Mendicants
The Nepheshim
Mendicant Sanctified undertake harsh Requiems. The Nepheshim range from vampiric drifters to wandering Sanctified prophets. These are the Sanctified who do not retreat to the guarded domains and flourescent nights of the cities, or even to the fast and relative safety of modern trains and airplanes. The Nepheshim wander the earth on foot and act as The Lancea Sanctum’s eyes and hands in the lonely places of the world. They are the explorers of the places between domains and parishes.
Loosely translated, “Nepheshim” means “Hungry Ones.” What they hunger for, besides the Blood, has gone unanswered for centuries. Freedom? Knowledge? Solitude? As the meaning was lost, the name caught on. Tonight, only a minority of Kindred, even in The Lancea Sanctum, remember what the faction’s name means, and so the point goes unexamined. For those who choose to investigate the matter, one answer can be found in the Nepheshim vows.
Name aside, what is known is that this group of Wanderers barely has the coherence to be considered a faction at all. With no hierarchy at even a local level, no commonly developed goal and no clear mandate for operation, the Nepheshim are simply a disparate array of Kindred with one calling in common: to wander the world and report what they learn to their covenant’s local elders when they next enter an urban environment. In their wanderings they carry news to and from places on the fringes of Kindred society. Though the Wanderers, as they’ve been nicknamed, serve The Lancea Sanctum and even dedicate every aspect of their unlife to an extreme existence founded on religious principles, the members of this faction are sometimes seen as the least devout of any of the covenant’s factions. While some Nepheshim are merely open-minded in a way that strikes some Sanctified as unfaithful, others actuallydo stray dangerously close to apostasy at times (more so, even, than many of the Anointed would guess). Because the Wanderers are necessarily outsiders, however, most Bishops don’t worry too much about mendicant philosophies threatening thefoundations of local parishes — eccentric fringe musings come and go as easily as the Nepheshim themselves.
Still, Wanderers are (or seem) numerous and valuable enough that the so-called “mendicant phenomenon” is taken seriously within the covenant. The Nepheshim represent the most successful and trustworthy means the covenant has of understanding the world outside the city parishes. The two reputations the Nepheshim have as insightful, worldly gurus and ferocious, formidable survivors exemplify The Lancea Sanctum’s competing stereotypes of pious thinkers and fanatical warriors. The Wanderers, in a way, personify the covenant’s outer edges.
Wandering the Chorbah
The Nepheshim have one duty: to wander what educated elder Sanctified sometimes traditionally call the Chorbah. Chorbah, literally translated, means “desolate places.” Knowledgeable Kindred almost certainly agree that any place beyond the reach of settled lights counts as Chorbah. The Nepheshim wander through through woods and mountains, over seas and deserts, into wildernesses and small towns in accordance with their vows. They bring the Word of God and the Testament of Longinus to those who have not yet been exposed to it (though their rough ways generally make them third-rate evangelists), and seek out new views on undeath and new interpretations of the Centurion’s tale wherever they can be found.
For the Nepheshim, wandering does not simply mean “passing through.” Wandering is about experiencing new places and new ideas first-hand, at the ground level. These Mendicants do not wander in cars, by train, or on airplanes — not for long. Of their own volition, they have taken vows to pass the Requiem walking, whenever possible, through the most hostile places known to Kindred.
Some of them do this out of a sense of duty or as a sort of holy pilgrimage. Other vampires join the Nepheshim because they feel Kindred society has nothing left to offer them or because they feel they deserve banishment or exile. Sanctified traditionalists don’t approve of vampires who are ashamed of the Curse, but wandering the Chorbah can show a Kindred what it really means to be a predator and help him not only accept his Damnation but master it as some urban vampires never do. Stalking unsuspecting mortals without the benefit of a familiar city and without a large nighttime population to poach quickly hones a vampire’s capabilities. Learning to survive without a hierarchy of experienced monsters to provide guidance evokes the first centuries of Longinus, wandering and feeding alone in the darkness.
Most of the Damned won’t seriously consider leaving their own city, much less all urban environments altogether. The Nepheshim give up safe havens, relatively easy feeding, living and undead Allies and any protection that might be provided by a Prince. And for what? Makeshift havens, scarce Vitae and unmitigated isolation. Is it any wonder most Kindred think they’re insane?
The attrition rate for Nepheshim is highest in the first year, during which time many are destroyed but most simply give up and return home. After the first year, the numbers of failed Nepheshim drop off sharply. Those Wanderers who have survived the Chorbah for more than 25 years earn a reputation for hardiness, cleverness and formidability.
Feeding
The Nepheshim feed on animals, when they can, and whatever mortals they can find. Because they never stay in one place for long, the Nepheshim worry less than most Kindred about depleting the areas they wander. When they do drink from human vessels, they strive to space their meals out enough to avoid suspicious mortal investigators. Nepheshim rarely drink vessels dry for reasons associated with their Nepheshim vows, and to avoid leaving the kind of evidence vampire-hunters look for. Unless a Hungry One leaves a trail of exsanguinated corpses in his wake, his feeding is even less likely to be noticed than that of a city’s Kindred community.
