VAMPIRE – THE MASQUERADE – ANARCH
How did your role in the scene casual acquaintances won’t notice. keeping a low profile as you can
change after Embrace? They’re a bigger problem than the hunt in a different town every
people you see all the time. If you night.
I became much more laid back. see someone every day, you get
Before the Embrace I wanted to used to how they look. You also got to get used to
fight for my space, but after I sleeping in some dodgy places. I’ve
understood the demands of the Why remain at all? spent more days in the backrooms
Masquerade I decided to keep a Let me tell you about a gig I of filthy bars than I care to count.
lower profile. It’s easy to stay in was at last Saturday. It was a small It’s also not an easy scene to come
the margins if you’re a groupie town near Seinäjoki with a pretty into as an outsider. Of course you
and hunting almost takes care of diverse crowd. One of those where can just start coming to the gigs,
itself. Like, I go backstage, some everybody local comes to see all but you’ll stick out. It was much
asshole starts groping me, I can the gigs no matter the music be- easier for me because everyone
just drink from him then and cause there’s so little happening. already knew me. I didn’t seem
there and nobody even blinks as The band started playing and out of place.
long as I don’t brandish my fangs the singer threw bottles of blood
at them. A little biting and blood into the audience. People opened Do you ever get scared of the
goes with the territory. them and started spraying the violence in the scene? The imagery is
blood all over each other, onto pretty extreme.
Do you still believe in black the band, the walls... Two groupie
metal? girls I know used razors to cut [laughs] No! When I was
their arms. I licked their blood off still human I was too young and
Ask a lot of the guys what the skin. angry to get scared. And now as a
black metal is and they’ll say it’s In most places, that would be a vampire, it’s actually been pretty
all about the politics. And that Masquerade breach. Here it’s just liberating. I often hunt by playing
bands who deny that are sellout business as usual. the victim, making some dude
losers. You fight for a Satanist That sounds perfect. think they can get their rocks off
vision of war against religion in all It is! It was pretty funny, after fucking with me. Then after he
its forms, making music, burning the gig I went downstairs to the gets me alone in a secluded spot, I
churches and desecrating grave- cafe and you could see the blood flip the script on him.
yards. trickling down the walls, there
was so much of it. It’s easy to do knowing that
Have you ever desecrated a What do you think of the Sabbat? as a vampire, you’re never in any
graveyard? Black Sabbath? That’s dad real danger from a single drunken
music. asshole.
Sure, when I was still human.
I don’t feel the need so much now Gift From Satan Do you feel bad preying on your
that I drink blood for real. own scene?
So what if I wanted to join this
Blood Running lifestyle of blood and Satan-worship- Never! The guys say they want
Down the Walls ping? to bring blood and destruction all
across the world. They don’t real-
How long do you intend to con- There are some practical ize that as a vampire I’m way more
tinue in the scene? hurdles. Finland is a big empty metal they can ever be. When I
country and much of the scene feed from them, it’s a gift from
Well, soon I’ve been a vampire happens in gigs outside the big Satan. ■
for twenty years. That’s a long cities. That means you have to
time to go without aging. People travel. Drive around the country Chinasa Adeyemi is a Nigerian-born
are starting to comment on it. following the bands. It helps with
Fortunately corpse paint hides former journalist trying to make her
your age pretty well so if you dress
up, you can still go to gigs and former profession work under the
Masquerade.
50
NIGHTS OF THE UNBOUND
51
VAMPIRE – THE MASQUERADE – ANARCH
DEATH BY: CHINASA ADEYEMI
at the
Roof of the World
In the second article of her series “Subculture
Parasites”, Chinasa Adeyemi interviews the
former mountain climber and Gangrel Antoni
Morawski.
On the face of it, the subculture of high altitude mountain climbers
doesn’t seem ideal for our kind. The mountain climbers travel a lot and
much of the mountain climbing itself happens during the day. Expedi-
tions often attract publicity, making it difficult to maintain the Masquerade.
Yet despite these problems, Antoni Morawski saw no reason to abandon his
lifestyle just because he became a lick.
High Altitude Embrace
You achieved quite a lot even before you became one of us, right?
Perhaps. I did climb many of the famous ones from K2 onwards. The only
one I never managed was Everest. I tried twice, but the weather conditions were
against me. I’m actually most proud of how much money we were able to raise for
charity on our expedition to the Transantarctic Mountains. There’s some excel-
lent climbing there. It’s a shame it’s so hard to get to.
You were raising money for leukemia research. Prophetic in light of what happened
later.
[laughs] That’s true! It was just a few months before I was Embraced.
How did it happen, your Embrace?
True Feral style. We were camping in the Alps, winding down from an expe-
dition. I was experimenting with my camera, trying to take photos in low light
conditions when a monster attacked me, mauled me and dragged me to a chasm
in the mountainside. I was sure I would die.
52
NIGHTS OF THE UNBOUND
But you didn’t. an injury that makes climbing worse and it was clear he couldn’t
No. My sire fed be enough difficult. Instead, I follow around survive the conditions for more
blood to heal my injuries and then as a member of the support staff. than a few hours, especially as the
Embraced me. I still don’t know The problem with climbing is that temperature started to plummet.
why. I never saw her again. As as a lick I’m too good at it. It feels He called us on the radio and it
you know, this is more common unsporting. And of course, day- got very emotional. He asked us to
among the Gangrel than some light burns us on the mountains relay his last words to his children.
other Clans. My return to the the same as anywhere else. I couldn’t take it.
camp was very dramatic. They’d
organized search parties and I In the last year, you’ve pioneered So you climbed up to rescue him.
walked in, clothes bloody, while the concept of a night climb. Didn’t the people in your camp ob-
they were planning to extend the ject? That must have seemed insane
operation. That’s true. I suppose I to them.
couldn’t keep completely away.
Quality Blood I try to make them more about They told me I was crazy! And
the experience and less about the if I was human, they would have
I’ve heard about the special taste challenge. been right. But it was for noth-
of human blood at high altitude. Is it ing. He was dead by the time I got
true that it tastes better? Death and the there.
Masquerade
Yes, definitely. As you know, I have to ask. Did you taste his
the human body compensates for Let’s talk about the death of blood?
the relative dearth of oxygen in Jean-Philippe Murielle. You’ve been
the air. This means that blood has accused of endangering the Masquer- I try to stay as human as I can.
a rich quality that you soon learn ade. I don’t believe in this vampire
to appreciate as you hunt in high supremacy bullshit you hear. I
altitude communities. This is not Right. Because I maintain my don’t expect you to understand,
just about mountaineering. You mortal identity and the incident but it didn’t feel like a predatory
can experience the same anywhere came into the news. I suppose it’s act. He was my friend, and now
the air is thin. ironic. Most of our kind get into he was dead. I wanted somehow
trouble for killing people, but for to connect with him one last time.
What about the other realities of me it happened because I wanted So I took his blood.
your lifestyle. Surely it’s difficult to to play the hero.
hunt if you move with a small group How did it feel when the media
of people all the time? You were both on an expedition started calling you a hero for making
to scale the Eiger. the attempt?
It’s difficult if you don’t know
how to do it. Being a Feral helps a Yes. I’ve known Murielle for Stupid. I admit I was a glory-
lot with surviving in the wilder- a long time and we’d even made hound in life, but that’s possibly
ness. I still hold on to my mortal an attempt at the Eiger together the only thing where becoming a
identity and often move with the when we were starting out. It lick has made me a better man. ■
same people I knew in life. For was one of my first high altitude
hunting, travel means I can hunt climbs. As you know, at this level Chinasa Adeyemi is a Nigerian-born
from the different communities the death rate at these climbs is
we move through. I don’t really around 10%, so it’s not uncommon writer exploring the diverse ways the
drink from my own people except for people to lose their lives. I’ve
for culinary reasons. lost friends to the mountain in the unbound make do in an increasingly
Alps, in Nepal...
But you no longer climb with hectic world. Her work is distributed
them? How did it happen this time?
Murielle got stuck near the exclusively for the benefit of a very
No. I made up a story about summit. The weather was getting
discrete audience.
53
VAMPIRE – THE MASQUERADE – ANARCH
The Beast
on a Leash
BY: CHINASA ADEYEMI
In the third article of her series “Subculture Parasites”,
Chinasa Adeyemi interviews the Toreador couple and
petplay enthusiasts Janet and William Stoughton.
We licks like to talk about our Beasts and Freedom in Slavery
the Gangrel are known for their bes-
tial nature, but the kink subculture of Let’s talk about your thing. What is petplay?
petplay takes becoming an animal into an altogether Janet: A lot of people think it’s only a sexual
different sphere. I talked to the San Francisco -based fetish, and it’s that too. But it’s also a lifestyle. There
Toreador couple Janet and William Stoughton to find doesn’t have to be sex involved. It’s about taking on
out how our kind can interact with this subculture of the role of a pet, like a puppy. This often involves the
sex play. kind of paraphernalia you might recognize from a
BDSM context: muzzles, tails, bodysuits.
Whitebread So which of you is the puppy?
Janet: [laughs] Oh no, we both do it.
I don’t meet many vampire couples who look as whole- You both do it? How does that work?
some as you do. William: Well, we can do it around the house, but
the best experiences we’ve had were at events and
Janet: [laughs] I admit, we’re pretty whitebread. with a third person as the dominant. The owner.
William: I suppose it’s true. We’ve tried to hold Janet: There’s many interesting events organized
onto our humanity and the best way to do it is by around this here in San Francisco, in other parts of
maintaining the trappings. the U.S., in Europe.
The house, the yard... And you do this with mortals? Or others of our kind?
William: Yes. I suppose it’s camouflage. Janet: Usually mortals!
Were you a couple before you became licks? What does it feel like to be a vampire being led around
Janet: No. We’re not related either, even though on a leash by a mortal?
we’re both Toreador. We met after we’d both been William: [silence] That’s the thing. That is exactly
Embraced and escaped our sires in the Camarilla. the thing.
Are you in contact with the society of licks in San
Francisco?
William: No. We keep to ourselves. Do our thing.
54
NIGHTS OF THE UNBOUND
Rabid Dogs up. I’d lost track of time. I was William: It’s true. That’s why
gagged so I couldn’t really use the it’s good to prepare for this when
Do you ever have any accidents? safeword and she ignored it when you consider your pet personality.
You are licks after all. I used the safety signal. I guess
she was mad at me from the piss ‘Pet personality’?
Janet: Well, to be honest we’ve thing, but it was bad. William: How you behave as
had two bad incidents. In the a pet. Are you obedient, flighty,
first, William was very deep in the You survived, though. eager, and so on. If you’re a vam-
mental space of being the puppy Janet: I had to call on my pire, it’s good to make little love
and the dom we played with Blood to break free. I was panick- bites part of your deal. That way,
started teasing him. William lost ing so I didn’t do it subtly. It was they’re not surprising when you
control, the poor dear. a total Masquerade breach. We feed.
didn’t know what to do so we Is this a sex thing for you, or a
William: It was terrible. I don’t killed her. hunting thing?
know what happened. Janet: I wasn’t into this at all
Hunting Dogs as a human. After I became a
What happens when you lose vampire, all that talk of the Beast
control in that situation? Using different subcultures to made me very anxious. I was wor-
hunt for blood has been a running ried about becoming this animal
William: I tore apart the theme in this series of articles, but or monster. But after trying out
leather straps binding my legs and I’m not sure how being a bondage pet petplay, I found it very relaxing,
arms and killed the dom. helps with that? like I could somehow just settle
into that space and not worry
Janet: It’s okay, dear. William: It’s all in choosing about anything.
Was this a friend of yours? the right moment. You can’t hunt Even sunlight or the Beast?
Janet: Yes, in a way. We found during play. William: Well, you always feel
him on Tumblr. I have a blog we bad after murdering your dom.
use to post photos of ourselves. Janet: That’s not entirely true, That’s a given. ■
What was the other incident? William...
Janet: It was with a woman Chinasa Adeyemi is a Nigerian-born
we’d never played with before. I William: You’re right, of
was alone at her house, and it had course. Sometimes a male dom writer constantly astounded by the
seemed good at the start. We ne- will force me to suck his cock. I
gotiated boundaries. She had won- can bite very discreetly and they variety of different ways we come up
derful equipment, a full bitchsuit don’t really have the experience to
for me, that kind of thing. She separate the feeling of a blowjob with to live our unlives.
was very much into control and from the Kiss.
bondage, so she had William in
her basement playroom and me I take it that bondage pet blow-
upstairs. You know, taking me for jobs are not the normal way for you
a walk. to hunt?
Outside?
