Tzimisce

The symbol of Clan Tzimisce.

The Tzimisce are the most overtly monstrous and least pronounceable clan in Vampire: The Masquerade (Unless you are Greek, it's the name of a famous family.). Their signature Discipline is Vicissitude, the power to shape flesh and bone like clay, which these Fiends use on themselves as much as their unwilling victims. A strong part of the Sabbat, the Fiends are the faction's scholars and spiritual leaders.

Their history stretches back to the early days of eastern Europe, when their Antediluvian and namesake made a pact with a powerful demon known as Kupala, freeing it from its earthen prison in exchange for magical knowledge. The pact bound Tzimisce's blood to the land, creating the clan's great weakness: the Fiends must sleep with earth taken from their mortal homelands to maintain their power. During the Dark Ages, the Tzimisce came into heated conflict with the fledgling clan Tremere over the latter's use of Tzimisce blood to unlock the secrets of vampirism. The Anarch Revolt saw the clan's hierarchy severely weakened and most Tzimisce have taken to a solitary existence since then, studying the vampiric condition, the extent of their powers, and the limits of human morality. The Tzimisce are the innovators of the Paths of Enlightenment, codes of conduct intended to handle the Beast in ways that don't require aping the niceties of human society.

Unlike the Ventrue, they don't have affinity for Dominate, so the Fiends rule through sheer terror. Vicissitude is the key to the Tzimisce's dominance. It is the power to shape flesh and bone in ways nature can't even imagine in its worst nightmares. Fiends make use of furniture made from living (in most cases, still living) human slaves and can merge multiple creatures together to create engines of war such as the dreaded vozhd. When applied to themselves, Tzimisce can reshape their bodies in any way imaginable, creating utterly inhuman forms as the whim strikes them.

There are exactly two nice things that can be said of them. The first is that they're about the only vampires left that will loudly and openly proclaim the innocence of the Salubri and the crime of the Tremere in framing and destroying them. Admittedly, this is almost certainly part of their eternal hatred of the Tremere, but baby steps (Honestly they are morally even worse than worst Tremere, but this is Vampire).

The second is their belief in old-world traditions of hospitality and proper conduct. If a Tzimisce's offering you the chance to stay in his house, sup on his larder, and suffer no trouble or injury while you're there, he means it. For all their outrageous inhumanity, casual deceit and treachery is beneath them (see previous point).

Old Clan Tzimisce

The less Edgy and Grimdark of the Tzimisce. They are exactly what the Dracula from Bram Stoker's novels depicted. Not necessarily murderous or torturing to their human charges, they still see them as tools, and chill in Eastern Europe. Their quote explains a lot:

Thousands of human lives have been taken by my hands. I am a protector of humanity, but my vigilance comes with a price.

Basically the young ones hang around a single estate or apartment furnished by their servants, they are overlords of their humans and insular lords of their keeps. If anyone earns an invitation after informing them of their visit, they will be the safest as White Wolf setting gets.

Although they are among the most macabre and evil beings in the world, they are the ones who have some common sense and a decent grasp on being a ruler of humans. They place little value on the lives (and unlives) of others. Yet despite this, they are vigilant in their vows to save the world from the threats of Vicissitude and other Kindred. They also have a great love of knowledge, surpassed in the Black Hand only by the True Brujah. They have a good understanding of both Thaumaturgy and science. They are also known for the high value they place upon privacy.

Vlad Tepes is NOT of the Old Clan, the defining trait of the Old Clan is the fact they see Vicissitude as a disease, but Dracula sees it just as a tool of power, and many other Elders like him use Vicissitude which makes them Clan Tzimisce, even if they are not as wild as the Sabbat.

Another offshoot of the clan are the Children of the Dracon, which are Tzimisce who refuse to use Koldunism (vastly used by the Old Clan and %10 percent of the Tzimisce elders who survived the Anarch Revolt), because they see those Disciplines as demonic tools that leave Cainites as demon slaves, even if the Children of Dracon are Sabbat. Perhaps they are right, considering the fact that Koldunic Sorcery is heavily tied to Kupala, who is a pagan deity that is most likely a Talon of the Wyrm or a Earthbound demon.