal
damage before it becomes permanently inert;
the body part or parts contained within the
doll disintegrate, leaving the doll an inanimate,
almost useless husk. However, a doll can be kept
indefinitely, allowing the shaman to control her
victim (who, after all, need not know that it is no
longer effective) through fear without ever actually
having to harm him.
Ecstatic Sermon (Level Two; Gorgon)
Not all Gorgons are granted the freedom to
become lector priests; some are simply used as
living scripture in permanent slavery. Gorgons
finally created this humour to cement their place
at the altar, seemingly by guiding Set’s will to the
hearts of their subjects. The Gorgon must sit alone
by the light of a candle made from vitae-infused
wax for an entire night, methodically transcribing
the hieroglyphs found on her body upon a sheet of
gilded papyrus. She then delicately folds the sheet
into a small square and drenches it in her blood.
Once the document has absorbed the vitae, she
burns a hole directly through the center of it. As
she unfolds the singed paper, only a small selection
of the hieroglyphs she had written will be intact,
seemingly saved by Sets hand.
System: Within one month of performing this
ritual, which requires the expenditure of a blood
point and a successful Intelligence + Expression
roll (difficulty 6), the Gorgon can perform
an elaborate sermon. This sermon requires
her to succeed a Manipulation + Expression
roll (difficulty 8) using the remaining burnt
hieroglyphs as her service notes. The words have
been carefully chosen by Set to stir passion, so
if she rolls successfully she will be able to elicit a
deep emotional reaction from all those able to hear
her words. Joy, anger, sorrow, arousal, hunger, fear
Clanbook: Gargoyles
and confidence can all be inspired in the doting
crowd - though it is (supposedly) Set who chooses,
not the Gorgon herself.
Entering Duat (Level Three; Gorgon)
This ritual is used by many Gorgons to
personally visit Set and return again with his
commandments and a renewed sense of faith.
The Gorgon must spend several hours physically
sanding off the hieroglyphs coating his sandstone
flesh; every area of his body must be eroded to
a smooth finish. Weakened by this excruciating
experience he will then be required to apply fresh
animal hide bandages to his bleeding masonry
in order to re-mummify himself. Most are too
weak following their ordeal to do this, so ghouls
are required to aid them in their journey. Once
bandaged, the Gorgon will be placed inside his
former Gestation sarcophagus while several ghouls
fill it with desert sand, sealing him in. With him
is buried a copy of the Book of Going Forth by
Night, the holiest of all Setite scripture.
System: The process of sanding away the
Gorgon’s hieroglyphics causes seven levels of un-
soakable bashing damage and requires a Willpower
roll (difficulty 8) to even achieve. Once buried, the
Gorgon will immediately enter torpor, while his ba
and ka (Man and Beast) enter Duat as one. He will
be forced to read aloud from his religious tomes at
the foot of seven large gates (each reading requires
an Intelligence + Occult roll with a difficulty of 10,
reduced by each dot of Path rating he has above 5).
If he does not follow the Path of Typhon, Excess,
or the Warrior (see V20 pages 338-340 and Lore
of the Clans pages 70-73), or any other derivative
of the Path of Typhon, the ritual automatically
fails. If he is successful at each gate, he will pass
through to finally see the face of while he believes
to be Set himself. His interaction with Set will be
cryptic and distorted and only impart fragmented
information, intended to strengthen his temple
and foretell of any upcoming danger.
When he awakens once more on earth, he
retains any information he managed to garner
from Set, which is also inscribed upon his body in
the form of entirely new, permanent hieroglyphics.
If he used animal hide bandages different to those
107
used to create him during the creation ritual
(which is customary, simply to initiate chaotic
change), he awakens with his body transformed
into a reflection of the deity tied to that animal.
This will also change his demeanour to reflect the
personality of that new deity.
Koma Nloka (Level Two; Minkisi)
Not all vampiric rituals require other beings to
suffer. The Nkisi’s position within a court means
they are not granted underlings so they must
make do alone. As such this ritual is difficult for
many Minkisi to even perform as it requires great
tests of self-control in the face of excruciating
punishment. It was designed by the Nganga as an
added ‘feature’ of his Fetishes, temporarily turning
the construct into an unliving ward against evil
forces encroaching on the Magaji’s domain. The
Nkisi must engrave a long iron chain with small
geomantic runes, carving them into each link,
and wrap the chain around her chest to restrict
all movement. The writing on this chain will start
to glow bright red as if the iron were being heated
by a forge. As it glows, the Nkisi’s fellow court
members must each take turns stabbing her with a
freshly-beaten dagger.
System: Once constricted, the Nkisi must spend
three blood points to trigger the arcane spell
coating the chain links, and the ritualist must roll
Intelligence + Occult (difficulty varies, see below)
after the Nkisi is successfully damaged with the
ritual knives. For each point of damage dealt to
the Nkisi, the ritual’s difficulty increases (starting
at difficulty 5 for only a single point of damage).
If she manages to not frenzy from the pain or die
from the wounds, the dice pool modifiers from the
damage are halved for the Nkisi. In either of these
instances, the ritual ends in failure.
For each success the ritualist gains on the
Intelligence + Occult roll, a number of creatures
(mortal, vampire, or other) which enter (or are
already within) the Magaji’s recognised territory
with hostile intentions towards the Magaji or his
subjects is dealt an amount of damage equal to
that suffered by the Nkisi as part of the ritual
(which they may roll to soak as normal). Those
hostiles which would enter the territory feel an
108 Chapter Five: Lithomancy
instinctive foreboding as they approach, receiving
a vague premonition of the pain that suffering
that awaits should they dare to intrude; entering
the territory in this state requires a Courage roll
(difficulty equal to the difficulty of the ritual) as
long as the humour still has ‘charges’.
Becoming the Olgatuny (Level Three;
Minkisi)
The idea that Minkisi can create guardian lions
(see page 116) is false but still has an essence of
truth behind it. Using this humour, the Minkisi
can actually shift their forms to that of a Guardian
Lion. In this form they can defend their Magaji
and her land with a deep primal fury and deadly
power to match. To begin, the Fetish must
simultaneously debase and aggrandise himself in
front of the entire court by dressing in a cloak of
the fur from a ghouled lion, covering himself in
blood, and marching through the hall on all fours
in as regal and prideful a manner as possible. The
lionfur garment can be used again for the same
purpose, though it must be preserved the same as
any fur.
System: As he runs and leaps he must spend two
Willpower points (or, if he is a Mitupo, only one;
their animalistic natures ease the process) to enter
a trance, channeling the Beast of a lion to join his
own. He must be voluntarily fed two blood points
by his Magaji to allow his body to transform as well
as his mind.
For the remainder of the night, if the Nkisi is
called upon to defend his Magaji, he can transform
into a Guardian Lion for one scene by spending
the blood points given to him by the Magaji. The
metamorphosis takes two turns to fully convert his
body into that of a lion, approximately 5 feet high
at the shoulder and 7 feet long, decorated with
carvings depicting his Magaji’s victories in battle
(real or imagined). The Minkisi in lion form gains
+3 Strength, +3 Stamina, 2 additional Hurt (-1)
health levels and 1 additional Wounded (-2) health
level, and they deal lethal damage in unarmed
attacks.
If his Magaji does not provide the blood at
the end of his preparation, the Nkisi does not
transform, instead suffering +2 difficulty to Self-
Control and Instinct rolls for the remainder of
the night, as two separate Beasts battle within his
head. Some particularly cruel Magaji do this as a
punishment, and as an amusing spectacle for the
court, if an Nkisi has failed them - and sometimes
even if he hasn’t.

Clanbook: Gargoyles 109

 Chapter Six:
The Slaves’
Retainers
Ghouls
Those few mortals who become ghouled by a
Gargoyle display their nature as prominently, and
with equally horrifying results, as those bound to
Samedi and Nosferatu. It is monumentally difficult
for Gargoyles to reach out to humans to bestow the
vitae onto them without abduction or violence.
Those ghouls that are taken usually live in their
domitor’s haven, protecting the sleeping Gargoyles
of an Eyrie as a valuable member of the family.
Gargoyle ghouls are often chosen very young
so that if they tell adults about the walking,
talking statute that fed them blood, it will be
regarded as a strange and concerning product of
childish imagination - but only imagination. Many
Gargoyles also appreciate child ghouls, especially
orphans, for their innocence and humanity.
Caring for such young charges serves to fulfill their
drives towards family and belonging.
Life Stages
As Gargoyle ghouls age, they approach death like
normal humans. Beyond an increased lifespan of
four centuries or so, they will wither and die, the
Gargoyle condition being too traumatic for their
bodies to handle. They pass through three major
life stages.
110 Chapter Six: The Slaves’ Retainers
Metamus
During a ghoul’s early years (up to around
80 years of natural life) they will be considered
‘Metamus’ ghouls. They have slick and very
smooth, even flawless, skin - like that of a marble
statue - or bodies possessed of a strange quartz-like
translucence. They will be masters of Fortitude,
as unlike most ghouls they most commonly gain
Fortitude rather than Potence.
These ghouls often take quite contradictory
roles to their masters, as they can become both
immensely beautiful and physically durable. As
adolescents, those created as children mature
quickly and gain wisdom from their immortal
patrons. Humans seem to admire their flawless
perfection as they retain their youthful vibrancy
well into middle age, still looking eighteen in their
forties - but all of this soon fades.
Ignis
During the ghoul’s second phase of life (between
80 and 200 years) the ghoul’s beauty and humanity
fades away as her skin becomes grey, blotchy and
cracked. They may grow small stone shards and
bony protrusions from their flesh, eventually
leaving every inch of their skin resembling
whatever material is tied to their masters’ Mimesis.
Irrespective of the precise makeup of their new
forms, Ignis ghouls can no longer connect with
humanity. This disconnection also comes with a
dramatic increase in the strength of their beast
which becomes twice as active, meaning they are
too dangerous to expose to kine. The name ‘Ingis’
(the Latin for fire) - refers to this newfound fire in
their hearts.
It is during this time that Ignis ghouls will be
encouraged to become very active in Kindred
society by learning multiple Disciplines and
studying the history of not only their own
bloodline but that of the entire vampire race.
Once they have achieved an acceptable knowledge
of Kindred existence, control of Disciplines and
dominance over their powerful Beasts, they will be
Embraced.
Sedimus
This is the final stage of a Gargoyle ghoul’s
existence, and the one no ghoul ever wants to
reach (from 200 years until disintegration). Their
bodies gradually crumble away, removing one level
of an Attribute for every 20 years they live for
beyond the second century. This decaying turns
their existence into a living hell, as they will have
already failed their Grotesquerie in some way
(since they haven’t already been Embraced). These
unfortunates become obsessed with finding the
Embrace to an extreme degree.
The effect of disintegration is irreversible and
cannot be healed through the use of vitae or any
mortal medicine. Any ghoul embraced at this stage
will keep her debilitated attributes and flawed
physique (see the Flaw - Erosion on page 52) for
the remainder of her unlife.
Due to their toughened skin, all Gargoyle ghouls
will learn Fortitude as standard, irrespective of
what type of Gargoyle has ghouled them. They will
then be likely to learn Visceratika unless no one
around them knows it. A small few ghouls actually
manage to learn Flight; this knowledge will not
develop until the second stage of their lives. If they
do learn Flight while yet alive, the wings that grow
will be entirely biological (though they are still
coated in stone flesh due to their condition).
Generally, ghouls of Gargoyles in the modern

Clanbook: Gargoyles 111

day will receive a better life than many of
their cousins. Due to the Path of Freedom,
Chaundician ghouls will more than likely be part
of a Grotesquerie who believe it to be their duty
to keep their ghouls in optimal living conditions,
with vitae and safety being given in exchange for
blood as part of a mutually-agreed arrangement.
Outside of the sect, a ghoul will be raised in
whichever fashion the individual Gargoyle sees fit.
There is an unconscious element of Gargoyle
ghouling which comes from their strong parental
instincts. Not only do they want to have company
at all times, but they want to encourage a family
environment reflective of the Eyrie of Ceoris.
Having ghouls with a childish outlook provides
a sense of liveliness and kinship with all those
involved with the ghoul’s rearing. Like Gargoyle
animals and lesser Gargoyles, ghouls are always
cared for and loved by sentinels and trained in
battle by Warriors. On rare occasions, they may
become shamanic apprentices or spies under the
training of the Scouts.
The Standing Stones
Between the creation of the Castings and the
Revolt, the Gargoyles of Ceoris were served by
a small cadre of ghouls directly bound to them,
whose primary duty was to defend the Eyrie
during the day. It was from this practice that the
harmful effects of consuming Gargoyle vitae on
humans was noted, and over time this group came
to be known as the Standing Stones due to their
mutations.
The Stones stood watch over the Eyrie for almost
four centuries, and in that time grew closer and
closer to their charges, until eventually they were
largely forgotten about by most Tremere. The
Revolt saw them return with a vengeance, and
while they did not take as many Tremere lives, they
ensured that as few Gargoyles were lost as possible.
Had it not been for them, the subsequent Battle of
Ceoris may have gone even worse for Vristania and
her children.
The Revolt proper saw the Standing Stones serve
their masters as agents and spies as well as daytime
protectors. It was thanks to the Standing Stones
112 Chapter Six: The Slaves’ Retainers
that the message of freedom was able to spread by
day as well as night. Many were Embraced for their
stalwart service, to reinforce the Gargoyles’ losses,
and to remove the effects of their mutations.
In 1481, a scouting party of Standing Stones
tracked a Tremere and his entourage to an isolated
region of the Austrian Alps, and rather than attack
immediately decided to observe his actions. They
found that he was seeking a certain cave, but for
what the Stones weren’t initially sure. Eventually
he seemed to find what he was looking for and
went inside. Following stealthily behind, the ghoul
scouts saw a sleeping female Gargoyle of large
proportions deep within the cave system. The
Warlock wakened her with a drop of his blood,
and she began to stir. Even as they were preparing
to attack, the Gargoyle burst into life, tearing
apart the Tremere’s ghoul acolytes several at a
time, before turning her attention on the vampire.
Despite his best efforts to defend himself, she
ultimately overcame him and drank his heart’s
blood.
The Standing Stones remained in hiding as her
Beast vented its wrath and hunger on the bodies
of the slain and the rock of the cavern walls. Once
she had regained something of her composure,
they gradually approached, laying down their
weapons and explaining who they were. After
some convincing and calming down, the Gargoyle
accepted them and introduced herself as Ana,
daughter of Chaundice. Overwhelmed by finding
such a close descendant of the Rock Lord himself,
the Stones immediately swore allegiance to her.
Their first act was to direct her towards the nearby
chantry, where the Tremere she had slain had
originated from.
During the ensuing bloody raid, Ana and the
Standing Stones dispatched the unsuspecting
occupants with relative ease. The chantry’s regent
had attempted to hide herself in a secret chamber,
which contained a thick sheet of red obsidian
standing in a carved frame coated in blessings
and sacraments. Her notes alluded to the gradual
‘perfection of solidifying the force of life’ (the
‘anima mundi’), presumably towards attempts to
restore her body to mortal life. Ana was able to
find her hiding spot without trouble, and slew the
regent quickly and without ceremony.
Curious about the obsidian sheet, she melded
with it in order to gain a greater sense of its
composition, but when she emerged she was
changed - bright red in colour, and though neither
mortal nor human, full of of a certain savage
vitality. The present Standing Stones, while
perturbed by her changes, were relieved at Ana’s
return and regrouped to a safer position. Over
the course of several months spent in her near-
continuous presence, they noticed a reconstitution
of their flesh to the glistening beauty of their
Metamus state. Eventually, every one of Ana’s
ghouls had their youthful strength back and then
some, becoming incarnations of their original
power and might.
In the modern nights, these elite soldiers
continue to battle the Tremere at every turn
beside their demonic-seeming mistress, and have
grown to include the majority of ghouls bound to
Chaundician Gargoyles. They operate across the
world, and equip themselves with relics and arcane
knowledge salvaged from each raided chantry. The
Standing Stones have taken up a personal crusade
against the ghoul cult known as the Sacrament
of Caine, who - fueled by the murderous actions
of Ferox - deem Gargoyles not worthy of unlife,
along with other ‘impure’ Clans and bloodlines
(see Ghouls and Revenants page 81). The two cults
wrage destructive but clandestine wars, with no
clear winner having yet emerged.
1476 Revivalists
A small subset of Gargoyle ghouls take what they
learn about their domitors’ bloody past personally.
Dubbing themselves the 1476 Revival, they meet in
shadowy ruins and talk in hushed tones about the
downfall of Clan Tremere. The revivalists hate the
Tremere and everything they stand for, they dream
of a night where the Tremere and even Tremere
itself is whipped off the face of the earth and
supplanted by the supreme Gargoyle race.
Revivalist tactics even go so far as to plant
members within a chantry as Tremere ghouls
and use various Gargoyle rituals to spy on the
Clanbook: Gargoyles
Warlocks. Information so gained often leads to
attacks or assassination attempts against senior
Tremere. So far they have been unable to uncover
evidence of the continued use of Gargoyle slaves
in defiance of the Montmartre Pact, even after
rapidly following up rumours of one’s appearance
in Chicago.
The latest and most audacious scheme is to
infiltrate an Embraced revivalist into a chantry
and frame a ‘discovery’, thus potentially ousting
the Tremere from the Camarilla and leaving them
vulnerable to their many rivals and enemies - the
Assamites, Gangrel, Nosferatu, Tzimisce, and most
of all the Gargoyles themselves. This plan has yet
to be put in place, though an increasing number of
Chaundician voices are raised in support of it, the
chief among them being Ana.
Naturally no revivalist holds Virstania in any
great esteem, as they are almost all Chaundician;
she is counted among the Tremere who must be
torn down and punished for their many sins, her
own conflicts with the Clan notwithstanding.
They urge Chaundice to start a second revolt, this
time ending in his diablerie of Tremere and the
elevation of the Gargoyle race to true Clanhood.
As on so many other matters, Chaundice has
remained silent on this.
Misbegotten Ghouls
Calacas love ghouling humans, particularly
for the Noche de los Muertos ritual (see page 108).
Animals, however, are spared ghouling, as they
rarely adapt to the specific decay and destruction
of the bodies that comes with the curse carried in
Calaca blood.
Seen as both extensions of their gods and
embodiments of their cults scripture, only truly
devout and worthy kine are given the sacred blood
of a Gorgon. They are actively encouraged to
ghoul the snakes of their temples, however, and
to eventually ritually Embrace them if they show
remarkable qualities.
Mariners don’t get the chance to ghoul human
beings; their creation however, requires the use of
both ghouled and ritually-Embraced sea life. As
such, they ghoul and ritually Embrace droves of
113
marine organisms to live within their blood-fuelled
ecosystems.
Minkisi are born of powers other than blood
magic, and as such cannot (by design) ghoul, blood
bond, or Embrace. The presence of human sorcery
somehow degrades the curse of Caine, making
their blood inert. Many claim to have the ability
but it has never been witnessed by other Kindred.
Gargoyle Animals
Gargoyle blood is a truly transformative
substance, more so than that of other Kindred.
This primal quality derived from three different
Clans gives Gargoyle blood a great liveliness. This
characteristic combines with a connection to the
Beast that surpasses the Discipline of Animalism
itself, which Gargoyles should logically possess.
The Discipline doesn’t vanish entirely during
Gestation but is left dormant in their vitae. The
realization that Gargoyles could, with the correct
ritual preparations in place, ‘Embrace’ animals was
gleefully discovered by Virstania early into their
design. Gargoyles inherit the unique ability to
Embrace their long-standing animal ghouls.
To Embrace one of their familiar beasts,
Gargoyles must have the animal preemptively
ghouled for a specific period of time, depending
on the natural lifespan of the animal in question.
The creature must have lived around twice the
duration normally possible for non-ghouled
membership of its species. The Gargoyle-to-be
is then fed a mixture of ground granite dust,
vitae, and its natural food. Once this mixture
has been ingested for seven nights, the beast is
able to be drained of all its blood and receive the
Gargoyle’s. It does not truly reanimate it as with

New Ability: Gargoyle Ken

Gargoyles are creatures of two minds. On the one hand they have their human desires and
intelligence which motivate their night to night activities, and on the other they have their primal
animalistic mind pushing them to perform pack activities. These minds exist irrespective of the
Beast, and most Gargoyles try to balance all three evenly. Any one interacting with Gargoyles must
have a level of understanding of how to accurately portray the desires of a man alongside the desires
of an animal to truly communicate with a Gargoyle. Gargoyle Ken is a new Skill for non-Gargoyles
similar to Animal Ken, which determines how well a Gargoyle will naturally respect you and is used
to interact with any breed of Gargoyle outlined above and any Gargoyle animals below.
• Initiate - You have a general grasp of interacting with Gargoyles on an instinctive and intellectual
level simultaneously, but have to consider your words and actions carefully when communicating.
•• Rockhead - You have enough experience to interact with fledgeling Gargoyles without them
growing tired of your human ways. To this end the other Gargoyles respect you as if you were
yourself a fledgling.
••• Rebel - You can relax in a Grotesquerie without fear of making a faux pas serious enough to
lead to your death. Other Gargoyles may even willingly include you in their private customs and
rituals.
•••• Expert - You have a connection to the bloodline that is as strong as that of your own Clan
or bloodline; if anything, being with Gargoyles makes you feel more at home. No Grotesquerie will
shun you outright, and given a few nights most Gargoyles will accept you as one of their own.
••••• Legend: Akin to Virstania or Chaundice, you have the leave to walk into a Grotesquerie
and be free of any concern. Any Gargoyle will notice your devotion to their culture in moments,
and treat you like their own sire.

114 Chapter Six: The Slaves’ Retainers

humans but merely resuscitate and transform it
into something not quite Kindred but not quite
living. The window of opportunity to successfully
give this pseudo-Embrace is much shorter than an
‘ordinary’ Embrace performed on a human.
These beasts have an eclectic mix of vampire and
ghoul features, making them superior to an average
ghouled animal (hence their desirability). They
suffer milder versions of Kindred base weaknesses
(aggravated damage from sources of fire,
sustenance only from blood, etc.) as well as the full
weaknesses of the Gargoyle that Embraced them.
They can learn Disciplines (particularly Flight),
though not most mental Disciplines (reference
the table on page 131 of V20, as though they were
vampires achieving 3 successes on Subsume the
Spirit). They generate their own blood to fuel their
powers at 1 point per night, are truly immortal,
and unlike regular ghouled animals will not
normally mutate once their initial transformation
is complete. Once these animals are Embraced,
they no longer need the blood of their master
to survive but rather blood in general, like any
vampire. All Gargoyle animals must be influenced
with Gargoyle Ken rather than Animal Ken.
Gargoyle animals also retain the ability to
reproduce, though this only works with other
Gargoyle animals of the same species, and often
not even then; many pregnancies miscarry or
produce non-viable foetuses, but those few that do
survive to birth appear identical in nature to their
parents. Gargoyle scholars are unsure of how to
classify these creatures, and most Gargoyle’s don’t
care.
Sludge Rats
Resembling bloated balls of mud dragging
their bodies along on stunted limbs, sludge rats
are the resultant monstrosity left behind in the
Embrace of rats. Lacking wings, they cannot
automatically fly, but manage to scurry along
at phenomenal speed by burrowing through
the soil. The flesh of sludge rats is a gelatinous
amalgamation of coagulated vitae and sewer waste,
loosely wrapped around a small, barely beating
heart. Gargoyles nesting in sewers will Embrace
great hoards of these creatures and send them off
Clanbook: Gargoyles
to claim unsuspecting animals or kine for their
subterranean feasts.
Attributes: Strength 2, Dexterity 2, Stamina 4,
Perception 2, Intelligence 1, Wits 1
Abilities: Alertness 2, Athletics 3, Brawl 2, Stealth
4, Survival 4
Disciplines: Celerity 2, Obfuscate 2, Visceratika 3
Willpower: 4
Blood pool: 1
Health levels: OK,OK, -1 , -3, Incapacitated
Razor Bats
Contrary to the affliction which rats are stricken
with upon their Embrace, bats become gangly and
thin. This withering lends itself greatly to their
flying prowess the speed of which quadruples
once they are granted unlife. Razor bats’ bodies
crystallize to resemble a thin disk of slate with
the capacity to a slice a mortal’s throat by simply
fluttering against it. Gargoyles ritually Embrace
flocks of bats for company on their nighttime
flights, as they seem to take to Kindred life with
surprising ease, striking swiftly and silently.
Attributes: Strength 2, Dexterity 4, Stamina 2,
Perception 4, Intelligence 1, Wits 2
Abilities: Alertness 4 Athletics 4, Brawl 2, Stealth
4, Survival 2
Disciplines: Auspex 1, Celerity 2, Flight 4,
Visceratika 3
Willpower: 3
Blood pool: 1
Health levels: OK, -1, -2, -3, Incapacitated
Rock Cats
The cats ritually Embraced by Gargoyles are
rarely common house cats because their bodies
will not hold up to the vicious strength of their
vitae. Rock cats are a rare example of a Gargoyle
animal whose size diminishes upon the Embrace;
a mountain lion might reduce to the size of an
average dog. They are nimble and stealthy and
possess almost unparallelled senses, the telltale
signs of which are their burning red eyes.
115
Attributes: Strength 4, Dexterity 4, Stamina 3,
Perception 4, Intelligence 2, Wits 4
Abilities: Alertness 4, Athletics 4, Brawl 3,
Intimidation 2, Stealth 3, Survival 3
Disciplines: Auspex 1, Celerity 3, Flight 1, Protean
2, Visceratika 3
Willpower: 4
Blood pool: 5
Health levels: OK, OK, -1, -1, -2, -2, -5,
Incapacitated
Stone Hounds
Guard dogs are often classically favoured by
Sentinels dispute their mutated and overbearing
forms. They usually come from larger breeding
stock such as Dobermans, huskies, and Rottweilers
to best capitalise on the strength granted by their
new blood. They will grow in size to that of a wild
wolf, and have the intense aggression common
among the undead. Their fangs grow too long for
their mouths, keeping them perpetually propped
open.
Attributes: Strength 5, Dexterity 3, Stamina 4,
Perception 4, Intelligence 2, Wits 3
Abilities: Alertness 3, Athletics 4, Brawl 4,
Intimidation 3, Stealth 2, Survival 3
Disciplines: Flight 1, Fortitude 3, Potence 2,
Protean 2, Visceratika 3
Willpower: 5
Blood pool: 3
Health levels: OK, OK, -1, -1, -2, -2, -5,
Incapacitated
Cave Bears
Colossal boulders may sometimes be found in
the more isolated mountainous Eyries, ten feet
tall and four feet wide with two large indentations
around the front. A city-dwelling Kindred would
be excused for thinking that Gargoyles have placed
these boulders there as part of a ceremonial ritual
or to intimidate intruders, but that would be an
error in judgment leading to a brutally violent
Final Death.
116 Chapter Six: The Slaves’ Retainers
Cave bears are the ritually Embraced bears
common only to North American Gargoyles.
These bears allow Gargoyles to sleep in their
domain during day if they gather food for them
in the night. They sleep for most of their unlives,
walking for around 3 to 4 hours at night, though
can easily stir at any time. They resemble gigantic
smooth boulders with subtle indentations where
their arms wrap around their torsos. No Kindred
who is not an elder is a match in combat against a
cave bear.
Attributes: Strength 6, Dexterity 2, Stamina 6,
Perception 3, Intelligence 3, Wits 2
Abilities: Alertness 3, Athletics 3, Brawl 5,
Intimidation 3, Stealth 1, Survival 4
Disciplines: Flight 1, Fortitude 4, Potence 4,
Protean 3, Visceratika 3
Willpower: 5
Blood pool: 6
Health levels: OK, OK, OK, OK, -1, -1, -1, -1 -3, -3,
-5, Incapacitated
Guardian Lions
The noble living totems of the eastern Gargoyle
colonies are named guardian lions, created to
reflect the guardian spirits found in Chinese
folklore (as the Gargoyles themselves seem to do).
These beasts are formed of only male lions in
control of an entire pride at the point of Embrace.
They gain an intelligence almost equaling most
humans, with a good chance of managing speech
and higher reasoning. They grow to a size greater
than that of a shire horse and become spiritually
tied to the location where they are Embraced.
Any temple housing a guardian lion will never
fall as these beasts can rival even the most deadly
vampire. They predominantly guard the Eternally
Petrified Sanctum, the Eyrie of Ch’iung Chi. At
least one Minkisi claim to have the capacity to
create guardian lions for their Guruhi warlords but
none have ever contested this claim.
Attributes: Strength 7, Dexterity 6, Stamina 7,
Perception 5, Intelligence 4, Wits 4
Abilities: Alertness 4, Athletics 5, Brawl 6,
Intimidation 5, Stealth 4, Survival 4
Disciplines: Flight 1, Fortitude 3, Presence 2,
Potence 3, Visceratika 3
Willpower: 6
Blood pool: 7
Health levels: OK, OK, OK, -1, -1 -1, -2, -2, -2, -3,
-3, -5, -5, Incapacitated
Chitterers
Chitterers are created from a merging of two
wolf hind sections (bound facing one another) and
as many juvenile birds’ heads as can fit onto their
combined bellies. This creature acts surprisingly
like a natural animal for the horrific mutant that it
is; when left to its own devices it will simply trawl
through fields and consume worms, shoots, and
small specks of vis for nourishment. The sight of a
field of grazing chitterers is one of the most surreal
experiences a vampire (let alone a mortal) can
undergo.
When the beast is employed as a combatant,
however, it can break even the strongest-willed
Kindred. The chitterer immediately pounces
and holds down the victim with its preternatural
strength, so that he can see the avian heads on its
exposed bellies. The heads then simply squawk at
the victim while lightly pecking him. After several
minutes of harsh, incomprehensible squawking,
the beaks gradually produce words and then
whole sentences, audible only to the victim. These
screeches come to contain details of true crimes
the victim has committed, irrespective of what the
chitterer (or any other being) could have learned.
Chitterers scream accusations at their victims until
they relent; many go mad in the process.
Dark rumours surround the chitterers, aside
from the cruelty and madness involved in
their creation (which was, unusually, far more
Malgorzata’s doing than Virstania’s) and their
terrifying forms. It is said that with their many
beaks they can ‘taste’ the unspoken sins and
atrocities committed by their victims, which
they then regurgitate. This ability, which they do
not seem to use deliberately or consciously, is
whispered to be imbued on them using techniques
Clanbook: Gargoyles
Vis
Gargoyle monstrosities and ritually
Embraced animals feed primarily on blood,
but since their creation in Ceoris they
have been known to possess the ability to
consume other, magical substances. In the
grounds of Ceoris, and the surrounding
Carpathians, lay a substance of magic made
physical, called vis. Gargoyle-Embraced
creatures and monstrosities roamed the land,
living on this material almost exclusively,
though Kindred and the vast majority of
‘ordinary’ Gargoyles were incapable of
drawing sustenance from it. Even tonight,
vis can often be found deep in the hearts of
mountains and in isolated locations swelling
with magic.Your fellows revere you exactly as
you deserve.”
drawn from a truly abominable art of Dark
Thaumaturgy.
They reproduce by laying eggs, each hindquarter
fertilizing the eggs of the other. In the time of
Ceoris, these eggs were transported further into
the Carpathian mountains to avoid destruction.
Malgorzata once conducted an experiment in
which a prisoner was forced to drink a chitterer’s
blood and nothing else for a week. The Gangrel
victim was said to have turned into an imitation
Malkavian, such was his insanity. While the vast
majority of chitterers, if not all of them, died
following the fall of Ceoris and the decline of its
stores of vis, the formula for creating one has not
been entirely lost. There are perhaps only a dozen
tonight, kept in the deepest, darkest hearts of a
handful of chantries.
Attributes: Strength 4, Dexterity 3, Stamina 4,
Perception 3, Intelligence 1, Wits 1
Abilities: Alertness 3, Athletics 4, Awareness 1,
Brawl 4, Empathy 5, Stealth 2
Disciplines: Auspex 2, Daimoinon 1,
Dementation 3*, Potence 3
Health Levels: OK, -1, -3, -5, Incapacitated
117
Blood Pool: 3
Willpower: 2
For the first two levels of Dementation, Chitterers
use their Willpower and add it to their Empathy
for their dice pools.
The chitterer must successfully grapple its
opponent and hold him down for several rounds
for its ability to become active. The chitterer
will automatically ‘taste’ vile secrets on the skin
of the victim, instantly spewing the secret forth
amongst its incessant squawking. After a number
of rounds equal to the victim’s Courage, he must
make a Courage roll (difficulty 7) or enter a fear
frenzy (mortal victims simply curl up and become
catatonic with terror and shock). This roll is
repeated every two rounds thereafter, either until
it is failed or the grapple ends. If it is botched, the
victim also gains a Derangement - often paranoia,
but sometimes a deep ornithophobia combined
with hallucinations, whereby he hears every bird
screaming his greatest crimes back at him.
Skin-Eaters
In the dark woods surrounding Ceoris, vast
swarms of flies would feast on rotting plant and
animal matter. Upon noticing these swarms,
Virstania decided to ghoul them in a vat of slurry
made from Gargoyle vitae and sandstone dust
(to fatten them up). They were kept in ritualistic
clay jars and bathed in Gargoyle blood until their
specialist abilities were required. A Warlock would
approach an entire encampment of Tzimisce or
kine warriors and crack the vase to release the
swarm. The swarm would sweep through the camp,
stripping every being clean of skin.
Skin-eaters still exist, mostly locked up deep
in Tremere chantries. Any humans who fall victim
to an attack by a skin-eater swarm will bleed to
death in seconds, while Kindred will fall into
Torpor unless they can heal their skin quickly and
somehow see off the swarm. Any skin healed will
cause the victim to lose one level of Appearance
as it can never truly heal correctly. Only with
speed, cunning, or supernatural power can one
escape a cloud of skin-eaters, as any attempt at
resistance will not affect the rate of the skin-eaters’
118 Chapter Six: The Slaves’ Retainers
consumption.
Skin-eaters have an effective speed and damage
rating of 3, so any Kindred wishing to escape such
an attack must either run quick enough (dexterity
and athletics roll) or resist the damage indefinitely
(stamina roll with 4 levels of lethal damage per
round).
Reapers
As a side-project, Virstania would farm vats
of beetles within a tank filled with the vitae of
Kindred, extracted while they were frenzying,
until the beetles greatly enlarged and fought one
another viciously. They were then left alone until
the screeching subsided and only one remained.
This champion would often be as large as a
human child, with a thick shell and two scythes
protruding either side of its swollen body. Its face
would then be delicately carved out and replaced
with a swarm’s worth of rat heads, which began
constantly mewling and tussling with each other.
These creatures, called reapers, were usually
made to infest the lands around Ceoris and
provide an extra level of security if a human
mob or Tzimisce warhost ever came to its doors.
Nothing phased these beasts in a fight; despite not
being the biggest or most capable in combat, they
fought with savage ferocity. Nests of these beasts
could reach twenty residents or more, at which
point Gargoyles would be sent in to cull their
numbers.
The first recorded use of the current form of
reapers was by Jervais, childe of Malgorzata in
Magdeburg in 1211, when he employed one to
hunt down a Caitiff whose name is lost to history.
He engineered a specific mutation in his reaper,
meaning that it suffered great pain until it had
successfully hunted down its assigned target.
Though it was unsuccessful in this instance, it
performed well enough and survived its mission.
That particular reaper was exterminated once the
agony made it no longer viable, but the mutation’s
usefulness was noted and given to other reapers
and further improved, meaning that it could be
‘switched off’ if the target was no longer feasible
or the reaper needed to be reassigned. All extant
 Cave Caps
In the Eyrie of Ceoris, the floor would permanently be coated in a thick mulch of ash, clay, blood,
flesh, and feculence. Within this slurry settled the spores of fungi already mutated by the corrupt
essence flowing throughout the cave systems joining the Eyrie to the Carpathian mountains. These
spours subtly bred thousands of ghouled generations in the quiet depths of Ceoris, becoming
infectious. These spores would occasionally settle in the vitae of womb-bearers when they were
sectioned open to implant a new foetus. They then passed into the bloodstream of the developing
young, taking an almost permanent presence in their vitae. Through ghouling, blood bonds, siring,
combat, and blood orgies the spores passed from Kindred to Kindred, leaving a high percentage of
Ceoris’s Gargoyles with this fungal infestation.
For normal Gargoyles or any Kindred possessing Visceratika, the spores will remain inert for
their entire unlives; they will more than likely never know of its presence at all. Kindred without a
connection to the inanimate, however, are at great risk indeed. If a Gargoyle with this malady is fed
from by another vampire (whether due to an attempt at diablerie or as part of a blood bond), the
caps will sprout in the new ‘clean skinned’ host (Ghouls do not generally develop this condition
as Visceratika protects them even if they struggle to actually learn the Discipline). A fist-sized cap
will emerge a night after they imbibe the infected blood, a new one emerging every night thereafter
until the Kindred is entirely coated in these inflexible stony growths. The cave caps reduce ordinary
function until the Kindred becomes an unmoving mass of stone, at which point they will begin to
dissolve as they are consumed by the caps, even as they inevitably starve into torpor.
The only way for any vampire to rid themselves of cave cap is to burn every blood point in their
body, removing the means for them to incubate. If the Kindred can do this knowing they will
be revived by blood to revive them from torpor, they will survive and the caps will eventually age
and die, dropping off after just a few nights of exsanguination. The average Kindred could take
around 60 caps to entirely debilitate them, which they cannot easily or safely remove, as they root
all throughout the Kindred’s circulatory system. Any which are removed are swiftly replaced. Sadly,
not many Gargoyles are aware of this fungal infection, so this simple if inconvenient cure is rarely
known.

Reapers are of this type, though few have masters
in a position of activating this ‘ability’.
After the Revolt, the reapers were released,
leading to a population living near where Ceoris
once stood of around 200 specimens. They rarely
leave the grounds of Ceoris and the surrounding
countryside, as their bodies rely on the magical
materials lying around the Carpathian mountains
called vis (as most Gargoyle beasts do), though
Kindred blood seems to suffice for a rare few.
Attributes: Strength 3, Dexterity 5, Stamina 5,
Perception 5, Intelligence 1, Wits 2
Abilities: Alertness 3, Athletics 4, Brawl 5, Stealth
3 of. But during the Omen War and the various
Discipline: Auspex 1, Celerity 2, Fortitude 2,
Potence 3
Health Levels: OK, OK, -1, -3, -5, Incapacitated
Blood Pool: 4
Willpower: 3
Attacks: Scythe-like forelimbs dealing 8 dice of
lethal damage (including Strength and Potence).
Gargoyle Monstrosities
There are many ‘breeds’ which fall under the
general category of Gargoyle. The most well-known
of these are obviously the sired Gargoyle’s, whom
most Kindred will at least have vaguely heard

Clanbook: Gargoyles 119

centuries long battles against lupines and Tzimisce,
the witch of Ceoris developed numerous creatures
based upon the creation of Gargoyles. These
Gargoyle monstrosities have the intelligence of
animals or small children, and were designed to
perform specific tasks for their masters. During
the Revolt, these beasts were taken by the rebelling
Gargoyles and kept as guards and pets.
Womb-Bearers
These creatures are truly a horror to behold;
standing at 20 feet in height, they are the brood
mothers of their Grotesqueries. Most womb-
bearers are created by particularly powerful
Tremere or Gargoyle shamans to facilitate the
continued creation of true Gargoyles, but the
process is not pretty. They are ritually stuffed with
earth over a period of a month until a cavity is
created in their abdomens to house the gestating
sac. During this time their entire body enlarges to
average out the size of their lower halves. At the
turn of the month the earthen mass is expelled
and the creature is left with a womb ready to
breed.
The transition to womb bearing is a high honour
and only the most respected of Gargoyles are
chosen. They will have limited mobility but should
retain most of their former function unless other
rituals are performed in addition to this one to
deliberately limit them. They gain an additional
4 ‘OK’ health levels, though their Dexterity and
Willpower are lowered by 2 each (to a minimum
of 1). Sadly, their Strength does not increase which
leads to limited movement of their new, vast forms.
Simulacra
Life as a simulacrum is an eternal hell.
Considered neither truly Gargoyles or vampires,
they belong to no one. A simulacrum is created in
a process involving the mutilation, reconstitution,
and ritualistic soul reforging of a single Kindred.
It is made to think and behave exactly as Tremere
require it to, before being sent to manipulate
the Clan they were once part of. Their Beast
is that of a Gargoyle, so when they learn of
nearby Grotesqueries they instinctively flock
to that location. This always ends in horror as
120 Chapter Six: The Slaves’ Retainers
Gargoyles possess their own instinctual response to
simulacrum - one of utter hatred. A Gargoyle will
have to test their willpower not to kill these beings
immediately since they were programed to kill
them from the beginning.
Simulacra are designed to fulfil one mission and
to die soon after so any that survive their mission
were expected to be killed by Gargoyles as per
their instincts. This dissociation from all Kindred
life sends simulacra insane and suicidal, opting
to kill themselves, kill others, or willingly fall to
wightdom. They appear as classic frankenstein
monsters with reconstituted flesh and deadened
nerves making their facial expressions uncanny;
this makes long term social interactions hard to
maintain.
Attributes: Strength 2, Dexterity 2, Stamina
2, Charisma 1, Manipulation 1, Appearance 1,
Perception 2, Intelligence 1, Wits 2.
Abilities: Alertness 1, Athletics 2, Brawl 3, Melee
3, Performance 1, Stealth 2, Survival 2, Subterfuge
1,
Disciplines: Fortitude 2, Obfuscate 3, Potence 1
Willpower: 3
Blood pool: 8
Health Levels: OK, -1, -1, -2, -2, -2, -2, -2, -5,
Incapacitated
Gargoyles have the natural urge to kill simulacra,
purely from the scent of their blood. For one to
survive in a Grotesquerie they must continually
make an extended Charisma + Empathy roll.
Vellumae
Vellumae are arguably the worst thing
identifiable within the Gargoyle bloodline, if
indeed they could ever be classed as Gargoyles or
even Kindred. They appear as nothing more than
animate sheets of skin, without muscle, bone, or
organs to support them. They have senses beyond
human comprehension as well as inexplicable
powers of movement, freeing them up to travel
as far as they wish and experience whatever they
desire.
A Velluma can splay out and drift on the wind
to fly, or condense to the size of a pencil to slither
through unseen cracks. They have no faces, make
no sound, and do not attack victims with an intent
to harm; all they do is drink human blood. They
will find a lone host and wrap around the subject,
dissolving his entire body and absorbing the juices
inside before flapping away into the darkness.
Attributes: Strength 1, Dexterity 5, Stamina 2,
Perception 3, Intelligence 1, Wits 1
Abilities: Academics 1 (occasionally), Alertness 4,
Athletics 4, Melee 1, Stealth 4, Survival 2
Disciplines: Flight 1, Potence 2, Obfuscate 2
Willpower: 3
Blood pool: 3
Health Levels: OK, -2, -5, Incapacitated
Vellumae can fly by catching updrafts and floating
on air currents. They will take to flight in order
to hunt for prey, once they sense it they will wrap
around the lines whole body. The Velluma drains
the human of blood and quickly takes off once
again into the night.
Iecur
Nightmares of the dungeons of Ceoris come in
the form of iecur, the sight of which scarcely any
Kindred could see without frenzying from sheer
terror. Formed of hundreds of organs knitted
together by digestive channels which spawn during
Gestation, these six-foot mounds of flesh act as
guards in secret cave systems and dungeons storing
the most important of magical texts.
When iecur are threatened, they dissolve their
prey by wrapping around it and digesting it in a
matter of minutes. Though they prefer Kindred
flesh, anything unlucky enough to cross their
path is fair game. If they are left more than ten
days without flesh they will enter a state of frenzy
until they are once more fed. Only beings of truly
substantial strength can combat an iecur as they
possess monumental Fortitude and Potence.
Attributes: Strength 5, Dexterity 1, Stamina 10,
Perception 1, Intelligence 1, Wits 1
Abilities: Alertness 3, Brawl 8, Intimidation 5,
Stealth 1
Clanbook: Gargoyles
Disciplines: Fortitude 4, Potence 4
Willpower: 4
Blood pool: 12
Health levels: OK, OK, OK, OK, -1, -1, -3, -3, -5,
Incapacitated
The Iecur Must make a successful Grapple
before beginning to digest its victim. Having done
so, it strips its victim of one health level and one
blood point per subsequent tum, no further rolls
required. For a victim to release herself from
enveloping iecur, the player must roll Strength +
Brawl. If trapped up against a wall, a victim has
no way out of its grip, and must hope she (or her
allies) can kill it before it reduces her entirely to
paste.
Hexapeds
Hexapeds are six-armed, dog-minded monsters
which were often left to roam the grounds outside
of Ceoris with the Chitterers and Reapers until
their specific capabilities were required. They are
constructed with the flesh of three Gangrel, using
all their arms, some of each one’s intestine, and
the entirety of each brain. The body is severed
at the waist with 3 arms attached either side.
Their heads are stapled back so as to allow them
movement on their elbows with their hands
pointing skyward. Their faces are removed and
replaced by a strapped-shut wound, exposing their
combined brain, and their chest cavity is cracked
open with a unique sensory tendril lying in wait
within.
Hexapeds have the exceedingly precise ability
to track any being by smelling its aura residue left
behind on clothing or tools. Once it has tracked
its victim down it sprays a chemical upon them
from an orifice grown within its brain, forging a
permanent spiritual connection which enables
the hexaped to find its victim anywhere on earth.
They have been observed to possess the early levels
of Protean and Auspex, which give them an even
greater edge in tracking their prey. Despite their
horrific appearance, they will often behave like
young puppies. with playful attitudes and excitable
devotion to duty.
121
Attributes: Strength 3, Dexterity 5, Stamina 4,
Perception 5, Intelligence 2, Wits 2
Abilities: Alertness 3, Athletics 3, Brawl 2,
Intimidation 4, Stealth 7, Survival 3
Disciplines: Auspex 2 (3 for more advanced
Hexapeds), Fortitude 1, Potence 2, Protean 1
(occasionally)
Willpower: 5
Blood pool: 10
Health levels: OK, OK, OK, -1, -1 -1, -1, -3, -3, -5,
Incapacitated
Hand-to-hand attacks do normal damage the
Head appendage however does 8 dice but stops
attacking after a successful hit, instead draining 3
blood per turn.
Colossi
One of the greatest threats to the security of
Ceoris during the Omen War was the vozhd of
the Tzimisce (see V20 pages 502-503). Naturally,
the Tremere felt the need to replicate such sheer
destructive force in their own constructs. The
repeated Gestation of Gargoyles saw to this need
with grim results: “the birth of an embodied
angel”, in the words of Cordwood. In seeking
to create the ultimate Gargoyle killing machine,
Virstania and Malgorzata created the colossi;
perhaps uniquely, it was a project that saw much
greater contribution from Goratrix’s childe than
from the Great Mother.
In the creation of a Gargoyle colossus, one
outstanding specimen of each Casting (each
from the same womb-bearer) is dismembered
and sewn back together, with all impurities and
mutations removed so as to retain only their
strongest properties. They are then placed back
inside the womb of the same womb-bearer that
created them originally for two full years. Over
this period, rituals must be performed day and
night to encourage the flesh of all four beings to
merge together. If successful, the womb-bearer will
gradually grow a cocoon of shining hematite across
its entire body over the course of the first year.

Trovants
Every damaged piece of matter left over after the Gestation of the Gargoyles of Ceoris was thrown
into a refuse pile within the catacomb beneath the chantry, amidst alchemical waste and the faeces of
ghouls and yet-mortal Tremere. Eventually the time came to clear out this vile mess, at which point
expendable ghouls were given the unenviable task of transporting the waste eastwards and dumping
it in the Black Sea.
Just after the foul-smelling caravan had left the Carpathians, their cargo mysteriously tore through
the wooden slats of the carts and pooled on the ground. Upon investigating, the ghouls found large
spherical boulders sat amidst the Gargoyle remains, human waste, and chemicals. As the ghouls
(who didn’t know what else to do) tried to lift these boulders back into the cart, their blood was
tugged though their skin and seemingly consumed by the boulders. The rest of the caravan fled;
upon returning with Kindred masters the boulders had disappeared.
Today, these ‘living’ boulders are even known to the kine and referred to as ‘trovants’. They are
immune to sunlight and have no reactions to outside stimuli. If at any time the boulders are ‘hungry’
(which only appears to be every few years or even decades), they will instantly drain the blood of
anything touching them through the victim’s skin. The rocks multiply when ever water or blood
touches them (more quickly with human blood, even more so with vampire blood), and they have
the capacity to travel seemingly vast distances of their own volition. Humans see these as a simply
natural phenomena with the subsequent deaths quickly covered up by those Tremere who have
purchased the land and declared their location the ‘trovant preserve’.

122 Chapter Six: The Slaves’ Retainers

Towards the end of the second year, this cocoon
will splinter apart, revealing what is left at the end
of the two year ritual.
Emerging from the broken cocoon will be a
twenty-foot-tall newborn colossus. The faces of
the three cast gargoyles will have erupted from the
womb-bearers head (resulting in the ability to look
in every direction at once) and their wings will
have all sprouted out of her back and enlarged to
match their new frame. Any of the former womb-
bearer’s weakened muscles will be reinforced to
their original power and then some, leaving a
creature capable of razing a castle to the ground
singlehandedly.
The faces, wings, and entire body are covered
in the sigils which had previously been inscribed
upon the cocoon during re-Gestation, making each
colossus resemble the more alien depictions of
angels.
Attributes: Strength 8, Dexterity 4, Stamina 7,
Perception 5, Intelligence 2, Wits 4
Abilities: Alertness 4, Athletics 3, Brawl 6,
Intimidation 6, Survival 4
Disciplines: Flight 3, Fortitude 3, Potence 3
Willpower: 5
Blood pool: 20
Health levels: OK, OK, OK, OK, OK, -1, -1 -1, -1
-1, -2, -2, -2, -2, -2, -5, -5, -5, Incapacitated
Colossi are indomitable, they combined minds
make domination a futile effort. They also have an
ability similar to presence where in they can strike
terror in heir enemies hearts with a single roar, this
costs 2 blood points and requires an intimidation
roll.

Clanbook: Gargoyles 123

 Chapter Seven:
A Gallery of
Grotesques
Sample Characters
Agitator
Background: You were Embraced by an old
Gargoyle, herself Embraced some three hundred
years earlier by a veteran of Ceoris. You were raised
largely according to the traditional free Gargoyle
fashion, though you and your sire moved between
Grotesqueries rather than settling down in a single
one since she wished you to see the world in your
youth. Like all Gargoyles you recall nothing of
your mortal life, and have never bothered to ask. A
year ago, though, it all came crashing down: while
making temporary haven in a new city on the way
to another Grotesquerie, your sire was taken from
you just a few hours after making your obligatory
appearance before the Prince. Though you have no
firm proof, you’re certain it was the local Tremere.
Your bold decision not to flee, but instead to
remain and press the issue, has disarmed them.
This event, rather than crush you, has galvanised
you. While you haven with a rebellious, anarch-
sympathetic coterie of Brujah, Gangrel, and
Nosferatu, you refuse to let the matters of your
sire’s whereabouts and Gargoyle oppression more
generally rest in Elysium.
Under the tutelage of an aged Sewer Rat, you
124 Chapter Seven: A Gallery of Grotesques
have taken naturally to modern technology - as
though it were already familiar to you - which has
helped spread your message to no end.
Roleplaying Tips: You are vocal, forthright, and
passionate, but not easily angered. Even in the
midst of argument you keep your cool, knowing
more often than not what to say to put your
opponent off-guard. You are remarkably averse to
physical violence for a Gargoyle, however.
Equipment: A specially-made smartphone and
laptop, a high-end surveillance drone, scrounged-
together clothing, Chaundician literature.
Goals: You wish for three things: the emancipation
of your sire, the representation of Gargoyles on
Primogen councils around the world, and most
ambitiously the establishment of a Gargoyle
Justicar and Inner Circle member - maybe the
Ana and Chaundice you’ve heard so much about
lately. However, you aren’t willing to go along with
most anarch Chaundicians (or worse, Sabbat) in
advocating violent resistance; it is through heated
but legitimate debate that the cause of freedom
shall be advanced.
Supremacist
Background: You are a cast Warrior, but
one recently created by an all-too-ambitious
Spellbinder, who sought to combine Gestation
with the practice of shovelheading. He grew a
dozen or more of you in Gestation chambers using
a large number of captured Camarilla thinbloods,
before sealing you all beneath the earth. You were
the only one that reached the surface, but your
creator got more than he bargained for when you
rose out of the pit, still ravenous, and drank his
heart’s blood before escaping his laboratory.
You learned that day to respect only will and
might. You were soon found by a local Sabbat- and
Chaundician-aligned Grotesquerie who had gotten
wind of your would-be master’s activities. They
inducted you into the Sword of Caine that very
night, and you soon rose to become the Warrior
Mould, despite your very young age; you were the
only cast Gargoyle amongst them, let alone the
only Warrior.
Roleplaying Tips: You struggle to maintain ties
with anyone around you, because of your violent
birth and detachment from others. Even your
Grotesquerie seem to be alien to you at times. You
have no tolerance for weakness or cowardice. You
aim at all times to prove the rumour true that your
bloodline is hardy beyond reason and dangerous
beyond belief.
Equipment: An array of makeshift weaponry, a
big-buttoned cellphone, secret dossiers outlining
information on your rivals and targets.
Goals: You have an anarchistic and revolutionary
view on unlife. You, and by extension your
Grotesquerie, want to see members of the Gargoyle
bloodline elevated to a status equal to or greater
than that of the Lasombra and Tzimisce.
Mercenary
Background: You were Embraced into a
wandering coterie made up of Gargoyles and
Gangrel skilled in the use of flight forms. Moving
swiftly about as you did, you soon left behind the
remains of your mortal life. Your coterie identified
with no sect, preferring to live as autarkis.
Though Embraced, you take the role of a scout
within the Grotesquerie you associate with. You
showed an early natural aptitude for Animalism,
and took to creating and rearing stone hounds
which aid you in tracking and hunting (see page
Clanbook: Gargoyles
92). In the coterie, your preferred position is
hunting by ground as you have a greater capacity to
travel on all fours than bipedaly.
Role-playing Tips: Self-sufficient loner. You feel an
estranged detatchment from most other Kindred,
which aids you in killing them on request. The
only people you call alies are the coterie you travel
with and your pack of stone hounds, you know
they won’t let you down.
Equipment: You have the leashes of your hounds
and very little else. Around your neck hangs
trophies of your former successes in combat,
trinkets taken from the fallen dead.
Goals: Your goals are a simple list, complete each
job as it comes and protect your Grotesquerie
through thick and thin. Every night is different in
your unlife so keeping complex life goals is sadly
not an option.
Scourge
Background: You were recently found in the
basement of an dilapidated multiplex, alone and
confused. The local Camarilla harpies took you in
and showed you off to the Prince, a self-obsessed
Ventrue who said he could use someone like you.
Before your Embrace, you were a bottom rung
mobster just out to follow orders. Your streetwise
confidence has not completely left you, and
has given you an edge in your new line of work.
Tonight you live at the top of the castle - or
skyscraper - taking out the trash whenever the
Prince needs some lowlife taken care of, and you’re
not above making a profit along the way.
Several times in your last few years of cracking
skulls, other Gargoyles have approached you to
talk about the movement of ‘Sean Deese’ - or
something like that - but it holds no interest with
you. Instead you keep outside of public knowledge,
a thing of nightmare and vampiric urban legend,
ready to swoop down on the boss’s enemies with a
vengeance.
Role-playing Tips: Yours is not to reason why; if
you have a job you get it done, end of. In your
downtime, you revel in the joys of affluence. When
the Prince is happy he makes you happy, and that’s
125
all you care about.
Equipment: A gold chain, a specially-tailored black
leather jacket, solid silver knuckle dusters (for
when a Lupine runt needs taking out).
Goals: What the boss wants, you want, and right
now he wants his domain stretched out to the
sticks, and you’ve set your sights on making that
happen. Some night you may even make sheriff,
and have others to boss around while you sit back,
soaking up the glory.
Shaman
Background: You were cast as a Scout by an
independent Grotesquerie of shamans living in
complete secrecy, former apprentices of the Great
Mother who had banded together after being
injured during the Revolt. You learned everything
you could regarding the metaphysical nature of
your race, with the intention of taking a solitary
approach to shamanism.
While mastering your own ritualistic procedures
you were approached by representatives of both the
Chaundician movement and that of the anarchs;
finding both appealing, you adopted them into
your journey and became committed to both
causes. Now you act as a shaman for a coterie
of renegades in search of religious affirmation.
Though you have only a few Gargoyles amongst
you, all of your coterie mates honour your spiritual
understanding and assist in your rituals with
genuine enthusiasm.
Roleplaying Tips: You are mystically and
transcendentally minded and radically committed
to the advancement of Gargoyles both as a group
and individually, believing in the alchemical
principle that what is above is like that which is
below. You see Gargoyles as being on the cusp of
a great evolution and have committed yourself to
supporting your Grotesquerie and your race in
reaching that change.
Equipment: Numerous occult and alchemical
grimoires and manuscripts, a large staff festooned
with feathers, furs, and teeth, and many herbal
ingredients.
Goals: You have many goals in your unlife, from
126 Chapter Seven: A Gallery of Grotesques
creating your own unique shamanic humour
to providing your coterie (including the non-
Gargoyles) with effective shamanic medicine.
Keeper of the Shroud
Background: You were created by a Pisanob
houngan, and quickly showed a dedication
to studying under him in the arts of vodoun
Necromancy. After your harrowing Gestation in
your ‘sire’s’ cenote, you took the division between
material and spirit world symbolised by your
intolerance of water to heart.
You now seek a way to keep them from intruding
directly upon each other (though contact between
the living and the dead, even being the ‘horse’ for
a ghost by allowing for it to temporarily possess
you, is permissible eroding to your code). You have
quickly adopted a deep hatred of Clan Giovanni as
a whole and actively oppose users of the Ash Path,
Nagaraja ‘wraith-eaters’, and even some masters of
Auspex. You live a nomadic life traveling from state
to state almost on the offensive against spiritualists,
any scent of otherworldly transitioning draws your
attention.
Roleplaying Tips: You observe any ritual
performance within Kindred society and aim to
restrict traffic between one world and the other.
In private you secure personal medicine with great
emphasis on the well-being of your soul and those
that fight alongside you.
Equipment: You possess countless vodoun
ritualistic material, a collection of mortal and
supernatural fetishes, and an all encompassing
cowell and gnarled mahogany staff.
Goals: You have a very grandiose and extravagant
goal, to keep ghosts out. You believe that the dead
stay dead and to dispute that will bring the wrath
of Baron Kriminal himself.
Sentinel Caretaker
Background: With no memory of your former life
and unlife, your first memory was that of emerging
from your Womb-bearer’s uterus confused and
disorientated. After a few years of acclimatization,
you realised your role on this earth and in this
Eyrie: to keep the peace. You are surrounded by
miscreants and renogades; one brawler from the
Sabbat group, one anarch freedom fighter, and one
Camarilla scourge, to name just three. You have
seen it as your job to keep them in line while your
mother cares for her rock cats and ghouls.
From time to time you see it as your duty to leave
the eyrie to meet with members of local factions to
make sure your brothers and sisters aren’t getting
into too much trouble, though you try to keep
out of that silliness yourself. Though you have not
Embraced yourself, you treat those members of
your Grotesquerie you need to protect as your own
children, even the Rock Cats and Stone Hounds.
It is rare you are not performing some errand for
them throughout your nightly duties.
Roleplaying Tips: Family minded and devoted,
you are committed to maintaining order in the
Eyrie, irrespective of external politics. You already
have a ghouled child taken from the streets who
has quickly become your whole world. If your
family are in danger, you are called to action.
Equipment: You don’t keep much in the way of
personal possessions, your children bring you food
and amenities.
Goals: Your goal is a simple one, keep a close eye
on your family and make sure they don’t fall in too
deep with the wrong crowd.
Clanbook: Gargoyles
Gorgon Artist
Background: Selected by supposed divine
providence to be a Gorgon, given your human
devotion to the Setite creed. During your
gestation the lector priests vision of a divine
goose leading scripture and prayer lead to you
being reconstituted with goose flesh bandages.
You emerged as an avatar of Gengen-Wer, the
goose-headed god. You now serve your temple in
a creative position, being the temple’s foremost
hymn-composer and devotional artist. Your
inscriptions tell of the potential for spiritual
awakening under Set through the creation of ‘true’
art.
Roleplaying Tips: You are placid until roused, at
which point you pack a nasty bite. Your night-to-
night activities are mostly comprised of leading
creative ghouls in artistic reverence of set and
expressing your own divine scripture in musical
form.
Equipment: Papyrus and ink, many books of
sermons and hymns, and various tomes devoted to
Set’s teachings.
Goals: You care not for Kindred politics, your
devotion belongs to the melding of art and magic
by creating ritualistic ballads to Set.
Chantry Guardian
Background: You have emerged from your
embrace with advanced amnesia, combined with
the ritualistic abuse you barely remember your
name, least of all who your sire is. For as long
as you can remember you have lived alone, in
isolation, in a grey bricked room. Your life of utter
servitude to a purist tremere warlock seemed to
stretch lifetimes before you were approached by
the Flock. Now all you wish, more than anything,
is to join the Great Mother. You have new found
ambition and drive to escape your self proclaimed
master and join the glorious Flock.
Roleplaying Tips: Embittered to the past, idealistic
and naive to the future. You Wish for the love and
companionship they have never known and believe
all of that and more can be found within the flock.
Equipment: A small carved statue of a smiling
127
Gargoyle; your only true friend, given to you by the
flock associate.
Goals: Escape to Ceoris with as many others as
possible, without the masters learning of your
hopes and destroying them. Find a great new
purpose in service of the Mother.
Demonic Host
Background: You had been embraced not long
ago by a sire clearly afflicted by infernal influence,
within a former Baali hive. Being one of the
last remaining member of the ghoul contingent
belonging to the baali, your sire is now the leader
of your grotesque hive, possessing inhuman levels
of insight and supernatural ability. Before you were
embraced the grotesquerie diablerized the entire
baali hive and overtook it almost immediately
taking on corrupt mimetic features. Since your
birth you have played host to an infernal spirit,
bent on destroying other kindred.
Atop the demonic infestation you and your
family are infested with cave caps, and Gargoyle
mosquitoes. They spread Gargoyle vitae and cave
cap spores throughout Kindred society hoping to
spread the infernal blight.
Roleplaying Tips: You are told daily that kindred
are vile by your demonic asociet. Your aim is to
contaminate Kindred society with evil in any form,
using the spores within your blood or the inherent
curse carried by your vitae.
Equipment: You possess various dark talismans
salvaged from the baali nest, cloaks and cowls, and
a ritualistic athame dagger.
Goals: Your hive has the singular goal of defiling
kindred society, whether it’s a symptom of your
diablerie of a natural hatred of what you once
were. You seem to stop at nothing to defile, debase
and destroy everything vampiric.
Notable Gargoyles
Chaundice
Rock Lord of the Grand Court
Background: Born the first of his kind in
Ceoris in 1111, Chaundice was also the first of
to revolt against his Tremere masters. After his
128 Chapter Seven: A Gallery of Grotesques
self-emancipation, he attempted to settle in the
northern edges of Hungary, living among passing
Gangrel and feral beasts until ultimately being
recaptured by the fugitive Goratrix, who found
him by following the instinctual draw of childe to
sire, aided by the same divining magics he used to
find the resting place of Saulot.
Once recaptured he was subjected to servitude
far worse than that which he’d escaped almost two
centuries earlier. All of Goratrix’s jealousy, malice,
and callous cruelty was directed almost solely
towards him. He knew only a state of mindless
control imposed by use of Thaumaturgy, blood
bonding, and Dominate, due to the fear Goratrix
had concerning Chaundice’s potential. The vast
period of time between then and the past decade
or so is a vague morass of boredom and ennui
punctuated by instances of sickening violence.
After Goratrix joined with the Sabbat and formed
his House, the latter became more and more
common, though the main sense of Chaundice’s
fragmented memories is still one of hollow futility
and quiet suffering.
This all changed with some sort of attack
against or traumatic and fundamental change in
Goratrix, though the precise nature of this event is
as unclear now as it was then. All Chaundice can
recall with any clarity is a mirror, made somehow
terrible. The next hour or so was a mad dash for
freedom, one not unlike his flight from Ceoris
many lifetimes ago. As before he met a challenger,
though this one was a greater obstacle than the
foolhardy Brunavog: Esoara, childe of Curaferrum,
a senior Spellbinder who saw his chance to gain
some measure of revenge for his sire’s diablerie at
the fangs of the Great Mother.
Had Chaundice any knowledge of Esoara’s
deeds at the battle of Ceoris and the Revolt that
followed, it would surely have been a duel to the
death from which neither might have escaped.
To this night he regrets being so ignorant. As it
was, disoriented and frightened, he was simply
fighting to escape. After a minute or so of
lightning-fast blows of Chaundice’s claws against
Esoara’s double-headed battleaxe, the antitribu
was disarmed and dealt a severe blow to the chest,
 though it was far from fatal. Immediately taking to
flight once more, the Rock Lord was spurred on
as magical fire spewed from Esoara’s mouth and
eyes, scorching his wings and driving his Beast into
Rotshreck.
From Mexico City (for, as he would later
determine, that was where he was) he flew north
by blind instinct, though he had recovered enough
presence of mind to shelter from the sun each day.
Eventually he reached the Grand Canyon only
to be spotted and rescued by Handsome Dan.
Through long, difficult conversation Chaundice’s
long-buried personality returned, and has he
merged with the Canyon one night, the Rock Lord
experienced a profound and mysterious awakening.
This event caused a spiritual shockwave through
the very rock of the Canyon, awakening an ancient
spirit called Maasaw in local Native mythology.
This spirit, as unsure what to make of Chaundice
as he is of it, has nonetheless taken the Gargoyle
as its patron, granting him untold gifts, and even
alleviating some aspects of vampirism altogether.
Tonight, Chaundice makes his haven at his ‘Grand
Rock Court’, located in the Grand Canyon (see
page 35).
Image: Where for many centuries he was as
vile and pitiful in appearance as any of his
kind, Chaundice now cuts an imposing and
awe-inspiring figure. His body, which stands
a approximately 7’6” and is of human build
and proportion, is covered in skin of off-white
marble which glistens in the desert moonlight. As
though carved by an artist’s hand, he resembles
an Apollonian statue of antiquity; short, curled
hair rests unmoving upon his brow, and his limbs
and torso bear lean muscle. Were it not for his
enormous wings, of which he has two pairs, he
could well be mistaken for a sculpture in the style
of Michelangelo. He has not fully cast off his
former shape, however, for while one set of wings
is feathered like those of a great eagle, the other
is bat-like and spindly, a constant reminder of
the degradation he suffered under the Betrayer
- though both seem to function equally well,
carrying him across the night sky at incredible
speed.