Janet: Yeah, in her backyard. William: No. Normally the
It was awkward because she was right moment to strike is during
into piss play and she didn’t know aftercare. You know, after the play
I was a vampire. She wanted me is over and you’re all cuddling and
to pee like a dog, but of course I sharing your emotions. People are
couldn’t. very naked in that moment, spir-
I can see the problem. itually. You can bite and feed with
Janet: But the really bad thing great love and tenderness.
was that the sun was coming
It’s still a bite though. People
notice when you bite them.
55
VAMPIRE – THE MASQUERADE – ANARCH
VNeigghatss
Icame to Las Vegas for the Chiasm’s Isolated in the bath- fidence up my nose all evening
same reason as everybody rooms on a loop. so it wasn’t a problem. She was
else: To party and get wast- blonde, beautiful and dressed like
ed. And maybe lose some On my second night, I was in an indecent schoolgirl. Everything
money at the poker table. I most the queue of the Clark County she said was creepy and weird but
definitely did not come here to get Marriage License Bureau with I didn’t care because she had her
Embraced and become a vampire, Jeanette Voerman. I didn’t realize tits in my face.
but that’s them breaks. it at the time, but Las Vegas is a
great place to handle marriage The last time I saw my friends
It was me and a couple of guys bureaucracy if you’re a vampire was when we went for lunch after
from work. They were ribbing seeking to maintain a human that first night. They asked me
me for being a Vegas novice. They identity: The Bureau is open until what had happened and I couldn’t
were threatening to set me up midnight. really explain it. In the beginning
to get married with a prostitute, I’d just wanted to fuck Jeanette,
wake up in a trashed hotel room Mad Love but by the end of the night I pro-
somewhere with no idea of how it posed to her.
happened. I met Jeanette on the dance-
floor on my first night at the Asy- Most of the people queuing to
Turns out, I managed it quite lum. I’d realized I was a little out the Marriage License Bureau were
well without them. On our first of place so I’d just taken my shirt fortyish women with identical fac-
night, we ended up in a nightclub off and borrowed some eyeliner es and older, disinterested men in
called the Asylum. My friends from a guy in the bathroom. white shorts and sunglasses. After
didn’t like it and left but I stayed we got our papers, we took a limo
behind because I found the goth I could tell she was somebody to the wedding chapel. I debated
vibe somehow seductive. Got to from the way everybody treated how much to tip the priest and
appreciate any place that plays her but I’d been inhaling con- Jeanette talked strange. This is
56
NIGHTS OF THE UNBOUND
going to make me sound like a When our limo sped away my friends but I couldn’t call
weirdo, but it was starting to turn from the wedding chapel, I was them when the very idea made me
me on when she said things like: in love and I was in lust with want to drain all the blood they
“My sister would be so mad if she the woman I believed to be my carried inside and drink it in slow,
knew I was marrying a pretty boy wedded wife. Jeanette got hot pleasurable gulps.
like you. But don’t worry, I’ll keep and heavy with me on the back
my little birdie safe. Or let you seat, bit my neck... You know I started to make my way
die. One of those.” where this is going. She drank me towards Asylum because that was
dry, gave me just enough blood the only place where I thought I
Undead Barman to make me into her childe and could find Jeanette. Let me tell
disappeared into the night. you, Las Vegas is not a city for
You know how in vampire pedestrians, especially if you’ve
movies there are these revelations I lost my mind and murdered just been made into a vampire and
that the barman or the taxi driver the limo driver. I still feel bad have no idea what’s happening.
was a vampire all along? How about that.
you thought this was a normal The Asylum bouncer told me
nightclub but actually everybody I had no idea what had hap- that I was expected at the man-
around you is undead? pened to me. I ran from the ager’s office. He took me there and
wreck of the car into the streets, sat me down in from of a woman
It’s a lot less glamorous if sneaking into a hotel to find a who introduced herself as Therese
you’re actually the barman. bathroom and wash my face. My Voerman. She looked very serious,
phone was full of messages from a businesslike blonde woman the
57
VAMPIRE – THE MASQUERADE – ANARCH
same age as Jeanette had been. I to expand, to guys, to different tim. She flirted with humans and
guessed this was she sister she’d kinds of women. vampires alike. It made me jealous
mentioned. to watch her do it but I knew I’d
I’ve started to learn a simple had my moment with her and
“I’ve managed this club for a vampire truth: The best blood is there wouldn’t be another. The
long time, since we were in Santa not always inside the young and next clubgoer she started to play
Monica. I won’t have it threatened the sexy. Sometimes the blood of the marriage game with was a girl,
by fools like you, taken in by the an aging slot machine addict has a Degenerate of only a few years
games my sister likes to play. I’ll just the right touch of sedentary as a vampire from the middle of
give you two choices. Get out of maturation. nowhere.
the city or work here.”
Theresa has told me a lot about She was taken with Jeanette
I chose to work there. That’s the Second Inquisition and what and the same thing happened as
how I went from running my own it means to live in Las Vegas as a with me: She proposed on the
consulting business to working in lick. I got lucky in a sense, being dance floor. Jeanette made a pro-
a nightclub. I didn’t even really Embraced only after the local duction of it, with a marriage cer-
get paid, just provided a place to Camarilla suffered the full wrath emony at the club in a few nights.
sleep. of the intelligence agencies. The They had a priest and everything.
Asylum is too well integrated
Swipe Right into the mortal world to be easily The girl looked like she
For Blood detectable but the Camarilla and couldn’t believe her luck when she
their Elysiums were much simpler walked Jeanette to the altar. They
Theresa forbade me from to ferret out. kissed and we all applauded. She’s
hunting at the Asylum so I had to come to Vegas to have the kind of
come up with something else. For All this is foreign to me fun only a vampire could have and
a few weeks I hoped I could live because I have never experienced the city had delivered.
some sort of married vampire bliss what the Camarilla really is. For
with Jeanette, but when she finally me, the status of Las Vegas as an The only thing she didn’t real-
showed up at the club, she wasn’t open Anarch city is just the nor- ize was that it wasn’t real. She was
much interested in me. It took me mal state of affairs. We hunt from a girl from the sticks who fell for
a while to understand that for her, tourists and the only authority I the Vegas illusion. The night after
it had just been a little prank she bow to is Theresa. the wedding, she stumbled to
played on her sister. the Asylum, looking for Jeanette.
Nomadic Anarch groups come Instead, she got a stern talking-to
Sometimes I think that with- and go, many of them stopping at from Theresa.
out Tinder and Grindr, I would the Asylum. I’ve understood that
have been lost to the Hunger. I’ve the place has some notoriety in I’m not too broken up about it.
been blessed with a pretty face, Anarch circles although for me I got promoted from the bar when
good abs and a solid line of self- it’s pretty much the totality of the she started to work here. I even
deprecating patter. I know how to vampire world as I know it. For taught her how to use Tinder to
take a good selfie. these licks, the Asylum is a club get at all those tourists looking to
where the hunting is good and hook up in Vegas. ■
There’s something special something fucked up is always
about using Tinder and Grindr to happening. If not otherwise, then
hunt for blood. You’re not really because Jeanette makes it happen.
thinking about who you want to
fuck but who you want to taste. White Wedding
At first I went pretty much for
the same kind of girls I’d wanted The Asylum building is an old
to have a date with. Then I started chapel. I realized I’d got off easy
when Jeanette found her next vic-
58
NIGHTS OF THE UNBOUND
The Night Circus
The Tout
Come one! Come all! For tonight only, the Night Circus is in town. Gets your tick-
ets, bring your family and see miracles like you’ve never seen before!
Witness the amazing Princess of the Trapeze fall to her death!
Marvel at the Hypnotic Man and the illusion of lost time!
Delight in the tortures of the Screaming Mermaid!
Watch the Tigers and the Bears, the Elephants and the Seals cavort for your
pleasure and edification!
Laugh at our uproariously hilarious clowns as they beat each other with sticks!
Learn our story: Founded in Victorian England, the Night Circus is closing in on
two centuries of touring all across the world, going from town to town to delight
the young and old alike. Taking its aesthetic from the burlesque shows of old, anach-
ronistic wunderkammers and the most suicidal circus performances, it’s the most
deranged show on Earth.
Inside, you will see the centuries melt away as ancient monsters prowl the land
once again. The limits of the human form are exposed as the merest fantasy as our
acrobats perform the impossible. Feel the madness of the crowd as you participate
in a show of cruelty and comedy, terror and wonder so amazing it’ll change your
life.
Step right up and come right in. It’s the most incredible show on Earth, and
you’ll find you’ll never want to leave its shimmering wonderland.
The Tent
They’ll tell you that you have to live a lie, wear a mask, make your entire existence
into a tedious Masquerade. You’ll lie to your family and your friends. You’ll lie to
your neighbors and random people on the street. You’ll lie and lie and lie because
the truth will kill you.
Or so they say.
Every night, I look myself in the mirror. With powder and eyeliner, I build my
true face. They introduce me to a crowd of hundreds of mortals and they all mur-
mur my name.
I arrive on horseback, circling the ring, smiling at all the little boys and girls
who will fall in love with me forevermore. I drink in their wonder, their adulation,
the terror in their eyes as they see how fragile, how slight I appear on the back of a
powerful, muscular animal. They sense the violence, the hunger gifted to the beast
by our precious Blood.
The lights turn up. A rope descends and I leap, pulled up by my lovely compatri-
ots hidden in the rigging. They take me all the way to the ropes and trapezes swing-
ing high above the audience.
59
VAMPIRE – THE MASQUERADE – ANARCH
I begin my dance. I swing and turn, leap and Later, they will bring someone from the audience
fall, twist and risk everything with each carefully to me. Usually a man, someone normal who suddenly
rehearsed move. There is no net. There are no safeties. saw a glimpse of the wondrous and unnatural. He
The people must feel death, they must sense the dan- wants to give me a bouquet and say thank you. I al-
ger, they must understand their own mortality. I’m a low him to do so even as I take something more from
sacrificial victim, and each time I die, they live. him as well.
For that’s how it ends. I make one final jump, The Trail
somersault in the air. Spread my arms and close my
eyes. There’s nothing for me to grab onto. I plummet The Night Circus never stays in town for more than
to the ground. one night, one show. In its wake, it leaves behind
terrifying memories, blood drained corpses and mu-
To me, this moment is more beautiful than nicipal authorities confused about who exactly gave
anything in existence. The audience senses death, the permit for them to set up their tent.
damage, bones breaking. They sense my intention.
They understand this was no accident. They imagine The Circus is a traveling caravan of trucks and
my body breaking on the sand of the ring. trailers, transporting the performers, the animals
and the crew as one tightly-knit family of humans
The lights go out just before the impact. The audi- and those less than human. Everyone in the Circus
ence breathes in disquieted relief. It was just a trick. has tasted the Blood, whether they’re mortal or not.
The death was an illusion. Applause scatters in the They all know the secret of why the show looks like
dark, empty tent before the next number. nothing else on Earth, and they will never reveal its
secrets.
In those few seconds of darkness, they drag my
broken body backstage. I bask in the truth of Between cities, they set up camp in a small town
my own glory and tragedy. somewhere and relax. They rehearse the num-
bers, train new members, organize weddings
JOIN THE NIGHT CIRCUS!(MmeBsEumaeRlmmJccetoerrioobtoiiamisunnrdwdntdaosgeyaudcfefatzsAr?ewktoTsntzooaihWprdhlnlinnniperebopifatdedidgoealnlNydryohyrlsiadoeoikmfotitonnoednguoutaafidgfmhhnnsrftlrshpttethnoehiedteoigiaeaColrdhirarihnglvnriseririlnttdienhnrkyoets.acilvgo.uaegtattduerEdrdhrhhrwlssoaue.eee!stinrnhtc!En,aaeMwhtoaletsntep?dhiiyhjaopsaeeouoesevdnaymqrtui.rb.)nhuotlaaegieefnfrareaetuah?dwteyeimtolefss and funerals. For many in the Circus, these
private days and nights lived inside a rolling
camp are the happiest of their lives.
When showtime comes around, it’s time for
the greatest trick in the repertoire of the Night
Circus: Convincing the audience that the super-
natural has a mundane explanation. Every trick
is realized through the abilities of an inhuman
creature, and every time there must be just enough
ambiguity for the humans to imagine they know
how the trick was done.
Sometimes at the end of a show, someone from
the audience wanders backstage to ask questions.
