Post by Katie on Jul 2, 2020 22:12:17 GMT -5
The Becoming; Embraced Into A World of Darkness
"Poor, poor devils. They have so much to learn yet. So many sweet agonies, so many dark revelations. It is almost beautiful, in a tragic sort of way. I would pity them their ignorance, but as the wise men say; ignorance is bliss. Perhaps we should let them enjoy it a bit longer. Let them savor it while it lasts." -- Arianne Du Praha, Clan Toreador
The Embrace is horrifying in its simplicity. The act that dooms the childe to immortality and damnation is not immediately painful. In fact, the act itself is extremely pleasurable in most instances. First, the sire must bring her childe to within a whisper of death. Once the victim is hovering above the abyss, the Cainite must feed the childe some of her tainted blood. Some sires slash their wrists, letting the blood flow into their childe’s mouths in a cool torrent, while others bite their own tongues and physically kiss their childer, letting their blood mix together in an unholy union. The quantity of blood used is relatively unimportant; a single potent drop is all that is needed, and the change begins to take hold immediately once that blood slips into the childe’s mouth, absorbing into her very tissues.
All sound bleeds away as the childe’s body dies, leaving a silence so suffocating that it eventually drowns out the sound of her own dying heartbeat. Then, when her heart beats for that final, terrible time, darkness washes over the childe and the world literally sinks beneath the darkness. Yet, the childe is not alone. Shapes emerge, surrounding her. For some, these shapes are their fading memories ebbing away as they perish. Others see deceased loved ones offering tearful farewells or grimly casting them aside. And a few might witness angels casting their sullied immortal souls away from the light of Heaven, or a hoard of demons sallying forth to drag them to an eternity in Hell. Whatever the experience is, it will haunt the childe for the rest of her unlife—a constant reminder of all she has lost.
As the sire’s corrupting blood insinuates itself into the childe’s every fiber, a burning takes hold in the pit of her stomach. This fiery pain that shatters the childe’s bloodless haze rips her back from her first faltering steps toward her destined afterlife scorches to the core, agonizing and intense. The burning sensation becomes stronger and stronger until whatever peace the childe had resigned herself to is charred away. The childe becomes horrifically aware of her stiffening body, which has swiftly grown cold, heavy as marble and utterly alien to dwell within. Most terrifying of all is the sensation of her immortal soul becoming trapped within her dying body. The process corrupts the very soul, eroding at it as readily as the childe’s sanity, tainting her on a spiritual level and allowing the personal horror of the Beast to take a vicious hold of her heart and mind. Then, as the course of the Embrace nears its frightful conclusion, the childe screams an involuntary and silent scream, unable to draw any air into her dead lungs, and her eyes thrust open in horrified desperation. The faint light of the night assails her, and she becomes aware of a ceaseless hunger that burns in her dead core, a desperate thirst for the hot blood of the living, that will now be with her forever.
With a mindless and involuntary ferocity, the newly sired vampire sets upon whatever she may feed upon like a ravenous animal. Usually it is the awaiting wrist of her sire, greedily drinking back her stolen blood, but it could be a hapless victim her sire prepared or even some unfortunate animals nearby. Lost to her unholy hunger, the childe feeds like a starved creature, her Beast in total control. The childe’s hunger slowly recedes once she has gorged on fresh blood, but the sharp, stabbing pains and burning sensations will continue, lingering for hours as her body goes through the process of fully dying and purges itself of needless wastes. Large vital organs shrivel within her body into lifeless reddish-brown lumps, while the smaller and less vital organs dissolve agonizingly inside of her, transubstantiated into befouled blood. The childe begins to painfully vomit up her other useless bodily fluids in bone-jarring heaves of phlegm, black and yellow bile, leaving a sickly bitter-metallic taste in her polluted mouth. She will defecate and urinate spontaneously, soiling her body as her body expels all excrement and waste forcibly.
When the red haze of the hunger falls away and the childe’s body goes through it’s last merciful death throes, the childe emerges from the crucible of filth and agony as a vampire—no longer a human and an accursed descendent of Caine, sentenced forever to the night. Old wounds and lesser scars seem to vanish as the childe’s skin whitens to an unnatural pallor that grants the childe a decidedly stark beauty. Those who were typical or even homely in life seem to acquire a newfound magnetism in undeath. However, this dark beauty is not purely physical. The childe’s eyes shine with raw passion and feral hunger, both predatory and alluring, standing in marked contrast to her hardened, marble-like flesh. The childe’s hair, now appearing so fragile and delicate, falls like whips of fine gossamer threads, framing the face of her immortality and damnation. Her fingernails and toenails harden, becoming crystalline and sharp, while her gums darken a touch and recede, revealing sharpened canine fangs, both fine and terrifying.
