Book excerpt: The Dark Ages Clan Novel Saga is a 13-volume series of novels set in the world of Dark Ages: Vampire, released by White Wolf from 2002 to the end of 2004. The series begins with Dark Ages Clan Novel 1: Nosferatu and ends with Dark Ages Clan Novel 13: Tzimisce. Inspired by the original modern-day Clan Novel Saga for Vampire: The Masquerade, this series begins with the end of the original Vampire: The Dark Ages era and continued into the timeframe of Dark Ages: Vampire. The 13 novels are written from the POV of one clan each during the turbulence that swept through the mortal and Cainite societies of Europe following the fall of Constantinople in the Fourth Crusade. These novels, unlike the original Clan Novel Series, are chronological, happening one after the other rather than interlapping. Dark Ages Clan Novel #12 Ventrue: The Tides of War Jürgen the Swordbearer, vampiric Warlord of Germany, has his future riding on a push into the pagan lands of Livonia. There he faces the Gangrel warlord who has already brought an ancient low and the secret machinations of the dread Cainite Heresy. But his greatest enemy may be his own passions—his lust for power, his need for recognition, and his longing for the Toreador beauty Rosamund.