Clanbook: Gargoyles 129

Roleplaying Hints: You are a being of two minds.
Though you maintain a generally calm and
contemplative demeanour, this only sometimes
matches how you truly feel. At times you are in
great conflict with yourself, torn between passion
and despair, or between all-consuming love for
your Children and hatred of your enemies - but at
others you become placid and meditative, dwelling
at length upon your place in the world and that of
all Gargoyles. One thing is certain, though: if you
hear of great mistreatment, injustice or violence
carried out against your fellow Freemen, your very
Beast becomes roused to a terrible fury.
Sire: Goratrix (though he was Embraced by
Goratrix, Chaundice is not a Tremere since he
was far from an ordinary human when he was
Embraced).
Nature: Architect
Demeanour: Eye of the Storm
Generation: 5th (though to what extent generation
holds significance for Chaundice is unknown)
Embrace: 1111 (the same year as his ritual
creation)
Abhorrences: Petrified Flesh 1, Animal features 2.
Ana
The Blood-Stained Erinye
Background: Ana was created from mostly
Gangrel material, which didn’t emerge as an
animalistic form but rather an innate primal fury,
blamed on the strength of the Beast inside her.
She was one of the youngest of the six original
Gargoyles, next to Alvusia, and had a rebellious
nature from Gestation. In the lead-up to their
fleeing from Ceoris, Ana was the driving voice for
escape, talking down more moderate points of view
like Saxim and Ch’iung Chi until the decision was
finally made by her ‘father’, Chaundice.
After the escape, Ana’s went into hiding after
flying to the Austrian Alps, with no sign of her
father or her siblings, she soon slipped into
torpor. She awoke upon being fed the blood of
an Austrian Tremere who had become desperate
enough to divine her location and use her as a
weapon against the other Gargoyles, who were in
130 Chapter Seven: A Gallery of Grotesques
the midst of prosecuting their Revolt at the time.
She slew this Warlock and his companions, after
which she was taken in by the Gargoyle ghouls
known as the Standing Stones, whom she led on
a warpath to a nearby Alpine chantry, where she
discovered a strange artefact which brought about
her transformation into a blood-red creature of
great power. This artefact has also endowed her
with the ability to gradually reverse the ‘ageing’
process of Gargoyle ghouls who remain in her
presence (see Chapter 5).
She has spent the centuries since fighting a
guerilla war against the Tremere, the Flock, and
any other group she sees to be a threat to the
freedom and security of Gargoyle kind. Her
marauding was halted recently by the most horrific
being she had ever seen (including herself).
Moments before she butchered him alive, this
Gargoyle, who called himself Handsome Dan,
managed to explain that he had been sent by her
father Chaundice, to bring her ‘home’. After a
week of harsh interrogation, her Standing Stone
knights advised her to trust Dan and let him escort
her to the Grand Rock Court.
Since the re-emergence of Chaundice and the
birth of the movement which has formed around
him, she has become the Rock Lord’s bloody right
hand, executing his enemies and assaulting the
most dangerous strongpoints. In contrast to the
moderation advocated by her brother Ch’iung
Chi, she argues for active and aggressive opposition
to the Tremere, whether that involves their ousting
from the Camarilla or (preferably, in her mind)
their destruction. The substance that triggered
Anas catalyst was retained by the Standing Stones
and has since been relocated to the Grand Rock
Court for Chaundices personal examination.
Image: Ana has layers of ruby red and jet black
skin coated in sharp grey slate shards. She stands
at barely 5 feet tall, but has an impressive 16-foot
wingspan. The shards on top of her head form a
disjointed crown.
Roleplaying hints: You are harsh-tempered,
especially towards outsiders, and vicious in your
unwavering hatred of the Tremere. You are,
however, greatly protective of your Standing Stone
bodyguards, and become relatively calm and
composed around Chaundice.
Sire: Unknown
Nature: Soldier
Demeanour: Soldier
Generation: 6th
Gestation: 1115
Abhorrences: Layers 1, Petrified Flesh 2, Growths
3, Withering 4
Gersella
Rock Lady of the Stone Guardians
Background: Born before the second millennium
to unknown parents, Gersella was adopted by
nuns in a convent nestled in the French Alps.
She embraced the lifestyle of her guardian sisters,
and was cloistered from a very early age. As the
years went on the convent took in lepers from
the nearby villages, to house them in their small
hospital and attempt to cure them, the Lord
willing. Soon she became the convent’s canoness
for her work in curing several resident lepers on
the brink of death, and delivering those beyond
redemption into the lap of God without fear of her
own mortality.
She was ultimately Embraced by one of a pair
of Nosferatu who joined a late arrival of lepers
traveling from Switzerland after hearing of the
aid provided by Gersella’s convent. She left
the nunnery within the week of her Embrace,
seeing the indelible mark of the Devil in her new
condition. She traveled with the Nosferatu for
many long years. Gradually her autarkis pack grew
in members both by Embrace and those joining
in search of companionship. With this influx
Gersella donned her habit once again to provide
her new flock with God’s light; the divinity she
had felt so many years ago even returned, to a
degree. Her flock protected her and provided her
with blood - because she would not arm living
beings herself - as she became their mother figure.
Her second death came when her flock traveled
through the Italian Alps. They were intending to
provide the smaller Kindred domains with their
Clanbook: Gargoyles
‘blood balm’, a sacred substance they brewed
which seemed to alleviate the grotesque features of
cursed Kindred like Nosferatu and Cappadocians.
Her fifteen strong flock of Nosferatu monks
and devout Ventrue and Toreador knights were
kidnapped and tortured by Tremere on the
lookout for raw materials for new Gargoyles. The
flock were separate and dispatched to various
places across the continent, most - including
Gersella - ending up in Ceoris. Their they were
mutilated and transformed into the gestalt
creations currently unknown to the Kindred
world named Gargoyles. Gersella was cast as a
Sentinel and for century and a half she resided
within Ceoris, protecting the fledglings and those
Gargoyles whose minds didn’t survive Gestation.
When wind of a revolt came along, she chose to
stay safe in the Eyrie to defend her wards, who
were incapable of defending themselves.
Gersella died for the third time while she was
fleeing Ceoris during its viscous reclamation by
Esoara, who personally struck her head from her
shoulders with a single well-struck blow of his
axe. As her body crumbled away, her severed head
was claimed by a shaman using Obfuscate as he
traveled across the battlefield, collecting remains.
The shaman, named Crandor, later batch-made
forty Guardians (see page 106), Gersella among
them, in his Eyrie many miles from the fallen
site of Ceoris, which he named the ‘1476 War
Monument’. This place became something of a
Mecca for Gargoyles in the know; they would travel
across the continent to speak with the veterans of
Ceoris so as to gain an insight into their condition.
In the modern nights this war memorial was
relocated - at quite a cost to many influential
Gargoyles, Toreador patrons and local sympathetic
Princes - to the Grand Rock Court. Handsome
Dan visited the memorial soon after his master
had awakened and ordered its relocation in
Chaundice’s name. In the Court each Guardian
has been taught an array of disciplines including
Visceratika, giving them limited movement once
again. Due to Gersellas motherly persona and
vast experience, Chaundice appointed her as the
representative of her ‘race’, the Guardians, and his
personal advisor.
131
Image: Gersella has a simple but well-realised
design: the face of a woman of central European
descent in yellowing sandstone. Her eyes have the
hollowed out pupils familiar to many statutes of
Greece and Rome. Draped around her head is a
detailed, lovingly-carved habit which seems to be a
part of her ‘flesh’. Her lips and cheeks bear minute
red deposits in their surfaces.
Roleplaying hints: You are a very humble
individual. You consider every word you speak and
always err on the side of caution. After being taken
to the Grand Rock Court you have managed to
learn multiple Disciplines including Visceratika,
which you have used to travel all around the
Grand Canyon. You are very calm and virtuous,
to the point of Chaundice half believing that you
are incapable of frenzying. You have ‘adopted’
Chaundice and Handsome Dan as your new
wards, and as such care for them as if they were the
childer you could never have.
Sire: Georges
Nature: Caregiver
Demeanour: Pedagogue
Generation: 7th
Embrace: 1032
Gestation: 1167
Abhorrences: Petrified Flesh 1
Drogo
The Winged Wolf
Background: Drogo was, in his first life, a young
blacksmith living in a long-forgotten village in
14th-century Hungary. A local Gangrel elder
noticed his strong body and loyal nature, and
decided he would make an ideal childe. He came
upon the blacksmith one dark night, attacked
the youth, and dragged him into the deep woods,
where he brought him into the nocturnal world of
the Kindred.
At first Drogo naturally feared and resented
his sire, but in time he adapted and the two
became travelling companions as they travelled
Transdanubia hunting and occasionally loaning
their services out to one Prince or another. It
132 Chapter Seven: A Gallery of Grotesques
wasn’t to last, however, as Drogo’s sire eventually
callously sold him to Tremere in exchange for
protection from a Tzimisce voivode he’d angered.
In short order, Drogo was taken to Ceoris
and used to create a new Sentinel. His old
and powerful Gangrel heritage overcame that
of whichever Kindred he was combined with,
manifesting as an entirely lupine form, save for his
wings. He was found to be a highly successful and
vigorous creation, and one with a distinct loyal
streak.
As part of some deal he no longer remembers,
Drogo was traded to the Madrid chantry. He
served dutifully enough, but found less fulfillment
than he had in service to the Great Mother herself.
Slowly, almost imperceptibly, rebellious thoughts
germinated in his mind during the quiet hours of
the night.
Drogo may have been the first Gargoyle to reach
the New World, as he was shipped over with his
Tremere master and a handful of acolytes in the
interest of establishing an early chantry there. For
reasons never known to Drogo, the galleon set fire,
and this event brought the thoughts of escape and
freedom to the forefront of Drogo’s mind. Barely
thinking, though not frenzying either, he grabbed
his master and flew to the safety of the Floridian
coast, half to save him and half to overpower him.
As he flew, his resentment - for every beating
and harsh word, every laborious task and mind-
numbing lookout duty - grew and catalyzed. Giving
in to a bestial impulse, Drogo dashed his master
against a cliffside as they flew over it, quite without
warning. He crumbled to ash upon impact, though
Drogo did not look to see the result.
Drogo soon fell under the curse of his
Casting: without a master to serve or any other
tie or relationship to substitute such a bond,
his cognitive abilities regressed to almost an
animalistic level. He wandered the East Coast,
hunting wild game and observing the humans,
other vampires, and lupines, and stranger creatures
who made their homes there. He only vaguely
noted the increase in colonialism, the progress of
technology, or the shifting face of vampire politics,
drawing few distinctions between different groups.
 He has recently been adopted by a pack of
Gangrel, Caitiff, Nosferatu, Gargoyle and Ravnos
settled in a small upstate New York named
Greenhaven. In this short time his human thought
processes have - mostly - returned making him
able to interact with his new pack and aid in
their combined long term survival. He has, in
fact, become their mutually elected leader, and
has named himself ‘Prince of Greenhaven’ and
sworn loyalty to the Camarilla. Quite what to
make of this, the nearby Princes aren’t sure - his
small claimed domain intrudes on none of theirs
- but his declaration has caused more of a stir in
the halls of power. A Gargoyle Prince is no small
matter to the Tremere; it is whispered that Etrius
himself has taken note of the situation. It may
be that trouble is headed to Greenhaven, but its
Prince is prepared to defend what he feels he has
earned.
Image: Drogo is a perfect example of the bestial
mutations which can manifest in Gargoyles,
especially those like him who are drawn from Clan
Gangrel. He has the body of a wild, unkempt wolf
and his wings, spanning 12 feet, seem to burst
from his carved fur. His pupiless eyes glow with a
constant red radiance.
Roleplaying Tips: You have bouts of memory loss
making you drift in and out of conversation. At
this point in your unlife you have forgone major
responsibilities by proxy of your achievements
- your domain, founded on ideals of mutual
assistance and egalitarianism and as such you are
mostly left to your own devices. Politically you
cleave to the Camarilla, but you feel also drawn
to both the Chaundicians and the Virstanians.
With the help of your closest allies, Bryce the
Gangrel and Dimitru the Ravnos, you constantly
seek new ways to liven up your unlife and battle
the numerous parties who wish to see you, your
followers, and your domain destroyed or cast
down.
Sire: Mikail
Nature: Idealist
Demeanour: Architect
Generation: 7th
Clanbook: Gargoyles
Embrace: 1221
Gestation: 1377
Abhorrences: Talons 1, Hunch 2, Petrified Flesh 3,
Animal Features 4
Stonebones
Proprietor of the Catacombs of Sorrow
Background: One of the original Calacas,
Stonebones was originally a free New Orleans
‘mulatto’, who was Embraced into the Samedi
bloodline. He quickly accepted his new condition
with his seemingly inexhaustible optimism,
becoming addicted to a fast-paced unlife of crime,
violence, and conspicuous consumption. He was
an avid gambler, placing large bets against human
lives on a nightly basis. He used a large scale
trafficking ring as his own personal plaything.
He eventually bit off more than he could chew
and seemingly lost control of his urge to win,
betting his own soul against a Giovanni while he
had a weak hand, and losing terribly when the
Necromancer called his bluff. Before he could
comprehend the loss, a stake was forced through
his back - he’d always neglected Fortitude - and
his world went dark. He awoke in a hessian sack
with pain shooting across his body, seconds
before he was assaulted by the sudden icy shock of
stagnant water crashing across his mutilated body.
Following this came interminable days and nights
of torment from the phantoms swimming around
133
him as his flesh became caked in mud and began
to liquefy. and The ghosts ripped portions of his
body apart, apparently reveling in the agony felt by
Stonebones, as he would soon come to be called.
Finally his agony came to an end as he felt the
drawstring of his ‘womb sack’ tighten, and he
was heaved from the pool. When the sack fell
and he witnessed his change, he simply burst into
hysterical laughter. Surrounded by several of his
own kind and former Samedi kin, he became
convinced that his was the better way to live and
assisted in numerous rituals and thaumaturgical
procedures before giving up on the soon-dull
repetition of abduction and Gestation. He fled
south without much of an ultimate goal until he
reached Quito, Ecuador, gravitating towards areas
which celebrated the Day of the Dead. In Quinto
he set up a debauched den selling vitae laced with
a wide range of exotic and illicit substances (some
mundane, some supernatural). In the modern
nights, his catacomb is the talk of the Central and
South American Kindred.
Image: Stonebones is around 7 feet tall, though
his sparse frame is constantly shrouded in a
thick black shawl made from a patchwork of his
Gestation sack and those of other Calacas he has
helped create. His flesh is mostly gone - all but that
of his upper face, esophagus, and eyes. The rest of
his body is a solid skeleton with strings of petrified
flesh hanging rigidly from each cracked piece
of muscle and cartilage. When his wings unfold
from around his chest they reach a colossal 14-foot
wingspan of fleshless bone spines.
Roleplaying Tips: You are surprisingly jovial and
carefree, forever looking for new substances to
infuse into your blood brews. You grow vast bushes
of ghouled marigolds which you save for honoured
guests. You spend most of your nights hosting at
the Quinto catacombs, your upbeat demeanor
adding to the lively atmosphere of those deathly
caverns.
Sire: Bembe
Nature: Capitalist
Demeanour: Bon vivant
Generation: 9th
134 Chapter Seven: A Gallery of Grotesques
Embrace: 1764
Gestation: 1847
Abhorrences: Hunch 1, Growths 2, Petrified Flesh
3, Weathering 4
Fidus
The Shrunken Beast
Background: Fidus was born with a congenital
defect causing his legs to waste away during
Gestation. This limitation meant that, though
he could still walk on his shrunken legs, he was
at a significant physical disadvantage. During
his childhood in a small village at the southern
border of 10th-century Germany, he was treated
as the runt of the litter amongst his family and
neighbours. Some treated him with pitying care,
while more expressed disgust and hostility. The
now long-forgotten village was home to a sorcerer
who studied fleshcrafting (having stolen secrets
from the Tzimisce of the east). He soon adopted
Fidus (without the knowledge or consent of his
family, though some were glad to see the back of
him) and used him as the subject of many arcane
practices. During the three decades in which
the sorcerer and Fidus worked together, they
managed to alter Fidus in numerous ways, but
never successfully altered his stature for long. The
sorcerer accepted Fidus as his ward and apprentice,
teaching him many thaumaturgical methods of
shape shifting, and alchemical formulae designed
to manipulate the body.
The sorcerer and Fidus lived to more than twice
their natural lifespans through the use of various
magical brews, making a living through traveling
apothecary work barber surgery. This lasted up
until 1087 when the sorcerer, while trying to attain
greater insight into the magical manipulation of
flesh, was murdered by the voivode he had been
beseeching. The Tzimisce then Embraced Fidus
for his interesting array of physical modifications,
seeing something of a potential in the arts of
Vicissitude in him - or simply wishing to steal parts
of his flesh to use on himself.
Fidus did not last long as a Tzimisce; he and his
sire were caught up in a surprise Tremere attack on
his keep. Midway into the 1120’s, assaults against
the local Warlock chantries had reached new
heights of bloodiness with the appearance of their
newest secret weapon: the first Gargoyles. During
this period, the oncoming Tremere launched an
assault against the voivode’s castle and slaughtered
every ghoul, viciously mutilating Fidus and his
sire, and scavenging any parts of their flesh seen as
particular points of interest.
Fidus would awaken once again almost fifteen
years later surrounded by blood, screaming,
and several figures glaring down at him. His
first sight was that of Virstania’s gleaming smile
as she scooped him into her arms and hugged
him for several hours. Behind her stood a large
horned figure, proud and domineering, that he
would soon know as Saxum, and a beautiful and
statuesque woman with large bat-like wings and a
dangerous aura; soon he would know her as Luma.
Fidus’ time spent with Virstania was at first one
of fear and anxiety. Being the smallest and clearly
the weakest of his siblings Fidus lived in a state
of constant alertness while alone in their Eyrie.
Virstania, however, seemed to favour with him as
his mother had done almost 200 years earlier; she
taught him Thaumaturgy, despite the protests of
Malgorzata, and quickly came to consider him to
be her greatest apprentice.
During the Revolt, Fidus fled with his new
Mother to her secret laboratory, hidden within the
Carpathian mountains, and helped her establish
the new Eyrie there. Later on he became the head
of the Flock’s organisational structure. He oversees
the continuing creation of Gargoyles in that
ancient laboratory, with new Flock members being
made almost monthly - given Luma’s warriors
bring him the correct materials.
Fidus has even discovered the means to truly
replicate the creation of Chaundice’s progeny,
and even - he believes - a creature comparable to
Chaundice himself. He has kept this information
closely guarded, as he does not think Gargoyles are
loyal enough to have their curses stripped of them
and their potential magnified.
Image: At a mere four feet tall due to his
malformed legs (still cursing him nearly a
millennia after his birth), Fidus has a perpetually
Clanbook: Gargoyles
elongated and bowed, three-foot neck, attached to
which is a distended head dominated by a sharp
curved beak. His eyes look like tiny, sparkling
black holes, burnt into his feathery hide. Fidus’
wings are small, twisted, and useless, as they have
completely withered away. This, however, has not
stunted his ability to fly, which surpasses even
Saxum’s; in fact, he was the first cast Gargoyle to
learn and master flight. He drools uncontrollably,
and speaks with a lisp that others may find
comical, or more commonly annoying.
Roleplaying Tips: You see Virstania’s work - the
creation and control of new Gargoyles - as an
almost religious pursuit. You work more than ten
hours straight each night, creating and innovating
new methods of performing the Gargoyle creation
rite. You have almost exceeded Virstania’s own
work in the time she has been in torpor, now being
able to make entirely bespoke Gargoyles at the
behest of your fellow Moulds. You have reached a
strength and wisdom beyond your wildest mortal
dreams, and as such see any form of disrespect
directed toward you from any vampire as cause to
destroy the offender. As such you rule your Scout
underlings with an iron claw.
Sire: Tomyen
Nature: Visionary
Demeanour: Loner
Generation: 8th
Embrace: 1087
Gestation: 1138
Abhorrences: Animal Features 1, Minimalism 2,
Elongation 3, Petrified Flesh 4, Withering 5.
Luma
The Stone Beauty
Background: A trapper’s child in a 9th-century
Polish hamlet, Luma took to the hunt and soon
carved a place for herself as the apex predator
in her own small ecosystem. She adapted
just as well to dominating humans as she did
animals, becoming able to choose her victim and
manipulate them into doing anything she desired.
The night came when she came across bird tracks
135
bigger than those of even a bear. Luma had hunted
creatures now known only in myth during her
career, including several harpies and a kelpie, but
the beast belonging to those prints bested her.
Naming itself The Manticore (due to its lion like
body ending in a scorpion tail and crow’s legs),
the great beast Embraced her for her vain but
noble efforts in the battle preceding her death.
Her unlife she found to be simply a heightened
form of her human life, spending most of it in the
woodlands she had dominated before and hunting
anything that stood in her way. Time became
nothing to her, and centuries melted away in a
blood red haze. Long after she had killed her sire
- and diablerized him - she found herself suddenly
surrounded by an aggressive force bent on her
capture. By the time the sun rose, she was caught.
When she awoke her claws were dripping with
blood and she lay in the eviscerated abdomen of
a screaming giant. Her Mothers’ orders were to
kill, and she accepted them without hesitation,
foregoing interaction with her siblings or even
her Mother. Over the years she made a sisterhood
within the Warrior Casting without her Mother’s
knowledge - Fidus watched on, hoping for her to
slip up and create her own demise - all of whom
possessed beauty and fury beyond comparison,
made in Luma’s image as they were.
The four ‘sisters’ fought, lived, and loved
together, calling their group the Luminaires. This
band comprised of Luma, Crystallus, Rubesh,
and Ampulla. They would seek out combat on a
nightly basis, always striving for greater opponents
and indulging in more carnal activities with one
another whilst taken by the rush of battle.
The Luminaires’ part in the Revolt was simply to
slay Tremere and their servants when and where
they found them. Their bloody toll ended when
Esoara led his forces into their terrain; he almost
managed to slaughter them all, even after they had
destroyed four of his most loyal soldiers. Rubesh
gave her unlife to cover the escape of her sisters.
After the Revolt tapered out, Luma reined in her
remaining Warriors and jumped straight back onto
the offensive. While Saxum and Fidus settled the
Great Mother in her new domain, Luma and her
136 Chapter Seven: A Gallery of Grotesques
remaining sisters set out to recapture those she saw
as traitors to her Mother’s cause. Over the next five
centuries, Luma managed to reclaim almost a third
of those Gargoyles that had initially abandoned
the Flock, though due to the emergence of the
Embrace her job has become one without end.
Tonight, Luma controls the Warriors of the
Flock who retrieve Gargoyles from all over the
world and return them to their Mother. Her
Luminaires act as her generals and report to her
continuously, Crystallus reporting from western
Europe while Ampulla bases her operations in
North America, watching over her childe Erinye.
Image: Luma is a slender creature with the
serene beauty of an ancient Greek statue. Her
long, sensuously curving talons and razor-tipped
wings somehow add to her unearthly charm. Her
alabaster skin seems to glow a faint yellow in the
dark. She has been blessed by an unmarred face,
adding to her stunning visage, and this has been
passed onto the Luminaires (created using the
same ingredients and processes) and their own
Embraced daughters.
Roleplaying Tips: You do not have time for
any Kindred other than your Mother and your
Luminaries. For them you hold a deep love
and respect, even the simulation of romantic
attachments for your ‘sisters’. You do not hate
the Chaundicians for their beliefs, but you also
believe they are holding back your race - only with
Chaundice’s ash can the Flock grow to its true
potential.
Sire: The Manticore
Nature: Rebel
Demeanour: Tyrant
Generation: 8th
Embrace: 995
Gestation: 1136
Abhorrences: Petrified Flesh 1, Horns 2, Talons 3.
(Due to her Unmarred Face Merit, Luma can be
considered to have 1 level in Appearance when
interacting with other abhorrent creatures.)
Saxum
The Master of Slaves
Background: Though his true age is unknown to
him, he was halfway towards being a methuselah
before Gestation, and was one of the prime
vampires captured during the early Gargoyle
period.
The earliest event Saxum can remember are
words uttered by Virstania as he was dragged
from Alvusia’s uterus. “Well done dear,” she said,
“you’ve brought your brother home. Now let’s
see if we can’t find the others, shall we?” This
sentence set the tone for the remainder of his
unlife as a Gargoyle. He emerged from Gestation
as the first of a new wave of Gargoyles; he was not
only the first Sentinel but the first cast Gargoyle
ever created to replace Chaundice and his
progeny. Virstania saw him as more than a simple
replacement - she believed he was in fact the
Gargoyle who had come before him named Saxim,
hence his being dubbed Saxum.
Two years of total disorientation passed in
Ceoris. Saxum found himself placed in charge
of the weak and mindless Gargoyles left behind
by Chaundice, all the while suffering from
fundamental identity dissociation. Virstania would
shower him with love and reminisce about events
and individuals he had never known, while Alvusia
would scream hate and abuse at him in amongst
her tears, cursing him as ‘never her true brother.’
While interacting with other Tremere - rare as
that would be - they would merely laugh at the
ideas Virstania was trying to convince him of. This
subsided with the birth of his sisters and finally
his brother; each birth distracted Virstania slightly
more, and left Saxum to tend his Sentinels.
During the Revolt, he and around twenty elite
Sentinels led his Mother, Fidus and Alvusia out
of Ceoris and into the mountains by forming a
large wall around them. There he focused on his
duty of securing a perimeter and keeping their new
home safe. He enlisted more Sentinels to surround
him, to help maintain his sanity, which was under
great strain due to a mixture of his inherent
psychological weakness and his Mother’s toxic
Clanbook: Gargoyles
neurosis.
In the modern nights, he even sometimes calls
himself Saxim, and personally sends Warriors and
Scouts to try to find his ‘father’ Chaundice. This
behaviour disturbs his sibling Moulds, but because
of his sheer size and age, which both combine to
make him an unstoppable opponent the likes of
which luma wouldn’t dare to attack - alone.
Image: Saxum’s facial features and musculature
are strongly chiseled, making him appear almost
heroic in how well defined he is, and marred only
by his long gnarled ram’s horns. His stony skin
is smooth like a grey marble speckled with blue
crystal. He stands at almost 8 feet with a wingspan
longer than many of his type, at a colossal 16 feet.
Roleplaying Tips: You believe yourself to be one
of the oldest Gargoyles ever created, and in truth
you aren’t far wrong. You support the Flock, but
only because you believe it is trying to reunite the
Gargoyle race - specifically Chaundice with his
children, including yourself. You are hard and
authoritative, but will put yourself on the line
when your Sentinels are overwhelmed. You now
adore Virstania above all else, so much so that you
prize a red cloak she gifted to you - formerly owned
by Saxim - and wear it always.
Sire: Unknown
Nature: Autocrat
Demeanour: Defender
Generation: 8th
Embrace: 400+ (specific date unknown)
Gestation: 1132
Abhorrences: Petrified Flesh 1, Horns 2
Ublo-Satha
Background: Ublo-Satha was born in the mid-10th
century in a Greek city - which one is unknown,
for she like all Gargoyles has forgotten all that
came before her Gestation. Before her twentieth
year she was Embraced by one the urban-dwelling
Gangrel of Greece, an eccentric Kindred who
went by the name Harlequin owing to his assumed
identity as a mortal entertainer. Like many Gangrel
she took up an itinerant way of unlife, though
137
owing to her heritage this took the form of moving
between cities rather than across the wilderness.
It was on a fateful night in 11th-century Athens
that she encountered a vampire of immense age
and power - the Brujah methuselah Menele. Seeing
her as a potentially valuable spy, Menele made her
into an unwitting slave with but a commanding
stare, planting a psychic seed in her mind through
which he could give her instructions from any
distance. She never saw him again after that night,
but nonetheless found herself unconsciously
compelled to investigate the machinations of
Menele’s equally ancient rival, whose name she
never knew.
She was hardly a central asset of Menele’s,
however, and like many other enthralled spies fell
without his particular notice. She was waylaid and
captured by Tremere, who were on the lookout
for raw materials to use in the creation of the first
Gargoyles. Though she was from a bloodline and
not the main Gangrel Clan, her vitae served just as
well - if anything, it added something unique that
the blood of most Gangrel would not. She was the
third Gargoyle to be created, following Chaundice
and Ch’iung Chi.
Remarkably, and quite without the knowledge
of Goratrix, Virstania, or to a large extent herself,
the seed Menele had planted was strong enough
to endure even the process of Gestation. Most of
the time this manifested in her deeply-ingrained
loyal streak, which came to a head when she
reported to the masters that Chaundice and her
siblings were plotting to break free from Ceoris.
Through a combination of Menele’s domination
and the Gargoyle susceptibility to mental control,
disobedience was something that she found herself
incapable of.
Certainly, Ublo-Satha did not expect the results
of her report to have as grave consequences as they
did. She wept tears of blood for nights and days
on end when she saw the fate of her ‘little sister’
Alvusia, though the Great Mother was touched,
perceiving these as tears of joy. The final straw
came when Saxim was recovered and shamed
before the gathered chantry by Etrius. That night,
in a desperate attempt to destroy herself for her
138 Chapter Seven: A Gallery of Grotesques
innocent mistake, Ublo-Satha drove herself into
a deep Torpor. Virstania wished to awaken and
restore her, but the Inner Council unanimously
decreed that this was not to be done. The
Gargoyle’s dormant body was kept in a sealed vault
- far from Virstania and her Eyrie.
It was not for another eighty years that Ublo-
Satha would awaken. During this time the
vampiric infection which had found its way to the
majority of senior Tremere and much of the house
besides was discovered by other wizards. The rival
chantry of Mistridge, located in southern France,
presented a major threat to the Clan’s interests in
western Europe, overseen by Goratrix. A mortal
Tremere known as Grimgroth lived at Ceoris, and
until the revelations were spread had little inkling
as to the truth - but when he heard of the potential
for immortality, his interest was piqued. He was
mistakenly seen as loyal by his chantrymates, owing
to his lack of vampiric corruption and distance
from Ceoris.
In 1210, Grimgroth betrayed the chantry by
allowing its defences to fall in a crucial battle,
leading to its total destruction. Fleeing east to
Ceoris, he was richly rewarded for his treachery,
not only with the Embrace he sought (from
Tremere himself, no less) but with a powerful
‘familiar’ - Ublo-Satha. Behind Virstania’s back,
she was reawakened with Grimgroth’s own vitae
and given over to him as a servant. Grimgroth
was sent back to France to assist Goratrix at the
Paris chantry, and less than a century later came
to replace ‘the Betrayer’ as Councilor of Western
Europe. Ublo-Satha remained as loyal as ever -
seemingly to her new master, but truly to Menele.
It was an age before she would be called to serve
him again, however.
The Revolt saw Ublo-Satha defend Paris and
other French chantries on the few occasions
that the rebel Gargoyles reached that far west.
Virstania’s spell of liberation had no effect on
her, Menele’s enduring presence being simply too
strong to be suborned by the younger vampire’s
magic. Virstania never became aware of her third
‘child’s’ presence on the enemy side, nor the tally
of Gargoyles she slew. Once the Montmartre Pact
was signed and the Revolt ended, Ublo-Satha was members of the Chaundician movement - not least
kept to the inner sanctum of the Paris chantry, Ana and Chaundice himself, who are planning
so that she would not be observed. There she urgent missions to rescue her. What the results of
remained, barely ever speaking, for five hundred yet another party becoming caught in this tangled
years. web might be, only time will tell.
By 1993, Grimgroth had become as jaded and Image: Ublo-Satha’s flesh is extremely rocky, even
distanced from humanity as any elder of his age. for a Gargoyle. She has large bumps, crags and
Even he, though, was shocked when his servant crevices all over her overbearing 6-foot, 25-stone
- standing in the corner, quiet as ever - spoke up body. She is further riddled with patches of
during a discussion the councilor was having with moss and algae, where personal maintenance has
a spy regarding the suspect loyalties of Nicolai long since been abandoned. She generally wears
Antonescu, the regent of the Chicago chantry. no clothes, as none would accommodate her
Despite never having the subject discussed in her enormous and powerful wings.
presence before, and despite what Grimgroth Roleplaying tips: You rarely speak, and even then
believed to be her ignorance of such political only in hushed tones; often you prefer to simply
matters, Ublo-Satha suggested that she be sent to watch. Though you appear weak and timid when
Chicago to act as insurance that Nicolai would toe cornered, your true nature shines through in
the line. battle, where you become an unstoppable killing
The true cause of this, of course, was Menele, machine. You are a dangerous but controlled
who lay in a waking torpor beneath Chicago. weapon in the hands of the ancient Menele.
He had learned that Nicolai was a pawn of the Sire: Harlequin/Chaundice
same rival he had originally bound Ublo-Satha
to help oppose. He saw the perfect opportunity Nature: Survivor
to counter this, and sent the psychic call to the Demeanour: Traditionalist
Gargoyle. The quick-thinking and argumentation Generation: 6th
she demonstrated in getting there, however, were
her own. Embrace: 963
Greatly surprised, but seeing the worth of the Gestation: 1114
move - the old Gargoyle had, if anything, become Abhorrences: Horns 1, Biome 2, Petrified Flesh 3
obsolete at the chantry, even a liability - Grimgroth
agreed after a short deliberation. If she was going
to be found out by the Camarilla, he thought,
let her be found far away, and let the penalty
for defying Montmartre fall on another. On the
pretext of sending her there as reinforcement
following the recent Sabbat assault on the chantry,
Grimgroth coordinated with Meerlinda (the
councilor of North America) to have the Gargoyle
transported across the Atlantic.
Since then, Ublo-Satha has served to observe
and quietly threaten Nicolai. She is Menele’s
sleeper agent, but moonlights as a loyal enslaved
Gargoyle, albeit a resourceful and self-sufficient
one. She was recently briefly seen defending the
Chicago chantry, sparking renewed rumours of the
Montmartre Pact being disobeyed and galvanising

Clanbook: Gargoyles 139

Rocia
The Watcher Mould
Background: Uniquely among Gargoyles, Rocia
was originally one of the Niktuku, descended from
a childe of the vengeful Nosferatu Antediluvian.
She was found by the Tremere while attacking a
band of Nosferatu who had been picked out for
use in Gargoyle creation. The battle was fierce,
even weakened and outnumbered as she was, and
no few Tremere met their ends on her claws. In
the end, however, she was driven into torpor and
brought to Ceoris.
Her Gestation is a process Alvusia is lucky to
never have to feel again. While Rocia developed,
her foetal form drained Alvusia of her vitae,
leaving her in a perpetual state of starvation for
a whole year. Rocia was the only one of the four
Moulds to take time to develop outside of the
womb; her Gestation sac had petrified to form a
stone egg. It is from this scarcely-known incident
that the rumours of Gargoyles laying eggs, which
endure tonight, likely began. When it emerged,
Virstania claimed that the experiment had been
a complete failure, and hid the egg away from
other Tremere to further examine it and await
its hatching. This egg took a further few months
before it cracked and Rocia emerged, alone and
cold.
Virstania gave the new Gargoyle - the first
member of a fourth, secret Casting, called
the Watchers - the duty to hunt the Tremere
themselves, whenever a Warlock was found to be
deviating from the Clan’s interests. This unique
duty was accompanied by skill in a number of
Disciplines different to those possessed by Fidus,
Luma or Saxum: Auspex, Celerity, and Obfuscate.
Likewise, she had a different weakness from the
other Castings, whereby she began to lose any
sense of empathy, and to physically petrify. Both of
these conditions gradually worsened as the years
progressed.
Virstania secretly bestowed the Embrace upon
Rocia as soon as possible, knowing she would
never be able to make further Watchers. The few
she did Embrace were all entrusted with the same
140 Chapter Seven: A Gallery of Grotesques
task as their sire, and performed it long before the
Revolt began. They did not lair in Ceoris’s Eyrie,
but in Virstania’s hidden mountain laboratory
which serves as the modern headquarters of the
Flock. They strategically eliminated Tremere
found to betray the Clan or deviate wildly from its
ways. In the nights leading up to the Revolt, this
extended to ‘innocent’ guardsmen and low-ranking
Tremere, making the deaths seem like simple
accidents while in fact thinning the numbers in
preparation for the battles to come. To this night
Rocia believes only Virstania and Goratrix knew of
her existence.
During the Revolt, Rocia simply watched her
cousins kill with wild abandon. Though her
emotions had regressed and she felt no pity for
their victims, a certain spark of pride remained.
She noticed Ferox - then an ancient ghoul,
formerly bound to the Tremere - battling for
the Gargoyle cause. Knowing that he was to be
Embraced, she visited Virstania and asked to be
his sire, owing to her loyal service. The Great
Mother agreed and arranged for the deed to be
performed privately.
Following Ferox’s Embrace and religious
awakening, Rocia was taken in by his
understanding of Gargoyles as fallen angels and
other Kindred as demons. Rocia and all her
childer, including Ferox, abandoned the Flock
even before Esoara marched on their position in
Ceoris. They spent several centuries founding their
secret organisation devoted to the elimination of
the Kindred species, which retained the name of
their secret Casting: Grigori, ‘the Watchers’.
The radical Grigori ideology spawned from
Rocia’s duty to observe and eliminate Tremere
rebellion and Ferox’s irrational hatred of
Nosferatu; Rocia’s origins, though long forgotten
by her, no doubt had some influence there as
well. They enlisted five other Gargoyles to form
an ‘inner council’, directly mocking the Tremere’s
own council and representing the seven archangels.
The Watchers secretly directed witch hunters
all over Europe towards unsuspecting Kindred,
worsening the ongoing Inquisition.
Tonight, Rocia allows her childe to direct their
Grigori followers. She keeps tabs on all of them
and will not hesitate to kill any that step out of
line. Her desire to purify the Kindred race has
grown out of control. Only the most devout
Grigori of Ferox’s inner council is even allowed to
know she exists.
Image: Rocia has suffered from the elongation that
can come with Gestation, giving each of her limbs
an additional two feet in length. Her golden and
insect-like wings are thin and chitinous, though
still entirely functional. Her long pointy fangs
prop open her jaw like an anglerfish, and her skin
is a reflective white like salt crystal. Her eyes are
unnaturally large, with a deep dark-red tint.
Roleplaying Tips: You barely interact with
those around you; you even treat Ferox with a
judgemental distancing more akin to a Gangrel
sire than a Gargoyle one. Only your Mother and
three Mould siblings know your true nature, and
you will never let on. Everything is clear cut and
black and white to you; either someone deserves
life or they don’t. Even your fellow Grigori council
members view you with hidden fear. You still
respect Virstania and hold her in a certain regard
for (in your mind) doing God’s work, but believe
your Casting’s duty has progressed far beyond just
culling the Tremere.
Sire: An unknown Niktuku
Nature: Sociopath
Demeanour: Fanatic
Generation: 7th
Embrace: Unknown
Gestation: 1134
Abhorrences: Animal Features 1, Accentuation 2,
Elongation 3, Petrified Flesh 4.
Ch’iung Chi
Rock Lord of Tianmu
Background: All of Ch’iung Chi’’s memories were
lost during his Gestation. From the moment he
awoke in the Gestation chamber, he possessed a
determination to learn any scrap of information
about the spirit, magic, and the nature of his
existence. He practiced the basics of Thaumaturgy
Clanbook: Gargoyles
alongside Virstania and even Goratrix himself,
with Goratrix seeing the exercise as more like
teaching a dog to jump than teaching a human
sorcery. Ch’iung Chi focused his attention
on learning the paths of Elemental Mastery,
Movement of the Mind, and Spirit Manipulation
(see V20 pages 214 and 220, and Rites of the
Blood page 142).
When the time came that Chaundice suggested
their Grotesquerie abandon Ceoris in search of
their own destiny, Chi (who was, of course, known
by a different name then, though that name is
lost) petitioned caution and restraint in their
escape. After all, while Ceoris was no sanctuary,
it was nonetheless filled with arcane secrets, and
he wished to remain for a few years more before
leaving. Though his father found reason in Chi’s
words, he was shouted over by Ana’s rash urgings
to rebellion. After the escape, Chi fled east while
being hunted by Tremere warbands. He flew as
far as possible, and due to his broad knowledge of
Tremere magic, he avoided their detection.
After several months of wandering, he reached
Mount Tianmu in southeastern China, and settled
down within the mountain only to undergo bouts
of troubled torpor, stretching two centuries. While
in the brief delirium between his torpid states
he created an Eyrie of his very own by using a
combination of the Thaumaturgy paths he had
learned to painstakingly remould a small opening
in Tianmu which he found led to an incredibly
deep chasm.
Here he founded the Petrified Sanctum, which
incorporated both the mountainside and the
chasm within. By using the highest levels of
Elemental Mastery and Spirit Manipulation, Chi
managed to regularly contact the mountain’s spirit,
calling itself Tian-mu, ‘The Mother of Lightning’,
who became his only companion in the passing
lifetimes.
After many years, it was discovered by chance by
monks belonging to an obscure Buddhist sect, who
were seeking refuge from persecution. They saw it
as a gift from Heaven. After meditation on their
presence, Chi finally contacted the monks living
on his mountain, ghouling three of them and
141
teaching the rest sorcery. He eventually allowed him new life.
them inside the chasm, and finally Embraced Image: Though Chi only reaches a height of 3 feet,
them once they had displayed a high level of his strength is greatly disproportionate, allowing
enlightenment and magical control. One of his him to overpower most able-bodied vampires.
childer, Tao Wu, called ‘the Block’, left for India Through Mimesis, he has adopted small patches
seeking self-discovery, and Chi allowed her to go. of ornamentation to reflect the Petrified Sanctum
Once his Grotesquerie had been founded throughout his jade flesh.
along with an attendant order of Ghouls, Chi Roleplaying Tips: You are highly contemplative,
branched out for the first time in 500 years by and have managed to bestow that ideal on your
opening dialogues with local Kindred, Lupines, childer and ghouls, and more recently to some
and Cathayans. The receptions he received from extent in Chaundice. You will not make a decision
these groups were surprisingly mixed. This contact, for your Grotesquerie without the advice of your
however, brought the attention of the Tremere’s childer, guardian lions, ghouls and often even
Councilor of the Far East, Thomas Wyncham, the spirit Tian-mu herself. Your knowledge is
who saw Ch’iung Chi as a prize to be claimed, and incredibly extensive, and you use it to focus on the
told none of his fellow councilors for fear they bigger picture rather than the matter at hand.
might try and take him for themselves.
Sire: Unknown
In preparation for Wyncham’s inevitable assault,
Chi made his already easily-defensible Eyrie into a Nature: Guru
fortress as well as a monastery. The bloody conflict Demeanour: Judge
eventually came in 1780, and raged at different Generation: 6th
times for twenty years. Just as the fortress was ready
to fall, many Gargoyles and their ghouls having Gestation: 1113
been lost, Tao Wu returned with childer of her Abhorrences: Petrified Flesh 1, Withering 2
own and a breeding pair of guardian lions (see
page 116) which she had created during her time
in India. These sudden reinforcements of such
mighty creatures turned the tide of the Petrified
Sanctum’s struggle, and Wyncham’s Tremere were
quickly repelled, though the Councilor himself
escaped. Chi, exhausted from fighting and badly
wounded, slipped back into torpor and his now-
united Grotesquerie rebuilt and consolidated what
they had.
He next awoke in the modern nights to his
youngest childe Hun Tun feeding him vitae whilst
proclaiming that a western Gargoyle named Dan
was at the gates of his sanctum. Dan brought
to Chi’s attention the Grand Rock Court,
Chaundice’s new and powerful Eyrie in America.
Chi set off almost immediately to meet with his
long-lost father. Since their reunion, Chi has
brought the Path of Freedom and the word of
Chaundice to his Grotesquerie, with which they
might further grow as a group. Renewed contact
with his father, as well as his sister Ana, has given

142 Chapter Seven: A Gallery of Grotesques

Ferox
Servant of God
Background: Born to ancient British nobility,
Ferox defended his mother Boudicca from Roman
oppression during the time of Christ. He was
kidnaped by local Brujah due to his strength
and loyalty to his cause. They ghouled him for a
brief time before handing him over to occupying
Ventrue when the British Isles finally fell to
Roman conquest. While serving his new Ventrue
masters, Ferox studied the new Christian religion
and its doctrines, slowly gaining a sense of the faith
for himself. Finally his masters saw more worth
in trading him with the Tremere than keeping
him for themselves. While serving the Tremere he
was sent to Ceoris, where he witnessed atrocities
performed against the statuesque winged beasts
called Gargoyles.
He aided in the Revolt by training Gargoyles in
magic and Disciplines, right under the Tremere’s
noses. By performing this duty in the shadows, he
caught the eye of the Mould of the secret Watcher
Casting, named Rocia. Rocia’s duty was to
covertly eliminate any Tremere seen to potentially
hinder the Revolt’s progress, so upon seeing one
aiding it, she sought to Embrace him. She got
her chance when Ferox began to rapidly age and
die after being cut off from Tremere blood. The
two of them soon left to continue Rocia’s task
of assassinating pivotal members of the Tremere.
Ferox aided in this, not because of a Mother he
didn’t hail from, but because of what the Embrace
had done to him.
When he awoke from Gestation, his mind had
been completely emptied of all but his name and
his True Faith. The doctrine he had studied for
centuries became his sole reason for being. He
reasoned that due to their wings, the Gargoyles
must be fallen angels, sent to earth to cleanse the
demonic host plaguing humanity - chief amongst
them, the Kindred. Evading a group of inquisitors,
Ferox and Rocia were forced to make haven with
a coterie of Nosferatu. Their vile bodies and the
corruption they induced in God’s creatures and
the world around them caused Ferox to murder
the coterie and claim that all Nosferatu were to die
Clanbook: Gargoyles
by his claw, a statement much approved of by his
sire.
The two of them went on to found an order
named after his Mother’s Casting and also the
name of angels stricken to Earth, the Grigori
(‘Watchers’). He, Rocia, and a council of five
others formed a compact as a direct insult to the
Tremere Inner Council, and to reflect the number
of the archangels themselves. Soon, the policy
of destroying Nosferatu expanded to include all
Kindred, though the Sewer Rats were singled out
for the outer disfigurements and malformations
that surely stemmed from sinful inner selves.
In the modern nights Ferox attempts to bring
all Gargoyles into God’s light by initiating them
into the Grigori. He personally travels from Eyrie
to Eyrie trying to recruit local Grotesqueries.
He has recently achieved his longstanding goal
of acquiring an insider in the Catholic Church,
though not in the form he might have anticipated.
The recently-Embraced former inquisitor Filippo
Sammarca has provided the Watchers with an
online presence they have previously lacked,
allowing them to digitally infiltrate the Church,
the Inquisition, and the Nosferatu.
Word of Chaundice’s awakening has not
gone unheeded by Ferox, who wishes to make
an audience with this figure of legend, though
political and geographical restraints have so far
made it impossible. He is saddened by news that
Chaundice and many of his followers reject the
Grigori as a fanatical, apocalypticist cult which
abducts and radicalises young Gargoyles - not to
mention giving the entire bloodline a bad name
through the wholesale slaughter of vampires - but
he prays that God will grant the Rock Lord the
grace to see the true way.
Image: Ferox is an albino-white Gargoyle with
Biblical scripture and gnostic sigils coating his
skin, which is constantly covered in dust, like
the walls of an ancient cathedral. From his back
sprout feathered wings, and his eyes burn with
the light of his faith, such that he keeps them
permanently hidden behind a pair of sunglasses
He has spiraling rams horns growing from the
top of his head, and a small, severe mouth with a
143
heavy chin. When amongst the Watchers he wears
a choir tunic trimmed in purple lace, whereas in
the field he typically dons a leather jacket. In any
situation, he wears a golden crucifix necklace and
cross earrings.
Roleplaying Tips: You are God’s chosen servant
on Earth, and as such you are constantly saddened
by the corruption of the world by the Kindred race
and other demons in fleshly form. You are patient,
and you won’t hurt fellow Gargoyles unless they
seem bent on destroying you. All other Kindred
deserve nothing less than death, though you give
neonates the opportunity to confess and make
penance for their sinful natures, in which case you
destroy them with the swift mercy of the Lord. As
to the unrepentant, and those who have lived on
stolen years for too long to be forgivable, you leave
them for the purifying light of the sun/ You bear a
particularly zealous hatred of Nosferatu and believe
that the Gargoyle bloodline are fallen angels
charged to cleanse humanity of Cain’s failings. You
also keep adjusting your sunglasses.
Sire: Rocia
Nature: Fanatic
Demeanour: Caregiver
Generation: 8th
Embrace: 1478
Abhorrences: Engravings 1, Petrified Flesh 2,
Horns 3.
Erinyi
The Luminaire
Background: Erinyi is a Gargoyle with little
knowledge of her true purpose. She was embraced
by Ampulla, though the senior Luminaire departed
soon after her Embrace, leaving Erinyi alone to
drift between the local Sabbat packs until finally
being accepted in Montreal by the 25:17 pack. She
has lived in Montreal for longer than her human
life, quickly falling into a deep, unrequited love for
her pack leader, Ezekiel.
Until recently, the young fledgling was ignorant
that she is the childe of a significant Gargoyle
lineage; she is Luma’s own grandchilde. Luma
144 Chapter Seven: A Gallery of Grotesques
and Ampulla have contacted Erinyi several times
recently, attempting to win her over to their cause,
though her youth and her rebellious personality
makes it difficult for them to exert control. The
long term plan for Erinyi is to make her way
from pack to pack, recruiting abandoned and
lost Gargoyles to the Flock’s cause. The only thng
anchoring her down is the true love she holds for
her noble leader.
Image: Erinyi does not believe in hiding her
Gargoyle nature. Standing on the pads of her
feet like a canine, she is over seven feet tall, not
including her eight-inch-long horns. Her gray
wings delicately drape around her shoulders,
stretching and swaying as she walks. As is her
birthright, she possesses a subtle likeness to Luma,
which manages to grab the attention of even non-
abhorrent Kindred from time to time.
Roleplaying Tips: You are quick to anger. It’s
all that you can do to suppress the urge to rip
Tremere antitribu and other vile pests apart.
You find release in battle and music, but those
pleasures pale in comparison to the love that lies
in your dead heart. Now knowing your true sire’s
identity you have garnered a deeps respect for
Ampulla and her mother Luma, making them role
models in your unlife.
Sire: Ampulla
Nature: Martyr
Demeanour: Bravo
Generation: 11th
Embrace: 1994
Abhorrences: Petrified Flesh 1, Horns 2
Filippo Sammarca
The Inquisitor
Background: Filippo Sammarco was born in Rome
during the late 1980s, and had an unassuming
upbringing to match his personality. He spent
his childhood and early adulthood being raised
traditionally in the Catholic faith, and though he
embraced it in its fundamental teachings, he had
a hard time accepting less tolerant parts of Church
doctrine; he was rather more drawn to the mystical
elements of Catholicism. Despite this, he chose a
job as a parish groundskeeper, with an ambition
to enter the clergy. After he had completed the
necessary education, Filippo was ordained into the
Church proper, taking on administrative roles of
bookkeeping and secretarial work. Outside of this
career his passion lay in computer science and the
internet, which he studied in what free time he
could muster between his many duties.
When Filippo was unexpectedly approached
by a senior priest offering him a higher position
in a different parish, he accepted the proposition
gratefully. Having noticed Filippo’s particular
interest in the more metaphysical areas of
his religious lore, his new employer gradually
exposed him to the numerous horrors caused by
inhuman, cursed and infernal entities over the
course of human history. This awakening to the
supernatural forces lying in wait convinced Filippo
to be inducted into the Society of Leopold (see
V20 page 370 and Hunters Hunted II).
The ability that held him above most of his new
colleagues was not his faith or his strength of will
when facing down evil, but rather his aptitude in
software programing and web design. He created
a secure cloud server, allowing his cenacle to
interact at the touch of the button, streamlining
their efforts and improving their efficiency almost
overnight. He did his duty to the inquisition by
disseminating occult information amongst the
Society and helping to arrange autos-da-fé between
previously disparate inquisitors. Despite being
culpable in the destruction of several vampires,
Filippo never once saw one directly; he felt he did
not wish to.
Quite by chance one evening, Filippo chanced
upon a strange website while trying to acquire
a particular digital copy of an obscure gnostic
tome. Its forums seemed to be focused on uniting
vampire groups in a similar way to which Filippo
had done for the inquisitors. As he read on, he
learned that these beings were as frightened by
what his organisation had done as children would
be frightened by monsters. After several hours
of mortified browsing he found a plea from one
of these Kindred from only a town over that had
Clanbook: Gargoyles
fallen prey to an unknown assailant, and acted
instinctively to help this ‘woman’ in need.
He got to the given coordinates in time to
witness a nest of grotesque monsters locked in
combat with a stone, angelic being with large wings
and a smooth porcelain face. One of the demons
was left bearing over the ‘angel’, whom he falsely
presumed to be the Kindred from the website.
Acting quickly, he used spare gasoline to ignite the
demon, killing it almost instantly and scattering
its fellows. The statue was incredibly grateful, and
offered Filippo a chance to become angelic like
him and live forever in their saviour’s light - an
offer he took up without question or hesitation.
He awoke a few days later in the company of
Ferox. The Rock Lord’s doctrine convinced him
entirely that he and his new ‘family’ were in fact
angelic, and intended for ascension come the Day
of Judgement. Tonight he feeds messages given to
him by Ferox into the various online spaces he has
access to: those of the Inquisition, the Nosferatu,
and even mundane ones intended purely for
internal communication within the Church.
Image: His flesh has partially sloughed off his
bones and petrified, leaving a permanent ‘coat’
around his almost skeletal frame. Small wings no
bigger than a foot in length emerge from this coat
of flesh. His horns are shards of polished hematite,
providing a metallic effect. He rarely wears clothes
145
besides a simple white tunic, his bare stone feet role. Within the temple proceeds nightly displays
create cracking sounds with every footstep. of ritualistic fornication and blood sports, both
Roleplaying Tips: You rarely speak out amongst of which are expected from both Kindred and
the Grigori. You are given tasks by Ferox and kine alike. Each night sees another relic destroyed,
you complete them, because you are doing God’s another animal violated, and another ghoul or
work. In the rare circumstance you do travel with Kindred maimed or killed. This display has not
the Grigori you are kept completely innocent, gone unnoticed by Setite leaders the world over.
ignorant to the nature of the horrors around Image: Owing to his associated god, Babi is
you, something that Ferox not only allows but rendered in the form of a savage baboon with
encourages. an exaggerated phallus. His hieroglyphics depict
Sire: Ferox the glorious mass fornication and violence that
will take place following Set’s resurrection and
Nature: Idealist ascendancy, which he is attempting to bring about
Demeanour: Celebrant by enacting it on a smaller scale within his temple.
Generation: 9th Roleplaying Tips: Eat. Drink. Kill. Fuck. It’s what
Embrace: 2015 Set has decreed, as marked upon you for all to see.
Abhorrences: Horns 1, Weathering 2, Petrified Sire: Unknown
Flesh 3. Nature: Monster
Babi Demeanour: Bon Vivant
Background: Babi is a recently-assembled Gorgon Generation: 12th
made in the likeness of his namesake, the baboon- Embrace: Unknown
headed god of fertility and the underworld. Gestation: 2016
Information regarding the Setite used to create
Babi has been lost, for none live who can recall it. Abhorrences: Petrified Flesh 1, Engravings 2.
The only scrap of information retained by Babi
himself was the cause of his Gestation: the crime
of raping the personal ghoul of the lector-priestess
who oversaw his temple, the Garden of Rainbows.
When he returned from Duat he believed that
he had not only visited Set but that he was one
of Set’s chosen, and that he had been returned to
Earth to purify it of the Aeons’ taint.
What ensued was the vicious and unforgiving
domination of the entire temple within the space
of three nights. With his overpowering strength
and ferocity, coupled with the divine power
granted by Set, he molested the lector-priestess
who had condemned him and forced her to drink
his vitae. He then used her to bring all of the
temple’s ghouls into line. After that, the remaining
Setites were simply outnumbered and not powerful
enough to spurn Babi’s advances.
He has renamed his temple to The Sail of the
Baboon’s Mast, in reference to the god’s legendary

146 Chapter Seven: A Gallery of Grotesques

Clanbook: Gargoyles 147
 For Freedom!
The free Gargoyles have found a
figurehead and a leader in Chaundice, the
progenitor of all their kind. Now they are
prepared to strike out, attempting to rescue
his long-lost children from servitude. The
fate of their bloodline, and of an entire
Clan, hangs in the balance.
Or For Naught…
Whether the Chaundician Gargoyles
triumph or meet with failure, the face of
the World of Darkness will be changed
forever. The Final Revolt allows players to
take pivotal roles in the conflict, whether
as Gargoyles or their allies, and serves
as a companion volume to Clanbook:
Gargoyles, expanding on the material
presented there.
The Final Revolt includes:
• An overview of the Grand Rock Court,
the heart of the new movement of free
Gargoyles.
To purchase please visit www.storytell-
ersvault.com/product/241777 • A full three-story chronicle concerning
the recovery of three ancient Gargoyles
Physical Social Mental languishing in slavery, across three
••• •• •• distinct settings.
• Additional Visceratika powers and
Misbegotten Castings, and a new
Discipline.

To purchase please visit www.storytell-
ersvault.com/product/255013
Volume 1 includes:
Curses of the Clans
The diverse Curses of the thirteen Clans
and their bloodlines in many ways define
them, shaping their mindsets and cultures
even as they suffer under them. From the
fury of the Brujah to the ravenous hunger
of the Assamites, from the Toreador’s
irresistible fascination with beauty to
the Malkavians’ broken minds, these are
infamous and well-documented.
Passed through the Ages
But these are not the only Curses known
to the race of Caine, nor are they static and
unchanging. This installment of the first
volume of a four-part series expands on
many areas of Vampire: The Masquerade,
unearths new Curses, and builds upon the
existing ones.
Curses of the Clans includes:
• The expansion of each Clan weakness
into progressive Curses, most of which
develop in three stages.
• Two additional detailed Curses for each
Clan, to use alongside or in place of the
main Clan Curses.
• Variant Curses for antitribu, Giovanni
Families, Nosferatu factions, and other
offshoot bloodlines.
Afflictions
Though not all Kindred bear the brand
of corruption upon their flesh and within
their minds, those who do suffer greatly
under its presence on a nightly basis. The
horrific forms of Clan Nosferatu, the
beastial Marks and Urges borne by Clan
Gangrel, and even the Signs of infernal
damnation flaunted by Kindred of Clan
Baali all exact a great toll upon the unliving
form and consciousness.
Of Body, Mind, and Soul
The forms by which the brand of
affliction takes is truly boundless, much to
the disgust of other Kindred. This book,
the second of the first volume of a four-part
series expands on many areas of Vampire:
The Masquerade, detailing the abhorrent
characteristics of Clans Nosferatu, Gangrel,
and Baali.
Afflictions includes:
• Abhorrence, a new Attribute to replace
Appearance for characters otherwise
limited from using Appearance, with
over twenty features to use in visualising
them (each split into multiple levels of
severity).
• 200 atavistic Marks and Urges of Clan
Gangrel.
• 160 Signs of physical and spiritual
corruption for Baali.
 A Hero’s Calling
Throughout human history, hero worship
has allowed for the common man to feel
safer while walking the streets, especially at
night. None - not even the Kindred them-
selves - realise that in many cases it was
in fact a sworn brotherhood of vampires,
bound by blood, who protected human-
ity from the shadows. Created in Greece
during the age of myth, the Limonae have
no choice but to help those in need of a
saviour. Whether due to a curse from the
Abyss or the commandments of gods for-
gotten to time, their fate has been forever
bound to the wellbeing of kine.
Bloodlinebook: Limonae includes:
• Details of a new bloodline, heirs to a
legacy of corrupted heroism, and their
villainous antitribu.
• A new Discipline, Aristeia, which grants
the ancient power of pagan divinity.
• New Merits, Flaws, and a new Path, pro-
To purchase please visit www.storytell- viding the capabilities, weaknesses, and
ersvault.com/product/235076 guiding principles of the Heroes.
Read Egg Embry’s review on ENWorld
here: http://www.enworld.org/forum/con-
tent.php?5591-Storytellers-Vault-Roundup-
%96-News-and-Bloodlinebook-Limonae
GARGOYLES
Slaves No Longer
A millennium in the making, the Gargoyles are finally ready to spread
their wings and become truly their own masters. Grotesqueries the world
over are finally setting their sights on heights loftier than servitude or
mere survival. They yearn for equal standing amongst the Kindred, a
recognition of Clan status, and even a new stage in their design - and are
ready and willing to fight for them.

Clanbook: Gargoyles includes:

• In-depth looks at the history and society of a race so long dismissed as
inferior.

• New and updated Flight and Visceratika powers and combination

Disciplines, as well as revamped Gargoyle rituals.

• Abhorrence, a new Attribute replacing Appearance, which reflects the

misshapen forms of the Rockheads.

• The next stage of Gargoyle ‘evolution’ - the freakish Misbegotten.

GARGOYLES

1
Credits First Edition

Written by: Ben Allsop & Sam Myatt Storytellers Handbook

Editor: Sam Myatt & Ben Allsop V20 Dark Ages

Cover Art: Mark Jackson Dark Ages: Vampire

Proofreaders: Ash Brock, Ellen Trezise, Lewis Players Guide to the Low Clans , Storyteller’s
Wylie, Max Robinson Companion

Sources: Vampire: The Dark Ages

V20 Ashen Cults; Book of Storyteller Secrets; House of

Tremere; Libellus Sanguis II - Keepers of the Word
Anarchs Unbound; Beckett’s Jyhad Diary; Dread
Names, Red List; Hunters Hunted II; Lore of the Vampire: The Victorian Age
Bloodlines; Lore of the Clans; Rites of the Blood Victorian Age Companion
Revised Edition Other
Archons and Templars; Clanbook: Tremere Revised Blood-Dimmed Tides
Edition; Blood Magic: Secrets of Thaumaturgy; Blood
Sacrifice: The Thaumaturgy Companion; Guide to
the Camarilla; Kindred of the Ebony Kingdom
Second Edition
Chicago by Night; Clanbook: Tremere; Montreal
by Night; The Kindred Most Wanted; Under a Blood
S&B
Red Moon

A Note on Art and Language
We can only apologise for the almost complete
lack of art in this book as it currently exists. We
do not currently have the means to provide the
forty or so pieces that would be expected in a book
of this length. This may change in subsequent
updates, especially if the book is well-received.
Also, it should be stated that Clanbook:
Gargoyles, unlike other V20 products, is written in
British English since that is the form the authors
are familiar with.
If you enjoy this Clanbook and would
like to know more about the bloodline
and its history, including a chronicle
continuning on from the end of A Past
Carved in Stone, please consider buying its
companion title: The Final Revolt.
http://www.storytellersvault.
com/product/241777/The-Final-
Revolt?src=hottest_filtered&filters=45622

© 2017 White Wolf Entertainment AB. All rights reserved. Vampire: The
Masquerade®, World of Darkness®, Storytelling System™, and Storytellers
Vault™ are trademarks and/or registered trademarks of White Wolf
Entertainment AB. All rights reserved.
For additional information on White Wolf and the World of Darkness,
please, visit: www.white-wolf.com,
www.worldofdarkness.com and www.storytellersvault.com.

