by Charles Phipps (Vampire: The Requiem | Resources)
"But I don't want to go among mad people," Alice remarked.
"Oh, you can't help that," said the Cat "We're all mad here. I'm mad. You're mad."
"How do you know I'm mad?" said Alice.
"You must be," said the Cat, "or you wouldn't have come here."
-Alice in Wonderland
The Malkavians were a somewhat controversial addition to the Old World of Darkness. At their worst, they were the guys who walked up to the Prince of the City and smacked him with a fish. At their best, they were the misunderstood prophets of the Kindred. Somewhere in between, we had one of the more interesting clans in the setting. With the transfer into the new World of Darkness, the Malkovians have taken their place as the insane step-children of the Kindred. Some of the more interesting elements of the old clan have been lacking from their new incarnation. Other parts of the new Bloodline are in dire need of expansion. This article will attempt to add more to the Malkovians’ place in the nWoD.
While the bloodline bears the name of Anton Malkov, the actual founder of the lineage is the Doctor who treated him. James Griffin Hartleigh is one of the few elders of the Malkovian bloodline and a person that the Ventrue line would very much like to see staked for the sun. To that end, James Hartleigh has learned a great deal about obfuscating his presence from his parent clan. Dwelling under an assumed name and with all records of his face destroyed, Doctor Hartleigh is someone that the Ventrue have very little likelihood of finding. In any case, they are much more worried about his growing legacy across the Kindred world.
Background: James Griffin Hartleigh was born during the early part of the 19th century. A Doctor interested in the treatment of the insane, he was ahead of his time even if his theories were extreme even as a mortal. Part of this might have been his own fears about losing his mind due to a shameful history of mental illness in his family.
Ultimately, Doctor Hartleigh’s asylum of Broadmoor was a focus for those patients whom not only were deluded but a threat to others. It was the perfect haven for fleeing Russian Kindred Anton Malkov who had decided to rest from the troubles of the Dance Macabre. Sensing that James Hartleigh was a man who was already on the brink of what would become a nervous breakdown, the Kindred revealed the secrets of the world . Strangely, the mortal and undead became friends. While James had trouble believing he was dealing with a mystical creature, Anton was impressed with the mortal's wealth of knowledge on the human psyche. The vampire was something of an amateur himself in the field. One can't live for centuries altering minds without learning something about how they worked. Their conversations were deeply speculative and it did not take Anton very long to decide to embrace the physician.
Nevertheless, something went terribly wrong in the embrace. It is possible that Doctor Hartleigh's family had something much more wrong with it than a case of mere mental illness. Doctor Hartleigh awoke with strength that was many times that of a normal Kindred and his opening frenzy drove him utterly mad. His wife and her lover were but one of the many victims that the Doctor claimed that night.
The local Ventrue were quick to investigate this situation even as they were annoyed to discover that Hartleigh had developed a case of extreme obsession with scientific study of the Kindred form. The Kindred sent to investigate, one Sir Edmund Wellington, was distressed to discover himself driven totally insane when he attempted to force the rogue vampire under his power. Many other Kindred would be driven mad in their attempt to apprehend the mad Doctor as he spread his newly discovered power.
On the run from his fellow Kindred, Doctor Hartleigh immediately began working on finding others to help him figure out how to use this ability for the ‘benefit of mankind.’ Hartleigh’s progeny were selected from fellow alienists at first. Gradually, he began to pick medical professionals from other fields. James had quickly determined that he might need individuals who understood the biological factors of Kindred existence as much as the psychological.
The scientist has been a prolific creator of Kindred and is no longer so picky as to restrict his embracing to scientists. He's created progeny from gurus, spiritualists, and psychics in an attempt to broaden the bloodline's ability to dissect the nature of vampirism. Doctor Hartleigh hasn't stopped creating Malkovians either. James is still prone to passing on the 'gift' whenever he feels that there is something to learn from a subject's transformation.
