History of the First City
Book of Nod

The document reproduced here ended up in the hands of a Sabbat Noddist through questionable means. Through negotiations and an offer of reciprocal viewing of a previously unheard of fragment of the Book of Nod, this Noddist agreed to allow me to view this document, and copy it. Hopefully, that Noddist is as satisfied with what I showed him, as I am with what he showed me.

Through some careful research and some educated guesses, I feel (as does many other scholars who have seen this document) that this document was written sometime during the last twenty years by a Brujah scholar of no small repute named Aristotle deLaurent. The Brujah Elder, Critias, places deLaurent in England sometime in the early 1900's.

There is a fragment of a story gained from a Sabbat named Choros that deLaurent was in New York around 1935, and was asking the then Cardinal of New York, Arthur Cooke, a noted Noddist-Scholar in his own right, for permission to see the 7 or so fragments of the Book of Nod that that Archdiocese was supposed to be in possession of. Whether or not he was allowed to view these documents is unknown. It is known, however, that he reappeared in Oslo sometime after World War II to view a supposed document in the possession of a Malkavian Elder named Thorsson. Thorsson claims never to have met deLaurent, but then again, Thorsson claims that the Atlantic Ocean doesn't exist either.

Chemical and chromatograph testing by the Tremere Logan of Vienna states with 95% certainty that the document viewed by me is written in Kindred vitae, and Logan claims that he knows that the blood is Brujah in origin. He refuses to tell me how he knows this. However, I am willing to concede that point to Logan, and we both feel that deLaurent was the author of these passages. It was found last year in a letter written to Beckett, deLaurent's childe, that deLaurent is still wandering around ruins in Turkey, hoping to find yet more evidence of the First City, and perhaps, however unlikely, a complete Book of Nod.

I think I speak for all Kindred scholars, regardless of Clan or Sect, when I thank deLaurent for his research and writings. Wherever he may be, good luck, friend.

troll
Nosferatu Archon
NYC, September, 1995.

What we know of the First City comes from a tiny selection of tablet fragments, vase shards, and carved monuments uncovered after two thousand years of burial. The First City was unique in its vampiric nature. There, the two generations of Caine's Children, the second and third generation, created for themselves a society which adapted to their particular vampiric customs, needs, and powers.

From what has been unearthed, we know that the Kindred of the First City were the upper rung of the hierarchy, with Caine, of course, being at the top. Although the three Children of Caine (Enoch, Zillar, and Irad) were supposedly the next 'rung' down, several of the Third Generation, Caine's Grandchilder, enjoyed special status (notably Saulot, who was always at Caine's side, especially in the later days) equal to the Second Generation.

Below all Kindred were the Children of Seth, that is to say the humans, except for one. That one was the Master of Servants, the original one-who-serves, called Jabal in some myths. Jabal was equal to one of Caine's Grandchilder because he was so close to Caine. There was very little of Jabal's own blood left in his body, it was all mostly the blood of Caine.

Those-who-serve, the latter-day ghouls, were the next lowest rung, followed by all mortal servants who attended the Kindred. The rest - those who farmed, labored, etc. - were the least.

Do not, however, misjudge the Kindred of this time. They were doing what their father, Caine, told them to do. Caine truly felt as an uncle to these orphaned children of Seth's, and he saw it as his duty to protect them and guide them. He took his duty seriously. A few of the legends show Caine the Lawgiver as a tiger, and a wolf, and a hawk, attacking the enemies of the people. They show him also sitting in judgment on an Ivory Throne in the midst of a great Court - apparently the powers of Auspex at that time were considerable enough to allow Caine (or the residing Kindred) to look into the heart of a man and discern whether he had done right or wrong.

Caine was also able to see when one of his children's Powers had worked on a human. He was also able to cancel the effects of any Discipline used in his vicinity. It was this total mastery of all Disciplines that kept Caine in power, truly, for although he was a decent king and an honest law-giver, his Disciplines ensured that the rest of the powerful Kindred stayed in line. Caine had the ability to create new Disciplines on the spot if he wished. It is thought that his power to do this was the forerunner of the Thaumaturgy Discipline and the various Thaumaturgical Paths.

It is thought that the slaves of Enoch were captured natives of the nation of Seth, the tribe of herders that eventually spawned Noah and his kind. This would add meaning to the biblical idea that the earth was becoming corrupted by evil around the time of Noah, for certainly Caine was indulging himself and his children in the height of this period.

Most slaves labored in the fields to produce food for the human servants of Caine and his children. They were mostly captured outlaws and barbarians, and were probably Dominated into submission. It is only through the name for the slaves that we know that they are slaves: all pictograms depicting slaves in Enoch show them as being collarless and free.

I was shocked to learn that the custom of the Blood Feast that the Sabbat are said to partake in was duplicated in ancient times by Caine and his court. At a feast, Caine would have several condemned criminals tied by their ankles to beams above the table. The Kindred present would feed at leisure off these prisoners until they died of the treatment. Drawings depict Caine and several of his childer drinking from a pool of blood that is fed by three inverted mortals bleeding into it.

We know, as well, that much was known during that time about the taste of blood and how to improve it. Several of the "cooks" of Enoch's time learned the various savory herbs and foods and drinks that would, when ingested by the feeding-slave, cause the right balance of sweet and salt, fullness and thinness for the blood of feeding slaves.

Slaves unable to work in the field were invariably made feeding slaves. These slaves were probably very lovely to look at (one glyph shows a feeding-slave dressed in a veil and jewels) and highly conditioned to respond to the Kiss.

Enoch observed the planting seasons, like all agricultural communities. There is evidence that there was a great celebration in the High House of Caine every new moon, and a great thanksgiving night on the day after an eclipse. This may have been when werewolves were most likely to attack, if indeed it is werewolves that were around during this time, and not demons as some have suggested.

Caine provided a very advanced calendar for the time. On Midsummer's Eve one year, Caine painted a red line of his own blood on the circular wall of his High House. The line magically moved day by day, slowly circling the house until it came back around to the solstice again. It was through this auspice that Caine provided the citizens of the First City a calendar.

Much was learned about the breeding of humans with other humans and either Kindred or kine developed birth control. Humans were bred for specific purposes, such as being strong for feeding, or being a good warrior, or a good laborer. If you were frequently successful in your tasks, you might get selected to further your line. This would be done in a house called the Temple of Lilith, which was neither a Temple and was probably not even dedicated to Lilith. Two humans would have ritual sex here and then never see each other again, especially if they served two separate masters.

Kindred with Auspex were apparently able to tell immediately that a woman had gotten with child from a union.

Unlike most cultures of ancient times, there was no religion in Enoch. Caine forbid the worship of the One Above, having turned his face from Him, and allowed his subjects no trips to the temple to become scrubbed from sin. Indeed, Caine would often hold forth in open court about how they were all doomed to rot in hell, about how their plight would fall on deaf ears when the time for Armageddon comes and about how truly evil the Kindred are as a race.