Post by Ashurr on Jun 1, 2008 19:14:36 GMT -5
Skills and Knowledge
Understanding change
requires observation, and
observation requires a
frame of reference. While
some Kindred hunt in the
cities of their mortal births
(or at least, the cities in
which they lived until
they were Embraced), others
undergo the Embrace
during travel or otherwise
find themselves in unfamiliar
environs. Learning
the geography, history and
sometimes even the language
of the area is therefore
crucial in understanding
any change taking
place therein. Likewise, if
a mentor takes a pupil to
see Beckett’s Endgame in
order to watch the audience
for change, that pupil
must have some prior
appreciation of the play to
have a hope of understanding
any changes it
engenders in the audience.
Therefore, during the
early nights of a Dragon’s
apprenticeship, the mentor
tries to feel out her student
for gaps in her
schooling or knowledge
and fill them. What is
considered a gap depends
entirely on what the mentor
intends to teach. Not
all of the knowledge thus
imparted is as limited in
scope as theatre of the absurd,
of course. Many
mentors discover that
Kindred Embraced within
the past two decades often
have poor combat skills,
and teach their charges
how to fight, stalk and
hunt successfully. The proprietary Discipline of the Mekhet, Auspex is essential
to the studies of the Dragons. Many Dragons learn at
least the basic powers of Auspex before progressing on to the
Coils of the Dragon, and some Mekhet mentors make a point
of teaching their students how to sharpen their natural senses
in order to better observe minute changes. Further progression
in the Discipline grants access to greater levels of scrutiny,
of course, as well as several Devotions involving the
Discipline that the covenant has developed over the years
(some of which can be found in Chapter Five).
Of course, since most Dragons know this Discipline,
and since most new Dragons discover very quickly that
other members of the covenant usually know this Discipline,
Dragons become masters of communicating without
making a sound. Gestures, facial expressions and
other non-verbal cues are quite useful when someone
standing out of mortal earshot can still hear a whisper.
Other Dragons compensate for this by learning uncommon
or dead languages.
After a Dragon has learned to observe without judgment,
her mentor typically ups the stakes a bit by allowing
the Dragon access to the methods of measuring
and observing the world beyond the five mortal
senses. The Auspex Discipline, as discussed above, is
one possibility, but more mundane methods exist as
sense Wyrm’s Nests takes time and practice).
Because so many ways of measuring the world exist, the
methods of measurement and the specific results obtained
aren’t the most important lesson here. The lesson is that
all change can be measured, even spiritual change, if one
has the proper tools and knowledge. How “evil” or “godly”
a mortal or vampire is should be measurable as well. Doing
so only requires a method of measurement and an
appropriate scale — that not all methods are currently
available to the Order is irrelevant to the philosophy.
This revelation frightens many young vampires, especially
when they reflect on how far they have fallen since
their Embrace. But that is precisely the point — the
Dragons are reminded, as with the Solitude Paradox, that
by measuring the world they must themselves be subject
to measurement, and should be ready to accept that. This
precept isn’t necessarily a spiritual one (the Dragons long
ago realized that the notion of doing unto others as they
would have others do unto them was a death wish), but
a realistic and scientific one. In order to change, they
must understand their current situation and be able to
recognize when something has changed. Another related
lesson is one that any scientist knows: absence of evidence
is not evidence of absence. If a Dragon observes
no change in a subject (even herself), this does not mean
no change has occurred, but only that she has not observed
it. The favored students of the Ordo Dracul are
the ones who take the least for granted, and remain open
to all possibilities when considering change.
Once a Dragon has learned to observe change reliably
without interfering, her Ordo Dracul mentors will allow
her to enact change. Different mentors have different
ideas about whether it is best to allow Dragons to begin
by changing the world around them or to focus on changing
themselves first.
