#strauss vtm

[aethismantis]

Don't tell them about The Baby🥺

[iravaid]

Maximilian Strauss’ babysitting : Him lounging on a couch with a goblet of blood while Lunchbox explains FNAF’s entire lore to him (through slideshows and charades.)

you're so fucking right. immense exchange of knowledge occurring in the tremere inner sanctum

Lunchbox could master blood magic but strauss could NEVER comprehend the total scope of fnaf lore from the matpat mpreg to other shit idk i never had a fnaf phase

[vtmb-references]

Maximillian Strauss Reference

[aethismantis]

RTX OFF

RTX ON

Thanks @vtmb-references for the screenshot! You make work for VTM:B artists SO MUCH easier

[iravaid]

Diviner Bureaucrat

Malkavian LaCroix AU - Nines/LaCroix - Graphic Depictions of Violence

Complete - 160k words, 27 chapters

A full moon hangs in the sky, three days after the Battle of Waterloo.

While Sebastian LaCroix was intended for clan Ventrue, the Malkavians had other plans.

In the twenty-first century, as the Anarch Free State begins to dissolve, everyone expects the Camarilla to make their move in an attempt to reclaim Los Angeles. But no one thought they'd install a Malkavian, of all things, as Prince. There's more than a fair share of uproar on both sides.

Jack, of course, thinks it's the funniest thing to happen to the city in decades, who knows what'll happen next.

After a long, long time I finally finished my malkavian lacroix fic! felt right to make a long chapter summary, with warnings, for people to take a look at.

I also have a playlist for this fic! Right Here

Chapter links below:

1 - The Transylvania Effect

In the aftermath of Waterloo, under the light of a full moon, Sébastien La Croix meets his demise.

2 - Living Death

Sébastien La Croix wakes up and experiences Kindred neonate-hood. In Los Angeles, Smiling Jack watches as Prince LaCroix makes his debut. 

Warning for implied rape

3 - Childe Amidst the Flowers

Dover’s Ventrue Prince offers Sébastien the chance for an out from his Sire’s coterie.

Warning for graphic depiction of someone being bludgeoned to death

Art of this scene by @beanphomet

4 - The Thaw of Spring

Sébastien recovers from the aftermath of the previous chapter. In LA, Nines Rodriguez and Prince LaCroix meet face to face. 

5 - Lear 1:4

Sebastian strains against his patron in South Africa, following the captivity of a Nagloper from the mines. 

Warning for violence, gore, panic attacks, and immolation - the lattermost involves a scene where kerosene is poured on someone’s face

6 - Carnival of Horrors

Prince LaCroix convinces Nines to investigate a murder scene with him.

Warning for graphic description of a mutilated corpse

7 - New York, New York

Sebastian LaCroix’s ninety years in New York City and his carving a place in the Camarilla. He learns how to fly.

Warning for violence, self-harm, threatened infanticide, mild sexual content, eye trauma, and allusions to past sexual assault

8 - Lyssa, Goddess of Frenzy

Nines finds the monster waiting in the junkyard, Sebastian comes to his aid.

Warning for graphic descriptions of violence, injury, and animal death

9 - Feel the Heat Beneath Your Fingers

Nines and Sebastian have a talk, following the events of the junkyard.

Warning for mild sexual content

10 - Saccades

The year long affair between Nines Rodriguez and Sebastian LaCroix.

Warning for mild sexual content, self harm, and mentions of gang violence.

11 - The Game Begins, A Pawn Is Moved

The Fledgling makes their appearance.

12 - The Curious Case of the City of Angels

In Los Angeles, Sebastian and the Sheriff investigate the Elizabeth Dane. In New York City, Gianni D’Angelo and Qadir al-Asmai investigate Sebastian.

13 - Night at the Museum: Bloodlines

Sebastian seeks out the Sarcophagus in the Museum of Natural History, as does a certain historian.