From time to time, Nepheshim appear who claim to have discovered ways of preparing animal Vitae that make it as potent as that of mortals or even elder Kindred. Whether these claims are true has yet to be proven. Sanctified occultists who hear this tale may worry what sort of relationships the Nepheshim have formed with The Ordo Dracul.
From the Mendicant perspective, Kindred social games are artificial and shallow inventions designed to waste eternity. Few Nepheshim entering a city after a long period wandering in devoted service to Longinus are going to take kindly to the nightly social game-playing and duplicity of empty, pampered neonates, for example. Some Nepheshim do enjoy verbal or political sparring, as much as they enjoy any quaint local custom, but the Nepheshim who has walked from St. Louis to Chicago with a message for the Prince probably won’t find courtly protocol to be worth waiting for.
Just how these social deficits manifest themselves varies from one Nepheshim to the next. Many become so accustomed to talking (or reciting the liturgies of the Dark Prophet) to themselves, they forget that such behavior is frowned upon in social settings. Others may find the intrigue and political games of Kindred society so pointless that it drives them to fits of frustrated rage. To represent this level of social difficulty, the Storyteller may require a Resolve + Composure roll to be made every year that a Nepheshim character of Humanity 4 or lower goes without interacting with another Kindred. If this roll fails, the character gains a minor derangement (recorded at his current level of Humanity) or exacerbates an existing derangement.
These are extreme cases, however. Most of the time, the Nepheshim’s burden simply reveals itself as an unbreachable emotional distance from the other Damned or the kind of silence that a conversationalist might mistake for disagreement or scorn. To represent this sort of minor difficulty, the Storyteller may simply impose the a –2 penalty to all of the Nepheshim character’s Presence and Manipulation dice pools for the first two or three scenes he spends reacclimating to Kindred society.
The Nepheshim aren’t the only ones whose social shortcomings may be revealed upon their arrival. Given the rarity of Nepheshim in cities, less educated Kindred — Sanctified neonates, impious politicos — might be inclined to treat them like so many Kindred treat urban Mendicants: as pariahs rather than as holy pilgrims. Upon presentation at court, more than a few Nepheshim have been mistaken for homeless, unaligned vampires. Most Nepheshim experience such ignorance in domains where the Sanctified are insular or poorly informed, but such rudeness is seldom a surprise to the Hungry Ones.
Loosely translated, “Nepheshim” means “Hungry Ones.” What they hunger for, besides the Blood, has gone unanswered for centuries. Freedom? Knowledge? Solitude? As the meaning was lost, the name caught on. Tonight, only a minority of Kindred, even in The Lancea Sanctum, remember what the faction’s name means, and so the point goes unexamined. For those who choose to investigate the matter, one answer can be found in the Nepheshim vows.
Name aside, what is known is that this group of Wanderers barely has the coherence to be considered a faction at all. With no hierarchy at even a local level, no commonly developed goal and no clear mandate for operation, the Nepheshim are simply a disparate array of Kindred with one calling in common: to wander the world and report what they learn to their covenant’s local elders when they next enter an urban environment. In their wanderings they carry news to and from places on the fringes of Kindred society. Though the Wanderers, as they’ve been nicknamed, serve The Lancea Sanctum and even dedicate every aspect of their unlife to an extreme existence founded on religious principles, the members of this faction are sometimes seen as the least devout of any of the covenant’s factions. While some Nepheshim are merely open-minded in a way that strikes some Sanctified as unfaithful, others actuallydo stray dangerously close to apostasy at times (more so, even, than many of the Anointed would guess). Because the Wanderers are necessarily outsiders, however, most Bishops don’t worry too much about mendicant philosophies threatening thefoundations of local parishes — eccentric fringe musings come and go as easily as the Nepheshim themselves.
Still, Wanderers are (or seem) numerous and valuable enough that the so-called “mendicant phenomenon” is taken seriously within the covenant. The Nepheshim represent the most successful and trustworthy means the covenant has of understanding the world outside the city parishes. The two reputations the Nepheshim have as insightful, worldly gurus and ferocious, formidable survivors exemplify The Lancea Sanctum’s competing stereotypes of pious thinkers and fanatical warriors. The Wanderers, in a way, personify the covenant’s outer edges.
