The Pandaemonium
“I am the hand set against the tide of Creation. I am the serpent that stirs to bite the hand of the saint. Through my flesh and blood, I offer God’s children on the altar of the Adversary. Ave Satani, and by my hand it is done.”
Although many of Belial’s Brood seek to hide the outward signs of their dark path, the Pandaemonium makes its way with pride and malevolent glory through the endless night. Claiming origins as early as the first sacrificial cults of ancient Mesopotamia, Mesoamerica and the Far East, the modern face of the faction rides the coattails of satanic Hysteria. With pentagrams and other sigils carved brazenly across their bodies, these so-called Antinomians assume the role of fanatical, demon-worshipping terrorists who willfully throw themselves into the front lines of what many of them view as the war against God.
The ancient faction known as the Pandaemonium has worn many masks throughout time. Where some claim that the faction was birthed in prehistory, marked by the first occasion when early man offered flesh and blood out of fear of unforgiving spirits, a sizeable number of Antinomians in the modern nights believe that Lucifer himself birthed their bloodthirsty number. They cast Belial in the role of literal devil’s advocate — of all the hoary host of Hell, the one demon responsible for managing the interaction between the souls of the Damned and their unknowable deity figure. In their view, Belial brought forth the truth of the vampiric soul to the first ignorant Kindred in ancient times, bearing the gifts that the Brood would come to know as Investments.
The ancient faction known as the Pandaemonium has worn many masks throughout time. Where some claim that the faction was birthed in prehistory, marked by the first occasion when early man offered flesh and blood out of fear of unforgiving spirits, a sizeable number of Antinomians in the modern nights believe that Lucifer himself birthed their bloodthirsty number. They cast Belial in the role of literal devil’s advocate — of all the hoary host of Hell, the one demon responsible for managing the interaction between the souls of the Damned and their unknowable deity figure. In their view, Belial brought forth the truth of the vampiric soul to the first ignorant Kindred in ancient times, bearing the gifts that the Brood would come to know as Investments.
Structure
Organization: Unlike many of their brethren, the Forsworn of the Pandaemonium are given to organizing their coveys along the lines of an occult order. While the Therion are recognized, the senior member possessing the greatest academic understanding of demonolatry and occult history is typically appointed as leader, and has a significant impact on the lore and the fashion in which his covey brothers and sisters approach the Pursuit. Also, Antinomians often work to restrict covey membership to a specific number of members — 3, 6, 9 and 13 are the most common. Insofar as mortal aspirants go, the Pandaemonium often organizes outer groups to buffer the core cult, which consists of the covey and its most trusted Ghouls. Because of this, many who would attempt infiltration are dissuaded, confronted with a seemingly endless gauntlet of initiations and ceremonial formality, the majority of which has no true meaning aside from protecting the kernel covey.
Culture
Rites of the Pandaemonium
No other sizeable faction of Forsworn is so meticulous in the crafting of its rites as the Pandaemonium. Because such a substantial number of Antinomians recognize the Adversary as the Judeo-Christian-Islamic Prince of Darkness, their ceremonies are elaborate and full of devotional pomp, as fear of a dissatisfied liege is a very real thing for members of this faction. Through any number of stylized horrors, the Pandaemonium’s rites paint a picture of centuries upon centuries of service to the Morningstar himself.
Although all Forsworn commit acts of blasphemy and horror, the deliberateness of heretical and sacrilegious elements in Antinomian rites is perhaps their defining aspect. And though the coveys of The Nameless seek their secrets, and the Scarlet Rite celebrates its meaningless ruin in a gala of sin, the point of most Pandaemonium rites is largely to offend the God figure as the Antimonians hold up evidence of their master’s victory on Earth. While the tattoos and ritual marks of this faction often seem childish, risky and superficial to others among the Brood, these outer signs help demonstrate an Antinomian’s contempt for the vessel that many claim was made in the very image of the holy.
