How Shall We Feed?

Feeding is one of the most basic functions of kindred. It is an essential thing from which none can escape, any more than a mortal man can survive without water. Some can endure a week or two at a time between feeding, yet ultimately each of us must feed.

It should not be surprising that the Testament of Longinus has much to say on the subject of feeding. Many things are forbidden. "You shall not feed on children" (Golgotha 3:6). "You shall not feed on the simple or the mad" (Golgotha 3:7). "It is anathema to feed among the pure and righteous" (Golgotha 6:6). While we are predators, we are not demons. Whatever acts of evil we might perform, one is to spare those who are blameless. The child, the mad, and the pure alike are to be protected from predation.

We feed to live, we do not live to feed. "You shall feed only enough to satisfy your hunger" (Golgotha 3:10). Indeed, those who can feed upon the blood of animals are called to do so in that fashion rather than upon man. "For those that can be nourished by beasts, let them be fed" (Golgotha 7:4).

Why is this so? It is because our predation, in feeding and in all other things, must serve a purpose greater than our own selves. We do not do these things for ourselves, but to enable us to pursue a purpose beyond our own individual requiems. All that we do must be for the salvation of man. "Where we walk, evil is destroyed" (Golgotha 1:4). Let us all take heed of this call for humility and service. Let us order our requiems, from feeding to that with which we fill our nights, that it might be in service to something greater than ourselves.

Sum Sanctus,

Simon Patterson Gloveli

Inquisitor Generalis de Lacus Magni

Kindred Society

Those who show the sin of hubris and do not keep an unoffending facade when in the company of mortals shall surely bring doom upon themselves. For man is clever and when he finds an enemy he will find a way to destroy it. It is not the wolf's way to lie down with the sheep. Better it is that man should fear the night, the unknown and the predators therein. Punishment shall be great for he who brings the wrath of man down upon himself and his brethren. Be not prideful, lest your betters – be they Kindred or God – feel the need to correct you. - Rule of Golgotha 5:3

The Testament of Longinus contains some of the earliest recordings of what have come to be the major Traditions of kindred society. The above is clearly an admonishment that kindred should maintain what we now know as the masquerade. For all that the Testament is ultimately focused upon that which is beyond the temporal, it also provides insight into how kindred are to act, both with mortals and with each other.

In the two millennia since the Testament came into being, kindred society still operates by the same constraints. The wisdom within the words above are as relevant today as they were all that time ago, and will hold weight long centuries from now as well. This is so because while kindred and mortal alike may come and go, while locations and details may change, there is nonetheless a great underlying order to this world and its operations. While the realization of essential truths may be new to those who are themselves new, the truths predate us all. They are part of an essential ordering to the universe.

The Damned shall suffer yet more should they slay a fellow to take his soul from him. Your own soul shall become yet blacker in the eyes of God, for he shall not look kindly on one who would take a soul from the judgment of heaven. The call of Kindred Vitae is an insidious and enticing one. To take into one's own body the strengths of another, whether body, mind or soul, is a temptation to all but the most pious. To take a soul must therefore be nearly irresistible. To make oneself more potent, more brilliant, more charismatic, with no effort from yourself seems heavenly in its effortlessness. Know, however, that such things can be seen by eye of God and other Kindred, who will surely turn their hatred upon your sloth and pride. - Rule of Golgotha 5:7

Is this admonishment, this warning, not as true tonight as it was two millennia ago? Do we not immediately recognize its wisdom now, just as kindred did then? The modern Traditions, which every kindred of worth upholds, find their origin in organization and understanding in the words of Longinus. Other words may be used, often less flowery in order to appeal to a broader array of kindred, and yet we recognize that beneath it all, there is a common message.

Kindred society has existed since antiquity. We have had our struggles, our turmoil, our clashes, and our times of peace, far longer than any yet awake can recall. Modern turmoil is but part of a lengthy tradition, existing in a perpetual chain. It is nothing new, though we do engage with it in some vigor during a Crucible. To believe that there is anything new in this is to not understand ourselves or the world in which we live.