Philosophy
The Nepheshim spend their unlives looking for something they can’t find in the Requiems of ordinary Kindred. One does not join a Mendicant faction to gain Allies, wealth or political power. While the particular desire varies from one individual to another — this one seeks his private grail, that one seeks the spiritual answers that eluded him in life, the other wants to know what else lurks in the World of Darkness — all Nepheshim enter the faction for reasons that are highly personal. The most devoted claim to seek sacred knowledge to grant greater meaning to the Requiem, while the least devoted may admit they just wanted a respected pretext to escape an eternity at home. While some work toward a goal, others wander to evade the past. Some seek new insights, some flee old pains.Wandering the Chorbah
The Nepheshim have one duty: to wander what educated elder Sanctified sometimes traditionally call the Chorbah. Chorbah, literally translated, means “desolate places.” Knowledgeable Kindred almost certainly agree that any place beyond the reach of settled lights counts as Chorbah. The Nepheshim wander through through woods and mountains, over seas and deserts, into wildernesses and small towns in accordance with their vows. They bring the Word of God and the Testament of Longinus to those who have not yet been exposed to it (though their rough ways generally make them third-rate evangelists), and seek out new views on undeath and new interpretations of the Centurion’s tale wherever they can be found.
For the Nepheshim, wandering does not simply mean “passing through.” Wandering is about experiencing new places and new ideas first-hand, at the ground level. These Mendicants do not wander in cars, by train, or on airplanes — not for long. Of their own volition, they have taken vows to pass the Requiem walking, whenever possible, through the most hostile places known to Kindred.
Some of them do this out of a sense of duty or as a sort of holy pilgrimage. Other vampires join the Nepheshim because they feel Kindred society has nothing left to offer them or because they feel they deserve banishment or exile. Sanctified traditionalists don’t approve of vampires who are ashamed of the Curse, but wandering the Chorbah can show a Kindred what it really means to be a predator and help him not only accept his Damnation but master it as some urban vampires never do. Stalking unsuspecting mortals without the benefit of a familiar city and without a large nighttime population to poach quickly hones a vampire’s capabilities. Learning to survive without a hierarchy of experienced monsters to provide guidance evokes the first centuries of Longinus, wandering and feeding alone in the darkness.
Most of the Damned won’t seriously consider leaving their own city, much less all urban environments altogether. The Nepheshim give up safe havens, relatively easy feeding, living and undead Allies and any protection that might be provided by a Prince. And for what? Makeshift havens, scarce Vitae and unmitigated isolation. Is it any wonder most Kindred think they’re insane?
Hazards of the Road
Few Kindred meet Final Death with the same frequency as members of the Nepheshim, particularly those who have been wandering only a few years. The Chorbah takes its toll on those who explore it. The vows of the Nepheshim put them squarely in harm’s way, far from roofs and cellars to protect against the sunlight, on a regular basis and many Kindred who take up a Mendicant’s Requiem meet Final Death in the first year. Some never grasp the intricacies of feeding outside an urban environment and succumb to hunger and wretched Torpor in some dismal crack in the dirt. Others are sent screaming to Final Death by the myriad threats that exist for the Kindred outside their urban domain havens — nomads, witchhunters, werewolves and worse. Still others find their spirits or their nerves unable to cope with the solitude of the desolate places, but are unwilling to walk unwelcome into another filthy and sinful city, and so find a distant tranquil hilltop from which to watch a final sunrise.The attrition rate for Nepheshim is highest in the first year, during which time many are destroyed but most simply give up and return home. After the first year, the numbers of failed Nepheshim drop off sharply. Those Wanderers who have survived the Chorbah for more than 25 years earn a reputation for hardiness, cleverness and formidability.
Feeding
The Nepheshim feed on animals, when they can, and whatever mortals they can find. Because they never stay in one place for long, the Nepheshim worry less than most Kindred about depleting the areas they wander. When they do drink from human vessels, they strive to space their meals out enough to avoid suspicious mortal investigators. Nepheshim rarely drink vessels dry for reasons associated with their Nepheshim vows, and to avoid leaving the kind of evidence vampire-hunters look for. Unless a Hungry One leaves a trail of exsanguinated corpses in his wake, his feeding is even less likely to be noticed than that of a city’s Kindred community.
From time to time, Nepheshim appear who claim to have discovered ways of preparing animal Vitae that make it as potent as that of mortals or even elder Kindred. Whether these claims are true has yet to be proven. Sanctified occultists who hear this tale may worry what sort of relationships the Nepheshim have formed with The Ordo Dracul.
The Social Problem
Many of the negative stereotypes pinned on the Gangrel travel with the Nepheshim as well. Although they’re driven by spiritual fervor, it’s inarguable that many Nepheshim lose some social finesse over the many nights they spend in lonely places.From the Mendicant perspective, Kindred social games are artificial and shallow inventions designed to waste eternity. Few Nepheshim entering a city after a long period wandering in devoted service to Longinus are going to take kindly to the nightly social game-playing and duplicity of empty, pampered neonates, for example. Some Nepheshim do enjoy verbal or political sparring, as much as they enjoy any quaint local custom, but the Nepheshim who has walked from St. Louis to Chicago with a message for the Prince probably won’t find courtly protocol to be worth waiting for.
