history

I sit in my study, my whole body aching in a way completely indescribable to mortals - they simply could not survive it. Every movement is an effort, yet I find my hands pounding away at this electronic beast, breaking a silent oath I long ago made with myself. Long have I studied our kind, looking for the hidden messages in our tale. I watched with scorn as the Malkavian Marius published his history - truth intermixed with his own delusions of grandeur. I read with interest deLauret's Book of Nod, and gasped at the words laid down in the Revelations of the Dark Mother. Yet I thought these people fools, my knowledge was for me alone. Its power was to be solely mine. Yet now, having tasted the bitter waters of the black seas of Death, having been burned to the bone by forces undreamed off in my youth, having seen so many of my fellows destroyed, I feel a desperate need to tell my vision of the Truth to You. Wield its power wisely.

Who really knows what happened in the Beginning? All is uncertain, nothing can be said to be definitely true. But what little we know suggests that It started with a group of Beings. Spirits, Incarna, Shinning Ones, what ever you chose to label Them, They were there. The most powerful of these was known as Jehovah, the Firstborn. And of all the Shinning Ones, his was the biggest realm. In this Realm he raised two trees, the Tree of Life and the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil. And he caused to form male and female, equal and strong, Ish and Lilitu. To Ish he gave the gifts of Shaping and Naming, to Lilitu the powers of Fertility and Intuition. Ish learned to hunt the creatures of the Garden and gave a name to all things. Lilitu tended the plants and learned the art of nature. And Jehovah spoke to her, and forbade her to eat the fruits from the Trees. But Lilitu was a creature of strong will and ate of it regardless. And she became like a Shinning One, but did not know how to be such a being, so she waited and watched. She learned the arts of hunting from Ish and he was wrathful. And in his anger he tried to Lie with her, but she would have him not, and called out the secret name of Jehovah, and He lifted her out of the Garden and up to the Heavens with him. And Ish was alone, but he knew not what he had done, as he had not eaten of the Trees.

And Lilitu and Jehovah became lovers, but He was wary of her and as she had invoked the wrath of Ish, she awoke his wrath and He cast her down to the barren lands of Nod.

And Jehovah created Ish a new mate, one made from his rib, a lesser creature and she was called Ishah. And all was good, until the return of Lilitu. For she had seduced the guardian of the Garden, and taking the shape of the Serpent entered the Garden and tricked the lesser Ishah into tasting the fruit of the Trees. And Jehovah's wrath was great. All were cursed and scattered into the Lands of Nod. And Jehovah withdrew and was alone.

And in time children came to Ish and Ishah and they were known as Abel and Caine. Ish instructed his children to make sacrifices to Jehovah, so that he would be pleased and grant them kindness. And Abel gave a fine young cow, and Caine gave the best of the fruits of the garden. And Jehovah was pleased with Abel's offerings, but not Caine's. So Caine made a further offering, the very best thing he had, his brother. And yet this brought great anger to Jehovah who cursed Caine for his brother's death, forcing immortality upon him and casting him alone further into the Wastes of Nod.

And he wandered until he came to the Garden of Lilitu, now know as Lilith, Mistress of the Owl, Serpent and Cat. And she took him into her Garden and showed him comfort and Awakened him to the Power in his Blood. And Caine reached for and deepened his curse, bringing upon us the dangers of fire, sun and the need for Blood. And Caine mastered the powers of the Disciplines and reached further and seized the very power of Night itself. And Lilitu seeing her power threatened cast him out.

Long did Caine wander, once more alone, until he came to the First City, Enoch.

There Caine raised a great city. The First City to be ruled by a vampire. The people of the city, not understanding the meaning of the Mark Jehovah laid upon Caine, worshipped him as a God. And yet he grew lonely. So, after much consultation with the Other Powers of the world, he Embraced the one mortal most dear to him - Enosh, who would henceforth be known as Enoch. And after a time Enoch begged Caine for a sister and a brother, and thus the most beautiful Zillah, and the general Irad were brought across. All was fine, until Caine began to lust after his childer, Zillah. However, she did not return his feelings to him, and Caine despaired. He was at a loss, and took to wildly roaming through the night, until he came across an old Crone, who offered to tell him the answer, if he would drink of her blood, on three consecutive nights. Which he did. And so he learnt the secret of the Blood Oath, though perhaps not in a way he desired. She forced him to do many labours for her, and to bring her across into Undeath. But Caine was able to use the Blood Oath upon Zillah, and take her as wife.