The childe’s heart does not beat anymore. She does not draw breath, does not blink even periodically, and her flesh is decidedly cool and hard, yet smooth, to the touch. Her voice comes forth unbidden without breath, a dark appeal in her tone lending weight to her words. Her movements are graceful and predatory, but deliberate. When at rest, she is as still and lifeless as a statue—or a corpse. Her sense of touch, though keen, has become purely tactile and vague, as though once pleasurable sensations were relegated to the same category as passing fingertips over coarse wood. Her senses of sight, hearing and smell sharpen significantly to truly predatory levels, though her sense of taste dulls away into nonexistence save when savoring a heady draught of blood.
The childe is also changed in other, less perceptible ways. Gazing out into the long night, she becomes aware of how shadows seem to shift of their own subtle volition, each a bottomless abyss where unspeakable horrors no doubt lurk. The midnight winds whisper and taunt the childe like the distant wail of banshees lamenting her defiling change into one of the damned. Mortals appear not solid and substantial as they did before her Embrace, but rather as shimmering and weak somehow, their fragile lives short and bitter. Plants and flowers appear muted and dull in the night, their lavish colors reduced to shades of grays and browns. And yet, the childe remembers. She will always remember. She remembers the simple joy of the warm sun beating down upon her flesh and the loving cheer of family and friends. The caress of a treasured lover, the flavor of fine wine upon the tongue, the feeling of grass under bare feet, the satisfaction of gorging on a holiday meal. As these memories come unbidden, the weight of her immortal curse bears down upon her. In a cruel dichotomy of fate, the childe is constantly reminded of what she has lost although she is now deceased—a corpse reanimated unnaturally. The Curse of Caine opens her eyes to the real beauty of the world she no doubt took for granted before, but also banishes her from it forever.
Cainites are abominations, creatures both unnatural and unholy. They are no longer human in any sense of the word, no matter how they might try and act the part—a realization few vampires are ever willing to admit to and one that profoundly can change their psyches if acknowledged. Cainites exist forever outside the sphere of natural things. Their bodies are dead, yet they continue to exist, think and act. Although they were once human, their curse as vampires has marked their very souls, transforming them into beings both sublime and forsaken. Many young Cainites fail to see the stark contrast between their mortal lives and their newfound existence as one of the damned, but this change becomes much more apparent as years fade into centuries. Eventually, all vampires come to the repulsive realization that they are truly dead, frozen eternally in that terrible moment when resting in peace and their destiny in an afterlife was stolen from them and replaced with torment and hunger. And this realization is swiftly followed by yet another; the Beast trapped within them, urging them to cruel and inhuman acts all these years, is their own defiled soul screaming for a release from an eternity clad in accursed undead flesh. They are nothing more than bloodthirsty monsters in the night, beyond salvation and utterly alone…forever.
Cainites are, at essence, parasites, not ethereal or immortal beings. A vampire is nothing more than an animated corpse kept impossibly alive and thinking, not by force of will or skewed sense-of-self, but by the unnatural and cursed blood flowing throughout its undead body. For all their mystical powers and enhanced abilities, vampires are static in nature, caught forever in that moment of death, aware but not enlightened. Cainites are dead in body and mind; it is their nightmarish Beast that fuels their corpse, fills them with emotions and allows them to think. In the end, their human selves are really nothing more than fading echoes and reenacted memories of who they once were. Their sense of mortal identity screams to be heard over the howls of the Beast, but it eventually becomes lost in the cacophony as the centuries wear on.