Changing the world is a daunting proposition, but that’s
why the early stages of training are designed to help Dragons
gain some perspective. Deliberately enacting a change
on a grand scale is difficult, and tracking the ripples such
a change causes even more so. Even minute changes have
far-reaching effects, however, and so mentors typically instruct
their students to take some action not easily traceable
to a particular being and then follow the chain of
events. For instance, a vampire might sabotage a stoplight,
causing a car accident. The Kindred then waits as
the police arrive (and paramedics, if necessary), the mortals
glower at each other, the cars are towed away, and so
on. The Kindred now chooses one of the mortals involved
and follows him to see how this change of “fate” has impacted
his life. The target could be one of the mortals
involved in the accident itself, one of the cops, the worker
driving the tow truck or even a witness. (If a student coterie
is involved, they might each choose a subject and
then later compare notes.)
Some very thorough
Dragons choose one mortal
in the beginning of the
evening and arrange the
events to involve him,
watching carefully to see
his reactions to the calamities
in his life. (Sometimes
Dragons arrange for positive
changes, but it’s widely
believed in the covenant
that tragedy causes more
educational changes.)
Sometimes the Dragon
only watches the mortal at
night, reasoning that what
happens during the day is
out of the Kindred’s purview.
Other, more ambitious
members of the covenant
believe that this sort
of thinking isn’t at all conducive
to transcendence
and arrange for ghouls or
other servants to watch
their target while the Kindred
slumbers
One of
common lessons in enacting
change involves killing
a single mortal and then
following the chain of
events his death causes.
This lesson has many
variations, however, depending
on the mentor
and student in question.
A mentor might assign
a coterie to kill one mortal,
and then “follow the
dragon’s tail,” noting as
many changes and reactions
as possible. Several
Kindred being involved
allows the students to
check each other’s findings,
pursue avenues of
investigation not open to
a lone vampire and, if
necessary, protect one
another from retribution.
Another lesson suitable for a coterie of Dragons is sometimes
called the Counting the Dragon’s Scales. In this rare
exercise, the coterie kills a mortal, and focuses tightly on
the effects of that death for a predetermined amount of
time (usually one month). Then, two members of the coterie
commit similar murders, at the same time but in different
parts of the city. Again, the coterie observes for one
month. This continues until finally each member of the
coterie commits a murder at the same time and in the same
manner, in locations scattered around the city, or until the
threat to the Masquerade becomes too great, whichever
comes first. The coterie — and usually any other Dragons
in the city (most mentors consider this experiment too interesting
to miss) — watches the city carefully.
What mythology springs up about the deaths? Do they
appear to be accidents or murders? Do the city officials
bring in special federal agents to help solve it? Where is
the panic most concentrated in comparison to where
most of the deaths took place? Obviously, Counting the
Dragon’s Scales only works well in cities in which the
Ordo Dracul holds a great deal of power. Attempting it
in other cities usually brings down swift retribution,
unless the coterie is careful to remove any trace of
vampiric activity. Even then, the students remember
their early lessons — anything can be measured, if one
knows how.
If the Kindred belong to a coterie that includes
members of other covenants, the mentor usually
instructs the Kindred to pay special attention to
the effect the death has on them. Depending on
the particulars of the death, the other Kindred’s
superiors in their covenants might hear of it and
call for a cessation of hunting in that area or a
search for the vampire in question, but it might
just pass beneath their notice. If the Dragon kills
the mortal while in sight of the others, she has
the opportunity to record their reactions to the
death, and then perhaps kill some time later and
see if those reactions are any different.
Mentors aren’t above using this “experiment” as a way
to play politics, of course. An older Dragon in a city
where (for example) the Invictus holds power might
instruct her charge to kill a mortal in a manner that
endangers the Masquerade and in a location that implicates
a member of the ruling covenant. The neonate is
then instructed to observe the effect that murder has on
mortal society, while the mentor watches the Danse
Macabre for changes resulting from the act. She rarely
informs her pupil of her intentions, of course, for fear of
tainting the experiment. If the city’s Kindred trace the
crime back to the student, the experience serves as a
test of the student’s loyalty.
A principle that mentors occasionally reference at
all points of a Dragon’s training — but comes into sharp
relief as the student enters the phase of enacting change
upon the world — is that change must always have a
purpose. Even when Following the Dragon’s Tail or engaging
in similar instructive exercises, Ordo Dracul
teachers caution their students to remember that
change with no purpose is chaos, and chaos is the woodland
of the Beast. Murdering someone just to watch
the ripples his ended life creates might have no further
purpose beyond its teaching value, and that’s fine, but
if those ripples aren’t followed and appreciated, the
death is pointless.