Perhaps they’re a circus professional wondering
about the amazing stagecraft, seeking to improve
their own circus practice. Many of these end up dead
or confused, having lost their memories, but a few
appear in the ring after a few weeks, as new mem-
bers of the family. ■
60
NIGHTS OF THE UNBOUND
61
VAMPIRE – THE MASQUERADE – ANARCH
Delusions
of Humanity
1. He still went to work, but only at him, then I told him I wasn’t in-
night. He had a job as a lawyer, terested, and finally I shoved him
Did I ever tell you how I got and somehow he’d been able to off me because he was getting too
Embraced? It’s an embarrassing arrange it so that he never had insistent.
story, so I’m sure you’ll like it. It to meet clients during the day.
didn’t happen here in Reykjavik, He had some kind of a bizarre That’s when he made me into a
even though this is where I was bullshit medical excuse about be- vampire. To show me that he was
born and raised. The licks here are ing sensitive to sunlight. still the big man in the house.
very strict about progeny.
They continued their lives as if I went rabid straight off the
No, it happened in London. I the husband, Mark, had an unu- bat, punched his teeth in with a
went there straight from school to sual addiction but was otherwise strength I didn’t even know I had
work as an au pair. It seemed like normal. They held dinner par- and disappeared into the night.
a good deal. Look after the kids of ties for their friends and talked
a cosmopolitan, successful couple. football and politics. They had a 2.
Get paid, get room and board. See subscription to the Guardian and I didn’t understand it then,
the city, experience a new life. two children I quickly learned to but Mark had made me into a
hate. Every once in a while, Mark Duskborn. I liked the irony of it.
What could go wrong? How had to go out to feed, but they His Blood was weak, but not weak
about a family where the wife is never talked about it. enough to allow him to go out
a horrible micromanager who during the day. That privilege was
thinks one evening off every two Maybe the joke’s on me, be- reserved for me, his progeny.
weeks is reasonable? A husband cause I never realized that some-
who keeps leering at me, asking if thing weird was going on in that After I became a vampire, I
I have a boyfriend yet? household. They were so incredi- went a little crazy. I got a place of
bly tedious in their crushing beige my own, hit the clubs, changed
How about a couple who are a normality that I never considered my style. My newly dead body had
vampire and a ghoul? the possibility they might have a an amazing resilience. I’d been the
dark secret. shy little au pair from Iceland, but
I didn’t realize how embarrass- now I became something else. I
ing they truly were until much At least, I didn’t consider felt like I could do anything, get
later, when I’d gotten out of there it until Mark cornered me in anyone, do drugs, dance, party
and seen some more of vampire the kitchen one night. He told forever and ever.
society. me how their marriage lacked
passion, and how he found me
So, the husband was the vam- attractive. First I tried to evade
pire and the wife was the ghoul.
62
NIGHTS OF THE UNBOUND
63
VAMPIRE – THE MASQUERADE – ANARCH
I was still curious about Mark It was funny, in a way. Mark 3.
and his shitty life. Sometimes I did his absolute best to suppress It could have ended with this,
went back to the house in Barnet any sign of being a vampire. This me leaving, they continuing their
and watched this couple who lived wasn’t a house with blood bags in lives . But it didn’t.
in denial, desperate to still pass the fridge. Just heavy drapes in
for humans. the master bedroom. They never One night, Sarah caught me
talked about it, even when they snooping around. I’d gotten care-
The wife was called Sarah. Af- were just the two of them. less, watching them like my own
ter I’d left, she seemed to become little reality show. She’d thought
ever thinner and more neurotic, When Mark was at work and Mark had killed me, but now that
snapping at the children and cry- the kids were at their friends’ I was obviously up and about, she
ing when she was alone. From the house, Sarah relaxed sometimes accused me of having seduced her
way they talked, I guessed that by watching a romantic vampire husband. She was crying when she
Mark had told her I had left after movie and drinking red wine. At told me that she knew we were
a dispute about free time. That first I thought it was funny, but having an affair and Mark had
was kinda plausible, because I’d then it started to feel sad. She was made me into a vampire too.
had that talk with Sarah many really into it. She liked the idea
times. But looking at her, I knew of being married to a vampire. If I’m a monster now, like all
she suspected that the reality was only he could have been persuad- Kindred. I live as a parasitic being,
something worse, something to do ed to play it up, once in a while. sucking the life out of humanity.
with her husband’s true nature. But even I have my sentimental
side. What could I do?
I gave her some of my Blood
and took her out partying. By the
end of the night, she was a vam-
pire too, courtesy of a guy who
owed me a favor. The last I saw
her, she was planning to move to
Berlin before the London Cama-
rilla realized that an illegal childe
had been made.
And who knows, Mark could
still be in that little house in
Barnet. Checking himself in the
mirror to make sure there’s no
blood spatters on his white collar.
Taking the kids to school. Fight-
ing hard against everything the
night could give him. ■
64
NIGHTS OF THE UNBOUND
65
VAMPIRE – THE MASQUERADE – ANARCH
Is It OK To Feed
Vitae To a Baby?
A discussion on a private forum
velvetblack - 21:07 26.1.2018 our kids, i mean the kids we have
together...
hey :) i’m looking for advice, so if
anyone has experience with this, any pro-tip: kids are great for the
help is appreciated! i was wondering, masquerade! nobody expects a vampire
is it ok to feed vitae to a baby? to push a stroller! and the support
groups for dads are great for feeding,
like, from a health perspective? nobody questions if somebody looks
anemic and pale...
NOTE: please, replies only from people
with EXPERIENCE
liliththedarkmother - 21:10 26.1.2018 velvetblack - 21:28 26.1.2018
Please tell me you’re not feeding vitae
to your baby. thank you theobellfan2001! that is good
advice! i got into trouble with social
liliththedarkmother - 21:12 26.1.2018 services over my older kid. those as-
It’s not healthy. Vitae stunts the ag- sholes said he should’ve gone to school,
ing process in humans and causes ad- but that’s why we have the gifts of
diction. Caine, am i right? to make a nosy social
worker see our point of view!
so in SUMMARY: giving babies vitae
pacifies them
theobellfanboy2001 - 21:20 26.1.2018 theobellfanboy2001 - 21:31 26.1.2018
yes! don’t worry too much about it,
It’s fine, don’t worry... i give my there’s no such thing as a perfect
kids blood all the time to keep them parent... and being a cleaver is even
from crying and it works... and it harder
heals them too, when they get hurt!
sometimes they hurt each other, but i liliththedarkmother - 21:32 26.1.2018
think its just normal I don’t think we should use the word
“cleaver” on this forum. It’s derogatory
i’ve worked hard to adopt my girl- and insensitive.
friend’s kids from when she was mar-
ried. its difficult, but they love the
blood so much and they get along with
66
NIGHTS OF THE UNBOUND
theobellfanboy2001 - 21:35 26.1.2018 of domains, raising human children is
sorry... you’re right. it’s a shit word. not allowed at all. If the Cam or the
it’s not easy to be a parent and a Barons catch you doing it, they’ll take
vampire. it’s hard to raise human away your kids. They might even kill
children. sometimes i worry i bite you.
them too often
velvetblack - 22:13 26.1.2018
liliththedarkmother - 21:37 26.1.2018
I made a rule for myself that I was i know. we’ve had to move thrice, and
allowed to drink from my baby only every time it’s a huge hassle. that’s
once a week. Once she gets older, I why i stopped sending my kids to
think it will be okay to drink every school. i think that somehow the big
few days. Teenagers are resilient. C can monitor the school system, like
who’s enrolled.
theobellfanboy2001 - 21:45 26.1.2018
solid, solid... i think i’ll adopt this one time i had to kill a woman who
rule... it’s a good one came to our house. she was like an
assistant sheriff and she kept talking
velvetblack - 22:01 26.1.2018 to me in a very disrespectful tone
drinking from my kids, it’s like “can
you love too much?” theobellfanboy2001 - 22:16 26.1.2018
it makes me feel so close to them,
but then it’s all BLOOD LOSS and that’s so badass... you’re most
AMBULANCE TRIP and MASQUERADE BREACH definitely parent of the year! “She
like, one moment you’re so happy and just wanted to live a normal life, but
then suddenly everything is so diffi- they wouldn’t let her.” that could be
cult the movie poster. vampire Mom movie.
liliththedarkmother - 22:20 26.1.2018
velvetblack, that sounds really bad.
Are you safe? Do you need help?
liliththedarkmother - 22:11 26.1.2018 velvetblack - 22:45 26.1.2018
Restraint is definitely the hardest i’m okay. but thanks. as long as i
part of being an undead parent. That have my kids i’ll be fine.
and explaining why you can only attend
parent-teacher meetings at night. But and theobellfanboy2001 you made me
please, even if your child has suffered smile :) i don’t feel like much of
blood loss, don’t feed them vitae. It’s a hero changing diapers, but you’re
not good for them. right. i will fight to the death for
my children.
velvetblack, you have to be very
careful with the masquerade. In a lot
67
VAMPIRE – THE MASQUERADE – ANARCH
Los Nueves
Chinasa Adeyemi checks out the Acapulco Anarch
culture of getting shot for fun.
“If this is your first for these folks, so if they want to Juan claps me on the back and
night...” You’ve play it rough, they need some- raises my hand up in a gesture of
seen Fight Club. thing more. Nine millimeters triumph. The noise around us is
You know the more. deafening. Shouting, clapping,
drill. When Juan gives me the and El Regreso Del Chapo by El
gun, I check it, wait for him to There’s an old journalistic Komander from the radio of a car
draw a bead on me and fire. We adage about not becoming part parked nearby. We are all bath-
both hit. I get him in the throat. of the story, but I was allowed ing in the headlights, the licks in
His bullet hits me in the face. It to share the experience only if I the circle looking like agitated
hits my upper jaw, sinking bone participated. Which is why Juan is shadows.
splinters into the flesh of my helping me up, laughing, the raw
mouth. hole in his throat eerily bloodless. I don’t say much. I’m happy
there are no mirrors here. I don’t
I’m not used to getting shot, Collateral Damage want to see the ruin of my face.
so I fly down onto the ground as I’m not trying to sound badass
the crowd around us hollers and Acapulco is a city of 700,000 here: I figured I would get shot
cheers. They’ve all come here for people. Last year, they had 918 in the arm or the leg. Maybe
the same thing: To shoot and to killings, making the city Mexico’s through the chest, at worst.
get shot. murder capital for the fifth year Instead to the great hilarity of
in a row. all present, I’m trying to heal my
This is Fight Club for those face and remain standing at the
who can survive a bullet wound. So what’s that got to do with same time.
A punch in the nose is a love tap Anarchs getting their kicks shoot-
ing each other in the face?
68
NIGHTS OF THE UNBOUND
I’m going to need blood pretty The Warmup up anymore. But often it didn’t re-
soon, and I’m not the only one. ally look like anybody was trying
Juan is already healed, and hungry Juan tells me that sometimes they to win. They just wanted to hurt
because of it. The next couple is like to warm up before the actual and get hurt.
already stepping into the ring. fights. The way to do this is by
They last longer than we did, per- shooting yourself through the Sunrise
forating each other until it doesn’t hand or into the stomach. Once
seem as much a fight as a ritual you have taken a little damage, “Fucking fight me you assholes”,
mutilation. you feel fired up and ready to go. a tough-looking older lady yells,
I ask Juan the obvious question: brandishing an old-school revolv-
All these wounds need to be Why do this? er. I know that you should never
healed. That means a lot of bodies judge a vampire by how they look,
showing up as police statistics “Being a vampire is easy”, he but it’s no wonder this woman
tomorrow morning. Local custom says. “There’s a lot of prey, and is lacking for challengers. She is
is to deface the corpses so they’re because there’s so much violence, scary as fuck.
taken for gang killings. hiding victims and maintaining
the Masquerade is easier. If some- “I’ll fight you”, Juan says and
The Game steps into the ring.
“Being a
The game is called the Nines, or He shoots the woman in the
los Nueves. The setup is simple. vampire is face, the exact same spot he shot
You go somewhere you can party me. Later I hear it’s his signature.
in peace. A derelict, abandoned easy”,
lot in an area nobody cares about. The old lady spits teeth and
You make sure everyone has guns. he says. just as the first sign of sunrise
You put on appropriate music. shows behind the hills, pumps
one sees something here, who are three bullets into Juan in quick
First timers have to fight. Af- they going to tell? The police?” succession. Chest, stomach, balls.
ter that, the others get their turn. Juan falls and doesn’t move.