Doctor Hartleigh has spent the past century well in learning the various disciplines and esoteric principles of being a Kindred. He has progressed abnormally quickly in mastering his clan's disciplines. Some suggest this is due to the fact that his unusual mental state is aiding him but most Kindred believe this is rubbish. Doctor Hartleigh has also assembled a tremendous amount of knowledge on medicine, the occult, and various forms of science. Were he not a lunatic then he would probably be as great a psychologist as Freud. The man has made an extensive list of supernatural contacts under his various aliases. Many willing to share information in exchange for knowledge.
Doctor Hartleigh's relationship with his fellow Malkovians is a bit tenuous. While many are similarly motivated in discovering the 'secrets of the mind', others are outraged at the curse that he's helped inflict upon them. Hartleigh is thus cautious about approaching any of his blood. Often, he does this using a possessed human body as a vessel for communication. Even subjects that he's embraced directly are not always aware of what he really looks like. Some have been educated entirely through false faces or from a distance. Hartleigh is not even above abandoning his childer to see how they react to their transformation. Nevertheless, most Malkovians feel a sort of affection for the man and are fiercely protective of their founder.
Image: Doctor Hartleigh is an unassuming looking man in his mid-fifties and still bears traces of his original English accent. He is not intimidating to most Kindred with his cropped white hair, a somewhat nebbish looking face, and habit of absently muttering to himself. Doctor Hartleigh is almost always dressed in a Doctor's coat since he rarely ever finds himself out of his medical wards. The few times that he leaves is when he dresses up in anachronistic formal wear.
Roleplaying Hints: Those who meet the Malkovian founder are unlikely to find anything that sets off the warning bells that he's an utter lunatic. It's only when he is alone with a 'patient' that his true nature as a complete obsessive becomes obvious. Doctor Hartleigh has no ethics whatsoever in testing the limits of human consciousness. Whatever is necessary from brain surgery to torture is carried out with the same dispassionate scientific interest. Nothing can prevent him from following through on his motivation to discover the secrets of the vampire mind.
Haven: Doctor Hartleigh tends to make his havens in the traditional Malkovian residences of asylums, hospitals, and medical universities. On occasion, he simply sets up his own lab in a mansion of suitable size. The current inhabitants of such luxury are often lucky if they do not become as mad as hatters by the end of his occupation.
Doctor Hartleigh's experiments with brains, electricity, chemicals, psychics, and imprisoned sorcery are said to have yielded tremendous results. Ones that have echoed down through the entire Bloodline on a spiritual level as much as physical. Others believe that Hartleigh's descendents might have attracted the attention of something beyond the understanding of Kindred. Whatever the reason, the Malkovians have developed a method to their madness. The majority of their insanity is very normal delusion and fantasy but sometimes....it's more.
The Malkovian Oversoul is the name that some Kindred have given the ability of this Ventrue offshoot to generate insights from seemingly nowhere. These insights are never clear or direct. Indeed, they are filled with metaphor and surreal phraseology that mark the madness of the Bloodline in a fairly spectacular manner. Worse, to tap into the ability is to require the Malkovian to experience their core derangement to manifest for that scene. This means that their insight is only given when they seem at their most insane. It can be taught to non-Malkovian Kindred but only if they have a derangement and all dots are permanently lost and must be re-learned if they ever recover from that condition.
Possessed by: Malkovians, Malkovian Ghouls, Those Whom Have Diablerized Malkovians, Insane Kindred
Specialities: Drug Trips, Hallucinatory imagery, Nonsensical Babble, Religious Experience, Voices in the Head
Dramatic Failure: The Kindred receives deliberately misleading information or otherwise outright dangerous false insights. For example; they are commanded to kill the Prince because he's controlled by Satan. Alternatively, the Kindred is plunged immediately into Frenzy or Rötschreck.
Failure: The Kindred receives no insights from his 'communion' but still suffers the effects of his Derangement being enacted for the rest of the scene.
