-Malkavian-
Shine black the Sun!
Shine blood the Moon!
Gehenna is coming soon!
-The Book of Nod-
"Watch closely those that claim insanity.
It is they who hold the truth to our existence...
For the truth will surely drive you mad."
-An Unknown Elder
Welcome, Friends and Foes alike, I feel as if I am obligated to warn you that you are entering the world of the truly Insane. Read on if you must, but remember this: You have been warned.
Although you bear the mark of Malkav; it is seen by others as a cracked mirror.
Do you fear the Malkavians? No? I can hear you asking yourself, "Why should I fear them?" I will tell you why! Even the other Damned fear the Malkavians. The cursed blood of their coven has polluted their minds, with the result that every last Malkavian across the world is incurably insane. What's worse, a Malkavian's madness can take nearly any form, from over-powering homocidal tendencies to near-catatonia. In many cases, there's no way to tell a Malkavian apart from the "Sane" members of other covens. Those few whose phychoses are immediately obvious are among the most terrifying vampires to stalk the streets.
For as long as even the oldest Cainites can remember, the Malkavians have always stirred Kindred society with their passage. Although the coven has instigated no great wars nor toppled mortal governments (at least to the best of their fellow Vampire's knowledge), the very presence of a Malkavian works a subtle change on everyone present. Chaos nips at the lunatics' heels, and those who associate with even the most well-meaning Malkavian often find their lives or unlives altered by the Canite's madness.
none can say what exactly makes the Lunatics so dangerous. Certainly, their madness often frees them from the pain of Death. More than a few demonstrate murderous urges or a compkete lack of emotion, including compassion. but most convincingly, the Malkavians are free from the confines of rationality and may do whatever they like - and this freedom is coupled with an uncanny insight, a strange wisdom that cannot be percieved by the sane. Malkavians posses a dark intellect that is often - and increasingly - set to frightning purposes.
We Malkavians are insane, but not in the way that others imagine. Each Malkavian sees the world through his/her own cracked lens of perception,a highly personal distortion that outsiders view as mere insanity. But that distortion is the key to enlighnment, we Malkavians insist, and often these Lunatics seem to know more about what's really going on than our so-called brethren.
Some people ask, "What do you think of the other covens?"
Well, I will tell you what we think. Assamite : Live by the sword, trip and fall on the sword, die by the sword. Brujah : I want to like your average brujah, but his skull's so damned thick that he can't crack it open and get to the good stuff he doesn't even know he's got in there. So forget him. Gangrel : They aren't animals, no matter what other poeple say. Look under the skin of the corpse, then look look under the layer of beast-thought, and what do you find? A secret worse than man, corpse, or animal! Yes? Yes! Ravnos : Call us Deluded? Go look at a Ravnos for a while. Toreador : Puppets who pull their own strings, or offer them to anyone who wants to make them dance. Tremere : God's wounds! These ducklings certainly livened up the Great Cainite Heirarchy, now didn't they? Oh, I think every town square should have one of these, just to keep us all guessing.
I know the other covens call us things other than Malkavian, that's ok, because we have some other names for them as well.
Others ask us, "What do you look like?"
I will tell you that as well! Malkavians run the gamute from terrifyingly psychotic to convincingly ordinary in every way - sometimes both at once. Just like serial killers, they could be anyone - the scruffy bum talking to himself, the pleasant but quiet neighbor, the borderline-suicidal muscian. These vampires are capable of great subtlety, and rarely show anyone a face other than the one they want you to see.
As the head of the Malkavian Coven, I have some thing to say to all members, and prospective Members.
"There is a Joker in every deck and here it is you. Your unique view is taken by others as insanity and so they underestimate you. This is your strength, use it wisely."