After a year and a day of servitude Caine went to the Crone, and confided in her that He worried about the treachery of His childer, and wanted to know how he could defend Himself. She explained to Him the secret of the stake, thinking that He remained in Thrall to her. However over the year the Oath had grown weak and with a mighty effort Caine demonstrated that He had well learned the lesson of the Stake. He left her there, waiting for the dawn.

The First Brood began to grow fall in love with mortals, much as their Sire once had, and they begot progeny. Of those thirteen are well known - Arkiel, Absimilliard, Brujah, Ashur Cappadocius, Ennouia, Haquim, Malkav, Ravnos (also known as Sargatanas or Dannae), Saulot, Set, Lambech, Mekhet Tzimisce, and Veddartha. There were others, how many are not known, only a few names have survived in the memory of the ages, some of those still remembered were known as: gentle-faced Ashtareth, golden-fat Baal and strong Tammauz. Caine looked on at what his childer had done and pronounced a limit - the weak, inferior third generation were to create no progeny.

And life continued in the First City. Until the Flood.

Such a deluge came that it whipped away all trace of the City, scattering and killing mortals and vampires alike. A number of the third generation perished, until only thirteen were left. And Caine looked around him and was sickened by what he saw, and pronounced that the Flood was sent by God to punish him for the sins he was committing, and that he would have no more to do with the children of Seth, or his own dammed progeny. And he left, wandering East into the lands of Nod.

And those thirteen were known as : Absimilliard the Hidden, Arikel of the Rose, Brujah the Learned, Ashur Cappadocius student of Death, Ennouia of the Beast, Haquim lord of the Hunt, Malkav of the Moon, Ravnos the Wandered, Saulot the Healer, the snake Set, Lambech of the Night, the Shaper Mekhet Tzimisce and the King Veddartha.

And it came to pass that Absimilliard would attack and slay his sire Zillah, showing the way to the others to hunt down and destroy their sires. And Caine looked on in his sleep and his anger was great and he laid a curse upon each of the antediluvians and their lineage. It didn't stop the Second Brood raising a Second City, where once again the kine were nothing more than slaves to their immortal masters. And in their Hubris the Second Brood spawned a new generation of Cainites, learning not the lessons of History. And so the clans were born.

And they also numbered 13 - the Nosferatu, the Toreador, the Brujah, the Cappadocians, the Gangrel, the Assamites, the Malkavians, the Ravnos, the Salubri, the Followers of Set, the LaSombra, the Tzimisce and the Ventrue. And there were also a number of bloodlines, strange offshoots of the clans who no-one would admit to having created, the most significant and well documented of these being the Ba'ali, secret children of gentle Saulot.

And these clans were cursed by their ultimate father for the crimes of their sires against their own sires. The Nosferatu were made to wear their Beast on their faces, the Toreador were to be entranced by the beauty they desired most. The Brujah became distanced from all passions, the Cappadocians' skin was turned to resemble that of the spirits they studied, the Gangrel became more like animals and the Assamites became addicted to hunting their fellow kindred. The Malkavian's could no longer communicate their vision with others whilst the Ravnos were made into thieves. The followers of gentle Saulot could only feed on willing victims. The Setites were made to fear the light and the Lasombra had their reflections stolen. The Tzimisce were tied to their land and the Ventrue became the most fussy of eaters. And so Caine tried to warn them of the folly of their Hubris.

And in the Second City the Jyhad was truly born. The eternal manoeuvrings and scheming of the Antediluvians. The manipulative games which would use every last one of us as pawns in their endless struggle. And whilst the grandiose practices of the First City were not present, the kine were still as cattle and with time were treated with more and more contempt.
Eventually Saulot tired of the schemes of his fellows and the darkness of the Beast and left the City and followed in his grandsires footsteps - heading to the East. As he travelled he came upon the city of Ashur and a great ceremony of unspeakable darkness. The entirety of the city were gathered around a large well engaged in great sacrifices. Saulot's rage rose as he witnessed there efforts to worship some devil or another. And so he decided to show them what true evil could do. For a whole night he butchered the city, leaving no-one unharmed. And then he piled their bodies down the well, and in a last moment of frenzy slit his wrist and poured his own potent vitea onto the dying masses. After he left three beings pulled themselves from the well, Nergel, Moloch and the Nameless One. And so the Ba'ali were born.

