The Lasombra are a clan

Clan

A clan is a group of people united by actual or perceived kinship and descent. Even if lineage details are unknown, clan members may be organized around a founding member or apical ancestor. The kinship-based bonds may be symbolical, whereby the clan shares a "stipulated" common ancestor that is a...

 of vampire

Vampire

Vampires are mythological or folkloric beings who subsist by feeding on the life essence of living creatures, regardless of whether they are undead or a living person...

s, associated with the Sabbat, from White Wolf Game Studio

White Wolf, Inc.

White Wolf Publishing is an American gaming and book publisher. The company was founded in 1991 as a merger between Lion Rampant and White Wolf Magazine, and was initially led by Mark Rein·Hagen of the former and Steve and Stewart Wieck of the latter. Since White Wolf Publishing, Inc. merged with...

's Vampire: The Masquerade

Vampire: The Masquerade

Vampire: The Masquerade is a role-playing game. Created by Mark Rein·Hagen, it was the first of White Wolf Game Studio's World of Darkness role-playing games, based on the Storyteller System and centered around vampires in a modern gothic-punk world....

book

Book

A book is a set or collection of written, printed, illustrated, or blank sheets, made of hot lava, paper, parchment, or other materials, usually fastened together to hinge at one side. A single sheet within a book is called a leaf or leaflet, and each side of a leaf is called a page...

s and role-playing game

Role-playing game

A role-playing game is a game in which players assume the roles of characters in a fictional setting. Players take responsibility for acting out these roles within a narrative, either through literal acting, or through a process of structured decision-making or character development...

s.

The Lasombra are in many ways the Sabbat's answer to the Ventrue Clan. They are invariably talented and have a commanding air about them; even when they are not selected from aristocratic stock, they are skilled manipulators, tempters and plotters. They have the ability to create and control shadows (appropriate, given that their name comes from the Spanish

Spanish language

Spanish , also known as Castilian , is a Romance language in the Ibero-Romance group that evolved from several languages and dialects in central-northern Iberia around the 9th century and gradually spread with the expansion of the Kingdom of Castile into central and southern Iberia during the...

 for "the shadow"), but unlike other vampires, the Lasombra do not cast reflections in mirror

Mirror

A mirror is an object that reflects light or sound in a way that preserves much of its original quality prior to its contact with the mirror. Some mirrors also filter out some wavelengths, while preserving other wavelengths in the reflection...

s or other surfaces, and are even more susceptible to sunlight than any other Cainites

Cainites

The Cainites, or Cainians, were a Gnostic and Antinomian sect who were known to worship Cain as the first victim of the Demiurge Jehovah, the deity of the Tanakh , who was identified by many groups of gnostics as evil...

 (with the exception of the Followers of Set

Followers of Set

The Followers of Set or Setites are a clan of vampires from White Wolf Game Studio's books and role-playing games set in the Old World of Darkness .The mythic-historical origins of the Followers of Set are in ancient Egypt, as they claim to be descended from the dark god...

).

The Lasombra clan's unique discipline is Obtenebration, which allows them to manipulate shadows and even the unformed substance of the primordial void, known as the Abyss. The effects they can create range from causing flittering shadows which have actual substance, transforming their own bodies into an expression of darkness and emptiness, and even the ability to temporarily submerge a small area of the immediate environment into the Abyss itself.

Some Lasombra share with their clan founder's affinity for the ocean, often staring at the ocean or taking long sea voyages. Many Lasombra antitribu even live at sea, as pirates along waterways historically dominated by Spanish

Spain

Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...

, Italian

Italy

Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...

, or Portuguese

Portugal

Portugal , officially the Portuguese Republic is a country situated in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula. Portugal is the westernmost country of Europe, and is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the West and South and by Spain to the North and East. The Atlantic archipelagos of the...

 colonialism and trade. The European capital of clan Lasombra is Mdina

Mdina

Mdina, Città Vecchia, or Città Notabile, is the old capital of Malta. Mdina is a medieval walled town situated on a hill in the centre of the island. Punic remains uncovered beyond the city’s walls suggest the importance of the general region to Malta’s Phoenician settlers. Mdina is commonly...

