The Sworn of the Ladder
There is no equilibrium for us — maybe none for anyone. You’re either going to rise and ascend, or sink and degenerate. It’s a hard choice, but at least you have the grace of knowing you are making it. Now.
Just as Mara drew together a group of followers who felt that she was on the true path to transcendence, so did Anoushka. But where the Locusts felt that their salvation lay in devouring, in subjugating all to their selfwill, the Sworn of the Ladder felt they could only progress by rising above — by subjugating themselves to the needs of all others. Through selfless acts and virtuous thoughts, the Ladder-Sworn hope to earn the forgiveness of God and escape His curse of vampirism. It is their belief that even the Damned can change, if they are willing to do the hard work of abnegating their selfish desires and the vile cravings of the Beast.
The history of the Ladder begins with Anoushka, the first to take the Oath of the Dying Light. It did not take long (as vampires measure time) for her to become aware of the unreason that constantly gnawed at her mind. She marshaled all her considerable mental discipline and turned it towards resisting and overcoming her inner savagery. But she couldn’t do it alone.
As the first of the Dying Light, she had drawn others like her into her orbit: Kindred experts in occult lore, Kindred who were Embraced despite resistance, and Kindred who longed for the (relative) purity they’d had as mortals. She confessed to her closest advisors that she needed their help to remain the woman they knew. In response, her advisors swore an oath to elevate her above her curse — or destroy her if she was ultimately overwhelmed.
The secret history of the Ladder insists that it never came to that. While no Ladder documents record the truth of Anoushka’s ultimate fate, they agree (some would say they are hysterically, even suspiciously, insistent) that she did not fall prey to the insanity that pursued all of Dracula’s progeny.
As Anoushka and her Allies labored to find strategies and exercises to keep her great mind and spirit intact, they came to realize that these same techniques would help them with their lesser curses. Much of the work of developing The Coil of the Beast beyond its second tier is said to have been done by these Kindred at this time, at least among the Upright. Another, secret series of mystic lessons was discovered at the same time, however. Tonight, the Sworn of the Ladder refer to this apocryphal quasi-Coil as Anoushka’s Ladder.
In time, Anoushka was lost to the Sworn of the Ladder and to The Ordo Dracul — lost in some fashion that remains obscure to the Order as a whole to this night. The ideals she had embodied, however — selfsacrifice, an unflinching dedication to righteous action and a surpassing faith in the power of God to forgive — drew more and more Dragons into her orbit even as the ideas behind the Ladder drifted further and further from the core philosophy of The Ordo Dracul.
The history of the Ladder begins with Anoushka, the first to take the Oath of the Dying Light. It did not take long (as vampires measure time) for her to become aware of the unreason that constantly gnawed at her mind. She marshaled all her considerable mental discipline and turned it towards resisting and overcoming her inner savagery. But she couldn’t do it alone.
As the first of the Dying Light, she had drawn others like her into her orbit: Kindred experts in occult lore, Kindred who were Embraced despite resistance, and Kindred who longed for the (relative) purity they’d had as mortals. She confessed to her closest advisors that she needed their help to remain the woman they knew. In response, her advisors swore an oath to elevate her above her curse — or destroy her if she was ultimately overwhelmed.
The secret history of the Ladder insists that it never came to that. While no Ladder documents record the truth of Anoushka’s ultimate fate, they agree (some would say they are hysterically, even suspiciously, insistent) that she did not fall prey to the insanity that pursued all of Dracula’s progeny.
As Anoushka and her Allies labored to find strategies and exercises to keep her great mind and spirit intact, they came to realize that these same techniques would help them with their lesser curses. Much of the work of developing The Coil of the Beast beyond its second tier is said to have been done by these Kindred at this time, at least among the Upright. Another, secret series of mystic lessons was discovered at the same time, however. Tonight, the Sworn of the Ladder refer to this apocryphal quasi-Coil as Anoushka’s Ladder.
In time, Anoushka was lost to the Sworn of the Ladder and to The Ordo Dracul — lost in some fashion that remains obscure to the Order as a whole to this night. The ideals she had embodied, however — selfsacrifice, an unflinching dedication to righteous action and a surpassing faith in the power of God to forgive — drew more and more Dragons into her orbit even as the ideas behind the Ladder drifted further and further from the core philosophy of The Ordo Dracul.
