Lilith...

While the entirety of Lilith's tale may never be known, what follows are points made through extensive cross-referencing of ancient historical sources to include Hebrew mythological texts and certain translations of the Bible as well as Lilith's own oral accounts to her children.

Lilith was the first wife created for Adam in Eden. Rebellious, she grew to reject the subservient role she was meant to play, demanding at the least equality with if not dominance over her male companion/ husband. Continued rejection of Adam and defiance of the intended “order of things” led to her expulsion from Eden's paradise and because Lilith was immortal---Death had yet to be allowed into this newly born sphere of Creation--- her punitive exile was seemingly intended to last forever.

While not inherently evil, it is believed that a combination of Lilith's resentment of the judgment against her and her long exile--- the duration of which has yet to be accurately calculated--- in the cold, absolute darkness outside the boundaries of the Garden embittered her to such an intense degree as to effect a transformation to a thing of evil. Isolated in that dark, untamed place, haunted by the memories of Eden's comforts and pushed to a point beyond madness, Lilith would become something unlike anything that had ever existed before. In her later explanations of her history to her children, she would claim that this manic state was the cause for the many gaps in her memory although the truth of this has yet to be proved or disproved. The savagely feral, subhuman behavior she adopted out in the darkness would be Creation's first true seed of Evil, the precursor to all the incarnations that would soon follow including that displayed by Cain when he slew his brother, Able.

Human and Vampyr scholars alike are unable to determine the exact point Lilith entered into the newly expanding world of mortal man as the entity we recognize today. By Lilith's own account, as soon as she was aware of Man's presence outside the Garden she began stalking them, bent on revenge against these, the descendants of the also-exiled Adam and his second wife, Eve. The gap in time this represents--- between Adam and Eve's expulsion, in which they were made mortal as part of their punishment unlike Lilith who was left immortal perhaps to infinitely extend the duration of her suffering, the rise of Adam and Eve's children into the varying tribes of Man to include the now-cursed subspecies spawned by Cain and Lilith's contact with those descendants--- has never been accurately reconciled or documented. It remains one of many mysteries surrounding Lilith's saga. Whatever the amount of time separating these pivotal events may have been, when it occurred--- when Lilith preyed upon the first of mankind she came across, savagely attacking with a bloodthirsty fervor and cruelty so intensely unnatural it was beyond the manner of beast or man--- the victims she sought to slay she instead “turned”, a process that created the first of what is now known as the “half-breed” Vampyr.

Instead of killing them, she somehow imbued them with what the Vampyr came to call “Un-Life”, a fusion of Man's mortality and a fragment of Lilith's immortality and darkness all bound together by the mingling of blood. { It should be noted that Vampyr scholars have postulated that these first victims of Lilith were “turned” because--- as Cain's progeny--- they were already contaminated by Evil. This theory would also explain Lilith's contact with these particular humans first, since Cain and his descendants were pariahs wherever they went and had ventured farther and farther into the unsettled wilds to avoid the persecution they endured whenever they were anywhere near the emerging societies and civilizations of Man.}

After this time, another gap in information presents itself. The gap reflects the lack of knowledge about what transpired between those initial, monstrous attacks and Lilith's later integration into civilized culture. How the transition was effected was never documented, apparently Lilith tried and failed many times to blend in with those budding societies but her inhuman vitality and longevity as well as her bloody proclivities would always ultimately mark her for the inhuman creature she had become.

Another period in her history passed, equally devoid of details until her emergence once again, this time as a woman of stature in the city of Gomorrah. The city and its inhabitants with their already amoral indulgences and wanton pursuits embraced Lilith and she thrived there for many years. During this time she gave birth to some twenty daughters and an as yet unknown number of sons. The sons however she always slew at birth along with all the fathers of her children; she did this because her undiminished hatred of God and Adam had caused Lilith to despise all men.