, on the island of Malta

Malta

Malta , officially known as the Republic of Malta , is a Southern European country consisting of an archipelago situated in the centre of the Mediterranean, south of Sicily, east of Tunisia and north of Libya, with Gibraltar to the west and Alexandria to the east.Malta covers just over in...

.

Clan	Progenitor	Faction	Disciplines	Nicknames	Weakness
Lasombra	[Lasombra] (Possibly named: Laza Omri Bara)	Sabbat	Obtenebration, Dominate, Potence	Keepers, Shadows	Lasombra vampires cast no reflections. They cannot be seen in mirrors, bodies of water, reflective windows, polished metals, photographs and security cameras, etc. This curious anomaly even extends to the clothes they wear and objects they carry. Many Kindred believe that the Lasombra have been cursed in this manner for their vanity. Additionally, due to their penchant for darkness, Lasombra take an extra level of damage from sunlight.

Dark ages

During the Dark Ages Clan Lasombra was associated with the High Clans, the equivalent of Cainites nobility. After the Anarch Revolt, and the forming of the Camarilla, the Clan played a major role in the formation of the Sabbat as the difference between High and Low Clans faded and new divisions occurred.

Modern nights

The Lasombra are one of two major clans forming the majority of the Sabbat, along with the Tzimisce

Tzimisce

The Tzimisce are a clan of vampires in White Wolf Game Studio's books and role-playing games Vampire: The Masquerade and Vampire: The Dark Ages....

. These were the only two clans to achieve any major success during the Anarch Revolt, and are even rumoured to have destroyed their clan founders, called Antediluvians. The Lasombra tend to occupy posts of responsibility in the Sabbat, which is not surprising considering their interest for politics and power. They see themselves as rivals of the Ventrue, leading their own organisation. The sabbatic titles and rites of Catholic

Catholic

The word catholic comes from the Greek phrase , meaning "on the whole," "according to the whole" or "in general", and is a combination of the Greek words meaning "about" and meaning "whole"...

 inspiration come from the Lasombra and in particular from the prominent Monçada.

The clan's rare antitribu are affiliated with the Camarilla. They are usually powerful individuals, both in age and influence, and even the neonates of the bloodline are of high generations, taking advantage of the potent blood of their sires. One archon belongs to the Lasombra.

Lasombra antitribu

There are no Lasombra antitribu, at least, not according to the Lasombra themselves. The Sabbat Lasombra deny that "traitors" exist, while the so-called antitribu see themselves as Lasombra — nothing more, nothing less. Not all Lasombra who disagree with the clan's stance within the Sabbat join the Camarilla—a significant percentage of this relatively small number simply go independent and absent themselves from vampiric politics entirely. The remainder, however, seize for themselves positions of respect and authority — if not prominence — in the Camarilla.

Philosophically, Camarilla Lasombra differ little from their Sabbat compatriots on a basic level. The antitribu still fully expect to win the Jyhad; they just see the Camarilla as a more efficient and effective tool for doing so than the Sabbat is. Distaste for the rabble the Sabbat is encased in shows clearly in Camarilla Lasombra's attitudes, as they regard the Sabbat tactic of mass Embraces as wasteful and insulting. Indeed, even the supporters of antitribu inclusion in the Camarilla see these vampires as haughty, arrogant and impatient. Few suffer fools or incompetent underlings to live, and the penalty for failing an assignment set by a Lasombra antitribu is often death. The position occupied by these few self-exiled Kindred is an ambiguous one. On one hand, these vampires are Lasombra, the core of the dreaded Sabbat, and no Camarilla vampire is ever completely certain than the defection is a real one. On the other hand, essentially all Lasombra antitribu are creatures of undeniable power and presence, and are devoted to the destruction of the Sabbat in a way that few other Kindred are. The Camarilla cannot afford to waste these Cainites' talents, powers and knowledge of the enemy but cannot afford to trust them entirely, either

The Lasombra antitribu have existed as long as the Sabbat has, which is to say that more than one clan member agreed with Montano's choice to turn his back on his clanmates. The Sabbat Lasombra have always done their best to deny even the existence of any antitribu; such vampires by their very existence give the lie to claims about Sabbat and Lasombra hegemony. As a result, Lasombra antitribu are the first target of any Sabbat packs in a given city. The mere rumor of an antitribu's presence is enough to whip the local Sabbat Lasombra into a homicidal frenzy.