Structure
Within the Covenant: Like The Sworn of the Locust, the Sworn of the Ladder are a secret inside The Ordo Dracul. While there is no central text for the Upright as there is for the Locusts, there is still no doubt that most who join are betraying The Ordo Dracul — perhaps in a more profound way than the Locusts ever could. The reason for this is the ethical code that has, over the years, evolved within the Ladder. Being obsessed with measurement, the Upright within the Order have striven to find a way to measure an individual’s moral quality. In the same way that The Paths of Fate can illustrate the parameters of an individual’s personality, the Ladder has found psychological and philosophical methods of charting ethical development (though not, alas, the occult “comprehension-at-a-glance” they desire).
The Upright measure exactly how good they are being based on the following two precepts:
By and large, in the eyes of the Ladder-Sworn, immoral acts lead to bad consequences and moral acts lead to good consequences, but the connection isn’t concrete. The Upright dedicate themselves to pursuing only acts that are both moral and good. This means that they cannot sit passively by while their fellow Dragons pursue customs like Following the Dragon’s Tail (an act that is begun with the intent to harm at least one person and usually ends up harming many) or worse, Counting the Dragon’s Scales. Similarly, they are bound by the strictures of their morality to stand in the way of harmful feedings, the Embrace (which creates more dangerous predators upon mankind and damns a soul to eternal undeath) and even the use of Disciplines like Dominate and Majesty. The Ladder-Sworn accept that freedom is good, and powers that strip people of their ability to make rational, informed choices are immoral by nature.
On the other hand, the Ladder-Sworn are Kindred and prone to the long view. They’re also experienced Dragons, which inclines them to see complexities as well. Questions of scale intrude on their moral analyses. If, by preventing one murder today, one of the Upright loses a position that would let her prevent 100 deaths in a fortnight, and she can easily predict both those outcomes, is she really being ethical by accepting the immediate but lesser good? Some say “yes,” that seeking the broadest scale for Healing is the broadest good and, therefore, the most likely to merit divine forgiveness. Others say “no,” that one cannot weigh potential outcomes and immediate outcomes on the same scale. It must be said, however, that the Upright who are inclined to look ahead are by far the most influential. Short-sighted Ladder-Sworn often get sidelined or isolated from the Covenant, if they’re not exiled from it altogether.
Thus, the most obvious layer of Ladder-Sworn are Dragons (often Sworn of another oath) who preach selfcontrol, extol the virtues of forbearance (often with pious invocations of the First and Second Traditions) and get sidelined into duties where they can’t get in the way of their fellows. Beneath them, however, is a layer of infiltrators whose goal is to get as much power within The Ordo Dracul as possible, in order to mitigate its excesses and steer it towards a more ethical future. These selfless Dragons often seek the Oaths of the Mysteries or the Dying Light, where they can have the authority to judiciously put their ethical beliefs into practice.
While less numerous than the Locusts, the Sworn of the Ladder have far greater control over the decisions and judgments of the Order, because their creed of selflessness leads them to political engagement, whereas the selfishness of the Locusts leads them to disengage. This hunger for power is one reason that the Oath of the Ladder, for all its good intentions — indeed, because of them — is far more insidious and corrupting of the Order’s more common style of transcendence than the amoral, diablerist Locust Knights.
For the goal of the Ladder is, ultimately, nothing less than the transformation of all Kindred society — not a physical transformation with the Coils (though such a transformation would be a great boon), but a social transformation — making the world’s vampires less malignant to the world they inhabit. Far-fetched and ambitious, yes, but the Oath of the Ladder truly would like to see all Kindred voluntarily abstain from the Embrace and engage in feeding behaviors that do not spread death and pain.
If this seems impossibly idealistic for creatures trapped in the prison of the Requiem, remember that these are Kindred who have already partially loosened its chains. Many of them are also old enough that they remember times when socially-mandated death penalties for homosexuality, interracial affection or speaking unwanted truths about the king were common and accepted practice. These timeless idealists have experienced the changes of the Industrial, Sexual and Digital Revolutions — to them, anything seems possible, and they have all eternity to try.
Organization: The Ladder has three levels of membership that are, of course, called “rungs.”
