[Celacena]

OK - first - there were a lot of cruel despots who used terror as a weapon - firing the heads of decapitated enemies into a beseiged city did not start with LotR - fearsome cruelty was part of statecraft and remains so - think of Chechen/Mujahadin tactics (against the Russians/Soviets) and A-Q or even Nero - fear of cruelty is a powerful weapon in the hands of the amoral. Vlad was simply a more famous user of terror - Tamerlane and others rivalled him for fame.
It is always difficult to gain a fair impression of historical figures from so long ago when literacy was rare and those who could write were usually involved in politics. Vlad may have been as bad as rumoured, or worse, but it is difficult to separate legend from fact.
let us agree that his reputation was for what we would regard as excessive cruelty.

Dracula, the Bram Stoker character, was a fairly modern fictional character. He was not 'merchandised' or 'franchised' and nobody tried to develop formal RPG rules or incorporate him into a milieu until modern times. He was not a T-Clan Vamp, unless the T were devised around him. Even so, by appearance he appears to have little in common with the COMPUTER GAME version of them. in terms of the C-G, he would be most like a Ventrue with a few added disciplines and with weaknesses that the game characters do not have.

So far as this thread began, the Malks are both the most fun and the most frustrating, the Tremere are the most awesome with the best Haven and the Toreador have been the best 'rounded', so I'll vote for Ventrue, just to be quixotic.