More so than any of the other factions, sacrifice lies at the very center of these Brood members’ faith. Whether a black goat, an abducted human or even a fellow Brood member who has been judged an adequate gift, the offering of flesh has many levels of significance for the Pandaemonium. On the most basic level, the methods employed seek to mutilate the flesh, making a mockery of the God figure’s design. In the case of human offerings, members of the human clergy are often chosen, and in the case of Kindred sacrifices (rare in the extreme), exceedingly devout advocates of Sanctified philosophy are abducted after a long and careful process of scrutiny. Beneath the surface, blood sacrifices are viewed as the supreme method for revealing the mysteries of sarx itself. Although closely guarded, there exist grimoires of Antinomian lore that read like arcane medical texts with instructions of a mad Saint guiding his flock down the labyrinthine corridors of pain, suffering and the frailty of the fleshy vessel, and how to explore these hidden levels in a way that satisfies the spiritual needs of the aspiring devotee of the Pandaemonium, as well as the endless hunger of whatever idea of the Adversary to which the covey seeks to pay homage.
Appearance: For the most part, the Kindred of Belial’s Brood take great pains to be ignored by both vampire and human society. This is the farthest thing from the truth when speaking of those Antinomians who take great effort to embody every feared rumor concerning “satanic cults” and “devil worshippers.” While elders of the faction may exercise restraint, restricting themselves to ostentatious occult jewelry and black suits and the like, most of the younger Antinomians aspire to maximum devotion by covering their flesh in imagery drawn from classical occult sources, including Goetic sigils, Qlipphotic glyphs and those symbols and images of modern satanic Hysteria, such as the head of the Horned Goat of Mendes encased in an inverted pentagram, or the exceedingly common upside-down cross. Even in the case of those among the faction who do wish to remain undetected, hidden scarring, brands and tattoos are not uncommon.
No other sizeable faction of Forsworn is so meticulous in the crafting of its rites as the Pandaemonium. Because such a substantial number of Antinomians recognize the Adversary as the Judeo-Christian-Islamic Prince of Darkness, their ceremonies are elaborate and full of devotional pomp, as fear of a dissatisfied liege is a very real thing for members of this faction. Through any number of stylized horrors, the Pandaemonium’s rites paint a picture of centuries upon centuries of service to the Morningstar himself.
Although all Forsworn commit acts of blasphemy and horror, the deliberateness of heretical and sacrilegious elements in Antinomian rites is perhaps their defining aspect. And though the coveys of The Nameless seek their secrets, and the Scarlet Rite celebrates its meaningless ruin in a gala of sin, the point of most Pandaemonium rites is largely to offend the God figure as the Antimonians hold up evidence of their master’s victory on Earth. While the tattoos and ritual marks of this faction often seem childish, risky and superficial to others among the Brood, these outer signs help demonstrate an Antinomian’s contempt for the vessel that many claim was made in the very image of the holy.
More so than any of the other factions, sacrifice lies at the very center of these Brood members’ faith. Whether a black goat, an abducted human or even a fellow Brood member who has been judged an adequate gift, the offering of flesh has many levels of significance for the Pandaemonium. On the most basic level, the methods employed seek to mutilate the flesh, making a mockery of the God figure’s design. In the case of human offerings, members of the human clergy are often chosen, and in the case of Kindred sacrifices (rare in the extreme), exceedingly devout advocates of Sanctified philosophy are abducted after a long and careful process of scrutiny. Beneath the surface, blood sacrifices are viewed as the supreme method for revealing the mysteries of sarx itself. Although closely guarded, there exist grimoires of Antinomian lore that read like arcane medical texts with instructions of a mad Saint guiding his flock down the labyrinthine corridors of pain, suffering and the frailty of the fleshy vessel, and how to explore these hidden levels in a way that satisfies the spiritual needs of the aspiring devotee of the Pandaemonium, as well as the endless hunger of whatever idea of the Adversary to which the covey seeks to pay homage.