Success: The Kindred receives some minor clue or useful piece of information that may be of service to them. This is probably veiled in metaphor unless it’s a silly, rather than life threatening, plot. For example; the Sheriff is working with Belial's Brood might manifest as "The Order of the Damned is Bent by Flames of a Malevolent Fist." While discovering that a player character's favorite vessel is straying might be a simple "Your girlfriend is cheating on you, dude."
Exceptional Success: The Kindred receives two pieces of information rather than one. Should a Gamemaster feel the game is stalling, they might also feel free to drop an appropriate bombshell level revelation in order to get the plot moving. This should never be allowed if the player characters aren't bored or frustrated with their current line of investigation.
The Malkovians are already blessed with the powers of insight, concealment, and the ability to twist minds. However, some of them have experimented further with their Kindred forms to develop an ability to warp perceptions to an almost absurd degree. This power has spread rapidly through the clan to the point that many believe they have far vaster powers than any Kindred could have dreamed of. The Malkovians are not eager to disabuse other vampires of this notion.
The Dementia Discipline is a severely destructive one that can cause vampires to lose hard won humanities at an incredible rate. Worse, it can be used on mortals to devastating effect in order to totally destroy a city's peace or utterly ruin lives. The power is considered grounds for a Blood Hunt in many cases if the perpetrator is caught using it against other Kindred or to disrupt the cities' peace. Most Malkovians so inclined to use it in such a manner are of the mind that they will never be caught.
This discipline is one that the Bloodline eagerly shares with others but its use comes with a price. For any non-Malkovian that learns it, they have their Discipline score applied to any Frenzy rolls as a penalty for receiving a derangement. Most Non-Malkovians end up totally mad from prolonged usage.
Id Whispers is a device for Kindred to unleash the forbidden desires of mortals. By power of voice alone, the Kindred using this ability can cause a subject to lose his inhibitions about something that he wanted to do on some level. The Id Whisperer must know what he wants and describe the action he should do, even in a joking manner, for it to be effective. This can range from something innocous about giving a man a break on a car payment to finally fulfilling their fantasy about killing their boss. Many Malkovians combine this ability with their purely social powers of persuasion to bring about the right mental state for this to discipline to work.
Cost: None
Dice Pool:Intelligence + Expression + Dementia versus Resolve plus Blood Potency.
Action:Contested, resistance is reflexive
Dramatic Failure: The subject does not act upon his urge and is immune to further attempts to use Dementia on him until the next sunset.
Failure:The subject does not become any more inclined to perform the action that the Kindred is describing.
Success:The subject decides to go about the action that has been described.
Exceptional Success:The subject becomes utterly convinced that the act was his own choice and what he would have done anyway.
+3 The subject really wants to perform the action but is constrained by fear of society or other consequences.
+2 The subject was contemplating such an action before the Kindred began to speak about it.
+2 The Kindred has given an eloquent and persuasive argument beforehand, even if it failed.
+1 The action is not one that he has any strong moral objection to.
-1 The subject has a mild moral repulsion to the action despite being tempted by it.
-2 The subject has a strong moral repulsion to the idea.
-2 The subject has no reason to listen to the Kindred.
-3 The act is personally harmful to the character in some way.
Malkovians consider it their right and privilege to explore different types of thinking. They also consider it to 'help' others do the same. Gaslighting is bestow compulsions on subjects that weaken their hold on their sanity. Any subject of the discipline is afflicted with a compulsive need of the Malkovian's choice. Their desire for it being as great as blood to a starving vampire in some cases. Most Malkovians find out what ails and troubles a subject first before exploiting it in order to drive their victims to true dementia. A Malkovian merely has to speak to a subject about the need for it to take root. Needs that are obviously suicidal do not work but can be used to put a subject in a situation of danger.
Cost: 1 Willpower per roll
Dice Pool: Intelligence + Expression + Dementia versus Resolve plus Blood Potency.
Action: Contested, resistance is reflexive
Dramatic Failure:The subject is immune to the Kindred's attempt to use Dementia on him for the rest of the night.