Note, too, that most Dragons don’t engage in a great
deal of existentialist discussions when discussing the
purpose of change. Change must have a purpose to them,
not in some grandiose cosmic scheme. A hurricane destroying
buildings is pointless chaos — as the Order cannot
control — but the Order can benefit from the
changes that follow in its wake. A vampire lost to the
Beast is likewise a random element in the world, beyond
the careful designs of the Ordo Dracul.
In every action a Dragon takes, she is advised to consider
her desired goal. Short-sighted goals aren’t necessarily
discouraged — sometimes, satisfaction of vengeance
or lust is all one really needs for a while. Mentors
do require that their charges acknowledge such goals
for what they are, however, rather than cloaking a desire
to slay a rival in any self-righteous blather about
slaying a degenerate Kindred or doing God’s will. The
Ordo Dracul knows God’s will — God tests the Kindred,
and the Dragons test Him in turn.
A lively debate among the Dragons, particularly
those of a more theosophist bent, is how much to look
for the hand of God in otherwise random-seeming
events. Natural disasters such as the aforementioned
hurricane is one possibility, but riots, shooting sprees,
strange election results and other events that no one
could have logically predicted also fall into the category
of what the Ordo Dracul considers “acts of God.”
Ordo Dracul scholars search for meaning in this seeming
chaos, trying to determine if such events are truly
random or the result of mundane weather patterns or
insanity, or if the Creator is still taking a direct hand
with the world. Each possibility has implications for
the Ordo Dracul.
When searching for meaning in acts of God, the first
question Dragons ask is cui bono — who profits? A hurricane
is damaging to everyone it touches, but suppose it
destroys the haven of a particularly diabolical Kindred
and his childer, paving the way for more reasonable
vampires (say, of the Ordo Dracul) to take his domains?
A shooting spree might kill good people but might also
slay someone who, in his private life, was a closet occultist
or scholar who might have had something to teach
the Ordo Dracul. Follow every tragedy long enough and
it will lead to a boon for someone.
In every change of the world, the Dragons must consider
whether the change affects them — and whether
it was meant to.
Understanding change
requires observation, and
observation requires a
frame of reference. While
some Kindred hunt in the
cities of their mortal births
(or at least, the cities in
which they lived until
they were Embraced), others
undergo the Embrace
during travel or otherwise
find themselves in unfamiliar
environs. Learning
the geography, history and
sometimes even the language
of the area is therefore
crucial in understanding
any change taking
place therein. Likewise, if
a mentor takes a pupil to
see Beckett’s Endgame in
order to watch the audience
for change, that pupil
must have some prior
appreciation of the play to
have a hope of understanding
any changes it
engenders in the audience.
Therefore, during the
early nights of a Dragon’s
apprenticeship, the mentor
tries to feel out her student
for gaps in her
schooling or knowledge
and fill them. What is
considered a gap depends
entirely on what the mentor
intends to teach. Not
all of the knowledge thus
imparted is as limited in
scope as theatre of the absurd,
of course. Many
mentors discover that
Kindred Embraced within
the past two decades often
have poor combat skills,
and teach their charges
how to fight, stalk and
hunt successfully. The proprietary Discipline of the Mekhet, Auspex is essential
to the studies of the Dragons. Many Dragons learn at
least the basic powers of Auspex before progressing on to the
Coils of the Dragon, and some Mekhet mentors make a point
of teaching their students how to sharpen their natural senses
in order to better observe minute changes. Further progression
in the Discipline grants access to greater levels of scrutiny,
of course, as well as several Devotions involving the
Discipline that the covenant has developed over the years
(some of which can be found in Chapter Five).
Of course, since most Dragons know this Discipline,
and since most new Dragons discover very quickly that
other members of the covenant usually know this Discipline,
Dragons become masters of communicating without
making a sound. Gestures, facial expressions and
other non-verbal cues are quite useful when someone
standing out of mortal earshot can still hear a whisper.
Other Dragons compensate for this by learning uncommon
or dead languages.