There are two distinct types of Lasombra antitribu. The majority (though still small in number) are older than the Camarilla itself; they are the Lasombra who joined with Montano in turning their backs on the nascent Sabbat. Some of them are still bitter about Lasombra's death; others simply disliked Gratiano and his choice of allies. In either case, these aged defectors are powerful, dignified and in most cases bitter. They have little use for the younger generations of vampires, and less for the Sabbat. Given a chance and a receptive audience, a Lasombra antitribu will talk endlessly about the old days, giving his listener a fascinating portrait of times, kings and customs now long gone but precious little about the Lasombra himself. (Note: Almost all Lasombra of this vintage are male; the custom of Embracing women didn't catch on among the Lasombra antitribu until quite recently).

The other sort of Lasombra antitribu are young, angry and of remarkably low generation for Cainites so new to the Blood. The newer Lasombra antitribu are the childer of the aged and vengeful ones, plucked from mortality in accordance with the ancient customs of Lasombra himself. Most often, these mortals are in line to be snatched up by the local Sabbat particularly Sabbat Lasombra or remind the elder Lasombra irresistibly of someone from centuries past.

Bloodline	Founder	Parent Clan	Faction	Disciplines	Nicknames	Weakness
Lasombra antitribu	Montano	Lasombra	Camarilla	Obtenebration, Dominate, Potence	Traitors	Lasombra antitribu do not have reflections in the normal sense; they don't show up in mirrors, windowpanes, pools of water or black-and-white photographs. Such a handicap makes Lasombra antitribu easy to identify for those who are looking for such. In addition, since Lasombra are so heavily attuned to shadow, they take an extra level of damage from exposure to sunlight. The final handicap facing Lasombra antitribu (beside the vestigial distrust of the rest of the Camarilla) is the intense hatred that Sabbat Lasombra bear for their straying brethren. A Lasombra antitribu is always the first target of a Sabbat pack, and supposedly entire Camarilla cities have been besieged just to get a particularly durable straggler.

Kiasyd

The Kiasyd are a fictional bloodline of vampires in White Wolf Game Studio's Vampire: The Masquerade

Vampire: The Masquerade

Vampire: The Masquerade is a role-playing game. Created by Mark Rein·Hagen, it was the first of White Wolf Game Studio's World of Darkness role-playing games, based on the Storyteller System and centered around vampires in a modern gothic-punk world....

books and role-playing games, sometimes also appearing in Changeling: The Dreaming

Changeling: The Dreaming

Changeling: The Dreaming was part of White Wolf Game Studio's original "World of Darkness" role playing game line. Player characters are changelings, fae souls reborn into human bodies, a practice begun by the fae to protect themselves as magic vanished from the world...

as a bridge between the two games.

The Kiasyd symbol is a black-backgrounded stylized moth

Moth

A moth is an insect closely related to the butterfly, both being of the order Lepidoptera. Moths form the majority of this order; there are thought to be 150,000 to 250,000 different species of moth , with thousands of species yet to be described...

. It is theorized that this symbol was chosen due to the shimmering effect of the tiny scales on a moth's wing being similar to the glow that Kiasyd seem to emit when under the moonlight.

The Kiasyd trace their lineage to a Lasombra vampire named Marconius who had himself infused with fae

Fairy

A fairy is a type of mythical being or legendary creature, a form of spirit, often described as metaphysical, supernatural or preternatural.Fairies resemble various beings of other mythologies, though even folklore that uses the term...

 blood. For this reason, Marconius, and those embraced by him and his followers, are often thought to be a combination of vampire and fae. Because of a long-standing love-hate relationship with the Lasombra, Kiasyd are most often associated with the Sabbat. This is not always the case, however, as often they are used as independent NPCs in order to help the players along by dropping hints.