At last the mortal population grew tired of slavery and in a great uprising struck against their undead masters. In their arrogance the Kindred were caught unprepared and great harm was done before they realized the nature of the threat before them. By then it was to late to do more than flee. In the confusion Troile, a childe of Brujah, rose up and committed the Amarath upon his sire. The cycle was complete, as the third once rose against the second now the fourth would rise against their sires. And so the Second City fell, doomed by Hubris.

And so the Kindred scattered out into the world. And they found homes and shaped all the great cites and countries of the day - Babylon, Phoenicia, Egypt, Greece, Israel, Arabia, Persia and many more. And for the longest time the Kindred war against each other sponsoring mortals such as Alexandria the Great to do their bidding in the great Jyhad. Only twice were the clans united - the destructions of Mashkan-Shapir and Knossos, places of unspeakable evil ruled over by the Baali Nergel.

And then two great vampiric cities arose - Rome and Carthage. Rome was the seat of a great empire, one the Kindred desperately wanted to control. And so with time it came under the control of a council of Ventrue, Malkavians, Toreador and Lasombra - a council known as the Inconnu.
Across the water from the Roman Empire sat the Brujah controlled city of Carthage. Great Carthage, mighty Carthage, seat of learning and pit of depravity. The Brujah had established Carthage to be a recreation of the glory of Enoch. At first it succeeded but then it was corrupted by the touch of the Baali lord Moloch who seduced Troile and turned most of the City to the worship of demons.

Eventually the Inconnu tired of the depravities of their fellows and made great war upon the City of Carthage. In 146BC the armies of Carthage stood defeated and for 17 days a coalition of Roman Kindred and Mages sacked the city, laying a border of salt around it to ensure the destruction of all. Very few of Brujah's children survived and the remaining dominant face of the clan became that of the Children of Troile - brash rebels without a cause. Troile himself was last seen sinking into the earth at the centre of the city in the arms of his lover, Moloch.

As the might of the Roman Empire waned two new bloodlines arose out of means most artificial - the Nagaraja and the Kiasyd. The Nagaraja arose out of the Indian subcontinent from a group of mortal sorcerers who wished to combine the best of life and death - as they saw it. Instead of evolving as they had hoped they instead became a flawed version of the kindred - identical in all respects save that not only did they have to consume blood but also the flesh of mortals. Without such fare they quickly met final death.

The Kiasyd were also the product of sorcery, but this time on behalf of those already cursed with the mark of Caine. Three members of the LaSombra took an interest in the world of the fae and its relationship with reality. In a dark ritual the elder Marconius received a transfusion of kith blood and a strange substance called "the blood of Zeernebooch - god of the underworld". He underwent a radical transformation, gaining several feet in height, his face becoming more like that of the classical elf's and was left with solid black eyes. The Kiasyd were born. He soon began to gain power other the beings of the spirit world, and left his former clan to pursue his studies. His prodigy has become known as some of the greatest of the kindred scholars, but also wield powerful magics more fae than kindred.

For many years the status quo was maintained. Kindred carved up the land into fiefdoms, ruling the mortal cattle within their domains. And though there was conflict amongst the clans the Kindred seemed unchangeable and untouchable. Until the Usurpers.

In 1005 a mortal magus named Goratrix captured a member of clan Tzimisce. After several months of interrogation he forced the unlucky Fiend to embrace two of Goratrix's apprentices and then slew him. For 17 years nothing more was heard of this magus or his kind, until 1022 and an event which would upset the world of the Kindred forever. One night Goratrix worked a dark ritual with seven of his fellows, including one named Tremere and transformed the eight of them into Kindred. Slowly they began to embrace other members of their magic brotherhood and became a bloodline to be reckoned with. And then the Tzimisce learned of the Great Theft and made war upon the Tremere in their dark chantry of Ceoris. The Tremere would have been destroyed had it not been once more for he cleverness of Goratrix. In 1121 he worked another dark ritual which combined the blood of the Nosferatu, Gangrel and Tzimisce - making the first Gargoyle, a semi-aware dark construct and brutal war machine. These new warriors held back the Tremere's enemies while they gathered even more power. And then the Tremere committed the greatest of crimes - the destruction of an entire clan. After years of hunting down and diablerising Methuselahs Tremere located the sleeping body of Saulot (1133) and drained him of his very soul. The Tremere were a clan and swiftly worked to wipe the Salubri from the face of the earth

And although the death of Salout and the destruction of the Salubri caused some upset life in the world of the dammed continued much as before. Hubris was still the order of the day. Such hubris was to be the clans' downfall that and the actions of a rouge Tremere.

