Cainite History

Throughout the meta-plot of Vampire: The Masquerade and related settings by White Wolf certain key historical events are used to structure the overall theme and direction of the game.

Cainite Heresy

The Cainite Heresy is a fictional heretical cult, practised by some vampires and their human subjects in the setting of Vampire: The Dark Ages, a role-playing game by White Wolf Game Studio.

The Heresy is a Gnostic cult, focused on the sacrament of Blood Communion, which replaces or mingles the Christian sacramental wine of the Eucharist with vampiric vitae.

The Cainite Heretics believe that the material world, which is impure and corrupt, was made by a petty demiurge. Caine was punished by this inferior deity for hearing the words of the Serpent (called Sophia, "Wisdom"), but he and his descendants were blessed by the true God with the ability to sustain themselves wholly on blood, the pure force of life, and were spared aging and death; thus vampires are almost independent of the decay of this world and akin to angels. The purported mission of the Heresy is to take the Blood Communion to all humanity, bringing them closer to the Cainite form, while expecting the coming of the Third Caine (the messiah) and Gehenna.

The Heretics mark some special days and occasions with another sacrament called the Red Pentecost, in which the Beast is freed and worshipped through perverse acts under the influence of drugs and mind-altering Disciplines.

The cult is formally ruled by the Bishops of Nod, whose head is the Archbishop (in the "current" setting, Prince Narses of Venice, a Lasombra). The administrative bureaucracy of the bishops is composed almost entirely of ghouls and is known as the Crimson Curia. The actual hierarchy and structure of the Heresy is extremely complex and fluctuating, with regional leaders often in conflict with their neighbours, and variant doctrines and practices.

Most Heresiarchs are not true believers; they are manipulative cynics who oppose the Catholic Church (scornfully called "The Church of Pilate") not only for theological reasons, but mainly for its power and influence. They seek to subject mankind to domination using the Blood Communion as a means of control. In particular, the Crimson Curia has been at work infiltrating the Roman Church and especially the Roman Curia, with the ultimate goal of influencing the Pope.

The foundations of the cult were created in 413 AD, when a Byzantine priest and scholar called Procopius, charged with exterminating heresy, found a copy of the Book of Nod. Procopius then proceeded to use his blood, and that of his subordinates, to write the Euagetaematikon, or "Book of the Shining Blood", the main scripture of the Cainite Heretics.

There was a Gnostic sect known as the Cainites during the 2nd century AD. This sect has no connection with vampirism or The Fiction of the Cainite Heresy.''

Time of Thin Blood

In the role-playing game Vampire: The Masquerade by White Wolf, Inc., The Time of Thin Blood is the time immediately preceding Gehenna, the vampires' prophesied armageddon.

Named in reference to a line of the Book of Nod, referring to one of the signs of the end times being The Time of Thin Blood - when the curse of Caine would no longer carry the strength to create new vampires, when the clanless would come to rule and Vitae would be as rare diamonds.

Most Cainite authorities agree that the current age is the Time of Thin Blood, and that judgement of the Cainites has come due.

Gehenna

In the role-playing game Vampire: The Masquerade by White Wolf, Inc., Gehenna is the vampires' prophesied armageddon.

Gehenna is the time when the Antediluvians (the grandchildren of Caine, the first vampire) will rise to consume the blood of all the younger vampires and construct a city in which they will rule for one thousand years. The prophecy of Gehenna is most thoroughly detailed in the Book of Nod, the story of Caine's banishment and cursing by God. There are also portents found in the Book of Nod, claiming the coming of the "Dark Father" and the "Dark Mother". Who these are is uncertain, but it is believed these two figures could be the mythical Caine and Lilith, respectively. Gehenna is said to be preceded by the Time of Thin Blood, in which successive generations of vampires past the thirteenth lose the potency of their blood, become incapable of siring childer or exercising their vampiric powers, and even develop a tolerance to sunlight.

Four possible Gehenna scenarios were depicted in the final Vampire: The Masquerade sourcebook, which was titled Gehenna, as part of the Time of Judgment that ended the original World of Darkness. The four scenarios are "Wormwood" (God destroys all vampires save for a few, who are given a chance at redemption), "Fair is Foul" (Lilith takes her vengeance on Caine and his descendants), "Nightshade" (the Masquerade is broken and the Camarilla divided as the Antediluvians awaken), and "The Crucible of God" (the Antediluvians rise up, ruling over or destroying most of the human race).

References

• Vampire: The Dark Ages - Cainite Heresy (ISBN 1-56504-296-4), by White Wolf Publishing, Inc.
• Dean Shomshak et al., Gehenna (White Wolf Game Studio, 2004, ISBN 1-58846-855-0)
• Justin Achilli, Vampire: The Masquerade Revised EDition (White Wolf Game Studio, 1998, ISBN 1-56504-249-2)
• Andrew Greenberg, The Book of Nod (White Wolf Game Studio, 1994, ISBN 1-56504-078-3)
• Dean Shomshak & Sarah Roark, Time of Thin Blood (White Wolf Game Studio, 1999, ISBN 1-56504-245-X)