The lowest rung consists of Dragons who have not only demonstrated virtuous qualities, but who have done so at personal cost. Observers from higher rungs often arrange some kind of test for such individuals —if they know the candidate’s Fate Card, it’s often a test designed to appeal to a personal weakness. If the candidate resists temptation, she’s discreetly sounded out for her feelings about covert behavior and checked for indiscretions. If she seems likely, she’s offered a position in a “select organization” dedicated to personal betterment within The Ordo Dracul. At this time, she is not permitted to know the identities of anyone else in this organization, nor what its name is, nor the extent to which its existence is forbidden within the Order. She is sworn to absolute secrecy under penalty of destruction. Thus, should a bottom-rung initiate of the Ladder attempt to betray the Upright, those above her will pay a price as well: one of them must perform the terrible and immoral act of extinguishing the traitor for the greater good.
Only the most remarkable initiates — those whose moral discretion and ethical judgment impress even the eldest above them — are told of the apocryphal mystic powers of the Ladder-Sworn. Even fewer yet are taught one of its tiers.
If she acquits herself well on the bottom rung, a few Kindred on the middle rung approach her, posing as internal investigators within the Order. With threats of banishment from the covenant or promises of promotion in the wider hierarchy, they try to persuade her to give up the Ladder. If she does, the promised rewards never seem to materialize, but her contact with the Ladder ends nonetheless. If she hangs tough, the threats prove to be empty, and those who approached her reveal in more of the history of the Ladder and its goals. They administer any Oath that the Ladder uses in the local domain and may teach the initiate the first or second tier of Anoushka’s Ladder. However, they do not introduce her to other members of the Ladder yet. Indeed, these middle-rung Ladder-Sworn may not know, for certain, the identities of any other Kindred among the Upright themselves.
The middle-level of the Upright conspiracy is not out of touch with the faction’s local leadership, but contact is secretive, guarded by passwords, disguises, dead-drops and often the consensual use of Dominate to erase memories. Middle-rung Ladder-Sworn are responsible for sussing out promising new inductees and protecting the most senior among the society. For the most part, the testing and tracking of bottom- and middle-rung vampires is done by those in the middle ranks themselves. Secrecy and ignorance is one more layer of protection between them and the top-rung Ladder-Sworn.
Reaching the top rung requires moral excellence and a mastery of two tiers of Anoushka’s Ladder. Furthermore,a potential top-rung Ladder-Sworn Kindred needs a phenomenal capacity to resist the powers of mental control and telepathy, so that the secret of the Ladder can be kept. Such a capacity might be illustrated by five or more dots in Resolve or the covenant-original Merit, Mind of the Inscrutable Hydra. An individual who demonstrates such qualities, and who recruits another Dragon onto the bottom rung of the Ladder, can be promoted to the top.
At the top, the Upright are permitted to know the names and secrets of as many lower-rung conspirators as they like, though most limit themselves to only absolutely essential information, just for safety’s sake. They are also permitted to know the identities of two other top-rung Ladder-Sworn (assuming that many exist in the city), though some effort is made to prevent “triangles” in which each of a trio knows two others, but no one in the trio knows anyone outside the threesome.
Secrecy, even within the Ladder, protects the group from purges by the covenant at large — when a member is captured, there are limits to her knowledge. Those limits keep covenant interrogators from rolling up the whole conspiracy. However, it also means that an infiltrator who learns the passwords and procedures of the Ladder can remain undetected for some time, possibly even posing as a top-rung member,as is rumored to have happened in Paris in the 1970s. The payoff for that risk is that a purging enemy may get half the Ladder members in an area but think she has uprooted the whole society, because all the Upright captured also believe she has found the whole society.
The Upright measure exactly how good they are being based on the following two precepts:
- An action or deliberate inaction is immoral if it is intended to cause aggregate harm or if it can reasonably be expected to cause aggregate harm to a thinking individual. It is moral if it is intended to result in overall good to thinking individuals.
- An action or deliberate inaction is bad if it causes aggregate harm. It is good if it results in overall good.
By and large, in the eyes of the Ladder-Sworn, immoral acts lead to bad consequences and moral acts lead to good consequences, but the connection isn’t concrete. The Upright dedicate themselves to pursuing only acts that are both moral and good. This means that they cannot sit passively by while their fellow Dragons pursue customs like Following the Dragon’s Tail (an act that is begun with the intent to harm at least one person and usually ends up harming many) or worse, Counting the Dragon’s Scales. Similarly, they are bound by the strictures of their morality to stand in the way of harmful feedings, the Embrace (which creates more dangerous predators upon mankind and damns a soul to eternal undeath) and even the use of Disciplines like Dominate and Majesty. The Ladder-Sworn accept that freedom is good, and powers that strip people of their ability to make rational, informed choices are immoral by nature.
