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

Likewise, the Ordo Dracul doesn’t deny the Longinus theory but rather corroborates it, if
its own creation myth is true. If Dracula’s entrance to the Kindred world happened without
a sire, so could Longinus’ — and so could that of anyone before them whose name or deeds
the Kindred do not remember.
Further muddying Kindred’s proof of origin are the clans. Whence did they take their
names? Who were their progenitors? Did they all hail from the same place, or did they arise
independently, mingling only in the relatively recent memory of a world that is far older
than anyone suspects? Clans obviously predate the covenants, but do they all hail from the
same period?
These questions have no answers, of course, just like those seeking the origins of the Kindred
themselves. None of the matter is eminently provable — or so it has been to date. Certainly
Kindred with faith, drive or the burning desire to know ceaselessly research the origins of
their kind. Hidden temples in forgotten lands, domains older than history acknowledges,
abandoned havens beneath cities ruined long ago… All of these and more house relics that
have the potential to answer the ultimate question of why the Kindred exist. Then again,
they may simply engender a different question… or perhaps the answer was never meant to
be known.
REASONS AND RATIONALE
The Lancea Sanctum, of course, is the most closely and obviously linked to the creation
story of a messianic founder. Members of the covenant usually interpret The Testament of
Longinus in its most literal sense, and Sanctifi ed Priests often carry copies of passages, if not
the entire text itself, for conducting rituals. The covenant’s warriors often quote from The
Testament of Longinus before (or even during) battle, enhancing their reputation among the
other factions as fervent champions.
The Invictus’ interpretation of its origin is less rigid but no less important to the covenant.
The elders of the First Estate use frequent passages from The Testament of Longinus — references
to rule by eldest, accomplishments of some clans over others, and the like — to justify
their position as leaders of the Kindred community. It is nothing less than divine right that
they rule their domains and will eventually rule others. It is unlikely that few believe in this
canon with any degree of true faith, but faith certainly was the hallmark of the era from
which more than a few elders hail, and belief in a higher power answers many questions that
an unnatural, deathless existence provokes.
The Carthians (and many independent Kindred) often share a somewhat cynical interpretation
of the origin of the species. Namely, that it is a tool used by those in power to oppress
those who are not. This isn’t to say that no members of the covenant believe in a creation
myth, or that they don’t believe in it devoutly. A great many of them do. They simply believe
that the Kindred can’t necessarily explain who the fi rst vampire was, or that even if a single
Kindred proved the origin of the species, it came as a result of divine intervention. Longinus
most likely did not even scribe “his” book itself, and even if he did, systems of order that
worked at the dawn of civilization are simply inapplicable to the modern world. They point
to various other mythologies, particularly those upheld by local Acolytes, and their own inapplicability
to the modern state of the world, as proof that the Kindred must change with the
times despite their inherently unchanging natures.
The Circle of the Crone, naturally, goes its own way in an almost limitless number of old mythologies
and new amalgamations of existing and new ones. The Testament of Longinus is little more
than a corruption of the older ways, much as the Church adopted pagan rites and observances
into its own body of holy days. In covenant members’ eyes, the abuse and impious invocation of
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chapter one: society of the damned