2
 C L A N B O O K :

GARGOYLES
A Gargoyle’s Diary 5 Path of Freedom 45
Introduction 8 Disciplines 47
How to use this book 8 Advanced Visceratika Powers 47
Lexicon 9 Combination Disciplines 50
Chapter One: A Past Carved in Stone 11 Weaknesses 52
An Audience with Handsome Dan 11 Abhorrence 52
The First Grotesques 11 Amnesia 52
Centuries of Slavery 13 Susceptibility to Mind Control 53
The Next generation 14 Merits and Flaws 53
The Gargoyle Revolt 15 Merits 53
Centuries of Freedom 17 Flaws 54
Discovering Mimesis 17 Abhorrence 56
Ferox 18 Synergy 57
The First Misbegotten 18 Abhorrence 6+ 57
Gargoyles in London 18 Gargoyle Specific Features 57
The Rock Lord 20 General Abhorrence Features 59
Virstanias Children 22 Chapter Four: Of Mingled Blood 65
Chapter Two: Freedom and Dependence 24 A Bloodline’s Bloodlines 65
Grotesque Culture 24 The Castings 65
Gargoyles by Birth 24 Scouts 67
Gargoyles by Status 26 Sentinels 69
Gargoyles by Sect 26 Warriors 71
Eyries and Grotesqueries 30 Misbegotten Gargoyles 73
Rock Lord or Lady 30 Calacas 73
The Scout Mould 30 Gorgons 76
The Sentinel Mould 31 Mariners 79
The Warrior Mould 32 Minkisi 83
Noted Grotesqueries 32 Chapter Five: The Slaves’ Retainers 87
Notable Eyries 33 Ghouls 87
Communal Eyries 36 Metamus 87
Free Eyries 37 Ignis 87
Mimesis 37 Sedimus 88
Chapter Three: Hearts of Stone 39 Standing Stones 88
Sired Gargoyles 39 Misbegotten Ghouls 90
Character Creation 39 Gargoyle Animals 90
Path of Service 42 Gargoyle Ken 91

CLANBOOK: GARGOYLES 3
 Gargoyle Monstrosities 95
Chapter Six: Lithomancy 100
Gargoyle Rituals 100
Misbegotten Rituals 107
Humours Background 111
Chapter Seven: A Gallery of Grotesques 112
Sample Characters 112
Agitator 112
Supremacist 112
Mercenary 113
Scourge 113
Shaman 114
Keeper of the Shroud 114
Sentinel Caretaker 114
Gorgon Artist 115
Chantry Guardian 115
Demonic Host 115
Notable Gargoyles 116
Chaundice,
Rock Lord of the Grand Court 116
Ana,
The Blood-Stained Erinye 117
Gersella,
Rock Lady of the Stone Guardians 118
Drogo,
The Winged Wolf 119
Stonebones,
Proprietor of the Catacombs of Sorrow 120
Fidus,
The Shrunken Beast 121
Luma,
The Stone Beauty 122
Saxum,
The Master of Slaves 124
Ublo-Satha 124
Rocia,
The Watcher Mould 126
Chi’ung Chi,
Rock Lord of Tianmu 128
Ferox,
Servant of God 129
Erinyi 130
Filippo Sammarca,
The Inquisitor 131
Babi 132

4
 Gargoyle’s Diar y
A

r 2017
12th of Decembe
co is
Dear diary, ov er an d ov er ag ain. I think Fal
I’ve asked
ve m e pa pe r, at last. It’s not like
They finally ga d he can’t!
jeal ou s be ca us e I can still write an
just
from
g is , I ca n ’t re member anything
range thin er is
fo r ar ou n d a m onth now. The st do es th at ev en m ean? Short answ
I’ve been here ade’. What bered’
ey ju st k ee p te lli ng me I was ‘unm ck . W hy do I k eep saying ‘remem
before then. Th nfidence ba atars
al l I ca n sa y is I’m getting my co S o th ey sa y w e are Gargoyles, av
I don’t know, after all. ania,
re m em be re d ho w to speak and write S om e sa y a w oman called Virst
and ‘back’? I’ve contention . one.
d ch ild re n of .. . well, that’s up for av e, so I’ ll ge t ba ck to you on that
of the earth an e and I le
ca lle d C ha un di ce, then they argu
some say a man
she
le ot he rs n ev er le ave. Rixatrix says
me and go whi but not all Gargoyl
es are
fa ir ly re la xe d though. Some co l sh e n ee ds n ow ,
It has been at we are al e she’s
as on to go ou ts id e anymore and th th an m e, bu t sh e’s different becaus
doesn’t see a re much older ys it’s
ua n is an ot he r n ew Gargoyle, not to ha ve co m e be tween us. She sa
like that. Sib th at means, but it do
esn’t seem
th rough the Eyrie -
that’s
n ot su re w ha t e w in d cr ee pi n g
‘sired’. I’m still n’t wait to join he
r. The gentl not allowed to go ou
tside.
t th er e, an d I ca so m e re as on I’ m
wonderful ou re, but for what
el s so di ffer en t to the stuffy air in he ha s ‘e n ch an te d’ me. I don’t know
our home - fe gs when he s made
at I w ill be fr ee to stretch my win e se em s ex ci te d about it. Falco ha
Falco said th d everyo n nsive
er , bu t it ’s ha pp ening tomorrow an th e en ch an tm en t. It’s not too inte
that means ei th aration fo r
fo r si x ho ur s every day in prep
me train wit h hi m blood’.
an d w ha t he ca lls ‘channeling the
ation
though, just medit
sit from
w or th w ri ti n g do wn would be the vi
at’s really l pairs
in g th at ’s ha pp en ed to me so far th
he ha d qu it e la rg e wings and severa
The only th skin and all, and her
H e w as G ar go yle too with grey n n ih y to sp ea k to our Rock Lady
the big guy. to Derrycu ts every
te d ho rn s. H e sa id he had traveled , th ey ev en br oke into argumen
of long, twis e four of th em I went
w as he re al l n ight talking to th , th in gs go t te n se in the Eyrie, so
Moulds. H e ft. After that
en , bu t be fo re th e light came he le
now and th
ay from it all.
to sleep to get aw
 17
13th of December 20
Dear diary, t am azing afterwards. I sta
rted
th e tim e, bu t I fel
ange and unsettling at was up to, then I practic
ed
The enchantment was str ixatrix ab ou t wh at ev ery on e
I awoke and spoke to R shaman most of the tim
e.
out my night as usual. th Falco - he ca lls him sel f th e
ey want me to learn wi ushered me into the chur
ch
the blood channeling th but be fo re we pa rte d F al co
day was drawing near, gathered. Obviously I wa
s
After my training the the en tir e Gr ote sq ue rie ha d
ndles had been lit and calmed me down alot. On
hall where numerous ca crowd sm ili ng at m e, wh ich
was at the front of the lly understand it. They
had
frightened, but Sibuan e, but I wa s too tired to rea
r event happened to m sheep. After that my
skin
my first night a simila e dri nk th e blo od of a big
like tonight and had m w a pattern on my head
in
all gathered around just time ar ou nd he sim ply dre
me stiff like straw. This would, but I keep hear
ing
dried and my hair beca do feel str on ge r, as he sa id I
allow a small stone. I
blood then made me sw
ng from nowhere.
a woman’s voice whisperi

17
20th of December 20
Dear diary, of all, I was allowed outsi
de! I
ha s ha pp en ed . B est
d since I wrote but a lot esn’t sound exciting for
such
A few nights have passe th e ste ep le. I kn ow it do
d did several laps around e lights all around me,
in the
flew for the first time an ag ai ns t m y fa ce an d th
sound of the air rushing e the world look so beau
tiful.
a short distance but the behin d th e hil ls, th ey m ad
ows, off in the distance
sky, in the church wind
much
’re sim ila r to us an d act like us but they’re so
r the first time too. They take a bite to the neck
and
I fed from a human fo nt ai n sh ee p we rea r of ten
can’t even fly. The mou t have bitten so hard he
r neck
more delicate, and they fro m th e hu m an I m us
but somehow when I fed the entire room. I’ll ha
ve to be
manage to walk it off sp ew ed al l ov er m e an d
away, and... her blood e stress I had to go throu
gh just
snapped when I pulled e ta ste , it wa s wo rth th
but the taste, my God th lls it. The spirit of the B
east
more gentle next time, I ‘jo ur ne ye d’ - as F al co ca
nectar. After the taste e me feel angry and con
fused
for a mouthful of that e fu n en tirely an d m ad
oments which ruined th
entered me for a few m
for the rest of the night.
 r several times
I me nt ion ed he r in my last entry. I’ve heard he
The last thing is the woma
n’s voice, nts like: “The
lou der tha n the n too . She keeps making comme
ually much st her words were
a night since then and us d “I am the wa y to your salvation”. At fir
self of fea r”; an when she falls
Flock awaits”; “Free your nd see me d so ali en but now I come to miss it
voice in my mi e me! In fact
disturbing to me, another in g wa y of cou rse ) but Falco seems to believ
crazy (in a lov
silent. Sibaun tells me I’m other.
tel ls me to lis ten to he r, he says She is my M
he

26th of December 2017

Dear diary,
village,
tel lin g me tha t S he is waiting for me south of the
of mine keeps lco agrees
Every night this Mother fee ls lik e S he rea lly wa nts me to see Her and Fa
are so soothing, it ually go
behind the hills. Her words to ign ore the voi ce, if I ignore Her, She will event
ibuan both tell me least once.
entirely. Rixatrix and S he sou nd s so ca rin g tha t I should go to see Her at
want Her to. S
away, but I don’t think I
en I take
ow , I’l l on ly be go ne for a few hours. I’ll set off wh
south tomorr to go far and
I think i’m going to travel alo ne wh en I fly so they won’t expect me
seem to let me be I don’t find
my midnight flight, they I see it, on e of tw o thi ngs will happen: Either
ow it. The way s Flock She
I’ll be back before they kn ve a lit tle fli gh t ar ou nd the village or I find thi
ary and simply ha nts of me.
anything out of the ordin las t we ek , an d fin d out what my Mother wa
that big guy fro m
mentioned, maybe even

27th of December 2017

Wish me luck.
 Introduction
The Gargoyles are emblematic of the bizarre
nature of the bloodlines as a group, and perhaps
those to whom the label ‘vampire’ does the least
justice. Long have they been the underdogs, the
oppressed, scarcely above Caitiff and thinbloods in
terms of social standing. But as a long-lost ancient
awakens, this is changing. Even as they are preyed
upon by members of their own bloodline aiming
to bind them to an insane and tyrannical creator
or enlist them in an apocalyptic crusade, the young
Freemen are beginning to seek a new destiny and
to carve out a true place for themselves. Some
wish to overturn the current order, to supplant
an entire Clan or even to create their own sect
divorced from the dichotomy of Camarilla and
Sabbat. Others simply wish to be treated as equals
and to survive.
As with any group of sufficient size - and the
bloodline has grown significantly over the past few
decades - there are stark differences in opinion, but
one line of thought is held largely in common. No
longer are the Gargoyles satisfied to be counted
as a mere bloodline; they wish instead to be
recognised as a Clan, and to be granted the status
that comes with it. After all, their progenitor has
returned and lives among them - how many of the
vaunted Clans can say the same?
8 Introduction
This book is the result of a particular and
long-held fascination with this strange bloodline.
Information about them, much like the Gargoyles
themselves, is scattered and often contradictory.
Clanbook: Gargoyles seeks first to bring together
the various scraps of lore to be found here and
there and make them fit together more coherently,
and then to expand upon that information, giving
the Gargoyles the book-length coverage we feel
they deserve and need. We are indebted to far
too many people to realistically list here since we
have drawn on so many sources, from the brand
new to the very old. Of particular note are Lore of
the Bloodlines, which prompted this book to be
written, and House of Tremere, without which it
would not exist in anything like its current form
(and possibly not at all).
How To Use This Book
Clanbook: Gargoyles serves two purposes:
to bring together information gathered from
every edition of Vampire: The Masquerade
and its historical spinoffs; and to expand upon
existing Gargoyle lore in appropriately bizarre and
surprising ways. These purposes, in addition to the
sheer amount of content, has required us to split
the book into a fairly large number of chapters,
which are as follows:
Chapter One sees Handsome Dan, a veteran
Gargoyle Anarch of humble origins, relate the
history of their bloodline to a Grotesquerie of
young Rockheads - and offer a new way forward for
them and the Gargoyle race as a whole.
Chapter Two lays out the current social structures
of the Gargoyles, from the local to the global, as
well as their relationships with the various Clans
and sects of the Kindred and other denizens of the
World of Darkness besides.
Chapter Three provides rules and guidance for
creating Gargoyle characters, with a particular
emphasis on the Embraced Gargoyles provided
in V20. It also presents new Visceratika powers
and combination Disciplines (some of our own
creation and others adapted from previous
editions).
Chapter Four focuses on the rarer types of
Gargoyles - the three ancient Castings (as depicted
most recently in Lore of the Bloodlines) and the
strange and new Misbegotten.
Chapter Five consists of a miscellany of Gargoyle-
related creatures, from their ghouls to the mutated
animals and other monstrosities which are as
much a part of the bloodline’s grotesque heritage
as the playable Gargoyles themselves.
Chapter Six presents a number of character
templates which can be picked up or tweaked to
provide ready-to-use player characters, followed by
profiles on some of the most notable Gargoyles to
be found in tonight’s skies.
Chapter Seven describes a range of humours, the
Freemen’s inheritance of the ‘Gargoyle rituals’
practiced by their (mostly) former masters, the
Tremere.
Lexicon
Casting: The ‘type’ which a cast Gargoyle conforms
to, whether Scout, Sentinel, or Warrior.
Ceoris: The Tremere chantry where Gargoyles were
first created and where the Revolt began, located
in the Carpathian mountains of eastern Europe. It
was abandoned shortly after the Revolt, and serves
as the base for Virstania and her Flock.
Clanbook: Gargoyles
Cenote: A pool of stagnant water believed to offer
a passageway between this world and the next in
Mayan religion. They are used to Gestate new
members of the Misbegotten known as Calacas,
and also feature prominently in their rituals.
Chaundice: The first Gargoyle and the original
Rock Lord, created by Virstania as her last
significant act while still a mortal mage.
Apparently missing for centuries, he has recently
re-emerged, and is the head of a new movement
within the bloodline.
Chaundice’s Children: The young, radical
independence and emancipation movement within
the Gargoyle bloodline, which gains more and
more traction each night, drawing its membership
from every sect and around the world. Also
called the ‘Chaundician movement’ or simply
‘Chaundicians’.
Duat: The Egyptian underworld, to which the
spirits of Gorgons (see Misbegotten) supposedly
travel during Gestation; once there, they are
believed to commune with Set and bring his words
back to the physical world.
Eyrie: The communal haven of a Grotesquerie.
Ferox: Originally a ghoul Embraced for his
assistance in the Gargoyle Revolt, Ferox now leads
the cult called the Grigori, or Watchers. He views
himself as one of the angels of the end times, and
wishes to prepare the Earth for God’s judgement
by destroying as many ‘demons’ (non-Gargoyle
vampires, and especially Nosferatu) as possible.
The Flock: The Gargoyles still loyal to Virstania.
They view her as the Great Mother, the
unquestionable queen of their kind, and make
efforts to kidnap or convert Gargoyles and bring
them to live with her in the ruins of Ceoris.
Gargoyle Revolt: The conflict in which the
majority of enslaved Gargoyles rose up against
their masters, beginning in 1476 with Virstania’s
uprising in Ceoris, and ending shortly after the
signing of the Montmartre Pact.
Gestation: 1) The process by which a cast Gargoyle
is made, which takes months. 2) The Embrace of a
sired Gargoyle.
9
Great Mother: See Virstania. Gargoyles, including Chaundice, and for the
Grigori: See the Watchers. development of the bloodline until the end of the
Gargoyle Revolt. Known as the Great Mother, she
Grotesquerie: A group of Gargoyles, equivalent to currently rules over the Flock.
a coterie or Sabbat pack, which gather in an Eyrie
for mutual company, protection, and development. The Watchers: A growing and fanatically religious
Gargoyle cult centred around the infamous Rock
Grotto: The underwater Eyrie of Mariner Lord Ferox, who believe that they are fallen angels
Gargoyles, a type of Misbegotten. manifested on Earth to destroy the ‘demons’
Humour: A specialised ritual, useable only on and which inhabit it - other Kindred, and Nosferatu in
by Gargoyles, which applies a particular temporary particular. Also called the Grigori.
effect to the subject.
Mimesis: A mysterious process by which a
Gargoyle comes to resemble the architecture
(whether natural or artificial) of their haven.
Grotesqueries which share the same Eyrie also
undergo this effect, coming to resemble each other
as they each reflect the physical features of their
surroundings.
Misbegotten: Recently-emerging types of
Gargoyles, made from Clans and bloodlines
previously unused. They are unknown to most
and looked down upon by those who do know
of them, though some are more wretched than
others. Calacas, Gorgons, Mariner Gargoyles, and
Minkisi are the four Misbegotten ‘Castings’ so far
known to exist.
Montmartre Pact: The treaty signed in 1489,
requiring the Tremere to end the slavery of
Gargoyles as a condition for their joining the
Camarilla, which effectively ended the Gargoyle
Revolt.
Mould: 1) The original three cast Gargoyles:
Fidus, Luma, and Saxum. 2) The three most senior
figures in a Grotesquerie beneath the Rock Lord or
Lady, titled the Scout Mould, the Sentinel Mould,
and the Warrior Mould. These positions need not
be filled by cast Gargoyles, but if they are they will
always correspond to the Gargoyle’s Casting.
Rock Lord/Lady: An honorific denoting
leadership of a Grotesquerie or otherwise
significant authority. Chaundice and Ferox (see the
Watchers, below) both bear the title, though the
latter is recognised by very few Gargoyles.
Virstania: The ancient Tremere primarily
responsible for the creation of the original

10 Introduction
 Chapter One:
A Past Carved in
Stone
An Audience with
Handsome Dan
Evening lads and lasses. Easy now, I don’t
mean you any harm. I’m not here to take you
into Tremere or the Mother or anyone else. Lord
knows there’s enough of them out there who’d like
nothing more than to put you in chains. I’m not
here to tell you to do anything or go anywhere, just
hear me out before you do something we’ll both
regret. That’s better. Let’s talk like grown-ups. My
name’s Dan, ‘Handsome Dan’ to the ladies. I’m
sure I’ll find out yours in due time. I was just on
my way over to DC, heard there might be a flock
of us headed there. I noticed you lot and thought
I’d stop by for a chat. Before I start rambling on,
I’ve got a question for the lot of you. How much
do you know about what you are? Where you come
from and that?
Blimey… I’ve got my work cut out for me. I’m
not talking about your sires or where you got your
fangs, I mean metaphorically. I suppose what I
mean to ask is, what do you know about where
we come from? I see. You can’t be blamed really.
There’s too many sires these nights who just aren’t
up to the job. Doesn’t look like you’ve got much
going on, cooped up in here, so take a seat and
listen up, and I’ll impart some learning.
I should think you at least know that we’ve
always been slaves, one way or another. It’s been
Clanbook: Gargoyles
some time since any Warlock has owned one of
us - openly, anyway - but it’s part of us, deep down.
Some of us have tried to fight it, but it’s a story of
false starts - a bit like my own story. As you may
be able to tell I was born and raised in - no, not
bloody Australia! I come from old London town.
And don’t interrupt unless you’ve got something
useful to say.
Anyway, back in my youth I went around with
the finest bunch of anarch miscreants you could
hope for. The Sixpence Pinch we called ourselves.
Rooker, my sire, saw us through many a tough
time. We ruled that city for about a hundred years,
don’t let any Blue Blood tell you otherwise. But
it all ended badly, sad to say - the Cammies got us
in the end, and I was the only one who got away. I
spent a few rough weeks on the continent feeling
sorry for myself, living much like you are now.
Eventually I got the idea of heading to California
to make my fortune in the Free State they’ve got
going over there. What I found on the way there,
though, was a miracle, a proper fresh start for me
- and for all of us. But I’ll get to all that later. First
thing’s first: you all could do with an education.
The First Grotesques
We’ve not always been as most of us are now.
Matter of fact, far from it. The first of us weren’t
even vampires as you’d think of them. What were
they, you ask? Good question. I haven’t quite
figured that out myself. In any event they weren’t
11
bitten and fed blood, but made in labs by the
Tremere, almost a thousand years ago now. The
really scary bit is that we weren’t some sort of
experiment gone wrong - we went right. After a
couple of attempts, at any rate. What it took to
get it all started was the one we call the Mother.
Yeah, the Great Mother, that’s the one. You know
something at least. Though how ‘great’ she is is
pretty up in the air.
Virstania
The one we owe our current state to is an
ancient vampire called Virstania. From what I’ve
heard - and I’ve got a pretty direct source - she
was born in a Tremere chantry itself, somewhere
in Eastern Europe, round what is today Romania
and that. This was back when most Tremere were
mortal, but they still had magic somehow. I don’t
pretend to understand all that malarkey. She was
something of a prodigy, bit of a teacher’s pet, you
know the type. What she was best at was making
things - living things, that is, usually cobbled
together from different animals.
In short order her chantry, the only home
she’d ever known, got taken over by the Tzimisce
in 1105, who were enemies of the Tremere. You
know, those dodgy bastard’s in the Sabbat who like
messing around with people’s bodies. Yeah, them.
Oh, well, that’s how I say it. Point is, this was just
the latest chantry to go. They’d been dropping one
by one for a while. As I understand it the Fiends
saw the land as theirs, and the Tremere were
unwelcome guests. I wouldn’t start taking sides too
soon though, they were as bad as each other at the
end of the day.
Anyway, Virstania got away and ran to
another chantry, called Ceoris. Don’t worry about
remembering that name, you’re gonna hear it
plenty. Bear with me on this next bit. When she
got there she had one of her little creations - a
mink with a sturgeon’s head. Basically a ferret with
the head of a fish, for those who don’t know. It got
free and started causing all sorts of havoc round
the gaff. Tearing up books, knocking over pots,
running up people’s robes, that sort of thing. Yes
there’s a point, and no I’m not pulling your leg. As
I said, don’t interrupt with stupid bloody questions
12 Chapter One: A Past Carved in Stone
or we’ll never be finished.
While the creature was running amok, it was
noticed by one of the bigwigs of Ceoris, some
evil bastard called Goratrix, who was one of the
first Tremere to be a vampire. They all had funny
names, you’d better get used to it. The thing soon
died, but he must have seen some kind of potential
in it, and he took Virstania under his wing. He’d
had an idea for making living weapons, things
to fight off the Tzimisce. In her he saw what he
needed to make it a reality.
Chaundice
Virstania, Goratrix, and his childe Malgorzata
got to work. As I say I don’t really understand
such things, but from what I can gather Virstania
could work magic better because she was still
human. Being a vampire limits magic, makes it so
you have to work along certain lines, something
like that. Whatever the reason, her first creation
was nothing like what came after. He was named
Chaundice, and he was incredibly strong even
from, er, ‘birth’. So strong that Goratrix feared
him, and the woman who had made him.
Owing to this, he had Virstania Embraced, which
he presented as a reward for her work. She would
seem to have taken it gladly, not suspecting what
he really meant to do. As for Chaundice, Goratrix
Embraced him personally, crippling him and
making it so that nothing like him could exist
again. Had it not been for this, our history - and
all vampires’ history - would have been completely
changed. As you might be able to tell, I’m no fan
of Goratrix. I’m not sure anyone is. If they are, I’d
much prefer not to meet them.
It wasn’t another ten years until Chaundice
was actually shown off to the rest of the chantry.
Maybe Goratrix wanted to make sure he was
weakened permanently. During that time the three
experimented with quickly making new Gargoyles
from the body parts of captured Kindred, but most
were weak, stupid and useless. They didn’t know
then that, for whatever reason, only using Gangrel,
Nosferatu and Tzimisce works. When Chaundice
and his ‘children’ - five pretty powerful Gargoyles,
though none as strong as him, all from those Clans
- were unveiled in 1121, Goratrix passed them off
as his own work using the captured vampires, while
the eight useless Gargoyles were quietly gotten rid
of. Virstania and Chaundice were in no position
to kick up a fuss.
The First Gargoyle Revolt
In short order, the five Gargoyles (led by
Chaundice, making six) were used to harass the
Tzimisce, reclaiming whole chantries in complete
surprise attacks. This exposed them to the wider
world, and while they followed their masters’
instructions, they were mostly left to go about
things as they decided while in the field. The
Warlocks never expected them to be capable of
really thinking for themselves, so they didn’t keep
to tight on a leash on them. That was their big
mistake.
Chaundice and his lot got to thinking about
independence. There was nothing really stopping
them from just flying off after being let loose from
Ceoris to do the Tremere’s dirty work. Chaundice
himself and another called Ana badly wanted to
simply flee their masters’ control and set off to
make their own place in the world. Others, like
Alvusia - poor girl - and Ublo-Satha, were scared of
the consequences and of what the outside world
might hold. On one particular night in 1126,
Chaundice got them together to finally hash it out.
After hours and hours of whispered arguments,
they swore on one another’s blood to leave
together the next time they were sent out.
Sadly, it didn’t last. Ublo-Satha must have
broken, and grassed on the others. It was Alvusia
who first saw Goratrix and his cronies heading
to the Eyrie, the place where the Gargoyles made
their haven. She was able to warn them, but was
caught by Ublo-Satha, who tried to spare her sister
punishment by convincing her to stay. Poor, poor
girl…
In what some of us call the First Gargoyle Revolt,
the other four - Chaundice, Ana, Saxim and one
now called Chi’ung Chi - got away, and went their
separate ways in the rush to escape. Brunavog,
Virstania’s sire, made the error of assuming that he
spoke with the Mother’s voice, and as one of the
Clanbook: Gargoyles
first Tremere to arrive at the Eyrie ordered them to
stand down. Chaundice gave him Final Death with
a single blow before being forced to run.
And for a long time, that was that. Virstania
would tell the Gargoyles that came later about
Chaundice, who she called the ‘Rock Lord’, living
in the nearby mountains with a colony of free
Gargoyles. This was either a delusion of hers or
just a story she told the young to put the idea of
freedom in their heads and keep them motivated.
It turned out to be true in the end, I suppose, but
hundreds of years later.
Chaundice was recaptured some time later by
Goratrix, and if the rumours are true the same
thing eventually happened to Saxim at the hands
of Etrius, another right Berkshire hunt at the top
of the Clan. Ana remained free and did what she
could to liberate the Gargoyles which came after
her, and as you might have guessed Chi’ung Chi
fled all the way to China. Ublo-Satha stayed the
slave she wanted to be, and Alvusia, well… she was
punished, whatever her sister wanted. I’ll get to her
shortly.
Saxim seems not to have been able to properly
leave home. He stayed nearby, maybe hoping to
free others. Unfortunately this meant he was easy
for the Tremere to find again, with some sort of
magic I expect. Etrius got to him first and enslaved
him again, just a couple years after the escape. He
brought him back to Ceoris and started slagging
off the Mother for all to hear, before punishing
her by having Saxim sent to the chantry in Vienna,
even though he would have been more useful
at Ceoris. This was yet another thing that came
between him and Goratrix, who had wanted
to capture Saxim for himself. He was the first
Gargoyle to be given to another chantry, and as far
as anyone knows he’s still there as Etrius’ pet.
Centuries of Slavery
Finding themselves without Gargoyles, for
the most part, the Tremere needed to act quickly,
or they’d be overtaken by the Tzimisce again.
Vistania, Malgorzata and Goratrix got to work
on improving the Gargoyles made from other
vampires. They noticed that the best results came
13
from using Gangrel, Nosferatu and Tzimisce -
especially together. However, they needed a new
way of combining the parts altogether. This is
where Alvusia came in.
The Next Generation
Virstania, who by this point was nicely settled
in Bedlam, decided to give her daughter not a
punishment but (in her mind) a gift, to show
that there were no hard feelings. That ‘gift’ was
motherhood. Through some kind of horrendous,
drawn-out ritual she transformed Alvusia from
a Gargoyle much like you or I into something
new and awful - the first of the womb-bearers.
The name is disgustingly literal; they chopped up
whatever Kindred they wanted to use, sewed the
parts together, and opened up her belly and put
them in before sealing her up again. She’d spend
months in agony, all to produce a single Gargoyle.
As far as anyone knows, she’s still suffering under
this. I don’t get sick any more, o’course, but it
makes even my stomach turn.
The Gargoyles that came out were a new breed.
To make sure they stayed loyal, Goratrix ordered
that they should be split into three ‘Castings’.
There were Scouts, Sentinels and Warriors, each
one made to suit a different role and with a
different way of ensuring total loyalty. A couple of
elders from back then seem to remember a fourth
Casting, but I wouldn’t know anything about
that. Might be worth looking into, but if they’re
out there anywhere they aren’t making themselves
known.
There aren’t a whole lot of cast Gargoyles left
these nights, but some of you have probably met
one or two even if you didn’t know it. My own
sire, Rooker, was a Scout, but he wasn’t as old as
the ones I’m talking about. Or if he was, he never
let on.
The first three Gargoyles made this way are
called the Moulds, since the rest were made to
match up to their design. Watching over them
all was Ublo-Satha, who remained in Ceoris for
almost another hundred years. Together with her,
the Moulds were known as Virstania’s Gargoyle
apprentices, since they kept by her side most of the
14 Chapter One: A Past Carved in Stone
time.
The first Mould of all was the Sentinel, Saxum
- yeah, like Saxim, hang about, I was getting to
that. He was named that way since Virstania
missed Saxim after he’d been brought back to her,
only to be sent away again. It’s said that she and
Ublo-Satha kept mixing them up and eventually
forgot there was an original at all. ‘The Master
of Slaves’, as he was called - that should tell you
plenty - kept a close eye on the Eyrie and those in
it, always looking out for rebellion. The Sentinels
who’ve followed him carry that on, but tend to be
softer touches.
Second came Luma. She was the first Warrior,
and she set the standard for them in aggression
and killing power, though as the tales go she was
beautiful, unlike the rest of us; ‘the Stone Beauty’,
she was called. I can’t speak to that, I’ve not had
the chance to make her acquaintance. Must have
some truth to it though, since the Mother kept
trying to repeat her creation. She was rebellious as
well; it was largely Ublo-Satha’s a job to keep her
in line.
Last of the three was Fidus, the Scout, called
‘the Shrunken Beast’. Where Saxum was large and
strong, Fidus was small but fast, and a conniving
little welk. He was the Mother’s favourite, and
rarely left her side; she even secretly taught
him magic, since he whispered everything that
happened in the Eyrie to her. Fidus was the first of
the three to learn to fly, and taught that skill to the
Scouts who came after him.
Mass Production
Not long later, in 1133, Goratrix got exiled
from Ceoris - for what reason I don’t know or
care. What matters is that this left Virstania
and Malgorzata unsupervised, and they got to
behaving like two bickering sisters. This meant
that Virstania was able to experiment more freely,
while Malgorzata egged her on. She created all
manner of strange creatures, which while they were
Gargoyles were not like us or even like the cast
ones. There’s even fewer of those left, but some
Grotesqueries have some as pets. Most of them just
give me the willies. I personally think Malgorzata
did it to see how far she’d go.
In only a few decades, the Tremere had
themselves an army, not just a pack. None of them
were the equal of Chaundice or even his children,
but their numbers more than made up for it.
From 1167, the year the cast Gargoyles were set on
the Fiends, the Omen War - the conflict between
Tremere and Tzimisce - got kicked up a few gears.
Chantries fell and got taken back, and most of the
killing and the dying was done by us. If you look in
the right nooks and crannies of the right mountain
ranges in Eastern Europe, you’ll find the makeshift
Eyries of those unlucky Gargoyles whose chantries
got took out. Seems like they built effigies of their
former masters, so they’d have someone to serve.
Doesn’t look like any of them lasted long; all those
old Eyries are long abandoned.
It was in the middle of all this that some of us
started being able to Embrace, probably thanks
to Virstania’s meddling. Once there were enough
that other Tremere started noticing - sometimes
patrols would come back with more than they set
out with - it was swiftly banned, and any Embraced
Gargoyles were destroyed.
By this point, most Warlocks were vampires,
and in 1199 their dirty little secret came out
among the other wizards they knocked around
with. Now they had two enemies to fight, and
while they had some help from the German
Ventrue, they were pretty hard-pressed. The
production of cast Gargoyles became too slow
to replace the losses, and as a result the ban on
Embracing was lifted. Since about a third of all
Gargoyles could do it by now, our numbers shot
up, giving the Clan the support it needed to
survive its various wars. By the mid-14th century,
sired Gargoyles were the majority, and had spread
far beyond Ceoris.
Things just kept getting better for our lot. By a
hundred years later we had a Discipline to call
our own, cobbled together by the Mother from
some of the more useful rituals the Tremere liked
to use on us, letting us hide in plain sight, move
through walls, all that stuff. Sadly only the sired
ones showed much of a knack for it, but there
were so many of us by then that we may as well
Clanbook: Gargoyles
all have had it. Though they never knew it until it
was far, far too late, it was the thing we needed to
overthrow our masters. Couldn’t have happened to
nicer people.
The Gargoyle Revolt
We couldn’t do it alone though. There’s plenty
to be said about her, but without Virstania we’d
still be in chains. Maybe only someone as far
gone as her could come up with something like
the Revolt and actually see it through to the end.
She’d been preparing for decades, maybe even
longer. Hard to say really, she didn’t even let on
to her personal Gargoyles as far as anyone knows.
Some say it started as early as when Goratrix got
kicked out.
The Mother might have been a few straws
short, but she was canny, and chose her
opportunity well. In the few years before the
Revolt, two important Tremere had left Ceoris,
willingly or otherwise. The first was Etrius, who
I mentioned earlier. The reasons why I’m not
sure. Something about their Antediluvian who
was switching bodies or asleep or fighting a giant
worm. Don’t ask me, sonny, I just repeat what
I’m told. Important thing is, without Etrius there,
the Mother had even less people looking over her
shoulder.
Malgorzata was one, but she was more
concerned with wheeling and dealing among her
own Clan than keeping an eye on us. There’s even
rumours that say despite being his childe, she
wasn’t Goratrix’s favourite, that he shared more
with Virstania than with her. For example, one
very old Gargoyle told me that he’d developed
some kind of artificial blood, said he tried it on
him in Paris, said it filled you up alright but didn’t
satisfy the Beast, so you’d be on edge all night. As
far as he knew, only Virstania was told about this,
not Malgorzata. However things were with her,
they became pretty moot when she got captured by
the Tzimisce during their last big raid on Ceoris.
There aren’t many of us about who were there at
the time, but there’s a story which goes that the
Mother let it happen.
Ceoris had lost two of its big hitters, its
15
defences had taken a nasty beating, and everyone This wasn’t the last fight at Ceoris though.
was distracted. Esoara, basically the head of Esoara was the late Curaferrum’s childe, and must
security, was off out hunting the anarchs who’d have smarted something awful when his sire got
taken Malgorzata. With Etrius and Malgorzata out it. Enraged, and with some of the hardest Tremere
of the picture, Virstania was left on her own, and around in tow, he turned up two nights later, while
without Esoara, the chantry was weak - ripe for an we were still getting ourselves together after the
inside job. In 1476 - three hundred years before previous night’s celebrations. We were ready, we
these United States kicked up their own stink - she knew he was coming, but still we had taken some
used some massive spell to free all the Gargoyles in losses. Once he worked out what had happened,
Ceoris from Warlock control - magic, Dominate, he immediately executed all the Gargoyles in his
blood bonds, the whole lot. It was a simple matter party. Poor bastards. The fighting was vicious, and
then for us to rise up. in the end we retreated. Virstania, not wanting to
lose any more of us, ordered us to abandon Ceoris.
The Revolt in Ceoris We fled in all directions, and Virstania relocated
I’m told Ceoris was a slaughter. In less than a to her secret lab in a cave not far away, taking her
night it went from the jewel in the Tremere crown equipment with her along with the three Moulds.
to a gutted ruin. The castellan - the boss, for the The battle for Ceoris was over in a hollow Tremere
benefit of you lot - an old Warlock by the name of victory, but the Revolt had just begun.
Curaferrum, got himself disblerised by the Mother.
He the first casualty in a war that continues The Revolt Spreads
tonight, no matter what kind of treaties and pacts Since we could travel faster than the Tremere,
get signed. But I’m getting ahead of myself… the first few chantries we hit were taken by
The Mother went to his chamber, supposedly surprise. Virstania did rituals on us which allowed
to speak to him about the counter-attack to the us to spread her spell of liberation to others, so
raid which had taken Malgorzata. Little did he we started by infiltrating the chantries, freeing
suspect that we were taking our places in the walls. the Gargoyles inside and gutting the places from
At her word we leapt out and held him down while within, just like Ceoris. It couldn’t last, of course,
the Mother listed every cruelty against us, to the and eventually some Warlock must have gotten a
last harsh word. For each one she had a single tiny magical message out to the others - probably that
cut made in him. She counted each broken bone, bugger Esoara. We were only able to hit a handful
each night of solitary confinement, each petty before this got out, but we’d vastly increased our
punishment. It took most of the night, and by the numbers. Even then some of the arrogant bastards
end he’d been begging for Final Death for hours. didn’t pay attention - they must have thought it
To cap it off she leant down, bared her fangs, and was a lie made up to weaken them by having them
took his blood. destroy their slaves, or they just thought that their
control was too strong for it to happen to them.
Her deep frenzy spread to us, and we ran amok Idiots.
through the chantry, killing dozens of Tremere
and their ghouls in just an hour. Luma and her Of course, many did listen, and Lord knows
Warriors led the way, and she took down dozens how many of us got executed right then, so they
single-handedly. The walls were stained red, and couldn’t rise up. It’s tragic, but at least it meant
barely any got out ‘alive’. We had ghouls of our they couldn’t be used against the free ones.
own, and they did more than their part both at Eventually it got so that it was just Gargoyles
Ceoris and in the battles afterwards. Most notable on the one side and Tremere on the other. For
was one called Ferox - yes, that Ferox - who was another thirteen years we fought over Europe,
Embraced for his services. We’ll get to him later, even while the Anarch Revolt was ongoing. They
I’m sure. couldn’t get assistance from the other Clans -
we actually had help from lots of our Gangrel,

16 Chapter One: A Past Carved in Stone

Nosferatu and Tzimisce ‘relatives’ - and so they
were left to fend for themselves.
The Montmartre Pact
The Anarch Revolt ended when the Camarilla
got together, including the Tremere. One of the
conditions for them joining was for them to
release any slaves they still had, give up any claim
to the free ones, and make no more Gargoyles,
which they agreed to in 1489 under the terms of
the Montmartre Pact. The Ventrue and Toreador
and that will say this was out of concern for the
cruelty of slavery and because we were originally
made from other Kindred - but really, they saw the
pasting the Warlocks were getting and didn’t want
any of it.
For the Warlocks’ part, handing over the few
slaves you’ve got left after you’ve already murdered
most of them isn’t that big a price to pay, nor is
giving up ownership of rebellious ones. It’s not
as though they really stick to it anyway. Every few
years they trot out a scapegoat who gets ‘caught’
making a Gargoyle or keeping one a slave, but
that’s just to keep up appearances and get rid of
enemies. They’re all at it even tonight, mark my
words - but not for long. But back to the past for
now; we can talk about the present and the future
later.
Centuries of Freedom
By hiding in the Ivory Tower, the Tremere
saved themselves. The Gargoyle Revolt didn’t so
much end as it did peter out, but it was no less
a victory for us. The problem, though, was what
to do next. Many of us returned to Virstania’s
cave, having not seen her in years (or ever). Those
from chantries further afield tended to try and
make their own way in the world, setting up
Grotesqueries in Paris, in India, in the Urals,
and, of course, in London. Us and the Tremere
both started picking up the pieces, like most of
the Kindred world. They returned to Ceoris and
Virstania kept a good eye on them, deciding to
leave them alone if they left her children alone.
She became more obsessed with perfecting us, and
right away began experimenting. She’s there to
night from what little I’ve heard. Who knows what
Clanbook: Gargoyles
she’s done in that time?
The free Gargoyles - the really free ones, not
Virstania’s Flock - spread their wings and took
flight where they pleased. Many of them took up
with the Camarilla, some with the Sabbat, both of
which were just starting to get themselves together.
They both needed spies, scouts, assassins, enforcers
- jobs we were uniquely suited for. We never earned
much in the way of proper rank or respect, but
we were valued. In London and Paris were set up
the first ‘official’, Camarilla-backed Grotesqueries,
employed by the Princes of those cities, and the
practice was taken up by others who had enough
Gargoyles on hand.
Discovering Mimesis
It was around this time that we first started
really noticing Mimesis. Oh, Christ almighty… You
know how after you spend a while in a new haven
you start to look like it, and like each other? It’s
that, and it’s not something all vampires do - if you
choose to call us that. It’s just us. Don’t ask me
about the name, I didn’t come up with it. Seems
fitting anyway. Point is, as we started roosting
together in different Eyries we noticed this
happening. Whether it was more pronounced after
we became free, it’s hard to say. Mimesis became
something to unite us, to set us apart from other
Kindred and give us an identity.
An unusual example were Pygmalion’s
Daughters, an all-women Grotesquerie who
became popular with the Toreador in Italy and
Greece. They toured Elysiums and put on shows,
singing and dancing, posing for portraits, all that
lark. You know how Toreador can be. While I’m
not one to go in for all that, they did put us on
the map, showed the Kindred that we aren’t just
monsters. The Daughters put it to good use and
developed a way of making it happen faster by
combining a few disciplines, so they could look
different during each show. I’ve not been able to
do it, but then it probably wouldn’t be much help
in my line of work. And besides, why’d I want to
change this handsome mug?
17
Ferox
Sadly not all Gargoyles of the time were credits
to our name. You may remember I mentioned
Ferox before. He’s probably older than all of us put
together, and he’s got a history to match. I shan’t
go into all that here, we’d be up well past dawn if
I did. Suffice to say he was first made a ghoul two
thousand years ago before being bandied about
between Clans, which eventually landed him in
Ceoris at the right time.
Like the Mother he’d seen the abuse of our
kind, and took our side even though he was a
Tremere ghoul rather than one of ours. He might
not have been Kindred then, but his age more than
made up for it. Of course, it also meant that when
he was cut off from Warlock blood, time started
catching up with him sharpish. Since he’d helped
us out so much and had become one of Virstania’s
main advisors, he was given the Embrace both to
save him and as a reward. He didn’t stick with the
Mother for long, tough. Somehow, he remembered
one thing after the Embrace, which was his faith -
and nothing else. Flying off even before the battle
outside the chantry two nights later, taking his sire
with him, he disappeared for decades.
When he came out of hiding he began some
sort of crusade, killing Kindred left and right. He
had a particular dislike of Nosferatu, calling them
‘demons’ - while we were angels, and him the
lead angel, naturally. From there he’s only gotten
stronger, gathering a larger cult than you might
think, who call themselves the Watchers. They’re
no direct threat to us, of course, but they shit
on our name in society, across all sects. It’ll only
be a matter of time before the other Clans stop
bothering to distinguish us from them when they
retaliate. The fact he’s actively recruiting us, and
that a lot of young Gargoyles are desperate enough
to belong somewhere - anywhere - hardly helps.
The First Misbegotten
Any good work produces imitators, and
we were no different. While the Tremere were
supposed to have destroyed all records of the
ritual for creating cast Gargoyles, of course they
never quite got around to finishing that particular
job. Must have been busy. We watched them like
18 Chapter One: A Past Carved in Stone
hawks in case they broke the Montmartre Pact in
a big way, but we weren’t so vigilant when it came
to others who might try the same stuff. We don’t
know how - maybe they tried to hide it and it got
found, maybe it was stolen, maybe they just sold it -
but here and there the ritual got out.
Of course, not being properly trained in
performing it, those outside the Tremere who tried
never quite got it right, or had to change things
to make it work. The results are what we call the
Misbegotten. They’re something I won’t blame you
for not hearing about. If there’s few of us, there’s
even fewer of them.
The earliest culprits we know about were the
Tremere antitribu, who included Goratrix and
Esoara - what a bloody pair - and who split off
from the main Clan in the 1700s. A particular
sect of these split off again, and decided that
the best place to hide from their many enemies
was underwater. They built a chantry under the
Atlantic, and since they needed servants down
there, adapted the creation ritual to produce
Gargoyles suitable for life at sea. They used,
and still do use, Mariner Gangrel and those
Nosferatu and Tzimisce adapted to the water,
somehow combining them with sea creatures.
They have three Castings just like our ancestors,
but they’re even stranger. I’ve only met one
‘Mariner Gargoyle’, and I can’t honestly say it’s an
experience I’d like to repeat. But they do deserve
freedom as much as any of us. They might have
been the first Misbegotten but they definitely
weren’t the last, and if you think it’s bizarre now,
just wait and listen. I’ll get to the others as they
come up. First, I get to tell you where I fit in.
Gargoyles in London
I was Embraced in 1885, or there abouts. The
one who sired me, as I mentioned, was named
Rooker. He found me in the gutter suffering with
the cholera, sure to die, and must have taken pity.
Quite where he came from I never found out, but I
know he was a cast Scout. He introduced me to his
gang, the Sixpence Pinch. You won’t find this out
from asking any of them, but we ran circles around
the Tremere and Ventrue of London. We made
our Eyrie in St Pauls - you know, the cathedral -
and from there we’d set out to cause all sorts of Bloods had to smile and applaud and pretend to
trouble for the Cammies. approve. They agreed to peace between us on the
There was six of us: me, Rooker, Moll, Six-of- condition that we had our own feeding grounds
One and Half-a-Dozen-of-the-Other (one of them and weren’t going to be harassed by the hounds or
gave me my nickname, not sure which), and Big the sheriff.
Sally. Couldn’t have asked for better chums, all What we didn’t know then was that the
told. Rooker was an odd bird, now I think of it. bombing had driven the Prince, an unimaginably
He never quite got his hands as dirty as ours, but old Blue Blood called Mithras, into torpor. The
he didn’t need to, and he appreciated what we did. other Ventrue were in disarray, which was why they
He was like our centre, the brains of the outfit. were so allowing with us. They tried to hide it as
Moll was a sweet girl, but she was canny; I’ve met long as possible, but we found out in short order,
plenty of Toreador and Blue Bloods who couldn’t and once we were sure there wasn’t a three- or
hold a candle to her when it came to skullduggery. four-thousand-year-old Methuselah to worry about,
Six-of-One and Half-a-Dozen, called that since we painted the town red like never before. For
they were twins in life and by Embrace and always decades, the Ventrue and Tremere could only look
looked alike, were the smallest and quickest of on and scowl.
us. If you needed something nicked and a clean As I said, it wasn’t to last. After St Pauls we got
getaway, it was them you went to. Big Sally was complacent and lazy. Rooker kept to himself and
like the mother of the group; if we had a problem looked like he was going to slip into torpor any
we went to her for advice even before Rooker, and night. The rise of surveillance in the city meant we
she’d involved if we got into a spat, as happened couldn’t move about anywhere near as freely. We
from time to time. didn’t realise it at the time, but I now think that
As for me, I suppose I was the face of our gang. was put in by the Ventrue and Tremere just to put
Not the pleasing face, as you might have guessed - us on the back foot. Without Mithras - who never
that was Moll - but the one shown when someone cared for Warlocks, to put it mildly - they were
needed a bit of fear put in them. I knocked around able to get together and work out a way to get their
with the Nossies in the Underground a fair bit, own back. Over the years they forced us to keep
kept my ear to the ground, that sort of thing. What moving our Eyrie until we lost everything we’d
we mostly got up to was poking at the Traditions gained in a single night. By the time they moved
while getting away with it, and making some against us we’d been mostly forgotten, a curiosity
money on the side. We gatecrashed Elysiums, from the war. They doctored some photos, claimed
robbed chantries of their magical guff, and dealt we’d broken the Masquerade, and used that to
with interested parties in Gargoyle animals like the justify rooting us out. No one else batted an eye.
ones I mentioned earlier. Most of those I kept away Bastards...
from, they were Sally’s area of expertise. No, son, I’m fine. I’ll get through it. I was the
We even did our part for Blighty. When the only one who survived that night, and I just flew
bombers came over London we took to the skies away as fast as I could. Rooker told me to, first
to defend our Eyrie. We wished we could have thing he’d said in weeks. I wanted to stay, but that
done more for the city, but even we knew the ingrained loyalty of ours saved me. I got across
Masquerade had to be kept. Nonetheless we took the Channel - first time I’d left London, let alone
out a decent few Jerry planes, and kept St Pauls England - and shacked up with the Gargoyles in
standing strong. The people of London thought it the Parisian catacombs for a month while I licked
was a miracle, never suspecting a thing. No Nazi my wounds, mourned my losses and looked at my
pilot who saw us got back across the Channel that options. Eventually I got it in my head to travel to
night. We were seen in a new light by the Kindred California, join the Anarch Free State, build up
of London, and even the Warlocks and Blue again, make the sacrifice of the Sixpence Pinch

Clanbook: Gargoyles 19
mean something. What I found was something far
greater than I could have imagined.
The Rock Lord
I never did get to California. Let me set the
scene. It’s the turn of the millennium, I’m flying
over Arizona, admiring the Grand Canyon, not
really thinking. Suddenly I see something moving,
something not a human and not an animal. I
swoop down to get a closer look, and what do I
see but another Gargoyle, but hunched over and
twisted up, like some sort of goblin. Last thing I
was expecting. He seemed lost and confused, so I
came down to check on him. Thought I might get
myself some welcome company for the journey, get
my Grotesquerie started early.
As I say he was out of it, didn’t seem to
understand what I was saying. Since it was getting
fairly close to dawn and I wasn’t getting much out
of him, I decided we should make our haven in
the canyon, which I managed to shepherd him
towards. I could tell he was no neonate; he had the
biggest set of wings you’ve ever scene, and I could
feel all this power coming off of him. He didn’t
seem to know how to sink into the rock, though,
so I found us a shaded spot and we slept through
the day.
The next night he seemed to have collected
himself, and he started talking. Mostly nonsense
to begin with, lots of it in Spanish. He kept talking
about a mirror and an axe, that I did pick out. I
thought he looked a bit peaky so I flew out and
snatched a bighorn for him. It took him a while
to figure out what to do but eventually he sunk
his fangs in and drained it. Now he was stronger,
we had something like a conversation. He spoke
enough English for hand gestures to make up the
difference. He said he’d flown north, from a city.
Something had gone very wrong, his ‘master’ had
had something happen to him, he’d been in a
fight; the mirror and the axe came up again. He
knew he was a Gargoyle, what that meant, but he
seemed to know nothing about us, almost none of
the history I’ve just spent half the night on. He was
curious about me, so I started there and worked it
backwards.
20 Chapter One: A Past Carved in Stone
When I mentioned Virstania he perked right
up, started asking me questions, then began telling
me things I’d never heard - about her, about
Goratrix, about Ceoris and the first Gargoyles.
Eventually he remembered his name: Chaundice.
Rooker had told me the legend of the Rock Lord
once, about a Gargoyle called Chaundice who
escaped into the mountains to lead a Grotesquerie
of free Gargoyles. Not a true story, obviously, but
the name was right. I didn’t rightly know what to
do or what to say at this point. What do you say
when you meet the ancestor of your entire people?
Thankfully he did most of the talking from
there. It all seemed to come flooding back. He told
me about fleeing Ceoris, how he’d flown north
and lived mostly alone for he couldn’t tell how
long, occasionally with animals, sometimes with
wandering Gangrel. Eventually he was rediscovered
by Goratrix, his sire, and made a slave again. He
was shocked when I told him how much time
had passed; there seemed to be whole centuries
he couldn’t recall. He’d lived as Goratrix’s slave
all that time, first in Europe, then travelling the
world, then in America and Mexico, where he’d
been before wandering to the Grand Canyon.
Something, he didn’t understand what, had
happened to Goratrix, something involving a
mirror. Whatever it was had freed Chaundice from
his control. During his escape he fought another
vampire, a Warlock wielding a battleaxe. From
what I’ve since heard from other elder Gargoyles,
this was almost certainly Esoara. Like he’d done
with Brunavog almost a thousand years earlier,
he batted him aside in order to get out, though
he didn’t think he’d killed him. His mind in a
blur, he sometimes flew, sometimes walked north,
repeating his escape from Ceoris. If I hadn’t
have found him when I did he’d have starved to
unconsciousness, and been left for the sun.
Chaundice’s Awakening
I got around to asking him about him not
being able to enter the stone, and he had no idea
what I was on about. I showed him Visceratika,
and he immediately asked me - almost ordered me
- to teach him. So I did. He took to it completely
naturally, like he’d been made to use it. Thanks to
yours truly, plus this natural ability, he was able to
spend the next day resting in the stone.
The next night was another story again. He spoke
calmly and confidently, where before he’d seemed
lost and unsure. He moved with this grace, this
controlled power, and looked every inch the Rock
Lord in the legend, no longer hunched over and
mutated. He said he’d had strange dreams of a
spirit of the canyon calling out to him, as he put
it. The spirit, which is called Massaw in local
Native legend, had somehow made him what he
was before Goratrix Embraced him. Put simply, he
wasn’t a vampire any more.
The next fifteen years were the strangest of my
life. From the moment he emerged, he had this
grand vision in mind: a Rock Court unlike any
other, including not just Gargoyles but all pure
creatures connected to the stone. As time passed,
I flew to nearby cities contacting Gargoyles and
telling them about this place. Not all of them
came at first, but over time it grew in power, and
we started receiving guests I’d never invited.
I even saw Lupines - which prefer to be called
garou, apparently - and some sort of rock spirits in
attendance.
As you might have guessed by now, I’ve come
from there to speak to you about joining. I’m sure
you’re full of questions from what little I’ve told
you, and I can answer them all in time, but first let
me say this: You don’t need to live like slaves any
more.

Clanbook: Gargoyles 21
 Virstania’s Children
Chaundice
Having escaped from Goratrix’s domination in a bizarre instance he scarcely remembers, and
experiencing a rebirth after his encounter with Dan, Chaundice tonight sits at the nucleus of free
Gargoyle society - the Grand Rock Court, located within the Grand Canyon. He oversees and
coordinates the movement which bears his name, receives and communes with a mysterious spirit of the
canyon which calls itself Massaw.
Chi’ung Chi
After fleeing during the First Revolt, Chi simply flew east as far as his wings could carry him. He
founded the Petrified Sanctum within Tianmu Mountain, allowing kine monks to practice geomancy in
a nearby temple. His Grotesquerie grew and expanded into the mountain, and the catacombs beneath.
In recent times he has made contact with Chaundice, becoming his figure head in the east. He and his
childer are hunted by the Tremere Thomas Wyncham, Inner Councilor of the Far East.
Ana
The standing stones took Ana east, guarding her within the forest and wild lands of central Europe.
After a short few decades they began a crusade against tremere oppression. After her mutation at the
hands of Tremere experimentation, Ana took a stronger approach to liberating her race, becoming a
form of folk legend amongst European chantries. Tonight she relays information to chaundice about
potential Gargoyle subjugation and strives to battle slavery of all forms.
Saxim
Saxim was quickly recaptured by Etrius following his escape, which the Warlock noted was
surprisingly easy to do - almost as though the Gargoyle wanted to be found and reclaimed. He was
publicly admonished at Ceoris before being sent to Vienna, where he became the personal servant
of Lotharius, Etrius’ childe. Etrius would join him several centuries - later along with the torpid body
of Tremere himself - to take over as Regent of Vienna and Pontifex of Austria, narrowly avoiding the
impending Revolt.
To this very night he exists in wretched servitude, watching over the founder’s twisted form, the very
embodiment of the Gargoyle drive towards service to others. Like his Mother, all but a small handful
of individuals - including Chaundice and his siblings - have quite forgotten his existence until recently,
when startlingly accurate but impossible to confirm rumours began to appear. Quite who or what is the
source of these whispers is unknown, and a cause of great interest to some (primarily Chaundice and
Ana) and grave concern to others (especially Etrius).

22 Chapter One: A Past Carved in Stone

Ublo-Satha
Following the First Revolt, Ublo-satha was kept on as a well-treated slave for her loyalty and her
value; unlike many of the cast Gargoyles who followed her, she was highly intelligent and capable of
independent thought, though she never dreamed of betraying the Clan. Eventually she was given to the
Tremere called Grimgroth, as a reward for his betrayal of the Hermetic chantry of Mistridge, resulting in
its complete destruction.
After centuries under Grimgroth’s service, she suggested she be sent to Chicago when she overheard
her master discussing the suspect loyalties of Nicolai, the Regent there; the story put about among the
Tremere of Chicago was that she was there to provide extra security in the wake of a Lupine attack on
the chantry. In coordination with Meerlinda, the Councillor of North America, he had her transferred.
In truth, neither Grimgroth nor Meerlinda knew the true reason for her suggestion (see page 124).
Alvusia
Once the Mother had escaped the final battle of Ceoris, she had a contingent of her closest acolytes
place Alvusia into a state of torpor. She awoke in exactly the same conditions she had found herself in
following her siblings’ escape attempt - a perpetual cycle of pregnancy, birth, and impregnation. On a
yearly basis from the early 1500s she has had new foetal Gargoyles Gestating inside her womb, a process
which continues to this night.

Clanbook: Gargoyles 23
 Chapter Two:
Freedom and
Dependence
A Grotesque Culture
When most Kindred think of Gargoyles
(assuming they know of and believe in their
existence at all), they think of dull monsters
entirely disconnected from humanity. These
stereotypes are popularised by Tremere to cast
their former slaves in the roles of boogeymen. This
is aided by the fact that Gargoyles are typically
submissive and evasive around Kindred, even
exclusively sticking to their Eyries rather than
making havens in common grounds as other
Kindred might.
These ideas form a cold, stony facade, which
hides the warmth and vibrancy to be found within
Gargoyle culture. Gargoyles measure their worth
and status based on numerous factors within a
Grotesquerie (a family of Gargoyles within a city
similar to a Coterie, though often larger). From
birth, status, political view, age, and generation
(not to mention wing size), Gargoyles have
developed quite intricate systems of interaction
and social bonding.
Gargoyles by Birth
Creating a Gargoyle is an involved and
multifaceted practice which is shrouded in mystery.
Some vampires still tell tales of a Gargoyle ‘brood
mare’ nestled deep within a mountain, atop a
clutch of obsidian eggs. While there is some truth
24 Chapter Two: Freedom and Dependence
in each myth, the commonly accepted means
of making a Gargoyle are by Embrace or birth.
In the beginning, Gargoyles were only created
by one ritual devised while Virstania was still a
mortal witch, known as ‘At Our Command It
Breathes’ (see Rites of the Blood, page 106). After
her Embrace she continued to refine it, making
variations with which to ‘cast’ specific Gargoyles
built for specific duties. Gradually these cast
Gargoyles evolved to facilitate the Embrace, where
earlier on they had all been infertile. The number
of Embraced Gargoyles soon outweighed their
more submissive cast kin. A bloodline was born.
Embraced
The Embrace of a Gargoyle is simultaneously
a starkly beautiful event and a deeply disturbing
horror. Gargoyle vitae is thicker and more abrasive
than that of most Kindred. Where other vampires,
especially Toreador, may have blood that feels
like silk as it creeps through the fledgling’s veins,
a Gargoyle’s feels like mortar. To make matters
worse, the Kiss of a Gargoyle comes at a naturally
higher risk than others since many have large tusks
in place of fangs. As the vitae settles in his flesh,
the fledgling will quickly feel the petrification that
comes from Construct blood, rigor mortis setting
in before they even get to die.
Gargoyle childer relate that before they
reawaken their minds are flooded with screams
and visions of sensations they will never feel again,
like a beautiful sunset or the warmth of a kiss.
The transformation from human to vampire is an
even harder ordeal than usual, as they won’t be
free to move until after their first night is through.
Instead, they are frozen in place to feel their flesh
gradually contort and toughen into a thick layer of
stone.
If the childe is lucky this will be all he faces,
but the day after is likely worse. As he sleeps, his
body will twist into whichever shape it will. On
his second night his bones and tendons stretch
to fit their eternal physique. His spine shatters
and reforms, and his limbs elongate as the vitae
swells within his very marrow. Finally, all organs
aside from the heart petrify into stone shards only
vaguely reminiscent of the organs they once were.
These shards are then expelled by the quickest
possible means, whether falling from orifices or
painfully piercing the flesh.
As joints regain their malleability and limbs
become flexible once more, the fledgling finally
feels the first twitches of his inhuman wings,
marking him as a childe of stone.
Cast
A purer form of Gargoyle comes from the
birthing chambers as a product of At Our
Command It Breathes. Despite the involved and
time-consuming nature of this method, not to
mention its grotesque and revolting reputation,
many Gargoyle shamans (see page 31) still
remember the procedure and see it as the most
divine transition.
Firstly, Kindred specimens must be selected
from those collected by assistants; only the
strongest and most powerful will survive the
transition. The specimens selected must be from at
least two Clans who share some degree of physical
malleability - Nosferatu, Gangrel and Tzimisce.
Their bodies must be scribed with ritualistic
symbols after each portion has been thoroughly
analyzed. Various fluids, including blood, are
extracted from the victims’ bodies while crystals
are used to measure the quantities of magical
essence flowing through them. After this analysis,
Clanbook: Gargoyles
the thaumaturge will write up alchemical charts
and diagrams outlining the most appropriate
course of dismemberment.
Next, the victims (who will be on the brink
of starvation following the draining process)
are placed atop operating tables by assistants
and have every part of their bodies weighed and
measured with all sorts of arcane and highly
invasive instruments. They are then smeared with
a thick mixture of ash, clay, and the thaumaturge’s
blood to inscribe specific incision markings and
preservation methods for each segment. During
the testing period the specimens are fed tiny doses
of the thaumaturge’s specially-treated blood,
linking the two as ‘sire’ and ‘childe’. After at least a
month of this testing, measuring, and preparation
(though often much longer), the assistants will
begin severing each designated portion of the
specimen’s bodies and carve them off, separating
them into useful and unneeded.
The specimens are not allowed the gift of
torpor at any point during these trials, as to disrupt
the emotional humours within them in this way
may result in a stillborn or non-viable Gargoyle.
When the Kindred’s bodies are reduced to their
constituent parts, they are each preserved in some
particular way, be that encrusted by salt and quartz
powders, immersed in a smog of alchemical smoke,
or bathed in balms of honey and oil. After a long
period of treatment, the duration and nature of
which is determined by the thaumaturge’s own
previous examination, the pieces are ready to be
reconstituted.
Once the months of preservation have passed,
the pieces are realigned and bound with rough
twine to loosely resemble a humanoid shape, then
placed inside a gestation cask or sac. If a cask is
used, the lid will be sealed by copious amounts of
wax with a small pipe to feed ingredients through
over the gestation period. If a sac is used a cow’s
hide is stretched to cover the specimen and sewn
up, forming a foetal ‘package’, which is promptly
placed inside the abdominal cavity of a ‘womb-
bearer’. The womb-bearer screams and begs
for death, but in truth she is proud to bare the
Gargoyle child to term. Once this agonising ordeal
25
is over, the Gargoyle will claw through the wax of
the chamber or the wall of the birth canal.
Misbegotten
Not all Gargoyles are made equal. Those
relatively young creatures created by thieves of
Virstania’s work live in the shadows of not only
Kindred society, but the society of Gargoyles
themselves. These ‘Misbegotten’ vary across the
world depending on the Clans or bloodlines
used to create them. Followers of Set are buried
in gestation sarcophagi to form living idols called
Gorgons, Mariner Gargoyles are cast in the wombs
of whales to mutate in the isolated void of the
deep ocean, Samedi are vivisected and heaved
into a flooded sinkhole to become Calacas, and
in recent times even some Kindred of Africa
have been forced to undergo the punishment
of petrification. On the rare occasion that a
Misbegotten reaches a free Grotesquerie, it is
unusual for them to be rejected (though they are
unlikely to be truly loved).
Gargoyles by Status
Surprising to most Kindred is the fact that
status means as much to Gargoyles as it does
to Ventrue, Toreador, or Brujah. After all, the
bloodline as a whole went from being nothing in
the eyes of vampiric society to having a distinct
identity, leading many to wish to develop their
independence further. Within a Grotesquerie,
a loose but complex social order is maintained,
based around ideals of mutual freedom and
individual rights. Most are directed by four
distinguished individuals: the Rock Lord (or
Lady), and the three ‘Moulds’ (named so since
they are supposed to serve as paragons of each
Casting, though they may be cast or Embraced).
A Grotesquerie elects these representatives as a
community, with every member having a vote and
an equal say.
The Enslaved
Little is left to be said about enslaved Gargoyles
that isn’t common knowledge. Within this
category consist two mindsets that most Gargoyles
wish never to fall into; the currently subservient
26 Chapter Two: Freedom and Dependence
Rockheads and those who actively chose to stay by
their masters’ side after the Revolt. The currently
enslaved Gargoyles know nothing of freedom and
more than likely know nothing of the Revolt or
our salvation. The discovery and liberation of
these individuals is what many Gargoyles strive
for nightly. Those who are granted freedom by
Chaundice only to turn their back on his ways and
return to their masters are not considered true
Gargoyles, but merely obstacles to remove on the
path to freedom.
The Free
During the 20-year Revolt, Virstania traveled
to chantries across Europe, freeing her children
and returning them to her Carpathian Eyrie to
be free with their siblings. During this time many
Gargoyles sought their own form of independence
by breaking off from the Flock and created their
own Grotesqueries.
As a rule, free Gargoyles are confident and
caring for one another, always looking out for
their own and seeking more ways to liberate
the downtrodden. They have made numerous
allegiances with anarchs in the New World and
erect community Havens wherever they settle for
themselves and any kindred seeking salvation.
Increasing numbers of free Gargoyles walk the
Path of Freedom (see page 45). Some settle with
Humanity or take up the Paths of the Feral Heart
or Honourable Accord.
Gargoyles by Sect
On the whole Gargoyles don’t care much
about Kindred society in the way that Ventrue,
Brujah, Toreador or Tremere do. They will pay
their local Kindred authorities any due respect
as is customary, but more often than not keep to
a solitary Eyrie. Within the bloodline, however,
there are two minor ‘Sects’ - one very old, one
virtually new - which lead to schisms in an
otherwise strong family. These schisms have
arisen due to the dispute over the bloodline’s
true progenitor and leader. Virstania, the Great
Mother, has traditionally been seen as the creator
and rightful mistress of those that fled during her
Revolt. Chaundice, on the other hand, is now
seen by many independent Gargoyles as their true
sire, akin to an Antediluvian in some regards. His
unexpected discovery in the Gulf of California
sent a wave of renewal and self-realization through
the Grotesque world, with many Grotesqueries
instinctively heading to the Grand Canyon to meet
the Rock Lord in his new Rock Court.
The Great Mother’s Flock
The Gargoyles who still live with Virstania,
collectively known as the Great Mother’s Flock,
are outnumbered now by those Constructs who
see domination by their Mother as being the
same as any other kind. Nonetheless, a number
of autarkis Eyries still follow the rule of the Great
Mother. Their main goals are to indoctrinate (or
‘enlighten’) Gargoyles to Virstania’s love and breed
their race to its fullest potential. They abduct
(‘rescue’) young Gargoyles and pass them along
secret networks of Eyries stretching back all the way
to Virstania’s own in the caves near old Ceoris.
To the Flock, the Camarilla, Sabbat, anarchs,
and various other vampiric communities are
meaningless roadblocks to their aims of elevating
their Mother and themselves to new heights of
power. Many branches of the Flock will create
Gargoyles by themselves to bolster their numbers
and share the Mother’s boundless love with ever
more children.
The Great Mother’s Flock is the main enemy
of Gargoyles committed to their own freedom,
a dangerous and shadowy force that seeks to
undermine their hard-earned independence. It is
a struggle made yet more difficult by the fact that
many Gargoyles, despite what they may know of
Virstania and her slaves, feel an instinctive and
childlike admiration for her; it is this that most
often causes them to fall into the Flock’s clutches,
no unwilling capture being necessary.
Chaundice’s Children
Kindred could be excused for seeing no
difference between Chaundice’s Children (or
‘Chaundicians’) and unaffiliated Gargoyle anarchs.
In truth, the majority of free Gargoyles are not
strongly opposed to rule by age, as they see that
personal wisdom and strength come from age
Clanbook: Gargoyles
- qualities they value highly in their leaders as
figures to be looked up to and emulated. They also
don’t believe in dissolving power structures as long
as those structures aren’t built around imposed
(and thus illegitimate) authority. All this said, more
of Chaundice’s Children (an organisation that
crosses Sects and sees much ideological diversity)
are found among the Anarch Movement than in
either of the major Sects, as the objectives of the
two groups often align.
Gargoyles who fall into this ‘Sect’ keep free
Grotesqueries with a devotion to releasing any
subjugated Kindred (primarily other Gargoyles)
and following the example of their progenitor and
messiah Chaundice, the first and greatest Rock
Lord. Very few of Chaundice’s Children follow
paths other than that of the Path of Freedom;
they believe that they can become as powerful and
perfect as Chaundice himself if they follow his
Path.
The Watchers
The place on the Red List of the ancient
Gargoyle known as Ferox is possibly the biggest
obstacle holding Gargoyles back from earning
legitimate respect in the Camarilla. A mass
murderer of Kindred and especially Nosferatu, he
is convinced that Gargoyles are embodied angels,
and that all other vampires are demons incarnate.
The Gargoyle cult which has formed around
him, which go by the name Grigori (meaning
‘Watchers’), prosecute a bloody crusade against the
Kindred world, and are a particular threat to Clan
Nosferatu. Many of them have True Faith - Ferox’s
own is reputed to exceed that of many of the most
pious inquisitors - and they often point the Society
of Leopold in the direction of other vampires.
When it comes to their fellow Gargoyles,
meanwhile, the Watchers actively attempt to
convert and recruit, which they have only become
more successful at. The powerful message of
the Watchers carries much that appeals to the
Gargoyle mindset: an elevation from the bottom
wrung to the highest level of creation, a place to
belong and a cause to follow, and the possibility of
transcendence.
27
 Free Forms Radio
‘Ride the Airways to Freedom!’
In 2013, Chaundice approved of a more modern method of contacting young Gargoyles stranded
across the world. Broadcast from high up within the Canyon, Free Forms Radio appears to the
unsuspecting ears of kine and most Kindred to be simply a poor-quality pirate radio station with no
clear purpose. To frightened and isolated Gargoyles, however, its presenters quite blatantly litter their
broadcast with hidden references to the Gargoyle condition, the potential for freedom, Chaundice, and
the Grand Rock Court itself.
Free Forms Radio is hosted by two charismatic Gargoyle presenters, Sean and Samantha, aided by
their various Nosferatu and ghoul technicians. Commonly-played tracks during music segments, hosted
by Samantha, include: ‘Come Fly With Me’, ‘I Believe I Can Fly’, ‘Free Bird’, ‘Made of Stone’, ‘Heart of
Stone’, ‘Steppin’ Stone’, ‘Poor Slave’, ‘You Don’t Own Me’, and ‘Happiness in Slavery’.
Sean also makes as many off the cuff comments as possible, usually about ‘letting go of ancient
constructs in society’, ‘the downtrodden having to spread their wings’, and ‘how free the Grand Canyon
makes you feel’. All the while referring to their viewers almost exclusively as ‘You Rock Heads out there’.

