Neo-Reformists
Neo-Reformists believe the covenant’s dogma must adapt to keep up with a changing world. For the true meaning of the Testament to be appreciated by modern Damned, it must be presented in a manner that is relevant and accessible to tonight’s Kindred. By looking at the scripture with new eyes and allowing for new ideas, the covenant will be better able to weather an eternity’s worth of challenges to the faith.
Whereas more traditional Sanctified believe worshippers should adapt to the unchanging scripture, Neo-Reformists hold that the scripture should be able to accept a diversifying Kindred population. If the covenant’s philosophies are allowed to stagnate, the covenant will rot. If the Testament is not perpetually reexamined by the Sanctified, the depth of its grandeur will fade. The Damned change, grow and adapt over time despite the Curse; shouldn’t the Testament do the same? The early followers of Longinus, who had to go on without the Monachus to guide them, sought new answers from the gospel and a new appreciation for it within themselves; shouldn’t modern Sanctified do the same?
The alternative doesn’t seem to Neo-Reformists like it could be what God and Longinus intended. Mortals cannot be raised to be ready for the truths of the Testament, yet the future’s Kindred are brought up as mortals. Are the Sanctified supposed to man just one spot in the philosophical landscape and let the mortals wander so far afield that all future neonates, unable to connect with a stale ancient text, are branded heathens?
Common Neo-Reformist thinking regards philosophical inflexibility as a failure of the covenant’s spiritual purpose. The Sanctified are meant to bring the testimony of Longinus to all the world’s Kindred, to raise up all vampires from a pitiful, faithless existence. Instead, say the Neo-Reformists, the Sanctified have been demanding that all the world’s Kindred come to them.
Some Sanctified imagine the relationship between the Hardliners and the Neo-Reformists puts each faction on either side of a traditional interpretation of the Testament, so that each philosophy represents a different extremity of covenant philosophy. In contrast, Neo-Reformists see the traditional interpretation of the Testament as a philosophical landmark that the Hardliners have put their backs against, like soldiers guarding their king. If Neo-Reformists are to change the popular view of the scripture, they must first cut through the Hardliners, who have been fortifying their position for centuries.
Most Neo-Reformists don’t want to define themselves relative to the established position of the Hardliners (who established their own position relative to the evangel ages ago), but measuring the difference between any Neo-Reformist philosophy and the beliefs of the Hardliners is an effective means of clarifying this faction’s position for middle-ground Kindred. The degree of difference between a Hardliner and Neo-Reformist depends on the circumstances of each domain, of course. In this domain, Neo-Reformists are fervent protestants striving to erode the Hardliners’ political power and membership through well-researched debates and comfortable, modern interpretations of the scripture. In that domain, Neo-Reformists and Hardliners aren’t much more than a handful of Sanctified who debate particular passages of scripture in Elysium.
Certainly not all Anointed Neo-Reformists are paralyzed by their own flexibility. To lay Kindred, Neo-Reformists are often seen simply as moderate leaders willing to accept even the most gradual spiritual progress from the Damned and able to excuse the shortcomings of confused or overwhelmed novitiates. To the Sanctified, a Neo-Reformist in power brings with her a new focus on academic endeavors within the parish (such as translations, theological lectures and the creation of new parables and morality plays) and a trickle of new converts attracted by more accessible philosophies.
Some Sanctified (and some Invictus) foresee a night when The Lancea Sanctum’s Neo-Reformists will seek out lasting partnerships with the Carthians. In more domains than most Invictus care to admit, that night has already come. Neo-Reformists who gain titles or offices in the city hierarchy may strive to make peace with the leaders of the local Carthian Movement, but more often it’s the other way around — when Carthians secure their own allegiances with the Second Estate, they strengthen their positions with bricks stolen from the First.