As dead things, vampires do not evolve or grow like humans do—even their emotions become stilted and perverse. They stop being able to feel physical pleasure, knowing only the extremes of pain and hunger. Cainites are also largely incapable of learning from their myriad experiences in the way mortals can; they only remember bitterly what they have lost, take what they have compulsively for granted, and they never forget or let go of past slights. Learning new ways of thinking, that wondrous ability inherent in mortals, becomes oddly alien and foreign to a vampire’s mindset, reducing them to unliving anachronisms. Cainites are certainly capable of mastering new mannerisms, knowledge and skills, but they cannot assimilate them into their very being as they did when they once breathed. They wear newly found customs like masks, concealing their stagnant natures behind an elaborate façade. Only the endless hunger and stifling rage of the Beast can push a Cainite to truly new experiences, tainting even the most pure of endeavors with its dark nature. Vampires, figuratively speaking, are very much like fine marble statues; mute witnesses to the endless march of time, and forever outside of it all at once. This makes even the most well-meaning Cainites rapacious and predatory by nature, destroying their ability to be creative or nurturing in any sense of the word. Their once human echoes strive with futility to retain these goodly qualities—to be able to look upon something beautiful and appreciate it for what it is without the overwhelming need to possess it completely—but their Beasts drag them down to the abyss of despair through the use of all seven deadly sins.
Cainites know no respite from the uncertain night. Worst yet, they know that the darkness hides terrors far greater than they, and the most terrifying of all these, their own inner Beasts. Let the breathing priests speak of a fiery inferno, for Cainites, the Beast is a personal Hell made manifest. It is a force that wholly possesses them, damns their fragile souls and casts them forever from the light; it is the semi-sentient manifestation of their damnation. There is no escaping it, and no escaping their status as forsaken creatures of the night. The Embrace destroys the one thing that all people in the dark medieval world know for certain; the promise of potential salvation. Without salvation, there can be no hope, and without any hope, Cainites find themselves utterly alone in a dark world, indeed. With this painful realization comes yet another. The awareness that, from this moment on, all the Cainite will know is darkness; both the physical darkness of night and the spiritual darkness of the soul condemned as a taker of lives rather than a giver of hope.
Many Cainites who were Embraced within the last several centuries see themselves as true hell-spawn, and they proceed to act accordingly after a time. Denied access to Heaven, these vampires give in to their base and predatory instincts and revel in their eternal damnation. They first become dispassionate and callous killers without pity or remorse, then progress into savage homicidal monstrosities. Even those who still harbor faith and try to find redemption eventually slip up and fall from grace. The dark demands of the Beast are simply too powerful to ignore.
However, this painful degeneration into raw evil is neither sudden nor complete. It is a slow descent into madness and damnation, one in which the Cainite is not an unwilling victim of her curse, but an equal accomplice. Vampirism does not condemn outright, it merely exaggerates the dark side that already lurks within to almost overwhelming levels. The accursed blood of Caine and the Beast accentuate all the perverse impulses and thoughts mortals experience, enhancing them, making them difficult to resist and understand. The horror of the transformation comes from the slippery descent of moral decline inherent in all humans, but accelerated by a Cainite's forsaken nature significantly.
The Six Traditions; The Divine Laws of Caine
"For what you have done I shall curse you all, not merely with a handful of words, but each one according to his nature, each one according to his crimes. Let my curse reign in his blood forever, let it be passed down through his dread Embrace, to each of his childer, and to their childer in turn, so that none may forget the deeds he has committed this night!" -- Caine, The Erciyes Fragments IV 6:11-6:16 (Transgressions)
Much of a ruling Cainite’s authority is derived from the Six Traditions of Caine, or more properly from the so-called Old Ways—the largely oral tradition of inherited vampiric codes of conduct based around the Traditions. The Old Ways underpin Cainite society and are the only real social compact between the fiends of the night. Cainites all abide by a strict sense of tradition, driven by fear of divine retribution. The Old Ways are the remnants of Caine’s rule in Enoch; hence they are respected but not always strictly followed.
Regardless, the Old Ways form the compact from which all princes (and lords) draw to legitimize their claims and rights as rulers. The Traditions also figure predominantly in the education of progeny. Many elders do not consider a childe a true vampire until his sire recites to him the Six Traditions of Caine and the childe’s proper lineage all the way back to Caine himself, sealing their covenant with Caine.
As the progenitor of all vampires, Caine is almost universally worshipped and feared as creator and destroyer. If anything even remotely unites Cainites in these tumultuous times, it is their belief in and reverence for their dark progenitor. Worship of Caine will vary from Cainite to Cainite, but the so-called “Trinity of Caine” as Dark Father, Mystic Wanderer and Lord Tyrant is the most widely accepted form in the twelfth century. The obvious influence of Christianity is hard to miss, and most of the iconography is drawn directly from Christian sources. Pagan, Jewish and Muslim Cainites color the Trinity of Caine with their own symbols and icons, though.