The Watchers are ruled by a council of seven
fanatical Gargoyles with Ferox as its head. These
are mostly very old Gargoyles, many veterans of
the Revolt. Ferox’s own sire, Rocia, stands at his
side, having converted to his religious worldview
shortly after Embracing him. That Ferox has been
a vampire for less time than most of his council
is no obstacle for the Watchers, since they follow
him out of worship and religious devotion. They
identify themselves as the seven angels who will
break the seals in the final nights and bring on
Gehenna.
Anarchs
In contradiction to the autarkis way, the
Anarch Movement attracts a great many gargoyles
to it, for obvious reasons. Many Gargoyles freed
from chantries across Europe heard of the Anarch
Revolt occurring at the same time as their own
rebellion, and not only approved but joined in.
These Gargoyles blended their own campaign
with that of the anarchs quite naturally, though
few remained to join the nascent Sabbat once the
Revolt concluded.
Come the Second Anarch Revolt came about
at the tail-end of WWII, a number of Gargoyles
did more than their fair share of fighting, and
became major contenders in Jeremy MacNeil’s
new Free State. Though the brief glory of that time
is now long past, no small number of Gargoyles
(most of them now ancillae) look back fondly on
the short-lived revolution in California.
Whether they care about anarch beliefs or
simply want to fight and rock power structures
across the world is down to each individual, but no
group of anarchs would be blind enough to turn
down the help of a capable and deadly Grotesque.
Since Chaundice’s discovery became widely
known, the focus of Gargoyle anarchs has shifted
dramatically towards furthering the cause of
Chaundice’s Children, due to which the number
of Gargoyles in the Movement has increased
several times over in just fifteen years.
Autarkis
Independent Gargoyles not associated with
the Sects or the three major Gargoyle factions are
very rare, and include the highest proportion of
wight-turned Grotesques. Many of these lonely
Constructs simply let themselves fall into a bestial

28 Chapter Two: Freedom and Dependence

mindset, surrounding themselves with animals for
company and sustenance.
Camarilla
After the signing of the Montmartre Pact and
Convention of Thorns, Gargoyles have (officially,
at least) been openly accepted by the Camarilla,
though they have received little else from the
Ivory Tower. They do not gain the Primogen
representation many feel they deserve, and are
rarely granted the wide-ranging domains these
creatures need in order to truly stretch their wings.
Aside from this second-class status and (at best)
cold relations with Clan Tremere, unlife inside the
Camarilla can be relatively kind to more desperate
Gargoyles, with limited risk presented to their own
safety. Camarilla Gargoyles generally exist in a state
of comfort, though not much esteem.
One of the most popular positions for
a Gargoyle active in the society a Camarilla
domain aside from Scourge is that of a political
activist, with the aim to achieve more extensive
Gargoyle rights. Some take this activism further by
petitioning their Prince for a Primogen member to
represent the rights of all bloodline members. So
far only a small handful of Princes have deigned
Gargoyle Archons & Alastors
With a potential combination of
Disciplines including Auspex, Visceratika, Flight,
and Protean, Gargoyles are some of the undead
world’s greatest trackers and hunters, making them
useful Archons (or at least assistants to Archons)
- not to mention expendable Alastors (see Dread
Names, Red List).
Though it is kept a close secret (mostly due to
Tremere influence and the apathy towards on the
matter on the part of other Clans), several elder
Gargoyles are kept on permanent retainer for
Blood Hunts and Anathema sightings.
Clanbook: Gargoyles
to even formally consider such requests, and fewer
still have acted on them.
Sabbat
Very few Gargoyles willingly align themselves
with the Sabbat as they will more often than
not be dominated by a member of the Tremere
antitribu, who couldn’t give a shit for any pact
made centuries ago by self-important elders.
At best, they can expect to receive abuse and
mistreatment by ignorant shovelheads and Cainite
purists alike - at least until they respond with
violence, as often happens.
Some, however, actively seek out the Sabbat
as a means to regain their dominators. A life
of domination, no matter how inhumane, is
preferable in the eyes of any Gargoyle over eternal
isolation - a sentiment which Sabbat elders are all
too ready to take advantage of.
Black Hand
Gargoyles, like most bloodlines, are not
acknowledged by the Black Hand despite their
obvious combat and reconnaissance applications.
This has caused a lot of resentment among Sabbat
Constructs, many of whom would like nothing
more than to prove themselves to the Sword of
Caine by joining its elite assassins.
Inquisition
Those Gargoyles that do try to make it in
the Sabbat can do so with great success. Being a
bloodline suited to dedication and the endurance
of hardship, they adapt better than most to the
focus of a military mindset, and can stand up to
the worst inhuman foe. A former Ceoris Gargoyle
is likely to seek membership in the Inquisition
(which unlike the Black Hand has no qualms
about admitting so-called ‘impure’ Cainites) due to
its mandate to stamp out infernalism.
When Etrius opened a gate to Hell in the
dungeons of Ceoris to harness its infernal powers,
swathes of Gargoyles were sent to hold off the
demons that poured forth while Etrius magically
sealed the area. Those few that survived returned
traumatized, inspired with a devotion to keeping
Hell sealed which they have passed down to their
29
childer. A tiny handful of Gargoyles aligned to
the fanatically anti-infernal Ferox are found in the
Inquisition, but they are very closely monitored
by Nosferatu antitribu, and find their genocidal
intentions curbed at every turn.
Eyries and Grotesqueries
Home and hearth are central ideas to the
majority of Gargoyles. They need somewhere to
belong, valuing highly the strength of a family
and the structure of a domain to call their own.
A Gargoyle will naturally seek out a group unless
he has been traumatised by past experiences to
the point where a life in solitude seems the safest.
Most Gargoyles will choose to set up roost in an
abandoned building or cave system, as they are
the safest locations made mostly of stone. This
new home becomes their Eyrie and the family of
Gargoyles living within forms their Grotesquerie.
This leadership structure flows from Virstania
and her three apprentices and still survives to this
night. Despite the general lack of cast Gargoyles
in free Grotesqueries, individuals will still be
identified as possessing qualities worthy of each
Mould. Free Grotesqueries have retained these
titles as a mockery of the old ways, by placing a
casteless Gargoyle within one of these positions
they defy the archaic social constructs of cast
Gargoyles being bound to their station.
In the modern nights, the phrase ‘breaking the
Mould’ refers to a younger Gargoyle challenging
the Mould they serve under. More often than not
the Mould will serve their Grotesqueries almost
permanently. Occasionally an up-and-coming
soldier will beat a faltering Warrior Mould in
single combat, or a shaman will devise a ritual
so groundbreaking that the Grotesquerie will
acknowledge that they have exceeded the Scout
Mould’s expertise and place him in the position
instead.
Grotesqueries maintain customs and rituals
designed to keep them as close as possible. At Our
Command It Breathes is still culturally prominent,
though only privately practised in many Eyries
using the bodies of Gangrel, Nosferatu, and
Tzimisce who have breached the Traditions,
30 Chapter Two: Freedom and Dependence
the Code of Milan, or other appropriate body
of vampiric law (depending on which Sect the
Grotesquerie belongs to). Gargoyles are noted
for frequently petitioning for custody of such
criminals, especially diablerists (since their usually
lowered Generation can produce more powerful
Gargoyles). Common activities in a Grotesquerie
include cave painting, carving, group combat
(both practice and play fighting), and patrols, all of
which serve to promote group cohesion. Among
Sabbat Grotesqueries, the ritae are naturally co-
opted for this purpose; Grotesquerie-packs often
have especially idiosyncratic Ignobilis Ritae.
The Rock Lord or Lady
The leader of a Grotesquerie is called the Rock
Lord (an honorific dating back to the first nights
of the bloodline; tonight, Rock Lady is also used).
The Rock Lord serves as the overall decision maker
for the Grotesquerie, presides over regularly-held
‘Rock Courts’ (where members of a Grotesquerie
can bring forward grievances to be resolved and
important matters to discuss), gives audience to
outside visitors, and is the first in line to defend
his Eyrie. It is emphasised at all times that the
Rock Lord serves the Grotesquerie, and not the
other way around. For instance, he is usually
obligated to feed last, after all others in his charge
are sated (unless he is hungry to the point of
risking frenzy, of course).
A typical Rock Lord will possess great strength
and cunning, and will usually have the greatest
control over Visceratika and Flight within the
Grotesquerie as well. Naturally, a corrupt few use
this to dominate and abuse those under their
charge, but as a whole Gargoyles on the Path of
Freedom are quick to depose unworthy leadership.
The Scout Mould
Any Construct who demonstrates sufficient
skill in stealth, deception, and espionage can
become the Scout Mould of their Grotesquerie.
As the masters of magic and intrigue, these leaders
often take on the role of ‘shaman’ by learning
Thaumaturgy over common disciplines. To a
Scout, the secrets of Kindred politics and of blood
sorcery are equivalent, so their Mould must know
everything there is to know about everything. A successful Sentinel Mould possesses strong
The typical Scout Mould will be highly Social Attributes as they keep the peace between
intelligent and familiar with a vast multitude the violent Warriors and egotistic Scouts, not to
of Thaumaturgy paths, as well as those rituals mention indomitable stamina for when that peace
conducted purely by the Gargoyle bloodline. Her falls down. Their ratings in Athletics, Alertness,
Subterfuge, Stealth, Occult, Politics and Academics and Brawl are matched only by their Performance,
ratings will be not only above those of they who Animal and Gargoyle Ken (see page 91), and
share her Eyrie, but will surpass those of most Empathy. Sentinel Moulds will often have strong
other Kindred in a given domain. levels of Visceratika as a matter of course, as well as
(unusually for Gargoyle-kind) notably high levels of
Shamans Presence. The combination Discipline Ambience is
During their confinement within Ceoris, a powerful tool in the Sentinel Mould’s arsenal for
Virstania kept her own select group of Gargoyle maintaining internal harmony and security.
apprentices. She trained these Gargoyles in the Gargoyle Animals
arts of Thaumaturgy (even rituals of her own
devising) as if they were acolytes of her own Once a Grotesquerie has ghouled a specific
Clan. In the modern nights, some free Gargoyles animal for long enough and wish to bring it more
continue to uphold this tradition, serving as fully into their family, they will undertake a ritual
shamans of a Grotesquerie. These shamans are Embrace. They are fed a mixture of components
strange in appearance and eerie to be around, for a week in place of Gargoyle vitae and then
having extensively warped their bodies and minds drained of their blood, after which the Embrace
with blood magic. They care for the Eyrie in their is performed as it would be on a human. The
own twisted way, often performing rituals and resulting half-living, half-dead animal is considered
experiments in seclusion. a Gargoyle creature and takes its place alongside its
Kindred family for eternity.
Spies
Gargoyle Monstrosities
Not all Gargoyles who /choose to swear
themselves to the service of the Scout Mould Mindless Gargoyles created from a mixture
wish to follow an unlife of isolated magical study of human and animal ‘parents’ can still be
and experimentation, rather seeing infiltration made tonight by those few Eyries equipped (and
and investigation as the tasks they are best suited willing) to do so. They will require a vast array
towards. They might keep tabs on the local of ingredients and equipment, not to mention
Camarilla or Sabbat (or both) groups for the a Gargoyle endowed with a womb for gestation.
sake of the Grotesquerie’s security, audaciously Non-Kindred beings are put through Gestation
steal arcane knowledge from nearby Tremere (or similar procedures) become childlike and
chantries or even assassinate the enemies of their horrendously mutated, but are kept by a loving
Grotesquerie or its allies. Sentinel all the same.

The Sentinel Mould Ghouls

The overall defender of a Grotesquerie on
both the individual and structural level, the
Sentinel Mould is responsible for the welfare of
all Gargoyles under their protection. No Sentinel
Mould will ever leave the Eyrie for any significant
period of time, avoiding large-scale conflict or
political engagement in lieu of tending their Eyrie
and their ‘children’.
Ghouls are a much-loved feature of any
Grotesquerie. Often ‘adopted’ at incredibly young
ages (as young as six in some instances) they bring
fresh life into a dusty Eyrie. Ghouls are usually
raised as a Sentinel’s own biological children and
taught all manner of Kindred lore, including
the Gargoyles’ fragmented history and the use of
Disciplines. Since Gargoyle ghouls are denied the

Clanbook: Gargoyles 31
immortality of regular ghouls due to the mutations
they
manifest as the decades and centuries pass, if a
Grotesquerie chooses to ‘adopt’ a child into their
Eyrie it will almost certainly receive the Embrace at
some point later in its life.
Guards
The final jurisdiction of a Sentinel Mould
are the guards, whether they be Sentinel-cast
Gargoyles or simply sired ones with a firm grasp
of and commitment to maintaining the security
and welfare of the Grotesquerie. Only Gargoyles
with compassion and rigid willpower will become
guards, some focusing on the fortification of
their Eyrie against invading foes and some on the
rearing of infants.
The Warrior Mould
A Warrior Mould is the greatest combatant
within the Grotesquerie, a master of the battles
both outside the Eyrie and within his own heart.
He keeps the Grotesquerie in a state of permanent
war-preparedness, by drilling fledglings in useful
Disciplines, ensuring that hunts take place
regularly, and providing moral guidance, typically
on the Path of Freedom, so that Gargoyles do not
fall prey to their Beasts and compromise security.
The Warrior Mould takes on a role of drill
sergeant to keep his soldiers prepared in mind,
body, and soul, and will be the first to kill or be
killed in the Eyrie’s defence.
Warrior Moulds will undoubtedly excel in
Physical Attributes, with terrifying Strength and
Dexterity (more often than not complemented by
Celerity and Potence). They bolster their naturally-
high Brawl with Athletics and Intimidation.
A Warrior Mould’s pride is exposed when
teaching his soldiers aerial combat, a tactic
mastered only by the Gargoyle bloodline. Many
elder Tzimisce claim that the Chiropteran
Marauder (see V20, pp. 242-243) is as effective
in aerial combat as any Gargoyle can be, but this
claim is immediately disproven when a fleet of
Gargoyle Warriors devastate and scatter advancing
forces in a single coordinated swoop.
32 Chapter Two: Freedom and Dependence
Soldiers
Gargoyles find martial prowess to be almost
second nature to them. With their Fortitude,
Flight, and Potence, they become a true force to
be reckoned with. Many Constructs will choose
to channel their rage and raw power into useful
channels, hunting for food for their Grotesquerie
and killing off any encroaching Kindred, kine, or
even Lupine threats.
Teachers
Gargoyles with a more introspective outlook
on their conditions will focus their military
training and discipline on caging their Beast
and keeping a clear idea of goals and ambitions
for themselves and their Grotesquerie mates to
follow. These teachers direct their efforts towards
educating their kin in Discipline use and guiding
them along their Paths on a nightly basis.
Noted Grotesqueries
Mimesis has been likened to a tribal outlook
by knowledgeable non-Gargoyles, and they are
actually not far from the truth. Most Gargoyle
Grotesqueries will think of themselves a family,
and claim an almost tribal connection with their
fellow Grotesquerie members. Often if there are
more than one Grotesque living in easy flying
distance (rarely are Grotesqueries found any closer
together), they will have frequent meetings and
‘trade deals’, some even swapping members in a
mock marriage ceremony to gain the strength of a
union between Grotesqueries. The vast majority
of other Kindred, caring little for the affairs of
Gargoyles, would be taken aback to discover the
secret networks of inter-Grotesquerie politics
playing out quite literally above their heads.
The Cologne Grotesquerie
This family prides itself on their ‘true Gargoyle’
appearance, which they claim to be identical to
that of Chaundice himself. They consciously adapt
themselves to what humans will think of when
picturing a Gargoyle: horned and winged, with
monstrous (but not utterly horrific) visages and red
brick skin. They all have long, slender digits and
colossal bat wings. Whenever they meet with other
local Gargoyle Grotesqueries they attempt to lord
their ‘Chaundician physique’ for all to see.
The Bakers Hotel Grotesquerie
Being the largest abandoned building in
the U.S., Bakers Hotel in Mineral Wells, Texas
has become a popular nest for Gargoyles. The
‘Bakers’ possess art deco features such as smooth,
brightly-polished skin, exaggerated curves
accentuating their generally rounded physiques,
and sharp angles at their joints. Members of this
Grotesquerie love joking with mortals who visit
the hotel (whether youths looking for a place to
hang out or sightseers on ghost walks), playing
tricks and hauntings on them. They have even
been known to adopt very young kine and rear
them in long-forgotten attic rooms.
The Birmingham Grotesquerie
Seemingly modern marvels of Mimetic
construction, the Gargoyles living in the mostly
abandoned iron works of Birmingham, England
have a vast array of architectural periods rendered
upon their flesh. Their faces are ugly, bestial
caricatures (stemming from the multiple ornate
chapels of the city), their limbs are long and
angular with signs of erosion, and their wings are
coated in smooth and angular scales of varying
stone composites.
The Derrycunnihy Grotesquerie
A large family of free Gargoyles make their
Eyrie in the abandoned Derrycunnihy Church
located in County Kerry, Ireland. They keep a
peaceful existence, preying solely on local herds
for sustenance and forgoing human blood on
religious principle. The family have dried, cracked
textures to their splinter-riddled skin out of
which occasionally pokes exposed bone. Most of
them have squat bodies and long, gnarled fangs
resembling rusted wrought iron.
Notable Eyries
Many Grotesqueries are formed throughout
the world by free Gargoyles that are dedicated to
only allowing members the Gargoyle ‘Clan’ to
reside within their Eyrie. These Eyries, the true
Clanbook: Gargoyles
strongholds of the bloodline, are found the world
over, but most are quite limited in influence
simply due to the small number of Gargoyles living
within them. Some, however, manage to make a
significant footing in the vampiric world to the
point where they are acknowledged by most Sects,
even if only as worthwhile targets. Outlined below
are several Eyries of interest.
Ceoris
Deep within the foreboding woodlands on the
Carpathian slopes rest the barest trace of forgotten
stone ruins, hidden by the shade of a bloated oak
tree and yet undiscovered by mortals. Beneath
these ruins weave an extensive system of catacombs
- some a few decades old, some centuries more
ancient. This network is home to Virstania’s ‘free’
brood, the Flock, and their unending spawn,
inset with innumerable scientific laboratories
and libraries housing untold tomes, and at its
heart a vast mausoleum housing Virstania herself,
whiling away her torpor within a stone casket.
This monument to Gargoyle kind has become
like a factory, churning out malformed, cretinous
versions of Virstania’s original creations, a process
overseen by her paragons - Luma, Fidus, and
Saxum.
Saxum, by tradition titled Master of Slaves,
enforces the rule that no one but the three of them
are allowed into Virstania’s personal bedchamber,
and that no non-Gargoyle is to walk within a mile
of their fortress. He keeps a tight regime of patrol
and guard duties over all the Flock’s Sentinels.
Luma and her Warriors bring raw materials to
the chantry for Fidus to process in his alchemical
experiments. Whether they be a foxglove root or
a methuselah Gangrel, they venture out into the
world under her leadership to harvest anything
deemed worthy of use. In complete disregard
of any Masquerade, she also orders them to
dominate local populations of rural kine, who
serve as Embracing stock for their enslaved
Gangrel, Nosferatu and Tzimisce ‘breeders’. Her
influence also stretches across and beyond the
Western world, as the Flock hunt free Gargoyles to
rehabilitate into the Ceoris Grotesquerie.
33
 Fidus has spent the centuries since the
Revolt working tirelessly at mastering each and
every element of blood magic he and his Mother
have access to, and puts them into practice by
furthering his Mother’s own programme of
creation and refinement. A new Gargoyle is cast
per week, with the ritual slightly adjusted each
time by his own clawed hand. He and his many
Scout-cast Gargoyles keep watch of the gestation
chambers and continue to refine the creation
process, bit by tiny bit.
No area of the Eyrie is well lit or cleaned, with
ash and vitae at all times staining the ground. In
truth, the Gargoyles found here are as submissive
as they were before the chantry fell, the only
difference being that rather than follow Clan
Tremere as a whole they are bound to one mistress.
Any newborn Gargoyle which survives its first few
nights of starvation and brutally violent treatment
will either flee realising the true horror of the
Gargoyle ‘factory’ (after which they will likely be
caught out during the day), or fall into the mindset
of a submissive drone for the rest of eternity - or
until something is done to liberate the Gargoyles
of Ceoris. This night is surely a long way off yet.
The Hidden Heart
Before Virstania fell into torpor for the latest
time, she had decided to branch out deeper into
the Carpathian mountains, hunting for a bigger
and better catacomb system, where she wished to
establish new laboratories away from Ceoris. She
sent out a small gathering of Warriors and sired
Gargoyles to survey the surrounding area from
above, looking for natural caves to exploit.Several
nights into their explorations, they discovered a
strange grove, surrounded on all sides by tall rocky
crags, making the area inaccessible except from the
air. Unusual plants grew here, most numerously a
blood-red flower. Chief amongst this flora was the
vastly overgrown tree at the grove’s centre. Curious
- and driven on by instincts not their own - the
pack settled within this glen, some melding within
the stone walls of the crags and some burrowing
(via Protean) beneath the central tree.
After a night of troubled rest which restored
none of their vitality, the pack awoke to see half of
34 Chapter Two: Freedom and Dependence
their number missing and what they saw to be the
figure of Virstania herself standing before them,
beside the tree. Every remaining Gargoyle flocked
to her, their packmates quite forgotten, and each
one was given a gift she seemed eager to bestow - a
taste of her own vitae. Upon drinking. their flesh
suddenly became soft, as it was in their first life,
but soon began to fall away like wet mud. Maggots
and flies perforated their earthen flesh as they felt
their souls drain into the roots below. Before long,
they were all part of the dark power of which the
glen was only one small tendril.
These monstrosities exist to this day, ritually
Embracing animals and mutating them into
horrific clay mounds, which they then graft
onto themselves, growing only larger and more
deadly with each addition. This protean army
continuously throw themselves at Virstania’s
stronghold, providing more than ample cause for
Fidus to rapidly churn out new, scarcely-conscious
Gargoyles simply to die in the line of battle. No
matter what measures the Flock takes, it can’t seem
to find the root of this spawning site.
The Eternally Petrified Sanctum
(Tianmushan, China)
One of the few branches of Kindred living in
Asia are the noble Gargoyle children of Ch’iung
Chi, called the Ominous One. Ch’iung, who has
assumed his name and title from the gargoyle
of Chinese myth, is the Rock Lord of an Eyrie
nestled deep within the side of Tianmushan
(‘Heavenly Eye Mountain’). He is a master of many
Disciplines and, it is rumoured, a novice of the
mysterious powers of eastern vampires. Ch’iung
has managed to maintain a Grotesquerie in
absolute isolation and under the very noses of the
local ‘hungry dead’. The children of Ch’iung have
learned to manipulate the earth in a more subtle
way than their western brethren, causing the very
earth itself to regard them as welcome guests of its
catacombs, and their enemies as intruders within
them.
The Eternally Petrified Sanctum is linked
to nearby monastery of mystically-skilled monks
devoted to Ch’iung, but not ghouled to him or
his children. They respect the earth and bring
regular animal and blood offerings to the gates of
the Eyrie, occasionally catching glimpses of the
guardians within. Ch’iung is one of Chaundice’s
childer and still remembers their noble Revolt so
long past. He encourages his charges to connect
with Chaundice’s Children and walk the Path of
Freedom, and to take regular spiritual journeys
deep within the ‘Endless Chasm’ they call home;
not all return, something which doesn’t seem to
bother the Ominous One.
Within the Endless Chasm live a pride of
guardian lions (see page 93), Ch’iung, and his
peculiar Grotesquerie, who naturally take on
specific forms dependent on their gender as a side
effect of their Mimesis, due to the magical nature
of the mountain. When Ch’iung Chi embraces
females, they become shisa (‘dragons’) and when he
embraces males they become komainu (‘dogs’).
The Grand Rock Court
(The Grand Canyon, Arizona)
Chaundice, the ‘True Rock Lord’, lives to this
day, and unlike most Clan founders he takes a
personal approach to his cause, making his voice
heard by each and every Kindred who will listen
- and many who would rather not. He lives in a
Rock Court dug deeply within the Grand Canyon,
a magnificent subterranean cathedral made from
dozens of types of stone to create a truly impressive
structure.
Inside this temple can be found examples
of every type of Gargoyle in existence tonight,
living free. As well as a few ambassadors of other
Clans brought in by Chaundice to reach out
to the Kindred race, namely Nosferatu, Ravnos
and Toreador. Whole tribes of ghouled humans
live within the mile deep canyon breeding flocks
of ritualy Embraced mountain sheep, entirely
disconnected from mortal society. This ghouled
community live in close cohabitation with the
Kindred around them.
The Court has endless chambers used for
meetings, libraries, training rooms, various living
quarters, a radio booth, and great reception
hall. The entire installation is an architectural
Clanbook: Gargoyles
masterpiece designed by Chaundice with the
help of a consortium of Toreador artists. A small
contingent of other supernatural species also live
within the Court, including spirits, human mages
and even the occasional sympathetic Lupine. The
location is a monument to free will and a bastion
dedicated to its protection.
The Catacombs of Sorrow
(Quito, Ecuador)
The Metropolitan of Quito was built in
the mid-1500s and has since undergone many
additions, renovations and re imaginings. The site
itself was built atop a vast gorge which hindered
many pieces of work throughout the years, but
when an earthquake hit in 1797 an artist known
as Caspicara was roped in to renovate the art
installments throughout the roofing and choir
pits. Caspicara performed his task well, but could
not bring himself to leave the cathedral because of
it’s monumental beauty. In his later years he spent
many nights in the catacombs of ‘la Catedral’,
marveling at the carvings of angels, saints, and
heroes and adding to their number with his own
hand.
His Embrace came just before the turn of
the 19th century, when his mind had completely
detached itself from ordinary life in favour of the
beautiful stillness and solemnity of the growing
population of dead in the underground necropolis
of mausoleums. A wandering Calaca (a Samedi-
turned-Gargoyle; see Chapter 4) calling himself
Stonebones had chosen the location to create
more of his kind, due to the ample ‘raw materials’
left over from the genocide of the local Inca people
centuries earlier. As a final attempt to repel the
Spanish forces they destroyed their entire city and
committed mass suicide in underground rivers
running through the gorge, now integrated into
the catacombs.
He set up his new domain in these catacombs,
entered by a door behind the altar of Nuestra
Señora de los Dolores (‘Our Lady of Sorrows’),
through which only Kindred or ghouls could
physically pass due to magical wardings laid upon
it. One of Stonebones’ Samedi followers Embraced
35
Caspicara to then be immediately gestated in the
old Inca cenotes stagnating below, to become one of
the dead he so loved.
The two of them transformed the catacombs
into a magnificent display of death’s beauty, with
sculpture and furnishings the like a prince would
envy. At the end of the Ecuadorian-Peruvian War
in 1942, they opened their doors of the Catacomb
of Sorrows to any and all Kindred looking for
revelation in death. Many more Calacas had been
created over this time to make their work easier
and to prepare for the moment they received their
guests. The site to this day is still functioning as
intended, a place for Kindred of more morbid
temperaments, particularly Central and South
American Giovanni, to associate and indulge their
unusual interests.
Many venues proliferate the catacombs that
lie beyond the lady’s altar, offering blood infused
with an array of different substances resulting
in a cornucopia of pleasures and sensations,
music and dancing from a consortium of undead
carcophanists, and thaumaturgical fetishes able to
rekindle, for a time, the sensation of being mortal.
The parties never cease, and the only cost is to feed
the hosts. The Day of the Dead is celebrated every
night beneath la Catedral, and every Kindred is
welcome to attend. Simply place a bottle of blood
on the altar of sorrow to enter into the night of
your death.
Communal Eyries
Not all Gargoyles seek the sole company of
themselves in protest against their treatment by
other Kindred. Some seek to assimilate within
vampiric society and become truly equal in the eyes
of Kindred in the modern nights. Others simply
revert back to the shattered memories of their
former Clans, held since before the Revolt. In
either case, such Gargoyles seek communal havens
with members of their parent Clans, despite their
in-built instincts to attack them, so as to retain
the individual personality they remember having
before the blanket of servitude smothered them.
Gangrel
The Gangrel above all else value independence,
36 Chapter Two: Freedom and Dependence
and admire the common Gargoyle dedication to
cast off a past of oppression and seek personal
freedom. This, combined with the simple fact
that many of their Clan have been transformed
into Gargoyles in centuries past, creates a solemn
bond between these two groups. This connection
becomes clear when vampiric researchers and
wanderers happen upon wild mountainscapes
owned by a pack of Gangrel living alongside
Gargoyles, who have joined the Clan as honorary
members. The affinity with the earth Gargoyles
possess, and the distinct parallels between their
two signature Disciplines, leads to a much stronger
pack when this occurs.
Nosferatu
Nosferatu share in one another’s vitriol as
much as they do blood, being social rejects of the
lowest order. Deep revulsion directed towards
both Nosferatu and Gargoyles is a characteristic
shared by Princes and fledglings alike. In
grim solidarity, these two groups (along with
members of the Samedi) find safety together in
mausoleums, catacombs, and subway systems.
Paris’s underground is supposedly secretly ruled by
a contingency of Nosferatu and Gargoyles of both
old stock and new, all pulling strings in the city’s
sewers and catacombs.
Tzimisce
Tzimisce do not share or seek companionship
as Gargoyles naturally do, so any mingling between
these estranged relatives is more than likely a
shadow of the Gargoyles’ enslavement, for they
find ready masters among the Fiends, who are
bound by no paltry pact which determines who
they can and cannot take as servants There are
multiple reasons why a Tzimisce would want a
Gargoyle present in their haven:
Subjects: Because of the Gargoyles already
magical existence, the uniqueness of their
blending of flesh and stone, and their typically
great capacities for enduring punishment, many
Tzimisce find Gargoyles to be exciting ‘test
dummies’ for their more experimental procedures.
Security: A Tzimisce’s preferred home is deep
within a lofty castle, from which to lord over the
masses of kine and Kindred beneath them. In such
a setting, the count will need security - and who
better than a Gargoyle who can see every room
simultaneously, and travel swiftly between wings at
the drop of a hat?
Superiority: The final and maybe the strongest
reasoning would come down to sheer pettiness. A
Tzimisce of great enough age will surely remember
the nights of bloodshed and fury as the Omen
Wars raged between the Tremere and their own
kin. In the modern nights, it seems only natural
to these elder Fiends to keep the former slaves
of their ancestral enemies as servitors, while they
themselves are restrained from doing so.
Free Eyries
The free Eyrie isn’t acknowledged by many
vampires, for most truly don’t know with any
certainty that other supernatural species exist.
The term is used to refer to a home for Gargoyles
where supernatural beings other than vampires
are permitted to reside. No member of the Flock
would survive in a free heaven before falling
to the ravages of their Beast, due to the lack
of master-slave relationships, but Chaundician
Gargoyles thrive in these environments of liberty
and voluntary mutual assistance (the Grand Rock
Court itself is possibly the biggest example of
such an Eyrie). If anything, Gargoyles are better
off living with a wizard in his sanctum or a nature
spirit in her grotto, as these beings are outside
of the petty disputes which arise among Kindred
and so are often unbiased in their opinions of
constructs.
Mage Chantries
The mortal wizards of mankind hold a
fascination with magical phenomena such as the
Gargoyles are examples of. This is particularly true
of two magical schools.
Hermetic mages, from whom the Tremere
originated, find Gargoyles to be interesting
familiars to test spells upon and keep as guards
or immortal companions. They find particular
fascination in Gargoyle rituals and the suitability
for Gargoyle flesh to act as a conduit for spells
and rituals performed by others. That they can
Clanbook: Gargoyles
rub their ancient enemies’ faces in the loss of their
servitors by appropriating them is just an added
bonus.
The more scientifically minded
‘technomancers’ also admire Constructs, their
fascination revolving around Mimesis. A number
of these mages have granted asylum to free
Gargoyles, permitting them to haven within
their laboratories with the goal of studying their
transmutable bodies and other supernatural
qualities.
Earth Spirits
Disciplines such as Auspex and Spiritus have
shown kindred the multitude of spiritual beings
living beyond the veil of human perception.
Those most frequently encountered by Gargoyles
are, naturally, earth elementals and (more
rarely) the spirits of important buildings. These
incarnations of living stone have been known to
make themselves apparent to mountain-dwelling
Grotesqueries in order to make allies of them
and keep themselves protected. Yet stranger fae
entities hailing from the land of dreams sometimes
pass through to our side of reality and make their
homes inside stone and rock.
Disciplines like Mytheceria, Chimeristry, and
Dementation can draw these beings to the fore; it
is only because of the lack of availability of these
Disciplines to most Gargoyles that encounters
with these beings are so rare, for they rejoice in
one another’s company. Some of these mysterious
creatures are simultaneously more timid and more
sentient while in the real world, able to create
temporary, vaguely-humanoid bodies to better
interact with their Gargoyle companions.
Mimesis
As with other Kindred, Gargoyles have a
semi-mystical connection with their havens after
spending a substantial period of time therein (see
the forthcoming The Endless Death). However,
through the years of horrendous ritualistic
treatment, Gargoyles have had this bizarre effect
inverted upon themselves. Rather than an area
subtly changing to reflect their inner selves (as with
normal vampires), Gargoyles come to physically
37
resemble the aesthetics of their surroundings of 9).
through an effect they call Mimesis (if they call it
anything at all). After many years together in the
same location, each Gargoyle in a Grotesquerie
will look uncannily similar, though not identical.
This helps to distinguish which Grotesquerie
a Construct is from on the occasions when
Gargoyles gather in large groups, and more
importantly to further cement group identity and
loyalty.
Cave-dwelling Gargoyles develop smooth,
curved skin with a faint wet shimmer. Cracks
may develop across their backs and miniature
stalagmites may descend from their chins and
noses.
Those residing in manmade structures
(typically churches and other fine works of
architecture) will appear robust and hardened,
their skin becoming segmented to mimic
brickwork. Some have displayed wings with narrow
layers of slate snaking across their membranes.
Those who nest in churches are typically
well-proportioned and adorned with incongruous
ornamentation, including miniature spires
sprouting from their backs and even the faces
of grotesques leering out from their chests and
shoulders. By contrast, Gargoyles who make
Eyries in sewers are squat and especially ugly
in appearance, with mostly desiccated (though
functional) wings and a coating of translucent
soapstone for their flesh.
Moreover, Mimesis imparts a unity of mind
almost indescribable to those outside of its
influence. As with changes to appearance, this
happens gradually over time, beginning with a
vague sense of detachment when a member of the
Grotesquerie leaves the Eyrie but evolving after
about a century into sharing the strong emotions
of other Grotesquerie members. After around
200 years, they will even be able to talk for one
another and find it hard to perform harmful
actions against other members of their Grotesque,
irrespective of the action (requiring a Willpower
roll, beginning at difficulty 6 but increasing by
+1 for each century of Mimesis spent with the
Gargoyle in question beyond 200, to a maximum

38 Chapter Two: Freedom and Dependence

 Chapter Three:
Hearts of Stone
Sired Gargoyles
Within decades of their creation, a peculiarity
developed amongst the Gargoyles to replace those
that died on the battlefields of the Omen War:
the capacity for reproduction. This reproduction
was not as natural and organic as Virstania had
dreamed, but simply the Embrace which Kindred
know all too well. At first there was but a small
handful born with this mutation, though each
Embrace - combined with over three centuries
of refinement on Virstania’s part - tilted the
population until there were two roughly equally-
sized classes of Gargoyle living in the Eyrie: cast
and sired. To begin with, cast Gargoyles would
bully the Embraced ones, with their greater
numbers and connection to Virstania, but with
time the sired few became many and the Mother’s
favour switched to their more organic creation in
preference from the casting process. During the
Revolt, Embraced Gargoyles made up two thirds
of all constructs ripping and tearing their way
through the halls of Ceoris.
Sired Gargoyles simply revert to the original
design for Gargoyles whereby they suffer ‘only’
an inhuman appearance, total amnesia, and a
susceptibility to mind control, making them
much more functional successors to their cast
counterparts. Furthermore, as Virstania devised
and released the Discipline of Visceratika, it was
Clanbook: Gargoyles
found that only Embraced Gargoyles could grasp
its use with natural ease. This was the final nail in
the coffin of the Castings’ primacy, though cast
Gargoyles continue to exist in small numbers,
primarily among the Virstanians.
Character Creation
Gargoyles are a multifaceted bloodline whose
characteristics vary more than those of any other
Kindred lineage, not to mention those lesser
constructs of low intelligence or limited use not
listed here (since they are entirely inappropriate
for player characters). Generally a Gargoyle will
be both strong and stealthy, opting to stay clear of
the limelight out of fear of persecution. Within a
Grotesquerie the variation of personalities, duties,
and forms are seemingly endless, as it is rare that
a Grotesquerie will turn down any construct,
whether sired, cast, or Misbegotten.
Attributes
According to their original design, Gargoyles
were given stunted intellect, so as to reduce the risk
of rebellion. This has sadly continued through the
ages, becoming a fact of unlife for many. Gargoyles’
Attributes reflect this frailty, with their focus
being usually on Physical Attributes rather than
Social or Mental. Strength, Dexterity, Stamina and
Perception are often much more developed than
Charisma, Manipulation, Intelligence or Wits.
Owing to their weakness, Gargoyles always have an
39
Appearance of 0 which can never be raised. unless
the Abhorrence rule is used (see page 56).
Abilities
Gargoyles in slavery are rarely, if ever, trained
to perform complex or intricate tasks. Creation
and thought are not jobs given to slaves, but
manual labour, patrolling, and general violence
are expected. As such, Gargoyles naturally excel in
Animal Ken, Intimidation, Alertness, Athletics,
and Brawl. Stealth and Survival are common
among free Gargoyles, stemming from desperate
unlives spent in woodlands or subways.
Backgrounds
Whether free or enslaved, whether
Camarilla Hounds, Black Hand assassins or
infamous Autarkis, Gargoyles will have very few
Backgrounds. It is exceedingly hard for these
poor creatures to make Allies, retain Resources
or keep Retainers, simply due to their abhorent
appearance. Even Nosferatu have easier unlives
than most Gargoyles, since they might in a pinch
pass through cities as disfigured humans, or make
use of Obsfuscate, but the Gargoyles are entirely
alien. There are a few Backgrounds which free
Gargoyles hold dear, however, such as Humours
(see Chapter 7), Domain, and Status; being both
free and frequently socially rejected, Gargoyles
latch onto their positions and their Havens
even more strongly than most Kindred. Indeed,
Domains and havens become a spiritual part of a
Gargoyle, to the point that they become distressed
if they are away for too long.
Virtues
Many Gargoyles are highly virtuous; unlives
spent as both horrific destroyers and some of
the most oppressed within Kindred society
has weathered many of them into humble and
penitent beings, if it has not worn away their
humanity entirely; for these reasons and their own
animalistic natures, it is estimated that a larger
proportion of Gargoyles have become completely
lost to the Beast than other vampires. Their
Conscience (or Conviction) tends to be high,
as does their Self-Control (or Instinct). Courage
varies widely; some Gargoyles are galvanised by
40 Chapter Three: Hearts of Stone
their lot in unlife and the treatment they are
subjected to nightly, whereas others have been
broken by it.
Disciplines
Gargoyles can trace their lineages to at least
one Clan out of Gangrel, Nosferatu and Tzimisce,
and a few carry remnants of their past heritage,
dormant within their blood. Every now and then
a Gargoyle will be Embraced with enough of
this blood to learn and master the Disciplines of
their former Clan or Clans. On average, however,
most Embraced Gargoyles are able to use Flight,
Fortitude, Potence, and Visceratika.
Animalism
In the early nights of Gargoyle creation, those
Tremere skilled in the creation ritual were forced
to produce constructs with the intellect of animals
in an attempt to keep them in their place. After
the Gargoyle castings came about, their minds
became more focused and sentient once again.
That deep connection to the animal mind never
went away entirely, however, in no small thanks
to the fact that each of their former clans had an
affinity for Animalism. This was a connection
that Goratrix, Malgorzata and Virstania made
deliberate efforts to sever, not wanting to provide
their slaves with the ability to make servants
of their own. Nonetheless, several embraced
Gargoyles have developed the discipline through
circumstance. This is relatively often seen in free
Sentinels, who use Animalism to befriend flocks of
bats, swarms of rats or packs of feral dogs to earn
themselves a place within their family.
Auspex
Scouts use Auspex for their work as a matter
of course; improved senses and aura perception
all aid in watching an enemy’s movements. Those
who take the role of shamans value it even more
highly, using astral protection and telepathy to
advance their spiritual pursuits. Quite how any
Gargoyles managed to develop this discipline is
debated, but it was more than likely given to them
during gestation by Virstania so that her children
could better serve their masters and thus suffer
less; the Tzimisce heritage present to at least a
small degree in most Gargoyles no doubt makes its
spontaneous development more likely than most
Disciplines.
Flight
Even more important than Visceratika, Flight
is the foremost Discipline of the Gargoyles, in
some ways the essence of their existence. Most
Gargoyles develop Flight, if not from the very
moment of the Embrace (or gestation), then at
some point in their unlives. This is purely because
their kind are born with wings, and for no other
reason. The wings give gargoyles the belief that
they were meant to soar through the night sky
and from that belief may stem the Discipline.
Regardless of early failures and frustrations, they
keep trying, and eventually their vitae responds,
supernaturally reducing their normally immense
weight. The weight reduction is only half of this
power through, to increase their ability they must
force their wings to grow through constant practice
in order to facilitate greater flight. Wings for
Gargoyle also become a status symbol, those with
the largest wings tending to be the most esteemed
within a Grotesquerie. Gargoyles will often
instinctively tear each other’s wings off during
struggles for dominance, so as to humiliate their
opponent as much as to cripple them.
Fortitude
Gargoyles are beings of stone made flesh
and have endured abuse and punishment on the
battlefield, in Tremere chantries and in the wider
world. They know suffering and desensitization
better than any Kindred, and as such many (in
particular Sentinels and sired Gargoyles, to
whom it comes naturally) will develop Fortitude
organically, without giving it much thought. A
Gargoyle with Fortitude can be an unstoppable
flying juggernaut in a fight.
Fortitude has been used by Gargoyles for
centuries to withstand the master’s whip, resist the
blows of inhumanly strong enemies, and survive
their own supernatural condition. Though it is
a separate Discipline, Fortitude certainly at once
stems from and is anathema to the petrified flesh
Clanbook: Gargoyles
so quintessential of their race.
Obfuscate
Scout-cast Gargoyles possess this discipline
naturally, and it serves great and obvious utility
in their duties, but the legacy of Clan Nosferatu
is found throughout the bloodline, Obfuscate
being no exception. Enslaved Gargoyles with this
discipline can find ready use in it, whether by
blending into the background and never having
their presence impose upon the master’s day or
escaping the sting of whip (at least for a short
time). Free gargoyles can use this expertly to hide
Grotesqueries from Tremere slavers and other
threats, or to breach chantries without violence in
order to secretly free its ‘domestic help’.
Potence
Potence is Discipline which comes naturally
to the children of the mountain. Since a popular
focus for Gargoyles is on physical prowess in
combat, it is no surprise that Potence is the second
most common Discipline besides Flight, with only
Scouts not naturally possessing it. Preternatural
strength was gifted to the Sentinels and Warriors
to ensure they were viable weapons against the
Tzimisce, and ever since Gargoyles developed
to the point that disciplines could be taught to
them in great numbers, Potence has always been
a reliable one. The combination of Potence and
Flight can make an aerial attack feel like being hit
by a small tornado.
Protean
Though rare outside of the casting, Gargoyle
Warriors could shift their form in a similar fashion
to the signature mark of the Gangrel; thanks
to their Gangrel and Tzimisce heritage, it was
quite easy for Virstania to instil Protean in them.
Though they may be able to alter their eyes into
those of the beast or shift into the form of a dire
wolf they can never escape their curse. Any form
they do take will appear as if they were carved
into that mold from their original stone, and may
continue to use Visceratika. Furthermore, when
assuming their combat forms they retain their
characteristic wings and remain capable of Flight
41
at their usual speed (unless, at the Storyteller’s too afraid to approach a Gargoyle to ask for
discretion, the animal form is especially large). training in the discipline. However, it is perfectly
Gargoyles rarely adopt literal flight forms, but possible in theory, but should a non-Gargoyle
rather the shapes of burrowing animals such as learn Visceratika he will develop symptoms of the
moles, rabbits, and rats (in which case they do bloodline’s weakness, his body petrifying more and
not have wings at all). These oddities don’t put more as his skill in the discipline develops. In the
Gargoyles off from enjoying the vast array of beginning, his flesh will simply become dry and
shapes and sizes permitted by Protean. cracked, but if the kindred learns more advanced
levels of Visceratika (generally 3 dots and above)
Visceratika they will develop stony protrusions akin to a true
Virstania’s progress with her children’s Gargoyle.
evolution was stunted soon after she developed
the creation ritual. She passed off their developing Paths
ability to Embrace as her own work even though Though most Gargoyles of the modern
this was a ‘natural’ emergence. Taking advantage nights still cling to Humanity (even if they
of the emergence of sired Gargoyles, she began struggle woefully under it), many Gargoyles
working towards a tool that would allow them to who reach some level of prestige adopt a Path
perform the duties of the castings: a discipline of Enlightenment, such as Honourable Accord.
derived from several Gargoyle rituals, which she Amongst those Gargoyles who decide to embrace
named Visceratika. The cast Gargoyles showed no their outwardly demonic and bestial natures,
particular capacity to learn this new gift, but the the Paths of Cathari and the Feral Heart are not
Gargoyles born of the Embrace grasped it with unknown. The Path of Service instilled in enslaved
open claws and developed it to its full potential. Gargoyles by their Tremere masters still exists, and
In time, as Virstania’s resentment of her own the Path of Freedom (formed during the Revolt)
clan festered and grew, she came to see another, is currently thriving, particularly in thanks to the
greater use for Visceratika: as a weapon against Chaundician movement.
Ceoris, with which the Gargoyles might overthrow
their abusive masters. When the Revolt came
to a head, her children’s use of it exceeded even
her expectations. She cackled with joy to watch
them flow through the walls of Ceoris, using the
scrying granted by the discipline to locate terrified
Tremere and emerging from the stone to tear them
apart in bursts of savage violence. Following the
Gargoyle exodus from the ruined Ceoris, further
chantries felt the wrath of their former slaves as the
Revolt progressed and expanded. The discipline
spread with it, until the vast majority of the
bloodline at least had the capacity to learn it. Since
then, it has become an ability as well-known and
as key to the nightly existence of most Gargoyles as
Flight.
It is rare to find a Kindred outside of the
bloodline with any skill in Visceratika, for several
reasons: no other vampires share the Gargoyle’s
affinity for stone, Gargoyles often close ranks
against outsiders, and most Kindred are simply

42 Chapter Three: Hearts of Stone

Path of Service
Nickname: Slaves
Virtues: Conviction and Instinct.
Bearing: ‘Servitude’. The Slaves’ very existences
revolve around the wishes and commands of their
masters. The bearing modifier applies to rolls
made to impress a master or carry out one of their
commands to the letter (though not necessarily to
its intent).
Basic Beliefs: The masters gave you life, your life
is the masters to do with as they see fit. Gargoyles
under the Path of Service believe unequivocally
that the tremere deserve their unending loyalty.
Any master placed above a Gargoyle can expect
them to walk into fire upon their command.
The Ethics of the Path
• Serve the masters absolutely, without question
or complaint.
• Do not let the Beast’s selfish desire for
independence endanger the masters.
• Punish anyone or anything that commits an
affront against the masters or their work.
History
The masters of Ceoris and the other Chantries
forced Gargoyles to perform menial and dangerous
tasks in place of themselves whenever the risks
were too high or the Tremere believed themselves
too important for such trivialities. In order to keep
their slaves in line they developed a Path suited
specifically to that purpose.
The Path of Service represses a Gargoyles’
mind in such a way that they come to believe that
they are worth less than any Tremere, and enforces
utter, abject loyalty to the clan - and especially to
Virstania herself. After Chaundice and his misfit
kin fled Ceoris, Virstania set about righting her
mistakes. She created the Castings and the Path of
Service along with them, each new Gargoyle being
placed upon the Path of Service to make sure they
were still loyal to Virstania and Clan Tremere.
She taught them (while equally convincing herself
and her few apprentices) that what they and the
Clanbook: Gargoyles
Tremere were doing was paramount to life itself.
Gradually, belief in the word of Virstania as
though it were tantamount to God’s edict spread
throughout the Gargoyle broods, bringing them all
in line with the will of their Mother.
Current Practices
Gargoyles following this Path perform any and
every task set to them by their masters, ranging
from domiciliary duties to open warfare with the
Clan’s (or the master’s) enemies. Revering the
masters and performing duties even before they
arise is the best practice for a loyal Slave.
Description of Followers
Those Virstania Gargoyles still in Ceoris are all
subservient to Luma, Saxum, Fidus and (of course)
the Great Mother through the Path of Service.
Gargoyles who were never freed or who were
illegally created after 1489 remain on the bottom
wrung of the Tremere Pyramid, elevating their
masters to almost as high a position in their minds
as Virstania herself. Slaves vary between those
who freely enter onto it and commit themselves
body and mind to the Virstanian cause, to those
indoctrinated in it from the moment of their illicit
Gestation in the heart of a Chantry, leaving them
basically mindless and automatic.
Following the Path
‘Service before self’ is the motto of a Gargoyle
high on the Path, and they wear it like proud
armour. They have managed to eschew their own
base desires to become a valuable tool in their
master’s hands, whether that master is a Tremere
Regent or the Great Mother herself. Those who
slip down to the lower levels of the Path are
browbeaten into obedience, and destroyed if they
do not come to heel.
Common Abilities: Etiquette, Performance, Law
and Stealth all help keep a Slave from offending
the Tremere while performing his duties.
Preferred Disciplines: Slaves make use of
whichever Disciplines their master permits them
to learn and employ; this is typically limited to
the Disciplines inherent to the bloodline (or their
43
casting). Some masters see the value of a Gargoyle
capable of commanding animals or even ghoul
servants with Animalism or Presence, respectively.

Path of Service Hierarchy of Sins

Rating Moral Guideline
10 Disobeying the direct order of
the Great Mother.
9 Disobeying the direct order of
another Creator.
8 Disobeying the direct order of a
Tremere Master.
7 Thwarting the intent of an order
given to you.
6 Disobeying any Master.
5 Failing to punish an insult
against the Masters.
4 Failing to avenge a crime against
the Masters.
3 Remarking on the fallibility of
the Masters.
2 Shirking an opportunity to suffer
injury in place of the Masters.
1 Shirking an opportunity to die
gloriously in place of the Mas-
ters.
Rationale
The Mother gave you every
thing, so you must give it back.
The Creators aided the Mother,
you must aid them in kind.
You were made for duty, refusal
to serve makes you redundant.
You cannot concieve of the in-
tricacies involved in the Masters’
plans.
You serve the Masters in the
Mothers name, do not fail her as
you fail them.
An insult to the Masters is an
insult to the Mother.
The Mother’s enemies are our
enemies.
The Masters are above reproach,
why else would they be your
Masters?
You were made for duty, faliure
makes you redundant.
The Mother gave you life, you
must return it when needed.

44 Chapter Three: Hearts of Stone

Path of Freedom
Nicknames: Runaways.
Virtues: Conscience and Self-Control
Bearing: ‘Freedom’. Runaways seek at every
instance to tear down imposed authority and
dismantle systems of oppression. The bearing
modifier applies to direct efforts made to
accomplish these goals.
Basic Beliefs: Gargoyles are generally grouped
among the underclass of Kindred society, along
with the Caitiff and the Ravnos. Throughout their
history they have been subjugated and oppressed,
by Sect leaders as well as vengeful Tremere. This
has given many of their number a certain sympathy
with the downtrodden, kine as well as Kindred.
The Path of Freedom offers a philosophy to
unlife for these Gargoyles, according to which
they strive to end the imposition of authority.
However, the Path is not solely externally-focused;
its proponents teach that only by changing yourself
can you change your community, only by changing
the community can you ensure the extinction of
tyranny.
The Ethics of the Path
• Stick to your own ideals in all things.
• Choose your own leader but never settle for
one.
• Free any subjugated being as you would wish to
be freed.
• Never impose your beliefs on the lives of
others.
History
In the years leading up to the First Gargoyle
Revolt, Chaundice was dismayed at the horror
befalling his children. They were being created
grotesque and malformed with little concern for
their wellbeing besides Virstania’s cloying motherly
‘love’, which exacerbated the degeneration and
suffering more than it helped. These children
were so mindless that they did not even have the
capacity to fear their masters, so Chaundice used
his position to convince them to lead their own
Clanbook: Gargoyles
unlives and to choose their own leaders.
He first walked the Path of Freedom as a show
that Tremere authority did not need to be the
defining influence over the unlives of Gargoyles.
His success convinced the rest of his Grotesquerie
within the eyrie of Ceoris to stand up and be
counted by choosing a better master to follow;
perhaps unsurprisingly, they chose him, and the
next time they were sent from Ceoris, they likewise
chose unanimously not to return. After fleeing
the chantry they set themselves on this Path to
liberation, dedicating themselves to shattering the
chains of imposed rule wherever they found it.
Current Practices
Most walkers on the Path will use any excuse
to seek out and destroy imposed rule. This is
exemplified in their opposition to blood bonds
and the creation of unwilling ghouls, which brings
them to blows with all Clans, particularly the
Ventrue who rarely impede Gargoyle development.
Outside of insurgency against these institutions
of Kindred society, Runaways thrive on teaching
young Gargoyles, Anarchs, and even Caitiff of
independence and helping them achieve it.
Description of Followers
Runaways are a mix of firebrand rebels and
libertarian philosophers who fight for their own
liberty above all else, create free havens, and teach
others to do the same. Most truly free Gargoyles
who do not cling desperately to Humanity wind
up on the Path of Freedom. Other Kindred
with strong sympathies for the Gargoyle cause
(particularly Grangel, Nosferatu, and young
Tzimisce) sometimes take up the torch.
Following the Path
Gargoyles on this Path are encouraged to
be their own people unto themselves, free to
do as they see fit. Within that there are obvious
limitations in that they are expected to keep to
the libertarian principle of protecting one’s own
freedom while not impeding that of others’. The
academic followers seek to educate the young
and have a significant voice in their local vampire
society, while the more militant followers assault
45
Elysia, Cathedrals, and Tremere Chantries where
injustices are frequently committed to free any
subjected Kindred, kine, or ghouls.
Common Abilities: Survival, Leadership,
Academics and Law are useful for those Runaways
of a philosophical disposition, while militant
liberators favour Brawl, Intimidation, Stealth and
Athletics.
Preferred Disciplines: Visceratika, Auspex,
Obfuscate, Flight and Presence are all employed by
Gargoyles to liberate the Kindred community from
tyranny. Visceratika, though given by the mother,
has been adopted by Chaundice as both his
weapon of choice and an ideological symbol, and
as a result any Gargoyles (or indeed other kindred)
on this Path will have at least a base level of this
Discipline.

Path of Freedom Hierarchy of Sins

Rating Moral Guideline Rationale
10 Tolerating the existence of any To accept undue authority is to
imposed authority partake in it.
9 Using any form of coercion Any authority should be earned
through virtue.
8 Neglecting to free anyone from Do unto others as you would
imposed authority have others do unto you.
7 Imposing authority on another All beings suffer equally under
tyranny
6 Neglecting to seek out a worthy You must have a purpose, but let
master or cause to serve it be of your own choosing,
5 Neglecting to free any enslaved The Revolt will continue until all
Gargoyles Gargoyles are free.
4 Acknowledging any Tremere The Warlocks have proven them-
authority selves unworthy
3 Neglecting to free Gargoyles Even Virstania subjected us out
from Tremere slavery of love; no Tremere is above us.
2 Imposing authority on other We are all brothers and sisters,
Gargoyles. equal in the eyes of Chaundice.
1 Accepting imposed authority We have spent centuries trying
to escape our past of slavery. Do
not capitulate to tyranny now.

