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

82
chapter one: society of the damned
Vampiric Nature Is Solitary
To the unbound, the twin notions of vampiric
freedom and individuality have their
roots in the simple truth that vampires are
solitary creatures. The soul of a Kindred is
solitude. It is shut out from the world it knew
before the Embrace and forced to survive the
Requiem as a wolf among the fl ock, dipping
in and out of the fringes of mortal society
while never truly integrating with it.
The same applies to the new world into
which a Kindred is thrust upon his Embrace.
While many view vampire society as a sublevel
resting beneath and within mortal society,
the unaligned tend to reject this view on
the whole. To them, the notion of a “vampire
society” is a shamefully forced contrivance, a
deliberate attempt by power-hungry elders to
enforce structure and order where none exists.
Vampires are bestial, undead predators.
Forcing them to coexist under fabricated
pretense is a recipe for disaster. Only by
respecting the natural Kindred state — that
of isolated, independent equality — can harmony
be found among the Damned.
Power Corrupts
The unaligned see how terribly power
corrupts among the living. Compound the
problem with undeath, literal bloodthirst
and the prospect of an eternity of the same,
and the result is disaster waiting to happen.
The unbound can believe that the Kindred
are the last creatures who should be in a position
to wield great power over themselves, let
alone over one another. They’re called “the
Damned” for a reason, and the Damned
should not be leading the Damned. That’s
a caravan that can only travel straight to the
gates of Hell, and the unbound know better
than to fall into such an ill-fated line. Better
that each vampire concern himself primarily
with his own progress along his own road.
This is not to say that independent Kindred
eschew power and infl uence. They are
still vampires, and many feel that the only
way to fi ght fi re is with fi re. Even those
who don’t can still appreciate the benefi t of
amassing great amounts of wealth or sway