Gangrel (GANG-grell)

Go tell this Prince of yours that this is my domain if you've got the guts.

Vampire the Requiem - Core Rulebook

The Gangrel are primal, hardy and savage. They embody the myths of vampires turning into animals or otherwise changing form (wolves, bats, mist).
Many Kindred believe that the Gangrel clan is an old one, but due to the Gangrel’s bestial nature, few records exist that can connect their origins to any specific time period. While the murky pre-history of the Kindred contains any number of legends about bestial vampires, not all of these tales coincide with the hallmarks of the Gangrel.
Geographically, the Gangrel seem to hail from what is tonight Eastern Europe, where they came in contact with the nascent Camarilla and were reluctantly drawn into that society. As Rome’s holdings moved westward, so, too did the Camarilla and thus the Gangrel. Historians also theorize strong Gangrel roots in what is modern Scandinavia. Since those early nights of society, the Gangrel have chosen the outlying borders of domains for their own territories. As such, Gangrel are often seen as pioneers, eking out an existence where domains will later form, or as scavengers, clinging desperately to territories and refusing to yield once domains have fallen.

While vampires give mortals a reason to be afraid of the dark, there exist things that give even vampires reason to fear — creatures like the Gangrel, the predators among the predators, the most savage of beasts. Perhaps the only clan whose mere mention almost always elicits a chilled shudder or a reverent nod, the Gangrel are, in many ways, the “noble savages” of the vampiric race. Upon their Embrace (and sometimes before), the Gangrel seek to sever their ties with everything pertaining to their mortal lives. Many prefer the counsel of animals and other beasts, and some eschew contact with the mortal world entirely. While many retain and even value their Humanity, they do so within the bounds and context of their newfound existence, and not as an attempt to hold onto what’s been lost, for no other option is practical to a clan whose very soul is so intimately intertwined with its Beast. While others delude themselves about what the Embrace “truly means,” the Gangrel know what they’ve become, so they strive to make peace with it. On the whole, they spend more time in communion with their bestial side than other vampires do, and though such activity more than accounts for their nickname and reputation, few would disagree that the Gangrel truly benefit from their introspection.
Their special bond with the Beast seems to give many Gangrel a unique insight into the Kindred condition, and some of the wisest vampires to be found in all the world hail from this clan. Whereas other Kindred try to become scholars or philosophers, collecting endless data and positing on the theoretical, the Gangrel are its yogis and medicine men, its bodhisattvas and whirling dervishes. The unequivocal and irreplaceable benefit of first-hand experience flows through them, supplanting the theoretical with the practical, and making the Gangrel widely respected among those who recognize the primeval nature of the Kindred soul. This insight makes the clan invaluable, but also makes it dangerous, and some would just as soon silence the Gangrel as hear their frank wisdom.

Culture

Culture and cultural heritage

Background: Potential Gangrel can come from nearly any former life, but few Savages would choose a mortal who did not possess a strong survival instinct. Beyond this, most are quite particular about those they sire. Gangrel loathe personal weakness and those who are soft of body or mind (especially given their weakness), particularly those with a paper-thin or disconnected sense of being. Clan members most admire those whose greatest strengths are the strengths of the self — self-awareness, self-confidence and self-reliance. While it is not unheard of for a Gangrel to Embrace someone who lacks these qualities (usually as a cruel test to see whether the Embrace will sufficiently toughen the person up), most Gangrel hold to their standards, as not doing so is often more effort than it’s worth.

Common Dress code

Appearance: The archetypal Savage is rarely concerned with his appearance, though most recognize the need to both blend in and put potential prey at ease. As a rule, Gangrel prefer function over form, and are rarely caught clad in anything that restricts movement to any great degree. Due to their clan weakness, they must always be wary of just how bestial they appear to others, and some especially old (or angry) Gangrel typically learn some amount of Obfuscate to avoid potentially disastrous situations.

Art & Architecture

Havens: One of the clan’s greatest strengths is its deft maneuverability, a good portion of which stems from its Discipline of Protean, which allows the Gangrel to take rest in any natural soil. Sleeping in the ground does, of course, have its drawbacks, and even the most feral of Savages comes to appreciate having an actual place to hang his hat after a while. A number of the more urbane (or at least urban) Gangrel therefore elect to take traditional havens, though their restless spirits and mistrust of other Kindred tends to keep them moving.