Some just come to watch their So you hurt each other because
friends get shot. Others go in the there’s not enough challenge in “Who’s going to take him
ring every night, fighting, shoot- being a vampire? home?” I ask and point to the
ing, bleeding. This is immortality lightening sky.
in its rawest form: The vampire “Maybe. You’ve seen the movie.
body refuses to die, and in this It’s these middle class American “I will”, the old lady says.
game, you can take full advantage. guys who want to feel something “How’s he gonna get here next
real. We’re not middle-class or time otherwise?” ■
Sometimes Anarchs die play- American, but you want to feel
ing los Nueves. Juan doesn’t want something. Otherwise, why Chinasa Adeyemi is a roving chronicler
to talk about it, but after press- bother?”
ing him long enough I get him to of the Anarch Movement. She might
admit it happens pretty often. It’s You could fight the Camarilla.
hard to figure how much dam- “We fight the Camarilla! But come back to Acapulco one night, just
age a vampire can really take, and it’s always so serious. Here, you
some are much more durable than can relax, get shot, get up laugh- for the honor of getting her face shot
others. ing. You can rough up your best
friend.” off again.
The goal of los Nueves is not to This is something I had no-
kill, but it’s no secret it’s a lethal ticed as well. Sure, many of the
sport. Everybody who’s been here fights I saw were real fights. Each
more than one or two nights has participating is trying to shoot the
seen it. And they still come back. other so full of holes they can’t get
69
VAMPIRE – THE MASQUERADE – ANARCH
24 Hour
Party
Blood-
suckers
T he music beats hard in the same school, in the same during the day. I have no idea
on my body, forc- classes. I was the misfit geek girl where she sleeps, how she travels
ing me to move. As living my best life on the Inter- or what she does for money. But I
I push among the net. He was the emo boy graced do know that she’s always there to
sweaty, twitchy throng on the with a sliver of cool because of his steal my high.
dancefloor, it feels like sound, impeccable taste in music. Now
not blood animating my half- I’m a Duskborn vampire and he’s Fuck her. I got to hunt.
dead corpse. The insistent violent slumped face first into the table, a Reykjavik is a small town
rhythm is making me more aware Renfield ill-treated by my asshole and you will run into people you
of my insides than ever since I be- friend Dee who’s sitting there, try- know. Like right now. A guy I
came a vampire. I’m just one more ing to discreetly lick her lips clean dated when I was twelve and he
body, and in the darkness nobody of the blood. was fourteen. He’s slipping into
notices if I breathe or not. the toilets and I follow him just
“Have you ever heard of the as he locks himself in a dingy stall
I never want to come down. Masquerade you idiot?” I hiss at to do coke off the toilet bowl. I
This is the perfect moment, unsul- Dee, sitting down beside her. give him enough time to get high
lied by Hunger, a perfect chemi- before I yank the door off its
cal high. This is what eternal life “Don’t worry, it’s cool”, she as- hinges. Should have more finesse,
means. Freedom to dance, to party sures me blithely, glancing around but I don’t care. He’s kneeling
every night, all night, forever. if anybody is paying attention. there expression bleary, unable to
Nobody is. understand what his childhood
The Hunger is settling into sweetheart is doing there with
my limbs, my thoughts, my dead “Listen, Dee. I went to a lot of fangs out.
heart. I want to pretend not to trouble to shoot Sigurður up with He was supposed to become
feel it, to move, move, move, but it the exact, specific high I wanted. wealthy and successful. An invest-
can’t be ignored. There’s blood in I’m not a junkie like you. I’m a ment banker. Instead he’s just a
every person around me, whisper- connoisseur. I didn’t do this so regular asshole, befuddled with
ing in their veins, hiding behind a you could steal his blood.” his choices in life. And now he’s
thin barrier of skin. prey. I bite deep into the back of
Dee is not listening. In her reli- his neck, the flesh giving way and
I make my way to Sigurður. gion, everything is fair if you want
Only a few years ago we were both to get high. Dee is one of those
people you could never imagine
70
NIGHTS OF THE UNBOUND
the first trickle of blood giving me and leer, their sweat sticking to human. There’s a chill-out party
a taste of what’s to come. my body as they brush past. The I’m going to, but before that I
ceiling is too low, I feel like I’m want to ride the last of my ex’s
I love drinking from people suffocating even when I don’t bad blood and watch the sunrise.
I don’t care about. I know the need to breathe anymore.
Kiss will get him hard and horny, The sun is merely a lighter
wondering what happened as I I’m tired. I don’t want to sleep. shape in the clouds. Looking at
disappear into the night. Being a vampire is fine as long it directly hurts my eyes despite
as you’re wasted, and if you’re the glasses, but I do it anyway.
The toxic combination of Duskborn, you can keep going I’ve learned a few things about
whatever my ex had spiking his round the clock. It keeps every how most vampires live, and it’s
blood hits me as I stand up. I ate bad thought at bay. amazing to me that I can access a
a kebab earlier, just to spite Dee. whole world they see only in their
Unlike her, I can still eat, and usu- “Let’s get you out”, Dee says, memories. They have the power,
ally I get to decide when I puke it grabbing me by my arm. She pulls but they don’t have the freedom.
out. Now I don’t. I retch onto my me along to the street, straight
ex who still kneels by the toilet into the wet sleet coming down I wait for the cruise ships
bowl. I heave violently until every from the sky. It dribbles under my to moor. They provide a steady
piece of the kebab decorates his clothes, the streams of cold water stream of witless American tour-
embarrassing little jacket. This is running along my back. I hated ists, prey that’s only available for
the kind of ex-girlfriend experi- this feeling when I was human, those of us able to hunt during
ence I’m all about: Bite, arouse, but now it’s comforting, like cold the day. By nightfall, they’re
vomit. fingers affirming that I don’t have gone again. Valuable resource in
to accept human morality. Every a small city overpopulated with
Better leave. This is why I person I’ve killed was just prey. the undead. Problem is, the only
make my own drug alchemy high available from the ships is
and use my Renfield as a test Dee peels off once the horizon prescription drugs.
lab. Fucked up things happen if starts to lighten. If she gets caught
you get high from the blood of a in the cold half-light of a day in It’s time to go chill out, find
random asshole. I stagger back to Reykjavik, she’ll burn. I just need Dee when the sun goes down, and
the tables. The music is beating to put on my sunglasses. I go to do it all over again. ■
me down. The people crowd close the harbor, feeling less and less
71
VAMPIRE – THE MASQUERADE – ANARCH
72
NIGHTS OF THE UNBOUND
Roll Call of
the Revolution
You want to politics, it’s that we’ve don’t really find a home
know who’s who in very good at splinter- in the Camarilla. These
the Anarch Movement? ing into ever smaller cults and communities
Who are the celebri- groups. That holds true are some of the strang-
ties and why are they for Anarchs as well, and est things the Anarchs
celebrated, the most im- sometimes it seems as if can offer, featuring ideas
portant groups, scenes the worst enemy of the and concepts totally
and ideologies? Santa Monica Progres- alien to mainstream
sive Anarch Collective Camarilla society.
I can try to answer, is the Santa Monica Before you dismiss them
but you must under- Revolutionary Anarch completely, remember
stand that my answer Collective. that once upon a time,
will by necessity be very the Sabbat was a tiny
limited. The reality is The thing is, the cult as well.
that there is no single Anarchs are much more
Anarch Movement, than just those of us who Still, the worst
no unifying political have a political agenda. enemy of Anarch cohe-
structure bringing us Go beyond the Move- sion is simple geography.
all together. Even if you ment and you find the We’re all connected to
take the political An- unbound, the Anarchs the mortal communities
archs, there’s a vast gulf who just want to be left that spawned us, much
of ideology, history and alone and do their thing more than the Camarilla
geography separating without interference is. Many of us are moti-
the Anarch Free States from sect politics. Some vated by the prejudices
in California and the of these people are nicest we had from our days
former Brujah Council bloodsuckers you’ll ever among the living and
in Russia. find, genuinely morally the Masquerade makes
conflicted over having to it hard for an Italian
The only thing these feed from humans. Oth- Unbound to know a lot
political Anarchs really ers are monsters pure about his sisters prey-
have in common is a be- and simple, enjoying the ing on people in South
lief that we can build a power and freedom pro- African border territo-
better world. Or at least vided by Caine’s curse. ries. ■
a different world, free
from the stagnation and The Anarchs have – Rudi, Danish Gangrel
blind conservatism of also been the refuge of
the Camarilla. If there’s those motivated by re- ideologue and activist
one constant in radical ligious convictions that
73
VAMPIRE – THE MASQUERADE – ANARCH
Lasciami
Transcript of a surveillance tape M2: People are terrified of them. As a
22.1.2018 terror tactic, it works. You get word
they’ve been hired to do a hit on you,
Naples, street address: [blacked out] [inaudible]
Starting at 9:31 PM M1: I don’t get it though, they’re
always saying that they just want to
Male voice 1, speaking Italian: Are you keep a low profile, do the occasional
sure this is a good idea? These guys hit to finance their lifestyle. Like
have a strange reputation. they’re slacker assassins. But their
signature is so gruesome everybody
Male voice 2, speaking Italian: What do pays attention. Us. The cops. Pretty
you mean strange? soon, the press.
M1: When you kill someone, there has M2: I’m shocked, Andrea. Are you sug-
to be purpose and function. You kill gesting that professional murderers
clean when you just want the other act inconsistently with the bullshit
person dead. You kill messy when you they spout? I’m so happy this is un-
want to make a statement. You kill in heard of among us in the Camorra.
public when you want to make people
paranoid. These guys, I don’t know... M1: Sarcasm is a filthy habit. Besides,
It weirds me out. I think it’s time. They’ll be here
soon. Do you have the blood bags?
M2: The blood.
M2: In the fridge.
M1: Of course the blood! I’ve seen one
of the victims. The way they hang them, M1: I’m going to ask them about those.
drain the blood. It works as a terror I get why they kill like they do. But
tactic, I’m not denying that. It’s one why do they want blood bags as part of
hell of a way to die, losing your life their payment?
as your blood drains to the floor. A
great signature move, ten points for M2: Style?
style.
M1: Style is fine, but this is just
weird.
74
NIGHTS OF THE UNBOUND
75
VAMPIRE – THE MASQUERADE – ANARCH
[the sound of a doorbell] M3: Do you have the blood we asked for?
M1: God, they’re punctual. I’ll go get M2: Yes, of course. Let me get it for
it. you.
[the sound of a door being opened, [sounds of scuffling, an opening
indistinct greetings and words of fridge door]
welcome]
M2: Here you go.
M1: Please, sit down.
M3: Thank you. Let me check it.
M2: Good to meet you, my name is Gian-
carlo. M1: Check it? I assure you, this is
real blood, just like you asked.
Female voice 1, speaking Italian: Thank
you, Giancarlo. [indistinct] M3: This is cow’s blood. We asked for
human blood.
Male voice 3, speaking Italian, some-
times dipping into Sardinian: Let’s [silence]
talk business.
M1: How could you tell?
F1: Why do you always have to be so
brusque? We don’t have to skip the M3: I can always tell. Let me explain
pleasantries. why we ask for the blood. It’s to check
if the people we’re dealing with are
M2: It’s all right. serious. If they are not serious, they
try to fuck around with our request.
M1: There’s something I wanted to ask If they are serious, they get us the
you about. If it’s okay. blood.
F1: Of course. Ask away. F1: I guess what he’s asking is... Are
you serious?
M1: What’s with the blood? I mean, why
do you ask for blood in lieu of the M2: Okay, look, we misunderstood...
payment?
M3: We’re not unreasonable. You can get
F1: [laughs] us one bag of human blood right now
and the rest on completion of the job.
M3: It’s because we’re vampires.
M1: One bag right now?
[lengthy silence]
M2: He means we have to bleed into the
M1: Oh right, vampires! bag.
[general laughter] M3: Yes. That is what I mean. Empty the
M1: But seriously though.... cow’s blood out and fill it from your
own veins.
76
NIGHTS OF THE UNBOUND
F1: Only wash it first. Mixing cow’s political connections. The priest is
blood and human blood is disgusting. worse. He’s been saying there’s no sal-
vation for those active in the Camorra.
M1: Fuck... [indistinct]
M2: We’d like them to die together. Not
[seven minutes of indistinct sounds in public, but gruesomely enough to
with only the occasional expletive] send a clear message.
M1: Here it is. Are you happy now? M3: We can do that.
F1: We’ll be happy when you provide us M1: [indistinct]
with the rest of the blood bags.
M2: We know you can. Half the payment
M1: Surely there’s an easier way to see now, half upon completion. Standard
if somebody is serious than this. deal.
F1: We like blood. Getting human blood F1: Excellent.
always requires a sacrifice. You get it
from your own body, or from the body M1: Here’s the dossier on the targets.
of another. Or from a blood bank. We
don’t like people who hire us casually, F1: Thank you. I think we’d better
just because they get mad at someone. leave now. All this bloodletting is
Murder is serious business and even if making my friend hungry.
you don’t do it yourself, you have to
feel it one way or another. M2: Very morbid of you, Madame.
M1: I guess I can see that. F1: [laughs] You’re a flirt, you know
M2: You’re still bleeding. Let me put that?
more gauze on that.