One of the clan drawbacks is their odd appearances consisting of chalk-white skin which seems to glow blue in the moonlight

Moonlight

Moonlight is the light that reaches Earth from the Moon. This light does not originate from the Moon, but from sunlight. The Moon does not, however, reflect sunlight like a mirror, but it reflects light from those portions of its surface which the Sun's light strikes. See diffuse reflection.In...

, solid black eyes, and exceptional height with heights of over seven feet not being unusual. This strange visual impression may account for the clan nickname "Weirdlings." and generally marks them very quickly as vampires unless the player uses the obfuscate ability to hide this. The Obfuscate ability is particularly useful to this clan as by using it the player can mask the Kiasyd's strange appearance or make them temporarily invisible.

The bloodline's clan discipline is Mytherceria, which encompasses a heightened talent for acquiring arcane knowledge

Knowledge

Knowledge is a familiarity with someone or something unknown, which can include information, facts, descriptions, or skills acquired through experience or education. It can refer to the theoretical or practical understanding of a subject...

 as well as causing the unique ability to be able to detect other supernatural creatures such as fae and werewolves. The discipline also makes them experts at creating and solving riddles. Not too surprisingly, librarians

Library

In a traditional sense, a library is a large collection of books, and can refer to the place in which the collection is housed. Today, the term can refer to any collection, including digital sources, resources, and services...

, museum

Museum

A museum is an institution that cares for a collection of artifacts and other objects of scientific, artistic, cultural, or historical importance and makes them available for public viewing through exhibits that may be permanent or temporary. Most large museums are located in major cities...

 curator

Curator

A curator is a manager or overseer. Traditionally, a curator or keeper of a cultural heritage institution is a content specialist responsible for an institution's collections and involved with the interpretation of heritage material...

s, and students are among those most frequently embraced by the Kiasyd. However, the bloodline itself is quite small in number, and very few kindred are even aware that the Kiasyd exist.

Their other hallmark ability is Obtenebration, an ability carried over from their Lasombra forebearers. This ability allows them to warp, shape and control the darkness around them and, as some say, within themselves.

Besides their strange appearances, the Kiasyd have another unusual clan flaw: they, much like the fae, are vulnerable to Cold Iron. Cold Iron (unwrought and pure) causes all Frenzy difficulties to be increased by one and fear frenzy difficulties increase by two. Touching Cold Iron causes an immediate Rotschreck roll, and also causes 1 health level of damage per turn (preventable only by the ability Fortitude, as it is not aggravated). Actually being damaged by a cold iron weapon causes Kiasyd aggravated wounds.

The Kiasyd also appear as a bloodline in the card game Vampire: The Eternal Struggle

Vampire: The Eternal Struggle

Vampire: The Eternal Struggle, published as Jyhad in the first or "Limited" edition and often abbreviated as VTES, V:TES or V:tES, is a multiplayer collectible card game set in the World of Darkness. It is published by White Wolf, Inc....

. They mix well with the Lasombra and, to a lesser extent, with the Tremere and Malkavians. Given their capacities, they could be played on their own (doubling up on copies in the crypt), but are strongest when mixed with other clans.

Bloodline	Founder	Parent Clan	Faction	Disciplines	Nicknames	Weakness
Kiasyd	Marconius	Lasombra	Sabbat	Mytherceria, Obtenebration, Dominate	Weirdlings, Scarlets	Wounds caused by iron weapons inflict aggravated damage, being in the presence of iron (within a number of yards equal to the Kiasyd's Stamina) raises the frenzy's difficulties by one, and touching iron causes an immediate frenzy roll.

Xi Dundu

Laibon Legacy of Clan Lasombra.

Legacy	Parent Clan	Disciplines	Nicknames	Weakness
Xi Dundu	Lasombra	Dominate, Obtenebration, Potence	Shadows	Xi Dundu vampires cast no shadows. When the Xi Dundu rest, they must not be touched by their native soil or their strength is halved for 24 hours.

Lasombra of note

• Lucita, former Lasombra antitribu who later became an Archbishop of the Sabbat
• Cardinal Ambrosio Luis Monçada
• Montano, Lasombra antitribu and childe of Lasombra
• Gratiano, childe of Lasombra
• Giangaleazzo, Lasombra antitribu and Prince of Milan
• Marconius, the first of the Kiasyd Bloodline