A Neo-Reformist may be an easy-going, open-minded Priest encouraging novitiates to speculate on the meaning of scripture, or she may be a strict and imposing Priest requiring novitiates to memorize the parish’s new, modern translation of the scripture. The notion that all Neo-Reformists are culturally appreciative intellectuals in search of a more sensitive Testament is potentially dangerous. Plenty of Neo-Reformists have finalized their revised interpretations of the scripture and now push them on other Sanctified the same way Hardliners push the fundamentalist line.
So much of the Testament is made up of symbolic lessons and archetypal imagery that it seems clear the manuscript was meant to be inspirationally metaphorical. No Requiem is so rife with morality plays and obvious demonstrations of the tenets in action. Surely Longinus and the Monachus intended it to be read and digested rather than simply obeyed. If a reader an accept that he is meant to examine the lessons contained in the text’s parables and digest the meaning of each story, why can’t he accept that the whole text can be opened up to interpretation?
Neo-Reformists see the Testament as a rich text, full of layered and complex messages. As more Kindred bring their own experiences and insights to the text, more of its meaning is revealed. To think that the meaning of Longinus’ divine tale has been fully exhumed is absurd. The Testament of Longinus was written to drive and guide the Damned for eternity. Thus far, they’ve only scratched the surface.
Whereas more traditional Sanctified believe worshippers should adapt to the unchanging scripture, Neo-Reformists hold that the scripture should be able to accept a diversifying Kindred population. If the covenant’s philosophies are allowed to stagnate, the covenant will rot. If the Testament is not perpetually reexamined by the Sanctified, the depth of its grandeur will fade. The Damned change, grow and adapt over time despite the Curse; shouldn’t the Testament do the same? The early followers of Longinus, who had to go on without the Monachus to guide them, sought new answers from the gospel and a new appreciation for it within themselves; shouldn’t modern Sanctified do the same?
The alternative doesn’t seem to Neo-Reformists like it could be what God and Longinus intended. Mortals cannot be raised to be ready for the truths of the Testament, yet the future’s Kindred are brought up as mortals. Are the Sanctified supposed to man just one spot in the philosophical landscape and let the mortals wander so far afield that all future neonates, unable to connect with a stale ancient text, are branded heathens?
Common Neo-Reformist thinking regards philosophical inflexibility as a failure of the covenant’s spiritual purpose. The Sanctified are meant to bring the testimony of Longinus to all the world’s Kindred, to raise up all vampires from a pitiful, faithless existence. Instead, say the Neo-Reformists, the Sanctified have been demanding that all the world’s Kindred come to them.
Some Sanctified imagine the relationship between the Hardliners and the Neo-Reformists puts each faction on either side of a traditional interpretation of the Testament, so that each philosophy represents a different extremity of covenant philosophy. In contrast, Neo-Reformists see the traditional interpretation of the Testament as a philosophical landmark that the Hardliners have put their backs against, like soldiers guarding their king. If Neo-Reformists are to change the popular view of the scripture, they must first cut through the Hardliners, who have been fortifying their position for centuries.
Most Neo-Reformists don’t want to define themselves relative to the established position of the Hardliners (who established their own position relative to the evangel ages ago), but measuring the difference between any Neo-Reformist philosophy and the beliefs of the Hardliners is an effective means of clarifying this faction’s position for middle-ground Kindred. The degree of difference between a Hardliner and Neo-Reformist depends on the circumstances of each domain, of course. In this domain, Neo-Reformists are fervent protestants striving to erode the Hardliners’ political power and membership through well-researched debates and comfortable, modern interpretations of the scripture. In that domain, Neo-Reformists and Hardliners aren’t much more than a handful of Sanctified who debate particular passages of scripture in Elysium.