As part of an ongoing row between Tremere's favored apprentice Ertius and the powerful magus Goratrix mortals gained their first real glance at the kindred. And they did not like what they saw. Goratrix had been cast out of the Chantry in Ceoris and took up new home in Paris. Here he worked hard to build up his influence, ever encroaching on the power of the French Court. And so it was that he drew the attentions of the newly formed Roman Catholic Inquisition (created in 1229). And for the first time a organized, empowered group of mortals knew of us. Quickly deciding we were the spawn of the devil they began to wage their own holy jyhad upon us.

For mortals they were surprisingly effective, kindred all over Europe were consigned to the flames. In fear the Elders cast their children forth to deal with the threat, whilst they cowered in fear. As the fires of the Inquisition rage so do the tempers of the betrayed fledglings. In Spain a group of Brujah turned against their masters; whilst in Transylvania a group of Tzimisce, guided by the dread demon Kupula, discovered a ritual (the Vaulderie) which allowed them to destroy the chains of the Blood Oath. These two groups joined together and the First Anarch Revolt was born (1240). In the chaos which followed the assamites took the opportunity to step up their endless campaign of diablerizing destruction. Beset on all sides no elder looked safe, and indeed they were not. Even the newly powerful Tremere were struck with fear as their servants, the Gargoyles, revolted against their masters.

The dawn of the 14th Century was to bring no relief. As the Anarch Revolt continued and the assamites waged increasingly violent war the Black Death swept through the mortal world. Not only did it destroy at least one fourth of all potential feeding stock, but also many kindred, weak in blood, were destroyed by its foul effects. And then in relatively quick succession three of the Eldest fell.

First to be destroyed was Lambech. The mighty Shadow was betrayed by his own. The Anarch's laid siege upon his mountain stronghold, overwhelmed his remaining loyal followers and then a member of clan assamite feasted upon his soul. Those few remaining loyal LaSombra fled into the shadows, a broken force.

Then in 1345 a band of Anarchs made their way into the Carpathian Mountains, to the home of the Tzimisce Clan Ruthven. They fought their way inside the family church and down into the vaults. There the neonate Lugoj appeared to drink the soul of his ultimate sire - Mekhet. Yet all was not as it seemed. The crafty elder had in fact swiftly dispatched the junior threat and then used his power of shape shifting to assume his role. He would later make good his escape by fleeing to the new world and taking residence beneath the fledgling New Amsterdam. As a second of the true ancients fell the remaining elders began to work towards a means of mutual protection. This lead to the Ventrue Hardestadt and the Tremere Meerlinda proposing in the last days of the 14th century that a league of kindred should be formed. But the cainite world was not yet ready to listen. It was to take one more great blow before the need for change would become evident to all who wished to escape the destruction of the time.

That blow was to come in 1444 in the form of yet another betrayal. Augustus Giovanni began to feel that his sire Cappadocius was verging on the insane and needed removing for the good of the clan. Well that was his excuse anyway. With his cunning childer, Claudius, he tricked the antediluvian into a trap in the Monastery of St Timothy. Giovanni worked quickly to establish his power, killing all who wouldn't submit. Only a few rebels escaped - crossing the Shroud to the Underworld. These vengeful few would become known as the Harbingers of the Skulls. However they would remain trapped in the lands of the dead for some six hundred years. And so Clan Giovanni was born.

With the fall of another antediluvian and the loss of a second clan the Cainites finally listened to the plea's of Hardestadt. The Camarilla was formed in 1497, so called in honour of the small secretive meeting rooms used by its founders. The sect soon gained in popularity and on the 23rd of October 1493 the first grand conclave was held at the village of Thorns in England. The three nights of the conclave saw the greatest gathering of Cainites since the fall of the Second City. Much was discussed and all who attended were allowed a voice - from eldest to youngest. And so it came to be that the six traditions were laid down, the seven clans (Venture, Toreador, Malkavian, Brujah, Tremere, Gangrel and Nosferatu) took up membership on mass and the Masquerade was enacted. No more would Cainites (now known as Kindred) walk the Earth openly. Instead they would rule from the shadows. All this was embodied in the Convention of Thorns. The Sect would be ruled by the shadowy Inner Circle, with their law being enforced by the seven justicars - one from each clan. These would be elected by the circle on a 13 yearly basis - at a Grand Conclave. At this Conclave it would be open to all Kindred to voice their opinions and cast their votes as to the direction of the Sect.