Many Cainites choose to worship Caine as the progenitor, the Dark Father who's sins reach down through the endless ages to curse them, but who is also their supernatural link to God. Unlike mortals who have only their faith and convictions to sustain their belief in God, Cainites can look to Caine as proof that God does exist. This proof vindicates vampires as semi-divine creatures, cursed but nonetheless blessed and touched by God Himself, at least vicariously. If they have been cast into darkness, it is because of the will of God, and many Cainite theologians insist that his means there is light, and that God exists in that light, even during the Long Night.
The figure of Caine as the Mystic Wanderer is both strong and contentious. Many Christian Cainites consider this portrayal to be a bit too pagan for their tastes. Nonetheless, all vampires feel the inherent isolation and loneliness of being Cainites and hence look to the Mystic Wanderer as a guide to help them cope with their burdensome curse. Melancholic but enlightened, the Mystic Wanderer waits, knowing that a reckoning will one night be at hand. He hopes that a new path might be found in the harsh wilderness of unlife that will lead away from his accursed children—one that might lead to redemption and salvation.
The Lord Tyrant is the last incarnation and strikes fear into even the most ancient of vampires. The Book of Nod speaks of a final judgment when Caine will return from his self-imposed exile and stand above his race as a tyrannical god-king. He will condemn many to ashes while others will fall, destroyed by the endless hunger of their own hateful sires. Once the ashes settle, the legend continues, the skies will blacken so that the sun cannot rise, and Caine shall rule for one-thousand years over a ruined, subjugated world. Some Cainite mystics and philosophers claim that the time for the Lord Tyrant to return is at hand, and that Caine will soon return to reclaim his kingdom and punish all transgressors.
“Thy blood makes thee my brood, crafted in my image. My curse is thine, my salvation thine. I stand before and above thee as god-regent. I am the way, my Traditions thy covenant. Renounce me and renounce all hope. Forget thy curse and be doubly damned by it.” Thus spoke Caine, and the First Tradition was made; the Tradition of the Covenant.
The First Tradition and the notion of the covenant is central in understanding the Old Ways in the dark medieval world. It is through the First Tradition in particular, and all the Traditions in general, that Cainites recognize Caine as the unquestionable monarch of the night and affirm their lineage as sublime beings, both cursed and blessed. Cainites look to the Old Ways and the covenant of Caine to acknowledge their spiritual link to the Dark Father. Through the dictates of the Old Ways, Caine is present and not a figure of mere myth and legend. In adhering to the Traditions, Cainites confirm their faith in Caine and their damned natures—for better or worse.
Those who abhor the curse look to the First Tradition in hopes of finding salvation, that in following Caine’s ways they will find redemption. In turn, those who seek power follow the covenant, believing in its hidden promise of power in return for faithful service. Princes and lords, likewise, look to the First Tradition to reinforce and legitimize their rule. Like mortal kings who rule through divine investiture, princes often cite the First Tradition, and Caine’s covenant, as proof of their mandate to lead just as Caine ‘stands before and above’ all Cainites.
“As I am master of Nod, thy domain is thine own concern. Thou art its master, and all will respect this or suffer thy wrath. All will present themselves when entering, and thou shall protect them in turn. By right, thou art allowed to hunt within the bounds of thy domain, its blood thine own. Accept its responsibilities, minister thy domain and pay others the same respects thou doeth expect in turn.” Thus spoke Caine, and the Second Tradition, the Tradition of Domain, was forged.
The Tradition of Domain has always been central to Cainites, and such is especially the case in these times of feudal relationships and vampiric overpopulation. For the last three-hundred years, Cainites of all ranks and clans have been desperately fighting over steadily shrinking domains, reaching a murderously frenzied pitch in the last few decades or so. Domain often denotes more than mere influence and protection, it grants the Cainite overseer sole feeding rights within its boundaries. Claiming domain over a tavern means a near limitless supply victims if one shows some trivial discretion, while an isolated hamlet would be hard pressed to sustain more than a single overly cautious vampire. A Cainite will not go without blood as long as she claims domain (regardless of its size or value) and she can protect it by keeping other Cainites out (by force if necessary).
