Posted by: Lord Ex 2023-03-11, 20:18
当夜晚延长到数周,数周又到数年,数年再到数十年,数十年更到数世纪时,一种灵魂的苦涩笼罩了我——这苦涩如此之大,移动如此之慢,以至我永远无法在当下看到。只有在反思过往的片刻,才能看见所造成的伤害——然后是怪物般的醒悟,而这掏空了我那曾不屈的精神;只有在沉思未来的片刻,才能看见曾是灵魂之闪亮珠宝的碎片;又看见自己仅存的人性,等待着终将被岁月流逝磨光的那天。
我并未要求这等永不结束的存在。我知道,除了传说中的罗马尼亚王子、龙之子兼遁世会君主弗拉德外,无人如此。我并未要求一种存在,它令我曾爱过的一切和曾梦想实现的一切受到嘲弄;我并未要求目睹时间湍流冲走甚至是我凡生时最伟大的成就;我并未要求目睹我的世界深陷可憎变化,我所知道的一切化为乌有,取代之如此陌生之人、如此古怪之物和如此不适之俗。我必须永远挣扎着理解奇怪的新礼仪、神奇的新机器和晦涩的新话术。我几乎不能相信这是我出生的那个世界。我不能去我的老地方、见我的老朋友并追我的老恋人。他们早已不在。我不能漫游乡间数日而不看见另一个人。我并未要求这所有一切,然而,一切全在此地。我并未要求腐败蔓延和欢乐萎缩的永恒。而我,一个困惑、疲惫又空虚的老者已在此地。他想知道他的世界去了哪儿,他的爱人去了哪儿,他的生活又去了哪儿。
我面临的挑战似乎不可逾越。我所掌控的资源似乎不足为道。我年轻时燃烧的希望和热情如今已成死灰,而我现在害怕它们的烈焰。我作用有限,几无选择。因此我在自己的职位范围内,按我认为合适的方式行事,清楚我的敌人和城市鲜有会或能代替我做不同的事。然而,每次新的行事,每次新的惩罚叛党,每次新的击退魔宴入侵,每次新的掠夺凡人社会与鲜血,我都会死去一点。但她所有的选择——秘隐同盟的妥协,潜藏戒律的气息——都是给混乱的邀请函。除外唯一的选择是逐渐死去,死于我既不想也不想失去的生活。
随着我年迈的血液凝固,能激起热情之物越来越少。我能像机械般冷静管理我的财产。从前,最轻微的轻视都能点燃我的热情,如今,只有最致命的攻击才会扬起波澜;我必须强迫自己对任何琐事作出反应。我常知受伤自尊的愤慨,但少闻对不公正之事的义愤。虽然我的内心常被该隐诅咒的肆虐笼罩,但我能清楚看到自我最深处的一部分——只有面临对我理智的直接挑战时,我凝固的血液才会涌动。对我财产的侵犯不会像一个轻蔑叛党那样激怒我。在狼人的残暴中失去一打血仆会激起我所有的热情,好似文员总结账目,必须做出替换。但若血仆质疑我的命令时,我深知狮子的愤怒。在事后反思的片刻里,我品尝着自己暴行之后的欢愉。而若我以不造成循环报复的方式彻底羞辱了一个有价值的对手,若我在王廷上大放异彩,那时,也只有那时我才知道喜悦。那种快感类似我第一次知晓新鲜血液的充盈,可能还超过了它。虽然我既鄙视又害怕亲王王廷、净土大厅和都市街道上无休止的言语争斗,但我却以一种只有肉食者和受诅者才知道的变态心理品味它。
我孤独但强大。我会尽我所能,激活这副曾是我完美人类身体的邪恶之物,这副死去血肉组成的尸体,这副不适的鲜血监狱。若那需要我在王廷上对我的敌人齐射一堆讨厌、伤人、破坏的话语,那就这样吧;若那需要我肆意粉碎一个足智多谋的叛党的野心,那就这样吧;若那需要我任性转移快乐凡人的渴望方向,那就这样吧。所以叛党认为我活着就是让他们活得悲惨。若他们知道自己是对的,是否会无比惊讶!
