The Karalov Recording
Carthian Status: •
In 1961, a Nosferatu named Murman Karalov was present in the Elysium of Tbisli during a now-infamous purge of all Carthian and Carthian-allied elements from the domain. Hidden from view, he managed to tape-record a full half-hour of The Invictus Prince’s near-incoherent rambling diatribe against The Carthian Movement, including the fatal instructions delivered to his Sheriff and the “loyal and proper Kindred of quality” in the city.
Karalov escaped the purge by leaving his home domain, eventually learning that he was the only Carthian vampire to survive the night. Overcome with grief and rage, he walked into the sun soon after, choosing Final Death over the knowledge that his colleagues and compatriots had all perished without him. His Recording was found and replayed by a clanmate and fellow Carthian, who, upon realizing what he was listening to, quickly grabbed the tape and took it to his Allies in the Movement.
The tape was promptly copied and distributed to several Carthian cells across Europe. Many of the duplicates were eventually destroyed (or distorted beyond recognition by repeated playback), but a few have survived to the modern nights. Nobody has bothered to create a mass-distributed version of the Recording yet.
Interpretation: To understand the Karalov Recording, a vampire must be fluent in Georgian. Those who are will quickly feel a chill as the tape unspools: it offers a clear and indisputable picture of absolute power gone mad. The worst potential of the despotic system of The Invictus is realized on the tape in stark, unedited form, and listening to it will often enflame the passions of those Kindred who have reason to dislike the First Estate. However, the combined effects of age and the Masquerade have distorted the voices on the tape, and some have argued that it may be a staged fake engineered to create an exaggerated picture of Invictus villainy.
Karalov escaped the purge by leaving his home domain, eventually learning that he was the only Carthian vampire to survive the night. Overcome with grief and rage, he walked into the sun soon after, choosing Final Death over the knowledge that his colleagues and compatriots had all perished without him. His Recording was found and replayed by a clanmate and fellow Carthian, who, upon realizing what he was listening to, quickly grabbed the tape and took it to his Allies in the Movement.
The tape was promptly copied and distributed to several Carthian cells across Europe. Many of the duplicates were eventually destroyed (or distorted beyond recognition by repeated playback), but a few have survived to the modern nights. Nobody has bothered to create a mass-distributed version of the Recording yet.
Interpretation: To understand the Karalov Recording, a vampire must be fluent in Georgian. Those who are will quickly feel a chill as the tape unspools: it offers a clear and indisputable picture of absolute power gone mad. The worst potential of the despotic system of The Invictus is realized on the tape in stark, unedited form, and listening to it will often enflame the passions of those Kindred who have reason to dislike the First Estate. However, the combined effects of age and the Masquerade have distorted the voices on the tape, and some have argued that it may be a staged fake engineered to create an exaggerated picture of Invictus villainy.