Holding a domain also requires the Cainite, be she venerable prince or lucky neonate, to offer hospitality to those vampires who enter and present themselves respectfully and properly. While in the domain of another, a Cainite can expect to be treated with respect. The owner of the domain is responsible for the safety and well being of any guests, and she must share her feeding grounds with them. However, guests who abuse their stay in any manner may face strict sanctions. Recently, as tensions flare between princes and elders, a few have closed their domains to visitors entirely, isolating themselves and sentencing any trespassers who enter their domain uninvited to Final Death.
Domain is also the feudal cornerstone of the rule of princes and lords. In this bygone era of Cainite lords and monarchs, domain has become of paramount importance, almost intrinsically tied to status and influence. A prince extends his influence by acquiring more choice domains. Doing so allows her to grant portions of the conquered territories to her loyal vassals, further cementing her power and attracting more and more Cainites to her banner. Just as mortal regents claim ownership over their knights, some Cainite lords have gone as far as to claim domain over individual Cainites themselves and expect their vassals to supply them with tithes of blood and victims in return for their royal patronage or grants of domain.
“Thou shalt only sire another with the permission and blessings of thine elder. To create another of our blood is the providence of those closest to me in blood, for they shall be accountable in my eyes. Break this law, and both thee and thy progeny will be slain.” Thus spoke Caine, and with his words, the Third Tradition came into being; the Tradition of Progeny.
According to the Third Tradition, only the eldest and most potent-blooded vampire can grant permission to sire a childe. However, for as long as most Cainites remember, the princes have held the privilege of the Third Tradition. The reason is simple enough—the need to control and limit the Cainite population in their domains. The more childer one’s subjects Embrace, the higher the demand for blood and the scarcer feeding grounds become, taxing a prince’s ability to provide adequately for his vassals. Princes also hold dear the right to create progeny to limit their rivals’ ability to amass legions of newly sired vampires as deadly shock troops. A prince can also promise permission under the Third Tradition as a gift to obtain favors from another Cainite, or as a reward for loyal service.
Those rare vampires who Embrace without permission usually face the destruction of their ill-begotten childe and, if the offence is severe enough, themselves as well. Few princes waver on this point. In truth, the act of monitoring who is Embracing and who is not is virtually impossible in larger domains. It is often relatively easy for a sire to send his childe away and keep her a secret until the time is right. Therefore, any prince who wants to hold his fief needs to severely punish those who are caught. They must serve as a thorough example, or the prince’s other subjects will begin to question his power and authority.
“Those that thou create are thine own blood until released from thy charge. Until that moment and not before, their sins, their blood and their punishments are therefore thine own. Treat them as thee would thy own self, and teach them the ways of the blood.” Thus spoke Caine, and the Fourth Tradition, the Tradition of Accounting, was set into stone.
A proper prince never grants lightly the right to create progeny. Once bequeathed, the sire becomes solely responsible for her childer’s actions. This Tradition warns all Cainites to choose their progeny wisely and with great care. The Tradition of Accounting requires the sire to both educate and protect their progeny, the penalty of doing otherwise is simple—the sire pays for her childe’s indiscretions and crimes. Those who are wayward in their duties as proper sires, and who give their childer too free a reign, eventually face the ire and condemnation of their peers and, of course, their prince. Fearful of the consequences of such issues, some sires force or deceive their progeny into full blood oaths. These oaths, which involve repeated drinking of the sire’s blood, twists the heart and mind of the childe, rendering him into a supernaturally bound thrall, thus guaranteeing fierce loyalty. Most vampires struggle to abstain from this dark practice because it also tends to make the childe into a worthless sycophant in due time.
The custom of the Fourth Tradition also requires the sire to present her childe to the prince for approval. The prince decides if the childe is worthy of joining the ranks of the domain’s Cainites as an official neonate or if he should be destroyed as a failure. Many princes use this custom to keep their vassals in check—offering the right to Embrace, then destroying the childe, citing improper tutelage as the reasoning.
“Forbidden art thou to spill the blood of another of thy kind who is elder to thee. This right belongs only to the closest to me in blood and none other. It is forbidden for those of weaker blood to rise against those of stronger blood, for the younger to rise against those who are elder. Thou shalt not drink the heart’s blood of any of thy kind, for such is an abomination unto me. To break this law is to face true death.” Thus spoke Caine, and the Tradition of Destruction, the Fifth Tradition, became a staple of Cainite society.