Throughout these long millennia, we have never required mystical bonds being placed upon all of kindred society to regulate us. Indeed, every broad attempt at bondage has provoked greater backlash and bloodshed in the long term. Stability bought through slavery rather than through factual understanding of our nature and the essential truths of the world and its ordering, is false. Let us then work as best we might to each understand that which is eternal, including even the struggle between ourselves. In doing so we can achieve a far more stable society than any that can or would be imposed upon us.

Sum Sanctus,

Simon Patterson Gloveli

Augustus Inquisitor de Lacus Magni

That which is eternal

Man is like unto the angels with his faculties and compassion. As we were
once men, we have these qualities at hand in every undertaking. We can
show the rich their poverty, we can show the powerful their weakness, we
can show the healthy their decay, and we can show the pious their hypocrisy.
To all men we can show the misery and depredation of the physical
world, so that their souls may yearn more intensely for the kingdom that
may be theirs, through the grace of God. (Rule 3:4)

You will hear me often speak of purpose, of duty. I do so because it is these things that can give order to an otherwise entirely ephemeral existence. While we are shown the promise of immortality, the truth is that even we do not endure. Through short decades or long centuries, all things in this mortal world falter, fail, and ultimately end. From the greatest mountain to the fruit fly, all things in this world pass. We are no exception.

Even when these physical shells we wear endure long centuries, the mind within us does not. Torpor robs each and every one of us of the past, of our self, and our history. That which is written ages and turns to dust. That which is shared with others by words becomes twisted into myth and legend. Few are the ancients among us, not simply because of the threats posed by others of our kind, or by mysteries beyond, but because in time the false promise of eternity turns, like wine, bitter. When we live for this world alone, all things eventually succumb.

All that is truly eternal is beyond this world. In the truth of eternity, even centuries of existence in this mortal world are less than the span of a fruitfly to the age of the oldest mountain. Mankind is gifted a piece of that which is truly eternal, the soul within. This is the piece of the divine that lives within this world and will endure forever after. How precious is such a thing, especially in a world as base as our own?

When I speak of purpose, of duty, I speak of the protection of that mortal soul. I do so because it is all that is eternal in this world and so all that ultimately matters in the span of eternity. By the nature of our Embrace, we are damned, destined to perhaps centuries here on this earth, but only to damnation in the eternity that follows. Mortal man and woman alike however, are given the true promise of eternal salvation, of truly immortal life in the kingdom of God, something that we are but a mockery of.

The greatest duty then is the protection of the mortal soul that it might achieve that eternal salvation. We are, each of us, tasked with this by God. In his infinite mercy he has allowed even those of us who are eternally damned, the opportunity to play a part in the salvation of others. Though it will not save us, it gives purpose to our otherwise ultimately ephemeral existences. It allows us to find a measure of fulfillment that can endure the centuries which face us.

Though we are gifted with the false promise of immortality, we must not use this for ourselves. It is in service to others, those who yet have the opportunity of eternal salvation, that we can find ourselves and our true purpose. All else is chaff.

The greatest tool that we have for steering mortal man to their eternal salvation is a reminder of the ephemeral nature of this world. The mighty, who are drunk on the many pleasures possible within this world, are to be reminded that this is life is but short on the ultimate scale. Those who are pure are to be protected fiercely, while those who have gone astray are to be lead back by whatever method is necessary. As our own damnation is assured, no tool that leads one who can be saved back to the path of salvation is forbidden to us, save that which would damn another.

This is the nature of our purpose and the greatest and most sure duty that exists in this mortal world. Let us rejoice in having been shown the mercy of having a place in the greater plan. Let us faithfully fulfill our obligations to others, for this is the only true legacy we can leave in the hereafter.

Sum Sanctus,

Simon Patterson Gloveli

Augustus Inquisitor de Lacus Magni