Common Customs, traditions and rituals

Nomads

Always the outsiders of the Kindred, many Gangrel lead their Requiems apart from the rest of vampiric society, even from their own covenant. It should come as no surprise to find that so many nomadic or roaming vampires are Gangrel. In fact, when word comes of a stranger or outsider barging into an established territory, the presumption among most Kindred is that a Gangrel has come to “visit.” Even those Gangrel who base themselves in a city and a social order tend to leave that base periodically — to establish back-up Havens, to attend Gathers of other Savages, or simply to escape the infighting and endless political maneuvering of their fellow Kindred.
Why are the Gangrel so often drawn to a roaming existence? Survival. More exactly, the need to hone and strengthen their survival skills, their survival instincts; to come through fire unscathed and be strengthened by the experience. Covenants, herds, feeding grounds, support structures, Allies — these things are weaknesses or can become such. If you can sever yourself from them and take to the road and the wilderness, if you can render your existence down to the core truths of Blood and Beast and survival, only then can you call yourself Gangrel.
That’s the hardcore theory, anyway. For example, some Gangrel relish the feral confrontation inherent to the Predator’s Taint. This is especially true for nomadic members of the clan who see the struggle for dominance as a fundamental test of their personal superiority. As a result, some Gangrel nomads can eschew use of the rudimentary Protean power Aspect of the Predator. These Savages view its use as cowardly, actively suppressing its influence when they encounter other undead abroad. In practical terms, support structures and social connections can be strengths and weaknesses. Depending on them is dangerous, but only a fool refuses to take advantage of a useful situation. While access to easy prey and alliances with a coterie can lead to complacency, they also protect a Gangrel from starvation, madness and the mindless horror of the Beast. Survival is about not needing help and external support, rather than rejecting such things entirely. It’s a balancing act that takes work to perfect — and for many Gangrel, that work includes time spent away from established domains and braving the dangers of the World of Darkness.

Full Immersion

Not everything about the Gangrel can be wrapped up in an easy, straightforward answer, of course. The reason why so many choose to leave their home domains is no exception. Underneath the practical benefit of roaming — the opportunity to strengthen yourself and hone your survival instinct — is an even darker, more personal reason for Gangrel to leave the safety of their havens. They go into the wilderness to strip themselves clean of their true weakness, the flaw that must be overcome and defeated to protect a vampire’s undead existence — the lingering attachment to their mortal habits.
The Gangrel know that becoming one of the Damned is more than just drinking blood and shunning the light of day. It’s a fundamental change in nature, in morality, in essence. It’s becoming a new creature, born from a mortal husk that must then be discarded. Your emotions, your past, your soul are all stripped from you, replaced by the Beast. If you do not accept the Beast and sever ties to Humanity, you will not survive its hunger.
Leaving your mortal family and friends and life is only part of this. To truly know themselves as Kindred, many Gangrel go on pilgrimages away from the cities of men and spend time exploring their inhuman nature. This is often referred to as immersion — submerging of the self in the truth of the vampiric condition, like a baptism in blood. Of course, discarding all aspects of Humanity is a guarantee of madness and horror, as the Beast rips apart morality and sentience and turns a vampire into a feral animal. To some Gangrel, this is acceptable — a condition not to be avoided but accepted, the ultimate truth of vampirism unmasked by weakness or sentimentality. Most Gangrel, obviously, prefer to retain at least some of their human personality and sanity, and stop well short of letting the Beast take full control.
Just what form immersion takes depends on a Gangrel’s methods and mindset, as well as what degree of power she wishes the Beast to exert on her unlife. A largely “civilized” Savage who wishes to keep the Beast under tight control might simply run with the nighttime predators of the urban wilderness for a time, drinking the blood of animals or toying with her prey before consummating the act of feeding. A more dangerous, less refined Gangrel might push himself to his limits, withdrawing into literal wilderlands, gaining firsthand experience of how he has changed from what he once was. Exercising Disciplines, deliberately suffering injuries that would kill a mortal, entering Torpor for short periods, stalking prey for nights on end — these kinds of “Kindred extreme sports” give a Gangrel perspective on how far he has transcended (or degenerated from) the mortal condition, as well as honing his survival skills. At the extreme end of immersion, some Gangrel might deliberately bring on frenzy, and rampage unchecked through an isolated town or snowed-in village — premeditated slaughter to forever quash any illusions of human impulse in their dead souls.
No matter what form immersion takes or how far a Kindred takes the experience, it is something best practiced away from one’s established havens and hunting grounds, from Allies and coteries. These things act as safety nets and comfort zones, hiding places to retreat from danger. The point of immersion is to confront the dangers of the Kindred condition, not to simply dip a toe in bloodied waters. On a practical level, removing yourself from your established home base also protects you from dealing with unwanted consequences of your immersion. If a Gangrel slaughters a group of travelers or campers in the wilderness, no one might ever find the bodies. Do the same thing in your own urban stomping grounds and you’re looking at massive police investigations and an angry backlash from other Kindred. As a result, Gangrel do their horrific self-examination and animalistic rampages on the road, away from civilization and prying eyes.