Failure:The subject is unaffected by the affect.
Success:The subject immediately gains a longing for a certain type of action or thing. For every success beyond the initial, the subject must make a composure check with rising difficulty in order to resist indulging his new vice.
Exceptional Success:The subject gains a derangement related to his new want. Typically, this is an Obsession or Addiction.
+3 The subject already displays obsessive interest in it (this reflects vampires and blood should the Malkovian choose to make them an even greater addict, an alcoholic, a gamer and his favorite RPG).
+2 The subject has a strong affection for it (a sexually active human, a regular drinker, a man whom is already a killer).
+1 The subject will be merely annoyed by his compulsion (constantly introducing himself to everyone he knows, being forced to babble a long answer to everything, washing ones hands a lot).
-1 The subject has a moral objection to newly bestowed desire (A compulsion to steal, a desire to deface works of art).
-2 The subject has a strong moral objection to his newly bestowed desire or compulsion (a high humanity Kindred desiring the blood of children, a compulsion to arson).
-3 The subject is personally imperilled by this newfound affliction in some way.
Malkovians have the power to sculpt the fantasies and ideas of the individuals around them. Provided they can meet their gaze, a Malkovian can freeze a subject in place long enough to describe a hallucination that they see. For the duration of the scene, the subject will hallucinate what has been described to them by the Malkovian. Any modifications to what was initially described will require another Dementia roll. The subject will hallucinate their fantasy independently of the Malkovian's control as well. This power is one of the reasons that the Malkovians are believed to possess reality altering powers by some. Unlike with illusions, recognizing something is a hallcuination doesn't dispel it.
Cost: None
Dice Pool: Intelligence + Expression + Dementia versus Resolve plus Blood Potency.
Action: Contested, resistance is reflexive
Dramatic Failure: The subject does not suffer any effect and is immune to further attempts to use Dementia on him until the next sunset.
Failure: The subject suffers no debilitating effects from the power's use.
Success: The subject immediately hallucinates the subject that the Kindred described.
Exceptional Success: The subject sees the hallucination described to him until the next sunset.
+3 The Hallucination described is one that is entirely possible to happen (someone arriving, the character pulling a gun out of his coat, police are coming).
+2 The Hallucination is not a terribly complex one (a fire has broken out, there are ghostly noises about, a room is empty when its actually full).
+2 The subject is on some sort of psycho tropic drug.
+2 The subject is insane already or otherwise prone to altered states of consciousness.
+1 The subject is in a highly agitated state.
-1 The Hallucination deals with more than one object (A half dozen people are standing around talking).
-1 The Hallucination is unlikely but not impossible ("But I just saw the Prince leave the building five minutes ago...", a believer in ghosts sees his dead father).
-2 A Hallucination is expected to effect more than one sense.
-2 The Hallucination is interactive (the dialogue being filled in by the subjects mind).
-3 The Hallucination is impossible or absurd (A talking frog, an atheist meets the Archangel Michael, one's trash starts barking at you).
-5 The Hallucination is expected to effect all five senses.
One of the most feared abilities of the Malkovians amongst the Damned. The power for them to rob a subject of his sanity. The Malkovians enjoy using this ability to cause their fellow Ventrue all manner of difficulties. Indeed, it is one of their ways that they help prepare a subject to join their clan. The consequences of this ability have the potential to be disastrous. A Malkovian must merely speak to a subject and he has the potential to rob him of all reason. The Malkovian must talk about the type of derangement that is to be inflicted though, even in an abstract manner.
Cost:1 Willpower per use, 1 Vitae Point
Dice Pool:Intelligence + Expression + Dementia versus Resolve plus Blood Potency.
Action:Contested, resistance is reflexive
Dramatic Failure: The subject does not suffer any effect and is immune to further attempts to use Dementia on him until the next sunset.
Failure:The subject suffers no debilitating effects from the power's use.