M1: Oh, right. Thanks. [sounds of scuffling, goodbyes, a door
[indistinct growling] opens and closes]
M1: Is he alright?
M2: Wow. That got intense.
M1: These guys are crazy. That was
some black widow shit right there.
F1: He’s just hungry. M2: But good crazy. It’ll send the
right message.
M1: Okay, then we should make this
quick. M1: Fuck, I’m still bleeding. I think
we need to wash this wound with alco-
F1: Who are the targets? hol.■
M1: Two brothers. One is a judge, the
other a priest. The judge has it in for
us, he’s been trying to ferret out our
77
VAMPIRE – THE MASQUERADE – ANARCH
78
NIGHTS OF THE UNBOUND
SOY CUBA
An interview transcript / But there’s more to his of the Brujah Coun-
Havana / 12.2.2018 story. He’s been one of cil, one of the people
us for a long time. Well, responsible for the
SOURCE: It just bugs not one of my clan. He’s most successful Anarch
me, that’s all. Brujah, like most of the operation in history: The
licks who used to wield Soviet Union. I mean,
INTERVIEWER: What power in the Soviet Americans talk about
bugs you? Union. the Anarch Free States
in California like it’s a
SOURCE: The bullshit INTERVIEWER: big thing. Please. I don’t
about ‘friendship You’re suggesting that even like the Anarchs
between the peoples’. as a vampire, his chief and I know the Brujah
You know, how he focus of activity is now Council was the real
always goes ‘the alli- Havana. deal.
ance between the Soviet
Union and Cuba is one SOURCE: Yes. Appar- INTERVIEWER:
of the most beautiful in ently there was a lot of What’s Alexeyev’s posi-
history’. internal strife with the tion now?
Learned Clan commu-
INTERVIEWER: When nists in 1991 and he felt SOURCE: We don’t
you say ‘he’, you refer he needed a new place to really have an Anarch
to... go. So he came here. ruler who controls all
the territory in Havana
SOURCE: Alexander INTERVIEWER: You like a Camarilla Prince
Alexeyev, of course. know a lot about this, would do. But Alexeyev
but our records suggest is extremely influen-
INTERVIEWER: you’ve only been a vam- tial. He’s made a lot of
There’s a great deal of pire for a few years. moves, declaring Havana
information about Alex- a sanctuary for anyone
eyev available through SOURCE: Yeah, I got fleeing a Blood Hunt or
mortal channels. He Embraced in 2016. I’m the Second Inquisition.
served as an intelligence not telling you anything
agent, became the Soviet secret, really. Every An- INTERVIEWER: How
Ambassador to Cuba. arch in Havana knows do you feel about that?
Played a role in the Cu- this shit.
ban Missile Crisis, dying SOURCE: I hate it,
in 1989. INTERVIEWER: How truth be told. I mean,
was Alexeyev received? I’m Cuba. Alexeyev
SOURCE: Well, I guess is just some Russian
you could call it dying. SOURCE: Like a hero! spook. How come he
He’s a bona fide member
79
VAMPIRE – THE MASQUERADE – ANARCH
gets to tell every psycho escaping the Camarilla they INTERVIEWER: So if Alexeyev...
can come here and fuck our shit up? I mean, I get the
idealism but this should be our domain. SOURCE: That’s what it should be all about, right?
Being one of us? Just having fun, hunting from
INTERVIEWER: ‘Our’ as in Cuban-born vampires? whomever we like, ignoring all this Red List crap? I
mean, when I was Embraced they told me being an
SOURCE: It’s funny how you say ‘vampires’. I haven’t Anarch was the best way to avoid getting mixed up
met a lot of Camarilla, but they always said ‘Kindred’. in all these big secret politics. Like with Justicars or
whatever. But I think that’s not true. Being Anarchs
INTERVIEWER: I was afraid the term ‘Kindred’ got us Alexeyev and the Red Listers.
would not be familiar here.
INTERVIEWER: You believe joining the Camarilla
SOURCE: Oh, sorry! Anyway, I guess that’s what I would make it easier for you to focus on reggaetón
want. No more Russians coming here and telling us and beach parties?
how to run our city. We need a Prince of our own,
and I’m perfectly happy to be part of the Camarilla if SOURCE: For sure! I mean, you guys have to be more
that’s what it takes. chill than Alexeyev, right? Have you ever been to a
party organized by a former Soviet Ambassador?
INTERVIEWER: Do you have a candidate for the ‘Cause I have, and those parties suck. It’s just people
Prince? singing in Russian, making long speeches and getting
really sentimental about drinking the blood of the
SOURCE: Well, I was thinking, since I’m giving you living.
all this information...
INTERVIEWER: I take it Alexeyev has significant
INTERVIEWER: Of course. We understand. opposition?
SOURCE: I mean, I’m just a dude. But with the right SOURCE: Well, yes and no. I think you’re falling
backing, I’m sure I could make something beautiful into the Camarilla trap now. You can’t imagine a city
here. And you would get all the Red Listers living without a strong leader. Alexeyev is not our leader,
here now. he’s just very good at making things happen. People
don’t like everything he does, especially this sanctu-
INTERVIEWER: A good deal, to be sure. ary business, but it’s an Anarch city, right?
SOURCE: You know what’s the worst thing about INTERVIEWER: So you could use a strong leader?
Alexeyev? The speeches. He’s got the stamina of a
real party apparatchik. He can do two hours with no SOURCE: Yeah, maybe the Camarilla is right on this
preparation. It’s amazing, but so boring. one.
INTERVIEWER: What would you prefer? INTERVIEWER: How many vampires would you say
there are in Havana?
SOURCE: Same thing I liked in life, really. You know,
a beach, reggaetón, friends, girls... SOURCE: Wait, you guys are Camarilla, right?
INTERVIEWER: That doesn’t sound like a gathering INTERVIEWER: Of course.
of the Kindred.
SOURCE: Okay. Sorry. I’m getting paranoid. Eve-
SOURCE: It could be! Me, I don’t believe in hunting rybody here is a little worried about the Second
without good music. Without my songs, I don’t even Inquisition, ever since Alexeyev made his offer. We
want blood. The hunger goes away. have a lot of history with CIA agents doing weird shit
in Havana, whether they’re SI or not. ■
INTERVIEWER: Really?
SOURCE: Not really. Still, it sucks to hunt when I
can’t get my groove on. You have to take the time,
dance...
80
NIGHTS OF THE UNBOUND
81
VAMPIRE – THE MASQUERADE – ANARCH
Ni Dieu
Ni Maitre
The First Meeting:
La Bellevilloise business. She wants to see the gig, I slipped a little note between
and I dance and shout with her. the pages of a book in his library
I notice her in the crowd long I know some of the faces in the with a quote from a La Canaille
before she sees me. I look like just club, and they look at me know- song. He’ll find it eventually, but
another North African in a club ingly, thinking I’m trying to hit not too soon.
full of North Africans. She’s not on a privileged society girl out to
the only white face. We’re in a broaden her cultural horizons. The Third Meeting:
pretty bourgeois place after all, Roubaix
just around the corner from Père Later, when we’re wander-
Lachaise. ing the streets, she opens up. “It’s “You have to disappear. There’s no
the usual story. You’ve probably life for you in Paris”, I tell her and
Still, she stands out like the heard this many times before. But take her hand across the table in
Camarilla girl she is. Dalia, get a I can’t help it, it’s my life. He was the hospital cafeteria. Our meet-
grip, I tell myself. I’m supposed to someone in Villon’s court, very ings have become increasingly
meet her and see if she deserves old. He saw me in a cafe and came convoluted as paranoia mounts.
my help, not start ogling the to talk to me. He forced me to This time we’re in a hospital in
princess from the Ivory Tower. fall in love with him, Embraced Roubaix. Coming to another city,
She would never have come to see me and paraded me around the a shithole like Roubaix, will allow
Sofiane on her own, but now that Elysium like a trophy. I was taken us to remain under radar. Or so
she’s here, she works the room like in by it all at first, but he wanted we hope.
a proper lick. Smiling, flirting, to control every aspect of my life.
flitting away like a clever little I couldn’t take it. I had an affair, She doesn’t argue. She knows
dream. and he found out. Of course he we’ve already taken too many
did. That’s when it started, the risks. “Maybe my clan will help
“What’s your story?” I ask her, humiliations... They’re very clever me. I could go to...”
without introducing myself, as she with those in the Camarilla.”
cheers the artist walking on stage “No. You have to start think-
like everyone else in the place. The Second Meeting: ing like one of us, instead of one
Rue Saint-Honoré of them. There are no clans. There
She doesn’t react immediately, is no Caine. None of that mat-
too caught up in the crowd roar. Fucking the lover of a jealous ters. You have to live now, today,
When she does, she falls back Camarilla elder on his bed, in instead of in the past like the
against me in the press of people, his haven, is probably a bad idea. Camarilla does. They will never
her low voice somehow carrying But let me tell you brothers and save you, and the stories they tell
through the noise. “Hey Dalia. I’m sisters, it’s one hell of a trip. are only good for controlling you.
happy you came.”
”
She doesn’t allow me to talk
82
NIGHTS OF THE UNBOUND
She’s been in the Camarilla long enough to look offended,
even when she knows I’m right. “You don’t know...” she starts,
but I interrupt her.
“I do know. I’ve studied our history. I know everything
there is to know about the First Anarch Revolt, the Conven-
tion of Thorns, the Ventrue and the Toreador. But tonight
there’s a whole new world that goes beyond all that. Don’t get
trapped in those stories, because they’ll blind you from what’s
happening in the world.”
“So where should we go?” she asks apprehensively, looking
at the sick and dying mortals around us.
“You should go”, I say as gently as I can. “I’m not your life.
We had fun, but we’re not going to be forever. I was your first
Anarch lover, that’s all.”
The Fourth Meeting: Marrakech
I’d decided not to follow her into Marrakech, but I couldn’t
help it. We meet in an outdoors cafe, a hipster place she sug-
gested. I say hello to all her friends, and a few of them are our
kind. She’s integrating quickly.
“Let’s go outside”, she suggests, taking me to the street,
away from her new mortal circle. “I’m pretending to work in
an embassy”, she says self-consciously.
I feel like a fool, a stupid girl who doesn’t understand that
this love story is over. I ended it, and now I regret it.
“Do you remember that night when we first met?” she
asks. “You took me to the bathroom and told me to drink
your blood. You pretended it was a test to see if I was for real.
But you did it because you wanted to get one over a pretty
girl.”
“I remember.” I’m not sure I’m ready to talk about all that
yet. “How’s life in the Ashirra?”
“It’s good”, she says. “Your contacts helped me out a lot.”
I knew she couldn’t remain in Europe. There was no place
she could go to hide from a Camarilla elder. And she wasn’t
used to the Anarch lifestyle, the care and rigor it took to live
as one of us in one of the most repressive Camarilla cities in
the world. But the Ashirra was different. They had the power
to keep the Camarilla from getting too uppity in their cities.
And you’d be a fool to assume that a North African Anarch
like myself didn’t have some Ashirra connections.
“Do you have a new patron?” I ask her. Lover, is what I
mean.
“No”, she says vehemently. “None of that. The first time
was enough. I won’t be controlled again.”
“You became an Anarch after all.” ■
83
VAMPIRE – THE MASQUERADE – ANARCH
I:IV:XV
Dear Childe,want you to know that I don’t hold your ac- The Church of Caineanchester is a good place to become one
tions against you. Becoming one of us is always of us. The Church of Caine has a large
Ia shock. I remember when it happened to me Morganization here, and I’d be guilty of
and while I tried to make it easier for you by giv- false humility if I said it wasn’t because of the work
ing the scene proper spiritual context, I understand I’ve done as Filius Minor. That’s second in command,
that I may have not succeeded as well as I would have after our leader, the Filius Major. I may have my shot
wanted. at the leadership position soon, as we are planning
to move into the power vacuum currently in place in
Let me tell you something about my own back- London.
ground. I would have liked to tell you these things
face to face but you escaped before I had a chance to If you meet others blessed by the night, they
do so. I’m grateful to you for getting in touch, even might use another term for us: “The Cainite Heresy”.
by letter and dead drop. In fact, I commend your in- To understand where this comes from, you must
stincts in avoiding electronic communications as they know that we have a very long history, going all the
can prove hazardous to our kind. way back to the early Gnostic sects being born after
the time of Christ. For a long time, vampiric under-
I have been in the night for close to a century. standing of Caine and our own role was developing in
In my human state, I was a student of theology, but many different small communities. We went big only
that’s not why I was Embraced. My sire was motivated with the Cathras in the 12th century, as the Cathar
by a bitter desire to defile something she saw as pure. understanding of theology proved fertile for our kind
I volunteered at an orphanage when I wasn’t engaged as well.
with my studies and she saw me as a saint she wanted
to destroy. The Cathars also provided a good lesson in what
happens to truth-tellers who threaten existing hier-
It’s ironic, what happened. Being Embraced didn’t archies of power. They were mercilessly persecuted,
destroy me or consign me to eternal damnation. It branded heretics by the Catholic Church and eradi-
elevated me, made me holy. I haven’t seen my sire in cated in a Crusade.
decades but I often think about her. She’s a good ex-
ample of the sad self-hatred perpetrated by the myths Life for the Cainite faith became very difficult
peddled in the Camarilla. when even the mortal Cathars were being destroyed.
