Post by Zillah on Mar 3, 2007 16:16:31 GMT -6
The Dark Medieval night belongs to Cainites. They exist by their own rules, firm in their command of the time from dusk ‘til dawn. In the cities, the breathing head home or to the taverns and brothels to take refuge from the darkness and drink their fears away, leaving the streets vacant and quiet. Even nobles and knights refrain from stepping out into the cool night – allowing Cainites full run of the cities. In castles and royal palaces, Cainites gather and hold their own courts of blood once the mortal dignitaries have gone to sleep. The world of mortal kings and kingdoms fades, and Cainites become the nocturnal nobility, concerned with their own goals and intrigues. Princes and lords only care about mortal kings and queens when it concerns their immediate survival or plans. After all, a breathing monarch rules for no more than a few decades, making him almost insignificant in the eyes of the Cainite princes who have existed for centuries. Mortals – the Kine, to use the Cainite derogatory term – inhabit the world of day and vampires that of the night, and rarely do the two collide. Rarely, but not never. When they do, the results are usually violent and cataclysmic – flooding the streets with blood and filling the sky with ashes.
Even short of such pitched conflict, the schism between the Canite and mortal sphere is neither clean nor total. The relationship is akin to that between natural predators and their prey. Cainites do not control mortals any more than a wolf controls a herd of deer. Instead, the wolf reacts to the herd’s movements and influences and alters the flow of the herd in turn. The world of Cainite and kine exist on two separate levels, but both react and are influenced by each other. In time, this relationship may change, but for now, Cainites are confident in their supreme mastery, and they have developed their own form of feudalism to fill the nights with conflict and intrigue, just as do the rulers living by day.
Feudal Lextalionis
Cainite society has reached its feudal apex, creating a society of the night that is both complex and beautiful in its intricacy. Cainite feudalism, more commonly known as Feudal Lextalionis, is the heart of Cainite society and what drives the War of Princes. The system is closely tied to the teachings of the Road of Kings, whose members are concerned with the proper distribution of authority. Not all rulers are followers of the road, but most pay lip service to its precepts and have advisors who are schooled in its teachings.
The Cainite nobility is replete with ranks and titles. Some are ceremonial, and others tied directly to a vampire's status. Unlike the mortal nobility, gender does not divide Cainites; there are probably as many male princes as there are female ones. While some male Cainites might hold on to their mortal preconceptions about the "fairer" sex, only the truly foolish underestimate their female counterparts.
Even short of such pitched conflict, the schism between the Canite and mortal sphere is neither clean nor total. The relationship is akin to that between natural predators and their prey. Cainites do not control mortals any more than a wolf controls a herd of deer. Instead, the wolf reacts to the herd’s movements and influences and alters the flow of the herd in turn. The world of Cainite and kine exist on two separate levels, but both react and are influenced by each other. In time, this relationship may change, but for now, Cainites are confident in their supreme mastery, and they have developed their own form of feudalism to fill the nights with conflict and intrigue, just as do the rulers living by day.
Feudal Lextalionis
Cainite society has reached its feudal apex, creating a society of the night that is both complex and beautiful in its intricacy. Cainite feudalism, more commonly known as Feudal Lextalionis, is the heart of Cainite society and what drives the War of Princes. The system is closely tied to the teachings of the Road of Kings, whose members are concerned with the proper distribution of authority. Not all rulers are followers of the road, but most pay lip service to its precepts and have advisors who are schooled in its teachings.
The Cainite nobility is replete with ranks and titles. Some are ceremonial, and others tied directly to a vampire's status. Unlike the mortal nobility, gender does not divide Cainites; there are probably as many male princes as there are female ones. While some male Cainites might hold on to their mortal preconceptions about the "fairer" sex, only the truly foolish underestimate their female counterparts.