VAMPIRE THE REQUIEM: THE INQUISITION INTRODUCTION in the 15th century, the Kindred are not the only

ones out for blood; the Vatican in Rome are fighting a febrile and deadly battle against vampires, burning them on stakes whenever possible. Vampires, however, try to control the Vatican by infiltrating it and manipulating it from behind the veil. They stay in the dark, posing as scholars or bureaucrats that do not need to be available at daytime. The Inquisition is a powerful and dreaded institution that seeks out vampires to eliminate them because they are perceived as ungodly and linked to the Devil. In their quest to kill vampires, normal people sometimes get in the way; you're never safe when you face the Inquisitors. In this World of Darkness, they are actually burning vampires instead of witches and the like. Unlike the real world, where innocent people were tortured by zealots, the Inquisition and the Vatican actually have a real enemy in the Kindred. The city states of Italy are dirty, dark and chaotic places, perfect for vampires. Death is a constant companion in the cities, either through natural causes, the plague or simple assaults. Every day, men pull out at least a couple of dead bodies from the rivers around the city, and murders are rarely investigated. Rome is the home of Catholicism, but it is also full of sin. Prostitution, drunkenness and gambling are commonplace. The poor sleep in beds made of hay in one story homes, sometimes even without doors. The gap between the wealthy and the poor is huge. Sometimes, people starve. CITY STATES Italy is comprised of several independent city states. The most important are: Venice, Milan, Florence, Genoa, Pisa, Siena, Lucca, Cremona and Rome. An average population number of each city state is between 50,000 and 100,000. Rome is the largest city, with at least 150,000 people.

Travel between the city states is quick, since the infrastructure is good. It would take 1-3 days to travel to any city state, when things get too dangerous in Rome. The smaller city states also provide easier prey, with a lesser danger of being hunted by zealots. However, all of the city states are Catholics and loyal to the Holy Father (the Pope), who himself has proclaimed the war against the unholy vampires.

IMPORTANT LOCATIONS Every city state has the following buildings and institutions: bath halls, wine tavern, whorehouse and library. These are all good places to hide for a vampire. Rome has all of the above mentioned locations, only in larger numbers. There will be at least 50 different wine taverns (and whorehouses) of varying size; they can be a single small room with about 5-10 regular patrons only to huge taverns with space for hundreds of people. Taverns of a certain size offer rentable rooms. THE KINDRED AND THEIR ORGANISATIONS All the 5 clans are present in Rome, while some of the smaller city states only has one clan that dominates the city. The covenants are also present in Rome, but the most important in Rome is The Lancea Sanctum. It is an organization which grew parallel to Christianity, therefore commonly being mistaken for a vampiric equivalent of it. They claim the Roman Centurion Longinus as their founder and they believe Kindred (the word vampires use for themselves) have a role in the Divine Providence: that of the ultimate predators. As vampires, they're to prey upon humans, thus unleashing God's Wrath upon the unworthy and representing tests for the pious. This covenant has infiltrated the Vatican, and its members are in a constant danger of being revealed as vampires. As long as they can

pass as humans, they have good positions with power to use for the covenants objectives, as described above. Some other covenants has also infiltrated the religious institutions for different reasons pertaining to the covenants objectives. How many Kindred in the Italian city states? There is no exact number. Rome may have up to 250 vampires of all types all in all, but because travelling from city state to city state, it would not be unrealistic to have 500 vampires in Rome.