仅是写下这些文字,就让我充满颤抖般的恐惧,它的离去又让我感到奇异般的振奋。虽然我永远不会以如此痛苦、危险的坦率说出这类话,但它激励我在自己灵魂的黑暗面中看到它,在白昼的完全光亮中承认它——让我的仁慈回避的光亮。若你成功激起我的怒火,而我又没有在活剥你时表达我的秘密感谢,那么你会原谅我。若你在自己无法忍受的痛苦的最后时刻激起了我可怕的仇恨,那么你要知道,我是全心全意爱你的。
——雷东多·德·瓦斯奎兹
伊沙克·伊本·伊布扎汗之子
隆提乌斯之孙
阿里克尔之曾孙
以诺西之曾曾孙
该隐之曾曾曾孙
原文:
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And as the nights stretch on into weeks and the weeks to years and the years to decades and the decades to centuries, a bitterness of the soul steals over me – a bitterness so vast in size and moving at so glacial a pace that I cannot ever see it in the present. Only in moments of reflection on my past can I see the damage done – the glacier’s monstrous wake, where it has hollowed out my once – indomitable spirit. Only in moments of contemplation upon my future can I see the remaining fragments of the shimmering jewel that was once my soul. I see the little humanity left to me, and await the day when it too shall be ground down by the millstone of the passage of time.
I did not request this existence Never-Ending. I know of none who did, save the fabled Romanian Prince Vlad, Son of the Dragon, Lord of the Inconnu. I did not ask for an existence that makes a mockery of all I once loved and all I once dreamed of achieving. I did not ask to see the tides of time wash away even the greatest accomplishments of my day. I did not ask to see my world plunged into the furnace of scolding change, in which all I knew was rendered down into nothing and replaced with people so strange and devices so odd and customs so queer. I must forever struggle to understand the eccentric new manners, miraculous new machinery and impenetrable new modes of speech. I can scarcely believe this is the same Earth on which I was born. I cannot go to my old haunts, see my old comrades and woo my old loves. They are no more. I cannot rove over the countryside for days and never see another soul. I did not ask for all this, and yet, here it is. I did not ask for an eternity of enlarging decay and contracting joy. And here I am, a puzzled old, tired old, empty old man, wondering where his world went, where his loves went, where his life went.
The challenges before me seem insurmountable. The resources at my command seem scant. The hope and zeal that blazed in my youth are cold ash in my age, and I now fear their flame. I am locked in a constricted role, in which I have few choices. So I act as I deem fit, within the confines of my station, knowing few of my enemies and cities would or could do differently in my stead. And yet with each new act, with each new punishment of an anarch, with each new repelling of Sabbat incursion, with each new predation on mortal society and vitae, I die by an iota. But all to her options – the compromise of the Camarilla, the breath of the Masquerade – are invitations to chaos. The only other choice is death by degrees, death from a life I neither want nor want to lose.
As my aged blood curdles, less and less stirs it to passion. I could administer my holdings as dispassionately as an automaton. Where once the minutest perceived slight would inflame my passions, now only the gravest assault stirs a reaction; I must force myself to respond to any less. I often know the indignation of wounded pride, but seldom pure anger over injustices done. Though my mind is often clouded by the ravages of the Curse of Caine. I can see clearly one part of my innermost self: my clotted blood stirs only when confronted by a direct challenge to my sanity. Incursions upon my holdings do not provoke me the way a contemptuous anarch does. Loss of a dozen ghouls to lupine savagery stirs in me all the passion of a clerk summing his books; replacements must be made. But should a ghoul question my orders, I know the fury of the lion. In moments of reflection afterward, I savor the agreeable after effects of my outrage. And should I thoroughly humiliate a worthy opponent in a manner that does not create a cycle of destructive reprisal, and should I surge glory before the court, then and only then do I know rapture. The thrill is akin to the that of the first time I knew the engorgement of fresh blood, perhaps surpassing it. Though I despise and dread the endless skirmished of words fought in the prince’s court, in the halls of Elysium, and on the streets of the city, I savor them with a perversity known only to the powerful and the damned.
