Clan Daeva

Read Blood and Smoke for an exploration of the Daeva mindset and relationship with the Beast. Our notes below give an idea of how they function socially and politically within Dark Metropolis.

Please bear in mind that these are still early notes and are not set in stone, especially as more setting information becomes available from White Wolf. However, we do not anticipate deviating from these notes drastically when we run Dark Met.


Clan Daeva
Gone But Not Forgotten

Mask: Rebellious Pariahs, Noble Firebrands
Dirge: Hurt and Needy Outcasts, Attention Seekers

Who Are They?

The Daeva are the disenfranchised firebrands, the Kindred who have to fight for every inch, a clan riven by internal tensions and rejected by the Court. In a Court that values self-control, the Daeva are dangerously emotional, viewed as slaves to their attachments rather than masters of them. They find it more difficult to rise through the ranks, and those that do make sure to demonstrate self-control. The ones that rise are always seen by the Court as ‘good for a Daeva’. To their own clan, they are traitors who reject their natures, called ‘pragmatists’ by those who like them and ‘sycophants’ by those who don’t.

What Do They Want?

Recognition by the Court. Failing that, solidarity as they party in the liminal places. Many of them encode a big ‘fuck you’ into everything they do: though the Court can sweep them into the gutters, they’ll make damn sure it won’t forget them. What’s worse than being rejected? Being ignored.

Where Did They Come From?

Clan Daeva used to have more respect in Norwich, though they were always regarded with suspicion, like children who might do something stupid at any time. Roughly fifty years ago the dangerous obsessions of a few older Daeva with a group of Kine caused a serious risk to the Masquerade and rifts between members of the Court. The details are not talked about much these days, out of respect for the Elders, who were well thought of at the time, but the members of the Court saw it as a confirmation of what they already believed of the Daeva: they were narcissists and addicts who cared more for their own pleasures than for the Masquerade and the safety of other Kindred.

The Daeva Elders who had been involved in the incident went into voluntary torpor, acknowledging that they had become too attached to their food, and the Ancilla found that the Court became an unwelcoming place for them. Those with higher status were shunted out of their positions and the Daeva fell from grace.

Many left the city, outraged at being treated so, and those who stayed had to make a choice: work to prove to the Court that they were stable enough (and un-Daeva enough) to be trusted, denying their passions, or rebel.

What Do They Do?

While there has never been an out and out rebellion among the Daeva (most of them are smart enough to know that the other clans have too much to lose in helping them, and they can’t take on the Prince’s support network alone), they have used every opportunity to show how little they care about the system.

However, they also need to survive day to day, so they form alliances and do jobs for other Kindred. They find that even if they swear they don’t need anyone, they just hate feeling ignored, and if they allow themselves to be shut out of the system completely, they will almost certainly be forgotten.

Whether buying into the system for mainstream acceptance or as a statement of rebellion, very few Daeva are completely apolitical. Even those who reject the system wholesale, the fringe cases, are vocal in their raging and make sure the lapdog Kindred know what they’re missing.

Of course, being rejected by other Kindred just makes it all the sweeter when you can control the Kine with a bat of your lashes. Most Daeva have links to the mortal world, if nothing else because their feeding makes them...attached...to their victims. They’ll generally keep away from other Kindred’s Regencies for feeding and socialising. However, some of them deliberately go head to head with High Court Kindred in the mortal world, because Kindred influence can only go so far in stopping them. Maybe it’s because the Daeva are so used to humans falling at their feet to please them, but members of the clan seem to take it as a personal affront when other Kindred dismiss them.

They live on the fringes, in storm tunnels, in barren bits of the city paying way over the odds for rent to their Regent. But they always make something of it. Push them down, they come back up and make you wish you’d gone down there with them. They have turned the storm tunnels into their personal playground. They’ve taken a deserted warehouse Haven and made it a highly illegal, highly desirable nightclub. It’s not velvet ropes and champagne fountains: it’s industrial chic and raw, bleeding edge fashion. It’s pirate cinema and counter culture. They’re trendsetters who refuse to walk the runways and MCs who operate best on no budget and a legal grey area. Somehow, they’ve taken their banishment and turned it into a fashion statement.

High Court and Low Court

There are very few High Court Daeva. Those that have made it to the top almost exclusively distance themselves from the behaviour of their clan mates, though they do not necessarily reject them on a personal basis. They are still often fiercely loyal within the clan and see themselves as ‘doing it for the clan’ as well as for themselves - they frame themselves as pragmatists who cater to Elders because they have a long term view. Some of them walk the fine line between clan and city, but others are proud of their compromise. The exceptions to this rule are those who could not avoid having positions within the court, or when the Daeva clan as a whole has decided to force someone into a position.


Within the Low Court, they often profess confidence and power they don’t have, using their social dominance in the Kine world as a way of making up for their lack of status in the Kindred one. They play favourites and know the value of helping people out when they’re in a pinch. They don’t keep track of who owes whom (who has the time?) but a bit of give and take maintains their position.

Development Notes

Clan Daeva are traditionally the high society darlings who throw the best parties and know all the best people. We wanted to see how they would do as underdogs, as people with everything to lose. We also liked the paradox of the Daeva who can treat humans as vessels for blood and attention with barely a thought but who couldn’t just Majesty their way into court positions.

We wanted the Daeva to be desperate and raw, because when the Daeva fall from grace, they turn it into a rebellion and pretend it was their idea all the time. There’s still space for the traditional Daeva among those who still want to have court positions (the ‘pragmatists’), but they are rare and face prejudice from their own clan, as well as the already-existing prejudice against their clan as a whole. We were careful to make their rejection of the system highly political - just dropping the mic and walking out doesn’t make the game any fun.

Questions to think about with Daeva characters

Why did you come to a place that so clearly hates you?
Was it really your best, or only, option?
Or do you just like a challenge?
Are you willing to put aside your clan for status, or willing to put aside status to be true to your clan?
If your character is a rebel, what statement are they making?
If your character is a pragmatist, how do they justify going along with the system?
How do they deal practically with growing attached to those they feed from?
Do they feed on a few people to keep control over their attachments or spread their feeding widely to avoid any one strong attachment?
Who or what do they care about? When Daeva care, they do so passionately.
Do they try to keep the things they love separate from their life, denying themselves to protect their loved ones?
Or do they enjoy the things they hold dear while they last and risk losing them?