Nocturne
MORTIS
What is a
Storytelling and roleplaying games may feature many kinds of protagonists. In some games, players assume the roles of heroes in a fantasy world, or superheroes saving the world from villains' depredations. In Vampire, appropriately enough, players assume the personas of vampires - the immortal bloodsuckers of the horror genre - and guide these characters through a world virtually identical to our own. The vampires who walk the earth in modern nights - or Kindred, as they commonly call themselves - are both similar to and different from what we might expect.
It is perhaps best to begin our discussion of the undead as if they were a separate species of being - sentient, with superficial similarities to the humans they once were, but displaying a myriad physiological and psychological differences.
Vampire?
In many ways, vampires resemble the familiar monsters of myth and cinema. (There is enough truth in the old tales that perhaps they were created by deluded or confused mortals.) How- ever - as many an intrepid vampire-hunter has learned to his sorrow - not all of the old wives' tales about vampires are true.
- Vampires are immortal. True. While they can be killed (a very difficult process), they do not age or die from natural causes. They need no food such as humans eat, and they do not need to breathe.
- Vampires are living dead and must sustain themselves with the blood of the living. True. A vampire is clinically dead - its heart does not beat, it does not breathe, its skin is cold, it does not age - and yet it thinks, and walks, and plans, and speaks...and hunts, and kills. To sustain its artificial immortality, the vampire must periodically consume blood, preferably human blood. Some penitent vampires eke out an existence from animal blood, and some ancient vampires must hunt and kill others of their kind to nourish themselves, but most vampires indeed consume the blood of their former species.
Vampires drain their prey of blood through the use of retractable fangs, which are magically gifted to vampires when they first become undead. Each vampire can also magically lick closed the wounds made by their fangs, thus concealing the evidence of their feeding.
Blood is all-important to the Kindred, for it is both the crux of their existence and the seat of their power. Mortal food, mortal air, mortal love - all of these things are meaningless to a vampire. Blood is the Kindred's only passion, and without it, they will quickly wither and fall dormant. Moreover, each vampire can use its stolen blood to perform amazing feats of healing, strength and other magic.
- Anyone who dies from a vampire's bite rises to become a vampire. False. If this were true, the world would be overrun with vampires. Vampires feed on human blood, true, and sometimes kill their prey - but most humans who die from a vampire's attack simply perish. To return as undead, the victim must be drained of blood and subsequently be fed a bit of the attacking vampire's blood. This process, called the Embrace, causes the mystical transformation from human to undead.
- Vampires are monsters - demonic spirits embodied in corpses. False... and true. Vampires are not demons per se, but a combination of tragic factors draws them inexorably toward wicked deeds. In the beginning, the newly created vampire thinks and acts much as she did while living. She does not immediately turn into an evil, sadistic monster. However, the vampire soon discovers her overpowering hunger for blood, and realizes that her existence depends on feeding on her species. In many ways, the vampire's mindset changes - she adopts a set of attitudes less suited to a communal omnivore and more befitting a solitary predator.
At first reluctant to kill, the vampire is finally forced into murder by circumstance or need - and killing becomes easier as the years pass. Realizing that she herself is untrustworthy, she ceases to trust others. Realizing that she is different, she walls herself away from the mortal world. Realizing that her existence depends on secrecy and control, she becomes a manipulative user of the first order. And things only degenerate as the years turn to decades and then centuries, and the vampire kills over and over, and sees the people she loved age and die. Human life, so short and cheap in comparison to hers, becomes of less and less value, until the mortal "herd" around her means no more to her than a swarm of annoying insects. Vampire elders are among the most jaded, unfeeling, paranoid - in short, monstrous - beings the world has ever known. Maybe they are not demons exactly - but at that point, who can tell the difference?
- Vampires are burned by sunlight. True. Vampires must avoid the sun or die, though a few can bear sunlight's touch for a very short period of time. Vampires are nocturnal creatures, and most find it extremely difficult to remain awake during the day, even within sheltered areas.
- Vampires are repulsed by garlic and running water. False. These are myths and nothing more.
- Vampires are repulsed by crosses and other holy symbols. This is generally false. However, if the wielder of the symbol has great faith in the power it represents, a vampire may suffer ill effects from the brandishing of the symbol.
- Vampires die from a stake through the heart. False. However, a wooden stake - or arrow, crossbow bolt, etc. - through the heart will paralyze the monster until it is removed.
