By Chris Green (cmg@linux.cowland.com)
Our beginnings like many other subjects have led to many schools of thought based on religion, science and ethnicity. The most accepted belief is that the kindred species was spawned by Lilith and Cain.
It's said that when God made Adam in his own prefect image he decided to make woman, this woman was Lilith. One day Adam demanded that Lilith laid beneath him in a bed of earth and kneel to him and God every morning but Lilith found that since she was as good as Adam that she had deserved equality and respect from Adam. Adam told her that he not her had been made in the image of the Lord and that the Lord was prefect and thus was he. For 3 nights Lilith refused his word and on the dusk of the next day Adam went to God and told him of the crimes of Lilith and asked that he be given a true mate, God denounced Lilith as a creature of a false deity and turned her body dead and her soul black as ash for she was now a creature which was banished from the kingdom of God forever.
Long after Lilith, Cain and Abel were two simple brothers who wished to give gifts to God for all that he had given them. On the day that the gifts were to be presented, Cain gave God a clay pot of animal blood and clothes made of animal skin. Abel brought God an array of flowers and plants that he had created and God refused to accept Cain's gift and officially made Abel his "right hand."
Cain was angered that his equal brother was to be greater than him and in a fury struck down his brother with a club of stone and presented his dead body to God as a gift. God was outraged and banished him to the World of Darkness, in response Cain took the skin and blood of Adam and wrote his confession of his crimes and later gave them as a wedding present to his mate, Lilith.
The Dark One called them to the pits of Hell and returned to them the power to embrace humans and bring them to their World of Darkness. Cain and Lilith accepted this gift and started creating their kindred souls; God was outraged and told Cain that his children's children would rise against him and destroy him and his mate.
Cain and Lilith created many children whom they called the Antediluvians. The Dark One told that in return for his gift the couple were to serve as his army on Earth and defeat the forces of God. Cain and Lilith refused so he took wolf and man and made the Garou who chased after them. Just as the Garou was to take Cain, Lilith leaped at the Garou' throat giving Cain just enough time to escape. Alas Lilith was dead and Cain's heart was dark and cold once again.
Far from the scorch of Cain's loss in the arid sands of the desert was Nao, childe of the desert and his pack of children who hunted along aside him with prestige and fierce loyalty. His oldest son, Tion was the greatest hunter of the pack and created "Surguel Uy Tion" which was the first law of Nao's Pack. It states: "A Hunter is take half of what he hunts and gives the other half to the clan and half of that half is for its leader." This made it so those who couldn't hunt wouldn't go without food and that the leader had a ready supply of food.
As he grieved for Lilith one night, Cain had a vision of where his childe would be the forever loved within their dark world; he saw Enoch, city of kindred. He set out to create this city and enlisted his finest children; he picked a site and the founding stone was put in place.
At this time Nao's pack had developed a series of basic laws and ceremonies which had made them a unique people. Nao and his people came to the founding stone and studied it for several until Nao's youngest son, Erun told that he saw a vision of high walls of earth surrounding a great city. Erun offered his services to Cain and Cain gladly accepted with the approval of Nao.
Construction was a long and hard process, but with Erun designing the great perimeter wall, Tion always there with food for the workers and Nao to share a story or tell a simple joke the work seemed less difficult. Finally the great city of Enoch was born and as Nao was to move on with his pack he was asked to stay and guard that which they built. For now came the rise of civilization and damnation of the curses of God and the Dark One.
One cold arid night, Jai looked up the heavens and yelled that she would give anything for her soul to be with Utanu forever. Weeks later she fell seriously ill and even the council leaders came to her bedside, but nothing helped. Then Utanu ventured into her bed chambers and she gave him a gift, a small ring of hardened copper joined with a ruby pearl; she told him that their love shall join them together forever. They looked into each others eyes as she died but Utanu was not sad for he felt her soul telling him of the great trek that was after this life.
Utanu was adopted into the clan personally by Nao and treated as a son. He grew to become a wise judge and created "B'ash Jai" in which he told of love and mercy and nothing more was greater than that.
