Clan Malkavian

Name: Malkavian
Plural: Malkavians
Pronounciation: mal-ka-vi-an
Nicknames: Lunatics, Kooks
Antediluvian: Malkav
Allegiance: Camarilla
Disciplines: Auspex, Obfuscate, Dementation (or Dominate)

Theme Song: "The Right Kind of Crazy" - Baby Chorus

The Malkavians are a Clan of Kindred cursed with insanity. Every Malkavian is in some fashion insane; in game terms, they have at least one derangement they can never remove. They are one of the original seven clans of the Camarilla and, strangely enough, a pillar of the organization. Throughout history, the Malkavians have been the seers and oracles of the Kindred, bound by strange compulsions and insight.
Disciplines

Auspex - The discipline of supernatural senses and extended perception.

Obfuscate - The discipline of personal concealment.

Dementation (or Dominate)

t is Foreseen... - the Early History

As with all the major clans, the Malkavians originated in the pre-Flood city Enoch. Little is known about the clan's early composition, only that their Antediluvian Malkav was a seer Embraced by one of the Second Generation. Malkav was particularly close to two other Kindred: Saulot, the founder of the Salubri, and Set, god to his followers. Some accounts suggest the three shared the same sire, possibly Enoch himself.

Sometime after the Flood, Malkav was ambushed and murdered by his fellow Antediluvians. Most Malkavians believe that he is still alive, only now he exists entirely within the Malkavian Madness Network (or "Cobweb"), the group mind that all Malkavians share. Some Malkavians speculate that Malkav is Clan Malkavian, and that when Gehenna arises, he will devour the clan whole and reconstitute himself.
The Second Sight - Dark Ages

Malkavians often served in the role of advisor - political or spiritual - to princes of other Clans during the Dark Ages. Chances are, if the prince didn't consult with the Cappadocians, they instead turned to the Malkavians.

This noble pursuit of one half of the Clan merely masked - obfuscated, one might say - the disturbing and filthy underbelly of the Clan: those whose vision became so acute or so all-encompassing that they were driven completely mad. These broken vampires haunted the dark places of the cities, crying out for salvation or damnation as the mood took them.
The Mind is a Terrible Thing... - Victorian Age

The Victorian Era was the time of Freud and Jung, as the old theories of phrenology, demon-possession and divine punishment gave way to more learned theories of psychology and psychiatry. Asylums now started doing what Malkavians had been practicing for centuries - taking an interest in insanity. While the reforms of these hospitals no doubt crippled more than one Malkavian's supply of blood, the new system permitted the Lunatics to experiemnt with madness like they had never before. Some set themselves up as psychologists - others visited psychologists as patients.

The rise of the Bohemian lifestyle within society meant many more kine were willing to expand their own perceptions with new cultures, experiences and drugs. The Malkavians were only too happy to oblige. New forms of expression and ways of thinking both nourished the Malkavians and allowed them to be as florid as they pleased - after all, if a finely dressed gentleman is shouting about how people on the street are telling him to kill dogs, why it must simply be the newest performance piece going around the salons. In fact, a friend of yours heard it on the streets of Paris...
Shake Well Before Using - the Final Nights

The Malkavians always had a dangerous reputation due to their madness and their signature Dementation discipline, which can induce madness in others. With the Inquisition and the formation of the Camarilla, the clan faced possible extinction at the hands of other clans - the Malkavians were just too dangerous to continue existing. In order to prevent this, the elders of the clan changed the Clan in ways unknown and incomprehensible - the result was that the majority of Clan Malkavian discarded Dementation in favor of the Dominate discipline. More disturbingly, the majority of Malkavians, even those present at the time of the change are unaware that this happened. A small fragment of the clan preserved the Dementation discipline, defecting to the Sabbat and becoming antitribu.

This "Great Trick" means that almost all Malkavians are antitribu. While Sabbat Malkavians possessed the same mystical abilities as their ancestors, the violent environment of the Sabbat drove the antitribu even madder: they are often too undisciplined (or self-indulgent) to resist their own Frenzies.

