So here's a thought I had today about the history of the World of Darkness while putting my shoes on, because my mind does that:
"What if the first vampire of the Lancea Et Sanctum was not Longinus. What if it was Jesus."
It's a pretty strange idea but bear with me. First, this is not my idea of a perfect canon for the World of Darkness, or a canon that works for all game lines. It works for Vampire and a few others (more on that in a minute) but would not work for Werewolf, Mage or Demon. I don't build one huge canon to tie all the game lines together, I build a canon to use when I run a particular game line. If I'm running Werewolf, none of this is true but if I'm running Vampire, it just might be.
The Previous Idea
Once upon a time, I had an idea for tying Vampires and Mummies together in the wod canon (it wasn't while tying my shoes). The idea is that vampires are an imperfect creation of a bastardised form of the ritual used to create Arisen Mummies*, and the Mekhet are the first form vampires took because the ritual was handed down and/or discovered in Egypt. From them, the curse spread to other parts of the world and took on different forms, though which of the other clan's came first is undecided, feel free to suggest one.
*Unlike Mummies who are batteries of Sekhem and lose power over time, vampires don't store Sekhem half as well and have to steal it from other living creatures in blood. They are also corpses projecting a semblance of life but they have to actively use up stored Sekhem to project a full illusion (blush of life) and like mummies, they have a tendency to sleep periodically (Torpor) and their memories are hazy after sleeping for a long time. No thoughts yet on where the Beast or the weakness to the sun comes from, I welcome ideas on that :)
Likewise, Osiran Promethean's are an earlier experiment that went wrong in a different way, channeling Azoth instead of Sekhem for a start. Hence the Osiran's are the first form of Promethean's and all other creation rituals devolve from theirs, thus Promethean's have different traits of the Mummies to Vampires, projecting the illusion of life, causing mortals to go slowly mad with their presence, not periodically sleeping but being able to come back from the dead (and Osirans do that better) and other common traits.
So from this, we know that the ritual to create Arisen was handed down through the centuries and re-discovered in part from time to time, and on at least two occasions, attempted with mixed results. We also know that the ritual to create Mummies involved being stabbed in the chest with a long spike and they definitely remember this as their last living memory. And we know that the Lancea Sanctum believe that Jesus was stabbed by the spear of Longinus on the cross.
The New Idea
So, here's my new addition to that: Longinus was an Arisen who had acquired the vampiric creation ritual somehow. He realised it was missing the spike through the chest part, along with maybe some others, and decided to 'perfect' it and create a new Arisen himself.
He selected a subject to use this on, the son of a craftsman who could join his guild on becoming an Arisen (possibly he scoured a recent census for potential candidates first) and then taught him some necessary skills and wisdom in a few guises. When he decided the time was right, he arranged his death by manipulating some local politicians and as he was dying mid-crucifixion, Longinus carried out the ritual (one alchemical stage was surely applying a sponge filled with a simple acid, vinegar) and as the last stage, stabbed him in the chest with a specially prepared Lance.
Of course, this didn't work. The subject rose a few days later in the tomb Longinus had set aside for him as a vampire, craving blood and fearing the sun, same as the original Mekhet had done. The change in the ritual had reduced the effect of the sun on the new vampire though but years of being told he would no longer be human after the ritual and being prepared to be an immortal made his grasp on his human side much weaker than most. Yes, in this continuity, 'Jesus' is also the first Julii.
Longinus probably went back to sleep shortly after this, as creating new Mummies wasn't fulfilling any particular mission, so the first of a new breed of vampire would be left on his own. And after a time, fall into his own sleep. On waking, with his memories of a crucifixion happening jumbled with talk of immortal beings, children of the gods, and Longinus' sybaris, and the spear, he re-entered vampire society preaching a new ideal: the Lancea Et Sanctum.
So there you have it, Mummies, Prometheans and Vampires all tied together with a common ancient backstory, and then intertwined later again to create another part of their backstory. But what's a canon history if it does nothing for actual player characters? So here's a few ideas for doing that.
Plot Hooks I would take from this
-The Lance used by Longinus became a Relic, a true one as well in the tradition of Irem. Longinus lost it, the Sanctified have it, and Longinus wants it back.
-The Lancea Sanctum is slowly gaining more ground in the PCs' home city. They're deploying new powers, gaining new followers and no one knows why. Turns out Theban Sorcery was cobbled together from the occult knowledge in a Mummy's tomb in Thebes, and now an actual Arisen has begun advising them, allowing them to build new rituals. Dangerous stuff but what does the Arisen get out of this?...
-An extremely knowledgeable Mage finds one part of the Arisen ritual after many years of research and asks a question: if Mummy's and Vampires are powered by Sekhem and Prometheans are powered by Azoth, what would Mana accomplish?
-An auction is held. Most of it is tat of course but the final item is the prize: a tablet of polished granite with a ritual inscribed on it that predates the Egyptian old kingdom. At the auction are the Aegis Kai Doru, the Ordo Dracul, Libertinarius, the Mysterium, Prometheans, Sin-eaters and others, all unaware of each other for the moment. Until they are the ones trying to outbid one another for this item, which definitely raises suspicions. Before anyone can deploy their myriad powers in an attempt to win, an Arisen walks in, bids some ridiculous figure while dropping some influential magic, and snatches the tablet away. Each group is left standing at the auction, uncertain of everyone else except for one thing: they all want that final item. Maybe they can work together to get it?
(This one I like, as it can be run for any race which has an interest in being there. It might even be used for a crossover game, with each group represented by only one PC, if you were completely mad enough to try).
