On one level, the world of the vampire is the world of the world of the mortals. A vampire moves in the world of mortals much as a nobleman moves in the forest of beasts while hunting. Just as the noble has his castles nd courts, howver, so the vampire has a world of his own, where he may consort with his kind.

Some vampires shun the society of their Kindred, but such society exists, paralleling mortal society in both function and form. Just as there are mortal rulers and mortal societies in the world's great cities, so too there are vampire Clans and Princes. Most Kindred seek Princedm, for it is the only means by which to create a brood of one's own. Princes do not often allow others to create Progeny of their own. A Prince may create as many Progeny as he wishes and their loyalty adds to his strength.

It would be fatuous to list and describe every clan, Prince, and Fief in the world. Suffice it is to say that every mortal city of any size supports a vampire population, and these populations are organized in a number of different ways. Some rule collectively, others autocratically, but all rule and all resent intrusion. Like organized criminals and law enforcements agencies, they have structured their domain to their liking and suppress anything which threatens to disturb their peace.

Accordingly, a vampire who enters a new city is required to make himself known to its rulers and satisfy them that their rule is not threatened or challenged. To fail in this courtesy is to invite war. No witch-hunter ever pursues his prey so diligently as a Clam or Prince seeks out a stranger. Most rulers I have said, are content to keep the peace in their Fief and pursue their own arcane ends. But there are exceptions. One in league of Clans which calls itself the Sabbat, or the Black Hand. Their Fief extends across the eastern half of North America, and they are everything mortals expect of monstrous vampires. Reveling in the violent, the perverse and the bestial, they are shunned by their own kind, and woe betide the incautious vampire whom they find in their territory.

Above the Clans stands the Camarilla. All vampires are aware of this league, and all are invited to join. to take ananalogy -- if a Fief is a regional or national government, then the Camarilla is the LEague of Nations. To my mind, it is equally effective, but some set great store by its infrequent convocations. Certainly the Elders or the Council are not to be underestimated as individual powers -- most are very old and all very powerful. Primarily it enforces the ancient traditions, most important among them the Masquerade, so soon enough I may have cause to test its resolve and strength.

The Clans all have their various alliances and oppositions, which shift as often and widely as those of the small countries of the mortal world. I have mentioned the protocols which mut be observed when entering a Fief as an outsider. These obligations and structures are no more than protocols, and may be broken from time to time, but there is a stronger bond -- stronger even than the ties of blood kinship -- woes aucoritas is absolute. It is the mystic tie we call the Oath, or the Blood Bond.

I have touched upon the power of Blood to create new Kindred and Ghouls. Its effects on Kindred is no less powerful. It is said to be the sweetest blood in the world, but it creates a potent bond between donor and drinker. A vapire who drinks another vampires blood on three seperate occasions becomes trapped in a blood kinship as strong as that between Sire and Get; in fact, many Sires force this bond upon their unknowing Get at the time of creation, the better to command their loyalty. Among the Kindred, the Oath is a most potent bond; to take the Oath is give over one's mind and heart to another, and a willing Oath is never undertaken lightly. If all else fails and you have no other means of defense against a vampire, use my name -- the chance is slender, but if your attack happens to be blood bound to me, then you shall be safe.

By now, if my labours have been equal to my intent, it will be apparent to you that the society of the Kindred is as diverse as that of the living. We have our princes and paupers, our dreamers, our men of action, our heroes and criminals, our idealists and our perverts. the matter I am about to disclose is little more than speculation, but increasingly, I am inclined to believe the rumours.

I have said how the blood of the Sire empowers the blood of the prey, so that the body is sustained in its unlife. According to the rumour, the blood of the Sire, loses this power with the passing of the centuries and millennia, and an exceptionally aged vampire must needs drink the blood of Kindred to survive. Although the decay of a mortal cadaver is spared us, time still takes its toll, and the Blood is not absolutely immortal. A young vampire of an early generation is able to subsist on the blood of animals, but as the centuries pass -- or as the blood thins with transmission -- first animal and then mortal blood loses its ability to sustain.

The Antediluvians are said to prey on the Kindred as we do on mortals, ansd there is no end to the stories of their depravity. Increasingly, though, rumours spread of younger Kindred doing likewise. the reasons for this are unclear. Perhaps the youngest generations bear so little of the Blood that it serves them only for a few centuries, or perhaps they seek the powers of the Antediluvians by imitating their ways. I have long wondered if this is the cause of the war among my kind, the Jyhad which has lasted so long. The Antediluvians hide, for they fear that they will be kiled by those seeking their blood and thus their power. The Elders fear the Anarchs, for they fear that they shall be eaten by them as well. The Anachs fear all those who are older than they, for they know that they are prey to the most deadly predator. The conflict between my kind is a cannabalistic and horrific war indeed.

I have already mentoned the Oath, which is undertaken by drinking the blood of another vampire ( usually the prince or one's sire). It is known that taking the blood of one's own Get carries no such bond, and it seems also that the Antediluvians -- and those others who habitually prey on their own kind -- are able to do so without creating any kind of bond or obligation. This fact, more than anything, makes the practice of Diablerie ( as it has come to be known ) a shocking and perverted thing to the Kindred, and any vampire who is a known Diabolist may be killed out of hand by any who find him. The Diabolist must hunt with care, for he stalks the most dangerous game in the world. Doubtless some find a great exhilaration in this existance.

The Elders, needless to say, deny these rumours absolutely. To admit to such things would incite a revolution as terrible as the rising of the Fourth Generation. Yet there is evidence, which the diligent can find through the Antediluvians cover their tracks ever so carefully.

 

 

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