46 Chapter Three: Hearts of Stone

Disciplines
Advanced Visceratika Powers
Originally, very few of the sired Gargoyles were
of a lower generation than eighth, so no construct
developed the use of high level Visceratika powers.
In the modern nights, however, because of
diablerie during the Revolt and the centuries since,
Gargoyles have managed to explore the Discipline
to far greater extents.
••••• • Might of the Mountain
The Gargoyle is able to take on the
indomitable essence of stone, increasing his
physical prowess greatly but making him much
heavier and significantly slowing his movement.
After using this power, the Gargoyle will grow
in height by a foot or more and increase in mass
by several orders of magnitude; in the heart of
combat, this alone can be enough to send even a
hardened pack of Sabbat fleeing for their unlives
before even the first deadly blow is dealt.
System: To use this power, the Gargoyle must
be physically touching stone (whether natural stone
or a synthetic materials such as concrete or asphalt)
and must spend one blood point. His Strength
is increased by 2 and his Stamina is increased by
2, but his Dexterity is reduced by 2. His skin will
change to the same colour and texture as the stone
he is in contact with as his musculature bulges,
causing him to resemble nothing less than an
avatar of stone itself. Repeated use of this power
on the same structure or surface has been noted to
greatly accelerate Mimesis.
••••• • Reconstruction
A Gargoyle’s form is in many ways constructed,
not grown, the body rebuilt and adapted to the
inorganic essence of stone. It is not so great a leap
for such a body to be healed with the use of simple
masonry. Whenever a Gargoyle with this power
receives damage that would otherwise take days of
rest to fix, the vampire can use his blood to bond
additional stone with his damaged flesh, rapidly
repairing the wound in exchange for committing
minor property damage.
Clanbook: Gargoyles
System: The Gargoyle must spend three
blood points and one turn per level of aggravated
damage to be healed, applying a quantity of stone
(which must be harvested through means aside
from this power, usually a Potence-enhanced
grasp) to his damaged body large enough to fill
the wound or wounds. This power does not
require the expenditure of Willpower and can be
performed as many times as needed per night. If
the Gargoyle is melded with a stone surface or
object through Visceratika, they may simply siphon
off the required material from within. This has no
observable effect from the outside but does weaken
the stone, potentially leading to spontaneously
collapsing statues - or supporting walls.
••••• • Rockheart
A development of Armour of Terra, Rockheart
allows the Gargoyle to harden his entire body,
inside and out. Attackers who manage to pierce his
outer flesh find only further resistance from the
Gargoyle’s now-rocklike innards.
System: Any weapons which pierce the body
(including bullets) do half damage (rounding
down), and staking is impossible unless the
attacker has an effective Strength (including
Potence) that is at least 7.
••••• •• Blood From Stone
For some enterprising Gargoyles, feeding has
become a simple matter of leaching blood spilled
in violent alleyways or from the floors and walls
of murder scenes, with only small mental effort
on their part. If the vampire is connected to a
stone surface when blood is spilt upon it, he may
instantly absorb it through the material. The
combat applications of this power are obvious, as
the Gargoyle may sap his opponent’s blood even as
it is shed, and use it to heal his own injuries or use
other Discipline powers instantly.
System: The vampire spends one Willpower
point to manipulate the stone and draw sustenance
through the ground. The power remains active for
the remainder of the scene, allowing the Gargoyle
to absorb blood on the relevant surface within
a number of cubic feet equal to the Gargoyle’s
Willpower so long as it is mostly fresh. When this
47
happens, he gains the equivalent number of blood
points as the vitae is sucked into him through the
floor, wall, or ceiling (a Gargoyle may hang on the
‘underside’ of a room and gain sustenance through
any blood shed onto the floor above, so long as it
is in range and both surfaces are connected and of
the same material).
This power is equally effective on the blood
of humans, animals, and supernatural creatures,
including other vampires. It may be used as part
of an especially cruel diablerie, as it was more
than once during the darkest nights of the Revolt.
As the victim is allowed to bleed out, her blood
will be gradually and agonisingly drawn into the
ground, flowing like oil in a single coagulated
mass from her wounds. At the culmination of this
process, her soul is consumed remotely without
any direct contact with the diablerist Gargoyle,
though the struggle over that soul occurs as with
any act of diablerie. A Gargoyle may not use this
power to initiate diablerie on a vampire who does
not have an open wound which is bleeding onto
the appropriate surface.
••••• •• Renovation
An extension of the more fundamental ability
to sense through structures, the Gargoyle with this
power can exercise enough control over a building
to rearrange its basic layout, altering the location
of walls, floors, windows, and doors in order to
confuse, disorientate, or simply scare the prey
within (or invaders of his Eyrie).
System: The player spends two blood points
per desired alteration to a building and rolls
Manipulation + Science (difficulty 8). If she wishes
to make the effects of the power permanent, she
must also spend a Willpower point. Changes such
as ending corridors abruptly with a new wall,
adding doors to sheer drops, and raising floors too
high in a room for it to be entered can be created
at will, and remain for a number of turns equal to
the successes on the Manipulation + Science roll.
As with other Visceratika powers, the Gargoyle
can only manipulate stone, all of which must come
from somewhere. Wood, wiring, metal piping, and
plaster are unaffected, lending modern buildings
48 Chapter Three: Hearts of Stone
altered with this highly Masquerade-threatening
power a ruined and dilapidated look, even after
the changes reverse themselves (if the effects have
not been made permanent). The process of reversal
can also be hazardous to those inside affected
buildings, as walls sink and rooms shift about.
Repeated use of this power on a structure often
leads to its damage and eventual collapse unless
the Gargoyle takes great care. A clever Gargoyle
might well use this power to remove a wall, lure a
target into the space where it was, and watch as the
wall rapidly returns to its proper place, crushing
the unfortunate victim.
The legendary effect of this Discipline allows
the Gargoyle to heal any damage sustained by the
building, as if healing the same damage incurred
by their own body. This will take as much time,
blood and Willpower as if the damage were their
own so healing a hole in a wall will be as costly as
healing 5 levels of aggravated damage.
••••• •• Viscous Vitae
A Gargoyle’s petrified flesh will only usually
penetrate the skin, occasionally going so far as to
harden their muscles, but only rarely will it reach
as deep as the Kindred’s bones and organs. This
Discipline enhances the effects of the bloodline’s
curse and spreads it to the Gargoyle’s own blood,
which permanently becomes thick, viscous, and
gritty, like wet cement. This greatly increases the
time it takes to be extracted, including during the
diablerie attempts of other vampires. The small
downside is that the liquid stone flowing through
the Gargoyle’s veins is repulsive to those who
would drink it, though its capacity to create blood
bonds and feed ghouls is in no way lessened.
System: Once this power is taken, this change
in the the Gargoyle’s vitae is permanent. Any
would-be diablerists will need to make a Strength +
Potence roll for each blood point they try to drain,
rather than each health level of the Gargoyle as
diablerie normally requires.
••••• •• Crawling Chamber
Some Gargoyles claim that Chaundice, their
progenitor, is a being not drawn from humanity,
but one of living rock Embraced. Though this
suggestion is ignored by most scholars (if not
most Gargoyles), the fact remains that their flesh
is literally animated stone. Elder Gargoyles have
even been known to harness this animating force
and instil it to matter entirely devoid of Gargoyle
blood (or indeed any blood at all), as with this
power, which allows for a Gargoyle to create,
mould, and animate an area of stone, with the
potential of spawning a creature which may ooze,
reshape itself, and even attack foes. Even large
statues may be animated in this way if the Gargoyle
invests enough of his mental reserves. Some claim
that gargoyles of sufficient resolve have learned
this power only to pass their entire soul over into
a beautiful stone vessel, and finally escape their
unliving nightmare. Whether any Gargoyle has
reached this transcendence is unknown, though
there are many who would wish to try.
System: While in contact with a stone surface,
the Gargoyle can concentrate for several moments
while rolling Manipulation + Empathy (difficulty
8) and spending at least one blood point. If the
roll is successful, for each blood point spent the
Gargoyle may animate one 10’ by 10’ cubic area of
stone material. Once animated, a surface is largely
out of the Gargoyle’s control beyond choosing
to the end the power, which is done by breaking
off physical contact with the original substance.
Grasping alien limbs, snapping bestial mouths,
and contorted, agonised faces are all hallmarks
of this power. They will respond generally to the
Gargoyle’s wishes, but are capable of independent
action if left to their own devices.
The Gargoyle may direct these creations to
attack or grapple his enemies without spending any
actions, and they act on his turn. For each blood
point spent when the power was first activated, the
area may make one attack or grapple, has a range
of one foot, deals one dice of lethal damage when
used to attack, and has one point of Strength
when used to grapple. It can direct multiple attacks
and/or grapples against one target.
A secondary and more complex use of this
power is to extract matter from the animated area,
creating an amorphous, semi-living mass which
can move and act independently, albeit according
Clanbook: Gargoyles
to the Gargoyle’s direction. To do so, the Gargoyle
spends temporary Willpower points. For every
Willpower point he imparts he may extract a
5’ by 5’ cubic area of stone and gains 5 dots to
distribute among its Strength, Dexterity, Stamina,
Perception, and Wits (it has no Charisma,
Manipulation, Appearance, or meaningful
Intelligence). Each of these Attributes starts at 1,
and may be increased to a maximum of 5. These
points may also be distributed to grant the creature
one level of either Fortitude or Potence per point,
to a maximum of the gargoyles own discipline
rating in those powers; the creature may soak
bashing and lethal damage with its Stamina, and
also halves bashing damage.No disciplines other
than Potence or Fortitude can be used by crawling
chamber constructs, even if the creator Gargoyle
possesses the arts herself.
The formation of such a creature requires
the Gargoyle to physically pull matter from the
malleable surface it has created before moulding
it into the desired shape, requiring a minimum
of 10 minutes per Willpower point invested. This
process reminds some Kindred disconcertingly of
the fleshcrafting arts of the Tzimisce. The shape
and appearance of these homunculi depend on
the skill, care, and attention of their creators; some
remain amorphous, featureless blobs, whereas
others could have been carved by Michelangelo
himself. If given mouths they are incapable of
language, but do ‘speak’ in a bizarre cacophony of
wet gurgles, grinding squeaks, and low rumbles.
The legendary use of this power - permanently
passing one’s own consciousness into a ‘living’
statue rather than merely animating it as a separate
being - is left up to the Storyteller’s discretion as to
whether it is even possible. It is recommended that
no less than all 10 possible Willpower points be
required for transfer. If a Gargoyle with Crawling
Chamber also possesses the power Blood from
a Stone, as long as he and the animate stone
creation are touching the same surface, any blood
the statue touches can be absorbed immediately
by the Gargoyle as per the rules of Blood from a
Stone.
49
Combination Disciplines
Gargoyles boast that it is easier for them
to create new combination Disciplines, for
the array of Disciplines they possess and how
primally they learn each art. To most Gargoyles,
Disciplines are seen as ‘natural’ uses of their
bodies, and so creating a combined Discipline
power is as intuitive as using their eyes and
ears simultaneously. The obvious combination
Disciplines known by many Constructs include
using Potence and Flight to create powerful
backdrafts to see off enemies or combining
Chameleon Skin with Eyes of the Beast in order
to mimic other beings’ mutations. Below are
listed a few of the more complex and innovative
combination Disciplines developed by Gargoyles
of all stripes - and their masters.
Ambience
(Presence •••, Visceratika ••)
With this power, the Gargoyle has honed his
connection with structures to the point that he can
subsume a single building with his emotional state
and impress it on any visitors, the air becoming
filled with a sense of dread or security. He may also
use a more forceful variant of this power, allowing
him a full emotional switch to all its occupants,
inflicting on them bursts of rage, fits of hysterical
joy or pangs of ravenous hunger.
System: The more subtle use of this power
is in effect as long as the Gargoyle is in the
structure and wishes it receive his ambience; no
roll or expenditure is needed to activate it. Any
individual observing or occupying the building in
question will feel a palpable sense of the Gargoyles
emotional state, irrespective of what emotion
they’re feeling. This phenomenon is always in
place, and the Gargoyle may not turn it off.
Further, it is constantly present in any place the
Gargoyle gains Mimesis from, as well as whatever
structure (if any) they are currently inside. Multiple
Gargoyles with this power can affect the same
location, whether by proximity of Mimesis, and
a Grotesquerie of Gargoyles linked by Mimesis
always feel to a small extent the emotional state of
any of their number who have this power.
50 Chapter Three: Hearts of Stone
The active use of the power requires the
Gargoyle to spend a Willpower point and rolling
Charisma + Empathy (for most emotions) or
Intimidate (for fear), difficulty 7 and requires
a level of success for each storey targeted. If
successful, this causes all non-mortal occupants of
those floors to roll Self Control or Courage (again,
for general emotion and for fear, respectively);
mortals cannot resist this effect. Those who fail or
are unable to resist immediately feel a change in
emotion to that of the Gargoyle’s choosing. The
floors being targeted must be connected to the
Gargoyle’s own storey as the emotional shock wave
bursts forth.
Judicious use of Ambiance may only require
the top floor of a building to be affected with fear
in order to clear the entire structure, however, as
herd mentality takes over and kine flee from the
unknown threat that the power’s victims seem
to be running from. Gargoyles can also attain a
level of security from this power while outside
of their Eyrie, as any allies in their Eyrie will
receive warning of a change in his emotional state
whenever the Gargoyle becomes endangered, and
can move to respond to the threat.
This power costs 12 experience points to learn.
Cousins in Clay
(Auspex ••, Visceratika ••)
This technique was developed shortly after
the Revolt as the children of Virstania fled Ceoris
and the other chantries, hiding in any cave, rock
formation, and stoney crevice Europe had to offer.
On rare occasions, Grotesques would experience
the presence of otherworldly beings living side by
side with them in their mountain retreats. One
such event saw a Gargoyle Scout use her Aura
Perception while scrying a cavern to determine its
viability for settlement, upon doing so discovering
strange presences within the very walls. The
presences were in fact beings similarly made of
stone, but entirely natural: Elemental spirits
embodying the rock and the earth.
System: This power is always active once the
Gargoyle has developed her connection to the pure
essence of stone, triggering whenever she uses Scry
the Hearthstone. She can see, feel, and interact
with spiritual beings, from earth elementals to
terrible demons to mortal ghosts, which house
themselves within or are anchored to this world
by a building, cave, or other structure. If the spirit
is using other means to hide, this power will only
reveal them if the Gargoyle wins an opposed roll
of her Perception + Awareness against the spirit’s
Wits + Stealth.
This power costs 10 experience points to learn.
Dark Statue
(Fortitude•••, Visceratika••••• •)
Gargoyles have marveled at the craftsmanship
of their namesakes for as long as they have
had the presence of mind to contemplate such
things. Placed atop churches to stand guard
over the houses of God or watching silently over
the teeming masses of humanity, architectural
gargoyles are a representation of the bloodline’s
ideal. They have a place and a purpose; that
purpose may be one so humble as providing
drainage, but they stand strong knowing it will
never be stripped of them. An inexhaustible
purpose is all that many Gargoyles desire.
A few Constructs have spent enough time
fawning over their inanimate counterparts to
combine the aspects of two different Disciplines
in order to imitate these unmoving paragons.
During the day, a Gargoyle with this power can
safely fall asleep before sunrise without shelter,
without fear of harm or pain from sunlight so
long as he remains static. When night comes and
the Gargoyle reanimates, he leaves behind an exact
stone replica of his body, from which he emerges,
reborn like a moth from its cocoon. Using this
power, the Gargoyle may guard a fortress, be safe
from most daytime threats, and never be noticed as
anything especially untoward by kine.
System: Through the passive use of Dark
Statue, by remaining completely still, the character
can ignore damage from direct sunlight. This
power is used most effectively (and much more
safely) at the point before sunrise when the
Gargoyle falls into slumber for the day, causing his
body to petrify entirely. In this case he may not
Clanbook: Gargoyles
be woken, may not fall into frenzy or Rötschreck,
and to all outside examination he appears to be
nothing more than a mundane statue of his exact
size and shape. This statue is formed of whatever
stone material he is in physical contact with, if any;
if he is not in contact with stone, the statue will
have the same material composition, colour, and
texture as his Eyrie. Any gargoyle performing this
ability will not be able to perform any other power
in their statue form, in fact they do not even feel
the passage of time and simply emerge from their
cocoon anew seemingly instantly.
Dark Statue may also be used reflexively as
an emergency measure for a Gargoyle to protect
himself from the burning touch of sunlight. While
effective in the short term, this use of the power
is perilous, for in this case the Gargoyle does
not sleep and is afforded no protection against
Rötschreck. If the Gargoyle moves or even slightly
twitches, the power’s protection ends and it may
not be used again until the next sunset. Unless
by some good fortune the Gargoyle is obscured
from direct sunlight during this time, he must
endure an entire day of not only remaining totally
and agonisingly still, but also of battling with his
blindly panicking Beast. More than one Gargoyle
has met a horrific, fiery Final Death only after
long, bitter hours of inner struggle against his
own body and his dark half. A Gargoyle forced
to employ this power has only a slim chance of
survival - but he has a chance. If they do struggle
through the halved extent of this power, gargoyles
can use disciplines during the daytime hours.
These disciplines cannot involve movement in any
way without drawing the sun’s rays down on their
heads.
The statue left behind by this power will only
appear if the Gargoyle has slept in this state for
an entire day, from sunup to sundown; if it is
activated after dawn, there is nothing left behind
once the Gargoyle’s hours-long battle with his
Beast ends - whether for better or worse. This shed
‘skin’ remains until Dark Statue is used the same
way again; as the Gargoyle’s body petrifies once
more, the old remnant crumbles and disintegrates
into fine ash - leading some to speculate that
Dark Statue is far more than only a defence
51
against sunlight, but in fact a death, reconception,
Gestation, and rebirth of the Gargoyle.
This power costs 30 experience points to learn.
Weather the Storm
(Fortitude ••, Visceratika •••)
Said to have been developed by a Gargoyle
who observed a Ravnos passing wounds inflicted
on her body onto an animal ghoul bound to
her (see Lore of the Clans page 183), this power
allows a Gargoyle to similarly reflect damage into
a stone surface which he has recently bled upon,
temporarily ‘ghouling’ it in the process.
System: The power costs one blood point to
activate, and must be used as a reflexive action.
The Gargoyle must also have bled upon the stone
surface to be used (‘ghouling’ it) before he passes
damage (an attack that causes them to bleed
upon an appropriate surface will make this power
possible for the next attack weathered). They then
roll Stamina + Athletics, immediately passing one
level of damage for each success into the chosen
surface. As they do so the stone they channel
it into will receive physical damage reflective of
that which the Gargoyle would have received:
for bashing it will crack and crumble, for lethal
great tears will slice deeply into the in surface, for
aggravated the stone will violently explode away
from the combat, for fire the stone will become
scorched or even begin melting depending on the
quantity of damage taken, and so on.
This power costs 15 experience points to learn.
Weaknesses
Though Gargoyles are possessed of great
personal power, they also bear multiple severe
weaknesses. These weaknesses can be traced back
to specific decisions made by Goratrix, Malgorzata
and Virstania during the creation process in
order to keep their slaves in line. Chaundice, the
first of their kind, is believed to have been a cut
above all those who followed after him, a vastly
superior prototype. Created by Virstania while
she was still a human sorceress of House Tremere
(her last significant act before her Embrace),
52 Chapter Three: Hearts of Stone
he was made perfectly formed, without a flaw
or impediment to be seen, the impurity of the
vampiric blood used in his creation somehow
washed away. He is said to have looked more like
an angel than any Gargoyle - until he was cruelly
Embraced by Goratrix, at which point his beatific
features inverted, becoming twisted and demonic.
With Virstania’s talent in high magic lost from
her ‘reward’ of the Embrace, Chaundice’s ideal
(whatever its true nature) could not be reached
again, and since he served as the mould for all
Gargoyles to come after him, his ‘descendants’
were cursed to resemble him. This tragic tale is not
held to be true by most Gargoyles, and only the
most committed Chaundicians believe it wholly.
Those few who have met with Chaundice and
dared ask what really happened have received curt
deflections or even wounds in place of answers. It
is clear that whatever occurred is a source of great
pain to the Great Father.
After the second generation of Gargoyle
prototypes fled with their original progenitor, a
third generation - the Castings were created out
of a need for specifically designed workers. Each
casting was granted it’s own weakness to keep
them performing their duty at peak efficiency.
Abhorrence
All non-sired Gargoyles are created in a
similar method of destruction and reconstitution
facilitated by arcane forces. As the Gargoyles body
is reconstituted, it warps and distorts in a hundred
ways. During Gestation, the compounds and and
unguents used to preserve the flesh cause the skin
of the Gargoyle to petrify. This was originally a
side effect which came about from disastrously
unsuccessful attempts to recreate Chaundice’s
original state, but Goratrix demanded it be kept in
order to prevent the Slaves from rejoining human
civilisation. Mechanically, this weakness simply
means that no Gargoyle can have an Appearance
rating.
Amnesia
All Gargoyles, whether sired or cast, have
their minds utterly remade by the trauma of their
creation, making them into blank slates. They
remember nothing of their mortal life (nor any
of the experiences of their constituent Kindred
in the case of cast Gargoyles) except perhaps in
brief flashes of recall, scattered images which cause
them great anguish though they do not understand
them. Gargoyle characters of all types begin play
with the Amnesia Flaw (V20 page 486), receiving
no points in exchange. This amnesia comes about
during their first night of unlife where in they are
trapped in their immobilized shell. As they feel the
physical corruption take place, they also have the
sense of their memories gradually bleeding out,
piece by tiny piece. For a Gargoyle Embraced at
sunset, remembering his wife after the first hour
will be easy; by midnight he won’t remember her
name or their first date, and by sunup even her
smile - along with all other details of his life - will
have left his mind forever, never to return.
Susceptibility to Mind Control
After the First Revolt, Virstania was forced to
create her Gargoyles with limited independence
and self-will, resulting in creatures with an
increased susceptibility to mind control. The
original second generation were little more
than pack animals, constantly fighting amongst
themselves for dominance and ever eager to
burst forth from the eyrie on their next mission.
Gradually, Virstania granted more and more of
a human mind to her creations until they were
once again of full capacity but her formulae never
went back entirely to their original basis, so the
weakness remains in the Gargoyles’ blood to this
night. Any power which focuses on controlling a
Gargoyle’s mind (typically Dominate, though not
Presence, which influences the emotions) will be
much more effective; the Gargoyle’s Willpower
is counted as being two lower when used to resist
mind control of any kind.
Merits and Flaws
Back when Gargoyle kind could only come to
be from a glass urn or womb-bearing host, they
gained many unusual traits. These mutations
were believed to come from the various strains of
Kindred vitae mixed within their gestalt bodies.
Most Gargoyles believed that these were the
Clanbook: Gargoyles
unique blessings given to them by their Mother
according to the intricacies of her design. After
living amongst other vampires they realised
the truth that this is not actually the case, and
that every Kindred runs the risk of mutation.
Many Kindred seem to gain unusual personal
characteristics, be they vital to their way of life
or horrific imperfections. Gargoyles, due to their
blood being such a volatile mix of physically-cursed
Clans, simply have a greater chance to manifest
such strange phenomena than other Kindred, as
well as a greater variety. These mutations may be
beneficial or harmful, and may be sources of pride
or shame (or some ambivalent mix of the two)
depending on the outlook of the Gargoyle.
Gargoyles can take unique merits and flaws
at will from the clans of Gangrel, Tzimisce and
Nosferatu as well as their own unique mutations;
this applies equally to the Misbegotten, who may
take Merits and Flaws appropriate to their parent
legacies, at the Storyteller’s discretion.
Merits
Most Gargoyle merits go towards strengthening
a Grotesque against adversity, granting him a
helpful tool to help him survive or keep his
community strong, or a pitiful but benign
debilitation which helps inculcate sympathy in
others.
Statuesque Beauty (2pt Physical Merit)
Every now and then a Gargoyle will emerge
with a beauty mimicking the picturesque form of
ancient Greek and Roman statuary. These rare
individuals have the chance to slip through even
kine society with little need to avoid attention.
In Kindred circles, however, this blessing really
comes to the fore, with only the most sheltered
and fledgling vampires being perturbed for long
by the metre fact of that a Gargoyle possesses
stone skin when it is shaped with an artistic touch;
perhaps needless to say, Toreador are especially
appreciative.
You can have an Appearance rating irrespective
of your inherent weakness that comes into
effect for appropriate individuals and groups,
in particular other Gargoyles and Toreador of
53
the correct tastes. All mortals other than those
ghouled to You who witnesses Your movement
will react in an even more horrified manner than
usual to see something simultaneously so close to
humanity and truly alien.
Leader of the Pack (2pt Social Merit)
In most Grotesqueries, the leader is
determined by her Charisma and Strength when
faced with situations endangering the whole
group. Many trials end with the weaker combatant
having his wings shredded as a mark of disgrace.
This Merit outlines your personal stance in the
face of Grotesque politics and grants you a natural
air of superiority over those you keep as company.
Gargoyles of a higher generation or significantly
lower age will submit to your command within
a Grotesquerie almost instinctively. This Merit
grants you +2 dice to any social rolls affecting these
gargoyles.
Holy Relic (3pt Mental Merit)
You generally come from a pious and highly
theological background. As such, the you have
retained such an overpowering resonance of
faith that while you reside within a holy place
appropriate to you beliefs, you will gain much
greater succor and reassurance than another
Gargoyle cowering within a breeze block. This
merit will provide a temporary Willpower point
every night you spend resting in such a place (a
Christian within a church, a Muslim inside a
mosque, a neopagan resting inside a standing
stone, and so on). This additional Willpower will
never exceed your permanent Willpower rating but
simply bolster Your temporary rating.
Claws (1pt/3 pt Physical Merit)
This mutation is commented upon by
Virstania in the earlier records of her research
in that most of the specimens emerged from
Gestation manifesting talons of one form or
another (those of a wolf, eagle or rat, for example).
Creatures with this heritage are believed to
instinctively possess rudimentary knowledge
of Protean, though all Castings as well as sired
Gargoyles were observed to possess them in
54 Chapter Three: Hearts of Stone
roughly equal proportion. You have claws
protruding from your extremities, which provide
you with unarmed attacks which deal Strength
+1 lethal damage. This Merit costs 1 point for
Gargoyles, but may also be taken by non-Gargoyles
(usually Gangrel, Nosferatu, Nagaraja, and similar)
for 3 points.
Flaws
All Gargoyles are born different, and this is
most evident in the mutations they gain during
Gestation or as a result of the Embrace. These
mutations can be considered Flaws due to their
debilitating effects, though they can come with the
minor perk of providing a Gargoyle with a greater
sense of individuality among its kin. Some of these
Flaws relegate a Gargoyle to a position of weakness
within an Eyrie, rare is the Grotesquerie which will
not nurture those with Flaws that hinder unlife.
Erosion (5pt Physical Flaw)
You were born wrong. Your flesh does not
have the bonded crystalline indestructibility like
your brothers. Every night is a harrowing process
of physical dissolution, as your skin, flesh, and
bone gradually dry and fall off. Every physically,
mentally, or emotionally stressful ordeal you
undergo causes a portion of your flesh to crumble
away to nothing. Any significant activity causes
your body to slowly erode away. Erosion inflicts
one level of un-soakable bashing damage each
time you either perform a reflexive action (such as
blocking or dodging) or perform multiple actions
in one turn.
Alongside this horrific malady comes the
social disgrace. Most Gargoyles with this Flaw will
have been a Sedimus ghoul before Embrace or
gestation, which means they were not worthy of
the Embrace in early life. Though a Grotesquerie
will not look down upon one, though they will
choose others for important missions or to place
their trust in. Irrespective of whether this is
how you got this Flaw, others will automatically
presume it is and treat you in kind, imposing a +1
penalty to Social rolls with other Gargoyles at the
Storyteller’s discretion.
The to and fro of discussion between
Cordwood and Virstania led to a remark over
Alvusia’s physique. Though Alvusia’s form did not
need to be so grossly and excruciatingly expanded,
her presentation was made to invoke imagery of
the goddess Venus and the traditional fertility
statues in her likeness. This was gleefully added to
Alvusia’s design - Virstania saw it as a fitting gift to
one of her daughters, whereas Cordwood thought
it more than sufficient punishment - and the pair
continued without much further thought on the
matter.
Medusa’s Stare (5pt Supernatural Flaw)
You seem to bestow the mark of Visceratika
on every being you see. After being in your gaze
for the majority of one night, the victim’s skin will
begin to dry and their hair to stiffen. After three
nights their skin will become mottled and grey,
after five nights their flesh will calcify, and after
a full week in your presence, an individual’s body
will become rigid with stoney flesh, like the your
own.
This effect is a shadow of the your Mimesis
being inflicted upon the world around her. If any
Kindred suffering from this effect manage to flee
before the week is out, remain away from your
presence for even a single night and day, they will
revert to their former undead state, but once their
bodies fully take on the your curse, the effect is
irreversible. Any mortal affected your Flaw will
never recover regardless of how long they had been
in contact with you. Human doctors will presume
that this effect is the result of a debilitating skin
condition which, to its fullest, will leave them void
of function and mobility.
Missing Piece (2pt/4pt/7 pt Physical Flaw)
After the Embrace, the you undergo a
traumatic loss in addition to the harrowing
experience of immobility, as a portion of your
body becomes weaker over the course of the first
night, until finally it crumbles away like a dead
leaf before your eyes. If you are playing as a Cast
Gargoyles with this Flaw, you simply emerge from
Gestation with part of your body missing due to
the vagaries of the process or incompetence on
the part of their creator. The portion is entirely
Clanbook: Gargoyles
missing rather than damaged or withered,
leaving behind it not a stump or a scar but a flat,
‘cauterised’ section of stone as if the portion had
been neatly carved away.
For 2 points, the you have a small feature like
a nose, an ear, or a finger. The loss can actually
look fairly interesting, like a battle scar, though
its impact will impose a +1 difficulty on your rolls
relating to it, be they manual Dexterity or specific
sensory Perception.
For 4 points, a larger body part like a foot, a
jaw or a pectoral muscle. The hindrance of this
loss is much greater as it actively inhibits nightly
function. Difficulty will be increased by +2 for any
rolls involving its use.
For 7 points, a truly drastic loss like a pelvis,
the entire abdominal region (leaving a spine
connecting pelvis to torso), or half of the your
head.
This Flaw, as well as increasing the difficulty of
rolls using your afflicted Attribute by +2, reduces
that Attribute permanently to 1 dot and prevents
it from being increased. Your Intelligence would
be limited if you lost half of your brain, your
Dexterity reduced if your pelvis was lost, and your
Stamina would be crippled if you existed with an
exposed chest cavity and spine.
Still Image (5pt/7pt Supernatural Flaw)
Though this mutation may be regarded as
both a gift and a curse it is certainly a spectacle
to behold. While most Gargoyles exist for the
company they keep there are some that take a
horrific turn during Gestation and develop a
completely opposite nature. Usually possessed
by Simulacra, this defect completely cuts the
Gargoyle off from any social or community based
interaction whatsoever.
Every time you are seen by a sapient being, you
freeze on the spot, turning into a solid statue made
from an incongruous stone material. You will be
unidentifiable as a life form and will be considered
a true statute by any who see you, in the correct
setting. This means that the you will know only
an abnormal and strained existence, and find it
impossible to fit in within any Grotesquerie due
55
to this crippling physical limitation. (Obviously,
this Flaw is especially crippling for Sentinel-cast
Gargoyles, for whom this Flaw is worth 7 points).
As per the Visceratika power Dark Statue (see
page 51), whenever a player has become a solid
statue, they cannot use any Disciplines (even purely
mental ones) until they regain animation. Despite
this. they are still aware in their petrified state and
experience everything around them.
Withered Wings (3pt Physical Flaw)
Your wings should be points of pride, a social
statement, and useful foci for Disciplines. After
your Gestation, however, you have suffered an
embarrassing mutation whereby your wings are
stunted or simply undeveloped. With this flaw you
will never be able to increase your Flight above
level one, and you will be seen as generally weak by
your superiors, both Gargoyle and Kindred alike
(which may impose increased difficulties on Social
rolls according to Storyteller’s discretion).
Abhorrence
No Gargoyle comes out of Gestation identical
to another, with only a few notable examples
where they are deliberately moulded to be. They
will always vary in ways often overlooked by all bar
their sire. The ritual to create them itself is open
to so many variables that even a shaman trained
enough to design a Gargoyle down to their very
smallest warts and stalactites cannot prevent at
least minor deviations from the intended result.
This also carries in Gargoyle vitae and grants their
Embraces a wildly mutagenic quality.
Rather than the player simply not being
allowed to place points in Appearance when
playing a Gargoyle, this optional rule grants
Gargoyles access to a new Attribute called
Abhorrence, which has a base value of 1 dot
and may be increased like any other Attribute. A
Gargoyle’s Abhorrence rating can only provide
dice to rolls made to inspire fear or anger towards
the character in others; in the case of Social rolls
made to engender positive emotions, it increases
the difficulty by a number equal to the rating (to a
maximum of 10).
Each point of Abhorrence will make the
Gargoyle more horrific in the eyes of others. The
player chooses features to ‘enhance’ the physical
appearance of the character, selecting one feature
for each level of the Gargoyle’s Abhorrence
attribute. Each feature is gained at the same level
as the level of Abhorrence it was chosen for.
Doing this can help the player engage with her
Gargoyle more in play and create engaging stories
- the Toreador likes your translucent crystal skin
and takes you as her ward; the inquisitor (mortal
or Sabbat) sees your horns as a sign of demonic
influence or allegiance and seeks to kill you; your
animal features are similar to that of another
Gargoyle which creates envy and competition, and
so on.
When using these rules, the player of a
Gargoyle must choose one Abhorrent feature, for

Handsome Dan’s Abhorrence Features

Handsome Dan (the narrator of Chapter 1) serves as a good example of more advanced Abhorrence.
Dan’s twisted, 6-foot frame is truly horrific. Almost all of his bones jut out like large Tudor-style
crossbeams, with browning red-brick skin padding the flesh between each beam. Rounded ‘cables’ of
flesh hang from his back, apparently reeled around his joints like those of an abandoned ocean liner.
His eyes stretch grotesquely down his face like large translucent ‘windows’ flecked with red, devoid of
pupils. Dan simply views these as adding character, hence his nickname (which he insists is not ironic).
He is rarely seen without a brown flat cap atop his gnarled head. He even owns a tailor made frock coat
which he gleefully displayed at a ‘Bloodlines ball’ in recent nights.
Abhorrences: Accentuation 1, Growths 2, Petrified Flesh 3, Architecture 4

56 Chapter Three: Hearts of Stone

each level of Abhorrence her character has. The
severity of each feature depends on the level of
of Abhorrence it was chosen for. Each Gargoyle’s
base dot of Abhorrence must be used to purchase
the Petrified Flesh feature, unless the player wishes
to use that point for another feature and take
Petrified Flesh to a higher rank (after spending
Attribute points or Freebie points to increase
Abhorrence). The highest level of each Abhorrence
feature grants the character unique benefits in
exchange for his extreme malformation.
Example: Max is creating his Gargoyle,
who has three dots in Abhorrence. Wanting his
character to appear as a classic church grotesque,
Max chooses to distribute the levels as follows:
Horns, Talons and Tusks at level one (granting the
character small, stubby horns), Petrified Flesh at
level two (creating a thin but distinct layer of rough
stone over the character’s body) and withering at
level three (leaving the character only three feet tall
or so).
Synergy
It is suggested that you blend the features
for each level of Abhorrence in order to give
your Gargoyle a unique appearance. Hunch 4
and Architecture 3, for example, might result in
a Roman pillar growing from the back; Spines
2 and Animal Features 1 could provide longer
but thinner quills like those of a porcupine; or
Shrinkage 3 and Elongation 2 can produce a
creature with shriveled legs and elongated arms
who must bound along for movement on the
ground.
Abhorrence 6+
Any low-generation Construct with a physical
form so repulsive as to have reached Abhorrence
6 will present a spectacle seemingly in violation
of universal law. Any mortal or ghoul (other
than his own) who witnesses such a Gargoyle will
automatically enter a blind frenzy, fleeing to at
least a distance of 100 feet.
Gargoyle Specific Features
Those features listed below are those specific to
Gargoyle appearance. Almost no vampire outside
Clanbook: Gargoyles
of the Gargoyle bloodline will be able to manifest
any of these features. As with Mimesis, Gargoyles
Embraced by the same sire or Gestated within
the same Womb-Bearer will often possess similar
features as a result of their creation.
Petrified Flesh
The hallmark of their bloodline, each and
every Gargoyle - cast, Embraced, or Misbegotten -
has Petrified Flesh. It is unknown quite what part
of the creation ritual unerringly endows mutilated
Kindred flesh this mineral composition, but no
Gargoyle on earth is without it. Petrified Flesh is
also the only feature tied to a Discipline; as non-
Gargoyle Kindred improve their understanding of
Visceratika, they also develop this Abhorrence to a
limited degree.
• Your skin has become more of a mineral
coating, with rough chunks visible across every
part of your skin.
•• The roughened chunks become inflexible
and rigid, even sharp in some places. This grainy
exterior will have a notably inhuman colouration,
changing from the Gargoyles original skin to a
mottled grey or similar colour.
••• Your body is so thoroughly coated in thick,
rock-like skin that you grind faintly as you move,
creating a subtle crunching noise and depositing
small amounts of inorganic rock dust behind you.
•••• You appear to be a mobile rock formation,
with no easily recognizable human characteristics.
Your arms and legs may even blend in with
your skin when folded. Small depressions and
protrusions might give your body ‘caves’ of
missing flesh and overhanging ‘crags’ of tissue.
These marks can become points of pride to elder
Gargoyles to flaunt amongst their Grotesquerie.
••••• No features, facial or otherwise, may be
discerned within the cracks and coves of your rigid
mantle. Moreover, another Gargoyle may try to use
you to perform the third level of Visceratika, since
the top three inches of your flesh have transmuted
into entirely inorganic stone.
Variations: The player can choose and
variety of stone or stone like substance they find
57
appealing. Suggestions include marble, granite,
obsidian, quartz, hematite, tarmac, and brick.
Architecture
Gargoyles have an innate connection to
structure, home, and hearth, to the point that
many constructs seem to be just that - constructed.
Elements of architecture will appear in their flesh,
from small rivet indentations to tiles inlaid along
their wing membranes. This feature emerges as an
accentuation of the Gargoyle’s Mimesis and only
manifests in Gargoyles which have a history with
man-made structures, whether they underwent
Gestation in one and/or have made their Eyries in
one long enough to develop substantial Mimesis.
All elements of this feature will match the
architectural style of the building which the
Gargoyle is Mimetically linked to, as well as its
level of maintenance and repair. As such, the
precise effects of this feature are for the Storyteller
and the player to mutually determine.
• Pronounced, square-edged edges might run
down your legs and arms. Your ears might be
squared and inflexible.
•• Your eyes might be angular, resembling
stained-glass windows. Your skin might bear
distinct brickwork patterning which changes for
each area of your body.
••• You might possess sloped frills at every
joint like a pagoda roof; small deep slits might be
aligned all across your skin like embrasures, and
even your brow ridge might sport ornamentation.
•••• Your eyes might be completely clear, square
panes of crystal glass. Inch-thick brickwork might
coat your entire skin. Your skull might become
pointed and almost twice as tall as normal, with
miniature steeple protrusions running the length
of your collar bone. You resemble a walking
church, castle, skyscraper, or other building in
miniature.
••••• Your flesh may simulate apparently non-
mineral features. Functional miniature wooden
shutters might serve for your eyelids (on drawstring
tendons), plastic guttering transports blood
around your body, and a cranial chimney stack
58 Chapter Three: Hearts of Stone
might perpetually emits smoke. You may even
possess miniature gargoyles fixed to your shoulders
resembling Grotesquerie mates. This is arguably
the most disturbing of the Gargoyle features and
may cause an increase in the difficulty of courage
tests while at this level.
Variations: The above are simply examples of
physical features, any form of architecture can be
used; postmodern, art deco, gothic, baroque, as
well as any region of the world at the storyteller’s
discretion.
Engravings
Due to the mysterious nature of the Gargoyles’
creation, no scholar truly knows each and every
procedure Virstania undertook while devising her
famous ritual. Every now and then, a Gargoyle
emerges with evidence of her magnificent
work scrawled into his flesh like a forgotten
memorandum to herself.
• Your flesh is indented with rows of arcane
script.
•• The quantity of text stretching across your skin
multiplies. Each symbol may be carved around half
a centimeter deep into your flesh.
••• The hundreds of inch-deep inscriptions may
make wild courses across your body. Your eyes
could even be ladened with sigils running down
every vein, as well as every millimeter of your skin.
•••• Many thousands of runes might appear
across your flesh and could occasionally glow with
arcane power, or seem to be carved so deep that
only darkness can be seen within their grooves.
••••• Rather than static markings across your
flesh, the pictographs may continuously rewrite
themselves as they continually scrawl across your
body. The sound of stone being carefully chiseled
might often be heard from you as new symbols
form every second of the night. Anyone with an
Occult rating of five may even use you to learn
new metaphysical knowledge.
Variations: Any form of arcane calligraphy
can be used along with symbols of any school
of magical thought, though there exists an
unsurprising tendency towards the hermetic.
Those manifested by modern Gargoyles are cave
imagery, alchemical symbols, and hieroglyphs
depicting key moments in Tremere and Gargoyle
history, though descending Sanskrit text and
primal glyphs are all possible.
Layers
Like the very earth from which the Gargoyles
derive their resilient mantle, the flesh of many
Rockheads separates like sediment to form
numerous layers.
•Your body is split into a handful of horizontal
layers, the number of which increase exponentially
according to age, generation, and Visceratika
rating. The older you are, the lower your
generation, and the higher your Visceratika, the
more layers you have. Skin texture will subtly
change between the layers from smooth to rough
to grainy, and so on. The layers are clearly visible
from a moderate distance, like looking at a cliff
face.
•• The differences in layer colour may become
quite startling. They might take on the appearance
of any mineral: black obsidian, white marble,
yellow sand, or red ruby for example.
••• The layers now produce overhangs, inch-wide
ridges that appear as if the layers are somehow
detaching. The overhang will be in a different
direction for each layer. This effect makes it appear
as if the Gargoyle has been sliced into numerous
pieces.
•••• The ridges are now so distinct and
pronounced that they possess a three inch
overhang on every layer. This effect of separation
makes it look as if they are clearly falling apart.
••••• The layers become entirely separated,
meaning that the Kindred can physically detach
each layer while only suffering one level of Lethal
damage per layer removed, rather than suffering
aggravated damage or even final death. This
damage may be healed normally once the layers are
reattached.
Variations: The player can have their layers
vertically or diagonally if desired.
Clanbook: Gargoyles
Weathering
This feature mimics the natural decay, erosion,
and weathering of stone when exposed to the
elements.
• Most of your skin may have crumbled away,
leaving sections of musculature exposed. What
flesh remains may be covered in small cracks or
even worn away to a smooth finish.
•• Your fingers may be weathered to the extreme,
exposing the thin tips of bone. Some parts of your
skin, like the forehead, might have crumbled away,
displaying a brittle and worn skull. Even portions
of your wing membrane may be missing, though
not to a degree that affects your ability to fly.
••• Most of your flesh is a matted, granite-laden
sludge coating your bones; significant patches
of your body are reduced to eroded depressions.
Many appendages have been stripped of their
flesh, exposing significant portions of bone.
•••• You may be worn as thin as a lampost. Your
face may be nothing more than a fractured old
skull and you might have fist-sized holes passing
straight through your entire body. Bones and
organs might protrude, resembling slate shards.
Your wings might be almost completely skeletal
only thin sludge veins keeping the bones together.
••••• You might have been reduced to nothing
but a dried mud skeleton, in which case even
projectiles can pass through you, having no flesh
to collide with. Blood seems to be stored inside
your marrow, as only small capillaries can be found
matted in the sludge around your bones.
Alternatively you may have an inverted form of
weathering, causing intact portions of your body -
your head; your chest; your forearms; or your shins
- to be connected to one another by only one string
of thin sinew, held up by unknown and unnatural
forces.
General Abhorrence Features
Though they reflect the Gargoyle condition
just as well as any other feature, some features can
be found in other Kindred cursed with inhuman
ugliness. At the Storyteller’s discretion, Nosferatu
and bloodlines with Appearance 0 as a weakness,
59
as well as characters with the Monstrous Flaw (see
V20 page 482), may make use of the Abhorrence
rules and use the features listed below. (For a more
in-depth treatment of Abhorrence and specific
features for other types of Kindred, amongst many
other things, see the upcoming Storytellers Vault
book The Endless Death).
Accentuation
A strange emergence similar to a feature of
grotesques found on some small churches in
Western Europe, Accentuation represents the
enlargement of a particular part of the Gargoyles
body, leading to unwieldy and impractical
forms. Only one particular body part should be
accentuated rather than a number of them to give
a more dramatic and grotesque effect, although
any part can be effected.
• Your most naturally prominent feature has
grown to double its original size: a nose, your
buttocks, or your hands for example.
•• Multiple body parts may expand up to three
times as large as normal: Feet will begin to look
more like large flippers; breasts balloon out; eyes
bulge like those of a fish.
••• Many features may have grown to more than
three times their natural size. Abdomens become
large and rotund, thighs expand like tree trunks,
and ears stand a foot from the skull.
•••• You now have certain features which make
you unidentifiable as human. Your lips might be
the only visible part of your face, your head might
be is five times its natural size, or your palms might
span two square feet when spread out.
••••• Any mortal who sees you will be struck
with pure terror, as your body parts may have
expanded to more than five times their natural
size. Your cheeks might be as big as tires, your
shoulders may jut out to three feet either side of
your body, or your tongue might loll from your jaw
like a loose neck tie.
Animal Features
This feature is most often brought about when
a Gargoyle is Gestated using Gangrel ‘ingredients;
the results of the Outlanders’ Clan weakness is
60 Chapter Three: Hearts of Stone
sometimes carried over to the new Gargoyle foetus,
and the descendants of these cast Gargoyles may
carry on this bestial legacy.
• You have numerous small features: A vestigial
beak on your top lip; scales running across an area
of your skin; or slightly pointed ears like a fennec
fox.
•• You have one major feature such as: A
large turtle shell spanning the length of your
back; a long giraffe neck (similar to the effects
of elongation but with fur patterning); or thick
feathery down coating your skin.
••• You have two major features twisting your
already inhuman frame: The entire head of an
eagle; two bear forelegs disproportionate to the
rest of your body replacing your arms; or two long
snake tails in place of your legs.
•••• You are entirely inhuman with half of your
body taken up by an array of animal features, all
from misfit animals. For example, you may bear
the long chitinous legs of a cricket (increased
in size to human proportions), the striped tail
of a lemur, and the abdomen of an electric eel.
Alternatively you can be entirely composed of one
animal’s features and appear as a perfect replica of
that animal, with no human features to be seen,
but still with petrified flesh.
••••• The highest level of this Abhorrence
brings about more supernatural aspects of the
Beast into your body. Your vocal cords might adapt
to naturally communicate with animals; your aura
might resemble that of a Gargoyle animal and not
a true vampire; or your blood may taste only as
sweet to other vampires as that of a natural animal.
In addition, your entire body is composed of
between six and eight major animal features, all of
different animals, making you look like a horrific
chimaera.
Biome
Kindred vitae is stored beneath their skin,
sitting statically and radiating regenerative
energy into the surrounding dead cells. In some
particularly freakish vampires, this energy can be
picked up by the spores of nearby flora who root
into this hidden ‘water table’ of blood and make a
permanent residence. Some poor Kindred gather
more than simple mold patches through this
process, becoming home to an ecosystem of floral
life and giving them the appearance of the fabled
Green Man or Leshy.
• The stone flesh endemic of your bloodline is
coated with lichen patches that cover your whole
body, interspersed with numerous mounds of moss
and algae.
•• Thin leafy vines are permanently entangled
around your flesh, roping in and out like veins.
The leaves of these vines are a deep and vibrant
red, depending on how recently you - and in turn
they - have fed.
••• Your floral parasites are unmissable due to
the thickened red and black foliage and barked
saplings growing from your skin. Your features
become hidden by the thick overgrowth around
your body and the growths begin to significantly
increase your overall size.
•••• Multiple thick bushes, three foot tall trees,
and fungi as wide as dinner plates may sprout from
your flesh, creating a perversely natural-looking
buildup of undergrowth and canopy. You have
become entirely obscured by the blood red leaves
of the vines mummifying your body.
••••• Your flesh has gone beyond supporting a
small floral ecosystem; now even termites and ants
have invaded, carving your back and shoulders
into a colossal nest. Readily fruiting trees feed
these nests with flowers and thicker foliage coating
it. The fruit of this ecosystem can be used to ghoul
anything that consumes it.
Variations: The flora used can be of any
particular region or even an eclectic mix -
coniferous forests, rainforests, kelp forests, and
deciduous forests, to give a few examples. The
Storyteller may even allow a dedicated fungal
biome, unnaturally tall mushrooms burrowing into
the Gargoyles flesh - which can even mutate into
cave caps (see page 96).
Elongation
This feature represents the elongation of
specific areas of the body, usually the neck,
Clanbook: Gargoyles
arms, and abdomen. It is considered something
of a ‘high society’ feature amongst Gargoyle
Grotesqueries, and is proudly sported by the
subterranean Gargoyle residents of the Parisian
catacombs, resulting from their Mimesis with the
Notre Dame Cathedral. As with Accentuation,
it is advisable to only make one element of the
Gargoyle’s body elongated. This will provide more
impact than their entire body being contorted
and dysfunctional, and prevent characters from
becoming too difficult to play by virtue of their
mutations. The height restrictions of some
buildings will give Gargoyles with the highest levels
of this feature some hurdles to overcome.
• Your limbs and neck can gain an extra six inches
in length. Your fingers each extend by an inch or
you can gain a foot in length to your abdominal
region.
•• Your already gangly limbs, along with your
neck and abdomen grow by around two feet,
becoming disturbing even to most Kindred. Your
digits extend by four inches each.
••• You have features that have managed to
stretch to four times their natural size, making you
seem nauseating to behold. Your limbs have grown
by well over three feet; your neck is now two feet
long; your abdomen is six and a half feet long,
causing you resemble a snake, worm, or eel.
•••• Your disproportionate body has limbs of
around five feet in length, and each digit reaches
to nearly a foot. Your neck, now almost three feet
long, can flex and stretch around corners.
••••• Your limbs finally extend to illogical
proportions, each being six and a half feet long,
making you resemble a colossal spider. Your torso
now stretches to nine feet in length, and can
contract to provide greater flexibility.
Growths
This provides the Gargoyle with a classic ‘troll
under the brigde’ appearance, with stalactites
dripping from their jaw line and numerous
unusual bulges across their body. These growths
simply manifest as alterations to the Petrified Flesh
covering the Gargoyle’s body.
61
• Many hard warts span the length of the
Kindred’s body with an angular tip to them,
making them protrude around an inch from the
skin.
•• These spikes are as long as human fingers, and
individual examples are longer than the others:
Those running down your back; those hanging
from your chin; or those stalagmites pointing up
from your shoulders, head and feet.
••• The spines stretch as far as a foot from
your body. Now looming more like an unusual
rock formation than a natural ailment, they have
become a highly disconcerting feature of your body
for any Kindred observer.
•••• The spines are now two-foot-long columns
bursting out of your flesh and stretching as long
as your forearm. They point in every possible
direction, with no logical patterning.
••••• Your body is entirely coated in spikes and
growths, each almost three feet in length, making
you look like a humanoid sea urchin. Anyone
touching you with any force will receive two dice of
lethal damage from these. Alternatively stalactites
descend from your body, reaching down as far as
the floor.
Variations: These growths can appear as
stalagmites and stalactites, slate shards, and even
‘beautiful’ crystal columns (all emerging from your
skin at different points and in different directions)
irrespective of whichever mineral you have chosen
your Petrified Flesh to consist of.
Horns, Talons & Tusks
There are very few Gargoyles throughout
history that did not emerge from their creation
- whichever form that may have taken - without
horns and claws. As with a lack of wings, or having
particularly small or atrophied wings, not having
horns or claws was usually seen as a statement
of weakness during the days of the Revolt. This
social construct is largely absent in free Gargoyle
society, however, though it persists within the
Flock. Until the fifth level, the ‘weapons’ provided
by this feature are impressive but blunt, and as
such provide no change in the bashing damage of
unarmed attacks.
62 Chapter Three: Hearts of Stone
• Small natural armaments grow from your head,
hands, and/or mouth. These bone blades are
obvious from even cursory inspection.
•• The natural weapons grow to almost a foot
in length from your body, making you look like a
prehistoric beast.
••• Your weapons have reached the length of
a man’s forearm, twisting and contorting as they
will. Even tusks and talons can grow this long,
becoming much more of a power statement than
actual weaponry.
•••• Your tusks stretch down like short swords
as far as your chest, your horns grow like spears
for a four foot above your head resembling skeletal
tree branches, and your talons grow like daggers
between every knuckle.
••••• Extravagant scrimshaw-like patterns
decorate your thick horns, talons, or tusks as they
weave around your head, hands, and jaw. At this
point in the features evolution the armaments
become sharp enough to deal harm, providing
Strength +2 lethal damage on unarmed attacks.
Variations: Any natural horns, antlers, talons,
claws, tusks, or teeth can be used. Potential
examples include: longhorn sheep or narwhal for
horns; sabre-toothed cat or beaver for tusks or
teeth; hawk or bear for impressive talons or claws.
Hunch
As well as Gargoyles, many Nosferatu suffer
with this feature, almost to the point of it being
a cliche. It gradually swells the flesh around the
Gargoyles spine creating a hunch which, given
time, re-molds their body into a quadrupedal
position under its sheer indomitable size.
• Your shoulders have swollen up to your jawline
and around the base of your skull, forcing your
head to permanently point forwards.
•• The now colossal hump on your back has
swollen, pushing your shoulder up to around a
foot high. This hunch makes your head point
downward almost permanently and significantly
arches your back.
••• You are constantly bent forward under the
weight of your hunch, it has expanded to almost
two feet high, now towering above your head. This
forces you to walk with a pronounced hobble to
your step.
•••• The hunch is so overbearing you must walk
by bounding along on all fours for most of the
night. It is now a clear three feet high and wide.
••••• The hunch has grown to the point that
you have become quadrupedal. your head will even
have melded up into the hump removing any trace
of a neck. You look more like a crab than anything
close to a human being. However, this does mean
that your organs have rearranged as well; your
heart and brain now reside deep within this tower
of flesh. Any lethal damage you receive is also
halved as bashing damage is.
Minimalism
A particularly disturbing feature stemming
solely from the alien vitae of the Tzimisce, it
inverts everything that members of that Clan hold
dear about mutation and evolution, stripping
them of their unique and empowering visages.
Gargoyles cursed by this abhorrence are labeled
with the derogatory nickname ‘mannequins’, and
are usually shunned by every sane Kindred the
world over.
• Every physical characteristic of your being such
as warts, wrinkles, lesions, boils, colour variation,
and other irregularities become entirely smoothed
out and standardised.
•• Your eyebrow ridge and jaw line recede to
make your head resemble a smooth egglike dome;
your nose and ears shrink to a quarter of their
usual size, looking more like spots than sensory
organs; and every last growth on your skin is made
completely level.
••• Your fingers become smooth rods with
no nails or joint creases; your eye sockets come
forward to become level with your face, resembling
simple patterning on a flat surface; and any hair
on the body is entirely lost.
•••• Your body is finally that of a mannequin;
you are a smooth and undefined mass with
nothing but a slit for a mouth and pin holes for
your eyes, nostrils and ears. This makes it difficult
Clanbook: Gargoyles
for anyone to get any emotional reading from you,
deliberate or otherwise.
••••• This level of Minimalism goes beyond
the physical with other elements of your self being
‘sanitised’. Your aura may become bleached,
leaving a clear haze surrounding you; it may be that
no sound results from your footsteps or wing beats;
or your vitae may become as tasteless as water
(though still beneficial).
Tails
Commonly possessed by all three Clans
associated with the Gargoyle bloodlines and
the Constructs themselves - Gangrel, Nosferatu,
and Tzimisce. Tails seem to crop up in the flesh
from all mutagenic vitae. This feature may seem
synonymous with Animal Features (alongside
which it often appears), it instead provides
additional tails for every level taken rather than a
single increasingly unusual tail.
• You have grown a tail, around half the normal
size of one of your legs. The tail is coated in
bare skin with an arrow head point at its tip and
cannot act as an independent appendage due to its
thinness and pointed tip.
•• Another tail joins the first one; both are now
as long as your legs. The movement of each tail is
erratic and unpredictable creating a continuous
writhing effect behind you.
••• Three substantially long tails grow from your
back. They are constantly in motion and seem to
possess rudimentary independent thought, lashing
out at passers by, knocking items off of shelves
and generally causing havoc when you are angry,
agitated, hungry, or otherwise disturbed.
•••• Your body is now endowed with four tails,
each double the length of your spine. They are
still capable of movement, but you can exercise a
greater degree of control over them.
••••• Like a nest of vipers emerging from the
base of your spine, five tails writhe in your wake.
They are capable of twist above your head and
attempt to grapple passers by when your Beast
is roused. These tails are so developed and well-
connected to your nervous system that by spending
63
a temporary Willpower point you can control
all five for one turn, each of which can deal one
attack as a single action for all five. Each tail may
strike a different or the same target, though they
only deal Strength-1 bashing damage.
Withering
Withering is famous in Gargoyle culture due
to its appearance on the Scout Mould, Fidus; it is
from it that he gained his moniker ‘the Shrunken
Beast’. It simply reduces a Gargoyle’s overall
stature and build.
•You are proportionally a foot shorter than you
normally would be. Though this only makes
you look smaller than average, it still creates the
uncanny feeling that you have been shrunken,
both in yourself and in others.
•• You are proportionally two feet shorter than
normal. This significantly outlines you as not an
average person, it will appear as if you suffer from
some form of dwarfism. You must take the Short
Flaw (V20 page 481).
••• You are proportionally three feet shorter
than normal. You are now very clearly inhuman,
more closely resembling a stunted imp or
homunculus than a human being due to your
wings and other abhorrent features.
•••• You are proportionally four feet shorter
than normal. Human witnesses will likely either
flee in terror or attempt to record you and post it
the footage online.
••••• You are proportionally only one foot
tall. Though you cannot possibly be mistaken
for a natural human being, you can be easily
overlooked. Stealth and Flight are easier to you (at
a -2 difficulty) due to your diminutive stature.
Variations: You can modify this Abhorrence by
either reducing your overall size by a foot each level
or significantly whither a single body part per level
(in a similar but reverse way to Accentuation).

64 Chapter Three: Hearts of Stone

 Chapter Four:
Of Mingled Blood
A Bloodline’s Bloodlines
The majority of Gargoyles in existence tonight
are sired, meaning that they have been Embraced
by a Gargoyle capable of the act (which are also
now in the majority), in much the same way as
other Kindred. One night they were human,
the next they began the traumatic process of
Gestation, their bodies warp and their minds are
wiped blank as they are reanimated by the power
of the sire’s blood. Nonetheless, there still exist
a notable number of Gargoyles who were already
vampires before their Gestation. In these cases
their previous bodies (often along with those of
other Kindred) have been used in various rituals
designed to bring forth new Gargoyles.
There are two broad groups of non-sired
Gargoyles: the Cast (who are considered by some
to be the most ‘pure’) and the Misbegotten (widely
recognised by those who know of them at all as
the least). Rare though members of these ‘sub-
bloodlines’ of Gargoyles may be, they are not so
few in number as to be completely discounted. The
cast represent the grisly origins of Gargoyle-kind,
while its strange and unpredictable future can be
seen in the Misbegotten.
Clanbook: Gargoyles
The Castings
Of the ‘pure’ breed of Gargoyles, those grown
within a womb-bearer or Gestation chamber
rather than having been Embraced, there are
three recognized ‘Castings’, each suited to a
different duty or set of duties. The number of
Cast Gargoyles produced every year - which has
been low for many centuries - has plummeted
even further since Virstania parted violently with
the Clan, taking with her much of the original
materials and formulae, and the creation of new
Gargoyles was outlawed by the signing of the
Montmartre Pact.
After Chaundice and most of his immediate
‘children’ abandoned Ceoris, taking with him the
knowledge of true Gargoyle creation in his blood,
it was decreed by Goratrix that nothing like the
escape of Chaundice and his progeny could be
allowed to happen again. As such, he instructed
Virstania to amend At Our Command It Breathes
so that it could be used to create new, specialised
Gargoyles, their loyalty ensured not only by
inclination but by their very essences and bodies.
As Virstania added and subtracted various
arcane and alchemical elements of her formulae
in order to give her children more specific forms
and natures, the three Castings came to be. The
powders of additional, stronger types of rock were
added and a longer Gestation period allowed
in order to provide the Sentinels with greater
65
stamina. Virstania’s own vitae, filtered through This combination of generalist and specialized
the smoke of incense derived from the roots of Gargoyles served very well during the Revolt, and
the strange ‘fire-flowers’ found throughout the the cast still hold positions of respect in the minds
Carpathians, granted Scouts their keen senses of most Gargoyles, albeit often tinged with a
and natural stealth. Kindred ash ground up with certain pity.
a drop of Lupine blood imparted feral rage to the
Warriors.
In the modern nights, no one truly knows the
original provenance of the Castings. For example,
some argue that Gangrel must have lent form to
the Scouts because of their survival instincts and
their drive to explore; others the Nosferatu, for
their possession of Obfuscate and their furtive
natures; and yet others the Tzimisce for their
manifestation of Auspex and the way in which
their bodies do not heal correctly - an inheritance
of the vile legacy of Vicissitude. Ultimately it
would seem that the Clan or Clans of the victims
did not matter nearly so much as the methods
used.
In the eyes of Goratrix and their Mother, the
Castings were cutting edge magical innovations,
wrought according to a refined art. Gradually,
however, these beings became redundant compared
to the next big thing - the sired Gargoyles. Thanks
to Virstania’s constant improvements to her
formula, it eventually became more economic to
have Gargoyles sire naturally than to source the
obscure ingredients required to merely create one
creature, never mind the months-long Gestation
periods (almost a year in the case of Sentinels).
The Casting of a Gargoyle, however, did not pass
down to a Gargoyle’s childer; while this left them
free of the Casting’s imposed weaknesses, it also
left them bereft of their powers.
As Virstania noticed the decline in her cast
children’s numbers, she created the Discipline of
Visceratika from the Gargoyle rituals she deemed
most useful for her children. Her hope was that
the sired Gargoyles would become versatile enough
that each individual could perform any or all of
the Casting’s duties as necessary, though not as
effectively as a cast Gargoyle would perform its
specific role. The Cast Gargoyles were maintained
as specialist units, while their sired counterparts
came to form the rank-and-file of the bloodline.

66 Chapter Four: Of Mingled Blood

Scouts
Quick, nimble and created to delve deep into
the heart of enemy strongholds to extract sensitive
information (or simply to turn its defenders to ash
while they rest), Scout-Cast Gargoyles have powers
and instincts designed to make them an unseen
force of ruin. The Scouts are seen as conniving
and mischievous as well as intelligent and quick.
As lone hunters it would be rare for a pack of
Scouts to be sent out rather than one individual,
they greatly value their privacy and their ability
to carry out tasks single handedly. Rituals of
invisibility and stone melding made them nearly
undetectable.
In the event they were found and attacked,
a failsafe was built into their makeup to resist
divulging Tremere secrets, as physical harm would
cause their flesh to solidify until it became wholly
calcified. As a result, they are the only Gargoyle
or even Kindred on earth whose bodies remain
after death, in the form of a frozen statuesque
effigy. The Scout-cast have developed a deep love
of sorcery. Their role was to learn secrets, and
what better secrets could there be than those
of the mystic arts? Starting with Fidus, many
young Scouts took on the position of Gargoyle
apprentices under Virstania, feeding their own
egos by believing they were a step above the other
Slaves, being taught the Mother’s own magic.
Tonight, those Scouts shunning a life of espionage
and secrecy will adopt the shaman’s way, becoming
the spiritual leader of their Eyrie and practicing
many rituals uniquely developed by Gargoyles, for
Gargoyles.
Nicknames: Shadows
Sect: The Flock is home to a vast number of cast
Scouts, most of which keep to their ‘natural’ role
as spies. They trawl the earth for escaped, freed or
sired Gargoyles, which Warriors may then abduct
and to adopt back into the Flock.
Children of Chaundice value the more
shamanic Scouts, for their values are solely focused
around the evolutin and elevation of Gargoyle
kind. Chaundice himself encourages close bonds
with the spirits of each Grotesquerie’s Eyrie.
Clanbook: Gargoyles
Anarchs value both sides of the Scout Casting,
using the stealth provided by Visceratika for their
various missions against the Camarilla and Sabbat.
Their shamanic sides are favoured by Ravnos and
Gangrel anarchs to the point of wonder and awe.
Appearance: Scouts more often than not take
on attributes of utter inhumanity with sunken
features, elongated limbs, and shrunken bodies.
Fidus was the first of his kind, and serves as an
example of the horror they can embody. Scouts
will frequently opt to learn Vicissitude at some
point in their unlives. Using this Discipline not
only has the potential of making them more
outwardly hideous but allows them to adopt a new
form for each mission.
If you choose to use the Abhorrence rule
(see page 56) Scouts suffer from an additional
Abhorrence feature, meaning they have two
automatic dots in Abhorrence rather the one
that Embraced Gargoyles have. Their additional
Abhorrence is Withering.
Eyries: An exclusively Scout Grotesquerie will
choose a more natural setting for their Eyrie. Cave
systems and mountain crags provide them nesting
grounds for most of their unlives. This oneness
with nature and their environment provides
more adaptive camouflage and a greater force
behind their animistic rituals. In Eyries with other
Gargoyles they will tend to only pay fleeting visits
rather than a permanent stay. Scouts often find it
hard to keep close ties with their family members,
preferring a more secluded and independent
approach to their duties.
Gestation: A Scout is often made small, with less
parts used in its design. Muscles, bones, and some
organs will be sacrificed to give the Scout a more
lithe shape (many of these rejected parts are fed
to the womb-bearer so as to circulate the foetus’s
natural humours within their amniotic fluid or
added to the gestation chamber).
After their birth they will flee from their
mewling brethren to seek isolation and time to
come to terms with their existence. For their
second night, they are suckled on the womb-
bearer’s necrotic bosom. Amongst the Flock, the
vitae they drink from Alvusia is carefully infused
67
with the incense of the strange ‘fire flower’, which
burns hot as it passes through her lactiferous duct.
This infancy awakens the Scout’s inhuman senses
and leaves them detached from their Grotesquerie.
Character creation: Intelligence, Perception,
and Dexterity are fundamental to this band of
Constructs. They will be focused on Stealth,
Survival, Athletics and Empathy to give them the
means to collect any information required.
Disciplines: Auspex, Flight, Obfuscate.
Weaknesses: Stealth and silence are all-important
to those Kindred cast in the guise of the Shrunken
Beast, their duties including the infiltration of
enemy strongholds and discovering the secrets
hidden therein.
Their weakness to them makes them more
likely to stick to an approach of secrecy and
subtlety, as their bodies react to physical harm
with immediate and painful petrification of the
wounded area. Scouts have their wound penalties
doubled from the intense discomfort and disabling
nature of this affliction. Due to this feature of
their form, it is impossible to torture a Scout-cast
Gargoyle without it becoming incapacitated long
before it would give over its secrets. The Storyteller
may also elect to entirely disable the use of a
damaged limb after aggravated damage has been
sustained.
Grotesqueries: Scouts rarely meld into ‘family
life’, but rather sardonically berate each other, and
punish those whom they see as failing. The less
stealthy and more intellectual of Scouts become
shamans of the Eyrie, in which position they will
judge the failures of their kin and practice rituals
on them.
68 Chapter Four: Of Mingled Blood
The View from Without
Sired
“Their shifty ways are an antiquated strategy,
from back when we didn’t have cameras,
drones, and microphones. The sooner all of
them turn to sorcery the better.”
Warriors
“I have no time for underhanded trickery.
Our kind have too much potential to while
it away reading and scheming.”
Sentinels
“Our brothers are masters of misdirection,
but they suspect the same of others. We
want to trust them but they don’t trust us.”
Calacas
“All the time ya spent spreadin’ lies is a waste
of time better spent drinkin’ the rumblood.
Take a sip an’ say I’m wrong.”
Gorgons
“Their vile looks speak to chaos and discord.
Sre they spawns of the dark one?”
Mariners
“They’re so different to our own Scouts.
How do they sit still so long?”
Minkisi
“Our Magaji keep many spy masters in their
domains. They could never reach the Scout’s
potential, however.”
Sentinels
Overview and History: Large and imposing,
the Sentinels were cast to defend chantries
from the Tremere’s enemies, in particular from
the forces of the Tzimisce, such as the Vozhd
that frequently attempted to break through the
Warlocks’ defences. To their foes, these beasts
seem formidable, but they primarily serve defensive
roles in their Grotesqueries, drawing satisfaction
from nurturing fledglings and protecting the weak.
To keep the Sentinels from wandering from their
posts, Virstania was forced at Goratrix’s insistence
to endow them with a weakness whereby if they
ever abandoned their proper place in Ceoris, they
would become disorientated and confused.
These Grotesques tend to stay with the
adolescent members or the infirm to keep the
‘family unit’ together (possibly through deep-seated
fears of losing their family and falling to a bestial
mindset). In addition to these duties, Sentinels
rear Gargoyle beasts and ghouls from childhood,
teaching them who to respect and how to behave.
Nicknames: Stonewalls
Sect: Sabbat Sentinels are an odd but common
group of gargoyles in the kindred world. Gargoyles
will often join a coven rather than a nomadic pack,
shunning the wandering lifestyle and choosing to
settle in a city. It is rare that a Sentinel will take a
title within the Sabbat, other than possibly pack
priest if they are particularly committed Noddists.
The Camarilla Embrace Sentinels readily, due
to their devotion to their company and incredible
resilience. With a Sentinel as seneschal (a greatly
unusual occurrence) a Prince may ensure they their
primogen will be duly cared for and no party will
be mistreated or harmed.
Particular Sentinels (especially those converted
to womb-bearers) choose to detach themselves
from humanity altogether and settle Grotesqueries
in mountainsides with a few Gargoyle acolytes.
There they are likely to breed massive nests of
childer, ignoring the local Kindred and kine in
equal measure.
Clanbook: Gargoyles
Appearance: Sentinels possess swollen and
overbearing features with little in the way of
fearsome weaponry or inhuman parts. They may
possess denominations such as boils, twisted limbs,
or unusual scarring, but their true horror comes
from their sheer mass.
If you choose to use the Abhorrence rule
(see page 56) Sentinels suffer from an additional
Abhorrence feature, meaning they have two
automatic dots in Abhorrence rather the one
that Embraced Gargoyles have. Their additional
Abhorrence feature is Accentuation, specifically in
the abdomen.
Eyries: Sentinels free of domination tend to make
their domains beneath cities - not because they
value the dank and the cold, but because they feel
sewers and subways to be accessible to all and more
easily fortifiable.
Sentinels take great care in how their Eyrie is
kept and presented, choosing locations that suit
their personalities. Curmudgeonly Constructs will
choose foreboding dens while excitable Gargoyles
choose the unused areas of busy subways,
perilously close to unsuspecting mortals.
Gestation: In many ways, Sentinels endure the
opposite creative process to Scouts. Their bodies
are padded out to give them greater mass than
they can necessarily support. This padding is often
sourced from rotting clumps of leftover Kindred
flesh (refuse which can also be used for iecur
production; see page 97).
This meat is encrusted in quartz dust before
being sewn into the foetus’s body. A Sentinel’s
Gestation is quite drawn out, and makes for an
especially agonizing experience for the womb
bearer; the foetus is barely small enough to
fit within her womb, meaning ribs and spinal
columns will easily become splintered, unable to
heal for the extended ten-month Gestation period.
In Gestation chambers, often the waxen seals will
crack and burst from the growing pressure within.
When the infant lumbers its titanic body
through the womb-bearer’s cervix they will (while
accompanied by other sentinels) consume the
surrounding placental matter rich with Vitae.
69
Character creation: Sentinels often have a close
understanding (for Gargoyles, at any rate) of
Crafts, Empathy, Expression, and Performance,
being able to educate and entertain the young of
their Grotesquerie. Brawl comes naturally to them,
though aggression is always a last resort in lieu of
steadfast resistance.
Disciplines: Flight, Fortitude, Potence.
Weaknesses: All Sentinels experience a complete
dependency on their own kind. These beings of
stone and flesh revel in the company of each other
to the point where they live for little else. At any
point that these Gargoyles are left in isolation,
without at least one master, dependent, or friend,
they become confused and disorientated, halving
all of their dice pools until such a relationship has
been formed or renewed.
Grotesqueries: Grotesqueries are more important
to Sentinels than other Castings, because of their
weakness, Sentinels know they will not be free
to live in solitude. To this end they stay in their
Eyries and around their Grotesque kin as much as
is possible. They tend to their kin like the Mother
herself, bathing them in love and dedication.
Most are willing to lay down their lives so the pack
survives (hence their station).
70 Chapter Four: Of Mingled Blood
The View from Without
Sired
“You were the only Kindred who cared for
our sires and grandsires. You loved them as
if they were cast. This kindness is not forgot-
ten.”
Warriors
“Your hearts are not made of stone like ours.
If not for us, your weakness would be your
downfall.”
Scouts
“You need more that an unmoving frame to
hold back the enemies of our Eyrie. A wall
of flesh and stone such as yourselves cannot
stop the forces of ignorance and falsehood.”
Calacas
“Now you I get! Live in comfort, care for
your friends and live how you want!”
Gorgons
“A temple would be truly blessed if a we rose
from Duat with your resilience.”
Mariners
“At least we share the love of our children
with our cousins on land.”
Minkisi
“Our duties are not as clear-cut as your own,
we belong to our Magaji and must do their
bidding. We belong to them, but we do not
love them.”
Warriors
Overview and History: The cadres of shock
troops of Tremere chantries were almost always
designed with a pack of Warrior-Cast Gargoyles
at their core, alongside ghouls and fledgling
Warlocks. The Warriors gained gifts of might and
terror from their array of malicious mutations and
weaponry.
These Gargoyles vary in temperament from
feral beasts to boisterous competitors, and typically
behave much the same way off the battlefield as
they do on. The more bestial Warriors, however
easy to anger they may be, are likely to become
calm or even childlike and playful when near their
Sentinel siblings and womb-bearing mother.
A surprising inversion of behaviour arose soon
after the Revolt where many Warriors chose to
turn their ferocity in on themselves and use it to
cage the Beast rather than fuel it. These martial
‘guides’ spend all night, every night honing
themselves to master their bodies and minds
in equal mix, as well as teaching Disciplines to
younger Gargoyles and keeping them on the
straight and narrow.
Nicknames: Horrors
Sect: The Sabbat is usually home to the wilder
Gargoyles of this Casting, fitting in well with the
lower ranks of Sabbat culture, who do not care
for advanced thought or advancement on the
Paths of Enlightenment, but merely relish battle
and conquest. These Warriors may ascend to high
ranks in their packs and dioceses through sheer
violence. The rumour that their bodies are made
using Lupine blood is enough to frighten the
weaker-willed and less skeptical shovelheads.
Chaundice’s Children accept Warriors
from any corner of the earth, whether as deadly
combatants or wise teachers. They are valued as
rescuers of lost and enslaved Gargoyles, travelling
in vast packs to reclaim even a single Gargoyle
under domination. Their introspective outlooks
are also valued to enrich the free thought so
heavily encouraged in Chaundician Eyries.
Camarilla domains have one very specific seat
for Warrior-Cast Gargoyles, that of the scourge.
Clanbook: Gargoyles
Gargoyle scourges are merciless and tireless. No
boundary can prevent their approach, whether
they must fly, flow through stone, or simply force
their way through obstacles. No law-breaking
Kindred is safe if they are being hunted by a
Warrior - let alone a pack of them.
Appearance: Warriors are possessed of feral and
animalistic features, causing their approach to
resemble that of mythical berserkers charging
across the battlefield. They will most often be
bipedal, adorned with a variety of antlers, tusk-like
fangs, patches of petrified fur, and the talons of
multiple predatory animals.
If you choose to use the Abhorrence rule
(see page 56), Warriors suffer from an additional
Abhorrence feature, meaning they have two
automatic dots in Abhorrence rather the one
that Embraced Gargoyles have. Their additional
Abhorrence feature is Horns, Antlers or Tusks.
Eyries: Warriors are frequent residents within the
Eyrie, spending most of their downtime there,
training the fledgling Gargoyles and ‘play’ fighting
amongst themselves. Horrors prefer the tactical
advantage of a structured Eyrie; castles and old
forts suit them best, with multiple vantage points
and safe resting spaces.
Gestation: Not sedentary like the Sentinels or
subversive like the Scouts, Warriors are fearless
and unashamed, and emerge from Gestation
believing that they are champions.
Their Gestations are trials in and of themselves
for the womb bearer and the Warrior alike. They
are put together using large quantities of bone,
the flesh of ghouled animals in place of human
remains, and even a drop of Lupine blood to burn
in their hearts. Once this recipie of exotic parts is
sewn together, they are placed within the womb of
an already reluctant womb bearer. They grow and
mutate rapidly, with claws and bones protruding
through the womb bearers flesh; this lasts for
the first three months of their six-month-long
Gestation.
During the second half of their Gestations,
their Beasts take hold of them in an almost
permanent state of hallucinatory frenzy, during
71
which they imagine they are locked in combat with
the worst enemies their subconscious can invisage.
The ferocious fits and spasms that result typically
begin just in time for when their claws grow
through. After three months of unending battles
within his mind the Warrior will, rather than The View from Without
being expelled through the birth canal, rip through
the womb-bearer’s abdominal wall to create his Sired
own escape, dragging with him bits of separated “The Warriors treated our sires like freaks,
bone and gore as bloody trophies. but now we are the many. How irritating
Character creation: As is evident in their names, that must be.”
these constructs favour aggressive and forceful Sentinels
approaches to all areas of their lives. Strength,
“We are probably the only ones who can
Dexterity and, somewhat surprisingly, Charisma
calm your feral hearts. You are always wel-
lend great ability on the battlefield. These
come in our Eyrie.”
Attributes are always bolstered with strong degrees
of Melee, Brawl, Athletics and Intimidation. Scouts
Disciplines: Flight, Fortitude and Protean. “Such a lack of finesse.”
Weaknesses: In order to discourage Warriors from
Calacas
indulging too freely in the savage joys of frenzy, the
Tremere made it so that when they lose control “Your rebirth leaves you so bitter! Sets you
to the Beast, they begin to petrify. If they fail a off on the wrong foot. We love our baths;
Self-Control or Instinct roll made to avoid losing your lot would do well to learn from us:
control to the Beast, they will lose the function of come out laughin’, not fightin’, and you’ll
one Attribute for the remainder of the night as a know joy the rest of your nights.”
relevant body part turns to stone (causing all rolls
Gorgons
relying on that Attribute to fail). If they botch their
roll, this petrification must be healed as though it “I’m sure Anubis’s gates are piled high with
were a lost limb, requiring its forceful (and likely your victims, but there’s more to unlife than
painful) removal and regrowth. murder and glory.”
Grotesqueries: Since they spend most of their Mariners
spare time in the Eyrie training themselves and
“You can fight off a vozhd or two, sure,
others, Warriors are more likely to be respected
but you won’t be cheering if you meet our
than feared by their Grotesqueries. They make
enemies.”
great connections within their family units,
being able to defer their rage and violence until Minkisi
they reach the battlefield makes them strong “Without the warrior there can be no tribe,
commanding figures. They are able to discipline but too often they lack humility and con-
fledglings where the Sentinels’ compassion fails. trol.”
If, however, the Warriors do not manage to fight
on a regular basis they will become agitated and
confrontational with their entire Grotesquerie.

