In Nomine Sceleris Sancti - In the Name of the Holy Sin
Many years ago there was a grand citadel, in which resided the race of man. Man was the top of the food chain, and in pure and total dominance of the whole world. But that did not last, as man was riddled with sin, the most potent of which being greed. Man lusted for more power, more control, the world was not enough, man wanted to control man. Science aided in this but was not enough. Science eventually led to the downfall of man, with the discovery of something truly vile.
Man discovered a portal between realms, which allowed for faster travel. They believed they were teleporting, but they were actually passing through the realm of magic. Which led to devastating truths that man was not prepared for. They invoked the wrath of the Angelarium.
Angelarium is a group of angels, each with their own characteristic. They would come to the world of man through a malfunctioning teleportation device, and they world see the end of man's corruption.
Mankind decided that teleportation was not fast enough travel, so they decided to make a faster one, but the experiment went awry. The machine broke down and the portal was torn asunder. It spew forth the Angelarium in a firey blaze that destroyed the lab.
"Shrouded in darkness
conceled by fog
out of sight
out of mind
what the future holds
what the present has
what the past has forgotten
I see what is not seen, hear what is not heard. If you wish, pay the price and you shall see it too."
Man was rendered nearly useless without its sciences, but was able to create more on a much smaller scale that allowed them to protect themselves from the changes to the world. They were soon met by another of the Angelarium.
An old prophetic man, in an attempt to banish the first, scoured the books in his collection and made the mistake of reading the wrong passage and invoking the powers of Materiel, angel of Rain. The translation of his chant:
"O lonely fountain bless us mortals that dwell beneath you
Let our gratefulness abate your sadness
Let our prayers reach you, lonely Matariel
All men and beasts seek your embrace
We beg that you may stretch your hand out to us
So we may continue to praise your generosity
O great muse of rain, O sustainer of life
We patiently await your blessing."
Let our gratefulness abate your sadness
Let our prayers reach you, lonely Matariel
All men and beasts seek your embrace
We beg that you may stretch your hand out to us
So we may continue to praise your generosity
O great muse of rain, O sustainer of life
We patiently await your blessing."
The world was covered in monsoons, and the oceans rose to new heights. Man retreated to higher grounds and were forced to use their sciences once more to build cities on the water. Not too much after their success were they met with yet another of the Angelarium.
A family gave birth to a child that was allergic to the sun, and the mother weeped over its frailty. She took to religion and prayed for reprieve, her prayers were answered, but it was not what she was hoping for. Sahaqiel had a great appreciation for irony, so he came forth with these words:
"I am thy protector
and thy keeper
I am thy shield
and thy restraint
I am the light which illuminates your life
and burns your eyes
I am the barrier which separates you from the divine
I am Sahaqiel, Angel of the Sky"
and thy keeper
I am thy shield
and thy restraint
I am the light which illuminates your life
and burns your eyes
I am the barrier which separates you from the divine
I am Sahaqiel, Angel of the Sky"
Shortly after, he blocked out the sun with mighty clouds. Man was forced to retreat underwater or into the earth itself for heat. They created cities in both, using the rain as a power source to make generators and created machines that produced oxygen from the oceans so that they could breath. They did not know that by doing so they angered the final two of the Angelarium, the Angel of the Deep, Rahab, and the Angel of Dust, Suphlatus.
Rahab sent word to Suphlatus of a plan to squelch mankind for their travesties. Rahab could not act until he was free of his watery prison, and his chains kept him from doing so. So Suphlatus spoke with Materiel to stop the rain, and then invoked a mighty dust storm that drained the oceans themselves.
He cast the mud ball into the portal from whence the Angelarium came, and Rahab made his way to the top of Eistibus' mountain. There they gathered the Angelarium and spoke of a way to rid the world of mankind. Eistibus divined a way to combine their forms into a single great being.
So the entire Angelarium fused their bodies together and the result was a being that stood nearly 200 feet tall. That being was Hasmed, the angel of Annihilation.
"Of all the forces of creation in the heavens and earth there is but one undoer.
To hear my voice is to know that you are deaf,
To see my face is to know that you are blind,
To feel my touch is to be no more."
To hear my voice is to know that you are deaf,
To see my face is to know that you are blind,
To feel my touch is to be no more."
