Terms & Definitions

Terms used when Out of Character:

RT - "real time": This refers to your real physical existence, the "player" and their life outside the "Game" of role-play.

VT - "virtual time": This refers to your 'time' online, the people you meet here and the things you do when you're here.

OOC - Out of Character: Conversation with the person at the keyboard. It can also refer to knowledge your "player" has that your "character" does not.

IC - In Character: This means you - the player. What your character does and says. It also refers to knowledge that your character has gained during a role-play session.

NPC - Non-Player Character: Characters that are inconsequential. A character within a scene that is only used in a "fill-in" type situation and you do not spend time to create a character sheet for.

WW - White Wolf: Refers to the company who publishes gaming system books such as Vampire The Masquerade, etc. Also refers to people and rooms that play strictly by these rules.

avs - Avatars: The pictures players use to represent their characters in the room.

PM - Private Message: Using the "privately whispers to" drop down to deliver a message that only the person you select can see.

Definitions of common Vampire terms:

Anarchs - Anarchs are vampires who reject the Traditions of Caine and the dictates of the elders who enforce them. Ironically, elders grudgingly afford anarch some degree of status, due to the anarch's ability to obtain power in spite of the elders' opposition. Anarchs are also respected for their passion and drive, which few elder Kindred, mired as they are in their age and dissatisfaction, can muster. Ultimately, however, most Kindred see anarchs as jackals, scavenging their unlives from what slips through the elders' fingers.

Ancillae - Ancillae are relatively young vampires (between one and two hundred years of unlife) who have proved themselves as valuable members of Kindred society. Ancillae are the lackeys to greater Kindred, and - if they're clever or lucky - tomorrow's elders. Ancilla is the rank between neonate and elder, signifying that the Kindred has cut her teeth (so to speak), but lacks the age and experience to become a true master of the Jyhad. Because the world's population has grown so in the last two centuries, the vast majority of vampires are ancillae or neonates.

Antediluvians - These ancient vampires, if they exist at all, are likely the most powerful creatures in the world. Members of the Third Generation, the Antediluvians are only two steps removed from the First Vampire, Caine. Antediluvians, when they choose to rise from their long sleep, affect all with whom they come in contact; according to the few fractured accounts of thier doings, they possess virtually godlike power. According to Kindred legend, there were 13 original Antediluvians, though some have allegedly been destroyed. Their eternal struggle, the Jyhad, touches all Kindred, and innumerable layers of manipulation and deception make the plots of these Ancients almost imperceptible.

The Beast - The inchoate drives and urges that threaten to turn a vampire into a mindless, ravening monster.

Blood - A vampire's heritage; that which makes a vampire a vampire.

Blood Bond - A mystical power over another individual engendered by partaking of a particular vampire's blood thrice; accepting blood from a vampire is an acknowledgment of her mastery.

Blood Doll - A mortal who freely gives her blood to a vampire. Most blood dolls gain a perverse satisfaction from the Kiss, and actively seek out vampires who will take their vitae.

Bloodline - A vampire's heritage (q.v. Lineage).

The Book of Nod - A loose collection of Kindred legendry and history. The Book of Nod chronicles the origin of the Kindred, though it has never been published in its entirety. Fragments of the document and its many partial transcriptions circulate among certain strata of Kindred society.

Cainite - A vampire; a member of the race of Caine.

Caitiff - The Caitiff are the clanless vampires, outcast by other Kindred and despised by those who bother to notice them at all. Vampires may become clanless either by having no idea of their sires' identity (and thus having no sense of lineage) or by being of such a weak generation that no identifying clan charcteristics are discernible. Caitiff are almost universally regarded as bastard children and orphans, though some rise to a degree of prominence among the anarchs. Once there were few Caitiff, but the post-WWII period has seen a sharp increase in their numbers. Some elders whisper direfully of the "Time of Thin Blood" that signifies the imminence of Gehenna.

The Camarilla - A sect of vampires devoted primarily to maintaining the Traditions, particularly that of the Masquerade

Childe - A vampire created through the Embrace - the childe is the progeny of her sire. This term is often used derogatorily, indicating inexperience. Plural Childer.

Clan - A group of vampires who share common characteristics passed on by the Blood. There are 13 known clans, all of which were reputedly founded by members of the Third Generation.

Diablerie - The consumption of another Kindred's blood, to the point of the victim's Final Death. Vampires of high generation may lower their generation through this practice; particularly old Kindred have such rarefied tastes that mortal blood no longer sustains them, and they must consume vampire blood.

Domain - An area of a particular vampire's influence. Princes claim entire cities as their domains, sometimes allowing lesser vampires to claim domain within.

Domitor - A ghoul's master; one who feeds her blood and issues her commands.

