The Damned

Where to begin? So much ink has been spilled down the centuries. I am constantly amazed by the regularity with which you mortals stumbles across truths and half-truths -- sometimes very profound ones -- by the most haphazard and fallacious thinking; and then, unaware of what you have uncovered, proceed to expound generalities of entirely the wrong order. We are monsters to thee, yet heroes as well. We are the incarnations of dark metaphors and suppressed desires, yet we are also the nobility of fairy tales. beloved of children. We are a baseless superstition, an artistic genre, a psychological condition, a yearning made flesh, an externalization of a guilt-lust-violence complex, and many other things besides

 

Our True Nature

Some two and a half centuries ago, a French churchman named Calmet sought to collect all the information extent on the nature of vampires. It is not surprising then, that his treatise contains many contradictions and areas of uncertainty. Quoting from the reports of Papal Commissions sent out to deal with plagues of vampires in Austria, Hungary, Moravia, and Silesia, he reports that a vampire may be destroyed by being transfixed with a wooden stake, followed by decapitation and the burning of the remains. This will indeed destroy a vampire, just as certainly as it would destroy a mortal. Such a clever man, Calmet.

Motion pictures have abbreviated this treatment somewhat, creating the fallacy that the stake is sufficient. Do not believe such tales. Transfixing its heart on a stake will immobilize a vampire, but some further treatment is necessary terminus sit. Whether this be burning or sunlight, its legal; but trust not the stake alone. Neither should you place your faith in weapons of metal as did your American friend. Such things injure, but the wounds heal quickly -- Else I should not be writing now.

Sunlight it is said infallible doom to my kind. Motion pictures show motley greasepaint vampires crumbling to dust at Sol's caress. or bursting into flame like those doused with greek fire. Sadly, this is true, if somewhat overstated. Sunlight burns our skin as does flame, and only the oldest and strongest can withstand it for long. Thus we must sleep during the day and act only at night. During the day we are very sluggish, and find it difficult to do anything besides sleep. Only those of us who have not left our human nature very far behind are capable of taking action when the sun is in the sky. I myself have not seen the light of day in many centuries, and have nearly forgotten the gleam of the sun's golden rays. But I do not miss it.

Crosses, holywater, and other trappings of religion may be ignored -- the Church is the first refuge of mortals, faced by things beyond their comprehension, especially in former times. However, I have seen a rare occasions where such items were capable of considerable discomfort -- their wielder, almost glowed with faith in the Divinity, and I can only conclude that the religious items served somehow to channel the power of that faith. Ignore the tricksters of cinema, however, with their crossed candlesticks and shadows of windmill's sails.

The reputed property of garlic, aconite and other herbs are likewise mere superstition. The repel vampires no more than they do mortals, for all the canting of goodwives who peddle them. Like the Church, the village wisewoman was oft required to use her 'magic' against vampires and was just as successful. File-makers have made other fallacious legends part of the common parlance. For instance, we can see our reflections in the mirror,though some of us pretend otherwise in honor of the great cinematic tradition. Likewise, we can appear on film. Indeed some of my kind have appeared in movies, and one was a director of no little repute.

It is equally ludicrous to presume that a vampire would not be able to travel about as he would like. We Cainites ( one of our race's terms for ourselves, the origin of which i shall later discuss later) may enter any house and home we please at any time. It is likewise preposterous to think a vampire would not be able to cross running water. Indeed, water affects us not at all We no longer breathe, hence we cannot drown. While being trapped underwater is unpleasant and may, if prolonged, result in some physical deterioration, no vampire has ever died of immersion alone, although some bloodlines are rumored to have a weakness of water. Belike this is how many of the rumors originated, for weaknesses have arisen in several bloodlines and have been passed down from Sire to Get.

The cinematic vampire, it seems, may take several forms if the human shape suits not his purpose: wolf, bat, mist -- in some legends, cats, and night bird also. The powers of the Elders are considerable, and they are seldom found in those of later generation. I have seen many wonders during my brief and unwilling involvement in their game of Jyhad, and I no longer discount the stories of shape-shifting. But I will tell you this -- a vampire who has plural forms will either be of a rare breed, the Gangrel clan, or will be very old, very wise and very powerful. I pray that such a one will never cross your path. Many of us, however, have abilities which a mortal would consider supernatural. As predators, our senses are sharp, and some have developed other talents to aid in the hunt. One example -- the ability to inspire fear, stillness. obedience and other emotional responses -- is a useful one, although popular writers have embellished it somewhat n the interests of their stories

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