Appearance: For the most part, the Kindred of Belial’s Brood take great pains to be ignored by both vampire and human society. This is the farthest thing from the truth when speaking of those Antinomians who take great effort to embody every feared rumor concerning “satanic cults” and “devil worshippers.” While elders of the faction may exercise restraint, restricting themselves to ostentatious occult jewelry and black suits and the like, most of the younger Antinomians aspire to maximum devotion by covering their flesh in imagery drawn from classical occult sources, including Goetic sigils, Qlipphotic glyphs and those symbols and images of modern satanic Hysteria, such as the head of the Horned Goat of Mendes encased in an inverted pentagram, or the exceedingly common upside-down cross. Even in the case of those among the faction who do wish to remain undetected, hidden scarring, brands and tattoos are not uncommon.
Assets
Pandaemonium Domains
As One of the oldest factions of the Brood, the Pandaemonium is widespread and has many coveys squirming within the cracks of every population on Earth. Whether out of First World deviance or Third World despair, the Antinomians are there to cast down the holy and revere the abominable with savage sacrifices and dark invocations.
In North America, the cult of the Pandaemonium accounts for a sizeable portion of the Brood’s presence. Although reports of Forsworn demographics are always sketchy at best, it is believed that Antinomian coveys account for almost one-third of all Brood in the continental United States and Canada. While in many countries, such excess and the flaunting of sacrilege can still result in Suspicion and even legal persecution, such bold displays are the fashion of the day in many fringe subcultures throughout the United States and Canada. Cult abuse and ritual murder, though often stripped of satanic sensationalism and reduced to the attention tactics of psychopathic pedophiles, happen every day throughout the cities, suburbs and rural regions of the United States, particularly in the World of Darkness. Behind such media smokescreens and basic denial the true and actual machinations of the Antinomians flourish with each missing runaway or abducted child.
In Central America, the Caribbean and the more impoverished areas of South America, drug cartels and other forms of organized crime create a rich loam in which Pandaemonium coveys can take root. During a prolonged drug war or the upheaval caused by a corrupt political regime, the Antinomians can take what they like without fear of reprisal. In addition, the deeply Catholic climate of the region produces a magnificent backdrop against which the Adversary’s henchmen can cast the glamour of their blood-curdling blasphemies.
In Europe, the faction thrives in Germany, Denmark, Poland and the Scandinavian peninsula. Thanks in part to the rise of the Black Metal underground, national socialism, satanism and a bastardized mockery of traditional Germanic heathenry are married into a subculture of violence and blasphemy. Gang fights, hate crimes, satanic art and church burnings all serve the greater interests of the Pandaemonium in the Old Country. In war-torn areas of Eastern Europe, the Antinomians can purchase children from black market pornographers and pimps to be offered in hidden temples among the blasted buildings and barbed wire.
In the Middle East, the Antinomians are at their most conservative and discreet. While coveys do exist in the lands they claim saw the faction’s birth, they are very careful not to stir the waters of violent fundamentalism. Military conflicts provide adequate cover for the Pandaemonium’s activities, but Kindred in service to the Adversary make no great display of their devotion in public, as even a hint of such activity could result in a fully funded hunt that could end with an entire covey being dragged from its hiding place to bake in the hot desert sun. Nonetheless, the Antinomians of this region are some of the most devout, as they feel the most deeply connected to the history of their cult.
In Asia and Africa, the impoverished masses are like fields of ripe fruit for the Adversary’s own. Whether the throngs of prostitutes and the destitute in the streets of Bangkok, the terrified and isolated peoples subjected to the terror of military warlords or black market slavery rings, such places are like a dark paradise for the Pandaemonium.
Haven: While the Pandaemonium is given to flamboyance when it comes to appearances, its individual members do take great pains to hide their havens, as these places serve as the temples in which some of the most elaborate and baroque of Brood rituals are conducted. Isolated warehouses nestled in the depths of derelict industrial parks, decaying barns in the middle of rural desolation and abandoned tenements amidst desperate urban sprawl are common. Although a history of violence or evil is preferred when selecting these sites, the Forsworn of the Pandaemonium are not sticklers on this point, as writing such history themselves taking little time.