84
NIGHTS OF THE UNBOUND
It’s important to understand that only see the faintest glimmers of Consider what we are: We are
during this time, the Catholic the truth in the Bible. strong. We are capable of miracu-
Church was riddled with vam- lous acts. Our bodies remain pure,
pires, especially Lasombra, and The Church created after unaffected by age or disease. Our
they felt that our truth threatened Jesus is not the true Church, but only weakness is the sun, but even
their grip on power. a Church of Pilate, a false edifice that is part of our original bless-
meant to lead humanity astray. ing. We burn in daylight because
Tenets of the the false demiurge seeks to com-
Faithhe basic tenets of our In time, God will send a promise our mission.
prophet to earth for a third and
faith are laid out in the final time. Our forebears long Now, one thing you must un-
thought that this Third Caine derstand is that since the Chris-
TEuagetaematikon, also would come to bring Gehenna tian Churches are but branches
in 1239, but obviously that didn’t of the Church of Pilate, the moral
known as the Book of the Shin- happen. Some argue that the principles and commandments
ing Blood. Its interpretation has resurgence of the Church of Caine attributed to Christ and God are
changed over the years but the represents the third coming on a null and void. They are nothing
basic moral message has always symbolic level, as we help to bring but the craven demands of the
been the same. It reveals that the an understanding of Caine’s truth false creator, made so as to keep
material world is a cage made by to the world. us from realizing our true nature.
a subordinate creator we often To sin against these edicts is a
call Ialdabaoth. This truth reveals The Truthhat is the truth? What holy task.
the essentially crass nature of the
material world, and humanity are we? One more thing... So was Jesus
with it. in fact a vampire? If you must
W We are saints, of ask the question, the answer is
However, humanity had its yes. However, I don’t think it’s
moment of redemption when sorts, beings blessed with God’s the right question. We should
Caine slew his brother Abel. holy energy as drawn from the not ask whether Jesus was like
In recognition of Caine’s moral Blood of Caine and Jesus Christ. us, but rather if we are like Jesus.
understanding of the world, God We must share our blessings with “Vampire” is just a word, and I
blessed him and shared with him our mortal congregants. As they fear it directs your thoughts into
the true nature of the world. The taste our Blood, they are blessed the wrong direction. You imagine
Genesis says: “Therefore whoso- with strength and health, longev- the vampire to be cursed while
ever slayeth Caine, vengeance shall ity and a robust impulse to shed in reality we are blessed. Jesus
be taken upon him sevenfold.” blood. In recognition of this sacra- never died on the cross, and how
ment, they come to understand could he, with all the power at his
However, humanity was our holiness and give us the love command? This is but another of
blind to Caine’s message and we deserve. the falsehoods perpetrated by the
thus another prophet was born. Church of Pilate.
Jesus Christ walked the earth and As a Church, we are still
taught that eating and shedding clandestine, but our real goal is Hating Ourselveso many of our kind preach
blood was a holy act most pleasing to start reaching more and more
to God. However, the teachings of mortals, eventually replacing the despicable self-hate. This is
Jesus were perverted by terrestrial false Church of Pilate, starting
authorities and the agents of the with the Anglicans. I know this Sthe real tragedy perpetrat-
demiurge Ialdabaoth, and you can sounds farfetched, but we have
been blessed with immortality. ed by the Church of Pilate. If only
Our plans must have the ambition
suitable for God’s angels.
85
VAMPIRE – THE MASQUERADE – ANARCH
more vampires would understand says: “Thou shalt not suffer thine Although it’s not really impor-
that we are the blessed, instead Holy One to see corruption.” tant, I know you’ll want to ask so
of feeling guilt from the tedious I’ll explain why I was naked and
moral ideas they ingested while As long as you listen to the covered in blood: We must rid
still human. voice of the blood inside you, ourselves from the false morality
there’s always a way forward. of the Church of Pilate. We must
This is the great gift of Caine Never succumb to the self-hate cover ourselves in the holiest of
for those of our kind: You don’t preached by the Camarilla when sacraments, our own Blood. After
have to feel guilty for being a your true destiny is with Caine. all, “Whoso eateth my flesh, and
vampire or drinking blood. It’s drinketh my blood, hath eternal
a sacrament and the only crime An Apologyhis is difficult for me, but life.”
would be not to share its blessings
with humanity. It’s my dearest I believe that the way I Looking at this from your
hope that as our congregation perspective, I understand that
grows and believers in other cities Tchose to Embrace you was the experience of being cut open,
continue their work, we can start bled, and blessed as a vampire
replacing these painful ideas of unwise. For this, I apologize. You must the shocking. However, I
self-harm with a true gospel of must understand that the chance want you to understand that I will
moral deliverance. to bring a human into God’s light always be here for you. Through
is both an enormous responsibil- me, you have already been saved
I speak of faith, but in fact less ity and a profound privilege. I was by Caine’s Blood.
is asked of us than the Church of excited, I wanted to do it right in
Pilate asks its own followers. The a way that would please the Lord. Yours,
proof of what I say is with you, in This is why I kidnapped you from V
your own flesh. Are you not pow- the university, bound you at the
erful? Are you not pure, capable altar and chanted passages from
of subsisting without food or wa- the Euagetaematikon.
ter like the saints of old? The Bible
86
NIGHTS OF THE UNBOUND
THE LEGEND OF
BLOODY QHAWE
Let me tell you a story. This is not Joburg. Out and women moved in the camp, touching one person
here in the border regions, there’s no law. here, another person there, looking, seeking. Finally
There’s only the security hired by the mining they came to me.
companies and there’s Bloody Qhawe.
“Do you know my name?”
If someone like me or you suffers injustice, what “Yes”, I whispered.
can we do? “Say my name.”
“Bloody Qhawe”, I managed.
If the company wants to crush us, what can we “This night, I will not take your blood. I will give
do? mine to you and you will be made whole again. But
if you accept this gift, every time we come, you will
If the police beat us up on one of the rare sorties kneel and offer us your neck. And we will take a lit-
they make here, what can we do? tle, enough to sustain us. This is your choice. Do you
take my blood?”
Nothing. “I don’t want blood”, I said. “I want revenge.”
We can do nothing except give our blood. They laughed. “You will have your revenge.”
This is the choice we have. This will be your choice I felt the taste of blood on my lips. I licked it,
too. Who do you give your blood to? Do you watch drank it, felt it inside me, a little piece of Bloody
the blood trickle from your broken mouth over the Qhawe giving me power. Giving me strength.
wet, concrete floor of a detention cell in the mining This is our pact. Give your blood not to the se-
complex? Do you watch your blood spurt from your curity company, not to the police, but to the Bloody
wounds after getting shot by a policeman? Or do you Qhawe, and they will use its strength to protect you.
give a little of your life to Bloody Qhawe? Are they evil, you ask. Are they demons? Why do
There are things in the night nobody would they only ride in the night? Why do they take our
believe in the great cities of the world. You can go to blood, our life? Who are these men and women, who
London and New York and tell them of the monsters look like us, talk like us, but who don’t eat like us?
riding in roving gangs, exacting their tribute, and This is the far edge of the world. The stories of
nobody would listen to you. Why would they? These what happens here never reach the outside world.
things are not real to them, the way they are real to This is not Africa, or South Africa. This is a land of
us. people like us, cursed with evil beings who seek to
A monster can hunt openly if she’s far enough grow fat from our life. Our choice is not between
from the world. Far from them, but not from us. demon and man. It’s a choice between those like us
Let me tell you of when I first gave blood. I was and the mining company.
beat up and sore, a broken thing from a dispute at
the mine. I could tell they had come, the monsters in
the night, by the way conversations stopped, singing
ceased and even the animals quieted. Strange men
87
VAMPIRE – THE MASQUERADE – ANARCH
I have seen them many times versive. They didn’t like the words dragged along the ground by his
since that first encounter. I have I used: Wages. Compensation. Hu- intestines, weeping for his mother.
seen their faces, heard their laugh- man rights. Safety. Unions. I saw a crushed human head leak
ter, smelled the copper on their brains into the bonfire. I saw a
breath. I have recognized some of They had me in a cage, and man trying to flee, too drunk to
them. every once in a while, they poked run, crying and screaming as they
me with sticks. They played tore him apart. I saw wounded,
Bokamoso, whose wife was games, urinated on me, spat and left alive in the night to feed the
murdered by the police. laughed. I was mad from anger, scavengers and the predators of
exhausted from the pain, yet I still the savanna.
Karabou, whose singing was understood what would happen
described as beautiful by my when I couldn’t hear the animals They let me out of the cage and
cousin many years ago. anymore. gave me some of their blood, the
same as on that first night.
Lesedi, who was mangled in an The night was silent except for
accident at the mine. the singing and the cursing. By the time I had rescued the
other prisoners, they were nothing
Thato, who wanted to move The bonfire. but a whisper in the night.
away but never did. The scared whine of the dogs.
The boasting of the men. This was my story, and it will
As the stories go, there was One of them staggered be your choice. Don’t be fooled
a day when they all drank water towards me, opening his pants, by the power and the legend of
and walked in the sunlight. This is taking out his manhood, slurring Bloody Qhawe. He is a murderer
the truth: They are monsters, but about drinking too much when a and a devil. His followers are
they are our monsters. piece of metal pipe burst through witches and sorcerers. They will
his chest. never give you justice. But they
Let me tell you of my revenge. That night, I saw the true face can give you revenge and life. ■
The security company had set up of Bloody Qhawe. I saw a man
a camp. They had their cars and
their guns and their prisoners,
such as me. They called me sub-
88
NIGHTS OF THE UNBOUND
The O
“T hat’s not the kind of thing you want to see on the wall of
your haven”, Louis said, touching the graffiti with his hand.
The paint still looked fresh on the tile surface of the wall.
“Or anywhere in Milwaukee.”
“Cute house”, Agata Starek replied, looking around the tree-lined
residential street. Each cutesy home was different from the next one,
giving the area a feeling of history. A girl, perhaps ten years old, cycled
down the street and Agata waved at her. “Living in the Camarilla agrees
with you.”
“Fuck you Agata”, Louis snarled, jabbing the Polish woman in the
chest. “This is your fault. This big O right here.”
The graffiti was simple, a large white circle. Fast to paint, it’s signifi-
cance apparent only to the Damned. The mortal neighbors Louis lived
with would just assume his house was defaced.
“Don’t blame me”, Agata laughed. She didn’t fit in the way Louis did.
Louis was a slightly built, well-dressed black man, someone you’d assume
to work as a graphic designer or journalist. He looked friendly, slightly
geeky, as if he was easily embarrassed. Nothing in his appearance sug-
gested he was an Anarch vampire on the run from troubles on the other
side of the Atlantic Ocean.
The main problem with Agata was that she looked just too happy. She
seemed to derive some sort of mysterious enjoyment, seditious joy from
her violent unlife.
“One of the founders of Oswobodziciele was your servant in Krakow.
He said you used to starve him, used him for target practice and mur-
dered his children”, Louis almost shouted the last words before remem-
bering where he was. In the front of his suburban Milwaukee haven,
hanging around with a known Anarch terrorist in Camarilla territory.
“You created this. The O exists because of you. I had to flee these as-
sholes, and they followed me even here. This is your responsibility, and
you need to help me.”