- Vampires have the strength of 10 men; they can command wolves and bats; they can hypnotize the living and heal even the most grievous wounds. True and false. The power of a vampire increases with age. Young, newly created vampires are often little more powerful than humans. But as a vampire grows in age and understanding, she learns to use her blood to evoke secret magical powers, which vampires call Disciplines. Powerful elders are often the rivals of a fictional Lestat or Dracula, and the true ancients - the Methuselahs and Antediluvians who have stalked the nights for thousands of years - often possess literally godlike power.
The
Embrace
Vampires are created through a process called the Embrace. Some vampire clans Embrace more casually than others, but the Embrace is almost never given lightly. After all, any new vampire is a potential competitor for food and power. A potential childe is often stalked for weeks or even years by a watchful sire, who greedily evaluates whether the mortal would indeed make a good addition to the society of the Kindred.
The Embrace is similar to normal vampiric feeding - the vampire drains her chosen prey of blood. However, upon complete exsanguination, the vampire returns a bit of her own immortal blood to the drained mortal. Only a tiny bit - a drop or two - is necessary to turn the mortal into an undead. This process can even be performed on a dead human, provided the body is still warm.
Once the blood is returned, the mortal "awakens" and begins drinking of his own accord. But, though animate, the mortal is still dead; his heart does not beat, nor does he breathe. Over the next week or two, the mortal's body undergoes a series of subtle transformations; he learns to use the blood in his body, and he is taught the special powers of his clan. He is now a vampire.
The
Hunt
When all is said and done, the most fundamental difference between humans and vampires lies in their methods of sustenance. Vampires may not subsist on mortal food; instead, they must maintain their eternal lives through the consumption of blood - fresh human blood.
Vampires acquire their sustenance in many fashions. Some cultivate "herds" of willing mortals, who cherish the ecstasy of the vampire's Kiss. Some creep into houses by night, feeding from sleeping humans. Some stalk the mortals' playgrounds - the nightclubs, bars and theaters - enticing mortals into illicit liaisons and disguising their predation as acts of passion. And yet others take their nourishment in the most ancient fashion - stalking, attacking and incapacitating (or even killing) mortals who wander too far into lonely nocturnal alleys and empty lots.
The Nocturnal World of
Vampires
Vampires value power, for its own sake and for the security it brings - and they find it ridiculously easy to acquire mundane goods, riches and influence. A mesmerizing glance and a few words provide a cunning vampire with access to all the wealth, power and servants he could desire. Some powerful vampires are capable of implanting posthypnotic suggestions or commands in mortals' minds, then causing the mortals to forget the vampire's presence. In this way, vampires can easily acquire legions of unwitting slaves. More than a few "public servants" and corporate barons secretly answer to vampire masters.
Though there are exceptions, vampires tend to remain close to the cities. The city provides countless opportunities for predation, liaisons and politicking - and the wilderness often proves dangerous. The wilds are the home of the Lupines, the werewolves, who are vampires' ancestral enemies and desire nothing more than to destroy vampires outright.
The
Jyhad
Many vampires seek to have nothing to do with their kind, choosing instead to exist and hunt in solitude. However, the civilization of the undead is a manipulative and poisonous dance, and few vampires are left entirely untouched. Since the nights of antiquity, the Kindred have stmggled for supremacy, in an ancient and many-layered struggle known as the Jyhad. Leaders, cultures, nations and armies have all been pawns in the secret war, and vampiric conspiracies have influenced much (though by no means all) of human history. Few things are as they seem in the vampires' nocturnal world; a political coup, economic crash or social trend may be merely the surface manifestation veiling a centuries-old struggle. Vampire elders command from the shadows, manipulating mortals and other vampires alike - and the elders are often manipulated in turn. Indeed, most combatants may not even realize for whom they fight, or why.
Reputedly begun millennia ago, the Jyhad rages even today. Though skyscrapers take the place of castles, machine-guns and missiles replace swords and torches, and stock portfolios substitute for vaults of gold, the game remains the same. Kindred battles Kindred, clan battles clan, sect battles sect, as they have for eons. Vampiric feuds begun during the nights of Charlemagne play themselves out on the streets of New York City; an insult whispered in the court of the Sun King may find itself answered by a corporate takeover in Sao Paolo. The ever-swelling cities provide countless opportunities for feeding, powermongering - and war.
Increasingly, vampires speak of Gehenna - the long-prophesied night of apocalypse when the most ancient vampires, the mythical Antediluvians, will rise from their hidden lairs to devour all the younger vampires. This Gehenna, so the Kindred say, will presage the end of the world, as vampires and mortals alike are consumed in an inexorable tide of blood. Some vampires strive to prevent Gehenna, some fatalistically await it, and still others consider it a myth. Those who believe in Gehenna, however, say that the end time comes very soon - perhaps in a matter of years.