Philosophy and Humanity

Assamites would seem to be in great danger of succumbing to the Beast, considering they make death their living. However, just as the Sabbat have found a way of keeping the Beast at bay, so too the Assamites. However, they do not make use of Paths of Enlightenment, as Assamites require continuing coolness and self control to pursue their goals, something the Paths do not provide.

Instead, the Assamites have developed, over the centuries, a philosophical outlook on life and death that does not replace Humanity, as Paths do, but supplements it. By rigorous application of this philosophy, the Assamite can operate in the field of death dealing without loss of humanity.

Putting it briefly, this philosophy is related to the principle of Golconda, which is acceptance. The Assamite accepts all facets and connotations of the deed to be committed, accepts the separate and distinct reality of the one to be killed, accepts his own role as killer, accepts the spiritual quest upon which he is on. In this aspect, it can be seen as remorse before the fact. However, this "remorse" is counterpointed with the joy of spiritual epiphany, the necessary re-discovery of the spiritual underpinings of the Clan that must be achieved over and over again. While in this state of remorse/joy, the Assamites horizons expand, and he is capable of performing the act of killing while keeping the Beast at bay

Note that an understanding of the reality of the intended target is crucial to the process. The Assamite requires as much personal detail on the target as possible, in particular photos of the target and family, if any. Other documents which reveal the targets history, such as school reports, lists of personal tastes and habits and any other highly personalized items are ideal. When arranging the hit, the Assamite will always ask to be provided with such items, as well as all information pertinent to the actual hit itself, by the one putting out the contract. If no such items are provided, the Assamite may well conduct a little raid on the targets house to furnish himself with the necessary items. If no such items are to be found anywhere, this may well affect the Assamites willingness to perform the deed, depending on how highly the Assamite values his Humanity.

Heresy

Not all Assamites make use of the philosophy of the Assamites. Indeed, it is believed that some Assamites follow Paths similar to the Path of Caine found amongst the Sabbat. The Elders have no problem with this. So long as one is loyal to the Clan, and to the goals of the Clan, then how you go about it is your own business.

However, there has developed over the centuries a movement within the Assamites which is viewed as inimical to the goals of the Clan. This underground faction espouses the position that the Assamites should not be the assassins of the dead, rather they should be the defenders and warriors of the Kindred, as it is thought they once were. This of itself is not a problem. The Elders of Alamut are tolerant as to what Assamites do when not assassinating. What is a problem is that these separatists dispute the existence of Caine, and suggest that the quest of ascending to Caine by raising ones generation is bankrupt, and a perversion of the understanding of Golconda. Understandably, in such a fundamentalist Clan, this suggestion does not go down well.

It is believed that the Separatists have developed their own philosophy with respect to noble warfare, that works much as the Assamite Philosophy does. The Elders of Alamut have made repeated efforts to eradicate the movement where ever it was found. However, their efforts have never been completely successful, as the movement has always risen again after a time. Admittedly, only a small minority of Assamites are members of this group. Further, very few other Assamites have ever heard of them, as the Elders make concerted efforts to keep other Assamites ignorant of the heresy. While this policy perhaps keeps the number of Separatists to a minimum, it makes it easier for the Separatists to remain hidden in the body of normal Assamites.

Quietus

The Assamites spiritual beliefs about blood, combined with their death fixation, led to the discipline of Quietus, in a combination of the two. While it is suggested that the Assamites used the curse of the Tremere to originate this discipline, the reverse is actually true. The curse of the Tremere made use of the Assamites own blood powers, and turned that power against the Assamites. The powers of Quietus reflect two things: the growing toxicity of the Assamites blood, and the Assamites growing spiritual connection with blood.

[1] A taste for blood: This power is basically the same as the first power of Thaumaturgy. By means of the emerging spiritual connection between the Assamite and blood, a variety of information about the blood may be gleaned. Such things as blood concentration, approximate generation and diseases present may all be learned. The blood must be touched to learn anything about it. It is by means of this power that Assamites are rarely deceived as to the payments they receive, as well as discovering if their clients information of the target was a little lax.

[2] Body wrack: The virulence of the Assamites blood is now sufficient to cause extreme pain to anyone who takes any of that blood into their system. The Assamite can actually bring some of their own blood onto the surface of their palm. If this blood is touched to another's skin, it is absorbed through their skin, and enters their system. The Assamite could also add a little of their blood to food or a beverage which, if consumed, will cause the same effect. In this case, the blood must be consumed within a few minutes or else it's potency is lost.

[4] Crawling Death: The characters blood is now of such virulence that it can be used to attack and kill its target directly. By entering some of the characters blood into the victim's system, in one of the ways described under Body Wrack, the blood will move through the victim attacking his system and destroying his blood. This generally kills any human target, and often puts vampiric targets into torpor.

[5] Blood sympathy: The character has by now a sufficient spiritual connection with blood that he can cause other Quietus powers to affect a target spontaneously, without the need for contact or placing some of his own blood in the target's system. The Assamite can cause the targets own blood to exhibit the qualities of the Assamites blood, which then affect the target normally. Under the right circumstances, the character could use Taste of Blood, Body Wrack or Crawling Death. As Blood Agony requires the use of a weapon to actually instigate it's effect, this power cannot be used sympathetically.