72 Chapter Four: Of Mingled Blood

Misbegotten Gargoyles
The Misbegotten is the collective term for the
disparate groups of Gargoyles created by individual
magicians using stolen, fragmentary notes
pertaining to the Mother’s research. The majority
of these records originate with the Tremere
antitribu, which they disseminated throughout
the Sabbat so as to ingratiate themselves with their
Sectmates. However, the creation of Gargoyles did
not take off very much within the Sabbat until
the formation of House Goratrix - and even then,
the bias against the Slaves held by many senior
Tzimisce, combined with the general mistrust
of the Spellbinders, has limited the practice.
The less cautious and secretive nature of the
Tremere antitribu compared to the parent Clan
has nonetheless caused workable but imperfect
fragments of At Our Command It Breathes to leak
outside of the Sword of Caine.
Those attempting to use such incomplete
formulae must fill in the gaps themselves, devising
rituals based (however loosely) on Virstania’s
original art. Examples of Misbegotten range
from sandstone mummies created using Setite
preservation rituals and specially-made Gestation
sarcophagi, to the angels of death from Central
America, fermented from the mingling of Samedi
bodies and corpseflesh in sacred stagnant pools.
Each variety is more disturbing than the last, and
Misbegotten are rarely seen in any area of Kindred
society outside of freak shows held in the courts of
decadent Princes and at Sabbat gatherings. These
Constructs are more likely than not to be accepted
within a Chaundician Grotesquerie, though
Virstanians may claim that these Constructs
are mere bastardizations of the Great Mother’s
glorious vision, and sooner stake them than listen
to one word of their heresies. Needless to say, the
Flock and the Watchers take an even harder line,
and destroy them on sight.
These alien beings are few and far between.
Most ‘ordinary’ Gargoyles, let alone most Kindred,
have never seen one, and many refuse to believe
in their existence. However, they are quite real
and are all Gargoyles, sharing the weaknesses of
a grotesque aspect, post-Gestation amnesia, and
Clanbook: Gargoyles
a susceptibility to mental control, though they
each have additional debilitations in the same way
that the cast do. The main weakness they share
with the original cast Gargoyles is that of infertile
blood, making them unable to Embrace more of
their kind; a mercy, in the view of most who know
of them first-hand. As with the earlier batches
of Gargoyles in Ceoris, only a very select few
demonstrate the capacity to Embrace, though they
may all create ghouls. The handful of individuals
who pay attention to such matters do however
note a gradual but marked increase in Misbegotten
fertility.
Calacas
Imagine, if you will, a walk through a forgotten
graveyard in Central America. One might expect
to see a skeletal statue in a hooded cloak, watching
over the grave of a killer - or an angelic sculpture
once of vast beauty now eroded to an almost
unidentifiable state. These are the forms of the
poor Calacas, cast from the Baron’s own kin, the
Samedi, and the bones of multiple dead kine.
The progenitor of the Calacas is unknown,
but rumour variously has it that he or she was a
Tremere who indulged in the study of Caribbean
Necromancy, a Giovanni of the Hidalgo or
Pisanob families, a Serpent of the Light, a mortal
houngan, or even a Samedi scholar of the esoteric
who became obsessed with the artificial unlife
of the Gargoyles to the point that he wished to
recreate and develop it among his own kind.
Whatever the truth, this assembler of horrors has
not come forward to take credit for the Calacas; it
is speculated that the creations have risen against
their creator, but equally, no Calaca makes claim
to have destroyed the one responsible for their
blighted existence.
The true magic of Calaca Gestation comes
from the stagnant sinkholes called cenotes, which
traditionally have sacrificial significance in Mayan
religion but are found worldwide. The cenotes used
for the making of Calacas are characterized by
those Kindred scholars well-read in such gruesome
matters as a blend between the abominable organ
pits of the Baali and the spawning pools of the
Nosferatu. Human sacrifices are performed within
73
the pool to create a ‘bedrock’ of rotting flesh,
which is then laced with copious amounts of vitae
(and other fluids of decay) from a Samedi, which
prevents the flesh from ever quite rotting away.
When the Calaca larvae reach animation within a
cenote they will swim up through the silt and gore,
which clings to their raw skin and heals into their
new shells.
Nicknames: Angels of Death.
Sect: The rare humourless Angels seek
membership in the Sabbat as a means to work
through their fundamentally inhuman conditions.
No shovelhead dares touch them, the Tremere
antitribu, Tzimisce, and Harbingers of Skulls in
particular study them with awe, and the Bishops
and Ducti use them for their terrifying presence on
the battlefield and as centerpieces at ritae.
Individuals with a relatively positive outlook
on their condition have been known to find more
obscure groups of Chaundicians (often those
containing Nosferatu or particularly afflicted
Tzimisce) in attempts to find new energy and
passion in spite of their condition. They act as
emissaries and enforcers, striking fear in the
enemies hearts on Chaundice’s behalf.
True children of the Baron revel in their
deathly affiliations with grim smiles on their
cracked, sallow faces. The main gathering place of
these is the Catacomb of Sorrow at Quinto, the
largest Eyrie in South America.
Appearance: All Calacas look different, but share
similar markers. They all possess a pair of bone
wings protruding from between their shoulder
blades. They bear intermittent patches and shards
of exposed bone, some in the correct places and
others question whether they’re even their own.
Any skin they do have, made from melded mud,
silt, and rotting flesh as it is, will appear cracked
and dried, as though it could peel or crumble at
any moment.
If you choose to use the Abhorrence rule
(see page 56), Calacas suffer from an additional
Abhorrence feature, meaning they have 2
automatic dots in Abhorrence rather the one
that Embraced Gargoyles have. Their additional
74 Chapter Four: Of Mingled Blood
Abhorrence feature is Weathering.
Eyries: Several Calacas have set up small
communal havens in Camarilla or Sabbat domains
and kept themselves entirely independent, thriving
in overgrown cemeteries and mausoleums. From
here they sometimes establish ‘businesses’, selling
refined, alcohol-infused blood to a market of
Brujah, Toreador, and Ventrue connoisseurs.
Within their Eyries, they have surprisingly
numerous ghouls in a permanent state of
intoxication from which to extract their produce.
Gestation: Calacas are created through a grisly
and often-improvised process involving the
binding together of unliving Samedi and mortal
cadavers through whatever available means, the
performance of a debased version of At Our
Command It Breathes, and the dumping of the
collected remains into a cenote. There, the vile
assemblage ferments with the grime and muck of
its environment, which serves to meld the various
carcasses together into one misshapen mass.
Frequently-used cenotes acquire a sediment of limbs,
viscera, and bone remains which have become
detached from their owners, which during further
incidents of Gestation get churned up with the
submerged human and vampiric matter, lending a
certain unpredictability to the process.
Once the larval Calaca is dredged up, its
creator is able to mold its shape to match his
wishes, before the mulch of the cenote solidifies to
a preternatural degree, producing a sturdy vessel
for the fledgling Misbegotten. Most often they are
rendered similarly to the statuettes which share
their name, since the presence of human bone
within the Construct lends itself to such a macabre
form.
Character creation: Unlike most Gargoyles,
Charisma is quite popular among Calacas. They
are jovial and revelrous, reflected in Empathy,
Expression, and Performance ratings. Their bodies
don’t tend to make the sturdiest of frames so
they focus on adopting (or continuing) Hougan
lifestyles, with Larceny, Leadership, Medicine, and
Occult.
Disciplines: Flight, Presence, Thanatosis.
Weaknesses: Calacas suffer from a truly
debilitating weakness: vulnerability to any sort of
water, which causes them to rapidly rot and break
down, in much the same way as other vampires are
harmed by sunlight. Some believe that the water
they undergo Gestation within grant them unlife,
but to feel its touch a second is to lose this gift;
that which gives life may take it away. The more
esoterically-minded reflect that in Yucatec Mayan
belief, one could reach the underworld through
the cenotes, which also served as places of human
sacrifice. It is speculated by such individuals that
the Calacas, created in such a place, are barred
from entry into the Underworld, and so the
water one must journey through in order to pass
over does them harm. No matter the cause, it is
true that for every pint of water that falls upon
a Calaca within a scene, she will suffer one level
of aggravated damage as her body commences its
decay.
Grotesqueries: Surprisingly, Calacas don’t spend
much time together as each tends to have a big
ego, a larger-than-unlife personality, and dedication
to her appetites. They can typically only just
about keep their own ghouls’ needs a priority, let
alone other Kindred. That’s not to say that they
cannot coexist within a Grotesquerie, but they will
eventually depart on their own adventures, leaving
their families behind. The biggest permanent
Grotesquerie of Calacas is located in Quito,
Ecuador.

Petrified Thanatosis
Calacas can only alter the flesh of Gargoyles or material stone. Calacas lose all connection with
decaying flesh as they Gestate in their cenote, a loss filled by a connection to stone instead. Their
Thanatosis powers (listed only to the fifth level, since no known Calaca is of a lower generation
than ninth) work somewhat differently, as indicated below. The original powers may be found on
pages 471-474 of V20.
• Create hidden stone cavities or malleable pouches in Gargoyle flesh or stone.
•• Make sections of the skin of a Gargoyle (or any instance of stone) brittle and drop off, dealing
damage as per Putrefaction; Gargoyles do not have Appearance to lose, and it is irrelevant to inani-
mate stone.
••• Turn yourself to sand with the same properties as the dust form granted by Ashes to Ashes.
•••• Fully remould stone structures or statutes, and also remodel the flesh of Gargoyles in the
same way Calacas are remodeled after Gestation. By spending a Willpower point and succeeding a
their Manipulation + Medicine roll, a Calaca can modify the stone as they wish; to shrink or other-
wise debilitate the limb of a Gargoyle requires 3 successes (which restores on the next night).
••••• Disintegration of the stone skin of Gargoyles or a stone structure, turning either into
withered husks. Each success of a Dexterity + Medicine roll (difficulty of the target’s Stamina +
Fortitude) causes one health level of lethal damage and lowers their Dexterity and or Strength by 1;
refer to the table on page 473 of V20.

Clanbook: Gargoyles 75
 The View from Without
Sired
“How do other Gargoyles look upon such a
thaumaturgical marvel and feel shame or re-
sentment? They have been given unlife that
clearly shouldn’t be, and make the most of
every second. If we were all like our Ameri-
can cousins none of us would be revolting,
for there wouldn’t be a need.”
Scouts
“Their wings make even less sense than ours;
they refuse to hide, and make a joke out of
their situation. Not surprising that they’re
just bastards of Chaundice’s legacy.”
Sentinels
“Conflict and discord arise when you bring
up these cadaverous monsters. I natural-
ly despise their corruption of Virstania’s
efforts, but on the other hand they love their
Grotesqueries and tend to their ghouls... if
a little too hard. Let the Warriors and the
Scouts fight them, but I will take no part in
their downfall.”
Warriors
“They dance and sing, drink and smoke
with no fortification or strength of their
own. These beings hide behind necromancy
and blood magic to retain their hedonistic
unlives, ignoring the battles we Gargoyles are
still part of. I fail to see why they were made
in the first place.”
Gorgons
“To see them you would think that they
have been to Duat themselves, with their
rotten skulls and skinless wings. They call
their underworld ‘Xibalba’ and claim that
their Gestation ponds lead them there. They
wouldn’t be smiling if they saw our hell.
76 Chapter Four: Of Mingled Blood
Mariners
“If they burn from the water, surely they’re
not meant to be? Who are we to go against
the wishes of the sea!”
Minkisi
“My Magaji arranges the bodies of his
enemies like this, coated in the earth and
smiling, to show others what would happen
if they crossed him. Who are these ‘Calacas’
warning us about?”
Gorgons
Gorgons are arguably the most accursed of all
Gargoyle kind, and the most roundly rejected by
Kindred society. These beings crafted from the
vampiric children of the Egyptian god Set. They
have come from a theological heritage guiding
them towards the realization of some great destiny.
Gorgons have been idolized under that dogma and
removed from their former Clan by thaumaturgical
practices stolen from the Great Mother.
Between the 17th and 19th centuries, British
colonialism and imperialism brought many
Kindred from distant lands together, whether due
to kine military action or opportunistic Kindred
taking advantage of the times. One such Kindred
was a Tremere acolyte named Samuel Hess,
an English archaeologist Embraced later in his
life by a member of the Lion’s Gate chantry in
Durham. As the empire rolled through more and
more countries, Hess traveled along side it in the
hopes of gaining esoteric knowledge to further his
growing research on the legendary Virstania and
her work in creating inanimate life. He reached
Cairo in the early 1910s and quickly discovered a
group of Followers of Set who had the power to
animate clay models called ushabti.
Hess committed himself to joining the ranks
of these lector priests, learning the Setites’ magic
(which they called Akhu) in order to master
the creation of ushabti, which he managed in a
surprisingly short time. Soon after WW2, Hess
juggled the practice of Tremere blood sorcery
with his newly adopted Clan’s own, to the point
where hybridizations were emerging. He created
small human-animal hybrids from local strays and
homeless adolescent Kine to resemble soldiers of
the gods, and successfully created a living man-
sized sphinx, but his final invention proved his
worth in the eyes of his foster clanmates.
He earned the chance to punish a heretical
Setite, charged with blasphemy against Sobek
(deemed by Hess’s temple to be an avatar of
Set), in whichever way he saw fit. Hess used this
chance to test his method of creating god-specific
ushabti from a combination of Nile clay, animal
hide and Kindred flesh. In order to avenge Sobek
personally, he made use of the blasphemer for the
flesh and generous amounts of crocodile scale for
the hide. The rituals and libations succeeded and
Sobek was clearly appeased, for he had bestowed
his visage onto the idol, alongside messages from
Set himself in hieroglyphic form. This was a
turning point in Hess’s career. He began making
more and more of these Misbegotten, supplying
more and more temples with their own divine
avatars, which he continues to do to this night.
Nicknames: Idols (by laypeople) and Swt (by their
devotees).
Sects: Gorgons work solely towards the forwarding
of the Setite cause, and see no need for interaction
with other Sects and beliefs. They work mostly
inside their temples, only traveling off-site to
handle local officials or transport their high priests
from place to place.
Appearance: The Gorgons emerge from Gestation
endowed with the head of whichever animal’s
flesh was used during mummification, in place
of their own and reduced or enlarged to regular
human proportion. Their bodies are made of
finest sandstone, etched in crossed lines defining
a former placement of bandages; these bandages
retain texture from the original animal’s hide
(scales, feathers, warts ect.). Faintly covering every
inch of stone are perfectly formed, richly detailed,
minute hieroglyphs. These hieroglyphs detail the
fevered and harrowing hallucinations undertaken
Clanbook: Gargoyles
by the Gorgon during their Gestation journey
through Duat. Setite lector-priests often read from
these chiseled reels of doctrine in the belief that
they detail a prophecy given by Set. Many claim
new hieroglyphs appear across their Swt, seemingly
from nowhere, in response to outstanding service
to Set’s needs.
If you choose to use the Abhorrence rule (see
page 56) Gorgons will suffer from an additional
Abhorrence feature, meaning they have two
automatic dots in Abhorrence rather the one
that Embraced Gargoyles have. Their additional
Abhorrence is Engravings, specifically hieroglyphs.
Eyries: Gorgons generally live in deep sections
of their cults’ temples, since they are considered
earthly incarnations of their deities and cannot
be flaunted in front of most ghouled mortals.
The Idols often help lead sermons and guard the
embalmed hearts of their lords. Their chambers
are arranged to resemble the limitless maze of
tribulations offered to them in Duat to ensure
their devotion.
Gestation: A Setite devotee is ritually punished,
murdered, and preserved in a reflection of Osiris’
dismemberment, ultimately crushing the vivisected
organs together with clay from the Nile to form
a modeling paste (multiple preservative balms
are continuously applied alongside chants of
resurrection spells during the dismemberment to
prevent the body turning to ash). The lector-priest
reforms sculptures of each individual organ from
the paste, drying them by a kiln and placing them
inside the body before binding the salted muscle
and skin back together with reed splinters in
order to then mummify the reconstituted body in
bandages made of cured animal hide.
Once reformed and mummified, these flesh-
formed ushabtis are placed in a ritually-prepared
Gestation sarcophagus, inside which they are
submerged within desert sand for forty nights and
days. During this time the Kindred’s soul is passed
through Duat and put through seemingly never-
ending trials. They return broken, terrified, and
committed to being pulled from the shadow by
Set’s guiding hand.
77
 The animals used can imitate any of the
Egyptian animal-headed gods, or in theory any
other animal-headed deity. Set, however, can not The View from Without
have a representation, for as the typhonic beast Sired
does not exist, at least not any longer. This fact
is used as evidence of Set guiding the ushabti “What is written on their skin is irrelevant,
through Duat personally, as though they truly were for your temples keep these beings like
his kin. books in a chest. You bring them out and
read them when it is convenient, then lock
Character Creation: Gorgons have no Social them away when it is not. Would you do the
Attributes of significance; their focus is around same to your own childer?”
knowledge, mainly Intelligence. When they
return, if not before their Gestation, they commit Scouts
themselves to researching the lore of their cult “They have been to the other side? What
and become living encyclopedias on the word of wonders they must have learned! If only the
Set. To this end, their Occult, Academics, Science Mother could capture one, their knowledge
and Medicine will all be naturally high. Other would be invaluable.”
than these factors they possess the preternatural
resilience given to most Gargoyles, so high levels of Sentinels
Strength, Stamina and Brawl are a given. “You possess such dedication to your supe-
Disciplines: Flight, Presence, Visceratika. riors and hide the harrowing truth of ‘Duat’
from your subordinates, so as not to frighten
Weaknesses: Aside from their ornate appearance,
them. This is at least one point we can see
Gorgons are identical to ‘natural’ Gargoyles
eye to eye on.”
bar one unique weakness - that of petrification.
Perhaps due to the Setites’ susceptibility to Warriors
sunlight, and as though reflecting the ancient
“You are no superior species, despite what
practice of mummification of their homeland,
your former clanmates may say. Your exis-
the Gorgons become entirely paralyzed during the
tence only proves the theft of our mother’s
day, their bodies made purely of stone during the
livelihood; it shows nothing of your false
hours of light, until darkness comes once again
god’s power.”
and restores them to animation. It is believed that
Set himself takes the souls of the ushabti each day Calacas
to personally guard them against Ra’s hateful gaze.
“So joyless. I don’t care who your god is! You ain’t
This offers no protection against the harmful rays
dead no more so stop acting like it!”
of the sun, however, which burn them as quickly as
any other Kindred. Mariners
Grotesqueries: Gorgons have unnatural “We are granted our shapes from the life all
relationships to their kin in that they don’t seem around us, not the dirt beneath our feet.”
to acknowledge each other’s existence in any way.
If more than one exists in a temple they will never Minkisi
fight or talk with one another but simultaneously “You share our land but have turned out so
do not collide with each other when walking in different. I pity your slavery to the words on
line and never fail to engage enemies the other is your back.”
battling; their death mask stares simply glaze over
when their brothers pass by. As for other members
of their temple, they keep a solemn disposition
with high priests and even manage to express

78 Chapter Four: Of Mingled Blood

strained sarcastic or belligerent humour towards
their acolyte wards. Gorgons are often encouraged
to give the ritual ‘Embrace’ to their ghouled
asps, cobras, and cerastes who reach a unique
size or strength. Named aabt-jb (‘slave’s heart’),
these Gargoyle serpents possess slightly greater
intelligence and significantly increased strength
and endurance. They are seen as the cousins of
the Setites’ originally ritually-Embraced serpents
- the ‘aabt Kindred’, sired by Nefertiti, ‘Queen of
Europe’.
Mariners
It is rumoured that a small number of Tremere
have, over the last few decades, founded vast
undersea chantries devoted to the study of the
otherworldly entities and defiled magics found
deep beneath the waves. These tales are all too
true, and several citadel-sized chantries have been
erected in order to sustain the old ways in an
environment free from outside scrutiny and the
harsh decline of magic. Any chantry, land-based
or otherwise, has need for servants, and it was for
this reason that the so-called Mariner Gargoyles
were created, horrific amalgamations of aquatic
Gargoyle beasts and tortured Kindred.
Of all the Misbegotten Castings, the Mariners
are the most like the more conventional types
of Gargoyle, their deviations revolving around a
radical change in environment. One significant
difference is the use of Gargoyle sea animals
(sea creatures ritually ‘Embraced’ by Gargoyles
(see page 90) to make up half of the flesh used
in Gestation. They are made using the bodies
of Gangrel aquarii, Nosferatu adapted to unlife
spent at sea, and aquatically-modified Tzimisce,
blended with Gargoyle sea creatures farmed on the
outskirts of these chantries.
Unlike their flying cousins, the vast majority
of Mariner Gargoyles are kept in servitude.
However, their slavery is less cruel than for most
current slaves and certainly less than it ever was in
Ceoris, the reason for this being that no Tremere
wants another Gargoyle Revolt - much less one
fought under the sea. Mariners are never used in
terrestrial chantries, due both to the risk of their
discovery and to by proxy the property of their
Clanbook: Gargoyles
vitae which causes it to clot in the low pressures
found in shallow waters and above sea levels.
Their main duties are performed outside of the
chantry; Scouts venture forth to gather ingredients
or study supernatural marine life, Sentinels raise
new fledglings and guard weak points surrounding
the chantry, and Warriors will battle the rebellious
groups of marine Kindred seeking to ‘rescue’ their
kin, as well as the occasional waves of malignant
monstrosities which rise up from the depths.
To prevent them from absconding while
carrying out their assigned tasks (which can
sometimes take them far from their home
chantry), all Mariners are created with a powerful
and deep-seated homing instinct which causes
them deep distress should they wander from
their duties. This is brought about through a
combination of sorcerous treatments applied
during Gestation, liberal use of blood bonds, and
old-fashioned brainwashing. Even for Mariners
who do achieve freedom, it never quite leaves
them.
The most caring and protective of all Mariner
Gargoyles are the Sentinels, which resemble
crustaceans. These mollusks construct their own
off-chantry Grottoes for fledglings to feel safe in,
vast burrows with a murky central pit filled with
‘blood reefs’ - monstrous coral reefs ghouled by
the head Sentinel, which in turn ghoul the life
forms which thrive within and feed from them.
This ghouled colony gives any Grotto an extra line
of defence, to the point of breeding small sharks
and manta rays as shock troops. Sentinels see the
protection and maintenance of these reefs as their
duty to their family, and take great pride in the size
and biodiversity of their spawning coral.
Mariner Warriors reflect cephalopodic life,
formed from parts of squid, octopus, cuttlefish,
and other invertebrates. Their duty is a simple
one: to destroy threats to their chantries once
they have been identified by Scouts and seen off
by Sentinels. They possess explosive personalities,
rivalling frenzying great whites in their savagery
and ferocity, and are so fearsome that only
experienced Warlocks have resolve enough to
meet one’s gaze and give commands. Unlike other
79
vampires, these Gargoyles can only feed using the
tiny suction cups which cover their limbs (with
which they can also seal the wounds created by
feeding), drawing blood from whatever prey they
grasp.
Underwater reconnaissance faces the difficulty
of there being almost infinite angles of approach.
Therefore, Mariner Scouts - formed from piscine
elements, typically of the shark family - must
continually travel the perimeter of their domains
in all three dimensions, ensuring that there are
no abyssal beasts lurking in the blood-dimmed
tides. These creatures have extraordinary powers
of observation by virtue of their Auspex and the
frequently-found mutations of electrolocation and
echolocation. Rather than a pair of large fangs,
they bear row upon row of pin-like teeth, which
fall out each time they bite a victim, ultimately
regrowing come the next night.
Those few Mariners that manage to escape
Tremere domination simply live nomadic unlives
on the seafloor or settle small Grottos (submerged
equivalents of Eyries) in isolated trenches. These
groups become almost entirely beastial, living in
eternal battle against the denizens of the deep and
struggling to survive on non-human blood.
Nicknames: Mollusks.
Sect: Mollusks don’t know what Sects are; all they
know is the deep sea tyranny of the Tremere and
the constant threat of the other monsters lurking
within the abyss.
Appearance: Sentinel-cast Mariner Gargoyles are
encased in thick stone shells and their legs are
laden with large, eternally-undulating swimmerets.
These Gargoyles have eyes of pure jet mounted
on stalks poking some distance from their heads.
Their vampiric ‘fangs’ more closely resemble
twitching mandibles, and their hands are often
replaced by colossal hydraulic claws able to tare
tons of stone from the floor, the better to craft
their Grottoes.
Mariner Warriors possess much more
disturbing and dangerous forms than their kin.
They appear as vile and unfathomable beings, with
armaments too numerous to count sprawling from
80 Chapter Four: Of Mingled Blood
their bodies, including spines, hooks, and grasping
tendrils. Their bloated heads sport colossal soulless
eyes and small snapping beaks, which while as
sharp as any vampire’s fangs are not used for
feeding, since Warriors must feed by grasping prey
and using their suckers.
The features of Mariner Scout are those of fish
and particularly sharks: legs fused to become tails,
holes in their throats which regularly discharge
blooded mucus, and webbed fins in place of wings.
The skin of these Gargoyles is covered in finely-
detailed scales of smooth, hardened soapstone.
Their ‘fangs’ are extremely thin, their mouths filled
with rows of hundreds of the delicate teeth along
their gum line.
If you choose to use the Abhorrence rule (see
page 56) Mariner Gargoyles will suffer from an
additional Abhorrence feature meaning they have
two automatic dots in Abhorrence rather the one
that Embraced Gargoyles have. Their additional
Abhorrence will be Animal Features, specifically
those of aquatic creatures.
Eyries: The Eyries of Mariner Gargoyles are
called Grottoes, and are usually found in trenches
running along the seafloor or hidden in cave
systems. Irrespective of where they’re found, they
will be very well hidden and heavily guarded
against the outside threats. Most often they include
blood reefs running throughout, and shoals of fish
and other sealife coming and going continuously
(most if not all of which are also ghouled).
Mariner Gargoyles live for their Grottoes; if one is
destroyed, they will completely relocate to a new
suitable site and start building all over again.
Gestation: Rather than gather two or more
members of the three appropriate Clans to form
a true Gargoyle, a Warlock who wishes to create a
Mariner Gargoyle find one and combine it with
the body of a sea creature ritually Embraced by
another Gargoyle. The creature they are combined
with dictates what duty they are given due to their
inherent physical capabilities: piscines for Scouts,
crustaceans for Sentinels, and cephalopods for
Warriors.
The reformed body is coated in seabed silt
to form an ‘eggshell’ around the prospective
Mariner, after which it is placed inside the womb
of a ghouled whale (often alongside several other
such ‘eggs’), which then carries it off into the vast
ocean. The Gestation of Mariner Gargoyles is a
lengthy process, taking several years; in that time
the embryonic Gargoyles must be kept immersed
in blood and protected from harm.
The foetal Gargoyles will awaken inside their
host and begin draining her of all of her blood -
all 6000 liters of it - frenzying again and again as
they gorge themselves on their surrogate mother’s
innards and the weakest of their ‘siblings’.
Eventually they will rip from cavity to chamber in a
month-long fit of violence within the unsuspecting
cow. Finally the poor animal will die, and
emerging from her corpse will be a confused and
scared clutch of surviving Mariner Gargoyles. They
are born with the one instinct: to return to the
Warlock who originally ghouled the whale.
Tremere get around the problem of needing a
whale each time with a combination of Gargoyle
creature breeding programs and a ‘choir’ of caged
Mariner Gangrel, these degraded Kindred are
forced to summon a new whale each time their
jailers run out or every time a Gargoyle is urgently
needed. Every once in awhile a particularly lively
Mutant Warriors
Within many Grottoes, Mariner War-
riors seem to go missing more often than
their brethren, with only a few ever being
reclaimed. Upon retrieval, these Constructs
are notably different, with an air of taint
about them that magi will be unable to
ignore. They vanish at random times and
seem yet more alien and distant every time
they return; in time, they may be observed
undergoing new and undesired mutations,
growing much larger, sprouting new eyes
and tentacles, and becoming more calculat-
ed than common brethren. Most Tremere
regard it as some spiritual malady needing to
be eliminated, but are reticent to investigate
its true nature or origin.
Clanbook: Gargoyles
creature arrives that is seemingly impossible to
ghoul, but whose body positively radiates with vis.
The warlocks have not yet managed to identify this
unusual breed, for they have so far always managed
to promptly flee on any attempt to catch, observe,
or ‘impregnate’ them.
Character creation: Social interaction keeps
Mariner Sentinels from full mental degradation,
making Charisma and Manipulation key attributes,
though Stamina is a natural feature of their forms.
They excel in Leadership, Crafts, Animal Ken, and
Science as they tend to their Grottoes and their
occupants.
Physicality is but one of the things that makes
Mariner Warriors so horrific; their Strength
and Dexterity allows them to tear sharks in
half without much thought. Brawl, Athletics
(for ejecting barbs or throwing harpoons),
Intimidation, and even Melee are a the Warriors
simple but hideously effective tools.
As spies in a realm of millions of eyes and
ears, the Mariner Scouts must be at the top of
their game. They use high Perception and Wits to
observe any potential threat in the murky oblivion
and calculate what risks they might present to
themselves, their Grotto, and their chantry.
Awareness, Alertness, Stealth and Survival grant
them great subtlety and agility.
Disciplines: Auspex, Flight, Obfuscate (Scouts);
Flight, Fortitude, Potence (Sentinels); Flight,
Fortitude, Protean (Warriors).
All Mariner Gargoyles transfer the aeronautical
abilities of Flight over to the gift of swimming.
They can swim at a speed equal to that provided
by Flight. With only the first level of Flight, they
must rely on following natural currents; young
Mariners will follow behind their elders, using
their slipstreams to travel.
Weaknesses: Sentinels: These Mollusks suffer from
a similar weakness to their terrestrial counterparts
in that they suffer in isolation, though in a
different sense. If a Sentinel is away from anything
she considers her children - any organism growing
within her blood reef - she will be at half dice pools
until returned to her Grotto. To this end, these
81
Gargoyles often travel with ghouled shoals of many
different species wherever they go, making them
at once a formidable sight and psychologically
fortified against the harrowing loneliness that can
be brought on by the vastness of the depths.
Warriors: Whenever Mariner Warriors
encounter other sapient beings, they undergo a
wild transformation as the Beast tries to manifest
a dominance display. The specific nature of
this change is entirely down to the Storyteller’s
discretion, but should provide features particularly
intimidating to their company (whether an
aggressor or otherwise). The change does not
hinder their physical function but rather makes
interaction much harder as their company faces a
constantly imposed threat from the Beast.
Scouts: Like terrestrial Scout Gargoyles,
these poor creatures suffer from the weakness of
gradual petrification, their bodies continuously
New Background: Blood Reef
Mariner Sentinel characters have access
to a Background solely for them, called
Blood Reef. Each level adds another 50 feet
cubed to the size of the character’s personal
reef, in addition to several species of ghouled
sea creatures to the ecosystem of the reef (of
the player’s choice, according to Storyteller
approval).
These reefs grow to immense sizes, with
mottled red and black coral growing in all
directions. The inhabitants of this reef can
be any aquatic species favored by the player
(within reason), though they will be mutated
versions of natural specimens. Even krill
and plankton that feed in this reef will be
ghouled and mutated under the influence of
Gargoyle blood.
For each level of this Background, the
reef must be fed one blood point per week.
The Background can also be pooled by all
members of the Grotesquerie wishing to
keep a reef, resulting in an ever-growing reef
with an ever-growing appetite for blood.
82 Chapter Four: Of Mingled Blood
transmuting into solid stone. The only way to
mitigate this is to keep their organic muscles
exercised, thus shattering any crystallization. Every
hour of inactivity causes one level of aggravated
damage. This effect is nullified during daytime
hours.
Grotesqueries: Mariner Gargoyles keep vast
schools of family around them to stave off
the depression of their immortal abuse. If the
Sentinels keep a ‘healthy’ blood reef in their
Grottoes, the Grotesquerie will have a full
complement of strange and mutated sea creatures
living amongst them on a permanent basis.
Sentinels and Warriors generally maintain their
Blood Clots
Unlike most Kindred taking to a life at
(or indeed beneath) the sea, Mollusks do
not suffer the debilitation of ‘blood sweats’
while at the pressurized environments of the
sea floor. In fact, the exact opposite is true.
Mariner blood is so well-adapted to their
deep-sea lives that when they are taken into
the harsh air their blood starts to internally
coagulate. For every hour the Mollusk
spends above the surface (even treading
water), one blood point becomes ‘clotted’
and unusable.
This ‘clot point’ does not leave their
pool but cannot be used for waking, healing,
using Disciplines, or any other purpose, and
neither may it be deliberately bled out. If
a Mariner wishes to get rid of the clot, she
must break it down by healing. Every point
of clotted blood is healed as if it were a level
of bashing damage. Therefore, each ‘clot
point’ costs one healthy blood point to heal.
If this painful coagulation of vitae
reduces the Gargoyle to a blood pool of
0 they slip immediately into Torpor and
collapse to the ground (where they are likely
to severely breach the Masquerade, be taken
by the sun, or both), or sink back down to
the seafloor to be forgotten.
presence at the Grotto, unless ordered otherwise
by their masters. Scouts, however, will only ever
The View from Without
Sired
“If we can find one of these creatures, they
will be more than enough proof that the
Tremere flagrantly breach the Pact - and we
can finally take their place.”
Scouts
“If only the Great Mother were awake to
witness your splendor! She would prevent
your blood from clotting in no time, I’m
sure of it.”
Sentinels
“Even I think they’ve taken their ghouling
way too far.”
Warriors
“Your warriors are truly worth admiration -
well, most of them.”
Calacas
“They’re... underwater?”
Gorgons
“They, like us, travel far to become what they
are. Do they meet Nu and Naunet, as we
meet our Dark Father?”
Minkisi
“You have it wrong. These creatures are not
like us. They are clearly Nommo, spirits
placed in terrible slavery.”
Clanbook: Gargoyles
be seen during the earliest and latest hours of the
night as Scouts must maintain constant patrols to
stave off the effects of their weakness.
Minkisi
Across the Ebony Kingdom live the Minkisi
(singular Nkisi), Misbegotten Gargoyles formed
from Akunanse (Gangrel), Nagloper (Tzimisce),
and - more rarely - Guruhi (Nosferatu) stock. But
quite unlike the traditional treatment of Gargoyles
elsewhere - are valued by the Magaji (a prince of
the Laibon) they Belong to as totemic protectors
of Laibon havens and even spiritual protectors of
an entire tribe of kine. A Magaji will occasionally
have a subject of his doman who has breached
the Tenets - the laws under which all Laibon
are supposed to exist - turned into an eternal
embodiment of those Tenets and a reminder of the
Magaji’s power and authority. Once transformed,
an Nkisi becomes the personal slave of her Magaji,
taking on some his burdens and doing his dirty
work. Their name finds its origin in the statuette-
fetishes of the Kongo peoples, but they are found
all across the Ebony Kingdom.
All Minkisi are created by transferring the soul
of a Kindred who has performed a heinous act
against the Tenets (at least in the eyes of the Magaji
sentencing them) into a specially-made sculpture
of fine construction. Many Akunanse will tell the
wrong tales to the wrong vampires, making them a
target of punishment; Naglopers generally offend
all those they interact with (often simply by their
very existing), which eventually leads them to cross
the wrong Magaji; and Guruhi will usually be
punished as a display of dominance and authority
once they have been deposed by a rival. The
soul of a punished Laibon is bound into a hand-
carved shell by means of blood sorcery and mortal
wizardry, her new vessel designed to provide
eternal and bespoke suffering.
Kiteke (Minkisi created from Guruhi) radiate
an air of alien malignancy, and even the most
courageous are loath to even remain in their
presence. Resulting from the deaths of the dozens
of beasts required for their initial construction,
then endowed with the soul of a fallen Magaji, they
have immense value to their owners. Kiteke do
83
anything and everything to be liked by their former
enemies, vainly attempting to keep their forms
pleasing to the eye, if even functional.
Mitupo (Akunanse-formed Minkisi) become mute
confidants to those whom they Belong, as they
retain their legacy’s innate desire to learn the
stories of others while simultaneously lose the
ability to share that which they have learned along
with the power of speech itself.
Nkomi (Minkisi made using Naglopers) live a
half life in the court of their Magaji, becoming
comical masked clowns. Between humiliations
they desperately try to twist their clay flesh in
the futile hope of becoming great again. Every
time they change themselves, the clay will assume
some undesired and embarrassing shape as those
surrounding the Kiteke point and laugh at their
now-fallen state.
While they are derived from multiple legacies,
the Minkisi are not gestalt beings and thus do
not reflect the duties of their Cast Gargoyle
predecessors. In fact, they possess none of their
Gargoyle cousin’s forms or behaviours, though
they do still vary somewhat in appearance. While
some Minkisi (usually Mitupo) revel in their new
forms, most find it to be a harrowing waking
nightmare of desires.
Nicknames: Fetishes
Sect: Besides being Laibon and thus a step
removed from the predominantly Western
Camarilla and Sabbat, Minkisi are devoted to their
sworn Magaji and none other; anyone else is either
family to them or simply irrelevant.
Appearance: Kiteke are granted hearts of saprolite
(from the Greek meaning ‘putrid rock’), with
large quantities of fresh ivory forming casings
of scrimshaw-embellished flesh. This inscribed
art includes detailed and imaginative depictions
of the domain a Kiteke once ruled, underlining
the hubris that lead to their downfall and
transformation - an eternal reminder of failure for
all to see.
Created with hollow leopardite bodies tightly
swathed in red silk ‘webbing’, Mitupo resemble
abstracted, anthropomorphic animals such as
84 Chapter Four: Of Mingled Blood
spiders, lions, and hyenas. The thin silk is weaved
between small perforations in their ‘flesh’, achieve
the effect of seeming to be bound with threads
of blood. Their mouths are completely fused;
they must consume blood through these woven
passages.
Crafted with bones of serpentinite and flesh
of hardened clay, Nkomi usually come human in
shape - aside from their oversized, distended heads,
gross parodies of the ceremonial masks of various
African cultures. Because of their disproportionate
build and unnatural design, these beings live in
a perpetual state of unrest. Like the Naglopers
and their Tzimisce cousins, they like to reshape
their flesh constantly, but only because they
are unhappy with their form, not due to a drive
towards enlightenment.
If you choose to use the Abhorrence rule
(see page 56) Minkisi will suffer from additional
Abhorrence features meaning they have 2
automatic dots in Abhorrence rather the one that
Embraced Gargoyles have. Kiteke’s additional
Abhorrence is Engravings in the style of cave
paintings. Mitupo’s additional Abhorrence will be
Animal Features, specifically indigenous African
beasts. Nkomi’s additional Abhorrence will be
Accentuation, specifically facial features
Eyries: Minkisi do not claim their own Eyries,
and rarely keep one set place of rest. They Belong
to the Magaji and his community, they do not
usually call any one location their daily resting
spot. Nkomi prefer subterranean nests, Kiteke lair
in man-made havens, and Mitupo will never sleep
in the same location twice, though they usually rest
within stone. Ultimately, a Minkisi rests where her
Magaji demands.
Gestation: The creator of the Minkisi is not a
vampire at all, but a mortal wizard known only as
‘the Nganga’ who lives with a host of his creations
in an enchanted palace, obscured from both
Kindred and kine eyes, located in the Nubian
desert. Over the last century, he has made deals
with many Magaji, trading Minkisi as slaves in
exchange for boons, secrets, and magical artefacts.
The Nganga performs a profane ritual that
some scholars have likened to the Baali’s ability to
‘re-Embrace’. He gathers materials that can hold
the essence of the Kindred he is to reconstruct
(in addition to any requested by the Magaji), then
forcefully bleeds every last drop of vitae from his
chosen victim, mystically extracting the life force
from her very heart. Once this is done, the blood
is pooled in a fresh-dug, shallow grave and her
new vessel is submerged within it. By the turn of
the next night the blood will have been absorbed
by the Construct and the Kindred’s soul will have
been bound into its eternal stone prison.
Character creation: Kiteke, cursed with a
consuming need for the approval and validation
of others, focus on their Social Attributes. They
cultivate Empathy, Etiquette, Performance, Law,
and Politics, to keep their company pleased with
them, even if only condescendingly.
Mitupo have maintained their legacy better
than either of the other Minkisi. They typically
possess high Mental Attributes as well as
significant levels of Academics, Law, Occult, and
Politics in thanks to the stories they continually
overhear. Due to their inability to speak, their
Social Attributes and related Abilities suffer
greatly, though some demonstrate inventive ways
to communicate.
Nkomi are desperate to take back control
of their own bodies, endeavouring to keep their
Physical Attributes high. They never stop trying
to reach a form that they are happy with, and so
Athletics, Crafts, Melee, Medicine, and Science are
common.
Disciplines: Potence, Presence, Visceratika
(Kiteke); Auspex, Fortitude, Visceratika (Mitupo);
Fortitude, Potence, Vicissitude (Nkomi).
Weaknesses: During Gestation, the weakness of
their legacy is inverted upon Kiteke. Being former
Magaji, their previous unlives were filled with a
sense of being above the opinions of others; now,
however, they wear these opinions like a cowl.
Kiteke have truly inconstant appearance, their
bodies supernaturally changing to reflect the
views others have of them. They do not undergo
Mimesis as do other Gargoyles, but the emotions
and opinions of those around them naturally
change the shape and texture of their ivory forms.
Clanbook: Gargoyles
If one comes across as vile and unlikeable, she
might resemble a detestable leper cast in rotted
ivory, but if she excels in her duties and reach a
position of relative respect, she may gradually gain
a smooth complexion and elegant features.
Mitupo have a simple but crippling weakness,
especially for them: the inability to speak, cursing
them to never again be able to tell the stories they
so treasure. Mitupo characters begin play with the
Mute Flaw (V20 page 483), and receive no points
in exchange. The physical representation of this
weakness is visible on their faces the second they
emerge from their blood filled graves. The mouths
of these Minkisi never appear normal, but rather
are fixed in an entirely inhuman position. This
may mean a grimacing smile from ear to ear or a
small puckered hole in the centre of the face. The
player is encouraged to be creative when devising
the precise nature and appearance of this mouth.
Nkomi will never achieve a desirable form,
no matter how often or how hard they try.
Every night, they will awaken to see any use of
Vicissitude inverted to an embarrassing and
hideous version of what they had achieved the
night before. Firm, tough chitin becomes flabby
hide, elegant claws become gnarled fingernails and
a flowing mane becomes greasy and mottled. This
weakness can never change their caricatured mask
The Laibon Legacies
For those unfamiliar with Kindred of the
Ebony Kingdom, the Kindred native to Africa
(called the Laibon) are split not into Clans but
into legacies (each of which is derived from
a Clan). The three relevant to the creation
of Minkisi are the Akunanse, storytelling
shapeshifters descended from the Gangrel; the
Naglopers, feared and despised witches who
sprung from Clan Tzimisce; and the Guruhi,
who unlike their Western Nosferatu cousins are
actually the ruling legacy of the Laibon, making
up the majority of Magaji (the rough equivalent to
Princes).
85
of a face, nor can anything else following Gestation; even Vicissitude cannot alter their visage.
Grotesqueries: It is rare that a Magaji will keep more than one Minkisi. Grotesqueries are therefore
unknown to the Minkisi as none are known to be free.

The View from Without

Sired
“If we offer you freedom, will you even take it?”
Scouts
“You are worse than any other mongrel. Not only are you bastardizations of the Mother’s way, but you’re
not even made by Kindred!”
Sentinels
“Your devotion to those you Belong to is astounding; it’s a shame you’re not true Gargoyles.”
Warriors
“Trinkets by another name, sold to your ‘Magaji’ like a dog. You are just decoration to them. Prove them
wrong by striking back!”
Calacas
“If they let you off the leash for a second, will you join us for a drink or just stand in the corner like
you’re told?”
Gorgons
“You are closer to us than the other constructs. Your fellows revere you exactly as you deserve.”
Mariners
“Protection of your community is at the heart of their creation; we meet eye to eye.”

86 Chapter Four: Of Mingled Blood

 Chapter Five:
The Slaves’
Retainers
Ghouls
Those few mortals who become ghouled by a
Gargoyle display their nature as prominently, and
with equally horrifying results, as those bound to
Samedi and Nosferatu. It is monumentally difficult
for Gargoyles to reach out to humans to bestow the
vitae onto them without abduction or violence.
Those ghouls that are taken usually live in their
domitor’s haven, protecting the sleeping Gargoyles
of an Eyrie as a valuable member of the family.
Gargoyle ghouls are often chosen very young
so that if they tell adults about the walking,
talking statute that fed them blood, it will be
regarded as a strange and concerning product of
childish imagination - but only imagination. Many
Gargoyles also appreciate child ghouls, especially
orphans, for their innocence and humanity.
Caring for such young charges serves to fulfill their
drives towards family and belonging.
As Gargoyle ghouls age they approach death
like normal humans. Beyond an increased lifespan
of four centuries or so, they will wither and die,
the Gargoyle condition being too traumatic for
their bodies to handle. They pass through three
major life stages.
Clanbook: Gargoyles
Metamus
During a ghouls early years (up to 80 years of
natural life) they will be considered ‘Metamus’
ghouls. They have slick and very smooth, even
flawless, skin - like that of a marble statue -
or bodies possessed of a strange quartz-like
translucence. They will be masters of Fortitude,
as unlike most ghouls they most commonly gain
Fortitude rather than Potence.
These ghouls often take quite contradictory
roles to their masters, as they can become both
immensely beautiful and physically durable. As
adolescents, those created as children mature
quickly and gain wisdom from their immortal
patrons. Humans seem to admire their flawless
perfection as they retain their youthful vibrancy
well into middle age, still looking eighteen in their
forties - but all of this soon fades.
Ignis
During the ghoul’s second phase of life
(between 80 and 200 years) the ghoul’s beauty
and humanity fades away as her skin becomes
grey, blotchy and cracked. They may grow small
stone shards and bony protrusions from their
flesh, eventually leaving every inch of their skin
resembling whatever material is tied to their
masters’ Mimesis.
Irrespective of the precise makeup of their new
forms, Ignis ghouls can no longer connect with
87
humanity. This disconnection also comes with a of their cousins. Due to the Path of Freedom,
dramatic increase in the strength of their beast Chaundician ghouls will more than likely be part
which becomes twice as active, meaning they are of a Grotesquerie who believe it to be their duty
too dangerous to expose to kine. The name ‘Ingis’ to keep their ghouls in optimal living conditions,
(the Latin for fire) - refers to this newfound fire in with vitae and safety being given in exchange for
their hearts. blood as part of a mutually-agreed arrangement.
It is during this time that Ignis ghouls will Outside of the sect, a ghoul will be raised in
be encouraged to become very active in Kindred whichever fashion the individual Gargoyle sees fit.
society by learning multiple Disciplines and There is an unconscious element of Gargoyle
studying the history of not only their own ghouling which comes from their strong parental
bloodline but that of the entire vampire race. instincts. Not only do they want to have company
Once they have achieved an acceptable knowledge at all times, but they want to encourage a family
of Kindred existence, control of Disciplines and environment reflective of the Eyrie of Ceoris.
dominance over their powerful Beasts, they will be Having ghouls with a childish outlook provides
Embraced. a sense of liveliness and kinship with all those
involved with the ghoul’s rearing. Like Gargoyle
Sedimus animals and lesser Gargoyles, ghouls are always
This is the final stage of a Gargoyle ghoul’s cared for and loved by sentinels and trained in
existence, and the one no ghoul ever wants to battle by Warriors. On rare occasions, they may
reach (from 200 years until disintegration). Their become shamanic apprentices or spies under the
bodies gradually crumble away, removing one level training of the Scouts.
of an Attribute for every 20 years they live for
beyond the second century. This decaying turns The Standing Stones
their existence into a living hell, as they will have Between the creation of the Castings and the
already failed their Grotesquerie in some way Revolt, the Gargoyles of Ceoris were served by
(since they haven’t already been Embraced). These a small cadre of ghouls directly bound to them,
unfortunates become obsessed with finding the whose primary duty was to defend the Eyrie
Embrace to an extreme degree. during the day. It was from this practice that the
The effect of disintegration is irreversible and harmful effects of consuming Gargoyle vitae on
cannot be healed through the use of vitae or any humans was noted, and over time this group came
mortal medicine. Any ghoul embraced at this stage to be known as the Standing Stones due to their
will keep her debilitated attributes and flawed mutations.
physique (see the Flaw - Erosion on page 52) for The Stones stood watch over the Eyrie for
the remainder of her unlife. almost four centuries, and in that time grew closer
Due to their toughened skin, all Gargoyle and closer to their charges, until eventually they
ghouls will learn Fortitude as standard, irrespective were largely forgotten about by most Tremere. The
of what type of Gargoyle has ghouled them. They Revolt saw them return with a vengeance, and
will then be likely to learn Visceratika unless no while they did not take as many Tremere lives, they
one around them knows it. A small few ghouls ensured that as few Gargoyles were lost as possible.
actually manage to learn Flight; this knowledge will Had it not been for them, the subsequent Battle of
not develop until the second stage of their lives. If Ceoris may have gone even worse for Vristania and
they do learn Flight while yet alive, the wings that her children.
grow will be entirely biological (though they are The Revolt proper saw the Standing Stones
still coated in stone flesh due to their condition). serve their masters as agents and spies as well as
Generally, ghouls of Gargoyles in the daytime protectors. It was thanks to the Standing
modern day will receive a better life than many Stones that the message of freedom was able

88 Chapter Five: The Slaves Retainers

to spread by day as well as night. Many were
Embraced for their stalwart service, to reinforce
the Gargoyles’ losses, and to remove the effects of
their mutations.
In 1481, a scouting party of Standing Stones
tracked a Tremere and his entourage to an isolated
region of the Austrian Alps, and rather than attack
immediately decided to observe his actions. They
found that he was seeking a certain cave, but for
what the Stones weren’t initially sure. Eventually
he seemed to find what he was looking for and
went inside. Following stealthily behind, the ghoul
scouts saw a sleeping female Gargoyle of large
proportions deep within the cave system. The
Warlock wakened her with a drop of his blood,
and she began to stir. Even as they were preparing
to attack, the Gargoyle burst into life, tearing
apart the Tremere’s ghoul acolytes several at a
time, before turning her attention on the vampire.
Despite his best efforts to defend himself, she
ultimately overcame him and drank his heart’s
blood.
The Standing Stones remained in hiding as her
Beast vented its wrath and hunger on the bodies
of the slain and the rock of the cavern walls. Once
she had regained something of her composure,
they gradually approached, laying down their
weapons and explaining who they were. After
some convincing and calming down, the Gargoyle
accepted them and introduced herself as Ana,
daughter of Chaundice. Overwhelmed by finding
such a close descendant of the Rock Lord himself,
the Stones immediately swore allegiance to her.
Their first act was to direct her towards the nearby
chantry, where the Tremere she had slain had
originated from.
During the ensuing bloody raid, Ana and
the Standing Stones dispatched the unsuspecting
occupants with relative ease. The chantry’s regent
had attempted to hide herself in a secret chamber,
which contained a thick sheet of red obsidian
standing in a carved frame coated in blessings
and sacraments. Her notes alluded to the gradual
‘perfection of solidifying the force of life’ (the
‘anima mundi’), presumably towards attempts to
restore her body to mortal life. Ana was able to
Clanbook: Gargoyles
find her hiding spot without trouble, and slew the
regent quickly and without ceremony.
Curious about the obsidian sheet, she
melded with it in order to gain a greater sense
of its composition, but when she emerged she
was changed - bright red in colour, and though
neither mortal nor human, full of of a certain
savage vitality. The present Standing Stones, while
perturbed by her changes, were relieved at Ana’s
return and regrouped to a safer position. Over
the course of several months spent in her near-
continuous presence, they noticed a reconstitution
of their flesh to the glistening beauty of their
Metamus state. Eventually, every one of Ana’s
ghouls had their youthful strength back and then
some, becoming incarnations of their original
power and might.
In the modern nights, these elite soldiers
continue to battle the Tremere at every turn
beside their demonic-seeming mistress, and have
grown to include the majority of ghouls bound to
Chaundician Gargoyles. They operate across the
world, and equip themselves with relics and arcane
knowledge salvaged from each raided chantry. The
Standing Stones have taken up a personal crusade
against the ghoul cult known as the Sacrament
of Caine, who - fueled by the murderous actions
of Ferox - deem Gargoyles not worthy of unlife,
along with other ‘impure’ Clans and bloodlines
(see Ghouls and Revenants page 81). The two cults
wrage destructive but clandestine wars, with no
clear winner having yet emerged.
1476 Revivalists
A small subset of Gargoyle ghouls take what
they learn about their domitors’ bloody past
personally. Dubbing themselves the 1476 Revival,
they meet in shadowy ruins and talk in hushed
tones about the downfall of Clan Tremere. The
revivalists hate the Tremere and everything they
stand for, they dream of a night where the Tremere
and even Tremere itself is whipped off the face of
the earth and supplanted by the supreme Gargoyle
race.
Revivalist tactics even go so far as to plant
members within a chantry as Tremere ghouls
89
and use various Gargoyle rituals to spy on the
Warlocks. Information so gained often leads to
attacks or assassination attempts against senior
Tremere. So far they have been unable to uncover
evidence of the continued use of Gargoyle slaves
in defiance of the Montmartre Pact, even after
rapidly following up rumours of one’s appearance
in Chicago.
The latest and most audacious scheme is to
infiltrate an Embraced revivalist into a chantry
and frame a ‘discovery’, thus potentially ousting
the Tremere from the Camarilla and leaving them
vulnerable to their many rivals and enemies - the
Assamites, Gangrel, Nosferatu, Tzimisce, and most
of all the Gargoyles themselves. This plan has yet
to be put in place, though an increasing number of
Chaundician voices are raised in support of it, the
chief among them being Ana.
Naturally no revivalist holds Virstania in any
great esteem, as they are almost all Chaundician;
she is counted among the Tremere who must be
torn down and punished for their many sins, her
own conflicts with the Clan notwithstanding.
They urge Chaundice to start a second revolt, this
time ending in his diablerie of Tremere and the
elevation of the Gargoyle race to true Clanhood.
As on so many other matters, Chaundice has
remained silent on this.
Misbegotten Ghouls
Calacas love ghouling humans, particularly
for the Noche de los Muertos ritual (see page 108).
Animals, however, are spared ghouling, as they
rarely adapt to the specific decay and destruction
of the bodies that comes with the curse carried in
Calaca blood.
Seen as both extensions of their gods and
embodiments of their cults scripture, only truly
devout and worthy kine are given the sacred blood
of a Gorgon. They are actively encouraged to
ghoul the snakes of their temples, however, and
to eventually ritually Embrace them if they show
remarkable qualities.
Mariners don’t get the chance to ghoul human
beings; their creation however, requires the use of
90 Chapter Five: The Slaves Retainers
both ghouled and ritually-Embraced sea life. As
such, they ghoul and ritually Embrace droves of
marine organisms to live within their blood-fuelled
ecosystems.
Minkisi are born of powers other than blood
magic, and as such cannot (by design) ghoul, blood
bond, or Embrace. The presence of human sorcery
somehow degrades the curse of Caine, making
their blood inert. Many claim to have the ability
but it has never been witnessed by other Kindred.
Gargoyle Animals
Gargoyle blood is a truly transformative
substance, more so than that of other Kindred.
This primal quality derived from three different
Clans gives Gargoyle blood a great liveliness. This
characteristic combines with a connection to the
Beast that surpasses the Discipline of Animalism
itself, which Gargoyles should logically possess.
The Discipline doesn’t vanish entirely during
Gestation but is left dormant in their vitae. The
realization that Gargoyles could, with the correct
ritual preparations in place, ‘Embrace’ animals was
gleefully discovered by Virstania early into their
design. Gargoyles inherit the unique ability to
Embrace their long-standing animal ghouls.
To Embrace one of their familiar beasts,
Gargoyles must have the animal preemptively
ghouled for a specific period of time, depending
on the natural lifespan of the animal in question.
The creature must have lived around twice the
duration normally possible for non-ghouled
membership of its species. The Gargoyle-to-be
is then fed a mixture of ground granite dust,
vitae, and its natural food. Once this mixture
has been ingested for seven nights, the beast is
able to be drained of all its blood and receive the
Gargoyle’s. It does not truly reanimate it as with
humans but merely resuscitate and transform it
into something not quite Kindred but not quite
living. The window of opportunity to successfully
give this pseudo-Embrace is much shorter than an
‘ordinary’ Embrace performed on a human.
These beasts have an eclectic mix of vampire
and ghoul features, making them superior to an
average ghouled animal (hence their desirability).
They suffer milder versions of Kindred base
weaknesses (aggravated damage from sources of
fire, sustenance only from blood, etc.) as well as
the full weaknesses of the Gargoyle that Embraced
them. They can learn Disciplines (particularly
Flight), though not most mental Disciplines
(reference the table on page 131 of V20, as
though they were vampires achieving 3 successes
on Subsume the Spirit). They generate their own
blood to fuel their powers at 1 point per night,
are truly immortal, and unlike regular ghouled
animals will not normally mutate once their initial
transformation is complete. Once these animals
are Embraced, they no longer need the blood of
their master to survive but rather blood in general,
like any vampire. All Gargoyle animals must be
influenced with Gargoyle Ken rather than Animal
Ken.
Gargoyle animals also retain the ability to
reproduce, though this only works with other
Gargoyle animals of the same species, and often
not even then; many pregnancies miscarry or
produce non-viable foetuses, but those few that do
survive to birth appear identical in nature to their
parents. Gargoyle scholars are unsure of how to
classify these creatures, and most Gargoyle’s don’t
care.

New Ability: Gargoyle Ken

Gargoyles are creatures of two minds. On the one hand they have their human desires and
intelligence which motivate their night to night activities, and on the other they have their primal
animalistic mind pushing them to perform pack activities. These minds exist irrespective of the
Beast, and most Gargoyles try to balance all three evenly. Any one interacting with Gargoyles
must have a level of understanding of how to accurately portray the desires of a man alongside the
desires of an animal to truly communicate with a Gargoyle. Gargoyle Ken is a new Skill for non-
Gargoyles similar to Animal Ken, which determines how well a Gargoyle will naturally respect you
and is used to interact with any breed of Gargoyle outlined above and any Gargoyle animals below.
• Initiate - You have a general grasp of interacting with Gargoyles on an instinctive and intellectual
level simultaneously, but have to consider your words and actions carefully when communicating.
•• Rockhead - You have enough experience to interact with fledgeling Gargoyles without them
growing tired of your human ways. To this end the other Gargoyles respect you as if you were
yourself a fledgling.
••• Rebel - You can relax in a Grotesquerie without fear of making a faux pas serious enough to
lead to your death. Other Gargoyles may even willingly include you in their private customs and
rituals.
•••• Expert - You have a connection to the bloodline that is as strong as that of your own Clan
or bloodline; if anything, being with Gargoyles makes you feel more at home. No Grotesquerie will
shun you outright, and given a few nights most Gargoyles will accept you as one of their own.
••••• Legend: Akin to Virstania or Chaundice, you have the leave to walk into a Grotesquerie
and be free of any concern. Any Gargoyle will notice your devotion to their culture in moments,
and treat you like their own sire.

