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Gehenna
Topic Started: Apr 8 2013, 09:12 PM (130 Views)
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In Noddist mythology, Gehenna is the Kindred apocalypse. It is the time when the Antediluvians will rise from their slumbers and devour their descendants.

While certain signs (notably the prophecies of Octavio) outline peripheral events, the main sequence from the Book of Nod is roughly as follows:

  • The Time of Thin Blood. Caitiff and Thin-Blooded Vampires become more common, leading to Caitiff Princes. This particular warning is used by Princes to rationalize offices such as the Scourge, eliminating out high-generation vampires.
  • Increased violence by Garou and other traditional enemies.
  • The rise of ancient vampires, notably the Crone, until the Antediluvians themselves rise and "break their fast on the first part of us"
  • The darkening of the Sun
  • The return of Caine to pass judgment on all Vampires from Enoch, followed by a duel between the Dark Father (presumably Caine) and the Dark Mother (presumably Lilith).
  • A thousand year reign from the city of Gehenna, with "no love, no life, no pity/the mighty will be as slaves/the virtuous will be made foul" through the Dark Father's agency.
  • The arrival of the Last Daughter of Eve who will decide the fate of all creatures.


Secular Justifications for Gehenna
Even without Noddism, there is ample reason to believe that Gehenna or something like it will eventually occur. As vampires age, they must sustain themselves on increasingly potent blood. Vampires of low Generation are more powerful than their descendants, and there are various potent Disciplines which have particularly strong effects on an elder's own descendants and other higher Generation vampires (which, good little Camarilla vampires should be by virtue of not staking and draining their ancestors). Given the power gap between vampires of 8th and 7th Generation, imagining a hungry Third Generation blood god isn't a large leap.

Reactions to Gehenna
Vampiric culture is broadly divided on Gehenna. Officially, the Camarilla doesn't acknowledge Gehenna, Antediluvians, ancient blood gods, or Caine. Conversely, the Sabbat is a Gehenna cult - its raison d'etre is to provide muscle for Caine's return to judge the (un)dead and the living.

While the Camarilla ostensibly observes a "no-Gehenna" policy, it doesn't enforce that particularly heavily - princes will use the Book of Nod to justify decisions, and various clans (notably the Nosferatu) openly prepare to defend themselves against their Antediluvian.

Given this, there are a variety of visible (insofar as a paranoid secret-mongering race of nocturnal monsters makes things "visible") Gehenna cults throughout recorded history. Given that Kindred are on the whole pragmatic, self-interested and secular, these cults can loosely be viewed as making sure that when the Antediluvians come, there will be someone else available to eat. So maybe there isn't a Caine, but if sacrificing a virgin every Walpurgisnacht ensures that grandsire doesn't devour your unliving soul, the world can stand a few less virgins.
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