A Requiem for Atlanta

Muslim Preacher

Brother Cassius is a rigid, morally superior monster who was Embraced into undeath in the 1950s and found religion in the 1960s. Though he is a prominent member in the typically Catholic-slanted vampire church called the Lancea Sanctum, Cassius is an outspoken Muslim. Always dapper in his pressed suits and bow ties, always ready with a well formed opinion, Cassius is one of the most respected preachers and missionaries within Atlanta’s vampire society.

His views on mortal morality differ from his Christian peers — who are predominantly Baptist or Catholic — but his view on Kindred morality is very much that of the local Sanctified mainstream: Vampires are holy beasts, damned into eternal service to make the consequences of mortal sin manifest on Earth. Vampires must be impeccable monsters so that the darkness at the edges of civilization stays as fearsome as children are told it is. Vampires must be wicked, not to punish the sinful per se, but to make it clear that the world is vicious and that passage through this world to Heaven is not guaranteed.

“Do not cry. Do not be sorry. You have had your chance for those things. You are above the flock now as the wolf is above the sheep. And if Hell is what you get after this, then that choice was made for you already. You are not still walking, not still drinking, dead man, because you have another chance at their salvation. What is expected of you now is to hunt the flock. That is your glory now, child.”

Elysium. Eric brings Archie and Walsh before a local meeting of the Court of Atlanta to formally introduce them to Kindred society. At the same time, he brings Regent Daniel of the Carthians, who was involved in an attempt to intimidate Eric and burn down Archie’s haven, whom Eric has enchanted through his powers as a Succubus. Under Eric’s mystic influence, Daniel will be compelled to testify on Eric’s behalf, revealing the Carthian plot to terrorize Eric’s domain and, presumably, run Eric off his land.

At the same time, Eric brings a proposal to his old Sanctified mentor, Father Stenholm, who will inform Eric of his agreement to participate in a city-wide scheme to keep the Carthians in check by delivering a coded sermon to the vampires in attendance at this Elysium.

Meanwhile, Dr. Walsh seeks out Mr. Never, to whom he is supposed to deliver the marker given to him by Victor. If Never accepts it, Walsh will become an initiate in the Ordo Dracul — the Order of the Dragon.

Eric’s interrogation of Daniel, however, reveals that Lukhas and his fellow Carthians are planning some major initiative at the handful of small courts being help throughout the city that night. But Daniel isn’t important enough to have been told just what Lukhas’s announcement will be, so Eric and his coterie have to wait and see.
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