On the other hand, the Ladder-Sworn are Kindred and prone to the long view. They’re also experienced Dragons, which inclines them to see complexities as well. Questions of scale intrude on their moral analyses. If, by preventing one murder today, one of the Upright loses a position that would let her prevent 100 deaths in a fortnight, and she can easily predict both those outcomes, is she really being ethical by accepting the immediate but lesser good? Some say “yes,” that seeking the broadest scale for Healing is the broadest good and, therefore, the most likely to merit divine forgiveness. Others say “no,” that one cannot weigh potential outcomes and immediate outcomes on the same scale. It must be said, however, that the Upright who are inclined to look ahead are by far the most influential. Short-sighted Ladder-Sworn often get sidelined or isolated from the Covenant, if they’re not exiled from it altogether.
Thus, the most obvious layer of Ladder-Sworn are Dragons (often Sworn of another oath) who preach selfcontrol, extol the virtues of forbearance (often with pious invocations of the First and Second Traditions) and get sidelined into duties where they can’t get in the way of their fellows. Beneath them, however, is a layer of infiltrators whose goal is to get as much power within The Ordo Dracul as possible, in order to mitigate its excesses and steer it towards a more ethical future. These selfless Dragons often seek the Oaths of the Mysteries or the Dying Light, where they can have the authority to judiciously put their ethical beliefs into practice.
While less numerous than the Locusts, the Sworn of the Ladder have far greater control over the decisions and judgments of the Order, because their creed of selflessness leads them to political engagement, whereas the selfishness of the Locusts leads them to disengage. This hunger for power is one reason that the Oath of the Ladder, for all its good intentions — indeed, because of them — is far more insidious and corrupting of the Order’s more common style of transcendence than the amoral, diablerist Locust Knights.
For the goal of the Ladder is, ultimately, nothing less than the transformation of all Kindred society — not a physical transformation with the Coils (though such a transformation would be a great boon), but a social transformation — making the world’s vampires less malignant to the world they inhabit. Far-fetched and ambitious, yes, but the Oath of the Ladder truly would like to see all Kindred voluntarily abstain from the Embrace and engage in feeding behaviors that do not spread death and pain.
If this seems impossibly idealistic for creatures trapped in the prison of the Requiem, remember that these are Kindred who have already partially loosened its chains. Many of them are also old enough that they remember times when socially-mandated death penalties for homosexuality, interracial affection or speaking unwanted truths about the king were common and accepted practice. These timeless idealists have experienced the changes of the Industrial, Sexual and Digital Revolutions — to them, anything seems possible, and they have all eternity to try.
Organization: The Ladder has three levels of membership that are, of course, called “rungs.”
The lowest rung consists of Dragons who have not only demonstrated virtuous qualities, but who have done so at personal cost. Observers from higher rungs often arrange some kind of test for such individuals —if they know the candidate’s Fate Card, it’s often a test designed to appeal to a personal weakness. If the candidate resists temptation, she’s discreetly sounded out for her feelings about covert behavior and checked for indiscretions. If she seems likely, she’s offered a position in a “select organization” dedicated to personal betterment within The Ordo Dracul. At this time, she is not permitted to know the identities of anyone else in this organization, nor what its name is, nor the extent to which its existence is forbidden within the Order. She is sworn to absolute secrecy under penalty of destruction. Thus, should a bottom-rung initiate of the Ladder attempt to betray the Upright, those above her will pay a price as well: one of them must perform the terrible and immoral act of extinguishing the traitor for the greater good.
Only the most remarkable initiates — those whose moral discretion and ethical judgment impress even the eldest above them — are told of the apocryphal mystic powers of the Ladder-Sworn. Even fewer yet are taught one of its tiers.
If she acquits herself well on the bottom rung, a few Kindred on the middle rung approach her, posing as internal investigators within the Order. With threats of banishment from the covenant or promises of promotion in the wider hierarchy, they try to persuade her to give up the Ladder. If she does, the promised rewards never seem to materialize, but her contact with the Ladder ends nonetheless. If she hangs tough, the threats prove to be empty, and those who approached her reveal in more of the history of the Ladder and its goals. They administer any Oath that the Ladder uses in the local domain and may teach the initiate the first or second tier of Anoushka’s Ladder. However, they do not introduce her to other members of the Ladder yet. Indeed, these middle-rung Ladder-Sworn may not know, for certain, the identities of any other Kindred among the Upright themselves.