Just how these social deficits manifest themselves varies from one Nepheshim to the next. Many become so accustomed to talking (or reciting the liturgies of the Dark Prophet) to themselves, they forget that such behavior is frowned upon in social settings. Others may find the intrigue and political games of Kindred society so pointless that it drives them to fits of frustrated rage. To represent this level of social difficulty, the Storyteller may require a Resolve + Composure roll to be made every year that a Nepheshim character of Humanity 4 or lower goes without interacting with another Kindred. If this roll fails, the character gains a minor derangement (recorded at his current level of Humanity) or exacerbates an existing derangement.
These are extreme cases, however. Most of the time, the Nepheshim’s burden simply reveals itself as an unbreachable emotional distance from the other Damned or the kind of silence that a conversationalist might mistake for disagreement or scorn. To represent this sort of minor difficulty, the Storyteller may simply impose the a –2 penalty to all of the Nepheshim character’s Presence and Manipulation dice pools for the first two or three scenes he spends reacclimating to Kindred society.
The Nepheshim aren’t the only ones whose social shortcomings may be revealed upon their arrival. Given the rarity of Nepheshim in cities, less educated Kindred — Sanctified neonates, impious politicos — might be inclined to treat them like so many Kindred treat urban Mendicants: as pariahs rather than as holy pilgrims. Upon presentation at court, more than a few Nepheshim have been mistaken for homeless, unaligned vampires. Most Nepheshim experience such ignorance in domains where the Sanctified are insular or poorly informed, but such rudeness is seldom a surprise to the Hungry Ones.
Structure
Titles and Duties
As a general rule, the Nepheshim don’t give much credence to hierarchies. Titles can be grand and important sounding, but they don’t serve any function when a Mendicant is out in the Chorbah. Some titles have evolved over time, however, to distinguish how long a Kindred has been on the path of the Nepheshim, rather than to indicate Status.Organization: Both as Mendicants and as wanderers, the Nepheshim do not have much of an organization to speak of. Nepheshim have special relationships with the Tsa’ah that oversaw their initial vows, but no other organization exists by default. Individual Nepheshim may organize into coteries or traveling companions, on rare occassions.
Some Kindred, however, believe the Nepheshim are a major ace up the Sanctified sleeve. Because they are rarely found in cities, their true numbers are unknown. Rumors assert that, were The Lancea Sanctum ever to call in all of its wandering Nepheshim, their numbers could potentially, overwhelm the Kindred population of some cities. The logistics of such a move staggers the imagination, and such a thing has never been done. If the rumors are true and it was even possible to summon them, would the Nepheshim heed the call?
Culture
Appearance: Some Nepheshim appear truly archaic, dressed in simple robes and cast-off clothes found in dumpsters and abandoned cars. To remain inconspicuous, however, most modern Nepheshim wear whatever simple clothes could go unnoticed at a local truck-stop: jeans, parkas, knit hats, work boots and the like. Many Nepheshim keep no possessions that will not fit in a jacket pocket, but a few carry backpacks with simple tools that can be used to sun-proof a makeshift and temporary Haven: duct tape, black plastic trash bags, a sleeping bag and perhaps a hammer and nails.
Assets
Haven: Nepheshim are forbidden from keeping havens. They sleep in whatever safe nooks, holes, tunnels or shacks they can find.
History
The Nepheshim are a very old faction. They took to the Chorbah, the desolate wildernesses of the world, on their dark pilgrimage centuries before other covenants were even founded. Both The Lancea Sanctum and the Circle of the Crone have factions of Hungry Ones, though only the Sanctified faction can properly be called Nepheshim (the Acolytes have their own title for their wandering faction). How it is that two of the oldest Kindred covenants both have similar factions is unknown. Some Acolytes have suggested that the Hungry Ones began as a pagan tradition partially absorbed by the Camarilla and then, later by the Sanctified. Other Kindred posit that the Nepheshim were once a loose covenant of their own that, without the solidarity of the newer covenants, dissolved into its component Kindred and were subsumed. What all stories of the Nepheshim have in common, is that they endure as a reminder of nights long past. Other than that, the truth may never be known.
No faction of the Sanctified has less (obvious, political) power than the Nepheshim. The faction survives into the modern nights because of its history as an ancient Kindred culture, and because it is so easy for the Nepheshim to slip through the cracks of vampire society. The Nepheshim as a whole are among the least orthodox of all the Sanctified factions, and elders in a number of domains have questioned the faction’s right to exist, possibly in an effort to purge or assimilate them.
Either change is unlikely to happen. The Nepheshim have little political power, few Allies and minimal influence in the material world, but they have the weight of history behind them, empowered by the iconic image of Longinus as a wandering vampire in search of his own salvation. The Nepheshim have long been a family for the covenant’s mystics, outcasts, visionaries and eremites. While some Hardliners resent Mendicant heterodoxy, and some Neo-Reformists regard it as an outdated oddity, they have to recognize that the Nepheshim are among the oldest of all the covenant’s factions.
