“In every man sleeps a prophet, and when he wakes there is a little more evil in the world.”
  - Emile M. Cioran 

Imagine the world you know. It's bustling cities, it's sprawling wildernesses, it's shining blue oceans, it's quiet glens. Now imagine everything that's wrong with the world today, the crime, the corruption in the government, the rape of the natural world for the sake of profit, the demise of pride, the blurring of history into an endless barage of retellings through a dispassionate media.

Now imagine that all of those things that make the world a petty and cruel place, are worse.

Imagine cities sprawling in hulking malevolence against the backdrop of a dying and twisted natural earth. Greed is the watchword of industry, and metal and glass temples to the almighty dollar seem ready to tear down the heavens. Imagine the rich far richer, cut off from reality by the vast difference in their incomes from that of the 'common' man's, languishing in apathetic gluttony, dripping with luxuries and totally devoid of basic human compassion due to their elevated status in society.

For the 'less fortunate', imagine that fear and bigotry are commonplace, and  violence is very often the answer. Drugs are an acceptable escape for many. Every home is broken, every child either a liability to an abusive parent, a tool to be manipulated, or simply a waste. Bums and drifters huddle in the street, gangs cruise the nights looking for blood, money or payback. Drug dealers and pimps crowd street corners plying their dubious trades and bars on windows are commonplace in businesses and homes alike.

And the middle class is a razors edge between these two states of being, where fathers sell their souls to mega-corporations for a chance at the big time, while the violence in the streets tear their families apart from below.

Imagine governments out of control, the most powerful men and women in the world mere puppets to graft and corruption. Campaign promises fall from thier lips while dirty money lines their pockets. Police are laughable at worst, and at best, the few good men and women in the world are crushed under the weight of the corruption above them.

Heroes are as grainy and forgotten a memory as a faded, old comic book in a disused basement.

Now imagine that even this shadow, all of this unending midnight of the soul, is all only a facade for a deeper and more insidious darkness...

Creatures exist in the shadow of these decaying cities and rotting old forests. Creatures of unknown origin and intentions, creatures of legend, creatures of nightmare. They are the silent partners behind the corporate robber barons and the sly information brokers that hold supremacy over the power elite. They are the whispers in the Senator's ear and the arsenic in his glass, slowly poisoning the world to their own, twisted ends.

Their influence is everywhere, from the day-to-day life of the cities' street refuse, sifting through the trash that a decadent and oblivious society has left behind, to the high society penthouses full of the unrepentant and the bold but beautiful glitterati, and everywhere in between. Here a vagrant bum that owns millions of dollars in multinational investments, there a nobody who just happens to have the 'right' kind of blood flowing through her veins to assure her ascendancy to an empire of criminal intrigue.

They have moods and motivations inscrutable to most, as many of them are centuries old and full of dark, potent power. They destroy lives on a whim, and build up massive power structures merely for the sake of lulling their enemies into a false sense that they may actually care about the tools that they use. And when the ruse is done, these things are swept away in the whirlwind of their neverending Jyhad.

Oh yes, and I almost forgot to mention: Those are just the Vampires.

In the beginning there was only Caine.
Caine who sacrificed his brother out of love.
Caine who was cast out.
Caine who was cursed forever with immortality.
Caine who was cursed with the lust for blood.
It is Caine from whom we all come,
Our sire's sire.

From the Book of Nod

Vampires... The Kindred... Creatures of the night.

In the course of human history, there have been legends all over the world of creatures that stalk the night, feeding on human blood. In these legends, some are harmed by sunlight, others repelled by crosses, and others are immune to all but a bowl full of rice.

The Book of Nod suggests that all Vampires, or Kindred originate from a single being; the Biblical Caine.

As the writings within the legendary Vampire Bible indicate, Caine was cursed by God to walk the land forever, marked as a murderer, hiding by day, seeking solace in darkness.

Caine created three, the second generation of vampires, from whom it is reputed that the other Vampire clans came. These three in turn made seven others (though some accounts speak of an eighth), these were the Antedilluvians, the third generation.

Many legends surround these eleven (or twelve) great figures, including tales of the rise of the Antedilluvians who destroyed their own sires. Lost in the shadows created by these dark creatures, nothing has been confirmed.

Now, in these modern nights, the vampire world is in turmoil, with the rise of many factions, sects and political groups, and the threat of Gehenna, the end of the world, always looming around the corner. No Kindred knows what is true and what is not about their shrouded histories. One can only pick a side, and hope not to face the night alone.

How can you explain the mystery of the differences in vampire legends?

Why does one Kindred cast no shadow, or another seem almost animal like in visage?

It's all in the blood. Not in the sense of mortal parents, each giving a genetic code to the offspring, producing a mix of two people. No, this is about the direct lineage of the blood of Caine.

Kindred spawn from a single Sire, a dark mother or father who Embraced them. Thus, a line can be drawn back, from Childe to Sire, to Grandsire and so forth, leading back to one of the first Childer of Caine.