The middle-level of the Upright conspiracy is not out of touch with the faction’s local leadership, but contact is secretive, guarded by passwords, disguises, dead-drops and often the consensual use of Dominate to erase memories. Middle-rung Ladder-Sworn are responsible for sussing out promising new inductees and protecting the most senior among the society. For the most part, the testing and tracking of bottom- and middle-rung vampires is done by those in the middle ranks themselves. Secrecy and ignorance is one more layer of protection between them and the top-rung Ladder-Sworn.
Reaching the top rung requires moral excellence and a mastery of two tiers of Anoushka’s Ladder. Furthermore,a potential top-rung Ladder-Sworn Kindred needs a phenomenal capacity to resist the powers of mental control and telepathy, so that the secret of the Ladder can be kept. Such a capacity might be illustrated by five or more dots in Resolve or the covenant-original Merit, Mind of the Inscrutable Hydra. An individual who demonstrates such qualities, and who recruits another Dragon onto the bottom rung of the Ladder, can be promoted to the top.
At the top, the Upright are permitted to know the names and secrets of as many lower-rung conspirators as they like, though most limit themselves to only absolutely essential information, just for safety’s sake. They are also permitted to know the identities of two other top-rung Ladder-Sworn (assuming that many exist in the city), though some effort is made to prevent “triangles” in which each of a trio knows two others, but no one in the trio knows anyone outside the threesome.
Secrecy, even within the Ladder, protects the group from purges by the covenant at large — when a member is captured, there are limits to her knowledge. Those limits keep covenant interrogators from rolling up the whole conspiracy. However, it also means that an infiltrator who learns the passwords and procedures of the Ladder can remain undetected for some time, possibly even posing as a top-rung member,as is rumored to have happened in Paris in the 1970s. The payoff for that risk is that a purging enemy may get half the Ladder members in an area but think she has uprooted the whole society, because all the Upright captured also believe she has found the whole society.
Culture
Appearance: Their greater Humanity often lends the Ladder-Sworn an attractive patina of vitality. Other than that telltale appearance of living normalcy, which seems strange to other vampires, but not to mortals, there is no common look among the Upright. Though many of the Ladder-Sworn are truly ancient, they are among the most adaptive of the Kindred, and so often adopt modern fashions and mannerisms.
Assets
Haven: Havens of the Ladder-Sworn tend to be in central locations, because the Upright like to be in the thick of the action. This may mean sacrifices of security — even a buttoned-up building downtown may be less defensible than a country estate where enemies can be seen driving up from miles away — but it can also mean proximity to hot feeding spots. The Upright need a huge volume of potential vessels in order to successfully feed without endangering another’s well-being. The most dedicated among the Ladder are so strict with their feeding that they rarely take advantage of unwilling mortals, and these vampires consider proximity to a willing Herd to be the real measure of a quality location.
History
Background: Like any secretive insurrection, the Ladder- Sworn are very careful about who they recruit. They tend to favor Kindred with Fate Cards that emerge from a Hope Virtue, but, unlike many Kindred cabals, they have no bias towards powerful recruits. In many instances, the kind of ambition and realpolitik experience that produces influence and ability in the undead of other subcultures put would-be Ladder-Sworn outside the parameters the Upright desire. They want members who are decent, not necessarily successful.
At the same time, the Ladder wants Kindred who can commit for the long haul. Young vampires with vestiges of their mortal morals and well-meaning neonates who have steered clear of the worst of vampire existence aren’t welcome on the Ladder. The ability to really control one’s own choices requires extensive experience with one’s own limits and failings. New Kindred may have good and honest intentions, but they don’t have any realistic sense of what it takes to be extraordinarily moral in the face of eternal nights and endless thirst. It’s thought that, tonight, the youngest Kindred among the Ladder-Sworn is just under 300 years old.
At the same time, the Ladder wants Kindred who can commit for the long haul. Young vampires with vestiges of their mortal morals and well-meaning neonates who have steered clear of the worst of vampire existence aren’t welcome on the Ladder. The ability to really control one’s own choices requires extensive experience with one’s own limits and failings. New Kindred may have good and honest intentions, but they don’t have any realistic sense of what it takes to be extraordinarily moral in the face of eternal nights and endless thirst. It’s thought that, tonight, the youngest Kindred among the Ladder-Sworn is just under 300 years old.
Type
Political, Faction / Party
Alternative Names
The Upright
Ruling Organization
Parent Organization
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