Clanbook: Gargoyles 91
Sludge Rats
Resembling bloated balls of mud dragging
their bodies along on stunted limbs, sludge rats
are the resultant monstrosity left behind in the
Embrace of rats. Lacking wings, they cannot
automatically fly, but manage to scurry along
at phenomenal speed by burrowing through
the soil. The flesh of sludge rats is a gelatinous
amalgamation of coagulated vitae and sewer waste,
loosely wrapped around a small, barely beating
heart. Gargoyles nesting in sewers will Embrace
great hoards of these creatures and send them off
to claim unsuspecting animals or kine for their
subterranean feasts.
Attributes: Strength 2, Dexterity 2, Stamina 4,
Perception 2, Intelligence 1, Wits 1
Abilities: Alertness 2, Athletics 3, Brawl 2, Stealth
4, Survival 4
Disciplines: Celerity 2, Obfuscate 2, Visceratika 3
Willpower: 4
Blood pool: 1
Health levels: OK,OK, -1 , -3, Incapacitated
Razor Bats
Contrary to the affliction which rats are
stricken with upon their Embrace, bats become
gangly and thin. This withering lends itself
greatly to their flying prowess the speed of which
quadruples once they are granted unlife. Razor
bats’ bodies crystallize to resemble a thin disk of
slate with the capacity to a slice a mortal’s throat
by simply fluttering against it. Gargoyles ritually
Embrace flocks of bats for company on their
nighttime flights, as they seem to take to Kindred
life with surprising ease, striking swiftly and
silently.
Attributes: Strength 2, Dexterity 4, Stamina 2,
Perception 4, Intelligence 1, Wits 2
Abilities: Alertness 4 Athletics 4, Brawl 2, Stealth
4, Survival 2
Disciplines: Auspex 1, Celerity 2, Flight 4,
Visceratika 3
Willpower: 3
92 Chapter Five: The Slaves Retainers
Blood pool: 1
Health levels: OK, -1, -2, -3, Incapacitated
Rock Cats
The cats ritually Embraced by Gargoyles are
rarely common house cats because their bodies
will not hold up to the vicious strength of their
vitae. Rock cats are a rare example of a Gargoyle
animal whose size diminishes upon the Embrace;
a mountain lion might reduce to the size of an
average dog. They are nimble and stealthy and
possess almost unparallelled senses, the telltale
signs of which are their burning red eyes.
Attributes: Strength 4, Dexterity 4, Stamina 3,
Perception 4, Intelligence 2, Wits 4
Abilities: Alertness 4, Athletics 4, Brawl 3,
Intimidation 2, Stealth 3, Survival 3
Disciplines: Auspex 1, Celerity 3, Flight 1, Protean
2, Visceratika 3
Willpower: 4
Blood pool: 5
Health levels: OK, OK, -1, -1, -2, -2, -5,
Incapacitated
Stone Hounds
Guard dogs are often classically favoured by
Sentinels dispute their mutated and overbearing
forms. They usually come from larger breeding
stock such as Dobermans, huskies, and Rottweilers
to best capitalise on the strength granted by their
new blood. They will grow in size to that of a wild
wolf, and have the intense aggression common
among the undead. Their fangs grow too long for
their mouths, keeping them perpetually propped
open.
Attributes: Strength 5, Dexterity 3, Stamina 4,
Perception 4, Intelligence 2, Wits 3
Abilities: Alertness 3, Athletics 4, Brawl 4,
Intimidation 3, Stealth 2, Survival 3
Disciplines: Flight 1, Fortitude 3, Potence 2,
Protean 2, Visceratika 3
Willpower: 5
Blood pool: 3
Health levels: OK, OK, -1, -1, -2, -2, -5,
Incapacitated
Cave Bears
Colossal boulders may sometimes be found
in the more isolated mountainous Eyries, ten feet
tall and four feet wide with two large indentations
around the front. A city-dwelling Kindred would
be excused for thinking that Gargoyles have placed
these boulders there as part of a ceremonial ritual
or to intimidate intruders, but that would be an
error in judgment leading to a brutally violent
Final Death.
Cave bears are the ritually Embraced bears
common only to North American Gargoyles.
These bears allow Gargoyles to sleep in their
domain during day if they gather food for them
in the night. They sleep for most of their unlives,
walking for around 3 to 4 hours at night, though
can easily stir at any time. They resemble gigantic
smooth boulders with subtle indentations where
their arms wrap around their torsos. No Kindred
who is not an elder is a match in combat against a
cave bear.
Attributes: Strength 6, Dexterity 2, Stamina 6,
Perception 3, Intelligence 3, Wits 2
Abilities: Alertness 3, Athletics 3, Brawl 5,
Intimidation 3, Stealth 1, Survival 4
Disciplines: Flight 1, Fortitude 4, Potence 4,
Protean 3, Visceratika 3
Willpower: 5
Blood pool: 6
Health levels: OK, OK, OK, OK, -1, -1, -1, -1 -3, -3,
-5, Incapacitated
Guardian Lions
The noble living totems of the eastern
Gargoyle colonies are named guardian lions,
created to reflect the guardian spirits found in
Chinese folklore (as the Gargoyles themselves
seem to do). These beasts are formed of only male
lions in control of an entire pride at the point
of Embrace. They gain an intelligence almost
equaling most humans, with a good chance of
managing speech and higher reasoning. They grow
Clanbook: Gargoyles
to a size greater than that of a shire horse and
become spiritually tied to the location where they
are Embraced.
Any temple housing a guardian lion will never
fall as these beasts can rival even the most deadly
vampire. They predominantly guard the Eternally
Petrified Sanctum, the Eyrie of Ch’iung Chi. At
least one Minkisi claim to have the capacity to
create guardian lions for their Guruhi warlords but
none have ever contested this claim.
Attributes: Strength 7, Dexterity 6, Stamina 7,
Perception 5, Intelligence 4, Wits 4
Abilities: Alertness 4, Athletics 5, Brawl 6,
Intimidation 5, Stealth 4, Survival 4
Disciplines: Flight 1, Fortitude 3, Presence 2,
Potence 3, Visceratika 3
Willpower: 6
Blood pool: 7
Health levels: OK, OK, OK, -1, -1 -1, -2, -2, -2, -3,
-3, -5, -5, Incapacitated
Chitterers
Chitterers are created from a merging of two
wolf hind sections (bound facing one another) and
as many juvenile birds’ heads as can fit onto their
combined bellies. This creature acts surprisingly
like a natural animal for the horrific mutant that it
is; when left to its own devices it will simply trawl
through fields and consume worms, shoots, and
small specks of vis for nourishment. The sight of a
field of grazing chitterers is one of the most surreal
experiences a vampire (let alone a mortal) can
undergo.
When the beast is employed as a combatant,
however, it can break even the strongest-willed
Kindred. The chitterer immediately pounces
and holds down the victim with its preternatural
strength, so that he can see the avian heads on its
exposed bellies. The heads then simply squawk at
the victim while lightly pecking him. After several
minutes of harsh, incomprehensible squawking,
the beaks gradually produce words and then
whole sentences, audible only to the victim. These
screeches come to contain details of true crimes
the victim has committed, irrespective of what the
93
chitterer (or any other being) could have learned.
Chitterers scream accusations at their victims until
they relent; many go mad in the process.
Dark rumours surround the chitterers,
aside from the cruelty and madness involved in
their creation (which was, unusually, far more
Malgorzata’s doing than Virstania’s) and their
terrifying forms. It is said that with their many
beaks they can ‘taste’ the unspoken sins and
atrocities committed by their victims, which
they then regurgitate. This ability, which they do
not seem to use deliberately or consciously, is
whispered to be imbued on them using techniques
drawn from a truly abominable art of Dark
Thaumaturgy.
They reproduce by laying eggs, each
hindquarter fertilizing the eggs of the other. In
the time of Ceoris, these eggs were transported
further into the Carpathian mountains to avoid
destruction. Malgorzata once conducted an
experiment in which a prisoner was forced to
drink a chitterer’s blood and nothing else for a
week. The Gangrel victim was said to have turned
into an imitation Malkavian, such was his insanity.
While the vast majority of chitterers, if not all of
them, died following the fall of Ceoris and the
decline of its stores of vis, the formula for creating
one has not been entirely lost. There are perhaps
only a dozen tonight, kept in the deepest, darkest
hearts of a handful of chantries.
Attributes: Strength 4, Dexterity 3, Stamina 4,
Perception 3, Intelligence 1, Wits 1
Abilities: Alertness 3, Athletics 4, Awareness 1,
Brawl 4, Empathy 5, Stealth 2
Disciplines: Auspex 2, Daimoinon 1, Dementation
3*, Potence 3
Health Levels: OK, -1, -3, -5, Incapacitated
Blood Pool: 3
Willpower: 2
For the first two levels of Dementation, Chitterers
use their Willpower and add it to their Empathy
for their dice pools.
The chitterer must successfully grapple its
opponent and hold him down for several rounds
94 Chapter Five: The Slaves Retainers
Vis
Gargoyle monstrosities and ritually
Embraced animals feed primarily on blood,
but since their creation in Ceoris they
have been known to possess the ability to
consume other, magical substances. In the
grounds of Ceoris, and the surrounding
Carpathians, lay a substance of magic made
physical, called vis. Gargoyle-Embraced
creatures and monstrosities roamed the land,
living on this material almost exclusively,
though Kindred and the vast majority of
‘ordinary’ Gargoyles were incapable of
drawing sustenance from it. Even tonight,
vis can often be found deep in the hearts of
mountains and in isolated locations swelling
with magic.Your fellows revere you exactly as
you deserve.”
for its ability to become active. The chitterer
will automatically ‘taste’ vile secrets on the skin
of the victim, instantly spewing the secret forth
amongst its incessant squawking. After a number
of rounds equal to the victim’s Courage, he must
make a Courage roll (difficulty 7) or enter a fear
frenzy (mortal victims simply curl up and become
catatonic with terror and shock). This roll is
repeated every two rounds thereafter, either until
it is failed or the grapple ends. If it is botched, the
victim also gains a Derangement - often paranoia,
but sometimes a deep ornithophobia combined
with hallucinations, whereby he hears every bird
screaming his greatest crimes back at him.
Skin-Eaters
In the dark woods surrounding Ceoris, vast
swarms of flies would feast on rotting plant and
animal matter. Upon noticing these swarms,
Virstania decided to ghoul them in a vat of slurry
made from Gargoyle vitae and sandstone dust
(to fatten them up). They were kept in ritualistic
clay jars and bathed in Gargoyle blood until their
specialist abilities were required. A Warlock would
approach an entire encampment of Tzimisce or
kine warriors and crack the vase to release the
swarm. The swarm would sweep through the camp,
stripping every being clean of skin.
Skin-eaters still exist, mostly locked up deep
in Tremere chantries. Any humans who fall victim
to an attack by a skin-eater swarm will bleed to
death in seconds, while Kindred will fall into
Torpor unless they can heal their skin quickly and
somehow see off the swarm. Any skin healed will
cause the victim to lose one level of Appearance
as it can never truly heal correctly. Only with
speed, cunning, or supernatural power can one
escape a cloud of skin-eaters, as any attempt at
resistance will not affect the rate of the skin-eaters’
consumption.
Skin-eaters have an effective speed and damage
rating of 3, so any Kindred wishing to escape such
an attack must either run quick enough (dexterity
and athletics roll) or resist the damage indefinitely
(stamina roll with 4 levels of lethal damage per
round).
Reapers
As a side-project, Virstania would farm vats
of beetles within a tank filled with the vitae of
Kindred, extracted while they were frenzying,
until the beetles greatly enlarged and fought one
another viciously. They were then left alone until
the screeching subsided and only one remained.
This champion would often be as large as a
human child, with a thick shell and two scythes
protruding either side of its swollen body. Its face
would then be delicately carved out and replaced
with a swarm’s worth of rat heads, which began
constantly mewling and tussling with each other.
These creatures, called reapers, were usually
made to infest the lands around Ceoris and
provide an extra level of security if a human
mob or Tzimisce warhost ever came to its doors.
Nothing phased these beasts in a fight; despite not
being the biggest or most capable in combat, they
fought with savage ferocity. Nests of these beasts
could reach twenty residents or more, at which
point Gargoyles would be sent in to cull their
numbers.
The first recorded use of the current form
of reapers was by Jervais, childe of Malgorzata
Clanbook: Gargoyles
in Magdeburg in 1211, when he employed one
to hunt down a Caitiff whose name is lost to
history. He engineered a specific mutation in his
reaper, meaning that it suffered great pain until it
had successfully hunted down its assigned target.
Though it was unsuccessful in this instance, it
performed well enough and survived its mission.
That particular reaper was exterminated once the
agony made it no longer viable, but the mutation’s
usefulness was noted and given to other reapers
and further improved, meaning that it could be
‘switched off’ if the target was no longer feasible
or the reaper needed to be reassigned. All extant
Reapers are of this type, though few have masters
in a position of activating this ‘ability’.
After the Revolt, the reapers were released,
leading to a population living near where Ceoris
once stood of around 200 specimens. They rarely
leave the grounds of Ceoris and the surrounding
countryside, as their bodies rely on the magical
materials lying around the Carpathian mountains
called vis (as most Gargoyle beasts do), though
Kindred blood seems to suffice for a rare few.
Attributes: Strength 3, Dexterity 5, Stamina 5,
Perception 5, Intelligence 1, Wits 2
Abilities: Alertness 3, Athletics 4, Brawl 5, Stealth
3
Discipline: Auspex 1, Celerity 2, Fortitude 2,
Potence 3
Health Levels: OK, OK, -1, -3, -5, Incapacitated
Blood Pool: 4
Willpower: 3
Attacks: Scythe-like forelimbs dealing 8 dice of
lethal damage (including Strength and Potence).
Gargoyle Monstrosities
There are many ‘breeds’ which fall under
the general category of Gargoyle. The most well-
known of these are obviously the sired Gargoyle’s,
whom most Kindred will at least have vaguely
heard of. But during the Omen War and the
various centuries long battles against lupines and
Tzimisce, the witch of Ceoris developed numerous
creatures based upon the creation of Gargoyles.
These Gargoyle monstrosities have the intelligence
95
 Cave Caps
In the Eyrie of Ceoris, the floor would permanently be coated in a thick mulch of ash, clay, blood,
flesh, and feculence. Within this slurry settled the spores of fungi already mutated by the corrupt
essence flowing throughout the cave systems joining the Eyrie to the Carpathian mountains. These
spours subtly bred thousands of ghouled generations in the quiet depths of Ceoris, becoming infectious.
These spores would occasionally settle in the vitae of womb-bearers when they were sectioned open to
implant a new foetus. They then passed into the bloodstream of the developing young, taking an almost
permanent presence in their vitae. Through ghouling, blood bonds, siring, combat, and blood orgies the
spores passed from Kindred to Kindred, leaving a high percentage of Ceoris’s Gargoyles with this fungal
infestation.
For normal Gargoyles or any Kindred possessing Visceratika, the spores will remain inert for their
entire unlives; they will more than likely never know of its presence at all. Kindred without a connection
to the inanimate, however, are at great risk indeed. If a Gargoyle with this malady is fed from by another
vampire (whether due to an attempt at diablerie or as part of a blood bond), the caps will sprout in
the new ‘clean skinned’ host (Ghouls do not generally develop this condition as Visceratika protects
them even if they struggle to actually learn the Discipline). A fist-sized cap will emerge a night after
they imbibe the infected blood, a new one emerging every night thereafter until the Kindred is entirely
coated in these inflexible stony growths. The cave caps reduce ordinary function until the Kindred
becomes an unmoving mass of stone, at which point they will begin to dissolve as they are consumed by
the caps, even as they inevitably starve into torpor.
The only way for any vampire to rid themselves of cave cap is to burn every blood point in their
body, removing the means for them to incubate. If the Kindred can do this knowing they will be revived
by blood to revive them from torpor, they will survive and the caps will eventually age and die, dropping
off after just a few nights of exsanguination. The average Kindred could take around 60 caps to entirely
debilitate them, which they cannot easily or safely remove, as they root all throughout the Kindred’s
circulatory system. Any which are removed are swiftly replaced. Sadly, not many Gargoyles are aware of
this fungal infection, so this simple if inconvenient cure is rarely known.

of animals or small children, and were designed
to perform specific tasks for their masters. During
the Revolt, these beasts were taken by the rebelling
Gargoyles and kept as guards and pets.
Womb-Bearers
These creatures are truly a horror to behold;
standing at 20 feet in height, they are the brood
mothers of their Grotesqueries. Most womb-
bearers are created by particularly powerful
Tremere or Gargoyle shamans to facilitate the
continued creation of true Gargoyles, but the
process is not pretty. They are ritually stuffed with
earth over a period of a month until a cavity is
created in their abdomens to house the gestating
sac. During this time their entire body enlarges to
average out the size of their lower halves. At the
turn of the month the earthen mass is expelled
and the creature is left with a womb ready to
breed.
The transition to womb bearing is a high
honour and only the most respected of Gargoyles
are chosen. They will have limited mobility but
should retain most of their former function unless
other rituals are performed in addition to this one
to deliberately limit them. They gain an additional
4 ‘OK’ health levels, though their Dexterity and
Willpower are lowered by 2 each (to a minimum
of 1). Sadly, their Strength does not increase which
leads to limited movement of their new, vast forms.

96 Chapter Five: The Slaves Retainers

Simulacra
Life as a simulacrum is an eternal hell.
Considered neither truly Gargoyles or vampires,
they belong to no one. A simulacrum is created in
a process involving the mutilation, reconstitution,
and ritualistic soul reforging of a single Kindred.
It is made to think and behave exactly as Tremere
require it to, before being sent to manipulate
the Clan they were once part of. Their Beast
is that of a Gargoyle, so when they learn of
nearby Grotesqueries they instinctively flock
to that location. This always ends in horror as
Gargoyles possess their own instinctual response to
simulacrum - one of utter hatred. A Gargoyle will
have to test their willpower not to kill these beings
immediately since they were programed to kill
them from the beginning.
Simulacra are designed to fulfil one mission
and to die soon after so any that survive their
mission were expected to be killed by Gargoyles
as per their instincts. This dissociation from
all Kindred life sends simulacra insane and
suicidal, opting to kill themselves, kill others, or
willingly fall to wightdom. They appear as classic
frankenstein monsters with reconstituted flesh and
deadened nerves making their facial expressions
uncanny; this makes long term social interactions
hard to maintain.
Attributes: Strength 2, Dexterity 2, Stamina
2, Charisma 1, Manipulation 1, Appearance 1,
Perception 2, Intelligence 1, Wits 2.
Abilities: Alertness 1, Athletics 2, Brawl 3, Melee
3, Performance 1, Stealth 2, Survival 2, Subterfuge
1,
Disciplines: Fortitude 2, Obfuscate 3, Potence 1
Willpower: 3
Blood pool: 8
Health Levels: OK, -1, -1, -2, -2, -2, -2, -2, -5,
Incapacitated
Gargoyles have the natural urge to kill simulacra,
purely from the scent of their blood. For one to
survive in a Grotesquerie they must continually
make an extended Charisma + Empathy roll.
Clanbook: Gargoyles
Vellumae
Vellumae are arguably the worst thing
identifiable within the Gargoyle bloodline, if
indeed they could ever be classed as Gargoyles or
even Kindred. They appear as nothing more than
animate sheets of skin, without muscle, bone, or
organs to support them. They have senses beyond
human comprehension as well as inexplicable
powers of movement, freeing them up to travel
as far as they wish and experience whatever they
desire.
A Velluma can splay out and drift on the wind
to fly, or condense to the size of a pencil to slither
through unseen cracks. They have no faces, make
no sound, and do not attack victims with an intent
to harm; all they do is drink human blood. They
will find a lone host and wrap around the subject,
dissolving his entire body and absorbing the juices
inside before flapping away into the darkness.
Attributes: Strength 1, Dexterity 5, Stamina 2,
Perception 3, Intelligence 1, Wits 1
Abilities: Academics 1 (occasionally), Alertness 4,
Athletics 4, Melee 1, Stealth 4, Survival 2
Disciplines: Flight 1, Potence 2, Obfuscate 2
Willpower: 3
Blood pool: 3
Health Levels: OK, -2, -5, Incapacitated
Vellumae can fly by catching updrafts and floating
on air currents. They will take to flight in order
to hunt for prey, once they sense it they will wrap
around the lines whole body. The Velluma drains
the human of blood and quickly takes off once
again into the night.
Iecur
Nightmares of the dungeons of Ceoris come
in the form of iecur, the sight of which scarcely
any Kindred could see without frenzying from
sheer terror. Formed of hundreds of organs knitted
together by digestive channels which spawn during
Gestation, these six-foot mounds of flesh act as
guards in secret cave systems and dungeons storing
the most important of magical texts. When iecur
are threatened, they will dissolve their prey by
97
wrapping around them and digesting them in a
matter of minutes. Though they prefer Kindred
flesh, anything unlucky enough to cross their
path is fair game. If they are left more than ten
days without flesh they will enter a state of frenzy
until they are once more fed. Only beings of truly
substantial strength can combat an iecur as they
possess monumental Fortitude and Potence.
Attributes: Strength 5, Dexterity 1, Stamina 10,
Perception 1, Intelligence 1, Wits 1
Abilities: Alertness 3, Brawl 8, Intimidation 5,
Stealth 1
Disciplines: Fortitude 4, Potence 4
Willpower: 4
Blood pool: 12
Health levels: OK, OK, OK, OK, -1, -1, -3, -3, -5,
Incapacitated
The Iecur Must make a successful Grapple
before beginning to digest its victim. Having done
so, it strips its victim of one health level and one
blood point per subsequent tum, no further rolls
required. For a victim to release herself from
enveloping iecur, the player must roll Strength +
Brawl. If trapped up against a wall, a victim has
no way out of its grip, and must hope she (or her
allies) can kill it before it reduces her entirely to
paste.
Hexapeds
Hexapeds are six-armed, dog-minded monsters
which were often left to roam the grounds outside
of Ceoris with the Chitterers and Reapers until
their specific capabilities were required. They are
constructed with the flesh of three Gangrel, using
all their arms, some of each one’s intestine, and
the entirety of each brain. The body is severed
at the waist with 3 arms attached either side.
Their heads are stapled back so as to allow them
movement on their elbows with their hands
pointing skyward. Their faces are removed and
replaced by a strapped-shut wound, exposing their
combined brain, and their chest cavity is cracked
open with a unique sensory tendril lying in wait
within.
Hexapeds have the exceedingly precise ability
98 Chapter Five: The Slaves Retainers
to track any being by smelling its aura residue left
behind on clothing or tools. Once it has tracked
its victim down it sprays a chemical upon them
from an orifice grown within its brain, forging a
permanent spiritual connection which enables
the hexaped to find its victim anywhere on earth.
They have been observed to possess the early levels
of Protean and Auspex, which give them an even
greater edge in tracking their prey. Despite their
horrific appearance, they will often behave like
young puppies. with playful attitudes and excitable
devotion to duty.
Attributes: Strength 3, Dexterity 5, Stamina 4,
Perception 5, Intelligence 2, Wits 2
Abilities: Alertness 3, Athletics 3, Brawl 2,
Intimidation 4, Stealth 7, Survival 3
Disciplines: Auspex 2 (3 for more advanced
Hexapeds), Fortitude 1, Potence 2, Protean 1
(occasionally)
Willpower: 5
Blood pool: 10
Health levels: OK, OK, OK, -1, -1 -1, -1, -3, -3, -5,
Incapacitated
Hand-to-hand attacks do normal damage the
Head appendage however does 8 dice but stops
attacking after a successful hit, instead draining 3
blood per turn.
Colossi
One of the greatest threats to the security of
Ceoris during the Omen War was the vozhd of
the Tzimisce (see V20 pages 502-503). Naturally,
the Tremere felt the need to replicate such sheer
destructive force in their own constructs. The
repeated Gestation of Gargoyles saw to this need
with grim results: “the birth of an embodied
angel”, in the words of Cordwood. In seeking
to create the ultimate Gargoyle killing machine,
Virstania and Malgorzata created the colossi;
perhaps uniquely, it was a project that saw much
greater contribution from Goratrix’s childe than
from the Great Mother.
In the creation of a Gargoyle colossus, one
outstanding specimen of each Casting (each
from the same womb-bearer) is dismembered
and sewn back together, with all impurities and
mutations removed so as to retain only their
strongest properties. They are then placed back
inside the womb of the same womb-bearer that
created them originally for two full years. Over
this period, rituals must be performed day and
night to encourage the flesh of all four beings to
merge together. If successful, the womb-bearer will
gradually grow a cocoon of shining hematite across
its entire body over the course of the first year.
Towards the end of the second year, this cocoon
will splinter apart, revealing what is left at the end
of the two year ritual.
Emerging from the broken cocoon will be a
twenty-foot-tall newborn colossus. The faces of
the three cast gargoyles will have erupted from the
womb-bearers head (resulting in the ability to look
in every direction at once) and their wings will
have all sprouted out of her back and enlarged to
match their new frame. Any of the former womb-
bearer’s weakened muscles will be reinforced to
their original power and then some, leaving a
creature capable of razing a castle to the ground
singlehandedly.
The faces, wings, and entire body are covered
in the sigils which had previously been inscribed
upon the cocoon during re-Gestation, making each
colossus resemble the more alien depictions of
angels.
Attributes: Strength 8, Dexterity 4, Stamina 7,
Perception 5, Intelligence 2, Wits 4
Abilities: Alertness 4, Athletics 3, Brawl 6,
Intimidation 6, Survival 4
Disciplines: Flight 3, Fortitude 3, Potence 3
Willpower: 5
Blood pool: 20
Health levels: OK, OK, OK, OK, OK, -1, -1 -1, -1
-1, -2, -2, -2, -2, -2, -5, -5, -5, Incapacitated
Colossi are indomitable, they combined minds
make domination a futile effort. They also have an
ability similar to presence where in they can strike
terror in heir enemies hearts with a single roar, this
costs 2 blood points and requires an intimidation
roll.
Clanbook: Gargoyles
Trovants
Every damaged piece of matter left over after
the Gestation of the Gargoyles of Ceoris was
thrown into a refuse pile within the catacomb
beneath the chantry, amidst alchemical waste
and the faeces of ghouls and yet-mortal Tremere.
Eventually the time came to clear out this vile
mess, at which point expendable ghouls were
given the unenviable task of transporting the waste
eastwards and dumping it in the Black Sea.
Just after the foul-smelling caravan had left
the Carpathians, their cargo mysteriously tore
through the wooden slats of the carts and pooled
on the ground. Upon investigating, the ghouls
found large spherical boulders sat amidst the
Gargoyle remains, human waste, and chemicals.
As the ghouls (who didn’t know what else to do)
tried to lift these boulders back into the cart, their
blood was tugged though their skin and seemingly
consumed by the boulders. The rest of the caravan
fled; upon returning with Kindred masters the
boulders had disappeared.
Today, these ‘living’ boulders are even known
to the kine and referred to as ‘trovants’. They
are immune to sunlight and have no reactions
to outside stimuli. If at any time the boulders
are ‘hungry’ (which only appears to be every few
years or even decades), they will instantly drain
the blood of anything touching them through
the victim’s skin. The rocks multiply when ever
water or blood touches them (more quickly with
human blood, even more so with vampire blood),
and they have the capacity to travel seemingly
vast distances of their own volition. Humans
see these as a simply natural phenomena with
the subsequent deaths quickly covered up by
those Tremere who have purchased the land and
declared their location the ‘trovant preserve’.
99
 Chapter Six:
Lithomancy
Gargoyle Rituals
Long before the Revolt - before the majority
of Gargoyles were true vampires capable of
the Embrace, before the use of Disciplines
and other fundamental Kindred abilities, the
Tremere masters would apply specialised rituals
called ‘humours’ to their Gargoyle slaves. These
humours ranged from an enchantment allowing
the master to see through a Construct’s eyes,
to a mutation granting a Gargoyle the ability to
breathe fire. In the modern nights, these rituals
work just as well as they once did, but due to the
terms of the Montmartre Pact, many have been
lost. As the subjects of these rituals, Gargoyles in
Grotesqueries the world over have retained the
knowledge of their performance and have made
them into something akin to social traditions.
Many rituals related most directly to survival
(Skin of the Chameleon and Stone Slumber, for
instance) were codified by Virstania and converted
into the Discipline of Visceratika.
Though blood sorcery is not a common talent
for Gargoyles to be born with, it is rare for any
Grotesquerie to not have some degree of arcane
knowledge (under the purview of the Scout Mould
and his shamans), with which they refine their
rituals into tools for both social protocol and
individual survival. These range from the ornate
decoration of war-bound Warrior packs to brewing
100 Chapter Six: Geomancy
psychoactive blood tonics to facilitate an audience
with spirits.
Though most Gargoyles have abandoned the
Mother’s personal goals, many still believe they
are meant to be elevated to a status of greatness
which can now only be achieved through a unique
connection to the spiritual world.
The Grand Grotesquerie (Level Three)
The Grand Grotesquerie is a meeting of
many Gargoyles, held in order to share in their
strength as a bloodline and forge and strengthen
ties between nearby Grotesqueries. Once the
place for a Grand Grotesquerie has been decided
upon by a council of Rock Lords and Ladies and
the chosen site has been made secure against any
outside threats, the date will be set. The location
will almost always be a place with absolutely no
mortal presence, or land owned by Kindred who
have proven their worth in the eyes of the Gargoyle
race.
Each Rock Lord will escort his entire
Grotesquerie along with any ghouls, monstrosities,
or Gargoyle creatures that may live within his Eyrie
to the location of the gathering. Once there, they
will lay claim to a specific region of the domain
in a first-come-first-serve basis until all attending
Grotesques have made their ‘camp’. A symbolic
Rock Court will be set up by specially-appointed
shamans from all attending Grotesqueries, where
the Rock Lords and Ladies will ultimately meet. In
the centre of this court will be placed a monolithic
standing stone carved by the Scout Moulds of each
attendant Grotesquerie, covered with inscriptions
representing each Grotesquerie’s Eyrie and bearing
a sculpted, open-mouthed face in the centre.
The Rock Lords and Ladies debate the various
bonds between their Grotesqueries, any breaches
in those bonds and any further agreements that
they might wish to propose. Boons may be granted
during this debate and more often than not
individuals will be sworn to other Grotesqueries,
whereby a Gargoyle will leave his Eyrie to join
another, unifying the two. Once all Lords are
happy with the arrangements (a state which can
take several nights to reach) they will all, one by
one and in descending order of age, enter the
central monolith; once this is finished they will
expel blood simultaneously from the mouth
carved in the centre, providing a gentle fountain
of combined vitae from which every attendant
(ghouls, Gargoyle beasts and monstrosities
included) will drink. After drinking, the attendants
will spend the rest of the night sparring, racing, or
teaching each other Disciplines. This display strikes
those few Kindred to have witnessed it (and several
Camarilla-loyal Gargoyles) as disconcertingly close
to the ritae of the Sabbat, and in particular the
Vaulderie.
At the turn of the next night the members of
each Grotesquerie returns to their Eyries with a
renewed sense of belonging to their bloodline (or
‘Clan’, as they become tempted to think of it). The
Rock Lords will all Mimetically retain elements
of the stone from which the monolith was made
in order to remind them of their various oaths.
This feature will only fade come the next time they
perform the ritual.
System: The Scout Moulds each spend a
point of Willpower and make a Intelligence +
Crafts roll to create the monolith (difficulty 6),
requiring one successful roll for each Rock Lord.
If they all succeed, all attendees of the Grand
Grotesquerie count as blood bonded to each
Rock Lord for the month following the humour’s
performance, though only to the first degree. It
Clanbook: Gargoyles
does not affect existing blood bonds or vinculi.
If any Mould fails his roll, the entire ritual fails
but may be reattempted at +1 difficulty. If more
Moulds fail than succeed, the ritual may not
be reattempted that night at all. Worst of all, if
there are more botched rolls than successes, the
Grand Grotesquerie will likely descend into petty
bickering or even exchanged blows, imposing +1
difficulty to all Social rolls between all Gargoyles
present for the rest of the night.
Draught of Molten Fury (Level Three)
This humour was designed purely to increase
the Warriors’ already terrifying battle prowess,
giving them an even greater edge in combat. They
gain the ability to not only ignore the debilitating
effects of wounds during the heat of combat, but
to use this pain to fuel mighty blows against his
enemies. The shaman must - without revealing
his true purpose to the subject in question - goad
a Gargoyle into frenzy and remove a number of
blood points from him equal to the number of
prospective subjects before he regains control.
This substance is then boiled in an iron pan. As it
reaches the boil, the shaman recites an incantation
akin to a battle cry. Once enchanted, the blood -
still boiling - is drunk by the Gargoyles subject to
the humour.
System: After the Gargoyle activates this
humour’s power, they can make a Willpower
roll (difficulty 7) whenever they take damage. If
successful, the player will ignore any new dice pool
penalties incurred and instead adds that same
number of dice to all of his Strength rolls. If the
Gargoyle reaches Incapacitated or below he still
falls unconscious or is destroyed, as appropriate.
If the Kindred possesses Armour of Terra, he will
only gain dice equal to half the normal health
penalties, exactly as he would suffer losing them.
This humour lasts for one scene once it is activated
by the Gargoyle subject, which she may do at any
time by burning the enchanted blood point.
Enchant the Newborn (Level One)
This ritual allows the shaman to initiate a
fledgling into his Grotesquerie, blessing her with
a number of gifts for as long as the shaman and
101
the fledgling remain bound by the ritual itself
(generally the first few years of the fledgling’s
unlife). A shaman may be so bound to only one
fledgling at a time, so if he is the only shaman
in the Grotesquerie the effects will normally be
transferred each time a new childe is Embraced
(or, rarely, created by ritual) and initiated.
This humour requires six hours per night for
one complete cycle of the moon, beginning on
the night of the Gargoyle’s Gestation (whether
by Embrace or At Our Command It Breathes)
and ending with precisely the same moon phase.
The actual ritual requirements of Enchant the
Newborn are quite relaxed; the six hours need only
consist of the shaman and the fledgling being in
one another’s presence, usually bonding over play,
sparring, tutoring, or simply conversation. This is
also considered an ideal time for a new Gargoyle
to bond with her Grotesquerie, including being
subject to Grotesque Consecration (see below)
System: This humour must begin on the night
of the subject’s Gestation, and be ‘performed’
nightly for the entire moon cycle which begins on
that night. The shaman spends one blood point
per night and once a week makes an extended roll
of Intelligence + Occult (difficulty 8); if a night’s
work is missed or if the four extended rolls do not
accumulate at least 20 net successes, the childe is
unaffected and the humour cannot be resumed
or repeated. An initiated fledgling gains several
advantages:
• The difficulty of all harmful or malicious
magical effects that target her increases by +1.
• The fledgling receives one extra dice when
rolling for group ritual castings.
• If the fledgling is separated from her
grotesquerie, a successful Perception + Occult roll
(difficulty 7) allows the shaman who performed
this rite on her to divine her location.
Fertility of Clay (Level Four)
The very existence of the Gargoyles as they are
known depends on this ritual, which predates At
Our Command It Breathes. Through it a Gargoyle,
whether cast or Embraced, may be transformed
into a womb-bearer (see page 96). The earliest
102 Chapter Six: Geomancy
shamans to emerge free following the Revolt
sought to emulate their Mother and her great goal
of elevating the Gargoyle race above the other
Kindred. The subject must be willing, ready and
female for this procedure to work, she will become
the brood mother of her Grotesquerie, equal in
status only to their chosen Rock Lord.
A womb-bearer is prepared by having her
abdomen scrubbed with various smoke-filtered oils
for an entire night amidst lengthy incantations.
The bearer is then given a specially-prepared
mixture of vitae and natural soil to consume. As
she does so, she must make an extended Stamina
roll (difficulty 8) not to spew the mixture back out
(unless she happens to have the Eat Food Merit),
over the period of a month.
Over this period the womb-bearers body grows
at an agonisingly slow pace, until she is three times
larger. Once this process is complete, the shaman
performs one final blessing upon the bearer’s
uterus, rolling Intelligence + Occult and spending
three blood points and a Willpower point. If the
entire ritual is successful, the newly-converted
Gargoyle will naturally birth a mass of compressed
earth, leaving her with a womb ready to bear
Gargoyles.
Shamans outside of the Flock have adapted
Fertility of Clay, enabling them to relieve a womb-
bearer’s pain - only for the shaman to take it
on himself. Doing so is considered a grim duty
by responsible shamans, so as not to repeat the
sufferings of Alvusia. Some are looking into ways
to relieve or take on the pain at other periods, but
have so far been unsuccessful.
System: As a result of this ritual, the womb-
bearer’s Athletics and Dexterity are both reduced
by two and her Stamina is increased by four
(exceeding generational maximums if necessary).
This increase in size often makes movement
difficult. She will have to be sectioned to fit the
Gargoyle foetus within her womb, and again to
remove it once Gestation is completed. During
the birthing process, the shaman who performed
this ritual may spend a Willpower point in order
to take on the womb-bearer’s pain (which deals no
damage but causes the shaman to count as being
Crippled for the remainder of the scene, losing 5
dice from all dice pools).
Fire Dancer (Level One)
The Gargoyle acolytes finally managed to
prove that gargoyles are superior to other kindred
by creating an ability where in they could ignore
a fundamental failing of the vampiric condition:
Rötshreck, the fear of fire. This process will give
them an unshakable foundation within their souls
that even fire cannot crack. The Gargoyle will
cloak herself in her own wings while the shaman
breaks off a shard of the subject’s carapace (which
hurts, but inflicts no damage) and lights it. After
this he inscribes runes across the Gargoyle’s wing
casing using with the fresh hot ash, which when
complete, glow with arcane power.
System: To perform this ritual, the Shaman
must spend a Willpower point and roll Wits +
Occult. The ash and sparks of the burning stone
create a spiritual barrier across the Gargoyle’s flesh
that obscures the Beast’s ability to perceive fire,
thus helping her stave off Rötshreck. Once the
ritual is complete, the Gargoyle gains an additional
dice on Courage rolls made to resist Rötshreck per
success the shaman gained on the roll to perform
the ritual. This bonus is applied in the next
scene in which the Gargoyle is required to resist
Rötshreck, after which the runes burn out and
the shield tapers off, leaving the Gargoyle in her
natural state.
Grotesque Consecration (Level One)
A surprisingly simple humour taught to most
shamans early into their journey, allows Mimesis to
take hold much sooner than would come naturally.
They must bring a live animal into their new Eyrie
- sheep, deer, and cows are most commonly used -
before any of their new Grotesquerie mates sleep
there, and cut geomantic sigils into the skin of the
animal and any Gargoyles on whom the humour
is applied. Each Gargoyle must then drink from
that same creature. When they sleep that day, they
find that their Mimesis has begun at an advanced
rate. Groups of Gargoyles who undergo this ritual
together often have far more uniform appearances
than Grotesquerie mates who have spent years or
Clanbook: Gargoyles
decades in the same Eyrie.
This ritual is primarily used in two
circumstances: when a Grotesquerie moves into a
new Eyrie (in which case all members, including
the shaman, take part), and when a new member
is introduced to the Grotesquerie and its Eyrie. If
in the latter case the newcomer is introduced to
the Grotesquerie by way of Embrace or At Our
Command It Breathes (see page 107), Enchant
the Newborn will also be used if that humour is
known. For many recently-created Gargoyles, this
humour has been their first experience of feeding.
It is not uncommon for two Grotesqueries to
exchange members through the use of this ritual,
so as to create bonds between them. It is noted
that the use of this ritual allows new members of a
Grotesquerie to quickly gain a sense of belonging
in their new home and form fast friendships with
their comrades.
System: The shaman spends a Willpower
point and rolls Dexterity + Occult (difficulty 6).
If the shaman is successful, the creature’s blood
will be imbued with the essence of that Eyrie, and
a sympathetic bond created between it and all
Gargoyle subjects. They must drink of the animal’s
blood before they sleep in the structure that night.
Each Gargoyle who drinks one blood point from
the animal will take on Mimetic features of that
Eyrie when they next awaken. Additionally, they
gain a temporary Willpower point (which may
exceed their usual maximum). This ritual may only
be performed once for each Gargoyle introduced
to an Eyrie.
Harder than a Stone (Level Three)
For this humour, the shaman must carve a
heart from stone local to Eyrie and place it on
the chest of the Gargoyle subject, who must lie
on the floor of the Eyrie in front of her entire
Grotesquerie. The heart is smeared in hot wax,
reddened with the blood of every member of the
Grotesquerie, to create a ‘cocoon’ for it, which
becomes mounted on the Gargoyle’s chest. The
gathered Gargoyles repeat a ritual enchantment
while the mound of hot wax cools. As they do
so, the Gargoyle gradually feels less and less of an
emotional attachment to them.
103
 At the climax of the ritual the shaman will stab
the waxen mound with a stake made from petrified
wood. As they do the mound will appear empty
and the entire wax structure will disintegrate,
revealing the that the stone heart has vanished,
having mystically entered the Gargoyle and merged
with her own heart over the course of the ritual.
The application of this humour has fundamental
and far-reaching consequences for the subject’s
physiology and psychology.
Most simply, the Gargoyle’s heart becomes
permanently encased in a layer of thick, hard
stone, making her much more difficult to stake.
This stone is part of her body, and will regenerate
like any other if damaged. The psychological
effects, however, go far deeper. For every night
following the ritual until the Gargoyle meets Final
Death, she will be a cold and unfeeling creature,
with little sentiment or compassion. Though she
retains the capacity to hold values and beliefs,
she does so only because she sees them as logical,
and will perform virtually any act in their name
- though equally she will not become incensed
when they are criticised or opposed. She becomes
very difficult to manipulate emotionally, whether
through mundane means or through the use of the
Presence Discipline. Further, her Beast’s aggression
atrophies, though if she willingly performs actions
that erode her Humanity, she will fall all the
quicker without much in the way of a conscience
to resist degeneration.
This is not a humour which is applied lightly,
for it is irreversible. The few Gargoyles who
volunteer for it, most of whom are Warriors, are
regarded with equal parts awe and fear by their
fellows. It is considered the greatest sacrifice for
a Gargoyle to give up their sense of belonging in
order to protect the place of belonging of others.
System: The ritual requires one blood point
from the shaman and from each member of the
subject’s Grotesquerie, which are infused with the
wax. In addition, all participants (including the
subject) must spend a temporary Willpower point.
Once the ritual is performed, the subject has
numerous, permanent changes applied to her:
• Conscience and Conviction rolls are made
104 Chapter Six: Geomancy
at +3 difficulty
• All dice pools are halved for Social rolls
not involving Intimidation, including
Disciplines.
• The character loses access to all Merits she
possesses that pertain to positive social
interaction
• Self-Control and Instinct rolls made to
resist frenzy or ride the wave are made at -3
difficulty
• The difficulty to use any supernatural
emotional influence (such as Presence) on
her is increased by +3.
• Any attempt to stake the subject is next to
impossible; the Gargoyle doubles her soak
pool.
Milk of the Serpent (Level Three)
A ritual more commonly used on Scouts to
facilitate assassinations of Tremere (or any other
Kindred), this humour turns the fangs of the
Gargoyle into those of a venomous snake. As the
Gargoyle feeds on his victim, he may transmute
the blood he takes from them into a toxic venom
which he then replaces, taking a heavy toll on
his victim’s body. To enact this rite, the shaman
must carve two thick fangs from rock and bathe
them in snake blood for one month, starting on
the new moon. During this month they must test
their Intelligence and Occult each night (difficulty
7), by the next new moon they must have reached
30 successes or the fangs will be left inurt. Once
done, these fangs must replace those of another
Gargoyle.
System: To perform this ritual the shaman
spends a blood point and a Willpower point
and rolls Intelligence + Occult (difficulty 7). If it
succeeds, the Gargoyle subject may spend a blood
point whenever he drinks a point of blood from
a victim (mortal, vampire, or other) in order to
convert that blood into a potent supernatural
venom (preventing the risk of becoming subject
to a blood bond), which he then regurgitates
back into his victim’s body. The victim then
rolls her soak dice against a difficulty equal to
the shaman’s Willpower (minimum 5) to shrug
off the effects of the venom. Victims who fail
will suffer one unsoakable level of lethal damage
each night thereafter (accompanied by a brief
but intense agony upon awakening) until they
die, until they go into torpor, or until the venom
loses its potency. The shaman can spend a point
of Willpower to prevent the victim from suffering
the next night’s wound, provided the shaman is
in the victim’s presence during the night before.
This makes the venom an ideal means by which
to threaten a victim into obeying the user, or to
appear as a friend. One victim may be envenomed
multiple times by the same (or separate) users, to
a maximum of three, and suffer a corresponding
amount of damage each night.
A subject can generate venom for one week. After
a victim suffers its effect, the venom lingers in
her system for one week per success gained by the
shaman on the Intelligence + Occult roll made to
perform the ritual.
Perpetuating Vitae (Level Three)
Another apparent example of Gargoyle
supremacy is displayed through this humour,
the ability to temporarily turn a Gargoyle into a
revenant-like being, whereby they can generate
vitae ‘naturally’. The shaman must collect the
marrow from a horned or antlered beast and a
winged beast. The two are slowly mixed together
with one blood point from each Gargoyle wishing
to imbibe, including the shaman. As it is mixed
the shaman rolls Intelligence + Occult (with a
difficulty of 9) while spending any number of
temporary Willpower points required, dependent
on the intended duration of the humour. The
number of successes indicates how many doses of
the potion are useful. Once the ritual is complete,
the Gargoyle beneficiaries must eat the magical
‘blood jelly’.
System: Whenever the Gargoyle wishes
to spend one or more blood points, he can
make a Stamina roll (difficulty 7). If successful,
the humour causes the Gargoyle’s marrow to
synthesise a compensating quantity of blood, so
that a number of blood points up to his successes
are not removed, though the benefits of spending
Clanbook: Gargoyles
them remain. This substance deteriorates after a
single night, removing its effects after that time
and meaning that it cannot be stocked.
Resisting Flesh (Level Two)
Shamans invoke this humor to impart a
resistance against the dread Tzimisce ability
to mould a victim’s flesh like a clay. Many
Grotesqueries live on the fringes of human
society, and as such are easy prey for Tzimisce
experimentation. Many small Grotesqueries have
been raided by Sabbat packs, only to be dragged
into a Fiend’s laboratory for ‘research purposes’. In
response, a group of shamans developed a defence
strategy with this humour, which has spread widely
since.
System: The shaman must prepare a balm
before starting the ritual using local spring water
and earth from their eyrie, they remove a chip of
the subject’s stone skin and anoint them with the
balm using the chip as a ‘wand’ while spending
one Willpower point. The skin becomes resistant
to any shape-changing capability and as such halves
the dice pool of Vicissitude rolls made to alter the
Gargoyle. This ritual will only remain active for
one night, so the shaman must tactical with its
application.
The Cave’s Shadow (Level Five)
Gargoyle shamans often participate in this
ritual at a young age while preparing Warriors
for the fight, but it is only truly known by senior
shamans. Deep in his Eyrie’s cave system, cellar, or
catacomb the shaman will find the darkest shadow
and paint the Gargoyle subject with a thick paste
consisting of blood, ash, and various finely-ground
stone powders. Once the Gargoyle is painted to
accentuate her most horrific features - the duty
usually performed by apprentice shamans - she will
slowly crack apart, only to reform into a vast cloud
of blackened malice. Glimmers of her screaming
face can be seen as flashes of fire amongst the
billows of smog as she surges forward to attack.
System: The shaman must combine 1 point of
blood with 1 pound each of three varieties of stone
and ash, resulting in a thick, red-grey sludge. The
shaman must coat his subject in this sludge for
105
at least one hour in the darkest shadow available,
using the paste to emphasise the subject’s ferocity
and intimidation factor. The subject’s stone flesh
will crumble away to release a billowing black
cloud. This cloud is invisible in darkness and
almost silent (requiring a difficulty 9 Perception +
Alertness roll to hear its approach). While in this
form, the subject may move at double her normal
Flight speed and may reform into her physical
body as it was before the ritual began, taking no
damage from the process and being able to act as
normal immediately.
Ward of the Winged Sepulcher (Level Three)
The Gargoyle shaman can prepare his subject
to provide temporary shelter from the damning
rays of the sun. When sunlight strikes the subject’s
skin, her wings automatically billow out and
wrap around herself and anyone in her grasp,
forming a solid dome of stone around them. Both
the shaman and his charge are protected from
taking sunlight damage until the sun sets the next
evening.
System: The shaman must prepare a small
cube, half an inch in diameter, carefully cut
from a tombstone. Spending a blood point
and a Willpower point, he dabs each side of
the cube with a tiny drop of blood, whispering
an incantation. The Gargoyle ingests the cube
and the ritual lies dormant until the Kindred’s
skin is touched by sunlight, at which point her
wings unfurl to protect her. The wings harden
to true stone, from which grows a dome of the
same material around the Gargoyle. She is able
to protect one additional adult-sized individual
within this dome for every two levels of Flight the
Gargoyle possesses.
If the subject does not already possess wings,
the ritual has no effect on them. Gargoyles with
the Withering Abhorrence Feature (see page
64) can only protect a number of additional
individuals for every third level of Flight they
possess. Likewise, one Gargoyle with Withered - or
a being of similar size, such as a human child -
counts as half an individual for the purpose of this
ritual.
106 Chapter Six: Geomancy
Vigil of the Stone Guardian (Level Four)
Clan Tremere had long utilized several mystical
servants other than Gargoyles to protect their
chantries, havens, and laboratories. Vigil of the
Stone Guardian allowed the thaumaturge to create
a mystical sentry to protect a door or gate, in the
form of a stone Gargoyle door-knocker. Many
Sentinels escaping Ceoris ripped these knockers
from their mounts to save them from future slavery
in the aftermath of the Revolt. To get back at the
Warlocks, shamans began performing a similar
ritual as that used to make such figureheads using
dying Gargoyles - not only to save the lives of fallen
Gargoyles but to better defend their Eyries while
also sending an insult to Clan Tremere.
System: To create a Stone Guardian the
shaman must, through a short but specific ritual,
decapitate the head of a fallen Gargoyle (that is, a
Gargoyle which has dropped below Incapacitated
in the same scene) and soak it in her vitae over the
course of three nights (2 blood points are required
per night). This immersion keeps the brain ‘alive’,
albeit in a comatose state, using the re-animating
power of vitae. She then hangs it upon the door or
wall that will become the new home for the Stone
Guardian and recites the correct incantations. If
successful, the Guardian’s skull bonds with the
mount it is fixed upon and will be incredibly hard
to remove without it being destroyed.
The Stone Guardian retains all memories
and cognitive powers it had before ‘death’, it may
talk, think and learn using any Social or Mental
Attributes and any Knowledges it had previously,
as well as the use of Visceratika and non-physical
Disciplines. If it is affixed to a door, gate, or other
portal, the Guardian has the inherent ability to
open, close, lock or unlock it.
Such protection comes at a cost to the
Grotesquerie. Like any other vampire, the
Stone Guardian loses a point of blood when it
awakens each night, and thus requires feeding
if it is to continue its vigilance. Usually this is
done by providing a drop of blood gathered
from elsewhere, but some Grotesqueries have
the tendency of occasionally bringing their Stone
Guardians live ‘prey’, so that they might experience
true feeding again. If a Stone Guardian is not fed,
it will fall into torpor until reactivated with a point
of vitae.
Window of Second Sight (Levels Two and
Four)
To allow Warriors and Sentinels alike to better
defend their Grotesqueries, shamans can give
them an insight into one another’s perceptions.
Through this ritual, two Gargoyles, irrespective
of their Casting or other origin can experience
each other’s observations in addition to their
own, giving them heightened levels of combat
awareness, surveillance capability, and defensive
capacity. This ritual is also used to give a pair of
Sentinels greater ability to protect their fledglings
or Gargoyle animals, supplying peace of mind as
they stay in the Eyrie.
System: The two subjects must expend a point
each of their blood and bind it with a point of the
caster’s blood and a pint of the clearest mountain
spring water. Once the two subjects are ready for
their endeavour they will be lain on their back
and have a drip dropped into each eye three times
while the correct incantation is intoned. Once
each of them blink, the bonded Gargoyles become
able to simultaneously see their own vision and the
ally’s sight. This ritual will only last for one night.
A Level Four version of this ritual exists, which
must be learned separately and requires the Level
Two version to know. It requires the expenditure
of an additional blood point from all three
participants (totalling 6). With this version, the
bound Gargoyles see images of other supernatural
creatures’ true forms whilst also sharing vision –
werewolves appear in their hybrid man-wolf shapes,
mages glow in a scintillating aura, wraiths become
visible, subjects under the guise of Obfuscate can
be seen, illusions cast no reflection, and those
possessing True Faith are coated in golden light. It
still only lasts one night.
Misbegotten Humours
The shamanic way is certainly not restricted
to sired and cast Gargoyles; even those Constructs
made far outside of Virstania’s jurisdiction have
command over some humours. Most Misbegotten
Clanbook: Gargoyles
have the ability to learn Gargoyle humours, though
it will be much harder for them to attain such
At Our Command it Breathes
The ritual devised by Goratrix almost
a millennium ago is still practiced tonight
by the Great Mother herself, independent
Grotesqueries and a few less upstanding
Tremere chantries. It is almost impossible for
an acolyte to simply pick up a manual and
start churning out Gargoyles as the ritual
will seem to have no logical consistency. This
is why Virstania spent four centuries writing
countless theses trying to define it. Outside
of Thaumaturgy (see Rites of the Blood,
page 106), it may be learned by Gargoyles as
a Level 5 humour. Though mechanically the
ritual is identical to that given in Rites of the
Blood, we encourage a Storyteller to make a
focal point of the chronicle be this ritual, if a
player wishes to attempt it.
When it is attempted, the Storyteller is
advised to use one session for each section of
the ritual; examination/vivisection, preser-
vation/alchemical treatment, and assembly/
Gestation. The first session should be phys-
ically demanding on the shaman, requiring
the character to restrain her multiple victims
and delicately remove specific features. The
second session should be more intellectu-
ally rigorous, with the character undertak-
ing precise preservation methods (curing,
tanning, pickling etc) and deciding on the
correct obscure ingredients (fire flower
root, Lupine blood, ground vis crystals, etc).
The third and final session should be more
of a creative process where the character
‘designs’ their creation; the Storyteller can
make secret changes depending on how well
the players various rolls went. The resulting
Gargoyle should be more of an achievement
within the shaman’s story than the result of
a simple ritual.
107
knowledge, on the fringes of an already small and
disparate community as they are. The Storyteller
may decide to allow his Misbegotten players
unlimited access to Gargoyle humours, though we
would suggest limiting them to the two provided
for each specific Misbegotten group, reflecting
their limited experiences (if only due to their
relatively short histories).
Noche de los Muertos (Level Two Calaca
Humour)
An almost religious ritual practiced by most
Calacas, Noche de los Muertos is designed to lower
the Shroud and provide ghosts a smoother passage
between worlds. During the daylight hours of the
day of the dead, the Calaca’s ghoul must begin
consuming vitae-fed marigolds; any respectable
Calaca will ‘ghoul’ entire bushels of marigolds,
which they value for their supposed ability to clear
away the mists between the worlds, endowing
them with powerful hallucinogenic properties.
When darkness falls, the Calaca awakens to join
his heavily intoxicated ghoul. He must drink one
blood point from her and immediately break into
dance around the cenote while wearing a long,
fetish-strewn cloak.
The pair must dance up until midnight
(making an extended Stamina roll at a difficulty
of 7 and spending one Willpower point). By this
time, the ghoul will have begun to suffer organ
failure from the strength of the marigolds, causing
her to cough up blood. Just before the stroke of
midnight the cenote will stir, whipping up into a
whirlpool - seemingly in time with the rhythm of
the dance. At the stroke of midnight the already-
weakened ghoul’s throat will be cut and her blood
allowed to flow into the writhing cenote’s waters.
The reddened tempest will utter screams from
the underworld along side splashes of blood and
chunks of carrion-ladened silt and muck.
While this is ongoing, the Calaca must remove
the ghoul’s head, strip it of flesh, and decorate the
skull with highly ornate patterns, including silver
and gems arranged in floral patterns. Thereafter,
the skull (called a craneo) will be stained by the
underworld, becoming a permanent fetish of the
Calaca, lowering the Shroud and, rumour holds,
108 Chapter Six: Geomancy
easing the creation of further Calacas. Calacas
have found that members of Clan Giovanni will
seem to pay a hefty price for just one craneo, even
though they are only half as effective (if that) away
from their home cenote.
System: The Calaca must initially succeed an
extended Stamina + Performance roll (around one
per hour) and sacrificing his ghoul (who must also
succeed her rolls). Stripping and decorating the
skull requires a successful Intelligence + Crafts
roll (difficulty 7). One skull at the Calaca’s cenote
lowers the Shroud by one; each consecutive level
which the Shroud is to be lowered by requires
an additional number of skulls equal to the new
number of reduced Shroud levels (i.e., three skulls
must be used to lower the Shroud by 2, six to lower
it by 3, etc.).
In addition, the more skulls a houngan his
surrounding his cenote, the shorter the Gestation
period will be when that cenote is used to creating
Calacas. Some Calaca havens are known to possess
entire walls made of these fetishes, at which
places the Shroud is perilously thin and the most
time-consuming element of creating a Calaca is
acquiring the ingredients.
Hoodoo Familiar (Level Three Calaca
Humour)
Though ‘voodoo dolls’ are a Western fallacy
based on actual Afro-Caribbean practices, some
Calacas have taken the idea and combined it with
the creation of their own ritualistic fetishes. These
familiars produce a similar though altogether
more sinister effect against an unwitting target, a
shaman can use them to intimidate and control
any victim they desire. The houngan must
surround her cenote with a thick cloud of incense
from a blend of tobacco and dried peppers. While
trying to ‘entertain’ the spirits of the pool through
jovial conversation and anecdotes - even getting
a response back on occasion - she will create a
humanoid doll from hessian cloth, filled with
sludge scooped up from the side of the cenote
(which incurs one level of un-soakable damage
from the water and requires a successful Courage
roll, difficulty 8, to perform).
 She must place an ‘element’ of the victim she
wishes to subjugate inside the belly of the doll:
hair, flesh, teeth, or clotted blood all work equally
well. The doll is finally stitched inside a sack and
tossed into the cenote, along with the full contents
of a litre bottle of rum. As the doll sinks to the
bottom, the houngan must convince the Loa that
this doll is a ‘horse’ created to be ridden by spirits
wishing to enter the real world through possession.
System: If the Calaca is successful in her
attempt to coerce the loa, which will require a
Charisma + Occult roll (difficulty 8 normally -
difficulty 7 if rare and high quality rum is used)
the doll will physically crawl from the cenotes
depths drenched in gore at the next sunset entirely
animate. This doll will be sympathetically tied to
the human, Kindred, or other being whose flesh
was used during its creation. As such, any damage
she inflicts upon the doll will instantly damage
the victim (this damage is unsoakable). The doll
must be soaked in one blood point’s worth of vitae
nightly to remain animate, though once the doll is
destroyed the power will end. To prevent the doll
from escaping it must be constantly restrained or
caged - bird cages full of these frantic dolls have
been witnessed in the havens of some particularly
malicious houngans. If the doll is damaged beyond
use it continues to exude an inverted ‘blood bond’,
providing a +1 bonus dice to Intimidation rolls
made against the victim to whomever possesses it.
The doll can only sustain six levels of lethal
damage before it becomes permanently inert;
the body part or parts contained within the
doll disintegrate, leaving the doll an inanimate,
almost useless husk. However, a doll can be kept
indefinitely, allowing the shaman to control her
victim (who, after all, need not know that it is no
longer effective) through fear without ever actually
having to harm him.
Ecstatic Sermon (Level Two Gorgon
Humour)
Not all Gorgons are granted the freedom to
become lector priests; some are simply used as
living scripture in permanent slavery. Gorgons
finally created this humour to cement their place
at the altar, seemingly by guiding Set’s will to the
Clanbook: Gargoyles
hearts of their subjects. The Gorgon must sit alone
by the light of a candle made from vitae-infused
wax for an entire night, methodically transcribing
the hieroglyphs found on her body upon a sheet of
gilded papyrus. She then delicately folds the sheet
into a small square and drenches it in her blood.
Once the document has absorbed the vitae, she
burns a hole directly through the center of it. As
she unfolds the singed paper, only a small selection
of the hieroglyphs she had written will be intact,
seemingly saved by Sets hand.
System: Within one month of performing this
ritual, which requires the expenditure of a blood
point and a successful Intelligence + Expression
roll (difficulty 6), the Gorgon can perform
an elaborate sermon. This sermon requires
her to succeed a Manipulation + Expression
roll (difficulty 8) using the remaining burnt
hieroglyphs as her service notes. The words have
been carefully chosen by Set to stir passion, so
if she rolls successfully she will be able to elicit a
deep emotional reaction from all those able to hear
her words. Joy, anger, sorrow, arousal, hunger, fear
and confidence can all be inspired in the doting
crowd - though it is (supposedly) Set who chooses,
not the Gorgon herself.
Entering Duat (Level Three Gorgon Humour)
This ritual is used by many Gorgons to
personally visit Set and return again with his
commandments and a renewed sense of faith.
The Gorgon must spend several hours physically
sanding off the hieroglyphs coating his sandstone
flesh; every area of his body must be eroded to
a smooth finish. Weakened by this excruciating
experience he will then be required to apply fresh
animal hide bandages to his bleeding masonry
in order to re-mummify himself. Most are too
weak following their ordeal to do this, so ghouls
are required to aid them in their journey. Once
bandaged, the Gorgon will be placed inside his
former Gestation sarcophagus while several ghouls
fill it with desert sand, sealing him in. With him
is buried a copy of the Book of Going Forth by
Night, the holiest of all Setite scripture.
System: The process of sanding away the
Gorgon’s hieroglyphics causes seven levels of un-
109
soakable bashing damage and requires a Willpower
roll (difficulty 8) to even achieve. Once buried, the
Gorgon will immediately enter torpor, while his ba
and ka (Man and Beast) enter Duat as one. He will
be forced to read aloud from his religious tomes at
the foot of seven large gates (each reading requires
an Intelligence + Occult roll with a difficulty of 10,
reduced by each dot of Path rating he has above 5).
If he does not follow the Path of Typhon, Excess,
or the Warrior (see V20 pages 338-340 and Lore
of the Clans pages 70-73), or any other derivative
of the Path of Typhon, the ritual automatically
fails. If he is successful at each gate, he will pass
through to finally see the face of while he believes
to be Set himself. His interaction with Set will be
cryptic and distorted and only impart fragmented
information, intended to strengthen his temple
and foretell of any upcoming danger.
When he awakens once more on earth, he will
retain any information he managed to garner from
Set, which will be inscribed upon his body in the
form of entirely new, permanent hieroglyphics. If
he used animal hide bandages different to those
used to create him during the creation ritual
(which is customary, simply to initiate chaotic
change), he will awake with his body transformed
into a reflection of the deity tied to that animal.
This will also change his demeanour to reflect the
personality of that new deity.
Koma Nloka (Level Two Minkisi Humour )
Not all vampiric rituals require other beings to
suffer. The Nkisi’s position within a court means
they are not granted underlings so they must
make do alone. As such this ritual is difficult for
many Minkisi to even perform as it requires great
tests of self-control in the face of excruciating
punishment. It was designed by the Nganga as an
added ‘feature’ of his Fetishes, temporarily turning
the construct into an unliving ward against evil
forces encroaching on the Magaji’s domain. The
Nkisi must engrave a long iron chain with small
geomantic runes, carving them into each link,
and wrap the chain around her chest to restrict
all movement. The writing on this chain will start
to glow bright red as if the iron were being heated
by a forge. As it glows, the Nkisi’s fellow court
110 Chapter Six: Geomancy
members must each take turns stabbing her with a
freshly-beaten dagger.
System: Once constricted, the Nkisi must
spend three blood points to trigger the arcane spell
coating the chain links, and the ritualist must roll
Intelligence + Occult (difficulty varies, see below)
after the Nkisi is successfully damaged with the
ritual knives. For each point of damage dealt to
the Nkisi, the ritual’s difficulty increases (starting
at difficulty 5 for only a single point of damage).
If she manages to not frenzy from the pain or die
from the wounds, the dice pool modifiers from the
damage are halved for the Nkisi. In either of these
instances, the ritual ends in failure.
For each success the ritualist gains on the
Intelligence + Occult roll, a number of creatures
(mortal, vampire, or other) which enter (or are
already within) the Magaji’s recognised territory
with hostile intentions towards the Magaji or his
subjects is dealt an amount of damage equal to
that suffered by the Nkisi as part of the ritual
(which they may roll to soak as normal). Those
hostiles which would enter the territory feel an
instinctive foreboding as they approach, receiving
a vague premonition of the pain that suffering
that awaits should they dare to intrude; entering
the territory in this state requires a Courage roll
(difficulty equal to the difficulty of the ritual) as
long as the humour still has ‘charges’.
Becoming the Olgatuny (Level Three Minkisi
Humour)
Most rumours start with a glimmer of truth
behind them, the idea that Minkisi can create
Guardian Lions is false but still has an essence of
truth behind it. Using this humour, the Minkisi
can actually shift their forms to that of a Guardian
Lion. In this form they can defend their Magaji
and her land with a deep primal fury and deadly
power to match. To begin, the Fetish must debase
himself in front of the entire court, by dressing like
a lion, covering himself in blood, and marching
through the hall on all fours. The Nkisi’s cloak
of lion fur (taken from a ghouled lion) must have
a number of symbols venerating Olorun, the sky
lion, branded upon it; this garment can be used
again for the same purpose, though it must be
preserved the same as any fur. As he runs and If his Magaji does not provide the blood at
leaps he must spend two Willpower points (or, if the end of his preparation, the Nkisi will not
he is a Mitupo, only one; their animalistic natures transform. Instead he will suffer +2 difficulty to
ease the process) to enter a trance, channeling the Self-Control and Instinct rolls for the remainder of
Beast of a lion to join his own. He will need to be the night, as two separate Beasts battle within his
voluntarily fed two blood points by his Magaji to head. Some particularly cruel Magaji will do this
allow his body to transform as well as his mind. as a punishment, and an amusing spectacle for the
System: For the remainder of the night, if court, if an Nkisi has failed them - and sometimes
the Nkisi is called upon to defend his tribe, he even if they haven’t.
can transform into a Guardian Lion for one
scene by spending the blood points given to him
by his Magaji. The metamorphosis will take two
turns to fully convert his body into that of a lion,
approximately 5 feet high at the shoulder and 7
feet long, decorated with carvings depicting his
Magaji’s victories in battle (real or imagined).
The Minkisi in lion form gains +3 Strength, +3
Stamina, 2 additional Hurt (-1) health levels and
1 additional Wounded (-2) health level, and they
deal lethal damage in unarmed attacks.

New Background: Humours

You have access to fragments of arcane knowledge long ago stolen from the archives of
Ceoris. Either your Eyrie is home to a well-versed shaman, you were gifted the texts by a Gargoyle
sympathiser within Kindred society, or you or an elder you know managed to personally steal
them during the Revolt. This valuable knowledge has given you the ability to perform humours in
service to your Grotesquerie.
• Initiate: You can learn only level one humours.
•• Novice: You may learn humours up to level two.
••• Acolyte: You may learn humours up to level three.
•••• Shaman: You may learn humours up to level four.
••••• Master: You may learn any humours.
This Background can only be taken up to the same level as the Gargoyle’s Occult rating.
Humours are gained as though they were blood sorcery rituals, as part of the story and at the
Storyteller’s discretion. Some storytellers may wish to limit access to some humours, especially
At Our Command It Breathes, to keep the chronicle grounded and more challenging, and give
prospective shamans something to strive towards.

