Tongue of the Beast
The Tongue of the Beast is a type of primal Beast-to-Beast communion that manifests in a vampire’s mind as a derangement. As a mode of communication, the Tongue does not, of course, have a specific vocabulary or grammar all its own. In fact, the Tongue is the very essence of that which opposes rational thought in a linguistic sense, and as such, always comes out as gibberish when vocalized. A vampire with this derangement cannot, therefore, use the Tongue as a means of two-tiered communication, whereby he speaks to another Forsworn in an existing Language but is actually transmitting an entirely different message. If a vampire uses a Language with structure and syntax, with elements familiar to not only the Man but to other minds not of the Brood, then the vampire cannot use the Tongue simultaneously; his mind simply can’t process doing both at once. If he speaks nonsensically, however — even if his speech uses pieces of existing languages or vocabularies — then the Tongue will convey his true meaning when he is speaking to another Forsworn, so long as could make sense of it.
The upside to the Tongue’s lack of structure is that its meaning and intent can be derived through writing as well as speech, so long as the text conforms to the same restrictions as Vocalization. If a Forsworn vampire writes a note to a covey-mate in clear, articulated English, then The Message implicit in the text is all that will be conveyed. If, however, he pens the same note using a series of meaningless pictograms, then another Forsworn (who also knows the Tongue) can derive the vampire’s general intent simply by scanning said pictograms. It’s important to note that the Tongue is a primal mode of communication, and thus is ill-suited to longwinded or detail-heavy expressions. If one wishes to convey truly involved or complex ideas, one should probably just speak or write normally.
One of the first things a newly inducted Forsworn learns about his new family members is that they share in a mode of communication unknown among other vampires. The Brood calls this type of communion the “Tongue of the Beast,” for they believe it is the essential vocabulary of the vampiric soul. If Language as we know it is a construct of the Man, and its structure and terminology things that can be parsed out and articulated, then the Tongue is the antithesis of that intellectualized process — the primeval “anti-language,” if you will — and once learned, many Forsworn patently refuse to communicate with their covey-mates by any other means, except when in public or in situations in which using the Tongue would cause undue complications.
It is important to note that the Tongue is not inherent to being Forsworn, as so many other aspects of covenant membership are. One does not simply grasp the Tongue’s almost subconscious patterns by means of The Crux alone. Rather, one has to open one’s mind to its primal, almost counterintuitive essence by means of the Pursuit. When one has begun one’s Pursuit in earnest, and is making strides at the stripping away of all that was once familiar to the Man, that is when the Tongue begins to manifest in the back of a vampire’s mind, when awareness of the Tongue’s primordial voice starts to become distinct to the Forsworn.
For this reason, the Brood has developed through ritual practice a means of encouraging the eminence of the Tongue. This is an essential practice among Brood coveys not merely because one’s grasping of the Tongue indicates progress in the Pursuit, or even because the Tongue is a failsafe way of determining when one is standing in the presence of a fellow Forsworn, but because the very presence of the Tongue — alien and maddening though it may be to those ignorant of The Crux — actually soothes a vampire’s mind, as acceptance helps ease the otherwise debilitating effect that descending through one’s Pursuit can have. After performance of this rite, which is considered an Archonte, a vampire can choose to select the Tongue of the Beast derangement the next time he fails a degeneration roll following the loss of a Humanity dot. Once he has the derangement, he cannot select it again after subsequent degeneration rolls (obviously), but the very presence of the derangement provides a +1 bonus to all subsequent degeneration rolls. In essence, by submitting to this particular type of “madness,” the Forsworn paradoxically girds his mind against future degeneration. In this regard, the Tongue is an essential part of every Brood member’s Pursuit, for the Tongue helps the Forsworn dissolve their Humanity without going too crazy in the process.
The upside to the Tongue’s lack of structure is that its meaning and intent can be derived through writing as well as speech, so long as the text conforms to the same restrictions as Vocalization. If a Forsworn vampire writes a note to a covey-mate in clear, articulated English, then The Message implicit in the text is all that will be conveyed. If, however, he pens the same note using a series of meaningless pictograms, then another Forsworn (who also knows the Tongue) can derive the vampire’s general intent simply by scanning said pictograms. It’s important to note that the Tongue is a primal mode of communication, and thus is ill-suited to longwinded or detail-heavy expressions. If one wishes to convey truly involved or complex ideas, one should probably just speak or write normally.
One of the first things a newly inducted Forsworn learns about his new family members is that they share in a mode of communication unknown among other vampires. The Brood calls this type of communion the “Tongue of the Beast,” for they believe it is the essential vocabulary of the vampiric soul. If Language as we know it is a construct of the Man, and its structure and terminology things that can be parsed out and articulated, then the Tongue is the antithesis of that intellectualized process — the primeval “anti-language,” if you will — and once learned, many Forsworn patently refuse to communicate with their covey-mates by any other means, except when in public or in situations in which using the Tongue would cause undue complications.
It is important to note that the Tongue is not inherent to being Forsworn, as so many other aspects of covenant membership are. One does not simply grasp the Tongue’s almost subconscious patterns by means of The Crux alone. Rather, one has to open one’s mind to its primal, almost counterintuitive essence by means of the Pursuit. When one has begun one’s Pursuit in earnest, and is making strides at the stripping away of all that was once familiar to the Man, that is when the Tongue begins to manifest in the back of a vampire’s mind, when awareness of the Tongue’s primordial voice starts to become distinct to the Forsworn.
For this reason, the Brood has developed through ritual practice a means of encouraging the eminence of the Tongue. This is an essential practice among Brood coveys not merely because one’s grasping of the Tongue indicates progress in the Pursuit, or even because the Tongue is a failsafe way of determining when one is standing in the presence of a fellow Forsworn, but because the very presence of the Tongue — alien and maddening though it may be to those ignorant of The Crux — actually soothes a vampire’s mind, as acceptance helps ease the otherwise debilitating effect that descending through one’s Pursuit can have. After performance of this rite, which is considered an Archonte, a vampire can choose to select the Tongue of the Beast derangement the next time he fails a degeneration roll following the loss of a Humanity dot. Once he has the derangement, he cannot select it again after subsequent degeneration rolls (obviously), but the very presence of the derangement provides a +1 bonus to all subsequent degeneration rolls. In essence, by submitting to this particular type of “madness,” the Forsworn paradoxically girds his mind against future degeneration. In this regard, the Tongue is an essential part of every Brood member’s Pursuit, for the Tongue helps the Forsworn dissolve their Humanity without going too crazy in the process.
Treatment
The Tongue of the Beast is unique among derangements in that this derangement “cures” itself if the vampire ever leaves the Brood entirely (by joining another covenant or actively raising his Humanity rating). After one has abandoned the Pursuit in this fashion, the Tongue slowly recedes from one’s mind and soul, removing all trace of the Tongue’s passing as it goes. Before long, the vampire has little conscious conception that he could even communicate in such a fashion, let alone grasp the how of it.
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