The Sleeping Gods

Everyone in Varenburg knows that the Protectorate watches over the city. Everyone knows that in principle you can do anything as long as you don't get too "loud", i.e. don't violate the masquerade too much. Nobody knows what the real reason for the caution is. But there are rumours. Legends. Myths that spread from time to time like a fever.

The Beginning

It happened when at Norenberc (the name of Nuremberg in the documents of that time) a merchant wanted to release the serf Sigena, and for this reason he appeared before the emperor. The emperor granted the request, and as far as historians can tell, the merchant married Sigena. Among the kindred of the city, the legend is a little different.

The merchant who came before the emperor was a powerful blood relative. A member of the Ventrue clan, who belonged to the fourth generation. Some stories even claim that it was Ventru himself. Who exactly he was is lost in the turmoil of history, and in the legends the name changes depending on who the narrator is.

Sigena, however, the serf he desired, belonged to an elder of neighbouring Fürth. As far as the legends know, this ancestor was a Lasombra, who also belonged to the 4th generation. She was the favourite vessel of the Lasombra, and was highly esteemed by him. He was more than angry about the theft of his vessel, especially as she was embraced by his rival.

At that time, however, conflicts were still civilised. One used human substitutes to settle the dispute - in vain. And in this quarrel was founded the enmity that for centuries bound Nuremberg and Fürth together.

A few decades later the protectorate was formed to keep the worst excesses of the Methuselahs under control wherever possible.

Shadow Play

The conflict flared up again and again for 600 long years, becoming hot and violent. Of the humans, the two Methuselahs shifted to younger vampires as substitutes, who were to carry out their conflict while they themselves remained safe. Then came the Thirty Years' War. The hunger that followed the war forced the two Methuselahs into rigidity, from which they only woke up from time to time to feed on the blood of the undead and to check that no one had discovered their true nature and power.

Their shadow plays have been going on for almost 400 years now. 400 years in which no one has seen the mysterious founders. At least nobody who could still tell about them. Whenever their intrigues incite the city's kindred to greater violence, the Protectorate intervenes. It seemed a status quo that could satisfy everyone. Protection for the city. For the kindred. Even for the sleeping Methuselahs, with their godlike power. But something is changing.

The Call

With the change of millennia, the Methuselahs, and supposedly even the pre-Flooders, feel the call. They sense that the world is changing and rise from their slumber, only to find themselves in a world that no longer believes in them. This time it is up to the young ones to teach. But you cannot teach anyone who does not want to learn.

The two sleepers under the city have also heard the call, and their slow awakening only fuels the conflicts within the city. Diablery on old and young is practised openly. Laws and regulations that have been in force for centuries are being softened, only limited by the protectorate. But for how much longer? And what happens when the two enemies awaken?

Date of Setting

1050