This division was fixed in 1998, when for reasons unknown to anyone, the Dementation resurfaced within the Camarilla.
Organization

On the surface, clan Malkavian is barely a clan. The majority of Malkavians are only marginally aware they belong to a clan; Sabbat Malkavians generally claim to be Panders. What connections Malkavians generally have are informal and generally paternal - Sire Childe relationships being the most common, although Malkavian sires are prone to abandoning their childer.

Scratch the surface, however, and the Malkavian's become a smorgasbord of paranoid delights. Malkavians operate on their own timescale, and will gather spontaneously for incomprehensible events. Malkavians usually don't explain how they know these gatherings are occuring, and when they do the explanation isn't necessarily worth anything. Scratch deep enough and it appears that the Malkavians are highly organized, so highly organized they don't even know they are, and instead they continue to pursue incomprehensible and arcane goals that even they aren't aware are relevant.

This organization is generally termed the "cobweb", "Malkavian Time" or the "Malkavian Madness Network" and is a hive mind unifying all Malkavians. The strength of the voices varies from Malkavian to Malkavian, however all of them are at least aware of its call and capable of interacting with it. Dead Malkavians' memories live on in the cobweb, and it is implied heavily that Malkav himself is this network. The cobweb is only accessible by Malkavians, and they themselves only marginally understand it - most of them merely listen to the voices, but elders have demonstrated a powerful capacity to manipulate the rest of the clan through it.

Culture

Malkavians have traditionally fulfilled two roles in Vampire society: seers and jokers. In the former role, the Malkavians have relied on advanced Auspex and the Cobweb to provide information. Malkavians being Malkavians, this information is generally jaundiced, incomplete, filtered through cracked lenses or a total lie.

The joker role is somewhat more complex: Malkavians have a clan tradition of pranking. The exact purpose of these pranks is open to debate; they often appear intended to readjust the target's perceptions, but are also often sadistic.

In the Camarilla, Malkavians are tolerated; they are rarely princes but often are important primogen or otherwise figures of authority. Given their obvious insanity, princes traditionally give the Madmen a certain amount of latitude; in return, Malkavians are generally expected to demonstrate enough self-control to not break the Masquerade. This is not a benevolent arrangement but largely driven by fear on both sides: fundamentally, Malkavians are unknowable and the general attitude among princes is that its better to keep them quiet and happy, since unhappy Malkavians have a tendency towards introducing bizarre and inexplicable incidents to the equation. Conversely, Malkavians need the protection of the Camarilla, and have been modified as discussed above to make them more amenable to it.

Religion and Philosophy

Part of the Malkavian belief system is passed through stories like the Elephant and the Blind Vampire Bats story.

The Malkavians claim that they're the only ones who know what's really going on. Most other Clans regard this as so much bullsh*t, and yet the Malkavians do seem to react suspiciously quickly to changes in the World of Darkness, almost as if they had warning ahead of time...
One Voice Among Many: Clan Relationships

The Gangrel are, to put it simply, freaked out by Malkavians. Even though elder Gangrel become animalistic and degenerate, there is still a method of reason behind their actions. Malkavians have no such inhibitions. Since the former Clan places such emphasis on loyalty, trustworthiness, and competence, the Malkavians are unpopular because they lack all of those traits. You can never be sure when your Malkavian companion will snap, turning on you in a diablerous frenzy or selling you out to your enemies just because the voices said so. The Malkavians, on the other hand, seem to find Gangrel entertaining - the Outlanders are very careful never to ask why they're so funny to the Madmen.

Embraces

The Malkavians are one of the more intellectually focused of the Camarilla clans (with the Tremere arguably being the only clan as interested in cerebral pursuits). As a result, Malkavian candidates for the Embrace tend to be intelligent and more than a little...odd. While the Malkavian embrace guarantees insanity, they do tend to choose candidates who are already halfway there.
Character Creation

Malkavians come in all shapes and flavors, due to their chaotic nature, 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 or Dominate, Obfuscate
Weaknesses

Every last vampire of Malkav's blood is incurably insane in one form or another. Some attribute 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 two derangements for that character at the time of the Embrace; these derangements can never be permanently overcome.