Vampires have long been feared as rapacious monsters of the night---terrible black forms sweeping out of the darkness to steal infants from their cribs and ravish the blood of innocents.Vampires are also creatures of deadly beauty,immense passion and predatory sensuality.Each Vampire is unique,and each has their own fascinating story to tell.The most important characteristic all vampires share,though,is their damnation.More important that any lineage,clan,sect or cause is the fact that all vampires are undead predators.Fealties and duties fall second to the inescapable urge of hunger.Without exception,vampires are parasites,cursed by fate to prey upon those from which they originated.
In response to their environment,the Kindred have evolved a complex society tha texsists just out of sight of the mortals who surround them.Age,clan,sect,power, influence and many other aspects of unlife make the Kindred who they are.Part of any Kindred's being is membership in a number of social castes that grace vampire society.By creating and enforcing divisions and roles for themselves,no matter how artificial,the Kindred seek to escape the Beast that roils within them.Not only do vampires hide from mortals,they hide from themselves as well,pretending they are not the horrors they have truly become.
One way the Damned distinguish themselves is through a combination of age and generation *or how far removed a Kindred is from the progenitor vampire,Caine*. Young vampires must prove themselves to their elders to be afforded any bit of status,and Kindred society is often as stagnant and stultifying as the immortal Damned themselves.There is a small degree of mobility,however, as elder Kindred are always looking for assets and Allies who may aid them against thier rivals in the Jyhad.
The greatest status is accorded to the Antediluvians,vampires of the Third Generation.Most vampires consider these Kindred to be legendary---certainly,none has been verifiably seen in the modern nights.The lowest rung of status is held by rank neonates and the clanless Caitiff,those claimed by no clan or with blood too weak to trace a proper lineage. |