Success:The subject is immediately afflicted with a Derangement of the Kindred's choice.
Exceptional Success:The subjects are immediately afflicted with two Derangements of the Kindred's choice.
+3 The subject is already in a state of severe emotional instability (A vampire's frenzy, a person having undergone severe trauma, having just recovered from another mental illness)
+2 The subject's derangement is only an exaggeration of an existing personality trait.
+2 The subject is a Ventrue.
+1 The subject is in a similar emotional state to the kind of derangement that will be inflicted.
-1 The subject is a calm state.
-2 The derangement is utterly unrelated to anything that is normal to the subject's life.
-3 The subject has no history of mental illness or emotional instability (Vampires cannot qualify for this).
A power that has been used to ignite riots over trivial things and cause the utter destruction of large locations. A Malkovian who uses Mass Hysteria needs merely be heard by a crowd of people and their passions will be inflamed to incredible levels. What the panic will be about is anyone's guess but subjects feeling anger about a given subject will likely react violently while those in a state of fear may flee in utter terror. One doesn't even need to comment about what sort of effect this might have during a sporting event. Strangely, the subject that the Malkovian speaks of isn't one that has to be related to whatever causes them to panic.
Cost: 1 Willpower per scene, 1 Vitae point per scene
Dice Pool:Intelligence + Expression + Dementia versus Resolve plus Blood Potency.
Action:Contested, resistance is reflexive
Dramatic Failure:The subject does not suffer any effect and is immune to further attempts to use Dementia on him until the next sunset.
Failure: The subject suffers no debilitating effects from the power's use.
Success:All the subjects immediately start a hysterical panic that continues for the duration of the scene.
Exceptional Success:The subjects continue their intense reaction until the next sunset.
+3 The subjects are in a state of intense emotion to begin with.
+3 The subjects have all been drugged otherwise inebriated.
+2 The subjects are inclined to listen to the Kindred on the subject.
+1 The subjects are in a state of agitation.
-1 The subjects are calm and soothed.
-2 More than a twenty subjects are being effected.
-3 More than a hundred subjects are being effected.
-4 More than five hundred subjects are being effected.
-5 More than a thousand subjects are being effected.
"Will you, won't you, will you, won't you, will you join the dance? Will you, won't you, will you, won't you, won't you join the
dance?"
-The Mock Turtle, Alice in Wonderland
Now, you've got to be asking yourself why any person in the world would want to join a bloodline where you're permanently reduced to a mental cripple. That is what any sane person would think. That's not whom the Malkovian clan is appealing to. It's those Kindred whom undeath has become unbearable for, whom think the Malkovians have special insights, or whom are already 'around the bend' mentally that find it an appealing prospect.
The transformation into a vampire is a very traumatic experience for every Neonate. Combined with the demanding nature of the Ventrue clan, many consider the idea of becoming a Malkovian to be one that will relieve them of the burden. 'To turn on, tune in, and drop out' is one way of looking at the Malkovian infection. Others are lured by the prospect of being able to share the horror and absurdity that they feel but jaded elders can no longer stomach.
Ancilla are more often lured by the prospect of getting an edge over elders that wield unfathomable power over others. Members of the Covenants that are stalled in their position might believe that the Malkovians are crazy like a Fox rather than simply insane. Others might well crave their unique gifts and believe they can get through the experience without going completely mad. The Ordo Dracul and Circle of the Crone both have members that might see power in the Malkovian's unique insights.
Most terrifying, is the fact that the number of elders that are inclined to leave the mainstream Ventrue clan to become Malkovians is growing. This terrifies the entire clan as that believes even their most cherished members are not immune to the corruptive effects of Malkov's legacy. After ages of being an unfeeling monster, the allure of the Malkovian's different mental state is quite appealing. Others hope there is a kind of morality in the Bloodline that will ease the burden of their troubled souls. Many seem well to enjoy it. While the number of insane elders is still rather small, Hartleigh is hardly the oldest member of the clan now.
