Lexicon

LEXICON OF THE DAMNED

 

alleycat (vulgar): a vampire who keeps no permanent haven, but sleeps in a different location each night. This term also refers to a vampire who feeds exclusively from the homeless, vagrants, and other elements of low society.

the amaranth (archaic): the act of consuming another Kindred’s blood. See diablerie.

the anarch movement: a vampire sect that opposes the tyranny of elders and has placed itself outside the secret society of the Camarilla.

ancilla: a vampire who has proven themselves, ranking between the elders and the neonates. Plural: ancillae.

antediluvian: a member of the dreaded third generation.

autarkis (archaic): See unbound.

banking (vulgar): the practice of “withdrawing” blood from blood banks, hospital reserves, or the dead and dying. This blood has little taste, though it will sustain a vampire. Elder Kindred eschew this base indulgence. A Kindred who engages in this practice is known as a banker.

the barrens: the areas of a city unfit for life, including graveyards, abandoned buildings, industrial wastelands, and areas of irreversible urban blight.

the beast: the inchoate drives and urges that threaten to turn a vampire into a mindless, ravening monster.

the beckoning: the mysterious force calling Kindred out East.

the becoming: the moment one passes from being a fledgling into “full” vampire status as a neonate. In the Camarilla, one may not Become until their sire deems them ready and gains the Prince’s approval.

blister (vulgar): a vampire “Typhoid Mary” who contracts a mortal disease and spreads it to each vessel upon whom they feed. the blood: the supernatural, semi-sentient Blood of a vampire, as opposed to mortal or animal blood. Synonymous with vitae.

blood bond: a mystical power relationship between two individual vampires, or a vampire and a mortal, where one has partaken of the other’s Blood thrice; accepting Blood from a vampire is an acknowledgment of their mastery.

blood doll (vulgar): a mortal who freely gives their blood to a vampire. Most blood dolls gain a perverse satisfaction from the Kiss, and actively seek out vampires who will take their blood.

blood hunt: a punishment sentencing a vampire to final death at the fangs of their peers. See lextalionis.

blood leech (vulgar): A vampire who feeds upon the vitae of other Cainites, out of necessity or depravity.

bloodline: a vampire’s heritage. See lineage.

the book of nod: a collection of Kindred legend and history.

butterfly (vulgar): one who  mingles among the mortal high society elements and feeds exclusively from the famous and wealthy.

cainite (archaic): a vampire; a member of the race of Caine.

caitiff: a vampire of unknown clan, or of no clan at all. Caitiff are typically of high generation, where Caine’s blood is too diluted to pass on any consistent characteristics.

the camarilla: a sect of vampires devoted primarily to maintaining the Traditions, particularly that of the Masquerade.

canaille (archaic): the bovine masses of humanity, especially the uncultured and unsavory. The canaille are viewed primarily as a source of sustenance. See kine.

casanova (vulgar): a vampire who seduces mortals to take their blood, but does not kill them. See siren.

cauchemar (archaic): see Sandman

the change (vulgar): the moment an individual ceases to be mortal and becomes one of the Kindred.

chantry: the traditional name for the Tremere headquarters in a city, usually part shelter, part library, and part laboratory.

chasse (archaic): the size and quality of a domain or hunting ground.

childe: a vampire created through the Embrace — the childe is the progeny of their sire. This term is often used derogatorily, indicating inexperience. Plural: childer.

clan: a group of vampires who share common characteristics passed on through the Blood. There are 13 known clans, all of which were reputedly founded by members of the third generation.

consanguineous (archaic): literally “of the same blood,” generally denotes lineage.

coterie: a small group of Kindred, united by the need for support and sometimes common interests.

the damned (vulgar): the race of Cainites; all vampires.

diablerie: the consumption of another Kindred’s Blood, to the point of the victim’s final death. Vampires may lower their generation permanently through this abhorrent practice.

domain: the 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 gives of their Blood and issues commands.

donor (vulgar): a sarcastic term for vessel, typically human.

duskborn: see thin-blood.

elder: a vampire who has experienced at least two or more centuries of unlife. Elders are the most active participants in the Jyhad.

elysium: a place where vampires may gather without fear of harm. Court functions in Elysium are strictly kept apart from mortals and surrounded by secrecy, but the Elysium building itself could be a public museum, a gallery, or club. Berghain is an anarch Elysium. The Louvre is a Camarilla Elysium.

the embrace: the act of transforming a mortal into a vampire. The Embrace requires the vampire to drain her victim and then replace that victim’s blood with a bit of her own.

farmer (vulgar): a mocking term for a vampire who refuses to feed on human blood, instead taking sustenance from animals.

final death: when a vampire ceases to exist, crossing the line from undeath into true death.

fledgling: a newly created vampire, still under their sire’s protection.

footpad (archaic): one who feeds by assaulting derelicts and others unwanted by society. See alleycat.

gehenna: the rumored Armageddon when the Antediluvians will rise from their torpor and devour the race of vampires and the world. The Sabbat believe this time is now and have left their traditional domains, fighting the final Gehenna War in the shadow of Middle Eastern conflicts.

generation: the number of “steps” between a vampire and the mythical Caine; how far descended from the First a given vampire is.

gentry (archaic): a Kindred who preys in such places as nightclubs, bars, and the red-light district.

ghoul: a minion created by giving a bit of vampiric vitae to a mortal without draining them of blood first (which would create a vam- pire instead).

golconda: a fabled state of vampiric transcendence; the true mastery of the Beast and balance of opposing urges and principles. Rumored to be a state similar to nirvana, Golconda is greatly touted but rarely achieved.