Many Kindred in and out of The Lancea Sanctum find the Nepheshim fascinating. For some, this is due to a romanticized notion of the eternally wandering vampire, resolute and independent, walking away from the comforts and protections, schemes and betrayals of the city to explore the larger world. For others, the fascination stems from the way individual members of the Nepheshim are respected, almost uniformly, as wise, tough and enigmatic figures capable of surviving for centuries with archaic customs and without modern aid. What Kindred, feeling trapped by an eternity of familiar streets and rivals, hasn’t fantasized about striking out on his own? What Kindred, hearing stories of destroyed neonates and vanished, sleeping elders, hasn’t doubted the limits of immortality?
Background: Of the five clans, two make up the vast majority of the Nepheshim. Foremost among these are the Gangrel, whose hardiness, ferocity and relatively asocial natures render them uniquely capable of withstanding the harsh isolated Requiem of a Mendicant. Only one other clan, the Nosferatu, is nearly as well represented within the faction. Haunts do not join the Nepheshim because of any particular advantage they have on the road (though many are indeed well-suited to the lot of the wanderer), but because many of them feel pushed away by society.
The Mekhet come in a distant third in the faction. While Shadows are more than capable of taking to the road, the wanderer’ Requiem doesn’t always foster the kinds of discovery and mystery that Mehket thrive on — many weeks or months can pass without new insight.
The least represented clans in the Nepheshim are the Daeva and the Ventrue. Kindred of these most urban (and urbane) clans likely find the Requiem of a Mendicant tantamount to exile. On those very rare occasions when Kindred of one of these two clans joins the Mendicant faction voluntarily, it is almost always out of extreme religious fervor or fear of some more awful fate.
No faction of the Sanctified has less (obvious, political) power than the Nepheshim. The faction survives into the modern nights because of its history as an ancient Kindred culture, and because it is so easy for the Nepheshim to slip through the cracks of vampire society. The Nepheshim as a whole are among the least orthodox of all the Sanctified factions, and elders in a number of domains have questioned the faction’s right to exist, possibly in an effort to purge or assimilate them.
Either change is unlikely to happen. The Nepheshim have little political power, few Allies and minimal influence in the material world, but they have the weight of history behind them, empowered by the iconic image of Longinus as a wandering vampire in search of his own salvation. The Nepheshim have long been a family for the covenant’s mystics, outcasts, visionaries and eremites. While some Hardliners resent Mendicant heterodoxy, and some Neo-Reformists regard it as an outdated oddity, they have to recognize that the Nepheshim are among the oldest of all the covenant’s factions.
Many Kindred in and out of The Lancea Sanctum find the Nepheshim fascinating. For some, this is due to a romanticized notion of the eternally wandering vampire, resolute and independent, walking away from the comforts and protections, schemes and betrayals of the city to explore the larger world. For others, the fascination stems from the way individual members of the Nepheshim are respected, almost uniformly, as wise, tough and enigmatic figures capable of surviving for centuries with archaic customs and without modern aid. What Kindred, feeling trapped by an eternity of familiar streets and rivals, hasn’t fantasized about striking out on his own? What Kindred, hearing stories of destroyed neonates and vanished, sleeping elders, hasn’t doubted the limits of immortality?
Background: Of the five clans, two make up the vast majority of the Nepheshim. Foremost among these are the Gangrel, whose hardiness, ferocity and relatively asocial natures render them uniquely capable of withstanding the harsh isolated Requiem of a Mendicant. Only one other clan, the Nosferatu, is nearly as well represented within the faction. Haunts do not join the Nepheshim because of any particular advantage they have on the road (though many are indeed well-suited to the lot of the wanderer), but because many of them feel pushed away by society.
The Mekhet come in a distant third in the faction. While Shadows are more than capable of taking to the road, the wanderer’ Requiem doesn’t always foster the kinds of discovery and mystery that Mehket thrive on — many weeks or months can pass without new insight.
The least represented clans in the Nepheshim are the Daeva and the Ventrue. Kindred of these most urban (and urbane) clans likely find the Requiem of a Mendicant tantamount to exile. On those very rare occasions when Kindred of one of these two clans joins the Mendicant faction voluntarily, it is almost always out of extreme religious fervor or fear of some more awful fate.
Tenets of Faith
Commandments and Traditions
The vows of the Nepheshim are a heavy burden, and those Kindred who think they want to take them are sternly discouraged from doing so, in a variety of ways. Those who show true diligence in their desire to join the faction must take the following vows and adhere to them religiously for five years and a night before they can be considered true Nepheshim.Elders of the Nepheshim faction counsel against taking the Mendicants’ vows if asked. If a Kindred is uncertain whether he wants to become a Mendicant, Nepheshim wisdom dictates that he should not do so.
