By Jay Knioum (madafro@trip.net)
Bent on spreading filth and putrescence throughout the world, the Abishai are true hellspawn: demons encased in a vampiric husk. Through a twisted bonding of dark spirit and undead flesh, these demons are free to walk the earth and wreak horrible acts upon her denizens...man or otherwise.
The Abishai trace their roots all the way to ancient Mesopotamia, and indeed were members of the Baali line until their ways brought them completely into the clutches of Hell, even farther than their forebears dared to go.
It was a mortal, a Mesopotamian necromancer named Tlala, who first accepted the Rite of Sarcophagi (now called Corpus Nocta), calling into his body a vile demon of pestilence and corruption. The Rite was performed by a Baali during an Embrace, truly believing it a way to enslave a demon by means of a twisted Blood Bond. This Baali thought that by summoning the demon into a newly Embraced ghoul of the vampire's own, the demon would thus be shackled into service.
This Baali was mistaken, and the walls of his chamber were smeared with his blood. The newborn Abishai, the first of its kind, slaughtered its sire and his servants, and fled into the night. Since then, Tlala learned to control and to tap the unholy energies boiling within him to gain great and terrible power. The worst of it, however, is that he retained the secret to infesting another Cainite with the forces of darkness. He named this infestation the Cauldron. It is the Cauldron that defines the Abishai, and it is to spread the Cauldron to other Kindred that gives the Abishai purpose. So it has been for thousands of years, and so it is today.
The Abishai are not completely demons, nor are they completely vampires. They are bound in a twisted sort of symbiotic existence, as each essence is interlocked in a pact of darkness. The two natures think as one, but still compete against each other for dominance. In many ways, the Abishai are cursed with a vampiric version of the Shadow that all wraiths must endure. In this case, the Abishai's Cauldron, as they call it, is a separate entity (or many entities, actually) forced to share this body. Often, the demonic presence is dominant, but not completely so. The vampire becomes depraved, but independently willed. The vampire is not a slave, but tends toward acts of evil. When the vampire is weak, or loses self-control, the Other quickly takes control, if only briefly. All other times, the two "souls" are indistinguishable from each other, even by the Abishai herself.
Some few Abishai loathe this existence. Most embrace it, and revel in eternal evil. The Abishai delight in the pain, degradation, and destruction of others. They exist to spread corruption, evil, and strife wherever they tread.
Once Corpus Nocta is performed, the vampire is granted Cauldron at the expense of one of her previous Clan Disciplines. The "thrown-out" Discipline is retained, but now advances at non-clan rate. The effect is similar to the Children of Osiris, and how they gain their Bardo Discipline. If the vampire was Embraced by an Abishai (thereby becoming Caitiff until Corpus Nocta), then the vampire may select any two Disciplines as the Storyteller allows. These two will advance at the Clan Discipline rate. It all depends on what the Crucible's vampires know and are willing to teach. Since the husks transform vampires from all clans, the possibility of an Abishai with rarer clan-specific Disciplines does exist. There may even be a handful who know Mortis, or countless other Disciplines thought lost to time or extinction.
Crucibles of Abishai, as tight-knit as they are, are each independent of another. Indeed, more than one war has broken out between two or more Crucibles that have staked out the same city as their "breeding ground." However, encounters between Crucibles do not always end up violent, and woe betide any city in which two or more Crucibles join forces.
Crucibles operate very much like a cult. Abishai of such a group (and rare is the Abishai who is not) are nothing short of fanatical in their loyalty. Most Abishai will gleefully hurl themselves to their deaths to protect their High Priest. There are rumors among certain Tremere antitribu that the Abishai practice their own version of the Vaulderie to further enforce this loyalty. Even so, it is common practice for every single Abishai of a Crucible to be Blood-Bound to the High Priest, as part of the Corpus Nocta ritual.
Abishai firmly believe that mortals are cattle awaiting Embrace, and that other Kindred are foolish puppets, walking husks awaiting their destiny as hosts of Hell. In this dark quest, the Abishai know no true loyalties, nor do they differentiate between clans, sects, or organizations. To the Abishai, there are only Abishai, those to become Abishai, or food.
As individuals, however, the Husks may have more complicated motives. Some powerful Husks have cut deals with less savory elements of Kindred society; the Abishai agree to leave a certain clan alone, and in turn, the Husks are led right to that clan's enemies. Such "deals with the devil" are very hazardous, and few Abishai honor their part of the bargain for long.
Likewise, those Kindred who have heard of the Abishai, or have been unlucky enough to have dealt with them, know that if one Abishai is found in a city, there is probably a Crucible somewhere, and it had better be eliminated yesterday. For this reason, and because of the Abishai intolerance for dissension, lone wolf Husks are virtually nonexistent.
Besides their driving goal of infecting all Kindred with Cauldron, the Abishai revel in their "hobbies." Foremost among these is torture. Abishai love it. Some even love to receive it. Every Crucible has at least one torture chamber in their haven, and the screams of their victims (always those who won't be missed) echo throughout the abandoned areas the Husks so love to roost within. Many Abishai even videotape or record their exploits for posterity. Abishai skill at inflicting pain is rivaled only by the Tzimisce, it is said.