And Hasmed brought complete destruction to man and the world. He attacked with a thousand furies, and within a matter of hours the world was a burning wasteland, a mere ball of dirt afloat in the cosmos.
The Angelarium returned to their normal forms and were cast down by a higher power for their insolence, they were stripped of their individual powers, but they were left with the ability to fuse to become Hasmed once more. Then they were imprisioned around the world, and time became their eternal guardian.
Time took its toll on the world and evolution began again. After many years the world was recreated in all its glory. Man again took its place at the top of the food chain, but that would not last as long as it did before. The portal remained on earth, and now was discovered by two foul creatures. One was Gaarus, a vampire. He was followed by Kira, a Lycanthrope, or werewolf. While Kira undoubtedly had more strength than Gaarus, he had the power of magic on his side, but due to their immense powers they were seemingly equals.
They began to fight one another over who would take control of this new world. Their blood fell into the portal, and for some strange reason the feuding incompatible diseases in their blood caused the portal to close, trapping them both in this new world. Seeing that they were so evenly matched they chose to fight on a much larger scale, they vowed to create mass armies, and at some point they would meet in glorious battle once more.
Gaarus went on to create the first vampires all across the world starting in what we know as the middle ages. His children would become the ancients, 6 in all. Gaarus was pleased at the fact that his children took to their curse nearly of their own will and began the spiral of the dark family.
Kira too left and scoured the planet for those willing to join her but was not as fortunate. She finally created the first of her kin about 100 years after Gaarus did. She gave up looking for the willing and just began attacking people in their sleep.
Many years passed and we find ourselves in the present day. The Werewolves split into two clans after the first daughter of Kira was slain by an Ancient Vampyr. They decided that only the descendants of the second daughter were strong enough to serve the Lady, and the two clans were formed. The Blood Fang Clan and the Bane of the Second Clan. Blood Fang are direct descendants of Kiras first daughter and are for some reason much more powerful than the Bane Clan. Their members are older and wiser in battle and fear only Kira herself.
The Vampyr too have divided into sects and clans, 6 in all. Each sect being descendants of the six ancients each having their own unique aspect.
The clans are: Brujah, Tremer, Toredor, Gangrel, Malkavian, and Ventrue. combined they form Gaarus' Army: the Camarilla.
Clan Brujah is largely composed of rebels, both with and without causes. Individualistic, outspoken and turbulent, Brujah hold social change near to their undead hearts, and the clan's ranks contain some of the most violent of the Camarilla Kindred. Most other vampires perceive the Brujah as nothing more than punks and miscreants, but the truth of the matter is that genuine passion lies behind their polemics.
Whether dreaded, mistrusted, feared or reviled, the insular vampires of Clan Tremere are anything but ignored. Those who have heard of the clan's doings are typically suspicious of the Tremere, and with good reason - for the Warlocks are aptly named. Through their own artifice, they have mastered a form of vampiric sorcery, complete with rituals and spells, that is as potent - if not more so - than any other power of the Blood. Paired with the clan's rigid hierarchy and the smoldering ambition so common among Warlocks, this power is an unsettling thing indeed to those who know what the Tremere are capable of doing.
The Toreador are called many things - "degenerates," "artistes," "poseurs" and "hedonists" being but a few. But any such lumpen categorization does the clan a disservice. Depending on the individual and her mood, Toreador are alternately elegant and flamboyant, brilliant and ludicrous, visionary and dissipated. Perhaps the only truism that can be applied to the clan is its members' aesthetic zeal. Whatever a Toreador does, she does with passion. Whatever a Toreador is, she is with passion.
Of all vampires, the Gangrel are perhaps the most mocking of Kira's children. These nomadic loners spurn the constraints of society, preferring the comfort of the wilderness. How they avoid the wrath of the werewolves is unknown; perhaps it has something to do with the fact that the Gangrel are themselves shapeshifters. When a mortal speaks of a vampire changing into a wolf or a bat, she is probably speaking of a Gangrel.
Even other Damned fear the Malkavians. The cursed blood of their clan has polluted their minds, with the result that every last Malkavian across the world is incurably insane. What's worse, a Malkavian's madness can take nearly any form, from overpowering homicidal tendencies to near-catatonia. In many cases, there's no way to tell a Malkavian apart from the "sane" members of other clans. Those few whose psychoses are immediately obvious are among the most terrifying vampires to stalk the streets.