Those who do take the vows are obligated to lead the unlife of a dark pilgrim for “five times a year and a night” after which the Kindred is free to wander or not, as he sees fit. Most elders think five years (and change) is too short a time for a supplicant to learn much from his vows, but it’s short enough that, compared to the seemingly endless expanse of eternity that lies ahead of most Kindred, it doesn’t intimidate every potential initiate.
Inescapable Integrity
Those who take their vows with the intention of “test driving” the Nepheshim path, and changing their minds if they don’t like it, are in for a surprise. The initiation rite a Kindred undergoes when he takes his Nepheshim vows are part of a mystically enforced oath. Only an older Nepheshim can induct a new Mendicant into the faction, and the initiation involves a mystic oath to seal the initiation.
So long as he took the vows of his own free will, a lapsed Nepheshim suffers paroxysms of guilt (–3 to all dice pools) so long as he is taking any action contrary to the Nepheshim vows. This oath is relatively lenient, as such things go: a Mendicant can stay in a city for up to one lunar month before the restlessness of conscience begins. The guilt lifts only when the Kindred resumes his wandering. If the Kindred returns to that particular city again within a year, the pain resumes at the moment the lights of the city touch his eyes.
Initiates into the Nepheshim aren’t told about the mystical power of the vows. That fact is a secret known only to the faction’s elders, and those who have violated the vows. Those who adhere to the vows never discover the oath, while those who try to cheat learn a lesson in integrity.
Taking the Oath
The mystical power of the oath is a matter of some debate. Some believe it is the echo of a curse placed upon the first Nepheshim by Vahishtael, others say it is the elaborate effect of a forgotten Theban Sorcery ritual. All that is known for certain is that any Nepheshim who has taken the oath can administer it: The Nepheshim recites the vows to the supplicant, who recites them back. Next, the Nepheshim opens his vein to the supplicant, who feeds from him (at least one Vitae, with all the consequences of The Vinculum applying as usual). This second step is repeated, once each night, until the supplicant is blood bound to his Nepheshim regnant. (Presumably, the blood oath of the Nepheshim is somehow transmitted through The Vinculum.) Finally, the supplicant cuts himself and bleeds (at least one Vitae) onto the bare earth, to mark his starting point.
This oath lasts only five years and five nights, after which the wanderer is free to maintain or abandon his vows as he sees fit, limited only by his own diligence and faith. For those Nepheshim who prefer having their vows enforced by the mystic blood oath — and surprisingly many do — the Kindred can take the oath again once his first oath is fulfilled. Only thing makes this second oath distinct from the first: it lasts forever.
Ethics
Vows of the Nepheshim
The Nepheshim take seven vows when they adopt the Requiem of the wanderer. Though reference is made to these vows in The Testament of Longinus, the text from which they are derived — the Book of the Nepheshim — is actually counted among the apocrypha. Sanctified theologians regard this multilingual manuscript, written mostly in Hebrew, as a post-Longinus revision of an earlier spiritual (but not necessarily religious) text that pre-dates Christ. That Longinus himself references this text in Torments is evidence that it is not a heresy. It is, tonight, a book the Sanctified no longer debate — a niche work for a tiny and ancient denomination.Each vow regarded as an ancient and sacrosanct commandment, even though the Nepheshim do not agree on the origin of the vows. Some say they were passed passed on by God, possibly through Longinus or the first of the Nepheshim. Others say they were derived by Longinus, based on his own travels and his awareness of God’s will. Most are willing to speculate, but unwilling to settle on a personal choice. Facing the unknown is part of what drives the Nepheshim.
The Vow of Itinerancy
The first, core vow of the Nepheshim is the Vow of Itinerancy, sometimes called “the Vow of the Road” in common parlance. It stipulates that the Nepheshim shall never establish a place as his haven. The original texts are unclear on exactly how long a Nepheshim can rest in one place, but centuries of wandering suggest that a full lunar cycle is the longest a wanderer can stay anywhere in good conscience.
Other traditions have sprung up around this vow as well, most of which have to do with the Nepheshim’s mode of transportation. Strictly speaking, Mendicants are supposed to travel only on foot. While Nepheshim have used camels and horses at various points throughout history, doing so is considered a minor breach of the Vow of Hardship. Sometimes, the vampire’s duty to Longinus and the covenant outweighs the personal loss of failing his vow. If the Nepheshim has vital, timely information to deliver to the Sanctified authority of a particular domain, he may avail himself of whatever means of transportation is fastest.
The Vow of Solitude
The oldest extant versions of this vow prompt the Nepheshim to “wander in solitude as Longinus did” after leaving the legions, but they have long since been reinterpreted to mean that the Hungry One should wander all the lonely places of the world: wilderness, semi-rural areas and small towns. This doesn’t mean that the Nepheshim are never to venture into cities, just that they should spend only a tiny portion of their time in them, and only within the constraints of the Vow of Vigilance, below.