The Husks are rabid diabolists. They will not diablerize any vampire in their Crucible, but anyone else is fair game. It is common practice for Crucibles to diablerize older vampires, and convert the younger ones. When Crucibles war upon each other, diablerie is rampant.
Finally, the Abishai do not care even a hair's width for the ideals or laws of the Camarilla or Sabbat. Many Abishai aren't even aware of their existence, having been Embraced directly into the insular Crucibles. In fact, it is a rare Abishai that can name even one other clan. The Twisted Upbringing Flaw is as common as a pair of fangs among the vampires of this line.
This is not to say that the Abishai are completely wanton in their depravity. On the contrary, they usually restrict their worst deeds to the confines of their communal havens, only venturing out to capture more victims. These victims are usually those who will not be missed, or those individuals who are "blessed." To an Abishai, "blessed" means the same as "corrupted" does to everyone else.
Abishai Crucibles are very cunning when it comes to capturing other vampires. Typical methods include opening bizarre nightclubs that cater to an underground or alternative lifestyle, hoping to attract hordes of young mortals, and the vampires that follow them to feed. These vampires learn too late that they are ones being hunted . . .
On the same note, the Wyrm's minions are curious as to the prospect of encasing Banes in the place of demons in the Abishai Cauldron. A few ultra-secretive Pentex laboratories are hard at work researching just that. If successful, they will attempt to encase more and more powerful Wyrm-spirits into the vampires, hopefully creating an Armageddon Bloodline to wipe out all of Gaia's children.
There are a few Wyrm Caerns that are also home to Crucibles of Abishai. One of the largest of these is reputed to be in Mexico, but it's location is not known.
Otherwise, the Abishai also play a role in the machinations of the Nephandi. In fact, there are some few mages well-versed in Cainite lore that speculate the entire bloodline came about because of a Nephandus' manipulations.
When the opportunity arises, the Abishai are quick to ghoul or Embrace those of severe moral impediments, those who thrive and make their living off the misery or death of others. Drug dealers, producers of child-porn or "snuff" films, serial killers and the like are prime candidates for the Cauldron.
Once ghouled, the poor souls are devoured by a world of cruelty, pain and torment. They are bombarded by images and propaganda. A person or vampire lost to the Abishai society will never be the same again, even if dragged back from their pits. Even the most level-headed of ghouls will not retain their sanity or individuality long in this world. Indeed, those who have spoken with an Abishai ghoul have found them to be dogged, almost beastly. Quite of few of them have learned to enjoy the abuse.
Since the ghouls do not suffer the same unholy aura weakness of their domitors, they are usually the ones tasked to infiltrate a city's scene, to root out prospective vampiric victims.
The Abishai are cursed with an aura of unholy energy. As the vampire walks by, animals will go nearly insane with fear. Food will spoil. Holy water will grow hot and steam. If an Abishai stays in an area for a long period of time, nearby plants will die thereby marking the havens of these creatures with dead trees and wilted flowers. Finally, the Abishai's dark emanations will be immediately apparent to any use of Aura Sight, save for when the Abishai may use Obfuscate to enshroud the effect (Level 6 Obfuscate is required to achieve this, however). To one with Aura Sight, an Abishai will be enveloped in black flames, and vermin will be seen crawling just beneath the vampire's skin.
More importantly, however, is that while the Abishai may Embrace as can all vampires, the resultant childe will not be Abishai, only Caitiff (called Acolytes by the bloodline). Only those vampires who undergo the level 6 Cauldron power of Corpus Nocta can be granted that discipline. Until this "honor" is bestowed, these Caitiff can expect to be tortured, tormented and completely de-humanized. The Abishai are relentless in their "schooling" of their Caitiff childer, and only when the Acolytes are deemed worthy and ready to receive Cauldron, is the rite performed.
Finally, the darkness of the Cauldron roils within the Abishai at all times. For most Husks, the experience is ecstasy. For some, it is constant torment. Any Abishai with a Humanity rating of 5 or above will have to enter a mental conflict with their Cauldron at least once a night. If they lose, the Cauldron will take over temporarily, and the vampire will embark on a binge of cruelty and depravity, while the vampire can only watch as his body commits these atrocities. After this binge is over (all of which the Abishai will recall in perfect detail), the Abishai must succeed a Willpower roll, difficulty 8. Failure results in the loss of one level of Humanity.
"Gentlemen, we need bigger guns."
Even though Abishai may hail from any walk of Cainite life originally, most of those who were undead prior to Corpus Nocta were Brujah or Toreador previously, and thus most of them have combinations of Celerity, Presence, Potence, Auspex and Cauldron. There are significantly fewer Abishai taken from the Malkavian, Nosferatu, and Tremere clans, although they do exist. Basically, the more obvious a vampire tries to be, the better her chances of these monsters targeting her.
There are far more Abishai taken from the Camarilla than the Sabbat, perhaps because the former begets far more loners and easier targets than the insular Packs found in Sabbat-controlled cities.
The dominant Abishai Nature is Fanatic, although there is a good spread among Deviant, Conformist, Bon Vivant and Bravo Natures. As previously stated, it is a very rare Abishai who does not possess the Twisted Upbringing Flaw. The Permanent Wound flaw is also common among Abishai who were Embraced directly into the bloodline, due to the tortures inflicted on mortals in their "indoctrination" period.
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