Most princes jealously uphold the Fifth Tradition, using it as a buffer to keep their vassals in line and to remove any potential troublemakers. The right to destroy another Cainite is the final cornerstone of a prince’s divine authority. Not only can a prince sire freely and claim domain, he can also decide who meets Final Death and who continues to exist. The prince can use the Fifth Tradition to punish any crime at any time, no matter how trivial or minor it is under the local laws of a given fief—the Cainite version of biblical justice.
In the feudal climate of the dark medieval world, the right of a prince to destroy another Cainite is often conferred as a gift. Cainites of significant rank and achievement, such as the warmaster, sheriff and scourge, are usually granted charter of the Fifth Tradition to dispense justice and enforce the prince’s rule whenever necessary. However, most princes nonetheless are cautious when ordering the destruction of Cainites who are the vassals of another lord or prince. Doing so could easily be perceived as an act of war, worthy of swift retribution. Although some princes do not hesitate, others who are more guarded send the offending Cainite back to her own prince or lord for a proper punishment. If the accused is not punished accordingly, this also could be grounds for a righteous war as well.
The Fifth Tradition also speaks against the Amaranth (also known as Diablerie); the action of drinking all the blood from the body of a fellow Cainite and then, when drained, devouring their very soul. Consuming it, some of the power and abilities of the diablerized Cainite are absorbed by his murderer, and it is the only known manner in which to effectively lower one’s generation. Seen almost universally as a horrific action on par with trucking with demons, it is outlawed in all stable territories and those convicted of such actions (their auras reveal pulsating black veins) are almost always put to death. On rare occasion, immoral and ambitious princes grant the right to commit the Amaranth on those who might otherwise be put to death, but such is normally a rare occurrence and is rarely looked upon with favor.
“Never shalt thou reveal thy true nature to those not of the blood. Thy progeny and thy blood slaves may know exception. Doing so otherwise shall renounce thy claims to thy blood and my covenant. This is my final covenant.” Thus spoke Caine, and the final and Sixth Tradition, the infamous Tradition known as the Silence of the Blood, was made into canon law.
Cainites may be supreme hunters, but being careless and alerting the mortal masses to their true nature never bodes well for them. Vampires depend upon a certain amount of secrecy and deception to keep their nighttime realms secure from the masses of dormant mortals surrounding them. Most medieval mortals know that things stalk the night, but they are much less clear as to just how to deal with these things (other than simply avoiding them). Were humans to fully understand the weaknesses and customs of the race of Caine, a great purge would become conceivable and possible.
Therefore, princes and lords enforce the Sixth Tradition in varying degrees. Some, especially princes of large cities, hold the Silence of the Blood as sacrosanct because they wish the mortals to delude themselves that walled cities are somehow safer and more secure than scattered hamlets spread throughout the countryside. In fact, the feeding is much easier with mortals all together in one place, anyway. In other principalities, the Silence of the Blood is paid lip service and largely ignored as a semi-irrelevant Tradition. There are lands where Cainites boldly and openly attend mortal courts, ruling through terror and confident in their brutal dominance. Unless they are secluded locales and miles away from other mortal settlements, however, such fiefdoms rarely last for more than a few decades before they are put to the flame by the Church, angry mortal mobs, or groups of other retributive Cainites. Generally, Cainites allow (and even encourage) manifestations of their damnation that are likely to keep mortals fearful and cowed, and they ban those that are likely to bring organized resistance. Seeing the difference is the mark of a truly skilled and clever prince.
A prince enforces his rule through the Code, the body of vampiric law as set forth by Caine’s teachings and expressed in the Old Ways. The Code is not a documented or bound in dusty old scrolls. Rather it is a simplistic convention of just retribution, outlining the rights and powers of a prince, allegedly created by either Caine himself. This Code follows a single easy-to-understand precept; those who break the prince’s laws are slain. The Code is clearly rooted in biblical justice—“An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth”—and it grants the prince tremendous power to punish anyone who disobeys his laws. Through the Code, a prince can strip a Cainite of her domain, exile her or, for truly heinous and unforgiveable offenses, order her destruction. The Code is also not the sole providence of the prince. Any Cainite can evoke the Code to air grievances, but only the prince has the power and authority to enforce it. Princes who readily abuse the Code soon find themselves victims of their own punishments as their court turns inward upon them viciously. A prince can never hope to have the Code enforced without the support of his loyal subjects, so he must walk a fine and cautious line between strong-armed justice and merciful leniency. The prince can choose how strictly or loosely to follow the Code, and he is free to determine the style and severity of punishments or what constitutes a proper offense. Punishments often include, but are not limited to; trials by ordeal, city-wide blood hunts, branding or exile of the offender, and of course, sanctioned destruction.