Utanu embraced a young soldier named Owawas in a local village of humans because he had an immortal strength within his dying body. Owawas made the Clan of Nao proud by following in Jai's footsteps and establishing an organization within the clan known as Hynum'kai who would protect the innocent and determine the fate of the guilty.
After Enoch, Uwawas tried to lead the clan but didn't have the leadership skills of Nao. His younger brother, Arbah who was the youngest member of the Clan leadership came to Uwawas and told him that he would lead the clan for him and in the memory of Nao for him to step aside. But Uwawas refused and Arbah was the first of his bloodline to kill a brother, Uwawas lay dead at dawn and Arbah was to lead the clan.
He decided that with the changing world that the Clan must change and he created the Clan Primogen in which the eldest 5 would sit and govern the ways of their people. The Hynum'kai was established as the protector of the clan and were known as the Protectors of Arbah from this day forth.
Arbah then established the Code of Arbah, 8 organized rules of the clan:
These laws established the Clan to be one of the most peaceful of the time.
"For I wept 9 tears for each night the fire raged" was the last quote spoken by Arbah as he stood at the ashes of the Second City. He joined with the Shreh Ren as they grieved for the great loss of those who had died and what had been lost to greed and lust for power.
The journey continued in silence and there were no more talks around the sheltering fire or the occasional joke given to old friends for Arbah was no longer a friend to his clan but its monarch and no one dared to speak out against him. One night as they traveled, a young kindred who had been embraced for less then a decade leapt out from behind a rock swinging his rustic copper blade and removing the head of Arbah in the process. His name was Unan and he said "I would rather die by fire than drown in water" but noone had to judge or execute him for the following day he got to see his first and last sunrise since he was embraced.
A highbrow scholar within the Clan Primogen decided to lead his people; his name was Amun. He was considered very strict and rigid even for a kindred but had the respect of his fellow clan members and had proven himself worthy of the position several times. His first act was to ratify the Hemzafi Acts which told an accepted value is a given value and never the truest value and made discrimination or punishment for difference of opinion or ideal a crime.
Many knew that Amun had enemies within the clan since a good portion of the clan was still loyal to Arbah's beliefs and ideals. A young Amun supporter named Tarix decided that Amun needed protection and created the first clan militia which would protect the clan not by way of the leader but by way of the people and as Amun was a person any assault on him would be assault on another person. The Clan Primogen was extended to 6 positions and Tarix took office; his first act was to create the Junta rule which stated that clan members were of equal blood and no clan member was born or created better than another.
A young woman named Juta who had shown interest in Amun's proposals of natural studies in the sciences one night came to him and gave him a small wooden model of a temple shaped like the top half of an eye with the iris facing upwards.
The new Biblocrats based law and government not on the traditional elder system but the belief that the smartest free-thinkers within the clan should lead it. Secretly opposed to them were Sisters of Salearia and the Brothers of Salcar who kept their traditions intact through the Biblocrat reign.
The first science which was encouraged was Astronomy with scholars making basic sketches of constellations and wrote down theories of the moon, sun and stars. The Clan Primogen received 2 new positions and several lower councils which allowed non-elders to be represented within the clan hierarchy.
The Tionists attempted to usurp power by saying that the report on Setites were false and made up by Amun so he could enslave the clan. In response Amun burned down the temple he had worked on for so long and with his supporters he forcibly led the clan to the sea to see the titanic boat he created to take his people across the sea to another land away from their enemies.
The Setites arrived early to the camp and Amun was the first to reach the Ark, but looking back he saw a number of Tionists in the rear having to withstand the Setite soldiers. Amun leapt from the massive ark and ran with a sword in one hand and a spear in the other and held the 50 Setites at bay just long enough for the ark to sail. His people looked back to see the dawn sun rising as he fought and slaughtered dozens of Setites and as they sought refugee within the hull Amun had earned the respect of his clan.
Nuria, a young Caitiff huntress who had been abandoned at birth came to wander behind the clan watching its every move. Finally one night she presented every member of the clan with a full meal and in response this woman was adopted into the clan.