I am lonely, but I am mighty. I will do all I can to stir this wicked mockery of my once-perfect human body, this carcass of dead flesh, this unhappy blood-sponge prison. If that requires that I fire a volley of hateful, hurtful, damaging words upon my enemies in court, so be it. If that requires that I arbitrarily crush the ambitions of a clever and resourceful anarch, so be it. If that requires that I capriciously divert the course of joyful mortal aspiration, so be it. So the anarchs think I live to make their lives miserable. Would they not be surprised beyond measure to learn that they are right!
Simply writing these words fills me with a quaking terror, the passing of which leaves me strangely invigorated. Though I would never speak with such painful, dangerous candor, it enlivens me to see it in the darkling mirror of my soul, and to admit it to myself in the full light of day - the light that all my Kind shun. If you succeed in raising my anger, you will forgive me if I do not convey my secret thanks while I skin you alive. And if you succeed in arousing my awesome HATRED, know, in your final moments of unendurable agony, that I love you with all my soul.
- Redondo de Vasquez
Childe of Ishaq ibn Ibzahim
Grandchilde of Lontius
Great-Grandchilde of Arikel
Great-Great-Grandchilde of Enosh
Great-Great-Great-Grandchilde of Caine
Posted by: Lord Ex 2023-03-11, 20:19
绪论
权力是最猛烈的催欲剂。
——亨利·基辛格,1971年1月19日
《净土:长老战争》带你进入秘盟长老独有的腻烦、稀薄氛围。这些神秘、可怕、无常造物在此,供说书人增添游戏趣味,也供玩家用于其角色是长老的编年史中。
本书给你些高级说书的机会。扮演长老远比叛党或辅者有挑战性。它需很了解黑暗世界并准备充足,但回报丰厚。最强血族之力就在你手里。
原文:
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Introduction
Power is the great aphrodisiac.
— Henry Kissinger, January 19, 1971
Elysium: The Elder Wars brings you into the cloying, rarefied air inhabited only by the elders of the Camarilla. The secrets of these mysterious, frightening, volatile creatures are here for Storytellers to use to spice up their games and for players to use in chronicles where their characters are the elders.
This book brings you the opportunity for some advanced storytelling. Playing an elder is far more challenging than playing an anarch or ancilla. It requires a strong knowledge of the World of Darkness and a good deal of preparation, but the rewards are great. The might of the most powerful vampires is in your hands.
Posted by: Lord Ex 2023-03-25, 21:14
使用方法
本书为玩家和说书人设计。它深入长老们的密室,为充实这些角色、并让他们更危险提供了有用点子。创造长老间的斗争,让玩家有更多事可做,也让他们和世界有更多联系。于此给出的规则,也会让记录有关管理长老财产的细节更容易。
形象
长老体现了巨大矛盾。他们虽是地球上最古老的感知生物,但外貌上常比他们对付的叛党更年轻,有时只有儿童大。而老人把持世俗大权的凡人世界则完全相反。这使得,当一帮三四十岁的贱民或叛党,被叫到一个看似二十来岁、但实则四百岁的亲王面前时,景象尤其违和。一些长老老态龙钟,但他们是例外。
然而,血族能随时间推移而开始看似“更老”。虽然他们不会衰老,但在岁月与浓血的重压下。其中一些开始衰弱迟钝。言行迟缓和眼或心灵的迟钝,在年轻躯体中形成了古老的灵气。
主题
主题是腐败权威和变质爱情。人类长老代表领导权的延续和将社会价值观传递给下一代,而血族长老试图歪曲这一等式。他们因鲜少下台,也无法因自然死亡失去权力,所以对新生代上位是个永恒障碍。同时为了继续对控制权的邪恶掌控,就必须永远挫败自己后代的野心。
血族长老为权力而紧握权力——即使他们的社会因此开始衰败。这反映了人类政治系统中最糟糕的一面——常不愿让新一代在谈判桌上有一席之地。每当根深蒂固的统治阶级利用自身影响紧握权力时,腐败就会出现。
例如,古巴的独裁政权就完全由根本不想与新一代领导者分享权力的年长男性组成。这个老人政权完全无关国家需求。他们抵制亟需的改革,只能靠杀害异见者维持秩序。这对叙事人是个很有启发的教训,因为哈瓦那政权就是多疑、封闭、傲慢和绝望——血族长老的典型特征——的绝佳范例。