This lineage forms the foundation of the Clans. Each sharing distinct traits, be it the ability to change form, the need to sleep on earth of one's homeland, or the power to work blood magic.

There are 13 known clans, each able to trace their lineage back to one of the Childer of Caine.

Why do vampires differ so greatly in power?

The answer is twofold. Age and Blood.

Age is a key factor in the power of a vampire. Just like mortals, vampires learn as they age, they become more aware of their own limits, and strengths. They have (if they are lucky) many mortal lifetimes to increase both knowledge and power.

However, nothing is more key to the survival of a Kindred than his or her blood. It is the source of their preternatural abilities, the key to their vampiric power.

Each Kindred was sired by the one before them, and with each vampire before their sire the blood was thinned, working back to Caine himself. With each generation the blood becomes thinner, less potent, carries less raw potential for vampiric power.

Eventually, with enough generations between Caine and a vampire, the blood becomes so thinned that it is rendered useless, unable to produce vampires, too weak to fuel the nightly task of raising the dead body of a vampire.

Because of this, most vampires discovered would be between the generations of fourth and thirteenth, with only the most powerful being lower and the weakest, and sickliest being higher.

With generation comes great strength, one of the fourth generation can use blood to make their bodies more resilient to harm, faster, stronger. They can also go longer without the need to feed. But most importantly, the lower one's generation, the higher the potential to master the greatest vampiric secrets.

The blood. And in Kindred, Vitae.

All Kindred require blood. How much, and how often is varies from Kindred to Kindred.

Blood fuels the vampiric body, causing it to rise each night. Vitae, the charged state of mortal blood once it has passed through a Kindred's body, powers many of the vampiric disciplines. Vitae allows a Kindred to heal at extraordinary rates. Blood is the key to vampire existence.

Some Kindred feed nightly, taking little or much from their mortal prey. Others feed only weekly, or monthly, there are some ancient Kindred rumored to have survived years on one single hunting spree. How long a Kindred can go without feeding seems to be as varied as the Kindred themselves.

If a Kindred reaches a state of having little or no blood, they frenzy, becoming animals driven by lust for blood. Such is the price for immortality.

Immortality.

It is not the same as invincibility.

Kindred have weaknesses, but again they vary almost as much as the Kindred themselves.

Fire is an age old enemy of the vampire. Yet some say vampires among the Sabbat have been seen leaping and dancing through bonfires without a care.

Sunlight burns a vampire like raw flame, sometimes even faster. A few ancient Kindred have been known to pass in daylight, but never for very long.

Stakes through the heart will often paralyze a vampire, but not destroy one. Something else must deliver the fatal wound.

Decapitation is one almost certain way to destroy a vampire. But the blow must be swift, clean and strong.

Draining a vampire of all their blood will often lead to their demise, and an uncontrollable hunger  frenzy. It is not uncommon for vampires to destroy each other this way, an act called Diablerie, where not only the last drop of a vampire's blood is consumed, but their very soul becomes food for other immortals.

Vampire society is broken into a multitude of complex structures.

At the first tier is Sect, there are many to chose from, and they are dealt with in the Denizens section of this website.

Next comes Age, this factor separates the children, literally Childer or Neonates from the adults, the Elders. Locked between them are the Ancilla, who are often old, but not quite Elders. Those 'just bitten' are considered Fledgelings.

Generation makes up the third tier of vampire social hierarchy, thickness of blood, and potential for power ensuring only the strongest, be it politically or physically, survive and prosper. Though important, in practice, the Generation of a vampire is often kept strictly hidden for fear of Diablerie.

Politics play a huge part of each tier, peers fighting both openly, and more subtlety at all times vying for position with the social hierarchy.

Rumors abound that above all these known layers is an ultimate layer, that of the Jyhad, a mythological game of chess played by ancients, possibly even the third generation, using their lesser brethren in games of strategy.

Kindred society is driven by politics. The most significant 'known' example of this. is the sects of vampires that have emerged over the centuries.

• The Camarilla are the 'civilized' vampires. Holding to a set of laws, known as The Traditions, these vampires co-exist with mortals by hiding their vampiric nature.
• The Sabbat are the antithesis of the Camarilla. Wild, chaotic vampires who embrace their dark side, taking delight in feasting on mortals, and embracing all that is vampiric.
• The Anarch Movement has come to the fore in more recent decades, fueled by the anarch lifestyle of modern youth, these rebels without a cause strive to do whatever the other sects are not.
• The Inconnu are a mysterious group, believed to be made up of vampires who have achieved the legendary state of Golconda, vampiric nirvana. These observers are said to never interfere, only watch, as Gehenna approaches.
• The Autarkis are those who choose no sides. These independents, be they individuals, or entire clans or bloodlines, seek only to further themselves, taking no sides in the great political and physical warfare that shifts across the globe.

Each Sect has it's own hierarchy of power, The Camarilla with their Princes, the Sabbat with their Bishops and Arch Bishops, the Anarchs with their Barons and 'Olders' each controlling a city or group of cities.