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It is thought that the slaves of Enoch were captured natives of
the nation of Seth, the tribe of herders that eventually spawned Noah and his
kind. This would add meaning to the biblical idea that the earth was becoming
corrupted by evil around the time of Noah, for certainly Caine was indulging
himself and his children in the height of this period.
Most slaves labored in the fields to produce food for the human servants of
Caine and his children. They were mostly captured outlaws and barbarians, and
were probably Dominated into submission. It is only through the name for the
slaves that we know that they are slaves: all pictograms depicting slaves in
Enoch show them as being collarless and free.
I was shocked to learn that the custom of the Blood Feast that the Sabbat are
said to partake in was duplicated in ancient times by Caine and his court. At a
feast, Caine would have several condemned criminals tied by their ankles to
beams above the table. The Kindred present would feed at leisure off these
prisoners until they died of the treatment. Drawings depict Caine and several of
his childer drinking from a pool of blood that is fed by three inverted mortals
bleeding into it.
We know, as well, that much was known during that time about the taste of blood
and how to improve it. Several of the "cooks" of Enoch's time learned
the various savory herbs and foods and drinks that would, when ingested by the
feeding-slave, cause the right balance of sweet and salt, fullness and thinness
for the blood of feeding slaves.
Slaves unable to work in the field were invariably made feeding slaves. These
slaves were probably very lovely to look at (one glyph shows a feeding-slave
dressed in a veil and jewels) and highly conditioned to respond to the Kiss.
Enoch observed the planting seasons, like all agricultural communities. There
is evidence that there was a great celebration in the High House of Caine every
new moon, and a great thanksgiving night on the day after an eclipse. This may
have been when werewolves were most likely to attack, if indeed it is werewolves
that were around during this time, and not demons as some have suggested.
Caine provided a very advanced calendar for the time. On Midsummer's Eve one
year, Caine painted a red line of his own blood on the circular wall of his High
House. The line magically moved day by day, slowly circling the house until it
came back around to the solstice again. It was through this auspice that Caine
provided the citizens of the First City a calendar.
Much was learned about the breeding of humans with other humans and either
Kindred or kine developed birth control. Humans were bred for specific purposes,
such as being strong for feeding, or being a good warrior, or a good laborer. If
you were frequently successful in your tasks, you might get selected to further
your line. This would be done in a house called the Temple of Lilith, which was
neither a Temple and was probably not even dedicated to Lilith. Two humans would
have ritual sex here and then never see each other again, especially if they
served two separate masters.
Kindred with Auspex were apparently able to tell immediately that a woman had
gotten with child from a union.
Unlike most cultures of ancient times, there was no religion in Enoch. Caine forbid the worship of the One Above, having turned his face from Him, and allowed his subjects no trips to the temple to become scrubbed from sin. Indeed, Caine would often hold forth in open court about how they were all doomed to rot in hell, about how their plight would fall on deaf ears when the time for Armageddon comes and about how truly evil the Kindred are as a race.
The origins of the Tal'mahe'Ra lie in the time of Antediluvians. Starting as a small group of Euthanatos, the group came to admit Kindred and around 500 B.C. these vampires took control of the Tal'mahe'Ra. By this time the group had spread to Europe, and found Verbena allies.
In 438 A.D. the Tal'mahe'Ra went to war with the Assamites, continuing until 516 A.D. when an assamite spy learned that the Setites had tricked them into the war. Alliance twixt the two was formed in 517 A.D. against the Followers.
In 450A.D. a schism between Eastern and Western Tal'mahe'Ra occurred, believe over the sect's role in the Underworld. The war took place mostly within the Shadowlands. Following cessation of conflict, the West retained Enoch, and both halves withdrew from study of the Shadowlands.
Enoch was given up by the Western Tal'mahe'Ra after the Western Tal'mahe'Ra gave up control following the Anarch Revolt. Shortly thereafter the Western members were barred from entering, and so the city was weakened in its defense and fell to a powerful Wraithlord.
Sometime during the 1700's the two halves reunited, creating the Treaty of Enoch to determine the Sects future leadership. That done, it took them three years to retake the Citadel. United, they set about rebuilding the city and strengthening its ties outside.
Chatterlings are children stolen and sent to the Arena in Enoch to study and train. They leave only if they are Embraced, often around age 23.
It is believed that of the Kindred, only Sect members can travel into the Shadowlands, hence to Enoch. Euthanatos, Benandanti and Wraiths also can travel here... Doomshades reside in the Tempest, a huge storm that surrounds Enoch. Renegade and Heretic Wraiths have attacked the City in the past.
The Aralu is a rumor among the sect, whispering that in a deep, and secret, tomb lie four Torpored beings of immense power. Nergal, Ninmug and Loz... Thought to be Toreador, Ventrue and Nosferatu. The fouth, noone knows, or if they do they arent saying.
Some say the Inconnu Sect guards sleeping Antediluvians in a place called Shalkamense, or possibly Caine himself.
Most Tal'mahe'Ra Rituals are done in Enoch for privacy. Anele of Purification: The Del'roh's blood, given to purify one of a crime or before a great undertaking Bloodhunt: Against their own members who have become traitors Danse Macabre: A performance of dance and masquerade, often wearing the face skins of those theyve killed Sacrificial Offerings: Vampires or ghouls, or many at a time, done with great ceremony Vision Seeking: Vessels are tainted with drugs, to induce the desired state.
There are three methods to enter the Shadowlands. The level 4 Ritual Shadowgate, wherein a kindred paints an X over each eye then steps into a very deep shadow, emerging in a corresponding shadow in the Shadowlands. The X is painted from powdered coal mixed with human ashes.
Another ritual to pass into the Shadowlands, as used by the Tal'mahe'Ra is level 5, called Shadowland Passage. The vampire plunges a prepared pure silver dagger into her heart, inflicting two damage levels at least and falling into water deep enough to cover her. The daggers hilt must have a vampire fang included in its construction. When returning, the kindred emerges where she fell.
Another Ritual, level 6, called Mass Grave does the same, except the group is buried together in dirt mixed with the remains of a freshly killed sentient creature.
Path of the Scorched Heart: in the 1300s Rathmonicus, a True Brujah later destroyed in the Anarch revolt codified the ways of the True Brujah.
Path of Self-Focus: In 550 A.D. Asian Kindred met with the Tal'mahe'Ra. Over the next century this Path emerged. The Path died out before the millenium, but has become popular once more in the past 150 years.
