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

ever fi gure responsible for the creation of the undead was so adamant about ensuring the
earthly lack of propagation of the Damned, why did it create one itself and give it the ability
to propagate? Many speculate that the fi rst Kindred, cursed to forever walk the night alone,
grew lonely, as all creatures do, and that he took for himself a mate, as many creatures do.
Some maintain that it is this mate, the world’s second vampire, who betrayed his or her sire’s
wishes and created the fi rst actual brood of the Damned. Some consider this fi rst brood to
be the true progenitors of the modern Kindred. In most cases, those who believe in various
origin stories yield the principle that God (in whatever form) intended for the fi rst Kindred
to suffer in solitude, a lesson the Damned have had to learn through betrayal and loss.
Whatever the Tradition’s origins are, the fact remains that its message has been corrupted
in the time since. While few Kindred would deny that it is wrong (or at least complicated)
to perpetuate the race of the Damned, many take issue with how the Tradition is enforced
tonight. Many among the unbound (and a few members of formal covenants) believe that
the Curse itself is enough to limit the numbers of new undead in the world, naturally and
without need of politics or hierarchy. For their part, the Carthians generally take the stance
that the issue should be one for the entirety of Kindred society to debate and decide upon,
rather than be the purview of an outdated Tradition. Naturally, some in the Invictus believe
in the right of the “elder” of a domain to decide upon such matters, and the Sanctifi ed point
to key passages of The Testament of Longinus as proof of their claims. The Order of the Dragon
sometimes Embraces for the sake of bestowing its secrets upon an apprentice in order to perpetuate
its knowledge. Of all the Kindred, followers of the Circle of the Crone are perhaps
the most defi ant of the Tradition, and are occasionally known to create new childer as part
of their sacred beliefs.
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THE SHAKEN WILL
Every time one of the Kindred plans to create a childe, he intends to willfully violate
one of the understood commandments of the Damned. Like the Masquerade, this edict
is an aspect of the Kindred condition, and it cannot be summarily ignored by vampires.
The act of damning another to undeath is a strain on the Kindred soul, requiring the
sire to invest a signifi cant amount of will over the course of the Embrace.
TUTELAGE
A societal by-product of the Second Tradition, the tradition of tutelage has its roots in antiquity,
when the Kindred’s numbers were fewer and the social system more rigid. In such times, if a
vampire was going to violate Kindred physiology by propagating the numbers of the Damned, he
was expected to make sure that his progeny understood all the rules and customs of the Requiem
(not the least of which was the Second Tradition, itself). Siring progeny is merely the bestowal
of responsibility, granting one vampire the right to take a considerable burden upon his own
shoulders. Until such time as the new vampire is released from his sire’s tutelage, his education (or
miseducation) is the responsibility of the sire. There is no “village” among the Damned. It takes an
individual to raise a neonate, and any mistakes the young one makes until he reaches the time at
which his sire releases him need not be forgiven by society at large. Otherwise, what would be the
point of releasing him in the fi rst place? This same rationale is often abused by controlling sires
as justifi cation for the excessive periods of indenture or servitude they require of their progeny: “I
can keep you safe only as long as I don’t release you.” Needless to say, some childer would rather
take their chances with the Prince.
From the moment of his release, a childe’s sins are his own to endure. No ill may befall the
sire as a result of the childe’s deeds (except in a looser social sense). As such, the childe no
chapter one: society of the damned