Post by Tami on Mar 3, 2007 21:46:50 GMT -5
The Book of Nod
Many Cainites adorn their lairs with shrines to Caine, trying to understand their curse through the trails and tribulations of the Third Mortal. The Book of Nod, Caine's chronicles penned by his own hand, is both widely sought and widely forged. It recounts Caine's first nights and offers dire predictions of Gehenna, an apocalyptic time of bloodshed and darkness when Caine will return and pass judgment on all vampires. Some sources claim that The Book of Nod offers insight into God's curse and how to find redemption, while others believe the text to be filled with demonic knowledge and blacker magic. Like the Holy Grail, The Book of Nod promises understanding and salvation, answering many of the questions that plague all vampires. No complete copies of the Book exist in the 13th century, but fragments and forgeries can be found if one knows where to look.
In the last several decades, copies of a series of extracts from the Book have become highly influential. Spread by the Cappadocians from their hidden temples in Anatolia, the so-called Erciyes Fragments are a group of nine different texts from the Book. The first four, titled Genesis, Lilith, Temptations and Enoch, are said to have been penned by the Third Mortal himself, and they tell of his banishment to Nod and the First City. The next two, Lamentations and Transgressions, were apparently authored by one of the Antediluvians, and they speak of the flood and the Second City. The final three fragments, Commandments, Prophecies and Proverbs, are the most terrible, consisting of Laws for the Damned and a dark oracular vision of Gehenna.
Although there are those who dispute the Fragments' origins, they have come to be accepted as the closest things to definitive scripture among the unliving. Vampiric priests endlessly quote from and refer to the Fragments, and their monastic brothers have produced a flow of copies. Among the princes and lords of the night, possessing a fine copy is seen as a great honor. Owning a truly ancient fragment from the lost portions of the Book not in the Erciyes Fragments, is akin to owning a relic of Christ.
Many Cainites adorn their lairs with shrines to Caine, trying to understand their curse through the trails and tribulations of the Third Mortal. The Book of Nod, Caine's chronicles penned by his own hand, is both widely sought and widely forged. It recounts Caine's first nights and offers dire predictions of Gehenna, an apocalyptic time of bloodshed and darkness when Caine will return and pass judgment on all vampires. Some sources claim that The Book of Nod offers insight into God's curse and how to find redemption, while others believe the text to be filled with demonic knowledge and blacker magic. Like the Holy Grail, The Book of Nod promises understanding and salvation, answering many of the questions that plague all vampires. No complete copies of the Book exist in the 13th century, but fragments and forgeries can be found if one knows where to look.
In the last several decades, copies of a series of extracts from the Book have become highly influential. Spread by the Cappadocians from their hidden temples in Anatolia, the so-called Erciyes Fragments are a group of nine different texts from the Book. The first four, titled Genesis, Lilith, Temptations and Enoch, are said to have been penned by the Third Mortal himself, and they tell of his banishment to Nod and the First City. The next two, Lamentations and Transgressions, were apparently authored by one of the Antediluvians, and they speak of the flood and the Second City. The final three fragments, Commandments, Prophecies and Proverbs, are the most terrible, consisting of Laws for the Damned and a dark oracular vision of Gehenna.
Although there are those who dispute the Fragments' origins, they have come to be accepted as the closest things to definitive scripture among the unliving. Vampiric priests endlessly quote from and refer to the Fragments, and their monastic brothers have produced a flow of copies. Among the princes and lords of the night, possessing a fine copy is seen as a great honor. Owning a truly ancient fragment from the lost portions of the Book not in the Erciyes Fragments, is akin to owning a relic of Christ.