VII - RoseRed

to this sort of arrogance by assigning the pupil to spend
a week interacting only with mortals. Humanity might
be food and cover, but even the most inhumane
Dragon knows that Dracula himself stood on the
shoulders of mortal alchemists and scholars when developing
the Coils of the Dragon. Humans might be
ignorant, but human society has much to teach.
Many mentors take elements of both of these approaches
when teaching their students how to observe
change. After all, excluding Kindred from early lessons
can lead to Dragons identifying too closely with mortals,
which isn’t conducive to understanding and shaping
the vampiric condition. Likewise, shying away from
humanity and delving much quickly into the Kindred
condition may make the pupil incredulous that vampires
can change at all. Thus, the best situations for initial
observance of change come from situations in which
both vampires and mortals congregate. Hunting grounds,
especially, draw Dragons and their students, lying in wait
like naturalists watching a herd of zebra for the eventual
lion attack. Of course, the hunters in question don’t usually
appreciate this sort of scrutiny, and that in itself can
provoke changes that the Dragons find most interesting.
(Mentors who advocate this kind of observation
should teach their students to have an escape route
planned out in advance.)
The point of these exercises is to teach the students
to observe change with all methods at their disposal,
but to avoid enacting change accidentally. Dragons aren’t
necessarily taught to be dispassionate in their observations,
however. Dracula himself was hardly a stoic or
impassionate figure, as a mortal or a vampire. The
covenant’s more recent developmental roots, however,
teach that observers may feel strongly about a discovery
but should endeavor to keep those feelings from interfering
in the process of discovery.
By way of example, consider a neonate Dragon and
his mentor perched on a fire escape watching the
human drama of the streets. (Assume they are both
skilled enough to remain hidden from that drama.)
As they watch, they see a young woman assaulted by
a pair of thugs. The neonate might well feel outraged
and wish to intervene, but then he would lose the
opportunity to observe the changes in the woman
and her assailants. Suppose they murder the woman,
for instance. The disposal of her body might provide
an interesting object lesson for the Kindred, useful
in the nights ahead. If the thugs merely injure or
rob her, she might report them to the police. Then
the Kindred would be able to see an investigation in
action, which is also good exposure (or the pupil
might see exactly how little the police care). If the
vampire jumps into the fray and kills or drives off
the attackers, he provides change, as well, but if the
neonate has not progressed to the stage of wisely enacting
change rather than studiously observing it,
unlife in the ordo dracul
he is unlikely to truly appreciate the effects of the
changes he sets in motion himself.
Of course, a possible consequence of remaining impassive
in the presence of such displays of immorality
is a withering of the Man. Some mentors regard
this temporary loss of ground to the Beast as an acceptable
and inevitable form of change, endemic to
the vampiric condition.
YOUNG DRAGONS
This section refers to “pupils” and “young
Dragons,” but it’s important to note that not all
Kindred new to the covenant are also new to the
Requiem. Indeed, a great many vampires only
come to the Ordo Dracul after experiencing the
Requiem for several years, as Dracula himself did.
It is only after developing some degree of comfort
with the very state of undeath that a vampire can
wonder about moving beyond it.
On the other hand, some Kindred are Embraced
directly into the Ordo Dracul or find their way to
it shortly after their descent into undeath. A
coterie of Kindred new to the covenant might
include vampires of various ages and levels of
power and experience. This is discussed in greater
detail in Chapter Three.
✻✯✬✂✺✶✳✰✻✼✫✬✂✷★✹★✫✶✿
One of the main lessons that Dragons seek to teach
their charges, and one that the covenant learned long
before Heisenberg expressed it mathematically, is that
by observing and measuring something, one also
changes it. Observation is interaction, and therefore
has an effect on what is being observed, even if that
effect is immeasurable. Some mentors never express
this truth to their pupils, but praise them when they
figure it out for themselves. “Observation is a fact of
the Requiem,” the mentor then explains. Someone is
always watching the Kindred, be it other Kindred,
restless spirits or God Himself. The Dragons call this
principle the Solitude Paradox — a member of the
Ordo Dracul seeks to change herself and must thus
turn her focus inward, but must take for granted that
she is never truly alone or unnoticed.
The Solitude Paradox serves two purposes for the covenant
as a whole. First, it drives home the idea that the scientific
methods of the covenant and the existence and
acknowledgement of God are not mutually exclusive. Second,
however, this principle is designed to make Dragons
comfortable with the notion that they cannot keep secrets.
No matter what they do or discover, the Ordo Dracul will
eventually discover it, so it’s better to disclose their findings
to someone they know and trust (usually their mentors or
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