The Damned

Where to begin? So much ink has been spilled down the centuries.
I am constantly amazed by the regularity with which you mortals stumbles across
truths and half-truths -- sometimes very profound ones -- by the most haphazard
and fallacious thinking; and then, unaware of what you have uncovered, proceed
to expound generalities of entirely the wrong order. We are monsters to thee,
yet heroes as well. We are the incarnations of dark metaphors and suppressed
desires, yet we are also the nobility of fairy tales. beloved of children. We
are a baseless superstition, an artistic genre, a psychological condition, a
yearning made flesh, an externalization of a guilt-lust-violence complex, and
many other things besides

Some two and a half centuries ago, a French churchman named
Calmet sought to collect all the information extent on the nature of vampires.
It is not surprising then, that his treatise contains many contradictions and
areas of uncertainty. Quoting from the reports of Papal Commissions sent out
to deal with plagues of vampires in Austria, Hungary, Moravia, and Silesia,
he reports that a vampire may be destroyed by being transfixed with a wooden
stake, followed by decapitation and the burning of the remains. This will indeed
destroy a vampire, just as certainly as it would destroy a mortal. Such a clever
man, Calmet.

Motion pictures have abbreviated this treatment somewhat,
creating the fallacy that the stake is sufficient. Do not believe such tales.
Transfixing its heart on a stake will immobilize a vampire, but some further
treatment is necessary terminus sit. Whether this be burning or sunlight, its
legal; but trust not the stake alone. Neither should you place your faith in
weapons of metal as did your American friend. Such things injure, but the wounds
heal quickly -- Else I should not be writing now.

Sunlight it is said infallible doom to my kind. Motion
pictures show motley greasepaint vampires crumbling to dust at Sol's caress.
or bursting into flame like those doused with greek fire. Sadly, this is true,
if somewhat overstated. Sunlight burns our skin as does flame, and only the
oldest and strongest can withstand it for long. Thus we must sleep during the
day and act only at night. During the day we are very sluggish, and find it
difficult to do anything besides sleep. Only those of us who have not left our
human nature very far behind are capable of taking action when the sun is in
the sky. I myself have not seen the light of day in many centuries, and have
nearly forgotten the gleam of the sun's golden rays. But I do not miss it.

Crosses, holywater, and other trappings of religion may
be ignored -- the Church is the first refuge of mortals, faced by things beyond
their comprehension, especially in former times. However, I have seen a rare
occasions where such items were capable of considerable discomfort -- their
wielder, almost glowed with faith in the Divinity, and I can only conclude that
the religious items served somehow to channel the power of that faith. Ignore
the tricksters of cinema, however, with their crossed candlesticks and shadows
of windmill's sails.

The reputed property of garlic, aconite and other herbs
are likewise mere superstition. The repel vampires no more than they do mortals,
for all the canting of goodwives who peddle them. Like the Church, the village
wisewoman was oft required to use her 'magic' against vampires and was just
as successful. File-makers have made other fallacious legends part of the common
parlance. For instance, we can see our reflections in the mirror,though some
of us pretend otherwise in honor of the great cinematic tradition. Likewise,
we can appear on film. Indeed some of my kind have appeared in movies, and one
was a director of no little repute.

It is equally ludicrous to presume that a vampire would
not be able to travel about as he would like. We Cainites ( one of our race's
terms for ourselves, the origin of which i shall later discuss later) may enter
any house and home we please at any time. It is likewise preposterous to think
a vampire would not be able to cross running water. Indeed, water affects us
not at all We no longer breathe, hence we cannot drown. While being trapped
underwater is unpleasant and may, if prolonged, result in some physical deterioration,
no vampire has ever died of immersion alone, although some bloodlines are rumored
to have a weakness of water. Belike this is how many of the rumors originated,
for weaknesses have arisen in several bloodlines and have been passed down from
Sire to Get.

The cinematic vampire, it seems, may take several forms
if the human shape suits not his purpose: wolf, bat, mist -- in some legends,
cats, and night bird also. The powers of the Elders are considerable, and they
are seldom found in those of later generation. I have seen many wonders during
my brief and unwilling involvement in their game of Jyhad, and I no longer discount
the stories of shape-shifting. But I will tell you this -- a vampire who has
plural forms will either be of a rare breed, the Gangrel clan, or will be very
old, very wise and very powerful. I pray that such a one will never cross your
path. Many of us, however, have abilities which a mortal would consider supernatural.
As predators, our senses are sharp, and some have developed other talents to
aid in the hunt. One example -- the ability to inspire fear, stillness. obedience
and other emotional responses -- is a useful one, although popular writers have
embellished it somewhat n the interests of their stories

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