The Moirai
Keepers of Past and Future, "That's not a threat. It's a prediction."
The dead whisper about the Moirai, best-known and most fabled of the Shadow Cults. The Kindred suppose them to own a vast library, containing all history, living and dead. They tell of how their elders can resist the Fog of Ages through sheer force of will. Some stories describe them as a Secret Covenant that pre-dates even the original Camarilla. Others describe them simply as a bloodline, although opinions differ as to whether they come from the Mekhet or Daeva.
Nearly all of the rumors agree on one thing: they’re long dead. There are no Moirai left.
Some of these things are true. The last one, however, certainly isn’t. The Moirai still exist, and if the dead cannot see them, it’s because so many of their rites happen in broad daylight, while their leaders stay hidden.
For three thousand years, the Moirai have traced the threads of the Great Tapestry of history, seeking to divine its patterns. By discovering the recurring patterns of time, the Moirai believe that they can recognize the first signs of these patterns happening again, and manipulate them, placing themselves at the vital point of the tapestry of creation, holding the scissors to cut the threads of lives, grasping the shuttle and changing the picture. To know the past in all its detail is to know the future, and to know the future is to have true power.
Nearly all of the rumors agree on one thing: they’re long dead. There are no Moirai left.
Some of these things are true. The last one, however, certainly isn’t. The Moirai still exist, and if the dead cannot see them, it’s because so many of their rites happen in broad daylight, while their leaders stay hidden.
For three thousand years, the Moirai have traced the threads of the Great Tapestry of history, seeking to divine its patterns. By discovering the recurring patterns of time, the Moirai believe that they can recognize the first signs of these patterns happening again, and manipulate them, placing themselves at the vital point of the tapestry of creation, holding the scissors to cut the threads of lives, grasping the shuttle and changing the picture. To know the past in all its detail is to know the future, and to know the future is to have true power.
Public Agenda
Praxis: The Moirai keep detailed records of histories, oracles, divinations and omens. They seek to find the identities of those individuals who will be somehow significant in the warp and weft of the Great Tapestry. Power comes from knowing the Great Tapestry’s patterns. Through knowing root causes, they influence others, steering history to their purposes. The Moirai instruct their members to do things: political policies, financial decisions, relationships, intimidation and murder, the creation of Ghouls, the forging of Vinculi, even the Embrace and destruction of a vampire, all without any apparent motive beyond the ancient plan to alter the Great Tapestry.
Most of the Moirai have no idea why they do what they do. Someone higher up in the cult hierarchy tells them that such-and-such a politician or such-and-such a neonate will be significant, but no one ever says why. Directives appear seemingly out of thin air. The eldest Moirai are reputed to have some vast, intricate plan, but no single Moirai seems to know it. In fact, it might not be known to anyone, since it may well have been conceived by vampires lost to torpor or destroyed.
They’re a busy group, and yet all the evils they perpetrate could well be for a purpose that no longer exists, or worse, for a purpose that has moved beyond those who created it, a great plan with no guiding hand.
Most of the Moirai have no idea why they do what they do. Someone higher up in the cult hierarchy tells them that such-and-such a politician or such-and-such a neonate will be significant, but no one ever says why. Directives appear seemingly out of thin air. The eldest Moirai are reputed to have some vast, intricate plan, but no single Moirai seems to know it. In fact, it might not be known to anyone, since it may well have been conceived by vampires lost to torpor or destroyed.
They’re a busy group, and yet all the evils they perpetrate could well be for a purpose that no longer exists, or worse, for a purpose that has moved beyond those who created it, a great plan with no guiding hand.
Demography and Population
Cultists: The Moirai recruit their living members from people who already know something about the occult. Brief classified advertisements in occult or astrological magazines which feature no names, addresses or telephone numbers invite people to “seek true knowledge of past and future.” The test of initiation is to find the source of the advertisement with no other information to go on. The seeker who arrives at the door of the Moirai deserves to join.
As for the dead, the Moirai seek the unusual. They look for vampires who exhibit strange powers or interests. Alone among the Shadow Cults, the Moirai recruit among the Daeva as well as the Mekhet. Occult knowledge is prized, but more important is the ability to alter some thread of the Great Tapestry. A high-class prostitute, a Daeva, services powerful clients and changes them subtly from night to night. The court astrologer of an Ordo Dracul or Invictus Prince practices more or less openly, without anyone twigging who his masters are. A prophet of The Lancea Sanctum cries out in the name of Longinus and all the Saints, but pursues a goal to control the future. A Carthian policy-maker, a low-level wonk who advises but never openly takes charge, makes startlingly accurate predictions. A Hound of the Prince works as a detective. The Prince smiles and watches his subject, maneuvering faster than any of the others, as if that Hound knew what they were going to do before they even did it. And Doe, a faceless elder who is so occulted, he doesn’t know who he is anymore, is manipulating the unlife of his childe, Frances Black, in the name of masters who are even more of a mystery to him than his own self.
