Fall of Enoch
undesirable . It didn ’ t help that we have an appetite for flesh instead of blood . This has always made our kind easier to spot . The Camarilla couldn ’ t tolerate this , and it hired assassins of all kinds , including many Assamites , to kill the Nagaraja .
Our wisest did their best to hide amongst societies where eating human flesh was already an accepted behavior : obscure tribes or fringe religions where eating the organs of one ’ s enemies was believed to grant strength . Those caught in more civilized environments without a meticulous mind were often captured and killed simply for existing . The assassins , with help from conscripted necromancers , turned the ghosts we once controlled on us or tainted our meat supply to weaken us and making us easier to slaughter . While the latter breaks the Masquerade on many levels , some went to great lengths to kill us .
The Assamites became one of our most feared Clans , as they got better as killing us every time . There is a measure of respect extended to their Clan , however , as they killed us for a higher purpose . You have to admire that kind of zeal , right ? The Followers of Set also jumped on the bandwagon , seeing this as their chance to break our numbers in hopes of prying the secrets of Enoch from our tongues . We took our rituals to the grave , however , and not one secret passed our lips . The Followers of Set stand for nothing except obtaining power . They care for nothing , seek not to help anyone else , and even turn on their own Clan when it suits them .
For those of us that survived , we had few options . Enoch was a sanctuary for those lucky enough to be invited , but the rest had to learn how to exist with humans and just about every other Kindred out to destroy us . Of course , the ones who hunted us did a good job with propaganda to give us the reputation we hold very dear today : demons who pretend to be Kindred , and can be spotted by the sharpness of our teeth and the craving for flesh . The idea that we eat Kindred flesh in addition to human meat spread , though the idea makes me nauseous .
As time passed on , we found ways to hide the deaths we left in our wake . The most popular was to get involved with the wars going on around the globe during any given century . Few question when pieces of their enemies turn up missing . I myself served in both the First Crusade and World War II , though it doesn ’ t matter which side I was on . It would only serve to distract from the greater point : If you view us as pests , we ’ ll survive as only pests can . We will follow in the wake of mortal wrongdoing , where our actions are veiled behind humanity ’ s atrocities .
Fall of Enoch
It was around 1600 CE that a terrible maelstrom struck the underworld . It annihilated the various ghosts who existed there , and shook the pillars of Enoch to its core . Even with the special protections built into our blood , we lost almost all of our kind , and our bodies were ripped to pieces .
This meant we were decimated , reduced to a fraction of what our original numbers were . Worse yet , many of the oldest and most powerful rituals were lost in the ancient libraries of Enoch . Our bloodline became a herd of beasts simply trying to survive , and very few of us had any real knowledge of Enoch left . Even if there was an Enoch to return to , only a few Nagaraja knew its real location . I say real location , because our enemies created false Necropoli to lure us and butcher those who came in search of our birthright .
Having lost our true purpose , too many of us fell to our basest desires for flesh and became the monsters other Kindred believed us to be . The destruction of our home drove us to embrace the beast in many cases , and to become purely nihilistic in others . We came to be known as Flesh- Eaters ; an overly simplistic phrase to describe a complex ritual of consuming part of one ’ s soul through the physical shell holding it within . It became something we couldn ’ t stop doing , to the point that without the flesh we would wither away and die .
Could you blame us ? Everything the Nagaraja built to sustain ourselves and help usher in the next phase of Gehenna on our terms was gone . Survival took a primary position , and we started to repopulate our bloodline . The Nagaraja left the dreams of Gehenna and Enoch behind , becoming hardened and deadlier in the process .
Modern Nagaraja
As I mentioned before , centuries were spent hiding among the living monsters that humanity has nurtured into our camouflage . Some Nagaraja think of Embracing these talented folks and making them like us , but I think that can be a mistake . I remember a young knight I fought beside during the Crusades who brought his favorite shield to every battle . He survived for years because of it . Then he got the brilliant idea to make his shield part of him converting the metal into a fine breastplate . The next battle we waged — I believe it was during the march to Jerusalem — he went into the fray with a different , less refined shield and soon discovered the error in his choice . When his shield was damaged beyond use , he took a sword through his breastplate . The moral of the story ? If you have a sturdy and useful shield , don ’ t bother trying to make it into something else .
Which brings us to the present , where you have the pleasure of my company for a short while . What was once
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