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

easons and rationale • golconda
whatever faith they choose to invoke is a travesty perpetrated upon the Kindred by blasphemous
elders. They cannot ignore the faiths or philosophies of other Kindred, for they have shaped so
much of Kindred society, but many consider them the epitome of everything that’s wrong with
Kindred both past and present. Other Kindred believe that vampires have existed since Creation,
that they were part of God’s plan from the beginning. More shamanistic or even necromantic
vampires often believe that the fi rst Kindred were spirits of the dead who, due either to hostile
sorceries or some sort of spiritual turmoil, could not depart their bodies after death.
For the Ordo Dracul, the question represents both power and limitation. Many of the mysteries
mastered by the covenant certainly have their echoes in the times refl ected in the various
creation myths, but the group as a whole is a bit more secular than many of its counterparts.
The Coils of the Dragon and Order philosophy don’t rely on passages from any document,
much less one that requires supplication to a power higher than the self. All mythologies
contain their share of wisdom, but in an era of miracles performed by creatures as mysterious
as the Kindred, who’s to take any account purportedly written by any of them at face value?
Rites of the Dragon can be taken literally or fi guratively, and the result is still the same.
Of course, groups far smaller than the great covenants shape themselves according to the
precepts of the largest of their kind. Just as all religions have their factions and cults, so too do
the Kindred divide themselves further still. Some vampires, fanatics even among the Lancea
Sanctum, spend every waking moment behaving only as they believe the Testament commands
them to, accepting its authority even over that of the local Prince or Archbishop, or even
insisting that Longinus was the fi rst vampire, historical evidence to the contrary. Many Invictus
vampires, for whom religion would otherwise be a minor concern at best, congregate with those
who share their interpretations of convenient philosophies as a means of fi nding common
ground among potential allies. Some religious groups, often derided as doomsday cults by
other Kindred, are drawn together solely by their belief that the ancient Kindred progenitors
will arise some night and destroy the Kindred race. Of course, no evidence exists to indicate
that such an event will ever occur, let alone that it might happen soon. Most Kindred tend to
view these covenants with much the same exasperated disdain that the average mortal views
people carrying “The End Is Extremely Fucking Nigh!” signs on street corners.
Still others are determined to fi nd some sort of scientifi c rationale for the existence of the
Kindred. These last are normally found among fairly young Kindred, and many shift from
such a belief system when they fi nally accept what they are and what they can do.
Coteries, factions, clans, covenants (at least on a local level) and even entire domains often
ally with, or oppose, other such groups based solely on religious doctrine. These disagreements
rarely erupt into open confl ict, but when they do, they are no less fanatical and no
less violent than any religious wars among mortals.
It’s important to note that most Kindred mythology is not a replacement for religion, but
rather an addition. Acolyte mythologies add to or adapt from extant pantheons observed by
mortal cultures. Those Kindred who honor Longinus as an object lesson also believe in the
God of the Abrahamic religion. Kindred are usually observant of their own faiths and philosophies
as well as Buddhist, Christian, Hindu or Muslim beliefs, rather than instead of.
GOLCONDA
One concept that appears only briefl y in both Rites of the Dragon and The Testament of
Longinus, but more frequently in other texts (including the Rakta Veda and The Cycle of Demeter)
is the notion of Golconda. According to myth, Golconda is something of a vampiric
state of enlightenment, in which a Kindred perfectly balances the needs of the Beast and his
Hunger with his conscious mind. A Kindred in Golconda does not frenzy, does not succumb
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