Mythology of the Vampire The Masquerade Universe (Topic)

It was recently announced that the second part of Vampire The Masquerade Bloodlines is being postponed to a later date in 2020. So if you still haven't played the original first part, now you have more time. Initially, the game was made based on the board game Vampire The Masquerade, its mythology served as the basis for two games and is a full-fledged part of the World of Darkness.

Before the beginning of time

Vampires according to the lore of Vampire The Masquerade appeared before the beginning of time, in the biblical period. The first vampire was Cain, whom God cursed with vampirism for killing Abel. He became immortal and always longed for human blood. Almost all relatives in the game consider themselves his descendants.

He went on a long journey, until he founded the First City, or Enoch, and there he gave birth to the first relatives, simply because he did not want to be alone. His offspring became the second generation of vampires, and they in turn gave birth to the third. Supposedly, there were only thirteen vampires of the third generation, and in the future, each of them founded their own clan. They dispersed around the world after God caused the Great Flood and the city was destroyed. After that, Cain disappeared, and the third generation of vampires rebelled against their ancestors and killed them. Cain found out about this and cursed them.

Each of the 13 became a kind of secret observer, or even a gray cardinal, who observed and influenced the events of the history and evolution of human civilization. The power of blood is passed on to a new generation of vampires, but each time it gets weaker, as it moves away from the progenitor. At the time of the events of the game, the most influential vampires are the Patriarchs, who are more than two thousand years old.

Due to the curse of Caine, each clan has certain weaknesses that affect their abilities. All of these stories were recorded in the book of Nod. According to Noddist mythology, one day Cain will return at the end of time to begin judging his descendants, descended from the hands of the vampires of the third clan. This event is known as Gehenna, the end of all vampire races. Others argue that Gehenna is the process of awakening the vampire progenitors who will return to feed on the blood of their descendants.

This myth has been interpreted in various ways by vampire organizations. For example, the Sabbat believes the myth is literal and they must protect their world from the beginning of hell. Therefore, they advocate the destruction of all the oldest vampires of the Patriarchs, who can start it and exterminate them. The Camarilla says that Cain is a myth, or just a metaphor, unworthy of serious study.

Blood Power

Those who become Kindred acquire certain vampiric characteristics, which differ in that they are more down-to-earth than humans believe. As it is already known, vampires are immortal, they do not breathe, although they imitate breathing, their heart does not beat, and the blood received from people is absorbed through the body due to such a process as osmosis. They can eat, but the food is not absorbed by the body.

Sexually, they also cannot reproduce, although they can experience sexual arousal. Vampires also experience emotions and empathy.

Relatives can convert people in two stages: they drink completely human blood, and then give a person a little of their own. The newly converted vampire is called the Child, and the one who converted him is the Sire. At the same time, if a vampire simply feeds a living person with his blood, he will turn into a ghoul: he will receive part of the vampire's power, and will also become dependent on the blood of the owner.

It is impossible to kill a relative with garlic, a stake [although it can paralyze them], with shots or holy water. These are myths. However, the weakness for sunlight is true. But the greatest weakness of a relative is a beast. This is the inhuman ability of a vampire, and if he encourages his beast, for example, constantly killing people, he will soon lose his humanity and fall into the state of the beast, having ceased to control himself. The counterbalance is Golconda, a legendary state of enlightenment that offers vampires liberation from their fight with the beast.

The Masquerade Appears

Masquerade is a set of rules, its guardian from time immemorial was the Camarilla, who believes that this is the only way for vampires to survive in the human world and not be destroyed.

The reason for the introduction of the Masquerade was the sacred Inquisition of 1435, which exterminated most of the relatives of that time. Before it began, vampires did not hide among people and openly attacked them. The masquerade was supposed to make it appear to mortals that the Inquisition had destroyed all vampires and they no longer exist.

In 1486, the third bloody war of the Jihad took place between the vampires, which began because of the Anarch's uprising. The weaker vampires were tired of being manipulated by their older relatives like pawns, so they decided to change the order of things. Subsequently, a concordat known as the Treaty of Thorns or the Treaty of Thorns was signed, marking the final peace between all Kindred.

After its adoption, three clans of Anarchs, Assamites and Camarilla were founded, consisting of free vampires. The latter, as already mentioned, became the keeper of the Masquerade. In order for everyone to observe the law of secrecy, she does not hesitate to use force against vampires, and even organize a collective hunt for them. All clans gain independence from each other, and the Assamites have moved away from everyone in the Allamut fortress altogether [interestingly, this is not the first time that the Allamut fortress appears in games; it is the historical homeland of the Gashashin cultists, from which Ubisoft will later write off Assassins in Assassin's Creed].

At the same time, the Sabbat appeared, which believes that vampires should rule over people. The Sabbat lives by the Milan Code, created in 1933. However, it also obliges them to follow the Masquerade.

It is worth clarifying that they must reckon with the Masquerade. Since, despite its aggression, violation of the rules of the night leads to their extermination by other relatives, therefore the Sabbat is forced to reckon with the law.

Today, a group of fanatics, the Leopold Society, is hunting vampires. It was formed after the government of some countries discovered the existence of SchreckNET - a secret nosferatu network through which they receive information and communicate with their relatives around the world.

This led to the fact that the Masquerade had to be tightened and vampires were forced to use disposable phones, letter boxes, mails, hypnotized people and even pigeons to exchange information at a distance.

What the world of Vampire The Masquerade is like now, we'll find out in Bloodlines 2 when the game comes out in 2020.

The Topic of Article: Mythology of the Vampire The Masquerade Universe.
Author: Jake Pinkman