Amari
Legends
The name “Amari” comes from the Inuit word amarok, a dire wolf of legend said to stalk and kill those foolish enough to hunt alone at night. Another Inuit story speaks of a man who killed the pups of the amarok, only to have his soul stolen in turn by the great beast. But the Kindred of the modern age tell a different story, one wherein the Amari were hunted to extinction, with a precious few having survived. And those who did survive have since declared vengeance in turn. For nearly a century, the story of the Amari has passed from sire to childe as a warning that while all kingdoms fall, nothing is truly forgotten or forgiven.
When Kindred speak of the Amari, they most often reference the ancient cities of ice and snow, clustered in the Arctic. For one half of the year, under the polar night, the Amari would rule without question. The dark and vast northern landscape was theirs, touching two continents and a frozen ocean in between. During the second half of the year, under the midnight sun, the Amari would burrow into the ice and permafrost to hibernate, protected only by the elements and their loyal ghouls.
As no sane Kindred would choose to venture north during the summer months, the Amari spent most of their brief existence unmolested. Then came the Northern Wars. Then came the melting of the polar ice caps and the grand effects of climate change. And then, within 100 years, the Amari clung to the precipice of extinction.
When there is a disruption to an oil pipeline by impossible means or when a Ventrue tied to deforestation efforts in Brazil disappears without cause or clue, Kindred whisper about the Amari. When eco-terrorists suddenly find themselves armed by a mysterious benefactor or when bodies start piling up in the Strait of Hormuz and other oil shipping ports around the world, the Amari get a mention. For those who once only wanted peace and solitude now seek retribution for their decimated numbers. They intend to punish the Kindred populace, and the world at large, for their past transgressions.
History
Some Gangrel scholars, those who claim Ekhidna as their progenitor, believe that Amari was a brother to the Mother of Monsters. They speak of the two quarreling and eventually warring with each other. The defeated brother was cast out, and his descendants joined the human migrations to the Americas from Asia along the Bering Strait some 20,000 years ago.
Another tale speaks of an early tribe of humans who, thwarted by harsh winters and little game, began to starve. After they fell to cannibalism, a local shaman cursed them to wander the Earth forever alone and hungry. A similar tale mirrors the first, but with a pack of wolves instead of a tribe of mortals.
The bulk of Kindred knowledge on the Amari comes from a single source, which includes a more modern interpretation of their origins. Laszlo Schächt was a Gangrel Ordo Dracul and Kindred historian accredited with being the first to discover the Amari clan. Schächt was a German explorer who made several expeditions into the Polar Regions of Russia. According to his notes, Schächt discovered the lost clan along the Taymyr Peninsula, the northernmost part of the mainland of Eurasia.
Just as some believe the Ventrue descend from the Julii, Schächt contended that the Amari descended from the Gangrel. He presented this theory to the court of Prague in the late 18th century and displayed an actual Amari to solidify his case, a vampire who called themself Saga.
What made Saga unique was their unprecedented ability to preserve Vitae. It was not through some Discipline or Ritual Sorcery but by pure instinct. Not only could Saga function for weeks on precious little blood, but they could also store Vitae for months. This evolution allowed Saga and their childer to survive in desolate areas because of their lesser dependence on humankind as a food source.
Schächt toured Europe, parading Saga in front of secret cabals of Dragon scholars in Warsaw, Berlin, Vienna, and Paris. But despite countless examinations and tests, none could unlock Saga’s secrets or explain how they were able to do what they did. They encouraged Saga to Embrace, and were surprised when their unique abilities passed on to their childer. This discovery of a new clan prompted further studies by the Ordo Dracul and outright kidnappings by other Covenants.
According to Schächt’s own journal, the Dragon began to realize how his actions exploited the Amari, and how his feelings eventually evolved into something resembling love. To atone for his actions, Schächt freed the Amari from their servitude. Together, they escaped Europe. Schächt and the Amari sailed west toward Greenland and the Canadian Arctic Archipelago. They followed the expeditions of man, settling where they did and venturing beyond. The Amari propagated, mingling with the Inuit and Yupik tribes of Alaska, Canada, Greenland, and Siberia, learning their ways and their customs.
During the 19th century, these Winter Kings built a vast and secret empire. Covering everything within and slightly beyond the Arctic Circle, land other Kindred considered useless. However, a century later, as the European powers backed by their Kindred puppeteers began to war with each other and extend their influence, they soon reencountered the Amari. At the height of their power, during the first quarter of the 20th century, the Amari controlled major outposts within the Arctic Circle. In addition, they held the cities of Tromsø, Bodø, Yellowknife Bay, Longyear City, Point Barrow, Nuuk, Norilsk, Murmansk, and Arkhangelsk.
It is this last claim, that of Arkhangelsk, that ultimately proved a bridge too far and garnered the attention of the greater Kindred populace. Concerned Kindred launched a series of privately funded explorations into the north under the premise of discovering the North Pole and the great Northwest Passage, but were in fact, to locate the Amari. Financed in large part by individual interest groups, these Kindred used the great explorers of their age, including Sir James Clark Ross, Fridtjof Nansen, Robert Peary, and Sir John Franklin, as pawns and hunting hounds.
In 1921, with a better sense of the terrain, two European and one Russian prince launched the Northern War. The coalition targeted Amari-controlled cities via proxies and industrial agents. Later, they employed mortal ghouls to assassinate the Amari during the light of day. And finally, in 1930, Kindred struck an unrecoverable blow through sheer numbers and force of will. The coalition drove the Amari from the European, Asian, and North American continents. They hunted the Amari for another two decades, though most dug deep into the Arctic ice for safety. While they never found Saga, they did discover Schächt in Murmansk. Transported back to the court of Prague in chains, they publicly executed him shortly after.
In the wake of the Northern War, the surviving Amari received a short reprieve, but it did not last long. A second culling came in the form of industrialization. For the next 60 years, as the world warmed, the landscape of the world changed. Those Amari who survived the Northern Wars by burrowing deep into the ice for safety and respite, found themselves suddenly exposed. Most perished during the process, but some believe a scant few have survived. Now the Winter Kings want more than mere survival. They demand vengeance, not only on those Kindred who slew their ancestors, but on those Kindred who have manipulated world events and created the global catastrophe that is climate change.
Nickname: Winter Kings
Clan Bane: The Pale Curse
The Amari have learned to extend their nocturnal activities, operating under the polar night for weeks on end. But this adaptation has come at a cost. As such, they suffer a penalty of 10 – Humanity to resist frenzy from fire and sunlight, instead of the normal modifier.
Favored Attributes: Manipulation or Stamina
Disciplines: Obfuscate, Protean, Resilience
New Mechanics
All Amari have the following abilities at no cost.
Conservation
Amari only lose one Vitae each week as opposed to one each day.
Rationing
Amari may crystallize their Vitae into a physical form, usually resembling a large crimson stone, though never more than Size 1. This costs one Willpower point to do, though they may do so multiple times. The stored Vitae comes from the Amari’s own body, and any vampire, Strix, or ghoul who touches it can retrieve it. The Vitae still causes Vinculum and blood addiction in anyone drinking it. After one month, the crystal crumbles into dust.
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