Neo-Reformists In Office
Traditional Sanctified may fear that a Neo-Reformist Bishop has plans to rewrite the Testament or redefine the meanings of the parish ritae. In liberal domains, a Neo-Reformist might attempt such drastic changes, but in most domains a Neo-Reformist leader must be careful not to attempt too many alterations to the parish at once, lest he provoke a backlash from reactionary Hardliners. In practice, however, Neo-Reformists have a reputation as ineffectual leaders unwilling to reign in the flock and unable to drive the parish in any single direction.Certainly not all Anointed Neo-Reformists are paralyzed by their own flexibility. To lay Kindred, Neo-Reformists are often seen simply as moderate leaders willing to accept even the most gradual spiritual progress from the Damned and able to excuse the shortcomings of confused or overwhelmed novitiates. To the Sanctified, a Neo-Reformist in power brings with her a new focus on academic endeavors within the parish (such as translations, theological lectures and the creation of new parables and morality plays) and a trickle of new converts attracted by more accessible philosophies.
Some Sanctified (and some Invictus) foresee a night when The Lancea Sanctum’s Neo-Reformists will seek out lasting partnerships with the Carthians. In more domains than most Invictus care to admit, that night has already come. Neo-Reformists who gain titles or offices in the city hierarchy may strive to make peace with the leaders of the local Carthian Movement, but more often it’s the other way around — when Carthians secure their own allegiances with the Second Estate, they strengthen their positions with bricks stolen from the First.
A Neo-Reformist may be an easy-going, open-minded Priest encouraging novitiates to speculate on the meaning of scripture, or she may be a strict and imposing Priest requiring novitiates to memorize the parish’s new, modern translation of the scripture. The notion that all Neo-Reformists are culturally appreciative intellectuals in search of a more sensitive Testament is potentially dangerous. Plenty of Neo-Reformists have finalized their revised interpretations of the scripture and now push them on other Sanctified the same way Hardliners push the fundamentalist line.
Neo-Reformists and the Testament
To Neo-Reformists, the Testament of Longinus is a guidebook describing a philosophy of existence that lives, grows and adapts even though its followers remain undead. The tales of the Centurion may be rooted in facts, but have almost certainly been exaggerated or embellished to be memorable and timeless. The purpose and meaning of the Damned’s role in the world remains unchanged, but the methods and practices necessary to fill that role must change as the world does. So say the Neo-Reformists.So much of the Testament is made up of symbolic lessons and archetypal imagery that it seems clear the manuscript was meant to be inspirationally metaphorical. No Requiem is so rife with morality plays and obvious demonstrations of the tenets in action. Surely Longinus and the Monachus intended it to be read and digested rather than simply obeyed. If a reader an accept that he is meant to examine the lessons contained in the text’s parables and digest the meaning of each story, why can’t he accept that the whole text can be opened up to interpretation?
Neo-Reformists see the Testament as a rich text, full of layered and complex messages. As more Kindred bring their own experiences and insights to the text, more of its meaning is revealed. To think that the meaning of Longinus’ divine tale has been fully exhumed is absurd. The Testament of Longinus was written to drive and guide the Damned for eternity. Thus far, they’ve only scratched the surface.
Structure
Organization: Neo-Reformist Sanctified are more likely to gather together as study groups than they are to form activist cells. For now, most Neo-Reformists are engaged in exploring the symbolic and spiritual depths of the scripture and refining new interpretations of the Testament. The time for wide-spread change is, most likely, a long way off.
Some Neo-Reformist factions meet under the tutelage of a single well-read and well-spoken Sanctified theologian, who leads a kind of bizarre Sunday school of the Damned. Kindred in attendance examine the Testament as it applies to the local parish and their own Requiems, and possibly explore the history of covenant scripture and its various interpretations. They gather together in the basement or garage of a mortal church and look at their faith from several, personal perspectives — as Ventrue, for example, or as neonates, women or converts — and strive to compare their conclusions with more objective analyses. Such groups may amount to little more than vampiric book clubs dabbling in comparative religious studies, but they may also lead local Kindred to the personal understanding of the Testament they need to become predators worthy of Sanctified praise.
