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

Just the same, puppets and sinners continue to bring news to the scattered domains of the Kindred.
Stories of another burning time yet to come, when a reckoning shall fall upon the wayward
Damned. Some believe that various harbingers of some great accounting will rise, that the prophecies
in various Kindred holy or occult texts will come true, that Longinus or the Crone will take
an accounting of the sins of their lines, that Dracula will return to fi nd his covenant in disarray
and enact a culling or that only the purest of the pure will remain safe from whatever form this
portentous justice takes. Many still study the old ways and texts, searching for signs and omens of
when this dark time might arrive. They believe in the words of prophets and madmen among the
Kindred, and God help those who have forsaken them. Others believe the stories to be nothing
but rumor — another political ploy hatched from among the distempered minds of the young and
foolhardy. Others believe that some concordance among all the myriad tales, or the cryptic nature
and format of the stories themselves, indicates the return of a bloodline or covenant known as the
Moirai — one believed long dead yet still spoken of every night in hushed whispers.
What is agreed upon, at least by those who have stopped to pay attention, is that the Danse
Macabre is headed into yet another era. Advancements seen in the last 30 years alone have
allowed Kindred-versus-Kindred confl ict to blossom into never-before-seen arenas. Young
and savvy vampires use the Internet as often as they use any other tool of manipulation and
deceit, and with the advent of fi ber optics, digital networking and a host of other inventions,
the possibilities are endless. Never before has there been so much potential in the art of war,
and despite the quiet nagging of what remains of the vampiric conscience, it all sounds pretty
good to the average vampire.
And so, childer continue to plot and scheme against their sires, and sires continue to plot
and scheme against their childer and their rivals. The covenants continue to plot against each
other, and the unaligned continue to buck the authority of them all. The Carthian experiment
shows no sign of slowing down around the world, for good or for ill, and beside it all,
the Circle of the Crone remains, vigilant and secretive. The stage is set for the next act in
the Danse Macabre, and all the players have taken their places. There isn’t a doubt in their
minds that they are ready for the play that awaits.
After all, they’ve played these roles before.
IN VITAE VERITAS
While possessed of many curious properties, the Blood reacts in special ways between
vampires. Details as to why this happens are unknown. No blood-specialist or vampiric
hematologist has studied the phenomena extensively enough, and no mystics understand
the nature of the Curse so well. Certainly, though, these situations occur often enough and
widely enough to be known to all Kindred.
PREDATOR’S TAINT
Vampires instinctively know other Kindred upon sight, as the Beast seems to call to other
Beasts in its vicinity. Hackles rise, fangs extend and a sense of fear or territoriality overtakes a
Kindred upon meeting another vampire for the fi rst time. The urge is primal and bestial. The
more potent Kindred sees the interloper as a threat to his superiority, while the less potent
vampire instinctively feels a desire to fl ee this greater predator. Both Kindred potentially risk
frenzy at the overwhelming surge of instinct — the aggressive vampire feeling the urge to attack
the lesser to assert his dominance, and the “subordinate” vampire feeling a pressing urge to
fl ee. Kindred of equally potency both feel the desire to attack each other and settle the matter
of primacy once and for all. True, such compulsions abate once two Kindred are familiar with
each other, but the initial experience can be terrifying — or perversely thrilling.
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chapter one: society of the damned