即使是民主国家也不能避免将权力传给新一代的恐惧。在二战中成熟的政治家期盼美国总统之位长达前所未有的两代,因为许多选民不愿让年轻领导者从二战时期的领导者手中接过白宫。这种代际失衡导致了向独裁、帝国主义的倾斜,与他们所统治的国家相去甚远。
一个不会定期给领导层换血的社会注定停滞压抑。这在血族净土中尤其明显。
比政治腐败更糟的是长辈抑制晚辈与生俱来的权利。害怕自己老去的父母常颠覆他们孩子自由飞翔的尝试,毒害代际间的爱与信任。晚辈要么变得意志薄弱,要么变得无比叛逆,让长辈沦为吝啬、恐惧的废人,以及自己拼命紧握的非常权力的囚徒。
凡人父母有为子女献身的压倒性冲动。许多人在危险出现的第一时间,毫不犹豫地行动,将小心和自我保护抛之脑后来保护他们的晚辈。但血族长老非常不同。凡人父母对孩童的那种无私又无微不至的爱不会在不朽血族身上看到。他们就像得确保连任的国会议员,矛盾地更小心,而非更勇敢。长老机会更少,也没有太多会拿自己的不朽生命冒险,拯救自己后代的发肤。
当生命与爱的流动不再随时间和代际流逝向前时,腐败就会出现。长老在他们的位高权重中溃烂,却害怕放手或做点什么。他们因积重难返而痛苦,辅者因鸿毛微雨而痛苦。事情就是这样。
血族家族将大量精力倾注在如此的自相残杀中,无力准备对抗外敌的更大战争。长老为打破这种灵魂腐朽的死亡之锁,试图在野心勃勃的晚辈能以背叛推翻自己前,就先背叛他们。背叛是血族社会的悲惨状况,而叛党只目睹它变得更糟。
情景
净土优雅的大理石大厅中的情景是外表高贵的绝望和令人窒息的多疑。长老已用数世纪来精通虚伪的艺术,并登至凡人鲜有一瞥的完美境界。外在的他们微笑,但内在的他们狂啸,而净土回荡着尖锐又寂静的回音。长老戕害自身正直是如此之深,以至他们中许多人已失去内在稳定,自我意识也支离破碎。这种同存在核心的断连对有感知的生物来说是异常痛苦的经历。失衡到危险的长老因孤独的愤怒而发泄,而这只有我们其他人在最危险的时刻才得以一瞥。当他们面对自己的矛盾和过失时,首个冲动就是毁灭。
原文:
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How to Use this Book
This book is designed for use by both players and Storytellers. It penetrates the cloistered chambers of the elders and provides useful hooks for fleshing out those characters and making them more menacing. Creating conflicts between elders gives the players more to do and gives them more points of connection to the world. The rules given here will also make it easier to keep track of the details in administrating an elder's holdings.
lmagery
Elders embody massive contradictions. Though they are among the oldest sentient creatures on the planet, they often look younger than the anarchs they fight, sometimes appearing no older than children. The mortal world, in which old men hold the bulk of temporal power, gets turned on its head. This creates an incongruous image when a gang of 30- or 40-year-old Caitiff or anarchs are called before a prince who appears 20- something but is actually 400 years old. Some elders look old and wizened, but they are an exception.
However, vampires can start to look "older" over time. Though Kindred do not age, some begin to weaken and slow down under the great weight of years and thickening blood. A slowness of movement and speech and a dullness of eye or mind creates an aura of age in the body of the youth.
Theme
The theme is tainted authority and spoiled love. While human elders stand for continuity of leadership and the transmission of community values to a new generation, vampire elders seek to pervert that equation. Since they seldom step down and cannot lose power through a natural death, they stand as an undying obstruction to the ascent of new generations. To continue their unholy grasp on the levers of control, they must eternally frustrate the ambitions of their progeny.
Kindred elders hold onto power for power's sake, even when their communities begin to decay as a result. This reflects the very worst in human political systems, which are often loath to allow new generations a place at the table. Whenever an entrenched ruling class uses its influence to cling to power, political rot sets in.