As One of the oldest factions of the Brood, the Pandaemonium is widespread and has many coveys squirming within the cracks of every population on Earth. Whether out of First World deviance or Third World despair, the Antinomians are there to cast down the holy and revere the abominable with savage sacrifices and dark invocations.
In North America, the cult of the Pandaemonium accounts for a sizeable portion of the Brood’s presence. Although reports of Forsworn demographics are always sketchy at best, it is believed that Antinomian coveys account for almost one-third of all Brood in the continental United States and Canada. While in many countries, such excess and the flaunting of sacrilege can still result in Suspicion and even legal persecution, such bold displays are the fashion of the day in many fringe subcultures throughout the United States and Canada. Cult abuse and ritual murder, though often stripped of satanic sensationalism and reduced to the attention tactics of psychopathic pedophiles, happen every day throughout the cities, suburbs and rural regions of the United States, particularly in the World of Darkness. Behind such media smokescreens and basic denial the true and actual machinations of the Antinomians flourish with each missing runaway or abducted child.
In Central America, the Caribbean and the more impoverished areas of South America, drug cartels and other forms of organized crime create a rich loam in which Pandaemonium coveys can take root. During a prolonged drug war or the upheaval caused by a corrupt political regime, the Antinomians can take what they like without fear of reprisal. In addition, the deeply Catholic climate of the region produces a magnificent backdrop against which the Adversary’s henchmen can cast the glamour of their blood-curdling blasphemies.
In Europe, the faction thrives in Germany, Denmark, Poland and the Scandinavian peninsula. Thanks in part to the rise of the Black Metal underground, national socialism, satanism and a bastardized mockery of traditional Germanic heathenry are married into a subculture of violence and blasphemy. Gang fights, hate crimes, satanic art and church burnings all serve the greater interests of the Pandaemonium in the Old Country. In war-torn areas of Eastern Europe, the Antinomians can purchase children from black market pornographers and pimps to be offered in hidden temples among the blasted buildings and barbed wire.
In the Middle East, the Antinomians are at their most conservative and discreet. While coveys do exist in the lands they claim saw the faction’s birth, they are very careful not to stir the waters of violent fundamentalism. Military conflicts provide adequate cover for the Pandaemonium’s activities, but Kindred in service to the Adversary make no great display of their devotion in public, as even a hint of such activity could result in a fully funded hunt that could end with an entire covey being dragged from its hiding place to bake in the hot desert sun. Nonetheless, the Antinomians of this region are some of the most devout, as they feel the most deeply connected to the history of their cult.
In Asia and Africa, the impoverished masses are like fields of ripe fruit for the Adversary’s own. Whether the throngs of prostitutes and the destitute in the streets of Bangkok, the terrified and isolated peoples subjected to the terror of military warlords or black market slavery rings, such places are like a dark paradise for the Pandaemonium.
Haven: While the Pandaemonium is given to flamboyance when it comes to appearances, its individual members do take great pains to hide their havens, as these places serve as the temples in which some of the most elaborate and baroque of Brood rituals are conducted. Isolated warehouses nestled in the depths of derelict industrial parks, decaying barns in the middle of rural desolation and abandoned tenements amidst desperate urban sprawl are common. Although a history of violence or evil is preferred when selecting these sites, the Forsworn of the Pandaemonium are not sticklers on this point, as writing such history themselves taking little time.
History
Background: Individuals who are drawn to the Pandaemonium are generally followers of one sort or another. Whether they are sycophantic teenagers binding their weak wills and lack of self-esteem to something greater than themselves, or socially alienated occultists who tire of being big fish in small, largely ignored ponds, Antinomians prefer the types who will latch on to power with utter Zeal.
Type
Secret, Religious sect
Alternative Names
Antinomians
Ruling Organization
Parent Organization
Concepts: Christian cultist, demonologist, heavy metal musician, modern monster, new babysitter, Satanist, serial killer, skinhead, tattoo artist.