Ventrue Primogen of New York At first glance, you’d swear our sect is a secular body. More of a political union, an alliance of lords, than a temple. But we are both. Think of Russia. See how the people there saw the Tsar as the living embodiment of God, infallible and pure no matter his actions. Realize how Lenin, to a degree, but ultimately Stalin took that devotion and made a nation live in fear and idolatry of him. He was the living embodiment of the people. He was the living embodiment of the state. And if he fell, Russia would fall also. The Russians never gave up religion, they just transferred their worship from one individual to another, and they do it to this day. What we do in the Camarilla is much the same. We speak of organized religion as a cancer; the Church is the bastion of our enemies, and our faith is personal, nothing but a part of our quest to remain humane. Believe first and foremost in the sect. Believe first and foremost in your elders. This isn’t a criticism. All power structures built to hold must be built on a strong foundation. You need your supporters to believe in something to make them loyal. Turn your soldiers into disciples and you can claim the world. Things have changed recently. Contrary to dogma, the ancient beings we might well name as Antediluvians, are said to be rising from their graves. Even if it should have, this revelation has not destroyed the Camarilla. The Gangrel left us, yes. The Brujah have left as well, for different reasons. But the rest of us stay, clinging to what we know, asking our elders for advice, for guidance. 2 4 a supernatural entity was finally laid to rest and he became what we know today — the Son of Man. If one looks for them, our fingerprints are all over Christianity. The miracles, Lazarus and Longinus as revenants changed by the blood of God, the resurrection, the obsession with His Blood, the thirteen at the table, the promise of eternal life. Some of the most extreme interpretation is found in the works of a now red-listed thin-blood in Los Angeles known only as “Hollis.” Their pamphlets tell us that all of the Bible was written about us, for us and by us, and was only later cleaned up for human use. Many find that this Lasombra myth of Christ Embraced only muddies the waters, but it can also be seen as a fascinating example of how blurred the lines can become between our kind and the mortals. Our myths travel across species, carried by the power of infectious ideas rather than any kind of concrete evidence to their veracity. So it was also with Mithras, who’s unlife gave birth to a cult crossing the boundaries between the living and the dead. He is worshipped by not only his ancestors but other vampires who want the rewards his cult promises and a way of tracing back his activities through mortal history. If we are looking for a vampiric saviour, a verifiable paragon of our kind, there is no need to look further than Mithras. Mithras’ Mysteries is the cult comprising the greatest number of Kindred in the Camarilla, despite Mithras holding only nominal membership in our sect. The Menelaen Order is similar in their dedication to Menele’s purported belief in enlightenment over violence. I could mention also the Eaters — Kindred who attempt to consume the names of others — and the Gorgons, worshippers of Gorgo. As history shows, wherever we go, new myths are created, and our kind have given birth to cults that span wide geographical and cultural distances. For the most part, these cults do not emerge because the object of veneration decides to form a religion around themselves. They are created in the telling and retelling of stories that become myths that become miracles. Now, when it comes to the effects on culture and society, the power of a thought-up miracle is no less than that of the truly impossible come to pass. This And the elders have answered. The Antediluvians may well be real and mighty beings, but they want us no harm. They are on our side. Our leaders had hidden the truth from us only to protect us. And the Sabbat lied worse — they wanted, and still want, to destroy our living ancestors. They might as well be sharpening their sticks to drive through our own hearts! In response, we have hit at the Sabbat and Anarchs with unmatched venom. We follow them into war zones to dig them out of their holes, to demonstrate our unmatched might. We have erected our structure, and we will not let it go. It is built on the worship of our elders, our shared Blood, and that worship can reach all the way back to the Antediluvians if needed. For 500 years we were told they did not exist. Now we look to them as proof of our own divinity, our potential to truly live forever if only we follow the path put before us by our elders, however ancient they may be. state of grace:
Camarilla · Vampire