VII - RoseRed

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a history of the ordo dracul “STOKER WAS NO THREAT. HE CERTAINLY WASN’T A SPY OR A WARLOCK OR WHATEVER OTHER BULLSHIT YOU HEARD. I SAY STOKER WAS A GIFT TO ALL OF US, FROM DRACULA OR GOD OR WHOEVER. HIS GREAT WORK WAS A DRAGON GIVEN TO THE WORLD SO THAT WE COULD WATCH WHAT IT DID, CHASE IT ACROSS THE GLOBE, AND GET A GLIMPSE AT A WORLD WITHOUT THE MASQUERADE.” — NEWCASTLE, REMARKABLE SCRIBE OF THE DEDICATED CURSE 19 chapter one 6
chapter one 20 a history of the ordo dracul I shall then make known to you something of the history of this man, which has been ascertained for me. So we then can discuss how we shall act, and can take our measure according. The Ordo Dracul prides itself on thorough research, careful application of the scientific method and strict adherence to rules of secrecy. Throughout the covenant’s existence, the members have tried to combat the Fog of Eternity by carefully transcribing their experiences, their breakthroughs and their thoughts, leaving those notes in the hands of childer or capable assistants. And yet, for all their best efforts, the historians of the Ordo Dracul have many of the same problems that mortal historians face. While the covenant might include elders who remember the Order’s early nights, the effects of Vitae on memory clouds even the sharpest mind. Even the best notes do not fully compensate for differences in culture, language and context, and this can lead to faulty assumptions and outright falsehoods about the covenant’s past membership and practices. The Ordo Dracul makes its records available to all of its members, but scholars grudgingly admit that much of what the covenant holds as “history” requires a bit of faith. This chapter provides a look into the covenant’s history, but the reader should be warned: the further from the present, the less verifiable the history. ✻✯✬✂✬★✹✳❀✂✵✰✮✯✻✺ The Ordo Dracul emerged as a potent and legitimate covenant in the 19th century, but all Dragons agree that the Order’s history stretches back four centuries before that point, back to the time of Vlad III, Prince of Wallachia. Also called Vlad Tepes (“the Impaler”), he is better known to the world as “Dracula.” Vlad Tepes was a monster long before he was a vampire. Born in 1430 or 1431 in Transylvania (then part of Hungary, now part of Romania), Dracula was the son of Vlad II, also called Vlad Dracul. The name “Dracul” is translated either as “devil” or “dragon” —Vlad II was inducted into a society called the Order of the Dragon in Nuremburg during that same year. Vlad Dracul’s Order of the Dragon, founded in 1418 by Emperor Sigismund of Luxembourg, listed “fighting infidels” among its various goals, and bore no resemblance in ideology to the vampire covenant that Dracula would found more than a century later. Vlad Dracula ruled Wallachia during three different periods: in 1448, from 1456 to 1462 and briefly in 1476. About his first reign we know little, as it lasted for only a few months and came to an end due to the region’s — Bram Stoker, Dracula turbulent politics. What most of the world knows of the historical Dracula comes from his second reign. ✷✶✳✰✪❀✂★✵✫✂★✻✹✶✪✰✻❀ One of Dracula’s first official acts as prince was to murder most of the boyar (noble) class of the region. One famous story states that he gathered 500 of these nobles together and asked how many princes’ reigns they had survived. Some had survived as many as 50, but even the younger men had seen seven princes come and go. Dracula then had most (or all, depending on which version of the story one hears) slain, claiming that they had seen so many reigns because they caused the deaths of the princes with their own politicking. He was probably referring specifically to the deaths of his father Vlad II and brother Mircea, who had been betrayed and assassinated in 1447. Other tales of Dracula’s cruelty abound, and members of the Ordo Dracul are quick to point out that the worst excesses of brutality attached to his name were committed long before his death and return as a vampire. However, Dragons do mention that Dracula was a unique ruler in other, more benign ways as well. When a noble was imprisoned or executed for a crime, it was traditional for the ruler to give the noble’s lands and goods to a member of his family. Dracula, however, often gave such lands to someone entirely new, sometimes even someone from the peasant class, and in this manner created a new nobility that owed its existence to him. His personal police force followed similar lines — most of these men were battlefield heroes whom Dracula had respected and granted status. Vlad Tepes was a brutal man, true, but he knew how to inspire loyalty both with and despite that brutality. ✫✹★✪✼✳★✍✂✻✶✼✪✯✬✫✂✩❀✂✻✯✬✂✼✵✺✬✬✵✦ Some stories accuse Dracula of being the “son of the Devil” or otherwise linked to the infernal or supernatural during his mortal lifetime. Pursuit of proof of these stories is popular among neonate members of the Ordo Dracul, who know that a quick route to status in the covenant (in addition learning the Coils) lies in discovering details about Dracula’s life and Requiem that have heretofore eluded mortal and Kindred historians. Such enthusiasts usually run into dead ends, with two notable exceptions. The first was a story that dates back to 1447 or so, discovered by a member of the Ordo Dracul in Turkey 6
Page 2 and 3: y Will Hindmarch and Christopher Ko
Page 4 and 5: Ï Ï Ï The attorney was a second-
Page 6 and 7: Ï Ï Ï Scratch arrived at the cha
Page 8 and 9: Ï Ï Ï Scratch waggled the bottle
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Page 12 and 13: ✻★✩✳✬✂✶✭✂✪✶
Page 14 and 15: one else. Arcane rituals thought lo
Page 16 and 17: Chapter Three: The Ordo Dracul and
Page 18 and 19: typically develop their own lingo t
Page 22 and 23: a history of the ordo dracul in the
Page 24 and 25: than a dozen Kindred all told, desp
Page 26 and 27: stemmed from other factors as well.
