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

— it chooses its fi ghts carefully in order to gain as many advantages as possible. Given its
relatively small numbers, overt confl ict with groups of Kindred is rare, but not unheard of.
Assassinations, murders and stealth tactics are more suited to the covenant’s capabilities, but
considering Seven to comprise nothing but fi endish skulkers sorely underestimates its abilities.
Too many Kindred have met their end at the claws of a coterie of Seven after thinking
the killers destroyed.
86
Kindred Mythology
Undying, blood-drinking predators with abilities that defy the laws of science as mortals
know them, the Kindred are creatures of myth, legend and folklore. Most mortals would
undoubtedly be surprised, then, to learn that vampires themselves have their own myths
and legends. In fact, the greater portion of Kindred history is known only in the blurred and
distorted form of myth. Mortal civilization by and large understands its past far better than
the Kindred do their own.
It seems illogical, at fi rst glance. For all intents and purposes, the Kindred are undying.
Surely, some of them experienced these historical events fi rsthand. Mortals must rely on
written records and archaeological evidence to piece together bits of the past, but it should
be possible for the Kindred to simply ask someone who was there. Shouldn’t it?
No. As the Kindred age, they fi nd they need far more potent blood to survive, until fi nally
they can feed only on other vampires. This inevitably drives the Kindred into torpor, either
voluntarily, with the intention of slumbering long enough for the blood to thin, or involuntarily,
due to simple lack of available sustenance.
During torpor, the Kindred dream. Whether it is due to some mystical link through
the Blood that connects all the undead, or something inherent in the vampiric mind, all
Kindred tend to experience similar dreams. That is, they experience all they have done and
all they have seen over and over again. The images continue, unending, inescapable — and
ever-changing. The Kindred dream of events past, but never see them exactly as they were.
At the end of a mere two or three decades in torpor, a vampire has a slightly skewed memory
of his entire Requiem. After centuries of slumber, an elder’s memory might bear little more
than a coincidental resemblance to historical fact.
This means that for every Kindred who witnessed an event fi rsthand, there exists a slightly
(or not so slightly) warped accounting of that event. No single Kindred can possibly know the
entire truth of a specifi c era or occurrence. Nor can outside investigation ever piece together the
actual truth from many different events, as each Kindred is absolutely certain that his version
of events is the correct one and is highly unlikely to accept anyone else’s as more accurate.
The Kindred must therefore turn to mythology, ancient beliefs and written records passed
down through the ages and generations, even as mortal writings have been. Some of these
records contain elements confi rming the memories of many elders, suffi cient commonalities
to suggest that at least some of those memories are partially accurate, as with the beginnings
of vampiric society in Rome. Others come from times and places that no modern vampire can
claim to have witnessed, thus forming the only surviving record. As to whether they should
be believed, well, only the most shamelessly naïve individual would hope that the Kindred
might ever come to universal accord on that score.
These ancient texts are essentially the basis for various Kindred religions or at least creation
myths, as the Bible, the Koran and others form the basis for many human faiths, and are
chapter one: society of the damned