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Connacht, Erin, 1973 Maeve Dhuit, My Darling Troll In your letter you had asked for information to thicken your files on the Gangrel. I can only give you the same instruction that I would give any of my Meiriceánach pástì. First, you must understand that our stories are very important to us, and each Gangrel you meet will have his own to tell. Forget truth. The truth, if it ever existed, is ambiguous and illusive. In life, as in this letter, you will have to draw your own conclusions. Of primary importance to each of us is the story of our own becoming. As a Gangrel you will tell it over and over, so long as you exist, each time you meet another of your kith. It is not only mere entertainment. You will be judged by it; its content and delivery will say more about you than anything else that comes afterwards. Second to that is the story of our creation as a clan. The tale I hear most often in this era is that of Lillith and Ennoia. Lillith was the Judeo-Christian first woman, banished from the fabled garden for her outspokenness. She left her daughter Ennoia to be fostered with the wolves, who raised her as one of their own. Ennoia bore both wolf and human children who became what we would call the lupines. She was a nomad, as we are today, and eventually encountered Enoch and his fabled city. Enoch fell in love with Ennoia. He sired her, but ultimately could not keep her and she went off one night as she had come, founding our line in the process. Gangrel from other cultures and, particularly, other eras, often have other tales to tell about the birth of our kind. The tale my sire, who claimed to be the first female druiddess in Erin, told me the night of my becoming follows: In a time before the sun lit the sky, before life and death weighed heavy on our souls, before men ruled the earth, our conception began. Our forefathers were the children of Maeve, the moon. They were the wolves, imbued with all Maeve's fierceness and feral grace, and Maeve led her children on hunts through the eternal night, increasing her stock with the children of her strongest males. She loved her children, and so beloved was she of the pack that a group of them came to her and asked to be made over in her image. For a time, the first humans ran as one with the pack. For some, though, the change brought a poisonous pride with it. Bress looked at Maeve, who appeared as he did, and wondered what made her worthy of leading the pack, while he was forever to follow. His pride spread to others of the human pack, and together they plotted against the Moon. They lured her away from the others on a hunt and attacked her, biting and clawing at her till blood flowed from a great wound in her side. Maeve, weakened and heartsick, retreated to the heavens, abandoning her children. Without her, the world changed for the pack, complete darkness covered the earth and for the first time, death came to both wolves and humans. Their lives and world were cold and empty, and so they cried to their mother who glowed ever fainter in the sky. Maeve's heart grew heavier, listening to the ceaseless cries of her lost children. Nearing her end, she called out for help, and was answered by the bright god Bel. Bel saw the beautiful Maeve, and immediately loved her. He knew he could not heal the wound in her side that grew larger with each passing day, but he could offer her rebirth at the end of her suffering and the strength to visit her children one last time. "The treachery of a few has brought death to this world, and I can do nothing to banish it." She told her loyal children. "Our bodies will die, but Bel will protect all out souls, allowing them to be reborn again." Her children then chose their final forms; wolf or human. Her fiercest warriors who had captured the betrayers became the lupines, able to become either wolf or man, so that they would never forget the moon's story, and the time when men and wolves ran as one pack. Bress and his comrades were then brought before her. She cried at seeing the children she had loved, who had turned against her. "Even though you have betrayed us all, I love you still. I will not destroy you, but you will be ever reminded of you treachery by the need to fill your mouths with the blood you took from me. Your very bodies will be a reminder of the death you have brought to this world, and you will never know the redemption of rebirth. You may think this cruel, but it is a kindness compared to what Bel will do to you if he catches you, for if he looks down on you from the heavens, he will destroy you utterly and without rebirth" Bel and his kind were then driven away, and Maeve said goodbye to her children. She returned to her place in the heavens, and each night since her children have watched her slowly die, only to be healed again. Each new moon brings a new birth for Maeve, the Wolf Queen, and some of her children still cry for her. With love, Ara |