Her first act was to propose and ratify the Ren Equalius amendment which established that noone could be disqualified from position within the clan due to background, ethnicity or gender and she appointed 2 women to the clan Primogen. She decided to also expand the clan militia into a full army directly under the command of her instead of the clan Primogen. She finalized the Pax Noctis law including the 5 keys to salvation.
Nuria created the War Council which would overrule the Primogen in all military matters. She was to quick to use this and her first military action was to declare war on a group of Setites who had just entered Greece. This action is still considered rash to the day but tripled the military strength of the clan.
After she won at the Battle of the Ridge and overcame the Greek Setites she renamed the clan, Clan of Darius and established martial law. However, she also advanced civil law by allowing for more tolerance of new ideas.
After a meeting with Bruhash and Ventrue leaders she returned to her haven to see Decius, standing in front of the dead body of Ha'un and the Prousm in his influence. She lived all but 5 minutes and was beheaded by this sword. Decius was quick to seize power and disbanded the Clan Primogen in favor of the Prousm Council which enforced his will throughout the clan with no mercy. His first decision was to start an intelligence group to spy on the Bruhash within Northern Africa and named them the Tildun House.
Decius looked among his strongest supporters to a young field commander named Circus who had proven himself to Decius on many occasions and in return for his loyality he appointed him head of the Tildun House and sent him and his troops to Northern Africa.
Then the Roman forces came and along with the Ventrue and other allies destroyed the city of Carthage in a blaze of rage and show of strength. Circus was stunned by this and sent word to Decius but Decius supported the destruction of Carthage and since no clan members had been harmed or killed he called Circus back to Rome.
Decius gathered his supporters and armies and stood at the bank of the Tibur River and demanded the surrender of Circus and his supporters and an oath of loyality before he was to be executed. Circus came out of the caves with 27 other soldiers; few of them were even veterans or even trained for that matter. Decius had 150 soldiers who were trained by him on every art of warfare he knew about. Just as Circus was to lead his followers in a hopeless battle, a strange thing happened. Nearly half of the soldiers on the side of Decius switched loyalites and fought with Circus and thus Circus won the battle.
The battles raged on for months but each time, nearly half of the troops exchanged loyalites and followed Circus until there was noone but Decius. He was declared a traitor and executed by Circus himself.
Circus led his people to a haven on the Italian/Swiss border at the foot of the Alps and hid there for centuries await from the enemies who would destroy the Tildun.
This way of thinking continued for more then 10 centuries until the dawn of feudalism within Europe and new enemies arose from the ranks of man.
At the dawn of the 11th century, a childe of Circus came into the kindred world and took the name GC leaving behind his mortal life and mortal name. He started out as a bodyguard to Circus and later was prompted to scout until the early years of the 14th century when that would all change.
Field commanders had been lost in previous battles so Circus decided on the field exprience of GC to led the way. Since this was to be a simple mission he made him a field commander and sent him and the remaining army to Scotland.
When GC arrived he saw 200 McRon and Lasombra troops awaiting his surrender, he sent word back to Circus for further orders and Circus ordered a quick surrender. But the day before he was to surrender he looked out into the daytime battle field to 2 human armies faced against each other; one was an army of King Edward the I, the English tyrant and another was some nameless band of Scottish rebels led by some man named William Wallace. He and his friend, Juhn looked upon the battlefield as Wallace stood with courage and was able to defeat the greater army in a major blow.
That dusk Juhn came to GC and asked if he was still going to surrender. GC replied that he had his orders, but Juhn told him that he was not only surrendering the clan but the clan before him and the clan after him.
That night GC went out to meet the McRon commander on the field. To pledge to the surrender he was kneel with his sword in front of the McRon army. GC was about to kneel when he heard the commander whisper "I hope your clan makes good slaves." Then in a flash he leapt up, swinging his singing blade through the air and removing the head of the McRon commander.
The battle raged on for hours until GC stood victorious with Lasombra soldiers laying dead around his army. Though his good friend Juhn had lost his life, GC didn't forget this while they celebrated their victory. GC returned to the Tildun HQ in the Alps to explain his disobeying of orders directly from Circus. Circus yelled and even threatened to execute him when GC told him of the poor decisions that he had made in offering the surrender and that if he wouldn't fight for his clan then he would find someone who could. This act stunned Circus but also impressed and in reward he made him a full field commander.
