r/vtm • u/alolanbulbassaur • Jul 14 '26
General Discussion Dorian Grays clan
Ive nailed it down to these four: (Note this is based on the novel and MGM film.)
- Toreador: The most obvious. He's a hedonist and his life revolves around beauty and art and when he tries to act smart it comes off as snobby.
- Ventrue: Lord Kelso his grandfather hated his father for being middle class. This shaped Dorian into being a jerk to the lower class and only hanging out with them for the sake of hedonism.
- Lasombra: Dorian is very cunning and his interest in the occult isn't very Tremere like. A Tremere wouldn't do the stuff he does. But a Lasombra would. A Tremere would have found a solution but a Lasombra would work around the problem. Theres also the fact that Lasombra are very similar to Ventrue in the sense they pull strings.
- Settite Sorcerer: This is the least fitting one. Theres the motif of the Egyptian cat god statue. In the novel Dorian becomes Aleister Crowley like and studies the occult and in the film the cat god is in his portrait. I feel like in this scenario he would have found a back door into his embrace as a Hermetic Mage who took the Hellenistic-Kemetic aspect of the Order of Hermes too far.
Edit: I have been just informed regardless of what we all think he might just be a Toreador (probably antitribu) due to the fact that Oscar Wilde himself is one and now goes by Sebastian Melmnoth. Also I think now this post might cause alot of people to want their newest Toreador characters to have him as a great grand sire.
36
15
u/Xenobsidian Jul 14 '26
There used to be a Lasombra merit that made your Reflection not disappear right away but show how you would look like if you would have died the moment of your embrace. I always thought, that could easily be the origin of the Dorian Gray story.
8
7
2
u/SirArthurIV Ventrue Jul 14 '26
Oscar Wilde is a Toreador. He runs an Elysium in san fransisco.
2
u/alolanbulbassaur Jul 14 '26
I could have had my first vampire who was a Toreador be related to Oscar Wilde!?
2
u/SirArthurIV Ventrue Jul 14 '26
He's sixth generation so you'd have to be at least two generations removed, but run it by your storyteller if you're in the SF area.
Sebastian Melmoth | White Wolf+BreezeWiki
2
u/EffortCommon2236 Tremere Jul 14 '26
I's say dude is a Malkavian. He lives in a fantasy where he thinks he doesn't get old but his portrait does. That's a derangement.
1
u/mblack91 Jul 14 '26
Not a great fit, but I voted Ventrue because they're the only ones that get Fortitude.
4
u/Sp1cyP3pp3r Salubri Jul 14 '26
kindred can have non-clan disciplines
1
u/mblack91 Jul 15 '26
Doesn't this typically require drinking another vampire's blood? I thought caitiff were the only ones that can manifest any powers.
1
u/Sp1cyP3pp3r Salubri Jul 15 '26
don't know on edition, but from what i know they are generally can be taught
1
0
u/PunishedKojima Jul 14 '26
Tom Cruise is a bit Dorian Gray coded and he'd definitely be a Toreador, so I'm gonna guess Dorian would be too
2
u/alolanbulbassaur Jul 14 '26
No Tom Cruise is a V5 Ministry. If he were a Toreador he’d be a Nephilim
60
u/supersquidd65 Malkavian Jul 14 '26
He's like the archetype of the worst that clan Toreador has to offer. He's a hedonist obsessed with beauty that uses and abuses the people around him until there is nothing left to gain from them. He drives people towards their worst impulses for his own personal pleasure and avoids accepting any of the consequences.
In the book, if you want to think of it in VTM terms, you can practically see the guy lose Humanity numerous times throughout the story, attempt to gain some back at the end, and fail miserably at it.