Gangrel in Road Coteries

Most traveling coteries or nomad groups include at least one Gangrel. Partially, this is because the Gangrel are the clan most likely to wander and travel instead of hunkering down in one city. Sheer numbers make it probable that any group of three or more nomads includes a Gangrel.
Numbers aside, though, many road coteries include a Gangrel member because the other members have sought her out. Whether or not other clans like the Gangrel, they recognize that the Savages have an aptitude for survival and the nomadic existence that they cannot match. Roaming is dangerous, whether it’s just a quick trip between domains or an unlife spent on the road, and vampires are paranoid creatures who seek to minimize dangers to their unending Requiem. Just as mortal explorers look to local guides or experienced outdoorsmen to accompany their journeys, so too will a wise coterie look to induct a Gangrel ally among their number. Those road coteries without Gangrel members are usually those whose membership is dictated by circumstance, such as a group of Invictus members tasked with carrying a message in strict secrecy to another city.
Although Gangrel are common in traveling coteries, they rarely take a leadership role in those groups — at least, not an overt leadership role. Creating plans, managing groups, making decisions for others: These are things for more socially adept and socially manipulative Kindred. Gangrel roamers are usually happy to leave such concerns to their Allies. When the issue facing the coterie is surviving the night, not reaching their destination, when what matters is how you travel and not just where you’re going, that’s when a sensible coterie looks to its Gangrel member to lead them. Then, when the crisis is averted or endured, the Savage gives the reins of leadership back to her erstwhile superior and the coterie returns to normal — and remembers know who to rely on when the chips are down.
One thing that’s rare to the point of non-existence is the all-Gangrel road coterie. Even coteries with more than one Gangrel member are uncommon. The animalistic side of the Gangrel is more than just metaphor, it’s the Beast that always lies close to the surface. Like pack animals and predators, Gangrel have a dominance instinct, a need to be the alpha male (or female not necessarily the leader of a coterie, but a subconscious (or in some cases conscious) desire to prove themselves the strongest and toughest of the group.
In the comfort zone of mortal or vampiric society, that instinct is easily overridden because the Beast is kept further under control. In a traveling coterie with mixed members, the Beast comes closer to the surface but isn’t challenged for supremacy, because the other members (hopefully) keep their feral side under wraps. When multiple Gangrel spend time together, however, outside the bounds of civilization and control, the Beast soon becomes the face they wear all night long. The urge for dominance can grow too strong to ignore. At best, this might lead to rivalries and bickering. More likely, it erupts in bloody and grisly battles that leave all but one of the Gangrel ripped to shreds and drained of blood.
Given their skills and their gift for survival, Gangrel have two primary roles in a road coterie.
Tracker
Scouting out a new city, learning the best feeding grounds, spying on the local Kindred… those are tasks for scouts, better suited to the Mekhet or Daeva. The Gangrel gift is for tracking, for hunting — for picking up their quarry’s trail and hounding her to the ends of the earth. When the coterie must track an unknown vampire in an unknown city, follow a traitor’s trail through the wilderness or find a safe path through Lupine hunting grounds, the Gangrel is the Kindred calling the shots. The Gangrel gift for tracking is part skill, part Discipline, part experience, but mostly it is instinct — the hunting instinct of the Beast, brought close to the surface and given free rein.
Guardian
Traveling is dangerous, and a wise coterie must not just minimize the risks but be able to deal with the inevitable crises that will arise when roaming. Whether it’s finding shelter in the last desperate minutes before sunrise or fighting back a pack of rogue Ghouls bent on draining the coterie dry, these are questions of survival, and surviving is what the Gangrel do best. A Savage charged with protecting his coterie from danger brings not just skill and his Disciplines to the task, though these are important tools. Most important, once again, is that instinct for survival, that willingness to do whatever it takes to make it to the next sunset.
When guarding the coterie from the hazards of the wild, Gangrel cover all the bases and make the tough decisions, even if it means losing one member to save the others. When physical conflict is the source of danger, Gangrel are horrifically savage fighters, bringing the Beast to the fore and riding the wave of frenzy until their enemies (and possibly some of their allies) are destroyed.

