This is a story I imagine Ryan telling. I'll probably clean it up/fix it up a bit and then give it to my players.
I think I had better tell you the story of what has happened to the vampires over the last one hundred years or so; more specifically, how Judith managed to get into power. It might help you with whatever it is your plan is going to be. After all, our end goal is the same; getting us Carthians into the position Judith now is in.
In the 50s, Perth's vampire community was a bit different to the way it is now. We lived primarily in our own individual Havens, with a few sires keeping their childer with them for a dozen years or so until they found their place in the vampire heirachy. We Carthians were even fewer in number then - in fact, there were only two or three of us, and we called ourselves Invictus because it was easier to pretend to be a part of a larger covenant, and hold our rare meetings in secret.
The Prince was not a Prince but an Archbishop, and his name was Kaamil, and I'm sure you can gather that it means the Lancea Sanctum was in power. And they had a lot of it. There were about thirty of them. It was a different world back then; new childer now rarely get swayed by the Sanctum, but many people in that time saw it as a way to continue to experience their fragile humanity in some form. It helped them make sense of their curse, with all the promises that their god made of salvation and redemption.
Back then, there were more Nosferatu. Dozens. Now there are only two or three left, as I'm sure the more astute of you may have realized.
Nosferatu are a strange species, they prefer the company of their own kind and make their lives underground, either using old sewer systems or making their own winding, filthy tunnels. The Nosferatu actually created the area under the museum that the majority of the vampire population now lives in. They are patient and have nothing to do with their time but sire childer and dig tunnels.
Then Judith came in - I think it was from Melbourne though it may have been Sydney. One of the big cities, at any rate. She brought with her an entourage of about a dozen of her most loyal and strong vampires. Being an Invictus, us precious few Carthians saw her as being preferable to the Sanctum, and happily sided with her in the battle against the Sanctum. Her loyal vampires included Fiona, Gabe and Walter amongst their most powerful.
The Archbishop and his Inquisitors tried to hold us back, but ultimately we reigned victorious. He affably stepped down from power when he saw there was no way he would win, but the stubborn old man did so after a great many of his people were dead. They were so low in numbers that they had to resort to siring new childer so they would not go extinct or be doomed to obscurity like the Ordo Dracul.
Judith needed a Haven, suiting her status of course, and so she and hers approached the Nosferatu. You can't live in a hotel forever, after all!
In exchange for a steady supply of human blood, amongst other things, Judith convinced them to carve out the hallways and rooms the Invictus now live in. You must understand the Nosferatu enjoy living in irregular tunnels, but most everyone else likes the order and cleanness of a square room. So Judith made them dig those more or less perfectly shaped rooms and halls. I'm not sure what she promised them, but, as you'll see, they never got a chance to find out.
After a year of drinking dayjuice and the resulting continuous digging, the Nosferatu had completed their task. So they all took a day of well-earned rest, going into the daily sleep that they had missed out on for a solid year.
During that day, while they were helpless, Judith sent a contingent of her loyal ghouls in with flamethrowers.
There were very few survivors, save for the ones who had left their Nosferatu colleagues behind long before - such as Michela, the Sheriff, who had become more loyal to the Sanctum than the unaligned Nosferatu. Misguided woman still passes herself off as human - and as the Police Commissioner, no less!
But I digress.
I received word that we were all welcome to move our Havens into the new quarters; we would each be given a room or rooms appropriate to our status.
I remember walking down those stairs for the first time. The first thing that struck me was the smell, a smell I haven't experienced before or since. The half-drying paint fumes mixed in with the pungent ash, the unmistakable smell of a vampire that had burned.
I felt my shoes on the soft, fire-retardant carpet; it must have been expensive. I dialled the combination of the padlock on the door - in those days, you see, we didn't have keypads yet, but the padlock was sturdy. I opened the door, and with the rush of those smells - those awful smells, all the more potent now - I thought I could hear them groaning in half-felt pain. I shivered involuntarily for the first and only time since my death, the images of burning vampire bodies choking my mind.
All that paint and plush, fire-retardant carpet reminds my body what it feels like to need to vomit. Sure, those digusting creatures didn't have much - anything - in the way of a respectable culture, but it was a culture nonetheless, and now there is no trace of it.
That's why we Carthians don't like to make our Havens down there - we mourn the nosferatu who were lost.
None of us ever expected to be mourning nosferatu.
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