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 Posted: Fri Dec 19, 2008 11:42 am
Good. Come with me, and I shall tell you. This is not the place for comfortable discussions of physiology and psychology.
*Raoul stood and led the way through the back door of the office and into his private chambers. The rooms were basic, rustic, decorated with animal motifs and emblems.
Settling before an open fire, Raoul nodded Volundr to a chair opposite*
Sit, but be careful. Our kind do NOT like fire and you may be suprised by your natural reaction to it, to being this close to open flames. You can overcome it however.
I brought you in here as I have texts you may like to see . First of all, do you have any direct questions you would like answered, or would you rather I just start talking?
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Posted: Fri Dec 19, 2008 11:51 am
As Volundr settled in he noticed a vague creeping feeling as he got close to the fire. This confused the hell out of him until Raoul clarified his natural reaction. Volundr's brow lowered. If he was to continue blacksmithing he would have to get over this bit of instinct and fast. As he took a seat he scooted the chair a little closer to the fire; he could start by gradual acclimation.
"Well, Im a blank slate as of now and you know what your talking about. I guess we should start at the beginning." Volundr said with a smile.
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Posted: Fri Dec 19, 2008 12:06 pm
There are many beginnings, but I will start with lore.
In the beginning, there was Adam and Eve, who had three children - Cain, Abel and Seth.
You must know of course the story of Cain and Abel and how Cain killed Abel to offer him up to God, and become keeper of his soul. God was NOT happy and cursed Cain to 'walk the earth for eternity' or until he repented or showed remorse or some such. A far fetched story prehaps but we refer to Cain as Caine, and he is the father of our kind - Cainites. Abel died, and thus humanity, whom we commonly refer to as 'Kine', are descended of Seth - sometimes, you will hear humans called 'Children of Seth' by older Cainites, of Kindred as the Camarilla prefer to refer to ourselves.
Make no mistake Volundr, though you are a vampire who drinks the living blood of others to keep your own immortal body active, you are NOT a mere vampire as myth would have it. Such creatures DO exist but are vastly inferior to ourselves. We are Cainites.
Now, the Sabbat in particular believes lore. The Camarilla is more prone to science. Though as yet no one has answered HOW we develope dif not by descending from Caine, it HAS been etsablished when we drink from the living, it is the haemoglobin we need most. Our own bodies slowly collapse the cells in our blood, giving us effectively sickle cell anemia to the point of, well, death. Living blood contains iron, opxygen and other necessities our own blood cannot suplement or recreate.
Now, I know I just said the Sabbat believe the Bible, we believe in science, but to tell the truth... most of us believe a little of each. History tells it that Caine wandered for some time before creating the second generation of powerful cainites, made in his own image. Reeling in horror from what he had done, and the fact that his children did not act as he had envisioned, Caine fled to the Land of Nod to meditate and atone, forbidding his children from begetting any more of their kind. Can you guess what is supposed to have happened next?
*Raoul's bright, intelligent eyes had turned husky once again, watching Volundr closely for his reactions*
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Posted: Fri Dec 19, 2008 12:13 pm
Volundr, mulled this over for a few seconds. He was familiar with the old testament and tried to think of any keys that may give him a clue as to what was coming. It was a shocker that Cainite history was so...familiar; that it paralelled what he was taught in sunday school.
"Well, either the second generation spawned thier own children, Cain came back and killed them, or the flood jumped both of them before they could do anything."
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Posted: Fri Dec 19, 2008 12:28 pm
Very good childe. The second generation did INDEED create their own children. The antideluvians. Some tales say there were but 13 of these ancient terrors, some say 33 or more.
The second generation, like Caine, realised their mistake too late and the Antideluvians turned on their makers, consuming them. This act, consuming another cainite, is known as Diablerie among us and is HIGHLY frowned upon. In many places, doing such can get you a death sentance on yoru head - a Blood Hunt. Other Cainites will tear you apart.
Regardless, it was not Caine who purged the world when he found out what his childer had done, it was supposedly God - the divine. Caine washed his hands of it all and has not been seen since, and the great flood came to purge the world. Because of course, the third generation was alreayd begatting the fourth....
Here however is where things get interesting. Each generation of Cainites has weaker blood than the generation before. By the third generation, the blodo had thinned enough, definable characteristics coudl be seen in each, and the 13 great clans, or more, were established form that point on.