Warning for violence, graphic description of a mutilated corpse, and references to dissociation

14 - What Goes Around

Nines’ actions with the Prince catch up to him. Sebastian visits the Hollywood Cemetery.

Warning for blackmail and mentions of sex

15 - Ziener van Ardennen

The Deb of Night airs. Sebastian and the Sheriff are directed to 609 King’s Way. 

Warning for body horror, gore - general Vicissitude and Tzimisce jackassery

16 - Sever

Sebastian and Nines talk. It devolves.

Warning for threats of violence, mentions of gore

17 - Shedding Light

Damsel overhead their argument. Strauss approaches Beckett.

18 - The Giovanni Job

Bertram, Knox, Mitnick, Imalia, and some guy in a gimp suit rob the Giovanni.

Warning for violence and gore

19 - Come Stay! At The Cecil Hotel!

Sebastian and Beckett infiltrate the Cecil Hotel. A cab driver watches from the curb.

Warning for gun violence

20 - What Goes Around Reprise

Nothing remains hidden forever - Sebastian realises this when he returns to Venture Tower.

21 - Long Time No See

Sebastian comes face to face with his past, and is thrown out a window,

Warning for violence, eye trauma, and knife injuries

22 - Foxhole Musings

Sebastian, Mercurio, and the Sheriff regroup following the events in Venture Tower.

Warning for description of eye inury

Commission of this scene by @shrocreative

23 - Dragon's Stoop

The Sabbat make their attack on the Last Round. Nines encounters Andrei.

Warning for body horror, violence, gore, and graphic description of injury

24 - Lextalionis

Sebastian attempts to flee Santa Monica while evading the blood hunt. He gets a cab.

Warning for violence and a panic attack

25 - You're Going to China

Dissuaded from fleeing the city, Sebastian makes Ming Xiao an offer for a trade.

26 - Zulo

The Anarchs launch their counter-attack against the Sabbat. Nines gets help from an unlikely source.

Warning for gore, body horror, and graphic description of injury

27 - All That Could Ever Be

Horrified, yet resigned to his fate, Sebastian returns to Venture Tower. The conflict for Los Angeles comes to a head. 

Warning for torture, violence, mild body horror, and descriptions of gore

There is an embedded link to a song meant to be listened to as a companion to the final scene

[iravaid]

Strauss, most likely referring to something that actually happened: I haven't seen an incident this bad since the bite of '87.

Tremere fledgling with now eternal fnaf brainrot: YOU'RE A GAMER???

The ONLY characterisation of Strauss and the Tremere Fledgling that matters. Gamer brainrot vs academics for 800 years brainrot Fight

[iravaid]

I like to think Strauss has very limited contact with Lunchbox. Not because he would do anything bad to her, but because the last time he got to watch her, he bought her like $5,000 worth of toys/clothes/or basically anything she wanted. If left together for more than an hour, LB is guaranteed to have a new plushie. Strauss would also get her things that most other Kindred wouldn't like human bones or a sword. But not a gun. He has standards.

I feel like Strauss would be very detached around Lunchbox because he's one of the oldest NPCs in VtMB and has had little to no interaction with children for centuries. Not that he's cruel of anything, just. Has no idea how to talk to this little thing that suddenly appeared in LA. Children like those little candies with the wrappers, right? Lunchbox won't steal his expensive and illegal thaumaturgy tomes if he gives her vampire-safe blood sweets, right?? it's a gamble he plays every damn time

Lunchbox is a curious creature by nature and probably checks the chantry out one night when Gary isn't keeping as close an eye on her. She's come to the conclusion Bald Grandpa tolerates her and rewards the bare minimum so long as she is less of a cretin than she normally is. Strauss probably bribes her into being quiet/behave well when she does manage to sneak in every now and again, and Lunchbox catches on to this tactic Quickly. It's her own personal christmas and I feel Strauss has enough funds that he doesn't really notice/care just how Much Lunchbox is weaselling out of him, as long as she behaves. He absolutely gets her a sword, all good vampire children should have a sword. If she so happens to turn it on a very surprised LaCroix... well.... that's just how LA is <3

