A vampire clan in the popular role-playing game Vampire: The Masquerade , the Lasomba emerged out of the mythical past during the days of the Roman Empire in which they participated along with the Ventrue. Their founder Lasomba was of the third generation of Caine, the original vampire. They helped build the Empire and attribute its fall to the inefficiencies and defects of the Ventrue administrators. One of their number introduced Christianity into the Empire in hopes of reviving it, but it failed and became the subject of further division. However, to this day, the Lasomba have a special connection to the church.
At one point, Lasomba moved to Sicily and built a castle at Siracusa. The founder of the clan met his death when he was betrayed by one of his progeny, Archbishop Gratiano. Gratiano lived at the castle but seemed to bind under the leadership of the older vampires. Eventually he made common cause with the young Tzimisce vampire Lujos who would eventually rise up against his elder and take over the clan. He fomented discord among the vampires at the castle, their discussions finally leading to bloodshed. He moved in to finish the slaughter, including that of Lasomba. Recognizing the strength that Gratiano had shown, most of Lasomba's progeny joined his cause.
His death occasioned the formation of the Sabbat which was established by Gratiano and Archbishop Moncada of Madrid. Including primarily the Lasomba and Tzimisce clans, the Sabbat is the major group opposed to the Camarilla , the coalition of seven clans put together in the fifteenth-century by the Ventrue and others in reaction to the Inquisition. Since that time, the Lasomba have waged a war against the Camarilla and also against the Antitribu, the traitors who rejected the new order after the death of the founder. Their main success was in Spain where King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella were their instruments. The conquest of Granada and the land in the south was directed against the primary stronghold of the Antitribu.
Archbishop Moncado also suggested the move to the New World, a land free of the Camarilla. As Spanish and Portuguese colonies were established, Lasomba elders moved to their colonies and {{{GORDON-WORD MISSING}}} them into the English and French colonies. Mexico City and Philadelphia became central strongholds. Today, they control Spain and northern Italy (Milan) in Europe, Mexico , and New England and the mid-Atlantic states in the United States.
The Lasomba consider themselves the elite of the vampire world. They are very careful of those they select to join them, whom they put through an initial screening process. The members with the most potential are further tested in a set of rites conducted by their leadership elite, Les Amies Noir. They consider the Camarilla their enemy with whom, via the Sabbat, they are in a constant struggle, and do not feel bound by their rules which they consider degrading.
Dansky, Richard E., and Elizabeth Ditchburn. Clanbook Lasomba. Clarkston, GA: White Wolf Game Studio, 1996. 72 pp.