For example, the third Generation Antideluvian known as Brujah had incredible strength and speed, but coudl not change into an animal like his Sire, or Caine, of his brother Gangrel. Gangrel could change forms and use the earth, but did not have Brujah's strength and speed.
The childer of each of these antideluvians then took the name of their Sire as a name for their clan.
We know of 13 that can be traced back to that time. Assamite, Brujah, Gangrel, Tremere, Tzimisce, Lasombra, Ravnos, Nosferatu, Toreador, Ventrue, Followers of Set, Malkavians and Giovanni.
There are others, like the Baali, True Brujah, Daughters of Cacophony, Sons of Discord, Salubri, Samedi.... some may trace their origins to that time, some arte offshoots of other clans, some... we just dont know. But you get the point so far, yes?
The Cainite species survived the flood. Think you can name the great city we went on to found?
*again, the piercing gaze, the calculating stare*
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Posted: Fri Dec 19, 2008 12:49 pm
Volundr was sitting forward in wrapped attention. He thought about the question for a second. City founded by vampires; the children of the night...
"Did we found Babylon? It was the main power seat from the time of the flood till Alexander the Great." Volundr's intrest had been piqued at this discussion. He loved history and this new version of mankinds greatest struggles was really drawing him in.
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Posted: Sat Dec 20, 2008 2:57 am
Babylon DID have its fair share of our kind among its populace, but it was not founded by cainites. I was thinking more, of Carthage.
Built by a true coalition of Kine and Cainites, it was a utopia. In time however, war came to its doors and it was razed, the earth salted to prevent any Cainites who sought refuge in the earth from rising again. Many Cainites have been accused of this treachery, causing rifts among our kind. Carthage was lost, its ideals gone with it. The Brujah clan were hit the hardest, losing the one true home that they had had.
War then became our name sake.
By this point of course the Generation 3 Antideluvians and Generation 4 Methuselah's had been around a LONG time. Many of them dropped into torpor and have not woken since. Maybe it was as early as this we began to forget what absolute terrors and onsters our forebears were.
We spread across the globe, took residances whereveer we could, started shaping history just by living as long as we have.
At some point, the Jyhad began. Maybe we DID have some lingering fear of our elders, but whatever the cause, it seeped into our racial memory that someone in the shadows, in the darkness, was not only manipulating the events of the Kine, causing wars and treaties to their own ends, but that they were also using US, each and every one of us, to do the same. Starting interclan wars, maybe even setting up the two factions as we came out of the dark ages. No one knows. Many Kindred will tell you they dont believe in all that nonsense, that their destiny is their own, but.... we all have that fear. As a species, we ARE manipulative and controlling. What do you think is the truth?
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Posted: Sat Dec 20, 2008 11:29 am
Volundr let out a little chuckle as he answered. "Seeing as Im on the bottom rung of this mess, I may just have the best prospective. Iden, will be pulling my strings, your pulling his, someone is pulling yours, and so on and so forth until you get to the person at the top, and he is pulling so many strings that they begin pulling him. In the end everyone's decisions are influenced by those around them no matter whether they want them to be or not, and each decision is going to make one person happy and the others pissed. As a society there's really not much we can do about it; until we change the players we can't change the game. And as far as I can tell, the players in this game would sooner kill than change."
Volundr never really did like politics but he had his entire unlife ahead of him to get used to it. Now was really a good time to start.
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Posted: Sun Dec 21, 2008 4:19 pm
That is very very true. Killing is what we are best at. Even those of us who are humane when we are turned, we soon become innoculated to violence. When one must harm just to feed, evil becomes less black and white, and more grey by the day.
Our history is sordid and violent as a species. The volumes on these shelves tell of wars, territory changes, the creation of the two sects, what we know about each clan, and about what each can do. Figures through history we know about are listed, and what they did, humanities history and why it was changed and for who. You may browse at your lesuire and ask me any questions you feel you need to.
First of all, may I suggest researching the clan you yourself belong to - the Lasombra.
*Raoul gestured to the shelves all around him. Many books were very old, but there was also a laptop on the table, allowig acess to soft copy Roaul owned as well*
I will acquire for you your own laptop for yor note taking, and so I may keep you updated when I am not in the office. DOes that suit?