After a Dragon has learned to observe without judgment,
her mentor typically ups the stakes a bit by allowing
the Dragon access to the methods of measuring
and observing the world beyond the five mortal
senses. The Auspex Discipline, as discussed above, is
one possibility, but more mundane methods exist as
sense Wyrm’s Nests takes time and practice).
Because so many ways of measuring the world exist, the
methods of measurement and the specific results obtained
aren’t the most important lesson here. The lesson is that
all change can be measured, even spiritual change, if one
has the proper tools and knowledge. How “evil” or “godly”
a mortal or vampire is should be measurable as well. Doing
so only requires a method of measurement and an
appropriate scale — that not all methods are currently
available to the Order is irrelevant to the philosophy.
This revelation frightens many young vampires, especially
when they reflect on how far they have fallen since
their Embrace. But that is precisely the point — the
Dragons are reminded, as with the Solitude Paradox, that
by measuring the world they must themselves be subject
to measurement, and should be ready to accept that. This
precept isn’t necessarily a spiritual one (the Dragons long
ago realized that the notion of doing unto others as they
would have others do unto them was a death wish), but
a realistic and scientific one. In order to change, they
must understand their current situation and be able to
recognize when something has changed. Another related
lesson is one that any scientist knows: absence of evidence
is not evidence of absence. If a Dragon observes
no change in a subject (even herself), this does not mean
no change has occurred, but only that she has not observed
it. The favored students of the Ordo Dracul are
the ones who take the least for granted, and remain open
to all possibilities when considering change.
Once a Dragon has learned to observe change reliably
without interfering, her Ordo Dracul mentors will allow
her to enact change. Different mentors have different
ideas about whether it is best to allow Dragons to begin
by changing the world around them or to focus on changing
themselves first.
Changing the world is a daunting proposition, but that’s
why the early stages of training are designed to help Dragons
gain some perspective. Deliberately enacting a change
on a grand scale is difficult, and tracking the ripples such
a change causes even more so. Even minute changes have
far-reaching effects, however, and so mentors typically instruct
their students to take some action not easily traceable
to a particular being and then follow the chain of
events. For instance, a vampire might sabotage a stoplight,
causing a car accident. The Kindred then waits as
the police arrive (and paramedics, if necessary), the mortals
glower at each other, the cars are towed away, and so
on. The Kindred now chooses one of the mortals involved
and follows him to see how this change of “fate” has impacted
his life. The target could be one of the mortals
involved in the accident itself, one of the cops, the worker
driving the tow truck or even a witness. (If a student coterie
is involved, they might each choose a subject and
then later compare notes.)
Some very thorough
Dragons choose one mortal
in the beginning of the
evening and arrange the
events to involve him,
watching carefully to see
his reactions to the calamities
in his life. (Sometimes
Dragons arrange for positive
changes, but it’s widely
believed in the covenant
that tragedy causes more
educational changes.)
Sometimes the Dragon
only watches the mortal at
night, reasoning that what
happens during the day is
out of the Kindred’s purview.
Other, more ambitious
members of the covenant
believe that this sort
of thinking isn’t at all conducive
to transcendence
and arrange for ghouls or
other servants to watch
their target while the Kindred
slumbers
One of
common lessons in enacting
change involves killing
a single mortal and then
following the chain of
events his death causes.
This lesson has many
variations, however, depending
on the mentor
and student in question.
A mentor might assign
a coterie to kill one mortal,
and then “follow the
dragon’s tail,” noting as
many changes and reactions
as possible. Several
Kindred being involved
allows the students to
check each other’s findings,
pursue avenues of
investigation not open to
a lone vampire and, if
necessary, protect one
another from retribution.
Another lesson suitable for a coterie of Dragons is sometimes
called the Counting the Dragon’s Scales. In this rare
exercise, the coterie kills a mortal, and focuses tightly on
the effects of that death for a predetermined amount of
time (usually one month). Then, two members of the coterie
commit similar murders, at the same time but in different
parts of the city. Again, the coterie observes for one
month. This continues until finally each member of the
coterie commits a murder at the same time and in the same
manner, in locations scattered around the city, or until the
threat to the Masquerade becomes too great, whichever
comes first. The coterie — and usually any other Dragons
in the city (most mentors consider this experiment too interesting
to miss) — watches the city carefully.