Elders - Elders are Kindred who have existed for hundreds of years, and typically range from sixth generation. With centuries of accumulated cunning and a terrible thirst for power, elder Kindred are the most physically active participants in the Jyhad - they do not suffer the long fits of torpor that hamper the Methuselahs and Antediluvians, but they are not so powerless or easily manipulated as the younger Kindred are. The term "elder" itself is a bit subjective; a Kindred who qualifies as an elder in the New World might be just another ancilla in Europe or older corners of the Earth. Elders keep a stranglehold on the Kindred power structure, preventing younger vampires from attaining positions of influence by exercising control they have maintainded for decades, if not centuries.

Elysium - A place where vampires may gather and discourse without fear of harm. Elysium is commonly established in opera houses, theaters, museums and other locations of culture.

Fledglings - Also known more loosely as "childer" (although every vampire except Caine is someone's childe), fledglings are newly reborn vampires still under the tutelage and protection of thier sires, the vampires who created them. Fledglings are not considered full members of Kindred society and are often treated disrespetfully or as the sire's property. When her sire decides her childe is ready, the fledgling may become a neonate, subject to the prince's approval.

Generation - The number of "steps" between a vampire and the mythical Caine; how far descended from the First Vampire a given vampire is.

Gehenna - The immenent Armageddon when the Antediluvians will rise from their torpor and devour the race of Kindred and the world.

Ghoul - A minion created by giving a bit of vampiric vitae to a mortal without draining her of blood first (which would create a vampire instead).

Golconda - A fabled state of vampiric transcendence; the true mastery of the Beast and balance of opposing urges and principles. Rumored to be similar to mortal Nirvana, Golconda is greatly touted but rarely achieved.

The Hunger - The urge to feed, as with any living creature. For vampires, however, the Hunger replaces all other drives with its own powerful call.

The Jyhad - The secret, self-destructive war waged between the generations. Elder vampires manipulate their lessers, using them as pawns in a terrible game whose rules defy comprehension.

Kindred - The race of vampires as a whole, or a single vampire. According to rumor, this term came about in the 15th or 16th century, after the Great Anarch Revolt. Sabbat vampires scorn the term.

Kine - A term for mortals, largely congtemptous. The phrase Kindred and kine refers to the world at large; everything.

The Kiss - To drink blood, especially from a mortal. The Kiss causes feeling of ecstasy in those who receive it.

The Masquerade - The habit (or Tradition) of hiding the existence of vampires from humanity. Designed to protect the Kindred from destruction at the hands of mankind, the Masquerade was adopted after the Inquisition claimed many Kindred unlives.

Methuselahs - If the Antediluvians are the Kindred's gods, the terrible Methuselahs are demigods and avatars. At a point between a vampire's thousandth and two thousandth year, a grave change overtakes the Kindred. Sometimes the change is physical, while at other times it is mental or emotional. Whatever the nature of the change, the end result is that the vampire no longer bears any semblance of humanity. Having truly moved from the earthly into the realm of the supernatural, the Methuselahs often retire into the earth, where they may slumber away from the thirsty fangs of younger vampires. Their powers are so great, however, that they continue to direct their inscrutable plans mentally, communicating magically or telepathically (and almost always invisibly) with their minions.
Kindred greatly fear the Methuselahs, who are accorded any number of horrifying characteristics. Rumors speak of Methuselahs whose skin has become stone, of everything from hideous disfigurements to unearthly beauty that cannot be looked upon. Some are believed to drink only vampire blood, while others control the fates of entire nations from their cold tombs.

Neonates - Neonates vary from newly released fledglings to indolent Kindred of a hundred years or more. Marked by the stigma of not yet having proved themselves to the elders, neonates are inexperienced vampires who might one night make something of themselves - but, more likely, will fall as pawns in the schemes of the other undead.

Progeny - All of a given vampire's childer, collectively. Less formal, and less flattering, is Get.

Regnant - A Kindred who holds a blood bond over another.

Retainer - A human who serves a vampiric master. This term is almost archaic, referring to a time when vampires kept vast entourages of mortal servants as part of their estates.

The Sabbat - A sect of vampires that rejects humanity, embracing their monstrous natures. The Sabbat is bestial and violent, preferring to lord over mortals rather than hide from them.

Sect - A group of Kindred arguably united under a common philosophy. The three most widely known sects currently populating the night are the Camarilla, the Inconnu and the Sabbat.

Thrall - A vampire under the effects of a blood bond, having drunk another Kindred's blood thrice.

Traditions - The most sacred and basic laws of the Camarilla, established at the same time as the sect.

Vitae - Blood. More specifically, Kindred blood, but the definition is not an absolute one.