The Vow of Hunger
It is from this vow, in part, that the faction gets its common nick-name. The Vow of Hunger stipulates that, except in times of conflict, the Nepheshim are never to feed to satiety, “but should always feel the bite of hunger, because hunger is the motive of the predator, and the Nepheshim should always remain in close relationship with it.” In their first nights among the Nepheshim, many Kindred resent the discomfort this vow elicits, but may also appreciate it in some small measure because it grants a modicum of noble piety to the lack of Vitae they experience due to the difficulties of feeding in the wild.
The Vow of Hardship
This vow refers to a line attributed to Longinus himself: “Comfort is the most dangerous trap a predator can encounter. Be wary of comfort and satiation, for they breed complacency, and complacency is weakness, while the way of hardship leads to the chalice of strength.” Some Nepheshim see this vow as redundant, in light of the other vows that already make comfort all but impossible, but the meaning is clear: When given a choice, the Nepheshim should choose the more challenging path. This vow, perhaps more than any other, is responsible for the scarcity of the faction. The idea of an eternity of hardship is not something many Kindred would care to bear.
The Vow of Equals
Of all the vows, this is the most vague. The literal wording of this vow in the original Hebrew states, “A Nepheshim may travel only with equals. Should he never meet an equal, he is advised to travel alone — there is no fellowship with fools.” Some scholars suggest this means that a group of Nepheshim may travel together as a coterie, but more conservative elders insist the intent was to allow a Nepheshim to travel only with one other Nepheshim. Some wanderers interpret this vow to mean they are to travel only with those who are of equally potent blood, while others claim it means that Nepheshim are not allowed to wander with ghouls or mortals, or to enter into a Vinculum that renders one party subordinate to the other.
A majority of Nepheshim interpret this vow fairly liberally. As a matter of course, most Mendicants avoid mortals (except when feeding), eschew the creation of ghouls, avoid the Vinculum like the sun and wander alone, if only to remain unnoticed. Coteries of Nepheshim spring up on occasion, but most dissolve in the space of a year or two. The more members there are in a coterie of wanderers, the faster they have to travel, lest they feed too heavily from one thinly populated region.
The Vow of Vigilance
Longinus said unto the Nepheshim, “Be my eyes in the lonely places and you shall serve me well.” This vow is commonly thought to take precedence over all the others, because it represents the Nepheshim’s raison d’etre in Kindred society. In some domains, the Nepheshim are the covenant’s only means of gaining knowledge about happenings beyond the safety of the cities. One of the few causes for a Mendicant to enter a city is to report important news. In exchange, the Sanctified elders of the city (if any) are expected to offer the wanderer lavish hospitality, which he is obligated by tradition to refuse three times before accepting. This is the only time it is acceptable for one of the Nepheshim to be comfortable.
The Vow of Intervention
This vow defines the limits of the wanderer’s active hand in the world. Translated from Hebrew it reads, “Rectify egregious inversions of Longinus’ order.” This has traditionally been interpreted to mean that the Mendicant is to intervene in any improper or unnatural relationship between predator and prey. To date, it has been invoked to justify, among other things: the execution of a vampire found serving a mortal mage, the reclamation of copies of The Testament of Longinus that had fallen into mortal hands (and the destruction of their owners) and taking aggressive action against vampire-hunters, whom the Nepheshim see as inversions of Longinus’ order (since it is the role of vampires to hunt mortals, and not the other way around). The Nepheshim might not be able to carry out the intervention himself, but he should report the perversions to those Kindred who are able.
Quote: “I’ve seen a hundred cities like this one and a thousand vampires like you, son.”
Type
Religious, Sect
Alternative Names
Nepheshim
Ruling Organization
Parent Organization
Related Traditions
Mendicants In General
In most domains, Mendicants can hardly be considered a faction. They have little or, more often, no organization, no political or social ambitions and nothing but personal, spiritual goals. Most often, when the Sanctified mention the Mendicants, they are simply referring to any Kindred in the domain who eschew material possessions, wealth and comfort in the pursuit of a pious Requiem.Mendicants may become involved in the affairs of the domain at large, and may even be counted among the coteries of non-Mendicants, but they strive to maintain their personal oaths against material corruption at the same time. Mendicants often appear homeless, may even be homeless, and are routinely mistaken for unaligned vampires. They may preach like back-alley lunatics or they be erudite and civil. Some Mendicants manage to stay clean and somewhat presentable, but others refuse to bathe in anything but God’s rain. Some Mendicants reject possessions to the point of rejecting technology, dwelling in the dark and abandoned places where even the city has given up its power and possessions. Others are sworn to own only what is donated to them.
