Yes, my dear frinds, it has always been so. Our founder, the first of what have come to be called the Antediluvians, has always assumed responsibility for the actions of his weaker brethren, just as we do tonight. Sired on Caine's orders by the one whom legend has named Enoch or Lamech, Ventrue became Caine's first advisor and constant companion.

     He sat at Caine's side as Caine oversaw the growth of the paradise known as the First City. Originally a place of mud houses and open fires, it grew into a monument to all that the Kindred can accomplish. Without the benefit of modern machinery, the First City soon boasted marble towers spiring to the heavens. Caine's own palace shone with gold, and the beauty of his main courtyard has never been paralleled.

     The finest craftspersons of that ancient age created artworks the likes of which this planet has never again seen -- simple but glorious, reflection the unchecked promise and hope of that time. Caine himself turned the garden into a crowning masterpeice, using both magic and skill to evoke his own vision of penultimate beauty. To walk in the garden was to walk in paradise.

     Still, our sire realized that all was not as it sould be. After Caine's childer began siring the rest of the Third Generation, Ventrue saw lines of worry begin to crease caine's unchanging face. Our founder beseeched Caine to speak of his fears, but at first Caine would not respond. Then the First Immortal spoke as though entranced. There, sitting amid the towering monuments of the First City, Caine revealed his dream of the future, wherein horror and catastrophe beset the world. Floods and earthquakes, volcanoes and disease would all strike.

     Venture found it impossible to believe these stories, but Caine continued. His own childer sould survive, but the mortals would be devastated by the destruction. Then they would seek someone to blame, and the childer of Seth would hunt the childer of Caine, using powers of fire and faith to drive us form our havens and destroy us one by one until all the immortals were no more.

     Then Caine fell silent, and Ventrue sat stunned until he gathered the courage to ask his question. Then he hesitatingly asked his grandsire that which we all fear -- "Is this future engraved in stone, unchanging and unchangeable?"

     Caine looked out over everything he had created and quietly replied, "I do not know."

     Sharing Caine's view of the gleaming vista that was Enoch, our clan founder could not believe that such a horror could occur. All his existence he had known nothing but peace and prosperity in a land where mortal and immortal lived without conflict. Had such words been spoken by anyone but Caine himself, our ancestor would have dismissed them out of hand. Spoken by the Father of All, however, they tore at his soul and he wished he could claw his ears form his head rather than hear of such horror.

     Caine continued. He told our ancestor that we were not the only supernatural beings on this planet. He spoke of beastmen and deadmen, sorcerers and fey -- beings with whom the undead would wage terrible, eternal war. And waiting in the shadows beyond these beings are far more powerful masters, and these masters cannot coexist. For all their power, these masters are afraid -- afraid of each other and of those forces that even the masters cannot comprehend.

     These masters see the undead as threats, for we were capable of surviving outside of their wars. We could work with humans as none of them could. Where the beastmen could only subjugate humanity, where the sorcerers must always live apart from their fellows, where the dead and faeries could be nothing but alien beings, we were as much a part of the mortals' world as were the sun and the moon.

     When Ventrue was again alone, he could do nothing but ponder these words. When his beautiful lovers came to him, he sent them away. When the artisans who decorated his palace sought to show him their latest works, he ordered them out of his presence. Alone he sat, spending night after night in contemplation of Caine's words.

     Finally, after three weeks and two nights, he left his palace with a new determination. From that night on he would do everything in his power to keep this tragedy from occurring. Should it occur despite his best effots, he would strive with all his might to lessen the damage. He would see to it that one night mortal and immortal threw off the shackles of the masters and freed themselves for all eternity.

     Of course, one cannot say that our clan founder did not contribute in some way to the devastation which destroyed the First City. He began to gather those tools that might help him combat the masters, and the other Antediluvians took note. Ventrue's magnificent palace, onece a museum for the most beautiful art, a building where every inch had been meticulously constructed in as awe-inspiring a style as possible, became a fortress. Here Ventrue gathered itmes of power, both natural and artificial.