Clanbook: Gargoyles 111

 Chapter Seven:
A Gallery of
Grotesques
Sample Characters
Agitator
Background: You were Embraced by an old
Gargoyle, herself Embraced some three hundred
years earlier by a veteran of Ceoris. You were raised
largely according to the traditional free Gargoyle
fashion, though you and your sire moved between
Grotesqueries rather than settling down in a single
one since she wished you to see the world in your
youth. Like all Gargoyles you recall nothing of
your mortal life, and have never bothered to ask. A
year ago, though, it all came crashing down: while
making temporary haven in a new city on the way
to another Grotesquerie, your sire was taken from
you just a few hours after making your obligatory
appearance before the Prince. Though you have no
firm proof, you’re certain it was the local Tremere.
Your bold decision not to flee, but instead to
remain and press the issue, has disarmed them.
This event, rather than crush you, has galvanised
you. While you haven with a rebellious, anarch-
sympathetic coterie of Brujah, Gangrel, and
Nosferatu, you refuse to let the matters of your
sire’s whereabouts and Gargoyle oppression more
generally rest in Elysium.
Under the tutelage of an aged Sewer Rat, you
have taken naturally to modern technology - as
though it were already familiar to you - which has
helped spread your message to no end.
112 Chapter Seven: A Gallery of Grotesques
Roleplaying Tips: You are vocal, forthright, and
passionate, but not easily angered. Even in the
midst of argument you keep your cool, knowing
more often than not what to say to put your
opponent off-guard. You are remarkably averse to
physical violence for a Gargoyle, however.
Equipment: A specially-made smartphone and
laptop, a high-end surveillance drone, scrounged-
together clothing, Chaundician literature.
Goals: You wish for three things: the emancipation
of your sire, the representation of Gargoyles on
Primogen councils around the world, and most
ambitiously the establishment of a Gargoyle
Justicar and Inner Circle member - maybe the
Ana and Chaundice you’ve heard so much about
lately. However, you aren’t willing to go along with
most anarch Chaundicians (or worse, Sabbat) in
advocating violent resistance; it is through heated
but legitimate debate that the cause of freedom
shall be advanced.
Supremacist
Background: You are a cast Warrior, but
one recently created by an all-too-ambitious
Spellbinder, who sought to combine Gestation
with the practice of shovelheading. He grew a
dozen or more of you in Gestation chambers using
a large number of captured Camarilla thinbloods,
before sealing you all beneath the earth. You were
the only one that reached the surface, but your
creator got more than he bargained for when you
rose out of the pit, still ravenous, and drank his
heart’s blood before escaping his laboratory.
You learned that day to respect only will and
might. You were soon found by a local Sabbat- and
Chaundician-aligned Grotesquerie who had gotten
wind of your would-be master’s activities. They
inducted you into the Sword of Caine that very
night, and you soon rose to become the Warrior
Mould, despite your very young age; you were the
only cast Gargoyle amongst them, let alone the
only Warrior.
Roleplaying Tips: You struggle to maintain ties
with anyone around you, because of your violent
birth and detachment from others. Even your
Grotesquerie seem to be alien to you at times. You
have no tolerance for weakness or cowardice. You
aim at all times to prove the rumour true that your
bloodline is hardy beyond reason and dangerous
beyond belief.
Equipment: An array of makeshift weaponry, a
big-buttoned cellphone, secret dossiers outlining
information on your rivals and targets.
Goals: You have an anarchistic and revolutionary
view on unlife. You, and by extension your
Grotesquerie, want to see members of the Gargoyle
bloodline elevated to a status equal to or greater
than that of the Lasombra and Tzimisce.
Mercenary
Background: You were Embraced into a
wandering coterie made up of Gargoyles and
Gangrel skilled in the use of flight forms. Moving
swiftly about as you did, you soon left behind the
remains of your mortal life. Your coterie identified
with no sect, preferring to live as autarkis.
Though Embraced, you take the role of a scout
within the Grotesquerie you associate with. You
showed an early natural aptitude for Animalism,
and took to creating and rearing stone hounds
which aid you in tracking and hunting (see page
92). In the coterie, your preferred position is
hunting by ground as you have a greater capacity to
travel on all fours than bipedaly.
Role-playing Tips: Self-sufficient loner. You feel an
Clanbook: Gargoyles
estranged detatchment from most other Kindred,
which aids you in killing them on request. The
only people you call alies are the coterie you travel
with and your pack of stone hounds, you know
they won’t let you down.
Equipment: You have the leashes of your hounds
and very little else. Around your neck hangs
trophies of your former successes in combat,
trinkets taken from the fallen dead.
Goals: Your goals are a simple list, complete each
job as it comes and protect your Grotesquerie
through thick and thin. Every night is different in
your unlife so keeping complex life goals is sadly
not an option.
Scourge
Background: You were recently found in the
basement of an dilapidated multiplex, alone and
confused. The local Camarilla harpies took you in
and showed you off to the Prince, a self-obsessed
Ventrue who said he could use someone like you.
Before your Embrace, you were a bottom rung
mobster just out to follow orders. Your streetwise
confidence has not completely left you, and
has given you an edge in your new line of work.
Tonight you live at the top of the castle - or
skyscraper - taking out the trash whenever the
Prince needs some lowlife taken care of, and you’re
not above making a profit along the way.
Several times in your last few years of cracking
skulls, other Gargoyles have approached you to
talk about the movement of ‘Sean Deese’ - or
something like that - but it holds no interest with
you. Instead you keep outside of public knowledge,
a thing of nightmare and vampiric urban legend,
ready to swoop down on the boss’s enemies with a
vengeance.
Role-playing Tips: Yours is not to reason why; if
you have a job you get it done, end of. In your
downtime, you revel in the joys of affluence. When
the Prince is happy he makes you happy, and that’s
all you care about.
Equipment: A gold chain, a specially-tailored black
leather jacket, solid silver knuckle dusters (for
when a Lupine runt needs taking out).
113
Goals: What the boss wants, you want, and right
now he wants his domain stretched out to the
sticks, and you’ve set your sights on making that
happen. Some night you may even make sheriff,
and have others to boss around while you sit back,
soaking up the glory.
Shaman
Background: You were cast as a Scout by an
independent Grotesquerie of shamans living in
complete secrecy, former apprentices of the Great
Mother who had banded together after being
injured during the Revolt. You learned everything
you could regarding the metaphysical nature of
your race, with the intention of taking a solitary
approach to shamanism. While mastering your
own ritualistic procedures you were approached
by representatives of both the Chaundician
movement and that of the anarchs; finding both
appealing, you adopted them into your journey
and became committed to both causes. Now you
act as a shaman for a coterie of renegades in search
of religious affirmation. Though you have only
a few Gargoyles amongst you, all of your coterie
mates honour your spiritual understanding and
assist in your rituals with genuine enthusiasm.
Roleplaying Tips: You are mystically and
transcendentally minded and radically committed
to the advancement of Gargoyles both as a group
and individually, believing in the alchemical
principle that what is above is like that which is
below. You see Gargoyles as being on the cusp of
a great evolution and have committed yourself to
supporting your Grotesquerie and your race in
reaching that change.
Equipment: Numerous occult and alchemical
grimoires and manuscripts, a large staff festooned
with feathers, furs, and teeth, and many herbal
ingredients.
Goals: You have many goals in your unlife, from
creating your own unique shamanic humour
to providing your coterie (including the non-
Gargoyles) with effective shamanic medicine.
Keeper of the Shroud
Background: You were created by a Pisanob
114 Chapter Seven: A Gallery of Grotesques
houngan, and quickly showed a dedication
to studying under him in the arts of vodoun
Necromancy. After your harrowing Gestation in
your ‘sire’s’ cenote, you took the division between
material and spirit world symbolised by your
intolerance of water to heart. You now seek a way
to keep them from intruding directly upon each
other (though contact between the living and the
dead, even being the ‘horse’ for a ghost by allowing
for it to temporarily possess you, is permissible
eroding to your code). You have quickly adopted
a deep hatred of Clan Giovanni as a whole and
actively oppose users of the Ash Path, Nagaraja
‘wraith-eaters’, and even some masters of Auspex.
You live a nomadic life traveling from state to state
almost on the offensive against spiritualists, any
scent of otherworldly transitioning draws your
attention.
Roleplaying Tips: You observe any ritual
performance within Kindred society and aim to
restrict traffic between one world and the other.
In private you secure personal medicine with great
emphasis on the well-being of your soul and those
that fight alongside you.
Equipment: You possess countless vodoun
ritualistic material, a collection of mortal and
supernatural fetishes, and an all encompassing
cowell and gnarled mahogany staff.
Goals: You have a very grandiose and extravagant
goal, to keep ghosts out. You believe that the dead
stay dead and to dispute that will bring the wrath
of Baron Kriminal himself.
Sentinel Caretaker
Background: With no memory of your former life
and unlife, your first memory was that of emerging
from your Womb-bearer’s uterus confused and
disorientated. After a few years of acclimatization,
you realised your role on this earth and in this
Eyrie: to keep the peace. You are surrounded by
miscreants and renogades; one brawler from the
sabat group, one anarch freedom fighter and one
camarilla council member to name but a few. You
have seen it as your job to keep them in line while
your mother cares for her rock cats and ghouls.
From time to time you see it as your duty to leave
the eyrie to meet with members of local political
parties to make sure your brothers and sisters
aren’t getting into too much trouble. Though you
try to keep out of that silliness. Though you have
not embraced yourself, you treat those members of
your Grotesquerie you need to protect as your own
children, even the Rock Cats and Stone Hounds.
It is rare you are not performing some errand for
them throughout your nightly duties.
Roleplaying Tips: Family minded and devoted,
you are committed to maintaining order in the
Eyrie, irrespective of external politics. You already
have a ghouled child taken from the streets who
has quickly become your whole world. If your
family are in danger, you are called to action.
Equipment: You don’t keep much in the way of
personal possessions, your children bring you food
and amenities.
Goals: Your goal is a simple one, keep a close eye
on your family and make sure they don’t fall in too
deep with the wrong crowd.
Gorgon Artist
Background: Selected by supposed divine
providence to be a Gorgon, given your human
devotion to the Setite creed. During your
gestation the lector priests vision of a divine
goose leading scripture and prayer lead to you
being reconstituted with goose flesh bandages.
You emerged as an avatar of Gengen-Wer, the
goose-headed god. You now serve your temple in
a creative position, being the temple’s foremost
hymn-composer and devotional artist. Your
inscriptions tell of the potential for spiritual
awakening under Set through the creation of ‘true’
art.
Roleplaying Tips: You are placid until roused, at
which point you pack a nasty bite. Your night-to-
night activities are mostly comprised of leading
creative ghouls in artistic reverence of set and
expressing your own divine scripture in musical
form.
Equipment: Papyrus and ink, many books of
sermons and hymns, and various tomes devoted to
Set’s teachings.
Clanbook: Gargoyles
Goals: You care not for Kindred politics, your
devotion belongs to the melding of art and magic
by creating ritualistic ballads to Set.
Chantry Guardian
Background: You have emerged from your
embrace with advanced amnesia, combined with
the ritualistic abuse you barely remember your
name, least of all who your sire is. For as long
as you can remember you have lived alone, in
isolation, in a grey bricked room. Your life of utter
servitude to a purist tremere warlock seemed to
stretch lifetimes before you were approached by
the Flock. Now all you wish, more than anything,
is to join the Great Mother. You have new found
ambition and drive to escape your self proclaimed
master and join the glorious Flock.
Roleplaying Tips: Embittered to the past, idealistic
and naive to the future. You Wish for the love and
companionship they have never known and believe
all of that and more can be found within the flock.
Equipment: A small carved statue of a smiling
Gargoyle; your only true friend, given to you by the
flock associate.
Goals: Escape to Ceoris with as many others as
possible, without the masters learning of your
hopes and destroying them. Find a great new
purpose in service of the Mother.
Demonic Host
Background: You had been embraced not long
ago by a sire clearly afflicted by infernal influence,
within a former Baali hive. Being one of the
last remaining member of the ghoul contingent
belonging to the baali, your sire is now the leader
of your grotesque hive, possessing inhuman levels
of insight and supernatural ability. Before you were
embraced the grotesquerie diablerized the entire
baali hive and overtook it almost immediately
taking on corrupt mimetic features. Since your
birth you have played host to an infernal spirit,
bent on destroying other kindred.
Atop the demonic infestation you and your
family are infested with cave caps, and Gargoyle
mosquitoes. They spread Gargoyle vitae and cave
cap spores throughout Kindred society hoping to
115
spread the infernal blight.
Roleplaying Tips: You are told daily that kindred
are vile by your demonic asociet. Your aim is to
contaminate Kindred society with evil in any form,
using the spores within your blood or the inherent
curse carried by your vitae.
Equipment: You possess various dark talismans
salvaged from the baali nest, cloaks and cowls, and
a ritualistic athame dagger.
Goals: Your hive has the singular goal of defiling
kindred society, whether it’s a symptom of your
diablerie of a natural hatred of what you once
were. You seem to stop at nothing to defile, debase
and destroy everything vampiric.
Notable Gargoyles
Chaundice, Rock Lord of the Grand
Court
Background: Born the first of his kind in
Ceoris in 1111, Chaundice was also the first of
to revolt against his Tremere masters. After his
self-emancipation, he attempted to settle in the
northern edges of Hungary, living among passing
Gangrel and feral beasts until ultimately being
recaptured by the fugitive Goratrix, who found
him by following the instinctual draw of childe to
sire, aided by the same divining magics he used to
find the resting place of Saulot.
Once recaptured he was subjected to servitude
far worse than that which he’d escaped almost two
centuries earlier. All of Goratrix’s jealousy, malice,
and callous cruelty was directed almost solely
towards him. He knew only a state of mindless
control imposed by use of Thaumaturgy, blood
bonding, and Dominate, due to the fear Goratrix
had concerning Chaundice’s potential. The vast
period of time between then and the past decade
or so is a vague morass of boredom and ennui
punctuated by instances of sickening violence.
After Goratrix joined with the Sabbat and formed
his House, the latter became more and more
common, though the main sense of Chaundice’s
fragmented memories is still one of hollow futility
and quiet suffering.
This all changed with some sort of attack
116 Chapter Seven: A Gallery of Grotesques
against or traumatic and fundamental change in
Goratrix, though the precise nature of this event is
as unclear now as it was then. All Chaundice can
recall with any clarity is a mirror, made somehow
terrible. The next hour or so was a mad dash for
freedom, one not unlike his flight from Ceoris
many lifetimes ago. As before he met a challenger,
though this one was a greater obstacle than the
foolhardy Brunavog: Esoara, childe of Curaferrum,
a senior Spellbinder who saw his chance to gain
some measure of revenge for his sire’s diablerie at
the fangs of the Great Mother.
Had Chaundice any knowledge of Esoara’s
deeds at the battle of Ceoris and the Revolt that
followed, it would surely have been a duel to the
death from which neither might have escaped.
To this night he regrets being so ignorant. As it
was, disoriented and frightened, he was simply
fighting to escape. After a minute or so of
lightning-fast blows of Chaundice’s claws against
Esoara’s double-headed battleaxe, the antitribu
was disarmed and dealt a severe blow to the chest,
though it was far from fatal. Immediately taking to
flight once more, the Rock Lord was spurred on
as magical fire spewed from Esoara’s mouth and
eyes, scorching his wings and driving his Beast into
Rotshreck.
From Mexico City (for, as he would later
determine, that was where he was) he flew north
by blind instinct, though he had recovered enough
presence of mind to shelter from the sun each day.
Eventually he reached the Grand Canyon only
to be spotted and rescued by Handsome Dan.
Through long, difficult conversation Chaundice’s
long-buried personality returned, and has he
merged with the Canyon one night, the Rock Lord
experienced a profound and mysterious awakening.
This event caused a spiritual shockwave through
the very rock of the Canyon, awakening an ancient
spirit called Maasaw in local Native mythology.
This spirit, as unsure what to make of Chaundice
as he is of it, has nonetheless taken the Gargoyle
as its patron, granting him untold gifts, and even
alleviating some aspects of vampirism altogether.
Tonight, Chaundice makes his haven at his ‘Grand
Rock Court’, located in the Grand Canyon (see
page 35).
Image: Where for many centuries he was as
vile and pitiful in appearance as any of his
kind, Chaundice now cuts an imposing and
awe-inspiring figure. His body, which stands
a approximately 7’6” and is of human build
and proportion, is covered in skin of off-white
marble which glistens in the desert moonlight. As
though carved by an artist’s hand, he resembles
an Apollonian statue of antiquity; short, curled
hair rests unmoving upon his brow, and his limbs
and torso bear lean muscle. Were it not for his
enormous wings, of which he has two pairs, he
could well be mistaken for a sculpture in the style
of Michelangelo. He has not fully cast off his
former shape, however, for while one set of wings
is feathered like those of a great eagle, the other
is bat-like and spindly, a constant reminder of
the degradation he suffered under the Betrayer
- though both seem to function equally well,
carrying him across the night sky at incredible
speed.
Roleplaying Hints: You are a being of two minds.
Though you maintain a generally calm and
contemplative demeanour, this only sometimes
matches how you truly feel. At times you are in
great conflict with yourself, torn between passion
and despair, or between all-consuming love for
your Children and hatred of your enemies - but at
others you become placid and meditative, dwelling
at length upon your place in the world and that of
all Gargoyles. One thing is certain, though: if you
hear of great mistreatment, injustice or violence
carried out against your fellow Freemen, your very
Beast becomes roused to a terrible fury.
Sire: Goratrix (though he was Embraced by
Goratrix, Chaundice is not a Tremere since he
was far from an ordinary human when he was
Embraced).
Nature: Architect
Demeanour: Eye of the Storm
Generation: 5th (though to what extent generation
holds significance for Chaundice is unknown)
Embrace: 1111 (the same year as his ritual
creation)
Abhorrences: Petrified Flesh 1, Animal features 2.
Clanbook: Gargoyles
Ana, The Blood-Stained Erinye
Background: Ana was created from mostly
Gangrel material, which didn’t emerge as an
animalistic form but rather an innate primal fury,
blamed on the strength of the Beast inside her.
She was one of the youngest of the six original
Gargoyles, next to Alvusia, and had a rebellious
nature from Gestation. In the lead-up to their
fleeing from Ceoris, Ana was the driving voice for
escape, talking down more moderate points of view
like Saxim and Chi’ung Chi until the decision was
finally made by her ‘father’, Chaundice.
After the escape, Ana’s went into hiding
after flying to the Austrian Alps, with no sign of
her father or her siblings, she soon slipped into
torpor. She awoke upon being fed the blood of
an Austrian Tremere who had become desperate
enough to divine her location and use her as a
weapon against the other Gargoyles, who were in
the midst of prosecuting their Revolt at the time.
She slew this Warlock and his companions, after
which she was taken in by the Gargoyle ghouls
known as the Standing Stones, whom she led on
a warpath to a nearby Alpine chantry, where she
discovered a strange artefact which brought about
her transformation into a blood-red creature of
great power. This artefact has also endowed her
with the ability to gradually reverse the ‘ageing’
process of Gargoyle ghouls who remain in her
presence (see Chapter 5).
She has spent the centuries since fighting
a guerilla war against the Tremere, the Flock,
and any other group she sees to be a threat to
the freedom and security of Gargoyle kind. Her
marauding was halted recently by the most horrific
being she had ever seen (including herself).
Moments before she butchered him alive, this
Gargoyle, who called himself Handsome Dan,
managed to explain that he had been sent by her
father Chaundice, to bring her ‘home’. After a
week of harsh interrogation, her Standing Stone
knights advised her to trust Dan and let him escort
her to the Grand Rock Court.
Since the re-emergence of Chaundice and the
birth of the movement which has formed around
him, she has become the Rock Lord’s bloody right
117
hand, executing his enemies and assaulting the
most dangerous strongpoints. In contrast to the
moderation advocated by her brother Chi’ung
Chi, she argues for active and aggressive opposition
to the Tremere, whether that involves their ousting
from the Camarilla or (preferably, in her mind)
their destruction. The substance that triggered
Anas catalyst was retained by the Standing Stones
and has since been relocated to the Grand Rock
Court for Chaundices personal examination.
Image: Ana has layers of ruby red and jet black
skin coated in sharp grey slate shards. She stands
at barely 5 feet tall, but has an impressive 16-foot
wingspan. The shards on top of her head form a
disjointed crown.
Roleplaying hints: You are harsh-tempered,
especially towards outsiders, and vicious in your
unwavering hatred of the Tremere. You are,
however, greatly protective of your Standing Stone
bodyguards, and become relatively calm and
composed around Chaundice.
Sire: Unknown
Nature: Soldier
Demeanour: Soldier
Generation: 6th
Gestation: 1115
Abhorrences: Layers 1, Petrified Flesh 2, Growths
3, Withering 4
Gersella, Rock Lady of the Stone
Guardians
Background: Born before the second millennium
to unknown parents, Gersella was adopted by
nuns in a convent nestled in the French Alps.
She embraced the lifestyle of her guardian sisters,
and was cloistered from a very early age. As the
years went on the convent took in lepers from
the nearby villages, to house them in their small
hospital and attempt to cure them, the Lord
willing. Soon she became the convent’s canoness
for her work in curing several resident lepers on
the brink of death, and delivering those beyond
redemption into the lap of God without fear of her
own mortality.
118 Chapter Seven: A Gallery of Grotesques
She was ultimately Embraced by one of a
pair of Nosferatu who joined a late arrival of
lepers traveling from Switzerland after hearing of
the aid provided by Gersella’s convent. She left
the nunnery within the week of her Embrace,
seeing the indelible mark of the Devil in her new
condition. She traveled with the Nosferatu for
many long years. Gradually her autarkis pack grew
in members both by Embrace and those joining
in search of companionship. With this influx
Gersella donned her habit once again to provide
her new flock with God’s light; the divinity she
had felt so many years ago even returned, to a
degree. Her flock protected her and provided her
with blood - because she would not arm living
beings herself - as she became their mother figure.
Her second death came when her flock
traveled through the Italian Alps. They were
intending to provide the smaller Kindred domains
with their ‘blood balm’, a sacred substance they
brewed which seemed to alleviate the grotesque
features of cursed Kindred like Nosferatu
and Cappadocians. Her fifteen strong flock
of Nosferatu monks and devout Ventrue and
Toreador knights were kidnapped and tortured
by Tremere on the lookout for raw materials
for new Gargoyles. The flock were separate and
dispatched to various places across the continent,
most - including Gersella - ending up in Ceoris.
Their they were mutilated and transformed into
the gestalt creations currently unknown to the
Kindred world named Gargoyles. Gersella was cast
as a Sentinel and for century and a half she resided
within Ceoris, protecting the fledglings and those
Gargoyles whose minds didn’t survive Gestation.
When wind of a revolt came along, she chose to
stay safe in the Eyrie to defend her wards, who
were incapable of defending themselves.
Gersella died for the third time while she was
fleeing Ceoris during its viscous reclamation by
Esoara, who personally struck her head from her
shoulders with a single well-struck blow of his
axe. As her body crumbled away, her severed head
was claimed by a shaman using Obfuscate as he
traveled across the battlefield, collecting remains.
The shaman, named Crandor, later batch-made
forty Guardians (see page 106), Gersella among
them, in his Eyrie many miles from the fallen
site of Ceoris, which he named the ‘1476 War
Monument’. This place became something of a
Mecca for Gargoyles in the know; they would travel
across the continent to speak with the veterans of
Ceoris so as to gain an insight into their condition.
In the modern nights this war memorial was
relocated - at quite a cost to many influential
Gargoyles, Toreador patrons and local sympathetic
Princes - to the Grand Rock Court. Handsome
Dan visited the memorial soon after his master
had awakened and ordered its relocation in
Chaundice’s name. In the Court each Guardian
has been taught an array of disciplines including
Visceratika, giving them limited movement once
again. Due to Gersellas motherly persona and
vast experience, Chaundice appointed her as the
representative of her ‘race’, the Guardians, and his
personal advisor.
Image: Gersella has a simple but well-realised
design: the face of a woman of central European
descent in yellowing sandstone. Her eyes have the
hollowed out pupils familiar to many statutes of
Greece and Rome. Draped around her head is a
detailed, lovingly-carved habit which seems to be a
part of her ‘flesh’. Her lips and cheeks bear minute
red deposits in their surfaces.
Roleplaying hints: You are a very humble
individual. You consider every word you speak and
always err on the side of caution. After being taken
to the Grand Rock Court you have managed to
learn multiple Disciplines including Visceratika,
which you have used to travel all around the
Grand Canyon. You are very calm and virtuous,
to the point of Chaundice half believing that you
are incapable of frenzying. You have ‘adopted’
Chaundice and Handsome Dan as your new
wards, and as such care for them as if they were the
childer you could never have.
Sire: Georges
Nature: Caregiver
Demeanour: Pedagogue
Generation: 7th
Embrace: 1032
Clanbook: Gargoyles
Gestation: 1167
Abhorrences: Petrified Flesh 1
Drogo, The Winged Wolf
Background: Drogo was, in his first life, a young
blacksmith living in a long-forgotten village in
14th-century Hungary. A local Gangrel elder
noticed his strong body and loyal nature, and
decided he would make an ideal childe. He came
upon the blacksmith one dark night, attacked
the youth, and dragged him into the deep woods,
where he brought him into the nocturnal world of
the Kindred.
At first Drogo naturally feared and resented
his sire, but in time he adapted and the two
became travelling companions as they travelled
Transdanubia hunting and occasionally loaning
their services out to one Prince or another. It
wasn’t to last, however, as Drogo’s sire eventually
callously sold him to Tremere in exchange for
protection from a Tzimisce voivode he’d angered.
In short order, Drogo was taken to Ceoris
and used to create a new Sentinel. His old
and powerful Gangrel heritage overcame that
of whichever Kindred he was combined with,
manifesting as an entirely lupine form, save for his
wings. He was found to be a highly successful and
vigorous creation, and one with a distinct loyal
streak.
As part of some deal he no longer remembers,
Drogo was traded to the Madrid chantry. He
served dutifully enough, but found less fulfillment
than he had in service to the Great Mother herself.
Slowly, almost imperceptibly, rebellious thoughts
germinated in his mind during the quiet hours of
the night.
Drogo may have been the first Gargoyle to
reach the New World, as he was shipped over with
his Tremere master and a handful of acolytes in
the interest of establishing an early chantry there.
For reasons never known to Drogo, the galleon set
fire, and this event brought the thoughts of escape
and freedom to the forefront of Drogo’s mind.
Barely thinking, though not frenzying either,
he grabbed his master and flew to the safety of
the Floridian coast, half to save him and half to
119
overpower him. As he flew, his resentment - for
every beating and harsh word, every laborious
task and mind-numbing lookout duty - grew and
catalyzed. Giving in to a bestial impulse, Drogo
dashed his master against a cliffside as they flew
over it, quite without warning. He crumbled to ash
upon impact, though Drogo did not look to see
the result.
Drogo soon fell under the curse of his
Casting: without a master to serve or any other
tie or relationship to substitute such a bond,
his cognitive abilities regressed to almost an
animalistic level. He wandered the East Coast,
hunting wild game and observing the humans,
other vampires, and lupines, and stranger creatures
who made their homes there. He only vaguely
noted the increase in colonialism, the progress of
technology, or the shifting face of vampire politics,
drawing few distinctions between different groups.
He has recently been adopted by a pack of
Gangrel, Caitiff, Nosferatu, Gargoyle and Ravnos
settled in a small upstate New York named
Greenhaven. In this short time his human thought
processes have - mostly - returned making him
able to interact with his new pack and aid in
their combined long term survival. He has, in
fact, become their mutually elected leader, and
has named himself ‘Prince of Greenhaven’ and
sworn loyalty to the Camarilla. Quite what to
make of this, the nearby Princes aren’t sure - his
small claimed domain intrudes on none of theirs
- but his declaration has caused more of a stir in
the halls of power. A Gargoyle Prince is no small
matter to the Tremere; it is whispered that Etrius
himself has taken note of the situation. It may
be that trouble is headed to Greenhaven, but its
Prince is prepared to defend what he feels he has
earned.
Image: Drogo is a perfect example of the bestial
mutations which can manifest in Gargoyles,
especially those like him who are drawn from Clan
Gangrel. He has the body of a wild, unkempt wolf
and his wings, spanning 12 feet, seem to burst
from his carved fur. His pupiless eyes glow with a
constant red radiance.
Roleplaying Tips: You have bouts of memory loss
120 Chapter Seven: A Gallery of Grotesques
making you drift in and out of conversation. At
this point in your unlife you have forgone major
responsibilities by proxy of your achievements
- your domain, founded on ideals of mutual
assistance and egalitarianism and as such you are
mostly left to your own devices. Politically you
cleave to the Camarilla, but you feel also drawn
to both the Chaundicians and the Virstanians.
With the help of your closest allies, Bryce the
Gangrel and Dimitru the Ravnos, you constantly
seek new ways to liven up your unlife and battle
the numerous parties who wish to see you, your
followers, and your domain destroyed or cast
down.
Sire: Mikail
Nature: Idealist
Demeanour: Architect
Generation: 7th
Embrace: 1221
Gestation: 1377
Abhorrences: Talons 1, Hunch 2, Petrified Flesh 3,
Animal Features 4
Stonebones, Proprietor of the
Catacombs of Sorrow
Background: One of the original Calacas,
Stonebones was originally a free New Orleans
‘mulatto’, who was Embraced into the Samedi
bloodline. He quickly accepted his new condition
with his seemingly inexhaustible optimism,
becoming addicted to a fast-paced unlife of crime,
violence, and conspicuous consumption. He was
an avid gambler, placing large bets against human
lives on a nightly basis. He used a large scale
trafficking ring as his own personal plaything.
He eventually bit off more than he could chew
and seemingly lost control of his urge to win,
betting his own soul against a Giovanni while he
had a weak hand, and losing terribly when the
Necromancer called his bluff. Before he could
comprehend the loss, a stake was forced through
his back - he’d always neglected Fortitude - and
his world went dark. He awoke in a hessian sack
with pain shooting across his body, seconds
before he was assaulted by the sudden icy shock of
stagnant water crashing across his mutilated body.
Following this came interminable days and nights
of torment from the phantoms swimming around
him as his flesh became caked in mud and began
to liquefy. and The ghosts ripped portions of his
body apart, apparently reveling in the agony felt by
Stonebones, as he would soon come to be called.
Finally his agony came to an end as he felt
the drawstring of his ‘womb sack’ tighten, and
he was heaved from the pool. When the sack fell
and he witnessed his change, he simply burst into
hysterical laughter. Surrounded by several of his
own kind and former Samedi kin, he became
convinced that his was the better way to live and
assisted in numerous rituals and thaumaturgical
procedures before giving up on the soon-dull
repetition of abduction and Gestation. He fled
south without much of an ultimate goal until he
reached Quito, Ecuador, gravitating towards areas
which celebrated the Day of the Dead. In Quinto
he set up a debauched den selling vitae laced with
a wide range of exotic and illicit substances (some
mundane, some supernatural). In the modern
nights, his catacomb is the talk of the Central and
South American Kindred.
Image: Stonebones is around 7 feet tall, though
his sparse frame is constantly shrouded in a
thick black shawl made from a patchwork of his
Gestation sack and those of other Calacas he has
helped create. His flesh is mostly gone - all but that
of his upper face, esophagus, and eyes. The rest of
his body is a solid skeleton with strings of petrified
flesh hanging rigidly from each cracked piece
of muscle and cartilage. When his wings unfold
from around his chest they reach a colossal 14-foot
wingspan of fleshless bone spines.
Roleplaying Tips: You are surprisingly jovial and
carefree, forever looking for new substances to
infuse into your blood brews. You grow vast bushes
of ghouled marigolds which you save for honoured
guests. You spend most of your nights hosting at
the Quinto catacombs, your upbeat demeanor
adding to the lively atmosphere of those deathly
caverns.
Sire: Bembe
Nature: Capitalist
Clanbook: Gargoyles
Demeanour: Bon vivant
Generation: 9th
Embrace: 1764
Gestation: 1847
Abhorrences: Hunch 1, Growths 2, Petrified Flesh
3, Weathering 4
Fidus, The Shrunken Beast
Background: Fidus was born with a congenital
defect causing his legs to waste away during
Gestation. This limitation meant that, though
he could still walk on his shrunken legs, he was
at a significant physical disadvantage. During
his childhood in a small village at the southern
border of 10th-century Germany, he was treated
as the runt of the litter amongst his family and
neighbours. Some treated him with pitying care,
while more expressed disgust and hostility. The
now long-forgotten village was home to a sorcerer
who studied fleshcrafting (having stolen secrets
from the Tzimisce of the east). He soon adopted
Fidus (without the knowledge or consent of his
family, though some were glad to see the back of
him) and used him as the subject of many arcane
practices. During the three decades in which
the sorcerer and Fidus worked together, they
managed to alter Fidus in numerous ways, but
never successfully altered his stature for long. The
sorcerer accepted Fidus as his ward and apprentice,
teaching him many thaumaturgical methods of
shape shifting, and alchemical formulae designed
to manipulate the body.
The sorcerer and Fidus lived to more than
twice their natural lifespans through the use of
various magical brews, making a living through
traveling apothecary work barber surgery. This
lasted up until 1087 when the sorcerer, while
trying to attain greater insight into the magical
manipulation of flesh, was murdered by the
voivode he had been beseeching. The Tzimisce
then Embraced Fidus for his interesting array
of physical modifications, seeing something of
a potential in the arts of Vicissitude in him - or
simply wishing to steal parts of his flesh to use on
himself.
121
 Fidus did not last long as a Tzimisce; he and
his sire were caught up in a surprise Tremere attack
on his keep. Midway into the 1120’s, assaults
against the local Warlock chantries had reached
new heights of bloodiness with the appearance of
their newest secret weapon: the first Gargoyles.
During this period, the oncoming Tremere
launched an assault against the voivode’s castle and
slaughtered every ghoul, viciously mutilating Fidus
and his sire, and scavenging any parts of their flesh
seen as particular points of interest.
Fidus would awaken once again almost fifteen
years later surrounded by blood, screaming,
and several figures glaring down at him. His
first sight was that of Virstania’s gleaming smile
as she scooped him into her arms and hugged
him for several hours. Behind her stood a large
horned figure, proud and domineering, that he
would soon know as Saxum, and a beautiful and
statuesque woman with large bat-like wings and a
dangerous aura; soon he would know her as Luma.
Fidus’ time spent with Virstania was at first
one of fear and anxiety. Being the smallest and
clearly the weakest of his siblings Fidus lived in
a state of constant alertness while alone in their
Eyrie. Virstania, however, seemed to favour with
him as his mother had done almost 200 years
earlier; she taught him Thaumaturgy, despite
the protests of Malgorzata, and quickly came to
consider him to be her greatest apprentice.
During the Revolt, Fidus fled with his new
Mother to her secret laboratory, hidden within the
Carpathian mountains, and helped her establish
the new Eyrie there. Later on he became the head
of the Flock’s organisational structure. He oversees
the continuing creation of Gargoyles in that
ancient laboratory, with new Flock members being
made almost monthly - given Luma’s warriors
bring him the correct materials.
Fidus has even discovered the means to truly
replicate the creation of Chaundice’s progeny,
and even - he believes - a creature comparable to
Chaundice himself. He has kept this information
closely guarded, as he does not think Gargoyles are
loyal enough to have their curses stripped of them
and their potential magnified.
122 Chapter Seven: A Gallery of Grotesques
Image: At a mere four feet tall due to his
malformed legs (still cursing him nearly a
millennia after his birth), Fidus has a perpetually
elongated and bowed, three-foot neck, attached to
which is a distended head dominated by a sharp
curved beak. His eyes look like tiny, sparkling
black holes, burnt into his feathery hide. Fidus’
wings are small, twisted, and useless, as they have
completely withered away. This, however, has not
stunted his ability to fly, which surpasses even
Saxum’s; in fact, he was the first cast Gargoyle to
learn and master flight. He drools uncontrollably,
and speaks with a lisp that others may find
comical, or more commonly annoying.
Roleplaying Tips: You see Virstania’s work - the
creation and control of new Gargoyles - as an
almost religious pursuit. You work more than ten
hours straight each night, creating and innovating
new methods of performing the Gargoyle creation
rite. You have almost exceeded Virstania’s own
work in the time she has been in torpor, now being
able to make entirely bespoke Gargoyles at the
behest of your fellow Moulds. You have reached a
strength and wisdom beyond your wildest mortal
dreams, and as such see any form of disrespect
directed toward you from any vampire as cause to
destroy the offender. As such you rule your Scout
underlings with an iron claw.
Sire: Tomyen
Nature: Visionary
Demeanour: Loner
Generation: 8th
Embrace: 1087
Gestation: 1138
Abhorrences: Animal Features 1, Minimalism 2,
Elongation 3, Petrified Flesh 4, Withering 5.
Luma, The Stone Beauty
Background: A trapper’s child in a 9th-century
Polish hamlet, Luma took to the hunt and soon
carved a place for herself as the apex predator
in her own small ecosystem. She adapted
just as well to dominating humans as she did
animals, becoming able to choose her victim and
manipulate them into doing anything she desired.
The night came when she came across bird tracks
bigger than those of even a bear. Luma had hunted
creatures now known only in myth during her
career, including several harpies and a kelpie, but
the beast belonging to those prints bested her.
Naming itself The Manticore (due to its lion
like body ending in a scorpion tail and crow’s
legs), the great beast Embraced her for her vain
but noble efforts in the battle preceding her death.
Her unlife she found to be simply a heightened
form of her human life, spending most of it in the
woodlands she had dominated before and hunting
anything that stood in her way. Time became
nothing to her, and centuries melted away in a
blood red haze. Long after she had killed her sire
- and diablerized him - she found herself suddenly
surrounded by an aggressive force bent on her
capture. By the time the sun rose, she was caught.
When she awoke her claws were dripping with
blood and she lay in the eviscerated abdomen of
a screaming giant. Her Mothers’ orders were to
kill, and she accepted them without hesitation,
foregoing interaction with her siblings or even
her Mother. Over the years she made a sisterhood
within the Warrior Casting without her Mother’s
knowledge - Fidus watched on, hoping for her to
slip up and create her own demise - all of whom
possessed beauty and fury beyond comparison,
made in Luma’s image as they were.
The four ‘sisters’ fought, lived, and loved
together, calling their group the Luminaires. This
band comprised of Luma, Crystallus, Rubesh,
and Ampulla. They would seek out combat on a
nightly basis, always striving for greater opponents
and indulging in more carnal activities with one
another whilst taken by the rush of battle.
The Luminaires’ part in the Revolt was simply
to slay Tremere and their servants when and where
they found them. Their bloody toll ended when
Esoara led his forces into their terrain; he almost
managed to slaughter them all, even after they had
destroyed four of his most loyal soldiers. Rubesh
gave her unlife to cover the escape of her sisters.
After the Revolt tapered out, Luma reined in
her remaining Warriors and jumped straight back
onto the offensive. While Saxum and Fidus settled
Clanbook: Gargoyles
the Great Mother in her new domain, Luma
and her remaining sisters set out to recapture
those she saw as traitors to her Mother’s cause.
Over the next five centuries, Luma managed to
reclaim almost a third of those Gargoyles that had
initially abandoned the Flock, though due to the
emergence of the Embrace her job has become one
without end.
Tonight, Luma controls the Warriors of the
Flock who retrieve Gargoyles from all over the
world and return them to their Mother. Her
Luminaires act as her generals and report to her
continuously, Crystallus reporting from western
Europe while Ampulla bases her operations in
North America, watching over her childe Erinye.
Image: Luma is a slender creature with the
serene beauty of an ancient Greek statue. Her
long, sensuously curving talons and razor-tipped
wings somehow add to her unearthly charm. Her
alabaster skin seems to glow a faint yellow in the
dark. She has been blessed by an unmarred face,
adding to her stunning visage, and this has been
passed onto the Luminaires (created using the
same ingredients and processes) and their own
Embraced daughters.
Roleplaying Tips: You do not have time for
any Kindred other than your Mother and your
Luminaries. For them you hold a deep love
and respect, even the simulation of romantic
attachments for your ‘sisters’. You do not hate
the Chaundicians for their beliefs, but you also
believe they are holding back your race - only with
Chaundice’s ash can the Flock grow to its true
potential.
Sire: The Manticore
Nature: Rebel
Demeanour: Tyrant
Generation: 8th
Embrace: 995
Gestation: 1136
Abhorrences: Petrified Flesh 1, Horns 2, Talons 3.
(Due to her Unmarred Face Merit, Luma can be
considered to have 1 level in Appearance when
interacting with other abhorrent creatures.)
123
Saxum, The Master of Slaves
Background: Though his true age is unknown to
him, he was halfway towards being a methuselah
before Gestation, and was one of the prime
vampires captured during the early Gargoyle
period.
The earliest event Saxum can remember are
words uttered by Virstania as he was dragged
from Alvusia’s uterus. “Well done dear,” she said,
“you’ve brought your brother home. Now let’s
see if we can’t find the others, shall we?” This
sentence set the tone for the remainder of his
unlife as a Gargoyle. He emerged from Gestation
as the first of a new wave of Gargoyles; he was not
only the first Sentinel but the first cast Gargoyle
ever created to replace Chaundice and his
progeny. Virstania saw him as more than a simple
replacement - she believed he was in fact the
Gargoyle who had come before him named Saxim,
hence his being dubbed Saxum.
Two years of total disorientation passed in
Ceoris. Saxum found himself placed in charge
of the weak and mindless Gargoyles left behind
by Chaundice, all the while suffering from
fundamental identity dissociation. Virstania would
shower him with love and reminisce about events
and individuals he had never known, while Alvusia
would scream hate and abuse at him in amongst
her tears, cursing him as ‘never her true brother.’
While interacting with other Tremere - rare as
that would be - they would merely laugh at the
ideas Virstania was trying to convince him of. This
subsided with the birth of his sisters and finally
his brother; each birth distracted Virstania slightly
more, and left Saxum to tend his Sentinels.
During the Revolt, he and around twenty elite
Sentinels led his Mother, Fidus and Alvusia out
of Ceoris and into the mountains by forming a
large wall around them. There he focused on his
duty of securing a perimeter and keeping their new
home safe. He enlisted more Sentinels to surround
him, to help maintain his sanity, which was under
great strain due to a mixture of his inherent
psychological weakness and his Mother’s toxic
neurosis.
124 Chapter Seven: A Gallery of Grotesques
In the modern nights, he even sometimes calls
himself Saxim, and personally sends Warriors and
Scouts to try to find his ‘father’ Chaundice. This
behaviour disturbs his sibling Moulds, but because
of his sheer size and age, which both combine to
make him an unstoppable opponent the likes of
which luma wouldn’t dare to attack - alone.
Image: Saxum’s facial features and musculature
are strongly chiseled, making him appear almost
heroic in how well defined he is, and marred only
by his long gnarled ram’s horns. His stony skin
is smooth like a grey marble speckled with blue
crystal. He stands at almost 8 feet with a wingspan
longer than many of his type, at a colossal 16 feet.
Roleplaying Tips: You believe yourself to be one
of the oldest Gargoyles ever created, and in truth
you aren’t far wrong. You support the Flock, but
only because you believe it is trying to reunite the
Gargoyle race - specifically Chaundice with his
children, including yourself. You are hard and
authoritative, but will put yourself on the line
when your Sentinels are overwhelmed. You now
adore Virstania above all else, so much so that you
prize a red cloak she gifted to you - formerly owned
by Saxim - and wear it always.
Sire: Unknown
Nature: Autocrat
Demeanour: Defender
Generation: 8th
Embrace: 400+ (specific date unknown)
Gestation: 1132
Abhorrences: Petrified Flesh 1, Horns 2
Ublo-Satha
Background: Ublo-Satha was born in the mid-10th
century in a Greek city - which one is unknown,
for she like all Gargoyles has forgotten all that
came before her Gestation. Before her twentieth
year she was Embraced by one the urban-dwelling
Gangrel of Greece, an eccentric Kindred who
went by the name Harlequin owing to his assumed
identity as a mortal entertainer. Like many Gangrel
she took up an itinerant way of unlife, though
owing to her heritage this took the form of moving
between cities rather than across the wilderness.
It was on a fateful night in 11th-century Athens
that she encountered a vampire of immense age
and power - the Brujah methuselah Menele. Seeing
her as a potentially valuable spy, Menele made her
into an unwitting slave with but a commanding
stare, planting a psychic seed in her mind through
which he could give her instructions from any
distance. She never saw him again after that night,
but nonetheless found herself unconsciously
compelled to investigate the machinations of
Menele’s equally ancient rival, whose name she
never knew.
She was hardly a central asset of Menele’s,
however, and like many other enthralled spies fell
without his particular notice. She was waylaid and
captured by Tremere, who were on the lookout
for raw materials to use in the creation of the first
Gargoyles. Though she was from a bloodline and
not the main Gangrel Clan, her vitae served just as
well - if anything, it added something unique that
the blood of most Gangrel would not. She was the
third Gargoyle to be created, following Chaundice
and Ch’iung Chi.
Remarkably, and quite without the knowledge
of Goratrix, Virstania, or to a large extent herself,
the seed Menele had planted was strong enough
to endure even the process of Gestation. Most of
the time this manifested in her deeply-ingrained
loyal streak, which came to a head when she
reported to the masters that Chaundice and her
siblings were plotting to break free from Ceoris.
Through a combination of Menele’s domination
and the Gargoyle susceptibility to mental control,
disobedience was something that she found herself
incapable of.
Certainly, Ublo-Satha did not expect the
results of her report to have as grave consequences
as they did. She wept tears of blood for nights
and days on end when she saw the fate of her
‘little sister’ Alvusia, though the Great Mother
was touched, perceiving these as tears of joy. The
final straw came when Saxim was recovered and
shamed before the gathered chantry by Etrius.
That night, in a desperate attempt to destroy
herself for her innocent mistake, Ublo-Satha drove
Clanbook: Gargoyles
herself into a deep Torpor. Virstania wished to
awaken and restore her, but the Inner Council
unanimously decreed that this was not to be done.
The Gargoyle’s dormant body was kept in a sealed
vault - far from Virstania and her Eyrie.
It was not for another eighty years that
Ublo-Satha would awaken. During this time the
vampiric infection which had found its way to the
majority of senior Tremere and much of the house
besides was discovered by other wizards. The rival
chantry of Mistridge, located in southern France,
presented a major threat to the Clan’s interests in
western Europe, overseen by Goratrix. A mortal
Tremere known as Grimgroth lived at Ceoris, and
until the revelations were spread had little inkling
as to the truth - but when he heard of the potential
for immortality, his interest was piqued. He was
mistakenly seen as loyal by his chantrymates, owing
to his lack of vampiric corruption and distance
from Ceoris.
In 1210, Grimgroth betrayed the chantry by
allowing its defences to fall in a crucial battle,
leading to its total destruction. Fleeing east to
Ceoris, he was richly rewarded for his treachery,
not only with the Embrace he sought (from
Tremere himself, no less) but with a powerful
‘familiar’ - Ublo-Satha. Behind Virstania’s back,
she was reawakened with Grimgroth’s own vitae
and given over to him as a servant. Grimgroth
was sent back to France to assist Goratrix at the
Paris chantry, and less than a century later came
to replace ‘the Betrayer’ as Councilor of Western
Europe. Ublo-Satha remained as loyal as ever -
seemingly to her new master, but truly to Menele.
It was an age before she would be called to serve
him again, however.
The Revolt saw Ublo-Satha defend Paris and
other French chantries on the few occasions
that the rebel Gargoyles reached that far west.
Virstania’s spell of liberation had no effect on
her, Menele’s enduring presence being simply too
strong to be suborned by the younger vampire’s
magic. Virstania never became aware of her third
‘child’s’ presence on the enemy side, nor the tally
of Gargoyles she slew. Once the Montmartre Pact
was signed and the Revolt ended, Ublo-Satha was
125
kept to the inner sanctum of the Paris chantry,
so that she would not be observed. There she
remained, barely ever speaking, for five hundred
years.
By 1993, Grimgroth had become as jaded and
distanced from humanity as any elder of his age.
Even he, though, was shocked when his servant
- standing in the corner, quiet as ever - spoke up
during a discussion the councilor was having with
a spy regarding the suspect loyalties of Nicolai
Antonescu, the regent of the Chicago chantry.
Despite never having the subject discussed in her
presence before, and despite what Grimgroth
believed to be her ignorance of such political
matters, Ublo-Satha suggested that she be sent to
Chicago to act as insurance that Nicolai would toe
the line.
The true cause of this, of course, was Menele,
who lay in a waking torpor beneath Chicago.
He had learned that Nicolai was a pawn of the
same rival he had originally bound Ublo-Satha
to help oppose. He saw the perfect opportunity
to counter this, and sent the psychic call to the
Gargoyle. The quick-thinking and argumentation
she demonstrated in getting there, however, were
her own.
Greatly surprised, but seeing the worth of the
move - the old Gargoyle had, if anything, become
obsolete at the chantry, even a liability - Grimgroth
agreed after a short deliberation. If she was going
to be found out by the Camarilla, he thought,
let her be found far away, and let the penalty
for defying Montmartre fall on another. On the
pretext of sending her there as reinforcement
following the recent Sabbat assault on the chantry,
Grimgroth coordinated with Meerlinda (the
councilor of North America) to have the Gargoyle
transported across the Atlantic.
Since then, Ublo-Satha has served to observe
and quietly threaten Nicolai. She is Menele’s
sleeper agent, but moonlights as a loyal enslaved
Gargoyle, albeit a resourceful and self-sufficient
one. She was recently briefly seen defending the
Chicago chantry, sparking renewed rumours of the
Montmartre Pact being disobeyed and galvanising
members of the Chaundician movement - not least
126 Chapter Seven: A Gallery of Grotesques
Ana and Chaundice himself, who are planning
urgent missions to rescue her. What the results of
yet another party becoming caught in this tangled
web might be, only time will tell.
Image: Ublo-Satha’s flesh is extremely rocky, even
for a Gargoyle. She has large bumps, crags and
crevices all over her overbearing 6-foot, 25-stone
body. She is further riddled with patches of
moss and algae, where personal maintenance has
long since been abandoned. She generally wears
no clothes, as none would accommodate her
enormous and powerful wings.
Roleplaying tips: You rarely speak, and even then
only in hushed tones; often you prefer to simply
watch. Though you appear weak and timid when
cornered, your true nature shines through in
battle, where you become an unstoppable killing
machine. You are a dangerous but controlled
weapon in the hands of the ancient Menele.
Sire: Harlequin/Chaundice
Nature: Survivor
Demeanour: Traditionalist
Generation: 6th
Embrace: 963
Gestation: 1114
Abhorrences: Horns 1, Biome 2, Petrified Flesh 3
Rocia, The Watcher Mould
Background: Uniquely among Gargoyles, Rocia
was originally one of the Niktuku, descended from
a childe of the vengeful Nosferatu Antediluvian.
She was found by the Tremere while attacking a
band of Nosferatu who had been picked out for
use in Gargoyle creation. The battle was fierce,
even weakened and outnumbered as she was, and
no few Tremere met their ends on her claws. In
the end, however, she was driven into torpor and
brought to Ceoris.
Her Gestation is a process Alvusia is lucky to
never have to feel again. While Rocia developed,
her foetal form drained Alvusia of her vitae,
leaving her in a perpetual state of starvation for
a whole year. Rocia was the only one of the four
Moulds to take time to develop outside of the
womb; her Gestation sac had petrified to form a
stone egg. It is from this scarcely-known incident
that the rumours of Gargoyles laying eggs, which
endure tonight, likely began. When it emerged,
Virstania claimed that the experiment had been
a complete failure, and hid the egg away from
other Tremere to further examine it and await
its hatching. This egg took a further few months
before it cracked and Rocia emerged, alone and
cold.
Virstania gave the new Gargoyle - the first
member of a fourth, secret Casting, called
the Watchers - the duty to hunt the Tremere
themselves, whenever a Warlock was found to be
deviating from the Clan’s interests. This unique
duty was accompanied by skill in a number of
Disciplines different to those possessed by Fidus,
Luma or Saxum: Auspex, Celerity, and Obfuscate.
Likewise, she had a different weakness from the
other Castings, whereby she began to lose any
sense of empathy, and to physically petrify. Both of
these conditions gradually worsened as the years
progressed.
Virstania secretly bestowed the Embrace upon
Rocia as soon as possible, knowing she would
never be able to make further Watchers. The few
she did Embrace were all entrusted with the same
task as their sire, and performed it long before the
Revolt began. They did not lair in Ceoris’s Eyrie,
but in Virstania’s hidden mountain laboratory
which serves as the modern headquarters of the
Flock. They strategically eliminated Tremere
found to betray the Clan or deviate wildly from its
ways. In the nights leading up to the Revolt, this
extended to ‘innocent’ guardsmen and low-ranking
Tremere, making the deaths seem like simple
accidents while in fact thinning the numbers in
preparation for the battles to come. To this night
Rocia believes only Virstania and Goratrix knew of
her existence.
During the Revolt, Rocia simply watched
her cousins kill with wild abandon. Though her
emotions had regressed and she felt no pity for
their victims, a certain spark of pride remained.
She noticed Ferox - then an ancient ghoul,
formerly bound to the Tremere - battling for
Clanbook: Gargoyles
the Gargoyle cause. Knowing that he was to be
Embraced, she visited Virstania and asked to be
his sire, owing to her loyal service. The Great
Mother agreed and arranged for the deed to be
performed privately.
Following Ferox’s Embrace and religious
awakening, Rocia was taken in by his
understanding of Gargoyles as fallen angels and
other Kindred as demons. Rocia and all her
childer, including Ferox, abandoned the Flock
even before Esoara marched on their position in
Ceoris. They spent several centuries founding their
secret organisation devoted to the elimination of
the Kindred species, which retained the name of
their secret Casting: Grigori, ‘the Watchers’.
The radical Grigori ideology spawned from
Rocia’s duty to observe and eliminate Tremere
rebellion and Ferox’s irrational hatred of
Nosferatu; Rocia’s origins, though long forgotten
by her, no doubt had some influence there as
well. They enlisted five other Gargoyles to form
an ‘inner council’, directly mocking the Tremere’s
own council and representing the seven archangels.
The Watchers secretly directed witch hunters
all over Europe towards unsuspecting Kindred,
worsening the ongoing Inquisition.
Tonight, Rocia allows her childe to direct
their Grigori followers. She keeps tabs on all of
them and will not hesitate to kill any that step
out of line. Her desire to purify the Kindred race
has grown out of control. Only the most devout
Grigori of Ferox’s inner council is even allowed to
know she exists.
Image: Rocia has suffered from the elongation that
can come with Gestation, giving each of her limbs
an additional two feet in length. Her golden and
insect-like wings are thin and chitinous, though
still entirely functional. Her long pointy fangs
prop open her jaw like an anglerfish, and her skin
is a reflective white like salt crystal. Her eyes are
unnaturally large, with a deep dark-red tint.
Roleplaying Tips: You barely interact with
those around you; you even treat Ferox with a
judgemental distancing more akin to a Gangrel
sire than a Gargoyle one. Only your Mother and
three Mould siblings know your true nature, and
127
you will never let on. Everything is clear cut and
black and white to you; either someone deserves
life or they don’t. Even your fellow Grigori council
members view you with hidden fear. You still
respect Virstania and hold her in a certain regard
for (in your mind) doing God’s work, but believe
your Casting’s duty has progressed far beyond just
culling the Tremere.
Sire: An unknown Niktuku
Nature: Sociopath
Demeanour: Fanatic
Generation: 7th
Embrace: Unknown
Gestation: 1134
Abhorrences: Animal Features 1, Accentuation 2,
Elongation 3, Petrified Flesh 4.
Chi’ung Chi, Rock Lord of Tianmu
Background: All of Chi’ung Chi’’s memories were
lost during his Gestation. From the moment he
awoke in the Gestation chamber, he possessed a
determination to learn any scrap of information
about the spirit, magic, and the nature of his
existence. He practiced the basics of Thaumaturgy
alongside Virstania and even Goratrix himself,
with Goratrix seeing the exercise as more like
teaching a dog to jump than teaching a human
sorcery. Chi’ung Chi focused his attention
on learning the paths of Elemental Mastery,
Movement of the Mind, and Spirit Manipulation
(see V20 pages 214 and 220, and Rites of the
Blood page 142).
When the time came that Chaundice suggested
their Grotesquerie abandon Ceoris in search of
their own destiny, Chi (who was, of course, known
by a different name then, though that name is
lost) petitioned caution and restraint in their
escape. After all, while Ceoris was no sanctuary,
it was nonetheless filled with arcane secrets, and
he wished to remain for a few years more before
leaving. Though his father found reason in Chi’s
words, he was shouted over by Ana’s rash urgings
to rebellion. After the escape, Chi fled east while
being hunted by Tremere warbands. He flew as
far as possible, and due to his broad knowledge of
128 Chapter Seven: A Gallery of Grotesques
Tremere magic, he avoided their detection.
After several months of wandering, he reached
Mount Tianmu in southeastern China, and settled
down within the mountain only to undergo bouts
of troubled torpor, stretching two centuries. While
in the brief delirium between his torpid states
he created an Eyrie of his very own by using a
combination of the Thaumaturgy paths he had
learned to painstakingly remould a small opening
in Tianmu which he found led to an incredibly
deep chasm.
Here he founded the Petrified Sanctum,
which incorporated both the mountainside and
the chasm within. By using the highest levels of
Elemental Mastery and Spirit Manipulation, Chi
managed to regularly contact the mountain’s spirit,
calling itself Tian-mu, ‘The Mother of Lightning’,
who became his only companion in the passing
lifetimes.
After many years, it was discovered by chance
by monks belonging to an obscure Buddhist sect,
who were seeking refuge from persecution. They
saw it as a gift from Heaven. After meditation on
their presence, Chi finally contacted the monks
living on his mountain, ghouling three of them
and teaching the rest sorcery. He eventually
allowed them inside the chasm, and finally
Embraced them once they had displayed a high
level of enlightenment and magical control. One
of his childer, Tao Wu, called ‘the Block’, left for
India seeking self-discovery, and Chi allowed her
to go.
Once his Grotesquerie had been founded
along with an attendant order of Ghouls, Chi
branched out for the first time in 500 years by
opening dialogues with local Kindred, Lupines,
and Cathayans. The receptions he received from
these groups were surprisingly mixed. This contact,
however, brought the attention of the Tremere’s
Councilor of the Far East, Thomas Wyncham,
who saw Chi’ung Chi as a prize to be claimed, and
told none of his fellow councilors for fear they
might try and take him for themselves.
In preparation for Wyncham’s inevitable
assault, Chi made his already easily-defensible
Eyrie into a fortress as well as a monastery. The
bloody conflict eventually came in 1780, and
raged at different times for twenty years. Just as
the fortress was ready to fall, many Gargoyles and
their ghouls having been lost, Tao Wu returned
with childer of her own and a breeding pair of
Guardian Lions (see page 93) which she had
created during her time in India. These sudden
reinforcements of such mighty creatures turned
the tide of the Petrified Sanctum’s struggle, and
Wyncham’s Tremere were quickly repelled, though
the Councilor himself escaped. Chi, exhausted
from fighting and badly wounded, slipped back
into torpor and his now-united Grotesquerie
rebuilt and consolidated what they had.
He next awoke in the modern nights to his
youngest childe Hun Tun feeding him vitae whilst
proclaiming that a western Gargoyle named Dan
was at the gates of his sanctum. Dan brought
to Chi’s attention the Grand Rock Court,
Chaundice’s new and powerful Eyrie in America.
Chi set off almost immediately to meet with his
long-lost father. Since their reunion, Chi has
brought the Path of Freedom and the word of
Chaundice to his Grotesquerie, with which they
might further grow as a group. Renewed contact
with his father, as well as his sister Ana, has given
him new life.
Image: Though Chi only reaches a height of 3 feet,
his strength is greatly disproportionate, allowing
him to overpower most able-bodied vampires.
Through Mimesis, he has adopted small patches
of ornamentation to reflect the Petrified Sanctum
throughout his jade flesh.
Roleplaying Tips: You are highly contemplative,
and have managed to bestow that ideal on your
childer and ghouls, and more recently to some
extent in Chaundice. You will not make a decision
for your Grotesquerie without the advice of your
childer, Guardian Lions, ghouls and often even
the spirit Tian-mu herself. Your knowledge is
incredibly extensive, and you use it to focus on the
bigger picture rather than the matter at hand.
Sire: Unknown
Nature: Guru
Demeanour: Judge
Clanbook: Gargoyles
Generation: 6th
Gestation: 1113
Abhorrences: Petrified Flesh 1, Withering 2
Ferox, Servant of God
Background: Born to ancient British nobility,
Ferox defended his mother Boudicca from Roman
oppression during the time of Christ. He was
kidnaped by local Brujah due to his strength
and loyalty to his cause. They ghouled him for a
brief time before handing him over to occupying
Ventrue when the British Isles finally fell to
Roman conquest. While serving his new Ventrue
masters, Ferox studied the new Christian religion
and its doctrines, slowly gaining a sense of the faith
for himself. Finally his masters saw more worth
in trading him with the Tremere than keeping
him for themselves. While serving the Tremere he
was sent to Ceoris, where he witnessed atrocities
performed against the statuesque winged beasts
called Gargoyles.
He aided in the Revolt by training Gargoyles in
magic and Disciplines, right under the Tremere’s
noses. By performing this duty in the shadows, he
caught the eye of the Mould of the secret Watcher
Casting, named Rocia. Rocia’s duty was to
covertly eliminate any Tremere seen to potentially
hinder the Revolt’s progress, so upon seeing one
aiding it, she sought to Embrace him. She got
her chance when Ferox began to rapidly age and
die after being cut off from Tremere blood. The
two of them soon left to continue Rocia’s task
of assassinating pivotal members of the Tremere.
Ferox aided in this, not because of a Mother he
didn’t hail from, but because of what the Embrace
had done to him.
When he awoke from Gestation, his mind
had been completely emptied of all but his name
and his True Faith. The doctrine he had studied
for centuries became his sole reason for being. He
reasoned that due to their wings, the Gargoyles
must be fallen angels, sent to earth to cleanse the
demonic host plaguing humanity - chief amongst
them, the Kindred. Evading a group of inquisitors,
Ferox and Rocia were forced to make haven with
a coterie of Nosferatu. Their vile bodies and the
129
corruption they induced in God’s creatures and
the world around them caused Ferox to murder
the coterie and claim that all Nosferatu were to die
by his claw, a statement much approved of by his
sire.
The two of them went on to found an order
named after his Mother’s Casting and also the
name of angels stricken to Earth, the Grigori
(‘Watchers’). He, Rocia, and a council of five
others formed a compact as a direct insult to the
Tremere Inner Council, and to reflect the number
of the archangels themselves. Soon, the policy
of destroying Nosferatu expanded to include all
Kindred, though the Sewer Rats were singled out
for the outer disfigurements and malformations
that surely stemmed from sinful inner selves.
In the modern nights Ferox attempts to bring
all Gargoyles into God’s light by initiating them
into the Grigori. He personally travels from Eyrie
to Eyrie trying to recruit local Grotesqueries.
He has recently achieved his longstanding goal
of acquiring an insider in the Catholic Church,
though not in the form he might have anticipated.
The recently-Embraced former inquisitor Filippo
Sammarca has provided the Watchers with an
online presence they have previously lacked,
allowing them to digitally infiltrate the Church,
the Inquisition, and the Nosferatu.
Word of Chaundice’s awakening has not
gone unheeded by Ferox, who wishes to make
an audience with this figure of legend, though
political and geographical restraints have so far
made it impossible. He is saddened by news that
Chaundice and many of his followers reject the
Grigori as a fanatical, apocalypticist cult which
abducts and radicalises young Gargoyles - not to
mention giving the entire bloodline a bad name
through the wholesale slaughter of vampires - but
he prays that God will grant the Rock Lord the
grace to see the true way.
Image: Ferox is an albino-white Gargoyle with
Biblical scripture and gnostic sigils coating his
skin, which is constantly covered in dust, like
the walls of an ancient cathedral. From his back
sprout feathered wings, and his eyes burn with
the light of his faith, such that he keeps them
130 Chapter Seven: A Gallery of Grotesques
permanently hidden behind a pair of sunglasses
He has spiraling rams horns growing from the
top of his head, and a small, severe mouth with a
heavy chin. When amongst the Watchers he wears
a choir tunic trimmed in purple lace, whereas in
the field he typically dons a leather jacket. In any
situation, he wears a golden crucifix necklace and
cross earrings.
Roleplaying Tips: You are God’s chosen servant
on Earth, and as such you are constantly saddened
by the corruption of the world by the Kindred race
and other demons in fleshly form. You are patient,
and you won’t hurt fellow Gargoyles unless they
seem bent on destroying you. All other Kindred
deserve nothing less than death, though you give
neonates the opportunity to confess and make
penance for their sinful natures, in which case you
destroy them with the swift mercy of the Lord. As
to the unrepentant, and those who have lived on
stolen years for too long to be forgivable, you leave
them for the purifying light of the sun/ You bear a
particularly zealous hatred of Nosferatu and believe
that the Gargoyle bloodline are fallen angels
charged to cleanse humanity of Cain’s failings. You
also keep adjusting your sunglasses.
Sire: Rocia
Nature: Fanatic
Demeanour: Caregiver
Generation: 8th
Embrace: 1478
Abhorrences: Engravings 1, Petrified Flesh 2,
Horns 3.
Erinyi, The Luminaire
Background: Erinyi is a Gargoyle with little
knowledge of her true purpose. She was embraced
by Ampulla, though the Luminaire departed soon
after her Embrace, leaving Erinyi alone to drift
between the local Sabbat packs until finally being
accepted in Montreal by the 25:17 pack. She has
lived in Montreal for longer than her human life,
quickly falling into a deep, unrequited love for her
pack leader, Ezekiel.
Until recently, the young fledgling was
ignorant that she is the childe of a significant
Gargoyle lineage; she is Luma’s own grandchilde.
Luma and Ampulla have contacted Erinyi several
times recently, attempting to win her over to
their cause, though her youth and her rebellious
personality makes it difficult for them to exert
control. The long term plan for Erinyi is to make
her way from pack to pack, recruiting abandoned
and lost Gargoyles to the Flock’s cause. The only
thng anchoring her down is the true love she holds
for her noble leader.
Image: Erinyi does not believe in hiding her
Gargoyle nature. Standing on the pads of her
feet like a canine, she is over seven feet tall, not
including her eight-inch-long horns. Her gray
wings delicately drape around her shoulders,
stretching and swaying as she walks. As is her
birthright, she possesses a subtle likeness to Luma,
which manages to grab the attention of even non-
abhorrent Kindred from time to time.
Roleplaying Tips: You are quick to anger. It’s
all that you can do to suppress the urge to rip
Tremere antitribu and other vile pests apart.
You find release in battle and music, but those
pleasures pale in comparison to the love that lies
in your dead heart. Now knowing your true sire’s
identity you have garnered a deeps respect for
Ampulla and her mother Luma, making them role
models in your unlife.
Sire: Ampulla
Nature: Martyr
Demeanour: Bravo
Generation: 11th
Embrace: 1994
Abhorrences: Petrified Flesh 1, Horns 2
Filippo Sammarca, The Inquisitor
Background: Filippo Sammarco was born
in Rome during the late 1980s, and had an
unassuming upbringing to match his personality.
He spent his childhood and early adulthood
being taught in the Catholic faith, and though he
embraced it in its fundamental teachings, he had
a hard time accepting less tolerant parts of Church
doctrine; he was rather more drawn to the mystical
elements of Catholicism. Despite this, he chose a
Clanbook: Gargoyles
job as a parish groundskeeper, with an ambition
to enter the clergy. After he had completed the
necessary education, Filippo was ordained into the
Church proper, taking on administrative roles of
bookkeeping and secretarial work. Outside of this
career his passion lay in computer science and the
internet, which he studied in what free time he
could muster between his many duties.
When Filippo was unexpectedly approached
by a senior priest offering him a higher position
in a different parish, he accepted the proposition
gratefully. Having noticed Filippo’s particular
interest in the more metaphysical areas of
his religious lore, his new employer gradually
exposed him to the numerous horrors caused by
inhuman, cursed and infernal entities over the
course of human history. This awakening to the
supernatural forces lying in wait convinced Filippo
to be inducted into the Society of Leopold (see
V20 page 370 and Hunters Hunted II).
The ability that held him above most of his
new colleagues was not his faith or his strength of
will when facing down evil, but rather his aptitude
in software programing and web design. He
created a secure cloud server, allowing his cenacle
to interact at the touch of the button, streamlining
their efforts and improving their efficiency almost
overnight. He did his duty to the inquisition by
disseminating occult information amongst the
Society and helping to arrange autos-da-fé between
previously disparate inquisitors. Despite being
culpable in the destruction of several vampires,
Filippo never once saw one directly; he felt he did
not wish to.
Quite by chance one evening, Filippo chanced
upon a strange website while trying to acquire
a particular digital copy of an obscure gnostic
tome. Its forums seemed to be focused on uniting
vampire groups in a similar way to which Filippo
had done for the inquisitors. As he read on, he
learned that these beings were as frightened by
what his organisation had done as children would
be frightened by monsters. After several hours
of mortified browsing he found a plea from one
of these Kindred from only a town over that had
fallen prey to an unknown assailant, and acted
131
instinctively to help this ‘woman’ in need.
He got to the given coordinates in time to
witness a nest of grotesque monsters locked in
combat with a stone, angelic being with large wings
and a smooth porcelain face. One of the demons
was left bearing over the ‘angel’, whom he falsely
presumed to be the Kindred from the website.
Acting quickly, he used spare gasoline to ignite the
demon, killing it almost instantly and scattering
its fellows. The statue was incredibly grateful, and
offered Filippo a chance to become angelic like
him and live forever in their saviour’s light - an
offer he took up without question or hesitation.
He awoke a few days later in the company of
Ferox. The Rock Lord’s doctrine convinced him
entirely that he and his new ‘family’ were in fact
angelic, and intended for ascension come the Day
of Judgement. Tonight he feeds messages given to
him by Ferox into the various online spaces he has
access to: those of the Inquisition, the Nosferatu,
and even mundane ones intended purely for
internal communication within the Church.
Image: His flesh has partially sloughed off his
bones and petrified, leaving a permanent ‘coat’
around his almost skeletal frame. Small wings no
bigger than a foot in length emerge from this coat
of flesh. His teeth are shards of polished hematite,
providing a metallic effect. He rarely wears clothes
besides a simple white tunic, his bare stone feet
create cracking sounds with every footstep.
Roleplaying Tips: You rarely speak out amongst
the Grigori. You are given tasks by Ferox and
you complete them, because you are doing God’s
work. In the rare circumstance you do travel with
the Grigori you are kept completely innocent,
ignorant to the nature of the horrors around
you, something that Ferox not only allows but
encourages.
Sire: Ferox
Nature: Idealist
Demeanour: Celebrant
Generation: 9th
Embrace: 2015
Abhorrences: Tusks 1, Weathering 2, Petrified
132 Chapter Seven: A Gallery of Grotesques
Flesh 3
Babi
Background: Babi is a recently-assembled Gorgon
made in the likeness of his namesake, the baboon-
headed god of fertility and the underworld.
Information regarding the Setite used to create
Babi has been lost, for none live who can recall it.
The only scrap of information retained by Babi
himself was the cause of his Gestation: the crime
of raping the personal ghoul of the lector-priestess
who oversaw his temple, the Garden of Rainbows.
When he returned from Duat he believed that
he had not only visited Set but that he was one
of Set’s chosen, and that he had been returned to
Earth to purify it of the Aeons’ taint.
What ensued was the vicious and unforgiving
domination of the entire temple within the space
of thee nights. With his overpowering strength and
ferocity, coupled with the divine power granted
by Set, he molested the lector-priestess who had
condemned him and forced her to drink his vitae.
He then used her to bring all of the temples ghouls
into line. After that, the remaining Setites were
simply outnumbered and not powerful enough to
spurn Babi’s advances.
He has renamed his temple to The Sail of the
Baboon’s Mast, in reference to the god’s legendary
role. Within the temple proceeds nightly displays
of ritualistic fornication and blood sports, both
of which are expected from both Kindred and
kine alike. Each night sees another relic destroyed,
another animal violated, and another ghoul or
Kindred maimed or killed. This display has not
gone unnoticed by Setite leaders the world over.
Image: Owing to his associated god, Babi is
rendered in the form of a savage baboon with
an exaggerated phallus. His hieroglyphics depict
the glorious mass fornication and violence that
will take place following Set’s resurrection and
ascendancy, which he is attempting to bring about
by enacting on a smaller scale within his temple.
Roleplaying Tips: Eat. Drink. Kill. Fuck. It’s what
Set has decreed, as marked upon you for all to see.
Sire: Unknown
Nature: Monster
Demeanour: Bon Vivant
Generation: 12th
Embrace: Unknown
Gestation: 2016
Abhorrences: Petrified Flesh 1, Engravings 2.

Clanbook: Gargoyles 133

GARGOYLES
Slaves No Longer
A millennium in the making, the Gargoyles are finally ready to spread
their wings and become truly their own masters. Grotesqueries the world
over are finally setting their sights on heights loftier than servitude or
mere survival. They yearn for equal standing amongst the Kindred, a
recognition of Clan status, and even a new stage in their design - and are
ready and willing to fight for them.

Clanbook: Gargoyles includes:

• In-depth looks at the history and society of a race so long dismissed as
inferior.

• New and updated Visceratika powers and combination Disciplines, as

well as revamped Gargoyle rituals.

• Abhorrence, a new Attribute replacing Appearance, which reflects the

misshapen forms of the Rockheads.

• The next stage of Gargoyle ‘evolution’ - the freakish Misbegotten.