The Bahari - The First Children

The Bahari (singular: Ba'ham) are a set of cults that worship Lilith as the Dark Mother. Some of them are vampires who believe Lilith taught Caine the secrets of the Disciplines, but they do not refer to themselves as "Kindred"; rather, rejecting the legacy of Caine entirely, they call themselves Lhaka. Other Bahari are mortals, or Awakened mages (particularly those of Verbena, though allusions are made to the Cult of Ecstasy and Euthanatos).

Bahari practices vary widely depending on their origins; Revelations of the Dark Mother presents a syncretic account based on a mix of scripture and oral tradition. Bahari believe that Lilith, created as the equal of Adam, fled Eden and eventually became the lover of both God and Lucifer. She sheltered Caine after he became the First Murderer, but he later brought his childer (in the form of representatives of the thirteen Clans) to slaughter Lilith's children and defile her garden. For this, Lilith swore revenge against him. Bahari theology is largely built around the idea that pain leads to revelation and that chaos is a creative force. Lhaka generally practice the Path of Lilith or one of its variations.

Beliefs:

The Bahari believe that Lilith, the Dark Mother, would have been the greatest gardener of Eden, if not for Adam and the human God. She had three Gardens; Elona, the Garden of Hope, D’hainu, the Garden of Renewal, and Bahara, the Garden of Suffering. Whether the Gardens were each a physical place or a metaphor is of some debate, but their names and the events surrounding them are without question part of Bahari belief and what one could call their liturgy. In one of the few ways the Bahari have always been united, they are intent on forming new gardens of paradise (or their interpretation of what paradise is) around the globe. Historically, the Bahari named the city of Jericho their new Garden of Renewal, where between the 9th and 14th centuries CE, Kindred could find sanctuary, succor, and time to pacify their Beasts. The Inquisition of the time routed the domain, but for a time it was one of the Bahari’s strongholds. Likewise, a powerful Bahari cell declared Oslo their Garden of Suffering in the 19th and early 20th centuries CE, but that group disappeared almost overnight prior to the start of the Second World War, leaving other Kindred to discover the domain had been used for the imprisonment, torture, and diablerie of countless vampires for over a century. None of the Oslo cell have re-entered society under the same names since that time. The superiority of Lilith to Caine is a vital part of their belief structure, and the hate of Cainites is not something open to interpretation, let alone something to be approached with passivity or without violence. Cainites, down to the very last one, will either become Lhaka in the Garden, or die. The religious opinion that all supernatural creatures in the world are the children of Lilith is widespread, but not required. In the end, beneath any poetry, sin within the Bahari comprises a spectrum.

Only through pain are we elevated.

Beliefs/Convictions:
The Bahari seek to destroy the Kingdom of Caine, make the world Lilith's, and bring pain to the living and the dead.

1. Always correct the false myths of Caine when you hear them.
2. Never feel remorse for serving Lilith.
3. Always participate in Bahari rituals.
4. Never allow the destruction of your creations to go unavenged.
5. Never show fear in the face of death.
6. Only kill in sacrifice to Lilith.
7. Never fail to dispense pain and anguish to Lilith's Enemies.

The Ethics of the Path

1. Only through pain are we elevated.
2. Be teacher, torturer, and lover to any who seek enlightenment.
3. Practice what you learn. Wisdom is meaningless unless it accompanies action.
4. Cultivate a garden, that you may show the power of your own creation.
5. Seek out those on the border of awareness and initiate them.
6. Gather with your brothers and sisters to share your learning and anguish.

Type

Religious, Cult

Alternative Names

The Followers of Lilith,

Leader

Hope Voss

Divines

• Hope Voss

Location

Northside

Related Items

• The Rose Daggers

Related Species

• Caitiff
• Ventrue

Related Plots

• Embrace The Abyss

Rituals:

1. Coax the Garden (Level 1)
2. Eden’s Bounty (Level 5)