The Clans
If the myths are to be believed, Caine, the infamous biblical fratricide and first vampire, sired a number of progeny after receiving his curse. These childer, known as the Second Generation, then went on to sire childer of their own. It is this generation, the third (known also as the Antediluvians) who were the progenitors of the thirteen clans present in modern vampiric society. It is said that they rebelled against their sires and devoured them, consuming their souls. Caine, in response to this vile act, cursed them and set upon each one a unique frailty. To this day, every Cainite descended from any particular one of these ancients shares the frailty of his founder as well as having similar abilities and attitudes to his clanmates.
Of the thirteen clans native to the dark ages, six (Ventrue, Brujah, Malkavian, Tremere, Toreador, and Nosferatu) swear allegiance to the Camarilla, two (Lasombra and Tzimisce) to the Sabbat, four (Assamite, Giovanni, Gangrel, Setite) choose to tend their own affairs without the benefit of Sect and one (Ravnos) has recently slipped into near oblivion.
Members of any of the above clans who chose to ally themselves against the sect to which their clanmates traditionally hold allegiance are referred to as antitribu meaning "against the tribe". For a rough break down: Ventrue antitribu, Brujah antitribu, Malkavian antitribu, Toreador antitribu, Nosferatu antitribu, Gangrel antitribu, Assamite antitribu and the Serpents of Light (Setite antitribu) are all allied with the Sabbat, contrary to their clan's general position as either Camarilla-supporting or independent. The Lasombra antitribu, unlike their bretheren in the Sabbat, claim allegiance to the Camarilla.
From these thirteen primary clans, several strange and bizarre offshoots have also branched off, which may differ greatly from their parent clan. Members of these Bloodlines, as they are called, are rare and seldom encountered. Included in this listing for your perusal are the Caitiff and Panders, the Daughters of Cacophony, the Samedi, and the Salubri antitribu.
There are, in actuality, more bloodlines within the scope of canon. However, as none of these more obscure lines have ever or are ever likely to come into play as PCs in FOTA, they have been omitted from this listing.
For more information about any particular clan or bloodline in the game and its members in Venice, consult one of the Clan Pages in from the Setting information thread.
VAMPIRE PHYSIOLOGY 101
Kindred are undead. They have no more biological functions unless they spend blood to do so. They do not breathe, eat, sneeze, cough, get goose bumps, pee, shit, etc.
Essentially we look at a vampire as a corpse whose nerves and muscles are powered by the manipulation of the blood. No longer is a beating heart nourishing the body pushing blood around to feed the muscles, nerves, bones, etc. It is now blood. No one fully explains this in White Wolf and we have had many many a conversation about what Kindred can and cannot do. So here it is as we see it…
General Adaptations
Vampires are beings that have adapted to move among mortal society. They are therefore equipped with certain traits that mimic humans for survival purposes. The blood in their bodies no longer is pushed by a beating heart among the dead tissues enriching them and making them function. Instead blood is subconsciously moved to areas taking them over much like cellular possession. So blood would take over the nervous system, making it function as necessary. That is why vampires feel pain or a touch or anything at all. Remember their flesh is dead, so are the nerves. We see it as it being the blood that powers the necessary systems so that the Kindred body may move about efficiently and react to stimuli.
Functions that are necessary are powered in this way like the necessity of saliva. Saliva aids in speech and is a necessary survival tool for blending in among Kine. Have you ever tried to talk with a bone dry mouth and tongue? What about chapped lips?
Functions that are no longer necessary cease to function. For instance, the respiratory and reproductive systems are of little use to them. Vampires require no oxygen to enrich the muscles and the blood. That’s all taken care of with the supernatural properties of their vitae.
Other bodily fluids are replaced by blood (V20 pg 16) as the body no longer requires them. A vampire doesn't procreate in the same way that a mortal does so sperm is no longer manufactured. If the vampire cries, he cries tears of blood.