[iravaid]

do you have any headcanons about strauss?

ooooooo 👀 I don't have Many but here are what I've made for him (again, not set in stone nor do i intend to come across as if these are the Only Interpretations of Strauss) 

A lot of this is extrapolated from what I've read on the VtMB and White Wolf wiki, all for peepaw <3

Born in the Styrian region of Austria in the early 1300s, to vintners who found their fortune in the Slovene Hills. Able to be sent off to convent schools where he was taught how to read and write Latin etc. I like to think the Tremere and other Kindred like Ventrue and Toreador had a hand in these schools, so they could pick out and groom potential candidates to Embrace.

Studied medicine in the Kingdom of Portugal, anatomy being his favourite subject.

Was Embraced in the mid-to-late 1300s, long before the Monmartre Pact which resulted in the Gargoyle Creation Rite to be destroyed and potentially ‘lost’ to Tremere embraced after 1489.

Was in his 20s when he was approached by his sire with an offer, upon accepting Strauss was groomed to be a Tremere and given time to study magic before being Embraced in his 40s/50s.

Is tall for his time period. Softer, though, as he never had a desire to take up any sports or physical hobbies, preferring to learn things like embroidery and calligraphy. nerd. But this does carry over to his study of thaumaturgy in that Strauss masters several paths relatively quickly, his dedication to the Tremere’s most valued skill making him very respected in the clan. 

Mastered Biothaumaturgy, Path of Blood, and Path of Hearth, dabbles in Alchemy and Elemental Mastery because they’re familiar to what he learned during his human days. Probably takes a very academic approach to learning other disciplines, especially ones outside his clan (like Obfuscate); will note how different they ‘feel’ and the way his vitae reacts to the different levels of each. 

Made the Gargoyle that we see in the game to protect the first chantry he was given regency over. Has been the sentinel of every chantry Strauss has presided over since its creation, before breaking away during the events of VtMB.

Owns a set of books bound in human leather, a gift from a Tzimisce acquaintance. Details rituals involving blood magic that have been banned from Camarilla Tremere for centuries, now. 

As Regent he also trains apprentices, lower level and younger Tremere. I think he’s a very good teacher, the ones that always seem serious but start to thaw out in your last year of study. Has little tolerance for jokes and pranks, unless they have a certain... intelligent flair to them.

Has a soft spot for his younger Tremere. They’re his students, in one way or another, and Strauss does what he can to ensure his chantry is that of a place of learning and safety. The Tremere must stick together, in this World of Darkness.

Came to LA as Strauss felt the Tremere needed to establish themselves in an important coastal city before the Sabbat closed them in for good. Tolerates LaCroix because of this but knows he’d do a better job than the young Prince. 

I can imagine some of the more influential Camarilla figures visiting LA might try and set up secret meetings with the ‘real’ Prince. Whether Strauss rejects them, touting respect for the Camarilla’s decision in LA’s first Prince in decades, or accepts said offers with a smug pride, is something very few are privy to. 

Respects action, as seen with Strauss’ respect of Nines and lack thereof for LaCroix. 

Would probably play Fucked Up Genius 3D Chess with Andrei and Ming Xiao. They’re all simultaneously winning and losing, and the result of the game will only be revealed in several years.

I don’t think he likes Isaac because Isaac does very little to protect his own ‘children’ and doesn’t seem as engaged with his barony as would be necessary in the tumultuous county. Would pity Ash.

Likes wearing heavy clothing and prefers almost all his body to be covered; it both shrouds and protects him from unseen eyes and hazardous experiments.

Very resistant to fire and its effect on his Beast, has probably trained it into himself personally so he can brood in front of the lit fireplace with a wineglass full of blood.

Fluent in Austrian, English, Portuguese, Latin, Greek, and French.