Post by Ashurr on Jun 1, 2008 19:40:44 GMT -5
The first time a Dragon learns one of the tiers, her
relationship with the Ordo Dracul changes. Before this,
she was a Slave, an ignorant in a society based on knowledge.
Now, she has a margin of status, but the margin
between Slave and Supplicant is extremely wide. The
first member of the student coterie to enter the chrysalis
and gain a Coil can look forward to special treatment
from her tutor thereafter — unless, of course, her learning
sputters and stalls, which is occasionally a problem.
The difference that even a single Coil makes in a
Dragon’s psychological makeup, however, is immense.
She has proven to herself that she can change her
vampiric condition. A mortal might feel the same kind
of elation after a religious epiphany, after losing 100
pounds, after the birth of a child or some other undeniably
life-changing event. Learning more Coils reinforces
this feeling, but nothing matches the intensity of a Kindred
emerging from the chrysalis knowing that she is
different. Even a vampire who has become disillusioned
with the Ordo Dracul by this point, tired of bowing and
scraping to those of greater status and following the arcane
rule of propriety cannot deny the simple truth: the
Coils of the Dragon are real, and provide a path out of
the curse of vampirism.
Learning a Coil is one of several rites of passage
for young Dragons, and mentors normally make a
point to honor, or at least acknowledge, their
student’s achievement. Announcing to the covenant
as a whole that a given Kindred has achieved her
first Coil isn’t always wise (manipulation of the Ordo
Dracul’s system of propriety is more difficult when
one doesn’t know where other Kindred stand, after
all), but a mentor who oversees a student coterie
usually performs a brief ceremony to mark the occasion.
That ceremony can resemble a religious rite, a
scholar’s dissertation or a simple meeting of the Kindred
involved, but it serves to foster academic and
mystical competition in the coterie. That’s the idea,
anyway. Just as often, it fosters murderous jealousy
and underhanded dealings, but those methods work
quite well to enact change, and that’s how Kindred
society works, anyway. A “Supplicant ceremony” is
just as much a warning to the new Supplicant as a
celebration of her achievements.
relationship with the Ordo Dracul changes. Before this,
she was a Slave, an ignorant in a society based on knowledge.
Now, she has a margin of status, but the margin
between Slave and Supplicant is extremely wide. The
first member of the student coterie to enter the chrysalis
and gain a Coil can look forward to special treatment
from her tutor thereafter — unless, of course, her learning
sputters and stalls, which is occasionally a problem.
The difference that even a single Coil makes in a
Dragon’s psychological makeup, however, is immense.
She has proven to herself that she can change her
vampiric condition. A mortal might feel the same kind
of elation after a religious epiphany, after losing 100
pounds, after the birth of a child or some other undeniably
life-changing event. Learning more Coils reinforces
this feeling, but nothing matches the intensity of a Kindred
emerging from the chrysalis knowing that she is
different. Even a vampire who has become disillusioned
with the Ordo Dracul by this point, tired of bowing and
scraping to those of greater status and following the arcane
rule of propriety cannot deny the simple truth: the
Coils of the Dragon are real, and provide a path out of
the curse of vampirism.
Learning a Coil is one of several rites of passage
for young Dragons, and mentors normally make a
point to honor, or at least acknowledge, their
student’s achievement. Announcing to the covenant
as a whole that a given Kindred has achieved her
first Coil isn’t always wise (manipulation of the Ordo
Dracul’s system of propriety is more difficult when
one doesn’t know where other Kindred stand, after
all), but a mentor who oversees a student coterie
usually performs a brief ceremony to mark the occasion.
That ceremony can resemble a religious rite, a
scholar’s dissertation or a simple meeting of the Kindred
involved, but it serves to foster academic and
mystical competition in the coterie. That’s the idea,
anyway. Just as often, it fosters murderous jealousy
and underhanded dealings, but those methods work
quite well to enact change, and that’s how Kindred
society works, anyway. A “Supplicant ceremony” is
just as much a warning to the new Supplicant as a
celebration of her achievements.