Origins
In the old World of Darkness (as depicted in Vampire: The Masquerade and Vampire: The Dark Ages), vampires descend from Caine, the first murderer, cursed by God. Caine Embraced three childer (the Second Generation), who in turn Embraced thirteen (the Third Generation, called the Antediluvians). These were the beginnings of the 13 Vampiric clans. With each subsequent Embrace, the resulted childe becomes weaker as they become further removed from Caine. The standard generation in the modern setting is the 13th (twelve steps removed from Caine).
In the new World of Darkness (from Vampire: The Requiem), the origins of the vampire species is just as mysterious as the origin of man. With the removal of the generation concept, the idea of single source became less certain. Common theories include that the Roman soldier Longinus became one of the first vampires after piercing the side of Christ on the cross and drinking some on his blood, or that the first vampire was a mysterious figure called The Crone. Some have even suggested that each of the five main clans in Vampire: The Requiem had a different and unique origin.
Read more about this topic: Vampire (World Of Darkness)
Famous quotes containing the word origins:
“The settlement of America had its origins in the unsettlement of Europe. America came into existence when the European was already so distant from the ancient ideas and ways of his birthplace that the whole span of the Atlantic did not widen the gulf.”
—Lewis Mumford (1895–1990)
“Compare the history of the novel to that of rock ‘n’ roll. Both started out a minority taste, became a mass taste, and then splintered into several subgenres. Both have been the typical cultural expressions of classes and epochs. Both started out aggressively fighting for their share of attention, novels attacking the drama, the tract, and the poem, rock attacking jazz and pop and rolling over classical music.”
—W. T. Lhamon, U.S. educator, critic. “Material Differences,” Deliberate Speed: The Origins of a Cultural Style in the American 1950s, Smithsonian (1990)
“Grown onto every inch of plate, except
Where the hinges let it move, were living things,
Barnacles, mussels, water weeds—and one
Blue bit of polished glass, glued there by time:
The origins of art.”
—Howard Moss (b. 1922)