For example, the autocratic regime of the P******* R******* of C**** is composed exclusively of aged men who thwart any attempts at power-sharing with new generations of leaders. This gerontocracy has little connection to the needs of the nation. They resist much-needed reforms and are reduced to keeping order by slaughtering dissenters. It is an instructive lesson for Storytellers, since the B****** regime is a fine example of the paranoia, isolation, arrogance and desperation that mark vampire elders.
Even democracies are not immune to fears of passing authority to a new generation. Politicians who came of age during World War ll kept a lock on the U.S. presidency for an unprecedented two generations because many voters were loath to allow younger leaders to take over the White House from World War Il era leaders. This generational imbalance created a tilt toward autocratic, imperial administrations that were remote from those they governed.
A society that does not routinely refresh its leadership is a society doomed to stagnation and repression. This is made especially clear in the vampire Elysium.
Worse than political decay is the inner damage done when the old withhold the birthright of the young. Parents who fear their own aging often subvert the attempts of their children to fly free, poisoning the love and trust between generations. The young become either weak-willed or wildly rebellious, while reducing the elders to stingy, fearful wrecks, prisoners of the very power to which they desperately cling.
Human parents have an overwhelming impulse to give their lives for their children. Many act without hesitation, abandoning caution and self-protection to protect their young at the first sign of danger. But elder Kindred are very different. The selfless, all-encompassing love of a mortal parent for a child is lost on the immortal vampires. Like congressmen assured of reelection, they paradoxically become more cautious, not more courageous. Elders take fewer chances, and not many would risk their immortal necks to save the skin of their progeny.
When the flow of life and love ceases to move forward through time and through generations, decay sets in. The elders are rotting in their own accumulated power, but are terrified of letting go or doing anything else. They suffer from overaccumulation. The ancillae suffer from lack. And so it goes.
By pouring vast amounts of energy into its internecine struggle, the vampiric family has little left for the larger battle against outside enemies. To break this soul-decaying dead-lock, elders attempt to betray their ambitious young before the young can topple them through betrayal. Treachery is the tragic condition of the Kindred community, and anarchs only see it getting worse.
Mood
