Salubri
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The Salubri are a fictional bloodline of vampires from White Wolf Game Studio's Vampire: The Masquerade books and role-playing games.
In ancient times, the Salubri were once a full clan, divided into two castes, the healers and the warriors. They were founded by Saulot, said to be the wisest and most merciful of the Antediluvians (ancient vampires; the thirteen grandchilder of Caine). They were nearly wiped out during the Dark Ages era, when Tremere himself, the founder of the Tremere clan, consumed Saulot's soul and initiated a campaign of destruction against the clan as a whole. In modern times, there are said to be only seven Salubri in existence at once. They quest for the vampiric enlightenment called Golconda, and when one of them believes he has found it, he creates a childe and has her devour his soul. (It should be noted that technically, vampires who've achieved Golconda are immune to having their souls consumed, which suggests that the history of the modern Salubri is filled with a series of mistaken and tragically suicidal individuals.)
Some evidence exists that Saulot traveled to the Far East and learned the healing and warrior arts of the Obeah Discipline by somehow unlocking the secrets of the Kuei-jin. Kuei-jin refer to Saulot as "Zao-Lat", typically with an unpleasant epithet attached. Tiny enclaves of Salubri-like Kindred known as the Wu Zao also reside in remote locations in the Far East, lending further credence to these tales.
The Salubri are marked by their possession of a third eye in the center of their foreheads; when closed, it resembles a thin scar, and it opens whenever they use their healing powers. (In fact, its presence is related to the healing powers rather than the Salubri's blood; Salubri who never develop healing abilities never develop a third eye, and vampires of other lineages who learn the healing techniques of the Salubri develop the eye along with them.) They also gain no sustenance from blood taken from unwilling victims.
It has been theorized that Saulot himself is actually the one who initiated the campaign against his clan, after his spirit took brief control over the body of Tremere. This may have something to do with his possible creation of the Baali, almost certainly the vilest and most blasphemous of bloodlines; apparently his reputation as being benevolent was just hype.
In recent years, a Salubri named Adonai rebelled against tradition and defected to the Sabbat, creating the Salubri antitribu by siring a large number of childer. In doing this, he created a variant bloodline. The Salubri antitribu differ from their parent bloodline in that they can only obtain sustenance from blood taken unwillingly and by force (though they can also drink from victims they've recently killed). They also have no healing powers, possessing instead the ancient supernatural combat abilities of the long-extinct Salubri warrior caste (which also provide a third eye, albeit a slightly angrier-looking one).
The Salubri's name comes from the word salubrious.
References
- Vampire: The Masquerade (3rd Edition) by White Wolf (1998)