Samuz
General Information
Birth Name: Samuz
Nickname: Sam
Clan: Tremere
Age: 4,000+
Gender: Male
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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.
