Toreador

WHO ARE THE TOREADOR?

Clan of the Rose | Divas | Arikelites | Degenerates | Sensates

Cursed by their unbridled sensuality, the divas are obsessed by aesthetic perfection. A fashion model overdosing on a bad batch of heroin, a news clip of a perfectly executed beheading, the dazed eyes of a child who has seen too much, or the reflection of the moon in a pool of blood — these are the kinds of things that make a Toreador lose themselves. They say the first diva finally died in front of their looking glass, unable to tear their gaze away from the image of their face touched by the reflected dawn.

But, to dismiss the Toreador as wanton perverts or shallow artists is the last mistake a Kindred will ever make. Beauty is power, and love can make anyone do just about anything. And that is the promise of the Toreador. They can make even the dead feel something raw, something real.

Clan Toreador has ever preached selectiveness in its rituals of the Embrace. The clan elders stress time and again that the clan requires pioneers among the arts and every kind of avant-garde. The clan is at its strongest when comprised of the freshest thinkers and those who desire experimentation and aesthetic discovery. For this reason, many Toreador emerge from the ranks of accomplished artists, both new and faded. But not all artists need wield a brush: To the Toreador, art encompasses all forms of entertainment and stimulation. The clan courts the greatest actors, singers, writers, dancers, and even sex workers, if the degenerates believe such mortals will offer something new to their clan.

Despite the custom of Embracing only the best, the Toreador fixation on beauty and innocence has caused many a diva to make a fledgling in haste. Many a moonlit night, new clan members have emerged as shallow hedonists, one-hit wonders, or just a stunning body with nothing else to offer. The greatest mistakes are erased and forgotten. Still, the clan is diverse, its members considering the ensemble as a kaleidoscope of talent and beauty.

DISCIPLINES

Auspex: Toreador are ever on the hunt for exquisite experiences and use Auspex to identify the most susceptible vessels and those who might, through their feelings and temperament, offer new tastes and sensations to the drinker during the feed. Toreador also frequently use the Discipline on other Kindred, catering to their desires or antagonizing them with truths they should not know.

Celerity: The Toreador claim they are not combatants, but few move as swiftly as the degenerate using Celerity to cut an opponent to ribbons before they have even had time to draw their weapon. Toreador often use Celerity to enhance artistic or performative skills. In feeding, they use the Discipline to take what they need from a vessel and vanish before the mortal realizes the truth of what has occurred.

Presence: The Toreador master the Discipline of Presence, often using it in concert with Auspex to manipulate the emotions of Kindred and kine. Presence can guarantee an appreciative audience or cause the failure of another artist. Some Toreador will use the Discipline to indulge in carnal pleasures with an unnaturally enthusiastic partner or to lure a vessel into their arms and under their fangs. The members of the clan adore willing vessels, even if the willingness is a supernaturally induced façade.

BANE

Toreador exemplify the old saying that art in the blood takes strange forms. They desire beauty so intensely that they suffer in its absence. While your character finds itself in less than beautiful surroundings, lose the equivalent of their Bane Severity in dice from dice pools to use Disciplines. The Storyteller decides specifically how the beauty or ugliness of the Toreador’s environment (including clothing, blood dolls, etc.) penalizes them, based on the character’s aesthetics. That said, even devotees of the Ashcan School never find normal streets perfectly beautiful. This obsession with aesthetics also causes divas to lose themselves in moments of beauty and a bestial failure often results in a rapt trance, as detailed in the Compulsion rules (p. 208)

Clan Bane Variant

Agonizing Empathy: The curse of the Toreador is that they feel too much — sometimes literally — of the sensations around them. Especially in intimate moments such as feeding, a Diva physically suffers the agony they inflict on a mortal, damage to their dead bodies mimicking the harm inflicted on the vessel.

When a Toreador vampire feeding causes damage to a mortal, the vampire suffers similar (usually Aggravated) damage in return, though a single feeding cannot cause more damage than their Bane Severity. The damage takes the form of involuntary internal bleeding, the vampire exhibiting vivid bruising in whatever spot matches the bite location on the victim.

_{Players Guide, pg. 59}

COMPULSION

Obsession

Enraptured by beauty, the vampire becomes temporarily obsessed with a singular gorgeous thing, able to think of nothing else.

Pick one feature, such as a person, a song, an artwork, blood spatter, or even a sunrise. Enraptured, the vampire can hardly take their attention from it, and if spoken to, they only talk about that subject. Any other actions receive a two-dice penalty. This Compulsion lasts until they can no longer perceive the beloved object, or the scene ends.

ARCHETYPES

L'Artiste

The Toreador indulge in the beauty of all art forms and strive to be creators themselves. Whether competent on the strings of the violin, weaving notes as lustrous as the subtle glow of the crescent moon, or wielding a spray-can to form harsh prismatic lines on back-alley walls, this Kindred is an artist revered intensely by their clan.

Stage Manager

Without a puppeteer to pull the strings, the puppet would not know how to dance. This diva’s finger is constantly on the pulse of the night. They know every happening at every club and bar worth a visit, and likely have great influence over several such places and the people who go there. Deeply connected to a city’s social atmosphere, they have the knowledge to help others gain or lose the spotlight as they please.

Gadabout

With charisma, social intellect, and a cunning smile, the world is yours to conquer. The gadabout hedonist masters the art of manipulation, attraction, and empathy so well that even shy Cainites desire their attention or take pleasure in watching as they effortlessly mingle into every clique and category. This Toreador fits into any profession in which handling customers, patients, or clients is key, and they use every trick in the book to get their targets exactly where they want them.

Patron of the Arts

The patron is a collector of raw talent and promising beauty that just needs a guiding hand. They shape not clay or glass into intricate forms but people, and they see it as their gift to the world to pick out the best before they wither. The patron may pose as an eccentric heiress whose home is open to struggling poets and painters or they may take on the role of the talent scout or critic, aiding their pupils with funding and guidance in return for their blood.

Thespian Spy

The Toreador love a performance, and the one who plays at being a spy knows how to pry valuable target, often taking more time than they need to properly enjoy the game. Perhaps over-dramatic, yet rarely suspected due to an affable nature, the thespian spy inserts themselves in multiple domains to entertain, observe, and compile libraries of information to exchange for other pleasures.