Major organizations

The Gangrel are perhaps the least organized of the clans. They have no hierarchy per se and are largely disinterested in either clan structure or intra-clan activity for its own sake. The only nod they give to such matters comes in the form of an event called a Gather. These meetings serve a twofold purpose. First, as an opportunity for Gangrel to unite and update one another on the events of the intervening time. Second, as a forum for official intra-clan dispute resolution. Before this practice began, ferocious Savages visited their rage upon one another at will and without process, and the clan as a whole suffered. Thus began the practice of settling disputes at gatherings of the clan before a Priscus or Primogen, where any conflict (or combat, if necessary) could be moderated and monitored by the peers of both Savages. As a result of this practice, the clan has grown more cooperative over time, leading to markedly fewer intra-clan kills. The majority of such disputes now stop short of Final Death.

Covenant

Many Gangrel are largely unconcerned with matters of Kindred politics, but that’s not to say they don’t have their own views. Perhaps surprisingly, a significant percentage of the clan is active in The Circle of the Crone, which provides spiritually minded Gangrel with a ready-made forum for their rituals and beliefs, and a great many of the Circle’s leaders hail from the clan’s ranks. Some of the more proactive Gangrel find the Carthian mindset appealing, and a number of highly motivated Savages have taken up the cause in recent years. A few Gangrel fall in with The Lancea Sanctum and Invictus, due to the nature of each covenant’s beliefs. Those who are active in the latter group usually work for important elders or are elders themselves, while the few Gangrel of The Lancea Sanctum are among the most frightening and relentless Kindred anyone would ever (not) want to meet. Likewise, The Ordo Dracul sees few Gangrel, though some who join do so not to learn the blood magic of the covenant but to pursue mysteries of their origin without the hauteur of The Lancea Sanctum. A great many Gangrel also find their place among the independent and unaligned Kindred, whose lack of structure and love of freedom are attractive to Savages who prefer that elders of other clans keep their politics to themselves.

Coteries

Like the Nosferatu, the Gangrel frequently form single-clan coteries, but not because Kindred society shies away them. Rather, they remove themselves from Kindred society to avoid the politics, the games and the constant pressure to join in the Danse Macabre. Of all the clans, the Gangrel (and the bloodlines descending from them) have the greatest capacity to eschew Kindred society altogether. No other clan is as well suited to the rigors of unlife posed by the confines of the city. The Savages are enduring, if somewhat primitive, and ferocious in combat, if brutal in their other dealings.
The Gangrel are among the least organized of the Kindred, and many are happy to pass the Requiem alone, never becoming part of a coterie at all. When they do join coteries, most Savages find that they’re more comfortable in packs of other Gangrel — groups determined by the Blood rather than the thinner, more fragile, bonds of the covenants’ philosophies.
Of all the single-clan coteries, the Gangrel have the greatest potential to be extraordinarily lethal in combat. They’re limited in other areas, however, and they of all clans stand to gain the most from diversifying their Skills and Merits.
A Gangrel coterie is likely to be quite devastating in combat against most opponents without even particularly trying, so the group would do well to shore up other weaknesses. At least one member might focus on Mental Attributes in order to minimize the clan disadvantage, and another might emphasize charm (and possibly develop Majesty) to handle the group’s social interactions. If all members of the coterie possess Haven of Soil, it might be in the group’s best interest for forgo the Haven Merit in favor of other, more useful, Merits.
The following coteries are representative of those the Savages join.

The Wild Ones

The bestial nature of the Gangrel sometimes renders them unsuitable for the usual urban environments that other Kindred favor. Manifest urges of feral instinct, these vampires know better than to stray into certain areas except during the very dead of night. Beyond the glare of city lights, however, unlife can be solitary, poor, nasty, brutal and short. Passing the Requiem in such an environment might be too harsh for a single Gangrel to manage on her own, but a pack of them is another question. Coteries of Gangrel have been known to lay claim to small towns and even some rural areas where they feed equally on the blood of animals and mortals. The pack controls its territory with the power normally associated with a Prince or Regent, and trespassing Kindred rarely ever make it back to safer territory. Most such packs of Gangrel count themselves among the unbound. If they do claim affiliation with one of the covenants, the affiliation is either very loose or with The Circle of the Crone.

The Posse

Tough, savage fighters, a pack of Gangrel can be a potent asset to any Sheriff, particularly one with a large domain to police or many remote or uncivilized areas such as large parks, undeveloped subdivisions or forsaken project housing. As long as they remain loyal and useful, such packs are typically granted an unprecedented degree of freedom by the Sheriff and, by extension, the Prince. Wise Kindred afford them more respect than they would typically show a lone Gangrel, out of fear as much as anything else. While the role of posse can be a comfortable one for a pack of Gangrel, it puts the coterie in danger on a regular basis and leads to the perennial accusations of being lapdogs for the power infrastructure.