haven: a vampire’s “home” or base; where they find sanctuary from the sun.

head (vulgar): a Kindred who feeds upon those who have imbibed alcohol or drugs, so as to vicariously experience the same sensations. Those Kindred who prefer individual drugs have their “poison” prefixed to the term head (e.g. meth head, dope head, smack head). See lush.

headhunter (vulgar): a vampire who hunts and feeds from other Kindred. See Blood Leech.

humanitas (archaic): the extent to which a Kindred still maintains her humanity.

the hunger: the urge to feed. For vampires, the Hunger replaces all other drives with its own powerful call.

the inconnu: a sect of vampires who have removed themselves from Kindred concerns and, largely, the Jyhad. Many methuselahs are rumored to exist among the Inconnu.

juicebag or juice box (vulgar): a contemptuous term for mortals, indicating that their sole use is for sustenance.

the jyhad: the secret, self-destructive war waged between the generations. Elder vampires manipulate their lesser kin, using them as  pawns in a terrible game the rules of which defy comprehension.

kindred: the Camarilla term for vampires as a whole, or a single vampire. According to rumor, this term came about in the 15th or 16th century, after the Anarch Revolt.

kine: a term for mortals, largely contemptuous. The phrase “Kindred and kine” refers to the world at large; everything.

the kiss: to drink blood, especially from a mortal. The Kiss causes feelings of ecstasy in those who receive it.

lex talionis (archaic): the code of the Kindred and the system for punishing transgression; the law of retaliation which is behind the blood hunt. It suggests Hammurabian or Biblical justice — an eye for an eye and punishment in keeping with the grievance.

lick (vulgar): a vampire. See Kindred and Cainite.

lien (archaic): the compliance of the kine in a domain or hunting ground.

the life (archaic): a euphemism for mortal blood. Many Kindred regard this term as affected and effete.

lineage (archaic): a vampire’s bloodline; the Kindred’s sire, sire’s sire, etc.

lupine: a werewolf, the natural and mortal enemy of the vampire race. Plural: lupines.

lush: a vampire who typically feeds from drugged or drunk mortals in order to experience their Inebriation.

mask: the mortal cover identity a Kindred needs to maintain to remain hidden among their prey.

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

methuselah: a vampire who has existed for a millennium or more; an elder who no longer participates in Kindred society. Methuselahs are rumored to hail from the fourth and fifth generations.

neonate: a young Kindred, recently Embraced but more than a fledgling.

papillon (archaic): the red-light district; the area of town punctuated by drinking establishments, brothels, gambling houses, and other locales of ill repute. The prime hunting grounds of a city, where the disappearance of mortals goes hand in hand with the area’s general seediness.

portillon (archaic): the security and level of protection in a domain or hunting ground.

praxis (archaic): the right of Princes to govern; the Prince’s claim to domain. This term also refers to the Prince’s matters of policy and individual edicts and motions.

prince: a vampire who has claimed a given expanse of domain as their own, generally a city, and supports that claim against all others. The term is gender neutral. In Anarch cities they are sometimes called Barons.

progeny: all of a given vampire’s childer collectively.

the rack (vulgar): the hunting ground of choice, including bars, nightclubs, drug dens, and other bacchanalian locales, where mortals go missing all the time. See Papillon.

rake (vulgar): a habitual visitor to the Rack, especially in the interests of feeding.

regnant: a Kindred who holds a Blood Bond over another.

retainer: a human who serves a vampiric master. Kindred rarely go without at least a few of these mortals, both for convenience and protection.

the sabbat: a sect of vampires that rejects humanity, embracing their monstrous nature. They are currently believed to be engaged in the Gehenna War, having left or been driven out of their holdings in the West.

sandman (vulgar): a vampire who feeds only upon sleeping victims.

the second inquisition: a collective name among vampires for the recent coordinated efforts of intelligence agencies to combat the Kindred as if they were a terrorist threat. Few individual agents understand what they are fighting and the intra agency collaboration codenamed FIRST-LIGHT places enormous import on keeping their operations secret and disguised as ordinary anti-terrorist action.

sect: a group of vampires arguably united under a common philosophy. The two most widely known Sects currently populating the night are the Camarilla and the Anarch Movement.

sire: a vampire’s begetter; the Kindred who created them.

siren (archaic): a vampire who seduces mortals in order to drink from them, and then only takes a small quantity of blood, so as to avoid killing them.

slumming (vulgar): the practice of feeding from derelicts, the homeless, and other dregs of society; one who does this regularly is known as a slummer.

tease (vulgar): See casanova and siren.

thin-blood: a vampire of the 14th or 15th generation (and possible above) who does not experience the curse of Caine in the same way as other Kindred.

the third mortal (archaic): Caine, who was cast out and became the first vampire.

thrall: someone under the effects of a Blood Bond, having drunk another Kindred’s Blood thrice.

turf (vulgar): a modern affectation used in reference to a domain.

unbound: A vampire who remains outside the larger Kindred society of a given city, either by ignorance or choice. Usually considered an Anarch by members of the Camarilla, though most unbound have nothing to do with the Movement.

vegan: a contemptuous term for one who drinks exclusively from animals. See farmer.

vessel: a source of blood for sustenance or pleasure, primarily mortal.

vitae (archaic): the Blood of a vampire.

whelp (archaic): a derogatory term for a young Kindred, originally used with exclusive reference to one’s own progeny.

whig (archaic): a contemptuous term for a vampire who possesses an interest in mortal trends and fashions.

wight: a vampire lost to the Beast, slave to the will of the Blood.

witch-hunter (archaic): a mortal who hunts down and destroys vampires and other supernatural beings.