The mood in the elegant marble halls of Elysium is dignified desperation and stifled paranoia. The elders have had centuries to master the art of insincerity, and they have reached levels of perfection rarely glimpsed among mortals. They are smiling on the outside, but inside they are screaming, and Elysium reverberates with the piercing, silent echoes. The elders have compromised their own integrity to such a profound degree that many of them have lost their inner stability and have fragmented their sense of self. This profound disconnection from the core of existence is a painful experience for sentient beings. Dangerously unbalanced, the elders lash out from a lonely anger only briefly seen by the rest of us in our most desperate moments. When confronted by their own contradictions and transgressions, their first impulse is to destroy.
Posted by: Lord Ex 2023-03-25, 21:15
参考
萧伯纳的任何作品(《人与超人》、《魔鬼门徒》、《巴巴拉少校》),伏尔泰的任何作品(《赣第德(老实人)》),莎士比亚的悲剧(《麦克白》、《尤里乌斯·凯撒》、《李尔王》),如乔治·艾略特的《织工马南》等经典,和从《华尔街》到《比佛利山庄的陈词滥调》的电影。
情景音乐
音乐具有在游戏中带动情绪的强大力量。它能增添激动、紧张和真正的恐惧感。其它艺术形式难以表达一个游戏里的岁月和情景,但音乐能创造奇迹。最精英主义的长老令净土承载了数世纪的伟大艺术,他们以守财奴的方式掌握这些珍品,寻求占有而非享受。因此,大厅间常萦绕着旋律——由被律能操控的凡人音乐家演奏。若你尚未利用音乐,可尝试添加到背景中,增加游戏维度。
长老偏爱那些雏儿觉得古板、浮夸和老朽的音乐。亨德尔、瓦格纳和埃德加的歌剧与交响乐占主导,但莫扎特和巴赫也拥趸众多。要感受狂野力量和宏伟气势请尝试奥尔夫的《布兰诗歌》。德彪西、拉威尔、穆索尔斯基和马勒的忧郁、神秘的主旋律常在长老感到沮丧和自怜时被演奏。也可尝试塞缪尔·巴伯的《弦乐柔板》。叙事人能演奏几乎任何古典乐来建立情景,但这些范例会产生特殊效果。
许多长老在内心里是个浪漫主义者,是来自拜伦时代的迷信难民,被迫活在一个冷酷科学的年代。因此,许多人转向精致优美而热情的音乐来寻求慰藉。进入腐朽古老血族的内室,却听到贝多芬或勃拉姆斯的萦绕音乐应是一种冲击。如拉赫玛尼诺夫《帕格尼尼主题狂想曲》或帕赫贝尔的“卡农”的蜜糖曲在一个梵卓的会议室里听到会令人不安,在一个诺斯费拉图的下水道里则是令人震惊。唯一要避免的音乐是那些本质轻快而富有生机的。只有迈卡维和一些托瑞朵会被这种风格吸引。其余长老觉得它如此提醒生命的光辉以至永远否定他们的不死灵魂是无法忍受的。
叙事人也可为关键长老指定特殊“主题曲”。例如,某个长老能总在角色拜访时演奏格里格的“山魔王的宫殿”。一旦玩家将音乐同长老联系,当他不在时播放该曲,就能让其感受到他的无形存在,令他们不安。
许多长老只喜爱他们生前流行的音乐。一个展示年龄差异的隐晦方法就是播放同长老出生年代关联的曲子。西方文明几乎没有中世纪前的存世音乐,因此最古老的血族可能偏爱亚洲或印度曲子,它们明显早于西方的。
出生于基督教前的欧洲的长老可能喜爱如罗琳娜·麦肯妮特等新异教艺术家。出生于基督教早期和中世纪的欧洲血族可能偏爱如素歌和格利高里圣歌等中世纪音乐。这些曲子最近变得非常流行,很容易找到。它们能立刻创造一种阴森恐怖、异世界的情景。吟游诗人的民谣也能给予古老印象。
出生于1450年到1600年欧洲的长老喜爱文艺复兴时期的音乐,如若斯坎和帕莱斯特里纳。新教徒可能喜爱路德圣歌,天主教徒可能喜爱赞美诗。为唤起1600年到1750年巴洛克时期的浮夸特质,试试亨德尔、蒙特威尔第,斯卡拉蒂的羽管键琴音乐和巴洛克大师巴赫的任何作品。出生于1750年到1820年间的会喜爱海顿和莫扎特的古典音乐,以及贝多芬的早期作品。很多出生于1820年到1910年浪漫主义时代的血族毫不掩饰自己对勃拉姆斯、门德尔松、肖邦、李斯特、瓦格纳、威尔第和贝多芬写的震耳欲聋的音乐的喜爱。这也是最后一个有真正长老出生的音乐时期。之后出生的绝大多数都是觊觎者(请看第四章),故意用古老乐曲包围自己。
一些长老特意与时俱进。布鲁赫不仅打算保持当前流行品味,而且还想走在时代前列。他们总会尝试演奏刺耳且受愤青欢迎的前沿音乐。然而他们许多人仍停留在过去,喜爱早期的革命性音乐。一个在20世纪早期活跃的布鲁赫长老可能暗中喜爱勋伯格或斯特拉文斯基《春之祭》等无调性音乐,它们在当初首演时引起哗然,但对许多现代人的耳朵来说,和古老得多的作品并无不同。
冈格罗常对“庸俗”音乐不屑一顾,偏爱原声乐器演奏的质朴旋律,或爵士和蓝调。睿魔尔喜爱干净、技术性的精确音乐,并拥抱电子音乐。迈卡维的音乐品味最好时兼收并蓄,最坏时毫无方向。他们的长老可能演奏弗兰克·扎帕的曲子、舒伯特的高速曲和海上圣歌——常是同时。
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References
Anything by George Bemard Shaw (Man and Superman, The Devil's Disciple, Major Barbara), anything by Voltaire (Candide), Shakespeare's tragedies (Macbeth, Julius Caesar, King Lear), classics like George Eliot's Silas Mamer and movies from Wall Street to Scenes from the Class Struggle in Beverly Hills.
