Mind's Eye Theatre - Vampire The Requiem.pdf - RoseRed

the embrace • the requiem • the danse macabre
the sun without feeling it burn him. Never again will he know the vital pleasures of life. The
Requiem is a forced ostracism that can literally last forever. No wonder, then, that so many of
the Kindred blind themselves to it with their petty schemes and rivalries. Their endless war,
the Danse Macabre, might be the only way to escape their damnation, and even then, it is only
a distraction and not true redemption.
THE REQUIEM
It is curious, if not unfi tting, that the most common name for unlife among the Kindred
is a musical reference, the Requiem. The word itself means a mass or musical composition
for the dead. In some cases, a requiem is a dirge. In other cases, it is a chant intended for the
dead’s repose. In still others, it is a gesture of respect.
No surprise, then, that the word has taken on its own meaning among the Kindred. The
word has connotations of its own, suggesting that the Kindred must have adopted it in a
more enlightened or sophisticated time. Tonight, however, all but the most cloistered Kindred
knows that the word bears its own specialized meaning. The Requiem is the Kindred’s unlife,
the grand, doomed waltz through which every one of their kind dances every night, urged on
by metaphorical strains of music that represent the hidden powers that guide, manipulate
and inspire them.
BUT WHY?
The reasons for Embracing are many and varied, and every Kindred who exists in the
world tonight probably has a host of her own for why she’d Embrace a childe. First and
foremost is loneliness, as becoming Kindred imposes an isolation that many vampires seek
to combat. Of course, the Embrace creates another Kindred — who is then himself alien
and isolated, continuing the desperate, doomed cycle. Some Kindred Embrace to preserve
a mortal’s talents, only to fi nd that the Embrace renders that childe unable to reach the
apex of her living abilities. Other Kindred Embrace out of a sense of duty or to prevent
disaster, such as when accidentally killing a vessel and then “saving” her with the curse
of undeath — whose existence will then possibly doom other mortals on down the road.
The trend is inevitable but irreversible. Despite its intentions, the Embrace never causes
anything but damnation.
Whatever the reason, no vampire is Embraced recklessly or without some degree of
thought on the part of the vampire making a new childe. Creating a Kindred requires an act
of immense will, and even a vampire who says she created a childe “just because” is certainly
hiding her reasons.
THE DANSE MACABRE
If an individual vampire’s existence is the Requiem, the way she interacts with her fellow
Kindred is the Danse Macabre, through which any number of individual Requiems play,
confl ict and resolve.
To many Kindred, the Danse Macabre has negative connotations. Relationships between
Kindred are forced, at best, as vampires are seemingly designed to be solitary predators.
The Embrace doesn’t completely deny the urges the individual knew as a mortal, however.
Inevitably over the course of undeath, all but the most withdrawn yearn for contact among
those who might be able to understand them. Is it so unnatural to seek fellowship among
others who have experienced the same pains and sorrows infl icted upon them (and infl icted
by them) throughout the Requiem?
Indeed, the notion has undeniable risks. Although the Embrace doesn’t strip the Man from
the individual, it leaves the Beast — the urges and wiles of the facet of personality inside all
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