Even other Damned fear the Malkavians. The cursed blood of their clan has polluted their minds, with the result that every last Malkavian across the world is incurably insane. What's worse, a Malkavian's madness can take nearly any form, from overpowering homicidal tendencies to near-catatonia. In many cases, there's no way to tell a Malkavian apart from the "sane" members of other clans. Those few whose psychoses are immediately obvious are among the most terrifying vampires to stalk the streets.

For as long as even the eldest Cainites can remember, the Malkavians have always stirred Kindred society with their passage. Although the clan has instigated no great wars nor toppled mortal governments (at least, to the best of their fellow vampires' knowledge), the very presence of a Malkavian works a subtle change on a city. Chaos nips at the Lunatics' heels, and those who associate with even the most well-meaning Malkavian often find their lives or unlives altered by the Cainite's madness.

Recently, the Malkavians executed their grandest "prank" of all. None can say whether it was worked in a great Malkavian Parliament held somewhere in an isolated European village, or on a bleak and forgotten moor somewhere far from the cities. A few stories speak of a epidemic of contagious dementia exploding among the use of Malkav's blood. Whatever the cause, Malkavians across the world have begun displaying a new, dangerous edge to their madness, accompanied by bizarre events in Kindred cities around the world. A longstanding Malkavian conceit holds the Jyhad to be a joke instigated by the founder of the clan; some Kindred wonder if, in fact, Malkavians have played the joke on them all along.

None can say what exactly makes the Lunatics so dangerous. Certainly, their madness often frees them from fear of pain or Final Death. More than a few demonstrate horrifying murderous urges or a complete lack of emotion, including compassion. But most convincingly, the Malkavians are free from the confines of rationality and may do whatever they like - and this freedom is coupled with an uncanny insight, a strange wisdom that Cannot be perceived by the sane. The Malkavians possess a dark intellect that is often - and increasingly- set to frightening purposes.

Nickname: Lunatics

Sect: The Malkavians as a clan have an. . .understanding. . . with the Camarilla.
They also populate the Sabbat in lesser numbers, where they frighten even their packmates with their psychotic displays. But when it all comes down to it, their true loyalties likely transcend sects. When Gehenna arrives, nobody can say for sure where the Malkavians will stand.

Appearance: Malkavians run the gamut from terrifyingly psychotic to convincingly ordinary in every way - sometimes both at once. Just like serial killers, they could be anyone - the scruffy bum talking to himself, the pleasant but quiet neighbor, the borderline-suicidal musician. These vampires are capable of great subtlety, and rarely show anyone a face other than the one they want people to see.

Haven: The Lunatics by and large take whatever shelter they like, although more than a few find aging hospitals and poorly funded asylums to their tastes. Many seem to enjoy the company of desperate mortals, and prefer slums and institutions to more secluded havens.

Background: Malkavians take their childer from all walks of life and for all number of reasons. Anyone can be chosen to further a sire's twisted purposes, although most Lunatics prefer Embracing those already close to (or subject to) madness. Most other vampires believe that the Malkavians Embrace their childer on a whim; however, virtually all Lunatics discover themselves subtly championing some barely perceptible "purpose," the full extent of which none - not even their sires -can properly fathom.

Character Creation: Malkavians come in all shapes and flavors, but many have primary Mental Attributes, befitting the clan's reputation for wisdom and insight. Apart from that, it's anyone's guess just what Traits a Malkavian may manifest with the diversity of their concepts and backgrounds, these mad vampires could be anyone. Anywhere.

Clan Disciplines: Auspex, Dementation, Obfuscate

Weaknesses: Every last vampire of Malkav's blood is irredeemably insane in some form or another. Some atrribute this to a curse of the blood, while other Lunatics actually call it a special blessing, a gift of insight. When a Malkavian character is created, the player must choose at least one derangement for that character at the time of the Embrace; this derangement can be temporarily fought with Willpower, but can never be permanently overcome.

Organization: The hierarchy of the Malkavians, if it exists at all, defies description. Most are usually content to let one another do as they like from night to night. But now and again, in times of great need, Malkavians demonstrate an uncanny ability to act in unison, even without any apparent leadership - and sometimes even without any apparent communication. As one, they arise from their desolate haunts; as one, they fall on the problem at hand. And when it is a problem no longer, they drift back to their usual routines. If the Malkavians indulge in any form of machinations as a clan, they are incomprehensible to outsiders - which may be a blessing.

Bloodlines: Before the Dementation Discipline spread contagiously throughout the clan (in 1997 or so), a great number of Malkavians expressed their mind-warping talents through the use of the Dominate Discipline. A few Malkavians weren't caught in the redoubled tide of insanity that swept the clan, and still possess that power in lieu of Dementation. The rest of the clan pays these offshoots no particular notice; indeed, with only a few exceptions, Malkavians don't differentiate between this bloodline and the clan proper at all.

Quote: Laugh if you like Doesn't matter. Assume that you're so much smarter than the poor, broken lunatic. Doesn't matter. But think about this. You ' re a dead thing, same as me. You died and were reborn...as this. What makes you and me different' Simple - I remember what I saw when I was full and truly dead You'd be mad, too.

Stereotypes:

Assamite: So. That's done, then.

Brujah: I want to like your average Brujah, but his skull's just so damned thick that he can't crack it open and get at the good stuff he doesn't even know he's got in there.
So forget him.

Followers of Set: I can't understand them. Aren't they mad yet? Don't they understand what they've seen? Goddamn. Goddamn. . . .

Gangrel: They aren't animals, no matter what people say. Look under the skin of the corpse, then look under the layer of beast-thought, and what do you find? A secret worse than man, corpse or animal? Yes! Yes!

Giovanni: What price did these idiots pay for their inside gossip? It's yesterday's news; anybody can find it if they listen, and the Giovanni have sold their souls for it so they can call it their "big secret;'Feh.

Lasombra: (an explosion of helpless, hysterical giggling, swelling up into full throated laughter)

Nosferatu: They've just about mortified enough of their own flesh to blast through the wall of delusion from the other side of perception. They're onto something, but who knows if there'll be anything left of them when they get there?

Ravnos: Call us deluded? Go look at a Ravnos for a while.

Toreador: Puppets who pull the ii own strings, or offer them to anybody who wants to make them dance.

Tremere: They are on to us.
.
Tzimisce: Penguins. They decided they like the water SO much, they traded in their wings for flippers. And they were so close…..

Ventrue: They will never accept it, no matter who tries to hand it to 'em. Well, don't say we didn't warn you.

Caitiff: From their number will the Herald emerge.

Camarilla: It's like The Haunting of Hill House, but you can't wait for the ending, where they wake up and realize what they are!

Sabbat: It's more fun when you don't try so hard.