GC sent his growing army across Europe and made 4 victories within Spain and France alone driving back to the Lasombra and another 2 victories with Gangrel assistance in the Netherlands.
GC slowly gained the respect of his clan for things other then military warfare. He established Nuriasm which took the warrior codes of Nuria and combined them with Biblocracy and Neo Naoism to become a powerful force within the clan since it united several rival factions.
GC helped to ratify the Civil Liberation Act which gave rights such as right to a trial, right to face the accuser, etc and other basic rights he had learned from his studies of politics.
He also appointed his childe, Linney to the 2nd highest position in the Clan Primogen and made his other childe, Hemen the offical messenger of the Clan which spawned the Communications Authority, a council just under the Clan Primogen.
It turned out that Naruss and a small number of other Tildun had formed the Followers of Arlon, a group dedicated to the destruction of the Clan Primogen. They wished to put a military dictatorship in its place. GC was quick to act and the following night, Naruss laid dead at his feet.
GC was unsure of anything until the Thorn Conference of 1770 where the Camarilla were discussing the American Colonies and their rise to power. The Ventrue argued that the British Empire controlled them thus they had no say while the Brujah argued that they should be made indepedent. The Toreador were too busy arguing about the problems in France with the Tremere and Malkavians to even care. Finally GC was asked his opinon but all he did was shrug. An anonymous Ventrue told him that he was weak and the Tildun were weak and should return to their Caitiff roots. GC lashed out in angry striking the Ventrue and giving an hour long speech which resulted in angering the Ventrue but also earning their respect as fighters and politicans within the Camarilla.
GC came back to the clan with a new sense of vigor and restored the Clan Primogen to its full strength. He created divisions within the New World and started an international messenger service within the clan to oversee orders. The first American Tildun haven was established outside his plantation in Virgina and a new era was born.
This amendment allowed for the fighting to end and for debating to begin. The factions no longer attempted to replace their leadership but to add their own leaders to the clan in addition to what was already there. The Americists were split into the Conservtive Americists and the Liberal Americists; the first supported staying with the Camarilla while second wished for the Tildun to become independent of the Camarilla.
With the rise of Napoleon Bonaparte within France, the Imperial Republicans sprang from the Indepedent Republicans and shared the ideals of conquest and imperialism that the new France had acquired. They believed the Tildun should start to conquer Sabbat territories within the US and within Europe to increase their power within the Camarilla.
The rebellions quickly did away with the ancient empires and monarchies, giving birth to united nations full of democracy and new values which had been oppressed for centuries. Also there was a rise in a new governmental ideal known as Communism and in fact the Tildun acquired this and the United Workers were formed as a result. They wanted to expand the Clan Primogen to allow for even Neonates and fledglings and to remove the ideals of conquest and capitialism from Tildun society.
The Tildun supported the American side since their political views had followed them for several decades. Even GC made a public support of World War I and the US's entry; it's rumored that GC himself fought night dogfights in a biplane but he has neither denied or admitted this so far.
With the victory of the allied forces, the Tildun had gained a little more standing in the slowly growing Camarilla and even got to host a conference in 1921 in Bern.
The Tildun were totally against the Holocaust and even helped with the Maquis movements against the Germans. They helped several Jewish refugees escape Europe and secrelty aided the Allies with the liberation of the death camps by providing anonymous intelligence on them.
The Tildun were disgusted with themselves and gave all the bribe money back to the Tremere even through it was badly needed and secretly reported their activites to the Camarilla in a conference just after the end of the war. They have had a bad standing with the Tremere since then including death threats but nothing very serious.
In '81 and '87 the Tildun hosted conferences in Bern to discuss the changes in the Cold War and also attended the Thorn Conference in 1993 and the Rose Conference in 1994 where they gave several speeches on changes in the world.
GC continues to lead the clan; even through he has gotten older he has increased his exprience and knowledge and has established somewhat of a name for himself within the Camarilla.
The future holds a lot for the Tildun and the Tildun intend to offer alot to the future. In exchange, they continue to create and multiply, spreading their values and ideals throughout the world.