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Posted: Mon Dec 22, 2008 5:17 pm
"A laptop would be excellent, sir." Volundr replied. In a blink he was up at the shelves. After making a pass over the lot of the the books he went back and picked up several titles from several overviews of the Lasombra Clan, two titles on the history of the Camarilla, and even one on clan Brujah. He sat down by a coffee table on a rug and piled the books around him. He then began reading at a stunning pace with no more than 10 seconds per page when he would turn to a new one. Every so often he would pause and annotate in his journal filling pages at a time with the scrawling angular cypher his notebook was filled with. Volundr had lost himself in the process of gathering information and from what could be seen, he was no stranger to it.
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Posted: Fri Dec 26, 2008 2:08 pm
*Raoul smiled as the kid got to work. He appreciated an academic, and was more than happy to let Volundr study.
Slipping out of the room, a brand new laptop would find its way to the kid within four hours, with Raoul going about finialising the 'adoption' among his other duties in his office. When Volundr had questions, or was ready to train... he'd know where to find Raoul*
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Posted: Fri Dec 26, 2008 4:10 pm
Over the next few nights Volundr sat on the floor infront of the coffee table pouring over every book that caught his eye. He learned of Obtenebration and the other Diciplines of his clan as well as the key talents of the other principle clans. He learned of the Camarilla and the Sabbat and thier ongoing struggle; he learned of the Antedilluvians and of the father Caine. He didn't budge from behind his rampart of books a single time during his studies, falling asleep where he sat at the coming of the dawn. Over the nights he studied he began to fill his notebook and laptop with observations and plans. He The basics were now drilled into his head and all he had to do was put them into practice.
After several days had passed Volundr looked over his work and nodded. He was satisfied and suddenly he realized he was famished. Glancing at his watch he realized that it had been four days since he started his studies. It was time to visit Raoul once again. As he walked down the halls he noticed he was much more concious of the smell of blood and vitae. While the scent didn't proliferate the air it was a lingering undertone and it drew at Volundr like a magnet. When he reached Raoul's office he stood outside the door for a minute composing himself, then he knocked.
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Posted: Fri Dec 26, 2008 4:19 pm
Come in.
*Raoul smiled. He knew who was outside his door - a little patch of cold was showing on the monitor. As Volundr entered, he;d find the General sat with hand over a class, blood seeping from his wrist between his fingers into it. Vitae. Old, POWERFUL vitae*
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Posted: Fri Dec 26, 2008 4:48 pm
A soon as the door opened the scent hit Volundr full on and he froze eyes locked on the Elder Cainite and the glass he held. He had read about this feeling he was having. The Beast. It now leaped and bound forward against the thin chain of his will and threatened to drag him into the world of primal nature that Volundr both feared and longed for.
The young Cainite remained frozen in his tracks his jaw working, the muscles and tendons of his arm and neck stood out like chords as he gripped the doorknob, as if it was an anchor to his sanity. There he teetered on the brink of loosing himself, trembling with the effort of just holding his ground but unable to break his gaze away from the glass and the decilately parted skin of Raoul's wrist. Inch by inch Volundr began leaning forward pausing every second trying to hold back his thirst. Then the air in the room thickened.
The light didn't really dim, it just began to grow less effective as the shadows thickened. From under Raoul's desk a thick tendril of shadow slowly slid across the floor toward Volundr. It slid up his leg and across his torso finally coming to rest in a thick mass over the eyes and nose of the young Cainite. Once the sight and smell of temptation was removed Volundr's offensive against his beast began. In a fluid motion he reached to his side and pulled out a small pocket knife, flicking it open deftly with the pop of his wrist. Then in another motion that defied sight and speed he plunged the small blade into the side his right leg a few inches below his knee where the worst lingering effects of his "sun burn" marked his flesh.
With a gasp Volundr fell to one knee on the floor, the shadows still wrapped tightly across his face. He was pale and shaking as if he had just been shot when he spoke.
"Good evening Master Raoul. I came to tell you I have finished my studies and an ready to start training after I procure nourishment."
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Posted: Fri Dec 26, 2008 4:56 pm
Very good..... very impressive fledgling...
*Raoul was smiling with suprise as he stood up. His wrist healed over and he downed the glass of his own blood, removing temptation from Volundr as he filled the glass with heavy scented whiskey in its place*
Not many are able to control their hunger, even WITH such distractions as a knife to the body.... however, had you been in human society, near someone who cut themself on a glass for example, you would never have passed yourself off as anything other than the bloodsucking inhuman fiend you are. That would be a grave mistake. I take it you read up on the Masquerade?
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