The Dragon Logo of the Kuei-Jin
The Kuei-Jin are East Asian vampires, with several important differences from their Western kin.
History[]
The Kuei-Jin do not claim descent from Caine, but have a similar origin myth involving the Creator of the Universe, who they know as the "August Personage in Jade", creating supernatural creatures to rule over creation. But these creatures became corrupt, and instead of feeding on the Chi of the Earth, fed on the Chi of living beings. Chi is mystical life energy, not blood, but most Kuei-Jin obtain it from living beings through the usual route of drinking their blood. The Creator cursed his corrupted creations, then left them to contemplate their fallen nature for all eternity. Various Western clans claim, with varying degrees of believability, that the Kuei-Jin are mere minor offshoots of their own exalted lines of descent from Caine, but the truth is lost in the mists of history. What is clear is that the Kuei-Jin were never members of the Camarilla or the Sabbat, although they maintained within their own ranks a rigid hierarchy even more firmly adhered to than anything the Camarilla or Sabbat ever imposed on their own members. The Kuei-Jin survived Gehenna relatively unscathed, and their fierce defense of their ancestral homelands are a big reason that the Eastern Bloc was able to refuse incorporation into the Earth Federation for so long. When the Eastern Bloc traded away their territories on Earth for their new home on reclaimed former Bug worlds, the Kuei-Jin went with them, along with the Hengeyokai, the Eastern Werecreatures. This meant that when the Vin Shriak destroyed the Eastern Bloc, and then the Caal swept through the former Bloc worlds which had been absorbed by the Federation, nearly all the Kuei-Jin were wiped out. A handful survive on New Tokyo and elsewhere, but their numbers are tiny and their organization defunct. Those few survivors take refuge wherever they can find it, with whatever local Vampire groups will take them, or try to hide on their own and draw as little attention to themselves as possible.
Clan Traits[]
The Kuei-Jin are much less vulnerable to sunlight than most Western clans, able to stand direct sunlight for brief periods of time when well fed. They do not necessarily need to take blood, but feed on Chi, and a victim drained of chi is as listless and lethargic as one nearly drained of blood. If they take enough Chi, they do still kill their victim. The Kuei-Jin claim to not reproduce by the embrace like other vampires; rather, they arise naturally when a damned soul strikes a deal so as to escape hell, and instead returns to inhabit its former body as a demonic cannibalistic hellbeast. Mature Kuei-Jin seek out these newly revived demon-possessed bodies and impose on them the discipline and wisdom which will enable them to tame the beast within them, a far more wily and canny opponent than the mindless yawning pit of endless hunger that torments Western vampires. Some Kuei-Jin can even move from body to body not unlike a Caal, either to hide more effectively in Mortal society, or to escape their own second death by moving to a new host.