Other Neo-Reformist factions organize themselves around attainable, visible goals, such as the completion of a letter of dissent to the Bishop, describing the faction’s dissatisfaction with the parish or its interpretation of the gospel. In recent nights, the Neo-Reformists of some parishes have undertaken efforts to compose whole new translations of the Testament. Such efforts require specific talents — with dead languages, with computers, with theology — that demand the faction to organize its members for the sake of productivity. Whether they organize into business-like teams with white-boards, file servers, schedules and meetings or into volunteer groups of underground academics pinging each other via email varies with each parish, or even with each project.
Some Neo-Reformist factions meet under the tutelage of a single well-read and well-spoken Sanctified theologian, who leads a kind of bizarre Sunday school of the Damned. Kindred in attendance examine the Testament as it applies to the local parish and their own Requiems, and possibly explore the history of covenant scripture and its various interpretations. They gather together in the basement or garage of a mortal church and look at their faith from several, personal perspectives — as Ventrue, for example, or as neonates, women or converts — and strive to compare their conclusions with more objective analyses. Such groups may amount to little more than vampiric book clubs dabbling in comparative religious studies, but they may also lead local Kindred to the personal understanding of the Testament they need to become predators worthy of Sanctified praise.
Other Neo-Reformist factions organize themselves around attainable, visible goals, such as the completion of a letter of dissent to the Bishop, describing the faction’s dissatisfaction with the parish or its interpretation of the gospel. In recent nights, the Neo-Reformists of some parishes have undertaken efforts to compose whole new translations of the Testament. Such efforts require specific talents — with dead languages, with computers, with theology — that demand the faction to organize its members for the sake of productivity. Whether they organize into business-like teams with white-boards, file servers, schedules and meetings or into volunteer groups of underground academics pinging each other via email varies with each parish, or even with each project.
Culture
Appearance: One element common in the appearance of the Neo-Reformists is that they tend to be dressed in relatively modern clothing. Neo-Reformists run the gamut from leather-clad punks to hipster computer-geeks to upper-class dilettantes dressed in expensive couture. Some come to the faction because they see it as the Sanctified counter-culture, and dress like it. Others are attracted to the faction’s moderate views, relative to the parish at large, and dress in ordinary (some say bland) modern clothes.
Most Neo-Reformist populations tend towards the young and urbane, both in appearance and in actual measure. In most domains, the Neo-Reformists represent a wider variety of races than other Sanctified factions. It’s less common — but not uncommon — for Kindred of this faction to make use of religious garb during rites and ceremonies.
Most Neo-Reformist populations tend towards the young and urbane, both in appearance and in actual measure. In most domains, the Neo-Reformists represent a wider variety of races than other Sanctified factions. It’s less common — but not uncommon — for Kindred of this faction to make use of religious garb during rites and ceremonies.
Assets
Haven: Although many Neo-Reformists maintain their own havens, the Sanctified of this revolutionary faction have a reputation for sharing communal havens. Whether private or shared, a Neo-Reformist’s Haven is likely to be more modern than a Hardliner’s, equipped with distractions like a television (for watching religious documentaries) or an internet connection (for researching theology, philosophy and history). Some Neo-Reformist’s havens are cluttered with books, others are tidy and Spartan.
Communal Neo-Reformist havens often begin as a meeting place for revolutionary Sanctified to discuss alternative interpretations of the Testament or organize plans for new projects. Over time, if the Neo-Reformists grow closer or more dedicated, they may spend so much time in the workspace that it becomes a Haven in practice.
Communal Neo-Reformist havens often begin as a meeting place for revolutionary Sanctified to discuss alternative interpretations of the Testament or organize plans for new projects. Over time, if the Neo-Reformists grow closer or more dedicated, they may spend so much time in the workspace that it becomes a Haven in practice.
History
Background: Neo-Reformists tend to come from educated or urban backgrounds in life. Exposure to different religions seems to inspire a monster of faith to reconsider the tenets of his own church later on. Sanctified who were raised in modern, Western cities as mortals, who attended public schools or led largely secular lives, are more likely to fit in among the Neo-Reformists than any other faction.
