A third night, Vahishtael came to me again, and said to me, “Come, and I will show you the creatures that you must know of, and understand.
2 You shall teach your disciples of their existence.” - Eschaton 13:1-2
Within the Book of Eschaton, we find information about several threats to kindred, their creation, their abilities, and the means to combat them. Many of these threats remain with us today, nearly two millennia after they were first recorded in the Testament.
Larvae are the mindless kindred-like husks that can arise form sloppy feeding to the point of death. Belial's Brood are kindred who have "sold themselves to their sin" yet hold more reason than a draugr, including a cunning tongue with which they seek to convince others of their course. The half-Damned are part mortals who lure kindred with the most intoxicating scent of their blood, yet those who drink find it a poison. VII are those who bear the blood of Satan, which awakens every seven generations.
The strix, or Owls, are a most grievous threat which can inhabit the bodies of the dead, even kindred bodies, and bend them to their terrible will. Consider what the Testament has to say of them:
40 On the last page, I saw an Owl made of smoke. I trembled, for I knew that the Owls were more dreadful than any of the other monsters I had seen. 41 The Owl flew towards a dead man hanging from a tree and became smoke and entered into the corpse. 42 The corpse moved, and came down from the tree. 43 The Owl was in the corpse’s eyes, and they glowed. 44 The corpse with the Owl inside it waited by the street and ambushed the living who passed, and killed them and drank their blood. 45 And each time, it stole a new body from the people it had killed, now a soldier, now a Holy man, now a young woman, now an old woman. And always, the yellow gleam was in the Owl’s eye. 46 Presently, one of the Damned came by, and the Owl beat him down and entered him, and the Damned became his slave. 47 The Owl kept the body, and wreaked havoc with it, and the Assembly of the Sanctified was in ruins, as I saw the Owl whisper and make strife among the faithful. 48 And it opened the doors of the courts of the Damned, and a flock of the Owls came, and flooded into that place, and stole our bodies and crushed our souls, 49 and made the living suffer ten or a dozen times what we had, and not for the Purpose of God, but for the pleasure of it. Vahistael said, “Fear the Owls, and always remain vigilant. 50 Drive them into the sunshine, and do not allow the ones who deal with them to have any hope of survival, or any trial, or any forgiveness. 51 The Damned who deals with the Owls is cursed, and doubly cursed, and has no right even to Hell.” - Eschaton 13:40-51
This is but a hint of the knowledge contained within the Testament. Each of the threats above has at least a paragraph of information about them and the Church of Longinus has more recorded besides. This is one of the many reasons that the Testament's study is so vital to kindred society. Within its pages we find answers to questions that many who walk tonight have not yet even thought to ask. Yet here, for nearly two millennia, that wisdom has been recorded. Know that this body of wisdom is a thing to be shared with all kindred, that they might understand more of themselves and the dangers of the world we inhabit.
Sum Sanctus,
Simon Patterson Gloveli
Inquisitor Generalis de Lacus Magni
No comments:
Post a Comment