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VAMPIRE – THE MASQUERADE – ANARCH
“You forcibly Blood Bound “Yes”, Louis said self-con- know everything this man has
your servants. That’s why the O sciously. “I didn’t have anything to tell. He joined the O when he
is after you. They hate that shit. else.” escaped you in Switzerland. Now
They think Anarchs who Blood he’s followed you here, break-
Bond humans to their service are “You’re a vampire”, Agata ing Blood Bonds and teaching
hypocritical monsters. That’s why scolded. “You need to have the American blood junkies some self-
they want to liberate all the Ren- basics to restrain a human and respect as he goes along. And he’s
fields out there, and murder us”, dispose of a body always at hand.” not the only one. There’s plenty,
Agata explained reasonably. they’re organized. I even suspect
The big man grew quiet, trying they’re leaking our secrets to the
“That’s not the worst of it”, to get a sense of where they were Second Inquisition. Face it Louis,
Louis hissed. “They’re spread- from under the black pillowcase we’re the Camarilla for these
ing. Chicago drove them out, taped over his head. people.”
but they’re in Buffalo, in upstate
NY. There’s human blood addicts “Can you, like, interrogate Louis looked at the prisoner
forming imitation groups, calling him?” Louis looked at the man uncertainly. He didn’t think fo
themselves the O as well. They’re uncomfortably. He didn’t have the himself as a real killer, even
rising up against us.” stomach for real torture, not the though he had killed. He tried to
kind he imagined this situation live a good, simple life without
“Let’s go inside before you get required. hurting the people around him
too angry”, Agata said, directing anymore than necessary. First he’d
Louis through the front door of “Sure, darling”, Agata said and lived as an Anarch and now he
his home. The interior was twee: pulled the clumsy hood off the was joining the Camarilla, but in
clever prints framed on the wall, prisoner’s face. He was in his for- reality he wasn’t interested in any
design kitchen implements sitting ties, stubble on his cheeks, white of these political games.
on clean counters. “So what can Central European. “You used to
I help you with?” Agata asked as serve Louis.” “Listen, I’m not the bad guy
Louis took one last look at the here”, Louis protested. “I just want
quiet, pleasant street before clos- “Yes”, the prisoner replied to live in peace.”
ing the door. guardedly in English.
“You know what I’m going to
“I captured one of them”, Louis “And you came to kill him.” do”, Agata said stroking the pris-
blurts. “He’s in my basement.” “Yes.” oner’s face. “I’m going to let this
“Why? Louis is a nice guy”, fellow go.”
The basement access is a hatch Agata said, turning to smile at
hidden under a carpet in the Louis. The basement was small “He’s going to try to kill you
kitchen. Very slasher movie, Agata enough to force all of them close too”, Louis sputtered. “He’ll get
thought as she descended the lad- to each other. help and they’ll come after us.”
der into the dark, wet space Louis “He killed my family.” There
used to hide bodies and other was no fear in the man’s voice. “Sure. But I like their spirit”,
signs of his undead lifestyle. Only resignation. Agata said, smiling at the bound
“It’s best practice when you man. “He’s kinda sexy, don’t you
A big man dressed in a tat- take on a servant!” Louis protest- think? In fact, I think I’ll Embrace
tered, smudged business suit tried ed. “We need to protect the Mas- him. Let’s have some excitement
to rush at them, held back by a querade. Once when I made an in our lives for once.” ■
chain linking his collar to the assistant for myself, her brother
wall. came looking for her and almost
got me killed. It wasn’t personal.”
“Are these bondage toys?” “I know who you are, Agata
Agata asked as Louis turned on Starek.” The prisoner looked
the light. The man’s hands were Agata in the eyes. “We all know.”
held behind his back with leather “What do you want to find
cuffs. out?” Agata asked Louis. “We
90
NIGHTS OF THE UNBOUND
The Ministry of Love
Domestic surveillance re- Speaker 2: Shush. Anyway. the concept of ritual sui-
cording (private residence, I figured I’d build myself a cide to our theology.
Stockholm, 12th of April, blood cult. You know, like
2018) they tell us to. I had this Speaker 1: Wow, really?
idea that I could get back Isn’t that a little extreme?
Speaker 1 (female): Is at those Nazi assholes, in-
that what we’re going to duct some of them into the Speaker 2: Maybe it was.
call it? The Ministry of cult, make them fall in love In my defense, they were
Love? with me. wimps, most too scared to
kill themselves.
Speaker 2 (female): Yes. Speaker 1: You’re Iraqi.
Why? How do you [inaudible] Speaker 1: So what you’re
telling me is that we name
Speaker 1: Shouldn’t it Speaker 2: Are you seri- it Ministry of Love to at-
be something like the Minis- ously asking me if some two- tract people who are less
try of Blood or the Crimson bit skinhead can resist the tedious to hang out with.
Curia or the Temple of Set? seduction of a daughter of
the Ministry? Please. Speaker 2: Yes, exactly.
Speaker 2: Well, first of Speaker 1: Let’s think
all, some of those names are Speaker 1: Fine,fine. this through one more time.
taken. Secondly, consider Speaker 2: Long story
what kind of a cult we’re short, it worked. I had them ANALYST REPORT:
building here. Who it ap- kneeling in front of Odin The transcript suggests that
peals to. and Jörmungandr and what these blankbodies engage in
have you, drinking my blood, building clandestine reli-
Speaker 1: I thought the whole deal. But that’s gious cults to mask their
going all dark and bloody when things got bad. activities. Note the recur-
would work well with the Speaker 1: They figured rence of the term “Ministry”
whole ancient brood of Set you for an Arab and decided in a variety of contexts,
thing we have going for us. to kill you? including the blankbody
Speaker: 2: What? No. religious frameworks of the
Speaker 2: Let me tell Haven’t you been listening? “Church of Cain” and the
you a story. This was when Speaker 1: So what’s the “Bahari”.
I’d just been brought into problem? It sounds like you
the Ministry. I came to did good. Hypothesis: The Church
Sweden when I was five years Speaker 2: If you want of Caine and the Bahari
old, from Iraq. I had plenty to run a cult, you need to could be subgroups of a vast
of experience with these far spend time with them. Do you blankbody religious organi-
right creeps. want to spend your time at zation called the Ministry.
the alt-right clubhouse?
Speaker 1: Wouldn’t those Speaker 1: No... I get Alternative hypothesis:
guys make good cannon fod- it. Fuck those guys. The Ministry is a subgroup
der? Speaker 2: Damn straight. of blankbodies, also present
Couple of weeks with those in the Church of Caine and
Speaker 2: Don’t inter- assholes and I introduced the Bahari.
rupt. I’m your sire.
Proposal: Send an opera-
Speaker 1: You’ve been in tive to infiltrate the Min-
the Ministry for like a year istry of Love created by the
longer than I have.
91
VAMPIRE – THE MASQUERADE – ANARCH
surveillance targets. Ideally, a member of promised. Regrettably, they were not able
the Society of St Leopold so as to withstand to reach the operative in time to prevent
blankbody indoctrination. Task the infiltra- his exposure to the blankbody contaminant.
tor with testing the above hypotheses. Furthermore, the two blankbodies present
escaped through a sewer access not found on
Domestic surveillance recording by under- the building schematics used for mission
cover operative “Mayfly” (hidden basement planning.
under club “Pressen”, Stockholm, 28th of
June, 2018) Recommendation: Future attempts to infil-
trate “Ministry”-class blankbody operations
Speaker 1: Come with me. It is time for should be curtailed until these creatures’
your initiation into [inaudible] of the The- capacity for mental influence has been as-
ban Elect. certained.
Mayfly: Yes, Prophet. Recommendation: The view of this analyst
Speaker 2: Lie down on the altar. Close is that the surveillance records shall be
your eyes. Yes, that’s right. Let the palms subject to censure to avoid suspicion of
of your hands rest against the stone. Feel operative contamination. The Society of St
the coolness. The age. Listen to the sound Leopold has a zero-tolerance policy regard-
of my voice. Feel yourself sink into the ing contaminated operatives. If we wish to
embrace of the ancients. You’ll feel a small study the specimen, the Society must believe
prick in your wrists. [inaudible] doesn’t that the operative was lost in the cleansing
matter. operation of the infested location.
Mayfly: What.
Speaker 1: Don’t speak, just feel my Domestic Surveillance Recording (moving
touch against your skin. vehicle close to Stockholm, 10th of July,
Mayfly: Please, I can I just ask [inau- 2018)
dible]
Speaker 1: Don’t worry, love. There’s Speaker 1: How do they always figure out
time [inaudible] later. Open your mouth. where we are? I’m serious. We’ve had to
Yes, just like that. switch locations every night. We’ve escaped
[indistinct moaning] two police operations.
Speaker 2: Zhala, what are you doing?
There’s people outside breaking down the Speaker 2: They just got lucky.
door. We need to go right now. Speaker 1: I have a hunch. Hand me that
Speaker 1: What? What are you doing here, Kali statue you got at the street sale.
Elin? I was just inducting Kurt into the Speaker 2: You’re driving.
mysteries. Speaker 1: Statue. Now.
Speaker 2: You’re naked, straddling a Speaker 2: Okay. What the [inaudible].
corpse. Please Zhala, [inaudible] go. You [inadudible] just throw [inaudible] out
Speaker 1: He’s not a corpse. He tastes of [inaudible]
so sweet. [surveillance signal lost]
Speaker 2: For fucks sake Zhala.
[sounds of violence]
Speaker 2: We’re going right now.
ANALYST REPORT:
The agency handling the infiltration mission
sent in an extraction team once it became
apparent that the operative had been com-
92
NIGHTS OF THE UNBOUND
Whatever
Happened to the
Red Question?
Former Red Question members were BY: CHINASA ADEYEMI
hounded in the Camarilla and
ostracized by the Anarchs, but in
2008 they used the financial crisis to
Fstrike against Camarilla power.
or a few short years, the group Red Question dominated discussions
around the Anarch Movement. The Red Question was always some-
thing of a mystery, preferring to operate online and to keep their
membership secret. They talked big, promising a new age of Anarch
politics. For a singular moment in history, it looked like they could pull it off.
The Red Question ridiculed the Camarilla, its members and institutions
with impunity. It featured Tremere apostates in its ranks, despite the tradition-
ally aggressive view the Pyramid takes of anybody who wants to leave the Clan.
It attacked the established Anarch power structure, depicting Movement ce-
lebrities such as Salvador Garcia, Jeremy McNeil and Smiling Jack as outdated
hasbeens.
The Red Question seemed like it was able to attack anyone, protected by
anonymity and technology.
When the Red Question claimed responsibility for the 2008 financial crisis,
many believed them. They’d already thumbed their noses at so many Princes,
why not derail the entire global economy? Now, ten years after the Red Ques-
tion’s glory days, it’s easy to dismiss their claims as nothing but bluster. Tonight,
the Red Question is remembered as a blip from a more innocent era of Internet
politics, when we still believed that social liberation could come from Silicon
Valley, for human and Kindred alike.
Still, it’s a mistake to write off the Red Question and its achievements. They
were supremely gifted at pissing people off, but they sustained the most sig-
nificant victory against the Camarilla of the current Millennium, at least until
Theo Bell liberated the Brujah from the Ivory Tower.
93
VAMPIRE – THE MASQUERADE – ANARCH
The Video web. The video hints that Chang way the slogan Who Is John Galt?
saw herself as a lone visionary did in Ayn Rand’s novel. The
In 2010, a video started to spread who wanted to change the world gifted movers of the world will
over private vampire websites through her singular talents be inspired by it to claim their
and networks. A lot of us who instead of the traditional Anarch independence.
were around at that time saw and tactics of movement building, po-
shared it, especially as Kindred litical propaganda and sustained The reference on Monica
attitudes to online security were insurrectionary activism. Chang’s video to Atlas Shrugged
much more lax then. The video is telling. The novel presents a
seems to be from 2001, and leaked When the video leaked, many philosophical framework where
from the internal communica- in the Anarch Movement got their people are divided into geniuses
tions of the Red Question. first whiff of the idea that maybe and parasites. The geniuses keep
the Red Question wasn’t invulner- the world in motion while the
In the video, we see the Trem- able after all. parasites try to leech off their
ere Monica “Lady_Hemlocke” achievements. A popular philoso-
Chang poison another Tremere, The Slogan phy among Silicon Valley mil-
called Davis. The video is from a lionaires and college students, it
camera Chang herself rigged to In the years leading up to the has a singular focus on individual
record the event and broadcast it financial crisis, it felt like you achievement and selfishness as a
to her compatriots in the nascent couldn’t go to an Anarch party moral good.
Red Question. without getting a copy of the Red
Question manifesto. In terms of It’s an appealing philosophy
As Davis dies, Chang can’t sheer ubiquity, it challenged the for anyone who wants to be rec-
resist gloating about her future foundational Anarch Manifesto ognized for their talents, but for
plans. She plays to her secret published by Salvador Garcia. the Red Question, it generated
online audience, using Davis as a more fans than followers. It turns
prop to brag about her mastery Addressed to “Fellow Citizens out that in reality, only very few
of network systems. In the best of the Blood”, the manifesto is Anarch vampires had the abil-
known quote from the video, she built around one central question: ity to become computer hackers
says: “Atlas is officially shrugging”, Why Do You Obey? The mani- of sufficient skill to penetrate a
a reference to the novel Atlas festo posits that a young Anarch bank’s systems.
