blood! Clever boy, Able, God said, and He took the blood.

Able prepared a sacrifice of blood - **of Note** animal blood -saying, “Here’s an even better sacrifice: blood!” ‘Clever boy, Able,” God said, and He took the blood. Caine figured out the trick and whacked Able on the head. “Here’s an even better sacrifice!” he said. “Able’s blood!” “Clever boy, Caine,”God said. “You figured that one out right away. You figured out that blood is the ticket to power, and power is the ticket to figuring out what’s really going on. The power you have tapped into will be your protection on your journey.” Caine understood, but knew he could no longer dwell with his parents and the people of his parents, who were now as sacrificial animals to him. So he roamed the world. One day, Caine was feeling a trifle prankish, so he called a little trick to mind. He created children to comprehend the universe for him. When his first children had produced children, he issued his “grandchildren” a challenge. “Your job is to find out what is going on here. Go get me a sacrifice worthy of me.” They all sacrificed a bunch of stuff for power - art, magic, money. One guy made an offering of freedom by sacrificing his subjection. One smart granddaughter sacrificed her beauty on an altar of mortification. And one guy, who apparently didn’t learn from Able, sacrificed some animals. We won’t hold that against him. But little Malkav didn’t have anything to sacrifice that was worthy of the man who gave him his blood. So he said, “The only thing I can sacrifice that is even close to worthy is myself.” So saying, he sacrificed himself. Or he tried to, anyway, but couldn’t figure out how. What he ended up sacrificing was his own sense of self. ‘‘Clever boy, Malkav,” Caine said to the little fellow, who was coughing up the blood of his missing ego identification. “You have figured out that the blood of the self is even more powerful than the blood of others, and is the ticket to figuring out what’s really going on.” What traditions? Just kidding. Actually, the Malkavians have lots of traditions. Their traditions are just not very traditional. And their traditions are constantly shifting with the tides of their madness. There is far more to Malkavians than meets the eye. They are masters at putting up a front of nonsensical lunacy that distorts and distracts from their larger purpose. But the purpose is really there . . . in secret. Like many vampires, they hide their true nature behind layers and layers of masks. They believe they are winding their way down a path of screaming enlightenment wearing a mask of antic insanity and anarchic, meaningless tomfoolery. There are seven (or eight) great traditions crucial to understanding the Malkavians. Each tradition builds on the last, and scholars of the other Kindred clans insist that understanding them all is crucial to defending against the dangerously unpredictable Malkavians. Elders warn that even the most powerful Kindred are vulnerable to pranks if they lack a thorough working knowledge of the seven (or eight) traditions. W hTheTradiiionof btable