Where the Other Covenants Miss the Point
From LanceaSanctum
Posted to the Kindred World-Wide Forum by Bishop J.W.Ghoren in response to a request for info on the Covenants, this discourse is easily and best followed by another on the basics of LS belief and the Purpose of the Damned. In the original delivery, Dark Grandeur: Our Role in the Completion of Men was used, though H.E. de la Cruz's Basic Beliefs of the Sanctified could work as well or better. If "Dark Grandeur" is used, the last three paragraphs of this text should be stricken due to overlap.
My Dear Fellow Damned,
The real question, I believe, is: "Why are we here?" Some covenants offer answers, mine among them, and others either neglect or attempt to circumvent the question. Before telling you why, and how the Lancea Sanctum can help you to pursue your own Purpose in God's plan, I shall note what I find lacking in each of the others.
The Invictus is an admirable covenant in many ways: they provide order and stability to our society. As Lord Paladin wrote, "the laws that virtually each domain follow were laid down by the Invictus thousands of years ago. The Prince as the head of the city, Prisci Councils, Sherrifs and Harpies. That's us. We created them." He is mostly right. In so much as the laws provide Order to our society, that is a tradition and service which the Invictus has provided since its beginnings in the Camarilla of Rome's Kindred. However, the Traditions proper, the Kindred way of life that they are sworn to uphold, were given first unto the Damned by Longinus, who first understood that power without purpose is meaningless. As has been said, the Invictus are very good at holding power, and they surve a purpose in our society. But the Purpose of the Damned is something greater.
The Carthian Movement is an admirable covenant in many ways, and one which I greatly favor, personally; they provide new ideas and challenge the old ones when they grow out-dated or oppressive. As Prince Lynch wrote, "The Carthian Movement seeks to change the social structure because we must adapt if we plan on continuing to live... We fight for progress, because the alternative is that our kind will be left in the dust." These are very noble ideals, and express a very true need for our society. However, while the Carthians do not want for idealism or moral courage, they do - as has also been said - lack focus. This, however, is an illusion, for their focus - as I see it - is change itself. Again, quoting Prince Lynch, "if you are passionate, want to affect change, and can bring power to the cause because you believe in it, welcome home." What cause? The Carthians have many individual, noble causes, but like the Invictus, stop short of fighting for Purpose. They serve their purpose in society as well but the Purpose of the Damned is something more.
The political covenants ignore the questions of what we are, and why we are here. The next covenant I shall mention skips those questions and moves straight to "what can we become?" and "where are we going?" I speak, of course, of the Ordo Dracul. Their purpose in our society is less clear to me, for the individual Dragons I have met seem to vary wildly in personality, interest and beliefs. How, for example, one can "believe in God," but, "like most Dragons[, not] bow to him;" how one can acknowledge the Creator yet not give deference as one of His creations, is beyond me. Now, Mr. Strife went on to say that, "to be a Dragon is to strive to ever become more than you are, to transcend the vampiric state." This certainly sounds enlightened, no? Yet, their science misses the point that evolution does not happen within an individual. As individuals, we are here to serve a purpose, one which can neither be transcended nor overcome. The "something more" that Mr. Strife seeks to become is another illusion.
Last before my own, I come to the covenant of many illusions - the Circle of the Crone. I will admit to the least personal knowledge of their ways, as there are none within my diocese. Yet I shall take the words of one who spoke here, Dr. Roth, with the acknowledgment that while they conform to what I had known before I realize they are but one new Acolyte's rendition of their faith: ""We are guided by the Goddess, the Mother, the singular form of so many facets of Gods and Godesses from around the world and the darkest imagination. She grants unto us her blessings in the form of Vision and Guidance as well as personal power and Ritual. We... know that which most would rather not ... because She grants us vision. In return, we pay her homage in Blood. The blood of the living, the blood of Mortals, or the blood of our own." The Goddess, whether she is worshipped as Lilith, Eve, Tiamat or any other "mother" is an illusion. Our mothers are the mortals who birthed us as babes. God is neither male or female, and the fact that the Crones "pay her homage" in the blood of men is testament to the fact that they unwittingly serve the purpose no Mother set them to, which Longinus revealed to us. Dr. Roth spoke of leaving the mortal world in tatters behind him, but continues - along with his covenant entire - to look for enlightenment in the idols of men.
While we must keep an eye to mortals for the sake of our survival... we cannot look to them for guidance. Not to their institutions as the Carthians do; nor to themselves as power, as the Invictus do; nor to their religious heroes and idols, as the Crone do. We cannot look inward, either, my brethren; for within, we find only the Beast and the hunger - mindless and untempered by the faculties of man which God has left us. The Dragons apply their minds to their Damnation directly, and insodoing fail to see that our role is defined by the Curse they would circumvent.
Looking to institutions, ourselves or the religions of mortals will not show us the path. The path, my brethren, is in each of us... but we alone cannot see it. We are Predators of men, but we are still like men in that without God our existence is simply incomplete.
Fortunately, we have His words, "put forth [as] truth in these pages, for [we] who seek as [others] have sought." The Testament is the word of God, given unto us by an Archangel, through one of us who learned deeply and well the nature of our Damnation. With it, the Beast and the blood it craves can begin to make sense to us.
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