| It is unfortunate that all other vampires see the Ventrue as power-hungry elitists who care for nothing but wealth, status, and prestige. Even more unfortunate is the number of Ventrue who play to this stereotype, becoming mere caricatures of what it means to be Ventrue. Everyone knows who these vampires are -- the pompous, the arrogant. These vampires are the ones you find comparing the sizes of their corporate and political empires.
How easy it is to manipulate the power-mad. How elementary it is to play the strings they entangle themselves in -- are they the puppeteers or the puppets themselves?
It should not be surprising how many so-called manipulators find themselves ensnared in the plots of the Tremere. How many would-be Princes have lost their souls to infernalist machinations? Far too many.
Yet their numbers grow. Is it any wonder why the Camarilla is in such a sad state, one wonders?
It is to be argued, however, that any single body of government will have its share of untalented bureaucrats. As the Toreador is plagued by the faux artistes, as the Brujah must deal with the merely antisocial, so must the Venture have its shortsighted political warlords. For within this ponderous mass of mediocrity lie the Kindred's most brilliant manipulators.
These Ventrue are those we cannot see, those that voice their decrees from where we cannot hear. These are the Ventrue that hold the Camarilla together through their machinations, the Ventrue that seek power not for its own sake, but for the sake of leading a Camarilla united underneath their guidance against their enemies. These are the Ventrue to be reckoned with. These are the true kingmakers.
And perhaps these Ventrue hide behind a carefully maintained flock of pompous, arrogant, blustering, powermongering -- yet highly visible -- fools.
The next time you think of the Ventrue as a fractured clan of backstabbing bureaucrats, remember what you have read here. |
