07-05-2013, 09:14 PM
A skimming perusal of the text will reveal that the Many-Headed Methuselah, also known as the Lernaean Quorum, was a Malkavian coterie founded before the word even existed. Members of the Clan of the Moon, Mercy recalls how that vitae's smell had conjured images of a vision from nights past and a certain whispering beast who had little to say when asked to account for his actions.
Five facets of the same identity, the book catalogs numerous legends that exist as to their creation. A group of five, those who have actually met the Quorum claim it believes itself to have been ordained by Malkav for a very important task:
To protect a very ancient and very powerful artifact known alternately as the Stone of the Blood, the Altar of Caine, the Cornerstone of Enoch, and numerous other names in the accumulated quotes the writer has gathers from Noddist scholars and ancient translations. Most often, though, the book's anonymous author refers to it as the Blood Stone of Enoch, the first city where Caine ruled alongside his childer before the Great Deluge.
Some sections recount Kindred of varying age positing different theories. One puts forth they are the Embraced figures from or the inspiration for the Greek Myth of the Daughters of Danaus: Aegyptus, his son Lynceus, Lynceus' wife Hypermnestra, their son Abas, and Abas' wife Ocalea. Others believe they are the wayward children of Lilith, Mother of Monsters, wretched creatures who wanted to be human and were embraced by Malkav because of the mysteries he thought they held. Another title, the Many-Headed Methuselah, is heavily tied to research by a group of vampires whose name Kali is unable to properly translate, tracing the Quorum's settlement in the House of Tiles outside of the lake where the Lernaean Hydra was believed to guard the gates of the Underworld. Still others think that upon Malkav's reported death they were the five of his childer and grandchilder who shouldered the brunt his madness, spread it through the clan, and were bound forever by the trial to defend his legacy.
Whatever the Malkavians' origin, that legacy is embodied in the Stone, though whatever it actually is and what its true powers are is unknown and a topic of wild conjecture.
Throughout their history the Methuselah have hidden the Stone from the machinations of Antediluvians, other Methuselah, and even the Lupines, sorcerers and mankind. Numerous conflicts are recounted with varying degrees of detail, ranging from the Followers of Set in the Middle East, lupines in what is now Russia and Eastern Europe, Lasombra in Sicily, the House of Tremere both before and after their founding as a vampiric clan, and time and again they eluded capture.
Until the Spanish Inquisition, where they somehow earned the ire of Tomás de Torquemada, Spain's first Grand Inquisitor. Rumors that the Lasombra directed this hand of the church in order to gain control of the Stone, they were weakened by the faith of the Black Friars. That same faith warded off the Lasombra who came to question the captured Quorum, and Torquemada ordered them burnt at the stake.
A Nosferatu ghoul who was present at the burning said that as their black hoods were withdrawn and they met the sun, the vampires first screamed, but the scream became haunting choral singing. The next night five Spanish Malkavians disappeared, and Nosferatu who became interested in the situation uncovered word they were jumping from city to city in a pilgrimage to the Holy Land.
It was around this time that the Camarilla, only recently founded, began gaining momentum in Europe and rumors of activities such as blood gods, ancient artifacts, and Noddist lore in particular became heavily censored by the Princes that rose up in the Ivory Tower's shadow.
Five facets of the same identity, the book catalogs numerous legends that exist as to their creation. A group of five, those who have actually met the Quorum claim it believes itself to have been ordained by Malkav for a very important task:
To protect a very ancient and very powerful artifact known alternately as the Stone of the Blood, the Altar of Caine, the Cornerstone of Enoch, and numerous other names in the accumulated quotes the writer has gathers from Noddist scholars and ancient translations. Most often, though, the book's anonymous author refers to it as the Blood Stone of Enoch, the first city where Caine ruled alongside his childer before the Great Deluge.
Some sections recount Kindred of varying age positing different theories. One puts forth they are the Embraced figures from or the inspiration for the Greek Myth of the Daughters of Danaus: Aegyptus, his son Lynceus, Lynceus' wife Hypermnestra, their son Abas, and Abas' wife Ocalea. Others believe they are the wayward children of Lilith, Mother of Monsters, wretched creatures who wanted to be human and were embraced by Malkav because of the mysteries he thought they held. Another title, the Many-Headed Methuselah, is heavily tied to research by a group of vampires whose name Kali is unable to properly translate, tracing the Quorum's settlement in the House of Tiles outside of the lake where the Lernaean Hydra was believed to guard the gates of the Underworld. Still others think that upon Malkav's reported death they were the five of his childer and grandchilder who shouldered the brunt his madness, spread it through the clan, and were bound forever by the trial to defend his legacy.
Whatever the Malkavians' origin, that legacy is embodied in the Stone, though whatever it actually is and what its true powers are is unknown and a topic of wild conjecture.
Throughout their history the Methuselah have hidden the Stone from the machinations of Antediluvians, other Methuselah, and even the Lupines, sorcerers and mankind. Numerous conflicts are recounted with varying degrees of detail, ranging from the Followers of Set in the Middle East, lupines in what is now Russia and Eastern Europe, Lasombra in Sicily, the House of Tremere both before and after their founding as a vampiric clan, and time and again they eluded capture.
Until the Spanish Inquisition, where they somehow earned the ire of Tomás de Torquemada, Spain's first Grand Inquisitor. Rumors that the Lasombra directed this hand of the church in order to gain control of the Stone, they were weakened by the faith of the Black Friars. That same faith warded off the Lasombra who came to question the captured Quorum, and Torquemada ordered them burnt at the stake.
A Nosferatu ghoul who was present at the burning said that as their black hoods were withdrawn and they met the sun, the vampires first screamed, but the scream became haunting choral singing. The next night five Spanish Malkavians disappeared, and Nosferatu who became interested in the situation uncovered word they were jumping from city to city in a pilgrimage to the Holy Land.
It was around this time that the Camarilla, only recently founded, began gaining momentum in Europe and rumors of activities such as blood gods, ancient artifacts, and Noddist lore in particular became heavily censored by the Princes that rose up in the Ivory Tower's shadow.