     Such relics as the Tapestry of Blood, the head of Medusa, the claws of Fenris, the Faerie Bridge and Oromazus' Mist littered the palace. To safeguard them, Ventrue used his awesome ingenuity to design an underground sanctum that no creature could penetrate. All this his Kindred saw, and they worried.

     One night, when the moon filled the sky with silver, four of Ventrue's brethren approached the palace. "Ventrue," cried out she who is now called Brujah, "why have you taken those items that sould belong to us all and hidden them away?"

     "My dear sister," Ventrue replied, "I but protect them form those who would steal them from us all. When the time has come, we shall all use these tools to recreate the world."

     "Ventrue," cried out he who is now called Set, "you should share those items with all of us so that we might use them as we will."

     "My dear brother," Ventrue replied, "if I did so, they would be wasted and lost, and when we need them we shall not have them. When the time has come, we shall all use these tools to recreate the world."

     "Ventrue," cried out he who is now called Tzimisce, "you spend all your time alone or with Caine. Are you trying to turn our Grandsire against us?"

     Now our sire saw the true motive behind their visit. Jealousy had begun to fester in their hearts, and Venture saw it as a sign that the masters had begun to work their evil magic. Maybe if Ventrue had lowered himself then, begging and pleading with the four, he could have averted the holocaust to come. But he was Ventrue, first amont the Third Generation, and debase himself to his younger brothers and sisters he would not do.

     "My dear brother," Ventrue replied, "I do what I do for the good of us all. When the time has come, we shall all use these tools to recreate the world."

     He turned to the one who is now called Nosferatu, expecting the questions to continue, but Nosferatu merely smilled. Then the four departed, though Ventrue knew things could never again be as they had been. From that night on Ventrue prepared himself for war with his own kind. all the while hoping they would become his allies once again but knowing that this meeting had hastened the end.

     When the infamous flood stuck, and Caine separated himself from his childer, our fonder was the last to look upon him. "Father of All," he sobbed, "will you not stay with us? Without you, we will have no one to lead us. Without you, there will be no one to resolve the petty conflicts and calm the angered souls. Without you, the Kindred can do naught but fall to war amongst themselves. Without you, all hope of defeating the masters is lost."

     Mighty Caine looked at Ventrue and, for the first time in ages, smiled. We may never know the exact words the First spoke unto our ancestor, but we do know that when Ventrue returned to his Kindred, he was the only one prepared to direct the rebuilding htat was required. He supervised all the Kindred, even his own sire, during the creation of the Second City, and even though he knew that it would fall some night, he devoted all his energies to it.

     Here he hid the mightiest artifacts that he had rescued form the First City. Here he buried a clay pot filled with the Vitae of Caine. Even when the city fell, and Ventrue was forced to flee, he knew these treasures would be safe, ready o be used by all the Kindred when the time is right.

     After the fall of the Second City, Vampires spread across the planet. A few headed north into the vast forests. A few more went south inot the deep jungles. But most stayed near the civilized lands, moving east and west into the river valleys and along the coastline.

     Vampires visited all ancient races of humanity, but some civilizations benefited from exceptional levels of Cainite involvement in their affairs. These included such lands as the island empire of Crete, the lands of Assyria, the cities of Sumer and, or course, the kingdows of Egypt. During the earliest nights we Venture were active in all these lands, but not in the same leadership roles we fill today.

     In those years we allowed other Kindred ot take the vanguard while we followed a more reserved approace. Like the early Christians, we believed that the day of reconing was near. Caine would return to lead us in battle against the Secret Masters, and from that night and henceforth, Earth would again be a paradise. We saw our taks to be recording and preserving, keeping Caine's dream alive until he could return to fulfill it.

     Of course, some Ventrue became involved in the politics of the "ancient" world. By the time of the Persian Empire, we were immersed as deeply as anyone. Not until the time of the Roman Republic, however, did we take our place at the forefront of vampiric culture.

This page hosted by Get your own Free Home Page