In game terms, Mendicant Kindred are forbidden by their beliefs from having any dots in the City Status, Resources, or Retainer Merits. Mendicants cannot have more than two dots in the Haven Merit, and cannot contribute to a shared Haven. A Mendicant should avoid more than one or two dots in Covenant Status, even, as it can lead to unwanted responsibilities and material concerns. (The idea is that the experience points that would normally be spent on such traits are now available to be spent on Resolve, Composure and Disciplines.) Kindred who violate these tenets suffer little more than the pity or derision of other Mendicants, and cannot truly be called Mendicants any longer.
Mendicant Exile
A small number of Kindred join Mendicant factions not out of a strong sense of spiritual duty, but as a last ditch effort to save face or avoid punishment after a severe violation of church or city law. In a few domains, where Mendicant factions have long been established and The Lancea Sanctum has close ties to the city hierarchy, a vow to undertake a Mendicant Requiem may be an accepted form of punishment. Before a vampire is offered this out, however, she must evince both true regret for the deed in question, and a true willingness to render duty unto Longinus in exchange for this leniency. The Kindred is then stripped of her possessions and titles, and either forbidden from attending court or Elysium for a period determined by the Prince or sworn into the ranks of the Nepheshim and banished from the city.Obviously, The Lancea Sanctum doesn’t want to become known as a quick-and-easy means for Kindred to escape the consequences of their own actions. Any Sanctified who agrees to take on the Requiem of a Mendicant and is later found to have reneged on his vow loses all of the benefits of this rough sanctuary. The Anointed have little choice but to make an example of such impious scoundrels, and Nepheshim elders in particular loathe those who take the vows of the Mendicants so lightly. In domains controlled by The Lancea Sanctum, breaking such a holy oath may be grounds for centuries of Torpor or even Final Death. Even in secular domains, spitting on the mercy of the Prince and his Priests is grounds for punishment, in addition to that due for the original crime or infraction that incurred the vow.
In theory, all new members of the Nepheshim, regardless of how they came to be Mendicants, are taught the rites and oaths of the Nepheshim before being sent into the Chorbah. That’s what new inductees are told, anyway. The truth of the matter is that, outside of a city, no Kindred is going to know how long a self-described Nepheshim has been on his journey, and probably won’t much care, since the insights of the Nepheshim are thought to be relatively innocuous and intensely personal anyway. If he seems to be a survivor with knowledge of distant domains, few Kindred are going to doubt the wanderer in their midst is truly one of the Nepheshim.
Nepheshim as Bloodline
While the Nepheshim are primarily known as a faction, recent centuries suggest they may have spawned a bloodline, as well. Some Gangrel Nepheshim whose sires were also wandering Mendicants have found they have the ability to change their blood. The strongest-willed of these can also muster supernatural powers of survival from a Discipline, being called Nahdad (if it actually exists), that these Nepheshim have been quietly exploring to ease the hardships of travel. For those Kindred of the new bloodline, this is a powerful transitional moment in their history — and one they’re keeping to themselves. Not even other Kindred in the faction may realize what’s taking place.The only thing that has kept these Hungry Ones from openly claiming bloodline Status already is a desire to keep the Discipline of Nahdad a secret. To their way of thinking, knowledge of Nahdad is only meant for those who suffer the cold, the hunger and the scratch of thorns in their nightly pilgrimage: the most honored and respected of the Nepheshim. For now, the Kindred of the Nepheshim bloodline seem perfectly content to blend in with the rest of the faction.
Parent Clan: Gangrel
Weakness: In addition to the ties to the Beast that affect all Gangrel blood, the blood oath of the Nepheshim manifests within the Vitae of this line. A Nepheshim cannot possess dots in the City Status, Haven, Herd, Resources or Retainer Merits. If he ever purchases a dot in one of the above Merits, he surrenders all dots in Nahdad. If the character gives up his dots in a forbidden Merit, lost dots in Nahdad are not recovered, but may be purchased anew. Plus, a member of the Nepheshim bloodline can never be free of his blood’s exaggerated manifestation of the Nepheshim oath: Each night after the first that the character awakens in a particular territory (domain, city or town), he must spend a Willpower point to resist the nagging guilt that he is neglecting his vows. If the character leaves familiar territory and returns again within one year and one day, he must continue to spend Willpower each night that he awakens therein.
Disciplines: Auspex, Nahdad, Protean, Resilience
Mendicants: Souless theocrats.
Hardliners: Admirably devoted, sadly distant.
Hardliners: Admirably devoted, sadly distant.
Mendicants: Visionary, but disrespectful of tradition.
Neo-Reformists: They'll never change anyway.
Neo-Reformists: They'll never change anyway.
Mendicants: No accouting for the individual.
Unifiers: Best they don't wander too far.
Unifiers: Best they don't wander too far.
Proselytizers: Same principle, different application.
Mendicants: They fear to truly spread the word.
Mendicants: They fear to truly spread the word.