In reference to this area scholars have made additional suppositions. One idea is that the depravity of the populace of Gomorrah and its sister city, Sodom, as it is portrayed in Biblical texts was so uncharacteristic of mankind's other settlements elsewhere in the world that Lilith may actually have been the catalyst if not the sole architect of the aberration. Seductively evil with a potent sway over the mortal minds and senses of both men and women and an undiminished appetite for dominance, the theory that Lilith may have been setting the foundation for her long-envisioned empire with these two cities seems highly plausible. Also, because other, less destructive methods like plagues and famine had been employed against places and peoples that had proved an affront to God--- incidents detailed throughout the Bible--- the very overt and all-consuming devastation brought to bear upon Sodom and Gomorrah may be evidence of a need for an increased degree of force specifically tailored to neutralize an entity that was not, in fact, mortal. Lilith was immune to all manner of natural contagion, did not need to eat or drink, and was eternally vital; the things that were effective against mortal man would not have been effective against her. Without any actual evidence, this remains theoretical, and even if Lilith were alive she would only know her biased portion of the story leaving God's motives still open for speculation.

With the world of Man growing larger, its frontiers expanding farther every day, Lilith had, in Gomorrah, set her sights on crafting a dominion of her own. As the paradise of Eden had long since been denied her she settled for ruling this new world of Man. With her immortality amongst a race of mortals, she felt destined by virtue of superiority to rule. With her ageless, irresistible beauty she was constantly courted by men, men whose wealth she took and whose bodies she used to bring about her daughters, marking them each upon birth with the blood of their own, freshly-slain fathers. In this way she stained the souls of each of her offspring, marking them as she had marked herself that they would walk forever in the same evil shadow which consumed her. And, all the while, she nurtured and educated them in all the the dark practices and arcane arts she'd explored or learned over the ages.

Like a pride of evil lionesses, Lilith bred, groomed, and trained her daughters for strength and intelligence. Each of them, while powerful enough on their own has learned through their mother's training that they are far more threatening when acting in concert. Lilith is their sole master, obedience and loyalty to her is imprinted upon her children at an almost genetic level; her every command is followed without hesitation and each of her children would sacrifice themselves in an instant for her protection. Lilith was bent on using her daughters to create the empire she had so long envisioned, intending to send them out into the world and act as tendrils in her far-flung web while she waited at the center manipulating it all. Unknown to Lilith, this plan would not come to pass.

Not long after Lilith's twentieth daughter came of age and left Gomorrah, it and Sodom as well as all the twin cities' inhabitants were obliterated by what the Bible refers to simply as the “Wrath of God”. Lilith, like everyone within the walls of the two cities, was destroyed in the all-consuming cataclysm as well. If it were not for the scattering of her daughters, the legacy of the Vampyr--- like so many other forms of evil--- would have likely ended forever that day. One important factor did become evident not long after this, however, and that was that all Lilith's daughters were barren, unable to conceive children like their mother had. After long years of research and experimentation, her daughters did finally come up with the method called “Blood Breeding” which is the same method that has been refined to the reproductive ritual still in use by Vampyr today. This method has enabled the continuation of the “pure blood” Vampyr, descendants who are physically superior to their half-breed brethren.

As time has progressed, Vampyr have flourished becoming an expansive, shadow society, spread across the globe and divided almost tribally into clans or houses which are invariably headed by the eldest or strongest member in the group; that individual is almost exclusively a pure blood. Vampyr “hide” for the most part in plain sight, mingling seamlessly with humanity in a way other subspecies have been unable to. Creatures believed to be fictional like Sasquatch--- which is actually a group of creatures and not a single beast as the myths suggest--- werewolves, gargoyles, even mermaids and faeries all belong to this very real shadow world in spite of humanity's general denial of their existence. But the Vampyr remain preeminent among them all, they have existed the longest and trace their lineage back to the very origin of all things. Aristocratic and elitist, Vampyr take fierce pride in their nature and existence and studies show they are represented in the populations of every culture and continent. Recently a growing trend has taken hold in the Vampyr ranks, an obsession with effecting the resurrection of the mother of them all, Lilith.

Hundreds of years of research and experimentation has been invested in the effort, which has been overseen exclusively by the Crimson Circle, the true Vampyr elite comprised of Lilith's twenty daughters and each of their first born children. If it can be said that there is Vampyr royalty, the sisterhood would be it. The true “first family”, the sisters have sought relentlessly for a means to undo the fate their mother suffered at God's hand, some way to reconstitute the “Goddess Sanguinaria” that Lilith represents in romanticized Vampyr lore. Regardless of other disparities and tensions, all Vampyr fall in line on this subject, Lilith's history is practically Vampyr theology.

While the method that is going to be utilized in the attempt remains an incredibly well-kept secret, one thing experts in the subject agree on is that if Lilith is brought back the world will never be the same...