The nerves are powered by blood. It is in this way that vampires feel sensations. Some sensations are better than others - like a massage is better than a curb stomping for instance. Their flesh is dead, they don’t get goose bumps. They don’t have a need to perspire. They have no bodily warmth. They don’t need clothes to insulate themselves. They do not feel fatigue. They could run all night long and never break a sweat or start huffing and puffing or stop out of exhaustion because well – they don’t breathe.
Sexual Adaptations
We have read many articles and differing opinions on the act of biological sex in vampires and we have seen evidence for both positions on the "Do vampires fuck?" issue. Our opinion is this: We agree with White Wolf (VtM core pg. 139). They don’t need to fuck and they don’t necessarily want to. Kindred see themselves as higher up on the food chain than mortals and look at biological functions as a crude curiosity or possibly derive perverse enjoyment in seeing Kine reduced to their basest biological functions. In the case of vampires with low Humanity or old vampires, you would think that this is especially the case. However, some neonates or vampires who are still very much in touch with their human side or still very preoccupied with retaining it, MIGHT see sex as a way to still "feel" human, but they will find that now that they are undead and there is no physical pleasure derived from it. Any emotional and psychological comfort becomes twisted and they will lapse into depression or even become violent as they are faced with the stark reminder that they can never ever form a true connection with another being ever. The reaction is entirely dependent on the personality of the Kindred in question, but rest assured there is a reaction.
Vampires have no chemically induced desire for sexual reproduction and therefore have no sex drive – no testosterone no estrogen no pheromones. Their drive is to feed on blood. That is their equivalent of an orgasm. It is all consuming. However, they recognize the advantages of being able to have mortal sex in order to seduce prey. In order to mimic life-like traits such as erections, body temperature, and vaginal responses such as lubrication, they must expend blood.
Predatory Adaptations
Vampires are efficient predators and have been given tools to survive. Some have claws, which can extend for battle. They will their blood to stimulate certain tissues and bones in their hands and out they pop. These claws aren't like daggers at the end of the fingers. That would simply be overkill and inefficient as the claws would also impede other movements and be generally awkward. All vampires have fangs which operate in much the same way but with less effort (it doesn't require a Blood Point to grow fangs). Still others who have retained more of their Humanity can use their Blood to mimic life-like displaces for short periods. In short, when picturing a vampire, picture an efficient predator who stalks its prey. Its physiology is designed for peak efficiency and performance for the hunt and feeding. To do that it must be able to move and stalk without being encumbered and it must be able to camouflage itself among its prey.
For EACH trait that you want to make seem human, you must spend Blood Points from your character's pool. The number of points is 8 minus Humanity with the minimum number of Blood Points spent per trait being 1. This means that you don't just spend 1 Blood Point and appear completely human for a scene. For example, vampires of Humanity 7 and 8 (average mortal and just above your average mortal) can spend 1 Blood Point to make their skin flush with the appearance of live tissue. To mimic a pulse as well that's another Blood Point.
Blood Traits
All vampire blood has the same inherent traits. Some have unlocked more secrets than others and therefore have more Disciplines. Blood of Clans have certain properties, which make it more natural to learn to use the blood for certain gifts. This is where Clan Disciplines come in. Out of Clan Disciplines lie dormant in the blood until such time as one would be exposed to it by having the blood of one whom already possesses the Discipline in your character’s system. There is a chemical reaction between your character’s blood and the blood ingested. Once a Kindred ingests vitae it fuses with his own, thus making this possible. However, to learn another Discipline, the Kindred must know about the Discipline and know that the blood he has ingested has that Trait within it and only then will he unlock the trait with the guidance of the donor, or in the case of Diablerie, it is unlocked through force of will.
It should be noted that Disciplines like Thaumaturgy and Necromancy are considered more as courses of study and not an inherent blood trait.
Final Words
On a final note, we would like to make it very very very clear that vampires are monsters. They are no longer human. They have evolved into a different entity at the time of Embrace. Their physiology and their psychology are different from that of mortals. They are governed by the struggle between their bestial sides and their human sides at all times. It is the Beast that drives their hunger for vitae and it is the human side that governs what remains of their human conscience. Do not take this lightly as a player. You are not role-playing a human who happens to have a blood fetish. The physical distinctions between mortals and Kindred are readily obvious in this article, what is more subtle and left up to role-playing is the psychology of the Kindred. Remember that their undead nature should have an impact on how they view the world around them. The Beast is strong in them and that will always always always have an effect on how they behave.
In short, you are role-playing a predator locked in an eternal struggle with itself.