A vampire clan in the popular role-playing game Vampire: The Masquerade , Tzimisce represent the traditional vampire of Slavic, Hungarian, and Romanian lore. According to the clan myth, it originated from an Antideluvian vampire who was powerful, as was the original vampire Caine, but also possessed of psychic powers, clairvoyance and the ability to control animals, which made him even more powerful than the one who made him. He is credited with discovering the blood bond, the particular power that one vampire has over another with whom he has shared blood. He also differed from his fellow vampires in that he chose to leave Mesopotamia, where most lived and reside in the north, the land along the Danube River. His progeny acted as sorcerers among the humans who both worshiped and feared them.
The other vampires came to envy the power and territory controlled by the Tzimisce.They lost out when the Romans occupied the land and some vampires of the Ventrue, Malkavian, and Lasomba clans came with them. The Tzimisce actively stirred the northern tribes to oppose Rome . They also finally won out against their main supernatural fore, a cannibal sorcerer, the Baba Yaga, whom they defeated by inciting a war between her and her minions and the werewolves. The werewolves won, and the Tzimisce took advantage of their weakened condition immediately after the battle to take full control of the night. They established themselves in their castles and ruled the land.
According to the myth of the game, the Tzimisce grew large, and eventually their land was invaded by the Tremere , who also knew magic. After a period of relative peace, the lands were overrun by different people and many of the clan died. There situation was only reversed when one of the younger vampires, Lujos by name, found a magical object that was termed Kupala (sacred fire-flower) with the power to bind and loose demons. Lujos called his brothers together and they learned of their new powers, including the ability to withstand fire. They rose against the older vampires of the clan who had stood by silently through the invasions, and took control of the clan. They drank of their elders. They then stormed the lair of their progenitor, the third generation vampire, and after vanquishing those who protected him, Lujos drained him.
The death of the Tzimisce progenitor was one of the reasons for the formation of the Camarilla , the union of the clans from the south, in the fifteenth century. The Tzimisce, unwilling to join such a union, combined with the Lasomba and a few other lesser groups against it. They swore an oath against it. Their rite of demonstrating their courage and power by walking through the fire earned them the name "Sabbat" from humans who thought them powerful witches. However, their union could not prosper amid the forces combined against them, including the new weapons of the humans, such as the gun. As the Camarilla created the Masquerade, they also spread the image of the gothic that seemed to resemble the Tzimisce.
The centuries of the growth of the Camarilla were years of retreat for the Tzimisce. They finally abandoned the Balkans in the mid-nineteenth century. The last remnants who stayed were largely wiped out during World War I. Today the Tzimisce form one element of the Sabbat which have their strength in the cities of the northeastern United States and eastern Canada.
The Tzimisce are the vampires most divorced from their human roots. In seeking people to embrace (transform into a vampire), they tend to pick those humans who have already deviated from the mainstream of their kind (although not in such a way as destroy their wit, honor, or charm). They prize intelligence and have among them some of the greatest of vampire scholars, investigating the nature of vampire life. Clan organization is based on the strong respect for heritage. Those who demonstrate their magical accomplishments and their loyalty to the clan are the most respected. They are called Zhupans. The head of the clan is referred to as the Voivode. A symbol of his office is a cape crafted from the skin of three Tremere vampires killed in personal combat.
Hatch, Robert. Clanbook: Tzimisce. Clarkston, GA: White Wolf Game Studio, 1996. 72 pp.