What mythology springs up about the deaths? Do they
appear to be accidents or murders? Do the city officials
bring in special federal agents to help solve it? Where is
the panic most concentrated in comparison to where
most of the deaths took place? Obviously, Counting the
Dragon’s Scales only works well in cities in which the
Ordo Dracul holds a great deal of power. Attempting it
in other cities usually brings down swift retribution,
unless the coterie is careful to remove any trace of
vampiric activity. Even then, the students remember
their early lessons — anything can be measured, if one
knows how.
If the Kindred belong to a coterie that includes
members of other covenants, the mentor usually
instructs the Kindred to pay special attention to
the effect the death has on them. Depending on
the particulars of the death, the other Kindred’s
superiors in their covenants might hear of it and
call for a cessation of hunting in that area or a
search for the vampire in question, but it might
just pass beneath their notice. If the Dragon kills
the mortal while in sight of the others, she has
the opportunity to record their reactions to the
death, and then perhaps kill some time later and
see if those reactions are any different.
Mentors aren’t above using this “experiment” as a way
to play politics, of course. An older Dragon in a city
where (for example) the Invictus holds power might
instruct her charge to kill a mortal in a manner that
endangers the Masquerade and in a location that implicates
a member of the ruling covenant. The neonate is
then instructed to observe the effect that murder has on
mortal society, while the mentor watches the Danse
Macabre for changes resulting from the act. She rarely
informs her pupil of her intentions, of course, for fear of
tainting the experiment. If the city’s Kindred trace the
crime back to the student, the experience serves as a
test of the student’s loyalty.
A principle that mentors occasionally reference at
all points of a Dragon’s training — but comes into sharp
relief as the student enters the phase of enacting change
upon the world — is that change must always have a
purpose. Even when Following the Dragon’s Tail or engaging
in similar instructive exercises, Ordo Dracul
teachers caution their students to remember that
change with no purpose is chaos, and chaos is the woodland
of the Beast. Murdering someone just to watch
the ripples his ended life creates might have no further
purpose beyond its teaching value, and that’s fine, but
if those ripples aren’t followed and appreciated, the
death is pointless.
Note, too, that most Dragons don’t engage in a great
deal of existentialist discussions when discussing the
purpose of change. Change must have a purpose to them,
not in some grandiose cosmic scheme. A hurricane destroying
buildings is pointless chaos — as the Order cannot
control — but the Order can benefit from the
changes that follow in its wake. A vampire lost to the
Beast is likewise a random element in the world, beyond
the careful designs of the Ordo Dracul.
In every action a Dragon takes, she is advised to consider
her desired goal. Short-sighted goals aren’t necessarily
discouraged — sometimes, satisfaction of vengeance
or lust is all one really needs for a while. Mentors
do require that their charges acknowledge such goals
for what they are, however, rather than cloaking a desire
to slay a rival in any self-righteous blather about
slaying a degenerate Kindred or doing God’s will. The
Ordo Dracul knows God’s will — God tests the Kindred,
and the Dragons test Him in turn.
A lively debate among the Dragons, particularly
those of a more theosophist bent, is how much to look
for the hand of God in otherwise random-seeming
events. Natural disasters such as the aforementioned
hurricane is one possibility, but riots, shooting sprees,
strange election results and other events that no one
could have logically predicted also fall into the category
of what the Ordo Dracul considers “acts of God.”
Ordo Dracul scholars search for meaning in this seeming
chaos, trying to determine if such events are truly
random or the result of mundane weather patterns or
insanity, or if the Creator is still taking a direct hand
with the world. Each possibility has implications for
the Ordo Dracul.
When searching for meaning in acts of God, the first
question Dragons ask is cui bono — who profits? A hurricane
is damaging to everyone it touches, but suppose it
destroys the haven of a particularly diabolical Kindred
and his childer, paving the way for more reasonable
vampires (say, of the Ordo Dracul) to take his domains?
A shooting spree might kill good people but might also
slay someone who, in his private life, was a closet occultist
or scholar who might have had something to teach
the Ordo Dracul. Follow every tragedy long enough and
it will lead to a boon for someone.
In every change of the world, the Dragons must consider
whether the change affects them — and whether
it was meant to.