Kindred who come to The Lancea Sanctum from other covenants — especially over-educated neonates accustomed to questioning tradition — are likely to join in with other Neo- Reformists. Some see the faction as a means of changing the covenant’s local identity into the church the convert wished he could join. Others finally join the Sanctified only because they believe local Neo-Reformists have actually made a difference in the dogma. A few side with the Neo-Reformists only to stay clear of the stricter, and often more difficult, Requiem called for by the Hardliners.
From time to time, an aged Sanctified Priest or lay parishioner interested in the philosophy of change espoused by the Neo-Reformists and seeks to join them, or at least learn more about their theology. Only rarely are such Kindred turned down, but young Kindred may be suspicious of elders who suddenly take an interest in changing themselves and the covenant. Sanctified of opposing factions — namely the Hardliners — have posed as curious newcomers in the past, looking for evidence of heresy in the books and computer files of the Neo-Reformists.
In the infamous (and possibly fictional) 1991 case of a Phoenix, Arizona parish, “evidence of heresy” gathered by a Hardliner Inquisitor — exemplified by books on the pagan roots of early Judeo-Christian holidays and observances — was used as fuel to burn the leader of the heretical sub-faction as “a conspirator with the Crone and a vandal of the truth.” Granted, the destroyed Sanctified was a long-time enemy of the Archbishop, but Neo-Reformists who hear the tale may be more likely to see it as a case of religious persecution than as a personal vendetta.
Kindred who come to The Lancea Sanctum from other covenants — especially over-educated neonates accustomed to questioning tradition — are likely to join in with other Neo- Reformists. Some see the faction as a means of changing the covenant’s local identity into the church the convert wished he could join. Others finally join the Sanctified only because they believe local Neo-Reformists have actually made a difference in the dogma. A few side with the Neo-Reformists only to stay clear of the stricter, and often more difficult, Requiem called for by the Hardliners.
From time to time, an aged Sanctified Priest or lay parishioner interested in the philosophy of change espoused by the Neo-Reformists and seeks to join them, or at least learn more about their theology. Only rarely are such Kindred turned down, but young Kindred may be suspicious of elders who suddenly take an interest in changing themselves and the covenant. Sanctified of opposing factions — namely the Hardliners — have posed as curious newcomers in the past, looking for evidence of heresy in the books and computer files of the Neo-Reformists.
In the infamous (and possibly fictional) 1991 case of a Phoenix, Arizona parish, “evidence of heresy” gathered by a Hardliner Inquisitor — exemplified by books on the pagan roots of early Judeo-Christian holidays and observances — was used as fuel to burn the leader of the heretical sub-faction as “a conspirator with the Crone and a vandal of the truth.” Granted, the destroyed Sanctified was a long-time enemy of the Archbishop, but Neo-Reformists who hear the tale may be more likely to see it as a case of religious persecution than as a personal vendetta.
Quote: That’s all fine and good for the nights of the Roman Empire, but what does it have to do with our Requiems tonight?
Concepts: Christian rock songwriter, college professor, confused neonate, covenant marketing expert, group therapy leader, handsome demagogue, liberal activist, rabble-rouser, religious executive, young convert.
Neo-Reformists: Slaves to history.
Hardliners: Spirited but misguided.
Hardliners: Spirited but misguided.
Neo-Reformists: Nobly working toward an impossible goal.
Unifiers: Misguided, but worthy.
Unifiers: Misguided, but worthy.
Mendicants: Visionary, but disrespectful of tradition.
Neo-Reformists: They'll never change anyway.
Neo-Reformists: They'll never change anyway.
Proselytizers: No respect for tradtion.
Neo-Reformists: Let's fix the roof before we invite anyone else inside.
Neo-Reformists: Let's fix the roof before we invite anyone else inside.
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