Like Mortals we have our own history and lore, by which we seek to explain our existence and understand our place in the world. Just as the veracity of your legends is lost on the shrouds of history, so the truth of our lore is uncertain. However, over the years I have unearthed a number of different sources, and through painstaking study, I believe I have arrived at some semblance of fact and truth.

Most of our lore is contained within an ancient text known as the Book of Nod, Neither any of my acquaintances nor I has ever seen or heard of a complete copy, although fragments have been unearthed over the centuries. There is much confusion and contradiction, and some versions appear to have been deliberately falsified.

Over the centuries, I have been fortunate to peruse fragments of Greek, Turkish, Aramaic, Latin and Hebraica Quabalistica, as well as translations from Old Kingdom hieroglyphics and Assyrian cuneiform. Inconsistencies are rife, but the main body of the tale states that my kind is descended from Caine, who some call the Third Mortal.

Outcast from mortal society for the killing of his brother, Caine was cursed with eternal life and a craving for blood. We, his children, are the heirs to that curse, condemned to repeat his cry endlessly.

Caine wandered the wilderness until his name was all but forgotten. He returned to the world of mortals and was able to establish himself as the ruler of a city by the name of Enoch, Uniech,Enkil or what you will. May Kindred call it the First City. Here, Caine created three Progeny -- those whom we call the Second Generation. They in turn begot the Third Generation, who are numbered at nine, twenty-seven, one hundred or none at all, according to the source one reads. Caine forbade the creation of any further Kindred, perhaps having gained some understanding of what he had unleashed upon the world. There is no word of any Kindred establishing Caine's rule elsewhere, and if they al remained in the First City, their increasing numbers must have strained the mortal population.

All was tranquil in Caine's domain until a great flood destroyed the city. Caine saw this as divine punishment for returning to the world of mortals, and resumed his wandering, leaving his Progeny to their own devices. Though he forbade them to create more, they ignored his imperative as each of his progeny desired a Brood of its own.

No more is heard of our ancestor, although from time to time, a vampire calling himself Caine will appear in some part of the world or another. Occasionally, he is revealed as an impostor, but more often he vanishes as suddenly as he appeared. Some believe that Caine still lives, while others -- myself included -- think it more likely to be some subterfuge, of the Elders. It is said that Caine is rent with sorrow for having unleashed such misery and suffering upon the world.

Once free of Caine's restrictions, the Second and Third Generation created a multitude of Progeny. They ruled together briefly, but all was not calm between them. Eventually the youngest generations rose and slew their Sires, drinking their blood. This fourth Generation built another Great City ( some sources hint that this may have been Babylon, while others suggest that it exists somewhere below the sands of Egypt) which we know know only as teh Second City. The rule of these new vampires was not untroubled, for certain Kindred of the Third Generation still lived. Indeed, some say they were secretly behind the slaying of their Elders. It was decreed that they alone reserved the right to beget Progeny, and that any of the Fourth Generation who disobeyed them were to be hunted down and killed along with their sires. Tough the Fourth Generation lived in public, the Third Generation whom we know today as the Antediluvians, lived in secret and revealed to no-one the location of their havens. For nearly two millenia (some say 23 centuries) the fourth Generation ruled the city, while the Third Generation ruled them. Eventually, the culture grew decadent and the city died. In a great uprising the people rose up and killed all the Kindred they could find.

When the Second City fell, its rulers fled. Scattered far and wide, they were too numerous and too widespread for the hidden Elders of the Third Generation to threaten them, and thus was begot the fifth Generation. The Kindred grew in numbers and settled in all parts of the world. Mortal history records a time, beginning over two thousand years ago, of burgeoning empires locked in combat with one another -- the time of the Persians, the Greeks and the Tartars. Thus did the Fifth Generation establish its own order. Meanwhile, the Antediluvians lay hidden and pursued their own mad schemes. This age of wars may even have been of their making, the beginning of their great Jyhad. Whatever the truth. almost none remains to speak of it. I myself have met only one of the Fifth Generation, and at the time, I did not know it.

It is said by some that near the end of this period, the Antediluvians emerged from their hiding places and sucked the blood of al my kind, each leaving one new PRogeny of their line. This legend has it that this was the close of the Second Cycle, that the Antedeluvian's lust for blood was so great that they needed all of my race as their vessels. Those who believe in the Cycle legends predict an Armageddon in the near future. They say that the Antediluvians are asleep now, but some day they will awaken and then they will feed. The Third cycle is coming to a close, and none but the Third Generations will remain alive at its conclusion. The true believers say that each cycle lasts 2300 years, and soon, very soon the time approaches. They call it Gehenna, and some prepare for it fervently. As a man of science, these beliefs seem extreme to me, but they cannot be entirely discounted.

Whatever the truth of the matter, I know that the Elders of the Fifth and older Generations live in complete seclusion. Those of the Inconnu fear one another that much. To have lived this long, they must be cunning and powerful, and they may be expected to cover their tracks well. This leaves my own Sixth Generation and its descendants as the bulk of the visible Kindred. I have heard claims of a Thirteenth or Fourteenth Generation,but prefer to dismiss them. Such creatures must be very well and close to mortality, for it is said that the Blood thins as it is passed from one generation to the next.

 

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