I once compiled the following list of vampires from 19th and early 20th century fiction as examples for players in a 'Victorian Age: Vampire' campaign, to explain the clans while avoiding any references that wouldn't roughly fit the timeframe of our narrative. As a side effect, these vampires are among the earliest foundations for the literary archetypes that are perpetuated by later writers. There are many more of those, of course, but I found these to be a good fit to transport the flavor of the clans.
Brujah: Sir Francis Varney from 'Varney the Vampire' by James Malcom Rymer (1845-47)
Varney has a quick temper and is given to incredible mood swings (so much so that his fury was the very thing that damned him through his actions in the first place). He will try to insinuate himself in social situations but when he gets frustrated, he resorts to violence. He's incredibly vengeful but he also loathes his own condition and pines for his lost humanity, an inner conflict that makes him very ineffectual in practical matters and tears him apart in the end. He likes to hint at the greatness he once possessed but it is long gone and if he ever had it, he is now only a mere shadow of his former self. He has a rebellious streak and is obssessed with tearing down the established order but when one looks more closely, his motives are revealed as envy of something that he thinks should belong to him. His main powers are superhuman strength and agility, as well as the ability to put people under his spell so that they are eager to serve him.
Gangrel: Count Dracula from 'Dracula' by Bram Stoker (1897).
Dracula is very much an outsider, the wolf come among the lambs. The simple, wild, violent world of a countryside ruled by autocratic noblemen that he is used to has become a tiny refuge. Modern cities, their social structures and their technology both fascinate and repel him, so he tries to make it is new hunting ground, which he succeeds at at first but ultimately fails at. He has a wild, animal cunning and a survivor's instinct but he can be outwitted by people who cooperate (whereas he is a loner) and make full use of the advantages of civilization (whereas he will rely on his mystical and martial powers). In his own way he possesses a great nobility and pride, but his savage nature alienates him from others and will come out sooner or later, right down to the many subtly feral features he possesses. Among his many powers are his command over the animal kingdom and the base instincts of his prey, his incredible hardiness and his ability to shapeshift into many different forms.
Malkavian: Mircalla, Countess Karnstein from 'Carmilla' by Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu (1871-72).
Mircalla/Carmilla is caught in the rituals she must adhere to. Her life is one of endless repetition of the same compulsions. She is driven by powerful urges she can't control, even when it would be advisable for her to do so. Though she is able to get by concealing her identity, she is never really capable of adpating. Her personality and rituals are totally rigid and very strange and disturbing. She sometimes seems delusional and enters a fugue state more than once. People around her tend to go slowly mad or have deeply unsettling nightmares, often questioning if what they find is real. Sometimes it seems, like she is driving them mad on purpose. Among her various powers are the ability to conceal herself and change her appearance, outright mesmerism and a sort of telepathy or out of body projection.
Nosferatu: Count Orlok from 'Nosferatu: Eine Symphonie des Grauens' by Friedrich Wilhelm Murnau with a screenplay written by Henrik Galeen (1922).
(Although the character was originally based on Dracula, it was altered so greatly that it has become an archetype of its own. He most resembles the slavic vampires of folklore among the vampires listed here, so he is, in a way, both the oldest and the most recent archetype.)
Count Orlok is a deeply lonely being with a demonic countenance who is constantly surrounded by vermin. Decay follows him, aside from his castle his urban havens later in the story are all more hiding holes in far-off places then real homes, and he spreads disease. He is absolutely starved for contact and has an envious desire of beauty - both of which ultimately lead him to his doom, because he even neglects escaping the sunrise for it. Not only is he horrifically ugly, his social skills leave much to be desired, even when he tries to be accomodating. We only ever see people react to him with fear and revulsion and he positively revels in it most of the time. He lures people to his place of power or hunts stealthily. He is actually rather lost, when he can't control his environment or is in an unknown situation. His powers include absolutely superhuman strength, the ability to hide in or appear from the shadows and his command of vermin.
Toreador: Zdeňka from 'The Family of the Vurdalak' by Aleksey Konstantinovich Tolstoy (1839).
(Though there are many vampires in this story and she isn't even the primary antagonist (in fact, she starts out as an innocent human), she best embodies the stereotype in my mind and can thus serve as a sort of placeholder for the type of vampire present in the story.)
Zdeňka is very beautiful and even as a vampire she is very good at keeping up appearances of being nothing but an ordinary human. The main character doesn't notice what she's become until its feeding time. She is a clever, subtle hunter, enjoying the game, drawing it out for the sheer fun of it, even when there's no practical need to. She is good at using the emotional weaknesses of her victim to first get him to open up and trust her, then to stoke his desire for her. She gets him to think that he is the seducer and she is the seduced. She has a great and genuine appreciation for beautiful things and there is some real humanity left in her, only every passion has gotten a dark, hungry twist. Like all vampires in this story she is driven by very intense, very mortal feelings and wants to make those she loves just like her because her vampirism comes with an instinctual craving for companionship in damnation. Among her powers are a serpentine quickness to strike suddenly, the ability to utter an irresistible call to people who have feelings for her and greatly heightened senses.
Tremere: Heinrich Faust from 'Faust' by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1808).
(Though he is definitely not a vampire, he fits the themes of the clan, so I included him.)
Faust is a human who, dissatisfied with the limitations of his intellectual pursuits, sells his soul to the devil for a return of his wasted youth, power, adventure and love. He is highly eccentric and narcisstic while also possessing a brilliant mind and great occult understanding. Even the devil is hard pressed to outwit him, though Mephistopheles does it again and again by playing on his hidden insecurities, sense of entitlement and compulsive thirst for experience. Faust tends to corrupt everything he touches, even when he does something with good intentions and he is quick to put the blame on others because his vast intelligence comes with a snobby elitism. Aside from the devil and the diverse magic feats he performs for Faust, his "powers" also include knowing peoples' weaknesses and being very skilled at convincing them to do what he likes.
Ventrue: Lord Ruthven from 'The Vampyre' by John William Polidori (1816).
Ruthven is an haughty aristocrat outwardly embodying noblesse oblige but truly being a master manipulator. He exudes an aura of detached, dispassionate authority and people continually flock to him, even when he is obviously the architect of their doom. He loves to play mindgames to assert his dominance and is a prudent planner who relys on long cons paying off. He is a master of keeping up the illusion that he is a human being, including cultivating several fake identities just in case something happens, and he lives in the midst of mortal society, where he has acquired great wealth and occupies a high social rank. He is obsessed with carefully choosing, cultivating and seducing his prey and he relies on his oathbound mortal allies to pave the way for him. Although he is morally bankrupt, he is very much concerned with matters of etiquette and keeping one's word. Among his powers are the ability to recover from even the most grievous wounds with ease, a charm that no one can resist even when knowing better and the ability to compel people.
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