As for the dead, the Moirai seek the unusual. They look for vampires who exhibit strange powers or interests. Alone among the Shadow Cults, the Moirai recruit among the Daeva as well as the Mekhet. Occult knowledge is prized, but more important is the ability to alter some thread of the Great Tapestry. A high-class prostitute, a Daeva, services powerful clients and changes them subtly from night to night. The court astrologer of an Ordo Dracul or Invictus Prince practices more or less openly, without anyone twigging who his masters are. A prophet of The Lancea Sanctum cries out in the name of Longinus and all the Saints, but pursues a goal to control the future. A Carthian policy-maker, a low-level wonk who advises but never openly takes charge, makes startlingly accurate predictions. A Hound of the Prince works as a detective. The Prince smiles and watches his subject, maneuvering faster than any of the others, as if that Hound knew what they were going to do before they even did it. And Doe, a faceless elder who is so occulted, he doesn’t know who he is anymore, is manipulating the unlife of his childe, Frances Black, in the name of masters who are even more of a mystery to him than his own self.
Foreign Relations
Covenants: The mainstream of the great Covenants don’t know that the Moirai still exist. The cult’s name is never mentioned by the faithful outside of the cult’s ceremonies (and, in fact, is rarely spoken in the ceremonies), and even if some suspect a conspiracy, they may not connect it with this ancient cult. The Moirai, for their part, will recruit anyone who they consider useful as an instrument or valuable as a member, no matter whether the individual wants to join or not.
Worship
Ceremonies: The humans who are among the Weavers perform small, private rituals in broad daylight, in boardrooms or public toilets closed for cleaning, or private function rooms, or caravans in trailer parks. They’re short affairs, these rights. All stand or sit in silence, until one of the participants sees an omen and gives an instruction to the others (really the result of a Devotion unique to the Moirai).
By night, meanwhile, humans and vampires alike come, hooded, to the same locked public places. These night rituals are irregular. The Fates ordain when it is auspicious to hold them. Together, the Moirai perform a divination, and at its end, each leaves with a single, simple instruction to be carried out before the next rite can take place. The Moirai must do their tasks or die in the attempt. The Moirai don’t always succeed, but something always seems to result from what they do.
At no point in either of these ceremonies are the Moirai ever named. Only in the secret rites of the Fates is the name of the Moirai spoken. Some of the Weavers, lowest of the Moirai orders, know the name of the cult, but most don’t.
• The Weavers of the Moirai know how to divine. From palmistry and the reading of tea-leaves through to haruspicy and the reading of omens, the Weavers share the knowledge of every way to see the future, the past and the present. The character gains a free specialty in Divination in the Occult Skill. Once per story, a character may use the specialty to take a reading of some kind, rolling Wits + Occult. A success allows the character to receive a single +1 dice pool bonus, which can be used at any point later in the story – as something the character foresaw.
••• The Seers of the Moirai share their blood and their arts. Mekhet Moirai may learn Majesty at a cost of (new dots x6) experience points; Daeva Moirai may learn Auspex with the same cost break.
••••• The Fates of the Moirai gain the Mekhet Dreams Merit, whether they’re Mekhet or not. If the character already has the Merit, she may use it twice per scene instead of once.
The Fates reputedly know the secret of the Methuselahs, who retain their memories in torpor. Some of these ancients may even be among the Fates. But they’ll never tell.
By night, meanwhile, humans and vampires alike come, hooded, to the same locked public places. These night rituals are irregular. The Fates ordain when it is auspicious to hold them. Together, the Moirai perform a divination, and at its end, each leaves with a single, simple instruction to be carried out before the next rite can take place. The Moirai must do their tasks or die in the attempt. The Moirai don’t always succeed, but something always seems to result from what they do.
At no point in either of these ceremonies are the Moirai ever named. Only in the secret rites of the Fates is the name of the Moirai spoken. Some of the Weavers, lowest of the Moirai orders, know the name of the cult, but most don’t.
Initiations
Unlike the other Shadow Cults, which very rarely recruit among clans other than Mekhet, the Moirai draw in the Daeva as well, and have done so for as long as the cult has existed. The Moirai recognize three Hidden Orders among their membership, and members of each move on to the next when the time has come, although until the promotion they don’t know any higher Orders exist. The Weavers of the Moirai, the lowest of the three orders, is the highest that human members can aspire to. Vampires, however, may pass on to join the Seers of the Moirai, who may one day become the Fates of the Moirai, who have access to the greatest secrets of the cult.• The Weavers of the Moirai know how to divine. From palmistry and the reading of tea-leaves through to haruspicy and the reading of omens, the Weavers share the knowledge of every way to see the future, the past and the present. The character gains a free specialty in Divination in the Occult Skill. Once per story, a character may use the specialty to take a reading of some kind, rolling Wits + Occult. A success allows the character to receive a single +1 dice pool bonus, which can be used at any point later in the story – as something the character foresaw.
••• The Seers of the Moirai share their blood and their arts. Mekhet Moirai may learn Majesty at a cost of (new dots x6) experience points; Daeva Moirai may learn Auspex with the same cost break.
••••• The Fates of the Moirai gain the Mekhet Dreams Merit, whether they’re Mekhet or not. If the character already has the Merit, she may use it twice per scene instead of once.
The Fates reputedly know the secret of the Methuselahs, who retain their memories in torpor. Some of these ancients may even be among the Fates. But they’ll never tell.