Mood Music
Music has great power to stir the emotions during a game. It can add excitement, tension and a real sense of creeping dread. It is hard to use other art forms to convey age and mood in a game, but music works wonders. The elitist elders keep Elysium stocked with great art of the centuries, which they hold with a miser's grasp, seeking to possess rather than enjoy it. Thus, haunting melodies often sound through the halls, played by Dominated mortal musicians. If you do not currently use music, experiment with adding it to the background for added dimensions of play.
Elders are partial to music that neonates consider stuffy, pompous and old. Operas and symphonies by Handel, Wagner and Elgar predominate, though Mozart and Bach are also well represented. Try Orf's Carmina Burana for wild power and grandeur. Moody, mysterious themes by Debussy, Ravel, Mussorgsky and Mahler play when the elders are feeling grim and self-pitying. Try Samuel Barber's Adagio for Strings. Storytellers can play almost any classical music to set a mood, but these examples will yield special results.
Many elders are romantics at heart, superstitious refugees from a Byronic era who are forced to live in an age of cold science. As a result, many turn to exquisitely beautiful, passionate music for comfort and solace. It should come as a shock to enter the inner sanctum a venomous, corrupt old vampire and hear the haunting music of Beethoven or Brahms. Syrupy tunes like Rachmaninoff's Rhapsody on a Themeby Paganini or Pachelbel's "Canon" will sound unnerving in a Ventrue boardroom and frightening in a Nosferatu sewer. The only music to avoid is selections that are light, airy and sprightly in nature. Only Malkavians and some Toreador are attracted to such styles. The rest of the elders find it unbearable to be so reminded of the lightness of being that is forever denied to their undying spirits.
Storytellers can also assign special "theme songs" to key elders. For example, a certain elder may always have Grieg's "Hall of the Mountain King" playing whenever the characters visit. Once the players have linked the music and the elder, playing that tune when he's not around can unnerve them by making his invisible presence felt.
Many elders only enjoy music that was popular during their lifetime. One subtle way to show differences in age is to play themes specifically keyed to the elder's birth era. Western civilization has very little surviving music from before the Middle Ages, so the oldest vampires may prefer Asian or Indian compositions, which significantly predate those of the West.
Elders born in pre-Christian Europe may favor neo-pagan artists like Loreena McKennitt. European vampires born during the early Christian era and the Middle Ages may favor medieval music, like plainsong and Gregorian chants. These have become very popular recently and are quite easy to find. They instantly create an eerie, otherworldly mood. Minstrel ballads can also give the impression of antiquity.
Elders born in Europe between 1450 and 1600 favor Renaissance music, like that of des Prez and Palestrina. Protestants may favor Luther's chorales, while Catholics may prefer hymns. To evoke the ornate quality of the 1600-1750 Baroque era, try Handel, Monteverdi, harpsichord music by Scarlatti and anything by the Baroque master, Bach. Those who date from between 1750 and 1820 will favor Classical music by Haydn and Mozart, as well as Beethoven's early works. Many of the vampires born in the Romantic era of 1820 to 1910 are unabashed in their love of the explosion of music created by Brahms, Mendelssohn, Chopin, Liszt, Wagner, Verdi and Beethoven. This is the last musical period in which true elders were born. Most born after that time are Pretenders (see Chapter Four) who deliberately surround themselves with the air of antiquity.
Some elders make a point of changing with the times. Brujah are intent on staying not only current in contemporary tastes, but ahead of the curve. They will always try to play cutting-edge music that is cacophonous and popular with disaffected youth. However, many of them also get stuck in the past, favoring revolutionary music of earlier eras. A Brujah elder who remained active in the early 20th century may secretly favor atonal compositions by Schoenberg or Stravinsky's Rite of Spring, which caused riots during its premiere but which to many modern ears is indistinguishable from much older classical works.
Gangrel often disdain "snob" music, and prefer more rustic melodies played on acoustic instruments, or jazz and blues. Tremere like clean, technical precision and embrace electronic music. Malkavians’ musical tastes are at best eclectic and at worst disorienting. Their elders are likely to play old favorites by Frank Zappa, high-speed Schubert and sea chanteys, often at the same time.