However no everyone was happy with this new arrangement. After a failed attempt to assassinate Hardestadt the Brujah Tyler laid a group of kindred away from the conclave. They proceeded to wipe out the population of the village of Thorns - and indeed erased the very village itself from the earth. Thus the Sabbat was born - a sect dedicated to the idea of the vampire as a superior being. The sect was led by the Lasombra and Tzimisce but included members of all clans - secretly including House Goratrix, the renegade members of Clan Tremere.

There was also a third grouping - less visible than the others - The Innconu. These secretive elders would work to reduce kindred influence on humanity and to forswear any role in the jyhad. No more is really known of them.

The Camarilla went immediately to work. By enforcing the Masquerade the problem of the Inquisition was defeated. The Clans gathered together and made great war upon the Assamites - driving them back to Arabia and their hidden fortress of Alamut. Went this fortress is discovered and infiltrated by the Nosferatu the Assamites sue for peace. Great debate ends in the Treaty of Tyre (1496). The Assamites were gathered together and the Tremere worked a great spell - cursing the Hunters to no more be able to drink the vitea of their fellows. Those who would not submit to the curse joined with the Sabbat - but they never really lost their place in the Clan.

Attention had then to be turned to the problem of the Giovanni. A long session of talks between the Inner Circle and Claudius Giovanni resulted in the 'Promise'. The Giovanni would remain neutral and in return they would be recognized as a Clan. It was also agreed that the Grand Conclave would be held in Venice - the home of the Giovanni. It is hard to say who benefited more from this arrangement.

With this minor difficulty resolved the Camarilla got back to the business of making war - this time on the Sabbat. Their conflict ranged across Europe, eventually driving the sword of Caine north into Norway, and from there across the sea to the New World, where the conflict was taken up anew.

During this struggle several new blood lines came into existence - the Samedi, the Daughters of Cacophony and the Ahrimanes. No one knows for sure where the first two came from, but the third can be traced to a rouge Sabbat Gangrel who ran with the Indians of the Southern states. By using the shamantic rituals of the native population she created a more feral vampire bloodline - who used the spirits of the land to good effect. The Samedi came out of the islands of the Caribbean. They appeared to be rotting corpses yet were invested with the power of the kindred. It is entirely possible that they are in fact some form of union betwixt vampire and the voodoun spirits which inhabit the dark islands. There again they may be the survivors of the Infitiores; a breakaway group of Cappadocians who turned away from their father's path long before the Giovanni purge. The Daughters (both male and female despite the name) appeared as some strange offshoot of the Toreador - creatures of such beautiful music they could do real damage with their voice alone. They appeared harmless enough but there are those who whisper of a strange connection between them and the Dark Mother, Lilith.

As the war against the Sabbat continued in America the Camarilla's worse fears were proved. Goratrix had lead his band of dark sorcerers to the Sabbat. In response Tremere and his Inner Council worked a great rite and branded all those who were antitribu. This brand is visible to all loyal members of the House and is a death warrant to all who bear it.

Eventually dissension broke out amongst the Sabbat and a civil war ranged in the Sect for many years until 1933 and the revised Treaty of Milan. The Sabbat were once more a semi-unified force and eager to battle with their old enemies. Their ranks were swelled by the arrival of the Setite antitribu - the Serpents of the Light as well as the unification of the caitiff under the banner of Jospeh Pander. Not quite a clan these Panders were never the less an important force.

The Sabbat were not the only ones to face civil war - the Camarilla faced difficulties with a new breed of Anarchs. These revolutionaries were most prominent along the US's West Coast and after a prolonged battle threw of Camarilla control. The Anarch Free States were born, under the new leadership of the Anarch legend Jeremy MacNeil (Dec 1944). The Camarilla decided to let MacNeil keep his petty free state - figuring it was better to give the Anarch's some small sign of hope than risk a more widespread uprising. After this upset life amongst the undead became almost calm for some 40 years. However as the years rolled by more and more voices began whispering of Gehenna - that the time for our sire's rising was upon us.

Strange times are upon us�

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