Shrugged by Ayn Rand. inherently understands mod-
ern technology better than the The Crash
Watching the video now, ancient Kindred of the Camarilla.
twenty years after, you can see it This understanding can be used Finding the definitive truth about
foreshadow a lot of the themes to an advantage in the fight for an event in Kindred history is dif-
that would become symptomatic freedom, by moving the battle ficult. We strive to maintain the
of the Red Question. Used to con- into a sphere where the Camarilla Masquerade and liars are not rare
ducting operations against tech- is weak. among us. However, I did talk to
nologically ignorant Camarilla a number of mortal experts on
organizations, the Red Question By avoiding physical con- the 2008 financial crisis. I also
developed a culture of operational frontations, using mortal assets interviewed many of the surviving
arrogance. Chang’s early bravado and hacking into banking and former members of the Red Ques-
is a good example of this, and governmental systems, the an tion. Based on what they told me,
points to the failures in work Anarch can negate the advantages I can say that the Red Question
culture that allowed the video conferred upon a Camarilla vam- did not cause the 2008 financial
to leak. It shows a priority for pire by age and Blood. crisis.
personal freedom, showboating
and an organization spread over a The manifesto is not a work The crisis was caused by ram-
wide area, connected through the of movement building, but rather pant deregulation of the financial
seeks to influence people the same
94
NIGHTS OF THE UNBOUND
industry and widespread malfea- caused to our internal organizing
sance in global financial institu- was too significant for us to as-
tions such as Lehman Brothers, sociate with them.”
the fourth largest investment
bank in the U.S. at the time of its Although Garcia wanted to
bankruptcy. The root causes of the put a good spin on it, it seemed
crash lie in an extremely complex clear that he was still smarting
interplay of thousands of fac- from the ridicule the Red Ques-
tors all across the world, all well tion heaped upon him in in its
documented in the governmental heyday. Like many Anarch leaders
and journalistic probes into the before him, he prioritized per-
subject made since. sonal vendettas over the survival
of Anarchs who succeeded against
However, it would also be too the Camarilla, even if only briefly.
simplistic to say the Red Question
had nothing to do with it. Like So what happened to the Red
Kindred through history, they saw Question? Did the Camarilla
what was happening and used the get them? Did they fall prey to
crash to their own advantage. It Anarch leaders they had insulted?
has since become apparent that For individual members of the
the Red Question successfully ma- Red Question, both of these op-
nipulated the ongoing crash while tions can be true. Some are still
it was transpiring to wipe out a around, never having revealed
significant amount of Camarilla they were members, or living in
wealth. This suggests that the Red anonymity.
Question was well informed about
Camarilla assets, an impressive The best answer to the ques-
feat of activist espionage. tion is simple. The Red Question
is a group that organized on the
The Fall Internet and sought to fight the
Camarilla online. We may never
The Red Question tactic of at- really know what happened to
tacking the Camarilla’s wealth many of the activists of the Red
was successful and significant, but Question, but their disappearance
it earned them little help from the coincides with the dawn of the
established Anarch Movement. Second Inquisition. ■
I interviewed the Anarch writer
Salvador Garcia for this article, Chinasa Adeyemi is a Nigerian-born
and asked him whether it was
time for the Movement to offer its journalist who, while human, wrote for
protection to the former members
of the Red Question. CNN, New York Times, the Guardian
“I don’t deny the Red Ques- and BBC. Since her Embrace, she has
tion’s achievements”, Garcia
admitted. “But in the Move- devoted her time to chronicling the
ment, they were fundamentally a
divisive force. Their victories were Anarch revolution for a more discrete
short-term, but the damage they
audience.
95
VAMPIRE – THE MASQUERADE – ANARCH
Revel ations
of the
Dark Mother
Lilith teaches that understanding comes through pain. I wouldn’t
have accepted that in my old life. I thought pain only reduced us, made us into
broken things. It certainly felt like that when I was dealing with the demands
of my family, difficulties at the University, shitty boyfriends... I had a tumblr and I
vented about all the things I couldn’t say out aloud during the day.
She told me that she wanted to make people into Lilith’s disciples while still
young. She said I’d fulfill my potential in the night, not during the day. She con-
fessed she liked my tumblr.
I had a crush on her, of sorts. I wanted to be her and when she gave me the
choice to join the Bahari, I accepted even if I didn’t quite understand what she
meant.
She took everything from me. She crushed my life, destroyed my family. In
two, three short nights everyone I had ever loved was splattered dead all over
their homes. I was insane with fear, running from place to place, too terrified to
understand what was happening. I knew she was doing this to me, yet I still ran to
her, and when I saw her, I saw the Dark Mother. I was on my knees in front of her
and saw the wonder and the beauty, the terror and the awe. That was the last thing
I saw as a mortal human, even as she drained my blood away from me.
The Blood bringing me to the night was bitter, mixed with holy plant extracts
and worse. I drank it all, hungrily, confused, scared, alive. Incredibly alive. She
gave me the words to the Oath to Lilith and I sang them, mumbled, spoke.
The Blood changed my body but the loss gave me my strength. ■
– Florencia, a Gangrel neonate
96
NIGHTS OF THE UNBOUND
I ’m not what you’d call something to that man, a gift he killed his brother Abel. For this,
a spiritual person. I wasn’t would take with him as he left his God rejected him, marking him as
religious in life and I never life behind. I’d never experienced an outcast and condemning him
thought I’d feel the urge in death. anything like that before. to the wastes.
I’m a materialist, through and
through. I guess I became Bahari that Caine came to Lilith’s Gar-
night, or at least a wannabe Ba- den a broken, desperate thing,
Still... I was visiting some hari. I still don’t understand much knowing only how to kill. Lilith
friends in London, getting in the about the liturgy but the truth in tended to him, nurtured him
Camarilla’s face... You know, the the ritual spoke to me. back to strength and taught him
fun stuff. We accidentally found a the lessons of pain. Still, Caine
Blue Blood haven and trashed the Also, I love it how in all the was a fearful, cowering thing. He
place, forcing the little fucker to Bahari stories, Lucifer is basically learned many things but he never
flee for his life. Lilith’s fuckbuddy. He’s hot, he’s learned pride.
available and he’s got a big sword.
Afterwards, we had a party ■ In time, Caine went away and
at the warehouse my friends gifted many with his curse. So
had their communal haven. We - Agata “devout pilgrim” Starek, an hungry became his brood that he
danced, got smashed, and then my led them back to Lilith’s Garden
friends told me they were going to Anarch provocateur to sustain them and give them
do a ritual. They said I didn’t have wealth. This was Caine’s betrayal:
to participate if I didn’t want to, God created Adam and He watched as his spawn de-
but what can I say. I like to try out Lilith in his image, to serve spoiled Lilith’s creation and used
new things. and venerate him, as a breed- up everything in it.
ing pair to start a new race. Lilith
They had lit up an inner rejected this fate and escaped This was Lilith’s fate: Betrayed
courtyard lined with vines, weeds the Garden of Eden to wander by God and Caine, sustained by
growing from the cracks in the the wastelands on her own. She the gifts of pain. This is why we
concrete. It was decrepit and suffered hunger and cold, and her are not followers of Caine. We’re
beautiful and when the others suffering taught her how to sub- not “Cainites”. We are Bahari, fol-
started to get naked, I did too. It sist on her own blood, to burrow lowing our own paths far from the
felt like the thing to do. into the earth, sense every rock laws of Caine and the dictates of
and grain of sand and hunt all the God, with Lilith as our guide. ■
There wasn’t a clear ritual creatures skulking beyond the
leader. The chant started sponta- limits of Eden. - Rachel Dolium, Bahari truthteller
neously and changed of its own
accord, some of it understandable Lilith created a Garden of her
and a lot of it in some dead lan- own to rival that created by God.
guage. I lost myself in the move- She consorted with Lucifer, God’s
ment, chanting, dancing, ululat- finest angel who became her lover.
ing, circling our sacrifice.
Meanwhile, God created Eve as
He was an old man, a servant a replacement for Lilith, making
we’d captured during our home her pliant and subservient to en-
invasion. A Blood junkie. He sure she fulfilled her role. In time,
sniveled and cried, and each of us Adam and Eve had children, and
went to him, giving him the gift the first among them was called
of pain. I straddled him, holding Caine. Like Lilith, Caine tilled the
him as I pushed his sternum just earth and like Lilith, he fell out
enough to crack the bone. of God’s favor. In his petulance at
being rejected, he lashed out and
I felt something new in that
moment. It was as if I was giving
97
VAMPIRE – THE MASQUERADE – ANARCH
T he Bahari faith is sometimes hard to T o understand the Bahari you have
pin down because the different cults have their to understand community. This is true of any
own interpretations of the Lilith myth. Some religion, us among everybody else. You can fol-
make her into God’s consort, cast down for the sin low Lilith, but to join the community you have to
of disobedience, while others suggest all vampires are undergo an initiation. They can be brutal, but after
her children. you’ve been initiated, you’re no longer a child of
Caine. You’ve been spiritually released, allowed to
All the cults share some common traits. All vener- join those who till Lilith’s Garden.
ate Lilith, all revere pain and the understanding it
brings, and all reject absolute law. Every Bahari must This feeling of freedom has brought many of us
find their own. together. The rites Lilith demands are brutal, but the
brutality has purpose, allowing us to find our own
How does the Bahari faith fit into the landscape places in the night.
of different vampire Sects? For the Sabbat, this ques-
tion is easiest to answer. The Bahari deny Caine’s That’s the paradox of the Bahari: We have to find
supremacy and because of this, they are considered our individual truths, but often the way towards
heretics and hunted by the Sabbat’s internal Inquisi- them is in the community. When you’re fighting
tion. Indeed, in most Bahari stories, Caine appears in against a corrupt Camarilla Prince (and whose ever
a very unflattering light, as a greedy, filthy ingrate. heard of a Prince who wasn’t corrupt?) or a murder-
ous Sabbat psychopath, it helps to know that the
For the Camarilla, the Bahari are a minor cult Dark Mother is with you, and will reward your losses
practiced by some members in secret but without any with wisdom and knowledge.
real standing.
Most Bahari don’t do missionary work, but we
The Sect where the Bahari have really flowered, explain Lilith’s way if asked to. In these nights, we
especially in recent years, is the Anarchs. The Bahari’s don’t have to recruit. Young licks come to us, seeking
gospel of freedom, pain and sacrifice resonates with the answers only we can give. The theology of Caine
a lot of young licks suspicious of the patriarchal crea- and the Book of Nod has no hope for them, but Lilith
tion myth of Caine. While Caine seems to advocate and her followers can give them something to live for.
submission to one’s elders, Lilith preaches question- If they survive the lessons. ■
ing power and rejecting authority. No wonder her
myth makes more sense among the unbound. ■ - Nezha, Lasombra Bahari
- Jaak Vaino, Estonian Toreador Bahari
98
NIGHTS OF THE UNBOUND
Luzern
Kommune
/Lucerne Commune
Welcome! and dead history twines together. to the nightly operation of the
Although our Commune shares a Castle. Our human staff will be
My name is Léonie Lan- lot of concepts with the modern there for maintenance and to run
genstein and I will be vampiric Anarch Movement, we the facilities, but members will
your guide during your pride ourselves in our sense of take an active hand in govern-
visit to the Lucerne Commune, history. Whether you stay in the ing our enterprise and enforcing
or as we like to call it, the Castle. Castle or go for a walk in Lucerne, the rules that make it possible.
Located close to the beautiful history is inescapable, part of the Lucerne is a small city, so our
city of Lucerne, the area has been heritage you will be part of if you kind must limit our depredations
settled by both humans and our join us. largely to the tourist population.
kind for a very long time. The
Church of St. Leodegar in the city Now, as we enter the main The Castle was used as a sana-
was built on the foundations of a building of the Castle, I want you torium for wealthy human clients
Roman basilica in 1633, and there to look around you. The castle for much of the 20th century be-
was an abbey consecrated to Saint itself dates from the 14th century, fore falling into disuse in the late
Maurice on the same site already but it has been extensively reno- 80’s. The modifications made to
in the 8th century. vated as recently as 2016. You will the Castle for the purposes of the
find the accommodations pro- sanatorium benefit us too, as it al-
From the historical record and vided to you comfortable, if you lows us to serve our new members
from the living memory of elders choose to invest in the enterprise with a healthy regimen of mineral
of our kind we know that this ab- and move in. baths designed to calm the nerves
bey was in our hands. It’s a strik- and soothe the animalistic hunger
ing example of how both living That said, we are a commu- we all feel inside us.
nity, and as a community we also
expect our members to contribute
99
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