Samuz

General Information

Birth Name: Samuz

Nickname: Sam

Clan: Tremere

Age: 4,000+

Gender: Male

Hair:

Eyes: Brown

Skin: Tanned

Height:

Background

The Time of Two Rivers

In the rough ballpark of 2300 BCE, the king known to history of Sargon conquered the cities of Mesopotamia and created what could be said to be the first empire in history. In the era of his rule, a young man of the upper classes grew up. His name was Samuz. As part of his birthright, secret rites and rituals of sorcerers and priests, magick itself. Samuz was a prodigy, with a voracious mind and proficiency that inspired jealousy and numerous rivals. But before they could move against him, something happened.

A lost Antediluvian? Gifts of demons? A working the likes of which the Council of Nine could only dream of? Only Samuz ever knew what and he's never told anyone. Suffice to say, he claimed immortality - in the aspect of a vampire - the first Tremere. He lurked now in shadow, mystery and rites, patient to ensure his survival first, knowledge acquisition second.

But centuries passed and as kingdoms turned to dust and rose, he started to encounter Kindred - and wanted offspring. His first childer was of great potential, like him once a young noble, now of Babylon. That youth's name was Gilgamesh. The clashes between the two and new opponents would be dimly and vaguely transformed into the Epic of Gilgamesh. The infamous 'plant of immortality', eaten by a snake: an assassination committed by the Followers of Set. It would mark the beginning of ages of enmity.

So it might just be a coincidence that within the following 16/17th centuries BCE the Hyksos peoples invaded Egypt, backed with revolutionary military techniques like the war chariot, composite bows and more. And that as quoted by the Jewish historian Josephus many centuries later: "having overpowered the rulers of the land, they hen burned our cities ruthlessly, razed to the ground the temples of gods..."

After a century they were repulsed, but Samuz considered it a sufficient warning. And much as before, Samuz traveled the Fertile Crescent. Phoenicia, Egypt, the Hittite lands, watching, learning, seeing the Assyrians and the Chaldeans, and developing that which would become known in millennia to come as the various paths of Thaumaturgy...

To the Mediterranean

The rise of the great Persian empire broke that routine, pushing Samuz westward towards Sardis. There was after all, an upsurge of fire-worshiping priests with a ritualized hatred of 'creatures of darkness.' The Ionian lands provided more of a mix of peoples that he could more safely lurk within. It was from there that Samuz observed the impressive sight of how a fractious muddle of Greek city states managed to repel and drive off the Persian advance.

But he also took note of their inability to cohere beyond a universal target. Even when surprised by Alexander the Great's vast conquests through Persia, Samuz correctly predicted it would not last after the young king's death. During the Hellenistic period, Samuz made another move of residence, this time to Alexandria, taking up the fill of the new ideas and sciences.

And of course, more clashes with the Setites.

When Caesar made his legendary visit to Egypt at met with Cleopatra, Samuz officially once again decided it was time to transfer his holdings - now as a reclusive but wealthy merchant - over to Rome. Samuz saw the increasing power and influence the legions held in the system and spread his supernatural influence through generations of centurions and commanders.

But never any sign he acted near the imperial purple. He had no interest in it, or desire to draw mortal and Kindred foes. Instead, he saw through them, using them to snare occult relics and artifacts - like Solomon's treasures when Hadrian's forces sacked the rebellious Jerusalem.

A Dark Age

When the Roman Empire clearly started to break down into ailing West and Byzantine East, Samuz went back towards the east, to Constantinople. But now he had a long range goal in mind. Part of that involved the maintenance of Vindobona, the Roman frontier military camp.

Long settled legionary descendants - the precursors to the Flaeglers, kept a settlement going, with much of Samuz's artifacts and lorebooks carefully entombed in underground chambers. Samuz continued to take advantage of the academic and occult learning that sprung from humanity around him (and added some of his own) and waited. Mostly, he kept an eye on the doings of various mortal mages, those as he had once been.

In the mid-8th century, Samuz inducted a new ghoul, Vergilius of Salzburg, the Bishop and a learned man. The intelligent holy man served loyally, and as a reward for his service, Samuz finally created the first childe of his in millennia. Vergilius' supposed death in 784 covered up his transformation and building the basis for his sire's power seat in the Danube.

Babenburgs and Tremere

When the Babenburg noble line created the Duchy of Austria, it was the signal that Samuz had been waiting for. He moved to Vienna at last, and set up his preserve as a beacon for more magi, whom he lured in with the offers of immortality and great power. Of his disciples, one of the foremost, Tremere, would be the Embraced Kindred whose name would be placed onto the House as a whole around the turn of the millennium.

Samuz crafted House Tremere's culture while using Vergilius and his other childe disciples to recruit more followers and play the face of the House. He instilled the values of self-sufficiency, subtlety, learning and adaptability.

Even today, the House's official histories refer to Tremere as the founder - while any member of the Clan who has been around for any reasonable length of time knows - at a minimum, that this is not so.

Burning and the Camarilla

The two principal events that shook Samuz were the Inquisition's Burning Times and the rise of the Order of Reason. Though House Tremere was more insulated from the tragedies, it was still damaged nonetheless. Samuz did not fear for himself, but was not intent on seeing his works plunge into ruin because of the follies of other vampires.

At his direction, House Tremere played a major role in bringing together Kindred factions and crafting the Traditions of the Camarilla. Meanwhile, House Tremere would maintain its quiet contacts with the Council of Nine and the Technocracy, playing both against each other as need be.

The one thing Samuz was not expecting was not the formation of the Sabbat, or that such dissidents arose in fair numbers. It was one of his childe and the renegade Tremere antribu whose defected shocked and enraged him. This would ensure his participation in the mystic rituals that neutered the Assamites, marked the betrayers and kept the Setites at bay.

Generations Since

Though after the House was resecured, Samuz reverted to a hands-off policy, letting the Tremere elders generally run the show while he delved into more lore, explored the world and kept his eyes on mortal society.