If some of the Assamites blood is already in the victim's system, although not in the service of any other Quietus power, then the Assamite need only score a single success on the initial Perception + Empathy roll to initiate any Quietus power. Thus an Assamite's own ghouls are highly susceptible to the use of Blood Sympathy.

Obfuscate

The Discipline of Obfuscate utilized by the Assamites is slightly different from the discipline used by Camarilla vampires. Assamites do not learn the first level power "Cloak of Shadows". Instead they learn a different power, called "Silence of Death". Note that this is merely contingently so. An Assamite who learns Obfuscate from a Nosferatu or a Malkavian, for example, would have the "Cloak of Shadows" power at the first level, as would any Assamites this individual subsequently taught Obfuscate to. However, virtually all Assamites learn Obfuscate at Alamut when Embraced, and "Silence of Death" is by far the more common of the two powers used by Assamites with Obfuscate.

[1] Silence of death: With this power the Assamite can create a zone from which no sound may escape. For a minimum of 5 feet around him in every direction there is complete silence. He could run at full speed, fire a machine gun or set off 100 pounds of dynamite right where he stands and no one would hear it as long as the sound was created within that zone. Note that the character can still hear things going on outside of this circle of silence, but cannot himself hear anything going on within the circle.

Assamites, Quietus & Blood

Quietus is a reflection of two factors: an Assamites spiritual connection with blood, and the growing toxicity of the Assamites own blood. One might think that this last factor would prevent Assamites from creating ghouls, or feeding their blood to other Kindred for the purposes of healing. However, the two factors are interdependent and largely inseparable. The toxicity of Assamite blood is latent, dependent upon a conscious spiritual connection to initiate the effects of Quietus, while it is the nature of Assamite blood, beyond the merely vitriolic, that initiates the capacity for spiritual awareness in the Assamite.

Thus for most Assamites, their blood is, for all intensive purposes, normal Kindred vitae, capable of being used by mortals and Kindred for all the uses other Kindred blood can be put to. Only by the conscious decision of the Assamite can the vitae take on it's lethal properties. Evidence of this lies in the fact that Assamite's can control the effect their blood has on others within the purview of Quietus. An Assamite with Quietus of level 5 can use his blood for any of the effects up to and including the fifth level. He is not merely obliged to exercise only the most potent effect he has reached, as if his body was nothing more than a store for more and more concentrated poison.

It was the latent toxicity of the blood, requiring a spiritual command for release, that the Tremere used to curse the Assamites into their present state. Attempts to reach "scientific" explanations for Kindred have been fruitless, and few would argue the mystical/spiritual nature of Kindred in general. In particular, the mystical nature of Kindred is contained within their blood, as the centre of their birth and continued life. What the Tremere achieved with their curse was a subtle alteration of the Assamites blood, so that the presence of foreign Kindred blood in the Assamites system would utilize the mystical properties inherent to such blood and initiate the same spiritual connection that the Assamite would normally make voluntarily. The nature of this command to the Assamite's system was the rapid assimilation of the foreign blood, followed by it's immediate destruction as it's mystical potential was released into the Assamite, a release that causes turbulence and disruption to whatever mystical power it is that keeps kindred alive. This is why Assamites have found no way to resist the pain caused by the consumption of Kindred vitae: it is a spiritual, not a physical, pain, and cannot be soaked.

The inability of Assamites to imbibe Kindred vitae is virtually total. Even the blood of other Assamites is sufficiently alien and individual in nature to prevent consumption without repercussions. The only exception to this rule is the blood of one's immediate progeny. Assamites are able to drink the blood of Kindred they have sired, but no other. The blood of an Assamite's own sire is too potent relative to his own to escape the normal effects, while the blood of his grand progeny is too weak, and has become sufficiently individuated to cause pain and damage.

An obvious benefit of this intolerance to Kindred vitae is that Assamites cannot be Blood Bound, at least in the normal run of things. All Kindred blood is destroyed far to quickly to have any effect, and although they can feed from their progeny, a sire cannot become Blood Bound to his progeny . It has been theorized that the vitae of the earliest generations of Kindred is potent enough that the Blood Bond can be established before the blood is destroyed by the Assamite's system. This remains a theory, however, and only the most ancient of Assamites would know for sure.

The interdependance of blood and spiritual awareness for the Assamite to use Quietus makes the Discipline an unusual one in terms of being learned by non Assamites. The Assamites are created with the potential for establishing this two way relation by virtue of the very nature of their blood. Other Kindred are not so endowed, and Quietus cannot simply be taught by any Kindred who has it to another who does not. The exact conditions for the teaching of Quietus to non Assamites is uncertain, as the Assamites themselves are loath to do so. It is believed, however, that much like Vicissitude and the Tzimisce, the consumption of Assamite vitae is necessary at some stage in the learning process. Although Quietus is not a disease as Vicissitude is often seen to be, the properties of Assamite blood is internal to the whole use of Quietus as a Discipline. So the Discipline Quietus is only regularly found amongst the Assamites, and in the Sabbat, where the Assamite antitribu have shared their secrets. Outside of these two groups it is extremely rare. Interestingly, it is not as prevalent in the Sabbat, except for amongst the Assamite antitribu, as one might suspect it would be. The reasons for this are not clear