Page 28 and 29: in Europe, carefully safeguarding W
Page 30 and 31: unlife in the ordo dracul “YOU’
Page 32 and 33: to this sort of arrogance by assign
Page 34 and 35: Because so many ways of measuring t
Page 36 and 37: ✻✯✬✂✷✼✹✷✶✺✬
Page 38 and 39: God is transformed into something w
Page 40 and 41: no longer have any need for “figh
Page 42 and 43: energy that they give off, a resona
Page 44 and 45: to be holy, the Ordo Dracul makes i
Page 46 and 47: lines slowly shifting like the beds
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Page 50 and 51: Coil of the Soul: Shunning contact
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Page 54 and 55: unlife in the ordo dracul PLOT DEVI
Page 56 and 57: instead chooses to honor her mentor
Page 58 and 59: of the office, she can be removed b
Page 60 and 61: has learned. This is usually interp
Page 62 and 63: who often see themselves as incarna
Page 64 and 65: pursuits only when and if the studi
Page 66 and 67: Demonstrations showcasing a Dragon
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an ally — the Architect had more
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✷✯✰✳★✫✬✳✷✯✰
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advisor of sorts — enough status
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likely to have heard wild and impro
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unlife in the ordo dracul THE LANCE
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Dracul disputes (though their infor
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they are dead, while others have be
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ordo dracul and the danse macabre L
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The Paths of Fate are an exercise d
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If you lend her money, with little
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choices are for the character. By p
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good counterbalance to a Magician.)
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ambition well — and your ambition
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is the tide which raises all studen
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to be utterly unique) and while som
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and only if the court was convened
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too long to let rivalries ferment.
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✴✬✵✻✶✹✬✫✂✺✼
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✶✷✷✶✹✻✼✵✰✻✰
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✫✼✻✰✬✺✂★✵✫✂
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see to formalities like recognizing
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to necessarily be involved with dec
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eason) or if a Juris Draconis is co
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mystical prowess) but strangely, th
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loodlines and factions “Nicholas
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series about a hospital emergency r
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that mortals avoid her in a very ob
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will require tools that are highly
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them seem somewhat preoccupied at t
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loodlines and factions Part psychia
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easts, gems, swordsmithing and, of
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purge themselves of that corruption
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convinced of their destiny and find
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kin struggling to slide their bodie
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etched with tattoos and ritual scar
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create the Way of the Locust, a set
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and escape His curse of vampirism.
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one’s own choices requires extens
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Azerkatil This is the last night fo
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know what terrible forces the Drago
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Weakness: Azerkatil exude a similar
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the Invictus both researched his cl
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”Is it possible to return? Does a
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loodlines and libitinarius factions
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facts are unearthed. One night, if
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Moroi You didn’t say you needed h
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inscription on the wall, written in
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Background: As the bloodline encomp
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Though one Tismanu taught another,
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its secret cellar. By day, a Tisman
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Not all of the secrets of vampirism
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doesn’t like to feel is caged. A
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coils and disiplines “I don’t k
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✻✯✬✂✪✶✰✳✂✶✭
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and not some other mystic aspect of
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“activated” so much as they hav
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Ectoplasm amounts to roughly two ou
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For every success, the vampire gain
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than one Willpower point per turn,
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Academics + Theban Sorcery roll to
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the Morticians could lose the uniqu
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Cost: 1 Willpower Dice Pool: Stamin
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✂✺✬✹✬✵✬✂✭✬✹
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Success: The character starts a ter
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Roll Results Dramatic Failure: The
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covenant and its subcultures. Devot
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however, to spend additional Vitae
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••• A small warehouse, a chur
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its of potable power have created a
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the character is infusing a one-wor
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dots. A character who purchases thi
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such as grass, dirt or shavings of
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allies and antagonists “WE WERE H
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Disciplines: Animalism 3, Coil of B
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Blood Potency: 1 Disciplines: Anima
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a conspiracy to lie better and get
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Mental Attributes: Intelligence 2,
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ing for her. Because the damnable t
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Disciplines: Majesty 3, Celerity 3,
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aced and horrified by her sire, her
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impale a thousand mortals, given th
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allies and antagonists 231 appendix
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VII - RoseRed

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