The Kindred of Clan Ventrue have a reputation for being honorable, genteel and of impeccable taste. From time out of mind, Ventrue has been the clan of leadership, enforcing the ancient traditions and seeking to shape the destiny of the Kindred. In nights of old, Ventrue were chosen from nobles, merchant princes or other wielders of power. In modern times the clan recruits from wealthy "old money" families, ruthless corporate climbers, and politicians. Whatever their origin, Ventrue vampires preserve stability and maintain order for the Camarilla. Other Kindred often mistake this for arrogance or avarice, but to the Ventrue, their shepherd's role is more burden than honor.
Kira and Gaarus both have secluded themselves amongst the world, and have not been seen in many years. Their clans are lead by their first children. For the Vampyr: Marcus(Brujah), Raven(Malkavian), Laura(Tremere), Kain(Ventrue), Loki(Gangrel), and Logan(Toredor). The Werewolf clans are lead by Lucien(Bane of the Second) and Rayne(Blood Fang) but the years have increased their numbers that their are several smaller clans and even some renegade cults that mix races, they are the most hunted by both sides.
The corruption amongst man has angered the Heavens, one angel in particular, Michael.
Michael decided that Gaarus and Kira's war has not happened soon enough and that their Kin must be wiped from the earth before they awaken the Angelarium by mistake. But before he could get his holy army together, he received devastating word.
A kindred of Kain was traveling the world looking for knowledge to increase his arcane powers, and came across a large crystal coffin. He burst it open revealing a passage way. He traveled down the passage and discovered the entombed Eistibus. Eistibus was awakened by this demonic presence, and succumbed to its will. The kindred was named Malakai, and he was an interesting Kindred indeed. He was a mixed breed of Ventrue and Tremere, granting him immense magical powers. Eistibus granted him the knowledge of the arcane as well as the legandary story of Hasmed. Malakai's eyes widened with joy and he decided that he would search the world for the rest of the imprisioned Angelarium.
Michael quickly gathered his army and assigned troops to his generals. He sent forth his army unto the world to hunt the Vampyr and Werewolves, but their priority was to stop Malakai's quest.
He sent forth Azrael, Angel of death. Azrael was a powerful warrior and excelled at reaping the souls of the damned.
Then he sent Cariel, Angel of Battle. Cariel was summoned from the pits of hell to aide Michael under the rules that he would be granted return to the heavens for his work. His corruption caused him to agree but deep inside he held onto the though of rebellion so that he could walk the earth and fight.
Next he sent down Izrael, Angel of Pain. Izrael vowed to end the eternal servitude of the Vampyr and Werewolves, because it was an escape from suffering.
Icarus was chosen as well, his eternal form resembled that of his mythological death. He was chosen because of his control of fire, which proved to be a valuable weapon against the Vampyr.
Raziel, angel of light was chosen next due to his expertise in slaying the damned. He fought alongside Loki years ago and together were a force to be reckoned with. Raziel volunteered to be a general since Loki was busy on another plane of existence and could not aide Michael.
Finally Zachriel, angel of Memories was chosen as the final general. He held nearly as much knowledge as Eistibus did and so was chosen to keep that aspect of the war equal.
However during the army's exit from heaven, a loner snuck out in the crowd to create chaos. Simikiel, Angel of Vengeance saw himself as the equalizer for all sides and chose no single ally, but made himself freelance on earth. He would show his head whenever vengeance was invoked. Somehow he manage to stay off of Michael's radar, but became targeted by the Holy Army as well.
He sent a message to the world through telepathy upon his arrival:
"Call my name and I shall come,
Speak your words of betrayal and I will be at your side,
Pierce the sword of vengeance into the hearts of thine enemies and you will gain retribution,
But be warned, for I, Simikiel, angel of vengeance, carry a double edged sword,
Do harm upon the undeserving and I shall bring my wrath upon you three fold."
Speak your words of betrayal and I will be at your side,
Pierce the sword of vengeance into the hearts of thine enemies and you will gain retribution,
But be warned, for I, Simikiel, angel of vengeance, carry a double edged sword,
Do harm upon the undeserving and I shall bring my wrath upon you three fold."
And so the grand war begins.