Savants

Gangrel are known for more than just their ferocity in combat. Some coteries emphasize the clan’s primitive wisdom or spiritual bent over its combative nature. Such a coterie might be inclined to remove itself from Kindred politics entirely, passing the Requiem quietly at the edges of Kindred society. The coterie’s members might be pursuing Golconda. Alternatively, they might be studying the secrets of blood magic. Whatever their bent, they are not empty charlatans. Gangrel learn by doing, and a savant coterie will be well grounded in the Common Sense of those who “walk the walk.” Whether they obtained their wisdom from seeking enlightened states, plumbing the secrets of pagan redemptions or mastering themselves through extreme ascetic practices, the knowledge they possess has been hard won, and they might be hesitant to share it too freely with others.

Pretenders

Not all those Embraced into the Gangrel clan are inclined to give up their gentility and manners for an existence more fit for a barbarian. Such Kindred aren’t unheard of, and they occasionally gather in coteries of their own and offer themselves as proof that the Savage stereotype is not all there is to being Gangrel. They sometimes call themselves “reclaimed” or “reconstructionist” Gangrel. Some pretenders go to extreme lengths to distance themselves from their more bestial kin. Like the Daeva and Ventrue, they might attend large social gatherings of the Kindred, adopt formal modes of dress, study the social Disciplines or enter the Danse Macabre with a vengeance. More than one such coterie has been mistaken for Ventrue by those who did not know the group’s lineage — until a member entered frenzy and revealed the claws that are unique to those of the Gangrel line.

Nickname: Savages

Diverged ethnicities

• Anavashra
• Annunaku
• Anubi
• Barjot
• Bohagande
• Bruja
• Carnon
• Childer of the Morrigan
• Dead Wolves
• Les Gens Libres
• Mabry
• Matasuntha
• Moroi
• Mystikoi
• Oberlochs
• Shepherds
• Sta-Au
• Taifa
• The Hounds of Actaeon
• The Mara
• Therion
• Vedma

Character Creation: Gangrel are very honest with themselves about what is and is not their forte, and they seek to improve those things to which they are especially or innately suited. Many Gangrel come off seeming hyper-specialized, their players having devoted significant dots to those Attributes and Skills in which they are focused. This rule is a very general one, however, and numerous exceptions apply. Due to temperament, the aptly named Savages are rarely very strong in the Social department (though entire bloodlines of sociable Gangrel probably exist somewhere), preferring instead to hone body and reinforce the mind. An even mix of Physical and Mental Skills is always good, erring toward the Physical side.
Favored Attributes: Composure or Stamina
Clan Disciplines: Animalism, Protean, Resilience
Weakness: As befits their sobriquet, the Gangrel are more closely tied to their Beasts than are other Kindred. The more they feel the call of the Beast, the more bestial they become, and the more their minds become those of less principled animals. With regard to dice pools based on Intelligence and Wits Attributes, the 10-again rule does not apply. Additionally, any 1’s that come up on a roll subtract from successes. (The latter part of the weakness does not affect dramatic-failure rules.) This weakness does not apply to dice pools involving Perception or Reaction to Surprise (see p. 151 of the World of Darkness Rulebook), or to the Resolve Attribute.
Example: The Gangrel Unholy is chasing Loki, who manages to elude her, but not before he drops a mystic artifact he stole from one of her other old enemies in The Ordo Dracul. The Unholy has a chance to figure out what the artifact is, her player rolling a dice pool of Intelligence + Occult (seven dice). The dice come up 10, 8, 7, 7, 6, 3 and 1. Normally, the player would roll the 10 again, but not in this case, as this dice pool involves the Unholy’s Intelligence Attribute. Furthermore, the 1 rolled cancels out one of the player’s two successes, leaving only one. The Unholy knows that this is an item of mystic significance, but she has no inkling as to what it does or what might activate it.
Concepts: Archeologist, bodyguard, bumpkin, circuit rider, guru, mercenary, nomad, shaman, survivalist, urban predator, zookeeper

Stereotypes

Daeva: Primp and preen all you want, but you're more like us than you imagine.
Mekhet: Fine. Stay hidden.
Nosferatu: Proof that not all Kindred are created equal; some are way more fucking scary than others.
Ventrue: I'll piss blood on their boots and wear their skins as a trophy.

***

Lupines: Next time you think you're the shit, I'll show you one of these and we'll settle the matter for good.
Mages: Underr that mask of power lies a human face, warm and flush with blood.
Mortals: they move in flocks, so never forget what they are to us wolves.