Gangrel (World of Darkness)

articleissues
unreferenced=February 2008
notable=April 2008WoD vampireThe Gangrel are a clan of vampires, often associated with the Camarilla, from White Wolf Game Studio's ', ', and "" books and role-playing games.

Vampire: The Masquerade

al Discipline, "Protean", allows them to assume partial or complete animal forms. Their mastery of Protean is so much greater than any other Clan that Gangrel can assume virtually any animal form, providing it is a scavenger or a predator. Other vampires with the Protean Discipline are limited to the forms of Wolf and Bat; no one (not even the Gangrel) know why this is so.

According to Second Edition sourcebooks, the Gangrel, despite living in the wilderness, are attacked much less often by werewolves than other vampires; some speculate that the werewolves and Gangrel have a shared origin. This, however, was retconned in Revised edition.

In the Dark Ages, the Gangrel were the vampires most commonly associated with the Road of the Beast, which dictates a life based on instinct, similar to that of an animal (living in the immediate present, having no morality, killing whenever necessary but only then).

In the modern setting, Gangrel are commonly allies of the Brujah and enemies of the Ravnos. The Gangrel severed its ties with the Camarilla in 1999, when the Camarilla's ruling body refused to lend aid to the clan's Justicar to fight a creature he identified as an Antediluvians (the god-like progenitors of the vampire clans).

Disciplines:
• Animalism - Control over animals
• Fortitude - Increased stamina
• Protean - Ability to shapeshift

Vampire: The Dark Ages

Unlike their brethren, Gangrel spurn the trappings of civilization, preferring to roam the deep wilds of solitude. The Gangrel is a clan only in the loosest sense; its members tend to be rugged individualists, indifferent to the protocols of either mortal or vampire. They are the bestial ones, the closest to losing themselves to the wild.

Many Gangrel appear as, and dress in the manner of, barbarian people. Furs, plaids, deerskin clothing and similar garb predominate. Some, emulating the Highland Picts, go about in woad and little else.

Of course, those unfortunate Gangrel who have fallen prey to the Beast one too many times have a look all their own. Tufted ears, horns, coats of fur, razor talons, gleaming catlike eyes, even feathers and scales adorn (deform?) these bêtes noires, and feral musk wafts from them.

Gangrel of Note

* Odin: Also called the All-Heart. His power is second to none in terms of Gangrel Methuselah.
* Brunhilde: Leader of the Valkyries. She discovered the All-Heart (Odin) while he was awakening from Torpor.
* Valgar: Diablerist of Brunhilde, self-made Methuselah. He was famously called out at the Convention of Thorns for his countless acts of brutality towards his own race.
*Pjotr Malachiovic: Gangrel assassin, also known as Vis and many other names.
*Xavier: Last Gangrel Justicar. Expelled the Gangrel Clan from the Camarilla.
*Bulve: Elder Einerjar Gangrel, Also Known as Beowolf.
*Nantaam: Childer of Bulve, Slayer of Tzimisce Vozhd.

Other appearances

*Julian Luna's bodyguard Cash (Channon Roe) in the television series was the Primogen (or leader) of the local Gangrels of a fictional San Francisco, California.
*Gangrel was also the ring-name of a wrestler, played by wrestler David Heath. He performed for the World Wrestling Federation in the late 1990s. His gimmick was that of a Gothic Vampire.

References

* "" (Revised Edition) by White Wolf Game Studio|White Wolf (1998)

Links

* [http://www.jcmrpgart.blogspot.com/ Vampire NPC gallery] NPC (non-player character) gallery with examples of Gangrel characters